Post Traumatic Stress Disorder in War Veterans

POST TRAUMATIC STRESS DISORDER IN WAR VETERANS SC-PNG-0000009299 Alwin Aanand Thomson American Degree Program SEGi College Penang 1. 0 INTRODUCTION Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a severe anxiety disorder that can develop after exposure to any event that results in psychological trauma. This event may involve the threat of death to oneself or to someone else, or to one's own or someone else's physical, sexual, or psychological integrity, overwhelming the individual's ability to cope.As an effect of psychological trauma, PTSD is less frequent and more enduring than the more commonly seen acute stress response. Diagnostic symptoms for PTSD include re-experiencing the original trauma(s) through flashbacks or nightmares, avoidance of stimuli associated with the trauma, and increased arousal—such as difficulty falling or staying asleep, anger, and hyper vigilance. Formal diagnostic criteria in DSM-IV-TR require that the symptoms last more than one month and cause significa nt impairment in social, occupational, or other important areas of functioning (American Psychological Association). . 0 DIAGNOSIS Criteria The diagnostic criteria for PTSD, stipulated in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders IV (Text Revision) (DSM-IV-TR), may be summarized as: A: Exposure to a traumatic event This must have involved both (a) loss of â€Å"physical integrity†, or risk of serious injury or death, to self or others, and (b) a response to the event that involved intense fear, horror, or helplessness (or in children, the response must involve disorganized or agitated behavior). The DSM-IV-TR criterion differs substantially from the previous DSM-III-R stressor criterion, which specified the traumatic event should be of a type that would cause â€Å"significant symptoms of distress in almost anyone,† and that the event was â€Å"outside the range of usual human experience. † B: Persistent re-experiencing One or more of these must be present in the victim: flashback memories, recurring distressing dreams, subjective re-experiencing of the traumatic event(s), or intense negative psychological or physiological response to any objective or subjective. C: Persistent avoidance and emotional numbingThis involves a sufficient level of: †¢ avoidance of stimuli associated with the trauma, such as certain thoughts or feelings, or talking about the event(s); †¢ avoidance of behaviors, places, or people that might lead to distressing memories; †¢ inability to recall major parts of the trauma(s), or decreased involvement in significant life activities; †¢ decreased capacity (down to complete inability) to feel certain feelings; †¢ an expectation that one's future will be somehow constrained in ways not normal to other people. D: Persistent symptoms of increased arousal not present beforeThese are all physiological response issues, such as difficulty falling or staying asleep, or problems with ange r, concentration, or hypervigilance. E: Duration of symptoms for more than 1 month If all other criteria are present, but 30 days have not elapsed, the individual is diagnosed with Acute stress disorder. F: Significant impairment The symptoms reported must lead to â€Å"clinically significant distress or impairment† of major domains of life activity, such as social relations, occupational activities, or other â€Å"important areas of functioning†. (DSM-IV-TR, American Psychiatric Assocation) . 0 PTSD IN WAR VETERANS 3. 1 Facts & Figures Operation Iraqi Freedom has become the deadliest American military conflict since the Vietnam War. Uto 13 percent of the troops returning from the deployment have reported symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). With the daily violence in this war torn country, service men and women are subjected to increased levels of stress which can trigger PTSD. After fighting for their country and risking their lives, allowing them to re turn home only to be haunted by their actions degrades everything they were sent to Iraq to accomplish.Since the Vietnam War, methods of treating PTSD have developed and lowered the number of cases, but simply lowering the number of cases is not good enough. Unless service members can be prevented from experiencing these negative emotions, every one of them is engaged in a possible suicide mission. With the proper procedures introduced and carried out as proposed, not only the service members can be helped, but their families as well. Due to current operations in the Middle East and the recent combat operations in the past decade, many citizens have met somebody who has experienced their share of combat related stress.When you look at somebody who has been in combat, they may look like your average person on the outside, but on the inside lays memories of the violent scenes of war torn countries. Their mental health may not be noticeably altered, but they could very well suffer from haunting memories, flashbacks, and even post-traumatic stress disorder. Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) can produce emotional responses caused by the trauma endured during combat operations. It does not have to emerge immediately, but can actually happen weeks, months, or even years after the traumatic event.PTSD was often referred to as â€Å"combat fatigue† or â€Å"shell shock† until 1980 when it was given the name post-traumatic stress disorder. According to William Welch of USA Today, PTSD is produced from a traumatic event that provoked intense fear, helplessness, or horror. The events are sometimes re-experienced through intrusive memories, nightmares, hallucinations, or flashbacks. Symptoms of PTSD include troubled sleep, irritability, anger, poor concentration, hyper vigilance, and exaggerated responses.Emotions felt by victims of PTSD include depression, detachment or estrangement, guilt, intense anxiety, panic, and other negative emotions (2005). Out of over 240,000 veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan already discharged from the service, nearly 13,000 have been in U. S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) counseling centers for readjustment problems and symptoms associated with PTSD (Welch, 2005). Operation Iraqi Freedom has become the deadliest American conflict since the Vietnam War and because of this, new data detailed by Cep79m. v shows that 12 to 13 percent of troops returning from Iraq reported PTSD symptoms while about 3 to 4 percent reported other mental distress. A new Army study found that 11 percent of troops returning from Afghanistan reported symptoms of mental distress. Although wartime psychology was just beginning during the Vietnam War era, later studies showed that nearly 15 percent of troops who served there suffered PTSD. The most recent studies found that nearly 30 percent of the Vietnam War veterans have developed physiological problems after returning from the war.PTSD estimates for veterans of the first Gul f War range between 2 and 10 percent (2004). These numbers are based on several key factors. The amount of combat related stress varies by unit and will determine the amount of emotional stress a soldier in that particular unit will experience. For example, according to The New England Journal of Medicine, out of 1709 Soldiers and Marines surveyed, those who returned from Iraq reported higher rates of combat experience and frequency than those returning from Afghanistan. It’s probable that those who experience more combat situations are more likely to suffer to PTSD.As noted in The New England Journal of Medicine, out of those surveyed, 71 to 86 percent deployed to Iraq reported engaging in a firefight as apposed to only 31 percent in Afghanistan. Soldiers and Marines returning from Iraq were significantly more likely to report that they were currently experiencing a mental health problem, were interested in receiving help for their mental problems, and actually used mental h ealth services (Hoge et al, 2004). As noted earlier, according to William Welch of USA Today, PTSD is produced from a traumatic event that provoked intense fear, helplessness, or horror (2005).Being wounded while in combat is a perfect example of an event which provokes intense fear. Among those who participated in a recent survey, 11. 6 percent reported being wounded or injured while in Iraq compared to 4. 6 percent of those in Afghanistan (Hoge et al, 2004). This is a clear indication that the events a soldier experiences during deployment will have influence on the possibility of PTSD after redeploying to the United States. Intense situations do not revolve around being wounded or injured. Operation Iraqi Freedom has become the deadliest American conflict since the Vietnam War.As a result, CNN notes that 90 percent of those who served in Iraq reported being shot at. A high percentage also reported killing an enemy combatant, or knowing somebody who was injured or killed. Approxim ately half said they handled a body while serving in Iraq (2004). In addition to CNN’s article, Cep79m. tv announced amazing data showing one in four Marines reported killing an Iraqi civilian while one in four Army soldiers reported engaging in hand-to-hand combat. More than 85 percent of those surveyed know somebody who has been injured or killed. More than half claimed handling corpses or human remains (2004). 3. Treatment and Prevention There is help available to those returning from the war torn countries. Almost 17 percent of the troops surveyed, who served in Iraq, suffered mental health problems while less than half of them have looked for professional help after ending their tours (Cep79m. tv, 2004). Sergeant First Class (SFC) Doug Sample of the American Forces Press Service reports that â€Å"service members can get confidential counseling through the military services’ ‘One Source’ program. The 24-hour-a-day service is for service members and t heir families, and provides quick, professional assistance with problems† (2004).The reason only half of them are seeking help could be the possibility of negative attention from their unit. Dr. William Winkenwerder says that a main barrier preventing soldiers from getting help â€Å"is the perception of stigma that some individuals have about coming forward to get that care and counseling† (Gilmore, 2004). CNN interviewed Staff Sergeant (SSG) Georg-Andreas Pogany who saw an Iraqi body which had suffered severe trauma on his second day in Iraq. Suffering from a nervous breakdown and struggling to sleep that night, he decided to tell his superior officer.He was afraid he would freeze up on patrol and was worried about the consequences. Instead of being given help, he was told to reconsider his concerns for the sake of his career. A translator attached to the 10th Special Forces Group was sent back and charged with cowardice after experiencing the same type of emotional s tress. Though his charge was dropped, his record is still uncertain (2004). Post-traumatic stress disorder may not be preventable in every individual who steps foot inside a combat zone, but things can be done to lower the number of cases which occur after deploying.The army, for example, works under a â€Å"tough and realistic training† motto. They train their soldiers during peacetime as if they were actually in a combat zone. Live-fire ranges along with tough and realistic training have helped soldiers prepare for combat and the numbers developed from the data is surprisingly low. But that doesn’t surprise many people because according to Gilmore, they have used information from former prisoners of wars to help train today’s service members to be ready for combat (2004). The military works on a schedule allowing units to use live fire ranges at certain times with a certain number of live rounds.A possibility to help lower the amount of PTSD cases related to i ntense combat situations would be allowing soldiers to use live fire ranges more often. If this means raising taxes a little more to allow for a larger budget, then by all means, it’s worth it. Before, during, and after deployment, service members are given counseling sessions to prepare them for intense situations as well as teaching them about the possibility of mental health damage. This has been a change since the Vietnam War, which could be another factor which has helped lower the amount of PTSD cases throughout the military.Another possible solution to PTSD would be to brief soldiers throughout their entire career. Before Operation Enduring Freedom, it had been nearly 10 years since the last major conflict which involved ground forces. In those 10 years, if soldiers were given briefings on the possibility of mental health damage after combat, there is a chance they would have been more prepared to deal with those situations. The Department of Defense could easily make it mandatory that each service member receives several briefings each year during their entire military career to include during deployments. Citing recent Centers for Disease Control and Prevention research, Winkenwerder noted some people seem more predisposed to develop depression, anxiety, or post-traumatic stress disorders as a result of negative childhood experiences† (Gilmore, 2004). Apparently, the better the life a child has while growing up, the more ready for combat they will be. The Department of Defense requires each applicant for the armed forces to take a test which allows them to qualify for a certain job within the military.Another possibility would be adding a section to the test which measures the type of childhood an applicant experienced. They could then choose only those who did not have many negative childhood experiences, if that statement is at all accurate, to fill their combat oriented positions. 4. 0CONCLUSION According to the data gathered during re cent surveys, it is clear that although the violence of war will remain the same, it is possible to lower the percentage of service members who experience mental disturbance such as post-traumatic stress disorder from combat situations. It may be impossible o completely rid the volunteer force of the possibility of PTSD, but with enough counseling before, during, and after combat operations, the percentage of those who suffer from it may be lowered dramatically. More tough and realistic training will also help set soldiers into the mindset of what it takes to survive a combat situation. The treatment and prevention is there, but does not seem to be used quite enough. Not using the prevention methods is almost like sending our troops on a suicide mission. Cep79m. tv, (2004, July 1). Soldier Mental Illness Hits Vietnam Level. Retrieved April 6, 2012 from http://www. cep79m. v/soldiermentalillness. htm (http://www. cep79m. tv/soldiermentalillness. htm) CNN, (2004, July 1). Combat stres s: The war within. Retrieved April 10, 2012 from http://www. cnn. com/2004/HEALTH/07/01/post. traumatic. stress/ (http://www. cnn. com/2004/HEALTH/07/01/post. traumatic. stress/) Gilmore, G. , (2004, July 1). Combat Degrades Some Troops’ Mental Health, Report Says. Retrieved April 16, 2012 from http://www. defenselink. mil/news/Jul2004/n07012004_2004070106. html (http://www. defenselink. mil/news/Jul2004/n07012004_2004070106. html) Welch, W. , (2005, February 28). Trauma of Iraq War Haunting Thousands Returning Home.Retrieved April 16, 2012 from http://www. commondreams. org/cgi-bin/print. cgi? file=/headlines05/0228-01. htm (http://www. commondreams. org/cgi-bin/print. cgi? file=/headlines05/0228-01. htm) NIMH  · Post Traumatic Stress Disorder Research Fact Sheet†. National Institutes of Mental Health. Retrieved April 16, 2012 from http://www. nimh. org/ptsdfactsheet/ A soldier carrying his wounded compatriot Smoking as a common stress reliever among soldiers. Trauma tic flashback occurring on duty. Anti-depressants are common among veterans. Traumatic enough to bring the toughest of men to tears.

