What Role Do Mobile Phones Play in Society?

1. What role do mobile phones play in society? Discuss the influence of technology on everyday life: relationships, social movements and education. Mobile phones have a major impact on modern society as they are increasingly useful social tools. In 2004, ‘there were almost two billion mobile subscribers world-wide’ Arminen 2007. The majority of worldwide businesses use this technology to communicate. Mobiles have changed the way people organise activities, meetings and social occasions, and generally the way people go about living everyday life. Mobile phones increase contact with peers, so a person can always know what’s going on with those close to them. They help people communicate more efficiently, anywhere on the planet. Mobile phones have developed multi-features they are more than just a phone and can be used for sending text messages, taking photos, surfing the internet, playing music, using a calculator, setting an alarm, playing games, sending email, checking the time, calendar, maps, GPS, banking, radio, business’s such as voice memos, and are capable of an amazing amount of functions and some have many more functions than a computer, have the added bonus of high portability. On the down side however mobile phones can break down personal barriers where a person can find it hard to have any personal time, or participate fully in their present environment without interruptions as the majority of people never turn off their phone, so there is always constant communication. Modern day society has formed a very strong reliance on mobile phones where most individuals cannot leave home without their mobiles and have developed a need to be constantly contacted. Overall mobiles have a very large influence on relationships. Mobile phones play a huge role specifically in adolescences relationships. Mobile phone technology allows us to communicate with social groups in new ways, and to reaffirm those relationships, regardless of distance. SMS connects individuals in a non intrusive way so time and physical location are no longer important boundaries to communication (Horstmanshof & Power, 2005) instead the shortness of the message is more important indicator of uptake giving rise to creative code. Horstmanshof and Power’s research looked at how the new communication was being taken up by what groups, and the rules, communication and social interaction of those groups. The results showed that SMS was mostly used to tighten close relationships. Mobile phones provide an easier way to communicate, and helps some shy adolescences become more social. Furthermore text message or SMS, help adolescences ‘check each other out’ (Cupples & Thompson 2010) without embarrassment of getting rejected by a potential partner. Mobile phones assist in taking away any awkwardness on the next appointment or date by getting to know a stranger or potential partner (Cupples & Thompson), by facilitating the asking of questions a person wouldn’t normally ask face to face. Despite their many positives mobile phones can have a negative side. All the availability leaves people with little personal uninterrupted. As Horstmanshof and Power describe ‘it's like you are inviting the whole world into your space’ at any time the mobile is on. The easily accessible, relatively cheap and individualised nature of mobile phones has increased their popularity to the point where they have changed the way people interact at work as well as at home (Geser 2010). Mobile phones are increasingly breaking down the boundaries between work and home. Mobiles have changed the way individuals make decisions from individual to more consultative, the way people report emergencies, the social messages of status or connectedness we send to others who witness our calls, the way people participate in the present with increasing interruptions, the way people keep social obligations and the way people can change appointments at short notice, the way we can access greater amounts of information, and importantly, the change from a specific, location based communication system (landline) to an individual recipient. Geser suggests mobiles allow an individual to carry the cocoon of another place to where we are at present which may be a different place emotionally as well as physically to our current location and we need to skillfully maneuver between the two. This is particularly important in the work home boundaries. We need to make new decisions about when we are interrupted and how to deal with the present social or work situations (Geser) which may result in more self control as well as more social control like requesting people turn off their phones before meetings. Geser also supports that with their great ease mobiles also raise some concerns about people but especially children being less independent, and about mobile phone use contributing to fracturing social cohesion through subgroups potentially challenging the norm and the lesser social influence of more formal networks to increasingly informal networks. Technology has evolved where a person can access almost anything on their mobile phone including the internet, so that information is very easily accessible. Mobiles can help students do calculations through the use of a calculator or using specific programs on a computer such as the SPSS program Swinburne University uses for statistics. Encyclopedias are readily accessed online mostly for free which helps a person access the information they need at any time regardless of library opening hours or physical location. Almost all information is available at a click of a button. There is also computer assistant learning programs (Cradler et. l 2002) such as ‘cogmed working memory training’ (a memory training used for individuals with short term memory difficulties) that can be accessed through the mobile. Individuals are also not limited to working on a farm if they live in regional parts of the world as there is university and high schools based online and accessible through mobiles. However there are consequences of having to much easily accessible information. People become too dependent on often superficial information and don’t research as thoroughly. Skills, such as spelling are often diminished as Microsoft Word corrects spelling mistakes and even helps with grammar. Less effort is required in modern day society where it can be argued people are fed information. It has also become easy to plagiarize (Snooks and Co, 2002) and copy other peoples work and pass it off as your own but also easily to be found out. References Arminen, I, 2007, ‘Review Essay, Mobile Communication Society? ’, Mobile Communication Society? , v. 53, no. 1 University of Tampere viewed 19 March 2010 http://asj. sagepub. com Cogmed, 1999 Karolinska Institute, viewed 6 April 2010, http://www. cogmed. com/ Cupples, J ; Thompson, L, 2010, ‘Heterotextuality and Digital Foreplay', Feminist Media Studies, v. 10, no. 1, pp. 1-17, Ebscohost viewed 19 March 2010 http://www. informaworld. com/smpp/content~db=all~content=a919196107 Geser, H, 2004, ‘Towards a Sociological Theory of the Mobile Phone’, ‘Sociology in Switzerland: Sociology of the Mobile Phone’, Google Scholar viewed 16 March 2010 http://socio. ch/mobile/t_geser1. pdf Horstmanshof, L, ; Power, MR, 2005, ‘Mobile phones, SMS, and relationships’, Humanities ; Social Sciences papers, v. 32, no. 1, pp. 33-52, Bond University viewed 16 March 2010 http://epublications. bond. edu. au/hss_pubs/75/ Snooks and Co 2002, Style manual for authors, editors and printers, 6th edn, John Wiley ; Sons, Milton, Qld. Published 2010

Pharmacy school admission Essay

A glimpse at the list of the top ten most desirable jobs in world will reveal that everyone either wants to be a fireman, doctor, lawyer or an airline pilot. Further down that line and one will discover that being a Doctor of Pharmacy is not among the list of most desirable jobs. This is an understandable fact given that not everyone comprehends the importance and complexity of the job. Unlike others, however, I was given the wonderful opportunity to see just what a Doctor of Pharmacy does and as such, it has strengthened my desire to be one. Probably one of the main reasons why I am keen on pursuing a Doctor of Pharmacy degree is because of my lifelong passion for helping out people. I vividly remember the first time I entered a Pharmacy. My uncle, who managed the Pharmacy at the corner of where I grew up as a child, had brought me to where he worked. He told me that it was like a candy store except that it was for grown ups and that it also made people happy. The moment he opened those doors and ushered me into the Pharmacy I was dumbfounded. Never had I seen so many colorful bottles and pills in orange plastic cylinders that looked no bigger than a tic-tac. If my uncle hadn’t told me that they were not candy I swear I could have eaten them all. The most amazing thing about that experience however was not how wonderful the store seemed to me back then as a child but the fact that every person who walked into that Pharmacy that day seemed to know him by name while he also knew them by heart. He knew their families, their ailments, their refills and prescriptions. He could even tell you from the handwriting alone which doctor had written out the prescription. This was a man of character and man who lived his life to help others. It was never a glamorous job yet that day, my uncle was a star. It was this passion that my uncle had for helping people and giving them the medicines that they needed that first got me thinking about pursuing a Doctor of Pharmacy degree. I have always believed that living life for oneself is not fulfilling. There is so much more to life than just the accumulation of material wealth. While I am certainly not preaching a religion, I would like to express my opinion that life should be lived in the service of others. The contributions that one can make to his community should never be overlooked. That is one of the reasons why I have chosen this profession and that is why I am confident that I will be able to be a catalyst of change in the future.

Our Individual Identity Is Determined by What Others Think of Us

â€Å"Identity and belonging† – Expository Essay Our individual identity is determined by what others think of us. Our identity is comprised of inner qualities and outer representations of self. It consists of innumerable defining characteristics that make up the whole of who we are in any given moment. These fragments of self include our sexuality, gender, and sense of belonging to a particular culture, nation, religion, family, or some other group. Our identity includes our looks, personality, beliefs and fears.Each individual in society assigns themselves a particular role, whether it be as a mother, brother, retiree, performer, sportsman or as a part of their occupation, a doctor or lawyer. Often one’s entire sense of self is consumed by pursuit of fulfilling such a role in society. Our identities are constantly growing, changing, and adapting to our everyday lives. This emphasizes the overriding link that one’s sense of belonging influences, or often dictates, individual identity. One’s assigned role in society may be as part of a family unit, a daughter.Agheare/Alice in Unpolished Gem emphasizes this, as she often struggles under the burden of the role she has self-assigned. Identity can both be influenced by, and influence, the work we do, our education, financial and class status, the car we drive, the home we live in and the clothes we wear. Identity is also determined by perspective. Our self-image can be entirely different to the way we are seen by a colleague, partner, friend, child or parent who all have their own lens of perception through which they view us.One definition of identity is â€Å"those images and masks† many of us wear, the persona we project out into the world. We don't have as much choice over our identity as we think we do because a lot of the time things we do or say are impacted by what others think of us. For example, we might like a certain type of music but might often find ourselves mentally saying ‘what would so and so like or would so and so listen to this or would so and so like me if I listened to this. ‘ Basically saying we mold ourselves, and are molded by others, in response to whatever is currently popular and accepted in today’s society.Today more than ever we are being increasingly conditioned, influenced and bombarded by a multitude of messages and experiences about who to be and how to be. Current forms of social communication processes, particularly mainstream media, advertising, television and film, along with family, friends, teachers, political agendas, religion, society’s rules, our perceptions, perspectives, interpretations and assumptions, and those of others, all play a part in creating our identity. ?We seek and create our identity through these external influences, we all wear these masks and cloaks, so that we fit in with the world around us.The degree to which we choose our identity, versus having it imposed on us via external influence, is arguably a matter of consciousness and awareness. When we are unaware of the power of external influence we are akin to pieces of clay, being unconsciously molded to fit into the accepted or preferred norms of someone else’s reality. When we are aware we can take responsibility for the creation of our identity. We can make empowered choices that best serve our selves, rather than serve people and systems outside of ourselves.In Unpolished Gem, society plays a daunting role on Alice as she tries to change her way of thinking from a Chinese-Cambodian way of thinking to a very different Australian way of thinking. As Alice starts her new school her beliefs are tested as she tries to determine whether to fit in as an Australian or a Chinese-Cambodian. By trying to decide this she is under massive pressure because of our society’s stereo types. Gender and race are two of the most important factors to take into consideration when looking at an i ndividual's identity, as they are the very first two things you notice about a person when you meet them.Race is a very strong influence on one's identity. This can cause issues with racism; people affiliating themselves, therefore their identity, with groups that feel a certain way about another race or group. Just as with gender, people will make assumption about a person based on their race. If one is white people might assume they listen to country music or rock n roll; or if one is black people might assume they listen to rap or hip hop. These tie in with stereotypes, which sadly, are a part of our community today.There are a higher number of certain races in certain places, with also leads to how culture affects one's identity. Something that relates closely with race is language. A person's language is part of their identity too. It can show where they were raised because of the slang you use. For example, there is the Spanish language, and off of that original Spanish langua ge there is branches of adjusted languages. Some of these include Mexican Spanish or North Mexican Spanish. All of these are based off the standard Spanish language, but depending on where one was raised they may speak one of these ifferent variations of Spanish. This helps us identify people too, based on which one they speak, shows where they are from which is part of your identity. In Unpolished Gem the stereo typical view on people from an Chinese-Cambodian background is to excel at school and this weighs Alice down by putting enormous pressure on her because that is what is considered acceptable in a tight knit community. Culture: Culture is the combination of values, beliefs, and practices of a particular group.The culture each person lives in shows them how to dress, talk, and act, acceptable behavior, and gives a guideline of what is considered acceptable and normal. As a child grows up in a particular culture they absorb the beliefs, and practices, then begin to use them in everyday activities. The culture a person is surrounded by will then play a role in the development of their identity. Identity is essentially a set a characteristics and traits that are attributed to one specific person. One of the main things your culture affects in shaping your identity is your morals.Morals are a person's standards of behavior or beliefs concerning what is and is not acceptable for them to do. These morals shape our identity as they shape how we live our lives as well as how we make an impact of society. In Unpolished Gem, Alice has a strong sense of what can be tolerated in both cultures from an Asian oblique migrant perspective even though throughout the book she starts to lose her ability to think in Chinese. This is an example of how even though a person may be proud of their cultural background this still out weights trying fit in or adapt to a new way of life.For example, Alice and her family migrate to Australia to peruse the â€Å"Australian dream† which indicates that even though they have a different cultural background to Australian they have to adapt to the Australian culture in order to survive. In conclusion our individual identity is determined by many different factors like media, society, culture and race. These factors shape who we are and whom we grow up to be and how other people see us from day to day. Do we really know ourselves because our subconscious is ever changing to try and fit in to society on a daily basis and we only ever see what we want to see?

