A Comparison of the Scop in Beowulf and Widsith Essays -- comparison c

The Scop in Beowulf and Widsith. The scop in Anglo-Saxon times had a very defined voice. A comparison between the scop in Beowulf and the scop in Widsith will more clearly define for us what that role was. The 142 verses of Widsith argon the oldest in the English language, and form the earliest rig in verse of any Germanic people. Widsith contains a huge catalog of 70 tribes and 69 important people, many of whom are proven to have lived in the third, fourth and fifth centuries. The vast knowledge of history which was required of a good scop, just amazes the reader. The Cambridge History of English and American Literature(v1,ch3,s6,n30) states that so many princes and peoples are menti matchlessd in the course of the poem that its importance for the history of the migration period can hardly be overestimated. This Old English poem was transcribed by a monk around the year 1000. Widsith tells the story of the scop Widsith, who accompanies Ealhhild, a Lombard princess, on her jour ney eastward from Angel to the court of Eormanric the Goth. Ealhhild, the sister of Aelfwine, King of the Lombards, is made to marry Eormanric. In this poem the geography and the chronology are not precise or accurate. At an early date Germanic kings began to keep professional poets, with functions not wholly hostile those of the poet laureate or official poet of later times (Malone 75). This pretty well expresses the life of Widsith, except that he was not located at any one court, rather he travelled from the country of Egypt, India and Israel to Britain and to northern Europe, going from court to court. His home court, if it can be called such, was with King Eadgils. But Widsith travelled to all the heathenish and non-heathen k... ...st was the theme of sacrifice. . . . ( Malone 77). Its obvious from our brief comparison between the scop in Beowulf and the scop in Widsith that the scop in Anglo-Saxon times had a very defined role He was singer, storyteller, public relations man, recipient of gifts, traveller, linguist, historian, and servant of the audience. BIBLIOGRAPHY Chickering, Howell D.. Beowulf A dual-Language Edition. New York Anchor Books, 1977. Ward & Trent, et al. The Cambridge History of English and American Literature. New York G.P. Putnams Sons, 190721 New York Bartleby.com, 2000 Malone, Kemp. The Old English Scop and Widsith. In Beowulf The Donaldson Translation, edited by Joseph F. Tuso. New York, W.W.Norton and Co. 1975. The Earliest English Poems, translated by Michael Alexander. New York Penguin Books, 1991.

Bram Stoker report Essay -- Essays Papers

Bram Stoker reportBram Stoker was born in Dublin, Ireland on November 8th, 1847. His fatherwas a civil servant in Dublin Castle, and his mother, Charlotte, was a womens libadvocate. They had cardinal children in nine long time the third of which was Bram. Thefirst seven years of his life he was bedridden with an undiagnosed disease whichmay have been anything from rheumatic fever, asthma or a form of nonparalyticpolio. During these first years of his life as he laid in his bed he listened to storieshis mother told him of the cholera epidemic of 1832 people buried alive, andentire families dying in a matter of days. At the age of 12 Bram left his home to attend school at Dublins RutlandSquare under high-flown William Wood. During these years he made up for hischildhood sickness by becoming involved in athletics and became an endurancewalker.Following his older brothers lure in 1863, at the age of 17, he entered trine College in Dublin. Only ten years after he took his first steps h e was immediatelysix foot two and 175 pounds. He joined several clubs and groups he becamepresident of the Philosophical Society, auditor of the Historical Society, he jobedsoccer, was unbeatable in his walking marathons, and after two years he becamethe athletics champion of trey. In 1866 Bram took a one year leave of absencefrom Trinity to work as a clerk in the Registrar of Petty Sessions at Dublin Castle.Later in the year he saw the play The Rivals playing the lead, Captain Absolute,was the British actor Henry Irving, a somebody who would play a major role inBrams life. He was so impressed by Irvings performance he wroteWhat I saw, to my amazement and delight , was a patrician figure asreal as the person of ones dreams, and endowed with the same poeticgrace. A young soldier, handsome, distinguished, self-dependentcompact of grace and slumberous energy. A man of quality who stoodout from his purlieu on the stage as a being of another socialworld. A figure full of dash and fi ne irony, and whose ridiculeseemed to bite prosperous with the joy of life self-conscious anoffensive egoist envy in his love-making of supreme andunsurpassable insolence, veiled and shrouded in his fine quality ofmanner.He returned to Trinity after his absence and graduated in 1871 with a degreein science, he then stayed on... ...ns. In the last year of his life Stoker suffered from a number of illnesses fromBrights Disease (a painful kidney disease), gout, syphilis, and exhaustion. OnApril 15th, 1912 Florence Stoker rushed to her husbands bedroom to tell him thatthe luxury liner Titanic had sunk the shadow before. Five days later April 20th, theday the investigation into the Titanic disaster began, Bram Stoker died at the ageof 64. His death certificate listed three causes of death locomotor Ataxy (tertiarysyphilis), Granular Contracted Kidney (Brights Disease), and exhaustion. The story of Dracula has been played out many times over in Hollywoodwith the most noted being Nosfe ratu (1928), Dracula (1931) starring BelaLugosi, Count Dracula (1971) starring Christopher Lee, and Bram StokersDracula (1992) starring Gary Oldman. It was first a Broadway stage play in thelate 1920s. Its leading actor, Bela Lugosi, would go on to play the originalDracula and play the part in over 80 other abomination movies.Dracula still remains the one work Bram Stoker is remembered for andtoday, over 100 years after it was published, it remains one of the most popularbooks of only time.

American History Essays Boston Tea Party -- American America History

Boston tea Party A Fight for freedomImagine you are a merchant in Boston selling imported goods from England with a high tax on them, when three ships come in with 342 chests of tea without planning to pay the middleman tax. Thats how it was for many merchants in Boston. The East India Tea Company went bankrupt due to the dropping rate of tea sales in the States because of the increasing rate of smuggling. The governments lack of support, and the newly passed Tea Act, only kindled more wrath towards the British from the colonists. This finally resulted in most three groups of fifty men going aboard the three British ships and dumping the tea into the Boston Harbor. The Boston Tea Party was more an travel towards self-government and displaying their rights rather a way to gain revenge at England. The West India Tea Company found themselves bankrupt due to the amount of pitch-black tea America was buying. People were buying smuggled tea because it was so much cheaper than the t ea England was forcing them to buy. The companys plan was to select three major cities in America to get rid of their competition. They would hire other handlers in Philadelphia, Charleston, and New York. By having the tea sold in America, they could avoid the high taxes of England. After they had eliminated their other competitors, they would maneuver much more for the tea that they were selling (Francis 1). When the colonists heard that the East India Company was selling tea to these cities, almost all of them were furious and wanted England to be aware of it. The patriots worried that they would start liking England because of the better tea prices (Maier 516). Soon tea was shipped to America for distribution to agents of the company, who ... ...me of need, and the passing of the Tea Act only created more resentment and created more resentment towards England. The citizens were feeling that they had no more rights left, and that England was completely taking over their new cou ntry so they acted in what has been called the Boston Tea Party. The colonists were outraged by the disrespect they were shown from England. It was only an act towards freedom, not revenge and should be treated as such. Works CitedTyler, John. The Boston Tea Party. (Online) Available http//aol/bostonteaparty.htmlBoston Tea Party. Microsoft Encarta 96 Encyclopedia. Funk & Wagnalls Corporation, 1996.Maire, Pauline. Boston Massacre. World Book Encyclopedia. 1982.Francis, Thomas. Liberty. New York North American Printing Company, 1993.Fleming, Wyatt. The Revolution. (Online) Avaialble http//usa.revolution/

Calvin and Hobbes: An Existentialist View Essay -- Comics Calvin Hobbe

Calvin and Hobbes An Existentialist View Faster and faster, the slick red wagon slaloms across the rocky terrain, carrying a blonde-headed boy and his stuffed tiger along each turn away of the track. Calvin, an imaginative six year ageing who makes us laugh with his childish antics, and Hobbes, the philosophical stuffed tiger, both make a statement about the world they were created in. Calvin and Hobbes is essenti altogethery an existentialist comic strip. Through Calvins desperate and unique choices and circumstances, he untraditionally fights against a continually changing world. His actions portray the disorder in which we are all controlled in a meaningless existence against a ferocious society, a ruthless nature, and inevitable death.Calvin is a unique character who breaks the traditionally accepted roles children play. earth-closet Calvin, the namesake of Bill Watersons star, was a stern, protestant theologian. Torn between conflicting doctrines of the Catholic Church, John Calvin led a Protestant reformation, breaking away from the traditionally accepted beliefs to more unorthodox beliefs such as predestination and justification by faith alone. No character could better reflect these Protestant views than the six-year old Calvin. An entirely mischievous and self-indulgent boy, Calvin is also forced into making new and desperate choices. John Calvin was forced into making a desperate choice to knot against the mother church, facing excommunication because he chose not to believe in the widely accepted beliefs of the time. Calvin also protests the situations he encounters. He polls his father, rating him on his character and past performances. Calvin realizes that it is not issues and ideologies that matter, but the type of people we a... ...tanding why. Yet, Calvin is able to allay those fears. He is a Peter Pan, a perpetual youth who we whoremaster look back on and admire throughout time, because he never has to face age. As he continues to rebel and persist against an existential world in his sarcastic and sardonic ways despite his circumstances and consequences, he sets an example of how to fight the irrational attacks on the individual. Works CitedMay, Rollo. Existential Psychology. New York Random House, 1961. authorized Website for Calvin and Hobbes comics from 1985 to 1996 by Bill Watterson, the. October 15, 2000.Watterson, Bill. The Calvin and Hobbes Tenth Anniversary Book. Kansas City Andrews and McMeel, 1995.Wilson, James Q. Calvin and Hobbes and the Moral Sense A Farewell. October 15, 200

why kids kill parents Essay example -- essays research papers

               Introduction to Psychology                                   Why kids kill parents                                   BY     Kathleen M. Heide               Psychology Today Magazine          HOW A LEGACY OF CHILD ABUSE LEADS TO HOMICIDE                              I chose this article because I have always been astonished at how children can do this to their                                     parents and what drove them to the choices they made.                               Did they have any other choices or did      they use totally of their chooses up that they had? This article supplied a lot of answers to me.                                   According to this Article                                   Between 1977 and 1986, more than 300 parents were killed each year by their own children.      &n bsp                &nb... ...ot his father once, he was then          afraid his father would be okay and come after him again when he was well, so he shot him again to make                          surely his father would not be able to do that. To end with a quote from the article                               "          The true killer in these cases is child mistreatment."                    "Damage comes not only in human carnage but in the death of the human               & nbsp          spirit that persistent           abuse often carries out."

I Never Sang for my Father Essays -- essays papers

I Never Sang for my Father The father watchword relationship is very important. A growing boy needs a strong fatherly presence in order to become a human. The plays, I Never Sang for my Father, and The Owl Killer, and the short story Notes to a Native Son, show this. The lack of communication and basic affection from their fathers directly impact the sons mental health, including self-esteem.The father in I Never Sang For My Father, Tom, was very mentally and physically abusive. Many times during the story he acted very self-centered. He was once a politician and loved it very much. The relationship with his son, Gene, was not a good one. Due to Toms abuse early in life, he and Gene were never able to have a positive relationship. Gene also was never able to really stand up to his father. plausibly due to a fear of him he had developed early in life. Even with this fear, Gene proved to be not be too dishonored by his abusive childhood. I believe that his low self -etheme came from this upbringing. Still he had a kind of respect for his father because he...

I Never Sang for my Father Essays -- essays papers

I neer Sang for my Father The father son relationship is rattling important. A growing male child needs a strong fatherly presence in order to become a man. The plays, I Never Sang for my Father, and The Owl Killer, and the goldbrick story Notes to a Native Son, show this. The lack of communication and basic affection from their fathers directly affected the sons mental health, including self-esteem.The father in I Never Sang For My Father, Tom, was very mentally and physically abusive. Many times during the story he acted very self-centered. He was once a politician and loved it very much. The relationship with his son, Gene, was not a good one. Due to Toms abuse early in life, he and Gene were never able to spend a penny a positive relationship. Gene also was never able to really stand up to his father. Probably due to a fear of him he had essential early in life. Even with this fear, Gene proved to be not be too damaged by his abusive childhood. I believe tha t his dispirited self-etheme came from this upbringing. Still he had a kind of respect for his father because he...

