Wednesday, November 27, 2019

A Few Obvious Grad School Essay Mistakes To Avoid

A Few Obvious Grad School Essay Mistakes To Avoid A Few Obvious Grad School Essay Mistakes To Avoid Failing To Answer The Essay Question This is perhaps one of the most common mistakes that students will make when they are composing an essay. The point of an essay is to address and expound upon a certain proposition. The mistake that students will often make is to generalize the proposition and prattle on about the general thoughts that they have. This is a problem because essay questions are very specific and nuanced. Professors notice that sort of thing. They are trained and can deduce if the essay questions have been answered. So, when you are preparing to rough draft of your essay, ensure that you are being very specific and respond to the question that the essay is posing. Proofreading After you have spent all night writing an essay, you have finally finished and all you want to do is go to bed. It is time to shut your brain down and get ready for the next day. But despite the effort that you have put into the essay, you could still receive some negative feedback because there are a few glaring errors. Of course, these are errors that you would have noticed had you read through the essay. This is why the process of proofreading is so important. You will catch the mistakes that you made before you submit it. Further, if you have somebody else to proofread it for you, then they can give general feedback about the essay so that you can edit it. Do Not Procrastinate If you have a week before the essay is due, you might tell yourself that you will spend the last few days working on it. If you have two days, you will say that you will spend tomorrow working on it. If you have one day, you will tell yourself that you will stay up all night working on it. When night comes, you will wish that you did not procrastinate so that you could sleep. If you procrastinate composing your essay, it will be of much lower quality than it would have been if you had taken the time to think about it. Rushing through the essay will leave room for a lot of errors and could result in your missing the central premise of the essay question. Fluff If you are trying to reach the word count without worrying about the quality of the content, then you are likely to add fluff to your essay. This will manifest in different ways, including long and drawn out quotes from outside sources. Quotes generally should be paraphrases and should only be supplementary. Second, repetition is another maneuver that students will take in an effort to fill the word count. Anybody who is trained to grade essay papers will see through these tactics. If you want to write a high-quality paper, you will have to sit back and think about the topic at hand so as to provide legitimate insight. If you struggle with writing essays, perhaps you should consider contacting for actionable solutions to your writing problems. They will provide a hand when you are overwhelmed.

Saturday, November 23, 2019

Word Choice Premier vs. Premiere - Proofeds Writing Tips

Word Choice Premier vs. Premiere - Proofeds Writing Tips Word Choice: Premier vs. Premiere â€Å"Premier† and â€Å"premiere† look very similar written down. They also sound similar when spoken. And to top it all off, they both have to do with being â€Å"first† in some sense. Is it any surprise, then, that people get these words mixed up? Probably not. Yet there is a difference between them, so make sure your written work is error free with our helpful guide. Premier (First in Status) â€Å"Premier† is usually an adjective meaning â€Å"first in status† or â€Å"best†: Usain Bolt was the premier sprinter of his generation. Here, we’re referring to Mr. Bolt’s status as a leading athlete on the track. With that name, he was either going to be a runner or a mechanic.(Photo: Grzegorz Jereczek/flickr) A secondary use is as a noun that refers to the leader of a government: We will remember him as the UK’s worst ever premier. Typically, â€Å"premier† is used for the prime minister of a country. However, in Australia and Canada, it is also used for heads of regional government bodies. Premiere (A Debut or First Performance) â€Å"Premiere† is primarily a noun that refers to the first public performance or appearance of something: We’re having a glitzy premiere with a red carpet for our new play. But the same word can also be used as a verb meaning â€Å"show for the first time.† For example, we could say: We’ll be premiering the movie at the Sundance Festival. There are worse places to premiere something.(Photo: Travis Wise/flickr) In both noun and verb cases, â€Å"premiere† usually applies to a performance or entertainment of some kind. But you can also â€Å"premiere† other things (e.g., when a company reveals a new product for the first time). Premier or Premiere? These words are similar in many ways. However, â€Å"premiere† is only ever used in relation to the first public appearance of something. In any other situation, the correct term will therefore be â€Å"premier.† Remember: Premier (adjective) = First in status or importance Premier (noun) = The leader of a government Premiere (noun) = The first performance or appearance of something Premiere (verb) = The act of showing something in public for the first time

Thursday, November 21, 2019

Religion and technology Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Religion and technology - Essay Example Therefore, the relationship between technology, specifically as a function of science, and religion is characterized by ‘mutually exclusive’ tendencies on both sides that restrict their ability to work together. Religion and theology refuse to acknowledge and often dismiss the technological claims that do not resonate with the role of God in the Universe or that spelled out by the scripture. For example, advancements in technology are meant to increase efficiency in production and make life easier. On the other hand, religion is concerned with the interactions between man and man, man and the environment and man and God. Ethics are a function of religion because, in most cultures, ethics define right and wrong. The values of right and wrong are defined by the religious values of a community. Currently, there are many problems in the use of technology. For example, environmental degradation is a function of technological advancement. In addition, violation of important ethical considerations in the society has increasingly resulted in poverty in poor societies because of a technological handicap compared to the developed countries. On the other hand, the role of religion has been decreasing over the last few centuries. More people are abandoning their religious beliefs because they often feel that the beliefs are outdated or impractical. In addition, the proposition of other theories of the origin of man and sources of answers previously only provided by religion has lessened the role of religion to the people.

Tuesday, November 19, 2019

The German Automobile Industry and the affect it has on the German Essay

The German Automobile Industry and the affect it has on the German Economy, Stock Utility Analysis from 1990 until 2007 - Essay Example Until the late 1980s, the German production system, which had maintained the legacy f the craft system, was praised for its high-quality products and incremental innovation based on decentralized production by high-quality labour. The German model, termed "diversified quality production" (DQP) or "incremental innovation system," was characterized by highly skilled workers and professional specialization instead f Tayloristic de-skilling f labour. The flexible German system, based on some elements f the craft system, could perform "fast retooling" and "incremental innovation" better than the American mass producers until the 1980s. In particular, the German production system was praised for strong small- and medium-sized companies (Mittelstnder). The strength f these companies was based on the agility f small batches and highly skilled labour. The decentralized and flexible system based on highly skilled workers could be realized by particular German institutional constraints. German corporatist institutions, characterized by a dual system f workers' participation at plant-level decision-making and collective bargaining at the industrial sectoral level, realized the development f advanced vocational training and productivity cooperation. Unlike the free market f the United States, in which companies are less likely to contribute to the development f industry-wide training systems due to the risk f losing skilled workers to competing firms and the possibility f collective action problems in developing public training programs, the German corporatist institutions f trade unions and employer associations implemented highly developed vocational training by limiting the free-riding in the process f training. These centralized corporatist associations f trade unions and employers' associations nationally standardized and rigoro usly enforced vocational training curricula. The centralized trade unions and employer associations could influence individual employers' training decisions. Works councils at the plant level policed the employers' observance f collective agreements for vocational training. In addition, the industry-wide wages system established by collective bargaining reduced the employees' incentives to be receptive to poaching. On the other hand, the German corporatist model that realized the "diversified quality production" worked well only under the condition f social cooperation between labour and management.

