EXTREME PERCEPTION AND ANIMAL INTELLIGENCE

EXTREME PERCEPTION AND ANIMAL INTELLIGENCE Many animals also have extreme perception. Forensic dogs are three times as good as any X-ray machine at sniffing out contraband, drugs, or explosives, and their overall success rate on tests is 90 percent. The fact that a dog can smell things a person can't doesn't make him a genius; it just makes him a dog. Humans can see things dogs can't, but that doesn't make us smarter. But when you look at the jobs some dogs have invented for them ­selves using their advanced perceptual abilities, you're moving into the realm of true cognition, which is solving a problem under novel conditions.The seizure alert dogs are an example of an animal using advanced perceptual abilities to solve a problem no dog was born knowing how to solve. Seizure alert dogs are dogs who, their owners say, can predict a seizure before it starts. There's still controversy over whether you can train dog to predict seizures, and so far peo ­ple haven't had a lot of luck t rying. But there are a number of dogs who have figured it out on their own. These dogs were trained as seizure-response dogs, meaning they can help a person once a seizure has begun.The dog might be trained to lie on top of the person so he doesn't hurt himself, or bring the person his medicine or the telephone. Those are all standard helpful behaviors any dog can be trained to perform. But some of these dogs have gone from responding to seizures to perceiving signs of a seizure ahead of time. No one knows how they do this,because the signs are invisible to people. No human being can look at someone who's about to have a seizure and see (or hear, smell, or feel) what's coming. Yet one study found that 10 percent of owners said their seizure response dogs had turned into seizure alert dogs.The New York Times published a terrific article about a woman named Connie Standley, in Florida, who has two huge Bouvier des Flandres dogs who predict her seizures about thirty minutes ahead of ti me. When they sense Ms. Standley is heading into a seizure they'll do things like pull on her clothes, bark at her, or drag on her hand to get her to someplace safe so she won't get hurt whenthe seizure begins. Ms. Standley says they predict about 80 percent of her seizures Ms. Standley'S dogs apparently were trained as seizure alert dogs before they came to her, but there aren't many dogs in that category.Most of the seizure alert dogs were trained to respond to seizures, not predict seizures. The seizure alert dogs remind me of Clever Hans. Hans was the world-famous German horse in the early 1900s whose owner, Wilhelm von Osten, thought he could count. Herr von Osten could ask the horse questions like, â€Å"What's seven and five? † and Hans would tap out the number 12 with his hoof. Hans could even tap out answers to questions like, â€Å"If the eighth day of the month comes on Tuesday, what is the date for the following Friday? † .He could answer mathe ­ matical questions posed to him by complete strangers, too. Eventually a psychologist named Oskar Pfungst managed to show that Hans wasn't really counting. Instead, Hans was observing sub ­ tle, unconscious cues the humans had no idea they were giving of He'd start tapping his foot when he could see it was time to start tapping; then he'd stop tapping his foot when he saw it was time to stop tapping. His questioners were making tiny, move ­ ments only Hans could see. The movements were so tiny the humans making themcouldn't even feel them. Dr.Pfungst couldn't see the movements, either, and he was look ­ ing for them. He finally solved the case by putting Hans's question ­ers out of view and having them ask Hans questions they didn't know the answers to themselves. It turned out Hans could answer questions only when the person asking the question was in plain view and already knew the answer. If either condition was missing, his performance fell apart. Psychologists often use the Clev er Hans story to show that humans who believe animals are intelligent are deluding themselves. But that's not the obvious conclusion as far as I'm concerned.No one has ever been able to train a horse to do what Hans did. Hans trained himself. Is the ability to read a member of a different species as well as Hans was reading human beings really a sign that he was just a â€Å"dumb animal† who'd been classically conditioned to stamp his hoof? I think there'smore to it than that. What makes Hans similar to the seizure alert dogs is that both Hans and the dogs acquired their skills without human help. As I mentioned, to my knowledge, so far no one's figured out how to take a â€Å"raw† dog and teach it how to predict seizures.About the best a trainer can do is reward the dogs for helping when a person is having a seizure and then leave it up to the dog to star identifYing signs that predict the onset of a seizure on his own. That approach hasn't been hugely successful, but some dogs do it. I think those dogs are showing superior intelligence the same way a human who can do something few other people can do shows superior intelli ­gence. What makes the actions of the seizure alert dogs, and probably of Hans, too, a sign of high intelligence–or high talent-is the fact that they didn't have to do what they did.It's one thing for a dog to start recognizing the signs that a seizure coming; you might chalk that up to unique aspects of canine hearing, smell, or vision, like the fact that a dog can hear a dog whistle while a human can't. But it's another thing for a dog to start to recognize the signs of an impend ­ing seizure and then decide to do something about it. That's what intelligence is in humans; intelligence is people using their built-in perceptual and cognitive skills to achieve useful and sometimes remarkable goals.

Research Paper on William James and Functionalism

PSY 101 4/7/13 â€Å"William James and Functionalism† I. Introduction William James (January 11, 1842 – August 26, 1910) was an American philosopher and psychologist who had trained as a physician. He was the first educator to offer a psychology course in the United States. James wrote influential books on pragmatism, psychology, educational psychology, the psychology of religious experience, and mysticism. He was the brother of novelist Henry James and of diarist Alice James. In the summer of 1878, William James married Alice Gibbens. William James was born at the Astor House in New York City.He was the son of Henry James Sr. , a noted and independently wealthy theologian well acquainted with the literary and intellectual elites of his day. The intellectual brilliance of the James family milieu and the remarkable epistolary talents of several of its members have made them a subject of continuing interest to historians, biographers, and critics. James also worked on man y theories included functionalism which is the second paradigm in Psychology. According to William James, functionalism assumed that the human mind served an adaptive role.It explored the function of thoughts and behaviors. II. What is functionalism in Psychology? Functionalism is a theory of the mind in contemporary psychology, developed largely as an alternative to both the identity theory of mind and behaviorism. This theory is built on the premise that human mental states (beliefs, desires, pain, etc. ) are constituted solely by their functional role — that is, they are causal relations to other mental states, sensory inputs, and behavioral outputs . Functionalism is a theoretical level between physical implementation and behavioral output.Therefore, it is different from its predecessors of Cartesian dualism (advocating discrete mental and physical substances) and Skinnerian behaviorism and physicalism (declaring only physical substances): It is only concerned with the ef fective functions of the brain. Since mental states are identified by a functional role, they are said to be realized on multiple levels. In other words, they are able to be manifested in various systems as long as the system performs the appropriate functions. While computers are physical devices with electronic substrate that perform omputations on inputs to give outputs, our brains also act as physical devices with neural substrate that perform computations on inputs which produce behaviors. â€Å"The Principles of Psychology† is a monumental text in the history of psychology, written by William James and published in 1890. James's psychology included four methods: analysis (i. e. , the logical criticism of precursor and contemporary views of the mind), introspection (i. e. , the psychologist's study of his own states of mind), experiment (e. g. , in hypnosis or neurology), and comparison (i. . , the use of statistical means to distinguish norms from anomalies). III. The p aradigm of functionalism The subject matter of psychology: Psychology is the study of mental activity (e. g. perception, memory, imagination, feeling, judgment). Mental activity is to be evaluated in terms of how it serves the organism in adapting to its environment. The methods of psychology: Mental acts can be studied through introspection, the use of instruments to record and measure; and objective manifestations of mind, through the study of its reations and products, and through the study of anatomy and physiology. The functionalists tended to use the term ‘function' rather loosely. The term is used in at least two different ways. It can refer to the study of how a mental process operates. This is a major departure from the study of the structure of a mental process, the difference between stopping a train to tear it apart to study its parts (structuralism), and looking at how the systems interact while it is running (functionalism). The term ‘function' can also ref er to how the mental process functions in the volution of the species, what adaptive property it provides that would cause it to be selected through evolution. Functionalism never really died, it became part of the mainstream of psychology. The importance of looking at process rather than structure is a common attribute of modern psychology. As an individual approach it lacked a clear formulation and inherited the problems of the structuralist reliance on introspection. IV. William James’ approach on functionalism Unlike Many Psychologist who were interested on structuralism (structures of the mind), WilliamJames instead was interested in consciousness and how it functions in individuals, especially in relation to behavior. James’s psychology experiments with his students tended to be more curious adventures in consciousness and practical application. James taught at Harvard University from 1878-1890. During this time, he completed his renowned psychological work: â₠¬Å"The Principles of Psychology† in which he elucidated his functionalist insight into such subjects as consciousness, habit, and emotion. He was also became over saturated with the subject of functionalism and psychologyV. Functionalism vs. Structuralism As soon as psychology started to gain scientific relevance, so started the debate over how it was most appropriate to describe behavior and the human mind. Structuralism was first introduced by Wilhelm Wundt. It was then formally named and established by one of his students named Edward B. Tichener who broke away from many of the previous ideas put forward by Wundt. Structuralism aims to describe the structure of the mind in terms of the most primitive elements of mental experience. It focused on the breaking down of the brains mental rocesses into its basic components. These basic components were then attempted to be discovered by a method known as introspection. Introspection can be defined as the examination or observation of one’s own mental and emotional processes. Structuralism is based on the idea tha t the aim of psychology is to investigate how the elements are relate to each other which is done by the study into sensations, images and feelings. Functionalism was formulated as a reaction to structuralism and aims to explain mental processes in a more accurate manner than structuralism.It does this by focusing on the purpose of consciousness and behavior. It was brought forward by William James (1842-1910) and was derived from the theory of natural selection created by Darwin which suggests that unless characteristics of a species, including the processes in the brain, served some sort of purpose they would not be selected over time by nature and would not have survived. There are weaknesses to both approaches. Structuralism was criticized for lacking reliability in its results due to the study of the structure of the mind being too subjective. Others argue that it was oo concerned with i nternal behavior that cannot be easily observed and therefore not easily measured. It could also be argued that everyday psychological problems cannot be solved by looking at the sensations of them alone and the mental operations that are promoted by functionalism have to be considered. VI. Conclusion Functionalism formed as a reaction to the structuralism and was heavily influenced by the work of William James and the evolutionary theory of Charles Darwin. Functionalists sought to explain the mental processes in a more systematic and accurate manner.Rather than focusing on the elements of consciousness, functionalists focused on the purpose of consciousness and behavior. Functionalism also emphasized individual differences, which had a profound impact on education. Work Cited: * James, William. The principle of Psychology. Vol. 1 and 2. 1890. Dover publications 1950. * James, William. Psychology (Briefer Course) (1892) University of Notre Dame Press 1985: Dover Publications 2001. * Wade, Carole. Tavris, Carole. Psychology Tenth Edition. Upper Saddle River. Pearson Education 2011, 2008, 2006. * http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/William_James

