Tuesday, August 6, 2019

Candidate Set Essay Example for Free

Candidate Set Essay Part of the fast changing science of database management is the improvement of association rules generation. Several algorithms had been proposed and implemented in different platforms or programs to generate these rules. These rules state the rate of confidence of predicting an occurrence of entity or an event based on the occurrence of another entity or event. One popular algorithm proposed to generate the association rules of a given data is the Apriori Algorithm. It uses the bottom-up approach in order to come up with all the significant association rules by specifying the minimum support a super set must have. With the help of a pruning step that uses the property of infrequent set defined in the paper Fast Algorithms for Discovering the Maximum Frequent Set [Lin98], the database scans needed to obtain the MFS are minimized. Another algorithm to solve the maximum frequent sets is the top-down approach. Its first main aim is to discover the Maximum Frequent Candidate Set (MFCS) that would quickly gives all the other frequent set based on the property of frequent sets. Here in this paper, we would compare the disadvantages to be encountered on both algorithms and how the integration of the two cited algorithms would work and be implemented. Apriori Algorithm’s Dilemma FIGURE 2. 1: Lattice 1, 2, and 3 resembling the discovery of frequent set [Dun03]. PROPERTY 1: If an item set is infrequent, all its superset must be infrequent, and they do not need to be examined further. Apriori Algorithm needs to check the entire super sets with one element, {A}, {B}, {C}, and {D}, in order to know the MFCS. With the help of the pruning step that use the above stated property of infrequent sets then in Figure 2. 1 we could determine the MFCS of the universe ABCD by performing Apriori Algorithm. In Figure 2. 1 we should perform four database scans checking the super sets A, B, C and D respectively before we could determine the MFCS for all lattices in Figure 2. 1. Lattice 1 needs four database scans before determining that A is the MFCS. Lattice 2 needs four scans in order to determine ACD and this would be the same in lattice 3 which needs four scans before we would conclude that ABCD is the MFCS. What if we would consider a lattice with 5 items, with 6 items and so on? We would then come up with the conclusion that Apriori Algorithm needs to have n database scans for n items. By considering the above fact, try to examine the lattice of ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOP QRSTUVWXYZ. Then we would conclude that MFCS would be determined after 28 database scans through the use of Apriori Algorithm. The Top-down Approach and the MFCS The top-down approach works well when the MFCS is long. What if the database to be examined has up to 100 items? Then, in Apriori Algorithm, it needs to have 100 database scans in order to come up with the MFCS. On the contrary, the Top-down approach starts with the set containing all the elements of the item set considered down to its subsets. In Figure 2. 1 the Top-down approach checks first the frequency of ABCD, BCD, and so on. What is better with the Top-down Approach compared to the Apriori Algorithm is that it only needs to know the first occurrence of a frequent set to get the MFCS. This is because of the second property of frequent sets. PROPERTY 2: If an item set is frequent, all its subsets must be frequent and they do not need to be examined further. Let’s examine the performance of top-down approach for the three lattices in Figure 2. 1. Top-down approach works best when all of the items in the item set are all frequent. In lattice 3, Top-down approach needs only one database scan in order to come up with the complete frequent sets. Lattice 3’s MFCS is ABCD, therefore it would consider all the subsets of ABCD because ABCD is frequent in the first place. But the problem with the top-down approach is when the MFCS is short. On lattice 3, the number of database scans needed to know MFCS is still lower than the number of database scans needed in the Apriori algorithm, three as compared to four. But on the case of the lattice three, the Top-down approach needs to traverse all the points in the lattice in order to determine the MFCS which is A. The table below gives a view of the database scans needed to determine the complete MFS. Table 2. 1 Apriori and Top-down Approach Comparison Items Apriori Top-down Approach Best case:1 Worst case: 15 5 5 Best case: 1 Worst case: 31 . . . n n Best case: 1 Worst case: 2n 1 Upon considering both the advantages and disadvantages of the two above discussed algorithms, I had decided to merge the good side properties of the two algorithms. To come up with an integrative algorithm that would make use of the concepts of the Apriori Algorithm and Top-down approach, we should first understand or simulate how the two algorithms come up with generating their set of possible candidates for frequent sets. Here is a program code that would generate Apriori Algorithm’s set of possible candidates given the starting candidate {0} and the number of items to be considered. Note that I had opted to start the representation of the possible candidates with zero because the Java program that I had decided to use in order to perform the discussed algorithms uses zero as its start index on its array data structures. Accompanying this program code is the explanation of how did the recursive property come up with the set of possible candidates.

