Paper and Keyboard

Common Network Faults: Network Management

2010-12-07T05:04:00.000-08:00

According to Clemm (2006), network management is defined as those activities, methods, procedures and tools used in operating, administering and maintaining the entire networked system. The two most common network faults are playback attacks and unauthorized access.

1. Playback attack – a thief observes, investigates and replays a prior transmitted message (Jurgen, 1999). As the term implies, the attackers record or keep a communication, then play it back afterwards (Zwicky and Cooper, 2000).

2. Unauthorized Access – the attacker, who is not authorized to access the network, retrieve data or information within.

References

Clemm, A 2006, Network Management Fundamentals, Cisco Press

Jurger, R 1999, Automotive Electronics Handbook, McGraw-Hill Professional

Zwicky, E, Cooper, S & Chapman, B 2000, Building Internet Firewalls, O’Reilly

Network Management Fundamentals

Advanced Encryption Standard (AES)

2010-12-02T10:18:00.000-08:00

The Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) is defined as a symmetric-key encryption standard adopted by the U.S. government.

Assuming that you have access to 10,000 up-to-date PCs and stating any other reasonable assumptions you need to make, calculate how long it will take, on average, to derive an AES key using a key space search (sometimes referred to as a brute force attack).

Solution:

· 1 Gigahertz (GHz) = 1,000,000,000 cycles per second

· AES can support 128 bits, 192 bits and 256 bits key sizes

· Using brute-force approach = 3.4 x 10³⁸

· Each PC can process 2,600,000 cycles per second

· 10 = 10 cycles

Then:

1 PC: 2,600,000,000/10 = 260,000,000

10 PCs: 260,000,000(10,000) = 2.6x10¹²

AES key: (3.4 x 10³⁸) / (2.6 x 10¹²) = 1.3 x 10²⁶seconds

= 3.6 x 10²² hours

Algebraic Aspects of the Advanced Encryption Standard Advanced Encryption Standard - AES: 4th International Conference, AES 2004, Bonn, Germany, May 10-12, 2004, Revised Selected and Invited Papers

Individual Differences in Second or Foreign Language Teaching and Learning

2010-12-02T08:31:00.000-08:00

According to Oxford (1999), “an understanding of individual differences is very important to successful instruction in a second or foreign language.” Different studies and literatures of the past showed that the main reason why many of the second language learners do not succeed, while some leaders do well, without exerting too much effort, is because of the different characteristics of learners, such as personal traits, motivation or language aptitudes – or known as the individual differences (IDs) (Doughty and Long, 2003). Thus, with IDs, it shows that every individual or human are unique, therefore, their reactions and interests of a specific learning instruction will be different from one another. As a result, explaining and describing the pattern of IDs is considered as important in second language acquisition.

IDs in resource availability and the patterns of cognitive abilities contribute to are important in order to: (a) elucidate differences between learners in the efficiency of second language (L2); (b) illustrate differences in understood, supplementary and unambiguous L2 learning process; and (c) give details about child-adult differences in the process of acquisition and any general theory of SLA (Robinson, 2001).

In connection to IDs, it is important to focus on the different learning styles. Learning is defined as the interactive process between activities of student and teacher in the given learning environment (Keefe, 1987). With the IDs, it also follow that students learn in different way (Price, 1977). Caplan (1981) explained that the brain structure can influence the acquisition of language structure, while Schwartz, Davidson and Maer (1975) supported that the hemispheres of the brain have perceptions avenues, which the study of Stronck (1980) showed that some types of cells found in some brains cannot be found in others.

As a result, Oxford (1990) developed and proposed a Strategy Inventory for Language Learning, which include 6 major groups.

Strategies	Description
1. Cognitive Strategies	Enable the learner to control and influence the language material directly (via reasoning, analysis, note-taking and synthesis)
2. Metacognitive Strategies	Apply to manage the learning process in general (via recognizing own preferences and needs of an individual, planning, monitoring mistakes and evaluating result )
3. Memory-related Strategies	Enables the learners to connect one L2 item or aspect with another but do not entail deep understanding
4. Affective Strategies	Enables the leaner to manage and control the level of their motivations and emotions.
5. Social Strategies	Helps the leaner to learn through interaction and connection with others, at the same time understand the target culture (via asking questions and clarification, exploring, talking with native speaking partner and focusing on social and cultural norms)

References

Price, G, Dunn, R. & Dunn, K. (1977). A summary of research on learning style. New York, NY: American Educational Research Association.

