Online Grading System Essay

Today, many pre-school, elementary and high school students in their school are not use an automated system in daily life. But there are so many schools are still using manual system. Grading System is the most commonly used in computing and analyzing the performance, talents and skills of the students and for achievement and assist in identifying problems of the student? It is the important record to keep even for the longest time for the referral and credentials of the student to enter their next level of attaining their goals. Grading System for Data Accuracy will help a lot in the part of teachers, school, administration and as well as the security of data of students and tract record that recognizes of one student, this maybe use for analyzing of your attitude and values. Based on our research, the school of San Guillermo Academy in Talisay , Batangas is using a manual computation of grades of each student, which the teachers are using Microsoft excel to compute the grades of each students and they have no registrar, just the adviser of their section releasing their grades. Manual computation is very prompt to risk for any circumstances. It is time consuming in terms of recording grades, computation using of calculator. If some records are lost, they never retrieve it in case of unexpected calamity. Accuracy and security is not been so defined. The proposed system in San Guillermo Academy is an Automated Online Grading System where it will provide in the internet and made by using database and web development. This Online Grading System is unique because grade in each subject that just need to be able to compute the particular average grades of the each student. It consist of an office of the registrar where all the grades of each student in San Guillermo Academy took place and the office of the registrar will take charge to release all  grades of the student. Having an Automated and Online Grading System for the said school will give an unique formula that will be use in getting or computing the grades of the students and system where personnel can encode the student’s grade. Using the different formula in computing of student’s grades of the said school is not accurate and/or different result in other student’s grades using another different formula. Thus, having an Automated Grading System for the said school will become easy, accurate and time saving for the Teachers, Personnel as well as the students. Background of the Study The San Guillermo Academy Grading System today is processed manually, it causes the teachers doing heavy task of computing grades every grading period. The manual Grading System in San Guillermo Academy slows down the processing and delaying submission of grades as well as the security of data of the students has not been defined in manual system. The computerized grading system will benefit the school and help the students to view their grades every examination period. The rapid advancement of computers in our society has made our daily workloads easier and more accurate. With its vast development, we need to set ourselves in its change and go with its flow. Statement of the problem 1. Is automated grading system can retrieve any student records than manual grading system? 2. Is Manual grading system gives more accurate, efficiency and easy to use than the automated grading system? 3. Is manual grading system makes the task easier and less consuming of time than the automated grading system? 4. Is there any significance between the manual grading systems to the automated grading system?

Personal Safety

STATE UNIVERSITY 2011 Bulletin for Students and Parents Personal Safety on Campus July 14, 2011 Overview State University prides itself as having one of the safest campuses in the entire northeast. Still, it cannot be stressed enough that personal safety, either on campus or off, is a shared responsibility. Students must understand that our campus security measures are only as effective as the precautions students take to ensure their own safety. In response to concerns over a 2010 incident in which a male student was accosted and robbed by a local resident, State University has prepared this bulletin as a primer on personal safety.Please talk with your student before the 2011—2012 school year begins about this increasingly important issue. If you have questions or specific concerns, please feel free to call our Campus Security Department at (555)  555. 1212. A Message from the President: —————————— Ã¢â‚¬â€Ã¢â‚¬â€Ã¢â‚¬â€Ã¢â‚¬â€Ã¢â‚¬â€- At State University, we consider the safety of our students and faculty of utmost importance. During the first week of classes, we will be offering daily seminars on campus safety. Students are strongly encouraged to attend one of these sessions. Personal Safety Know Your SurroundingsIf you detect suspicious activity, act immediately to remove yourself from danger. If you find yourself in a dangerous situation, follow these steps: 1. Trust your instincts and don’t take unnecessary risks. 2. Call for attention while moving to a lighted or populated area. 3. Call campus police (x1099) or 911. 4. If there is a fire alarm nearby, activate it. 5. If necessary, defend yourself with your keys or a pen. 6. Get yourself out of the situation as quickly as possible. At Home Discuss safety issues with your roommates and make sure you all have an understanding when it comes to safety.Agree to keep doors and windows locked, especially at night. Ke ep important safety numbers near your phone (see the end of this bulletin). Never open the door for strangers or let strangers into the building, even if they claim to be friends with a resident. Take the following individual precautions: * Never leave messages on your door announcing your whereabouts. * Always have your keys ready before reaching the door. * Never loan your keys to anyone. * Never prop open an entry door. * Do not write your name or address on your keys. * Report any defective locks immediately. Property SafetyPerhaps the most common yet preventable crime on college campuses is property theft. Following is a list of the most commonly stolen items: * * MP3 players * Cash * Jewelry * Bicycles * Skateboards * Laptops * Wallets/Purses * Backpacks * CDs/DVDs * Books * Cell phones * Credit cards Take the same precautions you would use to protect yourself. There is no need for flashy or expensive jewelry on campus; leave especially valuable jewelry in the safety of your h ome. Remember that you have to rely not only on yourself taking precautions, but also your roommates being responsible for your belongings, so discuss this with them.Never carry large amounts of cash and never leave your belongings unattended in the library or other common areas. Keep a list of serial numbers in case stolen property is recovered. Consider registering your bicycle with the SUCSS–sponsored retrieval program. Common Safety Tips * Always carry your cell phone. Important numbers are given at the end of this bulletin. * Carry a safety whistle, available free of charge at the Student Center. * Learn to defend yourself with unconventional weapons, such as your keys or a pen. * Avoid walking alone or in poorly lit areas at night.Use the â€Å"Buddy System. † * If you must walk at night, get a portable flashlight. * Be prepared. Know how you will respond beforehand. * Consider taking a self-defense course. * Keep your purse or handbag draped over your shoulder. * Never hitch a ride with someone you do not know. * If walking or jogging near the road, always face oncoming traffic. Important Numbers Campus PDx1099Strickland Hall, 211 City Police91134 Post Road Fire Dept555. 31237 Post Road Hospital555. 123419 Liberty Street Campus MDx1010Strickland Hall, 110

Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer Essay

â€Å"Two years he walks the earth. No phone, no pool, no pets, no cigarettes. Ultimate freedom. An extremist. An aesthetic voyager whose home is THE ROAD,† (163) and with those words, Chris McCandless declared his independence and walked into the wild bush of Alaska in May 1992. Little did he know that in three short months, his decaying remains would be found by moose hunters, only a few miles from where he began his journey along the Stampede Trail. Chris McCandless’s story, which was retold in John Krakaur’s book, Into the Wild, is a true testament to the idea of freedom and independence that has powered the foundation of American society. Chris McCandless had always marched to the beat of his own drummer, as did many American heroes. Even when he was a child, Chris was known for being overly adventurous and a little less than cautious. This great sense of adventure frightened Chris’s family and friends ever since they noticed it when he was just a child. Because of this, his parents were horrified, but not completely shocked, when one day Chris departed from his typical life in Atlanta, Georgia and was never heard from by his family again. As a graduate of Emory College, Chris’s future potential would have been almost unlimited; he had so much ahead of him but threw it all away and spent the rest of his life on the road. What McCandless was searching for by leaving his safe life cannot be easily understood by most, but many transcendentalists shared a similar understanding of Chris’s â€Å"call to nature. Transcendentalism rejects typical culture or society and is often marked by a love of nature and a pursuit for a greater meaning of life. Many parallels can be drawn between Chris McCandless’s story and the stories from authors such as Walt Whitman. Many transcendentalists like Walt Whitman and Chris McCandless turn to the open road to get a better understanding of life, but in doing this, Chris puts his â€Å"secure future† in jeopardy by abandoning his former identity, giving up all of his possessions, and relying solely on the land. Chris gives up his life of security when he decides to alter his whole identity. Although Chris was raised in a seemingly tight knit family, in college he discovered that his parents’ marriage was the result of an affair, and his father maintained a bigamous relations for two years (121). After that discovery, Chris started to resent his parents, especially his father. His absolute anger towards his parents is what finally caused Chris to completely cut them off from his life as he ventured into the wild. In his two years being away from home, Chris’s family never heard from him once; even his sister, Carine, who was very close to Chris, never spoke to him again. Chris’s sudden absence in his family’s life hurt each member deeply. His father even questions, â€Å"How is it that a kid with so much compassion could cause his parents so much pain? † (104). Although he knew he was hurting his family by leaving, Chris’s lack of concern for his family members stemmed from the hurt he felt that they each caused him. Walt Whitman’s character in Song of the Open Road does not find it as easy as Chris did to leave the past behind. The speaker of the poem writes, â€Å"Still here I carry my old delicious burdens, I carry them, men and women, I carry them with me wherever I go. † This line shows that the author still carries memories and feelings from his old life with him on a daily basis, which exemplifies how hard they are to forget. This regretful attitude contrasts to that of Chris’s in that the speaker doesn’t want to completely leave the past behind but desires to recall his memories during future journeys. Not only did Chris directly cut off his family in order to leave his old life behind, but he also adopted a pseudonym that he felt was more fitting to his new personality. Kraukauer describes Chris’s final transformation and says, â€Å"No longer would he answer to Chris McCandless; he was now Alexander Supertramp, master of his own destiny† (23). This new, outrageous name truly enabled Chris to leave his past of reason and safety behind and move forward to his new life of freedom and adventure. Not only did Chris completely alter his identity but his absolute resignation of worldly positions also put his future safety at risk. Before leaving for his journey and without his parents’ knowledge, Chris donated his entire college fund containing 25,000 dollars to OXFAM, a hunger relief charity (20). This gesture really proves Chris’s complete release of security and lack of consideration for worldly possessions. After starting his long journey with no money, Chris almost immediately abandoned his old yellow Datsun in a riverbed in the Lake Mead National Recreation area. He decided to do this after a flash flood wets the cars engine as a result of his failure to acknowledge the flood zone warning signs. In reality, Chris could have found a way to save his car but instead was exhilarated by the event and saw it as â€Å"an opportunity to shed unnecessary baggage† (29). At the same time, Chris burned his last small amount of money and â€Å"one hundred and twenty-three dollars was promptly reduced to ash and smoke† (29). After this, Chris’s journey was one that literally started from nothing; He had no money, no car, no food, and no one but himself. Chris’s dire need to get rid of every worldly possession greatly endangered his life. The speaker in Walt Whitman’s poem agrees with Chris’s opinion that worldly possessions are unimportant. When the speaker says, â€Å"You shall not heap up what is call’d riches, you shall scatter with lavish hand all that you earn or achieve,† he is expressing his belief that wealth should be shared among many and not kept for one individual. Chris really exemplifies this concept by donating all of his money to those who were less fortunate than him. Chris’s last major risk to his life and security is his trip to Alaska. After a year and a half of traveling around the United States, Chris finally planned his trip to Alaska, which had always been his utmost goal. Chris went into his journey extremely ill equipped for the harsh months that would lie ahead of him in the Alaskan bush. Jim Gallien, an experienced woodsman who gave Chris a ride to the Stampede Trail, described Chris as having nowhere near as much food and gear as would be expected for that kind of trip (4). The only food Chris brought with him was a ten-pound bag of rice; he planned on shooting the rest of his food with a gun that by Gallien’s standards was too small to kill any major game. When questioned repeatedly on his plans for survival, Chris confidently assured Gallien, â€Å"I am absolutely positive I won’t run into anything I cant deal with on my own† (6). Chris’s overconfident attitude is what angered many experienced woodsman who replied to Krakauer’s first article about Chris. They complained that Chris was just foolish and naive for thinking he could take on Alaska alone with almost no experience or gear. One Alaskan hunter even states that only one word can sum up Chris McCandless: incompetent (177). Chris didn’t see his life like this however. He felt prepared and excited for anything the world could throw at him. His completely believed in himself and lived by the notion that nothing or no one could discourage him from his journey. The speaker in Walt Whitman’s poem is extremely similar to Chris McCandless in the sense that they both lived to travel the â€Å"open road† in order to experience life to the fullest. Whitman’s speaker says, â€Å"Afoot and light-hearted I take to the open road, healthy, free, the world before me, the long brown path before me leading wherever I choose. Both the speaker and Chris have an idealized view of living on the road and will not let anything deter them from it. Throughout his early life, Chris somewhat conformed to the traditional values and ideals encouraged by his parents and society. It wasn’t until he grew older that he decided to act upon his yearning escape it all and to travel and live in nature. He left his old, secure life behind for one filled with adventure, mystery, and danger. This action, which was looked down upon by many members of society, directly relates Chris to transcendentalist beliefs like those of Walt Whitman. Chris put his safety and security on the line by renouncing his former name, giving up worldly possessions, and venturing out in dangerous in foreign territory and these choices ultimately caused him his life. Even though it may not have been seen as sensible by many, Chris created his own path in life, and although it led to his death, the nomadic experience was what he always desired. Chris writes at the beginning of his final decent into nature, â€Å"No longer to be poisoned by civilization he flees, and walks alone upon the land to become Lost in the Wild† (163).

Global Teams Case Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Global Teams Case - Essay Example In this regard, correspondence between various parties and the customers could not work out. The crashing of the server for two hours also caused the customer outrage (Neeley and Delong, 2009). Additionally, the Sun global working schedule protocol had a problem. For instance, the weekday and weekend call protocols were not clear to every team member. Open work environment served to provide every member of a Sun Microsystems Inc team with an opportunity to innovate, create and make technological discoveries to boost the performance of the esteemed information technology company. It  enabled the various teams on a global scale to be innovative and manage any problem related to the company’s products and services instead of relying on few personnel. Diversity served to meet unique customer demands. Additionally, diversity served to resolve the language barrier problem because the sales team from every region could perfectly meet the needs of customers hailing from such places. Neeley and Delong (2009) assert that diversity also served to give Sun Microsystems a global image. This aspect also enhanced the creation of new marketing niches for the company hence increase of revenue. Greg James should resolve the protocol problem and ensure synergy among his team members in the long-run. Synergy will eliminate friction in correspondence between the customer and Sun Microsystems company sales team. The company should also ensure that clients are informed of any emergency in good time to avoid

Working without Trade Unions Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Working without Trade Unions - Essay Example Trade unionism has been in existence in the UK for more than 200 years, as illegal associations at first but gained legal recognition later (Trade Unions 1980). In 1978, statistics revealed that membership with numerous trade unions total to around 13 million workers (Trade Unions 1980). Unions existing at present serve the interests of particular type of workers or industry (Theses on the Trade n.d.). Through the unions, the workers can bargain with the employers to grant them increases in wages or salaries, specific working hours, benefits, or day-off from work. Negative Impact of Trade Union Unionism was primarily established to protect the interests of the workers. However, it has also been used by workers to blackmail employers. Running a company would entail a lot of factors to consider and has to maintain a certain margin of profit in order to survive the competition. Workers and employees though would want to get more from their employers by using various legal modes to get m ore benefits. Thus, at a slight movement in the economy or inflation, they would lay down their demands to the companies. There is a collective bargaining agreement or CBA that governs the relationship of employers and workers. The CBA is a contract of labour between the company and the workers. It exists at a certain period of time after which, it has to be renegotiated by both parties. At such renegotiation, the workers present their new demands which the employer may or may not concede. At the renewal of the CBA contract, the workers would push hard so that their demands will be granted by the employer. Companies that operate well and earn more profits may grant the economic demands of the workers. However, with the erratic economic conditions resulting from the recent global slump that affected banking and financial institutions, as well as several industries, CBA renegotiation or too much demand from the workers can tilt the operations of companies. Radical or extreme unionism that tends to disrupt company operations is bad for the economy and the company. It also fosters unhealthy employee-employer relationship that breeds distrust on the part of both parties. According to Naylor and Santoni (2003, cited in Radulescu & Robson 2006), there would be lesser foreign investments in a country where the bargaining power of trade unions on the aspect of wage is strong. There are studies though that do not support this position. Cooke (1997, cited in Radulescu & Robson 2006) and Cooke and Noble (1998, cited in Radulescu & Robson 2006) said that multinational firms in the US tend to invest in countries with decentralised wage bargaining process, and veer away from strong trade unionism. The Workplace Employee Relations Survey revealed that from 1990 to 1998, companies with unions undergo more closures than plants without unions (Millward, Forth & Bryson, 2001). Generally, companies without unions boomed at an average of 1.4 percent per year within the same period (Millward, Forth & Bryson, 2001). In contrast, firms with unions had been shrinking at an average of 1.8 percent yearly (Millward, Forth & Bryson, 2001). Addison and Belfield (2002) said that the prevailing trend seen in unionised companies is its slowed effect upon employment growth. UKs 1998 Workplace Employee Relations Panel Survey (WER-PS), lasting for eight years, that contained around 50 percent of the 1990 Workplace Industrial Relations Survey (original companies surveyed totals 2,016) revealed that firms that have labour unions existing for a very long time have weak labour productivity (Addison & Belfield 2002). On the

Benefits of breathing in Pilates Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Benefits of breathing in Pilates - Term Paper Example In Pilates exercises, breathing was conducted according to belief that having blood pumped to awaken all cells in the body and carry away all the waste related to fatigue. For this purpose, the blood has to be oxygenated and free of waste gases by breathing properly. Therefore, Pilate exercises demand for inhalation in preparation for a movement followed by exhalation just before execution of the movement. In any movement, one should always breath and especially in all the difficult portions of a movement. Pilate’s exercises call for breathing deeply and fully where inhalation is through the nose and exhalation is through the mouth. Breathing through the nose warms the air and filters it thus ensuring there are no toxic materials entering the body. In the process of inhalation, the diaphragm contracts and allows more air to fill the lungs (Pilates Trends, Para. 4). At the same time, the ribcage expands out to the sides and back, and as a result, the shoulders move upwards. These movements allow for the lower part of the lungs to receive oxygen thus increasing efficiency of the gaseous exchange process. In an exhale, the ribs relax and come closer to the medial plane allowing the diaphragm to relax and arc upwards in the abdominal cavity (Pilates Trends, Para. 5). As a result, air is forced of the lungs thus taking away the carbon dioxide from the body. Breathing in Pilates follows several principles that are to be followed at all times: one should always keep one’s breathe flowing and therefore, should not hold their breath. Air should be inhaled through the nose and exhaled through the mouth while exhalation should be through the mouth should be done with relaxed lips and not pursed ones. Also, exhalation should be done to flex the spine and inhalation should be to extend it. (Pilates Trends, Para. 9) Pilates exercises are beneficial to those who take part in them and have been for numerous therapies and treatments.

