Background of the Story Essay

In a much lighter context, Giovanni’s room tries to intricately explain the reasons behind men becoming gays. The matter, discussed through experiential accounts brings the story into a more emotional presentation of the issue thus creating a more attractive environment of understanding for the readers to indulge into. Aside from this, the story written by James Baldwin also aims to reiterate the psychological background of the reasons behind the personality changes that are happening among men and how the situations in their lives particularly affect their decisions and their relationships. The story begins in a narration of the main character, David, as he describes Giovanni’s room. Giovanni is primarily one among the few men whom David had been deeply involved with. The room of Giovanni has been described to have been always dark and less lighted. Perhaps signing about the privacy and the intimacy that the room represents, Giovanni’s room remains to be an ideal depiction of the relationships between men that occurred in that specific place in the story. As the story goes on to, David’s character shows a particular confusion in his gender especially with regards his relationships with both men and women. Basing from his background, it could be observed that he has been rather placed in that particular situation especially based from the past experiences that he has been dealing with as he grew towards his maturity that both involved the relationship of his mother and his father. From the said background, it could be noted that being a gay or being a bisexual, as the story suggests on the main character, could simply be sourced out from having a less guiding father thus making him more vulnerable to life challenges especially with regards gender issues. A Social Connotation of the Story UNTIL 1861 homosexuality was an offense punishable by death in England. In fact, the possibility of imprisonment for homosexual acts was not lifted there until as recently as 1967. Many other Western countries have a similar history. In recent years, however, laws and attitudes have greatly changed. In California, by way of example, a candidate for San Francisco’s office of mayor promised to appoint homosexual to city boards and commissions in proportion to their share of the population, estimated at about 15 percent. As a result, homosexuals gave her their support at the polls. Men and women prominent in public life can now be homosexuals quite openly. Many clergymen are self-confessed â€Å"gays,† freely advocating such a way of life. Homosexuality no longer is viewed by many as having the stigma it used to have. It has achieved a degree of â€Å"respectability. † Since the First World War, the authority of the priests and clergy of Christendom has been challenged. People are no longer willing to accept without question what the churches say. They have demanded greater freedom, especially as far as morality is concerned. Why, then, do people become homosexuals? What is behind the ever-increasing surge in their numbers? There is hardly an issue that has been more hotly contested in recent years. The Roman Catholic report mentioned earlier comments: â€Å"Most young people appear to pass through a phase when the homosexual tendency is dominant; but the emotional growth can be halted at this stage. † Teen-age years are years of stress. Young boys and girls often find it difficult to relate to one another without embarrassment at that time of life. So we often see polarization—groups composed exclusively of boys or of girls. Most are able to make the necessary adjustments and achieve a balance in sexual life. Sadly, however, there are many pitfalls. Commenting on some of these, the secretary of the Responsible Society in England said: â€Å"We are very worried about the strident proselytizing going out to teenagers from militant homosexual campaigners. There is overwhelming evidence in the American Masters and Johnson survey that homosexuality is learned behavior. † High schools and universities are a natural ground for such development. The Little Blue Book passed to Oxford, England, students has this to say: â€Å"Many gays ‘come out’ (i. e. start being open about being gay) when they are at college or university. Leaving home perhaps for the first time, is often an escape from certain pressure and expectations. Furthermore students tend to be more tolerant and open-minded towards homosexuals, at least on a superficial level. † Scotland’s Glasgow University’s free guide to ‘gay sex,’ entitled â€Å"Gay Scene,† offers the following advice: â€Å"If you find that you are sexually attracted to people of the same sex as yourself, the best thing to do is to accept it. † One incensed parent is reported as saying: â€Å"There are many young students who could be corrupted by this sort of material. † In other words—homosexuality can be prevented, just as it can be learned. There is one additional aspect of homosexuality that is often pushed into the background. It concerns the incidence of venereal diseases among homosexuals. How serious is this problem? VD clinics in England get an unexpectedly high rate of homosexuals. Said one health visitor: â€Å"I think that’s because they are more promiscuous, making more casual encounters than other people. † Bearing out this fact as a worldwide problem, in New York city 55 percent of the cases of infectious syphilis in 1977 occurred among homosexual males. Free-lance medical writer Terry Alan Sandholzer reported: â€Å"Syphilis in gay men has been estimated to account for as high as 50 percent of reported cases in large cities and about a third of the cases nationally. † Surely that is a high price to pay for sexual â€Å"liberation. † As homosexuality has come out into the open, so there has been a concerted effort to impart a new image to the practice. The word â€Å"homosexual,† with its accent on â€Å"sex,† has been viewed disapprovingly. Into prominence instead is the term â€Å"gay. † The Concise Oxford Dictionary notes that this word, used in this sense, is a euphemism, a mild word substituted for a harsh or direct one. The same can be said of â€Å"homophilia† and â€Å"homophile,† as sometimes used. If one were going to enter the homosexual world, then it would be wise to face the facts about VD in that world. Certainly, as the story of Giovanni’s room displays the actual life of homosexual, it could not be denied that such course of life has its consequences. Likely, such course of life, even though sourced out from a primary confusion, it could not be denied that it simply cannot be lived without the counteracting results that such acts brings about to the individual involved in the said situation. A Reflection Based on Other Writings Ralph Waldo Emerson’s Self Reliance and Khaleid Housinni’s Kite Runner could be well connected to the social description of the story of Giovanni’s room. At some point, the authors of the said selections choose to show the human society as a primary source of distress that affects the life of most human individuals. Self-reliance particularly notes how people resort to certain acts so as to survive several challenges in life that they face every now and then. In the same way, the story of the Kite Runner notes the fact that people are indeed in direct receiver of the situations that are happening in the society. The way that they are able to face such issues, whether personal or social, is the reflecting element that usually identifies who they are and what they particularly believe in. (Housinni, 2003, 18) Obviously, such idealism in personal development is derived from a rather psychological perspective that identifies social and personal sociology to be particularly connected with each other. How could this idealism be observed in particular? The naturalistic approach in observation could then be further applied. This fundamental research methodology is known to divulge and aid the psychologist in his or her critical analysis of the human behavior and characteristics while in socially acceptable public domain in his or her course of interacting with other individuals in their aspect of addressing their sociological needs. In this aspect of human interaction, psychologist try to significantly analyze the human nature as shown by their actions both involving the verbal and non-verbal communication style and how individuals manifest their motives while adhering to the social values and cultures pertaining to public communication. Naturalistic observation is commonly an actual observation of subjects mainly while they are in their course of social interaction specifically while they are in the public place. In the course of implementing this method, the researcher must also observe social values and cultural manners thus preventing any offensive act during the observation. In addition, the concept of personal privacy and inappropriate intrusion should also be constantly observed while the researcher is observing the subjects. All of these limitations must be implemented while the researcher observed the subjects in an isolated nature keeping his or her presence unnoticed and ideally absent to the personal space of the subject during their interaction. (Houssini, 2003, 18) The only aspect to be focused on in this project is the psychological behavior of the subject as manifested by their very intricate details such as gestures, voice, reaction, facial expression and impression and others. If applied within the situation of David in Giovanni’s room along with the other selections, it could be observed that humans particularly show who they are with the things that they choose to engage in with their daily activities. The people they mingle with also characterizes their personal attributes thus giving a reflection of their past and how they have been particularly molded by the experiences that they have been dealing with at present. Among the most compelling relation of the stories towards each other are the death of the supposed partner [lover; Giovanni and brother; Hassan] characters who for some reason had the chance of living but had to let go to let their counterparts live. Undeniably, the removal of their character within the said stories aim to press on with the possibility of those whom they left to change their ways thus create a much better life for them. However, with either a false or faithful hope that this would happen, the ones that they left to live actually made it through life with lies and pretentious acts still living within the secrets that they once kept back when they still had both Hassan and Giovanni in their lives. The contemporary life of human individuals has indeed caused a much easier process of concealing what they really are inside. Just to be able to secure themselves from all the possible insecurities that the society might imply on them, many among men and women today intend to pretend someone who they are not simply to be accepted by others. The fear of being rejected and bemused by those closest to them makes them fearful of the possible things that may happen of they open up to others the reality of their identity as a person. This indeed is an indication of fear due to social norms. If negatively taken, as seen on both stories, this particular aspect of living with the society would only bring one towards the foolish happiness that is brought about by being falsely accepted by the community that one particularly lives in. A Connection with the Kite Runner The whole theme of the story of â€Å"The Kite Runner† revolved around the lives of two young children who were from different classes of the society. Social prejudice of the economic status of people has been the main reason why the problem of diversity in Afghanistan has risen as portrayed in the story. This factor indeed contributed so much to the story’s complication, which resulted to the guilt driven emotions of the main character Amir, when he was not able to come to the rescue of his friend Hassan. In this story, a clear display of the society’s major problem on prejudice and equality has been shown. Concentrating on the more personally based assessment of the situation as portrayed by Amir, the social problems depicted in the story makes it easier to understand why people take lesser courage in making a change in the present social situation, be guilty later on and then set goals in making a change