Condition vs. Statement Analysis Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Condition vs. Statement Analysis - Coursework Example Horizontal analysis makes use of comparisons over two or more years in both currency and percentage forms. Vertical analysis on the other hand, takes into account entries of the balance sheet and presents them as percentages of the total. Finally, ratio analysis is used in financial statement analysis to show the statistical correlation of data (Finkler, Purtell, Calabrese, and Smith, 2013). The use of financial statement analysis is primarily aimed at informing effective decision making process. While financial statement analysis evaluates the financial performance of an organization from its financial data records to showcase performance, financial condition analysis on the other hand, aims at measuring the position of the business or entity at hand. Two considerations under financial condition analysis include resource flow, and resource stock (Studenmund, 2011). Under resource flow, financial condition analysis takes into account financial indicators such as total margin, charge to expense, and debt service ratios. It also considers financial performance through change in net assets (Finkler, Purtell, Calabrese, and Smith, 2013). Under resource stock, financial condition analysis takes into account financial ratios (indicators) such as quick for testing liquidity, net assets for measuring solvency, debt to asset for measuring leverage, and capital assets condition for measuring capital (Finkler, Purtell, Calabrese, and Smith, 2013). The use of financial condition analysi s is primarily aimed at acknowledging the performance or position of the entity at hand. Finkler, Purtell, Calabrese, and Smith (2013) points that external factors have impact on an organization’s financial performance. In this case, financial condition analysis considers external factors such as competition, market stability, exchange rates, and market volatility. Under these factors, financial condition analysis aims at testing how much the business is able to

Chronic disease managment Essay Example for Free

Chronic disease managment Essay What is self-management? Self-care management is defined as the behaviour employed by an individual in managing and implementing the treatment regimen within the individuals lifestyle routine and it recognizes an individuals central role in managing chronic diseases (Costantini et al. , 2008). In sum, self-management is to help individuals collaborate with health care professionals to help themselves, by using strategies and proper interventions, to bring self-care into daily routine to help managing chronic diseases and to promote quality of life. How will you promote self-efficacy and autonomy for your clients in your practice? Chronic kidney disease (CKD) affects almost every aspect of patients life, both physical and emotional. According to Mok (2011, p12), several strategies identified in helping patients with CKD to improve nutritional adherence. These strategies fall into three categories: patient education, behaviour modification and organizational changes. These strategies also applicable in other treatment in CKD. According to Barbra (2011,p183), when patients disease deteriorate or towards terminal states, strategies of ending self-management and back to medical or comfort care were also mentioned. Nurses can apply these strategies by nursing interventions to help promote patients self-efficacy and autonomy. First, patient education strategies. Nurses should assess patients need and their knowledge and literacy level before providing education. These assessment should make sure patients are ready to accept the changes and the education received can be fully understood. Usually when patients are knowledgeable in their own condition, their self-efficacy and autonomy will be greatly improved. In addition, education should also be provided to caregivers because a lot of patients with CKD depend on caregivers in ADLs. During assessment and education process, nurses should be aware of using good communication skills, interviewing skills and make sure accurate information and related resources are provided to patients and caregivers. Second, behaviour modification strategies. According to Mok (2011, p12), several techniques can be used in behaviour modification such as reminders, self-monitoring, and positive reinforcement. Nurses can combine effective behavioral, psychosocial strategies such as periodical reminder by using telephone, email, regular appointment or face to face interaction. Nurses should advocate patients for regular follow up to make sure patients adherence to treatment. No patient is alone in chronic disease treatment, nurses should collaborate with patients family members and caregivers to help maintain compliance. In addition, nurses can assist patients in using self-monitoring techniques such as blood pressure monitoring, diaries, logs, personal health records to help track their health condition. Third, organizational changes. According to Mok (2011, p13), nurses can collaborate with other health care professionals such as dietitians and physicians to enhance compliance. Nurses can directly help patients in developing dietary plan and improve patients satisfactory, in turn, promote treatment adherence. Lastly, according to Barbra (2011, p183), when patient unable to perform self-care, giving up self-management and return to professional medical care should be acknowledged. Nurses should educate and assess patients and caregivers capability of performing self-management, making sure they are knowledgeable of serious symptoms and capable of seeking help when needed. What