Sunday, November 17, 2019

Should Children of Divorce Be Forced to Live with a Particular Parent Essay Example for Free

Should Children of Divorce Be Forced to Live with a Particular Parent Essay Many children are victims of divorce in the United States each year. The judicial system believes that, in each case, the child or children that are subjected to divorce should reside where the child(ren) would â€Å"be better off†, citing that living with one parent who provides a more stable atmosphere for the child(ren) would be more beneficial. Others believe that children who are subjected to divorce should be able to choose which parent they wish to live with. Many also wonder with divorces involving multiple children: Should we keep them together? Many judges believe that a child’s voice or preference should not be heard because a child is too young to know what is best for him or her. In most states, the average age is 12 to 14 years for a child to verbally state their opinion on which parent they choose to live with; even then, the judge will not rely on that child’s opinion alone. A judge believes that a child’s preference is only one of many factors in determining which parent receives custody of the child. A judge considers which parent can provide a more stable home or atmosphere, and he or she may also consider which parent is able to earn more income. I agree with many parents that believe their child(ren) have a voice that should be heard. Forty percent of children growing up in America today are being raised without their fathers. My parents divorced in 1986, when I was 6 years old. I didn’t fully understand what was happening at the time, but I also wasn’t able to choose which parent I wanted to live with. My brother and I were made to live with our mom, while our dad had visitation rights every other weekend until he moved to Ohio from West Virginia in 1989. My mom had started experimenting with drugs and illegal narcotics, even sometimes doing them right in front of me. I was extremely unhappy living with her, even though I still loved her. I went to visit with my dad in the summer of 1990, where he had asked me to live with him permanently. I didn’t want to have to choose between my parents because I loved them both very uch equally, but I knew that I would be better off if I lived with my dad. The judge in the case was ready to throw my dad in jail, feeling that he had coerced me into wanting to live with him. Once I demonstrated I had knowledge of the impact of my long-term future, the judge then willingly agreed to let me live with my dad. I spent half of my early life living with my mom, and the other half living with my dad. Most children of divorce are not able to voice their opinion as to who they can live with until they reach a certain age. Instead of legislating law in terms of age, our judicial system should allow children of divorce to speak to a counselor or psychiatrist to voice their opinion, and if they can demonstrate why they would be better off living with the parent of choice, they should be allowed to voice their opinion to a judge. Divorce is sometimes unavoidable, but we should all work together to determine what our children want and who they want to live with. We shouldn’t neglect their opinions just because they are not of a certain age as long as they can show that they know what is right and what is wrong.

Thursday, November 14, 2019

Essay --

â€Å" Many risks come along with big bonuses† The burst of the housing bubble in the US caused the collapse of financial institutions and the bailed out of banks by governmental institutions resulting in the 2008 financial crisis. One of these banks was the Royal Bank of Scotland who ran out of money. Bankers were blamed for acting out of self-interest and making risky decisions. These failures will be analysed in this essay by giving answer to the following question: â€Å"How did agency theory contributed to the 2007 financial crisis?† Introductory, agency theory discusses the relationship in which one party, the principal, delegates work to another, the agent (Eisenhardt, 1989). The core idea behind agency theory is to through contracting align the interest of shareholders (principal) with that of the managers (agents) in order to maximize shareholders value. Thus, the decision-making is being separated from the party who bears the risk; therefore, problems can arise. Firstly, the principal cannot verify whether the agent has behaved appropriately (the agent and principal have partly di...