Implementation and Control for Marketing Plan Assignment

Implementation and Control for Marketing Plan - Assignment Example For monitoring the task, it is proposed to have a cross-functional departmental team assigned to the project which will not just be responsible for having a check at the progress and comparing it against the proposed timeline for ensure timeliness but would also be responsible for regular feedbacks, which may lead to amendments in the marketing plan at any level, even if it is at the fundamental because the organization does not want itself launching a product that backfires and takes down the existing repute of the business as well. Miller (2002) states that 70% of the strategic plans containing various initiatives primarily fail due to factors contributing from the organization itself, the people (the employees) or the partners (share and stakeholders). In this scenario i.e. of SBA, the major participants are the marketing department personnel along with the organizations that are currently involved in the development of these games. Despite the great number of internal forces addition to the external factors, Hrebioniak (2006) conducted researchers to conclude some potential obstacles that hurdle the implementation of an effective strategy. Some of these that are associated with this case are: For overcoming these and several other forms of issues, it is recommended to serve the internal customers on top priority, making people realize that this is a business opportunity that would be beneficial for their organization in the long run and it is a window of opportunity that needs to be  exploited. The concept is similar to that of customer care, i.e. just as the external customers, the strategy to be implemented needs to be ‘sell’ to the internal customers to have a major impact towards its ease of application.  

Trust within EU Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Trust within EU - Essay Example There have been a number of things that make the EU members to mistrust each other. This is especially so between the older members and the new members. The fact that most of these countries in the EU have different standings on different issues such as the economic and judicial systems makes trust a serious issue in the EU. Those countries in the EU which are former communist members of the soviet have been accused of not being collaborative enough in implementing the right economic and the legal system. This has led to the mistrust which is in twofold. First, the older members of the EU do not trust the newer members, most of them having been former members of the Soviet Union. They feel that these newer members may not be desiring to bring in to the union as much as they should. The newer member states at the same time have also been mistrusting the older members because they feel that they may be taken advantage of, especially with regard to economic exploitation. This has led to high, tensions and this mistrust has led to the some of the members being suspended from the union. New members have been required to fully conform to EU standards (Lewis, 2000, p.116). At the same time, the role and mandate of EU in the region continue to change and increase (Woolcock, 2009, p.149). According to Molle (2006, p.12) all forms of integration requires some form of permanent agreement that will bind the different members together. These agreements scan lead to mistrust when some members feel that they are being put to a disadvantage. Mythology To be able to get the data regarding the issue of trust within the EU, the study will look for various sources of information ranging from the fallowing; Websites The issue of trust in the EU has been abundantly evident, and there are professional websites that have published and publicized the issue over time. Most professional websites have provided credible information about the issue and have also given enough data and statis tics regarding the factors that have made trust an issue. These statistics revolve around issues such as, democracy, economic systems, and the level of corruption, especially with regard to ex-communist members in the EU. These websites will provide useful and credible information with regard to the issue of trust. Books Since the EU was formed, a lot of authors, both academic and professional, have written about the issue of trust in the EU. These books tackle various topics ranging from economics to politics of the EU. Both positive and negative information has been written about the EU, and this provides a good research ground to understand the internal workings of the EU. Some have criticized the EU by saying that its goals are just big pink elephants that will never be realized. Similarly, there are those who have given praise to the union and see it as a savoir in the European continent. These books will provide a good research foundation for this study. Journals and magazines Journals and magazines have also published information about the EU since it was formed. The current issues of trust within the union have been a difficult topic covered by the many journals and magazines available. These journals and magazines also provide good insights and understanding about the issue o

Complexity of dual diagnosis treatment Case Study

Complexity of dual diagnosis treatment - Case Study Example osis: Because of an amalgamation of two diagnoses, it is often difficult to establish whether the problem is majorly due to substance abuse, mental illness, or both (Australian Drug Foundation, 2013). 3) Complex treatment: The treatment of dual diagnosis consists of multiple steps, namely, engagement of patient in a health care service, keeping him/her in service, intervention, and finally relapse preclusion and rehabilitation (Watson & Hawkings, 2002). Major issues with treatment are resistance to treatment/non-compliance, relapse of one illness leading to subsequent relapse of the other, and pharmaco-dynamics and pharmacokinetics of the prescribed medication and alcohol/drug affecting each other. Even normal dosages prescribed by the doctor can lead to adverse effects in such scenarios (Australian Drug Foundation, 2013). Lack of support from society and health care staff is also a problem (Graham, 2013).   Unfortunately, most regular health facilities are incapable of dealing with multi-problems like these. Health practitioners and nurses do not have the training or the expertise to recognize, investigate, and treat these disorders Stigma is a social construction that demarcates people on the basis of a certain property, and then isolates and humiliates them because of that demarcation (Bos et al, 2013). Stigma leads to inhumane behaviour towards the victim (Goffman, 1963). The phenomenon of stigmatization is very common in the field of psychiatry. Since time immemorial both mental ailment and substance abuse have individually been regarded worthy of contempt. Stigma is of many different forms and manifests itself in many ways. It can hinder delivery of proper treatment by health care staff, socially isolate a person, or stall him/her from disclosing his/her true problems (stigma article). All these effects result in delayed treatment when disease has become advanced or relapses, resulting in increased costs (Biernat & Dovidio, 2000) Since dual diagnosis is

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

Humanities - Essay Example The creativity, magnificence, and sentimental influences involved in the artwork makes them valuable. Different times in history have given rise to different art forms (Charles & Metcalf, 2007). One of the ancient times, known by the name of Renaissance existed from 15th to 17th centuries and the eighteenth century art emerged under the name of neoclassical art. Renaissance is a word that came under the derivation from French language that means reborn. A cultural and learning rebirth that began from Florence - Italy, reached the boundaries of Europe later on. The art in this era was intensifying with a unique, exclusive, and different style in the form of paintings and sculpture making, which came under the name of Renaissance art. This period not only gave a different meaning to the field of arts but philosophy, literature, music, and science saw a massive change and improvements. Renaissance art gave birth to new forms and techniques of paintings that not only affected the artists through its work but common people similarly came under affection by it (Charles & Metcalf, 2007). Renaissance artist started to make paintings on distinctive subjects and real life images portraying human exquisiteness and life’s contentment came into focus rather than restricting themselves to only religious paintings. The artists focused on minute details of the object from different angles and distances while painting or making sculptures. The paintings of middle ages that focused on stiff and erect bodies came into replacement by real life paintings (Charles & Metcalf, 2007). The period of Renaissance gave birth to indigenous artists, such as the well known Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, and Raphael. Leonardo da Vinci with the use of oil paint enhanced his paintings that mainly focused on landscapes, natural objects, and humans. He included microscopic details in all his paintings and one of his most admired paintings includes Mona Lisa and The Last Supper. Michelange lo only targeted human body in his artwork and the marble statue of David is his famous creation. In the High Renaissance period, Raphael has also contributed in his work of art. Even, he was famous for his portraits of the nobles of that time and his renowned art includes portrait of Pope Julius II and Pope Leo X (Books, 2010). Looking at the other end of the spectrum, the eighteenth century art gave birth to a new form, known as neoclassical art, generally seen in paintings, portraits, sculptures, and scenery/landscape. The advent of neoclassical art of the eighteenth century was from France. Simplicity, transparency, and realism were the key features of neoclassical art. Naturalism also came under focus in the neoclassical art like that of Renaissance art (Books, 2010). This art form came under influence by the ancient ideas and artists integrated these inspirations with their thoughts and observations in their portraits and paintings. Representation of the themes in the form of symbols and codes became a principal aspect in the artwork of the artists to express their thoughts, emotions, and views. Eighteenth century paintings and portraits did not reflect the ideas of barbarism, unprofessionalism, and narrow-mindedness. Artists’ knitted their visions, dreams and inspirations well with the bright and colorful images (Buser, 2006). The era of neoclassical art has seen many skillful artists that were well qualified, classy, and cultured. Some of the legendary artists of this

Housing prices Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Housing prices - Essay Example There could be seen different changes in the prices of homes throughout the country and condos were hit lowest comparing to single -family homes. The article gives here an insight about the housing market condition during the year of 2010.The article is very precise and gives a very brief idea about the housing market. The article takes the readers straight away into the market scenario and doest not give much introduction about the topic. It would be very efficient to commence the article with description bit more about the subject in order to attract the readers and create an impact in the minds of the reader. Every article needs an introduction as it is the point where the readers get involved in the reading and continue to remain with the article. The readers must be given more information about the reason for fall in the prices of house. Little more details about the market scenario and the buyer’s behavior could have added some depth to the article. The good part of the writing was that the author has given more statistical details which are very beneficial on economic basis. But if the readers are common men they would look in for more simple explanation about the subject. Another shortcoming of the writing is that there is no conclusion to the article .It ends nowhere and this gives a very poor outlook to the article. The first thing to be done to the article if it is to be given a make over is to write a good introduction. Introduction can be about the housing market and the situation it was in during the previous years. The writing should be a proper one with an introduction a small body and conclusion, only then the article can be regarded complete. The purpose of the article is to give information to the reader about the topic and only a whole article can fulfill this purpose. The body of the article needs to be about the housing sector sales activity and also about the buyers spending behavior. The home income level of the people can also be

Factors Impacting the Quality of Construction in the United Arab Assignment

Factors Impacting the Quality of Construction in the United Arab Emirates - Assignment Example nd high level of competition in the commercial marketplace, the contractors are required to enhance their ability in order to develop their performance based on these aspects. Accumulatively, the aforementioned factors tend to have a significant influence over the quality delivered by the construction industry. Furthermore, there are other factors which also impose a certain degree of impact on the quality of construction industry can be identified as construction materials, management and training of employees, and capability of contractors. In the UAE, government tends to provide significant consideration towards the construction industry. Governmental reports, in this regards reveal that the construction segment in the UAE has seen an era of remarkable boom, especially prior to 2007-2008 financial downturn when the industry was negatively impacted by the consequent debt crisis. During the economic failure of 2007, several construction projects in UAE were postponed or cancelled. Furthermore, the intense changes in micro-environmental factors such as markets, customers and competitors along with the confidence of construction organizations in the UAE was observed to reduce considerably where the market players started reconsidering their business strategies. Contextually, several organizations had experienced problems for adjusting with the changes occurring in the international business environment. Due to lack of readiness to adjust with the changing business circumstances, most of the construction organizations were forced to adopt survival strategies rather than growth strategies during the past few years which imposed a considerable impact on the quality assurance rendered by the company (Oryx Middle East, n.d.). Despite of the above circumstances, UAE has high probability of growth in its construction segment. The rise of oil price in Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) region initiates several big construction projects in the UAE. The growth in construction

The Role of WTO in the Liberalization of Trade Literature review

The Role of WTO in the Liberalization of Trade - Literature review Example International monetary affairs and trade are interlinked due to the fact that monetary and fiscal areas are also associated with exports and productivity growths. Integration of evolving economies into the international economy facilitates competition for capital and aid. It is evident from capital flow from expanding markets by commercial banks, private investors and multinational enterprises. The recent financial crisis has highlighted the risks involved in this process. Therefore, IMF and World Bank actively play their roles as financer or as a watchdog.WTO plays a critical role in drawing funds through trade and foreign investment liberalization. International trade is imperative for economic growth; therefore, it is essential for emerging economies to accelerate economic reforms (Hoogmartens, 2004, p.9). The fundamental objectives of WTO as well as its predecessor GATT, as Hoogmartens (2004) observes are to serve as a forum to negotiate trade liberalization, to monitor and develop better measures for transparency and to work for resolve issues between trade participants. In addition to that, the fundamental objective includes raising living standards, working towards providing full employment, production and trade expansion, and ultimately, optimal utilization of the world’s resources. In order to achieve these objectives, WTO/GATT work towards fixing or limiting the impact of trade barriers, for instance, quotas, customs process, tariffs, state trading and subsidies in addition to paving the way for trade liberalization(p.10). Hoogmartens (2004) further states, â€Å"Tariffs are generally believed to distort competition and to attribute monopoly rents to producers in countries that uphold them. Quotas are also believed to distort competition, but usually, do not yield more p rofit for domestic producers. Furthermore, their administration may yield corruption, just as discriminatory licensing may†. (p.10)  