Essay for high school Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

For high school - Essay Example As I moved on to the kindergarten, I was not less fearful as the atmosphere was more formal than Pre- Kindergarten. I did not wanted to join the kindergarten as I found it isolating and formal. As I joined Kindergarten I started associating with other children and became playful and less concerned about home and parents. But when the time for elementary school admission arrived I started to feel nervous, agitated and anxious. I was terribly scared about the admission procedure and questioning of the teachers. It was due to the support and comforting of parents I could overcome the fear. I prayed a lot on the admission day and convinced myself that everything will be alright.Once I completed my admission successfully , my confidence level increased and was less fearful of admissions. However I was less familiar with summer camps and was afraid of leaving home and school. When my mother encouraged me and explained me about its brighter side I got excited. Once I joined the summer camp, I understood how much fun it was. By the admission time of junior boarding school I was completely confident and positive of admissions and got through it easily. My passion for travelling has been evergreen, since childhood I was thrilled by the idea of visiting new places whether it is a nearby beach, the east of Korea or Hawaii. Every year I made it a point to travel to a destination and I believe in St. Augustine’s words that â€Å"The World is a book, and those who do not travel read only a page†. Traveling the world inspired me enormously and Egypt was the country that astonished me with its Pyramids and hieroglyphs and since then I was attracted to ancient civilization. Egypt moved me unlike any other country with its distinctive culture, climate and scenery. As I had an interior view of pyramids, I was amazed by its architecture and could not help imaging the strength and brilliance of ancient Egyptian people. Thought it was harsh summer I failed to get

Strategies of Modern Art Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Strategies of Modern Art - Essay Example The essay "Strategies of Modern Art" investigates the modern art and its strategies. It does this by alluding to Paul Gauguin’s transformative primitivism and synthetist styles. Having been born at a time of European imperialism, Gauguin did not allow himself to succumb to the superiority euphoria of shunning away anything non-European. After distinguishing himself as a painter, print-maker and a sculptor, he could not entertain the impressionist work of art which had been mainly focused on appealing to the eyes of his audience. Instead, he chose to adopt a new strategy that would greatly transform art. His obsession with the Tahiti culture was not only manifested in his obsession with their women, but in the way he depicted their nudity in his paintings. In his strategy, he opted to adopt the new culture and fuse it into his paintings. Thus, he managed to produce excellent pieces that would greatly appeal to his audience. The new strategy introduced by Gauguin was indeed a st ep in the development of modern art. As a father of primitivism, he did a great job by introducing a new style of painting in which he was using bold colors to help in eliciting inherent meanings. Besides, he came up with the idea of using bold colors and evenly distributed throughout the painting. Through this, he managed to ensure that all colors are equally applied without any of them dominating others. Actually, this was a brilliant idea since it transformed painting from the traditional impressionist styles.

Code of Professional Ethics and Conduct Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Code of Professional Ethics and Conduct - Essay Example There is an urgent need to remind members how important it is to follow these rules in the performance of their assignments so that high ethical standards can be maintained and avoid controversies. In this connection, it is important for the profession to be strict with regards to observing standards formulated by its professional bodies in terms of accounting and auditing ethics and conduct. A member must at all times endeavor to observe the code of conduct that governs their profession. Rule 102 – this rule pertains to integrity and objectivity. This means accountants should maintain at all times honesty in performing his work and avoid conflicts of interest that may be damaging to that integrity and objectivity by assiduously observing independence. Expectations of the code is a CPA will not knowingly misrepresent facts, make materially false or misleading entries or fails to correct those erroneous entries when there is an opportunity to rectify them. Violations of this ru le was shown in the case of Mr. Robert E. Allgyer of Lake Forest, in the state of Illinois, for alleged violations of the Codes of Professional Conduct of the AICPA and also in relation to Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Rule 102 (e) about a rendition of professional services for Waste Management, Inc. wherein there was improper conduct by him. The integrity of Mr. Allgyer was questionable due to his issuance of an Order instituting Public Administrative Proceedings which the SEC construed as negligence on his part. However, Mr. Allgyer entered into a compromise settlement with thInstitutingich he was fined $50,000 and also suspended from his professional practice for two years, with a right to re-apply for the privilege of practicing before the SEC only after the lapse of five years. I think the disciplinary actions taken against him were too harsh (professional suspensions) considering that he paid the substantial civil monetary penalty of $50,000 (AICPA, 2012b, p. 1). Ru le 102 (e) of the SEC now allows it to sanction any individual CPA in addition to public accounting firms, the firms they worked for and their audit committees. This new rule change refers to negligence on the part of individual CPA which constitutes as improper conduct and a violation of professional standards of conduct applicable in the instant case (With a controversial change to rule†¦, 1999, p. 1). Rule 201 – this rule refers to professional competence and cares with regards to the handling of financial documents. It means any member must be competent in terms of academic theories (continuing professional education credits or CPE) and adequate work experiences. Moreover, this rule requires due professional care during rendition of any professional services by ensuring proper planning before any work is started, make adequate supervision during the performance of professional services and ascertain if there are enough valid data, documents and all relevant informati on for a reasonable conclusion or a proper recommendation with regards to all services standards (NYSSCPA.org, 2009, p. 1).  

Week Six Discussion questions and Participation questions Essay

Week Six Discussion questions and Participation questions - Essay Example I learned a lot of valuable lessons during this business course. Training and development can be used as a strategic tool to improve the value of the human capital of a firm. I learned that employees are motivated by financial and non-financial rewards. An example of a non-financial reward is receiving a â€Å"congratulations† from the boss on a job well done. A third concept I learned in class is there many employment laws that protect the rights of workers. There are laws that protect employees against racial discrimination and sexual harassment. A fourth concept I learned in classroom is job analysis. Job analysis can be defined as set of procedures used to collect and classify information about tasks the organization needs to complete (Schermerhorn & Hunt & Osborn, 2003). A training and development program that the company offers to some of its employees is the management training program. The management and training program is available to talented employees that have shown leadership abilities and who have at least a bachelor degree. The program does not necessarily imply the person is to be promoted to a managerial position. There is financial incentive that pays the employees a cash reward after completion of the program. Compensation systems are important because they represent a mechanism that is in place to reward the employees for their efforts. An effective compensation plan will have many elements. The hourly pay is just one of these elements. There are many fringe benefits that can be offered to motivate employees. Some of the different elements of a complete compensation plan include maternity leave, paternity leave, extended vacations, sick days, medical plan, car allowance, flexible time, gymnasium privileges, college tuition assistance, and child day care allowance. Another ways to improve a compensation plan is by offering profit sharing, year-end bonuses,

Harlem Rena Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Harlem Rena - Essay Example This re-birth of the cultural, social, education and civic norms, changed the society as a whole. This era in which the great depression was going on and millions of people were jobless, put a new life in the black people of America (Carry, 1998). This era had produced many great scholars, poets and authors. Out of which, the poems of two such poets and the concept of double consciousness developed in their work () is discussed here. The poem discussed first is Langston Hughes’s â€Å"Let America be America Once Again†. It is an emotional piece of culture in which the poet credits America being the land of free, brave and harmonious people. The society which sets its foundation on educational institutes and industrialization, the country which was the land of dreams for many black people around the world and specially in America, who fought for America, died for it and relied on it. The poet terms America as the land of free where there is no freedom, no matter how much sacrifices you have made. There is strong disgust about the inequality, coercion, poverty and injustice through which every black person had to go through. This poem depicts the mentality of white superiority over the black and red people. Both of whom had given blood in the foundation of this very country. Langston also saddened by the fact that the black people being humiliated on the base of their culture, they were called barbarians because of their civilization, their self-respect is being shattered and their self-esteem is being drown in the fury of white supremacy. And it shares a strong emotional feeling that it is not the America for which his forefathers wandered around the world, it is not that America for which they had sacrificed their lives. It was never America to me said the poet. But in the end he didn’t let the hope go down and believes that America would be America again. Second poem selected here is James

