Rise and fall of American labor unions Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 5250 words

Rise and fall of American labor unions - Essay Example This kind of project is non-routine work that is not done regularly. A project has duration. Example, the project of basketball construction has duration of two months. Project needs Resources. Project needs, men, materials, time and money to finish the basketball court. Resources are scarce. So, if the organization wants to finish the project, they have to make a budget estimate within which to finish the work. 1.2. Planning and organization. The purpose of planning is to determine the best possible way of achieving specified objective within the specified period of time and costs. It is a technique that aims at maximum utilization of resources. Every person, organization or a government entity has plans. For example, Martha has plans to build a house, the neighborhood plans to build a club house, and the government plans to build a connecting highway. In all of these plans, the elements of project management are important. These are planning, scheduling, implementation, control and monitoring. These are easily done with small projects, but gets difficult and complex when it comes to big projects like government projects. A basketball court construction is simpler in details than a government road project. 1.4 Project appraisal and financing Financing is the significant link between the project and implementation because no matter how good or feasible the project in terms of technical and economics, it cannot work without money. The problem concerns of the project is not only measuring the financial needs but to be assured of financing, where and when needed. This usually entails a loan proposal, and identifying sources of financing. The proponent or organization could resort to borrowings from banks or institutions for private entity; or if it is a government project, funds may come from general appropriations, grants or loan from government banks or rely on foreign loans. In our example, funds for the purpose may come from donations. 1.5 Project life cycle A project has a life cycle. It starts with the conception stage. It is the time when the idea started. Next is the design stage – this is where designs of the project area are presented; usually a committee appraises the appropriateness of the design. Then we have implementation – this is the time of actual work; and the commissioning stage that marks end of project. Going back to project, idea came from the Youth Association, and the design could come from another group who will design, next is a group that finances and implements the project. Last stage is the ending of the project or turn over. 1.6 Organizational workflow, staffing processes and project planning elements Workflow is defined as a sequence of steps that consists of work process involving two or more persons that adds value to the organization’s activities.2 Workflow has two processes, the sequential and parallel work flow. The former is dependent on the occurrence of the previous steps, while th e latter allows two or more steps concurrently. Staffing process. A project requires manpower, and for this purpose, there is a need to establish manpower inventory. First step to staffing is to plan for a manpower inventory in order to match manpower requirements and demand3. Afterwards, other processes follow like recruitment, selection, orientation and placement; and remuneration. A short project does not necessarily involve promotion and

Implications of Information Technology in Developing Countries Essay Example for Free

Implications of Information Technology in Developing Countries Essay The survival and growth of organizations in an increasingly turbulent environment would depend upon effective utilization of information technology for aligning the organizational structure with environmental preferences and for creating symbiotic interorganizational structures. How can IT help the organizations in responding to the challenges of an increasingly complex and uncertain environment? How can IT help the organizations achieve the flexible organization structure? These are the topics that remains to be a matter of question for many developing countries. Although Information technology is still a . black box . technology for developing countries, it is largely applied in industrialised countries to the disadvantage of the majority of developing countries. This paper will try to illuminate the aspects and the impact of Information Technology in managing organizational change and its implications for developing countries. 1. Introduction The rate and magnitude of change are rapidly outpacing the complex of theories. economic, social, and philosophical on which public and private decisions are based. To the extent that we continue to view the world from the perspective of an earlier, vanishing age, we will continue to misunderstand the developments surrounding the transition to an information society, be unable to realize the full economic and social potential of this revolutionary technology, and risk making some very serious mistakes as reality and the theories we use to interpret it continue to diverge..-Arthur Cordell(1987). We have modified our environment so radically that we must modify ourselves in order to exist in this new environment..Norbert Wiener(1957) The survival and growth of organizations in an increasingly turbulent environment would depend upon effective utilization of information technology for aligning the organizational structure with environmental preferences and for creating symbiotic interorganizational structures. How can IT help the organizations in responding to the challenges of an increasingly complex and uncertain environment? How can IT help the organizations achieve the .flexible. organization structure? These are the topics that remains to be a matter of question for many developing countries. This study will try to illuminate the aspects and the impact of Information Technology in managing organizational change and its implications for developing countries. 2. Aspects of Information Technology Information technology (IT) may be defined as the convergence of electronics, computing, and telecommunications. It has unleashed a tidal wave of technological innovation in the collecting, storing, processing, transmission, and presentation of information that has not only transformed the information technology sector itself into a highly dynamic and expanding field of activity creating new markets and generating new investment, income, and jobs- but also provided other sectors with more rapid and efficient mechanisms for responding to shifts in demand patterns and changes in international comparative advantages, through more efficient production processes and new and improved products and services (e.g. replacing mechanical and electromechanical components, upgrading traditional products by creating new product functions, incorporating skills and functions into equipment, automating routine work, making technical, professional, or financial ser vices more transportable). The development of IT is intimately associated with the overwhelming advances recently accomplished in microelectronics. Based on scientific and technological breakthroughs in transistors, semiconductors, and integrated circuits (chips), micro-electronics is affecting every other branch of the economy, in terms of both its present and future employment and skill requirements and its future market prospects. Its introduction has resulted in a drastic fall in costs as well as dramatically improved technical performance both within the electronics industry and outside it (Malone and Rockart, 1993). The continuous rise in the number of features on a single micro-electronic chip has permitted lower assembly costs for electronic equipment (each chip replacing many discrete components), faster switching speeds (thus faster and more powerful computers), and more reliable, smaller, and lighter equipment (fewer interconnections, less power and material). Similar dramatic falls in costs occurred in the transport and steel industries in the nineteenth century and in energy in the twentieth, associated with the emergence of the third and fourth Kondratiev cycles, respectively. The