are indicators of successful self-management in patients with CKD? According to Mok (2011, p12), several factors may affect successful treatment such as lack of knowledge, hectic lifestyle, lack of decision making in own dietary outcomes and dissatisfactory of dietary prescription. First, knowledge deficit will make patients unable to choose proper food or make necessary adjustments, in turn, leads to failure in self-care management. Therefore, patients education, knowledge and ample resources provision are indicators of successful self-management. Second, hectic lifestyle such as fast-paced lifestyle or elderly depend on others are often unable to adherence to the prescribed regimen. Therefore, lifestyle modification, caregivers capability and support are also indicators of successful self-management. Third, lack of decision making of own dietary outcome due to depend on caregivers instead of patients might influence successful self-management. Fourth, dissatisfaction of prescribed renal diet will affect patients adherence. Therefore, patient readiness to change, communication skills, assessment tools and psychosocial support are also indicators of successful self-management. In sum, indicators of successful self-management involves every aspect of disease process and treatment. In nurses and patients perspective, nurses communication skills, interviewing skills, collaboration capability, staff training, patients readiness, patients emotional support, patients knowledge, problem solving techniques, etc are all indicators of successful self-management.

Gordons Functional Health Patterns Framework Nursing Essay

Gordons Functional Health Patterns Framework Nursing Essay Frameworks are used to accurately gage a patients health. They are a systematic way of collecting objective and subjective data to establish a plan of care for the patient. Health care professionals must continually observe the patients subjective and objective data in order to recognise any changes in the patients health so that they can act upon them to achieve the best possible outcome for the patients wellbeing. Gordons functional health patterns framework was developed by Marjorie Gordon. It provides a sequence of recurring behaviour from eleven different aspects (Luxford, 2012). These include; health perception and management pattern, nutritional-metabolic pattern, elimination pattern, activity-exercise pattern, sleep-rest pattern, cognitive-perceptual pattern, self-perception/self-concept pattern, role-relationship pattern, sexuality-reproductive pattern, coping/stress-tolerance pattern and value/belief pattern (Gordon, as cited in Luxford, 2012, pp. 225-226). The patients health is believed to be influenced by biological, developmental, cultural, social and spiritual factors. Because Gordons functional health patterns framework considers each of these factors, it will provide health care professionals utilising it with a comprehensive assessment of the patients health (Fulton Baird, 2010). Dorothea Orem (as cited in Broadbent, 2012, pp. 47-48) developed a nursing framework based on three related concepts. self-care, self-care deficit and nursing systems. Self-care theory consists of four concepts. The first of these concepts are self-care, which refers to those activities the patient should perform without assistance that promotes wellbeing, for example, intake of air, food and water, elimination process, balance between activity and rest, balance between solitude and social interaction, hazard prevention and promotion of normality within social groups. The second concept is self-care agency, which refers to the patients ability to carry out self-care activities and whether or not they require assistance. The third concept is self-care requisites, which refers to the actions taken to provide self-care. Finally, therapeutic self-care demand, which refers to all the activities required to meet existing self-care requisites (Orem, as cited in Broadbent, 2012, pp. 47-48). Self-care deficit comes into play when self-care agency is not able to meet the self-care demand. This means that if the patient is unable to perform any activity of daily living they will not meet the requirements that are essential for them to survive, hence, a health care professional must assist them. The self-care deficit indicates that nursing is required to assist the patient and suggests five different nursing systems that can be used depending on the patients ability (Orem, as cited in Broadbent, 2012, pp. 47-48). Health care professionals should provide care that is considerate of and reactive to unique patient preferences, needs and values. They must ensure that patient values guide all clinical decisions (Krumholz, 2010). To successfully achieve this, when conducting a health assessment it is imperative that health care professionals make professional, ethical and legal considerations. Health care professionals must be mindful of the patients comfort and not assume that they are aware of what the health care professional is doing nor assume that the patient is consensual. Kerridge, Lowe Stewart (2009) stipulate that upholding the patients right to autonomy is relevant to a health care professional legally, ethically and professionally. It means that before each procedure the health care professional must ask the patient if they consent to the having the procedure performed on them. The patient can give consent by verbal, written or implied communication. The patients right to autonomy must be respected at all times (Kerridge et al., 2009). It is the patients legal right to choose what happens to them, even if the patient refuses to have lifesaving medication or procedures performed