Effects of Prostitution Essay Example for Free

Effects of Prostitution Essay Ones adolescent stage is viewed as innocent and pure. However, a multi-million dollar industry within our world strips teens from their youth and leaves them fighting for their lives. Children as young as 10 are working the streets as their life style revolves around prostitution. United States of America implies an image that any individual can live a life filled with money. However, not everyone reaches this â€Å"American Dream†. Those who were not born into money know the hardships of the streets and the feeling of desperation and loneliness. Societies youth fall victim to prostitution as an ttempt to fill a void within their lives. Their bodies become the product of their new found income. Media avoids revealing the truth about teen prostitution and many individuals within society show little interest nor sympathy towards them. Unfortunately, many view teen prostitution as a crime and those who are involved in teen prostitution are referred to as criminals. However, society is incapable of seeing beyond stereotypes. Teen prostitutes fall victim to countless obstacles that have taken place within their personal life in which lead them to be stripped from their innocence and forced to sell their odies in order to survive. In a world that revolves around money, sex, and drugs, these teens become vulnerable to STDs and put themselves in situations in which can be life threatening. Read more:  Effects of Prostitution Both sexes undergo intensive psychological damage while prostituting and feel as if it is impossible to escape from the world they have so willingly ran to. In Joan J. Johnsons, Teen Prostitution, Johnson evaluates Americas youth and the connection with the rapid increase in teen prostitutes and the reasons why teens choose this path. Majority of youths enter the life style of a prostitute due to growing up in busive homes, feeling neglected, or have been dealing with money struggle to support their drug habit. Evidently, throughout Johnsons analysis she reveals a solution on how to prevent our youths from resulting to prostitution, her answer involves a prevention plan. Through statistics, articles, and personal stories, Johnson successfully unravels the truth behind why teens end up on the streets and the outcome of this social problem. Joan J. Johnsons, Teen Prostitution is structured into ten chapters. Within her novel Johnson goes into depth and evaluates the cause, process, and outcome of teens who urn to prostitution. Statistics have shown that an estimate of 400,000 teens enter the world of prostitution. According to Johnsons research: All but 5 percent of todays teenage prostitutes have been violently physically abused, many by their own parents. All but 15 percent have been coerced into having incestuous sexual relations with their families members [ ] 5 percent have been sexually abused by other people not in the immediate family. Finally only 2 percent come from families that have remained intact with both natural parents still leaving at home. ( Johnson 12) It is clear that societies youths feel the need to escape as a result to the feeling of betrayal from family members. However, studies have shown that not all teens fall victim to extensive abuse or betrayal. Some choose this life style or have fallen in love with their pimps. These types of situations prevent the teen from leaving this form of activity. Johnson provides a study by Dr. Michael Braizerman from the University of Minnesota to back up her theory. Dr. Braizerman states that pimps use manipulation and persuasion to keep these females and sometimes males hooked on prostituting. Some of these tactics include drug addiction and dependency. Pimps target those who are socially awkward, and unattractive, then these pimps navigate themselves into this individuals life and makes them believe there is something better along side them and there business. Johnson stresses how abused children would rather sell their bodies than stay within a home where they feel abandoned and where they are surrounded by violence. Therefore, teens take drastic measures and find themselves on the streets, barely clothed, and turning tricks for a few dollars. In Elaine Landaus, On the Streets, Landau reveals hat around 85 percent of those who run away from there abused parents are most likely to become involved in prostitution. In a global scale approximately 2 million teens run away each year and 20 percent of these teens become full-time prostitutes. It is clear that with Johnsons collected data she declares that abused teens not only face psychological hardships, but they are most likely to take part in hard-core prostitution. These teens have now formed dependency among there pimps and â€Å"sugar daddies†. Johnson goes into depth when discussing the forms of abuse that can ultimately destroy a hild and force them to grow up into the world of prostitution. Johnson demonstrates four forms of abuse that can take place within ones childhood and adolescent stage. One of Johnsons evidence for why teens result to prostituting is because most of these teenagers have originated from abusive homes. An abusive home can include parents that show little to no interest to their offspring or can be considered as irresponsible towards their family duties. When abuse takes places it leaves the victim vulnerable and unable to defend for themselves. Physical abuse involves a parent using their fists or hysical object. Johnson explains tha t physical abuse has been ignored by society for decades. However, its internal damage is hard to ignore. Evidence collected proved that females were more accountable for physical abuse rather than males. Seventy-five out of a hundred female prostitutes have admitted to being abused by a male father figure in their childhood. Joan J. Johnson says, â€Å"Most often, youths are â€Å"put down† as failures, weaklings, and unwanteds. † (Johnson 51). Successfully Johnson was able to show how emotional abuse can also impact children and force them to make choices that will ffect their lives forever. Through verbal abuse, children begin to lack self-esteem and begin to believe everything that their parents call them, having them helpless and incapable of accomplishment. Children who face sexual abuse use endure this from a very young age. Johnson states that sexual abuse could be the main reason why teens lash out and become prostitutes. Johnson refers to this form of abuse as, â€Å"the fastest growing category of family-violence cases. † (Johnson 52). Johnson proves that sexual abuse can range from an age as early as three and can continue until the child leaves home. Joans final form of abuse is considered as incest. According to Johnson incest involves a child that is being sexually abused by a member within their own family. Evidently Johnsons claim on the affects of abuse within ones childhood proves that no matter the form of abuse, it leaves the victim with psychological damage. These victimized children see no other way and are convinced it is their duty to submit themselves. Johnson states that years of sexual abuse forces the victim to allow others to sexually abuse them as well. Clearly a pattern begins to take its shape and these victimized teens see no other option but to flee to the streets since they were betrayed by those who were meant to care, protect, and nurture them. With any form of abuse comes along the higher percentage that these victims of abuse or rape will soon turn into teen prostitutes. The term neglect is frequently used by Johnson within her novel, as she evaluates the structure within ones home and the neglect that these teenage victims are forced to overcome. Johnson states that, â€Å"Many come from homes charged with tension. † (Johnson 44). Along with tension comes arguments, unhappiness, and abandonment. Neglect usually starts from a troubled home. These troubled homes occasionally include a family member who possesses a drug or alcohol addiction. Johnson provides her readers evidence to support her theory, as a result about 70 percent of teen prostitutes claimed to have watched their families crash and burn through divorce or separation. The author then declares that once a family is shattered, the victims life undergoes countless challenges. Neglect is shown towards the child as neither parent feels the need to care for their offspring. This leaves the child to wonder for a father or mother figure. In order to fill the void of attention and care, these teens find hope within their pimps and fellow prostitutes. In their eyes, this type of relationship is the best they can receive and the closest to a family. Ken Magid, chief of psychological services at Golden Medical Clinic in Colorado said that â€Å"few children are ever able to trust others or form intimate, deep relationships. † Due to all the traumatic stress and neglect provided by their families these teens will become