Roughly 2,000 former professional football players filed a long-form complaint Thursday in a multidistrict litigation suit against the National Football League in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, claiming the league is responsible for the debilitating health problems that athletes developed after getting concussions while playing the sport.
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Public release date: 7-Jun-2012
Share ] Contact: Jade Boyd
jadeboyd@rice.edu
713-348-6778
Rice University
HOUSTON -- (June 7, 2012) -- Researchers from Rice University and UCLA unveiled a new data-encoding scheme this week that slashes more than 30 percent of the energy needed to write data onto new memory cards that use "phase-change memory" (PCM) -- a competitor to flash memory that has big backing from industry heavyweights.
The breakthrough was presented at the IEEE/ACM Design Automation Conference (DAC) in San Francisco by researchers from Rice University's Adaptive Computing and Embedded Systems (ACES) Laboratory.
PCM uses the same type of materials as those used in rewritable CDs and DVDs, and it does the same job as flash memory -- the mainstay technology in USB thumb drives and memory cards for cameras and other devices. IBM and Samsung have each demonstrated PCM breakthroughs in recent months, and PCM is ultimately expected to be faster, cheaper and more energy-efficient than flash.
"We developed an optimization framework that exploits asymmetries in PCM read/write to minimize the number of bit transitions, which in turns yields energy and endurance efficiency," said researcher Azalia Mirhoseini, a Rice graduate student in electrical and computer engineering, who presented the research results at DAC.
In PCM technology, heat-sensitive materials are used to store data as ones and zeros by changing the material resistance. The electronic properties of the material change from low resistance to high resistance when heat is applied to alter the arrangement of atoms from a conducting, crystalline structure to a nonconducting, glassy structure. Writing data on PCM takes a fraction of the time required to write on flash memory, and the process is reversible but asymmetric; creating one state requires a short burst of intense heat, and reversing that state requires more time and less heat.
The new encoding method is the first to take advantage of these asymmetric physical properties. One key to the encoding scheme is reading the existing data before new data is written. Using a combination of programming approaches, the researchers created an encoder that can scan the "words" -- short sections of bits on the card -- and overwrite only the parts of the words that need to be overwritten.
"One part of the method is based on dynamic programming, which starts from small codes that we show to be optimal, and then builds upon these small codes to rapidly search for improved, longer codes that minimize the bit transitions," said lead researcher Farinaz Koushanfar, director of Rice's ACES Laboratory and assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering and of computer science at Rice.
The second part of the new method is based on integer-linear programming (ILP), a technique that can find optimal solutions. The more complex the solution, the longer ILP takes to find the optimal solution, so the team found a shortcut by using dynamic programming to create a cheat sheet of small codes that could be quickly combined for more complex solutions.
Research collaborator Miodrag Potkonjak, professor of computer science at UCLA, said the team's solution to PCM optimization is pragmatic.
"The overhead for ILP is practical because the codes are found only once, during the design phase," Potkonjak said. "The codes are stored for later use during PCM operation."
The researchers also found the new encoding scheme cut more than 40 percent of "memory wear," the exhaustion of memory due to rewrites. Each memory cell can handle a limited number of rewrite cycles before it becomes unusable.
The researchers said the applicability, low overhead and efficiency of the proposed optimization methods were demonstrated with extensive evaluations on benchmark data sets. In addition to PCM, they said, the encoding method is also applicable for other types of bit-accessible memories, including STT-RAM, or spin-transfer torque random-access memory.
###
The research was funded by the Office of Naval Research, the Army Research Office and the National Science Foundation.
A copy of the DAC paper is available at: http://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=2228374
Located on a 300-acre forested campus in Houston, Rice University is consistently ranked among the nation's top 20 universities by U.S. News & World Report. Rice has highly respected schools of Architecture, Business, Continuing Studies, Engineering, Humanities, Music, Natural Sciences and Social Sciences and is known for its "unconventional wisdom." With 3,708 undergraduates and 2,374 graduate students, Rice's undergraduate student-to-faculty ratio is 6-to-1. Its residential college system builds close-knit communities and lifelong friendships, just one reason why Rice has been ranked No. 1 for best quality of life multiple times by the Princeton Review and No. 4 for "best value" among private universities by Kiplinger's Personal Finance. To read "What they're saying about Rice," go to www.rice.edu/nationalmedia/Rice.pdf.
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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Public release date: 7-Jun-2012 Share ] Contact: Jade Boyd
jadeboyd@rice.edu
713-348-6778
Rice University
HOUSTON -- (June 7, 2012) -- Researchers from Rice University and UCLA unveiled a new data-encoding scheme this week that slashes more than 30 percent of the energy needed to write data onto new memory cards that use "phase-change memory" (PCM) -- a competitor to flash memory that has big backing from industry heavyweights.
The breakthrough was presented at the IEEE/ACM Design Automation Conference (DAC) in San Francisco by researchers from Rice University's Adaptive Computing and Embedded Systems (ACES) Laboratory.