The Design and Implementation of Virtual Classroom for Distance Essay

The Design and Implementation of Virtual Classroom for Distance Learning - Essay Example Based on the result of the survey questionnaires and personal interviews, the researcher will determine the best design of a virtual classroom for second language distance learning including a proposed implementation strategy. The use of the Internet and other related technologies has made a significant increase over the past ten years. (Lavooy and Palmer, 2003) In line with the progress in the development of Internet-based technology, changes in the educational approach has gone through a lot of major restructuring. Each year, a lot of colleges and universities have been investing a lot of money in developing reliable and real-time web-based classes (Ewing-Taylor, 1999) especially for the purpose of studying second language courses in distance learning. A virtual classroom is a computer based system used to deliver virtual teaching and learning. According to Karasavvidis et al. (2003), the learning and teaching behaviour of students and the teachers is an important factor that contributes to the success of using computer-based technology in education. For this reason, the design of a virtual classroom for distance learning has to be easily accessible, reliable, user-friendly, and interactive. The design of virtual classroom for distance learning should include online forums such as Blackboard Discussion Board, video conference, e-mails and chat rooms to allow the students and mentors to have an open communication link as it makes the course materials available to each learner 24/7. (Nian-Shing, Kinshuk, Yi-Hung, 2005) Ewing-Taylor and Overall (2003) emphasized the importance of constant interaction and collaboration between the teachers and the learners since it enables the students to learn more from its mentor. In relation to the point-of view of Ewing-Taylor and Overall (2003), the study of Kubala (1998) reveals that the use of an anonymous open communication through a

Case Study on Comparison of Crowdfunding Sites

On Comparison of Crowdfunding Sites - Case Study Example This is an especially crucial aspect of a Crowdfunding website considering most visitors look for features such as supported projects, the Crowdfunding program’s history, and operating model (Kickstarter Inc., 2015). However, considering contemporary websites place these links at the bottom of the homepage, it is understandable for Kickstarter to follow this trend. Indiegogo’s website took nearly half a minute to load, which is an indication of high traffic. The homepage has a layout nearly identical to that of Kickstarter in terms of the arrangement and the selection of links at the top, middle, and bottom of the page. Similar to Kickstarter, Indiegogo’s site has a few links at the top, which include a search bar, sign up and sign in options, â€Å"Explore,† and â€Å"How It Works† (Indiegogo Inc., 2015). The middle of the homepage also mimics a news section that displays the most recent developments for project starters and potential funders. However, unlike Kickstarter, Indiegogo’s site includes several additional sections dedicated to praising the site’s most successful project placers, funders, and the website itself. These sections are â€Å"Trending Now,† â€Å"Personal Fundraiser Spotlight,† and â€Å"why Indiegogo† (Indiegogo Inc., 2015). The bottom of the page has links fo r assisting users interested in starting their individual campaigns or knowing more about Indiegogo as a Crowdfunding platform. Kickstarter does not thoroughly describe a compelling need for the project to be funded. The home page focuses on the best selections by the campaign staff, which includes the number of pledged, funded, and supporters available for given projects. In the page â€Å"Projects We Love archive,† Kickstarter merely lists the best projects in need of funding while using the project starters’ descriptions alone to persuade potential funders (Kickstarter Inc., 2015).

EDirectory Protocols Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

EDirectory Protocols - Essay Example It is often easy to remember and a meaningful handle for an internet address. Since maintaining a central list of IP address/ domain name correspondence would be impractical, the list of IP addresses and Domain names are distributed in hierarchy of authority within the internet. There may be existence of a DNS server available in a closer geographical proximity to the access provider which maps the domain names in the user’s internet request or directs them to other servers. Because of the distributed and the open design of DNS, and its utilization of the user Datagram protocol, domain name system is vulnerable to different forms of attacks. Public domain name system is often at risk, since they are unable to restrict incoming packets to a set of IP addresses (Weber, 2007). Service location protocol is another edirectory protocol which allows location and organization of resources such as disk drives, printers, databases, schedulers and directories within a network. The protocol gives users a simpler interface to a network’s resource information. The protocol oversees and defines operations and communications that take place among the user agents, directory agents and service agents (Zaki, Ngadi & Razak, 2013). Maintenance of service and rearrangement and installation of new devices is easier without the need for configuring the work stations of an individual. Despite the service location protocol being simple to implement, it fails to specify anything concerning service creation and does not direct the user on how to utilize it. A service advertising protocol (SAP) is an internetwork packet exchange (IPX) protocol component designed to remove and add services in an edirectory system. It allows network services such as gateway servers, prints or files to register information in the tables within the servers. The internet packet exchange services are then broadcasted across a network and sub networks.

SWOT Analysis of Regis Corporation Essay Example for Free

SWOT Analysis of Regis Corporation Essay Section I – Organizational History Regis Corporation, a Fortune 1000 company, specializes in beauty salons, hair restoration centers, and cosmetology education. The Company owns, franchises, or holds ownership interests in approximately 12,700 worldwide locations (Regis Corporation, 2009). Regis corporate and franchise locations operate under concepts such as Supercuts, Sassoon Salon, Regis Salons, MasterCuts, SmartStyle and Hair Club for Men and Women (Regis Corporation, 2009). In addition, Regis maintains an ownership interest in Provalliance, which operates salons primarily in Europe, under the brands of Jean Louis David, Franck Provost and Saint Algue. Regis also maintains ownership interests in Empire Education Group in the U.S. and MY Style concepts in Japan. System-wide, these and other concepts are located in the U.S. and in over 30 other countries in North America, South America, Europe, Africa and Asia (Regis Corporation, 2009). In its nearly 9,500 North American salons, Regis offers a wide range of hair care services including haircuts, styling and coloring, as well as a wide selection of professional hair care products (Regis Corporation, 2009). Through their 96 Hair Club for Men and Women locations, Regis also offers a comprehensive menu of hair restoration products and services (Regis Corporation, 2009). Section II – Strengths and Weaknesses I would consider two of Regis Corporation’s strengths to be their longevity brand recognition and salon geographic locations. Two of Regis Corporation’s weaknesses are poor management and poor management. Strength #1- Longevity Brand Recognition Regis began 88 years ago and since then has grown into a multi-billion dollar company. Regis Corporation owns several well-known brands such as SuperCuts, Master Cuts, Vidal Sassoon, and ProCuts. They also have their own complete hair care line of products called DesignLine. Strength #2- Salon Geographical Locations Regis strategically places all of their salons in locations with high customer traffic flow such as malls, shopping centers, and Wal-Mart Supercenters. Having salons located in these areas allows for customer flexibility as well as a highly visible location for potential walk-in clientele. Regis is also has salons operating in Canada and Puerto Rico, as well as over 400 salons operating internationally in Europe (Regis Corporation, 2009). Weakness #1- Poor Management After reading many Regis employee reviews from glassdoor.com, the majority of cons the employees listed had to do the management. Employees described management as unconcerned with quality of stylists hired, unresponsive to employee’s needs and concerns, and low opportunity for advancement. Upper and lower level management need to be properly trained and incorporate employee empowerment which includes employee recognition, sharing leadership, and providing feedback (Glassdoor.com,). Weakness #2- Poor Customer Service After reviewing many customer reviews, many of the complaints were centered on customer service issues. Some customers complained they were rushed through their service and there were complaints of having to wait over an hour for their service even though they had an appointment. Bad customer service is bad for the hair business because you not only loose that one client; you also lose any future referrals from the client and it can develop a bad reputation for the salon itself (Glassdoor.com,). Section III – Opportunities and Threats Two current opportunities for Regis Corporation’s are their hair restoration businesses and the availability of real estate for new construction. Two of Regis Corporation’s current threats are the downturn of the general economic environment and their current negative same-store sales. Opportunity #1- Hair Restoration Business In December 2004, Regis Corporation acquired the Hair Club for Men and Women (Regis Corporation, 2009). Currently this industry is comprised with numerous locations domestically and internationally. By consolidating and expanding, this industry would generate a great deal of revenue. Growth plans for hair restoration include construction of a modest number of new locations in untapped markets domestically and internationally (Regis Corporation, 2009). Opportunity #2- Availability of Real Estate for New Construction The availability of real estate for new construction is an opportunity for Regis to continue to expand not only the new construction of salons but also the construction of new hair restoration centers. By adding new units in convenient locations with good visibility and customer traffic. The availability of real estate will allow Regis to achieve long-term growth objectives (Regis Corporation, 2009). Threat #1- Downturn of the General Economic Environment Downturn of the economic environment results in customers spending less and waiting longer between returning visits to the salon. General economic factors include interest rates, recession, inflation, deflation, tax rates and policy, energy costs, and unemployment trends (Regis Corporation, 2009). Visits to hair restoration centers would be greatly impacted by increases in unemployment rates and decreases in income levels (Regis Corporation, 2009). Threat #2- Negative Same-Store Sales Same-store sales is taking the amount of revenue generated by stores (open one year or more) over a certain period and then comparing it to an identical period in the past. Many factors affect same-store sales such as fashion trends, competition, or even weather conditions. Regis same-store sales have declined for the eleventh consecutive quarter to 2.3% (Zacks Investment Research, 2011). Continued declines in same-store sales performance may cause us to be in default of certain covenants in their financing arrangements (Zacks Investment Research, 2011). Section IV – Summary Regis is a well-known brand name and had been in business for over 80 years. Regis is one of the largest companies in the hair care industry holding about 2% of the worldwide market. Their salons are conveniently located in malls, shopping centers, and even within Wal-Mart Supercenters. They have salons located all across the United States and have expanded their business to Canada, Puerto Rico, and Europe. Regis needs to improve on their employee satisfaction in regards to management and need to focus on improving customer service relations. Regis’s newly acquired hair restoration line provides a great opportunity to consolidate and expand this industry in turn creating a great deal of revenue. The availability of real estate for new construction is also a great opportunity for Regis to expand in the construction of new salons and new hair restoration centers, which will allow Regis to achieve long-term growth objectives. A threat to Regis is the downturn of the economic environment, which results in consumers spending less and waiting longer between salon visits. If Regis same-store sales do not begin to improve it will have a huge impact on their financing arrangements.

