Commutative encryption and decryption

Commutative encryption and decryption El Gamal Public Key Cryptosystem The El Gamal public-key encryption scheme can be viewed as Diffie-Hellman key agreement in key transfer mode. Its security is based on the intractability of the discrete logarithm problem and the Diffie-Hellman problem. Diffie-Hellman Key Exchange The first system to make use of public-key or asymmetric cryptographic keys was the Diffie-Hellman algorithm (by Whitfield Diffie and Martin Hellman, 1976). These systems overcome the difficulties of private-key or symmetric key systems because asymmetric key management is much easier. In the symmetric key system its important for both sides of the communication to have identical keys; the secure exchange of the keys has always been a huge concern. This concern is alleviated using asymmetric key systems because they use two keys one called the private key that secretly belongs to the user and another called the public key that can be shared with the world and thus is distributed without difficulty. Regrettably, the pros of asymmetric key systems are overshadowed by speed they are very slow for any type of bulk encryption. Presently, the typical practice is to use a symmetric system to encrypt the data and then encrypt the symmetric keys used for distribution with an asymmetric syst em. And this is what Diffie-Hellman key exchange does. Basic El Gamal encryption Complete Diffie-Hellman Key Exchange Process The Game: Mental Poker Playing the game of poker without any cards over a telecommunications device (phone or more realistically internet) is known as Mental Poker. The game usually doesnt include a trusted third party dealer or a source of randomness and as such it seems that someone (the dealer) will always know what cards have been given out or alternatively, that players will be able to lie about the cards they have. The first serious attempt at the problem was by Adi Shamir, Ronald Rivest and Leonard Adleman in 1979 in [SRA]. Its this scheme, which relies on commutative encryption. The authors first proved, in an information theoretic sense, that the problem is unsolvable and then went on to offer a solution. Their protocol worked for two players and didnt require a trusted third party. However, it did not offer confidentiality of strategy, requiring the players to reveal their hands at the end of each game. We assume two players and fifty-two cards. Five cards are dealt then one round of betting then all cards shown. Players have disjoint hands, any player can have any possible hand, no player can discover another players hand and any collusion has minimal effect. The SRA protocol was shown to leak at least one bit of information: whether the card was a quadratic residue or not. There were suggestions to overcome this problem but there was still no guarantee that other information was not leaked. The SRA protocol The protocol relies on a commutative encryption scheme i.e.: EA(EB(M)) = EB(EA(M)) Where EX denotes encryption using Xs public key. Likewise, we use DX to denote decryption using Xs private key. Steps Two players Alice and Bob together choose a large prime number n, then Alice chooses her key A s.t. gcd(A,n-1) = 1 and Bob chooses B similarly. Encode the 52 cards as integers. Encryption EA(M) = MA (mod n) Decryption DA(M) = Minv(A) (mod n) Bob permutes the cards to x1, x2, , x52 encrypts them then sends to Alice EB(xi). Alice chooses 5 cards for herself, encrypts them and sends to Bob EA(EB(xi)). Also chooses 5 cards for Bob and sends them to him (without encrypting) EB(xi). Bob can now decrypt his cards to see his hand DB(EB(xi) = xi. He also decrypts Alices cards then sends them back to her. Here is where we need commutativity so DB(EA(EB(xi))) = EA(xi) Alice receives her cards and decrypt them seeing her hand DA(EA(xi)) = xi. Implementation of Game Protocol Security Efficiency of El Gamal encryption The encryption process requires two modular exponentiations, namely ak mod p and (aa)k mod p. These exponentiations can be sped up by selecting random exponents k having some additional structure, for example, having low Hamming weights. Care must be taken that the possible number of exponents is large enough to preclude a search via a baby-step giant-step algorithm. A drawback of El