Descriptive Profile of Milford Sound Fjord Essay

Descriptive Profile of Milford Sound Fjord - Essay Example They stand tall on either side of the narrow curving inlet and rise towards the sky protruding from the stretch of water. While some hills are coated a dark green hue with trees and appear all soft and bushy, others have streaks of lighter green canopy adorning them. Yet some others appear a bit grayish and rocky, whereas the peaks of the mountain are snow-capped with bits of a green impression on them like the ones done to blend two different colors in a painting. The white mist that seems to hang only on the mountain peaks are actually the vast spread clouds. There can also be seen clouds in the form of white fluffy puffballs that encircle the peaks giving the idea of a pointed birthday hat with a sphere on top. At some parts of the mountains, the eye catches white moving streaks falling towards the ground, which are the temporary waterfalls created after the heavy rains. However, the Milford Sound proudly shows off its two cascading beauties, the Stirling Falls, and the Lady Bowen Falls. The Bowen River trickles along the hill before it falls off the cliff and splashes into the inlet. The clear deep blue inlet is almost always dotted with ships that bring in tourists from all around the world. The blasts made by the whistles of the ship bounce of the cliffs and fade into the distance. Another sight to watch is when the powerful winds blow, the temporary waterfalls get pushed back vertically and they tend to move upwards, as the current of the water is changed by the wind. If one is lost in a hypnotic trance from the scenic beauty, they will be brought back to senses by the calls of dolphins, seals and also the penguins, just like I was. A rare creature present here is the Whio (blue duck), the males of which â€Å"whistle† and the females make â€Å"guttural rattle-like† calls (Milford Track 5). The climate at the sound is very pleasant as there is rainfall mostly and it proved to be much better than any man-made equipment that adjusts room temperature.

Gun control in America Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Gun control in America - Essay Example The rate of homicide has been directly related to gun ownership according to research and case studies (Hepburn et al., 419). Over 60% of murders involve guns in the United States and are more common in urban areas (Hepburn et al., 419). Individually or as a part of juvenile-crime bill (ESPO), gun control laws have set a precedent for strict legislation against guns by the gun control advocates after each incident of public shooting. The 1999 Colorado school shooting resulted in strict gun control laws to be passed which were never considered likely to be passed before (Gimpel, 92). The laws mainly restricted gun availability to the children and put the responsibility of gun’s use in crime on the owner to curtail usage by minors. The stigma created by the gun control often results in counter arguments and conspiracy theories. The gun control critics rebut claims of the relationship between guns and homicide with the fact that there is lesser gun violence in England and Wales w here firearm availability is less as compared to the United States. The legislation to curb gun control is criticized as unconstitutional with the emphasis on controlling crime and not the guns (Bogart, 339). 1986 Gun Owners Protection Act was one of the successful movements to counter objectionable legislation against gun ownership (Tatalovich et al., 177). The for and against sides of gun control reflected in the government as well as the lawmakers, which makes it equally possible for both sides to get their way; the debate being carried on to lawmaking platforms. Furthermore, illegal arms markets and dealings have only endangered the point of view of the pro-gun activists. The illegal gun trade is generally to facilitate crime and stricter background checks and registration laws have been requested time and again to control such activity. As such, where firearm registration would be a reasonable way to go, absolute abandonment of guns as proposed by the gun control activists is v ehemently opposed by the pro-gun side. Destitute individuals being more likely to misuse guns have been pointed out in different researches; poverty and gun ownership is said to be a bad combination and a motivation for crime (Deborah et al., 92). Gun owners advocate that the law is for the law abiding; criminals will acquire guns illegally for illegal use and only the law abiding citizens would be affected by the gun control laws. A series of ad hominems being thrown on have made the issue delicate and often a point in election campaigns. Firearm storage being a major problem when guns are not properly locked away and are kept loaded cause unfortunate incidents. Unintentional firearm injuries and deaths caused by this have called for further gun control laws (Miller et al., 37). This on the other hand is seen by the gun owners as a need to create awareness about gun safety. Societies like National Rifle Association have long worked on this to promote guns, yet create awareness abou t the right usage and storage. NRA has been staunchly assisting gun owners and it holds annual gatherings to facilitate the gun rights and advocate the second amendment. According to another set of findings, only 25% of murders are committed using a gun (Street Crime in America, 1323). This means that the derivation of guns as a concept for crime and enforcing laws will have an effect on gun ownership, but not the crime which is the target

