Traditional Digital Infrastructure

Traditional Digital Infrastructure Introduction As time goes on, our clubs are expected to have more and more of an online presence. This is especially true for those university organizations that are technology oriented. People expect us to have our own website, email, calendar and other services. Traditionally, having all these services can be costly and time consuming. However, using virtualization, many of these problems can be mitigated. In this paper we will discuss the problems faced by university organizations (thus giving us critereon for our solution), and walk through the best solution for virtualization. After reading this paper, you will fi the best solution for your specific organization. Problem With Having A Traditional Digital Infrastructure You may not think it affects your organization, but increasingly it is expected of us to have digital infrastructures. Part of maintaining a professional organization or student organi- zation with credibility is having an online presence (websites, emails, calendars, etc). This faces us with many new problems that come with having a digital infrastructure: cost, time needed, complexity, and security. Cost of Maintaining a Traditional Digital Infrastructure Traditional digital infrastructures require organizations to have servers, networking capabil- ities, and public domain names. Servers can be made out of almost any computer; however, for it to be reliable for your users it should be a dedicated and powerful machine. This is usu- ally in the form of a server blade; which can cost anywhere between $380[1] and $45,751.95[2]. Similar costs are found when buying networking equipment such as routers, switches, hubs, networking cable, etc. Then to top it all off you need a fully qualified domain name (FQDN) for people to fi your website and email. This cost is usually minimal: usually are around  $20 or so. In the end, it all adds up and can be very costly. Time Needed to Setup and Maintain a Traditional Digital Infrastructure Not only does it cost money to buy equipment, it costs time. The fi thing that has to be done is determining the specifications of the server(s) and networking equipment you need. After your organization has determined this, someone needs to search the web for the servers and networking equipment that meets these specifications for the lowest price. Then, if your universitys student clubs are organized anything like Virginia Techs, your club needs to request the funds to do so and justify it. Now, you have acquired the server and networking equipment; but, that isnt the end of your time commitment. Next step is to set it all up; which takes, someone who knows what they are doing, a few days. The servers are all set up and networked; it is time to put them on the internet. Someone needs to buy a FQDN, and assign it to the IP addresses of your servers. After all is said and done, the servers are up and running. However, this is only the beginning. As time goes on you will need to update the servers, fi errors, and change configurations based on your needs. As you can see, having a traditional digital infrastructure is very time consuming. Complexity Maintaining a Traditional Digital Infrastructure As stated in the above section, there is quite a bit of maintenance that needs to be done to servers and networking equipment: updating, debugging errors, configuring, etc. There are many diff t ways to go about doing these tasks; however, they are outside the scope of this paper. No matter the way to complete these tasks, you need to worry about the complexity of these methods. Most methods require someone who has worked in a command line interface (CLI). Otherwise, it is necessary to fi or build a graphical user interface (GUI) that everyone can understand. Making it simple to complete these tasks is important; the officers that take over after you need to be briefed on it. If it is not simple, they will probably not follow it. It will become broken, no one will use it, or even worse it could be hacked and used for malicious purposes. Simplicity is key when it comes to keeping things running smoothly. Securing A Traditional Digital Infrastructure The fi problem, but not the least important, is securing the digital infrastructure you have created. There are many people out there who would love to have the power of your server at their disposal. To keep them from gaining control of your systems it takes time, adds complexity, and may increase costs. Securing them requires someone with the time and mindset to keep up with current vulnerabilities, monitor the systems, keep them updated, and configure them. Therefore this needs to be someone who is either willing to learn, or knows what he/she is doing. This is a big and multifaceted area of the digital world, and cannot be delved into in this paper; but, it should never be taken lightly. Virtualization: The New Digital Infrastructure There is a better way to go about creating a digital infrastructure: virtualization. Virtu- alization allows you to use one server to create many virtual servers within it. All these servers are managed by what are called hypervisors. There are many companies that even provide virtualization in