Gamal encryption is that there is message expansion by a factor of 2, i.e., the ciphertext is double the length of the corresponding plaintext. Randomized Encryption Among many other encryption schemes, El Gamal encryption utilizes randomization in the encryption process, an example of others include: McEliece encryption, and Goldwasser-Micali, and Blum-Goldwasser probabilistic encryption. Deterministic encryption schemes such as RSA may also utilize randomization in an effort to avoid some attacks. The basic idea behind randomized encryption techniques is to use randomization to increase the cryptographic security of an encryption process through one or more of the following methods: increasing the effective size of the plaintext message space; precluding or decreasing the effectiveness of chosen-plaintext attacks by virtue of a one-to-many mapping of plaintext to ciphertext; and precluding or decreasing the effectiveness of statistical attacks by leveling the a priori probability distribution of inputs. Security of El Gamal Encryption The problem of breaking the El Gamal encryption scheme, specifically, recovering m given p, a, aa, ?, and d, is equivalent to solving the Diffie-Hellman problem. In reality, the ElGamal encryption scheme can be seen as merely comprising a Diffie-Hellman key exchange to verify a session key aak, and then encrypting the message by multiplication with that session key. Hence, the security of the El- Gamal encryption scheme is said to be based on the discrete logarithm problem in mathbb{Z}_p !,*, although such an equivalence hasnt been verified. It is vital that different random integers k be used to encrypt different messages. Assume the same k is used to encrypt two messages m1 and m2 and the resultant ciphertext pairs are (?1,d1) and (?2,d2). Then d1/ d2 = m1/m2, and m2 could be easily computed if m1 were known. Analysis of Mental Poker Upon receiving the shuffled and encrypted pack of cards she cant tell which is which, therefore, she picks randomly, that is, she is unable to see Bobs hand. When Bob receives Alices double encrypted hand he would be unable to read it even when he partially decrypts it. But is there information leaked by the encryption process? Yes! Its known as Quadratic Residues. Quadratic Residues An integer a, not divisible by an odd prime p, is a quadratic residue modulo p if there is a b in {1, 2,, p-1} s.t. a = b2 (mod p). Otherwise a is a quadratic no residue. So for p = 11, 1=12, 3=52, 4=22, 5=42, 9=32 are the quadratic residues and 2, 6, 7, 8, 10 are the quadratic no residues. This works in general. For a prime p there are (p-1)/2 of both residues and no residues. Cheating In 1981 R. Lipton showed for odd k, xk is a quadratic residue mod p if x is a quadratic residue mod p. So the cards whose representations are quadratic residues are still quadratic residues when they are encrypted. This allows Alice to find the cards that are residues and no residues, for the particular p used, and then choose (on average) high cards for herself and low cards for Bob. Cheat Prevention The easiest way to prevent the attack we have discussed is to only represent cards with quadratic residues. However other, more general attacks have been shown to be effective so SRA isnt a good protocol. Other protocols for the Mental Poker problem have been considered with the most successful ones using probabilistic encryption and zero knowledge proof. Crepeau solved the problem in 1987 although his protocol is not computationally feasible. Research is still going on. Conclusion Mental Poker is an important problem, both for use in the large internet poker business and as a metaphor for other multi-party computations were secrets need to be kept. It is possible to implement the SRA protocol efficiently and securely, however it has a major flaw in that it leaks one bit of information about the cards. Other protocols have been suggested with Crepeau solving the problem in 1987 although with a computationally infeasible algorithm. Bibliography http://www.ics.uci.edu/~goodrich/teach/ics247/W03/notes/poker.pdf http://www.netip.com/articles/keith/diffie-helman.htm http://www.ics.uci.edu/~goodrich/teach/ics247/W03/notes/elgamal.pdf Handbook of Applied Cryptography, by A. Menezes, P. van Oorschot, and S. Vanstone, CRC Press, 1996.

