Children and adults Essay Example for Free

Children and adults Essay The Effective Early Learning Project based at Worcester University highlights two ways in which adults can help children progress; The first is the way the adult encourages the child to be autonomous, to get on and try new things; The second, is the way the adult offers experiences which are stimulating, challenging and interesting. Adults need to be a supporting factor when the child is in a risky environment. Children and adults alike enjoy climbing trees; adults know when they are too high as do children. This is a whole other debate in terms of nature or nurture debate. This is where we could explore the idea of children learning to be safe when risk taking or is it already there. Stephenson (2003) wrote about a child on a swing, Swinging was very popular with these younger children, but more often than the older children their reactions indicated that they felt unsafe and wanted the swing slowed down. Therefore the child has taken the risk, has agreed a boundary, enjoyed the activity and acknowledged the safety aspect. The adult was there to ensure the safety and also make the activity a positive one by being readily available. Children must face all different kinds of risks in order to support their development and learning. Stine (1997) wrote that to support their learning and development is a complex issue. There always has to be provision for a physical challenge. More and more educational settings are using outdoor play/activity to challenge the children. Although, what is an acceptable risk to one person, may be completely the opposite of another. Bruce and Meggitt (2002) write that outdoor space needs to be available most of the time; They continue that, safety is the only consideration for keeping children in doors. Children can feel safe in risk taking environments and activities in many ways. Initially the adult to child ratio, with a high number of adults children can be supported and helped to achieve. Secondly by minimising, if possible, the risk aspect. This could be ensuring the activity is a positive and acceptable environment. Thirdly by giving the children all the opportunities available for physical risk taking, children need a stimulating and challenging environment. And finally, a well maintained balance between the childs safety and the challenge of the activity. In an educational setting, an adult carer will go to the risk area and carry out an assessment. They will check the route to be taken, dangers in the area and also any area that poses extreme concern. An adult carer should also think about the child to adult ratio. A local nursery allows children to climb trees. Due to the child to adult ratio, the nursery feels that the level of risk posed can be curtailed by having by having the children supervised and supported through the activity by adults. The children are therefore enjoying the activity of risk taking, as well as feeling safe in knowing an adult is available to help at any time. Another factor that the adult carer should be aware of is the idea of making a childs environment completely hazard free. Therefore taking away any risk or danger. Walsh (1993) thought that children in an environment that is completely safe could become bored and this could lead to self initiated risk taking that could be dangerous. Durberry (2001) felt that children who grow up in an ultra safe environment would lack confidence in their own physical ability. This would be due to the poor opportunities for the children to build and extend upon their exiting knowledge. He continued that children had to be both confident and competent physically in order to feel competent emotionally. The ideals on risk taking vary from culture to culture. Although the main aim remains the same. The child needs to remain safe, but feel they are being challenged and stimulated. To minimise hazards there needs to be a high adult to child ratio. Children need opportunities to explore and do so independently. Over the last decade, the childs freedom of choice has been limited. Adult carers are sometimes over anxious about letting the child experiment with risk taking. The procedures and guidelines that are in place give the adult carer a frame work on which to base their activities upon. The adult carer should exploit and become fluent in the procedures and guidelines in place. This in turn will provide groundwork for safe risk taking. Bibliography Smith, P., Cowie, H. Blades, M. (2003) Understanding Childrens Development, London: Blackwell Publishing.  Bruce, T. Meggitt, C. (2002) Childcare Education, London: Hodder Stoughton.  DfEE (2003) Early Years (Volume 23, Number 1), London: Taylor Francis

An overview of New Zealand: History and culture

An overview of New Zealand: History and culture This paper is a report on the various factors that make up New Zealand. You will find discussions of the history, significant locations, government, economy, tourism, and food. History New Zealand became a recognized location in 1840 when the British made it part of their empire (History, n.d.). The Maori people were the first inhabitants of the islands in the tenth century, but they were flooded by the British culture later on. New Zealand was first discovered by European explorers in 1642; however, then encounter ended in bloodshed. The next meeting took place over one hundred years later in 1769 when both the French and British arrived without each other’s’ knowing. They began trade with the Maori people, who valued highly the arrival of weapons and began the Musket Wars among enemy tribes (The History, 2014). The British developed their plans to colonize New Zealand as they heard rumors of France’s similar ideas (The History, 2014). In 1840, many chiefs signed the Treaty of Waitangi with the British Crown. This established British law in New Zealand and created a large basis for what the country is known to be today (History, n.d.). However, with the large influx of British settlers, many hostilities grew and began the New Zealand Wars, or the Land Wars, for twenty years. By 1870, Britain withdrew its troops, â€Å"not wishing to invest any further in a costly overseas war which was likely to continue indefinitely† (The History, 2014). Today, â€Å"New Zealand†¦is an independent nation within the British Commonwealth† (The History, 2014). This means that although the country is under the British Monarch, New Zealand has its own active administration for government (The History, 2014). Map (NZ Map, 2014) Government â€Å"New Zealand is a democratic country in which the Members of Parliament (MPs) are chosen in free and fair elections† (NZ’s System, 2014). Parliament is made up of the House of Representatives and the Governor-General. The House of Representatives consists of 120 members, while the Governor-General is a representative of the Queen. The 120 members are