Nursing Research Utilization Project Essay Example for Free

Nursing Research Utilization Project Essay Plans to Decide the Future of Your Solution This evidence-based practice method will be implemented as a proposed solution to decreasing heart failure (HF) readmission rates. Transitional care activities ensure health care continuity, reduce risk of poor health outcomes, and facilitate safe transfer between levels of care or health care settings (Naylor et al., 2011). Methods and Specific Plans to Maintain a Successful Project Solution Methods and Specific Plans to Extend a Successful Project Solution This proposal will be implemented as a pilot program between the Heart Hospital and the Norfolk branch of the home care agency. If this transitional care program is successful in reducing HF readmission rates, additional sites will be given the opportunity to participate. Preference will be given to those agency locations that have a large HF population served by the Heart Hospital. The project team will reach out to the branch administration and clinical educators to share program details and current data related to readmission rates as a result of program implementation. The team will also assess whether this program proposal is feasible at other hospitals within the health system. The team will gather input from hospital administrators and the informatics department to decide which hospitals would be best suited to pilot this program. In addition, there must be a home health agency that is part of the system located within 25 miles of the hospital. The end goal of this proposal is to achieve system wide implementation of the transitional care program at all 12 acute care facilities and 19 home health branches in Virginia. Methods and Specific Plans to Revise an Unsuccessful Project Solution Ongoing monitoring of the transitional care program for HF readmissions will be performed by the representatives of the hospital and home health agency. On the hospital side, a clinical nurse specialist on the cardiac unit and a program analyst will ensure that referrals are made to appropriate patients and discharge plans include the transitional care activities. On the home health side, the Norfolk branch team leader, clinical informaticist, and information technology data specialist will monitor program operations. This team will collaborate closely to ensure that program implementation is successful. If the program is not yielding the expected outcomes then a strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT) analysis will be performed. All barriers identified will be addressed in a timely manner and changes may be made to the initial plan to promote success. In addition, staff and patients will be surveyed to ascertain challenges not readily apparent to the implementation team. These surveys will be designed and conducted by the clinical education department for the hospital and home health agency. The timeframe for conducting patient surveys will occur within seven days of admission into the program and then every 60 days. Since patients will need to be reassessed every 60 days for continuation of home health services, it is feasible to conduct the transitional care program survey concurrently. The team reserves the right to conduct additional patient surveys if a patient is readmitted to the hospital at any time during program participation or opts out of the transitional care program. Staff at the hospital and home health agency will be surveyed 90 days from their training date on the transitional care program and then every six months. Results of these surveys will be shared with the project team implementation coordinators during the monthly team meeting. Methods and Specific Plans to Terminate an Unsuccessful Project Solution Specific Plans for Feedback in the Work Setting and for Communicating the Project and its Results to Professional Groups External to the Project Conclusion Despite its high prevalence, HF care is often fragmented and uncoordinated. The transitional care program proposed by the team seeks to address these gaps in care and to reduce HF readmission rates. Discussion Questions References Melnyk, B.M., Fineout-Overholt, E. (2011). Evidence-based practice in nursing healthcare: A guide to best practices. (2nd ed.). Philadelphia, PA: Wolters Kluwer Health/Lippincott Williams Wilkins. Retrieved from University of Phoenix eBooks. Russell, D., Rosati, R.J., Sobolewski, S., Marren, J., Rosenfeld, P. (2011). Implementing a transitional care program for high-risk heart failure patients: Findings from a community- based partnership between a certified home healthcare agency and regional hospital. Journal for Healthcare Quality, 33(6), 17-24. Retrieved from EBSCOhost.

Overview of VPN Evolution of Private Networks

Overview of VPN Evolution of Private Networks Before the emergence and popularity virtual private networks have gained as a secure and cheaper medium for sensitive information to be accessed and transmitted between two or more corporate network over a public network such as the internet, other network technologies have been innovated and used to connect within business sites and across to other sites that are miles away from each other. In the sixties, sites were connected together to enable data transfer through the use of analog phone lines and 2,400-bps modems leased from ATT, businesses had no other faster modems they could choose from because the telephone companies were controlled by the government. It was not until the early eighties that businesses were able to connect to sites at higher speed using 9,600-bps modems because other telephone companies emerged as a result of the changes in government control and policy on telephone. During this period, there were not much mobile workers besides the modem links were static not as dynamic as what is available now. The analog phone lines were permanently wired to the sites and were specially selected lines (called conditional lines) that were specifically built for full time use by companies; these lines are different from regular phone lines. This technology ensured full bandwidth and privacy but this came at a great cost, i.e. payment is expected for the full ba ndwidth even if the line was used or not. Another innovation that was used for connecting sites which came out in the mid 1970s was the Digital Data Service (DDS). This was the first digital service with a connection of 56 Kbps and was used for private line. This service later became a major and useful innovation for wide area networks, which grew into other services that are popularly used today such as the T1 service which consists of 24 separate channels and each can carry up to 64 Kbps of either data or voice traffic. In the late 1970s the idea of VPN was initiated with the introduction of an innovation called the X.25. It is a Virtual Connection (VC) form of WAN packet switching which logically separates data streams. With this function, the service provider is able to send as many point-to-point VCs across a switch network infrastructure, depending each endpoints have a device that facilitates communication in the site. Sometime in the early 1980s, X.25 service providers offered VPN services to customers (i.e. businesses) who used network protocols at the time as well as early adopters of TCP/IP. Over years, in the 1990s other networking technologies were deployed for connecting private networks such as the high speed Frame relay and Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) switching. This networking technologies were provided to give virtual connection to businesses at the speed of up to OC3 (155 Mbps). The components for setting up this kind of technologies involved the use of customer IP routers (customer premise equipment, or CPE) interconnected in a partial or full mesh of frame relay or ATM VCs to other CPE devices, in other words less equipments are needed for its set up. – Metz, C. (2003). Based on some definitions and some researchers like Mangan, T. (2001), the frame relay and ATM technology are referred the standard for VPN technology. These technologies gained so much popularity after the leased line in connecting sites and they were also easy to set up. With the increasing speed at which businesses grow and expand globally, thereby allowing staffs to be mobile and work offsite, the frame relay is not the best technology to use for remote access since it is just an overlay technology. In as much as the leased line is a better technology alternative for connecting business sites, it is excessively expensive to be owned. With the advent of the internet and its wide use in everyday transaction, businesses have adopted the technology for transmitting and accessing data across various sites by implementing a VPN connection, which is relatively cheap, flexible and scalable, between both sites in order to secure the data that are sent across the insecure internet from being tampered by unauthorized persons. VPN definition There are various definitions of a Virtual Private Network (VPN) which are given by various vendors which best describes their products. Several books, journals, whitepapers, conference papers and internet sites have various definitions of what the technology is, and these definitions are usually put in different words and sentence structure but mostly they say the same thing. In order to get a good understand of what the technology is all about, definitions given by several people from different sources will be looked at and a concise definition will be formulated from all definitions that will be used throughout this research work. â€Å"A virtual private network (VPN) is a network that uses a public telecommunication infrastructure, such as the Internet, to provide remote offices or individual users with secure access to their organizations network.† SearchSecurity.com (2008). â€Å"A VPN is a group of two or more computer systems, typically connected to a private network (a network built and maintained by an organization solely for its own use) with limited public-network access that communicates securely over a public network.† (Calsoft labs whitepaper, 2007) Aoyagi, S. et al. (2005) A Virtual Private Network (VPN) enables a private connection to a LAN through a public network such as the Internet. With a VPN, data is sent between two nodes across a public network in a manner that emulates a dial-link. There are two types of VPN systems, one is used for connecting LANs across the Internet, and the other is used to connect a remote node to a LAN across the Internet. â€Å"A VPN tunnel encapsulates data within IP packets to transport information that requires additional security or does not conform to internet addressing standards. The result is that remote users act as virtual nodes on the network into which they have tunnelled.† – Kaeo, M. (2004) p135. â€Å"A VPN is a virtual network connection that uses the internet to establish a connection that is secure.† Holden, G. (2003), p 286. â€Å"A VPN uses a public network, such as the internet, to facilitate communication; however it adds a layer of security by encrypting the data travelling between companies and authenticating users to ensure that only authorized users can access the VPN connection†. Mackey, D. (2003) p157 Randall, K. et al. (2002), p377 likened a Virtual Private Network (VPN) to a Tunnel Mode, as a means of transmitting data between two security gateways, such as two routers, that encrypts the entire IP packet and appends a new IP header entering the receiving gateways address in the destination address. â€Å"VPNs enable companies to connect geographically dispersed offices and remote workers via secure links to the private company network, using the public Internet as a backbone.