Software Development Life Cycle Models

Software Development Life Cycle Models The Systems Development Life Cycle (SDLC) is a conceptual model used in project management that describes the stages involved in an information system development project from an initial feasibility study through maintenance of the completed application. Various SDLC methodologies have been developed to guide the processes involved including the waterfall model (the original SDLC method), rapid application development (RAD), joint application development (JAD), the fountain model and the spiral model. Mostly, several models are combined into some sort of hybrid methodology. Documentation is crucial regardless of the type of model chosen or devised for any application, and is usually done in parallel with the development process. Some methods work better for specific types of projects, but in the final analysis, the most important factor for the success of a project may be how closely particular plan was followed. This is the most common and classic of life cycle models, also referred to as a linear-sequential life cycle model. It is very simple to understand and use. In a waterfall model, each phase must be completed in its entirety before the next phase can begin. At the end of each phase, a review takes place to determine if the project is on the right path and whether or not to continue or discard the project. Unlike what I mentioned in the general model, phases do not overlap in a waterfall model. Waterfall Life Cycle Model Advantages à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Simple and easy to use. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Easy to manage due to the rigidity of the model each phase has specific deliverables and a review process. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Phases are processed and completed one at a time. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Works well for smaller projects where requirements are very well understood. Disadvantages à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Adjusting scope during the life cycle can kill a project à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ No working software is produced until late during the life cycle. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ High amounts of risk and uncertainty. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Poor model for complex and object-oriented projects. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Poor model for long and ongoing projects. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Poor model where requirements are at a moderate to high risk of changing. V-Shaped Model Just like the waterfall model, the V-Shaped life cycle is a sequential path of execution of processes. Each phase must be completed before the next phase begins. Testing is emphasized in this model more so than the waterfall model though. The testing procedures are developed early in the life cycle before any coding is done, during each of the phases preceding implementation. Requirements begin the life cycle model just like the waterfall model. Before development is started, a system test plan is created. The test plan focuses on meeting the functionality specified in the requirements gathering. The high-level design phase focuses on system architecture and design. An integration test plan is created in this phase as well in order to test the pieces of the software systems ability to work together. The low-level design phase is where the actual software components are designed, and unit tests are created in this phase as well. The implementation phase is, again, where all coding takes place. Once coding is complete, the path of execution continues up the right side of the V where the test plans developed earlier are now put to use. Advantages à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Simple and easy to use. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Each phase has specific deliverables. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Higher chance of success over the waterfall model due to the development of test plans early on during the life cycle. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Works well for small projects where requirements are easily understood. Disadvantages à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Very rigid, like the waterfall model. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Little flexibility and adjusting scope is difficult and expensive. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Software is developed during the implementation phase, so no early prototypes of the software are produced. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Model doesnt provide a clear path for problems found during testing phases. Spiral Model The spiral model is similar to the incremental model, with more emphases placed on risk analysis. The spiral model has four phases: Planning, Risk Analysis, Engineering and Evaluation. A software project repeatedly passes through these phases in iterations (called Spirals in this model). The baseline spiral, starting in the planning phase, requirements are gathered and risk is assessed. Each subsequent spirals builds on the baseline spiral. Requirements are gathered during the planning phase. In the risk analysis phase, a process is undertaken to identify risk and alternate solutions. A prototype is produced at the end of the risk analysis phase. Software is produced in the engineering phase, along with testing at the end of the phase. The evaluation phase allows the customer to evaluate the output of the project to date before the project continues to the next spiral. In the spiral model, the angular component represents progress, and the radius of the spiral represents cost. Advantages à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ High amount of risk analysis à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Good for large and mission-critical projects. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Software is produced early in the software life cycle. Disadvantages à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Can be a costly model to use. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Risk analysis requires highly specific expertise. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Projects success is highly dependent on the risk analysis phase. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Doesnt work well for smaller projects. 1. The Scope of Life Cycles As we described in the book The Enterprise Unified Process (EUP) the scope of life cycles can vary dramatically. For example, Figure 1 depicts the Scrum construction life cycle whereas Figure 2 depicts an extended version of that diagram which covers the full system development life cycle (SDLC) and Figure 3 extends that further by addressing enterprise-level disciplines via the EUP life cycle. The points that Im trying to make are: à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ System development is complicated. Although its comforting to think that development is as simple as Figure 1 makes it out to be, the fact is that we know that its not. If you adopt a development process that doesnt actually address the full development cycle then youve adopted little more than consultantware in the end. My experience is that you need to go beyond the construction life cycle of Figure 1 to the full SDLC of Figure 2 (ok, Retirement may not be all that critical) if youre to be successful à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Theres more to IT than development. To be successful at IT you must take a multi-system, multi-life cycle stage view as depicted in Figure 3. The reality is that organizations have many potential projects in the planning stage (which Ill call Iteration -1 in this article), many in development, and many in production. 