Friday, November 15, 2019

The System Hacking Cycle

The System Hacking Cycle System hacking means to hack system password within the operating system. Many hacking attempts start with attempting to crack passwords. However, passwords are the key piece of information needed to access a system. Users, while creating a password, often select password that are prone to being cracked. Passwords may be cracked manually or with automated tools such as dictionary or brute-force method, each of which are discussed in this paper. Scanning and enumeration is the first part of ethical hacking and contains the hacker target systems . Enumeration is the follow-on step once scanning is complete and is used to identify computer names, usernames, and shares. Scanning and enumeration are discussed together because many hacking tools perform both. The system hacking cycle consists of six steps:- a. Enumeration b. Cracking Passwords c. Escalating Privileges d. Executing Applications e. Hiding files f. Covering tracks Enumeration occurs after making the IPv4 protocol independent of the physical network, the designers decided to make the maximum length of the IPv4 datagram equal to 65,535 bytes. This makes transmission more efficient if we use a protocol with an MTU of this size. HowÂÂ ­ ever, for other physical networks, we must divide the datagram to make it possible to pass through these networks. This is called fragmentation. The source usually does not fragment the IPv4 packet. The transport layer will instead segment the data into a size that can be accommodated by IPv4 and the data link layer in use. When a datagram is fragmented, each fragment has its own header with most of the fields repeated, but with some changed. A fragmented datagram may itself be fragmented if it encounters a network with an even smaller MTU. In other words, a dataÂÂ ­gram can be fragmented several times before it reaches the final destination. In IPv4, a datagram can be fragmented by the source host or any router in the path although there is a tendency to limit fragmentation only at the source. The reassembly of the datagram, however, is done only by the destination host because each fragment becomes an independent datagram. Whereas the fragmented datagram can travel through different routes, and we can never control or guarantee which route a fragmented dataÂÂ ­ gram may take, all the information is provided by other means such as the hop-by-hop options or other protocols. In its simplest form, a flow label can be used to speed up the processing of a packet by a router. When a router receives a packet, instead of consulting the routing table and going through a routing algorithm to define the address of the next hop, it can easily look in a flow label table for the next hop. In its more sophisticated form, a flow lab Many hacking attempts can initialize with to attempt crack passwords. Passwords are the important information which is required to login a system. Users, when creating passwords, often select passwords that are difficult to guess. Passwords are stored in the Security Accounts Manager (SAM) file on a Windows system and in a password shadow file on a Linux system. Manual Password cracking involves attempting to log on with different passwords. The hacker follows these steps: 1. Find a valid user account for password test. 2. You can create list of possible passwords. 3. Arrange the passwords according to possibility 4. Try each password. 5. Try and try for correct password. In its simplest form, a flow label can be used to speed up the processing of a packet by a router. When a router receives a packet, instead of consulting the routing table and going through a routing algorithm to define the address of the next hop, it can easily look in a flow label table for the next hop. In its more sophisticated form, a flow label can be used to support the transmission of real-time audio and video. Real-time audio or video, particularly in digital form, requires resources such as high bandwidth, large buffers, long processing time, and so on. A process can make a reservation for these resources beforehand to guarantee that real-time data will not be delayed due to a lack of resources. The use of real-time data and the reservation of these resources require other protocols such as Real-Time Protocol (RTP) and Resource Reservation Protocol (RSVP) in addition to IPv6. To allow the effective use of flow labels, three rules have been defined: 1. The flow label is assigned to a packet by the source host. The label is a random number between 1 and 224. A source must not reuse a flow label for a new flow while the existing flow is still active. 2. If a host does not support the flow label, it sets this field to zero. If a router does not support the flow label, it simply ignores it. 3. All packets belonging to the same flow have the same source, same destination, same priority, and same option. 