Engage in Personal Development in Health and Social Care Essay

My duty as a childminder is to provide high quality care for children and young people. In order to achieve this I must ensure I am familiar with the EYFS statutory framework (September 2012) and aware of ratio limits in place (3.39 EYFS) I have a duty to provide parents with essential information in order to build successful parent partnerships and help them understand the role of not only myself but Ofsted and the EYFS as well. see more:explain what reflective practice is I have a duty to ensure I have had training and am aware of the Safeguarding and Welfare requirements and the requirements as set out by my LSCB.(3.1 – 3.77 EYFS) I have a duty to ensure I deliver the learning and development requirements as set out in the EYFS statutory framework. I must provide each unique child with opportunities to learn and develop by covering the seven areas of learning (1.1 – 1.13 EYFS) I have a duty to provide an inclusive setting and accommodate where possible for each individual child. I have a duty to regularly assess children in my care with a statutory requirement to provide a progress check at age two. (Sections 2.1 – 2.11) I have a duty to ensure I meet all the legal requirements for paperwork. I have a duty to protect any personal information and records on children including personal details of parents with the exception of safeguarding issues and Ofsted visits. (3.67, 3.68, 3.69 and 3.70) I have a duty to inform the HMRC that I am self-employed and the nature of my business. I am responsible for ensuring that I meet all the requirements of the EYFS and keep up to date with any changes made to it. I am responsible for providing parents with information as set out in the EYFS (3.72) I am responsible for safeguarding every child in my setting. (3.5) I am responsible for implementing policies and procedures to deal with issues effectively (3.3) I am responsible for Risk Assessing (3.63) I am responsible for identifying areas where I may require further training and seek out the relevant courses in order to achieve continuous professional development (3.18 EYFS) I am responsible for my own planning, which will support each unique child’s learning & development in the seven areas. I have a responsibility to  identify next steps for each child (1.4, 1.5, 1.6, 1.7 and 1.9 EYFS) I am responsible for identifying where I may need to adapt or provide support, for example a child whose first language is not English (1.8 EYFS) I have a responsibility to ensure that I am aware of where a child is developmentally and that I may use the Early Years Outcomes statements as points of reference in order to identify areas of strength or weakness. It is my responsibility to provide parents with a progress report when a child is aged 2-3. 2.3 EYFS) I have a responsibility to ensure I keep accurate information on children in my care and that all personal information relating to both child and parents is up to date (3.71), keep accurate attendance records, document all accidents and incidents (3.48 & 3.49), keep up to date logs of any fire drills and their outcomes (3.54) I am responsible for registering with the ICO and storing data in a safe secure way (3.69) I am responsible for completion of my tax return and ensuring it is accurate and a true reflection of earnings and expenses. 1.2 Complete the table below describing how the relevant standards apply to your role Relevant Standards Expectations of your own work role EYFS The EYFS sets out the guidelines from which I must work from and it is extremely important I am aware of the legal requirements set out in it. My roles and responsibilities above have been linked to the relevant sections in the EYFS. National Minimum Standards for Regulated Childcare (Wales) National Occupational Standards This sets out a need for me to consider how I will professionally develop within my role. As part of my professional development I have recently completed a SEF. I found this surprisingly beneficial in not only helping me realise my strengths but also for reflecting on how I can go about further improving. I also keep a CPD log and strive to ensure that as a professional I am keeping myself up to date with the sector, be it though the Pacey magazine, online courses or those that I attend ie First Aid, network meetings. I especially like the fact I have gained CPD hours and certificates for the effort I have put in to further develop, it has given me pride in my achievements Job Description My job description helps me to think about what I need to achieve in order to fulfil my role as a childminder. To provide high quality childcare, adhering to the EYFS statutory guidelines with a sound knowledge of the EYO. It is my duty to ensure children are in a positive, happy and safe environment. To have a sound knowledge of first aid and safeguarding procedures and to ensure training is kept up to date. Common Core The common core provides me with skills and knowledge required in order to work with children, young people and families. In my role as a childminder this would be: Successful Parent partnerships & communication with children, including support for those whose primary language may not be English. Sound knowledge of the EYO and how these are used to observe development in children. Aware of safeguarding procedures and children’s welfare. Supporting children and parents through transition periods i.e. starting school. Being aware of data protection and how to protect confidentiality except in the case of safeguarding. Code of Conduct The code of conduct sets out what is expected and required of me. In my job role as a childminder this would be: To remain professional at all times and ensure relevant paperwork is kept up to date. To promote children learning & development. To ensure children’s behaviour is dealt with in a positive way. To promote equal opportunity and embrace diversity. To respect confidentiality at all times with the exception of safeguarding issues. To work in partnership with parents. To ensure no offensive language is used by myself of visitors.

My perception on Knowledge, Belief and Evidence

If I am asked, â€Å"What besides the true belief do you need in order to have knowledge?† I would answer that in order to have knowledge I need good reasons besides true belief. Those reasons should be able to provide enough evidences that would put the belief beyond any reasonable doubt and should be aligned to the capacity of my senses. Thus, in my idea, I can have knowledge only when it becomes a ‘properly grounded, true belief'. When a question like â€Å"When do you have good reason for doubting that a proposition is true?† arises, I would answer that I could have good reason for doubting a proposition to be true, when I would have justifiable evidence challenging that proposition, to the extent of providing good reasons for not believing the proposition in question. In my view, a proposition should not have any equally potent counterpoints (i.e., credible and aligned to my senses) towards establishing its truth. And if some asks me, â€Å"Is faith a source of knowledge?† My answer will be, â€Å"No, Faith is not a source of knowledge to me. It is a choice of belief without any reasoning supported by evidence. It cannot be the source of knowledge, because I cannot make something true by believing it to be true. At best, Faith is something that I can induce onto someone under the parameters of human behavior to get a desired result – which, again, is dependent on belief backed by reasoning enriched with evidence.† Ends

Causes And Effects Of The Amer

Introduction about the cause and influence of the American Civil War - The American Civil War began when Peter Bohlegard fired 50 guns at Sumter Fort on April 12, 1861. This marks the beginning of one of the longest and most frequent wars in American history. This is also the only war completely done in the American soil. The whole war lasted four years, killed more than 620,000 Americans and killed them further. Reason - Many people consider the cause of this war to be the abolition of slavery, which is one of the main catalysts of the beginning of the war, but this is not the main reason for the beginning of the war. Causal Thesis is an article explaining the cause (cause) of the event or situation and the result (influence) of the occurrence. Writing causal papers requires a lot of effort, the main idea of ​​writing such articles is to investigate the cause and effect of the phenomenon. However, regarding the structure, the outline of the causal dissertation is simpl e: introduction, body passage and conclusion. If you are assigned to write a causal dissertation, there are many causal themes listed here. Causal relations Thesis examines the cause (or cause) of something and discusses the result (or result). Therefore causal papers are sometimes called rational thesis and result papers. They are one of the most common form of organization in academic papers. Although the entire article may be causally related, it may be a part of the entire article in some cases. Particularly in short test papers, it is possible to discuss only causes and results, not two. Please see the example below A causal dissertation is another type of paper that is common as part of a larger paper, including paper type or one or more paragraphs for examining cause and effect. This page provides information on what causality is, how to organize such articles, and how to use articles like causal structure words (transition signals). There is also a causal thesis on the theme of women's work, and there are exercises useful for practice in this field. Causes And Effects Of The Amer Introduction about the cause and influence of the American Civil War - The American Civil War began when Peter Bohlegard fired 50 guns at Sumter Fort on April 12, 1861. This marks the beginning of one of the longest and most frequent wars in American history. This is also the only war completely done in the American soil. The whole war lasted four years, killed more than 620,000 Americans and killed them further. Reason - Many people consider the cause of this war to be the abolition of slavery, which is one of the main catalysts of the beginning of the war, but this is not the main reason for the beginning of the war. Causal Thesis is an article explaining the cause (cause) of the event or situation and the result (influence) of the occurrence. Writing causal papers requires a lot of effort, the main idea of ​​writing such articles is to investigate the cause and effect of the phenomenon. However, regarding the structure, the outline of the causal dissertation is simpl e: introduction, body passage and conclusion. If you are assigned to write a causal dissertation, there are many causal themes listed here. Causal relations Thesis examines the cause (or cause) of something and discusses the result (or result). Therefore causal papers are sometimes called rational thesis and result papers. They are one of the most common form of organization in academic papers. Although the entire article may be causally related, it may be a part of the entire article in some cases. Particularly in short test papers, it is possible to discuss only causes and results, not two. Please see the example below A causal dissertation is another type of paper that is common as part of a larger paper, including paper type or one or more paragraphs for examining cause and effect. This page provides information on what causality is, how to organize such articles, and how to use articles like causal structure words (transition signals). There is also a causal thesis on the theme of women's work, and there are exercises useful for practice in this field. Causes And Effects Of The Amer Introduction about the cause and influence of the American Civil War - The American Civil War began when Peter Bohlegard fired 50 guns at Sumter Fort on April 12, 1861. This marks the beginning of one of the longest and most frequent wars in American history. This is also the only war completely done in the American soil. The whole war lasted four years, killed more than 620,000 Americans and killed them further. Reason - Many people consider the cause of this war to be the abolition of slavery, which is one of the main catalysts of the beginning of the war, but this is not the main reason for the beginning of the war. Causal Thesis is an article explaining the cause (cause) of the event or situation and the result (influence) of the occurrence. Writing causal papers requires a lot of effort, the main idea of ​​writing such articles is to investigate the cause and effect of the phenomenon. However, regarding the structure, the outline of the causal dissertation is simpl e: introduction, body passage and conclusion. If you are assigned to write a causal dissertation, there are many causal themes listed here. Causal relations Thesis examines the cause (or cause) of something and discusses the result (or result). Therefore causal papers are sometimes called rational thesis and result papers. They are one of the most common form of organization in academic papers. Although the entire article may be causally related, it may be a part of the entire article in some cases. Particularly in short test papers, it is possible to discuss only causes and results, not two. Please see the example below A causal dissertation is another type of paper that is common as part of a larger paper, including paper type or one or more paragraphs for examining cause and effect. This page provides information on what causality is, how to organize such articles, and how to use articles like causal structure words (transition signals). There is also a causal thesis on the theme of women's work, and there are exercises useful for practice in this field.