2. Iteration -1: Pre-Project Planning Iteration -1, the pre-Inception phase in the Enterprise Unified Process (EUP), is the pre-project aspects of portfolio management. During this phase you will: 1. Define the business opportunity. You must consider the bigger business picture and focus on market concerns. This includes exploring how the new functionality will improve your organizations presence in the market, how it will impact profitability, and how it will impact the people within your organization. This exploration effort should be brief, not all projects will make the initial cut so you only want to invest enough effort at this point to get a good gut feel for the business potential. A good strategy is to follow Outside-In Developments focus on identifying the potential stakeholders and their goals, key information to help identify the scope of the effort. 2. Identify a viable for the project. There are several issues to consider when identifying a potential strategy for the project. For example, do you build a new system or buy an existing package and modify it? If you decide to build, do you do so onshore or offshore? Will the work be solely done by your own development team, by a team from a system integrator (SI), or in partnership with the SI? What development paradigm traditional/waterfall, iterative, or agile will you follow? Will the team be co-located, near-located within the same geographic region, or far-located around the world? As you can see there are many combinations of strategy available to you, and at this point in time you may only be able to narrow the range of the possibilities but be forced to leave the final decision to the project team in future iterations. 3. Assess the feasibility. During Iteration -1 you will want to do just enough feasibility analysis to determine if it makes sense to invest in the potential project. Depending on the situation you may choose to invest very little effort in considering feasibility, for many systems just considering these issues for a few minutes is sufficient for now, and for some systems you may choose to invest days if not weeks exploring feasibility. Many organizations choose to do just a little bit of feasibility analysis during Iteration -1, and then if they decide to fund the project they will invest more effort during Iteration 0. In my experience you need to consider four issues when exploring feasibility: economic feasibility, technical feasibility, operational feasibility, and political feasibility. Your feasibility analysis efforts should also produce a list of potential risks and criteria against which to make go/no-go decisions at key milestone points during your project. Remember that a gile teams only have a success rate of 72%, compared to 63% for traditional projects, implying that almost 30% of agile projects are considered failures. Therefore you should question the feasibility of the project throughout the life cycle to reduce overall project risk. 3. Iteration 0/Warm Up: Project Initiation The first week or so of an agile project is often referred to as Iteration 0 (or Cycle 0) or in The Eclipse Way the Warm Up iteration. Your goal during this period is to initiate the project by: 1. Garnering initial support and funding for the project. This may have been already achieved via your portfolio management efforts, but realistically at some point somebody is going to ask what are we going to get, how much is it going to cost, and how long is it going to take. You need to be able to provide reasonable, although potentially evolving, answers to these questions if youre going to get permission to work on the project. You may need to justify your project via a feasibility study. 2. Actively working with stakeholders to initially model the scope of the system. As you see in Figure 5, during Iteration 0 agilists will do some initial requirements modeling with their stakeholders to identify the initial, albeit high-level, requirements for the system. To promote active stakeholder participation you should use inclusive tools, such as index cards and white boards to do this modeling our goal is to understand the problem and solution domain, not to create mounds of documentation. The details of these requirements are modeled on a just in time (JIT) basis in model storming sessions during the development cycles. 3. Starting to build the team. Although your team will evolve over time, at the beginning of a development project you will need to start identifying key team members and start bringing them onto the team. At this point you will want to have at least one or two senior developers, the project coach/manager, and one or more stakeholder representatives. 4. Modeling an initial architecture for the system. Early in the project you need to have at least a general idea of how youre going to build the system. Is it a mainframe COBOL application? A .Net application? J2EE? Something else? As you see in Figure 5, the developers on the project will get together in a room, often around a whiteboard, discuss and then sketch out a potential architecture for the system. This architecture will likely evolve over time, it will not be very detailed yet (it just needs to be good enough for now), and very little documentation (if any) needs to be written. The goal is to identify an architectural strategy, not write mounds of documentation. You will work through the design details later during development cycles in model storming sessions and via TDD. 5. Setting up the environment. You need workstations, development tools, a work area, for the team. You dont need access to all of these resources right away, although at the start of the project you will need most of them. 6. Estimating the project. Youll need to put together an initial estimate for your agile project based on the initial requirements, the initial architecture, and the skills of your team. This estimate will evolve throughout the project. 4. Release Iterations(s): The End Game During the release iteration(s), also known as the end game, we transition the system into production. Not that for complex systems the end game may prove to be several iterations, although if youve done system and user testing during construction iterations (as indicated by Figure 6) this likely wont be the case. As you can see in Figure 9, there are several important aspects to this effort: 1. Final testing of the system. Final system and acceptance testing should be performed at this point, although as I pointed out earlier the majority of testing should be done during construction iterations. You may choose to pilot/beta test your system with a subset of the eventual end users. See the Full Life Cycle Object-Oriented Testing (FLOOT) method for more thoughts on testing. 2. Rework. There is no value testing the system if you dont plan to act on you find. You may not address all defects, but you should expect to fix some of them. 3. Finalization of any system and user documentation. Some documentation may have been written during construction iterations, but it typically isnt finalized until the system release itself has been finalized to avoid unnecessary rework Note that documentation is treated like any other requirement: it should be costed, prioritized, and created only if stakeholders are willing to invest in it. Agilists believe that if stakeholders are smart enough to earn the money then they must also be smart enough to spend it appropriately. 4. Training. We train end users, operations staff, and support staff to work effectively with our system. 5. Deploy the system. See my article entitled System Deployment Tips and Techniques. 6. Briefly on different Phases: 7. Feasibility 8. The feasibility study is used to determine if the project should get the go-ahead. If the project is to proceed, the feasibility study will produce a project plan and budget estimates for the future stages of development. 