Waiting for gusfman Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Waiting for gusfman - Essay Example The form of the ‘mockumentary’ not only allows for this type of satire, but it also creates a satire of the form of the documentary as well. The film Waiting for Guffman provides for a look at the idea of community as seen through the social interactions that are required to develop an event that celebrates the uniqueness of the community, while that uniqueness is revealed for its absurdity. Waiting for Guffman (1996) is a film in which the genre of the ‘mockumentary’ as developed by Rob Reiner through the innovative and classic film This is Spinal Tap (1986) is used to satirize a cultural event. Christopher Guest, who co-wrote and starred in Reiner’s film, creates the work Waiting for Guffman as a way of examining the concept of the a local theater group as they attempt to put on a production as a way of celebrating the town’s sesquicentennial. Guffman refers to a man named Mort Guffman who is reported to be Broadway talent scout who will be attending the event. The production is based on the history of the town which has parallel details of the type that might be found in many small towns, crossing the line to the absurd as the town is proclaimed to be ‘The Stool Capital of the World’. Christopher Guest plays the character Corky St. Clair whose visions are often beyond the capacity of his small theater to achieve. The film utilizes the suspension of natural laws through explorations of the absurd as they relate to the truths of many small towns across America. As Guest’s character presents himself as an over the top and flamboyant theater director, he embraces the idea of homosexuality within a small town atmosphere as being represented by extravagance and eccentricity. Through a stereotypical portrayal, he comments on the avant guarde as it is explored in less than sophisticated surroundings, missing the mark and flying wide into an absurdity of his

Political Issues with the Current Immigration Essay Example for Free

Political Issues with the Current Immigration Essay â€Å"In the wake of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Congress passed the Immigration Act of 1965. This new law abolished the national origins quota system and barred racial considerations from expressly entering into decisions about immigrant visas; it also imposed for the first time a ceiling (120,000) on migration from the Western Hemisphere.† (Johnson, 2006). Historical Framework for the Issue of Illegal Immigration Towards the end of the 19th century, Congress passed the first immigrant exclusion law restricting criminal and prostitutes, and followed up with the Japanese, Asian and Chinese. Even with this law in place the immigration still reached a record high of 1.3 million personnel in 1907. In 1965, Congress then passed the Immigration and Nationality Act amendments that ended the quota and initiated the concept of family sponsored immigration. In 1987, Congress enacted the Immigration Reform Control Act (IRCA) which authorized two programs to identify and legalize illegal immigrants who are able to document their entry into the U.S. prior to 1 January 1982 (America.gov Archive, 2003). The immigration migration is a phenomenon of crucial importance to the United States as long as the immigration guidelines and procedures are followed, but with the vast number of amendments being reconstructed and enacted by Congress, on almost a daily basis this put additional strain on our border patrol, government agencies, and our military forces who have been tasked to assist in the protection of the U.S./Mexico border alongside the local police officers. On October 1, 2004, Mr. Jim Gilchrist, U.S Vietnam Marine veteran, founded the multi-ethnic Minuteman Project after he had been frustrated dealing with the United States Government to enforce the immigration laws. The Minutemen, who formed the name from militiamen who fought in the American Revolution, has described themselves as â€Å"a citizen’s neighborhood watch on our border†,  and have continued to get the media attention on dealing with the illegal immigration issue plaguing the United States. The Minutemen organization has portrayed more of a negative connotation rather than the positive that they had initially strived for. On May 25, 2005 there was the Garden Grove Incident dealing with protestors. On October 4, 2006 they had the Columbia University incident where their stage was stormed by student protestors. The T-Shirt incident on April 6, 2005 in which minutemen had an old man poses with a racial discrimination T-shirt, and in August 2007 there was a fake murder video published by the organization (Sanchez, 2011). Even with this negativity, on April 28, 2005, California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger praised the Minutemen Project on a Los Angeles radio station KFI. The issues of the constant illegal immigration border crossings, violence and murders on the borders of the immigrants and law enforcements officers, the immigration laws will continue to be pushed through Congress in order to keep our borders safe and ensure the diverse cultures visiting the United States are entering with the appropriate documentation instead of through the desert with a backpack, bottles of water, and for some, with bags of drugs. Is the Media Portrayal of biased or unbiased Illegal Immigration? On October 6, 2010, Janet Napolitano, Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, announced that record numbers of deportations of criminal aliens, declaring that these figures have demonstrated that President Obama’s administration is focused on enforcing our immigration laws that prioritizes public safety a nd national security. One of the political issues on July 7, 2011, according to Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (2011), a memorandum was published entitled â€Å"Individuals Who Are Not Authorized to Work in the United States Were Paid $4.2 Billion in Refundable Credits† which is also the entire product of the Additional Child Tax Credit (ACTC) for the 2010 tax processing year (Impact on Taxpayers). Illegal immigration laws that are in place are not only bottlenecking the system, becoming costly to taxpayers and increasing the deficit, but the ranchers along the border are either having the illegals trespassing onto their land, destroying their fence line along the property, and on a few occasions ranchers have been killed. Mr. John Ladd, a rancher on the Southern border of Arizona, has a ranch sprawling over 14,000 acres between Mexico border and state highway 92. His ranch is the major corridor  for the smuggling of drugs and human beings into the United States. The border pat rol makes frequent arrests on the ranch, but most of those are released back into Mexico where they regroup and try again until they are successful (Gisorg, 2010). On average, one mile of border fence costs US taxpayers $4 million. Is it worth the expense? The measurements of this fence is 21 feet (6.4m) tall and 6 feet (1.8m) embedded into the ground, and cemented in a 3 foot (.91m) wide trench. With all of this material, manpower, monetary cost and security, on December 16, 2010, a video was shot showing two young American students visiting the border and on their first try, these girls made it to the top of the fence in less than eighteen seconds. How much time do you think it will take if you visit the beach of Tijuana and just swim out to the fence line and cross over? Does the public’s perception encourage or discourage prejudice, labeling or stereotyping? There are media commentaries that intentionally sensationalize the story being reported; it all depends on where their station ratings stand. Even unintentional biased reporting can be portrayed depending on what the listener’s views are on immigration. I cannot justify what their true intentions are, but as a viewer there are times when my perception is that they are not telling the full story, or the story is biased to the side of the populace majority. One of the best media outlets I’ve come across depicting the conflict between bordering countries was by the Coca-Cola Corporation. Two guards who are patrolling their border, walking back and forth along a stretch of about 15 feet with hatred and discontent showing on their faces not uttering a word. What brought these two cultures to a brief truce was a 16oz bottle of Coca-Cola (Gisorg, 2010). Even In the portrayal of the movie ‘Borders’ which depict the immigration issues with Mexico and the United States. Chris Burgards award winning television series takes an impartial look at the agonizing and complex issue of our southern U.S. border. This film fosters debate, open discussion, and hopefully a more balanced outlook towards a national problem that has polarized our nation.† (Rick Dixon, Star Tribune, 2011). During the viewing, you may perceive that all Hispanics are probably in this country illegally, drug runners or coyotes. This actually encourages hatred of most Hispanics because they are perceived the same as terrorist in this land. This show demonstrates how individuals should be fighting again crime and illegal immigration of all  types, and the question you should be asking yourself is if you believe in your government, and what is the true border between justice and crime. Does this issue affect the U.S. economy and labor force? Presently illegal immigrants arriving into country are taking advantage of the job workforce that average Americans deem beneath them. They are willing to take on those jobs that we perceive as demeaning, and underpaid. Due to this immigration issue, the United States, as paid over $4.2 billion dollars towards labor for the illegal immigrants and over $100 billion each year on medical, housing and education. According to the Arizona state treasurer Dean Martin, they are losing between $1.3 and $2.5 billion each year on illegal immigrant on incarceration, education and their families. This does not account for the legal services that are provided through the court system. As a manager, what inclusion strategies would be implemented? When dealing with the issues of illegal immigration and the media coverage as a manager, there are strategies that can be utilized to foster a collaborative working environment for employees. Coordinate with Human Resources to schedule diversity and equal opportunity training, plan a quarterly cultural luncheon/potluck, and during each holiday ensure there are decorations representing every culture in your organization and allow those individuals to explain what each trinket means. When dealing with stereotyping, encourage employees to ask questions concerning that cultural difference they don’t understand or have perceptions about. Most organizations will have a media device placed in the office, and employees will hear of negative connotations dealing with the diverse groups around the United States. If listening to these stories makes you stop and think, then it will also make you wonder about that culture. Not all individuals in are the same, and not all cultures are radical, illegal immigrants or a threat. Conclusion The media is the media is the media. As long as there is conflict it will be reported to the masses. Illegal immigrants and immigration laws are tied to the hip and will always be part of society and culture. Unless the United takes a lesson from the 1981 television show called ‘Escape from New York’,  produced by John Carpenter, place a twenty-five foot solid cement wall that is fifteen feet thick around the state. There will always be illegal immigrants either from Mexico, Cuba, and other countries seeking domicile in the United States. References America.gov Archive. (2003). The Immigration Act of 1965. Retrieved from http://www.america.gov/st/educ-english/2008/April/20080423214226eaifas0.9637982.html Canoy, M., Beutin, R., Horath, A., Hubert, A., Lerais, F., Smith, P., Sochacki, M. (2006, September 10). Migration and public perception. Retrieved from http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/policy_advisers/publications/docs/bepa_migration_final_09_10_006_en.pdf Gemano, R. P. (2010, December 16). 2 Girls Undermine US Border Strategy in Under 18 Seconds [Video file]. Retrieved from YouTube website: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XHjKBjM1ngwfeature=related Gisorg. (2010, August 9). Gaming the Border: A Report from Cochise County, Arizona [Video file]. Retrieved from YouTube website: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iRof_dizXH4 Johnson, K. R. (2006). The History of Racial Exclusion in the US Immigration Laws. Retrieved from http://academic.udayton.edu/race/02rights/immigr09.htm Morgenstern, M. (2011). TheBlaze. Retrieved from http://www.theblaze. com/stories/govt-audit-illegal-immigrants-received-4-2-billion-in-tax-credits-last-year/ Pemberton, J. S. (2011, February 3). Coca-Cola Border [Video file]. Retrieved from YouTube website: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k-STkFCCrus Sanchez, C. (2011). HATEWATCH. Retrieved from http://www.splcenter.org/blog/2007/08/13/new-video-appears-to-show-vigilante-border-murder/ Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration. (2011). Individuals Who Are Not Authorized to Work in the United States Were Paid $4.2 Billion in Refundable Credits. Retrieved from http://Individuals Who Are Not Authorized to Work in the United States Were Paid $4.2 Billion in Refundable Credits

