Mechanical Engineering Essay

Mechanical engineering is a discipline of engineering that applies the principle of engineering, physics and material science for analysis, design, manufacturing , and maintenance of mechanical systems. It is the branch of engineering, that involves the production and usage of heat and mechanical power for the design, production, and operation of machines and tools.[1] It is one of the oldest and broadest engineering disciplines. The engineering field requires an understanding of core concepts including mechanics, thermodynamics, material science, structural analysis, and electricity. Mechanical engineers use computer aided engineering and product lifestyle management to design and analyze future manufacturing plants industrial equipment and machinery heating and cooling systems, transport systems, aircraft, watercraft, robotics, medical devices, weapons etc. mechanical engineering’s development can be traced back several thousand years around the world. Mechanical engineering science emerged in the 19th century as a result of developments in the field of physics. The field has continually evolved to incorporate advancements in technology, and mechanical engineers today are pursuing developments in such fields as composites ,mechatronics, and nanotechnology. Mechanical engineering overlaps with aerospace engineering, civil engineering, electrical engineering, petroleum engineering, and manufacturing so, all of these are encountered and cannot be avoided. There are other fields mechanical engineers have to do like, biomedical engineering and modeling of biological systems like, soft tissue mechanics. Mechanical engineers have to design and build engines and power plants, structures and vehicles of all sizes. Mechanical engineering requires a bachelors degree. The formal name for the degree is â€Å"Mechanical Engineer†, and the course work is based on five or six years of training, but in order to qualify as an Engineer you have to pass a state exam at the end of the course. Standards set participation to society and are intended to provide uniformity in fundamental subject material, promote competence among graduating engineers, and mostly to maintain confidence in the engineering profession as a whole. Students are required to show that they can â€Å"work professionally in both thermal and mechanical systems areas. Mechanical engineers are also expected to understand and be able to apply  basic concepts from chemistry, physics, chemical engineering etc. All mechanical engineering programs include multiple semesters of mathematical classes including calculus, and advanced mathematical concepts. Also most mechanical engineering programs also require varying amounts of research or community projects to gain practical problem-sol ving experience. Engineers may seek license by a state, provincial, or national government. The purpose of this process is to ensure that engineers possess the necessary technical knowledge, real-world experience, and knowledge of the local legal system to practice engineering at a professional level. Once certified, the engineer is given the title of professional engineer. The field of mechanical engineering can be thought of as a collection of many mechanical engineering science disciplines. Several of these disciplines which are typically taught at the undergraduate level are listed below, with a brief explanation and the most common application of each. Some of these disciplines are unique to mechanical engineering, while others are a combination of mechanical engineering and one or more other disciplines.

Atticus Finch In Harper Lee’s To Kill A Mockingbird Essay

In Harper Lees To Kill a Mockingbird, Atticus plays a major role in his children growth and development. He is a role model to his children and to Maycomb, one of the few willing to take actions against prejudice. His actions can be summed up in one great quote of Thomas Jeffersons These truths we hold to be self-evident: that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain inalienable rights. Atticus does not approve of racism, and teaches his children to judge by character, not race. Atticus thinks that even black men have at least one right, the right of justice. He expresses his belief in this phrase. But there is one way in this country in which all men are created equal- there is one human institution that makes a pauper the equal of a Rockefeller, the stupid man the equal of an Einstein, the ignorant man the equal of any college president, and that, gentlemen is a court. (Lee 205) This quote shows Atticus passion for justice and equality, saying that all are equal in this court, and that you should judge a man by his economic or mental aptitude, nor by the color of his skin. He means by this statement that you should be unbiased and fair when making a decision, or even a persons fate. Atticus believes all people have their flaws and strengths, and should be judged as such, not by their gender, social standing, or color. He shows this in a moving quote, You know the truth, and the truth is this: that some Negroes are immoral; that some Negro men are not to be trusted around women – black or white. But his is a truth which applies to the human race and to no race in particular. (Lee 204) Atticus once again sets the scales of equality even with this statement, explaining his moral code of justice, and how each and every person should judge each other equally. Jems breakdown whenever the court room is mentioned is evidence of this point. Atticus believes that any man using a man of any other color is inferior even to the man he is using. He illustrates this a talk with Scout, Youll see white men cheat black men every day of your life, but let me tell you something and dont you forget it-whenever a white man does that to a black man, no matter who he is, how rich he is, or how fine a family he comes  from, that white man is trash. (Lee 220) Atticus means that if you take advantage of someone or treat them as though they were Less equal, then you, yourself, are you are a horrible, inferior person. On the other hand, if you treat everyone as your equal then they are your equal. Atticus believes in what Martin Luther King later put to words in his famous I Have a Dream speech, That men would not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character. Throughout To Kill a Mockingbird Atticus has been a role model and mentor to his children by condemning racism and all that it stands for. 1. Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird2. The Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson3. I Have A Dream, Martin Luther King Jr.

Learning to read by Malcolm answers

When Malcolm faced the frustration of not being able to express what he wanted in letters especially those to Mr.. Elijah Muhammad. He begun his studies in the prison were Bimbo his fellow prisoner would lead in conversations because of his knowledge and vast vocabulary. Since Malcolm couldn't understand the meanings of the words when he was reading the books he learned that he has to study them from a dictionary and also he wanted to improve his penmanship.When he realized that studying using a dictionary was a very powerful tool he got motivate to further use teeth of copying in writing the content of the dictionary along with memorizing the new words. As a result he was able to read and understand any book. 2. He started his education from the teachings of Mr.. Muhammad about the history that was â€Å"whitened† and had no place for black man. Since then Malcolm was eager to learn more about the history of a black man. He learned that collective white man brought nothing bu t disadvantages to Black people and people of color in general. Mr..Nonhuman teaching taught him that all races came from Negroes and Whites are just â€Å"bleached ‘ Blacks so Blacks are actually a superior nation. The knowledge and a believe in this knowledge has both freed and empowered him. He became independent by the ability to gather and process the information and to apply that knowledge for the good of Black people. The reading changed the direction of what he wanted to do In life and made him â€Å"mentally alive. † 3. If public schools find the way to motivate students and make them crave the Information the students will study the subjects that they are Interested In with effortless ease.On my opinion introducing students to the purpose of learning a certain topic will set up their mind to want to find out more Information about It and understand It In order to use this information In life. 4. 1 think the he Is taking one sided uncompressed position about W hites. He Is generalizing the Idea about a broad topic and I don't think that the general opinion should be considered as the truth. He Is holding an aggressive position of â€Å"battling the white man† which Is as bad as the White man behavior towards Blacks.I can see his motives for Internal hostility of racial Injustice but I don't hint that acting from this position would solve that problem. It Is Just create more anger and can lead to the contention between people. I know that a lot of white people are ashamed of their race because of the history of cruel acts towards Blacks. Learning to read by Malcolm answers By extendibility's he wanted to do in life and made him â€Å"mentally alive. † 3. If public schools find the way to motivate students and make them crave the information the students will study the subjects that they are interested in with effortless ease.On my opinion o want to find out more information about it and understand it in order to use this info rmation in life. 4. 1 think the he is taking one sided uncompressed position about Whites. He is generalizing the idea about a broad topic and I don't think that the general opinion should be considered as the truth. He is holding an aggressive position of â€Å"battling the white man† which is as bad as the White man behavior towards Blacks. I can see his motives for internal hostility of racial injustice but I don't think that acting from this position would solve that problem. It is Just create more

The Importance Of Packaging In Building Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

The Importance Of Packaging In Building - Essay Example Product packaging is strongly linked to consumer perceptions about specific brands (Smith & Hui 2004). Branding is exceptionally vital in all aspects of marketing, and brand name/image becomes a dominant variable in a firm’s prospects for a continuing success. A business’s brand image is a sort of feelings provoked in consumers by a particular brand name (Grunert & Traill 1997). For example, one of the most well-known dog food brands, Pedigree, has a long-running promotion endorsing the adoption of stray dogs in animal shelters. This endows the brand a kind-hearted image and provokes a feeling among consumers that Pedigree has a sincere sympathy for ‘homeless’ animals (Hawkins & Gilson 1992). This costs the organization relatively little, only a morsel of package design, and can remarkably help in encouraging consumers to buy (Hawkins & Gilson 1992). Similarly, the packaging is specifically an integral component of frozen products (Kupiec & Revell 2001). This essay will focus on the influence of product packaging on consumers’ buying behavior, with a special emphasis on deeply frozen food packaging. The essence of creative product packaging will also be discussed, as well as the best way to package deep frozen food products. And the essay will sum up everything by formulating a conclusion regarding the role of product packaging in maintaining brand name or image. Understanding the value of product features affecting food preference at the perspective of sale is mainly essential to the success of the current competitive food industry (Vasquez, Bruce & Studd 2003). Conjoint analysis, for several years, has been employed to measure the significance of different product components for consumer’s buying preferences (Vasquez et al. 2003). The packaging appears to be one of the most significant aspects of buying decisions made from the perspective of sale. In addition, the packaging is a major food product component perceived by consumers (Paine & Paine 1993). It is impossible to avoid the fact that packaging plays a marketing role, although a business does not openly acknowledge the marketing features of packaging.

