The Problem Of Climate Change - 1188 Words

Who is involved with the climate change in California? Humans, corporations, electricity generators, petroleum refineries facilities, oil and gas production, hydrogen plants, and cogeneration. What part of the country is exactly doing the most damage? Long Beach - Los Angeles, CA. How many people are affected, according to official records? People who are residences in California, are the one who are most affected. Mostly the general people, who is in the radius of climate change. For example Sacramento, California is lacking rain which is causing lots of wildfires. Why is this issue so clearly unfair? The reason why climate change is so unfair, is because of the aftermath it causes due to our everyday activities. For example California is†¦show more content†¦It also claims to be only 51% average instead of being 100%. This is also caused from the current storms situation or known as climate change. Another bad situation of recent events in California is when The Rough, a w ildfire in Sierra Nevada forest grew about 85,894 acres. This event was bound to happen due to California lack of water supply. Which was most likely due to dry forest due to climate change. What kind of groups in the country is working to help improve this situation? Companies like 350.org, Sierra Club, Greenpeace, Idle No More, and Union of concerned scientist are actually working on the situations of climate change. What groups or individuals in Alexandria is working to help improve this situation? Those would be the individuals who are using different kind of ways to support their needs without depending on fossil fuels as an energy source. For example someone deciding to use solar power energy instead of natural gas and electricity that are harming our environments.What kind of individuals or groups in the country say that it’s not a issue or problem? That would be the citizens who are blinded by the truth. The kind of individuals who don t have the knowledge on how many companies like Exxon, BP, and Chevron and citizen who actually use fossil fuels to spread the harmful CO2 into the air we breathe. What individuals or groups in the country are working to mak e sure that this

The Offense Balance in Cyberspace-Free-Samples-Myassignmenthelp

Question: How will Artificial Intelligence Shift the Offense-Defense Balance in Cyberspace? Answer: Introduction Technology is continuously evolving, cyber-attacks and cyber security also being advanced and evolving at the same pace as technology. Cybersecurity threats graphs are continuously increasing and most of the threats generally become undetectable unless it harms in the real world. For a general human, it is a very complex matter to analyse all the data saved in the system[1]. This report focuses on the role of Artificial Intelligence in balancing the Offense and Defense in cyberspace. AI is not a very new technology as robots have been around since 1950's of which, many practical applications are available in our daily life. This report presents the objectives related to the cybersecurity and emphasizes on cyberattacks those are becoming a common factor for the data and information saved in the system either offline or online. The Internet has become an integral part of the life living for almost every human being and saving data or information on the internet makes them vulnerable to cyberattacks. This report presents an idea of how AI could change the face of the cybersecurity and contribute to the Defense through a debate. Watson, GoogleDeepmind, and Showan are some of the examples of AI those are contributing to enhancing the cybersecurity. The Offense-Defence Balance (ODB) theory has been discussed in this report with regard to the international stability and how AI could be implemented and used for the good cause. Role of Artificial Intelligence in Cyberspace Artificial Intelligence John McCarthy defined this as, The science and engineering of making intelligent machines, especially intelligent computer programs. It can be described as a way of making the software, computer, and computer-controlled robot much smarter, similar to the human intelligence. Various researchers are trying to implement such thinking for decades and success is leading to various attempts[2]. It can be described as the mixture of Philosophy, computer science, neuron science, biology, psychology, math, and sociology. There are various applications of AI in the current world including games, expert systems, speech recognition, natural language processing, intelligent robots, handwriting recognition and much more[3]. Artificial Intelligence (AI) could act as a boon for such issues and could help in analysing a very wide range of data in very less time as compared to the data processed by humans.Offense-Defense in cyberspace is another concerning topic related to the virtual computer world t hat could be overcome by Artificial intelligence[4]. Following graph shows the growth in the investment in AI technology for the cybersecurity in future: Figure 1: Rate of growing investment in AI for Cybersecurity (Source: Kishor, 2017) Cyberspace Cyberspace can be defined as the virtual world for the computers or an electronic medium that could be used from a global computer network in a manner to accomplish online communication. The world computes operating TCP/IP protocol, which contributes to the large virtual computer network in a manner to aid the data exchange and communication between the computers[5]. It can also be described as a platform for the virtual and interactive environment for a wide range of participants. Offense Defence Strategy The most common application of AI could be seen in Google search engine other than virtual gaming, Big Data, Data Mining, military weapons, etc. AI is advancing every technology anyone could think of. Various features of the cyberspace suggest that AI has been used for offense more, over the Defense and following are some the considerations on which these objectives depends: Key Vulnerabilities: Vulnerabilities in the systems are the main cause behind every cyberattack as malicious coding, malware, viruses and other similar threats can only be executed if there is any vulnerability in the system. Other general factors can be related to the flaws in the software or if the intruder gets access to the network[6]. Technically, it can be said that it is impossible for any programmer or IT specialist to rule out flaws in the design of the software and