Criminal Behavior: the Negative Attribution of Societal Nurturing

Running head: SOCIAL CONTROL, STRAIN, SOCIAL LEARNING, AND CRIMINAL BEHAVIOR Criminal Behavior: The Negative Attribution of Societal Nurturing Criminal Behavior: The Negative Attribution of Societal Nurturing Imagine someone telling you that â€Å"you are the product of your environment†, what does that mean? Imagine a girl who has decided to pursue a career as a stripper. All of her friends are strippers and the new people she meets are those she has met while stripping. Would it be easy for her to quit that job?What would happen if she moved away and was surrounded by well-educated individuals? – Individuals who gave her strong social support and a good positive influence. What about the youth living in a deprived neighborhood, surrounded by small hopes and dreams for the future and low supervision? Is it possible that they become just like everyone else in their community? Let us compare an individual who lives in a disorganized community with an individual in a more organized and structured community, which one is more likely to develop criminal and delinquent behaviors?The purpose of this study is to investigate the measurable affirmation of criminal behavior contributing to a selective demographic based on three theories: social control theory, social learning theory, and strain theory. The idea in which the environment is the context within which all social relations occur has been brought to our attention by Lewin (1943) and can be used to make concept of a major factor in developing criminal and delinquent behaviors.Lewin proposed that the fundamental principle of social psychology research is that human behavior is a function of not only the person, but of the environment as well (Opotow & Gieseking, 2011). A large body of research has been done regarding the human behavior as a function of their â€Å"life space† and the person’s environment, such as neighborhoods, schools, work, and their friendships. Lewin states that pa rticular places can serve as â€Å"contact zones† (Opotow & Gieseking, 2011) and support certain kinds of interaction.These â€Å"contact zones† are formed between people and the physical characteristics of the built and natural world they live in (Opotow & Gieseking, 2011). Social control theory, strain theory, and social learning theory were all proposed by a variety of researchers strongly supporting the link between environment and the development of criminal minds. The theories supported are thought of as individual-level processes (Hoffman, 2003).The social control theory, for example, is the thought that community disorganization lessens bonding mechanisms by making parental supervision and interpersonal attachments more vague (Hoffman, 2003; Elliot et al. , 1997; Shaw & McKay, 1931). With community disorganization comes little to no control. The community is usually distinguished by residential instability and a high ratio of broken families as well as single p arents; reducing the likelihood of efficient socialization and supervision of the youth.A research study was conducted by Baskin & Sommers (2011) to determine whether placement instability played a role in developing delinquent/criminal behavior; results indicated that the children with more instability were more likely to be arrested and have a criminal record. Community disorganization reduces social support structure and weakens an important source of conformed bonding and success in socialization: effective parenting.Empirical research has sustained the idea that the influence of social bonds differs in each type of community and disorganized communities have a negative effect on the competence of social bonds to greatly reduce delinquent behavior. A lot of this is seen in our own communities and the communities surrounding us. It is all about where the person lives, where he goes to school, and whom he chooses to hang out with.The initial development of the strain theory was de veloped by Merton (1968) where he proposed that opportunity structures greatly affect the ability to grasp common cultural goals, such as the pursuit for monetary gain (Hoffman, 2003). The individual-level component of the strain theory is basically the strain of striving to reach goals within various forms of opportunity structures that could lead to adjustments such as deviant behaviors, delinquency, and even crime.With the assumption that opportunity structures differ in each community, it is safe to say that the effects of strains caused by the disunity between goals and means on deviant behavior will differ in every community (Hoffman, 2003). In other words, the strained youth in disorganized communities have a more realistic picture of their situation, so criminal adaption’s become more likely. Agnew (1992) elaborated this theory to form a concept by broadening the notion of strain with adding a variety of sources, such as families, schools, and cognitive skills (Hoffma n, 2003).Agnew assumes that the deprived communities are more likely to have strained youths and that these communities will suffer from more blocked or â€Å"strained† opportunity structures (Hoffman, 2003; Agnew, 1999). What is meant by Agnew’s new definition of this strain theory is that these communities develop an atmosphere that is based on anger and frustration; this could mean a greater chance of â€Å"going with the flow† to maybe prove themselves as â€Å"tough guys† to other communities.The social learning theory or differential association proposes that criminal associations and favoring conflict differ within each community type; it is this differentiation that explains the distribution of crime rates (Hoffman, 2003; Cressey, 1960; Reinarman & Fagan, 1988). Individuals embedded within certain communities are either exposed to or opposed to criminal behavior. Akers (1998) sees the sources in these differences: â€Å"The less solidarity, cohes ion, or integration there is within a group†¦ the higher will be the rate of crime and deviance† (Hoffman, 2003).In other words, social structural influences on criminal behaviors are fully reconciled by social learning processes. Many researchers stress that the DSM-IV diagnosis applied to criminals completely misses the mark and the idea of their environment is not enough (Stuart, 2004). Some researchers believe that sociological and environmental theories do not include the important concept of individual choice: â€Å"Crime resides within the person, not the environment† (Stuart, 2004). Other