Telecommuting Essay Example for Free

Telecommuting Essay Telecommuting or telework allows employees of a company to work from home or any other remote location other than an office. Telecommuting requires employees to be able to access all of the computer applications they have available to them at work in order to perform their jobs adequately. The company should provide Internet access to employees at their homes and make sure they have the appropriate equipment to run and access company provided software. While some experts argue telecommuting is more cost-efficient, may increase productivity and create a better work/life balance, others say the cost of decreased face time co-workers, effect it has on workers left at the office, and its failure to live up to some of its expectations could make it a less attractive option. By implementing telecommuting, a company has the possibility to save significantly. Because of telework, employees will be able to work from remote locations and will not have a need to come into the office. This will eliminate the need for a physical location for most employees, which will result in a large savings per month. Each employee can use their computer at home or be provided one by the company. By implementing telecommuting, it would prevent the need to expand physical locations in the future. Savings would also increase based on the lack of utility bills associated with the physical location, cancelling T1 lines, and landline phones. Each employee can communicate with each other and customers via their company cell phone, which usually is already provided to them or their home landline phone if they wish. The company will then be responsible for their Internet connection in the form of a reimbursement. The figure above outlines the total costs of each arrangement. It is clear that telecommuting has the potential to save a company more money almost immediately after implementation. This is true only if every person in the company telecommutes. As some companies telecommuting policies say, the employee who telecommutes must report to a centralized workplace for a portion of time each week. If this is true, telecommuting is not as cost efficient as it seems. Transportation costs are also drastically reduced for employees. Because they would no longer need to commute to the office everyday, costs associated with a daily commute would be drastically reduced. This would also save money for the company. The federal government offers tax incentives to companies who make efforts to reduce their carbon footprint. By implementing telecommuting, any company would be eligible for the tax incentives the very next year. In a study conducted at the Kentucky American Water Company, performed from 1998-2003, it was concluded that a significant savings could be made per employee (Butler, Aasheim, Williams, 2007). The article points out that for the Kentucky American Water Company, â€Å"savings include reduced expenses for office space and parking, and a reduction in complaints handled by the managers. † In a chart produced in the study, it compares the costs and savings of implementing the telecommuting process in the call center portion of the company. Their conclusion, on average, was telecommuting will save KAWC $1,361 per employee (p. 102). Research has shown that telework is related to higher job satisfaction and a variety of positive employee outcomes,† writes Karen Fonner for the Journal for Applied Communication Research (Fonner Roloff, 2010, p. 340). Telework helps employees manage their personal and work lives more effectively than working in an office setting. By releasing employees from the constraints of a physical office, they are empowered to create their own schedules to accomplish work more effectively. This empowerment enables employees to take ownership of their position and will otivate them to perform to the best of their abilities. With the ability of employees to create their own schedules around the clock, it will benefit companies by allowing the employee to have a flexible schedule to adapt to the demanding schedules of business in the new millennium. Another benefit of telecommuting is less absenteeism at work. If an employee has a doctor’s appointment, they can set their work schedule around the appointment and include it in their schedule around both personal and work appointments. If they were to report to a physical location and be forced to be stationary for a set amount of time in an office, the employee would be inclined to take the entire day off for the doctor’s appointment. With the flexibility of telework, the employee would not be inclined to call off and would still be able to work before and after the appointment. The same is true for employees who require creativity breaks in between sessions of working. The flexibility of telework enables more frequent breaks so that employees can use the time set aside for work to be most efficient. Telecommuting also takes employees out of the stressors of the office. Office politics plays a huge role in stress at work and is a huge distraction for employees. â€Å"By working remotely the majority of the time, teleworkers can avoid or ignore some of the unjust practices within the organization, such as cronyism, self-interested behavior, and pressure against speaking out against those in power,† writes Fonner (Fonner, 2010, p. 361). Without the politicking at work, employees who work from home can use their downtime for more productive personal task that don’t induce more stress on their job. In a survey conducted at the telcom company Ericsson in July of 2006, respondents were asked a series of questions related to telecommuting. Employees who were not currently telecommuting were asked what important factors would persuade them to telecommute in the future (Borjesson Markus, 2006, p. 526). The most rated saving time as the most influential reason to adapt telecommunication with increasing efficiency, reducing stress, and having more independence in their daily life as the top four reasons (Borjesson Markus, 2006). Ironically, reducing traveling costs had the smallest amount of supporters. Employees at Ericsson put more emphasis on empowerment as their main reason to choose telecommuting over monetary reasons. Plus, its an important tool for attracting a younger generation of employees who expect that flexibility and greater sense of control over their lives, says Danette Campbell, senior adviser for telework with the U. S. Patent and Trademark Office in Washington when speaking about telework in the article â€Å"Washington Tapping Into Telework For More Flexibility† (Silver, 2010, p. 0). Adding telecommuting as a workplace option will make any company a more attractive employer. The Kentucky American Water Company study proved telecommuters are more productive workers than their on-site employees (Butler, Aasheim, Williams, 2007, p. 101). The study measured productivity based on four factors, â€Å"amount of work; intensity of work; efficiency of work; and adjustments for additional costs associated with telecommuting (such as expenses for equipment, technology support, training, managerial support, and so forth)† (2007, p. 101). The study found, â€Å"the average productivity of telecommuters in the 13 months immediately after the â€Å"go live† period increased by 154%, while the average productivity of in-office agents fell by 13. 3%. Because overall customer service improved considerably (the percentage of abandoned calls decreased from 12. 2% to 3. 6%)† (p. 102). Understanding that all jobs at the KAWC call center can be performed using telecommunication, parallels can still be drawn from call center work and the type of work performed by most companies. The majority of daily work performed by most employees consists of communicating with clients and co-workers. All communication in most jobs does not rely on an employee being in a centralized workspace. By allowing employees to telecommute, they will be free to meet with customers and clients during any time of the day, thus allowing them to be more productive and available to them. Many clients and customers have problems meeting during a normal â€Å"9-to-5† workday because they are also at work. By implementing telecommuting, employees will be free to meet with them in the evening when they usually wouldn’t be at â€Å"work† if they worked in a centralized location or during business hours if they need to. Telecommuting also requires the use of technology to perform work from remote locations. â€Å"People who use more IT in their work are more productive, and by its very nature telecommuting requires more use of IT,† writes Ralph Westfall in his article â€Å"Does Telecommuting Really Improve Productivity? † (Westfall, 2004, p. 95). By implementing telecommuting at a company, they will be forced to update their technology and train people