Does the Labor Law Encourage or Discourage Unionization Essay

Yes they do. And the following is in support of that claim: â€Å"Often described as the ‘heart’ of the act, section 7 of the statute reflects the law’s basic purposes. It provides that ‘employees shall have the right to self-organization, to form, join, or assist labor organizations, to bargain collectively through representatives of their own choosing, and to engage in other concerted activities for the purpose of collective bargaining or other mutual aid and protection’ â€Å" (Kohler, 2004). In addition, the labor laws tend to favor employee and union relationships. Labor laws do provide protection for union employees against wage inequality by defining standard minimum wage requirements and they address other workplace safety issues as well. These labor laws are authorized at the government level and thus allow any public employee to not only join a union, but create one (by organizing) should they so desire. And given the fact that the majority of the employees at West University are public employees, already in established unions, the organization process for the Resident Assistants (RAs). To help facilitate that process, the Graduate Employee Organization (GEO) was affiliated with the United Auto Workers (UAW) union. Although the workforce at West College is a majority of union employees, the non-union employees are not required to join any union due to the fact that Arizona is a right-to-work state. But again, the labor laws to prevail and allow a group of employees to legally organization under State and Federal laws. 2 – Do you think teaching assistants should be considered employees? If they are on a payroll as a W2 individual, and work a set amount of hours then I can’t any reason why they would not be considered employees. Similar to the Resident Assistants, I would imagine that the Teaching Assistants are also students who attend the college as well. Based upon the information provided, the Teaching Assistants are also unionized employees. Education aside, the skill level of the Teaching Assistant should not be a factor when it comes to joining a union, there should be some educational requirements for the job of a Teaching Assistant however. Although a Teaching Assistant does not have teaching credentials, hence they’re not on the same pay grade, but there is a fair amount of experience that a Teaching Assistant is expected to have to perform their job effectively. This does not mean that a Teaching Assistant could not handle the job of teaching a class if they had to, they just do not have the official credentials and could present to the University should they be put into a teaching position. For further clarification, there is a difference that should be noted between an assistant and an intern. Per the following example: â€Å"Intern: a person who works as an apprentice or trainee in an occupation or profession to gain practical experience, and sometimes also to satisfy legal or other requirements for being licensed or accepted professionally.† Whereas â€Å"Assistant: serving in an immediately subordinate position; of secondary rank†¦generally not in training for another role.† (Dictionary.com) 3 – Do you think management’s reaction to employee interest in unionization differs if the employer already has a high union density among other employee groups? If a majority of the employees are already organized in some type of a union setup, then unfortunately, the only reaction that Management can have is to agree to other groups wanting to organization. That is unless Management can come up with some reasons why organization should not take place. This type of a balance has its pros and cons. If this is a type of an environment where a majority of union employees makes more sense, then this type of an arrangement can be productive if even more employees wanted to organize. And it might be best if management did agree to that because there is always the fairness issue that can come up of a group of non-union employees receives the same treatment that the union employees receives. In this case, that is the argument of the Resident Assistants. But at the same time, there are situations where it just makes no sense for a particular group of employees to organize. Now it is a great benefit for the employees to belong to a union but on the flip side of that argument, transitioning from a non-union environment to a union environment can be a lengthy and expensive process. The costs of running a unionized business can be quite. And the case of a University, those costs are not going absorbed as a lost by the school, but instead will be passed down to the consumer, in the case, the student. Thus the tuition costs will keep increasing, and the university runs the risk of losing business to the competition. It doesn’t matter if it is a university, is it still a business. 4 – What are the key factors that led some RAs to have interest in union representation? Do you think that RAs have legitimate job-related concerns, or are the RA complaints overstated? The working conditions of the Resident Assistants were starting to become a concern for the employees. The Resident Assistants have been assigned the task of disciplining their fellow students and were subjected to any pushback. Thus there is a potential conflict of interest since the Resident Assistants are overseeing the immediate area where they are also housed in. Although the Resident Assistants are paid a wage for their services, they are in fact full-time students. Per the labor laws, the University is not required to allow a group of full-time students to organize but it is not against the law Resident Assistants to organize. Now, the Resident assistants, do sign an agreement with the University detailing their job description and what is expected of them. This is certainly a valuable service that is being provided to the University, but at the same it does not warrant an organization movement in my opinion. Especially due to the natural turnover rate of the students (students graduating, etc.), a Resident Assistant is certainly not a long-term position and thus does not really justify signing a union / employee contract for any significant length of time. In summary, the Resident Assistants do have generally good talking points for organization. However, their job description does not warrant the added expense that the University will take on when that group is organized. Should the Residents Assistants job descriptions increase, then yes, organization would be a good idea at the University. But key to remember here is that the Resident Assistants are full-time students with less than part-time jobs that they want to unionize. 5 – Do the RAs opposed to unionization have legitimate concerns? How could unionization change the culture of Residence Life? Those concerns are quite legitimate, and in my opinion, more selfless and grounded than the rest of the Resident Assistants. As mentioned above, these are full-time students with a part-time that they are not being forced to do. They chose to apply for the position, and they signed an agreement of the behavior and expectations (minimum GPA, etc.) The Resident Assistant position should be used as an opportunity to gain some good experience such as what an intern would get but also with a financial incentive. By organizing, the Resident Assistants may miss out on the real experience of interaction with the culture of the campus residential environment. In other words, the resident Assistant would be focusing more on being an employee vs. being a student and a Resident Assistant. Thus, the Resident assistant could possibly be viewed as more of a security guard then someone who is on the same level as the other students. I’m sure there was a fair amount of thought that went into designing the position of the Student Assistant, and it appears that they divided in half. One half, being on the same page with the University in wanting to keep the integrity of the position; and the other half wanting to break away from University tradition and form a separate. Again, not a bad idea to organize if the students were going to be in these positions for a long time, but they’re not. It’s a very transient position. 6 – How does the law regarding union recognition for public employees in this state compare with the NLRA rules regarding union recognition for private-sector employees? There are some similarities. However, Section 7 of the law states the following: to engage in other concerted activities for the purpose of collective bargaining or other mutual aid and protection,† as well as the right to refrain from engaging in any of those activities. (Kohler, 2004) Let’s look at the three key principles of the law as noted by Kohler: â€Å"There are three key principals on which the NLRA rests: 1) the exclusivity principle; 2) the notion of free collective bargaining; and 3) the structural autonomy of the bargaining representative of the employees (in other words, the independence of the employees’ labor union from the employer).† (Kohler, 2004) Breaking this down further, Kohler goes on to explain: Exclusivity Principle. The exclusivity principle is a basic feature of American-style collective bargaining. According to the exclusivity principle, the union representative selected by a majority of employees in a workplace becomes the exclusive (sole) representative of all those employees. (Kohler, 2004) Free Collective Bargaining. Free collective bargaining is the second basic principle of the NLRA. The act leaves the decision whether to organize entirely to employees.(Kohler, 2004) Structural Autonomy. The structural autonomy of the employees’ bargaining representative is the third key principle of the collective bargaining system adopted by the NLRA. This principle anchors the system of free collective bargaining.(Kohler, 2004) In addition, Section 8 of the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) states the following: â€Å"to dominate or interfere with the formation or administration of any labor organization or to contribute financial or other support to it.† (Kohler, 2004) 7 – Why did the LRC determine that RAs and CDAs were employees? Do you agree with the LRC decision? Why? Why not? In summary, I do not agree with the decision handed down by the Labor Relations Commission. Resident Assistants are really only student assistants that earn a small wage through the school year and depending upon the school schedule will not be working in the summertime. The decision to recognized students as employees is reckless and can have consequences down the road. This is a slippery slope. I don’t know the complete reasoning behind the decision of the Labor Relations Commission but if I had to guess I would imagine that there is a bit of a bias since the Labor Relations Commissions tend to lean pro-union. Another concern that the University should be aware of is that now that they Resident Assistants are organized, there is a possibility that these positions can be abused. Prior to organization, the Resident Assistant applicant would sign a Memo of Understanding (MOU) outlining the expectations that they were expected to meet. Being that they are organized now, the Memo of Understanding is most likely going to be tossed out the window and a new set of demands may start coming in over the years. Not to mentioned the future additional labor expenses that the University is going to incur. Works Cited Kohler, Thomas C.. â€Å"National Labor Relations Act (1935).† Major Acts of Congress. 2004. Retrieved October 18, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G2-3407400221.html

National Economy over the Next Decade Essay

Beyond 2007, the pace of economic growth will probably slow somewhat. The main reason is that the labor force is projected to grow less quickly as members of the baby-boom generation begin to retire and as the scheduled expiration of various tax provisions in 2011 discourages work by raising marginal tax rates. Real GDP is projected to grow at an average annual rate of 3. 1 percent between 2008 and 2011 and at 2. 6 percent between 2012 and 2016. The rate of inflation is assumed to average 2. 2 percent after 2007; and the unemployment rate, 5. 2 percent. Interest rates on three-month and 10-year Treasury securities are projected to average 4. 4 percent and 5. 2 percent, respectively (Marron 6). Over the longer term, the aging of the U. S. population combined with rapidly rising health care costs will put significant strains on the federal budget, which begin to be evident within the projection period. When the first members of the baby-boom generation reach age 62 in 2008, they will become eligible for Social Security benefits. As a result, the annual rate of growth of Social Security spending is expected to increase from about 4. 8 percent in 2008 to 6. 5 percent in 2016. In addition, because the cost of health care is likely to continue rising rapidly, the annual rate of growth of Medicare spending is projected to increase from 7. 4 percent in 2008 to about 8. 9 percent in 2016. (Medicare spending is anticipated to rise by 17 percent this year and 14 percent in 2007 as the new prescription drug program gets under way. ) Rapid growth is also projected for Medicaid spending—an average of 8. 3 percent annually from 2008 to 2016. According to Congressional Budget Office, Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid together will account for 56 percent of all federal spending by the end of the projection period (up from 43 percent in 2006). Measured as a share of the economy, spending for the three programs will equal 10. 8 percent of GDP in 2016, up from 8. 7 percent this year. In addition, no evidence suggests that the growth of health care costs, which have risen faster than GDP over the past four decades, is likely to slow significantly in the future. As a result, spending for Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid will exert pressures on the budget that economic growth alone is unlikely to alleviate. A substantial reduction in the growth of spending and perhaps a sizable increase in taxes as a share of the economy will be necessary for fiscal stability to be at all likely in the coming decades. References: Baker, Gerard. U. S. economy may be headed for a big crash. The Times of London. August 23, 2006. 23 Aug 2006. Barrell, Ray et al. World Economy Forecast. National Institute Economic Review. 28th July, 2006. No. 197. Baumohl, Bernard. Mid-Year U. S. Economic Forecasts For 2006 and 2007. Wharton School Publishing. June 15, 2006. 23 Aug 2006.

