Saturday, December 28, 2019

Important Discoveries in Physics Essay - 2329 Words

Ideas in the subject of Physics are never absolute; it is a forever-changing topic. We think we have discovered everything there is to know about it, and then we find out something new that changes everything. That is one of the reasons physics is so interesting to learn about – there will always be something new. There are many very important discoveries in Physics. This paper will describe some of the discoveries. These discoveries are prevalent throughout history and in our daily lives. One of the oldest, but nonetheless important, discoveries in physics is The Law of Falling Bodies. Discovered by Galileo Galilei, it remains a fundamental part of physics even today. It states that all objects that are falling, no matter mass, height,†¦show more content†¦If they were not important then people would not have heard so much about them. Isaac Newton was a mathematician and physicist that discovered the three laws of motion. The laws are as follows: â€Å"1) An object in motion remains in motion unless an external force is applied to it. 2) The relationship between an objects mass (m), its acceleration (a) and the applied force (F) is F = ma. 3) For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.† With these three laws, Newton created the basis for modern day engineering. These laws helped many other physicists to discover meaningful things. Newton’s first law of motion is usually referred to as the law of inertia. Inertia is defined as â€Å"the property of matter by which it retains its state of rest or its velocity along a straight line so long as it is notShow MoreRelatedThe History of Physics Essay1534 Words   |  7 PagesThe History of Physics In order to attempt to trace the origins of the modern science that we now refer to as â€Å"physics,† we must begin with the origin of the term itself. Taken from the Greek word â€Å"physika† meaning growth or nature, physics most obviously began as the intelligent study of the human environment (Webster 393). From superstition and religious practices, the foundation of all other sciences was born. These concepts have subsequently grown into what we regardRead MoreEssay about Enrico Fermi and the Development of the Atomic Bomb1013 Words   |  5 PagesEnrico Fermi and the Development of the Atomic Bomb The 20th century saw many important discoveries which impacted people worldwide. Great discoveries were made in the realm of science and technology which lead to the atomic age. One of the leading pioneers in the area of physics was Enrico Fermi. Without his contributions, the atomic bomb may not have been developed or would have possibly been postponed. Enrico Fermi was born into a family who had enough money to live comfortably. FermiRead MoreAlbert Einstein s Theory Of Relativity And The Father Of The Atomic Age1174 Words   |  5 PagesThroughout his career, he developed many names for himself. Most notably, he was known as the father of relativity and the father of the atomic age. These two titles alone speak volumes about his achievements and contributions to science, but it is important to examine how he got his name in the history books, and how he made such a big name for himself in his seventy six years of life. Most people know him for his theory of relativity, and the famous formula: E=mc2, but his contributions to scienceRead MorePhysics 11373 Words   |  6 Pagesnotable discoveries were in the field of astronomy, we cannot label him simply as an astronomer. He authored many important works including, Sidereal Messenger (also known as Starry Messenger), but unfortunately, due to the power of the Catholic church in h is native Italy, his work in astronomy was widely rejected by his countrymen. His contributions to physics also place him in the ranks of the greatest scientists of all time. Without Galileo’s contributions to astronomy, mathematics, and physics, weRead MoreAlbert Einsteins Journey to Become one of the Most Well-Known Scientists in History678 Words   |  3 Pagesearning his doctorate and most importantly, thinking. Albert Einstein was destined to change the world with his Theory of Relativity to his discoveries in the scientific world. Born in Ulm, Wà ¼rttemberg, Germany to Hermann and Pauline Einstein, Albert Einstein immediately began life with his family in a tough situation. Einstein was born on March 14, 1879 (â€Å"Physics†). Soon after being born, the family had to relocate to Munich, Germany, because his father had lost his job in Ulm. In Munich his fatherRead MoreThe Nature And Process Of Science1542 Words   |  7 Pageslight doesn’t travel through a medium. Einstein proved this by figuring out that the speed of light was constant, and in order for ether to be the medium light waves travel through, the speed of light would change depending on the observer. This discovery was one piece of the Specific Theory of Relativity. The nature and process of science are a collection of things, ideas, and guidelines. â€Å"The purpose of science is to learn about and understand our universe more completely† (Science works in specificRead MoreJ.J. Thomson1052 Words   |  5 PagesJ.J. Thomson Joseph John Thomson was born in Manchester, England in 1856. Thomson was indeed a good scientist, but he did not know that at first. He attended college at a time when science was finally getting recognized as an important subject (Morgan). Thomsons road to becoming a scientist was not paved for him from the start, as his father had other plans for him. Joseph was intended to become an engineer, but when the time came to pay for his studies, his family could not make ends meet. InsteadRead More Wilhelm Conrad Rontgen Essay1182 Words   |  5 PagesThey had no children, but in 1887 they adopted a daughter, Josephine Bertha Ludwig, who was the daughter of AnnaÕs only brother. RÃ… ¡ntgen spent most of his years researching physics, thermology, mechanics, and electricity. Although he made some great discoveries in all these fields, his greatest invention was the discovery of a short-wave ray in 1895, which we know now as X-rays. Some other things he studied were the heats of gasses and fluids, the characteristics of quartz, the modification ofRead MoreCan Science Prove the Creation of the Universe? Essay1729 Words   |  7 Pagessomeone could tell you the answer to how it all began, how our world was created, why we exist, would you want to know? Modern Science has made some pretty impressive discoveries about our universe. As stated by George Smoot, a cosmologist at the University of California at Berkeley and winner of the 2006 Nobel Prize in physics, â€Å"I think we all know where we came from and how we fit into the world, but some of us need to know how it all works in great detail.† While some people believe testingRead MoreEssay on Erwin Schrà ¶dingers Valuable Contributions1133 Words   |  5 PagesErwin Schrà ¶dinger was a very influential physicist that made many scientific discoveries involving wave mechanics and various contributions pertaining to quantum theory (â€Å"Erwin†). Schrà ¶dinger’s life commenced August 12, 1887 in Vienna, Austria, and from there he led a very noteworthy childhood (Abbott 145). Throughout Erwin’s life, he conducted an exponential amount of research, experiments, and scientific discoveries that benefited society (â€Å"Stuewer†). Schrà ¶dinger’s childhood, scientific contributions