to use the new technology effectively. In doing this, employees will be forced to become more productive based on their new knowledge and the use of new technology. An argument against telecommuting is the lack of human interaction involved with the â€Å"Employees who worked away from their offices for three or more days a week reported worsening of their relationships with coworkers,† stated Pam Willenz for the American Psychological Association (Willenz, 2007). Employees may seem disenfranchised from their co-workers who report to an office, which has detrimental effects on employee morale to all employees. Telecommuting also could have detrimental effects on promotions for employees. The idea behind â€Å"out of sight, out of mind† plays a large role in the fear that employees who telecommute have less likely of a chance to get promoted from their current position because of their lack of face time with superiors. The lack of office politicking could be a double-edged sword where employees don’t have the chance to mingle with co-workers that could potentially advance their careers. Telecommuting had negative effects on the employees that are â€Å"left behind† in a centralized workplace. In-office employees took less satisfaction in their jobs and felt less of a relationship and obligation to their company as the number of telecommuting coworkers grew,† in a study that David Chartier reported in the article, â€Å"Study: Telecommuting makes work worse for non-telecommuters† (Chartier, 2009). Many of the workers that are left behind perceived that more work was left for them and are forced into other difficulties posed by telecommuting such as, building strong working relationships and finishing group work. Telecommuting is not appropriate for every job. There are still many jobs that cannot be performed through telecommuting. Contemporary Business states, â€Å"the cubicle- filled office will likely never become obsolete† (Boone, p. 22). Many jobs will never be able to completely translate over to a telecommuting environment so many workers will still have to report to a centralized workplace. Many face-to-face customer service jobs cannot be performed via telecommuting and many workers will still have to report to work therefore telecommuting is not an alternative to every job. Since telecommuting is so new, many employers are still experimenting with it and require that the employees who telecommute have to report to the office at least one day a week. Telecommuting is difficult to implement in situations where workers are paid on an hourly basis. The old adage, â€Å"Time worked equals time paid,† does not necessarily translate into the telecommuting environment very well. In hourly positions that can be transferred to telecommuting settings, clocking in and clocking out will be at the discretion of the worker with no oversight available. Employees who are compensated on an hourly basis would have to change their pay scale to a salaried position in order for telecommuting to be fair (Boone, 2010). If that is not the case, truant workers would be enabled by the lack of supervision and can â€Å"run the clock† more easily than if they reported to a centralized workspace (Boone, 2010). Telecommuting also puts company assets and information in an uncontrolled environment where it is difficult to keep track of how and for what they are used. It raises some questions where company information and assets could be compromised in a telecommuting situation. Many employees would easily be put in a situation where they could steal or copy customer information and use it outside of their work (Boone, 2010). Telecommuting is cost effective depending on how it is implemented and can save a company a lot of money only if every employee telecommutes in order to alleviate the need for a centralized workplace. Research supports these benefits of implementing telecommuting saying it will alleviate many stressors on employees by reducing time spent getting ready for work, commuting to an office on a daily basis, and office politics. There are negatives aspects, however, to telecommuting. It cannot be implemented for every job and there will still be a need for a centralized workspace so it may not be as profitable as expected. Telecommuting also puts company property and information inside someone else’s home. Truant workers are enabled to â€Å"run the clock† in a telecommuting setting since there is no oversight on when they are actually working. Telecommuting does have its strengths, but it also has weaknesses. The future will open up doors for telecommuting as technology improves and our culture becomes more technologically savvy. For now, telecommuting in most situations is a hybrid of some workdays reporting to work and others worked from home.

Analysis and Design of Software Architecture Essay Example for Free

Analysis and Design of Software Architecture Essay Outline 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Development Process Requirements Quality Attributes Runtime QA Non-runtime QA Requirements Analysis: Example Architectural Analysis Design Architectural Views Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 2 / 78 Development Process Methodology Diï ¬â‚¬erent software development processes have software architecture as a part of the process Rational uniï ¬ ed process Spiral development method Agile development method Evolutionary rapid development Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 3 / 78 Development Process Place of SA in SDP Figure: Source: Software Architecture Primer by Reekie, McAdam Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 4 / 78 Development Process Methodology After the initial requirements analysis but before software design The ï ¬ rst architecture is also a communication basis with the customer Inputs for the development of the architecture: 1 2 Requirements Context (technical, organizational, business, ) Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 5 / 78 Requirements Analysis At the beginning there is always a customer who wants a speciï ¬ c software system Customer â€Å"wishes† are always informal Interviews, some documents, some Excel tables, We need to analyze such informal records and structure it Requirements engineering is a huge ï ¬ eld but we just illustrate here one possibility Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 6 / 78 Requirements Analysis The results of the requirements analysis: 1 2 Functional requirements Non-functional requirements (a) Runtime qualities (b) Non-runtime qualities 3 Contextual requirements Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 7 / 78 Requirements Functional requirements A technical expression of what a system will do Arise from stakeholder needs Structured language: software requirements speciï ¬ cation Use cases: structured description of user interactions with the system Formal models: e. g. state-charts Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 8 / 78 Requirements Non-functional requirements Other needs than directly functional or business-related Generally expressed in the form of quality-attributes Runtime quality attributes Non-runtime quality attributes Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 9 / 78 Requirements Contextual requirements What technology is available? Expertise of the development team Previous experience of users/customers Technical, business, market, legal, ethical, Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 10 / 78 Quality Attributes Need to address QAs Without any need for performance, scalability, any implementation of functionality is acceptable However, we always need to take into account the broader context E.g. hardware, technological, organizational, business, The functionality must be there but without proper addressing of QA it is worth nothing Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 11 / 78 Quality Attributes Inï ¬â€šuence on QAs Typically, a single component can not address a QA completely Any QA is inï ¬â€šuenced by multiple components and their interactions E.g. a UI component has a high degree of usability: however, usability of the system is compromised if a data management component has poor performance in accessing the data → users need to wait long → poor usability Components and their interactions → software architecture QAs are directly inï ¬â€šuenced by software architecture Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 12 / 78 Runtime QA PURS PURS (performance, usability, reliability, security) Performance: time performance, memory, disk, or network utilization Usability: human factors, easy to learn, easy to use, Reliability: availability, safety, Security: authentication, data protection, Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 13 / 78 Runtime QA Performance Time performance is most obvious Measured in the number of operations per second Also, latency: the time from receiving an input and producing an output Other measures: memory, disk, network utilization or throughput Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 14 / 78 Runtime QA Performance Diï ¬â‚¬erent measures are typically traded oï ¬â‚¬ against each other E.g. increasing throughput may increase latency Time performance might be increased with more memory True performance of the system is not only deï ¬ ned by performance of single components But also by their interactions and the overall processes in the system Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 15 / 78 Runtime QA Performance factors Choice of algorithms Database design Communication Resource management Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 16 / 78 Runtime QA Choice of algorithms Performance of algorithms is measured by their complexity (big O) E.g. linear complexity: O(n) Running time increases in direct proportion to the size of the data E.g. polynomial complexity: O(n2 ) It does not scale: double size of the data running time increased by factor of 4 Goal: O(nlog (n)) Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 17 / 78 Runtime QA Database design Performance of database queries can dominate the overall performance The design of the tables has enormous impact on the overall performance Techniques to improve it: lazy evaluation, replication, caching Some additional cost to manage replication and/or caching In-memory databases (real-time systems) Developing a new database (search engines) Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 18 / 78 Runtime QA Communication Network overhead Package data according to a protocol, sending data over network Each layer means additional overhead Think how to use network: packaging binary data as XML!? Use more compact formats, e.g. JSON vs XML Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 19 / 78 Runtime QA Resources management Overloaded components need to be avoided A chain is only as strong as its weakest link! E.g. a single-threaded shared resource is in use: all other threads are blocked Very diï ¬Æ'cult to track down Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 20 / 78 Runtime QA Usability Usability is a very rich ï ¬ eld If usability is important you will need a usability expert Combination of many factors: responsiveness, graphical design, user expectations, conï ¬ dence Measuring with time taken to complete task, error rate, time to response, Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 21 / 78 Runtime QA Responsiveness and data availability An example of relations between QAs Usability requires that the system responds to user actions within a certain period of time If it is a complex system this need translates into performance along the path of the user action Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 22 / 78 Runtime QA Responsiveness and data availability Figure: Usability vs. Performance Source: Software Architecture Primer by Reekie, McAdam Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 23 / 78 Runtime QA Discussion on relations between QAs This diagram shows that we need to pay attention to tuning communication between B and Y Performance of the communication channel is a consequence of a usability requirement Do we need to support security of the communication channel? Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 24 / 78 Runtime QA Discussion on relations between QAs This diagram shows that we need to pay attention to tuning communication between B and Y Performance of the communication channel is a consequence of a usability requirement Do we need to support security of the communication channel? We support QAs always only as a response to user needs Never because it is needed anyway! Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 24 / 78 Runtime QA Discussion on relations between QAs If we support security even if it is not needed Very often QAs exercise opposing forces on the system Security requires a lot of checking: performance will suï ¬â‚¬er → usability will suï ¬â‚¬er A minimalistic approach: develop only what is required! Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 25 / 78 Runtime QA Reliability In traditional engineering disciplines reliability measures the failure rate of the system Failure rate speciï ¬ ed by mean time to failure MTTF A related measure: mean time between failures MTBF MTTR is mean time to repair A is availability Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 26 / 78 Runtime QA Reliability MTBF = MTTF + MTTR A= A= MTTF MTBF MTTF MTTF +MTTR E.g. expected availability of Web systems: Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 27 / 78 Runtime QA Reliability MTBF = MTTF + MTTR A= A= MTTF MTBF MTTF MTTF +MTTR E.g. expected availability of Web systems: 1 (always up-and-running) =⇒ MTTF → ∞ Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 27 / 78 Runtime QA Reliability Increasing reliability involves testing However, impossible to prove that a system is correct, i.e. without bugs Acceptability of errors depends on the  nature of a system Personal desktop use: bugs are typically tolerated Enterprise level: medium reliability level High-reliable systems: bugs can be fatal Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 28 / 78 Runtime QA Security Increasingly important aspect of systems is security Because systems are exposed to threats Especially networked systems As with other QAs security is a set of related responses to user needs Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 29 / 78 Runtime QA Authentication Requirement for identiï ¬ cation of users with a system Users present credentials so that the system can identify them Typically username and password Other forms: certiï ¬ cates, smart cards, biometric features Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 30 / 78 Runtime QA Authorization After authentication authorization which functions and what data is available for users This information is captured in an authorization model Access control lists (ACL) deï ¬ ne who can access and how a resource might be accessed E.g. read access, write access, delete access, Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 31 / 78 Runtime QA Authorization Drawbacks of ACLs It is resource based, e.g. a page in a CMS Often, authorization needs to address functions or tasks Also, managing of ACLs is diï ¬Æ'cult, e.g. subresources of resources Also, performance problems with checking Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 32 / 78 Runtime QA Authorization Another model: role-based access control (RBAC) Roles are used to manage many-to-many relations between users and permissions Roles are used to represent the job functions, e.g. author, teacher, student in an E-learning system Permissions are modeled as parts of roles, e.g. create page, create tests, Users are than assigned to a role and acquire automatically permissions of that role Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 33 / 78 Non-runtime QA MeTRiCS MeTRiCS (maintainability, evolvability, testability, reusability, integrability, conï ¬ gurability, scalability) Maintainability: how easy can you ï ¬ x bugs and add new features Evolvability: how easy your system copes with changes Testability: how easy can you test the system for correctness Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 34 / 78 Non-runtime QA MeTRiCS Reusability: how easy is to use software elements in other contexts, e.g. a software library Integrability: how easy you can make the separately developed components of the system work correctly together Conï ¬ gurability: how easy can a system be conï ¬ gured for diï ¬â‚¬erent installations and target groups Scalability: how easy the system copes with a higher performance demand Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 35 / 78 Non-runtime QA Maintainability This QA considers the whole lifecycle of a system What happens during system operation? Property that allows a system to be modiï ¬ ed after deployment wirh ease E.g. extensible, modiï ¬ ed behavior, ï ¬ xing errors Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 36 / 78 Non-runtime QA Maintainability At the design and implementation level Code comments Object-oriented principles and design rules Consistent programming styles Documentation Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 37 / 78 Non-runtime QA Maintainability Maintainability is very important because any software system will change over time Experience shows that such changes tend to degrade the system over time Software systems are subject to entropy The cumulative eï ¬â‚¬ect of changes degrades the quality of the system Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 38 / 78 Non-runtime QA Maintainability The systems tend to become messy systems Regardless of how a nice plan you had at beginning Design for change recollect OO design rules