Data storage in Big Data Context: A Survey

Data storage in Big Data Context: A Survey Data storage in Big Data Context: A Survey A.ELomari, A.MAIZATE*, L.Hassouni# RITM-ESTC / CED-ENSEM, University Hassan II Abstract- As data volumes to be processed in all domains; scientific, professional, social à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦etc., are increasing at a high speed, their management and storage raises more and more challenges. The emergence of highly scalable infrastructures has contributed to the evolution of storage management technologies. However, numerous problems have emerged such as consistency and availability of data, scalability of environments or yet the competitive access to data. The objective of this paper is to review, discuss and compare the main characteristics of some major technological orientations existing on the market, such as Google File System (GFS) and IBM General Parallel File System (GPFS) or yet on the open source systems such as Hadoop Distributed File System (HDFS), Blobseer and Andrew File System (AFS), in order to understand the needs and constraints that led to these orientations. For each case, we will discuss a set of major problems of big data storage management, and how they were addressed in order to provide the best storage services. Introduction Todays, the amount of data generated during a single day may exceed the amount of information contained in all printed materials all over the world. This quantity far exceeds what scientists have imagined there are just a few decades. Internet Data Center (IDC) estimated that between 2005 and 2020, the digital universe will be multiplied by a factor of 300, so it will pass from 130 Exabyte to 40,000 Exabyte, the equivalent of   more than 5,200 gigabytes for each person in 2020   [[i]]. The traditional systems such as centralized network-based storage systems (client-server) or the traditional distributed systems such as NFS, are no longer able to respond to new requirements in terms of volume of data, high performance, and evolution capacities. And besides their cost, a variety of technical constraints are raised, such as data replication, continuity of services etc.  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚   In this paper, we try to discuss a set of technologies used in the market and that we think the most relevant and representative of the state of the art in the field of distributed storage systems. What is Distributed File systems (DFS) A distributed file system (DFS) is a system that allows multiple users to access, through the network, a file structure residing on one or more remote machines (File Servers) using a similar semantics to that used to access the local file system. This is a client / server architecture where data is distributed across multiple storage spaces usually called nodes. These nodes consist of a single or a small number of physical storage disks residing usually in basic equipment, configured to only provide storage services. As such, the material can be relatively low cost. As the material used is generally inexpensive and by large quantities, failures become unavoidable. Nevertheless, these systems are designed to be tolerant to failure by having recourse to data replication which makes the loss of one node an event of minimal emergency because data is always recoverable, often automatically, without any performance degradation. A. Andrew File System(AFS) architecture AFS (or OpenAFS currently) is a standard distributed file system originally developed by Carnegie Mellon University. It is supported and developed as a product by Transarc Corporation (now IBM Pittsburgh Labs). It offers a client-server architecture for federated file sharing and distribution of replicated read-only content [[ii]]. AFS offers many improvements over traditional systems. In particular, it provides the independence of the storage from location, guarantees system scalability and transparent migration capabilities.As shown in Figure 1, the distribution of processes in AFS can be summarized as follows: A process called Vice is the backbone of information sharing in the system; it consists of a set of dedicated file servers and a complex LAN. A process called Venus runs on each client workstation; it mediates access to shared files [[iii]]. Figure 1 : AFS Design . AFS logic assumes the following hypothesis [[iv]]: Shared files are rarely updated and local user files will remain valid for long periods. An allocation of a large enough local disk cache, for example 100 MB, can keep all users files. Using the client cache may actually be a good compromise to system performance, but it will only be effective if the assumptions adopted by AFS designers are respected, otherwise this can make a huge issue for data integrity. B. Google File System (GFS) architecture Another interesting approach is that proposed by GFS, which is not using special cache at all. GFS is a distributed file system developed by Google for its own applications. Google GFS system (GFS cluster) consists of a single master and multiple Chunkservers (nodes) and is accessed by multiple clients, as shown in Figure 2 [[v]].Each of these nodes is typically a Linux machine running a server process at a user level. Figure 2 : GFS Design The files to be stored are divided into pieces of fixed size called chunks. The Chunkservers store chunks on local disks as Linux files. The master maintains all metadata of the file system. The GFS client code uses an application programming interface (API) to interact with the master regarding transactions related to metadata, but all communications relating to the data themselves goes directly to Chunkservers. Unlike AFS, neither the client nor the Chunkserver use a dedicated cache. Customers caches, according to Google, offer little benefit because most applications use large which are too big to be cached. On the other hand, using a single master can drive to a bottleneck situation. Google has tried to reduce the impact of this weak point by replicating the master on multiple copies called shadows which can be accessed in read-only even if the master is down. C. Blobseer architecture Blobseer is a project of KerData team, INRIA Rennes, Brittany, France[[vi]]. The Blobseer system consists of distributed processes (Figure 3), which communicate through remote procedure calls (RPC). A physical node can run one or more processes and can play several roles at the same time. Figure 3 : Blobseer Design Unlike Google GFS, Blobseer do not centralize access to metadata on a single machine, so that the risk of bottleneck situation of this type of node is eliminated. Also, this feature allows load balancing the workload across multiple nodes in parallel. D. Hadoop Distributed File System (HDFS) The Hadoop Distributed File System (HDFS) is a component of Apach Hadoop project [[vii]]. HDFS is highly fault-tolerant and is designed to be deployed on low-cost hardware. As shown in figure 4, HDFS stores file system metadata and application data separately. As in other distributed file systems, HDFS stores metadata on a dedicated