Business Profile of Ireland Essay

Ireland is an island located in the eastern part of the North Atlantic Ocean. Almost all the areas of the country are covered by coastal areas. The density of rainfall is much in the western part of the country that receives heavy which exceeds 3000 mm (120 inches) per year and only 60% of rainfall is received in remaining areas having 762 mm rainfall per year. The country is hugely populated with Christian’s community (Thompson, 1849). The official language of the country is English and mother tongue is Irish. The education background of the country is that, 52.3% of the population are primary educated, 23.3% of the population are secondary and only 24.4% are t highly educate (Hall, 1995). Ireland is one of the most emerging countries of the United Kingdom. It allows the enthusiastic entrepreneurs to commence small as well as medium sized industries which facilitates in the growth and prosperity of the country. For this the so many assistance were provided like financial assistance from both the sides of government body and other institutions, imposing tax   at concession rate, simplified procedures for incorporating, economical tariffs and transportation costs. And other running costs prevailed is also lower compared to other parts of the UK. In addition to these the country is filled with energetic, enthusiastic, young, skilled and highly educated workforce. Ireland is a developing country with a total population of 436, 6193 according to the survey carried out in 2007.   Since1980, about 40% of the inward investment in the European Electronics sector has been contributed by Ireland (Hall, 1995). Now, it is being accepted as one of the growing countries in the world. Most of production functions are undertaken by the country itself and the well known software packages are designed in this country i.e. around 60% of the total software packages sold in different parts of the world. It is also well known that for the software export in the world. Out of top 15 pharmaceutical companies, 13 companies have been manufacturing and conducting R&D operations in Ireland. It also has been a full member of Euro Currency Zone from its inception. It can also simplify the transactions including cross border transactions and other administrative costs that enables the Irish market to gain competitive advantage over costs and gets economies of scale. ‘The Doing Business Report’ reports that the country is ranked 7 out of 181 economies in terms of ease of doing business (Economy Ranking, 2008). The report also documents that the country is accepted as the 5th economy among the 181 economies across the world to start a new venture. Source: (The Doing Business Report 2009, Economy Ranking, 2008) Political Environment The country’s political stability, risk assessment, administration and policy-making are very much feasible to the business people in domestic and their foreign policies are too favorable to the investors. Evaluating and anticipating the political stability and security to the business environment in Ireland, it can be said that the political stability of the country plays an important role in determining the entrance of new ventures in to their market. Their trade policies attract many new entrepreneurs to commence their business operations in the country. Recent emergence of emigration, environmental risk and the affect of technological changes to the political agenda   have been seen along with Ireland’s economic   performance, their   peace process, the policy areas of health, housing and industrial relations of the country. Economic growth rate since past decades of the country in terms of per capita GDP level showed a higher trend. The reason behind such development was imaginative i.e. the dynamic programs developed by Irish political and administrative leaders irrespective of the governing body mainly focused on the development of the country as a whole and not as an individual. Ireland’s good working condition and better relationship with the United Kingdom has enabled the two governments to achieve significant progress and developments in the country. Comparative advantage of the country When we are talking about the comparative advantage of the country it is necessary to evaluate the overall development of the country. There is a good sign in inflation rate which is showing decreasing trend from last decades, this resulted in increase in the purchasing power of the people and also the micro factors GDP and Per Capita of the country also showed a positive sign. In addition to these foreign exchange rate increased. This inspired more and more outside companies to establish their business in the country and increased the amount of contribution of the foreign companies in the country, this factor provided employment opportunities to the people of Ireland. The following are the various categories that offer large amount of employments to youth. –  Ireland Industries – Ireland Hi tech – Ireland real estate – Ireland Services – Sundry The other comparative advantage of the country is the prevailing taxation policy of the country. It impose lower rate of taxation for existing industries as well as new industries. The policy of taxation is based on the individual income .In other words, higher the income higher the rate of tax payable. Companies those who are following the conditions as mentioned in the assessment year of July 1998, only 10% corporate tax will be applicable. This tax slab rate will remain unchanged till 2010. If it is a passive income only 25% is applicable (Cantillon, 2001). Income tax imposed on individuals is also low as compared to other countries in the world. For an individual, tax will be payable according to income earned in Ireland and overseas who follows the requirements to become a resident of Ireland for. A foreign resident who is employed in Ireland is also liable to pay tax on income earned in Ireland. It is yet another comparative advantage over other countries. Besides this they are also preventing the levy of double tax to the foreign companies even though it is followed in other parts of the country. In addition to these advantages, the government of Ireland provides VISA to the foreigners to do business in their country. In certain occasions they give passport having 3 months validity to the foreigners to stay. And a work permit will be given to the foreigners by the government if all the conditions in the gazette are complied by them. And suppose they are issued without fulfilling the conditions it will badly affect the employ Tax. They are liable to pay tax on income earned in Ireland and overseas by an individual who meets the test of a â€Å"permanent resident† of Ireland. A foreign resident who is employed in Ireland pays tax only on income earned in Ireland and not on overseas. The work permit is granted for the period of one year if required it can be extended. The major industries of Ireland The major industries located in Ireland are Agriculture, Beverages, Chemicals and Fertilizers, Clothing, Construction, Electronics and Data Processing, Food Processing, Machinery, Pharmaceuticals, Textiles, Tourism. Major companies working in Ireland Barry’s Tea Ltd It is a privately owned company. It was founded in Republic of Ireland in 1901 whose headquarter is situated at Cork. The main products of the company are Tea. About 73 employees are working in the company. The annual turnover of the company is â‚ ¬ 31 million. Baltimore Technologies It was founded in 1976 at Dublin, Ireland. About 12 employees are working in the company. The main products of the company are Public Key Infrastructure Solutions. The Company was acquired by Oryx International Growth Fund in July 2006. Airtricity The company was established in 1997 in Ireland. Paul Dowling is the current CEO of this company. Mainly they are producing electronic items. About 380 employees are working in the company. Arnotts It is one of the oldest and largest department stores at Dublin, Ireland. It was established in the year 1843 by Sir John Arnott. It is a privately owned company. â‚ ¬ 750000000 is the asset of the company. Market capitalization of the company is US$13billion.

Cross Cultural Management Report Plan Essay

Based in the uk I am a cc analyst for a large telecoms company,say who we are briefly, and what the industry is. We want to go abroad In the next 2 years, internationalisation must run smoothly, (what is inisation and what does it mean for a company?) an issue flagged in meetings will be Culture Shock and poor adjustment to the new environment. (What are these?) How will intlisation affect the whole company initially? Will the larger culture gap prove tougher than the smaller? Generic initial issues and frameworks,lecture 3, gives a good overview. (intro). What are the obvious issues faced? Language, distance, new, see the psychic distance thing. I need to provide a detailed account of CS in research and how it relates to CC working and our company. We need 3 good recommendations of how to minimise these affects. Look at successfully int’lised company vs company that is struggling, and the general principals to overcome issues used, can we use them? What does it all really mean according to the future? Has deregulation of the market meant we have to internationalise? conduct a detailed literature review of CS need to discuss the generic issues which the organisation will potentially face related to your chosen area in part one – So, the first part of your literature review will introduce exactly what ideas you’ll go on to discuss. Research lecture notes, text books, journal articles etc and pull together a detailed critical review of the relevant theories and models relating to the area. You also need to detail the relevance of your chosen area to the assignment scenario, with respect to the cross-cultural challenges/difficulties that it would pose for the organisation detail the relevant theories & models and the potential cross-cultural difficulties that could arise as a result of culture shock & adjustment back up your arguments using appropriate theories & models and appropriate real life examples from case studies/research articles/books etc. Give a bit of background for the telecommunication industry to set the scene for your organisation as the context is of course relevant to the assignment – but there is no need to do this in depth. You can still consider issues that are generic to any internationalisation. Source examples/case studies of telecommunications organisations that operate internationally in terms of providing best practice or illustrating failure that has taken place. Internationalisation– present a generic analysis of the issues facing the organisation when expanding into foreign countries in general. give examples to support some of your ideas around examining the likelihood of cultural difficulties being more prevalent when the ‘culture gap’ eg language is larger. Give examples of organisations which have attempted internationalisation and failed and/or succeeded, in order to elaborate and support your arguments and recommendations. need to discuss the generic issues which the organisation will potentially face related to your chosen area in part one – and potential solutions/ways to overcome these in part two. You can give hypothetical examples of different countries but the general principles of internationalisation and the issues that are applicable from a CCM perspective will be the same, no matter which country/countries are chosen for expansion. Give examples of differences in cultures that would cause potential difficulties such as culture shock etc and how these can vary from country to country. Your recommendations should obviously be related in part to your chosen area from part one but you may also talk about generic cross cultural challenges & difficulties which need to be overcome. It may also be useful to look back to lecture 3: Topical issues, as this has some useful practical frameworks you can draw on. There is flexibility with this – there is no particular requirement to have one recommendation about your specific issue and then 2 further general ones for instance. It is up to you. Crucially, a good assignment will evidence the links between whatever topic you have chosen and specific recommendations for alleviating that problem plus the fact that many cross cultural problems are interlinking and more broad in their scope. the first couple of sentences in your recommendations should set out what you’ll go on to address in this section. word count for this assignment is 3000 words. This should be split equally between part one and part two of the assignment A minimum of 15 references should be used. These need to be academic (i.e. authors of journals, textbooks). a range of academic sources should be consulted for research E.g. lecture notes, books, journals Please use the assignment template showing division of the two assignment areas (part one and part two). Whilst the remit of the report is advising an organisation, you’ll be aware by now that there are important interlinking factors between individual and organisational issues. You should position your assignment from both the individual and organisational viewpoints to show that you have an awareness of the interplay between the two and the complexities involved.

Beazer Homes Case Essay

Investors were lead to believe that the company financials were healthier than they actually were, as evidenced by the changes noted when the financial statements had to be restated. As a result of doing this, investors who were under the impression of a healthier position, continued to invest in an organization that was essentially doing nothing more than stealing their money; money which could have been invested into a different enterprise rather than padding the pockets of executives that didn’t earn it. As a result of having to restate financial statements, the per share price of Beazer Homes dropped from the $35/share price level in may, to approximately $11/share by the end of July. This is a significant loss in wealth for investors. In addition to the allegations against Mr. Rand for possible accounting fraud, allegations were also brought against Beazer Homes for mortgage fraud. To address the question as to which is a more serious offense, it would be our opinion that both would carry an equal weight of seriousness. On the one hand, investors were misled, as noted above, and this led to a significant loss of wealth for many, especially those individuals and/or institutions that may have held a large position. On the other hand, to address the issue of mortgage fraud, new homeowners were oftentimes cheated out of money that they paid to Beazer Homes. A example of this is when Beazer Homes would require purchasers to pay a fee for â€Å"interest discount points† at closing. Then Beazer Homes would keep the cash received and not lower the interest rate. This is just one example, but it can be an extremely costly one when you look at how much a . 25 percent or . 5 percent reduction in an interest rate can be over the life of a 20 or 30 year fixed rate mortgage; that’s if Beazer Homes wasn’t trying to convince people that an adjustable rate or hybrid mortgage would be better for their situation. Additionally, Beazer Homes ignored income requirements when making loans to unqualified purchasers, which not only put the purchaser in jeopardy of having the income needed to make their ayments, but in the event of default or foreclosure, it can have a significant impact on the home values of the neighborhood. As a result of these legal issues with Beazer Homes, the SEC issued a notice to the Beazer Homes CEO called the Wells notice. The Wells notice was created under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, which states that if a firm has to restate their financial statements, the SEC can require the CEO and CFO to return any and all bo nuses that were received during the period of restated financial statements. Additionally, the CEO and CFO do not need to have any knowledge of errors. The SEC issued the Wells notice to the Beazer Homes CEO, Ian J. McCarthy, on 13 November 2009, indicating that the SEC would be brining a civil case against him to collect incentive compensation. In the notice issued to the CEO, there was no indication or allegations of cover-up, or misconduct, on the part of Mr. McCarthy with respect to the financial statements or other disclosures that were published during the period in question.

