Strategic Management and Lego

1st CASE STUDYWinter term 2012/2013Student: Aitor Martin SantanaProfessor: Ravinder Kaur-LahrmannSubject: Management Tools| THE LEGO GROUP 1. In this case I have identified some key characteristics that are in relation with the strategy that LEGO has been following. In the 1970-1980 decades, environment was hostile. There was a huge oil crisis, and there were too much difficulties. However, LEGO maintained its philosophy, and their image of unique and iconic brand. Competence was also hard, with Mattel and Hasbro in the market, but LEGO sustained its powerful position.If we focus, for example, in the strategy that they carried out between 1995 and 1998, an interesting fact is that their objectives (become the best known global brand, increase the sales, etc. ) are set in a long term direction. Another important point is that they wanted to expand the scope of their activities. They entered in new areas such as films, games†¦ and they also built new LEGOLAND parks. However, the t urnaround attempts that happened between 1999 and 2003 forced this company to check their strategy. Different factors such as the changing environment, lead times†¦ affected negatively LEGO`s strategy.This shows that the uncertainty of strategic decisions is also decisive. If we look at the exploring strategy model, we can see that the strategic decisions have affected the three main elements (position, choices and action). Regarding to the strategic choices for example, we can mention the corporate-level and the business level strategies. I think that LEGO took some correct decisions, such as changing their relationship with retailers, renewing their supply chain†¦ 2. There are many external features that have more or less influenced LEGO`s strategy development.One of this factors has been the competitor`s influence. Due to the high competitiveness in the toy market, LEGO has to make a big effort in strategy in order to be one of the leaders of this industry. Other import ant issue is the supply and the distribution. The main reason of changing their strategy is that sales were seasonal and they had to adapt their supply system to this. Concerning the distributors we can state that retailers were putting too much pressure on the company, so the solution consisted on bringing their positions in order to achieve better results.Maybe one of the reasons of starting a digital strategy was the obsolescence of their products. There are other influences worth mentioning, such as the economic (crisis and bad cost management) and social (criticism of the public). 3. Improvements of the capital structure were important resources that have enabled LEGO to achieve their successful results. If we focus on intangible resources, we can say that the reputation of this firm is key element, especially because they created an image of a family-run company, which give consumers, shareholders, suppliers†¦ a feeling of trust.Kjeld played an important role. On the othe r hand one of the most important competences of LEGO is their brand. This is one of the oldest and better known toy companies in the world, so we can say that their brand is iconic. In my opinion, this is the main core competence of LEGO. 4. I think that the various internal and external factors responsible for problems were the key element in the development of those alternative strategies. They forced Kejld to take those decisions.The previous years were adverse, and there were internal problems such as financial and logistic difficulties, longer lead times, etc. Also external factors such as competitor`s rising power and problems with suppliers were determinant in taking the strategic decisions. In my view, two were the most important strategies: focusing on cost and the supply chain and innovating. Managing the costs efficiently is very important, especially for companies that produce seasonal products. This gives security. Innovation provides a company an extra value.Inviting t he consumers to participate in product development was an excellent idea, because in the toy market is necessary to have lots of ideas. LEGO needed new, better and more ideas. 5. In order to approach future strategy development, they could focus on one of the four strategic lenses (strategy as a design, strategy as experience, strategy as ideas and strategy as discourse). If they chose the design lens, their managers would have to take rational decisions with a high grade of legitimacy such as those related to costs, their product`s marketing, etc.They also should take a look on economic performance, which is very important in LEGO Group. Also, they could focus in the experience lens. Focusing on this lens would be a possible decision, because LEGO has a lot of individual and collective experience. Although LEGO could focus on this lens, I personally think this would not be the best option because LEGO needs innovation and new ideas for the future, and this lens states that the futu re has to be made based in the past. The next would be the ideas lens. This would be, with the design, the ens which better would fit with LEGO Group`s strategy, and the one that they should develop most. I say this because in the market where this company competes new ideas are very important, in order to maintain competitiveness. Finally there would be the discourse lens, which I think could also be a good strategy for LEGO, but not the best, because we have to remember that LEGO doesn`t want its managers to have too much power and legitimacy. Their work should be more focused on teamwork and cooperation between higher and lower power levels in the company.

