Long-Term Debt Gaap V Ifrs

Long-Term Debt U. S. GAAP vs. IFRS Scott Bailey Acc 311 Debruine Every company in the world must raise funds in order to finance its operations and expansion. The most common form of this funding is through the use of long-term debt. Depending on where the company does business and who uses their financial statements, there are different ways of recording this debt through the use of United States Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (U. S. GAAP) and International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS).The main differences between the two accounting standards, with regards to long-term debt recognition, deal with debt issue costs and convertible bonds. Debt issue costs are the payments associated with issuing debt, such as various fees and commissions to third parties. According to U. S. GAAP these payments generate future benefits that under ASC 835-30-45-3 are recorded on the balance sheet as deferred charges. These charges are capitalized, reflected in the balance sheet as an as set, and amortized over the life of the debt instrument. Early debt repayment results in expensing these costs.Under IFRS costs are deducted from the carrying value of the financial liability and are not recorded as separate assets. Rather, they are accounted for as a debt discount and amortized using the effective interest method. (IAS 39, par 43) The debate between which set of standards correctly portrays the financial implications of these costs is centered on the idea of matching expenses and revenue. Those for U. S. GAAP argue that the deferred costs create an asset to which we can then match the revenue with the expenses over the useful life of the debt.This is in compliance with the matching principle of the conceptual framework for financial accounting. Under IFRS the costs are said to be immaterial and do not require consideration of the matching principle. This brings up possible issues of managed earnings based on when companies are issuing debt and when they are recogni zing the issue costs. A convertible bond is a type of bond that the holder can convert into shares of common stock in the issuing company or cash of equal value, at an agreed-upon price.The difference between US and international standards arises when determining how to measure and account for convertible feature of the bond. Under U. S. GAAP, ASC-420-20-25-6 states: A contingent beneficial conversion feature shall be measured using the commitment date stock price but shall not be recognized in earnings until the contingency is resolved. This basically says that the convertible feature of the bond is not recognized until it is actually resolved.Under IFRS they refer to the convertible part of the bond (equity element) as an embedded derivative which must be accounted for separately from the liability element of the bond. (IAS 39, par 11) These embedded derivatives are treated the same as stand-alone derivatives in that they are measured at fair value with all changes in fair value r ecognized in profit or loss. (IAS 39, par 46) This process of recording causes a company to be less stable and more reactive to changes in the market. This is not necessarily a bad thing because it accurately portrays the value of the future benefits of the bonds.Accounting for convertible bonds and debt issue costs is likely to change in the future. The US and international standard boards are constantly working on a convergence in order to have a single set of accounting standards for every business. The issues with long-term debt are only a few of many differences that need to be resolved between IFRS and U. S. GAAP. They have been working on the idea of a convergence for many years and personally I do not believe there will be any type of convergence in the near future.With that being said it is important that we know the differences in reporting between IFRS and U. S. GAAP and are able to recognize the financial implications of these differences. Works Consulted Financial Accou nting Foundation. (n. d. ). Financial Accounting Standards Board. In FASB Accounting Codification Standards. Retrieved October 11, 2012, from http://www. fasb. org/home IFRS Foundation. (n. d. ). International Financial Reporting Standards. In eIFRS . Retrieved October 11, 2012, from http://eifrs. ifrs. org/IB/Register

China vs. the World: Whose Technology Is It?

China vs. The world: Whose technology is it? Executive summary China, the country with incredible fast-growing speed of development, now is becoming more attractive to Western investing companies than ever. China governments know that and they try to take advantage over that point by forcing the multinational companies to share technology in the exchange of future investing opportunities. This strategy has created a lot of argument and discontent between China government and foreign companies. China government recognized the importance of technologies and investment in R&D in the processing of becoming the world’s top five economies.They developed three-pronged plans to solve this problem, mainly by investing in certain industries, by learning and generating economics scale, and by receiving technologies from foreign partners. Chinese government also know that it is possible to lose their foreign partners’ investment to other emerging countries while they still depend m uch on technology of Western and developed countries( Japan, Korea). Many strategies are processed by government to limit the control of the foreign companies over the domestic market and to support their own players.For instance, multinational companies only could hold 49% of the equity stake of new company or 70% of each system had to be locally. In the software industries, government decreases tax for domestic companies, they require the foreign software has to disclose their source and requires the software version for China. Local banks even give loans with below-market rate to domestic companies. However some certain industries of China are still unable to compete with strong and competitive foreign companies. The conflicts between China and the U. S. have been raised due to China’s policies.The author mentioned that the main reason is because of the basic difference of policy and culture: China focuses on saving for future and U. S. cares about current consumptions. Ho wever in the bright side both of them are pragmatic, operate at the top and both of them want to enhance the trade flow between two countries. Among the interaction between China and the U. S. the multinational companies have to find their own ways to adjust and overcome that tension. For most foreign companies that want to succeed in China market, teaming up the Chinese executive and making themselves indispensible to the Chinese government is essential.Once they have something that China wants and no one else has, they are able to win the bargain with Chinese government. However it is rare exception, mostly they are still learning to protect their intellectual property in China. Personal arguments The article brought up the very interesting topic of China and its role in global economy in the 21st century. It helps us to understand how China government is heading for and how they use their policies to fight in the global market.If China succeeds in these policies to promote the hi gh-technology, we would likely to see a boom technological boom in some years since the market became more competitive, both China and developed countries would be pressed to gain new innovation with faster speed or else they would be able to lose the market share to their competitors. After all, the one who get benefits most is consumers because now we can easily purchase high-tech products with affordable price, it changed the high-tech products from niche product to become mass product.Besides, it looks like Chinese government is trying to learn the lesson from Japan in the past. After the post-war, Japan was successful in buying technology from the west. It started developing high- tech products and production facilities. Lastly, from China’s point of view, China’s current policy is very helpful to meet the urgent requirement of development. However for the long-term, Chinese government need to gain their own resource of technology and innovation. Otherwise in some situation they will lose in bargaining with their foreign partners because they can always shift to other emerging countries.

Victory Dance of the Lotha Nagas

VICTORY DANCE Rhanthungo Kikon INTRODUCTION: LOTHAS of TSUNGIKI village performed this dance in the days of old when young warriors from a CHUMPO (popularly known as MORUNG) visited other CHUMPOS in the different KHELS of the village. For the young warriors, this Victory Dance acted both as a fit reminder of the great victories their forefathers had over their enemies and also as an inspiration for them to replicate in the future. It was a time to take pride from their past achievements and to encourage and dare each other for the days to come. It prepared them for the future. Those were the days†¦ THE DANCE: Now, the present generation performs the Victory Dance on all occasions. But the spirit and zeal of the warriors performing this dance remain as spirited and as full of fervour since times immemorial. Behold! All the young warriors are out of the CHUMPOS bedecked in all their ornamental fineries. Among them include the round black head-wigs made of the long hair from the neck and shoulders of the Himalayan black bear, or of the fur of the arms of the male gibbon. On the head-wigs, as warriors of proven valours, are stuck in the feathers of the great bird, the Hornbill. On their arms, they have wristlets, bracelets and elbow armlets made of parts of sawn-off tubes of elephants’ tusks. Across their shoulders are thrown over colourful baldric-like woven strips of cloths. Joined to the end of the baldrics at the waist are the spikes’ holders – the spikes were used during raids over enemy camps. Kneecaps, the LENGTA and the colourfully decorated daos and spears complete their attire. Now the young warriors will go around dancing in two rows to finally make a circle. Singing along and shouting loud cries as they stamp their feet, twirl their daos and spears, they make the circle – an indication of having surrounded their enemies. When they have their enemies surrounded, they thrust up their spears and dare each other not to let any enemy warrior escape from their individual posts or positions. THE SHANTHA: An exciting, and perhaps the most important, part of the Victory dance is the SHANTHA. The name ‘Victory Dance’ rightly belongs to this part-dance within the dance. The SHANTHA is performed by four of the most-abled warriors. This group acts as the Escort of the warriors. It also is the rearguard and flanks protection of the warriors. The SHANTHA warriors are also wont to perform many skills and antics. Among them is the biting and holding of their daos on the blunt sides as they hop along – it is actually an oath-taking pledge not to die in enemies’ hands. They will also take a stance and hop forwards and backwards challenging their enemies making it clear what they will do to them with their daos and spears.

Analyze and discuss the issues of music and authenticity in relation Essay - 1

Analyze and discuss the issues of music and authenticity in relation to two or three of the films - Essay Example In this movie, the audiovisual uses multiple communication channels including mainly: image, sound, verbal language (written or spoken). The sound acts directly on the senses of viewers, much more than the image and the verb. Its impact is much more subtle:   an image or a word provide immediate intellectual meaning and cause reactions largely conscious. Instead, this movie is largely beyond an intellectual analysis because its benchmarks are not palpable. The viewer receives it and reacts subjectively. The sound in this movie,   more than any other carrier, is handling affective and semantics means of an audiovisual message: images and words. There is a connection between a musical vocabulary, referring to aesthetic and sensory phenomena, and the vocabulary of everyday life, covering an ethical and intellectual reality of this time. Reconciling these two semantic universe can only afford to develop a specific speech and the music gives the tone to the speech in this movie, the m usic is in very tight collaboration with the sentences, with the environment, with the epoch. In the world of entertainment, the design of a musical message partially escapes its own creators: the intuition and experience offset the lack of a grammar of the language of music. The effectiveness of the message comes with a simple observation: "it works" or "it does not work†...