PCM uses the same type of materials as those used in rewritable CDs and DVDs, and it does the same job as flash memory -- the mainstay technology in USB thumb drives and memory cards for cameras and other devices. IBM and Samsung have each demonstrated PCM breakthroughs in recent months, and PCM is ultimately expected to be faster, cheaper and more energy-efficient than flash.
"We developed an optimization framework that exploits asymmetries in PCM read/write to minimize the number of bit transitions, which in turns yields energy and endurance efficiency," said researcher Azalia Mirhoseini, a Rice graduate student in electrical and computer engineering, who presented the research results at DAC.
In PCM technology, heat-sensitive materials are used to store data as ones and zeros by changing the material resistance. The electronic properties of the material change from low resistance to high resistance when heat is applied to alter the arrangement of atoms from a conducting, crystalline structure to a nonconducting, glassy structure. Writing data on PCM takes a fraction of the time required to write on flash memory, and the process is reversible but asymmetric; creating one state requires a short burst of intense heat, and reversing that state requires more time and less heat.
The new encoding method is the first to take advantage of these asymmetric physical properties. One key to the encoding scheme is reading the existing data before new data is written. Using a combination of programming approaches, the researchers created an encoder that can scan the "words" -- short sections of bits on the card -- and overwrite only the parts of the words that need to be overwritten.
"One part of the method is based on dynamic programming, which starts from small codes that we show to be optimal, and then builds upon these small codes to rapidly search for improved, longer codes that minimize the bit transitions," said lead researcher Farinaz Koushanfar, director of Rice's ACES Laboratory and assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering and of computer science at Rice.
The second part of the new method is based on integer-linear programming (ILP), a technique that can find optimal solutions. The more complex the solution, the longer ILP takes to find the optimal solution, so the team found a shortcut by using dynamic programming to create a cheat sheet of small codes that could be quickly combined for more complex solutions.
Research collaborator Miodrag Potkonjak, professor of computer science at UCLA, said the team's solution to PCM optimization is pragmatic.
"The overhead for ILP is practical because the codes are found only once, during the design phase," Potkonjak said. "The codes are stored for later use during PCM operation."
The researchers also found the new encoding scheme cut more than 40 percent of "memory wear," the exhaustion of memory due to rewrites. Each memory cell can handle a limited number of rewrite cycles before it becomes unusable.
The researchers said the applicability, low overhead and efficiency of the proposed optimization methods were demonstrated with extensive evaluations on benchmark data sets. In addition to PCM, they said, the encoding method is also applicable for other types of bit-accessible memories, including STT-RAM, or spin-transfer torque random-access memory.
###
The research was funded by the Office of Naval Research, the Army Research Office and the National Science Foundation.
A copy of the DAC paper is available at: http://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=2228374
Located on a 300-acre forested campus in Houston, Rice University is consistently ranked among the nation's top 20 universities by U.S. News & World Report. Rice has highly respected schools of Architecture, Business, Continuing Studies, Engineering, Humanities, Music, Natural Sciences and Social Sciences and is known for its "unconventional wisdom." With 3,708 undergraduates and 2,374 graduate students, Rice's undergraduate student-to-faculty ratio is 6-to-1. Its residential college system builds close-knit communities and lifelong friendships, just one reason why Rice has been ranked No. 1 for best quality of life multiple times by the Princeton Review and No. 4 for "best value" among private universities by Kiplinger's Personal Finance. To read "What they're saying about Rice," go to www.rice.edu/nationalmedia/Rice.pdf.
[ | E-mail | Share ] ?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
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Republican presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney gestures during a campaign stop at USAA insurance company, Wednesday, June 6, 2012, in San Antonio, Texas. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
Republican presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney gestures during a campaign stop at USAA insurance company, Wednesday, June 6, 2012, in San Antonio, Texas. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
WASHINGTON (AP) ? A week after Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney disclosed a fortune worth as much as $250 million, his campaign said Wednesday that he plans to put his holdings in a federal blind trust if he is elected president.
A Romney campaign official said there have been long-standing plans to shift the candidate's assets from a trust overseen by a Boston attorney to a stricter blind trust overseen by federal officials if he wins in November. Some assets might be disclosed or sold off before such a move, campaign spokeswoman Andrea Saul said.
"If Gov. Romney is elected president, his blind trust will be terminated and a new federal blind trust will be created," Saul said. "Any assets that are not fully compliant with federal disclosure and other rules applicable to the office of the presidency will be disposed of."
In a divisive presidential campaign where Romney's vast fortune and his long association with the Bain Capital private equity firm have become central issues, the move could serve to insulate Romney politically from criticism about his wealth as well as possible ethics conflicts. But the move might not stop the flow of new payments from Bain, which has been both lionized for its record of successful investments and vilified for mass layoffs at some of the companies it bought.