in a less complex and fearful way. Yes, in a concise display of events, the author tried to help the reader’s picture out the most important events of the situation that would likely connect the story with the intense effect of social diversity to individuals in the society. The consequences are shown to be much dreadful enough to keep a person from moving on with his own life, because of the fact that the lack of courage that drives a person to ignore the things that are supposed to be done by him in the first place. Certainly, an inner healing is necessary for certain situations such as this. It is normal for a person to feel down from not being able to complete or live up to a certain self-expectation. However, inner healing is not that easy to find. As for the main character of the story, it could be noted that the healing of his conscience mainly came form the fact that he had to come back to Afghanistan to find his find with a plan of making it up to him in any way he could. Although he was not able to do the said task as he has expected things to come along, he was still able to help himself regain his clear conscience through helping the son of his friend Hassan to have a change of life under his care. As it could be noted, the story was plotted to show the deeper individual effects of the social differences among men as well as the effects of war on relationships between people. The existence of such issues has made the characters reflect the actual situation of individuals in the society especially focusing on the Afghanistan society. (Howard, 2003, Internet) One more them of the story, which should be given attention, is the picture of reality portrayed by Amir. His lack of courage in doing things that they know should be done is a problem by many people today. Although they know that something within their power could change several situations in the society, their fear of several elements in the society keeps them from doing any courageous change. This was shown when Amir failed to save his friend Hassan from the hands of the bully, Assef. As a result, his conscience has not made him completely relieved from moving away from Afghanistan ever since. Instead, he was continuously haunted by the past and the things that he was supposed to do for his friend (Kirszner, 2001, 90). At the same picture, several people today find it difficult to forget the past especially the situations that involves them with the things that they were supposed to do and yet they did not have much of the courage that it takes for them to do it. As a way of relieving the pain brought about by the past, people tend to find ways in which they could still change what happened. As for the situation of Amir, he tried to return to Afghanistan to supposedly make it up with Hassan. As it could be noted from the overview of the story, although Amir was not able to make it up to his half brother Hassan, he was able to clear his conscience by taking care of the son of Hassan instead. In the same way, people today find a way to heal their aching hearts through returning back to what has happened in the past and later on try to change things for the people that they were supposed o help before. This way, their conscience is then cleared off from the shortcomings that they incurred against others before. As mentioned earlier, people tend to get hurt from many things. Usually, their experiences of several different situations they have been involved with, brings them the discouragement that they ought to feel after not being able to do what they were supposed to. This then brings them several psychological disturbances that keep them from moving on freely with their lives. The fear of doing what they should have done before might have been governed by several factors in the society that kept them from being able to complete their supposed tasks before (Hill, 2000, Internet). Certainly, because of the said elements, doing what is right might not have been that easy. Aside from this, it is quite easier to understand that the situation is harder to deal with when it is happening at the actual time. The lack of time to think things over makes it harder for a person to realize what should be immediately done to solve some things (Coon, 2001, 54,55). This is naturally what happened to Amir upon seeing the bully beat his friend. Along with fear and panic, he was not able to come up with the possible solution that he was supposed to apply during the said situation. People tend to lack courage when they are faced with the actual crisis. However, after some time of thinking things over, they begin to realize that there could have been better results if they did have the courage to do their ethical responsibilities regarding the situation. What is meant by redemption and healing? Naturally, this means recovery from any possible scourge that has been experienced by one in the past. Being healed, means being able to cure what has been causing one the pain that is felt in an emotional state as for this matter (Coon, 20001, 56). Hence, healing does not only involve mere mind works. It has to involve actions that would help the individual free himself from the guilt that he is feeling from within his conscience. Basing from how the main character tried to resolve his personal issues regarding his past shortcomings against his friend, coming back to the origin of his guilt feelings has helped him realize the possibility for him to clear his conscience from the guilt that has mainly plagued his thoughts for a long time. As for the present situation of the society, to redeem themselves from the psychological and emotional disturbances brought about by the past, people opt to find ways by which they can still change things even though the change may not be done directly to the people they have once failed to help (Coon, 2001, 58). The changes that this certain courageous act by an individual that naturally results to betterment of many or even of a few would then help that individual to regain his clean conscience thus clearing him from all the guilt that has been keeping him from moving on with his life before. Several issues that divide it to several classes govern the society today. Aside from the race, economic status makes it harder for an individual to deal with the society in a fair way. Yes, today, the main reason why people tend to separate themselves from others is the existence of social prejudice. What is prejudice? According to the article entitled, â€Å"They found the solution to the problem of race†: â€Å"Education is the key to ending present condition of prejudice. When this key is missing, prejudice often results. Prejudice is a prejudgment, a judgment arrived at before persons have really examined the evidence regarding the matter involved. Then, because of their prejudice, they are inclined to discriminate against others. (Awake! 1999, 14) Certainly, the social division makes it harder for people to deal with each other in a fair way. In the same way, the governments and the non-government organizations, which are supposed to give answers to the said social issues, have a hard time finding ways by which they would be able solve the disturbances. As a result, they have to deal with the guilt that they gain from not being able to give answers to the most important issues in the human society. To be able to clear their guilt, they tend to solve the issues after several years when the pressure on the issue is already lessened and the attention of the society towards the issue has already been shifted to other problems (Coon, 2001, 60). Prejudice however remains to be the main reason why people are having a hard time dealing with a divided society. Basing from actual accounts in the society, prejudice is a major problem that makes it harder for people to find peace and security in their own communities. As it has been portrayed in the story of the â€Å"Kite Runner†, the divisive culture of people cannot be easily dealt with. As a result, more roots of social issues arise from the very said social illness. It is a responsibility of everyone else in the society to face the challenge of acting against the effects of prejudice. By being completely free from the thoughts of being superior from others should help everyone realize that they have to stand for their fellowmen when they are faced with the oppression of prejudice like that of the situation between Hassan and Amir in the story. For this reason, it would be more possible for people to avoid the guilt of not being able to complete their responsibilities to their fellowmen. Healing and redemption is an essential part of the society’s recovery from the effects of social prejudice. Individuals who have been naturally involved in the deeper effects of the said social issues are the ones who are supposed to find ways by which they could be able to handle their inner distress brought about by social inequalities. Changing how the world views not everyone with differences in an unequal manner may be that easy to deal with, but a single person’s courage of taking the lead to make a change on how people deal with prejudice is a great step towards a fairer society that does not divide society based on several classes of differences. Conclusion The readings featured within this analysis actually note the social issues that are primarily making up the human population today. Naturally, such particular issues have subjected many into a certain situation that caused them to readjust their thoughts with regards the people that they meet with every now and then in their own communities. Considerably, such situation causes many to be subjected to several pretensions that they need to do, just to keep the reality of their personalities. Understandably though, there are some individuals who suffer deeply from this particular situation, some who are less able to adjust themselves to the living that society actually demands of them. For so many reasons, facing these particular situations require that one be most capable of showing who he really is even in the middle of adversaries. Being strongly attached to one’s own personal being and identity actually makes one more susceptible to the different challenges of human living, This would then allow them of becoming the best person that they can even in the middle of hard situations. This is what is being implanted to the thoughts of the readers through the narration of the stories of Amir and David as well as that of the statements of Ralph Waldo Emerson. These writings actually make it certain that people are directly affected by the situations that they are facing everyday. Undeniably, they are given the chance to react considerably in the process pf change in life. This is actually a matter of change and learning. Sometimes though, the learning in this process actually involves other people who are at times subjected into being involved in the lesser state of the relationship among the ones who are facing the dreadful situation of pretension. However, their existence, although lesser is indeed noted of its importance to those whom they shared their lives with. References: Ralph Waldo Emerson: Self-Reliance (1841). http://www. wsu. edu/~wldciv/world_civ_reader/world_civ_reader_2/emerson. html. (June 30, 2008). James Baldwin. (2000). Giovanni’s Room. Delta Publications. Khaled Hosseini. (2003). The Kite Runner. Riverhead Books. Austen, Roger (1977). Playing the Game: The Homosexual Novel in America, 1st ed. , Indianapolis: The Bobbs-Merrill Company. ISBN 978-067252287X. Guidelines for Psychotherapy With Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Clients. http://www. apa. org/practice/glbt. pdf. (July 3, 2008). Why is there war. (2000). Awake! Brooklyn New York. They found the solution to the problem of race. (1999). Awake! Brooklyn New York. Hill, Amelia. The Observer. (Sunday September 7, 2003). An Afghan hounded by his past. http://books. guardian. co. uk/reviews/generalfiction/0,6121,1036891,00. html. (July 3, 2008). Howard, Edward. The Servant. (August 3, 2003). The New York Times. http://query. nytimes. com/gst/fullpage. html? res=9504E0DF123FF930A3575BC0A9659C8B63. (July 3, 2008). Coon, Dennis. (2001). Introduction to Psychology: Gateways to mind and behavior. Thompson Learning Incorporated. Kirszner, Laurie G. (2001) Litterature: reading, reacting and writing. Harcourt College Publishers.