Family System Theory Essay Example for Free

Family System Theory Essay In my attempt to outline a family seeking therapy for domestic violence using the Family Systems Theory, I will first give a detailed account of the family history, and then embark on the problem before tackling the intervention strategy. Family History John married Jane 20 years ago.   At the time of their marriage, John had a well paying job which could support his nuclear family as well as his parents.   Johns parents were peasant farmers who actually had sold everything they had in order to pay Johns school fees.    Johns parents had placed a lot of hope in him before he contracted this marriage. This fact led them to discourage John from marrying Jane since they considered that John having spent the family resources in his education, he had every reason first to pay school fees for his young brothers.   To avoid clashing with his parents, John promised to handle both responsibilities (that is, caring for the younger siblings and his wife).   After lengthy deliberations the parents submitted to his observations and allowed him to go forward and marry Jane. On the other hand, Jane at the time of marriage was employed as a sales girl and earned amount that could see her through most of her needs.   Jane appeared to be a self styled lady depicting a lot of wealth.   Even though Janes parents were notoriously religious, Jane had an out of wedlock child which she was caring at her parents. This issue was however unknown to John. Jane did not bother or she ignored to disclose to John about this issue.   John only happened to know about the kid a few weeks to their wedding day.   This did not detract John from marrying her fiancà ©e. Jane was the last born in a family of six children, 3 girls and 3 boys.   Her parents were wealthy and of middle social standing.   This family not only was it capable of meeting basic needs but also some luxuries.   Her elder brothers were all married and comfortably settled down.   The two elder girls were also married to wealthy husbands who owned some assortments of luxurious properties including several vehicles.   Unlike Johns family, Janes family was in actual fact composed of well to do family members. It is important to note that Janes educational background was not pleasing as she had dropped out of school when she contracted her first pregnancy.   John however, had knowledge of her lovers, educational background and seemed to be contended with the situation.   At first, when Jane highlighted to her parents about her future prospects, they at first disapproved the marriage on the grounds that John could afterwards ditch her due to her first child or due to her educational standards.   Jane succeeded to bargain for blessing of the marriage through cheating her parents that John was aware of everything, thus there was no cause of worry. The Problem As noted earlier, few days after John married Jane, there was a misunderstanding over the first issue as John demanded an apology from Jane for failing to disclose fully her status.   This time the marriage was saved by the intervention of Johns parents who pleaded with him to shelve the matter and love his wife as before. Joy returned to these couples and within a period of 10 years, they had 3 more children inside the wedlock.   John managed to convince Jane to leave her job so as to concentrate with family matters, which included taking care of the children among others. This move however, was viewed by Johns in-laws negatively as they considered Johns salary to be insufficient.   They also had negative thoughts about the future status of their daughters marriage, as they had conviction that John would one day ditch Jane.   They rebuked Jane for being seduced to terminate her employment. During the 15 years into marriage, John was suspended from his employment under very queer circumstances.   What happened is that John, while supposed to be on duty, had that day requested a fellow workmate to play his part, while he attended to some family issues. Unfortunately, the same day, there occurred some robbery at his place of work and more particularly involving his department.   This called for his suspension pending investigation that was followed by his dismissal without terminal benefits. Upon dismissal John and his family moved to there rural home. Coping with life was not easy as the family had to readjust and face some of the realities of life. The family was in total economic disrepair and john for the sake of saving the situation sold most of his rag-tag assets. However the going was not smooth as these did not last the family for a ling time. As a way of escaping realities of life, John started to drink. This only served the purpose of increasing his problems. Upon being confronted by her wife he resorted to abusive language. The problem facing the family now is that as a result of John’s change of behavior Jane’s parents are blaming her for failing to listen to their instructions in the first place. Even though they have secured Jane something to see the family through basic needs, they are threatening to withhold the same if she keeps on sticking to this doomed marriage. On the other hand John’s children seem to be suffering from emotional distress due to the misunderstanding pitying the parents. The out of wed-lock daughter is considering that their father is battering her mother due to her presence in the family. John seems to be sinking deep and deeper in drug and substance abuse. He abuses his children through neglect as well as physically associating them. John’s parents seem to suggest that John made a mistake in marrying Jane for reasons which are not clear. The family is about to break-down as john is engaged in all manner of domestic violence. Sometime when drunk he raises the subject of the first daughter, a topic that Jane considers to have been dealt with in the past. He also sees Jane’s parents to be the source of all his problems as he associates them with wealthy bureaucrats who are out to play down his marriage. There is total communication breakdown in John’s family as well as between the extended family (in-laws). The family with the aid of a Good Samaritan is now seeking therapy. Remember Jane is cursing herself for having disrespectful to her parent’s advice. The same thing is also happening to John. This culminates into the children loosing hope. Therapy The therapy required here should encompass all the members of the nuclear as well as the extended family. First it is important to evaluate the family through scheduling interviews that involves with some members of this immediate family. This interview should include children as well as two significant members of the extended family. There is a need for the therapist to be a man and woman as to treat gender related issues on top of serving as role models for the family. The therapy being based on the family systems theory the family should be regarded wholly as being the unit of treatment. Therefore emphasis should be placed on communication processes. John’s family should be analyzed first. Therapist’s comments and remarks should be structured in a manner likely to help family members become more conscious of patterns or structures that had been previously ignored. Sessions should be structured in a way that members of the extended family can, eat together, so as to afford the most required ingredient of family to succeed-communication. By the end of the therapy members of this family including the IP (Identified Patient) should be seen to differentiate. Reference Nichols, M.P. Schwartz, R.C. (2006). Recent Developments in Family Therapy: Integrative Models; in Family therapy: concepts and methods. 7th Ed. Boston: Pearson/Allyn Bacon.