Tuesday, November 12, 2019

Comparing Extreme Programming and Waterfall Project Results

Comparing Extreme Programming and Waterfall Project Results Feng Ji Carnegie Mellon University Silicon Valley Campus Mountain View, CA, 94035 [email  protected] com Todd Sedano Carnegie Mellon University Silicon Valley Campus Mountain View, CA, 94035 todd. [email  protected] cmu. edu Abstract Waterfall and Extreme Programming are two software project methods used for project management. Although there are a number of opinions comparing the two methods regarding how they should be applied, none have used project data to clearly conclude which one is better.In this paper, we present the results of a controlled empirical study conducted at Carnegie Mellon University in Silicon Valley to learn about the effective transition from traditional development to agile development. We conducted a comparison research against these two approaches. Multiple teams were assigned a project; some used Waterfall development, others used Extreme Programming. The purpose of this research is to look at advantages and disadvantages based upon the outcomes, generated artifacts, and metrics produced by the teams. 1. Introduction 1. 1.Agile vs Traditional Since the early 1970s, numerous software managers have explored different ways of software development methods (such as Waterfall model, evolutionary model, spiral model etc. ) those have been developed to accomplish these goals and have been widely used by the software industry [1]. Methodologists often describe the Waterfall method as a stereotypical traditional method whereas they describe Extreme Programming as the stereotypical agile method. The Waterfall model, as the oldest traditional software development method, was cited by Winston W.Royce in 1970 [2]. He divided the software development lifecycle into seven sequential and linear stages: Conception, Initiation, Analysis, Design, Construction, Testing, and Maintenance. The Waterfall model is especially used for large and complex engineering projects. Waterfall's lasting imp ression upon software engineering is seen even in the Guide to Software Engineering Body of Knowledge which introduces the first five knowledge areas based upon their sequence in the Waterfall lifecycle even though the Guide does not recommend any particular lifecycle [3].Although the Waterfall model has been adopted in many large and complex projects, it still has some inherent drawbacks, like inflexibility in the face of changing requirements [1]. If large amounts of project resources have been invested in requirements and design activities, then changes can be very costly later. High ceremony documentation is not necessary in all projects. Agile methods deal well with unstable and volatile requirements by using a number of techniques of which most notable are: low ceremony documents, short iterations, early testing, and customer collaboration.Kent Beck and Cynthia Andres define Extreme Programming 2. 0 with many practices [4], like Pair Programming, Test First Programming, and Co ntinuous Integration and so on. These characteristics enable agile methods to obtain the smallest workable piece of functionality to deliver business value early and continually improving it while adding further functionality throughout the life of the project [5]. 1. 2. PET project background Carnegie Mellon University Silicon Valley students start their masters program with the Foundations of Software Engineering course. This course is team-based, project-based, and mentored.Each team builds The Process Enactment Tool (PET). The user personas are software developers and managers. The tool helps users plan, estimate, and execute a project plan while analyzing historical data. The tool's domain encourages students to learn about software lifecycles and methods while understanding the benefit of metrics and reflection. 1. 2. 1. PET 1. 0: In 2001, Carnegie Mellon had one of the largest outsourcing firms in the world develop Pet 1. 0. Later the student teams were brought in to do the n ext release. The initial offerings of the course had the teams follow a Waterfall lifecycle.The faculty decided to use Extreme Programming as the method for the Foundations course because it was an agile method, it had good engineering practices, and it was a safe sandbox environment for engineers to try paired programming since many managers in industry were initially skeptical about its benefits. In 2005, the faculty allowed three of the sixteen teams tried our new curriculum to see if there were any serious issues in the switch, while other thirteen teams continued to follow a start point in 2004. The feedback was extremely positive so in 2006, all teams followed Extreme Programming.For the project plan duration, Waterfall teams needed fifteen weeks to finish their tasks where as Extreme Programming teams were given only thirteen weeks, a 13% reduction in time. 1. 2. 2. PET 1. 1: In 2005, the VP of Engineering advised the three teams that rewriting the code from scratch would be easier than working with the existing code base. Team 30:1 decided to use the latest in Java technologies including Swing and Hibernate. PET 1. 1, the team's product became the starting point for the students in the following year. 1. 2. 3. PET 1. 2: In 2008, the faculty switched the core technology from Java to Ruby on Rails.Ruby on Rails' convention over configuration, afforded a lower learning curve for students. For Pet 1. 2, students would build their projects from scratch. 2. Related work Much research has been done as to when to use an agile method and when to use a traditional method. For example, Boehm Turner's home grounds look at several characteristics, criticality, culture, and dynamism [6]. Our paper aims to extend these limitations to some degree by estimating Waterfall and XP in an academic case study, which provide a substantive ground for researchers before replicating their ideas in industry.Basili [7] presented a framework for analyzing most of the experimental w ork performed in software engineering. We learned that how to conduct a controlled experiment. Andrew and Nachiappan [8] reported on the results of an empirical study conducted at Microsoft by using an anonymous web-based survey. They found that one third of the study respondents use Agile methodologies to varying degrees and most view it favorably due to improved communication between team members, quick releases and the increased flexibility of agile designs.Their findings that we will consider in our future work is that developers are most worried about scaling Agile to larger projects, and coordinating agile and traditional teams. Our work is closely related to the work by Ming Huo et al [9]. They compared the Waterfall model with agile processes to show how agile methods achieve software quality. They also showed how agile methods attain quality under time pressure and in an unstable requirements environment. They presented a detailed Waterfall model showing its software qualit y support processes.Other work has only illustrates one or some Agile practices such as pair programming [10]. 3. Experimental methodology Our research was conducted primarily using Glaser's steps [11] in the constant comparison method of analysis. Step1: Begin collecting data. We collected more than 50 teams’ detailed data during a five year period as Table 1 shows. Table 1. Team building the same project 2004 2005 2005 2006 2007 2008 Method Waterfall Waterfall XP XP XP XP Language Java Java Java Java Java Ruby Project PET1. 0 PET1. 0 PET1. 0 PET1. 1 PET1. 1 PET1. 