un-attached to reality. Many of these teen prostitutes were forced to grow up at a very young age, due to the lack of a parent figure. The outcome of a troubled home results in a child having to facing drug or alcohol abuse, or form a mental illness. Alongside neglect, disappointment, and rejection comes the terms of a â€Å"runaway†, â€Å"throwaway†, and â€Å"foster care runaways†. Each form have demonstrated neglect in one way or another from a family member or parent figure in which forces these teens to run from their problems and seek salvation. Johnson refers to a runaway as a teen who chooses to leave their home, whether it be due to abuse or neglect. Statistics has shown that the longer an individual stays on the streets, the more likely they will turn to prostitution and avoid returning home. According to Joan J. Johnson, family troubles are the main reason why runaways occur within America. Unlike a runaway whom chooses to leave their troubled home, a throwaway is given no choice and thrown out by their guardian. Johnson uses a study collected by a U. S Senate committee that states that families kick their children out before they are capable of fending for themselves. These parents refuse to take their children back into their homes due to a mental illness or he fact that they are unable to cope with them any longer. Johnson successfully demonstrates the change that has occurred within the United States in the last few decades. It is clear that decades before our time, extended family would usually step in if a relative was in needed or neglected by their own intimate family. However, Johnson has acknowledged that as time has passed our so called extended family have begun to isolate themselves and move farther away with little to no communication. Therefore, with no help from relatives, these throwaways are left with no other choice then to sell the nly thing they have to offer, their bodies. Majority of teen prostitutes have originated through the foster care system. Johnson recognized that most of these teens were put into foster care due to being in neglected homes. However, evidently these teens were already damaged mentally and physically that it was too late to save them from prostituting. On the other hand Johnson adds that the foster care system can also share the blame in pursuing a teen to runaway and turn to prostituting. Even with support from social workers and foster parents, some of these children are scarred to the point where they reject any orm of relationship. Johnson lashes out against the media and blames the media for putting a negative light against foster parents and the foster care system in general. Due to the perspective of the media, many teens view the streets as a more safer gateway in comparison to the foster care system. Despite the fact that if these teens are runaways or throwaways, they have been forced down a path in which no soul should be forced to go down. Abusive homes and neglect forces a teen to end up on the streets. However, drugs and money are the reasons why some of our youths stay. The drug world is a multi-million dollar industry and is sed by pimps to secure their prostitutes and ensure they continue their business. Johnson stresses the use of drugs and its important role in the prostitution world. Pimps offer drugs to their prostitutes and manipulate them into thinking that it is a form of an escape. After a drug addiction is formed, Johnson says, â€Å"drugs have long been used to create dependencies that entrap male and female prostitutes, keeping them working, passive, and obligated in order to support their habits. † (Johnson 96). Pimps have developed strategies that ensure their prostitutes loyalty to their business. Once again, Johnson compares the past and present. She identifies the drug abuse that occurred in the past in comparison to recent years. Johnson states that in the past pimps were the ones who introduced teens to drugs and addiction. However, times have changed and now teens have already experimented with drugs long before entering the streets. It is clear that many teens turn tricks just to support their drug addiction. Johnson claims that as a teens drug addiction worsens the harder it is to resist prostituting. Not only do drugs pursue a teen to prostitute, but money does as well. Money is the key attribute for survival and like any other human being, it is viewed as a necessity.

Cloud Computing Models Changing The World Information Technology Essay

Cloud Computing Models Changing The World Information Technology Essay The Cloud has become a new vehicle for delivering resources such as computing and storage to customers on demand. Rather than being a new technology in itself, the cloud is a new business model wrapped around new technologies such as server virtualization that take advantage of economies of scale and multi-tenancy to reduce the cost of using information technology resources. This paper discusses the business drivers in the Cloud delivery mechanism and business model, what the requirements are in this space, and how standard interfaces, coordinated between different organizations can meet the emerging needs for interoperability and portability of data between clouds. Hence, Cloud computing is about moving services, computation and/or data-for cost and business advantage-off-site to an internal or external, location-transparent, centralized facility or contractor. By making data available in the cloud, it can be more easily and ubiquitously accessed, often at much lower cost, increasing its value by enabling opportunities for enhanced collaboration, integration, and analysis on a shared common platform. Cloud computing describes both a platform and a type of application. A cloud-computing platform dynamically provides, configures, reconfigures, and deprovisions servers as needed. Cloud applications are applications that are extended to be accessible through the Internet. These cloud applications use large data centers and powerful servers that host Web applications and Web services. Enterprises are increasingly making innovation their highest priority. They realize they need to seek new ideas and unlock new sources of value. Driven by the pressure to cut costs and grow- simultaneously-they realize that its not possible to succeed simply by doing the same things better. They know they have to do new things that produce better results. Cloud computing enables innovation. It alleviates the need of innovators to find resources to develop, test, and make their innovations available to the user community. Innovators are free to focus on the innovation rather than the logistics of finding and managing resources. Enterprises can choose to deploy applications on Public, Private or Hybrid clouds. Cloud Integrators can play a vital part in determining the right cloud path for each organization. Therefore, there are four types of cloud paths they are : Cloud computing provides the facility to access shared resources and common infrastructure, offering services on demand over the network to perform operations that meet changing business needs. The end user does typically not know the location of physical resources and devices being accessed. It also provides facilities for users to develop, deploy and manage their applications on the cloud, which entails virtualization of resources that maintains and manages itself. Cloud Computing, to put it simply, means Internet Computing. The Internet is commonly visualized as clouds; hence the term cloud computing for computation done through the Internet. With Cloud Computing users can access database resources via the Internet from anywhere, for as long as they need, without worrying about any maintenance or management of actual resources. Besides, databases in cloud are very dynamic and scalable. Cloud computing is unlike grid computing, utility computing, or autonomic computing. In fact, it is a very independent platform in terms of computing. The best example of cloud computing is Google Apps, where any application can be accessed using a browser and it can be deployed on thousands of computer through the Internet. Æ’Â ¨WHAT DOES CLOUD COMPUTING MEAN TO US? Cloud computing is set to take over the world, or at least possibly replace Microsoft Outlook. The cloud concept is simple: Its a way to access your data and apps from anywhere, via the Internet (or the cloud). Yet everyone from Gartner Group to Google has a slightly different take on cloud computing: It can be anything from storing and sharing documents on Google Docs to running your entire company operations using a remote, third-party data center. Some envision it as a way to compute without operating systems, or pesky local client programs, and with minimal hardware needs (just a basic client machine). The most important single characteristic of a cloud is abstraction of the hardware from the service, says John Willis, a noted cloud-computing expert and blogger, explaining that the location of the servers is not as important as easy access to the data. However you define it, I think cloud technology will have a footprint in every business that does IT within the next five years. Cloud computing increases capacity and expands computing capabilities without heavy investment in infrastructure, training or software licensing. Most importantly though it democratizes Web 2.0-application development. With the removal of two significant barriers to entry cost and capacity access suddenly even small, lesser-funded entrepreneurs can dream big and bring their grand Web 2.0 applications to market. CLOUD COMPUTING has been changing how most people use the web and how they store their files. Its the structure that runs sites like  Facebook, Amazon and Twitter and the core that allows us to take advantage of services like Google Docs and Gmail. But how does it work Æ’Â ¨HOW DOES CLOUD COMPUTING WORK? Before we dig further into how does cloud computing work, first lets understand what the term CLOUD refers to.   