Cyber Security India Essay

†¢After China and the U.S., India has the highest number of Internet users. There are also an estimated over 381 million mobile phone subscriptions with Internet connectivity. In the list of online infection risk India ranks 9th and in personal computer across the globe, India ranks 7th. †¢A recent survey by McAfee named India next to Brazil, Romania and Mexico the least able to defend against cyber attacks. †¢Cyber security threats and hacking attempts in India rose to 22,060 in 2012 from 23 in 2004 What it means †¢Cyber terrorism is the convergence of terrorism and cyberspace. It is generally understood to mean unlawful attacks and threats of attacks against computers, networks, and the information stored therein when done to intimidate or coerce a government or its people in furtherance of political or social objectives. Cyber Threats Cyber threats can be disaggregated, based on the perpetrators and their motives, into four baskets: cyber espionage, cyberwarfare, cyberterrorism, and cyber crime. Cyber Warfare – attacking the information systems of other countries for espionage and for disrupting their critical infrastructure. Why Cyber Security is needed †¢Third most populous country after China and India is not any geographical entity but a ‘virtual state’ called facebook! †¢The same computing DNA that produced the communications revolution has also created acute vulnerabilities – and attractive terror targets – for societies that depend on cyberspace for national security and economic survival. †¢The growing dependency on the information technology (IT) makes cybersecurity a vital component of the India’s national security infrastructure. Lately, data collection, processing, storage, transmission capabilities, mobile, wireless, and cloud computing are increasing in huge numbers and make cyber attacks easily to occur. †¢Considered the newest domain in modern warfare, cyberspace has now joined the ranks of traditional areas assessed by militaries all over the world. And this is exactly how cyberspace should be assessed, since an effective terrorist attack against a nation’s power grid, for example, could result in massive loss of life, crippling damage to infrastructure and a blow to the economy that could take years to repair. Stuxnet has carried out what in the past could only be accomplished by directly bombing a country’s infrastructure or sending in human agents to plant explosives. †¢It can affect Infrastructures like banking system, air traffic control, power infrastructure and gas pipelines. †¢Destruction now can bypass the military force and attack via â€Å"cyber-brute-force† suppressing a country’s military control systems, navigation, communication system, shutting down or paralysing critical infrastructure and affecting the country’s economy, cyber-weapons linking nuclear weapons †¢Most common usage of Internet is by designing and uploading websites on which false propaganda can be pasted. This comes under the category of using technology for psychological warfare. †¢The web can promote and support acts o f terrorism by means of propaganda, promotion, instructional dissemination and execution, financing, training, recruiting and can also facilitate specific attacks. †¢Non-state actors have the technology to create cyber attacks or endanger the cyber environment of the global socio-political system. The 2011, Arab Spring revolution in Tunisia, Egypt, and Libya was successful to use cyberspace to pass its message. †¢Threats abound: cyber crime, cyber espionage, cyber war and cyber terrorism, all represent genuine risks to nations, firms and individuals around the world. Experts reckoned it is a matter of time before cyberspace becomes an â€Å"independent theatre of war†. †¢With the rapid march of technology, such attacks will only become more widespread as the use of Internet for manipulating things increases. â€Å"We have now entered into a new phase of conflict in which cyber weapons can be used to create physical destruction in someone else’s critical infrastructure. And there is a distinct possibility that the disruptions and dislocations it causes are permanent and severe.† E.g †¢The Flame virus (which has been circulating for more than five years and has yet to be claimed by an owner, although speculation centres around Israel) has turned the computer into the ultimate spy, gathering data files, turning on PC microphones to record nearby conversations, logging instant messaging chats, taking screen shots and even remotely changing settings on other computers. †¢Moreover, hacker groups, such as Anonymous and Lulz Security (Lulz Sec), have executed distributed denial of service (DDOS). Under that process, they were successful to deface websites to various governmental and corporate interests. They hacked NASDAQ and International Momentary Fund (IMF). †¢Internet’s capabilities dictate the rules of engagement in cyberspace to initiate on-ground battles and at the same time create a fertile ground for new, aspiring jihadist. †¢In the recent past, the case of Stuxnet virus which attacked centrifuges. While the targeted victim was the Natanz nuclear site in Iran, other organisations across the world, including in India, operating with the Siemens system suffered from collateral damage from the attack. †¢Since 2000-01, there have been regular reports of Pakistani cyber criminals defacing Indian websites and writing derogatory messages against India. On the other hand, China has become a formidable adver sary in cyber space. Recent cases of Chinese hacking into many Indian government establishment computers and even the highly secure national security domains provide enough evidence of its capability in waging cyber warfare. Since 2003, the People’s Liberation Army has trained more than 30,000 cyber warriors and another 150,000 in the private sector. According to several reports available in the public domain, the Chinese goal is to build the world’s best ‘informationised armed forces’. †¢ Existing Counter Cyber Security Initiatives. Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (Cert-In). Cert-In is the most important constituent of India’s cyber community. Its mandate states, ‘ensure security of cyber space in the country by enhancing the security communications and information infrastructure, through proactive action and effective collaboration aimed at security incident prevention and response and security assurance’. National Information Security Assurance Programme (NISAP). (a) Government and critical infrastructures should have a security policy and create a point of contact. (b) Mandatory for organizations to implement security control and report any security incident to Cert-In. (c) Cert-In to create a panel of auditor for IT security. (d) All organizations to be subject to a third party audit from this panel once a year. (e) Cert-In to be reported about security compliance on periodic basis by the organizations. Indo-US Cyber Security Forum (IUSCSF). Under this forum (set up in 2001) high power delegations from both side met and several initiatives were announced for intensifying bilateral cooperation to control cyber crime between the two countries. To mitigate supply-chain risks emanating from telecom equipment manufactured by companies belonging to China, the telecom and home affairs ministry have issued guidelines mandating service provides to secure their networks and induct equipment that has been tested as per international standards. CCTNS taking help of ISRO for making project fully indigenous Warned by intelligence agencies that using a foreign satellite in the proposed nationwide Crime and Criminal Tracking Network and Systems (CCTNS) could make critical databases vulnerable to eavesdropping by other countries, the Union Home Ministry has decided to take the help of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) to make the project fully indigenous. Since the intelligence agencies raised objections to the proposed use of the IPSTAR satellite managed by Thaicomm in the project, the BSNL diverted to this project some 400 VSATs that it had for other services. Fact Box: National Cyber Coordination Centre (NCCC) Indian government will establish its own multi-agency body — National Cyber Coordination Centre (NCCC) — that would carry out â€Å"real-time assessment of cyber security threats† and â€Å"generate actionable reports/alerts for proactive actions† by law enforcement agencies. NCCC , to be set up at a cost of Rs 1000 crore, would be a multi-agency body under Department of Electronics and IT. It will function in sync with other government agencies. These agencies include: †¢National Security Council Secretariat (NSCS) †¢Intelligence Bureau (IB) †¢Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) †¢Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In) †¢National Technical Research Organisation (NTRO) †¢Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) †¢DIARA (Defence Information Assurance and Research Agency) †¢Army, Navy, Air Force †¢Department of Telecommunications What will be its functions? †¢It will be India’s first layer for cyber threat monitoring and all communication with government and private service providers would be through this body only. †¢The NCCC would be in virtual contact with the control room of all Internet Service Providers to scan traffic within the country, flowing at the point of entry and exit, including international gateway. †¢Apart from monitoring the Internet, the NCCC would look into various threats posed by cyber attacks. †¢ The agency will provide law enforcement agencies direct access to all Internet accounts, be it e-mails, blogs or social networking data. DRDO doesn’t uses any US based company services in its organization. Challenges In India, we need to create an environment within which security is built into our cyber and communications working methods. While it is the government that correctly takes a lead in evolving a coherent picture of what constitutes vulnerability in our cyber domain and a strategy on how to counter attacks, the private sector needs to recognise the real threat it faces. And this is not a future threat or a prospective threat that we need to prepare ourselves against; this is an ongoing, current threat.Cyber threat will continue to grow due to the fast evolution and development of internet and related technologies. At the global level, nations are stepping up their cyber defence efforts. The U.S. was one of the first countries that considered this to be a strategic problem in 2006, both in terms of national security and their future economic wellbeing. †¢The major concern when dealing with Cyber threats is ubiquity and anonymity. What other international medium is highly accessible, far-reaching, ridiculously inexpensive, whereby information is transferred at the speed of light, the attacker invisible and untraceable? Unlike a missile trajectory, IP (Internet Protocol) pathways can be masked and the locations appear opaque. Implicating a source and assigning blame to the attack progenitor is extremely difficult. †¢the extreme difficulty of producing timely actionable warning of potential cyber attacks †¢the extreme complex vulnerability associated with the IT supply chain for various India’s networks †¢India’s approach to cyber security has so far been ad hoc and piecemeal. A number of organisations have been created but their precise roles have not been defined nor synergy has been created among them. †¢ Lack of awareness and the culture of cyber security at individual as well as institutiona l level. †¢ Lack of trained and qualified manpower to implement the counter measures. †¢Too many information security organisations which have become weak due to ‘turf wars’ or financial compulsions. †¢A weak IT Act which has became redundant due to non exploitation and age old cyber laws. †¢ No e-mail account policy especially for the defence forces, police and the agency personnel. †¢Cyber attacks have come not only from terrorists but also from neighboring countries inimical to our National interests. Recommendations. International Co-operation †¢Acknowledging that better indigenous snooping capabilities may not be enough to protect India’s cyber security, National Security Advisor Shivshankar Menon has advocated formulating a set of â€Å"standard operating procedures† (SOPs) — ground rules for cooperation which would help India succeed in obtaining Internet information from major powers that control much of cyber space. †¢Given the cyber reality, ‘sensible’ powers should work towards a globally acceptable cyber regime to bring in a set of rules, build transparency and reduce vulnerabilities. †¢Agreements relating to cyber security should be given the same importance as other conventional agreements. †¢The government should also consider joining the European Convention on Cyber crime. †¢A 24Ãâ€"7 nodal point for international cooperation with cyber authorities of other countries should be set up. Critical Infrastructure †¢Cyber security should be mandatory in computer science curriculum and even separate programmes