Sociology Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 2

Sociology - Essay Example The younger generation is more likely to involve in hate crimes. They may be classified as thrill seekers who attempt hate crimes in order to get pleasure. Individual may also commit such crimes to defend their communities and territories. A white perpetrator of hate crimes is more likely to adopt violent, aggressive and biased behaviors against blacks and other ethnic groups as they feel insecure and suspect those groups to steal their housing spaces, jobs and share facilities which belong to them being domestic civilians (Chakraborti & Garland 2009, pp. 138-139). A typical person who commits hate crimes may also belong to the minority group living in a diversified society like America. Minority groups often feel prejudiced or discriminated by other members of the society. This discriminating behavior leads to minority groups’ resentment and discomfort which leads to violent and antisocial behaviors. Since hate crimes are not committed for one particular reason, the targets o r victims of such crimes are also not identifiable by a fixed categorization technique. Hate crimes may be against a particular ethnic group, social group, political group, gender, religion, social class and so on. Hate crimes can be committed against people belonging to different categories. People may be categorized according to their profession, age, gender, social class etc. Hence, the identification of hate crimes is a difficult task as it requires an in depth information of the victim or target before categorizing it according to any trait or characteristic that a victim/targeted person holds (Bassette & Salem 1996, pp. 362-363). Crimes are often originated due to psychological distress, conflicts and disagreements in a society. The hate crimes are also associated with the inconsistencies on social, economic, political, religious and financial grounds. The unprivileged groups or individuals develop resentment and hatred against the privileged groups. Discrimination and bias on any grounds can develop the feelings of discontent and disagreements with other groups. Racial and ethnic bias due to increased population of a particular race or ethnicity may result in hate crimes. Legal and regulatory changes for disabled population, particular sexual groups, different religious groups, specific culture, ethnically diverse groups and others create negative thoughts and behaviors among people of one group for the other (Perry 2003, pp. 284-289). These behaviors and negative interpretation of the changes in laws and regulations provoke them to commit hate crimes. Economic factors including unemployment, increased competition, unavailability of resources and lack of competence also encourage hate crimes against those who are employed, have ample resources, skills and qualifications. If a particular racial group is given opportunities to get higher grade jobs while others are not, the biased distribution of opportunities would encourage hatred, harassment and negati ve reactions by other racial groups. In short, most of the hate crimes result due to prejudice, bias or personal hatred related to a particular person, ethnic group, race, gender or religion. Education is the first and most efficient manner of reducing crimes of any type. The education about crimes, their effects and possible outcomes for the perpetrator and the society would help in reducing the crime rates. Hate crimes are

Free Topic Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Free Topic - Essay Example The inner thoughts of the protagonist, Mrs. Mallard, form the leitmotif of story. News of a railroad accident in which Mr. Brently Mallard had supposedly died and what happens in the span of an hour afterwards form the plot. Chopin focuses on Mrs. Mallard’s unique psyche through the narrative technique of interior monologue. Her sister Josephine and Mr. Mallard’s friend Richards break the news of Mr. Mallard’s death as gently as possible. The readers are also led to believe that the news could have a devastating effect on her. She is described as responding instantaneously to the news by weeping at once, â€Å"with wild abandonment†. Contrary to many women who would have remained in a paralyzed inability to accept the news and its significance, she did let her emotions flow on a stretch. However, she went alone to her room once the storm of grief had subsided. No one was allowed to follow her there. The time she spent alone in her room happens to be the tu rning point in the story. She continued sobbing absent mindedly for a while, in a stupor-like condition. But she kept on staring outside through the open window, supposedly in a â€Å"suspension of intelligent thought†. She realized something coming to her, but was unable to realize it fully. Her demeanor changed dramatically as she realized that it is freedom that is awaiting her. She got very excited at this prospect. Even as she reflected on the necessity to weep once her husband’s dead body arrives, the state of excitement refuses to fade away from her essence of being. She thought of love as something that existed only occasionally in her relationship with her husband. Love seemed like an unsolved mystery to her while she was swept away by a possession of self-assertion. She perceives that she is free altogether now, body and soul. The twist in the end reveals that the information regarding the death of Mr. Mallard was baseless, and he turns up

The Issues of Gender Inequality Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

The Issues of Gender Inequality - Essay Example A typical case that shocked me was the ordeal of a close female friend. In fact, it is without a doubt upsetting and unforgettable. Philip and I looked at the scene helplessly as Jennifer; our best friend and classmate faced the wrath of her fuming father after she refused a proposal to abandon school for a rich man her father forced her to marry. What was even more disgusting was the age difference. We had just joined college together with Jennifer. I looked at her straight in the face and realized something was amiss. Emotions were literarily overcoming the slender and innocent-looking girl. The next day, I sought to inquire from her about what exactly transpired. The young girl spoke candidly; she narrated her ordeal trying to break down the difficulties, as well as challenges she had gone through in the hands of her own parents. Jennifer was categorical that men had a huge influence on female lives (Mary Wollstonecraft). It was heartbreaking to hear from the helpless girl how her efforts and pleas to evade attempts by her father to force her into marrying the wealthy 52-year-old man were always futile. It is beyond any logical reasoning for such a respected man to make a harsh resolve decide for his daughter when and the kind of man she should marry. It is even more complicated bearing in mind that the girl was industrious and focused to achieve her dream plan of sensitizing women in the society regarding the importance of fighting for gender equality (Mary Wollstonecraft). Against expectations, the extent to which the practice had almost become the norm in the neighboring community was even alarming. Philip and I were always against the stereotype that said women are the weaker gender. I have personally seen the positive, as well as negative sides of gender stereotyping and believed they were both harsh and discriminatory against women. It beat logic when some individuals argue that men are wiser than their female counterparts are (Mary Wollstonecraft).  

Letter to the editor Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Letter to the editor - Essay Example These concerns have ever been raised in the in various social media but still the topic remains unexhausted. There are varied views held by different stakeholders in the society. Some parents recommend for increased adoption of recent technologies among the children and have even bought handsets for children to access the social media more easily. Some groups, however, have criticized the indulgence of the children in social media that would have negative impacts in their lives. As a matter of fact, the social media such as the televisions have far reaching impacts on the children yet are allowed to operate freely without restrictions! The televisions air advertisements that do not promote morals of the children. For instance, advertisement showing some children engaged in partying or drinking behaviors teach teenagers nothing good but rather creating awareness of immoral activities that do not inspire them achieve successful lives. Televisions need to involve teenagers in choosing what is morally right for displaying to the viewers. Some television channels are after making money and care less for the morals of children. This is because the immoral adverts pay huge amounts of money and the television media could reap high profits. To combat these practices, the development of media act is necessary in order to regulate these activities by the television media to promote a better future for the teenagers. The activities of the television service providers h ave minimum regulation and this limits interventions of state authorities. The developments in the social media have also enabled the uncontrolled monitoring of the children access to unwanted content. There are very many social network platforms used by teenagers at the back of parents’ knowledge. Consequently, the parents would not know the information shared by the children in order to impose restrictive measures. For instance, the parents are aware of the Facebook social