† Lee, H. et al (2000) Looking at all these definitions closely from various authors, they all stress on security and connectivity. These are the essential features of VPNs because they are able to create a connection between two private networks over a public network by encapsulation and tunnelling protocols in transmitting data and also provide security by encryption and authentication in order to control access to data and resources on the company’s network. In other words a VPN is a network technology that securely connects two or more private networks over an insecure public network such as the internet, so as to enable internal access to files and resources and data transfer. Types of VPN There are three different VPN connectivity models that can be implemented over a public network: Remote-access VPNs: It provides remote access to an enterprise customer’s intranet or extranet over a shared infrastructure. Deploying a remote-access VPN enables corporations to reduce communications expenses by leveraging the local dial up infrastructures of internet service providers. At the same time VPN allows mobile workers, telecommuters, and day extenders to take advantage of broadband connectivity. Access VPNs impose security over analog, dial, ISDN, digital subscriber line (DSL), Mobile IP, and cable technologies that connect mobile users, telecommuters, and branch offices. Intranet VPNs: It links enterprise customer headquarters, remote offices, and branch offices in an internal network over a shared infrastructure. Remote and branch offices can use VPNs over existing Internet connections, thus providing a secure connection for remote offices. This eliminates costly dedicated connections and reduces WAN costs. Intranet VPNs allow access only to enterprise customer’s employees. Extranet VPNs: It links outside customers, partners, or communities of interest to an enterprise customer’s network over a shared infrastructure. Extranet VPNs differ from intranet VPNs in that they allow access to uses outside the enterprise. VPN configurations There are two main types of VPN configurations for deploying the VPN connection over a public network. These are; Site-to-site VPNs: This is sometimes referred to as secure gateway-to-gateway connections over the internet, private or outsourced networks. This configuration secures information sent across multiple LANS and between two or more office networks and this can be done effectively by routing packets across a secure VPN tunnel over the network between two gateway devices or routers. The secure VPN tunnel enables two private networks (sites) to share data through an insecure network without fear that the data will be intercepted by unauthorized persons outside the sites. The site-to-site VPN establishes a one-to-one peer relationship between two networks via the VPN tunnel Kaeo, M. (2004. Also Holden, G. (2003), describes a site-to-site VPN as a link between two or networks. This is mostly used in Intranet VPNs and sometimes in extranet VPNs. Client-to-Site VPNs: This is a configuration that involves a client at an insecure remote location who wants to access an internal data from outside the organization network’s LAN. Holden, G. (2003) explains a client-to-site VPN as a network made accessible to remote users who need dial-in access. While Kaeo, M. (2004) defined a client-to-site VPN as a collection of many tunnels that terminate on a common shared end point on the LAN side. In this configuration, the user needs to establish a connection to the VPN server in order to gain a secure route into the site’s LAN and this can be done by configuring a VPN client which could either be a computer operating system or hardware VPN – such as a router. By so doing, the connection enables the client to access and use internal network resources. This kind of configuration is also referred to as secure client-to-gateway connection. This is usually used in access VPNs and sometimes in extranet VPNs. VPN Topology VPN Components To create a VPN connection between sites or networks, it involves the use of some components. These components however contain some elements that need to be properly set up in order to aid the transmission of data from one network endpoint to another. These elements include: VPN server: This is either a computer system or router configured to accept connections from the client (i.e. a remote computer) who gains access by dialling in or connecting directly through the internet. This serves as one endpoint of the VPN tunnel. VPN client: This can either be a hardware based system; usually a router that serves as the endpoint of a gateway-to-gateway VPN connection, or a software based system; either an inbuilt or downloaded software program on the computer operating system that can be configured to function as an endpoint in a VPN, such as Windows XP, 2000 or vista or checkpoint client software. Tunnel – this is the link between the VPN server and client endpoints through which the data is sent. VPN protocols – These are set of standardised data transmission technologies the software and hardware systems use to create security rules and policies on data sent along the VPN. Types of VPN Systems The VPN components form the endpoints of the VPN connection from one private network to another through the public network. The choice of what components to use is dependent on various factors such as the size of the organization – is it a small, large or growing organization, the cost involved in implementing a VPN either by using new components or existing components and lastly, the choice of which of the components will is best for the connection. There are three components that can be used to set up a VPN connection, also a combination of any of these components can be used to set up a VPN connection. One way to set up a VPN is to use Hardware device. The hardware device is a VPN component that is designed to connect gateways or multiple LANS together over the public network by using secure protocols to ensure network and data security. There are two devices that are commonly used that perform these functions. One typical hardware based VPN device used is a router, which is used to encrypt and decrypt data that goes in and out of the network gateways. Another device is a VPN appliance, its objective is to terminate VPNs connection and join multiple LANs (Holden, G. 2003). This device creates a connection between multiple users or networks. The VPN hardware devices are more cost effective for fast growing organizations since they are built to handle more network traffic. It is a better choice when considering the network throughput and processing overhead. It is also a good choice when the routers used at each network ends are the same and controlled by the same organization. Another way to set up a VPN is to use a Software based component. The software component is a program, otherwise stored on the operating system of the system, which can be used to set up a VPN connection. It is easy to configure and more flexible and cost effective than the hardware VPN. They are suitable in networks that use different routers and firewalls or are best used between different organizations and network administrators – such as partner companies. The software VPNs allow traffic to be tunnelled based on address or protocols unlike hardware-based products, which generally tunnel all traffic that it handles. But software-based systems are generally harder to manage than hardware based systems. They require familiarity with the host operating system, the application itself, and appropriate security mechanisms. And some software VPN packages require changes to routing tables and network addressing schemes (Calsoft labs whitepaper, 2007). The third component, is the Firewall based VPN; it makes use of the firewall’s mechanisms as well as restricting access to the internal network. This kind of component ensures that the VPN traffic passes through the network gateway of the desired destination and non-VPN traffic is filtered according to the organization’s security policy, this is achieved by it performing address translation, making sure that requirements for strong authentication are in order and serving up real-time alarms and extensive logging. These three components can be combined together to set up a VPN in order add layers of security on the network. This can be a combination of hardware and software VPN or a combination of all three in the same device. There are several Hardware based VPN packages that offer software –only clients for remote installation, and incorporate some of the access control features more traditionally managed by firewalls or other perimeter security devices (Calsoft labs whitepaper, 2007). An example of such device is the Cisco 3000 Series VPN concentrator which gives users the option of operating in two modes: client and network extension mode. In the client mode the device acts as a software client enabling a client-to-host VPN connection while in the extension mode it acts as a hardware system enabling a site-to-site VPN connection. Also a combination of all these components by different vendors can be used to set up a VPN connection, but this comes with some challenges. The solution as proposed by Holden, G (2004) is to use a standard security protocol that is widely used and supported by all products. VPN Security Features The main purpose of VPN is to ensure security and connectivity (tunnel) over a public network and this cannot be done without some key activities being performed and policies set up. For VPNs to provide a cost–effective and better way of securing data over an insecure network it applies some security principles/measures. Data sent over the internet using the TCP/IP rule are called packets. A packet consists of the data and an IP header. The first thing that happens to a data being sent across a VPN is that it gets encrypted at the source endpoint and decrypted at the destination endpoint. Encryption is a method of protecting information from unauthorised persons by coding the information that can only be read by the recipient. The method, encryption, is done by using an algorithm which generates a key that allows information to be coded as unreadable by all and only readable to the recipient. The larger the number of data bits used to generate the key, the stronger the encryption and the harder it can be broken by intruders. Data encryption can be done in two ways; it can either be encrypted by transport mode or tunnel mode. These modes are process of transmitting data securely between two private networks. In transport mode, the data part (otherwise known as the payload) of the IP packet is encrypted and decrypted but not the header by both endpoint hosts. While in the tunnel mode both the data part and header of the IP packet are encrypted and decrypted between the gateways of the source computer and the destination computer. Another security measure implemented by VPN on data is IP Encapsulation. The VPN uses the principle of IP encapsulation to protect packets from being intercepted on the network by intruders by enclosing the actual IP packet in another IP packet having the source and destination address of the VPN gateways, therefore hiding the data being sent and the private networks IP address which â€Å"does not conform to internet addressing standards†. The third security measure is Authentication. This is a method of identifying a user by proving that the user is actually authorized to access and use internal files. Authenticating a, host, user or a computer that uses the VPN depends on the tunneling protocol established and also encryption for added security. The tunneling protocols that are widely used for authentication over a network are IPSec, PPTP, LT2P and SSL but the most commonly used is the IPSec. The hosts using VPN establish a Security Association (SA) and authenticate one another by exchanging keys which are generated by an algorithm (mathematical formula). These keys can either be symmetric key which is a private key that are exactly the same and only known by the hosts to verify the identity of one another or asymmetric key where each hosts has a private key that can be used to generate a public key. The sending host uses the other’s public key to encrypt information that can only be decrypted by the receiving host private key. The Point-to-Point Tunneling Protocol uses the Microsoft Challenge/Response Authentication Protocol (MS-CHAP) to authenticate computers using VPN by exchanging authentication packets to one another. Also the users connecting to VPN can be authenticated by what the user knows- a password (shared secret), what the user has – a smart card and what the user is – biometrics e.g. finger prints. VPN Tunnelling