elected by vote and are allowed in office for a term of three years. They hold the New Zealand government accountable for its actions and policies and pass laws over the unwritten constitution. New Zealand is defined as a constitutional monarchy, and so they have Queen Elizabeth II as the Head of State. The Queen and Governor-General â€Å"remain politically neutral and do not get involved in the political contest† (NZ’s System, 2014). New Zealand also has lower levels of government bodies, such as territorial local authorities, district health boards, and school boards of trustees (NZ’s System, 20 14). Economy With a population of around four and a half million, their current GDP is around $132 billion at a 2.5% growth (New Zealand). A third of this GDP is made up by the export of goods and services. New Zealand’s economy runs on free market principles through a mixed economy. Its three largest economic sectors are manufacturing, services, and agricultural (Overview, 2014). New Zealand’s currency is called the Kiwi dollar and was â€Å"amongst the top 25 sovereign currencies in the world† at the end of 2012 (Economic Overview, 2014). Today, the Kiwi dollar equals about $1.29 in US Dollars (Rates Table, 2014). Visiting Cities Auckland – While it is the largest city in New Zealand, home to over one and a half million people, it is not the capital. Auckland is located near the top of the North Island and is the main transport hub into the country. Its location touches into beaches and rainforests, but also volcanic areas. The region has 48 volcanic cones, which provide for great views of the city and harbor (Destinations, n.d.). Rororua – This city is south of Auckland, but is still on the North Island. â€Å"Rotorua is known for bubbling mud pools, shooting geysers and natural hot springs, as well as showcasing [their] fascinating Maori culture† (Destinations, n.d.). The bubbling mud pools are caused by the Pacific Rim of Fire: a â€Å"geothermal wonderland.† With the surrounding nature, Rotorua is a home-away-from-home for many adventure activists. It has world-class mountain bike trails, as well as horse riding, lake swimming, bungy jumping, ziplining, and more (Destinations, n.d.). Napier – This city is located within Hawke’s Bay of New Zealand. It is known mostly for its art, architecture, culture, and history of the 1930s. The reason for this is that an incredible 7.9 earthquake hit Hawke’s Bay destroying a vast majority of Napier’s buildings and killed almost 260 people. â€Å"Rebuilding began almost immediately, and much of it was completed in two years† (Destinations, n.d.). Wellington – According to Lonely Planet, Wellington is â€Å"the coolest little capital in the world.† It is located at the southern end of the North Island touching the harbor. It is known for its arts and heritage with many museums, art galleries and theatres. This city continues the adventure with more mountain bike trails and kayaking. New Zealand’s national museum, Te Papa Tongarewa, is located in Wellington too (Destinations, n.d.). Christchurch – This city is fairly large taking over a majority of the middle of the South Island. It lies along the ocean and touches the Alps. To the 340,000 residents of the city, it is known as ‘The Garden City.’ While this location continues the historic beauty and forest-filled adventure, much was destroyed in 2011 from an earthquake. A large portion of the neo-gothic architecture in the central city was ruined along with many other buildings. Despite the destruction, Christchurch still hosts much beauty and fun. A special attraction is the Orana Wildlife Park, which is an open range zoo (Destinations, n.d.)! Queenstown – This is the southern-most city to be visited on the trip in the South Island. According to New Zealand Tourism, Queenstown has become â€Å"world famous for its iconic scenery, friendly people, golf courses, wineries†¦bungy jumping, sky diving, canyon swinging, jet boating, horse trekking, and river rafting all year round† (Destinaitons, n.d.). Currently, most notably, area around Queenstown is recognized as the makings of Lord of the Rings, with locations that helped to create Middle-earth. Queenstown is clearly the most visited location in the country with a population of 19,200, but over two million visitors every year (Destinations, n.d.). NZ Tourism In 2011, New Zealand hosted over two and a half million visitors, and has expected that number to grow by over 650,000 each year (Tourism Factsheet, 2012). With tourists from around the world, there are some key differences to New Zealand (Key NZ, n.d.). The currency is a dollar, but the make-up is different from that of the US. New Zealand has coins valuing 10, 20, and 50 cents as well as $1 and $2 – then bills of $5, $10, $20, $50, and $100. Banking is generally the same and allows for exchanging currencies (Key NZ, n.d.). For driving, the lanes are swapped with drivers on the left side of the road. New Zealand also uses the metric system, where travel is measured in kilometers instead of miles. Other driving laws are the same: must wear a seat belt, no mobile phone usage, and no drinking and driving. Visitors from other countries can drive in New Zealand for up to 12 months with their home country license (Key NZ, n.d.). New Zealand entertainment is made up of three parts: food, spirits, and fun. The cuisine style is tied to mostly Eurasian countries like Thailand, Malaysia, Polynesia, and most of Europe. New Zealand is most well-known for meats like lamb, pork, and venison, as well as seafood such as salmon, crayfish, bluff oysters, mussels, and scallops. The wines of New Zealand are remarkable and are desired around the world. While people in the US must be 21 to drink alcohol, they must only be 18 in New Zealand. Also, unlike than many states in the US, New Zealand has six different casinos throughout the country (Key NZ, n.d.). Aside from all of the scenic adventures in the forests, beaches, mud pools, etc., New Zealand played host to the Lord of the Rings films. â€Å"Since 2004, an average of 47,000 international visitors each year have visited a film location† (Sector Marketing, 2013). Another small, but notable difference is the time zone. â€Å"New Zealand is one of the first places in the world to see the new day† – being 12 hours ahead of the GMT (Key NZ, n.d.). In comparison to the US, New Zealand is 18 hours ahead. A shocking factor when traveling to and from New Zealand is losing and gaining a day, which happens because of crossing the International Date Line. While this time difference is very large, a similarity is the use of daylight savings time, which a majority of the rest of the world does not use (Key NZ, n.d.). Food Delicacies In the Maori culture, a hangi feast is recommended (Destinations, n.d.). The hangi is a method of cooking, which has been used by the Maori for over 2000 years. To cook the food, it is placed in a pit