Hurricane Katrina- a Natural Disaster

Did you know that a hurricane is basically a small tornado? When warm air and cool air collide over a large water source such as a sea or ocean, a hurricane is made. Hurricane Katrina just happened to be the second largest hurricane in United States history. Being formed in the Caribbean Sea, it was at first a category 1 hurricane. It gained strength in the Gulf of Mexico, placing it's rank at category 5. After hitting Louisiana at it's highest peak, it decreased to category 3.Winds at 120 miles per hour and waves as tall as three stories high put together the most horrifying event ever known to Americans. During evacuation, many people fled to a safe area in search of shelter. Texas was one place that most people went to since they welcomed them more than any other state. However, after the victims got there, crime soared and Texans had no way to control or deal with so much crime. Because of this, it is very unlikely that Texans will welcome victims with such hospitality next time. There was, however, a dome built to house the Katrina victims: the Astrodome.Even though the Katrina victims had so many places to go, some were forced to stay behind because of hospitalization, they were abandoned by their caretakers, a lack of transportation, e. t. c. Out of all areas that were hit by Katrina, New Orleans suffered the most damage. 80% of the city was flooded. About 204,000 homes were either damaged permanently or temporarily and more than 800,000 citizens uprooted from New Orleans. The population shrunk to 75% of it's original population. The number of homeless people doubled to 12,000 people within two years.Experts have estimated that it will take 8 to 11 years for New Orleans to fully recover from Katrina. Most people think of hurricane deaths as direct, but in reality, deaths caused by hurricanes are mainly indirect. Some examples of indirect deaths caused by Katrina are suicide, illness, murder, starvation, and dehydration. Mental illness and tragic sufferin g can lead many people to suicide. Lack of medical care can lead to infection or weakness, causing more deaths. Because of lack police force, crime rate and murder was at it's peak.Since there was no way to access food overseas or through land, starvation and dehydration was very common. During and after Hurricane Katrina, the economy crashed. There was an estimated $200 billion worth of economic damage. Not only did the prices for gasoline, oil, and other chemicals increase, but there were shortages in many areas all over America. The failed economy in America also upset the economy internationally. India, Iran, Russia, and Cuba were just some other countries affected by the international terror. Oil was the part of the economy that was affected the most.There were about 580 reports of oil, petroleum, and other hazardous chemical spills. Only one of these spills alone would release about 1 million gallons of oil. Because of this, they had to reduce oil use greatly to have any remai ning at all. Another reason is that 60% of oil imports traveling through the Gulf couldn't get through. In consequence, the Department of Energy was forced to release 30 million barrels of emergency oil. Through all of these disappointments, there is some pleasure caused by Hurricane Katrina. It caused the construction of of innovation funds.In time, the areas hit by Katrina were renovated and the most beautiful that they've ever been. There was also an international hurricane awareness introduced by Katrina. Other countries and America now know to be more prepared for future hurricanes similar to Katrina. It also created the ability to redevelop land using more modern technologies. The land hit today has the most advanced technology in the country. Even though Katrina has had some good outcomes, it was overall horrid. It has affected America and the rest of the world in sad, cruel ways.Thousands of people died, others were relocated, supplies were minimized, and it took people year s to recover from their experience. â€Å"not just a disaster of nature, but a breakdown of government. † The words of Barack Obama, current President of the United Stated. Seven years have passed by, and since 2005, America had made great progress. Besides the very few places and people that are still recovering, it is almost as if these horrid times have never existed. But even though damage has almost gone away completely, we will always remember the damage and hardships that were due to Hurricane Katrina: a natural monster.

John Locke : Second Treaties of Government Essay

John Locke was born on August 29, 1632 in England to a middle class family. He was named after his father, an educated attorney who had participated in the Civil War with the Long Parliamentary. Locke shared a great deal of affection and respect for his father. The relationship he built with his father influenced him to create his own views on education and government. His theory on education was published in 1693 titled, â€Å"Some Thoughts Concerning Education. † Locke was accepted to Christ Church College, Oxford due to father’s friendship with a member of the Long Parliament. The Long Parliment was known to challenge the monarchy in England at the time and later started the English Civil War. Locke attended Oxford for many years studying the curriculum in England and graduated with a Masters in 1658, pursuing his interests in arts. Later he became increasingly interested in the study of sciences including the study of medicine, which were on the rise in England Universities at the time. His interests in science continued to expand and he continued to apply himself to the study of medicine. While studying medicine Locke became interested in the philosophical questions of his time, including the rights of man. The rights of man deal with the powers of government to wit, government by the king through a monarchy and the power of the people through a social contract. Since 1660 Locke began to explore his interest in the natural law. Within the next couple of years he composed â€Å"Essays on the Law of Nature† written in Latin. Unfortunately for Locke his Essays were never published, these theories of law were based on two of his philosophies. First, â€Å"in order that anyone may understand that he is bound by a law, he must know before hand that there is a law. † Secondly, â€Å"there is some will on the part of that superior power, the law maker, who wishes that we do this and demands of us that the conduct of our life should be in accordance with his will. † Locke’s interest in science and medicine brought him into contact with a distinguished scientist named Robert Boyle. In 1667, Locke took a position at Lord Ashley’s household in London as a family physician, in addition to confidential advisor and secretary. In 1668, Locke assisted Lord Ashley in drafting a constitution for the colony of Carolina. In 1671, Locke began to write his greatest work, the â€Å"Essay Concerning Human Understanding. † This took nearly twenty years to complete. Since then he was deeply engaged in Shaftesbury’s political affairs as Secretary of Council a position he obtained while being a secretary for Shaftesbury. In 1675, Locke became ill and lost his position working for Shaftesbury. Due to unstable government conditions Shaftesbury fell from power and Locke was forced to leave England, choosing to recuperate in France. He spent nearly four years in Paris and Montpellier studying at medical school. During his exile in France Locke also took the time to develop his thoughts on Natural Law by composing, Two Treaties of Government. His writings deal with the development of a social contract, which is an agreement between the government and the governed. Locke later returned to England in 1679, he once again committed himself to offer services for Lord Ashley immediately upon his return to England. Four years later it was necessary for Lord Ashley to flee from England to Holland because he had supported the wrong leader during the Monmouth rebellion in 1685. Shortly after Ashley fled from England, Locke followed him and remained in Holland until the Revolution of 1688. Upon returning to England, Locke began to rapidly issue a number of his works he concluded while in Holland, the result of years of study and meditation. Among his works were the, Essay Concerning Human Understanding, Two Treatises of Government, and Letters on Toleration. His positive outlook on the importance of a mutual relationship between government and human nature, exerted an immediate and profound influence on the English. Locke’s views were immediately recognized among the English specifically his work on the Two Treatises of Government. Locke’s essay was written in such a way, to elaborate in detail about topics the people were already familiar with. Even the most uneducated candidate could recognize his premise on the philosophical views on government. Two Treatises of Government includes essays supporting the natural rights of society which guarantees our rights to life, liberty, and property. The term right, can be defined as a privilege or power, meaning a freedom or ability to do or refrain from doing something. Natural Rights, specifically emphasize the restraints that ought to exist on government with respect to individuals. This includes what a government must refrain from doing and what a government must do. In Locke’s Second Treaties of Government he discusses the natural liberty and equality of humans, which includes our natural rights to life, liberty, and property. He also determines the proper foundation of a legitimate government. Through supporting and insisting on the mutual consent given by the people of a specific society. Locke’s Theory of Natural Law was based on the moral laws societies are built on, including the establishment of peace and protection so that â€Å"no one will harm another person in their life, liberty, or possession. † Preservation of peace, equality, and independence among all people begins with, the power placed on people in a given society to obey the common laws of nature. When these powers being to get corrupted or not enforced through strict, certain, and fair punishment. The need for an elected and coherent government is required to properly secure the natural rights of peace and self preservation among a society. Locke then begins to explain to us the â€Å"natural state of man. † He describes that living among a state of nature, people in a society have the freedom to do as they please, with limitations and respects to other people. Locke states that this â€Å"state of liberty,† comes with the limitations so not â€Å"to harm another in his life, health, liberty, or possessions. † Locke also notes that, â€Å"all men may be restrained from invading others rights and from doing hurt to one another. † By saying this he is trying to define the equalities of man and their duties to each other in a community to live in peace. If for any reason there becomes the need to seek punishment for anyone who â€Å"has shown themselves dangerous to mankind. † Through an executive power there will be opportunities available to man, not only to receive reparation for damages but to do as necessary to â€Å"secure the innocent for the future. † Locke’s theory on the â€Å"natural liberty† of man holds that â€Å"man is to be free from any superior power. † This means that for a person in a society, no other power but his own ability to do and refrain from doing is within his own will. Any limitation which requires to be placed on a behavior that is part of the natural common code of conduct, must be established through consent by the legislative power of government and for the good of all the people among the community. Locke claims that the â€Å"natural liberty of man is to be free from any superior power† and to have â€Å"only the law of nature for his rule. † This means that the laws which exist are established for the people and by the people in a society. They are created for coexistence among one another and no one can enforce or take away this common practice. These natural laws were created for the good of everyone, so the people who perform up to these standards gave trust that the enacted and enforced laws will prevail on their behalf. Locke then explains the â€Å"origins of property. † He begins by confirming that although man does have a power and liberty over his life. He does not have power to dispose of his own life. In a brief statement Locke states, â€Å"Man has property in his own person† including â€Å"the labor of his body and the work of his hands. † By saying this Locke expresses his views on human nature and our ability to acquire property. He is saying that we are all property acquiring beings, and our claim or possession to this property derives from our physical work. We as individuals in a society attempt to put effort to obtain something we value, and create an appreciation for what we have through labor. So in a sense the labor of man, according to Locke is the source of all value. The amount of labor one puts into what he owns creates an appreciation of value because value is created through his labor. Since the creation of physical currency, paper money and coins, we in a society attempt to posses more property than we need to use. So people in a community are not guaranteed secure protection from this excess property. In order to protect our property and secure this right, Locke believes an elected government is needed to be established. With the consent of the people, the elected government takes responsibility to become the sole protector of their valuables. Locke’s political and legal thoughts on government created a justifiable pourpose for society to give power over to a elected ruler. First of all the â€Å"state of nature,† as described by Locke, is a society in which each man governs himself individually and there is no existence of a specific government rule. A society that lives by these laws can use their own cultural morals to govern themselves without a formal government, although every culture has their own interpretation of what is moral. Locke states otherwise in his writings in the Second Treaties of Government, to argue that an elected government by society is necessary. Thomas Jefferson later includes parts of Locke’s political philosophy when composing the Declaration of Independence. Based entirely on Locke’s theory of natural political equality, Jefferson’s Declaration of Independence became one of the most important and influential documents that created a foundation for the legislative branch of government. Locke’s focus is primarily based on the ideas of freedom and equality as a whole he believes that society should naturally possess the right to life liberty and property. These natural rights have derived from the law of nature, which are composed based on the laws of God. These laws are also known as moral laws. Locke believed that people that live in a state of nature are also living in a state of war. Since there is only the state of nature for their rule, there is no determination of what is considered equality and who has the power to balance peace. John Locke’s Two Treatise of Government also includes a definition of government, in which the people conform to the law or to rules which are entered based on logic or justification. In relation to members of society conforming to these laws, the same government must guarantee protection from taking away any of their natural rights. Locke’s view on valid government is one that confirms and supports three main natural laws of life, liberty and property. In defining political power, Locke insists that it is proper to make laws â€Å"for the regulating and preserving of property,† and adds, that it is necessary for, â€Å"the execution of such laws in the defense of the common-wealth from foreign injury. † By saying this Locke supports and confirms that an established government is needed â€Å"for the public good. † Locke explains that â€Å"the reason why men enter into society, is the preservation of their property. â€Å" He adds that the citizens of a new established government â€Å"have a right to resume their original liberty ?by the establishment of a new legislative,† when any natural rights are threatened. Locke then continues to describe the separation between the powers of government and the powers of the governed. Including what creates a community under an elected government and who determines what political actions are for the good of the entire society. This is explained further when Locke says â€Å"for when any number of men have, by the consent of every individual, made a community, they have thereby made that community one body, with a power to act as one body, which is only by the will and determination of the majority. † When entering into a established society we assume our rights to enjoy our property in peace and safety. In order to be given this opportunity, Locke believes it is first necessary to establish a Legislative power for the good of all members of a society. The legislative power is to promote and guarantee preservation of all natural rights including safety for every person among the society. This legislative power thought does not have an absolute power, instead the power is offered based on the decisions as a majority given by the members in that society. This procedure is used so that any laws created will become an obligation on the members to cooperate with them because they have consented to a legislative power. This separates a government rule with supreme power from government rule by the power of the people. Since this power is created through consideration of the common wealth of the public good. Locke’s perception of a monarchy consisted of the idea that the people of a community experienced corruption due to absolute power given to one leader, the king. This lead to vicious rule and caused the people in the society to be force to live in conditions they did not deserve. In a monarchy the king would normally use his own judgments and digression to use his appointed power for the good of himself. This results in oppressing the people and leaving no opportunity to compromise the need for change. Under a monarchy rule there was an insufficient opportunity to dispute any privileges or restrictions. Enforcing laws or withholding natural rights under a monarchy rule hold no limitations because there is no restraint on the ruling of the king. By granting the powers of government in one person this will not guarantee a fair and honest approach for the common good. So Locke attempts to discuss and examine a system that will refrain from granting the powers of government to strictly one individual. Limitation and separation of powers of the government will restrain and prevent members of government from abusing the powers of governing a society. Establishing a government through the consent of all members of society will create trust that the laws and sanctions will prevail for the common good. Locke then explains that when being born into an established government we assume our rights to enjoy our property in peace and safety. In order to be given equal opportunity to enjoy our natural rights, Locke believes it is first necessary to establish a legislative power that will consider all members of a society. The creation of a legislative power is to promote and guarantee preservation of all natural rights including safety for every person who is a participant of that community. Most of John Locke’s writing also focuses on two branches of government known as the legislative and executive power. These branches of government are based on a constitutional state, where one leader does not have the authority to absolute power. The Legislative branch of government has the function of making laws. The Executive branch has the responsibility to carry out those laws created by the Legislative branch. This is to ensure that an elected government does not use only his own digressions when establishing laws and enforcing them. Locke states that by separating the authority and responsibilities of government into two separate branches, is the first positive approach of creating a valid constitution. These powers are required to be handled for the good of all members in society, by separating these powers there is no chance that the government will become corrupted. The purpose of John Locke’s composed writings attempt to encourage the need for a government which creates a foundation for the good of all members of society. In the process of offering order and peace for the common good of all the people members of the society must follow these rules. To establish a successful government Locke believes that it is necessary to obtain consent from the entire member. The purpose of creating a specific government is due to the unstable conditions of living in a state of nature. Living in a state of nature guarantees natural rights and freedom but not safety. This is why a power needs to be placed in the hands of a member from society to maintain the peace. Although living in society like a monarchy, under the ruling of a king can create unbalance and corruption of power. To enjoy both natural rights and live under a government that will prevail on behalf of its members. Following the establishment of government Locke then explains that the powers of making laws and enforcing them cannot be placed on one person. Placing absolute power in the hands of one person will only lead to corruption and unbalance, between all the members in the society. For this reason Locke requires a separation of powers among all government activity. This will balance and maintain a system that will stabilized living conditions for all the members of society. REFRENCES: Christie C. George, Martin H. Patrick. (1995). Jurisprudence; Text & Readings on the Philosophy of Law (3rd Edition). Natural Rights, Human Rights: John Locke (pgs 284 -342). St. Paul, MN : West Publishing Company.

