The Threat Of Cyber Security - 4382 Words

Internet use has skyrocketed since 2000 to over 2.4 billion users worldwide, with 70% of those users logging on every day (The Culturist, 2013).These days it takes merely minutes for news to travel around the globe. Our airwaves are filled with tiny nuggets of information whooshing past us undetected; that is, until it is detected. In the 21st century, cyber security is an international issue. The threat of cyber warfare is very real and would be devastating beyond any conventional weapon imaginable. With the entire globe becoming more interconnected, an attack on online infrastructure could ground airplanes, control information access, hijack nuclear facilities, and perhaps most terrifyingly, bring the global economy to a†¦show more content†¦From 1997 to 2012, households with internet grew from 18% to 74.8%, where 94.8% of households with computers use it to connect to the interne (U.S. Census. 2014). Computers are not the only source of hardware connection to the inte rnet. Other hardware such as gaming consoles, smart phones, laptops, and tablets are also connecting to the internet as well. Smart phone use for internet connectivity is popular among all age groups 25 and older with 45.3% usage. Among the heaviest users were age groups 25-34 at 88.1% (U.S. Census. 2014). With the growing use of the internet, the nation depends on a safe and stable cyberspace infrastructure for economic prosperity and more importantly, national security. Cyber security: What is it and why is it important? Cyber security generally refers to computer security or IT Security and is applicable to computers, smartphones, the internet and public/private computer networks. ?The field covers all the processes and mechanisms by which computer-based equipment, information and services are protected from unintended or unauthorized access, change or destruction, [? and] natural disasters (Computer Security). The National Institute on Standards and Technology issued a forty-one page report on cyber security that outlines a frame work for organizations to recognize and defend against threats. The report provides a frame work that has five functions that go with a set ofShow MoreRelatedCyber Security And Cyber Threats Essay1510 Words   |  7 Pagesbeen confronting issues of cyber-attacks to such an extent that majority of the patients feel every moment that they are at great risk and thus their treatment processes suffer a lot.(Hacking Healthcare IT in 2016) The small sized clinics do not have many resources to enhance their information security systems. Even the large sized enterprises are vulnerable to the cyber threats. The White House had declared that it would increase opportunities to tackle the cyber threats in every sphere, but the moreRead MoreCyber Security And The Cyber Threat763 Words   |  4 Pagesdeal with the impact of the cyber-threat. With this in mine, security awareness training is economical and obvious choice for organization of all sizes. Many companies invest heavily in cyber security education programs for all employees to learn how to protect their computers and personal information and how to be aware of the cyber criminals that sour the Web in search of targets and vulnerabilities. For the most part the training should include educating users on security concepts such as be conversantRead MoreThe Threat Of Cyber Security1452 Words   |  6 Pagespurpose of this briefing is to: †¢ Clarify the importance of cyber security in marketing †¢ Educate employees on the importance of cyber security in the workplace †¢ Explain to marketer why they are targets of cyber security attacks †¢ Educate employees on how they can prevent cyber attacks Informing and educating employees on why cyber-attacks are becoming more prevalent and how to identify and prevent them gives an organization ease of mind. A cyber breach or attack is inevitable, however mitigating lossesRead MoreThe Threat Of Cyber Security3043 Words   |  13 PagesABSTRACT While many organizations focus their security efforts on their network border, it is the insider that perhaps poses the most risk to cyber-security. An Insider threat is a malicious threat to an organization that comes from people within the organization, such as employees, former employees, contractors or business associates, who have inside information concerning the organization s security practices, data and computer systems. The threat may involve fraud, the theft of confidential orRead MoreThe Threat Of Cyber Security1351 Words   |  6 Pagesthe technology from ten years ago, even to the point in which a single cyber-attack can cause the death of millions of people. For that reason, cyber security has become one of the most important matters for many countries. There is no doubt that the United States is one of the most technologically advanced and more powerful countries in the world and for that same reason it instantly becomes one of the main target of cyber-attacks. In o rder to maintain the country