2. ACCOUNTING MANAGEMENT The Internet is a wonderful thing. It allows knowledge to be shared with the world. But what if you want to use the Internet to share knowledge with just one person? When web pages, e-mail, and even passwords are transferred across the Internet, they are free to be seen by anyone who cares to look. You may ask, Who is going to be looking, anyway? The answer, in most cases, is nobody. Anonymity can be your security. This is especially true of your Internet presence from home. However, the situation changes when you use your credit card over the Internet, or when you are a business on the receiving end of a credit card transaction. In such cases, anonymity clearly doesnt provide enough security. Furthermore, what if you receive a sensitive document, but you are unsure if the person who sent it really is who they claim to be? How do you know that this same document wasnt tampered with between the time it was sent and the time you received it? And what if you need to protect sensitive data on your web site, or perhaps you want to protect the data in transit to the user, or authenticate the user with a stronger authentication method? It prevents users from monopolizing limited network resources. It prevents users from using the system inefficiently. Network managers can do short- and long-term planning based on the demand for network use. Integrated Windows authentication is the most secure method of authentication, but it is available only with Internet Explorer. This authentication type had been known previously as NTLM authentication and Windows NT Challenge/Response authentication. In Integrated Windows authentication, the users browser proves itself to the server using a cryptographic exchange during the authentication process. Integrated Windows authentication supports both the Kerberos v5 and the NTLM (NT LAN Manager) protocols for authentication through the Negotiate package. If you are using Active Directory, and the browser supports it (IE 5 or above with Windows 2000), Kerberos is used; otherwise, NTLM is used. Both Kerberos and NTLM have limitations on their use. Interestingly enough, each ones strength is the others weakness. Kerberos generally works with proxy servers, but it tends to have a hard time with firewalls. NTLM generally works through firewalls, but it tends to have a hard time with proxy servers. 1. A manager checks an agent by requesting information that reflects the behavior of the agent. 2. A manager forces an agent to perform a task by resetting values in the agent database. 3. An agent contributes to the management process by warning the manager of an unusual situation. 3. PASSWORD INTEGRITY Authentication is an important feature of any secure web site. Every time a client browses to a web site, it needs to be authenticated before it can access the resources it is requesting. By default, that authentication all takes place on the server, and the client isnt even involved. Some authentication settings can make for easy access to a web site, but sometimes you want to limit who sees what information on your site. This is where more restrictive types of authentication come in. If your computer is renamed, the Internet Guest Account does not change and continues to use the old machine name. Because user accounts use security identifiers (SIDs) to identify themselves, changing the computer name doesnt affect the account name. When IIS receives a request, it automatically attempts anonymous authentication first. If anonymous authentication fails, it attempts to log on the user using another logon method. If no other authentication methods are enabled, IIS sends a 403 Access Denied HTTP error message to the client. You can use any user account that you wish for anonymous access, including the Administrator account. You can change access settings in the items Properties windows Directory Security tab, accessible by right-clicking the item in the IIS Microsoft Management Console (MMC) snap-in and choosing Properties. (By the way, even though you can do it, dont use the Administrator account for anonymous access.) Basic authentication is a widely accepted means of authentication. Because all the information is presented and transmitted in clear text, its easy to use and makes for easy program interoperability, but the passwords can be found out faster than you can say security risk. Both the web server and FTP server components in IIS support Basic authentication. 4. CONCLUSION The simplest and the oldest method of entity authentication is the password, something that the claimant possesses. A password is used when a user needs to access a system to use the systems resources (log-in). Each user has a user identification that is public and a password that is private. We can divide this authentication scheme into two separate groups: the fixed password and the one-time password. In this group, the password is fixed; the same password is used over and over for every access. This approach is subject to several attacks. 4. REFRENCES www.ankitfadia.in for ethical hacking and password guessing techniques. www.ethicalhacker.net www.hackcommunity.com www.dl4hacks.com www.go4expert.com/forums www.ehacking.net www.govermentsecurity.org/forum/32003