Implementation of Lsb Steganography and Its Evaluation for Various File Formats

Int. J. Advanced Networking and Applications Volume: 02, Issue: 05, Pages: 868-872 (2011) 868 Implementation of LSB Steganography and its Evaluation for Various File Formats V. Lokeswara Reddy Department of CSE, K. S. R. M. College of Engg. , Kadapa, A. P. India Email: [email  protected] com Dr. A. Subramanyam Dept. of CSE, AITS, Rajampet, Y. S. R. (Kadapa) Dist.. A. P. Dr. P. Chenna Reddy Dept. of CSE, JNTUCE, Pulivendula, Y. S. R. (Kadapa) Dist.. A. P. ———————————————————————ABSTRACT————————————————————-Steganography is derived from the Greek word steganos which literally means â€Å"Covered† and graphy means â€Å"Writing†, i. e. covered writing. Steganography refers to the science of â€Å"invisible† communication. For hiding secret information in various file formats, there exists a large variety of steganographic techniques some are more complex than others and all of them have respective strong and weak points. The Least Significant Bit (LSB) embedding technique suggests that data can be hidden in the least significant bits of the cover image and the human eye would be unable to notice the hidden image in the cover file. This technique can be used for hiding images in 24-Bit, 8-Bit, Gray scale format. This paper explains the LSB Embedding technique and Presents the evaluation for various file formats. Keywords: Steganography, Least Significant Bit (LSB), GIF, PNG, BMP. ——————————————————————————————————————-Date of Submission: 24, August 2010 Date of Acceptance: 08 November 2010 are transferred through unknown cover carriers in such a manner that the very existence of the embedded messages is undetectable. Carriers include images ; audio, video, text or any other digitally represented code or transmission. The hidden message may be plaintext, cipher text or anything that can be represented as a bit stream. II. IMAGE STEGANOGRAPHY Image compression techniques are extensively used in steganography. Among the two types of image compressions, lossy compression and loss less compression; lossless compression formats offer more promises. Lossy compression compression may not maintain the original image’s integrity. Lossless compression maintains the original image data exactly, hence it is prefered. Example of Lossy compression format is JPEG format files. Examples of Lossless compression formats are GIF[3] and BMP formats. We have used an 8-bit image size for implementation of our steganography. Improvement in stegnographic techniques is make it possible to apply the Detecting LSB Steganography in Colour and Gray- Scale Images which were confined to gray scale images in the initial stages The difficulty in colour images control is solved later on in many techniques such as the analysis of the variation of the gradient energy. The secret message embedded in the target image is detected in both gray and colour images, and the length of the embedded message is estimated [5, 6]. ——————————————————————————————————————-I. INTRODUCTION Digital content is now posing formidable challenges to content developers, aggregators, distributors and users. Th e destruction, extraction or modification of the embedded message is required to develop more robust systems so that the digital content processing and organization becomes easy. Cryptography was created as a technique for securing the secrecy of communication and many different methods have been developed to encrypt and decrypt data in order to keep the message secret. Unfortunately it is sometimes not enough to keep the contents of a message secret, it may also be necessary to keep the existence of the message secret. The technique used to implement this, is called steganography. The shift from cryptography to stegnography is due to that concealing the image existence as stegno-images enable to embeded the secret message to cover images. Steganography conceptually implies that the message to be transmitted is not visible to the informal eye. Steganography has been used for thousands of years to transmit data without being intercepted by unwanted viewers. It is an art of hiding information inside information. The main objective of Steganography is mainly concerned with the protection of contents of the hidden information. Images are ideal for information hiding[1,2] because of the large amount of redundant space is created in the storing of images. Secret messages Int. J. Advanced Networking and Applications Volume: 02, Issue: 05, Pages: 868-872 (2011) III. HIDING METHODS IN IMAGE STEGANOGRAPHY In Image Steganography, There are a variety of methods using which information can be hidden in images. Least Significant Bit Replacement Technique: In image steganography almost all data hiding techniques try to alter insignificant information in the cover image. Least significant bit (LSB) insertion is a common, simple approach to embedding information in a cover image. For instance, a simple scheme proposed, is to place the embedding data at the least significant bit (LSB) of each pixel in the cover image[7,8,9] . The altered image is called stego-image. Altering LSB doesn’t change the quality of image to human perception but this scheme is sensitive a variety of image processing attacks like compression, cropping etc. We will be emphasizing more on this technique for the various image formats. Moderate Significant Bit Replacement Technique: The moderate significant bits of each pixel in the cover image can be used to embed the secret message. This method improves sensitivity to modification, but it degrades the quality of stego-image. Experiments have shown that the length of hidden messages embedded in the least significant bits of signal samples can be estimated with relatively high precision. IV. THE LSB TECHNIQUE The least significant bit i. e. the eighth bit inside an image is changed to a bit of the secret message. When using a 24bit image, one can store 3 bits in each pixel by changing a bit of each of the red, green and blue colour components, since they are each represented by a byte. An 800? 600 pixel image, can thus store a total amount of 1,440,000 bits or 180,000 bytes of embedded data. As an example, suppose that we have three adjacent pixels (9 bytes) with the RGB encoding. 10010101 00001101 11001001 10010110 00001111 11001011 10011111 00010000 11001011 When the number 300, can be which binary representation is 100101100 embedded into the least significant bits of this part of the image. If we overlay these 9 bits over the LSB of the 9 bytes above, we get the following (where bits in bold have been changed) 10010101 00001100 11001000 10010111 00001110 11001011 10011111 00010000 11001010 Here the number 300 was embedded into the grid, only the 5 bits needed to be changed according to the embedded message. On average, only half of the bits in an image will need to be modified to hide a secret message using the maximum cover size. Since there are 869 256 possible intensities of each primary colour, changing the LSB of a pixel results in small changes in the intensity of the colours. The human eye cannot perceive these changes – thus the message is successfully hidden. With a well-chosen image, one can even hide the message in the LSB without noticing the difference[10]. Fig. 1 Block Diagram for implemented Logic of LSB embedding V. DESIGN DETAILS This section focuses on algorithms Steganography and Steganalysis[10] A. Algorithm for Hiding (Steganography) 1. 2. 3. Read the original image and the image which is to be hidden in the original image Shift the image to hide in the cover image by X bits. And the original image or cover image with 240 which is 11110000 So four MSB’s set to 0. Because of this only four LSB’s considered further. The shifted hidden image and the result of step 3 are bitored. This makes changes only in the X LSB bits so that the image is hidden in the original image. of LSB 4. In MATLAB we convert it to unit8 format. This image can be called as the stego image B. Algorithm for Steganalysis 1. The stego image is bit shifted by 4 bits since it was shifted by 4 bits to insert it into the original image. 2. The image is the ANDED with 255 i. e. , 11111111, which gives the original image. It is ANDED with 255 because initially all the LSB’s were made 0. Now it is recovered back. 3. To get it to Unit8 format we, convert it back to unit8 which is the extracted image. Int. J. Advanced Networking and Applications Volume: 02, Issue: 05, Pages: 868-872 (2011) that a message is being passed is being achieved. C. LSB in GIF 870 Fig. 2: Block Diagram for Steganalysis VI. IMAGE ANALYSIS A. LSB in BMP The BMP file format also called bitmap or DIB file format (for device-independent bitmap), is an image file format used to store bitmap digital images. Since BMP is not widely used the suspicion might arise, if it is transmitted with an LSB stego. When image are used as the carrier in Steganography they are generally manipulated by changing one or more of the bits of the byte or bytes that make up the pixels of an image. The message can be stored in the LSB of one colour of the RGB value or in the parity bit of the entire RGB value. A BMP is capable of hiding quite a large message. LSB in BMP is most suitable for applications, where the focus is on the amount of information to be transmitted and not on the secrecy of that information. If more number of bits is altered, it may result in a larger possibility that the altered bits can be seen with the human eye. But with the LSB the main objective of Steganography is to pass a message to a receiver without an intruder even knowing that a message is being passed is being achieved. B. LSB in PNG Portable Network Graphics (PNG) is a bitmapped image format that employs lossless data compression. PNG was created to improve upon and replace GIF. Since PNG is widely used the suspicion might not arise if it is transmitted with an LSB stego. When images are used as the carrier in Steganography they are generally manipulated by changing one or more of the bits of the byte or bytes that make up the pixels of an image. The message can be stored in the LSB of one colour of the RGB value or in the parity bit of the entire RGB value . A PNG is capable of hiding quite a large message. LSB in PNG is most suitable for applications where the focus is on the amount of information to be transmitted and not on the secrecy of that information. If more number of bits is altered it may result in a larger possibility that the altered bits can be seen with the human eye. But with the LSB the main objective of steganography i s to pass a message to a receiver without an intruder even knowing Graphics interchange format also known as GIF is one of the machine independent compressed formats for storing images. Since GIF images only have a bit depth of 8, amount of information that can be hidden is less than with BMP. Embedding information in GIF images using LSB results in almost the same results as those of using LSB with BMP. LSB in GIF is a very efficient algorithm to use when embedding a reasonable amount of data in a grayscale image. GIF images are indexed images where the colours used in the image are stored in a palette. It is sometimes referred to as a colour lookup table. Each pixel is represented as a single byte and the pixel data is an index to the colour palette. The colours of the palette are typically ordered from the most used colour to the least used colours to reduce lookup time. Some extra care is to be taken if the GIF images are to be used for Steganography. This is because of the problem with the palette approach. If the LSB of a GIF image is changed using the palette approach, it may result in a completely different colour. This is because the index to the colour palette is changed. The change in the resulting image is noticeable if the adjacent palette entries are not similar. But the change is not noticeable if the adjacent palette entries are similar. Most applications that use LSB methods on GIF images have low security because it is possible to detect even moderate change in the image. Solutions to these problems could be 1. Sort the palette so that the colour difference between consecutive colours is minimized 2. Add new colours, which are visually similar to the existing colours in the palette. 3. Use Gray scale images. In a 8 bit Gray scale GIF image, there are 256 shades of gray. This results in gradual changes in the colours and it is hard to detect. VII. EXPERIMENTED RESULTS Following experimental results highlights on 8 bit LSB Steganography. A. Results for . png image 8 bit stego image Int. J. Advanced Networking and Applications Volume: 02, Issue: 05, Pages: 868-872 (2011) 871 B. Results for . bmp file 8 bit stego image PSNR is measured in decibels (dB). PSNR is a good measure for comparing restoration results for the same image, but between-image comparisons of PSNR are meaningless. MSE and PSNR values for each file format is shown in table 1. Table 1: Image quality metrics for bmp file Cover image 224. 948 24. 6100 Stego image 244. 162 24. 2540 Cover- Stego image 69. 826 29. 690 MSE PSNR Stego Recovered IX. EVALUATION OF DIFFERENT TECHNIQUES There are many steganographic algorithms available. One should select the best available algorithm for the given application. Following characteristics are to be evaluated while selecting a particular file format for Steganography. Steganography says that the secret message is to be hidden and it should result in an distortion less image. The distortion must not be visible to the human eye. The amount of data embedded in the image also plays an important role. The algorithm decides how much amount of data could be embedded in the image resulting in a distortion less image. Steganalysis is the technique of detecting the hidden information in the image. The algorithm for Steganography must be such that the steganalysis algorithms should fail. i. e the Steganography algorithms must not be prune to attacks on steganalysis. During communication the intruder could check the original image to remove the hidden information.. He/she may manipulate the image. This manipulation may include cropping or rotation etc of the images. The manipulations done may cause the image distortion. Steganographic algorithms chosen must be such that it overcomes such manipulation and the steganographic data reaches the destination in the required format. VIII. EVALUATION OF IMAGE QUALITY For comparing stego image with cover results requires a measure of image quality, commonly used measures are Mean-Squared Error, Peak Signal-to-Noise Ratio[3] and histogram. A. Mean-Squared Error The mean-squared error (MSE) between two images I1(m,n) and I2(m,n) is: M and N are the number of rows and columns in the input images, respectively. Mean-squared error depends strongly on the image intensity scaling. A mean-squared error of 100. 0 for an 8-bit image (with pixel values in the range 0-255) looks dreadful; but a MSE of 100. 0 for a 10- bit image (pixel values in [0,1023]) is barely noticeable B. Peak Signal-to-Noise Ratio Peak Signal-to-Noise Ratio (PSNR) avoids this problem by scaling the MSE according to the image range Int. J. Advanced Networking and Applications Volume: 02, Issue: 05, Pages: 868-872 (2011) Table 2: Comparison of LSB technique for various file formats LSB LSB LSB In BMP in GIF In PNG Percentage Distortion less High Medium High resultant image Invisibility Steganalysis detection Image manipulation Amount of embedded data Payload capacity Independent of file format X. CONCLUSION Since BMP uses lossless compression, LSB makes use of BMP image. To be able to hide a secret message inside a BMP file, one would require a very large cover image. BMP images of 800? 600 pixels found to have less web applications. Moreover such uses are not accepted as valid. For this reason, LSB Steganography has also been developed for use with other image file formats. Although only some of the main image steganographic techniques were discussed in this paper, one can see that there exists a large selection of approaches to hiding information in images. All the major image file formats have different methods of hiding messages, with different strong and weak points respectively. LSB in GIF images has the potential of hiding a large message, but only when the most suitable cover image has been chosen. High Low Low High High Low Medium Low Low Medi um Medi um Low Medium Low Low Medium Medium High Authors Biography 872 Steganography: Seeing the Unseen†, Computer Journal, February 1998. [5] Li Zhi,Sui Ai Fen. , â€Å"Detection of Random LSB Image Steganography† The IEEE 2003 International Symposium on Persona1,lndoor and Mobile Radio Communication Proceedings, 2004. [6] Jessica Fridrich, Miroslav Goljan, and Rui Du. , â€Å"Detecting LSB Steganography in Color and GrayScale Images†, – IEEE Multimedia. [7] F. Collin,Encryptpic,† http://www. winsite. com/bin/ Info? 500000033023. [8] G. Pulcini, Stegotif,† http://www. geocities. om /SiliconValley/9210/gfree. html. [9] T. Sharp, Hide 2. 1, 2001,†www. sharpthoughts. org. [ 10] Deshpande Neeta, Kamalapur Snehal, Daisy Jacobs â€Å"Implementation of LSB Steganography and Its Evaluation for Various Bits† Digital Information Management, 2006 1st International conference. pp 173-178,2007. V. Lokeswara Reddy did his M. Tech (CSE) from SRM University, Chennai in the year 2005. He did his M. C. A from S. V. University, Tirupati in the year 2000. He is pursuing his Ph. D from JNTUA, Anantapur. He has a total of 09 years of experience in teaching. Currently he is working as Associate Professor at K. S. R. M College of Engineering, Kadapa. He has presented 2 papers in International and National Conferences. Dr. A. Subramanyam received his Ph. D. degree in Computer Science and Engineering from JNTU College of Engineering, Anantapur. He has obtained his B. E. (ECE) from University of Madras and M. Tech. (CSE) from Visweswaraiah Technological University. He is having 17 years experience in teaching. He is currently working as Professor & HOD in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering of Annamacharya Institute of Technology & Sciences, Rajampet, Y. S. R. (Kadapa) Dist. A. P. He has presented and published number of papers in International and National Conferences, International and National Journals. He is guiding few Ph. D. s. His research areas of interest are parallel processing, network security and data warehousing. Dr. P. Chenna Reddy did his B. Tech (CSE) from S. V. University College of Engineering, Tirupati in the year 1996. He did his M. Tech from JNTU, Anantapur. He completed his Ph. D from JNTU, Hyderabad. He has a total of 13 years of experience in teaching. Currently he is working as Associate Professor at JNTUA College of Engineering, Pulivendula, Y. S. R. (Kadapa) Dist. , A. P. He has number of publications to his credit. References [1] Pfitzmann Birgit. Information Hiding Terminology, First International Workshop, Cambridge, UK, Proceedings, Computer Science, 1174. pp. 347-350, May–June. [2] Westfield Andreas and Andreas Pfitzmann, Attacks on Steganographic Systems, Third International Workshop, IH'99 Dresden Germany, October Proceedings, Computer Science 1768. pp. 61- 76, 1999. [3] Moerland, T. , â€Å"Steganography and Steganalysis†, Leiden Institute of Advanced Computing