Protocols VPNs create secure connections, called tunnels, through public shared communication infrastructures such as the Internet. These tunnels are not physical entities, but logical constructs, created using encryption, security standards, and protocols Clemente, F. et al (2005). The VPN tunnelling protocol are set of standardised rules and policy that are employed on the transmitted data. There are various standard of protocol technologies used to create a VPN tunnel and each of these protocols is specially built with some unique security features. In this research work the protocols explained in this section are the most widely used. Internet Protocol Security (IPSec) The Internet Protocol Security (IPSec) has proposed in Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) Request for Comment (RFC) database in RFC (2401), provides data packet integrity, confidentiality and authentication over IP networks. The IPSec policy consists of sets of rules that designate the traffic to be protected, the type of protection, such as authentication or confidentiality, and the required protection parameters, such as the encryption algorithm. (Jason, K. 2003, Hamed, H. et al 2005, Shue, C. et al 2005, Berger, T. 2006, Clemente, F. et al 2005, Liu, L. and Gao, W. 2007). The IPSec protocol provides security at the network layer and offers a collection of methods, protocols, algorithms and techniques to establish a secure VPN connection. There are two basic modes of IPSec connections, Transport mode and Tunnel mode. The transport mode, attaches an IPSec header to the IP header of the packet. The Tunnel mode is more flexible compared to the transport mode; it encapsulates the IP packet into another IP packet, also attaching an IPSec header to the outer IP packet. This mode protects the entire IP packet. The IPSec modes, are determined and agreed on by both corporate networks at each end of the VPN connection, are contained in the Security Association(SA) among other things. The SA is a set of policy and keys used to protect information such as the IPSec modes, symmetric ciphers, and keys which are used during secure data transmission. The IPSec uses two main protocols that are usually used with any of the modes, the Authentication Header (AH), and Encapsulating Security Payload (ESP). The authentication header contains a Security Parameter Index(SPI) and provides data authentication and integrity (MD5 or SHA-1 hash) on the whole IP packet but does not guarantee privacy (confidentiality) on the data. ESP guarantees privacy (confidentiality) on the data in addition to all the features AH provides. The ESP header includes an initialization field, which is used by symmetric block ciphers (Berger, T. 2006). Another essential protocol that IPSec uses in establishing the VPN tunnel is the Internet Key Exchange protocol (IKE). This protocol exchanges encryption keys and shares authentication data (RFC 2409) through UDP packets at port 500, and also relies on the Internet security association and key management protocol(ISAKMP) – this protocol allows both endpoints share a public key and authenticate themselves with digital certificates (RFC 2408). To create a VPN tunnel using the IPSec protocol, two things needs to be done. First, both networks need to agree on the SA for the IKE and this is done by using the Diffie – Hellman key exchange method to authenticate one another. After this is done, both network endpoints need to set the parameters for the VPN tunnel including symmetric cipher keys (and key expiry information), security policy, network routes, and other connection-relevant information. Point-to-Point Tunneling Protocol (PPTP) Point-to-Point Tunneling Protocol (PPTP) is a network protocol that enables the secure transfer of data from a remote client to a private enterprise server by creating a virtual private network (VPN) across TCP/IP-based data networks (Microsoft TechNet, 2008). PPTP operates at Layer 2 of the OSI model. PPTP, as specified in the RFC 2637 document, is a protocol that describes a means for carrying Point-to-Point protocol (PPP) – described in RFC 1661 – over an IP based network. It is created by a vendor consortium known as the PPTP industry forum which includes Microsoft Corporation, Ascend Communications, 3Com/Primary Access, ECI Telematics, US Robotics and Copper Mountain Networks. PPTP is the most commonly used protocol for dial-up access to the internet. Microsoft included PPTP support in Windows NT Server (version 4) and released a Dial-up Networking pack in Windows 95 and since then PPTP is supported in any Microsoft Windows version. The PPTP transfers two different types of packets over a VPN connection. The first is the Generic Routing Encapsulation (GRE) (described in RFC 1701 and RFC 1702) packet. It encapsulates PPP frames as tunneled data by attaching a GRE header to the PPP packet or frame. The PPP frame contains the initial PPP payload which is encrypted and encapsulated with PPP while the GRE header contains various control bits, sequence and tunnel numbers. The function of the GRE is to provide a flow- and congestion-control encapsulated datagram service for carrying PPP packets. The total sum up of the packet consists of a Data link header, IP header, GRE Header, PPP Header, Encrypted PPP payload and Data link trailer. The second type of packet is the PPTP control message or packet. The PPTP control packet includes control information such as connection requests and responses, connection parameters, and error messages and it consists of IP header, TCP header, PPTP control message and a data link traile r. In order to create, maintain and terminate the VPN tunnel, the PPTP uses a control connection between the remote client and the server using the TCP port 1723. This two different packets used by PPTP does not ensure privacy on the packet payload, so in order to enhance security on these packets, the PPTP supports encryption and authentication method same as used in PPP connections (Berger, T, 2006 and vpntools.com, 2006). To authenticate packets that pass through the VPN tunnel, PPTP uses any of the following protocols; Extensible Authentication protocol – Transport Layer Security (EAP-TLS), Microsoft Challenge Handshake Authentication Protocol (MS-CHAP), Shiva Password Authentication protocol (SPAP) and Password Authentication Protocol (PAP). For encryption, PPTP uses either the Microsoft Point to Point Encryption (MPPE) to encrypt PPP packets that passes between the remote computer and the remote access server by enhancing the confidentiality of PPP encapsulated packets (as described in RCF 3078) or uses the symmetric RC4 stream cipher to encrypt the GRE payload is encrypted. Layer 2 Tunneling Protocol (L2TP) The L2TP is an IETF standard established as a result of combining the best features of two protocols: Cisco’s Layer 2 Forwarding (L2F) protocol (described in RFC 2341) and Microsoft’s PPTP (Cisco Systems, 2008). L2TP facilitates the tunneling of PPP frames across an intervening network in a way that is as transparent as possible to both end-users and applications (RFC 2661). L2TP encapsulates the PPP packet (whose payload can either be encrypted or compressed or both can be done) into a User Datagram Protocol (UDP) packet at transport layer. The L2TP can be used over the internet as well as over private intranet and also can send PPP packets over X.25, Frame relay or ATM networks. The UDP packet consists of the following in this order: UDP header with source and destination address using port 1701, control bits representing options like version and length of the packet, sequence number and tunnel ID fields which is used to track the packet and identify the tunnel, the l ayer 2 frame which contains the following also: Media Access Code (MAC) addresses and the payload. To ensure security and enhance authenticity of the L2TP packet it is combined with IPSec by attaching an IPSec ESP header, using the IPSec transport mode. After combining IPSec to L2TP, the UDP packet is encrypted and encapsulated with an IPSec ESP header and trailer and ESP authentication trailer. The L2TP packet now consists the following: data link header, IP Header, IPSec ESP Header, UDP header, L2TP frame, IPSec ESP trailer, IPSec ESP Authentication trailer and Data Link trailer, resulting in excessive protocol overhead (Berger, T, 2006 and vpntools.com, 2006). Secure Socket Layer (SSL) Multiprotocol Label Switching Literature Review VPN Protocol Overhead The tunneling protocols also affect the performance of the network by adding processing overhead on the VPN connection. Implementing these secure technologies on any insecure public network like the internet comes with some weaknesses and this can be as a result of either the specific standards are not sophisticated enough to provide secure, stable and fast data links, or interaction with lower levelled protocols causes serious problems (Berger, T., 2006).For example the IPSec technology employs three kinds of protocols namely AH, ESP and IKE; in order to ensure security over the public network, this in turn adds overhead on the packet being sent. The IPSec uses two modes for transferring packets: transport and tunneling mode. The tunneling mode is the widely used because the tunnel can be used to access several resources and it encapsulate and encrypts all part of the IP packet within another IP packet. In a research paper by Shue, C. Et al (2005), an analysis was carried out in ord er to evaluate the performance of the overhead associated with IPSec on VPN servers, and the tunneling mode was used. The tunneling mode uses different technologies to ensure added security on the packet: it uses two different kinds of protocols namely ESP and IKE and various encryption algorithm and cryptographic key sizes, by so doing doubling the size of the packet. It is reported that overheads of the IKE protocol are considerably higher than those incurred by ESP for processing a data packet, also cryptographic operations contribute 32 − 60% of the overheads for IKE and 34 − 55% for ESP, and lastly, digital signature generation and Diffie-Hellman computations are the largest contributor of overheads during the IKE process and only a small amount of the overheads can be attributed to the symmetric key encryption and hashing. Also the layer 2 Tunneling Protocol (L2TP) implemented on the VPN connection originally does not cause any overhead since encryption, authentication and privacy mechanism is not used on the data packet. But when this protocol is combined with IPSec, it adds all the aforementioned mechanism on the packet and makes it very secure but this comes with added problems – protocol overhead, among other things. In this case both the IPSec and L2TP headers are added to the data packet which increases the size of the packet and by so doing, it decreases the VPN performance. (Berger, T., 2006) The Internet, the Problem. There are some articles and journals that clearly argues that VPN does not directly incur processing overhead on the network instead the internet affects the performance. According to an article that was posted on the internet by VPN Consultants in San Francisco Bay Area on FAQ on Security, it was argued that most performance slowdowns will in fact result from inconsistent Internet connections rather than by encryption processing overhead. Also, according to Liu, L. and Gao, W. (2007), explains that IPv4 ( this is an internet protocol that is widely deployed) based networks have inherent deficiencies which have become obstacles to the evolution of networks. They argue that VPNs implemented on the network i.e. the internet automatically inherits some of these problems, such as, big overhead of the net-transport, lack of quality assurance of Service (QoS), NAT traversing problem, and so on. They propose that VPNs implemented on IPv6 (Internet Protocol version 6), which is known as â€Å"the next generation protocol† can solve this problems effectively. Packet Loss A VPN tunnel can sometimes suffer high packet loss and reordering of packets problems. Reordering can cause problems for some bridged protocols, and high pack

Branding architecture and strategies