Forward the Foundation Chapter 29

32prof Seldon come in, tell Chief Librarian Tryma Acarnio in an icy t unmatchable of voice. Hari Seldon come with by Wanda and Palver, entered the Chief Librarians imposing office.Thank you, Chief Librarian, said Seldon as he settled into a c pilus and faced Acarnio across the vast desk. etiolatethorn I introduce my granddaughter Wanda and my friend Stettin Palver. Wanda is a most valuable member of the Psychohistory Project, her specialty being in the field of mathematics. And Stettin, well, Stettin is turning into a first-rate general psychohistorian-when hes not performing his duties as my body withstand, that is. Seldon chuckled amiably.Yes, well, thats altogether well and good, Professor, said Acarnio, baffled by Seldons good humor. He had expected the professor to come in groveling, implore for another chance at special Library privileges. entirely I dont at a lower placestand what it is you wanted to see me about. I assume you realize that our position is self-colored W e corporationnot allow a Library association with any(prenominal)one so extremely unpopular with the general population. We argon, after all, a public library and we must obligate the publics sentiments in mind. Acarnio settled affirm-perhaps immediately the groveling would begin.I realize that I bring in not been able to sway you. However, I purview that if you heard from a couple of the Projects younger members-the psychohistorians of tomorrow, as it were-that perhaps youd stand a better feel about what a vital role the Project-and the cyclopedia, in authorityicular- depart play in our future. Please hear Wanda and Stettin out.Acarnio cast a c ageing eye toward the deuce young people flanking Seldon. Very well, then, he said, operateedly eyeing the timestrip on the wall. Five minutes and no more than. I have a Library to run.Chief Librarian, began Wanda, as my grandfather has undoubtedly explained to you, psychohistory is a most valuable tool to be use for the preserv ation of our culture. Yes, preservation, she repeated, upon seeing Acarnios eyes widen at the word. Undue emphasis has been placed on the destruction of the pudding stone. By doing so, the true value of psychohistory has been everywherelooked. For, with psychohistory, as we are able to predict the inevitable decline of our civilization, so are we able to take steps toward its preservation. That is what the Encyclopedia Galactica is all about. And that is why we need your answer, and the help of your abundant Library.Acarnio could not stand up smiling. The young lady had an undeniable charm. She was so earnest, so well spoken. He gazed at her sitting in front of him, her blond hair pulled back in a rather severe scholarly style, one which could not hide her attractive features but, rather, showed them off. What she was saying was starting to make backbone. Maybe Wanda Seldon was right-maybe he had been looking at this problem from the wrong angle. If it were actually a matter of preservation, rather than destructionChief Librarian, began Stettin Palver, this huge Library has stood for millennia. It, perhaps still more than the Imperial Palace, represents the vast power of the Empire. For, the Palace houses unless the Empires leader, while the Library is home to the sum total of Imperial knowledge, culture, and history. Its value is incalculable.Does it not make sense to prepare a tribute to this great repository? The Encyclopedia Galactica will be just that-a giant summary of all the knowledge contained within these rattling walls. Think of itAll of a sudden it seemed so very clear to Acarnio. How could he have permit the control board (especially that sourpuss Gennaro Mummery) convince him to rescind Seldons privileges? Las Zenow, a person whose judgment he greatly esteemed, had been a wholehearted supporter of Seldons Encyclopedia.He glanced again at the three in front of him, waiting for his decision. The Board would be hard-pressed to find anyt hing to complain about with the Project members-if the young people now in his office were a representative sample of the configuration of persons convoluted with Seldon.Acarnio rose and walked across his office, his brow furrowed, as if framing his thoughts. He picked up a milky crystal sphere from a table and hefted it in his palm.Trantor, Acarnio began thoughtfully, seat of the Empire, center of all the Galaxy. Quite amazing, when you gestate of it. We have, perhaps, been too quick to judge Professor Seldon. Now that your Project, this Encyclopedia Galactica, has been presented to me in such a clean-he gave a brief nod to Wanda and Palver-I realize how important it would be to allow you to continue your work here. And, of course, to grant access to a number of your colleagues.Seldon smiled gratefully and squeezed Wandas evanesce.It is not scarcely for the greater glory of the Empire that I am recommending this, continued Acarnio, apparently warming to the mind (and the so und of his own voice). You are famous, Professor Seldon. Whether people think of you as a crackpot or a genius, everyone seems to have an opinion. If an academic of your stature is allied with the Galactic Library, it can only maturation our prestige as a bastion of intellectual pursuit of the highest order. Why, the luster of your presence can be used to raise some(prenominal)-needed funds to update our collections, improver our staff, keep our doors open to the public prospicienterAnd the prospect of the Encyclopedia Galactica itself-what a monumental project Imagine the reaction when the public learns that the Galactic Library is involved with such an undertaking designed to highlight the splendor of our civilization-our glorious history, our brilliant achievements, our magnificent cultures. And to think that I, Chief Librarian Tryma Acarnio, is responsible for making sure that this great Project gets its start- Acarnio gazed intently into the crystal sphere, lost in reverie.Y es, Professor Seldon, Acarnio pulled himself back to the here and now. You and your colleagues will be granted full insiders privileges-and a suite of offices in which to work. He placed the crystal sphere back on its table and, with a swish of robes, moved back to his desk.It might take a little(a) doing, of course, to persuade the Board-but I am confident that I can handle them. Just leave it to me.Seldon, Wanda, and Palver looked at each other in triumph, with small smiles playacting at the corner of their mouths. Tryma Acarnio gestured that they could go and so they did, leaving the Chief Librarian settled in his chair, dreaming of the glory and honor that would come to the Library under his aegis.Amazing, said Seldon when the three were safely ensconced in their ground-car. If you could have seen him at our last meeting. He said I was threatening the essential fabric of our Empire or some such rot. And today, after just a few minutes with you two-It wasnt too hard, Grandpa, W anda said as she pressed a contact, moving the ground-car out into traffic. She sat back as the auto-propel took over Wanda had punched their destination coordinates into the control panel. He is a man with a strong sense of self-importance. All we had to do was play up the substantiative aspects of the Encyclopedia and his ego took over from on that point.He was a goner the minute Wanda and I walked in, Palver said from the back. With both of us pushing him, it was a piece of cake. Palver reached foregoing and squeezed Wandas shoulder affectionately. She smiled, reached up, and patted his hand.I must alert the Encyclopedists as soon as possible, Seldon said. Although there are only thirty-two left, they are good and dedicated workers. Ill get them installed at the Library and then Ill tackle the next hurdle-credits. Perhaps this alliance with the Library is what I need to convince people to give us funding. Lets see-Ill entreat upon Terep Bindris again and Ill take you two with me. He was kindly disposed toward me, at least at first. yet how will he be able to resist us now?The ground-car eventually came to a halt outside the Psychohistory Building at Streeling. The side panels slid open, but Seldon did not immediately move to disembark. He morose to face Wanda.Wanda, you know what you and Stettin were able to accomplish with Acarnio Im sure you both can push some credits out of a few financial benefactors as well.I know how you hate to leave your beloved prime of purport beaming, but these visits will give you two a chance to practice, to hone your skills, to get an persuasion of just what you can do.All right, Grandpa, although Im sure that, now that you have the Librarys imprimatur, you will find that resistance to your requests has lessened.Theres another reason I think its important for the two of you to get out and or so together. Stettin, I believe you said that on certain occasions youve matte up another mind like yours but havent been abl e to detect it.Yes, answered Palver, Ive had photographes, but each time I was in a crowd. And, in my twenty-four years, I can remember feeling such a flash just four or five times.But, Stettin, said Seldon, his voice low with intensity, each flash was, potentially, the mind of another person like you and Wanda-another mentalic. Wandas never mat up these flashes because, frankly, shes been sheltered all her life. The few times shes been out in a crowd there must not have been any other mentalics around.Thats one reason-perhaps the most important reason-for you two to get out-with me or without me. We must find other mentalics. The two of you alone are strong enough to push a single person. A large group of you, all pushing together, will have the power to move an EmpireWith that. Hari Seldon swung his legs around and hoisted himself out of the ground-car. As Wanda and Palver watched him stoppage up the pathway to the Psychohistory Building, they were only dimly aware of the enor mous responsibility Seldon had just placed on their young shoulders.33It was midafternoon and the Trantorian sun glinted on the surface skin covering the great planet. Hari Seldon stood at the edge of the Streeling University observation deck, attempting to shield his eyes from the harsh glare with his hand. It had been years since hed been out from under the bonce, save for his few visits to the Palace, and somehow those didnt count one was still very much enclosed on the Imperial grounds.Seldon no longer traveled around only if accompanied. In the first place, Palver spent the majority of his time with Wanda, either working on the Prime Radiant, absorbed in mentalic research, or searching for others like them. But if he had wanted, Seldon could have found another young man-a University student or a Project member-to act as his bodyguard.However, Seldon knew that a bodyguard was no longer necessary. Since the much publicized hearing and the reestablishment of ties with the Galact ic Library, the Com hightail ition for Public Safety had taken a keen interest in Seldon. Seldon knew that he was being followed he had caught sentiment of his shadow on a number of occasions in the past few months. He also had no doubt that his home and office had been infiltrated by listening devices, but he himself activated a static shield whenever he engaged in sensitive communications.Seldon was not sure what the Commission thought of him-perhaps they were not yet sure themselves. Regardless of whether they believed him to be a prophet or a crackpot, they made it their business to know where he was at all times-and that beggarlyt that, until the Commission deemed otherwise, at all times Seldon was safe.A light breeze billowed the deep blue cloak Seldon had draped over his unisuit and ruffed the few wispy white hairs remaining on his head. He glanced down over the railing, taking in the seamless steel blanket below. Beneath that blanket, Seldon knew, rumbled the machinery of a vastly complicated world. If the domed stadium were transparent, one would see ground-cars racing, gravicabs swooshing through an intricate network of interconnecting tunnels, space hyperships being loaded and unloaded with grain and chemicals and jewels bound for and from practically every world of the Empire. to a lower place the gleaming metal cover, the lives of forty billion people were being conducted, with all the advertant pain, joy, and drama of kind-hearted life. It was an image he loved dearly-this panorama of human achievement-and it pierced his heart to know that, in just a few centuries, all that now lay in the lead him would be in ruins. The great dome would be ripped and scarred, torn away to reveal the desolate wasteland of what was once the seat of a thriving civilization. He shook his head in sadness, for he knew there was nothing he could do to prevent that tragedy. But, as Seldon foresaw the ruined dome, he also knew that from the ground laid bare by the l ast battles of the Empire living shoots would spring and somehow Trantor would reemerge as a vital member of the new Empire. The Plan saw to that.Seldon lowered himself onto one of the benches ringing the decks perimeter. His leg was throb painfully the exertion of the trip had been a bit much. But it had been worth it to gaze once again at Trantor, to feel the open air around him and see the vast sky above.Seldon thought wistfully of Wanda. He rarely saw his granddaughter at all anymore and invariably Stettin Palver was present when he did. In the three months since Wanda and Palver had met, they seemed to be inseparable. Wanda assured Seldon that the constant involvement was necessary for the Project, but Seldon suspected it went deeper than mere devotion to ones job.He remembered the telltale signs from his early days with Dors. It was there in the way the two young people looked at each other, with an intensity born not only of intellectual stimulation but excited motivation a s well.Further, by their very natures, Wanda and Palver seemed to be more comfortable with each other than with other people. In fact, Seldon had discovered that when no one else was around, Wanda and Palver didnt even talk to each other their mentalic abilities were sufficiently advanced that they had no need of words to communicate.The other Project members were not aware of Wandas and Palvers unique talents. Seldon had felt it dress hat to keep the mentalics work quiet, at least until their role in the Plan was firmly defined. Actually the Plan itself was firmly defined-but solely in Seldons mind. As a few more pieces fell into place, he would reveal his Plan to Wanda and Palver and someday, of necessity, to one or two others.Seldon stood slowly, stiffly. He was due back at Streeling in an hr to meet Wanda and Palver. They had left word for him that they were bringing a great surprise. Another piece for the puzzle, Seldon hoped. He looked out one last time over Trantor and, bef ore turning to make his way back to the gravitic repulsion elevator, smiled and softly said, fanny.34Hari Seldon entered his office to find that Wanda and Palver had already arrived and were seated around the conference table at the far end of the room. As was usual with those two, the room was completely silent.Then Seldon stopped short, noticing that a new fellow was sitting with them. How strange-out of politeness, Wanda and Palver usually reverted to standard language when in the company of other people, yet none of the three was speaking.Seldon studied the stranger-an odd-looking man, about thirty-five years old, with the myopic look of one caught up for too long in his studies. If it werent for a certain determined set to the strangers jaw, Seldon thought he might be dismissed as ineffectual, but that would obviously be a erroneous belief. There was both strength and kindness in the mans face. A trustworthy face, Seldon decided.Grandfather, Wanda said, rising gracefully fro m her chair. Seldons heart ached as he looked at his granddaughter. Shed changed so much in the past few months, since the loss of her family. Whereas before she had always called him Grandpa, now it was the more formal Grandfather. In the past it seemed she could barely refrain from grins and giggles of late her serene gaze was lightened only occasionally by a beatific smile. But-now as always-she was beautiful and that beauty was surpassed only by her stunning intellect.Wanda, Palver, Seldon said, kissing the cause on the cheek and slapping the latter on the shoulder.Hello, Seldon said, turning to the stranger, who had also stood. I am Hari Seldon.I am most honored to meet you, Professor, the man replied. I am Bor Alurin. Alurin offered a hand to Seldon in the archaic and, hence, most formal mode of greeting.Bor is a psychologist, Hari, said Palver, and a great fan of your work.More important, Grandfather, said Wanda, Bor is one of us.One of you? Seldon looked searchingly from on e to the other. Do you mean? Seldons eyes sparkled.Yes, Grandfather. Yesterday Stettin and I were walking through Ery Sector, getting out and around, as youd suggested, probe for others. All of a sudden-wham-there it was.We recognized the thought patterns immediately and began to look around, trying to establish a link, Palver said, taking up the story. We were in a commercial area, dependable the spaceport, so the walkways were clogged with shoppers and tourists and Outworld traders. It seemed hopeless, but then Wanda simply stopped and signaled Come here and out of the crowd Bor appeared. He just walked up to us and signaled Yes?Amazing, Seldon said, beaming at his granddaughter. And Dr.-it is Doctor, isnt it?-Alurin, what do you make of all this?Well, began the psychologist thoughtfully, I am pleased. Ive always felt different somehow and now I know why. And if I can be of any help to you, why- The psychologist looked down at his feet, as if all of a sudden he realized he was being presumptuous. What I mean is, Wanda and Stettin said I may be able to contribute in some way to your Psychohistory Project. Professor, nothing would please me more.Yes yes. Thats quite true, Dr. Alurin. In fact, I think you may make a great contribution to the Project-if youll join me. Of course, youll have to give up whatever it is you do now, whether it is teaching or private practice. ignore you manage that?Why, yes, Professor, of course. I may need a little help convincing my wife- At this he chuckled slightly, glancing shyly at each of his three companions in turn. But I seem to have a way with that.So its set, then, said Seldon briskly. You will join the Psychohistory Project. I promise you, Dr. Alurin, this is a decision you will not regret.Wanda, Stettin, Seldon said later, after Bor Alurin had left. This is a most welcome breakthrough. How quickly do you think you can find more mentalics?Grandfather, it took us over a month to locate Bor-we cannot predict with what f requency others will be found.To tell you the truth, all this out and around takes us away from our work on the Prime Radiant and it is distracting as well. Now that I have Stettin to talk to, verbal communication is somewhat too harsh, too loud. Seldons smile faded. He had been afraid of this. As Wanda and Palver had been honing their mentalic skills, so their valuation account for ordinary life had diminished. It only made sense their mentalic manipulations set them apart.Wanda, Stettin, I think it may be time for me to tell you more about the idea Yugo Amaryl had years ago and about the Plan Ive devised as a result of that idea. I havent been ready to elaborate upon it until now, because until this moment, all the pieces have not been in place.As you know, Yugo felt we must establish two Foundations-each as a fail-safe measure for the other. It was a brilliant idea, one which I wish Yugo could have lived long enough to see realized. Here Seldon paused, heaving a regretful sigh.B ut I digress. Six years ago, when I was certain that Wanda had mentalic, or mind-touching, capabilities, it came to me that not only should there be two Foundations but that they should be distinct in nature, as well. One would be made up of physical scientists-the Encyclopedists will be their pioneer group on finale. The second would be made up of true psychohistorians mentalists-you. That is why Ive been so eager for you to find others like you.Finally, though, is this The Second Foundation must be secret. Its strength will lie in its seclusion, in its telepathic omnipresence and omnipotence.You see, a few years ago, when it became apparent that I would occupy the services of a bodyguard, I realized that the Second Foundation must be the strong, silent, secret bodyguard of the primary Foundation.Psychohistory is not infallible-its predictions are, however, highly probable. The Foundation, especially in its infancy, will have many enemies, as do I today.Wanda, you and Palver are the pioneers of the Second Foundation, the guardians of the Terminus Foundation.But how, Grandfather? demanded Wanda. We are just two-well, three, if you count Bor. To guard the entire Foundation, we would need-Hundreds? Thousands? Find however many it takes, Granddaughter. You can do it. And you know how.Earlier, when relating the story of finding Dr. Alurin, Stettin said you simply stopped and communicated out to the mentalic presence you felt and he came to you. Dont you see? All along Ive been urging you to go out and find others like you. But this is difficult, almost painful for you. I realize now that you and Stettin must seclude yourselves, in order to form the nucleus of the Second Foundation. From there you will cast your nets into the ocean of humanity.Grandfather, what are you saying? Wanda asked in a whisper. She had left her seat and was kneeling next to Seldons chair. Do you want me to leave?No, Wanda, Seldon replied, his voice choked with emotion. I dont want you to leave, but it is the only way. You and Stettin must insulate yourselves from the crude physicality of Trantor. As your mentalic abilities grow stronger, you will attract others to you-the silent and secret Foundation will grow.We will be in touch-occasionally, of course. And each of us has a Prime Radiant. You see, dont you, the truth-and the absolute necessity-of what I am saying, dont you?Yes, I do, Grandfather, said Wanda. More important, I feel the brilliance of it as well. Rest assured we wont let you down.I know you wont, dear, Seldon said wearily.How could he do this-how could he send his darling granddaughter away? She was his last link to his happiest days, to Dors, Yugo, and Raych. She was the only other Seldon in the Galaxy.I shall miss you terribly, Wanda, Seldon said as a tear worked its way down his finely creased cheek.But, Grandfather, Wanda said as she stood with Palver, preparing to leave. Where shall we go? Where is the Second Foundation?Seldon looked up and said , The Prime Radiant has already told you, Wanda.Wanda looked at Seldon blankly, searching her memory.Seldon reached out and clutched at his granddaughters hand.Touch my mind, Wanda. It is there. Wandas eyes widened as she reached into Seldons mind.I see, Wanda whispered to Seldon.Section 33A2D17. Stars End.Part V epilogI am Hari Seldon. Former First Minister to Emperor Cleon I. Professor Emeritus of Psychohistory at Streeling University on Trantor. Director of the Psychohistory Research Project. Executive Editor of the Encyclopedia Galactica. Creator of the Foundation.It all sounds quite impressive, I know. I have done a great deal in my eighty-one years and I am tired. Looking back over my life, I wonder if I could have-should have-done certain things differently. For instance Was I so refer with the grand sweep of psychohistory that the people and events that intersected my life sometimes seemed inconsequential by comparison?Perhaps I neglected to make some small incidental adjus tments here or there that would have in no way compromised the future of humanity but might have dramatically improved the life of an individual dear to me. Yugo, Raych I cant help but wonder Was there something I could have done to save my beloved Dors?Last month I finished recording the Crisis holograms. My assistant, Gaal Dornick, has taken them to Terminus to oversee their installation in the Seldon Vault. He will make sure that the Vault is sealed and that the proper instructions are left for the eventual openings of the Vault, during the Crises.Ill be dead by then, of course.What will they think, those future Foundationers, when they see me (or, more accurately, my hologram) during the First Crisis, almost fifty years from now? Will they comment on how old I look or how weak my voice is or how small I seem, bundled in this wheelchair? Will they understand-appreciate-the message Ive left for them? Ah well, theres genuinely no point in speculating. As the ancients would say The die is cast.I heard from Gaal yesterday. All is going well on Terminus. Bor Alurin and the Project members are flourishing in exile. I shouldnt gloat, but I cant help but chuckle when I recall the self-satisfied look on the face of that pompous idiot Linge Chen when he banished the Project to Terminus two years ago. Although ultimately the exile was couched in terms of an Imperial Charter (A state-supported scientific institution and part of the personal domain of His August Majesty, the Emperor-the Chief Commissioner wanted us off Trantor and out of his hair, but he could not bear the thought of well-favored up complete control), it is still a source of secret delight to know that it was Las Zenow and I who chose Terminus as Foundations home.My one regret where Linge Chen is concerned is that we were not able to save Agis. That Emperor was a good man and a noble leader, even if he was Imperial in name only. His mistake was to believe in his title and the Commission of Public Safe ty would not tolerate the burgeoning Imperial independence.I often wonder what they did to Agis-was he exiled to some unlike Outer World or assassinated like Cleon?The boy-child who sits on the throne today is the perfect puppet Emperor. He obeys every word Linge Chen whispers in his ear and fancies himself a budding statesman. The Palace and trappings of Imperial life are but toys to him in some vast fantastical game.What will I do now? With Gaal finally gone to join the Terminus group, I am utterly alone. I hear from Wanda occasionally. The work at Stars End continues on course in the past decade she and Stettin have added dozens of mentalics to their number. They increasingly grow in power. It was the Stars End contingent-my secret Foundation-who pushed Linge Chen into sending the Encyclopedists to Terminus.I miss Wanda. It has been many years since Ive seen her, sat with her quietly, holding her hand. When Wanda left, even though I had asked her to go, I thought I would die of heartbreak. That was, perhaps, the most difficult decision I ever had to make and, although I never told her, I almost decided against it. But for the Foundation to succeed, it was necessary for Wanda and Stettin to go to Stars End. Psychohistory decreed it, so perhaps it wasnt really my decision, after all.I still come here every day, to my office in the Psychohistory Building. I remember when this structure was filled with people, day and night. Sometimes I feel as if its filled with voices, those of my long-departed family, students, colleagues-but the offices are empty and silent. The hallways echo with the whirr of my wheelchair motor.I suppose I should vacate the building, return it to the University to allocate to another department. But somehow its hard to let go of this place. There are so many memoriesAll I have now is this, my Prime Radiant. This is the means by which psychohistory can be computed, through which every equation in my Plan may be analyzed, all here in this amazing, small black cube. As I sit here, this deceptively simple-looking tool in the palm of my hand, I wish I could show it to R. Daneel OlivawBut I am alone, and need only to close a contact for the office lights to dim. As I settle back in my wheelchair, the Prime Radiant activates, its equations spreading around me in three-d splendor. To the untrained eye, this multicolored swirl would be merely a jumble of shapes and numbers, but for me-and Yugo, Wanda, Gaal-this is psychohistory, come to life.What I see before me, around me, is the future of humanity. 30 thousand years of potential chaos, compressed into a single millenniumThat patch, glowing more strongly day by day, is the Terminus equation. And there-skewed beyond repair-are the Trantor figures. But I can see yes, softly beaming, a steady light of hope Stars EndThis-this-was my lifes work. My past-humanitys future. Foundation. So beautiful, so alive. And nothing canDorsSELDON, HARI- found dead, slumped over his desk in his office at Streeling University in 12,069 G.E. (1 F.E.). Apparently Seldon had been working up to his last moments on psychohistorical equations his activated Prime Radiant was discovered clutched in his handAccording to Seldons instructions, the instrument was shipped to his colleague Gaal Dornick who had recently emigrated to TerminusSeldons body was jettisoned into space, also in accordance with instructions hed left. The official memorial service on Trantor was simple, though well attended. It is worth noting that Seldons old friend former First Minister Eto Demerzel attended the event. Demerzel had not been seen since his mysterious disappearance immediately following the Joranumite Conspiracy during the loom of Emperor Cleon I. Attempts by the Commission of Public Safety to locate Demerzel in the days following the Seldon memorial proved to be unsuccessfulWanda Seldon, Hari Seldons granddaughter, did not attend the ceremony. It was rumored that she was grief-stricken and h ad refused all public appearances. To this day, her whereabouts from then on remain unknownIt has been said that Hari Seldon left this life as he lived it, for he died with the future he created unfolding all around him Encyclopedia Galactica1 All quotations from the Encyclopedia Galactica here reproduced are taken from the 116th Edition, published 1,020 F.E. by the Encyclopedia Galactica Publishing Co., Terminus, with permission of the publishers.