server, called the NameNode. Application data are stored on other servers called DataNodes [[viii]]. Figure 4: HDFS Design There is one NameNode per cluster and it makes all decisions regarding replication of blocks [[ix]]. Data Storage as blob The architecture of a distributed storage system must take into consideration how files are stored on disks. One smart way to make this possible is to organize these data as objects of considerable size. Such objects, called Binary Large Objects (BLOBs), consist of long sequences of bytes representing unstructured data and can provide the basis for a transparent data sharing of large-scale. A BLOB can usually reach sizes of 1 Tera Byte (TB). Using BLOBs offers two main advantages: The Scalability: Maintaining a small set of huge BLOBs including billions of small items is much easier than directly managing billions of small ones. The simple mapping between the application data and file names can be a big problem compared to the case where the data are stored in the same BLOB and that only their offsets must be maintained. The Transparency: A data management system based on shared BLOBs, uniquely identifiable through ids, relieves application developers of the burden of explicit management and transfer of their locations on the codes. The system thus offers an intermediate layer that masks the complexity of access to data wherever it is stored physically [[x]]. Data striping Data striping is a well-known technique for increasing the data access performances. Each BLOB or file is divided into small pieces that are distributed across multiple machines on the storage system. Thus, requests for access to data may be distributed over multiple machines in parallel way, allowing achieving high performances.Two factors must be considered in order to maximize the benefits of this technique: Configurable strategy of distribution of chunks: Distribution strategy specifies where to store the chunks to achieve a predefined goal. For example, load balancing is one of the goals that such strategy can allow. Dynamic configuration of the size of the chunks: If the chunks size is too small, applications would have to retrieve the data to be processed from several chunks. On the other hand, the use of too large chunks will complicate simultaneous access to data because of the increasing probability that two applications require access to two different data but both stored on the same chunk. A lot of systems that use this type of architecture, such as GFS and Blobseer use a 64 MB sized chunks, which seems to be the most optimized size for those two criteria. concurrency Processing concurrency is very dependent on the nature of the desired data processing and of the nature of data changes. For example, Haystack system that manages Facebook pictures which never changes [[xi]], will be different from Google GFS or IBM General Parallel File System (GPFS) which are managing a more dynamic data. The lock method is used by many DFS to manage concurrency and IBM GPFS has developed a more effective mechanism that allows locking a byte range instead of whole files/blocks (Byte Range Locking) [[xii]]. GFS meanwhile, offers a relaxed consistency model that supports Google highly distributed applications, but still relatively simple to implement. Blobseer developed a more sophisticated technique, which theoretically gives better results. The snapshot approach using versioning that Blobseer brings is an effective way to meet the main objectives of maximizing competitive access [[xiii]]. The disadvantage of such a mechanism based on snapshots, is that it can easily explode the required physical storage space. However, although each write or append generates a new version of the blob snapshot, only the differential updates from previous versions are physically stored. DFS Benchmark As we have detailed in this article, generally there is no better or worse methods for technical or technological choices to be adopted to make the best of a DFS, but rather compromises that have to be managed to meet very specific objectives. In Table 2, we compare five distributed file systems: GFS, GPFS, HDFS, AFS and Blobseer. Choosing to compare only those specific systems despite the fact that the market includes dozens of technologies is led particularly by two points: 1. It is technically difficult to study all systems in the market in order to know their technical specifications, especially as several of them are proprietary and closed systems. Even more, the techniques are similar in several cases and are comparable to those of the five we compared. 2. Those five systems allow making a clear idea about the DFS state of the art thanks to the following particularities: GFS is a system used internally by Google, which manage huge quantities of data because of its activities. GPFS is a system developed and commercialized by IBM, a global leader in the field of Big Data HDFS is a subproject of HADOOP, a very popular Big Data system Blobseer is an open source initiative, particularly driven by research as it is maintained by INRIA Rennes. AFS is a system that can be considered as a bridge between conventional systems such as NFS and advanced distributed storage systems. In Table 2, we compare the implementation of some key technologies in those five systems. Analysis of the results of Table 2 leads to the following conclusions: The five systems are expandable in data storage. Thus, they cover one of the principal issues that lead to the emergence of Distribute File System. Only Blobseer and GPFS offer the extensibility of metadata management to overcome the bottleneck problem of the master machine, which manage the access to metadata. Except AFS, all studied systems are natively tolerant to crash, relying essentially on multiple replications of data. To minimize the lag caused by locking the whole file, GPFS manage locks on specific areas of the file (Byte range locks). But the most innovative method is the use of versioning and snapshots by Blobseer to allow simultaneous changes without exclusivity. Except AFS, all systems are using the striping of data. As discussed earlier; this technique provides a higher input / output performance by striping blocks of data from individual files over multiple machines. Blobseer seems to be the only one among the systems studied that implements the storage on blobs technique, despite the apparent advantages of such technique. To allow a better scalability, a DFS system must support as much operating systems as possible. But while AFS, HDFS and GPFS à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬ ¹Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬ ¹ supports multiple platforms, GFS and Blobseer run exclusively on Linux, this can be explained partly by the commercial background of AFS, HDFS and GPFS. Using a dedicated cache is also a point of disagreement between systems. GFS and Blobseer consider that the cache has no real benefits, but rather causes many consistency issues. AFS and GPFS uses dedicated cache à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬ ¹Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬ ¹on