safe and defend against attacksRead MoreThreat Vectors For Cyber Security965 Words   |  4 PagesThreat Vectors There are three main areas identified as threat vectors for cyber security in relation to CIP: IT networks, insider threats, and equipment and software. Normally, ICS operate on an internal network, called OT (Operational Technology). Occasionally, this isolated network requires a connection to the organization’s corporate network (IT) for routine operation and management. As displayed in the Ukraine blackout, cyber threats infiltrate an organization’s IT systems in order to accessRead MoreThe Threat Of Cyber Security2050 Words   |  9 Pagesage, the risks of cyber-attacks have seemingly become more prevalent through aggressions done by both foreign and domestic terrorists acting out in response towards either religious, political, or financial consciences. These attacks consist of hackers possessing abilities that can alter digital perspectives of banking and also the capability to adjust physical aspect like water systems and even nuclear power plants. The relevance in emphasizing the importance of cyber-security is directly relatedRead MoreCyber Security Threats And Crimes1279 Words   |  6 Pages Cyber security threats/crimes Before people even knew you could do so much with computers and internet beside common work activity before it got popular and admired, criminals had to get a lot more personal when retrieving their personal information like dig through trash, steal or break into their mailboxes, are buy it from a somebody who sold other people identity was some of the way criminal got people personal information. Now many of people aroundRead MoreCyber Warfare And Security Threats2770 Words   |  12 Pagesbecome prey to attackers and has given birth to a new era of Cyber warfare. Consequently, the Internet, computers and networks have become targets and vehicles of cyber attacks and generate challenges to our security privacy. Cyber Warfare presents an ever-increasing amount of security threats, which continue to escalate with increasing harshness, and is now a critical issue in our technology realm and a growing threat to the world. Cyber wars are generally politically or economically motivated, withRead MoreCyber Security : The Threat Of The Digital Age1811 Words   |  8 Pagesgreatest threats to our national security revolve around that of a computer network. These networks are vulnerable to human error, negligence, and internal sabotages. In the years of 2014 and 2015 the United States Intelligence Community’s threat assessment placed cyber security as the top priority. External attacks on computer mainframes and data networks that contain critical intelligence are being recognized as the nation’s most vulnerable weakness and steps must be taken to combat the threat of the

Ratio Based Performance Analysis Of Marriot Versus Intercontinental Finance Essay - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 7 Words: 2068 Downloads: 5 Date added: 2017/06/26 Category Finance Essay Type Narrative essay Did you like this example? Marriott International, Inc. is one of a leading worldwide hospitality company with its heritage being traced to a root beer stand opened in Washington, D.C., in 1927 by J. Willard and Alice S. Marriott. Today, Marriott International has about 3,100 lodging properties located in the United States and 67 other countries and territories across 17 lodging and vacation resort ownership brands.This group was established in the year 1927 .This is basically a public limited company . InterContinental Hotels Group is a global hotel group whose brands include Inter-Continental Hotels and Resorts, Crowne Plaza Hotels and Resorts, Holiday Inn, Holiday Inn Express and Staybridge Suites.The intercontinental brand was founded in 1946 by pan American airlines,and currently owned by Philp Charles naughton . IHG is primarily engaged in managing hotels owned by other parties and inÂÂ  franchisingÂÂ  its hotel brands. That is, it sells its expertise in hotel management, systems, and marketing, while leaving investment in real property, which is far more capital intensive, requires different skills, and has a different risk profile, primarily to its partners. ÂÂ  As of 2007 it franchises over 3,200 hotels, manages over 510 and owns only 18.The owned hotels do however include many of the key properties of companys flagship InterContinental brand. This group basically runs by partnership Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "Ratio Based Performance Analysis Of Marriot Versus Intercontinental Finance Essay" essay for you Create order Comparative ratio based Performance analysis of Marriot vs Intercontinental group We as group strived hard to compare all the important ratios of both the hotel groups. The ratios that were focussed were profitability, liquidity, efficiency, investors and gearing ratios. The ratios of two years, 2007 and 2008 were calculated to come to a point where we could determine the situation of both the