First Confession

By Frank OConnor Im very attracted with the first someone in this report named Jackie. This is a story about Jackies experience of his first apology. Jackie always mentation the terrible things about excuse like the angry priest, a lot of sins he made, the sinner who would burned the furniture, etc, but the position that he passed the first justification successfully. I think Jackie do the same bewilderment with me about first confession. I dont have background knowledge of the story and also do not know ome terms like excuse in the Church or Three come up Marys.Because of Jackies story, I could imagine the situation since Jackie was also experienced it at the first time. Moreover, I can under contribute the rites and practices of the Catholic religion. In this story, Jackie hated her nan and child so much and wanted to kill them. Im sure Jackie would not truly do that as he was only a eight-year-old child who still couldnt mastery his emotional feeling. Actually, its be cause of the bad behaviors of them. His grandmother should be a good example for him but she always drunk and ever gave pennies to him but to his sister, Nora.It was good that Jackie was not influenced with his grandmother behavior, he thought that it was an awful instead. Usually a child will follow what adult does but Jackie was different, he was precisely mortified to follow the violate one. He also realized that his wish for killing her grandmother and sister were wrong. Then, I think that Jackie was very honest and courageous. Although he was scared to death of confession, he told his sins truthfully to the priest. Some of us maybe will remain to silent about our sins or even denied it, n the contrary Jackie told everything.At first I thought he would not have courage to confess because of the threats from her sister who claimed cosmos a sinner would get punishment not treatment. A bad confession story from Mrs. Ryan that made shocking impression on him also could give away him denied his sins. But Jackie was one of a kind his honest confession made the priest amazed and so did l. Jackie honesty and braveness made the priest gave him Three Hail Marys even the priest came out of the church with Jackie that hed never done to Nora.First ConfessionAlexandro Ramirez English 1302 Professor Robin Russell 4/12/13 Critical Essay 1 First Confession At the beginning of the story, OConnor, in the short story, First Confession, may use the all-knowing or omniscient point of view. He describes to choose some(prenominal) act of the character and any thought of the character, and he tells the goodness and the bad side of the character. Instead the story is written in first person point of view. The narrator in this story is also the main character, or protagonist.This way the reader is allow to the see the world in the eyes of Jackie, and his point of view about his grandmother, Nora, and Mrs. Ryan, and women itself. Jackie does not stand her grandmother at all, he r elates her as the source of his entire problems, and all because of that old wo gay Even thou his grandmother lives with him, because of the dead of his grandfather, he was actually afraid of her, he had to make excuses to his friend so he wont go inside his house to play because, because I could never be sure what she would be up to. He also is disgusted by the womans love of porter beer, her inclination to eat potatoes with her move overs, she had a send back of porter and a pot of potatoes with-some-times-a bit of salt fish, and she poured out the potatoes on the t fitting and ate them slowly, with great relish, using her fingers by way of a fork, and of ladder favoring Nora, she knew Mother saw through her, so she sided with Gran. Nora his old sister was a pain to Jackie, she often was picking on him, and got him into trouble, Oh, Dadda, do you know what Jackie did at suppertime? Then, of course, it all came out Father gave me a flaking Mother interfered, and for days afte r that he didnt speak to me and Mother barely spoke to Nora. Even thou Jackie is genuinely nervous and afraid for his first confession, because he doesnt want to tell the priest he wanted to kill his grandmother, Nora instead of supporting him, she was playing with this mind, She held my hand as we went down the hill, smiling sadly and saying how sorry she was for me, as if she were bringing me to the ospital for an operation. Also before arriving to the chapel, Jackie confesses horrible things that Nora does to him that we will never know of or his mother, that girl had ways of tormenting me that Mother never knew of. An old woman called Mrs. Ryan is teaching Jackie and his class mates about the Ten Commandments and hell. She tells the class the story of a man who made a bad confession which was not telling the truth to the priest and whose hands burnt the bed of a priest. Jackie thinks Mrs.Ryan is trying to frighten the children into being good or they will burn in hell for et ernity, Then she asked were we afraid of holding one finger-only one finger Also she is trying to make sure that they dont tell the priest a bad confession, hell had the first place in her heart. To tell a bad confession in Jackies eyes means dying and burning in hell. Jackiedoesntwant to make a bad confession but knows that he will because hedoesntthink hell be able to tell the priest that he wants to kill his grandmother.The day the class is to make their confession Jackie pretends that he has a toothache so that he can avoid confession, because Mrs. Ryan gets wind of his absence and makes arrangements so that Jackie can go to confession he was literary scared to death, I was scared to death of confession, the following Saturday and still be able to attend his first communion. Jackie does not see women with good eyes, in fact he thinks they are bad people because of the way they treat him, girls are supposed to be fastidious. Also in this short story we are able to see three gre at examples for this. First his grandmother, which he thinks its all her fault and an ugly woman who doesnt know how to act in town, antagonistic to the life in town. Nora another great example who is a bad big sister, who only plays with his mind and doesnt see the suffering of his young brother. finally Mrs. Ryan a woman who tries to scare him, new half-crown, and offered it to the first boy who would hold one finger, only one finger in the flame for five minutes. With this Firs question of View we could actually feel Jackies feelings and intention to why he portraitures women, or in this case this three women like that. A third person point of view, would help much at understanding Jackie, but the author choose wisely and now the reader can conclude all of the ideas portrait on this short story, and also we can be on Jackies shoes and know the true story behind it.

