Language & Gender Essay

Language and gender in the classroom Many of the issues reviewed in this chapter have far-reaching implications in classrooms. Classrooms and schools are among society’s primary socializing institutions. In them, children come to understand their social identity relative to each other and relative to the institution. Although schools are certainly not responsible for teaching students their gender-differentiated social roles, they often reinforce the subordinate role of girls and women through curricular choices and classroom organizations that exclude, denigrate, and/or stereotype them. However, as discussed earlier in this chapter, recent theoretical insights suggest that identity is not fixed, that language use is not static, and that it is possible to negotiate social identities through alternative language use. It follows, then, that schools are sites in which inequities (based on gender, race, ethnicity, language background, age, sexuality, etc. can be challenged and potentially transformed by selecting materials that represent identity groups more equally, by reorganizing classroom interaction so that all students have the opportunity to talk and demonstrate achievement, and by encouraging students to critically analyze the ways they use language in their everyday lives. Based on a review of 2 decades of research on gender and classroom interaction, Clarricoates concludes that interaction between teachers and students and among students themselves is â€Å"suffused with gender† (1983, p. 6; cited by Swann, 1993). Studies reviewed by Swann (1993) describ e a range of ways in which gender differentiation is maintained in mainstream English-speaking classrooms, including the following: †¢ ‘ While there are quiet pupils of both sexes, the more outspoken pupils tend to be boys. †¢ Boys also tend to ‘stand out’ more than girls. Michelle Stanworth (1983) notes that in her study teachers initially found some girls ‘hard to place’. Boys also referred to a ‘faceless’ bunch of girls. Boys tend to be generally more assertive than girls. For instance, a US study of whole-class talk (Sadker and Sadker, 1985) found boys were eight times more likely than girls to call out. †¢ Girls and boys tend to sit separately; in group work, pupils usually elect to work in single-sex rather than mixed-sex groups. †¢ When they have the choice, girls and boys often discuss or write about gender-typed topics. †¢ Boys are often openly disparaging towards girls. †¢ In practical subjects, such as science, boys hog the resources. In practical subjects, girls ‘fetch and carry’ for boys, doing much of the cleaning up, and collec ting books and so on. †¢ Boys occupy, and are allowed to occupy, more space, both in class and outside—for example, in play areas. †¢ Teachers often make distinctions between girls and boys – for disciplinary or administrative reasons or to motivate pupils to do things. †¢ Teachers give more attention to boys than to girls. †¢ Topics and materials for discussion are often chosen to maintain boys’ interests. Teachers tend not to perceive disparities between the numbers of contributions from girls and boys. Sadker and Sadker (1985) showed US teachers a video of classroom talk in which boys made three times as many contributions as girls — but teachers believed the girls had talked more. †¢ Teachers accept certain behaviour (such as calling out) from boys but not from girls. †¢ Female teachers may themselves be subject to harrassment from male pupils. †¢ ‘Disaffected’ girls tend to opt out quietly at the back of the class, whereas disaffected boys make trouble. (Swann, 1993, pp. 1-52) A 10-year research project by Sadker and Sadker (1993; including participant observation, audio and video recordings, interviews with students and teachers, and large-scale surveys) in elementary, junior high, and high school, and in university classes in the United States, and the review of research on language and gender in the classroom by Sommers and Lawrence (1992), both support these general findings. It is interesting to note the parallel between research on girls and boys in schools on the one hand, and on minority and majority students in schools on the other. Just as boys and men (generally with no attention to factors like race and ethnicity) seem to be advantaged at the expense of girls and women in mainstream schools in Britain, Australia, and the United States, white middle-class standard English speakers (generally with no attention to gender) seem to be advantaged at the expense of nonwhite middle-class standard English speakers (see Nieto, 1992, for further discussion). However, as Swann (1993) points out, these findings need to be interpreted with some caution. The differences between sexes are always average ones, and boys and girls behave differently in different contexts. In other words, these are tendencies, not absolutes, that have been documented in mainstream English-speaking classes. It should be emphasized that there is considerable variation that can be exploited by teachers in their own classes. As discussed earlier, for the variation in how girls and boys use language to be understood, research needs to begin not with boys and girls as fixed categories that behave or are treated the same in all contexts, but with a particular community of practice, in this case a class or a school. The analysis, then, needs to focus on the activity and on how boys’ and girls’ rights and obligations are constructed within that activity within that community of practice. Once the class and the activities to be analyzed have been identified, the teacher or researcher can begin by asking how girls and boys, women and men, are represented, for example, in the texts selected for use in the class as well as in the work that the students produce. Researchers have found that women, like other minority groups, tend to be excluded, marginalized, or stereotyped within the mainstream curriculum content (see Nieto, 1992; Sadker ;amp; Sadker, 1993; Swann, 1993, for further discussion). Although we are not aware of any studies that have documented short-term and longer-term effects of mainstream curriculum content versus curriculum content that is gender balanced, Swann summarizes the concerns of teachers and researchers about gender imbalances in the curriculum as follows: Teachers and researchers have been concerned about imbalances in children’s reading materials because of their potential immediate and local effects: they may affect the way pupils respond to a particular book and the subject with which it is associated; they may also affect the pupils’ performance on assessment tasks. There is further concern that, in the longer term, such imbalances may help to reinforce gender differences and inequalities: they may influence children’s perceptions of what are appropriate attributes, activities, occupations, and so forth for males and females. Introducing alternative images may redress the balance, and also have a disruptive effect, causing pupils to question accepted views of girls and boys and women and men. (p. 113) Swann (pp. 190-197) provides a variety of checklists that teachers and researchers can use to investigate how girls and boys, women and men, are represented and evaluated in the texts they choose and the activities they organize within their classrooms. When teachers find that their curricular choices are not balanced with respect to gender, for example, that the science text includes few contributions by women, that the literature anthology includes stories primarily by white males about white males, or that the women included in the texts are portrayed only in traditional roles, they can adopt texts that offer images of women and men in less traditional roles. If the goal is to encourage students to question traditional notions, simply providing alternative images in the curriculum content may not be sufficient. Teachers may want to encourage students to talk about traditional and alternative images, perhaps by critically reading and responding to sexist materials, by emphasizing choice in women’s and men’s roles, and by challenging representations of women and men (and other groups) in the students’ own work. We will return to these points later in this chapter. As has been discussed throughout this chapter, it is not only what is talked about, in this case through the curriculum content, that helps shape gender roles; equally or more important is an understanding of how girls and boys, women and men, position themselves and each other through their interactions. With respect to the organization of classroom interaction, research suggests that participation frameworks, or groupings of students and teachers for classroom activities (e. . , as individuals, in pairs, in small groups, or as a teacher-fronted classes), can strongly influence the students’ opportunities to talk and demonstrate achievement (see Erickson, this volume; Saville-Troike, this volume). For example, mainstream U. S. classrooms are generally characterized by the transmission model of teaching and learning (Cummins, 1989) and the initiation-response-evaluation (IRE) participation structure (Holmes, 1978). In these teacher-centered classes, the teacher talks for most of the time as he or she transmits the curriculum content to the student population in a relatively competitive atmosphere, and initiates the students5 participation. The students are encouraged to bid for the opportunity to respond to what Cazden (1988) describes as the â€Å"known-answer55 question, and the teacher then evaluates the students’ responses as right or wrong. It is in this traditional competitive classroom that boys seem to be advantaged (Sadker ;amp;c Sadker, 1993; Tannen, 1992). However, just as women participated more in more collaboratively organized meetings than in traditional hierarchically organized meetings (see earlier discussions of Edelsky, 1981; Goodwin, 1990), some research suggests that girls, as well as students from linguistically and culturally diverse backgrounds, participate more in cooperative learning organizations than in traditional teacher-centered classes (Kramarae ;amp; Treichler, 1990; Tannen, 1992; see also Kessler, 1990, for a general review of benefits of cooperative learning). However, the picture is much more complicated; simply organizing students into smaller groups is not the answer. In fact, some research suggests that mixed-sex groupings can reproduce boys’ dominant role and girls’ supportive role. For example, in a study by Sommers and Lawrence (1992) of mixed-sex peer response groups of college students in writing classes, it was found that males took far more turns than females, produced greater quantities of talk, at times appropriated females’ ideas as their own, and tended to interrupt and/or silence their female counterparts. Females tended to wait, listen, acknowledge, and confirm other students’ contributions. When Sommers and Lawrence compared male and female participation in the peer response groups with their participation in the teacher-fronted participation framework, they found that boys and girls tended to participate more or less equally in the teacher-fronted organization because the teachers could exert more control over how the participation opportunities were distributed. It is important to mention that the teachers in these teacher-fronted classes were Lawrence and Sommers themselves, and that they were aware of and concerned about equal participation opportunities for males and females in their classes. In a study by Rennie and Parker (1987, cited by Swann, 1993) of primary school students in science classes in Australia, it was also found that boys tended to talk more in mixed-sex groupings, and girls tended to watch and listen. However, in single-sex groups, and in classes in which the teachers had participated in a â€Å"gender awareness† course, girls tended to participate more actively. Both these examples suggest that when teachers are aware of gender-differentiated language use, they can change the dynamics in their classes so that girls and women are not subordinated, at least in the short run. Swann (1993) provides some useful suggestions for teachers and researchers who are interested in systematically observing and analyzing the dynamics within their own classes to understand how girls and boys are positioned relative to each other (Chap. 8), as well as suggestions for changing discriminatory practices (Chap. 9). The research discussed thus far has been concerned with genderdifferentiated language use in mainstream, white, standard Englishspeaking contexts in the United States, Britain, and Australia. Even in these relatively homogeneous contexts, it is evident that factors other than gender (e. g. participation framework and activity type) may affect the way people behave. Although there has been relatively little detailed research to date on the ways in which boys and girls from linguistically and culturally diverse backgrounds interact in the classroom, an area of particular concern to ESL and bilingual teachers, it is likely that factors such as culture, race, ethnic ity, and socioeconomic status interact with gender to shape students’ participation opportunities. For example, Swann (1993) discusses a series of analyses of gender and ethnic imbalances in classroom discussions in four nursery and primary schools in Ealing, England. Swann points out that in the original analysis, Claire and Redpath (1989) found that boys averaged three times as many turns as girls, and that some boys were more talkative than others; this finding is consistent with much of the research on girls’ and boys’ participation in classes. Their follow-up analysis of the same data, however, suggests an interaction between gender and ethnic group. They found that the boys who dominated the discussion group were white and black Afro-Caribbean; the Asian boys participated much less frequently. White and black Afro-Caribbean girls participated about equally; Asian girls participated the least of any group. They speculate that the topics of discussion and teachers’ attitudes and behaviors in the lesson might contribute to these classroom dynamics (see Swann, 1993, p. 65, for further discussion). Consistent with Claire and Redpath’s first analysis, research by Sadker and Sadker (1993) found no systematic differences between black and white students, students from different age groups, or students from different socioeconomic backgrounds.

