Launch behaviourism Essay

Ivan P.Pavlov was the first initiator of behaviourism as he formed the basis and groundwork of behaviourism. Pavlov was a Russian scientist who was particularly interested in conditioned reflexes which led him to his infamous experiment of dogs and their salivary glands. In Pavlov’s experiment he found that a dog’s behaviour can be conditioned. Firstly when the dog was given food it would salivate, then the next time the dog received food a bell would be rung. This continued until the dog would salivate by the mere sound of a bell. This experiment provided the basis for Pavlov’s idea that behaviour and responses could be conditioned (Tennant, 1997) John B. Watson drew from Pavlov’s ideas and was the man to launch behaviourism. Watson was a psychologist from the United States. His infamous experiment was on a human baby code named Albert B. When Albert was exposed to a rat he showed no sign of fear but then a loud banging when there was a presence of a rat, which made Albert cry. Therefore every time Albert saw a rat he would associate it with his past experience and immediately cry whether there was a banging or not (Tennant, 1997) B.F Skinner was a major contributor to the school of behaviourism and believed that behaviour is maintained and produced by its consequences. Skinner believed that rewards and positive reinforcers have a greater affect on behaviour. He demonstrated this through his famed ‘Skinner Box’ where animals were placed inside a box and were given an option of levers which they could press, one gave them food, the other an electric shock or similar. The animals soon learned which lever not to press and this demonstrated Skinner’s theory of learned behaviour (Van Iersal and others, 2005) Behaviourism is not the stimulation in psychological science as it once was. Psychologists and much of the public prefer more cognitive explanations of human behaviour. Thus the application of behaviour analysis is still active and successful in fields such as child development, education and drug abuse but is not reliable, as technology and scientific advances have proved otherwise to the denial of internal processes. Behaviourism is very much about nurture when it comes to the nature vs. nurture debate as it focuses on external stimuli affecting behaviour. Where behaviourism applied behaviour can be controlled, as action and external operations are controllable. Behaviourism can only explain a small part of human behaviour but it can no fully describe it. (Kazdin, 2000). To explain human behaviour an updated perspective is needed and not one convention is 100% right. The best approach is to take a little from each (McIerney 1998). Behaviourism was extremely influential in the early 20th century as it was the most up to date information available. Since scientific advances in brain chemistry and thought processes behaviourism has become outdated. Pavlov, Watson and Skinner had major impacts on not only behaviourism but also to psychology. Their techniques can still be applied today. Although behaviourism can explain a bit about behaviour it is far too narrow as it does not encompass or consider mental working of a human and brain functions which is a very important role in behaviour. Even though it is outdated behaviourism is still an interesting convention of psychology and can still be useful in explaining behaviour and treating behaviour problems. Bibliography: ‘The Behavioural Approach’ : Class Handout  Ã¢â‚¬Å"Behaviourism,† Microsoft(r) Encarta(r) Online Encyclopaedia 2005

Presenting Christianity To Buddhism Essay

The last words of Jesus the Christ to his first band of disciples was to â€Å"go and preach the gospel to every creature† (Mk. 16:15). It has become, ever since, the mandate that the church at large has taken upon itself to endeavor to accomplish. Today, this command is commonly known among Christians as the Great Commission, and thus, all of the mission statements crafted by different Christian denominations hinge on these words of Jesus. The command is a major one, and so, must be heeded by the church of every generation. It is therefore incumbent upon the people of God to go and seek opportunities to present the â€Å"good news† to everyone – all peoples of any culture and religion which have no knowledge of God’s prescribed way of salvation as clearly revealed in the gospel. Specifically, this paper is focused on understanding Buddhism and on how to present the Christian faith to its people. Buddhism believes in a particular path of salvation it calls the â€Å"dharma. It (dharma) was realized by its founder, Siddhartha Gautama, of the Sakya tribe in Nepal, while in his deep meditation. After that defining moment of his life, he became the Buddha, or the one who is enlightened. The man was actually a member of the royal family and in fact, a prince. He lived around 566 BCE (Boeree 2000). The following statistics were taken from an internet web site whose concentration is on studies about Buddhism (BDEA Inc. & BuddhaNet 2008). The ten countries most populated by Buddha adherents are mostly located in Asia. They are: Japan (8,965,000 followers), China (102,000,000 followers), Vietnam (49,690,000 followers), Thailand (55,480,000 adherents), Myanmar (41,610,000 adherents), South Korea (10,920,000 adherents), Sri Lanka (12,540,000 devotees), Taiwan (9,150,000 devotees), Cambodia (9,130,000 followers), India (7,000,000 followers). It is very crucial for those who would take the task upon themselves of reaching the people of other religious background to have enough background of these religions. One major reason for this is, if the particular religion is embraced by the general population of that country, or at the least, it is one among other religions that has a huge following in that area of the globe, it must have been an influence in that particular society. It is therefore a must for missionaries to gain an ample background necessary for them to be effective in the mission of their choice. Background of Buddhism As stated briefly above, the founder of Buddhism was a man whose background was one of royalty. He was a prince, but had chosen instead when he was at an age of twenty-nine to leave the privileges of his royalty in order to understand the meaning of life, and in particular, why is there so much suffering. He was deeply moved by the sufferings that he saw. He therefore embarked on a journey in his life and engaged in an arduous spiritual discipline intent on discovering for himself the answer for all of these sufferings which he saw around him. An account was told of him when he at a particular time had decided instead to just sit under a certain tree, and there, to meditate until an answer is finally found. As the story unfolds, true indeed, Siddhartha Gautama, on that momentous day – as the sun rises, he became the Buddha. He was enlightened (Buddha means â€Å"the enlightened one†). From that point on, the Buddha has taken upon himself the self-less task of teaching to people the â€Å"dharma† – the spiritual path which he discovered in his enlightening encounter. For more or less 50 years, he wandered around the regions of India, and a following started to develop around him from every class devoted to practicing the path. Today, statistics show that the number of Buddhists worldwide has reached 365 million, and are said to be filling up 6% of the population of the world. It is one of the four considered major religions of the world and is the fourth in terms of number. Still, Christianity has the biggest number of followers – next to it is Islam, then next to Islam Hinduism, and as noted, the fourth is Buddhism (Robinson 2008). A. Buddhism’s Development It is commonly believed as reflected by certain historians in their works that Buddhism is to a certain degree has died out in India. In its first 200 years, the teachings of Buddha were preserved through oral tradition. After two hundred years, Disagreements ensued as it was during the following years that its authorities began to convene their â€Å"councils† – and in the course of these councils, splits occurred. And so, from India, Buddhism had become well-established in Sri Lankan soils. And it was from there that it spread out around Asia, and now represented in not less than five major forms: The Theravada Buddhism (Southern Buddhism), Mahayana (Northern Buddhism), Vajrayana (Tantric Buddhism, or as some consider it – â€Å"the third path†), Tibetan, and the Zen Buddhism. Nowadays, Buddhism is even becoming a religious trend among the westerns (Calyaneratne 2006). It began to be known in the latter part of the 1800’s in the west when the Europeans then with their colonial occupations had been exploring Asia’s cultures and its religious texts being translated into the native languages of the west. B. Its Teachings There is what Buddhism calls as â€Å"four noble truths. † These are: suffering, its cause, release from suffering, and that there is a way to be released from life’s sufferings. These are, more or less, what constitute the four noble truths as taught by the Buddha. To properly understand the Buddhist’s worldview, it is basic to know and feel their perception of life generally. It is good to start in the so-called â€Å"four noble truths. † First, suffering. As has been noted above under â€Å"Background of Buddhism,† Nepalese Prince Siddhartha Gautama, before experiencing his enlightenment had been wandering already seeking for answers to the widespread suffering which he had seen among people. The hardships which he saw definitely had impacted him so much that it caused him to reconsider his royal comforts. In fact, he left the convenience and security of the wealth of his life, and chose rather to live the life of a hermit. Suffering is â€Å"duhkha† in Sanskrit, and like its English equivalent, it means distress, torment, filled with grief, and pain. For the Buddhist, all these describe imperfection. What aggravates suffering is the anitya; it means that there is no permanence in this life – and it includes human existence. The last words uttered by the Buddha are these words: â€Å"Impermanent are all created things; strive on with awareness† (Boeree 2000). With a very similar outlook to Hinduism, Buddhism also believes that all things in creation are interrelated. Humans have no separate identity. Man therefore has to find that which will align him to everything. Next to suffering, the second noble truth is attachment. Actually, this second truth is somewhat seen as a proof of man’s blindness. Because man naturally does not see things in right perspective, he continually clings to everything considered to be of infinite value, oblivious of the fact that nothing here is permanent. The Sanskrit word â€Å"trishna,† which is translated â€Å"attachment† in English, means many things to Buddhists. It extends from â€Å"clinging,† â€Å"desires† (which in themselves have no obvious implication of evil per se), to â€Å"lusting,† â€Å"greed,† and â€Å"craving,† (which now, considering the implications of those words, have somewhat taken an evil tone). Since all things are in an imperfect state, there is a constant â€Å"clinging. † To humans, the persistent lusting and craving for things results from a mistaken sense that the material world somehow has lasting existence. The effort therefore to hold on to these things stems from valuing too much those which have no real permanence. Hatred and dodging are also forms of clinging. To Buddhism therefore, it is very crucial that the person fully realizes the temporal-ness of things. Without a grasp of this basic truth, humanity in general is currently attached to that which is after all – temporary. Third noble truth: the overcoming of the attachment to things. This third basic truth of Buddhism is often misunderstood. In Sanskrit, the word is â€Å"nirvana. This word is now being misconceived as â€Å"complete nothingness. † The word is actually referring to the release of things. To let go, and to stop clinging. After this note, the reference is to be free of the former attitudes spoken of in the second noble truth, which are expressions of attachment: hatred, lust, greed, and all the negatives, etc. , and to fully and thus happily accept the interconnectedness and imperfection of all things. the fourth noble truth: the path. This is the dharma. The Buddha had become convinced after his spiritual encounter that there is a way. For the Buddha, this path was a kind of a â€Å"middle way† which can bring balance between different and often contrasting philosophies. The path in Buddhism is explained in eight points, and more commonly referred to as the â€Å"eightfold path† (to veer away from plagiarism, the author has changed the exact wordings of the following eight points). 1. Proper Perspective. This is to have properly grasped the so-called â€Å"four noble truths. † 2. Right Ambition. It is a pure desire to liberate the self from its negative attitudes – continually holding on to temporal things; as a result of which, the person remains hateful and ignorant. These first two are considered wisdom, or the prajna. 3. Appropriate Speech. This includes not only the telling of truths, but refraining from any words that might hurt, to abstain from any form of gossip and lying. 4. Proper Behavior. This one embraces the prohibitions of such hurtful actions as murder, promiscuity, robbery, etc. 5. Honest Livelihood. To make one’s living through honest means, including things such as those which might hurt other people and animals. Points 3-5 are taken as shila – these are expressions of morality. 6.  Right Endeavors. This pertains to the application of what are right to actual actions which were first perceived in the mind. Excellent qualities should be cultivated and practically performed. 7. The Possession of the Right Mind. This refers to the cultivation of the right kind of mindset. It again focuses on the elimination of such negative attitudes as hatred, lust, ignorance. 8. Proper Focus. The constant meditation of the temporal-ness, the imperfection, and the interconnectedness of all things in order to progressively arrive at true knowledge. These last three points are considered â€Å"meditations,† the Samadhi (Boeree 2000). Presenting the Christian Faith Having explored the basics of Buddhism, it is now time to look at the gospel. Even to have gained a comprehensive knowledge of Buddhism does not fully prepare the Christian missionary to the task of evangelizing Buddhists. Learning the culture of the target people group is recommendable only after one has fully grasped the Christian teachings. In fact, the Christian can still be effective in evangelism even without knowing beforehand the other people’s culture. It might cause some difficulties though, but a mastery of the gospel teachings will enable the Christian, first, to love the un-reached people, and second, compelled by that love and guided by his understanding of the true wisdom of God, the Christian missionary will at the very least, present the gospel message clearly and leave the people rethinking their worldviews. It’s a matter of how do we understand effectiveness in presenting the gospel. Presenting the gospel today is not different from how the first disciples presented it to the people of their world. For Christian missionaries today, here are some pointers: first, preach the gospel. Remember the basic presumptions of the Christian faith like the true spiritual state of the target people. Nothing can self-defeat the presentation of the gospel more than the attempt on the part of its preachers to somehow change its features with an aim to accommodate the audience. What the Buddhists need is the word of God, and thus, it has to be delivered to them clearly and powerfully without compromise. And of course, as presumed all along in the argument of this paper, a basic knowledge of the culture will give the Christian missionary an extra edge in his presentation. Second, live among them with the heart of a missionary living out the spiritual disciplines of a biblical Christian. When genuine love is there, it becomes almost impossible to miss that fact. People will feel the genuineness of the intention; and when the wisdom of God is presented as expressed in the gospel, it will be either acceptance on the part of the people, or outright rejection of the true truths.