Why Should You invest in Apple Stock Term Paper

Why Should You invest in Apple Stock - Term Paper Example According to Chronicle Staff Writer, Kim (2010), Apple, the innovative challenger to dominant Microsoft and second most valuable company in the United States after Exxon Mobil, has passed its rival in market capitalization, becoming the most valued technology company in the world (Kim). Apple Company needs no introduction to the industrial world now. Surpassing of Microsoft in market capitalization is not an easy task and it reflects the capabilities of Apple Company in the international market. Even though earlier Apple concentrated more on the computer and operating system market, they have already started to enter the consumer electronics market world by diversifying their portfolios with the help of iPods, iPhones, mobile phones and different kinds of portable electronic devices. In share market also the growth of Apple is more visible and evident. Even when some of the major companies struggled to survive because of recession, Apple stood out among them and escaped without much damage because of their superior range of products. Investments are stock is one of the most popular ways of making money. But the recent recession resulted in many people losing their money because of the destruction of the share value. Now people are approaching the stock market with hesitancy. The scope of this report is limited to a discussion on Apple Company, its stock value, present and future growth prospects, a comparison of Apple with some of the competitors etc. Moreover, many of the people may not notice that Apple has already crossed even Microsoft in its market capitalization.

Current Economic Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Current Economic - Essay Example According to Aversa, May â€Å"was the second month in a row that consumer spending went up by 0.5 percent.† This is a trend showing that May was not merely a fluke, and this could be the start of a sustainable trend. Further supporting that hypothesis was the fact that incomes also rebounded in May. As Aversa asserts, incomes are â€Å"the fuel for future spending.† Thus, it is a reasonable assumption that we could see continued strong performance on this leading economic indicator. Aversa also mentions in her article that construction spending also increased in May by nearly a full percentage point. This increase in construction spending was â€Å"the biggest gain in nearly 1  ½ years,† and was fueled by â€Å"Brisk spending on big government projects, such as hospitals and other health care facilities, and by private builders on commercial construction, such as office buildings, eclipsed continued weakness in the housing sector.† The combined increases in consumer and construction spending arguably illustrate broad economic strength in both the commercial and personal consumer areas leading into the summer months. This article speaks directly to a couple of very fundamental economic indicators. While it is mostly a litany of facts about the state of economic performance in May, the article alludes to the power of incomes and spending to produce a strong economy. Spending, both consumer and commercial, quickly reverberates to other areas of the economy. Without strong consumer and other spending, it is difficult for other factors of economic health to take hold. Manufacturing and production will only result in large idle inventories if spending is low. That means fewer jobs as companies seek to slash there supplies in response to lower demand, and in doing so reduce their overhead costs including employment. On the other hand, strong consumer spending translates into increased manufacturing of supply, which in turn leads to greater hiring and lower

Economist Report Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Economist Report - Essay Example Ricardo was elected to the British parliament in 1819 as an independent representative of a borough in Ireland, Portarlington, which he served till his death in 1823. David Ricardo, lived in the times just at the beginning of the Industrial revolution and this is what perhaps influences his thinking on 'Machinery' (discussed below). Ricardo took a keen interest in the study of economics and formulated the 'Classical' system of political economy. His interest in economics was sparked by a chance reading of Adam Smith's 'The Wealth of Nations' while on vacation in 1799, in which Adam Smith focuses most of his attention on the problem of economic growth and his belief that an evolving capitalist system could benefit society as a whole. According to Smith's analysis the economy possesses unlimited upward potential. Ricardo's first written comments on economics appear to be two essays written in 1810 and 1811 (The High Price of Bullion, a Proof of the Depreciation of Bank Notes) articulating his position in favour of the 'Bullionist' position. He argued in favour of a metallic currency, giving a fresh stimulus to the controversy about the policy of the Bank of England. This has since become known as the classical approach to the theory of money, which argued for the resumption of the convertibility of paper money into gold. The Bullion Committee appointed by the House of Commons in 1819 confirmed Ricardo's views and recommended the repeal of the Bank Restriction Act. Ricardo was a firm believer in Say's Law that states that there can be no demand without supply and that recession does not occur because of failure in demand or lack of money. In these tracts Ricardo also suggested the impossibility of a 'general glut', or an excess supply of all goods in an economy as proposed by Thomas Robert Malthus. This provoked a debate with Malthus that culminated in Ricardo writing a series of notes on Mathus's 1820 'principles'. These notes were published posthumously as Notes on Malthus. In 1815 he published his first complete work 'Essay on the Influence of a Low Price of Corn on the Profits of Stock' where he introduced the differential theory of rent and the "law of diminishing returns" to land cultivation. He argued that raising the duties on imported grain had the effect of increasing the price of corn and hence increasing the incomes of landowners and the aristocracy at the expense of the working classes and the rising industrial class. In Essay Ricardo formulated his theory of distribution in a one-commodity ("corn") economy. With wages at their "natural" level, Ricardo argued that rate of profit and rents were determined residually in the agricultural sector. He then used the concept of arbitrage to claim that the agricultural profit and wage rates would be equal to the counterparts in industrial sectors. With this theory, he could show that a rise in wages did not lead to higher prices, but merely lowered profits. Ricardo took economics to an unprecedented degree of theoretical sophistication by formalising the 'Classical' system more clearly and consistently than anyone before had done and what became known as the "Classical" or"Ricardian" School (of thought). In

Cigarette Smoking And Its Alternatives Term Paper

Cigarette Smoking And Its Alternatives - Term Paper Example There is continuous research about whether smoking is as harmful as people claim or if they are just myths and it is actually good for health in certain doses, and alternatives have been tested and tried so that if there is a better alternative with a similar effect on people on people who consume cigarettes, one must adopt it. (Tyer, 2007) Cigarette smoking and its business model Even though there has always been the claim that there is a positive correlation between cigarette smoking and lung cancer, these campaigns have collapsed, and even people who are well aware of this correlation still continue to consume it. In history, the consumption rates of tobacco have remained high or low, but in developing countries they continue to peak up. This is due to the fact that it activates dopamine receptors and endorphins are released, which not only induce a certain amount of pleasure but also enhances alertness, heart rate and reactions. The reasons for smoking differ among different indi viduals but it usually starts at an early age and it may due to social pressure, especially for boys; however the gap between gender differences in smoking is reducing in young people. Once a person is hooked onto cigarette smoking, the withdrawal symptoms make it impossible for a person to quit smoking. The level of persistency in smoking categorizes smokers such as those who are addictive smokers from those who just do it to release pressure once in a while or in a social setting. (Healey, 2011) The obvious harmful effects of smoking are lung cancer, pulmonary and heart diseases, oral diseases, and even impotency or infertility. The prevalence of disease in women is predicted to rise the largest in the coming years due to smoking, where as smoking is the largest cause of death in the US currently. (Diseases., 2002) A business model of a tobacco company differs from other companies. But what exactly is a business model? It includes the offerings of the company and what it delivers to consumers. It also includes its purpose, its structure, what its policies are and what it strategizes. (Osterwalder, Pigneur, & Clark, 2012) British American Tobacco Caribbean and Central America British American Tobacco Caribbean and Central America is a leader in the market in the area it is located. Analyzing its business model gives a fair idea as to how a tobacco company’s model operates. Their vision is to become the leader in the tobacco market both in terms of value and volume, as well as in quality. Their aim is to offer the world quality by offering best products, best people, and the best Group of tobacco companies. Their mission is to maintain a competitive edge over other companies in Central America and Caribbean by maintaining a good organizational structure and efficiency. The strength of the people of the company makes up their strategy, as well as desire to innovate and differentiate their products. They also have a good research and development facility, and a fast supply chain. This helps British American to make revenue that contributes to growth as well as adds to stakeholder’s value. This has allowed them to hone into 180 markets globally as well. A business model is part of a business strategy. And its pillars determine the business model. Their pillars move them in a direction which makes it easier for them to achieve their vision. One of their pillars is growth which is their aim to increase their market share globally and to focus on their brands

America and the Great War Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 1

America and the Great War - Essay Example These alliances were of significance since they implied that some countries would be obligated to declare war in the event that one of their allies had declared war. In 1879, there was a dual alliance between Germany and Austria-Hungary to mutually protect themselves against Russia and in 1881, Austria-Hungary signed an alliance with Serbia with the aim of stopping Russia from gaining control of Serbia. A year later, Germany and Austria-Hungary entered an alliance with Italy so that it could stop Italy from siding with Russia. Several other agreements and alliances were entered into including the Entente Cordiale on 1904, the Anglo-Russian Entente of 1907 as well as the Triple Entente of 1907, before Britain, France and Russia made an agreement not to sign for peace separately in 1914 (Mulligan, 2010). Some of the alliances were formed to ensure some nations do not become too strong while some were to make the nations in the alliance stronger and able to withstand any attacks. By the turn of the twentieth century, the British Empire had already extended through five continents while France was controlling expansive areas in the African continent. Nations required new markets as industrialism was rapidly rising. The size of land that was under British and French control escalated their rivalry with Germany, who had joined the scramble for the acquisition of colonies late only to gain small areas in the African continent. On the other hand, the escalating divide in the European continent resulted in an Arms race between the main nations and the German and French armies increased more than twofold from 1870 to 1914, with a fierce competition ensuing between Germany and Britain for master the seas. Germany introduced its own battleships and also developed a plan of action that entailed an attack on France via Belgium in the event that Russia attacked Germany. Nationalism implies