on cyber security should be contemplated. Government should initiate a special drive of implementing practices in the critical infrastructure sectors and provide necessary budgetary support for such implementation. †¢ Government should establish a mechanism for measuring preparedness of critical sectors such as security index, which captures preparedness of the sector and assigns value to it. †¢Government should incorporate IT Supply Chain Security as an important element of e-security plan to address security issues. †¢Government should promote R&D in private industry through active government support for industry-led research projects in the areas of security. Establish enabling mechanisms to facilitate this. †¢Emphasis should be placed on developing and implementing standards and best practices in government functioning as well as in the private sector. Cyber security audits should be made compulsory for networked organisations. †¢Capacity building in the area of cyber crime and cyber forensics in terms of infrastructure, expertise and availability of HR and cooperation between industry, LEAs and judiciary. †¢Cyber security education, R&D and training will be an integral part of the national cyber security strategy. †¢PPP model should be explored for taking security to the regions and industry sectors. †¢Strengthening telecom security – one of the key pillars of cyber security, especially through development of standards and establishment of testing labs for telecom infrastructure(equipment, hardware). †¢More investment in this field in terms of finance and manpower. †¢The impact of the emergence of new social networking media, and convergence of technologies on society including business, economy,national security should be studied with the help of relevant experts, Legal †¢Procedural laws need to be in place to achieve cooperation and coordination of international organisations and governments to investigate and prosecute cyber criminals. †¢Government must put in place necessary amendments in existing laws or enact a new legislation like a Data Protection/Privacy Act so as to safeguard against the misuse of personal information by various government agencies and protect individual privacy. †¢Need for trained and qualified experts to deal with the highly specialised field of cyber security and laws related to it. †¢ Govt Machinery †¢Make it a mandatory requirement for all government organisations and private enterprises to have a designated Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) who would be responsible for cyber security. †¢Establishment of a cyber range to test cyber readiness. †¢ More powers to sectoral CERTs. †¢Establish an online mechanism for cyber crime-related complaints to be recorded. †¢Policymakers need to recognise this and put in place structures that allow the sharing of cyber security information through both formal and informal cyber exchanges. That requires a fast, unified action between government agencies and the private sector. †¢Indian agencies working after cyber security should also keep a close vigil on the developments in the IT sector of our potential adversaries. †¢Joint efforts by all Government agencies including defence forces to attract qualified skilled personnel for implementation of counter measures. Awareness Need to sensitize the common citizens about the dangers of cyber terrorism. Cert-in should engage academic institutions and follow an aggressive strategy. Conclusion †¢Defining how we deal with Cyber threats and attacks internationally is crucial to peace and security. If Cyber weapons are treated with indifference in comparison to other weapons then it can open the doors to multifaceted retaliation if a nation is provoked †¢Enforcing the right policies to amalgamate security of governments and law-abiding citizens is critical. The safety of individuals outweighs commercial piracy. Sophism and intellectual rhetoric redirects focus on eliminating irrefutable threats like violence and terrorism. Instead, diluted versions of policies are implemented and lives are put at risk. †¢. â€Å"India must take an early lead in creating a framework where the government, the national security experts and the industry catering to strategic sectors of economy, can come together, to pursue the goal of cyber security in the larger national cause †¢Need to prepare cyber forces . The United States was the first country to formally declare this as the fifth domain warfare after land, sea, air and space. It has also formally classified the use of cyberspace as a â€Å"force†, a euphemism for offensive capability. The Chinese adopted the concept of â€Å"informationalisation† in the mid-1990s and have relentlessly built up structures and operations in this domain. Cyber Security Dilemma †¢John Herz, an American scholar of international relations and law is credited for coining the term â€Å"security dilemma†. †¢ The dilemma expresses how both the strong and weak states can upset the balance of power that could eventually become a catalyst for war. The security dilemma could arise from the state’s accumulation of power due to fear and uncertainty about other states’ intentions. †¢ Post-9/11, successive US administrations have mostly attempted to handle global disorder by accumulating more â€Å"power†. Not surprisingly, since 2007, the US has been collecting and analysing significant amount of data available in the cyber space. †¢Cyber security dilemma of the US was recently exposed by the US whistle-blower Edward Snowden, giving details about the US National Security Agency’s controversial Prism programme. †¢ The US, clearly has been monitoring the global e-traffic covertly and in the process checking on c yber activities on Google, You Tube, Skype, Facebook, etc. This has resulted in a huge amount of metadata (a data about data). †¢ US administration has been spoofing on the rest of the world. †¢In the 21st century, with the number of computer and internet users is increasing significantly, the cyber environment has almost become fundamental to a nation’s ‘existence’. †¢ Over the years Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) have become central to various sectors from social, economic, political to defence. The fillip side to it is that various unauthorised, illegal, criminal, anti-national and terrorist activities have also become rampant. Astonishing as it may sound, but the third most populous country after China and India is not any geographical entity but a ‘virtual state’ called facebook! †¢The human rights activists and states who are under the US surveillance consider it an anti-democratic act that undermines the civil liberties and individual privacy. The absence of a globally accepted cyber regime and legal structure adds further to the commotion. †¢ The excessive dependence on cyber tools has given rise to various vulnerabilities. Recently the US National Security Agency chief Gen Keith Alexander, who also heads the US military’s Cyber Command, has expressed concerns and is of the opinion that on a scale of 1 to 10, the US critical infrastructure’s preparedness to withstand a destructive cyber attack is about 3, this in spite the US having established a major defence infrastructure to defend against foreign hackers and spies. This assessment would push the US to strengthen its defences further. However, since the nature of the threat is extremely dynamic it may not be possible to build any foolproof defensive mechanism. †¢Any cyber architecture can be viewed as a doubled edged sword – either ignore it and be exposed or use it to one’s advantage. Cyber espionage is here to stay. Today, the US is upfront because of its technological superiority and ability to ‘manage’ the ICT industry and prevent few acts of terrorism from actually happening. More importantly, the data gathered would have u tility in other fields too. Conclusion: †¢Snowden has clearly exposed the US but it is hard to imagine that the US would halt its cyber activities. As a leading power, the US is accustomed to international criticism, lawsuits and questioning and at the end of the day cyber spying and spoofing actually strengthens their intelligence gathering capability. †¢It is important to note that cyber expertise offers significant amount of asymmetric advantage to the user. In the future, it is not only the US but many other states that are also likely to use this method (mostly covertly). †¢States would support a cyber regime essentially because intelligence collection is not the sole purpose for possessing cyber assets. ITC also leads to empowerment and its importance for socioeconomic development s undisputed. †¢In general, the norms of privacy in a cyber-era world would remain a constant subject of debate since the nature of technology presents a challenging task to catch the actual offender. Technologically superior power would always have an advantage. The time has come to recognize that in the future we would always be watched and mostly against our own wishes! India-US collaboration in Cyber Security Indian officials and security officers would soon be visiting the U.S. for training in an array of courses — from cyber security, megacity policing and forensics, to critical infrastructure protection, financial terrorism and anti-terrorism intelligence. â€Å"The list of training programmes include ‘Land Transportation Anti-terrorism’; ‘Weapons of Mass Destruction’; ‘Seaport Security’; ‘International Border Interdiction Training’ and ‘International Sea Interdiction Training’ to check smuggling and trafficking; ‘Handling of equipment for screening men against radiological, chemical and explosive materials’ and ‘Handling of intrusive detection at airports and seaports.’ With the growing population in cities and increasing threat perception, the U.S. has also offered India to help develop the concept of megacity policing, a step it has been promoting since the 9/11 attacks. â€Å"An advance course in surveillance, control room design and its operation by various security agencies and police authorities are key elements of this concept. Balancing vigilance and privacy As the government steps up its surveillance capabilities, the entire social contract between the state and citizens is being reformulated, with worrying consequences The Indian state is arming itself with both technological capabilities and the institutional framework to track the lives of citizens in an unprecedented manner. A new Centralised Monitoring System (CMS) is in the offing, which would build on the already existing mechanisms. As The Hindu reported on June 21, this would allow the government to access in real-time any mobile and fixed line conversation, SMS, fax, website visit, social media usage, Internet search and email, and will have ‘unmatched capabilities of deep search surveillance and monitoring’. Civil society groups and citizens expressed concern about the government’s actions, plans, and intent at a discussion organised by the Foundation for Media Professionals, on Saturday. The context Usha Ramanathan, a widely respected legal scholar, pointed to the larger political context which had permitted this form of surveillance. It stemmed, she argued, from a misunderstanding of the notion of sovereignty. â€Å"It is not the government, but the people who are sovereign.† Laws and the Constitution are about limiting the power of the state, but while people were being subjected to these restrictions, the government itself had found ways to remain above it – either by not having laws, or having ineffective regulators. States knew the kind of power they exercised over citizens, with the result that ‘impunity had grown’. â€Å"There is also a complete breakdown of the criminal justice system,† Ms Ramanathan said. This had resulted in a reliance on extra-judicial methods of investigation, and ‘scape-goating’ had become the norm. ‘National security’ had been emphasised, re-emphasised, and projected as the central goal. â€Å"We haven’t paused to ask what this means, and the extent to which we have been asked to give up personal security for the sake of national security.† It was in this backdrop that technology had advanced by leaps, and made extensive surveillance possible. The implications are enormous. The data is often used for purposes it is not meant for, including political vendetta, keeping track of rivals, corporates, and digging out facts about a citizen when he may have antagonised those in power. Pranesh Prakash, director of the Centre of Internet and Society (CIS) looked back at the killing of Haren Pandya, the senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader in Gujarat. Mr Pandya was using the SIM card of a friend, and it was by tracking the SIM, and through it his location, that the Gujarat government got to know that Mr Pandya had deposed before a commission and indicted the administration for its role in the riots. Eventually, he was found murdered outside a park in Ahmedabad. The Gujarat Police had accessed call details of 90,000 phones. It is also not clear whether mining this kind of data has been effective for the national security purposes, which provide the reason for doing it in the first place. Saikat Datta, resident editor of Daily News and Analysis, and an expert on India’s intelligence apparatus, said a core problem was the absence of any auditing and over sight. â€Å"There needs to be a constant review of the number of calls, emails under surveillance, with questions about whether it is yielding results. But this does not happen, probably because a majority is not for counter-terrorism. There would be trouble if you build accountability mechanisms.