Advertising in the 21st century.Communication and Consumer Behavior Essay

Advertising in the 21st century.Communication and Consumer Behavior - Essay Example Regardless of the fact that the key function of the advertising process is to persuade the target audience in the benefits of purchasing goods or services, the communication function of advertising is essentially wider. Therefore, the aim of the paper is to analyze the communication and customer behavior function of the advertising process from the perspective of arranging sustainable communication with the target audience, including feedback. Considering the fact that advertising can also change the overall industry approaches towards the communication process, the paper will be focused on the aspects of widening these approaches, and outlining the basic strategies of adjusting and regulating the communication with the target audience, basing on the latest communication technologies. Communicative Function of the Advertising Process First, it should be stated that in accordance with the research by Carbaugh (2008), the advertising that is based on the communication process is featur ed with five distinctive aspects: It differs from the standard communication process, as the basic function of advertising does not involve feedback, and it may be initiated without the mutual agreement of the parties. The general principle of the effective advertising is explained by the perception aspect. This means that perceptional patterns, as well as cultural codes of the target audience define whether the communication process can be initiated. For instance, a company that produces meat products will never be able to hit the vegetarian segment of the audience. The communication process approaches can be changed depending on the consumer’s involvement. The further step of the communication process is associated with the purchases. Hence, the motives that stimulate purchases, are originated by the communication process, as well as perception aspects of the target audience. Additionally, the communication process of advertising influences the customer behavior. The custom ers change their involvement into the communication process depending on the perception patterns of the advertising strategy. In accordance with the basics of the advertising theory, the communication process simplifies the customers’ movement through the customer behavior stages. (Lee and Ferguson, 2002) Therefore, this process is often regarded as a set of standardized matters, while the influence of advertisement is quite individual. The stages are given on the scheme below: While some customers pass all the stages quickly, the others may stop at any of them without passing to the final one (Person, 2010). This means that the communicative function of the advertisement process is to create and carry a message for the audience, and this message should stimulate the audience move to the final stage (â€Å"Purchase†). The leverage function of the communication is often regarded as a supplementary aspect of the allover advertisement process (Tanaka, 2010).It creates the necessary background for accelerating the customers’ understanding of the product benefits. Nevertheless, the communication itself can not be the sufficient aspect of the effective advertising; therefore, the strategy is often backed up by various images: either verbal or visual (however, they are often combined). Hence, in accordance with the basics of the advertising theory, advertising and marketing are grounded on the matters of thoughts control. (Jian-Hua and Zhi-Yun, 2010) Mass media advertisement and

Discussion question Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 5

Discussion question - Essay Example There are various core values that are embraced by these standards: philosophy, education, holistic ethics, nursing, research, holistic self care, communication, environment and cultural competence (Mauk and Schmidt 263). They promote the development of practical standards, philosophies, and values which strengthen holistic nursing. Holistic nursing practices enhance healing of the whole person. It recognizes the body-mind-spirit connection of persons. Nurses treat the body by therapeutic massage. They relieve the mind by humor, imagery and meditation. They comfort the soul through prayer and support vital interpersonal interaction through healing presence (Mauk and Schmidt 264). Holism is the interrelationship among several aspects, biological, social and spiritual. It honors the individual’s subjective experience about health, health beliefs and values. It requires nurses to integrate self care, self responsibility, spirituality, and refection in their lives (Mauk and Schmidt 266). Nurses become aware of the interconnectedness with self, others, nature and God. This calls for courage and convictions that helps in addressing various issues. Nursing standards show spiritual care through various issues such as teaching, reaching out and showing compassion to others. Care of the spirit is a remarkable responsibility that gives distinct privilege to its practice. Nurses should work across cognitive, experiential and effective domains. Spiritual care is critical for providing quality patient care. Providing spiritual care is cost effective although it calls for dedication from the

The Twitter IPO Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

The Twitter IPO - Essay Example One of the social media giants Facebook is also listed on Nasdaq but there are several reasons being put forward by Twitter for such a stance. One of the most prominent reasons for Twitter to avoid Nasdaq is the not so successful IPO of the Facebook. As many witnessed the glitches which made the Facebook suffer. There were many delays and technical problems. The systems of the Nasdaq did not go through well and it was a mess on the first day of the opening. The IPO is likely to take place late in 2013 or early 2014. The pundits are predicting figures above a billion dollars that is expected to bring in about for the social network website. There are several other factors for such decision. The trend of tech companies is quite high and many are thinking of a potential listing. Twitter also considers this a great time when the trends are hot and looking to avail such opportunity. A return of 28% has been recorded for tech IPOs this year and is the second best after the 51% of the healt h sector as being reported by morning star. As Paul Brad, an analyst with Renaissance Capital states tech companies are one of the strongest areas of the IPO market to date.2 Such decision is also likely to have impact on the wide range of stakeholders of the Twitter. This could well be related to the Legitimacy Theory which states that organizations take influence of their social and external environment (Tilling). This could well be seen here as Twitter also follows the social norms, beliefs and values that are currently prevailing in the industry. Many tech companies are trying to obtain listing. So does Twitter follow the footsteps of them and one of the influence or inspiration could be the IPO of the Facebook. The writer suggests that there are basically two levels of the theory; one is institutional level which involves government and other bodies in a wider context and the other one is organizational level in which the companies such as Twitter falls (Tilling). At this level organizations try to seek approval from the society in pursuit of their own goals. However, if they succeed they remain in existence otherwise they face dire consequences and fight for their survival. Once organizations expand and their operations become widely spread and they get acceptance from the society, there comes another responsibility on them. This can be of relevance with the Stakeholder Theory. The theory suggests that the vary existence of organizations is to create value for their shareholders over time.3 If setting aside the other ethical obligations of an organization; the core objectives of the organizations are to maximize the shareholders’ wealth. But then comes a range of stakeholders with different set of goals and expectations. It is the duty of the organizations to keep a balance between such stakeholders (Reynolds, Frank and David, 2006). Twitter here is also expanding its stakeholder on a large scale now. From previously, their main stakeholders were only the users of their website but now upon obtaining listing they will have the responsibility to serve a wide range of stakeholders. From shareholders to users to wider society at large. They will also be liable to some ethical practices and transparent disclosures. Latest acquisition of Staples In the latest news, it has been reported that the Staples has acquired Runa, a San Mateo, California based Start-up Company whose business is specialization and personalization in e-commerce technology.4 The biggest factor of such a decision was that Staples wanted to boost up its on-line sales in order to compete with Amazon and other tech advanced companies in the e-commerce space. The chairman and CEO of Staples, an office supplies

Tell me a fictional story. Be specific and creative Essay

Tell me a fictional story. Be specific and creative - Essay Example His parents had also given up on him and believed that he was a very ill mannered child and that he would never change. Tom was not understood by anyone and he was not adored by the people surrounding him. Everyone believed that he could never change but no one ever analyzed that Tom was a lonely child and he was in need of help and support. When Tom was young he was not like his other siblings. When he used to get angry, he used to throw things here and there. He did not listen to anyone. He was a difficult child to control. He did not wear clothes even with a slight misfit and he used to throw away his shoes if he felt that they were not comfortable. His mother had tried a lot but she could not analyze the young child’s problem. When he was five years old, he was sent to kindergarten. His parents hoped that indulging with other children would be helpful for him. But things did not turn out the way they had expected. His teachers always complained that he used to get distract ed very easily and he was not interested in indulging in group performances and playing with the other children. The complaints continued even after he joined school. The teachers complained of his poor performances and the fact that even a slight sound would disrupt his attention from studies. Tom was given regular punishments but he did not improve. It was difficult for Tom’s parents to look after him. His siblings were also ashamed of their little brother and did not like being associated with him. They used to avoid him at school and did not like going near his classroom. His parents tried their best but they finally gave up as they believed that there was no solution to Tom’s condition. Tom became very lonely. Life was very difficult for him. He was criticized by his parents, his siblings as well as his teachers. He felt very isolated and used to cry at times when he was alone. The poor child used to feel helpless. When he was thirteen years old, he became very qu iet and would sit in the corner of his classroom. He knew deep down that he could never make his family happy. He had been held back in grade four again. But things were to turn in Tom’s favor now. Tom had a new class teacher who was a psychiatrist as well. She started assessing Tom and his activities. She became highly concerned of Tom and started counseling him. She soon analyzed that Tom was a special child and he was autistic. She analyzed his intelligence quotient to be very high but his easy distractions had made him lag in his work. She helped Tom and listened to all his problems. She kept sessions with his parents and started explaining Tom’s problems. Things started to change and Tom was a totally different boy. He was very good at painting and his teacher supported him by all means to engage him in activities that were of interest to him. He started taking interest in his studies and his parents became very helpful as well. He became very happy. He still used to get distractions and would become aggressive at times. But his parents and siblings helped him. They treated him in the best possible manner. Tom started studying and he reached high school. His parents were very proud of him as he was an active contestant of all the painting competitions that were held in the local community and in school. He was a special child and needed special care. All children are blessed and gifted. Children should never be mistreated. Tom could have