both client computers and servers. HDFS seems to use dedicated cache only at client level. Conclusion In this paper, we reviewed some specifications of distributed file storage systems. It is clear from this analysis that the major common concern of such systems is scalability. A DFS should be extendable with the minimum cost and effort. In addition, data availability and fault tolerance remains among the major concerns of DFS. Many systems tend to use non expensive hardware for storage. Such condition will expose those systems to frequent or usual breakdowns. To these mechanisms, data striping and lock mechanisms are added to manage and optimize concurrent access to the data. Also, Working on multiples operating systems can bring big advantages to any of those DFS. None of these systems can be considered as the best DFS in the market, but rather each of them is excellent in the scope that it was designed for. Table 2 Comparative table of most important characteristics of distributed file storage GFS by Google GPFS IBM HDFS Blobseer AFS (OPEN FS) Data Scalability YES YES YES YES YES Meta Data Scalability NO YES NO YES NO Fault tolerance Fast Recovery.Chunk Replication.Master Replication. Clustering features.   Synchronous and asynchronous data replication. Block Replication.Secondary NameNode. Chunk ReplicationMeta data replication NO Data access Concurrency Optimized for concurrent   appends Distributed byte range locking Files have strictly one writer at any time YES Byte-range file locking Meta Data access Concurrency Master shadows on read only Centralizedmanagement NO YES NO Snapshots YES YES YES YES NO Versioning YES unknown NO YES NO Data Striping 64 MB Chunks YES YES (Data blocks of 64 MB) 64 MB Chunks NO Storage as Blobs NO NO NO YES NO Supported OS LINUX AIX, Red Hat, SUSE , Debian Linux distributions, Windows Server 2008 Linux and Windows supported , BSD, Mac OS/X, Open Solaris known to work LINUX AIX, Mac OS X, Darwin, HP-UX, Irix, Solaris, Linux, Windows, FreeBSD, NetBSD OpenBSD Dedicated cache NO YES by AFM technology YES (Client) NO YES []  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚   John Gantz and David Reinsel. THE DIGITAL UNIVERSE IN 2020: Big Data, Bigger Digital Shadows, and Biggest Growth in the Far East. Tech. rep. Internet Data Center(IDC), 2012. [2]  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚   OpenAfs : www.openafs.org/ [3]  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚   Monali Mavani : Comparative Analysis of Andrew Files System and Hadoop Distributed File System, 2013. [4]  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚   Stefan Leue : Distributed Systems Fall, 2001 [5]  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚   Sanjay Ghemawat, Howard Gobioff, and Shun-Tak Leung Google* : The Google File System. [6]  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚   Blobseer: blobseer.gforge.inria.fr/ [7]  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚   Hadoop: hadoop.apache.org/ [8]  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚   Konstantin Shvachko, Hairong Kuang, Sanjay Radia, Robert Chansler Yahoo!: The Hadoop Distributed File System, 2010. [9]  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚   Dhruba Borthakur : HDFS Architecture Guide, 2008. [0]  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚   Bogdan Nicolae, Gabriel Antoniu, Luc Boug_e, Diana Moise, Alexandra, Carpen-Amarie : BlobSeer: Next Generation Data Management for Large Scale Infrastructures, 2010. [1]  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚   Doug Beaver, Sanjeev Kumar, Harry C. Li, Jason Sobel, Peter Vajgel, Facebook Inc: Finding a needle in Haystack: Facebooks photo storage, [2]  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚   Scott Fadden,   An Introduction to GPFS Version 3.5, Technologies that enable the management of big data, 2012. [3]  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚   Bogdan Nicolae,Diana Moise, Gabriel Antoniu,Luc Boug ´e, Matthieu Dorier : BlobSeer: Bringing High Throughput under Heavy Concurrency to Hadoop Map-Reduce Applications, 2010.

Legalising Prostitution: Debate, communication model and evaluation

Section 1: Group Discussion This section contains what was discussed during group discussion session. The general area of prejudice chosen for discussion was prostitution. Dubbed the oldest profession, there was unanimous observation among group members that prostitution is still loathed in the society, and commercial sex workers, mostly women, are still treated with contempt within our society. The common notion about prostitution is that whilst men are often ‘buyers’ of sex service from prostituting women, the latter are victims of exploitation. The term exploitation is used because women who engage in prostitution are seen to be compelled to engage in commercial sexual activities against their will. Whilst the common fact is that women who engage in prostitution see it as a source of income, and participate in it with their full consent without coercion, we observed that it is quite difficult to convince a person whose belief is entrenched in the moral dimension of commercial sex work that it is a normal activity. The prejudice against women is also entrenched by the belief that women who engage in this trade are of lesser social standing, even though this is always not the case. The other common belief is that while women prostitutes are looked down upon, men do not suffer any form of prejudice. In other words, men are often seen as the exploiters of sex workers, and hence do not enjoy any fair share of prejudice. On the other hand, both men and women engaging in prostitution are seen as morally repugnant, hence the common prejudice that come with it. The debate to legalise prostitution or not has been in the public domain for quite some time now. But it is the increased attention that it has received in the recent past that has invoked a lot of passionate debate in many legal jurisdictions as regards whether to legalise it or not. We may be all aware that one of the reasons why same-sex marriage has gained much currency today is because it is no longer viewed as socially unacceptable to the extent that it is not legal to hold gay couples in contempt in many countries. In recent past, it was not difficult to meet some strong views against marijuana user; with some even believing that the latter were losers who should be kept at the periphery of the society. However, criticism over marijuana use has waned in the recent past because of the recent revelation that it could be used to treat cancer. In addition, marijuana has also been used for pain relief for some time. This recent development has meant opposition to campaigns to keep marijuana illegal is at an all-time low. However, the same cannot be said about prostitution. The stigma associated with the sex trade remains strong, with women and men engaging in it seen as socially ambiguous individuals without moral standing in society. This kind of idea can promote dangerous conducts towards prostitutes. The fact that prostitutes