on them that results in their further ill health or even death (Eburn, 2010). For both professional and ethical reasons health care professionals must adhere to a code of conduct at all times. Due to the patients probable vulnerability, health care professionals have a specific duty to conform to extremely high ethical standards both in their professional and private lives (Johnstone, 2012). Saunders (2012) explains that health care professionals must only perform duties that dwell within their scope of practice. If they do not adhere to this policy they would be failing to uphold ethical standards and also breaking the law. This could lead to the health care professional losing their job and or legal action being taken against them. In order for the health care professionals to maintain professionalism and uphold ethical and legal standards they must consider their scope of practice before performing any duties (Saunders, 2012).There are ethical considerations that health care professionals must be mindful of when documenting a patients information. For insta nce, to be conscious of who will be reading the notes, use official abbreviations and clear language, be specific, objective and protect privacy at all times. Breeching professional, ethical or legal responsibilities could lead to ramifications that are detrimental to the health care professionals career, health care institutions reputation and patients health (Jeffries, Johnson, Nicholls Lad, 2012). Gordons functional health patterns framework is a common and excellent way to build a picture of the patients health (Newfield, Hinz, Scott-Tilley, Sridaromont Maramba, 2007). It can be utilised for patients of all ages and in all areas of health speciality. Health is dynamic and ever changing and Gordons functional health patterns framework caters for this. Unlike other frameworks, Gordons uncovers patterns of both function and dysfunction (Gordon, as cited in Luxford, 2012). It considers the patients health from eleven specific aspects providing a broad range of information for health care providers to notice emerging patterns. The titles of the patterns are self-explanatory hence, they are easy to use (Newfield et al., 2007). These eleven categories provide a systematic and standardized approach to data collection and enable the health care professional to determine many aspects of health. Though it has few weaknesses, like most other frameworks, the data collected for Gordons fu nctional health patterns framework is based on much subjective data. This means that some data collected can be manipulated by the patient in order to depict an inaccurate assessment of the patients health. For this reason is must be used alongside the objective data such as the patients vital signs and physical examination in order to ensure an accurate health assessment. While Orems self-care framework appears to be a useful resource for health care professionals to use, Gordons functional health patterns framework proves to have strengths that far outweigh its weaknesses. One can understand why it is so commonly used within health care institutions.

Some Lead, Some Follow, Others Change the World Essay -- Civil Rights

When being asked which Civil Rights activist of the movement was most effective, the answer is quite obvious. This movement originated due to what is called â€Å"Jim Crow† laws. These laws suggested that everyone is separate but equal. Otherwise became blindingly apparent when African Americans were subdued by whites in various ways. For example, the justice system always considered the case of white man over a black one. Also, an African American facility was certainly not comparable to the superior quality of White’s. Soon, organizations began to form in attempts to stop this unjust treatment. One man in particular stands out the most throughout this movement of change: Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s form of protesting was the more effective than activist Malcolm X and was the reason for the majority of success during the Civil Rights movement. This is because Malcolm X’s cause would only slow progress during the movement, Martin Lu ther King Jr. had more authority, and he understood that peaceful protesting is the very genesis of redefining a nation. Malcolm X’s cause did not support any advancement in the Civil Rights movement. If anything, his efforts deterred any progress by encouraging separation. Malcolm X looked up to the Black Muslim leader Elijah Muhammad. Muhammad’s campaign was based around whites being â€Å"descended from the devil† and â€Å"being born to harm blacks†. Malcolm soon adopted and idolized this ideology that not only reached toward separate nations, but frightened whites. Considering this, the group the Black Panthers in which Malcolm X formed later on created their own schools, businesses and newspapers in order to further segregate themselves from whites. This group was encouraged by the ide... ...t. He built bridges between races, not walls like Malcolm X. Malcolm X’s cause would only dismiss the goals of the Civil Rights movement. Also, Martin Luther King Jr. had more of an impact amongst his public. Lastly, he contributed to the ongoing idea that acting in a peaceful manor will make goals much more attainable. Martin Luther King Jr. had a very positive impact on not only his public, but this nation. He will never be forgotten within history. Works Cited Levy, Peter B. Let Freedom Ring: a Documentary History of the Modern Civil Rights Movement. New York: Praeger, 1992. Glencoe. "Online Student Edition." Glencoe/McGraw-Hill. 2008. Web. . Cruz, Kimberly. "Comparing Martin Luther King, Jr. and Malcolm X." Http://www.polk-fl.net. Web. .