potential effects of microelectronics are thus very far-reaching, for its use in production saves on virtually all inputs, ranging from skilled and unskilled labor to energy, materials, andcapital. All sectors of the economy have been influenced by the development of IT applications: information technology opens up greater opportunities for the exploitation of economies of scale and scope, allows the more flexible production and use of labor and equipment, promotes the internationalization of production and markets, offers greater mobility and flexibility in capital and financial flows and services, and is frequently the precondition for the creation of innovative financial instruments. Information system developments are constantly being applied to increase the productivity, quality, and efficiency of finance, banking, business management, and public administration. In manufacturing, and to some extent in agriculture, many processes have been automated, some requiring highly flexible, self-regulating machines, or robots. The engineering industry has been transformed by computer-aided design and three-dimensional computerized screen displays. The pace of technological change in IT will most likely accelerate the already observable growth in the interdependence of international relations not just economic or financial, but also political and cultural. National economies have become more susceptible to the effects of policy decisions taken at the international level, and domestic economic measures are having increased impacts on economic policies of other countries. World markets for the consumption of similar goods are growing, and so are common lifestyles across national borders. The advance of telecommunications and computerization has recently enabled large companies to use information systems to transmit technical and economic information among numerous computer systems at different geographical locations, subjecting widely dispersed industrial plants to direct managerial control from a central location; this affects the international division of labor and production and international trade, changing the patterns of industrial ownership and control, altering the competitive standing of individual countries, and creating new trading partners. It is the integration of functions that confers on information technology its real economic and social significance. More than just a gradual and incremental technological evolution leading to improved ways of carrying out traditional manufacturing processes (i.e. simply the substitution of new technologies for existing systems and the rationalization of standard activities), IT offers the opportunity for completely new ways of working through systems integration. Rather than applying one item of new technology to each of the production functions now performed at distinct stages of the production process, i.e. design, production, marketing, and distribution (in what could be called stand-alone improvements or island automation), having evolved in to new technologies, i.e. Enterprise Resource Planning systems, IT offers the possibility of linking design to production (e.g. through programmable manufacturing, measuring, and testing equipment responding to the codification of design), planning and design to marketing and distribution (e.g. through a variety of computer aids and databases that sense an d collect changing market trends), production to distribution (e.g. by automatically incorporating orders and commissions by customers and suppliers into the production process), etc. The complete integration of all these production subsystems in a synergistic ensemble is still more a long-term trend than a reality, but use of automated equipment to link together individual items of equipment belonging to hitherto discrete manufacturing operations has already made IT a strategic issue for industry. More technical advances are expected soon in the automation of telecommunications and the linkage of computers by data transmission that will enhance the possibilities of systems integration. Such programmable automation, or computer-integrated manufacturing (CIM), has the capability of integrating information processing with physical tasks performed by programmable machine tools or robots. CIM offers radical improvements in traditional problem areas confronting manufacturers, such as: reduced lead time for existing and new products; reduced inventories; more accurate control over production and better quality production management information; increased utilization of expensive equipment; reduced overhead costs; improved and consistent quality; more accurate forecasting; improved delivery performance (Miles et al., 1988). These features characterize information technology as a new technological system, in which far-reaching changes in the trajectories of electronic, computer, and telecommunication technologies converge and offer a range of new technological options to virtually all branches of the economy. Moreover, IT forms the basis for a reorganization of industrial society and the core of the emerging techno-economic paradigm. The reason for the pre-eminence of the new technological system clustered around information technology over the equally new technological systems clustered around new materials and biotechnology is the fact that information activities of one kind or another are a part of every activity within an industrial or commercial sector, as well as in our working and domestic lives. Almost all productive activities have high information intensity (some involve little else, such as banking or education). Further more, along with the premier of internet technology and e-business architectures; powerful concepts like inventory control, supply chain management, customer relationship/service management, and management resource planning through the internet under the name of Enterprise Resource Planning have enabled IT to be capable of offering strategic improvements in the productivity and competitiveness of virtually any socio-economic activity. Other than industrial or commercial sectors, information technology is also applicable in education sector and in public institutions. Thus, Information Technology is universally applicable. Probably only a fraction of the benefits derived from information technology-based innovations have so far been reaped and the rest remain to be acquired in the next decades. The shift towards systems integration to capitalize the full potential benefits of IT requires considerable adaptations, learning processes, and structural changes in existing socioecon omic institutions and organizational systems. The tradition in most current organizations is still to operate in a largely disintegrated fashion, reminiscent of the Ford-Taylorist management approaches that dominated the fourth Kondratiev cycle: high division of labor, increasing functional specialization/differentiation and de-skilling of many tasks, rigid manufacturing procedures and controls, long management hierarchies with bureaucratic decision-making procedures and a mechanistic approach to performance. Under these conditions, use of IT is restricted to piecemeal technology improvements. By contrast, information technology-based systems offer organizations the opportunity of functional integration, multi-skilled staff, rapid and flexible decision-making structures with greater delegation of responsibilities and greater autonomy of operating units, a more flexible and organic approach enabling a quick adjustment to changing environmental conditions. (Piore and Sabel, 1984.) But this means that information management skills require the ability to make choices about the optimal arrangements for particular situations: unlike earlier generations of technology, IT offers not a single best way of organization but a set of more or less appropriate alternative organizing, staffing, and managing options that may be adopted in different organizational contexts. There is no determinism in the way information technology influences the socioinstitutional framework. Therefore, organizational innovation is a crucial part of the requirement for firms to adapt to survive (Miles, 1988). Unfortunately, this is true for all the institutions as well. Further, it is even more dramatic for the organizations in developing countries because of not being able to properly adapt to this so-called .black-box. technology. No matter how frustrating it is interpreted for these countries, IT still has significant impact on their development. Although socio-economic structure of these countries resists organizational or institutional changes, the complex interrelations between these changes and information technologies have significant implications for the way IT does and will affect the societies and economies of developing countries. As a matter of fact, the negative and positive potential impacts of IT on these countries are a matter of great controversy among economists and politicians. The main short term issues usually discussed are the potential erosion of the comparative advantages of low labor costs, particularly in relation to assembly facilities, and the effects of automation, particularly on internal markets and international competitiveness. Implications of information technology for those countries hold great importance. 