Earl’s Top 5 Filipino Traits Essay

1. Adept†¦ Filipinos are very flexible at surging any difficulty and hardship 2. Craftsmanship†¦ Filipinos are very crafty 3. Obsessive†¦ Filipinos wish to improve their lives and those around them and are willing to go through great hardships and efforts, but don’t always know when to stop or how to balance it all. 4. Mimicry†¦ Filipinos tend to copy or gain that which others have. In this respect, that’s why you see groups of Filipino’s in foreign countries that are so similar (like in LA every Filipino seems to have a piano at home that no one buys, or in Japan every Filipino on a military base seems to own rose wood. But if they move to a new group, then they easily wish to change and copy the new styles. Kind of like following a fad. 5. Short memories†¦ No I don’t mean their dumb or something, I mean they forget the past or let go of the past easier. They don’t hold grudges quite so bad. Filipino’s are not more family oriented than in other cultures, but what makes them Filipino’s is they think they are. No offense. But many people have strong relations with their families. I lived in a home for six months and had to listen to my Brother in law tell me how family oriented they are as he yells at his father, and puts down his dead mother. I watched as just about every male member of the family had girlfriends, and the wives knew and ran those girls out of town when they got pregnant. I watched families that lived across the street visit each other once a year. I had a Filipino tell me that my daughter (half Filipino isn’t Filipino enough to live in his house with my 2nd wife for a short time). So in any respect, I’m not say they are less family oriented, but that we all have our issues with getting along, and Filipinos are no more family oriented than other cultures. This is according to the yahoo answers dot com. Well I agree with these because most of the Filipinos come from poor families and they can survive any trials becsuse they are already used to it. They are already down, so they on;y way to go is up. In the Philippines the most common thing that is talked about is the government. This is because this is the largest contributor of the poverty in the Philippines.

The Responsibility Project

The Responsibility Project The Responsibility Project 9/17/2012 ETH/316 The Responsibility Project The issues in this film are important because it shows how a typical shift may seem like everything goes wrong, and nothing could possibly make things worse. There are days when the typical worker wishes they did not get out of bed. Occurrences happen and people want to run off the job and give up, but people should not give up. Accidents happen, and when they do, people should evaluate what is happening at work. There are ways and options to fix broken lights, and equipment utilized on the job.At times it looks like there is no solution, but there are always options one may not view as available to them. The best option for an employee to choose is to not panic. The job looks dark at times, but there is a light at the end of the tunnel, or in this case, a light in the top of the lighthouse. The film teaches how equipment failures occur, but if people ban together and help each other th e job will go smoothly and the organization of the company improves. The roles of external social pressures have a high amount of influence in organizational ethics.The news media, social networks, and word of mouth of customers affect the organizations publicity and reputation immensely. The employees of a company should always remember to help each other when they are able, and an extra hand makes light work. Social pressures influence organizations and companies to maintain quality assurance within the organization. The company must maintain a clean, safe, and productive environment at all times. A well-organized company will work with ease, and if the equipment is well maintained the company is productive and more efficient.If the company is dangerous for the employees and the customers, the publicity is hazardous for the economic status of the company. These issues are relevant to the organization because if the news media knows a certain organization is hazardous to the health of the employees and the customers, the business will fall into economic strife, and this would lead to the downfall of the local economy as well. It is important for the maintenance and upkeep of the equipment to remain healthy and well adjusted. If proper maintenance and equipment checks are not regularly scheduled, the equipment may malfunction.Clean work areas and production floors are necessary to keep the company running smoothly. A clean and well maintained work place will minimize errors and accidents. When all the employees maintain their work area and continue to perform their tasks of production, the organization will have a proper balance and flow of output. The relationship between legal and ethical issues in this film about a lighthouse is brilliant. The video tells a story in three minutes that had my imagination flowing with years of friendship and responsibility between the men of the town, and the workers of the lighthouse.The ship is in danger of crashing on the rocks off the shore, and the men in the town are off work, and in the local pub. They are jovial and happy at their gathering, while the man in the lighthouse is at his post. He sits there documenting his ledgers, and when the light makes a noise and goes out, he stumbles in the darkness to investigate his equipment. He is a bit clumsy at the light when he is trying to repair the damage, and he breaks it worse than it was. He unethically had a mess of tools in the work area he tripped over, but that was not illegal.Sadly the boat continues towards the lighthouse in the dark. The man in the lighthouse soon hears a noise. He opens the door and sees all the men in town climbing up the hill to offer him a light. They all stand around the top of the light tower with their lanterns just in time for the boat to turn and safely go around the peninsula. The men in town were not legally responsible to save the ship, or help with the lighthouse, but ethically the town all pulled together to he lp each other. Reference http://www. youtube. com/watch? feature=player_embedded&v=FIG0L5OhhdE

International financial management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words - 4

International financial management - Essay Example This is supposed to help their managers to know exactly what to do as and when they are in a situation where they have to make a critical decision about a big risk such as the one that Herr Ruhnau took. If such policies existed at Lufthansa, it would be easy to know whether the actions of Herr Ruhnau were careless and if he ignored standards in and to follow his gut feeling to make such a big decision (what kind of policies, list some of it). For instance, like having a limit on how must risk in terms of the amount of money involved a manager can take without involving the board of management. I have also talked about this in the conclusion) Herr Ruhnau’s decision can be viewed in two main perspectives. First it can be viewed from the perspective of the fact that as a manager, he had to take the action he thought was beneficial for the firm. Punishing him for making such a decision would be considered to be unfair in that when he took the role of the CEO of the firm, he took the responsibility to be making such decisions. As Ayse (212) says, it is not good for executive managers to be limited with regard to how they make their decisions. As a result, in determining whether Ruhnau’s actions were careless or necessary in that situation, it is necessary to tread carefully on the line and make sure that all factors are considered. Ruhnau decision was to leave fifty percent of the risk that the firm was taking with regard to buying the Boeing planes in advance and offering o pay later when the airplanes were delivered. This left the firm exposed to a risk of over 2.5 million dollars not covered. He also refused to consider other alternatives to cover the risk, such as forward contracts in order to protect Lufthansa from the risk of shifting exchange rates. He had analyzed that the dollar could only rise for a short time and so it would be expected that it could only go down from there. In

Civil Liberties, Habeas Corpus, and the War on Terror Research Paper

Civil Liberties, Habeas Corpus, and the War on Terror - Research Paper Example The provision is based on Former U.S. President Abraham Lincoln’s jailing suspected Confederate sympathizers without relief during the U.S. Civil War, suspending the Writ of Habeas Corpus. President Lincoln issued the Habeas Corpus suspension to keep the spies, enemies, aiders, abettors, and deserters during the Civil War (Lincoln, 1989, p. 511). In the case of Rasul v. Bush, 542 U.S. 466 (2005), the Supreme Court ruled that foreign nationals being held as enemy combatants in the war on terror had the right to challenge their incarceration at Guantanamo Bay. Similarly, the Supreme Court decided in the Boumediene v. Bush (2008) case that the Detainee Treatment Act of 2005 did not implement any alternative to the habeas corpus provision of the U.S. Constitution (Vile, 2010, p. 48). Further, U.S. Criminal law’s cause and prejudice rule reiterates the doctrine that the prisoners can petition, through a representative or by himself, the courts for a federal writ of habeas co rpus on the ground that the prisoners’ constitutional rights were overlooked or abused, prejudicing the prisoner(Garner, 2009, p. 279). Habeas corpus is related to the protection of the other civil liberties. Black’s law dictionary defines civil liberty as â€Å"Freedom from undue government interference or restraint.† The civil liberties include freedom of speech, freedom of the press, freedom of religion, freedom of association, and other liberties mentioned in the U.S. Constitutions’ Bill of Rights section. Further, the prior U.S. civil liberties were provided by the 1648 Lawes and Libertyes of Massachusetts. Likewise, the civil liberties were enshrined in the 1791 Bill of Rights provisions. In addition, the civil liberties were included in England’s 1216 Magna Carta Law. The Civil liberties were also emphasized in England’s 1628 the Petition of Rights and the 1689 Bill of Rights Law. Just like the civil liberties, the affected persons an d groups are granted the right to ask the courts to produce the body of the detained prisoners, including those incarcerated in Guantanamo Bay (Garner 2009, p.308). Further, Black’s law dictionary states that the U.S. Bill of Rights is based Habeas Corpus Act [31 Car. 2, 1679] (Garner 2009, 217). Question 2.During the 18th Century, England assigned governors to oversee the statehood of each United States’ historic colonies. England’s policy of promoting the colonies into states was incorporated in the Article 5 of the 1787 Ordinance. The State Constitution’s Article 2’s civil liberties sections included a habeas corpus provision protecting the citizens from government abuses (Keene, 2004, p.74). Further, the United States President authorized the suspension of the Write of Habeas Corpus in 1863, 1866, and 1857. The United States Congress approved the United States president’s suspension during the same time periods. However, there was no gen eral act that would suspend the Writ indicated in the Revised Statutes. During the 17th Century, Britain allowed its English subjects the right to Habeas Corpus. Only England’s Court of the King’s Bench had the power to execute a Writ of Habeas Corpus, not the court judge. The courts implemented the Habeas Corpus Act of Charles II and revised the defects found in England’s 1869 Bill of Rights (Stimson, 2004, p.166). In terms of history, the September 11, 2001 twin towers attack can be classified as an

Anything relate to economic Research Proposal Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Anything relate to economic - Research Proposal Example Therefore, it has become very important for researchers and policy makers to evaluate whether economies relying on currency devaluation to improve their output, have the potential to achieve long term benefits or they are compromising on their long term benefits to achieve short term gains. A huge literature work has been done to study the impact of currency devaluation and depreciation on output growth of economies. Various economic models such as Keynesian model argue that devaluation of currency has an expansionary impact on domestic output (Lai & Chang, 1989). This traditional view has been disproved by various researchers. Research study of Abdel-Haleim (2008) in Egyptian showed that devaluation has an initial contractionary effect on output however; this effect lasts for four years after which expected positive impact of devaluation starts to become significant. The impact of currency devaluation may also vary from economy to economy as found by the research of Kalyoncu and his co-researchers. Kalyoncu, Artan, Tezekici, & Ozturk (2008) found that currency devluation has a signitficant impact on output in nine out of 23 countries and out of nine, in six countries, depreciation reduces the output growth whereas, in three countries it improves the output growth. Upa dhyaya in 1988 found that currency devaluation has a neutral effect on output level in the long run and Upadhyaya and Upadhyay in 1999 found that currency devaluation does not have any impact on output in six Asian countries (Upadhyaya, Rainish, & Phelan, 2009). Therefore, this research study has been proposed to reach a conclusion based on empirical study. Where, Y is the dependent variable and in this research study, dependent variable is â€Å"real GDP† and x is independent variable, which is real exchange rate. The alphabet ‘a’ represents intercept and ‘b’ represents the slope. The secondary data of real exchange rate and real GDP of ten countries will be collected from electronic