2 Numbers of Teams 10 13 3 9 6 11Step2: Look for key issues, recurrent events, or activities in the data that become categories for focus. The approach in software design makes us categorize the data into two distinctive software development methods, namely Waterfall and Extreme Programming. Step3: Collect data that provides many incidents of the categories of focus with an eye to seeing the diversity of the dimens ions under the categories. According to Basili[7], we provided some metrics to compare these two categories, Waterfall and XP. Requirements Metrics M1: Numbers of UI screens (ie. mockup) M2: Numbers of use cases (story cards)M3: Pages of Software Requirements Specification (SRS) documents M4: Pages of User Requirements Documents (URD) Design Metric M5: Pages of detailed design documents Implementation Metrics M6: Lines of code M7: Percentage of lines of comments to lines of source code M8: Lines of test cases M9: Ratio of lines of test code to lines of program code Step4: Write about the categories that we are exploring, attempting to describe and account for all the incidents we have in our data while continually searching for new incidents. Step5: Work with the data and emerging model to discover basic social processes and relationships.Step6: Engage in sampling, coding, and writing as the analysis focuses on the core categories. During 2005, there were 13 teams following Waterfal l and 3 teams following XP during the same period of time. These three teams, team Absorb, GT11 and 30:1 are interesting teams to examine as we can compare their data against the Waterfall teams doing the exact same project. 4. Experimental results 4. 1. UI screens (M1) and Story cards (M2) comparison These wide ranges can be seen in Table 2 and Table 3 where the standard deviation of the UI mockups is often half the document size.Comparing use cases to story cards in Table 3, we see that the standard deviation for use cases is much lower than the standard deviation for story cards. This is expected since use cases are a higher ceremony document when compared to story cards. Teams might give little consideration to how to represent each feature on a story card whereas a team writing a use case step by step how a user will use the system will spend much more time thinking about the coupling and cohesion of each use case. Table 2. Average numbers and Standard Deviation of mockups Year 004 2005 Absorb GT11 30:1 2006 2007 2008 Average mockups 15. 5 11. 8 17 18 9 15 12. 8 17. 7 Standard Deviation of mockups 6. 6 6. 3 5. 4 3. 1 8. 8 Table 3. Average numbers and Standard Deviation of use cases/story cards Year Average Number Standard Deviation 2004 User cases 18. 7 2005 User cases 18. 9 2. 3 Absorb Story cards 15 1. 6 GT11 Story cards 13 30:1 Story cards 18 2006 Story cards 16. 6 2007 Story cards 18. 3 2008 Story cards 16. 6 7. 5 6. 8 8. 0 4. 2. Requirement documents (M3&M4) Starting with PET 1. 0, Waterfall teams on average add 1. 7 use cases and modified 2. use cases. Teams were given a 28 page System Requirements Specification (SRS) and on averaged finished with a 34 page SRS. XP teams starting with PET 1. 0 were given the same starting documents. Instead of modifying them, the teams created story cards that represented each new feature. Instead of spending time on writing use cases, XP teams started coding sooner. Because XP has an emphasis on low ceremony docume nts, they had more time to code resulting in an effort savings for the teams. 4. 3. Comparing the size of the detail design documents (M5) There are some insights from Table 4.Waterfall teams using Pet 1. 0 started with a 21 page Detailed Design Document (DDD), which they altered to reflect their new use cases. Waterfall teams typically did not update their design documents at the end of the project. Given the scope of the project, Waterfall teams’ final code matched the original design with respect to new classes. Table 4. Average pages and Standard Deviation of Detail Design Documents Year 2004 2005 Absorb GT11 30:1 2006 2007 2008 Starting Point 21 21 21 21 0 14 14 0 Average DDD 25. 8 31. 1 18 22 14 18. 3 12. 5 9. 5 Standard Deviation 8. 39 7. 48 7. 70 7. 8 5. 19 XP teams increased their design documents with each iteration. Because the XP teams followed Test-Driven Development, they wrote their code and had an emergent design. At the end of each iteration, the teams were a sked to update the design document to reflect important design decisions they had made during that iteration. Therefore, the design document serves a different purpose in XP. It is not a template or blueprint for future construction. Instead, it can be a guide for understanding why certain decisions were made. In this regard, it is a biography of the development, ot a plan of action. 4. 4. New lines of source code and comments, Percentage of comments in codes Table 5 shows that Waterfall teams starting with Pet 1. 0 produced lines of code with a wide variance. The two XP teams starting with Pet 1. 0 fell right within the middle of the average. Because instead of producing some documents up front, the XP teams spent a longer time coding, one would expect them to produce more lines of code. The research results also show that XP Teams had a higher percentage of comments in source code. Table 5. Average and Standard Deviation of new lines in code YearLanguage Average new lines in code Standard Deviation Lines of test codes Ratio of test codes to program code 2004 2005 Absorb GT11 30:1 2006 2007 2008 Java Java Java Java Java Java Java Ruby 9,429 11,910 13,288 14,689 0 9,628 8,572 3,670 7,946 9,851 4,920 5,465 1,507 3378 4164 1380 3186 947 3555 2212 3,255 8% 13% 4% 8% 8% 16% 10% 90% 4. 5. Submitted lines of test codes and ratio of test code to program code The observation of these two metrics in Table 5 shows that the amount of test code written by the Waterfall teams equals the amount of test code written by the XP teams.Initially the faculty thought that Test-Driven Development would increase the amount of testing code, however, given a slow adoption rate of Test-Driven Development, programmers resorted to what was familiar and thus produced similar results. 5. Conclusion In this paper, we observed and presented the data from five years of 50 teams developing the same project each year and the affects of transitioning from Waterfall to Extreme Programming. The ch aracteristics between these two methods were evaluated and compared.Waterfall teams spent more time creating high ceremony documents where as Extreme Programming teams spent more time writing code and documenting their design in their code. Surprisingly, the amount of code and features completed were roughly the same for both methods suggesting that on a three month project with three to four developers it doesn't matter the method used. It is challenging to conduct this kind of analysis of the data in hindsight. Given that this is not a toy problem, and the freedom teams have in the execution of their projects, setting up this kind of experiment properly in advance is also challenging. . References [1] Sommerville, Software engineering, 8th ed. , New York: Addison-Wesley, Harlow, England, 2006. [2] W. Royce, Managing the Development of Large Software Systems, IEEE WESTCON, Los Angeles, 1970. [3] A. Abran and J. W. Moore, Guide to the software engineering body of knowledge: trial ve rsion (version 0. 95) IEEE Computer Society Press, Los Alamitos, CA, USA, 2001. [4] Kent Beck and Cynthia Andres, Extreme programming eXplained: embrace change, Second Edition, MA: Addison-Wesley, 2004. 