Summary of journals Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Summary of journals - Essay Example The author asserts that apart from the traditional use, there are a number of additional health benefits that have been proven by research. The flowers of the plant can improve benign prostatic hyperplasia symptoms whereas fruits can assist in lipid abnormalities and hangovers prevention. Some researchers have also suggested its role as a diuretic. Improved glycemic control is achieved if plants products are consumed along with oral hypoglycemic agents. Regarding the rising incidence of cancer, the author claims that Prickly pears can prevent carcinogenesis of certain origins. Like all medication, the use of this plant is also associated with a number of adverse effects. These are in the form of gastric disturbances and dermatitis like rash on the skin if plant products are applied topically. The dermatological manifestations of this dermatitis are similar to the rash of scabies which is primarily found on fingers, wrists, buttocks and genital area. Overall, the author has attempted to convince the readers about the potential benefits of the plant and to avoid bias; he has put forward a number of both beneficial and detrimental aspects of the plant before the readers, leaving it up to the readers to decide about the pros and cons themselves. The survival of plants on various regions of the earth is largely dependent upon the ranges of temperatures that persist in those areas. Interestingly, different parts of plants have varying sensitivities to the surrounding temperatures. Freezing temperatures can lead to disruption of cell structure due to ice crystal formation while exceedingly high temperatures may cause cell membrane disruption and denaturation of proteins. Gradual increase or decrease in ambient day/night temperatures can provide a plant the opportunity to adjust to new temperature ranges by developing tolerance due to the formation of certain cryoprotectants and proteins. This study focuses on Opuntia ficus-indica species and

Modernizing Rulers in the Middle East Assignment

Modernizing Rulers in the Middle East - Assignment Example Ataturk was a well-known military man. His victories and losses defined his role as a leader. While Reza Shah was in the military, the people did not gain trust in him due to the lack of victories and losses in actual battle. Since Ataturk was respected more, he could implement the changes and secularization of his country. Reza Shah had to fight for secularization and eventually back down to the pressure from the Shi’ite faction. Although it might seem that Reza Shah was not as successful as Ataturk, the two men faced different problems. Ataturk unified Turkey as Turkish. Reza Shah had to deal with many different tribes, religious leaders, and other factions. Ataturk did not face the severe opposition as Reza Shah. Ataturk did face opposition; however he managed to unite the Turkish people with a sense of nationalism. Reza Shah did not inspire the same nationalism within his people. Ataturk created a government that would not be successor based. Reza Shah’s son succeeded his father. Ataturk’s government had a solid base of elections and fundamental principles. He wanted to create a government, but one that could go on without him. Reza Shah, on the other hand, wanted to create his own personal goals of government with him as the center. That was the main difference between the two men. Ataturk created a secular government that lasted, whereas Reza Shah created one that was not as

Improve Healthy Environment Zen Hair and Spa Research Paper

Improve Healthy Environment Zen Hair and Spa - Research Paper Example The concern has also been identified as a potential health hazard, especially to the attendants who are always in the shop. Objectives Application of artificial nail products is associated with environmental impacts that include emission of dust, vapor, and scent. The products use has also been associated with presence of bacteria. As a result, there is a normally developed irritation felt in the nose, throat, eyes, and the skin leading to discomfort. This has been the reason for the customers’ complaints. I therefore propose that we implement ventilation system that can improve healthy environment at the store. Planning The nature of work in a nail salon calls for measures to ensure health safety of all the people who may be exposed to the chemicals and the emissions within the shop. The environmental protection regulations therefore recommend that appropriate steps be taken in order to regulate possible contact with the used chemicals and their vapor. An exhaust system that drains vapor and dust from worktables is therefore recommended. Similarly, application of appropriate â€Å"room air cleaning devices† are required in every enterprise that operates a nail salon. A properly modeled and properly functional ventilation system is a necessity towards ensuring that people in the shop are protected from possible health hazards. EPA regulations further recommends that proper clothing be ensured while in the nail shops and that, chemical containers are tightly fixed to eliminate chances of possible infiltration of the immediate atmosphere by vapors and dusts from the chemicals. Proper cleanliness is also emphasized (EPA, P. 3-8). One of the equipments that Zen can use in order to reduce and possibly eliminate air pollutants in its workshop is â€Å"salon pure air I† (Salonpureair, p. 1). The equipment, like its alternative â€Å"Salon Pure Air II† costs about 950 dollars and has available accessories (Salonpureair, p. 1). An alternative to the salon pure air equipment is the Salon air purifier that is designed to ensure â€Å"healthy and comfortable environment† for personnel and customers in a nail salon. The salon air purifier is highly regarded for it quality services and is a favorite among magazine readers. It costs about 850 dollars and it is portable besides its capacity to operate without breaks. It efficiently filters out â€Å"nail dust, hair clippings, pollens, bacteria, mold spores, and other airborne dust debris† besides eliminating chemical fumes and smells during salon services (Aerovex, p. 1). Sunflower II is another air cleaner option that is available at only 218 dollars (Aerovex1, p. 1). The organization should therefore purchase and install one of these equipments to facilitate cleanliness and health safety in its shop. Due to product standardization, these equipments can be obtained from any reliable supplier. Aerovex systems company is particularly reliable due to its establishm ent, pricing and after sales services. Zen should therefore purchase Salon Air purifier. This is because while the equipment, being sold at 850 dollars, is less expensive as compared to Salon Pure air, its operational features such as portability, filtration and elimination of vapors are efficient in maintaining health safety in the salon (Aerovex1, p. 1). Responsibilities The nature and impacts

A Comparison of and Contrasting of role of two politicians in the Essay

A Comparison of and Contrasting of role of two politicians in the media eye - Essay Example He further notes that the independence of media from political meddling and the essence of media as the way they play their political roles, the manner in which media is subjected to pressures from the commercial systems that fund the media entities as well as the decisiveness of the government in supplying information all have a great deal to do with the maturity of democracy and the propagation of public opinion driven societies. The functionalities of media have made it a vulnerable tool subjected to use and albeit abuse by those in power bent on swaying public opinion and influencing popular opinion on individuals and issues among other things. In these perceptions premise, the paper presents a comparative exploration of the role of two politicians in the media eye. The paper will also take a significant thrust in examining the coverage of two politicians and exploring their images as portrayed in various mainstream media. The thrust of the paper will also entail the ways in which the media and or the politicians attempt to manipulate the images of them as generated by the media. For the objectives of the exercise, two political figures who are the 2008 USA Presidential election candidates Republic John McCain and Democrat Barrack Obama will be used. The 2008 US presidential campaign trail is historic from various dimensions. The campaigned has pitted sitting Senators yet the most remarkable aspects of the campaign are based on the fact that after the election US will have either the first Black American president or a woman as vice president. The election campaign has drawn most media coverage surpassing previous presidential election drives.... ting Senators yet the most remarkable aspects of the campaign are based on the fact that after the election US will have either the first Black American president or a woman as vice president. The election campaign has drawn most media coverage surpassing previous presidential election drives. The paper will make an observation of extracts and nuances form mainstream and global media channels like Cable News Net Work (CNN) and the British Broadcasting Network (BBC) and various online news interfaces to examine the images of the two politicians that have been carved and explore the ways in which media and the political figures have to attempted to manipulate the images created of them. CNN is one of the leading global news channels and has had a significant bearing on the image creation and dissemination of the US presidential candidates. It is worth mentioning from the onset that CNN were the 8th largest sponsors to the sitting President George W. Bush in his 2004 Campaign. Nonetheless it may be presented that mainstream media have tended to playing to a perceived public sentiment that the Bush administration has failed the electorate on various issues and hence the unpopularity of the Republican election ticket regardless of who the actual individuals and their polices are. Many media channels have largely portrayed the democrat candidate Barrack Obama in manner of glossing over his possible nomination as historic development in American politics demonstrating the American society commitment to values of racial reform and egalitarianism. CNN has always hammered the nuances of 'historic' ticket aspect that Obama's candidature is. Besides the presenting of Obama's ticket as historic development, CNN has captured various political and economic analyses from some

