Religion Is A Complex And Beautiful System - 1222 Words

Religion Religion is a system that many people have come to know as one of worship and faith. As college students, religion is a topic that many of us wonder about, question, and encounter throughout our daily lives. One thing is certain when it comes to religion, there is no ignoring the important role it plays on many individuals lives, communities, nations, and basically in all corners of the world. Each human experiences religion in different ways; it is amazing to be able to observe the variety or beliefs based on authoritarian power, tradition, and culture. Religion has been transformed in the new world by becoming more diverse in perspectives, and we can see the impact it makes in our world as well as the amount of power this†¦show more content†¦In our daily lives, we routinely encounter places of worship. Sometimes we notice them, sometimes we don’t, but either way, there are numerous places of worship that surround us. The places of worship we encountered we re St. Elizabeth Catholic Parish Church located in Aiea on November 17,2015 at 2:10pm, St. Joseph Church November 15, 2015 at 10:30 am in Waipahu, and St. Timothy’s Episcopal Church on November 18, 2015 at 5:30 pm in Waimalu. These churches are similar with the similar art designs on their walls and ceilings that are portrayed. These art forms are used as symbols, which is something that means more than what is portrayed. (Guest 598). Most of the art consist of angels, which symbolized a messenger of god. The Cross-represents the symbol of Christ s death and candles represent the light of Christ. Aside from many similarities, these three churches are also different because although St. Elizabeth and St. Joseph are both catholic churches run by priests, bishops run St. Timothy. Bishops are knows as overseers, while priests are able to pray directly to god. We take for granted the things we are truly not aware of. In America, we were founded on religion. â€Å"One nation, under God..† We have the freedom to believe in and practice on whatever religion we wish to choose. With this freedom though comes blinders. It was not until this project that I realized how many different types of

Yoga as a Physical and Mental Process Annotated Bibliography

Essays on Yoga as a Physical and Mental Process Annotated Bibliography The paper "Yoga as a Physical and Mental Process" is an amazing example of an annotated bibliography on sports and recreation.   Tomporowski, P. D., Davis, C. L., Miller, P. H., Naglieri, J. A. (2008). Exercise and children’s intelligence, cognition, and academic achievement.Educational Psychology Review,  20(2), 111-131.The research explains the effects of exercise on the mental and cognitive abilities of an individual. It also includes the effects of yoga which can help in developing mental and creative capabilities of young people and adults. Goldberg, L. (2004). Creative Relaxation SM: A Yoga-based program for regular and exceptional student education.  International journal of yoga therapy,  14(1), 68-78. The source explains how Yoga fosters creativity and intellect among those who exercise it. It helps in providing insight about yoga among the masses and boosts their creative capabilities which are useful for the research. Kirkwood, G., Rampes, H., Tuffrey, V., Richardson, J., Pilkington, K. (2005). Yoga for anxiety: a systematic review of the research evidence.  British Journal of S ports Medicine,  39(12), 884-891.The research has been conducted regarding different pressures that are sustained by the human brain and leads to improper functionality. It also explains how yoga heals those unhealthy activities and helps in developing the intellectual and creative capabilities of human beings. Telles, S., Reddy, S. K., Nagendra, H. R. (2000). Oxygen consumption and respiration following two yoga relaxation techniques.  Applied psychophysiology and biofeedback,  25(4), 221-227.This research explains the relaxation techniques which are followed in Yoga. The brain needs oxygen to perform well and through yoga oxygen intake increases which helps in relaxing and developing the brain letting it free from stress which is detrimental to its growth.Gura, S. T. (2002). Yoga for stress reduction and injury prevention at work.Work: A journal of prevention, assessment, and rehabilitation,  19(1), 3-7.It explains about benefits of yoga on an individual’s brain. I t is said to burn out stress. Yoga helps in the regeneration and development of brain cells which helps to avoid mental weakness and stress leading to more intellectual and creative work being depicted by an individual at the workplace.

Punishment Versus Rehabilitation Paper free essay sample

Paper Punishment is an authoritative imposition that is done to a person that results in their behavior that was deemed wrong by a group or an individual person. Punishment can come in many different forms for example the person that committed a crime could get the punishment as in jail time, probation, or even witness protection. Punishment to some people could be harsh and to others it could be easy. In other people’s eyes the people who are getting punished is not getting enough punishment or getting too much punishment. Rehabilitation is to restore a useful life which could mean by therapy or an institution. Rehabilitation is a program that is created to prevent habitual offending. Rehabilitation is a program that wants to help a criminal get into the normal state of mind and not punish them for an action that they may have caused. Rehabilitation is a program that helps a criminal change and become a outstanding citizen that follows the rules instead of the criminal getting out and committing another crime. We will write a custom essay sample on Punishment Versus Rehabilitation Paper or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Deterrence of Crime Deterrence is a form of punishment that is used to deter people from committing crimes. There are different types of deterrence and one of them is individual or special deterrence which is deterrent effect of punishment on the person that is being punished. Special deterrence can make a person change their mind about committing a crime because of the consequence of their actions. Meaning the person has a heart and realizes that they can be punished for the crime they are getting ready to commit. When it comes to deterrence humans are humans and the can act like if they care about the consequences of their actions when it comes to committing a crime but they do not in reality. The criminals think they can get away with the crime they committed and they commit the crime and realize their actions got noticed and they eventually get caught. There are deters that some people think about and they are three strikes and truth in sentencing policies. These policies help some offenders to realize they been given a chance to straighten up and some may take the warning and others may not take the warning. Effect on victims and victims’ families Victims tend to seek punishment to the individual that may have caused pain to them. Some victims want revenge and some may seek prison time for the individual. It’s human nature to seek revenge on the person that may have caused harm to their self or to their family. There are some cases where a victim or victims family act out on their anger and they seek revenge but there are few of them that does that. Some victims may think the authorities will not arrest the person that done them harm and that is what makes them seek revenge on some level. Many victims think when the individual gets caught that they will feel better but in reality it does not feel any better. The reason for that is because they do not get the justice of their loved one to come back to them or they do not get to take back what was done to them. Being a victim can be tough to deal with and can be difficult to overcome but with help from their family and time the victim will eventually let it go. The Justice system has a good system that makes the offender responsible for anything that was broke during their time of committing the crime. For example if a person breaks into a house and destroys the door and other items in the house the offender has to pay for the door and the items and replace any item they stole whether it is giving it back to them or buying them a new one. This system is called restorative justice and it is there to help the victims get their life back together. Restorative justice also helps the offender an opportunity to right their wrong and redeem their self. Effect on the Offender The Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 gives the offender’s conviction time spent or ignored after the period of rehabilitation. This period has a time limit on it after the conviction. This act is able to help the people with few minor convictions this act is not made for every offender only because it helps the ones with fewer convictions than the ones with many convictions or has a serious conviction. This helps the offender in so many different ways. After the rehabilitation act period is over an ex offender does not have to put on the job application. Depending on the sentence that an offender is given is what the rehabilitation is going to be. For example if the prison sentence is 6 months or less the rehabilitation period for 17 years old or under is 3.