Spain Rise and Fall

Before the 16th century, Spain was not recognized as a legitimate powerhouse in Europe. They were known as a very strong Catholic orientated country located in the Iberian Peninsula north of Morocco. However, in the matter of a span of little over a hundred years, Spain obtained a great amount of wealth and power through conquests and inheritance from the king. Just as they were the greatest empire in the world, it fell apart and soon declined into the status of a third-rate power in Europe.King Charles V of Spain inherited many lands of Europe because of his family background. In 1506, he had obtained the Burgundain Lands, which included the Low Countries and Flanders. He was also the grandson of King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella, the great two Spanish monarchs from the late 15th century. In 1516, he became the first monarch to rule a united Spain. He was not done yet. In 1519 he was granted the Habsburg domains in Austria. Not only that, but in 1530 he was named Holy Roman Emperor. This meant that Charles V has control over the three leading dynasties of Europe at the time- the House of Habsburg of the Habsburg Monarchy, the House of Valois-Burgundy house of the Burgundian Netherlands, and the House of Trastamara of the Crowns of Castile and Aragon. This meant in Europe Charles V had control completly over the Central, Western, and Southern lands. No other monarch in Europe had as much land as Charles V had in the European continent. Not only did he have that land, but also from the Spanish conquests in the Americas and Asia, Charles V had the first global empire in the world.His empire became very rich and powerful from those conquests and imported goods they received from those places. The Columbian Exchange was the exchange of plants and animals from the Old World and the New World in which Spain and other empires successfully benefited from. From 1493, Columbus introduced horses, cattle, sheep, dogs, pigs, chicken, and goats. The rate at which these animal s grew were spectacular, thus leading to more food for the Spanish population which gave them a population increase and more money flowing in because of the extra meats.Not only that, but Spain brought back maize from Mexico, white potatoes from Peru, and various beans, squash, pumpkins, avocados, and tomatoes. Maize was a great gift for the Spanish because it was used as food for all peoples and livestock of the world. Since it gave a high yield per unit of land and a short growing season, it proved to be an especially important cash crop for them. The discovery of silver in the Americas was what really established Spain as the economic powerhouse of the world. In 1545, the Spanish discovered an enormous amount of silver in the city of Potosi.When it was discovered, no one lived in Potosi. By 1600 however, 160,000 people lived there. This made it about the size of the city of London at the time. Potosi yielded about 60 percent of all the world's silver mined in the world and made S pain very powerful and oh so rich once again. Another way the Spanish became successfully rich was from the slave trade. Their slave system was called the encomienda system, which was a legal form of slavery there. The Crown gave permission the conquerors the right to employ groups of Amerindians as agricultural or mining laborers.However as soon as the rapid decline of Amerindian population followed, the Spanish turned to the black slaves of Africa. This started what soon called the Triangular Trade route. The ships were crammed and packed with hundreds of captives in the boats in order for them to increase profits because the more slaves you had alive in your ship, the more money you received. However, the dominance of Spain proved to be temporary and short lived. Through the result of all the increase of the amount of food and land, it was no surprise that the population experienced a steady increase.This also created a sharp rise in the demand of foods and goods throughout the e mpire. Since Spain had removed their best farmers and businessmen- the Muslims and the Jews- in the fifteenth century, the economy was suffering greatly and could not meet the new demands, so prices rose. As well as that, the cost of manufacturing cloth and other goods increased, and Spanish products were not able to compete with cheaper products made elsewhere in the international market. King Charles V was no longer king of Spain by 1556 because he was tired from he long decades of ruling the vast empire. Through his reign he spent time warring with the French and the Ottoman Empire throughout his reign. He also spent his time devoting his time to stamp out the Protestant Reformation. Thus, the throne was passed down to his son Phillip II. The main event and problem that crucially hit the Spanish Empire was the â€Å"British problem. † On 1586 Mary, Queen of Scots who was the cousin and heir of Elizabeth, became involved in a plot to assassinate her. This was for the hope f or England to reunite with Catholic Europe.Phillip fully supported the plot. Not long after, Mary was discovered and was beheaded on February 18, 1587. Phillip soon heard of the news and went after to conquer England. Conquering England promised the additional benefit of cutting off financial support to Dutch rebels since Spain was in a bitter war with the Dutch at the time. Phillip's strategy was to prepare a vast fleet to sail from Lisbon to Flanders. They would fight off Elizabeth's navy if needed, rendezvous with the duke of Parma, and escort barges carrying Parma's troops across the English Channel.On May 9, 1588 Phillip's fleet of 130 set sail from the Lisbon harbor. The fleet was part of the great Spanish Armada. The Armada met an English fleet in the Channel. The English ships were smaller but faster, allowing more maneuverability in the water. Many of the ships had greater firing power than the Armada ships. The combination of storms, spoiled food and rank water, lacking am munition, and the scattering of the Spanish ships from the English fire ships gave England victory. The Armada was defeated even before they reached the Netherlands.On the way back, many other ships went down near Ireland and about 65 of the ships were able to make it back home. The defeat of the Armada prevented Phillip II from re-imposing religious unity on Western Europe by force. He unfortunately did not conquer England, and Elizabeth continued with her financial and military support of the Dutch. In 1609, Phillip III of Spain (r. 1598-1621) agreed to a truce. This truce recognized the independence of the United Provinces. In the seventeenth-century, memory of the loss of the Spanish Armada contributed to a spirit of defeatism.It was all set and done in little over a century. Spain had completed its epic collapse from being the global empire of the world, to now being a third-rate power in the seventeenth-century. Spain obtained a great amount of wealth and power through conques ts and inheritance from the king in the sixteenth-century. Just as they were the greatest empire in the world, it all fell apart and soon declined into the status of a third-rate power in Europe. In all, we can see how things can quickly change from being outstanding to disastrous.