Personal freedom Essay

The personal freedom notion has changed vastly over the years from the harm principle to the notion of basic rights. Cobley suggest that in this day and age, these principles will not allow us to have maximum freedom. On the other hand, suggest that only by giving up all our freedom to the government, then we can maximize our freedom. I am largely convinced by his reasons why total freedom should be given to the government as the democratic government has proven to be able to fully optimize the freedom of our society. From paragraph 5 in line 58-61, Cobley suggest ‘ ill-health ignorance†¦factors’ are the factors preventing equality and liberty. He believes that ‘fraternity’ will help to reconcile both factors and eventually allow liberty. This is because these factors allow the clever and the strong to gain unfair advantages. And only by caring for each other, these unfair advantages will be shared equally, and hence allow equal opportunities for all. B y allowing equal opportunities for all, this allows the people to have freedom to compete equally. I am largely not convinced by his view of freedom, as it is an ideal state and not practical. In order to get the general rich population to share their advantage to the disadvantage is improbable and far from practical. This is because men are generally selfish and to care for complete strangers is not common in society. This point can be further strengthening by numerous examples of the stronger and smarter – not caring- but exploiting the poor. For example, many years back in Singapore, it was revealed that the chief executive officer of NKF – a charity fund – misused the finds of the charity to fund his luxurious lifestyle. This goes to show that the rich in general are unlikely candidates to show their care and concern for the poor. I however feel this responsibility should be given to the government through means such as heavy taxes onto the rich. I feel that this is the only way to ensure freedom to have equal opportunities for both the poor and rich. Therefore I believe we should surrender our claims to freedom to the government so that they can help re-distribute this income and ensure freedom is maximized. Hence, I disagree with the author’s view that by getting the rich to show concern to the poor ensures freedom as this is not practical and merely ideal. In para graph 3 Cobley discussed that freedom should be surrendered to the government if the laws passed down are deemed as ‘acceptable’ and not to ‘override certain basic freedom’. For example, basic rights such as the  right to live or worship. Cobley at the end of the passage however expresses his view that he is not in favor of it. I am too largely in agreement with his view because these basic rights are hard to define. Everyone have their own view of a ‘basic’ right and this often stems from religious beliefs. This would make it very hard for the government to decide on something common as there would bound to be people unsatisfied. For example, Singapore recently passed down a censorship law on websites with high viewership. Their rationale to it was that they feel these websites should be socially responsible to the public. Hence information should be censored. However others argue that these laws infringe the basic right to freedom of speech – therefore causing unhappiness to these people. Henceforth I feel that freedom should be fully surrendered to the government as to have ‘basic rights’ is impossible to define due to the various views of a basic right. Thus it is beneficial to me to give full autonomy of freedom to the government. In paragraph 6, Cobley feels that he should ‘surrender my so-called liberty†¦to its laws and restrictions. Cobley feels that all his freedom should be given to the government to control and restrict. He further adds on that ‘any division into†¦wrong.’ Thus, further strengthening his viewpoint that more should be done to give our ‘freedom’ to the government. I am largely in agreement with his view because I feel the democratically chosen state is best able to represent the people. This is because the government best represent the majority, and being the one ‘in-charge’ of the state they are also able to see the country in a macro perspective. Thus, making them capable of making decisions to ensure that both short-term and long-term the country benefits overall. In addition if we continue to erect barriers, we can see the society being more dis-united and having more of our freedom restricted. For example, we can see in Russia – where drinking is a problem – roads are becoming unsafe and the freedom of innocent passer-bys are compromised just so as to give the Russians ‘freedom to drink’. If more was done to curb drinking, this can result in not only the lives of these passer-bys to have more freedom but also the families of these drinkers. Not only would theses families have more disposable income – freedom to spend – but also potentially more freedom of safety from these drunkards. Thus, this clearly shows how we should give full freedom to the government so that we would have more freedom as the government is better  able to assess the situation. Henceforth, it is only beneficial to me that total freedom is given to the government. In conclusion, I agree with the author that e should give all claims to individual freedom to the government.

