Monday, November 25, 2019

Corporations and Communities Learning How to Be Responsible

Corporations and Communities Learning How to Be Responsible The on-going debate on the place of corporations The Canadian documentary The Corporation (Achbar Abbott 2003) dwells upon the role corporations have played in the society. Corporations are now associated with evil, illegal entities that focus on gaining profit at the expense of the community. People claim that corporations ceased the power long time ago and people can do nothing to resist.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Corporations and Communities: Learning How to Be Responsible specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More However, it is important to remember that corporations were initially â€Å"a gift of people to serve the public good† as people gathered to fulfil certain tasks and their activities were strictly regulated (Achbar Abbott 2003). The corporations are not a product of evil businessmen of the beginning of the twentieth century. These entities (as they are now) are a result of regulatory deficiencies a t a number of levels, i.e. corporate, national and international levels. The present paper is aimed at identifying the major regulatory deficiencies and revealing possible ways to diminish negative influence of corporations. Major issues associated with corporations To understand the reasons for the impact corporations have, it is necessary to briefly trace the development of these entities. Industrialisation is seen as the major factor that made the appearance of corporations possible (Bowman 2010). Researchers also note that the development of the military industry was another potent factor that contributed to the development of corporations (Achbar Abbott 2003). Mastrogiovanni (2009) notes that military conflicts have always brought huge sums of money to those involved in the military industry.  However, the major turning point in the development of corporations as they are now was the enactment of the 14th Amendment. Researchers stress that the notion that corporations should be regarded as legal persons enabled these entities to operate with less restrictions (Achbar Abbott 2003). The corporation was a legal person that was able to buy and sell property. Therefore, corporations have gained more power since the 1930s. Importantly, the concept of the corporation has spread worldwide as the American economic model was transferred to European (as well as South American and Asian) countries after the World War II. Drucker (2009) claims that the development of corporations worldwide was inescapable as the collaboration between the countries was increasing. The development of corporations is also associated with a variety of positive and negative externalities. These economic, political, social and environmental externalities have had predominantly negative effect on the development of communities and the image of corporations (Simpson 2007).Advertising Looking for essay on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Corporations gained more power and violated more and more regulations. What is more, new regulations (which were favourable for corporations) have been introduced. These violations and new unfair regulations can be explained by regulatory deficiencies at the corporate, national and international levels. Results of regulatory deficiencies at different levels The corporate level In the first place, it is necessary to consider regulatory deficiencies at the corporate level. The core goal of any corporation is gaining profit. It is noted that there is nothing bad in that as this is the basis of a capitalist society (Achbar Abbott 2003). Therefore, corporations tend to focus on gaining profit rather than on being responsible in many respects. The business world has always been highly competitive and contemporary corporations have to face lots of constraints. To remain competitive, corporations often try to reduce their expenses, and this often leads to violation of certain norms (Kurucz, Colbert Wheeler 2008). Thus, corporations can reduce perks (or even wages) of employees, violate environmental regulations, etc. The national level However, corporate irresponsibility cannot be regarded as the major factor contributing to the spread of corporations and their empowerment. Admittedly, corporations violate regulations and they are corrupt. However, it is much more serious that corporations are barely ever punished. Governments of the USA and all European countries let corporations violate the rules. For instance, the famous case of Cochabamba is an example of the symbiotic co-existence of a corporation and a government. Thus, SEMAPA, the organisation providing municipal water and sewage services, was privatised and soon sold to a corporation (Snchez Gà ³mez Terhorst 2005). Olivera (2004) notes that the tender procedure was obscure and held with a variety of violations. In this case, the government was corrupt and let a corporatio n take control over a community’s organisation. More so, the example of the Bolivian case also transcends on the international level which appears to be the major factor contributing to the negative influence of corporations. The international level SEMAPA was sold under the pressure as the World Bank had an impact on the Bolivian government. Notably, the organisation was sold to an American corporation. Therefore, that was not a case of a single country as it involved several states and an international organisation.