5] Mike Cohn, Agile estimating and planning, Prentice Hall Professional Technical Reference, Nov 11, 2005. [6] Barry, Boehm and Richard Turner, Balancing Agility and Discipline: A Guide for the Perplexed, Addison Wesley, August 15, 2003. [7] Basil, V. R. , Selby, R. and Hutchens, D. , Experimentation in Software Engineering, IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering (invited paper), July 1986. [8] Andrew Begel and Nachiappan Nagappan, Usage and Perceptions of Agile Software Development in an Industrial Context: An Exploratory Study, MiIEEE Computer Society MSR-TR-2007-09, no. 2007): 10. [9] Ming Huo, June Verner, Muhammad Ali Babar, and Liming Zhu, How does agility ensure quality? , IEEE Seminar Digests 2004, (2004):36. [10] Jan Chong, Robert Plummer, Larry Leifer, Scott R. Klemmer, and George Toye. Pair Programming: When and Why it Works, In Proceedings of Psychology of Programming Interest Group 2005 Workshop, Brighton, UK, June 2005. [11] Glaser, Barney G, Strauss, and Anselm L. , The Discovery of Grounded Theory: Strategies for Qualitative Research, Aldine Publishing Company, Chicago, 1967. Comparing Extreme Programming and Waterfall Project Results Comparing Extreme Programming and Waterfall Project Results Feng Ji Carnegie Mellon University Silicon Valley Campus Mountain View, CA, 94035 [email  protected] com Todd Sedano Carnegie Mellon University Silicon Valley Campus Mountain View, CA, 94035 todd. [email  protected] cmu. edu Abstract Waterfall and Extreme Programming are two software project methods used for project management. Although there are a number of opinions comparing the two methods regarding how they should be applied, none have used project data to clearly conclude which one is better.In this paper, we present the results of a controlled empirical study conducted at Carnegie Mellon University in Silicon Valley to learn about the effective transition from traditional development to agile development. We conducted a comparison research against these two approaches. Multiple teams were assigned a project; some used Waterfall development, others used Extreme Programming. The purpose of this research is to look at advantages and disadvantages based upon the outcomes, generated artifacts, and metrics produced by the teams. 1. Introduction 1. 1.Agile vs Traditional Since the early 1970s, numerous software managers have explored different ways of software development methods (such as Waterfall model, evolutionary model, spiral model etc. ) those have been developed to accomplish these goals and have been widely used by the software industry [1]. Methodologists often describe the Waterfall method as a stereotypical traditional method whereas they describe Extreme Programming as the stereotypical agile method. The Waterfall model, as the oldest traditional software development method, was cited by Winston W.Royce in 1970 [2]. He divided the software development lifecycle into seven sequential and linear stages: Conception, Initiation, Analysis, Design, Construction, Testing, and Maintenance. The Waterfall model is especially used for large and complex engineering projects. Waterfall's lasting imp ression upon software engineering is seen even in the Guide to Software Engineering Body of Knowledge which introduces the first five knowledge areas based upon their sequence in the Waterfall lifecycle even though the Guide does not recommend any particular lifecycle [3].Although the Waterfall model has been adopted in many large and complex projects, it still has some inherent drawbacks, like inflexibility in the face of changing requirements [1]. If large amounts of project resources have been invested in requirements and design activities, then changes can be very costly later. High ceremony documentation is not necessary in all projects. Agile methods deal well with unstable and volatile requirements by using a number of techniques of which most notable are: low ceremony documents, short iterations, early testing, and customer collaboration.Kent Beck and Cynthia Andres define Extreme Programming 2. 0 with many practices [4], like Pair Programming, Test First Programming, and Co ntinuous Integration and so on. These characteristics enable agile methods to obtain the smallest workable piece of functionality to deliver business value early and continually improving it while adding further functionality throughout the life of the project [5]. 1. 2. PET project background Carnegie Mellon University Silicon Valley students start their masters program with the Foundations of Software Engineering course. This course is team-based, project-based, and mentored.Each team builds The Process Enactment Tool (PET). The user personas are software developers and managers. The tool helps users plan, estimate, and execute a project plan while analyzing historical data. The tool's domain encourages students to learn about software lifecycles and methods while understanding the benefit of metrics and reflection. 1. 2. 1. PET 1. 0: In 2001, Carnegie Mellon had one of the largest outsourcing firms in the world develop Pet 1. 0. Later the student teams were brought in to do the n ext release. The initial offerings of the course had the teams follow a Waterfall lifecycle.The faculty decided to use Extreme Programming as the method for the Foundations course because it was an agile method, it had good engineering practices, and it was a safe sandbox environment for engineers to try paired programming since many managers in industry were initially skeptical about its benefits. In 2005, the faculty allowed three of the sixteen teams tried our new curriculum to see if there were any serious issues in the switch, while other thirteen teams continued to follow a start point in 2004. The feedback was extremely positive so in 2006, all teams followed Extreme Programming.For the project plan duration, Waterfall teams needed fifteen weeks to finish their tasks where as Extreme Programming teams were given only thirteen weeks, a 13% reduction in time. 1. 2. 2. PET 1. 1: In 2005, the VP of Engineering advised the three teams that rewriting the code from scratch would be easier than working with the existing code base. Team 30:1 decided to use the latest in Java technologies including Swing and Hibernate. PET 1. 1, the team's product became the starting point for the students in the following year. 1. 2. 3. PET 1. 2: In 2008, the faculty switched the core technology from Java to Ruby on Rails.Ruby on Rails' convention over configuration, afforded a lower learning curve for students. For Pet 1. 2, students would build their projects from scratch. 2. Related work Much research has been done as to when to use an agile method and when to use a traditional method. For example, Boehm Turner's home grounds look at several characteristics, criticality, culture, and dynamism [6]. Our paper aims to extend these limitations to some degree by estimating Waterfall and XP in an academic case study, which provide a substantive ground for researchers before replicating their ideas in industry.Basili [7] presented a framework for analyzing most of the experimental w ork performed in software engineering. We learned that how to conduct a controlled experiment. Andrew and Nachiappan [8] reported on the results of an empirical study conducted at Microsoft by using an anonymous web-based survey. They found that one third of the study respondents use Agile methodologies to varying degrees and most view it favorably due to improved communication between team members, quick releases and the increased flexibility of agile designs.Their findings that we will consider in our future work is that developers are most worried about scaling Agile to larger projects, and coordinating agile and traditional teams. Our work is closely related to the work by Ming Huo et al [9]. They compared the Waterfall model with agile processes to show how agile methods achieve software quality. They also showed how agile methods attain quality under time pressure and in an unstable requirements environment. They presented a detailed Waterfall model showing its software qualit y support processes.Other work has only illustrates one or some Agile practices such as pair programming [10]. 3. Experimental methodology Our research was conducted primarily using Glaser's steps [11] in the constant comparison method of analysis. Step1: Begin collecting data. We collected more than 50 teams’ detailed data during a five year period as Table 1 shows. Table 1. Team building the same project 2004 2005 2005 2006 2007 2008 Method Waterfall Waterfall XP XP XP XP Language Java Java Java Java Java Ruby Project PET1. 0 PET1. 0 PET1. 0 PET1. 1 PET1. 1 PET1. 