New Developments in Management Accounting - 2268 Words

â€Å"The past 15 years have seen a series of new developments within Management Accounting to meet the ever changing needs of the organisation in the light of rapidly changing technologies†. The following will focus on new techniques and developments used in Management Accounting over the last 15 years, by looking at their origins and apparent necessity leading to their introduction within industry. Each development will be assessed individually providing its background, initiation, impact on the business environment and numerical examples of them in action, where appropriate. The developments will be Activity Based Costing (ABC), Throughput accounting (TA) and Just in Time (JIT). Activity Based Costing ABC is a developed costing system†¦show more content†¦Next the ‘cost driver’ needs to be established for each activity, commonly looked upon as the reason for the indirect cost to occur and be linked to the job, almost a variable cost of sorts, however it won’t necessarily be variable, it maybe semi-variable, either way it is seen as the major cause of the cost being incurred. Finally the finishing costs are assigned to activities based on the products demand per each activity, the higher the demand, the higher the cost. Here is an example of ABC in action: ABC Example COST CENTRE COSTS 250000 BROKEN DOWN INTO: VOLUME  £60,000 PURCHASING  £130,000 SET-UP  £60,000 ADDITIONAL INFO DIRECT LABOUR HOURS  £25,000 TOTAL PURCHASE ORDERS  £5,000 TOTAL NUMBER OF SET-UPS  £600 TOTAL MACHINE HOURS  £50,000 PER PURCHASE ORDER PLACED  £26 PER SET-UP  £100 PER VOLUME  £1.20 Therefore with product XYZ, we can allocate the indirect overheads like this: Basic information could be: MACHINE HOURS 100 LABOUR 150 SET-UPS 1 PURCHASE ORDERS 25 The overhead is made up of 3 aspects Purchase Order + Set-up + Productivity / volume Purchase order 25 X  £26 =  £650 Set-up 1 X  £100 =  £100 Productivity / volume 100 X  £1.20 =  £120  £870 Therefore total indirect overhead recoveredShow MoreRelatedResearch on the Influence of Informatization1698 Words   |  7 Pages 1 Research on The Influence of Informatization On The Accounting Theories and Practices and Real-time Control in China Yang Lu Fairleigh Dickinson University RESEARCH ON THE INFLUENCE OF INFORMATIZATION 2 Abstract The 21st century is an information age of rapid development and the computer is more and more widely used in every country. 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Lamb The Gospel According to Biff, Christ’s Childhood Pal Chapter 5 Free Essays

string(37) " might take the whole end of it off\." Chapter 5 Well, it worked, I finally got the angel to leave the room. It went like this: Raziel called down to the front desk and asked him to send Jesus up. A few minutes later our Latin pal stood at attention at the foot of the angel’s bed. We will write a custom essay sample on Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ’s Childhood Pal Chapter 5 or any similar topic only for you Order Now Raziel said, â€Å"Tell him I need a Soap Opera Digest.† In Spanish, I said, â€Å"Good afternoon, Jesus. How are you today?† â€Å"I am well, sir, and you?† â€Å"As good as can be expected, considering this man is holding me prisoner.† â€Å"Tell him to hurry,† said Raziel. â€Å"He doesn’t understand Spanish?† Jesus asked. â€Å"Not a word of it, but don’t start speaking Hebrew or I’m sunk.† â€Å"Are you really a prisoner? I wondered why you two never left the room. Should I call the police?† â€Å"No, that won’t be necessary, but please shake your head and look apologetic.† â€Å"What is taking so long?† Raziel said. â€Å"Give him the money and tell him to go.† â€Å"He said he is not allowed to buy publications for you, but he can direct you to a place where you can purchase them yourself.† â€Å"That’s ridiculous, he’s a servant, isn’t he? He will do as I ask.† â€Å"Oh my, Jesus, he has asked if you would like to feel the power of his manly nakedness.† â€Å"Is he crazy? I have a wife and two children.† â€Å"Sadly, yes. Please show him that you are offended by his offer by spitting on him and storming out of the room.† â€Å"I don’t know, sir, spitting on a guest†¦Ã¢â‚¬  I handed him a handful of the bills that he’d taught me were appropriate gratuities. â€Å"Please, it will be good for him.† â€Å"Very well, Mister Biff.† He produced an impressive loogie and launched it at the front of the angel’s robe, where it splatted and ran. Raziel leapt to his feet. â€Å"Well done, Jesus, now curse.† â€Å"You fuckstick!† â€Å"In Spanish.† â€Å"Sorry, I was showing off my English. I know many swear words.† â€Å"Well done. Spanish please.† â€Å"Pendejo!† â€Å"Splendid, now storm out.† Jesus turned on his heel and left the room, slamming the door behind him. â€Å"He spit on me?† Raziel said, still not believing it. â€Å"An angel of the Lord, and he spit on me.† â€Å"Yes, you offended him.† â€Å"He called me a fuckstick. I heard him.† â€Å"In his culture, it is an affront to ask another man to buy a Soap Opera Digest for you. We’ll be lucky if he ever brings us a pizza again.† â€Å"But I want a Soap Opera Digest.† â€Å"He said you can buy one just down the street, I will be happy to go get one for you.† â€Å"Not so fast, Apostle, none of your tricks. I’ll get it myself, you stay here.† â€Å"You’ll need money.† I handed him some bills. â€Å"If you leave the room I will find you in an instant, you know that?† â€Å"Absolutely.† â€Å"You cannot hide from me.† â€Å"Wouldn’t dream of it. Hurry now.† He sort of shuffled sideways toward the door. â€Å"Don’t try to lock me out, I’m taking a key with me. Not that I need it or anything, being an angel of the Lord.† â€Å"Not to mention a fuckstick.† â€Å"I don’t even know what that means.† â€Å"Go, go, go.† I shooed him through the door. â€Å"Godspeed, Raziel.† â€Å"Work on your Gospel while I’m gone.† â€Å"Right.† I slammed the door in his face and threw the safety lock. Raziel has now watched hundreds of hours of American television, you’d think he would have noticed that people wear shoes when they go outside. The book is exactly as I suspected, a Bible, but written in a flowery version of this English I’ve been writing in. The translation of the Torah and the prophets from the Hebrew is muddled sometimes, but the first part seems to be our Bible. This language is amazing – so many words. In my time we had very few words, perhaps a hundred that we used all the time, and thirty of them were synonyms for guilt. In this language you can curse for an hour and never use the same word twice. Flocks and schools and herds of words, that’s why I’m supposed to use this language to tell Joshua’s story. I’ve hidden the book in the bathroom, so I can sneak in and read it while the angel is in the room. I didn’t have time to actually read much of the part of the book they call the New Testament, but it’s obvious that it is the story of Joshua’s life. Or parts of it, anyway. I’ll study it later, but now I should go on with the real story. I suppose I should have considered the exact nature of what we were doing before I invited Maggie to join us. I mean, there is some difference between the circumcision of an eight-day-old baby boy, which she had seen before, and the same operation on the ten-foot statue of a Greek god. â€Å"My goodness, that is, uh, impressive,† Maggie said, staring up at the marble member. â€Å"Graven image,† Joshua said under his breath. Even in the moonlight I could tell he was blushing. â€Å"Let’s do it.