The concept of the cloud has been around for a long time in many different incarnations in the business world. It mostly means a  grid of computers  serving as a service-oriented architecture to deliver software and data. Most websites and server-based applications run on particular computers or servers. What differentiates the cloud from the way those are set up is that the cloud utilizes the resources from the computers as a  collective virtual computer, where the applications can run independently from particular computer or server configurations. They are basically floating around in a cloud of resources, making the hardware less important to how the applications work. With broadband Internet, the need to have the software run on your computer or on a companys site is  becoming less and less essential. A lot of the software that people use nowadays are completely web-based. The cloud takes advantage of that to bring it to the next level. For example, if you are  hosting your website on a local server  or from your PC, you must usually select a particular operating system (Windows/Linux/Mac), to determine what software you can run on that particular server. If your site is being hosted in the cloud, there is no need to do that. You can run Windows and Linux programs side by side. Æ’Â ¨HOW IS THAT DONE? To understand how does cloud computing work, imagine that the cloud consists of layers mostly the  back-end  layers and the  front-end  or user-end layers. The front-end layers are the ones you see and interact with. When you access your email on Gmail for example, you are using software running on the front-end of a cloud. The same is true when you access your Facebook account. The back-end consists of the hardware and the software architecture that fuels the interface you see on the front end. As always seen, the user-end is usually a third party application or a termination for implementing their ideas on a visual end and rest all (hardware and logical) is taken care off at the back-end. Because the computers are set up to work together, the applications can take advantage of all that computing power as if they were running on one particular machine. Cloud computing also allows for a lot of flexibility. Depending on the demand, you can increase how much of the cloud resources you use without the need for assigning specific hardware for the job, or just reduce the amount of resources assigned to you when they are not necessary. The Cloud makes it possible to launch Web 2.0 applications quickly and to scale up applications as much as needed when needed. The platform supports traditional JavaTM and Linux, Apache, MySQL, PHP (LAMP) stack-based applications as well as new architectures such as MapReduce and the Google File System, which provide a means to scale applications across thousands of servers instantly. Æ’Â ¨WILL IT CHANGE THE WAY WE USE COMPUTERS? The transition from being very personal hardware dependent to a world where resources are shared among the masses is creeping up on us slowly and unobtrusively. Very many people have already transitioned to using a cloud environment for most of their time in front of the computer without even realizing it. Sure, most of us still use some version of Microsoft Office or Quickbooks that was installed on our computers, but even  those kinds of software are now offering an online version  that can be used instead. The possibility of being able to access your data and software wherever you need it makes this transition very appealing to most people. Are there problems with this concept? Of course there are. If for some reason your internet goes down, your access to your data also disappears. There are security concerns with the data and the risk that companies will use proprietary formats for the files and that require that you pay for a certain service monthly or you may lose access to your own data permanently. So choose wisely when picking a service to use with your important data and make sure it can be downloaded if needed, but also enjoy the flexibility those services provide. The wave of the future is in the cloudsà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ Dreaming big.   Now thats what its all about. MODELS AND TYPES OF CLOUD COMPUTING Æ’Â ¨ Cloud Computing Models Cloud Providers offer services that can be grouped into three categories, they are: Software as a Service (SaaS): In this model, a complete application is offered to the customer, as a service on demand. A single instance of the service runs on the cloud multiple end users are serviced. On the customersà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã… ¸ side, there is no need for upfront investment in servers or software licenses, while for the provider; the costs are lowered, since only a single application needs to be hosted maintained. Today companies such as Google, Salesforce, Microsoft, Zoho, etc offer SaaS. Platform as a Service (Paas): Here, a layer of software, or development environment is encapsulated offered as a service, upon which other higher levels of service can be built. The customer has the freedom to build his own applications, which run on the providerà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã… ¸s infrastructure. To meet manageability and scalability requirements of the applications, PaaS providers offer a predefined combination of OS and application servers, such as LAMP platform (Linux, Apache, MySql and PHP), restricted J2EE, Ruby etc. Googleà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã… ¸s App Engine, Force.com, etc are some of the popular PaaS examples. Infrastructure as a Service (Iaas): IaaS provides basic storage and computing capabilities as standardized services over the network. Servers, storage systems, networking equipment, data centre space etc. are pooled and made available to handle workloads. The customer would typically deploy his own software on the infrastructure. Some common examples are Amazon, GoGrid, 3 Tera, etc are some of the popular IaaS examples. Æ’Â ¨ Types Of Cloud Computing Enterprises can choose to deploy applications on Public, Private, Community or Hybrid clouds. Cloud Integrators can play a vital part in determining the right cloud path for each organization. Cloud  Computing  can be classified into 4 types on the  basis of location  where the cloud is hosted: Public Cloud Æ’Â   Public clouds are owned and operated by third parties; they deliver superior economies of scale to customers, as the infrastructure costs are spread among a mix of users, giving each individual client an attractive low-cost, Pay-as-you-go model. All customers share the same infrastructure pool with limited configuration, security protections, and availability variances. These are managed and supported by the cloud provider. One of the advantages of a Public cloud is that they may be larger than an enterprises cloud, thus providing the ability to scale seamlessly, on demand. Æ’Â   Also, the infrastructure is hosted at the vendors premises. The customer has no  visibility  over the location of the cloud computing infrastructure. The computing infrastructure is shared between organizations. Private Cloud Æ’Â   Private clouds are built exclusively for a single enterprise. They aim to address concerns on data security and offer greater control, which is typically lacking in a public cloud. There are two variations to a private cloud: -> On-premise Private Cloud: On-premise private clouds, also known as internal clouds are hosted within ones own data center. This model provides a more standardized process and protection, but is limited in aspects of size and scalability. IT departments would also need to incur the capital and operational costs for the physical resources. This is best suited for applications, which require complete control and configurability of the infrastructure and security. -> Externally hosted Private Cloud: This type of private cloud is hosted externally with a cloud provider, where the provider facilitates an exclusive cloud environment with full guarantee of privacy. This is best suited for enterprises that dont prefer a public cloud due to sharing of physical resources. Æ’Â   All in all, private cloud  architecture is dedicated to the customer and is not shared with other organizations. They are expensive and are considered more secure than Public Clouds. Private clouds may be externally hosted ones as well as in premise-hosted clouds. Hybrid Cloud Æ’Â   Hybrid Clouds combine both public and private cloud models. With a Hybrid Cloud, service providers can utilize 3rd party Cloud Providers in a full or partial manner thus increasing the flexibility of computing. The Hybrid cloud environment is capable of providing on-demand, externally provisioned scale. The ability to augment a private cloud with the resources of a public cloud can be used to manage any unexpected surges in workload. Æ’Â   In technical terms, Organizations host some critical, secure applications in private clouds. The not so critical  applications  are hosted in the public cloud. The combination is known as Hybrid Cloud.  