Complex Computer Systems Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Complex Computer Systems - Research Paper Example Most computer systems that are considered successful demonstrate a positive direct effect on the perceived eases of use. Therefore, some computer systems are never fully accepted by their intended users, and are underutilized (Hasan, 2007). Also, very few IT systems have been categorized as truly successful. There are numerous factors and processes that make IT projects complex (The British ComputerSociety, 2006). Understanding and proper management of these projects is important to comprehend why such projects fail. It also helps to understand how proper management of complexity can increase success for computer systems. Technology is an important source of complexity of computer systems, but the key source of complexity is the scope of the project, as set by management (The British Computer Society, 2006). Among the success or failure factors are social, economic and technical factors. These factors influence whether the complex computer system project succeeds or fails in its obje ctives. There must be technical and social strategies designed to detect and manage external and internal influences to ensure success of any complex computer system. ... esign and production of prepayment gas meters, introduced to the United Kingdom energy market to make work easier for energy suppliers and domestic clients (The British Computer Society, 2006). Central service installed on server database and application server. These have interfaces and tier supplier infrastructure The Smart Meter System has several components. First, the Smart Meter’s Central System has a web interface and Oracle database (TheBritishComputerSociety, 2006). The web interface and Oracle database have been built on a Distributed Computing Infrastructure. Integration of these components with the central system allows for online payment. The payment is identified by the payment agent. A Short Message (SMS) is processed by the SMS provider system. Also, every Smart Meter System has an Apache web server, which is used to deliver user interfaces. The Oracle 9i database component of the system is was used to produce the database, while the Tomcat servlet container is driven by Java and the STRUTS framework (TheBritishComputerSociety, 2006). This uses Java Server Pages and cascading style sheets for presentation layer. The Prepayment Metering Infrastructure Provider application allows suppliers to interact with their meters in real time (The British Computer Society, 2006). The Smart Meter System is a complex computer system because it allows domestic clients and domestic energy provision customers to make prepayments for their gas, using their mobile phones. The Smart Meter System is also complex because it is can be used by both vendors and end user clients. Therefore, the system accepts top ups in terms of monetary values by customers via their mobile phones (The British Computer Society, 2006). Consequently, plans were put in place to sell the Smart

The Phillips Curve and the Philippines Essay Example for Free

The Phillips Curve and the Philippines Essay According to Cristeta B. Bagsic, the Phillips Curve â€Å"depicts the trade-off between inflation and unemployment rate† (â€Å"The Phillips Curve and Inflation Forecasting: The Case of the Philippines†). Nowadays, the relationship depicted by the Phillips curve is specified in the following equation: Ï€t = Ï€e – ÃŽ ³(UR – UR*) + v where Ï€t is the inflation rate, Ï€e is the expected inflation, ÃŽ ³ is a parameter, UR is the unemployment rate, UR* is the natural rate of unemployment (NRU), and v is a supply shock variable. So while the importance of the negative relationship between unemployment and inflation was obvious enough from the beginning, it is now also apparent that there are other factors that influence the behavior of the Phillips Curve. It is beyond crucial that these additional factors be understood and measured well, if they are to be used in maneuvering developing economies such as the economy of the Philippines. Perhaps the most notable addition to the basic inflation rate-unemployment relationship is the expected inflation or Ï€e. What can be taken from the equation above is that there is a positive relationship between this expected inflation and the actual inflation rate. This is because the expectations involved are those of workers who are assumed to be anticipating rises in the inflation rate. When expecting a rise in inflation rate (for whatever reason), workers tend to withdraw their labor and demand that their employers increase their wages. Assuming that their employers subsequently comply, the workers’ buying power would increase and cause aggregate demand to increase as well. This, in turn, would cause prices to increase which would trigger a rise in inflation – precisely showcasing the positive relationship that was pinpointed (Economics Help Helping to Simplify Economics ). The next factor to be considered is the so-called Natural Rate of Unemployment. Bagsic sees this rate as the long-run unemployment rate because eventually â€Å"the difference between expected inflation and actual inflation should average to zero† (â€Å"The Phillips Curve and Inflation Forecasting: The Case of the Philippines†. When neglecting the rather volatile supply shock variable, the equation specified above will look like this as a result: ÃŽ ³ UR = ÃŽ ³ UR*  or UR = UR* which indicates that the natural rate is more or less what Bagsic suspects it to be – the unemployment rate one would expect to see in the long run. This is caused by the phenomenon already described wherein the workers’ expecting inflation unwittingly react in a way that further aggravates inflation. Also notable is how the NRU is sometimes called the NAIRU or the Non-accelerating inflation rate of unemployment as when unemployment is at this specific rate the corresponding inflation has no propensity to increase (Economics Help Helping to Simplify Economics ). The last notable factor in the equation provided is the supply shock variable v which has a significant historical background. Probably the most poignant supply shock was the 1970’s oil supply shock which is commonly thought to have triggered the unusual state of â€Å"stagflation† (high inflation and high unemployment) in several countries including the US. The exact nature of this variable is, as of yet, quite unpredictable (Amadeo). At this point, what is imperative is determining whether or not the Phillips Curve – or a variation of it – can apply to countries like the Philippines. Bagsic’s findings suggest that there is truly a trade-off relationship between inflation and unemployment in the Philippine context. Her data shows that when actual employment rates are above (below) the NAIRU, they are usually accompanied by decelerating (accelerating) inflation rates. These trends are said to be relevant to investors and policymakers to aid with investment decisions and monetary/fiscal policies respectively (â€Å"The Phillips Curve and Inflation Forecasting: The Case of the Philippines†). It is important to keep in mind, however, that the Phillips Curve is not always accurate as evidenced by cases of stagflation; the information on the current trends in the Philippines must always be up-to-date in order to maximize the benefits reaped from the model.

The west :: essays papers

The west The West was a form of society rather than an area. It is the term applied to the region whose social conditions result from the application of older institutions and ideas to the transforming influences of free land. By this application, a new environment is suddenly entered, freedom of opportunity is opened, the cake of custom is broken, and new activities, new lines of growth, new institutions and new ideals, are brought into existence. The wilderness disappears, the "West" proper passes on to a new frontier and, in the former area, and a new society has emerged from this contact with the backwoods. Gradually this society loses its primitive conditions, and assimilates itself to the type of the older social conditions of the East; but it bears within it enduring and distinguishing survivals of its frontier experience. Decade after decade, West after West, this rebirth of American society had gone on, and left its traces behind it, which reacted on the East. The history of our political institutions, our democracy, is not a history of imitation, of simple borrowing; it is a history of the evolution and adaptation of organs in response to changed environment, a history of the origin of new political species. In this sense, therefore, the West has been a constructive force of the highest significance in our life. The West, as a phase of social organization, began with the Atlantic coast, and passed across the continent. But the colonial tidewater area was in close touch with the Old World, and soon lost its Western aspects. In the middle of the eighteenth century, the newer social conditions appeared along the upper waters of the tributaries of the Atlantic. Here it was that the West took on its distinguishing features, and transmitted frontier traits and ideals to this area in later days. On the coast were the fishermen and skippers, the merchants and planters, with eyes turned toward Europe. Beyond the falls of the rivers were the pioneer farmers, largely of non-English stock, Scotch-Irish and German. They constituted a distinct people, and may be regarded as an expansion of the social and economic life of the middle region into the backcountry of the South. These frontiersmen were the ancestors of Boone, Andrew Jackson, Calhoun, Clay, and Lincoln. Washington and Jefferson were profoundly a ffected by these frontier conditions. The forest clearings have been the seed plots of American character.

Is It Moral for Corporations to Test Cosmetics on Animals?