John Marshall Essay

â€Å"Its is emphatically, the province and duty of the judicial department, to say what the law is.† (Ducat, Craig Constitutional Interpretation p. 10) These seventeen words written two hundred years ago made the highest court in the United States supreme, and making it so, Chief Justice John Marshall’s words in that sentence continue to make an impact on every Supreme Court case thereafter. Justice Marshall laid the basic foundations to protect the Federal system that was established by the Constitution. In Marbury v. Madison, McCulloch v. Maryland, and Gibbons v. Ogden the Supreme Court maintained the United States as a federal state. Marbury v Madison was the influential case that the Supreme Court cites as a precedent when employing judicial review. It left the power to be rested on the judicial branch when determining to uphold either the law or the Constitution. By establishing the right to judicial review, Marshall, with the support of the legislative and executive branches, made all cases before the courts subservient to the U.S. Constitution. Cases that have been heard after Marbury v. Madison, that come into question, must be interpreted through the Constitution. Uniformity of all states of the Union were established when Marshall and the Supreme Court ruled in McCulloch v. Maryland. Although the Constitution gave powers to the states under the Tenth Amendment, Marshall implemented the powers of the Federal government by exercising Article 1 Section 8 Clause 18 (necessary and proper clause) and Article 6 Section 2 (supremacy clause). Marshall explained that the Constitution gave the federal government the power to incorporate a bank if it deemed it necessary and proper not for the powers of Congress, but necessary and proper for the powers granted to Congress by the Constitution. Marshall also outlined the rights of the states by enacting Article 6 in his decision. He stated that the supremacy clause prohibited the states from having the power to tax, which would then involve the states power to destroy the powers of the Constitution to create. Gibbons v. Ogden expanded the powers of the Federal government aforementioned in the previous two influential cases. This case defined the Commerce Clause found in Article 1 Section 8 Clause 3. In his genius, Marshall defined commerce not only as an exchange of commodities, but also the means by which interstate and foreign intercourse those commodities travel. By giving the Federal government control over commerce through interpretation of the Constitution, Marshall preserved the prosperity of the country as an economic Union conducting business under national, not state, control. Chief Justice John Marshall’s decisions in all three of the cases explained previously depict the evolution of the Supreme Court. Marbury v. Madison separated the powers of the three branches of governments, McCulloch v. Maryland separated and defined the powers of the Federal and state governments, and Gibbons V. Ogden separated the commerce powers of the Federal and state governments. Marshall decided each case based on the foundations established by the U.S. Constitution, and in each of his decisions, he preserved the integrity of the Framers intentions of the United States as a Federal state.