Just last week, Romney disclosed more than $2 million in new income from Bain, the firm he co-founded and managed until departing in 1999. Finance and taxation experts said this week that the new Bain payments raised the prospect that Romney could continue receiving income from his former company over the next several years.
A Romney campaign official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss his finances, said the campaign's analysis of his income stream indicated that any future Bain income pay-outs were unlikely but that such payments were out of his control.
Saul disclosed the plans for a federal blind trust after The Associated Press raised questions about how Romney would deal with any future Bain Capital income.
In his latest federal financial disclosure, filed last week, Romney's trustee revealed that the candidate made $1.9 million from a single "Bain Capital Inc." payment as well as more than $200,000 from three other Bain entities. Although Romney's retirement agreement with Bain expired in 2009, the trustee said the income came in the form of "true-up" payments ? in essence, catch-up payments made to make up for earnings not provided to Romney before the entities ceased operation.
None of the Bain entities had previously been listed on Romney's 2011 financial disclosure.
The details of Romney's severance agreement have largely remained secret, but experts in private equity finance and taxation say that the financial fallout from Romney's retirement plan will continue to reverberate.
Critics have warned that concerns about the steady flow of income from Bain are made more acute by Romney's long-standing decision to withhold crucial details about his Bain separation agreement, leaving voters with little information about his continuing ties to the firm.
"While he may not be actively managing the business anymore, he remains financially linked to them," said Victor Fleischer, a University of Colorado law professor and private equity expert who has testified before Congress on complex finance issues. "The point of financial disclosure is to communicate the full extent of one's potential conflict of interest, and until he discloses the severance agreement, we don't know whether he'd manage the country on our behalf or be influenced by his ongoing relationship with Bain Capital."
Romney's holdings are in what his campaign describes as a blind trust, preventing him from having direct control over his investments. Although the trust would qualify as a blind trust in Massachusetts, where Romney served as governor, critics have complained that the candidate is not totally blind to its contents. Romney's trustee, Boston lawyer R. Bradford Malt, has said that he buys and sells investments that he believes would be consistent with Romney's public policy positions.
Malt bought and sold off a number of investments over the last several years that appeared to conflict with Romney's political positions. Since 2010, as the presidential election neared, Malt has sold off a number of stocks in companies based in China and others that traded with Iran and backed stem cell research ? all stances that Romney has opposed as a candidate.
The broad outlines of Romney's portfolio were signed off by him in annual disclosures in 20111 and 2012 to the federal Office of Government Ethics and the Federal Election Commission, and then shared with the media and with voters.
A federally "qualified diversified" blind trust would have much stricter standards, preventing Romney ? and the American public ? from knowing what is contained in his portfolio. The OGE would qualify both the trust and any nominee for trustee to make sure that the trust's contents were not disclosed.
"In order to be truly blind, an official cannot really know what investments are held in the blind trust," said Stephen D. Potts, an OGE director in the first Bush and Clinton administrations who later served as deputy White House counsel for President George W. Bush.
Even with a federal blind trust, Romney could continue to receive income from Bain throughout his presidency, if he's elected ? even if he remains unaware of the specific payments. Rebecca Wilkins, a senior counsel with the Citizens for Tax Justice, a tax fairness advocacy group, pointed to an obscure note to the Internal Revenue Service that turned up at the end of the 2010 tax returns for a trust for Romney's wife, Ann.
In the note, Romney's trustee told the IRS that the trust would elect to begin receiving interest from a Bain Capital fund known as "Bain Capital Partners (AM) X, LP." Although the fund is not detailed further in the return, the AP has learned that the fund is a partnership that was set up in the Cayman Islands, a foreign base that could allow U.S. investors to defer some of their future taxes under certain circumstances.
The fund is apparently tied to Bain Capital's 2010 purchase of Air Medical Group Holdings, the largest independent U.S. provider of emergency air medical services. The deal cost Bain an estimated $1 billion.
Under typical private equity arrangements, the Romney trust could receive interest from the "Bain Capital Partners (AM) X" investment fund over the next five to seven years, Wilkins said ? meaning that Romney's Bain Capital income might continue flowing through 2017.
And because that income is treated as long-term capital gains, Romney would pay taxes on the earn-outs at the 15 percent capital gains tax rate, well below the higher rates paid by many middle-class American taxpayers.
"He'll be getting this income for a long time," Wilkins said.