Guideline for Article Review Essay Example for Free

Guideline for Article Review Essay 1. Full Bibliographic Reference State the full bibliographic reference for the article you are reviewing (authors, title, journal name, volume, issue, year, page numbers, etc. ) Important: this is not the bibliography listed at the end of the article, rather the citation of the article itself! Grading: -3 if missing 2. Introduction: Objectives, Article Domain, Audience, Journal and Conceptual/Emprical Classification Note: For the on-line reviews done in some class sections, this category may be broken up into several separate subcategories. For the written review, please discuss all of these subcategories together as follows. Paragraph 1: State the objectives (goals or purpose) of the article. What is the articles domain (topic area)? Paragraph 2: †¢ Audience: State the articles intended audience. At what level is it written, and what general background should the reader have; what general background materials should the reader be familiar with to understand the article? †¢ Appropriate Journal? : Why is the journal appropriate (or inappropriate) for this article? (Check the mission statement or purpose of the journal itself from its cover or its Web site. ) Paragraph 3: State whether the article is conceptual or empirical, and why you believe it is conceptual or empirical. Empirical articles and conceptual articles have a similar objective: to substantiate an argument proposed by the author. While a conceptual article supports such an argument based on logical and persuasive reasoning, an empirical article offers empirical evidence to support the argument. Empirical articles offer substantial, detailed evidence which the authors analyze using statistical methods. Empirical articles must include hypotheses (or propositions), detailed research results, and (statistical) analyses of this empirical evidence. Empirical research includes experiments, surveys, questionnaires, field studies, etc, and to limited degree, case studies. Conceptual articles may refer to such empirical evidence, but do not provide the detailed analysis of that evidence. Of course, both types of articles can use real life examples to back up their points. Just because an article provides examples, does not necessarily mean that it is empirical. (The lesson to take home is not to consider a conceptual article to be an empirical one just because it provides some summarized or some unanalyzed data. ) Grading: Objectives: great 3; ok 2; poor 1 Grading: Audience/Journal Appropriateness: great 3; ok 2; poor 1 Grading: Conceptual vs. empirical: great 2; ok/poor 1 3. Very Brief Summary Prev Page For our article reviews, we do not want you to spend much space summarizing the article. Instead we are more interested in your analysis of the article. Thus, in this section, summarize the article only very briefly (2-3 paragraphs). If possible, use the IS research paradigm as the format of your summary, but remaining very brief: †¢ Paragraph 1: what is the problem or opportunity being addressed †¢ Paragraph 2: which solution is proposed (the solution could be a new model or a theory that explains the problem) †¢ Paragraph 3: what evidence is put forth that this solution is appropriate (If this is an empirical article, be sure to briefly describe what kind of empirical study was done as part of the evidence) Grading: great 4; ok 2; poor 1 4. Results. Very briefly summarize the important points (observations, conclusions, findings) and take home messages in the article. Please do not repeat lists of items in the articles just summarize the essence of these if you feel they are necessary to include. Grading: great 8; ok 5; poor 2 5. Class Readings 1. Does this article directly cite any of the class readings, i. e. , does any class reading appear explicitly in its bibliography or reference section? If not, state this explicitly. If so, clearly describe how the authors use the cited article. How does the article you are reviewing relate to and/or build upon the class article it cites? If this article does not cite any class readings then just state this. (If you do not state this explicitly, you will not receive credit for this section. ) Do not discuss any other readings, such as other readings on the same topic or by the same author. Save any discussions of similar articles for your synthesis section below. 2. Do any of the class readings cite your article (besides the textbook)? If so, clearly describe how. If no class readings cite your article, then write in your review No class readings cite this article. (If you do not state this explicitly, you will not receive credit for this section. ) Be sure to add all references you cite to the bibliography. Grading: great 4; ok 2; poor 1 {If none, then score 4 by default if this has been stated explicitly. } 6. Contributions An article makes a contribution by adding to the knowledge of researchers in a research field. An article can make a contribution to the research field in many ways. Does it provide a new way to look at a problem? Does it bring together or synthesize several concepts (or frameworks, models, etc. ) together in an insightful way that has not been done before? Does it provide new solutions? Does it provide new results? Does it identify new issues? Does it provide a comprehensive survey or review of a domain? Does it provide new insights? Also, is it salient (relevant and current) to a particular scientific issue or managerial problem? Are the issues addressed introduced in a way that their relevance to practice is evident? Would answers to the questions raised in the article likely to be useful to researchers and managers? Note: Do not discuss the contributions of the technologies the article describes, but rather the contributions of the article itself! The articles contributions should be original. To the best of your knowledge, are they? Are the articles take-home messages new? Describe each contribution clearly in a separate paragraph or bullet point. Discuss why the contribution is important. Alternatively, if you believe the article makes no contributions, explain why clearly. Grading: great 8; ok 5; poor 2 7. Foundation Good research often is built upon theories and frameworks that other researchers have developed. Sometimes articles will be substantially based upon this prior work, and refer back to it in some detail. (Not all research articles will do this. ) Which theoretical foundations does this article and research build on, if any? In what ways? Include references/citations of the foundation work. (You can determine this in part from the works the article Prev Page cites. ) Note, however, that most works cited are not core foundational work, but rather just support certain aspects of the article. Similarly, do not confuse a general discussion of related topics as foundational work. If the article does not build upon key pieces of prior research, then write in your review This article does not build upon any foundation research. (If you do not state this explicitly, you will not receive credit for this section. ) Grading: great 4; ok 3; poor -1 {If none, then score 4 by default if this has been stated explicitly} 8. Synthesis with Class Materials The synthesis section should be at least one full page. Synthesis means analyzing a particular topic by comparing and contrasting it with, and thinking about it from the viewpoint of, the class materials from across the semester. These materials include the articles, models, frameworks, guidelines and other concepts weve covered. (Of course, only certain materials will be relevant for any given article. ) Note: You have to do this synthesis! You need to relate this article to other things we have studied, so by definition you will not find this analysis in the article itself! Discuss the articles research ideas and results in terms of any relevant materials covered in class or which you have found in the readings. You can also check the concepts in the to know link on the quick links portion of the course Web site. Cite these readings explicitly, including their source in the bibliography and a bibliographic marker in the text (e. g. , [Turoff et al. , 1999]). You also could analyze the approach the author took to the articles analysis and discussion. Discuss the articles approach and results in terms of one or more of the frameworks, etc. , from the text or readings, or any you find elsewhere. For example, if the authors discuss any type of information system, you could use Alters WCA analysis to examine how they approached that information system. Try to do this for all the models and frameworks, etc., which apply to your article. As part of this analysis, reference other articles youve read, when appropriate. Compare the approach, results and contribution with all articles about similar topics or with a similar approach. For example, if your article develops a new framework, compare it with Bandyopadyhahs Prev Page framework criteria (and vice versa whoever does Bandyopadyhahs article could test his criteria on frameworks from the other readings). Include any articles you cite in the bibliography and use bibliographic markers in the text. For all of these, do your synthesis comparison in as much depth as you can! Grading: four items up to 20 points total (12 points plus 8 points extra credit) for each item: great 5 ok 2; poor 1 Great: discussed deeply and relating the article in detail with the synthesized models and frameworks. OK: the synthesized information is only discussed in general 9. Analysis Note: Many people assume this category is the same as General Critique. It is not. General Critique is a different category from this, and follows below. What has changed since the article was written? How do its lessons, ideas and theories still apply? To what extent has its issues been resolved? Grading: great 4; ok 2; poor 1 Additional Analysis Optionally, try applying the articles models, frameworks and guidelines, etc. yourself. Do you find them useful? In addition, you may optionally add your own additional analysis in a separate subsection. (Do not repeat the authors analysis in the paper you could summarize this as part of the results section. ) Grading: this section is extra credit only: great 8; ok 5; poor 2 10. General Critique In this section you should state your opinions of how well (or poorly) the authors did their research and presented the research results in the article. Your critique can contain both positive and negative comments. Justify and explain in detail each of your critique points in a separate paragraph of at least 4-5 sentences. The following are suggestions only: †¢ Does it build upon the appropriate foundation (i. e. , upon appropriate Prev Page prior research)? †¢ Did the authors choose the correct approach, and then execute it properly? †¢ How confident are you in the articles results, and why? †¢ Are its ideas really new, or do the authors simply repackage old ideas and perhaps give them a new name? †¢ Do the authors discuss everything they promise in the articles introduction and outline? †¢ What are the articles shortcomings (faults) and limitations (boundaries)? Did it discuss all of the important aspects and issues in its domain (topic area)? †¢ In what way should the article have made a contribution, but then did not? †¢ Do the authors make appropriate comparisons to similar events, cases or occurrences? †¢ How complete and thorough a job did the authors do? Do the authors include an adequate discussion, analysis and conclusions? Did they justify everything adequately? Did they provide enough background information for the intended audience to understand it? For you to understand it? †¢ Were there adequate and appropriate examples and illustrations? For full credit, ask yourself these questions when justifying your critique points: †¢ why/why not? †¢ how? †¢ what distinguishes the differences/different approaches, and in what ways? Grading: four items up to 16 points total (10 points plus 6 points extra credit) for each item: great 4; ok 2; poor 1 11c. Further Critique of a Conceptual Article *** only for conceptual articles {adapted from guidelines from Dr. Dan Robey, Georgia State University} A critique of a conceptual article examines the logic of the arguments made by the authors. Both strengths and weaknesses should be identified in a critique. Explain and justify each of your critique points in at least 3-4 sentences. Give examples whenever possible. To the best of your abilities, discuss each of the following categories in a separate paragraph: 1. LOGICAL CONSISTENCY: Do any parts of the article or research contradict or invalidate other parts? If so, have the authors acknowledged and explained this adequately? 2. COHERENCE: Does the article make sense? Did the authors approach this article (and this research) sensibly? Does the article develop Prev Page  an argument that follows a coherent line of reasoning? Are the boundaries of the argument reasonably well defined? Does the argument anticipate most, if not all, rival arguments? Does the article flow in a logical sequence? Do later parts build logically upon earlier parts? 3. SUBSTANCE: Does the article provide an argument or a line of reasoning that offers insight into important issues, or does it merely summarize previous studies in a shallow way that does not reflect depth of analysis? Does the article provide ways (a model, framework, guidelines, etc. ) to guide future thinking about the issue(s) the author is addressing? 4. FOCUS: Is there a clear audience that the authors address? Was the article written at the appropriate level for this audience? Grading: for each: great 3 ok 2; poor 1 11e. Further Critique of an Empirical Article *** only for empirical articles {adapted from guidelines from Dr. Dan Robey, Georgia State University} A critique of an empirical article examines the strength of the empirical evidence supporting the authors argument. Both strengths and weaknesses should be identified in a critique. Explain and justify each of your critique points in at least 3-4 sentences. To the best of your abilities, discuss each of the following categories in a separate paragraph: 1. CLARITY: Is the articles purpose and argument clear? Do the researchers clearly develop a major research question, proposition, or hypothesis that is to be evaluated in the empirical study and discussed in this article? If the study is exploratory (preliminary), is sufficient justification for an exploratory strategy given? 2. THEORETICAL GROUNDING: Is the researchers argument grounded in more basic theory? Is it clear whether the structure of the empirical study (i. e. , what they do) was derived from theory, or just made up? In theory-building articles, is the need for new theory adequately established? 3. DESIGN OF RESEARCH INVESTIGATION: Is it clear exactly how the empirical study was carried out? Is the design of the research approach (field study, experiments, questionnaires, etc. both contents and how they will be used) adequate to address the common threats to internal and external validity? Have appropriate controls been established, and is the selection of research sites justified? Are the hypotheses and experiments, Prev Page etc. , significant? 4. MEASUREMENT: Empirical studies can have quantitative measurements (i. e., numeric results) and qualitative or subjective measurements. Are the measures used adequately described (i. e. , what is measured in the study and how)? Are data on the reliability and validity of these measures reported? Does the article feel anecdotal or solidly supported with evidence? For example, in case or field studies, are the results well documented? Is it clear who the subjects were, and with whom interviews were carried out? Were important results cross-checked, i. e. , determined across a range of subjects or just gotten from one or two subjects? 5. ANALYSIS: Is the analysis of empirical data conducted properly? Do the data conform to the requirements of any statistical tests used? Are qualitative data adequately described and presented? 6. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS: In discussing the results of the empirical study, do the authors remain true to the actual findings of the study? Are the claims made in the conclusion of the article actually supported by the empirical data? If the study is exploratory, do the authors offer research questions or hypotheses for future research? 7. BIASES: Do the biases of the authors affect the design of the research or the interpretation of the results? Are the authors aware of potential biases and the affect on the study? Grading: for each: great 2 ok/poor 1 12. Issues (listed by the author) What open questions or issues has the author stated remain unresolved? Discuss each in a separate paragraph of 5-10 sentences. Each issues paragraph should take the following format: †¢ what is the issue? †¢ why do you believe this is an important issue? †¢ in what way is it unresolved †¢ suggestions for resolving it if you give your own suggestions (instead of or in addition to the authors, then precede each with I would propose If it has been resolved since the article was written, then state how it was resolved. Note: If you have any critiques in this section, they most likely belong in the General Critique section instead. Grading: 3 items up to 9 points total (6 points plus 3 points extra Prev Page credit) for each item: great 3; ok 2; poor 1 13. Issues (in your opinion) List several open questions or issues which remain unresolved in your opinion? For example, what possible future research questions could arise from this article? Discuss each in a separate paragraph of 5-10 sentences. Each issues paragraph should take the following format: †¢ what is the issue? †¢ why do you believe this is an important issue? †¢ in what way is it unresolved †¢ suggestions for resolving it Note: If you have any critiques in this section, they most likely belong in the General Critique section instead. Grading: 4 items up to 12 points total (6 points plus 6 points extra credit) for each item: great 3; ok 2; poor 1 14. Impact To determine how much impact this article has had, do a citation analysis. Discuss what this citation analysis shows, and why; dont just list the citations! (See the Citation Analysis Guidelines (.doc) and Handout (. pdf) posted on the course Web site. ) If the article has no citations, then write in your review I found no citations in the Science Citation Index, the Social Sciences Citation Index or on the Internet. Then clearly explain why you believe there were no citations at all. If you found citations in some indexes or on the Internet but not the others, then explain this as well. Include your citation lists in an appendix to your review (see below for details). Grading impact discussion: great 3; ok 2; poor 1 15. Questions List three insightful questions of your own, arising from this article. Do Prev Page not ask definitions, but rather questions that really make one think. Grading: 3 questions, up to 6 points total for each question: great/ok 2; poor 1 16. Annotated Bibliography For every item you have cited in your report, you need a full reference and an annotation explaining it. This includes references to any class materials, as well as the three additional citations utilized in sections 6-14. 1. List the full bibliographic references (authors, title, journal name, volume, issue, year, page numbers, etc. ) for anything you have cited in your review. IMPORTANT: This is NOT the bibliography listed at the end of the article. It is the bibliographic references for any readings you yourself referred to inside your review. 2. Write 2-4 sentences describing the article. 3. Write 2-3 sentences describing why you cited it. Also, be sure that you have included a bibliographic marker to each (such as [Bieber Smith, 2001]) in the text of your review. Grading: -5 if missing references; -3 if you mention the authors explicitly in your text and put the references in this bibliography section, but forget to explicitly place citation markers in your text. 17. Citation Analysis Appendix There is a separate page on the course Web site describing citation analysis. This appendix will have three sections: †¢ the citations you found in the Science Citation Index †¢ the citations you found in the Social Sciences Citation Index †¢ the citations you found through a thorough Web search on the Internet If the article has no citations for any of these three, then write in that section I found no citations in the [Science Citation Index or the Social Sciences Citation Index or on the Internet]. Note, if your article has more than 20 citations, you only need to include a selection of them: †¢ State how many citations each index has and the Web search found †¢ List Prev Page 1-2 citations for each year in which the article has been cited. Try to include citations from several different journals spread over your selection ? Include a citation analysis to see who has cited it and how.