Dyspraxia In Early Years Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Dyspraxia In Early Years - Essay Example Difficulties arise with this condition, and affects: â€Å"intellectual, emotional, physical, language, social and sensory development† (Vickerman, 2008). The concept of this condition had existed more than a century, but its etiology remains unknown (Occupational Therapy Cork, n.d.). A number of theories had been developed; however, none specifically pinpointed its etiology. Although the primary reflex theory had been the initial model for dyspraxia, stimulation of the brain theory better illustrated the developmental learning and coping strategies on dyspraxia clients. The theories, primitive reflex theory and stimulation of the brain theory had both been based on development and capability of central nervous system (central and peripheral). The grounds for primitive reflex theory (neuromaturational model), as asserted by Mulhall (n.d.), involved the immaturity of neurological reflexes as disruption in nervous system development occurs. Alternatively, the stimulation of the brain theory (dynamic systems model) proposed â€Å"the interpretation of sensory inputs by the CNS, and particular actions are selected based on current experience, state of internal and external environment and one’s memory of similar movements† (Floet & Duran, 2010). The general causes for both theories are similar: â€Å"hereditary, physical/psychological trauma, movement deprivation, soft neurological damage, perceptual difficulties, obesity or low fitness level† (Hammond, 2005). In primitive reflex model, causes given had been arranged in primary and secondary order—in hierarchal pattern. These had been neatly categorized, and most involved elements directly and indirectly connected with CNS function. On the other hand, stimulation of the brain approach had shown a more complex relationship. The dynamism of the model had been presented in a way in which all factors (causes) had interlinked with each other. This revealed one significant point, â€Å"the performance of a motor action

Research Findings, Statistical Analysis and interpretation for Essay - 2

Research Findings, Statistical Analysis and interpretation for Etisalat Telecom Corporation - Essay Example Next is the presentation of results of reliability analysis are presented for all the items used in the questionnaire and for each item used in the questionnaire. The third section presents the results of correlation analysis using graphs where the performance data is graphically presented on their associations. The last section presents the results of hypotheses tests using one-sample t-tests. Table 1 shows the age distribution of the respondents. As shown, the results show that 34% of the respondents were aged 21-25 years, 11% were aged 26-30 years, 13% were aged 31-35 years, 16% were aged 36-40 years, and 28% were aged 41 years or above. Thus most of the respondents were aged 21-25 and above 40 years. These results are also presented in Figure 1. The graphical presentation of ratio analysis is provided in Figures 2, 3, 4 and 5. As shown there has been a decline in performance of Etisat in all the ratios. It can be noted that since 2006, the gross profit margin, pre (ITDA) profit margin, operating profit margin, and net profit margin has been falling to the lowest in 2012. Figure 2 shows that the gross profit margin was 79.21% and declined to 75.94 in 2007, 68.63% in 2008, 68% in 2009, 67.25% in 2010, 64.2% in 2011 and in 2012. This clearly shows a decline in the gross profit margin for Etisalat Company. Figure 3 show that pre (ITDA) profit margin was highest in 2006 at 76.82% and lowest in 2012 at 61.65% having declined over the period of analysis. Figure 4 also shows a decline in operating profit margin as it was the highest in 2006 at 68.25% and lowest in 2012 at 51.69% having also declined over the years. Figure 5 shows that the net profit margin was highest in 2006 at 35.97% and lowest in 2012 at 26.92%. This shows a decline of operating profit margin over the period of analysis. Table 2 shows the descriptive results for all the 30 items used in the study. As shown, the results are

Contract and employment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Contract and employment - Essay Example There has been no express â€Å"garden leave† clause in her agreement. Clarissa had a very difficult divorce in 2011 and as a result of this her professional life suffered. She became careless and negligent with her work. In a major event which was attended by foreign governments (potential buyers), she left the trigger switch that fires the missiles in the office. Due to this demonstration had to be stopped. Even though this was a serious lapse from Clarissa, she was only given an informal warning and let off. She showed improvements after this. But in the re-scheduled demonstration, she programmed missile to fly for 100km rather than the 1 km that was planned. But the mistake was identified and the calculation revealed that even if the missiles had been fired they would have landed safely on a cow barn in Surrey. But after this negligence, the manager lost confidence in her and she was fired. The consequences of repeated negligence could have critical and more damaging. She was dismissed as per the contract with a six month notice and her employment contract would be terminated on 31st March, 2012. Also fearing the safety her colleagues, she was sent home on â€Å"garden leave†. During this period she was not required to work but would still be paid. She was not happy with this and complained unsuccessfully about â€Å"garden leave†. She was offered a job Flare Missiles on 1st January 2012. But the offer was valid only if she could join on February 2012. The first issue is if she can claim unfair dismissal compensation. In order to claim unfair dismissal compensation, an employee must have been employed at least for a year (i.e. 52 weeks)1. Clarissa fulfils this and hence she will be able to claim for unfair dismissal compensation. First there must be a fair reason for the employer to dismiss the employee. If the employer claims that the dismissal was on the grounds of a fair reason, then it’s his

Sony Corporation Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Sony Corporation - Essay Example It manufactures CCD, LCD and other semiconductors as well. The electronic components that it makes are optical pickups, batteries, audio/video/data recording media, and data recording systems (SONY CORP, 2012). Two people, Masaru Ibuka and Akio Morita started the Tokyo Tsushin Kenkyujo or Tokyo Telecommunications Research Institute in 1946 and the main aim of this company was to research and develop new products in their efforts to always bring something new to the customer’s plate and create value for the customer. The company tried to balance innovation with the consumer benefit and convenience because customer satisfaction was its top priority. With its success and expansion the title Sony Corporation came into being in 1958 and has been there since then. The word Sony was a coined by combining two Latin words, sound and sonny. Sonus signifies sound or something that is sonic while sonny means son. Sony is a short word which has the advantage of quick recall and can also be read in any language and is a sign of freedom and open-mindedness. The variety of high quality products that SONY offers makes it one of the market leaders of digital entertainment (Louwel, 2011). It is a company that banks upon the opportunities provided by innovation and new technology. It is a company that is characterized by a forward mentality and a desire to lead and be the first one to introduce something new to the customer. The competitive products and services offered by Sony give it a lasting edge over its competitors. The factors that account for Sony’s growth and success are its strategic thinking, talented people and e-commerce (Louwel, 2011). Sony operates globally in 204 countries in three continents North America, Europe and Asia. Because of its quality and innovation, SONY has achieved brand awareness and recognition over the years. Sony’s sales in 2008 were $88.7 billion and 180,500 people worked under the umbrella of Sony Corp. In the wake of the 2 008-09 economic crunch Sony experienced falling sales, 16000 jobs were lost and 6 production bases were discontinued. The prices of its raw materials and parts also increased due to which it became very difficult for SONY to maintain competitive prices (Giusti, 2009). Methodology Sony’s innovation is not restricted to its products and services only. It has also changed the way that marketing is done globally by international companies. It gives a very participative environment to employees so that they experiment and come up with new ideas, the rich corporate culture provides employees an opportunity to stay focused, and the marketing approaches adopted by the top management have helped the overall organization. The product designers are given the leverage to come up with new products that they think are fit to keep up the good name of the Sony Corporation. There is a lot of cohesion and coordination in the organization. This democratic management style has enabled the compan y to introduce premium, unique and futuristic products and this coupled with the corporate culture at Sony, gives it a sustainable competitive advantage over its competitors. Sony has not restricted itself to one marketing approach only as it is a progressive organization and has been changing its

Visual analysis on Hadrian Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Visual analysis on Hadrian - Essay Example Prior to the analysis of the craftsmanship that constitutes the foundation of the bust carving, it may appear essential to recall via historical context, that Hadrian is widely known as one of the five good emperors who made tremendous impact on establishing the Pax Romana – the age of abundant peace and prosperity for the Roman Empire. Examining the image of the bust, one necessarily considers in critical thought that the carving technique must have been conducted in a manner that reflects such perspective especially in the order, symmetry, and projection of the head and facial characteristics. In the absence of its body, the marble from the Greek island of Thasos was constructed to possess a volume that exudes prominence, poise, authority, and general dignified look typical of a Roman emperor. As conjectured by the smooth curves, the bust sculptor may be claimed to have attempted a most refined approach in carving the cheek and lip areas to balance with the furrowed brows wh ich occur to be a sharp contrast to the smoothness of front surface and edge contour. These details manifest how Hadrian could have been viewed by his subjects as an emperor with the traits of gentle wisdom and fierce heroic character in order to address the demands of his civilization at the

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

Samsung - Research Paper Example Samsung currently capitalizes on cheap technology to displace apple from the market. We witness the latest run ads of the Galaxy s II show Apple fans waiting in line in the cold while those for the perfectly content Galaxy S owners are living their lives freely. The ad further shows Gal Pals poking fun at fan boys who are waiting for a small-screened phone without 4G connectivity, while one dude gets a date by using Samsung’s Siri competitor, S-voice (Koekemoer, 2004). The current marketing strategy has made Samsung be the current king of the mobile holding majority of the market from the US throughout the whole world. The company has the technical knowhow of building the technology quickly and cheaply. They are also able to emulate the likeable competitor’s device given the top brains they possess. As a competitive edge Samsung uses product innovation as a strategy as another form of its latest marketing strategy. Its product range covered all the categories in the con sumer electronics and home appliances right from audio and video products, It products, mobile phones and home appliances (Koekemoer, 2004). Analysts felt that the wide product range of Samsung was one of main reasons for its success in the worldwide market. Samsung positioned itself on the technology platform through through advertising and sales promotion after they realized that in most of the world markets like India consumers were still not aware of them. Samsung latest marketing strategy being the use of K-pop Superstar as the face of their brand hence increased sales of the products. Body 2: Products and services that help the company be famous The products that have made Samsung become famous in the electronic industry range from mobile phones, televisions both audio and video, camera/cam recorder, home appliances and lastly we have the PC/Peripherals printers. The company keeps repositioning such products. The repositioning of these products take place in for of pricing aft er Samsung realized that they were always associated with bargains due to their extremely low prices (Koekemoer, 2004). They realized that the up market is associated with high price leaving the low prices for the low market. To Samsung higher price would bring more profit and at the same time it is the better imply of good quality. The strategy of reposition helps Samsung starting to build its noblest image. In its service provision, Samsung realizes the need for global competitiveness in the era of global competition and then argue that to remain relevant understanding of the clients is major through knowing who your customers are, what they need and the dynamism within them. In this way, the company is fully committed to understanding their customers throughout the world across all the functions of their products from development and production to the marketing and the after sales services. They also change their thinking and working procedures to serve the customers better throu gh innovative products and services such as the provision of the customer delight services, product quality and safety. Samsung provides these services through its numerous applications such video apps from Netflix, Vudu, or Hulu Plus, which are to be included on, network TVs.   However, the concept of other types of apps on our TV is still new and we may wonder why we would want applications on TVs.   Some of the applications are useful while others may be

Advantages and Disadvantages of ESL Course Books Essay Example for Free

Advantages and Disadvantages of ESL Course Books Essay The use of course books in the ESL classroom is very common because the course books have the advantages of being visually appealing, easy for the teacher to prepare, and the activities fits well into the timetable. However, from the researcher’s own teaching experience, there are several problems and issues with the course books such as uninteresting topics, repetitive activities, and not enough language exposure. This in terms may affect the student’s learning attitude and motivation. Overall, using course books has its share of benefits and advantages such as having a well organized content with a consistency in the topics and genres for the four skill area (listening, speaking, reading, and writing). Teachers who adopt a course book may also find it easier to teach since most of the preparation, including the types of activities, audios and in some cases, achievement tests, are already done by the publisher. This would be a great help to those inexperienced teachers who are just getting started into teaching. However, nothing in the world is perfect and teachers need to somehow solve the issues and problems that may come with ESL course books. These issues and problems may include finding ways to motivate students and teaching students academic skills not found in the course books. In this sense, the teacher’s job is not as easy as it seems. Many hours of planning and developing other activities are still required, but these planning and development will benefit both the student and the teacher by making the classroom activities more fun, more interesting, and result in more learning.