National Curriculum Establishes Assessment As Part Of Teaching Education Essay

The National Curriculum establishes appraisal as an built-in portion of instruction and acquisition, saying that ‘assessment is how pupils recognise accomplishment and do advancement, and how instructors shape and personalise their instruction ‘ ( National Curriculum, 2010 ) . Appraisal in all its pretenses is a critical factor in be aftering for short, average and long-run student advancement. If the importance of formative and summational appraisal is recognised during the planning phases, it allows for a more in-depth analysis of pupil accomplishment and attainment and a more constructive rating of the effectivity of personal instruction methods. The focal point of this paper is the importance of effectual planning of both formative and summational appraisal for learning and larning. Without some signifier of appraisal it would be improbably hard for both instructors and scholars to estimate how much advancement has been made during a lesson or over the class of a pecu liar unit of survey. Assessment should non be merely an addition at the terminal of a unit of work, but instead a cardinal constituent of day-to-day schoolroom instruction and acquisition. It is for these grounds that I have chosen it as the focal point of this paper. In its simplest signifier, appraisal is the procedure by which instructors analyse pupils ‘ acquisition ( Briggs and Ellis, 2004. p.63 ) ; nevertheless it is much more than that. Assessment enables scholars to recognize accomplishment and do advancement, and instructors to determine and accommodate their instruction to single demands and aspirations ( National Curriculum, 2010 ) . Research has shown that appraisal ( with explicit respect to its National Curriculum intents ) can be divided into two cardinal countries that work as separate entities yet are inextricably linked. Pachler, Barnes & A ; Field have labelled these two countries as the ‘macro and micro dimensions ‘ of appraisal ( 2009. pp.235-236 ) . The macro strand consists of the national, regional and local/school-based statute law, policy and certification that are often updated and used to make public presentation informations. The micro strand, which involves the monitoring and betterment of single class/pupil cognition, understanding and acquisition, utilises these policies and certification in order to accomplish the consequences required to farther inform and develop the macro strand. This cyclical construction of appraisal merely reinforces its importance, as the success and patterned advance of both the single student and the national instruction system depend upon it. With such significance weighing upon its nucleus application through instruction and acquisition in the schoolroom, it is indispensable that appraisal is given due consideration during the planning procedure in order to guarantee that it is used resourcefully and productively. In order to do the country of appraisal more accessible for schoolroom usage, it is possible to farther categorise it so that it becomes a functional characteristic of instruction and acquisition. The micro strand of appraisal can itself be broken down into two distinguishable yet besides interlinked dimensions, viz. formative and summational appraisal. The Assessment Reform Group have defined the formative, appraisal for larning as ‘the procedure of seeking and construing grounds for usage by scholars and their instructors to make up one's mind where the scholars are in their acquisition, where they need to travel following and how best to acquire at that place ‘ ( Assessment Reform Group, 2002 ) . Pachler, Barnes & A ; Field have defined the summative, appraisal of larning as ‘assessment which describes/summarises what a scholar has achieved/attained. A snapshot of accomplishment. It besides informs instructors of how much of and how good a group of scholars has p rogressed against the intended acquisition results ‘ ( 2009, p.236 ) . The 1987 study compiled by the Task Group on Assessment and Testing ( TGAT ) put frontward the construct that formative and summational appraisal could and ought to be used in tandem for the benefit of student advancement. Harmonizing to the TGAT, uniting the consequences of appraisals with the specific intent of supplying formative information could supply a good general image of a student ‘s educational advancement. However, the TGAT besides claimed that since summational appraisals occur at the terminal of a stage of acquisition, formative information could non be obtained from them and hence could non show an accurate position of the student ‘s educational history ( TGAT Report, 1987. paragraph 25 ) . Therefore, utilizing both signifiers of appraisal together would look to be a cardinal attack to analyzing a student ‘s overall academic attainment and was a nucleus factor in my ain planning for learning and acquisition. The planning procedure itself is at the bosom of instruction and acquisition. It is through be aftering a series of lessons that a clear way for the intended acquisition is achieved. Individual lesson programs relate via units of work to the strategy of work, which outlines the work to be covered over a period of clip or a period of survey defined by scrutiny specifications ( Pachler, Barnes & A ; Field, 2009. p.100 ) . Each single lesson planned demands to be portion of a ‘bigger image ‘ in order to put realistic medium-term larning marks. Killen states that there must be a direct and obvious connexion between what you do lesson-by-lesson and what the course of study suggests students should larn in the long term ( 2006. p.66 ) . A instructor needs to make an effectual Medium Term Plan clear uping what it is a student is expected to larn and a assortment of possible methods to assist them accomplish this. Medium term programs begin to locate the acquisition in contexts t hat are meaningful, relevant and appropriate ( Browne, 2007. p.180 ) . A good organized medium term program with accomplishable larning aims and results will assist to supply a clear and concise instruction and learning way. For the intents of this paper I am traveling to measure the planning and instruction of a sequence of lessons for one Year 7 German category. My first measure in this procedure was to garner every bit much information as I could about the School Phase 1 ( SP1 ) school, the section and the category itself, paying peculiar attending to the school ‘s rare societal scene. I did so as a consequence of anterior reading before geting at the SP1 school, viz. Cohen, Manion and Morrison ‘s recommendation that one should get down by look intoing characteristics and resources of the vicinity in which the school is situated, as some of these may turn out to be relevant to the lessons you will be learning and organizing ( 2002. p.44 ) . Through treatments with my wise man and other members of staff I discovered that a big proportion of the students in the SP1 school semen from military households and as a consequence of the nature of this business, the school can often hold students ge ting and go forthing at any clip of the school twelvemonth. Therefore, it was necessary during the planning procedure to be aware of the likely possibility that a student with no anterior cognition of the linguistic communication may fall in the group at any phase. The Year 7 category was a mixed-ability group comprised of students with no anterior exposure to the German linguistic communication before get downing into Year 7, students who were taught German in Year 6 as portion of a Primary Languages Programme and students who had resided in British Army Bases in Germany for more than six months. With such a varied mix of abilities in the group Cohen, Manion and Morrison ‘s recommendation proved to be important to be aftering the sequence of lessons I was to learn. Before composing my ain average term program I observed the group with their regular schoolroom instructor. I had besides intended to familiarize myself with the section ‘s policies and certification, nevertheless, the section was undergoing alterations and developments at the clip so current and up-to-date policies and certification were non available until after I had taken over learning the category from their regular instructor. As a consequence of this I was non to the full cognizant of the prep or taging processs of the section. This is one of the major countries for betterment I have highlighted for developing my ain professional pattern as I aim to be more thorough in my hereafter apprehension of departmental patterns even when no formal certification is accessible. Despite this reverse, I began to develop my average term program by utilizing the National Curriculum and the Framework for MFL every bit good as the section ‘s Schemes of Work and the Teacher ‘s Guides that corresponded with them. Through treatments with my wise man ( who was besides the schoolroom instructor of this peculiar group ) I established where the category was in their acquisition in conformity with the strategy of work and together we agreed an appropriate starting point for my average term program. I used all of the information available to me until I had created a footing for the instruction and acquisition that would take topographic point over the period of four to five hebdomads. Each hebdomad I taught the group one lesson of 100 proceedingss continuance. Before I took over the instruction of full lessons, I began by learning little elements of them including starting motors and activities during a lesson ; nevertheless they did non characteristic in my average term program as they took topographic point before the agreed get downing point. My average term program covered one full unit of work, consisting of five 100 minute lessons ; nevertheless as it was a on the job papers I altered and amen ded it in line with the advancement of existent instruction and larning which was taking topographic point ( appendix I ) . For each lesson accounted for in the medium term program I included the followers: the lesson focal point with mention to identify model aims, the acquisition aims and expected larning results of the lesson, the resources which may be used during the lesson and a general lineation of possible acquisition activities. I later created single lesson programs for each lesson that would be taught which provided a more comprehensive lineation of the instruction and larning involved ( appendix two ) . With this paper in head I narrowed the focal point of my rating of my planning for learning and larning on my usage of both formative and summational appraisal to inform pupil advancement. I planned to utilize both signifiers of appraisal with specific respect to the monitoring of pupil advancement in Modern Foreign Language Attainment Target 4 – Writing. The SP1 school divides the academic twelvemonth into six footings and teaches a tight, two twelvemonth Key Stage 3 course of study and therefore has high achievement marks for the terminal of Year 7. The section concentrates on these through centering its summational appraisal on one Attainment Target at a clip. â€Å" Focus 3: To raise accomplishment at KS3. Quantitative Targets: To enable 80 % or more of yr7 pupils achieve NC Level 3 by terminal of term 2 in composing † ( appendix three ) . As I would be learning this group during term 2 I incorporated this mark into my planning. I developed lessons in which I tried to guarantee there was equal patterned advance of composing accomplishments. In order to keep a balance nevertheless, composing was non ever a cardinal focal point of the lesson so that attainment of the other three linguistic communication accomplishments ; speech production, listening and reading, could besides be enhanced at a similar gait. As I began to learn and measure full lessons, I noticed that the same job countries of my instruction kept looking which were holding an consequence on students ‘ acquisition. These countries were gait, projection of voice and most significantly lodging to my lesson programs. In the beginning I was non able to interpret my planning of lessons into instruction of lessons. On juncture I left out activities I had planned or created new activities during the lesson that I had non planned for. While this did non hold a damaging consequence on students ‘ acquisition, students ‘ advancement was somewhat inhibited due to my ain inability to present what I had planned. Although I had designed specific appraisal for larning elements of lessons to inform me of student advancement, these countries were sometimes overlooked in the beginning for grounds such as my timings of chief activities were unrealistic or I was concentrating excessively much of my attending on pull offing p upil behavior. As a consequence of this, at the early phases of my instruction, I was frequently unable to give equal clip to measure how much acquisition had really taken topographic point during the lesson. Throughout the lesson, nevertheless, I ensured that I would take notice of those students who were fighting with the acquisition involved and those who were happening it straightforward. In my ratings after the lessons this helped me to find a general feeling of what countries of the lesson I had been successful in instruction and those that I needed to better. Once I had evaluated my instruction in relation to pupils ‘ larning I was able to set up clear countries for development which would help the betterment of both. My planning became more focussed and my timings more realistic so that I was finally able to be after a lesson that I could successfully learn and in which I could supervise the accomplishment of larning results. I began to utilize formative appraisal techniques more often and fruitfully during lessons and could therefore supply more suited aid to students of all abilities. I delivered the sequence of lessons with the summational authorship appraisal in head. While in the beginning I was unsure of how to put undertakings at the appropriate degree for the acquisition which had merely taken topographic point, rating and contemplation of these lessons aided my readying of future lessons guaranting I included and monitored undertakings which showed obvious patterned advance of composing accomplishments. For illustration, w ritten undertakings which showed a development in pupil ability from copying individual words for new vocabulary ( Level 1 ) to gap-filling exercisings which modelled cardinal grammatical constructions ( Level 2 ) to finally accommodating these theoretical accounts and composing their ain sentences utilizing the cardinal vocabulary and grammatical constructions antecedently learned ( Level 3 ) . The bulk of students were so besides able to remember this linguistic communication and grammar from memory during the authorship appraisal itself ( Level 4 ) ( appendix iiii ) . As I stated earlier, the focal point of the section was to raise accomplishment at KS3 so that at least 80 % of Year 7 students attained a Level 3 by the terminal of term 2. To measure the advancement made during this term a formal summational appraisal was given. In this appraisal pupils had to compose a short text about themselves utilizing as much of the information they had learned since the beginning of term 1 as they could. I provided the students with a departmental-approved information outline sheet in English to help them with the undertaking ( appendix V ) . In footings of student advancement and making set marks, my instruction and students ‘ acquisition was successful. The consequences of the summational appraisal show that 94 % of the group achieved a Level 3 or higher, with 83 % of the group really achieving a Degree 4 ( appendix six ) . As a summational consequence this is above the mark set, nevertheless, these consequences mean small if the students themselves do non understand the standard for accomplishing these degrees ( appendix seven ) . In the lesson following the appraisal I planned for the bulk of the clip to be spent on returning the appraisals to students and presenting them to the thought of reflecting on their ain development. I besides provided them with teacher-feedback and allocated clip for students to self-assess their ain advancement and place countries to better for their hereafter acquisition. Harmonizing to the Assessment Reform Group, ‘successful larning occurs when scholars have ownership of their acquisition ; when they understand the ends they are taking for ; when, crucially they are motivated and have the accomplishments to accomplish success ‘ ( cited in Pachler, Barnes & A ; Field, 2009. p.234 ) . Equally good as making attainment marks students, every bit good as instructors, need to develop the ability to reflect upon their ain development and indentify the cardinal countries that can actuate them to better and make higher. I introduced this critical component of womb-to-tomb acquisition by supplying each student with a simple feedback sheet attached to their appraisal, so that it was possible for them to reflect upon their work and distinguish and record countries that they completed successfully and those that they need to better upon in order to raise their attainment degrees in the hereafter ( appendix eight ) . I have discovered from my ain planning and presenting a sequence of lessons why such value is placed on contemplation and rating. Without measuring what you have done in the past it would be an backbreaking undertaking trying to come on in the right way. Evaluation is in itself a signifier of appraisal. Measuring my instruction in footings of students ‘ acq uisition has allowed me to see what advancement I have made and what successes and failures have been encountered along the manner. With this cognition it has become much easier to place clear marks and aims for my future professional development.