Online Inquiry Essay

Introduction Resorts are places used for relaxation or recreation, attracting visitors for holidays or vacations. They contain swimming pools where people can relax and enjoy together with their families and friends. Most of the resort today includes rooms for overnight accommodation. Before, resorts consist of only cottage, a room with a bed has largely been replaced by rooms with modern facilities, including en-suite bathrooms and air conditioning or climate control, function hall for events, spa and an in-house restaurant. The cost and quality of hotel & resorts are usually indicative of the range and type of services available. Due to the enormous increase in tourism worldwide during the last decades of the 20th century, standards especially those of smaller establishments have improve considerably. Today, many systems have used an automation process like using online computer system, due to the efficiency and accuracy. â€Å"Online Inquiry and Resort Reservation System† is a transaction processing system that has more advantages rather than a manual Resort Reservation. Prior to the Internet, travelers could write, call the resort’s telephone directly, or use a travel agent to make a reservation. Nowadays, resorts have their own website where anyone can view information on prices and deals. Today, most of the Resorts provide goods and services using online computer system. It helps to perform task in an easy way with less time consumed and enhance the operating efficiency, improve the service experience as well as provide a means to access markets on a global basis. Background of the Study Rhosean Garden Resort is owned by Mr. Jhun —— and started on ——. It is located at Baliti-Panipuan Road, City of San Fernando, Pampanga with a total lot area of ________. Currently, apart from the streamers that are posted on the roads, the resort uses the Facebook account for its advertisement and marketing purposes. The resort uses manual style of transacting business with its customers. It uses the manual process in reserving and logging in names of customers. People who plan to make a reservation should make a telephone call to its number posted in their streamers or in their Facebook account. With the rapid growth of guests’ inquiring for about __ to __ persons a day plus the walk – in customers, the management somehow is experiencing insufficiency and inadequate manpower sources. This situation, prompted the researcher to propose as â€Å"Online Inquiry & Reservation System so that the interested parties would be informed. Its establishment with an online system support is a great help to the customers especially nowadays we are living in a modern world with technology makes our world faster and easier. Most often, the management encountered several problems in reservation like phone calls misunderstanding; conflicts regarding the availability of rooms, the guest reserves a room personally without knowing that the rooms are fully booked. Waste of time for the customers and they have to find other resort when the rooms are fully booked. In relation to this, the researcher leaded decided to develop a system that will simplify the task of traditional booking. The proposed system will provide users an easy to use interface that improves the people in utilizing the web today. Online Inquiry and Reservation System aims to develop an official webpage system that will help the management to post and retrieve information easily and accurately. Increasingly potential customers are looking for relaxation and accommodations thus oftenly searching online. Gone are the days when customers had to rely on resort brochures when planning a holiday vacation. With the support of the online system, the customers can easily search out the availability of the resort. Statement of the Problem The proposed system deals with the problems by the management as well as the guests. The study is divided into general problem and specific problems. 1.2.1 General Problem The main problem that the researcher seek to find is how to develop an Online Inquiry and Reservation System of Rhoseane Garden Resort? 1.2.2 Specific Problems Listed below are the specific problems extracted by the researcher in the course of his study. 1.2.2.1 Conflicts regarding room availability. Instance when customer personally reserves a room without inquiry or knowing that the rooms or cottages are fully booked. 1.2.2.2 Phone call misunderstanding. The management finds it hard to have a clear conversation with the customer over the telephone with regards to the needed information for his/her reservation or inquiry. 1.2.2.3 Limited exposure of the resort marketability Since the resort only uses some brochures tarpaulins as for advertisement, its popularity is restricted to only to those who see and receive the advertisement – ads. 1.2.2.4 Difficulty in searching and retrieving of files. Manually searching and retrieving of files or records of reservation from logbooks. Rationale Technology changes everything today. From the way we live and from the way we do things. Website’s and Online Marketing and Advertisement are the key to attract more customers. Old way’s to make a reservation in a resort is to personally go to the resort and make a reservation which nowadays is not very efficient. A Online Reservation System with 3D mapping for Rhosean Garden Resort will be developed in order to improve and modernize their old manual reservation system. Like any other resort using online reservation to help the customer make reservation faster this will help to make faster and more accurate reservation for the customer. 