† When he sought information under RTI around precisely such issues, he was denied information on the grounds that it would strengthen ‘enemies of the state’. Anja Kovacs, who works with the Internet Democracy Project, said this form of â€Å"mass surveillance† criminalised everybody since it was based on the assumption that each citizen was a â€Å"potential criminal†. She also pointed out that having â€Å"more information† did not necessarily mean it was easier to address security threats – there was intelligence preceding the Mumbai attacks, but it was not acted upon. She added, â€Å"Most incidents have been resolved by traditional intelligence. Investing in agencies, training them better could be more effective.† Bring in the caveats Few argue that the state is not entitled to exercise surveillance at all. In fact, a social contract underpins democratic states. Citizens agree to subject some of their rights to restrictions, and vest the state with the monopoly over instruments and use of violence. In turn, the state – acting within a set of legal principles; being accountable to citizens; and renewing its popular legitimacy through different measures, including elections – provides order and performs a range of developmental functions. This framework, citizens and civil liberty groups worry, is under threat with governments appropriating and usurping authority to conduct unprecedented surveillance. Citizen groups, technology and privacy experts came together globally to draft the International Principles on the Application of Human Rights to Communication Surveillance. It prescribed that any restriction to privacy through surveillance must be ‘legal’; it must be for a ‘legitimate aim’; it must be ‘strictly and demonstrably necessary’; it must be preceded by showing to an established authority that other ‘less invasive investigative techniques’ have been used; it must follow ‘due process’; decisions must be taken by a ‘competent judicial authority’; there must be ‘public oversight’ mechanisms; and ‘integrity of communications and systems’ should be maintained. (Full text available on www.necessaryandproportionate.org)Mr Prakash of CIS, which has done extensive work on surveillance and privacy issues, said, â€Å"An additional principle must be collection limitation or data minimisation.† Giving the instance of Indian Railways seeking the date of birth from a customer booking a ticket, Mr Prakash said this was not information which was neces sary. But it could be used by hackers and many other agencies to access an individual’s private transactions in other areas. The UPA government is finalising a privacy Bill, but its final version is not yet public, and it is not clear how far the government would go in protecting citizen rights. National cyber security Policy 2013 National Cyber Security Policy 2013 This policy aims at facilitating creation of secure computing environment and enabling adequate trust and confidence in electronic transactions and also guiding stakeholders actions for protection of cyber space. †¢ The National Cyber Security Policy document outlines a road-map to create a framework for comprehensive, collaborative and collective response to deal with the issue of cyber security at all levels within the country. †¢ The policy recognises the need for objectives and strategies that need to be adopted both at the national level as well as international level. †¢ The objectives and strategies outlined in the National Cyber Security Policy together serve as a means to: i. Articulate our concerns, understanding, priorities for action as well as directed efforts. ii. Provide confidence and reasonable assurance to all stakeholders in the country (Government, business, industry and general public) and global community, about the safety, resiliency and security of cyber space. iii. Adopt a suitable posturing that can signal our resolve to make determined efforts to effectively monitor, deter & deal with cyber crime and cyber attacks. Salient features of the policy †¢The Policy outlines the roadmap for creation of a framework for comprehensive, collaborative and collective responsibility to deal with cyber security issues of the country. The policy has ambitious plans for rapid social transformation and inclusive growth and India’s prominent role in the IT global market. †¢The policy lays out 14 objectives which include creation of a 5,00,000-strong professional, skilled workforce over the next five years through capacity building, skill development and training. †¢The policy plans to create national and sectoral level 24Ãâ€"7 mechanisms for obtaining strategic information regarding threats to ICT infrastructure, creating scenarios for response, resolution and crisis management through effective, predictive, preventive, proactive response and recovery actions. †¢The policy will also establish a mechanism for sharing information as well as identifying and responding to cyber security incidents and for cooperation in restoration efforts. †¢The policy identifies eight different strategies for creating a secure cyber eco-system including the need for creating an assurance framework apart from encouraging open standards to facilitate inter-operability and data exchange amongst different products or services. †¢There is in place a plan to operate and strengthen the national Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In) to operate 24Ãâ€"7 and to act as a nodal agency for all efforts for cyber security, emergency response and crisis management, as an umbrella agency over CERTs. †¢It is expected that he policy w ill cater to the cyber security requirements of government and non-government entities at the national and international levels. The policy will help in safeguarding the critical infrastructure like Air Defence system, nuclear plants, banking system, power infrastructure, telecommunication system and many more to secure country’s economic stability. National Nodal Agency †¢The National Cyber Security Policy, in order to create a secure cyber ecosystem, has planned to set-up a National Nodal Agency. The nodal agency will be coordinating all matters related to cyber security in the country. †¢The nodal agency has a wide mandate as it will cover and coordinate security for all strategic, military, government and business assets. This is distinctive, since, so far, national security regimes have been divided among the Ministry of Defence (for securing India’s borders) and the Ministry of Home Affairs (for national and internal security across States). Public-private partnership to protect national assets †¢Another defining aspect of the policy is the level at which it envisages public-private partnership to protect national assets. †¢There is a clear recognition in the policy that, apart from India’s IT, technology and telecommunications services, large parts of financial & banking services, airline & transportation services, energy and healthcare assets are not only owned by the private sector but, in fact, remain vulnerable to cyber-attacks, both from state and non-state actors. Protection centre †¢A crucial aspect of the policy is building resilience around the Critical Information Infrastructure (CII) by operationalising a 24Ãâ€"7 Nation Critical Information Infrastructure Protection Centre (NCIIPC). The Critical Information Infrastructure will comprise all interconnected and interdependent networks, across government and private sector. †¢The NCIIPC will mandate a security audit of CII apart from the certification of all security roles of chief security officers and others involved in operationalising the CII. Operationalisation †¢The policy will be operationalised by way of guidelines and Plans of Action, notified at national, sectoral, and other levels. While there is a recognition of the importance of bilateral and multilateral relationships, the policy does not clearly identify India’s position vis-à  -vis the Budapest Convention even though government delegations have attended meetings in London and Budapest on related issues in 2012. Why does India need a cyber security policy? †¢Cyber security is critical for economic security and any failure to ensure cyber security will lead to economic destabilisation. †¢India already has 800 million active mobile subscribers and 160 million other Internet users of which nearly half are on social media. India targets 600 million broadband connections and 100% teledensity by 2020. Internet traffic in India will grow nine-fold by 2015 topping out at 13.2 exabytes in 2015, up from 1.6 exabytes in 2010. †¢The ICT sector has grown at an annual compounded rate of 33% over the last decade and the contribution of IT and ITES industry to GDP increased from 5.2% in 2006-7 to 6.4% in 2010-11, according to an IDSA task force report of 2012. †¢Given the fact that a nation’s cyber ecosystem is constantly under attack from state and non-state actors both. It becomes extremely critical for India to come up a coherent cyber security policy. †¢One of the key objectives for the government is also to secure e-governance services where it is already implementing several nationwide plans including the â€Å"e-Bharat† project, a World Bank-funded project of Rs. 700 crore. Criticism The release of the National Cyber Security Policy 2013 is an important step towards securing the cyber space of our country. However, there are certain areas which need further deliberations for its actual implementation. The provisions to take care security risks emanating due to use of new technologies e.g. Cloud Computing, has not been addressed. Another area which is left untouched by this policy is tackling the risks arising due to increased use of social networking sites by criminals and anti-national elements. There is also a need to incorporate cyber crime tracking, cyber forensic capacity building and creation of a platform for sharing and analysis of information between public and private sectors on continuous basis. Creating a workforce of 500,000 professionals needs further deliberations as to whether this workforce will be trained to simply monitor the cyberspace or trained to acquire offensive as well as defensive cyber security skill sets. Indigenous development of cyber security solutions as enumerated in the policy is laudable but these solutions may not completely tide over the supply chain risks and would also require building testing infrastructure and facilities of global standards for evaluation. Indian Armed forces are in the process of establishing a cyber command as a part of strengthening the cyber security of defence network and installations. Creation of cyber command will entail a parallel hierarchical structure and being one of the most important stakeholders, it will be prudent to address the jurisdiction issues right at the beginning of policy implementation. The global debate on national security versus right to privacy and civil liberties is going on for long. Although, one of the objectives of this policy aims at safeguarding privacy of citizen data however, no specific strategy has been outlined to achieve this objective. The key to success of this policy lies in its effective implementation. The much talked about public-private partnership in this policy, if implemented in true spirit, will go a long way in creating solutions to the ever-changing threat landscape. Central Monitoring System (CMS) project – Justified †¢Indian government’s own Central Monitoring System (CMS) project. †¢roughly 160 million users are already being subjected to wide-ranging surveillance and monitoring, much of which is in violation of the government’s own rules and notifications for ensuring â€Å"privacy of communications†. †¢ While the CMS is in early stages of launch, investigation shows that there already exists — without much public knowledge — Lawful Intercept and Monitoring (LIM) systems, which have been deployed by the Centre for Development of Telematics (C-DoT) for monitoring Internet traffic, emails, web-browsing, Skype and any other Internet activity of Indian users. †¢While mobile operators deploy their own LIM system, allowing â€Å"interception† of calls by the government, only after checking â€Å"due authorisation† in compliance with Section 5(2) of the Indian Telegraph Act read with Rule 419(A) of the IT Rules †¢In the case of the Internet traffic, the LIM is deployed by the government at the international gateways of a handful of large ISPs. The functioning of these secretive surveillance systems is out of reach of these ISPs, under lock and key and complete control of the government.