companies. Below I have summarised and interpreted the ratios that we have strived to calculate, which gives us a financial picture of both the companies. Profitability ratio assessment. Profitability ratio means, how much the firm is capable to generate profit. Under the calculation of profitability ratio The gross profit margin ratio determines the profit a company from its cost of sales. Gross profit margin for Marriott is went down from 7.09% to 6.37% , because there total income went down from 150811m to 149482m . In other case with IHG there Revenue increased as a result even the gross profit has increased. The net profit margin ratio is calculated by finding the net profit as a percentage of the revenue. Low profit margin shows a low margin of safety The revenue of Marriott group has gone down but their percentage of net profit is increasing as they have controlled their expenses on the other hand the revenue of IHG is increased but the ratio has gone down because their is greater increase in their expenses. Source: group analysis notes Liquidity ratio is concerned with the ability of the company or groups to meet short-term obligations. Current ratio says how fast the assets are turned into cash against the liabilities. The ideal current ratio is 2:1.Acid test ratio is better tool to identify exact liquidity as it reduces stock from the current assets the ideal ratio is 1:1.Considering analyzing both the groups rapidly on liquidity ratio Marriotts is doing better than IHG as it has more assets than liabilities looking at both the years even though we detected the stock from the current assets in acid test ratio .Marriott group is in the better position for the investor shareholders to invest for both the years 2007 and 2008 . Even though there was recession period both the groups showed the significant figures in liquidity .this shows that both the groups are well established universally. Source: group analysis notes Effeciency ratio This ratio measures, how efficiently the company is utilizing its assets .In this we can see that Inventory :The inventory turnover ratio for IHG in 2007 was 4 DAYS as compared to the year 2008 which was 3 days. Generally a low number of days inventory is held are a sign of efficient management. The faster the inventory the less cash that is tide up in the inventory. However this is important that inventory is not too low because this would indicate under stocking of inventory. In 2008 the number of days inventory was tied up was less which shows that IHG had improved on selling its inventories, quicker than in the year 2007 Receivable collection period: we can see here that in the year 2007 ,the receivable collection period was 19 days for the Marriot ,which was improved to 14 days in 2008.This shows that Marriot has a good receivable collection period ,which seemed to have improved more in the year 2008.On the other hand The receivable period is not appreciable ,when compared to the Marriott. The receivable collection period for IHG was 86 days ,which is not good from the part of company ,because their cash is still tied up in the market. Moreover its collection period increased to 72 days in 2008 , which shows a slight improvement in their collection period. Asset turnover ratio : For the Intercontinental in 2007,we can see that they had more assets (1807), but their revenue (883) is less as compared to assets,that means,that they have assets, but their business is less, which shows ,that they might have to sell some assets or take up a new strategy. Whereas in 2008,we can see that ,they worked on a strategy of buying new assets (2123) ,which increased their revenue(1278),but still they are way behind Marriott in this case. For Marriott,we can see that ,their revenue was8 times greater than the assets ,which is appreciable,but in 2008,theirrevenue went down, and also it shows an increase in Marriotts assets in 2008 with a slide in revenue,but still 7:1 is good as it shows 7 time revenue than assets. Investors ratio ÂÂ  commonly used by investors to assess the performance of a business as an investment ROCE ratio for Marriott is fallen as their liabilities are gone up on the other hand there is a bit change in the liabilities for IHG . This ratio is for Investors because higher ratio will trend them to invest more. ratio shows the returns over the investments made by the shareholders we here have calculated Return o Equity for IHG Group and figures give us the brief idea of how well the return on the equity of IHG group are. Since we dont have the details for Marriott Group we conclude that though the percentage is for IHG is low it gives better benefits to its shareholder. Gearing is a measure of financial leverage, demonstrating the degree to which a firms activities are funded by owners funds versus creditors funds. Here we can see that, in 2007 IHG had a gearing ratio of 95.82% his is higher then the 50%, but in 2008 the scenario got worse, as it went up to 107.45%. This means that they had more debt over their