Crowd Management in Sport Facilities Essay Example for Free

Crowd Management in Sport Facilities Essay When conditions or circumstances warrant substantial levels of wariness, crowd management as a consequence becomes prudent. The key in getting a safe and comfortable environment for large packs of people is in planning for their management. There is considerable prominence on crowd management planning and implementation since it is important to provide a safe environment for everyone. Crowd management must take into account all the rudiments of an event especially the type of event, for example a circus, sporting, concert, or carnival event. It must also view characteristics of the facility, dimension and demeanor of the crowd, methods of entry, communications, crowd control, plus queuing (Herb, 1998). As in all management, it must also include planning, arranging, staffing, directing in addition to evaluating. Crowd management is best defined as every element of the game or event from the design of the stadium to the game itself as well as the protection of the customers from unforeseeable risk of danger from other persons or from the actual facility itself. The main criteria for gouging if crowd control procedures are sufficient and suitable depend on the kind of event, threats of aggression, existence and sufficiency of the emergency arrangement, expectation of crowd size in addition to seating arrangement, known rivalries among teams along with schools, and the use of security personnel (Herb, 1997). Crowd management is therefore paramount in sports facilities and venues because of the large masses that throng such places. Some facilities involve more sport management than others, thus would require more crowd management during functions. Venues should be primarily assessed for safety and its ability to hold large crowds. From the evaluation, the results should be processed, conclusions drawn, proposals made and a report written to all parties involved. The team that carries out such a task should be well trained in this area and used to dealing with all sorts of events, particularly sports. Reference Herb, A. (1998) Risk Management in Sport: Issues and Strategies. London, Carolina Academic Press Miller, L. (1997) Sport Business Management. New York, Jones Barlett Publishers.