Pavement Design Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Pavement Design - Term Paper Example The Structural Number is a value that applies to the overall  pavement structure, but for a complete design it is a prerequisite to get from this value to the individual layer thicknesses. This is handled using an equation of the type shown: and can be adapted to any number of pavement layers, since each expression (such as a2D2M2) in the formula corresponds to a single layer, so that the variables in the expression correspond to the characteristics of that layer. The subscript number used in the expression simply indicates which layer is meant, with the numbering beginning at the top of the pavement structure. The variables represent the following: The layer and drainage coefficients are values that should reflect characteristics of the material used to construct that pavement layer. The thicknesses of the individual layers are effectively what is used to design equation, and the Structural Number, to figure out. Since the layer coefficient represents the strength of the material, this is the primary variable that factors in the type of material to use for each layer. For design purposes, layer coefficients are typically determined empirically based on the performance of the material. Agencies often set specific layer coefficient values for commonly used materials as a standard design policy. Some typical layer coefficient values are:Hot mix asphalt – 0.44, road mix (low stability) – 0.20, aggregate base – 0.13, engineered fill – 0.10 Since the layer coefficient can be affected by material properties as well as the position of the layer in which the material will be used, in some cases different values might be appropriate for local conditions. A drainage coefficient is a value assigned to a pavement layer that represents its relative loss of strength due to  drainage characteristics  and exposure to moisture saturation. Layers that

Coffee and Starbucks Essay Example for Free

Coffee and Starbucks Essay Starbucks Coffee Corporation is facing some strategic decisions on its current policy with regard to partnering with NGOs. Starbucks has a long history of social involvement. â€Å"CSR originated in 1994 as the Environmental Affairs Department with a budget of $50,000; by 2002, the 14-member department had a budget of 6 million. (Austin Reavis, 2004) Recently Starbucks completed a six year, $450,000 project with Conservation International; an NGO thats mission â€Å"is to conserve the earths natural heritage and its global biodiversity, as well as to demonstrate that human societies are able to live harmoniously with nature. (Austin Reavis, 2004) At the time CI had a staff of 776, overseeing projects in more than 30 countries on four continents. Roughly two thirds of CIs staff worked in the field and 90% were citizens of those countries. (Austin Reavis, 2004) Working with CI on the Chiapas Project, dedicated to working with coffee farmers to stop the destruction of rain-forests by farming and to promote shade-grown coffee which is sustainable, Starbucks has learned that it needs a clearer policy with regards to partnering with other NGOs in the future. Several challenges arose when Starbucks was working with CI on the Chiapas Project, and they both learned valuable lessons. Starbucks needs to consider how valuable the Starbucks-CI alliance had been and what it future might be. Is the approach sustainable? What should be the ongoing strategy for shade-grown coffee? Next, how should new coffee purchasing guidelines be implemented? How should Starbucks and CI approach other roasters to adopt the sourcing guidelines? Finally, how should Starbucks address the Fair Trade movement? When CI identified coffee as an important commodity affecting biodiversity, it launched a pilot conservation coffee program in 1996 organized around three co-operatives, located in the buffer zone of the El Triunfo Reserve in Chiapas, Mexico. (Austin Reavis, 2004) CI Created this project to promote and preserve the pristine rain and cloud forests as well as shade-grown coffee. In 1997 CI convinced Starbucks that partnering with them in the Chiapas Project would not only promote conservation and shade-grown coffee, but also produce a high quality coffee bean; a bean that was shade-grown, sun-dried, and met Starbucks high quality standards. This alliance has proven to be successful. Since 1998, the coffee growing land incorporated into the project has increased by 220%, signaling that farmers had changed their practices. Starbucks was able to purchase 1. 5 million pounds of Coffee from the Chiapas cooperatives by 2002. An outside consultant doing a independent review of the CI project concluded that farmers environmental knowledge and awareness had increased significantly, as had conservation and organized farming practices (Austin Reavis, 2004) However conducive for Starbucks as a learning process and beneficial to CI and the El Triunfo Reserve, as well as the farmers and the cooperatives, the Chiapas project requires a vast infusion of capital and resources to operate. Capital in terms of time, resources, expertise, and field trainers. Austin and Reavis state,â€Å"CI had a team of 3 full-time and several part-time â€Å"extentionists† who visited every farm and monitored progress. CI provided training courses in the villages of the farmers, co-op managers, and technicians on quality control, organic farming methods, tree planting, and pulping methods. CI operates a training center and nursery where it grows a wide variety of trees that gives away free to cooperative members and coffee trees that it sold for a nominal fee. The center also produced an organic fertilizer which it sold at 1/3 the price of equivalent of chemical fertilizers. † ( 2004) with all the resources, funds, education, and time it has taken the Chiapas Project to meet Starbucks quality standards, it would seem impossible for Starbucks and Conservation International to set up projects like this in all the biodiversity hot-spots around the world. The Chiapas Project itself consumed too many resources to be sustainable elsewhere. Starbucks would have to subsidize projects in other countries and partner with other NGO’s, who may or may not share the same values and work ethic as Conservation International. Starbucks would have to set-up infrastructure, education centers, and hospitals. Starbucks would have to maintain a staff on the ground to ensure that best practices where in place. The development would occur at a slow pace. The amount of conserved land may not be a significant enough area to ensure the survival of diverse species of animals and plants. All this time and effort to produce a coffee bean that may not meet Starbucks quality standards Starbucks needs to find another strategy, one that continues to encourage conservation and farmer education, but also a strategy that would affect the industry as a whole. With this in mind Starbucks and CI decided to create coffee sourcing guidelines that would affect the suppliers of coffee. â€Å"Under Starbucks new system, introduced as a two year pilot program, suppliers of any size or location could earn up to 100 points for performance in three sustainability categories†¦if the suppliers me all the criteria, that is ,scored 100 points, it would become a preferred supplier and its coffee would receive priority in Starbucks’ purchasing queue. A producer’s performance had to be verified by an acceptable independent third party, although Starbucks was flexible on whom the verifiers would be. † (Austin Reavis, 2004) Mecklenburg, head of CSR at Starbucks describes her reaction to the guidelines, â€Å"While the Chiapas project is totally amazing and beyond what any of us could have imagined, it pales in comparison to what we’ve done with the sourcing guidelines. What we wanted to do with these guidelines is really define what sustainable coffee is. † (Austin Reavis, 2004) What Starbucks is essentially doing with the creation of these sustainable sourcing guidelines, was shifting the burden of responsibility from itself to the industry as a whole. If the suppliers adopted these sourcing guidelines then the industry would determine who developed the most sustainable coffee and change would occur much faster. There would also be incentive for coffee growers to choose organic farming over chemical pesticides and shade grown coffee production, because these sourcing guidelines would have them in preferential buying order. Starbucks challenge now was to get the rest of the industry to adopt their sourcing guidelines. If Starbucks is able to accomplish this, then the coffee industry will have change, it will be a dramatic beneficial change for the future. Other companies have had success leading industry wide changes. One Such company, Merck, has great success eradicating river blindness in Africa; a disease cause by onchocerciasis, a parasitic disease. In early 1975 Merck discovered a possible cure for the disease, Mectizan, and by 1980 the disease was ready for human trial. There was great pressure both internally and externally to produce the drug. Merck had to make a decision to either charge for Mectizan or donate it. The challenge as it relates to this case was once Merck decided to donate the drug how where they going to distribute it; Merck is in the drug creation business not the drug distribution business Professors James Austin and Diana Barrett discuss Merck’s challenges in a case study they prepared for the Harvard Business School. Austin and Barret state, â€Å"Most of those infected lived in areas accessible only by navigating poor roads or traveling on foot for several days. Neither was there a health-care infrastructure in many areas to administer the drugs – few doctors and no pharmacies. † (2001) Merck was in no position to handle this distribution problem on its own. Much like Starbucks trying to affect industry wide change to sourcing practices, Merck had to outline a strategy to deliver this drug to the people that needed them the most. Merck decided to create a committee to examine the problem. â€Å"In 1998 Merck created the Mectizan Expert Committee (MEC) to address the Distribution issue. † (Austin Barrett 2001) Ultimately what the MEC decided was to create a distribution model that called for other organizations interested in the drug to contact the company and apply to receive it. After the NGOs were properly vetted (they where looked at for ability to supply and monitor the drug), Merck would ship the drug directly to the specific countries. The key lesson to take away from Merck’s challenge is that the company could not distribute the drug on their own. Merck had to partner with other organizations in order to affect industry wide change. Starbucks is attempting to dramatically change the way suppliers source coffee. These new guidelines will be beneficial to the coffee growers, who will be forced to learn new methodology, but will receive higher income and higher buying priority in return. These sourcing guidelines will be beneficial to the environment, requiring sustainable practices, such as organic farming and shade-grown coffee, which will conserve land, present less danger to animals, and promote biodiversity. These guidelines will benefit suppliers trying to buy better tasting and more sustainable coffee in larger amounts for comparable prices to industry farming techniques. And finally, these guidelines will benefit the companies whose customers demand a more sustainable flavorful coffee product. Starbucks purchases about 1% of the global coffee supply in 2001. (Starbucks CSR annual Report 2001) World coffee production is estimated at 6. 7 million tones (Hoyt McMillan 2004) Starbucks purchases 67,000 tones of coffee annually. Although this is a lot of coffee it is only a small percentage of the global total. Starbucks is not going to be able to affect the suppliers by themselves; they just do not command enough of the global market to force their sourcing guidelines on suppliers. Like Merck, Starbucks must partner with other companies if they want to see their sourcing guidelines accepted industry wide. In order to align themselves with competitors, Starbucks must generate enthusiasm for its sourcing guidelines among the competitor’s customers, other NGOs, Coffee buyers, coffee suppliers, and competitors themselves. Although a herculean task, Starbucks is a behemoth of a company quite capable of through its weight around. Starbucks must show that their guidelines are more attractive than other sustainable coffee standards such as the fair trade movement. The Fair trade movement started in the Netherlands in the late 1980’s as a way to organize small farmers producing various commodities into cooperatives and to improve their incomes by pressuring buyers to pay guaranteed minimum prices (Austin Barrett 14) The Fair Trade movement seems poised for explosive growth. The world market for fair trade goods is currently valued at $400 million. (Raynolds 2002) Though this only represents a minor share of the international market, sales of Fair Trade commodities have boomed in recent years, with sales rising at close to 30 percent per year. (Raynolds 2002) Coffee forms the core of fair trade networks and is the most widely consumed Fair Trade product in the movements European home and in rapidly expanding North American markets (Raynolds 2002), Starbucks has encountered problems with the fair trade movement. Mecklenburg sums up Starbucks interaction with the Fair trade movements activist NGOs up till now, â€Å"It wasnt that we hadnt been in the cross-hairs of other advocacy groups before but this was much more aggressive. It was difficult to have rational communications There was a lot of pressure to sell Fair Trade Coffee. Ultimately it was up to the CEO. (Austin and Reavis 2004) Starbucks challenges with the Fair Trade movement arises from three points. Firstly the Fair Trade movement originated in Europe where Starbucks is not always regarded favorably. Although there are many Starbucks in Europe, there is simmering resentment at the American company for displacing European coffeehouses. Secondly, Starbucks buying and sourcing practices are not in-line with the Fair Trade Movement. Starbucks buys its coffee From high quality sellers, that sell only Arabica beans. Starbucks also seeks to, when it can, purchase shade grown organic coffee from farmers that are paid better than market price. The Fair Trade movement is basically a labeling movement. They do promote organic cooperative farming techniques and better wages for farmers in order to obtain the Fair Trade seal. However, the Fair Trade auditors do nothing to ensure the quality of the beans and do not have third party verification. Also farmers must pay to have their farms and cooperatives auditing which is a practice that Starbucks does not agree with. Finally, the Fair Trade movement is a supply side movement advocating on behalf of rural workers. They have no experience partnering with large companies, whom they view with mild distrust, only persuading companies to buy Fair Trade and selling Fair Trade commodities. In April 2000, Starbucks signed an agreement with TransFair to buy Fair Trade-certified coffee that met its quality standards up to amount that met customer demand (Austin Reavis 2002) Although often the quality of the purchased Fair Trade coffee did not meet Starbucks quality standards and therefore was unusable, Starbucks made a wise decision to purchase Fair Trade coffee to be sold through its stores. The Fair Trade movement is a popular movement, especially in urban neighborhoods. Starbucks needs to continue to work with the Fair Trade movement, educating the suppliers of its quality standards so that they can buy more of the Fair Trade coffee. Ultimately Starbucks has a proven track record of being socially responsible. Starbucks, along with Conservation International, created and nourished The Chiapas Project which conserved biologically sensitive land, educated farmers, encouraged organic farming, and promoted shade-grown coffee growing. This project was cost and time intensive, so Starbucks and CI went further to create sourcing guidelines. Guidelines that would affect the entire coffee industry as a whole. Starbucks also dealt well with another movement that threated to undermine the effectiveness of the newly created guidelines. Change comes slow to a behemoth like the coffee industry and Starbucks understands that if it continues to promote social responsibility as a strategic business practice, it will be rewarded by customers and eventually change the coffee industry for the better. References Austin, James , and Cate Reavis. Starbucks and Conservation International. Harvard Business School 9-303-055 (2002): 1-28. Print Hoyt, D. , McMillan, J. (2004). The Global Coffee Trade. Stanford Graduate School of Business, IB-53, 1-54. Retrieved July 26, 2010, from http://www. probeinternational. org/files/The%20Global%20Coffee%20Trade. pdf Raynolds, Laura. Consumer/Producer links in Fair Trade Coffee Networks. Sociologia Ruralis 42. 4 (2002): 404-424. Print. Starbucks Annual CSR Report 2001. (2002, February 15). 2001 Report Untitled. Retrieved July 25, 2010, from assets. starbucks. com/assets/csr-fy01-ar. pdf TransFair USA | About Us. TransFair USA | Home. N. p. , n. d. Web. 22 July 2010.