Wednesday, November 13, 2019

Separation Or Assimilation? :: essays research papers

Separation or Assimilation? Our country, The United States of America, was essentially founded on the principles of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness through solidarity of human kind. In Bernard R. Boxill's article, "Separation or Assimilation," he fundamentally poses the Hamletesque question: to assimilate or not to assimilate. Subsequent to the dilemma of some black cultural nationalists, whom not only argue for assimilation of the black American populace, but also believe that this assimilation into white culture is inevitable, against cultural pluralism. Cultural pluralism, which was initialized by W. E.B. Dubois in the late 19th century, is founded upon the peculiarities of races, living harmoniously in one nation-state, and lacking superiority or inferiority. Consequently to posing this question one dictates that there exist certain boundaries between cultures in our American society. Where do these boundaries come from and are they indeed necessary? Is integration of these cultures indeed inevitable? The goal of cultural pluralism as stated by Boxill are to establish pride in one's own race, to maintain the authenticity of one's own culture, and finally to benefit the world populace. Through pride, the disdain of inferiorities along with self respect, one adopts an attitude of self- segregation. Boxill argues for pride as a means of preserving one's race, overemphasizing differences between individuals because of the color of their skin or cultural differences, is a great defense to assimilation. Understanding Dubois's concept of cultural authenticity is to delve into the mysteries of self-actualization, that is to realize one's own potential. He asks himself, as an African American, whether his true identity lies in the jungles of Africa or in this land of America. He is of the opinion that these are his only two options. He concludes that his true identity goes beyond his American birth, citizenship, political ideals, language, laws, and religion; deep into the heart of Africa where a timeless culture was born and should be preserved for its beauty and used to benefit the world populace. "...the Negro people, as a race, have a contribution to make..."(Dubois,p244) The "Negro people" as a race, have certainly had a peculiar world condition throughout time and have had the ability to lend privileged insights into the human condition. The whole of humanity consists of many parts. From the cultural pluralist perspective, this whole can be benefitted most by the contribution of gifts from each race of humanity. But does not true diversity exist in individual persons rather than in large groups of unique individuals. It would seem obvious that the greatest degree of solidarity of humanity can be achieved