Analysis of Data Security in Wireless Networks

Analysis of Data Security in Wireless Networks Chapter 1: Introduction Research Method Research is defined as search for new knowledge or an art of scientific and careful investigation of new facts. Research method is referred as a systematic methodology of defining and re-defining the problems, suggest solutions, formulate hypothesis, evaluate the data, make deductions and then reach conclusions. At last, test the conclusions to determine whether they are suitable for the formulating hypothesis or not (KOTHARI, C. R., 2005). The research method chosen for the present study are case studies. Case study research is used because of its capability to bring a clear idea on any complicated issue and thereby strengthening the previously developed research works. A key characteristic of case study research method is its ability to provide multiple sources of evidence each with its strengths and weaknesses (Bill Gillham, 2000). The steps involved in case study research method are as follows: Getting Started The research work started with the collection of data on Wireless Sensor Networks. Sensor networks are referred as secured networks if they can provide end to end security with authenticity and confidentiality. The present research work emphasizes the importance of providing data security in sensor networks through Location-Aware End-to-end Data Security system. Selecting Cases Selection of cases is an important aspect of building theory from case studies. The earlier stages of the research work focused on various security systems and then identified Location-Aware End-to-end Data Security system for providing data security in sensor networks. Literature review section of this research work will explain all these aspects very clearly. Case study research method is quiet difficult as it provides multiple sources of evidence in its research. So to develop this research work, data was collected from various sources like books, journals, articles and online websites. Crafting Instruments and Protocols After the collection of data related to sensor networks and its importance in the field of providing security for networks it was analyzed that efficient steps must be followed by the organizations to provide security for sensor networks. In order to provide an efficient data security system for sensor networks, the research work was customized a number of times. All the design principles were considered for improving the security in sensor networks so to implement better communication networks. Entering the field After gathering the information related to wireless sensor networks from various sources like websites, journals, articles and books. The information gathered gave a better understanding on Location-Aware End-to-end Data Security system for providing data security in sensor networks. Analyzing data The case study research method primarily concentrated on Location-Aware End-to-end Data Security system for providing data security in sensor networks. The data collected for this research work was analyzed using various methods and techniques. This analysis helps to find the link between the research objects and outcomes with respect to the present study thereby providing an opportunity to strengthen the research findings and conclusions. Shaping hypotheses The task of shaping hypotheses is mainly applied for the alteration or modification of models applied for the research work previously. The new models applied in the research depend upon the data analysis. Enfolding literature After the analysis stage which was helpful in assessing the proposed solutions related to the problems occurred by disasters then a detailed critical analysis will be presented in literature review section that will evaluate the existing security designs so as to improve the performance of sensor networks. Reaching closure From the start of the research work to the analysis stage it was analyzed that providing efficient security for sensor networks is very important as it increases the life of networks and improves the efficiency of networks. Background study of Wireless Sensor Networks Wireless Sensor networks will fall under the category of modern networking systems. It has emerged in the past and caters the needs of real world applications. These networks are the preferred choice for the design and development of monitoring and control systems. In the year of 1940s and 50s wireless sensing technology was developed. To discover and chase enemy craft this was used by military (Shimmer, 2006). The technology formulated to let in radio frequency identification and real time location system but the real force behind wireless sensor network was the power to place detectors in remote or in the environment without wired lines. This allows in turn for capture and analysis of information to transmit warnings and to identify the approaching phenomenon. The quality of life by allowing real time information was developed by WSNs. WSNs supply real world information in a perceive manner rather than a virtual world (Shimmer, 2006). As the health of the people is becoming worse a nd the global population is getting older, with the ability to sense and perform direct measurements biometric solutions can be created which will improve the healthcare and improves the quality of life. As one of the key drivers for wireless sensor networks data will be captured and analyzed for detecting and predicting the phenomena like falls and warnings to develop intelligent solutions for industry. Chapter 2: Literature Review 2.1 Overview Providing security for data in Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) is a difficult task because of complexity in managing the critical resource. Data security in sensor networks can be achieved by Location-Aware End-to-end Data Security system. A sensor network can called as secured if it can provide end-to-end security through data confidentiality, authenticity and availability. Applications like wildlife monitoring, manufacturing performance monitoring and military operations use wireless sensor networks. Security is the most important requirement for all these WSNs applications. Providing security in wireless sensor networks is different from traditional approaches because of resource limitations and computation restrictions. Node compromise attacks, DoS attacks and resource consumption attacks are the most general attacks in the wireless sensor networks while providing security to the data. This research concentrates on wireless sensor networks, data security in sensor networks, Locat ion-Aware End-to-end Data Security (LEDS) systems and its performance in providing data security. 2.2 Wireless Sensor Network Wireless Sensor Network is a fast growing technology and has exciting research area. Military and civilian activities can be operated successfully using this network. Interconnection between thousands of sensor nodes in large sensor networks can create technical issues (LEWIS, F. L., 2004). To offer a high quality sensing in terms of space and time the sensing nodes are closely arranged and are made to work together. This technology is responsible for sensing and also for the first stages of the processing hierarchy. Computations, communication capacities, memory, low cost devices which have limited energy resources are included in the network. One of the major applications of sensor networks is actuators. This type of sensor networks is widely used in many sectors like military applications, environmental applications and commercial applications (RAGHAVENDRA, C. S., Krishna M. Sivalingam and Taieb F. Znati, 2004). Networks can be organized in multi-hop wireless paths and large lands capes in order to recognize the events of interest. Industries attain security and safety by making use of wireless sensor networks. This network uses sensors for the detection of toxic, harmful and unsafe materials and also provides a way for the identification of leakages which may cause dangerous results. These networks are best suitable for monitoring and help in controlling rotations in moving machinery (Edgar h. Callaway, 2003). Wide usage of sensor networks in large applications forces the network to provide security for data in order to operate the applications effectively. Security is the major issue faced by wireless sensor networks. The main reason for security problems in sensor networks is hold of data by attackers. If number of nodes increased in communication then there may be chance for tampering the data which may create the problem of data loss (CHAN, H. and PERRIG, A., 2003). This sensor network helps in expanding the internet into physical space. Compared to customary approaches wireless sensor networks provide many advantages. Information in sensors networks is available only at runtime. Sensors networking is done by contribution from signal processing, database and information management, embedded systems and architecture and distributed algorithms. Much number of sensors is already in use for monitoring the traffic in networks (Feng Zhao and leonidas J. Guibas, 2004) The organization growth reduces internally by loss of important data and due to false data introduced by hackers in network.However, the lack of end-to-end security guarantee makes the WSN weak due to the attacks. Functions in the networks are injured by internal attacks which lead to breakdown of mission-critical applianc es (Elaine Shi and PERRIG, A., 2004). Hence from the above discussion it can be understood that wireless networks leads to a new trend as the way of interchanging of data through internet service like e-mail and data file transfers is increasing tremendously. WSN is used in many martial appliances. As these networks provide many benefit for organizations and users it lacks in providing security to data while transferring. Wireless sensor networks play a vital role in transferring the data from one network to another without any delays or disturbances. The functionality and behavior of the WSN are completely dissimilar from the other wireless network devices present in WSN.WSN are not assured by the users. In terms of battery and power these devices are much more restrained. The WSN can be separated into two parts Data acquisition and data dissemination network. Data acquisition network consists of sensor nodes and base stations. Sensor nodes are the accumulation of small devices wit h the charge of assessing the physical information of its setting, and base stations are influential devices in case of gathering information of its surroundings. Sensor networks are mainly projected for real-time collection and analysis of low level data in aggressive environments (Javier Lopez and Jianying Zhou, 2008). For this reason they are well fitted to a significant amount of monitoring and observation applications. Famous wireless sensor network applications involve wildlife monitoring, bushfire response, military command, intelligent communications, industrial quality control, infrastructures, smart buildings, traffic monitoring and examining human heart rates etc. greater part of the sensor network are spread in aggressive environments with active intelligent resistance (Feng Zhao and Leonidas J. Guibas, 2004). Hence security is a crucial issue. One obvious example is battlefield applications where there is a pressing need for secrecy of location and resistance to subvers ion and destruction of the network. 