Cryptography With Biometrics For Secure Key Exchange

Cryptography With Biometrics For Secure Key Exchange Biometrics is the application of biometry techniques to the authentication and automatic identification of people in security systems. The traditional concept of biometry addresses the application of mathematical and statistical techniques to biological sciences. Biometrics on the other hand can be said to be the science of recognizing the identity of a person based on the physical or behavioural attributes of the individual such as face, fingerprints, voice and iris (Jain et al). In Modern society, Biometrics has been important to large scale identity management systems whose functionality relies on the accurate determination of an individuals identity in several different applications context (). Traditional methods of establishing a persons identity includes knowledge based (e.g., passwords) and token based (e.g., ID cards) mechanisms, but these substitute representations of identity can be lost easily, shared, manipulated or stolen thereby compromising the intended security. By using biometrics it is possible to establish an identity based on who you are, rather than by what you possess, such as an ID card, or what you remember, such as a password (Poli et al, 2009). Biometrics is not recommended for every application and user, and in some cases biometric authentication is simply the wrong solution. Defining those environments in which biometrics offers the strongest benefit to individuals and institutions is one of the major challenges facing the biometric industry As time goes by, the increasing success and affordability of biometric technologies has continually broadened the range of applications in which biometrics operate effectively (). Cryptography is the science of writing in secret code and is an ancient art. The goal of cryptography extends beyond merely making data unreadable. In this project it also extends into user authentication. The security of a cryptographic system is dependent relatively on the secrecy of the cryptographic key and not causing inconvenience when it falls in the hand of the enemy. Therefore, the key issue in cryptography is key management (Dong et al, 2008). Biometrics can be used to protect the key in cryptography, while cryptography and data hiding can be used to protect biometric templates (). Combining biometrics and cryptography together will have the potential to offer higher assurance of the legal information holder. Key management is an important issue in cryptographic systems. There are several ways to combine biometrics with a cryptosystem, namely: Biometrics key release Biometrics key generation Biometrics key binding In a key release mode, biometrics plays a predetermined role in a cryptosystem. The key would be released to users only if biometric matching is successful. A key generation mode requires the key of a cryptosystem being derived directly from a biometric template, hence the unique biometrics provides a unique key for the security system based on some transform or feature extraction. In the key binding mode, the system binds a cryptographic key with the users biometrics at the time of enrolment. The key would be retrieved only upon a successful authentication. The key generation/binding modes seem to be more secure than the key release mode because in key release mode, the user authentication and key release are two separate parts (Dong et al, 2008). The conventional cryptography systems do not need any complex pattern recognition strategy as in biometric systems. They almost always depend on an accurate key matching process. That is, it requires that keys are exactly correct and does not tolerate a single bit error. However, as biometric characteristics are known to be variable and noisy and each new biometric sample is always different, only an approximate match under a threshold between the input biometric data to a corresponding stored template would lead the authentication successful. Aim and