Business and the Economic Environment Essay

Introduction In this assignment I will be talking about Marks and Spencer and how the economic environment could have an effect on them. The economic environment is basically all the economic factors brought together. By saying economic factors, I mean aspects such as; employment, inflation, interest rates, productivity and wealth. All of these elements mentioned above have an influence on the buying behaviour of consumers and organisations. P1 In terms of economic variations for marks and spencer, the best way to explain the effect it would have on them is by using the business cycle. The business cycle is basically the periodic but irregular up and down movement in economic activity, measures by fluctuations in real GDP and other macro- economic variables such as inflation, interest rates and unemployment to mention a few. In simple terms it is the ups and downs of a nation’s economy. The business cycle mainly has four cycles; recession, recovery, growth and slump which repeat themselves over time. Recession is a period of reduced economic activity (economic growth slowing down) in which levels of buying, selling, production and employment go down. This means that during recession, Marks and Spencer would be affected because there will be a change on the buying behaviour of consumers. This will then lead to a sales revenue and profit decline for them. Due to low profits, they will cut their spending essentially cut back on hiring new employees and cut jobs for other by making them redundant in an effort to keep their business on track. They will also cut back on productions costs because consumers will cut back on spending as well which means they will not be buying as much. Recovery is the turning point from depression to expansion. During the period of recovery, there are expansions and rise in economic activities. For Marks and spencer there will be a steady rise in output, income, employment, prices and profits. During recovery for Marks and spencer will mean higher demand for products and services. There will be more hiring, because Marks and spencer will resume investments due to an increase in profits because customers are willing to spend more. They will steadily start opening other stores nationwide due to consumer demand hence more people to recruit. As more people will return to work, spending will increase, which will the demand for more goods and services hence they will start making a profit. Slump/trough during the slump period output slows down due to a reduction in demand. A slump can lead to recession (two negative quarters of economic growth). This can put Marks and Spencer under pressure because they will be forced to reduce costs, which will lead to increased unemployment as they make people redundant The rate of high unemployment will then mean that people will have less money to spend thus contributing to a downturn in the economy. During a slump output and income will fall leading to fall in consumption so basically Marks and Spencer will see a fall in sales because customers will not be spending and they will cut down on production costs as well so that they can save money. Growth: When the economy is at boom or peak, it is an increase in the capacity of an economy to produce goods and services. This is the stage where by Marks and Spencer will hire more people and there will be low unemployment. Customers will also be willing to spend more money therefore boosting sales for Marks and Spencer. Demand for goods and services will be high which means that production will be high so Marks and Spencer will be having high imports to stock up their shelves for consumers. There will be high investment levels for them; they can therefore use that money to pay off their suppliers or debtors. Inflation is the measurement of the annual percentage rise in average price level. A reduction is purchasing power an increase in the cost of living. With the rise in price levels Marks and Spencer will buy fewer goods because consumers will not spend as much money. As a result the purchasing power of money will be reduced with inflation. High inflation will distort consumer behaviour for Marks and Spencer. Consumers will spend less or buy their requirements in advance as inflation may destabilize markets and create unnecessary shortages. Employees in Marks and Spencer may demand higher wages in time of high inflation. If the claims are accepted it may make the inflation get worse. During high inflation, wide variations in inflation rates may make it difficult for Marks and Spencer to predict the future and calculate their sales returns. This can therefore challenge their confidence to predict their financial reports In the future. Inflation is measured by RPI (Retail Price Index) this is when government inspectors go round the shops every month and take samples of what consumers buy and add up the prices and compare them with the previous month’s prices. RPI normally includes mortgages. In 2012 it was measured at 2.9% Also CPI (Consumer Price Index) this is a measure of price in consumer goods and services e.g. food, clothing, etc. The CPI does not include mortgages. It was measured at 2.5% in 2012. Unemployment Marks and Spencer will be affected in a variety of ways when there is high unemployment. They will observe low consumer spending. When more people are out of work they do not have money to spend hence Marks and Spencer will be affected because there will be fewer people buying from their stores. People will then target inferior goods basically Marks and Spencer branded goods that are cheaper than brands and also may be of less quality to satisfy their needs. Employees working for Marks and Spencer may work for long hours and Marks and Spencer may not be able to give them a pay rise due to the low demand of goods. Managers will be less motivated because their business will be going down due to low profits. However, Marks and Spencer will benefit in the sense that if they wanted to employ anyone they will have the advantage to pick and choose due to the high number of applicants for one job role. P2 Government spending is also known as public spending and in UK it takes up to 45%of GDP. Government spending is classified in three areas; Transfer payments; this are payments made available through social security system. They include JSA, child benefit, Housing benefit, Income support etc. its main aim is to provide a basic income for unemployed people or a minimum standard of living for people with low income. Current government spending; this is basically spending on goods provided by the government e.g. salaries paid to people working in NHS and resources for education and defence etc. Capital spending; this is spending for infrastructure e.g. motorways and roads, schools, hospitals etc. Government policies on the other hand, are a set of policies produced by the government that are used and developed to influence the UK economy. They are divided in to different areas that influence the way that a business operates. Economic Policy, economic policies are actions taken by the government to influence its economy. Economic growth will be essential for government and Marks and Spencer as well. This will mean that the living standards will increase so it means that people will have more money to spend in Marks and Spencer and other retail shops. There will also be high demand for Marks and Spencer therefore they will be making profit. However if the government decide to increase tax rates, Marks and Spencer will grieve because it means that they have to increase the prices of their goods and services which means customers will be reluctant to spend money. Industrial Policy this relates to the government increasing industrial activity in the UK. This mostly focuses more on jobs and skills. For example if Marks and Spencer opens new industries to manufacture goods, they will create more jobs and find skilled labour to satisfy their customers. This policy is mainly used to raise people’s income, new technologies and demographic changes. Competition Policy this is a government policy to prevent and reduce abuse of monopoly power. Abuse of monopoly power can lead to market failure and be against the public. Therefore that’s why government steps in to protect the interests of consumers. To ensure that competition takes place in UK Competition Act 1998 is used to stop forcing rivals out of business, selling goods and services at different prices for different customers and limiting supplies to make sure prices go up among others. Fiscal Policy this covers the spending and taxation decisions of the government. The main aim of fiscal policy is to influence aggregate demand (total demand in the economy) by increasing government spending or reducing taxes. The effect of fiscal policy on Marks and Spencer is that when the Bank of England increases tax, they will have less money for hiring and investing and this may affect consumers because prices may increase. However if they decreased tax rates, this will stimulate investment spending and more job opportunities. Environmental Policy this regards to the environment. Basically for Marks and Spencer they need to make sure that they are protecting the environment by recycling and reducing carbon foot print. The Climate Change Act states that climate change risk management must be completed every five years. Businesses like Marks and Spencer must show how they are reducing carbon foot print and how they are protecting the environment. Monetary Policy comprises of changes in the rate of interest to influence the growth of aggregate demand, money supply and inflation, this works by changing the rate of growth of demand for money. If the Bank of England sets high interest rates prices will start falling and Marks and Spencer will see the changes in spending from consumers. This is mainly used to control inflation. However if it was vice versa, low interest rates will lead to more spending hence Marks and Spencer receiving more sales therefore more to pay dividends to shareholders or invest. The diagram below shows the increase in interest rates which lowers demands so prices fall from P to P1 and demand falls from AD1 to AD. M1 The government produces set of policies that it uses and develops to influence the economy. Â  Fiscal Policy is the use if taxes and government expenditure to control the total demand of the economy. Increase in taxes will decrease the demand. Government expenditure on the other hand, encourages people to purchase by reducing the price. Taxes and expenditure both use law of demand in order to control aggregate demand. The advantages of using fiscal policy for Marks and Spencer will be that if the government increases demand e.g. by cutting income tax or indirect tax, it means that people would be willing to spend more because prices will go down hence they can get more with their money. Marks and Spencer will benefit because the demand will be high and hence they get more profit at hand. With this profit they will be able to invest more in to the business and also pay their corporation tax. The corporation tax will then be taken by the government again and this will help the society and people in need e.g. NHS and Education. A disadvantage of fiscal policy is that another problem can arise when solving the other. For instance stimulating demand in the economy to decrease unemployment may worsen inflation because a right shift in aggregated demand will cause a rise in price levels. Therefore when prices rise go up, as much as there is more demand, some people may be hit by inflation and may have to pay more for their goods in Marks and Spencer than normal. Below I have illustrated what I have just explained. On the contrary decreasing demand to control inflation will cause short demand therefore unemployment arises. In the diagram it shows that increase in government expenditure, will increase inflation basically prices will shift from P to P1. Also there will be more demand so it will shift from AD to AD1.This will benefit Marks and Spencer because the more the demand the more they pay corporation tax therefore helping the society i.e. education, NHS etc. In the diagram it shows that increase in government expenditure, will increase inflation basically prices will shift from P to P1. Also there will be more demand so it will shift from AD to AD1.This will benefit Marks and Spencer because the more the demand the more they pay corporation tax therefore helping the society i.e. education, NHS etc.