Robinson, P. (2001). ‘Individual differences, cognitive abilities, aptitude complexes and learning conditions in second language acquisition’. Second Language Research. 17(4), 368 – 392.

Keefe, J. W. (1987). Theory and Practice. Reston, VA: National Association of Secondary School Principals.

Doughty, C. & Long, M. (2003). The handbook of second language acquisition. Wiley-Blackwell.

Second and Foreign Language Learning Through Classroom Interaction

E-Commerce in Malaysia

2010-12-02T08:13:00.000-08:00

Introduction

E-commerce is conducted between different businesses – and varies on how the business is carried out between the business and its respective consumers. Basically, there are 5 types of e-commerce: business to business (B2B); business to consumer (B2C); consumer to business (C2C); consumer to consumer (C2C); and business to government (B2G).

According to the report of IDC, in 2006, Malaysia had recorded a total of US$2.8 billion B2C e-commerce spending, which shows a great increase of 24% from US$1.9 of the prior year. Overall, the e-commerce spending in Malaysia in 2006 was amounted to US$13.6 billion, a vast growth of 77%. The said increase or growth was attributed to the increased number of Internet users, which had reached to 6 million – 4.7 million of which were unique buyer.

References

IDC 2007, IDC Reports 70% Growth in Malaysia E-Commerce Spending in 2006, IDC, http://www.idc.com.my/PressFiles/IDC%20Malaysia%20-%20eCommerce.asp [Accessed 15 December 2009]

The Prospects of E-commerce for The SMEs in Malaysia: Usage of e-commerce by SMEs in MalaysiaMalaysia Internet and E-Commerce Investment and Business Guide: Regulations and Opportunities (World Strategic and Business Information Library)

Advantages of Outsourcing

2010-12-02T07:54:00.000-08:00

According to the Outsourcing Institute (1995) outsourcing had become a fully-fledge business megatrend in USA and Europe's industries. Due to globalization, competition had become intensive, thus companies, particularly those in the global market are focusing or obtaining and maintaining competitive advantage. One of which is through outsourcing (Weston, 1996).

Engelke (1996) defined outsourcing as the process of settling on to get hold of a given or selected products or/and services from the external entities from the firm. Thus, it is the process of making use of the knowledge, skills, capabilities, experiences, technologies and even originalities that were not used before (Kraker, 1995).

The advancement and popularity of Information Technology (IT) and communication technology have helped in order to speed up the organizational change. And because of the changes in both macro- and micro-environment of a business, companies focus on continuous change in order to maintain their edge. As a result, outsourcing showed growth for the past decades. The study of Foster (2006) tackled that the outsourcing data centers from 1995 had increased from $180 billion to $420 in 2000.

The most popular advantage of outsourcing is cost effectiveness and cost savings. This is because financial savings are expected to be made, because the vendors of outsourcing services can offer similar services, which can help them to offer the benefits of economies of scale (Walker and Weber, 1984). These vendors can offer services in high quality and lower prices, because they just focus on specific specialist and all of their financial resources, together with other important resources will be solely used for the benefit of those services. Thus, it follow that outsourcing help to acquire higher quality of services, due to the specialization of the vendors, which consequently connect it to increase in productivity.

Less cost spent in different operational expenses and higher productivity would mean higher profit. Therefore, in the end, outsourcing can help in order to add values to the firm (Alexander and Young, 1996), at the same time, controlling or preventing risks associated to political, social and technological aspect of a specific business unit or process to be outsourced.

References

Alexander, M and Young, D (1996), ‘Outsourcing: Where’s the value?’, Long Range Planning, vol. 29, pp. 728 – 730.

Engelke, W D (1996), ‘The virtual times’, Outsourcing Perspectives, Retrieved from 31^st August, from HSV website.