Is Cyber Warfare the Future of War?

Is Cyber Warfare the Future of War? Introduction Undoubtedly, the twentieth century could be counted as the bloodiest in human history; man has been at war for much longer than he has been at peace. The death tolls are incalculable although historians put estimates at somewhere between 170 million to 210 million. No true figures are available but what is undisputed is the proliferation and effect of war on all aspects of society. Its impact on the soldier and the civilian as well as the economy and society or culture has given birth to the concept of ‘total war’  (Marwil, 2000). The last time total war was experienced was the Second World War which invariably led to the Cold War and its all-encompassing nature on every aspect of society  (Stavrianakis & Selby, 2012). Particularly with technology, the 20th century has seen the advancement of technology to epistemic levels where it has produced the concept of ‘modern war’ – atomic weapons, satellite guided missiles, chemical and biological weapons and electronic drones; none of which have eclipsed the older forms of warfare  (Barkawi, 2011). A new form of warfare has evolved and it is part of the 4th Industrial Revolution; it is cyber warfare. To understand its significance, one only has to look at former President Barack Obama declaring the digital infrastructure of the US as strategic national asset to be protected with the entire resources available to the United States. Obama prompted the formation of a special unit in the Pentagon called Cybercom whose sole purpose is to prepare the US for the inevitable cyber war that America will be embroiled in. The UK has also set up the National Cyber Security Programme and NATO has released the Tallinn Manual on the International Law Applicable to Cyber Warfare; a three-year study by international scholars setting out ninety-rules to govern conflicts among nations. Cyber warfare is definitely gearing up as a new arena for conflict. This dissertation looks at the subject of cyber warfare and examines how widespread a concern this is to nations and if indeed it is just a concern of the super powers. Just like atomic weapons has become a military weapon of magnitude, the world has still not experienced a nuclear war. Instead nuclear energy is being used to advance economies and aid production and meet energy needs. Is cyber space similar to the threat of nuclear weapons? Does it actually do more good that the proposed harm that is being touted? This dissertation will carry out a secondary data analysis to understand the current literature on the subject and determine if indeed cyber warfare is the new arena of conflict. Narrative The organising principle of every theme in this dissertation is layered; each begins with a general historical and contextual appraisal invariably moving to specifics and constantly looking at the problem-solution dilemma. To substantiate or clarify explanations, arguments, themes, findings etc., footnotes will be included and/or non-integral citations will be used to focus attention more on the research being discussed and less on the researchers or authors. All related studies to this dissertation will be research/information prominent. With a few exceptions, English is used entirely in this dissertation and therefore tense usage is important in the organisational narrative. Where reference is made to a single study, the past simple tense will be used. Where reference is made to more than one study or an area of research, the present perfect tense will be used. Where reference is made to generally accepted knowledge, particularly with respect to cyber warfare or generally accepted knowledge in international relations, information technology or geopolitics, the present tense will be used. Finally, the choice of reporting verbs in this dissertation will inadvertently express a certain attitude be it critical distance, doubt, certainty, confusion etc. As much as possible, I have tried to maintain the same reporting verbs used in citing research and evoking emotion in my reflexive thoughts. Sometimes this has not been possible and the same reporting verb will express different attitudes depending on the context. Where this has occurred, I have elaborated any misconception or misunderstanding in the corresponding footnotes. Themes and concepts The chronological order of the table of contents gives a straightforward description of the chapter and sub-chapter headings in this dissertation. Thematically, the dissertation is divided into 4 chapters. Chapters 1-3 deal with the research justification as well as academic and methodological underpinnings. These chapters set the terms of reference for the dissertation and elaborate its research direction and deal with the subject matter, cyber warfare. Chapter 4 deals with the results, discussion of the results and conclusion. Theoretical and conceptual framework War, Conflict and Anarchy It is imperative to understand international relations and the theories and concepts underpinning them before looking at cyber warfare as a new arena for war. The Melian Dialogue in the great 5th century BC classic of Thucydides’ â€Å"History of the Peloponnesian War† best describes the context in which one looks at the international system. At a point in the Peloponnesian Wars, the Athenians wanted to take over the neutral island of Melos to obtain control over the Aegean Sea. An Athenian fleet was dispatched to Melos to try and negotiate a surrender and the ensued dialogue, as told by Thucydides, captures the essence and birth of our international system today. The Athenians declared to the Melians that â€Å"since you know as well as we do that right, as the world goes, is only in question between equals in power, while the strong do what they can and the weak suffer what they must.† (Thucydides) The international system today is premised on the fact that nation states can and do exert their power over weaker states although some do work through a collaborative system to ensure a common purpose. The study of international relations begins with the very notion that there is no central authority which acts as the ultimate arbiter in world affairs. Nations simply do what they can through mutually beneficial alliances and discard them when their interests are no longer served. If we look at world history before the 20th century, international relations could be said to be in a state of anarchy as there was no central figure. From 1078, China was the world’s major producer of steel, the world’s leader in technical innovations, the world’s leading trading nation, possessed the largest commercial ships and these are just to mention a few. Few academics would now dispute that China was the world’s hyperpower for 800 years before the rise of British imperialism in the 19th century. Despite China being a hyperpower for 800 years, there is no record of any central authority governing the behaviour of nation-states. They simply did what they could to nations who couldn’t fight back. Ironically China was insular and did not engage in any international conflicts. Every study of international relations or politics beyond that makes assumptions about the state of anarchy and offers a counter explanation of an international system with inter-state relations and a hierarchical intrastate system. A system that we have now with bodies like the United Nations, the World Trade Organization regulating economic relations and the International Criminal Court prosecuting crimes against humanity.   International relations deals with how nation states decide to exist without a central authority or with no structure or how they choose to create one. Waltz (1979) describes the juxtaposition of the international system and the domestic system by explaining that   domestic systems are centralized and hierarchic†, international systems are decentralized and anarchic†Waltz 1979, p. 88 All approaches to international relations and studying the behaviour of nation-states begins with an assessment of the anarchic structure in the international system. Anarchy is the starting point of viewing international relations but that view depends on the perspective a country chooses to take. Let’s begin with the oldest view recorded since the Melian dialogue between the Athenians and the Melians. The ‘political realist’ perspective is known as a theory one subscribes to in international relations. A political realist is under no illusions that countries behave with the single purpose of self-interest and therefore actions and reactions are done to defend that interest. Nation states are geared towards survival, according to the realist and this can often mean exerting strength over a weaker enemy or acceding to a collaboration with a stronger foe. All is done for the purpose of ensuring the continuation of the state by any means necessary. Therefore, the only way to predict behaviour is to predict survival. Realists do not see a set of behavioural guidelines but a survival of the fittest in the ‘international jungle of world politics’. Or as one might put it succinctly, ‘might is right’. To the realist, the international order is that of ensuring that power relations are conducted in such a manner that outcomes are mutually exclusive. One party will always gain over the other so the purpose for the nation-state in any negotiations is to be the winner. Where this cannot be achieved then the realist will view this as a precarious position to be in. Realists’ view of the anarchical order can describe the behaviour of nation-states in various ways from the classical realist to the neorealist and several forms in between. Whichever view is subscribed to, anarchy forms the basis of that world view and the expected behaviour of nation-states  (Heginbotham, 2015). Liberalist recognise the importance of anarchy in the international system in just the same way as the realists. Both liberal and realist accept the absence of a supreme authority directing the affair of nation-states. Where liberals and the liberal view differ on the subject is what can be done within the anarchic system. Liberals believe that nation-states and state actors can actually come together to build rules, guideline, set up institutions and appoint various monitoring bodies to govern or at least modify the behaviour of nation-states so that they can work together for a common person  (Barkawi, 2011). Outcomes do not have to be mutually exclusive but can be mutually beneficial in an anarchic system, according to the liberal view of international relations. Through joint cooperation, liberals believe that the behaviour of nation-states can be changed to achieve a level of power where states feel secure about their relationships with other states and do not seek to consolidate power at the expense of