3. Implications for Developing Countries The first direct effect of the micro-electronics revolution was the location of production for export in third world countries. While production of mainframe computers continued to be located largely in industrialized countries, production of smaller computers and of microelectronic devices, more subject to price competition, was shifted to low-wage locations, mainly in East Asia, where countries presented low wage costs as well as political stability, a docile labor force, and government incentives. Location of production for local and regional consumption followed, but the countries concerned were mainly middle income: three quarters of US investment in third world micro-electronic industries was concentrated in 11 countries, namely the four Asian dragons, India, Thailand, Malaysia, the Philippines, Brazil, Mexico, and Colombia (Steward, 1991). Export-oriented investments in these countries were associated more with direct foreign investment from larger firms in industrialized countries than with firms producing for the local market; on the other hand, licensing was more associated with smaller firms (Tigre, 1995). The automation of production decreases the relative importance of labor-intensive manufacturing and cost of labor, thereby eroding the competitiveness of low labor costs. For instance, automation led to a sharp decrease in the difference between manufacturing costs of electronic devices between the United States and Hong Kong: in manual processes, manufacturing costs were three times higher in the United States, and the introduction of semi-automatic processes made the difference practically disappear (Sagasti, 1994). Equally, the expansion of automation in Japan has contributed to a reduction of Japanese investments in the Asia/Pacific region involving firms in electronics, assembly parts, and textiles (Sagasti, 1994). The trend to increasing systems optimization and integration is most likely to induce large producers in industrialized countries to bring back a significant share of their production located in developing countries (offshore production). This movement has been called comparative advantage reversal. As integration increases, with functions previously obtained by assembling pieces being incorporated in the electronic components, value-added is pushed out of assembly processes into the components themselves and upwards towards servicing. In addition, the growing technological complexity of electronic devices increases the value of the parts manufactured by firms located in industrialized countries The amount of value-added obtained in offshore assembly has thus been constantly decreasing (Sagasti,1994). Global factories constructed in locations of least cost, often at a considerable distance from final markets, were economically worthwhile because labor was one of the major determinants of costs. Technology and rapid responsiveness to volatile local markets are becoming more important components of competitiveness. The reduction of product cycles due to the growing resistance to obsolescence of programmable machines and equipment has led to a concentration of manufacturing investment in capital-intensive flexible manufacturing, further adding to the erosion of the comparative advantages of developing countries. The assembly of systems will probably continue in some developing countries that have adopted protective legislation for local production targeted at particular market segments (e.g. Brazil), although this is changing very rapidly (Steward, 1991). The types of equipment produced under these circumstances are used largely in internal markets and are hardly competitive on the international level; they tend to be far more expensive than comparable equipment available abroad, and often their installation and use are also more costly because of expensive auxiliary installations, under-use, and lack of management skills. Nevertheless, they may at least provide the country with the capacity to follow the development of information technologies more closely. In other countries, assembly of equipment is taking place from components bought practically off the shelf, but as the level of hardware integration and the amount of software incorporated into the chips (firmware) grow, valueadded will be taken away from the assembly process, reducing or eliminating its economic advantages. The introduction of microelectronics requires certain new skills of design, maintenance, and management, as well as complementary infrastructural facilities such as reliable telephone systems and power supplies. Deficiencies in these factors prevent the widespread adoption of information technology in developing countries (Munasinghe et al., 1985). The more advanced developing countries, with a wider basis of skills and infrastructure and a more flexible labor force, may be in a better position to adopt IT and to increase their productivity and their international competitiveness. But the less developed countries, with inadequate skills and infrastructure, low labor productivity, and lack of capital resources, will find it difficult to adopt the new technologies; they are likely to suffer a deterioration in international competitiveness vis-Ã  -vis both industrialized and the more advanced developing countries (Stewart et al., 1991). Quality, too, requires an adequate level of skills, infrastructure, and managerial know-how that is generally lacking in developing countries. This greatly reduces the synergies, number of options, faster responses, and more informed decisions that can be implemented in the firm by the optimization of the systems performance. In turn, the composition of the labor force existing within firms located in industrialized countries will further improve their systems performance and further reinforce the advantages derived from automation. The proportion of the labor force employed in production is constantly decreasing in the industrialized countries, implying that performances at the systems level and innovation, not manufacturing, are becoming the key to profit, growth, and survival (Sagasti, 1994). Like biotechnology, information technology is a proprietary technology, vital technical information regarding design engineering specification, process know-how, testing procedures, etc., being covered by patents or copyrights or closely held as trade secrets within various electronic firms from industrialized countries. Many companies in the software area do not patent or copyright their products because it entails disclosing valuable information, and firms are generally reluctant to license the more recent and advanced technologies. Therefore, technology transfer takes place mainly among established or important producers, hindering the access to developing countries. Moreover, the main issue facing developing countries is not so much the access to a particular technology but to the process of technological change, because of the dynamism of this process. Sagasti implies this issue in the book The Uncertain Guest: science, technology and development (1994) that recent trends in int er-firm relationships seem to indicate that this access takes place essentially through the participation in the equity of the company holding the technology.