Public Service and Commercial Broadcasting in British TV Assignment

Public Service and Commercial Broadcasting in British TV - Assignment Example With the television industry required to turn digital and with increasing political interference, the role of PSB and its future has been under debate recently. While programmes such as Master Mind, Dr. Who, and Blue Peter have been hallmarks of PSB, there are certain episodes such as the Hutton Case that has cast PSB under a negative light. In this paper, an attempt has been made to understand the role of PSB in Britain and the controversy that surrounds it. The aim of the paper is to suggest ideas for the future of PSB and commercial broadcasting on British TV. British TV is unique in the sense that it is greatly dominated by public service broadcasting; a prime example of which is British Broadcasting Company (BBC). This corporation and others of its kind are funded by the government and the contents that they produce are thus controlled and scrutinized before being presented to the public (Scannell, n.d). In Britain, there are four principal broadcasters: BBC, Channel 4, Channel 5 and Independent Television (ITV). BBC is the main provider of public service broadcasting and is funded by the government which uses a license fee from consumers to fund the operations of BBC (The House of Commons: Culture, Media, and Sports Committee, 2010). All of these broadcasters are controlled by Ofcom, an organization responsible for controlling and monitoring communications in Britain. Ofcom has placed a mandate on all broadcasters to provide public service broadcasting in order to earn their right of broadcasting in Britain under the IBA Act for Indepen dent Television and Royal Charter for the BBC (Negrine, 1994). Public service broadcasting in the UK serves four main important purposes. These being: to provide knowledge relating to current events to the public; increase the scope of informal learning and its interest in different fields including science, arts, and humanities; to bring into consideration the different perspectives to a story.

Familial Duty and Responsibility Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 13

Familial Duty and Responsibility - Essay Example In the east, familial duty is extremely important. This duty creates a bond between family members that help create a strong society. One example of the loyalty is towards the elderly. Children feel a duty to care for elderly parents. Instead of placing their elderly in nursing homes or elderly retirement centers, it is common for three or four generations to live under one roof. This not only helps the elderly but the whole family unit. Both parents can work outside of the home, while grandparents can watch their grandchildren. This helps family finances by eliminating not only the cost of caring for an elderly parent outside the home but the cost of daycare as well. The advantages of having several generations in one house can benefit more than the family, but society as a whole. If grandparents are home when children go and come home from school, children are less likely to get into trouble. If a child does get into trouble, an adult is there to handle the problem. Teenage pregnancy, drug and alcohol use, criminal activity, and other mischiefs would be controlled by a loving grandparent. Another example of how familial loyalty could benefit Americans would be in the marriage. In the east, duty comes first. Marriage is a duty. In America, many individuals do what makes them individually happy, not what makes others happy. Extramarital affairs and divorce are common. This breaks the familial unit. For Americans to embrace and benefit the eastern way of life, marriage would have to be taken more seriously. When an individual does what makes them happy, then others around them do the same. Americans have forgotten to treat people how they want to be treated. Why would children want to take care of parents that put them through messy divorces? Divorced parents do not understand why children grow up so bitter.  Ã‚  

International Business Strategy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

International Business Strategy - Essay Example Capital investments of Shangri-La is chiefly in Asia- Pacific regions. Apart from extensive hospitality and marketing strategies, some part of growth and expansion of Shangri-La is also due to increase in travelling tendencies of people. The fact that international traveling has become more hazardless has also contributed to this fact. Shangri-La is known for its business focus and capital investments. Like most other hotel chains in Asia, Shangri-La hotels do not engage in multiple business provisions. Shangri-La hotels and resorts are situated in 29 locations and have over 23,000 rooms. In order to compete in global market, Shangri-La has ventured beyond its business activities in Asian markets, and has entered other nations especially into China. Expansion was made in luxury segment as well as in business relationship between owner and operators. This was achieved by extension and well management of contracts. As per their extension programs, Shangri-La has established as many as thirty- five hotels in different and popular tourist destinations of Asia. Some of these destinations include Singapore, India, Malaysia, Japan, etc. Shangri-La has its branches in almost all prominent cities in these continents, like Chicago, Miami, London, Vancouver, Paris, Las Vegas, etc. These achievements have made Shangri-La one of the largest chains of deluxe hotels that are based in Asia. Business activities of Shangri-La, in fact, have not been constrained to Asia only. Over time Shangri-La branches has been established in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates first, and then to Muscat, Oman. Later on it was expanded to other Middle East, Europe, and North America as well. Shangri-La has also expanded in Australia. In 2006, the organization had approximately 40 future projects. (Campbel and Kazan, n.d., pp. 432- 438) However, as far as its expansion to China is concerned, Shangri-La has experienced huge benefits from China’s growing economy. Since 2006, Chinese economy h as turned towards a new growth. This has made China one of the most important concerns of Shangri-La. this concern is evident from the fact that since 2006, most of the projects regarding establishment of new hotel branches were set in China. The figure is estimated to be somewhere around 188 hotels. Another reason why Shangri-La has invested a major part in China is because, in recent times, China has introduced much relation in travel, and has withdrawn some travel restrictions also. It has resulted in significant growth in domestic and outbound travel in China. Also, international events like Olympics in 2008, held in Beijing have not only given China more exposure internationally but have also boosted the country’s economy. All these factors, combined, have prompted Shangri-La to invest more in China. (Campbel and Kazan, n.d., pp. 433) Shangri-La has been following a differentiation strategy as far as international competence is concerned. This chain of hotels had differe ntiated itself by establishing itself as a cultural brand. That is to say, overall brand strategy of Shangri-La is based on Asian hospitality and cultures. The chief aim is to please and delight the customers. Other objectives include consistent top- notch service that would keep up the brand image. Shangri-La Care is the best example of this. This unit has been set up by Shangri-La Hotels as a measure to ensure customer service. This program also included training and developmental

The Strategy of the World's Largest Producer of Bearings Case Study - 10

The Strategy of the World's Largest Producer of Bearings - Case Study Example SKF has been contacted by ITC, its major distributor in the United States in order to participate in a reverse auction by Steelcorps, one of SKF's customers through ITC. The process of procurement will award the lowest bid in terms of price for the raw materials that Steelcorp needs, and with SKF as its major supplier of bearings during the past couple of years, the latter is expected to join the reverse auction.Answering the invitation and participating in the reverse auction is not an easy choice to make for the executives of SKF, however. The executives are on a crossroad between two major decisions: to join or not to join the reverse auction.If SKF joins the reverse auction, it signals the whole industry about the change in its value proposition, which is to deliver excellent services at a premium – a more for more strategy in the value proposition matrix (Fathy & Smithee 1999). If it joins the reverse auction where the winner will be determined based on the lowest price o f the bid, the company becomes inconsistent with its strategy and it blurs what its brand stands for; this is one of the considerations. On the other hand, Steelcorp is one of the company's major source of revenues through ITC, its biggest distributor in the US. ITC relies on SKF with the latter's high mark up an allowance for ITC, as ITC needs the profit margins from the SKF sales to Steelcorp in order to boost its profitability. Because of the recession, SKF's revenue targets are 5% lower than the previous year; dropping the Steelcorp reverse auction will also substantially affect its profitability for the current year. These are the complications.

Management qualities Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Management qualities - Essay Example t talents in sports, Billy Beane did not continue his career as a baseball player himself, instead, he became a general manager of the Oakland Athletics, with which he has changed the way sports looked like during the long period of time. The unique leader’s qualities have enabled him to enjoy the success in baseball among the teams of that large market. As stated (Beane, 2014), one of the critical predispositions to be great leader is to hire smarter people, who are more capable in understanding what particular sport is. Even hiring those who don’t play is a considerable asset to a business. Another successful characteristic of Beane is the ability to bring good team, which may be not noticed by others, but succeeded to reach high results during numerous games. Despite the inability of certain players to be great team-mates, they are ultimately the best at achieving Beane’s goals. Another important quality of Beane is to ability to continue in positive direction s even after setbacks and experience the opportunity to lead people and perform under the same pressure as others. Beane is good in understanding what the credit is, while most traditional stats believe in outcome credit, he considers the process should be given a credit. What most accounts for Beane’s success in being a manager it is that he provides a strong sense of his team and keeps ahead of the competition by applying the model of many mathematical variables and understanding that it is possible to win only through experience of losses. However, taking a positive and optimistic approach enables one to take the full advantage of an opportunity and fulfill the

She walks in Beauty Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

She walks in Beauty - Essay Example An insatiable urge to know the full details of her beauty grips the reader. However, the comparison of her beauty to the night immediately casts doubts, because the conventional attitude in literature has been to compare beauty to something which is bright. This confusion is immediately lifted with words like â€Å"cloudless† and â€Å"stars†. The third and fourth lines of the poem, â€Å"And all thats best of dark and bright/ Meet in her aspect and her eyes† (Byron), give an excellent description of her superb beauty. Darkness helps the stars to project their glow to their best. Similarly, the dark dress the lady wears promotes the glow of her face. There is a heavenly grace, says the poet, in the glow of her face. The poet now tries to convey the personality of the lady which her external beauty reflects. â€Å"One shade the more, one ray the less† (Byron) would have made her beauty slightly imperfect. The word â€Å"grace† now replaces the word â€Å"beauty†, because the poet moves from describing the outer features to express her inner qualities. The poet says that â€Å"the nameless grace/ Which waves in every raven tress† only shows â€Å"how dear their dwelling-place† is (Byron). Her thoughts are â€Å"pure†, and they are â€Å"serenely and â€Å"sweetly† expressed through her face. Thus, the poet has succeeded in turning the attention of the readers from their initial impression. They now realize that the lady not only walks with her physical beauty, but also carries with her a graceful soul. In the last stanza, the poet devotes three lines to repeat the greatness of her physical beauty by using the word â€Å"glow†, in stead of â€Å"â€Å"beauty†, and then spends the last three lines to explain her moral nature. On â€Å"that cheek, and oer that brow/ So soft, so calm, yet eloquent† (Byron) sit the smiles and glow. They speak about her human nature, of her â€Å"days in goodness spent†. She has â€Å"A mind at peace with all

Does the rotation of auditors improve the quality of auditing Essay

Does the rotation of auditors improve the quality of auditing - Essay Example In the provisional report released by the panel, it was proposed that, for there to be audit quality, audit firms must be rotated periodically (Whitehouse par. 4). This proposal by the U.K. Competition Commission is in line with the United States Public Company Accounting Oversight Board’s (PCAOB) concept, which proposed compulsory rotation of audit firms. According to PCAOB, the proposed regulation would set a threshold on the number of years that a registered public audit firm could act as the auditor of a public company, noted Bhika and Francis (par. 2). This proposal came about out of the increasing need to improve audit quality in both the U.K. and the U.S. Audit quality, according to Arter (3) is a process involving a systematic examination of internal and external auditor’s quality system. Audit quality is seen as an important part of quality management system in an organization. Quality audit ensures that audit companies perform their duties objectively, and ind ependently. Therefore, the U.K. Competition Commission and PCAOB believe that rotation of auditors of public companies will help increase competition among audit firms, which will also increase the quality of audit. This will be of great benefit to the shareholders since it will help safeguard shareholders interests by increasing the managers’ accountability. A report released by the U.K. Competition Commission showed that about 31% of top 100 public companies in the U.K. and 20% of the top 250 had been sharing the same audit firm for more than two decades. This raises concern since it does not promote the spirit of competition, thus resulting in lower quality, higher prices and less innovation. In addition, this results in failure of audit firms to protect the interest of shareholders (Whitehouse par. 5). The U.K Commission is also concerned that the audit market, subjugated by the Big 4, is constrained by factors that prevent companies from changing auditors. In addition, t hese factors allow auditors to focus more on satisfying the needs of managements than those of shareholders. A study also established that most companies find it difficult in comparing alternative audit firms with their existing auditors, as they prefer continuity. As a result, they incur significant costs in hiring and terminating the services of auditors. Therefore, the reluctance of these companies to change auditors limit reduces their bargaining power. All these problems, according to the U.K. Commission can only be addressed effectively through mandatory rotation of auditors (Whitehouse par. 6). Audit rotation, according to PWC (par. 2), pertains to setting a limit that ensures that a particular auditor does not overstay as an auditor for a particular client for too long. Instead, the auditors are required to move to terminate their services with the firms they have been working for after the expiry of the set time limit to find other clients. Perceived advantages One of the p erceived advantages of audit firm rotation is that it increases audit quality (Bhika and Francis par. 6). Those in support of proposed rotation of audit firms in the country claim that the establishing term limit for audit firms will help in eliminating some of the â€Å"chumminess† that might exist between companies and audit firms, thus promoting increased skepticism, independence and objectivity.