2.3. Evaluating the existing security designs in WSNs Evaluation of existing systems can be done with the help of data security requirements like data authentication, availability and authentication. Security is not provided efficiently by the existing systems due to weak security strengths and is exposed to many different attacks. Security authentication tools such as authentication and key management. These tools provide various security mechanisms for sensor network. Routing and localization are supports sensor network (Donggang Liu and Peng Ning, 2007). Similar to the traditional networks most of the sensor network applications need security against introduction, and modification of packets. Cryptography is the standard defense. Interesting system tradeoffs grow while comparing cryptography into sensor networks. For point-to-point communication, continues cryptography attains a high level of protection but involves those keys to be set up among all end points and be in companionable with passive participation and local broadcast (C. S. Ragahavendhra, Krishna M. Sivalingam, Taieb F. znati, 2004). Link layer cryptography with a network wide shared key simplifies key setup and supports passive participation and local broadcast but intermediate nodes might alter messages. The earliest sensor networks are likely to use link layer cryptography because this approach supplies the greatest ease of deployment among presently available network cryptographic approaches. Subsequent systems may react to demand for more security with more advanced use of cryptography. Cryptography implies a performance cost for extra computation that frequently gains packet size. Cryptographic hardware support increases efficiency and also increases the financial cost of implementing a network. Limitations of existing key management schemes From many past years many different pre-distribution schemes have been proposed. Hop-by-hop is one of the techniques which dont provide end-to-end security in a proper manner. This hop-by-hop not only involves the end points but also have the intermediate components for data forwarding. Hop-by-hop header carries information which should be examined by each and every node along the packet path. As this technique involves each node referencing and processing it becomes complex in analysis of networks (Alberto Leon Garcia and Indra Widjaja, 2004). Data authentication and confidentiality is very much vulnerable to inside attacks and the multi hopping makes a worse while transmitting the messages. The problem of distributing and updating cryptographic is to valid member is known as Key Management. The key management is one of the most important tasks in the cryptographic mechanisms for networks. However the sensor networks, the key management is one of the more challenging network because there may be no central authority, trusted third party, or server to manage security keys. The key management performed in the distributed way. The self organization scheme to distribute and manage the security keys proposed (Yang Xiao, 2006). This system certificates are stored and distributed to the user by themselves. False data filtering and their analysis This helps in protecting data from validation in WSNs. Data that is not authorized will be filtered out by the transitional nodes. Location Based Resilient Secrecy (LBRS) is the proposed scheme that identifies the problems and errors in Statistical En-route Filtering (SEF) and Interleaved Hop-by–Hop Authentication (IHA). All these methods are highly exposed to interference attacks and selective forwarding attacks (kui Ren, Wenjing Lou and Yanchao Zhang, 2008). SEF helps in detecting and dropping the false reports during the forwarding process that contains Message Authentication Codes (MAC) generated by multiple nodes (Anne-Marie Kermarrec, Luc Bouge and Thierry Priol, 2007). IHA identifies the fake reports by using interleaved authentication 2.4. Data Security Requirements in Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) As wireless sensor networks usage is increasing in organizations, security should be provided for data in order operate organizations successfully. Data security in wireless sensor networks includes data authentication, data availability and data confidentiality. Data should be available for authenticated users only in order to provide security. Various data security requirements for wireless sensor networks are (Kui Ren, Wenjing Lou and Yanchao Zhang, 2008): Data availability Data Confidentiality Data authentication Data integrity Time synchronization Secure Localization Data availability – To ensure availability of message protection in sensor network it should protect the resources or sensor nodes. Nodes in sensor networks should be guarded from unnecessary processing of messages. Avoiding unnecessary processing can reduce the energy usage so that the life time of sensor network increases. Wireless sensors are influenced by many factors like limited communication capabilities and computation. Wireless sensor networks are vulnerable to various attacks like Denial of Service attacks, node compromise attack and resource consumption attack (Shinqun Li, Tieyan Li and Xinkai Wang, 2002). Hence, in order to provide availability and security resources should be maintained effectively. Data Confidentiality – In wireless sensor networks confidentiality can be achieved by allowing only authenticated users to access the data. In sensor networks data can be secured by using cryptographic methods. Using encryption and decryption for data allows only authenticated users to access the data. Unauthorized or third parties cannot read the original data if confidentiality is provided effectively (Chris Karlof, Naveen sastry and David Wagner, 2004). Hence to have confidentiality for data wireless sensor networks should make of encryption methods. Data authentication – Authentication is necessary for controlling the sensor networks effectively. Data authentication in sensor networks allows the users to verify whether the data is sent from authorized resources or not. It also protects the original data from alterations. Digital signatures can be used for authentication in sensor networks (Mona Sharifnejad, Mohsen Sharifi and Mansoureh, 2007). Hence, authentication in sensor networks can be achieved with digital signature which helps in authenticating the senders. Hence from the discussion it can be given in order to provide security data availability, authentication and confidentiality should be sustained in sensor networks. Data Integrity Data integrity in sensor networks is required to check the dependability of the information and concerns to the capability, to support that message has not been corrupted, altered or changed. Even if the network has confidentiality measures, there is still a possibility that the data integrity has been compromised by alterations (Richard Zurawski, 2006). The integrity of the network will be in trouble when the malicious node present in the network throws fake data. Wireless channel cause damage or loss of data due to unstable conditions. Hence from the above it can be given the information provided by the sensor network is easily corrupted which can leads to loss of data. Time Synchronization Most of the sensor network applications trust on some form of time synchronization. Moreover, sensors may wish to calculate the continuous delay of a packet as it moves among two pair wise sensors. For tracking the applications a more collaborative sensor network may involve group synchronization. Secure Localization The usefulness of a sensor network will trust on its ability of each sensor to accurately and mechanically locate in the network (G. Padmavathi and D. Shanmugapriya, 2009). A sensor network planned to locate faults and it need accurate fixed information in order to identify the location of a fault. In this an attacker can easily misrepresent non secured location information by giving false signal strengths and playing back signals. Hence from the above content it has discussed about the security goals that are widely available for wireless sensor networks. 