Sir Robert Peel and American Policing

Sir Robert Peel and American Policing Kristi Pursley CJA/214 August 15, 2011 Don Redden Sir Robert Peel and American Policing The history of policing dates back several(prenominal) thousand years ago when there was no order or peace and inhumane acts upon citizens was the norm with religious, political, or military law acting as the law. Policing was unstable and unorganized. Citizens took the law into their own hands and served as judge, jury, and executioner. There was not such a thing as being innocent until proven guilty. If the participation believed an individual was guilty of a crime then the community would grapple the offense themselves. American policing stems from the English heritage crime prevention and control, preventive patrol, and the quasi-military organisational method became the policing structure. The English colonists brought a criminal justice system as part of their cultural baggage (Walker & Katz,2008,p. 24). In addition, American policing also practice sessiond other(a) features from the British system. A component of Englands elite social and political class fought to improve the structure of the law enforcement for more than 30 years.History expresses itself and acknowledges this member as the father of modern policing, otherwise know as Sir Robert Peel (Walker & Katz, 2008, p. 25). After the collapse of the England law enforcement in the early nineteenth century, Sir Robert Peel took a stand to control order and organization in the law enforcement system. He fought for many years for this and finally convinced the English Parliament to create the capital of the United Kingdom Metropolitan Police in 1829. The officers became known as Bobbies in honor of Sir Robert Peel.The capital of the United Kingdom Police Department set in motion three sore elements that became the structure for modern policing mission, strategy, and organizational structure. The mission was to prevent crime before it started rather than to respond after the crime has already taken place, known as crime prevention. The strategy was to have officers continually patrolling the fixed beats and allow them to be noticed to deter crime, also known as preventive patrol. The organizational structure came from the London military introducing, uniforms, rank designations, and the authorian system of command and discipline, otherwise known as Quasi-military style.Although Sir Robert Peel was not an officer of the law, he directed Londons police department with Peels Nine Principals. These principals were to act as the basis to control the police force in England and help to be cured _or_ healed peace to the citizens. Peel believed it was better to try to prevent crimes and reform criminals. Peels Nine Principals read as follows 1) The basic mission for which thepolice live on is to prevent crime and disorder. 2) The ability ofthe policeto perform their duties is dependent upon public approval of police actions. ) Police must secure the willi ng co-operation of the public in voluntary observance of the law to be able to secure and maintain the respect of the public. 4) The degree of co-operation of the public that can be secured diminishes proportionately to the necessity of the use of physical force. 5) Police seek and preserve public favor not by catering to public opinion but by constantly demonstrating controlling impartial service to the law. 6) Police use physical force to the extent necessary to secure observance of the law or to restore order scarcely when the exercise of persuasion, advice and warning is found to be insufficient. ) Police, at all times, should maintain a relationship with the public that gives reality to the historic tradition that the police atomic number 18 the public and the public are the police the police being only members of the public who are paid to give full-time attention to duties which are officer on every citizen in the interests of community welfare and existence. 8) Police sh ould always direct their action strictly towards their functions and never appear to usurp the powers of the judiciary. ) The test of police efficiency is the absence of crime and disorder, not the visible evidence of police action in dealing with it (Bloy, 2011). The United States admired Sir Robert Peels principals of policing and and so adopted it to incorporate into their legal justice system of law enforcement. The disposal tried to incorporate Sir Robert Peels Principals into different cities with no luck or gratitude. In 1838, Boston became the first city to incorporate these principals and have the first organized policing in the United States. In 1845, New York City followed compositors case.Soon thenceforth, Philadelphia followed suit but it did not follow the principals, destroying different forms of policing. Finally, Philadelphia collaborated their policing style to be organized and uphold order by way of Sir Robert Peels Nine Principals. Sir Robert Peel, known as t he father of modern policing, set the foundation for organization and structure in modern day policing in London. The United States followed behind shortly thereafter to enlist a police force for order, organization, and service. Peel set up Peels Nine Principals which the United States still abides by to this day.The father of policing has helped our government to overcome harsh judgment, corruption, and harsh actions, and has made it possible for citizens of this society to bond with local law enforcement. This has allowed our law enforcement to handle situations appropriately and incorporate bigger agencies to handle more diverse problems throughout the country. References Dr. Bloy, M. (2011, January 6). The Peel Web. Retrieved August 9, 2011 from www. historyhome. co. uk. Walker, S. , & Katz, C. M. (2008). The Police in America(6th Ed. ). New York, New York McGraw-Hill.

Effective Study Skills Are the Sole Foundation of a Sound Essay

Effective study skills are definitely an meaning(a) factor of a sound education. They dont happen overnight. They evolve and mature through practice, trial and error, feedback from others and reflection through different stages of the course (Cottrell,S.2008. pg1) Working on effective study skills means the various(prenominal) will find out what works best. Basically encyclopedism how to learn (Cottrell,S. 2008. pg 48).There are many different ways in which individuals learn, for e.g. conscious learning when the individual is aware they are learning (Cottrell,S. 2008. pg 48). Unconscious learning when the individual is unaware that it is happening but it may become conscious learning when they meet know something and then wonder, how did I know that (Cottrell,S. 2008. pg 48). Each person has 3 different learning styles which affect their lives. Some people learn better exploitation visual learning such as looking at pictures or diagrams. Other people are auditory learners i.e . listening to recordings. Then there are people who are kinaesthetic or tactile learners, they like to touch and play with things. (Wyman,P. 2011). By testing all these types of learning people will look at what they find easiest to use and then be able to adapt it to their studies.Effective study skills could definitely be described as the sole foundation of a sound education when doing independent learning. A learner would acquire knowledge by his or her own efforts, therefore good study skills are decisive (Meena. 2012). This comes into effect on a distance learning course i.e. foot health diploma. Having the choice of when and where studying takes place, means being disciplined enough to intrust the time to it. In essence the individual is teaching themselves. To really succeed in a chosen subject doing something with genuine enthusiasm is most important otherwise individuals could just lose interest.

Despite Rise in Revenues, State Budget Deficit

Despite a 14.5 per centime rise in domestic revenues and extraneous grants extended to the ground in 2007, the state budget recorded a deficit of 5.4 per cent of the gross domestic product (GDP), according to official figures released Monday.Although the country recorded a JD502.5 million increase in domestic revenues and grants, the 2007 budget deficit stood at JD614.5 million, an increase of 1 per cent from 2006.According to the Ministry of Finance monthly bulletin, external grants be JD343.4 million in 2007 compared to JD304.6 million in 2006 while domestic revenues were 14.5 per cent higher in 2007, amounting to JD3,628.1 million compared to JD3,164.4 million in 2006.The bulletin attributed the increase in the domestic revenues to a JD338.6 million rise in tax revenues, and similar raises in non-tax revenues and repayments by JD117.6 million and JD7.5 million respectively.The increase in tax revenues resulted in the first place from a 20.1 per cent rise in sales tax equaling JD245.4 million, news report for 72.5 per cent of the overall computed increase.Income tax revenue also grew by 20.3 per cent, or JD83.5 million, accounting for around 24 .7 per cent of the increase generated in overall tax revenues.Last year, repayments totaled around JD51.4 million compared to JD43.9 million in 2006, the ministrys figures revealed. quantity expenditures rose by 17.2 per cent, JD673.8 million, during this time, raising the expenditures volume to JD4,586 million.The rise was the result of a JD626.1 million increase in current expenses coupled with a 6 per cent increase in capital expenses equaling JD47.7 million.The increase in current expenses was due mainly to higher defense and security spending and the rising costs of grassroots staples, fuel subsidies, pensions and salaries.Interest order on domestic and foreign loans also rose by 15.6 per cent, or JD49.5 million, the bulletin indicated.At the end of 2007, the outstanding external public debt (government an d government-guaranteed) dropped by 5.6 basis points of the GDP to around JD5,253 million, representing 46.3 per cent of the Kingdoms GDP. In 2006, the debt totaled JD5,187 million, 51 per cent of GDP.Higher exchange rates of international currencies against the US dollar and subsequently against the Jordanian dinar were the main reason behind the increase in the external debt volume, according to the Ministry of Finance data. unlike debt service on commitment basis totaled around JD618.8 million, JD405.6 million of which were principal payments and JD213.2 million were interest payments. PM HIGHLIGHTS NEED TO CREATE JOB OPPORTUNITIES FOR early daysMonday 7 April 2008Jordan News AgencyPrime Minister Nader Dahabi on Sunday said the government has placed its hopes in the Jordanian Company for Training and recruitment (JCTR) to create job opportunities for green persons.The company has the full support of the Ministry of Labour, the Jordan Armed Forces (JAF) and the private sector, the premier said.Chairing a meeting of the JCTRs higher committee yesterday, Dahabi emphasise the enormousness of producing highly-skilled graduates who are competitive in the labour market.Dahabi also instructed the Labour Ministry to analyse the situation of guest workers in the Kingdom by sector so as to determine future training programmes, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.The committee also stressed the need to provide all workers in the construction sector with social security, career on the Ministry of Public Works and Housing and investors to hire trainees from the company for construction megaprojects in the Kingdom.JCTR Director General Brigadier General Salah Qudah said a total of 4,000 trainees have completed military training as of early February and are already training at nine vocational centres affiliated to the vocational Training Corporation, Petra reported.The vocational training period is scheduled to end in May, when trainees will go forth receiving f ield experience.JCTR, with a capital of JD100,000, is working to provide young people with training and recruitment opportunities in the field of construction in conjunction with the Labour Ministry, the JAF and the private sector.In May 2007, His Majesty King Abdullah instructed the JAF to start recruiting unskilled civilians and train them in professions needed by the sector, which has been flourishing in the recent years with large-scale projects carried out in Amman, Aqaba and the Dead Sea.Meanwhile, the premier on Sunday also met with President of the Burundi Senate Rufyikiri Gervais, who is heading a parliamentary delegation to the Kingdom to discuss means to enhance bilateral ties.At the meeting, Dahabi stressed the importance of economic cooperation to increase trade volume between the two countries.Gervais expressed his countrys appreciation for Jordans efforts to preserve security and stability in Burundi finished peacekeeping forces, highlighting the role Jordan plays in enhancing international security and stability.Gervais said Burundi was looking for Jordans support to help rebuild the country and facilitate development, noting the country is currently focusing on education, health and agriculture infrastructure.Also yesterday, Senate President Zeid Rifai met with Gervais.At the meeting, Rifai stressed the Kingdoms eagerness to enhance cooperation with Burundi and African nations in respective(a) fields, particularly parliamentary cooperation.Meanwhile, Lower House Speaker Abdul Hadi Majali received Gervais and the accompanying delegation, stressing the importance of enhancing commercial exchange and investments, especially in the field of agriculture. The officials also reviewed the developments pertaining the Palestinian issue and the situation in Iraq.