Power that Information Technology opens up in Information Essay

Power that Information Technology opens up in Information Technology-led organizational - Essay Example The rise of the discipline of statistics was an outcome of the will of the state to get knowledge of the population and its tendencies such as mortality, health, work or life styles and to control it better. To discuss how information technology has opened up the power and knowledge to information technology companies, the cases on the learning process and Business process reengineering and Enterprise Resource Process will be evaluated (Hammer and Champy (2001, p.39). Hammer and Champy (2001, p.89) state that learning process is a process of knowledge conversion, and it involves four modes. The assumption that knowledge is created through the relations between inferred and clear knowledge enables us to categorize the four modes: from tacit knowledge to tacit knowledge known as socialization, from tacit knowledge to explicit knowledge called externalization, from explicit knowledge to explicit knowledge known as combination and lastly from explicit knowledge to tacit knowledge also re ferred to as internalization. Socialization acts as a connection with the theories of group processes and culture of the organization. Combination entails processing of information while internalization is related to learning in organizations. Externalization is, however, neglected and has not closely been considered in many cases. Socialization is a process of experience sharing thus, creation of inferred knowledge such as mental modes, which are shared, and technical skills. Someone can acquire inferred knowledge from others directly without involvement of language. An outstanding example being that of apprentices who normally work beside their masters and learn craftsmanship, not by any mode of conversation but rather through observation, imitation, and practice. All that somebody requires to acquire is knowledge and experience (Hammer and Champy, 2001, p.103). According to Hammer and Champy (2001, p.103), experiences helps one by, projecting him into another individual’s thinking process and gain something. For example, Matsushita Electric industrial Company in Japan, a major problem in developing an automatic bread making machine in the late 1980s at the Osaka based Company concentrated on mechanizing the process of dough-kneading, which is essentially inferred knowledge processed by master bakers. Socialization also occurs between product developers and customers. Interactions of customers with product developers and after market introductions are, in, fact, a never ending process of sharing inferred knowledge and idea creation for improvement. Hammer and Champy (2001, p.100) argues that externalization such as from tacit to tacit to explicit is a process of articulating tacit knowledge into clear concepts. It is a typical knowledge creation process in that inferred knowledge becomes clear, taking the figures of metaphors, analogies, concepts, hypotheses, or models. By conceptualizing a figure, we express its essence mostly in language writing in an act of converting inferred knowledge into achievable knowledge. Words are often inadequate, insufficient and inconsistent. Such variations and breaks between figures and expressions, nevertheless, assist in promoting expression and interaction between individuals. Knowledge conversion of externalization mode is typically seen in the action of creation of concepts and is triggered by dialogue (Hammer and Cham

Delta Airlines Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Delta Airlines - Essay Example The company survived the tough market conditions in the aftermath of 9/11 to become the top player in the industry. Delta Airlines has benefited from implementing innovative marketing strategies. The use of marketing alliances has enabled Delta to increase its travel destination offerings by 54%. A branding strategy allows a company to charge a premium price for its services while retaining a higher proportion of its customers. Branding strategy develop over time. Delta has been in the industry over 85 years. Delta has been able to increase the value of its brand by being a good corporate citizen. The company has great environmental record. The company hired ENSR, a leading environmental service provider to implement a recycling program in order to reduce the amount of waste generated in its flights (Lohas, 2007). The grand marketing strategy Delta is utilizing is a differentiation strategy. Differentiated marketing involves operating in several market segments and designing products or special service offering for each segment (Kotler, 2003). Two factors that enabled the company to differentiate itself from its competition are product variety and the quality of its service offerings. With the help of marketing alliances and partnerships the company is able offer its customer 572 different travel destinations. The company’s ability to enter into partnership agreements with other airlines allowed the enterprise to increase its target market. The marketing alliances at Delta have increased the scope of the companies market. The company’s customer profile includes both business travelers and people who travel in leisure trips. The markets the company targets are not limited to domestic travelers. The marketing alliances Delta established helped the company increase its presence in foreign marketplaces. Delta airlines utilizes a segmentation marketing strategy. The company uses its strategic alliance as tool to penetrate different

Developing a Close-Out Plan in Procurement Management Plan Research Paper

Developing a Close-Out Plan in Procurement Management Plan - Research Paper Example This calls in the legal advice from either the corporate legal counsel or an outside lawyer. This is a matter of withdrawing from the provisions of the outsourced contract. Usually the terms and processes for terminating a contract before time are spelled out in the initial contract. This section of the contract is called the termination clause. This clause is there for the protection of both the buyer and the seller, since termination before time can severely damage the interests of either party. Most procurement contracts usually require that the party who wants to terminate the contract before time must notify the other party within a reasonable amount of time, failure to which can result in severe financial penalties for that party. Another aspect of termination clause is the substitute provider. The party who wants to forfeit being part of the legal contract will have to find an alternative provider for the other party if it wants to get out of the contractual relationship. Such provisions and contingencies depend on the parties to the contract. There is no hard and fast rule to this as both parties make the rules themselves of earlier termination in the initial contract (Beyond the Information Systems Outsourcing Bandwagon, 2005). If a contract has a written provision that any modification or termination by agreement should be in written form, then any termination or modification cannot be made effective otherwise. But as stated earlier, this agreement is made by the parties to the contract and termination or modification can be made possible and legally effective orally, in written form, by an act, by staying silent or by inaction, if the initial contract contains such a provision (Viscassilas, 2006). Categorizing the differences in termination of contracts There are three general scenarios in which one party feel the urge and have legal approval to end the contract; Scenario A: Termination for Cause or Default (Seller’s Gaffe) This is a classic f ault from the seller’s side in which the buyer is not satisfied by the quality of the products or the delivery timings. In brief, the seller doesn’t fulfill his contractual obligations in the way he is bound to fulfill them. ‘Failure without legal excuse’ is the key term here that defines the seller’s breach. Seller fails to complete his critical obligations and the buyer is fully defensible in terminating the contracting immediately. Breach from the seller’s side should be ‘material’, which means that the damage to the buyer must be significant enough to give him the legitimate excuse to lay off the contract. Scenario B: Closure for the Suitability (of the Buying side) This tort is inspired by the Federal Acquisition Law which states that the federal government reserves the right to end the procurement contract for its convenience. Many other governmental agencies have followed this law since and have acquired the same legal pos ition in their procurement contracts. These governmental agencies can end the contract if and when they see fitting. These governmental bodies represent state, county and local and many industries are following this legal trend. If the buyer terminates the contract before it is legally expired, he/she needs to notify the seller at a reasonable time so as to not hurt him financially. After sending the notice, both parties must come to the negotiation table to sort

Introduction to Marketing Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Introduction to Marketing - Research Paper Example In every business the political arena is a key determinant of firm future, this is because the firm can either continue to invest in the country or withdraw if there’s political environment. Politics of a certain region affect the producers of a certain product. In our case, though Kenya has had a peaceful business environment for the past decades, there are some regions which had tribal clashes and this affected the operations of the company. Tribal clashes in the rift valley province made the production cost of the firm to rise so high were it not for the company’s big capital base than the company could have ceased its operations. There was a rise in the wage rates, cost of transportation doubled and security had to be beefed which all came along with costs. Political environment affects the operation of the firms in all the developing countries, Kenya being one of them, during the year of an election. This is because due to the high poverty rate, a lot of funds are distributed to the poor citizen who are casual workers in many firms, this diverts their attention thereby making the production cost to be very high. The company does export its products to the United Kingdom where the political environment has been very conducive for it to market its customers; political environment affects the effectiveness of a business marketing strategy such as promotion, pricing, product cycle and where to place its products in the market. The economic environment of a business affects the marketing strategy and product mix.

British Empire Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

British Empire - Essay Example The utilization of academic journals, timely books, academic web sites, and periodical articles, gives supporting evidence into this research to prove the validity of the statement that the British Empires construction was done to improve upon the British people's homeland, and living conditions, more so than any other socioeconomic factor emphasized. This statement does not hold the validity that the main idea of the construction of the British Empire does, which was to provide guaranteed sustenance, a secure home-land, safety for the citizens, and the promotion of socioeconomic growth. As Porter (2002) points out in his writing, "British expansion was a matter of prudent negotiation rather than thoughtless aggression," or even greed for that matter. This defines the building of the British Empire as a construction that was not done by means of war, but rather discussion amongst other public figures of countries to gain treaties that would allow for Britain to be able to develop and expand in a humane and civil manner. Furthermore, the idea that it was greed that compelled the Britons to expand seems highly unlikely and benign as Porter defines, through his writing, that there were notably times when Britain had no real interest in imperial expansion, even though it normally occurred at a later date through negotiated treaties ( 219). The main cause of this Nation building its empire was more centered on necessary strategies of protection, and the social, economic, and religious factors that were involved at the time, as is being emphasized. As has been stated, there existed multi-faceted reasons for the development of this Empire. The Briton's steadfast belief in imperialism, and the idea they had to civilize and bring the idea of Christianity to the whole world held its own place in the construction of the empire. The Briton's believed that by expanding and acquiring more land they would have better safety nets for refuge in case of attack. They also wanted to secure a safe area of land so that colonializations could develop and the people could feel safe. By doing this they believed it allowed them to have the freedom to follow their own religious following. In other words, expansion brought them a religious form of refuge from persecution by Puritans like Charles I. Not only did the Briton's feel expansion was extremely necessary to provide for religious sanctity at times, but they also realized that the growing population needed a good demographic area to settle for an extended period. These were all unselfish reas ons for the continuing construction of the British Empire's development and security. Furthermore, Britons were aware of the signs of animosity from neighboring countries that could pose a threat to the country's well being, and in this regard they had many defensive reasons as to why the construction of the Empire was indeed, a necessity. Their fear of Spain led them to expand into North American

Father and children Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Father and children - Essay Example n fathers and children depicted in the novel goes far beyond family ties - it is a social dispute of the old nobility and aristocracy, and the young revolutionary-democratic intellectuals. In particular, the question of fathers and children’s comprehension is revealed in the novel through the relationship of a young nihilist Bazarov with a representative of the nobility Pavel Kirsanov, as well as with his parents, and within the family of Kirsanov. As we can see the central point of contradictory and colliding views of the characters becomes Bazarov’s denial of everything that seems to be essential for the â€Å"fathers†. He does not just refuse to accept the knowledge of another generation but insists that there is a need to clear some beliefs for flourishing of his contemporaries. This is the moment which does not allow the representatives of so-called old school to compose, for it gainsays all the postulates they have believed all their lives. So Turgenev shows efforts to defend a particular opinion of both sides of the conflict. The problem of fathers and children stimulates the constant thinking over the mentioned issue of non-compliance betw een generations. The writer persistently rises the burning for his time issue, and the whole story begins from the speaking title of the novel. So what is presented in the novel’s title in verbal terms? The expression â€Å"Fathers and Sons† in the context of the work is ambiguous. Bazarov and Arkady’s fathers participate in the plot. Direct family ties of other characters are also mentioned. However, the heading of the work is metaphoric, for the older generation can be understood under the â€Å"fathers† that is followed by the young one, that is, â€Å"sons†. The title has an important organizing feature. The theme of â€Å"fathers† and â€Å"children† literally permeates the entire narrative. At the very beginning Nikolai Kirsanov is presented to readers as a father waiting for his son Arkady. It is mentioned in