Health final project Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Health final project - Research Paper Example The hazards of obesity can lead to several problems that affect your health, including diabetes heart disease, sleep apnea, cancer, high blood pressure and gerd. The danger with these diseases is dependent on how long you have been obese, what other health conditions you may have as well as connections with your overall health. If you want to ensure that you remain healthy, then fighting obesity can help you to overcome further health complications. The epidemic is one which is now by different types of obesity. The diagnosis is based on how much body fat an individual carries, compared to the percentage of muscle in the body. If this goes over recommended levels by a certain amount, then you also fall into a specific type of obesity. You can measure your obesity level through the following chart. If you are overweight or obese, you can easily find a cure to prevent future problems and diseases. By beginning to fight obesity, you will be able to enjoy life, prevent health problems and can take yourself out of the statistics of obesity. While the percentages are high for those that are fighting obesity, the epidemic can be overcome. The first step is to understand obesity and the several factors which cause the problem by following the following checklist: If you want to know more about how to overcome obesity, then you want to start by not being alone. The rise in the epidemic has led to several support centers that are willing to help you understand more about obesity as well as how to overcome this problem. You can begin by visiting the OAC, or the Obesity Action Coalition. This website can help you to understand the complexities of obesity, as well as how to overcome the problem. By working with others who understand obesity, you can easily begin to overcome obesity while moving into a healthy lifestyle. To start overcoming obesity, you can look at

Case study Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4250 words

Case study - Essay Example a. Identify one short term business objective and one long term business objective from a case study. You are required to provide two case examples for a short term business objective and two case examples for a long term business objective. a. List and discuss two advantages and two disadvantages of packaged (a.k.a Off-the-shelf) software. You are required to use two case studies to derive the examples for the advantages and the disadvantages. Rolls-Royce’ ERP R/3 systems is packaged system. For the implementing this system we have to re-engineer the overall business processes. Main advantages of the ERP SAP R/3 as packaged software system for the Rolls-Royce are its reduced cost, high system quality and rapid implementation. Geneva has implemented SAP R/3 system that offers enhanced services and business handling. The main advantage/ benefit of this packaged software implementation is the utilization of the currently operation resources. These can be operating system, communications middleware, and technical infrastructure needed by the entire application modules. 2. IT Portfolio – â€Å"ES rarely meet the full business requirements in an organization. In general 80% of the requirements are met with an ES, while the rest (20%) of the requirements needs to be fulfilled with alternative methods†. a. Discuss the aforementioned statement in light of two case studies. You need to discuss why ES don’t provide all organizational requirements. You should also comment and provide specific examples from two case studies on the three things that organizations employ to increase the ‘fit’ between the system functionality and business requirements. The system implemented by the Geneva business has some of the areas those are not properly addressed. These areas can be intelligent business decision making. This aspect of this business remains unaddressed and business need to implement a decision making system. a.

Race and your Community Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Race and your Community - Research Paper Example My childhood memories of 'ghettos' like the one we passed through were also from car-windows, except in youth soccer games my brother and I played with mostly white kids on a large manicured field, while nearby, black kids our age played pickup games of American Football in the street.1 Sports are a divide. During a PTA meeting at my high school, one example of segregation was sporting events. The school Football team was all black, the Soccer team almost all white, and crowds in attendance reflected this. It was a tense moment; in a region with not-so-distant memories of the Civil Rights Movement, self-segregation is an uncomfortable topic. Gunnar Myrdal pointed out, "That 'all negroes are alike' and should be treated in the same way is still insisted upon by many whites, . None of the Jim Crow legislation distinguishes between classes of Negroes."2 But class always existed in the black community, and in Atlanta no one can pretend there are no distinctions. Tensions within the black community often overshadow white-black divides, although, drawn on a dark-light skin divide, they are colored by overarching realities of white supremacy. Atlanta was the one city in the Deep South to integrate peacefully, but integration triggered white flight. "Affluent whites moved to the northern suburbs to live at a distance from the city's blacks, whom segregation had concentrated in the near south side," which borders the edges of the Antebellum Black Belt, so named for the color of its soil and its people.3 Until the 1990s, the city's population declined while, amidst red-clay hills and pine forests that had been cracker country of moon shining and the Ku Klux Klan, Sun Belt suburbs and exurbs of gated communities and strip malls sprung up. These were the homes of the suburban 'angry white men' who propelled local congressman Newt Gingrich to power in 1994, believers in cheap real estate, low taxes and the need to avoid the black inner city of Atlanta during off-work hours. My Atlanta was far-removed, and hostile to, this suburban milieu. My neighborhood, Inman Park, was majority-white, but also proudly liberal and 'inner-city ,' a 1890s streetcar suburb abandoned by the rich and middle-classes for more suburban neighborhoods, a veritable slum before being discovered by 'urban pioneers' in the 1970s. It gentrified with the rise of the local shopping district of Little 5 Points as the bohemian enclave of the Southeast. My families house is a white-columned mansion reminiscent of Gone With the Wind, modeled after the nearby Candler Mansion of Coca-Cola founder Asa Candler, an estate built not by cotton, but by sugar-water. True to clich, my brother and I were raised by our black housekeeper, Cathy Davis, and spent time in her neighborhood, in the black suburbs of southwest DeKalb County. Driving past the high school, the kids shouting 'white boy,' I remember feeling hurt. But I hurt others: one time I, playing with Cathy's son Nolan, I used the word 'colored,' which I had heard in a TV docudrama about young Martin Luther King. Cathy scolded me, 'We all human beings. God doesn't change the color of our skin.' Coming of age in the South is learning the color line. Bordering my neighborhood is Little 5, interracial, counter-cultural haven of drug dealers, con men, queers, hippies, punks, Rastas, street-musicians, bums and starry-eyed suburban teens. The other sides of the tracks, literally, are the

Assess why government intervention to ensure equlity of opportunity Thesis

Assess why government intervention to ensure equlity of opportunity was historically necessary to correct tremendous injustices - Thesis Example The policy of slavery could only be cured by the policy of civil rights to rectify the injustice of what it is to live in a country without having the rights of citizenship. Where social structures fail, it is the responsibility of the government to lead the people out of the darkness of immoral and unethical behavior. According to Spalding (2007) â€Å"John Adams opposed slavery his entire life as a "foul contagion in the human character" and "an evil of colossal magnitude." James Madison called it "the most oppressive dominion ever exercised by man over man†. Many of those in the beginnings of the country who helped to shape its ideology did not agree with the idea of oppressing people. The idea of breaking from European structures of law that denied some while allowing corruption to flourish and enhance the lives of the elite was a defining element of creating the New World. The idea that slavery was a part of this New World was incongruous to the ideas upon which the nation was being built. This is not an opinion that is universal and there are those that believe that the practice of slavery in the United States was merely a continuation of economic policies that had existed since ancient times. There is some truth to this assertion, but the opinion asserted by D’Souza takes the argument too far. D’Souza (1995) suggests that the idea that grew within the United States was subversive and expresses an undeserved disgust with the concept of slavery suggests that slavery should still be an accepted idea. What should be recognized is that a heinous practice that had been a part of many cultures across the world was finally identified for its inhumanity as the ideologies of the United States began to influence it and other cultures to change the perception of slavery. Whether we turn to the declarations of the past, or to the professions of the present, the conduct of the nation seems equally hideous and revolting. America is false to the

Multinational running and risks management of Domino Print Plc 01272 Essay

Multinational running and risks management of Domino Print Plc 01272 - Essay Example Domino Printing owns seven distinct business units or subsidiaries which are, Graph-Tech, Citronix, Domino UK, PostJet Systems, Mectec Elektronik, Wiedenbach Apparatebau and Purex International (Marketline, 2014). The commercial printing industry has recorded a valuation of $383.2 billion, which is a 2.1% growth in the year 2011. The market has been forecasted to perform well in the coming five years (Marketline, 2014a). As of the fiscal year 2013, the company has earned revenue of $524.2 million, which is a 7.6% increase over the previous year. The operating profit of 2013 is $27.1 million which is a 66% decrease from 2012 (Morningstar, 2015). This paper is focused on the financial structure and activities of Domino Printing Sciences plc, along with the involved political and exchange rate risk in overseas transaction. The above table indicates that the revenue of Domino Printing has increased steadily over the past five years. This suggests that the company has successfully been able to make increased cash generation in the recent years. The gross profit has also increased over the years in a steady manner. The consistent increase of revenue and gross profit suggests that the company has been performing well over the years. However, according to the graph it can be stated that the company’s net income decreased severely in the year 2013 as it took a deep plunge from  £41 million in 2011 to  £6 million in 2012. It has managed to increase the net income in the next year to  £45 million. Thus it can be stated that Domino Printing Sciences has been successfully restores its loss making and rejuvenated its profitability. Domino Printing was established in 1978 and got listed in the LSE (London Stock Exchange) in 1985. Ever since the inception of the company it has expanded exponentially by making several corporate and financial activities. Domino printing sciences has bought 5,331,451 shares of Montaro,