Abstract messy parts of the system so that they can be exchanged Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 39 / 78 Non-runtime QA Maintainability Don’t be afraid to refactor and rewrite and redesign Each software vendor does this with major versions Create throw-away prototypes Think out-of-box and innovate Don’t always follow a hype very often nothing new in hypes E.g. Web services Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 40 / 78 Non-runtime QA Testability Means to improve testability Test cases: if something fails there is a bug Separation of the testing framework and the system, i.e. testing with scripts from outside Logging Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 41 / 78 Non-runtime QA Conï ¬ gurability Ability of a system to vary its operational parameters without re-compiling or re-installing E.g. selecting appropriate database drivers, conï ¬ guring network parameters, Typically, realized by a set of conï ¬ guration ï ¬ les E.g. Apache Web server conï ¬ guration ï ¬ le sets host name, virtual hosts, Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 42 / 78 Non-runtime QA Conï ¬ gurability Conï ¬ gurability interacts with other QAs such as testability, maintainability, reliability High degree of conï ¬ gurability tends to have a negative impact on those QAs Testing of diï ¬â‚¬erent system conï ¬ guration becomes more diï ¬Æ'cult → reliability compromised Conï ¬ gurable components will be strongly parametrized → decreased maintainability Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 43 / 78 Non-runtime QA Scalability Ability of a system to increase its capacity without re-compiling or re-installing E.g. serving additional Web pages means only copying these Web pages into a Web server ï ¬ le system Sometimes increasing capacity means increasing hardware, e.g. Web server clusters Managing user session on the client side, means only providing additional code-on-demand from the server Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 44 / 78 Requirements Analysis: Example System description Web-based Network Analysis Tool: W-NAT A simple and usable system for network analysis is needed. Networks are entities that contain not only individuals but also their connections with other individuals (see e.g. 3 for an example). The system accepts a network representations as a list of pairs of connected nodes stored in a dataset ï ¬ le. Nodes are represented as integers. An edge between two nodes is stored as a line containing two nodes delimited by a tabulator. Users might upload datasets to the systems and store them for further analysis. Each user might upload multiple datasets and can execute various analysis on those datasets. The system keeps the track of the analysis history for each user. Users may calculate degree distributions, network diameter, clustering coeï ¬Æ'cient, connectivity measures, singular values, and diï ¬â‚¬erent centrality measures. Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 45 / 78 Requirements Analysis: Example System description Web-based Network Analysis Tool: W-NAT Users can execute various calculations on multiple datasets in parallel. The system must not be blocked if a calculation is currently under way. Rather it should be possible to start a new calculation, or view previous calculations, etc. In case of longer calculations the system needs to notify the user by e-mail when the calculation is over. The results of the calculations should be available in textual and in graphical form. All results can be also downloaded to a local computer. The system will be used by a group of students that learn the basics of network analysis. It is expect that at any times the system will be used by multiple users executing multiple calculations. Since the system is primarily an educational tool it needs to be didactically sound, i.e. simplicity and usability are very important. Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 46 / 78 Requirements Analysis: Example System description 6 How to search in a small world Pajek Figure 2: HP Labs’ email communication (light grey lines) mapped onto the organizational hierarchy of HP Labs constructed out the e-mail communication. Figure: Social network(black lines). Note that communication tends to â€Å"cling† to of formal organizational chart. From: How to search a social network, Adamic, 2005. with one another. The h-distance, used to navigate the network, is computed as follows: individuals have h-distance one to their manager and to everyone they share a manager with. Distances are then recursively assigned, so that each individual has h-distance 2 to their ï ¬ rst neighbor’s neighbors, and h-distance 3 to their second Denis Helic (KMI, TU neighbor’s neighbors, etc. SA Analysis and Design Graz) Oct 19, 2011 47 / 78 Requirements Analysis: Example System description Web-based Network Analysis Tool: W-NAT The system is a Web-based system and the users should be able to operate the system by using a standard Web browser. The users need not install any additional plugins to operate the system. User perceived performance of the system should be acceptable. In addition, standard Web usability concepts need to be followed. In particular, browser back button must be working at all times and it should be possible to bookmark pages at all times. Finally, standard Web design principles should be satisï ¬ ed, meaning that pages are valid (X)HTML pages in at least HTML Transitional. The system needs to support cross browser compatibility. Further, each page and each important application state needs to have a unique and human-readable URL. Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 48 / 78 Requirements Analysis: Example Functional requirements UR1: The system is a network analysis tool. The system can calculate the following measures. UR1.1: UR1.2: UR1.3: UR1.4: UR1.5: Out-degree distribution In-degree distribution Cumulative out-degree distribution Cumulative in-degree distribution Hop plot Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 49 / 78 Requirements Analysis: Example Functional requirements UR1: The system is a network analysis tool. The system can calculate the following measures. UR1.6: Clustering coeï ¬Æ'cient UR1.7: Distribution of weakly connected components UR1.8: Distribution of strongly connected components UR1.9: Left singular vector UR1.10: Right singular vector Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 50 / 78 Requirements Analysis: Example Functional requirements UR1: The system is a network analysis tool. The system can calculate the following measures. UR1.12: UR1.12: UR1.13: UR1.14: UR1.15: Network singular values Degree centrality Closeness centrality Betweenness centrality Eigenvector centrality Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 51 / 78 Requirements Analysis: Example Functional requirements UR2: Networks are stored in dataset ï ¬ les. UR3: The dataset ï ¬ le has the following format. NodeID1 \t NodeID2\n UR4: Users can upload multiple datasets to the system. UR5: To perform an analysis users select a dataset and then choose a measure to calculate. Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 52 / 78 Requirements Analysis: Example Functional requirements UR6: For each user and for each dataset the system manages a history of calculations. UR7: Users may initiate multiple calculations simultaneously. UR8: When a calculation is started the system is not blocked. UR9: The system notiï ¬ es users about a ï ¬ nished calculation by e-mail. Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 53 / 78 Requirements Analysis: Example Functional requirements UR6: For each user and for each dataset the system manages a history of calculations. UR7: Users may initiate multiple calculations simultaneously. UR8: When a calculation is started the system is not blocked. UR9: The system notiï ¬ es users about a ï ¬ nished calculation by e-mail. When is this notiï ¬ cation needed? If the user is logged out? Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 53 / 78 Requirements Analysis: Example Functional requirements UR10: The calculation results are presented in a textual as well as in a graphic form. Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 54 / 78 Requirements Analysis: Example Functional requirements UR10: The calculation results are presented in a textual as well as in a graphic form. Which form? Format? Graphics format? Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 54 / 78 Requirements Analysis: Example Functional requirements UR10: The calculation results are presented in a textual as well as in a graphic form. Which form? Format? Graphics format? UR11: Users can download the calculation results. Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 54 / 78 Requirements Analysis: Example Functional requirements UR10: The calculation results are presented in a textual as well as in a graphic form. Which form? Format? Graphics format? UR11: Users can download the calculation results. Single results? All results? Archived, how archived? Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 54 / 78 Requirements Analysis: Example Functional requirements UR10: The calculation results are presented in a textual as well as in a graphic form. Which form? Format? Graphics format? UR11: Users can download the calculation results. Single results? All results? Archived, how archived? UR12: Users can register with the system. Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 54 / 78 Requirements Analysis: Example Functional requirements UR10: The calculation results are presented in a textual as well as in a graphic form. Which form? Format? Graphics format? UR11: Users can download the calculation results. Single results? All results? Archived, how archived? UR12: Users can register with the system. How register? E-mail? Captcha? Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 54 / 78 Requirements Analysis: Example Functional requirements UR10: The calculation results are presented in a textual as well as in a graphic form. Which form? Format? Graphics format? UR11: Users can download the calculation results. Single results? All results? Archived, how archived? UR12: Users can register with the system. How register? E-mail? Captcha? UR13: Users can login and log out. Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 54 / 78 Requirements Analysis: Example Non-functional requirements UR1: The system is simple, usable and didactically sound. Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 55 / 78 Requirements Analysis: Example Non-functional requirements UR1: The system is simple, usable and didactically sound. Usability Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 55 / 78 Requirements Analysis: Example Non-functional requirements UR1: The system is simple, usable and didactically sound. Usability UR2: The system needs to support multiple users simultaneously. Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 55 / 78 Requirements Analysis: Example Non-functional requirements UR1: The system is simple, usable and didactically sound. Usability UR2: The system needs to support multiple users simultaneously. Performance Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 55 / 78 Requirements Analysis: Example Non-functional requirements UR1: The system is simple, usable and didactically sound. Usability UR2: The system needs to support multiple users simultaneously. Performance How many users? Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 55 / 78 Requirements Analysis: Example Non-functional requirements UR1: The system is simple, usable and didactically sound. Usability UR2: The system needs to support multiple users simultaneously. Performance How many users? UR3: Authentication should be supported. Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 55 / 78 Requirements Analysis: Example Non-functional requirements UR1: The system is simple, usable and didactically sound. Usability UR2: The system needs to support multiple users simultaneously. Performance How many users? UR3: Authentication should be supported. Security Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 55 / 78 Requirements Analysis: Example Non-functional requirements UR1: The system is simple, usable and didactically sound. Usability UR2: The system needs to support multiple users simultaneously. Performance How many users? UR3: Authentication should be supported. Security UR4: User-perceived performance must be acceptable Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 55 / 78 Requirements Analysis: Example Non-functional requirements UR1: The system is simple, usable and didactically sound. Usability UR2: The system needs to support multiple users simultaneously. Performance How many users? UR3: Authentication should be supported. Security UR4: User-perceived performance must be acceptable Performance and Usability Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 55 / 78 Requirements Analysis: Example Non-functional requirements UR1: The system is simple, usable and didactically sound. Usability UR2: The system needs to support multiple users simultaneously. Performance How many users? UR3: Authentication should be supported. Security UR4: User-perceived performance must be acceptable Performance and Usability How many seconds at max users can wait? Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 55 / 78 Requirements Analysis: Example Non-functional requirements UR1: The system is simple, usable and didactically sound. Usability UR2: The system needs to support multiple users simultaneously. Performance How many users? UR3: Authentication should be supported. Security UR4: User-perceived performance must be acceptable Performance and Usability How many seconds at max users can wait? UR5: Web-based system should be available at all times. Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 55 / 78 Requirements Analysis: Example Non-functional requirements UR1: The system is simple, usable and didactically sound. Usability UR2: The system needs to support multiple users simultaneously. Performance How many users? UR3: Authentication should be supported. Security UR4: User-perceived performance must be acceptable Performance and Usability How many seconds at max users can wait? UR5: Web-based system should be available at all times. Reliability Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 55 / 78 Requirements Analysis: Example Non-functional requirements UR6: Human-readable URLs. Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 56 / 78 Requirements Analysis: Example Non-functional requirements UR6: Human-readable URLs. Evolvability, reusability, maintainability, testability, integrability Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 56 / 78 Requirements Analysis: Example Non-functional requirements UR6: Human-readable URLs. Evolvability, reusability, maintainability, testability, integrability UR7: Extending the system with new metrics. Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 56 / 78 Requirements Analysis: Example Non-functional requirements UR6: Human-readable URLs. Evolvability, reusability, maintainability, testability, integrability UR7: Extending the system with new metrics. Evolvability, reusability, maintainability, testability, integrability, conï ¬ gurability Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 56 / 78 Requirements Analysis: Example Non-functional requirements UR6: Human-readable URLs. Evolvability, reusability, maintainability, testability, integrability UR7: Extending the system with new metrics. Evolvability, reusability, maintainability, testability, integrability, conï ¬ gurability UR8: Reliability of a Web-based system. Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 56 / 78 Requirements Analysis: Example Non-functional requirements UR6: Human-readable URLs. Evolvability, reusability, maintainability, testability, integrability UR7: Extending the system with new metrics. Evolvability, reusability, maintainability, testability, integrability, conï ¬ gurability UR8: Reliability of a Web-based system. Testability Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 56 / 78 Requirements Analysis: Example Non-functional requirements UR6: Human-readable URLs. Evolvability, reusability, maintainability, testability, integrability UR7: Extending the system with new metrics. Evolvability, reusability, maintainability, testability, integrability, conï ¬ gurability UR8: Reliability of a Web-based system. Testability UR9: Multiple users. Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 56 / 78 Requirements Analysis: Example Non-functional requirements UR6: Human-readable URLs. Evolvability, reusability, maintainability, testability, integrability UR7: Extending the system with new metrics. Evolvability, reusability, maintainability, testability, integrability, conï ¬ gurability UR8: Reliability of a Web-based system. Testability UR9: Multiple users. Scalability Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 56 / 78 Requirements Analysis: Example Contextual requirements UR1: Web browser. UR2: Valid (X)HTML, at least (X)HTML Transitional. UR3: No browser plugins are allowed. Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 57 / 78 Architectural Analysis Design Analysis We analyze the requirements and try to identify so-called key concepts Understanding of the domain Static part of the domain We also try to identify key process and activities Dynamic part of the domain Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 58 / 78 Architectural Analysis Design Design Design is the process of creating models (recollect the deï ¬ nition of SA) Two basic types of architectural models Structure and behavior Architectural structure is a static model of a system (i.e. how the system is divided into components) Architectural behavior is a dynamic model of a system (i.e. how the components interact with each other to perform some useful work) Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 59 / 78 Architectural Analysis Design Architectural structure The division of a system into components and connectors To represent the model: box-and-lines diagrams (to see at a glance important concepts) It is important to remember that diagrams are only representations of the model Diagrams must always be accompanied by additional material such as text, data models, mathematical models, etc. The combination of diagrams and additional material is an architectural model Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 60 / 78 Architectural Analysis Design Architectural structure What is a component? What is a connector? Components might be subsystems, separate processes, source code packages, Connectors might be network protocols, method invocations, associations, The combination of diagrams and additional material is an architectural model Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 61 / 78 Architectural Analysis Design Architectural structure Figure: Example of an architectural structure Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 62 / 78 Architectural Analysis Design Architectural structure In the diagram we have one user-interface and one database component But what is the criteria for deciding what is a component? Separate program modules? Separate threads or processes? Conceptual or functional division? And what about connectors? Network protocols? Callbacks? Request/response cycles? Method invocations? Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 63 / 78 Architectural Analysis Design Architectural structure What is the level of granularity of a diagram? E.g. for a Web-based system, components are servers and browsers and connector is HTTP But, components of a server are HTTP parser, ï ¬ le I/O, cache, plug-ins, Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 64 / 78 Architectural Analysis Design Architectural structure Comparison with OO: a component is an object and a connector is a message sent between two objects Because models in OO are very well deï ¬ ned Therefore, we need additional information that accompanies diagrams To describe criteria for decomposition and provide explanations on granularity Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 65 / 78 Architectural Analysis Design Architectural behavior Complementing structure is architectural behavior Interaction of system elements to perform some useful work Functionality vs. behavior Functionality is what the system can do and behavior is the activity sequence Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 66 / 78 Architectural Analysis Design Architectural behavior Example: Accessing a tweets document Request is sent to the Web presentation layer That layer forwards the request to the application logic, e.g. TweetDeck TweetDeck contacts TweetViews to obtain a particular template, then retrieves the data from TweetDB wraps it into an HTML response and sends the response to TweetUI Functionality allows me to display a tweets document, behavior is the sequence of activities that makes it happen Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 67 / 78 Architectural Analysis Design Architectural behavior Each component has a set of responsibilities Behavior is the way how these responsibilities are exercised to respond to some event An event may be an action of the user or an event from an external system A particular behavior is an event plus a response in the form of a sequence of component responsibilities Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 68 / 78 Architectural Analysis Design Architectural behavior To represent behavioral models we use use-case map notation by Buhr A use-case map consists of a trace drawn through a structural diagram of the system The path of the trace through a structural diagram shows the sequence of activities Each crossing of a component by the trace indicates exercising of a responsibility Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 69 / 78 Architectural Analysis Design Architectural behavior Figure: Types of traces in use-case maps Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 70 / 78 Architectural Analysis Design Architectural behavior (a) Single trace all responsibilities exercised sequentially (b) Two traces are consecutive: Equivalent to single trace but shows that continuation is triggered by another event (c) And-Fork: The traces after the line are potentially concurrent (run in parallel) Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 71 / 78 Architectural Analysis Design Architectural behavior Figure: Types of traces in use-case maps Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 72 / 78 Architectural Analysis Design Architectural behavior (a) N-Way And-Fork: the trace after the fork may be replicated an arbitrary number of times (b) Or-Fork: The trace is split and activity proceeds along one or another path (c) Seq-Fork: The traces after the line are followed in the order indicated by the arrow Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 73 / 78 Architectural Analysis Design Architectural behavior Figure: Example of architectural behavior Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 74 / 78 Architectural Views Architectural views We can examine a system from diï ¬â‚¬erent points of view Diï ¬â‚¬erent kinds of views Conceptual: components are set of responsibilities and connectors are ï ¬â€šow of information Execution: components are execution units (processes) and connectors are messages between processes Implementation: components are libraries, source code, ï ¬ les, etc and connectors are protocols, api calls, etc. Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 75 / 78 Architectural Views Architectural views There are other models as well We will mention them but we will investigate only previous three models Data model describes the data Physical model describes servers, ï ¬ rewalls, workstations, Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 76 / 78 Architectural Views Architectural views Each view provides diï ¬â‚¬erent information about the structure of the system Each view addresses a speciï ¬ c set of concerns All views taken together is the primary means of documenting software architecture Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 77 / 78 Architectural Views Architectural views The conceptual architecture considers the structure of the system in terms of its domain-level functionality The execution architecture considers the system in terms of its runtime structure The implementation architecture considers the system in terms of its build-time structure Denis Helic (KMI, TU Graz) SA Analysis and Design Oct 19, 2011 78 / 78

How to Have a Good Golf Game

How to Have a Good Golf Game Golf is much more than just hitting the ball, finding it and hitting it again. It is a constant learning process with unforgettable experiences. Golf offers you independence, but ultimately it always comes down to how well you know your limitations and the confidence you have in your ability. You must have the heart and head to play and the courage to accept the consequences. There are no shortcuts. Although there are many factors that contribute to success, golf requires patience and practice, as there is no comfort zone. Patience and practice pay off. Golf is a never-ending journey full of learning and discovery. Golf is a tough sport. You are going to need to work on and try to perfect your technical skills. To become a professional golfer, you can start at any age. As long as you have passion to play the game, you can fulfill your dreams (Wright 4). The good news is that anyone has a shot at becoming a pro golfer. The bad news is that the game is extremely difficult to play at a professional level and the competition is fierce. To become a professional golfer requires putting in hours of practice. A young golfer should start playing on various local courses on a regular basis. One needs to take golf lessons and a have a teacher analyze their form and give them pointers for improvement. According to Wright a lot of players accept the idea that they will have good days and bad days on the greens and therefore dont work at it. In fact, study and practice produces results (*). There is, and always will be, room for improvement. You also need to develop the appropriate mental and physical traits (10). You must practice the game every day and devote a lot of time to it. The golf swing will always be a work in progress regardless of how good it is. The goal is to be your best every day. Once you start feeling confident in your golf game, it is time to get out there and compete. To further your golf game, you should consider going to a golf school. If