Two Handed Bowling and Sandbagging Essay Example for Free

Two Handed Bowling and Sandbagging Essay Sandbagging is a term used in many sports to define someone that is intentionally playing the sport bad in order to better themselves with handicap. There are people that completely agree with this and use the handicap as an advantage. On the other hand, you have the people that are for all intentional purposes trying to do their best every week and try to keep their average high. There are two sides to every story and finding out the cheating side is always the hardest. Bowling two handed has become a controversy because people technically aren’t switching hands, which is against the rules, instead they are switching styles and this usually causes them to have a lower average. Some people think that a new rule should be added to completely do away with the two handed style all together and others think that if people want to sandbag, then let them sandbag. Two handed bowling has been a controversy since Jason Belmonte started bowling at the age of just two years old. Before that, though, two handed had never been seen and everyone bowled with just one hand. It hasn’t been a problem against the rules, it has been a problem called ‘sandbagging.’ Sandbagging happens in leagues and gives that person an advantage. For example, if a one handed bowler with a 200 average starts out bowling two handed with a 160 average, he can get a higher handicap and finish out bowling one handed. The higher handicap will give his team more points. This goes into the idea of it being ethical. It’s technically cheating and if you are aware you are doing this to win, it isn’t right. If a bowler cheats and sandbags, should they have to finish out the season bowling the way they started? This isn’t just to win their league, it’s to also help them win tournaments that have handicap. â€Å"They seem to flock to handicap leagues and on occasion have a career year in a high money scratch league with team maximums.† (Rodriguez). Bowlers look down on the people that do this because it isn’t fair to the ones that keep their averages high and take the sport seriously. The argument with two handed bowling isn’t that it is against the rules, it’s that people abuse it. They sandbag with two hands, then bowl one handed in tournaments to win. People want a rule made to go along with the rule that says if a person starts out left/right handed, they must finish out the season left/right handed, to say that if a person starts out bowling one/two handed, they should finish one/two handed. â€Å"The emergence and growing popularity of what is known as the two-handed delivery in bowling has caused the United States Bowling Congress (USBC) to consider its impact on the rules and application of the sports specifications.† (Henry). This quote is explaining that USBC is looking into the rules and could possibly add a rule that is against switching between two styles. However, there are some exceptions and some people that think sandbagging is an ‘ok’ thing to do. Not only is this an argument against the rules, most people strongly disagree with the idea of sandbagging because it gives people an advantage in handicap tournaments. â€Å"†¦if I have the ability to be a consistent 200-average bowler, but I spend all season deliberately averaging 170 or so, my handicap will be that of a bowler much worse than me. So, when the important games start, I go back to bowling as I know I can, and I have an additional 20-30 pins of handicap as a cushion.† (Goodger). This is explaining how the handicap works and why people sandbag. Handicap tournaments are for people with averages usually under 220. The reason they have the rule that you can’t switch hands is because people will bowl with their ‘bad’ hand to set a low average, then in tournaments, they bowl with their right hand and dominate the competition. It’s the same thing by switching styles. People bowl two handed, which can be by their same hand, but actually bowl one handed. The only thing that people think should be allowed is picking up spares one handed. A two handed bowler, Osku Palermaa, bowls his first ball two handed but picks up spares one handed. Almost everyone that are against the switching of styles think this should be allowed. This is where stats come into play. If someone can average a 210 one handed and a 170 two handed, they should only bowl one handed on the first ball. On the same page, if a bowler averages 210 two handed, and just 180 one handed, then they should only bowl with two hands on the first ball. The switching of the two styles could be the equivalent of switching hands in golf. Maybe a shot is easier for someone left handed and they can make the shot, even though they golf right handed. That option is not allowed in bowling, and with the many styles that are offered today, there has to be some rule to balance the field. Tournaments in the youth and some adult tournaments are used with handicap. So handicap with bowling would be a good thing. You average 200 and shoot a 210 with a handicap of 100% of 220, and you technically shoot a 230. This is the same in golf, if a golfer has a high handicap, then that means his ‘average’ is higher than some other golfers with a low handicap. It’s almost backwards in golf, but works the same way to ensure that players can play each other and be equal, regardless of skill level. I think of true athletes like Tiger Woods, Michael Jordan and Derek Jeter. â€Å"Can you imagine for one second any of them missing the winning putt, not making the game winning shot or striking out INTENTIONALLY? I didn’t think so.† (Doe) This quote is saying that a bowler averaging 170 is not going to make that game winning strike, and it’s very obvious when someone is sandbagging. In every sport there is always someone trying to bend the rules and take advantage of things such as handicap in order to win tournaments. In golf, someone can shoot horribly and have a high handicap, and then shoot great in a tournament and nobody can beat him at all. This is taking advantage of an idea that is supposed to even out the players based on their personal ability. So if you do better than your average with a 170, and someone else does a little worse than theirs but bowls a 210, then you should win, regardless of the scores. That is how handicap works in bowling, as well as golf. This is a moral thing and I don’t see how someone can win in terms of cheating. You can’t cheat in football or any other sport, so why be able to in bowling? The basic counter argument of this idea is that sandbagging and switching hands to do so is something that is ‘normal.’ Some people think that taking advantage of this idea is why it was put in place and they can abuse it if they want to. If they want to sandbag then there is no rule that is preventing them from it. From their point of view, it’s only cheating if you get caught, and most people report them to their league supervisor or coach. Some even sandbag in the first couple of weeks and then bring their average up gradually in order to stay hidden and ‘under the radar.’ Besides, it isn’t like everyone else can’t throw a few bad balls their first few games of a league. An article about why sandbagging is allowed in bowling alleys explains it. â€Å"The only real handicap we are dealing with in bowling is money. If the bowling alleys have to throw a blind eye to what is going on they will, this is the only way to keep them in business.† (â€Å"Bowling tips for beginners†)Money and keeping their league members is exactly why they don’t report the sandbaggers. They are almost always the ones that know how to bowl bad and make it look like an accident. Another thing they look at is that if people don’t like sandbagging, then they can go join a scratch league, in which there is no handicap so you have to bowl well. You may be able to bend the rules and some people may not care if they cheat, but sandbagging is wrong in all levels of sports. Even in a youth league where you have ages ranging from just 7 years old all the way to 19 or 20 years old. But even in these youth leagues you have the bratty teenager that knows his or her way around the rules. When bowling in these types of leagues, there is handicap, and hundreds of dollars worth of scholarship money is on the line. What a better way to make sure you get the top amount than cheat your way to the top. What a better way to win tournaments than to cheat. While that is going on you have the kids that try hard every single week to keep their average up and usually do a great job at it. So when those kids get in tournaments sometimes they do better than their average and they deserve that trophy or money. But three lanes down you have a guy that really averages 210, bowling with a 180 average and that isn’t fair to the ones that try and work hard to have the average they want. To show some statistics and numbers, I found an article that shows just how hard it would be for someone in golf to shoot two over par with about a fifteen handicap. This would be the equivalent of a bowler averaging 175 and bowling a 680 series (three games put together). â€Å"The guy, a member of the host club, claimed a midteens handicap, but in his practice round shot a couple of strokes over par. The odds against a true midteens handicapper shooting such a score are greater than 37,000 to 1.† (Golf Journal). All this is saying is that if you are going to sandbag to win, don’t make it so obvious. To prove that sandbagging is wrong and to show how handicap does work, I have put together a situation. In a tournament that was last week, two guys, we will call them Bill and John, were bowling against each other and both were doing extremely well. The handicap for this tournament is 100% of 220 pins, which means whatever their average is, for example a 200, their handicap would be 20. These two guys are bowling and they are bowling very well scratch (without handicap), but with handicap one of them was losing tremendously. John has been bowling since he was five and has never changed his style, except this year he decided to throw two handed at the beginning of the season and averaged just 180. His average went way down so he later decided to go back to his normal style in which he averages 210. So he goes into this tournament with a 190 average and actually has a 210 average. But Bill, a newbie that hasn’t even been bowling two years yet, has tried to keep his average at a 200 all year long and has succeeded. This was the championship game and Bill had worked his way up the ladder to bowl John who qualified first. Starting off, John already has a 10 pin advantage over Bill because his average is just 190, which gives him a 30 pin handicap compared to Bill’s 20. But remember, John’s real handicap is only 10 because he sandbagged earlier in the year to make his average lower. The two start bowling and John shoots a 268, But Bill only misses once and gets a bad break, but finishes out for a 275. Now, technically, Bill is the real winner here and he bowled a great game to finish with a 275. But with handicap, Bill’s score is a 295 and John’s is a 298. So John won because of the handicap. How is this fair? If John had actually worked hard to average 190 and managed to bowl a 268, I believe that he should win hands down. But, he didn’t, he cheated and he shouldn’t have won. I have personally bowled in many tournaments and leagues and I witness adults sandbagging on a monthly basis. I see bowlers that can throw a great ball, and throw it straight at the pins like a beginner. I find this extremely unfair and I do see it as cheating. â€Å"All good is hard. All evil is easy. Dying, losing, cheating and mediocrity is easy. Stay away from easy.† – Scott Alexander. (Brain Quotes). The quote explains itself. Cheating is the easy way to do things and you don’t get any satisfaction from beating someone by cheating. It’s like using steroids in baseball, or taking off a restrictor plate in racing, you will get caught and it’s not as fun. Why would someone ‘try out’ two handed bowling for a few weeks and then go back to their normal style? If they start out two handed then they finish that way and the same goes for a one handed bowler. Personally, my average two handed is 215, but one handed I couldn’t probably even average a 170. The facts are there and it isn’t fair that people sandbag in order to win. It’s wrong and hopefully one day the USBC bylaws will enforce this controversy.

Use of Language in Waiting for Lefty Essay Example for Free

Use of Language in Waiting for Lefty Essay Clifford Odet used a wide range of language techniques to convey the differences between the different characters, the relationships between the different characters, and the attitudes of individual characters. The language that the characters use in the play tells us about their personal details, such a what class they belong to and whether they were educated or not. From looking at the character of Joe we see that he is of working class and not particularly well educated. We know this as he uses a great deal of colloquialism in his speech, pulluckas. Also by looking at the language used in the text we see how Odets has tried to convey to the actors how to say certain line. For example the character Joe again, says, helluva. In Standard English this would be written as, hell of a. Odets however has written it like this so that the actor knows exactly how to read the line. The words are supposed to be rushed and squashed together, again another sign of Joes working class status. Another reason why Odets has chosen to use language like the above is to add an essence of realism to his play. He wanted to make sure that real people (working classes) could relate to the message that he was conveying in his play so therefore he needed to speak their language. Use of such language would have been good to get the audience on a characters side and round to their way of thinking. It would have made the working class audience at home with the characters. Odets also liked to use Similes. Fatt was just but one character that spoke a lot of rhetoric language. E. g. out like lions and in like lambs. Such phrases gave the audience things to think about and gave a contrast to the colloquialism also used. It also showed which characters where better educated than others and therefore were less likely to be working class. Odets also favoured the use of colours in his language. At one point in the play Fatt says, red and yellow makes a dirty colour boys. The red, referring to communists and the yellow referring to cowards. This use of colours in the language added to the texture of the piece. It allowed the audience to think more deeply about what was actually being said without being to taxing on their brains. The use of racist language also shows us the ignorant attitudes of many people back in the 1920s. It is also only the rich, upper class, pompous characters that the audience are supposed to unlike, that use racist language. Perhaps in Clifford Odets cries for a more equal society he was also quietly calling for the liberation and equal rights of blacks and Jews. In conclusion I think that the colloquial language that Odets used ensured a popular contemporary audience whilst the rhetoric language allowed for a more educated audience member to break down underlying meanings behind the text. I have found Odets use of language both appropriate and well thought out in this play.