Mintzberg and Management Essay Example for Free

Mintzberg and Management Essay Throughout the 20th century a strong focus was placed on the principles behind management with Henri Fayols 1916 publication Administration Industrielle et Gà ©nà ©rale being one of the first books aimed solely at deciphering and understanding the intricate concepts of management. In his book Fayol presents his classical model of management from the perspective on an executive. Fayol lists and discusses fourteen principles of management which, although non-exhaustive, provides a guide on the execution of what he proposed to be the five elemental processes of management. These five primary processes consisted of planning, organizing, commanding, coordinating and controlling which advocated Fayols support of a dynamic system of management. In response to changing contexts, other new theories have been placed forward by other distinguished academia such as Henry Mintzberg (1973), John Kotter (1982) and C.P. Hales (1986) which offer more concurrent perspectives on the concept of management. Born in 1841 Henri Fayol had, after a three decade career as a mining practitioner, committed himself to the promotion of his theories on administration in 1916 through the publication of his book Administration Industrielle et Gà ©nà ©rale up until his death in 1925. Contextually influenced by the bourgeois environment of a post revolutionized France, Fayol advocated the notion of a flexible system of management which could be applied to more than just one setting. In his book, Fayol devotes more time and focuses on the five processes of management in contrast to the fourteen management principles as claimed by (Fells, M.J., 2000, p. 358). The first element, planning, is defined â€Å"both to assess the future and make provision for it† (Fayol, 1949, p.43). He goes on to describe that this dynamic plan must take into account a list of factors such as resources, work-in-progress, and future trends. Organizing considers the functional components of organizations along with the personnel and discusses the ideal conditions required of them. Commanding considers the responsibility that falls on every manager. The goal of managers is to achieve maximum contribution from personnel towards the welfare of the company through a number of factors. An example of these factors would be elimination of the unproductive, having a thorough knowledge of personnel and their respective binding agreements and an aim to be a role model. The third element of  management is coordinating which is defined as the harmonisation of resources in their optimum proportions in order to achieve results (Fayol, 1949, p. 103). The indicators of a well coordinated organization include efficient departments which harmonize well with the rest, are well informed of their responsibilities and also work to constantly adjusted schedules based on circumstantial demands. The last element, control, focuses on the timely verification of plan implementations. This element is applicable to all the other processes and its sole purpose is to identify any complications, amend any issues and prevent future recurrences. Due to their flexibility in implementation, the correlation between the introduction of Fayols model and the sharp rise in US productivity levels as well as living standards supports his approach to management (Fells, M.J., 2000, p. 348). Fayols approach is supported by another academic source (Hales, 1989, p. 12) which claims that â€Å"Fayol grasped the essence of management† through his classical formulation of the management functions. In 1973, Henry Mintzberg provided a new conceptualization about the roles of managers through his book The Nature of Managerial Work. Through his composition Mintzberg proposed and argued that the previously accepted role of managers which adhered to a systematic approach of planning, organizing, coordinating, leading and controlling were in fact false as through his diary analysis, Mintzberg was able to demonstrate that â€Å"the manager is not a planner in a reflective sense, and no amount of admonition in the literature will make him so. His milieu is stimulus-response.† (Mintzberg, 1973, p. 182). By performing an unstructured observation and interview procedure over a two week period, Mintzberg concluded the activities of his study managers could be categorized into three sets of behaviors or roles. He conceptualized these clusters of roles as: interpersonal, informational and decisions (Pearson et al, 2003, p. 696). Mintzberg also recognizes that all managers at some time exercise each of these rules but also that different levels of managers will give different priorities to them (Mumford, 1988, p. 3). In terms of contemporary management, Fayol and Mintzberg have contributed greatly to the understanding regarding the concept of management. However  both authors are not exempt from criticisms regarding their approaches. Fayols approach is widely considered to be too theoretical whilst Mintzbergs approach has been criticized for not being theoretical enough. Despite their differences in approach, fundamentally the two theories not only share the same elements under the guise of differently labelled terms, they compliment each other in terms of validity due to the strong correlation between results regarding the behaviour of managerial positions. (Fells, M.J., 2000, p. 359) supports this judgement as the journalist goes on to state that not only are Fayols principles still relevant, they are interrelated at an elemental level with the model of Mintzberg. (Lamond, 2004, p. 350) reinforces this argument through study conducted on a large sample of male and female managers of different ages and at different managerial levels. Not only did the survey confirm that there were indeed a central set of manager functions, as placed forward by Fayol, there were also a generic set of managerial behaviours as proposed by Mintzberg. In concluding despite their contextual differences, Henri Fayols Administration Industrielle et Gà ©nà ©rale and Henry Mintzbergs The Nature of Managerial Work fundamentally share the same innate elements. This is supported by the results which derived from studies conducted by academic sources such as (Lamond, 2004) as well as the research by other academic sources (Fells, M.J. 2000), (Pearson et al, 2003), (Hales, 1989) and (Mumford, 1988). Subsequently both approaches are considered valid and have without a doubt contributed greatly to contemporary management theory. Bibliography Fells, M.J. 2000 â€Å"Fayol stands the test of time.† Journal of Management History, vol 6, no.8, 345-360 Lamond, D. 2004, â€Å"A matter of style: reconciling Henri and Henry.† Management Decision, vol. 42, no.2 p. 330-356 Pearson, C.A.L. And Chatterjee, S.R. 2003, â€Å"Managerial work roles in Asia. An empirical study of Mintzbergs role formulation in four Asian countries.† Journal of Management Development, vol. 22, no. 8 p. 694-707 Hales, C. 1989, â€Å"Management Processes, Management Divisions of Labour and Managerial Work: Towards a Synthesis.† International Journal of Sociology and Social Policy, vol. 9, no. 5/6, p. 9-38 Mumford, A. 1988, â€Å"What Managers Really Do† Management Decision, vol. 26, no. 5, p. 28-30

The Changing Notions Of Children

The Changing Notions Of Children What is a Child? Initially this may appear to be a simple question: we all have some experience of children and childhood, perhaps through family, friends or your own children, most people have close contact and bonds with children. There is also a wealth of people, in many different professions, who work with children of all ages in many types of settings. Also it is impossible to ignore the simple fact that every adult on this planet was, once, a child themselves. It is clear we all have some experience of children and childhood, and most people will have some very clear notions of what childhood is or what it should be. However once you begin to look a little deeper, it becomes far more complex than one might at first imagine: there are many different factors which effect childhood today. This paper will analyse this question further, looking at definitions of a child and how childhood has changed during the twentieth and twenty first century. Taking into account the effect of the media, consumerism, advertising, adults changing attitudes and child related policy, in order to evaluate how these factors have changed and shaped modern childhood More than sixty years ago, in 1948, the majority of the worlds countrys signed up to the United Nations Declaration of Humans Rights (Lee, 2001). This stated that all human beings were entitled to certain basic rights, which no state could remove from them. Furthermore a little over twenty years ago, in 1989, the United Nations passed a further set of rights specifically for children: the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of the Child (Lee, 2001). One might question the reasons behind this extra convention: the original declaration covered all human beings so why would children need their own special set of rights? (Lee, 2001). This gulf between children and adults within global guidelines reflects the trend of viewing adults and children as fundamentally different types of human (Lee, 2001 pg.5). Traditionally the vast majority of societies have considered adults to be complete, constant and self regulating where as the child is seen to be incomplete, changeable and requiring guidance (Lee, 2001). The sociologist Jens Qvortrup (1994) explained this fissure between human adults and human children eloquently by describing adults as human beings and children as human becomings (cited in Lee, 2001 pg. 5). Now this paper will look at different standpoints, which can be used to view the notion of what children and childhood are The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child 1989 defines a child in the following way: a human being below the age of eighteen years unless under the law applicable to the child, majority is attained earlier (UNCRC, Article 1, 1989). This definition of the child would fall under the category of a legal definition; another legal way to define a child would be by using the age of criminal responsibility. The age that a individual becomes criminally responsible varies greatly from country to country, in England and Wales the age was raised to ten years old in 1963, it had previously been eight (Children and Young Persons Act 1963, section16). However until the Crime and Disorder Act 1998 the law presumed that children under fourteen were doli incapax. Meaning the law regarded them as being incapable of distinguishing the difference between what is right and what is wrong, and therefore could not be convicted of a crime they had committed. Unless the criminal prosecution wer e able to definitively prove that the perpetrator was fully aware that their actions were wrong (Crime and Punishment Act 1998, section 34). The age of criminal responsibility imposed by England and Wales and the even lower age of eight in Scotland, are the lowest within the European Union. The UN Committee on the Rights of the Child has criticised the UK for the low ages imposed: stating article three of the UNCRC which requires that during criminal proceedings the childs best interests must be held in primary consideration (Broadbridge, 2009). Another perspective to look at when defining the child would be to study the concept from a sociological standpoint. What does the term child and childhood mean to society? What is their notion of a child? These are complex questions and the answers will inevitably vary depending on the country and culture one is studying. Michael Wyness (2006) used the playing-child construction to define childhood: this encompasses the notion that childhood equals a time of play, without responsibilities. By