Bribe & Ethical

This study will discuss about the concept of organization’s social performance and economic performance. Economic performance deals with an organization’s main objective likes profit, revenue and cost while the social performance of an organization is their responsibilities to the society in relation to various ethical values in business. Ethical values are very important in a business. All ethical questions relate to what is right, just, and fair. â€Å"Terms like â€Å"professional ethics,† â€Å"work ethics,† and â€Å"business ethics† are misnomers.The principles we use in the workplace should be the same principles we use in other areas of our lives – they’re just applied to business situations. † In the present competitive world many organizations focus on their ultimate goal of profit maximization without any consideration of their means to achieving the goals. The impact of globalization creates a lot of opportunities in the business to transcend national boundaries. Many multinational companies have started their operations in other countries. In this backdrop where competition is quite tough, some organizations try to pay bribe for their business existence in the host country.â€Å"MNC bribery takes many forms: direct monetary payoffs to political officials, positions in the enterprise for officials, family members, friends and/or cronies, paid excursions, partnerships, invitations to prestigious universities and scholarships for their children, etc. † Each country has its own culture and moral values. These principles are highly dependant on that particular country’s economic and social situation. â€Å"The major problem of international business ethics is bribery. No single country allows businessmen to offer and government officials to accept bribes for deals.† Bribery is generally considered a reprehensible offence even in countries where it is alleged to be common. This study relates with BIM, a UK based IT consultancy, and its problem for meeting both the economical and social performance. BIM starts their operations in Nigerian city of Lagos. During the initial times their operation was not successful and they failed to meet their target. After an evaluation of the business environment of Lagos BIM’s sales team finds that payment of commission is very a common practice in that area for any business deals.BIM decides to follow the common practice of that area for meeting their target. On the other hand, BIM strictly follows ethical values in their business and their code of ethics would consider these commissions to be bribery and, therefore, not allowed. In this situation, the Branch Director finds himself in a dilemma as on one side he has to meet the goal of their branch, and on the other maintain the organization’s culture. Most of the ethical issues in management are apparently simple. â€Å"Many business managers said that the ir companies strictly uphold the principle against any form of bribery.They would choose to give up commercial contracts if they were asked to pay bribes or â€Å"kickbacks† to secure them. † There is a dichotomous, yes or no choice; which brings in conflict the organization’s economic benefit and their ethical values in business. Ethical decisions are not simple choices between right and wrong. In a case of bribery, it may affect the organization’s value and culture at the same time bribery can also create a bad precedent. â€Å"In developed countries, the moral expectations of the host country are as stringent as our own.With third world host countries, though the moral expectations often more lax, and multinationals are tempted to lower their standards when situations permit. † Bribery is a common practice in all of the third world countries; especially in bureaucracies most of these countries suffer acute problems of bribery in the areas of educ ation, health and other social welfare sector. Many multinational companies exploit these corrupted officials for their business purposes, selling off lesser quality products and violating the government rules and indulging in other unethical activities with the helps of these corrupted officials.†Market power is highly dependent on political relations with the state through a series of complex networks of ‘intermediaries’ who negotiate monetary and other payoffs in exchange for a range of highly profitable concessions. † In this type of business environment an organization can only meet its economical performance by promoting bribery but they will not be able to meet their social performance and they also risk neglecting the social responsibilities.In the context of BIM, the branch director has two options: the first is to pay the commission and make a good market for his product in that area; but this activity can be create a bad social situation. The seco nd option is to stick to the company’s tradition. The corrupted official can get more chances to earn money and they are ready to agree any types of products sales in that area. They are not bothered about the quality and benefit of product. Social responsibility of an organization is to provide quality product to customers and protect the market from illegal business practices. So the branch manager Mr.Thomas Harvey wants to follow his organization’s ethical codes against bribery and try to promote legal method of business promotion other wise he would have decided to pay commission and achieve a good business. It is not the part of BIM’s organization’s culture to pay bribe for business interests and it is not a suitable method for BIM’s long term business policy. Any other organization would be able to pay higher commission rather than BIM’s to penetrate the market. In this type of unethical business environment there is no stable growth, all business dealings would depend on the bribery and other illegal activities.BIM’s business practice is meeting both the economical and social performance their by maintaining their customers’ trust and loyalty in any where in the world with any type of business environment. So in this situation Mr. Thomas Harvey wants to give more priority to the social performance of his organization and therefore avoid unethical business practices. Works Cited What is business ethics? Scribbler’s Ink, copyright  © 2005, all rights reserved. http://www. scribblers-ink. com/business_ethics. html (accessed March 13, 2007).Petras, James. United States. Economic Empire Building: The Centrality of Corruption. http://www. socialistviewpoint. org/janfeb_07/janfeb_07_10. html (accessed March 13, 2007). Global Ethics in Global Economy. Editorial 15th Issue. Hong Kong Ethic Development Center. Ethics in Practice. http://www. icac. org. hk/hkedc/ethics/eip/edc005_e. htm (accessed Mar ch 13, 2007). Fieser, James. Business Ethics. Doing Business in Foreign Countries. http://www. utm. edu/staff/jfieser/vita/research/Busbook. htm (accessed March 13, 2007).

“Click” by John Barth Essay

Barth insight on the worlds technological advancement with computers gave him a good start on an interesting story. By incorporating today’s living with literature he turn out Click. â€Å"Click† some hated it, but some liked it. I think the lack of understanding of this story is what caused those people to dislike the story; the fact that the story was very long also had something to do with it. I will present the in-depth thought that made me understand and really like the story. Also I will put some points from the elements of fiction. I really like the concepts â€Å"Click† presented when I read it. There were some thoughts that the writer expressed, then there were some that was more in-depth and you had to think about. So lets begin the argument. One explicit theme to ‘Click’ is told best by Barth, â€Å"The Hypertextuality of Everyday Life†(73). Where each word can take you further and further into a maze of choices. The choices can go deeper which defines the terms of what you read. Those terms travels along side the paths of day by day activities. Until you get to an endless sea of terms, â€Å"given time and clicks enough, you will have ‘accessed’ virtually the sum of language, the entire expressible world. That’s ‘hypertext,'(75). I understood the combination of these words that are expressed to the fullest extent to be part of this story. The author gave so many side notes in parentheses or any other expressible notation that it could have drove the reader to throw the book against the wall. So, as Barth does so when he goes to express himself with the following â€Å"(because all these digressions, suspensions, parentheses, and brackets are setting the Narrator’s t eeth on edge†¦.)†(77). The text will be to long to show an example from the story. Lets try it anyway â€Å"(Parenthesized elements in this case = amplification that might indeed be cut, but might instead well be ‘hypertexted’ behind the bare-bones description, to accessed on demand, just as further amplifications [not given, but perhaps hypertexted] might lie behind {any highlighted/underlined words})† (76). With this quote you can click on the word that you want to get the information on. If you haven’t figured it out yet hypertext is usually used on a computer thus comes the title â€Å"Click†. Where the computer is the gateway to many passages to more information than any one human brain can handle. Where someone well rehearsed can crack the  highest of security codes with the whelms of their thought; all the way through to the illiterate who use two fingers instead of ten. Wait I’m getting sidetracked, which brings me to my next point of the story. Where â€Å"the flashy home page of their Web-server program, actually encouraging her (the character) to sidetrack here and there in the What’s new? And What’s Cool? Departments† .(78) Where the web give you so many options to go down. I don’t know if any one person can honestly navigate through the entanglement of â€Å"the World Wide Web (WWW), [without] the deployment of ‘bookmarks’ as shortcuts through that electronic labyrinth, the black hole of leisure and very antidote to spare time.† (77) It would have been to frustrating and so over whelming to be focus on one particular thing. Although once you start the journey that’s all one has is time when getting on the internet. Clicking is an action with a choice in a computer’s world. You can get lost with that massive instrument. You can also get lost with the twists of everyday life too. If you assume â€Å"everybody knows, after all (or believes that he or she know,) what ‘everyday life’ is, different as may be the everyday lives of , say, Kuwaiti oil sheikhs and American felons serving life sentences in maximum-security prisons without possibility of parole†.(74) You just deal with all the little conflicts and dilemmas. Where some one’s life can be painstakingly slow. While another’s is speed right through. The point of view of life will always be held by that individual. Where the authors point of view in this story varies. It goes from the third to the first then to the audience. The story is letting’s us experience the everyday life of each character. It is how their lives intertwine that make the story. A good story is drawn on many basis. Barth bring ups the point if a story has â€Å"this constant sidetracking, this what’s-the-rush digression, can take the edge off the main event by the time one gets to it, the way some restaurants lay on so many introductory courses and side dishes that one has no appetite for the entrà ©e†. (82) This concept with drain the life out the story or overly stuff them with tedious details. The audience will lose interest which will distract them from what the author wants to get through to them. If the story holds the â€Å"full agenda [which] was a single item, [the] top  priority always and only the bottom line, [the] eternal (and infernal) Let’s get on with the story in fact a Let’s get done with the story, for the reason†, (83) of a means to an end. The story will be so short that you won’t have much to go on to understanding the story in the first place. These two concepts alone causes a story to tarnish and be a waste of paper in some since. It is the combination of the two that makes a great story. â€Å"Its between fundamentally opposite views of and modes of dealing with the infinitely complex nature of reality† (87). The center of narrative gravity pulls us to the perception of reality on this story. Without the ying there is no yang that holds the boundaries of a story. â€Å"Their tendencies represent contrary narrative impulses of equal validity and importance.† (90) The opposites of each other that counterbalance themselves. Give us â€Å"[a] satisfyingly told story requires enough [Ying]—that is, enough detail amplification, and analysis— to give it clarity, texture, solidity, verisimilitude, and empathetic effect.† (90) The detail terms that can be taken out of the parenthesis sometime with give that require information (that hypertexted). â€Å"It [also] requires equally enough [Yang]—that is, efficiently directed forward motion, ‘profluence,’ on-with-the-storyness– for coherence, anti-tedium, and dramatic effect.† (90). The story has to keep to a single track, because if you split it up to much you have multiple stories with no ending. Where â€Å"CNG’s interactive E-fiction serendipitously supply the terms ‘Expediter’ and ‘Enhancer’ to shorthand the characterological differences that erupted†,(87) expediter being Mark and the enhancer being Valerie. Valerie the ying of the story. The one who you need to fill the story in with enough details to help the reader understand what it is all about. Where Valerie validates what Marks role have to do with the story by saying his concept is â€Å"who gave a damn?–[Mark’s] idea of living life was the same, Let’s get done with it, [an example of her situation] every time she saw him ready and fidgeting in the car a full ten minutes earlier than he knew as well as she they needed to leave for work, she was tempted to suggest that they drive straight to the funeral parlor and get done with it.† (83) That is what the expediter can’t help but do. Val’s statement † ‘I thought you  were the big moving-onner and I was the over-dwelling-on-things.’ â€Å"(88) The author gave us a foreshadowing uncharacteristic of, the intrapersonal relationship with Mark, Valerie where â€Å"(Val ‘s better than Mark, we remember, at shrugging of f their infrequent blowups)†. (87) Although by the end of the story you have â€Å"Val (who, decidedly herself even after deciding to be more Marklike)†, (91) Which we will confront of Marks behave. Then there is Mark the yang of the story. You need him to get to the point of the story and not to lead you to different paths that are available to access in the story. Where his thoughts were â€Å"having no timetable or deadlines doesn’t mean having no agenda or priorities†, (82) to give and example â€Å"Expediter and enhancer in the Supermarket, he with grocery list in one hand, pencil in other, and eye on watch, she already examining the (unlisted) radicchio and improvising new menu plans down the line†¦Ã¢â‚¬ , (79). Where that is the Enhancer for you, the person who comes up with more of the story and gives you a better â€Å"taste† variety. Where his uncharacteristic foreshadowing is shown with, â€Å"He’s less ready to take offense, but slower to put their occasional tiffs behind him.† (81). Also â€Å"(Val’s better than Mark, we remember, he tends to forget that and to project from his own distress [of dwelling on their argu ment longer ])†, (87). When toward the end â€Å"Mark (inescapably himself even when determined to be more Valish)† (91). The contradictory of the two characters gave the story its base. The â€Å"anonymous oddball whose homepage [was] http://www.epiphs.art† (78) alias CNG â€Å"who happened just then to be passing by and sympathetically so saw and heard them [at that horrible Saturday quarrel], or a couple not unlike them, toe-to-toeing it, and who then subsequently was inspired to imagine.† (84) Created and gave us the fictional story of Irma and Fred, who are the replacement to Valerie and Mark. They where part of the beginning (of the end) of the story. They along with millions of other names in the world are made up identities in order for its users to surf the web freely. It could also represent the wants of that individual to be someone else other than themselves. Although we are not going to get into that ordeal. The setup of the story begins with the near ending which in Marks case is â€Å"Lets be done with it† morality. CNG who is the supposedly author/narrator of the â€Å"Click†Ã‚  story. Kind of at first threw me off, because I thought the story was going to be a third person point of view. Well once the ideal of the end of the Irma and Fred story here comes the bulk of the actual story, where the Val morality is used. When the end of the end came it left me wanting more. â€Å"Valerie lifts one [long] [lithe] [cinnamon-tan] leg up and with her [left] [great] toe gives the Mac’ master switch a† (92). WHAT? I would have yell if I wasn’t in a crowded area when I read that last page. It leaves you with the daunting of the hypertexts of choices. Since this is a book you wouldn’t be able click on any of the above words to get the ending. You left tittering on the edge of a cliff that drops for days on ends. The taunting the author leaves you by not using the Mark in any good story. Yet that was his aim even for the ending to turn out to be happy and open to imagination.