Chapter 5 Weasleys’ Wizard Wheezes

Harry spun faster and faster, elbows tucked tightly to his sides, blurred fireplaces flashing past him, until he started to feel sick and closed his eyes. Then, when at last he felt himself slowing down, he threw out his hands and came to a halt in time to prevent himself from falling face forward out of the Weasleys' kitchen fire. â€Å"Did he eat it?† said Fred excitedly, holding out a hand to pull Harry to his feet. â€Å"Yeah,† said Harry, straightening up. â€Å"What was it?† â€Å"Ton-Tongue Toffee,† said Fred brightly. â€Å"George and I invented them, and we've been looking for someone to test them on all summer†¦.† The tiny kitchen exploded with laughter; Harry looked around and saw that Ron and George were sitting at the scrubbed wooden table with two red-haired people Harry had never seen before, though he knew immediately who they must be: Bill and Charlie, the two eldest Weasley brothers. â€Å"How're you doing, Harry?† said the nearer of the two, grinning at him and holding out a large hand, which Harry shook, feeling calluses and blisters under his fingers. This had to be Charlie, who worked with dragons in Romania. Charlie was built like the twins, shorter and stockier than Percy and Ron, who were both long and lanky. He had a broad, good-natured face, which was weather-beaten and so freckly that he looked almost tanned; his arms were muscular, and one of them had a large, shiny burn on it. Bill got to his feet, smiling, and also shook Harry's hand. Bill came as something of a surprise. Harry knew that he worked for the wizarding bank, Gringotts, and that Bill had been Head Boy at Hogwarts; Harry had always imagined Bill to be an older version of Percy: fussy about rule-breaking and fond of bossing everyone around. However, Bill was – there was no other word for it – cool. He was tall, with long hair that he had tied back in a ponytail. He was wearing an earring with what looked like a fang dangling from it. Bill's clothes would not have looked out of place at a rock concert, except that Harry recognized his boots to be made, not of leather, but of dragon hide. Before any of them could say anything else, there was a faint popping noise, and Mr. Weasley appeared out of thin air at George's shoulder. He was looking angrier than Harry had ever seen him. â€Å"That wasn't funny Fred!† he shouted. â€Å"What on earth did you give that Muggle boy?† â€Å"I didn't give him anything,† said Fred, with another evil grin. I just dropped it†¦.It was his fault he went and ate it, I never told him to.† â€Å"You dropped it on purpose!† roared Mr. Weasley. â€Å"You knew he'd eat it, you knew he was on a diet -â€Å" â€Å"How big did his tongue get?† George asked eagerly. â€Å"It was four feet long before his parents would let me shrink it!† Harry and the Weasleys roared with laughter again. â€Å"It isn't funny!† Mr. Weasley shouted. â€Å"That sort of behavior seriously undermines wizard-Muggle relations! I spend half my life campaigning against the mistreatment of Muggles, and my own sons â€Å"We didn't give it to him because he's a Muggle!† said Fred indignantly. â€Å"No, we gave it to him because he's a great bullying git,† said George. â€Å"Isn't he, Harry?† â€Å"Yeah, he is, Mr. Weasley,† said Harry earnestly. â€Å"That's not the point!† raged Mr. Weasley. â€Å"You wait until I tell your mother -â€Å" â€Å"Tell me what?† said a voice behind them. Mrs. Weasley had just entered the kitchen. She was a short, plump woman with a very kind face, though her eyes were presently narrowed with suspicion. â€Å"Oh hello, Harry, dear,† she said, spotting him and smiling. Then her eyes snapped back to her husband. â€Å"Tell me what, Arthur?† Mr. Weasley hesitated. Harry could tell that, however angry he was with Fred and George, he hadn't really intended to tell Mrs. Weasley what had happened. There was a silence, while Mr. Weasley eyed his wife nervously. Then two girls appeared in the kitchen doorway behind Mrs. Weasley. One, with very bushy brown hair and rather large front teeth, was Harry's and Ron's friend, Hermione Granger. The other, who was small and red-haired, was Ron's younger sister, Ginny. Both of them smiled at Harry, who grinned back, which made Ginny go scarlet – she had been very taken with Harry ever since his first visit to the Burrow. â€Å"Tell me what, Arthur?† Mrs. Weasley repeated, in a dangerous sort of voice. â€Å"It's nothing, Molly,† mumbled Mr. Weasley, â€Å"Fred and George just – but I've had words with them -â€Å" â€Å"What have they done this time?† said Mrs. Weasley. â€Å"If it's got anything to do with Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes -â€Å" â€Å"Why don't you show Harry where he's sleeping, Ron?† said Hermione from the doorway. â€Å"He knows where he's sleeping,† said Ron, â€Å"in my room, he slept there last -â€Å" â€Å"We can all go,† said Hermione pointedly. â€Å"Oh,† said Ron, cottoning on. â€Å"Right.† â€Å"Yeah, we'll come too,† said George. â€Å"You stay where you are!† snarled Mrs. Weasley. Harry and Ron edged out of the kitchen, and they, Hermione, and Ginny set off along the narrow hallway and up the rickety staircase that zigzagged through the house to the upper stories. â€Å"What are Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes?† Harry asked as they climbed. Ron and Ginny both laughed, although Hermione didn't. â€Å"Mum found this stack of order forms when she was cleaning Fred and George's room,† said Ron quietly. â€Å"Great long price lists for stuff they've invented. Joke stuff, you know. Fake wands and trick sweets, loads of stuff. It was brilliant, I never knew they'd been inventing all that†¦Ã¢â‚¬  â€Å"We've been hearing explosions out of their room for ages, but we never thought they were actually making things,† said Ginny. â€Å"We thought they just liked the noise.† â€Å"Only, most of the stuff – well, all of it, really – was a bit dangerous,† said Ron, â€Å"and, you know, they were planning to sell it at Hogwarts to make some money, and Mum went mad at them. Told them they weren't allowed to make any more of it, and burned all the order forms†¦.She's furious at them anyway. They didn't get as many O.W.L.s as she expected.† O.W.L.s were Ordinary Wizarding Levels, the examinations Hogwarts students took at the age of fifteen. â€Å"And then there was this big row,† Ginny said, â€Å"because Mum wants them to go into the Ministry of Magic like Dad, and they told her all they want to do is open a joke shop.† Just then a door on the second landing opened, and a face poked out wearing horn-rimmed glasses and a very annoyed expression. â€Å"Hi, Percy,† said Harry. â€Å"Oh hello, Harry,† said Percy. â€Å"I was wondering who was making all the noise. I'm trying to work in here, you know I've got a report to finish for the office – and it's rather difficult to concentrate when people keep thundering up and down the stairs.† â€Å"We're not thundering, â€Å"said Ron irritably. â€Å"We're walking. Sorry if we've disturbed the top-secret workings of the Ministry of Magic.† â€Å"What are you working on?† said Harry. â€Å"A report for the Department of International Magical Cooperation,† said Percy smugly. â€Å"We're trying to standardize cauldron thickness. Some of these foreign imports are just a shade too thin – leakages have been increasing at a rate of almost three percent a year -â€Å" â€Å"That'll change the world, that report will,† said Ron. â€Å"Front page of the Daily Prophet, I expect, cauldron leaks.† Percy went slightly pink. â€Å"You might sneer, Ron,† he said heatedly, â€Å"but unless some sort of international law is imposed we might well find the market flooded with flimsy, shallow-bottomed products that seriously endanger -â€Å" â€Å"Yeah, yeah, all right,† said Ron, and he started off upstairs again. Percy slammed his bedroom door shut. As Harry, Hermione, and Ginny followed Ron up three more flights of stairs, shouts from the kitchen below echoed up to them. It sounded as though Mr. Weasley had told Mrs. Weasley about the toffees. The room at the top of the house where Ron slept looked much as it had the last time that Harry had come to stay: the same posters of Ron's favorite Quidditch team, the Chudley Cannons, were whirling and waving on the walls and sloping ceiling, and the fish tank on the windowsill, which had previously held frog spawn, now contained one extremely large frog. Ron's old rat, Scabbers, was here no more, but instead there was the tiny gray owl that had delivered Ron's letter to Harry in Privet Drive. It was hopping up and down in a small cage and twittering madly. â€Å"Shut up, Pig,† said Ron, edging his way between two of the four beds that had been squeezed into the room. â€Å"Fred and George are in here with us, because Bill and Charlie are in their room,† he told Harry. â€Å"Percy gets to keep his room all to himself because he's got to work.† â€Å"Er – why are you calling that owl Pig?† Harry asked Ron. â€Å"Because he's being stupid,† said Ginny, â€Å"Its proper name is Pigwidgeon.† â€Å"Yeah, and that's not a stupid name at all,† said Ron sarcastically. â€Å"Ginny named him,† he explained to Harry. â€Å"She reckons it's sweet. And I tried to change it, but it was too late, he won't answer to anything else. So now he's Pig. I've got to keep him up here because he annoys Errol and Hermes. He annoys me too, come to that. Pigwidgeon zoomed happily around his cage, hooting shrilly. Harry knew Ron too well to take him seriously. He had moaned continually about his old rat, Scabbers, but had been most upset when Hermione's cat, Crookshanks, appeared to have eaten him. â€Å"Where's Crookshanks?† Harry asked Hermione now. â€Å"Out in the garden, I expect,† she said. â€Å"He likes chasing gnomes. He's never seen any before.† â€Å"Percy's enjoying work, then?† said Harry, sitting down on one of the beds and watching the Chudley Cannons zooming in and out of the posters on the ceiling. â€Å"Enjoying it?† said Ron darkly. â€Å"I don't reckon he'd come home if Dad didn't make him. He's obsessed. Just don't get him onto the subject of his boss. According to Mr. Crouch†¦as I was saying to Mr. Crouch†¦ Mr. Crouch is of the opinion†¦Mr. Crouch was telling me†¦They'll be announcing their engagement any day now.† â€Å"Have you had a good summer, Harry?† said Hermione. â€Å"Did you get our food parcels and everything?† â€Å"Yeah, thanks a lot,† said Harry. â€Å"They saved my life, those cakes.† â€Å"And have you heard from -?† Ron began, but at a look from Hermione he fell silent. Harry knew Ron had been about to ask about Sirius. Ron and Hermione had been so deeply involved in helping Sirius escape from the Ministry of Magic that they were almost as concerned about Harry's godfather as he was. However, discussing him in front of Ginny was a bad idea. Nobody but themselves and Professor Dumbledore knew about how Sirius had escaped, or believed in his innocence. â€Å"I think they've stopped arguing,† said Hermione, to cover the awkward moment, because Ginny was looking curiously from Ron to Harry. â€Å"Shall we go down and help your mum with dinner?† â€Å"Yeah, all right,† said Ron. The four of them left Ron's room and went back downstairs to find Mrs. Weasley alone in the kitchen, looking extremely bad-tempered. â€Å"We're eating out in the garden,† she said when they came in. â€Å"There's just not room for eleven people in here. Could you take the plates outside, girls? Bill and Charlie are setting up the tables. Knives and forks, please, you two,† she said to Ron and Harry, pointing her wand a little more vigorously than she had intended at a pile of potatoes in the sink, which shot out of their skins so fast that they ricocheted off the walls and ceiling. â€Å"Oh for heaven's sake,† she snapped, now directing her wand at a dustpan, which hopped off the sideboard and started skating across the floor, scooping up the potatoes. â€Å"Those two!† she burst out savagely, now pulling pots and pans out of a cupboard, and Harry knew she meant Fred and George. I don't know what's going to happen to them, I really don't. No ambition, unless you count making as much trouble as they possibly can†¦.† Mrs. Weasley slammed a large copper saucepan down on the kitchen table and began to wave her wand around inside it. A creamy sauce poured from the wand tip as she stirred. â€Å"It's not as though they haven't got brains, she continued irritably, taking the saucepan over to the stove and lighting it with a further poke of her wand, â€Å"but they're wasting them, and unless they pull themselves together soon, they'll be in real trouble. I've had more owls from Hogwarts about them than the rest put together. If they carry on the way they're going, they'll end up in front of the Improper Use of Magic Office.† Mrs. Weasley jabbed her wand at the cutlery drawer, which shot open. Harry and Ron both jumped out of the way as several knives soared out of it, flew across the kitchen, and began chopping the potatoes, which had just been tipped back into the sink by the dustpan. â€Å"I don't know where we went wrong with them,† said Mrs. Weasley, putting down her wand and starting to pull out still more saucepans. â€Å"It's been the same for years, one thing after another, and they won't listen to – OH NOT AGAIN!† She had picked up her wand from the table, and it had emitted a loud squeak and turned into a giant rubber mouse. â€Å"One of their fake wands again!† she shouted. â€Å"How many times have I told them not to leave them lying around?† She grabbed her real wand and turned around to find that the sauce on the stove was smoking. â€Å"C'mon,† Ron said hurriedly to Harry, seizing a handful of cutlery from the open drawer, â€Å"let's go and help Bill and Charlie.† They left Mrs. Weasley and headed out the back door into the yard. They had only gone a few paces when Hermione's bandy-legged ginger cat, Crookshanks, came pelting out of the garden, bottle-brush tail held high in the air, chasing what looked like a muddy potato on legs. Harry recognized it instantly as a gnome. Barely ten inches high, its horny little feet pattered very fast as it sprinted across the yard and dived headlong into one of the Wellington boots that lay scattered around the door. Harry could hear the gnome giggling madly as Crookshanks inserted a paw into the boot, trying to reach it. Meanwhile, a very loud crashing noise was coming from the other side of the house. The source of the commotion was revealed as they entered the garden, and saw that Bill and Charlie both had their wands out, and were making two battered old tables fly high above the lawn, smashing into each other, each attempting to knock the other's out of the air. Fred and George were cheering, Ginny was laughing, and Hermione was hovering near the hedge, apparently tor n between amusement and anxiety. Bill's table caught Charlie's with a huge bang and knocked one of its legs off. There was a clatter from overhead, and they all looked up to see Percy's head poking out of a window on the second floor. â€Å"Will you keep it down?!† he bellowed. â€Å"Sorry, Perce,† said Bill, grinning. â€Å"How're the cauldron bottoms coming on?† â€Å"Very badly,† said Percy peevishly, and he slammed the window shut. Chuckling, Bill and Charlie directed the tables safely onto the grass, end to end, and then, with a flick of his wand, Bill reattached the table leg and conjured tablecloths from nowhere. By seven o'clock, the two tables were groaning under dishes and dishes of Mrs. Weasley's excellent cooking, and the nine Weasleys, Harry, and Hermione were settling themselves down to eat beneath a clear, deep-blue sky. To somebody who had been living on meals of increasingly stale cake all summer, this was paradise, and at first, Harry listened rather than talked as he helped himself to chicken and ham pie, boiled potatoes, and salad. At the far end of the table, Percy was telling his father all about his report on cauldron bottoms. â€Å"I've told Mr. Crouch that I'll have it ready by Tuesday,† Percy was saying pompously. â€Å"That's a bit sooner than he expected it, but I like to keep on top of things. I think he'll be grateful I've done it in good time, I mean, its extremely busy in our department just now, what with all the arrangements for the World Cup. We're just not getting the support we need from the Department of Magical Games and Sports. Ludo Bagman -â€Å" â€Å"I like Ludo,† said Mr. Weasley mildly. â€Å"He was the one who got us such good tickets for the Cup. I did him a bit of a favor: His brother, Otto, got into a spot of trouble – a lawnmower with unnatural powers – I smoothed the whole thing over.† â€Å"Oh Bagman's likable enough, of course,† said Percy dismissively, â€Å"but how he ever got to be Head of Department†¦when I compare him to Mr. Crouch! I can't see Mr. Crouch losing a member of our department and not trying to find out what's happened to them. You realize Bertha Jorkins has been missing for over a month now? Went on holiday to Albania and never came back?† â€Å"Yes, I was asking Ludo about that,† said Mr. Weasley, frowning. â€Å"He says Bertha's gotten lost plenty of times before now – though must say, if it was someone in my department, I'd be worried†¦.† â€Å"Oh Bertha's hopeless, all right,† said Percy. â€Å"I hear she's been shunted from department to department for years, much more trouble than she's worth†¦but all the same, Bagman ought to be trying to find her. Mr. Crouch has been taking a personal interest, she worked in our department at one time, you know, and I think Mr. Crouch was quite fond of her – but Bagman just keeps laughing and saying she probably misread the map and ended up in Australia instead of Albania. However† – Percy heaved an impressive sigh and took a deep swig of elderflower wine – â€Å"we've got quite enough on our plates at the Department of International Magical Cooperation without trying to find members of other departments too. As you know, we've got another big event to organize right after the World Cup.† Percy cleared his throat significantly and looked down toward the end of the table where Harry, Ron, and Hermione were sitting. â€Å"You know the one I'm talking about, Father.† He raised his voice slightly. â€Å"The top-secret one.† Ron rolled his eyes and muttered to Harry and Hermione, â€Å"He's been trying to get us to ask what that event is ever since he started work. Probably an exhibition of thick-bottomed cauldrons.† In the middle of the table, Mrs. Weasley was arguing with Bill about his earring, which seemed to be a recent acquisition. â€Å"†¦with a horrible great fang on it. Really, Bill, what do they say at the bank?† â€Å"Mum, no one at the bank gives a damn how I dress as long as I bring home plenty of treasure,† said Bill patiently. â€Å"And your hair's getting silly, dear,† said Mrs. Weasley, fingering her wand lovingly.† I wish you'd let me give it a trim†¦.† â€Å"I like it,† said Ginny, who was sitting beside Bill. â€Å"You're so old-fashioned, Mum. Anyway, it's nowhere near as long as Professor Dumbledore's†¦.† Next to Mrs. Weasley, Fred, George, and Charlie were all talking spiritedly about the World Cup. â€Å"It's got to be Ireland,† said Charlie thickly, through a mouthful of potato. â€Å"They flattened Peru in the semifinals.† â€Å"Bulgaria has got Viktor Krum, though,† said Fred. â€Å"Krum's one decent player, Ireland has got seven,† said Charlie shortly. â€Å"I wish England had got through. That was embarrassing, that was.† â€Å"What happened?† said Harry eagerly, regretting more than ever his isolation from the wizarding world when he was stuck on Privet Drive. â€Å"Went down to Transylvania, three hundred and ninety to ten,† said Charlie gloomily. â€Å"Shocking performance. And Wales lost to Uganda, and Scotland was slaughtered by Luxembourg.† Harry had been on the Gryffindor House Quidditch team ever since his first year at Hogwarts and owned one of the best racing brooms in the world, a Firebolt. Flying came more naturally to Harry than anything else in the magical world, and he played in the position of Seeker on the Gryffindor House team. Mr. Weasley conjured up candles to light the darkening garden before they had their homemade strawberry ice cream, and by the time they had finished, moths were fluttering low over the table, and the warm air was perfumed with the smells of grass and honeysuckle. Harry was feeling extremely well fed and at peace with the world as he watched several gnomes sprinting through the rosebushes, laughing madly and closely pursued by Crookshanks. Ron looked carefully up the table to check that the rest of the family were all busy talking, then he said very quietly to Harry, â€Å"So – have you heard from Sirius lately?† Hermione looked around, listening closely. â€Å"Yeah,† said Harry softly, â€Å"twice. He sounds okay. I wrote to him yesterday. He might write back while I'm here.† He suddenly remembered the reason he had written to Sirius, and for a moment was on the verge of telling Ron and Hermione about his scar hurting again, and about the dream that had awoken him†¦but he really didn't want to worry them just now, not when he himself was feeling so happy and peaceful. â€Å"Look at the time,† Mrs. Weasley said suddenly, checking her wristwatch. â€Å"You really should be in bed, the whole lot of you you'll be up at the crack of dawn to get to the Cup. Harry, if you leave your school list out, I'll get your things for you tomorrow in Diagon Alley. I'm getting everyone else's. There might not be time after the World Cup, the match went on for five days last time.† â€Å"Wow – hope it does this time!† said Harry enthusiastically. â€Å"Well, I certainly don't,† said Percy sanctimoniously. â€Å"I shudder to think what the state of my in-tray would be if I was away from work for five days.† â€Å"Yeah, someone might slip dragon dung in it again, eh, Perce?† said Fred. â€Å"That was a sample of fertilizer from Norway!† said Percy, going very red in the face. â€Å"It was nothing personal!† â€Å"It was,† Fred whispered to Harry as they got up from the table. â€Å"We sent it.†