1.3 Objectives of the Study Based on the aforementioned problems, the researcher formulated objectives so as to answer the said problems. The objectives are divided into the general objective and the specific objectives. 1.3.1 General Objectives This study intends to develop an Online Inquiry & Reservation System for Rhosean Garden Resort that will help the management and the customers. 1.3.2 Specific Objectives The specific problems will be given solution through the following specific objectives: 1.3.2.1 To develop a system that will avoid conflicts in room reservation. A system that shows the current room reservation in order to monitor the rooms that are already reserved and if the resort is fully booked. 1.3.2.2 To develop a system that will provide an alternative way of having reservation which is through online. This will lessen the number of reservation calls thus also preventing misunderstanding in conversation. 1.3.2.3 Increase the marketability of the resort by developing a website. The website will widen resort’s market and can be accessed by anyone surfing the net. 1.3.2.4 To develop a system the will provide a database of all the room reservations. Provides an easy way of searching reserved rooms and retrieving of previous records of reservation. Scope and Delimitation The scope covers everything that the proposed system will be able to do in contrary, the limitations set the shortcomings that the system is not capable of doing. 1.4.1 Scope Reservation by the customer is available online by signing up the membership form first before he/she can have a reservation. Customer can also make a reservation through phone or by walk-in. Customer can also reschedule his reservation 1.4.2 Delimitation Rhosean Reservation System is designed to manage all types of Room. Cottege, Villa, etc bookings, made directly by guests .Its powerful reservation, marketing & merchandising features give you the ability to control dynamic room, The reservation system will allow you to dynamically control all of your reservation without the need for an expensive web designer. 1.5 Significance of the Study We want to know the reasons of hotel & resort in using manual reservation and conduct a study towards the topic because we notice some of the hotel & resort still use manual reservation. The study will emphasize the effects of using manual reservation and how an online computerized†¦ 1.5.1 Economic The economy are the customer, the significance of our study is that customer can efficiently and easily make reservation thus helping the resort make more income and help the economy. 1.5.2 Educational Our Study will help us learn more about making database for any client. Widening our knowledge in programming language to help us in future projects. 1.5.3 Technological It will help the resort overcome its manual reservation system to a online system that will increase the efficiency and lessen the errors and misunderstanding of customers making reservation. 1.5.4 Social Significance if we will help Make the resort more widely known to the public. More exposure means more income more customers. 1.6 Definiton of Terms Marketing Exposure – is the process of communicating the value of a product or service to customers Marketability – is a form of marketing and used to encourage or persuade an audience (viewers, readers or listeners; sometimes a specific group) to continue or take some new action. Website – is a set of related web pages containing content such as text,images, video, audio, etc., accessible via a network such as the Internet or a private local area network through an Internet address known as a Uniform Resource Locator. Database – is a structured collection of data. The data is typically organized to model relevant aspects of reality (for example, the availability of rooms in hotels), in a way that supports processes requiring this information (for example, finding a hotel with vacancies). Reservation – an arrangement to secure accommodations at a restaurant or hotel, on a boat, or plane, etc. Chapter 2 REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE & STUDIES 2.1 Local Literature 2.2 Local Studies 2.3 Foreign Literature 2.4 Foreign Studies An article posted on â€Å"www.rezdy.com† says that you’re one step ahead of the game, tipping the scales in your favor when prospects research and compare your capabilities against your competitors. Of course, the presence of an online reservation system itself is not enough to make or break the customer flow. You still need to make sure the other aspects of your site (like imagery, for example) are in the best shape to minimize the amount of visitors that bounce off it. According to an article review about Online Reservation by Peter S. Murray. The system helps speed up cash flow. The