models of memory essays

models of memory essays The multi-store model of memory takes an information-processing approach to the study of memory, and is usually associated with the work of Atkinson and Shiffin. The model assumes that the human memory is an information processor that first has incoming information inputted into it, which is then processed and stored so that it can be outputted or retrieved at a later date. This three-step guide is the basis of the model. The model also states that there are a number of separate stores in memory, the sensory buffer store, the short-term memory store and the long-term memory store. Information moves through the different stores in a linear way, (only forward, not backward,) and thus it is described as a linear model of memory. The stores differ in the form of capacity, duration information can be held and the type of coding it is stored in. As information from the external world enters the store, it automatically passes into the sensory buffer store, and if attention is paid to this, it will continue into the short-term store where it can last for up to 30 seconds. If not, the information will be discarded and lost. But, if the information is rehearsed it will be recoded and transferred into the long-term memory store. Information that is un-rehearsed would be quickly lost from long-term memory, but can be retrieved from the long-term memory store via the short-term memory store, although retrieval cues may be needed to do this. Thu multi-store model of memory is supported by studies from Jacobs, Peterson + Peterson, Baddeley and Bahrick which all suggest that there is a difference between short-term memory and long-term memory in terms of capacity, duration and coding. However, studies by Craik + Tulving show that it is how we process memory and not where we store it that affects recollection after a period of time. This contrasts with the multi-store model. Case studies of people suffering brain damage indu ...

Elementary Level Syllabus for Beginning English Courses

Elementary Level Syllabus for Beginning English Courses Syllabus - Lesson 1 This syllabus has been written for false beginners in a business English setting. The focus is therefore on the workplace. However, the basic structures that are introduced should be the same for any type of class. Vary the content of your lessons to make sure they fit students learning objectives.   Theme - Introductions The revised language items will include: The verb to beRevision of possessive adjectives: my, your, her, hisBasic greetings The new language items introduced will include: The use of names of countriesExpansion of lexical set: basic greetingsExpressions including Countries and Nationalities Your first lesson focuses on the verb be which will help students begin discussing basic questions. Possessive adjectives such as her and his encourage students to discuss what they learn from other students. Learning nations and national adjectives can help them talk about their country. Syllabus - Lesson 2 Theme - The World Around Me The revised language items will include: spelling skillsRevision of letters of the alphabet The new language items introduced will include: The use of questions and negatives with the verb to beThe use of determiners: this, that, those and theseThe use of a and anExpansion of lexical set everyday objects - singular and pluralExpressions including basic opposite adjectives This lesson focuses on objects that can be found both in and out of the classroom. It might be a good idea to take the class on a short walk around your school to help them become familiar with the concept of here / there, this / that. Working on basic adjectives in opposite pairs (big/small, cheap/expensive, etc.) will help students begin describing their world.   Syllabus - Lesson 3 Theme - My Friends and I The revised language items will include: singular and plural nouns, numbers 1 - 100, phone numbers, the use of the verb to be for giving personal information The new language items introduced will include: Giving personal information: name, marital status, phone number, address, ageAsking for and telling the time, prepositions used for telling the time at, past, toExpansion of lexical set jobs. This lesson helps students begin discussing schedules, meetings, and other responsibilities. The focus is on numbers, time, marital status and other personal items that require students to give information involving numbers and spelling.   Syllabus - Lesson 4 Theme - A Day in the Life of†¦ The revised language items will include: Times of the day, the 12-hour clock - a.m. and p.m.Revision of basic verbs used to describe daily routines The new language items introduced will include: The use of the present simple (1)The use of the first, second and third person singular in the present simpleExpansion of lexical set daily routinesExpressions including verbs and nouns that go together, prepositions used for times of the day - in the morning, afternoon, evening / at night The big focus on this lesson is the use of the simple present tense to speak about routines, habits and other daily tasks. Make sure to help students learn differences between the verb be and all other verbs. This will require a special focus on the helping verb do in questions and negative sentences.   Syllabus - Lesson 5 Theme - The Workplace The revised language items will include: continuation of the present simple (2)Revision of basic verbs used to describe work tasks The new language items introduced will include: The use of negative and question forms in the present simpleThe use of the first, second and third person plural in the present simpleThe use of adverbs of frequencyPrepositions of place and movement: to, in, atExpansion of lexical set daily work routinesExpressions including: Asking for help and asking someone to repeat In this lesson, you will expand on the present simple by introducing adverbs of frequency such as usually, sometimes, seldom, etc. Move from discussions focusing on I to talking about others with he, she, we, etc. Its a good idea to ask students to write up questions, interview other students, and report back to class to help students recognize and begin using different pronouns.   Syllabus - Lesson 6 Theme - Talking about Work The revised language items will include: Greetings and informal discussion about your work tasksRevision of seasons, months and days of the week The new language items introduced will include: Expansion of lexical set means of communicationExpressions including terms used for talking about the relationships between people in an office Continue exploring the work world while discussing a larger time frame when introducing days of the weeks, months and seasons to the class. Have students discuss typical activities for each time of the year, the day of the week or month.   Syllabus Lesson 7 Theme - The Ideal Office The revised language items will include: Revision of lexical set things in the officeRevision of daily work tasks The new language items introduced will include: The use of there is and there are for descriptive purposes and in the interrogative formThe use of some and any in the positive, negative and interrogative formExpansion of lexical set furniture to include items commonly found in an officeExpressions including prepositions of place including: on, in, near, next to, in front of, and between Drill down into the office world by focusing on office equipment. Ask students to discover what other students workplace look like by working with any and some (i.e. Are there any tables in your office?, We have some copiers in our office, etc.) Syllabus - Lesson 8 Theme - The Interview The revised language items will include: verbs expressing skills and abilitiesRevision of expressions used for asking and giving personal information The new language items introduced will include: The use of can to express abilityThe use of haveExpansion of lexical set skills and abilitiesExpressions including verb-noun collocations (words that go together) Finish up this first section of the syllabus by expanding vocabulary skills with common workplace collocations. Use mock interviews to introduce the modal can to speak about abilities. Syllabus - Lesson 9 - Check Module I The revised language items will include: introductions numbers and letters, skills and abilities, telling the time, describing your daily work routine, numbers and lettersGrammar Revised: The use of the verb to be in the present simple, possessive adjectives, the use of the present simple, the use of basic prepositions of movement and place, the use of some and any, the use of there is and there are, the use of can to express abilities, the use of determinersVocabulary Revised: countries and nationalities, telling the time, work routines, objects in an office, months, seasons and days of the week, asking for help and repeating, relationships at work At this point, its a good idea to assess students comprehension with a quiz. The test should not be long but should include each element of the first eight lessons.

Retailers Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Retailers - Essay Example : 1). The Giant Coca-Cola Bottle on Nanjing Road magazine ad is a particular example of trying to penetrate another type of audience, which the company has not entered in the past. It is a common rationale for big and small retailers to gain more market share and bigger income by coming up with advertisements that can draw consumer attention to their respective products (Making Sense of Advertisements- What is the Ad Trying to Do?: 1). While most of the advertisements by Coca-Cola, Pepsi and Dr. Pepper have achieved the goals they were created for, some magazine ads by the said companies however were not effective; like the Coca-Cola â€Å"Surfer† Advertisement, the Coca-Cola â€Å"Lemon† Advertisement, the Pepsi â€Å"Lemon Twist† Advertisement, the Pepsi â€Å"Climbing† Advertisement, the Dr. Pepper Iron Man 2 Cans and the Dr. Pepper Free 20oz. at Murphy USA Advertisement. The Coca-Cola â€Å"Surfer† and â€Å"Lemon† Advertisements lack col or and the designs were mediocre; not enough to have an impact to inspire interest. On the other hand, the Pepsi â€Å"Lemon Twist† and â€Å"Climbing† advertisements are both gross and mind-boggling respectively. Such ads make the consumer wonder unnecessarily what the ads mean in connection with the product. The Dr. Pepper Iron Man 2 Cans and Free 20oz.