Threatened species - Bradypus Torquatus Coursework - 1

Threatened species - Bradypus Torquatus - Coursework Example The causes of deforestation are agriculture and urbanization. The size of the Atlantic forest, locally called as the Mata Atlantica, has been reduced to 10% of its original size (Hance, 2010). Gravely affected with such change in landscape are the maned sloths, because an individual needs as much as a hectare as habitat. As well, contributing in the increased risk of their extinction is the fact that their litter size is 1 and there are only 15-20 births between February and April, although the absence of distinctive mane among juveniles allows them to hide in their mother’s fur. These slow-moving animals that spend 60-80% of their time resting is susceptible to become prey to mammalian predators (Hayssen, 2009). Thus, this species is already enlisted as endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). Since human activity has a large part in it, ways on allowing harmonious co-existence between humans and wild animals must thus be determined before this endangered species become extinct. Studies are thus being made to identify effective means for humans to better protect B, torquatus and to facilitate the increase in the population of this animal. Since much of the problem concerns the habitat, one of the studies conducted tried to determine whether cacao agroforest, locally called as cabrucas, interspersed between the remaining patches of Atlantic forests can serve as a habitat for this endangered species. Agroforestry has long been suggested as a solution to decreasing wildlife population partly caused by human-initiated landscape changes. This way, humans can earn a livelihood, while providing habitat to displaced animals as well. For 40 months, Cassano and her colleagues (2011) monitored three maned sloths living in the Cabana de Serra farm containing primary and secondary forests interspersed with shaded cacao and rubber tree plantations. There were also swamp and pastures. The sloths

Benjamin Franklin by Edmund Morgan Essay Example for Free

Benjamin Franklin by Edmund Morgan Essay One of the most famous biographies ever written is said to be made by Edmund Morgan, when he accounted that of Benjamin Franklin’s life. He did so by presenting a very special style in analyzing Franklins existence. He made it possible by not narrating an everyday account with the use of dates, but instead accounted for the overall legacy of Franklin’s life. After reading the book, it can be said that the book establishes a broad view of Franklin’s existence. Franklin has been discussed as universally well-known for three things: his discovery of electricity, his writings, and his participation in the American Revolution. In this way, Morgan was able to present how Franklin has influenced the American, the government and the society as a whole. Born on January 17, 1706, young Franklin was presented by the author as a vigorous and curios one. It was also mentioned that his favorite past time was playing chess and singing songs. A further reading of the article shows that he also has his own belief in religion, which is Sin is not harmful because it is forbidden, but it is forbidden because it is harmful. Nor is a duty beneficial because it is commanded, but it is commanded because it is beneficial. As an individual, though he believes that God is the creator, he does attend mass and does not read bible. Nevertheless, it was at this stage of his life where he started writing about the virtues he believed in. A decade later, Franklin’s curiosity was instigated, when his English friend sent him Leyden jars for static electricity storage. Immediately, he started his own experiments with electricity. Subsequently, he discovered that a metal rod with a sharp end can ignite a spark from a greater distance than that of a rounded one. Based on the said findings, he proceeded on and proposed to conduct an experiment with a kite and a key to confirm that lightning is indeed electricity. His efforts proved him right, and his successful experiment discovering electricity made him famous. Among the study Franklin has made, includes that of the effect which ocean current has on travel and the pre germ theory. Morgan also touched the life of Franklin being a writer. According to Morgan, Franklin, though he left the field of printing earlier, he never left it totally. This was possible because he continuously carried out his work secretly as a printer in the field of philosophy, alongside with the renowned Poor Richard’s Almanack. He also succeeded in circulating numerous satirical hoax discourses. One of the popular speeches he made talks about a woman who had five illegitimate children and ironically claims to be following God’s word to increase and multiply. Franklin’s prominent pieces of writing talks about the qualities which he said would lead one to moral perfection, which includes Temperance, Chastity, Cleanliness, and Humility. It bears stressing that Franklin wrote these articles based from his own insights of good deeds against faith and not from religious dogma and sermons. The core of Franklin’s writings on religion imparts that a human being can be moral and god-fearing even without dogmatic presence of the church. As for Franklin’s participation in American Revolution, it can be gleaned from Morgan’s statement that the transition of America into an independent nation may not have been as easy were it not for Franklin’s efforts. His international relations with the British government and the French before, during, and after the hostilities proved very useful to America in instituting and re-instituting alliances. In the book, Franklin was presented to be one who is so influential in defending a pre-Revolution Philadelphia from French privateers, evenly allowing the British to preserve their influence in America and the colonies to resist division. This was due to Franklin’s belief that the British government was unyielding, but necessitates several modifications. All the complexities which were faced by Franklin in his life were discussed in the later part of the book. This occurred after he was sent to England in 1764 as a colonial agent, where he realized how complicated for someone from America to tackle these corrections, principally that of the colonists’ aspiration to elect their officials and to enjoy rights. On an ending note, Morgan went further when he made statement that depicted Adams as the most contentious colleague of Franklin during that time, and the reason for making living miserable for Franklin. BOOK REVIEW A reading of the book reveals that it was written in a narrative form, which trails more chronological events in Franklin’s life. Morgan made this possible by utilizing several quotations and pictures from Franklin’s works in telling his account. These help the person who reads in appreciating the events and thoughts from Franklin’s viewpoint. In some way, it can be said that the book is the best speech ever written, which comprises of an all-encompassing prologue, followed by a comprehensive series of events that is supplemented with optimistic tales and motivating truth imparted by Franklin. At this point of view, readers can say that Morgan’s writing technique is interwoven efficiently and wittily. Furthermore, he vividly sketches the outlines of Franklins growing outlook while unremarkably helping his readers grapple the details of his life in politics and the surfacing international condition during the American Revolution. From time to time, he even personally directed statements to the reader and alludes to what he himself is trying to understand about Franklin. On a different note, it could also be said that the story is of an adventure type that take hold of readers with the anecdotes of Franklin’s participation in the political events of 18th-century America. Nevertheless, the author did not lose sight of the significance of the other facet of the mans qualities and the opinion and actions of others toward him. This was the reason for the biographys success since it engages readers attention in the grand live stage show of this intriguing mans life. One of the topics which were concentrated by Morgan in Franklin’s life, is his being diplomat. It was presented by the detailed account of Franklins vital role in the lengthy progression of calculations and miscalculations that pressed the loyal and dutiful British colonies into revolution and forged them into the United States of America. As written, Franklin, can be seen in every event, frequently behind the picture, but always exceptionally influential, a compelling catalyst for change, which has left an impact in the life of Americans and British government and society. Importantly, in this book we can learn that Franklin is the sole man whose signature maybe found on all four of the important founding documents of the American republic which are the Declaration of Independence, the Articles of Confederation, the Treaty of Paris, and the Constitution. As for the impact Franklin’s life and this book may have in the society and public policy, it is important to mention that even if he did not believe in bible writings and the of the existence of God, he seems to have lived in an otherwise moral existence and have not lost sight of the need for people to be living with such religious morality. The most essential aspect of Franklins personality was his unselfish way of sharing to others and his belief that what is right is that which is beneficial. Thus, it can be inferred that one of the lessons in Franklin’s life which is being taught is that, being useful means providing the needs of other inhabitants, not only for one’s self, and that a man with an intelligence concerning him comes only to those individual who possesses a great heart. As for the economy, this book made us learn that Franklin, after experiencing his first achievement, had launched several successful commercial partnerships which lead to the development of the law of partnerships in America. This is said to be one of the many contributions Franklin has made in the history. Aside from the foregoing influences of Franklin has given to the society, it is of everyone’s knowledge that his greatest contribution was his discovery of electricity. This discovery was the product of his scientific curiosity which has originally established his fame in the world. In sum, it can be said that Morgan’s biography of Franklin imparts a representation of the renowned man with the kite that one might not anticipate in an intellectual biography. It is manifest from the opening that Morgan wishes the person who reads to see beyond the characterization of Franklin that we often read in books and articles. In this work, we came to learn, as stated at the outset, that Benjamin Franklin is famously known for three things: his experiments with electricity, his writings, and his involvement in the American Revolution. However, it is important to note that the behavior that Morgan actually wishes for the reader to be aware of is that to successful in this world, one should posse’s inquisitiveness and enthrallment with the world around him, coupled with a serene obsession for the intellectual strength of persons, and a benevolent social servitude. Reference: www. class. uidaho. edu/Engl440/NYRB/NRYB_Edmund_Morgan. htm, Retrieved April 09, 2007. http://www. brothersjudd. com/index. cfm/fuseaction/reviews. detail/book_id/1183/Benjamin%20Fra. htm Retrieved April 09, 2007