Is it moral for corporations to test cosmetics on animals or to use animals for medical experimentation? Pain is pain, and the importance of preventing unnecessary pain and suffering does not diminish because the being that suffers is not a member of our own species. (Peter Singer,  Animal Liberation) Human beings†¦.. who are we? Are we Gods or we are just the top of the food chain on Earth? Do we have rights to harm other nonhuman species? These and many other questions I have in my head when I see how cruel we are sometimes to each other and even harsher toward the other nonhuman beings.Personally, I treat animals with respect because I consider them to be reasonable creatures that are in many perspectives similar to us, human beings. I am confident that animals have emotions; they can feel pain and happiness like we do. As we can see this is not enough for us to consider them our â€Å"little brothers. † From ancient times, many animals are being used for satisfying human’s different needs, such as food, transportation, and materials. Nowadays, human beings use animals not only for abovementioned purposes, but also for cosmetics and medical experiments.All these experiments definitely cause harm to animals. Majority of human population believes that all these experiments are the required attribute for all pharmaceutical and cosmetics companies. They believe that these practices can prevent many people from suffering by testing all new medicine and cosmetic products on animals first. According to this I can say that animals’ sufferings caused by people became moral issue for our last generations. In my essay I will use the work of Peter Singer â€Å"All animals are Equal,† because his work covers most of the aspects that I agree with.The main purpose of this essay is to emphasize that nonhuman beings have many similarities with human beings and they need to have basis rights for life without pain. It means that human beings must understand that all species are equal and it is immoral to make them suffer. There are similarities between human beings and animals that can be taken into account. In this case, I consider that main feelings that are possessed both by human and by nonhuman beings are pain and happiness. It is obvious that animals that surround us can experience pain. Just imagine if you kick a dog with your leg, the dog will moan and probably will un away with its tail between its legs. If this dog would not suffer from that kick it would not try to prevent that pain from occurring. On the other hand, imagine the same dog running towards her master, spinning her tail and running around him, licking his hands, jumping and sending many other positive signals that represent happiness. By visualizing these two images you can easily understand that animals have basic feelings like we do. For some people this might sound like nonsense if I say that people are equal to other species that are inhabiti ng our planet. I will not take into consideration some biological features of the beings.I want to look at this problem from the moral perspective. Today it is acceptable by many developed countries around the world for women have equal rights with men. We consider that this is a right thing, but think for a moment that essentially males and females are not the same. I mean they have equal rights but not all rights applied for both men and women, due to physiological differences or other factors. For example, P. Singer mentioned in his work that women have right to abortion so in order to make them equal to men, males also must have the same right to abortion (P.Singer, p. 172). However, men do not need this right since those instances never occur. According to this example, equality does not particularly mean that men and women have all the same equal rights. It means that they have the same rights in regards with to what they have in common. Concerning cosmetics and medical experi ments on animals I can definitely say that it makes animals suffer. Let’s take medical experiments of new drugs. Nobody knows what is going to happen when any external substance is implemented on an animal.There are certain medications tested on animals and that caused the death of the animals. For example, one of the scandal cases is the sheep Dolly that died because of the cloning experiment. Obviously there is a big chance for the animals to die after certain tests are performed on them. Nevertheless, human beings still accept the fact that some species other than humans can justifiably suffer in order to possibly save some human being’s lives. However, animals that are involved in those experiments will receive nothing in return but suffering because the only purpose of those experiments is to help people.So, regarding cosmetic experiments, those animals suffer not for the sake of saving some human’s life, but for the sake of helping a number of people to lo ok more beautiful. For instance, before introducing a new cosmetic product such as shampoo to the market a product should go through the series of tests, the part of which is animal testing. Even this single product can harm a large number of animals. Looking more attractive, in my mind, is not worth causing pain to other species. I want to say, that the number of animals’ suffering is greater than the pleasure that human beings receive.In other words the degree of harm is higher than the degree of happiness. Some people might say let’s think about the morality that animals have. The main principal of their lives is to survive. Most of them survive by killing and eating other animals. Let’s take lions as an example; they kill other animals to feed their prides. In other words, they hurt other species to make their own lives flourish. If we can call this their â€Å"morality†, then medical experiments are the right thing to do, because human beings are the part of the same biosphere as lions and other animals are.As a result of these experiments many lives of the human beings were saved. Without the experiments on animals it would be impossible to reach the constant improvements and developments in medicine. If we talk about equality with animals in this perspective then we are equal to them, since we act according to their â€Å"morality. † All these arguments are related to utilitarianism. Utilitarian theories are dealing with selection of the action that will result in the maximum good for the greatest amount of individuals (Encyclopedia Britannica).Regarding animal testing from utilitarian point of view I can say that this is not right thing to do. Since it can be moral only if it delivers the greatest good to greatest number of individuals I can calculate how many individuals are better off in this case. For example only in France in 2005, 12,117,583 animals were used for medical experiments (Andrew Knight, p. 651). Takin g in account that this number represents the quantity of animals that were used by only a single country, I can definitely say that the total number of animals used for experiments in the whole world is much greater than human population.Moreover, not all people received benefits from those medical experiments, but all animals tested suffered or died. Talking about the previous example of analyses of lions’ morality I want to mention that in that case lions kill not more than two zebras to feed more than ten lions. On basis of this, greater good delivered to greater number of individuals. The professor of Oxford and Warwick universities and also the former head of Medical Research Council Colin Blakemore states that many irredeemable human diseases like Alzheimer’s multiple scleroses would never be possible to vaccinate without using all possible tools.In this case, experimental animals are one of the tools that are needed for the research of those diseases (Colin Blak emore). This claim proves that animal testing is one of the main research attributes. Therefore, in order to provide seriously ill people with quality medications, pharmaceutical companies have to test new drugs on animals. It is obvious, that fifty years ago it was normal for researchers to use animals for medical and cosmetics experiments, because they did not have any alternatives. It is known, that today’s technologies have features that can substitute usage of animals.If it is possible to use other means than animals why people do not do that? It seems to me that until animal tests are regarded as moral by human beings this practice will continue. Moreover, there will be a lot of different arguments that will support the idea of animal experiments. Yet, the fact that we can do medical experiments in 21st century without torturing animals is obvious. It is immoral to cause pain to a human by another one. The main reason for that is that human can suffer. Everyone in his o r her life experienced pain and know what it is.So, it became immoral thing to harm other people. Moreover, every person has a right to not experience pain from other individuals. In other words people are bounded by their rights and morality from making other people suffer. We are protected by rights and by laws not to be harmed, but animals are not protected by those rights and human morality. Nevertheless, they can suffer like we do. In this case both human and nonhuman beings experience relatively the same feeling of pain. Since the pain is the one factor that makes us similar to animals, why other species do not have rights to not suffer?One of the reasons why animals do not have some equal rights with people is probably because all those concepts of equal rights were created by human beings. It becomes obvious that human beings are selfish in this perspective. If you are the man it does not mean for me that you can decide for others what to do with their lives. What about the fact that human beings are the part of the biosphere of our planet. I think this is immoral to not take into account that animals can suffer like we do. In these circumstances I agree with P. Singer as he introduced an example about an orphaned infant.He said that â€Å"would be experimenter ready to make his experiments on orphaned infant if it would the only option to save many lives. If experimenter would be against using orphaned infant for experiments, then his readiness to use animal is simple discrimination. † But many adult animals are more receptive to pain than human infants. (P. Singer, p. 176). This is not good and people must understand why they have to do something about it. I agree that this practice is hard to change. Still, looking back in the history there were many practices that were accepted to be moral.For instance, I want to mention slavery and discrimination of African American or women. All of these cases were perceived to be normal at those times, bu t now moral values have changed. It means that there is a chance that people will comprehend the pain that we cause to nonhuman beings. People cannot decide for animals what to do with their lives. It is not moral to benefit one by harming another one. In this case all experiments on animals must be reformed. However, it is rooted deeply in our moral values system, so this values need to be changed as they were changed in other cases similar to this one.Human moral issues are changing all the time. Just recall the time when all people we classified by skin color or other signs. It was normal to discriminate black people only because they have a different skin color. Going back we can see that white people at those times would never accept that they are born equal to black people. It took a lot of time to change those beliefs. Now Barak Obama is the president of USA while a century ago this fact would appear implausible. It means that it is possible to change moral believes of human beings by giving them enough arguments for that.According to this I can definitely say that there are enough arguments that can be used to prove that animal experiments can be reformed. I want to conclude that the problem of animal experiments is related to each individual. According to utilitarian theory the animal experiments are not a right thing to do, because harm of these experiments is greater than the positive outcome. Number of ruined animals’ lives, is much greater than the number of saved human beings’ lives. The only way to prevent animal usage is to persuade people that this is inapplicable in our modern community.As I mentioned there are many ways, including technological improvements, to not use animals for medical experiments. The technology of 21 century allows constructing virtual models of live organisms that are able to predict a reaction of a tested medicine. This argument can cause the change in human beings’ morality, and animals will get equal rights with humas, by taking into consideration their abilities to experience pain and happiness like we do. Moreover, our morality is the subject that can be changed, as we can observe by looking back in the history.We need to start doing it, because we are the most intelligent creatures on the Earth and the future of many animals is in our hands. Work cited 1) Blakemore, Colin. â€Å"Should We Experiment on Animals? Yes. †Ã‚  The Telegraph. Telegraph Media Group, 29 Nov. 0028. Web. 22 Feb. 2012. . (I trust this web site, because the author seems to me very intelligent, since he is the professor of Oxford and Warwick universities and also the former head of Medical Research Council Colin Blakemore) 2) Knight, Andrew. Systematic Reviews of Animal Experiments Demonstrate Poor Human Clinical and Toxicological Utility. †Ã‚  ATLA -NOTTINGHAM-  35 (2007): 641-60. Print. 3) Peter Singer, â€Å"Chapter 14: All Animals are Equal† in Hugh LaFollette (ed. ), Ethics in Practice. 171-180 4) Singer, Peter. Animal Liberation. New York, NY: New York Review of, 1990. Print. 5) â€Å"utilitarianism. †Ã‚  Encyclop? dia Britannica. Encyclop? dia Britannica Online Academic Edition. Encyclop? dia Britannica Inc. , 2012. Web. 22 Feb. 2012. .

Case Assignment Benzene exposure

Introduction Benzene which is also known as benzol is an organic compound that is colorless, highly flammable and with a sweet odor. It tends to evaporate quickly when left exposed. It is a chemical compound that is normally formed by a natural process such as volcanic formation or forest fires. It is also formed from hydrocarbons. It was said to be present as a â€Å"component of the cigarette smoke† (ACS, 2008). Some of it physical properties are a relatively high melting point and high solubility in water.It is mostly use as a solvent in most chemical industries. It functions ranges from the production of drugs, plastics, synthetic rubber to dyes production where it mostly serves as the precursors of such industrial products. Route of exposure Benzene exposure has a lot of health impact and there are mostly three ways in which an individual can be exposed to benzene toxicity, these are inhalational route, ingestion and transdermal absorption (Media Fact, 2008). Inhalation o f benzene is usually as a result of the breathing of the benzene fumes.Benzene fumes are inhaled easily because benzene is an extremely volatile organic compound and this kind of exposure is one of the deadliest because of it immediate contact with the lung parenchyma. This then elicit a lot neurological symptoms such as headache, dizziness, tachycardia (increase in heart rate), tremors and subsequent death if untreated on time. Benzene ingestion result from eating of benzene laden foods or beverages and its noticeable symtoms are neurological while those of transdermal route usually result from contact with the benzene or benzene laden materials (Media Fact, 2008).The health problems cause by this route of benzene exposure â€Å"are erythema (reddening of the skin), scaling dermatitis, suppression of the hematopoietic system and pancytopenia† (Media Fact, 2008) Sources of Benzene Exposure The major sources of human exposure to benzene are environmental, occupational and cons umer products. Benzene is usually released into air from sources like gasoline filling stations, underground leakage of petroleum, vehicular exhaust, cigarette smoke, waste products or sewage and some food products.Most of the occupational related benzene exposure are seen mainly in industries like those involve in rubber production, chemical plants, refineries and shipments and retail shops. Other sources include consumer products that are made of benzene such as glues, adhesives, cigarettes, paint and varnishes e. t. c Short and long term effects The short term effects of benzene exposure are â€Å"drowsiness, dizziness, headaches, tremors, confusion and unconsciousness† (ACS, 2008).The previous symptoms are as a result of exposure of about 700-300ppm while acute exposure of high dose results in vomiting, irritation of the gastrointestinal tract, narcolepsy, convulsion and tachycardia. In extreme cases of high dose ingestion death usually results. The long term effect of be nzene toxicity has been attributed to the interference with the normal blood cell production i. e. the hematopoietic cells. The sequeale of this is anemia and leucopenia. An individual with this will be immunocompromised hence such individual will be prone to opportunistic diseases.The long term effect can also be seen to result in reproductive organ dysfunction. Precautionary measures 1. The use of personal protective equipment such as gloves, apron and some other clothing materials. 2. Special training on equipments handling and usage 3. If there is accidental release of the benzene quick evacuation of such laboratory must be done urgently 4. Proper ventilation of the laboratory References ACS, (2008). Benzene. Prevention and early detection Retrieved Sept 4, 2008 From www. cancer. org/docroot/PED/content/PED_1_3X_Benzene. asp

Hafnium Facts (Atomic Number 72 or Hf)

