To do so requires a certain synergy between strategy and innovation Essay

To do so requires a certain synergy between strategy and innovation. Clarify the link between 'strategy' and 'innovation'. Also explain how a proper balance can be achieved between strategy and innovation - Essay Example This can also be considered as the prime barrier to sustainable value differentiation. This is also one of the prime objective as well as observation point of the current research study. Literature on innovation has claimed that innovation can be considered as one of the crucial success for the survival and growth of any firm. It has also been proportionally related to sustainable and competitive advantage to any company. Despite the presence of various definition and concepts on innovation, researchers have not been able to conclude one single definition for innovation. According to Vyas (2009), five different expression of innovation can be represented as follows; According to Therrien, et al. (2011), innovation can be described as a complex procedure related to processes and production functions. Here, companies try to build and acquire unique technological, strategic and marketing competence. These competencies can be acquired through resources and capabilities possessed by the organisation. Another important factor is transformation of these resources into distinctive innovation by innovation capabilities. At an organisational level, innovation represents the propensity and receptivity of the firm to establish and create new ideas leading to development as well as launch of new services and products. According to OECD and Eurostat (2005), Innovation is described as â€Å"implementation of a new or significantly improved product (good or service), process, a new marketing technique or a new organisational method in business practice, workplace organisation or external relations.† From the above definition it is clear that innovation in this contemporary business and economic environment is not confined to a simple change in the service or product or brand extension to a new market, but can spread across various facets of an organisation including operations, logistics, planning

Nutrition critical article Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Nutrition critical article - Research Paper Example Patients are advised to increase the consumption of carotenoids by eating more cruciferous vegetables that includes cauliflower, broccoli, cabbage, and kale. Thirdly, the author notes omega-3 fatty acids found in Salmon, cod, halibut, haddock, and sardines slow down the increase of breast cancer cells and reduces the progression of breast tumors. Fourthly, beans and whole grains are said to be rich in fiber, which boost expectancy due to reduced mortality in breast cancer patients. Even as Gilbert highlights the nutritional values of these foods, she warns of consequences of eating excessive fatty foods as they can lead to weight gain, which is also a precursor of other health complications. She further advices such patients to include exercise to their healthy living programs. Gilbert has her educational background in marriage and family therapy having studied psychology. Since the author is a breast cancer survivor, she has gone through various treatment procedures that helped her overcome the disease. To further the credibility of her article, Gilbert cites several people and studies conducted in the area of breast cancer. For example, she relies on information from Doctor Alison Estabrook who is the chief of breast surgery and the director of the Breast Center. For the nutritional benefits of the different foods, the author finds authority in citation of Doctor Barry Boyd, who created the integrative medicine program at Greenwich Hospital-Yale Health Systems and is the director of nutritional oncology. Additionally, Gilbert relies on different journals in the field of nutrition and cancer disease including the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention,  The American Cancer Society and Cancer Epidemiology, Biom arkers & Prevention. These journals are a good source for information presented which makes the authors claims reliable. Therefore, the person’s and materials

Introduction to business law Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Introduction to business law - Essay Example Managers need to remain increasingly concerned about the occurrences of any harmful incidents during the event. For instance, a court might consider several aspects if there occurs a harmful incident due to lack of air-conditioning facilities at the concert as can be witnessed with reference to the incident of Madonna’s concert in the UK recently. The aspects may include complying with the legal rules as well as regulations and making essential approvals relating to the concert. The various responsibilities of a safety manager at Madonna’s concert in Australia would be to construct a safe venue for the viewers or the audiences, offering ample space to the viewers for free movement which in turn shall also render them a comfortable space to enjoy the show without disruptions and appropriately managing the people including the working staffs. Moreover, the other significant role of a safety manager is to monitor various safety aspects for the conduct of an event which inc ludes electrical systems, fire prevention tools and accumulation of surface water among others. Hence, the scope in relation to the duties of an event manager is considered to be quite broader as the manager is entitled with various responsibilities to be performed since the initiation till the completion of the event. Table of Contents Executive Summary 2 1.Introduction 4 2.Event Context 5 3.Legal Issues 7 3.1.Overview of the Australian Health and Safety Laws 7 3.2.Legal Considerations 9 5. Recommendations 9 6. Conclusion 11 References 12 1. Introduction As to a recent instance regarding Madonna, it has been viewed that Madonna’s concert has significantly raised tremendous issue relating to health and safety. The demands of Madonna had ultimately resulted in generating huge troubles with health and safety officials concerning the event. The issue was regarding the impediment of air-conditioning as one of the prime demands of Madonna. With reference to the challenges witnesse d during this concert, it can be effectively noted that it is quite necessary to manage a particular event or a concert which would emphasise upon looking after the interests of both the artists and the viewers. In order to organize and manage the similar event with Madonna in Australia, laws pertinent with health and safety would be the topmost concern. In this discussion, a detailed report advising Madonna and her management on various legal matters will be taken into concern. The different matters would include determining the appropriate authorities in Australia who are responsible for maintaining the efficiency of event management in relation to health and safety. Moreover, identification of certain matters that a court might consider when analyzing the likelihood of an occurrence of a harmful incident due to lack of air-conditioning facilities at the concert will be discussed. Various aspects such as the work of a safety manager relating to a musical concert, carrying out vari ous safety checks and the duties of a safety manager prior to, during and immediately after the concert will also be portrayed in the discussion. 2. Event Context The nature of the proposed event is about organising a musical concert in Australia for entertainment. The chief artist of the concert would be the famous singer, actress, dancer as well as songwriter, Madonna. The event would likely be held in Australia’s one of the premium indoor venue i.e. ‘