Organizational Security Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Organizational Security - Essay Example Some of the data is also available in the asset inventory. For instance, the number of failed network switches can be found in the section containing equipment meant for disposal. Risks the Institution Faces Absence of an IT Technician The IT technician is a very valuable member of staff. He is responsible for ensuring that all IT equipment function as expected. These include desktop machines, laptops, servers, projectors, switches, wireless access points, and LAN access ports. The technician is always on standby to respond to queries raised by users. In addition, the technician works with the system administrator, and IT manager, to install software, configure equipment, and implement any IT related project within the institution. The absence of the IT technician, perhaps due to sickness, death, resignation, or termination of employment, leaves a vacuum as far as his duties and responsibilities are concerned. As such, any tasks that require the technician’s input go unattende d to, hence, resulting in failures within the departments that rely on IT services. In order to protect the institution from the risk of lacking an IT technician, the IT department should make sure that there are at least two technicians on duty at any one time (Azari, 2003). If the department does this, then it will be highly unlikely that it loses the services of both technicians. Even if one is unwell, fired, or is away attending to other business, the other technician will be there to handle the queries. The Failure of the Software Development Process The IT department is tasked with the duty of providing applications for the institution. These applications are used to manage some of the activities in the institution; they include student registration and release of exam results. The department can either choose to develop the software or buy it off the shelf. The processes involved in development and purchase of software are complex and can fail if not handled carefully. Some o f the reasons that may cause failure are: i. The finances allocated for acquiring the software may not be sufficient. This happens when the department chooses to develop the software. There are instances where the department runs out of money and has to wait, for the next financial year, to receive additional funding. This creates delays or even leads to the termination of projects. ii. There is a high risk that software purchased from commercial vendors may fail to meet requirements. iii. Failure to adhere to recommended software development procedures. iv. Lack of cooperation from those targeted to use a software system. The university can carry out the following activities to ensure that it acquires quality software: i. Ascertain that designers get the precise requirements of the desired software, before making a decision on the appropriate option to take. ii. All the stakeholders should be included in the improvement process. This will inculcate a sense of ownership in them.

Candidate for the position of Chief of the Virtual Police Department Research Paper

Candidate for the position of Chief of the Virtual Police Department - Research Paper Example Community policing works towards ensuring that both the police and the citizens come together to prevent the occurrences and as well brings resolution to neighborhood conflicts. Community policing emphasizes on stoppage of the crimes or any other evil acts before they happen. It does not just deal with just making responses to calls after the occurrences of a crime. Its aim is to prevent the crimes and dealing with it in the process it is occurring. Furthermore, Community policing ensure that citizens get a lot of control of their lives’ quality control and regulation in their societies. The policing would mean that the corps becomes part and a fraction of the neighborhood. Community Policing also helps in ensuring that the police get a better understanding and knowledge of the demands of the citizens. Consequently, the citizens will gain trust in the police officers and their services to the community (Stevens, 1995). They will gain confidence in the police and respect and co rporate with them. In other words, the community works hand in hand with the department of the police in the community. If people believe that the community policy is in practice in their society, these people will be more possibly willing to give their good opinions, ideas and perceptions of these police. Moreover, in collaboration, both the community and police department will show togetherness in their work for them to accomplish their shared interests and objectives of creating a better and safer environment to dwell in. Together to attain shared objectives of a safer, better place to live. It is an indication of democracy and freedom in practice. Moreover, community policing is taken as an efficient and effective way to enhance the goodness of life within a community. Moreover, community policing also does a very significant role in giving meaning to the two aspects of policing. These are

GLOBAL FINANCIAL CRISIS Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

GLOBAL FINANCIAL CRISIS - Essay Example It started when the US sub-prime mortgage market collapsed due to the default on payments. A sub-Prime mortgage is a loan made for homes to borrowers who are not eligible for prime home loans because they either do not have sound credit history or have non at all. For example, people with low incomes, low bank transactions, history of defaults or unemployment, can use these mortgage loans to purchase homes. These loans are generally given out by lenders on higher interest rates, additional fees, penalties for early satisfaction of the loan and other additional costs such as adjustable interest rates (ARM). With such instruments where the borrowers do not have a credit history for the borrowers to base heir decisions on, there is a high risk of default. What was once known as the leader and a strong entity of the economy in 2007, the real estate business took a complete nosedive, which was not expected as the values of houses had not declined since World War 2 and were on a continuous rise after the great depression, and thus, lead to the liquidity crunch in the US market. The mortgage taken by investors had real estate as collateral which eventually lost all its value and hence defaults on payments occurred. The demand for houses increased also during 2001 because the federal government reduced the interest rates, it was the lowest in 2001. This allowed people to invest in more houses and people started buying vacation houses and second homes. The builders continued building more and more houses even after the demand for property started to decrease after a while. The property market became so overvalued that finally the market collapsed, resulting in a rapid decrease in the rates properties and property demands. (University of Iowa, 2008) Many Credit Rating agencies also played a major role in the event. The Mortgage backed securities which were in great demand in the early 2002, continued with the increasing demand and although

You choose the topic Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 6

You choose the topic - Essay Example Another issue that has caused problems is the different interpretations of body language. At times, Maria takes offense in prolonged eye contact and is sensitive to the distance maintained between us when communicating. The difference in stereotypes has affected our relationship. For instance, Maria feels like I hold her in low regard since she does not have strong English skills, an aspect that has affected her trust in me. Considering our relationship, the context component forms a basis for my analysis as it incorporates aspects of organization and culture, which involve the manner in which individuals from different cultures communicate and respond to both internal and external stimuli (Morreale, Spitzberg and Barge 38). In this case, the external stimulus’ source is casual communication, from where the cues of body language and effects of the accent differences affect the perception of the message. In addition, emotions and experiences are forms of internal stimuli that c ould cause different responses. The relationship allows proper integration of most of the factors that facilitate interpersonal communication. With reference to the cybernetics theory, the flow of information is limited with most of the information being barred from reaching either of us due to the inherent barriers (Mannan 60). In this case, the cultural aspects of the context component are not well negotiated in our relationship, with both of us failing to find a level ground that would accommodate each other’s cultural perspectives. On the other hand, the semiotics theory presents a clear analysis of the signs language and symbols applied as we communicate. As such, the differences in cultural backgrounds have provided for different applications of body language. This has in turn affected the way we interpret messages and culminate in the various instances

Jones Soda Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

Jones Soda - Essay Example These two companies are actually selling their brands and have already expanded globally through their manufacturing and expansion strategies. Compared with Jones Soda, Coke and Pepsi have gained remarkable market share in the worldwide market for beverages. What these two companies are trying to enhance as of the moment is in line with preventing customer erosion. In this regard, they always would want to emphasize the uniqueness of their taste and so consumers would always differentiate them from another product brands. Although Jones Soda is not that far from this strategy, but eventually its entire entry into the market together with its highly differentiated products are a bit experimental in their forms. In modern times, websites are the most convenient means to reach potential customers. In the case of Jones Soda, its website could actually serve substantial contribution to its operation. For instance, in its website consumers could freely address their concerns with Jones and its product offerings. Consumers for instance could actually suggest for product development, cross their voices over to Jones especially regarding matters about customer service, retailing and distribution, and many others. At the end of the day, the information gathered from the customers via Jones’ websites and if assessed, could pave the way for its competitive advantage in the future. Product differentiation strategy of Jones is something different from its industry. Jones Soda having at some point weird tastes for its soft drinks that some consumers appreciate is a remarkable advantage. The major benefit of this strategy is the opportunity for recognition of Jones Soda as another brand and key players in the soft drinks manufacturing industry. However, at some point, this differentiation may substantially lack focus especially in acceptability of the product in certain situations or occasions,

Literary Response #4 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Literary Response #4 - Essay Example As the poem develops the speaker’s emotional state takes on a more somber and forlorn tone. Millay writes, â€Å"but the rain/ Is full of ghosts tonight, that tap and sigh/ Upon the glass and listen for reply;/ And in my heart there stirs a quiet pain/ For unremembered lads that not again/ Will turn to me at midnight with a cry† (Millay, 3-8). In these lines Millay uses the image of the ghosts in the rain to symbolize the speaker’s past lovers. One can envision the speaker looking out at the rain and attempting to recollect these past individuals. Upon realizing that the speaker will never again share a moment of love and intimacy with these past lovers the speaker’s emotional state is punctuated by a quiet pain. The image of the rain as the ghosts of past lovers is highly effective as rain has an immediate visceral effect of creating the emotion of sadness and slight depression; when coupled with the image of past lovers that the speaker will never again be able to spend time with, it is not difficult for the viewer to not only understand, but also feel this somber emotional state. As the poem advances and ultimately concludes the speaker’s emotional state is explored in greater depth, with more complex images. Millay writes, â€Å"Thus in the winter stands a lonely tree,/ Nor knows what birds have vanished one by one,/ Yet know its boughs more silent than before:/ I cannot say what loves have come and gone;/ I only know that summer sang in me/ A little while, that in me sings no more† (Millay 9-14). In referring to the lonely tree, the speaker is actually referencing herself. The image of winter conveys both the passage of time, as well the coldness that accompanies the speaker’s loneliness. While previously the speaker’s emotional state was perceived as slightly somber, this image of winter is starkly dark and despondent. This despondency is advanced in the following image of birds that once frequented the tree

English-language films Essay Example for Free

English-language films Essay Comprehensive and Intrepretive questions 1.Transcendentalist means The quality or state of being transcendental. It means to when someone finds themself through nature and being in solitude. 2.One of the most used quotations in the night thoreau spent in jail is Retirement? What an absurd idea! Why spend the best part of your life earning money so that you can enjoy a questionable liberty during the least valuable part of it? Why work like a dog so you can pant for a moment or two before you die?. I chose this as my number one because of its great meaning. Why work during the prime of your life just so you can spend it doing nothing? This quotes meaning is very powerful to me. My second choice is Henry, if love is all around you, like huckleberries, why do you pick loneliness?. I choose this quote as my second because of its truism. This quote is correct, love is all around us. The emotional atmosphere this quote created for me was both a sense of awakening and dissapointment. My third choice out of the eight is You want to be a matchmaker, Lydian? Find me something innocent and natural and uncomplicated. A shrub-oak. A cloud. A leaf lost in the snow. I choose this as my fourth quote because it has a meaning relating to transcendentalism. When you transcend you are one with nature, and nature is simple and calm, unlike the heavily populated cities. My fifth pick is I dont know you, Mr. Congressman. I doubt if the people of Illinois will re-elect you, because you refused to go along. But I shall remember who you are, Congressman. This quotes shows the problems.