you are in high school, see if there is a school golf team or club to join. To see how you stack up against the competition, you can enter amateur events. Check with your local golf courses for more information about amateur events coming to your area (Keough42). In amateur events, you can play against other golf amateurs. By doing well in some amateur events, that can give you the needed confidence to take your dreams to the next level. The first steps towards playing against the pros are beating fellow amateurs (44). Start by playing tournaments at your local golf courses, then state and national junior events. Success in those events leads to recognition for college scholarships, and so can good high school golf credentials be a very important factor. Of all the many factors opening the door to golf, college golf is a terrific developmental ground. Robert, Bell, a student at the University of Minnesota, started his college golf career with this Division I School. After visiting the campus and seeing the training facilities, I found that they had the program to best fit my needs. It can have an enormous impact on a golfers career since you do not have to pay to play golf, and you do not have to pay for lessons at the driving range. You also get regular practice time with your team, access to weight training and the opportunity to compete at a high level. Many professional golfers matured at the college level, on their schools dime. Even Tiger spent two years at Stanford (Elling 15). If you do not play college golf, you can still refine your skills at the amateur level and prepare to turn professional. The technical skills are important to making it on the PGA, but what separates the best is the mental side of the game (Green 21). I f you are a golfer who loves the challenge and has the ability for making big shots in tournament play, you might have the tools to make it. If you play this game long enough, eventually you will face some challenges. It is how you handle those challenges that will define who you are as a competitor. One of the biggest things to do is when you feel you are well above and beyond your amateur competition, is to go to Qualifying School. When starting out on a career to become a professional golfer, every golfers dream of success. The vision may be clear, but without a plan it is just a dream. Becoming a PGA Tour Golfer does not necessarily required going to college of winning past tournaments. What you must do however is qualify. Each year there is what is called Qualifying School that covers six grueling rounds of tournament style golf where only a small number of players make it to the tour (Duunbar 19). Anyone can go for it, but it is extremely difficult. According to Dunbar The only other way to qualify for the tour without going to Qualifying School is through special exemptions (21). Each tournament has a committee that set aside a few special exemptions for players they would like to attend their tournament. One final avenue to becoming a professional PGA golfer is known as t he Club Professional. Each course around the country has a resident Professional. Gaining membership to this section of the PGA is done through apprentice program. A golfer must work under an established golf professional. Over time, and after fulfilling certain requirements, a player is recognized as a Golf Professional as well. Qualifying School is held every year by the PGA Tour and allows amateurs to compete for a post on the pro tour (25). When you continue to have success against top amateurs, this gives you the opportunity to explore your professional options. At this point, finding sponsorship support becomes very important, because breaking into professional golf is very expensive. When you feel ready to take your game to the professional level, you should begin the process of getting your PGA Tour card. Once you register with the PGA Tour and pay the registration fee, you begin the qualifying process. About 1% of the people who register for a PGA Tour card get a card each year (Forsyth 39). It is a long and difficult process. You have to finish at the top of various events over the course of months. Mr. Forsyth points out that, it takes most people multiple attempts, if ever, to get onto the PGGA tour (41). Even after obtaining your PGA Tour card there is no guarantee you will remain on the tour. Each year requires you to play well enough to keep your PGA Tour card. There are various ways to retain your card, such as being in the top 120 players or finishing in the top ten in a major (42). One of the major rewards of the game is that ev ery round begins with a new scorecard. Every time you walk onto the course, you play with the thought that this is your day to be the champion. With all the benefits of this career, it is clear why professional golfers say, Play golf for a living and never work a day in your life. (44). Golf is one of the few professional sports where you can control your own future. Even if there are no educational requirements, it would still be best if you finish a degree in college so that you have some sort of back up if you do not make it on the tour. To be a Golf Professional will surely take a lot of hard work. Some golfers believe that you must have some sort of natural talent to have chance of becoming a pro. In a book called The Golfers Mind Dr. Bob Rotella states, if becoming an expert means joining the PGA Tour then it is believed that a very minute percentage of us will actually make it, no matter how many hours it is. This side of the issue believes that while most PGA pros have spent the better part of their lives playing golf, they still possess an underlying talent that separates them from the rest of the pack. For every guy on tour there are probably 50 guys that did the same thing growing up but did not have the talent to take it to the next level (Sotzek 112). According to Sotzek, it comes down to the fact that talent by itself can be wasted without practice, work ethic, and desire, but at the same time desire, practice, and work ethic are all pretty useless without some natural talent (114). While most professional athletes have a great work ethic, it is still their natural ta lent that gets them to the top of their game. The opposing views of the natural talent argument by Dr. Bob Rotella states that is an excuse for those that lack drive, motivation, mental fortitude, dedication and the ability to sacrifice. All of these things can be learned and for many professional athletes are learned at an early age so it appears to be natural ability (27). If you read any story about a top golfer, you will realize that they spent the majority of their life practicing their skills because they thrive on competition. That is the sacrifice you have to make. So after all is said, both sides of this argument agree on is that golf is a game that cannot be mastered. Most golfers continue to play because of the love of a challenge. Playing great golf is much more than developing solid fundamentals and sound technique. It is about keeping all things perspective. A lot of players accept that idea that they will have good days and bad days on the golf course and therefore they do not work at it. In fact, study and practice produces results. The golf swing will always be a work in progress regardless of how good you are. The goal is to have a swing that is sound and works with every club in your set and holds up under pressure. The true essence of golf is capitalizing on opportunities and minimizing mistakes. It is a thinking mans game t o a great degree. Every shot is your responsibility. As long as you have the passion for the game, you can fulfill your dreams. Dreams do come true. If you do become a professional golfer, you will have a chance to earn big money and at the same time, play the sport you really love. If you do not like to work inside and if you love the outdoors, you will surely enjoy this kind of p rofession. Often times, you will also be traveling from one place to another together with your competitors sand so you can also gain many friends. Many young golfers set their hearts on playing on tour, but plenty of other opportunities exist in professional golf far beyond the golf course. PGA professionals are top class players but are also experts in other areas of the golf industry form running golf courses, to coaching and teaching. Becoming a professional golfer is a full-time job that requires commitment and love for the game. A golfer can become mentally tougher by learning from past experiences, because the game is a constant learning process. The approach to achieving a golf goal is to formulate a game plan and proceed systematically. Along the way, there is a need to assess and reassess strengths and weaknesses honestly. It takes time and effort to pursue a career on the PGA Tour, but the end result will be worth it.