old barrier in the way of online payment systems was trust, but this is no longer an issue. The risk of credit card fraud or scam is extremely low for online payment gateways. The online reservation system you choose should have an â€Å"SSL certificate† on its payment page to ensure users that you are legitimate. Online reservation systems speed up your cash flow just by being there. There’s less capital outlay on your end because you don’t have to hire staff to manage customers or pay rent for a physical space. Also, once customers book through it, money goes straight into your account – no lag time here. They’re also more accurate than you probably are when it comes to mathematical calculations. You can set up coupon codes and discount offers without triple-checking whether you got the math’s right. A review article made by Dianne J. Harrison for online reservation. It says it’s convenient and fast for you and your customer. Location is not an issue, and neither is time. The virtual set-up means you won’t need to wake up at unholy hours to take resrvatation calls from potential clients halfway around the world. While you dream of being the best damn resort there is, people are going through the process of finding your site, browsing through its content, and making a reservation. Travellers veer towards tour and activity sites that support online reservation because not only is it easy, but they usually find some great discount deals, too. They can read up on your business, look at your options, and finally make a reservation without being hassled by a pushy sales representative. A study made by Carlton K. Sullivan says it can give the business a precise head count By using an online reservation system, owners can have a precise running head count of reservations. Precise head counts can circumvent the problem of underbooking to avoid disappointing customers, or overbooking to make sure a sufficient number of actual transactions go through. The system can also be set up to record unique visits to the website to help the owners collect information on how well the site is working to attract customers. An article called â€Å"Making Your Business A Hit† by Dale C. Coleman By introducing this online reservation system, you simply increase your efficiency in providing quick and accurate confirmation to your guests. There is no more waiting time! You can also eliminate the problems of time-difference and minimize the human errors by giving wrong information with email confirmation. this is an excellent way to manage your customer and to gain higher yield.

College Binge Drinking Epidemic

College Binge Drinking Epidemic Throughout the years, drinking alcohol in excessive amounts has become somewhat synonymous with the college experience. It has become an expected occurrence for college-aged students to drink and party regularly, and overtime has transformed into an accepted social norm of college life. Extreme drinking has been a consistent social problem that has substantially grown on college campuses all around the United States for the past few decades. In fact, binge drinking is consistently voted as the most serious problem on campuses by collegiate presidents (College Binge Drinking Facts).Thus, most campuses have recognized binge drinking as a serious problem, yet this epidemic continues on, and many seem to turn a blind eye toward it. According to Learn-About-Alcoholism. com, 90% of the alcohol consumed by teens is consumed in the form of binge drinking. Binge drinking is a widespread phenomenon on most college campuses, including the University of Massachuse tts Amherst, and has harmful and dangerous consequences as well as significant impacts on the goal higher education. First, it is important to establish a definition for the term ‘binge drinking. The National Institute for Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAA) defines binge drinking as â€Å"a pattern of drinking alcohol that brings blood alcohol concentration (BAC) to 0. 08 gram-percent or above. For a typical adult, this pattern corresponds to consuming five or more drinks (male), or four or more drinks (female), in about two hours† (What Colleges Need to Know Now). In essence, binge drinking is the drinking of alcoholic beverages with the primary intention of becoming heavily intoxicated by alcohol over a short period of time.In a nationwide survey, nearly half of all college students (42%) reported binge drinking during the last two weeks. It is obvious that binge drinking is a severe problem on college campuses as almost half of all students engage in this risky acti vity that leads to unhealthy and negative outcomes. In this situation, the objective social issue is binge drinking on college campuses around the country, including UMass Amherst. The subjective social problems are all of the various repercussions that binge drinking can result in (Lundquist Lecture January 25).Most college students do not consider these serious risks when they participate in heavy drinking. These consequences include intentional and unintentional injuries, alcohol poisoning, physical and sexual abuses, unprotected sex and sexually transmitted diseases, relationship problems, alcohol