oven which has heated rocks buried inside. While it is a well-known way of cooking, it has become very traditional and is only used on special occasions. The style of cooking is typically used for chicken, seafood, and vegetables, but can also be used for steamed pudding (Food Wine, n.d.). New Zealand has some of the most famous seafood in the world. Marlborough green-lipped mussels are not only delicious, but are known to have health benefits such as arthritis relief. Bluff oysters are especially desired in New Zealand and around the world – they even have their own festival in May: the Bluff Oyster and Food Festival. New Zealand also hosts a scallop festival in September called the Whitianga Scallop Festival. The forth seafood delicacy is called Whitebait. They are tiny fish caught during the springtime and are often made into fritters (Food Wine, n.d.). Works Cited Destinations. (n.d.) Retrieved December 29, 2014 from http://www.newzealand.com/us/destinations/ Economic Overview. (28 Oct, 2014). Retrieved December 29, 2014 from https://www.newzealandnow.govt.nz/investing-in-nz/opportunities-outlook/economic-overview Food Wine. (n.d.). Retrieved December 29, 2014 from http://www.newzealand.com/us/feature/favourite-new-zealand-foods/ History. (n.d.). Retrieved December 29, 2014 from http://www.newzealand.com/int/history/ Key New Zealand Facts and Information. (n.d.). Retrieved December 29, 2014 from http://www.tourism.net.nz/new-zealand/about-new-zealand/keyfacts.html New Zealand. (n.d.). Retrieved December 29, 2014 from http://www.heritage.org/index/country/newzealand New Zealand Map. (20 Nov, 2014). Retrieved December 29, 2014 from http://www.mapsofworld.com/newzealand/ New Zealand’s System of Government. (19 Dec, 2014). Retrieved December 29, 2014 from http://www.elections.org.nz/voting-system/new-zealands-system-government Overview of the New Zealand Economy. (9 Apr, 2014). Retrieved December 29, 2014 from http://www.treasury.govt.nz/economy/overview Rates Table. (29 Dec, 2014). Retrieved December 29, 2014 from http://www.x-rates.com/table/?from=USDamount=1.00 Sector Marketing: Information on key tourism and special interest sectors. (10 Apr, 2013). Retrieved December 29, 2014 from http://www.tourismnewzealand.com/sector-marketing/film-tourism/fast-facts/ The History of New Zealand: a brief overview of the pre-historic, colonial and modern periods. (29 Dec, 2014). Retrieved December 29, 2014 from http://history-nz.org/ Tourism Factsheet. (9 Aug, 2012). Retrieved December 29, 2014 from http://www.immigration.govt.nz/migrant/general/generalinformation/media/tourism+factsheet.htm

An overview of social media

An overview of social media What is Social Media? Social media is a blanket term that encompasses all tools that allow groups to generate content and engage in peer-to-peer conversations and exchange of content online. Another common term for interactions such as these is â€Å"Web 2.0†. Social media are highly accessible and inexpensive tools that all anyone from the personal sector to the corporate sector to access, create, and publish information. These media are greatly distinct from more the more traditional industrial media (newspapers, television, film) that require heavy resources use for publication. One characteristic shared by both social media and industrial media is the capability to reach small or large audiences; for example, either a blog post or a television show may reach zero people or millions of people. The properties that help describe the differences between social media and industrial media depend on the study. Some of these properties are: 1. Reach both industrial and social media technologies provide scale and enable anyone to reach a global audience. 2. Accessibility the means of production for industrial media are typically owned privately or by government; social media tools are generally available to anyone at little or no cost. 3. Usability industrial media production typically requires specialized skills and training. Most social media do not, or in some cases reinvent skills, so anyone can operate the means of production. 4. Recency the time lag between communications produced by industrial media can be long (days, weeks, or even months) compared to social media (which can be capable of virtually instantaneous responses; only the participants determine any delay in response). As industrial media are currently adopting social media tools, this feature may well not be distinctive anymore in some time. 5. Permanence industrial media, once created, cannot be altered (once a magazine article is printed and distributed changes cannot be made to that same article) whereas social media can be altered almost instantaneously by comments or editing. In his 2006 book The Wealth of Networks: How Social Production Transforms Markets and Freedom, Yochai Benkler analyzed many of these distinctions and their implications in terms of both economics and political liberty. However, Benkler, like many academics, uses the neologism network economy or network information economy to describe the underlying economic, social, and technological characteristics of what has come to be known as social media. Andrew Keen criticizes social media[citation needed] in his book The Cult of the Amateur, writing, Out of this anarchy, it suddenly became clear that what was governing the infinite monkeys now inputting away on the Internet was the law of digital Darwinism, the survival of the loudest and most opinionated. Under these rules, the only way to intellectually prevail is by infinite filibustering. Information outputs and human interaction. Primarily, social media depend on interactions between people as the discussion and integration of words to build shared-meaning, using technology as a conduit. Social media has been touted as presenting a fresh direction for marketing by allowing companies to talk with consumers, as opposed to talking at them. Social media utilities create opportunities for the use of both inductive and deductive logic by their users. Claims or warrants are quickly transitioned into generalizations due to the manner in which shared statements are posted and viewed by all. The speed of communication, breadth, and depth, and ability to see how the words build a case solicits the use of rhetoric. Induction is frequently used as a means to validate or authenticate different users statements and words. Rhetoric is an important part of todays language in social media. Social media are not finite: there is not a set number of pages or hours. The audience can participate in social media by adding comments, instant messaging or even editing the stories themselves. What is Social Media Marketing? Social media marketing is a term that describes the act of using social networks, online communities, blogs, wikis or any other collaborative Internet form of media for marketing, sales, public relations and