Economic Globalization and Civil War Essay Example for Free

Economic Globalization and Civil War Essay Researchers Katherine Barbieri and Rafael Reuveny attempt through their study on economic globalization and civil war to find the relation, if any, between the effects of globalization and the occurrence of civil wars in developing countries. Their hypothesis is that globalization has positive effects on developing countries, causing them to have more stability and become less likely to erupt in civil war. Using the examples of 74 civil wars spanning the years of 1970-1999, the researchers compared variables of globalization including international trade, foreign direct investment, foreign portfolio investment, and internet use against periods of civil war in corresponding countries. Their results revealed that when the globalization variables, with the exception of internet use, are more important to a country it is less likely to have a civil war. These variables produce an economic stability that makes people less inclined to interrupt the status quo. Their results showed that poor countries with large populations that were less likely to be economically equal in already dire financial straits are far more likely to see internal unrest. While globalization is unlikely to be the root cause of civil war and can help reduce the likelihood it cannot prevent it as there may be deeper forces at work such as cultural or ethnic inequalities that may be exacerbated by globalization.

Background of steganography

Background of steganography Steganography has been derived from Greek word â€Å"Stego† which means â€Å"Covered† and â€Å"Graphia† which means â€Å"writing†. Steganography is an ancient technique of covert communication. The earliest form of Steganography has been reported by the Chinese. The secret message was written in very fine silk or paper, and then it was rolled into a ball and covered with wax. The messenger would either swallow the ball or hide it in his nether parts. Herodotus has mentioned in one of his seminal works of history, Histories during the 400B.C about the tradition of secret writing. In his writings he has mentioned about the conflicts between Greece and Persia. A king named Histiaeus encouraged the Aristagoras of Miletus to revolt against the Persian king. He used to tonsure the head of his most trusted servants and tattooed the scalps with secret message and waited for the hair to grow. The servant used to travel between the borders without carrying anythi ng contentious freely. At the reception end his head would be tonsured again and the message will be conveyed. Similarly during the World War II, the Germans invented the use of microdots. Image containing great details were scaled down to the size of microdots. The German usage of secret sharing is regarded as the recent evolution of Steganography. Another example of Steganography is during the Vietman War were the captured US armed force showed hand gestures during a photo sessions to convey some military secrets. The field of Steganography is limitless and any kind of cover media can be used for carrying secret messages. Cover medias can be text, images (grey, binary, color), audio, video etc. An example is illustrated as follows. Siva and Adam dined happily. The following message is not simply a plain text but it carries a secret message within it. By extracting every second letter from each word we derive a secret message as follows. â€Å"India† Other methods of non technical Steganography is using lime and other citrus liquids to write secret data. The message will be imperceptible to the eye. When it is shown over a flame the writings will become perceptible. Steganography is method of information hiding. Steganography can be considered as an art as well as science for secret communication. The best way to explain the purpose of using Steganography is the Prisoner Problem. Now let us consider two prisoners Alice and Bob, and Wendy to be the warden. Now if Alice and Bob want to devise a plan for escaping then they got to communicate with each other. If Wendy is a passive warden then he wont interfere in there communication but if he is an active warden then he will interfere and extract the secret message sent. Hence Alice and Bob got to communicate in such a way that Wendy is not able to decipher there plan. This can be done by the technique of Steganography. Steganography is been used in order to enable secret communication. It is also being used by terrorist for covert communication which is potential for endangering our national as well as world security. Despite the ill effect there are positive sides of Steganography. For example a photographer can store the aperture size, future references etc while taking a picture. Steganography has a wide application in medical imaging were the details of the patients are embedded within the medical image. Similarly Steganography can be used for different friendly applications. It is also used for copy right protection using it along with Watermarking. The use of Steganography also has an important role in strengthening national security. Steganography is defined as secret hiding. It can also be regarded as secret sharing since messages can be shared secretly