† I pulled a small iron chisel from my pouch. Joshua was wrapping the head of his mallet with leather to deaden its sound. Sepphoris slept around us, the silence broken only by the occasional bleat of a sheep. The evening cook fires had long since gone to coals, the dust cloud that stirred through the city during the day had settled, and the night air was clean and still. From time to time I would catch a sweet whiff of sandalwood coming from Maggie and I would lose my train of thought. Funny the things you remember. We found a bucket and turned it upside down for Joshua to stand on while he worked. He set the tip of my chisel on Apollo’s foreskin and ventured a light tap with the mallet. A tiny fragment of marble flaked away. â€Å"Give it a good whack,† I said. â€Å"I can’t, it will make too much noise.† â€Å"No, it won’t, the leather will cover it.† â€Å"But I might take the whole end of it off. You read "Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ’s Childhood Pal Chapter 5" in category "Essay examples"† â€Å"He can spare it,† Maggie said, and we both turned to her with our mouths hanging open. â€Å"Probably,† she added quickly. â€Å"I’m only guessing. What do I know, I’m just a girl. Do you guys smell something?† We smelled the Roman before we heard him, heard him before we saw him. The Romans covered themselves with olive oil before they bathed, so if the wind was right or if it was an especially hot day you could smell a Roman coming at thirty paces. Between the olive oil they bathed with and the garlic and dried paste of anchovies they ate with their barley, when the legions marched into battle it must have smelled like an invasion of pizza people. If they’d had pizzas back then, which they didn’t. Joshua took a quick swipe with the mallet and the chisel slipped, neatly severing Apollo’s unit, which fell to the dirt with a dull thud. â€Å"Whoops,† said the Savior. â€Å"Shhhhhhhh,† I shushed. We heard the hobnails of the Roman’s boots scraping on stone. Joshua jumped down from the bucket and looked frantically for a place to hide. The walls of the Greek’s bathhouse were almost completed around the statue, so really, except for the entrance where the Roman was coming, there was no place to run. â€Å"Hey, what are you doing there?† We stood as still as the statue. I could see that it was the legionnaire that had been with Justus our first day in Sepphoris. â€Å"Sir, it’s us, Biff and Joshua. Remember? The kid from the bread?† The soldier moved closer, his hand on the haft of his half-drawn short sword. When he saw Joshua he relaxed a bit. â€Å"What are you doing here so early? No one is to be about at this hour.† Suddenly, the soldier was yanked backward off of his feet and a dark figure fell on him, thrusting a blade into his chest over and over. Maggie screamed and the figure turned to us. I started to run. â€Å"Stop,† the murderer hissed. I froze. Maggie threw her arms around me and hid her face in my shirt as I trembled. A gurgling sound came from the soldier, but he lay still. Joshua made to step toward the murderer and I threw an arm across his chest to stop him. â€Å"That was wrong,† Joshua said, almost in tears. â€Å"You are wrong to kill that man.† The murderer held his bloody blade up by his face and grinned at us. â€Å"Is it not written that Moses became a prophet only after killing an Egyptian slave driver? No master but God!† â€Å"Sicarii,† I said. â€Å"Yes boy, Sicarii. Only when the Romans are dead will the Messiah come to set us free. I serve God by killing this tyrant.† â€Å"You serve evil,† Joshua said. â€Å"The Messiah didn’t call for the blood of this Roman.† The assassin raised his blade and came at Joshua. Maggie and I leapt back, but Joshua stood his ground. The assassin grabbed him by the front of his shirt and pulled him close. â€Å"What do you know of it, boy?† We could clearly see the murderer’s face in the moonlight. Maggie gasped, â€Å"Jeremiah.† His eyes went wide, with fear or recognition, I don’t know which. He released Joshua and made as if to grab Maggie. I pulled her away. â€Å"Mary?† The anger had left his voice. â€Å"Little Mary?† Maggie said nothing, but I could feel her shoulders heave as she began to sob. â€Å"Tell no one of this,† the murderer said, now talking as if he were in a trance. He backed away and stood beside the dead soldier. â€Å"No master but God,† he said, then he turned and ran into the night. Joshua put his hand on Maggie’s head and she immediately stopped crying. â€Å"Jeremiah is my father’s brother,† she said. Before I go on you should know about the Sicarii, and to know about them, you have to know about the Herods. So here you go. About the time that Joshua and I were meeting for the first time, King Herod the Great died after ruling Israel (under the Romans) for over forty years. It was, in fact, the death of Herod that prompted Joseph to bring his family back to Nazareth from Egypt, but that’s another story. Now you need to know about Herod. Herod wasn’t called â€Å"the Great† because he was a beloved ruler. Herod the Great, was, in fact, a fat, paranoid, pox-ridden tyrant who murdered thousands of Jews, including his own wife and many of his sons. Herod was called â€Å"the Great† because he built things. Amazing things: fortresses, palaces, theaters, harbors – a whole city, Caesarea, modeled on the Roman ideal of what a city should be. The one thing he did for the Jewish people, who hated him, was to rebuild the Temple of Solomon on Mount Moriah, the center of our faith. When H. the G. died, Rome divided his kingdom among three of his sons, Archelaus, Herod Philip, and Herod Antipas. It was Antipas who ultimately passed sentence on John the Baptist and gave Joshua over to Pilate. Antipas, you sniveling fuckstick (if only we’d had the word back then). It was Antipas whose toady pandering to the Romans caused bands of Jewish rebels to rise up in the hills by the hundreds. The Romans ca lled all of these rebels Zealots, as if they were all united in method as well as cause, but, in fact, they were as fragmented as Jews of the villages. One of the bands that rose in Galilee called themselves the Sicarii. They showed their disapproval of Roman rule by the assassination of Roman soldiers and officials. Although certainly not the largest group of Zealots by number, they were the most conspicuous by their actions. No one knew where they came from, and no one knew where they went to after they killed, but every time they struck, the Romans did their best to make our lives hell to get us to give the killers up. And when the Romans caught a Zealot, they didn’t just crucify the leader of the band, they crucified the whole band, their families, and anyone suspected of helping them. More than once we saw the road out of Sepphoris lined with crosses and corpses. My people. We ran through the sleeping city, stopping only after we had passed through the Venus Gate, where we fell in a heap on the ground, gasping. â€Å"We have to take Maggie home and get back here for work,† Joshua said. â€Å"You can stay here,† Maggie said. â€Å"I can go by myself.