A Modest Proposal Analysis

A Modest Proposal Analysis In A Modest Proposal the author, Jonathan Swift, uses techniques such as irony, satire, and sarcasm to mock the Irish government of his time. A Modest Proposal was a heavy-duty social commentary. At the time there was great hand-wringing over what to do about the masses of the poor in England, mainly London. Swift lays out a very well-reasoned solution to the problem. The solution was of course, ridiculous. After reading Swifts masterpiece, I could not believe how graphic and shocking it would be. At times I was sickened in the way he details his feelings. He does this in a letter sarcastically proposing that they sell the children of the poor to the wealthier families, as this will provide food, clothing, and will decrease the population. Throughout the letter he uses remarkable details as to how they should go about eating the children, treating them as nothing more than a new type of livestock. The letter ends with a completely different tone when the author explains the absurdity of his proposal and instead suggests something a bit more realistic like the wealthy giving up some of their luxuries. Swifts annoyance at what he saw as the immoral economic and political policies of the Irish and English governments, and he author uses the assumed voice of the economist. He uses great quantity of thorough, literalized metaphors, and ironic and sarcasm techniques to devastating effect. A Modest Proposal has been judged as an unsurpassed work of rhetorical brilliancy, and it acquires new readers additional critical attention up until now Swift exposes all of the bizarre remarks and ideas he has been discussing about are all a humorous way to make fun of the way the government is run and how they are not serving the terrible state of the country. Afterwards he expresses a proper proposal of taking away some of the wealthier peoples luxuries in order to help their economy. In this essay, I will explain the 3 techniques that I have found in Swifts proposal, such as; I rony, Satire and Sarcasm. Satire is a second technique Swift uses, he states The skin of which artificially dressed, will make admirable gloves for ladies, and summer boots for fine gentlemen (p.286). He is indicating that rich people have a purpose and have the power to full-fill their wishes without any conditions. Swift shows all of his pain for the beggars and as a reader it shows that its all about status. On another note, Swift uses the children as satire, by exaggerating and dramatically grabs the readers attention, such as boiling and brewing of the children would end all the problems. This is a revelation of how Swift persuades the reader on how to help the rich out. Going back, he wants something done. Perhaps this satire isnt spoken as a second person, or someone elses voice, possibly what Swifts tone in this piece is anger and annoyance. Since no one is doing anything about it, in his mind he might as well suggest Eating children. This classic poem is worded completely simple and the most logical thing in the world. Its not to amuse us, but to substitute this phrase should reduce their outgoings with should eat their babies and its just another op-ed piece that is what makes it satire. The wealthy physically kept getting fatter while the poor kept starving. Swift stated that instead of spending money on importing meat, they should eat their own children and as a result to control the population and provide their own food instead of depending on importing. Yes this is sickening, but this is exactly Swifts intentions, by grossing out the public, he hoped to have them take a second look at their society and hopefully reform it. It is mocking the society, predominantly the rich and at the same time suggesting an eccentric solution to a dreadfully real problem that was obvious in London. As a matter of fact he hoped to bring a social transformation with his modest proposal. As we move on to the third technique sarcasm, was greatly involved all over in the poem. In the first paragraph of A Modest Proposal, Swift uses the words melancholy, tears and pity and grievance to sympathise with the poor people while reading and come into view to understand their situation, slowly gaining the readers confidence in preparation for his shocking proposal (p.283). When he sent out his proposal to decrease Irelands population, he only looks at the positive aim in his idea. He is showing that hes serious about his proposal by fabricating proof and figures, which shows that he has planned the dilemma for a very long time. This proposal is written sarcastically to belittle the attitude of the manufactured revolution that saw people as being a product to be exploited; in addition the mindset that the rate of people developed was beyond the rate of food growth so that there could never be enough food. Swift mentions a year old offered in sale to the persons of quality, and fortune, advising the mother to let them suck plentifully, so as to render then plump, and fat for a good table. A child will make two dishes at an entertainment for friends and family (p.285). His ludicrous scheme is to plump up the children and feed them off to the wealthiest. Reading that part, this made me become conscious of Swifts extreme opinion is to point out where the reader should be feeling this is unacceptable and we must put a stop to this ludicrous. This manner shows a lot of antagonism which grabs your attention and wanting to read more of his preposterous language. Swift mentions absurdity quite often, he states that the wives will be treated better now that they are having children to sell on the meat market by their husbands. He illustrates the wives as livestock, and now that they are a source of income, the husbands will treat them better, as they do their cows, pigs, chickens (p.284). This is bizarre with the idea not explored in the passage that a husband is e xceptionally vigilant with his wife and a changed man when she is with the child, because in her belly is his own family, and he wouldnt dare cause his own flesh and blood harm. However, Swift implies an opposed idea to attack the men living in tough economic situations that are cruel to their wives. After thinking it over, I have come to realize that only a true genius could write something as emotive and realistic and be taken seriously. All his techniques used gain the readers confidence and make him seem practical and realistic in an ironic way. He shocks the reader by suggesting infant cannibalism as a solution to social and poverty issues in Ireland. In doing so, Swift highlights the contrast, playing an essential role in classical satire, as well as the hypocrisy of the politicians hes looking to blame. As readers, he wants us to know how can we save Ireland? Swift managed to make it reasonable, by using many techniques, such as; irony, satire and sarcasm. He uses a lot of exaggeration to highlight his points and beliefs, shown through his irony and imagery. Humans are more than just rational beings; we rely on emotions and faith. Swift provides a cultural criticism; he clearly believes that things such as faith, emotion, and religion help our human reason in arriving at t ruths. Without them, there would be no final cause and hope for salvation because there is no sense of data to prove heaven, we would never love, relatives could die and we would not care, and life itself would lack what makes humanity so beautiful, and that is emotion. Swift recognized a problem and was able to offer a resolution in a tongue-tied way. Some were blaming the poor or the rich. Swift was able to point out the errors of both groups by simply using these three techniques.

Data Gathering And Dissemination In Wireless

Data Gathering And Dissemination In Wireless A wireless sensor network is special kind of ad hoc networks that consists of a number of low-cost, low-power, and multi-functional wireless sensor nodes, with sensing, wireless communications and computation capabilities [1,2,3]. These sensor nodes communicate over a short range via a wireless medium and collaborate to accomplish a common task, like environmental monitoring, military surveillance, and industrial process control [3]. Wireless sensor networks have open up for new opportunities to observe and interact with the physical environment around us. They enable us now to collect and gather data that was difficult or impossible before [4]. Although Wireless Sensor Networks have given new ways to provide information from variety of applications, irrespective of the nature of physical environment, it is seen as a challenging task to extract data from sensor network. Data dissemination and gathering are two terms used in sensor networks to describe two categories of data handling methods. Data dissemination is a process by which data and queries for data are routed in the sensor networks where as data gathering is to transmit data that has been collected by the sensor nodes to the base stations. Data gathering protocols aim to minimize the energy consumption and delay of data gathering process [5]. Although there are differences between these two but almost all the literature called together as routing protocols. Unlike traditional wireless communications networks such as mobile ad hoc and cellular systems, wireless sensor networks have the following unique characteristics and constraints [3]: high density sensor node deployment, battery or no power sensor nodes, low memory and processor capacity, self-configurable, unreliable sensor nodes, data redundancy, application specific and dynamic topology. Due to above characteristics and constraints of wireless sensor networks, the extraction of data from the network is always a challenge. Therefore, it is importa nt that the design of protocols for data gathering and dissemination takes care about these challenges. The main design challenges of routing protocols for wireless sensor network are: Energy, Processing power and Memory. Some of the design challenges as reflected in [3, 6] are highlighted below: Large number of sensor nodes: Since most of the wireless sensor networks composed of large sensor nodes, it is very difficult to have an addressing scheme like other wireless networks. The traditional IP scheme is not feasible to apply for wireless sensor networks. Moreover, the sensor nodes are deployed at random in hostile environment. Limited energy capacity: The sensor nodes are battery powered, so they have limited energy. This is the main challenges in designing wireless sensor networks. In practice, sensor network deployment makes sense only if they can run unattended for months and years without running short of energy [4]. Flow of Data: Almost all the applications of sensor network require the sensory data from multiple sources to flow towards a single destination node called sink in contrast to the traditional networks. Sensor node locations: Most of the proposed routing protocols assumed that the sensor nodes are equipped with global positioning system (GPS), but in practice it is very difficult to manage the locations of sensor nodes. It has become more challenging as sensor networks topology changes frequently due to node failures, moving from the coverage area. Data redundancy: Data collected by various sensor nodes are typically based on common phenomenon; hence the probability of data redundancy is very high. The routing protocol needs to incorporate data aggregation techniques to decrease the number of transmission. Application Specific: The sensor networks are application specific. The requirement of routing protocol changes as per the specific application. It is very challenging to design routing protocols which can meet the requirements of all applications. Scalability: The size of the network grows, so the routing protocols need to be scalable to support the addition of sensor nodes. All sensors may not necessarily have same capabilities of energy, processing, sensing and communications. These should be taken care while designing the routing protocols. Addition to the above parameters the designing of routing protocols for wireless sensor networks also need to look into following points [6]: Node deployment Related work: Since wireless sensor networks gain its usage in various application areas, there is a growing interest in this field leading towards continual emergence of new architectural techniques. Wireless sensor network is widely considered as one of the most important technologies of the 21st century [8]. In this section we bring out and highlight how our survey differs from the similar surveys done previously in this area. We also highlight the scope and target group who will benefit from our work. In [2], similar survey was carried out on routing protocols for wireless networks. The information in [2] was published some five years back and many new protocols have not covered. In [3], although it has covered almost all the routing protocols for wireless sensor networks but it does not provide insight knowledge about the protocols. The survey is good for readers interested in broad area. The goal of [8] is to give a comprehensive survey on routing techniques focusing on mobility issues in sensor networks and does not cover all the routing protocols in wireless sensor networks. In this survey, we bring out the comparative study among wireless sensor network routing protocols bringing their differences and similarities. We also bring out the advantages and disadvantages of different protocols to use in different applications of wireless sensor networks. This survey would be useful for both introductory readers as well as for aspirant researchers who would like to get the comprehen sive idea about the current-state-of-art regarding the techniques of data gathering and dissemination in wireless sensor networks. However, we follow [3] in classifying the routing protocols into different categories although we put some additional protocols which are not covered by [3]. We also excluded multipath-based protocol category since it falls under data-centric category. Table 1 shows the different categories of wireless sensor network routing protocols inspired by [3]. The representative protocols with (*) marks are our additions. Table 1: Routing Protocols for WSNs Category of Protocols Representative Protocol Location-based Protocols MECN, SMECN,GAF, GEAR, Span, TBF, BVGF, GeRaF Data-centric Protocols SPIN, Directed Diffusion, Rumor Routing, COUGAR, EAD, ACQUIRE, Information-Directed Routing, Gradient-based Routing, Energy-aware routing, Information Directed Routing, Quorum-based Information dissemination, Home Agent-based Information Dissemination, *Flooding, *Gossiping. Hierarchical-based Protocols LEACH, PEGASIS, HEED, TEEN, APTEEN Mobility-based Protocols SEAD, TTDD, Joint mobility and routing, Data MULES, Dynamic Proxy Tree-based Data Dissemination, *MDC Heterogeneity-based Protocols IDSQ,CADR,CHR QoS-based Protocols SAR, SPEED, Energy-Aware Routing. Data-Centric Protocols The protocols are differentiated into two categories called data-centric and address-centric. The address-centric routing protocols find the shortest path between source and the destination with addressing scheme like IP whereas in data-centric routing protocols focus is made to search routes from multiple source nodes to a single destination node. In the sensor networks, data-centric routing is preferred where data consolidation and aggregation is done by the intermediate nodes on the data coming from multiple sources before sending to the sink node. This way, it saves some energy preventing redundant data transmissions. In this section, we highlight some of the samples of data-centric routing protocols proposed for wireless sensor networks. Flooding: Flooding [5] is a data dissemination method where each sensor node that receives a packet broadcasts it to its neighboring nodes assuming that node itself is not the destination of the packet. This process continues until the packet arrives the destination or the maximum hop counts for that packet is reached. Flooding though is a simple and easy to implement, but it has problem like implosion (duplicate message sent to the same node) and overlap (duplicate message receive by the same node) [2]. Figure 1 and 2 reproduced from [2] shows the implosion and overlap problems in flooding. Gossiping: Gossiping [5] is based on flooding, but nodes that receives the packet forwards it only to a single randomly selected neighbor. It avoids implosion problem of flooding and it does not waste as much network resources as flooding. However, gossiping is not a reliable data dissemination method since the neighbor node is selected at random, some nodes may not receive that message at all. Moreover, it introduces a delay in propagation of data through the nodes [2] since all the nodes which forwards or sends data need to select a node. SPIN: Sensor Protocols for Information via Negotiation (SPIN) [9, 10] aims to improve the implosion and overlapping problems of classic flooding protocol. The SPIN protocols are based on two key mechanisms namely negotiation and resource adaptation [3]. It uses three types of messages [5]: ADV, REQ, and DATA. The sensor node which has collected data sends an ADV message using high-level descriptors or meta-data regarding the actual data. The actual data is transmitted only when the REQ message is received from the interested nodes. This negotiation mechanism avoids the overlapping and implosion problems of classic flooding because the REQ message is sent from the interested node only when it does not have that data. Fig. 3, redrawn from [5] shows how these three messages are exchanged and fig. 4 inspired by [9] and reproduced from [11] shows more detail process who SPIN works. There are about four versions of SPIN protocols [6, 9, 10]. They are SPIN-PP, SPIN-BC, SPIN-EC and SPIN-RL. Both SIPN-PP and SPIN-BC works under ideal condition when energy is not constraint and packet are never lost. SPIN-PP tackles the data dissemination problem by using point to point media where as SPIN-BC uses broadcast media. There other two protocols are the modified versions of SPIN-PP and SPIN-BC in order to network which are not ideal. SPIN-EC is actually SPIN-PP with additional energy conservation capability. Under SPIN-EC, the nodes participate in data dissemination only when it computes that it has enough energy. If the node has plentiful energy, it works as same as SPIN-PP with 3-stage handshake. SPIN-RL is a version of SPIN-BC which tries to recover from the losses in the network by selectively retransmitting the messages. In SPIN topological changes are localized as each node needs to have information of their next immediate one-hop neighbor only. But this type of protocol cannot be used in applications where reliability is of greater concern like forest fire and intrusion detection since it does not guarantee the data delivery [2]. If the nodes that are interested in data are located far way and the intermediate nodes are not interested then the ADV message will not received which in turn will not able to get data. Directed Diffusion: Directed Diffusion [12] consists of elements like interests, data, messages, gradients and reinforcements. The main objective of the protocol is to use naming scheme to reduce the energy usage by avoiding unnecessary routing operations. Interest is a query or interrogation on what user wants and it contains descriptions of a sensing task. Data is the collected or processed information of a physical phenomenon which is named using attribute-value pair. Gradient is a link a neighbor from which interest was received, and it is characterized by data rate, duration, and expiration time which has derived from the received interest filed [2]. A node, usually sink will be broadcasting interest to request data by diffusing interest through its neighbors. The interests are periodically refreshed by the sink. When this interest is received by the intermediate nodes, they cache for future use, or do in-network data aggregation or direct interest based on previous cached data. The source node sen ds the data back through the reverse path of the interest. When data is received by the nodes, they try to compare with the interest cache before. The data which matches the interest is drawn and then sent via the same path where the interest has received. Out of several paths between sink and the source, one path is selected by network by reinforcement. Once this path is selected, the sink sends the original interest again with smaller time interval so as to make the source node on the selected path to send data more frequently. Although directed diffusion has advantages that the protocol can in-network data aggregation and caching which saves energy but this protocol cannot not be applicable to all the applications of wireless sensor networks. The protocol can only be applied to such application which is query driven. It is not suitable for the applications such as forest fire detection or intrusion detection. Fig. 4, copied from [12] shows the working of the protocol. Rumor Routing Rumor routing [13] another variation of Directed Diffusion aims to direct the query to the nodes which have observed event rather than flooding the entire network [2]. It is a logical compromise between query flooding and event flooding [3]. This protocol is only useful if the number of queries compared to number of events is between the two interaction points. See fig. 5, redrawn from [13]. Rumor routing algorithms introduces an agent, a long live packet. An agent, which also contains an event table like nodes, travels the network propagating information about local event to the distant nodes. The agent informs the nodes it encounters of any events it has observed on its way and at the same time it will synchronize its event table with the event table of encountered node. An agent will travel the network for certain number of hops and then die. All the nodes including an agent maintains an event table list that has event-distance pairs, as shown in fig. 6, copied from [13]. So when a node generates a query for an event, the nodes that knows the route, can respond to the query by referring its event table [2]. In this way, flooding the whole network is avoided. Directional rumor routing is proposed in [14], which try to improve latency and energy consumption by considering query and event propagation in straight line instead of random walk in normal rumor routing. Cougar Cougar [15, 16] is a database approach for tasking sensor networks through declarative queries. Since in-network computation is much cheaper than transmission and communication between nodes, cougar approach proposes a loosely-coupled distributed architecture to support both aggregation and in-network computation. This helps in reducing energy consumption thereby increasing lifetime. The architecture introduces a query proxy layer in each sensor node which interacts both with network layer and application layers. The gateway node (where query optimizer is located) generates a query processing plan after receiving queries from the sensor nodes. This query plan specifies both data flow between sensor nodes and in-network computation plan at each individual sensor node. The query plan also contains how to select a leader for the query. The query plan can be viewed at non-leader node and at the leader node. Fig. 7 and fig. 8, redrawn from [15], show query plan at non-leader node (source sensor) and leader node respectively. Although, cougar provides solution to interact with the sensor nodes independent from the network layer, but the insertion of proxy layer at each sensor node introduce extra overhead for sensor node in terms of memory and energy consumption [2]. Additional delay may be incurred with the relay trying to wait for the packets from other nodes for aggregation before sending to the leader node. ACQUIRE ACQUIRE [16] is a data-centric routing protocol aiming at large distributed databases. It aims at complex queries which comprise of several sub-queries that are combined by conjunctions or disjunctions in an arbitrary manner. The protocol sends an active query packet into the network. This active query packet is sent by the sink, which takes random path or path predefined or guided. The node which receives this active query packet uses information stored within them to partially resolve the query. If the nodes do not have updated information, they gather the information from their neighboring nodes with the distance of d (look-ahead parameter) hops. When the active query is resolved completely, the response is sent back to the node which has issued the query. Some of the assumptions made in this protocol are [17]: the sensors, with same transmission range are laid out uniformly in a region and they are stationary and do not fail. EAD: Energy-Aware Data-Centric Routing Energy-Aware Data-Centric (EAD) [18] aims to construct a virtual backbone containing all active sensors, which is responsible for in-network data processing and relaying traffic. The radios of other nodes which are not in the virtual backbone are put off to conserve the energy. The sensor network is represented by a broadcast tree rooted at the gateway and spanning all the sensors with large leaf nodes. In order to conserve power, the radios of these leaf nodes are put off while the nodes which are in virtual backbone are active for traffic relaying. The protocol tries to construct broadcast spanning tree network with maximum leaf nodes so that maximum energy can be conserved. The concept of EAD is to include the neighboring broadcast scheduling and the distributed competition among neighbors, based on residual energy [18]. The efficiency of the protocol would be more when the size of the network is small. When the size of the network is large, execution time will be more since the e xecution process propagates from the sink to the whole network. Other protocol like the one proposed by Shah and Rabaey in [19] also aims at increasing network life time. They use network survivability as the main metric and propose to choose one of the multiple paths with a certain probability so that the whole network life time increases. But the protocol assumes that each node is addressable with some addressing schemes. Information-Directed Routing Location-based Protocols Since sensor nodes have limited energy capacity, most of the routing protocols aim to reduce the consumption of energy in routing processes. In most of the protocols location of the sensor nodes are used to find the distance between two communicating pairs in order to find the best possible path with low energy usage. If location of a particular sensor node is known, query can be sent to that particular location only without sending to other regions which will reduce the number of transmission significantly [2]. Location-based protocol makes use of the position information to relay data to the network rather than the whole network. In this section, we describe some of the location-based routing protocols proposed for wireless sensor networks. Minimum Energy Communication Network (MECN): Hierarchical-based Protocols