American experiences since 1945

The course is designed to show in details the events that took place in America after the Second World War. That is the things that happened in America after 1945. There are many events that took place. The post war period start from 1945 when Manchukuo province was captured by the Soviet Union and the atomic bombs which were dropped by USA on the mainland of Japan. This essay is going to touch on the cold war ideologies and breakups of made during the time of the war.Also the policies that were made during the cold war time, I will also discuss the events that took place in the 1950s: Politics and Culture, the liberal reforms of 1960s, reason why USA crashed with southern Asia and elaborate on the conservatism and the consensus politics. I will also discuss on the happenings of the 1970’s: Nixon’s politics and achievements and finally, I will also discuss on the 80s events: the cold war, its end and the reasons that led to the fall of the communism. The immediate post war period. The period after 1945(Farber D. , 1994) was a golden time of capitalism in America.In 1946 the council of economic advisors was established. Its roles were to analyze and advice on various policies mostly in development and implementation of domestic and international economic policies. At around 1953 the council for economic advisors had come up with five policies. These were: economic quantitative targets were set. The â€Å"growth model† of economic replaced the â€Å"cyclical model†, full employment budget was drawn, fiscal drag theories were employed, taxation base and flexibility were widened and finally and a low aggregate demand replaced unemployment notion that had persisted.In 1945 there emerged a crash in the course implementation between Edwin Nourse and Leon Keyserkling. Nourse believed that guns were to be dispensed for butter but Keyserling thought that by expanding economic it would promote expenditure without compromising the standards of l iving. During the inter war period economic depended on massive spending , raw materials control and price controls as well as the draft of 12 million military men with these reforms the quality of the lives of Americans continued to improve(Leslie B. , 1995) Culture Emergence and some Politics of 1940s and 1950sDuring this period the quality of life was improved through social welfares. As the stock exchange market thrived uninterrupted from 1949 up to 1957 (Hardayal S. , 2001) the great depression status was reversed, the government embarked on social welfares and military industries complex as it was called by Dwight Eisenhower. It involved employing women in industrial places for manufacturing ammunitions. They were also employed in the military service. The war time experience of women working in military services shaped the future career of women.Many women who were in the war went back to their house hold chores. This past experience led to later integration of women in to th e working places in America. According to (Halliwell M. , 2007) the 1950s provides an account of the cultures in America. These were fiction, poetry, theatre, television and films performances, music, radio and visual arts. In this period the economic was still not good. For instance, there were about 3,288,000 people who were unemployed the average salary of the working class was 2,992 dollars.This is the period that saw many young people who serve in the war comeback home to pick up their lives start new families and new jobs. With this new phase of experiences, American industries rose up to the challenge of meeting the rising demands of items. Americans began buying things they could not buy during the wartime. 1960s: The Liberal Reforms and Kennedy’s Visions. In 1960 a presidential election was held. This marked the end of Dwight Eisenhower as the president of America. He served his nation for a period of two terms.At this time his vice president was Richard Nixon who ha d turned his office into a political base. In the elections of 1960s, John F. Kennedy- a democrat was the second one to have the presidential position as a Roman Catholic after a democrat Al smith . At this time the Soviet Union was far a head of America both militarily and economically. At this time Kennedy was young and inexperienced to be trusted with presidency and his victory margin was among the closest ever known in the history of America. This was attributed to his religious stand. It was believed that many Protestants did not vote him (Murray C., 1994) In 1950’s and 60’s both major political parties in USA were liberal and conservative factions. The Democratic Party had northern and Western liberals and on the other hand was the conservative Southern whites. For two decades the cold war liberalism was not that active and it only peaked in 1964 when Lyndon B. Johnson over Barry Gold water during the election. In 1948, Truman the then president of USA had outlaw ed desegregation in the armed forces and civil rights were strongly agitated for. These culminated in to the passage of 1964 civil rights act as well as the voting rights act of 1965.During 1960s the relations between white liberals and civil rights leaders intensified. The later accused the former of hindering the progress it was during this time that Kennedy put federal troops to protect the African Americans who were being admitted to the University of Mississippi. In 1962 (Sitkof H. , 2000) f James Meredita and Martin Luther King junior staged a march to Washington in 1966. This emerged to be a very strong movement which was called the black power. The blacks in this movement accused the whites of trying to control the blacks’ agendas.The opponents of the civil rights wanted blacks in America to stop following democratic machines and instead apply the ethnic model. The civil rights movements totally revolutionized the lives of blacks in America. Much of the credit goes to Martin Luther king. He was the leader of hundreds of Black people. He inspired the blacks greatly especially when he made his’ I have a dream speech’ to the multitude. It was all about racial harmony. This was done on the mail in Washington. In 1902, Kennedy announced that by the end of the 1960s decade USA would send a man on the moon in a spaceship and safety return him to earth alive.This was the height of optimism because at this time its space program was in its infancy stage It was also at this time that president Johnson of America promised his people that he would fight poverty and ensures that the Americans would enjoy descent lives. This promise was actualized when social security fund was increased and as a result millions of Americans received improved health care. This 1960s became the turning point in the history of American. A lot were achieved at this time (Suman K. and Bery G. F. , 1997) 1970s: Outcomes of Vietnam Invasion and Lifestyles Change.During the 1960s period, Richard Nixon in his presidential campaign promised to end the Americans involvement in the war again Vietnam if he was elected in office in 1969. This whole plan was called â€Å"Vietnamization† it meant that the United States would gradually withdraw itself from the Vietnam War and transfer its military duties to the Southern Vietnam. He wanted to reinforce the Eisenhower and Kennedy’s policies of helping the South Vietnamese but things did not go as they were expected. In 1969(Brad R. , 1991) the North Vietnamese communists intensified their attacks and through Laos and Cambodia supply lines.As a result of these events Nixon invaded Cambodia and bombarded Laos. This initially was done secretly but sooner than later it was made public by Nixon who on 1970 April 30 announced on the television that he invaded Cambodia and wanted to recruit some 150,000 new soldiers . This decision was not welcomed by many Americans in fact it provoked many ant-war pr otests especially from college and campus students. In 1970 on May 4th the National Guard fined shots in to a crowd of demonstration at Kent state university and killed four of them and about nine wounded. This only increased outrage to people who turned against Nixon and Vietnam War.Due to the increased pressure to put the war to an end an end (Goodwin J. , 2001) Nixon ordered the North Vietnam zone to be bombed. This act led to signing of an agreement which led to the termination of the war in March 1973. As America quit the war, it left the southerners to fight the northerners’ American indigence in the war caused it a big harm. About 55,000 American lives perished. Basically American gained very little from this war. It left Vietnam a devastated nation. 1980s: Cultural Influence and Economic Policies. In 1980s there was economic boom. The existing market was advancing in age and was financially becoming stable.The society’s face changed demographically. People coul d live longer and seemed younger. New technologies replaced old ones or we can say that there was a technological change. These changes were celebrated by Richard Nixon and his wife with a fashionable clothes accompanied by social events that displayed affluence of American society (Minarik J. J. , 1990) During this time the whole world was in perpetual change for instance the USSR eased their roles and gave in to private enterprise the famous Berlin war came down and Western cloths found their way in eastern, countries.There were some economic policies that were posed by the government. For instance it states that when market lack the in information on the quality of assets as well as true value of an institutions net worth then potential for crisis increased. 1990s: Revival of Cold War Period and Reagan’s Ideas. In the 1980s the cold war came to an end the eastern block had suffered economically. The cold war period of 1985-1991 came back to life with the ascension of Mikha il Gorbachev to power in 1991. In the same year on December 31, the USSR broke into 15 separate nations and this marked the end of the cold war period.Conclusion. Having seen the effects of every action that has been done in America since 1945 and Judging by the way things stand currently, we can say that in the past ten years the politics of America will move to greater heights as the democrats and the republicans become more vibrant in addressing the things that are affecting the Americans right now. Culturally, Americans are very dynamic people who keep on inventing new ways of life. So, it is hard to predict what exactly will happen in the next ten years to come. But socially it seems people will be more integrated, interactive and united.Americans are social and interact with their fellow people in a positive manner and that is why America is a united nation. Reference: Halliwell M. , 2007: American Culture in the 1950’s. Edinburgh University Press, United Kingdom. Farbe r D. , 1994: The Age of Great Dreams America in the 1960s, 1st Edition. USA. Goodwin J. , 2001: No Other Way Out: States and Revolutionary Movement 1945-1991 Cambridge University Press P. 5 Suman K. and Bery G. F. 1997: Preventing Banking Sector Distress and Crises in Latin America; Proceedings on a Conference Held in Washington DC, World Bank. Minarik J. J., 1990: Making America’s Budget Policies from the 1980’s to the 1990’s M. E. Sharpe. Murry C. , 1994: Loosing Ground; American Social Policy 1950- 1980, Basic Books 10th Anniversary Edition. Brad R. , 1991: Weapons Proliferation in the 1990s. MIT Press, Washington. Ciment J. , 2006: Postwar America: An Encyclopedia of Social Political Cultural and Economic History Sharpe New York. Sitkoff H. , 2000: Post War America a Student Companion, Oxford University Press. Leslie B. , 1995: The Cambridge History of Latin America, Cambridge University Press. Hardayal S. , 2001. Ambassadors of Culture. Princeton University Press.