† â€Å"No, we have to go.† Joshua held his arms out to his sides and we saw the bloody handprints the killer had left on his shirt. â€Å"I have to clean this before someone sees it.† â€Å"Can’t you just make it go away?† Maggie asked. â€Å"It’s just a stain. I’d think the Messiah could get a stain out.† â€Å"Be nice,† I said. â€Å"He’s not that good at Messiah stuff yet. It was your uncle, after all†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Maggie jumped to her feet. â€Å"You were the one who wanted to do this stupid thing†¦Ã¢â‚¬  â€Å"Stop!† Joshua said, holding his hand up as if he were sprinkling us with silence. â€Å"If Maggie hadn’t been with us, we might be dead now. We may still not be safe when the Sicarii realize that three witnesses live.† An hour later Maggie was home safe and Joshua emerged from the ritual bath outside the synagogue, his clothes soaked and rivulets running out of his hair. (Many of us had these mikvehs outside of our homes – and there were hundreds outside the Temple in Jerusalem – stone pits with steps leading down both sides into the water so one might walk in over one’s head on one side, then out on the other after the ritual cleansing was done. According to the Law, any contact with blood called for a cleansing. Joshua thought it would be a good opportunity to scrub the stain out of his shirt as well.) â€Å"Cold.† Joshua was shivering and hopping from foot to foot as if on hot coals. â€Å"Very cold.† (There was a small stone hut built over the baths so they never got the direct light of the sun, consequently they never warmed up. Evaporation in the dry Galilee air chilled the water even more.) â€Å"Maybe you should come to my house. My mother will have a breakfast fire going by now, you can warm yourself.† He wrung out the tail of his shirt and water cascaded down his legs. â€Å"And how would I explain this?† â€Å"Uh, you sinned, had an emergency cleansing to do.† â€Å"Sinned? At dawn? What sin could I have done before dawn?† â€Å"Sin of Onan?† I said. Joshua’s eyes went wide. â€Å"Have you committed the sin of Onan?† â€Å"No, but I’m looking forward to it.† â€Å"I can’t tell your mother that I’ve committed the sin of Onan. I haven’t.† â€Å"You could if you’re fast.† â€Å"I’ll suffer the cold,† Joshua said. The good old sin of Onan. That brings back memories. The sin of Onan. Spilling the old seed on the ground. Cuffing the camel. Dusting the donkey. Flogging the Pharisee. Onanism, a sin that requires hundreds of hours of practice to get right, or at least that’s what I told myself. God slew Onan for spilling his seed on the ground (Onan’s seed, not God’s. God’s seed turned out to be my best pal. Imagine the trouble you’d be in if you actually spilled God’s seed. Try explaining that). According to the Law, if you had any contact with â€Å"nocturnal emissions† (which are not what come out of your tailpipe at night – we didn’t have cars then), you had to purify yourself by baptism and you weren’t allowed to be around people until the next day. Around the age of thirteen I spent a lot of time in and out of our mikveh, but I fudged on the solitary part of penance. I mean, it’s not like that was going to help the problem. Many a morning I was still dripping and shivering from the bath when I met Joshua to go to work. â€Å"Spilled your seed upon the ground again?† he’d ask. â€Å"Yep.† â€Å"You’re unclean, you know?† â€Å"Yeah, I’m getting all wrinkly from purifying myself.† â€Å"You could stop.† â€Å"I tried. I think I’m being vexed by a demon.† â€Å"I could try to heal you.† â€Å"No way, Josh, I’m having enough trouble with laying on of my own hands.† â€Å"You don’t want me to cast out your demon?† â€Å"I thought I’d try to exhaust him first.† â€Å"I could tell the scribes and they would have you stoned.† (Always trying to be helpful, Josh was.) â€Å"That would probably work, but it is written that ‘when the oil of the lamp is used up, the wanker shall light his own way to salvation.'† â€Å"That is not written.† â€Å"It is too. In, uh, Isaiah.† â€Å"Is not.† â€Å"You need to study your Prophets, Josh. How are you going to be the Messiah if you don’t know your Prophets?† Joshua hung his head. â€Å"You are right, of course.† I clapped him on the shoulder. â€Å"You’ll have time to learn the Prophets. Let’s cut through the square and see if there are any girls gathering water.† Of course it was Maggie I was looking for. It was always Maggie. By the time we got back to Sepphoris the sun was well up, but the stream of merchants and farmers that normally poured through the Venus Gate was not there. Roman soldiers were stopping and searching everyone who was trying to leave the city, sending them back the way they came. A group of men and women were waiting outside the gate to go in, my father and some of his helpers among them. â€Å"Levi!† my father called. He ran to us and herded us to the side of the road. â€Å"What’s going on?† I asked, trying to look innocent. â€Å"A Roman soldier was murdered last night. There will be no work today, now you both go home and stay there. Tell your mothers to keep the children in today. If the Romans don’t find the killer there’ll be soldiers in Nazareth before noon.† â€Å"Where is Joseph?† Joshua asked. My father put his arm around Joshua’s shoulder. â€Å"He’s been arrested. He must have come to work very early. They found him at first light, near the body of the dead soldier. I only know what has been shouted from inside the gate, the Romans aren’t letting anyone in or out of the city. Joshua, tell your mother not to worry. Joseph is a good man, the Lord will protect him. Besides, if the Romans thought he was the killer he would have been tried already.† Joshua backed away from my father in stiff, stumbling steps. He stared straight ahead, but obviously saw nothing. â€Å"Take him home, Biff. I’ll be along as soon as I can. I’m going to try to find out what they’ve done with Joseph.† I nodded and led Joshua away by the shoulders. When we were a few steps down the road, he said, â€Å"Joseph came looking for me. He was working on the other side of the city. The only reason he was near the Greek’s house is that he was looking for me.† â€Å"We’ll tell the centurion we saw who killed the soldier. He’ll believe us.† â€Å"And if he believes us, believes it was Sicarii, what will happen to Maggie and her family?