Efficient Database Driven Reverse Mapping Dictionary

Efficient Database Driven Reverse Mapping Dictionary Building an Efficient Database Driven Reverse Mapping Dictionary ABSTRACT With the enormous availability of words in usage it is always being a challenge to find the meaning. Even the versatile speaker may thrash about finding a meaning for certain unheard words. In such cases they need some source for reference like dictionary. In traditional model for using dictionary, forward concept is implemented where it result in set of definition and it may produce a comprehensive phases. This may even confuse the user with the different concept of understanding or sometimes user could not understand the detailed concept. To overcome this concept, we facilitate reverse dictionary in which for any phases or word, the appropriate single word meaning is given. This system also facilitates to provide the relevant meaning even if that word is not available in the database. It will also produce instant output for the user input. 1. INTRODUCTION AND RELATED WORKS 1.1 ABOUT THE PROJECT:- Reverse Dictionary:- A reverse dictionary is a dictionary organized in a non-standard order that provides the user with information that would be difficult to obtain from a traditionally alphabetized dictionary. For example, A Reverse Dictionary of the Spanish Language and Walkers Rhyming Dictionary are reverse dictionaries, the organization of which is based upon sorting each entry word based upon its last letter and the subsequent letters proceeding toward the beginning of that word. Consequently, in these reverse dictionaries all words that have the same suffix appear in order in the dictionary. Such a reverse dictionary would be useful for linguists and poets who might be looking for words ending with a particular suffix, or by an anthropologist or forensics specialist examining a damaged text (e.g. a stone inscription, or a burned document) that had only the final portion of a particular word preserved. Reverse dictionaries of this type have been published for most major alphabetical languages (see numerous examples listed below). By way of contrast, in a standard dictionary words are organized such that words with the same prefix appear in order, since the sorting order is starting with the first letter of the entry word and subsequent letters proceeding toward the end of that word. Reverse dictionaries of this type were historically difficult to produce before the advent of the electronic computer and have become more common since the first computer sorted one appeared in 1974. Another use of the term reverse dictionary is for a reference work that is organized by concepts, phrases, or the definitions of words. This is in contrast to a standard dictionary, in which words are indexed by the headwords, but similar in function to a thesaurus, where one can look up a concept by some common, general word, and then find a list of near-synonyms of that word. (For example, in a thesaurus one could look up doctor and be presented with such words as healer, physician, surgeon, M.D., medical man, medicine man, academician, professor, scholar, sage, master, expert.) In theory, a reverse dictionary might go further than this, allowing you to find a word by its definition only. Such dictionaries have become more practical with the advent of computerized information-storage and retrieval systems Online Dictionary: On Line reverse dictionary lets you describe a concept and get back a list of words and phrases related to that concept. Your description can be a few words, a sentence, a question, or even just a single word. Just type it into the box above and hit the Find words button. Keep it short to get the best results. In most cases youll get back a list of related terms with the best matches shown first. How does it work? On Line indexes hundreds of online dictionaries, encyclopedias, and other reference sites. By now you may have used the standard search available from the home page, which shows you a list of definition links for any word you type in. This is the reverse: Here we search our references for words that have definitions conceptually similar to the words you search for. We do this using a motley assortment of statistical language processing hacks. Online reverse dictionary (RD). As opposed to a regular (forward) dictionary that maps words to their definitions, a RD performs the converse mapping, i.e., given a phrase describing the desired concept, it provides words whose definitions match the entered definition phrase. For example, suppose a forward dictionary informs the user that the meaning of the word â€Å"spelunking† is â€Å"exploring caves.† A reverse dictionary, on the other hand, offers the user an opportunity to enter the phrase â€Å"check out natural caves† as input, and expect to receive the word â€Å"spelunking† (and possibly other words with similar meanings) as output. Effectively, the RD addresses the â€Å"word is on the tip of my tongue, but I can’t quite remember it† problem. A particular category of people afflicted heavily by this problem are writers, including students, professional writers, scientists, marketing and advertisement professionals, teachers, the l ist goes on. In fact, for most people with a certain level of education, the problem is often not lacking knowledge of the meaning of a word, but, rather, being unable to recall the appropriate word on demand. The RD addresses this widespread problem. 2. EXISTING SYSTEM:- In the fact that it is more significant to make a reference for unheard word, user prefers a source like dictionary for better understanding. The performance allows online interaction with users Current semantic similarity measurement schemes that are highly computationally intensive. In this technique, concepts are represented as vectors in a feature (or keyword) space. The two most common methods to achieve this, latent semantic indexing (LSI) and principal component analysis (PCA), both analyze the keywords of documents in a corpus to identify the dominant concepts in the document. Subsequently these dominant concepts are represented as vectors in the keyword space and are used as the basis of similarity comparison for classification. In most implementations of Concept Similarity Problem (CSP) solutions, vectorization is done a priori, and at runtime, only vector distances are computed. Drawbacks It requires the user’s input phrase to contain words that exactly match a dictionary definition; It does not scale well—for a dictionary containing more than 100,000 defined words, where each word may have multiple definitions, it would require potentially hundreds of thousands of queries to return a result. 3. PROPOSED SYSTEM:- Report the creation of the WordStar Reverse Dictionary (WRD), a database-driven RD system that attempts to address the core issues identified above. The WRD not only fulfils new functional objectives outlined above, it does so at an order of magnitude performance and scale improvement over the best concept similarity measurement schemes available without impacting solution quality. We also demonstrate that the WRD is far better in solution quality than the two commercial RDs available. Our reverse dictionary system is based on the notion that a phrase that conceptually describes a word should resemble the word’s actual definition, if not matching the exact words, then at least conceptually similar. Consider, for example, the following concept phrase: â€Å"talks a lot, but without much substance.† Based on such a phrase, a reverse dictionary should return words such as â€Å"gabby,† â€Å"chatty,† and â€Å"garrulous.† However, a definition of â€Å"garrulous† in a dictionary might actually be â€Å"full of trivial conversation,† which is obviously close in concept, but contains no exact matching words. In our RD, a user might input a phrase describing an unknown term of interest. Since an input phrase might potentially satisfy the definition of multiple words, a RD should return a set of possible matches from which a user may select his/her choice of terms. This is complex, however, because the user is unlikely to e nter a definition that exactly matches one found in a dictionary. The meaning of the phrase the user entered should be conceptually similar enough to an actual dictionary definition to generate a set of possible matches, e.g., returning to the â€Å"talks a lot, but without much substance† example, our reverse dictionary should return words like â€Å"garrulous.† Advantages It does so at an order of magnitude performance Scale improvement over the best concept similarity measurement schemes available without impacting solution quality The system architecture diagram enables you to graphically model the applications of a system, and the externals that they interface with and data stores that they use or provide information to. The following information describes the symbols used on the diagram: Application It uses the Application symbol to represent an entire application and graphically show on this diagram how it is related to externals and data stores. Within the application definition, it can specify overall information about the application the process threads in the organization that it enables, the type of team effort being used to build it, etc. To specify more details on the implementation of the application, you can create child Data Flow diagrams or UML diagrams, depending on the nature of the application. Data Flow It can model the flow of data as it moves from one point in the system to another with the Data Flow line. The flow might be between externals and applications, or applications and data stores. Within the data flow you can model the data elements and data structures used. Data flows can split into two or more flows, or they can join to one from two or more flows. Material Flow It can model the direction of the flow of physical items and materials in the system with the Material Flow line. The flow might be between externals and applications, or applications and data stores. Data Store A Data Store symbol is where data rests when it is neither flowing nor being operated on. A data store can be a database, hard disk, floppy disk, or a file on a disk. Multi-Data Store A Multi-Data Store symbol is used to denote that multiple instances of the data store exist. This convention is used to avoid drawing a copy of a schema for each equivalent data store when you build a data model. External An External symbol represents an object that sends information or data to the system, or takes information from the system, but is not itself part of the system. Multi-External A Multi-External symbol is used to denote that multiple instances of the external exist. 4. CONCLUSION:- In this paper, we describe the significant challenges inherent in building a reverse dictionary, and map the problem to the well-known conceptual similarity problem. We propose a set of methods for building and querying a reverse dictionary, and describe a set of experiments that show the quality of our results, as well as the runtime performance under load. Our experimental results show that our approach can provide significant improvements in performance scale without sacrificing solution quality. Our experiments comparing the quality of our approach to that of Dictionary.com and OneLook.com reverse dictionaries show that the Wordster approach can provide significantly higher quality over either of the other currently available implementations 5. REFERENCES IEEE:- [1] R. Baeza-Yates and B. Ribeiro-Neto, Modern Information Retrieval. ACM Press, 2011. [2] D.M. Blei, A.Y. Ng, and M.I. Jordan, â€Å"Latent Dirichlet Allocation,† J. Machine Learning Research, vol. 3, pp. 993-1022, Mar. 2003. [3] J. Carlberger, H. Dalianis, M. Hassel, and O. Knutsson, â€Å"Improving Precision in Information Retrieval for Swedish Using Stemming,† Technical Report IPLab-194, TRITA-NA-P0116, Interaction and Presentation Laboratory, Royal Inst. of Technology and Stockholm Univ., Aug. 2001. [4] H. Cui, R. Sun, K. Li, M.-Y. Kan, and T.-S. Chua, â€Å"Question Answering Passage Retrieval Using Dependency Relations,† Proc. 28th Ann. Int’l ACM SIGIR Conf. Research and Development in Information Retrieval, pp. 400-407, 2005. [5] T. Dao and T. Simpson, â€Å"Measuring Similarity between Sentences,† http://opensvn.csie.org/WordNetDotNet/trunk/Projects/Thanh/Paper/WordNetDotNet_Semantic_Similarity.pdf (last accessed 16 Oct. 2009), 2009. [6]Dictionary.com, LLC, â€Å"Reverse Dictionary,†http://dictionary. reference.com/reverse, 2009. [7] J. Earley, â€Å"An Efficient Context-Free Parsing Algorithm,† Comm. ACM, vol. 13, no. 2, pp. 94-102, 1970. [8] Forrester Consulting, â€Å"Ecommerce Web Site Performance Today,† http://www.akamai.com/2seconds, Aug. 2009. [9] E. Gabrilovich and S. Markovitch, â€Å"Wikipedia-Based Semantic Interpretation for Natural Language Processing,† J. Artificial Intelligence Research, vol. 34, no. 1, pp. 443-498, 2009. [10] V. Hatzivassiloglou, J. Klavans, and E. Eskin, â€Å"Detecting Text Similarity over Short Passages: Exploring Linguistic Feature Combinations Via Machine Learning,† Proc. Joint SIGDAT Conf. Empirical Methods in Natural Language Processing and Very Large Corpora, pp. 203-212, June 1999.

Ethics of Drone Strikes

Ethics of Drone Strikes Judah Wiesner Joan Fisher Above the law: Murder without consequence As stated in the 10 commandments, Thou shalt not kill. A clear statement, yet if necessary we kill without thought, but mostly for self-defense; but if, for example, you killed an innocent civilian, you would spend 15 years to life in prison. If thousands of people are getting locked up every day for murder, why shouldnt the government? Our government has been using drones to indirectly bomb foreign locals since 2001, resulting in staggering amounts of casualties over the years. The United States of America should stop drone strikes abroad because it kills a drastic number of foreign citizens and traumatizes local populations; it is secretive, lacks adequate legal oversight, and it targets men and women who may not even be enemy combatants or terrorists. Unmanned aerial vehicles(UAVs), commonly referred to as drones, are remotely-controlled aircrafts which are loaded with bombs and missiles for various missions involving the CIA. Beginning with the World Trade Center attacks of September 11, 2001, along with the succeeding War on Terror, the U.S. has been using drones to take out suspected terrorists in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Somalia, Yemen, and some other countries. A campaign of drone strikes calculated to take out certain high-value enemies, a project called Operation Haymaker, had, throughout a five-month time period that ended the February of 2013, resulted in no more than 35 jackpots, a term used to signal the neutralization of a specific targeted individual, while more than 200 people were declared EKIA enemy killed in action' (Zenko). The Pakistan government has even released estimates of deaths in specific drone strikes. From January 13, 2006, to October 24, 2009, it is stated that out of 746 deaths from drone strikes, 147 a re clearly casualties, with 94 being children (Woods). That means that the U.S. government would have to serve up to 220 years in prison for manslaughter under normal circumstances; but, I suppose when you are the law, you choose your own consequences. Per Clive Stafford Smith, attorney at law and founder of the organization Reprieve, an entire region is being terrorized by the constant threat of death from the skies. Their way of life is collapsing: kids are too terrified to go to school, adults are afraid to attend weddings, funerals, business meetings, or anything that involves gathering in groups. If you are wondering how this is legal, dont ask the government. The U.S. has been bombing innocent civilians for far too long with far too few punishments, and we can no longer justify it. The use of pilotless aircrafts for surveillance and targeted killings by the United States has quickly become a very controversial human rights issue; especially since the CIA has kept all the information as private as possible. The fact that the government is getting away with these irresponsible and reckless actions every year is astonishing. But casualties arent the only thing keeping these bombings from being successful. Another large problem is that these strikes are secretive and lack legal oversight, which leads to us not being able to hold our leaders liable. The CIA has yet to officially acknowledge its drone programs anywhere in the world, let alone describe the rules and procedures for compliance with US and international law (Amnesty International). Drones are used in places where war is not openly stated or permitted by Congress, which lets our nations leaders have virtually limitless power over undisclosed wars all around the world. Sadly, with the government controlling nearly everything, theres not a lot that has been done to stop drone strikes, or even slow them down. Although there have been some small things here and there, the largest and most common defense is petitions. Unfortunately, these petitions havent done a lot. Although it may sound farfetched, congress should think about taking away the 2001 Authorization for Use of Military Force (AUMF). The Obama administrations domestic legal justification for most drone strikes relies on the AUMF, which it interprets to authorize the use of force not only against those individuals and organizations with some real connection to the 9/11 attacks, but also against all associates of al Qaeda. (Brooks). This vastly pliable elucidation of the AUMF has lowered the point for the U.S. to start using force. Taking away the AUMF would not deny our president the capability of using force when necessary, to prevent or respond to a serious attack on our country, the presi dent would retain his existing power as commander in chief and chief executive, to protect our nation when needed; Nonetheless, taking away the 2001 AUMF would certainly minimize the frequency in which our president needs to resort to targeted killings. Saying to stop drone strikes completely would be rather farfetched, as there are benefits from them. Drone strikes help to create a much safer experience for our soldiers by taking them from the battlefield; Instead of boots on the ground combat, we can keep certain soldiers on U.S. soil, piloting drones out of allied territory. The Taliban, Al-Qaeda, and their partners often work in unforgiving, distant locations where sending out teams of special forces to locate and apprehend terrorists would be exceptionally dangerous, and drones keep us from doing so. Although this operation is a life saver, it is also a life taker. Indeed, the United States does warrant the use for drone strikes; but if you look at the facts or even talk to the locals in the countries receiving these strikes, it is apparent that the U.S. is being negligent, irresponsible and paying no attention to the thousands of casualties in the process. The United States of America should stop drone strikes abroad because it kills a drastic amount of pedestrians and traumatizes local populations; it is secretive, lacks adequate legal oversight, and it targets men and women who may not even be enemy combatants or terrorists. Work cited Zenko, Micah. The Intercepts Drone Papers Revelations Mandate a Congressional Investigation. Foreign Policy. October 15, 2015. February 25, 2017, web. Woods, Chris. Get the data. The Pakistan governments secret document. The Bureau ofInvestigative Journalism. July 22, 2013. February 27, 2017, web. Will I be Next?' Amnesty International. October 22, 2013. March 5, 2017, web. Brooks, Rosa. 10 Ways to Fix the Drone War. Foreign Policy. April 11, 2013. March 9, 2017,  web.