Rapid growth of technology

Rapid growth of technology EXECUTIVE SUMMARY In the current season, the rapid growth of technology, communication and especially the large volume of information have led many companies and organizations to use IT systems for the management and the safety of information. The main objective of this project is to implement a complete security assessment of the private hospital  «Elpis ». The firms which effectively allocate their resources for the better understanding of the risks they face, can more easily avoid unexpected situations and release resources in other directions and profitable activities (i.e. new investments), that otherwise would have potentially rejected as very dangerous. Therefore, the adoption of procedures that focus on Risk Analysis and Management can substantially help firms to prevent or control risky situations. Once, firms have identified an efficient way to measure the relationship between their risk and rewards they could significantly improve their current operations or find new profitable activities. This project investigates the risks related to the security of the hospital  «Elpis ». Specifically, it focuses on the hospital organization, the sources of operational risks and provides detail description of available technologies that can ensure the management and control of these risks. The hospital is located in Athens having two other subsidiaries called  «Mitera » in Chalkida. We know that the private hospitals interchange important medical information concerning their patients. The central IT department is established in Athens dealing with various services such as the patient registration data, patient diagnoses, management of medical information, other data saving, etc. On the other hand, the IT department in  «Mitera » hospital is obsolete with limited ability to send and receive large volume of data. Therefore, this project aims to investigate all the required procedures that can ensure the integrity and confidentiality of medical information transmission betw een the hospitals and the incessant operation of the IT services.  «Elpis » hospital is constituted by five departments: the Administrative Department, the Human Recourses Department, and Finance Department, the Secretariat-motion of Patient Department and the IT Department, while  «Mitera » hospital is organized into two departments, the Secretariat-motion of Patient Department and the IT Department. We analyse the IT department of  «Elpis » hospital which employs the head of the IT department, a network administrator, a medical software administrator, a database administrator and an information security administrator. Our analysis reveals some rules and practices that can ensure the information safety in the private hospital. Also, we have recognized significant sources of risk come from the outside environment and individuals that work in the hospital. The results of this report can be used in the improvement of medical information safety and the minimization of the possible risks. Next, we present the potential technological solutions that the hospital can adopt at a total financial cost of EURO 5000. They include the Intrusion Detection System (IDS), Antivirus, Spyware, Adware and firewall, Implementation of RAID 5, automatic fire detection mechanisms, emergency generator UPS, automatic Air conditioning control, User policy and Password policy. DETAILED ANALYSIS Description of the companys IT infrastructure In this section, we present organizational structure of  «Elpis » and  «Mitera » hospitals as well as their software part of their network. We continuous our analysis using the CRAMM methodology in order to uncover the threats and weaknesses of the IT departments. Finally, we present possible solutions that can face all these risks relevant with the operation of the IT department. The private hospital  «Elpis » is located in Athens at a building consist of 3 floors. In the first floor we find the hospitals administration and a computer room with the IT equipment. In the second floor is the pathological and chirurgical clinic, the secretariat of the clinics and the medical library. The third floor accommodates the cardiologic clinic, the secretariat of the clinic and the room of telemedicine. All the offices for each roof are connected to the same LAN. The organisational structure of private hospital  «Elpis » is constituted by five departments: The Administrative Department: has the total administrative responsibility of hospital. It applies the strategic decisions and rules which are taken through the administrative council. It aims in the appropriate allocation of responsibilities to employees and to provide the maximum good working environment. It has the responsibility for complaints and the implementation of regulation. The Human Recourses Department: Arrange for any matter relating to the official status of the hospital staff, as well as for the monitoring, organizing and control the personnel of all services of the hospital. The Finance Department: the care for the study of the economic needs of the hospital, and its contribution to preparing the budget of the hospital, making the expenditure, the liquidation of personnel acceptances and remaining compensations, procurement, management and storage of supplies and materials that needed to operate the hospital, the training of balance-sheet and assessment, the responsibility for the safeguarding of hospital fortune and the observation of economic statistical elements. The Secretariat-motion of Patient Department: arrange for any matter relating to the organization of secretarial support according with the decisions of management and other services at the hospital. It arranges the publication of tickets for admission of the sick, and compliance with waiting list admission. Also, it keeps detailed statistics of nursing movement and it grants certificates in the patients, afterwards the submission of relative application. The IT Department: has the responsibility for the organisation and operation of computerisation, processing and maintenance of computerized statistical data, providing and distribution of information in the services of hospital, in the Ministry of Health, Welfare and Social Welfare and in other relevant bodies and each other relevant work. It is responsible to research new technologies with aim to save money and increase productivity of the hospital. It provide technical support and training in the employees of hospital for each technology program that using. Also it is responsible for the security of IT programs and IT hardware. The IT infrastructure of hospital  «Elpis » consists of servers which running the medical application or others services and the ability to store all data, the network equipment (switches-Ethernet) which is used for connecting the computer room-servers and the personal computers of hospital staff and the firewall that is configured from the network administrator and monitor data traffic from the hospital on the Internet with specific criteria. In figure 1 presents the topology of the system. Hardware of Hospital Elpis: A Router (1 piece): The Router is a device which connects the workstation on the network of the hospital. The Router connects the local network of the hospital with the internet, using a leased line of 4 Mbps. Firewall (1 piece): The Firewall is a device or software that prevents access to or from a private network for which it was authorized. The Firewalls can also be applied to hardware and software, or a combination of both. It used to deter unauthorized Internet users from accessing private networks. Also firewall controls the movement of data for the region that is responsible. Switch (4 pieces): a hardware device and used to connect different components in the same network. The switches cutting useless Internet traffic and allow you an affordable high-performance network. The switch is can be used for splitting the physical LAN in two small LANs. In network of hospital this switch splits the physical LAN in two small LANs. A central switch is connected with three other switches which connect the workstations. While another switch connects the servers. Database Server (1 peace): Database Server is a device that used by one or more machines as their database. By using a database server users of the hospital have the ability to manage and organize medical data Web Server (1 peace): O web server is a computer, allowing other computers to access files that manage, using the HTTP protocol (Hyper Text Transfer Protocol). Please note that the basic web server administrator has the ultimate control of the server, unlike a simple user The Hospital uses Apache Server. Mail Server (1 peace): mail agent receives the e-mail from local users (incoming), and offered to surrender on outbound users. A computer dedicated to running such applications is also called a mail server. The transfer of medical results from the Mitera hospital to the hospital Elpis made via e-mails. Backup Server (1 peace): A Backup Server is a way to save your important medical files into one single compressed file. The best part of Backup Server is its affordable and you can transfer the compressed file onto another computer or hard drive. In addition, backup server has the possibility to administrate the tape backup machine. Tape Backup Machine (1 peace): Backup Machine provides the easiest way to backup your critical folders and files