† I didn’t know what to say. Joshua was right and my father was wrong, Joseph was not fine. The Romans would be questioning him right now, maybe torturing him to find out who his accomplices were. That he didn’t know anything would not save him. And a testimony from his son not only wouldn’t save him, but would send more people to the cross to join him. Jewish blood was going to be spilled one way or the other over this. Joshua shook off my hands and ran off the road into an olive grove. I started to follow, but he suddenly spun on me and the fury of his gaze stopped me in midstride. â€Å"Wait,† he said. â€Å"I need to talk to my father.† I waited by the road for nearly an hour. When Joshua walked out of the olive grove he looked as if a shadow had fallen permanently on his face. â€Å"I am lost,† he said. I pointed over my shoulder. â€Å"Nazareth that way, Sepphoris the other way. You’re in the middle. Feel better?† â€Å"You know what I mean.† â€Å"No help from your father, then?† I always felt strange asking about Joshua’s prayers. You had to see him pray, especially in those days, before we had traveled. There was a lot of strain and trembling, like someone trying to force a fever to break by sheer will. There was no peace in it. â€Å"I am alone,† Joshua said. I punched him in the arm, hard. â€Å"Then you didn’t feel that.† â€Å"Ouch. What’d you do that for?† â€Å"Sorry, no one around to answer you. You’re soooooooo alone.† â€Å"I am alone!† I wound up for a full-body-powered roundhouse punch. â€Å"Then you won’t mind if I smite the bejeezus out of you.† He threw up his hands and jumped back. â€Å"No, don’t.† â€Å"So you’re not alone?† â€Å"I guess not.† â€Å"Good, then wait here. I’m going to go talk to your father myself.† I tramped off into the olive grove. â€Å"You don’t have to go in there to talk to him. He is everywhere.† â€Å"Yeah, right, like you know. If he’s everywhere then how are you alone?† â€Å"Good point.† I left Joshua standing by the road and went off to pray. And thus did I pray: â€Å"Heavenly Father, God of my father and my father’s father, God of Abraham and Isaac, God of Moses, who did lead our people out of Egypt, God of David and Solomon – well, you know who you are. Heavenly Father, far be it from me to question your judgment, being as you are all powerful and the God of Moses and all of the above, but what exactly are you trying to do to this poor kid? I mean, he’s your son, right? He’s the Messiah, right? Are you pulling one of those Abraham faith-test things on him? In case you didn’t notice, he’s in quite a pickle here, having witnessed a murder and his stepfather under arrest by the Romans, and in all likelihood, a lot of our people, who you have mentioned on more than one occasion are your favorites and the chosen (and of which I am one, by the way) are going to be tortured and killed unless we – I mean he – does something. So, what I’m saying here is, could you, much as you did with Samson when he was backed into a corner weaponless against the Philistines, throw the kid a bone here? â€Å"With all due respect. Your friend, Biff. Amen.† I was never very good at prayer. Storytelling, I’m fine with. I, in fact, am the originator of a universal story that I know has survived to this time because I have heard it on TV. It begins: â€Å"Two Jews go into a bar†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Those two Jews? Me and Josh. No kidding. Anyway, I’m not good at prayer, but before you think I was a little rough on God, there’s another thing you need to know about my people. Our relationship with God was different from other people and their Gods. Sure there was fear and sacrifice and all, but essentially, we didn’t go to him, he came to us. He told us we were the chosen, he told us he would help us to multiply to the ends of the earth, he told us he would give us a land of milk and honey. We didn’t go to him. We didn’t ask. And since he came to us, we figure we can hold him responsible for what he does and what happens to us. For it is written that â€Å"he who can walk away, controls the deal.† And if there’s anything you learn from reading the Bible, it’s that my people walked away a lot. You couldn’t turn around that we weren’t off in Babylon worshiping false gods, building false altars, or sleeping with unsuitable women. (Although the latter may be more of a guy thing than a Jewish thing.) And God pretty much didn’t mind throwing us into slavery or simply massacring us when we did that. We have that kind of relationship with God. We’re family. So I’m not a prayer-master, so to speak, but that particular prayer couldn’t have been that bad, because God answered. Well, he left me a message, anyway. As I emerged from the olive grove, Joshua held out his hand and said, â€Å"God left a message.† â€Å"It’s a lizard,† I said. It was. Joshua was holding a small lizard in his outstretched hand. â€Å"Yes, that’s the message, don’t you see?† How was I to know what was going on? Joshua had never lied to me, never. So if he said that this lizard was a message from God, who was I to dispute him? I fell to my knees and bowed my head under Josh’s outstretched hand. â€Å"Lord have mercy on me, I was expecting a burning bush or something. Sorry. Really.† Then to Josh, I said, â€Å"I’m not so sure you should take that seriously, Josh. Reptiles don’t tend to have a great record for getting the message right. Like for instance, oh, let’s see, that Adam and Eve thing.† â€Å"It’s not that kind of message, Biff. My father hasn’t spoken in words, but this message is as clear as if his voice had come down from the heavens.† â€Å"I knew that.† I stood up. â€Å"And the message is?† â€Å"In my mind. When you had been gone only a few minutes this lizard ran up my leg and perched on my hand. I realized that it was my father giving me the solution to our problem.† â€Å"And the message is?† â€Å"You remember when we were little, the game we used to play with the lizards?† â€Å"Sure I do. But the message is?† â€Å"You remember how I was able to bring them back to life.† â€Å"A great trick, Josh. But getting back to the message†¦Ã¢â‚¬  â€Å"Don’t you see? If the soldier isn’t dead, then there was no murder. If there was no murder, then there is no reason for the Romans to harm Joseph. So all we have to do is see that the soldier is not dead. Simple.† â€Å"Of course, simple.† I studied the lizard for a minute, looking at it from a number of different angles. It was brownish green and seemed quite content to sit there on Joshua’s palm. â€Å"Ask him what we’re supposed to do now.† How to cite Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ’s Childhood Pal Chapter 5, Essay examples

Reasons For Euthanasia Essay Example For Students