The View of Scholar on the Kingdom of God

by David W. Baker. It is posted with permission from the author. I. Introduction The Kingdom of God has been one of the dominant topics of New Testament study in this century. The reason is obvious. Many scholars, both conservative and critical, regard the kingdom of God as â€Å"the central theme† of Jesus’ public proclamation. 1 In fact, a plethora of monographs has poured forth since Johannes Weiss and Albert Schweitzer made the case that Jesus’ teaching was profoundly Jewish, drenched in intense eschatological hope. This new view contended against nineteenth century views, which moralized the kingdom and made it palatable to modern taste by arguing it was merely an expression of ethical sensitivity raised up in the hearts of men. In contrast, Weiss and Schweitzer argued that Jesus’ claim for the kingdom anticipated God’s stark intervention in the very near future that would reshape the creation. The view became known as â€Å"consistent,† â€Å"thorough-going† or â€Å"imminent† eschatology.For Weiss, the kingdom was purely religious, not ethical; purely future, not present in any way. The Kingdom would be God’s final miracle with Jesus functioning in his current ministry as Messias designatus. 3 For Weiss, Jesus believed that he would one day become the Son of Man. At first, Jesus believed that this would occur during his lifetime, and later in his ministry, he anticipated it to come shortly after His death. 4 It is a heritage that Jesus believed he possessed, though he had not yet entered into it.For Schweitzer, Jesus expected the end to come at first in his ministry. As he sent out the twelve in mission (Matthew 10:23), he believed that before they finished their tour of the cities of Israel, the Son of Man would come and bring the kingdom. Its appearance would mean the end of the present age, and he would be transformed into the Son of Man. When the disciples returned from their mission with out this taking place, Jesus’ hopes of the end changed. It would take suffering, his own suffering, for the Kingdom to come. His death would bring the Kingdom. Though very different than Schweitzer, the oldest dispensationalists also stressed the Jewish roots of kingdom hope and placed its ultimate expression, as originally expressed through the hope of Israel’s scriptures, strictly in the future, what they referred to as the â€Å"kingdom of heaven. † Whatever relationship Jesus’ work in the present had to the kingdom, it was part of a previously unrevealed â€Å"mystery† that made its current expression something istinct from what had been promised to Israel and distinct from what was to come one day in fulfillment. This distinction between what would happen for Israel one day and what happens to the church today was a major element in the traditional dispensational distinction between Israel and the church in the plan of God. However, in the mid dle of this century, that clear distinction was somewhat blurred, though how it worked precisely was never agreed to or clearly set forth as four separate views were espoused. Unlike Schweitzer, these dispensationalists, saw no â€Å"error† or â€Å"change† in Jesus’ understanding, but like him they regarded the promise of the future to be so rooted in Jewish hope and so grand in its scale that nothing Jesus did currently could be seen as the fulfillment of that great promise of old. For both classical and revised dispensationalists, the mystery introduced into the kingdom program, conceived in various ways in this century, represented an â€Å"intercalation† in the kingdom program of God, distinct from the hope given to Israel.So throughout this century, the idea that kingdom hope was richly Jewish and pointed strongly, if not exclusively, to the future has been prominent in New Testament theology, whether conservative or not. 7 As we shall see, this emp hasis on the future form of the kingdom is well grounded in biblical hope. Other views also have emerged in this century. Two approaches were like the nineteenth century â€Å"romanticized† efforts to redefine the kingdom in ways moderns could embrace.So efforts were made to demyhtologize Jesus’ image of the apocalyptic Kingdom into either an existential claim for a crisis decision (Bultmann) or to turn kingdom language into a mere metaphorical symbol of hope and transformation (Wilder and the later Perrin). 8 Both of these attempts, representing more liberal readings of Scripture, tried to redeem the kingdom concept by redefining it. However, two other approaches seriously sought to engage the biblical text and assess the model Weiss and Schweitzer introduced.These two other main views of the kingdom in this century have reacted to the â€Å"strictly future† model of the kingdom in two very diverse ways. One view, associated with C. H. Dodd, opted for a reading that the Kingdom hope was totally realized in Jesus’ ministry. 9 This became known as â€Å"realized† eschatology. The other, rooted in the work of Werner Kummel, R. H. Fuller, and Joachim Jeremias, argued that the view of the kingdom had both present and future elements. 10 This became known as the â€Å"already/not yet† view of the kingdom or eschatology in the process of realization. † In fact, Jeremias in his conclusion to his volume on the parables closes this way, â€Å"In attempting to recover the original significance of the parables, one thing above all becomes evident: it is that all the parables of Jesus compel his hearers to come to a decision about his person and mission. For they all are full of ‘the secret of the Kingdom of God’ (Mark 4. 11), that is to say, the recognition of ‘an eschatology in the process of realization. The hour of fulfillment is come, that is the urgent note that sounds through them all. †11 Th is view was made famous in evangelical circles by George Ladd. 12 It is probably the most prominent view currently in New Testament circles at large, both conservative and critical. It is known as â€Å"inaugurated† eschatology. 13 The kingdom was inaugurated or was dawning in Jesus’ words and deeds, but its consummation was yet future. As we shall see, there are also good reasons why this view is held.I lay out this â€Å"map† of views at the start, because the issue of what the kingdom is, when it begins, and how it proceeds have been the key questions in this century. But treating the theology of the kingdom involves far more than these questions, as we hope to show and survey. In fact, I hope to consider a series of issues tied to the kingdom. They include: (1) Linguistics and the Kingdom in Jewish Expectation: A Static or Tensive Symbol; (2) Kingdom as Apocalyptic (Imminence; Remaking of This World Into The Age to Come or Renewing This World in This History or Both); (3) Kingdom: Present, Future, or Both? (4) Defining the Kingdom: â€Å"Dynamic†Ã¢â‚¬â€œGod’s Powerful Presence in Rule (God in Strength) or â€Å"Realm† (Church, Israel, World, or â€Å"Eschatological†) or All the Above; (5) The Kingdom and Ethics; (6) Beyond the Term Kingdom (Messiah, Spirit, Son of Man, Salvation, Gospel, Overcoming Satan and Sin); (7) Kingdom outside the Gospels (Why Is The Term Less Prevalent? ); and (8) So What? : The Kingdom and Today. So not only is the kingdom theme an important New Testament concept generating a rich history of discussion, it is also one of the most complex topics in Scripture. II.The Kingdom, Jesus, the Hebrew Scriptures, and Second Temple Jewish Kingdom Hope: A Static or Tensive Symbol? When Jesus used the expression â€Å"kingdom of God,† how much of its meaning can we assume he and his audience shared? This becomes an important question because the expression itself, surprisingly, is totally absent in the Hebrew Scriptures. 14 Here is a case where the study of an idea has to move past a study of the set phrase to get anywhere. The idea, however, is more frequent. 15 Yahweh is King (1 Sam 12:12; Ps. 24:10; Is. 33:22; Zeph. 3:15; Zech. 14:16-17). He rules over Israel (Exod. 15:18; Num. 23:21; Deut. 33:5; Is. 43:15).He rules over the earth or the creation (2 Kings 19:15; Is. 6:5; Jer. 46:18; Ps. 29:10; 47:2; 93; 96:10; 145:11, 13). He possesses a royal throne (Ps. 9:4; 45:6; 47:8; Is. 6:1; 66:1; Ezek 1:26). His reign is ongoing (Ps. 10:16; 146:10; Is. 24:23). Rule or kingship is His (Ps. 22:28). It is primarily God’s special relationship to Israel that is in view here as the Son of David is said to sit on Yahweh’s throne (1 Chron 17:14; 28:5; 29:23; 2 Chron 9:8; 13:8). When Israel was overrun by the nations, a longing existed that one day God would reestablish his rule on behalf of his people and show his comprehensive sovereignty to all humanity.After all, God had committed himself to David concerning a dynasty of duration (2 Sam. 7:13). It is here that the hope of a future kingdom of God, made not with hands, came to be contrasted with the kingdoms of men in Daniel 2 and 7. It is in the context of such expectation that Jesus used the term â€Å"kingdom of God. † What was hoped for was something that had existed in the past, but only as a mere glimpse of what had been promised–a rule to come involving total peace for God’s people. In sum, Kingdom hope by the time of the Babylonian captivity is driven forward by the vision of the fullness of God’s rule showing up one day.It was to this hope that Jesus preached. Such a hope had been nurtured in some circles of second temple Judaism. 16 The kingdom became linked (sometimes) to the messianic hope, but (always) to judgment of the nations, and vindication of the saints. Some Jewish documents, content with the current arrangement, do not reflect any such hope. The concept is expressed with some variety, but central to its expression is that God will assert his comprehensive rule (1 Enoch 9:4-5; 12:3; 25; 27:3; 81:3).God’s powerful presence will involve the removal of Satan’s influence (Assumption of Moses 7–10). He will destroy his enemies and free his people. These enemies are described in both earthly terms, like the Romans in Psalms of Solomon 17–18 and 2 Baruch 36-40, and in spiritual terms, where Belial stands among the evil forces who will be defeated (1QS 3–4). Often the coming of the kingdom was seen as preceded by a period of intense upheaval and tribulation (Sib. Or. 3:796-808; 2 Bar. 70:2-8; 4 Ezra 6:24; 9:1-12; 13:29-31; 1QM 12:9; 19:1-2). The cry of the prayer of 2 Macc. :24-29 summarizes well the hope of deliverance. The call was for God to deliver and vindicate his people. The text of Psalms of Solomon 17–18 gives the most detailed expression of messianic hope in all the texts, though the idea of kingdom in this period of Judaism did not always entail a messianic hope. 17 In fact, sometimes the Messiah is seen in very earthly terms as in the Psalms of Solomon, while in other texts, he clearly possesses a more transcendent power (1 Enoch 37–71) or has a seeming mix of the two (4 Ezra 7:28-29; 12:32-34; 13:26).Thus, associated with the consistent idea of God’s coming comprehensive and vindicating rule for his people is a complex and varying array of sub-themes tied to the kingdom’s coming. In Judaism, there was no unified view of the kingdom beyond the hope of God’s powerful coming and vindication. It is important to appreciate that it is into this somewhat confused backdrop that Jesus preached this hope. This complex background raises the question could Jesus use the phrase and really be understood? More importantly, in presenting his understanding of the idea represented in the kingdom could he assume an understanding of the term by hi s audience?Given the paucity of Old Testament use of the phrase and the variety of details attached to the hope within Judaism, Jesus needed to explain his usage in order to be clear. It is this complexity that raises the issue of whether Jesus’ use of the term was â€Å"static† (steno) or â€Å"tensive. † 18 Norman Perrin posed two options. Did Jesus use the term one way all the time with a fixed referent (steno)? Or was his use of the term something that he used with symbolic force but that could not be contained in one referent alone (tensive)?We opt for a third possibility, did Jesus’ use operate within a fixed parameter, which he filled with a variety of detail because of the richness of the base concept he was defining and detailing (tensive yet with a steno-like base)? 19 How one approaches Jesus’ terminology will impact how one reads it. Four factors favor this third option. First, the number of and variety within the gospel kingdom sayings placed alongside the paucity of older references in the Hebrew Scriptures suggests that Jesus is developing the concept along additional lines from what the Old Testament taught.However, Jesus’ respect for that revelation means that he is not altering the concept, but developing and complementing it. We hope to show the variety within his teaching that validates this point. Second, the very consistency of the fundamental image within Judaism means that a basic understanding of kingdom did exist on which Jesus could build. It is God’s kingdom and rule that is presented as the hope. The sheer number of texts that discuss judgment and vindication under this theme both in Scripture and in later Judaism show that Jesus works with a given understanding at its base.Reflection taking place within Second Temple Judaism represented attempts to put the hope of Scripture together in terms of the details. Jesus both accepts and rejects elements of these reflections. Third, this id ea that Jesus works with a rarely used Old Testament term and yet develops it using larger categories of scriptural teaching has precedent elsewhere in his own use. Jesus does the same type of thing with the Son of Man concept. That description of a human invested with eschatological authority appears in Daniel 7 (note the conceptual overlap with the kingdom theme–Dan. is a key kingdom text). Jesus takes this one image and uses it as a collection point for his christology. In the same way, Jesus takes the kingdom concept and uses it as a collection point for both soteriology and eschatology. 20 Fourth, the very confusion of detail within Judaism of Jesus’ time demanded that he take this type of approach to the concept. Here was a phrase that basically did not exist in the Old Testament. However, by Jesus’ time, multiple concepts swirled around it, even though its basic meaning was well established.The phrase clearly sought to summarize a major strand of Jewish h ope, yet it needed defining. Its absence in the Old Testament gave Jesus room to make it a helpful synthesizing concept. Its familiarity and importance within Judaism, because of the hope it encapsulated, made it a key term to nail down. The very diversity in its contemporary usage required that Jesus explain and develop the term. Thus, as we turn to Jesus’ use, we can expect that on the one hand he was referring to a hope his audience understood in its most basic terms, but something that also needed more detail and development.