Moral Mutation and the apocalyptic future Essay Example for Free

Moral Mutation and the apocalyptic future Essay The two texts, the film and the book, were set in a post-Hiroshima world where arsenals were being further improved to generate a more efficient way to participate in warfare and be the leader in these developments. By lumping two stories together in an analysis, it is inevitable for traits to be observed in the chosen texts. Dewey in his analysis of Cat’s Cradle described Dr. Hoenikker as a â€Å"man-child curiously unfamiliar with concepts such as sin and God† (57). He then identified in the doctor a â€Å"moral mutation who believes with Faustian pride that humanity can manipulate, dominate, even annihilate nature† (57). When the Russians and the Americans in Dr. Strangelove developed their own military hardware in order to upstage the enemy and scare them into submission they demonstrated the characteristics of this mutation. Because of the belief that man can dominate nature, these weapons were made to possess qualities that rivalled the greatest strength of the natural world. Hence, should the enemy ever attack, they could immediately launch a counter-attack and prove their superiority. The will to dominate and annihilate nature is not the only characteristic of this moral mutation. Egocentrism plays a focal point in this mutation, for it fuels the foolishness of the characters and magnifies their ignorance. Dr. Hoenikker announced that he saw himself as a child that allowed curiosity to get the better of him and strove to study anything that caught his interest. All his studies he did for himself and he seemed to have no regard for others: he did not take good care of his wife who turned her back on everything for him; he pulled out Angela from school because he wanted someone to take care of him; and he never considered the effects of his inventions, he saw them only as playthings and never thought of the consequences that will affect the lives of millions of people. Westfahl interprets this as a jab at notion that the scientist can be relieved of responsibility in developing such instruments because he is only interested in science and not in wealth and fame (957). After his death, his children distributed the ice-nine between themselves, as he had neglected to keep such a dangerous substance in an appropriate place. The children used the seed crystal to suit their own wants, provided warring powers with the weapon and caused the apocalypse. General Jack D. Ripper acts as the Dr. Hoenikker of Dr. Strangelove. He allowed a theory that he had formed out of sexual fatigue to dictate his decisions as a general; he was too confident in his analysis of the situation and stubbornly stood by his actions, not bothering to consult with other officials. In the last stages before the explosions, he never checked on how the people around him were doing and only worried of what will become of him should his building be stormed and his enemies come after him. In the end, he chose to save himself rather than face the consequences of his actions. The two texts present the end of the world in a manner of a ticking bomb. The countdown in Cat’s Cradle starts after the reader is made aware that the events presented lead to the unfortunate end. In Dr. Strangelove, the countdown is in the form of time-measure; the length of time it would take for the B-52s to reach their targets thus activating the doomsday device. Looking at the two texts, the direct causes of the end of the world stand on a far distance from the other. Dr. Strangelove’s tension before the cataclysm was between two world powers, and elements that sprout from this tension eventually sprouted the doom. The film’s end was caused by the actions of people and abrupt: showing only scenes of the bomb explosions but none of what happened after. Perhaps this hinted that nothing survived after the event and it was truly the there were no more stories to tell. In Cat’s Cradle, what caused the end was the body of a dictator of a small island which nobody wanted to rule. The narrator believed that this was destined and all that he experienced were pointing to that event and to his destiny after the apocalypse. As he still had something to accomplish after the ice-nine incident, Jonah kept accounts of what had happened up until the point he meets Bokonon face to face. The two texts tackle different viewpoints regarding scientific development and the participation of people in history. The suggestions and portrayals of Cat’s Cradle may not completely coincide with those of Dr. Strangelove’s, but similarities still exist between the two texts. Dewey, Joseph. In a dark time: the apocalyptic temper in the American novel of the nuclear age. Indiana: Purdue University Press. 1990. Dr Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb . Dir. Stanley Kubrick. Perf. Peter Sellers, George C. Scott, Slim Pickens, Sterling Hayden, James Earl Jones. 1964. DVD. Columbia Pictures, 2004. mininova. Cat’s Cradle. 1 June 2009. http://www. mininova. org/tor/1359220 Westfahl, Gary. The Greenwood encyclopedia of science fiction and fantasy: themes, works, and wonders. Connecticut: Greenwood Publishing Group. 2005.