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Corporations and Communities: Learning How to Be Responsible specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Obviously, international bodies have a great impact on governments. This single case can justify the argument that regulatory deficiencies at the international level have led to the development of corporations which are irresponsible in social, political, environmental, e thical and moral respects. The most effective level in addressing the issues At the same time, the great influence international bodies have now makes the international level the most effective in addressing the issues related to the negative impact of corporations’ irresponsible activities. Cordato (2007) argues that international regulations have been effective tools in many cases. The contemporary globalised world is, to a certain extent, governed by international bodies. Therefore, these organisations are capable of diminishing negative effects of corporations’ activities. The history of corporations’ development shows that they used to be strictly governed. It is time to reintroduce such a practice. Notably, some may state that the Cochabamba model can be successful in addressing the issues associated with corporations’ activities. It is necessary to note that the famous People’s Agreement of Cochabamba reflects major issues and outlines most important concept (People’s agreement 2010). For instance, people of Cochabamba address the rest of the world and ask for responsibility and creation of responsible regulatory bodies. However, the situation in the region proves that a set of concepts is not enough as the government is still corrupt and ineffective. People are still suffering from the lack of resources. Therefore, the manifestation should be brought to the fore and become the basis for the new legitimate document. The existing international bodies should start paying more attention to the activities of corporations. It is crucial to work out regulations which would make the corporations a union of people working for the community. Conclusion To sum up, it is possible to note that industrialisation was the major factor that contributed to the development of corporations. These entities have acquired considerable power and have often violated various regulations on the global scale. However, globalisation has br ought a solution. International bodies have the necessary tools to diminish the corporations’ negative influence by introducing strict regulations and taking control over the corporations’ compliance to the new rules.Advertising Looking for essay on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Reference list Achbar, M Abbott, J 2003, The corporation, Big Picture Media Corporation, Vancouver, Canada. Bowman, S 2010, Modern corporation and American political thought: law power, and ideology, Penn State Press, University Park, PA. Cordato, R 2007, Efficiency and externalities in an open-ended universe: a modern Austrian perspective, The Ludwig von Mises Institute, Auburn, AL. Drucker, P 2009, Concept of the corporation, Transaction Publishers, Piscataway, NJ. Kurucz, EC, Colbert, BA Wheeler, D 2008, The business case for corporate social responsibility, in A Crane, A McWilliams, D Matten, J Moon D Seigel (eds), The Osford handbook on corporate social responsibility, Oxford University Press, Oxford, pp. 83-112. Mastrogiovanni, M 2009, The business of war: understanding the military-industrial complex and how it’s still used today, ESSAI, vol. 7. no. 33, pp. 106-108. Olivera, O 2004, Cochabamba!: water war in Bolivia, South End Press, Cambridge, MA.  People’ s agreement of Cochabamba 2010. Web. Snchez Gà ³mez, L Terhorst, P 2005, Cochabamba, Bolivia: public-collective partnership after the Water War, in B Balany et al. (eds), Reclaiming public water-achievements, struggles, and visions from around the world, Transnational Institute and Corporate Observatory Europe, Porto Alegre, Brazil, pp. 121-130. Simpson, BP 2007, An economic, political, and philosophical analysis of externalities, Reason Papers, vol. 29. no. 1, pp. 123-140.