in practical life, it is unfeasible to detach the computer from the network. One of the major characteristics of cyber defense can be stated as it changes much rapidly, which could lead to unanticipated and catastrophic consequences[7]. Offense progress is more rapid than Defense: Cyberspace is not a natural objective or phenomenon rather it has resulted from the technological revolution[8]. Technology is being continuously evolved and so the features of the cyberspace, offense-defense balance also being evolved. It can be seen that offense and defense both are developing and improving, and the constant upgrades in hardware and software is one of the major causes for this. However, the rate of the growth in defense is lagging the development of the offense. Slayyton (2017) stated, Offense-Defense curves at levels which characterize that todays cyberspace favours the offense. That is, another dollars worth of offense requires far more than another dollars worth of defence to restore prior levels of security[9]. Following graph can depicts the role of AI in offense defense strategy: Figure 2: Role of AI in Offense-Defense strategy (Source: Riley, 2017) Attribution is Difficult: The cyberattacks could be executed from a very far distance via the internet, which makes it difficult to identify the main culprit behind the offense penetration. Considering the fact that, a handful of people are needed to plan and execute such attacks, and the government might clearly deny from such responsibilities[10]. For instance, the attack which was executed on Estonian websites in 2007, in which botnets were used to deliver DoS attack, in which various requests showed the involvement of Kremlin in the attack. However, there was no concrete evidence that they carried out the attack and arguments became plausible[11]. Offense-defense system is not directly affected by the difficulty in attribution but indirectly it supports the offense as it nourished, that the attack could be carried out without any punishment. Cyberspace is currently a Defence Dominant Domain Cyberspace has become the favorite platform for the intrusion and breaches because a good programmer could use the same machine learning and manipulate the system for their own purpose easily, and could target a bigger prey. Technology is evolving with rapid speed than any other innovation and cyberattacks are the threats that are not going towards an end any soon. Artificial Intelligence could play a major role in guarding the systems and preventing such intrusions. Artificial intelligence could be helpful in detecting the advancing threat, shortening the response times for the defense and refining the techniques that might be helpful in differentiating between the actions that must be ignored, and dreadful efforts for compromising the security[12]. Some examples of offense that could affect the individuals in the globe could be stated, as firstly, one the most devastating cyberattacks was Ransomware, using WannaCry as a malware, which affected most of the multinational companies, h ospitals, federals and many other places. This attack had been expected to be started on May 12, 2017. Secondly, national cyber incident response centre reported that hospital clinics in the UK were affected by a malware called Bad Rabbit. Many other federals systems were shut down and most of the organizations were not able to function well[13]. There are many other threats including the hacking of IoT devices those should be considered while talking about cybersecurity and Artificial Intelligence[14]. IoT devices are the general application of machine learning. Certain unwanted activities have shown that these are very easy subjects to be manipulated. Artificial intelligence will take no time in responding to such situations those might be detected as a threat element for the system. Harknett and Nyre in 2017, stated that before AI, it was being assumed that ninety percent of the data is fine as there was bandwidth to analyse only ten percent of the data. Many human labours could be saved using artificial intelligence, as AI mimics what a proper analyst would do[15]. In the current situation, IBM is also investing into Artificial Intelligence for the security using the cognitive computing platform. The company is contributing by making Watson much advanced and well-read through a wide range of security research. Currently, about fifty customers are using Watson in a manner to gain more information about the analytic platforms and security intelligence[16]. Watson is an example how AI could play a vital role in contributing to defense in an efficient and effective manner, with minimum time consumption. It was reported by IBM that AI used in Watson, could be helpful in performing investigation process for the bugs and glitches, sixty times faster than any human investigator[17]. This could lead to the solution from a complex analysis of any incident that could take a minute or an hour, which is way less time than what a programmer would take. AI with machine learning, could be the futuristic technology, whose evolvement is at a high pace and leading to the rapidness in the laborious process of data sorting, and comparing it based on the calculations and other circumstances[18]. Aiming at the quantum computing is another important aspect that will be helpful in ensuring that no stone is left unturned, and every data is well processed and evaluated. Computers are generally represented in zeroes and ones, AI could make it much easy through quantum computing by executing both, but neither at the same time. Quantum computing enables the users to look into every piece of the haystack through machine knowledge and explore the threat or bugs that might affect the security of the system. Examples of Artificial Intelligence Several experiments are still going on, if AI is used in, many advances then it might cause damage. An example could be taken from the Transformers' movie that states how high level of AI (Skynet) could cause damage. However, there are the many examples of AI technology that could contribute to balancing the cyber offense defense as cybersecurity is the most concerning objective related to the technology innovation nowadays. IBM, MIT, Google and many other big companies are continuously introducing the technologies implemented with AI and allowing more applications for this technology[19]. Showan, IBMs Watson, and Googles Deepmind are some of the examples that are contributing in securing the