what is called Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS): Amazon Web Ser- vices, Rackspace, SoftLayer, and DigitalOcean (to name a few). We will be excluding these from our virtualization solutions in this paper as we are focused on hosting our own digital infrastructures. There are two types of hypervisors: type 1 and type 2. Type 1 hypervisors run directly on the hardware of the server; whereas, type 2 hypervisors run inside of an Operating System (OS)[3]. Type 1 hypervisors allow us to virtualize our services as if they were on their own physical servers and are largely more efficient than their type 2 counterparts. Type 2 hypervisors on the other hand, usually have well thought-out, and easy-to-use GUIs. As part of our critereon we are looking to reduce cost, increase fly (decrease com- plexity), and increase security. This is achieved by using type 1 hypervisors which are both efficient in their usage of server resources, but also in their programming itself: fewer lines of code means less vulnerabilities. By using up less resources, we are able to provide more services (or better services) with fewer servers thus lowering costs. Out of these type 1 hypervisors, we are looking for the cheapest ones. There are many projects via open source that provide free hypervisors. In addition, some companies have made versions of their en- terprise hypervisors free for people to use/try. This leaves us with a few options at this point: KVM, Xen, Citrix XenServer, VMWare ESXi, and Microsoft Hyper-V. The next critereon was the time necessary to setup and maintain this digital infrastructure. Naturally by using virtualization we have reduced the number of physical servers to take care of. All of the above hypervisors have large wikis and support communities[4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12]. However, two of these communities VMWares and Microsofts arent as varied as those of the OpenSource community, and must be paid for to get quality customer support. Our second to last critereon was the complexity of the solution. From personal experience, all three of these solutions are very simple. However, not all three are very fl Citrix XenServer is OpenSource, but requires a host OS of Microsoft origins. This means one would have to have Windows installed on the server. Thus reducing the amount of fl y one has with the configuration of the server. The other two, KVM and Xen, are both OpenSource and Linux based: allowing for the most customizability. Xen used to be the best type 1 hypervisor in use, and is still used by major companies such as AWS[13]. However, recently Linux has been moving further and further away from Xen. From my experience, it has been relatively diffi to get an up-to-date version of Xen running on many Linux distros that are supported. This is not a problem, as KVM is absolutely comparable, and was recently added into the Linux kernel. Thus, KVM can be used on any base Linux distro and can  even run Windows OSes, Linux, and with some tweaking Mac OSX. Finally, security is our last critereon. As discussed, the fewer lines of code, ostensibly the more secure the hypervisor is. Looking at Xen and KVM, both have extremely small amounts of base code; however, KVM, being part of the linux kernel, is smaller. It is also more integrated into the most secure part of the Linux OS, and is thus considered more secure. In addition, both are OpenSource, allowing them to be reviewed by hundreds of thousands of people. Thus security is inherent with these two hypervisors. Conclusion University Clubs are requried increasingly to have digital infrastructures for websites, email, and calendars. However, creating and maintaining traditional infrastructures is costly, time consuming, diffi and can be insecure. Virtualization has become the best way for com- panies and clubs to provide a digital infrastructure in the most efficient and cost effective manor. More specifically for clubs, KVM seems to be the best solution, and the easiest to implement on a server. References [1] Server Supply, IBM7870G2ABLADECENTERHS22-1XINTELXEONQUAD-COREE5620/2.40GHZ,6GBDDR3RAM,GRAPHICMATROXG200EV,GIGABIT ETHERNET,BLADESERVER.NEW.INSTOCK., ServerSupply.com, Inc., January 11, 2017. [2] Neobits, CiscoUCS-SP7-B200-VCiscoB200M3BladeServer2xIntelXeonE5-2640v2Octa-core(8Core)2GHz128GBInstalledDDR3SDRAMSerialAttachedSCSI(SAS)Controller0,1RAIDLevels2ProcessorSupport768GBRAMSupport 10Gigabit, Neobits, Inc., January 11, 2017. [3] IBM, Hypervisors,virtualization,andthecloud:Learnabouthypervisors,systemvirtu-alization,andhowitworksinacloudenvironment, ibm.com, January 11, 2017. [4] Debian, KVM, wiki.debian.org, January 11, 2017. [5] Canonical, KVM, wiki.ubuntu.com, January 11, 2017. [6] Arch, KVM, wiki.archlinux.org, January 11, 2017. [7] Xen Project, MainPage, wiki.xen.org, January 11, 2017. [8] Citrix, MainPage, wiki.xenserver.org, January 11, 2017. [9] Debian, Xen, wiki.debian.org, January 11, 2017. [10] Arch, Xen, wiki.archlinux.org, January 11, 2017. [11] VMWare, vSphereHypervisor, vmware.com, January 11, 2017. [12] Microsoft, Hyper-V, technet.microsoft.com, January 11, 2017. [13] eWeek, AmazonRebootsCloudServerstoPatchXenHypervisor, QuinStreet Enter- prise, January 11, 2017.