Absorptive Capacity And How Can This Be Used Within Supply Chain Essay

Absorptive Capacity And How Can This Be Used Within Supply Chain Management To Increase Supply Chain Profitability And Responsiveness - Essay Example 317; Boisot, 1998, p. 10; Boer, Bosch, van den, & Volberda, 1999, p. 379) To increase this absorptive capacity, companies often undertake research studies to improve their prospects and to customize their research and development to make information genuinely helpful for the organization’s human resource and for business operational use. The data generated from research are targeted to be integrated in the operation services and in the production of goods for consumers to attain effective and efficient corporate performance (Calori, Johnson, & Sarnin, 1994, p. 437; Camerer & Vepsalainen, 1998, p. 115; Carlsson & Jacobsson, 1994, p. 235; Cohen & Levinthal, 1994, p. 227) Experts opined that absorptive capacity is aimed at adopting ideas to develop an innovative and bring about new engagement sparked by changing economy. The process includes the integration of information to maximize meaningful findings for organizational development and management decision-makings (Deeds, 2001, p. 29; Cohen & Levinthal, 1997, p. 1463).... The researcher will make use of secondary materials from peer-reviewed journals and books sourced from online and public library to substantiate the subject of this study. Researcher will likewise correlate the absorptive capacity of a company’s interest to leverage from its market competitors and delve into the critical effects of company’s absorptive capacity on product innovation, business operations, and profit maximization using the lens of knowledge-based view (KBV) as theoretical foundation. Figure 1. Supply chain leadership and its correlation to resource values and organizational absorptive capacity (Sharif & Irani, 2012, p. 57). Research and Knowledge Management Organizational development and its level of competitiveness are reliant not only on financial capital, human resources and strategic management but also of its absorptive capacity (Rebolledo, Halley & Nagati, 2009, p. 52). Knowledge, through its research and management, are major source of valuable, ra re, and inimitable information to enhance strategic business management, improve customer-relation, expand business operation and sustain good relation with its suppliers (Rebolledo, et al., 2009, p. 53). The absorptive capacity of the organization will also facilitate the alignment of its human resources, corporate performance, and in enhancing its structures to align these with corporate strategies. Internally, it can also promote effective organizational management, increase marketing results, and reduce the impairment of supply chain relations. Through this part, an emphasis on the differences between the two facets of absorptive capacity will be highlighted: potential absorptive capacity that involves the corporate’s acquisition and assimilation of external

How would Jesus lead Worship Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

How would Jesus lead Worship - Essay Example It is all about people’s normal vision of worship compared to how Jesus, as a Church leader sees it Himself. The second part of the book deals with the practical suggestions for contemporary believers paying much attention to the gospel of Luke. This significant piece of the discussion in the book is divided into four separate chapters titled as follows: Humble Servants, Leaders with Authority, Creative Communicators, and Reliant on the Spirit (Hargreaves and Hargreaves 38, 61, 81, 103). All of them lead a reader toward the idea of what God gives a worshipper for just one song while praising in psalms. Interaction and dialogue as based on my experience First of all, this book changed my way of thinking about personal relationship with Jesus. I know that we should keep up with the demands of time. Just praising Jesus in a new way is a good idea for those who seek God’s grace into their lives. In this vein, the authors admit the following statement: â€Å"Jesus would kee p up with the trends—we must be completely up to date with what we wear† (Hargreaves and Hargreaves 8). Hence, I see that the book is a practical guide for every believer aware of the right side in worshipping. Based on my experience, I cannot communicate this message to my peers other than to make my praise to God really powerful. In other words, new styles in music and singing are to be shared while praising God due to His multifaceted manifestations of power and reason, because God creates something new every single day. Certainly, the book is full of different standpoints regarding a step-by-step instruction on how to follow Christ-like way of worshipping. I feel that each Christian should bear in mind that singing like Jesus needs more practice so that to the Holy Spirit. Taking a look at my worshipping style, I have come up with what I should do in advance, namely â€Å"being obedient in service to God’s design for our lives† (Hargreaves and Hargreav es 9). Definitely, this is why so many Christians do not have what God promised them. It is similar to the story of the People of Israel when God led them to the Promised Land. Looking through the gospel of Luke, I have realized the scope of benefits God gives those sharing the same message as Jesus taught. In this respect it is not about the material amenities, but the spiritual jump within the myriad of divine manifestations of God power in lives of ordinary believers. Those who urge for His glory trying to get the revelation of how to become more like God will definitely reach this goal out through praising God every single minute in church or elsewhere. Critical assessment While reading the book, I have realized that the church is in need of more vision in how to worship God. The overall impression from this book is that the church should be flexible and open to the needs of contemporary humanity so that to please everybody in music styles and genres. Being culturally mature is the first step. Second, I have understood that there should be more tries on how to be closer to God on the part of me as a believer. The model I have pointed out while reading the book is as follows: â€Å"The supreme example of worship intimacy surely has to be looked for in Christ Jesus and his relationship with the Father† (Hargreaves and Hargreaves 12). Therefore, the follow-up in the Christ-like way of worshipping has become my credo. Our devotion to Jesus should be felt by the Creator. However,

Analyzing Jack Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Analyzing Jack - Assignment Example However, immediately after moving in with him, trouble starts, as the man transforms into a different character. Not only does he physically and psychologically abuse the helpless boy, he also takes advantage of him, forcing him to sell newspapers and taking away the money, he made from the sales. Jack however shows resilience and hope of a better life, evidenced by his constant dreams that he had of a good life someday. In fact, his current life situation little affects him, as he seeks solace in his dreams and ambitions. It is due to his ambitions that he seeks to apply for a scholarship ion far off places. In his view, he believes that he will one day change his and his mother’s life. Compassionately, he takes care of his mother, despite his young age. Regardless of the problems that the two face, Jack shows extreme loyalty to his mother, with whom he ran away with. He is oblivious of his brother’s good education, understands that his father at that particular time h ad married a billionaire, and can thus afford to pay his school fees. However, he chooses to remain with his mother, their poor and desperate state, with high hopes that one day he would become a successful man. Choosing to remain with his mother, run away with her from his father shows the level of braveness in him. There is no particular indication that he had ever been to Utah previously. Thus, his choice to leave his only home and wander in the streets of a completely new town shows his brave nature. When they could not find uranium and his mother became desperate, she began a relationship with Mr. Dwight, who then appeared harmless and caring. Immediately after moving in with him, Jack realizes that the man was completely different of what they had thought him to be. He was an arrogant man, with an immense appetite to dominate other people. Moreover, he was abusive, physically and emotionally, yet Jack

The role of men in The house of the Spirits and in Chronicle of a Essay

The role of men in The house of the Spirits and in Chronicle of a Death Foretold - Essay Example Truth be told in both of these novels, men do play important roles but the way women function and become the focus point is highly commendable on their part. The clear irony is that though the men feel that they are the decision makers, the women seem to always get their way. This is especially shown in â€Å"The House of the Spirits† where the novel is written by a woman. Isabel Allende, the author of â€Å"House of the Spirits† enumerates on the myth and magic in addition to the politics of her homeland especially in her portrayal of men as only accessories to the women’s’ lives, where men only exist because of the women. However, In Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s â€Å"Chronicle of a Death Foretold† the women are honored or enjoy an honorable status, but they do not replace the men, and in this novel are still considered as housewives, and are trained to be so. The women acknowledge this fact because their only goal in life is marriage, which clearly shows that it was a sexist society. This point is clearly brought out in the following sentences. â€Å"The brothers were brought up to be men. The girls had been reared to get married. They knew how to do screen embroidery, sew by machine, weave bone lace, wash and iron, make artificial flowers and fancy candy, and write engagement announcements.† (p30). The above s entences show how these women based or dedicated their whole life to their men and did not mind suffering as long as they were married. As a matter of fact these women exhibited their suffering, just to prove how committed they were. This can be seen in the following statement which says, - â€Å"Any man will be happy with them because they’ve been raised to suffer.† This also goes to show, that love is rarely an important dimension to their marriage in the first place. On the other hand, the men in â€Å"Chronicle of a Death Foretold† however, although not often married through the strong bond of love, are extremely overprotective of their women, whether

Social Death Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Social Death - Assignment Example Possessive individual traces its origins to the framing of the constitution, whereby, only the propertied white males of the new country were accorded citizenship. Not only were blacks (who were slaves at the time) were excluded, but so were women and a large section of white male population. The privileged minority of propertied white men enjoyed laws that reinforced their ownership of material wealth. But, even before they could acquire and retain material property, they had claim to their person, which is the fundamental ownership. In effect, each of the possessive individuals is extended a right of ownership of their person, which would thwart any exploitative contractual relationships with their peers. There is a limited degree of fairness to the laws pertaining to possessive individuals, insofar as they govern the internal relations of the group. However the very notion of a national constitution catered to the possessive individual is blatantly unjust for all excluded communit ies. Take, say, the case of African Americans. By virtue of not even enjoying a right toward their own personhood, their aspirations and endeavors toward ownership of material property is pre-empted. The lot of women (even whites) was none too better, for they are first the property of their father, then husband and finally her son through the span of her life. Is she is denied ownership of her own person, and thereby the possibility of ownership of material property. The concept of social death follows swiftly from that of possessive individual. By denying the right to ownership of one’s own person, the individual is reduced to a social non-entity. With respect to the idea of nationhood, he/she is not part of the society. By being excluded from the cultural epicenter of a nation, the dispossessed individual suffers a social death. They may yet serve a role in the economic system of the country, especially if it adopts the