9. Requirement Analysis and Design 10. Analysis gathers the requirements for the system. This stage includes a detailed study of the business needs of the organization. Options for changing the business process may be considered. Design focuses on high level design like, what programs are needed and how are they going to interact, low-level design (how the individual programs are going to work), interface design (what are the interfaces going to look like) and data design (what data will be required). During these phases, the softwares overall structure is defined. Analysis and Design are very crucial in the whole development cycle. Any glitch in the design phase could be very expensive to solve in the later stage of the software development. Much care is taken during this phase. The logical system of the product is developed in this phase. 11. Implementation 12. In this phase the designs are translated into code. Computer programs are written using a conventional programming language or an application generator. Programming tools like Compilers, Interpreters, Debuggers are used to generate the code. Different high level programming languages like C, C++, Pascal, Java are used for coding. With respect to the type of application, the right programming language is chosen. 13. Testing 14. In this phase the system is tested. Normally programs are written as a series of individual modules, these subject to separate and detailed test. The system is then tested as a whole. The separate modules are brought together and tested as a complete system. The system is tested to ensure that interfaces between modules work (integration testing), the system works on the intended platform and with the expected volume of data (volume testing) and that the system does what the user requires (acceptance/beta testing). 15. Maintenance 16. Inevitably the system will need maintenance. Software will definitely undergo change once it is delivered to the customer. There are many reasons for the change. Change could happen because of some unexpected input values into the system. In addition, the changes in the system could directly affect the software operations. The software should be developed to accommodate changes that could happen during the post implementation period. Why an SDLC? When you pay your telephone bill your payment is processed by a system. That system has evolved over many years and continues to evolve in order to meet the changing needs of the business. When the phone company cashes your check that check is also processed by a system which itself is evolving. These two systems are composed of manual activities and automated components. They also exist in the context of many other systems with which they must interface. Each system works so well individually because it is composed of a rigorous set of tasks which result in well-defined outputs. Regardless of who is doing the task, the result is essentially the same. As staff turnover occurs the system provides continuity to the way of doing business. Each system can interface with the other because the division of activities between the bank and the phone company are well defined, as are the interfaces. Thus, no matter which bank the check is drawn on, the process is the same; no matter which phone company sends in the check, the process is the same. The precision and completeness of the task lists, the data, the division of responsibilities and the interface definitions are required because of the complexity of these systems. But what about the process that creates and maintains these systems? Software systems development is, from a historical perspective, a very young profession. The first official programmer is probably Grace Hopper, working for the Navy in the mid-1940s. More realistically, commercial applications development did not really take off until the early 1960s. These initial efforts are marked by a craftsman-like approach based on what intuitively felt right. Unfortunately, too many programmers had poor intuition. By the late 1960s it had become apparent that a more disciplined approach was required. The software engineering techniques started coming into being. This finally brings us to the SDLC. What evolved from these early activities in improving rigor is an understanding of the scope and complexity of the total development process. It became clear that the process of creating systems required a system to do systems. This is the SDLC. It is the system used to build and maintain software systems. As with the phone billing system, an SDLC system is needed because the development process is composed of many complex tasks which must be done in the right order to produce a successful result. If there is no SDLC each team must reinvent it based on their own experiences and judgments. The complexity of the tasks has led to increased specialization. These specialists (e.g.,data base analysts, network designers, testers) must have well-bounded tasks with well-defined outputs and well-defined interfaces to the rest of the development team. This is provided by the SDLC. Systems also have a long life. The billing system and check processing system will probably never be de-automated. These systems will outlive their development teams. As staff turnover occurs, continuity is required in how the systems are supported. This is provided by the SDLC. Another issue is systems integration. Can you imagine if the architects designing a sky-scraper each had their own ways of creating and documenting the buildings plans? The plumbing, wiring, heating systems, floors, walls, etc., would never come together. Most computer systems interface with other computer systems. The degree of system integration is rapidly increasing. The descriptions of functions and data at the interfaces must be produced and documented in a consistent manner, in much the same way as architects must have a standard way of documenting plans. This is provided by the SDLC. You would not dream of trying to process phone bills or checks without a system due to the complexity of the process, the need for specialization, the need for continuity and the need to interface to the rest of the world. We have seen here that the process of developing systems has the same characteristics. Therefore, we need a system to build computer systems the SDLC. SYSTEM ANALYSIS AND DESIGN 1.1 INTRODUCTION Systems are created to solve problems. One can think of the systems approach as an organized way of dealing with a problem. In this dynamic world, the subject System Analysis and Design (SAD), mainly deals with the software development activities. 1.2 OBJECTIVES After going through this lesson, you should be able to define a system explain the different phases of system development life cycle enumerate the components of system analysis explain the components of system designing 1.3 DEFINING A SYSTEM A collection of components that work together to realize some objectives forms a system. Basically there are three major components in every system, namely input, processing and output.   