research, however, supports the importance of living in a good environment to prevent the development of a criminal mind.Although some researchers may suggest the treatment should be to focus on changing the patterns of thinking of criminals and to hold them accountable for every violation of moral thoughts, other researchers now believe that these efforts are slightly mis directed (Hoffman, 2003; Stuart, 2004, Baskin & Sommers, 2011). Other research suggests that even with punishment one can only discourage the criminal act to a greater or lesser degree, restrain the secret manifestation of a criminal urge, but the punishment ill not reconstruct the criminal mind, or avert its development in the individual (The Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 1928). The Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology (1928) proposes that the criminal mind is not different from that of the sane mind. Of course, many individuals do deviate themselves from the strain of their environment and negative influences simply because of their own personal values and the will to want to better themselves and their way of living. The proposed study will examine the moderating effects of the environment on developing criminal behaviors based on where the individuals grew up/came from.The study is based on the social control, strain, and social learning theories. There have be en very few studies that examine the impact of these theories and their consequences on the general individual-level processes that affect the person’s adaption’s to an environment exposed or opposed to possible criminal behaviors. Furthermore, by investigating these theories, this study might be able to determine which variables, if not all, indicate the development of criminal minds and delinquent behaviors.It is expected that participants will display more criminal and delinquent behaviors in the more strained and disorganized communities. Some participants will be from a more deprived area of town; they are considered to be part of a disorganized as well as strained community. Others will be from an average to more up scaled living environment; they are part of a more organized community who are influenced by everyone around them to want to have a better living. Each group of participants is expected to react to the way of their environment; to adapt to their †Å"way of living†.However, in general, participants in a more disorganized and strained community will suffer from more blocked opportunity structures, poor supervision, negative bonding mechanisms, and poor residential stability because despite having personal choices, an individual is always a product of his environment. Method Participants There will be approximately 850 participants in the proposed study that will serve as a representative sample of ninth grade students from U. S. high schools. Participants will be selected from the National Center of Education Statistics (NCES).In exchange for their participation, participants will be given a raffle ticket for a chance to win a variety of small prizes. Design The proposed study will be using the longitudinal method. The independent variables will be the type of community the participants live in (organized/disorganized), their friendships, monetary strain, blocked opportunity structures, and parental supervision. The depen dent variable will be their acquired behaviors, which will be examined (according to the variation of delinquency theories), by the data drawn from the National Educational Longitudinal Study (NELS).The NELS is â€Å"a longitudinal study designed to explore the impact of families and schools on a variety of educational, vocational, and behavioral outcomes† (Howard, 2003). The friendship variable will be used to examine the learning theory, the stress for monetary gain and blocked opportunity structures will be used to examine the strain theory, and parental supervision will be used to examine the social control theory. Procedure The representative sample for this study will be drawn by NELS.This sample will then be interviewed. At the beginning of the interview, the parents of the participants as well as the participants themselves will be specifically informed that all private information will be strictly confidential and will be used for research purposes only. The parents will then be given an informed consent to read through. As the participants from the subsample come in for the interview, they will be asked a variety of questions regarding delinquent behavior. All of this data will then be entered in NCES.The NELS data will then be used to examine the community characteristics that condition the impact of pertinent variables on deviant behaviors in the modern lives of these adolescents. Data from NCES will match their residential addresses to census identifiers. Census tracts are used to examine the impact of neighborhoods on various outcomes. The participants will then be interviewed during their senior year in high school. Again, asking them a large sum of questions regarding deviant behaviors. The same data will then be entered in NCES and NELS to retouch the previous information.The issue being utilized in this study is the individual’s environment on his behavior based on a long period of time. The questions asked by examiners will per tain to their relationship with their parents, their thoughts on fighting and violence, cultural goals for monetary gain, and so on. Measures As mentioned before, the friendship variable will be used to examine the learning theory; the stress for monetary gain will examine the strain theory; and parental supervision will be used to examine the social control theory. Conventional definition (Howard, 2003).A conventional definition will be constructed from a set of ten questions that will ask participants whether it is acceptable to engage in deviant behaviors such as having a gun, being affiliated with a gang, fighting, vandalism, selling drugs, using drugs, and stealing. A sample question includes: â€Å"Do you believe it is acceptable to join a gang? †. Response set ranges from one (often acceptable) to four (never acceptable). The Strain Theory. Questions that examine the strain theory will be based on cultural goals for monetary gain and blocked opportunity structures: â⠂¬Å"How important is money to you? ; â€Å"Do you have a high or low chance of graduating from high school? †; â€Å"What are the chances of you joining a gang if you knew you would get lots of money? †. The responses will be based on