Analysis and Design of Software Architecture Essay Example for Free

Analysis and Design of Software Architecture Essay Outline 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Development Process Requirements Quality Attributes Runtime QA Non-runtime QA Requirements Analysis: Example Architectural Analysis Design Architectural Views Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 2 / 78 Development Process Methodology Diï ¬â‚¬erent software development processes have software architecture as a part of the process Rational uniï ¬ ed process Spiral development method Agile development method Evolutionary rapid development Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 3 / 78 Development Process Place of SA in SDP Figure: Source: Software Architecture Primer by Reekie, McAdam Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 4 / 78 Development Process Methodology After the initial requirements analysis but before software design The ï ¬ rst architecture is also a communication basis with the customer Inputs for the development of the architecture: 1 2 Requirements Context (technical, organizational, business, ) Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 5 / 78 Requirements Analysis At the beginning there is always a customer who wants a speciï ¬ c software system Customer â€Å"wishes† are always informal Interviews, some documents, some Excel tables, We need to analyze such informal records and structure it Requirements engineering is a huge ï ¬ eld but we just illustrate here one possibility Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 6 / 78 Requirements Analysis The results of the requirements analysis: 1 2 Functional requirements Non-functional requirements (a) Runtime qualities (b) Non-runtime qualities 3 Contextual requirements Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 7 / 78 Requirements Functional requirements A technical expression of what a system will do Arise from stakeholder needs Structured language: software requirements speciï ¬ cation Use cases: structured description of user interactions with the system Formal models: e. g. state-charts Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 8 / 78 Requirements Non-functional requirements Other needs than directly functional or business-related Generally expressed in the form of quality-attributes Runtime quality attributes Non-runtime quality attributes Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 9 / 78 Requirements Contextual requirements What technology is available? Expertise of the development team Previous experience of users/customers Technical, business, market, legal, ethical, Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 10 / 78 Quality Attributes Need to address QAs Without any need for performance, scalability, any implementation of functionality is acceptable However, we always need to take into account the broader context E.g. hardware, technological, organizational, business, The functionality must be there but without proper addressing of QA it is worth nothing Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 11 / 78 Quality Attributes Inï ¬â€šuence on QAs Typically, a single component can not address a QA completely Any QA is inï ¬â€šuenced by multiple components and their interactions E.g. a UI component has a high degree of usability: however, usability of the system is compromised if a data management component has poor performance in accessing the data → users need to wait long → poor usability Components and their interactions → software architecture QAs are directly inï ¬â€šuenced by software architecture Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 12 / 78 Runtime QA PURS PURS (performance, usability, reliability, security) Performance: time performance, memory, disk, or network utilization Usability: human factors, easy to learn, easy to use, Reliability: availability, safety, Security: authentication, data protection, Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 13 / 78 Runtime QA Performance Time performance is most obvious Measured in the number of operations per second Also, latency: the time from receiving an input and producing an output Other measures: memory, disk, network utilization or throughput Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 14 / 78 Runtime QA Performance Diï ¬â‚¬erent measures are typically traded oï ¬â‚¬ against each other E.g. increasing throughput may increase latency Time performance might be increased with more memory True performance of the system is not only deï ¬ ned by performance of single components But also by their interactions and the overall processes in the system Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 15 / 78 Runtime QA Performance factors Choice of algorithms Database design Communication Resource management Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 16 / 78 Runtime QA Choice of algorithms Performance of algorithms is measured by their complexity (big O) E.g. linear complexity: O(n) Running time increases in direct proportion to the size of the data E.g. polynomial complexity: O(n2 ) It does not scale: double size of the data running time increased by factor of 4 Goal: O(nlog (n)) Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 17 / 78 Runtime QA Database design Performance of database queries can dominate the overall performance The design of the tables has enormous impact on the overall performance Techniques to improve it: lazy evaluation, replication, caching Some additional cost to manage replication and/or caching In-memory databases (real-time systems) Developing a new database (search engines) Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 18 / 78 Runtime QA Communication Network overhead Package data according to a protocol, sending data over network Each layer means additional overhead Think how to use network: packaging binary data as XML!? Use more compact formats, e.g. JSON vs XML Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 19 / 78 Runtime QA Resources management Overloaded components need to be avoided A chain is only as strong as its weakest link! E.g. a single-threaded shared resource is in use: all other threads are blocked Very diï ¬Æ'cult to track down Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 20 / 78 Runtime QA Usability Usability is a very rich ï ¬ eld If usability is important you will need a usability expert Combination of many factors: responsiveness, graphical design, user expectations, conï ¬ dence Measuring with time taken to complete task, error rate, time to response, Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 21 / 78 Runtime QA Responsiveness and data availability An example of relations between QAs Usability requires that the system responds to user actions within a certain period of time If it is a complex system this need translates into performance along the path of the user action Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 22 / 78 Runtime QA Responsiveness and data availability Figure: Usability vs. Performance Source: Software Architecture Primer by Reekie, McAdam Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 23 / 78 Runtime QA Discussion on relations between QAs This diagram shows that we need to pay attention to tuning communication between B and Y Performance of the communication channel is a consequence of a usability requirement Do we need to support security of the communication channel? Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 24 / 78 Runtime QA Discussion on relations between QAs This diagram shows that we need to pay attention to tuning communication between B and Y Performance of the communication channel is a consequence of a usability requirement Do we need to support security of the communication channel? We support QAs always only as a response to user needs Never because it is needed anyway! Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 24 / 78 Runtime QA Discussion on relations between QAs If we support security even if it is not needed Very often QAs exercise opposing forces on the system Security requires a lot of checking: performance will suï ¬â‚¬er → usability will suï ¬â‚¬er A minimalistic approach: develop only what is required! Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 25 / 78 Runtime QA Reliability In traditional engineering disciplines reliability measures the failure rate of the system Failure rate speciï ¬ ed by mean time to failure MTTF A related measure: mean time between failures MTBF MTTR is mean time to repair A is availability Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 26 / 78 Runtime QA Reliability MTBF = MTTF + MTTR A= A= MTTF MTBF MTTF MTTF +MTTR E.g. expected availability of Web systems: Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 27 / 78 Runtime QA Reliability MTBF = MTTF + MTTR A= A= MTTF MTBF MTTF MTTF +MTTR E.g. expected availability of Web systems: 1 (always up-and-running) =⇒ MTTF → ∞ Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 27 / 78 Runtime QA Reliability Increasing reliability involves testing However, impossible to prove that a system is correct, i.e. without bugs Acceptability of errors depends on the  nature of a system Personal desktop use: bugs are typically tolerated Enterprise level: medium reliability level High-reliable systems: bugs can be fatal Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 28 / 78 Runtime QA Security Increasingly important aspect of systems is security Because systems are exposed to threats Especially networked systems As with other QAs security is a set of related responses to user needs Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 29 / 78 Runtime QA Authentication Requirement for identiï ¬ cation of users with a system Users present credentials so that the system can identify them Typically username and password Other forms: certiï ¬ cates, smart cards, biometric features Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 30 / 78 Runtime QA Authorization After authentication authorization which functions and what data is available for users This information is captured in an authorization model Access control lists (ACL) deï ¬ ne who can access and how a resource might be accessed E.g. read access, write access, delete access, Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 31 / 78 Runtime QA Authorization Drawbacks of ACLs It is resource based, e.g. a page in a CMS Often, authorization needs to address functions or tasks Also, managing of ACLs is diï ¬Æ'cult, e.g. subresources of resources Also, performance problems with checking Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 32 / 78 Runtime QA Authorization Another model: role-based access control (RBAC) Roles are used to manage many-to-many relations between users and permissions Roles are used to represent the job functions, e.g. author, teacher, student in an E-learning system Permissions are modeled as parts of roles, e.g. create page, create tests, Users are than assigned to a role and acquire automatically permissions of that role Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 33 / 78 Non-runtime QA MeTRiCS MeTRiCS (maintainability, evolvability, testability, reusability, integrability, conï ¬ gurability, scalability) Maintainability: how easy can you ï ¬ x bugs and add new features Evolvability: how easy your system copes with changes Testability: how easy can you test the system for correctness Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 34 / 78 Non-runtime QA MeTRiCS Reusability: how easy is to use software elements in other contexts, e.g. a software library Integrability: how easy you can make the separately developed components of the system work correctly together Conï ¬ gurability: how easy can a system be conï ¬ gured for diï ¬â‚¬erent installations and target groups Scalability: how easy the system copes with a higher performance demand Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 35 / 78 Non-runtime QA Maintainability This QA considers the whole lifecycle of a system What happens during system operation? Property that allows a system to be modiï ¬ ed after deployment wirh ease E.g. extensible, modiï ¬ ed behavior, ï ¬ xing errors Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 36 / 78 Non-runtime QA Maintainability At the design and implementation level Code comments Object-oriented principles and design rules Consistent programming styles Documentation Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 37 / 78 Non-runtime QA Maintainability Maintainability is very important because