2 Numbers of Teams 10 13 3 9 6 11Step2: Look for key issues, recurrent events, or activities in the data that become categories for focus. The approach in software design makes us categorize the data into two distinctive software development methods, namely Waterfall and Extreme Programming. Step3: Collect data that provides many incidents of the categories of focus with an eye to seeing the diversity of the dimens ions under the categories. According to Basili[7], we provided some metrics to compare these two categories, Waterfall and XP. Requirements Metrics M1: Numbers of UI screens (ie. mockup) M2: Numbers of use cases (story cards)M3: Pages of Software Requirements Specification (SRS) documents M4: Pages of User Requirements Documents (URD) Design Metric M5: Pages of detailed design documents Implementation Metrics M6: Lines of code M7: Percentage of lines of comments to lines of source code M8: Lines of test cases M9: Ratio of lines of test code to lines of program code Step4: Write about the categories that we are exploring, attempting to describe and account for all the incidents we have in our data while continually searching for new incidents. Step5: Work with the data and emerging model to discover basic social processes and relationships.Step6: Engage in sampling, coding, and writing as the analysis focuses on the core categories. During 2005, there were 13 teams following Waterfal l and 3 teams following XP during the same period of time. These three teams, team Absorb, GT11 and 30:1 are interesting teams to examine as we can compare their data against the Waterfall teams doing the exact same project. 4. Experimental results 4. 1. UI screens (M1) and Story cards (M2) comparison These wide ranges can be seen in Table 2 and Table 3 where the standard deviation of the UI mockups is often half the document size.Comparing use cases to story cards in Table 3, we see that the standard deviation for use cases is much lower than the standard deviation for story cards. This is expected since use cases are a higher ceremony document when compared to story cards. Teams might give little consideration to how to represent each feature on a story card whereas a team writing a use case step by step how a user will use the system will spend much more time thinking about the coupling and cohesion of each use case. Table 2. Average numbers and Standard Deviation of mockups Year 004 2005 Absorb GT11 30:1 2006 2007 2008 Average mockups 15. 5 11. 8 17 18 9 15 12. 8 17. 7 Standard Deviation of mockups 6. 6 6. 3 5. 4 3. 1 8. 8 Table 3. Average numbers and Standard Deviation of use cases/story cards Year Average Number Standard Deviation 2004 User cases 18. 7 2005 User cases 18. 9 2. 3 Absorb Story cards 15 1. 6 GT11 Story cards 13 30:1 Story cards 18 2006 Story cards 16. 6 2007 Story cards 18. 3 2008 Story cards 16. 6 7. 5 6. 8 8. 0 4. 2. Requirement documents (M3&M4) Starting with PET 1. 0, Waterfall teams on average add 1. 7 use cases and modified 2. use cases. Teams were given a 28 page System Requirements Specification (SRS) and on averaged finished with a 34 page SRS. XP teams starting with PET 1. 0 were given the same starting documents. Instead of modifying them, the teams created story cards that represented each new feature. Instead of spending time on writing use cases, XP teams started coding sooner. Because XP has an emphasis on low ceremony docume nts, they had more time to code resulting in an effort savings for the teams. 4. 3. Comparing the size of the detail design documents (M5) There are some insights from Table 4.Waterfall teams using Pet 1. 0 started with a 21 page Detailed Design Document (DDD), which they altered to reflect their new use cases. Waterfall teams typically did not update their design documents at the end of the project. Given the scope of the project, Waterfall teams’ final code matched the original design with respect to new classes. Table 4. Average pages and Standard Deviation of Detail Design Documents Year 2004 2005 Absorb GT11 30:1 2006 2007 2008 Starting Point 21 21 21 21 0 14 14 0 Average DDD 25. 8 31. 1 18 22 14 18. 3 12. 5 9. 5 Standard Deviation 8. 39 7. 48 7. 70 7. 8 5. 19 XP teams increased their design documents with each iteration. Because the XP teams followed Test-Driven Development, they wrote their code and had an emergent design. At the end of each iteration, the teams were a sked to update the design document to reflect important design decisions they had made during that iteration. Therefore, the design document serves a different purpose in XP. It is not a template or blueprint for future construction. Instead, it can be a guide for understanding why certain decisions were made. In this regard, it is a biography of the development, ot a plan of action. 4. 4. New lines of source code and comments, Percentage of comments in codes Table 5 shows that Waterfall teams starting with Pet 1. 0 produced lines of code with a wide variance. The two XP teams starting with Pet 1. 0 fell right within the middle of the average. Because instead of producing some documents up front, the XP teams spent a longer time coding, one would expect them to produce more lines of code. The research results also show that XP Teams had a higher percentage of comments in source code. Table 5. Average and Standard Deviation of new lines in code YearLanguage Average new lines in code Standard Deviation Lines of test codes Ratio of test codes to program code 2004 2005 Absorb GT11 30:1 2006 2007 2008 Java Java Java Java Java Java Java Ruby 9,429 11,910 13,288 14,689 0 9,628 8,572 3,670 7,946 9,851 4,920 5,465 1,507 3378 4164 1380 3186 947 3555 2212 3,255 8% 13% 4% 8% 8% 16% 10% 90% 4. 5. Submitted lines of test codes and ratio of test code to program code The observation of these two metrics in Table 5 shows that the amount of test code written by the Waterfall teams equals the amount of test code written by the XP teams.Initially the faculty thought that Test-Driven Development would increase the amount of testing code, however, given a slow adoption rate of Test-Driven Development, programmers resorted to what was familiar and thus produced similar results. 5. Conclusion In this paper, we observed and presented the data from five years of 50 teams developing the same project each year and the affects of transitioning from Waterfall to Extreme Programming. The ch aracteristics between these two methods were evaluated and compared.Waterfall teams spent more time creating high ceremony documents where as Extreme Programming teams spent more time writing code and documenting their design in their code. Surprisingly, the amount of code and features completed were roughly the same for both methods suggesting that on a three month project with three to four developers it doesn't matter the method used. It is challenging to conduct this kind of analysis of the data in hindsight. Given that this is not a toy problem, and the freedom teams have in the execution of their projects, setting up this kind of experiment properly in advance is also challenging. . References [1] Sommerville, Software engineering, 8th ed. , New York: Addison-Wesley, Harlow, England, 2006. [2] W. Royce, Managing the Development of Large Software Systems, IEEE WESTCON, Los Angeles, 1970. [3] A. Abran and J. W. Moore, Guide to the software engineering body of knowledge: trial ve rsion (version 0. 95) IEEE Computer Society Press, Los Alamitos, CA, USA, 2001. [4] Kent Beck and Cynthia Andres, Extreme programming eXplained: embrace change, Second Edition, MA: Addison-Wesley, 2004. 5] Mike Cohn, Agile estimating and planning, Prentice Hall Professional Technical Reference, Nov 11, 2005. [6] Barry, Boehm and Richard Turner, Balancing Agility and Discipline: A Guide for the Perplexed, Addison Wesley, August 15, 2003. [7] Basil, V. R. , Selby, R. and Hutchens, D. , Experimentation in Software Engineering, IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering (invited paper), July 1986. [8] Andrew Begel and Nachiappan Nagappan, Usage and Perceptions of Agile Software Development in an Industrial Context: An Exploratory Study, MiIEEE Computer Society MSR-TR-2007-09, no. 2007): 10. [9] Ming Huo, June Verner, Muhammad Ali Babar, and Liming Zhu, How does agility ensure quality? , IEEE Seminar Digests 2004, (2004):36. [10] Jan Chong, Robert Plummer, Larry Leifer, Scott R. Klemmer, and George Toye. Pair Programming: When and Why it Works, In Proceedings of Psychology of Programming Interest Group 2005 Workshop, Brighton, UK, June 2005. [11] Glaser, Barney G, Strauss, and Anselm L. , The Discovery of Grounded Theory: Strategies for Qualitative Research, Aldine Publishing Company, Chicago, 1967.