Friday, December 20, 2019

Why Do We Need Solar Energy - 1401 Words

Why Do We Need Solar Energy? With the worlds natural resources depleting rapidly, humans must find a way to compensate. This society has milked oil, coal, gasoline, lead, uranium, and many other of these reservoirs in our Earth for hundreds of years and much has been done. Asphalt was used for our roads and highways, coal was originally used for heat before there was oil, and even water was used as a form of electricity on many rural farms. Luckily, more companies around the world are waking up to the fact that these resources will not be around forever, and that in the near future, other forms of energy will take heed. Solar energy, or energy powered by the sun, is one of the most promising. Since the suns rays create so much†¦show more content†¦At the American University of Armenia, the largest solar energy project in the Commonwealth of Independent States has developed a heating/cooling system powered by solar panels on the roof of the main building at the university. The system is unusually large in number of solar panels, 32, and unique for its heating and cooling system. In Taiwan, the first 2.64 Mw wind farm was installed and operated successfully in November of 2000. Also, a number of pig farms were developed with biogas power generators, capable of generating around 23 megawatts. In the African nation of Ghana, some 1,780 homes, 42 school, 6 clinics, 24 street-lighting systems, and a water pumping machine are benefiting from Ghanas solar energy project. The Minister of Energy got the word out that this form of energy would promote growth of agriculture-based industries, create employment, and increase the productivity and wealth for people in rural areas. Maybe the most exciting discovery recently occurred in Australia. Scientists there used special titanium oxide ceramics that use sun to actually split water to produce hydrogen fuel. This clean and almost unlimited energy supply will become complete hopefully within the next decade. These are just four o f countless new ways people are working together for the sake of our environment. Furthermore, industries have boomed from these non-renewableShow MoreRelatedEssay on Why Do We Need Solar Energy?1384 Words   |  6 Pages Why Do We Need Solar Energy? nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;With the world’s natural resources depleting rapidly, humans must find a way to compensate. This society has milked oil, coal, gasoline, lead, uranium, and many other of these reservoirs in our Earth for hundreds of years and much has been done. Asphalt was used for our roads and highways, coal was originally used for heat before there was oil, and even water was used as a form of electricity on many rural farms. Luckily, more companiesRead MoreDeath By The Human Stupidity1446 Words   |  6 Pagesenvironment. this is why it is necessary to do something about it. Without drastic change in the way the human race interacts with the world, this trend will continue. This is why we need to begin integrating environmentally friendly habits now, so we can begin to repair the damage. Of course, it should be said it’s not economically possible to completely change the way we behave overnight, but humanity needs to begin slowly moving towards a better way of life. One of the ways to do this would be integratingRead MoreWe All Rely On Some Sort Of Power Source For Our Household1748 Words   |  7 PagesWe all rely on some sort of power source for our household appliances, devices, lighting and entertainment needs. Sadly, the electricity used in the majority of our homes are powered by something dangerous, fossil fuels. Fossil fuels release carbon dioxide into the atmosphere and gradually disrupts nature and pollutes the air. Now imagine a reliable alternative source of energy that can fix this issue. Solar energy is the answer. We cannot rev erse the devastating damages caused by fossil fuelsRead MoreThe Importance Of Marketing In The Saudi Arabia Market1372 Words   |  6 Pages Today we are honored to have you all; members, employees, clients and companies, to launch our product and advertise for it in the Saudi Arabia market. Just before getting started, I want to welcome special guests from Saudi Arabia; a dear country, who are participating in this gathering. It is not a surprise from business men who were born in a country that thrives for innovation and advancement, to cross the ocean and bare the fatigue of this long travel to be with us today. Thanks for yourRead MoreFossil Fuels Are Bad For Our Environment889 Words   |  4 Pagesenvironment, and in a economy that is struggling, there is no point in pouring billions of dollars a year into an energy source that is killing our other resources. This kind of spending and reckless destruction of our environment will eventually have to stop. The question is, when it does what will we do? There are many other forms of alternative energy that are accessible to us right now. These energy sources will e ventually have to be used in the place of burning fossil fuels to power our world. PeopleRead MoreEssay about Solar Power: The Future of Energy1431 Words   |  6 Pagesanswer you that, we can merely use the power from the sun to power up our entire planet without the use of harmful energy sources, which affect our atmosphere? The power from the sun is what we call solar power. Solar power is the energy that comes from the sun as light and heat energy, and then it is later converted into electrical energy through solar panels (Nelson, 2008). This kind of power is completely free, right? Why should we put a lot of expense on other sources of energy, when there isRead MoreDevelopment of Solar Power Essay1245 Words   |  5 Pageslight) contains energy. Usually, when light hits an object the energy turns into heat, like the warmth you feel while sitting in the sun. But when light hits certain materials the energy turns into an electrical current instead, which we can then harness f or power† (Alivisatos). The method of transforming light into energy by human means is called PhotoVoltaics. Having this general knowledge, humankind created different devices made of a certain kind of material which could turn the solar power into energy;Read MoreImportance Of Solar Power1438 Words   |  6 PagesSolar Power This paper is going to be based on why should we use solar energy, how does it work, what are the advantages of solar power, and why should we apply solar power in the Dominican Republic. Did you know that the heat of the sun is about equivalent to burning a billion trillion tons of coal an hour? Even though only a small fraction of that heat ever reaches the earth is still more than enough to power up our whole planet. We are very certain that we have all heard about the terms fossilRead MoreEthanol Essay782 Words   |  4 Pagesdiversify our energy supply? In recent months, the new focus is the investment in research and development of alternative or renewable energy. Google has announced its plans to spend tens of millions of dollars in 2008 on the project known as Renewable Energy Cheaper than Coal (Reuters, 2007). The U.S. government also has put in place two programs called, Solar Energy Technologies Program and The Wind and Hydropower Technologies Program. These programs will research, develop and organize solar and windRead MoreThe United States Uses Fossil Fuels For 81 Percent Of Its998 Words   |  4 Pagesfuels for 81 percent of its the total energy. It is estimated that the world will use all of the fossil fuels sometime in the next 50-100 years. Either we need to find a way of slowing down the use of fossil fuels or we need to convert to a new source of energy. Renewable energy is the most viable option because we cannot run out of renewable energy. The convergence of Las Vegas and Google are examples of why, as a country , we need to use more renewable energy. The United States is the second biggest