any software system will change over time Experience shows that such changes tend to degrade the system over time Software systems are subject to entropy The cumulative eï ¬â‚¬ect of changes degrades the quality of the system Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 38 / 78 Non-runtime QA Maintainability The systems tend to become messy systems Regardless of how a nice plan you had at beginning Design for change recollect OO design rules Abstract messy parts of the system so that they can be exchanged Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 39 / 78 Non-runtime QA Maintainability Don’t be afraid to refactor and rewrite and redesign Each software vendor does this with major versions Create throw-away prototypes Think out-of-box and innovate Don’t always follow a hype very often nothing new in hypes E.g. Web services Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 40 / 78 Non-runtime QA Testability Means to improve testability Test cases: if something fails there is a bug Separation of the testing framework and the system, i.e. testing with scripts from outside Logging Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 41 / 78 Non-runtime QA Conï ¬ gurability Ability of a system to vary its operational parameters without re-compiling or re-installing E.g. selecting appropriate database drivers, conï ¬ guring network parameters, Typically, realized by a set of conï ¬ guration ï ¬ les E.g. Apache Web server conï ¬ guration ï ¬ le sets host name, virtual hosts, Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 42 / 78 Non-runtime QA Conï ¬ gurability Conï ¬ gurability interacts with other QAs such as testability, maintainability, reliability High degree of conï ¬ gurability tends to have a negative impact on those QAs Testing of diï ¬â‚¬erent system conï ¬ guration becomes more diï ¬Æ'cult → reliability compromised Conï ¬ gurable components will be strongly parametrized → decreased maintainability Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 43 / 78 Non-runtime QA Scalability Ability of a system to increase its capacity without re-compiling or re-installing E.g. serving additional Web pages means only copying these Web pages into a Web server ï ¬ le system Sometimes increasing capacity means increasing hardware, e.g. Web server clusters Managing user session on the client side, means only providing additional code-on-demand from the server Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 44 / 78 Requirements Analysis: Example System description Web-based Network Analysis Tool: W-NAT A simple and usable system for network analysis is needed. Networks are entities that contain not only individuals but also their connections with other individuals (see e.g. 3 for an example). The system accepts a network representations as a list of pairs of connected nodes stored in a dataset ï ¬ le. Nodes are represented as integers. An edge between two nodes is stored as a line containing two nodes delimited by a tabulator. Users might upload datasets to the systems and store them for further analysis. Each user might upload multiple datasets and can execute various analysis on those datasets. The system keeps the track of the analysis history for each user. Users may calculate degree distributions, network diameter, clustering coeï ¬Æ'cient, connectivity measures, singular values, and diï ¬â‚¬erent centrality measures. Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 45 / 78 Requirements Analysis: Example System description Web-based Network Analysis Tool: W-NAT Users can execute various calculations on multiple datasets in parallel. The system must not be blocked if a calculation is currently under way. Rather it should be possible to start a new calculation, or view previous calculations, etc. In case of longer calculations the system needs to notify the user by e-mail when the calculation is over. The results of the calculations should be available in textual and in graphical form. All results can be also downloaded to a local computer. The system will be used by a group of students that learn the basics of network analysis. It is expect that at any times the system will be used by multiple users executing multiple calculations. Since the system is primarily an educational tool it needs to be didactically sound, i.e. simplicity and usability are very important. Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 46 / 78 Requirements Analysis: Example System description 6 How to search in a small world Pajek Figure 2: HP Labs’ email communication (light grey lines) mapped onto the organizational hierarchy of HP Labs constructed out the e-mail communication. Figure: Social network(black lines). Note that communication tends to â€Å"cling† to of formal organizational chart. From: How to search a social network, Adamic, 2005. with one another. The h-distance, used to navigate the network, is computed as follows: individuals have h-distance one to their manager and to everyone they share a manager with. Distances are then recursively assigned, so that each individual has h-distance 2 to their ï ¬ rst neighbor’s neighbors, and h-distance 3 to their second Denis Helic (KMI, TU neighbor’s neighbors, etc. SA Analysis and Design Graz) Oct 19, 2011 47 / 78 Requirements Analysis: Example System description Web-based Network Analysis Tool: W-NAT The system is a Web-based system and the users should be able to operate the system by using a standard Web browser. The users need not install any additional plugins to operate the system. User perceived performance of the system should be acceptable. In addition, standard Web usability concepts need to be followed. In particular, browser back button must be working at all times and it should be possible to bookmark pages at all times. Finally, standard Web design principles should be satisï ¬ ed, meaning that pages are valid (X)HTML pages in at least HTML Transitional. The system needs to support cross browser compatibility. Further, each page and each important application state needs to have a unique and human-readable URL. Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 48 / 78 Requirements Analysis: Example Functional requirements UR1: The system is a network analysis tool. The system can calculate the following measures. UR1.1: UR1.2: UR1.3: UR1.4: UR1.5: Out-degree distribution In-degree distribution Cumulative out-degree distribution Cumulative in-degree distribution Hop plot Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 49 / 78 Requirements Analysis: Example Functional requirements UR1: The system is a network analysis tool. The system can calculate the following measures. UR1.6: Clustering coeï ¬Æ'cient UR1.7: Distribution of weakly connected components UR1.8: Distribution of strongly connected components UR1.9: Left singular vector UR1.10: Right singular vector Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 50 / 78 Requirements Analysis: Example Functional requirements UR1: The system is a network analysis tool. The system can calculate the following measures. UR1.12: UR1.12: UR1.13: UR1.14: UR1.15: Network singular values Degree centrality Closeness centrality Betweenness centrality Eigenvector centrality Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 51 / 78 Requirements Analysis: Example Functional requirements UR2: Networks are stored in dataset ï ¬ les. UR3: The dataset ï ¬ le has the following format. NodeID1 \t NodeID2\n UR4: Users can upload multiple datasets to the system. UR5: To perform an analysis users select a dataset and then choose a measure to calculate. Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 52 / 78 Requirements Analysis: Example Functional requirements UR6: For each user and for each dataset the system manages a history of calculations. UR7: Users may initiate multiple calculations simultaneously. UR8: When a calculation is started the system is not blocked. UR9: The system notiï ¬ es users about a ï ¬ nished calculation by e-mail. Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 53 / 78 Requirements Analysis: Example Functional requirements UR6: For each user and for each dataset the system manages a history of calculations. UR7: Users may initiate multiple calculations simultaneously. UR8: When a calculation is started the system is not blocked. UR9: The system notiï ¬ es users about a ï ¬ nished calculation by e-mail. When is this notiï ¬ cation needed? If the user is logged out? Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 53 / 78 Requirements Analysis: Example Functional requirements UR10: The calculation results are presented in a textual as well as in a graphic form. Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 54 / 78 Requirements Analysis: Example Functional requirements UR10: The calculation results are presented in a textual as well as in a graphic form. Which form? Format? Graphics format? Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 54 / 78 Requirements Analysis: Example Functional requirements UR10: The calculation results are presented in a textual as well as in a graphic form. Which form? Format? Graphics format? UR11: Users can download the calculation results. Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 54 / 78 Requirements Analysis: Example Functional requirements UR10: The calculation results are presented in a textual as well as in a graphic form. Which form? Format? Graphics format? UR11: Users can download the calculation results. Single results? All results? Archived, how archived? Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 54 / 78 Requirements Analysis: Example Functional requirements UR10: The calculation results are presented in a textual as well as in a graphic form. Which form? Format? Graphics format? UR11: Users can download the calculation results. Single results? All results? Archived, how archived? UR12: Users can register with the system. Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 54 / 78 Requirements Analysis: Example Functional requirements UR10: The calculation results are presented in a textual as well as in a graphic form. Which form? Format? Graphics format? UR11: Users can download the calculation results. Single results? All results? Archived, how archived? UR12: Users can register with the system. How register? E-mail? Captcha? Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 54 / 78 Requirements Analysis: Example Functional requirements UR10: The calculation results are presented in a textual as well as in a graphic form. Which form? Format? Graphics format? UR11: Users can download the calculation results. Single results? All results? Archived, how archived? UR12: Users can register with the system. How register? E-mail? Captcha? UR13: Users can login and log out. Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 54 / 78 Requirements Analysis: Example Non-functional requirements UR1: The system is simple, usable and didactically sound. Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 55 / 78 Requirements Analysis: Example Non-functional requirements UR1: The system is simple, usable and didactically sound. Usability Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 55 / 78 Requirements Analysis: Example Non-functional requirements UR1: The system is simple, usable and didactically sound. Usability UR2: The system needs to support multiple users simultaneously. Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 55 / 78 Requirements Analysis: Example Non-functional requirements UR1: The system is simple, usable and didactically sound. Usability UR2: The system needs to support multiple users simultaneously. Performance Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 55 / 78 Requirements Analysis: Example Non-functional requirements UR1: The system is simple, usable and didactically sound. Usability UR2: The system needs to support multiple users simultaneously. Performance How many users? Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 55 / 78 Requirements Analysis: Example Non-functional requirements UR1: The system is simple, usable and didactically sound. Usability UR2: The system needs to support multiple users simultaneously. Performance How many users? UR3: Authentication should be supported. Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 55 / 78 Requirements Analysis: Example Non-functional requirements UR1: The system is simple, usable and didactically sound. Usability UR2: The system needs to support multiple users simultaneously. Performance How many users? UR3: Authentication should be supported. Security Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 55 / 78 Requirements Analysis: Example Non-functional requirements UR1: The system is simple, usable and didactically sound. Usability UR2: The system needs to support multiple users simultaneously. Performance How many users? UR3: Authentication should be supported. Security UR4: User-perceived performance must be acceptable Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 55 / 78 Requirements Analysis: Example Non-functional requirements UR1: The system is simple, usable and didactically sound. Usability UR2: The system needs to support multiple users simultaneously. Performance How many users? UR3: Authentication should be supported. Security UR4: User-perceived performance must be acceptable Performance and Usability Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 55 / 78 Requirements Analysis: Example Non-functional requirements UR1: The system is simple, usable and didactically sound. Usability UR2: The system needs to support multiple users simultaneously. Performance How many users? UR3: Authentication should be supported. Security UR4: User-perceived performance must be acceptable Performance and Usability How many seconds at max users can wait? Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 55 / 78 Requirements Analysis: Example Non-functional requirements UR1: The system is simple, usable and didactically sound. Usability UR2: The system needs to support multiple users simultaneously. Performance How many users? UR3: Authentication should be supported. Security UR4: User-perceived performance must be acceptable Performance and Usability How many seconds at max users can wait? UR5: Web-based system should be available at all times. Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 55 / 78 Requirements Analysis: Example Non-functional requirements UR1: The system is simple, usable and didactically sound. Usability UR2: The system needs to support multiple users simultaneously. Performance How many users? UR3: Authentication should be supported. Security UR4: User-perceived performance must be acceptable Performance and Usability How many seconds at max users can wait? UR5: Web-based system should be available at all times. Reliability Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 55 / 78 Requirements Analysis: Example Non-functional requirements UR6: Human-readable URLs. Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 56 / 78 Requirements Analysis: Example Non-functional requirements UR6: Human-readable URLs. Evolvability, reusability, maintainability, testability, integrability Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 56 / 78 Requirements Analysis: Example Non-functional requirements UR6: Human-readable URLs. Evolvability, reusability, maintainability, testability, integrability UR7: Extending the system with new metrics. Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 56 / 78 Requirements Analysis: Example Non-functional requirements UR6: Human-readable URLs. Evolvability, reusability, maintainability, testability, integrability UR7: Extending the system with new metrics. Evolvability, reusability, maintainability, testability, integrability, conï ¬ gurability Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 56 / 78 Requirements Analysis: Example Non-functional requirements UR6: Human-readable URLs. Evolvability, reusability, maintainability, testability, integrability UR7: Extending the system with new metrics. Evolvability, reusability, maintainability, testability, integrability, conï ¬ gurability UR8: Reliability of a Web-based system. Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 56 / 78 Requirements Analysis: Example Non-functional requirements UR6: Human-readable URLs. Evolvability, reusability, maintainability, testability, integrability UR7: Extending the system with new metrics. Evolvability, reusability, maintainability, testability, integrability, conï ¬ gurability UR8: Reliability of a Web-based system. Testability Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 56 / 78 Requirements Analysis: Example Non-functional requirements UR6: Human-readable URLs. Evolvability, reusability, maintainability, testability, integrability UR7: Extending the system with new metrics. Evolvability, reusability, maintainability, testability, integrability, conï ¬ gurability UR8: Reliability of a Web-based system. Testability UR9: Multiple users. Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 56 / 78 Requirements Analysis: Example Non-functional requirements UR6: Human-readable URLs. Evolvability, reusability, maintainability, testability, integrability UR7: Extending the system with new metrics. Evolvability, reusability, maintainability, testability, integrability, conï ¬ gurability UR8: Reliability of a Web-based system. Testability UR9: Multiple users. Scalability Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 56 / 78 Requirements Analysis: Example Contextual requirements UR1: Web browser. UR2: Valid (X)HTML, at least (X)HTML Transitional. UR3: No browser plugins are allowed. Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 57 / 78 Architectural Analysis Design Analysis We analyze the requirements and try to identify so-called key concepts Understanding of the domain Static part of the domain We also try to identify key process and activities Dynamic part of the domain Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 58 / 78 Architectural Analysis Design Design Design is the process of creating models (recollect the deï ¬ nition of SA) Two basic types of architectural models Structure and behavior Architectural structure is a static model of a system (i.e. how the system is divided into components) Architectural behavior is a dynamic model of a system (i.e. how the components interact with each other to perform some useful work) Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 59 / 78 Architectural Analysis Design Architectural structure The division of a system into components and connectors To represent the model: box-and-lines diagrams (to see at a glance important concepts) It is important to remember that diagrams are only representations of the model Diagrams must always be accompanied by additional material such as text, data models, mathematical models, etc. The combination of diagrams and additional material is an architectural model Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 60 / 78 Architectural Analysis Design Architectural structure What is a component? What is a connector? Components might be subsystems, separate processes, source code packages, Connectors might be network protocols, method invocations, associations, The combination of diagrams and additional material is an architectural model Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 61 / 78 Architectural Analysis Design Architectural structure Figure: Example of an architectural structure Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 62 / 78 Architectural Analysis Design Architectural structure In the diagram we have one user-interface and one database component But what is the criteria for deciding what is a component? Separate program modules? Separate threads or processes? Conceptual or functional division? And what about connectors? Network protocols? Callbacks? Request/response cycles? Method invocations? Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 63 / 78 Architectural Analysis Design Architectural structure What is the level of granularity of a diagram? E.g. for a Web-based system, components are servers and browsers and connector is HTTP But, components of a server are HTTP parser, ï ¬ le I/O, cache, plug-ins, Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 64 / 78 Architectural Analysis Design Architectural structure Comparison with OO: a component is an object and a connector is a message sent between two objects Because models in OO are very well deï ¬ ned Therefore, we need additional information that accompanies diagrams To describe criteria for decomposition and provide explanations on granularity Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 65 / 78 Architectural Analysis Design Architectural behavior Complementing structure is architectural behavior Interaction of system elements to perform some useful work Functionality vs. behavior Functionality is what the system can do and behavior is the activity sequence Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 66 / 78 Architectural Analysis Design Architectural behavior Example: Accessing a tweets document Request is sent to the Web presentation layer That layer forwards the request to the application logic, e.g. TweetDeck TweetDeck contacts TweetViews to obtain a particular template, then retrieves the data from TweetDB wraps it into an HTML response and sends the response to TweetUI Functionality allows me to display a tweets document, behavior is the sequence of activities that makes it happen Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 67 / 78 Architectural Analysis Design Architectural behavior Each component has a set of responsibilities Behavior is the way how these responsibilities are exercised to respond to some event An event may be an action of the user or an event from an external system A particular behavior is an event plus a response in the form of a sequence of component responsibilities Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 68 / 78 Architectural Analysis Design Architectural behavior To represent behavioral models we use use-case map notation by Buhr A use-case map consists of a trace drawn through a structural diagram of the system The path of the trace through a structural diagram shows the sequence of activities Each crossing of a component by the trace indicates exercising of a responsibility Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 69 / 78 Architectural Analysis Design Architectural behavior Figure: Types of traces in use-case maps Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 70 / 78 Architectural Analysis Design Architectural behavior (a) Single trace all responsibilities exercised sequentially (b) Two traces are consecutive: Equivalent to single trace but shows that continuation is triggered by another event (c) And-Fork: The traces after the line are potentially concurrent (run in parallel) Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 71 / 78 Architectural Analysis Design Architectural behavior Figure: Types of traces in use-case maps Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 72 / 78 Architectural Analysis Design Architectural behavior (a) N-Way And-Fork: the trace after the fork may be replicated an arbitrary number of times (b) Or-Fork: The trace is split and activity proceeds along one or another path (c) Seq-Fork: The traces after the line are followed in the order indicated by the arrow Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 73 / 78 Architectural Analysis Design Architectural behavior Figure: Example of architectural behavior Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 74 / 78 Architectural Views Architectural views We can examine a system from diï ¬â‚¬erent points of view Diï ¬â‚¬erent kinds of views Conceptual: components are set of responsibilities and connectors are ï ¬â€šow of information Execution: components are execution units (processes) and connectors are messages between processes Implementation: components are libraries, source code, ï ¬ les, etc and connectors are protocols, api calls, etc. Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 75 / 78 Architectural Views Architectural views There are other models as well We will mention them but we will investigate only previous three models Data model describes the data Physical model describes servers, ï ¬ rewalls, workstations, Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 76 / 78 Architectural Views Architectural views Each view provides diï ¬â‚¬erent information about the structure of the system Each view addresses a speciï ¬ c set of concerns All views taken together is the primary means of documenting software architecture Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 77 / 78 Architectural Views Architectural views The conceptual architecture considers the structure of the system in terms of its domain-level functionality The execution architecture considers the system in terms of its runtime structure The implementation architecture considers the system in terms of its build-time structure Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 78 / 78