Sleep and Mary J. Davis

S. No| Topic| Pg no| i. | What is Confidence building? Does Confidence really come with Knowledge? | 2| ii. | How does a Shark Hunt? | 3| iii. | What efforts are being taken to protect Endangered Wildlife? | 4| iv. | What are the dangers and hazards of Nuclear Power? | 5| v. | Why do we sleep? | 6| vi. | How does Tobacco use affect the human body? | 7| vii. | What are the causes of Tornadoes? | 8| viii. | In what ways do Video Games affect children and teenagers? | 9| ix. | What is stress? | 10| x. | What are the ways to speak effectively? | 11| xi. | Pros and Cons of Teamwork| 12| ii. | Which types of Shops do you use to buy different things? Why? | 13| xiii. | What is culture? Describe different types of company’s cultures. | 14| xiv. | Which is the most important Invention for the last 100 years? Which one do you wish had not been Invented? | 15| Table of content Descriptive Essay What is Confidence building? Does Confidence really come with Knowledge? Confidence is a posit ive feeling gained from a belief in your own ability of to do things well. Very few people succeed in building up their confidence level. When we born we cry because we are afraid of this world.It means that nobody is born with confidence. We have to develop our own confidence. It is not easy as it seems. There is a certain age at which the growing level of confidence stops working. Many of people failed in building up their own confidence (Adrian MacKay). Those who are self-confident about themselves have a strong sense of belief. Self-confidence is connected with possessing of certain skill sets or abilities, whether it is acquired or natural. While having ability in a particular area can help you to boost yourself. Someone who has no capability of doing something is always lack of confident (Coles).A person who is lack of self-confidence has a lack of self-belief in them. Lack in yourself comes when you feel insecure about something like place or with the audience you are facing. A person behaves like overly shy, having fear in themselves, forget what to talk about, start shivering and feel uncomfortable when they are lack of confidence. People with low self-confidence always stay away from other peoples. They have a limited mind set and their behavior changes unexpectedly. This lack of self-confidence puts them in a nonstop life cycle that reinforces their state of self-belief (Coles). Knowledge and confidence are two different things.Without confidence, knowledge is worthless. And without knowledge, confidence is useless. If we have to face the world so we have to combine our knowledge and confidence. Those people who are not able to combine their knowledge and confidence won’t have the chance to survive (Stephen Hetherington). Confidence and knowledge is the most powerful weapon of a person. If anyone knows how to use it so he can live on his life in an easy way. Even to become a successful man a particular person has to go through many difficulti es and have to keep struggling. A lose hearted person always think about his past and afraid to move on again.So if anyone wants to become a successful man he has to build up his confidence. References Adrian MacKay Coles Stephen Hetherington Descriptive Essay How does a Shark Hunt? Shark is a large and sometimes aggressive sea fish with a triangular fin on its back. They live in ocean but not in freezing areas like ANTARCTICA. To survive in water, they need salty water. They are mostly found in between the deep oceans. They cannot change their places like other species do. Some sharks use to live in natural environments. While other sharks’ like to live in dark, cold, rocky and sandy areas.Sharks use to travel to a long distances in seek of warmer and cooler areas where they can give birth to their babies in a year (Bobbie Kalmar, Molly Alien). The bodies of sharks are made of same parts but not all. As compare to other sharks they don’t have same size, shape and colo r. There are two types of shark bodies â€Å"Active Swimmers and Bottom Dwellers†. Those sharks who are â€Å"Active Swimmers† have their body in a shape that allows them to move with quick, easy movements in water with the help of powerful fins. And those sharks that are â€Å"Bottom Dwellers† have wide and horizontal bodies (Bobbie Kalmar, Molly Alien).There are many kinds of sharks in which three of them are a lot bigger. They are â€Å"White, basking and whale sharks†. The white sharks are 12 feet long and 4 meter large. Whereas basking sharks are 40 feet long and 12 meters large. And whale sharks are 50 feet long and 15 meters large. They can be compared as to school bus. So you can think how much bigger things they use to eat. But these three sharks eat only small fishes like Krill, which is not bigger than your finger (Mary M. Carlo). People usually fear from sharks because they think that sharks can eat them with their jaws by crushing and tearing them a part.Sharks use jaws to attack their enemies. But they don’t use them to attack humans. They never make humans as a target for their food. To sharks, humans look to them as a seal. So, only small number of sharks attacks humans. Sharks have sensitive nostrils that can track down a bleeding fish that may be far away from them of ocean (Christina Wilson). Sharks are the natural gift given by Allah to us. They are the natural beauty of sea. They live in a deep silent ocean. And can be of different size or color or shape. They can hunt any fish or human. They are harmful but it doesn’t mean that we just finish them off.Sharks cannot stop hunting because it’s in their nature. So we enjoy by making aquarium for sharks. Or we can watch them so we can understand that how they live in their world. References Bobbie Kalmar, Molly Alien Mary M. Carlo Christina Wilson Descriptive Essay What efforts are being taken to protect Endangered Wildlife? Wildlife is about al l animals, birds and insects that naturally inhabit a particular region. In the wildlife history in U. S. A, several of Bison were killed, just to clear the grasslands. This dangerous situation of Bison disturbed the public because they were the only largest mammals in U. S.A. But all hoofed mammals were completely removed from the larger areas to their original places in 1800s. In the east, there is no evidence about it that how many of them were searched out and destroyed completely by hunters (Brian Czech, Paul R. Kraus man, Center for American Places). Animals surely get diseases due to changes in environment or weather. Those animals which were used to export may have diseases in them. So they were kept in isolation, away from other animals to cure them from diseases. But those animals which were illegally moved from one country to another may carry diseases and not be cured.Some diseases include a large risk of life that they can finish numerous of animals. Like in Tasmania, h alf world’s mammals were killed by certain disease. These mammals were only found in Tasmania. Later on, scientists have discovered that those diseases that are new or moved into different areas of cities or countries are also effecting humans like HIV/AIDS, etc. (Jeanne Nagle). To save wildlife, U. S. Congress in 1973, passed the Endangered Species Act (ESA) which was reauthorized in 1988. The purpose of the (ESA) is to save wildlife species from human dangerous actions.To protect the species and their particular area where they live, all endangered plants and animals were listed by the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS). In spite of the fact (USFWS) is a part of the department. It had played an important role in conservation of wildlife (Marshall Cavendish Corporation). U. S. Congress decides to take a step of recovery for wildlife animals. The aim is to recover all animals so the protection will be no longer needed in the future. But the main problem was that it will take long time. And due to some factors loss cannot be recovered.But due to joint efforts of USFWS and other agencies they have succeeded in their recovery process. They have stopped the loss of wildlife animals by recovering 99% of animals in the world. Only less than 1% is left that have been listed from 1968 to 1993 that no longer exists (Marshall Cavendish Corporation). In this world, USFWS have managed to save the wildlife animals. But some of them were lost due to our irresponsibility. So it’s time that we also participate in this Endangered Species Act (ESA) with U. S. A. government. Try to protect them from any harm. Watch them to see how they live. Learn about them as much as we can.Tell others about them. Join USFWS and give money to help wildlife species. And to protect them and ourselves form any disease we have to take them to doctor for regular checkup. References Brian Czech, Paul R. Kraus man, Center for American Places Jeanne Nagle Marshall Cavendish Corporat ion Cause and Effect Essay What are the dangers and hazards of Nuclear Power? The misuse of nuclear power was started in 1933. A scientist name Hungarian physicist Leo Szilard made a theory of splitting the atoms to make a chain reaction. He said that by splitting the atoms into chain reaction can release energy that can cause an explosion.In early research, elements of atoms which are naturally unstable were discovered by scientists. These elements act in a process in which they keep changing and sending streams out called Radioactivity. So scientists discovered that these flying particles can be used as tiny missiles by splitting them in several parts. And that’s how invention of bombs was started (Susan M. Freese). Nuclear weapons were used in Second World War on the Japanese in August 1945, while ending the Second World War. This nuclear explosion set a dangerous example of world war. Because it makes people aware about the coming Modern World War.Due to such powerful bom bs humanity becomes unsafe. First the atom bombs were the only most dangerous weapon but now a bomb more powerful than atom bomb has been invented. Although it is too much small but it can cause great damage to humanity (Bernard L. Cohen, Sc. D. Professor at the University of Pittsburgh). In Russia 1986, a powerful nuclear bomb was exploded. This bomb realized the most dangerous rays in atmosphere. Several of peoples died in this attack. And many of them were died due to cancer because of radiation that was spread into the atmosphere. Nuclear weapons contains waste disposal with them.They can kill people when they touch them. That’s why they cannot be thrown like ordinary garbage. So they are stored in special cooling pools (Bianca Arista). In today’s world, 16 countries depend on their nuclear power in which France is on the number one. Nuclear energy has become inexpensive that anybody can buy it and use it for making bombs and other nuclear weapons. Nuclear power ca n cause many different changes in the environment like can have effects on human health. In the near future, it is expected to be cheaper than before (Chaves Jason). The use of nuclear energy nowadays has become too much common.As well as their price are also decreasing. In some countries the rate of crime is increasing day by day. When the nuclear energy start to split it causes a serious damage to earth because of which a natural disaster called earthquake happen. There is no stop to these hazardous powers. But scientists are working on to stop this danger of nuclear power so that they can remove risk of insecurity from people minds. References Susan M. Freese Bernard L. Cohen, Sc. D. Professor at the University of Pittsburgh Bianca Arista Chaves Jason Cause and Effect Essay Why do we sleep? Sleep is necessary for our health.Our body needs rest like it need water, food and oxygen. Humans are not machines. They work 12 hours so they need rest. Even a machine needs to take some rest after 7-8 hours. Many of scientists research on this topic that â€Å"Why do we need sleep? † . Researches have shown to us that when we sleep our body parts which are in pain gets rest (James A. Horne). Whenever we wake up we have more strength and feel better than before. So sleep makes us stronger. While if we won’t get some sleep, our head or body start to pain or we will begin to sleep in a standing or in a sitting position.People need 8 hours to sleep. 8 hours are max for sleep. If a person is getting a sleep 4-5 hours he or she will start confusing, become absentminded and see illusions (Mary L. Gavin, MD). Human brains carries two phase with them. REM (Rapid Eye Movement) and NREM (Non-Rapid Eye Movement) sleep. These two phases have physiological, neurological and psychological structures. In 1960s, two scientists defined a characteristic of sleep. They said that eight hour sleep will give you 5 sleep cycles. They also mentioned that that NREM cycles become s maller and REM sleep rises (Rebecca turner).Lack of sleepiness can cause our brain damages. There is a part of brain which works to control language, memory, planning and sense of time. If we don’t sleep, it will definitely have an effect on that part of our mind. And it doesn’t affect only on that part of our mind but also make us lack of physical and emotional health. In fact sicknesses like if we keep wide-awake our self, our brain starts to blackout and we start to feel doze (Alex West comb, Andrew Green). When we start to sleep our half body between 90-110 minutes is awake and half is as in sleeping position. In this situation, we can get up easily.But after 90-110 minutes, our muscles starts to relax and our body start to sleep. During sleep, if we entered the stage of deep sleep so we usually have some night terrors or sleep walking problems. But some children during a deep sleep get bed-wetting problems (Carlos H. Scheck, M. D. , Carlos Scheck). Sleeping is hea lthy for our body. It gives lots of benefits to us. A good sleep can keep you out of risks. Even avoiding 1 night sleep can make you kind of bad-tempered and awkward. After 5-6 days you will get health problems like illness, headaches and pain in muscles etc.So get some sleep to get ready for next day with more strength and power. References James A. Horne Mary L. Gavin, MD Rebecca turner Alex West comb, Andrew Green Carlos H. Scheck, M. D. , Carlos Scheck Cause and Effects Essay How does Tobacco use affect the human body? Tobacco is made from dried nicotine-rich leaves found in American plant, used for smoking and chewing. Tobacco was not so popular when it was first made. Its journey begins in 1600 from â€Å"BRAZIL†. It was then given in â€Å"ENGLAND† and then to â€Å"TURKEY† and so on. In England 1602, an anonymous doctor wrote â€Å"tobacco is bad for human health.It evaporates man’s unctuous and radical moistures†. And it was proved later t hat what doctor said, was true (Gene Barrio). There are many types of tobacco like, cocaine, hallucinate, nicotine, etc. They are spreading in human’s body with each and every sip they inhale. Inhaling tobacco damage human lungs and make human weak and unhealthy. It reduces human strength and making him addicted to it (Fowler, J. S; Volker, N. D. ). Tobacco plant â€Å"NICOTINE† is a main reason of deaths that are happing in this world. It cause more damage than any others herb. Nicotine contains the most dangerous poisonous oily liquid found in tobacco.As it has a bad effect on human health. At present, 3 million peoples are dying daily by the use of nicotine and if it continues so in the near future 2030, 10 million people will die annually (Fowler, J. S; Volker, N. D. ). Another plant of tobacco is â€Å"HALLUCINATE†. It makes a person to see something which is not actually there. After using it, it makes you aware of somebody’s existence which is not real and doesn’t belong to the physical world. Some examples of it are â€Å"DESERT MIRAGE†, or a â€Å"SOUND† we might have just heard. It also makes a person that everything around him is moving or revolving (Court JA).Third plant of tobacco is cocaine. It is an â€Å"addictive stimulant drug obtained from the leaves of a tropical plant†. This drug is self-administrated in several ways. Many people abuse it by snorting it thorough there nasal sinuses, either alone or with heroin (speedball) mixing in it. It’s another method of administration, which produces its effects more quickly is â€Å"smoking it in with the form of cocaine† (Court JA). In today’s world, tobacco is like a serious problem. People die every day without knowing the cause. And if they know its disadvantage so they don’t know how to stop it.Because it makes them relax, makes them feel what they want to feel. Some people takes these drugs because they want to forget something that happened in their past. I suggest that if we don’t stop now, so in the future there will be no human left on this planet. References Gene Barrio Fowler, J. S; Volker, N. D. Court JA Cause and Effect Essay What are the causes of Tornadoes? Tornadoes are a violent rotating wind storm. They create most powerful winds on the Earth and are capable of destroying anything that comes in their way. A tornado is formed when high and low pressure dash together.There may be local storms too. A typical tornado can be 400-500 feet wide with less than a 1000 thousand feet long and has winds less than 112 miles per hour. Whereas strong tornadoes are a mile wide with strongest winds more than 300-700 miles per hour and can survive more than an hour or 200 miles travelling along with the ground, smashing everything. (Seymour Simon) There are many types of tornadoes like hurricane, storm and typhoon. Hurricane and typhoon have the 200-300 mph speed of winds. Storms that gi ve rise to these tornadoes can cause numerous damages by ruining crops, or throwing things own to the ground at high speed. A biggest rock was found in Coffeyville, Kansas, on September 3, 1970; weighted 1. 67 pounds and was 17. 