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Creative Writing Workshop, she read. That was the right place. The room was covered by posters all saying the same thing ?Stick to the topic?. For some reason, that didn?t sound like a good way to trigger creativity. It felt a bit claustrophobic too. As everyone sat down to start, the instructor (yes that is how they called him in the course plan) moved everyone to sit on the left side of the room. He explained that the seats on the right side would be attributed according to a merit scale he had defined. When asked to share that scale, he bluntly refused. Everyone shrugged and the course started. It was hour after hour of a painful path through things that had absolutely nothing to do with creativity and far less with writing. There had to be a reason for all this, there had to be a lesson behind it, they thought. But the instructor continued on and on. The seats on the right had been filling up with people who smiled a lot, who said the course was very interesting and the instructor so well informed. The ones still sitting on the left side after 2 days of workshop started to leave. They thought it was ridiculous. It felt like they were being brainwashed. Who was this man? What was the point? Would there be a moment when everyone would sigh of relief and think ah, that is why all this happened. On the third and last day, she was the only one sitting on the left side. She raised her hand. ?I was sitting outside looking at the blue sea and wondering which was the creative part of this workshop.? The instructor took a few steps in her direction. ?This workshop has a lesson for you. Stick to the point.? She looked at the brochure of the course titled Creative Writing Workshop. ?I am. Which was the creative part of this course? Here it clearly says creative.? And she pointed at the word written in capital letters and in bold. The instructor sneered. ?I am.? No one reacted; they didn?t want to lose their privileges on the right side of the room. ?You?! How?? she asked completely puzzled. ?I made you think,? he said. She shook her head. ?You made me want to leave. Only because of my stubbornness am I still here. As you can see, most have left, except those few who got a ridiculous seat on the right side of the room.? He smiled. ?Class dismissed.? The next day, she went back to check the results of the course. She was pretty sure she would see her name in red with a big ?F? of failed to complete the course, right there. Much to her amazement, all the others had an ?F?, even those who had been sitting on the right side of the room. She was the only one who didn?t. After her name was written ?Course completed with success?. The instructor walked up to her ?You were the only one who dared to speak up. That was the point of this whole course. Creativity is, among other things and believe it or not, having the guts to speak up when others don?t.?
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Associated Press Sports
updated 11:54 p.m. ET June 5, 2012
WASHINGTON (AP) - You might think 19-year-old Bryce Harper would savor the moment after his first game-winning hit with two outs to give his team an extra-inning win.
Instead, after lifting the Washington Nationals to a 7-6 win against the New York Mets in 12 innings Tuesday night, Harper was upset with his line in the box score.
"I'm happy to get the W, of course. I'm happy to get that walk-off hit, but I don't like going 2 for 7," Harper said. "I don't like striking out twice in one game, either."
He then said the game-winner would mitigate his disappointment.
"To get that moment at the end, that wipes everything away," Harper said.
Harper's single ended a back-and-forth game that saw the Mets rally from a 3-0 early deficit to take leads in the top of the eighth, 10th and 12th innings - only to have the Nationals tie the game in the bottom of the frame each time.
Scott Hairston hit a solo homer in the top of the 12th to give New York a 6-5 lead, but the Nationals rallied when Michael Morse led off with his second double of the game. Ian Desmond followed with another double for his third RBI.
Reliever Elvin Ramirez (0-1) walked two batters to load the bases, and a fielder's choice by Xavier Nady left the bases loaded with two outs for Harper, who lined an 0-2 pitch to left field. The ball fell just in front of a diving Vinny Rottino.
"He's a man-child," Morse said of Harper. "This guy's unbelievable. He's really learning this game. Every day, I think he's taking something in. ... When he plays like he plays, it's fun to watch and it's good to have him on our side."
The Nationals are alone atop the National League East, a game ahead of Miami - which lost to Atlanta - and 1 1/2 games ahead of the Mets.
Both managers emptied their bullpens as the game wore on. Ramirez, the Mets' sixth pitcher, was making his second major league appearance. Ross Detwiler (4-3) pitched the final two innings as the Nationals' eighth.
"It would have been very easy for this team, for the hitters, to just say, `OK, we'll just go get them tomorrow,"' Detwiler said. "But we weathered the storm, we came back out there and fought."
Hairston also gave the Mets the lead in the 10th when he led off with a single and later scored on a wild pitch by Henry Rodriguez - Rodriguez's ninth in 21 innings this season. The Nationals tied it in the bottom of the inning, thanks to two errors by shortstop Jordany Valdespin - including a grounder by Desmond that bounced off his glove, allowing Ryan Zimmerman to score - and a wild pitch by Bobby Parnell.
The Mets fell behind 3-0 after five innings and started their comeback with solo home runs by David Wright and Valdespin in the sixth. Andres Torres hit a two-run double in the eighth to give New York a 4-3 lead.
Desmond tied the game at 4 with a run-scoring single in the eighth to set up extra innings.
Valdespin led off the sixth with a pinch-hit home run into the Nationals' bullpen in right field. It was the rookie's second pinch-hit homer this season. Wright added another solo homer with two outs, barely clearing the wall in left-center field. It was Wright's 736th career run scored, setting a Mets franchise record.
"The toughest part is the way we fought back," Mets manager Terry Collins said. "You're down three. We fight back. We get the lead. We lose the lead, get the lead, lose the lead, we get the lead and then we lose the game. That's very tough. The guys played very well."