virtual world. Artificial intelligence collects the information related to the actions and activities of the commands through using Intelligent Automation (IA)[20]. Classic automation is another process, which is the technology that contributes to the machine learning and allows the machine to u nderstand the best probability of the actions. However, intelligent automation is a different objective related to the classic automation that could be helpful for machines in eliminating the unscaleable and expensive human intelligence without eliminating the factors related to the reliability or quality of the process. Merat and Amuhdati (2015) presented a paper emphasizing on Showan, as the artificial intelligence application in a manner to improve the cyber security in the virtual computer field[21]. They have introduced that machine learning can be understood as different types of computing processes and it can be mapped within a multitasking environment. Showan is software modelling and mapping paradigm that has been developed in a manner to characterize and learn the behaviour of the systems concerning the cyber security awareness against several concurrent threats[22]. Like other AI applications at its earlier stage, it was not much efficient, later on as the data storage wa s improved, the machine learning goes on enhancing and the calculations and upgrades resulted in an efficient technology. The aim was to develop a process that could be contended with more than one concurrent thread during the task performance[23]. This enables large data being transferred with a minimum time delay with the help of the machine learning and without compromising the security of the systems. Offense Defence Theory for International Stability Critics and Proponents of the Offense Defence Balance (ODB) hypothesis are generally concerned with international stability remarking as topical issues including the war inception, escalation, and security dilemma. The relative or assumed strength of defense over offense or offense over the defense of a country can lead towards opposite outcomes for the arguments related to these phenomena[24]. Considering the facts when conquests and the attack are held to be far easy than protection of the subjected target, theory of ODB can be helpful in predicting the common systematic outcomes that could be a security dilemma, possibilities of war to be happened, and tendency to increase the aims of the war[25]. Regarding the policies and strategies of the ODB implementation, there are various ways and they could be convinced that the offense has more advantage over the defense; the attackers might tend to perpetrate pre-emptive attacks. However, considering the facts related to the defense is easier than offense, "states have more incentives in a manner to compromise, embark on binding strategies and even engage in disarmament policies. Regarding the international stability, it is important to concern on the defense regardless of the offense, as the offense will only lead towards the destruction and loss of different countries properties (Kremmer and Muller 2013). The defense will always focus on eliminating the factors related to the threat to the system's data and information and this will be helpful in creating international peace. Most of the offense system targets on the subjects related to different countries in a manner to affect the stability and economic of that country and some of the governments support the attackers and try to protect them. This could also happen to the same country and the attackers might be protected by the affected country, however, there is not any profit in such intrusions and will only destroy the properties of those countries[26]. The defense strategy will not help the different countries in protecting their internal properties; rather it will also help in protecting the threats from outside the country and will ensure peace among them. Most of the countries' military is spending a lot of money in implementing AI into the weapons in a manner to make them much advanced and for a mass destruction. However, as stated above spending on offense will only lead to the wastage of money and stability will always be unbalanced. Cyberspace has a dual nature such as soft and hard, or virtual and real that is results in a peculiar battleground for the cyber programmers and target highly paying preys. Here different attackers attempt for the different purposes including disruptive processes such as destroying physical infrastructure. Another aspect related to the ODB can be stated as equally peculiar, is the centrality for the internet for the non-military and the military actors. Regardless of the difference between the non-military and military actors, they use either same software or hardware for the networks. (Abraham and Biddle 2016) stated, "the result is two-fold: on the one hand, cyber-threats can take the form of either criminal activities or acts of war just depending on the target of the attack[27]." The source of the threats related to the ODB varies conspicuously that range from the hackers, intelligent services, or to terrorists. Cyberattacks include unauthorized access to data and information through advance coding that makes the cyber espionage and other unauthorized tracking or monitoring system a cyberattacks too. No matter what the purpose is but, accessing the data or information related to the individual without having properly authorized access can be put in the category of cyber attacks. Companies facing cyberattacks can be represented in following graph: Figure 3: Share of companies facing cyberattacks (Source: Riley, 2017) The complexity of comparison between the offense and defense theory could be minimized if the attention has been drawn on both objectives separately while discussing the terms related to the ODB theory. Equally important, it is easier to assess their relative costs, as the main purpose of the action is not to control a territory but to compromise/ensure the effectiveness of a system or network[28].Considering the traditional war domains, it could be stated that it is probably impossible for measuring the ODB as if it were an equation. Conclusion Based on the above report it can be concluded that AI could be used as either an offense or a defense system that depends on how the application will be carried out. This report mainly focused on defense dominant domain of the AI in cybersecurity. Cybersecurity and national security are the two very vast