Stateless People - Illegal immigrants in the U.S Essay

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Genetically Modified Organisms Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Genetically Modified Organisms - Assignment Example From the report it is clear that genetic engineering of plants and animal usually involve the modification of genes and DNA of organisms so that they can have more desirable characteristics. The process usually involvesvarious stages. The genetic engineers usually get the desired genes from the genomes of the organisms that are supposed to act as donors. The desired genes are then introduced to the organism that is supposed to be genetically modified. Only the desired genes are always transferred to the genome of the organism that is supposed to undergo genetic modification. The resulting organism is usually very different from the original organisms. According to the discussion findings there are a number of foods that are available in the supermarkets that contain genetically modified organisms. These products include cheese, soya beans oil, corn syrup, bread, snacks, squash, papayas, sugar beet, sweet pepper, polish canola, and petunia. All these foods have been modified with the aim of making them more beneficial to the lives of human beings. There are high numbers of products that contain genetically modified organisms in the market and it would be hard for a person to completely ignore the consumption of such products. Safety of consumption of foods that contain genetically modified organism is something that has been debatable for a long time. Despite the fact that people have always been constantly assured of the safety of GMO products, the uncertainty of the safety of consumption of these products have never been eliminated.

Microeconomic of my own life Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Microeconomic of my own life - Essay Example Having learnt various principles and theories in microeconomics, the objective of this paper is to relate my life experiences to some of these microeconomic aspects. Microeconomics has made me appreciate choice as a comparison of alternatives. The forgone opportunities for the next benefit alternatives would be referred to as opportunity cost as noted by Boyes and Melvin (23). Opportunity costs refer to the highly valued alternatives which have to be forgone when making a choice. Thus, in my case, the freedom to watch movies, eat the food of my choice and play with my pet would be considered as the opportunity cost as I had to forgo this for the sake of enrolling in a boarding school. The next benefit alternative would thus be joining a boarding school which was meant to make me excel academically. Despite the academic benefit that I was to realize by being in a boarding school, I found other benefits that I would not have found had I remained in my previous learning institution. My father worked in a pen manufacturing firm and hence gave me the best ball-pens to use for my writing. I made many friends in school because of these pens as many students would borrow my pens. At first, I was generous enough to give them out. Within a short period of time, students would demand to know where the pens were sourced from. Actually, the pens were available in the stores but at a high cost and thus stocked less. Remember, Boyes and Melvin (23) observe that costly goods do not elicit the urge to buy from consumers. A majority of pen users would prefer the less costly pen varieties as long as these pens served the intended purpose, quality aside. Since my father supplied these pens to me free of charge and in unlimited quantities, I started selling them to those students who demanded for it at a slightly lower cost than they fetched in the retail stores. The attractive qualities of the pens including swift gliding while writing and availability in diverse colors made the p ens popular. Word went round the school on the attributes of the pen which made the demand increase. Students drawn from various classes would look for me to supply them with these pens. Realizing the increased demand for the pens, I raised the selling price for each pen. This trend follows the microeconomic law of supply which according to Boyes and Melvin (52) dictates an increase in supply with increase in the prices of specific goods or services and a decrease in supply with a fall in price. Assuming the role of a supplier, as the students were willing to spend more to have the pens, I kept increasing the cost. Since I could not wholly satisfy the demand for these pens, I could not determine the effect of price increase on demand which according to the law of demand dictates that with such price increases, there tends to be a decrease in demand. But the trend did not last for long as I had to be careful neither to sell the pens at the cost in the stores nor to sell them at a cos t deemed exorbitant to the students. It reached a point where I could clearly see the impact of price increment on the demand for the pens from the students. As if abiding by the law of demand, the students gradually reduced their demand until I had a number of students whose demand for the pens I could satisfy at the indicated cost. In essence, this was the equilibrium according to

Case study 2 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4500 words

Case study 2 - Essay Example Founded in the year 2008, Orla’s Coffees has been experiencing continuous growth with its eight coffee shops across different locations in Dublin. The organisation is basically renowned for its thematic interior, which offers quality based coffee to each consumer or group. The coffee shops of the organisation offer a thematic library experience to its valuable customer groups, who are also provided an opportunity of borrowing and donating books as per their interests. Throughout the years, Orla’s Coffees shops have drawn the attention of varied group of consumers across the whole area of Dublin city in the form of providing greater product and/or service values to them. Therefore, offering product and/or service value towards each repeated consumer is one of the imperative factors for the success of the coffee shops of the company. However, despite the challenges derived from the major economic transitions, Orla’s coffees shops have also been recognised to undergo major constraints due to its ineffective data information system infrastructure. Due to the impact of economic recession, the company has had experience of reducing its numbers of coffee shops from eight to five throughout the previous three years. The situation thus called for making a major decision towards rejuvenating potentials of the company. In order to effectively deal with the problems, it is quite necessary for Orla’s Coffees to obtain valuable responses of its customer groups by combining their location and demographic data. This can substantially enable the organisation to make strong decisions in the sphere of raising maximum profitability. Therefore, the primary objective of this report is to critically assess the current business performance of Orla’s Coffees and develop an effective management decision-making tool on its behalf. The proposed

Financial ratios and their implications along with their usage Literature review

Financial ratios and their implications along with their usage - Literature review Example This essay discusses that financial ratios have been used by firms around the world to analyse how one firm performs in comparison to the other firm as well as to analyse the performance of the firm over the period of years. Therefore management calculates and uses financial ratios to identify the performance gap of the firm against its own past performances as well as against the performance of competing firms in the industry. In addition to this, management uses to analyse the financial performance of the firm against the average financial ratios of the firms operating in the industry as well and then identify areas where the firm has not been performing up to the mark. Some organisations use the financial ratios for the purpose of benchmarking as well and they tend to set different targets for different kinds of financial ratios and then make efforts to achieve these financial ratios. For instance, a firm would like to achieve a profit margin of 20% and therefore in order to achie ve this profit margin, the company would be making efforts to reduce the cost of the company or generate more sales so that costs is allocated to more sold units and targeted profit margin is achieved. Financial ratios are an important indicator about the performance of the firm and therefore it has been used not only by the management of the organisation but these financial ratios have also been used by investors, shareholders, suppliers, distributors and other stakeholders to analyse the financial performance of the company. ... Financial ratios can be subdivided into five major types of financial ratios on the basis of what these ratios reflect: 1. Profitability Ratios 2. Liquidity Ratios 3. Activity Ratios or Efficiency Ratios 4. Leverage Ratios 5. Market Ratios There are different financial ratios included in each of the five categories discussed above and each type or of ratios have their own importance and implications. TYPES OF FINANCIAL ratios Profitability Ratios Profitability ratios reflect how the firm is making profits using the assets or resources it has (Kaplan, and Atkinson, 1998). There are different types of profitability ratios and some of the most important profitability ratios have been discussed below: Profit Margin Profit margin of the firm is calculated using two variables; net profit of the company and the net revenue or net sales. Profit margin reflects the percentage of profits the firm earns out of the total revenue it generates. Formula for calculating profit margin is as follows: Higher profit margin of the firm shows that the cost of making profits is low and lower profit margin indicates that the cost of the company is high. Negative value of profit margin indicates a loss. Gross Profit Margin Gross margin of the firm reflects the profits generated by the company after deducting the production cost (Khan, 1993,). Higher gross profit margin reflects that the cost of production of the firm is low and vice versa. The formula for calculating gross margin is as follows: Operating Margin or Operating Profit Margin Operating profit margin of the firm reflects the ratio of operating profits of the firm against the net sales (Atkinson, Kaplan, Matsumura, & Young, 2007). Operating profit margin can be calculated using the following ratio: Operating

Economics of Canadian Immigration Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Economics of Canadian Immigration - Essay Example In describing the political culture of Canada, certain recent happenings never fail to feature prominently. The Quebec separatist movement and the emergence of conservatism especially in the west are some of the issues that have had great impacts on the Canadian political culture especially in the last two decades (Little 112-125). The propositions in the Quebec agenda and the differences in these policies in relation to the federal policies that define the rest of Canada are indeed topical issues that greatly define the political culture in Canada. The Quebec separatists’ need to secede from the greater Canada was an issue that did not go down well with the Canadian government (Wiley 32). The fundamental concept that arises in the Canadian political analysis is the concept of immigration to Canada and its effects in shaping the political culture in Canada. Most Canadians, unlike Americans, strongly feel that their government should be involved in the political and economic aspects of life in the country (Jameson 78). This support of the government arises out of the historical experiences that marked the Canadian evolvement. Unlike the US, the resistance of republicanism in Canada created a culture of less individualism and more support for government activities (Russell 11). The adoption of British parliamentary and legal systems coupled with loyalist conservatism is certainly the idea behind the Canadians’ obsession with better forms of governance and good politics (Bond 34-42). Such a mindset has been very instrumental in creating a unique political identity in Canada. On the contrary, it has been noticed that most Canadians are never very keen in paying att ention and learning the overall history of their country and its effects on their present lives (Ballack 89). They instead focus majorly on the history of specific regions or the history of a specific people in Canada. Such an analysis does not inundate one with the very pertinent