International Marketing Management Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

International Marketing Management - Assignment Example The product we are going to launch in Pakistan would not be a standard product for the rest of the countries, because it has to be in accordance with the preferences of Pakistanis. Like for example Pizza Hut is operating globally but the pizza you are going to eat in Pakistan compared with pizzas available in other countries' Pizza Hut would be much different as people in Pakistan like spicy food, even the names they have given to the types of pizzas available here are mostly in Urdu language which is the national language of Pakistan. I think that this kind of strategies would be an added advantage for the company. Our ice cream dessert would be available in a packed rectangular box, containing two packets. One will contain the powder form of ice cream dessert which needs to be dissolved in milk, according to the given directions on the box. Another packet will contain the fruit topping, to be served with the dessert. In the preparation of the dessert the temperature of the country needs to be considered. Secondly, the ingredients should be halal i.e. acceptable by the Muslim state. The name we have given to our dessert is 'Summer Delight' because almost for the eight to nine months the weather remains hot in Pakistan. The logo is 'cannot avoid the bite'. Targeting youth segmen... Targeting youth segment of Pakistan would give you an idea of a developing nation where competition and advancements are growing really fast. You might think that as this country is in its development phase, where approximately 30% people are below poverty line, then how would it be possible for the youth population to spend on the desserts The answer is simple. There are thousands of people who can afford and are interested in buying and consuming these items, at a place where there are a few competitors, where youth segment is ready for changes and easily accept and adopt foreign products (Pakistan, 2001). The young generation of Pakistan, aged between 10 - 35 years depending on situations, is a quick decision maker and they are more concerned about the fashion and trend that is going to come in the market. Basically they are ambitious kind of people and always want to be the innovators rather than followers. So if a product fulfils their demands then they are absolutely going to try it. At present for the youth market, the only constant thing is 'change'. Through various communication channels like internet, telephone, newspapers, television programs from all over the world, they are at all times in search of innovative ideas and notions. For a company to target the youth, it has to be adaptable and would be ready and effective for all sorts of integrations, only then it would be possible to catch them and then to retain them (Youth, 2007). Customer's buying behaviour: The buying behaviour of the customer varies significantly depending on the features of the product. For example if a person is interested in buying a car then he will take some time in making the decision because it is complex buying and involves high prices. Our product does not require too much

Organizational Behavior And Communication Paper Essay Example for Free

Organizational Behavior And Communication Paper Essay Southwest Airlines Organizational Behavior Communication Paper Erica Sepulveda Communications for Accountants/Com 530 January 30, 2012 Southwest Airlines Organizational Behavior Communication Paper Airlines, such as Southwest Airlines, strive to provide the best customer service that they can offer to keep their customers happy. A prospective Southwest passenger may probably make their reservation by calling the customer service number, logging on to the company’s website, or booking at an airport with a Southwest Airlines agent. The employees that assist these prospective and actual passengers are considered the backbone of the company and do their best to represent Southwest in the finest way possible. One may question, what makes these employees happy? What kind of organization culture are they surrounded by on a daily basis? â€Å"A strong organizational culture provides stability to an organization† (Robbins Judge. , 2011, pg. 520). Culture of Southwest Airlines According to Southwest Airlines mission statement, â€Å"Employees will be provided the same concern, respect, and caring attitude within the organization that they are expected to share externally with every Southwest Customer† (Southwest Airlines, 2012). This definitely shows a positive sign that the majority of employees working for this corporation are happy. As an unemployed individual looking for employment, a position within Southwest is where they would want to be. It’s evident that this company values their employees and strives to keep them happy. Happy Employees = Happy Customers. Happy Customers keep Southwest flying† (Southwest Airline, 2012). Recently, Southwest Airlines was honored as one of the best companies to work for. â€Å"Southwest Airlines (NYSE: LUV)has been recognized as one of the top 50 Best Places to Work, a significant achievement, as nearly 150,000 companies are rated by their employees on Glassdoor† (PR Newswire, 2011). This p oint certainly proves that this organization’s espoused values align with its enacted values. Communication Roles within Southwest Airlines Company An organization’s culture plays a critical role in the way communication is done throughout the company. Southwest airlines, for example is a huge company with thousands of employees. One would guess that communication within this organization takes more of a virtual approach. However, just because they are a huge company, doesn’t mean that communication with others or the voices of management won’t be casual. As Kelleher, CEO of Southwest, said himself: â€Å"Theres a lot being said about the importance of communication, for instance. But it cant be rigid; it cant be formal. It has to proceed directly from the heart. It has to be spontaneous; it has to be between individuals seeing each other on the elevator† (Lee, 1994). This corresponds to the culture of the organization that Kelleher works very hard to maintain. As a CEO who values his employees, we see here that he’s not afraid to show how he is and how much he believes in making the environment a happy and comfortable one for his employees. Perceptions Within Southwest Airlines Let’s consider an employee of one of Southwest competitors wishing that they worked for this airline instead of their current employer. Hearing all the wonderful stories about working for this company and how happy everyone is leads this employee to think that he/she is working for the wrong company. The perception here is that an employee at Southwest is happier than an employee working for the competitor. Robbins ; Judge defines Perceptions as, â€Å"a process by which individuals organize and interpret their sensory impressions in order to give meaning to their environment† (Robbins ; Judge, 2011. g 168). Additionally, they mention that what we perceive may not be what the situation actually turns out to be. Reading information or listening to others rant about how wonderful the culture is within a company doesn’t necessarily mean its all good. While employees may be happier than miserable working for Southwest, I highly doubt that there aren’t challeng es that are faced at times in their positions. Research has shown that Southwest Airlines espoused values mirrors their enacted values. However, suppose it didn’t. What happens if the perceptions of their culture, communication and work environment is said to be â€Å"peachy†, however it really isn’t? Suppose employees were really unhappy and the mission statement of Southwest really wasn’t followed in the way they operate their organization. This leads to bad perceptions, along with potential employees ; customers assuming that this organization is voicing something that it’s not. This is an example of how misalignment between espoused values and enacted values would affect perceptions within Southwest Airlines organization. Conflict within Southwest Airlines Conflict is another important topic that should be considered in organizations like Southwest Airlines. â€Å"Conflict results from differences between group members differences in personality, perception, information, culture, and power or influence† (Beebe ; Masterson, 2009. , pg 152). Conflict is something that every company and individual deal with at some point in time. While some people may view conflicts as a bad thing, in actuality and depending on the situations involved, the conflict may be viewed as a great learning experience. Southwest Airlines view conflicts as a way to strengthen and build relationships (Gittel, 2003, Chapter 8). The individuals that are initially involved in the conflicts should first try to come to an agreement. It’s best to make sure that the conflict isn’t over a misunderstanding or something that’s not an issue. If an agreement or resolution can’t be agreed upon, it may be wise to get the other member of the team or group involved. â€Å"When conflicts arise at Southwest and are not resolved by the parties themselves, a conflict resolution process is used† (Gittel, 2003, Chapter 8). Getting others involved will likely help determine why there is a disagreement and somehow find the resolution that the parties couldn’t come to on their own. Southwest Airlines is one the most prosperous airlines in the US today. Many of the other Airlines try to use the methods that Southwest employs to keep their company, staff and employees in good standing. â€Å"The mission of Southwest Airlines is dedication to the highest quality of Customer Service delivered with a sense of warmth, friendliness, individual pride, and Company Spirit†.