Maths Investigation Pile em High Essay Example

Maths Investigation Pile em High Paper Jo has started in a local supermarket and her first job is to build displays of soup tins. To make them stable they are stacked using a brick bond so that each tins stands on two others. The tins are stacked against the wall. Each stack is complete with one tin in the top row.This piece of Maths coursework is about investigating sequences from a practical situation. In this investigation, tins are used to build stacks using a brick bond so that each new tin stands on two others. The tins are stacked flat against a structure and each stack is complete with one tin in the top row.An Example:First I will investigate a two row stack.In this two row stack there are:Two tins on the base (row 2)One tin on the top (row 1)Three tins altogetherIn a three row stack there are:Three tins on the base (row 3)Two tins in the middle (row 2)One tin on the top (row 1)Six tins altogetherAn early pattern that I can see is that whatever the row number (counting down from row 1 at the top) there are that m any tins in the row e.g.row 3 3 tins. It appears to me that there is some kind of pattern forming with the total number of tins in each built up stacks. (See table)Number of StacksThe Amount of Tins23364105?I predict that for five stacks, the amount of tins needed will be fifteen based on other stacks e.g. for two stacks there are three and then for three stacks there are six so two tins are added. Then as you go down the table the tins adds on another i.e. +2, +3, +4. I have tested it practically using real tins and for five stacks there were fifteen tins. I recognise this pattern. It is the sequence of triangular numbers.N= 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 (term number)1 3 6 10 15 .line 1+2 +3 +4 +5 .line 21 1 1 .line 3The numbers on line 1 are the sequence of total number of tins in each stack and those on the second line are between the numbers in the sequence.I have found a formula for this sequence using rules of quadratic sequences. I did this by:1, 2, 3, 4, 5 (term number)a+b+c = 1 3 6 10 15 .line 13a+b = +2 +3 +4 +5 .line 22a = 1 1 1 .line 3axà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ + bx + c is the standard quadratic sequence and is used to find the formulaSo. 2a= 1a= 0.53a+b = 21.5+b =2b=o.5a+b+c=10.5+0.5+c=1c=0So by substituting the answers into the formula on the previous page, I will get an overall formula for this investigation.axà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ + bx + c0.5xà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ + 0.5x + cTherefore the formula I have found is when x = The number of tin rows:tn = 1/2xà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ + 1/2xI will now test this formula to make sure it works in all stacks.Firstly I will try two:0.5 x 2à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ + 0.5 x 2I calculated this sum and the answer was three. This was correct. I tried it again but with four;0.5 x 4à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ + 0.5 x 4 = 4This was also correct. This means that the formula for the brick bonding was correct and my prediction was correct.I am now able to answer question one which is to find how many tins are in a stack of nineteen tins high.0.5 x nà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ + 0.5 x n0.5 x 19à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ + 0.5 x 19= 190Therefore there are 190 tins in a stack of 19 tins high.Now I am going to investigate a different structure to see if the formula is the same for a four tin base that has a tin on top that touches all four other tins.An Example :I will find a sequence for the number of tins used and will then investigate a formula for a square based tin construction.TermNumber= 1 2 3Base= 1 4 9I have recognised that there is a pattern for the number of tins on the base of a four based stack. There is a repetition of square numbers i.e.1 x 1 = 12 x 2 = 43 x 3 = 9Therefore the formula for the base is tn=nà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ but I am trying to investigate the number of tins in the whole structure.I have found a sequence by using a practical and counting each tin in each stack.Term Number 1, 2, 3, 4, 5Total Number of Tins 1, 5, 14, 30, 55Square Number Differences 4 9 16 25(Base numbers)These are odds numbers +5 +7 +9missing numbers 1 and 3Constant +2 +2The reason why row four is tw0 is because the differen ce between odd numbers is always two. As we have to come down to a third line we are now in a cubic situation. I now have to use the cubic standard sequence t0 find the formula for the number of tinsTerm Number 1, 2, 3, 4, 5N= 1, 5, 14, 30, 55a+b+c= 4 9 16 257a+3b+= +5 +7 +912a+2b= +2 +2The standard cubic formula is anà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ + bnà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ + cn + dTherefore by substituting again, I can find the formula.6a = 2a =12a + 2b + 54 + 2b = 5b = 1/27a + 3b + c = 47 + 1 1/2 + c = 4c =+ 1/2 + = 1d = 0Consequently the formula for a square based tin structure is.tn = nà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ + 1/2nà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ + nn = Term NumberFurther into my investigation, I will investigate a star based structure by adding on one more tin on to the end of each line every time. I will try and find a formula and test it to make sure it works. I will use a standard sequence rule and put numbers into it.Firstly I will find a sequence to this structure that I am investigating. I will use the base numbers to as a star ting point to investigating a formulaTerm Number1 2 3Number of Tins on Base1 5 9Tins Added Each Time1 6 15I tested this in a practical situation and found that for term number four there were 28 tins altogether.I will now use the numbers to make a sequence;Term Number (N) = 1, 2, 3, 4Added Tins 1, 6, 15, 28Difference 5 9 13Constant +4 +4This shows that I will have to use the quadratic formula as there are three rows of working in the sequence above.1, 2, 3, 4, (term number)a+b+c = 1 6, 15, 28 .line 13a+b = 5 9 13 .line 22a = +4 +4 .line 3Therefore;2a= 4a= 23a+b = 56+b =5b=-1a+b+c=12-1+c=1c=0axà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ + bx + c2xà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ +- 1x which can be simplified into tn = n (2n 1)Therefore the formula for this star based structure is tn = n (2n 1)I will now test this formula to check that this formula works in all cases:2(22 1)= 6This is correct3(23 1)= 15This is also correctThis means that the formula that I have investigated is correct for this particular pattern, where x = the ter m number.Conclusion112531443055569171408204928510385112336410515621728836945105511263154285456667918120915310190This graph shows all the patterns onto one graph. It shows that a star based structure uses more tin cans than a brick bond. They all have a positive relationship as all the lines move upwards. The star based structure and square based structure have the same amount of tins until about row four and then they start to split of and the square based tin stacks stack to decrease compared to the star based structure. A brick bond uses the smallest amount of tins overall.

How To Pronounce Divisive

How To Pronounce Divisive How To Pronounce Divisive How To Pronounce Divisive By Maeve Maddox A reader has called my attention to the changing pronunciation of divisive: I am very active in politics and frequently watch television programs which feature political topics.  One of THE most frustrating- and very common- mispronunciations I hear is with the word divisive.   I was taught that it is pronounced with a long i on the second syllable- ie: resulting in it having the same, long i sound as the word divide. Many seemingly well-educated and otherwise intelligent people pronounce it with a short i sound on the second syllable.  I have checked my hard-copy dictionaries, and they all back up my pronunciation of the word. Am I so backward that I missed out on a revolutionary new way to pronounce this word?   If not, why do so many people pronounce it incorrectly?   Do they believe it makes them appear cool- or part of an exclusive club- or something?!   Do you know when- and why- this trend started? The reader hasn’t missed any new ruling on how to say divisive. The standard pronunciation is still with a long i in the second syllable: di-VY-siv. Charles Elster (The Big Book of Beastly Mispronunciations) devotes two cantankerous pages to the misguided â€Å"short-i† divisive, establishing the credentials of the â€Å"long-i† pronunciation by citing various dictionaries. He remarks that the first time he noted the nonstandard pronunciation in the context of politics was in 1989 in G. H. W. Bush’s inaugural address. Within fifteen years, â€Å"the erroneous pronunciation,† as Elster calls it, had begun to infect otherwise careful speakers, including Robert Siegel, cohost of NPR’s All Things Considered, who twice said [di-VIH-siv] during an interview that aired on August 30, 2004. Elster suggests that the short-i pronunciation may have what he labels â€Å"the my-pronunciation’s-better-than-yours appeal† for some individuals, but that careful speakers will continue to pronounce the second syllable of divisive with a long i. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Spelling category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:"Based in" and "based out of"50 Nautical Terms in General Use50 Plain-Language Substitutions for Wordy Phrases