Cloud bursting  is the term used to define a  system  where the organization uses its own infrastructure for normal usage, but cloud is used for peak loads. Community Cloud Æ’Â   The cloud  infrastructure  is shared between the  organizations  of the same community. Æ’Â  For example, all the government agencies in a city can share the same cloud but not the non government agencies. DISTINGUISHING PUBLIC, PRIVATE AND HYRBRID CLOUDS, DIAGRAMMATICALLYà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦. Difference Between Cloud Computing And Other Computing Techniques. Æ’Â ¨ Cloud Computing Vs Grid (distributed) Computing Grid computing has been used in environments where users make few but large allocation requests. For example, a lab may have a 1000 node cluster and users make allocations for all 1000, or 500, or 200, etc. So only a few of these allocations can be serviced at a time and others need to be scheduled for when resources are released. This results in sophisticated batch job scheduling algorithms of parallel computations. Vs Cloud computing really, is about lots of small allocation requests. The Amazon EC2 accounts are limited to 20 servers each by default and lots and lots of users allocate up to 20 servers out of the pool of many thousands of servers at Amazon. The allocations are real-time and in fact there is no provision for queuing allocations until someone else releases resources. This is a completely different resource allocation paradigm, a completely different usage pattern, and all this results in completely different method of using compute resources. - In grid computing, a single big task is split into multiple smaller tasks, which are further distributed to different computing machines. Upon completion of these smaller tasks, they are sent back to the primary machine which in return offers a single output. Vs Whereas a cloud computing architecture is intended to enable users to use difference services without the need for investment in the underlying architecture. Though, grid too offers similar facility for computing power, but cloud computing isnt restricted to just that. With a cloud users can avail various services such as website hosting etc. Grid computing is where more than one computer coordinates to solve a problem together. Often used for problems involving a lot of number crunching, which can be easily parallelizable. Vs Cloud computing is where an application doesnt access resources it requires directly, rather it accesses them through something like a  service. So instead of talking to a specific hard drive for storage, and a specific CPU for computation, etc. it talks to some service that provides these resources. The service then maps any requests for resources to its physical resources, in order to provide for the application. Usually the service has access to a large amount of physical resources, and can dynamically allocate them as they are needed. - With grid computing, your company gets power and flexibility. Grid computing, however, occurs when the processing power of an application or service is distributed across multiple systems. This is usually done in order to increase processing capacity or improve system resiliency. Vs Grid Computing Cloud ComputingWith cloud computing, your company gets cost-savings and convenience. This is where you get access to the resources of an independent 3rd party over the internet. In other words, they are remotely hosted applications. Life Before And After Cloud Computing. Æ’Â   Before Cloud Computing Traditional business applications-like those from SAP, Microsoft, and Oracle-have always been too complicated and expensive. They need a data center with office space, power, cooling, bandwidth, networks, servers, and storage. A complicated software stack. And a team of experts to install, configure, and run them. They need development, testing, staging, production, and failover (means for ensuring high availability of some critical resource) environments. When you multiply these headaches across dozens or hundreds of applications, its easy to see why the biggest companies with the best IT departments arent getting the applications they need. Small businesses dont stand a chance. Imagine a world without bridges.   It would be pretty hard to get from point A to point B reliably and without interruption!   The Cloud Computing is the to the Bridge solution that increases interoperability between your on-premise datacenters and off-premise clouds.   This interoperability increases your flexibility, enabling more choice around what applications you can move to the cloud.   Since the Cloud Bridge solution supports multiple virtualization environments, you also have more choice in cloud providers, enabling you to drive down costs.   In short, Cloud Computing is the big bridge to fill the big gap between your datacenter or the application. Æ’Â   After Cloud Computing Cloud computing is a better way to run your business. Instead of running your applications yourself, they run on a shared data center. When you use any application that runs in the cloud, you just log in, customize it, and start using it. Thats the power of cloud computing. Businesses are running all kinds of applications in the cloud these days, like CRM(Customer Relationship Management), HR(Human Resources), accounting, and custom-built applications. Cloud-based applications can be up and running in a few days, which is unheard of with traditional business software. They cost less, because you dont need to need to pay for all the people, products, and facilities to run them. And, it turns out theyre more scalable, more secure, and more reliable than most applications. Plus, upgrades are taken care of for you, so your applications get security and performance enhancements and new features-automatically. The way you pay for cloud-based applications is also different. Forget about buying servers and software. When your apps run in the cloud, you dont buy anything. Its all rolled up into a predictable monthly subscription, so you only pay for what you actually use. Cloud applications dont eat up your valuable IT resources, so your CFO(Chief Financial Officer) will love it. This lets you focus on deploying more applications, new projects, and innovation. The Nature of Cloud Computing Cloud computing builds on established trends for driving the cost out of the delivery of services while increasing the speed and agility with which services are deployed. It shortens the time from designing an application architecture to actual deployment. Cloud computing integrates virtualization, on-demand deployment, Internet delivery of services, and open source software. The on-demand, self-service, pay-by-use model The on-demand nature of cloud computing helps to support the performance and capacity aspects of service-level objectives. The self-service nature of cloud computing allows organizations to create flexible environments that expand and contract based on the workload and target performance parameters. And the pay-by-use nature of cloud computing may take the form of equipment renting that guarantee a minimum level of service from a cloud provider so billing is based on resource consumption: CPU hours used, volumes of data moved, or gigabytes of data stored. Growth and Further scope Of Cloud Computing. Æ’Â ¨ Cloud computing  is being touted as  the future of  the web. Everything from your Word documents to pictures, music has been  moving to  the cloud. In  Google  Apps, the company has a strong competing product to  Microsoft  Office. So, how big is all of this going to be. Here are some statistics from a  Gartner study Value of  Cloud computing services  through the years 2008 : $46.41 billion 2009 : $56.30 billion 2013 : $150.1 billion (projected) Advantages and Disadvantages Of