Reasons For Euthanasia Essay The word euthanasia is derived from the Greek word eu for good and thantos which means death and originally referred to intentional mercy killing. But the word it euthanasia has acquired a more complex meaning in modern times. Proponents of euthanasia believe that a dying patient has the right to end their suffering and leave the world in a dignified manner. Those who contest euthanasia believe that man does not have the right to end another persons life no matter what pain they endure.Euthanasia is one of the most important public policy issues being debated today. The outcome of debate will profoundly affect family relationships, interaction between doctors and patients, and concepts of basic morality. The word euthanasia has acquired a complex meaning in modern times. There are several types of euthanasia and one must define them in order to avoid confusion. Passive euthanasia is the process of hastening the death of a person by withdrawing some form of support and letting nature take its course. Such a act would include removing life-support equipment, stopping medical procedures, stopping food and water and allowing the person to die. Active euthanasia involves causing the death of a person through a direct action in response to request from that person. This is also called mercy killing. Physician assisted suicide is the process of a physician supplying information and or the means of committing suicide to a patient. This would include writing a prescription for a lethal dose of sleeping pills or providing the patient with carbon monoxide gas. Euthanasia has been practiced in some form or another by many societies in our history. In ancient Greece and Rome helping others to die our putting them to death was considered permissible in some situations. In the Greek city of Sparta all newborns with severe birth defects were left to die. Voluntary euthanasia for the elderly was approved custom in several ancient societies. Although euthanasia is widely practiced in the Netherlands it remains technically illegal. In 1995 Australias Northern Territory approved a euthanasia bill. It went into effect in 1996 and was overturned by the Australian parliament in 1997. One may ask, what is the difference between euthanasia and assisted suicide? In euthanasia one person does something that directly kills another. For example a doctor gives a lethal injection to a patient. It assisted suicide, a person knowingly and intentionally provides the means or in some way helps a suicidal person killed himself or herself. For example, a doctor wri tes a prescription for poison, or someone who hooks up a face mask to a canister of carbon monoxide and then instructs the suicidal person on how to push a lever so that they will be gassed to death. For all practical purposes, any distinction between euthanasia and assisted suicide has been abandoned today. However passive euthanasia is different than other types of euthanasia. Passive euthanasia is the process of hastening the death of a person by withdrawing some sort of treatment. This includes removing life-support, stopping medical procedures and medications, stopping food and water to the patient and thus allowing him to die. Or not delivering C P R or other resuscitating treatment and allowing the person whose heart has stopped to die. Perhaps the most common form of passive euthanasia is to give a patient at large doses of morphine to control pain, in spite of the likelihood of the painkiller suppressing respiration and causing death earlier that it would otherwise have. Ma ny states in the United States and other countries engage in this type of passive euthanasia to what is known as a health-care proxy or do not resuscitate order. These procedures are usually performed on the terminally ill, suffering patients, so that natural death will occur sooner. It is also opted for persons in a persistent vegetative state, individuals with massive brain damage or in a coma from which they cannot possibly regain conscious. .u2e9bb19c6e7e25e08f125c4ca088cf23 , .u2e9bb19c6e7e25e08f125c4ca088cf23 .postImageUrl , .u2e9bb19c6e7e25e08f125c4ca088cf23 .centered-text-area { min-height: 80px; position: relative; } .u2e9bb19c6e7e25e08f125c4ca088cf23 , .u2e9bb19c6e7e25e08f125c4ca088cf23:hover , .u2e9bb19c6e7e25e08f125c4ca088cf23:visited , .u2e9bb19c6e7e25e08f125c4ca088cf23:active { border:0!important; } .u2e9bb19c6e7e25e08f125c4ca088cf23 .clearfix:after { content: ""; display: table; clear: both; } .u2e9bb19c6e7e25e08f125c4ca088cf23 { display: block; transition: background-color 250ms; webkit-transition: background-color 250ms; width: 100%; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #95A5A6; } .u2e9bb19c6e7e25e08f125c4ca088cf23:active , .u2e9bb19c6e7e25e08f125c4ca088cf23:hover { opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #2C3E50; } .u2e9bb19c6e7e25e08f125c4ca088cf23 .centered-text-area { width: 100%; position: relative ; } .u2e9bb19c6e7e25e08f125c4ca088cf23 .ctaText { border-bottom: 0 solid #fff; color: #2980B9; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; margin: 0; padding: 0; text-decoration: underline; } .u2e9bb19c6e7e25e08f125c4ca088cf23 .postTitle { color: #FFFFFF; font-size: 16px; font-weight: 600; margin: 0; padding: 0; width: 100%; } .u2e9bb19c6e7e25e08f125c4ca088cf23 .ctaButton { background-color: #7F8C8D!important; color: #2980B9; border: none; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: none; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 26px; moz-border-radius: 3px; text-align: center; text-decoration: none; text-shadow: none; width: 80px; min-height: 80px; background: url(https://artscolumbia.org/wp-content/plugins/intelly-related-posts/assets/images/simple-arrow.png)no-repeat; position: absolute; right: 0; top: 0; } .u2e9bb19c6e7e25e08f125c4ca088cf23:hover .ctaButton { background-color: #34495E!important; } .u2e9bb19c6e7e25e08f125c4ca088cf23 .centered-text { display: table; height: 80px; padding-left : 18px; top: 0; } .u2e9bb19c6e7e25e08f125c4ca088cf23 .u2e9bb19c6e7e25e08f125c4ca088cf23-content { display: table-cell; margin: 0; padding: 0; padding-right: 108px; position: relative; vertical-align: middle; width: 100%; } .u2e9bb19c6e7e25e08f125c4ca088cf23:after { content: ""; display: block; clear: both; } READ: Have You Ever Seen Anything In Your Life That Just Seemed To Good To B EssayDuring the 20th century, major scientific and medical advances have greatly enhance the life expectancy of the average person. There are however many diseases that cannot be cured by modern medicine. Such diseases like AIDS, terminal cancer, multiples scalrosis. These conditions remain a certain death sentence. These diseases leave the patient in a constant state of pain sometimes lasting many weeks or months. There are however other reasons why a person may feel euthanasia is appropriate. These reasons include the patient feels that the their quality of life has shrunk to zero, they feel the indig nities of being cared for as if they were and infant, including being diapered and fed by nurses. Others simply want to die with the dignity before they become sick. Such an example would be a person was diagnosed with Alzheimers disease and would like to end their life before serious dementia overtakes their living. These people feel that they would rather die in full mind and body rather to let themselves live a few more years in a vegetative state or with debilitating dementia that does not allow them to recognize their closest family. Proponents of euthanasia believe that the patient has the