and sensitive chapters for a human being and combining the thinking capability of a human being with the quantum computing strength of the computer could result in overcoming such shortcomings. AI could evaluate every haystack of data and information saved in the database in much easy and with very less time consumption that makes it a reliable technology. Despite so many advantages, there are certain issues with the AI as nothing is perfect in this world and AI could be used as an offensive system. Using AI for the offense could result in mass destruction and the intruder could easily operate such unwanted actions from the very far distance and easily get away with any law allegatio ns. AI is not only being used for the defense purpose however, even the government is using it in the offense in a manner to make the missiles more efficient and accurate. This report presents the bright side of the AI including how AI could be used against the cyberattacks. However, it is necessary to increase the boundary of the experiments considering the dark side of such advanced technology. References Abrahms, Max, and Stephen Biddle. "Free Access Why Terrorism Does Not Work (8800 times)."International Security21, no. 1 (1996): 186-191. Betts, Richard K., ed.Conflict after the Cold War: arguments on causes of war and peace. Taylor Francis, 2017. Betz, David J.Cyberspace and the State: Towards a Strategy for Cyber-power. Routledge, 2017. Cummins, Shannon C.The Garrison Domain: Civil Military Relations in the Cyberspace Domain. AIR COMMAND AND STAFF COLL MAXWELL AFB AL MAXWELL AFB United States, 2015. Dilsizian, Steven E., and Eliot L. Siegel. "Artificial intelligence in medicine and cardiac imaging: harnessing big data and advanced computing to provide personalized medical diagnosis and treatment."Current cardiology reports16, no. 1 (2014): 441. Gartzke, Erik, and Jon R. Lindsay. "Weaving tangled webs: offense, defense, and deception in cyberspace."Security Studies24, no. 2 (2015): 316-348. Gartzke, Erik. "The myth of cyberwar: bringing war in cyberspace back down to earth."International Security38, no. 2 (2013): 41-73. Harknett, Richard J., and Joseph S. Nye Jr. "Is Deterrence Possible in Cyberspace?."International Security(2017). Kasprick, Robert, Jordan Hoffman, Jeremy Straub, and Eunjin Kim. "Cyber Security Artificial Intelligence Expert System." (2016). Kitano, Hiroaki. "Biological Complexity and the Need for Computational Approaches." InPhilosophy of Systems Biology, pp. 169-180. Springer International Publishing, 2017. Kishor, N. (2017).Artificial Intelligence in Cyber Security Market to Reach $18.2 Billion by 2023: PS Market Research. [online] Houseofbots.com. Available at: https://houseofbots.com/news-detail/1419-1-artificial-intelligence-in-cyber-security-market-to-reach-dollar18.2-billion-by-2023-ps-market-research [Accessed 13 Nov. 2017]. Kremer, Jan-Frederik, and Benedikt Mller, eds.Cyberspace and international relations: Theory, prospects and challenges. Springer Science Business Media, 2013. Krittanawong, C. "The rise of artificial intelligence and the uncertain future for physicians." (2017).. Krittanawong, Chayakrit, HongJu Zhang, Zhen Wang, Mehmet Aydar, and Takeshi Kitai. "Artificial Intelligence in Precision Cardiovascular Medicine."Journal of the American College of Cardiology69, no. 21 (2017): 2657-2664. Levine, Brian A. "AI has brains--but it's no MD: artificial intelligence has uses in medicine, but will never replace doctors' intuition."Contemporary OB/GYN62, no. 4 (2017): 30-32. Lieber, K., 2014. The Offense-Defence Balance and Cyber Warfare.Cyber Analogies, pp.96-107. Medvedev, Sergei A. "Offense-defense theory analysis of Russian cyber capability." PhD diss., Monterey, California: Naval Postgraduate School, 2015. Merat, Soorena, and Wahab Almuhtadi. "Artificial intelligence application for improving cyber-security acquirement." InElectrical and Computer Engineering (CCECE), 2015 IEEE 28th Canadian Conference on, pp. 1445-1450. IEEE, 2015. Lemaire, Vincent, Christophe Salperwyck, and Alexis Bondu. "A survey on supervised classification on data streams." InBusiness Intelligence, pp. 88-125. Springer International Publishing, 2015. Miller, Steven E., and Stephen Van Evera, eds.The Star Wars Controversy: An" International Security" Reader. Princeton University Press, 2014. Pan, Yunhe. "Heading toward artificial intelligence 2.0."Engineering2, no. 4 (2016): 409-413. Riley, S. (2017). [online] Available at: https://www.houseofbots.com/pulse/introducing-darklight-gaming-changing-artificial-cyber-shawn-riley/ [Accessed 13 Nov. 2017]. Ripsman, Norrin M., Jeffrey W. Taliaferro, and Steven E. Lobell.Neoclassical realist theory of international politics. Oxford University Press, 2016. Saltzman, Ilai. "Cyber posturing and the offense-defense balance."Contemporary Security Policy34, no. 1 (2013): 40-63. Schmidt, Charlie. "MD Anderson Breaks With IBM Watson, Raising Questions About Artificial Intelligence in Oncology."JNCI: Journal of the National Cancer Institute109, no. 5 (2017). Shaheen, Salma. "Offensedefense balance in cyber warfare." InCyberspace and International Relations, pp. 77-93. Springer Berlin Heidelberg, 2014. Slayton, Rebecca. "What Is the Cyber Offense-Defense Balance? Conceptions, Causes, and Assessment."International Security41, no. 3 (2017): 72-109. Somashekhar, S. P., R. Kumarc, A. Rauthan, K. R. Arun, P. Patil, and Y. E. Ramya. "Abstract S6-07: Double blinded validation study to assess performance of IBM artificial intelligence platform, Watson for oncology in comparison with Manipal multidisciplinary tumour boardFirst study of 638 breast cancer cases." (2017): S6-07. Yampolskiy, Roman V., and M. S. Spellchecker. "Artificial Intelligence Safety and Cybersecurity: a Timeline of AI Failures."arXiv preprint arXiv:1610.07997(2016). Kasprick, Robert, Jordan Hoffman, Jeremy Straub, and Eunjin Kim. "Cyber Security Artificial Intelligence Expert System." (2016). Miller, Steven E., and Stephen Van Evera, eds.The Star Wars Controversy: An" International Security" Reader. Princeton University Press, 2014. Krittanawong, Chayakrit, HongJu Zhang, Zhen Wang, Mehmet Aydar, and Takeshi Kitai. "Artificial Intelligence in Precision Cardiovascular Medicine."Journal of the American College of Cardiology69, no. 21 (2017): 2657-2664. Yampolskiy, Roman V., and M. S. Spellchecker. "Artificial Intelligence Safety and Cybersecurity: a Timeline of AI Failures."arXiv preprint arXiv:1610.07997(2016). Betz, David J.Cyberspace and