Hafnium Facts (Atomic Number 72 or Hf) Hafnium is an element that was predicted by Mendeleev (of periodic table fame) before it was actually discovered. Here is a collection of fun and interesting facts about hafnium, as well as standard atomic data for the element: Hafnium Element Facts Fresh, pure hafnium is a metal with a bright, silvery luster. However, hafnium oxidizes to form a beautiful rainbow colored surface effect.Mendeleev predicted the existence of hafnium in a report he prepared in 1869. It was one of two non-radioactive elements believed to exist, but not verified. It was finally discovered in 1923 by Georg von Hevesy and Dirk Coster by using x-ray spectroscopy on a zirconium ore sample. The element name honors the city of its discovery (Hafnia is the old name for Copenhagen).As you might expect, hafnium is not found free in nature. Instead, it forms compounds and alloys. Because the two metals share similar occurrence and properties, hafnium is extremely difficult to separate from zirconium. Most hafnium metal has some degree of zirconium contamination. Although hafnium is found with ores (mainly zircon and baddeleyite), it is not as reactive as most transition metals.When hafnium is powdered, the increased surface area improves its reactivity. Powdere d hafnium readily ignites and may explode. Hafnium finds use as an alloying agent for iron, titanium, niobium, and tantalum. It is found in integrated circuits, vacuum tubes, and incandescent lamps. Hafnium is used in nuclear reactors, mainly as nuclear control rods because hafnium is an exceptionally powerful neutron absorber. This is one significant difference between hafnium and its sister element zirconium zirconium is essentially transparent to neutrons.Hafnium in its pure form is not particularly toxic, but it does represent a health hazard, particularly if inhaled. Hafnium compounds should be handled with care, as should any transition metal compound, because the ionic forms be dangerous. Only limited testing has been done on the effect of hafnium compounds in animals. All that is really known is that hafnium usually exhibits a valence of 4.Hafnium is found in the gemstones zircon and garnet. Hafnium in garnet may be used as a geochronometer, which means it can be used to date metamorphic geological events. Hafnium Atomic Data Element Name: Hafnium Hafnium Symbol: Hf Atomic Number: 72 Atomic Weight: 178.49 Element Classification: Transition Metal Electron Configuration: [Xe] 4f14 5d2 6s2 Discovery: Dirk Coster and Georg von Hevesy 1923 (Denmark) Name Origin: Hafnia, the Latin name of Copenhagen. Density (g/cc): 13.31 Melting Point (K): 2503 Boiling Point (K): 5470 Appearance: silvery, ductile metal Atomic Radius (pm): 167 Atomic Volume (cc/mol): 13.6 Covalent Radius (pm): 144 Ionic Radius: 78 (4e) Specific Heat (20Â °C J/g mol): 0.146 Fusion Heat (kJ/mol): (25.1) Evaporation Heat (kJ/mol): 575 Pauling Negativity Number: 1.3 First Ionizing Energy (kJ/mol): 575.2 Oxidation States: 4 Lattice Structure: hexagonal Lattice Constant (Ã…): 3.200 Lattice C/A Ratio: 1.582 Hafnium Fast Fasts Element Name: HafniumElement Symbol: HfAtomic Number: 72Appearance: Steel gray metalGroup: Group 4 (Transition Metal)Period: Period 6Discovery:Â  Dirk Coster and George de Hevesy (1922) Sources Hevesy, G. (1925). The Discovery and Properties of Hafnium. Chemical Reviews. 2: 1–41. doi:10.1021/cr60005a001Greenwood, Norman N.; Earnshaw, Alan (1997). Chemistry of the Elements (2nd ed.). Butterworth-Heinemann. pp. 971–975. ISBN 0-08-037941-9.Lee, O. Ivan (1928). The Mineralogy of Hafnium. Chemical Reviews. 5: 17–37. doi:10.1021/cr60017a002Schemel, J. H. (1977). ASTM Manual on Zirconium and Hafnium. ASTM International. pp. 1–5. ISBN 978-0-8031-0505-8.Weast, Robert (1984). CRC, Handbook of Chemistry and Physics. Boca Raton, Florida: Chemical Rubber Company Publishing. pp. E110. ISBN 0-8493-0464-4.

Overview of the FAFSA for Financial Aid

Overview of the FAFSA for Financial Aid If you want financial aid, youll need to fill out the FAFSA. The FAFSA is the Free Application for Federal Student Aid. Anyone who wants financial aid for college will need to fill out the FAFSA. The application is used to determine the dollar amount you or your family will be expected to contribute towards college. All federal grant and loan awards are determined by the FAFSA, and nearly all colleges use the FAFSA as the basis for their own financial aid awards. The FAFSA is managed by the Office of Federal Student Aid, part of the Department of Higher Education. The Office of Federal Student Aid processes roughly 14 million financial aid applications a year and disburses about $80 billion in financial aid. The FAFSA application should take about one hour to fill out, but this is only if you have all the necessary documents at hand before you begin. Some applicants get frustrated with the application process because they do not have ready access to all necessary tax forms and bank statements, so be sure to plan ahead before you sit down to complete your FAFSA. The FAFSA requires information in five categories: Information about the studentInformation about the student’s dependency statusInformation about the student’s parentsInformation about the student’s financesA list of the schools that should receive the results of the FAFSA Students can fill out the FAFSA online at the FAFSA website, or they can apply through the mail with a paper form. The Office of Federal Student Aid strongly recommends the online application because it conducts immediate error checking, and it tends to speed up the application process by a few weeks. Students applying online can save their work and return to an application at a later date. Again, any financial aid award begins with the FAFSA, so be sure to complete the form before the deadlines for the schools to which you’ve applied. Realize that most state deadlines are much earlier than the June 30th federal deadline. Read more about the timing of your FAFSA application here: When Should You Submit the FAFSA?

How to decide if college is the right choice for you

How to decide if college is the right choice for you Get your degree if you want to succeed. This is pretty common advice for students who are trying to figure out what comes next in their lives. And education is always a good solution if you want to build knowledge and skills. Plus, a degree is usually a baseline requirement for more and more jobs out there, as many people find when they hit the job market with a high school diploma (or equivalent certificate) in hand. But a college degree is also a significant investment of time, money, and personal resources, so it’s more important than ever to make sure it’s the right choice for your own life. Is it worthwhile for everyone? And more importantly, is it worthwhile for you? Let’s look at the most important factors to consider as you decide whether or not to go for that college degree.Consider the debt†¦Any conversation about college these days has to involve the specter of staggering debt. Per CollegeData.com, the average price tag for a college education is $25,290 per year for a state college or university, and $50,900 for a private college or university. And tuition isn’t the only cost to consider: housing, books, and living expenses all factor in as well.Many students are able to make these ends meet with scholarships, grants, or working while they also attend colleges. But increasingly, students and their families are turning to student loans to cover college expenses. As of 2017, student loan debt is the second-highest consumer debt category, trailing only mortgage debt, per Forbes. The average student now carries $37,172 in student loan debt as they graduate and prepare to enter the workforce. Given that the average grad makes less than $50,000 per year to start, this can be a significant financial burden at the start of a career. And the default rate for student loans is 11.2%, suggesting that grads are not always able to cope with this debt as they move on after college.†¦but also consider the earning potential  W hile student load debt is becoming a significant national burden, it’s also seen as a kind of necessary evil when you look at how much college grads make vs. their counterparts who have a high school diploma or an incomplete college degree.According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, college grads experience significantly lower unemployment the more advanced their degrees become. College grads also earn more, on average: the median weekly earnings for someone with a high school diploma jumps from $692 to $1,156 if the person has a bachelor’s degree. To put it in even more concrete terms, according to the National Center for Educational Statistics, a bachelor’s degree (or higher) adds $15,000 per year in income.So is college worth it?If we’re going by the stats, then, frankly, yes. On paper, college graduates are likely to make more and experience a lower unemployment rate. But life is rarely so straightforward and easy checked off by â€Å"yes† or â€Å"no,† so let’s look at questions you need to ask yourself before you take this step.What are my goals?If you dream of becoming an accountant or a computer programmer, then these are fields that require specific expertise and academic credentials. If your ultimate goal is to work in retail management, then that’s a field where experience can trump an education credential on a resume. The first step in any â€Å"is college for me?† debate is figuring out what your ideal future holds.Can I achieve those goals in a non-traditional way?Here’s where alternative education programs become a crucial part of the dialogue. It may be that your target profession has specific education and certification programs that require less time and investment than a traditional college program, where you may be taking courses and meeting requirements that have nothing to do with your eventual profession. Allied health professions are a great example of this- man y healthcare positions require a degree (like registered nursing or anesthesiologist), but there are plenty of jobs in the field that do not (like optician or surgical technologists) and instead require a job-specific certification and on-the-job training.Trade schools can be a valid alternative to a four-year program, providing exactly the knowledge and expertise you’ll need for your career goals, and often for a more affordable price than you’d see at a traditional four-year school.What’s my financial plan?If you can afford to pay for college straight up, that’s fantastic! If you can’t, then you need to have a plan. Whether it’s Harvard or a trade school, you’ll have to account for the costs of your future educational path. Based on your eventual job goals, how much will you be able to afford to pay on the average starting salary for that job? Sites like Salary.com and PayScale.com are great for helping you play around with that kin d of math and determining what people are realistically making in your potential field.Can I find a less expensive way to build your college degree?Many students opt to start off their college career at a community college, taking core classes and then transferring to a four-year college to finish the degree. This has a couple of benefits: it’s less expensive than four years at a traditional college or university, may cut down on extra expenses like room and board if you can live at home, and also gives you time to decide whether you’re on the right path, education-wise. If you get to the end of a four-year program only to discover that you’ve made a huge mistake in your major or concentration, then you’ve wasted both your time and (likely) a lot of money. If you take the community college route to study phlebotomy and discover in the process that maybe you’re not destined to be a doctor because you can’t stand the sight of blood after all, you’ve saved yourself a very expensive revelation later on.The bottom line is that college is an asset for the average person, but it might not be worthwhile for you, the non-average person. It’s important to consider what your individual career goals are and whether you truly need the expertise and credentials that a four-year school can provide. You shouldn’t feel roped into getting an expensive degree just because everyone is telling you that you should. Instead, it should be a decision based on careful thought about what the college degree would mean for your professional life, your future finances, and your ability to commit to that four-year degree. After all, you’re unique, and your path to achieving your professional ambitions should be one that works for yourself- not anyone else.

International Financial Markets Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

International Financial Markets - Essay Example From this point, bond portfolios can be restructured in a systematic manner outlined as under: In the events when interest rates are expected to decrease, it would be advisable to restructure the bond portfolios drifting towards securities constituting long-term maturities. This will allow the portfolios to earn maximum capital gain because there is a stronger likelihood that the price of the bonds having long maturities are expected to increase by a greater amount than that of bonds having short maturities in case of a decrease in the yields. Conversely, in the events of an increase in the interest rates, it would be advisable to restructure the bonds portfolios drifting towards short-term securities as it may likely to result in decreasing the capital losses from a decrease in the prices of long-term maturities compared to the increase in the prices of securities having short-term maturities. ... ter 1 year Price of Bond 2 (5yr) after 1 year Price of Bond 3 (10yr) after 1 year Price of Bond 4 (20yr) after 1 year Price of Bond 1 (2yr) after 2 years Price of Bond 2 (5yr) after 2 years Price of Bond 3 (10yr) after 2 years Price of Bond 4 (20yr) after 2 years Bond Current Price P1 P2 2yr 109.5 104.4599 105 5yr 120.23 115.0694 109.2377 10yr 126.63 122.9504 118.6706 20yr 126.46 123.9087 121.6928 Holding Period Returns Bond 1 (2yr) Return for 1 year: 0.23 - 5.04006 = -4.81 Bond 2 (5yr) Return for 1 year: 0.85 - 5.16058 = -4.31 Bond 3 (10yr) Return for 1 year: 2.03 - 3.67964 = -1.64 Bond 4 (20yr) Return for 1 year: 3.19 - 2.55135 = 0.638 Bond 1 (2yr) Cumulative Return for 2 years: [0.23(1.0113) + 0.23] -4.5 = -4.0374 Bond 2 (5yr) Cumulative Return for 2 years: [0.85(1.0113) + 0.85] -10.99 = -9.2804 Bond 3 (10yr) Cumulative Return for 2 years: [2.03(1.0113) + 2.03] -7.96 = 3.877 Bond 4 (20yr) Cumulative Return for 2 years: [3.19(1.0113) + 3.19] -4.76 = 1.656 Bond 1-year Return 2-year Return 2yr -4.81 -4.0374 5yr -4.31 -9.2804 10yr -1.64 3.877 20yr 0.638 1.656 Task 5 Holding period return is considered as quite significant because the period covering this return pertains to the time horizon for which the investment is to be held in the portfolio. In the light of the holding period returns generated for the four bonds, it can be closely observed that if the time horizon is kept as 1 year, securities having short-term maturities, are unable to provide any returns, rather they are incurring losses. Only 20-year bond is providing the holding period return of 0.638 while rest of the other three securities, are in negative zone. On the other hand, if the 2-year time horizon for holding the securities in the portfolio is taken into consideration, it can be noted that the