Dewey believes that the only real education Essay

Dewey believes that the only real education - Essay Example Those so-called educators and journalistic professionals who continue to lament the death of critical thinking among the modern youth do so because they no longer understand, nor belong, to the new age of education and information technology. Academicians and journalists tend to be resistant to changes around them and, therefore, tend to cry out that critical thinking has passed on (Males, â€Å"Critics of Student's Critical Thinking Ain't Either†). They fail to see that critical thinking has merely taken on a new shape and form. One that is consistent with the continued evolution of the critical thinking and mental capacity of the future generations of learners and academicians. The critics who view critical thinking as a dead practice among the students of today base that point of view on their incomplete observation based upon the Foundation for Critical Thinking's definition of â€Å"critical thinking† (Males, â€Å"Critics of Student's Critical Thinking Ain't Eith er† ) as: ... the intellectual scrutiny of a given statement's "purpose, problem, or question-at- issue; assumptions; concepts; empirical grounding; reasoning leading to conclusions; implications and consequences; objections from alternative viewpoints; and frame of reference. Nothing could be further from the truth. In reality, the advent of the Internet has allowed students to learn outside of the four corners of the classroom. No longer are the university professors or high school teachers viewed as infallible mentors in their areas of teaching expertise. These days, students can easily verify any given information with a few taps into a search engine. Thus, allowing them the freedom question the authority of their educators when it comes to certain information being fed to them. Students can no longer be spoon-fed these days. Instead, educators must be prepared to answer questions based upon the personal learning or research of students. The likes of Google, Bing, and Yaho o search engines have presented students with an opportunity to clarify certain information for themselves (Carr, â€Å"Is Google Making Us Stupid?† ), as class discussions have left them with more questions than answers. Then they go back to their teachers and ask them to explain further. That is why the belief that the Internet and its search engines have made our students stupid is actually without basis. The Internet has rather produced a new era of students who no longer take their teacher's word for anything. Which is why teachers now need to be more up to date and even more addicted to research via Internet than their students are if they do not wish to be shown up as lacking in actual expertise on the subjects they teach. Cable television shows and channels, such as the National Geographic, Animal Planet, Discovery, and the History Channel, have also contributed greatly to the forward thinking and critical analysis skills of the students today. While everything taught in school tends to be one-dimensional and lecture-type, these cable channels have provided students with an almost hands on learning ability about these highly interesting topics that tend to become boring when taught in school. Learning is no longer limited to Board of Education approved books with boring, black and white illustrations. These days, learning is a highly interactive process that

Responses to DQ1Selling ReceivableDW and DQ2 Use of Depreciation CH Essay

Responses to DQ1Selling ReceivableDW and DQ2 Use of Depreciation CH - Essay Example The mechanism of factoring is a good way for companies to improve their liquidity and cash position. DQ2 Your premise that depreciation is a technique that is used to devalue an asset instead of being a method for asset valuation is completely correct. When I first read the message of the president of Keene Company I thought, â€Å"Where did this guy go to business school†. The premise the person stated is illogical. The person is mixing accounting concepts. Depreciation only has one purpose which is to devalue an asset through the passage of time. As you stated in your response book value and market values are different. There are different methods of depreciation that can be used by an accountant. Four depreciation methods are declining balance, sum of year digits, straight line, and the modified accelerated cost recovery system (MACRS) (Fixedassetssoftware, 2011). The MACRS method is an accelerated depreciation method that is used of assets that lose value fast such as comp uters. References Besley, S., Brigham, E. (2000). Essentials of Managerial Finance (12th ed.). Fort Worth: The Dryden Press. Fixedassetssoftware.com (2011). Depreciation Methods. Paragon Systems.

Puritan Ideology and the American Society Essay

Puritan Ideology and the American Society - Essay Example Theoretically, the Puritans gave primary importance to purity or keeping themselves away from sinful way of life. They not only practiced moral values and holy acts by themselves but also intended to bring others to the same path. They proposed to encounter several difficulties and thorns throughout their way to salvation. The Puritans strived to proclaim a ‘True God’ to everyone even in hardest moments of persecution and exile. Undoubtedly, Puritans could influence the American society so significantly that it brought considerable level of reformation not only in faith and practice but also in every sphere of social life. Puritans confronted numerous difficulties in the new land. First of all, the challenge of getting accustomed with environmental change was beyond imagination. Sudden climatic change had adverse effects on their survival as such changes were quite unfamiliar to them. For instance, due to the climatic changes many became the victims of various deadly diseases. Hence, the new land brought many hurdles against their missionary practices as well. Another major problem faced by the Puritans was nothing but interacting with the natives who had been following some extreme ideologies about spirituality. Moreover, the diverse tribes of the American society revolted against the Puritans and totally opposed their views, ideas and activities. According Miller (as qtd in Fischer), the voluntary following of scripture and meaningful obedience were the fundamental practices of the Puritans. Ultimately, this in turn caused a bit chaos in the state, making the lives of the Puritans uneasy and pathetic . However, they never abandoned their mission of preaching true God to the ignorant. Even today America has a sense of mission in all global issues, and this is one of the major influences of the Puritan thought. To illustrate, the community of Puritans had long cherished and well rationalized goal of spreading the gospel. Bradford said that the puritans considered themselves as chosen ones. â€Å"They believed themselves to be God’s â€Å"divinely chosen† people† and also it is well described that the focus of the puritans was individual’s personal religious experience trough purification of self and society† (as qtd in Carbone). They could not comprehend the ideology of the Church of England and hence they also strongly condemned certain religious practices and doctrines. Taking the human race to divinity was the primary goal of the community. More significantly, they took initiatives in bringing the fallen back to the true path. This ‘rise from the fall’ clearly illustrated their vision of creating a new world with authentic knowledge of God. Puritans who settled in Massachusetts Bay Colony followed their own ideology and practices in particular. The group of believers stick to their faith and followed all concerned rituals and ceremonies while neglecting or ignoring outsiders. According to Bradstreet, puritan ideology had an extraordinary or outstanding significance. â€Å"Puritanism was more than a religious belief; it was a way of life† (Parrish Co). Although Puritanism was no more a political entity after the seventeenth century, it continued to influence the social and political environment of the American life. The prominent American values like individualism, egalitarianism, and optimism are the outcome of Puritan influence during the colonial period. The Puritan ideology was acceptable to many

Moral absolutism Essay Example for Free

Moral absolutism Essay When we speak of â€Å"Morality† we think of the difference between right and wrong, the difference between the good and the evil. We use morality to justify our actions and decisions. More often than not, people impose their morality on others and expect them to act in the way they find fit. They believe that the idea of right and wrong is universal. In her essay â€Å"On Morality†, Didion contradicts this theory and believes that everyone can have different ideas of morality based on their own perception. To make her point, Didion uses the examples of Klaus Fuchs and Alfred Rosenberg. Fuchs was a British traitor who leaked nuclear secrets to the Soviets, and Rosenberg was the Nazi administrator of Eastern Europe, where the Germans committed their most heinous and most murderous acts during World War II. Both of them claimed that what they did were morally appropriate. She then goes on to say that Jesus justifies what he did based on morality. The juxtaposition of these ideas affirms Didion’s theory that the conviction of morality is vastly based on perspective. This juxtaposition also helps prove that people use morality to justify almost anything. Osama Bin Laden believed that it was morally right to take the lives of millions of innocent civilians in the name of religion. President Snow, along with the Capitol, in The Hunger Games saw it fit to throw 24 teenagers in a battlefield and let them fight until only one remains. Morality does not seem like a tool to distinguish right from wrong, but a method to have a clean conscious, irrespective of whether one’s acts are good or bad. Didion also says, â€Å"For better or for worse, we are what we learned as children. † (158) This shows that the ideas we have of good and bad and the so-called â€Å"morality† is part of what we’ve learnt growing up. A lot of people might find it pointless to stay with a corpse on a highway. But to Didion, it is the moral thing to do. We do not leave behind our dead. Friedrich Nietzsche said, â€Å"Fear is the mother of morality. † Didion maintains that morality might differ from person to person. In my opinion, a lot of factors influence the decisions we make and then blame them on morality. â€Å"The right thing† is too abstract to be universal. Didion debates about the cannibalism acts and talks about the vestigial taboo that no one should eat their own blood kin. This might seem appalling to some while being a being of another’s culture. Didion says that morality has â€Å"the most potentially mendacious meaning. † (159) And I couldn’t agree more. There is a very thin line between right and wrong, and morality is what shows one where to draw it. But the basis of that line is so ambiguous, that people end up using morality to cover up their actions. The idea Didion presents is that humans are not equipped to distinguish between the good and the bad. We think that all actions are sound as long as they don’t hurt another person. But then we see people like Adolf Hitler. The man murdered millions of people. Yet, he had a bunch of supporters who helped him with these inhumane acts. But he did what he did in the name of morality, in the name of ‘respect for the greater race. ’ The central idea of this essay is that morality depends largely on perception. What one finds wrong may not necessarily be seen as inappropriate by another. â€Å"I followed my own conscience. † â€Å"I did what I thought was right. † Didion questions the reader how many madmen have said this and meant it? Didion doesn’t believe that these men shelter themselves under the illusion of morality but actually believe their actions are moral and justified. Maybe we ourselves have said it before and been wrong. Our conscience isn’t always the best judge of things. But the concept of morality makes it okay to just be impulsive and do what we think is correct in the moment. The relevance of our logic lacks frequency. One might not kill people on a daily basis but one might find it moral to do it someday and go ahead with it. Does this make them immoral? Is the act of killing immoral? What if the victim is a killer? The answers to questions relating to morality are not black or white. There could be various different instances where individuals might have different stands on issues. All of which they might believe to be morally correct. So the question is, who decides what is moral and what is not? What gives them the power to do so? Should the morality of one person be forced on another? Clearly, universal standards of right and wrong do not exist. The evidence Didion provided as well as instances we see around the world proves that fact. A lot of people do not agree with Didion’s idea of differing morality. The people who adhere themselves to a supposedly universal moral code can delude themselves into thinking people who do not follow that code are less humane. People need to stop fretting over moral absolutes and let morality run their life and effect every decision they make in order to ensure the future is safe from oppression and terrorism.