Report Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Report - Coursework Example In this context, poor communication resulted from unclear goals and duties that the woman had. Indeed, it seems like the woman did not have a clear understanding of her duties in the group. Lack of a job description in this context led to poor communication since the woman did not know what to do in the group presentation. Moreover, the cultural diversity in the group led to poor communication since members had their own way of interpreting things especially the visual aids used by the woman in the presentation. As such, they felt that she did not contribute much to the work done by the group. The group had poor leadership who failed to offer clear direction throughout the assignment. Indeed, the incompetent leadership in the group failed to inspire confidence on the members (Brookins 2014). As such, the woman lost confidence in her work leading to poor communication. In some cases, the leadership failed to address the queries raised by the woman leaving her in the dark over her role in the group. The woman lost interest in the assignment and only did what she thought was right and nothing more. She felt unappreciated as she lacked an opportunity to exploit her skills, knowledge, and creativity. As a result, other group members felt that she did not contribute much to the work done by the group. On the other hand, the woman and other group members had personal issues that affected their concentration and commitment to the assignment (Brookins 2014). This fostered poor communication that led to the dismissal of the woman from the group. Additionally, fear is another factor that led to poor communication in the group. After losing her confidence and interest on the assignment, the woman developed the fear of failing in the assignment. As such, her contribution to the group was below the group’s expectation and hence the dismissal. There was low momentum in the group where members were not facing

Globalization and Volkswagen Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3250 words

Globalization and Volkswagen - Essay Example Volkswagen was incorporated in the year 1937. Volkswagen group is regarded as one the globe’s foremost automobile manufactures with its headquarters situated in Wolfsburg at Germany.Volkswagen was incorporated in the year 1937. Volkswagen group is regarded as one the globe’s foremost automobile manufactures with its headquarters situated in Wolfsburg at Germany. By globalising its business activities, Volkswagen has not only spread its activities in all the five continents of the globe but also able to transfer its technology to these markets, has created local employment and by adding local contents in its products it has opened the doors for local businessmen and has offered jobs to local people, it has helped to nourish local industries in foreign markets and has achieved cost savings about 15 to 25% due to local contents. This research essay is going to analyse how Volkswagen has benefitted from the process of globalisation. Volkswagen and Globalisation Globalizatio n can be referred as an active method of liberlisation, integration of market across the extensive array of markets internationally from goods to labor and from capital to services and technology. Globalisation is footed on the principle of freedom: the freedom to have commerce with the rest of the globe and capitalise on each nation’s relative gains; the freedom to invest where returns on capital are deemed to be highest within a tolerable magnitude of risk and the freedom to establish business of country’s of one’s choice... MNCs hold strong places in all three channels of globalisation and by clarity, they vouch for all foreign direct investment ( FDI), they are very active in trade , with thirty percent of global trade taking place within the MNCs and not between the MNCs and they transfer the knowledge and the bulk of technology across borders through intrafirm business transactions , create employment in host countries , responsible for rapid growth of GDP in the host countries and can be said to be responsible for increasing the standard of living in the countries, they conduct the business. (Ervin & Smith, 2008, p.24). Thus, due to the poignant position of MNCs, globalisation can be referred as the business decisions made by the MNCs as regards to their international business activities under transforming scenarios of international competition. (Kleinert, 2004, p.3). Globalisation also refers to the liberalisation of financial flow. Financial liberalisation eventually increases economic growth, eff iciency and development by infusing new technical know and foreign investment. Economic liberalisation connotes introduction of policies like removal of credit controls, deregulation of interest rates, privatisation of banks controlled by government, elimination of credit controls, permitting foreign financial institutions in the domestic financial markets and relaxation of the bar on the entry of private sectors. In short, it can be said that liberalisation means removal all barriers from the inflow of capital outside the frontiers of a nation. (Ariccia, 2008, p.3). It is to be noted that one cannot expect that mere economic liberalisation cannot achieve inflow of capital as only about 14 nations could attract in excess of eighty-five percent of

Themes in Kafkas Essay Example for Free

Themes in Kafkas Essay Themes in Frank Kafkas â€Å"Metamorphosis† Franz Kafkas â€Å"Metamorphosis† is a story about a man who awakes one morning to find himself transformed into a giant bug. This metamorphosis causes a clash between the main character Gregor Samsa and his family which in turn creates major changes in all characters. Kafka utilizes many themes in the story including change, isolation, power and money. These themes aid in making the story vague, while retaining a sense of lucidity. One main theme in the story is change. Gregor Samsas reality changes only mildly, despite his radical physical transformation. Prior to his mutation, Gregor’s life was consumed with his work as a traveling salesman in addition to taking care of his family. A boring life, dominated by providing for his family, much like a bug provides for his nest or hive. He describes his life as the plague of traveling: the anxieties of changing trains, the irregular, inferior meals, the ever changing faces, never to be seen again, people with whom one has no chance to be friendly (Kafka 13). The real metamorphosis occurs when he realizes his present situation, and his role in his household. Gregor does not change into a bug; he simply recognizes that he has been one for quite some time. This sudden epiphany could certainly send him into a shock that causes a mental sickness, eventually leading to his death. From the very beginning the setting creates an atmosphere of isolation, a major theme in the story. â€Å"Gregor’s room is at the center of the Samsa family’s apartment, with one wall facing the outside, the opposite wall bordering on the living room, and the two side walls shared with the bedroom of Gregor’s parents and his sister respectively. Each of these walls has an egress onto the world: the outside wall has a window, and the other walls have doors leading to the adjacent rooms. These doors, however – and in particular the double-door that opens into the living room – are not simple entranceways into the communal realm of the family; rather, they symbolize precisely that contradictory complex of merger with and separation from the family that each section of the narrative enacts. These doors function not only as passageways but also as barriers – indeed, ultimately they are impenetrable barriers. (Gray 286) After his transformation, Gregor is completely isolated. He realizes that it’s not much different than his life previous life, as the job to which he has been so dedicated, shows their disloyalty to him. â€Å"Moreover, it turns out that Gregor works for a firm that does not trust its employees at all: because he is late this one day, the chief clerk shows up to check on him and begins hinting that he is suspected of embezzling funds and may very well be fired† (Smith 193). His family alienates him as well. Grete, his younger sister, is the only one who helps him. She was scared but managed to put her apprehensions aside, even getting angry with others for trying to help. After her acceptance as role of caretaker, the other members of Gregors family do not associate with him. No one attempted to understand him, no one, not even his sister, imagined that she could understand him(Kafka 45). As an insect, he can still hear, however, so he knows what others want, but they cannot know what he wants. This seems an apt situation for Gregor to end up in, because his life even before his transformation seems to have been one of catering to others’ needs while suppressing his own. Before long, Gregor settles on the fact that throughout his metamorphosis he has neither lost nor gained anything. Even his unsettling dreams the morning of his mutation symbolize a troubled life before his metamorphosis. He is expressing his feelings of a lack of fulfillment and it shows a layer of him otherwise hidden. The actual metamorphosis symbolizes a rebellion assertion of unconscious desires and energies (Eggenschwiler 203). His mother and father treat him as a monster, instead of their son who is in need of help and support, just like they neglected their parental roles before his transformation, allowing him to take on all of their responsibilities. Although in some ways the transformation reinforces Gregor’s alienation from the world, in other ways becoming an insect is a way for him to escape his unhappy life. No longer will he have to work at his burdensome job, or care for his family who do not return the same care or respect. Gregor is not the only one to go through a drastic change in the story. His mother, sister and father also transform in ways not easily defined by outward appearance. This leads to the second major theme of the book, power. Power is both gained and surrendered by all members of the Samsa family at different points in the story. Before his transformation, Gregor holds the power as the man of the house. He earns the money to pay rent, provide food, and dig his family out of the overwhelming debt his mother and father have gotten into. After his transformation, Gregor loses this authority, basically imprisoned in his room, unable to attend to the responsibilities he once had. Gregor’s humanity, to the extent that his parents and sister acknowledge it, is inextricably tied to his function as economic provider† (Bloom 60). His father, however, gains power as he takes on the role as head of household. He is consumed by the family’s financial burden from the first day after Gregor’s mutation. He now finds the strength to find employme nt, something he was too ill to do while Gregor provided for the family. Interestingly, he can only regain his power after Gregor himself, the self-sacrificing, downtrodden one, is dead. This suggests that the presence of a self-sacrificing person drains those around him. Gregor sees his father after some time has passed since his transformation and asks, â€Å"Was this the same man who in the old days used to lie wearily buried in bed when Gregor left on a business trip; who greeted him on his return in the evening, sitting in his bathrobe in the armchair, who actually had difficulty getting to his feet† (Kafka 36)? Although Gregor has the most obvious transformation, it seems Grete, his younger sister, changes the most throughout the story, many of these changes involving her own power and standing in the family. At first she takes on the role as his caretaker, bringing him food, cleaning his room and trying to make him as comfortable as possible in his room. She is his only tie to his family and really his only link to humanity. She gains the consideration of her parents, who once considered her quite useless. â€Å"Often he heard them say how much they appreciated his sister’s work, whereas until now they had frequently been annoyed with her† (Kafka 29). She however takes on her own transformation, from girl to woman. With this change, her pity for Gregor diminishes. When at first she had helped Gregor out of kindness, eventually she comes to regard the job as a chore. She doesn’t always enjoy it, but it serves to define her position in the family, and she becomes territorial about this power she has gained, not wanting her mother to be involved. As she matures and takes on more adult responsibilities, most notably getting a job to help provide for her family financially, her commitment to Gregor diminishes. Grete tells her parents, â€Å"We must try to get rid of it† (Kafka 49). Eventually she comes to resent the burden of what Gregor has become and it s Grete who decides they must get rid of â€Å"it†. While not as prominent as the other themes, but in correlation with power, the theme of money weaves a path through the story. Gregor is enslaved to his family because he is the only one who makes money. With the exception of his sister, the family seems to treat him not as a son, but as a source of income. When Gregor is no longer able to work after his metamorphosis, he is treated with revulsion and neglect. Once the family begins working, they also find difficulty communicating with each other, eating dinner in silence and fighting amongst themselves. The exhaustion brought on by dehumanizing jobs and the recognition that people are only valuable so long as they earn a salary keeps them isolated from one another and unable to create real connections. This story has limited depth if the reader only takes it for its literal meaning and fails to read between the lines to discover the themes included. The reader must delve deeper into the story in order to understand it completely. Kafka kept this story compelling with the inclusion of these themes and other symbolism.