Thursday, November 21, 2019

Can we ever know the true level of crime Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

Can we ever know the true level of crime - Essay Example However this seems to be an on-going tale which does not find any end at all. Wherever there is crime, there is punishment and this is because crime has its specific ramifications if understood in the most apt manner. One must understand that punishment and crime are inter-related and hence the former is something which shall directly or indirectly affect an individual within the moral and ethical concepts. The true level of crime must be ascertained before one can suggest where the ramifications and consequences could be deciphered. This paper discusses how crime is a deterrent to the different societies of the world and that its extent cannot be gauged in an easy way. An effort has been made to find out the true level of crime as it happens within the different terrains of the society and for that all-out measures are in place to tackle this menace from its roots. Crime exists because people who are its stakeholders believe in its existence. What this means is the fact that crime h as a definitive place and position within the different domains of a society and it would be very difficult for a commoner to run away from either the crime or the one who is committing one such act – the criminal itself. ... the view that this (crime) can be curtailed while others opine that it an uncontrollable aspect and should therefore be given more significance and consideration within the related aspects of human society, punishment and morality. Whatever it is, crime exists to thwart the basis of proper conduct amongst the people, bring about problems for the mankind and basically disrupt the basis of smooth sailing within the people on a societal level. The hierarchies get affected and hence criminals are given more significance than was necessary on their part. The authorities run after them yet they hardly find a criminal much to their dismay. This is the world of present times where criminals are more famous than the ones who perform the good tasks and are basically the saviors of the society. Moving on with the aspect of crime, the concepts of civil rights and civil law are both significant functions of civil society as it is the bubble of private action independent of the control of the gove rnment. One must remember that this is not free of governmental action because this secures the nature of the civil society through the protection of individuals against the criminal wrongdoings. It is essential to note here that the civil society is comprised of the people who are left by the government to regulate their respective pursuits with regards to the industry and improvement, however the protection brought forward by the government is in the form of the citizens from the criminal wrongdoings in the form of violence, fraudulent activities, robbery and thefts. The civil society always finds a way to keep away this criminal element from its domains. If the civil society does not play its part in an imperative manner, the crime rate increases and the sanity within the ranks of the

Wednesday, November 20, 2019

The Lighthouse and Two Lights and Coast Guard Station, Two Lights, Essay

The Lighthouse and Two Lights and Coast Guard Station, Two Lights, Maine - Essay Example The essay "The Lighthouse and Two Lights and Coast Guard Station, Two Lights, Maine" analyzes Edward Hopper's "The Lighthouse and Two Lights" and "Coast Guard Station, Two Lights, Maine". Hopper’s style features shapes that are strongly contrasted against each other, giving them a sense of being solidly real as in his paintings â€Å"The Lighthouse at Two Lights† (1929) and â€Å"Coast Guard Station, Two Lights, Maine† (1927). Although these two paintings seem to have been painted in the same area of the country and in the same style, the paintings achieve different effects. These paintings share similar subjects and locations even though their dimensions are quite different. Both paintings depict scenes found on the coast of Maine. The focal point of both paintings is centered upon a white structure as it appears on a clear day in the style of the American Realist. â€Å"Placed in the middle of a cultural search for an American identity precipitated by a nation al crisis, the artist was caught between hope and helplessness. The quest for what was uniquely American inspired the artist to paint the heroic, the ordinary and the novel†. In painting a coast guard station and a lighthouse, Hopper caught an image of the heroic, the ordinary and the novel all in the singular structure of the building featured. The lighthouse painting is approximately 29 inches high by approximately 43 inches wide while the coast guard station painting is significantly smaller at approximately 14 inches high by approximately 20 inches wide.

Monday, November 18, 2019

Qualitative Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Qualitative - Essay Example Since previous studies reveal that women above 30 are the most affected by this phenomenon, this study will focus on women above 30 years around 75 percent of the sample. The other 25 percent will comprise of women below the age of 30. To access obese women above 30 years, the study will be conducted in major hospitals, social clubs, gymnasium, and supermarket parking lots. The intended outcome is to get the bulk of the sample from hospitals, gymnasium, social clubs, and supplement with data from the parking lot study. The sampling approach to will be quota sampling. Quota sampling approach the design focusses on a specific number of people with specified characteristics that are consistent with the participants. This approach will be adopted because of available knowledge on groups of women that are affected, therefore need to focus on this group, which is women above 30 years. Observation and interviews will be used to collect the data required for the study. The interview sessions will be carried out on a daily basis with a target to interview at least three obese women. The observation will also be carried out on a daily basis on a chosen sample group from gymnasiums and social clubs. The main data that will be collected includes stigmatisation, family history, medical history, social life, and how they are controlling the solutions. To find out all this the questions to be asked will be as