without being hacked or corrupted. COMPARISON BETWEEN CRYPTOGRAPHY, STEGANOGRAPHY AND WATERMARKING The other forms of data hiding are cryptography and watermarking. Cryptography is a technique in which the secret message is encrypted and sent in an unintelligent format. The basic difference between Steganography and cryptography is that Cryptography scrambles the data whereas Steganography just hides the data. Cryptography scrambles the secret data in such a way that it appears to be gibberish to any unintended user. The secret data to be communicated is a mixture of permutation and substitution and hence any unintended user cant receive the message. Steganography is different from Cryptography. Steganography rather hides the data whereas Cryptography encrypts the data. Steganography provides much more security when compared to cryptography because there is no chance of any unintended user to know that a message is being sent whereas in Cryptography there will always be a suspicion that a message is being sent. Hence these are more prone to be hacked or suppressed. Watermarking is generally used for authentication and copyrights protection. Watermarking can be used for creating a image in order that it is recognizable. It can also be used to mark a digital file so that it is intended to be visible (visible watermarking) or visible to its creator (invisible marking). The main purpose of watermarking is to prevent the illegal copying or claim of ownership of digital media. CHARACTERISTICS OF STEGANOGRAPHY, CRYPTOGRAPHY AND WATERMARKING The common characteristic between Steganography, Cryptography and Watermarking is that they transmit the secret information in such a way that only the receiver is able to decrypt the data. These techniques had been prevalent during the ancient times have been transported to the digital world. It has become nearly impossible to extract or detect the secret messages. In digital domain Steganography and watermarking have a tie and it is majorly used in digital images. These have other uses as well. Both cannot exist by themselves and hence they require cover objects. Steganography requires a cover media to carry the secret information and watermarking requires a carrier object which it is intended to protect. These similarities create a link within them and hence some modifications can lead the transportation from one technique to another. Due the similarities present between these it is difficult to distinguish between the both but actually there is a remarkable difference between the m. Cryptography encrypts data in two methods secure or unbreakable (e.g. One-time pad) systems and breakable (e.g. RSA) systems. Through both the systems communication carried out is known to all. But it is time consuming and often fruitless to crack a code. The robustness of the code lies upon the difficulties faced while reversing the code in different permutations and combinations. Due to its robustness it is used for security purposes. For example Cryptography is used for online shopping, banking etc. The credit card number, expiration etc and other crucial informations are encrypted and sent so that an unintended user cant access the details. Steganography offers high carrier capacity keeping embedded message invisible and maintaining the fidelity of the cover media. The efficiency of the Steganographic method is that one shouldnt know that a media file has been altered in order for embedding. If the malicious user knows if there is some alteration the Steganographic method is defeated and less efficient. The embedded message is very fragile and hence if any modification is done to the stego image the whole secret message is corrupted. The effectiveness lies on the ability to fool an unintended user. The layers of communication can be more than one layer. A secret message can be embedded with a digital image which in turn can be embedded within another digital media or video clippings. Watermarking is required in order for authentication and copyright protection of digital files. The embedded watermarking is required in an object to make it impossible to remove completely. If the embedded watermarking is removed, then the marked object is either distorted or destroyed making it useless for anyone. This is the reason why watermarking is more robust when compared to the other image processing techniques, such as compression, cropping, rotation etc. hence even if a tiny bit of information is extracted by modification and tempering the rightful owner can still claim ownership. If the owners name is embedded in the digital image and the particular image then the original information is tampered and destroyed. Unlike Steganography, it is acceptable for everyone one to see the watermark embedded in it including the invisible ones. COMBINED EFFORTS OF STEGANOGRAPHY, CRYPTOGRAPHY AND WATERMARKING Cryptography is used as a paisano of the other two data hiding techniques. Data is encrypted in both the techniques in order to increase the randomness of the Steganography to avoid the statistics-based attacks and to protect the hidden data in watermarking. Commonly it is a practice to first encrypt the data and then use any one of the embedded techniques. The importance of watermarking