Management and finance Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Management and finance - Essay Example Managers should focus on what should be done in order to avoid variance in the future rather than concentrating on actions to correct variances in the budget. Management determines the performance of the organization by conducting budget control or variance analysis (Ramji & Geoffrey, 2002, p. 21). These approaches support management by exception by the fact that it identifies critical areas of organization performance which does not follow the management expectations. Although budget is very essential in the organization, the success of the organization is determined by the effort of the management to in making decisions that will ensure the attainment of the organization’s goals. A. Behavioural issues in budgetary reporting system When actual performance of the business differs from the planned or budgeted activities this is referred to as variance. Variance may be favourable if it shows gain or beneficial position such as an increase in actual income or profits or a decreas e in actual expenditure than the standard cost (Sherman, 2011, p. 87). On the other hand, variance may be termed unfavourable if the actual cost exceeds standard cost, or if actual profit/income falls below the budgeted income/profit. It is the cause and consequences of variance that matters, and whether the variance is favourable or unfavourable (Hampton, 2009, p. 57). The management should work to establish the cause of variances and assess the impact of the variance in the organization because not all adverse variances are detrimental to the business and not all favourable variances are beneficial to the organization. Material variance refers to the differences between the actual materials used in producing actual outputs and materials that were expected to be used during the planning process (Weiss, 2006, p. 102). Material variance may occur for various reasons. For example, the difference may be due to the actual purchase price of the materials being less or more than the expec ted price in which case the purchasing department may be held liable. On the other hand, this variance may be due to less or more materials being used during the manufacturing process, and in this case, the production department will be held responsible. Labour variance is the difference between the actual cost of labour and the budgeted expenditure. The actual expenditure is usually greater or is less than the budgeted expenditure due to various factors. For example, the actual rate does not correspond to the budgeted cost because it is either below or higher than the expected rate (Hampton, 2009, p. 71). In addition, the actual idle time of the workers is more or less than the budgeted time while the actual productivity of the workers differs from the budgeted efficiency. These factors influence the actual cost of labour resulting to significant differences in cost of labour from the planned cost of labour. In the case study, the estimated output was ninety five thousands units wh ile the actual output was ninety thousands units. This created a variance of five thousand units in the organizations output. This decline in units produced could imply inefficiency of workers or machines. It could also mean that the target was too high for the organization to meet (Weiss, 2006, p. 108). The management should put effort to increase the production capacity of the organization by either increasing the efficiency of work

International Sustainable Tourism Management Essay

International Sustainable Tourism Management - Essay Example In the vast tourism literature, community based tourism is defined in two broad ways. The first description focuses on community involvement with the affected community in the mapping of tourism industry as a land use, and the resultant enlargement of the tourism venture, in an effort to create a lasting relationship between clients and service providers. The second description focuses on development of a community through tourism. The world is ever changing and so are the tourism destinations and markets. The important of tourism monitoring cannot therefore be overemphasized right from the project level to the country level for effective evaluation and managing these changes in tourism. According to Hall (2008), monitoring in community bases tourism helps to alleviate the understanding of the contribution the tourism industry makes in regard to the sustainability objectives of the community as well as the general impacts of tourism on the community. In additions, community monitorin g is vital in an effort of identifying areas in which changes are taking place and where improvements may be needed in the tourism sector. This makes management and monitoring as both interdependent and interrelated under community-based tourism. Due to the fact that tourism is an industry that is highly completive, the projects of community-based tourism ought to keep careful tabs like any other small business on their performance in every aspect. This means that the community should and in fact must have a swift reaction and understanding, that can enable them meet the needs of the customers, manage their internal operations, financial aspects, interpersonal relations as well as their ability to forge better and long term relations with various stakeholders and other external suppliers. Generally, monitoring is a term used to define the process of taking consistent measurements, using indicators to give a better understanding of the trends in performance and the current situation. It is worth mentioning that an indicator on the other hand is a tool used in evaluating and monitoring. The purpose of indicators is to help in simplifying the complex information by measuring and selecting a given element in the study as an indication or a lead to the position of a give issue at hand. Tourism indicators such as expenditure, arrival numbers, and length of stay have for a long time been used in an effort to monitor and evaluate performance of tourist destinations (Mowforth and Munt 2009). Conversely, indicators of sustainable tourism differ from those indicators of conventional tourism in terms of the linkage they create between issues of sustainability and tourism in the community. Community monitoring, therefore, entails a thoughtful piloting and selecting viable indicators, followed by collecting information and proper evaluation of that information for purposes of presenting and working on the outcomes. Although it is quite true that it could take some time to f ormulate a monitoring strategy, successful formulation of such strategy could result to a more effective and responsive to projects of community based tourism for sustainable tourism. There are a number of benefits that are associated with monitoring community-based tourism in relation to sustainable touris

How Title IX has Affected Public Policies in the U.S Research Paper

How Title IX has Affected Public Policies in the U.S - Research Paper Example Membership in women’s athletics has grown due to numerous factors. The leading cause is the far-reaching transformation in society’s treatment of and outlooks toward women, as well as a new awareness of women of their own athletic abilities and involvement (Mezey & Gluck 2003). Basically, the boost in membership of women in athletic programs and the increase in public policies addressing sex discrimination in education institutions began since the inception of Title IX. History of Title IX The Congress in 1972 endorsed Title IX of the Educational Amendments. Since 1972, the development toward sex equity in school athletic programs has been notable, although not without its problems, limitations, and flaws. Although the first guideline about the execution of Title IX was not made public until 1975 and colleges and high schools were granted until 1978 to meet the terms, its enactment conveyed a direct notice to athletic courses all over the nation (Carpenter & Acosta 2005 ). The law at this time clearly declared that women cannot be singled out or unfairly treated in any school activity or program where the school obtained federal support. Soon after, participation of women in athletic programs skyrocketed (Zimbalist 1999, 58): In 1971, 294,015 girls participated in high school sports; that number increased 2.8 times to 817,073 in 1973, and to 2.08 million in 1978. At the college level, 31,852 took part in varsity sports in 1971, and by 1977 the number had more than doubled to 64,375. Nevertheless, this initial thrust was not maintained as incompetent implementation machinery and legal barriers weakened the prospects of Title IX. The Office of Civil Rights (OCR) of the U.S. Department of Education, the department assigned to address sex... How Title IX has Affected Public Policies in the U.S.? Title IX has indeed changed public policy in the United States. Thus, this essay discusses how Title IX has influenced American public policy. The existence of legal alternatives resulted in a heightened dependence on the legal institution to resolve the issue of sex discrimination. Women filed cases against unfair treatment and they were frequently victorious in their lawsuits. Yet, all over the mid-1980s, a series of problems overwhelmed the women’s movement (Blumenthal 2005). The unsuccessful ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment and constraints inflicted on the implementation of Title IX by the Grove City College—the school that declined to recognize a Title IX agreement form-- resolution of the Supreme Court brought the condition at a deadlock all over this period (Zimbalist 1999). Title IX has considerably enhanced employment and educational prospects for women. However, assessing the benefits and inequalities confirms that Title IX should be reinforced and implemented. The Office of Civil Rights should be aggressive and oblige schools to release information that shows how they have supported Title IX provisions. But, most importantly, public policy in the United States has been informed of the entire scope of Title IX safeguard, the benefits that women have gained consequently, and the problems that still exist. The effect of Title IX on civil rights policy and on the larger policy process cannot be miscalculated.

Socialization Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Socialization - Research Paper Example For others, there is just a willingness ‘to care for others’ (Calabrese 2004, p.21) without necessarily to focus on healing people. Emphasis should be given on the following fact: through the years, nurses tend to forget why they had become a nurse in the first instance (Calabrese 2004, p.21). It is assumed that the responsibilities of the particular role are many leading people to feel stressed and to feel less motivated towards nursing. Swansburg (1996) uses a different explanation for describing the willingness of people to become a nurse. According to Swansburg (1996) people are attracted to nursing just because of the challenges of the particular role (p.447). It is noted that through nursing people are given the chance ‘to realize their potentials’ (Swansburg 1996, p.447). It is implied that nursing is quite demanding, as a role, and requires people to put all their efforts in order to face the role’s daily challenges. At the same time, nursing offers people the opportunity ‘to show their creativity’ (Swansburg 1996, p.447). This is achieved by taking initiatives for facing emergent problems but also for managing cases that are quite complex and where there are no standardized solutions. In addition, nursing can be quite attractive to people that aim to communicate and cooperate with others (Swansburg 1996, p.447). A successful nurse needs to have high communication and cooperation skills, as the effective management of a case usually requires the use of plans that need to be supported by medical practitioners in different positions; for example, a patient who is severely traumatized due to an accident needs at the first level the support of the emergency medical staff, at least one medical practitioner and one nurse; at the next level, the patient will need a highly skilled surgeon supported by a team of appropriately trained nurses. When recovering, the patient will need the support of a nurse who will assis t the patient when developing the recovery program. Nurses have a critical role in arranging the above activities ensuring that all phases of a treatment plan are precisely followed so that the cases for failures are minimized (Swansburg 1996, p.447). From another point of view, Swansburg (1996) notes that people are likely to enter nursing only because they need to feel as members of a family (p.447). According to the above view, nursing can offer to people the sense of love and care, not only towards others but also towards themselves (Swansburg 1996, p.447). One of the most critical conditions for entering nursing seems to be the gender (Newell 2003, p.2). In fact, it seems that nursing is primarily a ‘female profession’ (Newell 2003, p.2), meaning that women are much more likely to be attracting to this profession compared to men. In any case, caring for others seems to be the key reason leading people to become a nurse (Newell 2003, p.4). The term caring in the abo ve case has many aspects. It can refer to the support provided to others in regard to a health problem (Newell 2003, p.4). Caring can also reflect the need of people ‘to connect with other human beings’ (Newell 2003, p.4). It should be also noted that caring, as a reason for entering nursing, has many implications. Taking risks in behalf of others is a critical aspect of caring in nursing (Newell 2003, p.4