Branding architecture and strategies Brand distinguishes a companys product from its competitors and an identified product or service that closely satisfies customers needs and wants. Brand is an asset to a company and reflects the quality of customer service. Branding is all about the customers trust of the product or service and makes the segmentation easier for the company. The difference between a company and its competitors should be communicated by brand, because it makes a company unique. BMW, Toyota, Luis Vuitton, NEXT, Debenhams, Nike and Coca Cola are the well-known brands that command price premium and stimulate deep customers loyalty. Branding is the collection of actual and emotional characteristics associated with a particular identified product or service that differentiates it from the rest of marketplace Hand-out notes by tutor Anthony smith Branding is an important aspect of marketing to build a strong image of a company. Mercedes Benz is an automobile brand that commands a premium with their engineering, performance, quality, customer service and after sales service. Toyota shares all these attributes but still they were not positioned as premium in the customers mind. Toyota then formed Lexus as a premium brand with the partnership of both Toyota and Lexus shared engineering, design elements and customer service to successfully compete the big automobile brands like Audi, BMW and Mercedes Benz. How-to-branding.com Brand Architecture Brand architecture refers to the hierarchy of brands within a single company. It is the interrelationship of the parent company, subsidiary companies, products, and services, and should mirror the  marketing strategy. Kompanigroup.com How an organization structures various products, services or other entities within its portfolio and how they relate to one another. Brandinstitue.com In the growing economy we can see different companies merging with each other and form the strategy for each of the targeted group in which every product can bring its own brand name. Good and clear brand architecture clues a company towards brand positioning and also helps to get sustainable competitive advantage. There are three different types of brand architecture strategies. Corporate/Monolithic Branding Strategy In this strategy company takes on a unified brand for all products and target markets. This strategy brings simplicity, and cost deficiencies can be achieved as opposed to multi-branding architecture, in which a corporate brand plays a smaller role. Microsoft, Intel, Disney, CNN, SONY, Nike, Virgin and coca cola etc. are the best examples of corporate branding. Corporate banding makes the advertising easier for the company as they just advertise their name and slogan. . Coca cola is recognizable in every continent of the world through its red curved bottle and logo. SONY is a corporate brand as its name is attached to everything, from its DVDs to play station. The founder of SONY, Akio Morita, once said: I have always believed that the company name is the life of an enterprise. It carries responsibility and guarantees the quality of the product. Therefore corporate strategy leads a company to sustainable financial outcomes. Brandingstrategyinsider.com . Adhistry.wikispaces.com Google.co.uk Multi/Individual Branding Strategy Multi Brand Strategy refers to a marketing strategy under which two or more than two similar products of a firm are marketed under different brand names.   Finance.mapsofworld.com It is very difficult for a brand to position itself in a diversified environment where the customers needs and wants are different. Therefore, company can fill different market segments through diversifying its product range. VW, PG, Unilever and Diageo are the best examples of multi branding. PG is the prime example, having a multiple shampoo brand to influence different customers, like head shoulder for dandruff, Pentene for healthy hear and Sassoon for professional saloon experience. Through multi branding a company can target more than one segment in the market and fill the price gaps. Multi branding is a good strategy but sometime it fails because of the poor management. Due to failure it could harm the family brand name. VW took many years to change the negative brand image of Skoda from the customers mind. Helen Meek. et al, 2001 Google.co.uk Endorsed Branding A brand that carries the endorsement of a  source brand (the parent company). Brandbuild.eu Endorsements add integrity and assurance of the indorsed sub brand in customers mind without overpowering it with its own association. Endorsed branding is suitable for the company, using varied product portfolio, e.g. Nestle, Cadbury, Unilever etc. Nestle written on the  Kit Kat,  Cadbury written on Dairy Milk to provide credibility and assurance to the product. Some companies give independence to the endorsed brands like Unilever give freedom to the Heartbrands such as Feast, Magnum and Cornetto and they have their own marketing campaigns and target market. Some companies has firm relationship between company name and product, e.g. Ford does it with the model Mustang, people using either the brand name Mustang or the full name Ford Mustang. Google.co.uk Brand Elements Brand elements are those trademarkable devices that identify and differentiate the brands. There are certain elements of a brand, like names, logos, symbol, characters, slogans, design, features etc. some important elements are mentioned below. Kotler et al, 1996 Brand Name Name is the most significant element of the brand. This is the only part of the brand which should never be changed. It help customers to identify distinguish product from competitors. It is not necessary the brand name is associated with the company and can be different. But if the brand name is linked with the quality of the product either high or low, then all good must be of the same standard. MS is the prime example of providing quality products through St Michael Brand as one can see its tag on the cloths and food and household goods as well. Brand Image Brand image is fundamental way through which a customer recognises and believes a brand. It gives a company an identity and creates a better image in the mind of the customers. Brand image is unique that clearly reflects the image of the organisation and different from the competitors. To build a right image in the customers mind, the company must have to focus on brand identity. Brand Personality Brand personality is the goodwill of the brand. It is associated with the benefits and attributes of the brand. Brand personality is unique and long lasting; it is the emotional attachment of the consumers with the product, e.g. Sony and Panasonic, both are the giants of electronic sector, although both got same features, some peoples prefer one of the other because of their trust on the product by long time. Brand Association Associations, according to Aaker (1991) represent the bases for purchase decisions and for brand loyalty. The way consumers perceive brand is a key determinant of long-term business-consumer relationships. Hence, building strong brand perceptions is a top priority for many firms today. Morris, 1996 It is the perception of the customers towards a brand attributes and quality. Brands can be associated with the name, colours, symbols, attitudes, expressions and sound etc. Mercedes Benz is associated with the luxury drive and excellent engineering, Nike with its Slogan, Nokia with its sound, and Coca Cola with its red colour, Colgate toothpaste with cavity protection and Microsoft with Bill Gates. Renault has launched a successful campaign for its model Clio and used the famous French footballer Thierry Henry and Sesame Steet in the Va Va Voom advertisement. This campaign resulting attract more male customers than females. This is how celebritys association to the brand benefits organisation. Kotler et al, 1996 Brand association gives the basis of buying and brand loyalty to the customers. Companies always try to associate their brands with the positive things to create good image of the product in the mind of customers. Brand association developed if the product is desirable, durable and satisfies the customers needs. Positive customers perception about the product makes a brand stronger. It is formed on the basis of Product attributes, Advertisement, Relevant price, Quality, Celebrity and big entity association, Competition and Display points. Brand positioning Positioning is the place in consumers mind that you want you brand to own. For example, Hallmark caring shared, and Disney Family Fun entertainment. Positioning is not what you do to a product; positioning is what you do to the mind of the prospect. Ries and Trout, 1981 Brand positioning is successfully built through continuous communication with the customers about the product to its targeted market, through advertisement, brand name and its packing. Brand positioning refers to the position in the customers mind, it does not relate to market position. Brand positioning is associated with the market segmentation. The right market segment is to be targeted for the brand positioning. Brand positioning is all about a customers perception about the product. There are certain ways for a brand to be positioned, e.g. offering specific benefits, targeting a specific segment, pricing and distribution. Brand positioning is an important concept in which a company can decide where it wants to position its brand in its field relative to competition. Brand positioning is a thinking that guides a company to build a relationship between the brand and customers. Brand positioning gives space in the customers mind, so the company become in the better position to control over its own brand image. Price and quality are the most common attributes are considered in the brand positioning. To get a good position in the customers mind the company introduce brand of a good quality with on competitive price. The quality of the product must be at least equivalent or better from the competitors. Quality perception is the most powerful element of the brand positioning. Once a company is successful in building a powerful perception of quality will result in building a powerful brand. Psychological element is dominant to some extent in building a quality perception as some peoples psyche is that the product with high price tag is of good quality. Communicating brands through their specific features is another way to position brands, e.g. Clinic all clear, Dare to wear Black or Pakistan and India surf excel is advertised as stain remover, Surf Excel hena. Culture is another strong aspect to the brand positioning. Different companies use cultural symbols to differentiate products from their competitors. Examples including, Air India advertise through Maharaja, Tata tea, Hamara Bajaj etc. Treedeuce.com Brand Extension Brand extension  is a marketing strategy in which a firm that markets a product with a well-developed image uses the same brand name but in a different product category. Brandexpress.net When a firm uses its brand in another product form, or even within another product class, then the firm is stretching the brand (also referred to as brand extension). Iain Ellwood, 2002 Virgin is the good example of brand extension as they sell everything from records to airline travel, to cola drinks to wedding parties from clothing to cosmetic and computers. This is successful in brand extension because it has the ability to connect the customer directly and give them values. Many firms attempt to extend their brands but all the brand extensions are not suitable or desirable. An extended brand always works best in a top to down direction. It is always easy for a company to bring brand extension from relatively cheaper product line. Ralph Lauren and Gucci are the best example. Ralph Lauren extended from luxury clothing to jeans and bed linen while Gucci brand is extended from luxury clothes to oven gloves, cooking aprons and dog toys. An extended brand has a low introductory cost because the customers, traders and retailer are well aware of the product. Brand extension brings options to the customers through variety of products. If the product is of lower quality, will result in damaging in overall brand value. Iain Ellwood, 2002 Caterpillar is one of the biggest non-sporting footwear companies