End-user Training Benefits Essay example -- Technology, Training

Many of our customers vary in skill-sets. Some end-users are knowledgeable working with specific software and different hardware components. Although most customers comprehend the basics, many of them have not received any formal training in basic computer operations. Authors Thomas and Rutter suggest that employees are aware of their lack of skills and would prefer more training. Both state â€Å"†¦. respondents were aware of their skills shortage and clearly highlighted that training †¦.on skills were of greatest need† (292). As customers become more knowledgeable in software and hardware basics, they gain a deeper understanding of how technology and software work collectively. For the customer who didn’t understand that the monitor was powered off, training will provide her with the skill-set to understand how computers function. The fact that she couldn’t see anything on the computer screen should have been an indicator that the monitor’s power was off. If she receives training on basic computer literacy and additional software skills, there is a chance that the call to IS Support would not have been dialed. Furthermore, interruptions in workflow could have been prevented, thus keeping work production continuous. Additional training will not only educate our customers, but will encourage them to learn more. As customers become motivated, Desley believes that they will become more productive and the obtainment of new technical skills will assist them in the development of their careers (2765). If employees begin to understand and develop a desire to learn more, ICT will not only be used to increase performance, but will produce greater job satisfaction and build user confidence. However, if end-users aren’t confident in their abil... ...ng. A third recommendation is to provide in-house training offered by IS Specialists who support the software and accompanying hardware. At CHS, IT Support teams are given specific software applications to support. Because we directly work with the customer, most teams know their customer base and work with them regularly. Furthermore, IT specialists understand the customers’ use of the software and recognize the services that the software helps users achieve. Much like their customers, these IT Support Specialists are in-house employees and the cost to implement training is low or none at all. Additionally, IT Supports pre-established relationship with customers allow a more comfortable and relaxed environment for both the trainer and end-users. Additionally, trainers will have a better understanding of user issues because support has been provided in the past.