Aberlyn Capital

Executive Summary The venture leasing deal that Aberlyn proposed to RhoMed is an innovative way for RhoMed, a start-up firm, to acquire financing without diluting its equity value and raising debt in the market. Management believes that the firm is more valuable than venture capital firms would believe, and debt financing would be extremely costly since RhoMed doesn’t currently have positive cash flow. For Aberlyn, the main benefits of the transaction are the interest payments paid on the lease and potential to sell the patent for a much higher value than the original $1 Million valuation by RhoMed. However, this is a rather risky investment for Aberlyn. If RhoMed defaults on its payments, Aberlyn uses the patent as collateral and must sell it in the market. Since the patent is highly individualized and therefore may not be commercially feasible, the patent is probably worth less than what Lulu’s valuation suggests. RhoMed has limited options in terms of financing as the cost of debt and equity are both very expensive for start-up firms without positive cash flow. However, by going this route, they are risking losing the main driver of their business their patent. In order to value RhoMed as a whole we needed to make numerous assumptions, particularly on their future revenue streams, a huge driver for the valuation and share value, as our sensitivity analysis suggests. We believe that the revenue projections given in the case are far too optimistic. We projected our own descending annual growth rates for revenue and assumed that the firm reaches stability in 2004 and grows at the inflation rate of 3%. We estimated capex by using a constant percentage of revenue of 21% and we used our estimated capex to estimate depreciation. Based on these assumptions, the NPV for the value of the firm is about $19.5 M and with a share value of $3.45. To value the warrants we used the black-Scholes model and reached a call price of $180,915 in total or $2.63 per warrant. Alberlyn requires an implicit yield of 15-17% on firms characterized as â€Å"class 2.† To calculate the IRR for Alberlyn, we evaluated three different scenarios that could potentially occur. Case 1 assumes that RhoMed successfully makes all its payments and buys back the patent at $1 at the end of three years. This yields a 15% IRR. Case 2 assumes that RhoMed defaults on its payments and that Aberlyn then successfully sells the patent in the market in 1995. In order to find then  appropriate sale price we assumed an IRR of 15% and backed into the purchase price of $2,750,652. Case 3 assumes that RhoMed defaults on its payment and Aberlyn is unable to find a buyer in the market. This yields a negative IRR and an NPV of negative 950 M, nearly equal to the negative amount of the initial investment. Based on our analysis we think that Aberlyn should not go ahead with the venture leasing deal and that RhoMed should reconsider issuing equity instead. Costs, Benefits, and risks of the venture leasing deal to Aberlyn and RhoMed Aberlyn 1. Benefits: This is a relatively novel transaction where an intangible asset is leased. As a frontrunner, Aberlyn has first mover’s advantage allowing it to capture profits from this innovative financing approach, even in future transactions after RhoMed. Aberlyn has an incredibly qualified management team and utilizes its expertise both in the case of RhoMed and in future leasing transactions. The two main benefits are the interest payments paid on the lease and Alberyn’s higher valuation of the patent. Aberlyn is providing $1 Million in cash to RhoMed but values the patent at $5 Million. If RhoMed cannot pay the interest or the principal then Aberlyn can use the patent as collateral and sell it in the market at a premium. This means that Aberlyn should be able to recoup its investment even if things do not go according to plan. 2. Costs: Aberlyn might have to engage in costly litigation in order to defend against possible infringements on RhoMed’s patent. If other companies sense that Aberlyn is unwilling to pay the litigation fees necessary in order to defend the patent, other companies will use the technology for free, rendering the patent worthless. 3. Risks: A. Novel Transaction: Since this is a relatively novel approach, and since RhoMed does not have experience with external financing, there are multiple areas under the discretion of Aberlyn’s management, which can ultimately determine Aberlyn’s profitability. B. Low cash balance: A potential risk is that RhoMed does not have enough cash flow to cover the interest expense and principal payments. According to Exhibit 6, the cash balance in 1992 is 21,351, and the net cash flow is -37,783. Considering that the interest expense for 1993 is projected to be 27,000, the default risk should be  highly considered. C. Highly specified product: Since the patent is not commercialized and targeted towards the individual, there might not be a market at all for the patent. It could be that if RhoMed does not exercise the option to buy the patent back or defaults on its payments and Aberlyn can’t sell the patent in the market, it would essentially be stuck with the patent, an a sset that has no value. We calculated the NPV in this scenario and concluded that Aberlyn would essentially lose nearly its entire investment. D. Another potential risk that Aberlyn faces is they are only purchasing one patent, and many firms regard one patent as being far less useful than a patent that is part of a broader portfolio. The patent would be more highly valued if antibodies, proteins, and peptides had already been patented and included within the Antibody Delivery System. E. This patent may actually capture a smaller portion of the market share than Lulu believes; this is because the product is highly individualized and not commercially feasible. If it is difficult for this new technology to capture as much market share as is predicted by Lulu, then Aberlyn will have difficulty selling the patent if and when RhoMed cannot meet its payment obligations. Another reason why it may be more difficult for Aberlyn to sell the patent is that much of the patent’s value is derived from the fact that RhoMed’s scientists have a lot of expertise in the area they are researching. If another firm that didn’t have the same level of human capital necessary to realize the full value of the patent bought the patent then they might value it less. RhoMed 1. Benefits: RhoMed can continue on with its business activities while maximizing its control of equity. Without the deal, RhoMed needs to find external financing from places such as banks until its IPO likely around 1994. Since RhoMed is a new company with negative cash flow, limited resources, and limited partnerships, most external sources of financing will be costly. Further, RhoMed’s founders want to retain their equity. Since most other venture capital firms want 30% equity, Aberlyn’s offer is attractive. 2. Costs: While the costs of maintaining the patent, such as defending it, are shifted to Aberlyn, RhoMed still bears additional leasing costs, which are similar to a loan and include both principal and leasing  interest payments. Although this is a significant cost, this cost is much lower than what the cost of traditional debt financing would be for RhoMed. 3. Risks: RhoMed faces quite a few risks, the main one being that they could lose their patents or what they deem proprietary technology. If RhoMed defaults on either the interest payments or the principal, then Aberlyn keeps the patent. If Aberlyn sells the patent in the market, RhoMed will lose its competitive advantage. Overall, RhoMed is putting the highest value of their business at a substantial risk. Nevertheless, this deal is necessary for RhoMed because of limited financing options. Lulu Peckering’s Evaluation The patents that RhoMed developed for immunotherapy of cancer treatment is a novel approach that has not been conclusively demonstrated. Therefore, there is no current market making it hard to find comparable firms and challenging to project future revenues. The best way to get a relative sense of how profitable the company can be is to try to size the market and make assumptions as to how much of the market RhoMed can capture considering the strength of the patent and the technology associated with it. There are two things to consider with Lulu Pickering’s patent evaluation. First are some of her assumptions. We agree with her valuation of the market size at $735.4 M. However, the assumption that RhoMed can capture 20% of the market seems unrealistic especially considering that if a PET machine is available, it will probably be used over other methods. This implies that splitting the market share evenly between the five options is probably not feasible. I would argue that PET will capture 40% of the market. The fact that the product is very individualized and less commercially feasible makes it even more difficult to believe that RhoMed can capture a substantial portion of the market. Therefore, we claim that they can only capture 10% of the market. Using the same method as in the case, we reach a market size of $36.8 M. Dividing that by half to account for the other risks discussed yields $18.4 M. Based on a royalty rate of 5% over the fourteen year time period of the estimate, with the assumption that this is relevant to all types of cancer, this equals $9.2 M. The discount rate is a measure of risk. Because we accounted for some of the risk associated with this product by  cutting down the size of the market, we can use the 7.3% premium above the risk free rate given in the case (13.35%) as the discount rate over 14 years: $9.2 M/(1.1335)^14 = $1.6 M. Assumptions for FCF of RhoMed and Valuation (Appendix 1) Revenues for RhoMed: We believe the revenue projections for RhoMed in Exhibit 7 are too optimistic. The revenue projections between 1993 and 1994 jump nearly 1000% and while start-ups do grow rapidly at the beginning, this seems highly optimistic. Given RhoMed is in its start-up stage, we project descending annual growth rates for revenue. We assume that the firm reaches stability in 2004 and then peg the subsequent growth rate to inflation at 3%.1 Capex: Given the condition that RhoMed is in a capital-intensive biotech industry, we calculated CAPEX as a constant proportion of revenue. We assume the ratio of CAPEX/Revenue remains constant at 21% (as in year 1992) over the following years. Depreciation: To calculate the depreciation, we use CAPEX and depreciated with a consistent 11-year life using the straight-line method. This patent has a 17 year life span and most PPE have a five year schedule. Therefore we chose an average of those two times, 11 years, as the depreciation schedule for the patent. We were then able to calculate depreciation each year using a depreciation schedule (Appendix 3). Terminal Value: For TV, we used the constant growth method, assuming a constant growth rate of 3% and discounted it back one year to yield a 2004 value of $55,642,743 (Appendix 2). Risk-free rate/discount rate: We used the risk-free rate of the 10-year U.S. Treasury bonds at 6.05%, which we think best reflects the length of the project and added a premium of 7.3% as stated in the case which yielded a 13.35% discount rate. Impact of Warrants: We took into consideration the impact of warrants. Since the warrant coverage ratio is 10%, it means 1,000,000*10%/3.45 = 29,000 warrants can be exercised. Therefore, we added this number to the current total shares outstanding. Based on these assumptions, the NPV for the value of the firm is about $19.5 M. As this is an all equity firm, this is also the firm value, dividing that by the number of shares outstanding (5,699,747) results in a share price of $3.43 (Appendix 2). Assumptions for Warrants and Valuation Sigma: We used the industry average sigma, 68% (from footnotes in Exhibit 10). Risk-free rate: We used the 5-year U.S. Treasury rate of 5.05% as a benchmark, matching the time horizon of the warrants. Valuation: We calculated the value of the warrants using the Black-Scholes model. For the inputs of the B-S model, we used the firm value of $19.5 M that we calculated above as Y, $1.45 for the exercise price, 5,699,747 for the number of shares outstanding, as provided in the case. Number of the warrants is calculated by multiplying 1,000,000 by the warrant coverage 10%, and then divided by the exercise price. Using alpha=n/(n+m), P=alpha*Y and X=(1-alpha)*n*Xw, we derive all the inputs for B-S model. Inputting those values in the model results in: P=234,317, X=98,798 and the value of the warrants or the call price = 181,501 in total or 2.63 per warrant (Appendix 4). Internal Rate of Return for Aberlyn Aberlyn is looking for a 15-17% implicit yield on patents falling into risk class â€Å"2.† We evaluated three different scenarios that could potentially occur based on the benefits, costs, and risks discussed earlier. Scenario 1: Optimistic View In this case, we assume RhoMed would successfully make all the payments and exercise the option to buy back the patent for $1 (which we ignore in our analysis since it’s so small). Amortization of the patent at the assumed book value of $1 million uses the straight-line method and is zeroed out after the sale. This yields a 15% implicit yield (appendix). Scenario 2: Optimistic Default on payments, sell patent. In this case, we assume RhoMed failed to make all the payments either interest or principal or both, loses the option to buy back the patents, and loses the patents in general. We assume RhoMed would fail to make those payments at year 3 (since they borrowed $1 M they could at least make the payment for the first couple years) and thus Aberlyn would sell the patent in the market in 1995. Using Aberlyn’s required implicit yield of 15%, as case 1, we backed out the required sale price of the patent in 1995 = 2,750,652 (appendix). Scenario 3: Pessimistic In this case, we assume that RhoMed would not be able to make payments at year 3 and that Aberlyn will not be able to sell the patent in the market. As discussed above, there could be a situation where Aberlyn cannot find a market for patent and would be left holding an asset that ultimately holds no value. In this case Alberlyn has a negative NPV of $950 M, nearly equal to the amount of the initial investment (appendix). From Aberlyn’s perspective it seems that there is little upside to pursuing this route. They are essentially acquiring an asset that could be replicated by other firms and that is highly individualized, highly narrowing the market. As the sensitivity analysis shows, RhoMed’s valuation and share price are very sensitive to revenue streams (appendix). Even if RhoMed does make the payments, the revenue projections might be off and considered the difficulty in commercializing an individualized product, it seems even less likely that their revenue projections will be realized. While a $1M investment is not large, they could face the possibility of losing nearly entire amount as scenario three indicates. While RhoMed has limited options, this is also a risky approach for them because they are gambling the main driver of their company the patent. While the founders don’t want to dilute equity value, they might want to reconsider traditional equity financing. While this is an innovative approach to venture capital, we think it is risky for both parties involved and we would recommend that they reconsider. Appendix 1 – FCF_Assumptions Appendix 2 – RhoMed FCF, Share Price, Depreciation Schedule Appendix 3 – Depreciation Schedule Appendix 4 – Warrant Valuation Appendix 5 – IRR Calculation