using this definition Wyness also offers a definition for adulthood: if childhood can be characterised through a lack of work therefore adulthood can be characterised as being a time for work and responsibility (Wyness, 2006 pg. 9). This would suggest that childhood is a socially constructed phenomena based on the ideas that people within a given society hold. This notion of childhood being a social construction is not a new idea: the French historian Philippe Arià ©s (1960) has also suggested that childhood is a fairly recent construction of society. Arià ©s claimed that until the fifteen century children in Western Europe were considered as miniature adults and therefore believed to have similar mental abilities and personal qualities as adults. Although due to their smaller physical presence they were viewed as physically inferior compared to a fully grown adult (Montgomery, Woodhead, 2002). Philippe Arià ©s work, Centuries of Childhood (first published 1960), was influential in attracting academic consideration towards the study of childhood; however his work has been subject to plentiful criticisms. Such as how he drew his conclusions about medieval society through the means of studying art from the period. Due to the subjective nature of art, studying a society in this way may give an inaccurate picture of how that society viewed a particular subject. A further criticism was the lack of explanation for the change in attitudes towards children (Hill, M, Tisdall, K, 1997). A society which views children as being a completely different type of human being compared to adults, will believe that the child has different needs to be fulfilled than the adults within their society. One example of this can be seen in prosperous areas of the industrialised world, where a wealth of products are available which are exclusively tailored for children. Items such as toys, clothes, cots, food stuffs and medicine are just a snippet of the vast array of child centred paraphernalia adults will encounter in various retail outlets (Montgomery, Woodhead, 2002). As well as these rather necessary commodities, there is also an overwhelming range of products designed for entertaining children. There are books, magazines and television channels; holidays and theme parks; educational software and computer games. These are just some of the things available which cater for children, turning childhood into a lucrative, commercialized business (Montgomery, Woodhead, 2002). The increasing trend in this type of consumerism aimed at children, has further led to a massive growth in advertising aimed at children. Companies now spend huge amounts of money per annum on advertising their brand to children, whereas comparatively twenty years ago the budget for this type of advertising would have been virtually nonexistent (Dunn, Layard, 2009). Research has shown that brand loyalty develops in children from a very early age: studies have shown that even children as young as two will treat a new toy differently depending on whether that child has been exposed to the toy previously through the means of advertising on television. Once they reach the age of three children tend to prefer leading branded products, which are subject to mass media marketing compared to a non branded product which tastes exactly the same (Dunn, Layard, 2009). The purpose of advertising is obviously to make the consumer desire a certain item or brand over any other similar items availab le. However advertising also has the knock on effect of making people, adults and children alike feel that they need more materialistic items than they would otherwise believe. This can leave parents feeling that they need to spend more and more money in order to make their children happy; in a survey conducted by the Childrens Society nine out of ten parents stated that advertising pressurised them into spending more than they could realistically afford (Dunn, Layard, 2009). Consumerism also has negative effects for the child; a major study was conducted in 2004 by Juliet Schor, into the effects of the media and consumerism on children. Her study has found that; if all other aspects of a childs life were equal, high exposure to media would led a child to be more materialistic, having problems relating the their parents and being at higher risk of mental health issues. These risks increase even more for children from disadvantaged backgrounds, who are living with little household i ncome to being with (Dunn, Layard, 2009). Childrens experience of childhood in the twenty first century will differ vastly from even their own parents experiences just one generation before them. This is partly due to the change in childrens leisure activities which in the last decade have shifted to included much less physically active pursuits (Dunn, Layard, 2009). Studies have shown that children are spending less time than ever before pursuing physical activities. Physically inactive pursuits such as: television, video gaming and the internet becoming ever more popular (Dunn, Layard, 2009 pg.54). This bloom in new technologies has brought a wealth of knowledge and entertainment to our finger tips. However it has also been linked with increases in three dangers: encouraging the discourse that wealth and beauty equals happiness; encouraging aggressive models of relationships and that it encourages less physical activity and unhealthy lifestyles (Dunn, Layard, 2009). The change in adults attitudes towards what pursuits can be considered safe for children is one reason for this decline in the amounts of physical, outdoor activity undertaken by modern children. Through the media, vast amounts of information regarding child murder cases are made available and easily accessible to the general public, resulting in these cases being more prominent in peoples thoughts (Dunn, Layard, 2009). This leads people to believe that the number of children being murdered, especially being murdered by strangers has been steadily increasing over time; however this isnt the case. Home office statistics show that the risk of children being murdered by a stranger are very minimal, averaging approximately eleven per year shows that for the vast majority of adults their fears for childrens safety are unfounded (Dunn, Layard, 2009). In fact a child is at much greater risk within their own home. The NSPCC believe that for each generation more than one thousand children w ill be killed before adulthood, most at the hands of a violent parent or carer (Cunningham, 2006 p.235). These high profile cases in the media have also led to childrens rights becoming more prominent within societies and indeed also the Governments thoughts. There has been a deluge of child related policy passed through the UK government, reflecting how attitudes towards children have changed; children are being viewed as separate beings that have individual needs and are in need of protection. Just one of these policies is the Children Act 2004; this Act was developed and implemented following the findings of Lord Lamings 2003 inquiry into the tragic death of Victoria Climbià ©, who died in 2002 (Duffy, Pugh, 2010). In response to the Laming report the government published the Green Paper Every Child Matters (DfES, 2003); the prime minister at the time, Tony Blair, described it as the most significant development for children for more than thirty years (Duffy, Pugh, 2010 p.9). The overall outcomes that the Green Paper and the consequent Children Act of 2004 hoped to achieve was to improve the expectations of all children, narrowing the fissure between high and low achievers via the means of reconfiguring the services available for children and families (Duffy, Pugh, 2010). The Act also set out five outcomes which all children, right from birth until the age of eighteen, should be able to achieve. These five outcomes are: to be healthy, to be protected from all forms of harm, to enjoy and achieve in their lives, to be able to contribute positively within their society and finally the ability to achieve economic wellbeing (Anning, Ball, 2008). Whilst the intention of this Act appear to hold a childs well being as paramount in its agenda, some professionals have voiced concerns over potential negative side effects, it might present for the most vulnerable of children (Womack, 2006). Under the Act a massive database containing information on all twelve million children living in England and Wales was created (Womack, 2006). Experts in the field of safeguarding children have suggested that the sheer amount of data recorded in this database, will make it easier for genuine cases of child neglect and abuse to slip through the net. Under a system that detects threat to a child, in even in the most trivial of matters, may mean a child under serious threat of harm will not be identified (Womack, 2006). When services are already looking for the needle in a haystack is it really useful to make the haystack even bigger? (Womack, 2006) Having looked at the legal and sociological perspectives of childhood and having taken into account the influence of the media, consumerism, advertising, adult attitudes and child related policy. The focus of this paper will now turn to look at the feelings and ideas that children have about what it means to be a child Wendy Stainton-Rogers conducted interviews with children from around the world as part of research for a book about childhood (Stainton-Rogers cited in Montgomery, Woodhead, 2002). In these interviews children were asked, what did being a child mean to them? One child aged eight, when interviewed and asked this question replied: Im a child because, if I was a baby I would still be small. And, and now Im a child because Im not a baby any more. Because Im, because Im grown up. And a baby is sort of like, is like almost one year old, two years old or three years old (Stainton Rogers cited in Montgomery, Woodhead, 2002 pg.7). This statement appears to show that the child questioned was somewhat confused as to exactly what a child is. They had some clear thoughts about what made them a child, but appeared hesitant in being able to justify their thoughts. Another child stated that they felt that they would become an adult after their bat mitzvah, saying that after that they would feel mo re grown up (Stainton Rogers cited in Montgomery, Woodhead, 2002 pg.7). This suggests that a childs religion will impact their feelings of what it means to be a child: that childhood ends with certain religious rites of passage. One child felt that a child was somebody who was still learning and being moulded into an adult (Stainton Rogers cited in Montgomery, Woodhead, 2003 pg.7). The answer that this child gave would fit in very well with a socially constructed model of childhood: that the purpose of childhood is for the adult members of a society to shape and mould children into acceptable members of society for the future. From completing the research for this paper, it has become clear that there is no single, universal answer to the question what is a child. Both childrens and adults views on childhood and what it means to be a child will vary vastly depending on culture, religion and the country where they live. To state that a child is a human being under the age of eighteen simply just isnt enough. Children are all individuals and no two will ever be the same just as no two adults ever will be. In order for children to be happy and grow into well rounded, balanced adults their individual needs have to be met and to be protected from serious harm. It is wrong for adult society to simply believe that a child is just an unfinished lump of clay in need of sculpting in order to become the adults society expects for the future. Children should be seen as important members within all societies, whom have the ability to positively contribute to the society in which they live. .