the State: Towards a Strategy for Cyber-power. Routledge, 2017. Lieber, K., 2014. The Offense-Defence Balance and Cyber Warfare.Cyber Analogies, pp.96-107. Gartzke, Erik. "The myth of cyberwar: bringing war in cyberspace back down to earth."International Security38, no. 2 (2013): 41-73. Saltzman, Ilai. "Cyber posturing and the offense-defense balance."Contemporary Security Policy34, no. 1 (2013): 40-63. Slayton, Rebecca. "What Is the Cyber Offense-Defense Balance? Conceptions, Causes, and Assessment."International Security41, no. 3 (2017): 72-109. Shaheen, Salma. "Offensedefense balance in cyber warfare." InCyberspace and International Relations, pp. 77-93. Springer Berlin Heidelberg, 2014. Gartzke, Erik, and Jon R. Lindsay. "Weaving tangled webs: offense, defense, and deception in cyberspace."Security Studies24, no. 2 (2015): 316-348. Lemaire, Vincent, Christophe Salperwyck, and Alexis Bondu. "A survey on supervised classification on data streams." InBusiness Intelligence, pp. 88-125. Springer International Publishing, 2015. Cummins, Shannon C.The Garrison Domain: Civil Military Relations in the Cyberspace Domain. AIR COMMAND AND STAFF COLL MAXWELL AFB AL MAXWELL AFB United States, 2015. Pan, Yunhe. "Heading toward artificial intelligence 2.0."Engineering2, no. 4 (2016): 409-413. Harknett, Richard J., and Joseph S. Nye Jr. "Is Deterrence Possible in Cyberspace?."International Security(2017) Schmidt, Charlie. "MD Anderson Breaks With IBM Watson, Raising Questions About Artificial Intelligence in Oncology."JNCI: Journal of the National Cancer Institute109, no. 5 (2017). Somashekhar, S. P., R. Kumarc, A. Rauthan, K. R. Arun, P. Patil, and Y. E. Ramya. "Abstract S6-07: Double blinded validation study to assess performance of IBM artificial intelligence platform, Watson for oncology in comparison with Manipal multidisciplinary tumour boardFirst study of 638 breast cancer cases." (2017): S6-07. Dilsizian, Steven E., and Eliot L. Siegel. "Artificial intelligence in medicine and cardiac imaging: harnessing big data and advanced computing to provide personalized medical diagnosis and treatment."Current cardiology reports16, no. 1 (2014): 441. Levine, Brian A. "AI has brains--but it's no MD: artificial intelligence has uses in medicine, but will never replace doctors' intuition."Contemporary OB/GYN62, no. 4 (2017): 30-32. Ripsman, Norrin M., Jeffrey W. Taliaferro, and Steven E. Lobell.Neoclassical realist theory of international politics. Oxford University Press, 2016. Merat, Soorena, and Wahab Almuhtadi. "Artificial intelligence application for improving cyber-security acquirement." InElectrical and Computer Engineering (CCECE), 2015 IEEE 28th Canadian Conference on, pp. 1445-1450. IEEE, 2015. Krittanawong, C. "The rise of artificial intelligence and the uncertain future for physicians." (2017).. Riley, S. (2017). [online] Available at: https://www.houseofbots.com/pulse/introducing-darklight-gaming-changing-artificial-cyber-shawn-riley/ [Accessed 13 Nov. 2017]. Betts, Richard K., ed.Conflict after the Cold War: arguments on causes of war and peace. Taylor Francis, 2017. Medvedev, Sergei A. "Offense-defense theory analysis of Russian cyber capability." PhD diss., Monterey, California: Naval Postgraduate School, 2015. Kishor, N. (2017).Artificial Intelligence in Cyber Security Market to Reach $18.2 Billion by 2023: PS Market Research. [online] Houseofbots.com. Available at: https://houseofbots.com/news-detail/1419-1-artificial-intelligence-in-cyber-security-market-to-reach-dollar18.2-billion-by-2023-ps-market-research [Accessed 13 Nov. 2017]. Abrahms, Max, and Stephen Biddle. "Free Access Why Terrorism Does Not Work (8800 times)."International Security21, no. 1 (1996): 186-191. Kitano, Hiroaki. "Biological Complexity and the Need for Computational Approaches." InPhilosophy of Systems Biology, pp. 169-180. Springer International Publishing, 2017.

Essay Examples on Letter Essay Example

Essay Examples on Letter Paper 1st Essay Sample on Letter Dear Sir: I respectfully would like to request to be readmitted to reading class. I have been unsuccessful in my previous attempts of passing the class due to a number of valid reasons such as my limited financial capability along with other personal problems which made it very difficult for me to focus on the task at hand. Such events proved to be too much for me to handle at that time and as a result, I was not able to do what was required to pass such course. The reason I am writing this letter is because reading class is a prerequisite in order for me to be able to take other classes. I intend to finish reading class so that I can move on to my other subjects which I plan to take as soon as possible. We will write a custom essay sample on Essay Examples on Letter specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on Essay Examples on Letter specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on Essay Examples on Letter specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer Letter Letter Letter At present, my financial standing has improved and my personal life has been quite stable that is why I am confident that given another chance to take this class, I will pass it with flying colors. I shall take the class seriously this time and I promise to put in the work that is necessary to fulfill all the assignments that the course requires. I know that I have the potential to be good in anything that I put my heart into, right now I am determined and mentally ready to focus on my academics. I hope that my humble request will be given favorable and timely consideration as I plan to enroll in the coming fall. 2nd Essay Sample on Letter Throughout our time together I have worked very hard and have learned very much from you. I am beginning to understand the fundamental framework of knowledge that is necessary in order to become a talented student. I am understanding more with each assignment and course reading and I am able to apply what I am learning to my everyday life. This course will be an integral part of my education and I look forward to improving with each assignment.With this in mind, I feel that I deserve an A for my hard work and dedication. After the first assignment where I received at 70/100, I have earned an average of 96.7% on the next six projects. That being said, there is still room for improvement and I am striving for this as I have completed all of the assignments on time and I have put in the necessary effort to complete them according to the instructions.