others. This classical liberal view can be seen in the world today as neoliberalism. Liberals still see anarchy in the international system but see it as something that can be overcome through a concerted effort. Whatever view one prescribes, the prevailing wisdom is that nation states will shift between theories and concepts to advance their own agenda and not confine themselves to an enduring guiding principle. The concept of cyber warfare, I would argue, follows suit. Defining the cyber world Almost twenty-five years ago, ‘cyberspace’ as we know it did not exist beyond the primitive computers placed in research laboratories and academic institutions. In fact, cyberspace was merely a theoretical concept that was considered unachievable. Today that has drastically changed. Our world would be unfathomable without cyberspace. To put its vastness into perspectives, approximately 4 billion people are online with roughly 50 billion devices ranging from super computers to desktops to laptops to smartphones to tablets. On a yearly basis, 90 trillion emails are sent and two trillion transactions are conducted in cyberspace (Turns, 2012). Cyberspace permeates are lives so much that we use it for everything from international trade, to logistics, communications, record keeping, financial transactions to sending flowers! All these positive contributions are the benevolent side of cyberspace. The malevolent aspect of cyberspace is ignored by the public unless a scare or scandal brings it to the surface. Figures estimate that on a daily basis, around 55,000 pieces of malware are found, 200,000 computers are ‘hijacked’[1]as well as the countless number of frauds that go unreported. How exactly does one define cyberspace? That question is not easy to answer as there are as many answers as there are experts in the field. A notable expert worth considering is Daniel Kuehl who collected a series of definitions from various sources and analysed his findings  (Curran, et al., 2008). He concluded that cyberspace consisted of a few dimensions namely; An operational space – it is an operational space where proponents of the domain ply their trade and perfect their skills. An electronic domain – it is an electronic network comprising of computers and a vast network of electromagnetic activityInformation domain – it is a network of information that is not limited to a particular location, time and space Kuehl analysed all these aspects and offered his own definition which will be used in this dissertation: â€Å"A global domain within the information environment whose distinctive and unique character is framed by the use of electronics and the electromagnetic spectrum to create, store, modify, exchange and exploit information via interdependent and interconnected networks using information-communication technologies.†Kuehl, 2009 Cyber terrorism is a portmanteau of the words cyberspace and terrorism and was first recognised and used in 1996 but became popular after a 1998 report from the Center for Strategic and International Studies titled Cybercrime, Cyberterrorism, Cyberwarfare: Averting an Electronic Waterloo. The report discussed the possibilities of an electronic attack, likely outcomes and expected methods  (Carr, 2011). Three terms are often confused when discussing Cyber terrorism so it is crucial that they are defined here. Cyber terrorism: â€Å"It is premeditated, politically motivated attacks by sub national groups or clandestine agents, or individuals against information and computer systems, computer programs, and data that result in violence against non-combatant targets (Colarik & Janczewski, 2012).† Information warfare: â€Å"It is a planned attack by nations or their agents against information and computer systems, computer programs, and data that result in enemy losses (Colarik & Janczewski, 2012).† Cyber crime: â€Å"Cyber crime is a crime committed through the use of information technology (Colarik & Janczewski, 2008).† This is more of the documented cyber related terms because it has received adequate coverage due to its proliferation in domestic law enforcement. In the U.S., the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act defines Internet criminal acts (Jensen, 2009). Furthermore, the â€Å"European Union members of the NATO alliance have domestic laws implementing the 1995 E.U. Data Privacy Directive† (Knapp & Boulton, 2006). For argument’s sake, cybercrime includes offences such as; the impairment of data, misuse of devices, interception of data offenses. traditional criminal offenses facilitated through the use of the internet, e.g. fraud, copyright infringement, child pornography Cybercrime has received a lot of international attention and was formally discussed at the Council of Europes 2001 Convention on Cybercrime  (Robinson, et al., 2015). This convention is still the only international understanding in place that exclusively focusses on cybercrimes. Terrorism: â€Å"The unlawful use or threatened use of force or violence by a person or an organized group against people or property with the intention of intimidating or coercing societies or governments, often for ideological or political reasons (Dragan, et al., 2012).† Research Approach Research Questions This research will attempt to explore and answer three questions regarding the broad themes that preliminary research has shown and in line with the gaps in current academic research; What exactly is cyber space?Is an information war a ‘war’ in the conventional sense?Is Russia engaging in a cyber war with the West? The dissertation considered various approaches to address the questions above as well as examine different options such as sources of data, type of research framework, timescale and methodology. In trying to answer any of the research questions, it was clear that any primary data used to carry out the research and with the available time limit would not be possible or indeed produce valuable information. This dissertation needed to design an analytical framework to counter this problem. Thus, I attempt to make a justification for carrying out secondary analysis of qualitative data and the benefits and limitations of the approach Secondary Data Collection In setting about the data collection, it was imperative I included boundaries for the study, the protocol for recording the data as well as the methodology for analysing it which are all set out below. The secondary data included qualitative documents and qualitative audio and visual materials. The list of secondary evidences kept evolving and the research continued. However, below is the final list of secondary evidences used. Data from various government departmentsNews articles from newspapersData and analysis from periodicals, books, journals etc.Data from non-governmental agencies and public bodiesData from online sources Secondary Analysis of Qualitative Data Secondary data analysis is essentially re-analysis of data collected by another researcher (Elliot, 2015). Andrews et al gave a definition of secondary data analysis as the collection and use of previously collected data for another purpose  (Andrews, et al., 2012). In addition, they also explained that the use of secondary data analysis first appeared when one of the founders of Grounded Theory (Glaser) discussed the possibility of re-analysing data that had already been collected for other purposes (Andrews, et al., 2012). Notwithstanding, secondary analysis is still not very popular and there have been very limited reviews of its use (Hinds, et al., 1997). At this point, it is pertinent that a distinction be made between secondary analysis, documentary analysis, systemic reviews and meta-analysis. Secondary data analysis is the examination of primary data[2] from previous research studies. Such data would include examples such as semi-structured interviews, research diaries, responses to open-ended questions in questionnaires, transcripts of interviews/conversations etc. On the other hand, documentary analysis would involve the analysis of data such as auto-biographies, personal diaries, photographs etc. Heaton does point out that there could be some considerable overlap between secondary analysis and documentary analysis (Heaton, 2008). Meta-analysis and Systematic Reviews both involve both involve going over published findings of previous research studies unlike secondary data analysis that looks at the primary data and not just the published findings. Review & Discussion Introduction Cyber warfare has different definitions depending on which theorist is applying it and which country is examining and applying the concept; for example, the U.S. military view cyber warfare in very different terms from the Russians. To begin with the word â€Å"cyber† is a completely new phenomenon that arose after the dot com boom and the start of the 4th Revolution. Not surprisingly, it has not filtered into the established rules of war or armed conflict adhered to by other nation states  (Chen, 2010). For starters, the word â€Å"cyber† is not found in the 1949 Geneva Conventions and any of the additional Protocols (it has not been inserted there). The word, in common usage, relates to a whole host of things ranging from computers and their networks to the information in these computers to even the process of uploading and retrieving this information. By extension, the word cyber warfare will include acts committed in furtherance of any act against and adversary using everything that is considered part of the ‘cyber’ domain. In looking at acts, cyber warfare would include offensive acts, defensive acts or acts of deterrence. By this explanation, it will include disseminating offensive information through computers or computer networks  (Andress & Winterfeld, 2011). Cyber warfare is one that has no clear boundaries or actors which makes a lot of the current legislation unhelpful. Acts of war or states of war are usually assigned to recognised states and combatants. But in this case, cyber warfare can be conducted by states, agents of states, non-state actors, international groups or any collection of people with a single vested interest or even one individual  (Cornish, et al., 2010).   Cyber Warfare and the legal question This dissertation started off with trying to determine if cyber warfare is the new arena of conflict. Even though I have attempted to define ‘cyber’ and ‘cyber warfare’, there are still large parts of this area of study that need to be examined. A lot of the current research already makes the assumption that cyber warfare is warfare because of its obvious name or that a few of the permanent members of the UN Security Council are making the case. But what is the legal argument to justify treating cyber warfare as warfare? Let’s begin with the least disputed agreement and definition of what leads to armed conflict. It is generally accepted that â€Å"armed force† is the necessary requirement for â€Å"armed conflict†. The UN Charter Article 2(4) provides, All members [of the UN] shall refrain in their international relations from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any State . . .,. Exceptions are use of force authorized by the Security Council, and self-defence pursuant to Article 5 1.