1.4 SYSTEM LIFE CYCLE System life cycle is an organizational process of developing and main- taining systems. It helps in establishing a system project plan, be- cause it gives overall list of processes and sub-processes required for developing a system. System development life cycle means combination of various activi- ties. In other words we can say that various activities put together are referred as system development life cycle. In the System Analy- sis and Design terminology, the system development life cycle also means software development life cycle. Following are the different phases of system development life cycle: Preliminary study Feasibility study Detailed system study System analysis System design Coding Testing Implementation Maintenance 1.5 PHASES OF SYSTEM DEVELOPMENT LIFE CYCLE The different phases and related activities of system development life cycle. (a) Preliminary System Study Preliminary system study is the first stage of system development life cycle. This is a brief investigation of the system under consideration and gives a clear picture of what actually the physical system is? In practice, the initial system study involves the preparation of a System Proposal which lists the Problem Definition, Objectives of the Study, Terms of reference for Study, Constraints, Expected benefits of the new system, etc. in the light of the user requirements. The system proposal is prepared by the System Analyst (who studies the system) and places it before the user management. The management may accept the proposal and the cycle proceeds to the next stage. The management may also reject the proposal or request some modifications in the proposal. In summary, we would say that system study phase passes through the following steps: problem identification and project initiation background analysis inference or findings (system proposal) (b) Feasibility Study In case the system proposal is acceptable to the management. 2 :: Computer Applications In a system the different components are connected with each other and they are interdependent. For example, human body represents a complete natural system. We are also bound by many national systems such as political system, economic system, educational sys- tem and so forth. The objective of the system demands that some output is produced as a result of processing the suitable inputs. A well-designed system also includes an additional element referred to as control that provides a feedback to achieve desired objectives of the system. 3 :: Computer Applications Next phase is to examine the feasibility of the system. The feasibility study is basically the test of the proposed system in the light of its workability, meeting users requirements, effective use of resources and of course, the cost effectiveness. These are categorized as technical, operational, economic and schedule feasibility. The main goal of feasibility study is not to solve the problem but to achieve the scope. In the process of feasibility study, the cost and benefits are estimated with greater accuracy to find the Return on Investment (ROI). This also defines the resources needed to complete the de- tailed investigation. The result is a feasibility report submitted to the management. This may be accepted or accepted with modifications or rejected. The system cycle proceeds only if the management accepts it. (c) Detailed System Study The detailed investigation of the system is carried out in accordance with the objectives of the proposed system. This involves detailed study of various operations performed by a system and their relationships within and outside the system. During this process, data are collected on the available files, decision points and transactions handled by the present system. Interviews, on-site observation and questionnaire are the tools used for detailed system study. Using the following steps it becomes easy to draw the exact boundary of the new system under consideration: Keeping in view the problems and new requirements Workout the pros and cons including new areas of the system All the data and the findings must be documented in the form of detailed data flow diagrams (DFDs), data dictionary, logical data structures and miniature specification. The main points to be discussed in this stage are: Specification of what the new system is to accomplish based on the user requirements. Functional hierarchy showing the functions to be performed by the new system and their relationship with each other. Functional network, which are similar to function hierarchy but they highlight the functions which are common to more than one procedure. List of attributes of the entities these are the data items which need to be held about each entity (record) (d) System Analysis Systems analysis is a process of collecting factual data, understand the processes involved, identifying problems and recommending feasible suggestions for improving the system functioning. This involves studying the business processes, gathering operational data, understand the information flow, finding out bottlenecks and evolving solutions for overcoming the weaknesses of the system so as to achieve the organizational goals. System Analysis also includes subdividing of complex process involving the entire system, identification of data store and manual processes. The major objectives of systems analysis are to find answers for each business process: What is being done, How is it being done, Who is doing it, When is he doing it, Why is it being done and How can it be improved? It is more of a thinking process and involves the creative skills of the System Analyst. It attempts to give birth to a new efficient system that satisfies the current needs of the user and has scope for future growth within the organizational constraints. The result of this process is a logical system design. Systems analysis is an iterative process that continues until a preferred and acceptable solution emerges. (e) System Design Based on the user requirements and the detailed analysis of the existing system, the new system must be designed. This is the phase of system designing. It is the most crucial phase in the developments of a system. The logical system design arrived at as a result of systems analysis is converted into physical system design. Normally, the design proceeds in two stages: Preliminary or General Design Structured or Detailed Design Preliminary or General Design: In the preliminary or general design, the features of the new system are specified. The costs of implementing these features and the benefits to be derived are estimated. If the project is still considered to be feasible, we move to the detailed design stage. Structured or Detailed Design: In the detailed design stage, computer oriented work begins in earnest. At this stage, the design of the system becomes more structured. Structure design is a blueprint of a computer system solution to a given problem. 4 :: Computer Applications Same components and inter-relationships among the same components as the original problem. Input, output, databases, forms, codification schemes and processing specifications are drawn up in detail. In the design stage, the programming language and the hardware and software platform in which the new system will run are also decided. There are several tools and techniques used for describing the system design of the system. These tools and techniques are: i. Flowchart ii. Data flow diagram (DFD) Data dictionary Structured English Decision table Decision tree Each of the above tools for designing will be discussed in detailed in the next lesson. The system design involves: i. Defining precisely the required system output ii. Determining the data requirement for producing the output iii. Determining the medium and format of files and databases iv. Devising processing methods and use of software to produce output v. Determine the methods of data capture and data input vi. Designing Input forms vii. Designing Codification Schemes viii. Detailed manual procedures ix. Documenting the Design (f) Coding The system design needs to be implemented to make it a workable system. This demands the coding of design into computer understandable language, i.e., programming language. This is also called the programming phase in which the programmer converts the program specifications into computer instructions, which we refer to as: programs. It is an important stage where the defined procedures are transformed into control specifications by the help of a computer language. The programs coordinate the data movements and control the entire process in a system.