Hunting as a Spiritual Exercise with the Earth Essay

Hunting as a Spiritual Exercise with the Earth - Essay Example Nature keeps the indestructible force or the whole universe and possesses the superhuman strength to heal itself – plants, animals and humans. Opposing the forces of nature for example inflicting with its rhythm through damaging the soil with pesticides, emitting carbon dioxide, dumping wastes, and killing uncontrollably animals for food or trophies destroys the balance between Earth and human beings. People have lost the vision to embrace and harmonize their life with nature and invested enormous efforts to modulate the environment in a way which opposes the holiness of the natural surroundings. Hunting uniquely carries in itself the self-actualization, wholeness and expression. These needs are more compound than simply protecting and feeding the tribe. Hunting connects people spiritually with their past and themselves. Shepard (1999) examines the people’s relationship with the natural work and how wildlife and hunting predators had shaped in developing human intellige nce. Shepard (1999) believes that hunting as a defense mechanism benefits humanity as it stabilizes the inner spirit of belonging to community. Hunters are actors into the rhythms of life and death, they bear the feeling of the ecological imagination (Shepard, 1999). Shepard (1999) has the strong determination that hunting is the act of organic relationship with the wildlife and insists that through hunting people inevitably reach out for their spirituality. What he claims in his essays (1999) is that hunting was the instrument which transformed the "tropical forest-dwelling prehumans" into an intelligent being. Hunting embodies the honest relationship between humans and nature, and the fact that hunters are in the border line between life and death. Hunting brings people in contact with the natural world through the most natural way - sacredly kill an animal and justify it as hunters have the responsibility to secure the food. Petersen and Williams (2000) point out that in our mass culture few are the tribes in the worlds that perform hunting as part of their cultural heritage and in the authentic role that hunting conceals - namely the fact that we kill an animal in order to feed ourselves. Hunting was a tribal ritual, which both unified the men against the animal and made it easier for the group to survive. Nowadays, hunters, despite their location, religion, or culture united so as to enjoy the pristine feeling of the "sacred game" - the instinctive and inexplicable moment of subordinating life to our power. Hunting is perceived as commercial and recreational pursuit, however, it is deeply hidden in our cultural heritage and brings its essence. Hunting is an ancient game. Hunting is the ultimate source of gaining power over nature and establishing a relation between the group of hunters and the prey and the hunters and other members of their society - women and children. Petersen and Williams (2000) explain that humans have an intrinsic yearning to hunt and fish. Moreover, he notes that the forest green colour is universally perceived as peaceful and reassuring, whereas the blood like red colour as bringing excitement and agitation. We can not miss mentioning that hunting involves a cycling element, because each species have to chase their prey and to victimize it in order to survive. The cycling element is that you have to kill in order to restore the balance in nature. Hunting also has a natural selection component. The strongest will predominate over the weakest, thus the strongest will pass their genes to the new generation and will secure that they will outlive. Hunting has profound

A History of the Popes Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 2

A History of the Popes - Essay Example After the death of Jesus, Christianity spread in many places including Rome. Peter and Paul went there to indoctrinate the Jews but they were persecuted and Peter was soon crucified. More Christians, bishops and deacons were to die afterward until the time of Constantine who gave leniency to religions. During the reign of Pope Leo, Rome was threatened by conquerors and so was Christianity. However the pope claimed he was the heir of Peter and thus established himself as a respectable figure who made the church stronger. Between Two Empires is the second part of the video which continues the history of the popes. It shows how the popes at different times tried to save the power of the church. Along with the papacy, there was another leadership that was equally strong or even stronger than that of the pope’s. It was the emperor. For want of glory and power, the two fought for many centuries to preserve their respective authorities. For example, when Christianity was threatened by the invaders ruled by the Lumbards, Pope Gregory the Great showered the leader’s wife with expensive gifts, gaining her confidence in the pope. On the other hand, Emperor Leo III showed how an imperial leader could break a pope’s backbone when he confiscated papal lands and had given them to

Science report in Media vs. Scholarly Sources Essay

Science report in Media vs. Scholarly Sources - Essay Example Some of these tend to support the scientific views raised in various scholarly journals by asserting the relevance in the exact influence of the distance from the sun to the earth on seasonal changes. Other reports have, however, provided contesting results citing different perspectives to the development. This paper provides a comparative analysis of the scientific and scholarly sources in regard to the view on the relationship between the distances from the sun to the earth on seasonal changes taking place over the surface of the earth. Scientific literature describing the association between temperatures variations and the sun’s insulations reaching the earth at different times of the year show that the distance between the sun and the earth influence not only the time of occurrence of seasons but also the intensity and extent of occurrence for such seasonal changes. An observational study conducted by Fligge, Solanki, Unruh, FroK, & Wehrli (1998) on the amount of Pleistocene melt ice indicates different degrees of melting ice at different times of the year and at different points of the earths surface both in the northern and in the southern hemispheres. The connection between the changes experienced in the extent of glacial melts and the alignments of the earth’s orbit was first proposed by one scientific observer Adhemar. His observations were based on the fact that the Antarctic ice is present due to the fact that the winter seasons in the southern hemisphere are longer than the winter in the nor thern hemisphere by up to 8 days thus allowing additionally longer time for the Antarctic ice to form. The effect, as Fligge, Solanki, Unruh, FroK, & Wehrli (1998) observes, result in the thickness of the Antarctic ice being more than the Arctic region. Winter was defined by Adhemar as the period between the equinoxes (the period when the sun is overhead the equator). Besides these