Comparing Negativity in Utopia, Christian Liberty, and The Prince :: compare and contrast essay examples

Negativity in Utopia, Christian Liberty, and he Prince More in Utopia, Luther in Christian Liberty, and Machiavelli in The Prince all say that people are bad-that no matter what is done bad things will happen; however, all three authors approached the subject differently. Machiavelli has hardest "people are scum" message. The entire book outlines ways to take advantage of other people. Through examination of history, Machiavelli wrote The Prince as a handbook of how things had worked in the past, and-he believed-would work again in the future. Machiavelli makes suggestions like if one wished to eliminate their competition the should do so quickly instead of allowing deaths and trials to drag on forever, because people are more likely to forget something that happened quickly. Machiavelli believed that people are bad, and that to get ahead in life one should take advantage of others. If it were capable to ask Thomas More directly if he believed people were scum he would most likely say no. He believed that if people were treated openly and honestly they would do the same for you; More is definitely very non-Machiavellian. However, More also accepted that people would do bad things. In his perfect societies mentioned in Utopia he set forth ways which people who did not follow the rules were dealt with-and most often this retribution was quite harsh. From the monologue of Raphael in the first part of the book it is obvious that More believes that at the time of his writing the world was not in good condition; however, he believed that people could be reformed. The last paragraph of the book exposes this belief: "But I freely admit that there are many features of the Utopian Republic which I should like-though I hardly expect-to see adopted in Europe." In Christian Liberty, Luther states his belief that all people will sin-in other words human are incapable of not doing bad things. Within the first few paragraphs of Christian Liberty, Luther states the entire problem with human existence: the two-fold nature of the man. Man has both a bodily component and a spiritual component. Luther quotes Galatians 5:17 to support his argument: "for the desires of flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh." Luther's belief is that the bodily side of man will cause him to bad things and that is inevitable.

Inclusion: Beyond Special Needs Essay -- Educational Issues

Inclusion in education is an approach to educating students with special educational needs; under this model students with special needs spend most or all of their time with non-disabled students. Evidence from the last decade reveals that segregation of special needs students, as opposed to spending time with non-disabled students, is actually damaging to them both academically and socially. Segregating students placed in the special education category is a trend that has been vastly common in public schools, but in the last few years inclusion in general education settings is becoming a more credible option. Placing students in an inclusive classroom is effective in positively adjusting not only their academic performance, but also social and developmental skills needed throughout life. Despite concerns of successfulness and outlook, the inclusion of special needs students in general education classrooms within the public school arena proves to be beneficial for all aspects of edu cation. In contrast to the beneficial validities of inclusive education, there are also particular disputed concerns that are occasionally brought to light and require attention in inclusive classrooms. â€Å"Despite a move toward inclusion being the most significant trend across†¦countries†¦the academic consequences of educating students with special needs in inclusive rather than separate settings remain contested† (Canadian Council on Learning 2). One of the leading worries being noticed because of this growing trend is generally how attention will be divided in the classrooms among all types of learners. â€Å"The growing demand for inclusive practices within mainstream schools has resulted in classroom teachers having to take direct responsibility for the ... ....† British Journal of Special Education 33.2 (2006): 76-81. Academic Search Premier. Web. 27 Feb. 2012 Roffman, Leslie, Todd Wanerman, and Cassandra Britton. Including One, Including All: A Guide to Relationship-Based Early Childhood Inclusion. St. Paul: Redleaf Press, 2011. 8. Print. Roffman, Leslie, Todd Wanerman, and Cassandra Britton. Including One, Including All: A Guide to Relationship-Based Early Childhood Inclusion. St. Paul: Redleaf Press, 2011. 9. Print. Schulz-Hamsa, Irene. Inclusion and Technology: A Marriage of Convenience for Educational Leaders. 1998. ERIC. Web. 27 Feb. 2012. Yuen, Mantak, Westwood, and Wong. â€Å"Meeting the Needs of Students with Specific Learning Difficulties in the Mainstream Education System: Data From Primary School Teachers in Hong Kong.† International Journal of Special Education 20.1 (2005): 67-68 ERIC. Web. 27 Feb. 2012.