FINANCIAL MARKETS AND MONETARY POLICY Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

FINANCIAL MARKETS AND MONETARY POLICY - Essay Example Structure of Interest Rates The connection that occurs amid interest rates or the bond yields and dissimilar terms or developments. The word structure of interest rates can also be known as the yield curve and it shows a vital part in the economy. The word structure reflects expectations of marketplace participants’ almost future variations in interest rates and their valuation of financial policy environments (Greenwood 2010). Yield curves in the UK from 01.01.2008  to  31.12.2012 As far as Macro Economic Analysis Partition is concerned, the Bank of England estimates the yield curvatures for United Kingdom being on a day-to-day basis and are two types: the first one, customary, is located on yields on UK administration bonds (gilts) and comprises of nominal and real vintage curves and the increase period structure. The second one is founded on (LIBOR) i.e. Interbank rates that are sterling; earns on mechanisms connected to LIBOR, undersized sterling prospects, forward rat e bargains and LIBOR-based interest ratio exchanges. These profitable bank liability curves are minimal lone (Addison 1998). The government obligation nominal yield curves are also derived from the UK gilt prices and it offers an overall Security (GC) repo rates. The actual yield is copied from or they are derived from the UK index-linked bond values. However, by appealing to the Fisher relationship , the oblique inflation terms structure is therefore put in numbers and calculated as the change of rapid nominal frontward rates and rapid real onward real rates (section 2 makes clear exactly what these terms mean). The instruments used in the construction of the commercial bank’s liability curvature are first converted into synthetic bonds, and a similar technique is then used to crop the lucrative bank accountability curve as is used in the nominal inquiry (Gurkaynak 2012). Now, we are by means of the repo rate using asan flawed proxy for the riskless rate. In the approach to the end of the year, or the yearly the spread therefore widens. This result is known called the ‘year-end turn’ and can be detected in a number of ways in other markets. Without the three months at the end of the previous two years, the middling spread between the two rates has however, been about 35 basis points. Previously we noted that G Crapo (at least at two-weeks’ development) inclines to be biased on the downwards compared to the Bank’s repo rate. So about 15 base facts of this banquet are likely to be related to the liquidity and contract differences deliberated: Bonds of Zero-coupon, in order to do the price computation, together with the yield so as to extract the existing price of any fixed coupon instrument. In order to calculate the price’s yield, discount rates etc. Municipal, the treasury bills, existing bonds are utilized. To calculate price and extent callable bonds, agency options can be adjusted. Permanent and floating rates, the range, all are utilized in the computation of accumulated interest rates and the range. The shape of the yield was quite consistent with the main theories of the term structure, because

The Great Migration of African Americans from the South to the North Essay

The Great Migration of African Americans from the South to the North during the 1900's - Essay Example There seems to have been two instances where the African Americans migrated. First was between 1910-1940, following which it is considered that there was a second Great Migration, which was between 1940 and 1970. Most of the people seemed to have moved to California from places like Texas and Louisiana. This move is considered mainly due to the availability of jobs in the defense industry. The years 1965 until 1970, had seen a high number of people migrating from places like Alabama, Louisiana and Mississippi to other regions of the United States which fell under the Census. However the following year brought about a number of people moving back to their original destinations due to family reasons, or kinship ties. However post 1995 until 2000, places like Georgia, Texas and Maryland, attracted the highest number of college graduates. California was considered to be one of the highest and most gaining states for the black migrants however the later 1990s led California to loose more than gain African Americans. With the Emancipation Proclamation that had been signed earlier on in 1863, left merely 8 percent of the African American population left in Northeast and Midwest. Later on in 1900, almost ninety percent of the African American was seen to have moved out of the slave holding states to move into newer and better lives (Wesley, 1927). A number of the people had moved into places like Boston, New York, Baltimore, Chicago and many other smaller industrial cities. People wanted to take the cheapest rail ticket possible and for this they moved from places like Mississippi to Chicago. The years of 1910 until 1930s saw a rise in the African American population in Northern States and there was a rise of almost forty percent, this lead to a high level of urban tension, majorly because of the number of migrants of the African American and

Week 2 Participation Questions Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Week 2 Participation Questions - Essay Example Misinterpreting messages that are sent using online communication tools is a common occurrence. Sometimes online communication leads to misunderstanding because the receptor never read the message and the sender assumed that it was read. Imagine a customer that sends three emails complaining about something, but due to a system error nobody at the company ever received the messages. The customer assumes the messages were read and the customer service of the company is poor. I understand your perspective that person to person communication can be much harder than other ways of communication. One of the primary reasons for this is that emotions are always present during person to person communication. It is much easier to block the emotional aspect of communicating when there is a computer in front of you instead of a real person. Also when a person is in a tough spot in a person to person communication it is hard to get out of the situation without hurting the others feelings. If a phone communication is going downhill it is simple just to hang up and blame the communication cutoff on technical difficulties. I agree with you that online communication is the best way to keep track of a conversation or message. Online communications such as emails are automatically saved without any special commands. The content of an email can be easily transferred into database software to save the conversation for quality assurance purpose and to document the incident. In the business world documentation of conversation is extremely important to reduce liability and other risks. Also the online medium is the fastest and cheapest alternative that provides companies with the greatest reach. After reading your personal miscommunication at work example my view is that in order to prevent miscommunication from occurring when dealing with complex situations that require fast action team members need to have identical written copies of the

Week 4 question 1 & 2 part b Personal Statement Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Week 4 question 1 & 2 part b - Personal Statement Example Moreover, the community ought to enhance awareness among its members on the importance of environment conservation. The community also needs to be discouraged from encroaching into the forests and water sources such as rivers. Better farming methods should also be encouraged to prevent the pollution of these important water resources. The fundamental role played by water cannot be overemphasized in any ecosystem. As such, the effort should be aimed at ensuring that as little water as possible is wasted, and possibly, the wasted water treated promptly. One of the simple, cost effective, simple and reliable way in which natural ecosystems can treat this important commodity is phytodepuration (Vymazal, 2008). This is a water treatment technique that reproduces the natural purification processes in a controlled environment. Little deep basins are used filled with inert material which is fed with aquatic plants. The plants used reproduce the natural purification process. The method is very cheap and cost effective

The International Grocery Industry Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

The International Grocery Industry - Term Paper Example In every economy, there has to be a government that makes up laws that definitely affect the way an entity sets its way of business. The legal entity is concerned in setting marketing standards like prices, distribution strategies of particular goods, how to treat employees and sometimes where to set up a market or an enterprise. The legal sector can either reduce or increase the competitive nature of a company. The British government has set strict rules on how different entities can deal with food and drinks products which highly affects the Tesco supermarket. The laws that have been set affect the packaging and labeling of the products. This is so because the products are perishable and they are consumed by very many people thus a small mistake in packaging and labeling can lead to numerous deaths which are against the objectives of the government; to protect the general public. It is right for the goods to be packaged well to avoid contamination and moreover, the labeling will al low the consumer to know the expiring date of a product, the ingredients of a product and if it is a counterfeit good or an original good. The laws have made the production costs to increase thus the price of the products have to increase. It has posed a great challenge to Tesco as it had to increase the retail prices thus threatened consumers to look for other options. Moreover, the banking sector of Tesco has been able to deal with the strict government laws made to protect the general public from being exploited by the banks. Royal Bank of Scotland had a joint venture with the Tesco Personal Finance system thus it has enabled the Tesco company to deal with the strict banking laws as they have a half-half share. The share in costs makes Tesco to half the burden thus enable it to make more profit and to be stable. This has seen the company making a profit of â‚ ¤130 million in February 2007. By making such profits, the Tesco Company is expected to have bought the Royal Bank of S cotland (Nash, 2006, pp. 23-56).