Security Issues in Peer-to-peer Networking

Security Issues in Peer-to-peer Networking ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS: The interest in the field of networking, driven me to take the computer networking as my course in M.Sc. there are many different types of networks. Out of them the more popularized and upcoming trend of networks are peer-to-peer networks. This report of my final dissertation for the partial fulfilment of my M.Sc, computer networking, would not have been possible without the support of my supervisor, Mr. Harry Benetatos. He helped me a lot by guiding me and pin-pointing the key mistakes which I have done during my research. My course leader Mr. Nicholas Ioannides also helped me a lot to complete this dissertation. His advises and suggestions gave me a lot of encouragement and support which made me do this research and finish it in time. I am very thankful to my university, LONDON METROPOLITAN UNIVERSITY which provided me the free access to the IEEE library which helped me to find the key papers which are very useful for my research. I also thank my parents for their support given to me in all walks of my life. DEDICATION: I dedicate this report to my parents and my well wisher Sakshi for their constant support and encouragement throughout my education and life. CHAPTER 1 PROJECT INTRODUCTION 1.1 INTRODUCTION TO THE PROJECT: This dissertation is all about the security issues in the peer-to-peer networks. There are many security issues in peer-to-peer networks. I have chosen to do research on worm intrusions in peer-to-peer networks. In this document I have mentioned how the worm propagates in the network from one peer to another peer, how the worm can be detected and how the detected worm can be attacked and save the network from getting infected. 1.2 AIM: Security issue in Peer-to-peer networks: Securing the peer-to-peer network from worms.   1.3 OBJECTIVES: Ø To understand how the peers communicate with each other in the peer-to-peer network Ø To analyse the propagation of worms in the network. Ø To detect the worms near the nodes of the network Ø To defence the worms in the network. 1.4 RESEARCH QUESTION: This document briefly discusses about how the worms propagates in the network and how can it be detected and attacked in order to save the peer-to-peer network 1.5 APPROACH: My approach for this dissertation is as follows: Ø Understanding peer-to-peer networks Ø Defining the problem Ø Data collection and analysis Ø Study and understanding the existing solutions for the problem Ø Comparing different solutions Ø conclusion 1.6 METHODOLOGY: This section of my document contains what important steps to be followed in order to achieve the mentioned objectives. It also helps to schedule how to develop and complete different parts of the dissertation. In this dissertation firstly I will study and understand about the peer-to-peer networks and how the peers in the networks communicate and share information with the remaining peer in the network. Then I do research on how the worm propagates in the network, how can the worm be detected and how the detected worm can be attacked and restore the network.   In the pictorial form the different stages of my dissertation are 1.7 PREVIEW ABOUT THE COMING CHAPTERS IN THE REPORT: The rest of the report is organised as follows: in the chapter 2, there is brief discussion about the peer-to-peer networks, different types of peer-to-peer networks, advantages and disadvantages of the peer-to-peer networks. There is also some information about the worms, its nature and different types of worms. In chapter 3, there is a discussion about the methods given by the different person to detect the worm in the network by the method of matching the characteristic string of the worm. In section 4, there is a solution for this issue. That is mathematical method of detecting the worm in the network and defending it. Chapter 5 consists of a critical appraisal and suggestions for the further work. Finally, I concluded in chapter 6. CHAPTER 2 OVERVIEW OF THE GENERIC AREA AND IDENTIFICATION OF PROBLEM: 2.1 NETWORK: Network is a group of electronic devices which are connected to each other in order to communicate which each other.   The devices can be computers, laptops, printers etc. networks can be wired or wireless. Wired networks are networks in which the devices are connected with the help of wires. Wireless networks are the networks in which the devices are connected without the wires. There are many different types of networks and peer-to-peer is one of the important and special types of networks. 2.2 PEER-TO-PEER NETWORKS: Peer-to-peer networks are emerged in 1990 because of the development of the peer-to-peer file sharing like Napster [1].   Peer-to-peer networks abbreviated as p2p networks are the networks in which all the nodes or peers in the network acts as servers as well as clients on demand. This is unlike typical client server model, in which the clients requests the services and server supplies the resources. But in case of peer-to-peer networks every node in the networks requests services like a client and every node will supply the resources like server on demand. Peer-to-peer network doesn’t need any centralized server coordination.   Peer-to-peer network is scalable. Addition of new nodes to the network or removal of already existing nodes on the network doesn’t affect the network. That means addition or removal of nodes can be done dynamically. All the nodes connected in a peer-to-peer network run on the same network protocol and software. Resources available on a node in the network are available to the remaining nodes of the network and they can access this information easily. Peer-to-peer networks provide robustness and scalability. All the wired and wireless networks can be configured as peer-to-peer networks. Home networks and small enterprise networks are preferable to configure in a peer-to-peer networks. Most the networks are not pure peer-to-peer networks because of they use some network interface devices. In the beginning, the information is stored at all the nodes by making a copy of it. But this increases the flow of traffic in the network. But now, a centralised system is maintained by the network and the requests are directed to the nodes which contains the relevant information. This will save the time and the traffic flow in the network. 2.3 WIRELESS NETWORKS: Devices connected to each other without any wires can also be configured like peer-to-peer networks. In a case of small of number of devices it is preferable to configure the network in wireless peer-to-peer networks because it will be easy to share the data in both the directions. It is even cheaper to connect the networks in wireless peer-to-peer because we do not need to spend on the wires. Peer-to-peer networks are divided into three types. They are: Instant messaging networks Collaborative networks Affinity community networks[2] Instant messaging networks: In this type of peer-to-peer networks, the users can chat with each other in real time by installing some software such as MSN messenger, AOL instant messenger etc. Collaborative networks: This type of peer-to-peer networks are also called as distributed computing.   This is widely used in the field of science and biotechnology where the intense computer processing is needed. Affinity community peer-to-peer networks: It is a type of p2p network, where the group of devices are connected only for the purpose of sharing the data among them. Peer to peer networks are basically classified into two types. They are: Ø Structured peer-to-peer networks Ø Unstructured peer-to-peer networks 2.4 STRUCTURED PEER-TO-PEER NETWORKS: In the structured peer-to-peer nodes connected in the network are fixed. They use distributed hashing table (DHT) for indexing [4]. In DHT data is stored in the form of hash table like (key, value). Any node willing to retrieve the data can easily do that using the keys. The mapping of values to the keys are maintained by all the nodes present in the network such that there will be very less disruption in case of change in the set of participants DHT-based networks are very efficient in retrieving the resources. 2.5 UNSTRUCTURED PEER-TO-PEER NETWORKS: In unstructured p2p network nodes are established arbitrarily. There are three types of unstructured p2p networks. They are Pure peer-to-peer Hybrid peer-to-peer Centralized peer-to-peer In Pure p2p networks all the nodes in the network are equal. There won’t be any preferred node with special infrastructure function. In hybrid p2p networks there will be a special node called â€Å"supernodes† [3] . This supernode can be any node in the network depending on the momentary need of the network. Centralized p2p network is a type of hybrid network in which there will be one central system which manages the network. The network cannot be able to work without this centralized system Basically, all the nodes in the peer-to-peer networks contain the information of the neighbour in its routing table. The rate of propagation of worms in the peer-to-peer networks is larger than compared to the other networks. This is because the information of the neighbour peers can easily achieved from the routing table of the infected node. Different types of files are shared between the nodes in the peer-to-peer networks. These files can be the audio files, video files, music files, text documents, books; articles etc. there are a lot of peer-to-peer software available these days in the market for sharing the files. Some of them are bittorrent, limeware, shareaza, kazaa, Imesh, bearshare Lite, eMule, KCeasy, Ares Galaxy, Soulseek, WinMX, Piolet, Gnutella, Overnet, Azureus (vuze), FrostWire, uTorrent, Morpheus, Ants, Acquisition[5]. There are lot more file sharing softwares in the market but these are the top 20 file sharing softwares for peer-to-peer networks. Basically, all the nodes connected together in the network should configure with the same network protocol and the same software should be installed in all the nodes in order to communicate with each other. Else the nodes in the network cannot communicate if they are configured with the different software or protocol. 2.6 ADVANTAGES OF PEER-TO-PEER NETWORKS [6]: It is more useful for the small business network comprising of very small number of computer systems or devices. Computers in this network can be configured easily. Full time network administrator is not required for the p2p networks. Easy maintenance of the network. Only a single operating system and less number of cables needed to get connected Can be installed easily Users can control the shared resources Distributed nature of the network increases the robustness of the network. 2.7 DISADVANTAGES OF THE PEER-TO-PEER NETWORKS [12]: No centralised administration Back-up should be performed on the each computer individually. Peer-to-peer networks are not secure Every computer in the network behaves as server and client which can slow down the performance of the system Legal controversy with the copyrights. 2.8 WORM: Worm is a computer malware program or it can be called as a mischievous code which can multiple itself   into several replicas or it duplicate itself into several copies. Worm in simple can be called as â€Å"autonomous intrusion agent† [19] .It doesn’t actually alters the function of the system but it pass through i.e., worm is unlike virus.   It intrudes the network without the mediation of the user. This is first detected by Robert T Morris in 1988[18]. Today we have some billions of systems connected to internet. Bu during 1988 there were only 60,000 systems connected to the internet. During that period 10% of the internet systems i.e., 6000 of the systems are infected and almost clogged because of the worms [8]. Worms when enters the system it hides in the operating system where it cannot be noticeable [18] . It drastically slows down the system the effect the other programs in the system. In worst cases it could even effect the entire network and slow down the internet across whole world. As it is said earlier that it replicates itself into multiple copies and attach itself to the emails and corrupt them and sometimes deleting the file without the user interaction. If it enters our email, it can able to send itself to all the contacts in our email book and then to all the contacts of the emails of our email book and likewise it propagates, grow and spread at the higher rate. Worms will even create the â€Å"backdoor† into the computer [11]. This will make the attackers to send spam easily. Some famous worms discovered in 2003 and 2004 are â€Å"Mydoom†, â€Å" Sobig† and â€Å"Sasser†[7].   â€Å"Sasser† worm has recently affected the computers which are using Windows 2000 or Windows XP operating system. It restarts the system automatically and crashes it. It is spread to all the nodes in the network. There are some worms which are unlike the normal worms. These worms are very useful to the user some times. Hence, these are called the â€Å"helpful worms† [9]. Sometimes they help users without the interaction with the user. But most of the known worms are harmful and will always tries to infect the nodes in the network and affect the performance of the network. When the peer-to-peer networks are attacked by the worms, it slows down the efficiency of the network. So there is a need to save the networks from entering into the network and spreading itself all over the network. The worms should be detected and defended. If we delay in defending these worms, they replicate itself and makes many copies of itself and spread all through the network. This is very dangerous to the network as it affects the performance and efficiency of the network [10]. CHAPTER 3 RELEVANT WORK DONE BY OTHERS IN ORDER TO SOLVE THE PROBLEM: Many people proposed solutions to this problem. First Zhou L gave solution to p2p worm and he observed that propagation of worm in p2p network is very speed when compared to other networks[13] . Jayanthkumar performed some simulations on worm propagation from infected node to other node[10]. Wei yu researched on the behaviour of worms in p2p networks[14]. In my research I found one more interesting method of detecting the worms in the peer-to-peer network. This is indeed a special method of detecting the worms in network because the authors Yu Yao, Yong Li, Fu-xiang Gao, Ge Yu in their paper titled â€Å"A Signature-behaviour-based P2P worm detection approach† they proposed a mechanism of detecting the known worms in the peer-to-peer networks based on characteristic string matching. Worm make use of vulnerabilities in the network and +Spreads[15]. They also proposed the detection mechanism for the unknown worms based on their behaviour. They technique mainly consists of the te chnology of characteristic string matching, identifying the application and the unknown worm detection technology. They have given the algorithm for the matching the characteristics string of the worm called suffix-tree algorithm- suffix array algorithm. This is efficient and simple with very less time complexity. As peer-to-peer network follows fragment transfer technique there is chance of assigning the characteristics string of the worm to the other blocks of data. And again during the reorganisation process this characteristic string can identify the worm. These authors even validated their results by simulation. They proved that their method is also one of the efficient methods of p2p worm detection. As mentioned above this method detects the known worm and also the unknown worms based on characteristic string matching and their behaviour respectively. In this method they initially capture the network packets using the library function called â€Å"LibPcap†. â€Å"LibPcap† is the library function that captures the network packets in UNIX and Linux platforms. This function contains many functions that will be useful for capturing the network packets. After capturing the data packets with help of these functions the non-P2P packets are filtered out. So now the P2P packets are filtered. In these P2P packets the known worms are detected by using the characteristic string matching. This is implemented by the couple of algorithms. They are the â€Å"suffix array algorithm† and the â€Å"dichotomy algorithm†. These algorithms are very accurate and are capable of detecting the worms in very less time. As I mentioned above peer-to-peer networks follow fragment transfer mechanism. Hence the characteristic string of the worm can be assigned to the other blocks of data. So, in this situation it is difficult to detect the worm if the characteristic string of the worm is based on the single packet. But if the characteristic string is present in the block then there is a chance of detecting the worm because it will assign it to the two packets. At this time the worm characteristic string present in the two different data packets need to restructure. After restructuring, the worm can be detected by using the matching mechanism. In this way the known worm in the network is detected by using the characteristic string matching. The unknown worms in the p2p network can be detected with the help of the act characteristics of the worm at the initial stage of its propagation. This can be called as the behaviour based detection of the unknown p2p worms. Like this all the known and unknown worms in the network are detected. 3.1 P2P KNOWN WORM DETECTION: There are four steps in detecting the p2p known worms. They are: Deal flow Technology of identifying the application Characteristic string matching Reorganising the characteristic string 3.1.1 DEAL FLOW: In this step of deal flow the flow of data is divided into four steps[16]. Step 1: Extracting the p2p data stream from the original data stream. Step 2: check the extracted p2p data stream for worms using characteristic string matching with the worms already existing in the library function. Step 3: data is flow is reorganised. It now contains worm characteristic string as well. Go to step 2. Step 4: check the data flow for unknown worms using unknown worm detection techniques. After performing the four steps update the library function. All the four steps is represented   pictorially as in the next page. Figure 4: flow chart representing four steps to detect worms   yes    normal  Ã‚  Normal no  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Abnormal abnormal 3.1.2 TECHNOLOGY OF IDENTIFYING THE APPLICATION: As said earlier, this paper uses the method of capturing the data packets and sca it for the worms which are known with the help of a function library called â€Å"LibPcap†[17] . For this there should be already some assigned rules in the network interface devices. So assigning these rules to those devices is done in stepwise procedure as: Identify the available network interface devices Open the network interface device Compile the rules that we are willing to attach to the devices Setup the rules of filtering to the device Now operate the equipment Start the process of capturing the packets There are some rules for identifying the p2p application. They are: Characteristic information of the known p2p is used Sometimes, if source-destination IP pairs don’t use the known P2P and they may use TCP and UDP at same time, then they are p2p. At a particular time source pairs {srcIP, srcport}[27] and the destination pairs {dstIP, dstport}[27] are checked Here we can identify whether it’s a p2p or not. If the number of connection port is equal to the number of connection IP, then we can say that it is a p2p. There are the situations where these rules have been used unruly. So the there were some amendments made to these rules. The amendments are rule (2) can identify even the mazes which are present and rule (3) is modified in such a way that in the detect cycle {srcIP, srcport}[27] pairs at the source and the {dstIP,   dstport }[27] pairs at the destination are checked. From this they derived that if the number of connection port is equal to the number of connection IP, the protocols which are used are same. If they are different then the protocols are different. 