2.5. Proposing Location-Aware End-to-end Data Security (LEDS) LEDS helps in providing safety to data in a well-organized way. Security to data is provided through confidentiality, authentication and availability in LEDS. This mechanism has the ability to provide en-route filtering and end to end authentication. It makes use of key management for achieving data security. LEDS can be used either in small networks or large networks (Ed Dawson and Duncan S. Wong, 2007). LEDS splits the whole network into small cell regions and sends keys for each cell in order to provide security. Cell size of LEDS depends on the number of keys distribute and it does not support dynamic topology. Sensors helps in finding events that are occurring in network. Encryption of events is happened in networks by sensor nodes which are participating in the network. In order to encrypt the events LEDS uses the pre distributed cell keys (Abu Shohel Ahmed, 2009). Sensor nodes calculates unique share key for sensors after encrypting the data, where this is demonstrated using d ifferent sinks. Sensor nodes use authentication keys for calculating MACs. To avoid duplicate reporting each and every report is given with different MACs. A report or data validity will be checked at each and every node while broadcasting through networks in order to provide data security (Fan Ye, Hao Yang and Starsky H.Y. Wong, 2006). Hence from the above discussion it can be understood that, LEDS mechanism helps wireless sensor networks in providing end to end security. This mechanism makes use of key management in order to provide data authentication, confidentiality and availability. The main aim of designing LEDS is to provide end to end data security through data confidentiality, authenticity and availability. LEDS has the capability of preventing false data report attacks. Brief description of the goals of designing LEDS: Provide end-to-end data confidentiality and authenticity: Event reports in wireless sensor networks can maintain authenticity and confidentiality if the sending nodes themselves are not compromised for data corruption. Compromised nodes may affect the neighbor node performance. Cryptographic methods are used to protect data from attackers which is collected from compromised nodes. Key management assists in providing data authenticity and confidentiality by LEDS (Jun Luo, Panos Papadimitratos and Jean-Pierre Hubaux, 2007). In LEDS key management mechanism the nodes use keys for applying cryptographic methods on data in order to provide security. Achieve high level of assurance on data availability: If any attack occurs on data in wireless sensor network, then it should be flexible in selecting alternative ways for forwarding the data. In order to ensure availability, networks should be able to detect and drop the duplicate reports in an efficient and deterministic manner (Kui Ren, Wenjing Lou and Yanchao Zhang, 2008). LEDS assures data availability in the networks by identifying the duplicate reports early in the networks. Hence from the discussion it can be understood that, LEDS was designed for providing security in the wireless sensor networks. False information reports can be eliminated by using some LEDS mechanisms in networks. 2.6. Components of Location-Aware End-to-end Data Security To provide data security, LEDS makes use of two major components: Location-aware key management framework. End-to-end data security mechanism. LEDS provides end to end security by providing data authentication, confidentiality and availability. 2.6.1. Location-aware key management framework As wireless sensor networks are used in wide range of applications it should be deployed correctly in order to collect data. Network planners should give a framework before organizing in order to have security to data. LEDS makes use of key management in providing framework for the sensor networks. Using Key management in LEDS exploits the static and location-aware nature of wireless sensor networks (Reihanah Safavi Naini, 2008). Key management adopts a grid structure for redistributing and examining specific properties related to designing process. For providing a light-weight and robust location aware key management framework for sensor nodes in network preloaded keys are distributed in networks. This framework can be understood through embedding location information into the keys. Framework using key management should be derived in such a way that it should provide data authentication, confidentiality and availability (Yan Zhang, Honglin Hu and Masayuki Fujise, 2006). In LEDS ever y sensor node computes three different types of location-aware keys for distributing purpose. A sensor node computes two unique secret keys which can be shared between a node and sink. These keys help in providing node to sink authentication. A cell key will be distributed between two nodes in the same cell. Confidentiality to data in Wireless Sensor Networks is given by distribution cell keys among network elements. A set of authentication keys can be distributed among the nodes in the network in order to provide authentication to the nodes. This distributing of keys can help sensor networks in data filtering. A Sensor node in the network computes the location-aware key independently. Key management provides basis for end to end data security (Kui Ren, Wenjing Lou and Yanchao Zhang, 2008). Key management strategies for wireless sensor network have proposed recently existing keys which are based on pre-distribution where a probabilistic access for fixing up session keys among adjace nt nodes. Random key Pre-distribution schemes are dangerous to selective nodes and node replication attacks. These frequent attacks can be prohibited by the location aware key management. More challenges are to be taken by the location aware key management such as connectivity within the groups, deployment flexibility and security resilience (Xiaofang Zhou, 2006). Existing strategies need the deployment data as a priority before the deployment. This makes it very hard in major applications. Hence from the above discussion it can be concluded that, for developing a structure for WSN LEDS uses the key management technique. In this framework the safety to data is given by the distribution of keys between sensor nodes. Different location-aware keys computed from sensor nodes can provide data confidentiality, authentication and data filtering. 2.6.2 End-to-end data security mechanism Security is the main issue in transformation of data over internet or any wired or wireless communication. Several encryption methods are implemented and deployed in organization for providing security to data. Network smart cards supports networking mainstream standards and secured protocols. Private data can be sent from smart cards to remote server by establishing a secured connection between network smart cards and trusted remote internet server. This mechanism helps in avoiding manual type for confidential information. End-to-end mechanism struggle in identifying threat mechanism that will capture the data before it is encrypted (Yuliang Zhenq, 2004). Specificdevices and protocols can be installed at the end point connection for offering end to end security. Hyper text Transfer Protocol (HTTP) connection is an example of end-to-end connection to web server where an IP security is used as end-to-end security. There is an opinion that end-to-end security mechanism provides solutio ns in providing security to network based systems. Wireless sensor networks usually consist of a prominent number of resource constraint sensor nodes which are distributed in neglected uncongenial surroundings, and therefore are displayed to more characters of serious insider approaches due to node cooperation. Existing security designs generally supply a step by step security prototype and are exposed to such attacks (Claude Castelluccia, 2005). Moreover, existing security designs are also exposed to several DOS attacks such as report disruption attacks and selective forwarding attacks and thus put information accessibility at stake. To overcome these exposures for major static WSNs come up with a location-aware end-to-end security framework in which secret keys are bound to geographic locations (frank Stajano , Catherine Meadows, Srdjan Capkun and Tyler more, 2007). This location alert property successfully limits the impact of settled nodes only to their locality without involvin g end-to-end data security. The suggested multi functional key management framework checks both node to sink and node to node authentication along with the report forwarding routes and the suggested data delivery access assures effective en-route fake data filtering, and is highly influential against DOS attacks. In end-to-end security the end points refers to connection between client and server. Providing security is the major constraint for transferring data in a secured manner. For providing end-to-end secure communication constrains components like (Michael H. Behringer, 2009) Identity- which helps in identification of entities at both the ends Protocols- to provide required security functions protocols are implemented with the help of algorithms. Security- the end points used by network should be provided with secured protocols and the operations implemented on the end points should be in a secured manner. Thus from the above context it can be given that networks which uses end-to-end security mechanism provides a great security. In spite of having some potential problems end –to-end security many of the organizations are deploying this type of mechanism. End-to-end security protocols and their clarification acts as keystone in having security for the networks. 2.7. Security and performance analysis of LEDS Location aware End to end Data security design (LEDS) function is to anticipate the security and analyze in diverse etiquette. Digital systems afford the sanctuary by means of sundry techniques. In providing the security features researchers generate innovative services for improving the recital and trustworthiness of single technique algorithm (Sam Brown, 2002). Along with security the performance, hardware and software implementations are focused, transparency of the requirements as well as performance and productivity. The factors that involves in escalating this technology are Viability, power consumption, area, complexity, Flexibility. Security analysis can be explained in three dissimilar ways (Kui Ren, Wenjing Lou and Yanchao Zhang, 2008): Data Confidentiality as the security strength Data Authenticity Data Availability Data Confidentiality as the security strength: The requirement of provide data confidentiality within the internal network can be met using the same deployment and management approaches used. Using of the data encryption standard the confidentiality of encryption could be obtained. Data Confidentiality is also used in the Marketing and Sales (John W. Ritting House and James F. Ransome, 2004). In LEDS every report is encrypted by the corresponding cell key and therefore no nodes out of the event cell could obtain its content. Node from the event cell is compromised as the attacker obtains the contents of the corresponding reports because of the data confidentiality. Scheming total network cells number of compromised nodes and portion of compromised cell were utilized. There are two ways for calculating they are Random node capture attack and selective node capture attack. The above figure shows the data confidentiality in LEDS. One has to be clear that in compromising 40% of total cells at least 5% of the total nodes are to be compromised. Along with random node capture attacks accessible defense designs in which compromising a few hundred nodes usually compromise even in all the network communication, which specifies the dominance of the altitude in litheness. Data Authenticity By using diverse online techniques authenticity of data is accomplished. Significance of the data generation determines the position of the obligation (Chris Mann and Fiona Stewart, 2000). Security strength of LEDS regarding the data Authenticity is obtained by the content o