† Even customary law that applies to non-UN members still has the expectation of the same necessary requirement although it must be pointed out that this is only applicable to state actors (Kelsey, 2008). Non-state actors where not envisioned when the Charter was framed. Nonetheless, this is still the legal argument as it stands. Cyber warfare does not seem to meet the threshold of ‘armed force’ although many would argue otherwise. And it is this argument that is usually translated into the foreign policy of some states  (Gompert & Libicki, 2014). Even the UN Charter Article 51 still proposes that a response to attack is only justified if the initial or first attack is an armed attack. As it stands today, cyber warfare is not recognised as a legitimate war just in the same way that the ‘War on Terror’ is not a legitimate war but a cornerstone of US foreign policy. By extension, it stands to reason that a cyber attack is not in reality an attack recognised by the UN (Droege., 2012). Ultimately the view of whether an act is a cyber attack or part of cyber warfare is merely one that is only determined by the recipient of the act and how they choose to respond; through dialogue or retaliation? In addition, the judgement of the international community plays a significant part even though state actors often form alliances that ensures that an attack on one nation state could be an attack on the entire alliance; e.g. a cyber attack on a NATO member state. Not having a legal basis for an action does not in any way imply that it is not treated as a conflict or war. We only have to look at the U.S. justifications for bombing, Iraq, Afghanistan and Syria in clear violation of the U.N. Charter; none of these states had perpetrated an armed attack against the U.S. The international community enjoined the U.S. even though other states had pointed out at the clear hypocrisy being committed by the U.S. If one is to consider cyber warfare and cyber attacks, then answering the legal question is insufficient. One must refer to the prevailing theory of international relations one subscribes to or comment on wider matters governing a state’s behaviour. This dissertation will look at empirical examples of cyber warfare. Global Cyber warfare: China vs US In todays information age, the Peoples Republic of China has replaced and even improved upon KGB methods of industrial espionage to the point that the Peoples Republic of China now presents one of the most capable threats to U.S. technology leadership and by extension its national security.Dan Verton, Cyber Warfare Expert (Hjortdal, 2011) It is easy to forget that in 1820, Greece had revolted against the Ottoman Empire, Britain had opened the first modern railway and was on its way to an exploding industrial revolution, Brazil had nervously declared independence from Portugal and that China was the world’s superpower with the largest share of global GDP. In fact, it is easy to forget because history has been written specifically to gloss over these facts. Western academia has repeatedly highlighted China as a collective of starved, dispossessed and slaughtered people and not a prosperous, dynamic and global power from 1100 – 1820. From 1078, China was the world’s major producer of steel, the world’s leader in technical innovations, the world’s leading trading nation, possessed the largest commercial ships and these are just to mention a few. Few academics would now dispute that China was the world’s hyperpower for 800 years before the rise of British imperialism in the 19th century. Western imperialism and China’s decline has been documented in detail which this book cannot do justice to. The rise of Chinese economic and political strength is unquestionably due to the Communist Party of China which began when the Third Plenary Session of the 11th Central Committee of Communist Party of China adopted a reform policy triggering the private sector[3].   Since 1978, entrepreneurship has driven the Chinese economy and the economic and political changes since then remain unprecedented. So transformative has this change been that China is now a threat to the US in the information superhighway. A recent event in 2016 puts this threat into context. China builds world’s fastest supercomputer without U.S. chips â€Å"China on Monday revealed its latest supercomputer, a monolithic system with 10.65 million compute cores built entirely with Chinese microprocessors. This follows a U.S. government decision last year to deny China access to Intels fastest microprocessors. There is no U.S.-made system that comes close to the performance of Chinas new system, the Sunway TaihuLight. Its theoretical peak performance is 124.5 petaflops, according to the latest biannual release today of the worlds Top500 supercomputers. It is the first system to exceed 100 petaflops. A petaflop equals one thousand trillion (one quadrillion) sustained floating-point operations per second.†ComputerWorld (June 20, 2016 http://www.computerworld.com/article/3085483/high-performance-computing/china-builds-world-s-fastest-supercomputer-without-u-s-chips.html) It has earlier been argued that cyberspace is open to both state actors and non-state actors. Because actions can be taken by an individual in a state, it is extremely hard to prove culpability of the state. In other words, a cyber attack from a computer in China in no way implies that the cyber attack was orchestrated by the Chinese state. Proving culpability is extremely hard and this fact alone hinders the argument that cyber warfare could be a new arena of conflict. Having said this, the media is awash with stories of Chinese cyber attacks on the U.S. but it is always lacking in evidence. Ironically, one never hears of U.S. cyber attacks on China or at the very least the mainstream media never reports it. Despite China’s repeated denials of culpability and its demand for proof that its citizens are responsible for cyber attacks on U.S. interests, the U.S. have taken the bold step in 2011 to issue a statement from the National Counterintelligence Executive that China is the â€Å"most active and persistent perpetrator of cyber intrusions into the United States† (Heginbotham, 2015).    As there are no clearly defined rules on cyber warfare, any escalation of tensions between China and the U.S. could be construed and framed in the words of a potential conflict similar to the rhetoric that started and fuelled the Cold War between the U.S. and the U.S.S.R. This Cold War metaphor is how commentators are viewing the Cyber race between China and the U.S. According to President Barack Obama’s 2011 Cyberspace Policy Review, â€Å"cybersecurity risks pose some of the most serious economic and national security challenges of the 21st century† (Solis, 2014). This rhetoric is backed up by the steps the U.S. has taken to secure its strategic advantage in the domain. In 2009, the U.S. created the Cyber Command under the National Security Agency (NSA) with the express purpose of putting cyber warfare in the forefront of its military and defensive strategy. In addition, the Department of Defence (DoD) also has the Pentagon Strategy for Operating in Cyberspace with China clearly set in its sights. These aggressive overtures by the U.S. have not been ignored. According to the Chinese Ministry of Public Security, they are of the opinion that cyber attacks on Chinese computer installations grow at a rate of 80% annually making China the largest and most venerable recipient of cyber attacks   (Robinson, et al., 2015). To put it into context, in 2011, China succumbed to a cyber attack where 100 million usernames, passwords and emails were leaked unto the internet. What is commonly acknowledge is that the U.S. practically controls the entire internet and other states are using every means possible to reduce the influence of that control and threat even though the US was instrumental in the development of the internet. For the global internet to be fully operational, it requires 13 root serves. 10 of the 13 are based in the US and the other 3 are based in Japan, Sweden and the Netherlands. ICANN, the body that authorises domain names and designations is based in the U.S. With these facts in mind, the U.S. has the most potential to turn cyber space into a cyber threat. At least that is the argument posed by China and they insist on being able to protect their national interests. With both sides staking a national interest priority, it is not surprising that cyber warfare could be the next arena between the U.S. and China (Lieberthal & Singer, 2012). Global Cyber warfare: Russia vs the rest of the world The Russians view cyber and cyberspace in completely contradictory terms to the U.S. and the West in general. First and foremost, the Russians do not generally refer to the term cyber as a distinct concept in the way political theorists in the West do. Russia, and to some extent China, have a wider understanding of information and its control regardless of the medium chosen. So, given its long history with controlling information about and through the state during the era of the Soviet Union, electronic information is just one conduit or category of information that can be utilized, manipulated and harnessed for the greater good of the state. That is to say that the notion of cyber is just another mechanism by which information is relayed and does not take priority over other mechanisms in importance just in practical relevance. In Russian military doctrine, information and disinformation go hand in hand and are tools used by the state apparatus to achieve a desired objective for its citizens or against its adversaries. It is utilized with judicious foresight towards a purpose in addition to other traditional methods and processes. In practical terms, if information (or disinformation) helps another weapon to tool, then Russian military theorists see electronic information merely as an enabler or facilitator. Therefore information is relevant to already established practices of the state such as disinformation operations, electronic warfare, Psychology Operations (also known as PsyOps), political subversion and subterfuge, economic warfare etc. According to (Carr, 2011), â€Å"this is stated clearly in the Military Doctrine of the Russian Federation (2010) †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. features of modern military conflicts is the prior implementation of measures of information warfare in order to achieve political objectives without the utilization of military force and, subsequently, in the interest of shaping a favourable response from the world community to the utilization of military force.