Suggest one Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 2

Suggest one - Essay Example However, they must take into consideration the effects of every bill that they propose to be imposed. Every supplement gaining for approval of government to enter the market includes tonnage of paper works and tedious process. With the current situation of the state where the supplements are freely roaming the stores and pharmacies, and there are some drugs that are easily bought over the counter, their move to regulate them may cause these products to be out of market. This can hurt the public especially those who are relying on affordable ways to get treatment for their sickness. There is no therapeutic claim for supplements that is a bare fact. But it can not be denied that there are positive effects that these supplements give to human bodies that’s why people keep on patronizing them. When strict regulations on these products are ruled out, some of these supplements can possibly fade in the market circulation causing people relying on them to lose their chances of achieving good health in cheaper and easier ways. People from the government imposing bills and laws must see to the general welfare of the public first. If laws imposed can cause decline for public health, then I think they should think and rethink the limitations of the law to make it beneficial to

Changes in Communication Technology Impacting The Possibility of a Essay

Changes in Communication Technology Impacting The Possibility of a Global Society - Essay Example It can be reflected that the information and communication technologies being used in the present times reflect a contributive characteristic in the development of a society. This is primarily because the advanced technology provides with newer and innovative measures to communicate knowledge and information. The Arab Spring or the Arab awakening presents to a great extent the level in which the communication technology or the use of the social networking sites have contributed in the revolution being spread among the individuals. The current study focuses on the changing use of communication technology impacting the possibility of a global society, taking into reference the incident of the Arab Spring. The Media and its Development: Over the period of time on and from the 1980s, the communication and the media industry have been found to be have modified to a great extent. The media has now become a global instrument of communication reaching over the different parts of the world co mmercially. Not only is the media performing towards communicating to the world, but the global effects of the media and the communication technology have significant impacts on the societal issues related to the economics and politics of any country or nation. The media has an extensive role to play in the democratic revolutions occurring in different corners of the world. They bring into the focus of the entire community the different information in relation to the revolution (Herman & McChesney, 2001, pp.1-4). Thus the improved and advanced role of the media in the present generation can be understood to be efficient enough to communicate issues to individuals strongly such that they can be motivated and encouraged to take part in the revolution or any related steps for the good of the nation. The modification and advancement of the media and the industry over the years have been found to have certain positive implications on the society. Different cultures tend to mix up and com bine their opinions and views towards the right measures for a nation. The media acts as the voice for the societies to reach out to each other. Moreover, several values and principles can also be shared in between the different parts of the world with the proper use of the media and the technology of communication. Over the years, the technologies used for the purpose of communicating have also been changing and becoming more advanced. The newspapers, radio and television broadcasts were used to be the primary sources of communication of the media (Herman & McChesney, 2001, p.8). Today the internet has taken a huge space being a fast and easier means of communication among the individuals. The social networking sites prove to be highly demanding as well as seem to be a part of the regular lives where one can communicate anything in fractions of seconds to other individuals. The changes in development of the media and communications industry also bring about different challenges. Wi th the advancement, increases the competition between the different communicating mediums and sources. However since the importance of the media has been realized the communication and media companies are more focused towards providing their consumers with better facilities and meet their needs and

Hills like White Elephants Essay Example for Free

Hills like White Elephants Essay Ernest Hemingway published â€Å"Hills like White Elephants† in 1927. The narrative is a young couple is sitting at a train station near the Ebro Valley in Madrid, Spain to highlight the fact that their relationship is at a crossroad. Hemingway expresses many themes and literary elements throughout this short story. A plot is a dynamic element in fiction, a sequence of interrelated, conflicting actions and events that are typically build to a climax and bring about a resolution (Clugston, 2010). The couple sits at a table to have a couple of beers and a conversation. At first the girl talks about what they should have to drink and what she sees outside. You can tell that it is more going on at least in their feelings or its more going on in the story. From (Line 41) â€Å"It’s really an awfully simple operation, Jig† the man said. â€Å"It’s not really an operation at all. This explains why their conversation they were having earlier been awkward. The seemingly petty conversation here about hills and drinks and an unspecified operation is in actuality an unarticulated but decisive struggle over whether they continue to live the sterile, self-indulgent, decadent life preferred by the man or elect to have the child that Jig is carrying and settle down to a conventional but, in Jig’s view, rewarding, fruitful, and peaceful life (Holladay, 2004). The American was asking his girl to have an abortion without using the word so others would not be entertained or concerned at all. Hemingway knows how to raise suspense to the readers. The point of view is how the action is presented to the reader (Clugston,2010). Although â€Å"Hills like White Elephants† is primarily a conversation between the American man and his girlfriend, neither of the speakers truly communicates with the other, highlighting the rift between the two. Both talk, but neither listens or understands the other’s point of view. Frustrated and placating, the American man will say almost anything to convince his girlfriend to have the operation, which, although never mentioned by name, is understood to be an abortion. He tells her he loves her, for example, and that everything between them will go back to the way it used to be. Another literary element is character. A character is an imaginary person in a piece of literature (Clugston, 2010). In â€Å"Hills like White Elephants† there are three characters. The American, who is the male protagonist of the story. His name is never revealed throughout the story. He also tries to convince the girl to have the operation and he does not care what she does. He disconnects his self from the surroundings and not listening and understanding what the girl is saying. The Girl, who is the female protagonist of the story. The American calls the girl, Jig. She alternates the conversation to talk about the operation then avoids it altogether. The thing she says does not clearly defines her emotions or personality. Jig is more of a realistic character. She has issues and behaviors of real people. The bartender is a woman who served drinks to the American man and the girl. The bartender only speaks Spanish. The characters add so much to the theme of the story. A theme in a story is associated with an idea that lies behind the story. In other words the theme in a story is a representation of the idea behind the story (Clugston, 2010). The theme of â€Å"Hills like White Elephants† involves a question of responsibility. The theme of a piece of fiction is its controlling idea or its central insight, and the unifying statement about life implied in the story (Arp Johnson, 2006). Hemingway does this in describing the couple’s dilemma about Jig’s pregnancy. The theme exists when an author attempts to record life as it happens. â€Å"Hills Like White Elephants† centers on a couple’s verbal duel over, as strongly implied by the text and as widely believed by many scholars, whether the girl will have an abortion of her partner’s child. Jig, clearly reluctant to have the operation, suspects her pregnancy has irrevocably changed the relationship but still wonders whether having the abortion will make things between the couple as they were before. The American is anxious that Jig have the abortion and gives lip service to the fact that he still loves Jig and will love her whether she has the procedure done or not. As the story progresses, the power shifts back and forth in the verbal tug-of-war, and at the end, though it is a topic of fierce debate among Hemingway scholars, it seems that Jig has both gained the upper hand and made her decision. The theme of the story is revealed through the couple’s dialogue and through symbolism. Symbolism is something that has a literal identity but also stands for something else (Clugston, 2010). â€Å"Hills like White Elephants† is filled with symbolism. The narrator describes the character symbolic. Jig is called a girl throughout the story to represent her naive behavior, immaturity and lack of confidence about her opinion. The American is called a man throughout the story, representing his position about his opinion on the abortion. The bags they carry have tags on them displaying all of the hotels that the couple has stayed in. This shows that the couples are not serious about a child, still want to have fun and be sex animals. The setting of the story is symbolic. The story takes place at a train junction. This setting represents the fact that their decision can change the direction of their lives. It is less important that we know the course chosen than the significance of the two choices. The rootless barren life, devoid of responsibility represented by the dry hills (Fletcher, 1980). The other side of the valley is green and has a river. The two sides symbolize the decision that Jig has to make. The green side represents fertility, life, hope and the hot, brown side represents sterility. There is several more symbolism in the story, let’s move on to the next literary element. Tone is the attitude reflected by the author in a literary work; it identifies the author’s approach to the subject a story deals with. The tone in â€Å"Hills like White Elephants† The narrator is very controlled, giving us a bare minimum of information outside of the conversations between the man and Jig, or between the man and the woman serving the drinks. This narrator controls the tendency in narrators to tell what the story means. This is giving the readers lots of credit for being intelligent, but can also make for rough reading. We aren’t used to stories being told mostly in dialogue. Speaking of dialogue, both Jig and the man are having a rather controlled conversation. The fact that they are having this conversation in a public place might or might not contribute to this control. â€Å"Hills like White Elephants are very interesting and have many literary elements. From the plot to the tone, Hemingway was very brilliant how privatized his conversation and still managed to get his point across. The symbolism made it seem as if we were there with him and Jig.