Monday, August 5, 2019

Ethics Within The South African Police Service Criminology Essay

Ethics Within The South African Police Service Criminology Essay Through the course of the past year and this year especially, many police actions have made the headline news for wrong reasons. It is therefore reasonable to ask: Why this sudden increase? It is because the police think that they are above the law? Or it is because of their tempers reaching the boiling point due to the specific circumstances of an event, due to personal or organisational frustrations or it is because of inadequate and infrequent training? One can ask if the media is blowing this type of police actions out of proportion. One can ask if the organisations and the managers are paying an attention to the variety of issues that extend far beyond their normal business and which affect individuals, communities, the environment, countries and the entire world. DEFINITION OF ETHICS It entails the code of moral principles and values that directs the behaviour of an individual or a group in terms of what is right or wrong. A code of ethics sets standards about what is good or bad in behaviour and in decision making. SAPS CODE OF ETHICS The code of ethics of the SAPS underpins the way in which every member of this organisation should behave, irrespective of whether they are on duty or not. This code has a specific purpose of providing a standard of police behaviour that does not allow any leniency for poor service delivery or corrupt activities by the members of the organisation and must therefore be applied by all members in their daily tasks. The key principles of the code of ethics are: Integrity; Respect for diversity; Obedience to the law; Service excellence; and Public approval LEVELS OF ETHICAL DECISION MAKING The SAPS is facing a huge challenge within the individual and the organisational level that needs the leadership of the organisation to take into consideration. It is very difficult to change the attitude and the behaviour of an individual. The south African police service members are no longer trusted within the communities including the opposition parties (Democratic Alliance) raised a question for debate in the parliament for the implementation of the commission of enquiry against the behaviour and the brutality of the police, where the President responded by saying there is no need for the commission of enquiry to investigate the polices conduct as there are bodies that are given a mandate to investigate the police conduct( media statement: e-news, 21 March 2013). The Independent Police Inspectorate Directorate that functions independently of the department of Safety and Security has been given a mandate to investigate the Police conduct, and their functions are: Investigate police misconduct or any offence allegedly committed by the member of the SAPS, Investigating any deaths in police custody or as a result of police actions; and Investigating any matter referred to it by the Minister or MEC for Safety and Security. The DAs shadow minister of police Dianne Kohler Barnard, argues that the low conviction rate of the police reflects the police cover-up culture. The police unethical code of conduct is like a pain to the bodies of the citizens as of the republic since they have invested their lives to the police. During the Parliamentary reply on the costs of legal cases compensated for the period of three years, held on 12th March 2013, the Minister of the Police Mr Nathi Mthethwa, asked the National Commissioner of the Police Ms Riya Phiyega to look into issues of litigations such as: wrongful arrests and detention, corruption, negligent conduct and commission of serious offences by police officers. The above mentioned litigations are the main dilemma that affects the organisation and has brought a lot of mistrust of the police by the citizens. The South African Police Service has a challenge of the individual and the Organisational of ethical decision making that will be discussed on the next paragraphs. MANAGING ETHICS IN LAW ENFORCEMENT INDIVIDUAL LEVEL The human resource is the most crucial part of the organisation and difficult to manage because of their differences. Managers must learn more about the people and their behaviour in an organisation. People should be considered as people they spend a lot of time at work, some work to satisfy their needs that is the contributing factor to corruption. As the smallest sub-system in an organisation, individuals have the same characteristics as other systems. People are complex and interact continually with the environment, they strive for equilibrium and they may have a multiplicity of goals. To understand how people function is not an easy task, for no two individuals are the same. However, there are certain key variables that determine the behaviour of employees with which managers should be familiar with. These, includes, values and attitudes, personality, ability, motivation, perception, and learning. The organisation is one of the instruments employees can use their goals. However the organisation can block the attainments and the needs and goals of employees for them to become unmotivated and unproductive. There are so many issues that the organisation plays a role in contributing towards the behaviour and the frustration of an individual, looking at the impact of the promotions: the labour court granted the SAPS court order that interdicts and restrains the SAPS from promoting any member to the ranks of Lieutenant, Captain and Major due to the court interdict submitted by the labour movement Solidarity on the 27th February 2013 after the announcement of the post by the SAPS on the 18th March 2013, reference 8/1/1 volume 59. With the individual as a system in a changing environment, this is a total torture and the frustration to those who were promoted and to those who were not promoted and qualify for the promotions? (www.sapsjournal.gov.za/dynamic/journal/.dynamic.aspx?pageid= 414jid.44024. Date of access: 20 April 2013. The SAPS said it has the best interest of their members and will make sure that this matter is addressed. There are some different approaches that the SAPS is using in managing an individual even though is very difficult as the manager cannot sit in the office and monitor the subordinates how much time they spend on telephones and their movement when working outside. But the office open space system other companies uses, as one of the monitoring tool to prevent members doing their own agendas during the working hours as they share the office or the space with their members whereas in SAPS we still use the old system of individuals office but it depends on the services delivered per component. In case of the Crime Intelligence and the Detective unit it will be highly difficult to be implemented in terms of the confidentiality of their cases and the dockets. Management of resources The SAPS has implemented the fire-arm permit system for reporting on duty and off duty to prevent dishonesty and the financial constraints. What was happening previously is that the Relief Commanders and the Commanders of the other units were dishonest of their subordinates absenteeism; a member will be booked on duty on SAP 15 whereas s/he was absent. Some would report on duty and leave early without being noticed and will never come. With the fire-arm permit system, a members fingerprint is needed to verify his/her presence at work and the absence that will push the Human Resource official to verify the member absent. The problem is that it has not been long implemented already it is not working, some stations have tampered with the system, whereas our systems are not fully effective, this is the main reason why some reports of duty early without logging in the system and the following a day they start by booking Off duty with the reason, the system was offline, and this will not be questioned as we all know that our systems are poor. In most cases are offline. The leave policies that are just a written document that are not effective monitored, some members have an attitude of using their sick leave and vacation at the beginning of the leave plan circle. No has ever questioned the member from the provincial office, the matter is left in the hands of the responsible station commander who is afraid to take actions against the member and this leads to the undedicated other member to copy the behaviour that results in an increase of sick leave reported, even though it their rights but some are being misused. The performance enhancement process, serves a monitoring tool to the member. Its existence has been questioned many times if whether it serves its purpose within the organisation. The SAPS is trying its level best with no luck because of the managers and its poor system. In terms of reducing the telephone bills, the SAPS implemented the policy of paying the private telephone calls made by the member. No one will verify if the telephone calls made on the members bill are official or private unless the member is honest. Locking ones telephone account if the member fails to pay hampers the service delivery too. The AVL system, the vehicle monitoring tool, due to the poor system, it is also not properly managed and in some cases, it gives the wrong location of the vehicle during a certain period, but give the right speed the member was driving during the certain time and period and this are the only thing our managers are trained at, to