5 inched around, which was thrown by a storm lifting it above in the sky and then threw it from the sky at high speed (Howard B. Bluestein; Professor of Metrology University of Oklahoma). Many peoples have gone inside these tornadoes but only some of them were able to survive. On June 16, 1928, a man named Will Keller survived the tornado. He said that a twister approached his Kansas farm, Keller saw that something lift him over the ground and move slowly over his head.He reported that â€Å"It was a strong, gassy odor . . . a screaming hissing sound . . . I looked up . . . there was a circular opening in the center of the funnel. . . The walls of this opening were of rotating clouds and the whole was made brilliantly visible by constant flashes of lightnin g which zigzagged from side to side† (Joe Thorn) Later on there are some rules made for providing safety from tornadoes. Those rules for the safety from tornadoes are there must be a basement in house or a building. Or move to small interior room and get under the sturdy piece of furniture.Put as many walls as possible between you and outside. Stay away from windows. Get out of automobiles for shelter (Barry Leonard). There are many safety rules made for these tornadoes. Warnings were also given by forecasters. But these warnings or safety rules cannot save our lives. There is no perfect rule made up till now. But in the future there is. References Seymour Simon Howard B. Bluestein; Professor of Metrology University of Oklahoma Joe Thorn Barry Leonard Cause and Effect Essay In what ways do Video Games affect children and teenagers? Video games are the games played on a television screen.In the history of video games, the first game which was launched in â€Å"1958† is k nown as â€Å"TENNIS†. It was created by â€Å"William Higginbotham†. In 1972, another game was launched known as â€Å"PONG† which opened the doors for the future games. It was invented by Nolan Bushnell and Ted Danby. In 1975, a game name â€Å"GUN FIGHTER† was released by Tomohiro Nishikado. It was a shooter game. This game opened the doors for America. America uses this game for the Intel 8080 and made it a first game which is used on a microprocessor (By D. B. Weston). After 1990s the changes were made in video games and were continued.Later on, they has emerged computing, art work, 3d effects, graphics and some realistic photographic work by bringing them together. They made crime emerged including highway hijacking, mortal combat, etc. New technologies (games system) take place with improved graphics, speed, increased in CD-ROM capacity, etc. In 1995, it was observed that in homes more than 40% of children demand new games. Then computer games were started to make on a large scale using more machineries. Games started to fill with horror and terrifying imaginaries  (By Barrie Gunter). Young generation starts to become addicted to these video games.With the improvement in video games children start to seem lack in other activities. Young boys and as well as adults were also become a part of it. They were cashed using them to play these games. Different types of areas opened in which games were played. These games started to increase sale. Billions of games were sold in just one second. People start to love this. Because these games make them happy, feel them more excited. But somehow disadvantages were also seen. These games were making young people angrier. They start to become easily annoyed or irritate (By Barrie Gunter).Another disadvantage was these games cause effects on human health. Medical reports have shown that players are suffering from many diseases. According to Loftus (1983), young generations were having cont inuous or long lasting dull pains in their body. Those games in which analogs were used cause effects on skin, joint and muscle problems. When Loftus examined 65% of arcade video games players, they were suffering with â€Å"small bubbles on skin, fingers were filled with thickened and hardened skin, pain in their tissues and were having lack of feeling, thinking, reactions powers† (Barrie Gunter).Video games are harmful for children because they start to neglect from doing educational, social and leisure activities. They start to believe in imaginary world. Always think about something which doesn’t exist in this real world. To stop them from using video games is to involve them in other activities. Make them to participate in social life activities so that they can use their minds in right activity. References D. B. Weston Barrie Gunter Cause and Effect Essay What is stress? Stress is the body's reaction to any change that requires an adjustment or response.The body reacts to these changes with physical, mental, and emotional responses. Many events that happen to you and around you and many things that you do yourself put stress on your body. You can experience stress from your environment, your body, and your thoughts. Stress can be positive. For example, if a person is going to school for first time. So he will be excited but also nervous about being liked or accepted. As a result, a person gets frightened or nervous. Stress becomes negative. For example, if a person moves to new school leaving his good friends.As a result, a person gets headaches or stomachaches (Susan Gregson). Stress can lead to physical symptoms including heart attack/strokes, ulcers, diabetes, angina, cancer and rheumatoid arthritis. Physical disorders like anxiety and depression, including break down (Stephen Palmer). Human body was designed to respond â€Å"short-term† stress. A chronic effect can cause many problems on human body, including all kinds of illness es, syndromes, signs and symptoms (Kate Middleton). Stress also becomes harmful when people use alcohol, tobacco, or drugs to try and relieve their stress.Unfortunately, instead of relieving the stress and returning the body to a relaxed state, these substances tend to keep the body in a stressed state and cause more problems. Over 323,000 people are using heroin and 1. 67 million people are using cocaine in United States because of stress (Ray Goldberg). Stress has become the most serious problem now a day. Many people are disturbed because of it. There is no solution to this problem. Everyday overburden can cause a person into many diseases. So the only solution to this problem is that take only that much work which you can handle by yourself.And try to keep yourself calm. References Susan Gregson Kate Middleton Ray Goldberg Stephen Palmer Narrative Essay What are the ways to speak effectively? Effective communication is a skill which you can learn. It doesn’t matter how ol d you are? Or which kind of background you have? If you have confidence and knowledge you can learn it easily. An effective speaking gives a pleasurable effect to listeners. When you look back in history you can see the effectiveness of their dialogue. For example you can read the speech of the Great Martin Luther, who set out a great example of humanity (Sheryl Lind sell-Roberts).I can share experience of my university. It was the first day of my university when I entered my class room. I see that some of my class fellows were new and some of them were old friends. I introduce myself to new class fellows and as for the old one I reintroduced myself reminding them about our past class. I call my class fellows with their name so that I can remember them. I stand up when someone introduce himself to me, talk to them in good way and ask them about their past experience. Then at the end of my conversation I say good bye to all (Brain Tracy’s Blog).I remember when I was on the gro und floor having fun with my class fellows. I saw a student who was looking similar to me but I couldn’t remember his name. As a result, I wasn’t able to call his name but when I talked to him he told me that he was my school friend. It was the awkward moment for me because I don’t forget anyone. At that day, I promise myself that I will never forget anyone’s name. After that next day when everyone knows about each other, conversation becomes easier. If I want to talk to someone I get his attention first. Facing them and having an eye contact with them makes my message clearer (John A.Kline). Shaking hands before talk give a good impression on someone. I remember that when I was called by administrator in his office to change the card. As I entered the room I greet him without shaking hand. Thus, it gives a wrong impression. So I have to keep it remember that if I meet to someone always shake hand with him first (Jean Bordeaux). These are the effective co mmunication skills that a person needs. This will also help you in your journey. All you need is confidence and knowledge like me. I accept that I had made some mistakes too but it doesn’t make me a bad speaker.So start practicing it to have some new experience in your life. References Sheryl Lind sell-Roberts Brain Tracy’s Blog John A. Kline Jean Bordeaux Narrative Essay Pros and Cons of Teamwork Teamwork needs the organized effort as a group. Teamwork needs the participation of all members in the activity. Without participation team work is useless. To do teamwork all members must be connected with one another so they can communicate. And if one of the team members was informed late or doesn’t get the information at all. So he or she can get all of the other team members into trouble (Price Pritchett).Three years back, I and my team members got a project on â€Å"Govt. vs. public†. So I and my team members decided that we will start our search on projec t next day. Next day in the morning, my whole group was sitting together. They were having a discussion on the project that from where did they start their search? At 8:00 A. M. I come 2 hours late on that day. Although the ideas were too many in mind but I was confused that what should be the perfect idea? But when I shared my ideas with my team members, so some of them worked (Price Pritchett). The first idea of mine was to separate my team members into 2 groups.Group A will research on the role of Government. And group B will have a search on role of public. The second idea of mine was to give these 2 groups eras from 1951-2010. These eras were divided into 2 â€Å"1951-1981 and 1982-2010†. From 1951-1981 was given to the Group A. And the era from 1982-2010 was given to the Group B (Price Pritchett). We have almost 20 days left to complete our search. Search was completed in 12 days. Now we got only 8 days left to practice. So, I went to the teacher to share my idea. She s aid that I can make group to sit in front of each other and then have the discussion.ButIdidn’t agree with that idea of my teacher because on that day we have 1 hour and 30 minutes to talk on that topic. And if we continuously keep talking on one topic so audience will surely get bored. I start thinking and came up with an idea that if I can make a play on that topic, audience will take interest in it (Peter Levin). I and my team members practiced it every day 7-8 hours. I was having a watch on all team members. Because if one of our team members will not participate in group presentation. All what we have done would be for nothing. At last, on that day our play takes an interesting start.My team members were seemed to be very confident on that day. As I thought, audiences were getting into it. And in the end, teacher and everybody who were presented on that day like our role play (Peter Levin). Teamwork is a skill which requires bravery and wisdom. Only a hard worker can lea d a team to success. It needs a lot of courage to lead a team like I have done by understanding and making them believe in their selves. References Price Pritchett Peter Levin Narrative Essay Which types of Shops do you use to buy different things? Why? Shopping is a part of our life because they fulfill our needs.To do shopping you have to go shopping malls. Shopping malls in today’s world are huge. They deliver us everything that we want. Majority of people use to come at weekends like me. Shopping malls sometimes become congested. You can find thousands of shops in just one shopping mall with food and ice-cream shops, theater for movie and play land for children etc. I usually go on shopping with my family. Whenever I go to any shopping mall I use to enjoy myself (Anna Schiff). I and my family go to shopping malls because we get each and every single thing in just one place.And it’s the main advantage. I use to buy branded clothes from showrooms in the malls. Anothe r reason that I use to go shopping malls is that they attract so much. Special arrangements are made like expensive tiles, ponds, fresh flowers, lift, moving stairs, cleaned floors, sitting area for rest and lights give such an impressive view to me that I don’t want to come out (Michelle Gonzalez). There are lots of movies in theater ready to play. All we just have to do is select a movie and buy tickets for it. We usually came to theater after when shopping is finished.But my brother starts arguing with me. Whenever we come to shopping mall, he used to say â€Å"I want to go before the shopping†. Actually he wants all the fun before we can start shopping so he can have more time to play. He always spends money in play land in buying coins to play games in fun land (Cora Molinari). I used to visit mobile shops. I love mobiles because of their advance technology as well as impressive looks. Mobiles are the most advance technology ever created in world. New inventions l ike, touch screen, notebook, android mobiles are available. I want touch and android mobile.Whenever I go to shopping mall I ask my father to buy me a new mobile (Kim France, Andrea Linnet). Shopping malls have become expensive in these days. There is the main reason for it. Sometimes I think that even there is one place left in world where there is no issue of money? Where people are free to buy anything for them at low price? But I can only imagine all of this. So I suggest that always have fun in your life. And if you are not able to buy something from shopping malls so go to shops. References Anna Schiff Michelle Gonzalez Cora Molinari Kim France, Andrea Linnet Compare and Contrast EssayWhat is culture? Describe different types of company’s cultures. A culture is the arts, customs, and institutions of a nation, people, or group. But when we are talking about company culture it is different from the other cultures. It’s about what you have learned from those things which you practice there with other employee’s? Company Culture is entirely different from the hospital culture and university culture. We can understand the culture of company by looking it (Mats Elverson, Per Olaf Berg). There are two types of company culture â€Å"Corporate culture and Organizational Culture†.In Corporate Culture some people states that it is something which describe a business. But the other people view is that it includes employee arrogance, morals, finances and services. In Organizational Culture some people declares that it is about the way in which we do things around business. Whereas others people says that it is about something to do with the superiority and elegance of employees or those people who are there (Mats Elverson, Per Olaf Berg). Organizational Culture types are creating, collaborating, controlling and compete (Cameron, Kim S. and Quinn, Robert).However, Corporate Culture types are core, aspirational, permission-to-play and accide ntal (Mary J. Davis). The first type of Organization is creating in which people says â€Å"having organization highlighting with the change, alteration and organic processes of culture† (Cameron, Kim S. and Quinn, Robert). But in Corporate Culture first type which was core it says â€Å"it is more about values that are untouchable and acutely fixed with the ideologies that lead an employer’s† (Mary J. Davis). Rendering the second type of Organization Culture is control (hierarchy).It says that to share connections with the conventionally large, administrative corporation (Cameron, Kim S. and Quinn, Robert). Nevertheless second Corporate Culture type â€Å"aspirational† it says that those values that a company needs to succeed (Mary J. Davis). According to the third type of Organizational Culture is â€Å"compete (market)†. It is related to relationships, transactions, suppliers, unions, etc. (Cameron, Kim S. and Quinn, Robert). But in the Corporat e Culture type â€Å"permission to play† it relates with lowest negotiating that reflects morals required of any employee (Mary J.Davis). In the fourth type of Organizational Culture which is collaborating. It says that it is more about accentuating suppleness and decision rather than constancy and mechanism of Control and Compete (Cameron, Kim S. and Quinn, Robert). On the other hand the fourth type of Corporative Culture style which is accidental. It says that it can hold the time when beliefs rise (Mary J. Davis). We have discussed two Cultures of a company in detail with their types. So now they depend on person choice that weather he wants to apply Organizational Culture or Corporate Culture in his company.An Organizational culture can bring changes to the policies while a Corporative Culture brings physical changes in people only. References Mats Elverson, Per Olaf Berg Cameron, Kim S. and Quinn, Robert Mary J. Davis Compare and Contrast Essay Which is the most importan t Invention for the last 100 years? Which one do you wish had not been Invented? Science and Technology are changing this world day by day. It brings such a fast change in human life that it doesn’t only change the way of thinking but it also changes human’s life style, educational systems, etc.Science and technology have taught us the way to live our life. It has made our work easy by giving us the technology of machines One machine can do a work of hundred human’s within a second. For example, for fastest growth in agriculture new kinds of seeds, sprays, tractors are used. For fastest transportation trains, ships, air planes, cars, bikes are used. For fastest communication internet, mobiles are used. But the main role is played by computers. As everybody know that computers are the most common and fastest technology used in every home (P. Day). Computers are necessary in today’s life.Without computer we can’t survive. People in the past have a lo t of problems with them. Like in the past the people were disturbed with the use of animal skin, feather, grains, pens, inks, papers and chalk. But now we have to use nothing because of computers we can get all those in just one place. Calculation was the most serious problem in the past. Computer helps us to solve this problem. In bank all electronic fund transferring, maintaining of customer’s account, credits cards, bills payment, transactions, updating of account, are all carried by computer(Gary B.Shelly, Misty E. Vermont). Mobile phone are the another technology as gift of the science. As compared to computers the use of mobile are also common. In past time sometimes you forget your watch. So mobile helped to remove the wristwatch because you can forget your watch but cannot forget your mobile. It acts like your dairy. You can put as much notes as you want. You can call anyone at any time. It’s give you reminder which helps you to wake up in the morning. Calculat or and other extra options are also given to make your work easier.But mobiles now a day are creating problems (Adam Burgess). Cell phones are the part of everyday life for many people. Children, teenagers and adults have different kinds of uses of it. Adults use to stay in touch with business contact. But children, teenagers use to talk or send messages which are not necessary at the moment. In fact, if somebody has a nonstop use of it so they can cause headaches, brain tumors and other effects on health. Even international research has shown to us that mobile phones are damaging to health in the short or long term (George L.Carlo, Polly Thibodaux). Science and technology holds the advantages as well as disadvantages too. It may have transformed our life in modern life. Improve our way of living, public welfares, health and security. Brought many changes in our life but it has also made our life short. It has health effects like tiny size, minor the age, cause us stress, pain in ey e, etc. So we can hope from science and technology for better future but not a safe future. References P. Day Gary B. Shelly, Misty E. Vermont Adam Burgess George L. Carlo, Polly Thibodaux