can be stated as follows. Suppose Rs 100 bill is introduced in December 2009 then watermarking is required in order to prevent illegal copies. If the bill is shown in light a small image will appear within the large image. The watermarking is actually a part of the large paper and is visible on both sides. Hence it becomes difficult to produce a paper with such features. In addition to these features some tiny writings which are invisible to the human eyes are present in the paper. A banker having the necessary equipments (magnifying glass) can tell the difference between the original bill and the fake bill. Steganography makes its play here. The tiny printing done on the bill represents Steganography. It is implemented in order to achieve high security. The tiny printing done in the paper cannot be copied since any commercial printer is incapable to print such a fine and thin print leading to black spots. These are the reasons why Steganography is used for high security. Cryptography is actually implemented in the bill. A serial number is been printed in the bill which may contain information about the location and date of bill is printed or any other confidential information. The unique serial number for each bill can be used for tracking purposes. Using Steganography, Cryptography and Watermarking it becomes impossible to reproduce Rs100 bill. It must be kept in mind that all three are different and have different functionality. REQUIREMENTS OF STEGANOGRAPHYc Any digital media can be used as a cover media. The cover media can be a text, image (color, gray), audio or video etc. Cover media is required in order to hide and carry the information. Usually digital images are required in order to hide secret messages. The secret message is hidden within the digital image. After the message is embedded within the cover media An innocuous image consisting of scenery, people and other objects are the nominees for cover media. The availability of natural images is not a problem due to the affordable price of digital cameras nowadays. Natural images are the best candidates for cover image since they have higher resolution providing flexibility and other necessary need. Images are selected because the cover media is selected depending upon how the human visual system works. The gray image consists of pixels with intensity value from 0 to 255. The human eye cannot differentiate between a pixel intensity of 244 and 245. It will appear both the pixel intensities to be same. Also natural image s contains lots of noise and hence there is lots of pixel value intensity difference especially in the edges. This variation in the pixel intensity is known as randomness and can be exploited to embed the data without providing any suspicion to human eye. The human visual system wont be able to distinguish between the image before modulation and the image after modulation. The secret data is embedded within the cover image. The resulting image is called a stego-image. The stego-image will appear to be the same as the original image. The human eye cannot usually distinguish between the stego-image and the original image except there is a significant change between the images. In that case the Steganographic method employed is ineffective. Hence there are certain Stego-system criteria which we have to follow while doing a Stegagraphic implementation. They are stated as follows. The major criteria of Steganography that the cover media shouldnt be significantly altered or modified. The embedded data should be directly encoded in the cover and not in the header or wrapper. The embedded data should be immune to modifications of the cover. That is if the cover media under goes any change then data embedded within it should be unaltered. During transmission there are chances of noise to occur and hence distortion due to noise cannot be eliminated. Due to this issue error coding algorithms should be included where ever it is required. It is advisable to avoid the suspicious portions while embedding the message in the cover. This because after embedding in these regions they become open to suspicion. For example by embedding in smooth portions of the image, the resultant image becomes distorted and open to suspicion. Hence such portions are often avoided and portions where there is variation in the pixel intensity are preferred. The embedding efficiency must be improved. Efficiency of the embedding capacity depends upon the number of pixels in the image used for embedding purposes. The stego-image should be robust to steganalysis. Steganalysis is a method of identifying the difference between the original image and stego-image. Using steganalysis one can derive the information about the secret message. The stego-image should reassemble the original image and there should be any suspicion. The cover image should have high carrier capacity. That is the embedding capacity should be large. The amount of information present in the image should be resistant to distortion and should be comparable to the number of pixels present in the image. The three basic requirements of Steganography are robustness, capacity and imperceptibility. All these requirements should be satisfied for having an effective Steganographic method.