Contrast Essay for The Great Gatsby

How to Write a Compare/Contrast Essay for The Great Gatsby SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips A very common essay prompt/discussion topic for The Great Gatsby is to have you compare and contrast a pair of characters in Gatsby. Why do teachers love these prompts so much? These compare/contrast essays are an opportunity for you to tie the character similarities and differences to larger observations about society and class, the American Dream, or identity in the novel. They also allow you to practice standard English class skills: close reading, using lines from the text as evidence, and taking a stance and presenting a supporting argument in an essay. We’ll go over some basic dos and don’ts for writing compare/contrast essays before diving into some analysis of the most asked-about character pairings. Keep reading if you have a Compare/Contrast assignment on the horizon! Article Roadmap The do's of acompare and contrast essay The don'ts of a compare contrast essay Why some characters are paired for comparison more often than others Analysis of and essay topic ideas for the most common character pairs: Nick and Gatsby Tom and George Tom and Gatsby Daisy and Jordan Daisy and Myrtle What to Do in a Compare/Contrast Essay Like anything you write for English class, your essay should be clearly organized, with a thesis statement (a one-sentence summary of your argument), and topic sentences for each body paragraph. And you should definitely have an overall argument! The point of the compare/contrast essay isn’t for you to just list the differences and similarities between two characters, you need to take those observations and make a larger argument about the novel as a whole. That larger argument allows you to practice writing an essay that contains an argument, which is a skill that nearly all English teachers are focused on building. To take a quick example, don’t just list the differences between Tom Buchanan and Jay Gatsby. Instead, make an argument like, â€Å"Fitzgerald’s portrayal of wealthy New York society through Jay Gatsby and Tom Buchanan allows him to critique both old money and the newly rich, while reserving his most pointed critiques for the old money crowd.† (Obviously, that’s just one example, and there are dozens of potential arguments you could make while comparing and contrasting characters in Gatsby!) Make sure to address your larger argument in each body paragraph as you draw out the similarities and differences between the two characters. Don’t get caught in the weeds as you tease out the many differences and similarities in each character pair. Always link back to the bigger picture. Finally, analyze each quote you use – in other words, don’t stick a quote in your essay and do nothing with it. Make sure to explain how and why the quote demonstrates a key similarity or difference, and what that means for your bigger argument. What to Avoid in a Compare/Contrast Essay Don’t just list differences and similarities without an overarching argument. Although you can definitely start brainstorming by making a list of similarities and differences, just presenting that list in essay form won’t get you a good grade, since you need to go deeper and explain what the similarities/differences suggest about the novel as a whole. And, on the other side, don’t make big claims without some evidence from the text to back them up. For example, don’t say â€Å"Tom is selfish while Gatsby cares about others.† Prove those two separate claims (Tom is selfish† and â€Å"Gatsby cares about others†) with relevant lines from the book. (And if you’re having a hard time locating good quotes, find a digital version of Gatsby you can search using the CTRL-F function. It’s a lifesaver when gathering relevant quotes for an essay!) The garden gnome agrees - our essay tips have helped him out more than you'll ever know. Why Are These Characters Paired Most Often? We will tackle these major pairings in the next sections of this article: Nick Carraway and Jay Gatsby Tom Buchanan and Jay Gatsby Tom Buchanan and George Wilson Daisy Buchanan and Jordan Baker Daisy Buchanan and Myrtle Wilson Before we dig into the analysis, you might be wondering: â€Å"why are we only comparing characters of the same gender?† or maybe â€Å"why not other pairings? Why not Jordan and Myrtle, or Nick and Tom?† We are focusing on these specific pairings because they are by far the most commonly asked about pairs in essay prompts and discussion topics for The Great Gatsby. And we want this guide, first and foremost, to be helpful to students as you work on assignments involving Gatsby! Furthermore, these pairings help teachers get you to explore some of the novel’s larger themes. For example, comparing Daisy/ Myrtle or Tom/George can help you explore the differences between the wealthy and the working class.Comparing Daisy/Myrtle or Daisy/Jordan can help you explore the changing status of women during the 1920s. Comparing Tom and Gatsby can get at the old money/new money divide. Finally, differences betweenNick and Gatsby raisesome of the novel’s larger questions about the American Dream, repeating the past, and identity. In short, these pairings have become common because they each allow fairly easy access to one of the novel’s larger issues. That’s not to say you couldn’t also explore some of those themes by comparing, say, Jordan and George, or Daisy and Gatsby, but cross-gender compare/contrast essays can be challenging because the status of women and men is so different in the novel. If you are interested in seeing how a particular male and female character are paired, you may be better off studying them through the lens of love, desire, and relationships in the novel, or through the way they relate to one of the novel's symbols or motifs. With those thoughts in mind, let's jump into the top 5 pairings! For each pairing, we will suggest a few possible larger arguments you can either build from or disagree with, but these are far from comprehensive! You should add to our analysis of the characters and come up with an argument you’re excited about. Quick Note on Our Citations Our citation format in this guide is (chapter.paragraph). We're using this system since there are many editions of Gatsby, so using page numbers would only work for students with our copy of the book. To find a quotation we cite via chapter and paragraph in your book, you can either eyeball it (Paragraph 1-50: beginning of chapter; 50-100: middle of chapter; 100-on: end of chapter), or use the search function if you're using an online or eReader version of the text. Nick Carraway and Jay Gatsby Although Jay Gatsby and Nick Carraway varyboth in outlook and temperament, they are also alike ininteresting ways. Despite somewhat similardesires, attitudes, and social positions, Nick and Gatsby make very different choices during the novel. Love and Romance.Nick and Gatsbyboth want womenthat are out of their reach, although in different degrees. Daisy is miles above Gatsby in terms of social class. Jordan and Nick are of the same social status, but Jordan doesn't seem free to make her own decisions since an aunt controls her financial life.There is a significant passion gap between Gatsby and Nick as well. Gatsby obsesses over Daisy- he has thought of nothing else for five years, going as far as to buy a house across the bay from her just in case she notices. Nick, meanwhile, is attracted to Jordan's cool and self-sufficient demeanor, but he is clearly not in love with her, as he himself notes ("I wasn't actually in love, but I felt a sort of tender curiosity" (3.159)). Approach to Women.Both men are not particularly interested in the inner lives of the women they want to be with. Gatsby is devastated when Daisy doesn't want to renounce her relationship with Tom completely. Similarly, Nick cavalierly discounts Jordan's penchant to lie, cheat, and generally be cynically uninterested in other people, and then is deeply disappointed when she acts this way after Myrtle's death. Class and Social Standing.Although bothGatsby and Nick are outsiders to the wealthy communities of East and West Egg, Nick is a much more in-between character socially than Gatsby. Nick is familiar with the ways of the old money crowd because of his own family's privilege and the fact that he is related to Daisy. Gatsby isnot only self-made, but is a criminal whois desperate to pass as part of the old money elite without knowing its customs or rules of behavior.What isolates Nickfrom East Egg life is his Midwestern values and the importance he places on morality and decency. Gatsby is isolated from everyone by the fact that he can never actually be himself - he is always playing a role and putting on his "Oxford man" persona. It may be this sense of feeling out of place that connects them. Outlook and Temperament.Gatsby is an optimist (almost to a delusional degree)while Nick is a realist who finds Gatsby's idealism inspiring and admirable. Gatsby believes in his ability to shape his own life and future, which makes sense since he has managed to transform himself from a farmer to a successful gangster, to impersonate an "Oxford man," and to accumulatea fantastic amount of wealth in a very short time. This belief in his power translates to Gatsby being sure that he and Daisy can go back to their month of idyllic love ("'Can't repeat the past?', he cried incredulously. 'Why of course you can!'" (6.129).Nick tries his best to be an objective realist and to reign in his tendency to judge others. He is deeply in awe of self-directed men like Gatsby, and even Wolfshiem (Nick is amazed to think that one man could be behind a huge event like therigged World Series). Ambition.Gatsby dreams of greatness. As a young man his mind â€Å"romped like the mind of God,† and so as an adult, he seems to have made good on this promise by buying the most ridiculous mansion and throwing the most extravagantparties (6.134). Nick is much less ambitious in comparison. While he comes to New York seeking excitement, he doesn't want to be the wealthiest bond salesman on Wall Street or to have the biggest house. He is happy to be an observer at the edge of the drama rather than being in its midst. Nick and GatsbyEssay Ideas Here arepotential arguments to build on or disagree with based our observations. These are certainly not the only possible arguments, so be creative! Make sure your essay considers what the similarities and differences between Nick and Gatsby reveal about the novel as a whole. Nick is a passive person and Gatsby is active, which is why Gatsby is the hero and Nick simply the observer. Nick has much more in common with Gatsby than he thinks he does, which explains why he becomes so enamored of him. Nick serves as a foil (someone whoserves as a contrast)to Gatsby, which makes Nick the best possible observer of Gatsby. At the end of the novel, Tom says that Gatsby â€Å"threw dirt in [Nick’s] eyes, just like Daisy’s,† meaning thatboth Nick and Daisy were taken in and could never see the true Gatsby: a narcissist and a criminal.Tom is right - the whole novel is Nick trying to spin a negative character into a positive one. Nick Carraway: master of spin or just along for the ride? Tom Buchanan and Jay Gatsby As they battle overDaisy’s love, Tom Buchanan and Jay Gatsby sometimes seem surprisingly similar - particular in their self-centeredness, wealth, and concern with appearances. At the same time, these surface parallelspoint to majorconflictsin their social class, and say a lot about the world of the novel. Appearance.Gatsby is driven by his materialism to be very invested having fashionable clothes, a beautiful mansion, and visually overwhelmingparties - for him, the outfit is the thing that makes the Oxford man. Meanwhile because Tom doesn't have to dress the part of the moneyed elite to be one, he is instead veryattuned to the behavior of others. This is why he immediately seeshow fakeGatsby's persona is, both because of Gatsby's overly ostentatious clothes, and because of how much Gatsby misreads the fake invitation from the Sloanes. Tom is never fooled into thinking that Gatsby isanything other than an upstart, and mostly likely a criminal one. Self-Centeredness.Tom and Gatsbyare both completely selfish, and fully convinced that their desires have to be acquiesced to by those around them. Tom, for example, starts his affair with Myrtle by pressing himself against her on a train platform - basically, his version of flirting is bodily assault. Gatsby, meanwhile, also thinks nothing of starting anaffair with a married woman, assuming that his obsessive feelings are enough to justify any behavior. Wealth.Despite the fact that both are unimaginably rich, these men come from totally different sides of the big money divide.Tom comes fromold money and is forever worried about the encroachment of the nouveau riche, minorities, and others onto what he thinks is his. At the same time, Gatsby is the most successful of the novel's many ambitious social climbers, using his lack of ethical scruples to parlay his criminal activity into a higher social status. Power.Tom loves being powerful and wieldshis power directly. He is physically aggressive and uses his body to threaten and intimidate (Nick, for one, is clearly very cowed by Tom's bulk). He is also quick to violence, whether it's socially sanctioned - like his football accomplishments - or not - like when he breaks Myrtle's nose without a second thought.Gatsby also holdssignificant power, but his methods are much more indirect. Still, whether he is offering Nick some illegal bond trading action, or showing off his get-out-of-a-ticket-free card to a cop on the highway, Gatsby is clearly happy to be in control of a situation. Love. Tom and Gatsby both seem to be in love with Daisy. But what does that really mean to each of them? For Tom, Daisy is clearly partly appealing because she completes his horse-riding, East Egg, 350-thousand-dollar pearl necklace lifestyle. He cheats on her because he clearly has never denied himself anything, but he also understands Daisy as a person. He knows that she is too weak to leave him, but he also loves her enough to tolerate her affair with Gatsby and to stay with her after Myrtle's murder.Gatsby's love, on the other hand, is in some ways purer because he so idealizes Daisy and connects her to all of his other hopes and dreams. But this love is overly pure - he doesn't really seem to know Daisy as anything other than an idealized object, and is incapable of accepting that she has led a life apart from him for five years. Tom and Gatsby Essay Ideas In a compare/contrast essay, you can’t just present a list of similarities and differences. You also need to have an underlying argument you’re supporting. Feel free to take these at face value or as jumping-off points for your own thoughts. Tom loves Daisy as a person, Gatsby loves her as an idea. Both Tom and Gatsby’s tendency to control women and see them as prizes reveals the misogyny of the 1920s. Although Tom sees Gatsby as someone from an entirely different class than him, what they have in common (selfishness, affairs, obsession with appearances) makes a larger argument for an overall moral hollowness of the rich of any class. We see both Gatsby and Tom through the eyes of Nick, who worships one of them and hates the other. In reality, they are both much more similar than different, and their different treatment reveals Nick's insecurities and biases. Gatsby gives new meaning to letting perfect be the enemy of the good. Tom Buchanan and George Wilson At first, most readers see Tom Buchanan and George Wilsonas opposites. But, these markedly different characters face very similar circumstances andoffer two takes on masculinity and power in the novel. Appearance and Presence.Where Tom is strong and cowering, George is meek and shrinking. Tom exudes power and confidence while George tends to just fade into the background. These differences are borne out in the way these two men interact with the world. Tom is violent towards others, while George’s instinct is to be passive or to try and escape situations, the notable exceptions being his locking up of Myrtle and murder of Gatsby. Tom is confident, privileged, and assured while George is timid; George is â€Å"ruled by his wife† where Tom is selfish and acts on his own desires. Reaction to Adversity. There is a dramatic difference in the way the two menreactto the factthat their wives are cheating on them. Tom notices Daisy’s love for Gatsby and immediately starts making power plays. On the other hand, George discovers Myrtle’s affair and is undone by it. Nick compares the two men in a memorable description: â€Å"the shock had made him physically sick. I stared at him and then at Tom, who had made a parallel discovery less than an hour beforeand it occurred to me that there was no difference between men, in intelligence or race, so profound as the difference between the sick and the well. Wilson was so sick that he looked guilty, unforgivably guiltyas if he had just got some poor girl with child" (7.160). In this description, Tom is â€Å"well† and George is â€Å"sick.† Theseare certainly arresting ways to describe Tom's more traditional masculinity and George's less overtly masculine character. Tom is self-assured in the face of adversity and immediately takes action to win Daisyback,insisting on driving Gatsby's car, bullying those around him into driving to Manhattan, and using his romance skills to remind Daisy of the pluses of their relationship. Meanwhile, George's weaknessmakeshim look sick and guilty as he contemplates Myrtle's betrayal and isdriven to violence to reassert his power over her. Approach to Women.Both Tom and George assume they know what’s best for their wives: Tom dismisses Daisy’s professed love for Gatsby despite their obvious closeness, while George is determined to take Myrtle out west once he learns about the affair. But, while it seems that Tom does fundamentally understand Daisy and is right about her unwillingness to leave their marriage, George is unable to hold on to Myrtle either emotionally or physically. She is killed trying to run away from him. Tom and George Essay Ideas Differences in attitude and outcome, despite a relatively similar situation, reveal some unexpectedtruths aboutthe world of the novel. Argue the reverse of any of these topics for a really provocative essay! The fact that Tom manipulates George into killing Gatsby and then himself (which allows Tom and Daisy to walk away from the entire affair without consequence) shows the huge privileges of having money in the novel. Nick's approach to Tom and George shows his admiration of a physical, brutish, domineering kind of masculinity. The fact that the relatively good guy turns into a murderer while the bad guy lives to cheat another day isavery cynical takeon what happens in a world without a moral compass. Perhaps it shouldn't be surprised that the meeker man turns out to be the ultraviolent one. Daisy Buchanan and Jordan Baker Despite Daisy Buchanan and Jordan Baker'ssimilar â€Å"white girlhoods† (1.140) in Louisville, their attitude and motivations are quite distinct, making them really interesting to compare and contrast. Attitude and Outlook.Both Daisy and Jordan display an entitled, bored attitude that’s typical of Fitzgerald’s depiction of the old money segment of wealthy New York society. The fact that they are introduced in tandem, both lying on the couches in their white dresses, speaks to their initially similar attitudes. But soon we see how different their takes on this kind of life are.Daisy is increasingly despondent, even nihilistic, asking in Chapter 7, â€Å"what shall we do today, and tomorrow, and for the next thirty years?† (7.74). Jordan meanwhile is a pragmatic opportunist, who sees possibilities everywhere, arguingthat â€Å"life starts all over again when it gets crisp in the fall† (7.75). In other words, Daisy’s pessimistic attitude from Chapter 1 comes through again, while Jordan, despite coming across as cynical and sharp, actually still seems excited about the possibilities life has to offer. Appearance and Personality.Both Daisy and Jordan very alluring in their own way, though Daisy’s allure comes through her enchanting voice and feminine charms, while Jordan is masculine, â€Å"jaunty,† witty, sharp, and physical.Daisy maintains a squeaky-clean reputation despite moving with a fast crowd, while there are plenty of rumors about Jordan’s cheating in golf, and Nick comments on her dishonest attitude.More significantly, Daisy is incredibly self-absorbed while Jordan is very observant. Role in Society.Daisy seems caught between what society expects of her and some deeper, more powerful desires she can’t name, resulting in restlessness, depression, and her affair.Daisy is sticking to her prescribed societal role by marrying and having a child, while Jordan plays golf, â€Å"runs around town† and doesn’t seem to be in a hurry to marry, at least in the beginning of the novel. Perhaps Jordan is still somewhat optimistic about the possibilities of life since she hasn’t settled down yet, while Daisy realizes that nothing major in her life will change at this point.Jordan, meanwhile, is content to chase after fun and intrigue via other people’s bad behavior. And she doesn’t get dragged down by the tragedy in the book – on the contrary, she is callous in how little Myrtle’s death seems to shake her, coolly calling Nick the next day and asking him to meet like nothing has happened (8.50-61). Perhaps her motivations are a bit less accessible to the reader since her role was significantly downsized between some of Fitzgerald’s earlier drafts. But in any case, as we watch Daisy struggle in her marriage, what we see of Jordan is cool, calm, collected, and rather uncaring. Daisy and Jordan Essay Ideas So what are some possible conclusions we can draw from Daisy and Jordan’s characters? One of the most common strategies is to tie the differences between these women onto oneof the book’s larger themes, like the role of society and class or the American Dream. Another is to think about an important feature of the novel, like Nick’s narration, and see what these two characters can reveal about it. With those strategies in mind, here are some potential arguments you could argue for or against! Jordan and Daisy, because they are generally disempowered, both use their sexuality in different ways to gain power, with different results. Despite Jordan’s overt cheating and lying, Daisy is, in fact, the more morally compromisedperson. The way Nick treats Jordan versus the way he describes Daisy revealsthe novel’s preoccupation with Gatsby above all, to the detriment of the female characters. Dear Diary: Today I cheated at golf yet again! But it was nothing compared to what my friend Daisy did... Daisy Buchanan and Myrtle Wilson While Daisy Buchanan and Myrtle Wilson obviously come from very different backgrounds and have conflicting motivations, they also have some surprising similarities. Physical Appearance.Daisy and Myrtle both derive power from their looks. Myrtle's comfort with hervoluptuous bodyis clearly appealing to Tom, while Daisy's magnetic voice and ethereal presence obsess Gatsby. Throughout the novel, Myrtle is frequently reduced to being just a body - one to be used or violated by those around her. Tom sees little inMyrtle besides someone to either rub up against, have sex with, or punch at will; George resorts to imprisoning Myrtle while she eggs him on to "beat" her (7.314) the way Tom does; and finally, Daisy gruesomely rips Myrtle's body apart with a car. Meanwhile, Daisy's voice also serves to make her less of a person in her own right and more of an idealized, mythic figure from fairy tales. For Gatsby, Daisy's voice is appealing because it is "full of money" (7.105) - he is attracted to her not because of who she is, but because he sees her as a prize. Social Standing.Myrtle puts on the airs that Daisy has been born and raised with. This allows Myrtle to wield considerable social power within her group, as seen by how her guests fawn on her at the Manhattan party she throws. Daisy, in contrast, never exerts such overt power over a group – rather, she seems to move with crowds, doing what it expected of her (for instance marrying Tom despite still loving Gatsby). Love and Relationships.Daisy and Myrtle’s marriages are strikingly quite different. Daisy and Tom are able to stay together even through serial affairs and murder. They end uployal co-conspirators, protected by their wealth. Meanwhile, Myrtle has nothing but disdain forGeorge despite his evident love for her. Still, both womenuse affairs with other men as a way toescape. Daisy wants to get away from an increasingly unhappy marriage and try to recapture the spontaneity and possibility of her youth, while Myrtle loves the status that her affair with Tom grants her.However, both learn that they can’t escape forever through their affairs. Obviously, their biggest difference is thatDaisy gets to walk away from the novel unscathed, while Myrtle gets killed. Daisy and Myrtle Essay Ideas Here are ways to write about these different women who face similar choices with dramatically opposite conclusions. Despite their similarities in action and motivation, Daisy is protected from any lasting harm by her wealth and old money status, while Myrtle is punished for the same behavior, revealing how the class system in America protects the wealthy. The novel refuses to give any inner life to women, and instead reduces them to their physical qualities no matter what social class they come from. Daisy and Myrtle's similar treatment by the narrator and by the men around them shows that gender trumps class when determining status. Daisy and Myrtle’s similarities reveal how hollow the progress of the women’s movement really was at that point in time. Despite the big gains the movement made in the early twentieth century, including winning the right to vote and pushing for more freedom in how they could dress and act, both of these women’s lives aren’t vastly improved. They’re both trapped in unhappy marriages, they both rely on their looks/charms/sexuality to get what they want, and neither of them has even a chance of pursuing a fulfilling life through a career. The butterfly may be beautiful, but it's still trapped. What’s Next? Now that you’ve gone over the novel’s most popular compare/contrast pairings, check outour analysis of the novel’s romantic pairings in our guide to love, desire, and relationships in The Great Gatsby. Have an essay about a symbol or motif? Get started with our symbols overviewand motifs overview. Still a little hazy on some of the plot elements in Gatsby? Not to worry, we have you covered with our complete book summary! Want to improve your SAT score by 160 points or your ACT score by 4 points?We've written a guide for each test about the top 5 strategies you must be using to have a shot at improving your score. Download it for free now:

Evolution of Formal Organizations Paper Term Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Evolution of Formal Organizations - Term Paper Example The emergence of formal organizations began in Europe, where businesses incorporated their workers into a sort of club within the organizational structure of the business where there was a clear hierarchical system. The owners of the business and their families also belonged to this club and no employee was exempt from membership, which acted as a deterrent against leaving to the employees (Kornblum, 2011). According to Kornblum, as more and business ventures and industries emerged the economies of scale started playing a key role and specialization and division of labor became practical and profitable. This led to the development of a well organized system, in how the running of these establishments were conducted, and where the workers were not required to devotedly belong to their employer’s club or group. Responsibilities and duties were delegated to employees under the manager who could double up as the owner of the corporation. These managers sought out ways to maximize their workers output through various means like longer working hours, which they did without incentives or overtime compensation (Kornblum, 2011). Earlier formal organizations did not offer opportunities for advancement in position or salary especially to the minority groups and women. The policies, rules and regulations that defined these outfits as formal organizations were not adhered to but were just a formality for purposes of registration with the relevant authorities. The chain of command was designed in such a way that each department had a manger or supervisor to whom every worker in that unit bore responsibility. The supervisors or midlevel managers also had a higher authority to report to, and this went on up to the top management. Even if, the top management bore the overall responsibility for the overall performance of the company, they had little hands on participation and involvement in the on goings of the establishments they administered. This created a precedent wh ere the worker’s welfare was neglected, which led to the development of resentment towards the management of the organization causing a decline in employee output and the firm’s productiveness. This led to the formation of worker’s unions, which advocated for better terms and conditions in the work place coupled with considerate social welfare compensation. Companies that recognized the benefits of a more flexible organizational structure reaped the benefits of improved employee motivational levels and increased productivity. This makes workers feel obligated to perform well for a company that they are actively involved in than where they are taken just as a means to an end. Compared to today’s formal organizations earlier establishments had an authority structure that resembled a pyramid where remarkably few people with power were at the top while the majority and powerless people were at the bottom (Kornblum, 2011). In the mid 1900’s, this struct uring gave no room for employees to contribute, in the policy making process, or give their ideas on how best to attain their company’s goals. In today’s formal organizations, workers are involved in the formulation of company policies, and they are consulted on the best possible ways for their firms to accomplish their objectives. This makes formal