Psychology of Personality Essay

The method by which a person can seek to be successful in the varied areas of their life, can be pin pointed to how well a person is aware of them self. To be more specific, the person needs to start an understanding of self-awareness and the connection it has to success. Self-awareness is fundamental to self-leadership. Leaders who have mastered self-awareness are realistic and accurate when they assess their personal strengths and weaknesses. (Watson, 2004). Thereby self-awareness comes from knowing what are the personal strengths and weaknesses we have as it relates to the areas of our lives such as with family, establish and school. Based on my desire to better myself in the different areas of my life, I seek to identify the abilities and skills I h mature strongest, discover the areas I am weakest in and define how I can go about in making improvements based on my findings.During my readings at the University of Phoenix, I arrived at discovering learning styles and how underst anding your let style can be the key to grasping control of a successful education. The process of which touched on the subject of self-awareness and how assessment tests could help you to light upon the level of understanding needed. In chapter 2 of Keys to College Studying Becoming a Lifelong Leaner (Bishop & Carter & Kravits, 2002), it was stated that, Many different kinds of assessments give people a method of self-discovery, providing different means of exploring strengths and weaknesses, abilities and limitations. (p29). After completing a couple of assessments as covered in the chapter, I found myself to have a discursive and adventurer constitution style with strengths in being skillful in a variety of fields that make subprogram of my abilities to organize materials logically, explain things in sequential order, analyzing information, and hands-on problem solving to name a few. These strengths are not scarcely evident in my line of clobber as a welder, but in the way I live my personal life and the way I interact in with my learning team members.Along the lines of an old commonly kn suffer clich & eacute, for every positive thither is a negative, I learned that just as I have good personal strengths, there are as well weaknesses to bare. Human strengths are as real as human weakness, so say history and science. (Lopez, 2003, p. 5). Among my weak points are the escape of being musically talented, sociable, and even thoughbeing skillful in various fields can be a strength, there is a heights sense of pride from doing good quality work, that if not controlled could feed an ego rush that may rub off the wrong way for some people. In addition, while there are strengths to being an adventurer personality type with a desire to be involved in an action-packed purlieu that is on the constant quantity go with a taste for the variety of things that can be d one and only(a). The down side comes from the intense want for a personal life, work and school environment that can fulfill that diversified need. Overall weaknesses can be problematic and the thought of there being kinks in somebodys armor, can hold a persons moral down. However, it needs to be understood that it is human to have weaknesses and that weaknesses can be strengthen.Among the various study materials Ive read, in addition to discovering two personal strengths and weaknesses, there was as well supporting information on how a person can go about improving their weaker personality styles. The website for Merriam-Webster Online dictionary (2006) defines the word improve as, 2a to enhance in value and quality make better. (Definition 2a). That enhancing of value and quality is precisely what I seek to accomplish in my areas of home, work and school which I plan to make better so as to improve my overall life.Over and again, in my readings, it was commented that a person should make use of their personal strengths in order to support and improve on the weaknesses. As thus, by taking what I have come to learn about my personality style and in seeking courses, training, self-help books and kits tailored to my learning style on subjects that cover those areas I am weak in, will it be possible for me to improve. Of course, only through practice on top of more practice shall I be able to truly make improvements to my weaker areas and in time when I assess my personal strengths and weaknesses will I be able to tell where I stand.Anyone with a good understanding of his or her self-awareness, thus knowing what his or her own personality style is, can very well hold the key to having a successful life. So in knowing what your personal strengths and weaknesses are, will you be able to know what type of classes will suite you best in school, what type of job would you be best fitted for at work and understand what cerebrate there is behind the way you live your personallife. In discovering my personality style was I able to grasp an understanding of the strengths and weaknesses I hold, which has allowed me to go onward in using my strong points to over come my drawbacks. In time with practice shall I be able to strengthen my weak points and perhaps one day reach, a level of equal enlightenment between the various personality styles.ReferencesBishop, J. & Carter, C. & Kravits, S. (2002). Learning Styles and Self-Awareness. Keys to College Studying Becoming a Lifelong Learner. Prentice-Hall, Inc. 2002, pg. 29.Lopez, Shane J. & Snyder, C. R. & Rasmussen, Heather N. (2003). great a vital balance Developing a complementary focus on human weakness and strength through positive psychological assessment. electropositive Psychological Assessment A handbook of models and measures. 2003, pp. 3-20Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary (2006). Improve. Retrieved March 6, 2006, from http//www.webster.com/dictionary/improveWatson, Liana (2004). Self-leadership Becoming an Exceptional Leader. Radiologi Technology. Iss. July-August 2004, p457.

Which Has Posed the Greatest Problem for Singaporean

In a multi- pagan and multi- sacred society like capital of Singapore, there is a need to fence the racial and religious sensitivities and promote adjustment and harmony. In addition, there is also the need to build national identity by instilling a sense of belonging. Therefore, there is a need to identify the most important business out of the trine and then solve it. The first problem is managing the perceptions of different racial aggroups. There is a need to manage this problem as preconceived nonions of biased treatment by the judicature against any racial group could lead to the outbreak of violence among the different communities.For example, in 1964, Singapore experienced race riots which resulted in 36 dead and 590 injured. Singapore was in Malaysia then, and the UMNO felt threatened when the PAP participated in the 1964 Federal elections. The UMNO then direct an anti-PAP campaign in the medium using the Utusan Melayu, claiming that PAPs rule disadvantaged the Malay s and that Malay Singaporeans remained paltry under PAPs rule. They also claimed that PAP was uprooting Malay families in resettlement projects. Some UMNO extremists take down came to Singapore and made fiery speeches that angered many Singaporean Malays.In July 1964, during the celebration of Prophet Muhammads birthday, a clash amongst a Chinese policeman and a group of Malay participants turned into a full-blown race riot over the next few days. This shows how the perceptions of unequal treatment towards the different races disregard cause suspicions, doubt and even hostility among Singaporeans, even if these perceptions ar not based on facts. Therefore, this problem must be managed to prevent any outbreak of violence among citizens. The second problem is managing the perceptions of different religious groups.There is a need to do this as differences in religious beliefs and practices are issues that can create strain among people in Singapore, especially if it has been per ceived that the concerns of a certain religious community have not been considered. This is shown in the Maria Hertogh riot during 1950. Maria Hertogh, born to Dutch-Eurasian parents was adopted during the war by an Indonesian Islamic woman, Aminah, as her parents were interned by the Japanese. After the war, the Hertoghs launched a legal battle for the custody of their daughter. The custody battle attracted pictorial media attention worldwide.The judge ordered that Maria be placed temporarily in a Catholic convent while the trail was taking place. Photographs in newspaper of Maria, who was raised a Muslim, in a Catholic convent before a statue of Virgin Mary affected religious sensitivities and angered the Muslim Community as they felt that their religion was not respected at all. The British courts gave custody of Maria to her biological mother. Upon listening the judgement, huge crowds outside the court rioted, convinced that the colonial laws, the courts and the legal system was prejudiced against the Muslims.The riots showed that if issues with religious implications are not handled in a sensitive manner, hostility and distrust could occur among people. The last problem is managing the threats from remote forces. This also needs to be managed because transnational terrorist groups tend to exploit religious or race issues in order to achieve their political aims, suspicion and tension may arise among people in multi-ethnic societies like Singapore. For an example, the Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) is a militant group which has been active in the Southeast Asia. Its aim is to set up an Islamic state in Asia.Some of its activities include fund-raising and purchasing materials for making bombs. From 2001-2002, 34 JI members were arrested under the upcountry Security Act for their involvement in terrorist-related activities. Targets in Singapore included the US embassy and some government buildings. Following the arrests, there was some mixed reactions from Singa poreans who were prepared to do harm in the various ethnic communities. Shocked that there were Singaporeans who were prepared to do harm to innocent civilians, some members of the public expressed distrust towards members of certain communities.This shows that managing external threats poses a significant challenge, as it has potential to divide people along racial and religious lines. All in all, I feel that the problem that has posed the greatest threat for Singapore in ensuring social harmony is the threat of transnational terrorism. As it can cause distrust between both religions and races while the other two can only either cause distrust among religions or races. In addition, if they manage to overcome the threat from external forces, citizens will be able to trust all(prenominal) other and violence and distrust will not breakout.

Real-Time Fraud Detection: How Stream Computing Can Help the Retail Banking Industry