Cloud Computing. Cloud computing is fast evolving from a  futuristic technology  into a commercially viable alternative for companies in search of a cost-effective  storage  and server solution. In fact, Gartner Inc. predicts that by 2012, 80 percent of Fortune 1000 enterprises will pay for some cloud-computing service, while 30 percent of them will pay for cloud-computing infrastructure. While the technology has its fair share of drawbacks (such as privacy and  security  concerns), an undeniable silver lining is currently turning skeptics into enthusiasts. Here some of the advantages of cloud computing: >ADVANTAGES: Scalability:  IT departments that anticipate an enormous uptick in user load need not scramble to secure additional hardware and software with cloud computing. Instead, an organization can add and subtract capacity as its network load dictates. Better yet, because cloud computing follows a utility model in which service costs are based on consumption, companies pay for only what they use. Easy Implementation:  Without the need to purchase hardware, software licenses or implementation services, a company can get its cloud-computing arrangement off the ground in record time and for a fraction of the cost of an on-premise solution. Skilled Practitioners:  When a particular technology becomes popular, its not uncommon for a whole slew of vendors to jump on the bandwagon. In the case of cloud computing, however, vendors have typically been reputable enough to offer customers reliable service and large enough to deliver huge  datacenters  with endless amounts of storage and computing capacity. These vendors include industry stalwarts such as Microsoft, Google, IBM, Yahoo! Inc. and Amazon.com Inc, etc. Frees Up Internal Resources:  By placing storage and server needs in the hands of an outsourcer, a company essentially shifts the burden placed on its in-house IT team to a third-party provider. The result: In-house IT departments can focus on business-critical tasks without having to incur additional costs in manpower and  training. Quality of Service:  Network outages can send an IT department scrambling for answers. But in the case of cloud computing, its up to a companys selected vendor to offer 24/7 customer support and an immediate response to emergency situations. Thats not to suggest that outages dont occur. In February 2008, Amazon.coms S3 cloud-computing service experienced a brief outage that affected a number of companies. Fortunately, service was restored within three hours. Æ’Â   According to  Jonathan Koomey, who is a consulting professor for Stanford University and a project scientist at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, there are four primary reasons why cloud computing (at least philosophically speaking) should be a more power-efficient approach than an in-house data center. This is the order in which Koomey lists them. Workload diversity: Because you will have many different sorts of users making use of the cloud resources different applications, different feature set preferences and different usage volumes this will improve hardware utilization and therefore make better use of power that youre using anyway to keep a server up and running. Economies of economies of scale: There are certain fixed costs associated with setting up any physical data center. According to Koomey, implementing technical and organization changes is cheaper per computation for larger organizations than for IT small shops. And because you will have more people using the infrastructure, again, you can spread those costs more efficiently. Power-management flexibility: Koomey postulates that its easier to manage virtual servers than physical servers from a power perspective. If hardware fails, the load can automatically be deployed elsewhere. Likewise, in theory, you could move all virtual loads to certain servers when loads are light and power-down or idle those that arent being used You can pick the most efficient site possible: So, for example, if you are a business based in a state that uses primarily coal-powered electricity, do you really want to site your data center there? If you have a data center in a place that is all coal-powered, this is a big business risk, Koomey says. In a future where there might actually be a tax on the carbon your company produces, that would certainly be a risk indeed. >DISADVANTAGES: Æ’Â   One of its few major issues is that cloud computing relies totally on network connections. If the network goes down, youre done using the computer until it is back up. If the network gets bogged down, then your computing will be slower. Æ’Â   The other major downfall is that it doesnt use a hard drive. While it is a benefit, it is also a negative. Some applications or hardware might require having a hard drive attached to the computer; these might be hard to get working properly with the hard drive on a remote server. Æ’Â   The last big issue is peripherals. Getting printers to work is hit or miss. The more popular printers will give you little trouble when you try to get them working properly. The little printers that arent as common, such as label printers, can face issues with the mini PC that each user has. Æ’Â   In most big businesses, few people have personal printers; most printers are networked,  so its not a big issue to a majority of users. Things such as scanners use software to work with the PC, however, and if your virtual hard drive doesnt have the software, when you log onto the cloud computer at a desk, you wont be able to use the scanner until you install the software. Some Of The Disadvantages Are Listed Below Security: No control over the business assets (data!). The main assets in every company are its data files with valuable customer information. A proper security model for cloud computing is not yet developed. Security, privacy and compliancy is still difficult for cloud solutions. Especially for public cloud services. Physical location of hardware and software is unknown. Site inspections and audits are hard. Availability. Constant connectivity is required. Failure to compliance. E.g. HIPAA, SOX, PCI, SAS 70 and audits. Risk of data loss due to improper backups or system failures in the virtualized environment. Dependency (Lost On Control): Quality problems with Communicating Sequential Processes (CSP) No influence on maintenance levels and fix frequency when using cloud services from a CSP. No or little insight in CSP contingency procedures. Especially backup, restore and disaster recovery. No easy migration to an other CSP. Measurement of resource usage and end user activities lies in the hands of the CSP. Tied to the financial health of another Company. Cost And Flexibility: Special customization not possible. Possible lower rate of business IT innovation. The technological innovation pace is dictated by CSP. Cost: Hidden cost (e.g. compliancy regulations, backup, restore, disaster recovery and problem solving.) Opaque cost structure due to highly flexible usage of cloud services; Cost advantages is as hard to get when using outsourcing for IT services in a traditional way. Risks of higher future charges are real. Requires a constant Internet connection: Cloud computing is impossible if you cant connect to the Internet. Since you use the Internet to connect to both your applications and documents, if you dont have an Internet connection you cant access anything, even your own documents. A dead Internet connection means no work, period-and, in areas where Internet connections are few or inherently unreliable, this could be a deal-breaker. When youre offline, cloud computing simply doesnt work. Doesnt work well with low-speed connections: Similarly, a low-speed Internet connection, such as that found with dial-up services, makes cloud computing painful at best and often impossible. Web-based apps require a lot of bandwidth to download, as do large documents. If youre laboring with a low-speed dial-up connection, it might take seemingly forever just to change from page to page in a document, let alone to launch a feature-rich cloud service. In other words, cloud computing isnt for the broadband-impaired. Can be slow: Even on a fast connection, web-based applications can sometimes be slower than accessing a similar software program on your desktop PC. Everything about the program, from the interface to the current document, has to be sent back and forth from your computer to the computers in the cloud. If the cloud servers happen to be backed up at that moment, or if the Internet is having a slow day, you wont get the instantaneous access you might expect from desktop apps. Features might be limited: This situation is bound to change, but today many web-based applications simply arent as full-featured as their desktop-based brethren. For example, you can do a lot more with Microsoft PowerPoint than with Google Presentations w

Contribution Of Population Growth To Global Warming Environmental Sciences Essay