Foster, E (1996), ‘Outsource sense’, Info World, vol. 8, no. 37.

Kater, M (1995), ‘An outsourcing primer’, Training and Development, vol. 49, no. 11, pp. 20 – 26.

Outsourcing Institute (1995), ‘Outsourcing: How industry leaders are reshaping the American corporation’, Fortune.

Walker, G and Weber, D (1984), ‘A transaction cost approach to make or buy decisions’, Administrative Science Quarterly, vol. 29, pp. 373 – 391.

Weston, R (1996), ‘Its hard to buck the outsourcing tide’, PC Week, p. 1.

The Black Book of Outsourcing: How to Manage the Changes, Challenges, and OpportunitiesOutsourcing For DummiesThe Outsourcing Handbook: How to Implement a Successful Outsourcing Process

Impact of the Internet in Tourism Industry

2010-12-02T07:07:00.000-08:00

Tourism as a phenomenon is continuously pushing its boundary forward. It's boundary is becoming more and more global. Evidence and studies show that the industry will continue to improve and expand for the next years. From merely 25 million international arrivals registered in 1950s, it had increased to 700 million international travelers by the 21st century and created a vast proportion of GDP in most countries in the globe (Buhalis and Costa, 2006).

This growth can be attributed greatly towards the improvement of technology. In particularly, Information Technology (IT) helps to manage, monitor and control the increasing number of tourism services, products and its growing demands (Mills and Laws, 2005).

In specific, the Internet had helped to create a new landscape for tourism and travel industry. This is because consumers, travelers or tourists, now have a direct access towards information and access to the basic providers of tourism products and services.

The Internet created opportunities for all businesses in the world, from small to multinational companies. In particular the Internet offered a new medium for marketing and consumer communication - taking advantage of its cost-effectiveness. In the travel and tourism industry, according to the report of Forrester Research (2002), in 2002 alone, the number of American travelers who purchased their travel packages online had increased to 23.3 million households.

The study of Zhou and Lin (2000) which focus on the use of the Internet and printed brochure for advertisement, showed that majority of the respondents have Internet access in their homes, offices and libraries, which enables 43% of the respondents to avail travel and tourism services via online.

As a result, the study of Mathies and Wiemair (2004) showed that the travel and tourism industry is one of the major users of Internet.

References

Buhalis, D. and Costa, C. (2006). Tourism business frontiers: consumers, products and industry. Elsevier.

Matthies, C. and Weiemair, K. (2004). The tourism and leisure industry: shaping the future. Haworth Press.

Mills, J. and Law, R. (2005). Handbook of consumer behavior, tourism and the Internet. Haworth Press.

Zhou, Z. (2004). E-commerce and information technology in hospitality & tourism. Thomson Delmar Learning.

101 Ways to Promote Your Tourism Business Web Site: Proven Internet Marketing Tips, Tools, and Techniques to Draw Travelers to Your Site (101 Ways series)Internet Marketing for Your Tourism Business: Proven Techniques for Promoting Tourist-Based Businesses over the Internet

Green Consumerism

2010-12-02T07:06:00.001-08:00

The term green consumerism was coined in 1986 by John Elkington - an environmental consultant. Later in 1988, it was launched into the market place via Green Shopping Week and the publication of Green Consumer Guide. The said event created huge impact, which was followed by another promotion in 1989 and other publications which aim on informing and encouraging the consumers to be aware and conscious about the different environmental impact of the products or/and services that they are availing, together with the different manufacturing and production process which are considered as hazardous (Osterhus, 1997).

The main point of green consumerism is to persuade the consumer to act and pursue political decisions and choices that are connected to their daily consumptions. As time goes by, particularly in the current issues related to global warming, green consumerism had become a vital aspect in social marketing literature, and became and personal ethical orientation, pro-environmental personal values and attitudes which help to form socially conscious and responsible decision-making (Mosainder and Personen, 2002).

References

Mosainder, J. and Personen, S. (2002). 'Narratives of sustainable ways of living: constructing the self and other as green consumer'. Management Decision. 40(4), 329 - 342.

Osterhus, T. (1997). 'Pro-social consumer influence strategies: When and how do they work?' Journal of Marketing. 61, 16 - 29.