Thursday, December 12, 2019

International Management Market Entry free essay sample

Introduction If an industry has decided to conquer the international market, there are many choices that will be opened. These options may include the cost, risk and the degree of control that the company will encounter ( 2001). In entering an international business, it is important that the management of the company should be able to choose a marketing entry strategy so as to make the company be more competitive ( 1986). Primarily, the purpose of this paper is to provide an analysis of the marketing entry mode that British Petroleum may use to enter the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR) market. In this manner, the discussion of the current situation of Hong Kong will be analyse as well as the international management approach that can be used by the company to sustain competitiveness within the international market. Overview of the Company British Petroleum known today as BP Amoco is a petroleum industry based in London. We will write a custom essay sample on International Management: Market Entry or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page It is recognized as one of the top four oil and petroleum companies throughout the world. The company started in 1901when William Knox D’Arcy was given the permission by the Shah of Persia to explore the land for oil and founded one in May 1908. Because of this discovery, the Anglo-Persian Oil Company was established so as to expose these findings. The company has grown gradually because of this as World War I is happening; the British Government shows intense interest to the company which became the source of fuel oil of Royal Navy during WWI. In 1917, the war gives permission to the British Government to have full control of the company and named it British Petroleum ( 2006). The company has continued to become one of the largest oil companies in Europe and because the company wanted to expand its market, BP merged wit the American Oil Company (AMOCO). The strategies used by the management have been the major factors for the company’s success. In addition, the ability to include international marketing has made the company become one of the most successful oil companies all over the world. Today, the company operated in more than 100 states in 6 continents. The main goal of this company is to drill and find oil. The major activities of BP Amoco is exploration and production of natural gas and crude oil; refining or decontamination, marketing, supply and transportation and production and marketing or petrochemicals. In addition, the company also engaged itself in solar power. The strategic use technology and strategic management can be considered as a factor for this achievement. The company also acquires (Arco) and has been able to launch a combined global branding. The company offers products and services which are divided into three categories; on the roads which include fuels and stations, fuel cards, Liquified Petroleum Gas (LPG), lubricants, roadside assistance and route planners, for the home which consists of products like LPG, online store and solar and renewable; and for business which include air BP, Bitumen, BP Marine, BP open books, BP shipping, petrochemicals, power, natural gas, lubricants Liquified natural gas (LNG) and LPG, fuels, fuel cards and solar and renewable. In order to easily reach their customers, BP also uses the internet through its website ( 2006). Analysis of the Choice of Foreign Market In the business arena, it is important that an entrepreneur must be knowledgeable about the different marketing strategies that must be utilised in order to make the business prolong its competitiveness and stay in the marketing world, locally and internationally. The management of an enterprise that are considering entry into a foreign market must be able to make decisions focusing on uncertain and changeable circumstances that might be faced ( 1997). To successfully enter international market scene, it is important that the management should determine which country to choose ( 1997, 1992). It is a very crucial factor because the economic status of such country will be one of the major factors that can help boost the competitive advantage of a Firm BP Amoco chooses Hong Kong even though there are lots of competitors to outgrow, because of the economic status of the country. Since the country has a positive vision regarding oil and natural gas products and other chemicals, BP can use this as an instrument to expose its products in the population of China ( 1997) and show the quality of products and services they offer. Various Environments When a firm decides to expand its venture to international market, t faces different challenges that need to be given emphasis (, 1999). One of the most important considerations that should be given enough attention by the management of any industry like oil industries is the different environmental factors that affect the firm as a whole (1980). BP operates in a complex and more competitive environment. This is because only few countr ies can able to produce oils and natural gases. In this manner, the competition to produce and provide products and services for different consumers is demanded not only in the domestic arena but most especially to the international market ( 1995). The environment in which oil industries belong is a kind that must be given enough consideration in order for the company to be recognised in the whole world. Factors, such as consumer segments, political, economic and technological factors ( 2000) are few of environmental aspects, needed to be determined by BP as it enters an international market. In Hong Kong, it can be said that the country has a strong political system. This means, the British Petroleum should be able to adhere to the political status of Hong Kong in terms of business operations. Moreover, the economic status of the country is also considered as strong since it allows foreign investments to enter the PRC market. And since the needs of oil and other oil products is in demand with, it can be said that the market will be able to consider BP as an important industry that will provide quality oil products and services. In this regard, BP entry to Hong Kong is plausible and that with strategic marketing entry the company may ensure growth in this nation. In terms of technological aspects, the country has been able to adapt modern technologies to ensure growth and development within its territorial boundaries. This means that, Hong Kong is a potential international market for British Petroleum. Competitive Strategies As one of the worlds biggest oil and petrochemical companies, British Petroleum (BP) has international operations in over 70 countries with 233 billion revenues, and 103700 employees. It focuses on oil and gas exploration and production, the supplying of petroleum products, and the manufacturing and marketing of chemicals. Currently BP owns five recognized brands worldwide which include BP, am/pm, ARCO, Aral and Castrol. ( 2005) With the rapid change of the external environment, BP has regarded itself as a modern, global, decentralized and learning corporation that must learn to be adapted and responsive accordingly ( 1997. ) The leaders of BP knew that to maintain BPs competitive advantages and its leader position, it is no more relies on their experiences but the technical skills, political and operational knowledge because oil may be found in more challenging environment and even will be replaced by alternatives, such as hydrogen and solar, in the future. , BPs CEO, has claimed that learning is the foundation stone of BP to adapt to change. To identify the opportunities that their competitors may not see, BP has to create and distribute knowledge throughout the organization, thus learn faster and exploit faster than their competitors. ( 1997; 2000) Similarly, Mr , head of BPs information technology architecture and strategy, claimed BP needs to know what it knows, learn what it needs to learn and apply that knowledge as quickly as possible for sustainable competitive advantage, ( 1998) Thus, the vision of BP is to be an integrated world-class, agile learning organization ( 1998). Party of the business strategy of BP is its effective entry to international market which makes the company become more recognized in the business arena. In addition, the company is able to seek improvement in its business operation and tries to provide innovative products for the target market ( 1996). As mentioned, the company divided its market into three categories which helps them in knowing what the needs of their customers in specific categories are. Motivations for Market Entry Entering a new market is a complex decision which must be given focus and attention. With the goal of establishing a business that would be recognized and patronized by consumers, more and more entrepreneurs are trying to enter the market swiftly. There are different motivations for market entry (, 1990). One of the motivational factors to enter an international market is the chance given by this investment to make the company become more competitive among its rivals. It can be said that one’s an industry becomes a multinational company, there is an implication that such company has been able to establish a competitive position in the marketplace not only in the local but most especially to the global arena. Marketing entry is also capable in making a certain business enhance and expand its business portfolio. In line with BP, the company enters an international market (Hong Kong) in order to establish a company that would be powerful not only in Europe but in different continents as well. Modes of market entry In the market arena, it is important that a business firm or company should be able to include global competitiveness in their marketing strategy. The paradox of globalisation has always been one of the great influences for a company to lasts. In order to compete globally or internationally, the management of a firm should be able to choose a mode of market entry that will help them to achieve their goal. All of these modes involve resource commitments (albeit at varying levels); firms initial choices of a particular mode are difficult to change without considerable loss of time and money ( 1987). Entry mode selection is therefore, a very important, if not a critical, strategic decision. The four most common modes of foreign market entry are exporting, licensing, and joint venture and solve venture. Collaborative venture is the term used when a business company merged to other company for the purpose of entering the international market. This is an alternative mode of exploiting a particular asset such as retail and potential branch network to form an arrangement with an established supplier of the product. Collaborative ventures both jointly owned and affiliate company arrangements are known to be an obvious ways of spreading risks and acquiring access to expertise ( 1994). Here, the collaborative arrangements with an existing market participants also means that the entrant can transfer resources into the industry without necessary disturbing that industry’s current competitive structure too much ( 1993). It is a mutual understanding between the entrant and the existing firm to collaboratively work with each other for the expansion of the business portfolio of each company (1987; 1987). BP mode of market entry to Hong Kong is through a joint venture to either CNPC or Sinopec or Asiatic Petroleum Company. The joint venture mode is preferred by larger and more multinational firms. By having a venture with other bigger and competitive oil companies which are currently operating in Hong Kong or in China, British Petroleum products may be known in the HK market. An international joint venture is a distinct enterprise or multi-organizational agreement, created as an alliance between two or more parents organizations working across country borders in designing and managing the venture ( 1996). In order to do so, the company must ensure that the company is willing to have a joint venture with BP. n addition, BP may also use a third party stakeholder to help them in designing and implementing joint venture with an existing petroleum and oil industry in Hong Kong. For instance, banks, government agencies, union officials, suppliers, distributors and legal officials often make critical contributions in designing-implementing parts of an international joint venture. Enterprises with little prior experience in setting-up joint venture almost always underestimate the impact of third party involvement ( 1989). Conclusion International marketing is a complex process. In order to successfully enter the foreign market the company must see to it that all their resources are ready to face the risks of such investment. In addition, the company must be able to identify different factors that may affect the entry of the company to the marketplace. Analysis shows that BP must be able to utilize a strategy which enables the company to gain competitive advantage both in local and foreign market. Since, Hong Kong accepts foreign investment; BP must be able to provide appropriate agreements to adhere to the current situation of Hong Kong market. Analysis also shows that the economic status of HK is an indication that BP may be able to easily provide its products and services to different segments of the market. The entry of BP to Hong Kong can also be considered as beneficial for both the company and the country. In terms of strategic approach for international market entry, BP had used standardization to streamline its business portfolios in China. The company had emphasised the strategic use of technology, strategic management system and a strong and competitive organisational structure as the main reason why it has become successful in its venture of providing its products and services to China. In the analysis, the only recommendation is, BP must continue to strategically and effectively decide on different investments that would enhance its business performance both in the local and international market. Herein, the merging and acquisitions of different companies must be continued to provide innovative products and services in terms of oils, gases, and petrochemicals in the future. In addition, the company must continuously integrate its business strategy and information technology. It can be concluded that the right choice of market entry mode along with the concept of strategic management and other efficient marketing approach, can make a company succeed in achieving its goal of providing quality products with their target market. However, decisions should be made strategic also. This means, that the company should have the ability to decide which among the market entry mode can be helpful to the company itself and suitable for the international market that the company will consider.