Sociology and Me Article Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Sociology and Me - Article Example I was born on the 11th of November,1968 in the house of my uncle, Andrew Golson, a medical doctor in North End, Boston. I am the eldest of three children. My mother is an American while my father is a second generation Italian immigrant. We spoke English and Italian at home. My younger siblings are Andrew and Joan. We all grew up in this area.The North End Boston is a middle-class neighborhood which is dominated by Italian immigrant families who comprise the working class of America. My first dim recollection is that of my mom's pasta dish which she would serve at dinner. This dish reminds me of love, comfort and a feeling of belonging - a feeling of really being home. I attended elementary school at the Michelangelo school in Boston. The school resembles our closely-knit neighborhood. We knew everybody who studied in that school. Most of my relatives also sent their children there. The school presented a very safe and stable environment for growing up.The North End is my personal point of reference. It is where I grew up and where I started enduring friendships. I grew up in a very close family. My parents would always give us a hug, a kiss, a word of kindness or encouragement. Then everyday, we would take a great home-cooked meal which made all the difference in the world.As a young child, I was exposed to Italian classical music performed by Pavarotti and recently Andrea Bocelli. My father would mimic arias by these world famous performers and we would end up in a hilarious situation at home.During week-ends, my parents would take us to partake of great meals in family-run neighborhood restaurants like the Blue Front, Giro's, or Felicia's, or at Grandma's house. I always savor the best ingredients in these 'home-cooked' dishes." Like my younger siblings, I also learned how to cook well.Noise became music to my ears. I grew up with a lot of noise - smoke, beeping horns, a lot of traffic and more noise. We would play near Cross and Hanover streets. We would spend the whole day playing until we can play no more since we were very tired already. My family lived beside two houses which hosted two agreeable and well-to-do Italian immigrant families.My childhood and youth were spent in my parent's house which is a sturdy and well-built house. It has three bedrooms, a huge kitchen and two study rooms, one each for my father and mother. We would study in my father's study room. The house has a small garden filled with flowers in the summer time, which we children helped to tend.I grew up like other healthy and normal kids, my only illness being an attack of chicken pox and German measles. My immunity to disease was evidently greate r than that of either of my siblings. I remained perfectly healthy in spite of the uncertain preventive measures which were prevalent then. My mother would always care for us patiently whenever we got sick. Hence, my siblings felt comforted whenever they got sick. My first training in reading and writing came from my mother, who was a very well-educated woman. My mother is a graduate of Boston University where she took up education. She works in a high school near our home. My father studied engineering at Boston University. However, he decided to take over my grandfather's business after graduation. Thus, he never got the chance to work somewhere else.I am indebted to my parents for my intellectual life. They instilled in me the love for reading and study. They also helped me to think about things in a critical manner. They presented an open environment at home where we can exchange ideas and opinions about anything. They also shared with me the Catholic religion. I became close to our parish priest as I was growing up.My mother had great pedagogical ability which seemed to run in our family. We excelled in grade school and high school. During week-ends, my mother would work as a tutor to some important and distinguished families in Boston a nd her academic abilities were widely

Macroeconomic Analysis of South Africa Research Paper

Macroeconomic Analysis of South Africa - Research Paper Example Hospitality Segment in South Africa Similar to any other industry, the hospitality industry has to face a significant impact due to the economic condition in any country. The economic conditions prevailing within an economy determines the trend of travel and thus the profitability of hospitality sector. Hotels require a major financial investment. Nevertheless, financial suppliers necessitate guarantee that the hospitality organizations are satisfactorily feasible to repay the invested amount. The situation of hospitality market is generally determined by income per room and occupancy rates. Increasing occupancy rate in hospitality industry denotes high demand which can open the opportunity for new entrants in the hospitality industry. It is worth mentioning that the hospitality industry is directly related with national as well as distant travelling trends for tourists and commercial visitors (PwC, 2011). Hospitality organizations can gain high return on investment in the presence o f strong and healthy economy. For instance, the macroeconomic factor such as growth rate has major impact on the travel because it entices and preserves customers and drive sales within the industry. Furthermore, the condition of economy creates an impact on both domestic as well as global corporate travel. It is in this context that South Africa has satisfactory demand for hospitality services. With the virtues of the macroeconomic environment prevailing in the business context of South African hospitality industry, the number of overnight visitors in South Africa has increased considerably from 2004 to 2006 by almost 10.23 million. The increase in number of travel has accelerated the room occupancy rate as well as hotel revenue (PwC,...This paper is one of the best examples of the macroeconomic analysis of South Africa, and the overview of its current state of hospitality segment. Even though the financial structure of South Africa is improving, it is facing two most important macroeconomic problems (i.e. unemployment and electricity) which can have a substantial impact on the industrial development of the economy. The paper analyzes the extent of these problems and how the government reacts with the problems through developing macroeconomic policies. Furthermore, the paper also describes the hospitality industry in South Africa and its relationship with current macroeconomic issues faced by the country in order to understand the potentiality of instigating a new venture in the particular industry. South Africa is regarded as the economic centre of the African continent. It has outstanding and advanced legal structure. The financial system of South Africa is observed to be in a healthy position. South Africa is not only considered as a major developing economy, but is also as the gateway to other African markets. In the region, South Africa plays a vital part for energy generation, transportation, industrialization and hospitality services. Similar to any other industry, the hospitality industry has to face a significant impact due to the economic condition in any country. The economic conditions prevailing within an economy determines the trend of travel and thus the profitability of hospitality sector. Analysts predict that South Africa will remain economically attractive for tourism and hospitality sector. Even though there are some unemployment and electricity shortage issues in the country, its overall market attraction is satisfactory.

Kanoa K. Essay Example for Free

Kanoa K. Essay Kanoa K. is by far one of the most unforgettable characters of my life. He is not only my boyfriend, he is my best friend, someone I know would help me through difficult times, and someone who has helped me through tough times. If Kanoa were a fictional character, it would be very difficult to determine whether he is a believable character. He is one of the most perfect and awesome people I know, making him unbelievable. Kanoa is always helping his friends and me; he has a kind heart and is a good person, which is something I only truly find in a few individuals. Another thing that makes Kanoa an unbelievable character is his uniqueness. He is not your ordinary boy, Kanoa is masculine yet sensitive; he knows himself very well and is different from most. Kanoa is a â€Å"skater† but isn’t a jerk, punk or fool, I believe that this is because he knows what he is and what he’s not, he doesn’t let stereotypes get to him. It is not typical for a sixteen-year-old to know himself or herself so well. Some things make Kanoa Kruse a very believable character. He is a deep, complex individual who has hopes and dreams just as everyone else does. He has a direction in life; an idea of what he wants to do with his future, a notion of what he wants his lifetime occupation to be. Because Kanoa is a human being, he does make mistakes. Whenever Kanoa makes a mistake, he learns and grows from the experience. Kanoa has changed over the years, as anyone does. At first, he started of as a person I passed by in the hallways. The first day I saw him, I was eleven. I didn’t know who he was, not even his name, the only thing I can remember thinking was, â€Å"oh, he’s cute†. He was 13, an eighth grader. Since I was a sixth grader, the â€Å"lowest class†, I didn’t make a single effort to know him; he was just a pretty face. A year passed and I made some new friends, one of my friends was a fair-haired, English boy named Jacob. Jacob and I began to talk a lot; one reoccurring topic of our conversation was Kanoa. Jacob told me that I would get along really well with Kanoa; the three of use should hang out sometime. I didn’t remember whom Jacob was talking about, I only knew Kanoa by face and not by name. Kanoa and I did not get to meet each other that year. In December 2007, I cut out my horoscope for that month out of a fashion magazine. My horoscope stated that on the twenty-sixth of this month, one of my close friends would try to hook me up with one of their friends. At the time, I just rolled my eyes and tacked the clipping to my corkboard, I didn’t believe, even in my wildest dreams that this horoscope would come true. On December 26, I woke up to the buzzing of my cellphone, it was my close friend Jacob, He told me that his friend Kanoa wanted to be â€Å"hooked up† with me. Jacob had been telling Kanoa about me and Kanoa wanted to give things a chance and see how they end up, I decided to accept his offer and get to know him. Since then, Kanoa and I have been dating. At first, he started of as a pretty face, then he became a friend of a friend and now he is one of the most important people to me, I know he will always be here for me when I need him.