Sunday, November 10, 2019

Community Practice Essay

Facilitating and obstructing factors for development of learning in clinical practice: a student perspective. Issues and innovations in Nursing Education. Journal of Advanced Nursing 34(1), 43–50; Priest, H. , 2004. Phenomenology. Nurse Researcher 11(4), 4–6; Stockhausen, L. , 2005. Learning to become a nurse: student nurses’ reflections on their clinical experiences. Australian Journal of Nursing 22(3), 8–14). The data were analysed using content analysis techniques, exploring their contextual meaning through the development of emergent themes (Neuendorf, K. A. 2002. The Content Analysis Guidebook. Sage Publications, London). The identified themes related to elements of students’ basic skill acquisition, the development of their working relationships with mentors, patients and others, the learning opportunities offered by community practice placements and the effects that such placements had on their confidence to practice. These themes are discuss ed with regard to the published literature, to arrive at conclusions and implications for future nursing education, practice and research. Author: M. R. Baglin Source: http://www. urseeducationinpractice. com/article/S1471-5953(09)00110-3/abstract Community nursing competencies: a comparison of educator, administrator, and student perspectives. Perceptions of functioning levels of baccalaureate students nearing graduation were assessed, comparing views of 15 educators, 15 health department administrators, and 185 students. A modified list of the 47 essential public health nursing competencies identified through the U. S. Department of Health and Human Services Division of Nursing served as the basis for data collection and analyses. Student competencies in individual skills were ranked higher than group and community competencies by all three groups surveyed. Students ranked competencies at higher levels than educators and educators at higher levels than administrators. Although administrators continue to advise new graduates to work in acute care before entering community health, support for continuation of this practice was not observed based on administrator ratings. Author: Nickel JT,  Pituch MJ,  Holton J,  Didion J,  Perzynski K,  Wise J,  McVey B. Source: http://www. ncbi. nlm. nih. gov/pubmed/7899221 Enhancing students’ perspectives of health through non-traditional community experiences. The shift in emphasis to community-based health care necessitates that opportunities be provided for nursing students to acquire an understanding of the complex nature of health. A qualitative study was used to demonstrate the benefits accrued by junior baccalaureate nursing students in non-traditional community settings. Key themes that emerged from data analysis included definitions of health and illness as context specific, and environmental factors influencing health. The study demonstrated that learning experiences with diverse communities can broaden students’ perspectives and understanding of health behaviours. Students gained an appreciation of the sociocultural variation in meanings of health and illness as well as of the social and political dimensions of health. Author: Sword W,  Noesgaard C,  Majumdar B. Source: http://www. ncbi. nlm. nih. gov/pubmed/8313070 Student Nurse Attitudes Towards Homeless Clients: a challenge for education and Practice The purpose of this research was to describe attitudes of nursing students (and paramedic officers) towards marginalized clients. Convenience quota sampling in a major health faculty was employed. Students participated on a voluntary basis. A 58-item Likert scale, developed by the authors, assessed the student nurses’ attitudes. In general, attitudes towards homeless clients were neutral; detailed analyses, however, revealed that student nurses would decline to care for homeless clients in various situations. Personal experience with homeless patients and positive attitudes of nurses significantly contributed to increased quality of care and equality of treatment for homeless clients. Certain student nurse behaviors warrant immediate attention to prevent marginalized patients from being exposed to unfair, inaccessible and biased nursing care. Based on our results, we recommend that further research attention be paid to the role of ethics education and faculty behaviors, as faculty members serve as role models for professionalization. Zoltan Balogh Semmelweiss University, Budapest, Hungary,  zrinyi_m@freemail. hu,zrinyim@who. int Source: http://nej. sagepub. com/content/11/4/334. abstract Author: Miklos Zrinyi world Health Organization, Geneva, Switzerland Student Nurses Learn Lessons in Community Health on Tribal Reservations University of Washington School of Nursing students have the unique opportunity to complete a community health rotation on one of two Native American reservations on Washington’s Kitsap Peninsula—the only rural public health clinical offered by the school of nursing. The experience has not only helped students learn about a unique group of people, but also how to relate to any patient population in future community health work. Recently, teams of student nurses were assigned to the Fort Gamble S’klallam reservation and to the Suquamish reservation, focusing on four different projects. One group of students partnered with family services personnel in an obesity prevention program mirroring TV’s â€Å"The Biggest Loser,† in which the person who lost the most weight won a car. Other students developed a nutrition program for an early childhood development center. A third group was involved in educating the staff of an early childhood development center about the prevention of Hepatitis B infections. The remaining group conducted and transcribed interviews with