coding: 1 if money is very important, 0 not being important; 1 if high chance of graduating, 0 if low, and so on. The Learning Theory. The learning theory will be assessed by asking four questions about their friendships. Sample questions include â€Å"Do you feel pressured to be involved in everything your friends are in? † and â€Å"Have you ver been influenced by a friend to engage in deviant behaviors? †. Response set ranges from one (always) to four (never). The Social Control Theory. This theory will be examined by parental supervision. The respondent’s parents will be asked a total of ten questions, with answer choices ranging from one (disagree completely) to four (agree completely). Sample questions include à ¢â‚¬Å"Do you believe it is important to know your child’s friends? † and â€Å"Do you believe it is important to know how your child spends his money? †.Upon completion of each interview the respondents’ will be debriefed and given their raffle ticket for a chance to win a variety of small prizes. Discussion It is expected that participants will display more criminal and delinquent behaviors in the more strained and disorganized communities. Each group of participants is expected to react to the way of their environment; to adapt to their â€Å"way of living†. If the hypothesis is supported, then each group of participants would adapt to their way of living as a reaction to their environment.Significant findings resulting from the proposed study can be used in better understanding the role of the environment on the development of human behavior. If social control theory, learning theory, and strain theory are found to magnify the chance of developin g criminal and deviant behaviors, this understanding could be applied to many different research studies and therapeutic training. Some research has already demonstrated that identifying an individual’s environmental background is quite important in understanding his criminal acts.In the psychological domain, recognizing the existing influences of each theory might be helpful in raising parental awareness of the importance of bonding mechanisms (supervision and interpersonal attachment) as well as children’s awareness of handling certain opportunity structures (cultural goals) and teaching the importance of maintaining strong values, raising society’s awareness of the importance of community organization, and implementing counseling programs.If people are made aware of the negative as well as positive effects of their environment on the development of their behavior, they might be more persuaded to maintain or develop strong values, develop cultural goals, and h ave a more positive realistic picture of their future, especially if they are living in a strained community. If the hypothesis is not supported, then there will be no difference between the influence of strained/disorganized communities and organized communities on the development of criminal and delinquent behaviors.Matching the social control, learning, and strain theories to each group of participants’ environment would have no effect in determining the possible implicit development of criminal behaviors. In this case, the type of environment (organized or disorganized community) would not justify the consequences on the general individual-level processes that affects the person’s adaption’s to the community exposed or opposed to possible criminal behaviors.Therefore, there would be no reason to raise the awareness of parents, children, and society of the importance of strong values and cultural goals when it comes to preventing the negative influences of th e community on behavior. Whether or not the message raises awareness, people would just continue â€Å"going with the flow†. Unexpected factors that can occur during this longitudinal research study, which may skew the outcome, may include the unexpected death of several participants (i. . illness, accident, gang violence), or if a participant moves to a different country. A potential limitation of this study is that it does not involve clinical assessments, which can include family history and background to determine the presence of abnormal disorders (mood disorders, personality disorders). Being aware of the presence of abnormal disorders is an important factor in determining the prevalence and etiology of criminal behavior.As a result, assessing the environment would not be sufficient to determine the risk of becoming a criminal. Also, longitudinal studies of a large sample of the population require a large number of researchers and access to certain legal databases (depe nding on the study), which takes time and a considerable amount of money. Future research could investigate other factors that might have an influence on the development of criminal behavior (i. e. race, gender, psychological and biological vulnerabilities, and individual choices).It is possible that sufficient justification to support the influences of these theories (control, learning, and strain) could also be accompanied by or perceived as different depending on these factors, such that psychological vulnerabilities (cognitive development), which can be caused by abuse, in any type of environment could influence the development of such behaviors as well. Some researchers believe that crime does not reside in the environment and others say that the idea of their environment alone is not enough.Future research should be done to investigate the measurable affirmation of criminal behavior contributing to a selective demographic based on psychological, biological, and sociological vu lnerabilities. Further investigation of the underlying causes of the development of criminal behavior is important not only to raise awareness, but to benefit our justice system as well as to contribute to the developing realm of research in psychology and criminology. References Hoffmann, John P. (2003). A contextual analysis of differential association, social control, and train theories of delinquency. Social Forces, 81, 753-785. Baskin, Deborah R. ; Sommers, Ira (2011). Child maltreatment, placement strategies, and delinquency. American Journal of Criminal Justice, 36, 106-119. Opotow, Susan; Gieseking, Jen (2011). Foreground and background: Environment as site and social issue. Journal of Social Issues, 67, 179-196. Stuart, Bryan (2004). Inside the criminal mind. Journal of Psychiatry & Law, 32, 547-549. No authorship indicated (1928). The problem of the mind. The Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 23, 1-3.