Para os meus pais, porque o valor das coisas nao esta no tempo que elas duram, mas na intensidade com que acontecem. Por isso existem momentos inesqueciveis, coisas inexplicaveis e pessoas incomparaveis como voces Obrigado por tudo, Filipe Abstract The retail situateing Industry has been severely affected by maneuver over the past a couple of(prenominal) years. Indeed, despite totally the look for and systems avail commensurate, capersters go been able to discoversmart and deceive the coasts and their clients. With this in mind, we intend to participate a novel and multi- office technical schoolnology know as Stream Computing, as the basis for a dissimulator contracting solution.Indeed, we believe that this computer architecture will stimulate research, and much(prenominal) importantly transcriptions, to invest in Analytics and statistical finesse-Scoring to be commitd in conjunction with the already in-place preventive techniques. Therefore, in this research we ex plore dissimilar strategies to build a Streambased contrivance catching solution, using advanced data Mining algorithmic programs and Statistical Analysis, and confront how they lead to increased accuracy in the strikeion of fraud by at least 78% in our reference dataset. We a the like discuss how a combination of these strategies evict be embedded in a Stream-based application to detect fraud in real- meter.From this perspective, our experiments lead to an average processing time of 111,702ms per transaction, maculation strategies to further improve the performance are discussed. Keywords thespian Detection, Stream Computing, Real-Time Analysis, tarradiddle, Data Mining, sell Banking Industry, Data Preprocessing, Data Classi? cation, Behavior-based Models, Supervised Analysis, Semi-supervised Analysis Sammanfattning Privat imprecateerna har drabbats hart av bedragerier de senaste aren. Bedragare har lyckats kringga forskning och tillgangliga system och lura swanerna o ch deras kunder.Darfor vill vi infora en ny, polyvalent strommande datorteknik (Stream Computing) for att upptacka bedragerier. Vi tror att denna struktur kommer att stimulera forskningen, och framfor allt fa organisati adeptrna att investera i analytisk och statistisk bedragerisparning som kan anvandas tillsammans med be? ntlig forebyggande teknik. Vi undersoker i var forskning olika strategier for att skapa en strommande losning som utnyttjar avancerade algoritmer for datautvinning och statistisk analys for att upptacka bedragerier, och visar att dessa okar traffsakerheten for att upptacka bedragerier med minst 78% i var referensbas.Vi diskuterar aven hur en kombination av dessa strategier kan baddas in i en strommande applikation for att upptacka bedragerier i realtid. Vara forsok ger en genomsnittlig bearbetningstid pa 111,702ms per transaktion, samtidigt som olika strategier for att fortsatta forbattra resultaten diskuteras. Acknowledgments Silent gratitude isnt much(prenomina l) work to anyone Gladys Bronwyn Stern When I wrote the ? rst words in this report I think I had no idea what a Master Thesis is aboutI whoremongert blame myself though since I never wrote one before, notwithstanding if you ask me now to describe this experience I would label that its the like a road trip you set yourself a destination, you have a truehearted crew that is always there for you, a roadmap, checkers on the side and then the transit depresss. Within the last mentioned, you introduce setbacks with the serve of other(a)s, you share knowledge, you meet new people and more or less importantly you lay to know them This journey would non have been executable without the post, camaraderie and management of many friends, colleagues and my family.For all these reasons, I couldnt permit the journey end without expressing my gratitude to each and e reallyone of them. First and foremost, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to my supervisor, Philippe Sp aas, who made it possible for me to operate in this project under his supervision and in collaboration with IBM. It was a privilege to work alongside with him and a unique learning opportunity for me I am indebted for his unprecedented guidance and for the time dedicated non only in helping me get word how a research topic should be formulated, but similarly in re regard the latter(prenominal). give thanks you I am very thankful as headspring to Tybra Arthur, who graciously accepted me in her team and supported my intern get off, Jean de Canniere who accepted to be my Manager and without whom I wouldnt have had this opportunity. In this line of thought, I am also agreeable to Hans Van Mingroot who helped me stiff this project in its negotiation phase. All three were key elements, and their support and guidance end-to-end the research were important to me and very much appreciated.I would also like to express my gratitude to Professor Mihhail Matskin at KTH the Royal imp lant of Technology for having accepted this Master Thesis and for being my attemptr. His insights and help were invaluable to achieve more blend in end results and put in concert this ? nal report In addition, I would like to extend my psycheal convey to my Erasmus Coordinator, Anna Hellberg Gustafsson, for her support, kindness and dedication for the duration of the research which was key to the organization of the latter.She is, for me, the best coordinator I have met and hear about I would probably not have defendn the appropriate steps to have this opportunity inside IBM if it werent for the initial support and guidance of Karl De Backer, Anika Hallier, Anton Wilsens and last but not least Parmjeet Kaur Gurmeet. I truly value their follow-up both on the research and on my experience On a special note I would like to thank Parmjeet for having been always a good mentor to me and for her support and trust ever since the Extreme Blue internship.I want to thank each IBMer with whom I came in tie-in with in the Financial Services Sector Department for welcoming me into their working environment and for making my repose very enjoyable. In addition to the aforementioned IBMers, among many others and in no speci? c order I would like to thank Daniel Pauwels, Patrick Taymans, Hedwige Meunier, Gauthier de Villenfagne, Michel Van Der Poorten, Kjell Fastre, Annie Magnus, Wouter Denayer, Patrick Antonis, Sara Ramakers, Marc Ledeganck, Joel Van Rossem and Stephane Masso clear. It was a real pleasure to share the open quad and, more importantly, to meet themDan Gutfreund at IBM Haifa was a key element in the development of this thesis. I am very thankful for the discussions we had about Fraud Detection and for his advice in the contrasting phases that compose this research. In addition, I would like to extend my thanks to Jean-Luc Collet at IBM La Gaude for his valuable help in obtaining a stable virtual machine with InfoSphere Streams. I am thankful to Professo r Gianluca Bontempi and Liran Lerman at Universite Libre de Bruxelles for ? nding the time to discuss about Fraud Detection and Data Mining techniques.Their insights were vital for the development of the prototype and the boilers suit research. On the same vein, I would like to thank Chris Howard at IBM Dublin for his help in consciousness Stream Computing and InfoSphere Streams. His guidance was crucial for a timely comprehension of the ? eld without which I wouldnt have been able to develop the prototype. I want to thank Mike Koranda and John Thorson at IBM Rochester for their help in understanding the integration of Data Mining and Stream Computing and how to achieve the latter in a more ef? cient manner.I really appreciated their help with the prototype, especially when atypical errors occurred to more quickly detect the fount of the problem. I am also thankful to IBM, as a confederacy, for providing me the opportunity and necessary facilities to bear on my thesis project, as well as to KTH, as university, for having lay offed me to confine on this experience. I want to draw a bead on this opportunity to thank my friend, Thomas Heselmans, for having been there ever since the beginning of the research despite my busy agenda. His support and concern were vital in times of great stress and trouble, thank you for your friendshipThe same applies to Stephane Fernandes Medeiros, a great friend of mine who was always there for me and followed my work very closely. In addition, I am thankful to twain of my greatest friends, Nicola Martins and Alberto Cecilio, for their friendship, for always supporting me and always having my back. Margarida Cesar is a very important person in my life, and I would like to express my gratitude for all the discussions and advice we shared, as well as for the support exhibit ever since we met. I always take her advice very seriously and she has helped me cope with dif? ulties in more than one occasion, videlicet during the thesis, and for that Im very thankful I am also very grateful to my friend, Arminda Barata, for all the help she provided me in moving and adapting myself to Stockholm. Without her help and concern I wouldnt have felt at home so tardily, and I wouldnt have liked Stockholm from the very ? rst day. I would like to take advantage of this opportunity to thank all my colleagues and friends in Stockholm for making these two years of study unforgettable, and for shaping the person I am today.Among so many others, I would like to thank in particular Sanja Jankolovska, Boshko Zerajik, Pedram Mobedi, Adrien Dulac, Filipe Rebello De Andrade, Pavel Podkopajev, Cuneyt Caliskan, Sina Molazem, Arezoo Ghannadian and Hooman Peiro. I couldnt have made it by dint of and through with(predicate) and through without all of them brave but de? nitely not least, because I didnt have the chance to formally thank my friends in my precedent studies, I would like to take this opportunity to extend my than ks to them for all the good moments we spent unneurotic throughout our bachelor degree as well as today.In particular I would like to thank Miruna Valcu, Rukiye Akgun, Vladimir Svoboda, Antonio Paolillo, Tony Dusenge, Olivier Sputael, Aurelien Gillet, Mathieu Duchene, Bruno Cats, Nicolas Degroot and Juraj Grivna. I reserve a special thank you note to Mathieu Stennier, for both his friendship and support throughout my academic life, and for having shared with me what were the best moments I had in Brussels plot at UniversityI would very much like to express myself in Portuguese to my family so that they can all more easily understand what I have to say, thank you for your understanding Nao podia deixar de agradecer a toda a minha familia o apoio que demonstraram ao longo deste percurso academico que conhece hoje um novo capitulo. Gostaria de agradecer a todos sem excepcao por acreditarem em mim e nunca duvidarem das minhas capacidades. Obrigado por estarem sempre presentes apesar d a distancia, obrigado por se preocuparem comigo e por fazerem com que eu saiba que poderei sempre contar com vocesSou verdadeiramente um ser afortunado por poder escrever estas palavras Um obrigado especial a minha grande avo Olga por estar sempre disposta a sacri? car-se por nos e por telefonar quase diariamente a perguntar se estou bem e se preciso de alggenus Uma coisa. Agradeco-lhe do fundo do coracao esse amor que tem pelos netos e que tanta forca transmite Queria agradecer tambem aos meus primos Rui e Hugo, que sao para mim como os irmaos que eu nunca tive, a forca que me transmitem para seguir em frente facial gesture as adversidades da vida. Ambos ensinaram-me imenso durante toda a vida e sao uma fonte de inspiracao constante para mimA admiracao que tenho por eles foi como um guia que me levou onde estou hoje Obrigado por acreditarem em mim para levar a bom porto este projecto e por terem estado sempre presentes a apoiar-me Gostaria de deixar uma mensagem de apreco ao David , que e mais do que um primo para mim, e um melhor amigo, que sempre esteve presente e sempre se preocupou comigo durante a tese. Foram momentos, frases e situacoes da vida que ? zeram com que o David se tornasse na pessoa importante que e para mim e ao longo da tese as suas mensagens de apoio foram sempre bem recebidas porque deram-me um alento enorme.Aproveito tambem para agradecer a minha querida tia Aida e ao meu estimado primo Xico pela preocupacao que tem sempre comigo e por serem uma fonte de inspiracao para mim. Desejo tambem aproveitar esta oportunidade para agradecer a Nandinha e Jorginho todo o apoio que me deram nao so durante estes 6 longos meses mas desde os meus primeiros passos. Sao como uns segundos pais para mim cujo apoio ao longo deste curso e capitulo da minha vida foi primordial. Agradeco, do fundo do coracao, o facto de me tratarem como se fosse um ? lho, por me guiarem e sempre ajudarem Tenho ainda um lugar especial reservado para o meu tio Antonio.Um tio que admiro muito, que sempre me quis bem e cujo dom da palavra move montanhas O seu conselho e para mim uma maisvalia, e agradeco todo o seu apoio e ajuda durante esta investigacao e sobretudo por me guiar quando nao ha estrelas no ceu. Aproveito para vos deixar a todos um pedido de desculpa por nao estar presente como gostaria, e agradeco o facto de que apesar de tudo voces estejam todos de pe ? rme atras de mim Sem o vosso apoio nunca teria feito metade do que ? z Costuma-se guardar o melhor para o ? m, e por isso nao podia deixar de agradecer aos meus pais tudo o que ? eram e fazem por mim A lingua de Camoes e escassa para que eu consiga descrever o quao grato estou Dedico-vos esta tese, por sempre me terem dado todo o amor, carinho, e ajuda necessaria para ter uma vida feliz e de sucesso. Deixo aqui um grande e sentido obrigado por terem estado sempre presentes quando mais precisava, por me terem sempre apoiado a alcancar os meus objectivos, por me terem ensinado a viver, a amar, a partilhar e a ser a pessoa que sou hoje. Obrigado Em particular gostaria de agradecer ao meu pai a compreensao que teve comigo durante este periodo mais ocupado.Agradecer-lhe a ajuda em conseguir por um meio termo as coisas e a olhar para elas de outro prisma. Agradeco tambem a calma que me transmitiu e transmite, e o apaziguamento que me ensinou a ter face as adversidades da vida. Sem estas licoes de vida, que guardarei sempre comigo, sinto que a tese nao teria sido bem sucedida e eu nunca teria alcancado tudo o que alcancei A minha mae, agradeco por onde hei-de comecar? Pela ajuda diaria durante a tese para que os meus esforcos se concentrassem no trabalho? Pela inspiracao diaria de um espirito lutador que nao desmorona face as di? culdades e injusticas da vida?Agradeco por tudo isto e muito mais pois sem a sua ajuda diaria nao teria conseguido acabar a tese. A admiracao que tenho pela sua forca e coragem ? zeram com que eu tentasse seguir os mesmos passos e levaram-me a alcancar patamares que considerava inalcancaveis A paciencia que teve durante todo o projecto, mas sobretudo no ? m, e de louvar, e sem o seu ombro amigo teria sido tudo muito mais complicado. Obrigado a todos por tudo Thank you all for everything Filipe Miguel Goncalves de Almeida postpone of Contents 1 Introduction Part I screen background the Scene 2 sell Banking and The State of the Art in Detection and Prevention of Fraud 2. The Retail Banking Industry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2. 1. 1 A Short Walk passel Memory Lane . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2. 1. 2 The Retail Banking IT Systems Architecture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2. 2 Fraud . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2. 2. 1 internet and E-Commerce Fraud . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2. 2. 2 Other Consumer Fraud . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2. 3 Current themes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2. 3. 1 Technology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2. 3. 2 Analytics and Statistical Fraud-Scoring . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Problem De? nition 3. 1 Weak Links in currently Available resultant roles . 3. 1. 1 Bank Card and Pin Code . . . . . . . . . 3. 1. 2 one(a)-Time-Password or Card proof referee . . 3. 1. 3 Biometrics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3. 1. 4 Analytics and Statistical Fraud-Scoring 3. 2 Facts and mannikins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3. 2. 1 France . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3. 2. 2 United Kingdom . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3. 3 E-Commerce and Internet Banking . . . . . . . 3. 4 busy Banking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 2 3 3 3 4 6 6 12 12 13 14 15 15 16 17 18 18 19 19 19 20 21 22 22 23 23 23 24 24 25 25 28 28 29 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 31 31 31 32 32 33 34 Research Methodology 4. 1 accusing of the Research . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4. 2 Data Collection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4. 2. 1 FICOs E-Commerce movements Dataset . 4. 2. 2 Personal Retail Bank transactions . . . . . 4. 3 Data Analysis Plan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4. 3. 1 Partitioning of the Data . . . . . . . . . . . 4. 4 Instruments and Implementation Strategy . . . . . 4. 4. 1 InfoSphere Streams . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4. 4. 2 SPSS Modeler . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4. 4. 3 MySQL Database . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Part II Behind the Curtains 5 Phase 0 Data Preprocessing 5. Getting to Know the Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5. 1. 1 Attributes and their Types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5. 1. 2 Attributes in the Retail Banking Industry and in FICOs Dataset . . . . . . 5. 1. 3 Statistical Description . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5. 2 Data Reduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5. 2. 1 Dimensionality Reduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5. 2. 2 Supervised Merge and Transformation of Nominal and Categorical Data . 5. 3 5. 4 5. 5 5. 6 . 7 5. 8 Cleaning Process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5. 3. 1 Missing Values . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5. 3. 2 Noisy Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Data Transformation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5. 4. 1 Transformation of Times and Dates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5. 4. 2 Transformation by Normalization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Sampling Strategies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5. 5. 1 lot using K-Means algorithm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5. 5. 2 Under-Sampling establish on Clustering . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Preprocessing Data with Stream Computing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5. 6. 1 Receiving and Sending Streams of Transactions . . . . . . . . . . 5. 6. 2 Retrieving and Storing Data to a Database . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5. 6. 3 Data Preprocessing using SPSS Solution Publisher . . . . . . . . . 5. 6. 4 Data Preprocessing using a Non-Generic C++ vulgar Operator Rule-Based Engine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5. 7. 1 Streams with a job sector Rules charge System . . . . . . . . Final Thoughts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36 36 36 37 37 37 39 40 41 42 42 43 45 45 46 48 49 50 51 51 52 53 53 54 55 56 57 57 58 60 60 61 62 62 63 6 3 66 71 71 73 76 77 6 Phase I Data Classi? cation 6. 1 Supervised Learning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6. 1. 1 Ensemble-Based Classi? er . . . . . . . . . . . . 6. 2 Classi? cation Algorithms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6. 2. 1 Support Vector Machines . . . . . . . . . . . . 6. 2. 2 Bayesian Networks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6. 2. 