capital employed.On the other Marriot had very little debt against their capital employed Which means they invested their money without borrowing from out side. Interest cover: in 2007 the interest cover ratio for the Marriott was 1.8 times which is not very good as they were in weaker position to pay the interest. Whereas in the year 2008 the interest cover ratio increased to 2.3 time which is appreciable. This shows either their profit might have increase or their expenses might have decrease On the other hand IHG had a very better interest cover ratio in 2007 but in 2008 they have decrease by 3.5 times of interest cover, which show either their expenses went up or they might loss profit for business Source: group analysis notes Working capital Positive working capital means that the company is able to pay off its short-term liabilities.ÂÂ  NegativeÂÂ  working capital means that a company currently is unable toÂÂ  meetÂÂ  its short-term liabilities withÂÂ  its current assetsÂÂ  .If a companys current assets do not exceed its current liabilities, then it may run into trouble paying back creditors in the short term. The worst-case scenario is bankruptcy.ÂÂ  A declining working capital ratio over a longer time periodÂÂ  couldÂÂ  also be a red flag that warrants further analysis. For example, it could be that the companys sales volumes are decreasing and, asÂÂ  a result, its accounts receivables number continues to get smaller and smaller. Here we can see that Intercontinental had 135 million gbp in 2007 which increased to 145 million GBP .On the other hand Marriotts working capital is many times more than that of IHG,which shows that it has a strong base of working capital, but we can see that its working capital decreased from 7606 ml gbp to 5153 ml which is a trigger for the Marriot for further analysis into their account,but still when it is compared to Marriot, ,intercontinental has to improve its working capital Source: group analysis notes Conclusion: Comparing all the ratios, It is evident that Marriot is in a healthier position than Interciontinental.Ratio analysis of Marriot showed a balanced state, financially in the year 2007 and 2008 as compared to Intercontinental in the same years. On the whole Marriott is healthier and has driven in an efficient and effective manner during these financial years, However IHG has diverse approach due to their colossal volume of business. As far as the future prediction is concerned, Marriot has to maintain its current state of balance as it showed promising figures in collection period ratio, asset turnover ratio and good working capital. On the other hand Intercontinental has to improve on various aspects as it showed alarming figures under many ratios, such as lengthy debt collection period, less working capital and alarming gearing ratios. Alarming figures pointed to the high ongoing debt of the company, which might still worsen in future years. Based on groups final thought Group work experience The most imperative part of the whole research and analysis was our group effort .We were fortunate enough to have all the members who acted as power players during the whole course.Although every one is from distinctive educational background,it didnot become a hurdle to us as our concepts were very clear,because of the professional and indepth knowledge imparted to us by our course lecturer.This helped us take on different responsibilities pre- presentation and report.To implement this more accurately we maintained a timetable for all our group meetings and a full attendance of all the members in all our group meetings showed the level of commitment everyone was ready to expend.During the course of our meetings ,we would discuss on the responsibilities assigned and would note down their findings in one place,so as to improve more on it before putting it into our final presentation and reports . Overwhelming the weaknesses and identifying the strengths As every project has some weakness to overcome,we also had some weaknesses during the course.As we were very confident in our calculations,we found some difficulties in assessing the and analysing the ratios which was also a very important part of our presentation and report.We overcame this by thourogh reading of our lecture notes and reffering Peter Atrill tet book.This helped us to understand in detail , how to compare and analyse both the companies. Also we got a good assistance from our team leader(Neha) and one of our group member(Hasan) as they are from finance background. They helped us to ease the concept of analysis in more easy and understandable way from a sophisticate one .This helped every one to analyse and compare both the companies in depth.We also got an appreciable helping hand from one of our team member(Simran),who made the work easy for us ,by preparing tentative slides ,at the same when we discussed our findings .Speaking of our strengths ,i would say that ,we as a group were successfull in utilising the best of everyones capability.I would say that we had to utilize our strenghths,for eg:good understanding of accounting terms by Hassan helped us to compare and analyse the companies in a better way. Contribution of our group Contribution of every group member has been immense. Choosing a person, who contributed the least ,would be vey unfair as everyone in the group contributed their best .Most important thing to mention is the amount of enthusiasm every one had to get this task completed .The example of this is the meeting,in which no one would stay absent as everybody were excited to propose their findings and home work during the meeting and fortunately there has been no meeting ,where any person has not putforth his assigned home work .Â