Software testing

Software testing 1.0 Software Testing Activities We start testing activities from the first phase of the software development life cycle. We may generate test cases from the SRS and SDD documents and use them during system and acceptance testing. Hence, development and testing activities are carried out simultaneously in order to produce good quality maintainable software in time and within budget. We may carry out testing at many levels and may also take help of a software testing tool. Whenever we experience a failure, we debug the source code to find reasons for such a failure. Finding the reasons of a failure is very significant testing activity and consumes huge amount of resources and may also delay the release of the software. 1.1 Levels of Testing Software testing is generally carried out at different levels. There are four such levels namely unit testing, integration testing, system testing, and acceptance testing as shown in figure 8.1. First three levels of testing activities are done by the testers and last level of testing (acceptance) is done by the customer(s)/user(s). Each level has specific testing objectives. For example, at unit testing level, independent units are tested using functional and/or structural testing techniques. At integration testing level, two or more units are combined and testing is carried out to test the integration related issues of various units. At system testing level, the system is tested as a whole and primarily functional testing techniques are used to test the system. Non functional requirements like performance, reliability, usability, testability etc. are also tested at this level. Load/stress testing is also performed at this level. Last level i.e. acceptance testing is done by the cus tomer(s)/users for the purpose of accepting the final product. 1.1.1 Unit Testing We develop software in parts / units and every unit is expected to have defined functionality. We may call it a component, module, procedure, function etc, which will have a purpose and may be developed independently and simultaney. A. Bertolino and E. Marchetti have defined a unit as [BERT07]: A unit is the smallest testable piece of software, which may consist of hundreds or even just few lines of source code, and generally represents the result of the work of one or few developers. The unit test cases purpose is to ensure that the unit satisfies its functional specification and / or that its implemented structure matches the intended design structure. [BEIZ90, PFLE01]. There are also problems with unit testing. How can we run a unit independently? A unit may not be completely independent. It may be calling few units and also called by one or more units. We may have to write additional source code to execute a unit. A unit X may call a unit Y and a unit Y may call a unit A and a unit B as shown in figure 8.2(a). To execute a unit Y independently, we may have to write additional source code in a unit Y which may handle the activities of a unit X and the activities of a unit A and a unit B. The additional source code to handle the activities of a unit X is called driver and the additional source code to handle the activities of a unit A and a unit B is called stub. The complete additional source code which is written for the design of stub and driver is called scaffolding. The scaffolding should be removed after the completion of unit testing. This may help us to locate an error easily due to small size of a unit. Many white box testing techniques may be effectively applicable at unit level. We should keep stubs and drivers simple and small in size to reduce the cost of testing. If we design units in such a way that they can be tested without writing stubs and drivers, we may be very efficient and lucky. Generally, in practice, it may be difficult and thus requirement of stubs and drivers may not be eliminated. We may only minimize the requirement of scaffolding depending upon the functionality and its division in various units. 1.1.2 Integration Testing A software may have many units. We test units independently during unit testing after writing required stubs and drivers. When we combine two units, we may like to test the interfaces amongst these units. We combine two or more units because they share some relationship. This relationship is represented by an interface and is known as coupling. The coupling is the measure of the degree of interdependence between units. Two units with high coupling are strongly connected and thus, dependent on each other. Two units with low coupling are weakly connected and thus have low dependency on each other. Hence, highly coupled units are heavily dependent on other units and loosely coupled units are comparatively less dependent on other units as shown in figure 8.3. Coupling increases as the number of calls amongst units increases or the amount of shared data increases. The design with high coupling may have more errors. Loose coupling minimize the interdependence and some of the steps to minimize the coupling are given as: (i) Pass only data, not the control information. (ii) Avoid passing undesired data. (iii) Minimize parent / child relationship between calling and called units. (iv) Minimize the number of parameters to be passed between two units. (v) Avoid passing complete data structure. (vi) Do not declare global variables. (vii) Minimize the scope of variables. Different types of coupling are data (best), stamp, control, external, common and content (worst). When we design test cases for interfaces, we should be very clear about the coupling amongst units and if it is high, large number of test cases should be designed to test that particular interface. A good design should have low coupling and thus interfaces become very important. When interfaces are important, their testing will also be important. In integration testing, we focus on the issues related to interfaces amongst units. There are several integration strategies that really have little basis in a rational methodology and are given in figure 8.4. Top down integration starts from the main unit and keeps on adding all called units of next level. This portion should be tested thoroughly by focusing on interface issues. After completion of integration testing at this level, add next level of units and as so on till we reach the lowest level units (leaf units). There will not be any requirement of drivers and only stubs will be designed. In bottom-up integration, we start from the bottom, (i.e. from leaf units) and keep on adding upper level units till we reach the top (i.e. root node). There will not be any need of stubs. A sandwich strategy runs from top and bottom concurren tly, depending upon the availability of units and may meet somewhere in the middle. (b) Bottom up integration (focus starts from edges i, j and so on) c) Sandwich integration (focus starts from a, b, i, j and so on) Each approach has its own advantages and disadvantages. In practice, sandwich integration approach is more popular. This can be started as and when two related units are available. We may use any functional or structural testing techniques to design test cases. The functional testing techniques are easy to implement with a particular focus on the interfaces and some structural testing techniques may also be used. When a new unit is added as a part of integration testing then the software is considered as a changed software. New paths are designed and new input(s) and output(s) conditions may emerge and new control logic may invoke. These changes may also cause problems with units that previously worked flawlessly. 1.1.3 System Testing We perform system testing after the completion of unit and integration testing. We test complete software alongwith its expected environment. We generally use functional testing techniques, although few structural testing techniques may also be used. A system is defined as a combination of the software, hardware and other associated parts that together provide product features and solutions. System testing ensures that each system function works as expected and it also tests for non-functional requirements like performance, security, reliability, stress, load etc. This is the only phase of testing which tests both functional and non-functional requirements of the system. A team of the testing persons does the system testing under the supervision of a test team leader. We also review all associated documents and manuals of the software. This verification activity is equally important and may improve the quality of the final product. Utmost care should be taken for the defects found during system testing phase. A proper impact analysis should be done before fixing the defect. Sometimes, if system permits, instead of fixing the defects are just documented and mentioned as the known limitation. This may happen in a situation when fixing is very time consuming or technically it is not possible in the present design etc. Progress of system testing also builds confidence in the development team as this is the first phase in which complete product is tested with a specific focus on customers expectations. After the completion of this phase, customers are invited to test the software. 1.1.4 Acceptance Testing This is the extension of system testing. When testing team feels that the product is ready for the customer(s), they invite the customer(s) for demonstration. After demonstration of the product, customer(s) may like to use the product for their satisfaction and confidence. This may range from adhoc usage to systematic well-planned usage of the product. This type of usage is essential before accepting the final product. The testing done for the purpose of accepting a product is known as acceptance testing. This may be carried out by the customer(s) or persons authorized by the customer. The venue may be developers site or customers site depending on the mutual agreement. Generally, acceptance testing is carried out at the customers site. Acceptance testing is carried out only when the software is developed for a particular customer(s). If, we develop software for anonymous customers (like operating systems, compilers, case tools etc), then acceptance testing is not feasible. In such c ases, potential customers are identified to test the software and this type of testing is called alpha / beta testing. Beta testing is done by many potential customers at their sites without any involvement of developers / testers. Although alpha testing is done by some potential customers at developers site under the direction and supervision of testers. 1.2 Debugging Whenever a software fails, we would like to understand the reason(s) of such a failure. After knowing the reason(s), we may attempt to find solution and may make necessary changes in the source code accordingly. These changes will hopefully remove the reason(s) of that software failure. The process of identifying and correcting a software error is known as debugging. It starts after receiving a failure report and completes after ensuring that all corrections have been rightly placed and the software does not fail with the same set of input(s). The debugging is quite a difficult phase and may become one of the reasons of the software delays. Every bug detection process is different and it is difficult to know how long it will take to find and fix a bug. Sometimes, it may not be possible to detect a bug or if a bug is detected, it may not be feasible to correct it at all. These situations should be handled very carefully. In order to remove bugs, developer must first discover that a problem exists, then classify the bug, locate where the problem actually lies in the source code, and finally correct the problem. 1.2.1 Why debugging is so difficult? Debugging is a difficult process. This is probably due to human involvement and their psychology. Developers become uncomfortable after receiving any request of debugging. It is taken against their professional pride. Shneiderman [SHNE80] has rightly commented on human aspect of debugging as: It is one of the most frustrating parts of programming. It has elements of problem solving or brain teasers, coupled with the annoying recognition that we have made a mistake. Heightened anxiety and the unwillingness to accept the possibility of errors, increase the task difficulty. Fortunately, there is a great sigh of relief and a lessening of tension when the bug is ultimately corrected. These comments explain the difficulty of debugging. Pressman [PRES97] has given some clues about the characteristics of bugs as: The debugging process attempts to match symptom with cause, thereby leading to error correction. The symptom and the cause may be geographically remote. That is, symptom may appear in one part of program, while the cause may actually be located in other part. Highly coupled program structures may further complicate this situation. Symptom may also disappear temporarily when another error is corrected. In real time applications, it may be difficult to accurately reproduce the input conditions. In some cases, symptom may be due to causes that are distributed across a number of tasks running on different processors. There may be many reasons which may make debugging process difficult and time consuming. However, psychological reasons are more prevalent over technical reasons. Over the years, debugging techniques have substantially improved and they will continue to develop significantly in the near future. Some debugging tools are available and they minimize the human involvement in the debugging process. However, it is still a difficult area and consumes significant amount of time and resources. 