individuals for a community assessment. The goal of the assessment was to understand the community’s perception of its strengths and problem issues and to discover which issues were most important to the community. Author: Megan M. Krischke, Source: http://insightsinnursing. com/2009/07/student-nurses-learn-from-community-immersion/ Foreign studies Foreign nurses can slip into communication  gap According to (marshall 2009) it’s not politically correct — but it’s a frequent complaint of hospital patients in Las Vegas: â€Å"The nurses don’t speak English! The complaint is inaccurate. Foreign nurses working in Las Vegas do speak English. All have passed English language competency exams to become licensed in Nevada. But the complaint also contains an element of truth. More than 15 percent of the Las Vegas nursing workforce is internationally trained, about five times the national averag e of 3. 5 percent, according to an expert at UNLV. Most of these nurses are from Asian countries — the Philippines, India, Japan and Korea. Their English is often heavily accented and they may not understand the nuances of American culture and lingo — which can create challenges for patients and doctors. Xu’s research has shown that foreign nurses have a difficult transition to the American health care system. A study he conducted on Chinese nurses in the United States found they often felt socially isolated and paralyzed by their communication inadequacies. Foreign nurses are also forced to adjust to differences in the job description in the United States, Xu’s research has shown. Asian nurses are accustomed to family members doing tasks like bathing and feeding the patient, and may feel such jobs are beneath their level of education, one of his studies found. Language and communication problems can have a direct effect on the quality of patient care, and on the perceptions patients have of their care, Xu said. An estimated 100,000 people die every year as the result of medical errors in the United States, and communication problems are believed to be a leading cause. Xu said it’s impossible to know how much internationally trained nurses contribute to medical errors because the area is grossly understudied. Author: Marshall Allen Source: http://www. lasvegassun. com/news/2009/mar/10/foreign-nurses-can-fall-communication-gap/ A Study of the Drivers of Commitment amongst Nurses: The Salience of Training, Development and Career Issues According to (McCabe etal 2) this study is to highlight factors influencing the commitment of nurses, and particularly focuses on the role of training, development and career issues. It provides the basis for a HRD framework, outlining policy choices in developing high commitment amongst nursing staff. Design/methodology/approach: The main themes and sub-themes relating to the drivers of commitment and the role of training, development and career issues were identified and explored employing a grounded theory, constant omparative approach. Findings: The main â€Å"fault-line† between nurses and the organization concerned resource management, and the introduction of general management concepts and practices. HRD practitioners should consider using the language and terms of reference familiar to nurses when devising HRD initiatives. Factors positively influencing the comm itment of nursing staff included shared values, involving a sense of â€Å"vocational† commitment towards patient care and nursing. Strong leadership, particularly concerning the role of line management, was seen as important in influencing commitment. Teamwork and support, from both line management and colleagues, was also important. Training and development were highly regarded by nurses, and could be a useful way of recognizing and acknowledging their contribution to health care delivery. Career progression and greater involvement were viewed favourably by some nurses and unfavourably by others. The main issue concerned the possible substitution of nurse practitioner responsibilities with administrative and managerial responsibilities. Research limitations/implications: The findings are solely based on interviews with nursing staff from two NHS organizations. In exploring the various drivers of commitment and the role of training, development and career issues the study’s focus was towards depth, as opposed to breath, of investigation. Practical implications: Valuable information for HRD practitioners and researchers on the drivers of commitment amongst nursing staff and the role played by training, development and career issues is provided. Originality/value: This paper is a useful study on exploring commitment amongst nursing staff and ways in which HRD practitioners and researchers can facilitate and develop commitment. The DoLE official added that while waiting for a chance to be employed overseas, nurses can venture into and already start income generating projects. However, she admitted that the high demand for nurses abroad is a really attractive career to pursue because of its obvious economic returns. Meanwhile, Pineda disclosed that the continuing demand for Filipino nurses overseas is expected to intensify, as the world’s northern countries experience longer lifespans and the graying of their population in the next five to ten years is sure to see the deployment of local nurses. Countries that will continue to offer employment opportunities include the Gulf States in the Middle East such as the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain and Oman,† she said. Further, European countries including the United Kingdom and Ireland will also continue hiring Filipino nurses, even as new markets are emerging in Norway, Belgium, Denmark, Finland and Netherlands. Canada, too, is a new market, while Australia and New Zealand likewise offer