Sustainable information security policy in an organization

Sustainable information security policy in an organization Introduction The purpose of this research paper is to investigate how organizations design sustainable information security policies. Designing a sustainable information security policy is one of the most important issues facing organizations today. It should not only be the first step in an organizations information security policy program but a continuing process to ensure the policy should be maintained of high quality, it is clear, comprehensive and appropriate to the organizations specific business objectives, strategic goals and culture needs. This is a particularly salient issue in organizations that operate in numerous political, cultural, legal, geographic and economic environments and, by necessity, sometimes must have an information security policy that employees can follow and actually use. Information security represents a growing concern for organizations. As organizations are relying and becoming more dependent on information systems for staying competitive, gain strategic advantag e and operations, the issue of effective information security policy also becomes important and the necessary foundation for organizational information security. In an organization, some unique challenges can arise in designing an information security policy, such as policy differences arising through the various threats, risk acceptance and tolerance levels among business units; internal and external requirements at a country, local and national level; human factors; and cultural differences. In some cases, an organization may require a region-specific information security policy that may be more restrictive than a global information security policy. However, the reason why an information security policy has to be enforced on an organization is because the information security policy requires an effort from them. The literature review and an experimental study will be used to investigate, explore and understand different factors such as ease of use, designer perceptions of user shortcomings, attitude toward usage, peer influence, perceived behavioral control usage, perceived ease of use, quality of working life, work attitude and intentions as to how to design a sustainable information security policy in an organization. The research problem and goal. The research problem of this study is to investigate how to design a sustainable information security policy in an organization. Surprisingly, not too much is known about how to design security policies that pay attention to unique organizational security features, employees and business needs (Siponen and Iivari, 2006). In business, an information security policy is a document that states in writing how an organization should plan to protect its information systems and technology assets, provides guidance based on standards, regulations and rules of what to and what not to do. However the information security policy quality, flexibility and usability are limited. Therefore employees do not pay attention, understand, follow abide and break the information security policy. An information security policy that is viewed as design product and that is normative lists actions that the employees should follow or should not perform. The design of an information security policy does not necessarily make it possible to address all situations reasonably. However, to guide the design of the information security policy, the product and an application principle should state how it needs to be applied, and a design method should state how it needs to be crafted (Siponen and Iivari, 2006). Product design and development is a complex and lengthy process for organizations since it involves multiple participants from several organizational departments who are required to make decisions outside their area of expertise. To address the problem organizations often purchase ready made information security policies from various sources such as ISO, text books or adopt information security policies from government and other online sources. This leads to incomplete activities a nd flaws which lead to difficult to follow information security policy. Sound information security policy should protect the information and systems, as well as the individual employees and the organization as a whole from a wide variety of threats (Veiga, Martins and Eloff, 2007). It also should serve as a prominent statement to the outside world about the organizations commitment to information security. An information security policy is often considered to be a living document, meaning that the document is never finished but is continuously updated as technology, regulations and business requirements change. The information from systematic monitoring should serve as a critical input to evaluation, formulation, implementation and design of the information security policy. The information security policy should be seen not only as an artifact document of the organization to enforce best information security practices but also should identify details of what is acceptable or unacceptable and what is reasonable behavior from the employees in order to ensu re sound security of information. Information security policy should be sustainable. Information security covers people and process issues as well as technology. The design of information security policy in an organization should be integrated into a process that involves employee usability testing and input from various regions, regulations, industry standards and business units. An information security policy is the necessary foundation for a sound organizational information security. Information security policy should be able to enhance business operations by reducing risk, ensuring protection of organizational critical information assets and decreasing information systems security management costs as well as to improve information systems operations while also supporting the demands of internal and external compliance. Since many of these policies require human involvement, for example employee and customer actions, the goals should be measured and checked if they are met only if such human activities can be influenced and monitored and if positive outcomes have incentives while negative actions are sanctioned. The goal of this research study is to investigate how to design, create and maintain a sustainable information security policy using experimental methods and control focus groups in an organization. An effective information security policy should be based on a usability standard that can be achieved during the design techniques appropriate to implement sustainable information security policy. Importance of research problem The successful design of information security policy is critical in todays environment of rapid change and challenges in addressing information security policy compliance and effectiveness in organizations. The information security policy is the foundation on which a sound information security is built. As with any foundation, it must be well designed, and well constructed; it can then be trusted to support the organizations business objectives and goals effectively. It is essential that effective information security policy practices be in place in organizations to ensure the success of information security policy. Effective information security policy requires that users understand and follow the information security mission as described in the organizations information security policy. Flexibility and usability are essential elements of an information security policy life cycle, particularly of the design process of information security policy formulation and implementation. An information security policy needs to be sustainable and not rigid. While the importance of the information security policy in ensuring the security of information is acknowledged widely, to date, there has been little empirical analysis of its design, impact or effectiveness in this role. Designing sustainable information security policy is critical to protecting the organizations information systems and assets. The consequences of violating such as information security policy might be extensive and expensive. The organizations information security policy should be written with a clear understanding of the expected outcome and the need to be flexible and usable. The information security policy should incorporate clear definitions and user responsibilities (Gaunt 1998). It should also aim to influence behavior and turn employees into participants in the organizations efforts to secure its information assets. Information security policy plays an important role in preventing, detecting and responding to security threats and breaches. Organizations should have security controls to protect their information. One of the most important controls, according to Hone and Eloff (2002), is the information security policy. The information security policy is likely to be ineffective if it is not written well, understood, followed and accepted by all employees. The results of this study will help practitioners understand how an organization can design sustainable information security policy to achieve effective information security. Research argument The information security of an organization might be left in a less effective state in situations where information security policy is not followed by employees. Employee perception, in some instances, is that following the rules in information security policy interferes and gets in the way of doing their day-to-day work and their ability to accomplish their job tasks. This is because they feel as though this approach is cumbersome and a waste of time. An employees failure to comply with the information security policy is a key concern of information security practitioners and organizations. According to Desman (2002) information security is not a technical issue, but rather a human issue, therefore the most significant threat to the security of information in an organization is its employees (Gaunt 1998). Information security policy should be fair, reasonable, understandable, flexible and usable. If an information security policy is not flexible and usable, employees will not follow it and it will break. According to Besnard and Arief (2004), the design of security products and information security policy should rely more on the rules of human-computer interaction. The employees, independent of their knowledge and intellect, should be able to read an organizations information security policy understand, follow, comply and adhere to it. One of the ways to implement good information security practices in an organization is to ensure that a detailed information security policy is in place. The content of the information security policy is particularly significant, as it should be monitored for any changes after it is adopted to attain relevance and an understanding of whether there were changes due to the policy or program. According to Gaunt (2000) user participation in the development of an organization information security is necessary if it is to achieve wide acceptance. Problem Relevance According to Hone and Eloff (2002) one of the most important information security controls in an organization is the information security policy. However, this important document it is not always easy to put together and develop. Some organizations derive their information policy from business goals, service level agreements, industry best practices, and International Standard Organization standards such as ISO 27000, or copy paste from other ready made policy templates found or procured from textbooks or online resources. Content in information security policies differ according to the type of organization: for example, corporations, academic institutions, government, and within departments such as information technology, human resources, legal, and finance to name a few. The degree of guidance varies from very specific references of what to do or not to do and sanctions of not following the rules. Sanctions affect employees actual compliance with information security policy. According to Bia and Kalika (2007), the decision to formulate an information security policy, for example, a policy of acceptable use, occurs when the organization has experienced problems, conflict, damage, or business loss because of improper use of information security rules. The application of a security policy is considered essential for managing the security of information systems. Implementing a successful information security policy in an organization, however, is not a straightforward task and depends on many factors (Karyda, Kiountouzis and Kokolakis, 2004). Sometimes, employees view the information security policy as an obstacle and a barrier to progress and, in an effort, to do their job more efficiently, employees might not follow the rules set in the information security policy document. Despite the fact that organizations have information security policy in place, more often than not, the application of information security policy fails to attain its goals. To ensure that information security policy is effective, information security professionals must first understand the social elements, including cultural and generational variances that affect employee behavior and perceptions about information security policy (Cisco, 2008). According to Baskerville and Siponen (2002), strict access controls imposed during fast growing organizational changes can become an obstacle by limiting access to information thereby threatening the organizations survival. This problem is one of limiting organizational emergence because of limited information access and presents conflicting and stringent demands for security policy making. Unexpected business opportunities may require actions that conflict with their information security policy. Some of the problems facing organizations are of employees not following the information security policy, which reflects the social nature of human beings. According to Kabay (2002), an information security policy challenges employees to change the way they think about their own responsibility for protecting the organizations valuable information. Attempting to impose information security policy on unwilling employees results in resistance both because stricter information security procedures make jobs more difficult and because people do not like to be told what to do. The process of design and development of information security policy plays an important role in the life cycle of an information security policy and affects how people feel about the information security policy and whether they see rules as a needless imposition of power or an expression of their own values. Unfortunately, an information security policy conflicts with most peoples view of reality: for example, an empl oyee showing sensitive information to someone who does not have the appropriate level of authorization to view such information because they both work on the same project team. However, if users fail to comply with the rules, an information security policy can help deter abuse (Straub and Nance 1990). Although having an information security policy in an organization is essential, it is not enough to ensure an employees compliance with it. Therefore, the aim of this paper is to understand what factors should be considered in the design of a sustainable information security policy in order to motivate employees to comply with the information security policy and understand how important it is. Definitions of Terms For the purposes of this paper: Information security policy: by definition, an information security policy refers to a clear, understandable comprehensive and well-defined plan, rules, and practices that regulate access to an organizations system and the information included in it. It is defined as the security policy in a document that states in writing how an organization plans to protect the companys physical and information technology assets. Information policy: is defined as the combination of laws, regulations, rules, and guidelines that steer the creation, management, and use of information that greatly shapes the roles of information in society. Information policy includes a range of issues related to freedom of information, privacy, secrecy, security, intellectual property, and information and communication technologies among other policy areas. Information system security: is defined as the state of being free from unacceptable risk. Thus, information security focuses on reducing the risk of computing and communication systems, especially in regard to the misuse, destruction, modification or inappropriate disclosure of information either by intent or accident. Product design and development: in this paper refers primarily to the design and development of new information security policy. Research questions and Hypothesis. The main research question for this study is formulated as: How to design sustainable information security policy in an organization? Hypothesis: H1: Is there a significant difference between flexibility and usability? H2: Is there a significant relationship between flexibility and usability? H3: If an information security policy is usable then is there a need for sanctions? H4: If an information security policy is flexible then is there a need for rewards? Reference Agarwal, R and Sambamurthy, V. (2002). Principles and models for organizing the IT function. MIS Quarterly Executive, 1(1), 1-16. Baskerville, R., and Siponen, M. (2002). An information security meta-policy for emergent organizations. Logistics Information Management, 15(5/6), 337-346. Besnard, D. and Arief, B. (2004). Computer security impaired by legal users. Computers Security, 23(3), 253-26. Bia, M., and Kalika, M. (2007). Adopting an ICT code of conduct: An empirical study of organizational factors. Journal of Enterprise Information Management, 20(4), 432-446. CISCO. Data leakage worldwide: The effectiveness of security policies, 2008, Retrieved March 29 2010 http://www.cisco.com/en/US/solutions/collateral/ns170/ns896/ns895/white_paper_c11-503131.pdf Da Veiga, A., Martins, N., and Eloff, JHP. (2007). Information security culture validation of an assessment instrument. Southern African Business Review, 11(1), 147-166. Desman, M.B. (2002). Building an information security awareness program. Boca Raton, FL, Auerbach Publications. Doherty, NF., and Fulford, H. (2006). Aligning the information security policy with the strategic information systems plan. Computers Security, 25(1), 55-63. Eloff, JHP., Labuschagne L, and Badenhorst KP. (1993) A comparative framework for risk analysis methods. Computers and Security, 12(6), 597-603. Gaunt, N. (1998). Installing an appropriate IS security policy in hospitals. International Journal of Medical Informatics, 49(1), 131-134. Gaunt N. (2000). Practical approaches to creating a security culture. International Journal of Medical Informatics, 60(2), 151-157. Hone, K., and Eloff, JHP. (2002). Information security policy what do international security standards say? Computers and Security, 21(5), 402-9. Kabay, M. (1994). Psychological factors in the implementation of information security policy. EDPACS, The EDP Audit, Control, and Security Newsletter, 11(10), 1-10. Karyda, M., Kiountouzis, E., Kokolakis, S. (2005). Information systems security policies: a contextual perspective, Computers and Security, 24(3), 246-260. Lapke M., and Dhillon, G. (2008). Power relationships in information systems security policy formulation and implementation. European Conference on Information Systems, 16, 1358-1369. Siponen, M., and Iivari, J. (2006). Six design theories for IS security policies and guidelines. Journal of the Association for Information System,s 7(7), 445-472. Thomson, K. L., von Solms, R., and Louw, L. (2006). Cultivating an organizational information security culture. Computer Fraud and Security, 10, 7-11. Straub, D.W., and Nance, W.D. (1990). Discovering and disciplining computer abuse in organizations: A field study. MIS Quarterly, 14(1), 45-60. Warman, AR. (1992). Organizational computer security policy: the reality. European Journal of Information Systems, 1(5), 305-10. Zhang, Y., Liu, X., and Wang, W. (2005). Policy lifecycle model for systems management. IT Professional, 7(2), 50-54.