How the misrepresentation of war and conflict can lead to a false view of events

How the misrepresentation of war and conflict can lead to a false view of events Introduction In June 2009, it was announced that there would be an Inquiry looking into the Iraq War, and the United Kingdoms involvement within it (â€Å"About the Inquiry†, 2009). The Chilcot Inquiry aimed to cover the period between the summer of 2001 and the end July 2009, looking at not only the run-up to the conflict, but also the period during, and the outcomes after measures had been taken. Its aims were set to find out the legality and legitimacy of the conflict (Hirsch, 2009), and how it was presented to the public, prior to engagement. There has been much debate over whether what the public are presented with is as truthful as it states to be. Whether it be giving a cleaner depiction, with exaggerated sophistication, or â€Å"inflated claims† (Meacher, 2010, para. 2), such as the ‘weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, it can be debated that a fair representation is somewhat hard to find. The purpose of this dissertation is to look at how conflict can become misrepresented via the media. It aims to look at the various ways that the media communicate the conflict to the public, and how it poses itself as a watchdog, supposedly working as the publics eyes and ears, as well as giving them an outlet via which their ‘voice can be heard. Whilst one initially thinks of war as a brutal and life affecting situation, more recent war seems to leave most western citizens relatively untouched, and therefore, perhaps less informed. What little they may know tends to be gathered via television or print media, and tends to somewhat be taken quite literally as the ‘way it is. Chapter one brings together these ideas, and explores how the news present conflicts to its audiences. The dissertation then goes on to address the problematic representations that have occurred, and looks at how news can be manufactured for audiences, depicting situations in differing ways to how they are really occurring. It also looks at the idea of propaganda, and the negative and positive ways in which it can be used. This second chapter also addresses the Abu Ghraib situation, and how such a horrific situation can by-pass the media, and perhaps be covered-up. The media however, proved to play a positive role, informing the public of the situation, bringing them into the loop. Other elements which must be addressed is alternative representations. From documentary to video games, people now often use media which originates from conflict as a form of entertainment. Whether it be to inform themselves further, in the cause of documentaries, or to entertain and ‘participate, the media enables audiences to approach the idea of conflict from other angles. This is therefore why it is vital that such genres be addressed when looking at the representation of war and conflict. Chapter One: The Media; Our Eyes and Ears and Voice? When considering how most people get their news and current affairs information, most tend to trust and favour certain institutions. They trust these sources to deliver them accurate and truthful reports. Few people would question their favourite institutions ability to do so, or would question the validity of the ‘stories, consuming them as factual information, and would rarely think beyond it. As discussed by McChesney and Nichols, ideally, the media is supposed to â€Å"serve as a stern watchdog over those in power and those who want to be in power† (McChesney Nichols, 2002, p.24). This supports the idea that the media can be used to aid a countrys citizenship, helping those who do not have power to have a voice. Without the media, the public would find it hard to be heard, so they need to have the media on their side, likewise, the government must have the support of the media to influence the public (Katz, 2009, p.200). But whether the media really honours its role as ‘watchdog is questionable. When considering the media, particularly in relation to reporting conflict, it seems somewhat unlikely that a completely fair and accurate representation, to all audiences, could occur. The BBC, according to Aitken (2007, p.8), is thought of as one of the most trustworthy places that one can gather news and information. This could be due to a sense of ownership in which the UK public feel (via the license fee), or due to it being the most historically established. Either way, nationally, and internationally, it has become a trusted organisation. Zelizer and Allan even argue that, particularly post September 11, the BBC has become an organisation that the American public trust to deliver what they see as more extensive information. In comparison to US media representations, the BBC â€Å"provided a much more in depth approach, [] along with [a] ‘blunter attitude† (Zelizer Allan, 2002, p.12) . According to Aitken, (2007, p.2), the BBC does have a duty under its Royal Charter, in order to maintain the license fee, that it must not be biased or favour views. This may indicate why it is seen as a more trustworthy source of information. However, as questioned by Aitken, it may be seen as the BBC holds people and organisations to account, but â€Å"who holds the BBC to account?† (Aitken, 2007, p.2). Particularly, when as Aitken suggests (2007, p.20), the political opinion within the organisation would be formed by those working within it. As Navasky discusses, â€Å"journalism, the flow of news, information, and ideas, is the circulation system of our democracy, the way we find out whats what. It is based largely on journalism that we make up our national mind† (Navasky, 2002, p.xiii). The medias influence over the public is tremendous, especially as it may be the main influence over many of ones beliefs. It therefore shows that there is a sense that the media should be aware of its power, and should therefore be regulated in such a way that it does allow diversity of representations to occur. As Doyle asserts, it is vital that there is a number of â€Å"different and independent voices, and of differing political opinions and representations† (Doyle, 2002, p.11). However, as Aitken continues, journalists report using their own views, and may do so completely unintentionally. However, when many journalists within an organisation are of similar beliefs, it could be hard for them to realise they may be bia sed. This is an â€Å"institutional deformation, invisible to the people working there, unless you were one of a small minority who happen to take a different political view† (Aitken, 2007, p.20). When considering journalism of attachment, it is easy to see where one may be unable to stand neutrally. As it is a â€Å"journalism that cares as well as knows† (Bell, 1998, p.15), the journalist is increasingly likely to be more emotionally entwined with the story, and therefore may find it harder to stand in a non-biased position. As Ellis addresses (1998, p.167), moral responsibility often takes over when journalism becomes closer to the victims. Emotion is a powerful tool used by the media, it can help to draw in an audience, and get them following along. According to Boltanski (1999, p.5), there must be sufficient contact between the ‘victim and those who are ‘fortunate for one to be able to connect with the victim or ‘unfortunate.   Despite this though, as Boltanski (1999, p.27) states, the two groups actually mean nothing to one another. Therefore, it is believed that the emotional effect of such reporting is relatively short lived for the audience consuming. Bystander journalism however, seems to be the more idealistic approach that media organisations may favour, if wishing to be non-biased. This form of journalism is more concerned with factual elements of war. This is a less biased approach, as it tends to report an overall representation via factual elements. It allows audiences to walk away without feeling an attachment or moral obligation. Whilst audiences may tend to favour this form of reporting as more accurate, it can cause problems. According to Sanders, there is â€Å"a time to be passionate and a time to be dispassionate† (Sanders, 2005, p.43). As he continues, this approach to journalism allows a â€Å"more truthful depiction of the horrors of war† (Sanders, 2005, p.43). It may give a more accurate reading into the devastation (on paper), but how one interprets that information though is where the problems occur. If one is not given the chance to physically see the devastation, it is hard to really understand. Therefore, by dispassionately reporting, one may lack the emotional tie, and get a cleaner depiction of what is ‘intended to be communicated. Whilst one may feel they understand the situation, they are only being told facts, and whether they can really translate these into reality, is problematic. If one does not get the full picture, including the emotional and social impact that such a war may have over others, it is an unfair representation. Economical and statistical figures only tell so much, and do not communicate a reality. As Nichols and McChesney discuss, we â€Å"dont see the reality of war† (Nichols McChesney, 2005, p.v). Although this is in reference to the US press and public, it could be applied to any countries depiction, according to the countries own national belief, even if not to the same extent. â€Å"War is the most serious use of state power: organised, sanctioned violence† (Nichols McChesney, 2005, p.37). It is therefore a serious issue if one is not being given the chance to see the reality of a conflict, and the arguments behind it. It is all very to have a vague understanding behind a conflict, via information received from the media, but many audiences may take this information too literally. They may not look beyond the information offered, and may take the medias chosen narrative as a truthful and fair depiction, without questioning why the media has taken that particular angle. As discussed by Aitken, it is about â€Å"constructing ‘narratives which give the audience a coherent framework within which to judge current developments† (Aitken, 2007, p.17). But as Aitken continues, most people consume and trust one narrative, despite there being many other competing versions of the same situation, which may be a more accurate representation. Narratives give audiences a platform to work on, and a basis to which they can base their beliefs. If however, there are many competing versions a situation, as Aitken suggests (2007, p.17), this demonstrates the various views that a broadcaster may possess. It would be hard for a broadcaster to deny their biases, particularly when there are other similar reports of other viewpoints. No one can truly asses a situation fairly without viewing every angle of the situation, not only from the home governments wished depiction, but also from the ‘enemies depiction. This draws onto another point. Due to the technology of today, audiences are now able to access news instantly as situations are occurring. They are led to believe this gives them a bigger picture. It is also a good position for the public to be in, as they are therefore able to access the same information as others, and are less likely to be misled. This however can be problematic for controlling bodies, particularly in relation to conflict. â€Å"Leaders must be prepared to handle the rapid pace of global communication and to avoid serious policy mistakes deriving from global televisions demands for a fast and effective response† (Gilboa, 2005, p.24). They have little time for preparation, and therefore have to be somewhat careful in what they say, and aim to be somewhat vague, to give them the ability to be able to change their angle later if necessary. Videophones have also proven problematic for those reporting via the media. Whilst they can â€Å"empower journalists [], documenting the effects of battle while capturing a dramatic but information-rich account of war† (Livingstone, Bennett Robinson, 2005, p.34), they can display more than a chosen government may have wished audiences to witness. However, it must be recognised that even with such resources, reporters are often not actually at the ‘frontline, and are still some distance from the actual action, and therefore may only have the details which they may have been given by officials. It may also vary with the type of people which they are surrounded by, i.e. civilians or the military. Another issue to discuss when considering reporting a conflict is where the information reported has been obtained from. Reporters are often â€Å"given access to a steady and predictable supply of information that is typically provided by official government sources† (Livingstone, Bennett, Robinson, 2005, p.34). This therefore, shows that the information may not be directly from the source, even if we are led to believe so. It therefore may not be the full bulk of the situation, particularly when the government is the middle man, as it may wish to represent its own view. If the government is passing the information on, they are able to edit the information into a situation that compliments their desired standpoint. Why would one wish to humiliate or inflate problems for itself when it is unnecessary to do so? This therefore raises the question of whether we should be in fact more concerned by what we are not being shown, rather than what we are. This process of eliminating a nd censoring news via gatekeeping is a way of ensuring only ‘newsworthy subjects reach the public, whilst other things they deem unnecessary, do not. The reporting of the 1990-1991 Gulf War can demonstrate where a lack of information was relayed to the public. During the conflict, the public were given a cleaner depiction, and were under the impression that bombs dropped were precise and accurate. However, â€Å"after the war it was revealed that in fact only 7 per cent of bombs were ‘precision or laser-guided weapons† (Philo McLauglin, 1995, p.149). Throughout the conflict, there was an obsession around the sophisticated weapons that were being used, which could now be seen as somewhat misleading. As cited by Philo and McLauglin (from The Daily Mirror), â€Å"The world watch in awe yesterday as Stormin Norman played his ‘home video revealing how allied plans are using Star Wars technology to destroy vital Iraqi targets. Just like Luke Skywalker manoeuvring his fighter into the heart of Darth Vaders space complex, the US pilots zeroed into the very centre of Saddam Husseins Baghdad† (Philo McLauglin, 1 995, p. 149). Such an article would give a very unfair representation of the real effect, but this may not be clear to audiences until after the situation has taken place. Surely therefore, this misleading of the public could be seen as a form of propaganda? As Rosenfeld suggests (2007, p.70), it may be necessary to represent events in certain, perhaps biased ways, as this should encourage support and patriotism within the public. Today one may assume that due to our knowledge and understanding of propaganda, it is less likely to happen to us. But as a victim of propaganda, would you really realise you were being subjected to it? According to Edward Bernays, propaganda is seen as a vital tool for societies. â€Å"Vast numbers of human beings must cooperate in this manner if they are together as a smooth functioning society† (Bernays, 2005, p.37). Essentially, propaganda is â€Å"the establishing of reciprocal understanding between an individual and a group† (Bernays, 2005, p.161). So if as Bernays suggest, propaganda is needed to obtain a joint understanding within a group, this may indicate why it may be used by