customer service. Common social media marketing tools include Twitter, blogs, LinkedIn, Facebook, Flickr and YouTube. In the context of Internet marketing, social media refers to a collective group of web properties whose content is primarily published by users, not direct employees of the property (e.g. the vast majority of video on YouTube is published by non-YouTube employees). Social media marketing has three important aspects: (1) Creating buzz or news worthy events, videos, tweets, or even blog entries that attract attention, and become viral in nature. Buzz is the piece that makes social media marketing work, it replicates a message not through purchase of an ad, but thorough user to user contact. (2) Building ways that fans of a brand or company can promote it themselves in multiple online social media venues. Fan pages in Twitter, MySpace of Facebook are exactly this. (3) It is conversational. Social media marketing is not fully controlled by the organization, it allows for user participation and dialogue. Potentially a badly designed social media marketing campaign can backfire on the organization that created it. That is the reason that SMM campaigns must fully engage and respect the users. According to Lloyd Salmons, first chairman of the Internet Advertising Bureau social media council Social media isnt just about big networks like Facebook and MySpace, its about brands having conversations. The parameters surrounding social media marketing are arguably elusive today; however a growing consensus suggests social media marketing and Social Media are here to stay. Nielsen published a report suggesting that blogs and social networks make up the emerging social web. The social web includes social media sites and it is a location within which social media marketing takes place. Social media are media designed to be disseminated through social interaction, created using highly accessible and scalable publishing techniques. Social media supports the human need for social interaction, using Internet- and web-based technologies to transform broadcast media monologues (one to many) into social media dialogues (many to many). It supports the democratization of knowledge and information, transforming people from content consumers into content producers. Businesses also refer to social media as user-generated content (UGC) or consumer-generated media (CGM). Social media can be said to have three components; 1. Concept (art, information, or meme). 2. Media (physical, electronic, or verbal). 3. Social interface (intimate direct, community engagement, social viral, electronic broadcast or syndication, or other physical media such as print). Common forms of social media; * Concepts, slogans, and statements with a high memory retention quotient, that excite others to repeat. * Grass-Roots direct action information dissemination such as public speaking, installations, performance, and demonstrations. * Electronic media with sharing, syndication, or search algorithm technologies (includes internet and mobile devices). * Print media, designed to be re-distributed.

Free Essays - Anthony Burgess A Clockwork Orange :: Clockwork Orange Essays

"A Clockwork Orange" is a very different movie. It has everything a movie should have, but the plot is quite disturbing, especially for the time it came out. I have personally watched this film several times to find the meaning, and every time I watch it I come up with a different one. I am going to try to explain what this film contains as well as try to explain the plot. "A Clockwork Orange" is a story of a young man whose principle interests are rape, ultra-violence, and Beethoven. It's about a teen named Alex (Malcolm McDowell) who torments people in Britain in the near future. He is then betrayed by his friends and caught by the police, after he had murdered somebody. He was sent to live in a Juvenile Facility where he had to endure a strange torture of being forced to watch horrific movies. When Alex gets home, all the people that had done him wrong had their revenge on a weak, recuperating Alex. I'll let you find out what happened at the end =). "A Clockwork Orange" is a cult classic. It was Stanley Kubrick's 2nd Critically acclaimed film (the first being "Spartacus"). I was first interested in the book by Anthony Burgess (which in my opinion, is equally as good as the movie). "A Clockwork Orange" contains only a few of the element that can make a good film. One of them is the makeup. Alex and his gang (droogs) all where a makeup when they go out and do there thing. It gives them all a look of insanity and makes them look disturbed. I think that this was well done because it gives you a feeling of fear. Being afraid of a character in a movie is an excellent way to get to know them. Another element used is the script. Stanley Kubrick used the same special language used in the book. A lot of the words have no real meaning and you still know what they mean. The context the words are used in is very much like the book. Doing this, the book comes to life on the screen. I always enjoy watching a movie the follows the book so close because it doesn't change the story. Another is the theme. The theme of "A Clockwork Orange" is very hard to explain. However, it still has one if not many. As I stated before, every time I watch it I get something else out of it.

Evolution vs. Creationism Essay -- essays research papers

Evolution vs. Creationism The Evolution vs. Creationism controversy goes all the way back to the Publishing of Origin of Species in 1859 by Darwin laying the foundation for the evolution of life to be understood. Scientists are continuously finding more evidence to support Darwin’s conclusion; that organisms descended from a common ancestor modified by the mechanism of natural selection resulting in the evolution of species adapting to their environment. The following are the main geological topics concerning creationism: radiometric dating, transitional forms and the Cambrian explosion. Creationism is nothing more than a child’s fairytale that lacks any scientific proof. The aspect of radiometric dating is controversial to most creationists on the grounds that it is unreliable and has error factors. One creationist points out: â€Å"a living mollusk was once shown by carbon-14 dating to be dead for 3,000 years† (Geology). There are several things wrong with this idea. Creationists who determined this value used carbon 14 dating which is useful for determining the age of organism 50,000 years old. It is not suitable to be used for such a young organism, so the creationists make it seem as if there is something incorrect with the technique which leads to incorrect dates. Even the biggest errors, found in Carbon 14 dating, do not correspond to the 6000 year old earth that the Bible suggests. It’s almost as if they are trying to ‘create’ problems on the purpose so they can prove...