Art Education Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 1

Art Education - Essay Example Dancing is another form of art which emphasizes on the movement of the body in rhythm to the music. Dancing is used for expression of emotions, energy release, and being joyful of the movement itself. Riitta Pasanen Willberg introduces somatic choreography approach in relating the ideas of dancers with their choreographers on performances. Her aim is to evaluate the effectiveness of the exercises on the dancers in order to assess if the goals of the choreography were attained. Somatic practices are intended to raise kinesthetic awareness and to listen to one’s physical sensations, unlike just focusing on the visual view, imitation, and repetition of movements. Theatre Arts is a form of art wherein the actions of the body particularly facial expressions and human voices are used by performers in interpreting and creating drama in a story. It uses several elements like the architecture, lighting, stage craft, and sound design. John William Sommers argues that theatre can stimulate changes in art, a belief that is contradictory to U.S. Cornerstone Theatre Company Artistic Director Bill Rauch’s idea that one cannot predict art changes. He introduces the term Applied Drama which involves an application of direct experiences to create changes. In his study, he concludes that change is possible through the creation of situations in which people will experience favorable conditions where changes in values, knowledge, and attitudes can happen. Visual Arts is another form of art which focuses on presentations that are seen and appreciated by the naked eye. These presentations are in the form of paintings, sculptures, collages, etc. Terrence McCraw discusses about the distinction of arts from crafts. He provides one instance that explains the distinction. It was during the Reformation where embroidery became popular with more focus on the different designs. McCraw cites that the embroidery production created shared features with arts and crafts which made them similar. However according to him, the connotations of crafts in the modern period are still present in the embroidery works that were produced domestically which makes the point above confusing. III. RECOMMENDATION For music, the studies on musical therapy and the effects of music on the human brain function are significant topics that can be discussed and expounded in art education. For dancing, the study of somatics is also an interesting mechanism for effective body movement and coordination. In theatre arts the notion of Applied Drama is an essential tool for art change for versatility. Lastly, the distinction of arts from crafts is a good topic for debate when understanding the nature of art and its disciplines.

Private Equity in Developing Countries Case Study

Private Equity in Developing Countries - Case Study Example Exit might be accomplished by means of preliminary public offering (IPO) of the investee company’s stocks on a stock market, or by offering the investment to a trade purchaser or a different fund. The past many years have observed a growth in private equity action in the developing world. This continues to be fuelled mainly by institutional traders located in America. The causes of this progress are many. Among them has been the latest quick development of numerous developing nations and the recreation of curtails on international savings in lots of these nations. Possibly just as crucial has been the current insight by numerous institutional traders that the profits from private equity assets in the U.S. will probably decline in forthcoming years. (Claessens 78) While detailed data is difficult to find, a handful of instances can help depict these habits. In 1994 alone, private equity revenue located in Hong Kong and China brought up a full amount of $3.1 billion in funds. Two-thirds of the capital originated from outside Asia, with the solitary biggest supply being U.S. establishments. This total was greater than the total produced by specialist private equity establishments there since the initial fund was brought up in Hong Kong in 1981. In 1994 and 1995, Latin American revenue produced $1 .4 billion. This symbolized many times the quantity that had been brought up in the past by revenue in the area. India, Eastern Europe, South Africa, and Israel are simply some of the other places where a variety of private equity funds have long been or currently are now being produced. Furthermore, funds founded in the U.S. are more and more spending instantly in deals in the developing world, frequently in combination with these funds. Traders started to deem growing markets when planning some new investment territories in the past due 1990s. PE is usually related to high profits on investment in comparison to other forms of

Long term hiring goals Essay Example for Free

Long term hiring goals Essay Chern’s has devised a long term plan to open fifteen new stores in the next five years and to continue from there to grow at an annual rate of 9 percent. Long term hiring goals are needed coupled with organizational approaches and objectives to strategically influence the hiring process. Short term, first the company has to pinpoint the number of employees needed to properly staff all five stores. Looking at the proper channels to submit job advertisements to acquire the most suitable talent for the new locations. Looking long term, Chern’s must take a look at not only staffing laws but recruiting laws. Making sure that the candidates have long term goals with the company. Making sure they will yield a return by training well which will assure they will become productive staff. Educating properly on the expectations of the job and performance appraisal process and how it will lead to the promotion process. The way to go about attaining these goals takes us to a strategically devised plan. The foundation to the plan is a well-constructed and put together job description that includes everything that is expected of an applicant. Next a Job requisition must be sent to make sure the correct number of employees are identified and the proper permission is received to hire the needed staff. Next the proper areas for sourcing and recruitment of talent needed to find suitable talent. Then selecting and interviewing the most qualified applicants and notifying the applicants that where not chosen. Finally acquiring talent and making offers of employment is in order before the training process begins. This process and goals will ensure a smooth and productive strategic hiring process which will produce and retain qualified loyal staff members.

