Intermediate coporate finance Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

Intermediate coporate finance - Research Paper Example But of late the U.S. has become to a lesser extent reliant on China’s funding of its deficits predominantly as the U.S. classified saving rate has increased and the current account shortage has decreased. However, the mere scale of the U.S. shortage funding need which is approximately $1.6 trillion budget deficit in 2010 and forecast of almost $9 trillion of shortages over the next decade in the markets of bond and currency are delicate (Prasad, 2010). On the other hand an abrupt activity by China to move uncompromisingly out of U.S. dollar designated instruments, or even a declaration to such an extent, would work as a set off around the jumpy market sentiments resulting to a quick plunge in bond prices and the rate of the U.S. dollar. At the same time China would also be facing huge capital loss since its majority holdings are in the U.S. Treasury market. This would also end up in reduction of the Treasury bond rates due to increase in interest rates or even if the renminbi appreciated in value comparative to the U.S. dollar (Prasad, 2010). Over the past years trade amongst the two economies has seen consistent increase in quantity and China’s foremost export market is US. The exports from China, to the U.S. sprang up from $100 billion in 2000 to $296 billion in 2009, and at the same time the imports increased from $16 billion to $70 billion. Thus there has been a fixed percentage of export to the US by China which is 21% right through from 1998 to 2006 but this percentage fell to 18 during 2007-2009. On the other hand even though there has been increase in the exports of US to China the percentage still remains below 5 (Prasad and GU, 2009). Many of the spiny consequences in the bilateral relationship amongst these two countries can be described as the growth of the mounting bilateral U.S. trade deficit with China. This shortage sprang up from about $84 billion in 2000 to nearly $227 billion in 2009. This figure of