governments to persuade t he public to join their beliefs, in order to get a desired outcome. This can show why, it is essential that certain representations be presented to the public, however inaccurate or biased they may be, to create an alliance of beliefs. This would also support the idea behind over-emphasising the sophistication of war and cleanliness, in order to maintain support. As you can see from this chapter, the media are there as our eyes and ears, feeding us information, but also serves, as a watchdog over government and other elite bodies. Also demonstrated is how the media have a great responsibility when reporting, due to their persuasiveness, and the fact that the public can be easily manipulated, and often follow and gather their national belief via what the media feeds them. It shows how ones understanding of a situation may differ depending on how it is reported. If reported using emotions, it may create a different perception to if it was reported factually, even if the factual representation, on paper, gives more information. This gives a good basis upon which to discuss why such reporting takes place, and how it may benefit those in power. It also raises the questions around what is not being shown to audiences, and what happens when the media or government are shown to have been untruthful. Chapter Two: Censorship, Deceit and Propaganda As discussed in Chapter One, it can be somewhat confusing to consider the various ways that the media can present particular views. As suggested previously, it is thought that they do so consciously, but other views suggest that it is often unintentional. Whilst aiming to appear open, they often present a marginal view of the information they themselves are aware of. It therefore must be questioned why such actions are implemented, rather than presenting as much as possible, and why particular views are manufactured for audiences. Ellis (1998, p.170) considers the lack of information reported about a conflict to be incredibly important. The national security of a country could be jeopardised if one were to report everything occurring, on both the front line, and the tactical decisions behind it. As Ellis continues, it is thought that the media coverage of the Vietnam War was partially to blame for the conflicts failure. It is thought that â€Å"television coverage critically sapped the support of the American public† (Ellis, 1998, p.170). As this was the first war that was able to be broadcast ‘live, the problems were unforeseen, and therefore led to a problematic position for the government. Whilst the government was saying one thing, images shown were undermining their words, subsequently making the government appear somewhat untrustworthy. This, therefore, would show that it is necessary that the media and its coverage of a conflict should be censored and paid close attention to, so that support is maintained by the public. But, if censorship is in such a way that it helps the audiences to form a chosen opinion, effectively, this could be seen as propaganda. As Bernays states, propaganda is â€Å"the conscious and intelligent manipulation of the organized habits and opinions of the masses† (Bernays, 2005, p.37). But, also adds that it is important for democratic society, and without which, it would be hard for one to live harmoniously, especially if everyone was of differing opinions. Therefore, presenting a situation in a particular way should help society to form a joint understanding. For example, when thinking in relation to Iraq, the main reason for intervention was due to supposed ‘weapons of mass destruction. If the public understand the threat, they are more likely to consent. As demonstrated durin g the ‘Iraq Enquiry, when it was discovered that there were no weapons, the public support was threatened. It therefore is essential that the politicians defend what they have formerly said, just as Alistair Campbell has demonstrated, defending their statements as not misrepresentative (â€Å"Alastair Campbell defends†, 2010). As Bernays reiterates â€Å"We are governed, our minds moulded, our tastes formed, our ideas suggested, largely by men we have never heard of† (Bernays, 2005, p. 37). Therefore, whether it is government who we have chosen, the military, or other leaders that we have not, this would support the idea that our feelings about conflict are generally dictated to us. So, as it would appear, sometimes the restriction of coverage may take place when it is not entirely necessary. As Ellis addresses, during both the Falklands War in1982 and the Gulf War of 1991 â€Å"citizens were prevented from learning information which in a democratic society, they had a right to know† (Ellis, 1998, p.170). This seems particularly unfair, as citizens were unable to witness the real war that was being fought in their name, paid for by themselves. Since technology developed though, it would appear that censorship has become more necessary. As discussed in the previous chapter, videophones and correspondents worldwide enable audiences to access the action, at a much closer distance than previously (Livingstone, Bennett Robinson, 2005, p.34). This gives an impression to audiences that there is nowhere to hide, and they may believe what they are seeing is a fully representational true account, rather than the edited snippet that it really is. This kind of opinion, of knowing more, does not take into account that there are plenty of other journalists who are not as close to the action, or those who are closer to it, who may wish to protect the interests of those surrounding them. As previously stated, there is always fear that public support may be jeopardised, which is why on occasions there may be a haze over what is reality, as well as what is fabricated truth within the media. When one is able to ‘witness war from multiple angles, from multiple genres, and even witness it live, it creates public curiosity. Especially since problematic representations of previous conflicts have been reported, the public fight harder to know the truth, so they no longer have the wool pulled over their eyes. They want to ensure the war fought in their name is a war which they support. Particularly, when considering the fact that many nations are bound together as ‘one for the purpose of the media, forgetting the fact that there are many cultures, viewpoints and faiths with differing opinions. The public need the media to take on their role of ‘watchdog, and need it to marshal what is taking place beyond their vision on their behalf. The media, therefore, it seems has begun to honour this role more greatly. In 2004, the media brought us evidence of what is referred to as Abu Ghraib. It was revealed that some Iraqi detainees had been subjected to torture and other physical abuse. According to Miles, an Al-Jazeera cameraman, who was mistakenly arrested for a crime he did not commit, found out that â€Å"torture was still standard in Americas principle military detention centre in Iraq† (Miles, 2005, p.326). According to Miles, as the time of the accusations against the American military, â€Å"few in the West believed their stories at the time, probably because they were Arabs, perhaps because they worked for Al-Jazeera† (Miles, 2005, p.326). The US government and military repeatedly denied the accusations, â€Å"Donald Rumsfeld has described Al-Jazeera as ‘consistently lying, [and] accused the network of causing ‘great damage and harm in Iraq by continuously broadcasting wrong and inaccurate information, impairing what the coalition forces [were] trying to achi eve† (Miles, 2005, p.327). As Miles describes (2005, p.328), it was US officials that were angry, believing that such allegations would fuel Iraqi hatred against the West further. At the time, the officials may have not known of the occurrences, but it cannot be ruled out that they had no knowledge of it. This demonstrates an example whereby the American media were feeding the public with false information, whether it was intentional or not. If it was intentional though, it would have been in favour of government, who would obviously not want to be painted in a bad light. It was not until the New Yorker magazine published evidential pictures of the abuse that it was uncovered and believed, and finally admitted to be the truth (Miles, 2005, p.328). However, this is not where the only problem lies. Since then, it has been debated whether or not all of the images should be released for the public to view. One the one hand, it is believed that the images should be realised due to the fact that it was the American citizens own troops causing the offences, under the American name, whilst others believe it could potentially cause further harm. According to a report, â€Å"Obama said he believes release of the abuse photos would incite hatred against American troops† (Alberts, 2009, para. 4). This again brings up the subject of national security. Understandably the release of such images during a time of conflict could incite further hatred, but due to freedom of information, what right do officials really have to withhold them? Surely if one is to fully understand war, they must have the full picture, however horrific and problematic it may be. If the images are not fully released, is there a reason behind this other than prot ecting our conscience? What is being hidden? Could it be contributing to part of a ‘cover-up, with fear of something more sinister than what we already know being revealed? If therefore, officials had known about the situation (prior to it being confirmed), yet it had not made its way to mainstream media, this is misinforming the public, giving them a one sided ‘clean account of their position in the conflict. By never witnessing the faults of ones own government, one cannot really claim to know. Even by withholding the images, it does not allow the American and Western democratic public a clear view as to what is really occurring under their name. Particularly as it is ‘our men, who are normally painted as positively heroic, committing such horrific offences. This sort of behaviour by the media and government causes other problems too. Conspiracy theories to try and help explain other supposed reasonings behind war and decisions made by government begin to emerge. It helps give a new blame figure, and is perhaps fuelled by paranoia and suspicion (Knight, 2003, p. 20). As Knight asserts, conspiracy theory may put â€Å"forward the idea that sometimes people at the very centre of power might create (or perhaps just cynically promote) a popular outburst of demonology in order to further their own political schemes. This view is sometimes known as the elitist theory of moral panics, because it suggests that the elite deliberately fuel moral panics in order to legitimate repressive measures that would otherwise be unacceptable† (Knight, 2003, p.20). When the public begin to doubt their own government, feeling they are being fed propaganda, it is obvious they should want an explanation, so may turn to conspiracy theories as an alternative and comfort. For example, the documentary The Conspiracy Files (Rudkin, 2010, January 10) demonstrates how one may begin to become suspicious. It claims that a video of Benazir Bhutto talking after her first attempted murder was edited to exclude a statement she made about Osama Bin Laden. The version it claims the BBC presented cut out this section, for no apparent reason, so it is questionable as to why it was censored. A further example where the Western governments fear of what could be revealed via the media was demonstrated in October 2009 (Gray, 2009, October 25). Lance Corporal Joe Glenton was a soldier once serving in Afghanistan, who now faces a court martial and has been arrested. He claimed that he had â€Å"witnessed sights during his time in Afghanistan that forced him to question the morality of his role† (‘Soldier arrested, 2009, para. 8). Alike him, many other documentaries and interviews with ex-soldiers seem to unveil similar situations, where soldiers have a different picture of the war than the media have led the public to believe. The sanitization that takes place in the media is a view which soldiers alike Corporal Glenton would like to set straight. Glenton began to get the medias attention when he spoke at an anti-war demonstration that called for the British troops to be brought home. He claimed that many of the soldiers and demonstrators believed that it was not longer justifiable to have troops in the Middle East, and was trying to raise public awareness of this. This particular story came at a time when the public in both the UK and America were starting to doubt whether the war was really getting anywhere. Jeremy Corbyn MP is quoted as stating that the â€Å"war in Afghanistan had no clear war aims† (â€Å"Britons believe ‘Afghan war is failing†, 2009, para. 15). He also states that it is now â€Å"the time to change policy and bring the troops home to prevent Nato involving itself in a Vietnam style quagmire† (â€Å"Britons believe ‘Afghan war is failing†, 2009, para. 17). With such stories and statements emerging in the media, it does cause the public to question why the media and government would not present the ‘full picture. Especially when thinking about how the US media is less open about situations than the UK and other countries media (Zelizer Allan, 2002, p.2). Previously, it was easier for a government to deny that they knew about a situation, but technology has now taken this advantage away, making it impossible not to know. However, as Zelizer and Allan argue, the media may be used in such a way that it helps the public. â€Å"Journalism plays a key role in moving whole populations form trauma to recovery† (Zelizer Allan, 2002, p.2). It can therefore help to unite a nation, regardless of differing backgrounds, and help them to work together, particularly through traumatic times like conflict. With this view, it would seem that the US in particular may have needed such treatment. As the targeted nation in the 9/11 attacks, the y may have required more help than other nations to come to terms with the situation, as well as needing ‘encouragement in the right direction, and perhaps protection from the truth.. However, there is no doubt that this is a form of propaganda, as it does not demonstrate a clear communication of all the information one would need to make a fair judgement in order to make a justified opinion. This may demonstrate why the American citizens have trusted foreign institutions such as the BBC for increased information, as previously addressed The media also tend to emphasise violence and negative features of the enemy in order to justify the conflict in hand. Today, â€Å"terrorists have been given a voice† (Liebes Kampf, 2004, p.78). Since technology has greatened, other views, beyond just violence, have been represented. Interviews and arguments have been appearing in the media, with direct responses from the ‘enemy. Despite perhaps this being a positive thing, it can be used by government and the media to paint their own picture. They do not have to show everything, and can edit it as they desire, as previously discussed with the Bhutto footage. Another clear example is in the Joint Forces military publication. It has a dismissive attitude when discussing anything anti-American. It even addresses the problems of ‘foreign propaganda. It gives a sense of heroism, stating that via the American efforts in the war on terror, that they will â€Å"enable populations misinformed by censorship and other impediments to hear the truth† (Dailey Webb, 2006, p.46). It does not take into account the use of their own propa