allowing access to local and network directories. The disk should be replaced at regular intervals and stored in a sheltered place. Workstastion PC (50): Each office holds, one or more desktop pc only for internal services access and development. Software of Hospital Elpis: Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 Windows XP Professional ORACLE 8 The  «Mitera » hospital has a Secretariat-motion of Patient Department, the Pathological clinic and the IT department. The medical information (patients data, patient diagnoses, etc.) is exchanged between hospitals with web-hosting or email. The communication as achieved with an ADSL 4 Mbps. The technical characteristics (see figure 2) of  «Mitera » hospital are the same with  «Elpis » hospital. Hardware of  «Mitera » Hospital: A Router (1 piece), Firewall (1 piece) Switch (4 pieces) Mail Server (1 peace) Web Server (1 peace) Storage Devices (1): are used to store the medical data. The storage devices are one of the most important components of the computer system. Workstation Pc (5) Staff Members of the group will undertake to conduct the risk analysis in Chalkis hospital. They should be trained in project risk analysis in order to fulfill their goal. Specifically, the team has the following members: Director Management: He has the overall responsibility for the project in order to succeed. He is responsible for proper organization of the team and ultimately responsible for assessing the risk analysis. Chief: He is responsible for organizing team members. Has the responsibility to evaluate the job each team member. He is responsible for implementing the risk management program. Manager system and informations: they have the responsible for the integrity and availability of systems and information Security Department: they have the responsible for security programs and to identify risks and their eliminate with using the risk analysis Security Practitioners: they have the responsible for the evaluation of security requirements for each IT systems. Risk Analysis In the previous section we described the organizational and informational structure of  «Elpis » and  «Mitera » hospitals. Now, we are describing the assets that are classified into three categories: a) software assets, b) hardware assets and c) data assets. A system can be characterized as reliable and safe when it is: a) confidential: provide access only to authorized persons. They have access to important information (medical information, personal patient data), b) availability: the service that the IT facilities provide should be incessant, c) integrity: the system should be ready at any time to provide reliably any information. Also, the information should not change by unauthorized persons. Data assets The hospital manages important medical information. Thus, the access to the internal network should not be free and the communication between the hospitals should be characterized by safety and reliability. The data assets of private hospital  «Elpis » can contain the following: Patient Records: patient personal data (patient medical history) Personnel Records: staff personal data Financial Records: financial data concerning both hospitals Statistics records: statistical data related to the number of surgeries, patient entrances, deaths, etc. In this project, we perform a risk analysis and management for two data assets, the patient files and the statistical data. Hardware assets In this category, it is classified the physical assets like the equipment facilities, buildings. We focus our analysis on hardware assets. Specifically, the hardware assets of  «Elpis » hospital can be the followings: Application server: It is the most important part of the system. The medical application is installed on the application server where the medical data processing is implemented. Moreover, other staff and financial application are installed on the application server. Database server: It makes possible to the different software to ask for information, update and delete data. Backup server: It provide access to different saved data in the system relevant to medical data, patient personal data, staff data, and other general hospital data Mail server: It facilitates the interchange of mails between the  «Elpis » hospital and the hospital in Chalkida. Also, we perform a risk analysis and management for the most important hardware assets: application server and database server. Software assets This category of applications contains software that the staff of hospital uses for data processing. The software assets of private hospital  «Elpis » can be divided into: Staff Software: They are applications that manage data of hospital staff. They permit new records, delete of records and modifications. Patient folders Software: These applications manage data relevant to the patients (personal data patient medical history). Data Statistical analysis Software: They are applications that process statistical data and help in the creation of annual reports DETERMINATION OF COUNTERMEASURES In the above section was realised the analysis for the threats and the vulnerabilities for each assets (figure 3) . In this section we analyze the countermeasures which should be taken for each threat. In addition, we proposed solutions and technical relatively with the physical and hardware section as well as the architectures and security policies. The countermeasures will be supposed in such degree in order that the hospital working in an error-tolerant. Each employee will have the appropriate privileges in system, in relation to the work which he performs. The password policy should be changed. Users must renew the password once a month and use string passwords. For devices that contain important medical information that password should be changed once a week and the rights of the user accounts to be examined by managers every two weeks. As a reference the user policy should describe the rules that will prevent the user from illegal operations (even if accidental) aiming at the confidentiality of data. The company should implement a backup policy in order to store important medical information (patient file) and data which associated with the company (any company, personal information). The backups are major because theres a danger of losing important data from the disaster of equipment or external threats or by human error (deliberate or accidental). The backup will be made every day and in time that the workload of the hospital is small. Also it should be created a monthly backup that will be stored in a separate location, in case where the initial copies have been destroyed by a natural disaster or damage of equipment or human error. The storage of data will be realised with technical of Raid 5 because the price of the disc is significantly reduced and the costs of implementation Raid 5 is now within most organisms budgets. A measure that must be taken is the installation of an emergency generator UPS which will ensure continuous operation of IT equipment even if creates problems at the central UPS. Also an emergency generator UPS should be connected with the cooling system of the computer room. In the computer room there is a simple cooling system which may not ensure the proper operation of IT systems. The most effective measure is the installation of an completed cooling system which will have automatic air conditioning control with aim to minimize the risk of a sudden increase in temperature. The confidentiality and the data integrity is an important part of the hospital. The installation of IDS device provides control of the network and intrusion detection that can come from either inside or outside of hospital and detect violations of security policies. An IDS has the ability to produce reports on the above events. In addition, a measure that must be taken is the installation of completed fire protection equipment in all spaces of the hospital (patient rooms, offices, computer room). The fire system will have the ability to detect smoke or fire and more generally the change in the temperature also in case of emergency the possibility of telephone connection with the local fire station and the police. The education and training of hospital members in safety, confidentiality and organisation issues should are realised each 2 months. Thus, hospital members acquire feeling of personal responsibility and dexterities. Finally, it should be installed Software applications which will protect the network of hospital from malicious programs. The installation of Antivirus Spyware program will take place in server with a view to automatically install and update the antivirus programs on each workstation. CONCLUSION The main objective of this report was to evaluate safety in private hospital Elpis with the method of risk analysis. The hospital has implemented some measures for the correct and safe operation of hardware and software but these measures do not cover many of the threats. The most important areas that should provide the hospital are the confidentiality, integrity and availability of data. These areas should be applied to a greater degree in the user policy and the security policy. Also, it should be implemented specific technologies which ensure in the hospital proper functioning. Access to sensitive patient information and medical research should be protected specifically by unauthorized persons. Finally, it suggested equipment to help in case of emergency.