Evaluating Impact of Corporate Culture and Pressure to Meet the Case Study

Evaluating Impact of Corporate Culture and Pressure to Meet the Numbers in Accounting Reporting Environment - Case Study Example This was a move to counter-to-counter competition from J&J. Another approach was also the routine of frequently rolling over unpaid bills to ensure that customers did not return surplus goods in addition to offering numerous promotions for clients who purchased or ordered large lenses packages. The managers also shipped unordered lenses and glasses to clients such as doctors. Some managers, such as Johnson in U.S, forced their local distributors to take extremely large stocks of older Optima lenses by deceiving them that they would not be required to pay for the unsold lenses. The excess glasses ended up being stuffed in the warehouses. The actions taken by B&L managers were both unethical and illegal. The overall impact was eventual dropping of profits since the sales were phony and resulted in deceitful profits. The B&L shares dropped to 30 shillings in 1994. Another likely long-term effect was the loss of trust on the companies by customers hence decline in the shareholder value (Maremont and Bamathan Web). The corporate pressurized B&L managers to achieve illogical target since the culture lacked ways to monitor and alter its objectives Environmental variations can make existing policies and objectives inappropriate thus top management should ensure the plans are adjusted constantly to fit the fluctuating environment. B&L top management did not alter the targets even when the constraints in the external environment demanded so thus the managers invented inappropriate ways to meet the incongruous targets. B&L corporate culture and pressure to meet the numbers in accounting reporting environment numbers drove B&Ls manager some reasonable degree to engage in the malpractices (Maremont and Bamathan Web). The managers came up with strategies to maintain phenomenal records which enabled them to get bonuses and compensation. They

Portfolio in Islamic Commercial Law Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Portfolio in Islamic Commercial Law - Essay Example Meanwhile the second essay discusses how Islamic economic and finance can be the best alternative solution of ‘Responsible Capitalism’ from Islamic perspective. Relation between Islamic commercial law and political will of the state This section describes the relation between Islamic commercial law and political will of the state. It presents the development Islamic commercial law is inter-related with political will of the state. The notion is discussed by presenting a case study in the development of Islamic commercial law from early development until recent. In this case Southeast Asia will be used as a case study. The Sharia is made up of the ‘legal’ statements of the Koran and the Customs of the clairvoyant. Fiqh is an academic study, and juristic understanding of those sources. It is often presented as an ‘Islamic jurisprudence’. The word Sharia also entails these understanding. 1 The ideas are normally presented as different, although the limits connecting them are not completely presented. Muslim educators accurately criticise the expression ‘Islamic law’ for its malfunction to differentiate between phenomena within the society.2 The Sharia should be clearly distinguished from the territory law of Muslim- preponderance jurisdictions. Some justification processes do have stipulation in their statute, that the Sharia is the most important foundation of law. 3 Some have produced statutes founded on the Sharia, though; this is diverse from the Sharia essence the law. In the first situation, it is not more than the foundation, and in the subsequent, one of its indispensable attributes, its eventual influence, has been distorted, from Allah to the status. One exemption is Saudi Arabia, where Sharia is the law, other than this there are enhancement by frequent ‘regulations’ produced by the authority.1Sharia is an Arabic expression used to label Islamic by law. It initially referred to the trail p acked down by camels to a wet stream foundation, and the commonly used Arabic expression al-Sharia al-islamiyah could be turned into Islamic language. In the situation of Islamic rule, the technique is one that directs the virtuous advocate to ecstasy in life after death. The Sharia is not considered a sacred law by good quality of the area under discussion matters concerned, for these assortment far further than the ball of spiritual concerns firmly communication and lengthen to the humdrum affairs of on a daily basis.4 To a certain extent, its spiritual temperament is as a result of the Muslim principle that it emanates from exquisitely stimulated sources and represent God’s map for the appropriate grouping of all human being actions. Even though, Muslims have the same opinion that they are in touch by the Sharia law. The understandings of its necessities have been differentiated in the past depending on sectarian and school divided sections and, in contemporary times, also depending on the different notions of how the Sharia law is applicable to changed state of affairs of modern societies.5 The explanations of the necessities of Sharia law are controlled in the fiqh. In a universal intelligence, fiqh implies â€Å"acquaintance† or â€Å"knowledge,† except it is also second-hand in a more exact intelligence of Islamic law making process. Sharia

Ernst Ludwig Kirchner Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Ernst Ludwig Kirchner - Essay Example Expressionism took many forms including theatre, cinema and art (www.artmovements.co.uk). Other movements including Fauvism, Post- Impressionism and Impressionism heavily influenced the art itself. However Expressionism evolved beyond all those, incorporating many of the elements of each type but also imparting extreme violence and exaggeration of brushstrokes, as well as harsh and intense colour to the canvas in order to convey their personal emotional response to the scene. In 1880 two events took place that led to the rise of Expressionism. The first was the unification of Germany and all its controlled states into a single federation or empire by the German Chancellor Otto von Bismarck (www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk). This resulted in the appointment of Wilhelm II, the King of Prussia, (Germany's biggest state) to the position of Emperor of Germany. Wilhelm's governance and his policies led to social and political unrest in the empire and eventually led to World War I. Kirchner was born in Aschaffenburg, the son of a chemist in the paper industry. Though his parents encouraged his artistic tendencies they did not consider it a profession and after his schooling, his parents sent him to an architecture course in a Technical College in Dresden (http://tigtail.org). While there he formed an artists group with two other students, Heckel and Schmidt- Rotluff. They called themselves Die Brucke, literally, The Bridge. They considered themselves to be a bridge from the old set ways into the future of art and society in Germany. Kirchner was the driving force of this group and his work endures as a striking commentary on German society at the time. His most famous works as his art developed were those belonging to his "Streetwalker" series. Two of those paintings, Potsdamer Platz (1914) and The Street (1913) will be discussed as an example of how the period in which he lived influenced him. In order to fully comprehend the import of his work it is also necessary to understand the time in which he lived. Germany from 1880 to the time of the Great War was undergoing great turmoil on several fronts. Firstly it was a time of immense expansion on an industrial and technological front (Myers and Praeger, p11). Artists all over Europe were invigorated by this infusion of modernity. However Germanys unified empire was beginning to crack. After the appointment of Wilhelm as Kaiser there was a growing rift between the Emperor and his Chancellor Bismarck on various issues of social policy and he finally forced Bismarck to resign in 1890. With the dismissal of the Chancellor Wilhelm forced the passing of several policies that were completely unsuitable for a technologically developing nation (www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures). He also adopted political stands that led to the development of World War I. On the social front things were not much better in Germany during this period. Women's rights were virtually unheard of; women were unable to vote until quite late, they had very few legal financial rights and job opportunities and marriage and children were the only way for a respectable woman

Federal Contracts Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Federal Contracts - Essay Example This move is extremely essential for small entrepreneurs to expand their businesses. This paper analyzes the federal act support for small businesspersons with the aim of expanding their businesses. It further provides an organizational chart that supports working with the federal contracting system. Federal Contracts under a given Business Development Program Federal government only provides support to businesspersons or prime contractors that are performing at least one active EPA contract. In addition, they must also be eligible for the award of federal contracts. The other parties who are bound to receive assistance are companies whose corporate policy is to promote, develop and implement subcontracting opportunities for the sector of socioeconomic. In order to help such small businesses that are still starting, but have a viable idea; the SBA came up with the 8(a) Business Development Program. What is the 8(a) Business Development Program? Business Development Program is assista nce program for small-disadvantaged businesspersons with bigger ideas. This program also offers a broad scope of assistance to firms under people who are economically disadvantaged. ... Business Development Program Benefits The Business Development Program assists inspiring entrepreneurs greatly since participants being able to receive sole-source contracts of roughly $4 million for goods and services. Concerning manufacturing, the participants receive a total of $6.5 million, which is to assist in establishment and expansion of already existing business. Additionally, as much as this program helps, 8(a) still assists in building of competitive advantage. This program also helps in the improvement of institutional expertise by assisting participants to take part in competitive acquisitions (Ralph & John, 1995). Firms under 8(a) program are capable of forming joint ventures that assist them in teaming up to bid contracts. This process enhances the ability of most firms to perform larger prime contracts and overcome the effects of contract bundling. It is also possible for such companies to combine and form one large contract as highlighted in the Mentor Protege Progr am. There are usually the requirements and the objectives of the 8(a) Business Development Program, which involves graduation of firms to higher notch of competitive advantage. This process assures organizations of thriving in competitive business environment. The goal of this program is to help firms maintain balance between their commercial and government businesses. As stipulated in the NAICS code, it also provides the limit on the amount of dollar value of sole-source contracts that individual participant is likely to receive while taking part in the program, which is roughly $100 million. The requirements include the following: a) Systematic evaluations b) Yearly reviews c) Business planning

Advice on feeding children for parents with concerns about their own eating Essay Example for Free

Advice on feeding children for parents with concerns about their own eating Essay Many parents have concerns about their own eating and worry about the impact that this may have on feeding their children and on their children’s healthy development. What follows below is some advice about how best to manage feeding children for parents or caregivers with their own concerns about eating. A role model for children1 ? Children copy the behaviours of others. Your children will pick up eating behaviours exhibited by parents, siblings, other family members and friends so try to be a positive role model for your child by eating and enjoying regular meals with them if possible. Give children child-sized portions ? For parents who are limiting their own calorie intake or portion size, they may lose sight of what is an appropriate portion for their growing child. It is important to give children suitable portions, rather than those that are too large or too small. Guidance on portion size can be found here: http://www. nhs. uk/change4life/Documents/pdf/Step_By_Step_Me_Size_Meals. pdf or here: http://www. nhs. uk/change4life/pages/kids-portion-size-tips. aspx.? As a general rule, a portion of fruit or vegetables is the same size as a person’s palm. So, a child-size portion of peas on a dinner plate should be the same size as your child’s palm. Offer a healthy, balanced diet ? Children and adults need a nutritious, balanced diet for optimal development and health. Try to ensure that you are giving your children meals that include: fruit and vegetables; starchy foods (e. g. , rice, pasta, bread, potatoes); meat, fish, eggs and beans; milk and dairy foods; and moderate amounts of food containing fat and sugar (see here: http://www.nhs.k/Livewell/Goodfood/Documents/Eatwellplate. pdf). ? Don’t cut food groups out of your child’s diet (unless they have an allergy / intolerance) and do try to offer a variety of foods across mealtimes. ? Ensure that children have three meals a day, as well as healthy snacks. Research suggests that breakfast is particularly important for school children as it provides them with energy required for the day. Listen to your child ? Children are good regulators of their own levels of hunger and fullness. They will tell you when they are hungry and full. If they are often still hungry 20 minutes after finishing their meal, it may be that the portion size is too small for them. Try not to be too controlling2-5 ? Parents may feel that their child needs to eat all the food on their plate in order to be healthy. Avoid pressuring or forcing your child to eat more than he/she wishes. Pressuring children to eat food can result in the food becoming less liked and children eating less of that food. If your child tells you he/she is full, they probably are. ? Try not to overly restrict your child’s access to (unhealthy) foods. Limiting children’s intake of foods can unintentionally make these foods seem more desirable and children may then eat more of these foods if given free access to them (e. g. , at parties). ? Everything in moderation. Keeping track of what your child eats is good parenting and ensuring that your child eats a balanced diet is encouraged. However, it is important to offer your child a balance of foods from all the food groups to ensure healthy growth and development. Above all remember that food is a fuel. Your child requires a healthy, balanced diet and regular meals and snacks in order to grow and remain healthy.