Retrospective Narration in A Rose for Emily Essay -- A Rose for Emily,

Retrospective Narration in A Rose for Emily â€Å"Now and then we would see her in one of the downstairs windows—she had evidently shut up the top floor of the house—like the carven torso of an idol in a niche, looking or not looking at us, we could never tell which. Thus she passed from generation to generation—dear, inescapable, impervious, tranquil, and perverse.† (128) Because â€Å"A Rose for Emily† is narrated in retrospect, this description of Miss Emily’s relationship with the town possesses a kind of foreshadowing not always present in stories narrated as the action unfolds. Each word takes on added meaning given that the narrator already know about Homer Barron and the room upstairs. Thinking back, the narrator recalls, â€Å"Now and then we would see her in one of the downstairs windows.† Likely, it only occurred to the narrator after learning about Homer Barron that Miss Emily was always in a downstairs window. In fact, earlier in the story, the narrator only says that â€Å"a window that had been dark was lighted and Miss Emily sat in it† when the men of the won sprinkled lime around her house to kill the offensive smell that emanated from it. He does not specify where in her house the window was. Moreover, he declares that Miss Emily â€Å"had evidently shut up the top floor.† Obviously, it was only â€Å"evident† that Miss Emily had closed off the upstairs of her home after her death when the townspeople forced their way into the house, up the stairs, and into the tomb-like room where the body of Homer Barron lay. This passage also plays with the notion of seeing and being seen, the ambiguity of watching and being watched. The narrator states, â€Å"Now and then we would see her.† He goes on to explain that whether Miss Emily was â€Å"look... ...tate when she buys the arsenic to poison Homer Barron, nor is it her state when she refuses to let her father’s dead body be removed from the house. Finally, â€Å"perverse† confuses the reader until she reaches the end of the story. At the point where this passage occurs, Miss Emily seems a bit odd and, perhaps, insane, but there is nothing to indicate that she is â€Å"perverse.† The narrator already knows of Miss Emily’s â€Å"perverse† actions; thus, this serves as further foreshadowing of the townspeople’s discovering Homer’s body and apparent evidence of Miss Emily sleeping with it until her death. While a short passage, this one illustrates the nature of the story itself. The narrator tells the tale in retrospect, thus possessing knowledge that the reader does not. It is for this reason that the narrator reveals aspects of the story that foreshadow the grand finale. Retrospective Narration in A Rose for Emily Essay -- A Rose for Emily, Retrospective Narration in A Rose for Emily â€Å"Now and then we would see her in one of the downstairs windows—she had evidently shut up the top floor of the house—like the carven torso of an idol in a niche, looking or not looking at us, we could never tell which. Thus she passed from generation to generation—dear, inescapable, impervious, tranquil, and perverse.† (128) Because â€Å"A Rose for Emily† is narrated in retrospect, this description of Miss Emily’s relationship with the town possesses a kind of foreshadowing not always present in stories narrated as the action unfolds. Each word takes on added meaning given that the narrator already know about Homer Barron and the room upstairs. Thinking back, the narrator recalls, â€Å"Now and then we would see her in one of the downstairs windows.† Likely, it only occurred to the narrator after learning about Homer Barron that Miss Emily was always in a downstairs window. In fact, earlier in the story, the narrator only says that â€Å"a window that had been dark was lighted and Miss Emily sat in it† when the men of the won sprinkled lime around her house to kill the offensive smell that emanated from it. He does not specify where in her house the window was. Moreover, he declares that Miss Emily â€Å"had evidently shut up the top floor.† Obviously, it was only â€Å"evident† that Miss Emily had closed off the upstairs of her home after her death when the townspeople forced their way into the house, up the stairs, and into the tomb-like room where the body of Homer Barron lay. This passage also plays with the notion of seeing and being seen, the ambiguity of watching and being watched. The narrator states, â€Å"Now and then we would see her.† He goes on to explain that whether Miss Emily was â€Å"look... ...tate when she buys the arsenic to poison Homer Barron, nor is it her state when she refuses to let her father’s dead body be removed from the house. Finally, â€Å"perverse† confuses the reader until she reaches the end of the story. At the point where this passage occurs, Miss Emily seems a bit odd and, perhaps, insane, but there is nothing to indicate that she is â€Å"perverse.† The narrator already knows of Miss Emily’s â€Å"perverse† actions; thus, this serves as further foreshadowing of the townspeople’s discovering Homer’s body and apparent evidence of Miss Emily sleeping with it until her death. While a short passage, this one illustrates the nature of the story itself. The narrator tells the tale in retrospect, thus possessing knowledge that the reader does not. It is for this reason that the narrator reveals aspects of the story that foreshadow the grand finale.

Expression in Art :: Essays Papers

Expression in Art Before the portrayal of the human body can be critiqued, you must understand the artist's culture. As man evolved over centuries, his views of the body also transformed. Our tour definitely showed the drastic changes in different cultures' art. Each culture and era presents very distinct characteristics. Through time and experimentation, we have expressed our views of the human body clearly with our art. Egyptians were the first people to make a large impact on the world of art. Egyptians needed art for their religious beliefs more than decoration or self-gratification. The most important aspect of Egyptian life is the ka, the part of the human spirit that lives on after death. The ka needed a physical place to occupy or it would disappear. Most of the important men of Egypt paid to have their body carved out of stone. That was were the spirit would live after the man dies. They used stone because it was the strongest material they could find. Longevity was very important. The bodies are always idealized and clothed. Figures are very rigid, close-fisted, and are built on a vertical axis to show that the person is grand or intimidating. Most of the figures were seen in the same: profile of the legs, frontal view of the torso, and profile of the head. Like most civilizations, Egyptians put a lot of faith in gods. The sky god Horus, a bird, is found in a great amount of Egyptian art. Little recognition was ever given to the artists. The emphasis was on the patron. Early Greek art was greatly influenced by the Egyptians. Geography permitted both cultures to exchange their talents. The beginning of Greek art is marked by the Geometric phase. The most common art during the Geometric phase was vase painting. After the vase was formed but before it was painted, the artist applied a slip (dark pigment) to outside. Then the vase was fired and the artist would incise his decorations into the hard shell. It was important to incise humans into the fired slip and not paint w ith slip. The people in the pictures needed light colored skin, which was the color beneath the slip, because Greeks wanted to make their art as realistic as possible. Much like Egyptian art, the Greeks idealized the bodies of the people in their works. As the Archaic Period evolved, Greek sculptures were almost identical to the Egyptians'.

The Feminist Struggle Portrayed in Brief History Of The Horse Essay

The Feminist Struggle Portrayed in Brief History Of The Horse  Ã‚   Lorna Crozier's poem, "A Brief History Of The Horse", offers many different interpretations. However, the structure of the poem breaks down into three stages: past, present, and future. By examining the archetypes within the poem, it can be suggested that the horse stands to represent the feminist struggle, the ongoing battle for women to have an equal place in society. In explicating "A Brief History Of The Horse," it is of primary importance to examine the logopoeia (thought level) of the poem. The archetype of the horse suggests the poem's feminist aspect. To elucidate, the horse, as a Jungian archetype, represents motherhood and the magic side of man. What Jung refers to as the "`mother withing all of us,' or intuitiveness, and lies in the subconscious"(Cirlot, 151). In Crozier's poem, reference to the subconscious is quite apparent in the first stanza or stage; the horse grazes in "pastures of sleep." A grazing horse is also symbolic of freedom and peace (Oderr, 69); however, this freedom can only be obtained in sleep. The mother figure is also represented by the fact that the soldiers are within the horse. They are in the belly of the horse: "the soldiers feel the sway of the horse's belly as she races night across the meadows"(260). This implies the notion of a fetus in a womb. However, the men (soldiers) are not aware of the outside world of the horse, believing that they are in "a hold of a ship that smells of grass and forgetfulness"(260). Thus, the notion that the horse is grazing in a pasture of green grass (peace), yet the men(soldiers) are unable to see the truth. They are unaware of what problems the horse is actually faced with. The soldier... ...ermore, regardless of how much the horse is repressed it will eventually do what it wants to do. It doesn't matter what label is placed on the feminist struggle, it is inevitable that women will have a place equal in society to men. The horse will eventually graze "calmly in the meadow", and there will be a time when men and women are equal. In conclusion, the poem moves from the basic history or repression of the horse to the future outlook. The horse stands as an archetype for the mother, the feminist struggle. Therefore, the poem becomes a history of the feminist struggle, from being born of ancient times, through the ignorance of current times and eventually it will come to rest. Without a doubt, women will eventually have an equal place in society. The poet is quite adamant that females will become equal to men. The feminist movement cannot be suppressed.