in the world with its brand CAT. This is basically a construction and mining equipment manufacturing company that extended their brand in this potential segment. It was perceived that it is the biggest mistake of the caterpillar but the extension was a big success. Sometimes the brand extension, implemented incorrectly due to less understanding. LEGO is a Danish toy manufacturing company, decided to extend its brand and launched its own product line of cloths, watches and video games but it was ignored by its target market, that result half of its employee are redundant back in 2004. Kotler et al, 2009 Michelin and Goodyear are the French companies, famous for making rubber tyres and having a number of brand extensions. Michelin brand extensions are car and cycle related product, footwear and clothing, sports and leisure and personal accessories. On the other hand Goodyear becomes the partner of the Adidas to make a series of driving shoes. Kotler et al 2006 We can see normally financial services providers have not attempted to extend their brands, and only concern with their original market. On the other hand, there are too many non-financial service providers extended directly to the financial services. E.g. Tesco extended its market to Tesco banking and Tesco insurance. Benefits of branding To customers People buy brands, because they are well aware of the quality of the product and save time and efforts. Buying a branded product can give customers a peace of mind and credibility. Most of the branded products have warranty policies, which gives customers assurance of a quality product. Some big companies having product replacing policies, e.g. DeWalt a power tool manufacturing company, replace the product immediately in case of damage. To intermediaries/stakeholders There are certain benefits of branding to different stakeholders, that directly/indirectly effecting the organisation. Multinational organisations always have the strategy for social, environmental and economic issues, so Companies contribute to the societies in which they operate. Brands follow government regulations to minimise any adverse effect to the environment and pays tax and create job opportunities that help governments to control over unemployment. Employees always attract to innovative companies where learning opportunities are always there to enhance their career. Multinational companies give assurance of the job security and give career path at the time of recruiting them. Instead of supplying goods directly to retailers, companies distribute goods through agents or distributers. Distributers get long-term agreements from the known brand companies and also benefits from the goodwill of from that brand. Retailer can get benefits from the companys overall marketing campaign. Sustainable competitive advantage When two or more firms compete within the same market, one firm possesses a competitive advantage over its rivals when it earns (or has the potential) to earn a persistently higher rate of profit. Grant, 2002 It is very important for every organisation to be successful in long term. Effective corporate branding is certainly the main source of getting sustainable competitive advantage in the market. Worlds famous corporate brands do not sell products, they sell concepts, e.g. Coca Cola does not sell a soft drink, it sells enjoyment and Microsoft does not sells computers, it sells possibility. Brand designers create a corporate brand identity through promotional material and advertising campaign to establish a corporate identity. There are certain brand characteristics that lead a company to get sustainable competitive advantage. A well designed logo and a strong identity system can give a company an edge over its competitors. Through Brand Identity A unique set of brand associations that the brand strategist aspires to create or maintain. These associations represent what the brand stands for and imply a promise to customers from the organisation members. Aaker, 2004 Brand identity is the way a company aims to identify or position itself or its product or service. Kotler et al, 2009 Brand identity is the first thing that a customer experience and plays a major role in getting a sustainable competitive advantage in the market. Brand attributes are is a bag of features that shows the personality of a brand and these attributes help to create brand identity. Brand identity is supported by emotional and unique elements and values, serve to distinguish the brand in the market, especially for progressively competitive environments, service organisations and recreational sectors. Brand identity creates a distinct identity that is very hard for the competitors to duplicate. The main elements to build a strong brand identity are human resources, organisational culture, organisational structure, stationary, company cards, company dà ©cor, packing, catalogue, market and innovation etc. Kotler et al, 2009 Through Brand loyalty Brand loyalty is considered as ultimate reward for a brand as it is another factor which leads a company to get a sustainable competitive advantage. Customers always prefer to buy those brands they are loyalty with, even though that is expensive and have close substitutes in the market. Apples iPod is a product to listen mp3/mp4 music, and the big electronic giants like Sony, Panasonic and so many other companies have same product with same features at the relatively low price than Apples iPod. Majority of the customers buy iPod just because they are loyal with the brand. Through Brand Equity Brand is a symbol of extremely precious part of legal property, that can control consumer behaviour and it also provides the protection of persistent future revenues to the firm. Brand equity is called the amount that is directly or indirectly accrues by these various benefits. Kapferer, 2005; keller, 2003 Companies invest huge amount of money to develop brand equity. Brands with high equity win the space in the market because of the uniqueness, reliable services and continuous and effective relationship with the customers. Stronger brand image takes a company to financial advantage through the brand equity. Brand equity leads a company to charge perineum prices for the product to raise their profit margin.

Margit Stange’s Literary Criticism of Chopin’s The Awakening Essay

Margit Stange’s Literary Criticism of Chopin’s The Awakening Kate Chopin created Edna Pontellier, but neither the character nor her creator was divorced from the world in which Chopin lived. As a means to understand the choices Chopin gave Edna, Margit Stange evaluates The Awakening in the context of the feminist ideology of the late nineteenth century. Specifically, she argues that Edna is seeking what Chopin’s contemporaries denoted self-ownership, a notion that pivoted on sexual choice and â€Å"voluntary motherhood† (276). Stange makes a series of meaningful connections between Kate Chopin’s dramatization of Edna Pontellier’s â€Å"awakening† and the historical context of feminist thought that Stange believes influenced the novel. For example, she equates Edna’s quest for financial independence with the late nineteenth century’s Married Women’s Property Acts, which sought to give married women greater control over their property and earnings. Ultimately, Stange believes, Edna’s awakening, her acquisition of self-determination, comes from identifying and re-distributing what she owns, which Stange argues is her body, much as contemporary feminist thinkers discussed what she calls women’s â€Å"sexual exchange value† (281). Additional references to reformers such as Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Charlotte Perkins Gilman, as well as the legal standards of femme seule and femme couverte buttress Stange’s position that Edna’s experiences are a reflection of historical reality, even if some of the equations are a bit rough. Chopin, Stange notes, is careful to separate Edna the wife from Edna the woman – â€Å"Mrs. Pontellier† becomes â€Å"Edna† in the text, and then â€Å"Mrs. Pontellier† once more when her sense of self-ownership again seems lost. Chopin... ...alls a â€Å"moment of extreme maternal giving,† Stanton argued for women’s right to a public voice because â€Å"‘alone [woman] goes to the gates of death to give life to every man that is born into the world; no one can share her fears, no one can mitigate her pangs; and if her sorrow is greater than she can bear, alone she passes beyond the gates into the vast unknown’† (289). Chopin may have had a clearer grasp of the immense hold of the rhetoric of motherhood than Stange acknowledges. Edna at â€Å"the gates of death† may be a woman caught in an evolving conception of self-ownership, burdened by the sorrow of realizing that she can only really own what she no longer wants, because what she does want is yet beyond her grasp. Edna’s trap is indeed a historical reflection, a comment on the tumultuous, even violent, evolution of ideologies, expectations, choices, and realities.

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde Essay -- essays research papers

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Jekyll does deserve his final miserable fate because he commits several selfish deeds to the point where he brings his miserable fate upon himself. In Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Robert Louis Stevenson uses Jekyll to represent how man prioritizes by putting himself over others. Throughout the book, Jekyll’s two different sides are used to show that man is consistently selfish and will usually think of himself before others. Even though Jekyll has a good side and an evil side, both sides of him are selfish. Jekyll originally takes the potion for selfish reasons, Jekyll uses Hyde to conquer his own evil temptations, and in the end Jekyll gives into Hyde and completely gives up.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Jekyll originally taking the potion can be conveyed as a selfish act because he mainly took the potion to benefit himself. Jekyll said he took the potion so he could become recognized for his good deeds, even though he was well respected by his peers he wanted more recognition from the public, he wanted to be famous for his deeds and become well known among the public. Jekyll says, â€Å"†¦fond of the respect of the wise and good among my fellowmen...And indeed the worst of my faults was a certain impatient gaiety of disposition, such as has made the happiness of many, but such as I found to reconcile with my imperious desire to carry my head high, and wear a more commonly grave countenance before the public.† (Page 103). Jekyll ... Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde Essay -- essays research papers Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Jekyll does deserve his final miserable fate because he commits several selfish deeds to the point where he brings his miserable fate upon himself. In Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Robert Louis Stevenson uses Jekyll to represent how man prioritizes by putting himself over others. Throughout the book, Jekyll’s two different sides are used to show that man is consistently selfish and will usually think of himself before others. Even though Jekyll has a good side and an evil side, both sides of him are selfish. Jekyll originally takes the potion for selfish reasons, Jekyll uses Hyde to conquer his own evil temptations, and in the end Jekyll gives into Hyde and completely gives up.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Jekyll originally taking the potion can be conveyed as a selfish act because he mainly took the potion to benefit himself. Jekyll said he took the potion so he could become recognized for his good deeds, even though he was well respected by his peers he wanted more recognition from the public, he wanted to be famous for his deeds and become well known among the public. Jekyll says, â€Å"†¦fond of the respect of the wise and good among my fellowmen...And indeed the worst of my faults was a certain impatient gaiety of disposition, such as has made the happiness of many, but such as I found to reconcile with my imperious desire to carry my head high, and wear a more commonly grave countenance before the public.† (Page 103). Jekyll ...