According to the Nationals, Harper is the first teenager to have a game-ending hit since Gary Sheffield did it for the Brewers on Sept. 9, 1988.
"I don't think of him as a 19-year-old kid, but that's exactly what he is," Detwiler said. "He's going to be around for a long time, so it's awesome to see him learn and really grow as a player right now. You know he's going to be in the same position he's in now in 10, 15 years. It's pretty cool to see the beginning of it."
NOTES: New York RHP Jon Rauch has "debris" in his right elbow, according to manager Terry Collins. He'll miss the three games in Washington, but will be available for Friday's game against the Yankees, Collins said. ... The Mets activated RHP Miguel Batista (lower back strain) from the 15-day DL and placed RHP Ramon Ramirez (strained right hamstring) on the 15-day DL. Ramirez injured the hamstring running in from the bullpen to join in the celebration of Johan Santana's no-hitter on Friday, Collins said. The Mets also designated right-handed pitcher Jack Egbert for assignment. ... Washington RHP Brad Lidge (sports hernia) made his first rehab appearance for Class A Potomac Monday and expects to have two more on Wednesday and Friday.
? 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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More newsDeMarco:?The standings still say the Los Angeles Dodgers are the best team in baseball. Not that many outside their clubhouse believe it will stay that way much longer.
PHILADELPHIA (AP) - Elian Herrera hit a two-run double off winless Cliff Lee in the eighth inning and the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Philadelphia Phillies 2-1 on Tuesday night.
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By Liza Lester, ESA communications officer.
The US Geological Survey?s Landsat 5 Thematic Mapper has been a faithful friend to ecologists. Recoding image data in seven bands covering visible, thermal, and infrared spectra, the satellite has shown us retreating glaciers, advancing wildfires, waxing and waning kelp forests, forest succession, and the ravages of bark beetle infestations.
In November 2011, USGS shut down data transmissions for the duration of the northern hemisphere?s winter after the Thematic Mapper?s transmitter began showing signs of trouble. USGS has not been able to resuscitate the ailing transmitter, and has ended routine data acquisitions from the Thematic Mapper, but is collecting data from a more limited, lower resolution instrument, the Multi-Spectral Scanner.
The Thematic Mapper was the workhorse instrument for routine image acquisitions on Landsat 5. Controllers shut down the Multi-Spectral Scanner, an older design, in 1995. With the Thematic Mapper?s data out of reach, USGS switched the Multi-Spectral Scanner back on this spring and were gratified to see the instrument wake right up after slumbering more than fifteen years. The Multi-Spectral Scanner gathers data in green, red, and near infrared wavelengths, allowing us to distinguish vegetation and water boundaries, land formations, shallow water, and sediment-laden water. Check out the Landsat History Factsheet for a comparison of sensor capabilities.
This isn?t the first transmitter failure. Landsat 5 is an old satellite, in orbit since 1984 and outliving several siblings, and its minders have worked around a number of equipment troubles. Its primary X-band transmitter shut down in 1987, just a few years after launch. Operations continued on the backup transmitter until 2008. When the backup went down, engineers flipped the switch on the primary transmitter, and it miraculously came back online. When USGS saw a familiar failure pattern developing last fall, they shut the instrument down hoping they could tweak things and get it going again, but the transmitter did not recover when they woke it in April.
The Multi-Spectral Scanner (MSS) transmits on the S-band radio frequency spectrum used for control of the satellite, and so is not affected by the Thematic Mapper?s communication difficulties.
USGS scientist Rachel Headley, a geographer for the Landsat program, says it?s fun to have the Multi-Spectral Scanner online again, although it?s been so long since the sensor sent down data that the program has lost the capability to process it. USGS will not be releasing data until they can rebuild the necessary capacity and collect enough data for radiometric calibration, which will make data consistent and comparable with other satellite spectra. That will not happen for many months, and certainly not before the end of the northern hemisphere?s growing season.
In the meantime, USGS is archiving the data. Though the Multi-Spectral Scanner is not as powerful as the Thematic Mapper, its archive could provide useful data continuity, particularly when merged with data from other missions. Maintaining the satellite?s infrastructure does have a cost, however, and in the current, difficult budget environment, hard choices have to be made. USGS is discussing the value of continuing investment the Landsat 5 mission with stakeholders in the scientific community, and will decide its future soon.
The latest Landsat scion, Landsat 8, is in the final stages of construction and testing, and slated to launch in January or February of 2013.
?
Image: ?Component problems or failures during Landsat 5?s mission, specified by month/year.?? NASA
A sampling of recent ecological articles that have made use of Landsat data:
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Within this report I have been asked to compare the following websites in terms of what business they each provide, why it is necessary to have a secure web presence, the risk factors each have and what kind of people will these websites focus and attract on and how come we overcome such risks.
To get a clear goal of all these aspects, clear research must be carried out by going on these websites and directly concentrating on the aspects that are lacking from the above guild lines.