Friday, November 8, 2019

Explore And Analyze One Contradiction(2 Questions) Coursework

Explore And Analyze One Contradiction(2 Questions) Coursework Explore And Analyze One Contradiction(2 Questions) – Coursework Example Explore and analyze one contradiction (2 questions) Qsn President Jackson believed the removal of Indians would contribute to great civilization in the United States of America. Jackson argued that the issue of land was inevitable, and advocated for development among citizens from the northeast of Mississippi (Indian Removal. Extract from Andrew Jacksons Seventh Annual Message to Congress 1). Furthermore, he dismissed romantic representation of the Indian culture as sentimental longing for the simpler time in the past. He believed population transfer was wise and would highly contribute to development (Indian Removal. Extract from Andrew Jacksons Seventh Annual Message to Congress 1).Ross responded to President Jackson’s message by opposing the Indian Removal Act (458-461). He argues that the community is extinct, and they have rights just like the American community. He also explained that the Indians should be allowed to farm and practice their cultural beliefs. The article presented that the central conflict between the Whites, and the Indians was as a result of the Whites refusing to accept Indian cultural practices (Ross 458-461). Qsn 2On the other hand, Cloud’s description of the Trail Of Tears explained the suffering Indians underwent during the removal process. The process was very frustrating and most Indians experienced severe pain. To some extent, some died of diseases and starvation. The White men motivated the negative attitude Cloud had towards the White community (Cloud 3). The discretion is in contrast to Jackson’s opinion of providing civilization for the Indian community.The Factory Tracts article explains how Lowell women suffered in their workstations for ten hours (1). These women called for collective campaigns and action towards their mistreatment. The article aimed at describing the working conditions experienced in most industries in 1845 (The Factory Tracts 1). Finally, the campaigns motivated other industrial move ments to the campaign. Crockett provides a description of frontier politics. The description was based on his campaign for a position at the Tennessee legislature in 1821 (Crockett 137–42). He explains how the limitations of voting during 1821 and how it affected the non-native citizens (Crockett 137–42). In conclusion, these articles give a detailed explanation of how the White community discriminated other races in various ways such as ownership of property, voting, and even in terms of the working conditions.Cloud, Samuel. Trail of Tears (1838). In America:  A Narrative History. Tindall, George B. &   Shi, David E. NY: W.W. Norton & Company, 2010. Print. Crockett, David.  A Narrative of the Life of David Crockett of the State of Tennessee. Philadelphia: E.L. Carey and A. Hart, 1834. Print.Factory Tracts. Factory Life as It Is. Lowell, MA: Lowell Publishing Co., 1845. Print.Indian Removal. Extract from Andrew Jacksons Seventh Annual Message to Congress. 7 Dec. 1835. Web. 8 Apr. 2015. Ross, John.  The Papers of Chief John Ross, Vol 1, 1807–1839. Oklahoma: University of Oklahoma Press, 1985. Print.

Wednesday, November 6, 2019

Social Welfare Policy essays

Social Welfare Policy essays Ladies and Gentlemen, as our attention has been increasingly drawn toward the international arena, our president and his administration have conveniently avoided addressing issues that actually affect your daily lives. As a result, many of us have become complacent about such important domestic policy issues as social welfare. We have conveniently forgotten about the millions of homeless, jobless, and poverty-stricken Americans who live next door to us, instead worrying about overblown threats to national security. Well, I am here to remind you that many of the social services you rely on are in jeopardy. Your fellow citizens, your neighbors, even your friends and family members are suffering while the wallets of corporate bigwigs are being stuffed with your taxpayer dollars. Even those of you who do not rely on any governmental or outside assistance know that social services are necessary for the kind of egalitarian and just society that our founding fathers envisioned. The conservatives in power would like to sidetrack the importance of social services. They hope that blinding the public will enable them to funnel public monies directly into the doffers of big business and special interest groups. Focusing on Iraq has given President Bush the ability to fool the public into thinking that everything is alright on the home front. Well, nothing could be farther from the truth. It's time we voters woke up, smelled the coffee, and realize once again how integral social services and The conservatives would have you believe that welfare is outdated, that it does nothing to alleviate poverty and that it only encourages laziness or even the degeneration of society. These politicians and businessmen, most of whom live high on the hog, would like to deny the poor, the disenfranchised, and all marginalized members of society access to public funds. These politicians are overtly deny...