Traveling for Education

AbstractDue to the miserable situations of Lebanese students and their long years of suffering from the bad educating services and due to the absence of responsibility toward university students and the difficulty of finding jobs. The researcher in this paper shows the attention to this problem.TRAVELLING FOR EDUCATIONTraveling For Education It was become a fashion trend that more and more people choose to go abroad to study. Some people think it is great experience while on the country , some others think it is not good at all!Despite of the importance of studying abroad and the presence of scientist that have raised Lebanon's name abroad , there are still oppositions to the views of this idea that prefer to stay in Lebanon despite of all its problems that they suffer from . Students in Lebanon should study outside for many reasons. General atmosphere is not suitable to study in Lebanon on all levels. The lack of raw materials in Lebanon led to the weakness of electricity and this c ase does not fit college student who needs a convenient means for study and research.In addition to the electricity obstacle we  notice the non-existence of laboratories, libraries and research centers, the state does not give an adequate attention to this deficiency, which leads for big effort toward the college student . For example , there is only one public library that opened new in Nabtieh † centre de lecture et d'animation culturelle † beside the red cross and it does not have the media support to be a know place to come to it. In addition to all problems that Lebanese students face we have an initial problem by students that is the lack of comfort in government universities , and when they resortTRAVELLING FOR EDUCATION to private universities that are more comfortable with all they need for studying they will be shocked by the high cost that they can't afford which lead them to depression , and we will not forget the non-support for the best students that gove rnment must appreciate and have a look for them. Going abroad to study means far more than learning. The book† Intercultural journeys from study to residence abroad † ( Jackson , 1954) talk about this issue.This book focuses on the actual experiences of college students who travelled from their homes to foreign lands, the author  explores the linkage between intercultural awareness and sensitivity , language development , and identity reconstruction in young adult college learners. Generally, the first thing you need to do is to survive in a foreign nation. Where to find a place to live? How to deal with transportation? How to cook food? All these are the things you have to think and depend on yourself. Students who study abroad have to take care of themselves, and these questions are used the Lebanese students who don't want to travel abroad.Without parents, you can learn how to arrange their  own issues and do everything by yourself better. This is what we call ind ependent awareness. Studying abroad cultivate your independent awareness and capability of taking care yourself. It is TRAVELLING FOR EDUCATION always a tough time when living in a country that is totally new to you and facing all kinds problems. One you overcome them , you get the ability to live on your own. This is great, when the people of your age still enjoying their lives under the protection of their families, you begin to experience life.We take this factor as the most important advantage as it teaches you the basic ability to live your life. No one but yourself can teach you this! Everyone needs to be enriched with more experience and be more mature. Studying abroad means you set yourself into a circumstance that is totally different to you. You can enjoy a new culture all by yourself: people's thoughts and behaviors and the way people live are the first-hand to you , is not this great ? Cultural differences are more than just differences in language, food, appearances, cu lture and personal habits.A person's reflects very deep perceptions, beliefs, and values that influence his or her way of life and the way that he or she views the world. Students who experience cultural differences personally can come to truly understand where other cultures are coming from. You can greatly increase your adaptability to what we call the † Global Village† in your potential career ( Dixon , 2009 ).Only knowing cultural difference is not enough, studying abroad has a lot more to explore! seeing the beautiful sceneries of a nation, volunteering TRAVELLING FOR EDUCATION  in social work and communicating with local people are all up to you. By studying abroad you know more about the world, no matter academically or physically. Knowing more a and experiencing more help you think rationally and behave maturely. The things above are the most important and valuable advantages we can think of. And of course there are much more that hat we mentioned , learning an d mastering a new manage or having the chance to travel may also be the advantages that attract you. Do not hesitate, going abroad to study do offer you great improvement! TRAVELLING FOR EDUCATION