Saturday, November 16, 2019

Model Driven Development Vs Test Driven Development Computer Science Essay

Model Driven Development Vs Test Driven Development Computer Science Essay Model driven development is a top-down, traditional approach that has been around for a long time. Test Driven Development (TDD) is a bottom-up, new approach in the sense that it has picked up its value in the recent years. The focus of MDD as the name implies is on the models rather than on code that guides the development of software whereas focus of TDD is on the tests. There have been several changes to MDD since the beginning to deal with the changing environment and complexities raised by projects. TDD started as a part of extreme programming (XP) methodology and has gained popularity among many developers as a separate practice itself. Traditional, hard cored MDD developers are accustomed to developing software that seems more natural to them considering it to be an Engineering approach. TDD developers approach the problem in a totally different perspective concentrating on customer views of the system. There are advantages and disadvantages to both approaches. For a high qual ity software product that meets the goals of the organization, it is important to understand and apply the most suitable methodology while making certain trade-offs if necessary. The best approach to follow depends on several factors including the type of organization, type of project, and experience the developers have. This paper is aimed at explaining Model driven and Test Driven development along with case study and observations. 1. Model Driven Development or MDD. Model can be precisely defined as â€Å"a description of a system from a particular perspective, omitting irrelevant detail so that the characteristics of interest are seen more clearly†. (Source: Patterns: Model-Driven Development Using IBM Rational Software Architect) Consider an example in which there is a pressing business need such as automation of certain processes and understanding the data collected in the business. In this situation a Business exists and there are people who are performing certain business activities in certain way. These are the people who are thinking of having a tool or a software product to help them increase their productivity and their functionality. These people who are called Domain Experts or Subject Matter experts or Business Experts know what they want. However, they currently do not have any software product that will help them to meet their needs. In this situation Domain Experts are the driving force. They do things in a certain way and expect the software product developed for them meet their needs should also do things in that manner. However, they do not know how a new software product will look like and how it will help them to meet their needs. People who develop this software product understand the needs , but they may miss the intricacies of the desired end product. Building a MODEL will help alleviate this situation. A MODEL can be a diagram, an animation or a presentation. If the Software that has to be developed is very small or involves 1 or 2 people, then the process need not be so much structured, even though it helps. However, while developing a large product which will involve tens or hundreds of people having different expertise, model will help them to accomplish this easily. A new product development building a Model is absolutely necessary. This is analogous to a civil Engineer creating a model of Building before it is actually built. Model Driven Development (MDD) is a methodology that focuses on designing models at an abstract level without considering the implementation details that guide the development process, focusing on one part of the system to manage complexity. Models help to analyze the problem and visualize the process. Most commonly used language for this purpose is Unified Modeling Language (UML). It establishes certain vocabulary and structure so as to understand and communicate between various developers. Artifacts are produced from the models, so the models are machine-readable, which is an important aspect of MDD. MDD is also called as â€Å"Model Driven Engineering†. An implementation of MDD is given by Object Management Group (OMG)s Model Driven Architecture (MDA). Focus of MDA is on forward engineering, i.e. creating code from modeling diagrams. Apart from MDA, there are also other views of MDD such as Domain Oriented Programming, Agile Model Driven Development, etc. MDA uses platform-independent model (PIM) to describe the system functionality as the first step. Platform Independent Model (PIM) is a generic way of representing the end view of the product without considering any technology or platforms going to be used. This model just transforms the Business requirements into a Model. This format does not contain any particular software code but shows the end state of the product in one of the Model development modes such as Diagrams, Flow Charts, and Animations etc. Based on the PIM and considering some economic conditions or availability, a proper platform is selected to develop the software. A model is then converted from PIM to platform specific model or PSM. . This contains software code at a higher level. Platform is a loose word in this context. This can be referred to type of hardware, software, operating system, programming language or combination of any of these put together. That is why choosing a platform is related to economic viability also. PSM can be thought of Developers model where as PIM can be thought of Domain Experts or End users model. UML representation using IBMs Rational Rose can be considered as PIM. Whereas, tools like IBM WebSphere Studio and Borland Together/J are used for developing PSM. In these, we have CODE VIEW and MODEL VIEW. These two views are synchronized together. When code is changed in Code View, it is reflected in the Model View and vice versa. The models may contain fixed and variable data, business requirements, presentation elements (forms, reports). If one of these elements changes, they can be incorporated into the model to see the changes that occur due to interdependencies. Based on the affects, all the other depending code can be changed accordingly to accommodate these changes. Models also describe what is called the Gap Analysis. Models are first built with an Ideal situation, but in reality the business processes and other