Public international law Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3750 words

Public international law - Essay Example In establishing whether a political entity can be considered a state, these elements have to be primarily considered. Applying these elements to the assessment of Kosovo, however, is not as simple due to a host of issues involved in its bid for statehood. Nevertheless, these primary elements shall first be considered in assessing Kosovo’s claim to statehood. One of the elements of statehood is population. Population refers to the â€Å"a group of people that live in the same land or region† . In order for an entity to fulfil this requirement of statehood, its people must settle themselves at a definite place. There is an element of permanency to this population where the people are not likely to fall apart but can be expected to persist for a period of time . As far is Kosovo is concerned, it fulfils this requirement of statehood as it has a group of people living in a specific place and their population is sufficient to support state processes. Shared ethnic traditions and religions are not important elements within this group of people for as long as there are sufficient commonalities in terms of language, traditions, values, and beliefs to support harmonious relations with each other. As far as Kosovo is concerned, they share common beliefs, languages, and values as a people, with majority of the people being Albanians, speakin g in the Albanian, Serbian, Turkish, and Roma languages. Some of them are Muslims, Serbian Orthodox, and Catholics. These qualities provide sufficient groupings and commonalities among the people, groupings which are normally expected of any state or political entity. Population as an element of statehood has to be evaluated in terms of territory and government. Scholars highlight the fact that population is one of the more important elements of the state because territory and government elements are present only as a means of serving the population4. Territory defines an area which is well-defined, an area which is inhabited by the people of a state. It is usually defined by its physical borders which have long been defined by kings, emperors, and other significant government officials5. The Encyclopedia of Public International Law also defines territory as a crucial element of statehood because government authorities are endowed with the right and authority to â€Å"take measures in that specific area†6. Governments have exclusive control over their territories, one which cannot legally be intruded on by other states and political entities and states. As far as Kosovo is concerned, it also fulfils this element of statehood, as it has a defined territory where its population is based and upon which it can support its people. Government is also another element of statehood. In general, governments are made up of individuals who have been chosen by the people or by other authorities to carry out political functions and to manage state affairs7. Based on the international perspective, governments are independent entities which enforce authority over a certain population living in a territory8. Governments are usually decided by the general population and in areas where democratic processes are in place, these government officials represent the interests of the people, enforce rules, and implement policies. Various states have varying governments, and each of these types of government is mostly fashioned to fit the needs of the people. Governments have end goals in mind and most of these goals relate to providing common goods to

Austerity Measures of European Governments Essay - 1

Austerity Measures of European Governments - Essay Example As a result, it caused several problems which it was intended to resolve. With political motivations, governments of the Euro zone have developed austerity measures to demonstrate their discipline to their creditors and credit rating agencies. The governments essentially targeted government spending to reduce their budget deficits because they were directly affected by the sovereign debt crisis which made their budget deficits relative to GDP to soar significantly (Traynor and Katie Allen 2010). Therefore, the austerity measures were focused on the government, although it had significant effects on all sectors of the economy in the affected countries. Increase of taxes as part of the austerity measures is also intended for the citizens, businesses and companies of those countries. In this case, the people and businesses in the country were made to pay for the government deficit. This increased the problems of the Euro zone rather than reducing or solving them. In 2010-2011 when the a usterity measures were used, all European countries except Germany experienced an increased in public debt to GDP ratio. For instance, the public debt of Greece increased from 143% in 2010 to 165% in 2011 (Eurostat 2013). This indicates that as the budget deficits declined, the GDP growth was not sufficient to support the rising ratio of debt-to- GDP. The reason why austerity measures failed in the Euro zone is because the problems of sovereign debt crisis after the 2008 financial crisis were not caused by policy choices. Following the 2008 crisis, private sector retrenchment occurred and capital account surpluses increased. However, the austerity measures did not target these sectors. Instead, it aimed at the government; hence becoming counterproductive (Blyth 2013).

Does the study of classical management theory have any value for Essay

Does the study of classical management theory have any value for managers in business today - Essay Example Industrialization brought people from different backgrounds to work in ‘factories’ as opposed to the handicraft system under which they had worked previously in small shops or in homes (Kim et al, 1995). It was felt, therefore at the time, a strong need for efficient planning, organizing and controlling of all work related activities, a need that was the main stimulant in the formation of the principals of â€Å"Scientific Management† and â€Å"Administrative Management†. Scientific management, in its essence was based upon the improvement of productivity, while Administrative management dealt, on the whole, with the organization as an entity and primarily focused on its overall effectiveness and improvement. The implications and results of the application of these two theories were immense and profound in their times, however, with the passage of time, the debate over the productivity of the classical theory of management became heated. As newer theories, principles and model’s emerged, the number of people who were un-sure of the effectiveness of this school of thought increased in number, and while it has not yet lost all credibility, there are a significant number of people who do not believe in the principles of scientific management and administrative management anymore. This paper deals with the applicability of the classical management theory in today’s age and discusses its usefulness for the management of the modern organization. The paper presents a review of the applications of the theory in the days of its infancy and follows that with a discussion about how relevant those applications are in today’s world. As mentioned before, a product of the Industrial Revolution, the classical management theory had two major components which were scientific management and administrative management. During that era, efficiency had become a

Research project - what are the effects of multiple losses on children Essay

Research project - what are the effects of multiple losses on children with special reference to Looked After Children - Essay Example nge of background situations such as abuse, domestic violence, marital breakdown, imprisonment of a parent, poverty and mental illness of a parent and death of one or both parents, that can lead to a child becoming looked after (Richardson and Joughin, 2000, pp.3-4). When these factors are combined, multiple losses occur (Goldman, 2001, pp.28). These multiple losses include, loss of parental care, economic security, and emotional security (Goldman, 2001, pp.28-39). The literature has been found to show many omissions regarding how to tackle the issues of children suffering from multiple losses. These include, strategies that could be used to respond to the needs of LAC experiencing multiple losses in order to minimise its impact on them. The real impact of multiple losses has also been underexplored. To fill the lacunae left by the reviewed literature, a hypothetical research proposal to carry out a primary research ‘exploring the factors that contribute to multiple losses in looked after children and identify the strategies to help these children cope with these losses is put forth in the fourth chapter. This study envisages to apply a qualitative approach enabled by a semi-structured approach to data collection. The sampling method will be purposive and 25 looked after children living in different types of care institutions, who have suffered multiple losses will be interviewed. This project will be an attempt to look into the topic of multiple losses and the effects that these have upon children – paying special attention to the issue of ‘Looked After Children’. One definition of loss is that â€Å"a loss event is anything that causes†¦.harm, excessive risk, inadequate quality and excessive costs† (Latino, pp.45). Hooyman and Kramer stated that, â€Å"losses†¦. always result in deprivation of some kind; in essence, we no longer have someone or something that we used to have† (2006, pp.2). Additionally, the reason why loss matters so much is that