Seide :: essays research papers

„Seideâ€Å" von Alessandro Baricco Alessandro Baricco Geboren 1958 in Turin, studierte Philosophie und Musik. Er schrieb Musikkritiken und Essays à ¼ber Musik, bevor er mit seinen Roman „Seideâ€Å" (1997), „Land aus Glasâ€Å" (1998) und „Novecentoâ€Å" (1999) den großen Druchbruch erzielte. Mit seiner erfolgreichen Fernseh-Literatursendung „Pickwickâ€Å" und der Grà ¼ndung einer Kreatività ¤tsuniversità ¤t in Turin, der „Scuola Holdenâ€Å", ist Baricco endgà ¼ltig zum Kultautor avanciert. „Seideâ€Å", ist ein literarischer Bestseller, der in wunderschà ¶ner, poetischer Sprache eine leise Geschichte à ¼ber das Begehren erzà ¤hlt. Alessandro Baricco erzà ¤hlt in einer Parabel à ¼ber das Glà ¼ck und seine Unerreichbarkeit. Hauptperson des Buches ist Hervà © Joncour, der als Seidenhà ¤ndler arbeitet und ein ruhiger und ausgeglichener Mensch. Verheiratet ist er mit Hà ©là ¨ne, die als hà ¼bsche Frau mit einer wundervollen Stimme beschrieben wird. Obwohl Hervà © seine Frau liebt, sucht er doch nach Glà ¼ck und Leidenschaft, die er schließlich in Japan, verkà ¶rpert in einer mà ¤dchenhaften Frau, deren Augen nicht asiatisch geschnitten sind, findet. Dieser Frau begehrt er wie er noch keine andere Frau begehrt hat. Doch er sehnt sich nur nach ihr, weil sie fà ¼r ihn unerreichbar ist. Die Sehnsucht nach dieser Frau verfolgt ihn jahrelang, bis er endlich bemerkt, daß er das große Glà ¼ck und die Liebe bereits in seiner eigenen Frau gefunden, jedoch nie wahrgenommen hat. Doch erst als seine Frau stirbt, begreift er es. Um sich davor zu bewahren, unglà ¼cklich zu sein, verbringt er die Tage damit, seinen à ¼blichen Gewohnheiten nach zugehen. Doch manchmal ging er auch zu einem See hinunter, „... denn es schien ihm, als zeichne sich auf dem Wasser das unerklà ¤rliche, schwerelose Schauspiel dessen ab, was sein Leben gewesen war.â€Å" Nur zweimal in seinem Leben hat er sich so gefà ¼hlt. Beim ersten Mal, als ihm klar wurde, daß er die rà ¤tselhafte Frau, die er so sehr begehrte, nicht mehr wiedersehen wird und nach dem Tod seiner Frau, als er seine große Liebe verlor. Hervà © Joncour, ein Seidenhà ¤ndler, lebt mit seiner Frau Hà ©là ¨ne ein ruhiges Leben in Lavilledieu. Nur einmal im Jahr fà ¤hrt er durch die ganze Welt, um Larven von Seidenraupen einzukaufen. Và ¶llig unerwartet bricht eine Seuche unter den Seidenraupen in Afrika auf und Hervà © fà ¤hrt nach Japan, um seine Einkà ¤ufe zu erledigen. Dort begegnet er Hara Kei, einen reichen japanischen Aristokraten, mit den er fortan seine Geschà ¤fte fà ¼hrt und einer Frau, die sein Leben fà ¼r immer verà ¤ndern sollte. Er wechselt kein einziges Wort mit ihr und doch spà ¼rt der Gewissheit, sie wieder zu sehen. Ein Jahr spà ¤ter bricht Hervà © wieder auf, um nach Japan zu reisen.

Hemp :: essays research papers

Hemp In the entire world, there has never been a plant quite as amazing as Cannabis Sativa. Being the world’s only renewable resource capable of solving many of it’s environmental, psychological, and economic problems, it is of no surprise that the plant has made quite an impact in the discovery of the New World. Cannabis Sativa, also known as; Hemp, cannabis hemp, Indian (India) hemp, true hemp, muggles, weed, pot, marijuana, reefer, grass, ganja, bhang, "the kind," dagga, and herb became an ideal plant to cultivate because of its many fine attributes. Depending on the culture, It’s leaves and flower tops were the first, second, or third most important and most used medicines for at least two thirds of the world’s people for at least 3,000 years. Cannabis hemp is by far, the strongest, most durable, longest lasting natural soft fiber, and the worlds most advanced plant family on the planet. Because it is Dioecious, having male, female and sometimes hermaphroditic qualities, it is easy to grow and cultivate. This tall, woody, herbaceous annual, reaching anywhere from 12 to 20 feet in one short growing season uses the sun more efficiently that any other plant on earth. It can be grown in any climate or soil condition on Earth, and is a premier renewable natural resource. Many countries found the plant appealing because of it’s abilities to flourish in extreme heat. The Arabs discovered that the sticky goo, or Hashish, that covered the flowers and leaves was a natural protectant against the sun, holding in moisture and repelling damaging heat. It’s ability to survive in temperatures of 100 degrees Fahrenheit made it ideal for mass production in the New World. Not to mention that it needs no chemicals to grow and has very few natural enemies. The Hemp plant was initially cultivated for it’s main two attributes, it’s hardiness and it’s useful fibers. Until the 1820’s in America, 80 percent of all textiles and fabrics used for clothing, tents, bed sheets, and linens were made principally from the fibers of Cannabis. Until 1883, from 75-90% of all paper in the world was made with cannabis hemp fiber including that for books, Bibles, maps, paper money, stocks and bonds, newspapers, etc. Everything from rugs, diapers, drapes, quilts, towels, rags, and even our nation’s flag were made possible by Hemp. The rest of the world used it’s fibers well into the 20th century and most countries still rely on it for the bulk of their paper and textile industries.