Premature Baby

A new medical practice for premature babies -Touching or No Touching- In the world, more than 300 thousand people are born in a day, but 10 percent of them are born as premature babies. The premature birth rate has increased by about 36 percent since the early 1980s, and many of them have died. Fortunately the good news is that the survival rate of the preterm has increased remarkably due to improvements in neonatology, such as using incubator transport. However, compared with in utero transport, incubator transport, based on separation between with mother and infants, is not natural thing, and it still has risks.Incubator transport for preterm still has some known disadvantages including infant instability by lack of adequate systems for securing the infant, and separation of mother and infant. Even though it has some risk, it has been known as an optimal practice for care of extensible number of premature infants. According to Statehealthfacts. org, in the United States in 2009, th ere were 502,306 preterm births born. This is 12. 2% of births in the United States, 2009. Table. 1 Number of births, number of preterm births, and preterm births as a percent of all births in the United States 2009 Normal full term babies are born at 38 weeks.Babies born before 37 weeks are defined as premature babies, and those born between 24 and 29 weeks are ‘extremely premature’. They usually have less weight than 1. 5kg (3. 3lb). And all babies born with less than standard birth weight, 2. 1kg (4lb) are at risk. Therefore, babies born early need special care and monitoring to help them to gain weight. To reduce disadvantages of incubators and improve care preterm babies, ‘Kangaroo care,’ a new medical practice for preterm babies, was introduced and being conducted in some united states medical facilities.Kangaroo care is also known as kangaroo mother care, kangaroo baby care, and skin to skin care. Although the name varies, the concept is that holding an infant, naked except for a diaper and hat, against the bare chest of an adult for the purpose of providing the infant with a natural thermal environmental, nurturing touch, and enhanced opportunity to breast-feed. â€Å"Although numerous studies have explored the value of kangaroo care for premature or stressed newborns, the literature informing the effects of kangaroo care to people is scarce† the study by Janice Collisons said.Mostly, the incubator as a present medical system is being used. The current predominant model of neonatal stabilization like incubators involves placing the infant in an open warmer immediately after delivery. This practice immediately separates the mother and infant during a crucial period of extra uterine adaptation, and may be a venue for delayed neonatal physiological adaptation, reduced breast-feeding, and impaired maternal infant bonding. The goal of my research is to know the benefits of kangaroo care as a stabilization method for preterm infants, and to figure out how it contributes the health of infants.In March of 2010, a mother gave birth to a premature infant son, named Jamie. She was told that the baby had died despite the best efforts of the medical staff. She was given a chance to hold and cuddle him on her chest in order to say goodbye. When placed on her chest, his breath began coming in short bursts, and his parents and the medical staffs were astonished when Jamie opened his eyes with stable breathing. Jamie is now a normal active 2 year old boy. What this mother and child experienced is kangaroo care because it is similar to the same care a baby kangaroo receives in its mother’s pouch.Doctor, Susan Ludington says â€Å"many people don’t understand this situation, but there are eight reports of other babies revived by kangaroo care. The mother can stimulate the baby to live. I think the Kangaroo care helped† In fact, this method had been used in Colombia. Due to increasing mortality r ates in Bogota, Colombia, in 1978, Dr. Edgar Rey introduced kangaroo care to alleviate the shortage of caregivers and lack of incubators. This care was found to be an inexpensive and very beneficial experience to babies in Bogota, Colombia.The mortality rate finally fell to 30 percent from 70 percent. Most studies have proven that Kangaroo care has positive impacts on babies and their parents; some studies have proven there is no change; but no study has proven that kangaroo care has hurt either parent or baby. By offering it to newborns, they have a stable heart rate, more regular breathing, improved oxygen saturation levels, no stress, longer periods of sleep, more rapid weight gain, and earlier hospital discharge. The first benefit of the kangaroo care is that preterm babies can have longer periods of sleep.Researchers have come a long way in determining the major cause of colic. The common conclusion in 1999 is that colic is caused by a baby’s inability to transition from one sleep state to another – like from an alert state into a sleep state and back again. Kangaroo care performed in a quiet, low light environment with any baby has been proven to reduce crying and help the baby learn to transition from one sleep state to another. A study done by Patricia Messmer in 1997 found a significant increase in sleep time for the neonates during Kangaroo care.The kangaroo care can relieve the pain of preterm babies during treatment such as blood test, injection of medication, and several physical tests which give significant pain to the babies. Because the premature babies are really vulnerable to surroundings, doctors need to take blood samples to check their health every day. They usually take 3cc amount of blood from the babies. The volume of blood drawn (3cc) from babies is proportionate to that drawn (400cc) from adults. How painful it is for the babies to stand.The experiment that measured the pain level to premature babies from the blood test was conducted while kangaroo care procedure. The result of the experiment showed that the babies felt less pain when they were on mother’s chest. According to the article ‘Kangaroo care is effective in diminishing pain response in preterm neonates’, it concludes ‘Kangaroo care was effective in significantly decreasing pain response on the behavioral components of a validated composite measure of pain in preterm babies.Given the many invasive procedures that are part of clinical care in preterm babies, KC may be a safe analgesic alternative in neonates in whom it is feasible and with mothers who are comfortable providing KC for painful events’ The newest studies that are being done in Sweden and other countries concentrate on full term babies in respiratory distress. They take these babies, who would normally be put on respirators, and place them on the mom's chest immediately after birth in the Kangaroo Care position. Babies stayed on mom until the r espiratory distress was gone – within 48 hours for most babies.Oxygen hoods and cannulas (small tubes) were used if needed. In preterm babies, the effects of Kangaroo Care on these functions are just as dramatic. In 1998, Dr. Susan found a four-fold decrease in apnea during Kangaroo Care and ventilated babies were able to tolerate transfer and position changes without increased oxygen requirements. In 1997, GM Cleary, et al concluded there was no increase in bradycardia(slow heart rate –below 60 beats per min) episodes during Kangaroo Care. In 1998, Gay Gale and Kathleen Vandenburg concluded that the heart rate was more regular for Kangarooed infants.All-in-all, the baby fared much better when placed in Kangaroo Care. â€Å"With my own ventilated preemie (1 pound 12 ounces at birth) I noticed a 50% reduction in oxygen requirements, no apneas, more stable heart rate, and more spontaneous respiration when I held her skin-to-skin. † Holly Richardson concluded that more rapid weight gain was observed in Kangarooed infants. Kangaroo care allows the baby to fall into a deep sleep by conserving their energy for far more important things. This increased weight gain also leads to shorter hospital stays.Kangarooed infants can have as much as a 50% shorter hospital stay than babies who are not kangarooed. This means less expense for the parents and children. In 1990, Dr. Susan Ludington demonstrated that mothers showed thermal synchrony with their babies. A recent study placed babies in Kangaroo Care position on the mother's chest and temperatures were taken periodically of both the mother's chest and the baby. The study revealed that when the baby got cold, the mother's body temperature would increase to ‘warm' the baby up. The reverse was also true.Given a suggestion of â€Å"Your baby looks warm to me† by a nurse, the mother's chest temperature would decrease within minutes to compensate. Extra blankets and monitoring of baby's temper ature might be needed when Dad or others practice Kangaroo Care, but in 1997, Karl Bauer wrote that one hour of skin-to-skin contact (Kangaroo Care) was no cold to preterm infants. In 1998, Papi A Gomez found infants in Kangaroo Care for more than 50 minutes were 8 times more likely to breast feed spontaneously. Kangaroo Care allows for easy access to the breast, and the skin-to-skin contact increases milk let-down.A receiving blanket, strategically placed to catch extra milk is extremely helpful – especially if the baby is unable to breast feed. Otherwise, some doctors argue that there is risk of a bacterial infection if vulnerable infants come out from incubators. However, by using kangaroo care the immunity of premature babies is built up so they are not easily affected by any bacterial infection. Why? It’s because of the breast milk, containing lymphocytes and macrophages that produce antibodies. The kangaroo care facilitates an easy access breast feeding for both moms and babies than incubators.As long as mothers are in good health and can produce healthy breast milk, the premature babies’ immune system will develop. Richardson proposed that brain development is more rapid in the baby who benefits from Kangaroo care. Her research reveals that ‘alpha waves double in a baby being â€Å"kangarooed† versus a baby in an incubator. Alpha waves are the brain wave patterns associated with contentment and bliss. Delta brushes are a pattern formed when tracking brain activity that represents the creation of new neural synapses.Delta brushes are higher during Kangaroo care than during incubator care. ’ Through some cases and studies, kangaroo care can contribute to give an efficient treatment, as well as a miracle revival, to premature infants as long as it comes into wide use in a medical institution rather than using of artificial facilities which give stress to vulnerable infants. These benefits of kangaroo care are basica lly from mother’s love and communication. The incubator transport may give the stable care to the babies but it’s not perfect and not natural to them. It cannot be compared with mother’s bosom.Some hospitals, combining both this touching system and the incubator, experience the positive results from the kangaroo care. However, there is still a huge lack of the knowledge of the kangaroo care. How to encourage people to know about the kangaroo care? Telling is the best way to spread it out to people. When people become parents with knowledge of the kangaroo care, they may use this touching in their home. It’s easy for every parent to use. Parents should know that their love and touching are what vulnerable babies need, not a cold and impersonal facility.Bibliography Articles Barb Morrison. â€Å"Kangaroo Care: ‘Natures Best for our Little Ones’† (2006) Web Feb 22. 2012 <http://www. preciousimagecreations. com/presentations/kangaroocar e. pdf> Maria Blois. â€Å"Hold Me Close: ‘Encouraging essential mother/baby physical contact’† (2007) Web Feb 22. 2012 < http://www. babywearinginternational. org/Blois_research_summary. pdf> Dieter Sontheimer. â€Å"Kangaroo Transport Instead of Incubator Transport†(2004) Web Mar 11. 2004 < http://pediatrics. aappublications. org/content/113/4/920. full > Celeste Johnson. Kangaroo care is effective in diminishing pain response in preterm neonates† (2003) Web Mar 11. 2012 < http://archpedi. ama-assn. org/cgi/reprint/157/11/1084 > Leornard A. Herzenberg. â€Å"Soluable CD14 enriched in colostrum and milk induces B cell growth and differentiation† (2000) Web Mar 20. 2012 <http://www. pnas. org/content/98/2/603. full> Books Ludington-Hoe. â€Å"Kangaroo Care: The Best You Can Do for Your Premature Infant. † New York: Bantam Books(1993). Web Feb 22. 2012 Bergman. â€Å"Kangaroo Mother Care†. Geddes Product ions (2003). Web Feb 22. 2012 Web Mhaire Fraser. Mom Uses Kangaroo Care to Revive Child Pronounced Dead. † Care2 Make a Difference. Web. 22 Feb, 2012 Holly Richardson. â€Å"Kangaroo Care: Why Does It Work? † Midwifery Today. Web. 22 Feb, 2012 Krisanne Larimer. â€Å"Kangaroo Care Benfits† Premature Baby. Web. 22 Feb, 2012 Kaiser Family. â€Å"United States: Number of Birth, 2009† â€Å"United States: Number of Preterm Births, 2009† â€Å"United States: Preterm Births as a Percent of All Births, 2009† Statehealthfacts. org. Web Mar 14, 2012 Jane Sheppard. â€Å"Breastfeeding for a strong immune system†. Web. 20 Mar, 2012 Rebecca M. Pugh. â€Å"Supporting the birth that is right for you†. Web. 20 Mar, 2012