Social Welfare System in Hong Kong Free Essays

Question 1: Identify one type of the social welfare, discuss its services of Hong Kong and a)explain its values, rationales and objectives; b)ways of service delivery; c)discuss the strengths and weaknesses of the service and d)make suggestions to improve the services in future. CSSA—AN INTRODUCTION The comprehensive Social Security Assistance Scheme (CSSA) is surely one of the most influential social welfare in Hong Kong, in terms of money and beneficiary. In the fiscal year of 2010 alone, 19 billion was spent on CSSA, which increased noticeably by 40% as compared with the expenditure ten years ago. We will write a custom essay sample on Social Welfare System in Hong Kong or any similar topic only for you Order Now As at the end of 2009, total number of CSSA cases amounted to 289 139, representing an increase of 25. 3% over 1999. CSSA accounted for 8. 6% of government recurrent expenditure, compared with 7. 5% in 2000. During 1999 to 2009, the average growth in total number of cases per annum was 2. 3%. In fact, the growth rate of CSSA cases is expected to accelerate because the growth of elderly population will peak in 2016-2026. In other words, the problem is not coming yet. But it will within 10 years. In view of the potential alarming situation, there is an urgent need to investigate the effectiveness of the scheme. This essay will give a brief review of the captioned scheme as well as to discuss possible ways to improve the services in the future, making the most effective use of government resources. CSSA—ITS VALUES, RATIONALES AND OBJECTIVES The CSSA Scheme was introduced in 1993, replacing the former Public Assistance Scheme, and evolved over the past 20 years into the current complex system. It is designed to provide a safety net for individuals or families who cannot support themselves financially for various reasons such as old age, disability, illness, unemployment and low earnings. The CSSA Scheme provides financial assistance to bring the income of such individuals or families up to a prescribed level to meet their basic needs. All CSSA recipients are entitled to free medical treatment at public hospitals or clinics. It is administered by the Social Welfare Department (SWD) and is non-contributory but means-tested. APPLICATION REQUIREMENTS To be eligible for assistance, the applicant must satisfy the residence requirements, that is, to have resided in Hong Kong continuously for at least one year before the date of application and be a Hong Kong resident for seven years. Yet, exception can be granted for discretion. They must also pass both the income and assets tests. To pass the income test means the applicant’s total assessable monthly household income is insufficient to meet their total monthly needs as recognized under the Scheme. To pass the asset test means the total value of the capital assets held by the applicant is below the prescribed limit. If the applicant lives with other family members, the application shall be made on a household basis. On top of the basic subsistence support, there is a number of supplements, like disability, old age, community living, single parent, transport supplement, which is too excessive to mention here. A person can make an application directly to a social security field unit, or by referral to the Social Welfare Department by another government department or a non-governmental organization. Upon receipt of an application, staff of the SWD will conduct investigation and verification of the applicant’s circumstances. It is usually completed in a month and is very convenient. CSSA—ITS STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESSES Generally speaking CSSA has been quite effective in providing a safety nets towards the needy, whether the amount of grants is sufficient or not is subject to argument, one has to acknowledge the fact that there is no major starvation/freezing death caused by poverty in recent years. The general living conditions and nutrition’s of the poor improved, compared many years ago. In the past, social welfare is just a feeding station, or remedy measures after the problems exist, CSSA, with its recent reform of adding more and more subsidies like disabilities, elderly, transport supplement†¦etc, is a rather complicated