Business Ethics and Virtue Ethics 3 SLP Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Business Ethics and Virtue Ethics 3 SLP - Essay Example It is also seen in the fair representation of divergent views by respecting both merits and demerits. It encompasses such aspects as impartiality, fidelity and equity. Justice can always be viewed in various dimensions. In the context of harmony, justice refers to receiving an equivalent share depending on the efforts we place on an undertaking. In this respect justice is seen as a way of mitigating any misunderstanding that might arise out of inappropriate allocations. In another respect, justice emerges as a divine command that drives the conduct of humanity (Jost & Wuerth, 2011). For instance, killing somebody is wrong and should therefore be punished. It is therefore one of the moral principles that is normally intended to enhance peace and coexistence in the world. In virtue ethics, justice in this respect is quite important as a way of promoting the highest morals and principles (Gavai, 2010). In essence all the theories of justice advocate the fact that everyone should actuall y receive what they deserve in life. For instance things like wealth and social status should always be distributed in a way that matches the respective merits of individuals. More importantly, the distribution of wealth should always match the overall contribution of an individual to the social good (Hooft, 2006). The concept of justice is normally closely associated with an element of fairness in dealings. It connotes the impartial distribution of resources in a way that limits any cases of dissatisfaction. In this regard, everyone should have the liberty to enjoy all the basic rights accorded to humanity. Kindness is also one of the most important aspects in virtue ethics and refers to the condition of being kind and characterized by charitable and good behavior (Michalos, 2011). It is also seen as a way of showing concern and disposition for others. While kindness is essentially a virtue, it is normally recognized as a value in the context of religions and cultures. In any case, acts of kindness normally benefit both the receivers and the givers. To the giver, it is more about feeling a sense of contentment and relaxation out of doing well to others (Hendry, 2004). In most cases kindness is seen as the ability and willingness of helping someone in need not in return for anything. The basic concept here is the need to help the other person. Kindness as a virtue is certainly very important in all aspects of life. The element of being kind can greatly enable somebody to achieve a lot of respect and mileage in many situations. In this case, kindness is always encouraged in most cultures and religions as a ways of enhancing peace, harmony and coexistence among the various societies and communities in the world (Crisp & Slote, 2004). Honesty is also part of the moral character that is normally encouraged and highly regarded in life. The aspect of being honest connotes the attributes of integrity and truthfulness as opposed to deceit and telling lies. In this cas e, honesty encompasses straightforwardness without such aspects like theft or cheating. It is a way of encouraging people to always tell the truth since it is one of the ways of avoiding many vices in life. In an organizational setup, the element of virtue ethics is certainly very important in promoting business ethics and enhancing the proper coordination of

Philosophy final paper pre-question Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Philosophy final paper pre-question - Essay Example have a function or activity, the good and the ‘well’ is thought to reside in the function.† Therefore, it is the human good which keeps the function the soul performs in accordance with virtue. The key points in Aristotle’s concept of function include the following arguments in brief: Aristotle argues that everything has a function or activity to perform. Further, based on this argument, he states that everything that has a function has a virtue as well. Therefore, it is the virtue of the thing that enables it to perform its function well. The basic function of the soul, as argued by Aristotle is to take care of things, rule and deliberate, and so on. Because, these are the activities one cannot perform without the soul. Again, the soul can perform well only when it has the virtue associated with its function. In this way, a good soul performs, takes care of things, and in general, lives a good life. This is where the conception of happiness comes into being. Therefore, the conception of happiness is mainly derived from the good functions performed by the soul while performing them all well with the nature of virtue. When the soul performs its function virtuously, then the soul becomes associated with justice. That means the just soul performs well and, therefore, lives well. That is how the soul is blessed with happiness. Whereas a bad soul does just the opposite of what a good soul does. In that sense, the bad or the unjust soul performs as well as lives badly and so is wretched. This is what Aristotle describes as the definition of the notion of happiness. In the process of his argumentation, Aristotle wants to identify happiness with virtuous activities performed by the soul. A happy man will have a pleasant life. However, pleasure is not the only good thing that happens to a happy man. In simple words, a happy man will share both a pleasant as well as virtuous life. When the notion of happiness is introduced, Aristotle proposes his view of

Ch (9) Education Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Ch (9) Education - Assignment Example De Facto segregation is constitutional and comes as a result of some residential housing patterns being segregated from others. There is no de facto segregation of residences in San Antonio (Lesson 9). Title VI means that the law does not allow the use of national origin, race or color as a basis of discrimination or denial of benefits when it comes to federal programs. Title VII is a law created to eliminate discrimination of people at work based on their racial differences among others. It is a principle requirement or the 14th amendment in a constitution stating that if a citizen is not granted the life, liberty or property interests by the federal government, he or she has to get a notice and the chance to be heard (Lesson 9). The principle is more formal when it comes to the dismissal of teachers than in cases where the students get suspended. Exempt employees do not have FLSA protection, hence not entitled to get overtime payments (Walsh, Kemerer & Maniotis, 2010). Non-exempt employees have to get the minimum wage and payment for overtime if working 40 hours in a

OPM300 - Intro. to Operations Mgmt. CA Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

OPM300 - Intro. to Operations Mgmt. CA - Essay Example Here the restrictions of time and hours on the job are lifted and the online selling is very flexible. This is also an excellent method for smaller companies to reach out to a larger audience. Here in the case of Amazon, the company will gain higher benefits than the brick and mortar stores as this allows Amazon to provide newer offers which other competition cannot provide in the brick and mortar stores. There are however a few disadvantages of the online businesses as well. Companies here have added responsibilities and tasks that need to be considered for instance, the management of updates, website security, avoidance of fraudulent activities, costs of maintain the websites and also online marketing which is a different effort apart from the normal marketing of the business (Beynon-Davies). Downloadable Books and Amazon Business: Amazon has a wide range of products that the company deals with. One of the main elements here is the sales of books. The company has in addition to sel ling books online, also created the online eBook reader referred to as Kindle which is an electronic reader and allows customers to download books. Hence if books were to be completely downloadable in the future, the company has already taken the measures and developed the systems required for the same.

Ch (9) Education Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Ch (9) Education - Assignment Example De Facto segregation is constitutional and comes as a result of some residential housing patterns being segregated from others. There is no de facto segregation of residences in San Antonio (Lesson 9). Title VI means that the law does not allow the use of national origin, race or color as a basis of discrimination or denial of benefits when it comes to federal programs. Title VII is a law created to eliminate discrimination of people at work based on their racial differences among others. It is a principle requirement or the 14th amendment in a constitution stating that if a citizen is not granted the life, liberty or property interests by the federal government, he or she has to get a notice and the chance to be heard (Lesson 9). The principle is more formal when it comes to the dismissal of teachers than in cases where the students get suspended. Exempt employees do not have FLSA protection, hence not entitled to get overtime payments (Walsh, Kemerer & Maniotis, 2010). Non-exempt employees have to get the minimum wage and payment for overtime if working 40 hours in a

Is Global Warming a Hoax Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Is Global Warming a Hoax - Research Paper Example Global warming, the theory of climate change has aroused intense controversy regarding the extent to which our activities affect global temperature and weather patterns. Although there a lot of people out there who are trying to keep their carbon emission to the minimum, skeptics believe that human induced global warming is insignificant and the evolution from fire to nuclear energy is a path of improved human health and welfare arising from efficient and effective access to energy. Whatever may be the argument, earth temperature is rising year after year. In this regard, my research aims to ultimately address the issue: is global warming a hoax and is it actually an exaggeration? Certain atmospheric gases such as carbon dioxide, methane, ozone, and water vapor, trap solar energy and keep the temperature of the earth warmer than it would be without such gases (Henson, 2006, pp. 19-26). This is known as greenhouse effect. The greenhouse effect is absolutely necessary to keep the Earth at a temperature that sustains life. Without greenhouse effect, the temperature of the earth would be colder than today’s average range, too cold to sustain the earth’s existing plant and animal life. ... 279). Global warming is having an adverse effect on the environment in the Arctic. Rising temperatures endangers populations of animals that live in an ice based ecosystem. Polar bears, walruses and seals are now often underweight or malnourished because higher temperatures limit their ice based food sources and disrupt their feeding and weaning cycle. Although natural climatic changes are partially responsible for the rise in the average temperature over the past century, the current rate of glacial erosion suggests that higher levels of greenhouse gases are contributing significantly to global warming. Glacial melting could lead to damaging flash flood in some locales. Other region that depend on melting snow for hydroelectric power could run low on water after glaciers have disappeared, requiring more communities to use pollution-creating oil or coal for energy, which in turn would produce more green house gases and more global warming. Most scientists who have participated in rec ent climatological studies agree that global warming will affect the world’s ecosystems and weather patterns. In addition, rising temperature and increased precipitation are likely to have harmful effect on human health. It also facilitates the growth of many disease insects like anopheles gambiae mosquito, Culex mosquito and flies (Johannes, p. 611). Global warming due to industrial pollution increases the cancer rate (Koeppel, 2001, p. 16). â€Å"As the planet’s largest consumer of fossil fuel, the United States, whose industry is responsible for some 35 percent of all the greenhouse gases ever created by human activity, was already cast as villain† (Christianson, 1999, p. 255). Due to the alarming levels of greenhouse gases continuing to increase