Life of Pi †Significance of Color Essay

A woman once said, â€Å"There is no life without color. † This is just the case with the main character of â€Å"The Life of Pi†, Pi Patel. Pi is a cast away on a lifeboat in the middle of the Pacific Ocean with a tiger, an orangutan, a hyena and a zebra. There is one color that was mentioned multiple times throughout the story, the color orange. In the novel â€Å"Life of Pi† by Yann Martel, this color is used as a symbol for hope and survival. To hope means to wish for something with expectations of its fulfillment. Pi’s case is a pristine example of hoping for something. He has many instances when he gains hope throughout the novel, including building a raft, landing on the island, or even finding the food in the locker of the lifeboat. The most important, is the hope Pi is given through his companion on the lifeboat, Richard Parker, a four hundred and fifty pound Royal Bengal tiger. Being the color orange, the tiger becomes an example of hope throughout the book. Pi realizes, to keep himself, Richard Parker, and the will to survive alive, he must tame the tiger. â€Å"I had to tame him. It was at that moment that I realized this necessity. It was not a question of him or me, but of him and me. We were, literally and figuratively, in the same boat. We would live–or we would die–together. † (Martel, 164) Keeping Richard Parker alive would allow Pi to constantly remember that he is not the only one suffering and he has someone there for him, whether he can answer or not. Although Pi has many reasons to be hopeful, the author gives the reader reasons as well. Prior to the scene of the sinking of the Tsimtsum, an interviewer and reporter that is talking to Pi about the sinking of the ship describes visiting Pi later in life at his home in Canada. He meets Pi’s family and mentions that Pi’s daughter, Usha, holds an orange cat. â€Å"Leaning against the sofa in the living room, looking up at me bashfully, is a little brown girl, pretty in pink, very much at home. She’s holding an orange cat in her arms. † (92) This scene guarantees the reader that the end result of the story and Pi’s life will be not total tragedy. Pi has a life where he has been successful and has children of his own. While in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, Pi’s only goal was to survive. Items on the boat and religion truly gave him this will to survive, and Pi was more capable of surviving with them in his presence. While on the lifeboat, Pi has an orange life jacket with an orange whistle, an orange buoy, a bright orange tarpaulin, and a four hundred and fifty pound Bengal Tiger. Pi is thrown on the lifeboat by Chinese men with a life jacket already on him. â€Å"One of the men interrupted me by thrusting a life jacket into my arms and shouting something in Chinese. I noticed an orange whistle dangling from the life jacket. (105) The life jacket is used by Pi in constructing a raft to have a safe place away from Richard Parker, and the whistle is used by taming the large tiger. He utilizes his bright orange survival equipment to stay alive and keep away from Richard Parker. For most of the voyage they take on the lifeboat, Richard Parker remains under the tarpaulin, even from the beginning. After Pi is pushed overboard into the lifeboat, he says â€Å"I couldnâ⠂¬â„¢t see Richard Parker. He wasn’t on the tarpaulin or on a bench. He was at the bottom of the boat. † (106) Richard Parker having orange fur, is a symbol of survival. He keeps Pi alert and continuously reminds him of his situation. Religion played a big part of Pi’s life, and he prayed three times a day every day while he was on the boat. His family’s religion is Hinduism, and orange is the color of the second Hindu chakra, which are believed to be centers of the body from which a person can collect energy in the religion. Throughout his entire journey, he was always in contact with something that was the color orange, and that is why it becomes a symbol of survival. Every item and detail of his trip aids him in survival, and is part of the outcome of him being rescued. The color orange will always be remembered by Pi and readers as the color of hope and survival. The color gives readers hope for Pi and gives Pi the will to survive because of the possessions that are that color. The items Pi has on the boat all aid in his miraculous survival, just as Richard Parker and the religions he practices provides a measure of emotional support. These help the young boy maintain hope in this horrific tragedy. But above all, the orange color of survival and hope will always be known as the color that kept him alive.

Speech Analysis Essay

http://www. pbs. org/newshour/character/links/nixon_speech. html PRESIDENT NIXON'S RESIGNATION SPEECH August 8, 1974 Good evening. This is the 37th time I have spoken to you from this office, where so many decisions have been made that shaped the history of this Nation. Each time I have done so to discuss with you some matter that I believe affected the national interest. In all the decisions I have made in my public life, I have always tried to do what was best for the Nation.Throughout the long and difficult period of Watergate, I have felt it was my duty to persevere, to make every possible effort to complete the term of office to which you elected me. In the past few days, however, it has become evident to me that I no longer have a strong enough political base in the Congress to justify continuing that effort. As long as there was such a base, I felt strongly that it was necessary to see the constitutional process through to its conclusion, that to do otherwise would be unfaithf ul to the spirit of that deliberately difficult process and a dangerously destabilizing precedent for the future.But with the disappearance of that base, I now believe that the constitutional purpose has been served, and there is no longer a need for the process to be prolonged. I would have preferred to carry through to the finish whatever the personal agony it would have involved, and my family unanimously urged me to do so. But the interest of the Nation must always come before any personal considerations.From the discussions I have had with Congressional and other leaders, I have concluded that because of the Watergate matter I might not have the support of the Congress that I would consider necessary to back the very difficult decisions and carry out the duties of this office in the way the interests of the Nation would require. I have never been a quitter. To leave office before my term is completed is abhorrent to every instinct in my body. But as President, I must put the in terest of America first. America needs a full-time President and a full-time Congress, particularly at this time with problems we face at home and abroad.To continue to fight through the months ahead for my personal vindication would almost totally absorb the time and attention of both the President and the Congress in a period when our entire focus should be on the great issues of peace abroad and prosperity without inflation at home. Therefore, I shall resign the Presidency effective at noon tomorrow. Vice President Ford will be sworn in as President at that hour in this office. As I recall the high hopes for America with which we began this second term, I feel a great sadness that I will not be here in this office working on your behalf to achieve those hopes in the next 21/2 years.But in turning over direction of the Government to Vice President Ford, I know, as I told the Nation when I nominated him for that office 10 months ago, that the leadership of America will be in good h ands. In passing this office to the Vice President, I also do so with the profound sense of the weight of responsibility that will fall on his shoulders tomorrow and, therefore, of the understanding, the patience, the cooperation he will need from all Americans. As he assumes that responsibility, he will deserve the help and the support of all of us.As we look to the future, the first essential is to begin healing the wounds of this Nation, to put the bitterness and divisions of the recent past behind us, and to rediscover those shared ideals that lie at the