The Important Discovery of Kenyanthropus Platyops - The Flat Faced Man

The Important Discovery of Kenyanthropus Platyops - The Flat Faced Man of Kenya A recent finding on the western shore of Lake Turkana in northern Kenya, a semi-desert area, could hold bold new implication for the origin of man. The finding was the skull of a very early hominid which displays facial features of both modern man and early, more primitive ancestors. The findings have been dated to approximately 3.5 million years, a time period once thought to be dominated by human ancestors that did not posses any noticeable and unique characteristics held by modern man. The find was discovered by Meave Leakey of the National Museums of Kenya and her colleagues, Fred Spoor, Frank H. Brown, Patrik N. Gathogo, Christopher Kiarie, Louise N. Leakey and Ian McDougall. The find originated from an area in Northern Kenya which has been a hot bed for early hominid fossils, and has earned the nickname the â€Å"Leakey Stable†. The specific area in Northern Kenya is located in the Lomekwi and Topernawi river drainages in the Turkana district. The type locality is LO-6N at 03’ 54.03’ north latitude, 035’ 44.40’ east longitude. The bed where the skull was found contains sedimentary and volcanic rocks in addition to the skulls placement between the Lokochot Tuff, and Tulu Bor Tuff, layers of earth that have an approximate age, allowed the scientist to conclude that the skull was approximately 3.5 million years old. Although the skull was dated 3.5 million years old it held distinctly human facial features, earning it its name Kenyanthropus platyops – The Flat-Faced Man of Kenya. It has a flat face, protruding somewhat like an ape with small teeth. The skulls cranium falls within the range of A. afarensis and A. africa... ...g this modern people can see their past and present in the natural world and come to a better understanding of what it truly means to be human. Bibliography 1. Leakey, M. G., Spoor, F., Brown, F. H., Gathogo, P. N., Kiarie, C., Leakey, L. N. and McDougall, I. New hominin genus from eastern Africa shows diverse middle Pliocene lineages Nature 410, 433 - 440 (2001). 2. http://www.nature.com/nsu/010322/010322-8.html Notes: [1] Leakey, M. G., Spoor, F., Brown, F. H., Gathogo, P. N., Kiarie, C., Leakey, L. N. and McDougall, I. New hominin genus from eastern Africa shows diverse middle Pliocene lineages Nature 410, 433 - 440 (2001). Pg. 436 [2] Leakey, M. G., Spoor, F., Brown, F. H., Gathogo, P. N., Kiarie, C., Leakey, L. N. and McDougall, I. New hominin genus from eastern Africa shows diverse middle Pliocene lineages Nature 410, 433 - 440 (2001). Pg. 433