Contribution Of Population Growth To Global Warming Environmental Sciences Essay Population may refers to all the members of a particular species within an ecosystem and live in the same geographical area. Birth, deaths, and migration are the major factors that determine whether and how much the size of a population changes. Organisms join a population through birth or immigration and leave it through death or emigration. A population would remain stable if there are many individuals join and leave. Conversely, population growth occurs when the number of births plus immigrants exceeds the number of deaths plus immigrants. According to U.S. Census Bureau, the total world population, estimated to be 6.87billion as at 22 September 2010. And according to United Nations Population Division, the world population will increase by 2.5 billion over the next 40 years. Today, it is broadly thought a larger population leads to greater emissions. Generally, the scientists believe that as the population has grown, emissions of carbon dioxide have increased in proportion, and it would contribute to the acid rain and global warming. But how is it actually contributed to acid rain and global warming? To answer this question, it would be important to understand the nature of acid rain and global warming. Acid rain is a form of pollution that can cause lots damages to the natural ecosystem, to man-made objects (e.g. buildings), as well as harm human health. Sulfur dioxide and nitrogen dioxide are the primary causes of acid rain. When combined with water vapor in the atmosphere, nitrogen dioxides and sulfur dioxide are converted to nitric acid and sulfur dioxide respectively (Audesirk, et al., 2005, p.853-54). Days later, these acids fall with rainwater, eating away at buildings, damaging trees, rendering lakes lifeless. Another serious environmental issue, global warming, which is an increase in the earths temperature. It happens when greenhouse gases (e.g. carbon dioxide, water vapor and nitrous oxide) trap heat and light from the sun in Earths atmosphere which increase the temperature. Both acid rain and global warming can cause severe impacts to plant life, aquatic life, man-made object, and human life. To be sure, these growing environmental issues are not natural phenomenon, rather they are man-made. Nowadays, human unethical activities which mainly came from the toxic gases discharged by the factories has polluted global atmosphere that are a direct result of acid rain. Notable, life on Earth is dependent on carbon dioxide to regulate our planets temperature, yet too much of the CO2 can create a heat up over our atmosphere. For this reason, the unsustainable population growth and excessive consumption can rise up levels of carbon dioxide which result in the earths climate been altered in serious ways. How does the population growth contribute to acid rain and global warming? During ancient times, primitive people were sustained by dependent on the energy flowing from the sun. But as the population grew and technology increased, humans began to act more and more independently of these natural processes. For example, the Industrial Revolution began during mid-nineteenth century, resulted in a tremendous increase in our reliance on energy from fossil fuels (i.e. coal, petroleum and natural gas) for heat, light, transportation, and industry as well as agriculture sector. Today, we can see that many multinational corporations spend huge amount of money to make foreign direct investment (set up plant or factory) in emerging countries such as China and India to benefit from the cost advantage. This implies that more factories are set up abroad and the result is that more toxic gases being discharged to the atmosphere. Moreover, as more countries have industrialized, human industrial activities have discharged more nitrogen dioxide and sulfur dioxide in the atmosphere. For example, United States discharge about 20 million tons of sulfur dioxide into the atmosphere annually, two-third of it from power plants burning coal or oil (Audesirk et al., 2005, p.853-54). Consequently, the excess emission of these gases has contributed to acid rain. As mentioned earlier, human population growth is increasing in a rapid way annually. In other words, the demand for houses increases as well. In such circumstance, there are more and more trees being cutting down to supply more land for houses and thus deforestation happen in many places. Besides, the demand on raw materials for building houses would generate more chemicals and gases that pollute the environment. And, during the construction, the transportation such as trucks moving around would generate more carbon dioxide that further destroy the ozone layer and eventually result more acid rain. When we parked our car at the parking lot on a hot day, we can feel the hot when we get in to the car few hours later. A simple reason is that the heat and light from the sun get into the car, but it cant get back out. This is what the greenhouse effect does to our earth, thus result in a gradual increase in the earths temperature. We know that, people like to stay in the house to enjoying cool air-conditioner while watching TV, surfing web via computer, store favorite food in refrigerator and so on. However, they never realized that electricity cause pollution in many ways. When they do these things, they are causing more greenhouse gasses to be sent into the air. For this reason, in most cases, fossil fuels are burned to create electricity. Many pollutants are sent to the air when fossil fuels are burned. Imagine, large amount of households are using electricity every day, and the electric providers would need to burn many tons of fossil fuels to supply electric to the household, and their activities directly contribute to the global warming. A further contribution of population growth is through the vehicular pollution. As the population increases, the demand and usage of automobiles and other machines will increase as well. The activities of burning fossil fuels by a growing number of vehicles have amplified the natural greenhouse effect, producing global warming. According to Nationmaster (2005), countries like United States, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Australia and Malta have a large number on the possession of motor vehicles. Particularly in United States, the statistic shows that there are 765 vehicles per 100 people. Notable, the statistic had not included trucks and buses on the road. Therefore, vehicular pollution are considered largest source of air pollution which also the killer of our earth. So far, we have discussed the human population growth and their activities have contributed to these two environmental problem. What about animals? In fact, animal population growth also a threat to environment. According to a report by United Nation, livestock are one of the most significant contributors to todays most serious environmental problems. With increased population, people are consuming more meat products today. The global livestock sector is growing in a rapid way than other sectors. However, such rapid growth is not a good indication. Based on United Nations report, cattle produce more harmful greenhouse gases to atmosphere. Human activities in livestock sector accounts for 65% of nitrous oxide which can cause global warming; while livestock accounts for 37% of methane contribution and 64% of ammonia which is largely produced by the digest system of ruminants (i.e. cow and sheep) contributes significantly to acid rain. Throughout the above discussion, we can see that how population growth contributes to todays serious environmental problem. In fact, whatever we doing every day, we are actually contributed to these two environmental problems. Imagine, as the population growth, more and more people will contribute more unwanted toxic to the earth and eventually worsen the earths health. Human, as the most intelligent animals on the earth; we should do something to reduce the pollution. In terms of government, rules and regulation are needed to control the emission of toxic gases, and also regulate in birth control. Furthermore, government should also increase the public awareness through different media and campaigns. Individual can also make a difference to prevent these environmental problems to be further worsened. For example, it is encourage driving less to curb the vehicular pollution. Additionally, reducing the usage of electricity, and consuming more organic food because organic soil absorb large amount of carbon dioxide. In a nutshell, it is global responsibility to protect the earth; after all, there are no other planets but earth that could allow human to live. Audesirk, T., Audesirk, G. and Byers, B.E. 2005. Biology life on earth. 7th ed. United States.Prentice Hall. Nationmaster. 2005. Transportation statistic, motor vehicles (most recent) by country. [online] Available from: http://www.nationmaster.com/red/graph/tra_mot_veh-transportation-motor-vehiclesHYPERLINK http://www.nationmaster.com/red/graph/tra_mot_veh-transportation-motor-vehiclesb_map=1HYPERLINK http://www.nationmaster.com/red/graph/tra_mot_veh-transportation-motor-vehiclesb_map=1b_map=1 [Accessed 26 September 2010] United Nation. 2006. Rearing cattle produces more greenhouse gases than driving cars, UN report warns. [online] Available from: http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?newsID=20772HYPERLINK http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?newsID=20772CR1=warningHYPERLINK http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?newsID=20772CR1=warningCR1=warning [Accessed 26 September 2010] US Census Bureau. 2010. World popclock projection. [online] Available from: http://www.census.gov/ipc/www/popclockworld.html [Accessed 22 September 2010] United Nation Population Division. World population will increase by 2.5 billion by 2050; people over 60 to increase by more than 1 billion. [online] Available from: http://www.un.org/News/Press/docs/2007/pop952.doc.htm [Accessed 22 September 2010] Cheng, M. and Kennedy, K. No date. Population growth and society. [online] Available from: http://www.umich.edu/~gs265/society/populationgrowth.htm [Accessed 23 September 2010]