Childrens Problems Begin At Home And End At Home Education Essay

Childrens Problems Begin At Home And End At Home Education Essay Parenting is fundamental to the survival and success of the human race. Everyone who has ever lived has had parents, and most adults in the world become parents. Opinions about parenting abound, but surprisingly little solid scientific information or considered reflection exists about parenting. Parenting is a job whose primary object of attention and action is the child. Children do not and cannot grow up as solitary individuals but parenting is also a status in the life course with consequences for parents themselves (Femmie Juffer, 2007)5. Children begin by loving their parents; as they grow older they judge them; sometimes they forgive them. Oscar Wilde (English humorist) Since Mary Ainsworth and John Bowlby discovered that children use their parents as a secure base to fulfill their attachment and exploration needs, an impressive body of empirical research has been devoted to the search for the origins and consequences of (in)secure child-parent attachment relationships. Secure attachment relationships have been associated with better social competence and with more optimal parent and peer relationships than insecure attachments. The concept of secure attachment relationships and the related concept of parental sensitivity appear to be highly significant for the clinical field, including the development and evaluation of attachment-based interventions for at-risk and clinical families. The most important part of parenting is love and putting in time and energy to support children. Although love is the most important requirement, it is not enough. Unless parents understand their childrens unique needs, they are unable to give their children what children today need. Parents may be giving love, but not in ways that are most helpful to their childs development. Without an understanding of their childrens needs, parents cannot effectively support their children. On the other hand, some parents are willing to spend more time with their children, but dont because they dont know what to do or their children reject their efforts. So many parents try to talk with their kids, but their kids just close up and say nothing. These parents are willing, but dont know how to get their kids to talk. Some parents dont want to yell at, hit, or punish their children, but they just dont know another way. Since talking with their children has not worked, punishment or the threat of punishment is the only way they know. To give up old ways of parenting, new ways must be employed. The world is experiencing a crisis in parenting. Every day, there are increasing reports of child and teen violence, low self-esteem, Attention Deficit Disorder, drug use, teen pregnancy, and suicide. Almost all parents today are questioning both the new and old ways of parenting. Nothing seems to be working, and our childrens problems continue to increase. Some parents believe that these problems come from being too permissive and giving children too much, while others contend that outdated practices of parenting, like spanking and yelling, are responsible. Others believe that these new problems are caused by negative changes in society. Too much TV, advertising, or too much violence and sex on TV and in movies are pegged by many as the culprits. Certainly society and how it influences our children are part of the problem, and some helpful solutions can be legislated by the government, but the biggest part of the problem starts at home. Our childrens problems begin in the home and can be solved at home. Besides looking to change society, parents must also realize that they hold the power to raise strong, confident, cooperative, and compassionate children. To cope with the changes in society, parents need to change their parenting approach. During the past two hundred years, society has made an historic and dramatic change towards greater individual freedom and rights. Even though our modern Western society is now organized by the principles of freedom and human rights, parents still use parenting skills from the Dark Ages. Parents need to update their parenting skills to raise healthy and cooperative children and teens. Businesses know that if they are to stay competitive in the free market, they need to keep changing and updating. Likewise, if parents want their children to be able to compete in the free world, they must prepare their children with the most effective and modern approaches to parenting (John Gray, 2007)11. Several social trends are now challenging parent-child relationships. Single parent families may be the most at risk. Although, there always have been single parents in the United States, the causes of solitary parenting have changed. Single parents of previous generations were primarily widows and widowers. Parents are now more likely to be single because of divorce or never being married. Single parents in todays society may be more isolated and perhaps more disillusioned than the single parents of the past. The final report of the National Commission on Children, about 25 percent (more than sixteen million) children lived with only one parent in 1989, twice as many as in 1970. Parental employment places a great strain on parent-child relationships. Parents may have to depend on other caregivers, for example, to set limits and provide guidance during their childrens formative years. Between 1970 and 1990, the proportion of mothers with children under age six who were working or looking for work outside their homes rose from 32 percent to 58 percent. Today, approximately 10.9 million children under six have mothers in the paid labor force (National Commission on Children, 1991) 74. Three aspects of parenting have been highlighted as central to childrens early language and learning: (1) the frequency of childrens participation in routine learning activities (e.g., shared book reading, storytelling); (2) the quality of caregiver-child engagements (e.g., parents cognitive stimulation and sensitivity/responsiveness); and (3) the provision of age-appropriate learning materials (e.g., books and toys). Early and consistent participation in routine learning activities, such as shared book reading, storytelling, and teaching about the letters of the alphabet, provide children with a critical foundation for early learning, language growth and emergent literacy. A plethora of studies also indicate that the quality of parent-caregiver interactions play a formative role in childrens early language and learning (Tamis-LeMonda, 2009)52. In the past, psychologists studying the development of children focused almost exclusively on childrens relationships with their mothers. Today, they have come to agree that fathers play a unique and crucial role in nurturing and guiding childrens development. Many experts now believe that fathers can be just as nurturing and sensitive with their babies as mothers. As their children grow, fathers take on added roles of guiding their childrens intellectual and social development. Even when a father is just playing with his children, he is nurturing their development (Ross Parke, 2006)25. NEED FOR THE STUDY The National Commission on Childrens national survey titled Speaking of Kids (1991) reports that a majority of American adults, regardless of age, race, marital, or parental status believe that it is harder to be a parent today than it used to be (88 percent) and that parents today often are uncertain about what is the right thing to do in raising their children (86 percent). Compared to ten years ago, respondents believed children today are worse off with respect to their moral and religious training (53 percent) and the supervision and discipline they receive from their parents (56 percent). Children themselves wished that their parents were more diligent in setting and enforcing rules. Thirty-nine percent of children 10-17 said they sometimes wished their parents were stricter or kept a closer watch over them and their lives. Another 8 percent said they wish this a lot. Only about 1 percent said they never wanted their parents to be stricter or more attentive. Because of the rapid pace of change in our society and an increasing awareness of and respect for cultural and values diversity, parents will continue to be challenged to expand on traditional styles of childrearing. The well-being of our nations children is clearly at risk. According to the National Commission on Children (1991), one in four adolescents engage in social behaviors that can lead to serious longterm difficulty; many more are vulnerable for future problems (National Commission on Children, 1991)72. Most parents do their best to provide a loving and nurturing atmosphere for their children. Poor parenting includes the following behaviors: Abuse An environment where there is a lot of arguing and conflict Ignoring the child Some parents are overwhelmed by their own personal situations and are unable to look after their childrens needs appropriately. The children who were ignored or who lived in high-stress households had trouble expressing themselves verbally. They also had trouble with social skills. Sharing toys was difficult for them, and they had trouble playing. The British study concluded that the disadvantaged children actually started preschool with underdeveloped brains. The children who were having trouble with their social skills could be helped if they received intensive help from their teachers. Unfortunately, teachers are busy caring for the entire class and have trouble finding the time to give the children who are behind the level of attention they need (JC Redmond, 2009)66. A study by UNICEF of 21 industrialized countries, An Overview of Child Wellbeing in Rich Countries (2007), came to the remarkable conclusion that there is no strong relationship between per capita GDP and child wellbeing. A government-funded review in Britain of research spanning 25 years found that the incidence of many mental health problems in children had doubled since the 1970s. Today, one in ten British children thats more than a million suffers from a clinically recognizable disorder, such as depression, anxiety, anorexia or severe anti-social behaviour (Tom McGurk, 2009)71. Studies have shown that children who go through their parents divorce have more conduct problems, symptoms of psychological maladjustment, lower academic achievement, Social difficulties and problematic relationships with both parents. In United States of America, reported statistics tells that Children from fatherless homes are: 5 times more likely to commit suicide 32 times more likely to run away from home. 20 times more likely to have behavioral disorders 14 times more likely to commit rape. 9 times more likely to drop out of high school. 10 times more likely to abuse chemical substances (become drug addicts) 9 times more likely to end up in a state-operated institution 20 times more likely to end up in prison. 3 million teenage girls have sexually transmitted diseases At least 1 out of 4 teenagers (between 14years to 19years) suffer from sexually transmitted diseases (CRISP, 2009)73. Some of the harsh realities faced by children in India are presented below: Less than half of Indias children between the age 6 and 14 only go to school. 95 in every 1000 children born in India do not see their fifth birthday. Amongst married women in India today, 75% were under age at the time of their marriages. 58% of Indias children below the age of 2 years are not fully vaccinated. And 24% of these children do not receive any form of vaccination. More that 50% of Indias children are malnourished. More than 50 per cent of girls fail to enroll in school; those who do are likely to drop out by the age of 12. CHILD LABOR 19% of children are employed for domestic help. 25% of the victims of commercial sexual exploitation in India are below 18 years of age. Large numbers of children work simply because there is no alternative since, they do not have access to good quality schools. Poor and bonded families often sell their children to contractors who promise lucrative jobs in the cities and the children end up being employed in brothels, hotels and domestic work. Many run away and find a life on the streets (Sharanam Centre, 2007)75. Everyone knows good parenting is good for the health of children, but studies show that good parenting also results in children who grow up to be healthier adults. Research indicates that adults who had stressful relationships with their parents in childhood are more likely to suffer from disease in midlife. Since parents are usually the most meaningful source of social support for much of early life, the perception of parental caring, and parental loving itself, may have important regulatory and predictive effects on biological and psychological health and illness (Claudia M. Lenart, 2009)55. Joint custody and shared parenting (i.e., joint physical and legal custody) have been studied for more than a quarter-century, with the majority of studies indicating significant benefits for children. When parents cooperate and minimize conflict, children do better with shared parenting/joint physical custody. Parenting Can Override Effect of Genes in How Babies Respond to Stress, the study found both genes and parenting were important to the development of how infants brain which helps to regulate cardiac responses to stress. The findings suggest that although genes play a role in the development of physiological responses to stress, environmental experiences such as mothers sensitive care-giving behavior can have a strong influence, enough to change the effect that genes have on physiology very early in life (W. Roger Mills-Koonce, 2008)68. It has been known for a long time that living in poverty damages childrens intellectual abilities. Good Parenting Raises Kids Mental Skills. Study Shows Better Parenting Skills Sharpen Minds of Kids in Poverty (Martin Downs, 2008)62. Babies need predictability and security, which they get when their mother and father respond consistently, promptly, and appropriately to their cries, smiles and other signals. As a baby develops a relationship with his or her mother and father, he comes to prefer them to other adults, in a process known as attachment. Psychologists agree that babies with secure attachments to their parents have better chances to develop into happy, successful, and well-adjusted children and adults. The investigator had personal experience about the effects of parenting both its ill effects and good effects. Investigator being specializing in the field community health nursing felt the need and was motivated to conduct the study on knowledge regarding the parenting roles among the couples of urban and rural community and teach them about parenting roles with the help of multimedia package. STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM A comparative study to assess the effectiveness of multimedia package on knowledge regarding parenting roles among the couples of selected urban and rural community. OBJECTIVES To assess the existing level of knowledge regarding parenting roles among couples of the urban and rural community. To assess the effectiveness of multimedia package on knowledge regarding parenting roles among couples of the urban and rural community. To compare the pretest and posttest level of knowledge regarding parenting roles between the couples of urban and rural community. To compare the pretest and posttest level of knowledge regarding parenting roles between the male and female parent of urban and rural community. To compare the pretest and posttest level of knowledge regarding parenting roles between the male parent of the urban and rural community. To compare the pretest and posttest level of knowledge regarding parenting roles between the female parent of the urban and rural community. To associate the mean improvement of knowledge score on parenting roles with the selected demographic variables. OPERATIONAL DEFINITIONS Effectiveness Refers to the outcome of the multimedia package regarding parenting roles among couples of urban and rural community, which will be evaluated by the structured knowledge questionnaire prepared by the investigator. Multimedia Package Refers to logically designed informations with the use of modern media to discuss and teach regarding parenting roles. This package consists of teaching material in the form of visual literacy and videos in a sequence which explains the parents role in general parenting, developmental milestones, cognitive development, moral development and learning disabilities. Parenting It refers to the performance of various roles and activities of raising a child rather than the biological relationship by the parents. Parenting Roles It refers to the role of the parents in raising the child. Roles included in this study are about General Parenting which includes meaning and concepts of Responding, Preventing, Monitoring, Mentoring and Modeling; Developmental Milestones which includes meaning, identification of age specific tasks of the children, ways to help the child to attain milestones; Cognitive Development which includes meaning, stages of cognitive development and ways to improve the cognitive development; Moral Development which includes meaning, stages of moral development and ways to improve the moral development of the child and Learning Disabilities which includes meaning, causes, early warning signs and ways to take care of child with such problem. Knowledge Refers to the ability of couples to understand and answer the question on parenting roles as elicited by structured knowledge questionnaire. Couples Husband and wife of selected urban and rural community with 1-6 yrs of married life having children. ASSUMPTIONS Couples may have some knowledge regarding parenting roles. Adequate knowledge on parenting roles may help the couples to provide effective parenting. Adequate knowledge regarding parenting roles may prevent many childhood problems. NULL HYPOTHESES NH1: There is no significant difference between pre and post test level of knowledge regarding parenting roles among the urban and rural couples at the level of p NH2: There is no significant difference between pre and post test level of knowledge regarding parenting roles between the urban and rural couples at the level of p NH3: There is no significant difference between pre and post test level of knowledge regarding parenting roles between the male and female parent of urban and rural community at the level of p NH4: There is no significant difference between pre and post test level of knowledge regarding parenting roles between the urban male parent and rural male parent at the level of p NH5: There is no significant difference between pre and post test level of knowledge regarding parenting roles between the urban female parent and rural female parent at the level of p NH6: There is no significant association between the mean improvement knowledge score on parenting roles and selected demographic variables of the urban and rural couples at the level of p DELIMITATIONS The study is delimited to a period of four week. The study is delimited to the couples living under the same roof. CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK A conceptual framework or model is made up of concepts that are mental image of a phenomenon. These concepts are linked together to express their relationship between them. The conceptual framework is based on TRANSTHEORETICAL MODEL/ SOCIAL CHANGE MODEL (JAMES.O.PROCHASKA). This framework consists of the following elements. PRECONTEMPLATION: The theory says that the Individual has the problem (whether he/she recognizes it or not) and has no intention of changing and goes through the process of Consciousness raising (information and knowledge), Dramatic relief (role playing) and Environmental reevaluation (how problem affects physical environment). In this study the researcher perceives the importance of the problem and prepares the multimedia package with extensive review of literature and experts opinion to improve the knowledge of couples in selected urban and rural community regarding the parenting roles on general parenting, childs cognitive development, developmental milestones, moral development and learning disabilities. CONTEMPLATION: This stage involves the Individuals recognition of the problem and he/she is seriously thinking about changing and goes through the process of Self-reevaluation (assessing ones feelings regarding behavior). In this study the researcher approaches the couples of selected urban and rural community and obtains their consent to participate in the study after providing adequate information regarding the need for the study and benefits thereby makes the couples to become aware of the problem. PREPARATION: In this stage the individual recognizes the problem and intends to change the behavior through the process of Self-liberation (commitment or belief in ability to change). In this study the researcher conducts the pre test assessment of knowledge regarding parenting roles among the couples of selected urban and rural community with the help of the structured questionnaire. The structured interview schedule consists of demographic variables like age, gender, educational status, occupation, family income per month, religion, type of family, no of years of married life, no of living children, age of the child, place of living, mode of getting information about parenting and structured questionnaire containing questions regarding parenting roles on general parenting, childs cognitive development, moral development, developmental milestones and learning disabilities. The researcher prepares the couples for gaining the knowledge regarding parenting roles. ACTION: In this stage the Individual has enacted consistent behavior change through the process of Reinforcement management, Helping relationships, Counterconditioning and Stimulus control. In this study the researcher by providing the multimedia package which consists of lecture in the form of pictorial and video shows regarding parenting roles on general parenting, childs cognitive development, moral development, developmental milestones and learning disabilities provides a helping relationship to gain adequate knowledge to provide good parenting to their children. MAINTENANCE: In this stage individual maintains new behavior. In this study the researcher conducts the post test assessment of knowledge after one week from the day of intervention using the same structured questionnaire which was used for pre test to know the improvement in the knowledge. If couples had adequate knowledge reinforcement was given by providing booklet as maintenance of knowledge and couples with inadequate knowledge reassessment was done. OUTLINE OF THE REPORT Chapter I : Dealt with the background of the study, need for the study, statement of the problem, objectives, operational definitions, null hypotheses, assumptions, delimitations and conceptual framework. Chapter II : Deals with the review of related literature. Chapter III : Presents the methodology of study and plan for data analysis. Chapter IV : Focuses on data analysis and interpretation. Chapter V : Enumerates the discussion of study. Chapter VI : Gives the summary, conclusion, implications, recommendations and limitations. The report ends with selected Bibliography and Appendices.