Wednesday, December 4, 2019

Trends and Challenges Faces by MNC-Free-Samples for Students

Question: Assume that you work in a multinational corporation (MNC). As the Head of HR you have been given the task to prepare a Business Report to critically review and evaluate the current trends and challenges affecting HRM internationally. You have to critically analyse how these challenges impact on the future HRM practices for your MNC. Answer: Introduction With the effect of globalization and liberalization, the importance of opening MNCs came into existence. A multinational organization is one which works internationally in the global market and has a wide diversified dimension of working. The MNCs also make use of upfront technology to create differentiation in the market. Thus, with the initiation of MNCs the global and economic business has taken an effective change and developed with time (Al Ariss, Sidani, 2016). In order to manage the development, the company needs to manage their human resource activities so that they sustain on global. As it is known that on a global level the companies earn good profits similarly if taken the wrong step they can adversely affect the current state of the business. Further, in the competitive environment, it is primary objective of the business to keep their resources intact so that the managers can exercise their core business activities properly. As globalization opens up way for profitable business, so it is mandatory for the organization to manage the human resource activities internationally. The HR manager faces many human resource issues daily which can affect the growth of the organization; it is their duty to solve the problems and overcome the challenges faced them for the brighter future of the organization (Armstrong, Taylor, 2014). Further, the report discusses the key human resources trends and challenges occurring in the global business which is affecting the state of the business (positively or negatively). The purpose of this report is to analyze the current trends and challenges in managing human resource internationally and its impact on business; it also gives recommendation with the help of which an HR manager can sustain the growth of the business by managing the trends and challenges. Trends and challenges faces by MNC's in managing human resource internationally The fact is true that the world is now more turning into an international business which drives economic growth for all the countries worldwide. The trends which are constantly seen are in the areas like, technology, education, employees, economies, and communication etc. the movement of global business leads to high degree of economic change and a growing number of participants in the business. Also, complexity and uncertainty increased with the effect. Numerous traditional strategies shifted with the aid of international initialization of business process (Bhatti, Ahsan, 2016). The trends which the market has seen in the managing human resources with time is that there has been a shift in the age group of the labor force working for the international companies, also the expatriates becoming more culture oriented and working towards the benefits of the society. Another remarkable trend which shall be noticed is the growth in the fields of education and technology. These both aspects are getting more diverse due to which any activities which are held in the business are changing its face (Brewster, et. al., 2016). Another key trend on which the international business is focusing now days is the mobility of resources. It is very important for the business to carry on the mobility function effectively as it decides the motivation level of the employees in organizations. All the factors which are mentioned above have a great influence on the activities of the business, thus they shall be adequately taken care and managed in an organization to gain competitive ed ge in the global market (Cascio, Boudreau, 2016). Further, they key trends and challenges are discussed below: Technology Technology is a tool with the aid of which business process implement innovation in their organization. Technology is a rapidly changing aspect which provides benefits to the organization. In the global business, in order to sustain in the market, it is important for business to gain the competitive edge in the market. Competitive edge can be only achieved through the use of technological advancement techniques. The technology implementation helps the organization to change the employment market (Clark, et. al., 2016); the structure in which the workforce in prevailing is a trending concept which is constantly changing with the changing era. Thus technology is regarded as one of the trends in the international human resource management. Further, it shall be noticed that of technology is not applied adequately then it adversely the state of the organization so in this way it can act as a challenge for the organization (Cooke, Veen, Wood, 2017). Further talking about the challenge it shall be considered that the power of IT is replacing the jobs of normal people and acting as a permanent loss of jobs in the middle tier and at the first job entry level. Also, the global business is facing issue in managing the business which has narrow specific skills implemented in them. Apart from that, the fast-changing technology is making it difficult for some companies to adopt the new and efficient due to which their business process is becoming outdated. So, one of the challenge due to new trend in technology is that this process many times creates difficulty for the companies to adopt them in their process and re-educate that technology to the employees of the company (Dalton, Bingham, 2017). This many times acts as a burden for them to implement such changes in their management system. Apart from that another challenge which the company gets to face with the advancement of technology is that it eliminates the jobs of many people an d makes the personnel compact. As with the use of such technology major work which used be one by people eliminates itself due to which some people tend to lose their jobs (Dickmann, Brewster, Sparrow, 2016). Education Education is considered as one of the positive factors which assist the growth of an organization. But sometimes it may acts as a challenge for the global business process. Education helps the multinational companies to provide solutions to the demographic human resources caused by the company; it acts as both opportunity and threat to the company if no used wisely. Talking about the education acting as a threat to the organization, the fact that shall be noted is that just like technology; education is an ongoing process, which is changing every day (Farndale, et. al., 2017). So, there is no boundation to the process of acquiring education, that if a person acquires a limit of education then they are qualified to do certain job. Education is a diverse field which keeps on changing, along with which another challenge relating to education is difference in teaching style. It refers to the way or process in which people attain education, as in an MNC most of the people who are employed for the job are expatriate which symbolizes that their place from which obtained education was also different. So difference in teaching style can lead to differences in the management of the company as well. Summarizing to the above statement it shall be said that difference in education can lead to cultural differences as well. All formal and professional people employed in the company would have their point of difference of opinions due to difference in their teachings (Kaufman, 2016). Apart from that talking about the workplace learning, it shall be noted that now the workplace learning has developed into a wider context due to which it becomes difficult for expatriates to adopt the changes accordingly. The type of qualification provided in different institution is different and the work offered in an organization is different. So, if the employee's mental skills are adequately developed according to the profile of the work then it can act as a problem of the organization (Kramar, 2014). Mobility Lastly talking about mobility in international human resource management, it relates to the mobility of resources in a multinational corporation. Elaborating on the statement, this aspect includes the promotion, demotion, and transfer of human resource in an organization. It is mandatory for the organization to satisfy its employees with the kind of services they provide. For instance, if a regional employee of US is transferred to Australia for their future job period, approval of the employees is necessary because if the employee is not satisfied with such decision of the company then it can adversely affect the state of the company in global business (Reiche, Mendenhall, Stahl, 2016). Thus, it is a crucial decision which the company needs to take with the acceptance of the employees of the organization. Thus, if the decision of mobility is not taken adequately in an organization then can create problem for the company in managing human of the organization. Apart from that, the co mpany needs to properly take the decision hat which staff needs to go at the different outlet of the company who needs to stay in the same office (Renwick, Redman, Maguire, 2013). Motivation of the employees, organizational commitment, and job satisfaction are the most important aspects due to which a person performs their job effectively and efficiently. So, if an employee is transferred to another unit of the organization then the job satisfaction level can decrease which can affect the state of the organization. Apart from that the cultural difference Impact to IHRM issues on the company The human resource activities are directly connected to the business function. So any change in such activities can give a great impact on the growth of the business in international context. Further, the impact of human resource activities on the multinational corporations is discussed below. Talking about the impact of technological advancement on the growth of business is that, with this effect, the employees of the company started getting demotivated as they were unable to understand the technological changes happening in the internal management of the company. The elder generation people employed in the company found it difficult to cope up with the technology coming from different parts of the world (Paill, et. al., 2014). Apart from that, the expatriate is unable to make them understand regarding the changes. The normal jobs of the people were also replaced with this effect. Although I acted as an advantage for the company on the same hand this process also depleted the human resource management of the company. further in addition to it, another way in which technology affect the human resource managerial activities is that, as this process depleted in the number of employees working in an organization and the people who had routine jobs in their business, due to th is loss of jobs a bad impression of company shall prevail in the market. As the ex-employees of the company would talk about the furious technological growth and the less job security chances of the employees in the company, ten would lead to creating a bad image of the company in the market (Sheehan, 2014). Another aspect which affected the international human resource activities in an organization is education. This aspect talks about the culture difference prevailing in the employees of the company, all have taken their lessons from different institutions due to which there is a difference in thinking and applicability of theories in an organization (Wilkinson, Wood, 2017). Due to which many times employees clashes in the organization as all people have their different point of opinions. Another problem in the organization comes when newly skilled employee talks about some theories which the experienced employees of the company are unable to understand as there are changes in the courses. Due to this process, some employees of the company might feel distressed which can act as an issue of the company. Education opens the mind of people and it also improves the capacity to understand things. Thus, some people in the organization tend to understand and respond to workplace activities i n a better way while others might not due to which communication gap can occur in the management process (Wilton, 2016). Lastly, mobility of employees which mainly includes transfers and promotions works as a huge factor for motivation and demotivation among employees. As if transfer of employees is with their will and consent then it will adequately respond to the unit of the company otherwise vice versa. The mobility of human resource affects two units of the same organization (Sekiguchi, Froese, Iguchi, 2016). Conclusion Thus, in the limelight of above mentioned events, the fact that shall be noted is that in a multinational corporate there are many human resource management issues which a business process faces in their day to day activity. Apart from that, it is the duty of the HR manager to satisfy the requirements of the employees of the organization along with the objectives of the company to sustain the growth in global environment. Also if the company will not prioritize such issues, and then it can negatively affect their growth in global context. Apart from that, it is very important for a human resource manager to actively look after the issues of all the employees and resolve them so that future growth is sustained (Nickson, 2013). So, in order to attain the global competitive edge the human resource manager needs to adequately look after such issues and its impact on the business in economic terms. Thus the above mentioned analysis evaluates the trends and challenges faced by an MNC, impact on the business globally and recommendation with the aid of which ne can avoid such problems. Recommendation So after look at the above mention analysis of the key trends and issues faced by a multinational corporation, a few recommendations that shall be noted are that firstly the human resource managers shall actively participate in all the activities relating to the human resource of the company. Secondly, the manager shall look after the mobility of the employees of the organization; they shall look for the consent of employees who wish to go to the different unit of the company for expansion purposes. Also, they shall promote the employee or provide them monetary benefits if they approve for transfer. This will help the company to keep the employees motivated and satisfied in their job. Another way in which company can excel the international human resource management that they shall provide training sessions to all the employees of the organization so the come up front to the newly established technology and education in the market. This will help them to develop and adopt different methodologies which will help them to sustain their personal future growth. Employees being the most important asset of the organization need to be satisfied with the environment in which they are working, therefore the company shall organization regular cross-cultural training programs so as to assist the growth of the employees of the organization. Apart from that such events shall be held on a larger scale so that all the employees connected with the working of the organization get to know each and share each other feeling. This will help they create informal groups in the organization which will eliminate the problem of communication or generation gap. Lastly, the company shall international try to manage the economic goals with the benefits of the employees of the organization as well so that competitive advantage is gained by the company. So, if all such activities are applied by the MNCs in their business process then they can solve their human resource management issues easily References Al Ariss, A., Sidani, Y. (2016). Comparative international human resource management: Future research directions. Human Resource Management Review, 26(4), 352-358. Armstrong, M., Taylor, S. (2014). Armstrong's handbook of human resource management practice. Kogan Page Publishers. Bhatti, M. W., Ahsan, A. (2016). Global software development: an exploratory study of challenges of globalization, HRM practices and process improvement. Review of Managerial Science, 10(4), 649-682. Brewster, C., Houldsworth, E., Sparrow, P., Vernon, G. (2016). International human resource management. Kogan Page Publishers. Cascio, W. F., Boudreau, J. W. (2016). The search for global competence: From international HR to talent management. Journal of World Business, 51(1), 103-114. Clark, W. C., Tomich, T. P., Van Noordwijk, M., Guston, D., Catacutan, D., Dickson, N. M., McNie, E. (2016). Boundary work for sustainable development: natural resource management at the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR). Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 113(17), 4615-4622. Cooke, F. L., Veen, A., Wood, G. (2017). What do we know about cross-country comparative studies in HRM? A critical review of literature in the period of 2000-2014. The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 28(1), 196-233. Dalton, K., Bingham, C. (2017). A social institutionalist perspective on HR diffusion: historical and cultural receptivity to HRM in a post-communist context. The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 28(6), 825-851. Dickmann, M., Brewster, C., Sparrow, P. (Eds.). (2016). International Human Resource Management: Contemporary HR Issues in Europe. Routledge. Farndale, E., Raghuram, S., Gully, S., Liu, X., Phillips, J. M., Vidovi?, M. (2017). A vision of international HRM research. The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 28(12), 1625-1639. Kaufman, B. E. (2016). Globalization and convergencedivergence of HRM across nations: New measures, explanatory theory, and non-standard predictions from bringing in economics. Human Resource Management Review, 26(4), 338-351. Kramar, R. (2014). Beyond strategic human resource management: is sustainable human resource management the next approach?. The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 25(8), 1069-1089. Nickson, D. (2013). Human resource management for hospitality, tourism and events. Routledge. Paill, P., Chen, Y., Boiral, O., Jin, J. (2014). The impact of human resource management on environmental performance: An employee-level study. Journal of Business Ethics, 121(3), 451-466. Reiche, B. S., Mendenhall, M. E., Stahl, G. K. (Eds.). (2016). Readings and cases in international human resource management. Taylor Francis. Renwick, D. W., Redman, T., Maguire, S. (2013). Green human resource management: A review and research agenda. International Journal of Management Reviews, 15(1), 1-14. Sekiguchi, T., Froese, F. J., Iguchi, C. (2016). International human resource management of Japanese multinational corporations: Challenges and future directions. Asian Business Management, 15(2), 83-109. Sheehan, M. (2014). Human resource management and performance: Evidence from small and medium-sized firms. International Small Business Journal, 32(5), 545-570. Wilkinson, A., Wood, G. (2017). Global trends and crises, comparative capitalism and HRM. Wilton, N. (2016). An introduction to human resource management. Sage.