Objectives Integrating only biometric authentication on systems exposes new problems. This project investigates how to enhance biometrics security using cryptographic encryption and attempts to present an overview of an up to date research in this increasingly important topic by putting biometrics, cryptography and data hiding in the same context of security enhancement. The Objectives in this project are to: Identify the main characteristics of Biometrics. Identify the main security characteristics of Cryptography and Biometrics. Identify threats and attacks towards Biometrics. Propose countermeasures for securing Biometric Templates. Evaluate attack techniques against Crypto-Systems. Research Question The following research questions have been identified after some initial investigation and going through the initial literature review. Will the combination of biometrics and cryptography secure a system from attacks and produce a secured channel to exchange data. Hypotheses The hypotheses below have been created by extensive research into biometric systems, cryptographic encryption and the security. The hypotheses created in this project are the initial reviews and may change throughout the project. The identification of threats and attacks in biometrics and cryptographic systems security. The information collected will be used to create attack scenarios to conduct an experiment on the different threats faced by biometric systems and cryptographic encryption then identify any countermeasures that can be used to secure the system. Rationale Section 2 Methods 2.1. Secondary Research Method (Literature Review) The literature review will give a detailed insight into the combination of biometrics and cryptography for the purpose of securing data exchanges. By looking at the wider topic before the development will allow the study to take a more furnished approach to a useful answer to the research question. The main objectives of the literature review will be to: Identify the main characteristics of Biometrics. Identify the main security characteristics of Cryptography and Biometrics. Identify threats and attacks towards Biometrics. Identify threats and attacks towards Cryptographic Encryption. Countermeasures for securing Biometric Templates. Evaluate attack techniques against Crypto-Systems. Identifying suitable data gathering techniques for the project. Identifying suitable data analyse techniques for the project. 2.1.1 Literature Sources Books Journals Journal of Applied Security Research, 2010 International Journal of Computer Science and Network Security, 2009 Information Forensics and Security, 2010 Conferences Science and Technology for Humanity (TIC-STH), 2009 IEEE Toronto International Conference, 2009 Computer Security Applications Conference, 2008 Websites IEEE/IEE Electronic Library (IEL) via IEEE Xplore http://www.ieee.org/ieeexplore ProQuest http://proquest.umi.com Springerlink www.springerlink.com 2.2. Primary Research Method (Experiment) Section 3 Resources and Risks 3.1. Required Resources Throughout this project, many resources are required for carrying out the experiment and the initial literature review. 3.1.1. Literature based resources Access to Glasgow Caledonian University library: To gain access to computers to research literature on the internet, Athens, or access books which have been published by authors that may be relevant to Cryptography and Biometrics. Internet connectivity for any other research such as Google scholar: Home and university based internet connectivity will be needed to further research any literature that may be needed. 3.1.2. Experiment based resources 3.2. Risks Section 4 Project Plan The main tasks which have to be completed during the project, the estimated time to complete and any deliverables that may be available at that time of the project are shown below. A Gantt chart will be produced to show the tasks to be done in parallel rather than in sequence to manage time effectively and avoid delays. 4.1. Project Task