7 Strategies for Getting a Raise

7 Strategies for Getting a Raise No one ever wrote a song about performance review time, calling it the â€Å"most wonderful tiiiiime of the year.† Nobody loves it, except maybe the most devoted members of Human Resources. It’s extra work for you, your boss, and your company. However, it’s worth it- it not only lets you know how you’re doing, but it also might net you a bonus or raise. The time to start thinking about that raise is not 10 minutes before your self-evaluation is due. Planning ahead can bring great rewards.1. Set goals  early. REALLY early.If possible, you can even set these goals  before you have the job. If you spend a lot of time discussing the skill-building and growth you expect to see in your first year in the job, it helps your new employer set a baseline for your performance. Of course, realism is the key here. If you say you’re going to increase revenue by X% and you don’t meet that, you’ve just set yourself up for failure. Instead, set your self up for success†¦ and future profit.2. Know your goalposts throughout the year.If your boss expects you’ll hit certain milestones or complete particular projects, take extra care with those- they’ll be the concrete proof of your raise-worthy year. Make sure you keep a paper trail for big projects to help remind you later what you accomplished. If you get glowing reviews from a colleague or a client, save them! You can casually bust those out during a year-end discussion, and use them to how just how valuable you are to the team. If you’re collecting data and keeping track of things all year, you won’t have to make a rushed pitch at the end of the year and risk forgetting accomplishments or projects that would make an excellent case for a raise.3. Don’t limit yourself to just your responsibilities  If your company has committees, join one. If there are employee social events, volunteer to help set up or clean up. If you see a way to provi de excellent service, but it would be a minor inconvenience to you, try to do it anyway. Things like these show that you’re willing to get your hands dirty in support of the company. You’re a team player who does what needs to be done, and doesn’t just wait around to be told what to do. If you want to look valuable, be valuable. You’d be surprised at how â€Å"small† things add up by the end of the year.4. Don’t lie or bluff about your accomplishments.Your boss will know if you are over-inflating numbers or making it look like you have a skill you don’t quite have. Be positive about your accomplishments and your skills, and talk them up as much as possible- just don’t feel the need to embellish. You don’t want anyone to question your integrity.5. Treat your review like a re-interview.Instead of letting your boss (or whoever is reviewing you) run through a monologue of your year while you sit quietly and sign the forms at the end, try to make sure it’s a dialogue. If she mentions a particular project, make sure the background and context are clear and that the takeaway- your success- is clear.6.  Turn your mistakes into accomplishments.If you didn’t have a perfect year (and who does?) it doesn’t mean you’ll be disqualified from a raise or that you don’t deserve one. Again, this is a chance to play up your strengths. If something didn’t go well and it comes up in your review, make sure you put some spin on it. Talk about what you learned from the process and how you’ve grown/what you’ve done to fix the issue after the fact.7. Don’t plead poverty.A discussion about a raise is a discussion about your work performance. That’s it. You may very well need the money, but your employer is not obligated to give raises out of pity or because you’re a nice person. Make sure the focus stays on the reasons Professional You deserves mor e compensation. Once you make it personal, you also give more leverage to your employer. If they know you really, really need more money for Fluffington McWhiskers’ plastic surgery, they can try to lowball you because they know you’ll take less than you might be able to negotiate for yourself as part of a neutral, job-data-only presentation.If you start preparing well before you’re scheduled to meet for a review- or if you’ve picked a time during the rest of the year to make your case for a raise- you’re in a great position. If you’ve built a careful and clear case about why you deserve more, you have also created some built-in confidence. All you need to do is cross the finish line, hopefully a little richer than you were before.

Four functions of Management Internal and External Factors Assignment

Four functions of Management Internal and External Factors - Assignment Example When considering the internal and external factors in the management of the above resources in an organization, such factors as globalization, diversity, technology, and ethics among many others affect the four basic functions of management as discussed in the essay below. Globalization is a contemporary social feature arising from the use of the efficient means of both transport and communication. Globalization in business refers to the engagement in business beyond the boundaries of a country. This implies that business enjoys a large market thus increasing the likelihood of success. Globalization requires increased presence of a business in the market in order to increase the coverage of the market. Managers must therefore plan effective operations of the business in order to sustain appropriate operation. Globalization for example requires increased resources since the cost of doing business will definitely increase. The organization must therefore have adequate human resource among other significant resources in order to enhance the success of the company. Managers thus portray their leadership skills as they motivate the employees thus increasing the company’s productivity. Controlling is a fundamental human function mandated with the process of measuring achievements against the organizations’ goals and established objectives. Growth and sustained profitability is always among such established objectives. Globalization is a type of growth thus compelling managers to plan for the utilization of the resources and portray effective leadership skills in order to sustain the growth of the company as it ventures in the global market. A company must employ appropriate production and marketing strategies in order to realize the desire profitability often associated with globalization. Diversity is an equally important factor that arises with globalization and

Epiphenomenalism a retrospective analysis Essay