right to end their life when it is known that there will not be any recovery and death is imminent. They believe that a human being has the right to die in dignity and a painless death rather than suffer endlessly knowing full well that they will not recover. Those are anti-euthanasia state many reasons for their position. One reason is because euthanasia is contrary to Judeo-Christian ethic s. Many religious groups within Christian, Muslim, Jewish and other religions believe that God gave life and therefore only God should take away a.life. Suicide would then be considered as a rejection of Gods sovereignty and loving plan. They feel that we are all masters of our own lives, but thats suicide should never be an option. Many other faith groups believe that human suffering can have a positive value for the terminally ill person and for their direct family. A Roman Catholic document mentions that some people prefer to moderate their use of painkillers, in order to accept voluntary at least a part of their sufferings and thus associate themselves in a conscious way with the sufferings of Christ at the time of crucifixition. Some Jews feel that pain and suffering in this world acts as atonement for sinss and transgressions and may benefit them in entering the world to come. The two main arguments offered by Christians and other religious groups are the following: life is a gift from God and that each individual is a gift. Thus only God can start a life and only God should be allowed to end it.Also, God does not send us any experience that we cannot handle. God supports people and suffering. To actively seek an end to ones life would represent a lack of trust in God. Those who are pro euthanasia offer the following arguments: each person has autonomy over their own life. If a persons quality of life is nonexistent, they should have the right to decide to commit suicide, and to seek assistance if necessary. Sometimes a terminal patients pain can cause an unbearable burden, death can represent a relief of intolerable pain. When one discusses euthanasia we must understand that this is a legal view. By passing legislation that allows euthanasia were getting the right to doctors and patients to end their lives. We will be allowing euthanasia to become a procedure practiced in the hospital or hospice. In the end it will just be a matter of procedure such as a blood transfusion or operation. One must ask, by denying the legislation of euthanasia are we in fact denying a person to end their life? The answer to this is no. People do have the power to commit suicide. Suicide and attempted suicide are not criminalized. Each and every year, and the United States alone, there are more suicides than homicides. Suicide is a tragic, individual act. There are several books on the subject of suicide such as Derek Humphreys Final Exit. Organizations such as the Hemlock Society have been established to give information on patients interested in ending their own lives. Euthanasia is not about a private act. Its about letting one-person facilitate the death of another. Euthanasia is not about giving rights to the person who dies, it is about changing law and public policy so that doctors, relatives and others can directly and intesinaly end another persons life. This change would not give rights to the person who is killed, but to the person who does the killing. In other words, euthanasia is not about the right to die. Its about the right to kill. Bibliography:

To Kill A Mockingbird Irony And Sarcasm Essays -

To Kill a Mockingbird: Irony and Sarcasm To Kill a Mockingbird: Irony and Sarcasm Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird is a highly regarded work of American fiction. The story of the novel teaches us many lessons that should last any reader for a lifetime. The messages that Harper Lee relays to the reader are exemplified throughout the book using various methods. One of the most important and significant methods was the use of symbols such as the mockingbird image. Another important method was showing the view through a growing child's (Scout Finch) mind, eyes, ears, and mouth. There is another very significant method that was used. In the novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee utilizes the effects of irony, sarcasm, and hypocrisy to criticize a variety of elements in Southern life. Harper Lee employs the effects of irony in To Kill a Mockingbird as a way to criticize the deficiency of public education. "Now tell your father not to teach you any more. It's best to begin reading with a fresh mind." (pG. 22) Instead of praising Scout's ability to read at an advanced level, Miss Caroline discourages it. This ironic example set by Miss Caroline seems to demonstrate the inadequate training that she had received for her occupation. Miss Caroline seems to have been instructed upon a strict standard on how her students are expected to behave, but when she encounters something different, such as Scout's advanced ability to read, she advises Scout to stop being advanced, whereas a modern-day schoolteacher would capitalize on Scout's ability to read and encourage her to read more. "You won't learn to write until you're in the third grade." (pg. 23) The strict, recipe-style, rubric method of teaching that Miss Caroline uses is once again emphasized here. Miss Caroline once again discourages Scout's advanced abilities and regards Scout's ability with contempt. "The Dewey Decimal System consisted, in part, of Miss Caroline waving cards at us which were printed 'the,' 'cat,''rat,' 'man,' and 'you.'" (pg. 23) The Dewey Teaching Method was supposed to place an emphasis on "active" learning, yet the irony in Miss Caroline's"use" of it was that her teaching method wasn't "active" at all. It was, in fact, extremely passive. The students in the class didn't do anything. They became extremely bored and learned very little. As I have established, the use of irony clearly reveals the deficiency of the public education system in the 1930's. Teachers did not seem to be trained enough to handle the vast abilities of their students. Instead, they seemed to be trained to handle a narrowly confined amount of expected abilities. If Miss Caroline had recognized that Scout had advanced abilities, she could have allowed Scout to advance to a higher grade and save Scout from going through a school year that teaches her stuff that she has already learned. Public education is not the only element that Harper Lee uses irony to criticize, however. American political attitudes are also criticized using irony. Harper Lee also uses sarcasm to criticize the American political attitudes that were clearly evident in the South. "(When Alabama seceded from the Union on January 11, 1861, Winston County seceded from Alabama, and every child in Maycomb County knew it.)" (pg. 21) By listening to their parents and other adults, the young children of Maycomb have grown to despise Winston County for the same reason the adults despise it because it seceded from