The Onion Rhetorical

With the use of criticism, this press release is used to satirize how advertisement is degrading to Americans, and to mock the ordeal methods used by marketers to sell products to consumers as absurd. By using obvious fictional fads, and somewhat surprisingly effective persuasive writing skills, this article is humorous and completely irrelevant. However with the correct use of persuasive writing techniques, mixed with irrelevant, and unrealistic factual information the authors create a humorous satirical scene.The mocking starts right away in the first paragraph of the piece. The first sentence â€Å"stressed and sore-footed Americans everywhere† starts off the first part of hyperbole with the word â€Å"Everywhere† indicating that they are exaggerating how many American’s have sore feet for not EVERY American has a sore foot. It provides the reader a sense of exaggeration in the piece. In attempt to establish the need the authors use â€Å"Americans everywhere are clamoring for the exciting new MagnaSoles..† This provides the audience with the fact Americans are too caught up with having the new latest item.Next the author uses the diction choices â€Å"stimulate† and â€Å"soothe† to describe the action the magnaSoles will have on the wearer’s feet. This gives an irrelevant outcome for the words stimulate and soothe are not related at all and have different definitions. Towards the end of the paragraph the authors use unrealistic diction choices and sarcasm to make their claim. The word â€Å"Pseudoscience† is used to describe the type of â€Å"5 forms† of science used to make the MagnaSoles. The authors use the word â€Å"pseudoscience† for the word â€Å"Pseudo† means fake, allowing the reader to see that they are talking about fake science.They do this in hopes to have the readers think on the advertisements they watch and how much of the information on those advertisements are a ccurate and true. The authors used â€Å"which stimulate an soothe the wearers feet using no fewer than five forms of pseudoscience† as a form of paradox to help support the idea that they are creating for the audience.The purpose changes throughout the piece. The second paragraph changes purpose compared to paragraph one. In the next few sections/paragraphs the writers are mocking the archetypal use of â€Å"Expert† testimony to authority to  convince consumers of the inaccurately fictional product. The first Rhetorical device used is Testimony to authority, starting with the first sentence. They use â€Å"expert† quotes from the made up Dr. Bluni.The doctor tries to explain how different the insoles are by stating â€Å"what makes MagnaSoles different†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Then as he continues the author uses sarcasm by stating â€Å"harnesses the power of magnetism to property align the bio magnetic field around your foot.† The author uses these inaccurate and fictional â€Å"smart words† to show the audience the illogical information used on today’s advertisements is believed by such gullible consumers. As the second paragraph goes on the authors are in hopes to convince their audience to realize that they believe in whatever someone says as long as they are using bold words.In order to do this the writes use another diction choice â€Å"isometrically† which is a made up fiction word. As the piece progresses on the authors use sarcasm to convince the readers that consumers’ are believable to marketers as long as they are using â€Å"scientific-sounding literature†.The authors do so by adding â€Å"according to the scientific- sounding literature trumpeting the new insoles†. Another piece of sarcasm and paradox used in this paragraph to again show the guillableness of the consumers and stupidity of the advertisements in today’s era is â€Å"reflexology.. Establishes correspondence betw een every point on the human foot and another between of the body..†The diction â€Å"Reflexology† is another fictional word the author uses to show how gullible the audience is because it sounds scientific so â€Å"it must be true†. â€Å"Correspondence between every point on the human foot and another between of the body..† is incorrect information. Lastly in that sentence to prove the point the author is trying to get across he also adds â€Å"enabling your soles to heal your entire body as you walk† . With this entire paragraph put the way it is so sarcastically it allows the readers to see how foolish they are when they don’t see past the improper evidence the marketers give off.Moving into the fourth paragraph, which still contains the same purpose as the second paragraph, the authors use paradox to get the claim across to the audience. Such as â€Å" MagnaSoles utilize the healing power of crystals to restimulate dead foot cells with vibrational biofeedback..† The author uses this paradox to show the MagnaSoles â€Å"appearance of usefulness†. As the  satire continues the authors continue to use mocking fiction words such as â€Å"pseudoscience†, â€Å"terranometry†, and â€Å"pseudoscientists†.The authors add in sarcasm in lines 35-38 to help the audience visualize the â€Å"top† science that are issued for advertisements are most likely fakes. Such as â€Å"..developed specially for intergraded products by some of the nation’s top pseudoscientists† . starting line 39 another fictional word is added in to help the purpose of mocking the ordeal methods used by marketers to sell products to consumers, and the word is â€Å"Terranometry† which is the mockly said to be discovered by Dr. Frankel who â€Å"Discovered† Terranomtry.This sets up imagery for the audience to see how the Fake scientists â€Å"discovered† the research for the prod uct and â€Å"Developed the research† for the products in real life are just lying their way through the marketing agencies and the consumers.Lines 43-45 gives off more untruthful information that the writers purposely wrote to help the readers gain more of an understanding that the commercials and advertisements they see day to day have non trustworthy information on them in order to sell better because of the desire for greed. The authors write â€Å"if the frequency of one’s foot is out of alignment with the earth, the entire body will suffer† this helps the author’s claim that they are trying to make. Throughout this paragraph unrealistic diction choices such as â€Å"terranometry† and â€Å"kilofrankels† are used to let the reader see the marketer’s desire for money is so strong that they are willing to lie their way into consumers mind to get a sale.Moving into the final section of the piece the authors use Testimony of authorit y and sarcasm to help the reader see the stupidity of the consumers and to finalize the logic that the science to develop most inventions are false, the need is false, and the product is false. The authors add in a sarcastic quote â€Å"I twisted by ankle something awful†¦ but after wearing MagnaSoles for seven weeks, ive noticed a significant decrease in pain..†This allows the audience to indicate the logic of the consumers gets mentally disrupted by the customers thinking the â€Å"product† healed them when in all truth it was nature. It pushes the reader to understand that when they see a smart looking man advertising a product that they are hypnotized into thinking that the product is useful and effective when it could just as well be junk and fake.Another Rhetorical device the writers use is  Testimony to authority, and the authors use is a quote from a back-pain suffer saying â€Å" why should I pay thousands for therapy when I can pay 20$ for insoles cle arly endorsed by an Intelligent looking man in a white lab coat† This once again lets the readers see how consumers think so little as to what the product actually is and will buy anything as long as the man looks smart or is â€Å"an intelligent looking man in a white lab coat†.The authors try getting the audience to see that the appearance of the man on the advertisement doesn’t mean the product is correct. You can dress up the appearance of a teacher, but the info they say will still be the same. The authors are trying to be paradoxical to try to argue with the illogical audience to have them change views of their own logic, and to not be having faith in unbelievable foolishness.

Nutritive Value of Vegetables Essay

All vegetables are valuable sources of nutrients. Some Vitamin A sources of vegetables are leafy green and bright orange vegetables. Cabbage, Tomatoes and potatoes are a good source of vitamin B. Iron and Calcium are the most important minerals. Leafy green vegetables are a good mineral source. Some vegetables contain carbohydrates- sugar like peas, sweet potatoes, corn and beans. Nutritive Value of Fruit Fruit of all kinds is valuable for the nutrients supplied. Everybody needs Vitamin and Mineral content that fruit contributes to be healthy. Because vitamin C can’t be stored in the body, a daily source of vitamin C is needed. Eating oranges, grapefruit, or mandarins will supply enough vitamin C for the day. The bright yellow and orange colour of any fruit indicates a rich source of vitamin A. Iron is the most important mineral available from fruit. Some of the greatest minerals in fruits are right under the skin so the skin should be eaten if possible. Storing Fresh Vegetables -Tuber vegetables should be stored in a cool, dark, airy place. Most will keep for 4-9 months long is stored in cool areas. -Remove tops of root vegetables before storing in a cool, moist place they will keep for several weeks if stored properly. -Store bulb vegetables uncovered in a dry airy place lasting several weeks – Stalk vegetables should be put in a plastic bag and kept in a cool area and used within a week -Leaf vegetables should be stored in a plastic bag in cool area and must only stayed good a few days. -All seed vegetables should be stored in the fridge -Mushrooms should be put in a paper bag in fridge and not in a plastic bag because the paper absorbs any moisture given off by the mushrooms, should be used within a week.

Effectiveness of Software Quality Assurance in Offshore Development Enterprises in Sri Lanka