Comparing two poems Essay Example for Free

Comparing two poems Essay In this essay I will be comparing two poems. These poems are on the topic of war which is very relevant especially as there is a war going on in Iraq as I am writing this. The first poem I am going to write about called: Dulce et Decorum est is written by Wilfred Owen. He had first hand experience of war as he was a soldier; so he will give us a very honest opinion of war and what it was really like to fight in one. Unfortunately for him he was killed in action a week before the war ended. The poem has a very strong anti-war feeling about it; it is his personal view that dying for your country is not a very good thing and in the poem he conveys this to us by giving us very clear mental pictures of the horrible effects of war. Wilfred Owenss attitude to war is that he is frustrated, angry and resentful of it. The poem type Wilfred uses in this poem is the Sonnet; this is odd because Sonnet poems are usually about love but in this case he is writing about hurt; rhythm of the octaves in this poem is slow and speeds up in the sestet. These ties in with the mood of the poem e.g.: Gas! Gas! Gas! This line has been broken up with exclamation marks to show that there is an emergency. Then it slows down quite considerably again in the final stanza to make us think of the suffering the soldiers go through. It is wonderful the way that he structures this poem from the soldiers feelings, to his own and then he asks the reader for their views. There is one very noticeable thing about the structure and that is that there are two lines of the poem on their own; also these line are not in the past tense like the rest of the poem and this is because he is trying to emphasize the mental scars of war which remain with him in the present. He gives us a very detailed mental picture and he gives us this in all three verses. In verse 1 he talks about the physical breakdown of the soldiers. He builds up this mental image of suffering e.g.: knocked kneed, and he continues this mental picture into versus 2 as he talks about his fellow solider suffering and dying in the gas as he cant get his helmet on. He uses verbs in this verse in a clever way e.g.: Fumbling and floundering. E.g.: Fumbling, Fitting the clumsy helmets just in time. And floundering like a man in fire or lime. In verse 3 he uses Onomatopoeic e.g.: gargling. He uses this word to explain how his fellow solider died e.g. Gargling from the forth-corrupted lungs. The pain that this soldier suffered is conveyed to us in a very gruesome way e.g.: As under a green sea, I saw him drowning. What he means by that is he has breathed in so much gas its suffocating him so it is very like drowning. Another example He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning. In the first verse he uses metaphors in a very powerful way e.g. Blood shod, drunk with fatigue to show the exhaustion and suffering of the soldiers. Also the Onomatopoeic words in the first verse sludge and trudge, show us how the soldiers slowly marched ; it tell us also that they had no determination and enthusiasm lift to fight for their country. Wilfred Owen is basically saying in this poem that hes been there and its not that good at all to fight for your country. This is the complete opposite of what Lord Tennyson talks about in The Charge of the Light Brigade. Lord Tennysons poem is different from Wilfred Owen in a number of ways. Firstly Lord Tennyson has never fought in a war; Tennyson poem is also saying that it is good to die for your country and Tennysons poem is about the soldiers being heroes and noble men. The poets attitude to war is that it is an honorable and noble thing to die for your country. The tone of this poem is fast and very sharp e.g.: Forward, the Light Brigade! Charge for the guns! Another example is Cannon to right of them, Cannon to left of them, Cannon in front of them stays at this speed for most of the poem. Tennyson structures his poem in to 6 verses of even length. He starts off describing the advance in verse 1 and 2 e.g.: Into the valley of death Forward, the Light Brigade! then into verse 4 he talks about the heat of the battle e.g.: Flashed all their sabers bare, Flashed as they turned in air, Sabring the gunners there. In verses 5 and 6 he talks about the retreat e.g.: Back from the mouth of Hell, All that was left of them and he then goes on to say how courageous, noble and heroic the soldiers were e.g.: honour the charge they made! Honour the light brigade, Noble six hundred. Verse 6 is shorter than the rest as it is a tribute to the soldiers that fought in the war. The rhythm of the poem is regular; it conveys how inevitable the charge was. The rhyme sounds very grand, patriotic and has a musical tone about it. The poem type is a ballad. A ballad is usually a short narrative poem with stanzas of two or four lines and usually a refrain. They contain repetition e.g.: Rode the six hundred (which is on the end of every verse) another example: Half league, half league, half league onward. They are written in straight-forward verse, seldom with detail, but always with graphic simplicity and force. Many old-time ballads were written and performed by minstrels attached to noblemens courts. Language used in the poem is very powerful to glorify the charge rather than show pity. He uses metaphors in his poem e.g.: Into the valley of death; there is also personification used in his poem e.g.: Into the jaws of death and Into the mouth of hell He uses these metaphors and personification in his poem to emphasize the suicidal march of the Light Brigade. The hell and death in these phrases reinforces the views of this being the end for the soldiers. I really liked the way that Tennyson brings the reader into his poem by asking a rhetorical question: Was there a man dismayed? and When can their glory fade? He does use a quite a lot of onomatopoeia e.g.: Volleyed and thundered and Shot and shell. He has also chosen his verbs in his poem really well. They are Very prominent; convey idea of speed, the light and movement all in the one verb is flashed. The repetition is very powerful and significant in the poem from the very first line: Half a league, Half a League, Half a league onward. My personal view on war is that it is a terrible thing and should only be used for a last resort. I would only agree with a war at present if there was evidence to prove that Iraq have weapons of mass destruction and then I would consider it a just war and that we must get Saddam quickly and carefully to keep down the risk of innocent deaths. I personally prefer Dulce et Decorum est. by Wilfred Owen as it is more detailed and gives you very vivid pictures of the soldiers deaths and as Wilfred Owen was believable actually there its more in a sense as he was has seen it up close. This poem taught me that war is a bad thing and its not worth it; it helped me to appreciate how much pain some of the soldiers had to suffer in the war.