Eco-Standards, Product Labelling and Green Consumerism (Consumption and Public Life)Representation of Green Consumerism: A Constructionist Critique Green Marketing: Opportunity for Innovation, 2nd Edition Stella Artois Case Study: tapping into the rise of green and ethical consumerism in alcoholic drinks

Wireless Mouse

2010-12-02T07:05:00.003-08:00

Introduction

The first mouse was invented by Dougles Engelbart of Standford Research Center in Menlo Park, California in 1963 (Stefik and Stefik,). At that time, the arrow keys on the keyboard were the only way of moving the cursor around the computer screen, the keys were inefficient and awkward, because of this problem, Dr. Engelbart, created a small, brick-like mechanism with one button on top and two wheels on the underside. The two wheels detected horizontal and vertical movement, and the unit was somewhat difficult to maneuver. The unit was linked to the computer by a cable so the motion signals could be electrically transmitted to the computer for viewing on the monitor (Holmes n.d.).

In 1972, the ball mouse was invented by Bill English (Ceruzzi, 2003). The wheels on the mouse’s undercarriage had been replaced by a single, free-rolling; and two more buttons had been added to the top.

Parts of Mouse

The Body

· Skin – is the outer, hard plastic body that the user guides across a flat surface (Holmes n.d.)

· Tail – is the electrical cable leading one of the ends of the mouse and finishing at the connection with the Central Processing Unit (CPU). At the tail end, one to three buttons are the external contacts to small electrical switches. The press of a button closes the switch with a click; electrically, the circuit is closed, and the computer has received a command. The wireless mouse doesn’t have this part (Holmes n.d.).

The Brain

· Driver – is an external brain that tells the computer to understand the mouse’s signal. The driver tells the computer how to interpret the mouse’s IC data stream including speed, direction and clicked commands (Holmes n.d.).

Categories of Mouse

· Trackball Mouse – the ball is rolled at one place with the fingers and thumb rather than rolling the mouse on the table top (Chindananda, 2007).

· Joystick Mouse – usually includes two upright sticks which are modified with the hand and a button is pressed on either stick (Chindananda, 2007).

· Light Pen – utilizes a light-sensitive detector, requiring the user to hold a pen and point it at the screen (Chindananda, 2007).

· Touch Pad Mouse - is a small, flat and rectangular pointing device that is sensitive to pressure and motion (Chindananda, 2007).

· Wireless Mouse – a mouse without a cable. It works up to one and a half meter away from the computer (Chindananda, 2007).

Wireless Mouse: How it Works?

Wireless mice usually work via frequencies commonly referred to as RF or Radio Frequency transmitter and radio receiver

RF Transmitter

RF Transmitter records the mouse movements and buttons that are clicked and send the information via signals to the receiver

RF Receiver

RF Receiver is connected to the computer peripheral mouse input. It receives the signals, decodes them and sends it directly to the computer.

Bluetooth RF

Another technology that is emerging and now beginning to be used in large number for wireless mice is Bluetooth RF Technology. Blue tooth is now used instead of infrared (Tech FAQ n.d.). Bluetooth is known to connect computers to peripherals such as keyboards, printers and headsets. Because of its decent range capability of 33 feet, it is now one o the most used frequencies in wireless connection.

Advantages of Wireless Mouse

Wireless mice are inexpensive. This technology is can be purchased for as low as US$25. This technology is also lightweight, so it means that it can be moved more comfortable and easily. It is also hassle free, because it can be use in any surface. And because of its wireless technology, the users of the mouse can move freely because they are not tied to the computer.

Disadvantage of Wireless Mouse

It is uses battery, and because of this, recharging of battery is necessary. There are things that can interfere the signal, because of this, the user have to make sure that there are nothing that might affect the signal. Wireless mouse is prone to loss, because it is not connected to computer; there is a big chance that it might get lost, so the user should always keep it in a safe place. This technology also needs more maintenance than the usual mouse, because if not, it might affect the signal.

References

Ceruzzi, P. (2003). A history of modern computing. MIT Press.