Earl Jones †Scams and Fraud Essay

Earl Jones was born in Montreal on June 24, 1963. He started to work at Montreal TRUST for over 16 years; he worked 8-10 different positions including investment management, estates, trust administration, will planning and manager of the mortgage department. In 1970 Jones left the company to start his own business, he began holding courses on taking care of finances. He then launched a company he called â€Å"Earl Jones Consultant and Administration Corporation, an administrative and financial advising† (Gazette, 2010). He began to make withdrawals from his bank account, into which he deposited his client’s money. Earl Jones is a â€Å"White Collar Criminal† which is â€Å"members of the rich and powerful who used their positions for personal gain ignoring the law and the consequences for others. He surmised that white-collar criminals damaged the social relations between citizens and their government, clients and professionals and consumers and corporationsâ₠¬  (Sutherland, 1940). Earl Jones grew up in a family whom barley made it by with money, this contributed to his personality later in life. Earl Jones felt the need to fulfill his desires of better schools for their children, keeping up the appearance of greater wealth than he was able to afford as a status symbol (Sutherland, 1940). Earl Jones scheme works by simply paying old investors the funds collected with new investors. The fraud can only continue just as long as there was a continued flow of new investors. Jones had made a promise to his clients that they will achieve an above normal rate of return. (Moffatt, 2012). In 2005 Jones set up nine mortgages valued nearly two million dollars; he convinced many of his clients to re-mortgage their homes. In 2008 he switched to, a commercial account, he still continued to print ‘in trust’ on cheques he was using with clients. Earl Jones had claimed to be a financial advisor. All the payments he had made showed as an administrative expensive. Jones convinced clients that he would invest their funds to generate high returns with little or no risk. Earl Jones seemed like a very friendly and trustworthy guy. Investors considered him to be a part of the family, most calling him â€Å"Uncle Jones†. Jones targeted his family and his immediate circle of friends, then he started to convince widows with a paid off house to take out a new mortgage so he could invest the loan and get a higher return (Maclellan, 2009). Many people have been hurt in Earl Jones scheme; obviously the initial victims lost their money and were very angry. His family lost the most in this scheme. His wife and daughters experienced many emotions from anger to losing all hope to depression and disappointment. His family knew him as a loving husband, devoted father, and a respected member of the community. When his wife and daughters had figured out what he was really about, they stated him â€Å"as a man we can scarcely believe exists† (CBCNEWS, 2009). Jones had left his family with zero financial means to face the future; his family now needs to become members of local charities, to have basic needs such as food and medication, they also need to worry about finding places to sleep. Earl Jones was sentenced to eleven years in prison. He has pleaded guilty to scamming 158 clients of $50 million dollars in the scheme he had operated for over more than two decades. The punishment does not fit his crime, he had ruined several people’s lives, not only robbing them of their money, but he took their freedom and self-esteem (The Gazette, 2010). In comparison to the punishment given to American Ponzi scheme Bernard Madoff who was sentenced 150 years in jail which is the maximum sentence allowed, Bernard pleaded guilty of 11 felony counts including security fraud, money laundering and perjury. Bernard has scammed clients of $65 billion dollars (New York Times, 2013). Jones sentence does not seem appropriate seeing as he has stolen $50 million dollars from his clients and would have continued this scheme if he was not caught. According to ‘Theories and History of enterprise/white collar crimes’ the theory â€Å"Rational Choice – Need† is appropriate for Earl Jones conduct because â€Å"some individuals are driven by psychological or financial needs to commit crime. Executives may feel the need to keep up the appearance of greater wealth than they are able to afford as a status symbol, or to stroke their egos. Blue collar workers may feel the need to take things to augment their incomes to keep pace with inflation† (Sutherland, 1940). Earl Jones grew up in a family that could barely get by, making him become a needy person in the future, always wanting more. Earl Jones had stolen millions of dollars from his loved ones and his close friends, this proves that he would do anything for money and always wanted to be looked at as a rich person whom always kept up his appearance and style. References The Gazette. (2010). Earl Jones Scandal. Retrieved from: http://www.montrealgazette.com/news/earl-jones/index.html Sutherland, E. (1940). White Collar Criminality. Handout presented at SOCS10261G, Sheridan College, Oakville. Moffatt, M. (2012). Ponzi Scheme. Retrieved from: http://economics.about.com/od/financialmarkets/f/ponzi_scheme.htm Macelellan, N. (2009). Earl Jones – A Canadian Ponzi. Retrieved from: http://beforeyouinvest.ca/2009/07/earl-jones-canadian-ponzi/ CBCNEWS. (2009) Ponzi Scheme Suspects Family express ‘Grief, Shame’. Retrieved from: http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/story/2009/07/20/earl-jones-family-statement.html The New York Times. (2013). Bernard L. Madoff. Retrieved from: http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/m/bernard_l_madoff/index.html

Top Ten Countries Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Top Ten Countries - Research Paper Example Our management team found that none of the ten most populous countries are included in the list of the top ten countries for population growth. Indeed, China is in 152nd place for population growth, while India takes 86th place. The United States is 114th; Indonesia is 111th; Brazil is 104th; Pakistan is 75th; Bangladesh is 76th; Nigeria is 59th; Russia is 223rd; and Japan is 215th (Central Intelligence Agency, 2002). The top ten countries for population growth are (in descending order): Zimbabwe, Niger, Uganda, Turks and Caicos Islands, Burundi, United Arab Emirates, Gaza Strip, Ethiopia, Western Sahara, Burkina Faso (Central Intelligence Agency, 2002). Zimbabwe is 72nd in population; Niger is 62nd; Uganda is 36th; Turks and Caicos Islands is 209th; Burundi is 81st; United Arab Emirates is 114th; Gaza Strip is 149th; Ethiopia is 13th; Western Sahara is 170th; and Burkina Faso is 61st (Central Intelligence Agency, 2011).

Analysis of the Movie The Gladiator Review Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Analysis of the The Gladiator - Movie Review Example The movie review "Analysis of the Movie The Gladiator" presents the overview of the film "The Gladiator" plot, its main heroes, and techniques used in the production of this movie. The plot of the film is brought out in an overwhelmingly exciting manner with scenes unfolding like in a real-life scene. Maximus is preferred by Commodus father to inherit the throne, something which Commodus disputes strongly. Commodus then resorts to murder his father and forcefully inherits the throne. He reduces Maximus to being a slave and severely destroys his family. To save himself from the chains of slavery, Maximus opts to become a gladiator on a new land after being saved by slave traders- a very low position in society. Using his brains and tactics, he plans to take revenge on Commodus so that he can be reunited happily with his family. In spite of all the challenges he faced, he was able to go through with his revenge. The movie is built around three act structures; bringing Maximus down from a warrior to slave and finally to gladiator. There is nothing complex in this film as it is not realistic but rather an attempt to create a myth. The three acts are brought out in a dizzyingly exciting manner. Scott employs simple digital effects of reconstructing the whole Ancient Rome world on a film. He presents breathtaking scenes like the intact Coliseum shots flooded by crowds of spectators. Furthermore, on watching the film, there are scenes when the screen is filled with action series of tigers, chariots, and swords.