Capital Punishment :: essays research papers

Many people are split on the idea of capital punishment because it involves death. I feel that capital punishment is morally and ethically acceptable because it rids society of our worst criminals. Many people argue that killing criminals who kill is just as bad as being the criminals. For one the criminals killed innocent people who had no idea what was coming, and had no way to prevent it. The criminal who commited the crime in almost all cases had to commit first degree murder, which includes some planning of the act. To plan an act of murder and taking someone’s life is beyond emotion, it is psychological and takes some rationalization. If no rationalization takes place, then it can happen again.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Another reason that pro-capital punishment argument is that there are innocent men and women sitting on death row that shouldn’t be sentenced to death. Most death row inmates, unless they commit a serious multiple murder have been in and out of jail most of their life. Capital Punishment is a way for society to weed out the bad seeds that corrupt the whole. Personally I think they should be castrated, or not have a conjugal visits. Having people like that procreate makes me sick. Someone who has taken someone’s ability to procreate and enjoy life should be treated if they had killed themselves that day.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  I also think that multiple rapists should be put to death. If they are given a chance to put their life together and they commit the same crime again then, rehabilitation was unsuccessful and they should be terminated. This may sound like a Nazi speaking of the Jews in the early 1930s, but they based the killing on a religion, not on a case by case basis, as we do in this country. Our legal system is ment to rid society of evil, and by killing the murderers and rapists it clears them out of the genetic pool and also gives an example to others of what not to do. Although it may seem cruel to systematically kill people based on one act in their life, it is justifiable because those people have the potential to kill again, and if they are going to hurt someone they should be kept from society. Capital Punishment :: essays research papers Many people are split on the idea of capital punishment because it involves death. I feel that capital punishment is morally and ethically acceptable because it rids society of our worst criminals. Many people argue that killing criminals who kill is just as bad as being the criminals. For one the criminals killed innocent people who had no idea what was coming, and had no way to prevent it. The criminal who commited the crime in almost all cases had to commit first degree murder, which includes some planning of the act. To plan an act of murder and taking someone’s life is beyond emotion, it is psychological and takes some rationalization. If no rationalization takes place, then it can happen again.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Another reason that pro-capital punishment argument is that there are innocent men and women sitting on death row that shouldn’t be sentenced to death. Most death row inmates, unless they commit a serious multiple murder have been in and out of jail most of their life. Capital Punishment is a way for society to weed out the bad seeds that corrupt the whole. Personally I think they should be castrated, or not have a conjugal visits. Having people like that procreate makes me sick. Someone who has taken someone’s ability to procreate and enjoy life should be treated if they had killed themselves that day.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  I also think that multiple rapists should be put to death. If they are given a chance to put their life together and they commit the same crime again then, rehabilitation was unsuccessful and they should be terminated. This may sound like a Nazi speaking of the Jews in the early 1930s, but they based the killing on a religion, not on a case by case basis, as we do in this country. Our legal system is ment to rid society of evil, and by killing the murderers and rapists it clears them out of the genetic pool and also gives an example to others of what not to do. Although it may seem cruel to systematically kill people based on one act in their life, it is justifiable because those people have the potential to kill again, and if they are going to hurt someone they should be kept from society.

Smart Card

A smartcard is a specific type of plastic card generally made of polyvinyl chloride based on polyesters or polycarbonate. It is the size of credit card. There is a 3by 5 mm imbedded chip in the card. Smart card contains either memory card or microprocessor that holds data and information. The microprocessor card can add, delete, and manipulate information on the card, while a memory-chip card (for example, pre-paid phone cards) can only undertake a pre-defined operation.Smart cards, unlike magnetic stripe cards, can carry all necessary functions and information on the card. Therefore, they do not require access to remote databases at the time of the transaction. A typical smartcard consists of an 8-bit microprocessor running at approximately 5 MHz with ROM, EEPROM and RAM, together with serial input and output, all in a single chip that is mounted on a plastic carrier. The operating system is typically stored in ROM, the CPU uses RAM as its working memory, and most of the data is sto red in EEPROM. Fig:-1 shows smart card. HistoryIn 1968 and 1969 German electrical engineers Helmut and Jurgen jointly developed automated chip card. Then after in 1974 French inventor Roland Moreno gives memory card concept called smart card. An important patent for smart cards with a microprocessor