1.2.2 Debugging Process Debugging means detecting and removing bugs from the programs. Whenever a program generates an unexpected behaviour, it is known as a failure of the program. This failure may be mild, annoying, disturbing, serious, extreme, catastrophic or infectious. Depending on the type of failure, actions are required to be taken. Debugging process starts after receiving a failure report either from testing team or from users. The steps of the debugging process are replication of the bug, understanding the bug, locate the bug, fix the bug and retest the program. (i) Replication of the bug: The first step in fixing a bug is to replicate it. This means to recreate the undesired behaviour under controlled conditions. The same set of input(s) should be given under similar conditions to the program and the program, after execution, should produce similar unexpected behaviour. If this happens, we are able to replicate a bug. In many cases, this is simple and straight forward. We execute the program on a particular input(s) or we press a particular button on a particular dialog, and the bug occurs. In other cases, replication may be very difficult. It may require many steps or in an interactive program such as a game, it may require precise timing. In worst cases, replication may be nearly impossible. If we do not replicate the bug, how will we verify the fix? Hence, failure to replicate a bug is a real problem. If we cannot do it, any action, which cannot be verified, has no meaning, how so ever important it may be. Some of the reasons for non-replication of bug are: ÂÂ · The user incorrectly reported the problem. ÂÂ · The program has failed due to hardware problems like memory overflow, poor network connectivity, network congestion, non availability of system buses, deadlock conditions etc. ÂÂ · The program has failed due to system software problems. The reason may be the usage of different type of operating system, compilers, device drivers etc. there may be any above mentioned reason for the failure of the program, although there is no inherent bug in program for this particular failure. Our effort should be to replicate the bug. If we cannot do so, it is advisable to keep the matter pending till we are able to replicate it. There is no point in playing with the source code for a situation which is not reproducible. (ii) Understanding the bug After replicating the bug, we may like to understand the bug. This means, we want to find the reason(s) of this failure. There may be one or more reasons and is generally the most time consuming activity. We should understand the program very clearly for understanding a bug. If we are the designers and source code writers, there may not be any problem for understanding the bug. If not, then we may even have more serious problems. If readability of the program is good and associated documents are available, we may be able to manage the problem. If readability is not that good, (which happens in many situations) and associated documents are not proper, situation becomes very difficult and complex. We may call the designers, if we are lucky, they may be available with the company and we may get them. Imagine otherwise, what will happen? This is a real challenging situation and in practice many times, we have to face this and struggle with the source code and documents written by the per sons not available with the company. We may have to put effort in order to understand the program. We may start from the first statement of the source code to the last statement with a special focus on critical and complex areas of the source code. We should be able to know, where to look in the source code for any particular activity. It should also tell us the general way in which the program acts. The worst cases are large programs written by many persons over many years. These programs may not have consistency and may become poorly readable over time due to various maintenance activities. We should simply do the best and try to avoid making the mess worse. We may also take the help of source code analysis tools for examining the large programs. A debugger may also be helpful for understanding the program. A debugger inspects a program statement wise and may be able to show the dynamic behaviour of the program using a breakpoint. The breakpoints are used to pause the program at any time needed. At every breakpoint, we may look at values of variables, contents of relevant memory locations, registers etc. The main point is that in order to understand a bug, program understanding is essential. We should put desired effort before finding the reasons of the software failure. If we fail to do so, unnecessarily, we may waste our effort, which is neither required nor desired. (iii) Locate the bug There are two portions of the source code which need to be considered for locating a bug. First portion of the source code is one which causes the visible incorrect behaviour and second portion of the source code is one which is actually incorrect. In most of the situations, both portions may overlap and sometimes, both portions may be in different parts of the program. We should first find the source code which causes the incorrect behaviour. After knowing the incorrect behaviour and its related portion of the source code, we may find the portion of the source code which is at fault. Sometimes, it may be very easy to identify the problematic source code (second portion of the source code) with manual inspection. Otherwise, we may have to take the help of a debugger. If we have core dumps, a debugger can immediately identify the line which fails. A core dumps is the printout of all registers and relevant memory locations. We should document them and also retain them for possible futu re use. We may provide breakpoints while replicating the bug and this process may also help us to locate the bug. Sometimes simple print statements may help us to locate the sources of the bad behaviour. This simple way provides us the status of various variables at different locations of the program with specific set of inputs. A sequence of print statements may also portray the dynamics of variable changes. However, it is cumbersome to use in large programs. They may also generate superfluous data which may be difficult to analyze and manage. Another useful approach is to add check routines in the source code to verify that data structures are in a valid state. Such routines may help us to narrow down where data corruption occurs. If the check routines are fast, we may want to always enable them. Otherwise, leave them in the source code, and provide some sort of mechanism to turn them on when we need them. The most useful and powerful way is to do the source code inspection. This may help us to understand the program, understand the bug and finally locate the bug. A clear understanding of the program is an absolute requirement of any debugging activity. Sometimes, bug may not be in the program at all. It may be in a library routine or in the operating system, or in the compiler. These cases are very rare, but there are chances and if everything fails, we may have to look for such options. (iv) Fix the bug and retest the program After locating the bug, we may like to fix the bug. The fixing of a bug is a programming exercise rather than a debugging activity. After making necessary changes in the source code, we may have to retest the source code in order to ensure that the corrections have been rightly done at right place. Every change may affect other portions of the source code also. Hence an impact analysis is required to identify the affected portion and that portion should also be retested thoroughly. This retesting activity is called regression testing which is very important activity of any debugging process. 1.2.3 Debugging Approaches There are many popular debugging approaches, but success of any approach is dependant upon the understanding of the program. If the persons involved in debugging understand the program correctly, they may be able to detect and remove the bugs. (i) Trial and Error Method This approach is dependent on the ability and experience of the debugging persons. After getting a failure report, it is analyzed and program is inspected. Based on experience and intelligence, and also using hit and trial technique, the bug is located and a solution is found. This is a slow approach and becomes impractical in large programs. (ii) Backtracking This can be used successfully in small programs. We start at the point where program gives incorrect result such as unexpected output is printed. After analyzing the output, we trace backward the source code manually until a cause of the failure is found. The source code from the statement where symptoms of failure is found to the statement where cause of failure is found is analyzed properly. This technique brackets the locations of the bug in the program. Subsequent careful study of bracketed location may help us to rectify the bug. Another obvious variation of backtracking is forward tracking, where we use print statements or other means to examine a succession of intermediate results to determine at what point the result first became wrong. These approaches (backtracking and forward tracking) may be useful only when the size of the program is small. As the program size increases, it becomes difficult to manage these approaches. (iii) Brute Force This is probably the most common and efficient approach to identify the cause of a software failure. In this approach, memory dumps are taken and run time traces are invoked and the program is loaded with print statements. When this is done, we may find a clue by the information produced which leads to identification of cause of a bug. Memory traces are similar to memory dumps, except that the printout contains only certain memory and register contents and printing is conditional on some event occurring. Typically conditional events are entry, exit or use of one of the following: (a) A particular subroutine, statement or database (b) Communication with I/O devices (c) Value of a variable (d) Timed actuations (periodic or random) in certain real time system. A special problem with trace programs is that the conditions are entered in the source code and any changes require a recompilation. The huge amount of data is generated which although may help to identify the cause but may be difficult to manage and analyze. (iv) Cause Elimination Cause elimination is manifested by induction or deduction and also introduces the concept of binary partitioning. Data related to error occurrence are organized to isolate potential causes. Alternatively, a list of all possible causes is developed and tests are conducted to eliminate each. Therefore, we may rule out causes one by one until a single one remains for validation. The cause is identified, properly fixed and retested accordingly. 1.2.4 Debugging Tools Many debugging tools are available to support the debugging process. Some of the manual activities can also be automated using a tool. We may need a tool that may execute every statement of a program at a time and print values of any variable after executing every statement of the program. We will be free from inserting print statements in the program manually. Thus, run time debuggers are designed. In principle, a run time debugger is nothing more than an automatic print statement generator. It allows us to trace the program path and the variables without having to put print statements in the source code. Every compiler available in the market comes with run time debugger. It allows us to compile and run the program with a single compilation, rather than modifying the source code and recompiling as we try to narrow down the bug. Run time debuggers may detect bugs in the program, but may fail to find the causes of failures. We may need a special tool to find causes of failures and correct the bug. Some errors like memory corruption and memory leaks may be detected automatically. The automation was the modification in debugging process, because it automated the process of finding the bug. A tool may detect an error, and our job is to simply fix it. These tools are known as automatic debugger and come in several varieties. The simplest ones are just a library of functions that can be linked into a program. When the program executes and these functions are called, the debugger checks for memory corruption, if it finds this, it reports it. Compilers are also used for finding bugs. Of course, they check only syntax errors and particular type of run time errors. Compilers should give proper and detailed messages of errors that will be of great help to the debugging process. Compilers may give all such information in the attribute table, which is printed along with the listing. The attribute table contains various levels of warnings which have been picked up by the compiler scan and which are noted. Hence, compilers are coming with error detection feature and there is no excuse to design compilers without meaningful error messages. We may apply wide variety of tools like run time debugger, automatic debugger, automatic test case generators, memory dumps, cross reference maps, compilers etc during the debugging process. However, tools are not the substitute for careful examination of the source code after thorough understanding. 1.3 Software Testing Tools The most important effort consuming task in software testing is to design the test cases. The execution of these test cases may not require much time and resources. Hence, designing part is more significant than execution part. Both parts are normally handled manually. Do we really need a tool? If yes, where and when can we use it? In first part (designing of test cases) or second part (execution of test cases) or both. Software testing tools may be used to reduce the time of testing and to make testing as easy and pleasant as possible. Automated testing may be carried out without human involvement. This may help us in the areas where similar data set is to be given as input to the program again and again. A tool may do the repeated testing, unattended also, during nights or weekends without human intervention. Many non-functional requirements may be tested with the help of a tool. We want to test the performance of a software under load, which may require many computers, manpower and other resources. A tool may simulate multiple users on one computer and also a situation when many users are accessing a database simultaneously. There are three broad categories of software testing tools i.e. static, dynamic and process management. Most of the tools fall clearly into one of the categories but there are few exceptions like mutation analysis system which falls in more than one the categories. A wide variety of tools are available with different scope and quality and they assist us in many ways. 1.3.1 Static software testing tools Static software testing tools are those that perform analysis of the programs without executing them at all. They may also find the source code which will be hard to test and maintain. As we all know, static testing is about prevention and dynamic testing is about cure. We should use both the tools but prevention is always better than cure. These tools will find more bugs as compared to dynamic testing tools (where we execute the program). There are many areas for which effective static testing tools are available, and they have shown their results for the improvement of the quality of the software. (i) Complexity analysis tools Complexity of a program plays very important role while determining its quality. A popular measure of complexity is the cyclomatic complexity as discussed in chapter 4. This gives us the idea about the number of independent paths in the program and is dependent upon the number of decisions in the program. Higher value of cyclomatic complexity may indicate about poor design and risky implementation. This may also be applied at module level and higher cyclomatic complexity value modules may either be redesigned or may be tested very thoroughly. There are other complexity measures also which are used in practice like Halstead software size measures, knot complexity measure etc. Tools are available which are based on any of the complexity measure. These tools may take the program as an input, process it and produce a complexity value as output. This value may be an indicator of the quality of design and implementation. (ii) Syntax and Semantic Analysis Tools These tools find syntax and semantic errors. Although compiler may detect all syntax errors during compilation, but early detection of such errors may help to minimize other associated errors. Semantic errors are very significant and compilers are helpless to find such errors. There are tools in the market that may analyze the program and find errors. Non-declaration of a variable, double declaration of a variable, divide by zero issue, unspecified inputs, non-initialization of a variable are some of the issues which may be detected by semantic analysis tools. These tools are language dependent and may parse the source code, maintain a list of errors and provide implementation information. The parser may find semantic errors as well as make an inference as to what is syntactically correct. (iii) Flow graph generator tools These tools are language dependent and take the program as an input and convert it to its flow graph. The flow graph may be used for many purposes like complexity calculation, paths identification, generation of definition use paths, program slicing etc. These