are not regarded highly puts them at more risks to abuse including rape and murder. In addition, prostitutes are more likely to contract sexually transmitted diseases, further endangering their lives. Decriminalising prostitution will not only protect women but will also improve their safety and their rights, because however much it is made illegal, the oldest profession is not likely to go away anytime. Section 2: Commentary and Rationale This section will cover commentary on the topic and discuss it based on the chosen model of communication, the heuristic-systematic model. The debate on whether to legalise prostitution or not has intensified in the recent past, with voices advocating for the latter increasing in number every day. It’s no doubt that the stigma associated with prostitution is real, and remains strong amidst the growing knowledge that it will not stop any time soon. This is despite the rising evidence that decriminalising the trade has some significant health benefits. Research by two economists, Scott Cunningham and Manisha Shah (cited in Albarracin, et al., 2005, p. 78), looked at the situation in Rhodes Island when prostitution was accidentally decriminalised and found that cases of gonorrhoea had drastically reduced, as rape incidences. . Shannon et al. (2004, cited in Griffin, 2006, p.139) also confirmed this result when they conducted a study in Vancouver, British Colombia, and found out t hat decriminalising of prostitution can significantly reduce HIV prevalence by minimising its spread. Despite all the evidence showing the benefits of legalising prostitution, the benefits have not attracted the attention of the legislators. . In addition, many have argued that idea of legalising prostitution is unattractive to voters and therefore to politicians. There is need to focus on presenting arguments that provide options to the intended audience on the need to legalise abortion, and that is where the model for persuasive communication will be necessary in the subsequent section of this paper. The Heuristic-Systematic Model of Social Information Processing The concept of persuasion is an important aspect to not only convincing the people to accept an idea but also to drive changes of mind towards the accomplishment of the idea. The Heuristic-Systematic Model (Chaiken & Trope, 1999) recognises that people either use heuristics and short-cuts to decide on important issues, or use a systematic mechanism that processes the merits and demerits of an argument. The Heuristic approach suggests that the decision-maker asks questions such as of ‘how do I feel about this issue?’ despite the recognition that such questions can cause problems of understanding and choice, particularly when the person facing the decision dilemma mixes up the cause and the effect of their emotions. In other words, the Heuristic-Systematic Model recognises that in any argument there are a number of variables that are conceptually independent of the message quality and which are likely to influ ence people to act or agree with the proposed idea. Dillard & Pfau (2002) state that that these variables are able to qualitatively differentiate information processing, and give people more room to negotiate with their thinking process. It is important to recognise that people rarely process information in perfect conditions, because there are often environmental and cognitive constraints that tend to either limit the broadness of reasoning or curtail information processing. In this line of thought, people tend to process information economically; investing only in cognitive efforts when they feel motivated enough with a number of cognitive resources. In the prostitution decriminalisation debate, this can be said to affect that the way people reason, that is, arguments are likely to be based on strong environmental and cognitive influences entrenched by history, personal interest or fear, religious and cultural convictions. For instance, some arguments have emerged that prostitution should remain illegal because legalising it will mean women of loose morals will increasingly tempt men of good morals to increasingly betray their families. This kind of argument tends to make out that women who engage in prostitution a re the villains. The other belief is that women who engage in prostitution should be protected from being hurt against: sexually transmitted diseases, unruly pimps, and exploitation. The other argument would only be based on religion and historical cultural practices that prohibits prostitution as a trade. The three lines of arguments are motivated by different lines of thought, which can fall in either heuristic or systematic message processing mechanism. Ironically, the arguments against prostitution which include the view that women of loose morals prey upon upstanding men of good morals and lead them to betray their families has been accepted in some countries such as Sweden, which in 1999, criminalised the buying of sex but allowed individuals to continue selling it (Dillard & Pfau, 2002). Many proponents of this legislation argued that violence against prostituting in women is inherent, and that the best way was to reduce prostitution prevalence by limiting activities of the potential buyers. On the other hand, the State of Nevada, United States legalised prostitution to protect women from exploitation and abuse (Taleb, 2012). The Heuristic- Systematic model posits that people generally process persuasive information systematically only when they are fully motivated. When one is in a systematic mode, they tend to take into consideration all relevant pieces of information, elaborately analyse the information, and make a judgment based on the elaborated issues. However, whenever people are not adequately motivated or do not possess sufficient cognitive resources, they often resort to processing of information heuristically or superficially. People in a heuristic mode of thinking consider only a few or a single informational cue and come up a judgment based on the cues. Whilst decriminalising or legalising prostitution has attracted massive debate, its inability to pass the legislative hurdle or even attract attention of the political class has been overbearing for its proponents. In other words, legalising of sex trade has not been high amongst the priorities of many legislative agendas for many countries, i ncluding United Kingdom and United States (Taleb, 2012). The reason why the Heuristic- Systematic model can work towards pushing for the legalisation of prostitution is because of its dualism nature, which allows the message to reach different classes of people. The goal here is to get support for legislation that would see prostitution decriminalised, and protect the parties involved. . Expert advice backed by research findings are powerful tool to convince legislators, who may not take their time to scrutinise the quality of persuasive arguments, and mostly prefer quick fixes in making decisions. Packaging a message heuristically can allow the legislators to pick the cue, and avoid the difficult process of differentiating a strong and a weak message (Griffin, 2006). Reimer, et al (2004, p.81) observe that â€Å"people who expect to discuss a persuasion message later are more affected by the number of persuasive arguments but are never affected by the attractiveness of the communicator.