Enterprise and Enterprenerual Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Enterprise and Enterprenerual Management - Essay Example There are many reasons that businesses fail, some of them fail because they are unable to recognize the threats that exist in the outside world and as well as the dynamics of the business world. Before starting a business it is very important that a business man tries best possible ways to make his business a success. For making a business a success it is extremely necessary that the business man has studied the environment of the probable business environment so that he does not delve into risks without any preliminary investigations (CAN?AS, SONDAK, 2011). When starting a business it is extremely necessary for the person who is starting a business to know whether the business he is starting is actually the one that is near to him and he can understand the essence of it. If a person starts a business related to things that is of no interest to him he will end up losing interest in it and ultimately closing down the business, without any further exploitation of opportunities. To star t a business it is necessary that everything has been worked out properly and the person starting the business should have the whole layout of the business in front of him so that he can understand what are the pros and cons of the business that he plans to start. It is very important that the business has been thought out in its fullness before being started by a person. If a person fails to account for all the minute details then the business will never be a success as many important factors will be missed out. A business plan is a very important stepping stone for any business, without a business plan if you want to start your business then you will never be able to take it forward, as you will never have much idea as to what path has to be taken to guide your business in the right direction. A designed business plan will help and guide the businessman as to what is best for the business (COVELLO, HAZELGREN, 2006). A business plan is really very important to take the business for ward as it gives the blue print of the business. A complete business plan is designed in a way that it will take into account all the profits and loss and then give the results of the impact of any kind of transaction on the bottom line of the business. It is a reflection of the possible expenses and the revenue generation of the business. It helps the new business man decide what are the possible costs that have the possibility of being incurred by him while doing the business that he plans to start and how should he work and prioritize the arrangements so that he can minimize the costs that he might incur for the business. Also, when he has designed a complete business plan then he can look for ways and methods that will also help him in looking for alternates of the possible cost incurring units of the business. When a person starts a business the main thing that he has in his mind is to earn money from it and to make profits. The only reason that he looks for new ventures is tha t he wants to have greener pastures to graze and better results than he is getting in the current job that he is doing. Designing a complete business plan will always give him an idea as to what is the best thing that can be done to overcome the possible hurdles that might come up once he starts the business. It

Telecommunications and Networking Essay Example for Free

Telecommunications and Networking Essay Telecommunications and networking are complicated with very intricate design and structures built within them. Protocols are set in place to allow Ethernets, switches and gateways to achieve the abilities and capabilities of telecommunications and networking through data and voice transmissions of today and the future. Today’s society is set at such a high pace with such great demand for volumes of data and voice transmissions that telecommunications and networking need to stay the course to keep up with the demands of societal growth by way of new hardware, software and technological advances. a) What is a policy?  A policy is verbiage that consists of words and statements that gives internal and external structural requirements whereby employees, personnel and others can follow. Specifications within the said policy are set to form and guide internal and external functions. This policy paves the way for integrity within the business and/or corporation’s foundational structure. â€Å"Policy: A broad statement that specifies what should be accomplished†. (Panko, R., Panko, J. (2011). b) Distinguish between policy and implementation.  Implementations are a more specified set of instructions whereby policies are less specified but yet each has a set verbiage that applies to the structural integrity of the company’s bi-laws and laws. â€Å"Implementation Guidance: Instructions that is more specific than policies but less specific than implementation.† (Panko, R., Panko, J. (2011). c) Why is it important to separate policies from implementation? The separation between policies and implementation is important so that a set of rules, bi-laws and/or laws that govern the business or company is set in a way that is most important to the least important of rules, bi-laws and laws within that business structure. Structural integrity based upon policies and the implementation of those policies is essential to the internal and external growth that applies to that corporate business structure. d) Why is oversight important?  Oversight is a tool that guides management that should be required to be used in â€Å"every† aspect within the business and/or corporation. Management has an obligation to implement the oversight protocols throughout the business structure whereby it sets the guidance protocols within those structures foundational rules of guidance and policy. â€Å"Oversight: A collection of methods to ensure that policies have been implemented properly†. (Panko, R., Panko, J. (2011). e) Compare the specificity of policies, implementation guidance, and implementation. Policies would be a set of more formal verbiage where implementation guidance would be the guidance within that set of policies and this would then be followed by the implementation of both the policies and the implementations guidance’s. All three of these categories are molded into one that would become the set policies of the business or corporate guidance structure. f) Distinguish between standards and guidelines. The standards and guidelines distinguish between one another in a way that they each set separate rules within themselves whereby each arrives at context and messages. The separation of standards and guidelines is such that standards â€Å"allows hardware and software to work together and guidelines is a directive that can be followed but is not necessarily followed unless implementation is required. â€Å"Guidelines: A directive that should be followed but need not be followed, depending on the context.† (Panko, R., Panko, J. (2011). â€Å"Standards: A rule of operation that allows hardware or software processes to work together. Standards normally govern the exchange of messages between two entities.† (Panko, R., Panko, J. (2011). g) Must guidelines be considered? The consideration of â€Å"guidelines† is dependent on the â€Å"need† and sometimes is not necessarily followed nor is it a necessary requirement. The required consideration of â€Å"guidelines† is such that management and/or the implementation of the â€Å"guideline† can become a necessary requirement. Remembering that the necessity meets the requirement within the aforementioned guidelines. Guidelines are considered where the need meets that requirement and this can be an essential or non-essential requirement of a specified guideline. h) List the three types of oversight listed in the text. Audit is one form of oversight followed by reading log files and the third oversight is vulnerability testing. Each of these is a part of a policy that is set into place and followed by internal and external personnel. Management sets the pace and implements the oversight whereby each individual mangers proceeds with oversight proto cols to meet oversight rules. I) what is vulnerability testing, and why is it done? Vulnerability testing is an internal mechanism that is performed to prevent the intrusion of internal and external sources. The vulnerability testing is a test that allows for the intrusive behavior to begin â€Å"within† the company’s own system that shows visible signs of degradation and exploitations within the system. â€Å"Vulnerability Testing: is attacking your own systems before attackers do, so that you can identify weaknesses and fix them before they are exploited by attackers† (Panko, R., Panko, J. (2011). j) Why is it important for policy to drive both implementation and oversight? Policy is the final product that drives the internal mechanisms of the business and/or corporate structure from the hardware, to software, to personnel then up to management. Policy is for example â€Å"like gasoline is to the automobile without the gasoline the automobile will not run†. Implementation would be for example â€Å"like not having the oil that lubricates the engine within the automobile† and then oversight would be for example â€Å"like the brake fluid that allows the brakes of the automobile to function and stop the automobile†. Requiring each of these mechanisms to be included in the structure of the business and/or corporation is essential to building focal points that lead and pave the way to present and future growth from within that business and corporations foundational structure. Policy is a core driving force that is essential to day to day operations as well as to future implementations of guidelines. Conclusion Telecommunications and networking are the business and/or corporate structures essential tools that require policies, guidelines, oversight and implementation. The management within that business structure is and should be required to follow each and every policy and guideline whereby each manger gives instructions to employees and personnel to follow these sets of guidelines and polices. Implementation of all governed rules should be set at the management level to include hardware, software and security protocols. Society demands telecommunications and networking with data, voice and video capabilities and management is essential to meet these societal demands whereby management needs the policies and guidelines to implement and address all of these demands.