The History And Background Of Sony Marketing Essay

The History And Background Of Sony Marketing Essay Sony is one of the largest game device providers in the world. It started at 1946 in Japan. Initially, Sony was selling the electronic products and electronic devices such as television, home video, home audio, camera and others. In 1994, Sony begins to sell their first gaming console implemented by them which is Playstation (PS) 1. More versions of Playstation such as PS 2 and 3, other similar console, PS portable and PS Vita were released to meet customers higher expectations. During the past few years, Sony has put its effort on the innovation of virtual reality headgear. With the influence of movies and animation such as Sword Art Online, the public hope to interact and experience a more realistic graphics in the game. Since there is a demand for this, Sony decides to create this product. 2.0 Current Market Situation Various technologies have been developed and innovated to simplify daily tasks. One of the most significant effects of development of technology is in the gaming industry. Ever since in the 90s, companies such as Sony have been developing various gaming consoles that provide better experience to its users with each new design. From the first Playstation, to the soon to be released Playstation 4. Since the development of mobile gaming such as smartphones and tablets, the demands for gaming consoles has been declining. However, according to DFC Intelligence Analyst, New console systems from Nintendo, Microsoft and Sony are expected to help the console segment regain some momentum in the 2014 to 2015 timeframe (Cole D. 2012). It just means that, as long as gaming companies can develop a better console systems, the market will resume its growth. Therefore developing Cita-Vita is essential to place Sony back in the game. The main competitor for Sony will be the Oculus VR Inc. as they are developing a product similar to Cita-Vita which is the Oculus Rift. The Rift too provides a more realistic gameplay by allowing the user to experience a 360 degree videogame environment. In addition, Adhesive Games had developed a game, Hawken, which is said to be very compatible with Rifts gameplay. Moreover, while Cita-Vita is still in the researching stage, the Rift developers kit had been completed and will be launched anytime soon. And not long after that, the consumer version will too be released. Even so, the technology used in Cita-Vita is different from The Rift. In addition to the 360 degree game environment experience, this product consists of a new technology that allows the user to play without lifting a finger (this technology will be further explained in the product strategies). Gamers will be keen to accept this technology as it is a great improvement from the past consoles and it had only been seen in comics and animations. 3.0 SWOT Analysis 3.1 Strength After years of researching and developing and at this juncture, Sony becomes the pioneer to concept, implement, and create the world first virtual reality gaming headgear. The products objective is to promote intellectual course of events that enable users to experience different life and are suitable for anyone due to its intuitive usage. The complexity but extremely exquisite technology, which contains a 4 dimensional sensibility view function by the main core, processor XG1 with 1 THz ,and integrate with a graphic chip to project Ultra High Definition (Ultra HD) ,and the latest cloud gaming system which benefit the firms profitability. Sony could be dominant over the price strategy control in the market. 3.2 Weakness Some aspects that need attention are uncertain incidents that affect the stability of the system operation, the high cost of the parts and technology for the product, and shortage of technical staff for this system. Fatakia K., (2012) stated that the high cost of media production, especially in its television business, has affected the companys pricing strategy. Frankly, Sony lost about $6.3 billion in the past eight years due to this which lead to lose of market shares to Samsung and LG. 3.3 Opportunities Sony could penetrate into a new market of gaming consoles in gaming industry for a long term. It is because it is marketed to both novice and expert gamers and is not restricting to the age of individuals. With this technology in hand, Sony would consider having partnership with military, aero industry and space industry to create field or cosmic simulator for teaching and training purposes. Moreover, there would be an evolution in offering a platform for social networking. 3.4 Threat Several factors that concern Sony regarding the launching of Cita-Vita are the interference of competitors relating to the safety of this product causing consumers to have difficulty to accept. The impact of compliance regulations on health and safety as well as economic condition in different areas would also delay the recognition of the product and to be widely used. Even before, the companys Playstation network was hacked, resulting in leakage of customer information, such as credit-card data (Fatakia, 2012) and Sony was fined for  £250,000. Sony needs to enhance securities to protect gamers personal details. 4.0 Marketing objective With the development and production of Cita-Vita, Sony wishes to increase the market share significantly during that period which can be seen through sales. As reported by an author in Seeking Alpha, it is said that the soon to be released PS 4 by Sony will take away the market share from XBOX (Anon 2013). The new product Cita-Vita will be able to take even more shares as PS 4 is just an extension of the existing Playstation models. Sony should opt for a 70% increment for a year. This can be done by increasing the market share and customer value. The increasing in the shares value indicates that the company is having a positive prospect. By giving satisfying customer values, the revenue of the sales will increase which lead to the increase in companys standings hence, the share price. Other than that, the companys strategic planning and making decision to set appropriate recourses, business environments, and human resources, like serving customers through suitable staff and retailers , who can deal with customer more efficiently will guarantee higher customer satisfaction. 5.0 Strategies 5.1 Product Strategy The gaming headgear, Cita-Vita consists of 3 levels which are core benefit, actual product and augmented product. 5.1.1 Core Benefit Cita-Vita is a product which is specially made to provide virtual reality experience for all users especially gamers. Virtual experience can be says as the stimulation to enable people to interact with the artificial 4-dimensional visual or other sensory environment in games. It provides a 360 degree game environment experience. 5.1.2 Actual Product 5.1.2.1 Product Name The name of this gaming headgear is Cita-Vita. Cita has a meaning of other in Latvian while vita means life in Latin. This name represents the second life or another life that users will experience. 5.1.2.1 Features Cita-Vita comes in two colours which are black and white because these colours are regard as trendy by most people. The design of the headgear looks like a helmet. It has a single interface which covers the players face. This headgear stimulates five main senses of humans with high frequency electromagnetic microwave transmitter. It controls the users consciousness by redirecting the signals which the brain sends to the body to the machine itself and replace its own waves to stimulate the senses. This headgear uses electricity as its main source of power. The charger is plug-in at the socket provided on the left side of the headgear. The headgear also contains its own batteries which acts as a backup. Headgear also contains the USB port for installation of games and other software. The software or games can be installed by connecting with computer. Moreover, the headgear contains three indicators which are power (PWR), wide area network (WAN) and BLK. PWR will light up after the charger is plug-in. The other two buttons will also light up after the respective system requirements are fulfilled. 5.1.3 Augmented product There will be two-year warranty that comes with the product. The warranty covers most damages of the product except damage cause by the carelessness of the buyers such as improper handling of the product. 5.2 Promotion Strategies Two strategies are applied based on the introduction stage. Sony should use push strategy to promote product through distribution channels to final consumers. First, Sony will provide the product display stands or signs to retailers to create awareness to consumers. Trade deals which are price discounts given for meeting certain purchase requirements (Peter, Donnelly, 1997, pg156) are also offered, e.g. 10% off for 1 unit of Cita-Vita only after selling 50 units each time. For pull strategies, Sony relies on product advertising or consumer sales promotion (Peter, Donnelly, 1997, pg157) to build up consumer demand. Sony could organize events to induce consumers to try the product and give out free merchandises such as batteries if purchase is made on the spot. Another way is to use Sonys website to promote a price deal for pre-orders for limited time. Sony will use informative advertising, to introduce Cita-Vita to unaware consumers of its purposes, features and brand. Certain people are needed such as expert gamers or renowned individuals to promote the value of the product and develop desire or wants of other potential consumer that are moved by those who believed in the products value. Sony may use objective and task method for the promotional budget as Sony has large funds to achieve its promotional results globally. The advertising message of Cita-Vita is to provide life experiences. And it is executed with interesting style, format, words and tone. Medias such as television that covers mass audience and game magazines like PC Gamer which draw the readers attention and has high demographic and geographic selectivity could be use. Sony can publicize Cita-Vita and announce its release in press conference. This public relation cost lesser without including fees for time or space and has vigorous impact to the public. Medias would pick up the news and report about them. The public will have more trust in the product as it seems more credible. 5.3 Pricing Strategy As a new product being launched where competition does not exist, what price should be set for such cases? It is important to target the right customer and to develop the market growth for the purpose of being viable on the certain product. As Sony plans to introduce a new device, Sony has to set a base price level that covers the costs of sales while maintaining its reputation which is to provide high quality products. After estimating the amount to be spent on the production of this product and comparing the price of other consoles made by Sony, Sony should set the base price of Cita- Vita as $580. Basing on this, the sales of 7 million units is the break-even point for Cita-Vita where the cost of research and production is covered. As technological product are said to have a low product life cycle, Sony ought to use price skimming strategy. While taking into account psychological matter such as image pricing, higher prices which represent higher quality and odd even pricing will attract people to purchase the device. Thus it is recommended that Sony set a higher price during the first few months which is $699. Price strategies must be amended based on the market in short and long run, to retain sales. In the end, the success of the ideas is directly related to customer satisfaction. When consumers are satisfy with product, price can remain in the higher level. 5.4 Distribution strategy The last strategy to be discussed is the distribution strategy. This strategy involves looking into certain aspects such as where to make the product available and when to do so (Dibb. S, et al., 2006). There are times Sony is unable to deal with the customer personally due to reasons such as the cost, time and the geographical distribution of the customers. For this reasons, Sony ought to look for certain distribution channels that can help to sell Cita-Vita to more customers. As this is a new product, Sony is encouraged to start with exclusive distribution. Therefore, Sony should sell Cita-Vita directly via online or through a Sony Centre. Sony could start by allowing pre-orders from customers through their website. By doing so, Sony can then get a clearer picture on the type of customers who are interested and generate feedback from them. At the Sony centers, there will be expert staff that are able to explain the product functions and specifications to customers who are interested. Furthermore, Customers are certain that they can get the original version of Cita-Vita from the centers. After the feedbacks from the customers have been studied, Sony can then made final adjustments to Cita-Vita and start using other distribution strategies such as selective. Sony can sell the product in bulks to other electronic companies especially gaming centers. These retailers can help Sony to sell the product to a larger group of people all across the world. In addition, gaming centers are not only experts in this category but they as well have connections with a variety of customers and other businesses as well as understand how to deal with them well. Lastly, Sony could distribute them to internet cafes. Most young gamers go to these cafes to play computer games. By having Cita-Vita there, these young gamers are able to experience the thrill and excitement provided. This will pick their interest and it will be easier to persuade them to buy the product. 6.0 Recommendation and Conclusion Since this is a new product, there are many aspects which are still unstable as stated in SWOT analysis. Therefore, Sony has to hire more specialized workers in this and related field to make this product more secure with minimal defects. This will definitely attract more attention and develop more trust from customers to purchase Cita-Vita. In a nutshell, Cita-Vita is a highly potential product that allows Sony to maximize their sales. It has drawn the attention of many even though it is just an idea. This shows that there will be a demand and market for this product. It can be said that Sony is moving in the right direction with the development of this product. As to date, the research and development department of Sony has begun researching on this product. 7.0 Reference Anon, 2013, Top of Form Anon, 2013, Sonys PS4 Looks To Take Market Share From The Xbox [online] Available at: [Accessed 20 February 2013] Dibb S., et al., 2006, Marketing Concepts and Strategies, U.S.A., Houghton Mifflin Fatakia K., 2012, Sony Corporation: Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats [online], My Daily Finance, Available at: [Accessed date: 8th March 2013] Five Star Equities, 2012, Video Game Industry Set for Growth Global Game Market Forecasted to Grow to $82 Billion Five Star Equities Provides Stock Research on Sony and Majesco Entertainment [Press Release] 31 July 2012. Available at: [Accessed 13 February 2013] Sony Malaysia, [online] Available at: [Accessed 25 February 2013] Virtual Reality, [online] Available at: [Accessed 17 February 2013]