Phishing and Pharming Attacks

Phishing and Pharming Attacks In this report, it provides overview about phishing and pharming like what is phishing, what is pharming, what are the impacts that caused by phishing and pharming and what are the solutions can be apply to remediate or minimize the chance of being attack by phishing and pharming. Phishing are internet frauds or identity thefts that use to acquire or steal targeted victims sensitive information like personal identity data or financial account credentials. Phishing can be carried out by attackers using social engineering like sending email, through instant messaging (IM), peer to peer (P2P) networks, search engine and other techniques to redirect users to fraudulent website. Pharming is the new twist of internet fraud or identity theft. It is the evolutionary of phishing that used to achieve the same goal, but pharming is more sophisticated. Pharming can be carry out by using technical subterfuge such as DNS cache poisoning, domain hijacking and other techniques to redirect users to fraudulent website or proxy server to solicit users sensitive personal information. Phishing and pharming attack will cause financial impacts on the targeted victims or hard-hit to small organization. It will also cause the undermining of consumers confident in using internet over secure transaction or communication. Beside from this, phishing and pharming will also cause the law investigation become harder. Table of Content Summary2 Table of Content-3 Table of Tables and Figures4 Introduction-5 Method of Phishing Attack-6 2.1. Link Manipulation6 2.2 Filter Evasion7 2.3 Website Forgery7 2.4 Phone Phishing-8 2.5 Example of Phishing9 2.6 Phishing Report-10 Method of Pharming Attack13 How Pharming Works13 DNS cache poisoning16 Domain Hijacking16 Registration of similar sounding domains17 Impact caused by phishing / pharming18 Prevention of phishing and pharming20 Prevention: What to do?20 Prevention: What not to do?-21 Classic phishing defenses 21 Client-side21 Server-side22 Enterprise-22 Additional Pharming-Specific defenses23 Change Management, Monitoring and Alerting-23 Third-party Host Resolution Verification Services-24 DNS Server Patching, Updating and Configuration25 Search Engine Control-26 Conclusion-27 Recommendation29 Reference30 Bibliography31 Appendix32 Template 1.032 Template 2.034 TABLE OF TABLES AND FIGURES Figure 1-9 Figure 210 Figure 311 Figure 412 Figure 514 INTRODUCTION Phishing and Pharming are two of the most organized crimes of the 21st century requiring very little skill on the part of the fraudster. These result in identity theft and financial fraud when the fraudster tricks the online users into giving their confidential information like Passwords, Social Security Numbers, Credit Card Numbers, CVV Numbers, and personal information such as birthdates and mothers maiden names etc. This information is then either used by fraudsters for their own needs such as impersonate the victim to transfer funds from the victims account, purchase merchandise etc., or is sold in a variety of online brokering forums and chat channels for a profit. The Anti-Phishing Working Group (APWG) study indicates that 26,877 phishing attacks were reported in October 2006, a 21 percent increase over Septembers 22,136 attacks and an increase of 70% as compared to October 2005. Through these attacks the fraudsters hijacked 176 brands resulting in huge financial losses and loss of reputation to enterprises. The Gartner study reported that more than 2 million Americans have had their checking accounts raided by criminals in 2004, the average loss per incident being $1,2002. With phishers developing evermore sophisticated attacks, these numbers are bound to increase in the near future. Hence, battling these attacks has become a high priority for Governments and Industry Groups. METHOD OF PHISHING ATTACK Link Manipulation Most methods of phishing use some form of technical deception designed to make a link in an e-mail (and the spoofed website it leads to) appear to belong to the spoofed organization. Misspelled URLs or the use of sub domains are common tricks used by phishers, such as this example URL, http://www.yourbank.example.com/. Another common trick is to make the anchor text for a link appear to be valid, when the link actually goes to the phishers site, such as http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genuine. An old method of spoofing used links containing the @ symbol, originally intended as a way to include a username and password (contrary to the standard). For example, the link http://[emailprotected]/ might deceive a casual observer into believing that it will open a page on www.google.com, whereas it actually directs the browser to a page on members.tripod.com, using a username of www.google.com: the page opens normally, regardless of the username supplied. Such URLs were disabled in Internet Explorer, while Mozilla and Opera present a warning message and give the option of continuing to the site or cancelling. A further problem with URLs has been found in the handling of Internationalized Domain Names (IDN) in web browsers, that might allow visually identical web addresses to lead to different, possibly malicious, websites. Despite the publicity surrounding the flaw, known as IDN spoofing or a homograph attack, no known phishing attacks have yet taken advantage of it.[citation needed] Phishers have taken advantage of a similar risk, using open URL redirectors on the websites of trusted organizations to disguise malicious URLs with a trusted domain. Filter Evasion Phishers have used images instead of text to make it harder for anti-phishing filters to detect text commonly used in phishing e-mails. 2.3 Website Forgery Once the victim visits the website the deception is not over. Some phishing scams use JavaScript commands in order to alter the address bar. This is done either by placing a picture of a legitimate URL over the address bar, or by closing the original address bar and opening a new one with the legitimate URL. An attacker can even use flaws in a trusted websites own scripts against the victim. These types of attacks (known as cross-site scripting) are particularly problematic, because they direct the user to sign in at their bank or services own web page, where everything from the web address to the security certificates appears correct. In reality, the link to the website is crafted to carry out the attack, although it is very difficult to spot without specialist knowledge. Just such a flaw was used in 2006 against PayPal. A Universal Man-in-the-middle Phishing Kit, discovered by RSA Security, provides a simple-to-use interface that allows a phisher to convincingly reproduce websites and capture log-in details entered at the fake site. To avoid anti-phishing techniques that scan websites for phishing-related text, phishers have begun to use Flash-based websites. These look much like the real website, but hide the text in a multimedia object. 2.4 Phone Phishing Not all phishing attacks require a fake website. Messages that claimed to be from a bank told users to dial a phone number regarding problems with their bank accounts. Once the phone number (owned by the phisher, and provided by a Voice over IP service) was dialed, prompts told users to enter their account numbers and PIN. Vishing (voice phishing) sometimes uses fake caller-ID data to give the appearance that calls come from a trusted organization. EXAMPLE OF PHISHING As scam artists become more sophisticated, so do their phishing e-mail messages and pop-up windows. They often include official-looking logos from real organizations and other identifying information taken directly from legitimate Web sites. The following is an example of what a phishing scam e-mail message might look like. Figure 1: Example of a phishing e-mail message, which includes a deceptive URL address that links to a scam Web site. To make these phishing e-mail messages look even more legitimate, the scam artists may place a link in them that appears to go to the legitimate Web site, but it actually takes you to a phony scam site or possibly a pop-up window that looks exactly like the official site. These copycat sites are also called spoofed Web sites. Once youre at one of these spoofed sites, you might unwittingly send personal information to the con artists. PHISHING REPORT Figure 2: The number of websites hosting key logging crime ware systems raise by over 1,100, reaching 3,362, the second highest number recorded in the preceding 12 months. Web sense Security Labs believes much of this increase is due to attackers increasing ability to co-opt sites to spread crime ware using automated tools. Figure 3: The number of unique key logger crime ware variants detected in January reached a new high of 364, an increase of 1.4% from the previous high in October, 2007. Figure 4: Anti-Phishing Working Group, Phishing Activity Trends Report, June 2005 Phishing undermines consumer confidence. Corporate websites of valid, well-respected companies are being cloned to sell nonexistent products, or to get consumers to participate in money-laundering activities while believing that they are dealing with a legitimate organization. The public relations consequences for the company that has had its website cloned can be as severe as the financial losses. 3.0 METHOD OF PHARMING ATTACK You must be well aware of phishing and its potential to cause damage. They bait bank customers with genuine looking emails and manage to usurp money or personal information from unsuspecting customers with reasonable success. You are also aware that responding to mails sent by your bank may not be a good idea because banks never require to send emails to get your credentials. They have more secure channels to get that information. However, pharming attacks do not require an attacker to send mails. By carrying out pharming attacks, a criminal can get access to a wider target than phishing emails and as quickly as possible. Hence the ph effect on the word farming. They are not fishing, they are farming for gullible people! By the way, pharming is a real dictionary word. HOW PHARMING WORKS Pharming attacks do not take advantage of any new technique. They use the well known DNS cache poisoning, domain spoofing and domain hijacking techniques that have been around for quite long. However, the motives of carrying out these attacks have changed. Earlier they were interested in just disrupting services and causing nuisance. But now, the game has become a matter of money than that of chest thumping. These techniques continue to exist because administrators and website owners dont care to secure and monitor their DNS servers while they have invested millions of dollars in application firewalls. How a typical pharming attack is carried out: Figure 5: 1. The attacker targets the DNS service used by the customer. This server can be a DNS server on the LAN or the DNS server hosted by an ISP for all users. The attacker, using various techniques, manages to change the IP address of www.nicebank.com to the IP address of a web server which contains a fake replica of nicebank.com. 2. User wants to go the website www.nicebank.com and types the address in the web browser. 3. Users computer queries the DNS server for the IP address of www.nicebank.com. 4. Since the DNS server has already been poisoned by the attacker, it returns the IP address of the fake website to the users computer. The users computer is tricked into thinking that the poisoned reply is the correct IP address of the website. The user has now been fooled into visiting fake website controlled by the attacker rather than the original www.nicebank.com website. Once the attacker has managed to get the user to visit the fake website, there are many ways in which the user can be tricked into revealing his / her credentials or giving out personal information. The beauty, or lets say, the notoriety of pharming over phishing is evident from the fact that one successful attempt in poisoning the DNS server can be potentially used to trick all the users of that DNS service. Much less effort and wider impact than phishing. DNS cache poisoning All DNS servers cache the queries that users have made for a certain period of time. This is done to speed up the responses to users for frequently used domains. This cache maintained by the DNS server can be poisoned by using malicious responses or taking advantage of vulnerabilities in the DNS software itself. Domain Hijacking This is an actual incident that took place a year ago. Panix, an ISP based in New York was the target of a domain hijack attack. All domains are typically registered with registrars which store information about the owner of a domain and location of the domains DNS servers. If any of this information is required to be changed, the approval of the domain owner is required. A domain owner can even switch registrars depending on costs and convenience. However, confirmation of the switch is required from all three parties, the domain owner, the old registrar and the new registrar. In case of Panix, a change was initiated by an unknown person in Australia. The person managed to skip confirmation from the old registrar and the domain owner. This was because the new registrar was not following the domain transfer process strictly. The result was, the unknown person managed to gain control over the panix.com domain completely. The person managed to divert all the web traffic of panix.com and customer emails to another server located in Canada. Domain hijacking has the widest impact because the attacker targets the domain registration information itself. Registration of similar sounding domains Similar sounding or similar looking domains are another source of security issues for internet users. An attacker can register a domain