The Da Vinci Code Chapter 24-29

CHAPTER 24 Silas gazed upward at the Saint-Sulpice obelisk, taking in the length of the massive marble shaft. His sinews felt taut with exhilaration. He glanced around the church one more time to make sure he was alone. Then he knelt at the base of the structure, not out of reverence, but out of necessity. The keystone is hidden beneath the Rose Line. At the base of the Sulpice obelisk. All the brothers had concurred. On his knees now, Silas ran his hands across the stone floor. He saw no cracks or markings to indicate a movable tile, so he began rapping softly with his knuckles on the floor. Following the brass line closer to the obelisk, he knocked on each tile adjacent to the brass line. Finally, one of them echoed strangely. There's a hollow area beneath the floor! Silas smiled. His victims had spoken the truth. Standing, he searched the sanctuary for something with which to break the floor tile. High above Silas, in the balcony, Sister Sandrine stifled a gasp. Her darkest fears had just been confirmed. This visitor was not who he seemed. The mysterious Opus Dei monk had come to Saint- Sulpice for another purpose. A secret purpose. You are not the only one with secrets, she thought. Sister Sandrine Bieil was more than the keeper of this church. She was a sentry. And tonight, the ancient wheels had been set in motion. The arrival of this stranger at the base of the obelisk was a signal from the brotherhood. It was a silent call of distress. CHAPTER 25 The U. S. Embassy in Paris is a compact complex on Avenue Gabriel, just north of the Champs-Elysees. The three-acre compound is considered U. S. soil, meaning all those who stand on it are subject to the same laws and protections as they would encounter standing in the United States. The embassy's night operator was reading Time magazine's International Edition when the sound of her phone interrupted. â€Å"U. S. Embassy,† she answered. â€Å"Good evening.† The caller spoke English accented with French. â€Å"I need some assistance.† Despite the politeness of the man's words, his tone sounded gruff and official. â€Å"I was told you had a phone message for me on your automated system. The name is Langdon. Unfortunately, I have forgotten my three-digit access code. If you could help me, I would be most grateful.† The operator paused, confused. â€Å"I'm sorry, sir. Your message must be quite old. That system was removed two years ago for security precautions. Moreover, all the access codes were five-digit. Who told you we had a message for you?† â€Å"You have no automated phone system?† â€Å"No, sir. Any message for you would be handwritten in our services department. What was your name again?† But the man had hung up. Bezu Fache felt dumbstruck as he paced the banks of the Seine. He was certain he had seen Langdon dial a local number, enter a three-digit code, and then listen to a recording. But if Langdon didn't phone the embassy, then who the hell did he call? It was at that moment, eyeing his cellular phone, that Fache realized the answers were in the palm of his hand. Langdon used my phone to place that call. Keying into the cell phone's menu, Fache pulled up the list of recently dialed numbers and found the call Langdon had placed. A Paris exchange, followed by the three-digit code 454. Redialing the phone number, Fache waited as the line began ringing. Finally a woman's voice answered. â€Å"Bonjour, vous etes bien chez Sophie Neveu,† the recording announced. â€Å"Je suis absente pour le moment, mais†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Fache's blood was boiling as he typed the numbers 4†¦ 5†¦ 4. CHAPTER 26 Despite her monumental reputation, the Mona Lisa was a mere thirty-one inches by twenty-one inches – smaller even than the posters of her sold in the Louvre gift shop. She hung on the northwest wall of the Salle des Etats behind a two-inch-thick pane of protective Plexiglas. Painted on a poplar wood panel, her ethereal, mist-filled atmosphere was attributed to Da Vinci's mastery of the sfumato style, in which forms appear to evaporate into one another. Since taking up residence in the Louvre, the Mona Lisa – or La Jaconde as they call her in France – had been stolen twice, most recently in 1911, when she disappeared from the Louvre's† satte impenetrable† – Le Salon Carre. Parisians wept in the streets and wrote newspaper articles begging the thieves for the painting's return. Two years later, the Mona Lisa was discovered hidden in the false bottom of a trunk in a Florence hotel room. Langdon, now having made it clear to Sophie that he had no intention of leaving, moved with her across the Salle des Etats. The Mona Lisa was still twenty yards ahead when Sophie turned on the black light, and the bluish crescent of penlight fanned out on the floor in front of them. She swung the beam back and forth across the floor like a minesweeper, searching for any hint of luminescent ink. Walking beside her, Langdon was already feeling the tingle of anticipation that accompanied his face-to-face reunions with great works of art. He strained to see beyond the cocoon of purplish light emanating from the black light in Sophie's hand. To the left, the room's octagonal viewing divan emerged, looking like a dark island on the empty sea of parquet. Langdon could now begin to see the panel of dark glass on the wall. Behind it, he knew, in the confines of her own private cell, hung the most celebrated painting in the world. The Mona Lisa's status as the most famous piece of art in the world, Langdon knew, had nothing to do with her enigmatic smile. Nor was it due to the mysterious interpretations attributed her by many art historians and conspiracy buffs. Quite simply, the Mona Lisa was famous because Leonardo Da Vinci claimed she was his finest accomplishment. He carried the painting with him whenever he traveled and, if asked why, would reply that he found it hard to part with his most sublime expression of female beauty. Even so, many art historians suspected Da Vinci's reverence for the Mona Lisa had nothing to do with its artistic mastery. In actuality, the painting was a surprisingly ordinary sfumato portrait. Da Vinci's veneration for this work, many claimed, stemmed from something far deeper: a hidden message in the layers of paint. The Mona Lisa was, in fact, one of the world's most documented inside jokes. The painting's well-documented collage of double entendres and playful allusions had been revealed in most art history tomes, and yet, incredibly, the public at large still considered her smile a great mystery. No mystery at all, Langdon thought, moving forward and watching as the faint outline of the painting began to take shape. No mystery at all. Most recently Langdon had shared the Mona Lisa's secret with a rather unlikely group – a dozen inmates at the Essex County Penitentiary. Langdon's jail seminar was part of a Harvard outreach program attempting to bring education into the prison system – Culture for Convicts, as Langdon's colleagues liked to call it. Standing at an overhead projector in a darkened penitentiary library, Langdon had shared the MonaLisa's secret with the prisoners attending class, men whom he found surprisingly engaged – rough, but sharp. â€Å"You may notice,† Langdon told them, walking up to the projected image of the MonaLisa on the library wall,† that the background behind her face is uneven.† Langdon motioned to the glaring discrepancy. â€Å"Da Vinci painted the horizon line on the left significantly lower than the right.† â€Å"He screwed it up?† one of the inmates asked. Langdon chuckled. â€Å"No. Da Vinci didn't do that too often. Actually, this is a little trick Da Vinci played. By lowering the countryside on the left, Da Vinci made Mona Lisa look much larger from the left side than from the right side. A little Da Vinci inside joke. Historically, the concepts of male and female have assigned sides – left is female, and right is male. Because Da Vinci was a big fan of feminine principles, he made Mona Lisa look more majestic from the left than the right.† â€Å"I heard he was a fag,† said a small man with a goatee. Langdon winced. â€Å"Historians don't generally put it quite that way, but yes, Da Vinci was a homosexual.† â€Å"Is that why he was into that whole feminine thing?† â€Å"Actually, Da Vinci was in tune with the balance between male and female. He believed that a human soul could not be enlightened unless it had both male and female elements.† â€Å"You mean like chicks with dicks?† someone called. This elicited a hearty round of laughs. Langdon considered offering an etymological sidebar about the word hermaphrodite and its ties to Hermes and Aphrodite, but something told him it would be lost on this crowd. â€Å"Hey, Mr. Langford,† a muscle-bound man said. â€Å"Is it true that the Mona Lisa is a picture of Da Vinci in drag? I heard that was true.† â€Å"It's quite possible,† Langdon said. â€Å"Da Vinci was a prankster, and computerized analysis of the Mona Lisa and Da Vinci's self-portraits confirm some startling points of congruency in their faces. Whatever Da Vinci was up to,† Langdon said,† his Mona Lisa is neither male nor female. It carries a subtle message of androgyny. It is a fusing of both.† â€Å"You sure that's not just some Harvard bullshit way of saying Mona Lisa is one ugly chick.† Now Langdon laughed. â€Å"You may be right. But actually Da Vinci left a big clue that the painting was supposed to be androgynous. Has anyone here ever heard of an Egyptian god named Amon?† â€Å"Hell yes!† the big guy said. â€Å"God of masculine fertility!† Langdon was stunned. â€Å"It says so on every box of Amon condoms.† The muscular man gave a wide grin. â€Å"It's got a guy with a ram's head on the front and says he's the Egyptian god of fertility.† Langdon was not familiar with the brand name, but he was glad to hear the prophylactic manufacturers had gotten their hieroglyphs right. â€Å"Well done. Amon is indeed represented as a man with a ram's head, and his promiscuity and curved horns are related to our modern sexual slang' horny. â€Å"No shit!† â€Å"No shit,† Langdon said. â€Å"And do you know who Amon's counterpart was? The Egyptian goddessof fertility?† The question met with several seconds of silence. â€Å"It was Isis,† Langdon told them, grabbing a grease pen. â€Å"So we have the male god, Amon.† He wrote it down. â€Å"And the female goddess, Isis, whose ancient pictogram was once called L'ISA.† Langdon finished writing and stepped back from the projector. AMON L'ISA â€Å"Ring any bells?† he asked. â€Å"Mona Lisa†¦ holy crap,† somebody gasped. Langdon nodded. â€Å"Gentlemen, not only does the face of Mona Lisa look androgynous, but her name is an anagram of the divine union of male and female. And that, my friends, is Da Vinci's little secret, and the reason for Mona Lisa's knowing smile.† â€Å"My grandfather was here,† Sophie said, dropping suddenly to her knees, now only ten feet from the Mona Lisa.She pointed the black light tentatively to a spot on the parquet floor. At first Langdon saw nothing. Then, as he knelt beside her, he saw a tiny droplet of dried liquid that was luminescing. Ink? Suddenly he recalled what black lights were actually used for. Blood. His senses tingled. Sophie was right. Jacques Sauniere had indeed paid a visit to the Mona Lisabefore he died. â€Å"He wouldn't have come here without a reason,† Sophie whispered, standing up. â€Å"I know he left a message for me here.† Quickly striding the final few steps to the Mona Lisa, she illuminated the floor directly in front of the painting. She waved the light back and forth across the bare parquet. â€Å"There's nothing here!† At that moment, Langdon saw a faint purple glimmer on the protective glass before the Mona Lisa. Reaching down, he took Sophie's wrist and slowly moved the light up to the painting itself. They both froze. On the glass, six words glowed in purple, scrawled directly across the Mona Lisa's face. CHAPTER 27 Seated at Sauniere's desk, Lieutenant Collet pressed the phone to his ear in disbelief. Did I hearFache correctly?