Amazon Rainforest

Amazon Rainforest I am an explorer and I just returned from an expedition to the Amazon rainforest. The Amazon rainforest was amazing and there lots of facts that I would like to tell you about: [pic]The Rainforest grow around the equator. The hot, steamy conditions are perfect for plants. [pic]In fact, rainforests contain the largest diversity of plant and animal life on earth; many species are still unidentified. Rainforests form distinct layers, providing homes for animals at all levels. [pic]The Amazon rainforest is the world’s largest remaining natural resource that now represents 54% of the total rainforest left on earth. pic]More than 20% of earth’s oxygen is produced in this area the name of that area is called ‘lungs of the planet’. [pic]An estimated number of 2,700 million acres of the rainforest are burned each year. [pic]The rainforest is one of the wettest but hottest places on earth. August is the Amazon’s driest month. [pic]In the sout heast of England, the temperature in January is about 5 °c, where as in the Amazon it is about 28 °c. [pic]The total number of tree species is estimated to be about 2500. The total numbers of plants are about 40. 000. The Amazon insects are about 2. 5 million species.There are 7500 species of butterflies and 50 species of ants are found in a single tree. [pic]Over 500 mammals, 175 lizards and over 300 other reptiles species, and one third of the world’s birds live in Amazonia. Map of the Amazon rainforest The Amazon rainforest covers the area of 2. 5 million square miles, and taken up nine countries of Brazil: Brazil, Colombia, Peru, Venezuela, Ecuador, Bolivia and the Guiana’s, Guyana, French Guiana and Suriname. Tropical rainforests are located around the equator where temperatures stay near 80 degrees year round. Rainforest receive 160 too 400 inches of rain each year.Today, rapid deforestation threatens the Amazons forests. At current rates, 25 percent of its o riginal forests are projected to be destroyed by 2020, it will be a disaster. Climate This is a climate graph showing temperature and precipitation that happens yearly. The rainfall in January to march is increasing then it falls to May from 310mm to 250 mm. The rainfall then decreases to 110mm, and then it goes back down to august by 60mm. The precipitation level ascends to December by 170mm. There was lots of rainfall in between January and May, its like monsoon in India.The temperature starts in January at the level of 130 degrees Celsius, and then it drops to 110 degrees Celsius. Temperature increased to 140 degrees Celsius in April and may. Then it went up to 150 degrees Celsius in July, afterwards it shoots up to 290 degrees Celsius in September and 300 degrees Celsius in October. The temperature drops right down to 200 degrees Celsius in December. The temperature rose and the rainforest were really hot in between August and November. As I was exploring the rainforest I notice d that it is very hot, wet and sticky- very humid. I was covered with sweat and my boots were all sticky with mud.Another thing is that it rains everyday, so regularly that you could set your watch by it. The eastern horizon becomes suddenly black, and then wind rushes through the forest, a vivid flash of lightening, a crash of thunder and finally the downpour of rain. The next day the sun rises-spring summer autumn as it were in one tropical day. There is one type of rainfall, which is called convectional rainfall, which means that the sun heats the ground, which heats the air nearest the ground causing it to expand and rise. Storms are common with convectional rainfall. The Amazon rainforest gets nine feet of rain every year.Amazon Animals Birds Rainforests contain the richest variety of the world’s birds. From the emergent layer, fast-flying predators, such as eagles and hawks, descend on forest animals. The canopy is home to birds such as hornbills, parrots, and toucans, which feed on fruit and small animals. On the forest floor birds scratch at the soil for insects and plant roots. Here are the three animals that I saw during my expedition. Sloth I saw the sloth, there were lots of them hanging in the trees. They are very unique mammals and I found them in the canopy layer. There are six to seven species of them.They are divided up into two groups: the two-toed sloth, three-toed sloth. Three-toed sloths live on cecropia leaves but two-toed sloths live high in the canopy feeding on a wide variety of leaves and fruits. They are very slow and lazy animals that live in trees. Sloths spend most of their time hanging upside down from the tree branches. They sleep, mate, eat and give birth to a baby hanging upside down. They hold onto the branches with their strong sharp curved claws that are on each of their feet, which adapt to the environment they are living. They can’t stand upright because of the large claws.In their forest habitat, however, t heir hook-like claws provide a far more reliable grip on tree branches than the grip of a normal fist. Sloths have a thick brown and slightly greenish fur coat. Sloths are about a size of a cat. They are short, flat head, big eyes, a short tail, long legs and tiny ears. Some sloths have green algae on their fur to camouflage effect and providing some nutrients to the sloths, which lick the algae. Their fur goes upside down for rainwater to drip off. Sloths also have adaptations to stay warm! Apparently the sloth’s laziness is because of its diet.They eat only leaves, which are naturally low in energy and they are hard to digest. They sleep to get energy and they sleep about for 20 hours a day. They camouflage to hide from the predators like harpy eagles, anacondas, jaguars and humans. They can live up to 12 years in the wild. They are better at swimming than walking. Anaconda- heaviest snake in the world Honestly I really hate snakes, but unfortunately I saw an anaconda resti ng in one of the trees. Luckily it wasn’t hungry. It was camouflaged so it cannot be visible. Then I found out that they are the heaviest snakes in the world.They also known as the water boa, they are giant, semi-aquatic meat-eater lives in swampy areas of tropical South America. The largest anaconda ever measured was almost 28 feet long with a girth of 44 inches. The weight was over 500 lbs. Anacondas are not poisonous but it coils itself around its prey and they crush it. Anaconda could swallow entire cow. The digestion can take up to several days. They feed mostly on capybara, humans (if necessary), fish, and mammals. Anaconda don’t use its teeth to chew, it uses it to hold on to its prey to prevent it from escaping. Hummingbirds Awww! The hummingbirds look so cute.There were lots of them. It was really colourful when they all came together into groups. They are extremely small and brilliantly coloured, their wings beating up to 80 times per second and making an aud ible buzzing sound as they  as they fly. They are incredibly fast and they don’t keep still. Hummingbirds require lots of energy. They have the fastest wing beats of any bird and their hearts beat up to 1,260 beats per minute. Hummingbirds may visit 1,000 flowers per day. For protein, hummingbirds eat spiders and strain gnats from mid-air. They will pull insects