Valentine and Funeral Blues Essay Example for Free

Valentine and Funeral Blues Essay In the poem Valentine by Carol Ann Duffy, love affected the poet in various ways which made her view love in a new and different way, revolving her perspective of love on an onion. In the poem Funeral Blues the poet W. H. Auden was also deeply affected by love, to the point that his lover became everything to him. In Valentine the poet, Carol Ann Duffy, metaphorically expresses her perspective of love through an onion, and uses this unique view of love to illustrate its evolution from good to bad. In the poem (Valentine), Duffy rejects every other romantic gift â€Å"Not a red rose or a satin heart† and â€Å"not a cute card or a kissogram† and instead presents her lover with an onion, granting him with an uncommon yet more meaningful version of love, instead of the usual cliched versions. The poet repeats the phrase â€Å"I give you an onion† to reinforce her choice, showing that she is confident and sure for what she has chosen. She describes the onion as â€Å"a moon wrapped in brown paper† which â€Å"promises light†, the â€Å"brown paper† supports the fact that the onion is a gift, which will be unwrapped to reveal a â€Å"light†. Comparing the onion to the moon suggest a romantic atmosphere, the moonlight symbolises their love being revealed, showing purity and peace. As the poem continues, the poet shows how love evolves â€Å"the careful undressing of love† as the relationship grows, the â€Å"light† strengthens causing the lovers to discover the darker personalities of one another. The poet also hints that, like the moon’s surface, love is bumpy and hard. In the third stanza, Duffy moves onto the negative side of love. As love progresses â€Å"it will blind you with tears† here, the poet uses the tears caused by cutting an onion to illustrate how the excitement of love causes a person to focus on nothing but their lover, overlooking the rest of the world around them. Also, Duffy implies how a person also gets blinded to their lover’s faults and instead focuses on their good features. Another negative affect caused by love are the relationship troubles â€Å"†¦your reflection a wobbling photo of grief† shedding tears while in love is unavoidable –similar to crying while cutting an onion– scarring the relationship. The â€Å"photo† represents their happy memories, which became depressing and heartbreaking to remember. To defend her negative thoughts on love, Duffy states that she is â€Å"trying to be truthful† this supports how she’s greatly affected by love, and is exploring it thoroughly. Carol Ann Duffy suggests how love is passionate â€Å"its fierce kiss will stay on your lips†, a kiss which is usually sweet is contrasted with â€Å"fierce† to exaggerate how the kiss is full of feeling, leaving a stinging feeling on the lips. The word â€Å"fierce† also implies an animal like characteristic provoked by love, as the animal attacks its prey in a â€Å"possessive† way. The poet also brings up a person’s want for a never ending relationship â€Å"faithful as we are, for as long as we are† but in reality, love ends as soon as the â€Å"possessive† need for each other dies out. The poets negative thoughts of a long lasting love are reinforced in â€Å"†¦shrink it to a wedding ring if you like. Lethal† Duffy gives the option of marriage, even though she’s against it and believes that it’ll end badly. The phrase â€Å"shrink it to a wedding ring† emphasises the weakening of love, especially after marriage as it becomes â€Å"lethal† and deadly. The wedding ring will become a burden â€Å"will cling to your fingers, cling to your knife† the repetition of the verb â€Å"clings† implies the painful grip marriage causes, which is then reinforced by the word â€Å"knife† as it slices and hurts the former lovers. In the poem Funeral Blues by W. H. Auden, the poet is mourning over the death of his lover. The poet ignores everything and directs all his attention on the funeral of his lover â€Å"stop all the clocks, cut off the telephone†¦ silence the pianos† as if the outside world is frozen and unchanging. Auden also hints his want for respect towards his lover for requesting â€Å"silence† and his anxiety in â€Å"bring out the coffin, let the mourners come† as if impatiently wanting to start mourning over his love. The word â€Å"coffin† symbolises the death of their love, along with his lover, that their love is forever gone and buried away. In the second stanza, Auden mentions â€Å"aeroplanes circle moaning the sky† here, the â€Å"aeroplanes† is a metaphor for the mourners, as their wails of sadness fill the air around him, â€Å"scribbling on the sky the message He Is Dead† the constant crying of the mourners seem to be mocking the poet, always confirming his lovers death, reminding him that he’s never coming back. As the poem continues, the poet realises how truly important his lover was to him â€Å"he was my north†¦ my Sunday rest†¦ my talk, my song† this indicates that he was his lover was everything to him, from the most ordinary â€Å"my Sunday rest† to the most wonderful â€Å"my song†, conveys how powerful their love was and how much it affected them. Auden describes his love as his â€Å"week†, â€Å"noon† and â€Å"midnight† comparing him to time, which is never ending and always present, implying their future together. Their love was so strong that Auden was certain for a future together, never imagining of a life without him â€Å"I thought that love would last forever: I was wrong†, this reinforces how their love has died, that his everything is dead, and therefore part of him is dead as well. At the end of the poem, Auden’s perspective of life changes â€Å"the stars are not wanted†¦ pack up the moon†¦ pour away the ocean† the world has lost its appeal, life has become meaningless and useless. The stars, moon and oceans which usually hold amazing beauty, have become worthless and featureless, similar to the poets life. In the last verse, Auden has completely given up on life â€Å"for nothing now can ever come to any good† he doesn’t see any future for him, he is blinded by his dead lover, nothing can make him happy anymore.