The History of the Cold War Essay -- American History War Soviet Union

The History of the Cold War The Cold War is the term used to describe the intense rivalry between the United States and its allies and the Union of Soviet Socialists Republics and its allies. The Soviet Union and its allies were refereed to as the Eastern Bloc and the United States and its allies were referred to as the Western Bloc. The Cold War period lasted from the mid-1940’s until the late 1980’s. During this period international politics were shaped by this intense rivalry between this two great blocs of power and the political ideologies they represented. The United States and its allies represented democracy and capitalism while the Soviet Union and its allies represented communism. The Cold War was truly a global conflict more so than either of the century’s two world wars. (1) The cold war was also the first total war between economic and social systems, an industrial test to destruction. Even though the Cold War Began just after World War II, some of its roots reach back as far a s the nineteenth century. Its neighbors have long feared Russia; the giant among the countries in Europe, even when they were allied Russia against a common enemy. This fear Cropped up immediately after Russia, Britain, and other European nations defeated the French Emperor Napoleon in 1812. (2) In 1853 Britain, France and several other European nations went to war with Russia from keeping Russia from expanding into the Middle East. Britain, in fact, took a great deal of its energy during the nineteenth century trying to limit Russian power. (3) By the early twentieth century the United States was also concerned with Russia’s power. Although the United States tried to keep out of European disputes, American leaders were concerned about Russia becoming to powerful. They worried that if any nation became powerful enough to dominate the European continent, it would be a threat to the well being of the United States. (4) In the midst of World War I a new element was added to the European and American fear of Russia. In November of 1917 a radical Marxist called the Bolsheviks seized power in Russia overthrowing a democratic government. The United States strongly opposed the Bolshevik regime. The United States was angry that the Bolsheviks pulled Russia out of the War against Germany (WW I), and that it intended to spread its revolution to other countries. (5) During World Wa... ... came quickly. After signing the charter, president George Busch for a happy, but tired world when he said, without fanfare: â€Å"We have closed a chapter in history, the Cold War is Over.† (33) On level the Cold War had some clear winners. The Struggle was settled on American terms. The Soviet Union disintegrated thirteen months after the Cold War was officially over. In place of the former Communist giant were fifteen independent states, all of which rejected communism. Bibliography Kort, Michael G. The Cold War Brookfield, CN: The Millbrook Press, 1994 Walker, Martin. The cold War: A History New York, NY: Henry Holt and Company, 1993 Sharnik, John. Inside the Cold War: An Oral History New York, NY: Arbor House, 1987 Beschloss, Michael R. The Crisis Years: Kennedy and Khrushchev 1960-1963 New York, NY: Harper Collins Publishers, 1991 â€Å"Cold War† Microsoft Encarta. Funk & Wagnall’s Corp: n.p., 1993 Boyer, Paul and Stuckey, Sterling. â€Å"The Cold War† The American Nation Harcourt Bruce and Company: Austin, 1995 Lebow, Richard Ned and Gross, Janice Gross Stein. We All Lost the Cold War Kaufman, Burton I. â€Å"Cold War† World Book Encyclopedia Chicago: World Book Inc. 1991

The Disdainful Use of Names in Pynchon’s The Crying of Lot 49 :: Crying Lot 49 Essays

The Disdainful Use of Names in Pynchon’s The Crying of Lot 49 While reading Pynchon’s, The Crying of Lot 49, I found myself fascinated with the names of the characters. I tried to analyze them and make them mean something, but it seems that Pynchon did not mean for the names to have a specific meaning. This deduction made me think about the satirical nature of the naming of the characters. Which led me to muse on the chaotic nature of the naming. The apparent disdain for the characters by their naming seems to imply that the author is poking fun at the reader and society through the characters. The first character is Oedipa Maas and the reader cannot help but immediately think of Oedipus the King and the implications of that naming. As I read, I was on the alert for the characteristics of the Oedipus story. Although Oedipa does have a mystery to solve in the novel, I found I really could not relate her to Oedipus in any other way. And what does ‘Maas’ mean? Mass, as in a solid mass? Mass, as in the Catholic rite? Is Oedipa perhaps performing a rite of some kind? These questions plagued me as I read and by the conclusion of the story, I was no wiser. Then there is Oedipa’s husband, Mucho Maas. What kind of a name is Mucho? It implies, to me at least, that Mucho is somehow superior to his wife. But as the story progresses, Mucho seems to become less and less. Perhaps a comment by Pynchon on the declining status of a husband in American society? Perhaps a satirical jab at the rising state of women’s rights as equal instead of subordinate in a marriage? Whatever it means, the name Mucho didn’t seem to fit the character. Next we encounter Oedipa’s therapist. His character was bizarre from beginning to end. His name, Dr. Hilarious, worked for me. His name was fitting in many ways. That he goes berserk in the end was a fitting touch in depicting a shrink. His character was ‘hilarious’ in a way. I mean, come on, what therapist actually believes in telepathy? The absent character in the book, Pierce Inverarity, is a puzzle. The closest definition for Inverarity that I could find in the dictionary was a definition for ‘inveracity’. Inveracity means untruthfulness, which is fitting for the absent Pierce, since we never do discover if the man is actually dead or not.