French Revolution vs The Romanian Revolution

French Revolution vs The Romanian Revolution Edy Lipianu Between the result of the French and Romanian Revolutions, which one greaterly affected the nations ideal optimistic perspectives of being a free nation? Well while Romania, which turned into a democratic nation after the dictator Ceaușescus execution, France unfortunately wound up with a military autocracy after Napoleon finished King Louis XVI supreme government. Was Napoleon military rule that awful for the French residents and was the democratic system of Romania even that useful for the Romanians? Looking at the two may help discover which one really turned out to be to a greater degree a free nation after their interesting revolutions.. While France was governed briefly by the famous military pioneer, Napoleon Bonaparte from 1789-1790, his rule was not as unforgiving as King Louis. He brought down charges intensely, permitted laborers to eat, and gave more rights to men, yet very few for ladies, shockingly. He gave individuals an essence of religious flexibility, better instruction, and sensible law. The French Revolution completely changed the social and political structure of France. It finished up the French government and its dread and finished political power from the Catholic church. It passed on an illumination to Europe including flexibility and freedom for the normal individual and furthermore the abolishment of servitude and the benefits of women. In spite of the way that the surprise completed with the climb of Napoleon, the musings and changes did not pass on. These new contemplations continued influencing Europe and shaped an expansive number of Europes front line governments. This was a period of ideological, political and social change in the political history of France and Europe all things considered, in the midst of which the French federation, as of now an inside and out government with primitive advantages for the nobility and Catholic pastorate, experienced radical change to outlines in light of Enlightenment measures of republicanism, citizenship, and rights. These movements were joined by horrible turmoil, including executions and concealment in the midst of the Reign of Terror and battling including each other huge European power. The Revolution was at first an acclaimed uprising against the through and through impact of the ruler and against their advantages and was executed for flexibility, value, and society. In reality, it incited to the loss of flexibility, dictatorship, and patriotism. The revolt relied on upon a hatred of tradition and yearning to use the force of the state to make another demand. People were given better approaches for life as nationals of the state. To crush the impenetrability to revolt and the new demand around 18,000 40,000 people were executed. The Romanian Revolution began as a notable revolt in Timisoara. After Ceaușescu was toppled, an affiliation named National Salvation Front, confined abruptly by second-rank companion party people repudiated to the methodologies of Ceaușescu and non-cooperated individuals in the revolt. Iliescu was promptly perceived as the pioneer of the affiliation and thusly of the transitory master. Romanias new individual in control, who was president from 1988-1996 and gave the subjects of new Romania an essence of vote based flexibility. That is the point at which another constitution was made giving everybody every one of the rights that truly demonstrated to individuals proper methodologies to live similarly in agreement. Iliescu proposed multi-party choices and a special vote based framework. This is extensively held to have inferred the determination of Perestroika-style changes rather than the aggregate ejection of existing establishments; it can be associated with the warm assembl ing the new organization was given by Mikhail Gorbachev and the straggling leftovers of the Soviet activity and the way that the fundamental post-dynamic overall comprehension set apart by Romania was with that country. Iliescu did not deny Communist reasoning and the program he at initially showed in the midst of the revolution included reconstructing the cultivating and the revision of trade, yet not a change to private enterprise. These points of view were held by various people from the FSN as well, for instance, Silviu Brucan, who declared in mid-1990 that the change was against Ceaușescu, not against socialism. Iliescu later evoked the probability of endeavoring a Swedish model of socialism. Gossipy tidbits prospered for a significant long time that Iliescu and other second-rank Communists had been needing to topple Ceaușescu, in any case, the events of December 1989 overpowered them. For instance, Nicolae Militaru, the new organizations first insurance serve, said that Iliescu and others had needed to take Ceaușescu prisoner in February 1990 while he was Out of the capital. Regardless, Iliescu denies this, saying the method for the Ceaușescu organization-particularly the Securitates ubiquity-made early plan for a miracle everything aside from outlandish. The French were soothed from King Louis XVIs total government and that was certainly a decent begin for their nation, everything showed signs of improvement in little ways, and individuals got the chance to live feeling free, they thought Napoleon was a saint. Napoleon had a broad and intense impact on the present day world, conveying liberal changes to the various domains that he vanquished and controlled, for example, the Low Countries, Switzerland, and extensive parts of cutting edge Italy and Germany. He executed central liberal arrangements in France and all through Western Europe.His lawful accomplishment, the Napoleonic Code, has affected the legitimate frameworks of more than 70 countries around the globe. Both of the nations ended up effectively showing signs of improvement after their insurgencies. Be that as it may, between the result of the French and Romanian Revolutions, Romania greaterly affected the nations general hopeful perspectives of being a free nation. Romania, which turned into a law based nation after the tyrant Ceaușescus execution, gave individuals more rights and everybody was equivalent. To the degree of opportunity, Romanias Revolution improved the nation a much place for its inhabitants. SOURCES: Book: Napoleon: A Life The French Revolution: From Enlightenment to Tyranny by Ian Davidson http://www.becparlamentare2008.ro/rezul/part_tara_100.pdf http://www.ft.com/cms/s/d3be5f1a-ee6e-11db-b5e9-000b5df10621.html https://archive.org/stream/codenapoleonorf00statgoog#page/n4/mode/2up http://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/affichCode.do?cidTexte=LEGITEXT00000607072 1dateTexte=20080121 http://www.historytoday.com/marisa-linton/robespierre-and-terror http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/history/inourtime/inourtime_20050526.shtml http://www.historyguide.org/intellect/august10.html https://books.google.com/?id=bFQ6VO1sFGsCpg=PA139lpg=PA139dq=G ospriyomka+gorbachev#v=onepageq=Gospriyomka%20gorbachevf=false http://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/40551/seweryn-bialer-and-joan-afferica/sp ecial-supplement-the-genesis-of-gorbachevs-world https://books.google.com/books?id=9O15MzNKMuoClpg=PP1pg=PA89#v= onepageqf=false http://www.adevarul.ro/actualitate/politica/Ce_s-a_ales_de_primul_Guvern_postd Ecembrist_0_617938566.html http://www.pbs.org/frontlineworld/stories/romania/tudor.html http://www.evz.ro/detalii/stiri/mineriadele-anului-1990-democratia-sub-bate-898037.html http://www.napoleon-series.org/research/government/c_code.html http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/123270568/abstract http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/405364/National-Salvation-Front EXTRAS http://www.history5

America Needs The Death Penalty Essay example -- pro-capital punishmen