Alcohol and the Family Essay -- Alcoholism Drinking Essays Research Pa

Alcohol and the Family    In the United States alone, there are 28 million children of alcoholics - seven million of these children are under the age of eighteen.     Every day, these children experience the horrors of living with an alcoholic parent. 40%-50% of children of alcoholics grow up and become alcoholics themselves. Others develop eating disorders or become workaholics. Children of alcoholics receive mixed messages, inconsistency, upredictability, betrayal, and sometimes physical and sexual abuse from their parents. They are made to grow up too fast because they must help keep the family structure together by doing housework and taking care of siblings since the alcoholic is not doing his or her part. Children form roles that they play to help disguise the disease. The roles help distract people from seeing the real problem and serve to protect the family so it can continue to function. There are five roles that the family members will take on-- the enabler, the hero, the scapegoat, the lost chi ld, and the mascot. The enabler is usually the spouse or the parent of the alcoholic. He takes on the normal duties that the alcoholic would normally carry out such as cleaning the house, taking care of the children, or even something as simple as walking the dog. The enabler also makes excuses for the alcoholic. He may call his wife's boss and tell him she is sick when really she is home with a hang-over. Or he might explain to a neighbor that the living room lamp broke because the two-year-old accidentally knocked it off the table when in reality it was thrown across the room in a drunken fit. This act of covering up does nothing but harm the family in the end. The enabler is making excuses and lying to hide the true act... ...out the affects alcoholism has on the family, one may think that it is a life full of endless turmoil. There is help out there, though, which should begin in the school system. Schools need to educate kids about alcohol abuse and establish an ongoing trusting relationship with kids who need help. The children aren not to blame for the actions of their parents and they need someone to help them understand that it's not their fault and they can break the cycle. This way the children will know that they have at least one person they can turn to for help and that they aren't alone. Bibliography: 1. Children of Alcoholism, Barbara L. Wood, New York University Press, 1987 2. Working with Children of Alcoholics, Bryan E. Robinson, Lexington Books, 1989 3. Substance Abuse Treatment: A Family Systems Perspective, Edith M. Freeman, Sage Publications, 1993

Show on a Diagram How a Monopoly Firm Will Make Supernormal Profits by Restricting Ouput

Show on a diagram how a monopoly firm will make supernormal profits by restricting output. Discuss how the theory of contestable markets could impact on the price and output of a monopoly. Neo-classical theory defines monopoly as a market structure where one dominant firm supplies most or all output in the industry without facing competition because of high barriers to entry to the industry. The monopolist is a short run profit maximiser and due to the demand under a monopoly being moderately inelastic at any given price, the monopolist is said to be a price maker, unlike perfect competition where the firms are price takers. The diagram below shows the monopoly making supernormal profits by restricting output. The equilibrium profit maximising level of output is 0A where MC = MR, and price will be 0p. Supernormal profits are made, shown by the area on the diagram shaded red. If profit maximisation was not an objective for a monopoly, it might produce at the bottom of its average costs curve (AC). Thus, price being lower than P and quantity produced would be greater. However, because a monopoly is partly defined by wanting to profit maximise in the short run, this is not the case. C AC Price Quantity mR p A Demand 0 Under perfect competition, supernormal profits can only be made in the short run, due to low barriers to entry. The monopolist can earn supernormal profit in the short and long run due to not having to produce at the bottom of the AC curve and having high barriers to entry. These barriers to entry, preventing other potential new entrance from coming in and competing with the monopoly can take various forms. Perhaps the monopoly has control over the source of an essential raw material. Perhaps the monopoly has extremely strong brand loyalty and takes great care to protect its brand image and the loyalty of its consumers through extensive marketing. It has been shown that neo-classical theory suggests that high barriers to entry will earn supernormal profits for a monopoly. Contestable market theory, in which states that there is freedom of entry to the industry and where costs of exit are low, suggests that a monopoly will earn supernormal profits dependent to a large extent on the costs of exit from the industry. If the costs of exit from the industry are low, then the monopoly arguably won’t make supernormal profits in the long run. If a monopoly in the short run is charging high prices and earning supernormal profit, a competitor will enter the industry and take some market share from the monopolist by charging a lower price. The monopolist will react by reducing prices, forcing the new competitor out of the industry. This happens because the competitor cannot compete with the new lower prices set by the monopolist due to its costs being too high. Thus, if the costs of exit from the industry are low, it is worth the competitor entering the market and having earned supernormal profits in the short run. Though, once the competitor has left the industry and the monopolist raises its price again wanting to earn supernormal profits, another competitor will enter the industry reducing the monopolists overall profits and taking market share away from it. Clearly the only way to avoid potential competitors from adopting ‘hit and run’ tactics would be for the monopolist to price at a level where it only earned normal profits. In the long run the monopolist will increase output and decrease price, operating at the optimal level of output where MC = AC. Thus in conclusion it has been shown that a monopoly will make supernormal profits by restricting output. The monopoly chooses the output level to produce at, and wanting to profit maximise, it produces at the point where marginal costs equals marginal revenue. In contestable market theory, the established firm, the monopoly, must behave as if it operates in a perfectly competitive market to prevent ‘hit and run’ tactics by potential competitors, producing where MC = AC.