addiction, and poor grades. Long-term use of alcohol risks liver damage, pancreatitis, certain cancers, literal shrinkage of the brain, neurological damage, high blood pressure, stroke, and other cardiovascular diseases (Witmer).It is clear there are countless negative effects both physically and mentally, and long-term and short-term caused by excessive alcohol consumption. There are numerous groups of people who view binge drinking on campuses as problematic. School administrators and the faculty of colleges are concerned with this problem because it tarnishes the reputation of the school, inflicts damage to school property, and injures or even kills students. Parents of these college students also view drinking as problematic, as it is likely they are paying for their children to attend school, and their teens are partying their college years away.Students who do not binge drink on campus but witness the effects of it on their peers and friends are concerned with this problem, and are also greatly affected by the behavior of students who binge drink. Among students who do not binge drink on a given night, 71% have had sleep or study disrupted, 11% had been pushed, hit, or assaulted by the binge drinker, 57% had to spend the majority of their sleep time caring for the intoxicated student, 23% had experienced an unwanted sexual encounter, and 16% had property da mage (College Binge Drinking Facts).On the other hand, students who are engaging in binge drinking do not view this as a social problem as they are oblivious to the risky outcomes and alarming statistics. I believe excessive drinking has been defined as a social problem on the UMass Amherst campus because programs and campaigns have been established to help reduce the amount of binge drinking among students. For example, BASICS (Alcohol Screening and Intervention for College Students) is a program for students found in violation of the UMass liquor code. The program includes two 50-minute counseling sessions with a drug and alcohol prevention specialist.About 1,000 students a year go through the program, mostly students who have violated the campus alcohol rules, but students may also attend on their own free will. Furthermore, freshmen at UMass are required to take a 75-minute online course about alcohol consumption (Drake). UMass also offers many other activities on campus to give extra opportunities for students to participate in rather than illegal drinking. The lifecycle of binge drinking has been established through the NIAA’s definition of binge drinking which defines the problem.The public has transformed it into a public issue with organizations such as SADD and Alcoholics Anonymous. The lifecycle of the binge drinking problem continues with a debate over the cause of it, and finally finishes with coming up with a solution to reduce the amount of binge drinking on campuses (Lundquist Lecture January 25). UMass Amherst has a history of binge drinking and wild parties, thus earning itself the nicknames Zoomass, The Zoo, and Zoomass Slamherst. Although UMass has many outstanding attributes to the school, its drinking reputation and party scene still seems to stand out from the rest of what the school has to offer.In 2005, the Princeton Review awarded UMass Amherst one of the â€Å"Best Northeastern Colleges,† as well as one of the eighty-on e nationwide â€Å"Colleges with a Conscience† for its exceptional community-service learning programs. The Princeton Review also named UMass Amherst the number nine party school in the nation, and obviously this ranking gained more press and attention than the other recognitions (Drake). Most college students do not consider the harmful consequences, both short term and long term, when going out for a night of binge drinking.The three leading causes of death for 15 to 24 year olds are car accidents, homicides, and suicides, and alcohol is a leading factor in all three. Specifically, 1,700 college students between the ages of 18 and 24 die each year from alcohol-related unintentional injuries, including motor vehicle crashes. Annually, an estimated 30,000 college students require medical treatment after overdosing on alcohol. Also, 599,000 college students aged 18 to 24 sustain unintentional injuries each year from use of alcohol.Alcohol is also a catalyst for sexual behavior s, both unprotected and unwanted. More than 97,000 students between the ages of 18 and 24 are victims of alcohol-related sexual assault or date rape. Additionally, 400,000 students aged 18 to 24 had unprotected sex and more than 100,000 students of this age group report having been too intoxicated to know if they consented to having sex (A Snapshot of Annual High-Risk College Drinking Consequences). Alcohol use in college campuses also have a severe negative effect on the academic performance of students who partake in binge drinking.About 25% of college students report academic penalties as a result of drinking such as missing class, falling behind, doing poorly on exams or papers, and receiving lower grades overall (A Snapshot of Annual High-Risk College Drinking Consequences). In fact, frequent binge drinkers are twenty-one times more likely than non-binge drinkers to miss