Internet security Essay Example for Free

Internet security Essay In the developed and developing world, the use of the internet has increased in popularity. The use of the internet has become the preferred mode of communication and resources for various players like industries, corporations, telecommunications, and governments and in business. In business, the internet has facilitated financial transactions that have greatly changed the face of business making it fast and simple and in conformation to the global village the technology has created. With the increased use of the internet, there has been a corresponding increase in cyber crime from criminals who are seeking either financial gains or other advantages for example military. The frequency of these attacks is very high and the levels of sophistication used are great . This makes it difficult for many organizations to determine new threats, their risk factors and ways of dealing with the menace (Cetron, et al, 2009). Many times it is difficult for the organizations to determine which attacks to deal with first and how to allocate resources to deal with them. In the commercial sector, attacks on electronic financial transactions have resulted in great financial losses and corresponding reductions in user confidence. Electronic transactions consist of funds transfers, data interchange, trade confirmations and benefits transfers. Many crimes that occur have plagued the industry for years like theft, service denial, extortion demands or fraud. Technology has however; greatly magnified the ability of major crimes to be committed in a matter of seconds. Electronic security is an industry that is growing and becoming globalised. This industry offers services in the categories of assessment, access and utilization. To demonstrate the severity of attacks on April, 2009, Chinese and Russian spies managed to infiltrate the United States of America electrical grid and inserted disruptive software into the system (Cetron, et al, 2009). An attack which occurred prior to this one on September 2008 would have caused the collapse of the global economy were it not for intervention. Unidentified hackers robbed the lucrative American financial market accounts a total of five hundred and fifty million dollars in a little less than two hours. If the accounts would not have been closed by the Treasury Department they would have lost almost six trillion dollars. This would have caused the global economy to collapse in approximately twenty four hours. One security threat is phishing. Phishing involves the acquisition of sensitive information like passwords, credit card details, usernames and pin numbers. It makes its presentation as being a legal entity. The unsuspecting victims are lured by receiving communications which purport to be from a popular website or payment processors. It is usually done through instant messaging services or emails (Shu-Min Shann-Bin, 2006). These communications directs the users to enter their details at a fraudulent website which bears a great semblance to the authentic one. Phishing attacks were observed on two popular brands which provide payment services for banks globally in the United States of America in February 2010. The fraudsters created phishing sites in English and other languages, the most popular being French. These websites targeted customers by sending spam mails with the subject proving the card number and claiming that there was a risk of fraudulent transactions taking place. This attack was created using two types of phishing websites. The first utilised Uniform Resource Locators which were created with domain names with many top level domain variants. The most popular domain which was utilised was . cz which represented the Czech Republic. Upon entering their sensitive information into a card holder page for the false verification, the page redirected to the real website. The second attack utilised Uniform Resource Locators with Internet Protocol domains which were hosted on servers based in the United States (Glaessner, 2002). The Uniform Resource Locators’ strings were very long, typically with more than seven hundred characters. The pages asked for sensitive data but had an auto signed debit card or credit card number. This auto signing was done by placing stolen numbers of cards obtained from earlier attacks on the form. Upon receipt of information the page was redirected to a blank page. Cross site scripting is a form of phishing that occurs in programs or websites that allow user input. If the input data is not properly sanitized the program may then process thee input or execute the codes which the original program was not to do. This has been used to redirect users to fake websites. Users are advised not to click on suspicious links in emails and to check the Uniform Resource Locator’s of the website to authenticate brands. It is also advised that one should type the brand domain name directly into the browser address instead of following links. The use of security software has also been recommended. Pharming involves redirecting the redirection of websites traffic and taking it to a false website. Pharming is done by either converting the hosts file on the victims’ computer or exploiting Domain Name Systems servers’ software (Basu, 2009). These Domain Names Systems servers main task is to convert internet names to their real addresses. A compromised server therefore does not direct traffic to legitimate websites. Highly vulnerable sites of compromised are near internet leaves. If wrong entries on a computer’s host file are made it results in circumvention of name lookup using its own name to Internet Protocol mapping, this makes it a popular target for malware. Once it is rewritten a user can be redirected to a fake copy. The better targets for pharming are desktop computers as they receive poor administration in comparison to most other internet services. Host file compromises can compromise the network router. Many routers specify Domain Name Systems to clients on the network and wrong information here spoils the entire local area network. A compromise in routers is very hard to detect. Pharming also occurs by infecting the victim’s computer with malware or a virus. This causes the redirection of a website to a fake one. An unsuspecting user may enter information site unaware. To avoid pharming, users are advised to search for details that prove that the website is authentic. Typing the sites address into the browser bar also offers some protection. Use of an antivirus to reduce virus infiltration into the computers is also recommended. Vigilance is important in warding off attacks. Trojan horses are also a great threat to internet security. Trojan horses present themselves as valuable software which is available for downloading on the internet. This fools many people into downloading the virus in the presumption that it is another application. A Trojan horse is usually separated into parts which are the client and the server. The client is usually disguised as important software and is situated in some sharing networks like peer to peer or uncertified websites for downloads. As soon as the client Trojan is executed in the computer, the attacker who is the person operating the server has great control over the computer and can destroy it depending on his purpose. The spread of the Trojan horse virus can occur through email attachments using various spamming techniques. Malware creators spread the virus through chat software like Skype and Yahoo Messenger. The virus may also infect other machines by distributing copies of itself to those in the address book of the infected computer. There are many types of Trojan horses. Remote access Trojans give attackers complete control of he victim’s computer and access to any information stored in the files. Password Trojans copy all passwords and look for passwords as they are keyed into a computer and send them to a certain email address. Key loggers log the keystrokes used by victims and send the log information to the attacker and can be configured to online and offline modes of recording. Destructive Trojans cause destructions to files and deletes them completely from infected computers. They are able to delete all system files of a computer (Basu, 2009). While there are other types of Trojans not mentioned here, it should be noted that a Trojan may work with a combination of some of the functionalities explained. To best avoid a Trojan hose virus attack, one should open email attachments or files received from strange senders. Installing and updating an antivirus program is also helpful. For secure electronic online transactions certain criteria have to be addressed and met. There must be secure access control which determines who has access to a system and be able to deny access to intruders. Proper authentication of users and message integrity must also be established. Privacy of the parties involved must also be safeguarded and maintained (Shu-Min Shann-Bin, 2006). Non-repudiation must be ensured where the sender cannot deny (falsely) sending a message. The use of online signatures has also been manipulated to commit fraud. Electronic signatures are a recognized electronic way of showing that a person has accepted the contents of a message sent electronically. These signatures are increasingly being used in electronic commerce and have evolved into digitized signatures which are encrypted and more secure than a simple electronic signature. While they are themselves subject to fraud the purpose of their creation was to combat fraud (Hansen, 1995). Electronic signatures are based on legal principles which have to be understood by the institutions which wish to use it. The use of digital signatures is a code that authenticates the origins of a document. A well done electronic signature causes the signer to be uniquely identified. It also causes the document to be locked using encryption technology and is electronically stamped throughout the process with time and date. It also stores the document for access without fear of being lost or its existence denied. The security of electronic financial transactions can also be enhanced by the use of digital certificates against phishing and pharming. To avoid manipulation of transactions in signature based online banking, utility of Class-3 electronic card readers should be explored. Virus scanners should be used to protect from Trojan horses. Care when downloading software should be exercised. With the mass adoption of technology, countries around the world are increasingly using technological based solutions to address their needs and carry out their functions. The use of the internet has created a highly competitive market. While cyber crime has not infiltrated or integrated itself equally in many countries it is an industry that is growing very fast and deserves much global attention (Shu-Min Shann-Bin, 2006). As earlier discussed, it has the potential of destroying whole markets and creating great havoc. Attempts to control cyber crime have not been concerted. Many challenges have arisen in trying to control this threat. Technology is a fast changing and cyber crime has achieved very high levels of sophistication. Cyber criminals have designed malware which are virtually undetectable and are difficult to diagnose. It has proved challenging to design and keep up with these creations (Glaessner, 2002). Due to the high levels of vulnerability to cyber attacks there is an urgent need to formulate clear policies. These policies should include guidelines on how to cyber crime is to be dealt with. This should include coming up with laws that will outline prosecution of cyber criminals due to the potential of these criminals to create damage and go unpunished and detected. Users of the internet and the various services it offers should also assume personal responsibility for their own safety (Cetron, et al, 2009). Studies have shown that the ‘human factor’ is largely the cause of the success of cyber crime rather than advancements in technology. In the United States, despite various public campaigns on internet security, people continue to be reckless with their personal information. This leaves them very vulnerable to attacks by cyber criminals. Predictions have been made that incidences of cyber crime will continue to increase. Users should therefore be very vigilant in monitoring their information. Software to combat cyber crime is available and users should take the initiative to acquire this software to alert them of suspicious websites or claims. They should also regularly update their software like antivirus which is highly dynamic due to the creation of new viruses and malware that occurs at a very high rate (almost daily). In conclusion, electronic financial transactions have created great savings in terms of financial savings for both providers and users and reduced the wastage of time. The use of this technology has correspondingly exposed its users newer forms of crime and every effort must be made to combat cyber crime.