Data Masking

An Oracle White Paper July 2010 Data Masking Best Practices Oracle White Paper—Data Masking Best Practices Executive Overview †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ 1 Introduction †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ 1 The Challenges of Masking Data †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. 2 Implementing Data Masking †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. 2 Comprehensive Enterprise-wide Discovery of Sensitive Data †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. Enforcing Referential Relationships during Data Masking †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. 4 Rich and Extensible Mask Library†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. 6 Sophisticated Masking Techniques †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. 7 High Performance Mask Execution †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ 9 Integrated Testing with Application Quality Management solutions11 Oracle’s Comprehensive Solutions for Database Security †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. 12 Customer Case Studies †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. 2 Conclusion †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã ¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. 13 Oracle White Paper—Data Masking Best Practices Executive Overview Enterprises need to share production data with various constituents while also protecting sensitive or personally identifiable aspects of the information. As the number of applications increases, more and more data gets shared, thus further increasing the risk of a data breach, where sensitive data gets exposed to unauthorized parties.Oracle Data Masking addresses this problem by irreversibly replacing the original sensitive data with realistic -looking scrubbed data that has same type and characteristics as the original sensitive data thus enabling organizations to share this information in compliance with information security policies and government regulations. This paper describes the best practices for deploying Oracle Data Masking to protect sensitive information in Oracle and other heterogeneous databases such as IBM DB2, Microsoft SQLServer.Introduction Enterprises share data from the ir production applications with other users for a variety of business purposes. Most organizations copy production data into test and development environments to allow application developers to test application upgrades. Retail c ompanies share customer point-of-sale data with market researchers to analyze customer buying patterns. Pharmaceutical or healthcare organizations share patient data with medical researchers to assess the efficacy of clinical trials or medical treatments.Numerous industry studies on data privacy have concluded that almost all companies copy tens of millions of sensitive customer and consumer records to non-production environments for testing, development, and other uses. Very few companies do anything to protect this data even when sharing with outsourcers and third parties. Almost 1 out of 4 companies responded that live data used for development or testing had been lost or stolen and 50% s aid they had no way of knowing if data in non-production environme nts had been compromised. 1 Oracle White Paper—Data Masking Best Practices The Challenges of Masking DataOrganizations have tried to address these issues with custom hand-crafted solutions or repurposed existing data manipulation tools within the enterprise to solve this problem of sharing sensitive information with non-production users. Take for example, the most common solution: database scripts. At first glance, an advantage of the database scripts approach would appear that they specifically address the unique privacy needs of a particular database that they were designed for. They may have even been tuned by the DBA to run at their fastest Let’s look at the issues with this approach. 1.Reusability: Because of the tight association between a script and the associated database, these scripts would have to re-written from scratch if applied to another database. There are no common capabilities in a script that can be easily leveraged across other databases. 2. Transp arency: Since scripts tend to be monolithic programs, auditors have no transparency into the masking procedures used in the scripts. The auditors would find it extremely difficult to offer any recommendation on whether the masking process built into a script is secure and offers the enterprise the appropriate degree of protection. 3.Maintainability: When these enterprise applications are upgraded, new tables and columns containing sensitive data may be added as a part of the upgrade process. With a script-based approach, the entire script has to be revisited and updated to accommodate new tables and columns added as a part of an application patch or an upgrade. Implementing Data Masking Based on Oracle Data Masking , Oracle has developed a comprehensive 4-step approach to implementing data masking called Find, Assess, Secure, and Test (FAST). These steps are: ? Find: This phase involves identifying and cataloging sensitive or regulated data across the entire enterprise.Typically car ried out by business or security analysts, the goal of this exercise is to come up with the comprehensive list of sensitive data elements specific to the organization and discover the associated tables and columns across enterprise databases that contain the sensitive data. ? Assess: In this phase, developers or DBAs in conjunction with business or security analysts identify the masking algorithms that represent the optimal techniques to replace the original sensitive data. Developers can leverage the existing masking library or extend it with their own masking routines. ? Secure: This and the next steps may be iterative.The security administrator executes the masking process to secure the sensitive data during masking trials. Once the masking process has completed and has been verified, the DBA then hands over the environment to the application testers. 2 Oracle White Paper—Data Masking Best Practices ? Test: In the final step, the production users execute application proces ses to test whether the resulting masked data can be turned over to the other non-production users. If the masking routines need to be tweaked further, the DBA restores the database to the pre-masked state, fixes the masking algorithms and re-executes the masking process.Comprehensive Enterprise-wide Discovery of Sensitive Data To begin the process of masking data, the data elements that need to be masked in the application must be identified. The first step that any organization must take is to determine what is sensitive. This is because sensitive data is related to specific to the government regulations and industry standards that govern how the data can used or shared. Thus, the first step is for the security administrator to publish what constitutes sensitive data and get agreement from the company’s compliance or risk officers. A typical list of sensitive data elements may include:Person Name Bank Account Number Maiden Name Card Number (Credit or Debit Card Number) Busi ness Address Tax Registration Number or National Tax ID Business Telephone Number Person Identification Number Business Email Address W elfare Pension Insurance Number Custom Name Unemployment Insurance Number Employee Number Government Affiliation ID User Global Identifier Military Service ID Party Number or Customer Number Social Insurance Number Account Name Pension ID Number Mail Stop Article Number GPS Location Civil Identifier Number Student Exam Hall Ticket Number Credit Card Number Club Membership IDSocial Security Number Library Card Number Trade Union Membership Number Oracle Data Masking provides several easy-to-use mechanisms for isolating the sensitive data elements. 3 Oracle White Paper—Data Masking Best Practices ? Data Model driven: Typical enterprise applications, such as E-Business Suite, Peoplesoft and Siebel, have published their application data model as a part of their product documentation or the support knowledge base. By leveraging the published data models, data masking users can easily associate the relevant tables and columns to the mask formats to create the mask definition. ?Application Masking Templates: Oracle Data Masking supports the concept of application masking templates, which are XML representations of the mask definition. Software vendors or service providers can generate these pre-defined templates and make them available to enterprises to enable them to import these templates into the Data Masking rapidly and thus, accelerate the data masking implementation process. ? Ad-hoc search: Oracle Data Masking has a robust search mechanism that allows users to search the database quickly based on ad hoc search patterns to identify tables and columns that represent sources of sensitive data.With all the database management capabilities, including the ability to query sample rows from the tables, built into Enterprise Manager, the Data Masking a can assist enterprise users rapidly construct the mask definition – th e pre-requisite to mask the sensitive data. For deeper searches, Oracle provides the Oracle Data Finder tool during data masking implementation to search across enterprises based on data patterns, such as NNN-NN-NNNN for social security numbers or 16 or 15 digit sequences beginning with 3, 4 or 5 for credit card . numbers.Using the combination of schema and data patterns and augmenting them with published application meta data models, enterprises can now develop a comprehensive data privacy catalog that captures the sensitive data elements that exist across enterprise databases. To be clear, this is not a static list. This is a dynamic living catalog managed by security administrators that needs to be refreshed as business rules and government regulations change as well as when applications are upgraded and patched and new data elements containing sensitive data are now discovered. Enforcing Referential Relationships during Data MaskingIn today’s relational databases (RDBMS), data is stored in tables related by certain key columns , called primary key columns, which allows efficient storage of application data without have to duplicate data. For example, an EMPLOYEE_ID generated from a human capital management (HCM) application may be used in sales force automation (SFA) application tables using foreign key columns to keep track of sales reps and their accounts. When deploying a masking solution, business users are often concerned with referential integrity, the relationship between the primary key and the foreign key columns, in a database or across databases. 4Oracle White Paper—Data Masking Best Practices CUSTOMERS EMPLOYEES ? ? ? EMPLOYEE_ID FIRST_NAME LAST_NAME Database enforced Application enforced ? ? ? CUSTOMER_ID SALES_REP_ID COMPANY_NAME SHIPMENTS ? ? ? SHIPMENT_ID SHIPPING_CLERK_ID CARRIER Figure 1:The Importance of Referential Integrity Oracle Data Masking automatically identifies referential integrity as a part of the mask definition creation. This means that when a business user chooses to mask a key column such as EMPLOYEE_ID, the Oracle Data Masking discovers all the related foreign key relationships in the database and enforces the same mask format to the related foreign key columns.This guarantees that the relationships between the various applications tables are preserved while ensuring that privacyrelated elements are masked. In applications where referential integrity is enforced in the database, Oracle Data Masking allows these relationships to be registered as relate d columns in the mask definition, thereby applying the same masking rules as applied to the database-enforced foreign key columns. 5 Oracle White Paper—Data Masking Best Practices Figure 2: Automatic enforcement of referential Integrity Rich and Extensible Mask LibraryOracle Data Masking provides a centralized library of out-of-the-box mask formats for common types of sensitive data, such as credit card numbers, phone numbers, nati onal identifiers (social security number for US, national insurance number for UK). By leveraging the Format Library in Oracle Data Masking, enterprises can apply data privacy rules to sensitive data across enterprise-wide databases from a single source and thus, ensure consistent compliance with regulations. Enterprises can also extend this library with their own mask formats to meet their specific data privacy and application requirements. Oracle White Paper—Data Masking Best Practices Figure 3: Rich and extensible Mask Format Library Oracle Data Masking also provides mask primitives, which serve as building blocks to allow the creation of nearly unlimited custom mask formats ranging from numeric, alphabetic or date/time based. Recognizing that the real-world masking needs require a high degree of flexibility, Oracle Data Masking allows security administrators to create user-defined-masks. These user-defined masks, written in PL/SQL, let administrators create unique mask fo rmats for sensitive data, e. g. enerating a unique email address from fictitious first and last names to allow business applications to send test notifications to fictitious email addresses. Sophisticated Masking Techniques Data masking is in general a trade-off between security and reproducibility. A test database that is identical to the production database is 100% in terms of reproducibility and 0% in terms of security because of the fact that it exposes the original data. Masking technique where data in sensitive columns is replaced with a single fixed value is 100% in terms of security and 0% in terms of reproducibility.When considering various masking techniques, it is important to consider this trade-off in mind when selecting the masking algorithms. Oracle Data Masking provides a variety of sophisticated masking techniques to meet application requirements while ensuring data privacy. These techniques ensure that applications continue to operate without errors after masking. For example, ? Condition-based masking: this technique makes it possible to apply different mask formats to the same data set depending on the rows that match the conditions.For example, applying different national identifier masks based on country of origin. ? Compound masking: this technique ensures that a set of related columns is masked as a group to ensure that the masked data across the related columns retain the same relationship, e. g. city, state, zip values need to be consistent after masking. 7 Oracle White Paper—Data Masking Best Practices Deterministic Masking Deterministic masking is an important masking technique that enterprises must consider when masking key data that is referenced across multiple applications.Take, for example, three applications: a human capital management application, a customer relationship management application and a sales data warehouse. There are some key fields such as EMPLOYEE ID referenced in all three applications and needs to be masked in the corresponding test systems: a employee identifier for each employee in the human resources management application, customer service representative identifiers, which may also be EMPLOYEE IDs, in the customer relationship management application and sales representative IDs, which may be EMPLOYEE IDs in the sales data warehouse.To ensure that data relationships are preserved across systems even as privacy-related elements are removed, deterministic masking techniques ensure that data gets masked consistently across the various systems. It is vital that deterministic masking techniques used produce the replacement masked value consistently and yet in a manner that the original data cannot be derived from the masked value. One way to think of these deterministic masking techniques is as a function that is applied on the original value to generate a unique value consistently that has the same format, type and characteristics as the original value, e. . a deterministic funct ion f(x) where f(x1) will always produce y1 for a given value x1. In order for the deterministic masking to be applied successfully, it is important that the function f(x) not be reversible, i. e. the inverse function f-1(y1) should not produce x1 to ensure the security of the original sensitive data. Deterministic masking techniques can be used with mathematical entries, e. g. social security numbers or credit card numbers, as well as with text entries, e. g. , to generate names.For example, organizations may require that names always get masked to the same set of masked names to ensure consistency of data across runs. Testers may find it disruptive if the underlying data used for testing is changed by production refreshes and they could no longer locate certain types of employees or customer records that were examples for specific test cases. Thus, enterprises can use the deterministic masking functions provided by Oracle Data Masking to consistently generate the same replacement mask value for any type of sensitive data element.Deterministic masking becomes extremely critical when testing data feeds coming from external systems, such as employee expense data provided by credit card companies. In production environments, the feed containing real credit card numbers are processed by the accounts payable application containing employee’s matching credit card information and are used to reconcile employee expenses. In test systems, the employee credit card numbers have been obfuscated and can no longer be matched against the data in the flat files containing the employee’s real credit card number.To address this requirement, enterprises pre-load the flat file containing data using tools such as SQL*Loader, into standard tables, then mask the sensitive columns using deterministic masking provided by Oracle Data Masking and then extract the masked data back into flat file. Now, the application will be able to process the flat files correctly just as they would have been in Production systems. 8 Oracle White Paper—Data Masking Best Practices High Performance Mask Execution Now that the mask definition is complete, the Oracle Data Masking can now execute the masking process to replace all the sensitive data.Oracle Enterprise Manager offers several options to clone the production database: ? Recover from backup: Using the Oracle Managed Backups functionality, Oracle Enterprise Manager can create a test database from an existing backup. ? Clone Live Database: Oracle Enterprise Manager can clone a live production data into any non production environment within a few clicks. The clone database capability also provides the option to create a clone image, which can then be used for other cloning operations.With the cloned (non-production) database now ready for masking, the Oracle Data Masking builds a work list of the tables and columns chosen for masking. Other tables that are not required to be masked are not touched. Furthe r, the tables selected for masking are processed in the optimal order to ensure that only one pass is made at any time even if there are multiple columns from that table selected for masking. Typically, the tables with the primary keys get masked first, followed by the dependent tables containing foreign keys.Once the mask work list is ready, the Oracle Data Masking generates mapping tables for all the sensitive fields and their corresponding masked values. These are temporary tables that are created as a part of the masking process, which will be dropped once all data has been masked successfully. Using a highly efficient data bulk mechanism, Oracle Data Masking rapidly recreates the masked replacement table based on original tables and the mapping tables and restores all the related database elements, such as indexes, constraints, grants and triggers identical to the original table.Compare this with the typical data masking process, which usually involves performing table row upda tes. Because rows in a table are usually scattered all over the disk, the update process is extremely inefficient because the storage systems attempts to locate rows on data file stored on extremely large disk s. The bulk mechanism used by Oracle Data Masking lays down the new rows for the masked table in rapid succession on the disk. This enhanced efficiency makes the masked table available for users in a fraction of the time spent by an update-driven masking process.For large tables, Oracle Data Masking automatically invokes SQL parallelism to further speed up the masking process. Other performance enhancements include using the NOLOGGING option when recreating the table with the masked data. Typical database operations such as row inserts or updates generate redo logs, which are used by the database to capture changes made to files. These redo logs are completely unnecessary in a data masking operation since the non-production database is not running in a production environment, requiring continuous availability and recoverability.Using the NOLOGGING option, the Oracle Data Masking bypasses the logging mechanism to further accelerate the masking process efficiently and rapidly. 9 Oracle White Paper—Data Masking Best Practices In internal tests run on a single-core Pentium 4 (Northwood) [D1] system with 5. 7G of memory, the following performance results with reported. Criteria Baseline Metric Column scalability 215 columns 100 tables of 60G 20 minutes Row scalability 100 million rows 6 columns 1 hour 20 minutes Figure 4: Oracle Data Masking Performance scalability testsAs these results clearly indicate, Oracle Data Masking can handle significant volumes of sensitive data effortlessly both in terms of the number of sensitive columns as well as tables with large numbers of rows. Oracle Data Masking is also integrated with Oracle Provisioning and Patch Automation in Oracle Enterprise Manager to clone-and-mask via a single workflow. The secure high perfor mance nature of Oracle Data Masking combined with the end-to-end workflow ensures that enterprise can provision test systems from production rapidly instead of days or weeks that it would with separate manual processes.Optimized for Oracle databases Oracle Data Masking leverages key capabilities in Oracle databases to enhance the overall manageability of the masking solution. Some of these include: ? Flashback: Administrators can optionally configure Oracle databases to enable flashback to a premasked state if they encounter problems with the masked data. ? PL/SQL: Unlike other solutions, Oracle Data Masking generates DBA-friendly PL/SQL that allows DBAs to tailor the masking process to their needs. This PL/SQL script can also be easily integrated into any cloning process. 0 Oracle White Paper—Data Masking Best Practices Support for heterogeneous databases Oracle Data Masking supports masking of sensitive data in heterogeneous databases such as IBM DB2 and Microsoft SQLServer through the use of Oracle Database Gateways. Figure 5: Data masking support for heterogeneous databases Integrated Testing with Application Quality Management solutions The final step of the masking process is to test that the application is performing successfully after the masking process has completed.Oracle Enterprise Manager’s Application Quality Management (AQM) solutions provide high quality testing for all tiers of the application stack. Thorough testing can help you identify application quality and performance issues prior to deployment. Testing is one of the most challenging and time consuming parts of successfully deploying an application, but it is also one of the most critical to the project’s success. Oracle Enterprise Manager’s AQM solutions provide a unique combination of test capabilities which enable you to: ?Test infrastructure changes: Real Application Testing is designed and optimized for testing database tier infrastructure changes using r eal application workloads captured in production to validate database performance in your test environment. 11 Oracle White Paper—Data Masking Best Practices ? Test application changes: Application Testing Suite helps you ensure application quality and performance with complete end-to-end application testing solutions that allow you to automate functional & regression testing, execute load tests and manage the test process.Oracle’s Comprehensive Solutions for Database Security Oracle provides a comprehensive portfolio of security solutions to ensure data privacy, protect against insider threats, and enable regulatory compliance. With Oracle's powerful privileged user and multifactor access control, data classification, transparent data encryption, auditing, monitoring, and data masking, customers can deploy reliable data security solutions that do not require any changes to existing applications, saving time and money. Customer Case StudiesCustomers have had a variety of business needs which drove their decision to adopt the Oracle Data Masking for their sensitive enterprise data. These benefits of using Oracle Data Masking were realized by a major global telecommunications products company that implemented the above methdology. Their database administrators (DBAs) had developed custom scripts to mask sensitive data in the test and development environments of their human resources (HR) application. As the company was growing and offering new services, their IT infrastructure was also growing thus placing an increased burden on their DBAs.By implementing Oracle Data Masking, the organization was able to use the role-based separation of duties to allow the HR analysts to define the security policies for masking sensitive data. The DBAs then automated the implementation of these masking policies when provisioning new test or development environments. Thus, the telecommunications company was able to allow business users to ensure compliance of their non-production environments while eliminating another manual task for the DBAs through automation. The need for data masking can come from internal compliance requirements.In the case of this UKbased government organization, the internal audit and compliance team had identified that the nonproduction copies of human resource management systems used for testing, development and reporting did not meet the established standards for privacy and confidentiality. In joint consultations with their IT service provider, the organization quickly identified the Oracle Data Masking as ideally suited to their business needs based on the fact that it was integrated with their day-to-day systems management operations provided by Oracle Enterprise Manager.Within a few weeks, the service provider deployed the mask definitions for their Oracle eBusiness Suite HR application and thereby rapidly brought the internal non-productions systems into compliance. There are organizations that have internally d eveloped data masking solutions that have discovered that custom scripts ultimately have their limits and are not able to scale up as enterprise data sets increase in volume. This Middle East-based real estate company found that their data masking scripts were running for several hours and were slowing down as data volumes increased.Due to the stringent requirement to create production copies available for testing within rapid time-frames, the company evaluated the Oracle Data Masking among other commercial solutions. Upon deploying the Oracle 12 Oracle White Paper—Data Masking Best Practices Data Masking, they discovered that they were able to accelerate the masking time from 6 hours using their old scripts to 6 minutes using the Oracle Data Masking, an improvement of 60x in performance. ConclusionStaying compliant with policy and government regulations while sharing production data with nonproduction users has become a critical business imperative for all enterprises. Oracl e Data Masking is designed and optimized for today’s high volume enterprise applications running on Oracle databases. Leveraging the power of Oracle Enterprise Manger to manage all enterprise databases and systems, Oracle Data Masking accelerates sensitive data identification and executes the masking process with a simple easy-to-use web interface that puts the power of masking in the hands of business users and administrators.Organizations that have implemented Oracle Data Masking to protect sensitive data in test and development environment have realized significant benefits in the following areas: ? Reducing Risk through Compliance: By protecting sensitive information when sharing production data with developers and testers, organizations have able to ensure that non -production databases have remained compliant with IT security policies while enabling developers to conduct production-class testing. ?Increasing Productivity through Automation: By automating the masking pro cess, organizations have been able to reduce the burden on DBAs who previously had to maintain manuallydeveloped masking scripts. 13 Data Masking Best Practices July 2010 Copyright  © 2010, Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved . This document is provided for information purposes only and the Author: Jagan R. Athreya contents hereof are subject to change without notice. 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French Words Nouveau vs. Neuf