out of spider webs including the spider itself.Sapsucker holes are a double treat, netting both insects and sap! They mainly live in the canopy area. Plants As I researched on plants I discovered that many rainforest trees are tall, with straight trunks with few branches and buttress roots support them. Other plants include epiphytes, such as bromeliads and orchids. Epiphytes use other plants as support, attaching themselves to branches by their roots to reach the light. They trap water and obtain nutrients from plant material that fall on them. Bromeliads have spiky leaves that channel water, leaves and fruit into a pool in the centre; these rot to provide the bromeliad with nutrients.Structure of the Amazon rainforest trees The Emergent The upper layer can reach up to 60 m above the forest floor. Here the tallest trees of the forest stick out in isolation from the mass of trees below. The emergent layer is home to bats, predatory birds, and fruit eaters such as the sun conure. Emergent trees are the tallest trees in a rain forest canopy, the ones that get the light. When they fall, they help a lot of light reach down onto the forest floor for other trees to finally get their chance to grow. Canopy Between 30-45m above ground level is the canopy.This dense layer of branches and leaves contains the greatest variety of animal life in the forest. Lianas- woody creepers – reach up to the sunlight of the upper canopy. Plants like Epiphytes grow on canopy trees. A common term for canopy trees is shade trees. A canopy is the outer layer of the tree’s leaves, and shade trees have a dens e canopy that block out the light. Some good canopy trees include: Oaks, maples, ashes, lindens, elms, poplars, beeches, tilias, tulipwood, tree waratah,  birches, golden robinia, crepe myrtle, Japanese crab apple, ornamental pea,  flowering plum. UnderstoreyShrubs grow in the Understorey layer wherever light squeeze through the canopy. Lizards, such as the common iguana, live here, climbing up tree trunks and feeding on insects and vegetation. The Understorey is the group of small trees, shrubs and vines that grow under the taller trees. These plants can grow in the shade of the taller trees. Understorey trees usually stay short, even if they are very old. Forest floor There are few plants on the dark forest floor, but many small animals such as insects feed on and recycle material that falls from above. Almost no plants grow in this area, as a result.Since hardly any sun reaches the forest floor things begin to decay quickly. A leaf that might take one year to decompose in a r egular climate will disappear in  6 weeks. Leaf-cutter ant use leaves as a compost to grow fungus they feed on. Indian Tribes The kayapo village Traditional Kayapo villages are formed by a circle of houses built around a large cleared area. The houses from the kayapo village are mainly made from materials from the forest. Men work together as a team and a colourful parrot guides the men like where to put the stuff and etc. There are 10 houses altogether.They are made from palm trees. In the middle of the village there is the men’s house. Young and unmarried men go there. They join the senior men to paint their faces and bodies as a tradition and they learn the history of tribes and the daily basis. The river is used for fishing, bathing, cooking and drinking. Fishing is a year-round activity, but it has to be done in the dry season, when the water level is at its lowest, that fish are caught in large numbers. To achieve this, the Kayapo use timbo vines. The men beat the vin es for hours in the water with small clubs (sticks wider at one end).This decreases the oxygen of the water but this won’t poisson the fish. The fish won’t be able to breathe in the water. Then the fish floats to the other end of the water and the children catches the fish with their bare hands. Then they go back to their village and hand their fish over to their wife, if they are unmarried they will give the fish to their mother or sister. Other foods are grown in the garden where women look after them. The women harvest the family's garden for vegetables. They also prepare body paint with the help of their children. Children play hunting games.Kayapo learn portugese to help them understand the world around them. They use radios to communicate with the other tribes. Deforestation Deforestation is when the amazon tropical rainforest or any forest which is being cut down at an alarimg rate. It is estimated that 100,000 species willl become extinct in the next 40 years a s a result of deforestation. The potential for discovering new foods or medicines from these species will be lost forever. The problem is that the rainforest does not grow back. This is because most of the nutrients which the plants needs to grow are stored in the trees.Once the trees have been removed, the source of the nutrients diappears. Any goodness that is left in the soil is quickly washed away by the heavy rainfall that happens in this region. There used to be 6 million indigenous people in the amazon rainforest; today there are only 200,000 left. This is because deforestation is destroying their traditional lands, they have suffered from diseases brought in by the settlers. If deforestation is not controlled only 28 per cent of the amazon rainforest will be left by 2020. Deforestation is caused by: Agriculture- the forest has been cleared to clear farmland for large estates.Ranching- a major cause of deforestation is for beef cattle farming. Mining- the amazon is rich in mi nerals like iron ore, tin and gold – the forest is destroyed by the mines. Dams- the dams provide essential electricity, which is a renewable energy source. However the forest is flooded and wildlife will loose their habitat. Roads- 12,000 km of roads have been built in the amazon. Conclusion We can help to protect the rainforest by making sure that we do not buy any products that are responsible for trees being cut down. We can also support organisations that protect rainforests such as friends of the earth or greenpeace.Each year an area of forest slightly larger than trees are cut down, releasing global warming pollution in the form of carbon dioxide and methane from burning and decaying vegetation. Deforestation disturbs the water cycle by allowing water to runoff directly to rivers rather than being trapped in soil and vegetation and slowly released throughout the year. 85% of the Amazon rainforest may be lost due to global warming. By the end of the year the trees had r eleased more than two-thirds of the carbon dioxide they have stored during their lives, helping to act as a break on global warming.Instead they began accelerating the climate change. These are some steps for saving rainforests which are known as â€Å"TREES† Teach others about the importance of the environment and how they can help save rainforests. Restore damaged ecosystems by planting trees on land where forests have been cut down. Encourage people to live in a way that doesn't hurt the environment Establish parks to protect rainforests and wildlife Support companies that operate in ways that minimize damage to the environment That was the end to my journey I had a lovely time. I like to go there again.