Internet Protocol Version 4 Analysis

Internet Protocol Version 4 Analysis Chapter 2: Literature Review 2.1 Introduction Multimedia streaming over internet is getting its revolutionary in the communication, entertainment and interactive game industries. The web now becomes a popular medium for video streaming since the user does not have to wait to download a large file before seeing the video or hearing the sound. Instead, the media is sent in a continuous stream and is played as it arrives. It can integrate all other media formats such as text, video, audio, images and even live radio and TV broadcasts can all be integrated and delivered through a single medium. These applications may require in terms of bandwidth, latency and reliability than traditional data applications to support the growth of multimedia technology in the future [1]. The transportation of multimedia traffic over networks become more complicated because multimedia is becoming cheaper and cheaper and therefore used more and more. Problems with bearing multimedia flows on networks are mainly related to the bandwidth they require and to the strict maximum delay requirements that must be met [2]. This is important when multimedia applications have to provide users with real-time interaction. Because of the rapid growth of Internet usage and the requirement of different applications, the IPv4 is no more relevant to support the future networks. Many new devices, such as mobile phones, require an IP address to connect to the Internet. Thus, there is a need for a new protocol that would provide new services. To overcome to these problems, a new version of Internet Protocol has been introduced. This is called Internet Protocol next generation (IPng or IPv6), which is designed by the IETF [3] to replace the current version Internet Protocol, IP Version 4 (IPv4). IPv6 is designed to solve the problems of IPv4. It does so by creating a new version of the protocol which serves the function of IPv4, but without the same limitations of IPv4. IPv6 is not totally different from IPv4. The differences between IPv6 and IPv4 are including in five major areas which is addressing, routing, security, configuration and support for mobile devices [4]. Like all the development and new inventio ns, the problems of current Internet Protocol made researcher to develop some new techniques to solve these problems. Even they have tried to make some changes on the current protocol, these changes still didnt help a much. So, at the end the way came to development of a new protocol which is known as IPv6 or IPng. 2.2 OSI 7 Layer Computer networks are complex dynamic systems and difficult task to understand, design, and implement a computer network. Networking protocols need to be established for low level computer communication up to how application programs communicate. Each step in this protocol is called a layer and divided into several layers simplifies the solution. The main idea behind layering is that each layer is responsible for different tasks. The Open System Interconnection (OSI) Reference Model defines seven layers [5]. Physical Layer. This layer deals, for instance, with conversion of bits to electrical signals, bit level synchronization. Data Link Layer. It is responsible for transmitting information across a link, detecting data corruption, and addressing. Network Layer. The layer enables any party in the network to communicate with each other. Transport Layer. It establishes reliable communication between a pair in the system, deals with lost and duplicated packets. Session Layer. This layer is responsible for dialogue control and changing. Presentation Layer. The main task of this layer is to represent data in a way convenient for the user. Application Layer. Applications in this case include Web browsing, file transferring, etc. The Network Layer is the layer that is the most interesting in the context of this project. The following section gives a better view of this layer. 2.3 Network Layer As was mentioned before, this layer is responsible for enabling the communication between any party. The most used method for transporting data within and between communications networks is the Internet Protocol (IP). 2.3.1 Internet Protocol IP is a protocol that provides a connectionless, unreliable, and best-efforts packet delivery system. More details on these network service types are given below [5]. In a connectionless model the data packets are transferred independently from all others and containing full source and the destination address. It is worth mentioning that another type is the connection oriented model. However, the connection-oriented model and its details are beyond the scope of this project and thus will not be pursued in this report. The reader can consult [5] for further information on this type of service. Unreliable delivery means that packets may be lost, delayed, duplicated, delivered non-consecutively (in an order other than that in which they were sent), or damaged in transmission. 2.4 Internet Protocol Version 4 As we know, IPv4 is the current protocol for communication on the Internet. It is the protocol that underlies most communication on networks today, such as TCP/IP and UDP/IP. The largest weakness of IPv4 is its address space [7]. Each IPv4 address only have 32 bits and consists of two parts, defined as network identifier and host identifier [5]. A standard method of displaying an IPv4 address is as decimal value of four octets, each separated a period, for example: 192.168.2.5. Traditionally [6], IP addresses are presented by classfull addressing. 5 classes of address were created, which is A to E. Class A consists of 16,777,214 hosts while class B consists of 65,534 hosts and class C consists of 254 hosts. Class D is reserved for use with multicasting and class E is a block of IP addresses reserved for future use [7]. The class D and E addresses are not used to address public host, so this leaves the rest of the entire range of IP addresses carved up into classes A C. As soon as a site is connected to the Internet, it needs to be given an entire class C. Assuming that many sites only need one or two addresses then this waste over 200 addresses. Once a site reaches over 254 full addressable machines it would need an entire class B, which would waste over 65,000 addresses and so on. This allocation system is obviously insufficient and wastes much of a limited resource. 2.4.1 Header Header is a part of the IP packet[5]. There is a number of fields in an IPv4 header. Below are the some explanations for each field. 2.4.2.1 Version This field (4-bit long) is used to determine the version of IP datagram that is considered. For IPv4 it is set to 4. 2.4.2.12 Internet Header Length (IHL) The Internet Header Length is the length of the header. 2.4.2.3 Type of Service Theoretically, this field (1 octet long) should indicate something special about the protocol. However, it has never really been used. 2.4.2.4 Total Length Total is the length of data in the fragment plus the header. 2.4.2.5 Identification This field is useful for fragmentation only. Its purpose is to enable the destination node to perform reassembly. This implies that the destination node must know which fragments belong to each other, i.e. the source, destination, and protocol fields should match. 2.4.2.6 Offset Offset indicates the point at which this fragment belongs in the reassembly packet. The field is related to fragmentation mechanism and has similar vulnerabilities as the identification field. 2.4.2.7 Time to Live TTL measures the time duration of the datagram presence in a network. This guarantees that no datagram exists forever in the network. 2.4.2.8 Protocol This field identifies the transport protocols, for example UDP or TCP. Since the field contains an arbitrary value that indicates some protocol, encapsulation of one datagram into another (IP tunneling) is possible. 2.4.2.9 Header Checksum The checksum is used to detect transmission errors. However, this field was removed in IPv6. 2.4.2.10 Source Address. This field specifies the source address. 2.4.2.11 Destination Address The destination address (4 octets long) is specified in this field. No attacks related to this field are known. 2.4.2.12 Options The field (variable size) was designed to improve the IP communication. There are several options defined for this field. Among them are: security, source routing, and route recording. 2.4.2.13 Padding The field (variable size) is used to fill the IP header with zeros if the header length is less than 32 bits. 2.5 Internet Protocol Version 6 IPv6 is a new version that is specified in RFC2460 [5] to overcome the weakness of the current protocol in certain aspect. It uses a 128 bit long address field which is 4 times longer than Ipv4 addresses. This size of address space removes one of the worst issues with IPv4 and IPv6 doesnt have classes of addresses. In general, IPv4 and IPv6 have a similar in their basic framework and also many differences. At a first view, there are obviously differences in the addresses between IPv4 and IPv6. IPv6 addresses range from 0000:0000:0000:0000:0000:0000:0000:0000 to ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff. In addition to this preferred format, IPv6 addresses may be specified in two other shortened formats: Omit leading zeros Specify IPv6 addresses by omitting leading zeros. For example, IPv6 address 1050:0000:0000:0000:0005:0600:300c:326b may be written as 1050:0:0:0:5:600:300c:326b. Double colon Specify IPv6 addresses by using double colons (::) in place of a series of zeros. For example, IPv6 address ff06:0:0:0:0:0:0:c3 may be written as ff06::c3. Double colons may be used only once in an IP address. The IPv6 addresses are similar to IPv4 except that they are 16 octets long. A critical fact to be observed is that the present 32-bit IP addresses may be accommodated in IPv6 as a special case of IPv6 addressing. The standard representation of IPv6 addresses is a hexadecimal value of 16-bit each separated by a colon. Not only does IPv6 have different address representation, but it also discards the previous concept of network classes. The 6-byte addresses are very popular in the 802 LANs. The next generation of LANs will use 8-byte address space specified by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) [9]. Thus, the IPv6 addresses should be 8 bytes long. 2.5.1 IPv6Header Some of  IPv4 header fields excluded in IPv6, and some of  them has been made optional. As a result of this the packet processing time and packet header size is reduced. The header consists of two parts, which are: the basic IPng header and IPng extension headers. 2.5.2.1 Version This field (4-bit long), same as in IPv4 case, is used to determine the version of IP datagram and is set to 6 in the present case. This field is the same in both versions. The reasoning for this is that these two protocols should coexist during the transition period. 2.5.2.2 Flow Label This field is 20 bits long and, as yet, there is no specific functionality assigned to it. 2.5.2.3 Payload Length Only IPv6 has this field. Since the header length is constant in IPv6, just one field is needed. This field replaces IHL and Total Length fields in IPv4. It carries information about the length of data (the headers are not included). 2.5.2.4 Next Header Next Header field replaces the Protocol field in the IPv4 header. 2.5.2.5 Hops limit This field is a hop count that decrements. This field redefines the Time to Life field present in IPv4. 2.5.2.6 Source Address The source address is indicated by this field (16 octets long). No attacks related to this field have been experienced. 2.5.2.7 Destination Address This field (16 octets long) specifies the destination address. No attacks related to this field are known. IPv6 brings major changes to the IP header. IPv6s header is far more flexible and contains fewer fields, with the number of fields dropping from 13 to 8. Fewer header fields result in a cleaner header format and Quality of Service (QoS) that was not present in IPv4. IP option fields in headers have been replaced by a set of optional extensions. The efficiency of IPv6s header can be seen by comparing the address to header size. Even though the IPv6 address is four times as large as the IPv4 address, the header is only twice as large. Priority traffic, such as real time audio or video, can be distinguished from lower priority traffic through a priority field [8]. Based on the [27] experiment, it clearly show the brake-down of the various headers in both IPv4 and IPv6, it is evident that the overhead incurred is minimal between IPv4 and IPv6. In theory, the performance overhead between these two protocols is so minimal that the benefits of IPv6 should quickly overshadow the negatives. Table 1: Packet breakdown and overhead incurred by header information 2.6 Streaming Overview In recent years, there has been major increasing in multimedia streaming application such as audio and video broadcast over internet. The increasing number of internet subscribers with broadband access from both work and home enables multimedia applications with high quality can be delivered to the user. However, since the best effort internet is unreliable with a high packet lost and inconsistency in packet arrival, it does not provide any QoS control. This is a crucial part when dealing with real-time multimedia traffic. The multimedia streaming is a real-time application includes audio and video which is stored in stream server and streamed its content to client upon request. The example includes continuous media server, digital library, and shopping and entertainment services. Prior to streaming, video was usually downloaded. Since, it took a long time to download video files, streaming was invented with the intention of avoiding download delays and enhancing user experience. In streaming, video content is played as it arrives over the network, in the sense that there is no wait period for a complete download. Real-time streaming has a timing constraint such that the data are played continuously. If the packet data are not arrive in time, the playback is paused and will cause the in smoothness in multimedia presentation and its definitely annoying to the user. Because of this factor, multimedia streaming require isochronous processing and QoS [10] from end to end view. The lack of QoS has not prevented the rapid growth of real-time streaming application and this growth is expected to continue and multimedia traffic will form a higher portion of of the internet load. Thus, the overall behavior of these applications will have a significant impact on the other internet traffic. 2.7 Downloading Versus Streaming Application Basically downloading applications such as FTP involve downloading a file before it is viewed by a user. The examples of multimedia downloading applications are downloading an MP3 song to an IPod or any portable device, downloading a video file to a computer via P2P application such as BitTorrent. Downloading is usually a simple and easiest way to deliver media to a user. However, downloading has two potentially important disadvantages for multimedia applications. First, a large buffer is required whenever a large media file such as MPEG-4 movie is downloaded. Second, the amount of time required for the download can be relatively large, (depends on the network traffic), thereby requiring the user to wait minutes or even hours before being able to view the content. Thus, while downloading is simple and robust, it provides only limited flexibility both to users and to application designers. In contrast, in the streaming mode actually is by split the media bit stream into separate packet which can be transmitted independently. This enables the receiver to decode and play back the parts of the bit stream that are already received. The transmitter continues to send multimedia data packet while the receiver decodes and simultaneously plays back other, already received parts of the bit stream. This enables low delay between the current data is sent by the transmitter to the moment it is viewed by the user. Low delay is of paramount importance for interactive applications such as video conferencing, but it is also important both for video on demand, where the user may desire to change channels or programs quickly, and for live broadcast, but the delay must be finite. Another advantage of streaming is its relatively low storage requirements and increased flexibility for the user, compared to downloading. However, streaming applications, unlike downloading applications, have de adlines and other timing requirements to ensure continuous real-time media play out. This leads to new challenges for designing communication systems to best support multimedia streaming applications. [12] 2.8 Standard/Protocols for Streaming A good streaming protocol is required to achieve a quality of continuous playback in multimedia streaming over the internet with the short delay when a user downloading a multimedia content over the internet. The streaming protocol provides a service such as transport, and QoS control mechanism including quality adaptation, congestion control and error control. The streaming protocol is built on the top of network level protocol and the transport level protocol. The multimedia streaming protocol is based on IP network and â€Å"User Datagram Protocol† (UDP) is mainly used, despite of some streaming application using TCP. Like TCP, UDP is a transport layer protocol, but UDP is a connectionless transport protocol. UDP does not guarantee a reliable transmission and in order arrival packet. Under UDP also, there is no guarantee that is packet will arrive to its destination [16]. The UDP packet may get lost in the network when there is a lot of network traffic. Therefore, UDP is not suitable for data packet transfer where a guarantee delivery is important.UDP is never used to send important data such as webpage, database information, etc; UDP is commonly used for streaming audio and video. Streaming media such as Windows Media audio files (.WMA), Real Player (.RM), and others format use UDP because it offers speed. The reason UDP is faster than TCP is because there is no form of flow control or error correction. The data sent over the Inte rnet is affected by collisions, and errors will be present. Remember that UDP is only concerned with speed. This is the main reason why streaming media is not high quality. However, UDP is the ideal transport layer protocol for streaming application which the priority is to transfer the packet from