www.n1cebank.com and carry out pharming and phishing attacks on unsuspecting customers who dont notice the difference in the letter i being replaced by a 1. Also domain names created by typos on the original words (e.g. www.nicebqnk.com) manage to attract a lot of traffic. One such study on a popular domain cartoonnetwork.com shows that one in four people visiting the website incorrectly type a simple name like cartoonnetwork.com. So what about typo domains? One quick search in Google reveals that it is quite a big concern. An attacker can easily buy typo domains and setup his fake website on these domains to fool unsuspecting visitors. IMPACT CAUSED BY PHISHING AND PHARMING There are impacts that caused by rising of phishing and pharming. One of the impacts that caused by phishing and pharming is the lost of financial on both organizations and consumers. According to the InternetNews.com, there are about $1.2 Billion lost in financial of banks and credit card issuers at year 2003, while at year 2004, there is about  £12 Million lost in financial reported by the Association of Payment Clearing Services in United Kingdom. Due to the credit card association policies, the online merchants that accepted and approved transactions made by using credit card numbers which solicit through internet fraud may need to liable for the full amount of those transactions. This may cause hard-hit to those small organizations. Another impact that caused by phishing and pharming is the undermining of the consumers trust in the secured internet transaction or communication. This situation occurred because the internet fraud like phishing and pharming made consumer feel uncertain about the integrity of the financial and commercial websites although the web address display in the address is correct. Phishing and pharming also caused some impact on the Law investigation. It makes the law investigation become harder because the technique that used by attackers to perform phishing and pharming is more sophisticated. In nowadays, those attackers can perform all of the phishing and pharming attack at a location that provided with the internet connection. With the available of internet connection, they can make use of it to perform attacking activities. Those activities included the control of a computer located in one place to perform phishing and pharmings attack by using computer located at another place. The investigation become harder also because of the division of attacking tasks to several people located in different locations. PREVENTION OF PHISHING AND PHARMING Pharming attacks tend to be harder to defend against that traditional Phishing attacks due to the distributed nature of the attack focus and the use of resources not under the control of the victim organisation.   In addition, the manipulation of the DNS resolution process occurs at such a fundamental level that there are very few methods available to reliably detect any malicious changes. 5.1 PREVENTION WHAT TO DO? By using anti-virus software, spyware filters, e-mail filters and firewall programs and make sure that they are regular updated to protect your computer. Ensures that your Internet browser is up to date and security patches applied. Be suspicious of any e-mail with urgent requests for personal financial information or threats of termination of online account. Dont rely on links contained in e-mails, even if the web address appears to be correct, and use only channels that you know from independent sources are reliable (e.g., information on your bank card, hard copy correspondence, or montly account statement) when contacting your financial institution. When submitting credit card or other sensitive information via your Web browser, always ensure that youre using a secure website. Regularly log into your accounts. Regularly check your bank, credit and debit card statements to ensure that all transaction are legitimate. PREVENTION WHAT NOT TO DO? Dont assume that you can correctly identify a website as legitimate just by looking at its general appearance. Dont use the link in an e-mail to get to any web page, if you suspect the message might not be authentic. Avoid filling out forms in an e-mail messages or pop-up windows that ask for personal financial information. CLASSIC PHISHING DEFENCES Many of the defences used to thwart phishing attacks can be used to help prevent or limit the scope of future Pharming attacks. While readers are referred to the detailed coverage of these defence tactics explained in The Phishing Guide, a brief summary of these key defences is as follows: Client-Side Desktop protection technologies Utilisation of appropriate, less sophisticated, communication settings User application-level monitoring solutions Locking-down browser capabilities Digital signing and validation of email General security awareness 5.3.2 Server-Side Improving customer awareness Providing validation information for official communications Ensuring that the Internet web application is securely developed and doesnt include easily exploitable attack vectors Using strong token-based authentication systems Keeping naming systems simple and understandable 5.3.3 Enterprise Automatic validation of sending email server addresses, Digital signing of email services, Monitoring of corporate domains and notification of similar registrations, Perimeter or gateway protection agents, Third-party managed services. ADDITIONAL PHARMING-SPECIFIC DEFENCES While Phishing attacks typically use email as the attack delivery platform, Pharming attacks do not require any email obfuscation attacks to succeed therefore Phishing defences that rely upon email security play a lesser role. The defences that will be most successful in preventing Pharming attacks focus upon the following areas: Change management, monitoring and alerting Third-party host resolution verification DNS server patching, updating and configuration Search engine control 5.4.1 Change Management, Monitoring, and Alerting The potential for an administrator or other authoritative employee to maliciously modify DNS resolution information without detection is great.   As financial incentives increase, organisations and ISPs will need to ensure that adequate change control, monitoring and alerting mechanisms are in place and enforced. It is recommended that: Wherever editing is possible, access to DNS configuration files and caching data is limited to approved employees only. A change management process is used to log and monitor all changes to DNS configuration information. Auditing of DNS record changes is instigated by a team external to any DNS administrative personnel; with automatic alerting of changes conducted in real time. Regular audits and comparative analysis of secondary DNS and caching servers should be conducted. Third-party Host Resolution Verification Services Toolbars Many third-party developed plug-in toolbars originally designed to detect Phishing attacks are deceived by Pharming attacks.   Typically, these Phishing toolbars show the IP address and reverse lookup information for the host that the browser has connected to, so that customer can clearly see if he has reached a fake site.   Some managed toolbars (normally available through a subscription service) also compare the host name or URL of the current site to an updatable list (or real-time querying) of known phishing sites. Some toolbars now offer limited anti-pharming protection by maintaining a stored list of previously validated good IP addresses associated with a particular web address or host name.   Should the customer connect to an IP address not previously associated with the host name, a warning is raised.   However, problems can occur with organisations that change the IP addresses of their online services, or have large numbers of IP addresses associated with a particular host name. In addition, some toolbars provide IP address allocation information such as clearly stating the geographic region associated with a particular netblock.   This is useful for identifying possible fake Pharming sites that have been setup in Poland pretending to be for an Australian bank for instance. Server Certificates To help prevent pharming attacks, an additional layer can be added to the authentication process, such as getting the server to prove it is what it says it is.   This can be achieved through the use of server certificates. Most web browsers have the ability to read and validate server identification certificates.   The process would require the server host (or organisation) obtain a certificate from a trusted certificate authority, such as Verisign, and present it to the customers browser upon connection for validation. 5.4.3 DNS Server Patching, Updating and Configuration As with any Internet-based host, it is vial that all accessible services be configured in a secure manner and that all current security updates or patches be applied.   Failure to do so is likely to result in an exploitation of any security weaknesses, resulting in a loss of data integrity. Given the number of possible attacks that can be achieved by an attacker whom manages to compromise an organisations DNS servers, these hosts are frequently targeted by attackers.   Therefore it is vital that security patches and updates be applied as quickly as possible typically organisations should aim to apply fixes within hours of release. Similarly, it is important that organisations use up to date versions of the service wherever possible.   As we have already discussed in section 3.6, each new version of the DNS software usually contains substantial changes to protect against the latest attack vectors (e.g. randomising DNS IDs, randomising port numbers, etc.) 5.4.4 Search Engine Control Internet search engines are undergoing constant development.   Many of the methods used by attackers to increase their page ranking statistics are known of by the search engine developers, and a constant cycle of detection and refinement can be observed by both parties.   For instance, Google modified its search algorithm to reset the page rank statistics of web sites that had recently changed ownership this was to reduce the impact of instant backlinks and the weighting they attach to a ranking. Traditionally the emphasis on increasing a pages ranking has been for revenue or lead generation most closely associated with advertising.   However, the increasing pace at which customers are relying upon search engines to access key services (such as online banking) means that a Pharmer who can get his fake site ranked at the top is likely to acquire a high number of victims. Organisations should ensure that they regularly review keyword associations with their online services.   Ideally automated processes should be developed to constantly monitor all the popular search engines for key search words or phrases customers are likely to use to locate their key services.   It is also important that region-specific search engines also be monitored. CONCLUSION The term phishing is about the use of social engineering by performing online imitation of brands to send spoof email that contain of hyperlink to fraudulent website to solicit users sensitive personal information like credit card number, PIN, mothers maiden name and etc. Phishing can also be done through installing keylogger at users computer. Pharming use technical subterfuge like DNS cache poisoning, domain hijacking, routers setting or firmware malconfiguration to redirect users to a fraudulent website. Pharming may also perform by sending the targeted victims an email that contained of viruses or Trojan horse that will install small application that will redirect user to fraudulent website. There are impacts that caused by both phishing and pharming. Those impacts included the lost of financial, undermining of user confident in secured online transaction or communication, hard hit to small organizations and cause the law investigation harder. As a web developer, SSL certificate, switching of the recursion queries or DNS security extension should be apply because it can protect the DNS or website from phishing and pharming attack. Visual clues can also be use so that user can easily differentiate between authentic website and fraudulent website. Token based authentication also one of the technique that can be apply to protect the website or DNS server from phishing and pharming attack. Users are also responsible to protect their self from phishing and pharming attack by not opening email or download attachment from unknown sender or email that required user to respond by clicking on the hyperlink contained in the email. User should also double confirm the URL at the address bar when a warning message like SSL certificate do not match with the sites appear. User can also install security suite or firewall in the computer in order to protect user from phishing and pharming. User can also look for the lock or key icon at the bottom of the browser that lock the site they want to enter their sensitive personal information. As a user, we can also report the attack of phishing and pharming to the related agencies or company through internet or telephone to assist the work of minimize the attack. In addition, laws are also being introduced to against phisher and pharmer. RECOMMENDATION To prevent from becoming the victims of phishing and pharming, I suggest to users that must install security suite or firewall in their computer and the detection signature of the security suite should be up to date. Besides from this, I also suggest that users should beware in opening any email or attachment that they receive in order to prevent their self from becoming the victims of phishing and pharming. I also suggest to web developers that they should use SSL certificate, switch off the recursion queries, install DNS security extension in protect