Starting from the first website in the list, amazon is a very world known site that attracts millions of users each year. The nature of this online ?purchasing store? if you like was created not only by having an online catalogue from which you can order new products from but also to sell second hand products to other people. The majority of all products are sold less than the retail street prices and this is simply how they do business. Before an order can be placed an account has to be created via the website and this will include personal details e.g. customers address and banking details. Such integral information must be kept safe and these are some ways amazon deals with it:
Amazon also provides guidelines on how to stay safe while doing any online shopping with them and in order of preventing any unpleasant experiences, the following must be carried out by the user:
By accepting the terms and conditions they will be complying with amazon?s policy?s for example the data protection act which will help to keep personal information confidential and not sell it to third parties. It is vital that there is a secure web presence in order to give the customers the confidence to buy or sell without getting defrauded on. This way as long as there is a secure web presence the company can only gain more customers and continue to expand.
The customers amazon will attract will vary from students who own a debit card to pensioners, there is no age limit, once becoming 16 up until 18 you will need the involvement of a parent or legal guardian in order to carry out any transactions.
The risk appetite from a scale of 1-100, where 1 being the lowest and 100 the highest, Amazon would have to be in its lowest so in between 8 to 10. This is because amazon in order to survive with different competitors like e-bay it has to keep its customer satisfaction sky-high. So they have specific boundaries in order to keeping these customers by having an all-time low risk appetite. Also by having an up-to-date e-commerce platform is crucial because this would help customers in all usability aspects plus it would be more secure for making transactions online. This is something that amazon currently worked on so it has one of the best e-commerce platforms out there in the online market. This is the reason why it is the biggest online retailer on a global basis.
For example if a customer has a bad experience with amazon and posts in a blog and tells all their friends about it then that could stop potential customers from buying or selling on the website in the future. This is because people tend to look at the bad side of things rather than the good. If there more than let?s say 100,000 unsatisfied customers then that could cause a crisis for the company so customer satisfaction and excellent customer service must be at the top of their agendas.
Barclays is a British Financial banking firm which has been operating from 1690, where it was first established. The banking firm has expanded over the last century?s world-wide making it the 25th largest company in the world. As it is based in the United Kingdom and its headquarters are in London it aims to provide:
There is a well-established fact that the actual strength of a tree lies in its roots and not the new branches at top. If the roots do not grow strong there are chances that the tree may fall someday. [2] This is exactly what happened to Lehman Brothers. After the collapse of Lehman Brothers, Barclays stepped in to take over parts within the firm in a $1.3 billion deal to save 9,000 jobs. Being second largest bank in the United Kingdom and second on world based assets you can imagine how important it is to assure reasoned steps are taken to keeping the confidentiality, integrity and finally the availability at a minimum level possible. [3]?
Being in the 21st century the internet has expanded largely across the globe and that?s the reason why you can almost do right about everything over the net these days. And yes that includes banking online with Barclays safely. In order to stay safe online and safe in general the following is strongly required by each client:
This will help to protect the clients from online fraud, card fraud, identity theft and any other malicious activities the hacker would want to carry out. Identity theft costs the United Kingdom over ?1 billion a year, so to avoid falling victim to this, these steps are essential to brining the percentage at a minimum from it happening to you.
They also have to be updated on a regular basis otherwise they would be vulnerable to different spyware or malicious viruses.
Clients will always be reminded to be suspicious of any kind of letters, e-mails, texts, phone calls or any other form of communication to them that necessitate personal details, will always try to sound or look genuine. If this is the case then the chances are they are fraudulent and the clients would need to contact the company for any concerns.
If they doubt any e-mails they should delete right away because they could be tricks that are commonly used by fraudsters. Their aim is to install spyware and Trojans onto their system.
Never leave your receipts in the machine. Once it has been checked it, it is advisable to shred it. Clients must be wary of any signs of the machine being tamped with because this could mean it has been illegally fitted with a scanning device. Move to another machine if the person behind you is acting suspicious or is trying to divert your attention.
Clients would avoid having any complications using their cards while being overseas and also helping to protect you from fraud. [4]
There is not a 100% online safety bank out in the market but they try as much as possible to get to that 100% stage by hiring the right experts. It is vital to have a secure web presence this is partly because huge deals of user?s requirements are dealt with online. The average daily customers of Barclays that use the online banking system are about 1 and a half million. The risk appetite for this business from a scale of 1-100, where 1 being the lowest and 100 the highest, it should be at its most minimum (possibly 6 being maximum). This is because they cannot afford to lose customers at this particular period with the credit crunch and the uneven global economy.? At this point the market within the bank sector has never been so competitive so customer satisfaction is essential. By having the correct experts working with one another to boost the online security, then the company can only continue to expand both within the UK and other nations.