The Lies My Teacher Told Me and People’s History of the United States E

There is a logical saying in society one should take to heart; that line being, â€Å"Don’t believe everything you read.† Just because a text is written and published does not means it is always accurate. Historical facts, similar to words whispered in the child’s game, â€Å"telephone,† are easily transformed into different facts, either adding or subtracting certain details from the story. James Loewen, in The Lies My Teacher Told Me, reveals how much history has been changed by textbook writes so that students studying the textbooks can understand and connect to the information. In Howard Zinn’s, People’s History of the United States, the author recounts historical tales through the point of view of the common people. Mainstream media, as proven by Loewen and Zinn, often pollutes and dilutes history to make the information sound better and more easily understood for the society. First of all, the accounts of Zinn and Loewen are quite different that what textbooks and mainstream media tell children. As mentioned previously, Zinn’s People’s History of the United States conveys the narrative of the travels of Columbus and the beginnings of slavery and racism through the eyes of the common or native people. This point of view enlightens the reader, who most likely believes that Columbus was a good and benevolent American hero, to that fact that Columbus â€Å"sailed the ocean blue† out of greedy and self-glorification. In reality, Columbus caused pain, suffering, and death because of his greedy; he captured natives for their ability to perform hard labor and information on where to find riches, primarily gold (Zinn, Ch. 1). The heroic adventures, as portrayed in society, melt down to be the acts of a greedy man who sought glory for himself b... ... and food we had an equal share† (Ch. 4, A3). White servants, although for the most part did receive all the aspects of the portion of the contract referring to time in service, they received the bare minimum of the necessities. Clearly then, one can see the necessity to read/see more then one perspective on historical events is crucial. One cannot rely on one description alone because the information may or may not be the complete truth. The author may leave out, embellish, or be uninformed of certain details, which leaves the reader at a disadvantage is he/ reads only one passage. Works Cited Loewen, James W. Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong. Second. New York, New York: Touchstone, 1997. Print. Zinn, Howard. A People's History of the United State. Fifth. New York, New York: Harper Collins, 2010. Print.