†Carr, 2011 Cyber warfare, according to Russian theorists, is just information warfare by another means but more efficient than other types of information warfare. Cyber warfare is a legitimate tool of the state, so the argument goes, in peacetime and in conflict. It does not hold a special prominence like it does in the U.S. Cyber warfare is regulated to accompanying other tools of the state but given its nature, it has no set rules, no boundaries, no prescribed limits and no real restrictions or applications. Such a view is diametrically opposite to that of the concept of cyberspace held in the West. In support of this theory, the Russian state apparatus is structured quite differently from the U.S. Cyberspace and cyber warfare started under the remit of the Federal Security Service (Federal’naya Sluzhba Bezopastnosti: FSB) which was tasked with initiating information and disinformation wars using whatever means necessary including cyber warfare. The FSB also maintains and controls SORM, the State’s internal cyber surveillance system. In addition to the FSB, The Federal Service for Supervision in the Sphere of Telecommunications, Information Technologies and Mass Communications (Roskomnadzor), is also tasked with controlling the civilian media, telecommunications, the internet, the radio and any electronic media. Russia’s strategy of seeing cyber warfare as a continuation of normal political and military overtures was witnessed in the war with Georgia in 2008  (Robinson, et al., 2015). To date, Russia is still the only country to use all three of military, economic and cyber warfare on an adversary in the international arena. Russia had a two-pronged attack when it used military weapons and cyber warfare to defeat Georgia. Similarly, in its conflict with Ukraine in 2014, its conventional use of military weapons and cyber warfare resulted in Ukrainian government websites being shut down, massive ‘denial of service’ attacks being reported and energy installations being hacked into. This is the first of many of these sorts of ‘total warfare’ that will continue in the new future. One only has to read newspaper reports of cyber attacks occurring on a daily basis. But does this constitute a new arena of conflict? I think given what is already going on in conflicts around the world, the question has already been answered. Whether by design or accident, states are using cyber warfare as a tool against their adversary  (Lieberthal & Singer, 2012). World’s first Cyber War No other body of research could be more persuasive that presenting details of the world’s first cyber war to support the argument that cyber warfare is now a new arena of conflict. The first known incident of an entire country being subjected to an all out cyber war was Estonia. To understand the gravity of this event is to look at the history of Estonia.   Estonia was controlled by the Soviet Union for nearly 50 years and obtained its independence in 1991. Then it was a desolate country which has been starved of infrastructure and economic development. With a population of just under 2 million, it has carved a future for itself as one of the most wired and technological advanced countries in the world. It is truly a model of a smart country with widespread ecommerce and e-government services almost unparalleled anywhere in the world. As a state once controlled by the Soviets until 1991, the country is punctuated with Soviet history and struggle. The capital city, Tallinn, had monuments erected to the Soviet soldiers who fought and died in the struggle to keep Germany out of Russia. Estonia, as it is their right, decided to move the monument to a cemetery which met angry objections from Russian leaders and the large Russian community that grew out of a 50 year occupation. Russia saw Estonia as a symbol of struggle and the Estonians saw Russia as a symbol of oppression. After altercations in the city centre following the removal of the monument, Estonia found that its entire electronic infrastructure was disrupted. The state administration was paralysed, banks and companies had to freeze their operations, the internet was practically down and nothing was working. Culpability was had to prove but it was the first recorded total cyber war against a state. Again, there is no proof that the perpetrators were state spon sored or indeed it was a malicious attack but the timing and the magnitude points to more than a criminal cohort (there was no financial advantage gained in the event) and to a state sponsored cyber attack. More importantly, Estonians pointed the finger at Russia and being members of NATO, they retained the prerogative to invoke Article 5 of NATO: an attack against one is an attack against all. Postscript If there was any uncertainty about cyber warfare becoming the new arena of conflict then the headlines below might seem ominous as they are similar to the headlines that preceded the First World War and the Second World War. And these were in just over 3 days. â€Å"Malta accuses Russia of cyber-attacks in run-up to election The embattled Maltese government has claimed that it has come under attack from a Russian-backed campaign to undermine it, amid worsening relations with the Kremlin. Malta assumed the presidency of Europe’s Council of Ministers in January, an important position under which it chairs high-level meetings in Brussels and sets Europe’s political agenda. Since then, the Maltese government’s IT systems have seen a rise in attacks, according to a source working within its information technology agency, a government body. He claimed the attacks, which have increased ahead of next month’s general election, are designed to damage the government. â€Å"In the last two quarters of last year and the first part of this year, attacks on our servers have increased,† the source said.†Ã‚  (Doward, 2017) â€Å"Trump executive order aims to protect US from ‘catastrophic’ cyber attack US President Donald Trump this month signed an executive order that aims to increase protection for US essential services in case of a cyber attack that results in catastrophic regional or national effects on public health or safety, economic security, or national security†. (Kuchler, 2017) Nth Korea launches cyber attacks on US North Koreas main spy agency has a special cell called Unit 180 that is likely to have launched some of its most daring and successful cyber attacks, according to defectors, officials and internet security experts. North Korea has been blamed in recent years for a series of online attacks, mostly on financial networks, in the United States, South Korea and over a dozen other countries. Cyber security researchers have also said they have found technical evidence that could link North Korea with the global WannaCry ransomware cyber attack that infected more than 300,000 computers in 150 countries this month.   Pyongyang has called the allegation ridiculous. (Reuters, 2017) The research question of whether cyber warfare is a new arena of conflict is probably not in any doubt. The argument reverts back to the beginning of this research when examined the realist approach to international relations. Even if one were to look at the vast number of institutions in the international system and make a please for calmer heads prevailing, the realpolitik of current geopolitics shows that cyber attacks can, and will most likely, be used as a pretext and as a tool of war. It is no longer a question of if but when. Bibliography Andersen, P. H. & Kragh, H., 2011. Beyond the inductive myth: New approaches to the role of existing theory in case research. . In: R. Marschan-Piekkari & C. Welch, eds. Rethinking the case study in international business and management research. s.l.:Edward Elgar Publishing Ltd, pp. 146-167. Andress, J. & Winterfeld, S., 2011. Cyber Warfare Techniques, tactics and Tools for Security Practitioners. s.l.:Elsevier Science. Andrews, L., Higgins, A., Andrews, M. & Lalor, J., 2012. Classic Grounded Theory to Analyze Data: Reality and Reffecions. Grounded Theory Review: An International Journal, June.11(1). Barkawi, T., 2011. From War to Security: Security Studies, the Wider Agenda and the Fate of the Study of War. Millenium: Journal of International Studies, Volume 39(Issue 3), pp. 701-716. Bernard, H. R., 2011. Research methods in anthropology: Qualitative and quantitative approaches.. s.l.:Rowman Altamira.. Carr, J., 2011. 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Colarik & L. Janczewski, eds. Cyber Warfare and Cyber Terrorism. New York: Infformation Science Reference. DeWeese, S., 2009. Capability of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) to conduct cyber warfare and computer network exploitation. s.l.:Diane Publishing. Doward, J., 2017. Malta accuses Russia of cyber-attacks in run-up to election. [Online] Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/may/27/russia-behind-cyber-attacks-says-malta-jseph-muscat [Accessed 29 May 2017]. Dragan, M., Danko, M. & Mirjana, D., 2012. Defining Cyber Warfare. VojnotehniÄ ki Glasnik, Volume 60(Issue 2), pp. 84-117. Droege., C., 2012. Get off my cloud: cyber warfare, international humanitarian law, and the protection of civilians. International Review of the Red Cross,, Volume 94(Issue 886), pp. 533-578. Elliot, D. C., 2015. SECONDARY DATA ANALYSIS. In: F. Stage & K. Manning, eds. Research in the College Context: Approaches and Methods. s.l.:s.n. Elman, C., Gerring, J. & Mahoney, J., 2016. 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Forum: Qualitative Social Research, , 6(1). Vasilachis De Gialdino, I., 2009. Ontological and Epistemological Foundations of Qualitative Research. Forum: Qualitative Social Research, 10(2), pp. 1438-5627.. Wang, H. & Wang, S., 2004. Cyber warfare: steganography vs. steganalysis. Communications of the ACM, Volume 47(Issue 10), pp. 76-82. Wolcott, H. T., 2009. Writing up qualitative research. Thousand Oaks, California: Sage. [1] These are computers that have been hijacked and remotely taken over by a person other than the owner. [2] Primary data is that which is from a study where the researcher personally collects the information but secondary data is data that has already been collected (Andrews, et al., 2012). [3] From December 18 to 22, 1978, the Third Plenary Session of the 11th Central Committee of Communist Party of China was held in Beijing. The party decided that China should start shift its economic focus from class struggle-oriented to economic construction-oriented, from semi-rigid/rigid to comprehensive reform, and, from semi-closed/closed to opening up.Invalid source specified.