In the light of recent examples of banks and companies making heavy Essay - 1

In the light of recent examples of banks and companies making heavy losses from using derivatives, evaluate the risks and benefits of derivatives contracts - Essay Example 211-264). The recent publicised bankruptcies by the Orange County and the British Investment house of Barings purportedly relates to losses from speculative positions in different derivative securities that caused a flurry of discussion, which questioned the derivative investment. There have been several investor lawsuits on losses from derivatives. For instance, in MG trading subsidiary, in United States, in 1993, there were large derivatives positions in futures and swaps in energy. Instead of the prices rising, they sharply fell in late 1993. The company incurred unrealized losses with the derivatives having margin excesses of $900 million. The press reports indicated that the predicament was as a result of the massive speculation in the energy futures and off-exchange. However, not all the press reports hold on to this; others believe that derivatives in MGRM activities were as a result of complex oil hedging and marketing strategy. Negotiation for most of forward delivery contracts happened in summer of 1993, when prices for the energy were falling. The end-users took advantage of locking-in the low energy prices for the future, and the company benefited through developing profitable customer relationship (Carr & Dilip 2001, p. 33-59). The large financial losses from the money market funds increased the public concern on derivative investment. There are hot discussions about regulation of the derivative investment. Most of the negative publicity on derivatives reflected by the popular press is partial contrast to the theoretical arguments on benefits of derivatives. This questions the recent concerns on the risks from derivatives since derivatives have a high likelihood of reducing risks for the financial institutions (Carr & Dilip 2001, p. 33-59). A derivative entails the transaction whose value is derived from the value of the underlying assets. A derivative contract refers to a financial contract

Reaction Paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 3

Reaction Paper - Essay Example Children are the party who suffer most when parents go through a divorce and have to share the children much like other assets in a marriage. There seems to be a link between divorce and delinquency and it is easy to connect the two although there may be deeper causes as well. Even in cases where divorce does not break up a family, a married couple can live with children in a hostile environment which continually causes stress to all those living in it. In such situations parents may show less control over their children and even show a lessened interest in their activities. Such situations are reported to lower the self esteem of the children involved and an increase in delinquent behavior. Interestingly enough, and it is possible to this with common experience, children who are treated positively with humor, support, physical and verbal affection react better than children who are treated with negative actions such as hostility, defensiveness, abuse, threats and maltreatment. The link between violence towards children e.g. spankings was seen to be established as further violence acted out by the children on others. It is interesting to note that physical punishment might be used if it is balanced with positive support for the children when they need it. This certainly makes sense because without the positive support and recognition, simple physical punishment for being ‘naughty’ would be nothing more than physical abuse of the child which certainly scars a child and could even prevent future normal functioning as an adult. This also creates a direct link to the level of supervisions that a child has from the parents as well as other concerned parties in the family. In a family where the child receives supervision and help from elders, the child can be assured of having a positive relationship with the parents. Common wisdom often states that working mothers

Macronutrient Intake Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Macronutrient Intake - Research Paper Example Types of fats consumed included saturated, monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats. In addition, the patient supplemented daily fat requirement with linoleic acid, cholesterol and Omega 3 fats. Based on the daily nutrient reports, it is apparent that the patient’s daily intake of proteins and carbohydrates surpassed predetermined targets. The patient took 67g and 47g of protein on the first and third day respectively. In this case, daily protein intake exceeded target quantity, which lies at 46g. With respect to carbohydrates, the nutritional assessment project set a daily target of 130g, representing approximately 45-65% of total calories. Records indicate that the patient consumed carbohydrates in excess of daily requirements, thus supplementing daily calorie intake with an average of 52% starch. Despite the patient maintaining protein and carbohydrate intake within the target limits, fat intake for the assessment period indicates a slight imbalance in the different types o f fats. Targeted intake of alpha linoleic acid is 1.1g per day. However, the patient consumed only 0.1g of the same linoleic acid on the first day. Therefore, fat intake for that day falls under the clinically required levels. From a theoretical perspective, each of the three macronutrients plays a significant role in providing energy requirements of the body. Clinically, imbalanced intake macronutrient components results in disturbed body functions (Janos and Berdanier 45). Therefore, fat intake for that day falls under the clinically.