The Return: Nightfall Chapter 14

Elena woke up the next morning in Stefan's narrow bed. She recognized this before she was fully awake and hoped to heaven that she had given Aunt Judith some reasonable excuse last night. Last night – the very concept was extremely fuzzy. What had she been dreaming to make this wakening seem so extraordinary? She couldn't remember – jeez, she couldn't remember anything! And then she remembered everything. Sitting up with a jolt that would have sent her flying off the bed had she attempted it yesterday, she searched her recollections. Daylight. She remembered daylight, full light on her – and she didn't have her ring. She took a frantic look at both hands. No ring. And she was sitting up in a shaft of sunlight and it wasn't hurting her. It wasn't possible. She knew, she remembered with a raw memory that pervaded every cell of her body, that daylight wouldkill her. She had learned that lesson with a single touch of a sunbeam to her hand. She would never forget the searing, scalding pain: the touch had imprinted a behavior on her forever. Go nowhere without the lapis lazuli ring that was beautiful in itself, but more beautiful in the knowledge that it was her savior. Without it, she might, shewould†¦ Oh.Oh. But she alreadyhad , hadn't she? She'd died. Not simply Changed as she had when she'd become a vampire, but died the true death that no one came back from. In her own personal philosophy, she ought to have disintegrated into nameless atoms, or gone straight to hell. Instead she hadn't reallygone anywhere. She'd had some dreams about fatherly or motherly people giving her advice – and of wanting very much to help people, who were suddenly much easier to understand. School bully? She had watched sadly as his drunken father took his own outrages out on him night after night. That girl who never got her homework done? She was expected to raise three younger sisters and brothers while her mother lay in bed all day. Just getting the baby fed and cleaned took all the time she had. There was always a reason behind any behavior, and now she could see it. She had even communicated with people through their dreams. And then one of the Old Ones had arrived in Fell's Church, and it was all she could do to stand his interference in the dreams and not run away. He caused the humans to call for Stefan's help – and Damon had accidentally been summoned, too. And Elena had helped them all she could even when it had been almost unbearable, because Old Ones knew about love and which buttons to push and how to make your enemies run in all the right directions. But they had fought him – and they had won. And Elena, in trying to heal Stefan's mortal wounds, had somehow ended up mortal again herself: naked, lying on the ground of the Old Wood, with Damon's jacket over her, while Damon himself had disappeared without waiting for thanks. And that awakening had been of basic things: things of the senses: touch, taste, hearing, sight – and of the heart, but not of the head. Stefan had been so good to her. â€Å"And now, what am I?† Elena said aloud, staring as she turned her hands over and over, marveling at the solid, mortal flesh that obeyed the laws of gravity. Shehad said that she'd give up flying for him. Someone had taken her at her word. â€Å"You're beautiful,† Stefan answered absently, not moving. Then suddenly he rocketed up.†You're talking!† â€Å"I know I am.† â€Å"And making sense!† â€Å"Thank you kindly.† â€Å"And in sentences!† â€Å"I've noticed.† â€Å"Go on, then, and say something long – please,† Stefan said as if he didn't believe it. â€Å"You've been hanging out too much with my friends,† Elena said. â€Å"That sentence has Bonnie's impudence, Matt's courtesy, and Meredith's insistence on the facts.† â€Å"Elena, it's you!† Instead of keeping up the silly dialogue with â€Å"Stefan, itis me!† Elena stopped to think. Then, carefully she got out of bed and took a step. Stefan hastily looked away, handing her a robe.Stefan? Stefan? Silence. When Stefan turned around after a decent interval, he saw Elena kneeling in the sunlight holding the robe. â€Å"Elena?† She knew that to him, she looked like a very young angel in meditation. â€Å"Stefan.† â€Å"But you're crying.† â€Å"I'm human again, Stefan.† She lifted a hand, let it fall into the clutches of gravity. â€Å"I'm human again. No more, no less. I guess it just took me a few days to get fully back on track.† She looked into his eyes. They were always suchgreen green eyes. Like green crystal with some offside light behind them. Like a summer leaf held up before the sun. I can read your mind. â€Å"But I can't read yours, Stefan. I can only get a general sense, and even that may be going†¦we can't count on anything.† Elena, I have all I want in this room.He patted the bed.Sit by me and I can say â€Å"all I want is on this bed.† Instead she got up and threw herself at him, arms around his neck, legs tangled with his. â€Å"I'm still very young,† she whispered, holding him tightly. â€Å"And if you count it in days, we haven't had many days together like this, but – â€Å" â€Å"I'm still far too old for you. But to be able to look at you and seeyou looking back at me – â€Å" â€Å"Tell me you'll love me forever.† â€Å"I'll love you forever.† â€Å"No matter what happens.† â€Å"Elena, Elena – I've loved you as mortal, as vampire, as pure spirit, as spiritual child – and now as human again.† â€Å"Promise we'll be together.† â€Å"We'll be together.† â€Å"No. Stefan, this isme .† She pointed to her head as if to emphasize that behind her gold-flecked blue eyes there was a bright active mind spinning in overdrive. â€Å"Iknow you. Even if I can't read your mind I can read your face. All the old fears – they're back, aren't they?† He looked away. â€Å"I will never leave you.† â€Å"Not for a day? Not for an hour?† He hesitated and then looked up at her.If that's what you really want. I won't leave you, even for an hour. Now he was projecting, she knew, for she could hear him. â€Å"I release you from all your promises.† â€Å"But, Elena, I mean them.† â€Å"I know. But when you do go, I don't want you to have the guilt of breaking them looming over you as well.† Even without telepathy, she could tell what he was thinking to the tiniest shade of a nuance:Humor her. After all, she'd just woken up. She was probably a little confused. And she wasn't interested in becoming less confused, or in making him less confused. That must be why she was nipping his chin gently. And kissing him. Certainly, Elena thought, one of the two of them was confused†¦. Time seemed to stretch and then stop around them. And then nothing was confusing at all. Elena knew that Stefan knew what she wanted, and he wanted whatever she wanted him to do. Bonnie stared at the numbers on her phone, concerned. Stefan was calling. Then she ran a hasty hand through her hair, fluffing the curls out, and took the video call. But instead of Stefan it was Elena. Bonnie started to giggle, started to tell her not to play with Stefan's grown-up toys – and then she stared. â€Å"Elena?† â€Å"Am I going to get this every time? Or only from my sister-witch?† â€Å"Elena?† â€Å"Awake and good as new,† Stefan said, getting in the picture. â€Å"We called as soon as we woke up – â€Å" â€Å"Ele – but it's noon!† Bonnie blurted out. â€Å"We've been occupied with this and that,† Elena cut in smoothly, and oh, wasn't it good to hear Elena talk that way! Half innocent and wholly smug about it, making you want to shake her and beg her for every wicked detail. â€Å"Elena,†Bonnie gasped, using the nearest wall for support, and then sliding down it, and allowing an armload of socks, shirts, pajamas, and underwear to shower down onto the carpet, while tears began to leak out of her eyes. â€Å"Elena, they said you'd have to leave Fell's Church – will you?† Elena bridled. â€Å"They saidwhat ?† â€Å"That you and Stefan would have to leave for your own good.† â€Å"Never in this world!† â€Å"Little lovely lo – † began Stefan, and then abruptly he stopped, opening and shutting his mouth. Bonnie stared. It had happened at the bottom of the screen, out of sight, but she could almost swear that Stefan's little lovely love had just elbowed him in the stomach. â€Å"Ground zero, two o'clock?† Elena was asking. Bonnie snapped back to reality. Elena never gave you time for reflection. â€Å"I'llbe there!† she cried. â€Å"Elena,† Meredith breathed. And then â€Å"Elena!† like a half-chocked sob. â€Å"Elena!† â€Å"Meredith. Oh, don't make me cry, this blouse is pure silk!† â€Å"It's pure silk because it's my pure silk sari blouse, that's why!† Elena suddenly looked as innocent as an angel. â€Å"You know, Meredith, I seem to have grown much taller lately – â€Å" â€Å"If the end of that sentence is ;;so it really fitsme better'† – Meredith's voice was threatening – â€Å"then I'm warning you, Elena Gilbert†¦Ã¢â‚¬  She broke off, and both girls began to laugh and then to cry. â€Å"You can have it! Oh, you can have it!† â€Å"Stefan?† Matt waved his phone – first cautiously, then banging it into the wall of the garage. â€Å"I can't see – † He stopped, swallowed. â€Å"E-le-na?† The word came out slowly, with a pause between each syllable. â€Å"Yes, Matt. I'm back. Even up here.† She pointed to her forehead. â€Å"Will you meet with us?† Matt, leaning on his newly purchased, almost-running car, was muttering, â€Å"Thank God, thank God,† over and over. â€Å"Matt? I can't see you. Are you okay?† Shuffling sounds. â€Å"I think he fainted.† Stefan's voice: â€Å"Matt? Shereally wants to see you.† â€Å"Yeah, yeah.† Matt lifted his head up, blinking at the phone. â€Å"Elena, Elena†¦Ã¢â‚¬  â€Å"I'm so sorry, Matt. You don't have to come – â€Å" Matt laughed shortly. â€Å"Are yousure you're Elena?