heart of our strength and unity as a great and as a free people. By taking this action, I hope that I will have hastened the start of that process of healing which is so desperately needed in America. I regret deeply any injuries that may have been done in the course of the events that led to this decision.I would say only that if some of my Judgments were wrong, and some were wrong, they were made in what I believed at the time to be the best interest of the Nation. To those who have stood with me during these past difficult months, to my family, my friends, to many others who joined in supporting my cause because they believed it was right, I will be eternally grateful for your support. And to those who have not felt able to give me your support, let me say I leave with no bitterness toward those who have opposed me, because all of us, in the final analysis, have been concerned with the good of the country, however our judgments might differ.So, let us all now join together in affirming that common commitment and in helping our new President succeed for the benefit of all Americans. I shall leave this office with regret at not completing my term, but with gratitude for the privilege of serving as your President for the past 51/2 years. These years have been a momentous time in the history of our Nation and the world. They have been a time of achievement in which we can all be proud, achievements that rep resent the shared efforts of the Administration, the Congress, and the people.But the challenges ahead are equally great, and they, too, will require the support and the efforts of the Congress and the people working in cooperation with the new Administration. We have ended America's longest war, but in the work of securing a lasting peace in the world, the goals ahead are even more far-reaching and more difficult. We must complete a structure of peace so that it will be said of this generation, our generation of Americans, by the people of all nations, not only that we ended one war but that we prevented future wars.We have unlocked the doors that for a quarter of a century stood between the United States and the People's Republic of China. We must now ensure that the one quarter of the world's people who live in the People's Republic of China will be and remain not our enemies but our friends. In the Middle East, 100 million people in the Arab countries, many of whom have consider ed us their enemy for nearly 20 years, now look on us as their friends. We must continue to build on that friendship so that peace can settle at last over the Middle East and so that the cradle of civilization will not become its grave.Together with the Soviet Union we have made the crucial breakthroughs that have begun the process of limiting nuclear arms. But we must set as our goal not just limiting but reducing and finally destroying these terrible weapons so that they cannot destroy civilization and so that the threat of nuclear war will no longer hang over the world and the people. We have opened the new relation with the Soviet Union. We must continue to develop and expand that new relationship so that the two strongest nations of the world will live together in cooperation rather than confrontation.Around the world, in Asia, in Africa, in Latin America, in the Middle East, there are millions of people who live in terrible poverty, even starvation. We must keep as our goal tu rning away from production for war and expanding production for peace so that people everywhere on this earth can at last look forward in their children's time, if not in our own time, to having the necessities for a decent life. Here in America, we are fortunate that most of our people have not only the blessings of liberty but also the means to live full and good and, by the world's standards, even abundant lives.We must press on, however, toward a goal of not only more and better jobs but of full opportunity for every American and of what we are striving so hard right now to achieve, prosperity without inflation. For more than a quarter of a century in public life I have shared in the turbulent history of this era. I have fought for what I believed in. I have tried to the best of my ability to discharge those duties and meet those responsibilities that were entrusted to me.Sometimes I have succeeded and sometimes I have failed, but always I have taken heart from what Theodore Roo sevelt once said about the man in the arena, â€Å"whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes short again and again because there is not effort without error and shortcoming, but who does actually strive to do the deed, who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself in a worthy cause, who at the best knows in the end the triumphs of high achievements and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly. I pledge to you tonight that as long as I have a breath of life in my body, I shall continue in that spirit. I shall continue to work for the great causes to which I have been dedicated throughout my years as a Congressman, a Senator, a Vice President, and President, the cause of peace not just for America but among all nations, prosperity, justice, and opportunity for all of our people. There is one cause above all to which I have been devoted and to which I shall always be devoted for as l ong as I live.When I first took the oath of office as President 51/2 years ago, I made this sacred commitment, to â€Å"consecrate my office, my energies, and all the wisdom I can summon to the cause of peace among nations. † I have done my very best in all the days since to be true to that pledge. As a result of these efforts, I am confident that the world is a safer place today, not only for the people of America but for the people of all nations, and that all of our children have a better chance than before of living in peace rather than dying in war.This, more than anything, is what I hoped to achieve when I sought the Presidency. This, more than anything, is what I hope will be my legacy to you, to our country, as I leave the Presidency. To have served in this office is to have felt a very personal sense of kinship with each and every American. In leaving it, I do so with this prayer: May God's grace be with you in all the days ahead. NOTE: The President spoke at 9: 01 p . m. in the Oval Office at the White House. The address was broadcast live on radio and television. Analyzing Famous Speeches In Richard M.Nixon's very effective resignation speech, Ray Price uses logic and emotion to get his point across: that he wanted to resign and protect his name. Nixon gave this speech on August 8, 1974, because of the political turmoil that was happening in the United States. Richard M. Nixon had to (Kilpatrick). What makes it so remarkable is that he was the only president to resign (Beschloss). Logic was one of the main uses in Ray Prices speech. â€Å"This is the thirty-seventh time I have spoken to you from this office, where so many decisions have been made that shaped the history of this nation.America needs a full-time president and a full-time congress, particularly at this time with problems we face at home and abroad† (Price 2). These are just a couple of examples of logic in this speech. All of the facts that he uses drive his speech to perf ection. â€Å"I would have preferred to carry through to the finish whatever the personal agony it would have involved, and my family unanimously urged me to do so† (Price 1). This was one of the main examples of emotion. He tried to pull at the heart strings of the audience. Ray Price uses this to add to the effectiveness of the speech.Both of these things were used to complement his means to write the speech. He gets his point across using these factors. Overall Ray Price got his point across in a very successful way by using these elements. Kilpatrick, Carroll. â€Å"Nixon Resigns. † Washington Post. Washingtonpost. com, 1974. Web. 17 Mar. 2013 http://www. washingtonpost. com/wp-srv/national/longterm/watergate/articles/080974-3. html. Beschloss, Michael. â€Å"Richard M. Nixon. † The White House. Www. whitehouse. gov , 2009. Web. 17 Mar. 2013. http://www. whitehouse. gov/about/president/richardnixon.