The Political Climate of the 1950s Essay -- History Historical Politic

The Political Climate of the 1950s With the dropping of the Atomic bomb that ended WWII and the beginning of the Cold War, there was an irony of stability and turmoil in the United States. The start of the 1950s brought about many changes, from the Red Scare and threat of the possible spread of communism in America, to changes in political movements, civil rights movements, and another possible war, there were many significant events and people during this time.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Joseph R. McCarthy was a Republican Senator from Wisconsin with an enormous political agenda. With the fear of communism ignited by the Cold war, McCarthy and his supporters began to instill in the American people the fear that communism was taking root in the United States. In February 1950, McCarthy announced at a speech in Wheeling, West Virginia that he had obtained a list of card-carrying American Communists in the State Department (Davidson et al., 2002). For the next several months, often referred to as the Red Scare, McCarthy led a committee that investigated various government agencies and questioned a large number of people about their political associations. It was later found that the McCarthy’s charges were unsubstantiated, but the effects of this â€Å"witch hunt† would impact the United States even after the charges had settled. One the first impacts of McCarthyism was the win of Republican candidate Dwight Eisenhower in the 1952 presi dential election. The McCarthy campaign, which has accused many democrats including Harry S. Truman of taking a liberal stance on communism, hurt many democrats in the election. The infringement of civil right on the American People was yet another impact of McCarthyism. By 1952, 32 states had laws requiring teachers to take oaths of loyalty and government loyalty boards were wanted to now personal details of their employees such as what newspaper they subscribed to and what music they owned (Davidson et al. 2002). It was not until hearings against those thought to have communist association were aired on ABC and the public had the opportunity to see the badgering and mockery of these proceedings that the McCarthy’s popularity fell quickly and the Red Scare receded as well.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The Eisenhower presidency pursued dynamic conservatism or modern republicanism in his new term. In his own words, Eisenhower declared â€Å"I will be conservative when it ... ...nt, it is without doubt that it is more historically significant. Even though slavery had been abolished, equality was far from typical. The events of the 1950s seemed to say that minorities would no longer tolerate an unequal America. The strategies of the civil right movement made more of a statement than ever before in history and paved a way for civil rights activists to make a real impact on desegregation and equality. No one could have realized that what seemed as an insignificant gesture to partake in training South Vietnamese armies and America’s involvement in Southeast Asia would one day have the impact it did on America. Although at the time when Eisenhower was trying to stop of the spread of communism it seemed the right thing to do, the repercussions of that decision and the war it eventually led to was devastating to America politically, socially, and culturally. Works Cited Davidson, J. W., Gienapp, W. E., Heyrman, C., Lytle M. H., Stoff, M. B. (2002) Nation of Nations . The McGraw-Hill Companies. Schultz, S. (1999) American History 102: Civil War to the Present. Retrieved April 10, 2005 from http://us.history.wisc.edu/hist102/lectures/lecture25.html.

A Look at Meditation Essay -- Meditation Health Medical Essays

A Look at Meditation   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In this modern day and age, the negative effects of stress are unavoidable. People have tried various methods to help cope with stress, everything from exercise and diet to alternative methods like biofeedback. However, the most effective method to deal with stress is not one of these modern methods but rather a 5,000 year-old idea: Meditation. Meditation not only helps reduce the negative effects of stress, but also leads to a better sense of well-being by uniting mind and body.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The basic principles and practices of meditation are rooted in Hinduism, an Asian religion whose followers believe that the soul is eternal and maintains an eternal relationship with God. Hindus believe that because the soul is eternal, it must reincarnate in various forms to retain this everlasting relationship. Thousands of young people flocked to the ideas of Hinduism in the 1970's to escape the drug culture of the times.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  As the troubled youth of the 1970's matures into the professionals of the 1990's, the practice of meditation has been incorporated into the medical field and studied for its effect on the body and mind. The physical practice of meditation slows and calms the body, lowering blood pressure and heart rate with the use of deep breathing exercises.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The calming of the body in itself works to fight stress but those who meditate say that meditation also helps to replenish the mind. The mind, along with the body, needs to feel at peace. In the hustle and bustle of the technological age, we often seek out materialistic means of happiness. Some pursue hobbies that like rock climbing that present both physical and mental challenges to satisfy this need while others stretch out in front of the television to relax.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  We approach our search for a better sense of well-being on a superficial level instead of dealing with the issues that are the root cause of our pain. We don't really understand what happiness is and therefore spend our time and energy trying to get rid of the pain instead of confronting it. If we turn to meditation to guide us through the journey of self-awareness. If an individual is aware of the cause of his pain, he can better understand it and cope instead of letting it determine the course of his life. It is not the actual event that produces a stressful response, but r... ...pier and healthier than she did in college due to the growth of consciousness. "Whatever you apply yourself to, you are more successful."   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  La Fave says that with time and practice, the mind and body can be peaceful and potentially stressful situations no longer have power to cause the body harm.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The Maharishi Vedic University is currently putting together a curriculum for the development of human consciousness that not only teaches meditation but also a healthier way of life. They are located off the capitol square at 23 N. Pickney and can be reached at (608)255-4447. La Fave encourages anyone interested in learning about meditation to call or stop by.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The search for a better sense of well-being is a life-long one. What makes an individual feel satisfaction and inner peace changes as time goes by but are rarely achieved without training the mind. Meditation forces its practitioner to return to the self, to confront the obstacles of life, not push them away. Works Cited: "Krishna-izing the World" by Richard Vara, "The Houston Chronicle, Feb. 2, 1991. "Opening Up to Happiness" by Mark Epstein, M.D., "Psychology Today", July August 1993.