Compare Christopher Marlowe with Greg Smenda Essay

The passion for romance is something for human beings for thousands and thousands of years has never been changed, they always willing to give the best they have to their love, in order to move their hearts immediately. Both of the poem of â€Å"The Passionate Shepherd to His Love† and â€Å"The Passionate Astronaut to His Love† are showing the addressers’ patronal romance like others did. However, with the change of time setting, to scene can be so different. One is more classic and humanity and the other one is more modern and technical. CLASSIC AND HUMANITY In†The Passionate Shepherd to His Love†, the first line of the first stanza, the shepherd makes gently and directly calls to his love. The Shepherd invites his love to come with him and â€Å"pleasures prove† (line 2.) This immediate reference to pleasure gives a mildly romantic tone to this poem. He implies that the entire landscape of the countryside of England â€Å"Valleys, groves, hills and fields/Woods or steeply mountains† will prove to contain pleasure of all kinds for the lovers. He use the beauty of nature to offer his love. It’s a very common theme in pastoral poetry. The next stanza suggests that the lovers will take their entertainment not in a theatre or at a banquet, but sitting upon rocks or by rivers. The third, fourth, and fifth stanzas are a kind of list of the â€Å"delights†, mostly sartorial, that the Shepherd will make for his love. The list of the things he will make for his lady reveal a great deal about the situation of the â€Å"Shepherd† and what he can offer his love. But in reality this increasingly fanciful list of gifts such as the gold buckles, the coral clasps, and the amber studs could only come from a member of the gentry, or a merchant in a town. The fantasy of bucolic paradise is entirely idealized. Incidentally, the plants mentioned (roses, flowers, and myrtle) are conventional horticultural expressions of romance. The rose, especially, was sacred to the goddess Venus (and it is how roses have come to symbolize  romantic love in some modern Western cultures.) The image of the Shepherd as a member of the gentry becomes complete when, in the last stanza, it is said â€Å"The shepherd swains shall dance and sing/ for thy delight each May-morning.† The picture here is of other shepherds doing the speaker’s bidding. The poem ends with an â€Å"if† statement, and contains a slightly somber note. There is no guarantee that the lady will find these country enticements enough to follow the Shepherd, and since the construction of them is preposterous and fantastical to begin with, the reader is left with the very real possibility that the Shepherd will be disappointed. LINK PARAGRAPH Passionate Shepherd to His Love was appealing to a popular genre in Elizabethan England countryside. On reading on Greg Smenda’s parody of the poem, it’s obvious that he is appealing to a more modern reader. The timeline was in 1960s when space invention was popular. The intention of the two poems is very different. It mining the movement of desire. MODERN AND TECHNICAL. By looking at the title, reader can pick up easily it’s a parody. They both have the same structure of total six stanzas and four lines each. They also use similar words and phrases such as the first stanza starts with ‘Come live with me and be my mate’ similar words but Smenda used mate which sound less romantic than love. Both of them makes directly calls to their love. He invites his mate to come with him, but instead of ‘pleasures prove’ it’s ‘pleasure spate’ which gives a sense of horror instead of romance. He implies that the entire landscape of the moon which doesn’t sound particularly romantic, but he offer what he think is the best. Space is very popular topic at that time. The next stanza also suggest that the lovers will take their entertainment, but is sitting on lunar crust, beside some crater holes with engines humming which sounds awful. The third, fourth, and fifth stanzas are also kind of list of the ‘delights’ that the Astronaut will make for his lady love, but they doesn’t make a great deal about the situation of the ‘Astronaut’ and what he can offer to his love. A bed of plastic is easy to reach and doesn’t sound comfortable to sleep on. For an astronaut, a space suit is also easily available. In reality the gift he offered sounds good but they are not comparable than any sorts of treasures. The plastic, especially, was not aesthetically pleasing and doesn’t have the connection with romance at all. The image of the Astronaut becomes complete when, in the last stanza, it is said ‘The astronaut colony shall for you sing’ the picture here is also of other astronaut doing the speaker’s bidding. The poem is also end with an ‘if’ statement, but add a very strong phrases with an exclamation mark at the very end, so the reader is left with a very positive feeling that the Astronaut will be accepted. CONCLUSION Even though these two poem are based on the same structure and same sense of emergent for inviting their love one, they have completely different feeling. Marlowe’s poem can be described as classic and humanity, but Smenda’s poem can be described as modern and technical. So it’s clear that The Passionate Shepherd to His Love is more romantic than The Passionate Shepherd to His Love.