† A bar of soap? But how could Langdon have known about the GPS dot?† â€Å"Sophie Neveu,† Fache replied. â€Å"She told him.† â€Å"What! Why?† â€Å"Damned good question, but I just heard a recording that confirms she tipped him off.† Collet was speechless. What was Neveu thinking? Fache had proof that Sophie had interfered with a DCPJ sting operation? Sophie Neveu was not only going to be fired, she was also going to jail. â€Å"But, Captain†¦ then where is Langdon now?† â€Å"Have any fire alarms gone off there?† â€Å"No, sir.† â€Å"And no one has come out under the Grand Gallery gate?† â€Å"No. We've got a Louvre security officer on the gate. Just as you requested.† â€Å"Okay, Langdon must still be inside the Grand Gallery.† â€Å"Inside? But what is he doing?† â€Å"Is the Louvre security guard armed?† â€Å"Yes, sir. He's a senior warden.† â€Å"Send him in,† Fache commanded. â€Å"I can't get my men back to the perimeter for a few minutes, and I don't want Langdon breaking for an exit.† Fache paused. â€Å"And you'd better tell the guard Agent Neveu is probably in there with him.† â€Å"Agent Neveu left, I thought.† â€Å"Did you actually see her leave?† â€Å"No, sir, but – â€Å"Well, nobody on the perimeter saw her leave either. They only saw her go in.† Collet was flabbergasted by Sophie Neveu's bravado. She's still inside the building? â€Å"Handle it,† Fache ordered. â€Å"I want Langdon and Neveu at gunpoint by the time I get back.† As the Trailor truck drove off, Captain Fache rounded up his men. Robert Langdon had proven an elusive quarry tonight, and with Agent Neveu now helping him, he might be far harder to corner than expected. Fache decided not to take any chances. Hedging his bets, he ordered half of his men back to the Louvre perimeter. The other half he sent to guard the only location in Paris where Robert Langdon could find safe harbor. CHAPTER 28 Inside the Salle des Etats, Langdon stared in astonishment at the six words glowing on the Plexiglas. The text seemed to hover in space, casting a jagged shadow across Mona Lisa's mysterious smile. â€Å"The Priory,† Langdon whispered. â€Å"This proves your grandfather was a member!† Sophie looked at him in confusion. â€Å"You understand this?† â€Å"It's flawless,† Langdon said, nodding as his thoughts churned. â€Å"It's a proclamation of one of the Priory's most fundamental philosophies!† Sophie looked baffled in the glow of the message scrawled across the Mona Lisa's face. SO DARK THE CON OF MAN â€Å"Sophie,† Langdon said,† the Priory's tradition of perpetuating goddess worship is based on a belief that powerful men in the early Christian church ‘conned' the world by propagating lies that devalued the female and tipped the scales in favor of the masculine.† Sophie remained silent, staring at the words.† The Priory believes that Constantine and his male successors successfully converted the world from matriarchal paganism to patriarchal Christianity by waging a campaign of propaganda that demonized the sacred feminine, obliterating the goddess from modern religion forever.† Sophie's expression remained uncertain. â€Å"My grandfather sent me to this spot to find this. He must be trying to tell me more than that.† Langdon understood her meaning. She thinks this is another code.Whether a hidden meaning existed here or not, Langdon could not immediately say. His mind was still grappling with the bold clarity of Sauniere's outward message. So dark the con of man, he thought. So dark indeed. Nobody could deny the enormous good the modern Church did in today's troubled world, and yet the Church had a deceitful and violent history. Their brutal crusade to† reeducate† the pagan and feminine-worshipping religions spanned three centuries, employing methods as inspired as they were horrific. The Catholic Inquisition published the book that arguably could be called the most blood-soaked publication in human history. Malleus Maleficarum – or The Witches' Hammer – indoctrinated the world to† the dangers of freethinking women† and instructed the clergy how to locate, torture, and destroy them. Those deemed† witches† by the Church included all female scholars, priestesses, gypsies, mystics, nature lovers, herb gatherers, and any women† suspiciously attuned to the natural world.† Midwives also were killed for their heretical practice of using medical knowledge to ease the pain of childbirth – a suffering, the Church claimed, that was God's rightful punishment for Eve's partaking of the Apple of Knowledge, thus giving birth to the idea of Original Sin. During three hundred years of witch hunts, the Church burned at the stake an astounding five million women. The propaganda and bloodshed had worked. Today's world was living proof. Women, once celebrated as an essential half of spiritual enlightenment, had been banished from the temples of the world. There were no female Orthodox rabbis, Catholic priests, nor Islamic clerics. The once hallowed act of Hieros Gamos – the natural sexual union between man and woman through which each became spiritually whole – had been recast as a shameful act. Holy men who had once required sexual union with their female counterparts to commune with God now feared their natural sexual urges as the work of the devil, collaborating with his favorite accomplice†¦ woman. Not even the feminine association with the left-hand side could escape the Church's defamation. In France and Italy, the words for† left† – gauche and sinistra – came to have deeply negative overtones, while their right-hand counterparts rang of righteousness, dexterity, and correctness. To this day, radical thought was considered left wing, irrational thought was left brain, and anything evil, sinister. The days of the goddess were over. The pendulum had swung. Mother Earth had become a man's world, and the gods of destruction and war were taking their toll. The male ego had spent two millennia running unchecked by its female counterpart. The Priory of Sion believed that it was this obliteration of the sacred feminine in modern life that had caused what the Hopi Native Americans called koyanisquatsi – â€Å"life out of balance† – an unstable situation marked by testosterone-fueled wars, a plethora of misogynistic societies, and a growing disrespect for Mother Earth. â€Å"Robert!† Sophie said, her whisper yanking him back. â€Å"Someone's coming!† He heard the approaching footsteps out in the hallway.† Over here!† Sophie extinguished the black light and seemed to evaporate before Langdon's eyes. For an instant he felt totally blind. Over where! As his vision cleared he saw Sophie's silhouette racing toward the center of the room and ducking out of sight behind the octagonal viewing bench. He was about to dash after her when a booming voice stopped him cold. â€Å"Arretez!† a man commanded from the doorway. The Louvre security agent advanced through the entrance to the Salle des Etats, his pistol outstretched, taking deadly aim at Langdon's chest. Langdon felt his arms raise instinctively for the ceiling. â€Å"Couchez-vous!† the guard commanded. â€Å"Lie down!† Langdon was face first on the floor in a matter of seconds. The guard hurried over and kicked his legs apart, spreading Langdon out. â€Å"Mauvaise idee, Monsieur Langdon,†he said, pressing the gun hard into Langdon's back.† Mauvaise idee.† Face down on the parquet floor with his arms and legs spread wide, Langdon found little humor in the irony of his position. The Vitruvian Man, he thought. Face down. CHAPTER 29 Inside Saint-Sulpice, Silas carried the heavy iron votive candle holder from the altar back toward the obelisk. The shaft would do nicely as a battering ram. Eyeing the gray marble panel that covered the apparent hollow in the floor, he realized he could not possibly shatter the covering without making considerable noise. Iron on marble. It would echo off the vaulted ceilings. Would the nun hear him? She should be asleep by now. Even so, it was a chance Silas preferred not to take. Looking around for a cloth to wrap around the tip of the iron pole, he saw nothing except the altar's linen mantle, which he refused to defile. My cloak, he thought. Knowing he was alone in the great church, Silas untied his cloak and slipped it off his body. As he removed it, he felt a sting as the wool fibers stuck to the fresh wounds on his back. Naked now, except for his loin swaddle, Silas wrapped his cloak over the end of the iron rod. Then, aiming at the center of the floor tile, he drove the tip into it. A muffled thud. The stone did not break. He drove the pole into it again. Again a dull thud, but this time accompanied by a crack. On the third swing, the covering finally shattered, and stone shards fell into a hollow area beneath the floor. A compartment! Quickly pulling the remaining pieces from the opening, Silas gazed into the void. His blood pounded as he knelt down before it. Raising his pale bare arm, he reached inside. At first he felt nothing. The floor of the compartment was bare, smooth stone. Then, feeling deeper, reaching his arm in under the Rose Line, he touched something! A thick stone tablet. Getting his fingers around the edge, he gripped it and gently lifted the tablet out. As he stood and examined his find, he realized he was holding a rough-hewn stone slab with engraved words. He felt for an instant like a modern-day Moses. As Silas read the words on the tablet, he felt surprise. He had expected the keystone to be a map, or a complex series of directions, perhaps even encoded. The keystone, however, bore the simplest of inscriptions. Job 38:11 A Bible verse? Silas was stunned with the devilish simplicity. The secret location of that which they sought was revealed in a Bible verse? The brotherhood stopped at nothing to mock the righteous! Job. Chapter thirty-eight. Verse eleven. Although Silas did not recall the exact contents of verse eleven by heart, he knew the Book of Job told the story of a man whose faith in God survived repeated tests. Appropriate, he thought, barely able to contain his excitement. Looking over his shoulder, he gazed down the shimmering Rose Line and couldn't help but smile. There atop the main altar, propped open on a gilded book stand, sat an enormous leather-bound Bible. Up in the balcony, Sister Sandrine was shaking. Moments ago, she had been about to flee and carryout her orders, when the man below suddenly removed his cloak. When she saw his alabaster-white flesh, she was overcome with a horrified bewilderment. His broad, pale back was soaked with blood-red slashes. Even from here she could see the wounds were fresh. This man has been mercilessly whipped! She also saw the bloody cilice around his thigh, the wound beneath it dripping. What kind of God would want a body punished this way? The rituals of Opus Dei, Sister Sandrine knew, were not something she would ever understand. But that was hardly her concern at this instant. Opus Dei is searching for the keystone.How they knew of it, Sister Sandrine could not imagine, although she knew she did not have time to think. The bloody monk was now quietly donning his cloak again, clutching his prize as he moved toward the altar, toward the Bible. In breathless silence, Sister Sandrine left the balcony and raced down the hall to her quarters. Getting on her hands and knees, she reached beneath her wooden bed frame and retrieved the sealed envelope she had hidden there years ago. Tearing it open, she found four Paris phone numbers. Trembling, she began to dial. Downstairs, Silas laid the stone tablet on the altar and turned his eager hands to the leather Bible. His long white fingers were sweating now as he turned the pages. Flipping through the Old Testament, he found the Book of Job. He located chapter thirty-eight. As he ran his finger down the column of text, he anticipated the words he was about to read. They will lead the way! Finding verse number eleven, Silas read the text. It was only seven words. Confused, he read it again, sensing something had gone terribly wrong. The verse simply read: HITHERTO SHALT THOU COME, BUT NO FURTHER.