the sender to its destination and does not contribute any delay which is the result of the transmission of lost packets. Since UDP does not guarantee in packet delivery, the client needs to rely Real time Transport Protocol (RTP) [10]. The RTP provides the low-level transport functions suitable for applications transmitting real-time data, such as video or audio, over multicast or unicast services The RTP standard consists of two elementary services, transmitted over two different channels. One of them is the real-time transport protocol which carries the data and the other works as control and monitor channel named RTP control protocol (RTCP) [13]. RTP packets are encapsulated within UDP datagrams. This step incorporates a high throughput and efficient bandwidth usage. The RTP data packets contain a 12 byte header followed by the payload, which can be a video frame, set of audio samples etc. The header includes a payload type indicating the kind of data contained in the packet (e.g. JPEG video, MP3 audio, etc), a timestamp (32 bits), and a sequence number to allow ordering and loss detection of RTP pa ckets [11]. According to the standard [14], the transport of RTP streams can use both UDP and TCP transport protocols, with a strong preference for the datagram oriented support offered by UDP. The primary function of RTCP is to provide feedback on the quality of the data distribution. The feedback may be directly useful for control of adaptive encodings along with fault diagnostics in the transmission. In summary, RTP is a data transfer protocol while RTCP is control protocol. The Real-time Streaming Protocol (RTSP) [25] is a client-server signaling system based on messaging in ASCII format. It establishes procedures and controls, either one or more time-synchronized streams continuous media such as audio and video. The protocol is intentionally similar in syntax and operation to HTTP and therefore hires the option of using proxies, tunnels and caches. RTSP and works well both for large audiences, and single-viewer media-on-demand. RTSP provides control functionality such as pause, fast forward, reverse and absolute positioning and works much like a VCR remote control. The necessary additional information in the negotiation is conducted in the Session Description Protocol (SDP), sent as an attachment of RTSP appropriate response [13]. The Requirement for Multimedia Application Various multimedia applications have different requirements for QoS describes in the following QoS parameters such as throughput, delay, delay variation (jitter) and packet loss. In most cases, the application of QoS requirements can be determine by the user which are the factors that affect the quality of applications [17]. For example, from experimenting concluded that acceptable quality, one-way delay requirements for interactive voice should be less than 250 ms. This delay includes the value of the delays imposed on all components of the communication channels, as a source of delay, transmission delays, delays in the network and the determination of the delay. There are some factors which affect QoS application requirements such as interactive and noninteractive applications, User/Application characteristics (delay tolerance and intolerance, adaptive and nonadaptive characteristics) and application criticality (Mission-critical and non-mission-critical applications) [15]. The thr ee types for this application requirement will be discuss in next section. 2.10.1 Interactive and Noninteractive Applications An interactive application involves some form of between two parties such as people-to-people, people-to-machine or machine-to-machine. An example of interactive applications is: People-to-people application such as IP telephony, interactive voice/video, videoconferencing People-to-machine application such as Video-on-demand (VOD), streaming audio/video Machine-to-machine application: Automatic machine control The time elapsed between interactions is essential to the success of an interactive application. The degree of interactivity determines the level of severity or delay the requirement. For example, interactive voice applications, which involve human interaction (conversation) in real time, are stringent requirements of delay (in order of milliseconds). Streaming (play), video applications involve less interaction and do not require real-time response. Applications streaming, therefore, are more relaxed requirements of delay (in order of seconds). Often applications tolerance delay is determined by users tolerance delay (ie, higher delay tolerance leads to more relaxed delay requirements). Jitter delay is also related to QoS support for interactive tasks. The delay jitter can be corrected by de-jittering techniques buffer. However, the buffer introduces delay in the original signal, which also affects the interactivity of the task. In general, an application with strict requirements de lay also has a strict delay jitter requirements [15]. 2.10.2 Tolerance and Intolerance Tolerance and intolerance also one of the key that affect in QoS parameter values require by the user. Latency tolerance and intolerance determines the strictness of the delay requirement. As we already mentioned, streaming multimedia applications are more latency tolerant than interactive multimedia applications. The level of latency tolerance extremely depends based on users satisfaction, expectation, and the urgency of the application such as mission critical. Distortion tolerance to the commitment of the application quality depends on users satisfaction, users expectation, and the application media types. For example, users are more tolerant to video distortion than to audio distortion. In this case, during congestion, the network has to maintain the quality of the audio output over the quality of the video output [15]. 2.10.3 Adaptive and Nonadaptive Characteristics Adaptive and nonadaptive aspects mostly describe the mechanisms invoked by the applications to adapt to QoS degradation and the common adaptive techniques are rate adaptation and delay adaptation. Rate adaptive application can adjust the data rate injected into the network. During network congestion, the applications reduce the data rate by dropping some packets, increasing the codec data compression, or changing the multimedia properties. This technique may cause degradation of the perceived quality but will keep it within acceptable levels. Delay-tolerant adaptive applications are tolerate to a certain level of delay jitter by deploying the de-jittered buffer or adaptive playback technique. Adaptation is trigged by some form of implicit or explicit feedback from the network or end user [15]. 2.10.4 Application Criticality Mission-critical aspects reflect the importance of application usage, which determines the strictness of the QoS requirements and Failing the mission may result in disastrous consequences. For example: Air Traffic Control Towers (ATCTs): The Traffic controller is responsible to guide the pilot for direction, takeoff and landing process. Life and death of the pilot and passenger may depend on the promptness and accuracy of the Air Traffic Control (ATC) system. E Banking system: The failure of this system may lead to the losses to the bank and user is unable to make an online transaction (view account summary, account history, transaction status, manage cheques and transfer funds online) and to make a online payment ( loans, bills, and credit card) and other transaction. 2.10.6 Examples of Application Requirements Video applications can be classified into two groups: interactive video (i.e., video conferencing, long-distance learning, remote surgery) and streaming video (i.e., RealVideo, Microsoft ASF, QuickTime, Video on Demand, HDTV). As shown in table 2, video applications bandwidth requirements are relatively high depending on the video codec. Video codec Bandwidth Requirement Uncompressed HDTV 1.5 Gbps HDTV 360 Mbps Standard definition TV (SDTV) 270Mbps Compressed MPEG2 25-60 Mbps Broadcast quality HDTV 19.4 Mbps MPEG 2 SDTV 6 Mbps MPEG 1 1.5 Mbps MPEG 4 5 kbps 4 Mbps H.323 (h.263) 28 kbps 1 Mbps Table 2 : Video Codec Bandwidth Requirement [15] 2.11 Packet Delay Delay has a direct impact on users satisfaction. Real-time media applications require the delivery of information from the source to the destination within a certain period of time. Long delays may cause incidents such as data missing the playback point, which can degrade the quality of service of the application. Moreover, it can cause user frustration during interactive tasks. For example, the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) considers network delay for voice applications in Recommendation G.114 and defines three bands of one-way delay as shown in table 2. Range in Millisecond (ms) Description 0 150 Acceptable for most user application. 150 400 Acceptable provided that administrators are aware of the transmission time and the impact it has on the transmission quality of user applications. > 400 Unacceptable for general. However in certain cases this limit exceeds. Table 3: Standard for delay limit for voice In the data transmission process, each packet is moving from its source to its destination. The process of data transmission usually starts with a packet from a ho Internet Protocol Version 4 Analysis Internet Protocol Version 4 Analysis Chapter 2: Literature Review 2.1 Introduction Multimedia streaming over internet is getting its revolutionary in the communication, entertainment and interactive game industries. The web now becomes a popular medium for video streaming since the user does not have to wait to download a large file before seeing the video or hearing the sound. Instead, the media is sent in a continuous stream and is played as it arrives. It can integrate all other media formats such as text, video, audio, images and even live radio and TV broadcasts can all be integrated and delivered through a single medium. These applications may require in terms of bandwidth, latency and reliability than traditional data applications to support the growth of multimedia technology in the future [1]. The transportation of multimedia traffic over networks become more complicated because multimedia is becoming cheaper and cheaper and therefore used more and more. Problems with bearing multimedia flows on networks are mainly related to the bandwidth they require and to the strict maximum delay requirements that must be met [2]. This is important when multimedia applications have to provide users with real-time interaction. Because of the rapid growth of Internet usage and the requirement of different applications, the IPv4 is no more relevant to support the future networks. Many new devices, such as mobile phones, require an IP address to connect to the Internet. Thus, there is a need for a new protocol that would provide new services. To overcome to these problems, a new version of Internet Protocol has been introduced. This is called Internet Protocol next generation (IPng or IPv6), which is designed by the IETF [3] to replace the current version Internet Protocol, IP Version 4 (IPv4). IPv6 is designed to solve the problems of IPv4. It does so by creating a new version of the protocol which serves the function of IPv4, but without the same limitations of IPv4. IPv6 is not totally different from IPv4. The differences between IPv6 and IPv4 are including in five major areas which is addressing, routing, security, configuration and support for mobile devices [4]. Like all the development and new inventio ns, the problems of current Internet Protocol made researcher to develop some new techniques to solve these problems. Even they have tried to make some changes on the current protocol, these changes still didnt help a much. So, at the end the way came to development of a new protocol which is known as IPv6 or IPng. 2.2 OSI 7 Layer Computer networks are complex dynamic systems and difficult task to understand, design, and implement a computer network. Networking protocols need to be established for low level computer communication up to how application programs communicate. Each step in this protocol is called a layer and divided into several layers simplifies the solution. The main idea behind layering is that each layer is responsible for different tasks. The Open System Interconnection (OSI) Reference Model defines seven layers [5]. Physical Layer. This layer deals, for instance, with conversion of bits to electrical signals, bit level synchronization. Data Link Layer. It is responsible for transmitting information across a link, detecting data corruption, and addressing. Network Layer. The layer enables any party in the network to communicate with each other. Transport Layer. It establishes reliable communication between a pair in the system, deals with lost and duplicated packets. Session Layer. This layer is responsible for dialogue control and changing. Presentation Layer. The main task of this layer is to represent data in a way convenient for the user. Application Layer. Applications in this case include Web browsing, file transferring, etc. The Network Layer is the layer that is the most interesting in the context of this project. The following section gives a better view of this layer. 2.3 Network Layer As was mentioned before, this layer is responsible for enabling the communication between any party. The most used method for transporting data within and between communications networks is the Internet Protocol (IP). 2.3.1 Internet Protocol IP is a protocol that provides a connectionless, unreliable, and best-efforts packet delivery system. More details on these network service types are given below [5]. In a connectionless model the data packets are transferred independently from all others and containing full source and the destination address. It is worth mentioning that another type is the connection oriented model. However, the connection-oriented model and its details are beyond the scope of this project and thus will not be pursued in this report. The reader can consult [5] for further information on this type of service. Unreliable delivery means that packets may be lost, delayed, duplicated, delivered non-consecutively (in an order other than that in which they were sent), or damaged in transmission. 2.4 Internet Protocol Version 4 As we know, IPv4 is the current protocol for communication on the Internet. It is the protocol that underlies most communication on networks today, such as TCP/IP and UDP/IP. The largest weakness of IPv4 is its address space [7]. Each IPv4 address only have 32 bits and consists of two parts, defined as network identifier and host identifier [5]. A standard method of displaying an IPv4 address is as decimal value of four octets, each separated a period, for example: 192.168.2.5. Traditionally [6], IP addresses are presented by classfull addressing. 5 classes of address were created, which is A to E. Class A consists of 16,777,214 hosts while class B consists of 65,534 hosts and class C consists of 254 hosts. Class D is reserved for use with multicasting and class E is a block of IP addresses reserved for future use [7]. The class D and E addresses are not used to address public host, so this leaves the rest of the entire range of IP addresses carved up into classes A C. As soon as a site is connected to the Internet, it needs to be given an entire class C. Assuming that many sites only need one or two addresses then this waste over 200 addresses. Once a site reaches over 254 full addressable machines it would need an entire class B, which would waste over 65,000 addresses and so on. This allocation system is obviously insufficient and wastes much of a limited resource. 2.4.1 Header Header is a part of the IP packet[5]. There is a number of fields in an IPv4 header. Below are the some explanations for each field. 2.4.2.1 Version This field (4-bit long) is used to determine the version of IP datagram that is considered. For IPv4 it is set to 4. 2.4.2.12 Internet Header Length (IHL) The Internet Header Length is the length of the header. 2.4.2.3 Type of Service Theoretically, this field (1 octet long) should indicate something special about the protocol. However, it has never really been used. 2.4.2.4 Total Length Total is the length of data in the fragment plus the header. 2.4.2.5 Identification This field is useful for fragmentation only. Its purpose is to enable the destination node to perform reassembly. This implies that the destination node must know which fragments belong to each other, i.e. the source, destination, and protocol fields should match. 2.4.2.6 Offset Offset indicates the point at which this fragment belongs in the reassembly packet. The field is related to fragmentation mechanism and has similar vulnerabilities as the identification field. 2.4.2.7 Time to Live TTL measures the time duration of the datagram presence in a network. This guarantees that no datagram exists forever in the network. 2.4.2.8 Protocol This field identifies the transport protocols, for example UDP or TCP. Since the field contains an arbitrary value that indicates some protocol, encapsulation of one datagram into another (IP tunneling) is possible. 2.4.2.9 Header Checksum The checksum is used to detect transmission errors. However, this field was removed in IPv6. 2.4.2.10 Source Address. This field specifies the source address. 2.4.2.11 Destination Address The destination address (4 octets long) is specified in this field. No attacks related to this field are known. 2.4.2.12 Options The field (variable size) was designed to improve the IP communication. There are several options defined for this field. Among them are: security, source routing, and route recording. 