Epiphenomenalism a retrospective analysis - Essay Example It suggests that mental events are caused by physical events in the brain, but in turn, the mental event has no effects upon the physical events. Epiphenomenalists argue that behaviour is a result of muscular activity resultant from neural impulses and that these impulses are triggered by other impulses that are inputs from the senses. Thus the mind has no role to play in human behavior. Huxley himself compared the mental events to the steam horns that are fitted on a steam locomotive. He said that they play no vital role on the functioning of the steam engine. Mental phenomena according to him cannot create anymore impact on the physical plain anymore than a shadow can create impacts on the footsteps of the person. All mental events can be broadly divided in to two categories according to their nature. The first one comprises of phenomenal experiences such as pain, qualia after images and tastes etc. The second kind of mental events comprises of occurent propositional attitudes such as beliefs and desires. Arguments on epiphenomenalism can concern both types of mental events and one cannot give solid evidence to its sanctity on both levels. The two types of mental events can be connected provided we assume that we have our qualia. Thus if we assume that pains have no physical effects, we could infer that (i) pains do not cause the belief that we are in pain and (ii) beliefs that we are in pain is epiphenomenal. Since if we believe that we are in pain and it leads us to some response (even indirectly) having an effect on the physical plane, then we would have to affirm that the whole proposition of epiphenomena is nothing but absurd because according to the theory, the feeling that we are in pain should have no consequence to events in our physical world. The logic though lies in the premise that events in the physical world have sufficient causes in the physical world and if men tal events were real and separate from physical events, then it would require a violation of physical law. The interactionist model proposed that the pineal gland undergoes changes according to mental events and brings about physical changes. But epiphenomena denies the involvement of any mental events and hence such physical changes of the pineal gland should have to be explained by events in the physical plane. It explicitly states that there will be no such change in the gland until a physical force would cause it to change. This is where epiphenomena disappoint us once more. Its rigidity and lack of accommodative capacity for new findings leave us with no option, but to sideline it and look for a better theory. Other arguments that are contrary to the standing of epiphenomena include the theory of natural selection. For that theory to stand, it should explain the development of consciousness. But a property by which a selection can occur in a species is relevant only when particular thoughts have effects upon specific behavior patterns. Therefore it is imperative that the conscious and the qualia should alter the course of behaviour in the physical world - quite contrary to what epiphenomenalism states. We all know that natural selection is a reality whether we like it or not and hence as a consequence epiphenomenalism fails to stand ground. It also contradicts the existence of other minds. But we do know that

Risk Assessment And Treatment Of Paedophiles Criminology Essay

Risk Assessment And Treatment Of Paedophiles Criminology Essay An essential aspect of dealing with paedophiles, for the government and the public as well, is risk assessment. This means calculating the probability of the occurrence of a harmful behavior and its impact on the target and all that will be affected (Kemshall, 2001). The assessment is based in observing and evaluating the factors that are indicators of the likeliness of offending or re offending as well as those propensities that endure in known or probable offenders. There are two approaches to risk assessment: the actuarial, a statistical calculation of probabilities, and the clinical, based on the observation of factors that proved to have resulted in sex offences. Actuarial methods The most well established scales of actuarial tools are: The Rapid Risk Assessment for Sex Offence Recidivism (RRASOR) Static 99 The Risk Matrix 2000 (RM 2000) and The Sex Offence Risk Appraisal Guide (SORAG). The RRASOR (Grubin, 1998) comprises of the evaluation of prior sexual arrests age targeting male victims relation of the victims to the offender. RRASOR succeeds in identifying large groups of low risk offenders with low probability of recidivism and small groups of high risk offenders with high probability of recidivism. Static 99 is a combination of RRASOR and SACJ and considers static risk factors. It has a strong validity for male sex offenders who have been already served in prison. The items of Static 99 are: male victims never married offences that didnt involve contact victims that are unrelated victims that are strangers other sex offences other than sexual current types of violence more than 4 sentencing dates age that vary between 18 and 24.9 years. The Prison, Probation and Police Services in England and Wales use the Risk Matrix 2000. Its uniqueness compared to the other tools is that it can be used for whichever type of violence, sexual or non sexual. The RM 2000 has two stages. Stage 1 age at the commencement of risk number of appearances in court for sex offence related issues number of appearances in court for other offences than sexual Evaluation of these factors leads in placement in four groups: low, medium, high or very high risk. Stage 2 history of offences against male victims history of stranger sexual offence victim history of non contact sexual offences lack of long term intimate relationship If any subject has one of these factors, moves up one group on the previous ranking. If all four factors are present, the subject moves two groups upwards. The Sex Offence Risk Appraisal Guide (SORAG) was developed in Canada by a sample of inmates of a high secure psychiatric hospital. It is used widely to predict violence committed by sexual offenders but it is also quite popular on non psychiatric offenders. It comprises of 14 items: living with biological parents until the age of 16 maladjustment in elementary school history of alcohol related problems evidence of sustained intimate relationship criminal activity with absence of violence criminal activity with violence prior convictions regarding sexual offences convicted sexual offences against girls under 14 years failure in achieving conditional release age at index offence personality disorder criteria from DSM-III are met schizophrenia criteria from DSM III are met evident deviant sexual preferences evident psychopathy. Clinical methods Clinical methods are conducted in psychiatric hospitals by interviewing and evaluating the responses of known sex offenders. They are not considered as reliable as the actuarial methods, yet they can provide structured behavioural rating scales as aid to the actuarial tools (Kemshall, 2001). Clinical methods can estimate successfully the impact of environmental factors on harmful behavior. Clinical methods can be categorized in unstructured and structured methods (Shaw, 2011). The psychoanalytic approach proposed by the unstructured model relies heavily on the human factor and so, it is considered to be outdated and highly subjective. On the other hand, the structured models are well respected and, subsequently, used as they combine psychoanalysis with statistical tools. The structured clinical methods that are most frequently used are: Psychopathy Checklist Revised (RCL-R) Historical, Clinical, Risk 20 (HCR 20) Sexual Violence Risk 20 (SVR 20) Structured Assessment of Violence Risk in Youth (SAVRY). Managing risk In order to manage the risk posed to society by sex offenders there have been established agencies all over the United Kingdom. For risk management to e effective there has to be a solid information base and strong coordination between all the participants involved in the