Alabama in 1861. It would seem pretty idiotic to most people to despise people based upon what their ancestors had done 70 years ago. "North Alabama was full of Liquor Interests, Big Mules, steel companies, Republicans, professors, and other persons of no background." (pg. 21) Overheard from adults, most likely, Scout's thoughts reflect the beliefs of a majority of the people in Maycomb. The political attitudes in the provincial South are criticized as the people seem to want to stick to their old ideas and beliefs. Evolving new ideas and beliefs are systematically rejected; anybody that adapts the new ideas are regarded as having "no background." "People up there set 'em free, but you don't see 'em settin' at the table with 'em... I think that woman, that Mrs. Roosevelt's lost her mind-just plain lost her mind coming down to Birmingham and tryin' to sit with 'em." (pg. 237) The outright hypocrisy that Mrs. Merriweather states when referring to the North is one of the main elements that Harper Lee employs in criticizing the South's political attitudes. There seems to be nothing that satisfies Mrs. Merriweather, who reflects the stereotypical southern woman-she despises

Design Theories in education

Design Theories in education Introduction Almost every characteristic of people’s daily lives involves problem solving and learning. Whether they are working, playing games, studying or engaging in any activity, people are always continually applying or adding to their ever-expanding pool of knowledge. Learning starts at birth and it ends when one dies.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Design Theories in education specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More It takes place everywhere i.e. in schools, home, at work e.t.c. Learning refers to the act of acquiring knowledge through such aspects as socialization and observation. Morrison, Ross, Kemp (2001), in their studies stated that for learning to be carried out effectively, there must be some key elements which include the learner, the teacher and the information to be learned. There are many different types of design theories that use the tenets of learning theories to build effective instruction. I nstruction design theories usually describe how instructions are organized with an aim of achieving objectives. Design theories are perspective theories in that, they enable a teacher or an expert to select and organize instructional events to enhance the learning process. The basis of design theories is on how people learn (Morrison, Ross, Kemp, 2001, p. 62-83). The following essay is concerned with educational design theories. The essay focuses on how the design theories can help improve the constructed responses in reading on the Wisconsin Knowledge and Concepts Examination (WKCE). The Wiggins’s theory of backwards design The Backward Curriculum design was developed by Wiggins and McTighe. The Backward Curriculum Design is based on the notion that the design process should first identify the set objectives to be achieved and then work backwards to create instruction. This approach to curriculum design is completely different with the traditional approach which first ident ifies what topic requires to be covered. It departs from the common approach in that, the teacher starts with the end in determining the curriculum instead of starting with a textbook. The Backward design has three main stages. The first stage identifies the desired results. According to this theory, the teacher has the role of identifying the course objectives, as well as the enduring understanding i.e. the learning that should be covered over long-term.Advertising Looking for essay on education? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Question format which focuses on the line of inquiry is used in identifying the desired learning. Benchmarks or state standards are used in determining the desired learning. The second stage is the assessment of the desired results and outcomes. This stage aims at defining the forms of assessment that best demonstrates the students’ understanding and skill. There are three types of ass essments i.e. performance task, criteria referenced assessment and unprompted assessment. The third stage determines the sequence of learning experience that is ideal for the students. The Backward design can help improve the constructed responses in reading on the WKCE because it has the effect of delaying the selection of teaching as well as other instructional strategies until the last stage of the process (Moore, 2005, P.45). Gagne’s nine events of instruction Gagne’s nine events of instruction is a learning theory that was developed by Robert Gagne. Each of Gagne’s nine events is meant to boost the learning process or to ensure that learning takes place effectively. Information processing learning theory is the main basis of these events and is key in the success of every event. According to this theory, the first presentation of the instruction is supposed to motivate the learner. The event thus, has the role of focusing the learners on the goals to be acc omplished. Learning cannot take place effectively without focusing on the tasks. Some of the methods that are used for gaining the attention of the students include presenting discrepant events. It can improve the constructed response in reading in that, the teachers can gain the attention of learners through actions that makes them to focus on the tasks to be learned (Mastrian, McGonigle Mahan,2011,P.97). The second event is informing the learner about the objective to be accomplished. The learner should be provided with the learning outcomes. This plays an important role in enabling the learner to know his or her instructional destination. The learner is able sort out the necessary materials from a list (Briggs, 1991, P.199-206).Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Design Theories in education specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Stimulating recall of prerequisite learning is the third event of Gagne’s learning th eory. According to this theory, learning is intended to build on what is already known. Learners are required to have prerequisite knowledge or skill in order to integrate them with new ones. This in turn helps to improve the constructed response in reading (Briggs, 1991, P.199-206). The fourth event of Gagne’s learning theory is presenting the stimulus material. This event of instruction presents the learners with the necessary information to be learned. The main aim of presenting materials is to ensure that the learners have basic knowledge on the tasks to be learned (Briggs, 1991, P.199-206). The other event of Gagne’s event of instruction is providing learning guidance. The main role of this event is to provide the learners with an opportunity to know what actions bring an ideal performance. Usually, learners are better placed to perform tasks on their own after observing from others. The teachers can provide learning guidance to learners by showing