classes, fall behind in schoolwork, engage in vandalism, be injured or hurt, engage in unplanned sexual acti vity, not use protection when having sex, get in trouble with campus police, or drive a car after drinking (Binge Drinking on College Campuses).Some of the top reasons college students give for exposing themselves to binge drinking are drinking to have a good time, drinking to get drunk, and drinking to celebrate. Other rationales are peer pressure, stress from academic and familial issues, and the culture of alcohol consumption on campuses. Students that are more likely to be binge drinkers are white, involved in athletics, age twenty-three or younger, and are residents of a fraternity or a sorority. It is also reported that the prevalence of binge drinking among men is two times the prevalence among women, and is more common by older teens than younger teens.Statistics show that 35% of adults with alcohol dependency developed symptoms by age 19, which is the age of a college student. The proportion of current drinkers that binge is highest in the 18 to 20 year old group (51%) (Qui ck Stats: Binge Drinking). When considering different sociological perspectives on college binge drinking, there are three different outlooks on how it originates among students. The pathological perspective on binge drinking states that drinking is the result of innately evil individuals. The abnormality is genetic, so therefore there is no remedy for binge drinking.The disorganization perspective on binge drinking believes that drinking arises when individuals become disoriented by rapid social and societal change or are socialized to behave badly. These drinkers have not yet adopted the mainstream norms of society. Lastly, the critical perspective on binge drinking takes the viewpoint that inequality leads some groups to binge drink out of economic necessity. They drink to deal with their problems concerning financial instability and other various struggles and hardships of life. (Lundquist Lecture January 25).Statistics across the country prove that binge drinking on college cam puses continues to be a growing problem. Linda Degutis, associate professor of emergency medicine at Yale Medical School, believes college drinking has indeed worsened since she began a career in emergency medicines in the early seventies. She states, â€Å"I don’t remember seeing people coming in with the alcohol overdoses the way we do now† (Seaman 113). Additionally, in the fall of 2003 there was an apparent spike in the alcohol-related hospitalizations across the United States.The first two weekends of George Washington University’s first semester saw a doubling of hospitalizations. At Harvard, the number of Undergraduates carried into University Health Services’ ER on Massachusetts Avenue nearly doubled during October and November from the previous year. (114) The movie, Spin the Bottle: An Example of Social Problems at UMass was a homework assignment for Sociology 103 students to watch. This documentary highlights the growing epidemic of drinking on college campuses, and how the media and advertisements also fuel binge drinking.Clips from the popular comedy films American Pie and Roadtrip are featured in Spin the Bottle showing how movies can influence and encourage teen drinking. College students who view these films get the idea that drinking in college is a rite of passage and that it is a social norm of college life. Spin the Bottle also discussed the status of alcohol advertising and how it appeals to the female market by featuring attractive, feminine women in their ads. This only supports and persuades female college students to keep up with the males in drinking at college parties without seeming too masculine.Spin the Bottle uses the sociological imagination to connect to larger societal issues, such as how industries are only looking to make a profit even if their product has negative effects on people and how the environment of college life affects how an individual makes his or her decisions. In particular, UMass A mherst has experienced out of control parties and riots, all stemming from binge drinking. In 2003, an uprising ensued after a Red Sox playoff game, in which 1,000 UMass students overturned cars, set fires, broke into a dining hall, and threw bottles at police.This called for a supposed greater control over binge drinking and partying. However, three years later in October, town police reported to have arrested approximately 200 students since the start school, a third more than the year before (Schweitzer). In May of 2003, a pre-graduation party which consisted of over 1,500 UMass Amherst students turned into an uncontrollable riot. The so-called â€Å"Hobart Hoedown,† held on Hobart Lane, resulted in students throwing broken pieces of rock and beer bottles at passing cars and police officers.The Amherst Fire Department extinguished a number of fires, one of which burned down a PVTA bus stop. In all, forty-five arrests were made and there were fifteen reported injuries among Amherst cops as well as police overtime at the cost of $20,000 (Lyman). More recently, in February 2008, a wild off-campus house party turned into a dangerous, drunken fight. Athletes