Infinity Computer Systems Distributed Database

Infinity Computer Systems Distributed Database CHAPTER 1 Company Profile Company Profile: Infinity computer systems is a Sri Lanka based company engaged in selling computers, computer components and software applications to the local buyers. The company had pledged to provide the local market with the latest in products in IT for an affordable price as they appear in the world market, gaining an edge over its competitors. This well known secret has been the formula of success of the company to achieve rapid growth in a short time span. Company has wide range of computer hardware and software products on offer to the customers. One key market sector that the company is aiming to spread their reach in future is mobile handheld devices such as smart phones. Having started the business in 1999 with just two employees, today Infinity computer systems has grown into one of the biggest IT and computer components vendors in Sri lanka and in the South Asian subcontinent. Currently the company has 3 branches One in Mumbai, India and one in Kandy; a town in central part of Sri lanka and the head quarters situated in Colombo and employ 102 full time staff in all three branches. Infinity computer systems has a market share of about 30% in Sri lanka. Furthermore company has realize the benefits of the boom in IT sector in India and is aiming to expand the Mumbai branch to serve as a major computer hardware and software vendor in India to increase the revenue. Colombo head office and Mumbai branches maintains two large warehouses for storing directly imported products. Mumbai branch also directly engage with suppliers and manufacturers for buying stocks with minimal supervision form the Colombo head office. Kandy branch depends on Colombo head office for obtaining stocks and when dealing with major decisions. At Infinity computer systems theres a qualified sales and customer service team available to provide customers with expert product selection assistance and support. They try to keep an open dialogue with customers, so feedback and suggestions are always welcomed and highly appreciated. Be it a hard core gamer, student, small or medium sized business or an IT professional, Infinity Computer System has the right solution to cater every IT need. Current System: Due to the popularity of the company, Everyday a large number of business transactions are carried out at infinity computer systems outlets, resulting in heavy usage of databases and database applications. Stock maintenance, Human resource management as well as and sales and marketing departments all rely on database systems in day to day operations in Infinity computer systems all 3 branches. Currently Infinity computer systems utilize a centralized database system with relational database architecture to store data. The central database system is located in Colombo head office branch. Colombo, Mumbai and Kandy branches access the database in real time through the company WAN in day to day operations. The database system consists of following major tables which are related to other sub tables. Employees Stocks Sales Database manages separate tables for each branch that are logically related to above three main tables. The basic structure of the database table architecture is as follows. Both Mumbai branch and Kandy branch share Colombo central database. Disadvantages of Current System Due to the centralized nature of the current system, company faces number of difficulties and uncovered the following disadvantages. The main disadvantage of the current systems is single point of failure. If central database fails all the branches affect by it and all business activities comes to a halt. Furthermore breakdown in WAN line also affect the accessibility to the network. Slow access time is a major concern as well. Because, all three branches access the database simultaneously, current database systems has difficulties in processing queries quickly leading to frustration by many users. This affects negatively the fast phased nature of the infinity computer systems working environment as well as customer serving time. The sluggish nature of the current system is not appropriate in any mean to the upcoming expansions of the India branch that the company management is planning to execute in near future. specially, Mumbai branch will need a database which has quick access and has the ability to sustain a rapid growth in both capacity as well as demand. Areas Where Current System Lacks Security Current WAN network has a huge security hole as none of the site is protected by a firewall. This allows hackers and other malware programs such as worms to penetrate in to the network easily and it pose a great threat to the data at rest as well as those which are travelling on the network. The current system does not use any type of encryption when transferring data between remote sites and the main site. This pose a great threat for data such as Passwords and usernames as user authentication is done at the main site (Colombo) rather than the local sites. Lack of encryption means, anyone who intercept data get the access to user authentication information. Furthermore, the absence of encryption pose a threat to other data that transferred between main and remote sites as results for use queries. Because company database stores data that is vital and confidential to Infinity computer systems. If the data such as sales records and price listings fall in to rival business organizations hands, they can gain advantage over Infinity computer systems. User authentication system of the current database system has less than adequate authentication mechanism which grant access to all areas of the database system with single point of authentication. This pose a threat to data as staff of the company with all levels of position have the easy access to almost all of the company data. Solution To overcome the problems currently faced by Infinity Computer systems, a distributed database system can be implemented. In a distributed database environment, database is distributed over many locations where end users have quick access. Configuration and advantages of the new database system will be described in the next chapter. CHAPTER 2 Distributed Database Distributed database is a collection of multiple, logically interrelated databases distributed over a computer network. In a distributed database environment, users have the ability to access data from different sources that are located at multiple locations. When a database is distributed over many locations, it produces the challenge of retrieving the data from many locations and present it to system user. Furthermore managing the database becomes a critical function as well. This is where distributed database management system (DBMS) comes in to play. DBMS is a software system that manages the Distributed Database and provides the access mechanism to the users of the database. By tightly integrating with various systems and databases in a distributed environment, DBMS make the distribution transparent to the user. Infinity Computer Systems Distributed Database Overview Depending on the current geographical distribution of the branches and the WAN architecture, Infinity Computer Systems database can be distributed in to three branches to maximize the productivity and access times as well as obtaining many other advantages over existing centralized database. Out of many available, There are two major types of database design architectures we can consider when designing our company database system. They are, Multiple Site Processing, Multiple Site Data architecture using either Homogenous or Heterogeneous Distributed Database Management Systems(DDBMS). Out of above two architectures we will implement Homogenous Multiple Site Processing, Multiple Site Data architecture for Infinity Computer Systems distributed database. A distributed Multiple Site Processing, Multiple Site Data Multiple Site Processing, Multiple Site Data (MPMD) scenario refers to type of database that is fully distributed with multiple data processor support which includes transaction processors at multiple sites. When all the sites of the logically related distributed database utilize and integrates the same type of Database Management System(DBMS) at all sites of the distributed network its called Homogenous DBMS. Infinity Computer Systems Distributed Database Architecture Combining the concepts described above new distributed database architecture of the company can be demonstrated as below. As shown in the figure 4 and 5 in the new architecture, Both Mumbai and Kandy branches will maintain a copy of the database that consisting of records related to their respective branches. Colombo branch will maintain two databases. one includes data related to Colombo branch and a main database which will hold records related to all three branches. The new distributed database use relational database architecture. With this new architecture each branch will get the ability to access their very own database which is located locally. With this implementation, processing of the data also will be decentralized to all three branches. Apart from accessing the locally located database, both Kandy and Mumbai branches will be able to access the main database that is located in Colombo head office. The distributed database management system (DDBMS) will consist of Distributed Query Processor(DQP), that handles distributed queries, a Distributed Transaction Manager (DTM) for processing distributed transactions, a Distributed Metadata Manager (DMM) for managing distributed metadata, a Distributed Integrity Manger (DIM) for enforcing integrity among the various components of the distributed database system and a Distributed Security Manager (DSM) for enforcing security constraints across the database. LANs of all three branches were redesigned To facilitate the modifications to the new distributed database architecture, following section describes each LAN site with their new features and configurations. New LAN Architecture of Colombo Site Colombo branch function as the heart of the new distributed database system. As Colombo branch handles all management and financial decisions its important for Colombo branch to have access to data quickly. For this purpose, Colombo LAN is revamped as shown in the following figure to facilitate the functions of new distributed database. Being a company that is engaged in selling state of the art computers, accessories and networking products, its important to have faster access to database as well as fast access to different interconnected nodes within the LAN itself for this purpose Colombo site LAN is completely redesigned to facilitate the new database system. The old token ring based topology was replaced with a new Gigabit Ethernet LAN with Star topology. Gigabit Ethernet provides data rate of up to 1000 Mbp/s for LAN data. The new database server and backup server is implemented as a separated segment in the LAN. The separation is done through the router. The switches that connect Accounting and human resource department, Sales department and Warehouse department connects to a central switch, which in return connects to the router. Database server and Backup server connects to a switch, which in return connects to the router which also has the built-in firewall capability. The router segments the database section of the LAN form the other sections. This way it helps to reduce the congestion in the Local LAN. It helps faster access to database within the Colombo LAN itself as well as faster processing for incoming queries that are coming from other branches through WAN. The addition of the firewall protects the internal LAN form unauthorized access. This helps to protect the data of the company. The backup server provides continuous back up facility to the database. It helps to recover database in an event of a failure of the main database. New LAN Architecture of Mumbai Site Mumbai branch function as the second important branch after Colombo head office. Furthermore with managements intention to expand it in future to facilitate more storage and attain more sales targets that covers a larger customer base, makes it essential to have a good infrastructure in the LAN at Mumbai branch. For this purpose, Mumbai branch LAN also revamped as shown in the following figure to facilitate the functions of new distributed database and future additions. Mumbai branch LAN also revamped with an architecture similar to that of the Colombo LAN. The old network topology of Token Ring based architecture is replaced with a new STAR Topology Gigabit Ethernet. Gigabit Ethernet provide the faster access to data within the LAN, which is much need in day to day communication within the organization. Furthermore it lays the foundation to future expected expansions to the Branch. The router segments the LAN area consisting of distributed database from that of the other areas of the LAN. This helps to prevent congestion and improves the data transfer efficiency of the LAN as well as providing faster a access to data for both local and distributed queries. The router is equipped with a built in firewall which protects the internal LAN from unauthorized access, thus protects the valuable data of Infinity computer systems. Database server is connected to a backup server which backs up the data of the main database server. It helps to recover the main server in an event of a failure. New LAN Architecture of Kandy Site Kandy branch also revamped to facilitate the new changes to the database system. The architecture of the LAN is nearly similar to that of the other two branches. following figure shows the new architecture. The most notable addition to Kandy branch is the addition of the T1 line which replaced the previous ISDN line that connects the branch LAN to the company WAN. The T1 line provides the faster access to distributed data as well as internet. This makes it easier for all branches as it provides same speed of access to all three branches data without creating any bottle necks. The LAN is designed as a Gigabit LAN using a Star topology which provides fast data transmission within the LAN. The router has built-in firewall which protects the internal LAN form intrusions. The database server section of the LAN is segmented using the router. This helps to control the congestion and allows the faster access to data for local and distributed queries. Backup database server provide data backup functionality for main database server which helps in quick recovery of the main database server in an event of a failure. New Features of the Proposed WAN Network architecture and Distributed System There are few new features were introduced to the existing WAN network to make it compatible with Distributed database system and address certain security holes that presented in the existing WAN. Firewalls have been introduced to each local site to protect each LANs of all three branches. This feature address the issue of network being exposed to Worms and hackers threats. Firewalls block malicious traffic that are not authorized to enter any segment of the Infinity computer system network while allowing legitimate traffic to access any part of the network ISDN line that connected Kandy branch to the WAN has been replaced with a high bandwidth T1 line. This allows the distributed queries to access Kandy branch data at the same speed as the of the other two branches; Colombo and Kandy as well as Mumbai branch being benefitted from accessing the other two sites data much faster than the existing ISDN line. Each LAN of all three branches have been introduced with a new LAN segment which consists of distributed database and processing systems and it was segmented through the router to reduce the congestion so that both local and remote data traffic gets the ability to access the database faster. Security Enhancements Provided by New System The new system is designed to provide encryption for user authentication data. This prevents the data interceptors from understanding the data related to user authentication and authorization. The proposed system is designed with a multi level security control system. Multilevel security controls ensure users cleared at different security level access and share the companys distributed database in which data is assigned different security levels. This prevents the lower level staff from gaining access to data that are not relevant to them and it ensure the security of the data. Advantages of the New Database System There are number of advantages of the new distributed database system. The most significant advantage of the new system is, speed. with having locally available database for each branch there is no longer a need to connect to the Colombo head office database during day to day operations giving fast access to data that is located at each branch LAN. Fast access to database means rapid operations in all task in the company environment as well as quick service for customers. Having redundant data in two company branches apart from Colombo head office means higher availability. Even if a failure occur in the main branch database, it has the ability to quickly recover from the regional branches. In the same manner should a failure occur in a regional branch database, it has the ability to recover from main database in Colombo branch with minimal downtime. The distributed architecture of the database reduce the strain on the main database servers as workstations connected each branchs database server shares the processing workload between them. this result in faster processing of queries. There will be a tremendous reduction in network traffic as well. In the old configuration, company WAN was highly utilized for database traffic. specially Colombo branch received a huge amount of database traffic every day. with the new configuration, branch offices are no longer needed to utilize the WAN to access database. This frees up the WAN traffic and allow all branches to utilize it for other more critical tasks. As the database query processing is distributed between branches, there is no longer a need to maintain high cost high-end servers for processing. This reduces company expenditure in long run. New database system provides the ability to expand both in quantity and processing power. This provides the platform to carry out planned expansions for Mumbai branch without having to worry about recourses and infrastructure. Removal of Reliance on a Central Site. In the existing centralized system, both remote branches of the company as well as Colombo branch is depend on same database that is located in Colombo. But the proposed system eliminates this reliance and provide a independent database system for each branch with the ability of also connecting with the databases of the other branches through the Distributed database management system and eliminates single site of failures. With fragments as the unit of distribution in the new architecture, a transaction can be divided in to several sub queries that operates on fragments. This increases the degree of concurrency or parallelism in the system. Possible Problems in the New Architecture Complexity The new distributes database system hides the distributed nature of the system from the user. Though it provides an acceptable level of performance, reliability and availability is more complex than the existing centralized database architecture. The fact that certain data, specially Colombo and Mumbai stocks related data are replicated in Colombo and Mumbai branches, ads an extra level of complexity when dealing with synchronization between these elements. So the software must be designed to handle the data replication adequately, if not it will lead to degradation of availability, reliability and overall performance of the entire system. Cost The increased complexity of the new distributed database architecture leads to higher costs in hardware and software resources as well as maintenance costs. Difficulties in integrity control Validity and consistency of stored