† It is presumed that the importance of the message easily induce systematic processing of the message. By contrast, people who do not expect to discuss the message are often affected by how attractive the communicator is, and not affected by the number of persuasive arguments (Reimer, et al, 2004). Studies have proven that motivational variables affect the mode in which people process persuasive arguments. These variables include personal relevance of the message, importance of the task, attitude accountability and exposure to a person’s attitude (Chaiken & Trope, 1999). On the other hand, there are cognitive resource variables that affect the mode of message processing, which includes distraction, repetition of the message, creating time pressure, a nd modality of communication, knowledge and expertise (Griffin, 2006). Although it is important to recognise these modes of communicating the message in terms of communicating the value of legalising prostitution, it should not appear as though there is any form of dissociation of the variables at the early stage of the group means (Griffin, 2006). Similarly, heuristically communicating the message should be able to have direct effects on the attitudes of the target group. In this aspect, when the people agree in a consensus that prostitution should be legalised, then it can be considered correct and valid for acceptance. An important factor which should be covered by any dual-process model is how the two processes interact or work together. Although one may argue that the two processes, heuristic and systematic are mutually exclusive or are competing concepts, in this case of legalising prostitution they should work together. The Heuristic-Systematic model posits that the two proc esses, heuristic and systematic, are indeed working simultaneously. Evidence of how these two processes can work is when arguments pitting two judgmental implications of both of them. For instance, an expert source delivering a message consisting of weak arguments can present a scenario where both systematic and heuristic processing of messages is done under different levels of motivation. It is also important to note that the heuristic-systematic model attenuates that wherever the two processes opposes each other, the implications the comes from systematic processing can â€Å"easily attenuate the impact of heuristic given that people are sufficiently motivated.† For example, Griffin, (2006).found out those highly motivated participants who were presented with consensus cue information that is inconsistent with the attributes singularly based their judgments on their own cognitive prowess in relation to the product attributes. This concept is applicable in the case of prosti tution legalisation debate, in the sense that legislators can use their own cues and decide on the legislative agendas that will legalise commercial sex work. Section 3: Evaluation Proposal Evaluating heuristic- systematic model effectiveness is an important part of this model’s success towards ensuring the message to legalise prostitution is effectively passed. Effective communications needs evaluation, which helps to identify the impact of the efforts made in passing the message to the target audience. To effectively monitor the communication model, various tools shall be used in the process. Public opinion evaluation: Getting the opinions of the public as far as legalising prostitution is concerned is an important point to start from. Public opinion monitoring tool will be used to ask the public if they heard about the campaign to legalise prostitution from opinion leaders including legislators and non-governmental organisations. In addition, the questions will be directed to ask the public whether they agree with the manner in which legislators in support of the prostitution presented their messages or agreed with them in the context and reasons given by the leaders. For example, questions such as: Whose arguments made sense in the call to legalise prostitutionAnd whyThe questionnaire trackers will be recorded in terms of age, gender, work status, tenacity. The methodology to be used will remain consistent over time to allow for the tracking of metrics over time for comparison purposes. Evaluating media Evaluating the media response on how effective the proposed model will work, the formal process for evaluating the impact of the campaign in the media is to analyse whether it can be replicated and made part of regular campaign mechanism. Media Coverage Before Campaign (airtime/space) Coverage After Campaign (airtime/ space) % Increase in Coverage BBC National News BBC London ITV National News London Tonight Evening Standard Metro Radio 4 Times The table above will provide a guideline on how the media coverage has increased/ or decreased due to the campaign. This will be able to help bring depth to the understanding of our campaign, and if the media (both mainstream and tabloids) respond to increased debate. By monitoring how the media has changed the amount of airtime/ or newspaper coverage space in covering the legislative debates, it is possible to analyse the outcome of the campaign in ensuring the legislators continually discuss the possibility of decriminalising or legalising prostitution. The media monitoring will be conducted by assistants on everyday basis, and compiled in a weekly report for tracking if there is any change in trends. Each article or piece of broadcast coverage will be allocated points based on the following criteria: Positivity/negativity of the message (in favour of legalising prostitution): analysing the articles, opinions, newspaper columns and news coverage. Positivity/ negativity of the headl ines: positive mentions of the campaign groups, legislators; and Neutrality of opinions reported Finally, a range of stories will be typically evaluated and compiled on a daily basis, and tabulated on a weekly basis. Classification of stories will ensure the campaign program can be understood in the manner in which the media responds to the legislative debates, which is likely to translate into public debate as well. References Albarracin, D., Johnson, B. T., & Zanna, M. P. (2005). The handbook of attitudes. Mahwah, N.J: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Publishers Chaiken, S., & Trope, Y. (1999). Dual-process theories in social psychology. New York: Guilford Press. Dillard, J.P. & Pfau, M. (2002). The persuasion Handbook: Developments in Theory and Practice. NY: Sage Publications. Griffin, E. A. (2006). A first look at communication theory (6th ed.). Boston, MA; McGraw Hill. Reimer, T., Mata, R & Stoecklin, M. (2004). The use of Heuristics in Persuasion: Deriving Cues on Source Expertise from Argument Quality. In Current Research in Social Psychology, 10(6), 69-83. Taleb, N. (2012). Antifragile: Things That Gain from Disorder. New York: Random House.