3.1.3 CHARACTERISTIC STRING MATCHING: This is the most important section of the paper. Here authors have given some definitions to the terms which we are going to use, the algorithms which we are going to use to detect the worm. Couple of algorithms are mentioned. They are suffix-array algorithm and the dichotomy algorithm. So the entire process of detecting the worm depends on the efficiency and the accuracy of these algorithms. First of all before using and understanding suffix-array algorithm we will try to understand some keywords and rules. Suffix: suffix is the part of a string or a substring which starts at a particular location to the end of the string. If a suffix in the string S starts at the location ‘i’ to the end of the string S, then the suffix can be represented as Suffix(i)=S[i,Len(S) ][27] . Let us understand how the strings can be compared. The comparison in this paper followed â€Å"dictionary comparison† If u and v are the two different strings. Comparing the strings u and v is same like comparing u[i] and v[i], where ‘i’ starts with the value 1. Ø Here string u is equal to string v i.e., u=v when u[i]=v[i] Ø String u is greater then string v i.e., u>v when u[i]>v[i] Ø String u is less than string v i.e., u But the results were still not obtained for i>len(u) or i>len(v) Also if len(u)>len(v) then u >v, if len(u) Suffix-array: suffix-array is denoted by SA. It is a one-dimensional array. It is an array of SA[1], S[2], SA[3],†¦. And so on. Here s[i] Rank-array: rank-array is nothing but SA-1. If SA[i]=j, then Rank[j]=i. we can say that the rank[i] saves the rank of Suffix(i) in an ascending order for all the suffixes. In this paper the author has taken the example of string â€Å"science† and explained everything clearly. The string â€Å"science† can generate seven suffixes. They are: Suffix(1): science Suffix(2): cience Suffix(3): ience Suffix(4): ence Suffix(5): nce Suffix(6): ce Suffix(7): e When we sort out everything in a dictionary order it will be in the order as follow Suffix(6)= ce Suffix(2)= cience Suffix(7)= e Suffix(4)= ence Suffix(3)= ience Suffix(5)= nce Suffix(1)= science Suffix-array algorithm follows multiplier ideas. Firstly get SA1 and Rank1 by comparing every character in the string. Comparing string is similar to comparing the every character sequentially. So by comparing every character, SA1 and Rank1 can derive SA2 and Rank2. And this SA2 and Rank2 will derive SA4 and Rank4. And this will again derive SA8 and Rank8. So finally suffix-array and rank-array are derived from this process. The main process of the suffix-array algorithm is Ø Calculating SA1 and Rank1. Firstly all the suffixes are arranged in the first letter order and then suffix-array (SA1) is generated by using quick sorry algorithm and then Rank1 is also generated. Ø Comparing 2k-prefix Suffix(i) and Suffix(j) using SAk and Rankk. 2k-Suffix(i) = 2k-Suffixes(j), this is equivalent to Rankk[SAk[i]] = Rankk[SAk[j]] and Rankk[SAk[i+k]] = Rankk[SAk[j+k]] 2k-Suffix(i) Suffix-array algorithm is a sorting algorithm which sorts out the characteristic string. So, this uses binary search algorithm. The algorithm follows Step 1: in the first step values are assigned like left=1, right=n and max_match=0 Step 2: the middle value i.e., mid= (left +right)/2. Step 3: comparing the characters corresponding to Suffix (SA[mid]) and P. the longest public prefix r can be helpful in implantation and comparison. If r > max_match, then max_match=r. Step 4: if Suffix(SA[mid])   If Suffix(SA[mid])>P, then right=mid-1   If Suffix(SA[mid])=P, then go to step 6 Step 5: if left Step 6: if max_match= m, then print â€Å"match is successful†. 3.1.4 REORGANISING THE CHARACTERISTIC STRING: In this step the characteristic string is reorganised. If the character string is divided into two different data blocks, then the data block with the partial characteristic string is stored. Basically, all the information about the data block like index, beginning offset, length of the block and so on are contained at the head of the each block. Here a structure piece is defined which consists of index of the block, beginning offset of the block offset, length of the character array head and the length of the character array end[18]. Initially each and every data packet is compared with the characteristic string for matching. If it is matched then the warning or an alert is sent to all the users about the worm. Here if the tail of the characteristic string of the worm matches with the head of the data block, then it will be stored in the character array end. And if the head of the characteristic string of the worm matches with the tail of the data block then it is stored in the corr esponding character array head. Suppose if the neighbouring data block contains a partial characteristic string of the worm then the neighbour string in the array head as well as in the end will be reorganised. Now this reorganised string will again perform the characteristic string matching and if any worm is detected then again the warning is sent to all users saying that the worm have found. If it is not matched then it won’t perform any operation. If in a case that the characteristic string is present in the block but is divided into two different data packets, then a special term called â€Å"character array† is introduced. First the matching mechanism is performed in both the data packet. If the matching characteristic string is found then the warning is sent to the users that there is a worm present. But if only part of the characteristic string is found then it will be enough if it meets some of the requirements like the head of the data packet should match wit h the tail of the characteristic string or the tail of the data packet should match with the head of the characteristic string. But if these conditions are not satisfied then no operation is performed. Now, if the tail of the data packet contains the partial characteristic string then the data packet is stored in the array. If the length of the characteristic string is m, then the Array[m] is set as ’’. And if the head of the data packet contains a part of the characteristic string then that data packet is stored in the n consecutive units of array. Finally, this array will be the characteristic string matching and if the worm is detected then the warning is sent to all the users. If it is not matched then nothing is done. 3.2 DETECTING UNKNOWN P2P WORM: In the above section we have seen how the known worm is detected. But that algorithm or mechanism are meant to detect the unknown p2p worms. So here in this section we will understand how the unknown worms can be detected and restrain the network. As we know in p2p networks a node can able to send the information to multiple hosts at a same time. Anyhow same protocol is used by all the nodes in the network[27]. These characteristics of the network helps worm to propagate easily. As we discussed above, only the known worms can be detected by using the characteristic string matching method. Here we will see how the unknown worms can be detected. The unknown worms are detected based on the behaviour of the node. Some of the detection rules are: same content files are transferred to multiple hosts in a very short time. Same protocol is used and the destination port is same. If these rules are satisfies by the source port then it allows the p2p worm to propagate. Now, it is necessary to e xtract the characteristics of worm near the worm propagation nodes. When these characteristics are extracted, they are added to the feature library. This data similarity comparison and extracting the characteristics are done using the LCSeq algorithm. But the LCSeq algorithm based on generalized suffix tree (GST) is the more efficient. The overall idea is that all the suffixes are represented as a tree. And this tree will have some characteristics like: Ø Every node in a tree is a string and root is the empty string Ø Every suffix can be represented as a path from the root. Ø Every substring can be considered as a prefix of a suffix. Ø To achieve the searching public sub sequence, every node should be set the information of its subordinate source string. 3.3 EXPERIMENT: We know that the worm body tries to infect the other nodes in the network by sending the worm to the specific ports of p2p node. So here the author tried to prove the efficiency of his method by performing an experiment. In this experiment he prepared a multiple group worm body and sent it repeatedly at regular intervals of time. Then he captured these packets and extracted their characteristics and compared it with the one that already exist in the feature library. P2p worm is detected separately using different algorithms like BF algorithm, KMP algorithm and suffix-array algorithm and compared their results doing three experiments. In the experiment 1, worm characteristics are in the same packet.. in the experiment Security Issues in Peer-to-peer Networking Security Issues in Peer-to-peer Networking ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS: The interest in the field of networking, driven me to take the computer networking as my course in M.Sc. there are many different types of networks. Out of them the more popularized and upcoming trend of networks are peer-to-peer networks. This report of my final dissertation for the partial fulfilment of my M.Sc, computer networking, would not have been possible without the support of my supervisor, Mr. Harry Benetatos. He helped me a lot by guiding me and pin-pointing the key mistakes which I have done during my research. My course leader Mr. Nicholas Ioannides also helped me a lot to complete this dissertation. His advises and suggestions gave me a lot of encouragement and support which made me do this research and finish it in time. I am very thankful to my university, LONDON METROPOLITAN UNIVERSITY which provided me the free access to the IEEE library which helped me to find the key papers which are very useful for my research. I also thank my parents for their support given to me in all walks of my life. DEDICATION: I dedicate this report to my parents and my well wisher Sakshi for their constant support and encouragement throughout my education and life. CHAPTER 1 PROJECT INTRODUCTION 1.1 INTRODUCTION TO THE PROJECT: This dissertation is all about the security issues in the peer-to-peer networks. There are many security issues in peer-to-peer networks. I have chosen to do research on worm intrusions in peer-to-peer networks. In this document I have mentioned how the worm propagates in the network from one peer to another peer, how the worm can be detected and how the detected worm can be attacked and save the network from getting infected. 1.2 AIM: Security issue in Peer-to-peer networks: Securing the peer-to-peer network from worms.   1.3 OBJECTIVES: Ø To understand how the peers communicate with each other in the peer-to-peer network Ø To analyse the propagation of worms in the network. Ø To detect the worms near the nodes of the network Ø To defence the worms in the network. 1.4 RESEARCH QUESTION: This document briefly discusses about how the worms propagates in the network and how can it be detected and attacked in order to save the peer-to-peer network 1.5 APPROACH: My approach for this dissertation is as follows: Ø Understanding peer-to-peer networks Ø Defining the problem Ø Data collection and analysis Ø Study and understanding the existing solutions for the problem Ø Comparing different solutions Ø conclusion 1.6 METHODOLOGY: This section of my document contains what important steps to be followed in order to achieve the mentioned objectives. It also helps to schedule how to develop and complete different parts of the dissertation. In this dissertation firstly I will study and understand about the peer-to-peer networks and how the peers in the networks communicate and share information with the remaining peer in the network. Then I do research on how the worm propagates in the network, how can the worm be detected and how the detected worm can be attacked and restore the network.   In the pictorial form the different stages of my dissertation are 1.7 PREVIEW ABOUT THE COMING CHAPTERS IN THE REPORT: The rest of the report is organised as follows: in the chapter 2, there is brief discussion about the peer-to-peer networks, different types of peer-to-peer networks, advantages and disadvantages of the peer-to-peer networks. There is also some information about the worms, its nature and different types of worms. In chapter 3, there is a discussion about the methods given by the different person to detect the worm in the network by the method of matching the characteristic string of the worm. In section 4, there is a solution for this issue. That is mathematical method of detecting the worm in the network and defending it. Chapter 5 consists of a critical appraisal and suggestions for the further work. Finally, I concluded in chapter 6. CHAPTER 2 OVERVIEW OF THE GENERIC AREA AND IDENTIFICATION OF PROBLEM: 2.1 NETWORK: Network is a group of electronic devices which are connected to each other in order to communicate which each other.   The devices can be computers, laptops, printers etc. networks can be wired or wireless. Wired networks are networks in which the devices are connected with the help of wires. Wireless networks are the networks in which the devices are connected without the wires. There are many different types of networks and peer-to-peer is one of the important and special types of networks. 2.2 PEER-TO-PEER NETWORKS: Peer-to-peer networks are emerged in 1990 because of the development of the peer-to-peer file sharing like Napster [1].   Peer-to-peer networks abbreviated as p2p networks are the networks in which all the nodes or peers in the network acts as servers as well as clients on demand. This is unlike typical client server model, in which the clients requests the services and server supplies the resources. But in case of peer-to-peer networks every node in the networks requests services like a client and every node will supply the resources like server on demand. Peer-to-peer network doesn’t need any centralized server coordination.   Peer-to-peer network is scalable. Addition of new nodes to the network or removal of already existing nodes on the network doesn’t affect the network. That means addition or removal of nodes can be done dynamically. All the nodes connected in a peer-to-peer network run on the same network protocol and software. Resources available on a node in the network are available to the remaining nodes of the network and they can access this information easily. Peer-to-peer networks provide robustness and scalability. All the wired and wireless networks can be configured as peer-to-peer networks. Home networks and small enterprise networks are preferable to configure in a peer-to-peer networks. Most the networks are not pure peer-to-peer networks because of they use some network interface devices. In the beginning, the information is stored at all the nodes by making a copy of it. But this increases the flow of traffic in the network. But now, a centralised system is maintained by the network and the requests are directed to the nodes which contains the relevant information. This will save the time and the traffic flow in the network. 2.3 WIRELESS NETWORKS: Devices connected to each other without any wires can also be configured like peer-to-peer networks. In a case of small of number of devices it is preferable to configure the network in wireless peer-to-peer networks because it will be easy to share the data in both the directions. It is even cheaper to connect the networks in wireless peer-to-peer because we do not need to spend on the wires. Peer-to-peer networks are divided into three types. They are: Instant messaging networks Collaborative networks Affinity community networks[2] Instant messaging networks: In this type of peer-to-peer networks, the users can chat with each other in real time by installing some software such as MSN messenger, AOL instant messenger etc. Collaborative networks: This type of peer-to-peer networks are also called as distributed computing.   This is widely used in the field of science and biotechnology where the intense computer processing is needed. Affinity community peer-to-peer networks: It is a type of p2p network, where the group of devices are connected only for the purpose of sharing the data among them. Peer to peer networks are basically classified into two types. They are: Ø Structured peer-to-peer networks Ø Unstructured peer-to-peer networks 2.4 STRUCTURED PEER-TO-PEER NETWORKS: In the structured peer-to-peer nodes connected in the network are fixed. They use distributed hashing table (DHT) for indexing [4]. In DHT data is stored in the form of hash table like (key, value). Any node willing to retrieve the data can easily do that using the keys. The mapping of values to the keys are maintained by all the nodes present in the network such that there will be very less disruption in case of change in the set of participants DHT-based networks are very efficient in retrieving the resources. 2.5 UNSTRUCTURED PEER-TO-PEER NETWORKS: In unstructured p2p network nodes are established arbitrarily. There are three types of unstructured p2p networks. They are Pure peer-to-peer Hybrid peer-to-peer Centralized peer-to-peer In Pure p2p networks all the nodes in the network are equal. There won’t be any preferred node with special infrastructure function. In hybrid p2p networks there will be a special node called â€Å"supernodes† [3] . This supernode can be any node in the network depending on the momentary need of the network. Centralized p2p network is a type of hybrid network in which there will be one central system which manages the network. The network cannot be able to work without this centralized system Basically, all the nodes in the peer-to-peer networks contain the information of the neighbour in its routing table. The rate of propagation of worms in the peer-to-peer networks is larger than compared to the other networks. This is because the information of the neighbour peers can easily achieved from the routing table of the infected node. Different types of files are shared between the nodes in the peer-to-peer networks. These files can be the audio files, video files, music files, text documents, books; articles etc. there are a lot of peer-to-peer software available these days in the market for sharing the files. Some of them are bittorrent, limeware, shareaza, kazaa, Imesh, bearshare Lite, eMule, KCeasy, Ares Galaxy, Soulseek, WinMX, Piolet, Gnutella, Overnet, Azureus (vuze), FrostWire, uTorrent, Morpheus, Ants, Acquisition[5]. There are lot more file sharing softwares in the market but these are the top 20 file sharing softwares for peer-to-peer networks. Basically, all the nodes connected together in the network should configure with the same network protocol and the same software should be installed in all the nodes in order to communicate with each other. Else the nodes in the network cannot communicate if they are configured with the different software or protocol. 