† Elena smiled the smile that had broken a thousand hearts. â€Å"In that case – Matt Honeycutt, I insist that you come and meet with us at Ground Zero at two o'clock. Is that more like it?† â€Å"I think you've almost got it down. The old Elena Imperial Manner.† He coughed theatrically, sniffed, and said, â€Å"Sorry – I've got a little cold; or allergies, maybe.† â€Å"Don't be silly, Matt. You're bawling like a baby and so am I,† Elena said. â€Å"And so were Bonnie and Meredith, when I called them. SoI've been crying nearly all day – and at this rate I'll have to scramble to get a picnic ready and be on time. Meredith's planning to pick you up. Bring something to drink or eat. Love ya!† Elena put down the phone, breathing hard. â€Å"Nowthat was tough.† â€Å"He still loves you.† â€Å"He'd rather that I stayed a baby all my life?† â€Å"Maybe he liked the way you used to say  ¡Ã‚ ®hello' and ;;good-bye.'† â€Å"Now you're teasing me.† Elena quivered her chin. â€Å"Never in this world,† Stefan said softly. Then, suddenly, he grabbed her hand. â€Å"Come on – we're going shopping for a picnic and a car, too,† he said, pulling her up. Elena startled both of them by flying up so quickly that Stefan had to grab her by the waist to keep her from shooting toward the ceiling. â€Å"I thought you had gravity!† â€Å"So did I! What do I do?† â€Å"Think heavy thoughts!† â€Å"What if it doesn't work?† â€Å"We'll buy you an anchor!† At two o'clock Stefan and Elena arrived at the Fell's Church graveyard in a brand-new red Jaguar; Elena was wearing dark glasses under a scarf with all her hair pinned up under it, a muffler around her lower face, and black lace mitts borrowed from Mrs. Flowers' younger days, which she admitted she didn't know why she was wearing. She made quite a picture, Meredith said, with the violet sari top and jeans. Bonnie and Meredith had already spread a cloth for a picnic, and the ants were sampling sandwiches and grapes and low-fat pasta salad. Elena told the story of how she had woken up this morning, and then there was more hugging and kissing and crying than the males could stand. â€Å"You want to see the woods around here? Check if those malach things are around?† Matt said to Stefan. â€Å"They'd better not be,† Stefan said. â€Å"If the trees this far from where you had your accident are infested – â€Å" â€Å"Not good?† â€Å"Serious trouble.† They were about to go when Elena called them back. â€Å"You can stop looking all male and superior,† she added. â€Å"Suppressing your emotions isbad for you. Expressing them keeps you well balanced.† â€Å"Listen, you're tougher than I thought,† Stefan said. â€Å"Having picnics at a cemetery?† â€Å"We used to find Elena here all the time,† Bonnie said, pointing to a nearby headstone with a celery stick. â€Å"It's my parents' gravesite,† Elena explained simply. â€Å"After the accident – I always felt closer to them here than anywhere. I would come here when things got bad, or when I needed to have a question answered.† â€Å"Did you ever get any answers?† Matt asked, taking a home-preserved cucumber pickle from a glass jar and passing the jar on. â€Å"I'm not sure, even now,† Elena said. She had taken off the dark glasses, muffler, headscarf, and mitts. â€Å"But it always made me feel better. Why? Do you have a question?† â€Å"Well – yeah,† Matt said unexpectedly. Then he flushed as he suddenly found himself the center of attention. Bonnie rolled over to stare at him, the stalk of celery at her lips, Meredith scooted in, Elena sat up. Stefan, who had been leaning against an elaborate headstone with unconscious vampire grace, sat down. â€Å"What is it, Matt?† â€Å"I was going to say, you don't look right today,† Bonnie said anxiously. â€Å"Thankyou ,† Matt snapped. Tears pooled in Bonnie's brown eyes. â€Å"I didn't mean – â€Å" But she didn't get to finish. Meredith and Elena drew in protectively around her in the solid phalanx of what they called â€Å"velociraptor sisterhood.† It meant that anybody messing with one of them was messing with them all. â€Å"Sarcasm instead of chivalry? That's hardly the Matt I know.† Meredith spoke with one eyebrow raised. â€Å"She was only trying to be sympathetic,† Elena pointed out quietly. â€Å"And that was a cheap comeback.† â€Å"Okay, okay! I'm sorry – reallysorry, Bonnie† – he turned toward her, looking ashamed – â€Å"It was a nasty thing to say and I know you were only trying to be nice. I just – I don't really know what I'm doing or saying. Anyway, do you want to hear the thing,† he finished, looking defensive, â€Å"or not?† Everyone did. â€Å"Okay, here it is. I went to visit Jim Bryce this morning – you remember him?† â€Å"Sure. I went out with him. Captain of the basketball team. Nice guy. A little bit young, but†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Meredith shrugged. â€Å"Jim's okay.† Matt swallowed. â€Å"Well, it's just – I don't want to gossip or anything, but – â€Å" â€Å"Gossip!† the three girls commanded him in unison, like a Greek chorus. Matt quailed. â€Å"Okay, okay! Well – I was supposed to be over there at ten o'clock, but I got there a little early, and – well, Caroline was there. She was leaving.† There were three little shocked gasps and a sharp look from Stefan. â€Å"You mean you think she spent the night with him?† â€Å"Stefan!† Bonnie began. â€Å"This isn't how proper gossip goes. You never just outright say what you think – â€Å" â€Å"No,† Elena said evenly. â€Å"Let Matt answer. I can remember enough from before I could talk to be worried about Caroline.† â€Å"More than worried,† Stefan said. Meredith nodded. â€Å"It's not gossip; it's necessary information,† she said. â€Å"Okay, then.† Matt gulped. â€Å"Well, yeah, that was what I thought. He said she'd come early to see his little sister, but Tamra is only about fifteen. And he turned bright red when he said it.† There were sober glances between the others. â€Å"Caroline's always been†¦well, sleazy†¦Ã¢â‚¬  began Bonnie. â€Å"But I've never heard that she even gave Jim a second glance,† finished Meredith. They looked to Elena for an answer. Elena slowly shook her head. â€Å"I certainly can't see any earthly reason for her visiting Tamra. And besides† – she looked up quickly at Matt – â€Å"you're holding out on us somehow. What else happened?† â€Å"Somethingmore happened? Did Caroline flash her lingerie?† Bonnie was laughing until she saw Matt's red face. â€Å"Hey – c'mon, Matt. This isus . You can tell us anything.† Matt drew in a deep breath and shut his eyes. â€Å"Okay, well – as she was going out, I think – I think Caroline†¦propositioned me.† â€Å"She didwhat ?† â€Å"She wouldnever – â€Å" â€Å"How, Matt?† Elena asked. â€Å"Well – Jim thought she'd left, and he went to the garage to get his basketball, and I turned around and suddenly Caroline was back again, and she said – well, it doesn't matter what she said. But it was about her liking football better than basketball and did I want to be a sport.† â€Å"And what did you say?† Bonnie breathed, fascinated. â€Å"I didn't say anything. I just stared at her.† â€Å"And then Jim came back?† Meredith suggested. â€Å"No! And then Caroline left – she gave me this look, you know, that made things pretty clear as to what she meant – and thenTami came in.† Matt's honest face was flaming by now. â€Å"And then – I don't know how to say it. Maybe Caroline said something about me to make her do it to me, because she – she†¦Ã¢â‚¬  â€Å"Matt.† Stefan had scarcely spoken until this point; now he leaned forward and spoke quietly. â€Å"We're not asking just because we want to gossip. We're trying to find out if there's something seriously wrong happening in Fell's Church. So – please – just tell us what happened.†

Comparison of the Guggenheim Museum, New York and the National Gallery, London

Using the Physical, Economic, Socio-cultural -political and Technological Contexts of Building attack describe and analyze the Guggenheim museum in New York designed by Frank Lloyd Wright in comparing with the National Gallery in London by William Wilkins. Throughout history, galleries have exhibited originative architectural signifier at its best. In fact the architecture of many galleries can be considered to be a piece of art itself. Both the Guggenheim Museum in New York, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright and the National Gallery in London, designed by William Wilkins, are indispensable edifices in architectural history. Despite being stylistically in resistance the aim of both these constructions is to expose adult male ‘s extreme originative accomplishments. By comparing and contrasting their economic, cultural, political and historical fortunes, I will analyze the architectural similarities and differences between the National Gallery, a gallery of the nineteenth century and the Guggenheim, a gallery of the twentieth century. The National Gallery and the Guggenheim museum were designed and built in several cultural conditions that immensely influenced their development and building. The art and civilization of 1960 ‘s New York was blossoming into a period of booming Modernism and Minimalism. The Guggenheim Museum presents a brilliant rendering of the architectural manners of its epoch with ‘it ‘s snail- like exterior and coiling incline inside ‘ ( Wilkinson 2009 ) . The Guggenheim separated itself from New York ‘s conventional constructions of ‘skyscrapers and brownstones, of consecutive avenues and rectangular metropolis blocks, this is a construction based on circles and spirals ‘ ( Wilkinson 2009 ) . The Guggenheim museum was built to house the Guggenheim aggregation and was designed to be an iconic museum ‘unlike any other ‘ ( Wilkinson 2009 ) , nevertheless, the National Gallery in London was ab initio built as a position symbol. In the early 19th century, king George IV recognised that art galleries were being built and opened to the