Vital Pieces of Gre Issue Essay

Vital Pieces of Gre Issue Essay Anything that isn't obviously practical has little value in the modern world. Thus the significance of learning by getting inspired can't be ignored. At the exact same time, training in a particular subject or knowledge on a specific topic changes the way someone thinks and perceives the world. On the flip side, in the event the student has practiced and solved the lesson by himself, he'll have a first-hand experience of the issues. Top Gre Issue Essay Choices So, you should be sure there are at least 5-6 paragraphs in your essay, if you prefer a good score on the AWA. You will get a personalized score report highlighting your strengths and regions of improvement. You must take many different factors into account, if you're looking to get anywhere near the ideal score. Obviously, it's one of the most essential things, but it isn't the only issue. So, it's safe to say that in case you write no less than a few sentences in English, you will receive a score of 1.0. Most students believe that essay length the only important element in regards to AWA scoring. So, it's rather safe to say that the AWA score is a significant enough aspect in regards to admissions. Consequently, you will wind up with a score much lower than that which you actually deserve. However you get ready for the essays, make sure you at least write a couple of each type before you take the actual GRE. Don't forget that lots of diverse essays can make high scores. Nonetheless, the essay would most likely have gotten a 5', as it doesn't supply the intricate degree of analysis the graders want. Since you may see, the longer the essay, the greater the grades. The studies show that's the way that it is, and if it true for a sample of 500 students, it has to be true on a bigger scale also. A nation should require all its students to study precisely the same national curriculum till they enter college. Some people today think that universities should require every student to have a wide range of courses away from the student's field of study. Details of Gre Issue Essay The very first step towards learning is created only with the aid of a guide. As a consequence the state expects that water sports increase. The statement also assumes that in the event the state cleans up the river, the usage of the river for water sports will certainly increase. College students should base their selection of an area of study on the access to work in that area. Most Noticeable Gre Issue Essay Simply take a couple of minutes to plan your response and compose an outline before starting your essay. Consider memorizing a few little facts you might use in a selection of unique essays. The perfect way to compose an ideal analysis essay is to locate excellent samples online. This essay is one possible reaction to the statement. Download Section Print out chapter Structure is the most crucial portion of your essay. Essay Template The template is simply a guideline. Top Choices of Gre Issue Essay Some people today claim that the objective of politics ought to be the pursuit of an ideal. Other individuals think that college students should base their selection of an area of study on the access to work in that area. Actually, education and trainings also have their influence on the personalities of individuals. For instance, a student of political science may observe British imperialism as one nation's quest for power as a student of economics may observe British imperialism for a strategy to add control over distribution of products and resources. The Appeal of Gre Issue Essay Comparable to Prompt 1, you have to talk about the other position, but you don't will need to use certain examples to support it. You will be provided an issue statement that produces a claim that can be seen from a number of dif ferent angles. Often you'll need to make modifications to suit your argument. Still, to provide a crystal clear and compelling defense of your position on the problem, you are going to need certain examples. Top Gre Issue Essay Secrets There is, in addition, the problem of grammar. Between grammar and style, it is much easier to improve. You will find that you're able to use lots of them for many essays don't let the very first thing that springs to mind box you in. Take the time to proofread your essay, after you finish writing it. When it has to do with essay writing, few aspects are somewhat more important than others. At that stage, you can begin writing full length practice essays. It is possible to then practice replicating successful connections between ideas in your practice essays. Also a reminder you could work with me if you're searching for issue essay feedback.

How Much Finance Is Required Finance Essay - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 9 Words: 2805 Downloads: 10 Date added: 2017/06/26 Category Finance Essay Type Analytical essay Did you like this example? Often the hardest part of starting a business is raising the money to get going. As a newly appointed Finance Manager of Melaleuca Refugee Company distributor in Malaysia with the Head office at Bangsar, Kuala Lumpur, present an idea of how to turn it into a successful business by having other outlets. You need to decide: Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "How Much Finance Is Required Finance Essay" essay for you Create order How much finance is required? When and how long the finance is needed for? What security (if any) can be provided? The finance needs of a start-up should take account of these key areas: Set-up costs (the costs that are incurred before the business starts to trade) Starting investment in capacity (the fixed assets that the business needs before it can begin to trade) Working capital (the stocks needed by the business- e.g. raw materials + allowance for amounts that will be owed by customers once sales begin) Growth and development (e.g. extra investment in capacity) Task 1 Make a thorough research on the above company. Identify and briefly explain the sources of finance available for the expansion in the distribution of its line of products and highlight the implications of such sources of finance. Task 2 From the above, explain the importance of financial planning for Melaleuca Products and describe the impact of finance on the financial statements. Task 3 Obtain a Financial Statements of the company showing its two (2) consecutive latest annual statements. Compute for its profitability and liquidity ratio. Compare and comment on the result of your two (2) years calculations. Task 4 Analyse Melaleucas business environment through its consolidated results as shown in the Financial Statements. Introduction Sources of finance are ways in which a business can get additional funds in order to finance various things. These include start-up, for example raw materials, machinery and buildings; expansion, for example buying more equipment and larger buildings; and to help with cash flow problems, for example in periods when the business is short of cash. They are different type of sources of finance. The first is bank loan; bank loan is a long term loan and will often be for large amount ofÂÂ  money for starting up a business or to expanding. Business will agree with the bank to pay instalment monthly fees with interest charge. Secondly is long term loan, Long term Loan is a loan which is often being for a large sum of money and usually the payment period is more than 15 years. Usually is used for starting up new business, for expansion, buying new fixed assets for the business. Loans are usually paid on a monthly instalments plus agreed fixed interest charge. Besides is short term loan Short term loan is loan that is for a small amount within the period ofÂÂ  5 years, plus agreed interest charge. Other than that, interest also one of the sources of financial. Banks provide services by lending money in the form ofÂÂ  overdrafts and loans and bank will charge for this service. The extra charge is called interest, these are the profit made.