greek vase painting Essay -- essays research papers fc

Greek Vase Painting   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In modern society, Greek pottery is considered an art which is regarded as much for its aesthetic splendor as its historical significance. However, the role of pottery in ancient Greek culture was far more functional as its primary use was for the transportation and storage of such liquids as water and wine (Encyclopedia Britannica). Due to the durability of the fired clay material, Greek pottery is the only remaining art form that allows us to explore the evolution of this ancient culture. Through that examination, three distinct stylistic periods have been unveiled: Geometric, Orientalizing and Archaic. This analysis will detail these distinct periods as well as three design techniques prevalently used: black figure, red figure and white ground   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The first definable period of Greek pottery, Geometric (c. 900-700 BCE), accounts for the majority of ancient vase painting still in existence today; and as such, affords us the broadest view into this art form. The period attributes its name to the geometric forms that artists used to detail their vessels. The primary decorative motifs that distinguish the period include parallel lines, concentric (Metropolitan Museum of Art) rituals as depicted in this Krater from 750 BCE which is characteristic of this era. The primary scene that occupies the widest portion of this particular vase depicts a deceased body placed on its side on a funeral bier surrounded by family members and mourners. The secondary zone below details a procession of horse drawn chariots and soldiers carrying hourglass shields. The illustration of people and animals is both abstract and two-dimensional as artists of the Geometric era regularly used triangular torsos and long thin arms and legs (Stokstad, 160).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The second distinct period which originated in Corinth in 700 BCE and spanned one hundred years is now known as the Orientalizing period. This period gets its name from the introduction of Egyptian and Eastern influences on Greek pottery during this time. The impact of foreign styles lead to the introduction of the black-figure technique that has come to epitomize the era. In Black-figure painting, figures and ornaments were drawn in silhouette on the natural clay surface of the vase ... ...des us with a glimpse into the ancient culture using beautiful and detailed designs. The art form has been sustained in fired clay for thousands of years indiscriminately telling its story to the world and to history. Bibliography 1.Chamoux, Francois. The Pallas Library of Art: Greek Art. Greenwich, New York. Graphic Society. 1966. 2. Stokstad, Marilyn. Art History. New York, New York. Harry Abrams, Inc. 2002. 3. â€Å"Black Figure.† http://www.beazley.ox.ac.uk/CGPrograms/Dict/ASP/OpenDictionary.asp?name black-figure.html 10 November 2004. 4. â€Å"Red Figure.† http://www.beazley.ox.ac.uk/CGPrograms/Dict/ASP/OpenDictionary.asp?namered- figure.html 10 November 2004. 5. â€Å"Orientalizing.† http://www.beazley.ox.ac.uk/Pottery/Lecture1/Script/GreekPaintedPottery1.asp 30 September 2004. 6. â€Å"Greek Pottery.† http://www.search.eb.com/search?query=pottery&ct=eb 11 November 2004. 7. â€Å"Greek and Roman Art.† http://www.metmuseum.org/Works_of_Art/viewHigh.asp?dep=13&full=0&set=3 11 November 2004.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  

Impact of Revolution on women and slavery Essay -- essays research pap

The American Revolution caused a change in America that was far greater than just the forming of an independent nation. In the years after the revolution, a government had to be set in place. The new nation was greatly influenced by models of previous governments, including Great Britain and ancient Greece and Rome. Despite the great change in political structure, aspects of social culture were influenced by the revolution as well, especially in the areas of slavery and the status of women.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The ideology of the revolution can be looked at as a positive step in the area of slavery. The years following the revolution saw a larger opposition towards the whole principal of slavery. The North during the late 1700’s saw a slow decline in slavery, to the point where it was being ended. Vermont was the first colony to fully abolish slavery in 1777, and Massachusetts soon followed. Emancipation laws were implemented by Pennsylvania and New Jersey as well, and in New Hampshire no slaves were present by 1810. The South did not show as much generosity to the issue of slavery, however many colonies did change laws that restricted a slave owner’s right to free their slaves. The only colonies that refused to implement these laws were South Carolina and Georgia. The years subsequent to the revolution saw a large jump in the number of free African-Americans. Despite all these advancements for African-Americans, whites still did not recognize them as equa ls. In th...