Critically discuss the influences from outside accounting which have Essay

Critically discuss the influences from outside accounting which have affected the development of financial reporting in various countries - Essay Example As a point of departure accounting is a product of the environment and all factors attributed to the outside of accounting such as politics, legal framework among others will automatically influence the manner in which the accounting system of a nation operates differently from those of their nations. This brings us to the aspect of political systems. Various nations across the nations embrace diverse types of governance systems which immensely influence the type of accounting systems to be embraced across its borders. For instance, some of the political systems practiced include the multi-party democracy, one-party systems, traditional monarchies, military dictatorships and dominant-party systems (UNITED STATES, 2007). It is imperative to note that, the higher the level of a political system in terms of freedom, the lower the rank of a nation. This immensely influences the standards of the accounting systems that are embraced in a particular nation. For instance, the political syste ms of a nation stand a position of determining the nature of the economic structure a nation embraces hence determining the accounting patterns (TSAMENYI & UDDIN, 2009). Some nations can import or export accounting standards and practices; this brings the discrepancy of the accounting systems embraced by diverse nations. In addition, the element of political freedom of a nation is critical in the development of an accounting and reporting systems guided by the full and fair disclosure principle. In essence, when the populace is not allowed to make independent electoral choices, then the possibility of influencing accountable and transparent governance principles which will enable establishment of an accounting profession or system that is founded on the full and fair disclosure principle is low. Similarly on the side of legal systems, the same case of lack of influence in the formation of these systems defines

The Alpha Level Science Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3500 words

The Alpha Level Science - Term Paper Example The Alpha Level Science If the Alpha Level Science curriculum focuses more on collaborative and active learning and emphasizes the emotional and social experiences of children rather than the visual stimulation by third parties (teacher and picture books), teachers will be directed to emphasize group activities, collaborative learning, critical thinking in both informal and formal settings and will encourage kindergarten students to apply science to the real world and as such gain a more hands-on educational experience. In its Benchmark for Science Literacy, the American Association for the Advancement of Science (1993) recommended that children should be involved in an active way in learning about the world from a scientific perspective and this education should begin from the very first day they attend school. In this regard, young students need to acquire an incentive for making inquiries about science and nature, to look for explanations, collect, count, measure things, observe qualitatively, organize observations and things, discuss and explore. These kinds of experiences will help young students to form a connection to science and to enjoy science education. This will help to heighten awareness of the scientific world as they grow older and move up in school. In teaching science to all students regardless of age, it is also important to understand that science contains a system or body of knowledge representing existing knowledge and an understanding of the natural process that is constantly being expanded, revised and â€Å"refined†.... y, the American Association for the Advancement of Science (1993) recommended that children should be involved in an active way in learning about the world from a scientific perspective and this education should begin from the very first day they attend school. In this regard, young students need to acquire an incentive for making inquiries about science and nature, to look for explanations, collect, count, measure things, observe qualitatively, organize observations and things, discuss and explore. These kinds of experiences will help young students to form a connection to science and to enjoy science education. This will help to heighten awareness of the scientific world as they grow older and move up in school (Saracho & Spodek, 2008). In teaching science to all students regardless of age, it is also important to understand that science contains a system or body of knowledge representing existing knowledge and an understanding of the natural process that is constantly being expand ed, revised and â€Å"refined† (Committee on Science Learning Kindergarten Through Eighth Grade, 2007, p. 26). In other words, science education necessarily involves teaching and learning techniques informed by pragmatism and progressivism. This study analyses the Alpha Level Science curriculum for early learners and identifies how this curriculum can be improved to meet the challenges and goals of science education through the implementation of content consistent with pragmatism and progressivism ideas. The Alpha Level Science Curriculum The Alpha Level Science curriculum is broken into nine themed units each complete with lessons built around one of the particular themes. Each unit offers lessons which repeat in general order of presentation. The specifics of each lesson type are examined