cash transfer framework, which definitely, effectively created a safety net and contributed a part of improving peoples’ living standard. It seems that CSSA was able to fulfill the very basic philosophy of social security policy and social policy in general terms, which is residual or remedial. CSSA is somewhat a passive scheme as a rescue if the applicant himself, or his family failed to help. It is remedial because it functions only if you fall and will not prevent you from falling. This is of no doubt that CSSA can solve immediate issues, but not the root of it. In fact there are changes that CSSA can make to help better cope with this problem. Moreover, there is room of improvement of the efficiency of the scheme, as it has become more and more complex that something can be done to make it more efficient as a safety net. And as progress, it is vital that we look at the possible policy that can be adjusted to better cope with the situation as things do change over time. One of the major characteristics of CSSA is that it is a means tested scheme. In a nutshell, as long as the applicant meets the requirements, the applicants are entitled to get the benefits, as a matter of right. What they do is to assess the quantitative elements of the applicants, such as how many assets they have, how much they earn per month, the severity of his sickness, and treat them as fair as possible, without looking at their background, their ability, the reason they apply for the scheme. As a government servant, I comprehend the difficulty to do so because their job is to do assessment on the financial criteria. But CSSA is not just simple financial assistance, ideally speaking. When the unemployed come for assistance, their problem is not just short of money for assistance, they are unable or not willing to find jobs which they do not like or do not match their skills or think the wage is too low for him. Recent news reporting a postgraduate graduated from The Chinese University of Hong Kong is an example. CSSA applicants have problems besides financing. I dare say a considerably proportion of staff running the program are not equipped with the skills that can deal with the key issue, thus missed the chance of preliminary investigation of the candidate while looking at the documents and data before the grant. However, CSSA is far from sufficient to provide something constructive, to help the recipients for taking constructive acts to participate in society. Right now we see that, the community is increasingly dependent, which is harmful. The CSSA should abandon the passive strategy of simply looking at needs and handing out cash. This can be done by demanding the recipients to take steps to help themselves as a prerequisite to receive the payments. It has in fact already been adopted and have a positive result. With the introduction of the intensified Support for Self-reliance Scheme measures in June 2003, there was a rapid deceleration in the rate of increase in unemployment cases during June to September 2003, the number of cases also started to decline as from October 2003 to October 2008. But the unemployment case started to rise since 2009, and almost reached the level of 1999, which is the year of financial crisis. As a suggestion, the said scheme can add community service work as a component of the criteria of getting subsistence, such as to clean toilets in governmental departments, of some minimum hours per month as a way to encourage them to contribute to the society. Back to the postgraduate in CU as an example, of course he will get something better than looking after elderly as a job! Even if he cannot do so what he has done will be beneficial to the society. Moreover, the scheme is becoming more complicated as more and more supplement and discretionary items have been added. It is no longer a system that is administratively simple or efficient. The lack of training of the said officials and the complexity the system deter the efficiency of the officials to tackle the applicants specific needs, rather in a degree enhanced their reliability on CSSA. Alternative of solving the problems, despite of training workers, is to tidy up the current structure of the administration, such as diving the recipients into categories, with their own eligibility criteria, referrals, conditions of assistance and kinds of help to offer. Bureau working on this will be, despite more systematic, will have a much more clear idea of how to help the applicant and in turn, the applicant received a better idea of their benefit and get better helped. For instance the financial needs of the elderly should be considered with their health care. They may, because worrying insufficient money to pay their health care, save the already little grants received from CSSA, sacrificing their living quality. There seems little cooperation with the Social Welfare department with relevant charity organizations. The same applies to other groups, like, for single parents family, which they save the