and memory as used today was filed by Jurgen Dethloff in 1976 and granted as USP 4105156 in 1978. The first mass use of the cards was as a telephone card for payment in French pay phones starting in 1983. Carte Bleue After the Telecarte microchips were integrated into all French Carte Bleue debit cards in 1992.Customers inserted the card into the merchant's POS terminal, then typed the PIN, before the transaction was accepted. Only very limited transactions (such as paying small highway tolls) are processed without a PIN. Smart-card-based electronic purse systems store funds on the card so that readers do not need network connectivity and entered service throughout Europe in the mid-1990 s. The major boom in smart card use came in the 1990s, with the introduction of smart-card-based SIMs used in GSM mobile phone equipment in Europe.With the ubiquity of mobile phones in Europe, smart cards have become very common. Development of contactless systems Contactless smart cards that do not require physical contact between card and reader are becoming increasingly popular for payment and ticketing applications such as mass transit and motorway tolls. Visa and MasterCard have agreed to an easy-to-implement version that was deployed in 2004–2006 in the USA. Most contactless fare collection implementations are custom and incompatible, though the MIFARE Standard card .Smart cards are also being introduced in personal identification at national and international levels. Citizen cards, drivers’ licenses, and patient card schemes are appearing. A smart card is a plastic card about the size of a credit card, with an embedded microchip that can be loaded with data, use d for telephone calling, electronic cash payments, and other applications, and then periodically refreshed for additional use. Currently or soon, you may be able to use a smart card to: Dial a connection on a mobile telephone and be charged on a per-call basis* Establish your identity when logging on to an Internet access provider or to an online bank * Pay for parking at parking meters or to get on subways, trains, or buses * Give hospitals or doctors personal data without filling out a form * Make small purchases at electronic stores on the Web (a kind of cybercash) * Buy gasoline at a gasoline station Over a billion smart cards are already in use. Currently, Europe is the region where they are most used. Ovum, a research firm, predicts that 2. billion smart cards will be shipped annually by 2003. Another study forecasts a $26. 5 billion market for recharging smart cards by 2005. Compaq and Hewlett-Packard are reportedly working on keyboards that include smart card slots that can be read like bank credit cards. The hardware for making the cards and the devices that can read them is currently made principally by Bull, Gemplus, and Schlumberger. How Smart Cards Work A smart card contains more information than a magnetic stripe card and it can be programmed for different applications.Some cards can contain programming and data to support multiple applications and some can be updated to add new applications after they are issued. Smart cards can be designed to be inserted into a slot and read by a special reader.. An industry standard interface between programming and PC hardware in a smart card has been defined by the PC Working Group, representing Microsoft, IBM and other interested companies. Like smart cards with contacts, contactless cards do not have an internal power source.Instead, they use an inductor to capture some of the incident radio-frequency interrogation signal, rectify it, and use it to power the card's electronics. Hybrids A hybrid smart card which clearly shows the antenna connected to the main chip Dual-interface cards implement contactless and contact interfaces on a single card with some shared storage and processing. An example is Porto's multi-application transport card, called Andante, which uses a chip with both contact and contactless interfaces . Applications First introduced in Europe nearly three decades ago, smart cards debuted as a stored value tool for payphones to reduce theft.As smart cards and other chip-based cards advanced, people found new ways to use them, including charge cards for credit purchases and for record keeping in place of paper. In the U. S. , consumers have been using chip cards for everything from visiting libraries to buying groceries to attending movies, firmly integrating them into our everyday lives. Several U. S. states have chip card programs in progress for government applications ranging from the Department of Motor Vehicles to Electronic Benefit Transfers (EBTs).Many industrie s have implemented the power of smart cards in their products, such as the GSM digital cellular phones as well as TV-satellite decoders. Why Smart Cards Smart cards improve the convenience and security of any transaction. They provide tamper-proof storage of user and account identity. Smart card systems have proven to be more reliable than other machine-readable cards, like magnetic stripe and barcode, with many studies showing card read life and reader life improvements demonstrating much lower cost of system maintenance. Smart cards also provide vital components of system security or the exchange of data throughout virtually any type of network.They protect against a full range of security threats, from careless storage of user passwords to sophisticated system hacks. The costs to manage password resets for an organization or enterprise are very high, thus making smart cards a cost-effective solution in these environments. Multifunction cards can also be used to manage network sys tem access and store value and other data. Worldwide, people are now using smart cards for a wide variety of daily tasks, which include: FinancialSmart cards serve as credit or ATM