20th Century Modern Art Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

20th Century Modern Art - Essay Example Kandinsky was an artist whose concepts played a crucial role in developing Abstract Expressionism. The Surrealist idea of the unconscious and Freudian imagery gained popularity among the artists simultaneously, and Abstract Expressionists, especially Jackson Pollock developed the desire to express the unconscious. He was brought up in Arizona and then in Chico, California. During the 1950s, Abstract Expressionism reached its peak. Employing the Automatism technique (from Surrealism, where the artist was to paint without fully controlling his body, thus unlocking the unconscious) which led to his â€Å"drip paintings† later known as â€Å"action painting†, Using household paints instead of artist’s paints, and sticks and other tools as paint applicators, with his canvases laid on the floor, Pollock brought a revolution to this art form. He allowed people to come and watch him while he created masterpieces: moving around the canvas, dripping paint at different angl es; he seemed engaged in a dance. In 1938, he underwent a psychiatric treatment for his alcoholism and worked with two Jungian analysts. After this extremely influential experience, he began exploring his own unconscious symbolism, the result of which is visible in his work Male and Female which shows freely poured pigment for the first time. The brilliance in the poured paintings that he began from 1947 was that he chose numbers for their titles, widening the viewers’ scope by giving them freedom of interpretation, which he thought was limited otherwise. At the age of 44, Pollock passed away in a car accident; he was driving under the influence of alcohol. Pollock’s One (Number 31) is one of his abstract works that he painted using the ‘drip technique’. The canvas is covered with long patchy, free flowing irregular lines; the color scheme is very subtle, consisting of only black, blue, grey, brown and white on an off white background; the beauty of Abstra ct Expressionism is that it does not make a statement of it own, rather it invokes the observer’s subconscious, allowing them to interpret it the way they see it and how it makes them feel (Lanchner & Pollock, 32). However, keeping in mind the post world war era it was created in, one can imagine the chaos and pandemonium of that time and relate to it; it makes one wonder what it must have been like to live amidst all the destruction and bloodshed. On a closer look, one might feel like the black strokes represent moving, perhaps dancing or falling(after being shot, maybe?) stick men like figures; or figures who are trying to run away from the brown, blue, white and grey(the war, maybe, trying to save themselves?). Also, each color might have a meaning of its own: for instance, the brown(earth or ground), the white(people’s tears), the black(arms and ammunition). It is a good thing it does not have a decipherable image(s) with definite meaning. It is a thought provocati ve piece of art, and it leaves one with no doubt as to why the art critic, Clement Greenberg wrote, â€Å"and I knew Jackson was the greatest painter this country had producedâ€Å" about Pollock,who played a great role in expressing the then deplorable social and political conditions of America, and diverting people’s attention from them, hence providing an escape from reality. Abstract Expressionism had become so influential by the second world war that the amateur artists imitated the style as it was, thus lacking originality and innovation, deterring the general public from connecting with it. In the 1950s, a bunch of approaching artists, began defying the norm, using imagery relatable by the general public. That is when advertising started making consumer items like Coca-Cola into household names in America. the American culture was heavily

Rise of modern state in europe, under international relations and Essay

Rise of modern state in europe, under international relations and politics - Essay Example The most undesirable conditions of military defeats, civil wars and revolution which were prevailing during the origin of the third republic had intense impact on every facet of the life of French men. There have been a lot of scandals during the third republican rule and the State’s relationship with the church was disturbing. In spite of all these issue the third republic succeeded in unifying the feelings of French men towards the state by breaking the regional, linguistic and racial barriers. Origin of the Third Republic of France The living conditions of the French men were disgusting and the rich were becoming richer and the poor were becoming poorer. They were facing food shortage and the terrible after effects of military defeat especially the disastrous defeat at Sedan in 1870 were tormenting the people. All these factors turned the preference of the working class and the upper middle class towards the formation of democratic republic. They demanded a self governing F rance and a government with fairer managing techniques (The Third Republic of France 2004). The republican government of France during the period starting from 1870 until the attack of Germany on France in 1940 is termed as the Third Republic which emerged immediately after the fall of Napoleon III (Bloy 2011). There were sixty governments in France during the seventy years period renowned as the Third republic and Paris Commune was one among them occupying the period from March 18 to May 28, 1871. Certain historians prefer to divide the period in to three sections as the monarchist republic (1870-1879), the opportunist republic (1879-1899) and the radical republic (after 1899). As an outcome of the defeat of Napoleon III at Sedan against Prussia, there was a situation of political confusion. This was a crucial stage and the French emotion was towards monarchy and they were expecting ‘The Comte de Chambord’ or ‘The Comte de Paris’, the former from the Bourb on family and the latter, the grandson of Louis Philippe to rule them. But the monarchists failed to agree on an appropriate candidate, which paved the way for the victory of republicans in several elections. The republican leaders gained public support and constituted a provisional government called as the ‘Government of National Defence’ consisting of 11 members and the government was led by Adolphe Theirs who became the president in 1871. Theirs made a lot of enemies around him by his famous statement â€Å"there is only one throne of France and two men can not sit on it† which resulted in the removal of the moderate republican president and Marshal McMahon representing the monarchist became the president (Anderson 1984, p. 5). The constitutional laws implemented in1875 gave definitions to the Executive power and the Legislative power. They were the laws on Senate, laws on the authorities, and laws on the election of Senators and representatives. The president was elected by the Congress and his tenure was seven years. The Executive power was supposed to be exercised by the president while the Legislative powers were on the Senate and the Chamber. The amendment in 1879 made the constitution more republican in nature. Official establishment and the first ever celebration of the national day in the history of France happened on 14th July 1880 during the period of the third republic (France History - French Third Republic 2011). Social

AFA in news Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

AFA in news - Essay Example The other Wes however is not so lucky and surrounded himself with addicts, sunk deeper and deeper into drug trade, fathered many children and finally ends up behind bars. The story somehow connects to slavery since we are told of poor black neighborhoods which could have resulted due to the enslavement of the ancestors of the black community. Thus Blacks’ economic standards are usually lower than those of other races because they lack a firm and solid economic foundation, due to prolonged slavery of their forefathers. As I read the story, I could not help imagining how a person’s determination can elevate one beyond his/her current circumstances and improve one’s chance at living a better and morally upright life. The main problem portrayed in the story is that of drugs, crime and negative influences in one’s life. Thus the problem of crime and drugs is well highlighted and can be attributed to the kind that the other Wes Moore lived. A possible solution to this is educating such neighborhoods on the dangers of drug and crime involvement as well as making sure that youths have got enough role models and institutions to kee p them off the

Credit card frauds Literature review Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3750 words

Credit card frauds - Literature review Example Gomez (2008) observes in this regard that a rich businessman of United States Frank X. McNamara helped to enhance the concept of credit in regards to making purchases of consumer products and other utilities. McNamara worked to bring about the Diners Club cards which helped many people to avail meals on credit (Gomez, 2008, p.461). Definition and Type of Credit Cards Credit cards emerge as a better substitution for cash through which the consumers can go for purchasing different categories of commodities. Sander (2003) observes in this respect that credit card companies relate different types of products and services with the credit cards. However these companies are largely complained for charging high amount of interests and large amount of fees from the customers. Further, Sander (2003) observes that there are essentially three main different types of credit cards viz. ... In this regard, Bailyn (2007) states that use of credit cards helps in generation of protection to the consumers in regards to purchase of commodities. The consumers can easily return such purchases if availed through credit cards rather than cash. Again the use of credit cards also helps the financial organisations to gain easy access to potential information pertaining to the credit position of the individuals before rendering credit cards (Bailyn, 2007, p.30). Definition and History of Credit Card Frauds Fraud activities have earned a new dimension through the manipulative measures taken with the help of credit cards. Joshi (2006) states in this respect that fraudulent activities concerning misappropriation of financial resources through the use of credit cards constructs the basic premises of credit card fraud. Unauthorized access to accounts through the use of credit card or activities to gain possession of large number of goods and services through adulterated use of credit car ds are examples of credit card fraud (Joshi, 2006, p.40). Enhancement of fraudulent activities pertaining to credit card came into emergence with the development of internet. Montague (2004) observes in this respect that after the period of 1990s the development of internet technology has helped in the progress of electronic commerce. The use of credit cards to conduct such transactions online has led to the growth of hackers to retrieve potential information relating to such cards (Montague, 2004, p.43). Types of Credit Card Frauds With the growth of sophistication in consumerism the use of credit cards has gained huge momentum. Consumers around the world are found to increasingly gain hold of large number of consumer products through the extensive use of plastic