Thursday, November 28, 2019

Sea Wolf Essays - Gray Wolf, Scavengers, Comanche People

Sea Wolf Wolf Larsen was a character in the book who never made it all the way through the book, but he tried very hard. He was a very strong, brutal man with almost no respect for human life. With all the people in the world, one dead person meant nothing to him. He was a patient man and usually kept himself under control. He was surprisingly smart and thoughtful for a pirate who lives on the sea. He loved the sea and knew many things about it, such as how to outwit his brother when he came near Wolf's boat. Humphrey Van Weydon, or Hump as he was called on the boat, was a landlubber. He had a very comfortable job, and very soft skin showing how soft his life had been. He had barely any muscles and lived a very pampered living. He was a gentleman and very proper. Being proper, he was very intelligent and had a very extensive vocabulary. He seemed very surprised when he realized Wolf and he both shared some vocabulary words and meanings. Hump wasn't used to living on a boat, but he soon learned to live on one. He became accepted on the boat with the crew. Wolf and Hump were very different people with few similarities. Wolf was very strong and bullied everyone around. He believed everyone was insignificant, while Hump was nice, proper and believed everyone was unique and we all should live and that one person can make a big difference and change in the world. Wolf also tried to turn Hump into a strong man, since Hump was a wimp in everyone's eye on the boat. Wolf had one disadvantage though, during his voyages, he read many books, but was never able to say what he read or really talk about anything he read. When Hump came along, they shared and exchanged knowledge and each learned new things about the books they read. One scene that stands out the most from the book was when Wolf Larsen was engaged in a battle with his brother. Wolf played Hide-N- Seek with his brother behind fog on the seas for a long time. During this fight, Hump and Maud Brewster, a girl whom Hump was in love with and was trapped on the boat too, got on a small boat and sailed to safety away from Wolf's boat to freedom. Only later after Hump saw Wolf's boat stranded on the island where Hump and Maud were living did he hear from Wolf that his brother came on board during the night and offered everyone a chance to get away and paid them to go on his boat. Wolf's boat didn't have any crew left after everyone left. Sea Wolf and Dove surprisingly had many similarities between them. Sea Wolf was a story was told on the sea and in first person just as Dove had been done. In the sea, Hump worked under Wolf Larsen as a crewman while Robin worked under the stress of finishing the journey around the world. In both books the main character found true love. Hump found and fell in love with Maud while Robin fell in love with Patti. Finally, both stories ended with the problems solved, Wolf Larsen died leaving Hump free from stress of him killing him, and robin finished the journey to have a family and spend the rest of his time with his wife Patti.

Sunday, November 24, 2019

WHEN DIPLOMACY IS NOT ENOUGH essays

WHEN DIPLOMACY IS NOT ENOUGH essays Mediation is a dispute resolution process in which a neutral third party assists the participants to reach a voluntary and informed settlement. Mediation and diplomacy have both been used more and more frequently after the Second World War in order to prevent such a tragedy from reoccurring. Diplomacy can be used in several ways, but not all are considered orthodox although they can contribute to peaceful resolutions of problems. Certain countries like the United States are extremely advanced in almost all areas of technology, industry, militia and economy, therefore controlling the upper hand in most situations. The U.S. has a tendency to help other nations only if it will benefit from the outcome. The United States often contributes to the resolving of a conflict by sending spokespersons to represent the interests of their country, which usually signifies large profits and also by sending troops to ensure that no aggression is taken during the peace talks. Other countries suc h as Canada have specialized peacekeeping troops to aid the citizens of a discontent region repair damage that might have been caused or more often prevent any aggression that might occur before a settlement is reached. In history, it has been observed that Canada does not have as much of a hunger for profit in aiding other countries as the United States, which is apparent in Canadas reputation. This Alternative Dispute Resolution has provided an option for many countries to deal with international conflicts and disputes rather than immediately resorting to violence. Nevertheless, there are always exceptions to the rule and not all problems can be resolved peacefully and without bloodshed. These exceptions must be recognized early enough so that the proper measures can be taken to immediately settle the conflict. However, not all attempts at resolving problems using diplomacy are successful and military intervention is required. These situati ...