monitor the member in order to let her/him down even though this is important too for the prevention of the accidents due to lack of negligent and reckless driving. ORGANISATIONAL LEVEL The ethics of managerial decision making is often complex and managers often disagree on what an ethical decision in a specific situation entails. Managers should consider two factors: (1) the approach that they can use to determine which alternative to choose in a decision-making situation; and (2) what organisations can do to ensure that managers follow ethical standards in their decision making (PJ Smith et al. (2007:415) Management of Principles). The management of ethics in the law enforcement is a very crucial issue lately whereby the organisation is making the headline news on daily basis. It came to the state where the leadership is being questioned about the state of the organisation and the conduct of its members. We can see how Commissioner Riya Phiyega, avoiding to confirm that the Marikana mine workers were killed by the police and why she failed to suspend the members as she did with the Mido Macia Case, Mozambican who was brutally killed by the police at Daveyton on the 26th February 2013. Her answer was that she cannot confirm that the mine workers were killed by the police as there is no enough evidence and it requires the findings from the commission of enquiry to what caused the killing of the 34 mine workers, the injury to the 78 mine workers and the extra 10 people that includes the two police officials and the security guards near the mine whereas Midos Case is different as there were enough evidence that lin ks the suspended members to the killing of the Mozambican man (www.bdlive.co.za/national/2013/4/17-phiyega-avoids-confirming-that-marikana-miners-were killed by police: Date accessed, 2013-04-20).This shows that the Commissioner is trying by all means to apply the three approaches to ethical decision making that is the utilitarian, the human rights and the justice approach. Her respond to the commission of enquiry will affect the members that are directly involved in the situation including the SAPS members as a whole. She is faced with a difficult task to defend the members even though she is being criticised for being a woman and leading an organisation that was men dominating previously. The SAPS was never lucky in having a good leadership that leads by example except the woman that has just sat on the hot seat left by the corrupt men, to transform it and it seems that she will not be given the chance to proof herself because so much has happened on her taking the position as the Commissioner that leads to her incredibility. LEADING BY EXAMPLE The first and most important requirement for fostering a culture of good ethics in an organisation is leading by example .Actions speak louder than words. Leading by example serves as an inspirational tool that enhances education to the subordinates. The SAPS was never lucky with the good leadership that leads by an example. The leadership of Jackie Selebi opened up so many unethical conducts within the SAPS as he was arrested for corruption. That was a good example for the prevention of further offending to the subordinates. His successor, Mr Beki Cele was also dismissed from the organisation for unlawful conduct and maladministration with R500 million rand lease agreement for new police headquarters in Pretoria on 24th October 2011. Police managers need to be aware of their visible and critical role within the SAPS. Power is needed to bring about the ethical changes in an organisation and even within the community -policing framework. A common thread in most widespread corruption, cases is an absence of an overview from the top management. In some cases of corruption, the managers do not want to admit to the malpractice under their command, and in some other instances they merely turn a blind eye and in some cases they are involved. Lieutenant General Mdlulis and Colonel HJ Barnards case withdrawn for charges of fraud relating to the alleged misuse of Crime Intelligence funds, whom their case had a lot of interference from within the SAPS and the National prosecuting authority. Their cases let to the suspension of the Senior Prosecutor of the National Prosecuting Authority, Glynnis Breytenbach, who strongly believes that there is still a strong case against this two SAPS senior officers and her suspension in Apr il 2012 has got nothing to do with the handling of the criminal investigation relating to a mineral rights dispute between the mining companies Imperial Crown Trading (ICT) and Kumba Iron Ore over Kumbas Sishen mine, she suggests that it is politically influenced. On the other hand within the SAPS, Colonel Roelofse who was in charge of the case, was informed by the Senior officer, Major General Sibiya, that he had been taken to task by certain Generals within the SAPS, by allowing the investigation to continue beyond the scope of the murder investigation that Lieutenant Mdluli was also charged with. The SAPS senior officers were pulling each others throats with the Lt Gen Mdlulis (anti-corruption task team report dated 2012-03-02), and this gave a support to the Democratic Alliances shadow minister of police Dianne Kohler Barnard statement when he said the low conviction reflects the polices cover- up culture, responding to the statistics on police brutality from the Independent Pol ice Investigative Directorate (IPID) make for grim reading. In 2011/2012 financial year, 720 deaths, allegedly at the hands of the police officers, were investigated. IPID recommended 162 prosecutions and called for disciplinary action against 168 police. But only 05 police officers were dismissed and 13 were convicted of crimes during that period. The highest number of alleged deaths at the hands of the police was investigated in 2008/2009 financial year, when 912 came in for IPID scrutiny. In that year just three officers were dismissed and one was suspended for six months. DEVELOPING A CORPORATE CODE OF ETHICS Another way of managing ethics in an organisation is by means of a code of conduct. The South African Police Service Code Of conduct agreement 11/96 was adopted and signed by the SAPS, the unions, SAPU (South African Police Union), POPCRU (Police and Prisons Civil Rights Union) and the Public Servants Association of South Africa in 1996.Ethical policing demands that the employees of the SAPS to act with integrity and respect for peoples diversity and the law thereby enhancing service excellence to the approval of the public. The South African police Service have instituted the policies, regulations, and the standing orders to maintain the standard of its discipline. Some of the order- maintaining bodies of legislation are: The Code of conduct ; Code of ethics; The Standing orders; National Instructions Regulations; Anti-corruption plan; Whistle blowing plan; Internal disciplinary procedures; and The IPID (Independent Police Investigative Directorate). The organisation has done so much to the translation of the values and beliefs into ethical standards or behaviour, not a single police station does not have the printed code of conduct charts but it seems as if its meaning is meaningless since the number of police corruption and brutality increases, members received the pocket code of conduct that may fit in the pocket for references and this was supposed to be checked by the managers during their inspections in the beginning of every shift but to whom do someone expect the work to be done by an unqualified manager. Warrant officer at Knysna, his wife was brutally assaulted by the SAPS female member who works at the same police station with him, the case was withdrawn and the wife was forced to withdraw the charges against the member for the prevention of misconduct against the member that could jeopardise her career. Charges were withdrawn and the constable was promoted to a senior rank (City Press 11.15.April 2012). That gives an additional to malfunctioning of the SAPS management. The problem lies within the individual as the human resources sub-system, the recruitment, the promotions criteria and the SAPS leadership. Managers should take a long view of enhancing ethical behaviour. MANAGING WHISTLE BLOWING The SAPS is in partnership with the insight company, Panda where the citizens can send sms to 33221 of any criminal activities within their area. The line is confidential and no one will make up follow up to call the person for more information. It is reported that successful arrests has been made since the launching of the system. The anti- corruption plan that is implemented and each and every police station have to conduct sessions to educate the members and the community. RECOMMENDATIONS The recruitment policy, strategies and the criteria must be reviewed as the Minister had said on the media release city press, dated 2013-03-26. The Human Resource Development plan must include education and training on ethics. The performance enhancement process has to be reviewed for the improvement of work ethics. The senior promotions policy, strategies and criteria must be reviewed. The National Commissioners post must not be politicised. CONCLUSION The mangers need to be aware of their visible and critical role within the SAPS. It is essential for the managers to understand their peers and subordinates. A manager is a psychologist, sociologist and political scientist (PJ Smith et al. 2007: 295, Management Principles).