data is referred to as Database integrity. Integrity is usually is expressed in terms of constraints, which are consistency rules that DBMS is not allowed to violate. Enforcing integrity constraints requires that defines the constrains but that are not related to actual update operation itself. In a Distributed DBMS environment like the proposed Infinity computer systems architecture, the processing and communication cost that are required to enforce such integrity constraints may be prohibitive. Security Unlike the centralized DBMS system which the access can easily be controlled, new Distributed database system which consists of fragmented and replicated data which are located at multiple sites, the security control is more challenging. Furthermore the network itself needs to be made secure in order to protect the data that travel between three branches. CHAPTER 3 Detailed structure and functionality of distributed database In this chapter, structure of the distributed database of infinity computer systems and the functionality of the distributed components will be discussed in greater detail. Table Format There are three major tables used in the database architecture. They are Employees, sales and stocks. Following is the table format for each table. As shown in the figure 7, Employees, Sales and Stocks tables are fragmented and located at all three branches according to the relevance of the site where the data is accessed most often. This architecture make the data access time faster and keep the communication costs down. Furthermore data of the Stocks_CMB, are vertically fragmented and located at the Mumbai branch database site with the table name of Stocks_CMB_FRG. During the fragmentaion of Stock_CMB all attributes of the Stock_CMB table were allocated in to Stocks_CMB_FRG except UNITPRICE attribute, because it is irrelevant to INDIAN territory thus it reduce the wastage of storage space due to repetition of irrelevant data. The purpose of allocating Colombo head office Stock data in the Mumbai site is to allow faster access because Mumbai branch of Infinity computer systems, run its own warehouse and deal with manufacturers and suppliers directly. This makes it important fir Mumbai branch have the ability to access the Colombo stock data very often and quickly so that both branches can maintain a healthy stock for everyday business. Colombo branch retains a copy of the Stocks tables related to Mumbai site as well as maintaining its own stock table related to Colombo stocks. In this new design, Sto ck_MBI table that is located in the Colombo head office site is configured to synchronize with Stock_MBI table, two times a day, during midday and then at the end of the working day. In a nutshell, following is the way the database is distributed across three branches. Employees and Sales Tables that were previously located in the Colombo branch, were fragmented according to the relevancy where data items are physically belong and located at their relevant branches. Stock_MBI is replicated at Mumbai (Stock_MBI_LCL) site while retaining a exact copy in Colombo branch Stock_KDY table is transferred to Kandy site from its previous position of Colombo Stock_CMB table is Vertically fragmented and located a copy at Mumbai branch. Data Allocation Method There are four methods to consider when choosing a data allocation method for proposed distributed database architecture for Infinity computer systems. They are, Centralized Fragmented Complete Replication Selective Replication Out of the above methods, we use Selective Replication as the data allocation method for proposed distributed database architecture. Selective Replication is a combination of Fragmentation, replication and centralized data allocation methods. In this method some data items are fragmented to maximize high locality of reference and others, which are used at many sites and are not frequently updated, are replicated; otherwise data items are centralized. This approach gives combination of advantages of all the other three methods. Using the selective replication method, we will only be distributing data related to Kandy and Mumbai branch to their respective branches while keeping a main database at Colombo branch which will consist of records related to all branches. This will serve as a redundant database as well as a central repository where all data related to companys all three branches can be easily retrieved. Following section describes how the above distribution was done by using relational algebra. Fragmentation of Database for Allocation of Data at Various Sites When distributing a database across multiple sites, one of the main factors need to consider is the fragmentation of database items such as Tables. Fragmentation consists of breaking a relation in to smaller relations or fragments and storing the fragments at different sites. By fragmenting, data can be distributed to the sites where they used more often. There are two approaches to distribute database elements across multiple sites. They are, Distribute one copy of each database table in all sites Distribute portions of the selected tables that are important to local sites In our company case we will be using the second method mentioned above. In that method we will be distributing only the data in the three main tables that are related to each site (Branch). When fragmenting data in a table there are three techniques used. They are, Horizontal fragmentation Vertical fragmentation Hybrid fragmentation For our company distributed database we use both horizontal and vertical fragmentation to distribute table data among three branches. More precisely, For Employee table and Sales table we use Horizontal fragmentation and for Stocks_CMB table we use Vertical Fragmentation. The reason for using vertical fragmentation for stock table is because Mumbai branch deals with manufacturers and other vendors who provides hardware and software stocks directly to Mumbai branch. Horizontal Fragmentation In horizontal fragmentation, certain rows of the tables are put in to a base relation at one site, and other rows are put in to a base relation at another site. In other words, the rows (tuples) of a relation are distributed to many sites as disjointed fragments. In infinity computer systems database, we use the horizontal fragmentation as follows, to fragment Employees and sales tables. When selecting the criteria to horizontally fragment the Employees and Sales tables is the relevance of data to the location. As shown above, the current employee table, we fragment by considering the BRCODE field. BRCODE indicates the branch where the employee works. By doing so we can build three new tables out of the above database table and allocate them to each of the 3 branches of the company. We can horizontally fragment employees table in to 3 separate logically related tables as follows. Using relational algebra to do the horizontal fragmentation of Employees table To do the above horizontal fragmentation of employees table in to three tables we can use relational algebra SELECT operation. Our intention is to fragment the table in to three small fragments so each table would contain Employees related to their respective branch. To achieve this, Relational algebra operations are, Employees_CMB = SELECT(Employees_Table) WHERE BRCODE = CMB Employees_MBI = SELECT(Employees_Table) WHERE BRCODE = MBI Employees_KDY = SELECT(EMP_TABLE) WHERE BRCODE = KDY Executing the above three formulas results in following three table fragments: Employees_CMB (contains 2 tuples) Employees_MBI (contains 2 tuples) Employees_KDY (contains 1 tuple) Relational algebra operation for fragmenting Sales Table We can divide sales tables in to three fragments through the SELECT algebra operation as follows and it will result in three tables containing sales data related to each of the three branches. Sales_CMB = SELECT(Sales_Table) WHERE BRCODE = CMB Sales_MBI = SELECT(Sales _Table) WHERE BRCODE = MBI Sales_KDY = SELECT(Sales _Table) WHERE BRCODE = KDY Vertical Fragmentation Vertical Fragmentation works by splitting a table between attributes. Vertical fragmentation is used in situations where some sites needed to access the attributes of the tables of many data items in a table. This fragmentation is more difficult than horizontal fragmentation as more options exist. The fragmentation can be achieved by either Grouping attributes to fragments or Splitting relations in to fragments For fragment Colmbo branchs Stock_CMB Table, we use the first method mentioned above. Relational algebra operation for Vertical fragmentation of Sales_CMB Table For vertical fragmentation, relational algebra Project operation is used. We fragment the above table to form a new table called Stocks_CMB_FRG. This new table will contain all the attributes of the above table except UNITPRICE. Following is the relational algebra Project operation. Stocks_CMB_FRG = PROJECT(Stocks_CMB) TOCKCODE, ITEMNO, QTY, S LASTIN, NEXTIN Executing the above operation will result in creating the following table. Stocks_CMB_FRG Data Model The data model consists of three layers called schemas. Each schema defines a set of views that database can be seen. The three schemas are, External schema layer Represents the view of the database that users and/or applications might see Conceptual schema layer At this level the database objects such as tables, columns, views, and indexes are defined. These definitions provide mappings to the next level of the model, which is where the physical layout of the database is defined. Internal schema layer This layer defines the actual layout of the records and fields. Distributed databases of all three branches are modeled according the above structure and all three branches maintain their own set of the above model. In local sites, when users access the data stored locally, they access them as defined in the external Views. Conceptual schema maps the logical structure of the tables to Internal Schema which defines the physical storage of data on the discs. The abov Infinity Computer Systems Distributed Database Infinity Computer Systems Distributed Database CHAPTER 1 Company Profile Company Profile: Infinity computer systems is a Sri Lanka based company engaged in selling computers, computer components and software applications to the local buyers. The company had pledged to provide the local market with the latest in products in IT for an affordable price as they appear in the world market, gaining an edge over its competitors. This well known secret has been the formula of success of the company to achieve rapid growth in a short time span. Company has wide range of computer hardware and software products on offer to the customers. One key market sector that the company is aiming to spread their reach in future is mobile handheld devices such as smart phones. Having started the business in 1999 with just two employees, today Infinity computer systems has grown into one of the biggest IT and computer components vendors in Sri lanka and in the South Asian subcontinent. Currently the company has 3 branches One in Mumbai, India and one in Kandy; a town in central part of Sri lanka and the head quarters situated in Colombo and employ 102 full time staff in all three branches. Infinity computer systems has a market share of about 30% in Sri lanka. Furthermore company has realize the benefits of the boom in IT sector in India and is aiming to expand the Mumbai branch to serve as a major computer hardware and software vendor in India to increase the revenue. Colombo head office and Mumbai branches maintains two large warehouses for storing directly imported products. Mumbai branch also directly engage with suppliers and manufacturers for buying stocks with minimal supervision form the Colombo head office. Kandy branch depends on Colombo head office for obtaining stocks and when dealing with major decisions. At Infinity computer systems theres a qualified sales and customer service team available to provide customers with expert product selection assistance and support. They try to keep an open dialogue with customers, so feedback and suggestions are always welcomed and highly appreciated. Be it a hard core gamer, student, small or medium sized business or an IT professional, Infinity Computer System has the right solution to cater every IT need. Current System: Due to the popularity of the company, Everyday a large number of business transactions are carried out at infinity computer systems outlets, resulting in heavy usage of databases and database applications. Stock maintenance, Human resource management as well as and sales and marketing departments all rely on database systems in day to day operations in Infinity computer systems all 3 branches. Currently Infinity computer systems utilize a centralized database system with relational database architecture to store data. The central database system is located in Colombo head office branch. Colombo, Mumbai and Kandy branches access the database in real time through the company WAN in day to day operations. The database system consists of following major tables which are related to other sub tables. Employees Stocks Sales Database manages separate tables for each branch that are logically related to above three main tables. The basic structure of the database table architecture is as follows. Both Mumbai branch and Kandy branch share Colombo central database. Disadvantages of Current System Due to the centralized nature of the current system, company faces number of difficulties and uncovered the following disadvantages. The main disadvantage of the current systems is single point of failure. If central database fails all the branches affect by it and all business activities comes to a halt. Furthermore breakdown in WAN line also affect the accessibility to the network. Slow access time is a major concern as well. Because, all three branches access the database simultaneously, current database systems has difficulties in processing queries quickly leading to frustration by many users. This affects negatively the fast phased nature of the infinity computer systems working environment as well as customer serving time. The sluggish nature of the current system is not appropriate in any mean to the upcoming expansions of the India branch that the company management is planning to execute in near future. specially, Mumbai branch will need a database which has quick access and has the ability to sustain a rapid growth in both capacity as well as demand. Areas Where Current System Lacks Security Current WAN network has a huge security hole as none of the site is protected by a firewall. This allows hackers and other malware programs such as worms to penetrate in to the network easily and it pose a great threat to the data at rest as well as those which are travelling on the network. The current system does not use any type of encryption when transferring data between remote sites and the main site. This pose a great threat for data such as Passwords and usernames as user authentication is done at the main site (Colombo) rather than the local sites. Lack of encryption means, anyone who intercept data get the access to user authentication information. Furthermore, the absence of encryption pose a threat to other data that transferred between main and remote sites as results for use queries. Because company database stores data that is vital and confidential to Infinity computer systems. If the data such as sales records and price listings fall in to rival business organizations hands, they can gain advantage over Infinity computer systems. User authentication system of the current database system has less than adequate authentication mechanism which grant access to all areas of the database system with single point of authentication. This pose a threat to data as staff of the company with all levels of position have the easy access to almost all of the company data. Solution To overcome the problems currently faced by Infinity Computer systems, a distributed database system can be implemented. In a distributed database environment, database is distributed over many locations where end users have quick access. Configuration and advantages of the new database system will be described in the next chapter. CHAPTER 2 Distributed Database Distributed database is a collection of multiple, logically interrelated databases distributed over a computer network. In a distributed database environment, users have the ability to access data from different sources that are located at multiple locations. When a database is distributed over many locations, it produces the challenge of retrieving the data from many locations and present it to system user. Furthermore managing the database becomes a critical function as well. This is where distributed database management system (DBMS) comes in to play. DBMS is a software system that manages the Distributed Database and provides the access mechanism to the users of the database. By tightly integrating with various systems and databases in a distributed environment, DBMS make the distribution transparent to the user. Infinity Computer Systems Distributed Database Overview Depending on the current geographical distribution of the branches and the WAN architecture, Infinity Computer Systems database can be distributed in to three branches to maximize the productivity and access times as well as obtaining many other advantages over existing centralized database. Out of many available, There are two major types of database design architectures we can consider when designing our company database system. They are, Multiple Site Processing, Multiple Site Data architecture using either Homogenous or Heterogeneous Distributed Database Management Systems(DDBMS). Out of above two architectures we will implement Homogenous Multiple Site Processing, Multiple Site Data architecture for Infinity Computer Systems distributed database. A distributed Multiple Site Processing, Multiple Site Data Multiple Site Processing, Multiple Site Data (MPMD) scenario refers to type of database that is fully distributed with multiple data processor support which includes transaction processors at multiple sites. When all the sites of the logically related distributed database utilize and integrates the same type of Database Management System(DBMS) at all sites of the distributed network its called Homogenous DBMS. Infinity Computer Systems Distributed Database Architecture Combining the concepts described above new distributed database architecture of the company can be demonstrated as below. As shown in the figure 4 and 5 in the new architecture, Both Mumbai and Kandy branches will maintain a copy of the database that consisting of records related to their respective branches. Colombo branch will maintain two databases. one includes data related to Colombo branch and a main database which will hold records related to all three branches. The new distributed database use relational database architecture. With this new architecture each branch will get the ability to access their very own database which is located locally. With this implementation, processing of the data also will be decentralized to all three branches. Apart from accessing the locally located database, both Kandy and Mumbai branches will be able to access the main database that is located in Colombo head office. The distributed database management system (DDBMS) will consist of Distributed Query Processor(DQP), that handles distributed queries, a Distributed Transaction Manager (DTM) for processing distributed transactions, a Distributed Metadata Manager (DMM) for managing distributed metadata, a Distributed Integrity Manger (DIM) for enforcing integrity among the various components of the distributed database system and a Distributed Security Manager (DSM) for enforcing security constraints across the database. LANs of all three branches were redesigned To facilitate the modifications to the new distributed database architecture, following section describes each LAN site with their new features and configurations. New LAN Architecture