Importance of Using the ACARS System

Importance of Using the ACARS System Abbreviations ACARS: Aircraft Communication Addressing and Reporting System ADS-B: Automatic dependent surveillance broadcast CMU: Communication Management Unit CDU: Control Display Unit FMS: Flight Management System ATC: Air Traffic Control AOC: Aeronautical Operational Control AAC: Airline Administrative Control NOTAM: Notice to Airmen VHF: Very High Frequency VDL: VHF Data Link MAC: Message Authentication Code AES: Advance Encryption Standard SHA: Secure Hash Algorithm CA: Certificate Authority ICAO: International Civil Aviation Organisation IPsec: Internet Protocol Security In this report the importance of using the ACARS system in the communication between the aircrafts and the ground units such as Air traffic control (ATC), aeronautical operational control (AOC) and airline administrative Control (AAC). (2) Also, the need of securing the communication channel against passive and active attackers will be identified and analysed. The ACARS system is used to transmit data both from aircraft to ground and from ground to aircraft. The data transmitted from the aircraft to the ATC will communicate requests and receipts for clearances and instructions when the aircraft is on the ground, during the phases of take-off and landing and finally during the time the aircraft is in the air. The ACARS is system is also used for communication between the aircrafts and the AOC and AAC ground units. The data transmitted between these three entities is about various aspects of the aircraft, weather information and observations, NOTAMS, flight plan and any diversion from the flight plan, technical performance, possible system failures and any special information regarding the flight and its passengers. ACARS system to transmit data to the ground receivers, the FMC hardware is used on newer aircrafts or the CDU on older ones. The communication is accomplished by using the FMS unit and a small printer in the aircrafts and similar hardware on the ground. The FMS transmits the data to either a satellite or a ground antennas, regarding the altitude of the aircraft. After either the satellite or the antenna will transmit the data through the communication network to the appropriate ground unit using a private network. Due to the reason that these data are crucial and must not be altered or even sometimes monitored by unauthorised users the security of the communication channel and the data should be the top priority of the airlines. To achieve that the data transmitted should always maintain the three major aspects of information security which are: Confidentiality Integrity Availability During the early years of the aviation industry communication channels were only needed between the ATC and the pilots. There were no ways to transmit data regarding the aircrafts avionic systems, engines and integrity, mainly due to the reason that there was not such advanced technology, on both the communication channels and on the aircrafts. The only communication channel available was the VHF channels that in our days is the least trusted protocol. As the aircrafts developed, the boundaries were extended, and led to a rapid increase in air traffic. In order to co-op with this, the aircrafts manufacturers decided to improve the quality and quantity of the systems aboard the aircrafts in order to protect them from mid-air collisions and also help the ATCs to manage the traffic easier. From the moment that the aviation instruments on board the aircraft changed from analogue to digital, a breakthrough was achieved, leading many companies to develop software and hardware that allowed the improvement of the communication and data transmission between the aircrafts and the ground. Along with these improvements, the aircrafts critical systems were able to continuously provide the data recorder information regarding their condition. During this phase the CPDLC was developed in order to minimize the acoustic misunderstandings (6) provided accountability and made the communication easier, more efficient and safer to transmit and receive l ong messages (6). Although in my opinion this system would make the communication between the pilots and the ATC easier and safer, it wasnt widely used because of security threats like message manipulation or injection (6) that were not possible to be detected. Also, a major backdoor to the system in my opinion was that there was no authentication leading to eavesdropping or spoof clearances (6). For the improvement of safety and to be able to improve the accident investigations, the authorities decided that it would be helpful, that these data should be transmitted to the ground and in order to improve the communications between the aircrafts and the ATCs, a new system was developed, which is called ACARS. Along with it new techniques of communication and data transmission were introduced that allowed the aircraft, ATCs and airlines headquarters to communicate with each other by sending short texts. ACARS was introduced during the 80s and as the years passed it became very popular among the airlines. It allowed direct communication between aircrafts and ATCs for requesting and receiving instructions and clearances. The ability of communicating between the aircraft and the AOC and AAC was introduced, that allowed the exchange of information about the weather, possible issues with the aircrafts systems, NOTAMs, passenger information, etc. In the early years of aviation, the computers were not very capable in intercepting or manipulating a message that was transmitted and therefore there was little need for that system to be secure. As the years pass and computers became stronger, together with the knowledge of people, possible unauthorised monitoring of message transmission or even manipulating the messages transmitted between the aircrafts and the ground was a threat to aviation. In order to solve this issues, security mechanisms were placed in order to protect the communication channels and the data transmitted. The security mechanisms placed, are updated regularly in order to maintain the information secure against new threats and attackers. The difficulty of maintaining a secure communication channel is becoming greater, due to the reason that the cost of hardware that allow you to monitor the information transmitted by aircrafts are very cheap and easily accessible. This together with the increasing knowledge of people on how to use them the wrong way and with the intention to cause harm for various reasons, makes the work of the ones trying to protect these systems, very difficult and crucial for the safety of the passengers and aircraft crew lives. As the workload for the pilots in command increased greatly due to the increased traffic, reduction of the crew members in aircrafts and the need to maximize profit without undermining safety and in order to protect the pilots from making mistakes or forget to complete the necessary steps for the safe conduct of a flight, researchers were working on a new way of communication between the aircraft and the ground operations. That software was ACARS and was developed in the 1980s. ACARS is a digital datalink system (3) that allows the pilots, ATC and the airlines headquarters to exchange short messages no matter of the location of the aircraft around the world. In order to achieve that the aircraft is equipped with an avionics computer which is called Communications Management Unit (CMU), a control display unit (CDU) and a printer. The CMU was designed to be able to send and receive digital messages (3) regarding aspects of the flight, instructions and clearances from the ATC, weather forecasts, NOTAMs and information to and from the companys headquarters regarding the aircrafts performance and special needs about the passengers. In order to achieve the level of communication needed, the ACARS system is using different types of communication media. The two media used to communicate between the aircraft and the ground by using satellites when the aircrafts are at higher altitudes and radio antennas at lower altitudes. Before the first implementations of the ACARS system, the communication between the aircrafts and the ground was performed by VHF voice channels. As the technology advanced, new way of communication were developed. During the first periods of implementation of the ACARS system the ARINC organisation, developed a service that a allowed for the VHF communication service to be upgraded by a new service that allowed the use of digital telex formats (3) to the VHF communication channel. During the 90s this led to the standardization of a VHF Digital Link. As the implementation of the ACARS software by airliners became widespread, new services were developed in order to make the communication channels more efficient. SITA company, during this phase had developed a large ground communication network that was connecting places around the world. In order to further enhance the abilities of ACARS, SITA integrated their ground communication network to be able and cooperate with ACARS already existing communication channels between aircraft and ground. In my opinion the ACARS system was designed very cleverly because it was able to cooperate with many types of aircraft communications equipment such as VHF, Inmarsat, sitcom, iridium satellite, VDL and high frequency data link (6). More detailed, SITA managed to merge both VHF and VDL air to ground communication channel together with the ground network it had already developed and to provide an end to end communication channel between aircrafts and ground operations no matter the type of flights. Both short haul and long haul routes were supported. Figure .1 ACARS Setup (9) ACARS security is very important for the safe conduct of flights. Two different types of security were implemented. The first one was called DSP-based architecture and is only capable to protect ACARS messages during transmission from the aircraft to the ground, leaving the ground network unprotected and risking attacks from hackers open. For that reason, there is an end to end security architecture was proposed and developed. In order for the security of the ACARS system to be complete it will have to maintain confidentiality, integrity and availability to the information transmitted at all times, both in the communication channel between the aircraft and the ground and also in the ground network. On the end to end solution proposed in the article The Approach of ACARS Data Encryption and Authentication (5), The proposed security will be using symmetric and asymmetric cryptography, a hybrid system that could solve the problems of using just one of the methods of cryptography, along with digital signatures to provide adequate privacy and integrity (5) to the messages. The issues that came up with the symmetric cryptography were that in order to communicate with each other, a key had to be exchanged between the sender and the recipients of the message. This unique key was designed to be known just by the sender and the recipient of the message in order to protect it from unauthorized users. This proved to be very difficult to maintain secure due to the large number of users that are using ACARS to communicate. On the other hand, asymmetric cryptography was able to solve this problem but it required the use of a large size keys that led to a rather large amount of bandwidth requi red just for the exchange of the keys that kept secure the communication, which was a problem due to the limited amount of bandwidth the ACARS system was designed to require. This hybrid system that was proposed, made use of a key derivation algorithm called Elliptic Curve Diffie-Hellman which is using an elliptic curve and certain points in order to find the private key. By using the elliptic curve along with the private key, it was able to generate the public key of both the aircraft and the ground station (sender and recipient). By using this technique, the communication channel was secure because it was very difficult for the attacker to find the private key even though the exchange of public key is intercepted (5). For the receiver to be able to decrypt and use the private key a key derivation function is needed which in this case is the MAC. In order to provide encryption to the data transmitted the AES algorithm is used in combination with the SHA 256 algorithm. The number 256 after the SHA acronym means the length of the random binary sequence that is used as the key for the AES (5) algorithm. Due to the reason of the limited bandwidth that ACARS is designed to be using, the message data transmitted and the necessary data transmitted to provide security should be compressed as much as possible. In order to do so every letter, number or symbol will have to be encoded to a 6bit stream during the encryption phase. In order for the recipient to be able to decode it and read the correct message, the MAC of the encrypted data will have to be read and be decrypted to an ACARS readable character. Also, the correct MAC value will have to be calculated in order for the message to be authenticated. During the testing phase of the above end to end security mechanism, eavesdropping was possible to be done but no actual data were able to be read, due to the AES that was used in the encryption of the message, so confidentiality was achieved. Privacy was also achieved because if the message was manipulated, the MAC value would have been changed and the recipient would have detected the change in value. Finally for the digital signature to be correct, the assumptions that the CA was trustworthy had to be made. Wireless Communication Security Due to the reason that the main