Strategies for Breaking Wireless Protocols

Strategies for Breaking Wireless Protocols CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION 1.1 Background Starting of wireless Network is a result of a research Project carried out by University of Hawaii. Initially its called as Aloha net, but later it used to call as Wireless Local Area Network or WLAN. At the beginning of aloha net, is capable of transferring 1 to 2 mbps data. But over the last few years aloha net changed to WLAN and it came with so many enhancements to the initial technology. Newer days, wireless networks become more popular than the wired networks. The main reason for this is, wireless networks are high in portability and the flexibility, increased productivity, and lower installation cost. Wireless Network Devices let Users to move their laptops from one place to another without warring about their network connectivity. Minimizing the wiring gives the maximum flexibility over the network and it reduces the wiring cost for the whole network infrastructure. However, when we comparing the security factor, wireless networks are more vulnerable to attack by outsider than the wired network. Main reason for this is, anyone can see and make the initial connection through the wireless network. But establishing the initial connection in a wired network is bit difficult than the wireless network. Loss of confidentiality like password cracking and man in the middle attacks are typically associated with wireless networks. Some other way, this kind of attack can easily practise in wireless Networks rather than the wired network. Even though a wireless network has this kind of problems, its not a failed concept. The main reason for that is we can protect a wireless network in maximum and make invincible from unauthorised users or attackers. Configuring the wireless devices correctly and accurately can minimize the attacks. We are going to discuss about this topic in future. 1.2 Objectives Breaking wireless protocols is the main objective in this project. Mostly the WEP, WPA and WPA2 will be my major preference. So the goal of this research is break the wireless protocol and get data from the wireless devices and the network. 1.2.1 Comparison of Hacking Tools Available. There are lots of tools that can use to hack a wireless protocol. Some of the tools are very user friendly. We can install it on our Windows Based Systems and it does our work very easily. Those tools are 100% Graphical User Interface and very easy to use. AirCrack-ng Windows version is the common example. But Some Other tools are available; we need to have some technical knowledge to use those tools. Mainly those tools run on command base mode and running platform is Linux. These tools do not provide any graphical user Interface, and bit difficult to learn without any proper guidance. But the final result is very accurate than the windows version. The major difference between these two types of tools are the software which runs on linux is more accurate than the Windows version. So I have decided to use Linux version hacking software to carry out my testing. But to hack a wireless network we need few of software to download from the internet. And then we can install those on a Linux machine and we can start the research. But, I think its very easy to use a one operating System rather than struggling with lots of softwares. So I decided to download latest version of worlds famous Hacking Operating System â€Å"Back Track†. It has built in hacking tools that need to hack a wireless network. 1.2.2 Downloading related software. Back Track is free to download, and its open source. Anyone can download Back Track from its developers web site www.backtrack-linux.org for free. So I have downloaded the latest version of Back Track v4 to carry out my research. We will discuss about BackTrack in further chapters. 1.2.3 Cracking WEP Using AirCrack-ng In order to crack a WEP Password, I have chosen few amazing tool. That is BackTrack 4 Hacking Operating System. It has all the hacking tools to crack a WEP Network. Airodump-ng can use to get the information about the wireless network and then I can use the Aircrack-ng to crack the password. 1.2.4 Cracking WPA Using AirCrack-ng We Can Use the same Process to Crack the WPA using AirCrack-ng. Same as in WEP I am going to use the Airodump-ng and Airoreply-ng to collect all the informations about the wireless Network and AirCrack-ng to decrypt the Password. 1.2.5 Cracking WPA2 Using Cowpatty In here, I am going to use a special cracking Software to crack WPA2. The software is Cowpatty. Cowpatty bit different than Aircrack-ng. And cowpatty specially designed to crack WPA and WPA2 Passwords. All these tools are built-in tools which we can find in the BackTrack4 Linux based operating system. So I dont need to download these softwares from the internet. 1.3 Dissertation Structure This Documentation mainly divided in to 4 Main Chapters. Including entire Practical and theoretical concepts. Chapter 1: Introduction In this section, I am going to give a introduction about what is wireless Network, Start of the Wireless Network and Basic Problems that wireless Networks faced. In the Second Section explain about the whole Research objectives and aims. Chapter 02: Literature Review This Chapter Consist all the theoretical informations relating to my research. In here I am discussing about wireless Networks and its Types, Wireless Network Devices, Security Methods that WLAN Uses, WLAN Security Protocols, Deep discussion about WEP, WPA and WPA2, Protocol Hacking tools like Air Crack-ng, Cowpatty, and Hacking Methods that use by the Hacking tools. Eg: Dictionary Attacks, Brute Force Attacks etc. Chapter 03: Methodology In here, I am going to show my Practical Work that I have done all over my research. Installing the Hacking OS, Use of Hacking tools, Problems Faced all over the project and the final results will be my main concerns. Chapter 04: Result and Discussions In this section I am comparing all the results I have gain all over my project. Chapter 05: Conclusions This Chapter will be my conclusions of the Research. In here i am planning to compare my final result and the objectives in my initial project proposal. CHAPTER 02 Literature Survey 2.1 Wireless Networks Wireless Networks enables to communicate devices without any physical media. These Networks are divided to three main categories according to their communication level. Those are, Wireless Local Area Network, Wireless Wide Area Network, Wireless Personnel Area Network. Wireless Wide Area Network has larger coverage than the WLAN and WPAN. WWAN uses 2G or 3G Cell Phone Networks to connect each and every device in the network. WLAN represents local area network that connected using wireless access point or a wireless router includes 802.11. WPAN is a small network topology. This includes Bluetooth and Infrared technologies. 2.1.1 Wireless Local Area Networks As I Mentioned earlier, Wireless LANs has more portability and flexibility over traditional Wires Local Area Networks. In WLAN, All the Computers and other devices connect to each other using Wireless Access Points also called as APs. And Access points communicated with the Wireless Network Adaptors that fixed in to computers. Access Points normally has coverage are up to 75-100 meters. In that area users can move their laptops and other wireless devices while maintaining their network connections. We can connect access points together and expand the wireless LANs coverage. In my thesis, I am going to discuss more about wireless LAN in further chapters. 2.1.2 Wireless Wide Area Networks This is the most familiar wireless Network type for everyone. This networks are Combinations of few WLANs. In these networks, Antennas acts as the access point for all WLANs. There are connections between Antennas to Antennas, to expand the Service of the network. Mobile Phone Networks also a good example for WWAN Networks. 2.1.3 Wireless Personnel Area Networks These Networks are so smaller when comparing to the other networks. It does not give much coverage as other 2 network type we discuss earlier. And this network does not require Main Access Point to make the connection with other WPAN Devices. Source WPAN device directly connect to the other WPAN device when its needs to transfer data. 2.2 Wireless Local Area Networks This is the most important topic of my thesis. We are going to discuss about this topic all over the project. As I mentioned in my objectives I am going to analyse the security of WLAN and Break few of WLAN Protocols. Before that we need to get a clear Idea about â€Å"What is WLAN?† and â€Å"How it operates?† WLAN is same as the wired Local Area Network. But the only difference is, its using wireless method to connect all devices. WLAN combined with the Client Station and the Wireless Access point. The Client Station connects to the AP (Access point) using the wireless Network Adaptor. We can connect the wireless adaptor to the computer using Personal Computer Memory Card International (PCMCIA) slot or using the USB Port. IEEE 802.11 is the Standard of WLAN technology. The coverage of the Wireless network totally relay on the Strength of the Wireless Access Point. Normally its can covers up to 75-100 meters circular area. 2.2.1 Architecture of 802.11 Standards This architecture allows initiating a peer to peer connection between Client Station and the wireless Network based on access point in an infrastructure network (WLAN). The coverage area of an access point called as a â€Å"Cell†. A Cell also called as â€Å"Basic Service Set† (BSS). The collection other cells of the infrastructure network called as Extended Service Set (ESS).Any access point that work with 802.11 standards has this 2 data sets for their functionality. BSS is the most important data set in the Access point. BSS contain all the information about wireless Network. This is the security key negotiation protocol of the Access point. BSS consist of APs Hardware name, Communication protocol informations, Signal strength etc. The Access Point identify in the WLAN using a specific identifier. This is called as â€Å"Basic Service Set Identifier† (BSSID). When Laptop or any other wireless device needs to connect to wireless network via access point, the guest station (Eg: Laptop) searches for the available access points in the area by releasing discovery packets. If there any access points available, APs respond to the guest station by sending the BSSID. Normally BSSID is in a Human Readable format. BSSID also called as â€Å"AP Name or Router Name† by Technical personals. This identifier always represents a Specific Access point. Likewise each and every access point of the network has its own BSSID. NOTE: BSSID is very important to accomplish my main objective of the project. We need to retrieve the routers BSSID before we crack the routers password. We can discuss about the retrieving methods in future chapters. 2.2.2 Advantages of WLANs Following are the advantages. Increased Mobility- Users can be mobile while accessing to all the network resources. Fast Installation Installation of the network is very quick since there no adding wires like wired network. Flexibility anyone can easily install and uninstall a small wireless Network. 2.2.3 Wireless Protocols Use in Wireless Networks There are 3 main wireless protocols use by the 802.11x wireless networks. Those are, Wired Equivalent Privacy This Protocol primarily protect the WLAN uses being a victim from eavesdropping. WEP uses 64 bit RC4 key to generate encrypted data and then those encrypted data transferred over the network. Wi-Fi Protected Access This is introduced by the Wi-Fi Alliance to overcome certain restrictions in WEP. This uses Temporal Key Integrity Protocol (TKIP) to encrypt the wireless data packets. Wi-Fi Protected Access Version 2 This is the latest movement in wireless LAN Protocols. Only the Difference is WPA 2 introduces new AES algorithm to be much more secure than the WPA. These 3 protocols widely using in wireless Networks. Every protocol has significant advantages and disadvantages. In the next chapter I am going to illustrate features, advantages and disadvantages of each and every protocol. 2.2.4 Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP) WEP is an authentication protocol that use in 802.11 wireless networks to secure all the transmitting data. This protocol introduced in 1997 and main intention was increasing the confidentiality of the data than wired network. Any wireless network that uses WEP encrypt the data packets using RC4 cipher stream generated by a 64 bit RC4 key. IEEE 802.11 has few basic features when it comes to Security. These concerns provide a better security for the wireless environment. This all security elements embedded in to the wireless network protocols. Following are the basic security concerns in a wireless Network. Authentication This is the main goal of the wireless protocols. This means identifying the Client Station by using a password. If any client station failed to comply with this requirement the AP will deny giving the access to the Client Station. Integrity In here, the data should not be changed while it transmitting from the AP and/or to the AP. That mean those data should not be a victim of active attack. Confidentiality in this goal, the Protocol should protect the security of all data elements that transmit. In other word, the data should not be a victim of passive attacks. 2.2.4.1 Authentication 802.11 Networks have 2 kinds of authentication methods. â€Å"Open System Authentication† and â€Å"Shared Key Authentication†. 802.11 Authentication Open System Authentication Shared Key Authentication Any Client Station can join The Station should Provide the To the network without authentication Network password in order to join Network In Open system authentication does not use any cryptographic password to gain access to the network. Any client station can connect to the network and use the network resources. As an example, Internet facilitys in a public locations like Air Port or a Bus Station. In these places anyone can connect their Laptop or PDAs to the Wireless Access Point and start browse the internet. No Password required at all to login to the network. In open system method, the client station sends its MAC address just as a reference to the Access point. Then the AP makes that client as a member of that APs network. The major problem with this authentication mode is its vulnerable to attack. Shared key authentication is password based authentication model. The client must have the password to make the connection with AP. when client made a request to the AP that asking the connection, the AP generate a challenge and send it to the client station. If the client station responds to that challenge correctly AP gives the permission to be a member of wireless network. Figure 2.7 give the clear idea about the Shared Key authentication. Authentication Request Challenge Response Confirm the Result 2.2.4.2 Integrity 802.11 Standards also concerns about the integrity of the data transmitted. This always checks the data content whether it got changed while happening the transmitting process. It uses Cyclic Redundancy Check (CRC) approach to check the content of data. Once the CRC completed those data encrypted by using the RC4 key Stream. On the receiving end, data will be decrypted and again check for CRC to check the integrity of the data. If the receiving end CRC value does not match with the initial CRC value the data will be rejected and retransmitting will be required. WEP Uses an algorithm called Stream Cipher to encrypt all the data. It expand short version of key in to a random key stream. The sender encrypts the Plain text along with the Short key and creates the cipher text. In the receiver end has the same short key to decrypt the data. Once the data stream received by the recipient, it uses the short key to generates cipher text back to plain text. If one data bit lost on its way to the destination, the decryption process will mislead the data in to incorrect information. To prevent this problem WEP has â€Å"Cyclic Redundancy Check† to keep up the Message Integrity correctly. 