Public Concern About Indoor Air Pollution Environmental Sciences Essay

Public Concern About Indoor Air Pollution Environmental Sciences Essay Nowadays, public concern about indoor air pollution and its effects on health among community still in a weak level. Many of them did not realize the present of indoor air pollution on their surroundings. Principal categories of indoor air pollutants consist of combustion products, chemical products, radon, and biological agents. Indoor air pollution refers to the physical, chemical, and biological characteristics of air in the indoor environment within a home, building, or an institution or commercial facility. People spend more of their time indoor and additional time inside vehicles hence, they are more exposed to indoor air pollution compared to outdoor air pollution. Scientific evidence has indicated that the air within homes and other public and office buildings can be more seriously polluted than the outdoor air thus attracted expanded research on this topic. An indoor air pollutant comes from variety sources. Most homes have more than one source that contributes to indoor air problems (Saravanan, 2004). Today, indoor air pollution caused by burning of traditional solid fuels such as woodfuel, agricultural residues, and dried animal dung in unvented cookstoves in rural areas of developing countries is not much different from that of the past (Oanh and Hung, 2005) . The most common sources of indoor air pollution are environment tobacco smoke. The mixture of smoke comes from cigarette and exhaled by smoker which contain more than 4000 compounds and can lead to cancer. Radon also one of the indoor air pollutant and the most common is uranium. Radon gas enters homes through dirt floor, cracks in concrete walls and floor, floor drains and sump pumps. Radon also can cause cancer. Combustion product which comes from woodstoves, fireplaces, gas stoves and unvented kerosene is the sources of indoor air pollution. All of these can produce carbon d ioxide, nitrogen dioxide and particles. Lead comes from lead-based paint, contaminated soil and dust and drinking water. At the high level of lead can cause coma and even death. Lead has been identified as one of the indoor air pollution sources. Many of us did not realize that every day we inhaled polluted air and it originated from our own house. Many household products has been a causes of this problem because its contain organics chemical. All of these products can release organic compounds when using them. One of the most common indoor air pollutants called biological pollutants. There are many types which include dust from mites, bacteria, viruses, molds, pollen and animal dander. Formaldehydes come from the pressed wood products and furniture made with these pressed wood products also indoor air pollutant. Formaldehyde emissions will generally decrease as product age. When the products are new, high indoor temperature or humidity can cause increased released of formaldehyde f rom these products. Next pollutant sources are asbestos. Asbestos is a mineral fiber that has been used widely as building construction materials for insulation and as a fire-retardant. After they are inhaled, they can remain and accumulate in the lung. It can give bad effect to the respiratory system. Other source of indoor air pollutant comes from pesticides. It also include products control insect, termites, radon, fungi, and microbes. Many people spend 80-90% of their lives indoors, thus the high level of indoor air pollutants increases the personal exposure and subsequent health effects, which probably has more impact than exposure to ambient air (Oanh and Hung, 2005). In addition, those who are more exposed in a longer periods and often to indoor air pollutants has a high probability to influence in suffering from respiratory or cardiovascular disease especially children. Evidence shows that long-term exposure to indoor air pollution can leads to serious respiratory illness. Indoor air pollution can lead to many harmful health effect primarily involve respiratory system. Exposure to indoor air pollution can cause both acute (short term) and chronic (long term) health effect. Acute health effect is sudden and severe exposure and rapid absorption of the substance which can cause eye irritation, headache and nausea. Chronic health effect is characterized repeated exposure of many days, month, or years and the sympt oms may not be immediately appearance such as cancer. The most common effects are lung cancer and heart problem. The seriousness of effects depends on the levels of indoor pollutants, the exposure period, and the nature of the pollutants. (Oanh and Hung 2005). Mitigation step should be taken in order to reduce the effect of indoor air pollution and protect people from further damage of health. This can be done by eliminating or controlling the sources of pollution such as the uses of household product. We can eliminate or limit the uses of this product in our house. We also should increase the ventilation system in our house, office, or any building to make the movement of air to inside or outside and good air exchange rate. Then, we can also install air cleaning devices such as exhaust fan in kitchens and bathrooms. This mitigation effort also should be taken by government especially to conduct or control the emission of greenhouse gases from factories or vehicles which also can contribute to the indoor air pollution by introducing products or devices. For example catalytic converter to the vehicles and for industries, the scrubbers and electrostatic precipitator or electrostatic air cleaner. All of these devices can help and bringing air pollution under control. Catalytic converter is used by automobile manufacturers to reduce the amount of carbon monoxide and hydrocarbons in a cars exhaust. The converter contains a catalyst that oxidized these compounds to carbon dioxide and water. For industries, scrubbers and precipitators are used. Scrubber systems are a diverse group of air pollution control devices that can be used to remove some particulate or gaseous from industrial exhaust streams. Its work by use liquid or a dry reagent to scrub unwanted pollutants from the stream. Scrubbers are one of the primary devices that control gaseous emission to the air. An electrostatic precipitator is a particulate collection device that removes particulates from a flowing gas using the force of an induced electrostatic charge. They are highly efficient filtration devices that minimally impede the flow of gases through the device, and can easily remove fine particulate matter from the air stream. The target in conducting this research proposal is to identify the sources of indoor air pollution because most of the people still did not know what is indoor air pollution and what sources has cause this pollution. This research proposal also has been proposed to observe the effect of indoor air pollution to the human health as the previous research shows that mostly people did not realize that the illness that they get are from the indoor air pollutants. And last objective of this research is to study the solutions in reducing the effect of indoor air pollution to human health since the health problem caused by indoor air pollution increased lately, many mitigation effect should be recognize and practice in order to detect and reduce the indoor air pollutant sources. The important of this research proposal is to open the eyes of mostly people who are still did not know about the indoor air pollution, the sources and the bad effect of this pollution. Besides that, by doing this research proposal, we can spread and tell people the information of indoor air pollution and provide them the best ways to mitigate this pollution and also to recognize and reduce this pollutant sources in their daily life. OBJECTIVES To identify the sources of indoor air pollution. To observe the effect of indoor air pollution to the human health. To study the solutions in reducing the effect of indoor air pollution to human health. LITERATURE REVIEW Component of literature review:- Introduction There are many research have been made by many researchers about the indoor air pollution. May of the state that the indoor air pollution can occurs in the rooms, houses or buildings that did not have a balance rate of exchange of indoor air and outdoor air. The research on indoor air pollution has been done by John in 2000 and he stated that the indoor air quality (IAQ) in any building can be compromised by microbial contaminants (mold, bacteria), chemicals (such as carbon monoxide, formaldehyde), allergens, or any mass or energy stressor that can induce health effects. Based on this statement, we can know a little bit about what are actually indoor air pollution and its characteristics. As many of us spend the greater times of our lives indoor, thus the indoor environment of homes and offices is often more seriously polluted than the outdoor atmosphere. This makes the risks to health may be greater due to the higher contents of indoor air pollutants than the outdoor air pollutants. Research by Saravanan in 2004 found that the major sources of indoor air pollution are those that release gas and particles into air, and inadequate ventilation makes the situation much worse. In this research also states some of the major factors that determine the quality of indoor air such as:- The nature of outdoor air quality around the building. The air exchange rate of the building (ventilation). The materials used in the construction of the building (presence of chemicals). The activities that go on inside the building (cleaning, cooking, heating etc.). Use of household chemicals. Another study done by Lizaridis in 2011 also states that people spent about 85% of their time indoors and additional 3% inside vehicles. Which means that no inside homes or building people can get indoor air pollution, but also inside the cars or vehicles, therefore people are exposed to gaseous air pollutants and particulate matter from both outdoor sources and through infiltration of outdoor air and indoor sources. She also state that the content of indoor air pollution inside homes, buildings, cars or vehicles may have different composition and possibly different toxicities. High toxicities can cause harmful and bad effect to human health especially respiratory system illness. Another study done by Kamaruzzaman and Sabrani in 2011. Researchers have found that pollutants in indoor air occur more regularly and at higher concentrations than in outdoor air. Therefore, it is clear that indoor air has created major source for environmental exposure to air pollutants rather than outdoor. The air quality inside buildings, homes and vehicles are affected and influences by many factors. In an effort to conserve energy, modern building and homes design has favoured tighter structures with low rates of ventilation which can caused unbalances exchange of air to inside and outside. Pollutant sources of indoor air pollution Study done by Syazwan in 2009 found that the factor that contributed to indoor air pollution is poor maintenance and services of heating, ventilation and air conditioning. These factors can increase indoor air pollution level in homes and building. Ventilation play important role in the house or building because it regulate and control the flow of air into and outside. The exchange of air should be balance. Saravanan study in year 2004 shows that indoor air pollution generated by many sources includes from inside and outside the homes and building. There are many sources of pollutant indoor air pollution we generate everyday in our daily life. The important indoor air pollutants are generated by burning of oil, gas, kerosene, wood and tobacco products or produced by building materials, furnishings, wet or damp carpets, household chemical products, air conditioner, dehumidifiers and outdoor sources comes from radon and pesticides. Many study and research by researchers found that inadequate ventilation can increase indoor air pollution level because there is no sufficient air movement to dilute the emissions from indoor sources and carry them out of homes. The more it accumulates inside homes or building, the higher the level of indoor air pollution. All of these can give bad effect to our health. Most common indoor air pollutant stated in the study done by Saravanan are tobacco smoking, biological contaminants, indoor combustion, volatile organic compounds (VOC), radon, formaldehyde, particulate matter, pesticides, and lead. Smokers easily exhaled their smokes to the surrounding without knowing that the smokes are really dangerous to others people health. this is because, tobacco smoke contains a complex mixture of over 4000 compounds, more that 40 of which are known to cause cancer, and as many are strong irritants. Smoking inside the home and building caused for large amounts of indoor pollutants. Besides that, cigarette smoke is another source of formaldehyde. Biological contaminants include pollen, bacteria, fungal spores, mildew and many more. All of these can be produced by unbalanced humidity inside homes and building. Other sources are indoor combustion such as combustion of fuels like kerosene, oil, gas and many more. It can contribute to the concentration of volatil e organic compounds inside the homes and building. Volatile organic compound includes aliphatic and aromatic compounds. Many organic compounds are emitted from construction materials, furnishings and consumer products such as latex paints. Radon became most famous contributes to indoor air pollutants nowadays. Commonly, radon enters homes through well water, penetrates through cracks in buildings and then released into the indoor atmosphere. Radon mostly associated with radioactivity inside the building and homes. Formaldehydes come from many sources. It come from tobacco smoking, it also comes from particle boards, plywood, urea formaldehydes foam and furniture. Other sources of indoor air pollutant are pesticides comes from moth repellants, insecticides termiticides and others pesticides. These products can pollute indoor air. Next is lead. Lead also dangerous and can lead to indoor air pollution. It comes from lead based paint, contaminated soil and contaminated water. Studies of indoor air pollution in cities done by Spengler and Soczek in 1984 shows that indoor air pollution levels sometimes exceed those outdoor because of the presence of significant indoor sources-fuel burning appliances, tobacco smoking, household chemical use, etc. Studies done by Oanh and Hung characterized sources of indoor air pollution into certain categories which consists of combustion products, chemical products, radon, and biological agents. The accumulation of the products and materials into high concentration can be cause by inadequate ventilations. Indoor air pollutants can directly emitted from many sources basically from house activities such as cooking by cookstoves, heaters, tobacco smoking, building materials and pest control chemicals. Indoor air pollutants also emitted from outdoor but from different sources such as volatile organic compounds (VOC) from photochemical industries or vehicles. Effect of indoor air pollution to human health Many researches state the consequences of indoor air pollution especially to our respiratory systems in their research. Buchman has done his study in 1992 and state that indoor air pollution also can cause subsequent in societal and economical conditions. In economic issues, multimillion dollar lawsuits have been reported for compensation for improper ventilation system in building and house and there are many building renovation in order to increase the efficiency of ventilation system. Only after many cases are recognized which caused by indoor air pollution, they realized that how really important is the proper and efficient ventilation system in homes and building. As we know that ventilation system is important to balance the rate of air movement to inside and outside the homes and