Monday, November 4, 2019

Changes in the history of the world since 1400 C Essay

Changes in the history of the world since 1400 C - Essay Example This paper examines social exclusion/oppression and environmental degradation under a number of headings which include Social, Economic, Cultural and Political. It critically evaluates the causes of these issues and problems in history and then links them to the two major evils that have been identified in history. Social Exclusion Social exclusion has been a major part of the interaction between people of different social and racial backgrounds. Around the 15th Century, Europeans by far, had the best technology and military mights amongst humans. They set out to discover other lands, however, this process came with a lot of social exclusion which saw the exploitation and oppression of people from other racial origins in Asia, Africa and the Americas. Europeans began a system of internal colonization in Asia2. This was done by establishing trade posts in the various ports in modern Indonesia, China, Japan, the Arabian Peninsular and India. The Europeans used their presence in these p orts and posts to exploit Asian labor which was used to produce goods and products that were bought at very cheap prices at those ports and sold at very high prices in Europe. They also sold manufactured goods at very high prices to the locals and made high profits. ... Aside the colonization of the various parts of the continents, there was the Trans-Atlantic slave trade. The Spaniards started to buy Black African slaves as early as 1510 and this began the trend of slavery which saw millions of Black Africans being sent across the Atlantic to work perpetually for the benefit of European farm owners3. These slaves were not given anything more than what they needed to survive and were made to work from morning to evening all the days of their lives till they dropped dead for no rewards. They were effectively excluded from the many luxuries that reverted to their European masters. Economic Exploitation Economic exploitation affected people who were less privileged as well as the natural environment. The clash of European civilization and the other civilizations around the world led to so many forms of economic exploitations. Of course the exploitation of people in the Southern continents by Europeans brought in a lot of economic benefits to Europe. Th e Trans-Atlantic slave trade and the colonization of peoples in Africa and Asia gave the European nations access to wealth without a requirement of accountability in these lands. They only exploited and made massive wealth in these nations. After colonization was abolished, the Europeans living in the Americas, Australia, and South Africa continued to hold on to the wealth of the masses and this is a form of social oppression and exploitation. Even in other parts of the world where people of the same race and color live together, there are many places where the few rich people hold and control much wealth. It is common to find nations in Africa and Asia where leaders and a few elite, control up to 90% of the wealth of the land. This forms some kind of economic exploitation which is

Friday, November 1, 2019

Strategic financial management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Strategic financial management - Essay Example ater than zero and thus positive and reject a project with a net present value that is less than zero, that is, negative net present value projects should be rejected. (Ross et al., 2002). The latter case is in a situation where only one project is being evaluated. In the event were the company is evaluating a number of projects, for which only one will be selected, the decision criteria is to first of all discard all projects with negative net present values and then select the project with the highest net present value among the positive NPV projects. (Ross et al., 2002; Myers and Brealey, 2002). It measures the change in the net worth of the firm due to the project (Cheng et al., 1994). NPV can also be derived from â€Å"discounting the expected future payoff by the rate of returns offered by comparable investment alternatives† (Richard and Bill, 2003). The vital stage of calculating NPV is to estimate the opportunity cost of capital (discounted rate) properly in order to discount future cash flow that forecasted of investment project (Brealey, Myers and Marcus, 2007). Under this method, every project with a positive NPV can be accepted to invest (Frank, 1999). NPV is a superior method of investment appraisal in theory, and recent study approved that it the most preferred tool in practices in management perspectives (Patricia and Glenn’s, 2002). This could because of its major advantages in consideration of time value of cash flows. However, Michael (2004) indicated a weakness in application of NPV, managers face more difficult practical issues—such as the estimation and timing of cash flows. This adjustment could impact on likelihood of project acceptance. Additionally, NPV may fail as the method primary assumes there is no restriction on the amount of company’s investment, yet in practice there is a certain constraint on company’s investment budget, which depends on its size (Frank, 1999). A simple mathematical illustration of the net present value