allegedly attacked other people attending the party with baseball bats, lacrosse sticks, and bottles.In addition around this time, two students were facing attempted murder charges in late-night conflicts in a UMass dormitory, which included an alleged rape and racially charged double stabbing. As expected, it is believed that binge drinking was the cause of these violent attacks and incidents (Schworm). Even this past weekend, ironically labeled â€Å"Blackout Weekend,† at UMass Amherst, twelve students were hospitalized and treated for serious alcohol intoxication at the Turn It Up dance party at the Mullins Center. Three other students who did not need medical attention but were drunk were placed in protective custody by police (DeForge).Clearly, there is an abundance of issues and various o ccurrences stemming from binge drinking at UMass Amherst, and even with increased policing and enforcing of rules, these events continue to happen. UMass Amherst has made considerable efforts in trying to curtail the amount of drinking and partying that goes on in and around campus. In 2006, the university purchased â€Å"Frat Row,† an infamous string of Greek houses on North Pleasant Street, for $2. 5 million and demolished them (Schweitzer). UMass has implemented the So-Called Social Norms Campaign and has the BASICS program to fight binge drinking on campus.At UMass-Amherst, 68% of men and 58% of women report drinking five or more drinks in a row at least once in the past two weeks, according to the latest surveys. Both of these figures are well above the national average; however they do represent progress from years past. Since 2003, overall binge drinking has dropped 26%, and frequent heavy drinking is down 38% (Schworm). Thus, it is clear UMass has recognized binge dri nking as a social problem on campus and is working on ways of trying to reduce it, although it still remains a significant issue.Ultimately, binge drinking is an extensive social problem that exists on college campuses across America and startling statistics back up the huge numbers of students that are affected by drinking. Serious health problems, physical and sexual abuse, injuries, and poor grades are all penalties resulting from partaking in the risky behavior of binge drinking. There are various influences and reasons that encourage students to drink heavily, including peer pressure, academic and relationship stress, believing it is an accepted culture of college, and drinking to get drunk.UMass in particular has experienced violence, property damage, and student injuries and deaths as a result of binge drinking. The university has recognized the problem and is being proactive about trying to reduce the amount of binge drinking on campus. Clearly, binge drinking is problem of epidemic proportions that is greatly affecting colleges in negative ways, and without actions and solutions to curb dangerous student behavior the issue will only continue to deteriorate campuses and the students themselves.

Metaphor of Inhaling and Exhaling to Explore Interpersonal...

Historical Highlights The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)serves as the nations principal agency for protecting the health of all Americans, and providing essential human services. HHS has enjoyed many highlights since becoming a separate agency, while its roots go back as far as the early days of our nation. See Secretaries of HHS/HEW 2010 The Affordable Care Act was signed into law, putting in place comprehensive U.S. health insurance reforms. 2003 The Medicare Prescription Drug Improvement and Modernization Act of 2003 was enacted; the most significant expansion of Medicare since its enactment, including a prescription drug benefit. 2002 Office of Public Health Emergency Preparedness was created to coordinate efforts†¦show more content†¦In 1979, the Department of Education Organization Act was signed into law, providing for a separate Department of Education. HEW became the Department of Health and Human Services, officially arriving on May 4, 1980. Some highlight dates in HEW and HHS history: 1946 Communicable Disease Center was established, forerunner of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 1939 The Federal Security Agency was created, bringing together related federal activities in the fields of health, education and social insurance. 1938 The Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act was passed. 1935 The Social Security Act was passed. 1930 The National Institute (late Institutes) of Health was created out of the Public Health Services Hygienic Laboratory. 1921 The Bureau of Indian Affairs Health Division was created, forerunner to the Indian Health Service. 1912 President Theodore Roosevelts first White House Conference urged creation of the Childrens Bureau to combat exploitation of children. Top of Page 1906 The Pure Food and Drugs Act was passed, authorizing the government to monitor the purity of foods and the safety of medicines, now a responsibility of the FDA. 1902 Conversion of the Marine Hospital Service into the Public Health and Marine Hospital Service in recognition of its expanding activities in the field of public health. In 1912, the name was shortened