EFFECTIVENESS OF SOFTWARE QUALITY ASSURANCE IN OFFSHORE DEVELOPMENT ENTERPRISES IN SRI LANKA Malinda Sirisena, Department of Computer Science & Engineering, University of Moratuwa. ABSTRACT The aim of the research described in this thesis is to evaluate the effectiveness of software quality assurance approaches of Sri Lankan offshore software development organizations, and to propose a framework which could be used across all offshore software development organizations. An empirical study was conducted using derived framework from popular software quality evaluation models.The research instrument employed was a questionnaire survey among thirty seven Sri Lankan registered offshore software development organizations. The findings demonstrate a positive view of Effectiveness of Software Quality Assurance – the stronger predictors of Stability, Installability, Correctness, Testability and Changeability. The present study’s recommendations indicate a need for much emphasis on software quality assurance for the Sri Lankan offshore software development organizations. Keywords: Software Quality Assurance (SQA), Offshore Software Development, Quality Assurance Evaluation Models, Effectiveness of Quality Assurance. BACKGROUND INFORMATION Software Quality Assurance (QA) plays a major role in successful implementation and maintenance of a software project. In many organizations, QA has been simply traded-off to project cost [1]. The motivation of this research is to highlight the value of Software Quality Assurance against the economic cost. The IEEE standard ANSI/IEEE 730-2002 defines software quality assurance as â€Å"a planned and systematic pattern of all actions necessary to provide adequate confidence that the software conforms to established technical requirements†[2].QA is not only holding a direct relationship of meeting customer satisfaction, but it has a very high impact on project schedules and cost. Failing to pay attention is often resu lted in budget overruns and schedule delays [3]. Software Quality Assurance has paid back in many industries such as telecommunication, health, travel, law, hospital, government and schools in many American organizations. †¢ A system of teaching hospitals conservatively estimates $17. 8 million saved on an investment of $2. 5 million in quality management over a five-year time period. The University of Pennsylvania saved more than $60,000 a year from one project focused on reducing mailing cost. †¢ The U. S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reduced the time needed to produce the monthly Consumer Price Index (CPI), compiled by 650 people in five departments, by 33 percent with no loss in accuracy. [4] Even in Sri Lankan software engineering companies, have been recognized QA as an important element. In 2005, Affno (www. affno. lk) has won the National Best Quality Software Gold Award for their product – eTender, which developed for Sri Lanka Telecom to automate their tende ring process [5]. 2 THEORETICAL BASE OF THE STUDY 2. WHAT IS SOFTWARE QUALITY The IEEE standard ANSI/IEEE 730-2002 defines software quality assurance as â€Å"a planned and systematic pattern of all actions necessary to provide adequate confidence that the software conforms to established technical requirements†[2]. By going down the path of IEEE definition, there are two major camps when defining software quality[6]: 1. Conformance to specification: quality defines in terms of the level which the product or service meets its’ written specifications. 2. Meeting customer needs: meeting customer’s explicit or implicit needs, irrespective of any measurable product or service characteristics.Currently software quality assurance is measured in two ways: from technical perspective and from user perspective[7]. In the technical perspective of measuring software quality is based on specifications. Developers measure quality and ensure specifications in terms of errors i n code through testing process and through other mechanisms such as formal specifications, structured programming[8]. End-user perspective of software quality is measured through user experience to denote how well software meets user expectations. User dissatisfactions do not necessarily be resulting from failure to meet specifications or coding errors. . 2 SOFTWARE QUALITY MANAGEMENT PHILOSOPHIES This section of the literature presents different philosophies of quality from view points of quality management gurus. These quality management philosophies could be a good alternative to formalized quality models which the research is going to based on. Quality management requires customer satisfaction, prefers prevention to inspection, and recognizes management responsibility for quality[9]. 2. 2. 1 DEMING AND FOURTEEN POINTS FOR MANAGEMENT Walter Edward Deming defines quality in terms of customer satisfaction[10].Customer satisfaction is beyond conformance to specifications. According to Deming, the judge of quality should be the end user or the customer. Deming argues that management system should implement in a way that everyone in the organization to be responsible for quality of their output to the internal stakeholders. He introduced fourteen points for management for people to understand and implement necessary quality transformation[10]: 1. Create constancy of purpose for improvement of product and service: Stay in business and provide jobs through innovation, research, constant improvement and maintenance. 2.Adopt the new philosophy: For the new economic age, management needs to take leadership for change into a learning organization. 3. Cease dependence on mass inspection: Eliminate the need for mass inspection by building quality into the product. 4. End awarding business on price: Aim at minimum total cost and move towards single suppliers. 5. Improve constantly and forever the system of production and service: Improvement is not a one-time effort. Man agement is obligated to continually look for ways to reduce waste and improve quality. 6. Institute training: Workers should be trained properly on their jobs. . Institute leadership: Leading shall consist of helping people to do a better job and to learn by objective methods. 8. Drive out fear: To assure better quality and productivity, people feel secure. 9. Break down barriers between departments: Team work culture across departments. 10. Eliminate slogans, exhortations and numerical targets: Let workers formulate their own slogans. Then they will be committed to the contents. 11. Eliminate numerical quotas or work standards: Quotas take into account only numbers, not quality or methods. They are usually a guarantee of inefficiency and high cost.A person, in order to hold a job, will try to meet a quota at any cost, including doing damage to the company. 12. Remove barriers to taking pride in workmanship: People are eager to do a good job and distressed when they cannot. 13. Inst itute a vigorous programme of education: Both management and the work force will have to be educated in the new knowledge and understanding, including teamwork and statistical techniques. 14. Take action to accomplish the transformation: It will require a special top management team with a plan of action to carry out the quality mission.A critical mass of people in the company must understand the 14 points. 2. 2. 2 JURAN AND THE IMPORTANCE OF TOP MANAGEMENT COMMITMENT TO QUALITY Joseph M Juran proposes two meanings to quality[11]: 1. Quality consists of those product features which meet the need of customers and thereby provide product satisfaction. 2. Quality consists of freedom from deficiencies. In the handbook Juran propose quality as â€Å"fitness for use† rather than â€Å"meeting customer needs† he argues that it is not a feasible task to meet customer need. His view is much closer to the thought – â€Å"conformance to specifications†.Juran propose s three fundamental managerial processes for the task of managing quality. The three elements of the Juran Trilogy are[11]: 1. Quality planning: A process that identifies the customers, their requirements, the product and service features that customers expect, and the processes that will deliver those products and services with the correct attributes and then facilitates the transfer of this knowledge to the producing arm of the organization. 2. Quality control: A process in which the product is examined and evaluated against the original requirements expressed by the customer. Problems detected are then corrected. . Quality improvement: A process in which the sustaining mechanisms are put in place so that quality can be achieved on a continuous basis. This includes allocating resources, assigning people to pursue quality projects, training those involved in pursuing projects, and in general establishing a permanent structure to pursue quality and maintain the gains secured. 2. 2. 3 CROSBY AND STRIVING FOR ZERO DEFECTS Philip B Crosby is a â€Å"conformance to specification† adherer. Crosby summarizes his perspective on quality in fourteen steps that is built around four fundamental â€Å"absolutes† of quality management[12]: 1.Quality is defined as conformance to requirements, not as â€Å"goodness† or â€Å"elegance† 2. The system for causing quality is prevention, not appraisal. That is, the quality system for suppliers attempting to meet customers' requirements is to do it right the first time. Crosby is a strong advocate of prevention, not inspection. In a Crosby oriented quality organization everyone has the responsibility for his or her own work. There is no one else to catch errors. 3. The performance standard must be Zero Defects, not â€Å"that's close enough†. Crosby has advocated the notion that zero errors can and should be a target. . The measurement of quality is the cost of quality. Costs of imperfection, if corrected, have an immediate beneficial effect on bottom-line performance as well as on customer relations. 2. 2. 4 ISHIKAWA AND FISHBONE DIAGRAM Kaoru Ishikawa defines quality as â€Å"meeting customer needs†[13]. He further argues that no specific quality standard could ever define and following them does not meet the expected quality levels. According to Ishikawa, quality is a very broad concept which goes beyond product, service, process, information quality, etc.He introduced quality circles through Fishbone diagrams. 2. 2. 5 FEIGENBAUM AND TOTAL QUALITY CONTROL Armand Vallin Feigenbaum built his thought around â€Å"total quality control†[14]. Feigenbaum states that quality is a dynamic factor which must be defined in terms of customer experiences. He further states that quality should satisfy customers’ explicit and implicit needs[14]. 2. 3 SOFTWARE QUALITY MODELS Previous section focus on different view points of quality management gurus. These points wi ll be helpful in solving common quality management problems in Sri Lankan, offshore enterprises.Quality management philosophies presented in the previous section represent flexible and qualitative view of quality; this section will present a rigid and quantitative[15] quality structure, which will be a roadmap of identifying independent variables for current study. 2. 3. 1 MCCALL’S QUALITY MODEL Jim McCall’s quality model is primarily aimed towards the system developers and development process, however he has tried to bridge the gap between users and developers by focusing on number of quality factors, considering both user’s and developer’s priorities[16, 17].The quality model is organized around three quality characteristics[16]: Figure 1: McCall’s quality model organized around three types of quality characteristics McCall’s model furthermore elaborated with a hierarchy of factors, criteria and metrics around the three types of major pers pectives. Figure 2: McCall’s quality model Eleven factors on the left-hand side of the model represent the external view of quality as viewed by end users. These eleven factors attribute to twenty three quality criteria, which describe the internal view of software. The evaluation is done by answering each quality criteria with â€Å"yes† and â€Å"no†.Finally the quality level is derived as a percentage based on the responses received as â€Å"yes†. 2. 3. 2 BOEHM’S QUALITY MODEL Barry W Boehm’s model has similarities to McCall’s model. His qualitative approach of defining quality stems from three levels in the hierarchy, which ends with primitive characteristics[18]. These primitive characteristics individually contribute to the overall quality level. Figure 3: Boehm's software quality characteristics tree[19]. Quality measurement is carried out through extent or degree to which the product or service achieves each characteristic[19] . 2. 3. 3 ISO 9126Among the ISO 9000 series of quality standards, ISO has released the ISO 9126: Software Product Evaluation[20]. Figure 4: The ISO 9126 quality model [20]. ISO further proposes quality characteristics/guidelines to evaluate the above six areas of importance. Figure 5: ISO 9126 quality attributes Each quality factor/ six areas of importance is represented by sub-factors as depicted in the above diagram. Details of each selected attribute will be discussed in the next chapter. 3 CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK This chapter elaborates how the conceptual framework for the study has been derived through the existing work identified in the literature review. . 1 EXISTING WORK Since the study is on evaluating software quality from software developing organization’s view, it is necessary to filter down the quality attributes discovered in the literature, only to represent developer view of software quality. Therefore it has been decided to take the union of developer related qu ality attributes from all three popular models referred in the previous chapter. It is not an easy task to differentiate developer oriented quality attributes from user oriented attributes as quality classifications are different from each model and some attributes are subjective to their multiple definitions.For a consistent interpretation of the quality attributes, the definitions of attributes have been used according to Software Engineering Institute’s (SEI) Software Technology Roadmap glossary[23] and ISO 9126[24] definitions. 3. 1. 1 DEVELOPER ORIENTED ATTRIBUTES FROM MCCALL’S MODEL McCall’s model mainly goes hand in hand with external quality factors. Following are the quality attributes extracted from McCall model, which are related to developer related quality based on SEI definitions. Selected Attribute Maintainability SEI Definition[23] â€Å"The ease with which a software system or component can be odified to correct faults, improve performance, or other attributes, or adapt to a changed environment. † â€Å"The degree to which a system or component facilitates the establishment of test criteria and the performance of tests to determine whether those criteria have been met. † â€Å"The ease with which a system or component can be modified for use in applications or environments other than those for which it was specifically designed. † â€Å"The ease with which a system or component can be transferred from one hardware or software environment to another. â€Å"The degree to which a software module or other work product can be used in more than one computing program or software system. † â€Å"The ability of two or more systems or components to exchange information and to use the information that has been exchanged. † Testability Flexibility Portability Reusability Interoperability Table 1: Developer related quality attributes from McCall’s model 3. 1. 2 ADDITIONAL ATTRIBUTES FROM BOEHM ’S MODEL Boehm’s model, which has put the utility perspective in terms of quality, is much similar to McCall’s model.After evaluating definitions, following two attributes were added to the list. Selected Attribute Understandability Modifiability SEI Definition[23] â€Å"The degree to which the purpose of the system or component is clear to the evaluator. † â€Å"The degree to which a system or component facilitates the incorporation of changes, once the nature of the desired change has been determined. † Table 2: Additional developer related quality attributes from Boehm’s model 3. 1. 3 ADDITIONAL ATTRIBUTES FROM ISO 9126 Following are sub-attributes taken from the ISO 9126 definitions.Selected Attribute Analyzability ISO Definition[24] â€Å"The capability of the software product to be diagnosed for deficiencies or causes of failures in the software, or for the parts to be modified to be identified. † â€Å"The capability of the so ftware product to enable a specified modification to be implemented. † â€Å"The capability of the software product to avoid unexpected effects from modifications of the software. † â€Å"The capability of the software product to be adapted for different specified environments without applying actions or means other than those provided for this purpose for the software considered. â€Å"The capability of the software product to be installed in a specified environment. † â€Å"The capability of the software product to co-exist with other independent software in a common environment sharing common resources. † Changeability Stability Adaptability Installability Co-existence Replaceability â€Å"The capability of the software product to be used in place of another specified software product for the same purpose in the same environment. † Table 3: Additional developer related quality attributes from ISO 9126 model 3. 1. 4 FINAL ATTRIBUTE LISTAfter anal yzing the above mentioned attribute lists and completing the preliminary studies, the list could filter down to the following for the current study. 1. Correctness 2. Testability 3. Changeability 4. Stability 5. Installability In the following sections, each of above attribute will be discussed in terms of their quality characteristics. 3. 1. 4. 1 CORRECTNESS SEI defines correctness as â€Å"The degree to which a system or component is free from faults in its specification, design, and implementation†[23]. McCall attributes correctness through[16]: †¢ †¢ †¢ Traceability Completeness ConsistencyThrough traceability, it makes possible to know the relationships of each module or component and thereby higher confidence states correctness. Completeness assures that there are no parts left in terms in executing a function of a system or a procedure; thereby 100% completeness ratio guarantees correctness. Inconsistent systems or functions will lead to higher error pro bability; therefore it is a part of correctness. Through the initial discussions with some key personnel, it was revealed that these characteristics are equally hard to reach to achieve Correctness. . 1. 4. 