Research Philosophy :: Ontology, Epistemology

Research philosophy, refers to the development of knowledge adopted by the researchers in their research (Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill, 2009). In other words, it is the theory that used to direct the researcher for conducting the procedure of research design, research strategy, questionnaire design and sampling (Malhotra, 2009). It is very important to have a clear understanding of the research philosophy so that we could examine the assumptions about the way we view the world, which are contained in the research philosophy we choose, knowing that whether they are appropriate or not (Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill, 2009). According to Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill (2009), three major ways of thinking about research philosophy are examined: ontology, epistemology and axiology. Each of them carries significant differences which will have an impact on the way we consider the research procedures. Ontology, â€Å"is concerned with nature of reality†, while epistemology â€Å" concerns what constitutes acceptable knowledge in a field of study and axiology â€Å"studies judgements about value† (Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill, 2009, p110, p112, p116). This study is intent on creating some â€Å"facts† from objective evaluations which are made by the subjects. Therefore, epistemology will be chosen for this study as the way of thinking about the research philosophy. More specifically, epistemology also contains three philosophical positions: positivism, realism and interpretivism (Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill, 2009). Positivism stance usually supports investigating or studying an observable social reality and the final production could be â€Å"law-like generalisations similar to those produced by the physical and natural scientists† (Remenyi et al. cited in Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill, 2009, p113). It is effective to generate a research strategy to collect the creditable data which comes from observable reality therefore contributing to developing hypotheses (Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill, 2009). In this study, we aim at exploring the creditable and measurable results from individuals in order to understand the influence of surprise on viral marketing via social media in perspectives of message characteristics. Thus, the philosophy of positivism will be adopted in this study for collecting creditable data from the subjects to prod uce some â€Å"law-like generalisations†. However, it is always difficult to decide whether interpretivism should be applied to conduct a deeper analysis relating to subjects’ attitude for the sake of enhancing the precision. More complicated, such a dilemma would often lead to the reflection of realism, which is divided into direct realism and critical realism (Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill, 2009).

My Arrest and Rebirth :: Law College Admissions Essays

My Arrest and Rebirth With great embarrassment and pain, I must tell you that I have once been arrested; it was over a fight with my brother Jacob. The police attribute Jake's behavior to chemical dependence; my parents blame it on some unknown incident while he was at school. I don't know, myself; I do know that I returned from Israel to find Jake had taken over my room, as well as anything else in the house he could manipulate or control. The TV, VCR and computer were his absolute domain; I missed a calculus final because he took the car without permission. He refused to engage in any conversation at all with my parents. His "conversations" with me and Sol were primarily a barrage of put-downs and insults. He kept lists of "crimes" other people had committed, for which he sought revenge, by stealing things or just hiding them. Nothing was secure or safe at home; I didn't feel secure or safe there. Home was worse hell than the army had ever been. How can I explain how traumatic this was for me? Imagine being asleep on the sofa (the only bed I had) and being awakened in the middle of the night by the blasting of the TV. If I complained, I would be either ignored or screamed at. If I pretended interest, he would start changing channels, or switch to the stereo. If I called my parents, my "crime" got added to his list for later revenge. I pleaded with my parents to intervene, but they just called me selfish; couldn't I see that I had a sick brother, that I had to "help" him by tolerating his behavior until he magically got well? "Magically" because we couldn't seek any help; that would require letting an "outsider" know We had a problem. After he beat up my brother Sol, my father ordered Jake to leave until he cooled off, the first time he had ever intervened. But Jake called my father's bluff; he disappeared for two weeks. This pattern of violence, abusiveness, drinking and disappearing escalated throughout the summer. After one particularly violent outburst, I finally tried to show my parents that by refusing to deal with Jake's illness, they were hurting Sol and me. I staged a suicide attempt with sugar pills I had placed in an aspirin bottle.

Calculate the revised product costs for the four pens Essay

1.Calculate the revised product costs for the four pens, based on the activity information collected by Assignment: This case may be completed in groups of two or individually. You are responsible for finding a partner if you choose to complete the case with another student. Purchase and read the Harvard Business School Case: Classic Pen Company: Developing an ABC Model located at the following link: https://cb.hbsp.harvard.edu/cbmp/access/27312446. (Note: The last case for the course, Foxy Originals is also contained in this course pack and should also be purchased for your final case). After reading the case, perform the following: 1.Calculate the revised product costs for the four pens, based on the activity information collected by Dempsey. Prepare this analysis using an excel spreadsheet (please print out the spreadsheet on one page – it should fit). 2.Prepare a new Income Statement, using excel or word, for Classic Pen (by product and in total) using the ABC cost information (please print this out on one page). 3.Compare the ABC Income Statement to the Traditional Income Statement presented in the case. 4.Based on this comparison, write a memo, to me, addressing the actions this new ABC cost information could stimulate Classic Pen to pursue. Be thorough while still maintaining strong business writing skills: conciseness; clarity; critical  thinking; readability; proper use of grammar, punctuation and spelling. The memo should be prepared in Microsoft Word or a comparable word processing application, use 1 inch margins, times new roman 12 point font, single spacing and not exceed 2 pages (this does not include your supporting spreadsheet data 1 and 2 above). 5.Turn in your memo and supporting data in class on Thursday, June 12, 2014. Please note: It is a violation of the academic code of ethics to refer to case notes or solutions obtained through the internet or from people who previously performed the work or studied the class materials, cases or projects. Use of any of these materials will be considered plagiarism. Not only will this not help you on the course exams and CPA exam; it will cheat you of the academic experience. It is the responsibility of every student to report anyone who violates this principle. I reserve the right to request submission in electronic format and have access to plagiarism detection software. You are free to discuss this case with other students; however you (and your partner if applicable) must produce your own set of work to be turned in as your deliverable. Use of someone else’s work in any form will be considered plagiarism and dealt with accordingly. I am available as a resource but I should be viewed as a â€Å"last resort†. I will answer specific questions but I will not frame the deliverable or pre-screen your work prior to submission of your final deliverable. The calculations in this case are quite straight-forward, the more challenging part of the case is framing your response to question 4 and it is good practice for you as current/future business professionals. There is not â€Å"one right answer†; your response should, however, be logical, critically thought out and well communicated. Good luck!! A Note on Business Writing: Effective business writing is critical to your future professional success. In addition, the AICPA evaluates candidates’ writing skills in the computerized Certified Public Accountant (CPA) Exam. Please use this case as a chance to practice your business writing. A great resource to use if you feel you need help in this area is the following: Effective Writing: A Handbook for Accountants; Claire B. May and Gordon S. May; Pearson Prentice Hall. The Uniform CPA Examination consists of multiple-choice questions and condensed case studies called simulations. Each case study simulation will include a writing skills exercise. In this portion of the exam, candidates must read a situation description and then write an appropriate document (â€Å"constructed response†) relating to the situation. The instructions will state what form the document should take (such as a memo or letter) and its focus. The candidate’s response should provide the correct information in writing that is clear, complete, and professional. Only those writing samples that are generally responsive to the topic will be graded. If your response is off-topic, or offers advice that is clearly illegal, you will not receive any credit for the response. Constructed responses will be scored holistically. Scores will be based on three general writing criteria: Organization, Development, and Expression. Organization: the document’s structure, order ing of ideas, and linking of one idea to another: †¢Overview/thesis statement †¢Unified paragraphs (topic and supporting sentences) †¢Transitions and connectives Development: the document’s supporting evidence/information to clarify thoughts: †¢Details †¢Definitions †¢Examples †¢Rephrasing Expression: the document’s use of conventional standards of business English: †¢Grammar (sentence construction, subject/verb agreement, pronouns, modifiers) †¢Punctuation (final, comma) †¢Word usage (incorrect, imprecise language) †¢Capitalization †¢Spelling

Handling Aggression Through Positive Communication Essay

Five  year-old James is very busy working at the art easel on a special picture for his Mothers birthday. Jenny has been waiting her turn at the art easel. When she becomes frustrated because James is not leaving the easel, she grabs his painting from the easel and tears it apart. James screams for the teacher then pushes Jenny to the floor and yells at her. The teacher then should intervene and confront Jenny about her inability to control herself. The teacher should say â€Å"Jenny, I did not like you pushing James like that. That’s wrong!† When aggressive behavior is exhibited by children, teachers should keep in mind that it is children’s behavior that should be confronted, not the children themselves. Teachers should have a calm body language and should show serious, but not glowering, facial expressions. Through this demeanor, teachers communicate their feelings about a behavior while avoiding attacks on the children’s characters. The teacher should explain to Jenny that if she did not like waiting for James to finish, she should have told him to hurry up because she is waiting for her turn. The teacher should also talk to James about sharing and being sensitive of other children when using communal things in the classroom. The teacher should then ask Jenny and James about what they should say to each other. By letting children realize their mistakes and letting them resolve their own conflicts, children learn to be self-reliant when teachers help them to solve their own problems. As teachers, we should learn that aggression in children is not an emotion but rather the expression of one. It is the action an individual commonly takes as a result of anger or frustration. Young children who have not learned to control their anger often resort to aggressive behavior. Children who have been neglected or treated harshly sometimes use aggression to strike out at the world around them. Other children with highly permissive parents may have learned certain aggressive acts to get their own way—hitting and name-calling, for instance. In controlling aggressive behavior in children, Haim Ginott’s (1972) humanistic model of behavior management can be helpful because it represents a low-control perspective of behavior management in which teachers respect, protect, and promote young children’s emerging self-concept. It is believed that low teacher control models emphasize the role of teacher as a communicator and supporter of children’s natural strengths. Rather than taking the lead, teachers follow the lead of children. Teachers who follow this perspective serve as reflective mirrors of children’s feelings and behaviors, listening to children’s concerns, inquiring as to their interests, and reflecting back the feelings that children express. In this sense, Ginott’s behavior management practices represent the most pure form of a child-centered classroom. The importance of supportive teacher-child interactions is reflected in Ginott’s â€Å"cardinal principle†: At their best, teachers address themselves to the child’s situation. At their worst, they judge his character and personality. This, in essence, is the difference between effective and ineffective communication (Ginott 1972, p. 70). In above statement, Ginott is advising teachers to address themselves to children’s behavior while protecting children’s self-worth. Ginott’s focus on communication is of particular importance in that it reflects his belief in the need to guide children’s exploration and expression of self through dialogue: â€Å"Emotional education† is thus achieved when teachers communicate their unwavering support and acceptance of children, while at the same time helping children to understand their own feelings. Although it is not easy to adapt Ginott’s communication practices, it is one a model that adheres to positive communication in children. However, some teachers may feel that they lack the time and energy to become skilled in the use in Ginott’s model. It may help you to know that, as students, we too felt uncomfortable at first when implementing Ginott’s practices. However, it is assured that with a little practice, these communication techniques will quickly become a valued part of your behavior management plan. Just remember that â€Å"practice makes perfect† and that the long-term goal of preparing children for life in a democratic society is not an easy task. It requires time and energy. And as teachers, it is our role to guide them to learn how to control their actions and help them verbalize what they feel to avoid aggression. References Ginott, H. (1972). Teacher and Child: A Book for Parents and Teachers. New York: Avon