Honey Pots and Network Security Essay

Abstract Honey pots are specially designed to attract hackers for gathering data and hence alert the observers, and offer them an insight about what the intruder is attempting. Honey pots decoy attackers to apparently exposed but well observed computer system to learn about the strategy and tools used by the hackers and to improve the system security accordingly. However, the system built-up with the good intentions may sometimes be used in foul applications. The paper discusses about the honey pots in detail. The paper provides information what are honey pots, different types of honey pots, advantage and disadvantage of using honey pot. The paper also discusses about the security implications of honey pots. The later part of the paper provides information about how to create a honey pot, implementation of different honey pot tools and finally explains how honey pots secures a system from hackers. Honey Pots and Network Security Introduction ‘Honey pots’ are not new concept introduced for network deception. The concept has been deployed since long back from the introduction of internet. Challenges faced by the technology are higher than the advantages reaped. As the technology grows, the need for protection from the negative impacts has increased tremendously. Security personnel’s are more considered in protecting the crucial data from the attackers. Researchers and security specialist have been using various types of Honey pots, since the inception of the internet. Like real Honey pots, that attracts insects, the technical Honey pots acts as an attractive target to internet hackers. Though honey pots are not the real solution for the protection of the networked system from the illegal sources, they probably help in detecting the invader and alert the net administrator for future protection. What are honey pots? Honey pots are a bait source, which act as a genuine target inventing ambush from the invader. They are a tricky system, which tries to lure an invader away from critical systems. Honey pots acts a watching dog and manages to captures data from the hackers. The system is usually stored with superficially valuable information, which is actually fallacious and would not be eschewed by an honest user. Thus, any access to the Honey pots is considered as hacker. The predominant purpose of honey pot is to divert the attackers, to prevent the actual system, and to gather information about the invader for future research and development. In addition, it is also useful in providing information about the modus operandi and the tools of attack. Honey pot is an information system resource and any kind of system can be placed within the honey pot. Standard production system can be placed under honey pot to provide hackers a feeling of real system. In general, Honey pots act as an effectual method in preventing the illegal measures carried out in accessing the significant information on the system. The noteworthy features of the honey pots are first, they are user friendly and extremely flexible, secondly, honey pots discover the invaders whereabouts and activities and finally they invite the most recent vulnerabilities to the system, which helps the examiner to keep him more updated and help in to build a strong network protection. Types of honey pots Research Honey Pots Research organizations, educational institutes, or non-profit organizations run Research Honey Pots to collect information about the tactics and motives of the hackers. These organization attempts to spread awareness of the threat and vulnerabilities created by the hackers in the real network. These are considered high interaction honey pots, which involve high monitoring process and gather numerous information about the intruder’s activity, the method and technology used by the invader in breaking the system and further monitor their activity for future research. Production honey pots Production honey pots are used in the organizations within the production network linked with the production servers to improve the security measures. These â€Å"low-interaction honey pots are easier to deploy and provide little information about the attackers unlike research honey pots.† (Andress, A.2003). Production honey pots are similar to the conservative methods of invasion detection method. They discover the malicious activity performed by hackers and alerts the system administrator by capturing minimum data from the intruder. Advantages in using honey pots Honey pots are successful in capturing invaders prying the system. Hackers can be easily distracted to system targets, which they cannot damage. This provides researchers enough time to probe into hackers details and to respond them. Finally, â€Å"this system allows the researchers to examine the hacker’s action and help them to improve the system protection.† (Wible, B, 2003). Honey pots would be able to accumulate considerable amount of data about the invader during invasion. They gather all the information about the illegal activities performed by the invader. Honey pots though able to collect only small amount of data’s from the invaders the data collected by them are of higher value. Hence, honey pots serves as an easier and a cheaper tool in collecting all the malicious activity be the intruder. Honey pot is very simple and easy to implement. It dose not involves any complicated measures like intricate algorithms, tables or signatures. It is cheaper and provides enough time to the administrators to research on the information gathered. Honey pots also avert hackers from entering the system, as hackers may be confused with the real system and honeyed system and thus stop entering the network to avoid wastage of time. Disadvantages of Honey Pots Honey pots are not highly successful in its application. There are no proper legal standards devised for using Honey pots. The operating system using honey pots are prone to severe attacks when the attackers are triggered by denial of service. E.g., a disturbed denial of service attack against cnn.com that came from US. A high level of expertise is needed to the researchers and scrutinisers to use the system. Moreover, Sophos, 2004 says â€Å"hackers can use honey pots itself to attack our own system.