aspects may be different. Therefore, the models will show the difference between the Real Life situation and the End State Ideal situations. This will help the Business units to define the changes in Business Practices or the Developers to meet the Business needs and bridge the gap. A well defined Structured System Analysis and Design (SSAD) is required to develop software based on Models. In this process, the design (Model) is taken as the basis to start with the development and as the development process is advanced, it is analyzed with the design and tested against the Model and re-visited to meet the requirements. Hence, software development using MDD approach requires Domain (Business) experts, software developers, Team leaders and Integration experts. Someone should also be able to play a Liaison role to understand both sides of the table Business side and Software side. This person will help each of the expert groups to understand the needs of other groups and will bridge the gap. Number of iterations in the project development process will be reduced drastically if this Liaison person has good knowledge and is an expert on both sides. MDD is used with many development processes such as waterfall model, iterative model, spiral model, etc. In MDD approach, a model plays an important role and forms the basis or driving mechanism to develop a software product. Test Driven Development: Test Driven Development (TDD) started its roots in Extreme Programming (XP) approach. Later on, it became a popular method by itself. TDD was originally called â€Å"Test First Programming†. TDD can best be described in three words as â€Å"Red-Green-Refactor† (source: Kent Beck). Simple essence of TDD is to write tests before the code is written. First, unit tests are written from the requirements. These tests will definitely fail because the code for it has not been written. In order to write the tests, it is necessary for the developer to understand the requirements well. Then, code that implements the test cases is written. The code that is written should be just enough so that the tests pass, no more, no less. This means that no prediction about the future story must be made. Test driven approach is â€Å"then there† approach. This means that code is written at that time from the user story requirements without making any assumptions or predictions about fu ture. After writing the code, the tests are run and seen if they succeed. If they do, then programmer can be assured that the requirements were met. After this, a process called refactoring is done. This refers to improving the quality of code and removing any duplication in the code. If the design is changed for the better, the developer can be sure he is not breaking any functionality by running the tests again. This process is repeated for the test cases that follow. This process is shown as a flowchart below: Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Test-driven_development There are different issues to consider in this process. Test cases are written taking small steps at a time, such as implementation of one method. It is important to know the size of the test case and when the test case exceeds its limit of functionality to test. A test case contains the following: condition that specifies the systems state, an event that is to be tested, and finally systems state after the event has occurred. Almost every language has associated tools for writing these tests. In general, they are XUnit tests available for each language. For example, java has JUnit, C++ has cppUnit, .Net has NUnit, etc. The amount of designing that has to be done in TDD depends on developer. In Extreme Programming, no designing is done, directly jumping to test cases. However, some developers prefer to spend some time on design. Too much time should not be spent on the designs and deciding on that right amount of time to spend on it comes with experience. As suggested by Dave Chaplin, it takes almost a year for a good developer to learn most of the techniques in TDD. He divides the learning process in three stages. First stage would take three months to master writing the tests correctly. TDD is a totally different approach to take in developing software and most developers believe that hardest part about it is getting used to it and thinking in that direction. It takes another six months to learn about Mock objects. Last would be to be able to draw UML diagrams in a TDD perspective. This takes about three months. Those that become familiar with TDD find many advantages in it. These advantages are explained later in the paper. Pair programming is considered one of the best ways to develop a program using TDD. This is because another person can make sure you are going in right path. It is hard to make developers believe that this approach works. Also, management believes that it is a waste of money to make two people work on one feature while they can work on different features. Through test driven development, the focus is on customers requirements. TDD is now part of many other methodologies, such as Scrum, Agile Unified Process (AUP), and Rational Unified Process (AUP). TDD gives confidence to the developer and produces enthusiasm as they can see parts of the program coming together when they run the tests and see them pass. Case Study: Results of TDD and MDD are seen more effective by example. Therefore, I consider a case in which a Software Engineering class was given a choice of either doing MDD or TDD project. The projects were done for the same problem using different approaches. It was a calendar program that consisted of certain functionalities to fulfill. For TDD people, six user stories were given one after another without knowing what the next user story is. MDD people were given a problem definition and they were to submit GUI, design, code, tests at regular intervals. The functionalities that had to be implemented included finding the following: next date, previous date, zodiac sign, day of the week, next Friday the 13th, number of shopping days left until Christmas. These were each given as a user stories to TDD people. From the results of these, the following statistics were made: Model Driven Development approach results Criteria MDD User 1 User 2 User 3 User 4 User 5 User 6 Time To Code (hrs) 8 52 89 8.67 11 17 Time to Test (hrs) 2 15 13 3 3.3 2 NCSS (non comment source statements) 275 600 692 499 280 Number of Test Cases 109 142 51 