cards, fuel cards, mobile phone SIMs, authorization cards for pay television, household utility pre-payment cards, high-security identification and access-control cards, and public transport and public phone payment cards. Non-EMV cards work like magnetic stripe cards. This is a typical USA card technology (PayPass Magstripe and VISA MSD). The cards do not hold/maintain the account balance. All payment passes without a PIN, usually in off-line mode. The security of such a transaction is no greater than with a magnetic stripe card transaction.EMV cards have contact and contactless interfaces. They work as a normal EMV card via contact interface. Via contactless interface they work somewhat differently in that the card command sequence adopts contactless features such as low power and short transaction time . Identification A quickly growing application is in digital identification. In this application, the cards authenticate identity. The most common example employs public key infrastructure (PKI). The card stores an encrypted digital certificate issued from the PKI provider along with other relevant information.Contactless smart cards that can be read from within a wallet or even a garment simplify authentication; however, there is concern over criminals accessing data from these cards. Cryptographic smart cards are often used for single sign-on. Most advanced smart cards include specialized cryptographic hardware that uses algorithms such as RSA and DSA. Today's cryptographic smart cards generate key pairs on board, to avoid the risk from having more than one copy of the key (since by design there usually isn't a way to extract private keys from a smartThe first smart card river's license system in the world was implemented in 1987 in Turkey. Turkey had a high level of road accident s and decided to develop and use digital tachograph devices on heavy vehicles, instead of the existing mechanical ones, to reduce speed violations. Since 1987, the professional driver's licenses in Turkey are issued as smart cards and the driver is required to insert his driver's license into the digital tachograph before starting to drive. The tachograph unit records speed violations for each driver and gives a printed report. The driving hours for each driver is also being monitored and reported.In 1990 the European Union conducted a feasibility study through BEVAC Consulting Engineers, titled â€Å"Feasibility study with respect to a European electronic driver’s license (based on a smart-card) on behalf of Directorate General VII†. In this study, chapter seven is dedicated to the experience in Turkey, stating that the electronic driver's license application, in the form of smart cards, was first implemented in Turkey in 1987. Public transit Smart cards and integrate d ticketing have become widely used by public transit operators around the world. Card users may use their cards for other purposes than for transit, such as small purchases.Computer security The Mozilla Firefox web browser can use smart cards to store certificates for use in secure web browsing. Some disk encryption systems, such as TrueCrypt and Microsoft Windows 7 BitLocker, can use smart cards to securely hold encryption keys, and also to add another layer of encryption to critical parts of the secured disk. Smart cards are also used for single sign-on to log on to computers. Smart card support functionality has been added to Windows Live passports. Schools Smart cards are being provided to students at schools and colleges. Tracking student attendance * As an electronic purse, to pay for items at canteens, vending machines etc. * Tracking and monitoring food choices at the canteen, to help the student maintain a healthy diet* Tracking loans from the school library Healthcare Sma rt health cards can improve the security and privacy of patient information, provide a secure carrier for portable medical records, reduce health care fraud, support new processes for portable medical records, provide secure access to emergency medical information, enable compliance with government initiatives (e. g. organ donation) and mandates, and provide the platform to implement other applications as needed by the health care organization. Advantages The benefits of smart cards are directly related to the volume of information and applications that are programmed for use on a card. A single contact/contactless smart card can be programmed with multiple banking credentials, medical entitlement, driver’s license/public transport entitlement, loyalty programs and club memberships to name just a few. Multi-factor and proximity authentication can and has been embedded into smart cards to increase the security of all services on the card.For example, a smart card can be progra mmed to only allow a contactless transaction if it is also within range of another device like a uniquely paired mobile phone. This can significantly increase the security of the smart card. Individuals gain increased security and convenience when using smart cards designed for interoperability between services. For example, consumers only need to replace one card if their wallet is lost or stolen. Additionally, the data storage available on a card could contain medical information that is critical in an emergency should the card holder allow access to this.The first main advantage of smart cards is their flexibility. There is no need, for example, to carry several cards: one card can simultaneously be an ID, a credit card, a stored-value cash card, and a repository of personal information such as telephone numbers or medical history. Such a card can be easily replaced if lost, and, because a PIN number (or other form of security) must be used to access information, is totally usele ss to people other than its legal bearer. At the first attempt to use it