task of control and prevention of sex offences. It is an ongoing procedure that must be kept up to speed with the developments, apply new strategies and measure the efficacy of the actions taken. In Scotland the Multi Agency Public Protection Arrangements (MAPPA) has been established since the Management of Offenders Act 2005. The aim of MAPPA is to aid the work of criminal justice organizations in association with social services, so as they can reduce the acts of sex offenders and prevent recidivism of know offenders (MAPPA Annual Report 2009/2010). In England and Wales the Probation Service uses the Offender Assessment System to estimate the likelihood of re offending and re conviction. The Offender Assessment System uses the gathered information to alert the Multi Agency Public Protection Arrangements (MAPPA). MAPPA was established under the umbrella of the Criminal Justice Act 2003 Treatment of paedophiles Since the causes of paedophilia are yet unknown, it is a difficult task to determine the right course of treatment. At the moment, as there is no cohesive approach for the definition of paedophilia or its causes, there is a lack of the necessary consistency to the corresponding actions in regard of treating paedophiles as well. It is open to debate whether paedophiles exhibit mental disorder and if they are in need of treatment or their actions are of a sane person and are in need of punishment (Gordon Grubin, 2004). However, the main common goal for all the approaches of treatment is to reduce the danger of recidivism (Perkins et al, 1998). Treatment of paedophiles has changed its course many times over the years. The surgical castration(Perkins et al, 1998) that was used as a means of treating paedophiles and other convicted sex offenders, was abandoned by the 70s (Gordon Grubin, 2004), as hormonal therapy was gaining ground. Hormonal treatment included giving oestrogens but had high rates of side effects, such as thrombosis of carcinogenesis. Oestrogens gave their place to cyproterone acetate and medroxy progesterone acetate (Gordon Grubin, 2004). The drug treatment managed to reduce recidivism as only 15% of the users relapsed as opposed to the 68% of the non users (Perkins et al, 1998).Currently, dynamic psychotherapy is widely used for sex offenders (Gordon Grubin, 2004). The first step towards treatment is for the sex offenders to admit to their guilt. This is important as the treatment will try to persuade the offender to understand and empathize with the victim, while the psychological and physiological characteristics of paedophilia will be quelled. However, those who do not admit guilt can still be included in the treatment, although it will be an even more demanding task. At the same time, monitoring high risk factors and using a support system can avert re offending behavior (Hanson Harris, 2000). Most of the attempts in treating paedophiles involve the restoration of the cognitive process. The distortion of cognition is considered to be a coping mechanism, that the offenders tend to develop before or after they offend (Sheldon Howitt, 2007). The cognitive behavioural therapy is used to help paedophiles find a way to avoid sexual arousal from abnormal situations (Perkins et al, 1998). What is necessary for those who provide the treatment is to understand that each individual sex offender has different treatment needs and that a combined methods approach is more likely to be successful. The Sex Offender Treatment Programme (SOTP) is a well established programmed of treatment for sex offenders and is widely used around the world. It is being managed by the Prison Offending Behaviour Programmes Unit and has been developed by the British Prison Service. The most significant criteria, SOTP is based upon, are application of treatment methods that have proved to be effective, an empirically based model and treatment in accordance to the severity of each case (Perkins et al, 1998). Reintegration of Paedophiles Although still in a small scale, there have been schemes towards reintegrating released paedophiles. Starting by forming and application in Canada and the United States, schemes, such as the Stop It Now Program, started to be applied also in the United Kingdom and Ireland (McAlinden, 2006). The Stop It Now Program offers a professional assistance to those who have offended, those who are close to offending and those who suspect that there has been foul play in their environment. The most widely used program in reintegration of sex offenders is the Circles of Support and Accountability that has been running in England for a few years. In this program the offender is the core of a circle of volunteers. These volunteers help the offender in solving practical job and boarding related issues. At the same time they hold the offender accountable for his actions and behavior in general, while at the time they are obligated to report any suspicion of re offending to the authorities. Although the pilots are ready to be executed, they are not yet active. In some areas the difficulties lay in funding the project and in other cases it is extremely difficult to find volunteers (Armstrong et al, 2008). Due to the obstacles these schemes keep finding suggestions are made that the particular programs or other initiatives could work under the umbrella of inter agency risk assessment and management procedures (McAlinden, 2006). In addition to the pre existing policies, this kind of schemes can help the goal of making re integration more effective. Public disclosure High profile cases, such as the Sarah Payne abduction and murder by a known paedophile, resulted in the name and shame campaign from the media and especially the News of the World. The campaign started with the initiative of the newspaper (Moyes, 2000), promoting the naming of all convicted paedophiles, and received much attention from the public and the authorities as well. The publics wishes, accentuated by the media pressure, for disclosure for all sex offenders were met by the government to a pilot scheme where anyone could report someone else with access without supervision to their child. The scheme was implemented by Home Office in 2009 in four police areas in England and one area in Scotland and by 2010 it was set to run nationally. However, as other schemes, it didnt find the anticipated participation (Kemshall et al, 2010), pointing out in a divergence between what the government provided and what the public actually demanded for (Kemsall Weaver, 2012). The reasons for this were multiple. Primarily, the public perceives these kinds of schemes, run through the police, as an increase in policing the everyday life, when they should be assumed by other agencies. Moreover, they are thought as a way to push the responsibility onto the public instead of the proper authorities (McCartan, 2010). It has also been established (McCartan, 2010) that the public views sex offenders as a complex issue, with child sex offenders being the most dangerous, so there is the need of differentiation in disclosure schemes. Publicizing the schemes is an important tool for the successful implementation of them. They are to be explicitly explained to the public so as to be efficient (Kemshall Weaver, 2012). In addition to this, public needs evidence that the schemes are actually beneficiary and result in child protection (Kemshall et al, 2010).