Artifacts of our own cultures surround us. From art and music to Essay

Artifacts of our own cultures surround us. From art and music to architecture and literature, from philosophy and religion to laws and economics, we live among cultural artifacts that have deep roots - Essay Example The United States of America has its rich history that is being evidenced by the various artifacts that are seen in museums, which are preserved to serve as a symbol of the changes the nation has gone through the years. One of these significant artifacts is the Star-Spangled Banner, the flag that became the inspiration of Francis Scott Key in creating a poem, which is now America’s national anthem. The stars in the banner are about two feet across in size. The method used to create the cotton stars was the reverse applique’ method. The blue portion of the banner is canton or wool pigmented with indigo. There was a stain on one star that may have come from a metal buckle. Georgina Armistead Appleton sewed an inscription into the flag. Only fifteen stars were left since one star was cut out during the 1800s (Smithsonian National Museum of American History, n.d.). Wool pigmented with roots of madder plant make up its red stripes. One stripe and one star represented the fifteen states of the U.S during that period (â€Å"The Star-Spangled,† n.d.). The flag has deteriorated with its edges damaged, and it has undergone several repairs prior to reaching the Smithsonian museum, where it is now being preserved (Smithsonian National Museum of American History, n.d.). The Star-Spangled Banner is a legacy, a symbol of freedom and victory for the American people. If not because of this flag, the national anthem that America has in this day age will not be made. Americans live in a country, where there is liberty and diversity, and this is well embodied by this artifact. The banner has been made at that point in history, where the American soldiers were fighting for the country. Thus, it became a witness to some of the crucial points in American history. Americans are warriors, who value peace and benevolence. This is evidenced by the nation’s participation to worldwide

Where do we draw the line between Business Intelligence and Industrial Research Paper

Where do we draw the line between Business Intelligence and Industrial Espionage - Research Paper Example organized by an enterprise to collect, store, access and analyze information about the market and competitors so that better business decisions are made possible (Biere, 2003; Scheps, 2008). These corporate databases (Loshin, 2003, p. 1) of information have turned raw data into valuable business information asset that has enabled the enterprise users to look at and manipulate information in a different way leading to fruitful business decisions that are in corporate benefit. Moss and Atre (2003, p. 4) have listed activities which are assisted by BI decision-support programs. These include Online Analytical Processing (OLAP), data mining, forecasting, business analysis, analytic analysis, knowledge management and so on; and, BI decision support databases include data mining databases, operational data stores, operational marts, web warehouses, and etcetera. To monitor BI activities and databases and companies organize BI groups within the organization and also hire professionals from outside who analyze the company’s performance, strengths and weaknesses, and compares the gathered information to predict where the company stands in the market. This helps increase profitability, reduce costs, improve customer relationship management, and decrease business risks (Loshin, 2003, p. 2). Research by Subramanian and IsHak (1998) also found that US companies who used advanced BI systems for competitor analysis enjoyed greater profitability than the companies which did not. Guttman (1995, p. 26) has defined Industrial Espionage (IE) as an â€Å"act of gathering proprietary data from private companies or the government for the purpose of aiding other company(ies)†. Companies may get involved in IE for their competitive advantage and governments may use IE to support other companies. Whatever, the case, the information has to be processed through computers and thus it becomes liable to threats regarding information security. The biggest threat employee sabotage, that is, the