French Words Nouveau vs. Neuf English speakers sometimes find it difficult to translate new into French, due to confusion over the French words nouveau and neuf. In fact, the French adjectives have distinctly different meanings; the problem is actually caused by the fact that the English new has more than one meaning. Fortunately, this is an easy problem to remedy. Read over this lesson, learn the difference between nouveau and neuf, and you wont have any more trouble saying new in French. Nouveau Nouveau means new in the sense of new to the owner - a change or improvement; that is, something that is new because its different than what came before, regardless of whether it is brand new from the store. The opposite of nouveau is ancien (former).As-tu vu ma nouvelle voiture ?Have you seen my new car?(The car is not necessarily new out of the factory; new here means new to the speaker.)Il a mis une nouvelle chemise.He put a new shirt on.(He took off the shirt he was wearing and put a different one on in its place. The new shirt may or may not be new from the store; the important thing here is that it is different.)Cest nouveau.Its new.(I just bought/found/made it.)Nous avons un nouvel appartement.We have a new apartment.(We just moved.)Jai vu le nouveau pont.I saw the new bridge.(The replacement for the one that got washed out.) Nouveau precedes the noun it modifies and changes to agree in gender and number with it.nouveau - nouvelle - nouveaux - nouvellesNouveau has a special form for masculine nouns that begin with a vowel: nouvel. Note that une nouvelle is a piece of news and les nouvelles refer to the news in general. Neuf Neuf means new in the sense of brand new, fresh out of the factory, first of its kind. The opposite of neuf is vieux (old).Je nai jamais achetà © une voiture neuve.Ive never bought a new car.(I always buy used cars.)Il a achetà © une chemise neuve.He bought a new shirt.(He went to the store and bought a brand-new shirt.)Comme neuf.As good as new.(Its fixed, so now its just like new.)Nous avons un appartement neuf.We have a new apartment.(We live in a brand-new building.)Jai vu le Pont neuf.I saw the Pont neuf (in Paris).(Although this is the oldest bridge in Paris, at the time it was built and named, it was a brand-new bridge in a brand-new spot.) Neuf follows the noun it modifies and changes to agree in gender and number with it:neuf - neuve - neufs - neuves Remember that neuf is also the number nine:Jai neuf cousins - I have nine cousins. Nouveau vs Neuf In summary, nouveau means something has changed, while neuf indicates that something is newly-made. With this new knowledge, you shouldnt have any more trouble deciding whether to use neuf or nouveau.