Thursday, November 21, 2019

Autobiography Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Autobiography - Essay Example After witnessing my grandmother’s near-death experience and her recovery to normal life, I knew that the human body fascinated me. I wanted to be the oncologist who helped get my grandmother’s health back on track. I wanted to help bring back smiles to people’s faces through influencing their health conditions. My clinical shadowing and research experience has helped affirm my dream of becoming a doctor. This experience has assisted me in learning how tender and caring one should be towards patients. I have learned that devotion is key to becoming successful in the medical profession. I have learned to experience the joy one gets at seeing patients recover. The experience further widened my eyes on how detailed the human body is, and how perfectly careful one has to be when dealing with it. I got to be part of two research activities through this experience; a clinical and laboratory research. Forming part of the clinical research helped me to gain two mentors wh o were the two head doctors of the research. They guided me on the road they undertook towards achieving their work as doctors. The clinical research further enlightened me on the effort, dedication, and the love that a team of doctors put towards assisting a community. The clinical research also helped me to consolidate my academic goals. I became interested in attaining a master in public health during the gap year after medical school. The laboratory research experience helped me to understand how to follow specific protocols.

Wednesday, November 20, 2019

Community changes Scholarship Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Community changes - Scholarship Essay Example was doing a random selection on people who will be given authorization to make changes in our community, I immediately saw this as an opportunity to make a difference. If I were to propose three things that I would promote to achieve a positive change in my community, it would be: First, to provide for the needs of the community, such as feeding the hungry, giving poor families a comfortable place to live in, impart to them the knowledge and skills for livelihood, educate the uneducated, and to give the elderly proper care and attention. I propose these projects that would satisfy every level of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs: physiological, safety, social, esteem, & self-actualization, because I believe that when all is gratified, it is when a person would be most productive and motivated, the key to a prosperous society (Maslows Hierarchy of Needs, n.d.). Second, I would want to set a monthly awareness talks and seminars for the community to participate in. Topics of the talks or seminars would involve how to be a socially responsible neighbor & how to be environmental-friendly in one’s community, and at the same time involve activities that will allow households in a certain neighborhood to get to know each other and learn from each other. This is because I believe that a neighborhood’s health affects individual lives (Neighbourhood Effects | Seminars, n.d.). With this said, to be able to enrich the quality of life in a certain community, it is best to instill positive values within them so as to promote cooperation, integrity, friendliness and good will. We all know that a lot of conflicts we now face in society are caused by indifference, selfishness and abuse towards other people. Thus, if I would be able to develop positive values in a small group of society such as the neighborhood, it would definitely help achiev e a peaceful society in the future. Third, I would want to promote a healthy and active lifestyle which would not only benefit the specific

Monday, November 18, 2019

Living in Multicultural Societies Research Paper

Living in Multicultural Societies - Research Paper Example Since the developed nations of the world offer superior education, health, employment and individual as well as collective growth and development of the people, the populations belonging to the under-developed and developing countries tend to move to the developed states for brighter job and business prospects on the one side, and to lead a better, comfortable and luxurious life on the other. Situated in the Island of Hispaniola, in the southern part of Atlantic Ocean, the Dominican Republic serves as the second largest Caribbean nation existing on the face of the earth (Seelke 1). Being the poor economy, but rich with the natural resources, the country had been the target of the adventures of the European powers since the seventeenth century onward. Since the Spanish royalty had taken keen interest in keeping the country under the Spanish control, the Caribbean island had been one of the Spanish dominions for decades. By the end of eighteenth century, the country came under the sway of French authorities, though the French had to experience the revolt of the indigenous population against them. It eventually encouraged the neighboring Haitians to occupy the island for establishing their rule over it (Lancer 2002). Migration is a social phenomenon, which is equally popular among the individuals belonging to all geographical zones, different ethnic, racial and religious backgrounds, various age-groups and both the genders (Weeks 263). Identical with the rest of the world, the people belonging to the Dominican Republic also observe migration from their native country to some other regions of the globe. It is partly because of the very fact that the country had been the victim of poverty, massive corruption at national scale, bad governance, nepotism, political unrest, sociocultural chaos and economic uncertainty that force the masses to explore new dimensions for making progress in life (Morgan, Espinal, & Seligson 10-1). In addition, the country also

Friday, November 15, 2019

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 . ACARS Message Security (AMS) as a Vehicle for Validation of ICAO Doc. 9880 Part IV-B Security Requirements. Proc. of ICAO ACP WG-M Meeting, Belgium, Brussels. N.p.: n.p., n.d. 1-12. Print. Yue, M., and X. Wu. The Approach of ACARS Data Encryption and Authentication. 2010 International Conference on Computational Intelligence and Security (2010): 556-60. Web. 10 Feb. 2017. Strohmeier, Martin, Matthias Schafer, Rui Pinheiro, Vincent Lenders, and Ivan Martinovic. On Perception and Reality in Wireless Air Traffic Communication Security. IEEE Transactions on Intelligent Transportation Systems (2016): 1-20. Web. Akram, Raja Naeem, Konstantinos Markantonakis, Keith Mayes, Pierre-Francois Bonnefoi, Damien Sauveron, and Serge Chaumette. Security and performance comparison of different secure channel protocols for Avionics Wireless Networks. 2016 IEEE/AIAA 35th Digital Avionics Systems Conference (DASC) (2016): n. pag. Web. Akram, Raja Naeem, Konstantinos Markantonakis, Royal Holloway, Sharadha Kariyawasam, Shahid Ayub, Amar Seeam, and Robert Atkinson. Challenges of security and trust in Avionics Wireless Networks. 2015 IEEE/AIAA 34th Digital Avionics Systems Conference (DASC) (2015): n. pag. Web. Network Graphic. Digital image. ATC Data Link News. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Feb. 2017.

Wednesday, November 13, 2019

All The Kings Men :: Jack Burden

"But in the end the truth gave the past back to me." Jack Burden pg. 436 To understand the inferential validity of the above quotation, I think it is important to first establish a literal comprehension of the quotation. Furthermore, Jack uses the facts and truth he has gathered in his life up to 1939 to better understand and explain the occurrences and consequences that have also occurred up to 1939. The most important secrets of the past that are finally uncovered are the truth about his father's, Ellis Burden and Judge Irwin, and his relationship with Anne Stanton. From the beginning of the book the Burden family structure is shaky and confusing at best, the first mention of the mother on pg. 37 describes a love confused women next to her new young husband, her fourth. Then we finally get to meet the myth, the man Ellis Burden. Ellis' status is catalyzed on pg. 200 when Jack addresses him as father and the Scholarly Attorney responds querulously, "What - what did you say?" and on those same pages the old man stubbornly refuses to comment on the questions about Monty Irwin. Furthermore on that page Jack, to himself, calls the old man a "fool,... who wasn't man enough to run his own house". Coupled with numerous All-American quotes of the upstanding Judge as Jack's father figure, pg. 121 "the Judge was a brave man", pg. 438 "... he was a man and I loved him.", the reader becomes confused about whom the father really is. This is the hidden past, and as Jack completes the "Case of the Upright Judge" , he "broke the ice" and found out the truths and facts that would give him his past back. "The Judge won't scare easy", is a quotation rapidly forgotten as Jack uses one heck of a Louisville slugger to bust this boy. The Judge, with both his frightened ticker and shortly his reputation on their last few diminishing beats, leaves this world trying to talk fast to Jack. The very next page the mystery is solved as Jack's mother hysterically falls to the floor screaming "your father and oh! you killed him." and the next line states the numbness and closure for Jack, "That was how I found out." These truths uncovered the past and their truths and weeded out the confusion that was the past. "It was always Monty", his mother says on 429, her love for him and his political dislike of the Judge caused dispute between Jack and his mother.