ÂÂ  The Bank of England sets an interest rate at which it lends to financial in situations. This interest rate then affects the whole range of interest rates set by commercial banks, building societies and other institutions for their own savers and borrowers. It also tends to affect the price ofÂÂ  financial assets, such as bonds and shares, and the exchange rate, which affect consumer and business demand in a variety of ways. Lowering or raising interest rates affects spending in the economy. The last is Joint Venture, joint venture also called Issue shares two or more parities join together to start up a business; hoping it will grow, make a profit and will be a going concern business. The joined parties will share revenue, expenses and control of the business. Task 1 Profile of Melaleuca Refugee Centre Melaleuca Refugee Centre Torture Trauma Survivors Service of the NT Incorporated is a community controlled and a non-profit association operating out of Darwin. This association was first established in 1996 as the Torture Trauma Survivor of the NT Incorporated to cater for the small number of refugees and asylum seekers wanting to settle in the Northern Territory. In 2002 it expended and become known as the Melaleuca Refugee Centre Torture Survivors Service of the NT Incorporated (Melaleuca Refugee Centre). Sources of finance of Melaleuca Refugee Centre Melaleuca Refugee Centre is a non-profitable association, so that most of the money they get it from the donation or sponsor. Since the World War II they have accepted over a number of refugees and other people in need of humanitarian assistance into the Australian community. The Melaleuca Refugee Centre have a very strong fund bodies and they are easier to help other people who need the help. The centre gets fund from the federal and northern territory Governments. Australian government I. Department of Immigration and Citizenship II. Department of Health and Ageing III. Department of Families, Housing, Community IV. Services and Indigenous Affairs Northern Territory Government I. Department of Children and Families II. Department of the Chief Minister, Office of Multicultural Affairs Foundations I. The Honda Foundations The Honda Foundation draws on voluntary contributions from Hondas Australia-wide network of dealers, from Honda Australia itself and from private donors. The Honda Foundation operates independently and aims to engender goodwill for the benefit of Australian communities. Operating as a charitable trust, The Honda Foundation provides financial assistance to needy people. The Honda foundations sponsored a vehicle for use by Melaleuca. The foundation pays for the servicing and vehicles. Task 2 Vision Melaleuca Refugee Centre is recognized as a leader in facilitating the recovery of refugee survivors of torture and trauma. Mission Melaleuca Refugee Centre provides an environment for resettlement and healing of refugee survivors of torture and trauma, their families and community through confidential, high-quality and holistic services. Importance of Financial Planning for Melalueca Refugee Company In general, financial planning is a series of steps or use personal or business goals, the extent of the progressive and cumulative, in order to complete a financial goal or a set of circumstances, such as the elimination of debt, retirement preparation, which usually include a personal budget, organization, sometimes even including the specific target of a series of steps or spending and saving future income. Different types of fees of the plan for the future distribution of income, such as rent or utilities, but also retains some of the short-term and long-term savings income. Sometimes referred to as the investment plans of the financial plan, but in personal finance, financial plan can focus on specific areas such as risk management, heritage, university, or retirement. The companys financial manager for Melalueca Refugee Company is Peter Trayte and assistant financial Emma Cameron. Basis of preparation of a member of the management committee, he is responsible for the preparation of financial reports and has determined, in order to meet the requirements of the Association Act of 2003, it is appropriate to meet the needs of the membership. The responsibility of the management of the Committee, including the decision of the Internal Control Committee is necessary to enable the preparation of the financial report to material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error. Task 3 Profitability Ratio of Melaleuca Refugee Company Profitability Ratio YEARS 2011 2012 Net Surplus Margin = 0.17 : 1 =0.18 : 1 (Net Surplus / Sales) Return on Total Assets = 0.49 : 1 = 0.36 : 1 ( Surplus Available to Common Shareholders / Total Assets) Return on Equity = 0.8 : 1 = 0.5 : 1 ( Surplus Available to Common Shareholders / Equity) Gross Surplus Margin = 0 = 0 ( Gross Surplus / Sales) Table 1: Comparison of Profitability Ratio (Values extract from Appendix 1 2) Liquidity Ratio of Melaleuca Refugee Company Liquidity Ratio YEARS 2011 2012 Current Ratio = 2.56 : 1 = 3.74 : 1 (Current Assets / Current Liabilities) Quick Ratio = 2.56 : 1 = 3.74 : 1 ((Current Assets Inventories Prepayment) / Current Liabilities ) Table 2: Comparison of Liquidity Ratio (Values extract from Appendix 1 2) Explanation of the Comparison of the Profitability Ratios Net Surplus Margin Based on the table 1 above, the net surplus margin is showing the net surplus margin for year 2011 and 2012. The ratio for the years of 2011 and 2012 to 1 that mean if there is increase of sales then there will be 0.17 surpluses and 0.18 surpluses for the both years. Based on the table 1, we can know that the net surplus margin for 2012 is increase from net surplus margin for 2011, that is only 0.01. This is because the funding or the donation for the company is lesser in 2011. Return on Total Assets Base on the table 1 above, The ratio for the both year is 1. When there is 1 dollar for total assets, then there will be a 0.49 and 0.36 of surplus to the same shareholders for both years. The total asset is decrease 0.13 from year 2011 to year 2012. Return on Equity The ration in the year 2011 and 2012 is 1. Therefore if there is 1 dollar of equity then there will be 0.8 and 0.5 of surplus to the same shareholder. The different of the return on equity between 2011 and 2012 is based on the surplus available to the common shareholder and the equity. Gross Surplus Margin There is 0 for the gross surplus margin due to devoid of gross surplus for this company. This might say that the gross surplus margin is not valid for this company Explanation of Comparison of the Liquidity Ratio Current Ratio From the table on above, we can know that both year ration value is 1, it is mean if there is 1 dollar of current liabilities, then there will be 2.56 dollar and 3.74 dollar of current assets for the both year 2011 and 2012. The table is showing that the ratio of the year 2012 is higher compared to 2011. This is because of the current liabilities of 2012 is much increased compared to year 2011. Quick Ratio The table 2 above we can see the quick ratio is equal to the current ratio. This happened due to the insufficient of inventories and prepayment of the company. Task 4 Melaleuca Refugee Centre is a member of The Forum of Australian Services for Survivors of Torture and Trauma (FASSTT). Clients can be referred to Melaleuca at any time they are ready for counselling or other interventions whether they are newly arrived or have been in Australia for many years. Interventions may be short, medium or long-term depending on the clients needs and process of recovery. Referrals are formally assessed