A Streetcar Named Desire, by Tennessee Williams :: A Streetcar Named Desire Essays

Set in the French Quarter of New Orleans during the restless years following World War Two, A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE is the story of Blanche DuBois, a fragile and neurotic woman on a desperate prowl for someplace in the world to call her own. After being exiled from her hometown of Laurel, Mississippi for seducing a seventeen-year-old boy at the school where she taught English, Blanche explains her unexpected appearance on Stanley and Stella's (Blanche's sister) doorstep as nervous exhaustion. This, she claims, is the result of a series of financial calamities which have recently claimed the family plantation, Belle Reve. Suspicious, Stanley points out that "under Louisiana's Napoleonic code what belongs to the wife belongs to the husband." Stanley, a sinewy and brutish man, is as territorial as a panther. He tells Blanche he doesn't like to be swindled and demands to see the bill of sale. This encounter defines Stanley and Blanche's relationship. They are opposing camps and Stella i s caught in no-man's-land. But Stanley and Stella are deeply in love. Blanche's efforts to impose herself between them only enrages the animal inside Stanley. When Mitch -- a card-playing buddy of Stanley's -- arrives on the scene, Blanche begins to see a way out of her predicament. Mitch, himself alone in the world, reveres Blanche as a beautiful and refined woman. Yet, as rumors of Blanche's past in Laurel begin to catch up to her, her circumstances become unbearable. Characters: Blanche Dubois: Blanche Dubois is the older sister of Stella Kowalski who visits them in New Orleans and stays throughout the summer. She was a schoolteacher of English in Mississippi and presents herself as very prim, proper, and prudent. Her name is French and she says, 'It [Dubois] means woods and Blanche means white, so the two together mean white woods. Like an orchard in spring!' (Act III, pg. 177). She was married to a young man named Allan, who committed suicide when she was very young. She drinks and smokes and tells lies. She suffers from continual delusions of hearing polka tunes and gunshots. Stella loves her dearly, but Stanley is in direct opposition to her false appearance and selfish attitude. Blanche cannot be around direct light and is overly concerned with her appearance, accessories, bathing, and age. She has a brief romance with Mitch and is later committed to a mental institution. Stanley Kowalski: Stanley is Stella's strong and good-looking husband.