The death penalty has been a heated topic of debate for many of years. Some people believe that the death penalty is unconstitutional in that it is cruel and unusual punishment. Many people also think that the states do not have the authority to take a life. They think that it is god’s responsibility to judge life and death not mans. So they look at the death penalty from a religious view point. Items that this commission will consider in evaluating the humanity and constitutionality of the death penalty, are is lethal injection a humane way to put an offender to death. We will also consider the constitution to ensure the state follows the constitution. Further, consideration will be given to if the state ensuring that all death penalty offenders being given proper DNA testing to prove their guilt or innocence. One of the most important things that this commission needs to decide is whether the death penalty violates constitutional rights. Many people have claimed that the death penalty is unconstitutional because the death penalty is cruel and unusual punishment. An example of this is in California when the state delayed the date an inmate was sentenced to die because his lawyer said that the death penalty by lethal injection was cruel and unusual punishment (Hooper, 2006). Michael Morales’ (the man sentenced to death by lethal injection) lawyers state that there were cases with other inmates that did not receive enough anesthetic and therefore felt too much pain while being put to death (Hooper). This doubt raised can create a great concern for any state and that is why the governor has decided to hault executions and put this panel in place. A good portion of this cruel and unusual punishment will be explaine... ... Constitution. However, even though the death penalty is more costly, there are people that are simply too dangerous to remain alive. The death penalty also offers deterrence for people who may be considering an awful act. It may prevent someone from robbing a store because there is a chance someone could die in the act, therefore making it a capital punishment. There are pros and cons to the death penalty, but in the end I believe that it should be considered when dealing with the most serious and gruesome criminals. Works Cited Allen, H. E., Latessa, E. J., & Ponder, B. S. (2010). Corrections in America (12th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson. Hooper, R. (2006). US States Face Dilemma Over Death Row Injections. New Scientist. 189(2541). P. 10. McGraw, D., & Locy, T. (2000). DNA and the Death Penalty. U.S. News & World Report. 128(23). P.20-21 America Needs The Death Penalty Essay example -- pro-capital punishmen The death penalty has been a heated topic of debate for many of years. Some people believe that the death penalty is unconstitutional in that it is cruel and unusual punishment. Many people also think that the states do not have the authority to take a life. They think that it is god’s responsibility to judge life and death not mans. So they look at the death penalty from a religious view point. Items that this commission will consider in evaluating the humanity and constitutionality of the death penalty, are is lethal injection a humane way to put an offender to death. We will also consider the constitution to ensure the state follows the constitution. Further, consideration will be given to if the state ensuring that all death penalty offenders being given proper DNA testing to prove their guilt or innocence. One of the most important things that this commission needs to decide is whether the death penalty violates constitutional rights. Many people have claimed that the death penalty is unconstitutional because the death penalty is cruel and unusual punishment. An example of this is in California when the state delayed the date an inmate was sentenced to die because his lawyer said that the death penalty by lethal injection was cruel and unusual punishment (Hooper, 2006). Michael Morales’ (the man sentenced to death by lethal injection) lawyers state that there were cases with other inmates that did not receive enough anesthetic and therefore felt too much pain while being put to death (Hooper). This doubt raised can create a great concern for any state and that is why the governor has decided to hault executions and put this panel in place. A good portion of this cruel and unusual punishment will be explaine... ... Constitution. However, even though the death penalty is more costly, there are people that are simply too dangerous to remain alive. The death penalty also offers deterrence for people who may be considering an awful act. It may prevent someone from robbing a store because there is a chance someone could die in the act, therefore making it a capital punishment. There are pros and cons to the death penalty, but in the end I believe that it should be considered when dealing with the most serious and gruesome criminals. Works Cited Allen, H. E., Latessa, E. J., & Ponder, B. S. (2010). Corrections in America (12th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson. Hooper, R. (2006). US States Face Dilemma Over Death Row Injections. New Scientist. 189(2541). P. 10. McGraw, D., & Locy, T. (2000). DNA and the Death Penalty. U.S. News & World Report. 128(23). P.20-21

Urban Legend of the Kidney Thieves Essay -- Urban Legends

The Kidney Thieves Urban legends are apocryphal stories involving incidents of the recent past, often including elements of humor and horror that spread quickly and are popularly believed to be true (1). They reflect society's deepest fears and anxieties. One urban legend can be retold with different settings and people, but the central theme or idea remains constant. The appeal of these legends is the possibility they can be true and that they bring out the listeners' deepest fears. The storyteller in the following urban legend is a nineteen-year old man from Annapolis, Maryland. He is currently a freshman at the University, majoring in mechanical engineering. His mother is a nurse and his father, a dentist. One dark Thursday night, he sits me down in his dorm and tells me a chilling story in a hushed tone: A couple years ago a friend of one of my best friends traveled to L.A. on a business trip. One night he went to a bar that reminded him of one back in Annapolis. He went in and played a round of pool and won--the guy he beat offered him a round of drinks and they got to talking. They talked about home and after a few more drinks, Bob lost track of time. The last thing he remembers is deciding to call it a night before everything went black. The next thing he knew he woke up in a strange hotel room with a pain in his lower back. He went to see a doctor who told him that he had had major surgery, and one of his kidneys had been removed cleanly and professionally. HISTORY While seemingly not a tale of the supernatural or of ghosts, this story definitely includes elements of the uncanny. Many versions of this story are circulated, and one potential source for the story dates to 1988. In 1989, ... ...nce to decide exactly who these menacing â€Å"kidney thieves† are. Works Cited (1) Webster's New Millennium Dictionary of English, Preview Edition. Lexico Publishing Group, 2004. http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=urban%20legend. (2) Mikkelson, Barbara and David P. You’ve Got to be Kidneying. Urban Legends Reference Pages, 2004. http://www.snopes.com/horrors/robbery/kidney.htm. (3) Emery, David. The Kidney Snatchers. About Inc, 2005. http://urbanlegends.about.com/library/weekly/aa062997b.htm. (4) Mikkelson, Barbara and David P. Organ Nicked: Vegetable. Urban Legends Reference Pages, 2004. http://www.snopes.com/horrors/robbery/kidney2.htm. (5) NIH Publication No. 03–4241. Your Kidneys and How They Work. National Kidney and Urologic Diseases Information Clearinghouse, 2003. http://kidney.niddk.nih.gov/kudiseases/pubs/yourkidneys/

Monsters Are Due on Maple Street