2.2.4.3 Privacy 802.11 standards use cryptographic techniques to support Privacy. It uses RC4 Symmetric Keys to protect the data. Normally 802.11 standards support different cryptographic key lengths to protect the data from a attack. Generally, WEP supports 40 bit cryptographic key size for the shared key. But numerous vendors support different key sizes like 104 bits and 128 bits. Increasing the key size increases the security of the cryptographic technique. 2.2.4.4 Problems with WEP Even though WEP has so many security measurements to protect the transmitting data, it has few failures. These failures make the way, an attacker to break the security of WEP and lost the Integrity and privacy of the transmitting data using WEP. 2.2.4.4.1 Shared WEP Key WEP Uses single security key to Access the network. So this key should be distributed to all the users who access the network. So this security key might go to an attacker very easily who trying to get the access to the network. 2.2.4.4.2 WEP Key Size As I mentioned earlier, WEP uses 40 bit Cryptographic Key Size. This key can be crack very easily regardless of the time. So the encryption key is not sufficient to provide a better security for data. 2.2.5 Wi-Fi Protected Access This is a WLAN protocol created by the Wi-Fi alliance. This is created because of several weakness of the WEP Protocol. WPA has some advanced features when comparing with WEP. To get the optimum performance from the WPA, The WPA protocol implements the majority of the IEEE 802.11i standard, and was intended as an intermediate measure to take the place of WEP while 802.11i was prepared. Specifically, the Temporal Key Integrity Protocol (TKIP), was brought into WPA. TKIP could be implemented on pre-WPA wireless network interface cards that began shipping as far back as 1999 through firmware upgrades. Because the changes required fewer modifications on the client than on the wireless access point, most pre-2003 APs could not be upgraded to support WPA with TKIP. Researchers have since discovered a flaw in TKIP that relied on older weaknesses to retrieve the key stream from short packets to use for re-injection and spoofing. [wiki/WPA] 2.2.5.1 Features of WPA WPA uses Temporal Key Management (TKIP) as its Key encryption system. WPA does, Data Encryption and Discretion based on TKIP technology. It uses 128 bits for encryption using RC4 cipher. 2.2.5.2 Temporal Key Management TKIP along with the WPA has introduced three security features to overcome some security issues that come with WEP networks. TKIP mixing the security key with the initialization vector before it pass it to the cipher routine. In our case TKIP uses RC4 as the cipher. This method avoids certain kind of key attacks that came along with WEP. And then, WPA protects the data packets against reply attacks by implementing a sequence counter to the data stream. Finally its implements a message integrity check called â€Å"MIC† to check the consistency of the data stream. As i mentioned earlier, TKIP uses Rivest Cipher 4 (RC 4) as its cipher. Rekeying, also an important feature of TKIP. And the most important feature is TKIP always ensure to send data with a Unique Encryption key. But in certain situations it uses same mechanism like WEP. So TKIP also vulnerable to some kind of attacks which WEP faces. Any how the advance development of Message Integrity Check, Isolated Key Hashing on every packet, Sequence Counter prevents those attacks successfully. The Best thing is TKIP resolving most of the problems came along with the WEP. The next section discuss about that. 2.2.5.3 Michael Message Integrity Code Unlike WEP, WPA uses special feature to check the integrity of the transmitted message. This is called as Message Integrity Code (MIC). This is also called as Michel. This is a short cryptographic checksum that use to authenticate a message. This is also known as Message Authentication Code (MAC). This is a 64 bit algorithm that controls several types of attacks like, Splicing Attacks, Payload Truncation, and Fragmentation Attacks. 2.2.5.3 Extensible Authentication Protocol (EAP) EAP is an Authentication Method that widely use in wireless networks. This is not specifically designed for wireless networks. This can be use to authentication in wired network as well. EAP use to transmit the packets containing Authentication informations. WPA and WPA2 Networks supports 5 EAP Authentication Mechanisms as it Authentication Standards. Those are, EAP-TLS, EAP-SIM, EAP-AKA, PEAP, LEAP. 2.2.5.3.1 EAP-TLS EAP-Transport Layer Security is well known among Protocol for wireless communication. TLS provide very strong confidentiality for the User Credentials. This uses PKI to secure the communication between the AP and the RADIUS Server. EAP-TLS is the original, standard wireless LAN EAP authentication protocol. Although it is rarely deployed, it is still considered one of the most secure EAP standards available and is universally supported by all manufacturers of wireless LAN hardware and software. [Wiki/EAP] A compromised password is not enough to break into EAP-TLS enabled systems because the hacker still needs to have the client-side private key. The highest security available is when client-side keys are housed in smart cards. This is because there is no way to steal a certificates corresponding private key from a smart card without stealing the card itself. [Wiki/EAP] 2.2.5.3.2 EAP-SIM EAP for Subscriber Identity Module used for authentication and Session key distribution using the Global System for Mobile Communication (GSM) SIM. [Wiki/EAP] 2.2.5.3.3 EAP-AKA EAP for Authentication and Key Management Agreement is used for Authentication and session key distributing using the Universal Mobile Telecommunication System (UMTS). [wiki / EAP] 2.2.5.3.4 PEAP PEAP is a joint proposal by Cisco Systems, Microsoft and RSA Security as an open standard. It is already widely available in products, and provides very good security. It is similar in design to EAP-TTLS, requiring only a server-side PKI certificate to create a secure TLS tunnel to protect user authentication. [Wiki/EAP] There were two PEAP sub-types certified for the updated WPA and WPA2 standard. They are: PEAPv0/EAP-MSCHAPv2 PEAPv1/EAP-GTC The terms PEAPv0 and PEAPv1 refer to the outer authentication method, the mechanism that creates the secure TLS tunnel to protect subsequent authentication transactions. EAP-MSCHAPv2, EAP-GTC, and EAP-SIM refer to the inner authentication method which facilitates user or device authentication. [Wiki/EAP] 2.2.5.3.5 LEAP The Lightweight Extensible Authentication Protocol (LEAP) A proprietary EAP method developed by Cisco Systems prior to the IEEE ratification of the 802.11i security standard. [Wiki/EAP] LEAP uses a modified version of MS-CHAP, an authentication protocol in which user credentials are not strongly protected and are thus easily compromised. Along these lines, an exploit tool called ASLEAP. [wiki/EAP] 2.2.6 Wi-Fi Protected Access 2 WPA 2 implements IEEE 802.11i standards same as the WPA. WPA 2 supports Advanced Encryption Standards as the encryption cipher. This is an encryption standard that implement by US Government. 3 block of ciphers available in the AES. Those are AES 128, AES 192, and AES 256. In WPA2, Advanced Encryption Standards using counter Mode-Cipher Block Channing to provide the high confidentiality to the data. [Microsoft] WPA2 architecture must contain following network components to provide better security to the network. An Authentication Server to authenticate the users, Robust Security Network to maintain the pathways of associations, and AES based methodology to provide the privacy, integrity and authentication. The authentication server holds all the user name and passwords of the users of wireless network. When a user wants to connect to a network that uses WPA, The User must provide His / her identical user name and password when the network asks for it. Then the AP sends that informations to the Authentication server to verify the validity of the user to access network resources. Once the authentication server gave a positive feedback, the user allows connecting to the network otherwise the request will be discarded. 2.2.6.1 The Four way Hand Shake The Authentication Process has 2 Parts, the access point (AP) still needs to authenticate itself to the client station (STA), and keys to encrypt the traffic need to be derived. The earlier EAP exchange has provided the shared secret key PMK (Pair wise Master Key). This key is, however, designed to last the entire session and should be exposed as little as possible. [1] Therefore the four-way handshake is used to establish another key called the PTK (Pairwise Transient Key). The PTK is generated by concatenating the following attributes: PMK, AP nonce (ANonce), STA nonce (SNonce), AP MAC address, and STA MAC address. The product is then put through a cryptographic hash function. [1] The handshake also yields the GTK (Group Temporal Key), used to decrypt multicast and broadcast traffic. The actual messages exchanged during the handshake are depicted in the figure and explained below: [1] 2.2.6.2 Group Key Hand Shake The GTK used in the network may need to be updated due to the expiry of a preset timer. When a device leaves the network, the GTK also needs to be updated. This is to prevent the device from receiving any more multicast or broadcast messages from the AP. [2] To handle the updating, 802.11i defines a Group Key Handshake that consists of a two-way handshake: [2] The AP sends the new GTK to each STA in the network. The GTK is encrypted using the KEK assigned to that STA and protects the data from being tampered using a MIC. The STA acknowledges the new GTK and replies to the AP. [2] 2.3 Differences between WEP, WPA and WPA2 2.3.1 Encryption Methods WEP uses only one encryption method for the whole network, but in WPA, encryptions are dedicated for every user. One user has its own encryption method. 2.3.2 Authentication In WEP Authentication, it uses Open or Shared key authentication method. In WPA operates on Pre-Shared Key Method. As well as WPA uses an authentication server to validate the user and it using EAP to send all the informations to the Server. But WEP does not use any authentication server. 2.3.3 Security Protocols and Key Streams WEP uses WEP as their Security protocol. This is a primary wireless protocol that has few loop hols for attackers, in WPA use Temporal Key Integrity Management as the security protocol. WPA 2 uses bit advanced security protocol than both of the WEP and WPA. It uses Counter Mode with Cipher Block Chaining Message Authentication Code Protocol (CCMP). WPA and WEP both use Rivest Cipher 4 as their cipher, but WPA 2 uses Advanced Encryption Standards. WEP uses 40 and 104 bits key length for the encryption key. WPA use 128 bit for the encryption and 64 bit for the Authentication. WPA2 uses 128 bit key streams for the both Encryption and the authentication. 2.3.4 Data Integrity and Key Generation WEP use Cyclic Redundancy Check 32 bit Method to check the Integrity of the data. WPA use Michael Message Integrity Code to check the integrity of data. WPA2 has CBC-MAC for that operation. WEP does the key generation by using Concatenation. In WPA used â€Å"Two phase mixing function (both TKIP and RC4)†. WPA2 doesnt require any key generation. 2.4 Security Threats Associated with Wireless Networks As Discussed above, nowadays wireless networks become more popular than the wired networks. Many organisations including Commercial Companies, Hospitals, government offices and most of the houses use wireless networks to facilitate different services. But the problem is WLAN are not 100 percent protective from attacks. 802.11x networks are vulnerable to certain attacks. There are thousands of papers and reports available in the internet that describes those kinds of attacks and security threats to WLANs. These security threats mainly target on Confidentiality, Integrity and Network availability. WLAN attacks normally divide in to 2 types. Those are â€Å"Active Attacks† andâ€Å"Passive Attacks†. Then those 2 main classes sub divided into types of attacks. 2.4.1 Active Attacks Active attacks are the most dangerous attack type. In here, hacker or the unauthorised party gain access to the system and do the modifications to the system or the message transmitting. This outcome a receiving an incorrect message stream or a file to the recipient. Active attacks result a loss of integrity of the network. Active attacks are possible to detect by using special software like packet monitors. But the problem associated with this kind of attacks are, its difficult to prevent these kinds of attacks. Active attacks can be sub categorised in to 4 Methods of attacking. Following explain those, 2.4.1.1 Masquerade In here, Attacker imitates as an authorised user in the network and gains the access to the network. This kind of attacks can be happened in few ways. The first consideration is authorised user give away the password to an unknown person or a group of people. So automatically they are possible to get access to the system. The other consideration is hacker can use some software pieces to collect the passwords or access keys of authorised users. There are many methods to perform this kind of attack. Installing Key Board Activities Recording software is a very successful method to collect these kinds of informations. 2.4.1.2 Reply The Attacker can monitor the transmissions of the source and destination machines and re transmit the informations as a legitimate user. So the attackers computer acts as the Source and destination accordingly, to get the actual source and Destinations informations. Reply attacks are offline attacks. The attacker first gathers all the data and then later decrypts that information. This informations could be users authentication session informations that carries WLAN password. 2.4.1.3 Message Modification In here, attacker tries to modify a particular message or informations. This could results a transmitting wrong informations to the legitimate user. 2.4.1.3 Denial of Service This is a very popular attack type and very easily does in a WLAN environment. The main goal of this attack is make the network unavailable to the users. it generally consists of the concerted efforts of a person or people to prevent an Internet site or service from functioning efficiently or at all, temporarily or indefinitely [wiki]. This attacks cause Loss of Network a