building. Oanh and Hung also has a same opinion with Buchman, 1992 and states that indoor air pollution will cause subsequent societal and economical conditions. Same description about compensation and renovation of building that may affect economic sectors. Others are stress about the effect of this pollution to human health. Oanh and Hung states in their study in 2005 that the effect of indoor air pollutants to the health may be experienced soon after the exposure or, possibly, years later. This effect called chronic effect and acute effect. Chronic effect characterized repeated exposure of many days, months, or years and the symptoms may not be immediately appearance. Acute effect is the sudden and severe exposure and rapid absorption of the substance and the effect may be experience soon after the exposure. Immediate and short-term effects, including irritation of the eyes, nose, and throat, headaches, dizziness, and fatigue, may be observed after a single exposure or repeated exposures. T hese effects are normally treatable and sometimes the treatment is simply elimination of the exposure to the pollution sources. Symptoms of some diseases, including asthma, hypersensitivity pneumonitis, and humidifier fever, may also show up soon after exposure to certain indoor air pollutants. The longer-term effects can be severely weakening or fatal; they include some respiratory diseases, heart disease, and cancer. Besides that, in this research, the writer states a few prominent cases related to the indoor air pollution. First is Legionnaires disease which has been identified in 1976. This disease shows pneumonialike symptoms such as high fever, headache, lung consolidation, respiratory failure and death. The diseases are found has been caused by rod-shaped bacteria. The outbreak of the disease in the 1976 Legion convention was linked to aerosols drifting from a cooling tower (of the central air conditioning system) of the hotel, Oanh and Hung, 2005. Cooling towers, whirlpool b aths, showers and respiratory equipment is the example of aerosol-producing devices which can spread the disease. The bacteria also can cause another nonpneumonic and nonfatal disease like Pontiac fever. By treat cooling tower and evaporative condenser water with biocidal chemical, the transmission of this disease can be slower and can be control. Other disease that has been mention by Oanh and Hung in their research is sick building syndrome. The symptoms of this disease are of nonspecific nature like headache, eye, and nose irritation, respiratory diseases (throat irritation, shortness of breath), neurotoxic disease (dizziness), and general fatigue and malaise. But, the symptoms cannot be traced to specific sources. The major causes of this disease have been identified such as inadequate ventilation, chemical contamination, and microbial contamination. The most recent causes are inadequate ventilation. Oanh and Hung also stated few specific indoor air pollution and its health effe ct such as radon, tobacco smoking, asbestos, biological contamination, pollutants from combustion sources and other indoor air pollutants. Uranium is an example of radon and it is a noble gas which is colourless, odorless and the radioactive. It is produced by the decaying process in soil or rock. Usually, radon can be found above the homes or floor and can enter to the indoor environment by crack floor, floor drains and sumps. It also can enter homes by water well. Radon can gives chronic health effect and its shows no immediate effect after the exposure but usually radon disease are related to the lung cancer. As people know that tobacco smoke contain over 4000 compound and more than 40 of which are known to give harmful effect to humans or animals health such as cancer. A few examples of tobacco smoke compounds are nicotine, acrolein, cyanide, nitrosamines and so on. The tobacco smoking can give effect not only the smoker itself but also to the who inhaled back what the tobacco s mokers has exhaled after them inhaled the cigarette. The worst effect is to the people who inhaled back what the smoker has exhaled. It is because of the synergistic effects of the toxic pollutants present in the smoke with other indoor air pollutants such as combustion products and biological contaminations. The effect is more to the respiratory illness such as lung cancer, cardiovascular and broncho-pulmonary disease. The health effects of tobacco smoking on smoker are respiratory diseases, cardiovascular diseases, lung cancer and other cancers. Next sources pollutants are asbestos which is widely used as roof and ceiling as it is resistance to heat and fire for insulation and fire protection. Asbestos also can be found in older homes, pipe and furnace materials, asbestos shingles mildboard, textured paints and other coating materials and floor tiles. Health effects of asbestos fibers depend on chemical and physical characteristics such as size, number and surface charge, Oanh and Hung, 2005. There are four related disease to asbestos exposure; lung cancer, mesothelioma, asbestosis, and nonmalingnant pleural disease. The symptoms of this effect do not show immediately after the initial exposure and this is called chronic effect. Examples of biological contaminants are molds, mildews, pollens, viruses, bacteria, animal dander and dusts. The famous effects of biological contaminants are allergens. Some of the symptoms of health effects include sneezing, watery eyes, coughing, shortness of breath, dizziness, tiredness, fever and digestive problems. Children, elderly people, and people with breathing problems, allergies and lung disease are particularly susceptible to disease-causing biological agents in the indoor air, Oanh and Hung, 2005. In addition, the most dangerous and powerful biological agents are house dust mites which grow in damp and warm environments. This agent can cause asthma. Next sources of indoor air pollutants are pollutants from combustion s ources. Combustion sources of indoor air pollution include open cooking fires, tobacco smoking, unvented cookstoves and space heaters and vented appliances with improperly installed flue pipes, Oanh and Hung, 2005. These pollutants can cause chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and trachea, bronchus and lung cancer. Other indoor air pollutants such as are ozone and lead also has been most concern pollutants nowadays. Ozone indoors may release from office and domestic equipment such as photocopying machines, commercial electrostatic air cleaners and ion generators. Ozone can cause damage to lung and other respiratory functions. The exposure of ozone also can cause nose and throat irritation and chest constriction. Lead can be used in paint, gasoline, water pipes and others. Lead affects practically all systems within the body Oanh and Hung, 2005. At high concentration and accumulations of lead can caused convultions, coma, and even death. Lower concentration of lead can give effect to brain, central nervous system, blood cells and kidneys. The effect of lead can be adverse to fetuses and young children such as delays in physical and mental development, lower IQ levels, shortened attention spans and increased behavioral problems. Usually, children are more risk in having lead exposure than adults because lead are easily absorbed in growing tissues and the tissues of small children are more sensitive to the damaging effects of lead. Lead in house dust is considered to be the major risk factor for high lead levels in blood in children, Oanh and Hung, 2005. Smith done his research on the urban air pollution and cigarette smoking in 1986 found the several classes of ill health that could be expected from the types and the levels of air pollution exposure in the villager houses. The classes includes:- Chronic obstructive lung diseases such as chronic bronchitis and associated heart conditions such as cor pulmonale, which is pathological enlargement of the right side of the heart because of resistance to blood flow through the lungs. Acute respiratory diseases because the respiratory system is less able to protect itself against infection. Low birth weights and associated elevated mortality and morbidity of several sorts in infants born of mothers exposed during pregnancy. Respiratory system cancers, particularly of the lung. These classes can categorized the level of health conditions among the villagers. These 4 classes of ill health are dangerous if there are no action is taken in order to reduce or prevent the increasing of indoor air pollution inside their house or building. Torrest-Duque in 2008 states that in 2000, indoor air pollution was responsible for over 1.6 million deaths and about 3% of the global burden of disease. Of the deaths, acute respiratory infections accounted for 59% and chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases almost 41%, leaving lung cancer as a relatively minor contributor. This shows that health diseases related to the respiratory system has been increased and caused by indoor air pollution. The record shows the evidence to the people about how dangerous is indoor air pollution to the human health and it can cause not only cancer but also can cause death. Other global burden of disease includes HIV and AIDS, tobacco smoking, obesity and indoor air pollution also one of the list. Preventive measure Without knowing where the sources come, we cannot prevent the pollution from occurs. By knowing the sources and where it comes, we can find the effective ways in order to reduce and prevent it turn worst in our daily life activities. Oanh and Hung in their studies state that awareness of the type and number of potential sources is the most important step in effort to reduce indoor air pollution and stated it as a task for indoor air pollution management. First, we should diagnosing indoor air quality problems in our homes or buildings. We can diagnosing it by using several steps such as the symptoms of health effects, potential indoor air pollution sources, life styles and activities and the indications of ventilation problems. By looking at these characteristics, we can know whether there is indoor air pollution in the homes or building. Examples of symptom of health are eyes irritations, dizziness, headache and etc. Potential indoor air pollutions sources include construction mater ials of homes or building such as roof made of asbestos. Life style and activities such as uses of cooking sources can indicate the presence of indoor air pollution. And also the efficiency of ventilation systems in building or homes can determine the level of indoor air pollution. After diagnosing indoor air quality problems in building, we can proceed either monitoring indoor air or control strategies which are more to solving problem. There are three step that are stated by Oanh and Hung in their studies. First is ventilation. Ventilation is really important things that we should give more intention. This is because ventilation plays important role in control our air regulation rates in homes or building. Every houses and building has to have a good and efficient ventilation system to control air rates and comfort environment inside houses and buildings. Next preference step is source management and exposure control. Oanh and Hung said that reduction of indoor air pollution level can be achieved through the source emission reduction, reduction of pollutants inflow from outdoors and increase outflow of pollutants from indoors and increase of air pollutant sinks. However, we cannot totally eliminate the sources and it may not be practical. The third step is air cleaner. But, indoor air cleaning is helpful only in combination with efforts to remove the sources. Besides that, Oanh and Hung also state the management of indoor pollutant sources such as radon, tobacco smoke, combustion product in homes, asbestos, organic pollutants from household products, pollutants from household chemicals, and etc. In the way to mitigate the transmission of radon to the indoor environment, the proper design of houses during the construction should be considered. This can prevent the entering of radon to the residences. The techniques that applicable is the selection of construction sites with low permeable soil, modification of sites by removing high-radium-containing subsoil, or cover the ground surface with low-radium-containing soil, which has high resistance to soil gas flow, and designing houses with minimum radon exposure. 3 techniques stated can be considered during the construction of houses. For the existing houses, also should have some modification on their houses design to minimize the exposure of radon. First is use of diffusion barrier/sealants made of nonpermeable material to seal cracks to prevent the flow of radon. Second is the use of suction fans to exhaust soil gas from beneath building and substructure to prevent the entry of radon into basement and the third techniques is house pressurization to create outward airflow direction. The best way to prevent the emission of tobacco smoke in house or public buildings is by ban the smoking. Besides that, we also should increase the ventilation systems in the places which smoking takes place. But, this mitigation effort only reduces the gas emission from the tobacco smoking and not eliminates it. A next source of indoor air pollutant is combustion products in homes. The sources are from the combustion appliances cooking and heating devices. The sources can be controlled from emitted more indoor air pollutants such as uses of cleaner fuels and clear-burning devices, optimization of operation and maintenance of appliances, and installation of proper flue gas system to vent out smoke. Besides that, by replaced oil and gas stoves or woodstoves with electrical appliances for cooking and space heating will produce cleaner air to the indoor environment. Oanh and Hung also provide mitigation step for asbestos. Asbest os or asbestos-containing materials (ACM) can produce dust and particles that can easily inhaled by human respiratory. Asbestos usually use as roof on houses or building and the best way to reduce and prevent the contribution of this sources to indoor air pollution, we should avoid the uses of asbestos in construction of airtight, roof or ceiling of our houses. Besides that, the periodical inspection should be conducted for any damage of ACM. Next sources are organic-pollutants from household materials. The preventive measure should be started by the manufacturer of the household products by produce more safe products. Consumers also should know and avoid from use the product which is emitted the indoor air pollutant. Oanh and Hung stated 5 prevention measure by consumer for reduction emission of indoor air pollutant sources; evaluate and select low-VOC-impact building materials and products, precondition materials such as carpets and furniture, to minimize emissions before installa tion, install building materials and products based on their VOC decay rates(aging), ventilate buildings during and after installation of new materials and products and delay occupancy until VOC concentrations has been reduced adequately. Pollutants from household chemical such as pesticides, wood preservatives, air fresheners and etc also one of the indoor air pollutants sources. Oanh and Hung stated that the proper choice of chemical formulations, appropriate application method, application rate, and practices can greatly reduce the hazards associated with these chemicals. Saravanan also mention about the same mitigation steps in reducing and prevent the increasing of indoor air pollution in his studies in 2004. His stress on the eliminating or controlling the sources of pollution in homes, apartment and offices. Same like others researches, Saravanan said that ventilation system is important devices in controlling indoor air pollution and it can be done by increasing ventilation and installing air-cleaning devices. His also mention that we should take other necessary precautions to minimize and eliminate the effect of this pollution