United States vs Mexico Essay Example for Free

United States vs Mexico Essay The United States of America and Mexico compare and contrast their differences when it comes to education, homeless rates, and their overall standard of living. The U. S and Mexico compare when it comes to homeless rates seeing as the numbers are increasing each year. As for education, Mexico lacks standard education, where as the United States has a higher standard for education. The overall standard of living in both countries is probably the biggest difference the two countries have. Mexico has many prosperous areas to it, but for the most part people who live in Mexico, live poor and on the streets. Children in Mexico usually have to get street jobs in order to help their families with poverty. The United States has its own level of poverty and economic issues, but Mexico has a much higher poverty rate and their money is worth less than the U. S dollar, making it hard to earn money from American tourists. These two standards of living are completely different from each other seeing as they both have different problems. Mexico and the United States share the same issues and values, but on different levels of greatness. The education in Mexico is very different from the education in the United States. They use different grade level systems and different national budgets for education. Both of these countries have successful educational programs, and have high standards. The grade level system Mexico uses is six grades in primary schools. Kindergarten is for the 5-6 year old age level. Then they begin first grade at 6-7 years old and sixth grade, which is the end of primary school, is for the 11-12 year olds. Then the Mexican students begin secondary school. Secondary school has three grades. First grade starts at age 12-13 and third grade is for 14-15 years old. Then they begin high school. This is called the beginning of middle higher education. High school, like secondary, has three grades. First grade is for 15-16 year olds and third grade, which is the end of high school, is for 17-18 years old. Finally the Universities take over. A bachelor’s degree takes four to five years to achieve, after that it takes two to three additional years to achieve a masters. The United States has a different education system than Mexico. Elementary school is from kindergarten to fifth grade, ages 5 to 10. Then it goes to middle school or junior high school which is grades sixth through eighth and ages 11 to 13. After that is high school which are grades ninth through twelfth which is ages 14 to 17 or 18. It is illegal in the United States not to go to school, but some immigrants do not have enough money to go to school. Most kids in Mexico do not go to school because of the money or because they need to work instead to help their family. America and Mexico have different laws and systems as far as the education systems go. There are over one million children in America who are not getting an education because they have no money and are also homeless. As many as 3. million Americans are homeless each year, one million being children. Most homeless people are families who have been thrust into series of unfortunate events that left them with no money. For those living in poverty or close to the poverty line, an everyday life issue that may be manageable for individuals with a higher income can be the final factor in placing them on the street. America can compare with Mexico because most people who are homeless in Mexico are families. Although Mexico has a lot of homeless families on the street, it has more homeless street kids. Six percent of children on the streets in Mexico are ages five to fourteen and about five percent of Mexicans are living on only $1 a day. There is a lot more people living in severe poverty in Mexico then there is in America, but it is easier for Mexicans to find cheap shelter, keeping them off the street. If they can figure out a way to make a few pesos, theyre free to do so. Some end up selling gum and bobble-headed toy turtles to tourists. Others hawk homemade tamales on local buses, with little fear of being turned in for a Food Safe violation. You see a lot more people on the streets of the U. S then the streets in Mexico, but people in Mexico are more vulnerable to poverty than people in the America. The United States in the past century has knocked down old apartments and turned them into million dollar condos, have knocked down shacks and banned beach camping, leaving people with just enough money to find food for their families on the streets. America has made it extremely hard to live with no money by over developing and knocking down the little shacks and old apartments when people do not have enough money to pay for the new higher end things. This has lead to many citizens turning to the streets or our parks for a home. There also is no way for them to make cheap money except for begging for it on the streets. Most people on the street do not even have money to buy crafts so they can make crafty nick-knacks to sell to the richer for profit. This makes the standard of living in America hard for people on the streets and for people who are very close to losing everything. Mexico has other options for homeless people which make it a little more sustainable to get by. Mexico still has abandoned sheds and shacks for people to live in and those people are able to sell the things they make to tourists. If you were to visit Mexico you may find little to no people on the streets because there are other more suitable places for these people. There are parts of Mexico that are developed and keep up with the industrialized world it is in, but there are also places that have not been touched by the modern world and stay untouched making it easier for more people to live. Mexico’s standard of living is easier in some cases and harder in others. Even though people find abandoned shacks to live, it is still extremely hard to survive in harsh living conditions. Mexico and the Unites States of America compare and contrast many issues and values. From what is explained above, most people struggle when it comes to money, education, and living standards. Some people go from having a house one day to sleeping on the streets with their families the next. Some kids have to work to help their families and some kids get the opportunity to get an education. Mexico and America both have education systems but with different grade levels and ages, they both have homeless citizens, but some conditions are worse than others, and they both have living standards that can be clean and dirty. Overall, Mexico and America both have equal comparisons to contrasts.

Italian Cuisine and Pizza Essay Example for Free

Italian Cuisine and Pizza Essay Pizza is an oven-baked, flat, round bread typically topped with a tomato sauce, cheese and various toppings. Pizza was originally invented in Naples, Italy, and the dish has since become popular in many parts of the world.. Many varieties of pizza exist worldwide, along with several dish variants based upon pizza. Pizza`s in Pakistan The first pizzerias opened up in Karachi and Islamabad in the late 1980s, with Pappasallis serving pizza in Islamabad since 1990. Pizza has gained a measure of popularity in the eastern regions of Pakistan namely, the provinces of Sindh, Punjab, and Azad Kashmir, as well as the autonomous territory of Gilgit-Baltistan. Pizza has not penetrated into western Pakistan; of the remaining provinces and territories of Pakistan, only one (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) has seen much of the dish, in the form of a single Pizza Hut in Peshawar. In the regions where pizza is known, spicy chicken and sausage-based pizzas are very popular, as they cater to the local palate. Health matters Advantages European nutrition research on the eating habits of people with cancer of the mouth, oesophagus, throat or colon showed those who ate pizza at least once a week had less chance of developing cancer. , An antioxidant chemical in tomatoes, which is thought to offer some protection against cancer. Carlo La Vecchia, a Milan-based epidemiologist said, Pizza could simply be indicative of a lifestyle and food habits, in other words the Italian version of a Mediterranean diet. A traditional Mediterranean diet is rich in olive oil, fiber, vegetables, fruit, flour, and freshly cooked food. Disadvantages In contrast to the traditional Italian pizza used in the research, popular pizza varieties in many parts of the world are often loaded with high fat cheeses and fatty meats, a high intake of which can contribute to obesity, itself a risk factor for cancer. Pizza can be high in salt, fat and calories. There are concerns about negative health effects. Food chains, such as Pizza Hut, have come under criticism for the high salt content of some of their meals, which were found to contain more than twice the daily recommended amount of salt for an adult. Some mass produced pizzas by food chains have been criticized as having an unhealthy balance of ingredients. Some studies have linked consumption of the antioxidant lycopene, which exists in tomato products that are often used on pizza, as having a beneficial health effect.

Infinity Computer Systems Distributed Database

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