illegally, the card would be deactivated by the card reader itself. The second main advantage is security.Smart cards can be electronic key rings, giving the bearer ability to access information and physical places without need for online connections. They are encryption devices, so that the user can encrypt and decrypt information without relying on unknown, and therefore potentially untrustworthy, appliances such as ATMs. Smart cards are very flexible in providing authentication at different level of the bearer and the counterpart. Finally, with the information about the user that smart cards can provide to the other parties, they are useful devices for customizing products andservices.Other general benefits of smart cards are: * Portability * Increasing data storage capacity * Reliability that is virtually unaffected by electrical and magnetic fields. Smart Cards andElectroniccommerce Smart cards are turning out to be a fundamental piece of the transformation of retailing into electronic commerce. The impressive growth of the Internet is making electronic shopping at least a real possibility, if not a habit, among computer users. However, the business model used in current electronic commerce applications still cannot enjoy the full potential of the electronic medium.Moreover, concerns about the reliability of an invisible counterpart and about the safety of the Internet for credit card information increase the wariness and thereby limit the use of the electronic shopping on the part of customers. Of the estimated 360 billion payments that took place in the United States in 1995, approximately 300 billion could not have taken place using the existing electronic media. Such transactions involved micro-payments p; i. e. payments for less than $10 p; which are virtually outside of the electronic arena for lack of a payment method compatible with such low amounts.Credit cards or checks are simply too expensive to use for micro-payments, and the e-cash currently being experimented on the World Wide Web does not seem to have the characteristics to appeal to shoppers. For this reason, smart cards could be a fundamental building block of widespread use of electronic commerce, since they are an instrument to pay at a low cost for transactions involving small amountsofmoney. Another big advantage of smart cards for electronic commerce is their use for the customization of services.It is already possible to purchase tailored services on the World Wide Web p; MyYahoo and FireFly are well known examples. However, in order for the service supplier to deliver the customized service, the user has to provide each supplier with her profile p; a boring and time consuming activity. A smart card can contain a non-encrypted profile of the bearer, so that the user can get customized services even without previous contacts with the supplier. Finally, smart cards are a key technology ena bler for financial institutions.The processing power, the portability and the interactive properties of smart cards will constitute the basis for a revolution in the relationship between consumers and banks. PC-based home banking and phone banking will give way to card banking: a phone equipped with a smart card reader will be all that is needed for any kind of transaction. A smart card is a plastic card with a small, built in microcomputer chip and integrated circuit that can store and process a lot of data. It is considered to be a secure, time saving device that can access information without use of a PC or the Internet.However, smart cards have both Flexibility * Smart cards have a lot of flexibility. They can store multiple types of information including identification, credit cards, business and family contacts. Cost and Availability * Smart card readers are expensive to produce. These readers are not available in all locations and may have compatibility issues due to the diff erences of each smart card brand. Adafruit Raspberry Pi Starter Kit Now available in India ProtoCentral Security * Smart cards are individually encrypted and can only be accessed by pin number.However, there is concern about privacy and whether or not information on the card could be accessed or used illegally by the government or other third-party sources. Data Integrity * Information on a smart card cannot be erased or removed accidentally by any electrical or magnetic means. Smart Card Uses * Smart cards are useful for setting limits on expenses, customizing customer loyalty programs and accessing critical health care information. Smart cards save users from having to remember multiple usernames and passwords. DisadvantagesThe plastic card in which the chip is embedded is fairly flexible, and the larger the chip, the higher the probability that normal use could damage it. Cards are often carried in wallets or pockets, a harsh environment for a chip. However, for large banking sys tems, failure-management costs can be more than offset by fraud reduction. Client-side identification and authentication cards are the most secure way for e. g. , internet banking applications, but security is never 100% sure. If the account holder's computer hosts malware, the security model may be broken.Malware can override the communication (both input via keyboard and output via application screen) between the user and the application. Rabobank (â€Å"random reader†) in the Netherlands combine a smart card with an unconnected card reader to avoid this problem. The customer enters a challenge received from the bank's website, a PIN and the transaction amount into the reader, The reader returns an 8-digit signature. This signature is manually entered into the personal computer and verified by the bank, preventing malware from changing the transaction amount. Another problem is the lack of standards for functionality and security.