Sunday, November 10, 2019

He published Poor Richard’s Almanac and the Pennsylvania Gazette

Benjamin Franklin will always be one of America’s greatest influential leaders. He’s known for his tremendous contributions in the world of politics, science, philosophy, among others. His discoveries and theories in electricy made him a significant figure in physics. During the American revolution, Franklin was able to secure the French alliance making independence a reality. Franklin was born in Boston, Massachusetts on January 17, 1706. According to Houston (2004), Franklin took his knowledge in printing from his older brother and became a newspaper editor, printer and merchant in Philadelphia.He published Poor Richard's Almanac and the Pennsylvania Gazette during his stint in England (Houston, 2004). When in the united States, he is behind the establishment of the first public lending library and fire department. Benjamin went to Boston Latin School but was not able to graduate instead, he continued his education through tremendous reading. When he was 17 years old, Franklin went to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to seek a new start in a new city. There he worked in several printer shops.After several months, Franklin was persuaded by Pennsylvania Governor Sir William Keith to go to London, purposely to achieve the necessary equipment for establishing another newspaper in Philadelphia. He returned to Philadelphia in 1726 with the help of a merchant named Thomas Denham, who gave Franklin a position as clerk, shopkeeper, and bookkeeper in Denham's merchant business. The Author, Inventor, Philosopher, National Hero, etc. A person’s character was so important to Franklin. To cultivate his own character, he developed thirteen virtues at the age of 20 which became his guiding principles all throughout his life.These virtues, as mentioned in Houston’s book (2004) as well as other references on the life and works of Franklin, are lested below with their corresponding meanings: 1. Temperance which he meant as to eat not to dullness, drink not to elevation. 2. Silence is the next virtue which goes to mean that speak not but what may benefit others or yourself, avoid trifling conversation. 3. The virtue of Order directly means, let all your things have their places; let each part of your business have its time. 4. Resolution.Resolve to perform what you ought; perform without fail what you resolve. 5. Frugality. Make no expense but to do good to others or yourself. What he wanted everyone to understand was to waste nothing. 6. Industry. Lose no time; be always employed in something useful; cut off all unnecessary actions. 7. Sincerity. Use no hurtful deceit; think innocently and justly, and, if you speak, speak accordingly. 8. Justice. Wrong none by doing injuries, or omitting the benefits that are your duty. † 9. Moderation. Avoid extremes; forbear resenting injuries so much as you think they deserve.10. Cleanliness. Tolerate no uncleanliness in body, cloaths, or habitation. 11. Tranquility. Be not disturbed at trif les, or at accidents common or unavoidable. 12. Chastity. Rarely use venery but for health or offspring, never to dullness, weakness, or the injury of your own or another's peace or reputation. 13. And the last virtue is Humility wherein he emphasized that we should imitate jesus and Socrates who according to him were the greatest examples of people who practiced humility. These virtues are indeed powerful and may be adopted by anyone.They were purposely created by franklin to make a person’s character stronger. Among other things, Franklin was so fascinated in science and technology. Famous from his line of inventions attached to his name are the lightning rod, the Franklin stove, catheter, swimfins, glass harmonica and bifocals. His contributions in electricity earned him recognitions such as the one from the Royal Society's Copley Medal in 1753 and in 1756 he became one of the few eighteenth century Americans to be elected as a Fellow of the Society.The cgs unit of electri c charge has been named after him: one franklin (Fr) is equal to one statcoulomb. Steven M. Gillon and Cathy D. Matson (2003) illustrated that franklin also played a major role with the establishment of the University of Pennsylvania and Franklin and Marshall College. In fact, in 1769 he was elected the first president of the American Philosophical Society Held at Philadelphia for Promoting Useful Knowledge. Perhaps, the most lasting legacy of Benjamin Franklin is the appearance of his image in the American $100 bill.These days, $100 bills are often referred to as â€Å"Benjamins† or â€Å"Franklins† as mentioned by authors Gillon and Matson (2003). The city of Philadelphia is a living tribute to Franklin with about 5,000 likenesses of Benjamin Franklin in the city’s various areas. When he returned to the United States in 1762 after his stay in London, Franklin became actively involved in the Paxton Boys' affair, writing a sarcastic attack on their massacre of C hristian American Indians and eventually asking them to break up.A lot of the Paxton Boys' supporters were Scotch-Irish Presbyterians and German Reformed or Lutherans from the rural west of Pennsylvania, leading to allegations that Franklin was biased in favor of the urban Quaker elite of the East (Gillon and Matson 2003). These attacks led to Franklin losing a seat in the 1764 Assembly elections. This occasion became an opportunity for him to return to London earning the reputation of being a pro-American radical. Houston (2004) noted that Franklin was dispatched to England as an agent for the colony in 1764 to petition the King to take over the government from the hands of the proprietors.This visit would also become instrumental in becoming the colonial agent for Georgia, New Jersey and Massachusetts. While he was living in London in 1768, he improved a phonetic alphabet in A Scheme for a new Alphabet and a Reformed Mode of Spelling. This new format discarded six letters which he believed were redundant and substituted six new letters for sounds he felt lacked letters of their own; however, his new alphabet never caught on and he eventually lost interest. When Franklin arrived in Philadelphia on May 5, the American Revolution has been going on with battles at Lexington and Concord.With this development, he was chosen by the Pennsylvania Assembly as their official delegate to the Second Continental Congress (Gillon and Matson 2003). Then In 1776 he became a member of the Committee of Five that drafted the Declaration of Independence and was part of the group responsible in making several small changes to Thomas Jefferson's draft. In 1787 he served as a delegate to the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia where he played an dignified role, but seldom participated in debate.Franklin, according to Houston (2004) is the only Founding Father who is a signatory of all four of the major documents of the founding of the United States which include the Declarati on of Independence, the Treaty of Paris, the Treaty of Alliance with France, and the United States Constitution. Benjamin Franklin died at the age of 84 in April 17, 1790. His funeral was historically graced by about 20,000 people (Gillon and Matson 2003). He was laid to his final resting place at the Christ Church Burial Ground in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.This is actually the same church which is also the home of Benjamin Rush. One of the houses he lived in Craven Street was previously marked with a blue plaque, and has since been opened to the public as the Benjamin Franklin House which has attracted tourists from across the globe. In 1728, according to Gillon and Matson (2003) when he was just a young man, Franklin wrote the following words to be his own epitaph: â€Å"The Body of B. Franklin Printer; Like the Cover of an old Book, Its Contents torn out, And stript of its Lettering and Gilding, Lies here, Food for Worms.But the Work shall not be wholly lost: For it will, as he believ'd, appear once more, In a new & more perfect Edition, Corrected and Amended By the Author. He was born on January 17, 1706. Died 17. † But in his will, Franklin's actual grave simply reads â€Å"Benjamin and Deborah Franklin. † Works Cited: Alan Houston, ed. Franklin: The Autobiography and other Writings on Politics, Economics, and Virtue. Cambridge U. Press, 2004. 371 pp. Steven M. Gillon and Cathy D. Matson. The American Experiment: A History of the United States, Volume II: Since 1865 (Boston: Houghton Mif

Thursday, November 7, 2019

Life Lessons Learned From the Holocaust essays

Life Lessons Learned From the Holocaust essays Many protesters of Operation: Iraqi Freedom claim that it is pre-emptive and unnecessary. Many of the supporters, on the other hand, are stating the exact opposite of these claims. Many are going so far as to say that Saddam Husein and his regime have been committing such atrocities against the people of his country that we are late in removing him from power. In this day and age, it is hard to get anyone to agree on something. Everyone has their own opinions and views. Unfortunately, people dont realize that the ability to express your opinion is almost forbidden in countries like Iraq. If you talk down about the government, you could be placing yourself or those you love in mortal danger. Many people in America today take for granted the freedoms granted to them by our fore-fathers. They love to use these freedoms and would hate for them to be suddenly stripped away. That is because, as the Declaration of Independence states, people are endowed with certain unalienable rig hts. Unfortunately, many people like Saddam Husein never took this message to heart. They have taken away these unalienable rights. That is why this pre-emptive strike is necessary. Hitler did the same in Nazi Germany during the years of the Holocaust. America, though, in WWII did not do anything to stop him until it was too late. If America had stepped into the war at an earlier date, before all most of Europe had fallen, Hitler could have been stopped. Instead, Hitler was left to do as he pleased. What he pleased, though, turned out to be the death of millions of innocent people. This teaches a valuable lesson to future generations. Problems which are solved quickly cannot escalate into something uncontrollable. In 1923, Adolf Hitler and his paramilitary group, the SA brownshirts, attempted to overthrow the Bavarian government in the Beer Hall Putsch. This landed Hitler in prison for nine months w...