brains :: essays research papers

What You Need to Know about Brain TumorsThis thorough article for consumers describes the symptoms, diagnosis, and treatment of brain tumors. IntroductionEach year more than 17,000 people in the United States find out they have a brain tumor. The National Cancer Institute (NCI) has written this booklet to help patients and their families and friends better understand brain tumors. We also hope others will read it to learn more about these tumors.This booklet describes the symptoms, diagnosis, and treatment of brain tumors. We know that booklets cannot answer every question about brain tumors. They cannot take the place of talks with doctors, nurses, and other members of the health care team, but we hope our information will help with these talks.Definitions of words that may be new to readers and other terms related to cancer can be found in the Glossary. For some words, a "sounds-like" spelling is also given.Our knowledge about brain tumors keeps increasing. For up-to-date information or to order this publication, call the NCI-supported Cancer Information Service (CIS) toll free at 1-800-4-CANCER (1-800-422-6237 ).The BrainTogether, the brain and spinal cord form the central nervous system. This complex system is part of everything we do. It controls the things we choose to do -- like walk and talk -- and the things our body does automatically -- like breathe and digest food. The central nervous system is also involved with our senses -- seeing, hearing, touching, tasting, and smelling -- as well as our emotions, thoughts, and memory.The brain is a soft, spongy mass of nerve cells and supportive tissue. It has three major parts: the cerebrum, the cerebellum, and the brain stem. The parts work together, but each has special functions.The cerebrum, the largest part of the brain, fills most of the upper skull. It has two halves called the left and right cerebral hemispheres. The cerebrum uses information from our senses to tell us what is going on around us and tells our body how to respond. The right hemisphere controls the muscles on the left side of the body, and the left hemisphere control s the muscles on the right side of the body.

Info

IS must by shaped y the organization's structure, business processes, goals, culture, and management, in order to serve the needs of important organizational groups, as well as the usage of internet can save transaction and agency costs in the organization. Revenue growth, profitability or productivity growth can be defined as competitive advantage, as such those people usually has a higher stock market valuation than their competitors In the long run position, they might using special resources or use commonly available resources in an efficient way than other competitor.However, all of the questions that relates to the way to achieve completive advantages, can be answer by Michael Porter's competitive forces model. IS can actually change the operation among the organization without anymore manual handling, replacing complicated steps with tasks, and eliminating delays in decision making, moreover, by conducing a business process analysis, it may help to understand the way that the business's innovation, achieve greater efficiency and effective and customer server. There are a range of management system can be revered by IS in a business as illustrating below.Transaction processing systems [TIPS], is to serve operational management in the business, can track those transaction In the dally routine that are need to be conduct the business, such as order processing and payroll; Management Information system [MIS], are designating to serve the middle management In the business, which are basically solve the routine questions that have been predefined In advance, and thus the flexibility and analytical capability are limited in MIS: however, there is a system that can support narration decision making in the middle manage, which is known as Decision- support system[ADS], is indifferent to MIS, ADS can solve problems that are unique and quickly changing from a variety of models, by condensing a large quantities of data into a way that decision maker can analyze them directly, also a user-friendly software can support the decision making in a more efficiency way; Executive support systems[SEES], address neurotic decisions that are required certain Judgment, evaluation, and insight In the senior management, by providing data in the form of harts and graphs delivered from portals applying several Internal and external information.IS facilitates business models for users to take advantages from network economics, based on a large network of usage, firms' abilities to create network with each other, strategy allow a company to use the capabilities of other to build, market ad distribute services and goods by using network connection to other firms. For the business ecosystem, customers can obtain all the value from multiple industries work, consequently, IS support a dense network of interactions within those firm that as participated in it. Furthermore, the Supply Chain management[SCM], is used to improve the coordination of supplier, distribution and good or service production, which are focusing on upstream information flow, in order to reduce costs associated with raw materials, and components from suppliers and thus accelerate product development.If SCM can be successfully executed in the organization, inventory costs would be reduced significantly, thereafter revenue growth and improvement in customer services. The answer here should be a single integrated argument that demonstrates that you understands how different types of information systems affect (I) managerial efficiency (it) managerial effectiveness and (iii) the competitive positioning of organization. In order to achieve a competitive advantage, companies are consider to be using IS with precise coordination of technology and management in the organization. The research have been shown that a firm can align IS with the business's goal, the more profitable it would be, but there are only a few firms has been achieve alignment of IT with their business.To identi fy the types of systems that provide a strategic advantage, manager need to perform IS effectively to align with their business, according to the Australian Largest publicly listed company, Coles group, we can clearly see how a successful operation linked to Porter's competitive five forces models, the strategies in Coles group are determined by competition with its traditional direct competitors, as such the strategic position of the firm are not only affected by the only one factor, but also the new market entrant, substitute products ND services by using new technologies, since the more substitute products in the industry, the less the pricing control and the lower profit margin among the group; one of the important factor in Coles would be considered as the ability of attracting the customers, to minimizing those customers to switch to other competitor, Coles need to remain their good and services in a substantial price level. Finally the impact of supplier would be larger, if t he firm cannot increase prices as fast as the supplier does.

Dreams vs. Reality Essay

The world is a deadly, unforgiving and often ironic place where people become all consumed by their surroundings. There are many occasions around the world in which people only care about themselves; for example on Black Friday people get pushed, hurt or even trampled because someone is trying to get the best deals before they are all gone. People have a tendency to lose sight of their goals and dreams. Mentally, people struggle to maintain their sanity in this game of life that has no set of rules. In the book Of Mice and Men, this story portrays the inequality between people’s dreams and what can actually be accomplished. John Steinbeck, the author Of Mice and Men, utilizes his general themes of friendship and loneliness, through his deep characterization and connection between characters in order to illustrate â€Å"The American dream.† The American dream consists of the ideas of freedom, equality, and opportunity. It also means life of individual contentment and material goods as usually wanted by Americans. At the beginning of the novel, the relationship between Candy and the old dog was very close. Candy is very passionate about his dog and spoke proudly of him. â€Å"You wouldn’t think it to look at him now, but he was the best damn sheep dog I ever seen† (Steinbeck 44). The old dog lived in the bunk house with all the workers. He slept in the same bed as Candy, but the other workers did not like the old dog because he smelled terrible. Everyone liked Candy, but they wanted to kill the dog only because he smelled bad. After they killed the dog, Candy was lonely and isolated himself from the other workers. Candy’s American dream was not met because the old dog was killed by the fellow ranchers. The old dog gave Candy unconditional love. When the old dog died, Candy’s dream died too. He wanted to live with the dog forever, his source of companionship and love was gone. In the novel, George and Lennie share the strongest bond. When George is talking to Lennie about why they are the loneliest guys in the world, he says: â€Å"Guys like us that work on ranches, are the loneliest guys in the world. They got no family. They don’t belong no place. . . . With us it ain’t like that. We got a future. We got somebody to talk to that gives a damn about us. We don’t have to sit in no bar room blowin’ in our jack jus’ because we got no place else to go. If them other guys gets in jail they can rot for all anybody gives a damn. But not us† (Steinbeck 13-14). This example shows how George and Lennie’s friendship is more than most migrant workers. George takes care of Lennie because Lennie is mentally disabled. If Lennie did not have George taking care of him, Lennie would certainly be taken advantage of by other people who don’t have the same moral standards as George. George’s American dream was for himself, Lennie, and Candy to have their own place to live. He wanted to have Lennie in his life because Lennie gave George absolute love. Aunt Clara had explained to Lennie that he could trust George to take care of him and to always listen to him and do what he says. Lennie’s disabilities are defined as him being slow; he needed George as a guardian. George was helped by Lennie’s hard work and physical strength, he was a valuable worker and his pay was going to help buy the land for the new place. Lennie became involved with Curley’s wife and accidentally killed her. After this happened, the ranchers were going after Lennie. George wanted to protect Lennie from torture, so he killed Lennie himself by shooting him in the back of the head without Lennie’s knowledge. This ended their dreams. George would not have his place; Lennie would not have his rabbits. The harsh reality of their actions took away the desire to dream for anything better. The person who expresses his loneliness most openly is Crooks, the African- American stable hand, a victim of racial prejudice. Because of Crooks’ color, none of the other workers would socialize with him. When Lennie enters Crooks’ room uninvited, Crooks is angry and yells at Lennie asking him what his intentions are. He is bullying Lennie because he jealous of the companionship between George and Lennie. He tries to hurt Lennie with lies of George deserting him, trying to make him see what it feels like to be so alone. Crooks envies their friendship; it shows when he says: â€Å"George can tell you screwy things, and it don’t matter. It’s just the talking. It’s just bein with another guy† (Steinbeck 67). Crooks is lonely, and he is trying to make himself feel better by putting Lennie in the same position as he is. Crooks’ American dream was not achieved nor moved back, he didn’t really have one. He just was living at the ranch and he would always get picked on because of his skin color and his disability. He wanted racial equality, but that was so unlikely to happen, Crooks refused to even hope for it. Because he had nothing to hope for, he is a grouchy, negative man with nothing to live for. In Of Mice and Men, John Steinbeck uses the themes of friendship and loneliness between characters to illustrate the â€Å"American Dream.† The characters: George and Lennie, Candy and the Old Dog, and Crooks are used to demonstrate how relationships work, and also the harsh differences between dreams and reality. In the end George decided to end Lennie’s life so that the other workers would not torture him and then kill him later. Finally, reality was stronger than all of their dreams.