Sunday, November 10, 2019

Culture-Bound Syndromes

Mental health functioning is important regarding a person’s well-being, being able to interact with others in a healthy manner, and contributes many things to individual’s through communities and society. Culture-bound syndromes are conditions that are specific to particular cultures. The cultures that experience, express, and deal with culture-bound syndromes in different ways is extremely common. LaVeist and Thomas (2005) state that â€Å"culture-bound syndromes are clusters of symptoms more common in some cultures than others† (p. 01). There are symptoms that are found in all nations, cultures, and similarly recognizable worldwide but yet are different at the same time. Culture-Bound Syndromes Culture-bound syndromes, also known as culture-specific syndromes, have been defined as â€Å"clusters of symptoms more common in some cultures than in other cultural groups† (LaVeist & Thomas, 2005, p. 101). Although many mental disorders are well known in sp ecific cultures, these disorders are at least somewhat conditioned by the culture in which they are found.More importantly, the topic of culture-bound syndromes has â€Å"been a controversial topic since they have reflected the different opinions of anthropologists and psychiatrists† (WHO, 1992). Consequently, researchers have had some difficulty emphasizing culture specific dimensions of certain syndromes. Some studies have suggested that the most beneficial aspect of defining culture-bound syndromes is that they represent an acceptable way to define specific cultural responses to certain situations.According to Guarnaccia and Rogler (1999), â€Å"researchers have referred to culture bound research on culture-bound syndromes serves strategically to tighten the integration between cultural and clinical knowledge, while providing insights into issues of diagnostic universality and culturally specificity† (p. 1326). The role of biology in the development of culture-bound syndromes, therefore, has proved to be of debate. Interest in culture-bound syndromes has increased over the last few decades.Similarly the treatment in a diagnostic classification treatment of these disorders has over the last several years gained attention (Guarnaccia & Rogler, 1999). Clinicians are presented with plenty of challenges when dealing with culture-bound syndromes such as how to diagnose them. Several questions clinicians present include the stability of culture-bound syndromes, the common nature of these disorders across cultures, and the similarity of symptoms between syndromes (APA, 1994).Similarly, the question of whether culture-bound syndromes should be included in the diagnostic criteria of current psychological illnesses or as individual entities themselves is also debatable (APA, 1994). Another issue concerns the relationship between culture bound syndromes and standard diagnostic systems such as the DSM. Of specific concern is that they do not easily con form to the categories within the DSM due to significant differences across cultures.These differences are due to differing views of self and reality as well as the different ways cultures express certain disorders (APA, 1994). Guarnaccia and Rogler (1999) referring to the DSM classification system in that it addresses certain concerns about differing cultural boundaries, and in dealing with the classification methods certainly deal with the reliability and validity of the non-universality of cultural experiences in relation to mental illnesses.The fact that each culture-bound syndrome is individually associated with particular sets of illness responses, it is difficult to define precisely the definition of the culture-bound syndromes as a unit. Culture-bound syndromes as therefore comprised as several different illnesses and afflictions. LaVeist and Thomas (2005) thoroughly expresses the dynamic nature of culture-bound syndromes when they state: The symptoms of mental disorders are found in all nations and in all cultures; there are recognizable symptoms that are common worldwide.Mental health researchers have not yet been able to determine whether culture bound syndromes are indicative of one or more possibilities that include distinct disorders that exist only in specific cultures, and reflect different ways in which individuals from different cultures express mental illness, as well as reflecting different ways in which the social and cultural environment interact with genes to produce disorders, or any combination of these. (pp. 01) With the following information in mind, it should be noted that not all disorders are considered pathological; some behaviors are seen as ways of expressing and communicating distress to members of a certain culture and are seen as culturally accepted responses (APA, 1994). In fact, cultures experience, express, and cope with feelings of distress in various ways that may counter what Western societies see as common. Furthermor e, at times these cultural differences are referred to as idioms of distress.Understanding the expression of these idioms (for example somatization, which is a physical representation of distress that is typically accompanied by symptoms such as abdominal or chest pain, heart palpitations, dizziness or vertigo, and blurred vision) allows clinicians to be more aware of the diagnoses they give (LaVeist & Thomas, 2005). Culture-bound syndromes can also appear to be similar within several cultures. Furthermore, a culture specific syndrome can be categorized by various things.The APA (1994) characterizes culture specific syndromes as the following: categorization as a disease in the culture, familiarity within a widespread culture, people with lack of familiarity of specific conditions from other cultures, and the use of folk medicines that particular cultures use as a conditioned sense of usage within a specific culture. More specifically, culture-bound syndromes are not the same as geographically localized diseases with specific biological causes, such as kuru or sleeping sickness, or genetic conditions limited to certain populations, like sickle cell anemia (APA, 1994).Discussions of culture-bound syndromes have often concerned the amount of different categories of syndromes present in the world today. Many culture-bound syndromes are actually specific cultural representations of illnesses found elsewhere in the world. Some of these responses are not necessarily psychological illnesses but rather are explanatory mechanisms like witchcraft (Simons & Hughes, 1985). Beliefs in witchcraft could seem to be a little farfetched as a type of culture-bound illness; however, it is supposed that witchcraft can lead to behaviors that can be seen as disordered.This concept is of particular concern to medical and psychiatric anthropologists because culture-bound syndromes provide examples of how cultural specific symptoms can evolve into psychological illnesses. Just because these responses may not begin as disorders, however, does not devalue the fact that they are illnesses and should be taken seriously (Simons & Hughes, 1985). The American Psychiatric Association (1994), states that the Western scientific perspective characterizes culture specific syndromes as imaginary and has no way of clearly being able to show why someone cannot understand that perspective.According to the APA (1994), physicians will share many things about a disorder with the patients and help them try to understand how they see their particular disorder; they also use folk medicine treatment if the patient asks for that if it is a culture-bound syndrome. Another thing is that a physician may falsify a patients perspective to offer folk medicine treatments that are available or maybe for a new and improved treatment strategy. Lastly, the clinician should educate the patient on being able to recognize their condition as a culture-bound syndrome so that the clinician m ay treat them as they see fit.Guarnaccia and Rogler (1994) said that specific conditions are very challenging within medical care and illustrate rarely discussed aspects of fundamental aspects of physician to patient relationships, a diagnosis that is the best fit for the way of looking at the body and its diseases are easily negotiated if both parties can be found. Restrictions of the diagnostic classification systems of culture-bound syndromes have complications with certain additions within the iagnostic classification systems and have raised many questions. It is not quite clear on whether culture-bound syndromes are actually different from conventional syndromes or if they are just categorically different. Some people like to argue that some culture-bound syndromes are not just limited to specific cultures but are widely experienced throughout the world. Many of the syndromes that have been labeled as culture- bound are compromised by many mixtures of indicators that have been witnessed collectively.Culture-bound syndromes are lacking in diagnostic regularity and legitimacy making it extremely difficult to reach widespread straightforward criteria to describe these illnesses because of problems in language. â€Å"In the development of the DSM, its designers tried to create a diagnostic system that was well-suited with a broader and more worldwide medical organization system that is, the International Classification of Diseases, Injuries, and Causes of Death (ICD) developed by the World Health Organization† (WHO, 1992).Therefore, the DSM implements a medical model of diagnosis for which many mental disorders, regardless of whether their background is biological or psychological, is viewed as mental illnesses and requires treatment. Furthermore, this model is implicit and assuming that mental disorders are under the compromise of behavioral or psychological symptoms that can form definable patterns or distinct forms of a particular syndrome (Guarnacc ia & Rogler, 1994).The authors of the DSM definitely made a careful choice to accept a clear-cut categorization of mental illnesses. It is important to notice, however, that the DSM does not make the assumption that all mental disorders are discreet entities with absolutely no boundaries. Finally, before methodology is discussed, examples of what culture-bound syndromes actually are is important to include. The case of Koro â€Å"provides an example of shifting diagnostic classifications because of changing decisions about which