Data mining Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4250 words

Data mining - Research Paper Example One of the notable differences that is there between data mining and databases is the fact that in databases, stored facts are retrieved from the data store while in data mining; patterns are analyzed so that new patterns that have been previously unknown can be got. Data mining is done using data that have been stored, otherwise known as static data, while database use data which are n operation and which are updated regularly. Data mining use data which have been got at a given instance. One thing that is worth noting is that data mining has its origins in statistics rather than computer science. Although many concepts are derived from computer science, it has been argued that it shows many characteristics and has been from statistics and also has been derived from statistical urge to derive patterns which have been unknown in the past. Data mining components Data mining entails storing and managing data in a multi-dimensional database. A multi-dimensional database is perfected for use in data warehouse. It is also useful in online analytical processing (OLAP). An OLAP is a solution for giving businesses superior techniques for visualizing business metrics from different points of view. Data must be organized in a way that will allow for optimized inquiry into the data. Data mining is the process of sorting through a collection of data for the purpose of identifying patterns and using the patterns to establish relationships. With competition going tighter, organizations are becoming more sensitive to how they handle the patterns they get from the behavior of their clients. These patterns can be used for the benefit of an organization. Many of the decision making process today are based on pattern that is got from the data (Han, Kamber, Pei, 2011). For effective data mining, data must be stored, organized and managed using the latest tools. This will allow users to ask leading questions that will aid in making decisions. In managing data in a multidimensional environment, the intention is to b able to process data very quickly and get answers using the shortest time possible. This is the main gist of data mining. With this, it is possible to get facts that will lead to better decision-making. The speed is achieved by organizing data into data cubes; this shows the dimensions that are available to the user. The data will have various attributes that are associated with it. The attributes are created depending on the requirements that are required of the data. In data mining, it is important to get some pattern from the information that has been gathered (Han, Kamber, Pei, 2011). Data management is the process where important information is organized in such a way that it is easy to get some rule and convention that is happening. Forms of data mining There are many forms of data mining. Two popular forms of data mining are class description and class discrimination. The former, class description, entails features that expose some hidden ch aracteristics in a given collection of data. An example is that there could be a need to find out the patterns and the characteristics of people who buy low-end vehicles. There could be some characteristics of these people from the other people who buy expensive vehicles. On the other hand, class discrimination entails looking for features that separates two sets of objects. One example that can be given to show this is the characteristi

U05a1 Project Annotated Outline and Bibliography Essay - 1

U05a1 Project Annotated Outline and Bibliography - Essay Example 2. As explained by Beta – Research School for Operations Managements and logistics, â€Å"In the healthcare domain, explicit process specifications are often missing or not followed in practice. Research in process mining shows how specifications can be constructed from historic logs and conformance of practice to specifications can be analyzed. Process patterns play a role as abstract building blocks for processes, including the role of human performance aspects in process execution† (BETA). The above link is to the blog that relates to the several worker compensation articles and the article in this blog provides a clear insight into the issues that Tufts Medical Centre had been faced with for the lack of health and safety of the employees within the organization. This will form the base of the study and will bring out the basic reasons for the issue within the organization. This is an excellent article that has been provided and is one which provides excellent information and techniques for the operations management of the health care. This article also provides a clear insight into the long period of unnecessary treatment that a few patients need to go through and how the patients feel the issues due to the operational management lack in the organizations. This book provides excellent operation management and strategic implementation of the various tools and techniques that deal with the improvement of quality. The book is very effective and efficient as it provides an insight into the operations and also provides information relating to the improvement of the health care industry and the organizations. This website provides details of the organization in question and provides a clear insight into the world of Tuft Medical Center. The information from this website has been used to provide a clear understanding of the organization in focus. This forms a base for the paper and is an essential element of the

OLD DOMINION TRAIL BIKES Case Study Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

OLD DOMINION TRAIL BIKES Case Study - Essay Example III. Ted also tries to get good deals from his suppliers so he can realize a good margin on his bikes and accessory sales and repairs. Ted therefore looks for situations where suppliers have got more bikes in a line than they need and buys those bikes at a discount for rentals and low-ends sales while at the same time maintaining a rapport with end suppliers so that he can offer his customers the best at reasonable prices. III. The other vital process is operational process which spells out what should be done at any particular moment of the day and by who. Technology would assist by increasing efficiency in the business as well as assisting employees to manage their duties well (Qingyu, 2007). 4. Ted could make use of the internet by utilizing the following two other ways; first he could start selling his wares such as helmets, speedometers, online. In this case he would be very sensitive by using pricing as an e-business concept and thus he should be very wary of the competition and what they have in store. Ted should therefore price his wares strategically so that he can get customers Secondly Ted could also make use of the internet for researching purposes. This is what is known as value proposition and assists in describing the value that the given company provides to its customers as well as many others. He would research on what is most required by customers and the latest trends so that he can satisfy them. 5. Supply chain basically means the management of the way goods flow through an organization. Thus for Ted the flow of his products from the manufacturers to his stores and afterwards to the final consumer can effectively be manned by SCM. Thus SCM involves making a product from various parts bought from suppliers, and later on selling those products to consumers. Thus Ted could reap a lot of benefits from SCM by planning how the services(repairs, rentals) or goods(bikes, helmets, etc) he is selling will meet the

A research proposal on sporting and its personal development Essay Example for Free

A research proposal on sporting and its personal development Essay The usual playing adds little value to an individual. Sport, however, helps in the development of athletic as well as the physical abilities. Sports involve team work which adds value to the social context of an individual, the way of relationship with team members and how one perceives himself. The presence of a coach in a game helps in the control of various lessons that sportsmen learn in the field of play. The coaches help in the examination of values, designing of activities considering various results as well as leading through examples. This work will address various types of development related to sports including â€Å"physical, intellectual, social, and emotional as well as moral capabilities† (Barez 2008). Problem statement Different people have different opinions on sports and sporting activities. However, it is well known that sports lead to development of certain positive qualities including self discipline, dedication and leadership skills through the competitive participation in various events. On the other, a number of people also argue that sports do not have a positive result on character development due to the win ego. In this case, the mentality for a must win leads to unethical behaviors including excessive cheating, aggressiveness and drug abuse. This makes the real value of sports very complex and worth a discussion topic on this paper. However, the pros outdo the cons and the paper will discuss on sports as a development activity. Sports help in the physical development through balancing the mind, body as well as the spirit (Holt 2008). Literature review  In the early childhood as Bares (2008) states, sporting which is mostly in form of play helps in learning skills including running and jumping as well as balancing. This also helps in gaining and development of social, emotional, moral and cognitive competencies. This helps the children to learn the rights and the wrongs. As a result this develops the individual creativity in addition to the physical development (Bares 2008). In this case, winning is not the major factor but the child engages in sporting activities for fun, enjoyment and normal participation. In this case, success is contributed through fun and creativity. The participation in various roles under different games helps in stimulation of the child creativity and imagination. The children are in a position of exploring as well as interacting with the environment. This is in addition to testing their motor skills, interaction and solving of problem individually (Holt 2008). In the middle childhood, sporting becomes a regular activity for children. Sporting helps in development of confidence in various areas including â€Å"social, emotional, mental and physical aspects. † This helps them in mastering and neglecting the negative influences. Sporting at this level also help in cooperation and competition that are constructive. In addition, it works in the independence in solving conflicts and being responsible (Murphy 2005). During the early adolescent stage, the children experience various body developments and this could be coupled with emotional stress and instability. Sporting helps the teenagers to control their emotions and making of responsible choices. During sporting activities, the exchange of information helps in development of communication skills which helps them in expression and solving of problems (Barez 2008). Sporting helps in literal interpretation and respect where one learns to adhere to various rules. There is a schedule that must be followed for exercising and this works in building of responsibility where one should also be committed and able to persevere. During various competitions, sporting helps the teenagers to develop self control as well as respecting others where one is able to accept wins with humility as well as losing. Teammates are supportive and this with various other traits goes beyond the field to the individual ways of living (Murphy 2005). In the late adolescent, according to Barez (2008), sporting plays a major role where teenagers are involved in various decisions making including â€Å"personal relationships, higher education, vocational training and career activities. Various hardships like â€Å"unemployment, financial strains, career confusion, unsatisfactory work experiences and lack of family support† among others pose a great threat to individual life. Sporting helps in provision of increased levels of self esteem, perseverance and self discipline. Sporting helps in supporting self competence and independence. However, sporting in itself is also a career and work as source of income. Through sporting one establishes his personal goals as well as career objectives (Barez 2008). Conclusion  Sporting is a major part of personal life which helps in achievement of high life standards and expectations. First, sporting acts as a motivational tool which works in encouragement and development of effective learning methods. It helps one to have specific life goals and objectives by focusing on training goals which calls for self discipline and responsibility. One is able to work without supervision with consistency which calls for commitment for performance. One is able to undergo great perseverance and can approach problems with confidence.

Analysis of Mobile Enterprise Model Frame (SB Model)