Water in Architecture and Spaces

Water in Architecture and Spaces The paper focuses on how the presence of water – either as a feature or a function – enriches the design of public buildings, and how this relationship is perceived through sensory human experience. Four case studies are used. Case study one is the Roman bath complex at Bath, Avon; case study two is an early Modernist design of a glass pavilion by Bruno Taut; case study three is an example of a Post Modernist piazza in New Orleans designed by Charles. W. Moore; and case study four is the contemporary design of a thermal baths in Vals, Switzerland by Peter Zumthor. In each case there will be an analysis of the architectural design including aspects such as symmetry and balance, colour, texture, materials, form, and scale. Findings will include how water is used in the design space and its effect upon the human senses. The study expects to see a strong relationship between the presence of water and the surrounding design of the building. Furthermore, the study hopes to establish a difference in the relationship between the sensory experience of the two case studies where water is used as an aesthetic feature and has no practical function compared to the two baths where water is used to bathe in. The studies are ordered chronologically to enable clear identification of the evolving architectural differences between the ancient bath building, and the two twentieth century examples. Investigation aims to explore the potential of water as an instrument to aid the architects attempts at creating illusion. Aspects such as colour, and representation of form will be analysed in the two twentieth century examples. The study will culminate with the contemporary innovation and dynamism so supremely represented in the work of Peter Zumthor. In this fourth and most important chapter the work aims to identify how contemporary developments in architectural design – in comparison with the older case studies – expands and enriches the relationship between water and the human senses. Methodology The data for this study was collected through documentary research. Chapter one draws from Barry Cunliffes Roman Bath Discovered as a primary source and archaeological context.The baths went through several stages of development before they were abandoned: this study will use the simple plan of the first stage as an example to avoid any confusion. Because of the age of the case study it is not possible to replicate with certainty the exact nature of the sensory experience of using the baths. Therefore some suppositions had to be hypothetical based on the archaeological and architectural evidence used. Throughout the dissertation I will draw on Veronica Strangs book The Meaning of Water (2003) which provides a useful insight into the nature of the element in discussion. In the study of Bruno Tauts glass pavilion the sensory experience will also have to contain a hypothetical element based on documentary research as the pavilion itself no longer stands. For chapter four, internet sourc es were used in conjunction with journals and books to locate a firsthand account of the sensory experience of Peter Zumthors baths. As a fairly recent design of a relatively unwritten about architect it was difficult to locate a diversity of sources for the baths so the chapter will draw mainly from articles both from internet sources and from publications. IntroductionThe first chapter will look at the Roman Baths in Bath, Avon. It will explore the relationship between the architectural design, the materials used, and the human senses, focusing on the original plan of the baths in their first phase as depicted by Cunliffe (1971). This chapter will introductory to the study as it will bring into discussion aspects such as the relationship between the interior and exterior of the building as perceived through human sensory experience, and the atmospheric effects created by thermal waters which will be explored more thoroughly in the final chapter. It will evaluate aspects of the Roman design such as symmetry, colour, and decoration and how these might have enriched the bathing experience. Chapter two uses the case study of a glass pavilion, imagined by the poet Paul Scheerbart, and designed by Bruno Taut in 1914. The ornamental structure was designed to be exhibited at the Werkbund exhibition and was demolished soon after. The water feature is centrally placed, designed to reflect the changing light through the multicoloured glass panels of the surround. Its vision of a Utopian form of architecture using glass prisms provides a unique contrast to the functionally aesthetic Roman baths. It will be used to develop the idea of architecture testing the boundaries between the perception of interior and exterior and between public and private space. The presence of the water and its interaction with the light from the pavilions coloured glass means that these concepts are explored through sensory experience. Using relevant source material this chapter constructs an independent interpretation of Bruno Tauts design, focusing on its inner circular form and tiered space.In Chap ter Three the case study used will be the Piazza dItalia built by Charles W. Moore between 1974 and 1978 for the Italian community of New Orleans. The Post-Modernist design is characterised by Moores ironic interpretation of historical forms of architecture placed around a fountain in the shape of Italy. The study provides a useful contrast to the previous examples – it raises questions of how symmetry in architectural design affects the sensory perceptions. The focal point of the structure is the water feature which serves as a paradoxical unifier and separator of the experience. Furthermore, this example brings into discussion the concept of a more complex relationship between the human senses and water in architecture which will culminate in the final chapter. Chapter four concerns the thermal baths at Vals, Switzerland, designed by Peter Zumthor in 1996. This last and most important chapter aims to bring together aspects of the three previous examples through analysis of a contemporary design. The focus will be on Zumnors imaginative interpretation of the use of water in a natural environment. Research into his combination of technical innovation and sensitive perception hopes to establish how water can be used in contemporary architectural design to enrich the sensory human experience. Study will also focus on aspects of the design such as the careful attention paid to achieving balance and unity – through features such as the combination of different materials used. Features of the earlier case studies – such as the ambiguity of form in Moores piazza are discussed in light of Zumthors design of the baths interior. Finally, the study will assess how successful Zumthors example is in uniting traditional concepts in a contemp orary space. The Roman Bath Buildings at Avon, Bath. During the first century AD the Temple of Minerva and the baths were built at Bath over a thermal spring. As part of the building process an enclosed reservoir was constructed with the point at which the water poured into the drain being open with a flight of large steps from a platform above, allowing visitors to get close to the source of the water. The opening through which the water was accessed boasted an impressive archway creating the impression of the steaming water flowing through the mouth of a cave from the centre of the earth. (Cunliffe 1971, p.26). The original entrance hall boasted three massive windows through which could be seen the sacred spring and the altar beyond. The Great Bath would originally have been covered by a masonry vaulted ceiling also with large windows in its second tier plate xxiv cunliffe. Roman glass was translucent so the baths would not have been lit as well as an open air pool. This means that there would have been no views from the windows and little sun, resulting in minimal interaction between the experience of being inside the building and the conditions outside. It appears that the lighting of the establishment took second place to the organisation of space within the interior. Aside from the Great Bath the block contained two smaller chambers – the calidarium (hot room), and tepidarium (a warm acclimatising room) (Rook 1992, p.23-4), and another smaller swimming bath now known as the Lucas bath. (Cunliffe 1971, p.45). High vaulted spaces covered the thermal waters of the Great Bath to allow the steam to rise.As Macdonald says of this style of Roman roof, the chief key to the kind of sensory reaction or emotional response evoked by these buildings was the capacity of their concave shapes to induce an impression of expanding or rising hollowness.'(1982, p.176) The perception of space inside the baths would indeed have been altered as the bather left the small heated changing rooms and entered the area of the Great Bath. The warm bubbling water, with the cooler tranquil space above would have created two contrasting, yet complementary, sensory experiences. This design meant that the activity of the water environment could be enjoyed while the eye followed the path of rising vapours, travelling upwards to the still serenity of the domed roof. Allowing the eye to travel, while bodily remaining in the same place would have been an integral part of the relaxation process. The height of the ceiling would have also added to the ambience by causing sounds to echo. White limestone surrounded the bath which would have been smooth to the touch, and excavated evidence suggests that statues and other shrine-like images decorated the interior, with a fountain in the centre. It is possible to imagine how the continually changing state of the waters would have played upon the surrounding surfaces of the decoration, appearing to produce variations in colour and texture. As Veronica Strang says in her publication on water: The mesmeric qualities of water are of particular interest in considering sensory perception and the creation of meaning. Schiffman (1996:101) notes that the eye is automatically drawn to flickering or moving stimuli, and Gell (1992) and Morphy (1991, 1992, 1994) have shown that shimmering or visually exciting patterns can stimulate affective responses in many different cultural contexts. The shimmer and brilliance of water provide visual stimuli that are quite different from those of most objects. The visual interest of inanimate objects is gleaned by the eye actively tracing the form and colour and detail. With water (†¦) the eye is presented with a luminescent image it cannot hold. Instead, it must simply absorb all of the rhythms of movement and the tiny shifts and changes. (2003, p.51). As in contemporary swimming baths it is likely that the Romans would have enjoyed sitting beside the water to watch the play of light and absorb the atmosphere. From the remains found at Bath it appears that the design included viewing areas: the bath itself lay in the centre of an aisled hall 109ft long by 67ft wide, divided into a nave and two side aisles, or ambulatories, by continuous arcades framed with pilasters and entablature like those in the entrance hall. Each ambulatory was provided with three exedrae, a central rectangular recess with semicircular ones on either side, each framed by piers supporting arches in harmony with the main arcades. (Cunliffe 1976, p.45). These recesses, placed within a symmetric plan, would have provided places for people to sit and view the baths, while the continuous arcades would have led the line of vision around the interior, with the effect of there being no beginning or end. This continuity of form in the main area reflects its function as a unifying space in two ways: one, architecturally linking the four different areas of the building, and two, providing a public space befitting of the social function of bathing itself which brought people together. To aid the concept of bathing as a social and a sacred experience certain features were designed to appeal to the human senses. The floors and walls were decorated with mosaic patterns in different colours; contrasts of colour being common in Roman architecture (Macdonald 1982, p.176), and as part of the roof structures there stood tall columns in the decorative Corinthian style. As a sacred place, dedicated to Minerva, the healer, visitors were tempted to throw offerings into the sacred water of the spring in