Sunday, August 4, 2019

Comparing Measure for Measure and The Merchant of Venice, As You Like I

Parallels between Measure for Measure and The Merchant of Venice, As You Like It, and Twelfth Night What is comedy?   Funk and Wagnalls New Encyclopedia says: "A comedy depicts the follies and absurdities of human beings."   Webster's Dictionary defines comedy as: "A drama or narrative with a happy ending."   Shakespeare's play, Measure for Measure, fits both of these descriptions.   Follies and absurdities are present in the play: Lucio slanders the Duke, not realizing that his crude remarks are being spoken to the Duke himself; Angelo abuses his power thinking that the Duke is not present to know; and Ragozine happens to die in prison the day a head is needed to substitute for Claudio's.   The play also ends on several merry notes, consistent with the definition of comedy.   For example, Angelo's life is spared and he is forgiven; Mariana is married to Angelo; the Duke punishes Lucio humorously with marriage; Barnardine is pardoned; and Claudio is saved.   The parallels between Measure for Measure and three other Shakespearean comedies, The Merchant of Venice, As Yo u Like It, and Twelfth Night, also help to classify Measure for Measure as a comedy.   In Measure for Measure, like in The Merchant of Venice, As You Like It, and Twelfth Night, an arbitrary law or obstacle is eventually overcome; a disguised character affects the outcome of the play; a clown adds humor to the plot; a female character bears a large responsibility for the final resolution; and forgiveness and reconciliation mark the conclusion of the action.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Some critics consider Measure for Measure a "dark" play because of the serious obstacles encountered by the characters.   However, doesn't The Merchant of Venice also have near-tragic hindrances that af... ... only does Measure for Measure fit the definition of comedy, it also parallels Shakespeare's other comedies.   Like The Merchant of Venice, As You Like It, and Twelfth Night, the plot of Measure for Measure overcomes an adversarial obstacle, possesses a disguised character who affects the denouement, touches the audience with the humor of a clown or ruffian, endures the influence of a powerful a female character, and ends with forgiveness and reconciliation.   The similarities between Measure for Measure and The Merchant of Venice, As You Like It, and Twelfth Night help to place Measure for Measure in the same category with Shakespeare's other comedies.   Furthermore, the "problems" many critics single out in Measure for Measure are also present in The Merchant of Venice, As You Like It, and Twelfth Night, and further help to classify Measure for Measure as a comedy.

Saturday, August 3, 2019

Flucations In The Australian Dollar :: essays research papers

The Australian Dollar is a "Commodity Currency". A "Commodity Currency" means that its fortunes are heavily dependent on the prices of Gold, Copper, Nickel, Coal and Wool. All of these commodities are Australia’s main exports. At present, commodity prices are low, especially gold. Melbourne-based mining consultant Surbiton Associates said exports of Australian gold were in danger of declining if exploration failed to be supported and production declined as a result. The country produces about $5 billion worth of gold each year and over the past 10 years the metal has earned $42 billion in export revenue. Presently, our dollar has been the weakest in history, comparable to the United States (US) dollar. The record low occurred in early April where it sank to 47.75 US cents. Compared to the US dollar, our Australian dollar buys at present 50.81 US cents. (27 July 2001). It is unrealistic to determine what started the dollars slide or when it started. In this graph it is visible that the dollar started to drop as far back as April 1997. Although, we can never be sure that the fluctuations are actually fluctuations in the $A or those of the $US. For that reason the following figure shows the movements in the $A against the trade weighted index (TWI). As its name indicates, the trade weighted index tries to measure the value of the $A against a basket of currencies. Those currencies are chosen to reflect the weight in Australia's trade with the countries issuing the currencies in the index. At the moment, the US dollar is very strong. This is surprising considering that the American economy is not very strong. Interest rates in the US basically show the situation. Americas interest rates have seen five cuts over the last four months to where it now sits at 3.75%. This was the US governments’ way of trying to kick-start the economy through fiscal policy. This is why many economists believe the US dollar will subside, as there is no backing in the economy. The â€Å"Aussie†, as it is referred to in foreign markets, is believed to be dependent on the performance of the Japanese Yen and the new Eurodollar, with the three currencies tending to move in tandem. This is because of Australia’s importing and exporting relationship with the two other currencies. Interest Rates At the moment the interest rate in Australia sits at 5%. In resent times interest rates have been subject to three cuts.