Angels Demons Chapter 42-45

42 Cardinal Mortati was sweating now in his black robe. Not only was the Sistine Chapel starting to feel like a sauna, but conclave was scheduled to begin in twenty minutes, and there was still no word on the four missing cardinals. In their absence, the initial whispers of confusion among the other cardinals had turned to outspoken anxiety. Mortati could not imagine where the truant men could be. With the camerlegno perhaps? He knew the camerlegno had held the traditional private tea for the four preferiti earlier that afternoon, but that had been hours ago. Were they ill? Something they ate? Mortati doubted it. Even on the verge of death the preferiti would be here. It was once in a lifetime, usually never, that a cardinal had the chance to be elected Supreme Pontiff, and by Vatican Law the cardinal had to be inside the Sistine Chapel when the vote took place. Otherwise, he was ineligible. Although there were four preferiti, few cardinals had any doubt who the next Pope would be. The past fifteen days had seen a blizzard of faxes and phone calls discussing potential candidates. As was the custom, four names had been chosen as preferiti, each of them fulfilling the unspoken requisites for becoming Pope: Multilingual in Italian, Spanish, and English. No skeletons in his closet. Between sixty-five and eighty years old. As usual, one of the preferiti had risen above the others as the man the college proposed to elect. Tonight that man was Cardinal Aldo Baggia from Milan. Baggia's untainted record of service, combined with unparalleled language skills and the ability to communicate the essence of spirituality, had made him the clear favorite. So where the devil is he? Mortati wondered. Mortati was particularly unnerved by the missing cardinals because the task of supervising this conclave had fallen to him. A week ago, the College of Cardinals had unanimously chosen Mortati for the office known as The Great Elector – the conclave's internal master of ceremonies. Even though the camerlegno was the church's ranking official, the camerlegno was only a priest and had little familiarity with the complex election process, so one cardinal was selected to oversee the ceremony from within the Sistine Chapel. Cardinals often joked that being appointed The Great Elector was the cruelest honor in Christendom. The appointment made one ineligible as a candidate during the election, and it also required one spend many days prior to conclave poring over the pages of the Universi Dominici Gregis reviewing the subtleties of conclave's arcane rituals to ensure the election was properly administered. Mortati held no grudge, though. He knew he was the logical choice. Not only was he the senior cardinal, but he had also been a confidant of the late Pope, a fact that elevated his esteem. Although Mortati was technically still within the legal age window for election, he was getting a bit old to be a serious candidate. At seventy-nine years old he had crossed the unspoken threshold beyond which the college no longer trusted one's health to withstand the rigorous schedule of the papacy. A Pope usually worked fourteen-hour days, seven days a week, and died of exhaustion in an average of 6.3 years. The inside joke was that accepting the papacy was a cardinal's â€Å"fastest route to heaven.† Mortati, many believed, could have been Pope in his younger days had he not been so broad-minded. When it came to pursuing the papacy, there was a Holy Trinity – Conservative. Conservative. Conservative. Mortati had always found it pleasantly ironic that the late Pope, God rest his soul, had revealed himself as surprisingly liberal once he had taken office. Perhaps sensing the modern world progressing away from the church, the Pope had made overtures, softening the church's position on the sciences, even donating money to selective scientific causes. Sadly, it had been political suicide. Conservative Catholics declared the Pope â€Å"senile,† while scientific purists accused him of trying to spread the church's influence where it did not belong. â€Å"So where are they?† Mortati turned. One of the cardinals was tapping him nervously on the shoulder. â€Å"You know where they are, don't you?† Mortati tried not to show too much concern. â€Å"Perhaps still with the camerlegno.† â€Å"At this hour? That would be highly unorthodox!† The cardinal frowned mistrustingly. â€Å"Perhaps the camerlegno lost track of time?† Mortati sincerely doubted it, but he said nothing. He was well aware that most cardinals did not much care for the camerlegno, feeling he was too young to serve the Pope so closely. Mortati suspected much of the cardinals' dislike was jealousy, and Mortati actually admired the young man, secretly applauding the late Pope's selection for chamberlain. Mortati saw only conviction when he looked in the camerlegno's eyes, and unlike many of the cardinals, the camerlegno put church and faith before petty politics. He was truly a man of God. Throughout his tenure, the camerlegno's steadfast devotion had become legendary. Many attributed it to the miraculous event in his childhood†¦ an event that would have left a permanent impression on any man's heart. The miracle and wonder of it, Mortati thought, often wishing his own childhood had presented an event that fostered that kind of doubtless faith. Unfortunately for the church, Mortati knew, the camerlegno would never become Pope in his elder years. Attaining the papacy required a certain amount of political ambition, something the young camerlegno apparently lacked; he had refused his Pope's offers for higher clerical stations many times, saying he preferred to serve the church as a simple man. â€Å"What next?† The cardinal tapped Mortati, waiting. Mortati looked up. â€Å"I'm sorry?† â€Å"They're late! What shall we do?† â€Å"What can we do?† Mortati replied. â€Å"We wait. And have faith.† Looking entirely unsatisfied with Mortati's response, the cardinal shrunk back into the shadows. Mortati stood a moment, dabbing his temples and trying to clear his mind. Indeed, what shall we do? He gazed past the altar up to Michelangelo's renowned fresco, â€Å"The Last Judgment.† The painting did nothing to soothe his anxiety. It was a horrifying, fifty-foot-tall depiction of Jesus Christ separating mankind into the righteous and sinners, casting the sinners into hell. There was flayed flesh, burning bodies, and even one of Michelangelo's rivals sitting in hell wearing ass's ears. Guy de Maupassant had once written that the painting looked like something painted for a carnival wrestling booth by an ignorant coal heaver. Cardinal Mortati had to agree. 43 Langdon stood motionless at the Pope's bulletproof window and gazed down at the bustle of media trailers in St. Peter's Square. The eerie phone conversation had left him feeling turgid†¦ distended somehow. Not himself. The Illuminati, like a serpent from the forgotten depths of history, had risen and wrapped themselves around an ancient foe. No demands. No negotiation. Just retribution. Demonically simple. Squeezing. A revenge 400 years in the making. It seemed that after centuries of persecution, science had bitten back. The camerlegno stood at his desk, staring blankly at the phone. Olivetti was the first to break the silence. â€Å"Carlo,† he said, using the camerlegno's first name and sounding more like a weary friend than an officer. â€Å"For twenty-six years, I have sworn my life to the protection of this office. It seems tonight I am dishonored.† The camerlegno shook his head. â€Å"You and I serve God in different capacities, but service always brings honor.† â€Å"These events†¦ I can't imagine how†¦ this situation†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Olivetti looked overwhelmed. â€Å"You realize we have only one possible course of action. I have a responsibility for the safety of the College of Cardinals.† â€Å"I fear that responsibility was mine, signore.† â€Å"Then your men will oversee the immediate evacuation.† â€Å"Signore?† â€Å"Other options can be exercised later – a search for this device, a manhunt for the missing cardinals and their captors. But first the cardinals must be taken to safety. The sanctity of human life weighs above all. Those men are the foundation of this church.† â€Å"You suggest we cancel conclave right now?† â€Å"Do I have a choice?† â€Å"What about your charge to bring a new Pope?† The young chamberlain sighed and turned to the window, his eyes drifting out onto the sprawl of Rome below. â€Å"His Holiness once told me that a Pope is a man torn between two worlds†¦ the real world and the divine. He warned that any church that ignored reality would not survive to enjoy the divine.† His voice sounded suddenly wise for its years. â€Å"The real world is upon us tonight. We would be vain to ignore it. Pride and precedent cannot overshadow reason.† Olivetti nodded, looking impressed. â€Å"I have underestimated you, signore.† The camerlegno did not seem to hear. His gaze was distant on the window. â€Å"I will speak openly, signore. The real world is my world. I immerse myself in its ugliness every day such that others are unencumbered to seek something more pure. Let me advise you on the present situation. It is what I am trained for. Your instincts, though worthy†¦ could be disastrous.† The camerlegno turned. Olivetti sighed. â€Å"The evacuation of the College of Cardinals from the Sistine Chapel is the worst possible thing you could do right now.† The camerlegno did not look indignant, only at a loss. â€Å"What do you suggest?† â€Å"Say nothing to the cardinals. Seal conclave. It will buy us time to try other options.† The camerlegno looked troubled. â€Å"Are you suggesting I lock the entire College of Cardinals on top of a time bomb?† â€Å"Yes, signore. For now. Later, if need be, we can arrange evacuation.† The camerlegno shook his head. â€Å"Postponing the ceremony before it starts is grounds alone for an inquiry, but after the doors are sealed nothing intervenes. Conclave procedure obligates – â€Å" â€Å"Real world, signore. You're in it tonight. Listen closely.† Olivetti spoke now with the efficient rattle of a field officer. â€Å"Marching one hundred sixty-five cardinals unprepared and unprotected into Rome would be reckless. It would cause confusion and panic in some very old men, and frankly, one fatal stroke this month is enough.† One fatal stroke. The commander's words recalled the headlines Langdon had read over dinner with some students in the Harvard Commons: Pope suffers stroke. Dies in sleep. â€Å"In addition,† Olivetti said, â€Å"the Sistine Chapel is a fortress. Although we don't advertise the fact, the structure is heavily reinforced and can repel any attack short of missiles. As preparation we searched every inch of the chapel this afternoon, scanning for bugs and other surveillance equipment. The chapel is clean, a safe haven, and I am confident the antimatter is not inside. There is no safer place those men can be right now. We can always discuss emergency evacuation later if it comes to that.† Langdon was impressed. Olivetti's cold, smart logic reminded him of Kohler. â€Å"Commander,† Vittoria said, her voice tense, â€Å"there are other concerns. Nobody has ever created this much antimatter. The blast radius, I can only estimate. Some of surrounding Rome may be in danger. If the canister is in one of your central buildings or underground, the effect outside these walls may be minimal, but if the canister is near the perimeter†¦ in this building for example†¦Ã¢â‚¬  She glanced warily out the window at the crowd in St. Peter's Square. â€Å"I am well aware of my responsibilities to the outside world,† Olivetti replied, â€Å"and it makes this situation no more grave. The protection of this sanctuary has been my sole charge for over two decades. I have no intention of allowing this weapon to detonate.† Camerlegno Ventresca looked up. â€Å"You think you can find it?† â€Å"Let me discuss our options with some of my surveillance specialists. There is a possibility, if we kill power to Vatican City, that we can eliminate the background RF and create a clean enough environment to get a reading on that canister's magnetic field.† Vittoria looked surprised, and then impressed. â€Å"You want to black out Vatican City?† â€Å"Possibly. I don't yet know if it's possible, but it is one option I want to explore.† â€Å"The cardinals would certainly wonder what happened,† Vittoria remarked. Olivetti shook his head. â€Å"Conclaves are held by candlelight. The cardinals would never know. After conclave is sealed, I could pull all except a few of my perimeter guards and begin a search. A hundred men could cover a lot of ground in five hours.† â€Å"Four hours,† Vittoria corrected. â€Å"I need to fly the canister back to CERN. Detonation is unavoidable without recharging the batteries.† â€Å"There's no way to recharge here?† Vittoria shook her head. â€Å"The interface is complex. I'd have brought it if I could.† â€Å"Four hours then,† Olivetti said, frowning. â€Å"Still time enough. Panic serves no one. Signore, you have ten minutes. Go to the chapel, seal conclave. Give my men some time to do their job. As we get closer to the critical hour, we will make the critical decisions.† Langdon wondered how close to â€Å"the critical hour† Olivetti would let things get. The camerlegno looked troubled. â€Å"But the college will ask about the preferiti†¦ especially about Baggia†¦ where they are.† â€Å"Then you will have to think of something, signore. Tell them you served the four cardinals something at tea that disagreed with them.† The camerlegno looked riled. â€Å"Stand on the altar of the Sistine Chapel and lie to the College of Cardinals?† â€Å"For their own safety. Una bugia veniale. A white lie. Your job will be to keep the peace.† Olivetti headed for the door. â€Å"Now if you will excuse me, I need to get started.† â€Å"Comandante,† the camerlegno urged, â€Å"we cannot simply turn our backs on missing cardinals.