2.6 ADVANTAGES OF PEER-TO-PEER NETWORKS [6]: It is more useful for the small business network comprising of very small number of computer systems or devices. Computers in this network can be configured easily. Full time network administrator is not required for the p2p networks. Easy maintenance of the network. Only a single operating system and less number of cables needed to get connected Can be installed easily Users can control the shared resources Distributed nature of the network increases the robustness of the network. 2.7 DISADVANTAGES OF THE PEER-TO-PEER NETWORKS [12]: No centralised administration Back-up should be performed on the each computer individually. Peer-to-peer networks are not secure Every computer in the network behaves as server and client which can slow down the performance of the system Legal controversy with the copyrights. 2.8 WORM: Worm is a computer malware program or it can be called as a mischievous code which can multiple itself   into several replicas or it duplicate itself into several copies. Worm in simple can be called as â€Å"autonomous intrusion agent† [19] .It doesn’t actually alters the function of the system but it pass through i.e., worm is unlike virus.   It intrudes the network without the mediation of the user. This is first detected by Robert T Morris in 1988[18]. Today we have some billions of systems connected to internet. Bu during 1988 there were only 60,000 systems connected to the internet. During that period 10% of the internet systems i.e., 6000 of the systems are infected and almost clogged because of the worms [8]. Worms when enters the system it hides in the operating system where it cannot be noticeable [18] . It drastically slows down the system the effect the other programs in the system. In worst cases it could even effect the entire network and slow down the internet across whole world. As it is said earlier that it replicates itself into multiple copies and attach itself to the emails and corrupt them and sometimes deleting the file without the user interaction. If it enters our email, it can able to send itself to all the contacts in our email book and then to all the contacts of the emails of our email book and likewise it propagates, grow and spread at the higher rate. Worms will even create the â€Å"backdoor† into the computer [11]. This will make the attackers to send spam easily. Some famous worms discovered in 2003 and 2004 are â€Å"Mydoom†, â€Å" Sobig† and â€Å"Sasser†[7].   â€Å"Sasser† worm has recently affected the computers which are using Windows 2000 or Windows XP operating system. It restarts the system automatically and crashes it. It is spread to all the nodes in the network. There are some worms which are unlike the normal worms. These worms are very useful to the user some times. Hence, these are called the â€Å"helpful worms† [9]. Sometimes they help users without the interaction with the user. But most of the known worms are harmful and will always tries to infect the nodes in the network and affect the performance of the network. When the peer-to-peer networks are attacked by the worms, it slows down the efficiency of the network. So there is a need to save the networks from entering into the network and spreading itself all over the network. The worms should be detected and defended. If we delay in defending these worms, they replicate itself and makes many copies of itself and spread all through the network. This is very dangerous to the network as it affects the performance and efficiency of the network [10]. CHAPTER 3 RELEVANT WORK DONE BY OTHERS IN ORDER TO SOLVE THE PROBLEM: Many people proposed solutions to this problem. First Zhou L gave solution to p2p worm and he observed that propagation of worm in p2p network is very speed when compared to other networks[13] . Jayanthkumar performed some simulations on worm propagation from infected node to other node[10]. Wei yu researched on the behaviour of worms in p2p networks[14]. In my research I found one more interesting method of detecting the worms in the peer-to-peer network. This is indeed a special method of detecting the worms in network because the authors Yu Yao, Yong Li, Fu-xiang Gao, Ge Yu in their paper titled â€Å"A Signature-behaviour-based P2P worm detection approach† they proposed a mechanism of detecting the known worms in the peer-to-peer networks based on characteristic string matching. Worm make use of vulnerabilities in the network and +Spreads[15]. They also proposed the detection mechanism for the unknown worms based on their behaviour. They technique mainly consists of the te chnology of characteristic string matching, identifying the application and the unknown worm detection technology. They have given the algorithm for the matching the characteristics string of the worm called suffix-tree algorithm- suffix array algorithm. This is efficient and simple with very less time complexity. As peer-to-peer network follows fragment transfer technique there is chance of assigning the characteristics string of the worm to the other blocks of data. And again during the reorganisation process this characteristic string can identify the worm. These authors even validated their results by simulation. They proved that their method is also one of the efficient methods of p2p worm detection. As mentioned above this method detects the known worm and also the unknown worms based on characteristic string matching and their behaviour respectively. In this method they initially capture the network packets using the library function called â€Å"LibPcap†. â€Å"LibPcap† is the library function that captures the network packets in UNIX and Linux platforms. This function contains many functions that will be useful for capturing the network packets. After capturing the data packets with help of these functions the non-P2P packets are filtered out. So now the P2P packets are filtered. In these P2P packets the known worms are detected by using the characteristic string matching. This is implemented by the couple of algorithms. They are the â€Å"suffix array algorithm† and the â€Å"dichotomy algorithm†. These algorithms are very accurate and are capable of detecting the worms in very less time. As I mentioned above peer-to-peer networks follow fragment transfer mechanism. Hence the characteristic string of the worm can be assigned to the other blocks of data. So, in this situation it is difficult to detect the worm if the characteristic string of the worm is based on the single packet. But if the characteristic string is present in the block then there is a chance of detecting the worm because it will assign it to the two packets. At this time the worm characteristic string present in the two different data packets need to restructure. After restructuring, the worm can be detected by using the matching mechanism. In this way the known worm in the network is detected by using the characteristic string matching. The unknown worms in the p2p network can be detected with the help of the act characteristics of the worm at the initial stage of its propagation. This can be called as the behaviour based detection of the unknown p2p worms. Like this all the known and unknown worms in the network are detected. 3.1 P2P KNOWN WORM DETECTION: There are four steps in detecting the p2p known worms. They are: Deal flow Technology of identifying the application Characteristic string matching Reorganising the characteristic string 3.1.1 DEAL FLOW: In this step of deal flow the flow of data is divided into four steps[16]. Step 1: Extracting the p2p data stream from the original data stream. Step 2: check the extracted p2p data stream for worms using characteristic string matching with the worms already existing in the library function. Step 3: data is flow is reorganised. It now contains worm characteristic string as well. Go to step 2. Step 4: check the data flow for unknown worms using unknown worm detection techniques. After performing the four steps update the library function. All the four steps is represented   pictorially as in the next page. Figure 4: flow chart representing four steps to detect worms   yes    normal  Ã‚  Normal no  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Abnormal abnormal 3.1.2 TECHNOLOGY OF IDENTIFYING THE APPLICATION: As said earlier, this paper uses the method of capturing the data packets and sca it for the worms which are known with the help of a function library called â€Å"LibPcap†[17] . For this there should be already some assigned rules in the network interface devices. So assigning these rules to those devices is done in stepwise procedure as: Identify the available network interface devices Open the network interface device Compile the rules that we are willing to attach to the devices Setup the rules of filtering to the device Now operate the equipment Start the process of capturing the packets There are some rules for identifying the p2p application. They are: Characteristic information of the known p2p is used Sometimes, if source-destination IP pairs don’t use the known P2P and they may use TCP and UDP at same time, then they are p2p. At a particular time source pairs {srcIP, srcport}[27] and the destination pairs {dstIP, dstport}[27] are checked Here we can identify whether it’s a p2p or not. If the number of connection port is equal to the number of connection IP, then we can say that it is a p2p. There are the situations where these rules have been used unruly. So the there were some amendments made to these rules. The amendments are rule (2) can identify even the mazes which are present and rule (3) is modified in such a way that in the detect cycle {srcIP, srcport}[27] pairs at the source and the {dstIP,   dstport }[27] pairs at the destination are checked. From this they derived that if the number of connection port is equal to the number of connection IP, the protocols which are used are same. If they are different then the protocols are different. 3.1.3 CHARACTERISTIC STRING MATCHING: This is the most important section of the paper. Here authors have given some definitions to the terms which we are going to use, the algorithms which we are going to use to detect the worm. Couple of algorithms are mentioned. They are suffix-array algorithm and the dichotomy algorithm. So the entire process of detecting the worm depends on the efficiency and the accuracy of these algorithms. First of all before using and understanding suffix-array algorithm we will try to understand some keywords and rules. Suffix: suffix is the part of a string or a substring which starts at a particular location to the end of the string. If a suffix in the string S starts at the location ‘i’ to the end of the string S, then the suffix can be represented as Suffix(i)=S[i,Len(S) ][27] . Let us understand how the strings can be compared. The comparison in this paper followed â€Å"dictionary comparison† If u and v are the two different strings. Comparing the strings u and v is same like comparing u[i] and v[i], where ‘i’ starts with the value 1. Ø Here string u is equal to string v i.e., u=v when u[i]=v[i] Ø String u is greater then string v i.e., u>v when u[i]>v[i] Ø String u is less than string v i.e., u But the results were still not obtained for i>len(u) or i>len(v) Also if len(u)>len(v) then u >v, if len(u) Suffix-array: suffix-array is denoted by SA. It is a one-dimensional array. It is an array of SA[1], S[2], SA[3],†¦. And so on. Here s[i] Rank-array: rank-array is nothing but SA-1. If SA[i]=j, then Rank[j]=i. we can say that the rank[i] saves the rank of Suffix(i) in an ascending order for all the suffixes. In this paper the author has taken the example of string â€Å"science† and explained everything clearly. The string â€Å"science† can generate seven suffixes. They are: Suffix(1): science Suffix(2): cience Suffix(3): ience Suffix(4): ence Suffix(5): nce Suffix(6): ce Suffix(7): e When we sort out everything in a dictionary order it will be in the order as follow Suffix(6)= ce Suffix(2)= cience Suffix(7)= e Suffix(4)= ence Suffix(3)= ience Suffix(5)= nce Suffix(1)= science Suffix-array algorithm follows multiplier ideas. Firstly get SA1 and Rank1 by comparing every character in the string. Comparing string is similar to comparing the every character sequentially. So by comparing every character, SA1 and Rank1 can derive SA2 and Rank2. And this SA2 and Rank2 will derive SA4 and Rank4. And this will again derive SA8 and Rank8. So finally suffix-array and rank-array are derived from this process. The main process of the suffix-array algorithm is Ø Calculating SA1 and Rank1. Firstly all the suffixes are arranged in the first letter order and then suffix-array (SA1) is generated by using quick sorry algorithm and then Rank1 is also generated. Ø Comparing 2k-prefix Suffix(i) and Suffix(j) using SAk and Rankk. 2k-Suffix(i) = 2k-Suffixes(j), this is equivalent to Rankk[SAk[i]] = Rankk[SAk[j]] and Rankk[SAk[i+k]] = Rankk[SAk[j+k]] 2k-Suffix(i) Suffix-array algorithm is a sorting algorithm which sorts out the characteristic string. So, this uses binary search algorithm. The algorithm follows Step 1: in the first step values are assigned like left=1, right=n and max_match=0 Step 2: the middle value i.e., mid= (left +right)/2. Step 3: comparing the characters corresponding to Suffix (SA[mid]) and P. the longest public prefix r can be helpful in implantation and comparison. If r > max_match, then max_match=r. Step 4: if Suffix(SA[mid])   If Suffix(SA[mid])>P, then right=mid-1   If Suffix(SA[mid])=P, then go to step 6 Step 5: if left Step 6: if max_match= m, then print â€Å"match is successful†. 3.1.4 REORGANISING THE CHARACTERISTIC STRING: In this step the characteristic string is reorganised. If the character string is divided into two different data blocks, then the data block with the partial characteristic string is stored. Basically, all the information about the data block like index, beginning offset, length of the block and so on are contained at the head of the each block. Here a structure piece is defined which consists of index of the block, beginning offset of the block offset, length of the character array head and the length of the character array end[18]. Initially each and every data packet is compared with the characteristic string for matching. If it is matched then the warning or an alert is sent to all the users about the worm. Here if the tail of the characteristic string of the worm matches with the head of the data block, then it will be stored in the character array end. And if the head of the characteristic string of the worm matches with the tail of the data block then it is stored in the corr esponding character array head. Suppose if the neighbouring data block contains a partial characteristic string of the worm then the neighbour string in the array head as well as in the end will be reorganised. Now this reorganised string will again perform the characteristic string matching and if any worm is detected then again the warning is sent to all users saying that the worm have found. If it is not matched then it won’t perform any operation. If in a case that the characteristic string is present in the block but is divided into two different data packets, then a special term called â€Å"character array† is introduced. First the matching mechanism is performed in both the data packet. If the matching characteristic string is found then the warning is sent to the users that there is a worm present. But if only part of the characteristic string is found then it will be enough if it meets some of the requirements like the head of the data packet should match wit h the tail of the characteristic string or the tail of the data packet should match with the head of the characteristic string. But if these conditions are not satisfied then no operation is performed. Now, if the tail of the data packet contains the partial characteristic string then the data packet is stored in the array. If the length of the characteristic string is m, then the Array[m] is set as ’’. And if the head of the data packet contains a part of the characteristic string then that data packet is stored in the n consecutive units of array. Finally, this array will be the characteristic string matching and if the worm is detected then the warning is sent to all the users. If it is not matched then nothing is done. 3.2 DETECTING UNKNOWN P2P WORM: In the above section we have seen how the known worm is detected. But that algorithm or mechanism are meant to detect the unknown p2p worms. So here in this section we will understand how the unknown worms can be detected and restrain the network. As we know in p2p networks a node can able to send the information to multiple hosts at a same time. Anyhow same protocol is used by all the nodes in the network[27]. These characteristics of the network helps worm to propagate easily. As we discussed above, only the known worms can be detected by using the characteristic string matching method. Here we will see how the unknown worms can be detected. The unknown worms are detected based on the behaviour of the node. Some of the detection rules are: same content files are transferred to multiple hosts in a very short time. Same protocol is used and the destination port is same. If these rules are satisfies by the source port then it allows the p2p worm to propagate. Now, it is necessary to e xtract the characteristics of worm near the worm propagation nodes. When these characteristics are extracted, they are added to the feature library. This data similarity comparison and extracting the characteristics are done using the LCSeq algorithm. But the LCSeq algorithm based on generalized suffix tree (GST) is the more efficient. The overall idea is that all the suffixes are represented as a tree. And this tree will have some characteristics like: Ø Every node in a tree is a string and root is the empty string Ø Every suffix can be represented as a path from the root. Ø Every substring can be considered as a prefix of a suffix. Ø To achieve the searching public sub sequence, every node should be set the information of its subordinate source string. 3.3 EXPERIMENT: We know that the worm body tries to infect the other nodes in the network by sending the worm to the specific ports of p2p node. So here the author tried to prove the efficiency of his method by performing an experiment. In this experiment he prepared a multiple group worm body and sent it repeatedly at regular intervals of time. Then he captured these packets and extracted their characteristics and compared it with the one that already exist in the feature library. P2p worm is detected separately using different algorithms like BF algorithm, KMP algorithm and suffix-array algorithm and compared their results doing three experiments. In the experiment 1, worm characteristics are in the same packet.. in the experiment