Accuracy and precision

To learn how to use a balance to weigh objects. 2. To determine the accuracy of various lab glassware as well as the precision obtainable when using each of these. II. BACKGROUND: If a person goes into a restaurant and orders a cup of coffee, how much coffee will be given to the person? Will the coffee arrive in a large, earthenware mug or a delicate, china cup? Do all coffee cups hold a cup of coffee? If, on the other hand, another person Is following a recipe that called for a cup of coffee, how much coffee will that person use?Will there be a difference in how the coffee is measured in these two situations? Recording numerical data is an important part of scientific research. The reliability of these data can Influence the conclusions drawn from the experiment. Although â€Å"accuracy and â€Å"precision† are used interchangeably in common speech, in scientific language, they mean two different things. The â€Å"true value† of any number is a philosophical idea whic h we take as a given/known thing; for example, scientists say that exactly 100. 0000 ml of water weigh exactly 100. 0000 g at 40 C (theoretically 99. 23 g at CHIC – room temperature). An â€Å"error† in data is the numerical deference between the measured value and the true value. An â€Å"accurate† result is one that agrees 100 ml of water, a weight of 100. 001 g is more accurate than 100. 009 g, and that is more accurate than 100. 01 g. â€Å"Precision,† on the other hand, refers to agreement among a group of data, but says nothing about their relationship to the true value. Three measurements of 100. 009, 100. 008, and 100. 007 g might be more precise than three measurements of 100. 009, 100. 002, and 99. 995 g, and yet may not be more accurate.In the above example, which of these methods of measuring coffee is the most accurate? If a measuring cup is used, will that always measure exactly one cup of coffee? Why or why not? What factor(s) could be sour ces of error in the user's measurement? Which of these methods of measuring coffee would be the most precise? Why? There is a variety of glassware here in the Biology Lab – beakers, graduated cylinders, Erlenmeyer flasks, volumetric flasks – that could be used for a lab exercise in which students would be required to measure 100 ml of distilled water (dhow).Because these various types of lab glassware are designed for different purposes, their accuracy and precision vary. Certain types of glassware are manufactured with greater precision than other types and/or yield more accurate agreement of volume. Knowledge of the relative accuracy and/or precision of the various types of glassware can aid in determining the appropriateness of a piece of glassware for a desired use. For example, if a student needs several identical 100 ml samples, which measuring utensil should be chosen? Why?When a scientist comes up with an answer to a question like the preceding one that might b e right yet needs to be tested to see if it is true, this is called a hypothesis (hypo under, beneath; thesis = an arranging). Any testable answer to the previous question such as, â€Å"l think that the _ glassware is more Once a scientist has formed an hypothesis, it is then necessary to figure out how that hypothesis can be tested. The scientist would need to decide what to do (procedure/methods) and what data are appropriate to gather to uphold or disprove the hypothesis.At times, scientists may end up gathering â€Å"negative† data that actually disprove their hypotheses. For this glassware, what could be done – what steps could be followed – to find out if the _ glassware really is the most precise/accurate? Is it enough to use one piece of glassware or should several kinds/styles be tried? Is it enough to take one reading on each piece of glassware or should several tests/trials be reformed on each piece? If a person places a desired amount of water into a piece of glassware, how will that person know if the container is correctly filled?How will (s)he know the container is filled the same amount every time? When viewed from the side, the surface of the water in a transparent glass container is a characteristic shape that is a clue to solving this dilemma. Because of water's affinity for glass (glass is hydrophilic, hydro = water, Philip = brotherly love), the edges of the water's surface will creep up the walls of the container slightly. Especially in small-diameter glassware, the surface of the water is, thus, tactically curved. This curved surface of the water is called a meniscus (Figure 1) (menisci = a crescent).