Website For Malaysian Insurance Institute

Website For Malaysian Insurance Institute INTRODUCTION: The project aim is to setup a website for Malaysian Insurance to allow insurance agency leader to enroll their candidates for the Pre-Contract Examination. In phase 1, the author will conduct a few studies related to the electronic commerce to allow insurance agency leader to pay for the exam fees. Furthermore, additional security features to protect the website and the user will also be study to enhance the security of the website. FINDINGS: Background Study of Malaysian Insurance Institute Malaysian Insurance Institute is a non-profit organization that founded in 1968. This organization is a leading insurance institute that provide insurance knowledge, training and offer all kinds of qualifications that recognized by the international insurance company such as insurance, financial planning and risk management. MII is known as the primary insurance knowledge provider in Malaysia. It works together with other insurance company in the industry with supports and helps from the Bank Negara Malaysia and Regulator to guarantee the provided education is up to date and fulfill the changes in the insurance industry. Figure 1.1: Malaysian Insurance Institute Website 1.1 MII AS EDUCATIONAL AND TRAINING BODY An average of 300 training programs is organized by MII to educate the brokers, insurers, reinsurers, adjusters and regulators. In each training program, there are about 10,000 participants from all other countries including Malaysia. These outstanding records make MII a place in the Education Board of the Federation of Afro Asian Insurers and Reinsurers (FAIR) that based in Egypt. Besides that, MII also help general and life insurance agents by providing training to them. These training will help them to provide a better service to their customers. For agency leaders, MII is ally with LIMRA (USA) to organize the Agency Management Training Course (AMTC) to upgrade their leadership and professionalism. There are two primary professional programs provide by MII. They are the Diploma of The Malaysian Insurance Institute (DMII) and the Associateship of The Malaysian Insurance Institute (AMII). These two programs are the basic requirement for the insurance industry and also for the emerging markets. 1.2 MII AS EXAMINATION CENTRE MII act as a guardian to monitor the education standards of insurance exam. Besides that, it is also the authorized exam center to conduct insurance examination. MII offers 32 major examinations that attract over 60 thousand candidates for the insurance industry in a year. Because of the outstanding management and good reputation as an education and exam centre, MII is consigned to be the primary place to conduct some others examinations that organize by others examination bodies such as The Institute of Risk Management (UK), Chartered Institute of Loss Adjusters ( UK), The Insurance Institute of America ( USA), The Society of Actuaries (USA) and others. 1.3 MII AS INSURANCE INFORMATION CENTRE MII is proud to have their own library that specialized in the insurance industry and others related industry. Besides that, all kind of collection of books, magazines or journals that related to insurance is also collect by the library for public use. Moreover, MII also has an electronic library portal that publish information to the public such as online newspapers, electronic journals, links to others insurance companies, associations, regulators, university and other related sectors. 1.4 MII AS CONFERENCE ORGANIZER There are around eight conferences that conducted by MII in a year which was planned to fulfill the needs of the emerging insurance industry. Most of the conference receives massive response from all kinds of business industry from local and international. These conferences not only provide experience and knowledge to the public but also provide a chance to each other to build up their networking with other industry. 1.5 AFFILIATION WITH INTERNATIONAL BODIES MII has a firm belief in collaborating its efforts and resources together with other reputable insurance education bodies throughout the world so as to maximize and leverage on each others strengths. MIIs commitment to deliver the best quality standards in education is reflected in its international links with major insurance institutions, universities and relevant organisations. Among the collaborations that MII has established are with The Chartered Insurance Institute (UK), Australasian Institute of Chartered Loss adjusters (AICLA), Chartered Institute of Loss Adjusters (CILA), Australian New Zealand Institute of Insurance and Finance (ANZIIF), LOMA (USA), Institute of Risk Management (UK), LIMRA (USA) and others 1.6 INTERNATIONAL PRESENCE While addressing the domestic needs will always remain as a main focus and priority, MII has also spread its wings into the international scene, particularly in fulfilling the needs of the emerging markets. This is in line with its vision to be the preferred Institute for training solutions, education and information in insurance in Malaysia and the emerging markets. The increasing numbers and wide range of international training participants and conference delegates is a testimony of the recognition and regard for the relevant and high quality programmes being offered by MII. MIIs presence in the emerging market, particularly within the ASEAN region is quite significant. When the 10 ASEAN insurance regulatory authorities formed the ASEAN Insurance Training Research Institute (AITRI), MII was given the honour to lead as the secretariat for AITRI. AITRI is a non-profit organization to provide regional research, insurance education and training support for the regulators as well as the industry of the ASEAN member countries. Its activities are featured in international publications and have gained great recognition and international support such as the World Bank (USA), International Association for Insurance Supervisors ( Switzerland), Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions ( Canada) and others. 1.7 INTERNATIONAL AWARD MII won a title named as Professional Service Provider of the Year 2007 Award at year 2007 from The Review Worldwide Reinsurance Association in London, U.K. MII show up as the first winner that come from Asia after 14 years when the award is started. MIIs effort and their compliance for the training and the education was the reasons for them to receive the award. 1.8 List of Certification and Professional Programs The list below is the certification or professional programs that offer by Malaysian Insurance Institute. These certification or professional programs are recognized by all the insurance company in Malaysia. The agent of an insurance company must possess the related certification or professional programs to promote or sell the insurance to the customers. Diploma of Financial Services Associateship of the Malaysia Insurance Institute (AMII) Associateship of the Malaysia Insurance Institute (AMII) International Diploma of the Malaysia Insurance Institute (DMII) Diploma of the Malaysia Insurance Institute (DMII) Life Certificate of MII Insurance (CMII Insurance) Pre-Contract Examination for Insurance Agent (PCEIA) Certificate Examination in Investment-Linked Life Insurance (CEILLI) International Certificate in Risk Management (CIRM) Basic Agency Management Course (BAMC) Registered Financial Planner (RFP) Basic Certificate Course in Loss Adjusting (BCCILA) Intermediate Certificate Course in Loss Adjusting (ICCILA) Basic Certificate Course in Insurance Broking (BCCIB) Intermediate Certificate Course in Insurance Broking (ICCIB) Certificate in General Insurance Actuarial Practice (CGIAP) 1.9 Conclusion MII is a powerful organization that provides high quality education to the insurance industry and others related field. Besides that, MII is also recognized by international organization for their quality services and excellent programs. Literature Review This chapter discusses about the online electronic commerce system and the security features that plan to implement on the registration website such as on screen keyboard, multi step authentication and secure socket layer. 2.1 Electronic Commerce Electronic commerce is known as any transaction or payment that occurs through the internet. It includes a wide range of area such as auction website, retail website, registration website, banking website, and etc. The content of electronic commerce can be goods or services. It has become important with the emerging of the internet and World Wide Web. Since electronic commerce is conduct on the internet, so the customer can ignore the barrier of distance and time. The electronic commerce is growing frequently since five years ago and it is expected to growing in faster rate. When electronic commerce is conducted, it means online payment will be conduct during the transaction. There are several of payment method are available online such as credit card, PayPal, and Google checkout. (Networksolution, 2010) Credit card is the most popular payment method used by most of the electronic commerce website. A marketing research shows that an electronic business will lost 60 to 80 percent of potential customers if credit card payment is not implemented in their electronic commerce system. With credit cards payment enabled, it makes the customer has the impulse to purchase an item at anytime and also ensure the legitimacy of the electronic business to the customers. (EasyStoreCreator, 2010) Another popular online payment method is PayPal. The benefit of PayPal is it allows the merchant or customer to make online and offline transaction at anytime. Furthermore, PayPal is well known for its ease of use and no verification bounding of credit rating. The users of PayPal only need to verify their electronic mail address and their accounts personal information. Payment can be easily directed to the PayPal account with the tied electronic mail address like [emailprotected] Additionally, Google checkout is also a preference of some electronic business merchant. Google checkout fast enough to become popular is because the provided service of this system is user friendly, very stable and reliable. Another benefits of Google checkout is it charge lesser merchant fees compare to PayPal and this makes it grow at a rapid rate. (Arora.n, 2010) 2.2 Types of Electronic Commerce There are multiple types of electronic commerce that are available on the internet. Among all kinds of electronic commerce, there are 4 popular types that occupy most of the electronic commerce website. They are business-to-business (B2B), business-to-consumer (B2C), consumer-to-business (C2B), consumer-to-consumer (C2C). Out of these popular types, there are also some others electronic commerce are used by those electronic business merchant such as business-to-employee (B2E), government-to-government (G2G), government-to-employee (G2E), government-to-business (G2B), business-to-government (B2G), government-to-citizen (G2C), citizen-to-government (C2G) and etc. (DigitSmith Embroidery and Screen Printing, 2006) 2.3 On Screen Keyboard On screen keyboard is a software or application that shows on the monitor of the computer. It allow user to input any kind of text by mouse or the monitors touch screen. On screen keyboard can help those mobility impairment people or those people that cannot type. Besides that, on screen keyboard also can help users to bypass those virus, Trojan or key logger to steal data (Microsoft Corporation, 2010). Figure 2.1 shows an example of on screen keyboard. It is a default application that comes with the operating system provide by Microsoft. msosk.jpg Figure 2.1 Microsoft on screen keyboard 2.4 Multi Step Authentication The single factor authentication such as the username and password process is widely used by a lot of website in the World Wide Web. Due to the demand for more security during login, an ideology named multi step authentication has been create to fulfill the public demand. Multi step authentication is a process of login and authenticates users in multiple webpage. The first step of the authentication is verify the username entered by the user. If it is match with any name inside the database, then the user will be redirect to the second step. Second step required the user to enter their password and if it is correct, then the system will redirect the user to the services they login to. (Agilewebsolutions, 2010) Besides that, this feature also block any malware that using form robot to capture password entered by the user because there is two different login processes is performing. 