Chidananda, M. R. (2007). History & types of mouse, trackball, touchscreen, joystick, cardless, wireless, bluetooth. Logitech. Retrieved on 28th November, 2010 from http://infiya.blogspot.com

Linux Reviews. Computer mouse. Retrieved on 28th November, 2010 from http:www.linuxrevies.org.

Cheap-Computer-Reference. History of Computer Mouse. Retrieved on 28th November, 2010, from http://www.cheap-computers-reference.com.

MAC. Optical apple. Retrieved on 28th November, 2010 from http://infiya.blogspot.com/

Holmes, G. Background. Retrieved 28th November, 2010, from http://www.madehow.com.

Hook, B. (2003). The computer mouse trajectory. TechNewsWorld. Retrieved on 28th November, 2010 from http://www.technewsworld.com.

Tech-Faq. How does a wireless mouse work? Retrieved 28th November, 2010 from http://www.tech-faq.com/.

Lewis, M. J. and Jones, R. L. (1996). Using computers in history: a practical guide. Routledge.

Warwickcrystal. Mouse and Mouse. Retrieved 28th November, 2010 from www.warwickcrystal.co.uk/

Richardson, R. (2005). 'Taking control of your digital imaging'. THE Journal. 33(33), 46.

Stefic, B. and Stefik, M. (2004). Breakthrough: stories and strategies of radical. MIT Press.

Logitech M305 Wireless Mouse (Silver)Microsoft Wireless Notebook Optical Mouse 3000 - Dragon Fruit Pink Microsoft Comfort Optical Mouse 3000 ( D1T-00002 )

Newspaper as a Medium of Advertisement

2010-12-02T07:05:00.001-08:00

The use of newspapers is a widely used medium of advertisement in the world. It is ranked as a top media choice when making purchasing decisions on a certain product or service, according to a Scarborough Research of more than 4,500 respondents for the Newspaper Association of America. This study is part of the industry’s multi-million dollar advertisement campaign designed to surprise advertisers with the truth about consumer engagement with the newspaper advertising and the growing reach of newspaper media (Owens, 2006)

Newspaper readers also believe that newspapers provide the most trustworthy and believable advertisements (40%), compared with magazines (30%); television (23%); radio (18%) and the internet (16%). Newspapers help the advertiser to maximize the return by reaching consumers who will almost involve themselves with the advertising message (Owens, 2006).

The study also shows that newspapers were present in the lives of those who considered themselves “non-readers.” According to the study, one third (32 percent) of those who said they did not read a paper in the past seven days said they actually “used” a newspaper in some manner – mostly to check for sales, price items or to use a coupon (Newspaper Association of America, 2006).

References

Owens, S. (2006). 'Newspaper engagement study shows newspapers ads are integral, desired part of newspaper content'. Newspaper Association of America. Retrieved on 28th November, 2010, from http://www.naa.org/

Newspaper Association of America (2006). Newspaper reader engagement. Retrieved on 28th November, 2010 from http://www.naa.org/

The typography of newspaper advertisements,Sphere Newspaper Advertisement 1918 Hats Shoes Barley Vintage Advertisements 1840-1916 [Anthology]

Orange UK: Background

2010-12-02T07:04:00.000-08:00

Orange

is a mobile network operator and internet service provider in the United Kingdomwhich is owned by Orange SA a subsidiary of France Telecom. It was founded in 1994 as a telecommunications company specializing in mobile phones and recently, added broadband Internet services. After three years of operation, it floated on the London Stock Exchange and had gained a million customers in the

. In 1999, it was sold to Mannesmann AG. Now, it is owned by France Telecom.

The company is offering a vast selection of services both for personal and for business purposes. For personal, it offers a collection of entertainment and information services for the mobile phone like music, video, sports and access to other mobile Internet sites. For business, they are offering services from professional to IP transformation, converged fixed-mobile-internet solutions such as Business Everywhere, deployment services and ongoing operational support. It is also the first company that sells mobile phones unit in the internet in the UK.

It also offers other services like the selling of mobile plans, dial-up internet packages, broadband and other mobile accessories (Orange. Available at [http://www.orange.co.uk/]. Accessed [21/08/07].