Private statistical database The WritePass Journal

Private statistical database Abstract Private statistical database Abstract1. Introduction  2. Body2.1. Definition of statistical databases 2.2. Privacy in statistical databases2.3. Methods for providing private statistical databases2.3.1 Perturbation methods2.3.1.1 Input perturbation2.3.1.2 Output perturbation 2.3.2 Query restriction method 2.3.2.1 Query set size control method2.3.2.2 Query set overlap method2.3.2.3 Auditing2.3.2.4 Partitioning2.3.2.5 Cell suppression2.3.3 Differential privacy3. Conclusion References Related Abstract As the statistical databases consist of important and sensitive information, the preservation of the privacy in these databases is of extremely significance. Despite the complexity of the statistical databases’ protection, there are diverse sorts of mechanisms which can keep out the confidential data. This report discusses methods as data perturbations, query restriction methods and differential privacy which provide privacy in the statistical databases. Keywords: statistical databases, privacy, input perturbation, output perturbation, differential privacy. 1. Introduction Nowadays, there is a wide-spread access to data. Having a lot of advantages to omnipresent access of information, there is also the possibility to break the privacy of individuals. In the statistical databases, personal data with very large number of individuals is stored. The statistical databases contain multiple statistical information. They give to their users the ability to acquire this information and also to protect the privacy of individuals. However, supporting security in the statistical databases against the revealing of confidential data is complicated and ambitious task. This problem of privacy in the statistical databases has expanded in the recent years. This report will examine the main methods for providing privacy in the statistical databases.   2. Body 2.1. Definition of statistical databases A statistical database is a set of data units which has permissive access to the statistical information connected to these data parts. The statistical database could be described as a database system which allows to its users to obtain only aggregate statistics for a subset of items introduced in the database [1]. The statistical database posses limited querying interface which is restricted to operations such as sum, count, mean, etc. The statistical database also could be defined as query responsive algorithm which permits the users to access the content of the database through statistical queries [2]. The statistical database is concerned with the multidimensional datasets and is related to the statistical summarizations of the data sets’ dimensions. The statistical database is mainly oriented to socio-economic databases which are normally the field of statisticians. An example of statistical database is the census data which is linked to collection of information about the assessment of the population trends. Another example of statistical database is the economic database which includes statistics for the industries’ sales and income or statistics for the use and production of diverse products [3]. 2.2. Privacy in statistical databases The privacy can be described as the right to specify what type of information about individuals or items is allowed to be shared with others. The benefits from analyzing the statistical database are very significant but the release of the information from this database could cause a lot of problems, troubles and damages. Thus, one of the main aims of the statistical database is to ensure privacy of the information. To be an effective statistical database, it should protect all its records [4]. As the statistical database should provide statistical information, it should not disclose private information on the items or individuals it refers to. The releasing of a statistical data may offend the privacy rights of the individuals. Therefore, the statistical database should follow some ethical and legal behavior to defend the individuals’ records. For legal, ethical and professional grounds, the users of the statistical database are not authorized to receive special information on individual records.   The statistical database should protect the sensitive information allowing its users to get aggregate information. The restricted access should be permitted either from the point of view of the groups of people to whom this information is available or from the point of view of the certain aspects of this information. However, it is possible sometimes when statistics are correlated, the sensitive information to be inferred. If a combination of aggregate queries is used to obtain information, we say that the information in the database is compromised and therefore the database is also compromised [5]. The main duty for the privacy of statistical database is to find appropriate methods which could ensure that no queries are sufficient to infer the values of the protected records. 2.3. Methods for providing private statistical databases The following methods and techniques are used to secure the privacy in statistical databases. 2.3.1 Perturbation methods There are two main perturbation methods for preserving privacy in statistical databases. The first one is the input perturbation where the primary data is randomly modified and the results are calculated based on this modified data. The second perturbation method is the output perturbation which computes the results from the queries exactly from the actual data [6]. In other words, the input perturbation is detected when the records are computed on the queries while the output perturbation is applied to the query result after computing it on the original data. The perturbation methods look for accomplishment of the masking of item or individual’s confidential information while trying to maintain the basic aggregate relationships of the statistical database. One of the main aims of these methods is to ‘conceal’ particular confidential record. It is also necessary to notice that the perturbation techniques are not encryption techniques which first modify the data, t hen usually send it, receive it and finally decrypt it to the original data. The primary difficulty of these methods is to assure that the introduced error is within the satisfactory limits. There is an exchange between the level of protection that could be attained and the variance of the presented perturbation. 2.3.1.1 Input perturbation The fundamental idea behind this method is that the result which is returned by the queries is based on a perturbed data. This means that the primary data in the statistical database is not used to create query results. One side that is necessary to be taken into account is the duplicated database. This database, which is used to turn back to results, must maintain the similar statistical characteristics as the original database. This technique introduces random noise to the confidential information and thus protects the data. Adding statistical noise in the database makes the input perturbation an important method in the enhancement of the privacy. The original database is generally changed into modified or perturbed statistical database which is afterwards accessible to the users. The input perturbation permits the users to access the necessary aggregate statistical information from the whole database when it makes changes to the original data. Therefore this process helps to protect the records [7]. The records of the database contain values that are variations of their adequate values in the true database. As a whole this method tries to minimize the severe bias in the query results by allocating the corresponding bias in the data so that it could cancel out in the huge query sets. In the input perturbation, the data is perturbed for instance via swapping attributes or adding the random noise before this data releases the whole statistical database. There are two well-known subcategories in the input perturbation. The probability distribution interprets the statistical database as a sample from a given data that has a certain probability distribution [1]. The main purpose is to transform the primary statistical database with a different sample which is from the same probability distribution. This input perturbation creates a substitute database from the original one. This method is also called data swapping.   The second subcategory is the fixed – data perturbation where the values of the records in the statistical database are perturbed only once and for all the records. Since the perturbation process is done only once, the repeated queries have consistent and logical values. This perturbation also constructs an alternative database as the probability distribution. This alternative database is created by changing the value of every record by a randomly produced perturbation value. The fixed – data perturbation could be applied to both numerical and categorical data. 2.3.1.2 Output perturbation The output perturbation differs notably from the input perturbation. In the input perturbation, the data is specified by all statistical features of the database. As longs as in the output perturbation, the perturbed results are directly introduced to the users [8]. Another difference is that in the output perturbation, the problem with the bias is not as harsh as in the input perturbation. This is because the queries are based on the original values but not on the perturbed ones. The output perturbation method is based on calculation of the queries’ responses on the statistical databases. This method adds the variance to the result. The result is produced on the original database however the noise is added to the result before to return it to the users. As the noise is not added to the database, this method generates results that include less bias that the input perturbation. It is necessary to note that if the noise is random then this noise could be reduced by performing th e same query over and over again.   Some limitations exist. For example if there is very large number of queries to the statistical database, the amount of the noise added to the results should be also very large [9]. The output perturbation has pretty low storage and computational overhead [10]. This method is rather easy to carry out because it does not influence the query process. The output perturbation consists of different approaches as random sample queries, varying output perturbation and rounding. The random sample queries technique shows a technique where a sample is created from the query set itself. The random sample queries method denies the intruder accurate control which covers the queries records [11]. One drawback of this method is that it could not ensure enough certainty for users to prevent the confidential data. However, the random sample queries may present precise statistics for number of records. The USA Census Bureau for example mainly works with this technique to restrict the inference in their statistics records. Every reported query is founded upon a gratuitously chosen subpopulation of the query set. The USA Census Bureau is satisfied with this method and applies it very successfully in its activity. The second approach of the output perturbation is the varying – output perturbation [1]. This method is suitable for the SUM, CO UNT and PERCENTILE queries. The varying – output perturbation presents a varying perturbation to the data where random variables are used to calculate the answer to a variant of a given query. The last approach of output perturbation is the rounding where all queries are computed based on unbiased data. Afterwards the results are transformed before they are returned to the users. There are three types of rounding – systematic rounding, random rounding and controlled rounding [1]. It is advisable to combine the rounding method with methods to provide more privacy in the statistical database. 2.3.2 Query restriction method The main idea of this method is even if the user does not want to receive deterministically right answers, these answers should be exact, for example numbers. As these answers to queries give the users forceful information, it might be important to deny the answers of some queries at certain stage to prevent the disclosure of a confidential data from the statistical database. The type or the number of queries that a user puts to the statistical database is restricted. This method discards a query which can be compromised. Nevertheless, the answers in the query restrictions are always precise. It could be concluded that the restricted group of the accepted queries considerably reduces the real usefulness of the statistical database. This method provides a protection for the statistical database by limiting the size of the query set, by controlling the overlap among the consecutive queries, by maintaining audit of any answered queries for every user and by making the small-sized cells inaccessible to users of the statistical database. There are five subcategories of the query restriction method – query set size control, query set overlap control, auditing, partitioning and cell suppression [1]. 2.3.2.1 Query set size control method The query set size based method declines the answers to queries which have an influence on a small set of records. Fellegi [12] sets lower and upper limits for the size of the query answer which are based on the characteristics of the database. If the number of the returned records is not within these two limits, the request for the information could not be accepted and therefore the query answer may be denied. The query set size control method can be explained by the following equation [12]:   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  K ≠¤Ã‚   |C|   ≠¤Ã‚   L – K,  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   (1) where K is a parameter set by the database administrator, |C| is the size of the query set and L is the number of the entities in the database. The parameter K must satisfy the condition [12]:   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   0 ≠¤   K   ≠¤Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  (2) The main advantage of this method is its easy implementation. However, its robustness is low so it is advisable to use it in a combination with other methods. 2.3.2.2 Query set overlap method The query set overlap method permits only queries which have small overlap with formerly answered queries. Thus, the method controls the overlap over the queries. The lowest overlap control restrains the queries responses which have more than the predetermined number of records in common with every previous query [3]. This surveillance is valuable in the defense against  Ã‚   the trackers as a compromise tool. In spite is all, this method has some drawbacks [13]. This query set overlap control is not enough effective when several users together try to compromise the statistical database. As well as the statistics for both a set and its subset are hard released which limits the efficiency of the database. 2.3.2.3 Auditing The third subcategory of the query restriction method is the auditing. It requires the maintenance of up-to-date logs of all queries which are made by every user. It also requires a continuous check-up for potential disclosure whenever a new query is published. One main advantage of this method is that it permits the statistical database to support the users with unperturbed data and ensure that the response will not be compromised. A disadvantage of the auditing method is its excessive CPU and the requirements for the storage and processing of the collected logs [1]. 2.3.2.4 Partitioning The partitioning method groups the individual entities of a population in a number of reciprocally excessive subsets, known as atomic populations. Therefore, the records are stored in groups which consist of predetermined number of records [4]. A query is permitted only to the entire groups, but not to a subset of a group. The statistical features of these atomic populations form the raw materials which are attainable to the database users. While the atomic populations include exactly one individual entity, a high level of protection can be achieved. A research, taken by Schlà ¶rer, found that there is an emergence of the large number of atomic populations with only one entity. The result of this will be a considerable information loss when these populations are clustered. One major drawback of this method is the retrieved value of the statistical information. When the database is partitioned, the statistical data is toughly obscured. This restricts the flow of potential wanted stat istical information by the users. In reality, the users may not have the chance to acquire the desired information. 2.3.2.5 Cell suppression The cell suppression method is frequently used by the census bureau for information which is published in tabular form. This technique protects the tabular data from a compromise. The main idea is to conceal the cells that can lead to a disclosure of a confidential data. In this way, the cell suppression minimizes the suppressed cells with private information. These cells are called primary suppressions. The other cells with non confidential data, which may be a threat and lead to a disclosure, should also be suppressed. These cells with non private information are called complementary suppressions. These complementary suppressions provide a pre-defined level of protection to the primary cells. 2.3.3 Differential privacy As Dalenims (1977) points out that an access to a statistical database should not be allowed to a user to acquire information about an individual’s record which cannot be found out without the access of the database. This form of privacy is difficult to be achieved because of the auxiliary information. The auxiliary information is information which is available to the adversary without an access to the statistical database [14].   For example, let presume that one’s exact weight is considered as highly sensitive information and revealing this information is regarded as a privacy break. Next, it is assumed that the database provides the average weights of people of different nationalities. An adversary of the statistical database who has an access to the auxiliary information, that a particular British person is 10 kilogram thinner than the average French person, can learn the British person’s weight, as long as anyone gaining only the auxiliary information with out having an access to the average weights, learns not much [15]. This leads to the application of the concept of differential privacy. In spite of the fact that the differential privacy does not exclude a bad disclosure, it ensures the individual that his or her data will not be included in the database that produces it. The differential privacy is defined as one of the successful methods of providing privacy for the statistical databases.   The basic description of the differential privacy is that it is focused on providing ways to increase the accuracy of the queries from the statistical database while trying to minimize the chances of recognizing its records. The differential privacy is a randomized algorithm which accepts the database as input and generates an output [15]. A more precise definition of this method is the following formulation: A randomized function K that gives Ï µ-differential privacy if for the databases D1 and D2, which only differ on at most one element and all S⊆ Range (K), Pr [K (D1) ∈ S] ≠¤ exp (Ï µ) x Pr [K (D2) ∈ S]  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   (3) When this function K satisfies the above definition, it can ensure an individual that though this individual removes his or her data from the database, the outputs cannot become indicatively more or less acceptable. The differential privacy strives to guarantee an adjustment to the statistical disclosure control’s problem. The differential privacy aims to publicly let out statistical information relating to a set of individuals without allowing a compromise for privacy.   This method demands that there is an inherently the same probability distribution on the produced results. This probability distribution should be independent of whether each individual chooses or not the data set [16].   This process is done indirectly as at the same time it addresses all potential forms of harm and good by concentrating upon the probability of every given output of a privacy method and upon the ways for changes of the probability when any row is added or deleted from the database. The statistical database is usually developed to reach social goals and the expanded participation in the database allows more precise analysis. Therefore, the differential privacy assures the support for the social goals by guaranteeing every individual that there is a quite little risk by connecting to the statistical database. The differential privacy has some advantages. Firstly, this privacy preserving method is independent of any extra and auxiliary information including also other databases which are available to the adversaries. Secondly, the differential privacy is easily implemented through the using of rather sample and general techniques. The last advantage is that the differential privacy usually permits very accurate analysis. 3. Conclusion To conclude, the statistical database provides to users statistical information for values which are based on various criteria. The field of the statistical database is highly important because it encompasses a broad variety of application areas which in principle deal with great amount of data. This statistical database may consist of confidential data which should be protected from unauthorized user access. It is very important to provide a precise statistical database with professional, legal and ethical responsibilities for privacy protection of the individual records. Providing security in the statistical database proves to be a complicated task. There is no single solution to this problem. Therefore, numerous methods and techniques are suggested to be used to ensure privacy in the statistical database. The analysis presented in the report shows that the perturbation methods, the query restriction methods and the differential privacy are clearly among the most promising methods for the private statistical database. References 1.   N. Adam and J. Wortmann, Security – control Methods for Statistical Databases: A comprehensive Study. ACM Computing Surveys.   21 (1989). 2.   I. Dinur and K Nissim, Revealing Information while Preserving Privacy – In proceeding of twenty-second. ACM SIGMOD – SIGACT-SIGART Symposium on Principle of Database Systems. (2003) p. 202-210. 3. A. Shoshani, OLAP and Statistical Databases: Similarities and Differences. (1997) p. 187 4.   C. Guynes, Protecting Statistical Databases: A matter of privacy. Computer and Society. 19 (1989). 5.   Z. Michalewicz, J-J Li and K-W Chen, A Genetic Approach for Statistical Database Security.13 (1990) p. 19 6. C. Dwork, F. McSherry, Calibrating Noise to Sensitivity in Private Data Analysis. Springer. 3876 (2006). 7. R. Wilson and P. Rosen, Protecting Data through Perturbation Techniques: The impact on knowledge discovery in database. Journal of Management. 14 (2003) p.13. 8. T. Wang and L. Liu, Output Privacy in Data Mining. ACM Transactions Database Systems. 36 (2011) p.11 9. S. Chawla, C. Dwork et al, Toward Privacy in Public Databases. Theory of Cryptography Conference. (2005). 10.   J. Schatz, Survey of Techniques for Securing Statistical Database. University of California at Davis 11. D. Denning, Secure Statistical Databases with Random Sample Queries. ACM Transactions on Database Systems. 5 (1980) p. 292 12.   I. Fellegi, On the question of statistical confidentiality. Journal of American Statistical Association. 67 (1972), 7-18. 13. D. Dobkin, A. Jones and R. Lipton, Secure Databases: Protection Against User Influence. ACM Transactions on Database Systems. 4 (1979). 14.   C. Dwork, Differential Privacy. 33rd International Colloquium on Automata, Languages and Programming, part II (ICALP). Springer Verlang. (2006). 15.   C. Dwork, Ask a better question, get a better answer – a new approach to private data analysis. 11th International Conference on Database Theory (ICDT ). Springer Verlang (2007). 16.   C. Dwork, Differential privacy in New Settings. Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics. (2010).