Technology Used VBA Java Java (using Eclipse) C#.NET VS2008 C# VS Express C# Decision Complexity 79 59 Referential Complexity 26 52 Cyclomatic Complexity 105 111 83 GUI yes yes yes yes yes yes Test Driven Development approach results Criteria TDD User 7 User 8 User 9 User 10 User 11 User 12 User 13 User 14 User 15 User 16 User 17 User 18 Time to code 16.5 22 17 33 28 13.5 33 19.5 33 15 28 12.75 NCSS(non comment source Statements) 349 397 276 654 240 233 1095 279 196 298 328 277 Test cases 150 84 124 70 107 247 112 88 262 56 889 128 Technology C#.NET VS2008 Java Java Java VB.Net Express C VB .Net VBA Java Java VB.NET Java Decisional Complexity 106 66 76 76 97 115 62 57 77 145 81 Referential Complexity 12 43 40 24 24 34 19 102 9 160 29 Cyclomatic Complexity 118 109 117 100 65 121 149 81 159 86 115 110 GUI no no no no yes no no no no no No no Number of Times Refactored none 1 2 none 5 none 5 4 6 1 1 3 Observations: Even though there were almost twice as many people who did TDD as MDD, certain trends can be seen from the statistics. Since majority of the projects were developed using object oriented technology such as Java and C#, most of the observations are made based on these languages only. First and major difference that can be seen is creation of GUI. Only 1 out of 12 TDD people developed GUI while all of the six people who did through MDD developed it. One of the reasons for this is that in MDD, designing of GUI was first part of the task. In TDD, although there are tools that test a user interface, it is hard to obtain them and so user has to manually test them. Since it wasnt part of the requirement also, many had chosen to omit it. I noticed that neatest and well designed code came from most of MDD people. Even though there is refactoring in TDD, many had chosen not to do it. This can be seen by the statistics that 6 out of 12 people have either not done refactoring at all or did it only once. As research suggests, TDD is supposed to lead to high quality code. However, most of TDD projects code was of less quality. This comes to the point that in order to successfully carry out TDD, experience is needed. The lack of experience that most people had in doing a TDD might have been a factor for such quality. Many of TDD people had no experience in TDD methodology including me. As suggested by Dave Chaplin, in order to carry out TDD effectively, minimum one year of learning the techniques involved in the approach is needed for a good developer. Even though the quality and design is neater in MDD, number of lines of code was much less in TDD than MDD projects. In object oriented languages such as Java and C#, MDD projects had lines of code as 518 on an average while TDD projects had 350. This is partly due to refactoring eliminating unnecessary conditions and mostly due to the reason that since code was developed based on test cases, just about enough code that was necessary was written. Since the whole point of TDD is to start out with test cases, TDD projects have more test cases compared to MDD projects. For object oriented languages, TDD tests were 124 on average while MDD was 100. Although theory says that TDD results in highly cohesive and loosely coupled, but in practice, it is seldom like that. This point can be seen in this study. Most of the MDD projects were more cohesive and loosely coupled resulting in more reusable code compared to TDD. In TDD projects, it was seen that most of them had 2 or 3 classes at a maximum reducing cohesive nature and reusability. I observed that this is due to unpredictability of future user stories. MDD people can carefully plan the code such that it results in certain functions that can be used by other functions. In object oriented languages, correct amount of responsibilities and collaboration among objects in my opinion can be done more effectively if more designing is done. This is because it is much easier to see visually through the models. The reusability of the code in TDD also depends on the order of the user stories given. Most people reused day of the week code in shopping days till Christmas user story or Friday the 13th user story. Suppose that the user stories are given in a different order, then different approaches might be taken that might not result in the efficient piece of code. Refactoring tells you to remove duplications and keep the code clean, but the logic of the code will not change. In our case, if suppose number of shopping days left before Christmas was given before day of the week user story, then different approach might have been taken and the reusability of the day of the week code wouldnt have existed. It is easier to see collaborations and responsibilities of objects when the whole picture of the problem is present. Even the small amount of reusability that existed in TDD was due to the logical order in which the user stories were given. The time spent on the whole project for TDD is much less than MDD. Considering object oriented languages, TDD average time spent was 21 hours while MDD was 42 hours (almost double!!). TDD is proven to be faster and easier technique than MDD. In TDD, concentration is on current user story and it is faster to write test cases and code directly from user requirements. The time spent on test cases is paid off since no debugging has to be done at the end. Time and effort can be distributed and planned in advance in MDD. However, in TDD, since the amount of time and effort for the next user stories is hard to predict, it is difficult to plan. Some user stories take less amount of time while others consume lot of time. This can be seen in the case study. Most people said that finding zodiac sign took very less time and effort compared to finding the number of shopping days till Christmas . Pros and Cons of Using MDD approach From research and experience, these are some of the observations that were made on the MDD approach in general. A model in projects has following advantages It helps to break down the project into smaller code development pieces or modules which can be assigned to different teams. It helps each team to understand their role and how their part of the development is integrated into the whole product development The project managers and team leaders will understand on how to integrate all the modules and do testing. The end user will be able to visualize the integrated end product. If enough of time is spent in building a model properly, even though it