Old and New Reflected in The Great Gatsby Essay

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald was first published in 1925. The United States was prospering as part of its post World War I recovery and this meant that the American people prospered as well. But as history will tell us the booming 20’s were a fleeting time and America was on a fast track of change. By the end of the 20’s a depression was on the horizon and the decadence of the early part of decade was over. The Great Gatsby, although not popular in its day, is representative of this old way giving over to a newer one. In addition, to changing economics there was a shift in morals and American values. Gatsby’s character illustrates all of the greedy and excessive ways of the old traditions. The novel takes place during the summer of 1922 in which Nick Carraway, a Minnesota native becomes friends with his neighbor Jay Gatsby. Carraway had recently moved into the West Egg area, where other young and newly wealthy New York residents flock toward. One is that of the greed and excessivness of the â€Å"old† ways. â€Å"In my younger and more vulnerable years my father gave me some advice that I have been turning over in my mind ever since, ‘Whenever you feel like criticizing any one,’ he said. ‘Just remember that all of the people of the world have not had the opportunities you have, (Fitzgerald, 1925, p. 8). † Nick’s character represents the new way. He is reserved when casting judgment and his simple lifestyle reflects the idea that wealth need not flaunt itself. Gatsby threw regular parties in which he displayed excessive amounts of wealth. However, it seems that Gatsby is a lonely character. And although Nick is the opposite of Gatsby he recognizes that it isn’t Gatsby himself that is bad. It is his wealth and all of the people who feed off of Gatsby for his money. â€Å"Gatsby turned out to be alright in the end; it is what preyed on Gatsby, what foul dust floated in the wake of his dreams that temporarily closed out my interest in the abortive sorrows and short-winded elations of men, (Fitzgerald, p. 13). † Nick was obviously turned off by the partying and excessiveness of Gatsby’s lifestyle. One of the major motifs in this novel includes geography and how the sense of place affects ones moral background. For example Nick is from the Midwest, where life has a slower pace. In addition, the Midwestern philosophy of life includes such quips as the one from the beginning of the novel where Nick is cautioned about making judgments about other people. However, those from New York, specifically from East Egg are not as virtuous. According to Nick’s assessment the easterners are judgmental and decadent. â€Å"From East Egg, then, came the Chester Beckers and the Leeches, and a man named Bunsen, whom I knew at Yale, and Doctor Webster Civet, who was drowned last summer up in Maine. And the Hornbeams and the Willie Voltaires, and a whole clan named Blackbuck, who always gathered in a corner and flipped up their noses like goats at whosoever came near. And the Ismays and the Chrysties (or rather Hubert Auerbach and Mr. Chrystie’s wife), and Edgar Beaver, whose hair, they say, turned cotton-white one winter afternoon for no good reason at all, (Fitzgerald, 1925, p. 34). † The sense of place being a factor is symbolized in the Valley of Ashes which seperates New York, land of moral decay, and the West, land of moral vigor. Other symbols in this novel include the green light which flashes on and off at the edge of the character Daisy’s dock. This light is the green light for Gatsby’s hopes and future. Which ultimatly cause his demise as well. Reference Fitzgerald, F. S. (1925). The Great Gatsby. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons.

Difference between Festival in Europe and China

Festivals are said to define who we are. These are sets of traditions that we follow in a certain community. For China and Europe, their festivals are alike in such way that they all prepare extravagantly for the event with costumes, dishes and etcetera (Richardson, 2006). These festivals also commemorate a certain person or event that is of great importance for the people in the country or community. Some festivities like the Saint Valentines’ day and Christmas day are also alike in some ways. For instance, valentines day is the time were people express their love for the people that they care about just like in Christmas.Though Valentines Day connote lovers and couples it still gives the message of love in the same way as Christmas is the day of love and sharing(Pleck, 1999). The color red is also very popular during these festivities since it is the color of love. The atmosphere of the two festivals is the same since there is an air of love, sharing and compassion. People e xchange gifts and they have an icon that represents them. For valentines it is the cupid and for Christmas it is Santa(Elevale, 2007). However they vary in time since the former is on February 14 and Christmas is on December 25.New Year on the other hand is different from the festivals mentioned above. It is more related to other Chinese festivals since they ward off evil spirits through the use of fireworks. This festival is also not about love and sharing but of a fresh start. There are no figures or icons associated with it unlike that of Christmas and Valentines Day. Just like in the Dragon Boat Festival, the main focus is scaring away the evil in the home. The Dragon Boat festival in China is called â€Å"Duan Wu Jie† in Chinese and it is celebrated along with Mid-autumn festival and Chinese New year.It is one of the three major festivals celebrated on the fifth lunar month of the Chinese calendar and on its fifth day which normally falls on June 5. This is also known as the double fifth day. The fifth day of the month is believed by the Chinese to be the month of the devil since this is the time were disease become rampant. The Dragon Boat festival is done to drive away these evil spirits. This festival has the longest record in history because of its relevance to the lives of its citizens. Through the festival they are reminded to take care of their health and drive away evil spirits.This festival is highlighted by dragon boat races. Contestants ride in colorful boats with dragon designs and they row together with the rhythm of the drums. There are also special dishes that are associated with the festival. A few of these is the hsiung huan wine that adults drink to prevent evil from invading their body and to bring inner peace. Another dish is the tzung tzu which is a rice ball that was believed to e eaten by Chu Yuan before he drowned. Chu Yuan is a Poet who took his own life by jumping off the boat when he felt that there is nothing that he cou ld do to save his country from bad luck.He was known to be a good man y his neighbors so to prevent the fish from eating his body they threw food to the river to feed the fishes. They also right on boats with loud drums to scare the fishes. The fierce dragons are also added to the head of the boat. His neighbors rushed to the river to find his body and that is where the dragon race is said to have originated. It is said that the dragon festival is done to commemorate his death in 277 B. C. at the fifth day of the fifth lunar month (low, 2006).Since then the festival has evolved into eating the rice dumplings instead of throwing them to the fishes and because this festival also reminded them to take care of their health, they hanged herbs at their front doors. The most significant part of the festival is done at 12 noon where they try to balance and egg and make is stand. If they can do it, they will have a lucky year. The festival in Italy on the other hand is different of that in C hina. The focus is on the streets and not in the river. They decorate it with lights and vendors begin to line up the streets.The Festa della Madonna Bruna is a celebration of the people’s devotion to the brown madona (Foschino, 2002). This is where men in horses and costumes parade the streets and they guard the float of the brown madona. The brown Madona is used by knights to protect them in battles. They would paint her face on their shields and on their chariots(Lee, 2000). People try to get a piece of this paper mache ripping it into pieces. The float is then reduced into just chicken wire and a few paper since the devotees have already torn it apart.But this act is not just an extreme form of fanaticism but is supported by their faith. This means that by destroying the old they give way to the new(Bakerjian, 2003). It is rebirth. This festival happens on the 2nd of July. The history of this festival goes as far as 1389, not as old as that in China. They also don’ t have special dishes. The festival is just ended with an extravagant fireworks display at the church(Martin, 2000). These festivals reflect the values and the history of the people who celebrate it. Though some of them may seem a bit peculiar, they bear certain significance to the community.They are celebrated with zest and joyfulness that the entire community is caught up in preparation. It is also anticipated by many. These festivals are important to the lives of the people since they have beliefs that they find necessary for their daily lives. Though these festivals have certain differences, they are intended to celebrate or commemorate the events that are important for the people and their community. It is a way of reliving the history of a community that has paved way into what the community has become. These are the events that shaped the lives of the populace either through religion or common practices.