Going It Alone

Going It Alone For some reason, todays quote resonated with me. Whether introverted or extroverted, a writer has to feel comfortable being alone for hours and days on end. While we see lots of blog posts about how a writer needs his tribe or his team, the bottom line is he writes alone. Hes rejected alone. Hes accepted alone. Theres a tremendous amount of alone time in his career, and he has to accept, maybe even enjoy, that experience or he wont last long. All this alone time is probably why writers are indeed so introverted. We enjoy keeping company with ourselves, inside our thoughts. Its safer there. But that also explains why writers, when they venture out of their seclusion, tend to congregate with other writers. This is a trend that is helpful . . . only to a point. After that point, however, its detrimental. In case after case, I see writers pitching their books to other writers when they ought to be pursuing readers. Unless they write FOR writers, in how-to books, or their fiction is about a writer, they are not reaching their targeted audience. Writers are an incestuous lot. Conferences, promoting their books, chatting online. They gravitate to each other, but it becomes a habit because its so comfortable, and we tend to overdo it. And theres been a trend of late to host events where dozens of writers appear at a festival of sorts. Ive been invited to several of them. This is my opinion, keep in mind, but I see these events as not being very effective, possibly even handicapping or detrimental. At least depressing. And this is why: 1) Appearing with thirty or forty authors dilutes you, your voice, your work. The faces start to blur. Attendees remember you as part of a mass, not as you. 2) Attendees can only buy so many books. Lets say two books per attendee. Do the math. Thirty authors x 2 books per attendee = 60 attendees minimum. But lets say a productive day for you means ten books. That means 300 attendees minimum assuming one or two authors dont run away with the show. 3) Such events try to snare one or two well-known authors. Those names draw readers . . . to them, not you. Thats the name that will be remembered when the readers go home. Branding doesnt mean you and others. It means you. Dare to appear alone. Dare to promote yourself as unique, powerful, intriguing and worth reading. Embrace your aloneness. Theres nothing wrong with being alone. Like I preach to shy writers across the country, learn to love who you are. Be unique, be confident in your own skin. Because attempting to blend into dozens, even hundreds, of like souls will only make you fade into the masses. You are better than that.

Eritrea President Isaias Afewerki Biography Essay

Eritrea President Isaias Afewerki Biography - Essay Example Eritrea’s history is related to its unique position on the Red Sea, with a coastline extending over one thousand kilometers. Its strategic importance is because of the mineral resources it has together with their history with Ethiopia. The nine ethnic groups recognized by the Eritrean government include the Cushitic Saho, Beja, Afar and Blin; the Semitic Tigre, Rashaida and Tigrigna; and the Nara and Kunama. The society in Eritrea is ethnically heterogeneous, with each ethnic group speaking a different native language. Having a little patience you are able to learn interesting facts about Eritrea, and why its history is unique and special. To begin with a visit to the capital Asmara reveals how the streets are clean, filled with friendly natives and there is not sign that there is homelessness as depicted by international medias. A tour of the city outskirts you see the reforestation and soil preservation efforts the government has embarked on, through the Eritrean student summer national service program. In Eritrea’s primary schools, children are taught in their mother tongue; bear in mind there are nine tribes, each ethnic group with a unique language how special and unique can that get, in one of the world’s poorest country. Eritrea is the only nation in the entire world to execute such a program. Again, Eritrea is a country where arranged marriages still exist in the villages. The entire tale of the Eritrean armed struggle is read about like it is an epic novel. Another special f act to recall is that Eritrea is a neocolonialist state in Africa, but has managed to achieve more in its twelve years of independence compared to nations like Sudan, Cote d’Ivoire, and Nigeria where Muslims and Christians slaughter each other. Bear in mind that Eritrea is constituted by half Muslims and half Christians, yet no such atrocity is experienced. The people of Eritrea might