2.5 Secure Socket Layer Protocol(SSL) Secure Socket Layer is a well known protocol that uses to provide a secure connection between the server and the client. The purpose to secure a connection is to protect the integrity of data, privacy and authentication. SSL protect data by encrypting a plaintext message to ciphertext. Ciphertext is meaningless to everyone if someone captured the data packet try to crack it. A pair of key is used to encrypt the data. They are named public key and private key. Public key is used to encrypt data that send from the client and the private key is used to decrypt the data that received by the server. To ensure the server side is the real owner of the service provider, a digital certificate will be issue by a third party certificate authority such as GeoTrust and VeriSign. This process is to identify the domain is maintain by the recognized owner and it is legal. Figure 2.2 shows an example of digital certificate. (GeoCerts, 2010) cert.gif Figure 2.2: Digital Certificate Netscape introduced the SSL Protocol in 1994 due to the concern for the security over the internet was rising. At first, SSL is develop to secure the connection between the server and the client but modification was make to fit it in to other services such as TELNET, FTP, Email and etc. (Martz. C, 2010) 2.6 Conclusion Security feature is an important session to keep a website safe from any threats. All the features discussed is planned to implement into the website to work with the electronic commerce system and the website security. Electronic Commerce System Security It is a big challenge to maintain and securing an electronic commerce system as the internet world is emerging every day. It is important for electronic merchant to implement security for their electronic commerce website. 3.1 Components of Electronic Commerce Security There are 5 components of electronic commerce security that is important to electronic commerce website. The first component is containment that uses to prevent all kinds of attacks. The second component is compartmentalization that uses to avoid unauthorized access to the website system. Besides that, it prevents collateral damage deal to the website during attacks. The third component is continuity that guarantees website system to keep running even during DOS attacks or even during the equipment failure. The fourth component is recovery that frequently starts the recovery operation during external attacks or malicious internal activity. The fifth component is performance that ensures the network performance is not reducing due to the others security operation. 3.2 Electronic Commerce Vulnerabilities The fearful of online transaction threats has been increase with all types of attacks. Multiple vulnerabilities will be discussed to understand their characteristic. 3.2.1 SQL Injection SQL injection is a technique that inserts the SQL meta character into the user input. This technique allows the attacker to force the back-end database to execute the command entered into the system. To check whether the website is vulnerable to this attack, a single quote () character will be send into the database. An invulnerable website will return an error message which exposes the technology being used at the host machine. These information is enough for the attackers to perform further attacks to the restricted area or the operation system. SQL injection attack can be different depends on the types of database. If the attack is conduct on the Oracle database, it needs the UNION keyword to execute and it is harder to capture compare to Microsoft SQL server. (Mookhey. K. K, 2004) 3.2.2 Price Manipulation This is a new threat that threatens the payment gateway and the shopping cart. In the common case, the total price that needs to pay by the customer is saved in a hidden HTML field. A web application proxy such as Achilles can modify these figures when the information is send from the users browser to the website. The figure 3.1 is taken from one of the Symantec article showing that the price can be modify by the attackers to any value. Then, this information will be send to the merchants payment gateway. (Mookhey. K. K, 2004) achilles.jpg Figure 3.1: Achilles web proxy 3.2.3 Buffer Overflows Bad consequences will be happen when massive number of bytes is sent to an application that is not set up properly to handle these bytes. According to K. K. Mookhey, the path of the PHP functions is exposed when he sent in a very large value in the input field. Figure 3.2 shows that when a large value is sent in and the PHP script cannot process the value, the returned error message expose the location of the PHP functions. This error message reveals the admin folder that allows attackers to conduct further attacks. (Mookhey. K. K, 2004) phptimeout.jpg Figure 3.2: PHP timeout error 3.2.4 Cross-site Scripting Cross-site scripting is primary concentrated to the end user and also leverages two factors, the weak input output validation of the web application and the trust gain from the user to the well known website name. This attack required the website to take in user input, process it and shows the result together with the original user input. This sequence is commonly found in the search system. The attacker conducts the attack by embedding the JavaScript into the user input as part of the input. Then, a link will be created which contain this JavaScript and the victim will be persuaded to click on it. For example, the URL will looks similar like this: http://www.vulnerablesite.com/cgibin/search.php?keywords=alert(OK). This example will pop up an alert box that shows the text OK. The attacker can place the script they want into this link to conduct the attack. Usually, the attacker will use this method to capture the victims cookies that may contain victims sensitive information. Besides that, the JavaScript can be also use to redirect the victim to the website that contain malicious code and conduct the attack at there. 3.2.5 Weak Authentication Authentication system that does not block multiple fail login can lead to unexpected consequences. An attacker may use some brute force software to guess an accounts password by sending all kinds of combination to the server to validate the password. Another weak authentication is when the website uses basic authentication but does not transfer it through SSL. Attacker can sniff the traffic packet and discover the user information inside the packets. 3.3 Pros and Cons of Electronic Commerce System Although electronic commerce provide a lot of benefits to electronic business and the consumer, but there are also some consequences that affect both merchant and the consumer. The benefits of electronic commerce are it save the users time compare to shopping at any shops or markets. Everything transaction is conduct on the internet and just a few clicks, consumer can buy everything they want and pay it. Compare to shopping at regular shop, consumer have to travel to the shop, park the car, walk to the shop, browse the shop for the item, then pay it and that is wasting a lot of time. Electronic commerce is cheap compare to the product selling at regular shops and markets. This is because every electronic merchant does not need to pay for the rental and utilities expenses like the physical shop. That is why they can sell cheaper product when they do not need to cover these expenses. Besides that, lowering the product price is one of the marketing skills to attract customers to buy from their electronic shop. (Finnila. J, 2008) Most of the electronic commerce is supported with credit cards paying method. With this method enable, consumer does not need to download or install special plugin to make a transaction. Besides that, consumers with credit cards are always fill with impulse to buy something during every visit. Furthermore, the electronic merchant can keep the customer transaction information for future use such as follow up sales or advertise product. (Nightcats Multimedia Productions, 2010) The disadvantages of electronic commerce are the competitor is all around the world. Electronic merchant have to keep generate new marketing strategy to attract customers or keep the customers to visit them again. As the internet world is changing rapidly, there are a lot of new traps appear to steal information from the consumer such as phishing website and malicious scripts. For any electronic commerce user that unaware to these internet threats will expose their personal confidential information to those scam owners. (Finnila. J, 2008) From the point of view of most of the customers, it is an abuse to the customers personal information when the electronic merchant keeps the information for future use. The customer may want to keep their personal information in private and it is better to request for their permission before their information is used. Besides that, the customers also worry that their personal information may leak out to the public in any accident. It is a benefit for the merchant but a disadvantage to the customers. (Nightcats Multimedia Productions, 2010) 3.4 Conclusion It is important to electronic merchant to secure their electronic commerce system to prevent all kinds of incident that cause unexpected losses to the business. CONCLUSIONS: The author successfully completed objective one to three in the phase 1 of the project. The author learns how MII works in daily operation and their roles and responsibilities. Besides that, the author also learn how those additional security features works to protect the website and the users. As a proof of meeting objective one to three, the reference list below shows various information from different sites. REFERENCES (BACKGROUND READING MATERIALS): About MII (Online) (Cited 20 MAY 2010) Available from: http://www.insurance.com.my/mii2010/about.html MII Vision and Mission (Online) (Cited 21 MAY 2010) Available from: http://www.insurance.com.my/mii2010/about_vision.html Certification and Professional Programmes (Online) (Cited 22 MAY 2010) Available from: http://www.insurance.com.my/mii2010/certification.html What is Ecommerce? (Online) (Cited 23 MAY 2010) Available from: http://www.networksolutions.com/education/what-is-ecommerce/ Choosing a Merchant Credit Card Processing Vendor To Meet Your ecommerce Credit Card Processing Needs (Online) (Cited 25 MAY 2010) Available from: http://www.easystorecreator.com/choosing-vendor.asp Different Payment Methods in E-Commerce Website (Online) (Cited 26 MAY 2010) Available from: http://ezinearticles.com/?Different-Payment-Methods-in-E-Commerce-Websiteid=2073803 Ecommerce definition and types of ecommerce (Online) (Cited 26 MAY 2010) Available from: http://www.digitsmith.com/ecommerce-definition.html Handling Financial Web Site Tricks (Online) (Cited 28 MAY 2010) Available from: http://help.agile.ws/1Password3/multi_step_logins.html Two-Step Authentication Method For Online Banking (Online) (Cited 30 MAY 2010) Available from: http://priorartdatabase.com/IPCOM/000126859 Handling Financial Web Site Tricks (Online) (Cited 30 MAY 2010) Available from: http://help.agile.ws/1Password3/multi_step_logins.html Turn On and Use On-Screen Keyboard (Online) (cited 31 MAY 2010) Available from: http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/accessibility/oskturnonuse.mspx SSL Secure Sockets Layer (Online) (Cited 1 JUNE 2010) Available from: http://www.birds-eye.net/definition/s/ssl-secure_sockets_layer.shtml How SSL Works (Online) (Cited 1 JUNE 2010) Available from: http://www.geocerts.com/ssl/how_ssl_works Pros Cons of E-Commerce (Online) (Cited 2 JUNE 2010) Available from: http://ezinearticles.com/?Pros-and-Cons-of-E-Commerceid=1481356 Pros and Cons for consumers when shopping online (Online) (Cited 2 JUNE 2010) Available from: http://www.nireland.com/e.commerce/Pros%20and%20Cons.htm Beginners Guide to Ecommerce (Online) (Cited 2 JUNE 2010) Available from: http://www.nightcats.com/sales/free.html 5 Essential Components of E-Commerce Security (Online) (Cited 3 JUNE 2010) Available from: http://www.intruguard.com/E-commerceSecurity.html Common Security Vulnerabilities in e-commerce Systems (Online) (Cited 4 JUNE 2010) Available from: http://www.symantec.com/connect/articles/common-security-vulnerabilities-e-commerce-systems ***END OF REPORT***