Hegel and Kant on the Ontological Argument Essay -- Philosophy Philoso

Hegel and Kant on the Ontological Argument ABSTRACT: I intend to present Kant's refutation of the ontological argument as confronted by Hegel's critique of Kant's refutation. The ontological argument can be exposed in a syllogistic way: everything I conceive as belonging clearly and distinctly to the nature or essence of something can be asserted as true of something. I perceive clearly and distinctly that existence belongs to the nature or essence of a perfect being; therefore, existence can be stated as true of a supremely perfect being, that is, perfect being exists. I intend to argue that Kant criticizes both the major and minor premises. To the major premise, he objects that there is an unqualified passage from the logical to the ontological level. To the minor premise, he objects that existence is not a concept predicate. Finally, I will show how Hegel criticizes Kant's refutation. To the former, Kant's critique is naà ¯ve as he could prove that existence is not inherent to a finite being's concept, which is not the co ncept of God. I. The Ontological Argument Kant's refutation of the ontological argument-which states that from the concept of a being containing every perfection it is possible to infer its existence-is well known: "In whatever manner the understanding may have arrived at a concept, the existence of its object is never, by any process of analysis, discoverable within it; for the knowledge of the existence of the object consists precisely in the fact that the object is posited in itself, beyond the (mere) thought of it" (KrV,B667, trans. Kemp Smith) Existence being neither a predicate nor a perfection, it cannot be inferred from the concept of the most perfect being beyond its concept. Kant's critic... ...e. Notes (1) The ontological argument was first stated by Anselm in the Proslogium, Anselm defines God as a being related to whom nothing superior can be conceived. He inquires on the possible existence of such a being in ours mind only, that is , as an object of thought. The answer is negative, for such a being would be one related to whom a superior could be conceived. The ontological argument presented by Descartes in the fifth Meditation is essentially a modern version of Anselm's argument. (2) G. Dicker, Descartes: an analytical and historical introduction, Oxford, Oxford University Press. (3) Strawson, The bounds of Sense, London, Routledge, 1966, p. 225. (4) Cf.Hegel, Enzyklopà ¤die der philosophichen Wissenschaften, SuhrKamp, ed. Moldenhauer Michel, , & 51 (5) Cf.Hegel, Vorlesungen à ¼ber die Philosophie der Religion, ed. Jaeschke, III, p.324.

First Paragraphs in Short Stories :: essays research papers

FIRST PARAGRAPHS First paragraphs are fundamental to the story and need to â€Å"hook† the reader in. If the first paragraph doesn’t grab you, then why would you read further? The first paragraph is where you are introduced to the tone of the story and sets the stage by introducing the main character(s) and giving information to entice us to continue reading. Three stories that have strong first paragraphs that draw us in and help us understand the character and story are: â€Å"A Sick Call† by Morley Callaghan, â€Å"A Bird In The House† by Margaret Laurence, and â€Å"One Evening† by David Helwig. In the first paragraph of â€Å"A Sick Call† we are introduced to Father Macdowell, a â€Å"huge, old priest† who â€Å"was a bit deaf in one ear†. We are also told that â€Å"nothing seemed to shock or excite him, or make him really angry†. Thus, it appears that something later on in the story may test Father Macdowell’s fortitude and we are drawn to read on. When we do, we discover why his size and deafness are important. In â€Å"A Bird In The House†, the first paragraph introduces us to Vanessa, the main character, and tells us that she has skipped an important parade. The time of year is also pinpointed by mentioning the Remembrance Day parade and the â€Å"snowy wind†. This makes us want to read on to discover why Vanessa missed the parade and what made it, and the time of year, so important to her family. Miss Machry, in â€Å"One Evening†, is described to us right away in the first paragraph. We get the sense of her character in the way she â€Å"waved the old Japanese fan†, because the fan was delicate and it could only be preserved by â€Å"the gentlest of handling†. The fan is the link to her mother and father and how she had come to this moment. Miss Machry is looking out the window and waiting on someone â€Å"there was no sign of him yet.