Roman Fever :: essays research papers

Last Word When it comes to the art of conversation men and women employ different strategies when carrying on same sex conversations. In the short story â€Å"Roman Fever† by Edith Wharton, the two main characters appear to be having a battle of wits. While on holiday in Rome two people become reacquainted with each other. Both parties have lost their spouse. The dialogue opens with one speaker making light conversation. This person is simply making nonchalant statements, possibly seeking a reply with a mutual agreement about the topic. Instead the second person replies back with an implied personal ending to the statement taking the control away from the first speaker. This causes the first speaker to reflect for a moment. Well executed, the second person has once again politely changed the subject to avoid a confrontation. In the company of each other, silence is a device they both use. One uses it for opportunistic reasons, the other to conceal. When the conversation starts again it seems as if the couple is carefully setting the stage for a mental battle of, who can out do who, the classiest. This is where the genders split as to how they deal with conflict. Usually two civilized gentlemen engaged in a conversation that involves intimacy tend to keep those personal emotions to themselves. If directly asked such a question the other gentleman would probably state that he chooses not to discuss it. If men do not want to talk about a subject that involves emotions they come right out and say, â€Å"I don’t want to talk about this and that’s final†. Respecting the other man’s statement, no further discussions involving that topic would take place. As far as a strategy for control of conversation, men are not inclined to be evasive with each other. They get right to the point without a lot of chit-chat in between. Men do not try to confuse one another with inferences or misleading statements, to them it would be illogical. With reference to the two women in â€Å"Roman Nights† Mrs. Slade and Mrs. Ansley literally battle each other in the most feminine of ways, through words. Mrs. Slade admits to her friend that Delphin did not write the letter, she did. This emotionally crushes Mrs. Ansley. Now that the topic is finally out in the open the two women prepare for a game of wits. After the first round of surprises Mrs.

Use of Three Literary Techniques in Things Fall Apart Essay -- Essays

In his work Things Fall Apart, Chinua Achebe tells a story describing the decay and destruction of ancient African tradition caused by the invasion of white culture. His tone in the book seems to side and sympathize with the Africans and their religion. Interestingly enough, though, he uses biblical allusion, as well as onomatopoeia and symbolism to bring the book to life and captivate the reader. The following will describe how he uses these. Even though it appears that he sides with Africans and their cultural beliefs, Achebe uses things from outside their religion, such as biblical allusions. When the missionaries appear it says, â€Å"they were all sons of God. And [they] told them about this new God† (Achebe 126). It is interesting to note that Achebe capitalizes the â€Å"g† in God, which is proper especially if one claims to be a Christian. Another allusion could be interpreted when the locusts cover the land. It is phrased, â€Å"then quite suddenly a shadow fell on the world, and the sun seemed hidden behind a thick cloud† (49). There were so many, that this â€Å"cloud† could easily repre...

Richard Nixon And The Notion Of Presidential Power :: essays research papers

Richard Nixon and the Notion of Presidential Power "Actions which otherwise would be unconstitutional, could become lawful if undertaken for the purpose of preserving the Constitution and the Nation." The idea that certain actions are not illegal if used to preserve the best interests of a nation has drawn sharp criticism from the time of Lincoln through today. Presidents of the United States do take a solemn oath in which they promise to â€Å" . . . preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States†, but the means which they have employed to accomplish these ends have greatly differed and have occasionally sparked great controversy. The unjustified means which Richard Nixon used to defend this nation and its Constitution have drawn a great deal of attack not only on his methods but also on the greater notion of Presidential power. Many Presidents have faced many different tumultuous challenges and obstacles which have posed potential threats to American societal stability and security. Yet very few have used such controversial means to overcome these threats. For example, after the birth of the nation, Executives faced the threats of political division and the ideas of the many dangerous paths prescribed for the Union. As the debate over slavery escalated, the future of the states and of the Union seemed uncertain. Furthermore, as the nation moved rapidly through the Industrial Revolution, the future of the nation's labor force and of its general welfare seemed uncertain. As time passed, the nation would encounter the greatest economic depression of all time, and the challenges would continue. Our nation would still battle the divisive issues of racism and discrimination. Yet none of the Presidents who governed during these daring times exploited the authority of their position in unwarranted manners. The Nixon Administration would however, exploit its authority and attempt to justify its actions based on the ‘similar' actions of Abraham Lincoln. During the Civil War, this nation's greatest test of will and spirit, President Lincoln felt it incumbent upon the President to assume certain authority and responsibility not specifically granted to the Executive by the Constitution. His rationale stemmed from his desire and oath to preserve the Constitution and the Union as a whole. On the eve of the Civil War, Lincoln, fearing a strong Confederate threat, initiated a blockade of all Southern ports; ordering no vessels in or out of the South. Clearly an act of war, Lincoln faced immediate challenge from Congress and Confederate leaders. His reasoning, though, for carrying out such a dangerous and controversial act was his belief that it would tame the South and prevent massive bloodshed in the future.

The Gains of Hosting International Sports Events

The World Cup is truly one of the biggest sporting events in the world. Host countries invest huge amounts of resources to organize and build infrastructures. Such countries surely are expecting gains in return for the huge investments they made. However, past experiences show that the chance of receiving economic benefits from hosting either the World Cup or the Olympics is surprisingly little (Maennig & Plessis, 2007). Despite this fact countries still want to host international sports events.This is because in assessing the profitability of hosting such events it is important to include both tangible and intangible benefits. This paper takes a look at such intangible benefits to analyze a fuller extent of the gains of hosting such international sports events, taking the World Cup as an example. There are other benefits from a World Cup, besides the economical, which are recognized as positive contributions to the hosting country, they might be more intangible but nonetheless still important.The â€Å"feel good† effect of citizens experiencing domestic growth, stadiums being build, new jobs, foreign recognition etc. represents a certain social profitability of the project. This is something that should definitely not be neglected. These externalities may not only prove to be very important to the citizens of the host country, but also add to the competitiveness and development of certain sectors within the country. Intangible assets may in the long run prove to be just as important as tangible. It is difficult to assign these numerical value, but it is however indisputable whether they are of importance.Happiness is basically what the World Cup may ultimately add to. The experiences related to sports, and the public satisfaction of hosting an event that has the attention of the world, may add more in terms of prestige and individual satisfaction than anyone may realize when planning the project. Surveys made in previous host countries have asked local inhabitants, whether they feel that the World Cup has benefited them, and the results have been predominantly positive (Maennig & Plessis, 2007). Another intangible gain is the branding effect that the World Cup has.Branding is something that is important for all countries in that reputation and international recognition of national abilities is something that is highly valued in export and international relations. The World Cup will also add positively in terms of tourism, which is likely to grow in sync with branding of a country. Tourism is something that can be quantified, and is a source of great income to many countries, and host countries can potentially gain substantially in from a well-handled World Cup. Empirical research has shown that hosting a major sporting event rarely produces the net economic benefits that a hosting country anticipates.However in deciding to host such international sports events, countries base their calculations not solely economic gains, but also by accounting for such intangible gains. A quote from The Economist sums up the message of this paper very well: Tourism gets a boost but only temporarily. Evidence from Sydney and Barcelona, hosts of successful recent Olympic games (and tourist spots long before that), suggest long-term tangible gains were negligible. But who cares? The World Cup is mostly about intangibles, such as prestige and fun.