A Book Review: Back to the Front by Stephen O’Shea

With Back to the Front Stephen O'Shea has written a very interesting, non-fiction book that crosses a variety of genres. It is a travel book, a personal journey, and an anecdotal history of World War I. Instead suffering from a staggering number of facts, Back to the Front provides historical information on a more personal, more immediate level. It is the story of the Western Front; it is also the story of discovering that story. Back to the Front tells the story of what O'Shea experienced while walking the route of the World War I trench lines from Nieuport, Belgium to the Swiss border 450 miles to the south and east.Throughout the summer of 1986 O'Shea walked through the length of the infamous no man's land that separated the German Army and the Allied Armies from 1914 through 1918. During his journey O'Shea recorded his thoughts, and collected bits of information and scraps of memories not only of his journey, but of the First World War and its impact and relationship to its futur e, our present day. He augments these with detailed research not only of the battles of World War I, but with information of other wars that allows the reader to make comparisons with events he or she may be familiar with.O'Shea wrote Back to the Front in a simple, easy to read style. He seems to anticipate the reader's experience and provide resolution to difficulties the reader may have. When he enters Ypres, that difficult to spell and harder to pronounce city in Belgium, O'Shea provides the pronunciation for the reader: ee-pruh; and provides an interesting anecdote where he claims the English occupying forces struggled with the same difficult and decided to call it â€Å"Wipers† (O'Shea, 31).Back to the Front relates not only the details of his physical journey highlighted with interesting and amusing anecdotes, it provides graphic details of the enormity of the war. Some of these facts are staggering. To the Boomers whose primary war experience is Vietnam with its approx imate fifty thousand United States troops killed and to later generations that have seen 3,000+ American deaths in Iraq, it is difficult to internalize how the French could have had 210,000 soldiers killed in the month of August 1914. Such tragic losses were not unusual in the Great War.Time and again the military leadership of France and England ordered soldiers forward in open attacks on the well entrenched German soldiers. Hundreds of thousands of men were killed as they bravely, but foolishly followed their orders. O'Shea tells of a German officer who described the British soldiers as â€Å"lions led by donkeys† (O'Shea, 30). Stephen O'Shea is a Canadian writer and journalist who has lived in Paris since the early 1980s. Born in 1956 O'Shea spent his childhood at â€Å"the whim of [his] father's employers . . . bopping from city to town to city every two or thee years† (O'Shea, 3).Consequently he is like many members of the generation that lacks roots because of th e mobility the automobile provided to North American families in the Twentieth Century. Previous to his walk across Europe, O'Shea had visited the site Battle of the Somme and had become aware just how little impact the â€Å"war to end all wars appeared to have on his generation, the Baby Boomers. O'Shea tries to overcome the attitude common to members of all generations that his generation is somehow special and that the experiences previous generations were of limited value and should be ignored and dismissed â€Å". . .as a sort of tedious overture humanity had to endure before the real divas stepped on stage† (O'Shea, 2). He tries to overcome the attitude that â€Å"[i]f a thing is history, it is a loser. Been there, done that, let's move on† (O'Shea, 1). What results is not a just history although one certainly learns history, nor is it just a travel book that describes far away places for the armchair traveler to enjoy. Back to the Front is the story of not onl y O'Shea's walk through the trenches, but it is the story of the Baby Boomer generation searching for its place in the world, but searching for its place in history.Undoubtedly, O'Shea's book is not unique, perhaps not even special, it is a book, about a generation's search for its place in history. However it is a good book and a thoughtful book that should be read not only by Baby Boomers, but later generations as well when these generations approach middle age and are trying to locate their place in the past, present, and future. Works Cited O'Shea, Stephen. Back to the Front: An Accidental Historian Walks the Trenches of World War I. New York: Walker and Company,1996.