Hamlet theme of appearance vs. reality Essay -- essays research papers

Shakespeare examines the theme of appearance and reality in his book-Hamlet. The dilemma of what is "real" is established at the very beginning of the play. Hamlet doesn’t know what to believe and devises a plan to find out. The old king Hamlet appears to be bitten by a snake, but in reality he was poisoned, the ghost appears as an apparition, but it’s actually real, and the play-with-in-a-play strongly depicts the theme of appearance vs. reality. The dead King appears to have been bitten by a snake. In reality, he has been poisoned. Everyone believes that the king died from snakebite, but once Hamlet knows the truth he is unsettled by the revelation. When Hamlet's dead father directs his son to, â€Å"Avenge him of his foul and most unnatural murder† (1.5. 25), Hamlet's response shows determination to act and a curiosity to know all the facts surrounding the murder: (1.5. 29-31) "Haste me to know't, that I, with wings as swift, as meditation or the thoughts of love may sweep to my revenge.† Hamlet's choice of image is significant here. A person who wants to take revenge rarely has "thoughts of love" but only concentrates upon thoughts of revenge, but Hamlet's thirst for revenge is immediate and deep. Shakespeare also develops the theme of appearance vs. reality when Hamlet resents his mother's insinuation that he is putting on a show of being grief-stricken. Strangely, he is the only one in th e family who is truly mourning ...