Genetic explanations Essay

Genetic explanations for the Initiation of addictions Heritability of addictions such as alcoholism and gambling can be studied through family and twin studies. The presumptions of twin and family studies are that if family members share similar behaviours, then the degree to which the behaviours are caused by genetic factors can be examined. There are two types of twins, identical and non-identical. Identical twins are monozygotic (MZ) as they came from the same egg, and therefore share an identical set of genes. Non-identical twins are dizygotic (DZ) as they come from two different eggs that were fertilised at the same time, and as a result their genes are no more alike than any brother or sister’s. Twins can also differ in the environment that they are brought up in. Some twins may, rarely, be separated at birth and therefore have very different upbringings. If researchers are able to find MZ twins who have been raised apart (i.e. same genes but different environments) then they will be able to distinguish between the influenc e of genes and environment on a certain behaviour. If MZ twins who have been raised apart booth show the same behaviour, then the behaviour is probably genetic; but if only one of them has that behaviour then it may well be caused by the environment. The degree to which twins and family members share a behaviour is termed a concordance rate, with 1 (or 100%) being entirely genetic, and 0 (or 0%) being entirely environmental. McGue (1999) found a concordance rate of 50-60% for alcohol addiction, and Agrawal & Lynskey (2006) found a concordance rate of 45-79% for addiction to illicit drugs. This means that just over half of the factors that cause addiction to alcohol are genetic in origin, as are half to three-quarters of the factors causing addiction to illegal drugs. A problem with this conclusion, however, is that the genetic link may be for behaviour disorders rather than addiction, and these behaviour disorders may manifest as many antisocial behaviours including alcohol and drug use. The sensitivity of the dopamine system is one biological explanation for the imitation, maintenance and relapse of addictive behaviours (see below), and so it would make sense for researchers to look for genes that are responsible for causing particularly sensitive or insensitive dopamine systems. One such gene is called the DRD2 gene (or dopamine receptor density 2 gene). The DRD2 gene codes for the number of dopamine receptors available in the mesolimbic dopamine system. A person with fewer dopamine receptors is  unable to ‘feel’ the effect of dopamine as well as someone with a higher number of dopamine receptors, and so needs higher levels of dopamine to produce the same effect as a person with more dopamine receptors. People with the DRD2 A1 variant of the gene have fewer dopamine receptors, and also seem more vulnerable to addictions. Evaluation for genetic explanations of addictive behaviour Genetic inheritance may explains individual differences in addiction Genetic inheritance can, through the diathesis-stress model, explain why some people become addicted whereas others in the same environmental situation do not. The diathesis-stress model is the idea that a genetic vulnerability may manifest in the right circumstance – e.g. if a person who is susceptible to becoming addicted, due to their genetic inheritance, is suffering from some form of stress or boredom due to environmental factors, then they may partake in an addictive activity. However this is a very deterministic view of human behaviour that ignores environmental factors, as not all people with the A1 variant of the DDR2 gene become addicted even if they partake in a potentially addictive activity. Inconsistent research findings linking specific genes to addictions Noble (1998) found support for the DRD2 A1 gene being linked to alcoholism (the gene was found to be carried by 48% of severe alcoholics, 32% of less severe alcoholics, and 16% of non-alcoholic controls), but many other studies have failed to find such a link. Specific genes are linked to other disorders as well as addiction The DDR2 A1 gene is also common in people with autism and Tourettes, as well as in people with addictions. Autism and Tourettes sufferers are not pleasure seekers and do not tend to suffer from addictions, and so the link between the A1 variant of the DDR2 gene and addictions is unclear and far more complex than simply claiming that the gene causes addiction. The dopamine model of addiction Initiation of addictive behaviour: Dopamine is released in the mesolimbic dopamine system of the brain, to signal reward and pleasure. If a behaviour causes dopamine release then the brain knows to â€Å"do it again† – e.g. eating, drinking, keeping warm, having sex – these are adaptive behaviours in evolutionary terms as they help an  organism/species to survive in its environment. Unfortunately other non-adaptive behaviours (i.e. behaviours that do not necessarily aid survival) can release huge amounts of dopamine (e.g. gambling and drug taking). Certain chemicals (e.g. amphetamines, alcohol, cocaine) can directly cause huge amounts of dopamine to be released. The effect of this dopamine release is to tell the brain that the behaviour is desirable and that it should seek to DO IT AGAIN! And according to incentive sensitisation theory, desire for the rewarding substance or behaviour persists even in the absence of the substance or behaviour. Maintenance of addictive