Reflection paper 2 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Reflection paper 2 - Essay Example According to Marx, the proletariat represents the real revolutionary body free of conservatism, which developed and led to an open revolution, which withdrew the bourgeoisie. Marx asserts that the bourgeoisie attributed to the modern industry development produces its own destroyers and this leads to the inevitable success of the proletariat (Karl and Engels, 34). In relation to the communist manifesto, Marx asserts that the association between the proletariats’ labour and the bourgeoisie’s property ownership should be changed such that the right to own property can be transformed into another level of social class whose class character is eliminated. This implies that the communist policy requires that the labour will only exist to benefit the labourers in the society. According to Marx, the bourgeois stand against the communist ideology because of its intend and power to limit their freedom and more importantly remove the policy of private property. However, the communist policy dissented by voices, which argue that no need of working of private property is abolished (Karl and Engels, 69) On equal measure, other dissenters argue that communism will eventually annihilate intellectual products. This is not true, only that it reflects the bourgeois misperception. Marx affirms that the communist revolution is a sweeping rupture in the conventional property associations, which is attributed to the fundamental changes in the conventional ideologies. According to Marx, the revolution represented by the working class intends to make the proletariat the ruling class. This follows that the proletariat class will use its political supremacy to confiscate all the monetary gains from the bourgeoisie. Next, the proletariat will centralize the requisite tools of production to be directly controlled by the State. This will only be

Validity, Reliability, and Accuracy Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Validity, Reliability, and Accuracy - Term Paper Example Validity, Reliability and Accuracy Our essay is, otherwise, based on: management, its five functions and its essence in various institutions. Management is an element that forms the core of many organizations or institutions. It is not restricted to large companies but also to small entrepreneurs and non- profit institutions. It possesses a large history of growth and improvement. Due to the modification and ever altering conceptualization of management, it has been perceived more largely. It, thus, is defined largely as comprising of five elements. Management can either be a science or an art of fulfilling common goals of a group through efficiency and effectiveness of utility of resources. The five elements are; planning, organizing, controlling, staffing and directing. In a case of absence of one of the pillars, management can become cumbersome and lead to eventual failure of an organization. This type of management usually involves strategic elements.Management shares vital elements of a group of people and resour ce utility. It is essential to note that management possesses different levels in such a way that other managers report to senior managers. Before discussing these five branches of management, it is important to look at few other elements of management or managers. This helps one conceptualize and understand the scope of management. To begin with, the roles of a manager cover three ideals. These roles provide the foundation for the five tasks of management. A manager is supposed to handle roles that concern the relationship and links of employees. In addition, a manager is supposed to carry out the roles of ensuring correct and timely information to the organization. Lastly, a manager should ensure rational and timely decision construction in the organization. Apart form those skills, management necessitates political skills in harnessing power and control. In addition, it requires conceptualization skills in understanding complicated situations. Moreover, it requires good personal relation skills and diagnostic skills in achieving the right response to difficult scenarios. The first pillar of management is planning. The art of planning, as applied to business environments, shares in its literal concept. It is the act of creating a plan and devising ways of accomplishing its components. It also shares in forecasting which the act of envisaging the future and creating a strategy to achieve certain tasks as per the prediction (Tibergien and Pommering 13). Planning involves formation of objectives and their particular strategies. A good plan should, however, be flexible to assist accompany contemporary situations. A good plan should also evaluate existing resources available to a given organization and realize whether those resources can pedal the objectives (Marquis and Houston 35). A good plan has, therefore, to be realistic. Closely related to this, a plan should focus on a realistic frame of time. The second element of management is organizing. Primarily, org anizing, as applicable to organization, suggests activities of arranging various elements into a proper order. As applied to organizations, it covers minor functions of; delegation of work and specialization, goal focus, divisions and differentiation (Marquis and Houston 35). Division of work is the task of giving organization’s duty to the in an entity or to a given individual. When a given task is assigned to a single professional or an individual, then this aspect is referred to as specialization. Organization also encompasses