Tuesday, November 5, 2019

4 Words to Delete from Your MBA Application Essays

4 Words to Delete from Your MBA Application Essays Certain words or phrases appear in almost every MBA application essay. I’ve explained below why you don’t want to use 4 of these too-common words/phrases and what some alternatives might be. If you want to make your application stand out, do some editing and make sure to avoid these words completely. You might be surprised at the result. 1. HOPE e.g. I hope that you will accept me to your program. OR e.g. I hope to be able to obtain a management position with the help of your education. Why not? MBA schools are seeking confident applicants who know where theyre going, and believe in themselves. Your competitors know that theyll reach their goals; they see themselves as naturals for the school. Alternatives: My short-term goal is to become manager of financial analysis at a leading investment bank. OR My ability to take clear, decisive action, combined with MBA courses in strategic planning, will allow me to make an impact at ABC company from day one. OK, now we’re talking! 2. HIGH SCHOOL e.g. My most substantial accomplishment was leading the school drama club in high school. Why not? MBA applicants are expected to be professionals and current leaders. Writing about high school indicates that your leadership has been on a downward path, with less impressive things done in college and/or since graduation. Imagine a leading CEO you admire, and imagine him or her answering this question by talking about high school. (On a related note, remove any high school or earlier items from your resume.) Alternative: My leadership of a production quality team at my employer led to improvements that doubled gross margins. It’s obvious this person is someone impressive who should be seriously considered for admission. 3. WORLD-RENOWNED e.g. I am applying to your business school because of its outstanding reputation and world renowned faculty. Why not? Business schools with outstanding reputations don’t need to be told that you want to go there because of their outstanding reputations. Your goal is to differentiate yourself from the competition so why join every other applicants in describing the place or faculty as world-renowned? HBS applicants neednt talk about the schools world-renowned case study method, unless they want to be the same as every other applicant. Alternative: The schools unique marketing to China specialization matches perfectly with my short-term career goal, which is to start and lead a business unit at my familys firm focused solely on marketing to China. That’s so much better, isn’t it? 4. FEEL e.g. I feel that Ill be happy in the financial services business. Why not? Tell a school what you know is true, confidently; and do it as an adult, giving reasons, often based on research. Just as with the first word I discussed, hope, feel is a sign of lack of confidence. Say I intend, I know, etc. and explain why thats true. Start to project the aura of a leader. Would any CEOs that you know, lets say Donald Trump or Larry Ellison, ever speak that way while trying to sell themselves? Theyd do their homework, just as youll have to do during your MBA studies, and confidently state the results of their careful research. Alternative: The combination of my work experience as a financial analyst, my strong interest in investing, and conversations Ive had with management at XYZ financial services firm have led me to set a short-term career goal to move from the buy side to the sell side by joining a financial services firm as research associate. Delete these four words from your MBA application essays and I promise you more effective and powerful language will show up. Can you think of some other words to delete from your essays? Please share them in the comments. Need guidance in your MBA/EMBA Application process? Maximize your applications with help from The Essay Experts MBA Admissions Consulting Services. Or feel free to email me directly at larryessayexpert@gmail.com. Larry Sochrin

Sunday, November 3, 2019

Personal statement Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 10

Personal statement - Essay Example Moreover, I have pursed different courses related to security sciences from different institutions. I have also worked on my Communications skills through pursuing a Diploma in English Language (Michigan Test) Level 112 ELS Indianapolis in 2011. Although I have completed English languages course, I am still hopeful that I will continuously develop my communications skills through practice when I make interactions with other people. My ultimate purpose is to obtain the highest level of education where I can easily secure a challenging position at a major institution related to my field or at a government organization in Saudi Arabia and/ or contributing towards the betterment of the world in general. I am aware that my application of knowledge is an asset to my community and my country as well. Besides, I am privileged to have received a scholarship from the Saudi government towards the completion of my Master’s degree at the Sacred Heart University. Thus, I pursed my studies without financial challenges and focused more on research work and internship. My personal attributes are; open- mindedness, dedication and ready to learn, and share experiences with others. I have professional knowledge in computer use and all common software. I can also read, write and speak in both Arabic and English. My practical and industrial experiences revolve around working in Criminal Justice field. To begin with, I have been working as a police officer in Ministry of Interior from 1998. In 2000, I began working as an Expert of Forensic Science, Criminal Justice and crime scenes in the general administration of criminal evidences, Ministry of Interior Saudi Arabia. Additionally, I have served in the Department of Firearms & Tool Marks Examination as a Head of Ammunition Department (shots) from 2002-04. In June 2004, I became an Officer in Charge of crime scene, explosion of Almuhaya Residential Complex.

Friday, November 1, 2019

Accounting for Leases and Accounting for Provisions Assignment

Accounting for Leases and Accounting for Provisions - Assignment Example The present value is arrived at after discounting the lease payments based on the interest rate that is associated with the lease payments. Similarly, in the lessee books of accounting the periodic lease payments should be apportioned between the reduction of the current liability and the finance charges. This is done so as to reduce the amount of interest that is paid by the lessee on the regular lease payments. Another significant aspects that lessee should consider is the depreciation of the assets leased. According to IAS-17, the depreciation of property held under lease should be similar to those assets that are owned. However, if it is uncertain that the lessee will own the property, the life of the property or the lease term whichever is lower is considered during the depreciation (Carpenter et al, 1994). One of the key aspects that characterize a lease is that the lessee purchases an asset from a lessor. However, instead of paying cash, it is deemed that the purchase is financed with a loan that is given by the lessor. In this regard, the lessees are supposed to include the loan interest on the lease payments thus decreasing the lease liability. This is computed as follows. Yearly lease payments-Interest expense (initial lease liability * interest rate) =Reduction of the lease liability (Dirsmith and Haskins, 1991). After computation of the lease liability, the lessee makes a journal entry as follows. Dr Interest Expense Account with the amount of interest expense calculated above Dr Lease Liability Account the difference Cr Cash Account amount paid Computing the value of the leased property It is imperative for lessees to determine the value of the asset that will be recorded in their books of account. This entails the amount of cash that the lessee would have paid in case he or she purchased the asset in cash. This is the current value of the minimum lease payments (MLP). To arrive at the minimum lease payments, two major interest rates are considered that include market rate and implicit rate whichever is lower. Part (a) (ii) Problems relating to the recognition and classification of leases in corporate financial statements Classification and recognition of leases in corporate financial statements is a major challenge that is faced by many organizations. This is based on the fact that different forms of leases are differently treated in the financial statements. One of the major problems is whether or not the rewards and risks associated with leases remain with the owners. Key rewards include capital gain as well as the right to sell property (Emby and Gibbins, 1988). On the other hand, risks involved are variations in the amount of returns, loss from idle assets in addition to obsolescence of the technology that is transferred from the lessor to the lessee. Transfer of rewards and risks to lessee The amount of risks and rewards that is transferred to the users is a major challenge that faces the accountants during the accounting treatments of leases. In this regard, it is fundamental for companies to highly recognize the concepts of the agreement between the lessors and the lessee even though the legal form of the agreement is vital. For example, a financial lease encompasses the transfer of all benefits and risks to the lessee (Gibbins and Mason, 1998). If there is no such transfer, then this becomes an operating lease. Similarly, the legal form of a lease may indicate that a company is exposed to few benefits and risks from the property leased but the substance condition of the agreement may indicate a very different scenario. This leaves the accountant with a major responsibility of