hope of their wishes being granted. The act of parting with money or something dear is a ritual made possible by the spring being situated beneath the main entrance hall. Excavations in 1878 by Mann discovered valuable offerings including pewter ornaments, a gold earring, and a pin with a pearl attached. (Cunliffe 1976, p.28). The presence of the water source provides an enticement to the baths within, and moreover the motion of the spring beneath would have created a rich bubb ling pool easily transforming the solid masonry and concrete walls into an aesthetically pleasing yet functional space. The architecture of the baths building appears to have been entirely devoted to the ritual of bathing itself which occurred inside. As Michael Wheeler says in Roman Art and Architecture (2001):you went to the baths in great numbers to talk to and about your friends and to work off the night-before. But one thing you certainly did not do; you never glanced at the untidy complex of domes and gables outside as you entered. It was the inside of the building that mattered, with its towering wall-spaces that stretched the minds of architect and sculptor and gave a sense of well-being to patron or client. (p.16). The experience of bathing was completed in a series of stages. The bathers first entered the dressing room to change, then after being anointed with oil proceeded to the series of main bathing rooms that varied in temperature (net ref. 1). In the calidarium bathers had their bodies scraped of oil and perspiration, before entering the frigidarium (cold room), where there was a small cold pool. The bather then entered the Great Bath. The Romans had no quantitative measurements for temperature, (Rook 1992, p.13) and despite the use of the walls as heating in conjunction with under floor heating there would have been relatively little control over humidity compared to contemporary bath complexes. Walls would have been damp from capillary moisture seeping up through the porous building materials and from condensation when warmer humid air came into contact with colder surfaces. This meant that the light and heat of the bath might have varied according to how many other people were using i t at the time. Certainly, these baths were designed to look their best when full of people – when the waters were moving and the steam rising and breaking in the space above. The baths were unique in that they provided a highly esteemed environment (baths were often owned by emperors) where personal ritual could be conducted in a public space – which only the presence of the water would allow. The baths were peoples palaces, providing a cultural focus where everyone could enjoy luxury on a regal scale every day. (Rook 1992, p.20). It is not difficult to imagine the many different smells – of different scented oils, steam, and hot bodies. The baths complex was a wealth of money, leisure and sensual experience, and the different materials used in the design reflect this. In the hall of the Great Bath lead lined the pool which met with the limestone beside it. This contrast of material was continued throughout in the broken forms of mosaic pattern interspersed with bronze objects such as a bronze sluice in the north-east corner of the main bath. (Cunliffe 1976, p.45).As expected there appears to be a close relationship between the design of the baths at Avon and the sensory experience of the spring water which was both a functional and an aesthetic feature.These two aspects appear to have been integral to one another and it will be interesting to see how the relationship between architectural design and the human senses alters in the next case study where water within the glass pavilion is present purely for aesthetic reasons. The Glass Pavilion designed by Bruno Taut for the Werkbund Exhibition, 1914. This case study looks at the interplay between water, light, and the senses in the early Modern Expressionist design of Bruno Tauts glass pavilion. The construction was commissioned by poet Peter Scheerbart who dreamed of a soaring glass architecture as a freeing up of architectural design. (Crasemann Collins 1962, p.12). It was a fourteen-sided prism roofed by a dome with blue, green, and gold glass panels which reflected the sky. (Ward 2001, p.65). Inside was a seven-tiered chamber whose walls were made of glass panels lined with glass mosaic, and a circular staircase – an unreal, unearthly flight of stairs that one descends as if through sparkling water (Pehnt 1973, p.76). On the lower level there was a rotunda with a pool and water cascading down layered steps so that the travelling sound of water would have echoed up to the highest tier. Taut claimed that the structure had been designed in the spirit of a Gothic cathedral. As Kenneth Frampton (1994) says, In effect a city crown, that pyramidal form postulated by Taut as the universal paradigm of all religious building, which together with the faith it would inspire was an essential urban element for the restructuring of society. (p.116). This comment is reflected in the use of water as a symbolic unifier in two ways. Firstly as a physical presence that mirrors the refracted light from the glass panels, creating a harmonic balance between floor and ceiling and a sense of unity within the structure, and secondly as something that all living things and people need and understand as an essential part of life – an essential ingredient if you like of Tauts Utopian ideal. When standing at the top of the water cascade it was possible to see upwards through the circular space in the middle to the arching space of the upper tiers beyond. This provided a visual contrast between the fluid downward movement of water and the arching pyramidal form of the roof above. Further visual delights were to be found in the wealth of colours used in the design. The cascade of water travelled over pale yellow glass, terminating in a recess of deep violet in which pictures were projected from a kaleidoscope. (Pehnt 1973, p.76.) The pres ence of the water served to unify peoples experience of the light into one visual component. Because this construction was not designed to be a permanent structure it did not need to meet the heavy physical demands of wear and tear. Thus it is more aesthetically pleasing than the roman bath building, which in many ways was more functional.The aisled hall of the baths had a basic rectangular form surrounded by solid stone masonry which gave the building a sense of permanence. In contrast, the circular form of Tauts skeletal structure would not have stood by itself: the upper hall was domed with different coloured glass panels set into reinforced concrete ribs and relied on the stiffening effect of the panels for stability. The aesthetic function of the arched roof has not changed since the time of the Roman baths at Avon; in both structures the opening out of the roof provides space in which the mind is set free to experience the sensual delights of the interior. Yet what differs in Tauts pavilion is the temporality of the structure. The height creates a paradoxical feeling o f temporary permanence – a brief feeling that one is almost liberated from the confines of earthly structures into the realm of the sky – while the presence of the running water beneath reminds the viewer that they are still on earth. In a 1928 essay on The Aesthetics of Architecture, Bruno Taut spoke of his love for clean smoothness (quoted from Ward 2001, p.56.) This philosophy is echoed in design of the pavilion where the light which is cast down through the glass surrounds hits the lower tier and is immediately washed away and diffused by the running water. As Strang (2003, p.50) says, the most constant quality of water is that it is not constant, but is characterised by transmutability and sensitivity to changes in the environment. Thus it is possible to picture the experience of the pavilion: the senses being continually stimulated by the changeability and echo of the water, the shifting light through the glass and its reflection in the water, even the smell of the humidity – all of which are simultaneously and subtly changing according to the nature of the conditions outside. It is not hard to imagine how a glint of sun might suddenly have transformed the pavilion into a thousand glimmering pieces. F urthermore, the seven tiers allow the spectator to control their sensory experience by moving as close and as far away from the changing light patterns as they desire. Differing levels which induced different experiences was not a feature of the design in the Roman baths but a parallel can be drawn between this aspect of the pavilion and the galleried hallway of the baths where the public could view the spring beneath. In the comparison between the two case studies so far, the ritual of bathing with its associated sensory delights becomes replaced by the ritual of aesthetic and sensory appreciation alone – without the water having any practical function whatsoever. It provides an essential focal point, detracting attention away from what would otherwise be a cold empty space. As Strang (2003) says of the properties of water: Physically, it is the ultimate fluid, filling any containing shape and, equally easily, shrinking and disappearing into the earth or evaporating into the ether. It has an extraordinary ability to metamorphose rapidly into substances with oppositional qualities, that is, the highly visible, concrete solidity of ice, and the fleeting dematerialisation of steam. Each state is endlessly reversible, so that this polymorphic range is always potentially present. (p.49). It is this changeability and potential of water that enables the pavilion to function as a dynamic public, yet personal, building. The tiered levels above allow room for private contemplation in a public space. It is clear that the function of the water differs to that of the Roman baths, however, the aesthetic experience in both fulfils a maxim quoted by Walter Gropius – that art is none other than the transformation of supramundane thoughts into objects of sensory perception. (quoted from Pehnt 1973, p.35). In terms of the baths at Avon and Tauts pavilion, what could have been an ordinary mundane experience – the act of bathing, the observation of an ornamental structure, – is transformed by the design of the building in conjunction with the presence of water and its effect on the senses into something extraordinary. The circular form of the interior creates a bubble where the spectator becomes isolated from the outside world; the changing light and the movement of water creating a sense of timelessness. As Simon Urwin (2003, pp.125-6) says: every body has around it what might be called a circle of presence that contributes to its own identification of place. When a body is in relationship with others, their circles of presence affect each other. When a body is put into an enclosure or cell its circle of presence is also contained and perhaps moulded. If this is true then the sensory experience of the individual in the pavilion would be shaped by the circular presences of the tiers and the water below culminating in a rich and lasting personal experience. In the roman bath building we see a fine contrast to this experience – where the functional aspect of the water would have caused Urwins circles of presence to be broken down so that public and private space become one. Indeed Taut himself stared that he demanded no distinction between public and private buildings. (quoted from Jencks 1985, p.61). As a final point for the case of the pavilion, it is worth considering the very structure itself and the space it contains. Its function – although not practical like the baths – is to provide an intermediary place between the exposure of the outdoors and the confines of the indoors, a space out of time. The use of different coloured glass creates a fascinating interplay between light and water while creating an enclosure without the feeling of being enclosed. This brings up interesting issues relating to the boundaries of interior and exterior which will be looked at in greater detail when comparing these studies to Zumthors work later on. The next case study explores an open air piazza the design of which provides a stark contrast to Tauts pavilion. The chapter aims to identify the evolving complexity of the relationship between architectural design, water and the senses – moving on now to an example built in 1974.