† Olivetti stopped in the doorway. â€Å"Baggia and the others are currently outside our sphere of influence. We must let them go†¦ for the good of the whole. The military calls it triage.† â€Å"Don't you mean abandonment?† His voice hardened. â€Å"If there were any way, signore†¦ any way in heaven to locate those four cardinals, I would lay down my life to do it. And yet†¦Ã¢â‚¬  He pointed across the room at the window where the early evening sun glinted off an endless sea of Roman rooftops. â€Å"Searching a city of five million is not within my power. I will not waste precious time to appease my conscience in a futile exercise. I'm sorry.† Vittoria spoke suddenly. â€Å"But if we caught the killer, couldn't you make him talk?† Olivetti frowned at her. â€Å"Soldiers cannot afford to be saints, Ms. Vetra. Believe me, I empathize with your personal incentive to catch this man.† â€Å"It's not only personal,† she said. â€Å"The killer knows where the antimatter is†¦ and the missing cardinals. If we could somehow find him†¦Ã¢â‚¬  â€Å"Play into their hands?† Olivetti said. â€Å"Believe me, removing all protection from Vatican City in order to stake out hundreds of churches is what the Illuminati hope we will do†¦ wasting precious time and manpower when we should be searching†¦ or worse yet, leaving the Vatican Bank totally unprotected. Not to mention the remaining cardinals.† The point hit home. â€Å"How about the Roman Police?† the camerlegno asked. â€Å"We could alert citywide enforcement of the crisis. Enlist their help in finding the cardinals' captor.† â€Å"Another mistake,† Olivetti said. â€Å"You know how the Roman Carbonieri feel about us. We'd get a half-hearted effort of a few men in exchange for their selling our crisis to the global media. Exactly what our enemies want. We'll have to deal with the media soon enough as it is.† I will make your cardinals media luminaries, Langdon thought, recalling the killer's words. The first cardinal's body appears at eight o'clock. Then one every hour. The press will love it. The camerlegno was talking again, a trace of anger in his voice. â€Å"Commander, we cannot in good conscience do nothing about the missing cardinals!† Olivetti looked the camerlegno dead in the eye. â€Å"The prayer of St. Francis, signore. Do you recall it?† The young priest spoke the single line with pain in his voice. â€Å"God, grant me strength to accept those things I cannot change.† â€Å"Trust me,† Olivetti said. â€Å"This is one of those things.† Then he was gone. 44 The central office of the British Broadcast Corporation (BBC) is in London just west of Piccadilly Circus. The switchboard phone rang, and a junior content editor picked up. â€Å"BBC,† she said, stubbing out her Dunhill cigarette. The voice on the line was raspy, with a Mid-East accent. â€Å"I have a breaking story your network might be interested in.† The editor took out a pen and a standard Lead Sheet. â€Å"Regarding?† â€Å"The papal election.† She frowned wearily. The BBC had run a preliminary story yesterday to mediocre response. The public, it seemed, had little interest in Vatican City. â€Å"What's the angle?† â€Å"Do you have a TV reporter in Rome covering the election?† â€Å"I believe so.† â€Å"I need to speak to him directly.† â€Å"I'm sorry, but I cannot give you that number without some idea – â€Å" â€Å"There is a threat to the conclave. That is all I can tell you.† The editor took notes. â€Å"Your name?† â€Å"My name is immaterial.† The editor was not surprised. â€Å"And you have proof of this claim?† â€Å"I do.† â€Å"I would be happy to take the information, but it is not our policy to give out our reporters' numbers unless – â€Å" â€Å"I understand. I will call another network. Thank you for your time. Good-b – â€Å" â€Å"Just a moment,† she said. â€Å"Can you hold?† The editor put the caller on hold and stretched her neck. The art of screening out potential crank calls was by no means a perfect science, but this caller had just passed the BBC's two tacit tests for authenticity of a phone source. He had refused to give his name, and he was eager to get off the phone. Hacks and glory hounds usually whined and pleaded. Fortunately for her, reporters lived in eternal fear of missing the big story, so they seldom chastised her for passing along the occasional delusional psychotic. Wasting five minutes of a reporter's time was forgivable. Missing a headline was not. Yawning, she looked at her computer and typed in the keywords â€Å"Vatican City.† When she saw the name of the field reporter covering the papal election, she chuckled to herself. He was a new guy the BBC had just brought up from some trashy London tabloid to handle some of the BBC's more mundane coverage. Editorial had obviously started him at the bottom rung. He was probably bored out of his mind, waiting all night to record his live ten-second video spot. He would most likely be grateful for a break in the monotony. The BBC content editor copied down the reporter's satellite extension in Vatican City. Then, lighting another cigarette, she gave the anonymous caller the reporter's number. 45 â€Å"It won't work,† Vittoria said, pacing the Pope's office. She looked up at the camerlegno. â€Å"Even if a Swiss Guard team can filter electronic interference, they will have to be practically on top of the canister before they detect any signal. And that's if the canister is even accessible†¦ unenclosed by other barriers. What if it's buried in a metal box somewhere on your grounds? Or up in a metal ventilating duct. There's no way they'll trace it. And what if the Swiss Guards have been infiltrated? Who's to say the search will be clean?† The camerlegno looked drained. â€Å"What are you proposing, Ms. Vetra?† Vittoria felt flustered. Isn't it obvious? â€Å"I am proposing, sir, that you take other precautions immediately. We can hope against all hope that the commander's search is successful. At the same time, look out the window. Do you see those people? Those buildings across the piazza? Those media vans? The tourists? They are quite possibly within range of the blast. You need to act now.† The camerlegno nodded vacantly. Vittoria felt frustrated. Olivetti had convinced everyone there was plenty of time. But Vittoria knew if news of the Vatican predicament leaked out, the entire area could fill with onlookers in a matter of minutes. She had seen it once outside the Swiss Parliament building. During a hostage situation involving a bomb, thousands had congregated outside the building to witness the outcome. Despite police warnings that they were in danger, the crowd packed in closer and closer. Nothing captured human interest like human tragedy. â€Å"Signore,† Vittoria urged, â€Å"the man who killed my father is out there somewhere. Every cell in this body wants to run from here and hunt him down. But I am standing in your office†¦ because I have a responsibility to you. To you and others. Lives are in danger, signore. Do you hear me?† The camerlegno did not answer. Vittoria could hear her own heart racing. Why couldn't the Swiss Guard trace that damn caller? The Illuminati assassin is the key! He knows where the antimatter is†¦ hell, he knows where the cardinals are! Catch the killer, and everything is solved. Vittoria sensed she was starting to come unhinged, an alien distress she recalled only faintly from childhood, the orphanage years, frustration with no tools to handle it. You have tools, she told herself, you always have tools. But it was no use. Her thoughts intruded, strangling her. She was a researcher and problem solver. But this was a problem with no solution. What data do you require? What do you want? She told herself to breathe deeply, but for the first time in her life, she could not. She was suffocating. Langdon's head ached, and he felt like he was skirting the edges of rationality. He watched Vittoria and the camerlegno, but his vision was blurred by hideous images: explosions, press swarming, cameras rolling, four branded humans. Shaitan†¦ Lucifer†¦ Bringer of light†¦ Satan†¦ He shook the fiendish images from his mind. Calculated terrorism, he reminded himself, grasping at reality. Planned chaos. He thought back to a Radcliffe seminar he had once audited while researching praetorian symbolism. He had never seen terrorists the same way since. â€Å"Terrorism,† the professor had lectured, â€Å"has a singular goal. What is it?† â€Å"Killing innocent people?† a student ventured. â€Å"Incorrect. Death is only a byproduct of terrorism.† â€Å"A show of strength?† â€Å"No. A weaker persuasion does not exist.† â€Å"To cause terror?† â€Å"Concisely put. Quite simply, the goal of terrorism is to create terror and fear. Fear undermines faith in the establishment. It weakens the enemy from within†¦ causing unrest in the masses. Write this down. Terrorism is not an expression of rage. Terrorism is a political weapon. Remove a government's faà §ade of infallibility, and you remove its people's faith.† Loss of faith†¦ Is that what this was all about? Langdon wondered how Christians of the world would react to cardinals being laid out like mutilated dogs. If the faith of a canonized priest did not protect him from the evils of Satan, what hope was there for the rest of us? Langdon's head was pounding louder now†¦ tiny voices playing tug of war. Faith does not protect you. Medicine and airbags†¦ those are things that protect you. God does not protect you. Intelligence protects you. Enlightenment. Put your faith in something with tangible results. How long has it been since someone walked on water? Modern miracles belong to science†¦ computers, vaccines, space stations†¦ even the divine miracle of creation. Matter from nothing†¦ in a lab. Who needs God? No! Science is God. The killer's voice resonated in Langdon's mind. Midnight†¦ mathematical progression of death†¦ sacrifici vergini nell' altare di scienza.† Then suddenly, like a crowd dispersed by a single gunshot, the voices were gone. Robert Langdon bolted to his feet. His chair fell backward and crashed on the marble floor. Vittoria and the camerlegno jumped. â€Å"I missed it,† Langdon whispered, spellbound. â€Å"It was right in front of me†¦Ã¢â‚¬  â€Å"Missed what?† Vittoria demanded. Langdon turned to the priest. â€Å"Father, for three years I have petitioned this office for access to the Vatican Archives. I have been denied seven times.† â€Å"Mr. Langdon, I am sorry, but this hardly seems the moment to raise such complaints.† â€Å"I need access immediately. The four missing cardinals. I may be able to figure out where they're going to be killed.† Vittoria stared, looking certain she had misunderstood. The camerlegno looked troubled, as if he were the brunt of a cruel joke. â€Å"You expect me to believe this information is in our archives?† â€Å"I can't promise I can locate it in time, but if you let me in†¦Ã¢â‚¬  â€Å"Mr. Langdon, I am due in the Sistine Chapel in four minutes. The archives are across Vatican City.† â€Å"You're serious aren't you?† Vittoria interrupted, staring deep into Langdon's eyes, seeming to sense his earnestness. â€Å"Hardly a joking time,† Langdon said. â€Å"Father,† Vittoria said, turning to the camerlegno, â€Å"if there's a chance†¦ any at all of finding where these killings are going to happen, we could stake out the locations and – â€Å" â€Å"But the archives?† the camerlegno insisted. â€Å"How could they possibly contain any clue?† â€Å"Explaining it,† Langdon said, â€Å"will take longer than you've got. But if I'm right, we can use the information to catch the Hassassin.† The camerlegno looked as though he wanted to believe but somehow could not. â€Å"Christianity's most sacred codices are in that archive. Treasures I myself am not privileged enough to see.† â€Å"I am aware of that.† â€Å"Access is permitted only by written decree of the curator and the Board of Vatican Librarians.† â€Å"Or,† Langdon declared, â€Å"by papal mandate. It says so in every rejection letter your curator ever sent me.† The camerlegno nodded. â€Å"Not to be rude,† Langdon urged, â€Å"but if I'm not mistaken a papal mandate comes from this office. As far as I can tell, tonight you hold the trust of his station. Considering the circumstances†¦Ã¢â‚¬  The camerlegno pulled a pocket watch from his cassock and looked at it. â€Å"Mr. Langdon, I am prepared to give my life tonight, quite literally, to save this church.† Langdon sensed nothing but truth in the man's eyes. â€Å"This document,† the camerlegno said, â€Å"do you truly believe it is here? And that it can help us locate these four churches?† â€Å"I would not have made countless solicitations for access if I were not convinced. Italy is a bit far to come on a lark when you make a teacher's salary. The document you have is an ancient – â€Å" â€Å"Please,† the camerlegno interrupted. â€Å"Forgive me. My mind cannot process any more details at the moment. Do you know where the secret archives are located?† Langdon felt a rush of excitement. â€Å"Just behind the Santa Ana Gate.† â€Å"Impressive. Most scholars believe it is through the secret door behind St. Peter's Throne.† â€Å"No. That would be the Archivio della Reverenda di Fabbrica di S. Pietro. A common misconception.† â€Å"A librarian docent accompanies every entrant at all times. Tonight, the docents are gone. What you are requesting is carte blanche access. Not even our cardinals enter alone.† â€Å"I will treat your treasures with the utmost respect and care. Your librarians will find not a trace that I was there.† Overhead the bells of St. Peter's began to toll. The camerlegno checked his pocket watch. â€Å"I must go.† He paused a taut moment and looked up at Langdon. â€Å"I will have a Swiss Guard meet you at the archives. I am giving you my trust, Mr. Langdon. Go now.† Langdon was speechless. The young priest now seemed to possess an eerie poise. Reaching over, he squeezed Langdon's shoulder with surprising strength. â€Å"I want you to find what you are looking for. And find it quickly.†