Penetration Testing Scope

Penetration Testing Scope The main objective of this document is to provide the readers a view on importance of Penetration test in network security and how it will overcome the network security issues and how organizations are determining their security weaknesses in their network infrastructures. With the help of this document, readers can obtain knowledge about advantages, strategies, types, tools and techniques of the penetration testing. Introduction: Penetration testing method is one of the oldest network security techniques for evaluating the securities of a network system. Penetration testing method used by Department of Defence in early 1970s to determine the security weaknesses in computer system and to initiate the development of programs to create more secure system. Using penetration testing, organization can fix their security weaknesses before they get unprotected. Many companies are using this method because penetration testing will provide proper security information systems and services to the organizations network systems. Organization can reduce risk in their network system using penetration testing tools and techniques. The main objective of the penetration testing is to evaluate the security weaknesses of the organizations network systems. Penetration testing has more secondary objectives and that will help the organization to identify their security incidents and also test the security awareness of the employees. Scope and Goals of the Penetration Testing: Identifying gaps in security: Organization can identify the gap of the system security and company can develop an action plan to reduce the threat with the help of penetration test. Help to create strong business case: A penetration test result document will help the manager to create a strong business case to produce the security message at the implementation stage. To discover new threats: Penetration testing measures will help the organization to find the new threats. To focus on internal security resources: A Penetration test and its security analysis allow the organization to focus internal security resources. To meet regulatory compliances: Organization can meet their regulatory compliances using penetration testing tools. To find weakest link: Penetration test and security audit will assist the firm to find the weakest link in their intricate structure and it will provide baseline security for all typical entities. Provide validation feedback: Penetration test deliver validation feedback to business entities and security framework that lead the organization to reduce the risk in the implementation. Phases of the Penetration Test: Discovery Planning Attack Reporting Additional Discovery Planning Phase: Scope of the test will be defined in planning phase. In this phase, testing team will get the approvals, documents and agreements like NDA (Non-Disclosure Agreement) and they will set the baseline for effective penetration test after that documents are signed. Penetration test team will get certain input from existing security plan, industry standards and best practices while defining their scope for the test. No real testing activity happens in the planning stage. Factor influencing the successful Penetration test: Time: Legal restriction: Discovery Phase: The real testing activity will start from this phase. In this stage, they used to identify the potential target using network scanning and to gather information using port scanning and other techniques. Vulnerability is the second part of this discovery phase. In this stage, application, operating system and services are equated against vulnerability database. Normally human testers use their own database or public database to find vulnerabilities manually. Compare with automated testing, manual testing is better way to identify the new vulnerabilities but this type of testing is time consuming unlike automated testing. This Phase can be further Characterized as: Footprinting Phase Canning and Enumeration Phase Vulnerability Analysis Phase Footprinting Phase: The process of footprinting is a completely non-disturbing activity executed to get information available about the target organization and its system using various resources, both technical and non-technical. This process includes probing the internet, querying various public repositories (Database, Domain registrar, Usenet groups and mailing list). In this phase, penetration tester will gather significant information and confidential data through internet without probing the target system. Penetration tester will conduct the social engineering attacks for that they will collect valuable information like IT setup details, e-mail address of the company, device configuration and username and password. In this phase, penetration tester tries to find various loopholes and try to explore data leakage about the target organization in shortest time period. Mostly procedure of this phase can be automated using customized script and small programs. Scanning and Enumeration: The scanning and enumeration phase includes lot of activity like identifying the live system, open / filtered ports found, service running on these ports, identifying the operating system details, network path discovery, mapping router / firewall rules, etc. Penetration tester must be careful while using the tools for these activities because they should not overwhelm the target systems with extreme traffic. Before going into live scenario, successive phase should be tested completely in a testing environment. Types of Port Scanner: Nmap SuperScan Hping Services should be fingerprinted either manually or using existing tools after successfully identifying the open ports. Penetration tester will provide exact name and version of the services which running on the target system and the underlying Operating system before including these in the final report. Also this will help to identifying and removing numerous false positive found later. Existing Fingerprint Tools: Xprobe2 Queso Nmap Amap Winfingerprint P0f Httprint Vulnerability Analysis: In this stage, penetration tester will try to identify possible vulnerabilities existing in each target system after identifying the target systems and collecting required details from the previous phase. During this stage penetration tester may use automated tools to find the vulnerabilities in the target systems. These tools have their own record containing of latest vulnerabilities and their details. In vulnerability analysis stage, penetration tester will test the systems by giving invalid inputs, random strings, etc. to check for any errors or unintended behaviour in the systems output. Penetration tester should not depend only on his experience because a successful penetration tester should be up to date with latest security related activities and join with security related mailing-lists, security blogs, advisories, etc. to keep him updated to the latest vulnerabilities. Types of Vulnerability Scanners: Nessus Shadow Security Scanner Retina ISS Scanner SARA GFI LANguard Attack Phase: Attack phase is a vital stage in penetration testing, the most challenging and interesting phase for the penetration tester. This Phase can be further Characterized as: Exploitation Phase Privilege Escalation Phase Exploitation Phase: In this phase, penetration tested will try to identify activities for the various vulnerabilities found in the previous stage. Penetration tester can get more resources from internets that provide proof-of-conception exploits for most of the vulnerabilities. In exploitation stage, all exploit should be tested thoroughly before going for a real implementation. If any vulnerabilities critical system not exploited then penetration tester should give sufficient documented proof-of-concepts about the impact of the vulnerability on the organizations business. Exploitation Frameworks: Metasploit Project Core Security Technologys Impact Immunitys CANVAS Instead of running exploitation, penetration tester need to use the full potential framework to reduce the time in writing custom exploits. Gaining Access Discovery Phase Rising Privilege System Surfing Install Add Test Software Enough data has been Gathered in the discovery phase to make an attempt to Access the target. If only user-level access was obtained in the last step, the tester will now seek to gain complete control of the system. The information gathering process begins again to identify mechanism to gain access to trusted system. Additional presentation testing software is installed to gain additional information and/or access. Attack Phase Step with Look back to Discovery Phase Privilege Escalation: In this stage, penetration tester will make further analysis to get more information that will help to getting administrative privileges. Before continuing further process, penetration tester should get the prior permission from the target organization. Penetration tester will maintain his all activity report because in the reporting stage that will be the proof for all the activities completed. Tester may install additional software for higher level of privilege. Reporting Phase: Reporting stage is the last phase in the penetration test methodology. Reporting phase will parlay occurred with other three stages or it will happen after attack phase. This reporting phase is very vital stage and this this report will cover both management and technical aspects, provide detailed information about all findings, figures with proper graphs. Penetration tester will provide suitable presentation of the vulnerabilities and its impact to the business of the target organization. Final document will be detailed and it will provide technical description of the vulnerabilities. Penetration tester should meet the client requirement in the documents also document should be detailed and that will show the ability of the successful penetration tester. Report Consist of: Executive Summary Detailed Findings Risk level of the Vulnerabilities found Business Impact Recommendations Conclusion Penetration Testing Strategy: External Testing Strategy: In this strategy, process made from outside the organizations system to refers attack on the organizations network border, this may be through Internet or Extranet. External testing strategy will start with clients publically accessible information. Naturally the External testing approach will executed with non-disclosure or fully disclosure environment. This test will target the organizations externally visible server or device like Domain Name Server (DNS), Firewall and E-mail server. Internal Testing Strategy: Internal testing approach executed from inside the organizations technology environment. The focuses of the internal testing strategy is to know what could occur if the network border were penetrated effectively or what an authorized user could do to penetrate specific information resources inside the organizations network. Both type of testing techniques are similar but the result of both tests will vary prominently. Blind Testing Strategy: Blind testing approach targets at pretending the activities and processes of a real hacker. In this approach, testing team will provide limited information about organizations systems configuration. The penetration testing team gather information about the target to conduct its penetration test using publically available information like company web-site, domain name registry, internet discussion board and USENET. This testing approach can provide lot of information about the organization but this method of testing is very time consuming. Double Blind Testing Strategy: This testing strategy is an extension of blind testing approach. In this testing approach, IT and security staff of the organization will not informed earlier and are blind to the strategic testing activities. Double blind testing strategy is a vital component of testing because it can test the organizations security monitoring and incident identification, escalating and response procedure. The main objective of this testing approach is only few people from the organization will aware of this testing activity. Once the objective of the test has been achieved then project manager will terminate the response procedure of the organization and testing procedures. Targeted Testing Strategy: Another name of this testing strategy is lights-turned-on approach. In this testing approach, both organizations IT staff and penetration testing team involve in this testing activities. In this test, there will be a clear understanding of testing actions and information about the target and network design. Targeted testing approach is very cost effective because this test mainly focused on technical setting or design of the network. This test can executed in less time and effort unlike blind test but this approach will not give clear picture of an organizations vulnerabilities and response capabilities. Types of Penetration testing There are many type of penetration test available to test the network security of an organization. But type of penetration test may depend upon the organizations needs to test their network. Black-box Testing: White-box Testing: DOS (Denial Of Service): This type of testing tries to identify the weaknesses on the system through exhausting the targets resources because it will stop responding to legal request. Denial of service testing can perform on both manually and automated tools. This test is classified into two types such as software exploits and flooding attacks. The level of this test depending upon the penetration tests information system and related resources. There are more formats in this test such as: Application Security Testing: Application security testing will protect the confidentiality and reliability of information using applications encryption and objective of this testing is to assess the control over the applications (Electronic commerce server, on-line financial applications, distributed applications and internet front ends to legacy systems) and its process flow. Components of Application Security Testing: Code Review: In this type of testing, analysing the code of the application because it should not contain the sensitive data. Authorization Testing: Authorization testing includes Analysing the system initiation and maintenance of the user sessions like Input validation of login fields, Cookies security and lockout testing. Functionality Testing: Functionality testing involves testing the functionality of the application such as input validation and transaction testing as presented to a user. War Dialling: Tools for Penetration Testing: Reconnaissance Tools: Nmap (Network Mapper): Network mapper (Nmap) is a powerful port scan tool and its a part of reconnaissance tools of penetration testing. Network mapper has ability to regulate the operating system of the target system. Network mapper maintains a database for the target computer to find its operating systems resospnse3. Network mapper is a permitted product for network security review. Network mapper was intended to quickly scan big network but it will work fine against single network. Network mapper is compatible with all major operating system like Windows, Linux and MAC operating system.2. Features of the Network mapper (Nmap) Flexible Nmap will support different advanced techniques for mapping out networks such as firewalls, IP filters and other obstacles. This tool also contains port scanners mechanism (TCP UDP), version detection, version detection, Prevailing Portable Easy Free Well documented Supported Acclaimed Popular http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9087439/Five_free_pen_testing_tools http://nmap.org/ http://www.sans.org/reading_room/analysts_program/PenetrationTesting_June06.pdf https://buildsecurityin.us-cert.gov/bsi/articles/tools/penetration/657-BSI.html Nessus Nessus is a vulnerability assessment tool and its free domain software released by GPLS. This tool is intended to identify the security problem. Nessus helps the management people to rectify the security problem before exploitation. Client server technology is very powerful features of Nessus. Penetration tester can test from various point of the server because Different server technology placed in various place. It can control the entire server using multiple distributed clients or central client. This tool is very flexible for penetration tester because it can run on different operating system like MAC OS X and IBM/AIX but most of the server portion will run on UNIX. Features of the Nessus: Up-to-date security vulnerability Database Nessus tool will check the database regularly and Nessus can receive with the command Nessus-update-plugins. This tool will monitor all the plugins data. Remote and Local security Nessus has the ability to detect the remote faults of the host in a network and also it will remove local flaws and omitted areas. Scalable Nessus is very scalable because it can run on a computer with low memory. If we give more power to this tool then it can scan our system quickly. Plug-Ins Every security test will be written in NASL; also its printed as an exterior plugin. For updating the Nessus, it will not download binaries from internet and to understand the result of the Nessus report, every NASL can be read and modified. NASL (Nessus Attack Scripting Language) The Nessus security Scanner contain NASL, its a designed language to inscribe security test easily and quickly. NASL run in a controlled environment on top of a virtual device, this will make the Nessus a very secure scanner. Smart Service Recognition with Multiple Services Nessus tool helps to recognize the FTP server which running in an unidentified port. This is the first tool to hold this facility. If the host runs the similar services twice or more then Nessus can scan all of them. Full SSL Support and Non-Destructive This tool has the ability to scan SSL services like https, imaps, smtps and more. Nessus tool can integrate with PKI field environment. Nessus is the first scanning tool has this feature. Nessus tool will give more option to the tester to perform a regular non-destructive security audit. Packet Manipulation and Password Cracking Tools Exploitation Tools Metasploit Version Metasploit framework is both penetration testing system and a development platform for creating security tools and techniques. Metasploit framework comprises of tools, modules, libraries and user interfaces. Metasploit framework used to network security and network security professionals will use this framework to conduct penetration test, system administrators to verify the patch connection, to perform regression testing by product vendors, and security researcher world-wide. This tool offers valuable information and tools for penetration tester security researcher. Metasploit framework written in Ruby programming language and contains components written in C and assembler. The basic function of this tool is a Module launcher, allow the user to organize the exploit module and launch the module at target system. Metasploit is very user friendly to the penetration tester to conduct the test and it will give full network penetration testing capabilities. Metasploit is an open source framework and largest combined public databank of exploits. Security Forest exploitation Framework Limitations of Penetration Testing: Penetration testing will not identify all vulnerabilities because normally this test will carried out as Black Box exercises. Penetration test will not provide information about new vulnerabilities those weaknesses identified after the test. Penetration tester will not have sufficient information about the system. Compare with vulnerability assessments, penetration test is not the correct way to identify the weaknesses because vulnerability assessments can identify more issue than penetration testing using diagnostic review of all systems and all servers. Penetration test does not have that much time to evaluate and identify the vulnerabilities and penetration testing is a snapshot for an organization and its network security. Conclusion: Scope of the penetration testing should be increased. Time period of penetration testing is very limited. Time limit of penetration testing needs to be increased, then testing team can identify more issues and testing team can protect the network security of an organization. Further action needs to be taken against vulnerabilities that identified as a result of penetration test. Penetration Testing Definitions: Penetration test is a method to assess the organizations data security system in dynamic way. The information security system of an organization will be tested to identify any security issues. In other way, penetration test is a theoretical or paper based audit. What is Penetration Test? Penetration test is a sequence of actions to find and exploit security weaknesses of the systems. Penetration test naturally includes group of people financed by the organization and Department of Internal Audit or IT department to conduct the test. Penetration test team member attempts to accomplish vulnerabilities in the system security of the organization using tools and techniques of the penetration test. The goal of the testing tem is to find out security weaknesses under controlled circumstances to eliminate the vulnerabilities before unauthorised users can exploit them. Penetration testing is an authorised action to correct the hackers (unauthorised users) activities. Penetration test is a better way to find the security weaknesses that exist in a network or system. Penetration test result will increase the awareness of the management people and also it will assist them to take an important decision making processes. Management people can find their system security weaknesses conducting penetration test in their organization. Depending upon the organization penetration test will differ and time frame of the test will depend on the type of test. If the penetration test is conducted badly then this test have serious costs like system roaring and cramming. Organization needs to have dynamic consent on this test while conducting or performing.