Past Way Of Life Essay

Life in the past was characterized with lots of battles between rival territories. This resulted to the rise of powerful empires and the measure of power during those days was through the number of wars fought. Warriors of those days were called Vikings. Erik the red is one of the renowned warriors of those days. He was born in Norway and participated in wars for his mother country. A Viking also denotes a pirate, merchant or explorer. These Norsemen normally used long ships to travel in the sea to all the places of their interest and used the same vessels to fight their enemies. The Vikings are traced to have originated in the early 17th century in the German territory. The initiator of Vikings in the Iceland is Erik the red. He lived all his life ruling his people after which his son picked the mantle from him (Gwyn, J. 2000). Erik the red left a legacy during his time because he is known as the founder of the Greenland territory. He was an explorer for a long time and moved with his people to many places in the sea. After having been exiled for three years from his native home in the Iceland, Erik decided to explore the neighboring regions in the sea and finally came across the green land. His sets of Vikings were mainly explorers but they had to fight some ballets whenever they met opposition. The team led by Erik sailed further to the north Atlantic territories and finally to North America. Their main activities were looting, exploration, colonization and living a mercenary’s kind of life. The Vikings had very strict leadership and way of life. In the beginning, Erik was the leader and at some point he was referred as the chief of the land. This was mainly in green land. He actually used his cunning nature to name the land. The word green was a very strategic name so that he could attract more people into his territory. These people were mainly farmers who planted yams and corn. Under the ruler ship of Erik, the Vikings could sometimes go for attacking expeditions in the sea and they as a result came back with commodities like ivory from tucks and even sea whales. More people later got attracted into the Greenland and they formed a territory in this island. Their population however increased that they sometimes lacked food and other commodities. CHANGES THAT HAVE OCCURRED Erik the red later died and left his ruler ship to his son Seif. They later discovered that attacking were more risky and less profitable. The incoming of Christianity further played a big part in eliminating the Vikings kind of life and they later adopted romanticism culture. The Nazi people are also a fruit of the cultural setting of the Vikings. This started in the 18th century when a myth was created to enable Sweden take up Finland to their side. This came at a time when Finland had been lost between Sweden and Russia (Tomasi, M 1999). Various authors have produced publications on the subject of Vikings and this was done with intent to revive the Nordic culture in the Iceland. Many territories in the region today have taken up after the Erik the red’s kind of ruler ship. Norwegians for example have a lot of symbolism to the Viking governance. An example of this is the Norwegian fascist party. This shows that Vikings policies are still operational in the political arena of the world today. The German people are also in the same train of following closely to the Viking culture. This they do even though they claim that they have no links to the Viking settlers. THE PRESENT SETTINGS AND COMPARISON TO THE PAST The ancient Vikings culture has been written in many books today. These trace all the happenings and activities of the people. The Vikings culture has been embraced by many people in this current generation. Norway and Germany are among the countries that practice various aspects of this culture. The Norway for example embraces its political arena organized in a Viking setting. Many political leaders have also taken the way of the Vikings ruler ship and with time are applying the skills in addressing various issues. Vikings always participated in wars in order to obtain food and other supplies for their territories. They did this through sea looting and piracy. These were accepted ways of life during those days but are not accepted in the day today. References Tomasi, M (1999). World history. Oxford: Oxford publishers. Gwyn, J. (2000). A history of Vikings. Oxford: Oxford publishers

Decision Making Model Essay

These different decision making models are approaches the problem of consumer decision making differently. The Engel-Kollat-Blackwell model is essentially a conscious problem solving and learning model of consumer behaviour. This model has a good description of active information seeking and evaluation processes of consumer. The information processed in this model is the stimulus. The consumer ¡Ã‚ ¦s decision processes act upon this stimulus in order to determine a response to it. These models attempt to explain each stage and show interrelated between the stages of consumer buyer behaviour from the stimulus, through the purchase to post purchase behaviour. The Howard-Sheth model (1969) is a learning model designed to explain the brand choice of an individual faced with several choice alternatives. This model is an attempt to explain rational brand choice behaviour within the constraints of limited individual capacities and incomplete information. This model can divided roughly into four fundamental parts- (1) stimulus input variables, (2) exogenous variables, (3) sequential output variables, and (4) the  ¡Ã‚ §internal state of buyer. ¡Ã‚ ¨ However, the limitation of this model is that it has little practical value for marketing practitioners. The two major advantages of the Howard-Sheth model are following: (i) It has been partially tested empirically, thus establishing some credibility for the model (ii) The model is also a dynamic model Overall the Engel-Blackwell-Miniard model provides more comprehensive and accurate comparison with Howard-Sheth model. The two models are similar in as much as they both propose a rational consumer, but one who is prepared to satisfies where appropriate. The environmental influences of the Engel-Blackwell-Miniard model compare directly to the exogenous variables as outlined in the explanation of Howard-Sheth model. Another famous consumer behaviour model is Nicosia model (1966). Francesco Nicosia was one of the first consumer behaviour modelers to shift focus from the act of purchase itself to the more complex decision process that consumers engage in about products and services. This model is characterized as a communications model that begins with a firm ¡Ã‚ ¦s communication to the consumer via advertising and culminates with consumer feedback to the firm.  This model contains four major components or fields: (1) the firm ¡Ã‚ ¦s attributes and outputs or communications and the consumer ¡Ã‚ ¦s psychological attributes, (2) the consumer ¡Ã‚ ¦s search for and evaluation of the firm ¡Ã‚ ¦s output and other available alternatives, (3) the consumer ¡Ã‚ ¦s motivated act of purchase, and (4) the consumer ¡Ã‚ ¦s storage or use of the product. Francesco Nicosia assumes that the consumer is seeking to fulfilled specific goals and that initially there is no history between the consumer and the firm, so no positive or negative predispositions toward the firm exist in the consumer ¡Ã‚ ¦s mind. There are some limitations in Nicosia model which include an inadequate understanding of the influence and interrelationships among the consumer attributes represented by Subfield and the questionable assumption that no prior consumer knowledge or experience with the product exists.