Analysis of Mobile Enterprise Model Frame (SB Model) The first objective of this paper discusses the writers understanding of Scornavacca and Barnes (2008) mobile enterprise model frame (SB Model) and an illustration of its current usage and future implementation in the field of existing Patient management system. The second objective is to discuss the existing implementation of mobile usage in Learning of Life University (LLU) with respect mobile enterprise model of SB Model with regard to its virtual learning environment in the categories of General student administration, Teaching, learning and assessment and Assessment management and tracking. In this part the dimension and stages of mobile enterprise model will be discussed and also it relevance to the existing healthcare enterprise. Below is the figure suggested by SB model. Picture 1: Dimensions Stages of Mobile enterprise model (Scornavacca, Barnes 2008) First let use discuss what the terms Market, Process and Mobility mean in the above figure. Market: this describes how a particular feature makes customers of a company or product more attracted towards it which is also known as the value proposition. It may also consist of the experiences of business partners with respect to the product and services. Mobile Channel access it is at the lowest level which represents that mobility is largely being used in the enterprise for information. Mobile Service value it is at the middle level which represents that wireless network is being used at an intermediate level in specific areas to enhance mobility. Mobile Service creation it is at the highest level which represents that an organization is completely using wireless medium to create new service/products and improve it continuously. Process: it is the results after the processes and change adopted in the work configuration after moving to mobile application. Automation it refers to the improvement of efficiency in the current existing process after moving to mobile. Decision Support it is the knowledge gained from mobile solution which brings the effectiveness in any work process. Transformation it is the transformation of a process when moved to mobile. As the name suggests it is the organizational processes fundamental change when in mobile medium. Mobility: it describes the place independence for a job when moved to mobile which is enabled by wireless internet or a wireless solution which gives mobility to a job. Transient it is the first level where the employees move from one location to another and the basic support they get at the location they move to. Mobile it is the second level where the employees become more location independent for long period of time but still have to return back to a conventional fixed location to carry out certain functions. Remote it is the third and the highest level where an employee need not come to the conventional fixed location at all which provides complete mobility i.e., location independence. Let us discuss the dimensions and stages in the field of Health care related to Patient Appointment booking system (PABS). As far as now there is very less to nil usage of mobile technology in PABS. According to the writer of this report mobility in PABS can be represented in the mobile enterprise model as shown in Picture 2. Mobility: How independent are people/ patients to book an appointment with a doctor/GP through a mobile app using a wireless internet connection. Transient A system where patients can book a doctors appointment by visiting the hospital. Mobile A online system where patients can book a doctors appointment via conventional computer using an internet connection by sitting in a particular place. Remote A mobile system where a patient can book appointments irrespective of their current location and also pick a time as per their convenience based on the slot availability. Picture 2: PABS w.r.t SB model Process: How has the patient appointment booking system improved or how is the current situation. Automation If PABS is moved to mobile then patients save ample lot of time which they can invest on some other productive work. It also helps hospitals to hire staff particular for appointments or they can use the existing staff in other administration work. It saves time of both patient and hospital. Information A online PABS can be used by people to book appointments where in hospital can get information about the patient even before they arrive at the hospital. Transformation A mobile PABS is present where in people can book appointments whenever they want by being location independent and having an internet connection. The mobile system can also be transformed when the patient is able to postpone or cancel the booked appointment if needed and that gives out notification for the urgent patients who can mark themselves as urgent if they need such notifications and those newly created slots can be used on the basis of first come first serve or the notification might also be sent based on the criticality or the urgency level. Market: How patient appointment booking system increases the value of a hospital, by making it easy for patients to use a mobile system. This stage also shows how new features added to the mobile system would make patients more attracted towards using the application and getting themselves involved with their doctor/GP/hospital. Mobile channel access A mobile system which largely provides only information about the doctor/GP/Hospital without any other services. As it gives only information it is placed at the lowest level. Mobile Service value A mobile system which is present where in patients can book appointments through a mobile application. Mobile Service Creation A mobile system which can be used to book appointments and also many more operations as mentioned in the transformation stage of process dimensions. Below picture shows the transformation which can be made by the suggestions given in the illustration in PABS. Picture 3: SB Model when improved with given suggestions for PABS REFLECT ON CURRENT SITUATION Currently Learning of Life University (LLU) uses an electronic student record to keep track of all the new and continuing students and their details including their degree and modules, attendance record and academic performance i.e. results of the modules they study; which seems to be an old method when compared with the current technologies in the market. Coming to the teaching, learning and assessment part LLU provides notes and assessment online but it will still need the tutors and students to use a traditional computer which will acquire space and also people will need a particular device to use the resources. Now towards the asset management and tracking of university resources; LLU uses field staff to keep track of the device usage by seeing the usage logs of devices which is a very old method of doing when we have new softwares and sensor devices to do that such as logging software RFID sensors and many more whose data can be accessed by using a mobile device. Almost all the tasks done by university administration staff is very manual related to keeping track of student records, university assets such as computers, library books etc. So, as a consultant we can represent the current situation of LLU in SB Model as shown below for the above discussed 3 areas. Picture 4: LLUs Current situation with all three areas Why the company thinks that LLU lies in the above-mentioned area with considering all three areas of study is because all three areas do not have a mobile system where in the students, tutors, administrators or the field staff could do their work without being location independent. WHY MOVE TO MOBILE AND ITS IMPACTS As a consultant company, we would like to suggest LLU to use Cloud Computing (CC) which provides educators and learners to access resources form anywhere and at any time. The main advantage of this is that it is low cost for implementation and its infrastructure for LLU. The rapid changes in e-learning technologies are not being adopted by education institutions due to the infrastructure limitations which are being avoided due to the high cost to use multimedia content which also includes the institutions resources and a tutors skills in using a e-learning platform. So, as a consultant company we would like to tell you the advantages and future potential of moving to mobile e-learning platform which includes CC as well which is of low cost. Mobile devices such as smartphones, tablets etc. can make great benefit of the resources available on cloud. And mobile devices enable the users to access resources such as notes, presentations, assessment guidelines, lectures, tutorials, information about seminars, lab sessions etc. anytime and anyplace. A mobile application will enable the users to access the resources, download it to their mobile device, which will access the cloud when required later, and it makes it easy for students and other staff of LLU as they can use technologies like WiFi or LTE or 3G. It is also to be noted that it would be a big transformation to LLU as well; as CC is a disruptive technology and it will impact education in a very positive manner when utilized. The most important positive impacts when moved to a mobile system with cloud are as follows (Veerabhadram Conradie, 2013). An application on cloud can be used by any number of mobile devices irrespective of the mobile service provider or phone. University can avoid the hassle of maintaining the servers and it will be easy for the LLU to scale the application as well and it could concentrate only on the development of a mobile system to access the cloud resources. Mobile devices may not have the space required on the device to keep all the resources required so CC can provide good functionality and also determine what data a device can access. Mobile devices can be lost or damaged or stolen, but having a cloud infrastructure data can be preserved, as the data is stored on cloud rather than a device or server. Some of the characteristics of cloud learning are as follows (Wang W.P. Ng, 2012). Universal accessibility As long as one has internet access via a mobile, tablet, PC, or even TV, Students can study. As all the data, applications, softwares run on servers in cloud it opens to new possibilities to provide low-cost terminal access to everyone. Collaborative interactions From continuous interactions with tutors and fellow students, students can build their knowledge as they can co-operate in cloud anywhere, anytime. Sharing and Storing Documents on cloud can be edited commonly via services like Google Docs, Dropbox, office Live, sky drive and share the same on a cloud server. And cloud also allows to store unlimited data in its storage. Learner Centred -ÂÂ   Students can select the resources they need from cloud and keep track of their progress as well as cloud is learner centric and individual learner needs are met. As a consultant company, we would like to give a 4 stage Cloud based learning model for LLU based on analysing the three areas of importance (Wang W.P. Ng, 2012). Learning stage How students learn has evolved from traditional class room to e-Learning to mobile Learning. With this evolution, intelligent learning systems have been developed to support many ways of learning such as e-Books, Audio Books, Video lessons etc. So, at the end of the day it is the choice of the student to pick the mode they want. And to store all these types of resources a smart cloud would be helpful. Communication or Interaction stage for a student to learn something, interaction is very important and it also is very important in mobile learning. It would require instructor and peer collaboration and guidance to stay on track. Cloud based system will also provide a forum where students can interact with their tutors and fellow students where they can share their learning, asking some FAQs and these questions and answers will be stored in a cloud database which can be easily searchable. Assessment Stage This is one of the important stage in a learning process. It ensures that a student has learnt the module and also its outcomes. In the old traditional class room learning; assessment can be done only via a test where as a mobile environment enables various means to assess the learning objectives and outcomes of a student with methods like report-writing, producing an artefact etc., through which a student can be assessed and be helped with their learning outcomes. Analysis Stage With the usual class room it will be impossible to analyse a students performance for tutors and recommend them with an appropriate learning materials or methods. A cloud based mobile class room can be used to get statistical analysis of learning outcomes and suggest appropriate learning materials and methods. An analysis of learning methods, styles, activities and behaviours can be done by the tutor to recommend an individual student a proper learning method. The next problem to solve would be for the administrators to do their jobs, by them being connected to the cloud database of students being enrolled to LLU the administrators need not stick to one place they can move around the entire campus with their mobile device to solve the queries of every student related to their university admissions and many more. The final problem is of asset management and tracking, as said already that the cloud can store unlimited data, so it will be easy to link LLUs assets to the cloud database and keep track of all the logs and usage statistics and also keep track which use uses which device the more or moreover which asset is more in demand. Now, lets discus how the recommended idea from the consultant company underpins the SB Model with respect to its dimensions and stages of mobility. Mobility As the recommended system is cloud and can be used in any device at any point of time and from any place without location dependence the recommended system would be in Remote stage. Process With the change to cloud tutors, students and administrators can use any device, from any place and at any time to carry out their daily task and it is a big transformation for all. Market With all the changes being made by moving to mobile by creating a new service with a great value a wireless device can be used by students to study, tutors to answer questions and administrators to do their job form anywhere, anytime, anyplace. RISKS AND ISSUES Many of the big business companies such as Google and Microsoft are offering free cloud services for educational institutions which gets rid of commercial risk. So, there wouldnt be any commercial risk but LLU has to maintain the cloud which comes with a price. Legal, social and ethical issue would be related to securing personal data of the users as it is cloud and security of data is one of the big concern. Strong user authentication system would be a solution for securing user data. Picture 5: Basic Structure of the recommended Cloud based structure(Erel, 2014) Picture 4 shows the Mobile computing architecture with variety of devices which can be used by anyone related to the university to access the university resources via any device of their choice. Providing a proxy for all the mobile devices one can use as shown in Picture 4 such as a laptop, smartphone, tablet is the main goal of the architecture proposed for mobile CC for LLU. Picture 6: Mobile CC Architecture(filipdevelter, 2015) (Cloud services, cloud computing, cloud solutions Mumbai, India, 2016) Picture 5 gives an overview of the architecture of the mobile CC platform and also clouds main features. We can say that the mobile CC consists of three main parts, mobile client i.e. the device we use to access the cloud data, middleware which is responsible to provide access to cloud based on device used and it is also responsible to give instant updates of services to mobile devices and the cloud services. Minimizing the limitations of present e-Learning in LLU by utilizing the proposed mobile CC system is the main focus, which utilizes all the advantages CC can offer. LLU can use the CC for education which provides all requirements to process and store data, all data needed by students is provided by the cloud, and mobile CC allows the user to use device of their own choice as shown in the picture below. Picture 7: Mobile Cloud Computing architecture for Education(Veerabhadram Conradie, 2013) LAYERS IN CLOUD LEARNING SYSTEM Information Infrastructure and teaching resources forms the infrastructure layer and it contains internet, software, hardware as shown in Picture 6. It is the lowest layer in the cloud system, CPU is present in this layer i.e. the server. New hosts can be added to enhance the system as the system is scalable and dynamic. Picture 7 depicts it clearly (Masud Huang, 2012). Picture 8: Proposed Infrastructure layer Software(s/w) layer consists of the operating system of the cloud system and the middleware. Numerous software resources can be integrated into the middleware to provide an interface for s/w developers to develop applications and embed them in cloud for users to use. Resource layer achieves the coupling of software and hardware. On-demand and s/w for various devices can be integrated by virtualization and CC. Service layer consists of 3 layers, SaaS (Software as a service), PaaS (Platform as a service), IaaS (Infrastructure as a service). SaaS is the best as it need not be maintained or upgraded, its just pay monthly. Application layer is where the teaching resources are integrated in cloud which also includes interactive courses. BENEFITS OF CLOUD ARCHITECTURE High Storage capacity Computing power High availability security Virtualisation Managing and delivering resources from Cloud is one of the most compelling paradigm over the internet. Utility computing has been turned into reality by the rise in CC. Current economic situation and increase in Educational resources have made universities to adopt CC and also there are proofs that the expenses are decreasing due to cloud solutions. References (2016) Cloud services, cloud computing, cloud solutions Mumbai, India [online] Available from: http://www.comprompt.co.in/services/cloud-services/. [Accessed: 4 December 2016]. EREL, O. (2014) Important concepts of cloud computing Middleware architecture [online] Available from: http://saasaddict.walkme.com/important-concepts-cloud-computing-middleware-architecture/. [Accessed: 4 December 2016]. FILIPDEVELTER (2015) Back-up maken [online] Available from: http://www.neonomen.be/2015/10/26/een-back-up-is-niet-genoeg/. [Accessed: 4 December 2016]. HAOLIANG, W. et al. (2010) The Application of ID Authentication Safety System in Campus Mobile Education. International Conference on Computer Application and System Modeling. 13. pp. 519-522. MASUD, A. HOSSAIN HUANG, X. (2012) An E-learning System Architecture based on Cloud Computing. World Academy of Science, Engineering and Technology. 6. ÃÆ'-STLUND, S., PANCHENKO, A. ENGEL, T. (2015) A study on ethical aspects and legal issues in e-learning. International Conference on e-Learning. pp. 280-286. SCORNAVACCA, E. BARNES, S. J. (2008) The strategic value of enterprise mobility: Case study insights. Information Knowledge Systems Management. 7. pp. 227-241. VEERABHADRAM, P. CONRADIE, P. (2013) Mobile Cloud Framework Architecture for Education Institutions. Science and Information Conference. pp. 924-927. WANG, M. W.P. NG, J. (2012) Intelligent Mobile Cloud Education. IEEE Eighth International Conference on Intelligent Environments. pp. 149-156.

An Analysis of Neil Young’s Pono Music Player Essay -- Pono Music Play

Introduction The researcher’s objective in this paper is to address the issue of the compromise that has been occurring throughout the years, wherein music producers are forced to present material to their audience in simplified, compressed forms. In particular, the researcher would like to dissect Neil Young’s most current innovation – the Pono music player, and analyze whether or not its attempts at aiding this audiophiliac dilemma poses potential success. The researcher also aims to look at whether or not the general public presents a need for this type of product, seeing as there are numerous portable music players already accessible on the market. Over the course of several decades, the engineer’s mind has proven adamant in its attempts at producing and delivering high-fidelity music to the general public. Canadian musician, Neil Young identifies with this statement as he reveals his latest addition to the gallery of high-resolution music players – the Pono music player. With numerous products containing a similar concept available in the market, Young and the investors of this project are faced with the question of whether or not there is a need for another device of this nature, and whether or not the general public recognizes the same musical dilemma of having to listen compromised-quality audio. â€Å"Pono† takes its name from the Hawaiian term for â€Å"righteous† or â€Å"goodness.† In a speech Canadian singer/song-writer, Neil Young gave during the 2014 South By Southwest Festival in Texas, he explains that Pono is potentially a great way to serve music to an artist’s audience in the best quality possible: the quality in which producer wishes for it to be heard. The body of literature on management of technology and inno... ... Mar. 2014. Web. 19 Apr. 2014. . Baldwin, Y. C. The Architecture of Platforms: A Unified View. In Platforms, Markets and Innovation. Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar Limited, 2009. Print. Den Uijl, Simon, Henk J. de Vries, and Deniz Bayramoglu. "The rise of MP3 as the market standard: how compressed audio files became the dominant music format." International Journal of IT Standards and Standardization Research 11.1 (2013): 1+. J Josephson, I. "NPD Music Year in Review. J." (2005): In Proceedings of the NARM. n. pag. 04 Apr. 2005. Web. Langlois, R.N., and P.L. Robertson. "Networks and Innovation in a Modular System: Lessons from the Microcomputer and Stereo Component Industries." Research Policy, 21, 297-313. Doi:10.1016/00487333(92)90030-8., 1992. Web.

Math Lesson Plan :: essays research papers

Lesson Plan Guide Topic: Math (To investigate and explore multiplication facts) Objectives In this activity, students will investigate and explore multiplication facts. The students will: †¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Work in groups to device a plan for making a multiplication matrix †¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Construct a multiplication matrix †¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Reflect on the patterns they observe in the matrix Material For each group †¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  1 cm grid paper †¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  full sheets of paper †¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  glue †¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  scissors For the class †¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  36† X 48† butcher paper Preparation †¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Make approximately 10 copies of 1 cm grid paper on colored paper for each group of students. †¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Cut one piece of 36† X 48† butcher paper. †¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Start the multiplication matrix by placing four or five rectangles on the matrix. Procedure a.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Mini-lesson: †¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  I will begin the lesson by showing the class the multiplication chart I prepared. I will ask pivotal questions to start a discussion, â€Å"What do you think this chart shows†?, â€Å"What do the side numbers mean†? †¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  I will point to a rectangle and ask, â€Å"What can you tell me about this rectangle†? †¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  I will hold up a grid paper rectangle with 4 rows of 6 and ask, â€Å"How many rows are in this rectangle?, How many squares in each row?, How many in all†? †¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  I will then ask the students â€Å"Where do you think this rectangle belongs on the chart†? (I will encourage students to use the â€Å"rows of† language to help in determining the placement of rectangles on the chart). †¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Next, I will say â€Å"Today you will be working in groups to create a multiplication matrix†. †¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  I will tell students that they need to devise a plan to make sure that all of the rectangles they need to show will fit on the butcher paper. †¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  I will point to an empty space on the matrix and ask, â€Å"What will the rectangle for this space look like?, What equation will you write on it†? †¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  We will discuss how although 2 X 4 and 4 X 2 have the same product, the two problems mean different things. b.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Group Work: †¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  As students work together to construct the multiplication matrix I will visit with groups and ask some of the following questions: 1.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  What part of the matrix are you working on now? 2.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  How did you organize the cutting? 3.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Were there any problems? Tell me about them. 4.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Did you change your strategy? 5.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Did you find tricks to make the cutting faster? Show me what you did.

Beyond The Horizon And Diffrent By Eugene Oneill :: essays research papers fc

Beyond The Horizon and Diff'rent by Eugene O'Neill In Beyond the Horizon and Diff'rent, Eugene O'Neill reveals that dreams are necessary to sustain life. Through the use of the characters Robert Mayo, Andrew Mayo, Ruth and Emma Crosby, O'Neill proves that without dreams, man could not exist. Each of his characters are dependent on their dreams, as they feed their destiny. When they deny their dreams, they deny their destiny, altering their lives forever. O'Neill also points out, that following your dreams, brings you true happiness, something all of his characters do not experience. The characters of Rob, Andy and Emma are stripped of their dreams and their destinies, by the ones who profess to love them. Rob and Andy unknowingly allowed Ruth to lead them down a path, they were not meant to travel. Emma is the same as Rob and Andrew in this respect, because she let Caleb's actions control her ability to follow her dream. Rob is a dreamer. His only wish is to go `beyond the horizon' and discover the mystery of life. Andy, however, is Rob's opposite. Andrew is practical and down-to-earth. His deepest desire is to spend his life farming. "One constructs the world out of fact, the other out of pure imagination." Rob's quest is strange to Andy; it goes beyond anything he can comprehend. Andrew, who is "A Mayo through and through." does not think in the imaginative terms Rob does. "It's just beauty that's calling me-the beauty of the far off and unknown...in quest of the secret which is hidden over there, beyond the horizon." (Horizon, 85) Andy does understand, that his brother could never be happy living on the farm, because his heart is elsewhere. Emma is like Rob in a few ways. Both characters have idealistic views. Rob believes in the secret beyond the horizon and Emma in Caleb's fidelity. Neither of them consider the fact things may not be as they perceive them. For Emma, this innocence is her undoing. Emma considers Caleb to be `diff'rent'. This difference is what makes him special to her. She trusts he will always be this way and that they will always have a future. "But you're diff'rent. You just got to be diff'rent from the rest." Andrew is not like Rob or Emma. He is always logical. He considers Rob's dreams to be a result of his College education, something Andy does not have. Andy has no desire to go anywhere beyond the farm, because it has everything he needs. He is the one to tell Rob that "we've got all you're looking for right on this farm.