Twilight Zone The series Twilight Zone is a show that combines science fiction with society. Every episode ends with a shocking, unexpected twist. â€Å"The Monsters Are Due On Maple Street† is an episode that informs society about the fear of prejudice and hysteria. In this episode, a loud shadow in the sky passes through Maple Street. The shadow is actually a meteor. Unexpected and strange things start to happen like the electricity and cars turning off. The people who live on Maple become very curious on what the meteor has done to the neighbors living on the street.A young boy named Tommy tells the adults that everything weird happening is because of the aliens from outer space, which he read about in a comic book. First the adults refuse to believe a child, but then they unconsciously start pointing fingers at who can and cannot be aliens. People were getting blamed for doing normal things such as insomnia, looking at stars, and experimenting on a radio, but then the neig hbors would exaggerate and make it sound suspicious, strange and unusual. As the episode continues, the adults become paranoid and start to lose their minds.This twilight zone episode reveals to us that the real monsters in society are ourselves. The neighbors were very eager to figure out who and what was the cause of the power outage. Neighbors would blame other neighbors for the outage because they believed that one person was an alien. Even though they had no proof or evidence, they used their words to blame the suspects. A ruckus of mass paranoia occurs and everyone believes that everyone is an alien. Tommy compares the real life situation to a similar problem he read in a comic book about aliens taking over a town.The power outage that happened in the comic book is also occurring in real life. The adults do not believe him at first, but then they begin to slowly and senselessly start blaming other people for being an alien because they are afraid. Just like the media nowadays, mass paranoia affects everyone. The media exaggerates how something â€Å"might† happen and society makes it a big deal before anything is really happening. They cause concern and stress upon themselves because of what the media says. The central theme that exists within the episode is that words are mankind’s reatest weapon. I believe that words may not be able to physically hurt someone, but they can emotionally. Emotional pain is sometimes harder to endure than physical pain. In the neighborhood, some of the neighbors like Les Goodman are accused of being a suspect because his car randomly turned on, while everyone else’s didn’t start. Though he has no effect on the aliens, a woman claims that she has seen him look up at the sky late at night, as though he is waiting for something. She thinks he is waiting for the aliens or something from outer space.Therefore Goodman becomes an immediate suspicion to all the neighbors. Everyone in the neighborhood is now more aware of him, claiming that his family isn’t human, but aliens. The woman was being the real monster to society because she had no idea what she was talking about and jumps to conclusion about Les Goodman. Since she made a comment that didn’t have supported evidence, she dug Les Goodman into a hole, making people think he is an alien because everyone starts to believe her. This episode conveys propaganda to the audience. Everyone is following everybody else’s opinion, and they are all being biased.Just like in real life situations, propaganda occurs in the media. We are informed about a particular person’s point of view and their idea soaks up into our brain. Towards the end of the episode, all the neighbors are at their highest point of terrorization and fear. The mob starts to panic as they see a shadow figure approaching their neighborhood. Charlie assumes the shadow to be a monster. Therefore, he starts to act malicious and grabs a gun to sh oot the shadow. Everyone comes near the monster and it turns out to be Pete Van Horn, who was one of the neighbors coming home from town.The lights in Charlie’s house randomly turns on and everyone starts to tell him that is he held responsible for the death of Pete. He is now accused of being a monster because of the electricity in his house turning on, and a murder of an innocent man. Charlie was trying to protect his people, but he ends up accidently shooting a person. Everyone starts to blame him for being a monster and throws rocks at him. He did something to help, but since someone said that he is a monster for killing and having his light turn on, he is evil.This shows that all of society is influenced to have the same viewpoint of a specific person, and sometimes they tend to follow counter-information. This episode challenges social convention because society expects us to have the same perception as what the government wants us to think. The people living on Maple w ere so afraid of what was happening that they believed anything anyone said. Steve has a radio in his garage which he has been working on by himself, and they assume that he is working on an odd electronic related to the aliens. Steve was one of the first to be suspicious of Les Goodman.When Steve was blamed of being an alien, he becomes hypocritical and yells at the neighbors and tells them they are all standing out on the street to crucify someone, and that they are all set to find a scapegoat. Steve knows the only thing that will happen to the neighbors is that they will all become obsessed with finding a scapegoat, and in result they are going to eat each other up alive. Out of fear and panic, they all ruin themselves and each other. Like social convention, Steve and Les have done something odd and different, so they have been frowned upon.In the beginning of the episode, everyone on Maple Street seems happy and cheerful. It is sunny outside and kids are playing in the streets. Once it gets darker at night, the power is still out and there is no more light outside or inside. Everyone is using candles for light, there are no more children around, and the streets seem very dark and mysterious. The neighbors are portrayed as mobs. They all stick together and follow each other wherever one goes. This shows society believing one person’s point of view. The people in the back of mob don’t have much to say.Instead they just stand there and agree with the main person speaking because they are weak and do not have anything to say. Their faces have a shadow and it is dark surrounding all of them leaving making it very suspenseful. The darkness adds a more mysterious effect. The secretive aura of the darkness represents a hidden truth behind society’s lies that are spoken to us. In the end, no one living on Maple Street was an alien. Though there really was an alien, the aliens believe that stopping a few machines, putting the street in darkness will ruin the neighbors without the aliens even being round the humans. The aliens assume that all the neighbors will pick on the most dangerous enemy and be prejudice towards the enemy and to others. But as this all happens, the neighbors’ most dangerous enemy is actually themselves. They destroy themselves by panicking and finding a scapegoat. Everyone is torn apart and no one knows or believes the truth. â€Å"There are weapons that are simply thoughts, attitudes, prejudices, to be found only in the minds of men† is said at the end of the episode. I believe this quote sums up the people living on Maple Street perfectly.Their suspicion destroyed the neighborhood to a point where an innocent life was taken. The people are all thoughtless and frightened and are lying just to protect themselves. Community and society are easily manipulated when they are terrorized. The government tries to takeover some of society’s weak minds and influences them to believe what i s right and what is wrong. The community and society speaks before they think, even though sometimes it is not true. They create a monster to themselves because they are creating false facts for everyone to be concerned about.