Religion and Truth Essay

All Religion is TruthWhat is insanity of the religion? According to Ramakrishna, no One religion is truth, however, all the integral transmissions of sacred wisdom and contemplative practice that survive the test of time are true. (43) That means, the complete devotion to the source of knowledge and actions through prayer are the fundamental and most important walks of life that constitute to the wholeness of truth. These most important aspects of religion constitute to the wholeness of truth by what they place on the individual, which is the Grace of God. The belief that My Religion Alone is true is not the correct belief because all religions are truth from what the religion does to the practitioner. If the practitioner is in complete consciousness of God and life, that alone is the key to truth. So the basis of all these religions, be it Hindu, Christian, Jew or Muslim is primarily through the sanctity of God and that is the willingness to devote time and life through veneration to the Divine Reality, which is God, that brings all the religions together. As time transcends and religion expands, reality becomes the critical starting point through where we begin our destiny of truth. That means, knowledge is transcendent and that it is the gauntlet or tool that creates the value of truth within the individual. To understand this point fully, we must break down what Ramakrishna meant by integral transmissions of sacred wisdom. Integral means the completeness of the whole, and in this case it is used to exemplify the wholeness of truth in being the basis of knowledge. By the basis it is then completed through transmission or rather a passage of possibly enlightenment of knowledge. That is why knowledge is referred to as sacred, because of the qualities of truth that it brings within the individual. Furthermore, what constitutes to truth is the emphasis the individual places on eternal goal or spiritual peace by a means of illuminating the sacredness of knowledge. Persistence of intense awareness is the truth that Ramakrishna is trying to convey. Moreover, the goal of achieving a manifested state of sanctity is through complete sincerity. That is sincerity works in the favor of the practitioner because they not only work for truth and knowledge for themselves but indeterminately for God alone, and this is what is achieved in all religions, in essence making them very connected and similar. According to Ramakrishna, its supposed to be about what we fight for in religion, not what we fight for outside of religion. In addition, what we fight for is suppose to be for the ultimate being, God, through Divine Nature. Divine Nature is achieved through a balance of realization in our daily life. The key tool is sincerity. Sincerity is about being genuine and honest; however it is about being honest first and foremost to the individual. Because without being able to be truthful to yourself, there would be no decisive factor that contributes to inspired belief and thus creating a problem within the individual. The way to obtain divine nature is not simple, because it takes time, but those who are sincere can and will achieve it. Divine nature consists of being able to learn from our daily trials and tribulations and learning very critically from them. At the same rate, the most fundamental thing that helps us on our path is the presence of God within us. (42)Why does Ramakrishna refer to God being the only living presence within us and how do we achieve this? The benefits of having God within us are bliss and freedom. What it means to have bliss could potentially lead to freedom, freedom of the self. It is freedom of the self because the presence of God is the only thing that we become conscious of and creates a sort of ripple within us that really brings out the bliss of God. Moreover, it is the awareness of God that structure our daily life and thus creates a Divine Nature that we live. Religions create a sense of supreme happiness and that reveal an urgent desire to be at peace. Through understanding that God is present everywhere is the beginning stages of awareness, but moving to the stage that God is present with in us creates motivation and an incentive for the individual to complete his or her goal in life. Furthermore, in order to maintain a balance of the spiritual self, there are certain spiritual ideals that are really crucial in understanding the truth in all religions. Devotion seems to sound easy, whereas it is serves as a purpose for the individual. Devotion is the dedication to belief in God and resulting in profound piety. It is correlated with the idea of ideals. Ideals are processes that work hand in hand in achieving the individuals ultimate goal, which is developed by the means of devotion. Ideals are the realization of something more and that something more is the supreme presence. Ideals exist in the mind but at the same time in the heart and the entire body. It takes form in the individuals day to day action and helps in creating a balance within the individuals spiritual conscience. Once this process of ideals is followed up by proper actions and proper living, then harmony is reached in the form of the manifestation of God. Manifestation of God means that the cause of being completely habituated in living the proper way creates the effect of harmony. Harmony is a consistent pleasing effect that is caused by this absolute idea of consciousness and bliss. That is to say that all the important aspects that were stated from the beginning to now, are the primary purpose of the truth in all the religions, in essence showing the beauty that God brings forth through each and every religion. Finally we must go back to the original question of insanity. Ramakrishna in essence is saying that it is insane to believe your religion is the only and ultimate truth for we have no basis for that belief. We can see through the process of spiritual development that the beauty lays in the truth and sincerity each and every religion places on the individual in such a balanced and consistent manner. BIBLIOGRAPHY1. Philip Novak. The Worlds Wisdom: Sacred Texts of the World. Harper SanFrancisco. -1st ed. Pg 42-44.