Online Ticket Booking System Information Technology Essay

Online Ticket Booking System Information Technology Essay Apart from the efforts of me, the success of any assignment depends largely on the encouragement and guidelines of many others. I take this opportunity to express my gratitude to the people who have been instrumental in the successful completion of this assignment. I would like to show my greatest appreciation to Lecturer, Ms. Nayeema Rahman. I cant say thank you enough for his tremendous support and help. I feel motivated and encouraged every time I attend his meeting. Without his encouragement and guidance this assignment would not have materialized. Abstract The purpose of the online ticket booking system is to provide another way for purchasing cinema tickets in advance. It is an automatic system. This paper presents a formal use of the Object Oriented analysis and Design, we will illustrate our system by providing Use Case Diagrams with Specifications, Activity Diagrams, Class Diagrams, Sequence Diagrams, State Machines and Communication Diagrams on the functionalities of the system, also we will provide some process description and data dictionary. The goals of our system are: Record performance details Record customer details Record tickets sold Print tickets Print address labels for telephone booking Task 1: Functional Modelling Identification of Actors Use Cases Analyzing the existing system we figured out that, there are two main scopes to be covered in the system. The scopes are Performance Planning and Ticket Booking. We used the below table to identify the Actors and the Use Cases for the system. User Role Use Case Theatre Manager Performance planning Define the type of the performance and name it. Performance scheduling Define date and time of the performance. Artist booking Book an artist for the performance. Ticket pricing Determine a price for the ticket. Clerk Check schedule Check the performance schedule for a particular show on a date. Check seat availability Checks for available seats Capture customer information Record customer details Check ticket price Check for ticket price for particular show. Sell ticket Record tickets sold. Print ticket Print ticket for the customer. Print address label Print address label for telephone booking. Use Case Diagram Following diagram shows the overall view of the Ticket Booking System for Theatre. Figure 1: Use Case Diagram (Performance Planning Ticket Booking) Use Case Specification Table 1: Use Case of Performance Planning Number: UC01 Req. Doc Ref: Name: Performance Planning Status: Actors: Theatre Manager Pre-requisites: User should be logged in the system. Goal: Defining the performance type and naming it. Use Case Relationships: Extend:UC02, UC03 Include: Association: Generalization: Description: Index Actor Event 1 User enters the name of the performance. 2 User enters the type of the performance. 3 System checks for all required data entry. 4 System connects to the database. 5 System writes data into the database. 6 System shows a confirmation message after successful database writes. Alternatives: Index Actor Event A 3.1 Enter required information. A 4.1 Check network connectivity A 4.2 Check database connectivity A 4.3 Check database user role A 5.1 Theatre manager gets notification of unsuccessful operation. Table 2: Use Case of Performance Scheduling Number: UC02 Req. Doc Ref: Name: Performance Scheduling Status: Actors: Theatre Manager Pre-requisites: User should be logged in the system. Performance planning (UC01) should be inserted into the system. Goal: Define date and time of the performance. Use Case Relationships: Extend: Include: Association: Generalization: Description: Index Actor Event 1 User selects the desired performance from the system. 2 User enters the date of the performance. 3 User enters the time of the performance. 4 System checks for all required data entry. 5 System connects to the database. 6 System writes data into the database. 7 System shows a confirmation message after successful database writes. Alternatives: Index Actor Event A 3.1 Enter required information. A 5.1 Check network connectivity A 5.2 Check database connectivity A 5.3 Check database user role A 6.1 Theatre manager gets notification of unsuccessful operation. Table 3: Use Case of Artist Booking Number: UC03 Req. Doc Ref: Name: Artist Booking Status: Actors: Theatre Manager Pre-requisites: User should be logged in the system. Performance planning (UC01) should be inserted into the system. Goal: Book an artist for the performance. Use Case Relationships: Extend: Include: Association: Generalization: Description: Index Actor Event 1 User selects the desired performance from the system. 2 User enters the name of the desired artist. 3 System checks for all required data entry. 4 System connects to the database. 5 System writes data into the database. 6 System shows a confirmation message after successful database writes. Alternatives: Index Actor Event A 3.1 Enter required information. A 4.1 Check network connectivity A 4.2 Check database connectivity A 4.3 Check database user role A 5.1 Theatre manager gets notification of unsuccessful operation. Table 5: Use Case of Schedule Checking Number: UC04 Req. Doc Ref: Name: Schedule Checking Status: Actors: Clerk Pre-requisites: User should be logged in the system. Performance scheduling (UC02) should be inserted into the system. Goal: Check the performance schedule for a particular show on a date. Use Case Relationships: Extend: UC01 Include: Association: Generalization: Description: Index Actor Event 1 User selects a desired performance and a date. 2 System shows a confirmation message for the availability of the performance. 3 System allows the user to perform the next event (UC06). Alternatives: Index Actor Event A 1.1 System notifies the user that the performance is unavailable on the desired date. Table 6: Use Case of Check Seat Availability Number: UC05 Req. Doc Ref: Name: Check Seat Availability Status: Actors: Clerk Pre-requisites: User should be logged in the system. Schedule checking (UC05) should be performed by the user. Goal: Checks for available seats. Use Case Relationships: Extend: Include: Association: Generalization: Description: Index Actor Event 1 User selects a desired performance and a date. 2 System shows a confirmation message for the availability of the seat. 3 System allows the user to perform the next event (UC07). Alternatives: Index Actor Event A 1.1 System notifies the user that the seat is unavailable for the desired performance. Table 7: Use Case of Capturing Customer Information Number: UC06 Req. Doc Ref: Name: Capture Customer Information Status: Actors: Clerk Pre-requisites: User should be logged in the system. Seat checking (UC06) should be performed by the user. Goal: Record customer details. Use Case Relationships: Extend: Include: Association: Generalization: Description: Index Actor Event 1 User enters the name, address and telephone number of the customer. 2 System checks for all required data entry. 3 System connects to the database. 4 System writes data into the database. 5 System shows a confirmation message after successful database writes. Alternatives: Index Actor Event A 2.1 Enter required information. A 3.1 Check network connectivity A 3.2 Check database connectivity A 3.3 Check database user role A 4.1 User gets notification of unsuccessful operation. Table 8: Use Case of Checking Ticket Price Number: UC07 Req. Doc Ref: Name: Check Ticket Price Status: Actors: Clerk Pre-requisites: User should be logged in the system. Ticket pricing information (UC04) should be entered into the system. Goal: Check for ticket price for particular show Use Case Relationships: Extend: UC01 Include: Association: Generalization: Description: Index Actor Event 1 User selects a desired performance form the system. 2 System shows the defined pricing for the ticket. Alternatives: Index Actor Event A 2.1 Price not found is notified to the user. Table 9: Use Case of Selling Ticket Number: UC08 Req. Doc Ref: Name: Selling Ticket Status: Actors: Clerk Pre-requisites: User should be logged in the system. Check ticket price (UC08) should be performed by the user. Goal: Record tickets sold. Use Case Relationships: Extend: Include: Association: Generalization: Description: Index Actor Event 1 User selects the desired performance from the system. 2 User enters ticket selling date and the ticket price for the desired performance. 3 System checks for all required data entry. 4 System connects to the database. 5 System writes data into the database. 6 System shows a confirmation message after successful database writes. Alternatives: Index Actor Event A 3.1 Enter required information. A 4.1 Check network connectivity A 4.2 Check database connectivity A 4.3 Check database user role A 5.1 Theatre manager gets notification of unsuccessful operation. Table 10: Use Case of Printing Ticket Number: UC09 Req. Doc Ref: Name: Printing Ticket Status: Actors: Clerk Pre-requisites: User should be logged in the system. Check ticket price (UC08) should be performed by the user. Goal: Print ticket for the customer Use Case Relationships: Extend: Include: Association: Generalization: Description: Index Actor Event 1 User triggers the print command for the sold ticket. Alternatives: Index Actor Event A 1.1 Printer not found notification will be given to the user. Table 11: Use Case of Checking Ticket Booking Type Number: UC10 Req. Doc Ref: Name: Check Ticket Booking Type Status: Actors: Clerk Pre-requisites: User should be logged in the system. Print ticket (UC10) should be performed by the user. Goal: Determine the ticket booking type. Use Case Relationships: Extend: Include: Association: Generalization: Description: Index Actor Event 1 User selects the booking type to identify whether the ticket was booked over phone. Alternatives: Index Actor Event Table 12: Use Case of Printing Address Label Number: UC11 Req. Doc Ref: Name: Print Address Label Status: Actors: Clerk Pre-requisites: User should be logged in the system. Ticket booking type (UC11) should be performed by the user. Goal: Print address label for telephone booking Use Case Relationships: Extend: UC11 Include: Association: Generalization: Description: Index Actor Event 1 User triggers the print command to print the address label. Alternatives: Index Actor Event Activity Diagram Based on the system observation, a high level activity diagram is drawn modelling the process of ticket booking for theatre. The activity diagram will bring everybody on a common ground for understanding the system functionalities. Figure 2: Activity Diagram (Performance Planning Ticket Booking) Task 2: Structural Modelling Class Diagram (attributes operations) The following diagram depicts the relationships between the classes for Ticket Booking System along with the attributes and the operations. Figure 3: Class Diagram (Performance Planning Ticket Booking) Task 3: Behavioural Modelling Sequence Diagram The following diagram is a sequence diagram for buying ticket. There are few things I want to state, that this is just one of the sequences of buying ticket. There could be more alternative sequence for buying ticket. For example, we can choice a performance before buying ticket. But the overall structures of all buying ticket sequence are similar, so, others sequence will not be shown. Figure 4: Sequence Diagram (Create Performance) Figure 5: Sequence Diagram (Schedule Performance) Figure 6: Sequence Diagram (Set price) Figure 7: Sequence Diagram (Sell tickets) State Machine Diagram Below diagram is used to give an abstract description of the behaviour of the ticket booking system. This behaviour is analyzed and represented in series of events that could occur in one or more possible states. Hereby each diagram usually represents objects of a single class and tracks the different states of its objects through the system. Figure 8: State Machine Diagram (Performance Planning Ticket Booking) Communication Diagram Communication diagram is similar to sequence diagrams, but it provides an overview of the relationships between objects, rather