Ideology and Reality in the Movie, The Matrix Essay -- Movie Film Essa

Ideology and Reality in the Movie, The Matrix The matrix, as presented in the eponymous film, operates as an Althusserian Ideological State Apparatus (ISA). The Matrix1 presents a world in which "the state [as] a 'machine' of repression" is made literal where robots rule the land (Althusser 68). It is true that they rule by force (sentinels and agents) and these constitute the Repressive State Apparatus, but their primary force of subjugation is the matrix, their ISA. The film traces the path of one man, Neo, in his painful progress from the ideology of the matrix to the "real world," or the ideology of the "real."2 The matrix, unlike the ideology of the "real," is explicitly defined along Althusserian lines as an ISA. Althusser identifies ISAs as "a certain number of realities which present themselves to the immediate observer" (Althusser 73). Just as the "machine" of the state is taken literally, ideology as "reality" is taken literally. Any discussion of the ISA must include both a brief discussion of the State and Althusser's use of the term "ideology." For him, the State "has no meaning except as a function of State power" and as such, "the State is the repressive State apparatus" (71-72). The State Apparatus (SA) is in turn comprised of the Repressive State Apparatus and the Ideological State Apparatus. The RSA will be discussed in further detail later, but to understand how the matrix serves as an ISA, a brief discussion of ideology is called for. Althusser defines the ISA as those private institutions that operate by ideology instead of physical repression. Ideology, as a term, has two aspects for Althusser. The first is that "ideology represents the imaginary relationship of individuals to their ... ... amount of time that passed between The Matrix and The Matrix Reloaded. 2 To be concrete about the difference between the matrix and the "real world," I will refer to one as the matrix and the other as the ideology of the "real." The quotes are necessary as the ideology of the "real" is still a fictional ideology. Furthermore, it must be remembered that Althusser saw ideology as inescapable and a necessary feature of society ("there is no practice except by and in an ideology") (Althusser 93). Therefore, referring to the world outside of the matrix as the real world is insufficient and inaccurate. The ideology of the "real" (as Morpheus says, "welcome to the real") serves to enforce the notion of Neo not as rejecting ideology in favor of reality, but rather moving from the ideology of the machines (the matrix) to that of Morpheus (the ideology of the "real").

The story is dated and juvenile

Highpockets, by John Tunis, is a baseball novel, first published by Scholastic Book Services in 1948.It is one of a series of books that Tunis has written on the subject of a fictionalized Brooklyn Dodgers baseball team. In this book the title character,   Cecil (Highpockets) McCade is   an unlikable rookie professional ball player in New York City.   He is totally selfish and is not liked by anyone on the team. He does not play for the team.He is only concerned with his own records and his money. He was a poor farm boy from North Carolina, and now that he is in the major leagues and playing in the outfield for a famous and well-loved team he thinks only of how it will profit him. He considers his siblings at home in North Carolina and thinks about how to pay for their schooling as well as pay off the mortgage on his family’s home. No one else matters.Before the end of this book the protagonist, Highpockets McCade, learns the importance of being a team player and that th e praise of your team and friends is much more important than the cheers of the crowd or a good story from a sports writer. The book didn’t change my thoughts much, though I enjoyed the book. It seems to me that the lessons he learned should have been a part of his upbringing and his parents should have instilled better values in him to begin with.The turning point in his life, the incident that causes him to see the light, is an accident involving a boy. It is not McCade’s fault but he becomes friends with the boy and it changes his attitude and his life as he starts to become the team player that his teammates want and need. In a move that is so predicable that it seems right out of Hollywood, his team makes it to the playoffs and he makes the play that wins the game and the pennant. The story is dated and juvenile but has good values and is worth the reading.BibliographyTunis, J.   Highpockets   New York: Scholastic Book Services 1948

lilies of the field

The â€Å"lilies of the field† was a 1963 production directed by Ralph Nelson starred by Sydney Poiter. This movie has naturally outlined the basis of modern religious heroism during the 1960’s. Understandably, such movie plot has been created to actually instill values upon the viewers with regards the major implications of religion and beliefs on social development and social values application. The main character, Homer Smith, which is played by Poiter is considered a modern day hero in the film. The approach though is rather different as it points out that the supposed hero of the film is not in the likeness of actually accepting the task. Most likely, he refused to accept the situation that is shown to him by the people as their hero primarily because he does not believe that he has been appointed, whatsoever by God to set a source of inspiration to the people as to how they should believe in God or as to how they should react on the belief that they are portraying as Christians. As a modern day hero though, Poiter’s character showed that heroism in a religious form today is a matter of one’s own choice and not a forced manipulation from the society as a basis of what they believe into. Motivating people to move in a much noble way to assist others or the community towards progress is a matter of self-push. One must be able to believe that he is able to make change to the lives of others, until he could really affect the lives of other people in the society. In the movie of the Lilies of the field, such implication has been given a better light as the main character has been introduced to have lesser interest in the manner by which people aim to treat him. He then left to find the purpose that he is really doing his job as a handyman for. Within a certain span of time, he returns and serves the best way that he could to be able to finish his job of building the church. Although he never expected anything in return, he was given gifts by the people, given a high regard for his reputation as a builder and a rather effective organizer of their community. He might have never realized how much he affected the community that he served, however, he left a legacy of unity and truthfulness among the people of the village as he worked on their church. It is as if he is sending valuable messages to the people although he never says a word to them. His understanding of the fact that he has a job to finish as a handyman likely increased the capability that he has in affecting the people around him through his works. He has been viewed by a nun as the tool used by God to create the church that would likely bring back faith to the people in the community in which she serves. Although Smith was resentful of this responsibility at first, he later on understood why the people termed his situation as something that is God sent to their community. Likely, it was what he was working for that made him a tool for unity, faith and salvation in the community that he served. He did not actually try to do anything than what he knows he is supposed to do in a wholehearted way that he was able to directly affect the lives of those people watching him see the work he does as he tries to accomplish the mission that he knows he accustomed to complete. Reference: Lilies of the Field (1963). http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0057251/synopsis. (March 20, 2008).

Choose To Have An Abortion Essay

Abortion, a word you have all heard or said. It is a word that has been in conversations and debates across the country. There is the pro-life side, and the pro-choice side. Abortion is a choice for women, not the government. Women today have the choice of self-determination, to determine whether or not they want to bear children. Religious leaders are trying to abolish the idea of separation of church and state by influencing the government into making a law that favors their religion. The government should not be influenced by these religions if they want to remain constitutional. How would you feel if you were a woman who has been unexpectedly impregnated and all of a sudden, you would have to drop everything you have done in your life, school, and work? How would your friends and family react to this? What would happen to your social status? This is the dilemma many women face who have had an unwanted pregnancy. Children have been born into homes that were not expecting a baby or unsuitable homes where the parents live in poverty. Children born into unsuitable homes will frequently have social, physical and mental problems. Whether the parents don’t have enough money to support the child, or there is an abusive parent, the child will be damaged and wont have a proper upbringing. â€Å"Unwanted children are [also] more likely to commit crimes.† If the child was expected and was planned, most likely the parents will take the proper precautions in having a baby, such as getting financially situated and having a nice home in a good neighborhood. Abortion can be very necessary in special cases. Consider this: a 12-year-old girl is walking home from her school, and she is raped. After a doctor’s checkup, she finds out that she is pregnant. This is a twelve-year-old girl, should she have to have a child when it wasn’t even her fault? She would have to care for this baby her entire life. But in this day and age, there is the choice of abortion. She and her family could take advantage of modern technology to save their daughter’s life. She could just put it up for adoption, right? Wrong. This poor girl would have to endure labor, and then the child would have to endure growing up without his or her real mother. There are also many problems with adoption. Adopted children will always have emotional issues concerning being adopted and dealing with the fact the parents they thought were their biological parents actually aren’t. Adopted  children frequently grow up to be problem teens and adults. So if adoption is your anti-abortion, then there are more complications than you thought. Abortion doesn’t stop with the legality issues. Abortions will still happen, whether they are legal or not. The problem is that these â€Å"back-alley† abortions are extremely unsafe. In past years, thousands of women have died from illegal abortions. The women who died were simply trying to practice their right to self-determination. The cultural and religious views of abortion continue to be an extremely heated debate. The Roman Catholic Church, Hinduism, and Buddhism teach that the soul enters the body at or before conception. Whereas Judaism, Islam, and–of course–Atheism, say that â€Å"the fetus is not yet a full human being, and thus killing a fetus is not murder.† The Roman Catholic Church is one of the most vocal of the religions. They say abortion is terminating a human life, but the other side disagrees. Now religious leaders, especially those from the Roman Catholic Church, are attempting to make their beliefs into laws for the entire country. They are attempting to abolish the law of separation of church and state, written in the Constitution. They say, that since most of the country believes that abortion is wrong, that means the other religions, that don’t believe that, should believe it anyway. They are disregarding the fact that they aren’t the only religion in the United States. Another idea in the Constitution is the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. If women have those constitutional rights, that means they have a right to have a life, and be happy. If being happy means not having a child, then their right is to have a choice of abortion. One other idea that an amendment to the Constitution states is the right of privacy. The fourteenth amendment says that a citizen has a right to privacy, or the right of a woman to terminate her pregnancy. Any law that makes abortion illegal violates the Due Process Clause of the fourteenth amendment, and therefore is unconstitutional. This idea was stated in the  Roe v. Wade decision. In conclusion, abortion should remain legal. Abortion should be a choice. Abortion should not be up to the government or any religious leaders; it should be a choice for the woman. The woman that has an unwanted pregnancy should decide whether she is able to support a baby, and whether she is able to provide a safe environment for a baby. To make abortion illegal, would be taking away a woman’s right to privacy, and her right to life, liberty and happiness. Just think about what you would do in a situation where you had an unwanted pregnancy that directly affected you. Keep thinking about the women out there that would have to raise a child under horrible conditions like poverty and abuse. Think about the children that would grow up in an unsuitable home, who do one thing wrong, and get persecuted by the government that could have saved their life. The government has a choice to make: A choice whether to listen to the religious leaders demanding that abortion is wrong, or to listen to the women and children who would be affected by this law. You decide whether you think abortion is killing a baby–or saving a life.