populace in legion European metropoliss. In 1824 George Iv, non desiring the state to look inferior, persuaded the English authorities to buy, the first abode of The National Gallery, the house of the merely deceased art aggregator John Julius Angerstein. Angerstein ‘s House was ridiculed by the imperativeness due to the size of the edifice in comparing to other European Galleries of its epoch. Therefore, in 1831 it was determined by Parliament to build a new edifice for the National Gallery on the site of the King ‘s Mews in Charing Cross, on Trafalgar Square. The location of the construction is a important factor for both undertakings. During the eighteenth century there was a huge societal and cultural divide between the citizens of London. The site of King ‘s Mews in Charing Cross, on Trafalgar Square was chiefly selected to enable the National Gallery to be accessed by citizens of all societal categories. Situated between the affluent West End and low-level countries to the E, the location was highly of import to the undertaking. However, due to a barracks and a workhouse being located straight behind the Kings Mews, the site simply allowed the construction to be one room in breadth. Besides the porticoes on the eastern and western surfaces of the facade were erected to let entree to the public right of manner that ran through the edifice significantly impacting its design. On the other manus, Frank Lloyd Wright was clearly displeased by New York being the location for the Guggenheim as ‘to Wright the metropolis was overbui lt, overpopulated, and lacked architectural virtue ‘ ( Drutt 2014 ) . Wright was more accustomed to planing architecture for distant countries of the United States as about all of his old edifices had non been located in the hum of a big metropolis. Nevertheless, Wright decided on the current site of Fifth Avenue between 88th and 89th Streets as its propinquity to Central Park was indispensable. Wright believed that Central Park was every bit near as you could acquire to the natural universe in New York and that it offered a sanctuary from the bunco and hustle of the metropolis. There is a immense contrast in exterior architectural design and manner between the outsides of Wilkins and Wrights constructions. Willard huntington wrights is non merely placed close to the most natural portion of New York but besides draws its inspiration from nature. ‘The Guggenheim Museum is an incarnation of Wright ‘s efforts to render the built-in malleability of organic signifiers in architecture ‘ ( Drutt 2014 ) . The exterior focal point of the museum is a strengthenedconcrete spiral, smaller at the underside and broadening towards the top making a in writing, shell like exterior swirling towards the sky. Wright ‘s construction appears to be reminiscent of an upside-down zikkurat as the shell like outside of this Guggenheim is similar to the consecutive phases of the Mesopotamian temples that day of the month back from the 3rd millenary B.C. This may be due to Rebays petition for Wright to construct a â€Å" temple of the humanistic disciplines â₠¬  as referenced by Jane Turner in the Grove Dictionary of Art, Vol. 33. Or possibly Wright even took inspiration from the Tower of Babel due to the spiritual referencing in his instructions. Furthermore, William Wilkins design besides looks back in clip for inspiration with its neo-classical columnsand stick outing portico. Wilkins construction is influenced by the Classical period of Greek and Roman architecture. This typical manner is clearly present in the galleys munificent portico, a porch taking to the entryway of the edifice covered by a roof held up by columns. The Galleries columns are carved with a fluted ( grooved ) shaft and excessive decorations that flare upwards and resemble leaf and flowers, such as the acanthus leaves, all typical characteristics of a Corinthian column. Wilkins hoped his construction to be a â€Å" Temple of the Arts, fostering modern-day art through historical illustration † . However, the committee was blighted by frugalness and via media and therefore the eventful construction was, about on all histories, considered a failure. Willard huntington wrights edifice, however, was a great success. His apposition of the gyrating focal point with the sweeping canopy that extends above the entryway truly expresses Wright ‘s alone perceptual experience on modernist architecture ‘s rigorous geometry. The inside of these edifices reinforces the architectural manners of their epoch. While the National Gallery was being designed in the early nineteenth century Neo-classical architecture was in manner. The Neoclassic manner consumes this edifice from the high ceilings to the cosmetic trim on the walls, reflecting the regal, classical manner of art work on show in the gallery. Even when sing the edifice today we can still detect the wonderful refined inside informations of the inside of the rotunda. This cardinal characteristic of the edifice reminded me of the Vatican Gallery in Rome with its gold leaved carvings, delicate mosaics and interior Corinthian marble columns, giving this breath taking room a Romanesque feel. On the other manus, the Guggenheims inside is merely every bit dramatic as its outside and is clearly influenced by the bold modern art that was traveling on show in the gallery. The spiral of his exterior construction is mirrored in the built-in 400m coiling rotunda, a kind of modernist version of the colossal staircases found in refined and epicurean American constructions. When planing the Guggenheim, Wright decided to take an unconventional attack to gallery design by taking visitants to the top of the coiling construction in the lift and allow them get down walking down towards the issue of the gallery, forestalling them from holding to.retrace their journey and walk back down the coiling when go forthing. The artworks themselves are displayed in separate sections along the uninterrupted incline, ‘ divided like the membranes in citrous fruit fruit, with self-contained yet mutualist subdivisions ‘ ( Drutt 2014 ) besides comparable to ‘a nautilus shell, with uninterrupted infinites fluxing freely one into another. ‘ ( Drutt 2014 ) . However, some critics have complained that the organic form of the edifice did non accommodate its intent. The coiling stairway forced the visitants to ever see the graphics from an angle an d the walls were reasonably low for a museum blockading several of the pictures from being displayed right. On the other manus, the terrazzo floors o f the unfastened rotunda allows visitants to unambiguously see several subdivisions of work on different degrees and from different angles. Additionally both the Guggenheim and the National Gallery boast a dome on top of their edifices, an architectural design dating back to the epoch of Classical Roman architecture, such as the pantheon. Although both domes are made out of glass to convey visible radiation into the edifices, Frank Lloyd Wright use this big sweep of glass to do the construction experience unfastened to the elements and nature and to farther set up a sense of tranquility in such a helter-skelter metropolis. Time both evolves and takes it ‘s toll on architectural constructions. Both the Guggenheim and the National Gallery have had their just portion of extensions and redevelopments. During the 2nd universe war the gallery sustained serious harm from the London bombardment foraies, go forthing many of the exhibition suites necessitating extended fix. The construction had to finally travel under Restoration when it re-opened after the war, chiefly to reconstruct suites and to take the Tarpaulin and corrugated Fe that had been used as a last resort to replace subdivisions of the roof. In 1965 the Guggenheim was besides renovated, nevertheless, this was non due to damage but to suit the museums spread outing lasting aggregation in the little rotunda. On the other manus, Wrights original program for a tower was n't realized until the Restoration and extension of 1968, finishing Wright ‘s vision 35 old ages after get downing building. The National Gallery besides acquired an extens ion in 1991 designed in by postmodernist designers, Robert VenturiandDenise Scott Brown. This edifice in comparing with the deluxe embroidery of the original construction, was much plainer and simpler taking evident inspiration from Dulwich Picture Gallery. The Gallery was designed to make a focal point by alining the Galleries to make an extending corridor, ornamented with columns that draws the oculus to the focal point. Nevertheless, the monetary value of Waless disliked the extension abundantly and openly made a address comparing it to a â€Å" monstrouscarbuncleon the face of a much-loved and elegant friend † . Furthermore, in 1992 the Guggenheim was renovated once more due to miss of insularity doing condensation jobs. This was fixed by repairing strips of C fiber inside the concrete construction of this edifice to organize an shield of protection. Harmonizing to Robin Pogrebin of the New York Times, due to the hapless quality of building the edifice was ‘stripped of every bit many as 11 beds of pigment, and experts conducted a 17-month study of 1000s of clefts of changing magnitude in the frontage. ‘ Changes in use The Guggenheim Museum and the London National Art Gallery are first-class constructions in their ain right and both represent a turning point in the Architectural history of their civilization and typology.Published: September 10, 2007 New York Times The Restorers’ Art of the Invisibleâ€Å" A address by HRH The Prince of Wales at the hundred-and-fiftieth day of remembrance of the Royal Institute of British Architects ( RIBA ) , Royal Gala Evening at Hampton Court Palace † .