Recovery System Dbms

17. Recovery System in DBMS – Presentation Transcript 1. Chapter 17: Recovery System * Failure Classification * Storage Structure * Recovery and Atomicity * Log-Based Recovery * Shadow Paging * Recovery With Concurrent Transactions * Buffer Management * Failure with Loss of Nonvolatile Storage * Advanced Recovery Techniques * ARIES Recovery Algorithm * Remote Backup Systems 2. Failure Classification * Transaction failure : * Logical errors : transaction cannot complete due to some internal error condition * System errors : the database system must terminate an active transaction due to an error condition (e. . , deadlock) * System crash : a power failure or other hardware or software failure causes the system to crash. * Fail-stop assumption : non-volatile storage contents are assumed to not be corrupted by system crash * Database systems have numerous integrity checks to prevent corruption of disk data * Disk failure : a head crash or similar disk failure destroys all or part of disk storage * Destruction is assumed to be detectable: disk drives use checksums to detect failures 3. Recovery Algorithms Recovery algorithms are techniques to ensure database consistency and transaction atomicity and durability despite failures * Focus of this chapter * Recovery algorithms have two parts * Actions taken during normal transaction processing to ensure enough information exists to recover from failures * Actions taken after a failure to recover the database contents to a state that ensures atomicity, consistency and durability 4. Storage Structure * Volatile storage : * does not survive system crashes * examples: main memory, cache memory * Nonvolatile storage : survives system crashes * examples: disk, tape, flash memory, non-volatile (battery backed up) RAM * Stable storage : * a mythical form of storage that survives all failures * approximated by maintaining multiple copies on distinct nonvolatile media 5. Stable-Storage Implementation * Maintain multiple co pies of each block on separate disks * copies can be at remote sites to protect against disasters such as fire or flooding. * Failure during data transfer can still result in inconsistent copies: Block transfer can result in * Successful completion Partial failure: destination block has incorrect information * Total failure: destination block was never updated * Protecting storage media from failure during data transfer (one solution): * Execute output operation as follows (assuming two copies of each block): * Write the information onto the first physical block. * When the first write successfully completes, write the same information onto the second physical block. * The output is completed only after the second write successfully completes. 6.Stable-Storage Implementation (Cont. ) * Protecting storage media from failure during data transfer (cont. ): * Copies of a block may differ due to failure during output operation. To recover from failure: * First find inconsistent blocks: * Expensive solution : Compare the two copies of every disk block. * Better solution : * Record in-progress disk writes on non-volatile storage (Non-volatile RAM or special area of disk). * Use this information during recovery to find blocks that may be inconsistent, and only compare copies of these. Used in hardware RAID systems * If either copy of an inconsistent block is detected to have an error (bad checksum), overwrite it by the other copy. If both have no error, but are different, overwrite the second block by the first block. 7. Data Access * Physical blocks are those blocks residing on the disk. * Buffer blocks are the blocks residing temporarily in main memory. * Block movements between disk and main memory are initiated through the following two operations: * input ( B ) transfers the physical block B to main memory. output ( B ) transfers the buffer block B to the disk, and replaces the appropriate physical block there. * Each transaction T i has its private work-area in which local copies of all data items accessed and updated by it are kept. * T i ‘s local copy of a data item X is called x i . * We assume, for simplicity, that each data item fits in, and is stored inside, a single block. 8. Data Access (Cont. ) * Transaction transfers data items between system buffer blocks and its private work-area using the following operations : * read ( X ) assigns the value of data item X to the local variable x i . write ( X ) assigns the value of local variable x i to data item { X } in the buffer block. * both these commands may necessitate the issue of an input (B X ) instruction before the assignment, if the block B X in which X resides is not already in memory. * Transactions * Perform read ( X ) while accessing X for the first time; * All subsequent accesses are to the local copy. * After last access, transaction executes write ( X ). * output ( B X ) need not immediately follow write ( X ).System can perform the output operation when it deems fi t. 9. Example of Data Access x Y A B x 1 y 1 buffer Buffer Block A Buffer Block B input(A) output(B) read(X) write(Y) disk work area of T 1 work area of T 2 memory x 2 10. Recovery and Atomicity * Modifying the database without ensuring that the transaction will commit may leave the database in an inconsistent state. * Consider transaction T i that transfers $50 from account A to account B ; goal is either to perform all database modifications made by T i or none at all. Several output operations may be required for T i (to output A and B ). A failure may occur after one of these modifications have been made but before all of them are made. 11. Recovery and Atomicity (Cont. ) * To ensure atomicity despite failures, we first output information describing the modifications to stable storage without modifying the database itself. * We study two approaches: * log-based recovery , and * shadow-paging * We assume (initially) that transactions run serially, that is, one after the other. 12 . Log-Based Recovery A log is kept on stable storage. * The log is a sequence of log records , and maintains a record of update activities on the database. * When transaction T i starts, it registers itself by writing a ;T i start ;log record * Before T i executes write ( X ), a log record ;T i , X, V 1 , V 2 ; is written, where V 1 is the value of X before the write, and V 2 is the value to be written to X . * Log record notes that T i has performed a write on data item X j X j had value V 1 before the write, and will have value V 2 after the write. When T i finishes it last statement, the log record ; T i commi t; is written. * We assume for now that log records are written directly to stable storage (that is, they are not buffered) * Two approaches using logs * Deferred database modification * Immediate database modification 13. Deferred Database Modification * The deferred database modification scheme records all modifications to the log, but defers all the write s to after part ial commit. * Assume that transactions execute serially Transaction starts by writing ;T i start ; record to log. * A write ( X ) operation results in a log record ;T i , X, V; being written, where V is the new value for X * Note: old value is not needed for this scheme * The write is not performed on X at this time, but is deferred. * When T i partially commits, ; T i commit ; is written to the log * Finally, the log records are read and used to actually execute the previously deferred writes. 14. Deferred Database Modification (Cont. ) During recovery after a crash, a transaction needs to be redone if and only if both ;T i start ; and; T i commit ; are there in the log. * Redoing a transaction T i ( redo T i ) sets the value of all data items updated by the transaction to the new values. * Crashes can occur while * the transaction is executing the original updates, or * while recovery action is being taken * example transactions T 0 and T 1 ( T 0 executes before T 1 ): * T 0 : rea d ( A ) T 1 : read ( C ) * A: – A – 50 C:- C- 100 Write ( A ) write ( C ) * read ( B ) * B:- B + 50 * write ( B ) 15. Deferred Database Modification (Cont. ) * Below we show the log as it appears at three instances of time. * If log on stable storage at time of crash is as in case: * (a) No redo actions need to be taken * (b) redo( T 0 ) must be performed since ; T 0 commi t; is present * (c) redo ( T 0 ) must be performed followed by redo( T 1 ) since * ; T 0 commit ; and ; T i commit; are present 16. Immediate Database Modification The immediate database modification scheme allows database updates of an uncommitted transaction to be made as the writes are issued * since undoing may be needed, update logs must have both old value and new value * Update log record must be written before database item is written * We assume that the log record is output directly to stable storage * Can be extended to postpone log record output, so long as prior to execution of an output ( B ) operation for a data block B, all log records corresponding to items B must be flushed to stable storage * Output of updated blocks can take place at any time before or after transaction commit * Order in which blocks are output can be different from the order in which they are written. 17. Immediate Database Modification Example * Log Write Output * ; T 0 start ; ; T 0 , A, 1000, 950; * T o , B, 2000, 2050 * A = 950 * B = 2050 * ; T 0 commit ; * ; T 1 start ; * ; T 1 , C, 700, 600; * C = 600 * B B , B C * ; T 1 commit ; * B A * Note: B X denotes block containing X . x 1 18. Immediate Database Modification (Cont. ) * Recovery procedure has two operations instead of one: * undo ( T i ) restores the value of all data items updated by T i to their old values, going backwards from the last log record for T i * redo ( T i ) sets the value of all data items updated by T i to the new values, going forward from the first log record for T i * Both operations must be idempotent That is , even if the operation is executed multiple times the effect is the same as if it is executed once * Needed since operations may get re-executed during recovery * When recovering after failure: * Transaction T i needs to be undone if the log contains the record ;T i start ; , but does not contain the record ;T i commit ; . * Transaction T i needs to be redone if the log contains both the record ;T i start ; and the record ;T i commit ; . * Undo operations are performed first, then redo operations. 19. Immediate DB Modification Recovery Example * Below we show the log as it appears at three instances of time. * Recovery actions in each case above are: * (a) undo ( T 0 ): B is restored to 2000 and A to 1000. (b) undo ( T 1 ) and redo ( T 0 ): C is restored to 700, and then A and B are * set to 950 and 2050 respectively. * (c) redo ( T 0 ) and redo ( T 1 ): A and B are set to 950 and 2050 * respectively. Then C is set to 600 20. Checkpoints * Problems in recovery procedure as discusse d earlier : * searching the entire log is time-consuming * we might unnecessarily redo transactions which have already * output their updates to the database. * Streamline recovery procedure by periodically performing checkpointing * Output all log records currently residing in main memory onto stable storage. * Output all modified buffer blocks to the disk. * Write a log record ; checkpoint ; onto stable storage. 1. Checkpoints (Cont. ) * During recovery we need to consider only the most recent transaction T i that started before the checkpoint, and transactions that started after T i . * Scan backwards from end of log to find the most recent ; checkpoint ; record * Continue scanning backwards till a record ;T i start ; is found. * Need only consider the part of log following above star t record. Earlier part of log can be ignored during recovery, and can be erased whenever desired. * For all transactions (starting from T i or later) with no ;T i commit ; , execute undo ( T i ). (D one only in case of immediate modification. * Scanning forward in the log, for all transactions starting from T i or later with a ;T i commit ; , execute redo ( T i ). 22. Example of Checkpoints * T 1 can be ignored (updates already output to disk due to checkpoint) * T 2 and T 3 redone. * T 4 undone T c T f T 1 T 2 T 3 T 4 checkpoint system failure 23. Shadow Paging * Shadow paging is an alternative to log-based recovery; this scheme is useful if transactions execute serially * Idea: maintain two page tables during the lifetime of a transaction –the current page table , and the shadow page table * Store the shadow page table in nonvolatile storage, such that state of the database prior to transaction execution may be recovered. Shadow page table is never modified during execution * To start with, both the page tables are identical. Only current page table is used for data item accesses during execution of the transaction. * Whenever any page is about to be written for the fi rst time * A copy of this page is made onto an unused page. * The current page table is then made to point to the copy * The update is performed on the copy 24. Sample Page Table 25. Example of Shadow Paging Shadow and current page tables after write to page 4 26. Shadow Paging (Cont. ) * To commit a transaction : * 1. Flush all modified pages in main memory to disk * 2. Output current page table to disk * 3.Make the current page table the new shadow page table, as follows: * keep a pointer to the shadow page table at a fixed (known) location on disk. * to make the current page table the new shadow page table, simply update the pointer to point to current page table on disk * Once pointer to shadow page table has been written, transaction is committed. * No recovery is needed after a crash — new transactions can start right away, using the shadow page table. * Pages not pointed to from current/shadow page table should be freed (garbage collected). 27. Show Paging (Cont. ) * A dvantages of shadow-paging over log-based schemes * no overhead of writing log records * recovery is trivial * Disadvantages : * Copying the entire page table is very expensive Can be reduced by using a page table structured like a B + -tree * No need to copy entire tree, only need to copy paths in the tree that lead to updated leaf nodes * Commit overhead is high even with above extension * Need to flush every updated page, and page table * Data gets fragmented (related pages get separated on disk) * After every transaction completion, the database pages containing old versions of modified data need to be garbage collected * Hard to extend algorithm to allow transactions to run concurrently * Easier to extend log based schemes 28. Recovery With Concurrent Transactions * We modify the log-based recovery schemes to allow multiple transactions to execute concurrently. * All transactions share a single disk buffer and a single log * A buffer block can have data items updated by one or more transactions * We assume concurrency control using strict two-phase locking; * i. e. the updates of uncommitted transactions should not be visible to other transactions * Otherwise how to perform undo if T1 updates A, then T2 updates A and commits, and finally T1 has to abort? * Logging is done as described earlier. Log records of different transactions may be interspersed in the log. * The checkpointing technique and actions taken on recovery have to be changed * since several transactions may be active when a checkpoint is performed. 29. Recovery With Concurrent Transactions (Cont. ) * Checkpoints are performed as before, except that the checkpoint log record is now of the form ; checkpoint L ; where L is the list of transactions active at the time of the checkpoint * We assume no updates are in progress while the checkpoint is carried out (will relax this later) * When the system recovers from a crash, it first does the following: * Initialize undo-list and redo-list to empt y Scan the log backwards from the end, stopping when the first ; checkpoint L ; record is found. For each record found during the backward scan: * if the record is ; T i commit ;, add T i to redo-list * if the record is ; T i start ;, then if T i is not in redo-list , add T i to undo-list * For every T i in L , if T i is not in redo-list , add T i to undo-list 30. Recovery With Concurrent Transactions (Cont. ) * At this point undo-list consists of incomplete transactions which must be undone, and redo-list consists of finished transactions that must be redone. * Recovery now continues as follows: Scan log backwards from most recent record, stopping when ; T i start ; records have been encountered for every T i in undo-list . * During the scan, perform undo for each log record that belongs to a transaction in undo-list . * Locate the most recent ; checkpoint L ; record. * Scan log forwards from the ; checkpoint L ; record till the end of the log. * During the scan, perform redo for e ach log record that belongs to a transaction on redo-list 31. Example of Recovery * Go over the steps of the recovery algorithm on the following log: * ; T 0 star t; * ; T 0 , A , 0, 10; * ; T 0 commit ; * ; T 1 start ; * ; T 1 , B , 0, 10; ; T 2 start ; /* Scan in Step 4 stops here */ * ; T 2 , C , 0, 10; * ; T 2 , C , 10, 20; * ;checkpoint { T 1 , T 2 }; * ; T 3 start ; * ; T 3 , A , 10, 20; * ; T 3 , D , 0, 10; * ; T 3 commit ; 32. Log Record Buffering * Log record buffering : log records are buffered in main memory, instead of of being output directly to stable storage. * Log records are output to stable storage when a block of log records in the buffer is full, or a log force operation is executed. * Log force is performed to commit a transaction by forcing all its log records (including the commit record) to stable storage. Several log records can thus be output using a single output operation, reducing the I/O cost. 33. Log Record Buffering (Cont. ) * The rules below must be followed if log records are buffered: * Log records are output to stable storage in the order in which they are created. * Transaction T i enters the commit state only when the log record ; T i commit ; has been output to stable storage. * Before a block of data in main memory is output to the database, all log records pertaining to data in that block must have been output to stable storage. * This rule is called the write-ahead logging or WAL rule * Strictly speaking WAL only requires undo information to be output 34. Database Buffering Database maintains an in-memory buffer of data blocks * When a new block is needed, if buffer is full an existing block needs to be removed from buffer * If the block chosen for removal has been updated, it must be output to disk * As a result of the write-ahead logging rule, if a block with uncommitted updates is output to disk, log records with undo information for the updates are output to the log on stable storage first. * No updates should be i n progress on a block when it is output to disk. Can be ensured as follows. * Before writing a data item, transaction acquires exclusive lock on block containing the data item * Lock can be released once the write is completed. * Such locks held for short duration are called latches . Before a block is output to disk, the system acquires an exclusive latch on the block * Ensures no update can be in progress on the block 35. Buffer Management (Cont. ) * Database buffer can be implemented either * in an area of real main-memory reserved for the database, or * in virtual memory * Implementing buffer in reserved main-memory has drawbacks: * Memory is partitioned before-hand between database buffer and applications, limiting flexibility. * Needs may change, and although operating system knows best how memory should be divided up at any time, it cannot change the partitioning of memory. 