Effect of Air Bags on Child Fatalities

Effect of Air Bags on Child Fatalities Overview of the study Evidence following the suggestions for age-appropriate restraints as well as stern seat locations for kids travelling in the motor vehicles has been fine established. Though, evidence for the age-based suggestions regarding air bags as well as kids is lacking. Even though the NHTSA course of action for kids as well as air bags have been circulated extensively, the age (or body size) that finest describe when a childs additional danger of the injury or death from an air bag is replaced by benefit is unknown. Two initial studies suggested a link between air bags as well as childhood fatalities (defining kids as 0-12 years as well as 0-9 years of the age), but both analyses were limited by relatively small numbers of the fatalities, yielding statistically inconclusive results. Subsequent studies defined kids as 12 years of the age as well as provided more conclusive evidence for the link between air bags as well as death among right front seat passengers within this age range. Allison ( 2001) suggested that the increased mortality danger from air bags was most pronounced among right front seat passengers through age 10, becoming less pronounced from 11 to 14 years as well as turning to a net benefit for passengers 15 years of the age, but the results did not reach statistical significance. A more recent study examining differences in the air-bag effectiveness according to age as well as restraint use suggested a net increase in the danger of the death among child passengers 12 years of the age, but sample size limitations prevented definitive statements regarding the childhood age at net danger might change to no effect (or benefit) as well as the study did not assess markers of the body size. Durbin et al demonstrated that the danger of the injury (rather than death) among restrained kids 3 to 15 years of the age exposed to passenger air-bag deployment was twice that among front-seated kids not exposed to an air bag, with the danger of the injury being relatively constant among kids 3 to 8, 9 to 12, as well as 13 to 15 years of the age. We hypothesized that specific cut-off points in the age, height, as well as/or weight among kids used to define when the danger of the serious injury from the presence of a passenger air-bag changes from harmful to no effect (or beneficial), after adjustment for crash severity as well as other important crash factors. We tested this hypothesis with age, height, as well as weight as effect modifiers (interaction terms) of the link between the presence of a passenger air bag as well as serious injury among right front seat passengers 0 to 18 years of the age that is involved in the motor vehicle crashes (MVCs). Chapter Two: Literature Review The Politics of the Air Bag Safety: A Competition among Problem Definitions In light of the 121 deaths credited to the air bag deployments, considerably to children as well as adults of the small stature, recent policy debate has purposeful on altering present Federal automotive air bag regulations. A problem definition point of view is employ to identify the nature of this debate. (Ai Norton 2003) Utilizing a content analysis of the executive record of the one U.S. House as well as two U. S. Senate hearings, it is quarrel that four problem definitions exemplify the debate over air bag safety: behavioural, regulatory, technological, as well as corporate greed. (Allison 2001)Furthermore, it is argued that a problem definition perspective offers a better illustration of the recent changes to Federal air bag regulations than do pluralist, elitist, as well as principal-agent models. (Association for the Advancement Automotive Medicine 2001) Political discussion on policy issues are frequently portrayed as a disagreement over competing definitions of the social condition. (Braver Ferguson 1997)A problem definition offers the frame through that present conditions are supposed to be in the conflict with treasured social values. In this way, policy issues are socially constructed as well as communicated through the articulation of the shared definitions. (Braver, Whitfield Ferguson 1997) Problem definitions are significant to policy theory in the two ways. First, they pressure that issues rise to the public agenda. Definitions delivers a frame through that social conditions are perceived to be problematic as well as in the need of the government action. (Braver Whitfield 1998) Thus, the issues that are actively considered by government officials are in the part illustrated by the success of the definition competing for attention on a crowded agenda. (Barnard 1997) Further than illumination that concern is on the public agenda, the problem definition viewpoint also can assist in illustrating the outcome of the policy process. As political dialogue, the purpose of the problem definition is at once to give particulars, to explain, to advocate, as well as to persuade.(Berg 2000) Actors participate to have their definition of the social state frame the nature of the policy discussion. (Cummings 2001) A problem definition clears the survival of the public problem as well as the causes that it exists. The usefulness of the specific solution reasonably flows from the espoused set of the causes. In this manner, policy entrepreneurs utilize problem definitions to taper the variety of the options under consideration as well as to espouse a particular solution. (Calvert McCubbins 1989) Therefore, problem definition is often at the heart of the action itself, argues Allison (2001). A great deal of policymaking, in the fact, is preoccupied with whose definition would prevail (p. 98). Scholars have recognized a range of the characteristics that assist to illustrate the utility of the definition for structuring policy debate. In the hands of the accomplished policy entrepreneur, a problem definition, has possible solutions, as well as is well-matched with other definitions is a influential tool for influencing policy formation. Though, this position of the problem definitions has yet to be completely explored. (Cobb 1983) The concern of the air bag security offers an opportunity to look at the role of the problem definitions in the policy procedure as well as to test propositions implicit in the previous research. Deaths that have been accredited to air bag deployments have purposeful attention on the dangers linked with air bags as well as have resulted in the challenge to the wisdom of the Federal regulation necessitate that they be fixed in the motor vehicles. (Corneli 2000) A number of problem definitions have emerged in the debate in the effort to influence Federal policy. What are the mechanisms of the complete problem definition? What explanations are being used by policy entrepreneurs to persuade the substance of the government set of laws on air bags? Those definitions have been the most effective in the shaping new policy? Those definitions are likely to shape policy in the future? To deal with these questions we carry out a content analysis of the bureaucrat record of the three congressional hearings (two Senate, one House) held on the question of the air bag safety during 1996 as well as 1997. (Damsgaard 2001) The official statements as well as verbal remarks of the each contributor in the hearings were examined for the manner that the entity described (framed) the problem of the air bag safety. Also, present rules propagated by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) give out as the policy answer to this concern. (Allison 2001) To test hypotheses about the influence of the problem definitions on policy formulation, the conten t of NHTSA rules will be compared with the dominant problem definitions articulated in the debate as carried out in the congressional hearings. (Coughlin 1994) Components of the Problem Definitions Complete problem definitions have several key components. First, definitions recognize a societal state that needs to be remedied through government act. (Dahl 1967)Second, key statistics as well as descriptions of the relevant events are offered as evidence to empirically demonstrate the perceived condition. In offering specific empirical evidence a problem definition draws attention to certain aspects of the condition while strategically ignoring others. This evidence also has the effect of the demonstrating that the condition being described is not an isolated event. (Dahl 1982)The definition provides a frame through that the information is interpreted as well as may lead to a very different interpretation of the data gleaned from a different problem definition. Third, the causes of this condition are identified to allocate blame or provide an illustration. It is this open causal theory which frequently distinguishes a number of definitions. Fourth, a complete definition clears a set of the results that would answer the supposed condition. (Damsgaard 2001) The solutions that are adopted reasonably follow from the articulated causal theory. Fifth, implicit in the reposed solutions is an acceptance of the key values or a desired end state. These values indicate what the condition should look like in the society. They also provide normative justification for the articulated causal theory as well as solutions. Sixth, to carry to life these values, symbols are used to perform the social condition that needs to be lectured. Symbols are substance that is gifted with importance that is not inbuilt in the entity itself that individuals use to sum up, condense, as well as simplify complex phenomena. (Decker 1984) Symbols not only help to converse other than it also builds understanding for a specific perspective. Entrepreneurs use symbols to persuade others to accept the basic assumptions of the problem definition. As Braver (1997) suggests, symbolic representation is the essence of the problem definition in the politics (p. 137). Air Bag Safety Problem Definitions In 1984, the U.S. Department of the Transportation needed that front seats in the motor vehicles be capable of with automatic occupant safety devices (i.e air bags) in its place of the, or in the accumulation to, physical lap as well as shoulder belts. In 1991, Congress focussed the NHTSA to adjust this standard to necessitate an inflatable restraint (i.e., air bag) when it passed the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act (ISTEA) (P.L. 102-240). The Act required that air bags be put in the 95% of the cars by model year 1997 as well as in the 100% by model year 1998. Also, installation of the air bags was essential in the 80% of the light trucks in the model year 1998 as well as in the 100% by model year 1999. (Epidemiology 2002) Earlier than air bags were completely installed in the automobile fleet as focussed under the ISTEA, deaths to small children as well as women of the small stature focused attention on the dangers associated with air bag use. The NHTSA has announced 121 deaths attributable to the deployment of the air bags since 1990. In some cases, these crashes happened at speeds so low that only slight injuries would have resulted had an air bag not deployed. (Glass 2000)In reaction, Congress held three hearings to deal with the dangers of the air bags, as well as the NHTSA has concerned four modifications to its regulations in an effort to overcome the probability of the future air bag deaths. Thus, current policy debate has focused on modifying present Federal air bag guidelines even before the ISTEAs directive was completely put into practice. (Grisoni 2000) Manufacturers have installed some of the advanced technologies that is needed to comply with the advanced air bag rule in certain vehicles that are on the market today. (See table 1.) Manufacturers and companies that produce air bags are working on the development of other needed advanced technologies, with the aim of having them ready for installation in vehicles by September 2003, as required. Advanced air bag systems installed in future vehicles that are much more sophisticated than the conventional air bag systems in todays vehicles, because they will be capable of tailoring air bag deployment to characteristics of the front seat occupants as well as crash severity. Conventional frontal air bag systems deploy the air bags with a single level of inflation output for all crashes that exceed a predetermined severity threshold. (Ai Norton 2003)These systems generally consist of separate components designed to work together: crash sensors, a control module, and a driver and passenger inflator and air bag. The crash sensors and control module are typically located in one unit within the passenger compartment; the unit is often mounted within the floor between the driver and the passenger. (Allison 2001) The crash sensors detect the occurrence and severity of crashes and provide this input to the control module. The control module evaluates inputs from the sensors. If the cont rol module determines that a crash has occurred that exceeds the severity threshold, it then sends a triggering signal to the inflators to deploy the air bags. (Association for the Advancement Automotive Medicine 2001)The inflators and air bags are packaged together in air bag modules, which are located in the steering wheel on the driver side and in the instrument panel on the passenger side. Upon receiving a triggering signal from the control module, inflators generate or release gases that rapidly fill the air bags, generally within 1/20 of a second after impact. The purpose of the inflated air bags is to provide protective cushioning between the occupants and the steering wheel, instrument panel, and windshield. However, the single stage inflators in most vehicles today, in some cases, provide more inflation power than necessary because they fill the air bags with one level of output when deployed, regardless of the types of occupants requiring protection or the degree of severi ty of the crash. (Braver Ferguson 1997) Future frontal air bag systems designed to meet the performance requirements of NHTSAs advanced air bag rule may have additional features that will allow the deployment of the air bags to adapt to characteristics of the front seat occupants as well as different crash situations. Auto manufacturers anticipate that two new components may be needed to meet the rules requirements: occupant classification sensors and multistage inflators. (Braver 1998) Occupant classification sensors may provide an additional input to the control module to detect different types of occupants and whether or not they are belted. (Braver, Whitfield Ferguson 1997) For example, manufacturers anticipate installing sensors that is able to identify whether the front passenger seat is occupied by an infant in a rear-facing child seat, a child, or an adult. (Braver Whitfield 1998)Multistage inflators, which will replace single-stage inflators, may provide varying levels of inflation output that can be tailored to characteristics of the driver and front seat passenger as well as different crash scenarios. Deployment options could include no deployment, low-level output, and high-level output, as well as additional levels of deployment between the low- and high-output stages. (Epidemiology 2002)While the occupant classification sensors and multistage inflators are the key new features of the advanced air bag systems envisioned by auto manufacturers, other components may also be improved. (Barnard 1997)For example, manufacturers anticipate that these systems include crash sensors that can more precisely discriminate among different types of crashes (such as a crash into a rigid concrete wall versus a crash with another car), control modules that can process the additional inputs provided by crash and occupant sensors and make more accurate and timely deployment decisions, and air bag designs that allows the bag to deploy less aggressively. (Berg 2000) These advanced air bag systems are