takes time and effort, it will greatly reduce the time to build the product. A properly built model will also help in reducing the iterations of testing process, thus creating the integrations much quicker. There is also an economic advantage of building the models. A model will help to present a product to the investors easily and attract investments to fund the projects. Some disadvantages of using MDD approach The disadvantages of using MDD approach are not related to the approach itself, but rather it is related to the application of this approach. If MDD is not used properly, there will be extended delays in the product developments. Some of these possible setbacks are Building a Model will take lot of time and resources. MDD is not always â€Å"fit for all approach†. The project and product has to be analyzed before this approach is taken. Some people visualize a Model as an abstraction layer hiding all the complications of the product development process. Too much of abstraction may be good to certain audience in the project, but it over all defeats the purpose of building a model in the first place. So, care should be taken as not to ABSTRACT too much. If proper resources, such as, proper Domain experts are not involved while building a model, then the model as well as end product will be disastrous failure. MDD should not always be thought of the end point. Always underlying approach for each module should be associated with proper testing. Failure to consider the real life situations also causes the MDD unusable. The key to the whole process of Product development using MDD approach is having a proper liaison between Business group and IT group. Pros and Cons of Using TDD approach Some of the advantages of using TDD are: Since test cases are developed first, developer understands the requirements thoroughly in order to write them. The focus is on the functionality perspective of the client. TDD involves taking small steps at a time and focusing on one task at a time. Even though it consumes lot of time to write many unit test cases covering all possibilities, this makes it an advantage as it avoids debugging at later stages in the project. Finding bugs as early as possible is always beneficiary in terms of time and cost. Fixing bugs at a later stage is difficult because it is hard to determine what caused the bug. Since just enough code to pass the test is written, TDD will result in thorough testing covering all possible paths. If tests are written well, then it will produce stable code. Code is developed faster and there is working piece of code at every level, which inspires confidence and encourages the developer. Developer is aware of the progress made and can set goals to achieve a particular goal. TDD results in good design because of many factors. With experience, TDD can be a very effective method as it lets the developer think in small units of code leading to modularity and good design. This is also the result of looking at the problem from customers perspective to understand how it will be implemented. Refactoring also leads to producing good designs. Mocking and faking is beneficial in the sense that it will define the boundaries of the classes. This is because through mocking, you will find out what your classes should and should not know about the other class. This is the basic essence of encapsulation in any object oriented language. The test cases provide support for faster regression testing. On next iteration or anytime in future, when you add more tests, you can run all the tests to make sure that it works and if it doesnt, it is easy to see what part of the code broke. Some disadvantages with TDD approach are: TDD requires commitment and supporting management. Developers should be committed and write proper tests. If the tests are deleted or changed accidentally or purposefully, it will give false impression that the code is bugs-free. Support from management is important and they have to believe that this methodology works. If either of them does not exist, then TDD approach fails. Functional tests need to be done for programs that use a database or for creating user interfaces. For such things, using TDD approach is difficult. Tests and code are written by the same person most of the time and if the developer overlooks certain things, then it will affect the code as well and may not result in what is supposed to happen. If he interprets the requirements wrong, then the tests he writes and the code that implements them will turn out to be wrong and will lead to code that will not be as efficient as it should be. Another example would be if the developer doesnt check for certain specific inputs, then the code that needs to implement that will never be implemented. Having large number of working unit tests may build up over confidence that will lead to less concentrations on additional activities such as quality assurance evaluations. Unit tests only tell if the piece of code you wrote works. Other tests such as domain testing, integration testing, etc have to be done. Amount of coverage and details of testing that is done in TDD development cannot be reproduced at a later stage. So, these tests become an important aspect and it is necessary that they are well-written. There is no way to predict the type of user stories and it is not possible to gain a complete understanding of the system from the user stories. This leads to extensive code rewriting and refactoring. WHEN to use WHAT? This leads to the question of when is it appropriate to use TDD and when is it appropriate to use MDD. Software development is a process of developing a product to meet a certain business need. In a well defined environment and in large houses Software Development is done using the techniques described in Software Engineering and experience gained over the years. Many factors have to be taken into consideration when deciding on the methodology to use. These include things such as type of organization, management, type of project, experience of the developers, and availability of effective tools. Type of Project: Software development is done under two major circumstances 1. To develop altogether a new product a. A product that never existed before, but there is a need in the minds of people. A great example of this in recent years is ‘Youtube. There was no such product before, however, people had thought about having some kind of sharing videos. So, there is direc