2 TESTABILITY SEI defines testability as â€Å"The degree to which a system or component facilitates the establishment of test criteria and the performance of tests to determine whether those criteria have been met†[23]. Both McCall and Boehm have attributed testability to quality assurance on following characteristics[16, 18]: †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ Simplicity Instrumentation Self-descriptiveness Modularity and structuredness Accountability Accessibility Communicativeness. Simplicity of applications will make easier in testing comparatively to complex applications.Instrumentation makes possible to put probes in the system in order to deduce test data. Self-descriptive systems have inbuilt help or system documentation which will be sufficie nt to understand the system by going through. Modularity helps in isolating system tests which structuredness denotes consistent organization of the system. Accountability on system for which it is possible to measure the usage of the code[19]. Such measurements are typically covered by debugging tools, which exist specifically for programming languages. Accessibility of a system allows usage of its parts in a selective manner[19].This allows in creating flexible test scenarios. Through communicativeness, systems make easier to understand inputs and output, which makes easier to compose test cases. 3. 1. 4. 3 CHANGEABILITY ISO defines changeability as â€Å"The capability of the software product to enable a specified modification to be implemented†[24]. Changeability is an attribute defined in ISO 9126 and lacks supporting characteristic definitions. However changeability could be achieved through: †¢ Aiming simple solution rather than complicated systems as by nature si mple applications are easier to change. Low coupling of individual modules of a system as lower interactions make easier to change individual components. †¢ Designing the systems change in mind from the beginning while keeping application evolution. 3. 1. 4. 4 STABILITY ISO defines stability as â€Å"The capability of the software product to avoid unexpected effects from modifications of the software†[24]. Therefore stability in this context does not denote the ability of the system to show stable behavior when used. However, if modification often results in unexpected behavior, there will be a high impact on stability.Stability is directly influenced by Changeability. Low changeability is likely to show low stability. This will depict the fact that, trying to change a low changeable system will lead to a greater risk of instability. 3. 1. 4. 5 INSTALLABILITY ISO defines Installability as â€Å"The capability of the software product to be installed in a specified enviro nment†[24]. Installability requirements are generally specified in the form of an installation process. The target environment in this case will have to be known at the development time.Installability is measured as a percentage exercised of the total specified Installability requirements. In the Sri Lankan context, Installability is commonly referred as Deployability. 3. 1. 5 RELATIONSHIPS OF VARIABLES Having identified the variables and attributes, it had been decided to limit the study to following variables, after interviewing key quality assurance personnel in target organizations. Based on their arguments, on applicability to offshore organizations, the best suited variables have been selected for the study. Dependent Variable: Effectiveness of Software Quality Assurance Independent Variables: . Correctness a. Completeness b. Consistency 2. Testability a. Simplicity b. Modularity c. Structuredness 3. Changeability a. Simplicity b. Coupling 4. Stability a. Changeability 5 . Installability Having identified the variables, following relationships have been derived based on the reviewed literature in the previous section. Correctness Testability Effectiveness of Software Quality Assurance Changeability Stability Installability Independent Variables Figure 6: Schematic diagram for conceptual framework Dependent Variable 3. 2 HYPOTHESES FORMULATEDIn order to statistically test the derived conceptual framework, following hypotheses have been formulated. Since the study is targeted to test each independent variable separately, hypotheses also have been formulated independently to each independent variable. H01: there is no relationship between the Correctness of software developed and released to QA team), on the effectiveness of software quality assurance approach. HA1: the greater the Correctness of software developed and delivered to QA team, the higher the effectiveness of software quality assurance approach.H02: there is no relationship between the Tes tability of software developed and released to QA team, on the effectiveness of software quality assurance approach. HA2: the greater the Testability of software developed and delivered to QA team, the higher the effectiveness of software quality assurance approach. H03: there is no relationship between the Changeability of software developed and released to QA team, on the effectiveness of software quality assurance approach. HA3: the greater the Changeability of software developed and delivered to QA team, the higher the effectiveness of software quality assurance approach.H04: there is no relationship between the Stability of software developed and released to QA team, on the effectiveness of software quality assurance approach. HA4: the greater the Stability of software developed and delivered to QA team, the higher the effectiveness of software quality assurance approach. H05: there is no relationship between the Installability of software developed and released to QA team, on the effectiveness of software quality assurance approach. HA5: the greater the Installability of software developed and delivered to QA team, the higher the effectiveness of software quality assurance approach. RESEARCH DESIGN Research design will outline the roadmap of achieving the research objectives thorough the identified variables and theoretical framework. Details of study Purpose of the study Type of investigation Extent of researcher interface Minimal: studying events as they normally occur and defining a framework Study setting Measurement Measurement and measures Effectiveness of Software Quality Assurance in Emerging Offshore Development Enterprises in Sri Lanka Descriptive: quality evaluation framework Hypothesis testing: to validate the evaluation frameworkCorrelation: study of correlations to effectiveness against evaluation factors Noncontrived: study in real business environment Quality factors and their applicability through quality matrices and Likert scales Data analysis 1. Classification of data 2. Goodness of data Unit of analysis Sampling design Time horizon Data collection method 3. Hypotheses testing Individuals based on job categories in Offshoring organizations Judgmental sampling of individual in the entire population of offshore enterprises Crosssectional Interviews, Questionnaires, Observations Figure 7: The research design 4. 1 TYPE AND NATURE OF THE STUDYThe study was an empirical study through analysis of responses to the questionnaires which was formulated through the conceptual framework. 4. 2 DATA COLLECTION METHODS Since the study is on offshore software development organizations, it has been decided to collect data from all registered companies in Software Exporters Association Sri Lanka and seven other offshore software development organizations in Sri Lanka. There were forty seven registered members as of first August, 2007. Questionnaires were distributed to the key quality assurance person or to the most senior quality assurance person in each organization. . 2. 1 QUESTIONNAIRE DESIGN A structured questionnaire was used to gather responses apart from the preliminary interviews. The questionnaire is divided in to four main sections. Section one has eleven questions, capturing organizational demographics of the responder. Section two has six questions, to capture responder’s personal demographics. Section three is the main section of the questionnaire which captures organizations’ software quality assurance, project specific demographics and responses to test the conceptual framework. Section four is targeted to capture additional information for the conceptual framework. RESULTS OF DATA ANALYSIS Responses received had been categorized to qualitative data and quantitative data. Qualitative data had been used to understand the responder’s and company background. Quantitative responses, where the scale data is measured have been assigned scores as per following table for statisti cal analysis. Response Selected Strongly disagree Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly agree Score Assigned 1 2 3 4 5 Table 5: Rates given for questionnaire responses Each response was individually assessed to ensure data validity and integrity.Incomplete responses have been followed up with the responder with available contact information and have been able to complete in many instances. For the blank responses, score three was assigned in case the question is not applicable to the responder’s organization. Following summary shows the statistics of the questionnaire distribution and responses received. Number of Organizations that Questionnaire had been sent 47 SEA registered companies + 7 other offshore companies Total Responses Received 39 Invalid / Unusable 2 Number of Valid Responses 37Table 6: Statistics of questionnaire distribution responses received 5. 1 PILOT STUDY To test the primary data a pilot study was run among fourteen Quality Assurance Engineers at an offshore so ftware development organization, using a draft questionnaire. On the scale of reliability in order to treat results with credibility[25] and the internal consistency of the draft questionnaire, was checked by using Cronbach’s alpha coefficient. The alpha coefficient should be above . 7 for the scale to be reliable[26]. The overall Cronbach’s alpha coefficient was . 81, thus the questionnaire was considered to have a good internal consistency and suitable for collecting the data for the main study. Details of Cronbach’s alpha are discussed under Analysis of Reliability Section, below. 5. 2 PRELIMINARY ANALYSIS All thirty seven organizations selected as valid responses are exporting software. 89. 19% of the selected organizations are locally owned while 10. 81% of organizations which are in Sri Lankan operation are owned by foreign parties. 64. 86% of the target organizations are project based companies while 21. 2% of the organizations focus only on their own pro ducts. However 13. 51% of the organizations undertake client projects while they market their own products. 10 8 No. of Organizations 6 4 2 0 1. 00 2. 00 3. 00 4. 00 5. 00 6. 00 7. 00 8. 00 12. 00 14. 00 No. of years in Sri Lankan Operation Figure 8: Analysis of organizations against number of years in operation According to the above graph, most of the Sri Lankan offshore organizations under the current study have started their operation two years before. 75. 68% of the responders were males and the balance 24. 32% were females.The average age of responders was 30. 11 years. On an average, they posses one year of experience in their current position in the respective organizations. The following chart represents the education level of responders. 30 25 20 Count 15 10 5 0 Non IT Graduate IT/Comp. Science Post Graduate Graduate Deploma MSc/MBA/Post Graduate Degree Other Education Level Figure 9: Education level of responders Majority of quality assurance heads in the target organizat ions posses Information Technology or a Computer Science degree. 3. 03% Little Early 9. 09% On Time 24. 24% Too Delayed 3. 64% Little Delayed Figure 10: Project completion against estimates Responders were asked to select a completed project/product when they responded to part 3 of the questionnaire. The above pie chart highlights the project/product completion time against the estimates of the selected projects by the responders. From the selected projects/products, majority have been completed with a little delay from the estimates. Mean and the variance are calculated for each question under each independent variable and the dependent variable through the assigned scores as per Table 5.Question No. Question Mean Variance Effectiveness of Software Quality Assurance 18 19 20 21 22 23 Software QA is a very important discipline in our organization Without QA our products/services will not meet current level of customer satisfaction Our Software QA approach/practice helps us in winnin g new businesses Our organization has adequate number of QA Human Resources Our organization has invested enough in Software QA tools Our Software Development or any other Process has considered QA as a major practice 3. 622 4. 081 3. 811 3. 919 3. 514 3. 865 0. 686 0. 99 0. 658 0. 465 0. 812 0. 842 Correctness 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 â€Å"If the systems or components we deliver meet specifications to 100%†, we can say that it’s a high quality factor Systems or components we deliver, always met specifications Uniformity of functionality/operations/navigation of the designed system always contributed to high quality System maintained Uniformity of functionality/operations/navigation across individual functions If a function of a system, completes its execution without in between failures, we can say it is a high quality factor.Our systems do not fail in executing a function or procedure to its completion Our QA team measures our systems, whether they meet specifications o r not 3. 703 3. 568 3. 703 3. 324 3. 243 3. 243 4. 108 0. 604 1. 141 0. 715 1. 003 0. 745 0. 634 0. 544Testability 37 If all functionality/operations/navigation of systems could be tested enough, then we can say it denotes high quality All the functionality/operations/navigation of our systems are properly being tested by our QA team Even the complex operations of our systems are represented by simple user interactions in order to make applications simple and user friendly Our applications are decomposed in to manageable modules in implementation in a practical manner Consistent organization of modules/code are evident in our applications Our QA team measures or put emphasis on testability (Simplicity, Modularity, structuredness) of applications during the QA cycle 4. 595 0. 303 38 4. 514 0. 312 39 4. 297 0. 270 40 3. 946 0. 330 41 3. 838 0. 417 42 4. 432 0. 308 Changeability 43 If a product allows a specified modification to be implemented without much difficulty, then we can say i t denotes a high quality factor Our systems do not need much effort to accommodate minor specification changes (i. e.Adding a new field to a form) at implementation or quality assurance stage Our systems maintain low interactions between individual modules, therefore it is easier to change individual components without affecting others Our QA team measures put much emphasis to test changeability and stability of systems during the QA cycle 4. 000 0. 111 45 3. 946 0. 164 46 3. 838 0. 251 48 3. 919 0. 299 Stability 44 If the systems avoid unexpected effects after modifications, it denotes a high quality or it’s a high quality factor After the design changes done to one module, our systems have very few side effects to other modules Our QA team measures put much emphasis to test changeability and stability of systems during the QA cycle 3. 595 . 359 47 3. 703 0. 437 48 3. 919 0. 299 Installability 49 If the system could be installed in a specified environment without challenges, it denotes high quality or it can be considered as a high quality factor Our systems do not get challenged during the installation in the agreed/specified environment Our QA team measures Installability of systems they test 3. 568 0. 863 50 3. 162 3. 541 0. 862 1. 311 51 Table 7: Means and variances of questions Frequency distributions of responses to each of above questions have been presented in Appendix 2. 5. 3 SECONDARY RESULTS ANALYSIS Primary data is further analyzed to derive more meaningful results.For statistical analysis, the ratings gathered through individual questions were summed up to derive scores for individual independent variables. Variable = sum of marks for relevant questions I. e. Correctness = Q30 + Q31 + Q32 + Q33 + Q34 + Q35 + Q36 Sample Mean, where, n = sample size, and = scores Sample Variance, Standard Deviation, Following table illustrates the statistics of independent variables, which denotes the effectiveness of quality assurance. Standard Deviation 0. 569 0. 552 0. 422 0. 327 0. 445 0. 752 Variable Effectiveness of QA Correctness Testability Changeability Stability Installability Mean 3. 802 3. 556 4. 270 3. 926 3. 739 3. 423 Variance 0. 324 0. 305 0. 178 0. 107 0. 198 0. 566Table 8: Basic statistics of independent variables and the dependent variable Following is the graphical illustration of above statistics. 4. 500 4. 000 3. 500 3. 000 2. 500 2. 000 1. 500 1. 000 0. 500 0. 000 Mean Variance Std. Div. Figure 11: Basic statistics of independent variables According to the above illustration, Testability contributes to QA effectiveness most while Changeability remains at the second position. Installability was rated as of least significant to the QA Effectiveness in the subject domain. 5. 3. 1 ANALYSIS OF RELIABILITY OF DATA Cronbach’s alpha measure is used to determine how well the target independent variables measure single, unidimensional QA Effectiveness latent construct.Cronbach's alpha can be written as a function of the number of test items AND the average inter-correlation among the items. N where, N = number of items and = inter-item correlation among items. Cronbach's Alpha Based on Cronbach's Standardized Alpha ( Items . 912 . 918 Table 9: Reliability statistics N of Items 28 Cronbach’s alpha for all twenty eight questions is 0. 912, which denotes that the collected data is acceptable for the research. 5. 4 HYPOTHESES TESTING Analysis had been done to test each set of hypothesis to find out whether there are relationships defined through the hypotheses exist among independent variables and the dependent variable.The correlations between the factors hypothesized to effectiveness of quality assurance shown in the following table: Set of Hypothesis/Independent Variable H1:Correctness H2:Testability H3:Changeability H4:Stability H5:Installability ** Correlation is significant at the 0. 01 level (2-tailed). Pearson Correlation/ Effectiveness of QA . 678** . 589** . 559** . 728** . 613** Sig. (2-tailed) . 000 . 000 . 000 . 000 . 000 Table 11: Correlations between hypotheses for quality assurance Hypothesis H1: According to Hypothesis H01, Correctness which is influenced by Consistency and Completeness has a positive relationship to effectiveness of software quality assurance approach. Since this hypothesis is supported by the data analysis (Sig. value was . 000, p