† Honey Pots and Network Security Honey pots gather only limited information, as they will be able to track only the attackers who invade the system and cannot capture any other information against other network. A Typical Model of Honey pot with firewall Honey pots are premeditated to imitate like the real system in which the hacker would possibly invade in to capture information, but actually Honey Pots and Network Security Types of malicious attacks prevented by honey pots Honey pots help in preventing the following malicious attacks †¢ Spammers in e-mail address †¢ Spammers in proxy server †¢ Spammers in SMTP †¢ Worms Security implications of honey pots Application of Honey pots in the system has numerous advantages. The most significant implication of Honey pots is that it reposes confidence on the hackers offering a false impression on the existing security system and prevents the likelihood of the attack or probe to the real machine. Often attackers scrutinize a large block of computers looking for fatalities. Even attackers focusing a particular company will scrutinize the openly accessible information owned by the company searching for a mechanism as a starting point. Honey pots reduce this possibility of an attacker selecting crucial information as a target, detect, and records the initial scan as well as any subsequent attack. Like other invasion detection measures, there are no bogus positive with Honeypots. For example, IDS products such as Padded cells take a different approach. It waits for traditional IDS to detect an attacker. The attracters usually create a fake positive to a considerable amount before attacking any system. This is because there is likelihood that valid traffic will match the characteristics the IDS used to detect attacks. In Honey pots, all communications are suspected simply because the device is used only for attacking hackers. Thus, Honeypots can detect more hackers than any other invasive device. Observers and event trackers on the honey pot detect these unauthorized accesses and collect information about the attracter’s activities. The purpose of the honey pot is to distract an attacker from accessing significant information and to collect information about the attracter’s activity, and hearten the attacker to reside on the system for a long time for administration to take action. This helps in identifying the active and passive vulnaberitalies, which attack the operating system by recording the attacker’s details. The details recorded are stored for a month’s time allowing the researcher enough time to probe on hackers details. Requirements to create honey pot â€Å"Honey pots, an instruction detection tool used as a target for hackers is usually deployed in a system, which can be either a Cisco router or Ethernet Switch or HP Jet direct card†, says Roger A. Grimes. To implement an Early Warning system honey pot needs to create an attractive information source on the port so that it would be more flexible to trap invaders. According to Roger A. Grimes, â€Å"to implement honey pot in windows TCP ports 135, 137-139 and 445 and to implement in UNIX / LINUX host and RCP ports 22,111 are required.† How to create honey pot? There are numerous ways to deploy honey pot in a system. Lance Spitzner says, â€Å"an old system such as Windows XP without service pack or Red Hat 9.0 or Sussex 9.0 can be made use for this purpose were a copy of default OS can be installed.† The invaders can be easily trapped to such a setup, as it would like real and not like a honeyed system. Though some people deploy honey pots in virtual machines, as it is quicker in gathering information, the hackers would possibly identify it. However, the best tool for tracking invaders is open source honeyed system. This is highly complicated but more effective method of intrusion detection. However, for an effective monitoring sebek can be installed. How to implement different honey pot tools? Low interaction honey pots can be deployed in the system with windows 98 or 2000 in shorter period. They act like a machine working for back office of the company and offer bogus services like sending e-mails in http format and in ftp, imap or telnet. An example of back office alert from hacker, â€Å"BO>host 11.11.11.1 New host: 11.11.11.1.41256 BO: 11.11.11.1>dir ———Packet received from 11.11.11.1 port 41256—— Error 65: The network path was not found opening file c:* ———End of Data———- Honey Pots and Network Security BO: 11.11.11.1>reboot ———-Packet received from 11.11.11.1 port 41256——– Naughty, naughty. Bad hacker! No donut! ———End of Data———- BO: 11.11.11.1>quit† (Source- Marcus J. Ranum, 2002) In addition, spam honey pots can also be used for trapping invaders. The operating system rather than implementing automatic mailing system can alter the delivery method to manual mode. Thus, all mails from the different sources arrive and the suspicious one drops in the spam mode. Hence, mails are only received and not replied. â€Å"Another honey pot tool called as ‘Netcat’, which is used for gathering information from the port. â€Å"E.g. nc – 1- p 80 > capture. Txt† â€Å"This honey pot tool arrest all the invasion to the port and send them to the output file and easily strap up into a .BAT file.† (Marcus J. Ranum, 2002). How dose honey pots secure a system? Honey pots by its implementation tend to track the I.P address of the invader and gradually prevent the network from the invasion of the hacker from that I.P address. This is done by using lots of deception method like making the invader wait for a long time in the system, making the windows size to zero etc. This is mainly done to baffle the hacker and to squander his time and resource. However, during this process the network administrator would be in position to identify the hacker’s movement and will have time to stop the hacker or to respond to the hacker. â€Å"Unlike other intrusion detection method honey pots do not spawn huge amount of data’s but provide little data with high value and trap all new and strange attacks such as polymorphic shell code, work in encrypted and IPv6 environments†, says Roger A. Grimes. Honey pots also acts as an exceptional event-reporting tool since they can be easily disconnected form online and taken for detailed study without affecting the ongoing business activity. Conclusions A successful deployment of honeypot would act as an impediment to the attacker from reaching the actual information meanwhile provides information to the network administrator to defend the attack and protect the system from damage. In addition, successful baiting would endow with information about the invaders activity to the defender thus augmenting the security procedures, which includes firewall and Intrusion Detection System. Honey pots have tremendous potential for the computer security community. Like any new technology, they have some challenges to overcome. Most likely, none of these problems will ever be completely solved or eliminated. â€Å"However, one can witness a lot of development on the subject within next 12 to 18 months as many new developments that help to address these and other issues are forthcoming†. (Piazza, P. 2001) Bibliography Lance Spitzner, 2002, â€Å"Honeypots-Tracking Hackers.† Roger A. Grimes. 2005. â€Å"Honey pots for Windows†. Piazza, P. (2003, December). A System for Bettor Security. Security Management, 47, 24+. Sophos Reveals Latest ‘Dirty Dozen’ Spam Producing Countries. (2004, September 4). Manila Bulletin, p. NA. Wible, B. (2003). A Site Where Hackers Are Welcome: Using Hack-In Contests to Shape Preferences and Deter Computer Crime. Yale Law Journal, 112(6), 1577+.