2.4.2.13 Padding The field (variable size) is used to fill the IP header with zeros if the header length is less than 32 bits. 2.5 Internet Protocol Version 6 IPv6 is a new version that is specified in RFC2460 [5] to overcome the weakness of the current protocol in certain aspect. It uses a 128 bit long address field which is 4 times longer than Ipv4 addresses. This size of address space removes one of the worst issues with IPv4 and IPv6 doesnt have classes of addresses. In general, IPv4 and IPv6 have a similar in their basic framework and also many differences. At a first view, there are obviously differences in the addresses between IPv4 and IPv6. IPv6 addresses range from 0000:0000:0000:0000:0000:0000:0000:0000 to ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff. In addition to this preferred format, IPv6 addresses may be specified in two other shortened formats: Omit leading zeros Specify IPv6 addresses by omitting leading zeros. For example, IPv6 address 1050:0000:0000:0000:0005:0600:300c:326b may be written as 1050:0:0:0:5:600:300c:326b. Double colon Specify IPv6 addresses by using double colons (::) in place of a series of zeros. For example, IPv6 address ff06:0:0:0:0:0:0:c3 may be written as ff06::c3. Double colons may be used only once in an IP address. The IPv6 addresses are similar to IPv4 except that they are 16 octets long. A critical fact to be observed is that the present 32-bit IP addresses may be accommodated in IPv6 as a special case of IPv6 addressing. The standard representation of IPv6 addresses is a hexadecimal value of 16-bit each separated by a colon. Not only does IPv6 have different address representation, but it also discards the previous concept of network classes. The 6-byte addresses are very popular in the 802 LANs. The next generation of LANs will use 8-byte address space specified by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) [9]. Thus, the IPv6 addresses should be 8 bytes long. 2.5.1 IPv6Header Some of  IPv4 header fields excluded in IPv6, and some of  them has been made optional. As a result of this the packet processing time and packet header size is reduced. The header consists of two parts, which are: the basic IPng header and IPng extension headers. 2.5.2.1 Version This field (4-bit long), same as in IPv4 case, is used to determine the version of IP datagram and is set to 6 in the present case. This field is the same in both versions. The reasoning for this is that these two protocols should coexist during the transition period. 2.5.2.2 Flow Label This field is 20 bits long and, as yet, there is no specific functionality assigned to it. 2.5.2.3 Payload Length Only IPv6 has this field. Since the header length is constant in IPv6, just one field is needed. This field replaces IHL and Total Length fields in IPv4. It carries information about the length of data (the headers are not included). 2.5.2.4 Next Header Next Header field replaces the Protocol field in the IPv4 header. 2.5.2.5 Hops limit This field is a hop count that decrements. This field redefines the Time to Life field present in IPv4. 2.5.2.6 Source Address The source address is indicated by this field (16 octets long). No attacks related to this field have been experienced. 2.5.2.7 Destination Address This field (16 octets long) specifies the destination address. No attacks related to this field are known. IPv6 brings major changes to the IP header. IPv6s header is far more flexible and contains fewer fields, with the number of fields dropping from 13 to 8. Fewer header fields result in a cleaner header format and Quality of Service (QoS) that was not present in IPv4. IP option fields in headers have been replaced by a set of optional extensions. The efficiency of IPv6s header can be seen by comparing the address to header size. Even though the IPv6 address is four times as large as the IPv4 address, the header is only twice as large. Priority traffic, such as real time audio or video, can be distinguished from lower priority traffic through a priority field [8]. Based on the [27] experiment, it clearly show the brake-down of the various headers in both IPv4 and IPv6, it is evident that the overhead incurred is minimal between IPv4 and IPv6. In theory, the performance overhead between these two protocols is so minimal that the benefits of IPv6 should quickly overshadow the negatives. Table 1: Packet breakdown and overhead incurred by header information 2.6 Streaming Overview In recent years, there has been major increasing in multimedia streaming application such as audio and video broadcast over internet. The increasing number of internet subscribers with broadband access from both work and home enables multimedia applications with high quality can be delivered to the user. However, since the best effort internet is unreliable with a high packet lost and inconsistency in packet arrival, it does not provide any QoS control. This is a crucial part when dealing with real-time multimedia traffic. The multimedia streaming is a real-time application includes audio and video which is stored in stream server and streamed its content to client upon request. The example includes continuous media server, digital library, and shopping and entertainment services. Prior to streaming, video was usually downloaded. Since, it took a long time to download video files, streaming was invented with the intention of avoiding download delays and enhancing user experience. In streaming, video content is played as it arrives over the network, in the sense that there is no wait period for a complete download. Real-time streaming has a timing constraint such that the data are played continuously. If the packet data are not arrive in time, the playback is paused and will cause the in smoothness in multimedia presentation and its definitely annoying to the user. Because of this factor, multimedia streaming require isochronous processing and QoS [10] from end to end view. The lack of QoS has not prevented the rapid growth of real-time streaming application and this growth is expected to continue and multimedia traffic will form a higher portion of of the internet load. Thus, the overall behavior of these applications will have a significant impact on the other internet traffic. 2.7 Downloading Versus Streaming Application Basically downloading applications such as FTP involve downloading a file before it is viewed by a user. The examples of multimedia downloading applications are downloading an MP3 song to an IPod or any portable device, downloading a video file to a computer via P2P application such as BitTorrent. Downloading is usually a simple and easiest way to deliver media to a user. However, downloading has two potentially important disadvantages for multimedia applications. First, a large buffer is required whenever a large media file such as MPEG-4 movie is downloaded. Second, the amount of time required for the download can be relatively large, (depends on the network traffic), thereby requiring the user to wait minutes or even hours before being able to view the content. Thus, while downloading is simple and robust, it provides only limited flexibility both to users and to application designers. In contrast, in the streaming mode actually is by split the media bit stream into separate packet which can be transmitted independently. This enables the receiver to decode and play back the parts of the bit stream that are already received. The transmitter continues to send multimedia data packet while the receiver decodes and simultaneously plays back other, already received parts of the bit stream. This enables low delay between the current data is sent by the transmitter to the moment it is viewed by the user. Low delay is of paramount importance for interactive applications such as video conferencing, but it is also important both for video on demand, where the user may desire to change channels or programs quickly, and for live broadcast, but the delay must be finite. Another advantage of streaming is its relatively low storage requirements and increased flexibility for the user, compared to downloading. However, streaming applications, unlike downloading applications, have de adlines and other timing requirements to ensure continuous real-time media play out. This leads to new challenges for designing communication systems to best support multimedia streaming applications. [12] 2.8 Standard/Protocols for Streaming A good streaming protocol is required to achieve a quality of continuous playback in multimedia streaming over the internet with the short delay when a user downloading a multimedia content over the internet. The streaming protocol provides a service such as transport, and QoS control mechanism including quality adaptation, congestion control and error control. The streaming protocol is built on the top of network level protocol and the transport level protocol. The multimedia streaming protocol is based on IP network and â€Å"User Datagram Protocol† (UDP) is mainly used, despite of some streaming application using TCP. Like TCP, UDP is a transport layer protocol, but UDP is a connectionless transport protocol. UDP does not guarantee a reliable transmission and in order arrival packet. Under UDP also, there is no guarantee that is packet will arrive to its destination [16]. The UDP packet may get lost in the network when there is a lot of network traffic. Therefore, UDP is not suitable for data packet transfer where a guarantee delivery is important.UDP is never used to send important data such as webpage, database information, etc; UDP is commonly used for streaming audio and video. Streaming media such as Windows Media audio files (.WMA), Real Player (.RM), and others format use UDP because it offers speed. The reason UDP is faster than TCP is because there is no form of flow control or error correction. The data sent over the Inte rnet is affected by collisions, and errors will be present. Remember that UDP is only concerned with speed. This is the main reason why streaming media is not high quality. However, UDP is the ideal transport layer protocol for streaming application which the priority is to transfer the packet from the sender to its destination and does not contribute any delay which is the result of the transmission of lost packets. Since UDP does not guarantee in packet delivery, the client needs to rely Real time Transport Protocol (RTP) [10]. The RTP provides the low-level transport functions suitable for applications transmitting real-time data, such as video or audio, over multicast or unicast services The RTP standard consists of two elementary services, transmitted over two different channels. One of them is the real-time transport protocol which carries the data and the other works as control and monitor channel named RTP control protocol (RTCP) [13]. RTP packets are encapsulated within UDP datagrams. This step incorporates a high throughput and efficient bandwidth usage. The RTP data packets contain a 12 byte header followed by the payload, which can be a video frame, set of audio samples etc. The header includes a payload type indicating the kind of data contained in the packet (e.g. JPEG video, MP3 audio, etc), a timestamp (32 bits), and a sequence number to allow ordering and loss detection of RTP pa ckets [11]. According to the standard [14], the transport of RTP streams can use both UDP and TCP transport protocols, with a strong preference for the datagram oriented support offered by UDP. The primary function of RTCP is to provide feedback on the quality of the data distribution. The feedback may be directly useful for control of adaptive encodings along with fault diagnostics in the transmission. In summary, RTP is a data transfer protocol while RTCP is control protocol. The Real-time Streaming Protocol (RTSP) [25] is a client-server signaling system based on messaging in ASCII format. It establishes procedures and controls, either one or more time-synchronized streams continuous media such as audio and video. The protocol is intentionally similar in syntax and operation to HTTP and therefore hires the option of using proxies, tunnels and caches. RTSP and works well both for large audiences, and single-viewer media-on-demand. RTSP provides control functionality such as pause, fast forward, reverse and absolute positioning and works much like a VCR remote control. The necessary additional information in the negotiation is conducted in the Session Description Protocol (SDP), sent as an attachment of RTSP appropriate response [13]. The Requirement for Multimedia Application Various multimedia applications have different requirements for QoS describes in the following QoS parameters such as throughput, delay, delay variation (jitter) and packet loss. In most cases, the application of QoS requirements can be determine by the user which are the factors that affect the quality of applications [17]. For example, from experimenting concluded that acceptable quality, one-way delay requirements for interactive voice should be less than 250 ms. This delay includes the value of the delays imposed on all components of the communication channels, as a source of delay, transmission delays, delays in the network and the determination of the delay. There are some factors which affect QoS application requirements such as interactive and noninteractive applications, User/Application characteristics (delay tolerance and intolerance, adaptive and nonadaptive characteristics) and application criticality (Mission-critical and non-mission-critical applications) [15]. The thr ee types for this application requirement will be discuss in next section. 2.10.1 Interactive and Noninteractive Applications An interactive application involves some form of between two parties such as people-to-people, people-to-machine or machine-to-machine. An example of interactive applications is: People-to-people application such as IP telephony, interactive voice/video, videoconferencing People-to-machine application such as Video-on-demand (VOD), streaming audio/video Machine-to-machine application: Automatic machine control The time elapsed between interactions is essential to the success of an interactive application. The degree of interactivity determines the level of severity or delay the requirement. For example, interactive voice applications, which involve human interaction (conversation) in real time, are stringent requirements of delay (in order of milliseconds). Streaming (play), video applications involve less interaction and do not require real-time response. Applications streaming, therefore, are more relaxed requirements of delay (in order of seconds). Often applications tolerance delay is determined by users tolerance delay (ie, higher delay tolerance leads to more relaxed delay requirements). Jitter delay is also related to QoS support for interactive tasks. The delay jitter can be corrected by de-jittering techniques buffer. However, the buffer introduces delay in the original signal, which also affects the interactivity of the task. In general, an application with strict requirements de lay also has a strict delay jitter requirements [15]. 2.10.2 Tolerance and Intolerance Tolerance and intolerance also one of the key that affect in QoS parameter values require by the user. Latency tolerance and intolerance determines the strictness of the delay requirement. As we already mentioned, streaming multimedia applications are more latency tolerant than interactive multimedia applications. The level of latency tolerance extremely depends based on users satisfaction, expectation, and the urgency of the application such as mission critical. Distortion tolerance to the commitment of the application quality depends on users satisfaction, users expectation, and the application media types. For example, users are more tolerant to video distortion than to audio distortion. In this case, during congestion, the network has to maintain the quality of the audio output over the quality of the video output [15]. 2.10.3 Adaptive and Nonadaptive Characteristics Adaptive and nonadaptive aspects mostly describe the mechanisms invoked by the applications to adapt to QoS degradation and the common adaptive techniques are rate adaptation and delay adaptation. Rate adaptive application can adjust the data rate injected into the network. During network congestion, the applications reduce the data rate by dropping some packets, increasing the codec data compression, or changing the multimedia properties. This technique may cause degradation of the perceived quality but will keep it within acceptable levels. Delay-tolerant adaptive applications are tolerate to a certain level of delay jitter by deploying the de-jittered buffer or adaptive playback technique. Adaptation is trigged by some form of implicit or explicit feedback from the network or end user [15]. 2.10.4 Application Criticality Mission-critical aspects reflect the importance of application usage, which determines the strictness of the QoS requirements and Failing the mission may result in disastrous consequences. For example: Air Traffic Control Towers (ATCTs): The Traffic controller is responsible to guide the pilot for direction, takeoff and landing process. Life and death of the pilot and passenger may depend on the promptness and accuracy of the Air Traffic Control (ATC) system. E Banking system: The failure of this system may lead to the losses to the bank and user is unable to make an online transaction (view account summary, account history, transaction status, manage cheques and transfer funds online) and to make a online payment ( loans, bills, and credit card) and other transaction. 2.10.6 Examples of Application Requirements Video applications can be classified into two groups: interactive video (i.e., video conferencing, long-distance learning, remote surgery) and streaming video (i.e., RealVideo, Microsoft ASF, QuickTime, Video on Demand, HDTV). As shown in table 2, video applications bandwidth requirements are relatively high depending on the video codec. Video codec Bandwidth Requirement Uncompressed HDTV 1.5 Gbps HDTV 360 Mbps Standard definition TV (SDTV) 270Mbps Compressed MPEG2 25-60 Mbps Broadcast quality HDTV 19.4 Mbps MPEG 2 SDTV 6 Mbps MPEG 1 1.5 Mbps MPEG 4 5 kbps 4 Mbps H.323 (h.263) 28 kbps 1 Mbps Table 2 : Video Codec Bandwidth Requirement [15] 2.11 Packet Delay Delay has a direct impact on users satisfaction. Real-time media applications require the delivery of information from the source to the destination within a certain period of time. Long delays may cause incidents such as data missing the playback point, which can degrade the quality of service of the application. Moreover, it can cause user frustration during interactive tasks. For example, the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) considers network delay for voice applications in Recommendation G.114 and defines three bands of one-way delay as shown in table 2. Range in Millisecond (ms) Description 0 150 Acceptable for most user application. 150 400 Acceptable provided that administrators are aware of the transmission time and the impact it has on the transmission quality of user applications. > 400 Unacceptable for general. However in certain cases this limit exceeds. Table 3: Standard for delay limit for voice In the data transmission process, each packet is moving from its source to its destination. The process of data transmission usually starts with a packet from a ho