Assessment of Plant Tissue Culture

Assessment of Plant Tissue Culture Plant tissue culture, the growth of plant cells outside an intact plant, is a technique essential in many areas of the plant sciences. Cultures of individual or groups of plant cells, and whole organs, contribute to understanding both fundamental and applied science. It relies on maintaining plant cells in aseptic conditions on a suitable nutrient medium. The culture can be sustained as a mass of undifferentiated cells for an extended period of time, or regenerated into whole plants.   Designing a strategy to culture cells from a plant for the first time can still seem like a matter of trial and error, and luck. However, the commercial production of valuable horticulture crops by micropropagation, which relies on tissue culture, shows that it exists in the routine, as well as experimental, world. In the School of Biological Sciences at the University of Liverpool, we have experience over many years with the techniques and applications of plant cell culture. What is Plant Tissue Culture? Plant cells can be grown in isolation from intact plants in tissue culture systems. The cells have the characteristics of callus cells, rather than other plant cell types. These are the cells that appear on cut surfaces when a plant is wounded and which gradually cover and seal the damaged area. Pieces of plant tissue will slowly divide and grow into a colourless mass of cells if they are kept in special conditions. These are: initiated from the most appropriate plant tissue for the particular plant variety presence of a high concentration of auxin and cytokinin growth regulators in the growth media a growth medium containing organic and inorganic compounds to sustain the cells aseptic conditions during culture to exclude competition from microorganisms The plant cells can grow on a solid surface as friable, pale-brown lumps (called callus), or as individual or small clusters of cells in a liquid medium called a suspension culture. These cells can be   maintained indefinitely provided they are sub-cultured regularly into fresh growth medium. Tissue culture cells generally lack the distinctive features of most plant cells. They have a small vacuole, lack chloroplasts and photosynthetic pathways and the structural or chemical features that distinguish so many cell types within the intact plant are absent. They are most similar to the undifferentiated cells found in meristematic regions which become fated to develop into each cell type as the plant grows. Tissue cultured cells can also be induced to re-differentiate into whole plants by alterations to the growth media. Plant tissue cultures can be initiated from almost any part of a plant. The physiological state of the plant does have an influence on its response to attempts to initiate tissue culture. The parent plant must be healthy and free from obvious signs of disease or decay. The source, termed explant, may be dictated by the reason for carrying out the tissue culture. Younger tissue contains a higher proportion of actively dividing cells and is more responsive to a callus initiation programme. The plants themselves must be actively growing, and not about to enter a period of dormancy.   The exact conditions required to initiate and sustain plant cells in culture, or to regenerate intact plants from cultured cells, are different for each plant species. Each variety of a species will often have a particular set of cultural requirements. Despite all the knowledge that has been obtained about plant tissue culture during the twentieth century, these conditions have to be identified for each variety through experimentation. Utilising anther culture to select for cold hardiness Crosses between distantly related species can bring together novel gene combinations. However, the hybrid offspring can be few in number, genetically unstable and require years of further selection and   screening before any advantageous characteristics can be brought near to commercial use. Anther culture (androgenesis), to generate haploid plants from pollen microspores, is one way to shorten this process. It allows novel allele combinations, particularly ones involving recessive characters, to be assessed in intact plants. Useful individuals can then be developed into homozygous and fertile plants through chromosome doubling techniques, and brought into a breeding programme. We have recently been involved in a collaborative project with the Institute of Grassland and Environmental Research (IGER) to use this approach to improve cold-tolerance and fodder quality in grazing grasses. Crosses between  Lolium multiflorum  ( Italian ryegrass) andFestuca arundinacea  (tall fescue) should offer valuable combinations of characteristics. TheLolium  species should provide good growth characteristics, while the  Festuca  provides stress-tolerance. One hybrid individual (Festulolium) resulting from such a cross had already shown drought-tolerance characteristics.   However, the out-breeding nature of these grass species, along with the hexaploid genome of  F. arundinacea  and autotetraploid  L. multiflorumindicated that a lengthy breeding programme might be necessary. The research project therefore aimed to produce androgenic plants from the existing pentaploidFestulolium  plant and assess them for cold tolerance. This exploited the expertise in tissue culture at the University of Liverpool together with experience in breeding for stress-tolerance at IGER. Anthers containing immature pollen (microspores) are the starting material for androgenesis. Flowers have to be selected at the correct developmental stage, which varies from species to species. In addition, some individual genotypes may not be amenable to anther culture, or require specific pretreatments. Careful microscopy and testing of successful pre-treatments of related species are therefore necessary when dealing with a new species. For the Graminae, microspores must be at the mononucleate stage and no pre-treatment is necessary.   The cut flowers were surface sterilised and opened in sterile conditions under a binocular microscope. The anthers were dissected and transferred to a solid nutrient medium. Large numbers could be placed on each petri dish. Callus developed, which was transferred to a different medium to initiate embryos and so generate haploid plants.   Over 200 androgenic plants were produced at Liverpool, each originating from a different microspore. Each therefore represented a genetically different individual. Testing for phosphoglucosisomerase, where a different isozyme was contributed by each of the five chromosome groups within the  Festulolium  plant, indicated that the pollen-derived plants had a wide variety of chromosome combinations from each of the parents of the hybrid. The freezing-tolerance of these plants varied considerably, with three individuals able to survive the extreme cold of -14 degrees Celsius. When the chromosome complement of two of these plants was examined using genomic  in situ  hybridisation (GISH), they carried virtually the whole genome of  F.   pratensis, a parent of  F. arundinacea  noted for its freezing-tolerance. Unfortunately, the fertility of these two plants was not restored by chromosome doubling, so that they could not be used for further breeding. However, they demonstrated the potential of androgenesis for rapid assessment of the genetic potential available from a difficult breeding combination, indicating that this type of wide cross revealed characters of cold and drought tolerance that were worth pursuing CASE STUDY  2 Using somaclonal variation to select for disease resistance plant tissue cultures isolated from even a single cell can show variation after repeated subculture. Distinct lines can be selected with their own particular morphology and physiology. It suggests that the tissue culture contains a population of genotypes whose proportion can be altered by imposing an appropriate selection pressure. This variation can be transmitted to plants regenerated from the tissue cultures, and is called somaclonal variation. It provides an additional source of novel variation for exploitation by plant breeders.   The carrot cultivar Fancy was used in our laboratory to generate a series of 197 regenerant progeny lines. These plants showed considerable morphological variation. They were tested for resistance to the leaf spot pathogen  Alternaria dauci, which can cause total necrosis of mature leaves. They had a greater degree of variation in response than the parental cultivar, including some more resistant lines.   Scanning electron micrographs of surface of carrot leaf 3 days after inoculation with A. dauci. (LHS) germination from multiseptate conidiospore (RHS) penetration of hyphae through epidermal surface rather than through stomata. Scale bar = 10 micrometres. One symptom of the disease is loss of chlorophyll and total soluble polyphenol compounds. These reduce to a low level 6 days after inoculation of excised leaves with  A. dauci  spores when compared with uninoculated leaves. Regenerant progeny with high chlorophyll levels maintained higher chlorophyll levels after challenge with  A. dauci.  After self-pollinating selected high- and low-chlorophyll regenerant plants, this characteristic was inherited by their progeny, suggesting that the capacity to resist this infection is inherited. CASE STUDY  3 Demonstration of tissue culture for teaching Initiating plantlets Regenerated African violets (Saintpaulia ionantha) Introduction The starting point for all tissue cultures is plant tissue, called an explant. It can be initiated from any part of a plant root, stem, petiole, leaf or flower although the success of any one of these varies between species. It is essential that the surface of the explant is sterilised to remove all microbial contamination. Plant cell division is slow compared to the growth of bacteria and fungi, and even minor contaminants will easily over-grow the plant tissue culture. The explant is then incubated on a sterile nutrient medium to initiate the tissue culture. The composition of the growth medium is designed to both sustain the plant cells, encourage cell division, and control development of either an undifferentiated cell mass, or particular plant organs.   The concentration of the growth regulators in the medium, namely auxin and cytokinin, seems to be the critical factor for determining whether a tissue culture is initiated, and how it subsequently develops.  The explant should initially form a callus, from which it is possible to generate multiple embryos and then shoots, forming the basis for plant regeneration and thus the technology of micropropagation. The first stage of tissue culture initiation is vital for information on what combination of media components will give a friable, fast-growing callus, or a green chlorophyllous callus, or embryo, root or shoot formation.   There is at present no way to predict the exact growth medium, and growth protocol, to generate a particular type of callus. These characteristics have to be determined through a carefully designed and observed experiment for each new plant species, and frequently also for each new variety of the species which is taken into tissue culture. The basis of the experiment will be media and protocols that give the desired effect in other plant species, and experience. The demonstration The strategy for designing a medium to initiate tissue culture, showing how growth regulators and other factors modulate development, can be demonstrated using the African Violet, a popular house plant. Leaf sections are the source of explants.  This demonstration is regularly carried out by a student class, and gives reliable results. Sterile supplies are provided from central facilities, and provision of sterile working areas (for example, in laminar flow hoods) is an advantage, although cultures can be initiated in an open laboratory with careful aseptic technique. The standard precautions used during any laboratory work involving chemicals or microbes should be adopted. If you are in any doubt about safety hazards associated with this demonstration, you should consult your local safety adviser.  Ã‚   Step 1 selection of the leaves Leaves are cut from healthy plants, leaving a short length of petiole attached. They should be selected to each yield several explants of leaf squares with approximately 1 cm sides. The youngest and oldest leaves should be avoided.   Wash the dust off the leaves in a beaker of distilled water, holding the leaf stalk with forceps. Step 2 surface sterilisation and preparation of the explants This part of the procedure should be carried out in a sterile working area, or with meticulous aseptic technique.   The leaf, with the petiole still attached, should be immersed in 70% ethanol for 30 seconds, then transferred to a sterile petri dish. Sterile scissors and forceps are then used to cut squares from the leaf as explants, each with approximately 1 cm sides. The explants are transferred into a 10% hypochlorite bleach solution for 5 minutes, gently agitating once or twice during this time. They are then washed free of bleach by immersing in four successive beakers of sterile distilled water, leaving them for 2-3 minutes in each. Three explants are placed on each petri dish of growth medium (see  table  and   below), with the upper epidermis pressed gently against the surface of the agar to make good contact.   The petri dishes are sealed with plastic film to prevent moisture loss, and incubated at 25oC in 16h light/8h dark. Step 3 assessment of tissue culture development The explants are incubated for 4 6 weeks, and inspected at weekly or fortnightly intervals. The growth of obvious bacterial or fungal colonies indicates contamination, and data from such cultures is obviously suspect. The development of dark brown tissue cultures can also be a consequence of contamination.   The media used in the demonstration are designed to show the effects of auxin, cytokinin, sucrose and mineral salts on development. The media were based on the well-known Murashige and Skoog inorganic medium, with additions as shown in this  table.   Typical results These  pictures  show typical results, after about 8 weeks on each medium. To summarise, multiple adventitious buds form on the  control  medium,   leading to many small shoots on the upper surface where the leaf is not in contact with the medium. Absence of  sucrose  inhibits this production. Shoot production is also limited on the low sucrose concentration, but comparable with the control at high sucrose. At zero and low levels of  cytokinin, callus forms where the leaf surface is in contact with the medium, while at high levels, shoot formation is stimulated. At zero and low levels of  auxins  there is a stimulus to shoot formation,   but at high concentrations, large numbers of roots are formed. At low and zero levels of  MS  salts, there is no growth at all. These very obvious variations demonstrate the importance of a carbon and inorganic salt source for plant growth, as well as the effect of the auxin:cytokinin ration on the control of plant development. For  publications  describing this work, follow this link To return  to the top of this page,  follow this link.

The Truth about Schizophrenia :: Biology Essays Research Papers

The Truth about Schizophrenia Schizophrenia is a mental disorder that affects one in every one hundred people worldwide (2). It is defined as a psychotic disorder usually characterized by withdrawal from reality, illogical patterns of thinking, delusions, and hallucinations, and accompanied by various degrees of emotional, behavioral, and intellectual disturbances. There are numerous myths associated with schizophrenia, concerning what it is about, its causes, and the actions of those suffering from it. However, it is time to put these ideas to rest. There tend to be huge misconceptions concerning the causes of schizophrenia and the actions of those suffering from this disease. It should be known that this disease is not a form of demonic possession, nor is it caused by evil spirits or witchcraft. Although in Greek, schizophrenia translates as "split mind," it has been established that those diagnosed with the disease do not have split personalities (3). It is also a myth that people with schizophrenia are more likely to be violent. In general, people suffering from schizophrenia, as well as any other mental illness, are no more dangerous than healthy individuals (1). Though schizophrenics show a slightly elevated rate of crimes of violence, these are usually the ones who are not receiving proper treatment. Schizophrenia usually strikes people in their prime. Generally, men are affected between the ages of sixteen and twenty, whereas women are affected between the ages of twenty and thirty (1). Not only is schizophrenia an inherited disease, but is also considered to be genetically complex. Scientists say that an environmental "trigger" must be present as well to bring on the disease. Possible triggers include complications during the mother's pregnancy or delivery, in addition to prenatal exposure to virus, specifically in the fifth month in which most brain development occurs (1). It is believed that complications during pregnancy or delivery increase the threat of the disease, most likely due to damage of the developing brain. There are other factors at hand when determining the causes of a disease such as schizophrenia. In terms of biochemistry, sufferers of the disease appear to have what is referred to as a neurochemical imbalance. However, current medications for schizophrenia now target three different neurotransmitter systems; these being dopamine, serotonin, and norepinephrine (2). Another cause of schizophrenia is the type of blood flow to the brain. Schizophrenics tend to have difficulty "coordinating" activity between various areas of the brain.