of Colombo Site Colombo branch function as the heart of the new distributed database system. As Colombo branch handles all management and financial decisions its important for Colombo branch to have access to data quickly. For this purpose, Colombo LAN is revamped as shown in the following figure to facilitate the functions of new distributed database. Being a company that is engaged in selling state of the art computers, accessories and networking products, its important to have faster access to database as well as fast access to different interconnected nodes within the LAN itself for this purpose Colombo site LAN is completely redesigned to facilitate the new database system. The old token ring based topology was replaced with a new Gigabit Ethernet LAN with Star topology. Gigabit Ethernet provides data rate of up to 1000 Mbp/s for LAN data. The new database server and backup server is implemented as a separated segment in the LAN. The separation is done through the router. The switches that connect Accounting and human resource department, Sales department and Warehouse department connects to a central switch, which in return connects to the router. Database server and Backup server connects to a switch, which in return connects to the router which also has the built-in firewall capability. The router segments the database section of the LAN form the other sections. This way it helps to reduce the congestion in the Local LAN. It helps faster access to database within the Colombo LAN itself as well as faster processing for incoming queries that are coming from other branches through WAN. The addition of the firewall protects the internal LAN form unauthorized access. This helps to protect the data of the company. The backup server provides continuous back up facility to the database. It helps to recover database in an event of a failure of the main database. New LAN Architecture of Mumbai Site Mumbai branch function as the second important branch after Colombo head office. Furthermore with managements intention to expand it in future to facilitate more storage and attain more sales targets that covers a larger customer base, makes it essential to have a good infrastructure in the LAN at Mumbai branch. For this purpose, Mumbai branch LAN also revamped as shown in the following figure to facilitate the functions of new distributed database and future additions. Mumbai branch LAN also revamped with an architecture similar to that of the Colombo LAN. The old network topology of Token Ring based architecture is replaced with a new STAR Topology Gigabit Ethernet. Gigabit Ethernet provide the faster access to data within the LAN, which is much need in day to day communication within the organization. Furthermore it lays the foundation to future expected expansions to the Branch. The router segments the LAN area consisting of distributed database from that of the other areas of the LAN. This helps to prevent congestion and improves the data transfer efficiency of the LAN as well as providing faster a access to data for both local and distributed queries. The router is equipped with a built in firewall which protects the internal LAN from unauthorized access, thus protects the valuable data of Infinity computer systems. Database server is connected to a backup server which backs up the data of the main database server. It helps to recover the main server in an event of a failure. New LAN Architecture of Kandy Site Kandy branch also revamped to facilitate the new changes to the database system. The architecture of the LAN is nearly similar to that of the other two branches. following figure shows the new architecture. The most notable addition to Kandy branch is the addition of the T1 line which replaced the previous ISDN line that connects the branch LAN to the company WAN. The T1 line provides the faster access to distributed data as well as internet. This makes it easier for all branches as it provides same speed of access to all three branches data without creating any bottle necks. The LAN is designed as a Gigabit LAN using a Star topology which provides fast data transmission within the LAN. The router has built-in firewall which protects the internal LAN form intrusions. The database server section of the LAN is segmented using the router. This helps to control the congestion and allows the faster access to data for local and distributed queries. Backup database server provide data backup functionality for main database server which helps in quick recovery of the main database server in an event of a failure. New Features of the Proposed WAN Network architecture and Distributed System There are few new features were introduced to the existing WAN network to make it compatible with Distributed database system and address certain security holes that presented in the existing WAN. Firewalls have been introduced to each local site to protect each LANs of all three branches. This feature address the issue of network being exposed to Worms and hackers threats. Firewalls block malicious traffic that are not authorized to enter any segment of the Infinity computer system network while allowing legitimate traffic to access any part of the network ISDN line that connected Kandy branch to the WAN has been replaced with a high bandwidth T1 line. This allows the distributed queries to access Kandy branch data at the same speed as the of the other two branches; Colombo and Kandy as well as Mumbai branch being benefitted from accessing the other two sites data much faster than the existing ISDN line. Each LAN of all three branches have been introduced with a new LAN segment which consists of distributed database and processing systems and it was segmented through the router to reduce the congestion so that both local and remote data traffic gets the ability to access the database faster. Security Enhancements Provided by New System The new system is designed to provide encryption for user authentication data. This prevents the data interceptors from understanding the data related to user authentication and authorization. The proposed system is designed with a multi level security control system. Multilevel security controls ensure users cleared at different security level access and share the companys distributed database in which data is assigned different security levels. This prevents the lower level staff from gaining access to data that are not relevant to them and it ensure the security of the data. Advantages of the New Database System There are number of advantages of the new distributed database system. The most significant advantage of the new system is, speed. with having locally available database for each branch there is no longer a need to connect to the Colombo head office database during day to day operations giving fast access to data that is located at each branch LAN. Fast access to database means rapid operations in all task in the company environment as well as quick service for customers. Having redundant data in two company branches apart from Colombo head office means higher availability. Even if a failure occur in the main branch database, it has the ability to quickly recover from the regional branches. In the same manner should a failure occur in a regional branch database, it has the ability to recover from main database in Colombo branch with minimal downtime. The distributed architecture of the database reduce the strain on the main database servers as workstations connected each branchs database server shares the processing workload between them. this result in faster processing of queries. There will be a tremendous reduction in network traffic as well. In the old configuration, company WAN was highly utilized for database traffic. specially Colombo branch received a huge amount of database traffic every day. with the new configuration, branch offices are no longer needed to utilize the WAN to access database. This frees up the WAN traffic and allow all branches to utilize it for other more critical tasks. As the database query processing is distributed between branches, there is no longer a need to maintain high cost high-end servers for processing. This reduces company expenditure in long run. New database system provides the ability to expand both in quantity and processing power. This provides the platform to carry out planned expansions for Mumbai branch without having to worry about recourses and infrastructure. Removal of Reliance on a Central Site. In the existing centralized system, both remote branches of the company as well as Colombo branch is depend on same database that is located in Colombo. But the proposed system eliminates this reliance and provide a independent database system for each branch with the ability of also connecting with the databases of the other branches through the Distributed database management system and eliminates single site of failures. With fragments as the unit of distribution in the new architecture, a transaction can be divided in to several sub queries that operates on fragments. This increases the degree of concurrency or parallelism in the system. Possible Problems in the New Architecture Complexity The new distributes database system hides the distributed nature of the system from the user. Though it provides an acceptable level of performance, reliability and availability is more complex than the existing centralized database architecture. The fact that certain data, specially Colombo and Mumbai stocks related data are replicated in Colombo and Mumbai branches, ads an extra level of complexity when dealing with synchronization between these elements. So the software must be designed to handle the data replication adequately, if not it will lead to degradation of availability, reliability and overall performance of the entire system. Cost The increased complexity of the new distributed database architecture leads to higher costs in hardware and software resources as well as maintenance costs. Difficulties in integrity control Validity and consistency of stored data is referred to as Database integrity. Integrity is usually is expressed in terms of constraints, which are consistency rules that DBMS is not allowed to violate. Enforcing integrity constraints requires that defines the constrains but that are not related to actual update operation itself. In a Distributed DBMS environment like the proposed Infinity computer systems architecture, the processing and communication cost that are required to enforce such integrity constraints may be prohibitive. Security Unlike the centralized DBMS system which the access can easily be controlled, new Distributed database system which consists of fragmented and replicated data which are located at multiple sites, the security control is more challenging. Furthermore the network itself needs to be made secure in order to protect the data that travel between three branches. CHAPTER 3 Detailed structure and functionality of distributed database In this chapter, structure of the distributed database of infinity computer systems and the functionality of the distributed components will be discussed in greater detail. Table Format There are three major tables used in the database architecture. They are Employees, sales and stocks. Following is the table format for each table. As shown in the figure 7, Employees, Sales and Stocks tables are fragmented and located at all three branches according to the relevance of the site where the data is accessed most often. This architecture make the data access time faster and keep the communication costs down. Furthermore data of the Stocks_CMB, are vertically fragmented and located at the Mumbai branch database site with the table name of Stocks_CMB_FRG. During the fragmentaion of Stock_CMB all attributes of the Stock_CMB table were allocated in to Stocks_CMB_FRG except UNITPRICE attribute, because it is irrelevant to INDIAN territory thus it reduce the wastage of storage space due to repetition of irrelevant data. The purpose of allocating Colombo head office Stock data in the Mumbai site is to allow faster access because Mumbai branch of Infinity computer systems, run its own warehouse and deal with manufacturers and suppliers directly. This makes it important fir Mumbai branch have the ability to access the Colombo stock data very often and quickly so that both branches can maintain a healthy stock for everyday business. Colombo branch retains a copy of the Stocks tables related to Mumbai site as well as maintaining its own stock table related to Colombo stocks. In this new design, Sto ck_MBI table that is located in the Colombo head office site is configured to synchronize with Stock_MBI table, two times a day, during midday and then at the end of the working day. In a nutshell, following is the way the database is distributed across three branches. Employees and Sales Tables that were previously located in the Colombo branch, were fragmented according to the relevancy where data items are physically belong and located at their relevant branches. Stock_MBI is replicated at Mumbai (Stock_MBI_LCL) site while retaining a exact copy in Colombo branch Stock_KDY table is transferred to Kandy site from its previous position of Colombo Stock_CMB table is Vertically fragmented and located a copy at Mumbai branch. Data Allocation Method There are four methods to consider when choosing a data allocation method for proposed distributed database architecture for Infinity computer systems. They are, Centralized Fragmented Complete Replication Selective Replication Out of the above methods, we use Selective Replication as the data allocation method for proposed distributed database architecture. Selective Replication is a combination of Fragmentation, replication and centralized data allocation methods. In this method some data items are fragmented to maximize high locality of reference and others, which are used at many sites and are not frequently updated, are replicated; otherwise data items are centralized. This approach gives combination of advantages of all the other three methods. Using the selective replication method, we will only be distributing data related to Kandy and Mumbai branch to their respective branches while keeping a main database at Colombo branch which will consist of records related to all branches. This will serve as a redundant database as well as a central repository where all data related to companys all three branches can be easily retrieved. Following section describes how the above distribution was done by using relational algebra. Fragmentation of Database for Allocation of Data at Various Sites When distributing a database across multiple sites, one of the main factors need to consider is the fragmentation of database items such as Tables. Fragmentation consists of breaking a relation in to smaller relations or fragments and storing the fragments at different sites. By fragmenting, data can be distributed to the sites where they used more often. There are two approaches to distribute database elements across multiple sites. They are, Distribute one copy of each database table in all sites Distribute portions of the selected tables that are important to local sites In our company case we will be using the second method mentioned above. In that method we will be distributing only the data in the three main tables that are related to each site (Branch). When fragmenting data in a table there are three techniques used. They are, Horizontal fragmentation Vertical fragmentation Hybrid fragmentation For our company distributed database we use both horizontal and vertical fragmentation to distribute table data among three branches. More precisely, For Employee table and Sales table we use Horizontal fragmentation and for Stocks_CMB table we use Vertical Fragmentation. The reason for using vertical fragmentation for stock table is because Mumbai branch deals with manufacturers and other vendors who provides hardware and software stocks directly to Mumbai branch. Horizontal Fragmentation In horizontal fragmentation, certain rows of the tables are put in to a base relation at one site, and other rows are put in to a base relation at another site. In other words, the rows (tuples) of a relation are distributed to many sites as disjointed fragments. In infinity computer systems database, we use the horizontal fragmentation as follows, to fragment Employees and sales tables. When selecting the criteria to horizontally fragment the Employees and Sales tables is the relevance of data to the location. As shown above, the current employee table, we fragment by considering the BRCODE field. BRCODE indicates the branch where the employee works. By doing so we can build three new tables out of the above database table and allocate them to each of the 3 branches of the company. We can horizontally fragment employees table in to 3 separate logically related tables as follows. Using relational algebra to do the horizontal fragmentation of Employees table To do the above horizontal fragmentation of employees table in to three tables we can use relational algebra SELECT operation. Our intention is to fragment the table in to three small fragments so each table would contain Employees related to their respective branch. To achieve this, Relational algebra operations are, Employees_CMB = SELECT(Employees_Table) WHERE BRCODE = CMB Employees_MBI = SELECT(Employees_Table) WHERE BRCODE = MBI Employees_KDY = SELECT(EMP_TABLE) WHERE BRCODE = KDY Executing the above three formulas results in following three table fragments: Employees_CMB (contains 2 tuples) Employees_MBI (contains 2 tuples) Employees_KDY (contains 1 tuple) Relational algebra operation for fragmenting Sales Table We can divide sales tables in to three fragments through the SELECT algebra operation as follows and it will result in three tables containing sales data related to each of the three branches. Sales_CMB = SELECT(Sales_Table) WHERE BRCODE = CMB Sales_MBI = SELECT(Sales _Table) WHERE BRCODE = MBI Sales_KDY = SELECT(Sales _Table) WHERE BRCODE = KDY Vertical Fragmentation Vertical Fragmentation works by splitting a table between attributes. Vertical fragmentation is used in situations where some sites needed to access the attributes of the tables of many data items in a table. This fragmentation is more difficult than horizontal fragmentation as more options exist. The fragmentation can be achieved by either Grouping attributes to fragments or Splitting relations in to fragments For fragment Colmbo branchs Stock_CMB Table, we use the first method mentioned above. Relational algebra operation for Vertical fragmentation of Sales_CMB Table For vertical fragmentation, relational algebra Project operation is used. We fragment the above table to form a new table called Stocks_CMB_FRG. This new table will contain all the attributes of the above table except UNITPRICE. Following is the relational algebra Project operation. Stocks_CMB_FRG = PROJECT(Stocks_CMB) TOCKCODE, ITEMNO, QTY, S LASTIN, NEXTIN Executing the above operation will result in creating the following table. Stocks_CMB_FRG Data Model The data model consists of three layers called schemas. Each schema defines a set of views that database can be seen. The three schemas are, External schema layer Represents the view of the database that users and/or applications might see Conceptual schema layer At this level the database objects such as tables, columns, views, and indexes are defined. These definitions provide mappings to the next level of the model, which is where the physical layout of the database is defined. Internal schema layer This layer defines the actual layout of the records and fields. Distributed databases of all three branches are modeled according the above structure and all three branches maintain their own set of the above model. In local sites, when users access the data stored locally, they access them as defined in the external Views. Conceptual schema maps the logical structure of the tables to Internal Schema which defines the physical storage of data on the discs. 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