symptoms are predominant.For example, Koro was first categorized as a somatoform disorder on the basis of the perception of the afflicted person’s intense preoccupation with a somatic concern, the retraction of the penis† (Bernstein & Gaw, 1990). â€Å"More recently, Koro was categorized as an anxiety disorder and noted that others have associated Koro with panic disorders† (Levine & Gaw, 1995, p. 1323). Second, the debate of the relationship between culture-bound syndromes and psychiatric disorders according to symptoms is evident in the case of Latah Levine & Gaw, 1995). More specifically, â€Å"a debate about Latah focuses on which theoretical perspective should prevail; Simons and Hughes argued that the predominant feature of Latah is the neurophysiological startle reflex, culturally elaborated into Latah in Malaysia† (Simons & Hughes, 1985, p. 1323). Therefore, each disorder represents responses specific to certain cultures while also explaining the different ways cultures respond to events. MethodUnderstanding culture-bound syndromes requires looking at multiple sources that give a broad range of information regarding the topic. For this paper I felt that it was necessary to use the American Psychiatric Association’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders because it gives plenty of information regarding culture-bound syndromes. The Diagnostic and Statistical Ma nual of Mental Disorders is extremely useful in the fact that it allows a health educator to become more acquainted with culture-bound syndromes that are unique and unusual to our specific field of study.Guarnaccia and Rogler and their research on culture-bound syndromes is informational in that they give a comprehensive look at culture-bound syndromes through the classification system and allow one to focus more on specific syndromes, such as Koro and Latah. LaVeist and Thomas from Chapter 5 in Minority Populations and Health are really informational along the lines of mental health, mental illness, and mental health problems.They give a more thorough explanation of basic background information on the previously stated information and topics and yet still remain in-depth when looking at specific aspects of mental health. They describe mental health, mental health problems, and mental illness in more detail and allow for the interpretation of others reading their work to help fuel o ne’s own judgments on those topics. I also used various sources to address other topics relevant to culture-bound syndromes. For example, Bernstein and Gaw specifically addressed Koro, which I used as an example of a culture-bound syndrome.Another example, Simon and Hughes addressed Latah, I felt it was necessary to use examples of both Koro and Latah to help show what culture-bound syndromes were exactly and what they meant to cultures that were not American and how the cultures that were affected by these syndromes. The method I used for identifying and locating sources mainly dealt with trying to find a broad aspect of culture-bound syndromes and basic information on this particular subject. The rationale for choosing the specific sources was along the lines of being able to find enough useable information that could allow me to get my points across.When searching the electronic databases and the library at Central Arkansas University I was mainly looking for a broad range of topics that could fulfill the various information needs I had for this paper. I wanted to look at the topic on multiple levels, including cross-cultural, the way culture-bound syndromes affect others, and the ways in which these disorders are specifically associated with mental illness. Analysis & Discussion The grouping of culture-bound syndromes into qualified diagnostic categories usually is based on a perception of their principal indicators.But the bigger issue itself of classifying a majority of symptoms is definitely challenging, as exemplified in the cases of Koro and Latah. Problems most definitely arose when conclusions were built on general, typical descriptions of the syndrome that are then linked with the textbook criteria of psychiatric diagnoses. The present method of studying the same set of readings and engaging in the classification process with them does not, from my viewpoint, promote the consideration of culture-bound syndromes.The approach of trying to find the right classificatory organization by basing it on the similarity between certain symptoms that include maybe one or two of the same grouping within the syndrome as well as the DSM groupings as the main organizing arrangement of significance to the culture-bound syndromes is not expected to produce new answers to the questions about the classification system. There are many syndromes that have different names that are seen from a variety of cultures that are basically the same set of behaviors, but culturally are explained in slightly different ways.Occasionally, on certain remote instances the arrangement of the behavior that is recognized as a culture-bound syndrome occurs in an area that is far from individuals where the termed and elaborated syndrome is an endemic. Conclusion & Recommendations Some major challenges that can help the classification system out is that the same distress responses may be stated differently as a result of cultural cues, language variances , and changes in experience.In addition, the American Psychiatric Association (1994) notes that some examples of cultural structuring and or human behavior knowledge regarding illnesses are stated in Western classification systems more commonly known as the DSM. Thus, the challenge to categorize culture bound syndromes, whether as diverse syndromes or as part of an already categorized illness, is an activity that is inseparably tied to a certain culture. Also it has been suggested the ways that cultures and their social methods can limit the expansion of an internationally valid system of identification.Guarnaccia and Rogler (1999) suggests that classification of culture-bound syndromes are better than recording symptoms due to the fact that examining the context and symbolic structure of cultural reactions yield a better turnout. The main themes of most discussions over culture-bound syndromes is that such illnesses personalize symptom patterns that are somewhat linked in some sign ificant way to the specific cultural setting in which they have occurred within.Because most of the syndromes are separate from the theoretical outlook of the Western medicine systems, they are quite often disregarded in serious analyses and therefore are carelessly overlooked for helpful mediations. These disorders appear to reside in a figurative twilight zone of psychiatric diagnosis and are viewed as highly mysterious. To nearly everyone, the behavior and outlooks common to one’s own culture seem natural and/or rational in most parts, while those derived from other cultures appear abnormal, culture-specific, or arising from irregular conditions.Most clinicians are more than likely to think through the justification of culture when presenting a patient’s problem, especially when he or she is from a cultural setting other than the clinician’s own. However, cultural factors are a considerable part of every disorder and expressive in the outlook of specific comp onents. Nonetheless, all psychiatric illnesses are culture bound to a certain degree. The divisions of psychiatric illnesses of culture-bound syndromes are those found only in inadequate cultural areas.Though culture does shape all illness behavior, it is always hypothetically informative to ask why any given syndrome appears to be present or not in a given culture. In recent years, the mindfulness of cultural diversity and of the role of culture in all illnesses has greatly been improved. Because of the interpretations into the relationships between individual psychopathology and culturally firm practices and beliefs that the study of culture-bound syndromes offers, an interest in these syndromes has grown greatly over the past several years.Health educators in dealing with culture-bound syndromes would be able to help Center for Disease Control officials in many aspects. Since culture-bound syndromes are very common among many cultures around the world, health educators who deal w ith particular syndromes could help assess and implement many programs that can help with assessing many syndromes that afflict many cultures throughout the world. In a classroom setting, health educators can teach students how to spot syndromes and treat them to an extent in which helps their particular culture, community or society.Health education programs that are implemented within colleges and universities can stress that culture-bound syndromes are very serious and need to be treated like any other mental health disease that we as educators deal with and try to diagnose every day. I believe that policies and procedures that are already implemented within our culture are doing a good job in trying to handle culture-bound syndromes. Educationally, I believe that there are definitely some great programs that try to help with identifying and dealing with culture-bound syndromes.References American Psychiatric Association (APA). 1994). Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental D isorders, Fourth Edition: DSM-IV. Washington, DC. Bernstein, R. L. , & Gaw, A. C. (1990). Koro: proposed classification for DSM-IV. American Journal of Psychiatry, 147, 1670-1674. Guarnaccia, P. J. , & Rogler, L. H. (1999). Research on culture-bound syndromes: New directions. American Journal of Psychiatry, 156(9), 1322-1327. Hall, T. M. (2008). Culture-bound syndromes in China. Retrieved from http://homepage. mac. com/mccajor/cbs. html LaVeist, T. A. , & Thomas, D. (2005). Mental health. In T. A. LaVeist (Ed. Minority populations and health: An introduction to health disparities in the United States (pp. 83-107). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass. Levine, R. E. , & Gaw, A. C. (1995). Culture-bound syndromes. Psychiatry Clinic North America, 18, 523-536. World Health Organization (WHO). (1992). International Classification of Diseases, 10th Edition (ICD-10): Classification of mental and behavioral disorders. Geneva, Switzerland. Simons, R. C. , & Hughes, C. C. (1985 ). The culture-bound syndromes: Folk illnesses of psychiatric and anthropological interest. Dordrecht, Netherlands.