Introduction To Microbial Genetics

Introduction To Microbial Genetics In this experiment, handling bacteria was learned and phenotypes of bacteria in microbial genetics are investigated. For the phenotypes, E. coli and its mutants are used. The second part was done to observe plate assays to see whether or not the ÃŽ ²-galactosidase was produced or not. The last part was to assay plaque forming units in E. coli medium infected with a sample of B. subtilus phage SPO1. Auxotrophic mutants require specific nutrient or compound to grow and express its phenotypes (Madoka). Bacterial growth involves lac operon. Therefore, it is crucial to understand the functionality of lac operon. There are three genes of lac operon which needs for lactose metabolism: lac Z, lac Y, and lac A. lac Z encodes ÃŽ ²-galactosidase enzyme, lac Y encodes ÃŽ ²-galactosidase permease and lac A encodes lactose transacetylase. (2)(1) This experiment introduces a few ways to test lac phenotypes. One way is to use minimal lactose medium. In this medium, Lac- will not grow whereas Lac+ will grow. Second way is to use MacConkey medium. MacConkey medium is a pH sensitive medium which would show red in the acidic medium. In this medium, both Lac+ and Lac- will grow on the plate but Lac+ would be the only one that would turn red. The reason is because the fermentation of lactose by Lac+ produces acidic metabolite that lowers pH of the media. Third way is to use X-gal plate where the inducer is also introduced along with bacteria. X-gal cleaves the ÃŽ ²-galactosidase enzyme then it is shown as blue. (1)(2) There are four ways to test lac phenotype we perform in this experiment. One is to use minimal lactose medium, and Lac- will not grow on the plate while Lac+ will. Second is to use MacConkey medium. Both Lac+ and Lac- can grow on the plate but only Lac+ will be pink on the plate because the fermentation of lactose by Lac+ produces acidic metabolites which lower the pH of the media and the pH indicator turns the plate pink. Third is to use X-gal plate which has IPTG as an inducer in the plate. Both Lac+ and Lac- can grow on the plate but only Lac+ will be blue. The last method is to use ONPG which turns yellow with ÃŽ ²-galactosidase, and units of enzyme activities are calculated. (3)(1) Material and Methods: All procedures are performed according to the BIOL 368 lab manual (Concordia Biology Department 2013) except for the following modifications: After adding ONPG, forgot to verify the colors. Results Part A. Growth of E.coli Cultures of E. coli were grown in flask containing liquid medium and containing solid medium with agar. E. coli in the plate that contains liquid medium was yellowish. Those were circular in shape and flat. The surface was smooth and opaque. When the bacteria was introduced to liquid medium, bacterial lawn was observed. These were small and rough. Some were not opaque, more like flat. Part B. Phenotypes of WT and mutant strains I. Auxotrophic mutants To examine auxotrophic mutants, JF1754 was used. This strain requires methionine, histidine and leucine. Therefore, we predicted that it will not grow on the media where all three amino acids are not contained. As predicted, JF1754 only grew on the medium with all three M, H and L amino acids. Grown JF175 was seen as white. This is because auxotrophic mutant requires all of the required nutrients to carry out the biosynthetic pathway. On the other hand, CAG12033 requires only a minimal media to grow which means in the minimal media, it is able to carry out the biosynthetic pathway. II. Antibiotic resistance In this part, strain EC5827 was used. Along with CAG12033, it was introduced to LB medium and LB medium containing streptomycin. As a result, EC5827 grew in both of the plates whereas CAG12033 did not grew in the plate with streptomycin. This is due to the fact that the strain EC5827 is resistant to streptomycin whereas CAG12033 is not. CAG12033 does not have the resistance, and therefore, it eventually did not grow on plate with streptomycin. III. The many colours of lac In min+ lactose: Strain NK6042 growth was not observed. This is because the lac operon was deleted from the chromosome of strain NK6042 and therefore, it cannot metabolize the sugar which prevents it to grow. On the other hand the wild type grew eventually. MacConkey Lactose: Strain NK6042 and wild type grew on the plate because this medium contains complex carbon source. The wild type is able to metabolize lactose and peptone and NK6042 can metabolize peptone only. However, they differed in color. NK6042 was white and the wild type was pink. This is because MacConkey medium contains pH indicator that turns pink under acidic condition. In addition, Lac+ acidifies the medium by fermenting lactose and by excreting the mixture of organic acids whereas Lac- does not. The result makes sense because wild type contains lac operon to produce Lac+ cells and NK6042 does not have lac operon. X-gal plates: Strain NK6042 does not appear as blue, it is just transparent whereas the wild type is totally blue. This is due to what X-gal does. X-gal cleaves the ÃŽ ²-galactosidase enzyme. Then, it turns blue. Therefore, it indicates whether or not the ÃŽ ²-galactosidase enzyme is produced. NK6042 is not able to produce ÃŽ ²-galactosidase since it has its lac operon removed. However, the wild type is still able to produce ÃŽ ²-galactosidase in the minimal medium, and as a result, its color turns into blue. Part C. ÃŽ ²-galactosidase assay The objective of the lab was to practice handling bacteria and learn methods that investigate phenotypes of bacteria. Table 3 shows the anticipated activity and respective volume of culture and z-buffer. There are three strains involved, CAG12033, MH321 and ML 308. Each of the strains are examined with and without IPTG. IPTG is an inducer where it binds the repressor that prevents the transcription. Then, repressor is no more able to repress. Therefore, inducer stimulates the transcription, and allows the production of -galactosidase. Low activity is expected without IPTG and high activity is expected with IPTG. In addition, cAMP level is expected to be low in presence of glucose so the CAP protein would bind to the promoter minimally. ONPG is used for quantitative -galactosidase activity in the sense that it breaks it into o-nitrophenol and galactose. When it turns yellow, it comes from o-nitrophenol. Looking at table 2, MH321 always has no activity because, lac Z gene is mutated, s o it cannot produce ÃŽ ²-galactosidase no matter what medium. IPTG only binds repressor and prevents it from repressing, so the inducer has no effect. On the other hand, ML 308 has a mutation in repressor. Most probably, it is ID and it works constitutively. Also, IPTG will not be able to bind this repressor, but this repressor does not prevent the transcription. Therefore, high activity predicted in any cases. Table 5 shows that the prediction is eventually correct. We have highest value for the low activity with CAG12033 without IPTG: 20.38 min-1 ml-1 Au-1. This is considered as low activity compared to high activity values we have and any other low activity predicted values have lower values than this. However, we earned low activity for MH321 where we predicted none. This is due to experimental error and this value is low enough to be considered as none. Therefore, our prediction for the low activity was precise. For the high activity, the highest value was found with the CAG12033 strain: 1506.4 min-1 ml-1 Au-1. With ML308, we have 570.4 and 767.4 min-1 ml-1 Au-1. These values are much bigger than the ones we have as low activities. They are enough high to be considered as high activity. For MH321, we got low activity because of the following reasons: mutation and contamination. One of the reasons that the mutant strains still have detectable activity is that the silent mutation might be occurred. That is, the mutation of a base does not change the amino acid sequence. Also, MH321 is the strain that has a mutation in lac Z and there may be some that still has lac Z activity. The other reason is the contamination, which is the most common source of error. The container might not have been washed enough, or microorganisms in the air may penetrated in the solution containing MH321. Speaking of the expected range, we expected the activity range from 1000 to 3000. However, our values are smaller: ML308 had 570.4 and 767.4 min-1 ml-1 Au-1.This is due to the fact that we did not have enough time for it to turn yellow, so, the values of the absorbance or optical density was lower than it is supposed to be. For part D, we have various mediums and various strains are used to predict which unknown is which strain. To figure out which is which, we made a table predicting in which medium the strain will grow or not. Looking at unknown 2, it only grows on Min M. We have the same with MH142 where it only grows with methionine plate. Also, both gives in MacConkey, white. Therefore, unknown 2 is supposed to be MH142. Because MH142 requires methionine to grow as an auxotrophic strain, it only grows in Min M. For unknown 3, the growth pattern matches MH807 and therefore, it should be MH807. With MacConkey plates, MH142 are lac- due to the white color presence of the plates. With the same principle, we figured that the unknown 5 is CAG8209 and 6 is CAG 18475. CAG8209 is tetracycline resistant and requires leucine and CAG 18475 has tetracycline resistance and requires methionine to grow. However, unknown 4 and 1 cannot be determined. They both have same growth pattern and also, both gives red color in MacConkey plate. They should be CAG12204 or D10. We need further test to identify which unknown is which strain. CAG12204 has kanamycin resistance whereas D10 does not. Thus, we can introduce this unknown to kanamycin+ minimal medium. If it grows, it is CAG12204 and if not, it should be D10. Finally, the result of unknown 7 strain matches none of the theoretically predicted result. It is due to the experimental error. We may have introduced some other unknown or solution in the medium that leaded to this error. Fortunately, it is the last unknown, and the last strain left is BW6165. So, it should be BW6165. BW6165 is only expected to grown in tetracycline and min R since it has tetracycline resistance and requires arginine to grow. However, it did not grow in our plate, therefore, if may have put something other than BW6165 by mistake such as CAG8209. In part E, SPO1 phage was introduced to E. coli and different concentration of B. subtilis cells. When B. subtilis was 10-folded and 100-folded, bacterial lawn was observed, so there were a lot of small and adjacent colonies. When it was diluted to 10-3 and 10-4, isolated colonies were found, 174 and 16 colonies respectively. We had 1.74*106 pfu titer. The section average was 1.75*106 and therefore, our value is very close to the section average. They are almost identical, and we can say that we successfully diluted and obtained proper colonies. In addition, when there was no phage and when 10-folded E. coli was plated in each plate, there was not a single colony found. This is because E. coli does not have the specific receptors for infection to occur by SPO1 whereas B. Subtilis does.