Stepladder of Evolution in Picasso’s Acrobat’s Family with a Monkey Ess

Stepladder of Evolution in Picasso’s Acrobat’s Family with a Monkey In Picasso’s "Acrobat’s Family with a Monkey", the stepladder like orientation of characters demonstrates an evolutionary procession. At the top of the ladder sits the father, a high and mighty figure, like that of King Arthur. He towers above his family as if a king on a throne, looking down upon his royal subjects. He is the sole ruler and therefore must set himself apart from them. This is reflected in the position of his arms, which he keeps close to his body, like the independent child who refuses to hold his mother's hand when crossing the street. Even his manner of dress holds a stately aura. The yellow hat upon his head is golden and pointy similar to that of a royal crown worn by the great rulers of the past. The fringes on his costume surround his neck like the golden mane of a fearsome lion, king of the jungle. The leotard, itself, is an almost fleshy tone like soft peaches in the summer. It reminds one of an acrobat in costume during his death-defying tightrope act, high above the audience. His shoes, however, are thin and black like a bat in the night, contrasting sharply with the rest of the colors of the painting. It were as if they are demanding the well-deserved attention they have earned in all the effort it had taken them to get to the top. Yet, he looks down at the child with great hope, as would a king to his newborn successor, who would follow in his footsteps, performing great deeds to society and loved by all his people. It is also a look of unconditional love that cannot dissipate even if the child were to accidentally burn their house down or fall on top of him, breaking a few ribs in the process. On the next step is the mot... ...tates. At the bottom of the rung, rests the monkey who is lower than all of the other characters in the painting both socially and evolutionarily. He is like the serfs on a feudal manner who are expected to do the bidding of their master and unable to leave. The monkey’s lack of clothing and ignorance thereof also contributes to his subordination, thereby making him less powerful than humans. The lack of clothing is similar to the condition of Adam and Eve before they ate the apple. Their eating the apple allowed them to realize their nakedness, thus elevating them to an unignorant state. His contentment towards this disposition further exemplifies the blissful nature of his ignorance. Picasso’s spatial positioning deliberately portrays the position of each member of society and their respective roles in the hierarchy of social order and evolutionary theory.

The Behavior Of Emerging Market Returns :: essays research papers

Currency devaluations, failed economic plans, regulatory changes, coups and other national financial "shocks" are notoriously difficult to predict and may have disasterous consequences for global portfolios. Indeed, these characteristics often define the difference in investment in the capital markets of developed and emerging economies. Research on emerging markets has suggested three market features: high average returns, high volatility and low correlations both across the emerging markets and with developed markets. Indeed, the lesson of volatility was learned the hard way by many investors in December 1994 when the Mexican stock market began a fall that would reduce equity value in U.S. dollars by 80% over the next three months. But, we have learned far more about these fledgling markets. First, we need to be careful in interpreting the average performance of these markets. Harvey (1995) points out that the International Finance Corporation (IFC) backfilled some of the index data resulting in a survivorship bias in the average returns. Second, the countries that are currently chosen by the IFC are the ones that have a proven track record. This selection of winners induces another type of selection bias. Third, Goetzmann and Jorion (1996) detail a re-emerging market bias. Some markets, like Argentina, have a long history beginning in the last half of the 19th century. At one point in the 1920's, Argentina's market capitalization exceeded that of the U.K. However, this market submerged. To sample returns from 1976 (as the IFC does), only measures the "re-emergence" period. A longer horizon mean, in this case, would be lower than the one calculated from 1976. This insight is consistent with the out-of -sample portfolio simulations carried out by Harvey (1993) indicating that the performance of the dynamic strategy was affect by the initial five years. Fourth, exposure as measured by the IFC is not necessarily attainable for world investor's [see Bekart and Urias (1996)]. Second, we have learned that the emerging market returns are more predictable than developed market returns. Harvey (1995) details much higher explanatory power for emerging equity markets than developed market returns. The sources of this predictability could be time-varying risk exposures and/or time-varying risk premiums, such as in Ferson and Harvey's (1991, 1993) study of U.S. and international markets. The predictability could also be induced by fundamental inefficiencies. In many countries, the predictability is of a remarkably simple form: autocorrelation. For example, Harvey (1995) details 0.25 autocorrelation coefficient for Mexico in a sample that ends in June 1992.