With figures of 500 million pounds being stolen in 2009 alone from people who shop online is a very scary figure. 22 million pounds was stolen from people who bank online over the same period. One in 10 internet users is a victim of fraud gangs, losing an average of ?875 each.? One thing that all these online fraudsters had in common was phishing. Something that is used widely over the globe to capture people?s information by tricking them. [5]
One way they are tackling this multimillion crime problem is by introducing pin sentry [appendix 1]. This is a device that has been designed to make it safer to bank online. You stick the card in the slot, enter your pin and its spits out a unique 8 digit number. This changes every time the client users it so even if someone got hold of your pin and the unique 8 digit number, it would be useless to them simply because it can never be used again. [5]
The clients Barclays will attract are students, normal working people, business men/women, retail customers who seek loans, small businesses and large corporates.
This is a website from the Hillingdon local authority which was made from the governments consent. Within this website information and services would be provided only for the residents of Hillingdon. Within the site each citizen living within the borough can:
People most likely to use this website are residents within the borough, local businesses and also people that are planning to move into the Hillingdon borough.? If a user requests to pay their council tax, it would be through another service and its Hillingdon?s responsibility that is website is secure for its users to make payments.
Under the data protection act any valuable information entered would be kept safe, the website states the following:
?Where you choose to complete any of our online forms the personal information you give us is used, by the London Borough of Hillingdon or a third party service provider who are contracted to us, to provide the service(s) you requested. The London Borough of Hillingdon will endeavour to safeguard your information and any disclosures of that information will be in accordance with our registration under the Data protection 1998.?[6]
The risk appetite for this website out of the four would be the highest. From a scale of 1-100, where 1 being the lowest and 100 the highest they would have to around at 35. This is because not many users visit the website (ranked at 13,879 in the UK), so it is less likely to get targeted by online hackers. Therefore it can manage to have a higher risk since it doesn?t have a database in place.?
One main issue that maybe at hand here is that anyone can access the website without registering. This could be a potential threat to the local authority because if a prankster decides to make false accusations which are not legit, not only will it be wasting the local authority time and money but it can cause some sort of confusion which can lead onto something more serious. Although the usability of the website is ok, perhaps a more professional design might have to be created for the future of this website and its residents visiting it. By not having a well-designed website this may cause a great concern about the security within the site and maybe that why many users don?t interact with it.
This is an online registered charity that commits to saving young people that are in serious need of survival. Within the last few weeks of global disasters, like the earthquakes in Haiti and Chile, this online charity has found it extremely difficult to cope with the rising figures of children in need in these two regions. So, many campaigns have been carried out and have had a huge response from different people around the globe which have help the crisis that have struck the eastern part of the globe. Over the last year they have reached almost 6 million young children in more than 50 countries that are in need of food, education, protection and most importantly healthcare. And scary figures of 9 million children are still continuing to die each year before they reach their fifth birthday. [7]
The website was created by two sisters back in 1919 and its main purpose is to collect donations as well as raising the awareness of reality within these poor countries. Once a donation has been made the details will be kept e.g. Name, address and banking information. This is a unique website out of the other three because it doesn?t provide you with a service nor does it offer any products to the users.? The website is mostly used by women aged from 25-34 and have graduated but have no children. Since this website was established in the United Kingdom most of its visitors are from here (50.5%) and the rest (49.5%) are from Spain, India, France and the United States in order of ranking. [8]
Whilst being on the website the URL is simply HTTP, but once a possible donor requests to make a contribution they will need to be directed to another page in which this case the URL will be HTTPS. Meaning that the website is completely secure and it confirms the legitimacy of the site. Once a transaction has been completed then it will be encrypted with a secure socket layer also known as SSL.
The risk appetite of this website from a scale of 1-100, where 1 being the lowest and 100 the highest, it would have to be around 17-19. This is because although it?s a charity which makes thousands of pounds, I don?t think this would stop any hacker from accessing their database and steeling identities simply because hackers have no boundaries. If they can access it then why not go for it? This is simply how they work. There was a similar story about a charity being hacked a few years ago and they stole over 2,500 peoples identities. The size of the charity is not as big as Amazon so it attracts far less people so that?s another reason for the risk appetite being 17-19.
To conclude each website had a good web presence but on some further improvements need to be made to attract more users. Although the security measures where extremely high for Barclays and Amazon, this gives their customers an excellent image that they take security seriously and therefore they will allow them to continue to grow. As for the other two websites further improvements need to be made in order for them to survive if indeed someone was to hack onto their system. In order to tackle phishing we must all work together to stop these online hackers and illegal gangs. So if you see anything suspicious, always report it to the company or the police. By doing this you could stop criminals from doing further damage to you and your fellow citizens.