Democracy and Liberal Socialism :: Politics Government Regime Papers

Democracy and Liberal Socialism This paper deals with the characteristic features of Rawls’ property-owning democracy, and whether a liberal democratic socialism can be compatible with Rawls’ political liberalism. I argue that a property-owning democracy can be compatible with Rawlsian justice while liberal socialism cannot. I understand the choice between property-owning democracy and liberal socialism as the problem of which kind of regime is more compatible with the pluralism of modern democracies. Property-owning democracy is more compatible with Rawls’ political liberalism since it permits a wider variety of the conceptions of the good than liberal socialism while at the same time permitting worker-managed firms; thus I argue that it can be understood as a "mixed" regime. What kind of economic regime is more compatible with Rawlsian justice, private ownership or social ownership of the means of production? Since Rawls has published A Theory of Justice,(1) there has been much debate over this problem. Some argue that A Theory of Justice offers "a philosophical apologia for an egalitarian brand of welfare state capitalism."(2) Others argue that his political and economic regime is completely different from the capitalism in the classical sense of Marxism.(3) But he himself rejects a welfare-state capitalism and illustrates a property-owning democracy and a liberal (democratic) socialism as economic regimes consistent with his justice as fairness.(4) I will deal with the following problems in this paper ; what are the characteristic features of the property-owning democracy as an alternative to capitalism? Can a liberal democratic socialism be compatible with Rawls's political liberalism? I will argue that a property-owning democracy can be compatible with Rawlsian justice but a liberal socialism, particularly concerning his political liberalism, cannot. And I will suggest my understanding of his property-owning democracy as a "mixed" regime. 1. Rawls's conception of property-owning democracy (5) a) the main institutions of Rawls's property-owning democracy Rawls thinks that his property-owning democracy realizes all the main political values expressed by the two principles of justice, but a capitalist welfare state does not. He thinks of such a democracy as an alternative to capitalism. Concluding his survey, Rawls outlines the main institutions of property-owning democracy as follows: i) Provisions for securing the fair value of the political liberties, ii) Provisions for realizing fair equality of opportunity in education and training, iii) A basic level of health-care provided for all.(6) Furthermore, Rawls insists upon two conditions: 1) a regime of competitive markets, and 2) state intervention both to correct market imperfections (e.

Birthday party by Katharine Brush

They were a couple in their late thirties, and they looked unmistakably married. They sat on the banquette opposite us in a little narrow restaurant, having dinner. The man had a round, self-satisfied face, with glasses on it; the woman was fadingly pretty, in a big hat. There was nothing conspicuous about them, nothing particularly noticeable, until the end of their meal, when it suddenly became obvious that this was an occasion—in fact, the husband’s birthday. And the wife had planned a little surprise for him.It arrived, in the form of a small but glossy birthday cake, with one pink candle burning in the center. The headwaiter brought it in and placed it before the husband, and meanwhile the violin-and-piano orchestra played â€Å"Happy Birthday to You† and the wife beamed with shy pride over her little surprise, and such few people as there were in the restaurant tried to help out with a pattering of applause. It became clear at once that help was needed, bec ause the husband was not pleased. Instead he was hotly embarrassed, and indignant at his wife for embarrassing him.You looked at him and you saw this and you thought, â€Å"Oh, now don’t be like that! † But he was like that, and as soon as the little cake had been deposited on the table, and the orchestra had finished the birthday piece, and the general attention had shifted from the man and the woman, I saw him say something to her under his breath—some punishing thing, quick and curt and unkind. I couldn’t bear to look at the woman then, so I stared at my plate and waited for quite a long time. Not long enough, though. She was still crying when I finally glanced over there again.Crying quietly and heartbrokenly and hopelessly, all to herself, under the gay big brim of her best hat. Purpose of the story is that Appreciation is the best reward of the hard work in close relations. In story the woman wants to surprise his husband on his birthday, for that p urpose she arranged cake for him and also she dressed a big hat which shows her happiness on that occasion. But at last the husband shows a rude behave. Literary devices used by Narrator: Devices used by narrator to show efforts did by wife to surprise. 1. Glossy birthday cake 2. One pink candle3. Served by headwaiter 4. Music of violin-and-piano The women walk with a huge hat to show excitement on her husband’s birthday. Hot behave of husband to show that he is now happy with his wife excitement. Opposite to narrator ( not included in answer) . The women walks in with a huge hat [looking for attention] and grabs a seat. The man is want a simple birthday party with dinner only. The waiters come out with a huge PINK cake. It sounds like the women is doing much for her husband, and is excited. He says something short yet hurtful and she bursts out in tears.Attention here once again. It was a pink cake and the man wasn't looking for to much attention, and narrator seems to direc t all the attention on the cake purchased by wife. Therefore when reading it, you may think at first, how rude of the man. But analysis shows that hey, it wasn't really all his fault, the women was trying to make a scene. But we can't see this because of the narrator is watching from a far and doesn't show the thoughts and emotions. Reference: 1. www. sccollege. edu/projects/433/Birthday%20Party%20K. %20Brush. doc