Different Portrayals of David by Different Artists Essay

Different Portrayals of David by Different Artists - Essay Example The essay "Different Portrayals of David by Different Artists" compares three paintings of David by such artists as Donatello, Michelangelo and Bernini. The most prominent similarity in the three art pieces is the nudity of the subject. Donatello and Michelangelo’s works shamelessly show even the private parts of their subject. Donatello shows David holding Goliath’s sword which he used to cut the head of the giant which he was standing on. He wears sandals and a helmet but his body is not covered at all. Seen on the front, the details of his body are obvious. A viewer can see David’s testicles and his well-built body. The details on his face draw curiosity from viewers because he seems to be looking far with deep thoughts. Michelangelo on the other hand pictures his subject with more details. He is also standing tall and nude but unlike Donatello’s sculpture, the second David has no covering on his feet or head. Michelangelo made more intricate details in his artwork that it seems very real. For instance, the muscular arms show evident veins, the abdomen and chest are well-chiseled to show a natural look. In addition, the face is also very detailed so as to show the facial expression of the subject. Bernini on the other hand covered the private part of his figure. His David is not simply standing but is shown to be in action, almost ready to fight Goliath with a slingshot. On the front view, part of his back is seen and his chest is covered as he positions himself to shoot his enemy.

United States National Debt Ceiling Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

United States National Debt Ceiling - Essay Example The debate was related with the appropriate level of the Government spending and its impacts on the overall debt and deficit of the country. The crisis was so significant that it affected the US stock market heavily. Prices of the Federal bonds increased like anything and investors were significantly confused about the future economic situations of the world’s oldest democracy. Political fraternity across the country was raising their voices to cut down the governmental expenditures to manage the debt ceiling. Budget deficit was increasing, to tame that deficit debt ceiling was a reactive measure. Due to this economic turmoil, credit rating agency Standard & Poor’s downgraded the credit rating of USA for the first time in US history. The debt ceiling of 2011 was introduced to improve the health of the US financial markets. But unfortunately the measure of debt ceiling was not at all beneficiary for the US financial markets. Lower assets prices and the higher borrowing costs had significant impacts on the public spending. People of the country were significantly uncertain related with the fluctuating assets prices and the borrowing costs. They were not willing to spend their money. Credit risk and stock prices volatility were prominent in 2011 and it continued up to 2012. VIX is a volatility index which is used for measuring the implied volatility in the financial market. During that period of time of debt ceiling that index jumped upwards. It stayed elevated for longer period of time (Irving & Engel, 2011, pp. 34-35). During that period of time investors did not invested their moneys as they perceived the situation as significantly risky. As the market was significantly volatile, investors stored their money as the buffer for the future adverse situations. During that period of time S&P 500 index of equity fell drastically. It was almost 17% down. At that point of time there was no sign of improvement. The index remained on the lower side. The fall in

The influence of leadership of developing effective life-long learning Essay

The influence of leadership of developing effective life-long learning experience for me - Essay Example In addition, the unit serves as a major basis for me to build new skills, (the most important being leadership skill) that other modules/units in my degree program may not have given me the opportunity to develop. For instance, I was able to identify a leader whom I admire, the themes/leadership qualities that enabled the leader to attain outstanding success in this area of endeavour and how I can emulate those qualities in my own personal development. I wish to evaluate how directly and indirectly their lives have influenced my circumstances as well as personality.In furtherance of the skills developed, I am able to adopt a critical thinking approach to several areas of my life, reflecting and constantly assessing my life to ensure continuous development/growth. I am able to challenge myself as an individual as well as my intellect and nurture my inbuilt abilities to bring out the leader in me.In the light of my continuous wish to excel in life, it is very important to state my back ground as well as early influences in life that induced a source of motivation in me to work hard in order to accomplish tasks towards success. My name is Mukaila Adegoke, born on 15th February 1962 in Iwo, the Osun State of Nigeria. This was the era when President John F Kennedy established his office as 35th president of the USA and gave a major input in the history of civil rights. President John F Kennedy pressurized the government authorities and organizations to provide work for African Americans equivalent to Britain Civil Service.

Philosophy of Economic Thought Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3250 words

Philosophy of Economic Thought - Essay Example An examination of key contributions made by her research and related findings suggests that Dow has, additionally, played a pivotal role in the evolution of a new, more rigorous methodological approach to economics which dictates attention and respect for the emerging pluralistic notions which are omnipresent throughout the dual theories that comprise economic discourse and debate. Dow’s observations are, subsequently, as much descriptive as they are prescriptive toward the improvement and betterment of a study which maintains sociological relevance to the universal human condition. The following analysis shall highlight some of the key contributions made by Sheila Dow throughout the duration of the evolution of her thought on the topic of heterodox economics. Key Assumptions The evolution of Dow’s thoughts on economics begins with the formation and establishment of key assumptions concerning the human condition and its relation to the study of economics. As a heterodox economist, Dow is, first and foremost, very aware and interested in the orthodox theories which provide the foundation upon which newer, more innovative methodologies in the field of economics come to pass. However, Dow’s study of these theories has given rise to the formation of certain assumptions concerning the grander study of economics at large. First, it is shown that Dow understands all ontological theories to be ontological in nature, or, in layman’s terms, relating to the condition of one’s being or existence. This is, in part, because these theories all come from humans who maintain a certain awareness of their own existence and the relation that that condition plays to the outside world. Thus, Dow maintains that it is impossible for an economic theory to be objective because the very nature of a theory is value-based and therefore subjective (Dow, 2002). Dow states: â€Å"†¦ economics is dealing with human beings who function within a social sy stem† (p. 10). Therefore, it is difficult to presume that any single economic theory offers objectivity independent from the social system that gave birth to it. A second assumption which Dow comes to rely on in the formation of her further studies is that economics, as a study and, arguably (and at times) as a science, should be applied to real world scenarios. This assumption is built upon a general frustration with an economic ‘science’ whose diverging, pluralistic principles appear to adhere to an ‘anything goes’ methodology that starts with theory and ends with theory in a basic extrapolation of fantasy. She states: â€Å"We need to distinguish between a plurality of methodologies, or approaches, on the one hand and a methodology which advocates a plurality of methods on the other† (Dow, 2001a, p. 9). In this way Dow is advocating for a methodology which approaches the very real existence of pluralism within the field of economics with a m eticulous and ordered strategy of applying alleged theories to the real world. Dow’s second assumption is, admittedly and, perhaps, necessarily, mitigated by the first in that the overly-meticulous methodology which would hold a theory or concept to a mathematical benchmark might fail to entirely encompass the truth behind the