36. Buffer Management (Cont. ) Database buffers are generally implemented in virtual memory in spite of some drawbacks: * When operating system needs to evict a page that has been modified, to make space for another page, the page is written to swap space on disk. * When database decides to write buffer page to disk, buffer page may be in swap space, and may have to be read from swap space on disk and output to the database on disk, resulting in extra I/O! * Known as dual paging problem. * Ideally when swapping out a database buffer page, operating system should pass control to database, which in turn outputs page to database instead of to swap space (making sure to output log records first) * Dual paging can thus be avoided, but common operating systems do not support such functionality. 37. Failure with Loss of Nonvolatile Storage So far we assumed no loss of non-volatile storage * Technique similar to checkpointing used to deal with loss of non-volatile storage * Periodically dump the entire content of the database to stable storage * No transaction may be active during the dump p rocedure; a procedure similar to checkpointing must take place * Output all log records currently residing in main memory onto stable storage. * Output all buffer blocks onto the disk. * Copy the contents of the database to stable storage. * Output a record ; dump ; to log on stable storage. * To recover from disk failure * restore database from most recent dump. Consult the log and redo all transactions that committed after the dump * Can be extended to allow transactions to be active during dump; known as fuzzy dump or online dump * Will study fuzzy checkpointing later 38. Advanced Recovery Algorithm 39. Advanced Recovery Techniques * Support high-concurrency locking techniques, such as those used for B + -tree concurrency control * Operations like B + -tree insertions and deletions release locks early. * They cannot be undone by restoring old values ( physical undo ), since once a lock is released, other transactions may have updated the B + -tree. * Instead, insertions (resp. el etions) are undone by executing a deletion (resp. insertion) operation (known as logical undo ). * For such operations, undo log records should contain the undo operation to be executed * called logical undo logging , in contrast to physical undo logging . * Redo information is logged physically (that is, new value for each write) even for such operations * Logical redo is very complicated since database state on disk may not be â€Å"operation consistent† 40. Advanced Recovery Techniques (Cont. ) * Operation logging is done as follows: * When operation starts, log ; T i , O j , operation-begin ;. Here O j is a unique identifier of the operation instance. While operation is executing, normal log records with physical redo and physical undo information are logged. * When operation completes, ; T i , O j , operation-end , U; is logged, where U contains information needed to perform a logical undo information. * If crash/rollback occurs before operation completes: * the operatio n-end log record is not found, and * the physical undo information is used to undo operation. * If crash/rollback occurs after the operation completes: * the operation-end log record is found, and in this case * logical undo is performed using U ; the physical undo information for the operation is ignored. Redo of operation (after crash) still uses physical redo information . 41. Advanced Recovery Techniques (Cont. ) * Rollback of transaction T i is done as follows: * Scan the log backwards * If a log record ; T i , X, V 1 , V 2 ; is found, perform the undo and log a special redo-only log record ; T i , X, V 1 ;. * If a ; T i , O j , operation-end , U ; record is found * Rollback the operation logically using the undo information U . * Updates performed during roll back are logged just like during normal operation execution. * At the end of the operation rollback, instead of logging an operation-end record, generate a record * ; T i , O j , operation-abort ;. Skip all preceding log records for T i until the record ; T i , O j operation-begin ; is found 42. Advanced Recovery Techniques (Cont. ) * Scan the log backwards (cont. ): * If a redo-only record is found ignore it * If a ; T i , O j , operation-abort ; record is found: * skip all preceding log records for T i until the record ; T i , O j , operation-begi n; is found. * Stop the scan when the record ; T i , start; is found * Add a ; T i , abort ; record to the log * Some points to note: * Cases 3 and 4 above can occur only if the database crashes while a transaction is being rolled back. Skipping of log records as in case 4 is important to prevent multiple rollback of the same operation. 43. Advanced Recovery Techniques(Cont,) * The following actions are taken when recovering from system crash * Scan log forward from last ; checkpoint L ; record * Repeat history by physically redoing all updates of all transactions, * Create an undo-list during the scan as follows * undo-list is set to L initially * Whene ver ; T i start ; is found T i is added to undo-list * Whenever ; T i commit ; or ; T i abort ; is found, T i is deleted from undo-list * This brings database to state as of crash, with committed as well as uncommitted transactions having been redone. Now undo-list contains transactions that are incomplete , that is, have neither committed nor been fully rolled back. 44. Advanced Recovery Techniques (Cont. ) * Recovery from system crash (cont. ) * Scan log backwards, performing undo on log records of transactions found in undo-list . * Transactions are rolled back as described earlier. * When ; T i start ; is found for a transaction T i in undo-list , write a ; T i abort ; log record. * Stop scan when ; T i start ; records have been found for all T i in undo-list * This undoes the effects of incomplete transactions (those with neither commit nor abort log records). Recovery is now complete. 45. Advanced Recovery Techniques (Cont. ) * Checkpointing is done as follows: Output all log records in memory to stable storage * Output to disk all modified buffer blocks * Output to log on stable storage a ; checkpoint L ; record. * Transactions are not allowed to perform any actions while checkpointing is in progress. * Fuzzy checkpointing allows transactions to progress while the most time consuming parts of checkpointing are in progress * Performed as described on next slide 46. Advanced Recovery Techniques (Cont. ) * Fuzzy checkpointing is done as follows: * Temporarily stop all updates by transactions * Write a ; checkpoint L ; log record and force log to stable storage * Note list M of modified buffer blocks Now permit transactions to proceed with their actions * Output to disk all modified buffer blocks in list M * blocks should not be updated while being output * Follow WAL: all log records pertaining to a block must be output before the block is output * Store a pointer to the checkpoint record in a fixed position last _ checkpoint on disk * When recovering usin g a fuzzy checkpoint, start scan from the checkpoint record pointed to by last _ checkpoint * Log records before last _ checkpoint have their updates reflected in database on disk, and need not be redone. * Incomplete checkpoints, where system had crashed while performing checkpoint, are handled safely 47. ARIES Recovery Algorithm 48. ARIES * ARIES is a state of the art recovery method * Incorporates numerous optimizations to reduce overheads during normal processing and to speed up recovery * The â€Å"advanced recovery algorithm† we studied earlier is modeled after ARIES, but greatly simplified by removing optimizations * Unlike the advanced recovery lgorithm, ARIES * Uses log sequence number (LSN) to identify log records * Stores LSNs in pages to identify what updates have already been applied to a database page * Physiological redo * Dirty page table to avoid unnecessary redos during recovery * Fuzzy checkpointing that only records information about dirty pages, and does not require dirty pages to be written out at checkpoint time * More coming up on each of the above †¦ 49. ARIES Optimizations * Physiological redo * Affected page is physically identified, action within page can be logical * Used to reduce logging overheads * e. g. hen a record is deleted and all other records have to be moved to fill hole * Physiological redo can log just the record deletion * Physical redo would require logging of old and new values for much of the page * Requires page to be output to disk atomically * Easy to achieve with hardware RAID, also supported by some disk systems * Incomplete page output can be detected by checksum techniques, * But extra actions are required for recovery * Treated as a media failure 50. ARIES Data Structures * Log sequence number (LSN) identifies each log record * Must be sequentially increasing * Typically an offset from beginning of log file to allow fast access * Easily extended to handle multiple log files Each page contains a PageLSN which is the LSN of the last log record whose effects are reflected on the page * To update a page: * X-latch the pag, and write the log record * Update the page * Record the LSN of the log record in PageLSN * Unlock page * Page flush to disk S-latches page * Thus page state on disk is operation consistent * Required to support physiological redo * PageLSN is used during recovery to prevent repeated redo * Thus ensuring idempotence 51. ARIES Data Structures (Cont. ) * Each log record contains LSN of previous log record of the same transaction * LSN in log record may be implicit Special redo-only log record called compensation log record (CLR) used to log actions taken during recovery that never need to be undone * Also serve the role of operation-abort log records used in advanced recovery algorithm * Have a field UndoNextLSN to note next (earlier) record to be undone * Records in between would have already been undone * Required to avoid repeated undo of already undone acti ons LSN TransId PrevLSN RedoInfo UndoInfo LSN TransID UndoNextLSN RedoInfo 52. ARIES Data Structures (Cont. ) * DirtyPageTable * List of pages in the buffer that have been updated * Contains, for each such page * PageLSN of the page RecLSN is an LSN such that log records before this LSN have already been applied to the page version on disk * Set to current end of log when a page is inserted into dirty page table (just before being updated) * Recorded in checkpoints, helps to minimize redo work * Checkpoint log record * Contains: * DirtyPageTable and list of active transactions * For each active transaction, LastLSN, the LSN of the last log record written by the transaction * Fixed position on disk notes LSN of last completed checkpoint log record 53. ARIES Recovery Algorithm * ARIES recovery involves three passes * Analysis pass : Determines Which transactions to undo * Which pages were dirty (disk version not up to date) at time of crash * RedoLSN : LSN from which redo should start * Redo pass : * Repeats history, redoing all actions from RedoLSN * RecLSN and PageLSNs are used to avoid redoing actions already reflected on page * Undo pass : * Rolls back all incomplete transactions * Transactions whose abort was complete earlier are not undone * Key idea: no need to undo these transactions: earlier undo actions were logged, and are redone as required 54. ARIES Recovery: Analysis * Analysis pass * Starts from last complete checkpoint log record Reads in DirtyPageTable from log record * Sets RedoLSN = min of RecLSNs of all pages in DirtyPageTable * In case no pages are dirty, RedoLSN = checkpoint record’s LSN * Sets undo-list = list of transactions in checkpoint log record * Reads LSN of last log record for each transaction in undo-list from checkpoint log record * Scans forward from checkpoint * .. On next page †¦ 55. ARIES Recovery: Analysis (Cont. ) * Analysis pass (cont. ) * Scans forward from checkpoint * If any log record found for transaction not in undo-list, adds transaction to undo-list * Whenever an update log record is found If page is not in DirtyPageTable, it is added with RecLSN set to LSN of the update log record * If transaction end log record found, delete transaction from undo-list * Keeps track of last log record for each transaction in undo-list * May be needed for later undo * At end of analysis pass: * RedoLSN determines where to start redo pass * RecLSN for each page in DirtyPageTable used to minimize redo work * All transactions in undo-list need to be rolled back 56. ARIES Redo Pass * Redo Pass: Repeats history by replaying every action not already reflected in the page on disk, as follows: * Scans forward from RedoLSN. Whenever an update log record is found: * If the page is not in DirtyPageTable or the LSN of the log record is less than the RecLSN of the page in DirtyPageTable, then skip the log record * Otherwise fetch the page from disk.If the PageLSN of the page fetched from disk is less than the LSN of the log record, redo the log record * NOTE: if either test is negative the effects of the log record have already appeared on the page. First test avoids even fetching the page from disk! 57. ARIES Undo Actions * When an undo is performed for an update log record * Generate a CLR containing the undo action performed (actions performed during undo are logged physicaly or physiologically). * CLR for record n noted as n ’ in figure below * Set UndoNextLSN of the CLR to the PrevLSN value of the update log record * Arrows indicate UndoNextLSN value * ARIES supports partial rollback * Used e. g. o handle deadlocks by rolling back just enough to release reqd. locks * Figure indicates forward actions after partial rollbacks * records 3 and 4 initially, later 5 and 6, then full rollback 1 2 3 4 4†² 3†² 5 6 5†² 2†² 1†² 6†² 58. ARIES: Undo Pass * Undo pass * Performs backward scan on log undoing all transaction in undo-list * Backward scan optimized by skipping unneeded log records as follows: * Next LSN to be undone for each transaction set to LSN of last log record for transaction found by analysis pass. * At each step pick largest of these LSNs to undo, skip back to it and undo it * After undoing a log record For ordinary log records, set next LSN to be undone for transaction to PrevLSN noted in the log record * For compensation log records (CLRs) set next LSN to be undo to UndoNextLSN noted in the log record * All intervening records are skipped since they would have been undo already * Undos performed as described earlier 59. Other ARIES Features * Recovery Independence * Pages can be recovered independently of others * E. g. if some disk pages fail they can be recovered from a backup while other pages are being used * Savepoints: * Transactions can record savepoints and roll back to a savepoint * Useful for complex transactions Also used to rollback just enough to release locks on deadlock 60. Other ARIES Features (Cont. ) * Fine-grained locking: * Index concurrency algorithms that permit tuple level locking on indices can be used * These require logical undo, rather than physical undo, as in advanced recovery algorithm * Recovery optimizations: For example: * Dirty page table can be used to prefetch pages during redo * Out of order redo is possible: * redo can be postponed on a page being fetched from disk, and performed when page is fetched. * Meanwhile other log records can continue to be processed 61. Remote Backup Systems 62. Remote Backup Systems Remote backup systems provide high availability by allowing transaction processing to continue even if the primary site is destroyed. 63. Remote Backup Systems (Cont. ) * Detection of failure : Backup site must detect when primary site has failed * to distinguish primary site failure from link failure maintain several communication links between the primary and the remote backup. * Transfer of control : * To take over control backup site first perform recovery using its copy of the database and all the long records it has received from the primary. * Thus, completed transactions are redone and incomplete transactions are rolled back. When the backup site takes over processing it becomes the new primary * To transfer control back to old primary when it recovers, old primary must receive redo logs from the old backup and apply all updates locally. 64. Remote Backup Systems (Cont. ) * Time to recover : To reduce delay in takeover, backup site periodically proceses the redo log records (in effect, performing recovery from previous database state), performs a checkpoint, and can then delete earlier parts of the log. * Hot-Spare configuration permits very fast takeover: * Backup continually processes redo log record as they arrive, applying the updates locally. When failure of the primary is detected the backup rolls back incomplete transactions, and is ready to process new transactions. * Alternative to remote backup: distributed dat abase with replicated data * Remote backup is faster and cheaper, but less tolerant to failure * more on this in Chapter 19 65. Remote Backup Systems (Cont. ) * Ensure durability of updates by delaying transaction commit until update is logged at backup; avoid this delay by permitting lower degrees of durability. * One-safe: commit as soon as transaction’s commit log record is written at primary * Problem: updates may not arrive at backup before it takes over. Two-very-safe: commit when transaction’s commit log record is written at primary and backup * Reduces availability since transactions cannot commit if either site fails. * Two-safe: proceed as in two-very-safe if both primary and backup are active. If only the primary is active, the transaction commits as soon as is commit log record is written at the primary. * Better availability than two-very-safe; avoids problem of lost transactions in one-safe. 66. End of Chapter 67. Block Storage Operations 68. Portion of t he Database Log Corresponding to T 0 and T 1 69. State of the Log and Database Corresponding to T 0 and T 1 70. Portion of the System Log Corresponding to T 0 and T 1 71. State of System Log and Database Corresponding to T 0 and T 1