The Spread of Disease In the New World :: American America History

The Spread of Disease In the New World The extraordinary good health of the natives prior to the coming of the Europeans would become a key ingredient in their disastrous undoing. The greatest cause of disease in America was epidemic diseases imported from Europe. Epidemic diseases killed with added virulence in the " virgin soil" populations of the Americas. The great plague that arose in the Old World never emerged on their own among the western hemisphere and did not spread across oceans until Columbus' discovery. Disease and parasitism play a pervasive role in all life. Many of these diseases start with microparasites, which are characterized by their ability to reproduce directly within an individual host. They are also characterized by their small size, short duration of infection, and the production of an immune response in infected and recovered individuals. Microparasites which damage hosts in the course of their association are recognized as pathogens. The level of the interaction and the extent of the resultant damage depends on both the virulence of the pathogen, as well as the host defenses. If the pathogen can overcome the host defenses, the host will be damaged and may not survive. If on the other hand the host defenses overcome the pathogen, the microparasite may fail to establish itself within the host and die. The main objectives of the pathogen are to gain entry inside the host, once inside grow and reproduce, and avoid host defenses. There are three possible routes of infection: respiratory, alimentary, and traumatic. The respiratory route is the easiest and most direct means of entry. Under crowded conditions, the rate of infection is even more rapid. The diseases brought over to America were mainly spread by the respiratory method. The alimentary pathway of infection is through the ingestion of contaminated food and water. Throughout Europe during the 15th century, food and water were contaminated with fecal matter and by unsanitary habits ( i.e. the lack of bathing). The traumatic route of infection is through insect and animal bites. The objective of the host is to "escape" from the pathogen. This can be done through the use of the immune system or by quickly dying. When a host dies with the pathogen still inside the pathogen dies as well. Resistance to invaders evolved as a result of the development of the mechanism of immunity. The development of immunity depends on the recognition of differences in chemical structures of substances.

The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass :: Narrative Life Frederick Douglass

The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass shows several instances in which his personal accounts of slavery are highlighted. These instances illustrate important realizations that Douglass makes concerning slavery, and/or about his own condition. The very first chapter of the novel produces the first example: loss of identity. Many slaves had absolutely no concept of time, in terms of factual dates. Slaves were kept "ignorant" as to the facts of the real world, in most cases not even knowing the year of their birth, preventing the knowledge of a captive's true age. A birthday is something with which people can identify, as they are a celebrated part of our culture, especially to youth. Douglass here identifies himself as a human being lacking what we may consider a normal childhood simply through the use of dates. We identify ourselves by the dates which surround the events of our lives. Part of our identity is formed from dates and this was a privilege he was denied. He is, however, provided with a general idea as to how old he truly is, " I come to this from hearing my master say, some time during 1835, I was about seventeen years old" (Douglass 1). Adding to this already tarnished identity is the status of his parental figures. While Douglass somewhat got to know his mother, he never really had a father. His father, according to practically everyone, was a white man, ."..opinion was also whispered that my master was my father..." (1). Although it is true that he knew his mother, it must be noted that they were separated while he was an infant and thereafter only met a total of four or five times. The consequences of not knowing who you really are may not have phased Douglass much during his childhood. However as he grew older and began to understand how the politics of slavery work, there is no doubt that this lack of principle human right (to which everyone should be entitled) certainly motivated Douglass towards achieving his goal of freedom. A major fear amongst slave owners is that their slaves will learn to read and write.

Leveraging Workplace Diversity

Diversity is a term that is used to refer to ways in which people are different. These include the gender, age, language, educational level, life experience cultural background sexual orientation ethnicity religious belief work experience socio-economic background marital status family responsibilities personality and marital status. Whether married, single or pregnant women should be given the same opportunities in their workplace and should not be sexually harmonized by their bosses. Against sex discrimination Act 1984 Workplace diversity refers to the ways of recognizing and respecting the individual differences of the workers and being able to manage them as they work. In the places work there is need for diversity in terms of gender, type of work to be done, age tribe/race and even the level for education of the individuals. For instant when we look at gender a good workplace should be gender sensitive in that both men and women should have the same opportunities of working depending on their level of education. Both male and female should have equal chances of taking the top positions in their place of work and should be given respect by the other work mates equally. Women should not be discriminated as it happens in most cases and denied the best opportunities that arise. A good work place should have balance in terms of tribe or race. This is important as it clears good relations in the society as each tribe or race is represented. Therefore different mates form different background come and put their minds together as a team to bring out the best in the work place. A workplace that discriminates it’s workers on the grounds of race, color or Nationality or Ethnic origin will not succeed as this is unlawful and goes against the Racial Discrimination Act 1975(Huyles,1996,pg 56). The Human rights should be taken into consideration in the workplace. All persons both the physically challenged and mentally disabled should be given the same working opportunities without discrimination. They are human beings who have the same rights as other human beings. Their complaints should be addressed greatly and they should accommodate by every individual as they do their work. Any discrimination against these people is unlawful as it violates the Human Rights and Equal opportunity commission Act 1984 (Cox, 1995, pg 43). To maintain diversity in the workplace, all employers and employees have a right to a secure healthy working environment. This will help them to be alert and work comfortably so that they can bring out the fruitful work that will benefit them and the society at large. Therefore, an employer has a role of taking precautions to prevent discrimination and harassment to his employees. This is necessary since failure to that; one violates the Occupational Health and Safety Act 1991(Bruhn, 1996, pg 35). The disabled should not be discriminated in their place of work since it’s not their choice to be in their state. They are human beings with all the human rights. Therefore, they should be treated like any other individual or employee. The sick should be given proper medical attention to improve their state so that they can also work together like others. If an employer goes against this, he violates the Disability Discrimination Act 1992 and should face the law (Hofsted, 1997, pg 265). Diversity also requires that all the employees be informed and access the awards and agreements that are part of their work. For instant, they should be aware of the terms and conditions that are important as it relates to the workplace relations act 1996. The employer should not discriminate the employee from this information. A diverse workplace should ensure that there is corporation and maximum use of the diverse skills, employee’s values and their work experiences so that they may come with good fruits in their work. It should also ensure that the structures in the workplace, the systems that they use and the procedures that they apply are well utilized to help the employees in balancing their work, manage their families by caring for them in responsible manner. When making decisions, a diverse workplace should also take in account their goals and the skills that are required so that they can meet these goals and objectives. They should ensure that transparency is available and the decisions should be procedurally fair at the same time be equitable (Schauber, 1999, pg 460). To maintain diversity in the workplace, Disney company sets the overall company performance goals for the year. These goals are usually diverse and require a diverse staff so that they can meet them. The company sets individual performance measures for the year without any discrimination. Therefore, each employee has a target to meet his goals in a diverse manner. The company also sets target bonus for each individual that motivates them to work hard so that they can achieve their goals and earn these bonuses at the end of the year. They also measure the actual performance against the predefined company performance goals to reach to the necessary adjustments that are to be done so that they would do better in future (Ting 1999, pg12). For one to have an effective change model there should be a commitment to serve the others. Therefore, both the employee and the employer should be committed to serving the society as a whole. They should be ready to serve all the races without discrimination and give them equal opportunities in accessing the benefits that are available. There should also be need for Awareness of the importance of new ways of approaching issues. The employees and the employer should be informed of the so that they would come up with different ways of thinking so that it will be easier to hire and retain diversity in the working staff and develop an educational seminar to the diverse society to encourage the issue of diversity (Huyle, 1996,pg 98). There should be Awareness of the importance to build and maintain trust among the employees and the employer and the society as a whole. This is important as it develops the mutual understanding in the people and even the entire society. The issue of openness should be understood and all the members are interested and willing to be involved in this model of diversifying the workplace and the activities involved (Kotter, 1995, pg59-67). Creativity should be encouraged as this will ensure or encourage people to think and come up with the best as they work. The employees should be informed of the importance of diversity as it adds richness to them and the society in general and be informed of the need for a diverse staff so that whenever there are changes, they are able to accommodate the new employees (Coop, 1997, pg 56). REFERENCES Bruhn, J.G. (1996). Creating an organization climate for multiculturalism. Health care supervisor, 14(14), 11-18. Hofsted, G. (1997).Culture and organizations: software of the mind. New York: McGrass-Hill. Schauber, A. (1999).Assessing organizational climate: first step in diversifying organizations. Unpublished doctoral dissertation. Cincinnati: union Institute. Ting-Toomey, S. (1999).Communicating across cultures. New York: Guilford. Huyle, R. &Mendez Russell, A. (1996). The diversity directive: why some initiatives fail and what to do about it. Irwin professional publishing. Cope, Bill & Kalantzis, Mary (1997). Productive diversity, anew Australian and a model for work management. Plato press. Cox Jr., Taylor (2001). The challenge of managing diversity. San Francisco: john Wiley& sons, Inc. Kotter, J.P. (1995). Leading change: why transformation efforts fail. Harvard Business Review, 59-67 Â   Â   Â