Marketing Chester Zoo to 16-to-24-year-olds Essay -- Business and Mana

Marketing Chester Zoo to 16-to-24-year-olds At the moment, Chester Zoo is the leading zoo in the country. It is a non-profit organisation and its mission is to support and promote conservation by breeding threatened animals, providing excellent animal welfare, high quality public service, recreation, education and science. Currently, their main source of income is from the admissions (see appendix 2B) Currently, the zoo is facing a marketing problem: The 16-24 year old age group is not visiting the zoo as much as expected to. (See appendix 7B) My task is to analyse the situation and come up with a solution. I shall do this by looking at the marketing strategy of Chester Zoo. Marketing is a continuous process of learning about and understanding a business’ customers and competitors, anticipating their customer needs, providing a suitable product at the right place, with the right price and the right promotion to attract customers. A marketing strategy is a plan that is evaluated carefully, for the future marketing of a business. It takes into account the company’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats, together with the 4P’s (Price, Product, Place and Promotion), with these two areas in mind, a suitable plan is thought out. In this case, Chester Zoo will be looking to improve their marketing strategy to attract and keep more 16-24 year olds. My main research methods will be by: -Going to the zoo and interviewing the staff there. This is for me to judge the level of their service without any bias from other sources. -Consulting a range of sources, which have both primary and secondary evidence, including articles of quality from different media. This will help me see any trends over the years, and hopefully, their weaknesses and strengths. -I will also conduct a survey in form of a questionnaire aimed at 16-24 year olds. This will be to get a better perspective of the situation, to understand the reason behind the low visiting rate by this age group, anticipate their needs, and hopefully as an eye-opener to the solution. -Reading through various news report (related to Chester Zoo) -Reading about / visiting some of Chester Zoo’s key competitors to understand / see how they attract their customers of this age group. -Consulting some relevant business textbooks to further understand and improve my knowledge, especially about m... ...rket was students, so a ‘Student Card’ could be used. But what about the non-students? Some people may feel like their privacy is being intruded upon if they have to prove their age before gaining entrance into a zoo; as a result, they may choose to go elsewhere, and Chester Zoo would lose out. Some forms of identification could be false/ forged without the knowledge of Chester Zoo, and unfair entrance gained. There’s also a potential risk of losing customers from the other sectors, especially if they feel that the zoo has â€Å"changed†- they may lose the familiarity they already have. If Chester Zoo decides to carry out this scheme temporarily, when they revert to their â€Å"usual† fees, there is a chance that this situation will go back to the old problem of the 16-24 year olds not visiting as expected to but they may have retained some of the age group who may be visiting them regularly. As with most ventures, this is risky and daring. In theory, my proposal should work well, and serve to improve Chester Zoo’s marketing strategy. However, in practicality, this may not be the case, and in the end it will be up to Chester Zoo to decide whether or not this proposal is worth executing.

Asian-Americans and their Progress towards Essay

During the many years of the continuous immigration of various nationalities in the United States, it could be noted that many immigrants have already absorbed the culture that Americans have. One of the many ethnicities which had migrated in the United States is the Asians. In the current society of the United States it is known that these groups of people are one of the many ethnic minorities that is housed by the United States. In fact, many of the families of the past migrants have now stayed in the United States had had lived their lives similar to full blooded Americans. However, although most of these immigrants have already acquired all the culture, the language and life style of the Americans it is still not enough for the society that they would be called Americans. On the other hand, the Asian-Americans like other ethnic minorities in the United States are somewhat confused to on the proper identity that they must maintain. One of the main examples of the uncertainty is the Asian-American popular culture which presents evidences regarding such group in the society. In the current popular culture, it is noticeable the many of Asian-Americans had been inclined with certain identity which could be very noticeable in the choices of their consuming behavior. In addition, personal choices such of the music, clothing style and etc. In the written work of Min Zhou and Jennifer Lee (2004), they have clearly stated that the Asian-American youth is directly seen by the American culture as not fitting to the popular images which are most associated with the current popular culture. Such popular cultures that are being discussed were being rap artists, skin heads, punks and the likes. For the longest time, Asian-Americans are seen as stereotypically geek who only focuses directly on their studies instead of being socially active. (Zhou & Lee, p. 1, 2004). Many of the Asian-Americans are obviously shying away from these concepts of being geeks and nerds. Instead, they follow the popular culture and act similarly to the demands of the American society. First and foremost, we could see that many of the Asian-American youth are more inclined to look like a gangster rather than a typical Asian-American. In many television shows and advertisements, there are numerous Asians who steps away from the light that they are individuals who are very serious in being successful that they study very well. Due to the very advanced technological innovations that we have such that of YouTube people could truly see that Asian-Americans are truly absorbing and creating new a type of culture when it comes to music. One of the best examples is David Choi who is known to be a Korean-American. Choi is singer, songwriter and guitarist on his own channel in YouTube. As noticed, Choi is very far from the typical stereotype of Asian who shies away from the crowd. After attaining success and massive support from different individuals he was able to have his own album. Instead of being the stereotypical Asian-American, he proclaims and continuously re-invents his music to suit his fans and the current trend in the society. In the film industry there had been few individuals who are known to be popular in the United States due to the certain film which they have done. One of the most famous Asian-American is Lucy Lui who played one of the Charlie’s Angels. In the movies, it is not often that an Asian-American plays a â€Å"kick-ass† role and presents her self as a strong assertive woman. In the stereotypical eyes of most Americans, Asian-Americans are simple and mostly quiet and demure because this is how they are culturally trained. However, due to such character played by Lui, the concept of how and what a woman should be (through an Asian context) is changed. With such, the Americanization of the Asian woman is clearly seen through the portrayal made by Lui. (â€Å"Is Lucy Liu a Heroine or a Curse? †) In terms of music, an article was written regarding the sudden boom of the Asian-American artists in the music industry. In the article, the author stated that various American-Asian artists are suddenly emerging into the music scene within in various localities in the United States. Most of the tunes that these musicians and artists play are mostly western music when do hip-hop and R&B, as well as a DJ in various clubs. Such artists were Yellow Peril, Seoul Brothers, Mountain Brothers, and a lot more. These artists are said to have gained significant success and a symbolic presence of the developments of the Asian-Americans (Wang, 1998). Therefore, Asian-Americans were already able to join the band wagon of having the same musical preference as the Americans. In addition, they are not only listening to type of music Americans hear but also imitating or innovating towards a new genre of music. In the most current popular culture many Asians are excelling in the freestyle dancing, break dancing and etc. (Tseng, 1998) From the lessons that we have taken, it is known that through consumption and consumerism that the factors of living is defined. From my own personal point of view, I do believe that consumption is a cultural issue that must be deeply studied due to the various concepts attached such as social class, cultural norms and etc. Cultural consumption is also affected by advertising as well as the culture of being brand conscious rather than quality conscious. I have stated this due to my personal experiences as a consumer. As I have observed in the super markets most of the time people spend so much time in thinking on what type of brand they would buy. Just last week I needed to do my grocery when I saw a Filipino woman and her son in the cereals and oats lane. She meticulously surfs for the proper brand of cereals while her son stated that â€Å"Mom, why are we staying too long in this section? We don’t really eat cereals for breakfast. I want rice. † Then the mother replied, â€Å"No darling, rice is too heavy for you, studies say that it could cause diabetes. And your playmates eat cereals every morning so you should also eat cereal. † Being in a class that studies such concept of culture, I was amazed on how real the concept of Americanization is. I do know that most Filipinos prefer rice for breakfast because it is a custom meal for them everyday. But through my first hand experience, I did see that people who are not Americans are in need to attain cultural citizenship in order for them to be accepted. Although I do believe that Asians are accepted in the American society, the acceptance is not as whole in comparison to being a white American. In a sense, the mother who was with her child in the grocery would want her son to be culturally American that she is shifting the norms which her son know in order for him to be suitable in the American society. Just like the story presented in â€Å"Consumption Fantasies of Upward Mobility,† Richard wanted to move away from the typical concepts of Asians. Therefore, Richard wanted to be a professional who is likely to be the choice of a typical American who works inside the office. In addition, there is a concept of attaining the â€Å"American Dream in which most important thing for Asian-Americans. Moreover, due to the desire to attain such, they also want to be treated like Americans. As a result, they act and absorb the American culture and norms which they believe will grant them cultural citizenship (Hee Park, p. 112, 2005). In conclusion, the current Asian-American culture is still in the process of attaining acceptance in the American society. In addition, they want to change the stereotypical concept that most of them are geeks and losers thus, the Asian-American community is shifting towards a much western culture. The community is not only doing such in order to be within the trend of the popular culture but also to be accepted and not discriminated by others. In terms of consumption, it is real that it is one of the factors which could justify the Americanization of an individual not only Asian-Americans. Through decision making and choosing what type of product must be used is obviously dictated by the society around them. In addition, professional choice is also an aspect the shows that Asians are Americanized or desires cultural citizenship. Like one of the most famous saying stated: â€Å"If you can’t beat them, join them. † Reference Is Lucy Liu a Heroine or a Curse?. GoldSea . Retrieved 9 December 2008 from http://www. goldsea. com/Air/Issues/Liu/liu. html. Lee, J. and Zhou, M. (2004). Asian American Youth.United States of America: Routledge Publishing. Sun-Hee Park, L. (2005). Consuming Citizenship. United States of America: Stanford University Press. Tseng, J. (1998). Asian American Rap: Expression Through Alternate Forms. Model Minority. Retrieved 9 December 2008 from http://www. modelminority. com/article128. html. Wang, O. (1998). Asian Americans and hip-hop. Asian Week. Retrieved 9 December 2008 from http://asianweek. com/111298/coverstory. html. David Choi : http://www. youtube. com/user/davidchoimusic? ob=4