designe d to reduce the likelihood of the types of fatalities previously caused by air bag deployments. For example, such systems would deactivate the passenger air bag or deploy it at a low level if the passenger seat is occupied by an infant or small child. (Cummings 2001) These systems may also adjust air bag deployment if the driver or passenger is a small adult. Some vehicles on the U.S. market today have frontal air bag systems with multistage inflators and some other advanced features, such as seat belt usage sensors and improved air bag designs. (Calvert McCubbins 1989)However, no vehicles currently on the market have air bag systems with all the features manufacturers believe are needed to fulfil the requirements of the advanced air bag rule. In particular, no vehicles currently have frontal air bag systems with occupant classification sensors that can distinguish among child seats, children, or adults. (Cobb 1983) Manufacturers plan to continue making improvements in existing technologies for crash sensors, control modules, inflators, and air bags to comply with the advanced air bag rule. Manufacturers and suppliers are working on improving the ability of crash sensing systems to differentiate levels of crash severity and types of crashes. As part of this effort, manufacturers plan to increase the use of multipoint crash sensing systems. (Corneli 2000)Manufacturers and suppliers are also developing more complex computational systems to be incorporated into control modules, in order to allow them to process the additional inputs in advanced air bag systems and to make accurate and timely decisions regarding deployment outputs. (Coughlin 1994) Behavioral Definition Under the behavioural definition, atmosphere bags are touted as a productive machine vehicle safety device. Federal regulations requiring the facility of atmosphere bags in the machine vehicle fleet have helped have American machine vehicles safer for occupants. (Dahl 1967) To exemplify this perception, proponents of the behavioural definition offering estimates of the amount of lives that have been saved, and the amount of injuries that have been averted, by atmosphere bags. For instance, Dr. Ricardo Martinez (NHTSA) testified that [a]s of April 15, 1997, much than 1,900 drivers and passengers are awake because of atmosphere bags. About 600 were saved in 1996 only. (Damsgaard 2001) Deaths from atmosphere suitcase deployments are sad cases, and steps must be taken to guarantee that they do not happen in the future. But these deaths must be understood in the larger circumstance of traffic safety. (Damsgaard 2001) It is significant to recall that over 40,000 folk perish in machine vehicle crashes each year. The deaths traceable to broadcast suitcase deployments are tiny in amount when compared with the amount of lives that have been protected by atmosphere bags. Senator Gorton stated that atmosphere bag-related deaths are few in comparison with the amount of lives saved, or when compared to the 3,300 children killed in automobile accidents every year. (Decker 1984)In this manner the behavioural definition downplays the meaning of the deaths caused by atmosphere bags. The causal hypothesis for this definition suggests that the origin of the trouble is the conduct of the vehicle occupants themselves. (Epidemiology 2002) Occupants are depicted as placing themselves at danger by positioning themselves overly tight to the atmosphere suitcase at the moment of deployment or by being improperly belted. In mention to the children who have died, Martinez stated: Last year, about 721001121220f all the children who were killed in the frontal place [of] an auto were riding unbridled (Glass 2000 p59)In most cases broadcast suitcase fatalities could well be averted by the appropriate consumption of place belts and placing inexperienced children in the back place off from atmosphere bags entirely. [T]he behavioural issues, where, how, somebody sits, [are] ever going to be one of the principal determinants of living and death in the outcome of a wreck. (Grisoni 2000 p36) To exemplify the behavioural part of this matter, the place belt utilization pace of American machine vehicle passengers is compared with that experienced in new nations. Seat belt utilization rates in Canada and Australia are offered as benchmark s against which the U. S. experience is compared. (Ai Norton 2003) For example, Canada and Australia are credited with belt utilization rates of 90 0x0.002fb0804a29p-1022nd 95%, respectively; whereas the United States experiences a pace of 68. The correlation between belt consumption rates and atmosphere suitcase deaths is noted as Canada has had simply two or three fatalities attributed to broadcast suitcase deployments. If the conduct of machine vehicle occupants is causing the unfavourable consequences, so tools that change this conduct are the proper solutions. In the brief condition, behavioural changes are the almost practical [cure] and would take the almost prompt welfare. Three tools to achieve a difference in conduct are increased national training, improved resident security laws, and high-visibility enforcement of these laws. (Allison 2001 p44) The values tacit in these behavioural solutions are general national safety, private obligation, and societal economical efficiency. (Association for the Advancement Automotive Medicine 2001)Because deaths happen in situations where the person is improperly situated or restrained, the person bears the obligation for altering the conduct that places them in risk. As Martinez testified: No safety device is a cure-all; finally, drivers and passengers must go obligation for their own safety. To increase passionate consequence for these arguments, proponents provide respective depictions of the safety benefits of atmosphere bags. A woman is brought before a congressional hearing to say her tale about how an atmosphere suitcase saved her living. We a-e reminded that the lives saved are parents and grandparents. Videos indicate how atmosphere bags defend crash examination dummies in staged crashes. (Braver Ferguson 1997 p128) In each lawsuit these symbols assist dramatize the technological and statistical arguments about the consequences of irresponsible conduct that induce the deaths traceable to broadcast suitcase deployment. (Braver, Whitfield Ferguson 1997) Regulatory Definition Proponents of the restrictive definition admit the safety benefits of atmosphere bags, but the dangers of atmosphere bags are more outstanding than in the behavioural definition. The circumstance that is described is one where atmosphere bags make easily, but individuals are being injured and some die needlessly. To back this portrayal of the circumstance, statistics are cited that describe the amount of children and occupants who have died payable to broadcast suitcase deployments. But it is pointed away that insignificant injuries are the more popular outcome. (Braver Whitfield 1998) To exemplify the general potency of atmosphere bags, it is estimated that there have been over 1 million atmosphere suitcase deployments. In light of this whole amount, the industry is not putting away a faulty merchandise, but atmosphere bags surely can be improved. Also, it is noted that these deaths are occurring at a moment when Americans are buckling upward more now than always. Seat belt utilization rates are used to identify the circumstance but are interpreted in a distinct circumstance than under the behavioural definition. The reason of the circumstance is outdated and rigid regime rule. After describing the death of a 1-year-old daughter in his country, Senator Dirk Kempthorne characterized Federal rule as follows Is Alexandras death a disaster? Yes. Is this disaster the outcome of regime rule? Yes. Is this rule killing children? Yes. It is argued that automotive manufacturers are required to play rigid regulations when designing atmosphere bags. In specific, Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard No. 208 is the principal perpetrator. This measure requires atmosphere bags to defend the median grownup male, who is unbelted, in a head-on wreck at 30 miles per minute. In light of statistics indicating that most Americans now crumple upward, the unbelted examination is outdated. (Barnard 1997) More significantly, to be in conformity with this rule. atmosphere bags must deploy at a personnel equivalent to 200 miles per minute. Such higher deployment forces are in surplus of what it would go to defend children and occupants wearing place belts, and still unbelted occupants. Standard No. 208 is particularly unacceptable because by protecting individuals who in most cases are violating country place belt laws (i. e. , are unbelted), manufacturers know that they must put the older, tiny women, and particularly children at greater danger. As Senator Kempthorne comments: [Standard no. 208] says, in gist, lawbreakers who do not don place belts will be protected. (Berg 2000 p67)But it may be at the price of your children. Not simply is there worry about the safety implications of Standard No. 208 but too the liability manufacturers may hold. We think that manufacturers should not be subjected to merchandise liability danger when they are responding in better religion to a Federal authorization. (Cummings 2001) The resolution that emanates from this causal hypothesis is an alteration in Federal rule. In the brief condition it is recommended that Standard No. 208 be amended to allow manufacturers to depower atmosphere bags (i. e. , cut the volatile accusation for deployment. Depowering would cut the danger that occupants confront when an atmosphere suitcase deploys. (Calvert McCubbins 1989) Ultimately, the more suitable resolution is the liquidation of the unbelted examination entirely so manufacturers could produce a safer merchandise. (Cobb 1983) The security of the almost susceptible occupants in machine vehicles (i. e. , children, women of tiny height, and the older) is expressly espoused by this definition. Another value apparent in the proposed solutions is maker self-reliance or pattern flexibility. More tacit in this definition are values placed on legitimate conduct (i. e., wearing place belts) and the avoidance of maker merchandise liability. (Corneli 2000) Common symbols engaged to produce sustain for this definition are susceptible infant passengers as well as outmoded, nonflexible regulation. Proponents of this definition let alone a direct critique of Federal regulators. As a substitute, their ire is determined on the regulation itself that is unfashionable or misguided. As this difference in symbols among the regulation as well as the regulator may seem minor, it allows sustained cooperation among the regulators as well as those espousing this regulatory definition. (Dahl 1967) Technological Definition The technological problem definition outlooks the state from the viewpoint of the young children as well as people of small stature who are exposed to too much danger. As air bags have safety benefits, the technological definition focal points on the negative costs of air bags, that are a more serious problem than depicted by either the behavioural or authoritarian definitions. (Coughlin 1994) To reveal the amount of this problem, the amount of fatalities is a key statistic that is referenced. Moreover, the number of air bags in employ, both driver as well as passenger side, are recognized to exemplify the prevalence of air bags in todays automobile fleet. As Jim Hall (National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB)) gives evidence, [w]e add another 1 million vehicles each month with air bag technology that is not protected for everybody, as well as specially not for children. This marker assists to demonstrate that the problem is one that potentially faces a large segment of the population. (Dahl 1982) Nothing like the other definitions, it is the technology that is the major cause of the deaths. The technology is described as crude; comparable to a one-size-fits-all piece of clothing. What creates one individual secure, though, will not essentially offer the same amount of safety to the next occupant. As a substitute of sensing the size of an individual, whether or not the person is belted, or whether a child safety seat is there, todays generation of air bags deploy with one consistent force. This is why persons of small stature as well as young children are placed at danger during air bag deployment. Insufficient research as well as development has been mannered to create the next generation of air bags that will decrease the danger to smaller occupants. (Damsgaard 2001) Obviously, the solution is to develop air bags that deploy with forces that are customized to the occupant as well as the conditions of the crash. Advanced technology holds the answer to improving air bag safety. These []smart air bags will offer greater safety remunerations than existing ones without the amplified exposure to danger that young children as well as occupants of small stature currently face. As these technological growths are not directly available, short-term solutions comprise of depowering, installing on-off switches, as well as deactivation on demand. The last two of these short-term solutions offer the resident with the alternative of using the active technology. (Decker 1984) A number of proponents imply that government regulation desires to be ratifies to motivate producers to expand smart bags. In reference to setting government standards pertaining to neat technologies in the future, Mr. Hall stated: â€Å"I think the economic thoughts are the actuality here, Senator, as well as the automobile manufacturers, until the Federal government sets the standard, are not going to initiate the changes that are required.† (Epidemiology 2002 p71) Charles H. Pully (Automotive Restraints Council) went further as well as testified: (Glass 2000 p89) â€Å"So when will the sophisticated smart restraint organism [be] available? If we have aggressive targets set, the 2000 model year is not unreasonable. Thats the 1999 calendar year.† (Grisoni 2000 p164) These solutions unreservedly worth technology, as future advances will make the motor vehicle an still safer means of transportation. (Ai Norton 2003)Additionally, passive protection is valued, as the final goal is to create an air bag that suggests safety reimbursements to all occupants without any responsibility positioned on the occupant to make sure proper usage. (Braver, Whitfield Ferguson 1997)Outmoded as well as hazardous technology is employed as an efficient symbol to heighten awareness for creating new technology. The present generation is referred to as dumb` air bags, whilst the new as well as improved generation is smart` technology. (Calvert McCubbins 1989) Corporate Greed Definition Under the corporate greed definition we are faced with an emergency or crisis. It is not that occupants are inadvertently dying, it is that air bags are killing people. In particular, air bags are killing young children. Even though it is acknowledged that some small women as well as senior citizens have died as a result of air bag deployments, it is the death of the child that is the focus of this description. (Epidemiology 2002) As confirmation to validate this depiction, the number of children whose deaths have been credited to air bag deployments is obtainable. Their ages are identified as well as the circumstances surrounding their death. Frequently presented is a description of the way in that the air bag caused the death. These are children who were struck in the face by air bags, all in low speed collisions in that normally they would have survived. (Corneli 2000)Approximation of future child losses due to air bag deployments is also offered. (Damsgaard 2001) Air bags are killing twice as a lot of children as they are saving, as well as the most current projection that I have seen from NHTSA is that air bags will kill 128 children a year, ab