[1] Amazon [Online] Available from: http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=502584#e Accessed on: 04/03/2010
[2] Barclays [Online] Available from: http://www.consumercomplaints.in/complaints/barclays-shared-services-c293865.html Accessed on: 05/03/2010
[3] Wikipedia [Online] Available from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barclays Accessed on: 06/03/2010
[4] Barclays [Online] Available from: http://www.bank.barclays.co.uk/Helpsupport/Protectyourselffromfraud/P1242560036941 Accessed on: 08/03/2010
[5] Barclays [Online] Available from: http://www.bank.barclays.co.uk/Helpsupport/Onlinesecurityvideostaysafeonline/P1242562218440 Accessed on: 08/03/2010
[6] Hillingdon [Online] Available from: http://www.hillingdon.gov.uk/index.jsp?articleid=6524 Accessed on: 09/03/2010
[7] Save the children [Online] Available from: http://www.savethechildren.org.uk/en/34.htm Accessed on: 09/03/2010
[8] Alexa [Online] Available from:? http://www.alexa.com/siteinfo/savethechildren.org.uk Accessed on: 09/03/2010
Appendixes
Picture 1
Barclays [Online] Available from: http://www.barclays.co.uk/pinsentry/images/00_sentry.gif
Accessed on: 08/03/2010
Picture 2
Save the children [Online] Available from: http://www.savethechildren.org.uk/en/8837.htm
Accessed on: 09/03/2010
Picture 3
Amazon [Online] Available from: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/sign-in.html?ie=UTF8&email=&disableCorpSignUp=&path=/gp/yourstore&redirectProtocol=&mode=&useRedirectOnSuccess=1&query=signIn%3D1%26action%3Dsign-out%26useRedirectOnSuccess%3D1%26path%3D/gp/yourstore%26ref_%3Dpd_irl_gw_r&accountStatusPolicy=&pageAction=/gp/yourstore Accessed on: 17/03/2010
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Syrian News Agency Sana/ Ho / EPA
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad addresses the Syrian Parliament during the first parliamentary session in Damascus on Sunday. During the 70-minute speech, Assad blamed terrorists and foreign powers for the country's violence.
By Isolde Raftery, msnbc.com
Following another bloody weekend in Syria, rebels said they would no longer follow a truce brokered by the United Nations, saying President Bashar al-Assad wasn?t adhering to his end of the agreement, Reuters reported.
Over the weekend,?80 Syrian troops were killed in clashes with Free Syrian Army fighters, the BBC reported, citing a UK-based activist group.
Kofi Annan, the former secretary general of the U.N., was assigned to mediate the situation and has urged major powers to support his peace plan, calling it ?the only option on the table.?
Pressure on the U.N. has increased in recent weeks, particularly after the U.N. found that most of the 108 people killed in Houla?were killed on May 25.?The United States responded to that revelation by asking a Syrian diplomat to leave within 48 hours.
On Sunday, Assad said he wasn?t responsible for the killings in Houla and that he was horrified by the massacre. He blamed rogue forces. ?Even monsters do not perpetrate what we have seen," the Syrian president said.
The five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council have debated how to work with Assad -- China and Russia have been uneasy about efforts to quell violence in Syria, where about 10,000 people, mostly civilians, have died since the uprising began 14 months ago. Syria is one of Russia's main weapons customers, according to Reuters, and sold a large shipment of arms as recently as last week, according to Reuters.
Assad: Syria faces 'real war waged from the outside'
In an online question-and-answer session with readers, reporter Philip Gourevitch of The New Yorker said it was unlikely Western forces would get involved, even if China and Russia were out of the equation. He said that China and Russia have given "someone for us to blame."
"I'm not at all sure that there's any Western appetite to go into Syria," Gourevitch said.
"When Russia and China refused to sign on to a toothless resolution condemning Assad and calling for him to step down early this year, Hillary Clinton called their action (or inaction) ?despicable,'" Gourevitch said. ?But without their resistance, we would not look more effective -- and we might look much less effective.?
Houla Media Center / EPA
A Syrian citizen group produced this image of bodies being prepared for burial following the Houla massacre of 103 people, most of them civilians, on May 25.
Clinton condemns Syria massacre: Assad's 'rule by murder' must end
Gourevitch also noted that Assad?s father, Hafez al-Assad, ?slaughtered 10,000 people 30 years ago to crush opposition ? and it pretty much worked.?
Although thousands of soldiers have deserted the Syrian army, Gourevitch said that Assad still has hundreds of thousands of fighters and a ?fearsome arsenal? that includes stockpiles of chemical weapons. Further, he said, no Syrian diplomats have defected, unlike Libyan diplomats before the fall of Col. Moammar Gadhafi?s regime.
In a piece for The New Yorker, Gourevitch wrote about an encounter between Eli Wiesel and President Obama at the Holocaust Museum in Washington, D.C. Wiesel, a Holocaust survivor, asked Obama why, if anything had been learned from past genocides, was Assad still in power?
According to Gourevitch, Obama replied: ?There will be senseless deaths that aren?t prevented. There will be stories of pain and hardship that test our hopes and try our conscience.?
Reuters contributed to this report.
More world news from msnbc.com and NBC News:
Follow us on Twitter: @msnbc_world
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