Friday, August 2, 2019

Amory Lovins’ Logic in Natural Capitalism Essay example -- Amory Lovin

Amory Lovins’ Logic in Natural Capitalism In the first chapter of Natural Capitalism, author Amory Lovins proposes a new method of capitalism that recognizes the importance of natural and human capital in the industrial system. Conventional capitalism places value only on capital that yields financial gain, and ignores the human and natural parts of the equation. Lovins points to this as the reason for many of the environmental, social, and economic problems on our planet today. He argues that the destructive practices of conventional capitalism must cease, and that a new industrial revolution must happen that will change how human beings support themselves and sustain the resources of the planet. In this chapter he offers suggestions as to how to implement such a revolution. The chapter opens with a passage describing an idealistically perfect world. In this utopian society, unemployment no longer exists and the demand for welfare has dropped. Oil only costs five dollars per barrel due to the discovery of alternate fuel sources. Lovins paints a picture of a world that everyone would like to live in, and says that such a clean world can become a reality if people read his book and follow the suggestions within. He also describes all the bad things happening in the world as a result of conventional capitalism and what will happen if governments and corporations continue on the present path. Lovins explains the relationship between the dwindling amount of natural resources, and the companies that exhaust them for financial gain without concern for sustaining the ecosystem of the planet. The resulting social problems such as poverty, malnutrition, and anarchy are of no concern to the corporations... ...emotional rhetoric than it needs. This chapter is heavily spiced with emotional appeal to sway readers without really delving into the actual argument. The entire opening paragraph and the first few pages contain nothing but emotional appeal. Lovins uses rhetoric designed to sway the emotions of the reader with the utopian scenario that he promises will come from changing the current capitalistic practices, and the vivid descriptions of the horrors of our environmental crisis. However, one should not assume that this chapter is merely emotional persuasion. Lovins bases his argument on rational logic and his informational sources are distinguished experts in their field. He makes a strongly supported claim and his words give me food for thought. I believe it would be wise for people to listen to the logical claim that Lovins presents and follow his suggestions.

Thursday, August 1, 2019

Matav Hungarian Telecommunications Company Essay

Matav Hungarian Telecommunications Company was established in 1991 when Hungarian Post was split into three divisions. Matav remained a state-run company until 1993 when the Hungarian government sold off the company , and that was a significant turning point in the history of the company since the privatization process was the largest foreign investment in Hungary. Matav’s majority shareholder , Deutsche Telekom was one of the largest Telecommunications companies in Europe, and was involved in all kinds of Telecommunication Business Services. Therefore , Matav benefited from the technical expertise of Deutsche Telekom , and became a fully integrated Telecommunications company. Even the culture of the corporation had changed into a customer-oriented culture after the privatization process. In February 1994 , Matav’s local telephone services covered about 80% of the territory of Hungary. After it had been privatized from the state in 1993, Matav had a monopoly inside Hungary in a way that it operated 80 % of the country’s fixed line telephone system. But there were four other domestic incumbents that controlled the fixed lines in the remaining 20% of the country ( HTCC , Monortel , Emitel and Invitel ) . So , Matav had some kind of competitive advantages in its domestic markets. Also , In mobile market , for instance , Matav controlled about 47% of the market , but was in a competition with two other companies : Pannon GSM (owned by TeleNor ) with 37 % of the market , and Vodafone with 16% . Tele2 and MonorTel were also being so active in the segment. Moreover , there was a great deal of competition between the fixed line business segment and the mobile segment.As for the internet segment , the ISP Axelero had Pantel ( owned by KPN , Holland ) as an active competitor. As part of its successful strategy, Matav was trying to become an international telecommunications group , and its first international expansion was in 2001 through purchasing the majority share of MakTel , Macedonia’s national telecommunications company. So as a result , MakTel became a consolidated subsidiary of Matav. Matav’s first international acquisition of MakTel was a real success as the domestic fixed line business was declining. Also , in July 2001 , Matav purchased the remaining 50% ownership share in Emitel, and Emitel became a new subsidiary of Matav group that provided residential and business telecommunication services in the South region. In December 2001 , Matav acquired the remaining 49% share of Westel Mobile Telecommunications ( which was known later as T-Mobile Hungary Co. ). In January 2002 , a new strategic plan introduced a new company structure , and Matav was restructured into four business lines : Business services , residential services , Mobile division and Internet division. The restructure plan was necessary as each business area needed a dedicated management team. In fact , international expansion was of great strategic importance to Matav . The first international acquisition of MakTel in early 2001 was a great strategic opportunity as the penetration in Macedonia was being very low in almost all business segments : 25% of the country had fixed lines , 5% of the country had mobile phones , and under 2% had the internet service. So , Matav’s main task was to rebalance the pricing of the fixed line business through the tariff packages and others , and to grow competition on the mobile market. MakTel revenues had grown from the year 2000 to 2003 , and the key measure that was used by Matav ( EBITDA : Earnings before interest , tax , deprec iation and Amortization ) also raised. In addition , Matav increased the number of MakTel’s fixed lines. In December 2003 , the connection of ADSL lines and other broadband services became available. And since January 2004, the Electronic Communication Act entered into force, and it allowed the fixed-line number portability in Hungary. Although it was becoming an international company , Matav lacked the dynamic growth, and that was because there was a limited growth opportunity in Hungary. For instance , fixed line subscriptions were declining because of the the fixed-mobile substitution. Consequently , Matav was looking forward into its second international expansion , and that was the international acquisition of Montenegro Telecom ( TCG ) that was sold off by the government in March 2005 . Basically , Matav chose Montenegro because it was the only fixed operator in the country , and it had one mobile competitor. In 2004 , Matav had to develop a strategy plan for the entire company, and the management team was to choose between the multiple strategic crossroads in the complex and the rapidly changing telecommunications business environment. The strategy group leader , Andras Balogh , had to choose a reliable strategy plan for the next three years. Basically , the strategy group had three main options for Matav. The first choice was to focus on the existing product lines. For example , the company could maximize productivity , provide new services , produce more tariff packages in order to limit the fixed lines business declining, in addition to managing the pricing on new mobile services ( GPRS , 3G , WAP†¦and all Broadband services ). The second choice was to focus on the regional growth, and the third one was to keep expanding internationally. If I were a member of the strategy group , I would recommend the international expansion strategic direction, but I do believe that some requirements should be met, and one of those requirements would be the guaranteed existing of sufficient company resources that would guarantee a healthy future of the company. In addition , I think that the international expansion would compensate the lack of dynamic growth that Matav lacked in Hungary . †¢ What has been the impact, positive and negative, of the Internet on the way we do business? †¢ What is his future vision of the Internet and the way it will evolve? †¢ What challenges and concerns do we face for the future? Since this is a position paper, not only present the speaker’s points but analyze them and add your considered opinion about them. Examples and perspective to support your viewpoint are strongly welcomed. It is recommended that your write-up should be between one and two pages long (single spaced, 11 pt.) Please submit your assignment electronically via Blackboard by class time on Tuesday September 25th.