10 Worst Computer Viruses of All Time

10 Worst Computer Viruses of All Time Computer viruses can be a nightmare. Some can wipe out the information on a hard drive, tie up traffic on a computer network for hours, turn an innocent machine into a zombie and replicate and send themselves to other computers. If you've never had a machine fall victim to a computer virus, you may wonder what the fuss is about. But the concern is understandable — according to Consumer Reports, computer viruses helped contribute to $8. 5 billion in consumer losses in 2008 [source: MarketWatch]. Computer viruses are just one kind of online threat, but they're arguably the best known of the bunch.Computer viruses have been around for many years. In fact, in 1949, a scientist named John von Neumann theorized that a self-replicated program was possible [source: Krebs]. The computer industry wasn't even a decade old, and already someone had figured out how to throw a monkey wrench into the figurative gears. But it took a few decades before prog rammers known as hackers began to build computer viruses. While some pranksters created virus-like programs for large computer systems, it was really the introduction of the personal computer that brought computer viruses to the public's attention.A doctoral student named Fred Cohen was the first to describe self-replicating programs designed to modify computers as viruses. The name has stuck ever since. |Old-school Viruses | |Some of the earliest viruses to infect personal computers included the Apple Viruses, which attacked Apple II computers | |and the Brain virus, which could infect PCs. | In the good old days (i. e. , the early 1980s), viruses depended on humans to do the hard work of spreading the virus to other computers. A hacker would save the virus to disks and then distribute the disks to other people.It wasn't until modems became common that virus transmission became a real problem. Today when we think of a computer virus, we usually imagine something that transmits itse lf via the Internet. It might infect computers through e-mail messages or corrupted Web links. Programs like these can spread much faster than the earliest computer viruses. We're going to take a look at 10 of the worst computer viruses to cripple a computer system. Let's start with the Melissa virus. Worst Computer Virus 10: Melissa In the spring of 1999, a man named David L. Smith created a computer virus based on a Microsoft Word macro.He built the virus so that it could spread through e-mail messages. Smith named the virus â€Å"Melissa,† saying that he named it after an exotic dancer from Florida [source: CNN]. [pic] Daniel Hulshizer/AFP/Getty Images A courtroom photo of David L. Smith, the alleged creator of the Melissa virus. Rather than shaking its moneymaker, the Melissa computer virus tempts recipients into opening a document with an e-mail message like â€Å"Here is that document you asked for, don't show it to anybody else. † Once activated, the virus repli cates itself and sends itself out to the top 50 people in the recipient's e-mail address book.The virus spread rapidly after Smith unleashed it on the world. The United States federal government became very interested in Smith's work — according to statements made by FBI officials to Congress, the Melissa virus â€Å"wreaked havoc on government and private sector networks† [source: FBI]. The increase in e-mail traffic forced some companies to discontinue e-mail programs until the virus was contained. After a lengthy trial process, Smith lost his case and received a 20-month jail sentence. The court also fined Smith $5,000 and forbade him from accessing computer networks without court authorization [source: BBC].Ultimately, the Melissa virus didn't cripple the Internet, but it was one of the first computer viruses to get the public's attention. Flavors of Viruses In this article, we'll look at several different kinds of computer viruses. Here's a quick guide to what we' ll see: †¢ The general term computer virus usually covers programs that modify how a computer works (including damaging the computer) and can self-replicate. A true computer virus requires a host program to run properly — Melissa used a Word document. †¢ A worm, on the other hand, doesn't require a host program.It's an application that can replicate itself and send itself through computer networks. †¢ Trojan horses are programs that claim to do one thing but really do another. Some might damage a victim's hard drive. Others can create a backdoor, allowing a remote user to access the victim's computer system. Next, we'll look at a virus that had a sweet name but a nasty effect on its victims. Worst Computer Virus 9: ILOVEYOU A year after the Melissa virus hit the Internet, a digital menace emerged from the Philippines. Unlike the Melissa virus, this threat came in the form of a worm — it was a standalone program capable of replicating itself.It bore the n ame ILOVEYOU. [pic] Robyn Beck/AFP/Getty Images A screenshot of the ILOVEYOU computer virus The ILOVEYOU virus initially traveled the Internet by e-mail, just like the Melissa virus. The subject of the e-mail said that the message was a love letter from a secret admirer. An attachment in the e-mail was what caused all the trouble. The original worm had the file name of LOVE-LETTER-FOR-YOU. TXT. vbs. The vbs extension pointed to the language the hacker used to create the worm: Visual Basic Scripting [source: McAfee].According to anti-virus software producer McAfee, the ILOVEYOU virus had a wide range of attacks: †¢ It copied itself several times and hid the copies in several folders on the victim's hard drive. †¢ It added new files to the victim's registry keys. †¢ It replaced several different kinds of files with copies of itself. †¢ It sent itself through Internet Relay Chat clients as well as e-mail. †¢ It downloaded a file called WIN-BUGSFIX. EXE from the Internet and executed it. Rather than fix bugs, this program was a password-stealing application that e-mailed secret information to the hacker's e-mail address.Who created the ILOVEYOU virus? Some think it was Onel de Guzman of the Philippines. Filipino authorities investigated de Guzman on charges of theft — at the time the Philippines had no computer espionage or sabotage laws. Citing a lack of evidence, the Filipino authorities dropped the charges against de Guzman, who would neither confirm nor deny his responsibility for the virus. According to some estimates, the ILOVEYOU virus caused $10 billion in damages [source: Landler]. Gotcha! As if viruses, worms and Trojan horses weren't enough, we also have to worry about virus hoaxes.These are fake viruses — they don't actually cause any harm or replicate themselves. Instead, the creators of these viruses hope that people and media companies treat the hoax as if it were the real deal. Even though these hoaxes aren't immediately dangerous, they are still a problem. Like the boy who cried wolf, hoax viruses can cause people to ignore warnings about real threats. Now that the love fest is over, let's take a look at one of the most widespread viruses to hit the Web. Worst Computer Virus 8: The Klez Virus [pic] Joe Raedle/Getty Images Fortunately for consumers, there's no shortage of antivirus software suites on the market.The Klez virus marked a new direction for computer viruses, setting the bar high for those that would follow. It debuted in late 2001, and variations of the virus plagued the Internet for several months. The basic Klez worm infected a victim's computer through an e-mail message, replicated itself and then sent itself to people in the victim's address book. Some variations of the Klez virus carried other harmful programs that could render a victim's computer inoperable. Depending on the version, the Klez virus could act like a normal computer virus, a worm or a Trojan horse.It coul d even disable virus-scanning software and pose as a virus-removal tool [source: Symantec]. Shortly after it appeared on the Internet, hackers modified the Klez virus in a way that made it far more effective. Like other viruses, it could comb through a victim's address book and send itself to contacts. But it could also take another name from the contact list and place that address in the â€Å"From† field in the e-mail client. It's called spoofing — the e-mail appears to come from one source when it's really coming from somewhere else. Spoofing an e-mail address accomplishes a couple of goals.For one thing, it doesn't do the recipient of the e-mail any good to block the person in the â€Å"From† field, since the e-mails are really coming from someone else. A Klez worm programmed to spam people with multiple e-mails could clog an inbox in short order, because the recipients would be unable to tell what the real source of the problem was. Also, the e-mail's recip ient might recognize the name in the â€Å"From† field and therefore be more receptive to opening it. Antivirus Software It's important to have an antivirus program on your computer, and to keep it up to date.But you shouldn't use more than one suite, as multiple antivirus programs can interfere with one another. Here's a list of some antivirus software suites: †¢ Avast Antivirus †¢ AVG Anti-Virus †¢ Kaspersky Anti-Virus †¢ McAfee VirusScan †¢ Norton AntiVirus Several major computer viruses debuted in 2001. In the next section, we'll take a look at Code Red. Worst Computer Virus 7: Code Red and Code Red II [pic] Chris Hondros/Getty Images The CERT Coordination Center at Carnegie-Mellon university published an advisory alerting the public to the dangers of the Code Red virus. The Code Red and Code Red II worms popped up in the summer of 2001.Both worms exploited an operating system vulnerability that was found in machines running Windows 2000 and Windo ws NT. The vulnerability was a buffer overflow problem, which means when a machine running on these operating systems receives more information than its buffers can handle, it starts to overwrite adjacent memory. The original Code Red worm initiated a distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack on the White House. That means all the computers infected with Code Red tried to contact the Web servers at the White House at the same time, overloading the machines.A Windows 2000 machine infected by the Code Red II worm no longer obeys the owner. That's because the worm creates a backdoor into the computer's operating system, allowing a remote user to access and control the machine. In computing terms, this is a system-level compromise, and it's bad news for the computer's owner. The person behind the virus can access information from the victim's computer or even use the infected computer to commit crimes. That means the victim not only has to deal with an infected computer, but also may fall under suspicion for crimes he or she didn't commit.While Windows NT machines were vulnerable to the Code Red worms, the viruses' effect on these machines wasn't as extreme. Web servers running Windows NT might crash more often than normal, but that was about as bad as it got. Compared to the woes experienced by Windows 2000 users, that's not so bad. Microsoft released software patches that addressed the security vulnerability in Windows 2000 and Windows NT. Once patched, the original worms could no longer infect a Windows 2000 machine; however, the patch didn't remove viruses from infected computers — victims had to do that themselves.What do I do now? What should you do if you find out your computer has been hit with a computer virus? That depends on the virus. Many antivirus programs are able to remove viruses from an infected system. But if the virus has damaged some of your files or data, you'll need to restore from backups. It's very important to back up your inform ation often. And with viruses like the Code Red worms, it's a good idea to completely reformat the hard drive and start fresh. Some worms allow other malicious software to load onto your machine, and a simple antivirus sweep might not catch them all.Worst Computer Virus 6: Nimda [pic] SMobile Systems The Symbian Skull Virus affects cell phones, causing them to display a series of skull images like this. Another virus to hit the Internet in 2001 was the Nimda (which is admin spelled backwards) worm. Nimda spread through the Internet rapidly, becoming the fastest propagating computer virus at that time. In fact, according to TruSecure CTO Peter Tippett, it only took 22 minutes from the moment Nimda hit the Internet to reach the top of the list of reported attacks [source: Anthes]. The Nimda worm's primary targets were Internet servers.While it could infect a home PC, its real purpose was to bring Internet traffic to a crawl. It could travel through the Internet using multiple methods, including e-mail. This helped spread the virus across multiple servers in record time. The Nimda worm created a backdoor into the victim's operating system. It allowed the person behind the attack to access the same level of functions as whatever account was logged into the machine currently. In other words, if a user with limited privileges activated the worm on a computer, the attacker would also have limited access to the computer's functions.On the other hand, if the victim was the administrator for the machine, the attacker would have full control. The spread of the Nimda virus caused some network systems to crash as more of the system's resources became fodder for the worm. In effect, the Nimda worm became a distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack. Phoning it In Not all computer viruses focus on computers. Some target other electronic devices. Here's just a small sample of some highly portable viruses: †¢ CommWarrior attacked smartphones running the Symbian operating system (OS). The Skulls Virus also attacked Symbian phones and displayed screens of skulls instead of a home page on the victims' phones. †¢ RavMonE. exe is a virus that could infect iPod MP3 devices made between Sept. 12, 2006, and Oct. 18, 2006. †¢ Fox News reported in March 2008 that some electronic gadgets leave the factory with viruses pre-installed — these viruses attack your computer when you sync the device with your machine [source: Fox News]. Next, we'll take a look at a virus that affected major networks, including airline computers and bank ATMs. Worst Computer Virus 5: SQL Slammer/Sapphire pic] Chung Sung-Jun/Getty Images The Slammer virus hit South Korea hard, cutting it off from the Internet and leaving Internet cafes like this one relatively empty. In late January 2003, a new Web server virus spread across the Internet. Many computer networks were unprepared for the attack, and as a result the virus brought down several important systems. The Bank o f America's ATM service crashed, the city of Seattle suffered outages in 911 service and Continental Airlines had to cancel several flights due to electronic ticketing and check-in errors.The culprit was the SQL Slammer virus, also known as Sapphire. By some estimates, the virus caused more than $1 billion in damages before patches and antivirus software caught up to the problem [source: Lemos]. The progress of Slammer's attack is well documented. Only a few minutes after infecting its first Internet server, the Slammer virus was doubling its number of victims every few seconds. Fifteen minutes after its first attack, the Slammer virus infected nearly half of the servers that act as the pillars of the Internet [source: Boutin].The Slammer virus taught a valuable lesson: It's not enough to make sure you have the latest patches and antivirus software. Hackers will always look for a way to exploit any weakness, particularly if the vulnerability isn't widely known. While it's still impo rtant to try and head off viruses before they hit you, it's also important to have a worst-case-scenario plan to fall back on should disaster strike. A Matter of Timing Some hackers program viruses to sit dormant on a victim's computer only to unleash an attack on a specific date.Here's a quick sample of some famous viruses that had time triggers: †¢ The Jerusalem virus activated every Friday the 13th to destroy data on the victim computer's hard drive †¢ The Michelangelo virus activated on March 6, 1992 — Michelangelo was born on March 6, 1475 †¢ The Chernobyl virus activated on April 26, 1999 — the 13th anniversary of the Chernobyl meltdown disaster †¢ The Nyxem virus delivered its payload on the third of every month, wiping out files on the victim's computer Computer viruses can make a victim feel helpless, vulnerable and despondent.Next, we'll look at a virus with a name that evokes all three of those feelings. Worst Computer Virus 4: MyDoom [pi c] Alex Wong/Getty Images The MyDoom virus inspired politicians like U. S. Senator Chuck Schumer to propose a National Virus Response Center. The MyDoom (or Novarg) virus is another worm that can create a backdoor in the victim computer's operating system. The original MyDoom virus — there have been several variants — had two triggers. One trigger caused the virus to begin a denial of service (DoS) attack starting Feb. 1, 2004. The second trigger commanded the virus to stop distributing itself on Feb. 2, 2004. Even after the virus stopped spreading, the backdoors created during the initial infections remained active [source: Symantec]. Later that year, a second outbreak of the MyDoom virus gave several search engine companies grief. Like other viruses, MyDoom searched victim computers for e-mail addresses as part of its replication process. But it would also send a search request to a search engine and use e-mail addresses found in the search results. Eventually, searc h engines like Google began to receive millions of search requests from corrupted computers.These attacks slowed down search engine services and even caused some to crash [source: Sullivan]. MyDoom spread through e-mail and peer-to-peer networks. According to the security firm MessageLabs, one in every 12 e-mail messages carried the virus at one time [source: BBC]. Like the Klez virus, MyDoom could spoof e-mails so that it became very difficult to track the source of the infection. Oddball Viruses Not all viruses cause severe damage to computers or destroy networks. Some just cause computers to act in odd ways. An early virus called Ping-Pong created a bouncing ball graphic, but didn't seriously damage the infected computer.There are several joke programs that might make a computer owner think his or her computer is infected, but they're really harmless applications that don't self-replicate. When in doubt, it's best to let an antivirus program remove the application. Next, we'll ta ke a look at a pair of viruses created by the same hacker: the Sasser and Netsky viruses Worst Computer Virus 3: Sasser and Netsky [pic] David Hecker/AFP/Getty Images Sven Jaschan, creator of the Sasser and Netsky viruses, leaves the Verden Court. Sometimes computer virus programmers escape detection.But once in a while, authorities find a way to track a virus back to its origin. Such was the case with the Sasser and Netsky viruses. A 17-year-old German named Sven Jaschan created the two programs and unleashed them onto the Internet. While the two worms behaved in different ways, similarities in the code led security experts to believe they both were the work of the same person. The Sasser worm attacked computers through a Microsoft Windows vulnerability. Unlike other worms, it didn't spread through e-mail. Instead, once the virus infected a computer, it looked for other vulnerable systems.It contacted those systems and instructed them to download the virus. The virus would scan ran dom IP addresses to find potential victims. The virus also altered the victim's operating system in a way that made it difficult to shut down the computer without cutting off power to the system. The Netsky virus moves through e-mails and Windows networks. It spoofs e-mail addresses and propagates through a 22,016-byte file attachment [source: CERT]. As it spreads, it can cause a denial of service (DoS) attack as systems collapse while trying to handle all the Internet traffic.At one time, security experts at Sophos believed Netsky and its variants accounted for 25 percent of all computer viruses on the Internet [source: Wagner]. Sven Jaschan spent no time in jail; he received a sentence of one year and nine months of probation. Because he was under 18 at the time of his arrest, he avoided being tried as an adult in German courts. Black Hats Just as you'd find good and bad witches in Oz, you can find good and bad hackers in our world. One common term for a hacker who sets out to cre ate computer viruses or compromise system security is a black hat.Some hackers attend conventions like the Black Hat conference or Defcon to discuss the impact of black hats and how they use vulnerabilities in computer security systems to commit crimes. So far, most of the viruses we've looked at target PCs running Windows. But Macintosh computers aren't immune to computer virus attacks. In the next section, we'll take a look at the first virus to commit a Mac attack. Worst Computer Virus 2: Leap-A/Oompa-A [pic] Kevin Mazur Archive 1/WireImage/Getty Images We can thank â€Å"Weird Al† Yankovic for warning us of the dreaded â€Å"Stinky Cheese† virus.Maybe you've seen the ad in Apple's Mac computer marketing campaign where Justin â€Å"I'm a Mac† Long consoles John â€Å"I'm a PC† Hodgman. Hodgman comes down with a virus and points out that there are more than 100,000 viruses that can strike a computer. Long says that those viruses target PCs, not Mac comp uters. For the most part, that's true. Mac computers are partially protected from virus attacks because of a concept called security through obscurity. Apple has a reputation for keeping its operating system (OS) and hardware a closed system — Apple produces both the hardware and the software.This keeps the OS obscure. Traditionally, Macs have been a distant second to PCs in the home computer market. A hacker who creates a virus for the Mac won't hit as many victims as he or she would with a virus for PCs. But that hasn't stopped at least one Mac hacker. In 2006, the Leap-A virus, also known as Oompa-A, debuted. It uses the iChat instant messaging program to propagate across vulnerable Mac computers. After the virus infects a Mac, it searches through the iChat contacts and sends a message to each person on the list.The message contains a corrupted file that appears to be an innocent JPEG image. The Leap-A virus doesn't cause much harm to computers, but it does show that even a Mac computer can fall prey to malicious software. As Mac computers become more popular, we'll probably see more hackers create customized viruses that could damage files on the computer or snarl network traffic. Hodgman's character may yet have his revenge. Breaking into Song While computer viruses can pose a serious threat to computer systems and Internet traffic, sometimes the media overstates the impact of a particular virus.For example, the Michelangelo virus gained a great deal of media attention, but the actual damage caused by the virus was pretty small. That might have been the inspiration for the song â€Å"Virus Alert† by â€Å"Weird Al† Yankovic. The song warns listeners of a computer virus called Stinky Cheese that not only wipes out your computer's hard drive, but also forces you to listen to Jethro Tull songs and legally change your name to Reggie. We're down to the end of the list. What computer virus has landed the number one spot? Worst Computer Viru s 1: Storm WormThe latest virus on our list is the dreaded Storm Worm. It was late 2006 when computer security experts first identified the worm. The public began to call the virus the Storm Worm because one of the e-mail messages carrying the virus had as its subject â€Å"230 dead as storm batters Europe. † Antivirus companies call the worm other names. For example, Symantec calls it Peacomm while McAfee refers to it as Nuwar. This might sound confusing, but there's already a 2001 virus called the W32. Storm. Worm. The 2001 virus and the 2006 worm are completely different programs. [pic] Gabriel Bouys/AFP/Getty ImagesProfessor Adi Shamir of the Weizmann Institute of Sciences in Israel is the leader of the Anti-Spyware Coalition. The Storm Worm is a Trojan horse program. Its payload is another program, though not always the same one. Some versions of the Storm Worm turn computers into zombies or bots. As computers become infected, they become vulnerable to remote control by the person behind the attack. Some hackers use the Storm Worm to create a botnet and use it to send spam mail across the Internet. Many versions of the Storm Worm fool the victim into downloading the application through fake links to news stories or videos.The people behind the attacks will often change the subject of the e-mail to reflect current events. For example, just before the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, a new version of the worm appeared in e-mails with subjects like â€Å"a new deadly catastrophe in China† or â€Å"China's most deadly earthquake. † The e-mail claimed to link to video and news stories related to the subject, but in reality clicking on the link activated a download of the worm to the victim's computer [source: McAfee]. Several news agencies and blogs named the Storm Worm one of the worst virus attacks in years.By July 2007, an official with the security company Postini claimed that the firm detected more than 200 million e-mails carrying links to the Storm Worm during an attack that spanned several days [source: Gaudin]. Fortunately, not every e-mail led to someone downloading the worm. Although the Storm Worm is widespread, it's not the most difficult virus to detect or remove from a computer system. If you keep your antivirus software up to date and remember to use caution when you receive e-mails from unfamiliar people or see strange links, you'll save yourself some major headaches. MalwareComputer viruses are just one kind of malware. Other types include spyware and some kinds of adware. Spyware spies on what a user does with his or her computer. That can include logging keystrokes as a way to discover login codes and passwords. Adware is a software app that displays ads to users while they use a larger application like a Web browser. Some adware contains code that gives advertisers extensive access to private information. Want to learn more about computer viruses? Take a look at the links on the next page, if you dare. COMPUTER VIRUSES Markus Hanhisalo Department of Computer ScienceHelsinki University of Technology Markus. [email  protected] fi This report briefly introduces computer viruses and how they effect network security. I have introduced today's virus situation. Many people are afraid of viruses, mostly because they do not know much about them. This report will guide you in the event of a virus infection. Computer viruses and network security is important. There are things that are not public information. Therefore it is good to be a weare of possible network security problems. [pic] Table of Contents 1. Introduction to computer viruses 2. General information about computer viruses . 