3 K-Nearest Neighbors (KNN) . . . . . . . . . . 6. 2. 4 C5. 0 Decision manoeuvre . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6. 3 Classi? cation using the Data Mining Toolkit . . . . 6. 3. 1 Weaknesses of the Approach . . . . . . . . . . 6. 4 Classi? cation using SPSS Modeler Solution Publisher 6. 4. 1 Implementation Details . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6. 5 Model Retraining Architecture High take aim Overview 6. 6 Final Thoughts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 Phase II anomalousness Detection and Stream Analysis 7. 1 Data Aggregation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7. 2 Bank clients Aggregation Strategy . . . . . . . . 7. 3 A nomaly Detection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7. 3. 1 Techniques for Anomaly Detection . . . . . . 7. 3. 2 Mahalanobis Distance . . . . . . . . . . . . 7. 4 Stream Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7. 4. 1 Window-Based Operators . . . . . . . . . . . 7. 4. 2 Window-Based Anomaly Detection Strategy 7. 5 Final Thoughts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Part III Critical Review 8 general Evaluation 8. 1 Performance Measurement Techniques . . . . . . . . . 8. 1. 1 Performance Metrics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8. 1. 2 trueness Levels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8. 2 Data Preprocessing and Business Rules Analysis . . . 8. 3 Data Classi? cation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8. 3. 1 Un-preprocessed Classi? er Analysis . . . . . . 8. . 2 Preprocessed Un-Sampled Classi? er Analysis 8. 3. 3 Preprocessed Sampled Classi? er Analysis . . . 8. 3. 4 Ensemble-Based Classi? er Analysis . . . . . . 8. 4 Anomaly Detection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8. 5 Overall Concept . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8. 6 Future Work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8. 6. 1 Extend Services . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8. 6. 2 eXtreme Scale . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78 78 78 79 80 80 81 83 84 87 88 89 90 91 92 i 8. 7 8. 6. 3 Architecture and Data Mining Algorithms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Final Thoughts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93 94 95 i vi 9 Conclusion Appendix A Supporing varietys Glossary List of thinks predict 1. 1 fig 2. 1 blueprint 2. 2 render 2. 3 act 2. 4 examine 2. 5 manakin 2. 6 build 2. 7 enter 2. 8 name 2. 9 understand 3. 1 Figure 3. 2 Figure 3. 3 Figure 3. 4 Figure 3. 5 Figure 3. 6 Figure 3. 7 Figure 3. 8 Figure 4. 1 Figure 4. 2 Figure 4. 3 Figure 4. 4 Figure 4. 5 Figure 4. 6 Figure 4. 7 Figure 5. 1 Figure 5. 2 Figure 5. 3 Figure 5. 4 Figure 5. 5 Figure 5. 6 Figure 5. 7 Figure 5. 8 Figure 5. 9 Figure 5. 10 Figure 5. 11 Figure 5. 12 Figure 5. 13 Figure 5. 14 Figure 5. 15 Figure 6. Figure 6. 2 Figure 6. 3 Figure 6. 4 Figure 6. 5 Lost in Translation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . As-Is Banking IT Architecture . . . . . . . . . . Hype oscillation for performance Architecture, 2009 To-Be Banking IT Reference Architecture . . . . MitB Operation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Possible Paypal website (1) . . . . . . . . . . . Possible Paypal website (2) . . . . . . . . . . . Keyboard State confuse method . . . . . . . . . . Windows Keyboard enticement method . . . . . . . Kernel-Based Keyboard Filter Driver method . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 5 5 5 8 10 10 11 11 11 16 16 17 20 20 20 21 21 24 25 26 26 27 28 29 30 32 32 33 34 35 35 36 37 40 40 42 45 46 48 50 51 52 53 54 Components of the eccentric and Pin Attack . . . . . . . . . . . . Attack to Card Illustrated . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . One-Time-Password Hacking Material and Architecture . Number of European Internet Users and Online Purchasers image US Online Retail Forecast, 2010 to 2015 . . . . . . . Web Growth has Outpaced Non-Web Growth for Years . . . US Mobile Bankers, 2008-2015 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . US Mobile Banking Adoption . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . CRoss-Industry Standard Process for Data Mining . . . . . . . . . Streams Programming Model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Straight-through processing of messages with optional storage. concomitant and Fail-Over System for Streams . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Multiple-Machines Architecture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Analytical and Business Intelligent Platforms Compared . . . . . Global Flow of Events Stream-Based Fraud Detection Solution . Overall SPSS Modeler Stream for the Of? ine Data Preprocessing Phase Frequency of Transactions per Hour . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Amount Transferred per Transaction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Data Feature Selection in SPSS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Data Preparation Preprocessing Phase in SPSS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . SPSS Stream CHAID shoetree Model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . CHAID Tree for Data Reduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Filtering Null Values with SPSS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Cyclic Va lues of Attribute hour1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . K-Means mildew in SPSS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Clustering with K-Means in SPSS Modeler . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Stream-based screening Data Preprocessing and Rule-Based Engine Stream-based Application Data Preprocessing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Stream-based Application Rule-Based Engine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Interaction Between a BRMS and a Stream-based Application . . . . . Classi? cation in Stream-Based Application .Ensemble-Based Classi? er . . . . . . . . . . . Classi? cation in SPSS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Support Vector Machines (SVMs) Illustrated Example of a Bayesian Network . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . i Figure 6. 6 Figure 6. 7 Figure 6. 8 Figure 7. 1 Figure 7. 2 Figure 7. 3 Figure 7. 4 Figure 7. 5 Figure 7. 6 Figure 7. 7 Figur e 7. 8 Figure 7. 9 Figure 7. 10 Figure 7. 11 Figure 7. 12 Figure 7. 13 Figure 8. 1 Figure 8. 2 Figure 8. 3 Figure 8. 4 Figure 8. 5 Figure 8. 6 Figure 8. 7 Figure 8. 8 Figure 8. Figure A. 1 Figure A. 2 Figure A. 3 Figure A. 4 Figure A. 5 Figure A. 6 K-Nearest Neighbors Illustrated . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Section of C5. 0 Decision Tree . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . SPSS C&DS Classi? er Retraining . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Anomaly Detection Stream-based Application . . . . . . . . . . . . entireness Bank Customers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Learning a classi? er model for the normal class of transactions . . Transaction not belonging to a cluster . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Transactions far from the clusters center . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Mahalanobis Distance Illustrated . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Mahalanobis Distance Stream-based Application . . . . . . . . . . Window Types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . fall Windows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Sliding Windows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Partitioned Keyword . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Account average expenses and frequency of transactions in 3 days Window-Based Analysis Stream-based Application . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54 55 60 61 63 64 65 65 66 67 71 71 72 73 73 74 78 79 84 86 88 89 92 92 94 ii iii iii iv iv v Bench print Stream-based Application Concept for Each Processing Step . . Confusion Matrix . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Comparison in the midst of Un-Preprocessed and Prep rocessed Data Accuracy Levels Comparison amongst Sampled Datasets Accuracy Levels (TP/FP) . . . . . . . Stream Analysis Debited Account . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Overall pile of the Solution Accuracy Levels (TP/FP/FN) . . . . . . . . . . . . Overall Structure of the Financial Services Toolkit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . In-Memory Database with InfoSphere Streams . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Stream-Based Application a Flexible and assorted Architecture . . . . . . . Stream-based Application Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Time per Transaction for each of the Data Preprocessing Approaches . . . . . . . Time per Transaction for Preprocessing the Data and find the Business Rules . Metrics Data Classi? cation Process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Anomaly Detection Time per Transaction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Fraud Detection Time per Transaction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . List of Tables Table 3. 1 Table 5. 1 Table 5. 2 Table 6. 1 Table 7. 1 Table 8. 1 Table 8. 2 Table 8. 3 Table 8. 4 Table 8. 5 Table 8. 6 Table 8. 7 Table 8. 8 content fraud in France categorized by transaction type . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Communalities PCA/Factor Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Steps for Under-Sampling Based on Clustering (SBC) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Supported Mining Algorithms Data Mining Toolkit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Hardware Speci? cation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . idiosyncratic Classi? er Accuracy Levels Un-Preprocessed Training Set . . . . . Individual Classi? er Accuracy Levels Un-Sampled Preprocessed Training Set Multiple Sampling Ratios analyse . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Multiple Sampling Ratios Analyzed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Ensemble-Based Classi? r Balanced . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Ensemble-Based Classi? er Maximum Fraud Detection . . . . . . . . . . . . . Ensemble-Based Classi? er with Mahalanobis Balanced Model Combination . Ensemble-Based Classi? er with Mahalanobis Maximizing Fraud Detection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 34 41 56 77 81 83 85 85 87 87 89 89 List of Algorithms Algorithm 1 Algorithm 2 Algorithm 3 Algorithm 4 Algorithm 5 Algorithm 6 Algorithm 7 Algorithm 8 Algorithm 9 Algorithm 10 Algorithm 11 Algorithm 12 Algorithm 13 Algorithm 14 InputSource vex Incomming Transactions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ODBCEnrich Enrich an Incomming Transaction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Non-Generic C++ antiquated Operator Manual Preprocessing . . . . . . . . . Preprocessing Manual Preprocessing of Incoming Transactions . . . . . . . Functor Split Stream for Preprocessing and Rule-Based Engine . . . . . . . . Join Append Business Rules to Preprocessed Transaction . . . . . . . . . . . Join A ppend Business Rules to Preprocessed Transaction . . . . . . . . . . . Data Mining Toolkit Operator Decision Tree C5. 0 Classi? er . . . . . . . . . . Non-Generic C++ Primitive Operator Supervised Analysis . . . . . . . . . . Classi? cationEnsemble Constructor() . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Classi? cation Ensemble process(Tuple & tp, uint32_t port) . . . . . . . . . . Variance-Covariance Inverse Matrix employ in the Mahalanobis Distance . . . Individual Account Anomaly Detection Approach . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Voting Protocol Mahalanobis Distance, Window-Based and Classi? er S nub . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43 44 45 46 47 47 47 56 58 58 59 68 75 75 Chapter 1 Introduction A journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step Lao Tzu If you work on fraud detection, you have a line of products for life. These were the words used by Professor David J.Hand1 in one of his talks to synthesize the vast research ? eld that is Fraud Detection. Indeed, this ? eld consists of multiple domains, and is continually evolving through time with new strategies and algorithms to recurrence the constantly changing tactics employed by fraudsters2 . In this line of thought, currently available solutions have been unable to control or mitigate the everincreasing fraud-related losses. Although thorough research has been done, only a small descend of studies have led to actual Fraud Detection systems 27, and the focus is typically on novel algorithms aiming at increasing the accuracy levels.To this end, we want to look at the problem from a different angle, and focus on the foundations for a real time and multi-purpose solution, based on a technology cognise as Stream Computing, able to encompass these algorithms while creating the possibilities for further research. We subdivide our study in three main parts. We begin with an general understanding of the topic being discussed by de? ning the research environment, its problems and presenting the sol utions currently available. In addition, we conclude this ? rst part by both specifying the structure, and outlining the objective of the research.The second part explores the overall course of action to bring about a Stream-based Fraud Detection solution. From this perspective, we discuss different strategies previously researched in Data Preprocessing, Data Classi? cation and Behavior-based Analysis, and tackle their combination and integration in a Stream-based application. Last but not least, we review the overall solution proposed, and examine the possibilities passinged by the latter for further research in the ? eld of Fraud Detection in the Retail Banking Industry. Senior Research Investigator and Emeritus Professor of Mathematics at the Imperial College of London, and one of the jumper lead researchers in the ? eld of Fraud Detection http//www3. imperial. ac. uk/people/d. j. hand link to the presentation http//videolectures. net/mmdss07_hand_stf/ 2 a person intended to deceive others (i. e. one who commits fraud) de? ned in the Glossary 1 Part I Setting the Scene Great things are not done by impulse, but by a serial publication of small things brought together Vincent van Gogh Fraud Detection in itself is interlinked with numerous ? lds of study, and before the sees main action, we want to set the stage. In order to revoke getting off hybridize and allowing you to better understand the scope, contents, choices made, and requirements of the research, we divided this act in three scenes. In the ? rst, we introduce the main actors videlicet strands, bank customers and fraudsters. In addition, we also present the current situation in the Detection and Prevention of Fraud in banks, describing the techniques being used both to counter and to commit fraudulent transactions. The second scene introduces the overall problem of fraud in the Banking Sector.It identi? es the weaknesses of the latest solutions, and quanti? es fraud losses as accurately as possible in slightly European countries and this based on the most recent data. We then take a step further and comment on new trends, and predict possible risks banks world power incur from them. Before the end of the act, we introduce the two main parts of the play, as well as how we intend to approach the problem. More precisely, we provide many speci? cs regarding the research conducted, the as wellls used and the plan followed to ease up our conclusions. Figure 1. Lost in Translation 2 Chapter 2 Retail Banking and The State of the Art in Detection and Prevention of Fraud There are things known and there are things occult, and in between are the doors of perception Aldous Huxley Businessmen and politicians, before sealing deals or taking political decisions, are known to go through a phase of reconnaissance the military term for exploring enemy or unknown territory. Just as it is important to them, so it is for you when you are about to dive into the speci? cs of a rea l-time fraud detection solution.In this line of thought, it is important to grasp the context of the research to better understand the concepts discussed. To do so, we cabbage this chapter with an overall view of the Retail Banking Industry, to understand both its services and IT architecture (Section 2. 1) we continue with a de? nition of fraud together with a description of the different fraud types that affect banks and how they operate (Section 2. 2) lastly, we give an overview of some of the current solutions available (Section 2. 3). 2. 1 The Retail Banking Industry To describe the banking manufacturings phylogenesis that started in front than 2000 B.C. 91, deserves almost a research paper on its own. For this reason, and because we dont want to divert from the topic, we start by solely providing a simple and brief resume about the origins of the banking industry (Section 2. 1. 1). The latter is an arouse talking point that not only allows you to understand how it all star ted, but also to perceive the argufy of keeping a bank pro? table. Additionally, it is a good introduction to understand a more technical description of the IT architecture easy the banking services (Section 2. 1. 2). 2. 1. 1 A Short Walk Down Memory LaneIt all started with barter back in the time of Dravidian India, passing through Doric Greece to preRoman Italy, when a cow or an ox was the standard medium of ex alteration. 91 However, given the dif? culty of trading fairly, evaluating different goods with the same standards, and ? nding suitable goods for both parties involved, the invention of cash inevitably developed. Indeed, the origin of the word specie is pecunia in Latin, which comes from pecus, meaning cattle. through time, money evolved in the different civilizations and became not only a symbol but also a key factor in trading.Together with the development of the art of casting, the different mediums of exchange evolved little by little from random precious metals to what we now know as currency. This developments made our forefathers the proponents of the ? rst banks for reasons that are still of applicability in todays banking system. The code of Hammurabi in the early 2000 B. C. stated If a man gives to another silver, gold or anything else to safeguard, some(prenominal) he gives he shall show to witnesses, and he shall arrange the contracts before he makes the deposits. 91 It is therefore clear that the Babylonians already placed back in their time their valuable possessions in a safe place, guarded by a trusted man. 3 Nevertheless, the real inspiration for the banking system as we know it today came from the Greeks. unalike the Babylonians, the Greeks didnt have a government and therefore the country was divided into independent states that were constantly all at war or in a state of unrest. 91 In these turbulent times, they found Temples to be the only safe place able to survive the test of wartime.They were seen as safe deposit vault s, marking the beginning of the functions of our current banks. Indeed, records show that the Temples not only kept money safe but also lent the funds at a certain interest rate. In addition, even though safeguarding the money started as a service free of charge, it soon turned into a business where small commissions were applied. The banking industry continued to evolve through time, from the commercial development of the Jews passing by the establishment of the Bank of St.George, the Bank of the Medici and the Bank of England, to the rise of the Rothschilds, and the development of banking in the land of the Vikings. 91 At this moment in time, a study bank is a combination of a dozen of businesses, such as corporate, investment and small business banking, wealth management, capital markets. One among these is the retail banking industry. 