Research review example Essay

Please note that ethical standards of peer reviewing constrain me [JP] to give you the original manuscript. I also had to anonymize identifying information in the review. This review is meant as an example of the style used in writing a review; you do not have to understand all the details. Please note that this review is longer than the one you are requested to write. This is a highly interesting study on a timely subject, the impact of pornography use in adolescence on relationship intimacy in early adulthood. Based on Zillman’s programmatic piece about the â€Å"influence of unrestrained pornography† on adolescents and more recent research on teenagers’ use of internet pornography, the study develops a model on how adolescent pornography use may affect relationship intimacy in young adulthood. The study concludes that there is, â€Å"at best, minimal support for Zillmann’s claim that prolonged exposure to pornography is associated with sexual callousness† (p. 13). The strengths of the study include, in my view, the focus on an under-researched dependent variable; its attempt to build and test a model; and the (attempted) investigation of gender differences. The weaknesses include, in my view, the theoretical underdevelopment of the model and several severe methodological problems. Theoretical development of the model By the standards of Journal [ANONYMIZED], the theory section (pp. 2-4) is very short. While in journals of other disciplines (e.g., Journal of Adolescent Health) such a short introduction is requested, pieces in [ANONYMIZED] are expected to be more specific about the theoretical underpinnings of the study. Although brevity is always preferable, a study that develops and tests a new model does require a somewhat more thorough conceptual definition of the various influences in the model and, most importantly, a rationale for these influences. Conceptual definitions and rationale for the components in the model: The model has four components, exposure to pornography, pornographic realism, acceptance of recreational sex, and relationship intimacy. However, on p. 2, many more concepts are outlined (based on Zillmann’s paper): habituation, cultivation effects in terms of perceived sexual behaviors, distrust in intimate partners, abandonment of exclusivity as a norm of romantic relationships, and greater endorsement of promiscuity. None of these concepts is tested. Moreover, on p. 3, several other concepts are mentioned, including cynical attitudes about love, sexual pleasure without affection, sexual callousness, and decreasing emotional attachment. While the latter concepts are related to what is tested, they are not the same. Scanning through the studies that Zillmann and Bryant published in the 1980s, it becomes clear that they have probably something else in mind when they talk about *sexual* callousness than â€Å"an impaired ability to form intimate relationships† (p. 4). Finally, it remains unclear why pornographic realism is an important addition to the model suggested by Zillmann. This is certainly not to say that the paper’s model is unrelated to Zillmann’s ideas, but the paper should aim for more conceptual clarity. Key concepts need to be defined. Moreover, it needs to be outlined how the key concepts of the model relate to Zillmann’s ideas as well as when and why they differ. Rationale for the influences hypothesized in the model: The model hypothesizes that recreational attitudes toward sex mediate the effect of pornography on intimacy. Pornographic realism is included as a covariate of pornography use (although it is claimed that it is investigated as a mediator, p. 4). However, the rationale for hypothesizing these processes remains vague. First, how precisely are recreational attitudes related to sexual socialization and the sexual script concept (p. 3)? How, and why, are these attitudes affected by pornography? These questions should not be answered on the basis of empirical regularities (as done on pp. 3-4), but on the basis of more elaborate theorizing. Second, why is pornographic realism a covariate (at least in the model tested)? From the quote on p. 4, it rather seems a mediator. This needs some clarification and elaboration, too. Gender differences The analysis of gender differences occupies considerable space in the analysis and discussion. However, a rationale is largely lacking why such differences need to be investigated. There is sufficient evidence that females use pornography less often than males do (i.e., gender as a direct predictor), but it is crucial to outline why the processes hypothesized may differ by gender (i.e., gender as a moderator). Methodological problems I would like to stress that any research on the issue of the study is admirable, given the enormous ethical, practical, methodological, statistical issues involved. In my evaluation, I take this into account. That said, I do have to raise some potentially unpleasant questions about the design of the study; operationalization of the key measure; procedure/ sample; and analysis. Design and operationalization of key measure The paper aims at testing a causal model, but relies on cross-sectional data. The paper outlines on p. 4 that the study includes a time component by asking respondents to indicate their pornography use at ages 14 and 17. Several problems arise. First, cross-sectional data do not permit causal conclusions related to media effects. At the very least, this needs to be acknowledged explicitly and prominently. Also, language suggesting causal relations should be avoided. Second, asking respondents retrospectively about their pornography use at the ages of 14 and 17 raises some questions. Why at ages 14 and 17? Adolescence usually spans the period between age 12 and 17. Why was exposure not measured, for instance, for age 12 (early adolescence), age 15 (middle), and age 17 (late)? Third, self-reported retrospective measures of sensitive behavior are prone to multiple biases, most notably memory bias and social desirability bias. These biases already plague measures that relate, for instance, to the â€Å"past week.† But how can such measures meaningfully be applied to behavior that happened, for the oldest respondents, 11 years ago? Fourth, what exactly were the response categories? â€Å"Never† suggests a vague-quantifier scale (e.g., never, rarely,  sometimes, often, very often), which carries a lot of problems, most notably the problem that vague quantifiers leave it up to the respondent to decide what the categories mean. However, the positive anchor of the scale is â€Å"every day.† Was the scale thus a scale asking about specific frequencies (e.g., once a week, less than once a week). Again, how can such frequencies be assessed validly after so much time? Any information on the validity and reliability of the measure along with a rationale for the operationalization is highly welcome. Fifth, how does this measurement strategy assess â€Å"prolonged† exposure, the key concept in Zillmann’s paper? Assessing retrospectively the use of pornography does not tell us much about the trajectory of porn use. Finally, a retrospective measure is not the same as a measure taken at a certain point in the past, in contrast to what is claimed on p. 4. I perfectly understand that longitudinal research is cumbersome, particularly in that area. That said, it seems difficult to see how the retrospective measurement of pornography use tackles the causal problems inherent in cross-sectional research. In sum, there are several serious issues with the operationalization of one of the key variables, which urgently need to be addressed. Procedure/ Sample The paper is unfortunately very brief about the procedure and sample of the survey. Given the self-selection problems in sex research, I was surprised to read that few precautions were taken to minimize this bias. Why was snowballing not avoided, but even encouraged (p. 5)? Why did the study not include some simple quotas, most notably for gender (see below)? Was there a control of whether a particular respondent filled in the survey multiple times? In addition, I assume that informed consent was explicitly asked for, but this should be mentioned briefly. Finally, is there an indication of how many respondents were contacted and what the response rate was? There are also several important questions about the sample. First, why was the study limited to sexually active students? Sexual experience may create a limiting boundary condition for what the paper is interested in. Second, why was the age frame limited to 18- to 25-year olds? Is this related to the theory of emerging adulthood? Third, why was the study limited to university students? We complain about such convenience samples in experimental research. There  may be even more concerns about such samples in survey research. While the concerns raised in the previous paragraphs address very severe shortcomings, they may even be multiplied by the fact that twice as many women as men filled in the questionnaire. This is a crucial problem because the basic conclusion of the paper is that the model only works for women, but not for men. To be sure, the paper mentions these shortcomings in the discussion section, but that does unfortunately not reduce its importance. Table 2 shows small to moderate zero-order correlations for men and women. However, with twice as many women as men in the sample, an r = -.11 is significant for women, while an r = .13 is not significant for men. Both for men and women, the correlations are in the same direction. I guess that, with an equal number of men and women (e.g., 350 each), the model would largely hold for both. This would also be a more reasonable sample size in terms of statistical power consideration. In conclusion, there is reason to believe that one of the main conclusions of the paper is a result of a severe shortcoming in the sample procedure of the study. Analysis The general problems with the gender analysis notwithstanding, I was wondering why the paper does not apply a multiple-group analysis. This is a more rigorous way of testing whether the various paths differ between women and men than the strategy currently employed. I was wondering whether the SEM analysis used item-parceling strategies. Otherwise, there need to be more manifest indicators in the models. Finally, the statistical testing of indirect effects (i.e., whether they differ significantly from zero) has become a standard procedure and should be included. Discussion In the light of the problems raised above, some of the conclusions raised in the discussion section may need some reconsideration. (This is my opinion, and the authors may or may not follow them). First, I am hesitant to agree with the paper that the findings have â€Å"little if any practical significance† (p. 10). The discussions about effect sizes in media effects research in particular and the social sciences in general have been outlined elsewhere and do not have to be repeated here. Against that backdrop, an explained variance of 8% (with two predictor variables related to pornography) in  recreational attitudes and of 16% in relationship intimacy does not seem trivial to me. It may indeed be that other variables (family, peers etc.) have a greater influence, but this needs some more backing in order to contextualize the effects found. I agree with the paper that the moral panic that surrounds pornography finds no support in any research published so far. However, this does not mean that the effects found in this paper and elsewhere are trivial, at least when considered in the context of media effects research and against the backdrop of the methodological and statistical problems that this kind of research faces. Second, it seems to me that the paper contradicts itself when, on the one hand, it rejects main effects as too simplistic (p. 3) and, on the other hand, describes the found indirect effects as practically insignificant. No serious media effects researcher would disagree that media effects are typically not direct and that a focus on the â€Å"how† and â€Å"why† of such effects is important. If we can explain how precisely media affect people, then this may have enormous practical significance, especially if we can outline which people may be affected and which may not (in line with Malamuth ’s ideas). Third, I agree that love maps and sexual scripts may explain sexual attitudes and behavior, probably even better than media use (p. 11). But it remains unclear to me where, precisely, this is tested in the model. Some clarification may be helpful. Fourth, it may also be helpful to specify how the distinction between imagined and real sex lives relates to the model tested, apart from outlining that perceptions of pornographic realism may never fully translate into people’s actual sex lives. In sum, this is important and interesting research. However, the theoretical, conceptual, and methodological weaknesses currently outweigh the strengths of the paper so that its contribution to our knowledge about how the use of pornography affects relationship intimacy in adulthood is limited.