1 Different Malware types 2. 1. 1 Viruses 2. 1. 2 Trojan 2. 1. 3 Worms 2. 2 Macro viruses 2. 3 Virus sources 2. 3. 1 Why do people write and spread viruses? 2. 4 How viruses act 2. 4. 1 How viruses spread out 2. 4. 2 How viruses activate 2. 5 Viruses in different platforms 2. 5. 1 PC viruses 2. 5. 2 Macinto sh viruses 2. 5. 3 Other platforms 3. How to deal with viruses 3. 1 What are the signs of viruses 3. 2 What to do when you find viruses 4. How to protect from viruses 4. 1 How to provide against viruses 4. 2 Different anti-virus programs 5. Computer viruses in Finland 5.   Ã‚  Ã‚   A questionnaire survey in Finland about viruses 5. 2  Ã‚  Ã‚   It is going to be a criminal act to make viruses in Finland 6. How computer viruses have spread out around the world 7. Computer viruses and network security 8. Conclusions [pic] 1. Introduction to Computer Viruses The person might have a computer virus infection when the computer starts acting differently. For instance getting slow or when they turn the computer on, it says that all the data is erased or when they start writing a document, it looks different, some chapters might be missing or something else ubnormal has happened.The next thing usually the person whose computer might be infected with virus, panics. The person might think t hat all the work that have been done is missing. That could be true, but in most cases viruses have not done any harm jet, but when one start doing something and are not sure what you do, that might be harmful. When some people try to get rid of viruses they delete files or they might even format the whole hard disk like my cousin did. That is not the best way to act when the person think that he has a virus infection. What people do when they get sick?They go to see a doctor if they do not know what is wrong with them. It is the same way with viruses, if the person does not know what to do they call someone who knows more about viruses and they get professional help. If the person read email at their PC or if they use diskettes to transfer files between the computer at work and the computer at home, or if they just transfer files between the two computers they have a good possibility to get a virus. They might get viruses also when they download files from any internet site.There w as a time when people were able to be sure that some sites we secure, that those secure sites did not have any virus problems, but nowadays the people can not be sure of anything. There has been viruses even in Microsoft's download sites. In this report I am going to introduce different malware types and how they spread out and how to deal with them. Most common viruses nowadays are macro viruses and I am going to spend a little more time with them. I am going to give an example of trojan horses stealing passwords. 2. General information about computer viruses 2. 1 Different malware typesMalware is a general name for all programs that are harmful; viruses, trojan, worms and all other similar programs [1]. 2. 1. 1  Ã‚  Ã‚   Viruses A computer virus is a program, a block of executable code, which attach itself to, overwrite or otherwise replace another program in order to reproduce itself without a knowledge of a PC user. There are a couple of different types of computer viruses: bo ot sector viruses, parasitic viruses, multi-partite viruses, companion viruses, link viruses and macro viruses. These classifications take into account the different ways in which the virus can infect different parts of a system.The manner in which each of these types operates has one thing in common: any virus has to be executed in order to operate. [2] Most viruses are pretty harmless. The user might not even notice the virus for years. Sometimes viruses might cause random damage to data files and over a long period they might destroy files and disks. Even benign viruses cause damage by occupying disk space and main memory, by using up CPU processing time. There is also the time and expense wasted in detecting and removing viruses. 2. 1. 2  Ã‚  Ã‚   Trojan A Trojan Horse is a program that does something else that the user thought it would do.It is mostly done to someone on purpose. The Trojan Horses are usually masked so that they look interesting, for example a saxophone. wav f ile that interests a person collecting sound samples of instruments. A Trojan Horse differs from a destructive virus in that it doesn't reproduce. There has been a password trojan out in AOL land (the American On Line). Password30 and Pasword50 which some people thought were wav. files, but they were disguised and people did not know that they had the trojan in their systems until they tried to change their passwords. 9] According to an administrator of AOL, the Trojan steals passwords and sends an E-mail to the hackers fake name and then the hacker has your account in his hands. 2. 1. 3  Ã‚  Ã‚   Worms A worm is a program which spreads usually over network connections. Unlike a virus which attach itself to a host program, worms always need a host program to spread. In practice, worms are not normally associated with one person computer systems. They are mostly found in multi-user systems such as Unix environments. A classic example of a worm is Robert Morrisis Internet-worm 1988. [1,5] [pic] Picture 1  Ã‚  Ã‚   An example of a worm. . 2 Macro virus Macro viruses spread from applications which use macros. The macro viruses which are receiving attention currently are specific to Word 6, WordBasic and Excel. However, many applications, not all of them Windows applications, have potentially damaging and infective macro capabilities too. A CAP macro virus, now widespread, infects macros attached to Word 6. 0 for Windows, Word 6. 0. 1 for Macintosh, Word 6. 0 for Windows NT, and Word for Windows 95 documents. What makes such a virus possible is that the macros are created by WordBASIC and even allows DOS commands to be run.WordBASIC in a program language which links features used in Word to macros. A virus, named â€Å"Concept,† has no destructive payload; it merely spreads, after a document containing the virus is opened. Concept copies itself to other documents when they are saved, without affecting the contents of documents. Since then, however, other macro viruses have been discovered, and some of them contain destructive routines. Microsoft suggests opening files without macros to prevent macro viruses from spreading, unless the user can verify that the macros contained in the document will not cause damage.This does NOT work for all macro viruses. Why are macro viruses so successful? Today people share so much data, email documents and use the Internet to get programs and documents. Macros are also very easy to write. The problem is also that Word for Windows corrupts macros inadvertently creating new macro viruses. [pic] Picture 2  Ã‚  Ã‚   New macro virus by corruption [12] Corruption's also creates â€Å"remnant† macros which are not infectious, but look like viruses and cause false alarms. Known macro virus can get together and create wholly new viruses. [pic]Picture 3  Ã‚  Ã‚   Macro virus growth, July 1995 to May 1997 [12] There have been viruses since 1986 and macro viruses since 1995. Now about 15 percent o f virus are macro viruses. There are about 2. 000 macro viruses and about 11. 000 DOS viruses, but the problem is that macro viruses spreads so fast. New macro viruses are created in the work-place, on a daily basis, on typical end-user machines, not in a virus lab. New macro virus creation is due to corruption, mating, and conversion. Traditional anti-virus programs are also not good at detecting new macro viruses.Almost all virus detected in the Helsinki University of Technology have been macro viruses, according to Tapio Keihanen, the virus specialist in HUT. Before macro viruses it was more easy to detect and repair virus infections with anti-virus programs. But now when there are new macro viruses, it is harder to detect macro viruses and people are more in contact with their anti-virus vendor to detect an repair unknown macro viruses, because new macro viruses spread faster than new anti-virus program updates come up. 2. 3 Virus sources Viruses don not just appear, there is al ways somebody that has made it and they have own reason to so.Viruses are written everywhere in the world. Now when the information flow in the net and Internet grows, it does not matter where the virus is made. Most of the writers are young men. There are also few university students, professors, computer store managers, writers and even a doctor has written a virus. One thing is common to these writers, all of them are men, women do not waste their time writing viruses. Women are either smarter or they are just so good that never get caught. [1] 2. 3. 1 Why do people write and spread viruses? It is difficult to know why people write them.Everyone has their own reasons. Some general reasons are to experiment how to write viruses or to test their programming talent. Some people just like to see how the virus spreads and gets famous around the World. The following is a list from news group postings alt. comp. virus and tries to explain why people write and spread viruses. ?   they don't understand or prefer not to think about the consequences for other people ? they simply don't care ?   they don't consider it to be their problem if someone else is inconvenienced ? hey draw a false distinction between creating/publishing viruses and distributing them ? they consider it to be the responsibility of someone else to protect systems from their creations ? they get a buzz, acknowledged or otherwise, from vandalism ? they consider they're fighting authority ? they like ‘matching wits' with anti virus vendors ? it's a way of getting attention, getting recognition from their peers and their names (or at least that of their virus) in the papers and the Wild List ? they're keeping the anti virus vendors in a job . 4 How viruses act Viruses main mission is to spread out and then get active. Some viruses just spread out and never activate. Viruses when they spread out, they make copies of self and spreading is harmful. 2. 4. 1  Ã‚  Ã‚   How viruses spread out Vi ruses mission is to hop from program to other and this should happen as quickly as possible. Usually viruses join to the host program in some way. They even write over part of the host program. A computer is infected with a boot sector virus if it is booted from an infected floppy disk. Boot sector infections cannot normally spread across a network.These viruses spread normally via floppy disks which may come from virtually any source: ? unsolicited demonstration disks ? brand-new software ? disks used on your PC by salesmen or engineers ? repaired hardware A file virus infects other files, when the program to which it is attached is run, and so a file virus can spread across a network and often very quickly. They may be spread from the same sources as boot sector viruses, but also from sources such as Internet FTP sites and newsgroups. Trojan horses spread just like file viruses. A multipartite virus infects boot sectors and files.Often, an infected file is used to infect the boot sector: thus, this is one case where a boot sector infection could spread across a network. 2. 4. 2  Ã‚  Ã‚   How viruses activate We are always afraid that viruses do something harmful to files when they get active, but not all the viruses activate. Some viruses just spread out, but when viruses activate they do very different things. Might play a part of melody or play music in the background, show a picture or animated picture, show text, format hard disk or do changes to files. As an example, in one unnamed company: over a long period of time, the files in a server were corrupted just a bit.So backup copies were taken from the corrupted files. And after they noticed that something was wrong, it was too late to get back the data from the backups. That kind of event is the worst that can happen for the uses. There is also talk that viruses have done something to hardware like hard disk or monitor. Viruses can not do any harm to hardware but they can do harm to programs and for e xample to BIOS so that computer does not start after that. Usually you can start the computer from a boot diskette if the computer does not start otherwise. 2. 5  Ã‚  Ã‚   Viruses in different platforms 2. 5.   Ã‚  Ã‚   PC viruses Viruses are mostly written for PC-computers and DOS environment. Even though viruses are made for DOS environment, they are working also in Windows, Windows95, Windows NT and OS/2 operating systems. Some viruses like boot sector viruses, do not care what about operating systems. [1] 2. 5. 2  Ã‚  Ã‚   Macintosh viruses Macintosh viruses are not as a big problem as PC viruses are. There are not so many viruses in Macintosh operating system. Macintosh viruses has been found mostly from schools. How many Mac viruses there are? I found out that there are about 2-300 Mac-specific viruses.There are virtually no macro viruses which have a Mac-specific payload, but all macro viruses can infect on Macs and other platforms which runs Word 6. x of better. 2. 5. 3  Ã‚  Ã‚   Other platforms Viruses can be found from in almost any kind of computer, such as HP calculators used by students like HP 48-calculators and old computers like Commodore 64 and Unix computers too. [1] In general, there are virtually no non-experimental UNIX viruses. There have been a few Worm incidents, most notably the Morris Worm,. the Internet Worm, of 1988. There are products which scan some Unix systems for PC viruses.Any machine used as a file server (Novell, Unix etc. ) can be scanned for PC viruses by a DOS scanner if it can be mounted as a logical drive on a PC running appropriate network client software such as PC-NFS. Intel-based PCs running Unix e. g. Linux, etc. can also be infected by a DOS boot-sector virus if booted from an infected disk. The same goes for other PC-hosted operating systems such as NetWare. While viruses are not a major risk on Unix platforms, integrity checkers and audit packages are frequently used by system administrators to detect fi le changes made by other kinds of attack. . How to deal with viruses 3. 1  Ã‚  Ã‚   What are the signs of viruses Almost anything odd a computer may do, can blamed on a computer â€Å"virus,† especially if no other explanation can readily be found. Many operating systems and programs also do strange things, therefore there is no reason to immediately blame a virus. In most cases, when an anti-virus program is then run, no virus can be found. A computer virus can cause unusual screen displays, or messages – but most don't do that. A virus may slow the operation of the computer – but many times that doesn't happen.Even longer disk activity, or strange hardware behavior can be caused by legitimate software, harmless â€Å"prank† programs, or by hardware faults. A virus may cause a drive to be accessed unexpectedly and the drive light to go on but legitimate programs can do that also. One usually reliable indicator of a virus infection is a change in the le ngth of executable (*. com/*. exe) files, a change in their content, or a change in their file date/time in the Directory listing. But some viruses don't infect files, and some of those which do can avoid howing changes they've made to files, especially if they're active in RAM. Another common indication of a virus infection is a change to the reassignment of system resources. Unaccounted use of memory or a reduction in the amount normally shown for the system may be significant. In short, observing â€Å"something funny† and blaming it on a computer virus is less productive than scanning regularly   for potential viruses, and not scanning, because â€Å"everything is running OK† is equally inadvisable. 3. 2  Ã‚  Ã‚   What to do when you find viruses First thing what you should do when you find virus is count to ten and stay cool.You should keep notes on what you do and write down what your virus programs and you computer tells you. If you are not sure what to do, you should call the administrator for future action. In some cases it is not good to start you computer from hard disk, because the virus may active and then do some harm. Second,make sure that you should get sure that it is virus and what virus it is. It is important to know what kind of virus we are dealing with. Companies that make anti-virus programs knows what different viruses does and you can ether call them and ask about that viruses or you can go to their web pages and read about the virus you have.When you start you computer you should do it from a clean (non-infected) floppy diskette and after that run the virus program. The boot diskette should be write protected so that virus can not infect the boot diskette too. [6] It is good to take a backup of the file that was infected. Virus program could do some damage to the file and that is why it is good to have a backup. It is good to let you administrator to know about the virus, so viruses would not spread around so much. I n TKK PC classes are protected by anti-virus program and that virus program reports to a person, responsible for virus protection. . How to protect from viruses 4. 1  Ã‚  Ã‚   How to provide against viruses Best way to protect yourself is to prepare your computer against viruses in advance. One way to protect you computer is to use updated anti-virus program. When you get an email attachment, you should first check the attachment by checking the file with a anti-virus program. As an example in one unnamed Finnish company all information was mailed in email attachments. There was this one Word document that was mailed to everybody. That email attachment was infected by a macro virus.Everyone got the infected attachment and those who opened that attachment by Word got that CAP-macro virus. After all there were a few thousand infections. It took lots of time and money to clear that virus. One can protect the computer against boot sector viruses by setting the BIOS to start from a har d disk rather than from a floppy disk. Write protection is a good way to prohibit against viruses. Write protection works well in floppy disks, Windows NT and UNIX, but not that well in Windows and Windows95. 4.   Ã‚  Ã‚   Different anti-virus programs There are three different kind of anti-viral packages: activity monitors, authentication or change-detection software, and scanners. Each type has its own strengths and weaknesses. Commercial anti-viral programs have a combination of the above mentioned functions. [7] There are over ten good anti-viral programs. Most knows programs are Data Fellows F-Prot, EliaShim ViruSafe, ESaSS ThunderBYTE, IBM AntiVirus, McAfee Scan, Microsoft Anti-Virus, Symantec Norton AntiVirus and S&S Dr Solomon's AVTK.On a day-to-day basis, the average corporation should be very interested in the scan time; these impact strongly the users, who should be scanning hard drives and disks on a daily basis. If a product takes too long to carry out these basic tas ks, users will be unwilling to wait, and will stop using it. This is clearly undesirable – the perfect anti-virus product would be one which takes no time to run and finds all viruses. 5. Computer viruses in Finland 5. 1  Ã‚  Ã‚   A questionnaire in Finland about viruses Computer viruses are not uncommon in Finland, especially not in schools and universities. Virus prevention was not well organized in some organizations and tended to be better in government organizations than in local government or in firms† writes Marko Helenius in his Computer viruses in Finland report. He did a large scale questionnaire survey in Finland in the summer 1993. There were not macro viruses at that time yet, so today the virus situation is a bit different, but some results were pretty interesting. The knowledge of viruses was quite poor in all sectors: government, local authorities and companies. Respondents' knowledge of viruses was best in government organizations.How importance is vi rus prevention? The most positive attitude to virus prevention was in government organizations. 90% of the government organizations used some kind of anti-virus program, the same in local authority organizations was about 55 % and in companies it was over 60 %. [3] 5. 2  Ã‚  Ã‚   It is going to be a criminal act to make viruses in Finland There is a new government bill about writing and spreading viruses. If the bill goes through, it is going to be a criminal act to make and spread viruses in Finland and one could get two years in prison or a fine, if one spread or write viruses.If a person make a virus it would be same thing in court than a person were planning to burn something. It is criminal to make viruses in England, Italy, Netherlands, Switzerland and Russia. It is not punished to make or spread viruses in Finland, according today's penal code. If viruses make harm to somebody that could be punished. Nobody has been punished for that in Finland, even though some Finns has m ade viruses, for example Finnish Spryer. That virus formatted about 600 hard disks and did lots of damage. They say that it was made in Espoo, but they never got the persons that made that virus.Virus business in Finland is pretty big. Businesses that have specialized in viruses have about 100 million in sales together. It costs money to stop working and clean up the viruses. Computer viruses put in danger general safety, says Pihlajamaki from Ministry of Justice. It is dangerous if viruses gets to programs that control trains or airplanes. Computer viruses can also be used as a weapon. It is sad that America used computer viruses to slay and to make Iraq's computers non-functional. [4] 6. How computer viruses have spread out around the world Computer viruses are a problem all over the world.The following picture tells us how many times people have accessed Data Fellows, a company that makes anti-virus program F-Prot, more than 1,672,846 per month[10]. It means that people are inter esting in virus information. One reason is that people have to deal with viruses. Viruses in not only a problem in Finland and USA, it is a problem around the world. [pic] Picture 4  Ã‚  Ã‚   Accesses per month Today's most common virus is the macro virus. Cap virus is one of the macro viruses. Last month there were 3100 Cap macro virus accesses during the last 30 days in Data Fellows.Next common virus was Join the Crew with 1171 accesses and third common was Pen pal Greetings with 895 accesses. [10] [pic] Picture 5  Ã‚  Ã‚   Twenty most accessed virus descriptions during the last 30 days 7. Computer viruses and network security Computer viruses are one network security problem. A few people when asked if computer viruses can cause network security problems answered as follows. Dave Kenney answered from National Computer Security Assoc: â€Å"There is one macro virus for MSWord that is received as an attachment to MS Mail messages. If a user has Word open, and double clicks to see the ontents of the attachment, MS Word and the open document is infected. Then the document is mailed to three other users listed in the original user's address book. † â€Å"The only information that is leaked is the thing you should be worried about, your password! The trojan sends an E-mail to the hackers fake name and then he has your account at his hands,† wrote CJ from American Online. â€Å"Rarely, a Word macro virus may accidentally pick up some user information and carry it along; we know of one case where a macro virus â€Å"snatched† an innocent user macro that contained a password, and spread it far outside the company where that happened.In the future, however, it is entirely possible that more network-aware viruses will cause significant network security problems,† wrote David Chess from IBM. Marko Helenius wrote from Virus Research Unit, that there has been some cases when hackers have used trojan horses to gain information. There is one example in one finnish corporation where some money were transferred illegally a year ago. There has been a trojan in the University of   Tampere too where the trojan pretend to be a host transfer program. The trojan saved users login name and password to hard disk. 8.Conclusions There are lots of viruses in the world and new viruses are coming up every day. There are new anti-virus programs and techniques developed too. It is good to be aware of viruses and other malware and it is cheaper to protect you environment from them rather then being sorry. There might be a virus in your computer if it starts acting differently. There is no reason to panic if the computer virus is found. It is good to be a little suspicious of malware when you surf in the Internet and download files. Some files that look interesting might hide a malware.A computer virus is a program that reproduces itself and its mission is to spread out. Most viruses are harmless and some viruses might cause random dam age to data files. A trojan horse is not a virus because it doesn't reproduce. The trojan horses are usually masked so that they look interesting. There are trojan horses that steal passwords and formats hard disks. Marco viruses spread from applications which use macros. Macro viruses spreads fast because people share so much data, email documents and use the Internet to get documents. Macros are also very easy to write.Some people want to experiment how to write viruses and test their programming talent. At the same time they do not understand about the consequences for other people or they simply do not care. Viruses mission is to hop from program to other and this can happen via floppy disks, Internet FTP sites, newsgroups and via email attachments. Viruses are mostly written for PC-computers and DOS environments. Viruses are not any more something that just programmers and computer specialist have to deal with. Today everyday users have to deal with viruses.