Wednesday, November 13, 2019

Assisted suicide :: essays research papers

Assisted suicide is a controversial issue in our society today. We ask the question, should people have the right to decide when and how to end their lives? Imagine a loved one in unbearable pain and knows it is only going to get worst until finally death. What if a loved one came to you and asked you to help them escape all their pain and suffering. Wouldn’t you want to help that loved one if you could? Hazel Blazer suffering from cerebral spinal meningitis that could not be cured is an example. Eugene Bauer suffering from terminal throat cancer, or Clarence Herbert who suffered a heart attack and remained in a coma. There are two places in which terminally ill patients can be legally assisted in suicide. The Netherlands is one place where assisted suicide is common among terminally ill. The method they use is euthanasia. Euthanasia is considered very humane and done very carefully. The family has the right to be there when terminally ill patient is given the drugs. The process is totally up to the patient if they want to end their life or not. Another place where assisted suicide is legal is in Oregon. Passed by the voters in 1994 the law enables terminally ill patients to obtain lethal doses of medication if their doctor determines they have less then six months to live. The right to die is illegal in most places, but yet an individual has a constitutional right to request the withdrawal and withholding of medical treatment even if doing so results in death. The right of a person to refuse medical treatment is widely practiced and a more accepted way to end ones live in our society. Living wills are one way to refuse medical treatment. These wills are legal documents which state how much treatment a person wants and where to stop. Another way to refuse medical treatment is do-not-resuscitate orders. In which the person states if something would happen they would not want to be resuscitated. The raises an important question, is the request of assistance in dying just an extension of an individual right to control the kind of treatment received when dying? Karen Ann Quinlan suffered a respiratory arrest which left her in permanent vegetative state. The condition left her unable to breathe without respirator and unable to eat without a feeding tube.