than focusing on the order of messages between objects, as the software executes. Figure 9: Communication Diagram (Performance Planning Ticket Booking) Task 4: Data Protection Law Introduction In Bangladesh Cyber Acts are in a process to be implemented. The Government of Bangladesh has formed National Council for Science and Technology (NCST). The Executive Committee for NCST has also been formed to implement policies formulated by the Council. Currently NCST is working with the general boundaries to protect the ICT industry and specific laws are yet to be decided. For our application we can follow the acts and regulations from UK. Laws, Regulations and Best Practices The Data Protection Act gives individuals the right to know what information is held about them. It provides a framework to ensure that personal information is handled properly. The Act works in two ways. Firstly, it states that anyone who processes personal information must comply with eight principles, which make sure that personal information is: Fairly and lawfully processed Processed for limited purposes Adequate, relevant and not excessive Accurate and up to date Not kept for longer than is necessary Processed in line with your rights Secure Not transferred to other countries without adequate protection The second area covered by the Act provides individuals with important rights, including the right to find out what personal information is held on computer and most paper records. Data protection laws should be adequate enough to maintain the below options at a minimum- How to access information This allows one to find out what information is held about him/her on a computer and within some manual records, such as medical records, files held by public bodies and financial information held by credit reference agencies. Correcting information This allows one to apply to a court to order a data controller to correct, block, remove or destroy personal details if they are inaccurate or contain expressions of opinion based on inaccurate information. Preventing processing of information This means one can ask a data controller not to process information about him/her that causes substantial unwarranted damage or distress. The data controller is not always bound to act on the request. Preventing unsolicited marketing This means a data controller is required not to process information about one for direct marketing purposes if he/she asks them not to. Preventing automated decision making This means one can object to decisions made only by automatic means. For example, where there is no human involvement. Claiming compensation This allows one to claim compensation through the courts from a data controller for damage, and in some cases distress, caused by any breach of the act. Exempt information This allows one to ask the information commissioner to investigate and assess whether the data controller has breached the act. There should be a committee (in our case NCTS could be the choice) that will have legal powers to ensure that organizations comply with the requirements of the data protection laws. It is notable here that these powers are focused on ensuring that organizations meet the obligations of the act. To promote best practices the regulation- The committee should carry out consensual audits with data controllers to assess their processing of personal information. The committee should see auditing as a constructive process with real benefits for data controllers. The committee should adopt, wherever possible, a participative approach including working closely with the data controller to agree the timing and scope of the audit. Comply with Data Protection Law A short checklist can help us to comply with the data protection laws in our system. Maintaining all the items in the checklist does guarantee compliance but it should mean that we are heading in the right direction. We should store only the related information about the customer and the personnels involved with the system. And we need to make sure that we know what we are going to do with the information. The person should know, what are the information we are holding. He/she should understand what it will be used for. Information should be held securely whether its on the paper or on computer. The system should prevent any unwanted access of its resources. The information should be deleted as soon as there is no need for it. Access control list should be created with a strict need to know to prevent data access from all kind of users of the system. We should train the stuff in their duties and responsibilities under the act that we are putting them in to practice. Recommendations Being a strategic regulator means that, in so far as we have a choice, we have to be selective with our interventions. We will therefore apply our limited resources in ways that deliver the maximum return in terms of a sustained reduction in data protection risk. That is the risk of harm through improper use of personal information. There are priorities we have to set. We need to focus most attention on situations where there is a real likelihood of serious harm. We also need to focus on situations where our intervention is most likely to make a long term as well as a short term difference. When we intervene we must do so in a way that gives us the best possible return and remember that we will often be at our most effective when working closely with others. We are entitled to have legitimate expectations of those who are in a position to influence data protection risk. Our effectiveness depends on them seeking and welcoming our reasonable interventions. Furthermore we have an important international role. Data protection risk in the Bangladesh is increasingly influenced by events worldwide. Our risk-based approach is in line with good regulatory practice. It does not mean that we seek to remove all data protection risk. We do what we can to moderate the most serious risks and protect those who are most vulnerable to improper use of their information. But we will not try to take away freedom of choice and will remember that individuals themselves ought to be best placed to make decisions about their own interests. Part of our job is to equip individuals with the knowledge and tools to enable them to make their own well-informed decisions about the use and disclosure of their personal information. Being a strategic regulator also means extending our approach beyond simply improving (through guidance, persuasion and regulatory action) the behaviour of organisations that handle personal information. We also have a legitimate role in informing and influencing the market or political environment in which they operate. Thus we will seek to have long term influence over government and the legislature at Westminster and in the devolved administrations as well as over representative bodies and other stakeholders, to ensure privacy friendly outcomes. We will also seek to influence the legal framework that governs our own work to ensure that data protection requirements are simple, meaningful and proportionate and that we have the flexibility and tools to regulate effectively. Building public confidence in data protection is the key in our approach. We protect people, not just information. This means we need to engage with the public and explain what we do in a way that they can easily understand and relate to. This commitment is at the heart of how we approach our job as data protection regulator and will inform all our data protection tasks including complaints handling and the provision of advice. Task 5: Ticket Printing Produce Tickets To protect the tickets from being forged or copied we can use a barcode on each ticket. Well print a unique 10-digit number as a barcode on the tickets, which will be checked at the entrance with the software and a simple barcode scanner. As each barcode can only be used once to enter, copied or forged tickets are rejected and the revenues are protected. By default, the tickets will be labeled with random numbers with 10 digits, which will serve as copy protection. Figure 10: Sample barcode to print on tickets Seat Allocation Tickets will be printed with seat numbers, with serial numbers. Section names can be in different colours to facilitate orientation. For sections with an aisle a seat description can be added to the seat number (e.g. left, right), which helps the visitor to find the seat. Figure 11: Sample barcode to print on ticket with seat no. Hardware for printing tickets There are numerous tickets available in the market but I found D-Link printers suitable for our system. Below are the details of the hardware- Description: With the DSA-3100 and the DSA-3100P Ticket Printer, businesses and organizations can provide free or fee-based broadband Internet access to their customers or members. No complex billing system is required, guaranteeing a quick and convenient Internet experience for operators and their hot spot users. The DSA-3100P is hassle-free hot spot ticket printer that communicates with the DSA-3100 Public/Private Gateway to generate and print log-in usernames and passwords for the hot spot customers. Patented for easy loading, the DSA-3100P is connected to the DSA-3100 gateway via its RS-232 serial communication. With the DSA-3100P, the DSA-3100 gateway can manage and store up to 2,000 user accounts in its internal database and support up to 50 logged-in users at any time. Features: Printing Method: Thermal Dot Line Printing Print Speed: 80 mm/Second Connectivity: RS-232 Serial Compatibility: D-Link DSA-3100 Public/Private Gateway Specification: Manufacturer D-Link Manufacturer Part # DSA-3100P Device Type Thermal Line Label Printer Media Handling Media Type Receipt Paper Max Media Size 2.2 Max Printing Width 1.9 Roll Maximum Outer Diameter 3.3 Total Capacity 1 Roll Connectivity Interfaces 1 x RS-232 Serial Included Cables 1 x Serial Cable Power Requirements Power Supply External, 3.5 V DC Dimensions(H X W X D) Unit 4.6 x 3.8 x 6.3 Weight Unit 0.9 lbs Price: $375 Figure 12: D-Link DSA-3100P Ticket Printer Task 6: Database Design Database Design Figure 13: Database Design (Performance Planning Ticket Booking) Data Dictionary Table: Artist Attribute Data Type Length Primary Key Ref. Table ArtistID Integer Yes ArtistName Varchar 100 Table: Performance Attribute Data Type Length Primary Key Ref. Table PerformanceID Integer Yes PerformanceName Varchar 100 TicketPriceID Integer TicketPrice ArtistID Integer Artist Table: TicketPrice Attribute Data Type Length Primary Key Ref. Table TicketPriceID Integer Yes PerformanceID Integer Performance TicketPrice Numeric (18,2) Table: PerformanceSchedule Attribute Data Type Length Primary Key Ref. Table ScheduleID Integer Yes PerformanceID Integer Performance PerformanceDate Date Table: Customer Attribute Data Type Length Primary Key Ref. Table CustomerID Integer Yes Name Varchar 100 Address Varchar 250 Telephone Varchar 20 Table: Sales Attribute Data Type Length Primary Key Ref. Table SalesID Integer Yes PerformanceID Integer Performance ScheduleID Integer PerformanceSchedule TicketPriceID Integer TicketPrice CustomerID Integer Customer BookingType Boolean Table: SeatAllocation Attribute Data Type Length Primary Key Ref. Table SeatID Integer Yes SalesID Integer Sales SeatNoFrom Integer SeatNoTo Integer Task 7: Object-Orient Approaches vs. Standard Approaches Standard Approaches Standard approach includes many variations based on techniques used to develop information system with structured and modular programming. Standard analysis and design techniques are a software engineering methodology for describing systems as a hierarchy of functions. Below are the characteristics of Standard Approaches. Approach for structured analysis consists of the following objects: Data Flow Diagrams (DFD) Shows processes and flow of data in and out of these processes. Does not show control structures (loops) Contains 5 graphic symbols (shown later) Uses layers to decompose complex systems Can be used to show logical and physical Is a quantum leap forward to other techniques at the time, I.e. monolithic descriptions with globs of