communication channel between the aircraft and the ground stations will always be wireless, some necessary aspects of security will always have to exist in order to able to say that the channel is secure. According to the authors of the article (7), in order for a security protocol be acceptable, it must meet some requirements. The first one is the mutual entity authentication which is able to provide security by identifying the sender and the receiver. Also, the Asymmetric algorithms are very critical according to my opinion, regarding the key distribution that will allow the sender and the receiver authenticate each other messages. Next in order to prevent unauthorised people to access the communication channel, the two parties must agree to the keys used and to be able to confirm them when needed along with being able to control them, maintain the key freshness (7) so no replay attacks could be performed and also to protect secrets of old communications in the case that an unauthorised person gains access to a session key. All the above aspects, in my opinion are critical in order to maintain privacy in the communication channel. According to the article (7) which I agree with, some compromises should be taken in order to have the security options tailored to the needs of your systems. In our case the ACARS system was designed to have a small amount of load in transmitting data and therefore and IPsec with fixed pre-shared keys (7) would be very helpful because it has limited data exchanged in order to provide security. On the other hand, protocols based on asymmetric cryptosystems (7) are able to provide better security but in a higher data load cost. Wireless Communication Threat Model In order to be able to provide better solutions in the wireless communication channel, we must be able to identify the threat that are possible to be faced during the transfer of data. In order to do so we must have a threat model that is tailored to our needs. In order to create a threat model, we must also know the adversaries capabilities. In the case of wireless networks according to the article (8) authors, which are the one that ACARS uses, the adversary usually has the ability to receive and transmit data (8), should be able to monitor the network and in order to do the previous two, he must have knowledge on how the network was setup. Commonly, if the attacker is able to eavesdrop a wireless, he will be able to inject traffic (8) into the network. All of the above capabilities in my opinion are depended to the knowledge he has and to the money he is willing to spend in order to be able to perform such tasks. The main attacks he can perform to a wireless network has to do with spoofing attacks (8), replay attacks (8) which I believe is easily solved by the freshness aspect of security, eavesdropping (8) compromise or introduction of nodes, wireless jamming (8) and finally a denial of service (8) attack by increasing extremely the load of the network. ACARS Security per Honeywell Per Honeywell, ACARS is using a message security system that is able to provide message authentication, confidentiality and data integrity, which are the basic aspects that need to be protected. Based on an ICAO document regarding the security plan a public key infrastructure and other cryptographic algorithms are used in order to protect the data transmitted. More specifically, according to the ARINC specification 823 (4) the security of the messages is split in two different parts. The first part was published on 2007 and contains everything regarding the framework of the security, such as algorithms, protocols and message formats. The second parts are about the key management of this security mechanism and was published 1 year later and contains information regarding the key life cycle and the how a certificate is managed. Furthermore, two different security provisions were developed and each of them had different characteristics regarding the mechanisms used in order to protect the data transmitted. The first one is called ATN/OSI Security and it was described in the ICAO document 9880. This kind of security foresight used digital signatures which uses the Elliptic Curve Diffie-Hellman cryptographic algorithm combined with a SHA256 in order to generate and verify the signatures. As for Message authentication, it uses hashed MAC with a 32bit MAC length. A key agreement is used in order to share the public key that will then be used in order for the recipient to be able to derive the secret key and be able to decode the message sent. The second one is called ACARS Security ARINC 823. This one also uses the digital signatures in order to sign the message and the specifications of the digitals signatures are similar to the first security foresight, making use of the elliptic curve Diffie-Hellman algorithm combined with a SHA256 for the signature generation and verification. Again, for the message authentication a hashed MAC is being used but in this case the length of the MAC is not standard. It could be 32 bit, 64 bit or even 128 bit, with the default one to be the 32 bit. The main difference between the two security foresights is that the previous didnt require a confidentiality mechanism to be in place. On the other hand, this one uses for encryption and AES128 cipher algorithm that is mainly used to encrypt and decrypt the messages. Finally, the key establishment mechanism is similar on both security foresights, meaning that both of them use an elliptic curve Diffie-Hellman with SHA256 algorithm to provide the communication channel with a secret key agreement, shared public key and the derivation of the secret key. Threats As the technology is improved, the computers become more powerful, leading in the implementation of better security mechanisms but also in increasing amount of computing power that possible attackers have in their hands. This along with the ability given to the public to be able to track the flights using the ADS-B can have possible backdoors that can threaten the safety of the flights. The main use of this surveillance technology is for the improvement of the safety and efficiency of the flights. This technology also lead to the creation of a web application and smartphone application, that gave the ability to anyone to be able to track any aircraft in the world that had this technology active. Anyone with a cheap hardware setup could receive the information sent to the ground by the aircrafts. If an attacker is able to intercept these signals, he is able to perform passive attacks like eavesdropping the communications or furthermore, block the response from the ATC (jamming) and finally send his response back (message injection), could result in the attacker to be able to perform an active attack and penetrate the aircrafts navigation system. Another possible attack according the article (6) this attacks could result in the virtually modifying the trajectory of an aircraft (6). After the attacker, has gained access to the aircraft systems, he can receive information via the ACARS system. If the ACARS system is not protected correctly, the attacker will be able to exploit the systems and either insert false information to the avionics or just attach a virus or malware and have a constant access to the aircrafts avionics and information. Furthermore, the attacker could gain access to the FMS he will be able to mess with the navigation and flight planning such as waypoints, altitudes, speeds, alternate the destination airport of the flight etc. This will result to the attacker being in complete control of the aircraft, with the pilots not being able to do much in order to gain back the control of the aircraft. Although the ACARS system was updated regularly and the ACARS AMS was developed in order to provide end to end security, many airlines decided to not use it and instead provide some security by obscurity (6), which according to my opinion could lead in more risks and better security because no one has tested the security algorithms that are used and therefore if there is any vulnerability in the security algorithm, the company will never be aware of it, leaving the communication channel open to zero day attacks. The cost of the hardware needed to complete such an attack is not high. Using online shopping web applications or other sellers, the possible attacker will be able to buy the necessary hardware such as FMS hardware, air to ground transmitters, ACARS manager hardware and other hardware, in order to perform such an attack. By using one of the most known flight simulator software, combined with the necessary hardware and finally by exploiting any vulnerabilities in the security of ACARS and FMS systems, they can manage to gain control of the aircraft with low cost. There are many ways the attacker could gain access or perform attacks against the aircrafts. These ways may include attacks via the internet by exploiting bugs in web applications, vulnerabilities against software, SQL injections to databases or other vulnerabilities that are not fixed in mobile applications. There are two different threat models according to the authors of the article On perception and reality in the wireless air traffic communication security (6). The two different threat models are the traditional aviation threat model (6) and the Modern threat model (6). The main difference between these two according the article are that the software-defined radios are widely available to the public and along with them to possible attackers and the change between analogue instruments and digital instruments, with the second ones to give the ability to the users to transmit more data in electronic form. These could lead to an increase in the abilities hackers to eavesdrop, modify and inject data on the communications channel. The traditional threat model is used from when the first forms of communication were implemented in aviation. As years passed the communication channels were improved and the amount of data that was transmitted increased rapidly. The authors of the article characterize the article as naÃÆ'Â ¯ve (6) of the reasons of inferior technological capabilities and financial capabilities, requirement of inside knowledge and the use of analog communication. (6). I can agree with their opinion because I believe that indeed the threat model is very old and due to the new technologies, along with the low cost of a setup that could allow to interfere with the communications of an aircraft, the risk will be much higher. The second threat model is the modern threat model. It has major changes from the first one due to the increased digitalisation and automation (6) of the aircrafts communication channels. Also, the increased technological capabilities (6) such as cheap hardware could lead to possible attacks that could not be performed when the first threat model was developed. Finally, people could easily gain aviation knowledge (6) from the internet, flight simulator software, which could increase the seriousness of the attacks that could be performed. For the above reasons and from my own experience with aviation knowledge and flight simulator software, I would agree that this model is more up to date and more tailored to identify the threats that todays aircraft face. Concluding on the above-mentioned information, the aviation world and more specifically the security of the aircrafts, crews and passengers are far from safe. This is because even with the security measures that are already researched, the airlines do not always implement them. Also, the technology required and the cost of acquiring such technology makes it easier for attackers to perform either passive or active attacks against aircrafts. The above when combined with the knowledge of an attacker can lead to great threats against the aircrafts. In order to maintain the aviation world safe, the need to reassess the risk of attacks under realistic system models and the development of appropriate countermeasures (6) should be identified and embraced along with new end to end security implementations are proposed and if approved implemented by airlines. Such security mechanisms must be tested in order to be totally sure that all vulnerabilities are patched and that it will never have a backdoor that could allow an attacker to perform an attack. In my opinion in order to be able to be sure that a security mechanisms that will be placed is totally secure, we must first learn our adversaries, understand their capabilities, intentions, motive and upon all knowledge and financial state. Next, we must understand what passive and active attacks an adversary can perform. If we manage to understand the above aspects of our adversaries, then we must understand what has to be done in order to prevent them from launching an attack against the aircraft- ground communications channel and ground network. By having the necessary information about the adversaries and the protection mechanisms that we can implement, then we must evaluate those already implemented and find ways to enhance them. References Smith, M., M. Strohmeier, V. Lenders, and I. Martinovic. On the security and privacy of ACARS. (016 Integrated Communications Navigation and Surveillance (ICNS)): 1-27. Web. 15 Feb. 2017. Aircraft Communications, Addressing and Reporting System. Aircraft Communications, Addressing and Reporting System SKYbrary Aviation Safety. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Feb. 2017. Aircraft Communications Addressing and Reporting System (ACARS). Aircraft Communications Addressing and Reporting System (ACARS). N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Feb. 2017. Olive, Michael . 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