behaviour: Repeated exposure to an addictive behaviour or substance causes reduced sensitivity to the dopamine release through a process known as down regulation. This means that more of the behaviour is needed to cause the same pleasurable psychological effect in the mesolimbic dopamine system. Stopping the behaviour altogether creates a state of disequilibrium in the dopamine system, and leads to withdrawal symptoms that can only be reduced by repeating the (now learned) behaviour. This disequilibrium, an increased need for dopamine stimulation, and the unpleasant withdrawal symptoms it causes now drive behaviour so that it is no longer pleasure (positive reinforcement), but the need to reduce withdrawal symptoms (negative reinforcement) that drives the addict’s behaviour. Relapse of addictive behaviour: When an addict finally manages to stop engaging in a behaviour or taking a substance, they are at risk of relapse. According to the dopamine model, relapse can be explained by addiction causing permanent brain changes that lead to lasting memories of the substance or behaviour. Environmental reminders of the addiction (e.g. being in a pub, watching horse racing, returning to a location where drugs were taken, being under stress) can release small amounts of dopamine, which in turn lead to the addicted person desiring a greater dopamine reward that can only be obtained by re-engaging in the addictive behaviour Evaluation for the dopamine model of addiction Support for the dopamine model of addiction: Support for the dopamine model comes from many experimental studies, such as  a study into the effects of ritaline (Volkow, 2001). Volkow gave a drug called ritalin to healthy volunteers and correlate their subjective experience of the drug with the density of dopamine receptors in their mesolimbic dopamine systems. Those that reported pleasurable feelings with ritalin had fewer dopamine receptors than those that hated its effects. This supports the theory that some people are more vulnerable to the effect of dopamine-releasing drugs than others. Neurochemical explanations ignore social factors: An important point to note is that neurochemical explanations for addiction (e.g. the dopamine model) ignore social and environmental factors that may also contribute to addictive behaviour. However, they can lead to effective treatments for addictions, e.g. replacing cigarettes with nicotine patches. Implications from animal research: Grant et al (1998) found that animals that lost social status also lost dopamine receptors, and offers therefore a possible explanation for social-class based addictions (e.g smoking in lower socio-economic groups). However, animal studies may not be generalisable to human addictive behaviour. Inevitability of dopamine sensitivity leading to addiction: The dopamine model suggests that reduced dopamine sensitivity, as caused by fewer dopamine receptors, inevitably leads to addictive behaviour. However, there is likely to be a complex interaction between an individual’s specific environment and whether or not dopamine sensitivity leads to addiction. A stimulating environment may provide enough dopamine reward to protect people from addiction, whereas a dull or boring environment may not (Volkow, 2003). Neurochemical explanations are reductionist: Neurochemical explanations for addiction reduce addictive behaviour to a simple variance in the structure of the dopamine system, and so ignore social and cognitive factors that can influence addictions. However they can lead to effective treatments, so in this case it is useful to be reductionist.

A Consumers Buying Behaviour Essay - 750 Words

A Consumers Buying Behavior A consumers buyer behavior is influenced by four major factors; cultural, social, personal, and psychological factors. These factors cause consumers to develop product and brand preferences. Although many of these factors cannot be directly controlled by marketers, understanding of their impact is essential as marketing mix strategies can be developed to appeal to the preferences of the target market. When purchasing any product, a consumer goes through a decision process. This process consists of up to five stages; problem recognition, information search, evaluation of alternatives, purchase decision and post purchase behavior. The length of this decision process will vary, ranging from a shorter†¦show more content†¦This explains the outside influences of others on our purchase decisions either directly or indirectly. PERSONAL factors include such variables as age and lifecycle stage, occupation, economic circumstances, lifestyle (activities, interests, opinions and demographics), personality and self concept. These may explain why our preferences often change as our `situation changes. PSCHOLOGICAL factors affecting our purchase decision include motivation (Maslows hierarchy of needs), perception, learning, beliefs and attitudes. Other people often influence a consumers purchase decision. The marketer needs to know which people are involved in the buying decision and what role each person plays, so that marketing strategies can also be aimed at these people. (Kotler et al, 1994). initiator - the person who first suggests or thinks of the idea of buying a particular product or service. influencer - a person whose views or advice caries some weight in making the final buying decision. Decider - the person who ultimately makes a buying decision or any part of it. 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