and if accepted, clients may be seen immediately or put on a managed wait list. Anyone can refer someone to Melaleuca (eg HSS providers, schools, GPs or the client themselves). Melaleucas counselling services use professional interpreters when needed and are free, confidential and voluntary. The Forum of Australian Services for Survivors of Torture and Trauma (FASSTT) is a network of Australias eight specialist rehabilitation agencies that work with survivors of torture and trauma who have come to Australia from overseas. The eight agencies are ASeTTS (Association for Services to Torture and Trauma Survivors), Companion House, Foundation House (Victorian Foundation for Survivors of Torture), Melaleuca Refugee Centre (Torture and Trauma Survivors Service of the NT), Phoenix Support Service for Survivors of Torture and Trauma, QPASTT (Queensland Program of Assistance to Survivors of Torture and Trauma), STARTTS (Service for the Treatment and Rehabilitation of Torture and Trauma Survivors), and also STTARS (Survivors of Torture and Trauma Assistance and Rehabilitation Service). There is one FASSTT member agency in each state and territory of Australia. The eight agencies in the FASSTT network offer direct services to survivors of torture and trauma, their families and commu nities. These include psychological assessments, individual psycho-therapeutic interventions, group and family therapy, youth activities, natural therapies and community development. FASSTT members also provide innovative and effective services to ensure that the Australian community can play an important role in diminishing the impact of torture on survivors and enhancing their opportunities to rebuild productive and meaningful lives. These services include professional development and capacity building for service providers such as workers in the health, housing, education and settlement fields, networking, research, volunteer programs and case consultations. Besides that, the Melaleuca Refugee Centre also have the program call Youth Support and Service. Melaleucas youth program provides a multi-function program, offering a holistic, timely and culturally appropriate services to young people of refugee and migration background aged 12 to 21 years. The young people who are at risk of homelessness will get supported by RECONNECT under this youth program and enhances refugee youth engagement with family, education, training and community. The youth team collaborates with other agencies to facilities new networks for young people and provide them with important social connection and extra support. The counselling team at Melaleuca Refugee Centre provides support, counselling and advocacy services to individuals and their families from refugee background. People who have experienced torture and trauma before coming to Australia might continue to suffer from effects of the prolonged exposure to human rights abuses, violence, war and physical ha rdship. Settling into a foreign country can be a very traumatising experience. Melaleuca recognises that peoples pre-migration experiences and the process of resettlement are important to psychosocial well-being. Melaleuca offers initial counselling upon arrival and long term counselling for those individuals or families in need. Next, Melaleuca delivers a range of community development programs underpinned by the key principles and values of Community Development: education, participation, democracy, advocacy and strategies of community empowerment and strengthening that build social capital and community capacity. In the case of survivors of torture and trauma, community development rebuilds resilience which may have been eroded by past experiences. Community Development accepts that the impact of torture and state-sanctioned violence may result in distrust and conflict, and aims to build social cohesion and strength. It identifies and builds on individual and community assets. It links the community with others in collaborative partnerships, and empowers individuals and communities who are particularly disadvantaged within the resettlement country. There are 4 categories of community development; there are Families in Cultural Transition (FICT), Alternatives to Violence Program (AVP), Tips Ideas on Parent ing Skills Program (TIPS) and Education Training Program. Families in Cultural Transition (FICT) Program is a series of workshops for those who have met their initial basic needs and now face the challenge of settling into a vastly different culture. Participants find out about Australian culture and systems, identify their own cultural strengths, explore the effect of trauma and change and learn where to get help. It builds on existing strengths and skills, gives concrete information and helps people make friends and connect with community groups. In addition, in 2011 until 2012 Melaleuca Refugee Centre is doing a pilot project that adapts an internationally recognised model of building peace to emerging communities from refugee background in Darwin. The workshops build the capacity of community members to meet individual and family needs, maintain harmony and foster non-violence. Program Coordinator, Justine Mickle is arranging the workshops and will support the bi-cultural facilitators. The Northern Territory Department of Health and Families funded the 18 month project to be delivered to: Burundi, Congolese, Liberian, Karen, Somali and Sudanese community members. This program is underpinned by the international Alternatives to Violence Project (AVP) model, an innovative, preventative approach to engage with communities to reduce of the impact of violence and increase community harmony. TIPS is a parenting program that is offered by Melaleuca Refugee Centre to refugee families that have been living in Darwin for over 12 mont hs, and usually have completed the Families in Cultural Transition (FICT) Program offered to newly arrived refugee families. The TIPS Program at Melaleuca Refugee Centre is funded by the Northern Territory Department of Children Families. This program includes the importance of fellings, communicating in families, listening, tantrums, behaviour management, responsibility and honestly, parental self-esteem and parenting teenagers. Lastly, Melaleuca Refugee Centre offers professional development training to staff and volunteers working in a range of government and non-government organisations to respond sensitively and effectively to people of refugee background. The workshops and presentations are relevant to people who occasionally work with people of refugee background as well as those working on a regular basis. Depending on resource availability, Melaleucastaff are able to visit your organsiation and deliver training tailored to suit your needs in regards to working with people of refugee background. Some examples of training areas include mental health issues, accidental counselling, working with children, working with youth, and the effects of torture and trauma. All training sessions are free unless otherwise negotiated. Recent training sessions have been provided to Charles Darwin University, Centrelink, Kormilda College, Sanderson Middle School and St Johns Ambulance. Conclusion From this assignment, I have learnt more about financing. I think it is very useful in my future life. Besides, through this assignment, I learn about how a non-profit organization operate and know how a non-profit organization to calculated their profitability. This is a great exercise in my study life. Bibliography https://www.melaleuca.org.au/documents/annual_reports/Annual_Report_1011.pdf https://www.melaleuca.org.au https://www.melaleuca.org.au/Counselling.html https://www.melaleuca.org.au/Settlement.html https://www.melaleuca.org.au/CommunityDevelopment.html https://www.melaleuca.org.au/Youth.html https://www.melaleuca.org.au/FASSTT.html Appendix 1