CSSA for family services. I have already made the point through the above that CSSA, generally speaking is effective and have done a good job in providing a safety net to Hong Kong, by a one-way handout of cash. But it can, in fact, requiring the recipients to contribute back to the society by adding a component of voluntary services element into the scheme. This, on one hand can screen out people who do not really need CSSA, thus focusing to the resources and attention to those desperately in need. And on the other hand to help those screened out forcing them getting back to the mainstream. And as mentioned about, the efficiency of the CSSA system can be more efficient by adopting a categorical approach, better matching the skills of staff working therein and the background of recipients. In a nutshell, CSSA do create some sort of dependency because, looking at the amount of CSSA cases and the economy of Hong Kong it is not very much correlated. That suggests that the determining factor for the number of people on welfare is, maybe the welfare system itself. Therefore it is very critical for the government to formulate its social welfare policy so that the policy will not create dependency by itself, better organizing structure of manpower, so the budget can save a few billion and most importantly, better matching of resources and helping those really in need. (1719 words) Reference: 1. Research and Statistics Section, Social Welfare Department, Statistics on Comprehensive Social Security Assistance Scheme, 1999 to 2009 2. Social Welfare Department, A Guide to Comprehensive Social Security Assistance How to cite Social Welfare System in Hong Kong, Essay examples

Grapes of wrath in times of de Essay Example For Students

Grapes of wrath in times of de Essay â€Å"The Grapes of Wrath: In Times of Despair†If one was to examine the three characters, Tom, Ma, and Pa Joad from John Steinback’s The Grapes of Wrath. How would we figure out what astrological signs they were born under, as taken from their actions and attitudes in the novel? What certain qualities do they possess, that make them fit there Zodiac sign?Tom Joad, a hard stubborn man, who has served time in prison for murder. He has come back home to find his family falling apart. At the head there is Pa Joad, who has been trying to keep the family stable. He is failing fast. There seems to be no answer to the drought which has killed the land they farm. So they take to the road. Hoping there will be a new life and work in the west. The whole faimly packs their belongings, and leaves the place they have called home, behind them. Along the way to the west, they have many misfortunes. They still had more to come. Just one of the many families, caught in times of despair. They are held together by, Tom the Lion, Ma the bull, andPawho holds the scales of balance. I chose Leo, the lion for Tom. The lion is an icon of strength. I think his character represents the strength and knowledge. Shown through his psyichal fights and hard crop work in the novel. Also because he had the strength to push on for his family. To keep goin through the hardest times, and overcome his obstacles. He also represents knowledge from his experiences with fixing the truck, and keeping things under control at the government camps. Another example of personal and mental strength, as well as knowledge is the courage it took to leave his family behind at the boxcar farm. He knew he had to leave his family behind for the better of the whole group. Ma Joad represents Taurus, the bull. The bull symbolizes stability. As shown through Ma’s actions and involvment in the novel. There comes a time when, Pa Joad falls into the hopelessness of the whole situtation. At that time Ma steps into the breach and takes over. She must assume the posistion of head, and keep her family going. Keep it together. She takes on the responsibility of running the family, feeding the family, working in the fields for money, and keeping it stable. To overcome all this, one would have to be stable. One would have to have the heart of a bull. Pa Joad would be a Libra, the one who holds the scales.of balance. The Libra symbolizes balance. This is the element Pa brings to the family. After the tragic loss of the grandfather, and grandmother someone had to be at the head. Pa filled that posistion. Even though Noah ran off, Pa was still there. Even in times of despair, Pa was still there. Ma ran the family, but Pa was the head. Which made them a family. A father, a mother, and children. With out Pa there would have been no male/female balance. There would have been no family. Without family what purpose did they have to survive?In conclusion, its not your Zodiac sign that determines your qualities. Your heart determines your qualities and defines who you are. But one was to categorize these characters actions into Zodiac groups. These characters fit those said signs, Tom who is strong like the lion, Ma with the heart of a bull, and Pa who holds the scales of balance.