Impact of Texting On Society Essay Example for Free

Impact of Texting On Society Essay A majority of 57 % of teenagers said they view their cell phones as the key to their social life. 47 % of teens say their social lives would end or worsen if texting was no longer an option. The impact of texting even expands in the classroom as numerous amount of teachers nationwide are noticing texting lingo in papers that are handed into them. 64 % of students nationwide say they text in class at least once a week. 54 % of teens prefer texting instead of talking face-to-face or talking on the phone. Texting has become the biggest phenomena in the past decade. One-third of American teens today text over 100 times a day. Texting has even expanded to adults. But in contrast to its original purpose, texting has become a curse, hindering communication, attentiveness, social lives, and even academics. Due to this, texting has become a phenomena that has changed or hindered development and abilities of society negatively. Furthermore, with the increasing numbers of texting, the use of texting messaging has hampered people’s abilities to communicate effectively. LOL, OMG, and BTW are examples of the new texting â€Å"lingo†. Text messaging started its own â€Å"language† in which words and sentences are shortened to what they sound like instead of how they are really spelled. When 293 of teachers where surveyed, 193 of them said that students are carrying text message lingo in their class assignments ( Negative Aspects of Text Messaging 1). This means that many students are shortening their words and using ineffective grammar not only while they text but also when they do school assignments. Even though many teachers have found texting habits in papers being handed into them, some say that the main problem is the lack of depth the students work. Texting is very simple and with the rapid growth of texting student’s sentence are starting to become simpler and less descriptive. Likewise, texting has caused a lack of verbal communication skills on people. Studies have shown that text messaging is the number one form of communication the people prefer, including face-to face or verbal communication. Text messaging is simpler than verbal communication because there is no real depth in the conversation and the people that are communicating don’t have to be engage in the conversation. College engineering major Darko Marquez agrees with this by saying â€Å"The thing I love most about texting is that unlike the phone where you have to sit and concentrate into a long, boring conversation, you can multi-task and talk to as much people as you want†(Cesar Marquez 1). Darko is an example of people in society today lacking the ability to get emotionally attached in a verbal conversation. Psychologist Cecilia Holguin has studied effect of texting on communication skills and her studies have shown that texting does not have any emotional connection compared to verbal conversations, which attracts many young people to texting(Cesar Marquez 1). This means that texting is making society simpler and less emotionally attached while communicating. Furthermore, effective communication and grammar is vital for society to improve intellectually. But unfortunately, texting messaging is playing a key role in hampering society’s improvement in communication and grammar. Likewise, texting has not just affected communication but is also has changed the development of adolescence. Texting has been profoundly used by teenagers in America. Almost, if not all, teens in society text to one another. Teenager’s text everywhere and anytime they can. Teens text in class, at the dinner table, at parties, even if they are in the same room they text to one another. Texting has been hurting many teenagers grades because they text instead of studying or doing homework. A 13 year-old teen named Reina grades plummeted because she texts about 14,528 messages a month(Katie Hafner 1). Reina was so focused on texting that she would push her schoolwork to the side. But grades is not the only thing affecting teens. Sleep deprivation has been a problem because many teens stay up later to text friends. About 80% of teens that text late at night have problems with maintaining good sleeping habits. Sleep deprivation itself has negative side effects on adolescent’s health such as unintentional injuries, poor school performance, low grades, and an increase in mood disturbances(Teen Texting Taking a Toll: Lack of Sleep May Impact School Performance and Mood 1). Furthermore, if texting is causing sleep deprivation, than the health of adolescent’s and their performance academically is at stake. Likewise, the emotional development of adolescents is taking a toll due to the rapid growth of texting. Many teens keep in touch with their parents throughout the day due to instant contact of texting. Due to this many teens have an attachment problem. Sherry Turkle studies have shown that with the constant contact of student’s parents teens lack independence and the ability to make decisions of their own (Texting is not talking 1). This means that instead of teens maturing on their own, they are becoming more dependent. Teens are very important in society because they are our future. If texting is negatively affecting teen’s developments, than there is no future. Texting needs to be limited in order for adolescences to mature into independent, intellectual adults. In continuation, different types of relationships have also been affected by the rapid growth of text messaging. Family structure is important in society because how kids are taught at home resemble their actions in public. Families are important to give advice, love, and support. But texting has played a key role in decreasing the amount of time families spend together. Teens are always texting to their peers, which normally isolates themselves from the rest of their family. Even at dinner time, numerous amounts of parents have said they have caught their child texting while at the dinner table. But it is not just teens, parents do it as well. Some parents usually text excessively for work, making it hard to spend time with their children. A parent-child relationship cannot be strengthen when a child or a parent is texting excessively which makes it harder for children to lose crucial life skills(Michele Borba 1). In romantic relationships, texting is a key attribute in many relationships. April Jones says that texting is major in her relationship and that she texts her boyfriend 20 times a day at least(Jefferson Graham 1). This means that April and her boyfriend have instant contact with each other which means less space and privacy. In continuation, some couples even call it quits through texting instead of face-to-face or a phone call. In a survey, 30% of the people surveyed said they have been dumped through texting and another 24% say it is acceptable to dump someone via text( Jefferson Graham 1). This means that text has decreased the emotional aspect of relationships and breaking up. Peter Tollner had experienced a break up via text and that most of the communication had been through texting even though they work in the same office( Jefferson Graham 1.) This means that romantic relationships have shifted to texting instead of affectionate time spent together. Bonds and relationships are important and in order to maintain these bonds time must be spent with one another. But with the increase of texting, family relationships and romantic relationships have changed for the worst. Furthermore, texting has ultimately became a distraction for many people of all ages. In the classroom, many teachers have caught their students texting. Schools across the nation have banned the use of cell phones in the classroom. But students continue to use their cell phones to check up on their peers or even text someone in their classroom. According to studies by Professors Deborah Tindell and Robert Bohlander, 95% of students bring their cell phone to class and 91% text while in class(Audrey Watters College Students Admit To â€Å"Shocking† Text Messaging Habits in Class 1). Of course it varies from school to school and class to class, but the number of students using cell phones in class is steadily increasing. This increase in cell phone use in class distracts students from the lesson and contributes to poor performances academically. Furthermore, what is worst than distractions in the classroom is distraction on the road due to texting. The numbers of people that are dying due to texting while has increased over the years. People who text while driving put themselves and others lives in danger. Even thought many states have banned DWT or driving while texting, but a new survey shows that 26% stiil do it and 60% of the 24% are from ages 16-19(Robert Roy Britt 1). This means that lives, especially youth lives, are in danger. According to studies, 16,000 deaths have been caused from texting while driving in a course of six years, 2002-2007,(Stephanie Hanes 1). The addictive aspects of texting have affected people so much they do it everywhere and anywhere they can. People do it in classrooms, in restaurants, and even while driving. Texting has become a major distraction in the classroom and even on the road. In continuation, texting has become people, especially adolescence’s, social lives and without texting many people would not know what to do. 57 % of students feel that their cell phones are a key to their social lives and 47% of that 57% feel that their social lives will get worse if their cell phones were taking from them. To maintain a healthy social life people must gather and enjoy an activity or spend time with each other. But now some people feel as if their the main part of a social life is communicating by texting instead of gathering together. Dr. Martin Joffe surveyed teens and found out that many students text about a hundred times a day(Katie Hafner 1). This means that most of time that teens spend together is not actually with each other but texting one another. With the rapid increase of texting, a new form of harassment is being displayed through texting. 39% of high school students said that they have been bullied through text messaging(Text-message bullying b ecoming more common 1). This means that rumors and nasty things are being said about teenagers through texting. This can ruin someone’s social life and even crush someone’s self-esteem. Bullying has been around for years, but with instant communication of texting more things can be spread to more people faster than ever. Social life is key for adolescence development. Texting has changed social life by communicating in person to texting being a number one form of communication. Texting has become a curse that has hindered many aspects of society such as communication, attentiveness, teenagers, social lives, and relationships. Texting has become a huge phenomena that is changing how adolescence develop mature. With the increase of texting, people no longer have to put forth the effort to do things that are normally done in person. Texting has made people more dependent and it has worsen critical thinking. Therefore, texting has become a problem that has negatively affected the skills and abilit ies of society.

When and Why Good Proteins Go Bad

When and Why Good Proteins Go Bad The body manufactures proteins by chaining together smaller molecules called amino acids. Once the amino acids are chained together, they fold into complex three-dimensional shapes. How a protein folds determines what a protein does. In the 1950s, Nobel laureate Linus Pauling figured out that for most proteins, there are two preferred basic shapes: An alpha helix, where the protein folds into a right-handed spiral coil; and A beta sheet configuration, like a stack of folded cardboard panels. Chris Dobson, the head of Cambridges chemistry department, is one of the worlds leading experts on proteins. He found that proteins dont always fold up correctly into their native state. Using chemical agents and heat energy, Dobson showed that it was easy to unfold protein molecules. And once unfolded, the misfolded molecules can morph into long, thin fibrils that stick together and grow into clumps, or amyloids, which over time could lead to amyloid diseases. Such amyloids almost never build up in healthy living cells because the cells have control systems to prevent molecules from misfolding. But these cellular controls can fail for multiple reasons such as genes, environment, and age. Even though each disease involves a different protein alpha-synuclein is involved with PD, tau and amyloid-beta with Alzheimers, and huntingtin with Huntintons disease the cellular control systems fail in much the same way. In 1972, a physician named Stanley Prusiner watched one of his patients die of a rare condition called Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease. In this rapidly progressing disease, patients suffer dementia, memory loss, and hallucinations. He discovered that this disease had linked to two other infectious neurodegenerative disease: scrapie a disease that affects sheep and goats with a kind of animal dementia; and kuru a disease of the Fore tribe in New Guinea. Prusiner noted that the three diseases had much in common. All were 100 percent fatal. All left sponge-like holes in their victims brains. All killed without evoking an immune response. All required long incubation times generally measured in years. All appeared to be contagious; when brain tissue from deceased sheep or people was injected into healthy animals, the recipients got sick. In the 1980s and 1990s, scientists found four other diseases that behaved like scrapie, kuru, and Credtzfeldt-Jakob disease: bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), or mad cow disease; a new variant of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease resulting from eating BSE-diseased cattle (vCJD), something that had caused a massive public health scare in Britain; and two very rare hereditary diseases, fatal familial insomnia and Gerstmann-Strà ¤ussler-Scheinker disease. But most remarkable was that this set of diseases appeared to be carried by a pathogen unlike anything seen in the history of medicine. The mysterious entity was very difficult to kill. Scrapie brain tissue, for example, remained infectious even after being frozen, boiled in water, soaked in formaldehyde, exposed to ionizing radiation, and flooded with intense ultraviolet light- processes that were known to rapidly destroy the DNA and RNA inside pathogens like viruses and bacteria. Prusiner spend years trying to isolate the infectious agent. He found no virus. He claimed that the disease was directly spread by proteins not just any proteins, but infectious ones, which he called prions. In 1997, Prusiner received the Nobel Prize for discovery of prions. Something similar seems to happen with all amyloid diseases: misfolded single proteins (monomers) stick to other molecules to form oligomers, which grow into fibrils, which become amyloid plaques. Along the way, growing fibril structures can break off and serve as templates for secondary amyloid growth. The secondary spread of fibrils is quicker in pure prion diseases like scrapie; thats what may account for prion diseases animal-to-animal contagiousness. But the idea is the same for noncontagious diseases like PD. And compelling evidence that alpha-synuclein could spread in a prion-like manner in fact emerged in 2007, data that persuaded neuroscientists and chemist. In 2007, by performing autopsies of neural grafting patients, Swedish scientist Patrik Brundin and the neuropathologist Jeff Kordower came up with two conclusion. First, the fetal transplants did not stop the progression of the disease; even after the transplanting of the new cells, the disease process continued. Second, the misfolded alpha-synuclein was truly capable of jumping from cell to cell in a prion-like fashion. Given time, the misfolded protein could spread throughout the brain. This was somewhat of a paradigm shift, and a new era in PD research started. Dobson believes these protein-folding disease will be easier to cure than cancer. To slow down Alzheimers and PD, you need to reduce the amount of beta amyloid and alpha-synuclein. One compound named Anle138b has proved effective in mouse models of PD. It crossed the blood-brain barrier, caused no adverse effects at high doses, and significantly reduced oligomer accumulation. As a result, Anle138b-treated parksinsonian mice experience less nerve call degeneration and survived much longer than untreated controls. Key Takeaways Misfolded proteins can morph into an amyloid form leading to amyloid diseases such as PD, Alzheimers, and Huntingons disease. Stanley Prusiner discovered prion, an infectious agent composed entirely of protein material, that can fold in multiple ways, leading to disease similar to viral infection.