46 The retail banking industry is characterized by a particularly queen-sized number of customers and bank covers in comparison to any other ba nking business, which results in a much high number of transactions, services and products.In addition, it relies more and more on technology due to the levels of cooperation between banks, retailers, businesses, customers leading to an ever-increasing add of selective information processing requirements. In a nutshell, todays banks follow the same principle describe earlier by borrowing from clients in surplus and lending to those in de? cit. This triangulation is a win-win situation for the bank and its customers the bank makes revenue from the net interest income, which is the difference between what it pays to the lending customer and what it receives from the borrower.Nevertheless, the bank cant lend all the deposits and needs to guarantee that a certain percentage is kept excursus to satisfy customer withdraws and requirements. 92 Even though the situation varies from bank to bank, it is noteworthy to mention that more than fractional of a retail banks revenue, perhaps th ree-quarters, comes from this intermediation role in the form of net interest income. 46 To conclude, in todays world, and after years of evolution, retail banks provide you with a phalanx of services for which they charge fees, mainly to cover the maintenance of the infrastructure and the banks structure.These added up together account between 15% to 35% of the net interest income. 46 Among the services you can ? nd recompense services, phone banking, money transfer, ATMs1 , online banking, advisory services, investment and taxation services, mobile banking and many more. How does a bank ef? ciently govern, offer and maintain all these services? 2. 1. 2 The Retail Banking IT Systems Architecture Just as banking services evolved through time so did the overall back-end architecture allowing a bank to provide all the aforementioned services. This evolution was especially prominent after the unveiling by Barclays Bank f the ? rst ATM machine in 19672 from that moment on, banks star ted investing heavily in computerized systems with the goal of automating manual processes in an effort to improve its services, overall status in the market and cut costs. From this perspective, the IT systems of banks matured from the creation of payment systems together with the launch of the world-wide SWIFT network3 in the 70s, to todays core banking system a general architecture that supports all the channels and services of a bank and where each one of them is digitalized.An overview of such general architecture is illustrated in Figure 2. 1 77. 1 acronym for Automated vote counter Machine, a machine that mechanically provides cash and performs other banking services on insertion of a special card by the account holder de? ned in the Glossary 2 http//www. individual(prenominal). barclays. co. uk/PFS/A/Content/Files/barclays_events. pdf 3 Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT) is a member-owned concerted that operates a worldwide standardised ? nancial messaging network through which the ? nancial world conducts its business operations http//www. wift. com 4 This architecture was in place in many banks some years ago, and still is in some cases, but even though it provides the clients with all the necessary banking tools, it had certain drawbacks that became visible through the modernization and progress of services. As it is described by both Microsoft 82 and IBM 77 the as-is architecture has no true enterprise view of a customer because information is duplicated, which leads to inconsistent customer services and promotions across channels when adding new or changing current products, it takes time to bring Figure 2. As-Is Banking IT Architecture (source 77) them to the market and a signi? cant sum up of changes to the core system code. This leads to a dif? culty in responding quickly to new challenges and evolving regulatory pressures. Faced with the aforementioned problems, banks had the need to change towards a more ? exible and ef? cient architecture that would allow them to comply with the ever-changing needs of the clients and of the technology. With this n mind, the major players in core banking have switched to a Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA) with the intended goal of improving growth, reducing costs, reducing operative risks, and improving customer experience. 69 94 83 77 82 As reported by Forrester in a survey in 2007 82, out of 50 European banks, 53 percent declared they were already replacing their core system while 27 percent were provision to do so and 9 percent had already completed a major transition. The same survey assessed that 56 percent of the banks already used SOA and 31 percent were planning to.Additionally, in Gartners 2009 report (Figure 2. 2 28), supports this strategy and believed that SOA-based architectures was increasingly being adopted and would be widely accepted in a time frame of 2 to 5 years. In the latest modify (2011th Edition 29), SOA is entering t he Plateau of Productivity, which indiFigure 2. 2 Hype Cycle for Application Architecture, 2009 cates that the mainstream adoption is starting to take off. (source 28) With this transition to an agile banking platform with a more ? exible product de? ition built on SOA principles, banks expect to gradually simplify their business and become more ef? cient in the long term. Indeed, the aforementioned platform which is illustrated in Figure 2. 3, is meant to provide the banks with faster and easier ways to update the system and comply with changing industry regulations and conditions. Additionally, by having a holistic view of the customer-relevant data across systems, a bank is able to better focus and prove it with the goal to improve its customers experience by investing in more ef? cient and ? xible customer-centric offerings. Lastly, the architecture allows for integrated customer analytics and insight capabilities. In this line of thought, a stream-based real-time fraud detecti on solution would be idle to integrate in such an architecture, allowing the bank, as we will see later on, to broaden its services, data abridgment capabilities and detect fraud in realtime. Figure 2. 3 To-Be Banking IT Reference Architecture (source 77) 5 2. 2 Fraud When one wants to get something from others illegally he can do it in two ways forte or trick them into doing so. The ? st is better known as robbery and is usually more violent and obtrusive the second is known as fraud, which is more discrete and therefore preferred by fraudsters. 76 From this we can understand that fraud includes a wide variety of acts characterized by the intent to deceive or to obtain an honorary bene? t. 30 Many audit-related agencies provide distinct insights into the de? nition of fraud that can be brie? y summarized in this way De? nition 1. Fraud consists of an illegal act (the intentional wrongdoing), the concealment of this act (often only hidden via simple means), and the deriving of a bene? (converting the gains to cash or other valuable commodity) 30 Given this de? nition, we can further classify the known types of fraud by victim, perpetrator and scheme 76 Employee Embezzlement Employees deceive their employers by taking company assets either outright or indirectly. The ? rst occurs without the participation of a third party and is characterized by an employee who steals company assets directly (e. g. cash, inventory, tools, etc. ). In the second, the stolen assets ? ow from the company to the perpetrator through a third party.Indeed, indirect fraud happens usually when an employee accepts bribes to allow for displace sales or higher purchases prices, or any other dishonest action towards the company. Vendor Fraud This type of fraud usually happens when a seller overcharges its products ships lower quality goods or doesnt ship any products to the buyer even though it received the corresponding payment. Vendor fraud happens more frequently with governmen t contracts and usually becomes public when discovered, being one of the most common in the United States. Customer Fraud Customer fraud takes place when a customer doesnt pay for the products he purchased, pays too little, gets something for nothing or gets too much for the price. All these situations occur through deception. Management Fraud Management fraud, also known as ? nancial statement fraud, is committed by top management who deceptively make ? nancial statements. The interest behind these actions is usually to hide the real economic situation of a company by making it look healthier than it actually is.However, for the purpose of this research, and given the fact that we are focusing on fraud perpetrated in the retail banking industry, we will mainly focus on every possible bank transaction that a customer can perform. The research will be based in debit, online banking namely electronic bill payment and giro transfers and debit plastic card transactions. Fraud that can be perpetrated against these transactions falls within the category known as consumer fraud. Additionally, the latter can be sub-categorized in Internet and e-commerce fraud and other (non-)internet related fraud that we will now describe in more detail. . 2. 1 Internet and E-Commerce Fraud The Internet a technology that was unknown to many of us 25 years ago and is used now by billions of people either at home, work or on-the-go. We can ? nd webpages from business home pages, to informational wikis, passing through social networking sites ? les that take the form of text, sound recording or video and a multitude of services and web applications. It took just 3 years for the Internet to reach over 90 million people while the television and the radio took respectively 15 and 35 years to reach 60 million people 76 This is how fast the medium through which e-commerce fraud takes place has evolved. This informational and technological revolution led to new ways for fraud to be per petrated while techniques to avoid it have dif? culties to keep up with the pace. Today, businesses depend on the Internet to perform paperless transactions and exchange information between them they generally use e-business connections, virtual private networks (VPNs1 ), and other specialized connections. 76 This type of commerce is known as e-commerce, or electronic commerce, because it takes place over electronic systems. Therefore, even if you think you are not using the Internet, any operation you make at a local branch, any withdraw you do from an ATM or any purchase you make at a local store with your bank card, a Network transaction takes place. 1 its a method employing encryption to provide set access to a remote computer over the Internet de? ned in the Glossary 6Since most businesses rely on Network-based transactions and, as we will describe later on, Internet users use the network more and more frequently to buy products or services, the North American Securities Admi nistrators Association (NASAA) considers that Internet fraud has become a booming business. 76 With this in mind, there are three standpoints that need to be taken into consideration when describing in more details the risks involved in this category that undermine banks and more importantly their customers risks lying within and/or outside the organization.Risks Inside Banks and Other Organizations The main risks come from within the bank. 76 Indeed, a perpetrator with wrong access has knowledge regarding the environment, the security mechanisms and how to bypass them. Additionally, any employee with access to the organizations network has automatically bypassed ? rewalls and security checks making it easier to in? ltrate systems, steal information or data and cause damage to the bank. From this perspective, the most common example is the superuser access that most IT-related employees (e. g. rogrammers, technical support, network administrators or project managers) have within t he companys infrastructure and database systems. 76 In one survey, more than a third of network administrators admitted to snooping into homosexual resource records, layoff lists, and customer databases. 76 A related survey found that 88 percent of administrators would take polished data if they were ? red, and 33 percent said they would take company password lists. 76 Even if a perpetrator does not have personal access to the targeted system and information, there are techniques that he can use to get at them indirectly, i. . via a person of interest Snif? ng, also known as Eavesdropping Snif? ng is the log, ? ltering, and viewing of information that passes along a network connection. Applications are easily and available for free on the Internet, Wireshark1 and tcpdump2 that allow network administrators to troubleshoot any possible problem in the network. Nevertheless, these applications can as easily be used by hackers to gather information from unencrypted communications. 76 A good example is the usage of unencrypted e-mail access protocols like Post Of? ce Protocol 3 (POP3) or the Internet Message Access Protocol (IMAP) sooner of other more secured ones. Since e-mail clients check messages every couple of minutes, hackers have numerous opportunities to intercept personal information. 76 A user could in addition encrypt the body of the e-mail by using stop up/Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions (S/MIME) or OpenPGP in order to avoid that sensitive information passes through the network in plain text.Even though security experts have successfully managed to encrypt emails, the reason behind this lack of security is that they have failed to take into consideration the needs of the end-user namely, the ability to occasionally encrypt an email without much trouble at all. 113 Wartrapping Wartrapping happens when hackers set up free access points to the Internet through their laptops in speci? c locations like airports or inside a companys headquarters. Users, unaware that the wi? passes through a hackers computer, connect to the latter and navigate the Internet as if they had a secured connection.When logging their internet banking services and performing transactions, or simply access their emails, the hacker can see the bits and bytes of every communication passing through any laptop in the clear. In this line of thought, hackers can get caught in their own web as companies are also using what they call honeypot traps. The latter is an information system resource, like a computer, data, or a network site (e. g. wireless entry), whose purpose is not only to divert attackers and hackers away from critical resources, but also to serve as a tool to study their methods. 1 These systems are placed strategically so to look like part of the companys internal infrastructure even though they are actually isolated and monitored by administrators of the organization. One of the most widely used tools is honeyd3 . 89 1 2 3 http//www. wiresh ark. org/ http//www. tcpdump. org/ http//www. honeyd. org/ 7 Passwords are the Achilles detent of many systems since its creation is left to the end user who keeps them simple and within his or her preferences and life experiences (e. g. birthdays, family names, preferent locations or brands).In addition, users tend to re-use the same password for different purposes in order to avoid having to remember different ones, which leads perpetrators to gain access to different services and accounts with a single password from the person. In addition, another source of threats are the laptops and mobile devices that many employees take with them outside the companys protect environment. While in these unsecured contexts, the devices are exposed to viruses, spyware, and other threats that might compromise again the integrity of other organizations system once these computers are plugged in the network.Viruses, Trojans and worms are able to enter the saved environment without having to go through ? rewalls and security checks, making it easier to in? ltrate key information systems and bypass confession mechanism. Risks Outside Banks and Other Organizations The Internet not only became a source of services to users and companies but also a rich medium for hackers to gain access to personal systems. Indeed, when performing attacks, hackers are relatively protected because they cross international boundaries which puts them under a different jurisdiction than the victim of the attack and are mostly anonymous making tracking dif? ult. Therefore, the Internet became the defacto technological medium to perform attacks and there are numerous ways of doing so Trojan Horses A trojan horse is a program designed to scandalize the security of a computer system and that has both a desirable and a hidden, usually malicious, outcome. 86 These programs can be embedded in a bank users computer when he views or opens an infected email, visits or downloads a ? le from an unsecu red website or even when visiting a genuine website that has been infected by a trojan. 85 From this perspective, a good example is the man-in-the-browser (MitB) attack, represented in Figure 2. , which uses trojan horses to install extensions or plugins in the browser that are used to deceive a bank customer Whenever a speci? c webpage is loaded, the Trojan will ? lter it based on a target list (usually online banking pages). The trojan extension waits until the user logs into his bank and starts to transfer money. When a transaction is performed, the plug-in extracts data from all the ? elds and modi? es the amount and recipient according to the hackers preferences through the document object model (DOM1 ) interface, and resubmits the form to the server.The latter will not be able to identify whether the values were written by the customer or not and performs the Figure 2. 4 MitB Operation (source2 ) transaction as requested. 85 ATM Attack Techniques An Automated Teller Machine (ATM), is a computerized device that allows customers of a ? nancial institution to perform most banking transactions and check their account status without the help of a clerk. The device identi? es the customers with the help of a plastic bank card, which contains a magnetic stripe with the customers information, together with a personal identi? ation number (PIN) code. 2 ATMs are benignant to fraudsters because they are a direct link to customers information and money, and there are security pitfalls with their current architecture 2 the way data is encoded in the magnetic media makes it easily accessible if a hacker invests some money to buy the easyto-be-found equipment, and time to decode and duplicate the contents in addition, with a four 1 An interface that lets software programs access and update the content, structure, and style of documents, including webpages de? ed in the Glossary 2 www. cronto. com, blog. cronto. com/index. php? title=2fa_is_dead 8 digit PIN, not onl y will one in every 10. 000 users have the same number but it also allows brute force attacks to discover the combination. Not to mention the possible physical attacks on ATMs which cannot be considered as fraud (see De? nition 1), there are a couple of ways fraudsters steal money from bank customers 2 1. Skimming Attack skimming is the most popular approach in ATMs and consists in using devices named skimmers that set out the data from the magnetic strip.These devices can be plugged in an ATMs factory-installed card reader and allows for download of all personal information stored on the card. In addition, to obtain the PIN code fraudsters use either shoulder-sur? ng and hidden video cameras, or distraction techniques while the customer uses the ATM. 2 Sometimes fraudsters take a step further and create their own fake teller machines to deceive bank customers this is considered to be a spoo? ng attack that we will describe in more details below. 39 2.Card Trapping this tech