them all the st eps involved in solving a problem (Briggs,1991,P.199-206). Eliciting performance is the sixth of Gagne’s nine events of instruction. The learners are provided with an opportunity to test out their understanding through certain activities or questions. The learner is thus given an opportunity to practice what requires to be learned in this event (Briggs, 1991, P.199-206). Providing feedback is the seventh event of instruction according to Gagne’s nine events. Feedback is usually provided to learners in order to convey information about their accuracy or correctness of their performance (Briggs, 1991, P.199-206). The other instruction event of Gagne’s nine events is assessing performance. Assessing performance provides the learner with an opportunity to demonstrate the learning outcomes without the assistance from teachers (Briggs, 1991, P.199-206). The last event of Gagne’s nine events of instruction is the enhancement of retention and transfer. Knowledge and skills are mainly valuable if the learners can apply them at appropriate times (Briggs, 1991, P.199-206).Advertising Looking for essay on education? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More The four elements of teaching for understanding The standards for the four elements of teaching for understanding include the following i.e. generative topics, understanding goals, understanding performances and ongoing assessments (Reigeluth, 1999, P.108). A generative topic is concerned with the topic selection. This element requires that the learners should be presented with topics that are easily understandable and authentic. The main features of this element of teaching for understanding are that the topic should be relevant, connectible, accessible and interesting to both the learners and the teacher (Reigeluth, 1999, P.108). With regards to understanding goals, the element requires that the students should do their best to understand the learning outcome. Goals should not be ambiguous. The teacher should share goals with the learners in order to enable them to fully understand the learning outcomes (Reigeluth, 1999, P.108). Understanding performances provides the learners wit h an opportunity to prove their understanding of the learning objectives. This element of teaching for understanding enables the teacher to actively engage his or her learners (Reigeluth, 1999, P.108). The ongoing assessment is the fourth element for teaching for understanding. The main role of ongoing assessment is to provide the teachers with a forum of assessing the performance of the students and thus make improvements where necessary. Ongoing assessment should be done on regular basis and should be explicit (Reigeluth, 1999, P.108). Conclusion The best process of instruction that will ensure that students complete or even do the constructed response sections of the exam is the Gagne’s nine events of instruction. This method of instruction is ideal because it is goal driven. It is appropriate for the students as it can enable them to form a constructed response. Gagne’s nine events of instruction enhance the learning process in that; it has the ability of identifyi ng the learning outcome. Also, it identifies the events that should take place, organizes them in a sequence manner and ensures that each event includes all the relevant information for the objectives to be attained. Reference List Briggs, L. (1991). Instructional design: principles and applications. New York: EducationalTechnology. Mastrian, K, and McGonigle Mahan, W. (2011). Integrating technology in nursing education: tools for the knowledge era.Sadbury: Jones Bartlett Learning. Moore, K. (2005). Effective instructional strategies: from theory to practice. Thousand Oaks: SAGE. Morrison, G, Ross, S. Kemp, J. (2001). Task Analysis in  Designing Effective Instruction. New York: John Wiley Sons, Inc. Reigeluth, C. (1999). Instructional-design theories and models, Volume 2.London: Routledge.

Behavior Incentives and Classroom Rewards

Behavior Incentives and Classroom Rewards Classroom incentives, prizes, and punishments are part of a controversial topic for teachers. Many teachers see extrinsic material rewards as an appropriate and effective way to manage behavior in the elementary classroom. Other teachers dont want to bribe the kids to do work that they should be intrinsically motivated to do on their own. Should You Offer Classroom Incentives Early in the School Year? The idea of classroom rewards is an important concept to consider at the beginning of the school year. If you start off the year showering students with rewards, they are going to expect it and will most likely only work for the rewards. However, if you limit prizes from day one, you may find that you can get away from the material aspect a little bit and save yourself a significant amount of money in the long run.  Here is an example of what worked for me and thoughts about the concept of rewards. Rewards in First Classroom? In setting up my first classroom (third grade), I wanted to avoid rewards. I dreamed of my students working for knowledges sake. However, after trial and error, I found that kids respond to rewards well and sometimes you just have to use what works. The teachers before us most likely showered our current students with rewards, so they probably expect it by now. Also, teachers (and all employees) work for a reward - money. How many of us would work and try hard if we werent getting a salary? Money and rewards, in general, make the world go round, whether its a pretty picture or not. Timing When Incentives are Needed At the beginning of the year, I didnt do anything with rewards or behavior management because my kids started out the year quiet and hard working. But, around Thanksgiving, I was at the end of my rope and started introducing rewards. Teachers might want to try going as long as they can without rewards because the prizes start losing their effectiveness after awhile because the kids expect them or get used to receiving the rewards. It also works to change the rewards as the year progresses, just to add a little excitement and a boost to their effectiveness. Avoiding Material Rewards I dont use any material rewards in my classroom. I dont give out anything that costs money for me to buy. Im not willing to spend a lot of my own time and money to keep a store or prize box stocked for daily rewards. Good Work Tickets In the end, positive reinforcement of good behavior worked best for my students and me. I used Good Work Tickets which are just leftover scraps of construction paper (that would have been thrown away otherwise) cut up into little 1 inch by 1-inch squares. I have the kids cut them up for me after school or whenever they want. They love to do it. I dont even have to do that part. Involving Students in Giving Rewards When kids are working quietly and doing what they are supposed to be doing, I give them a good work ticket. They put their student # on the back and turn it into the raffle box. Also, if a child finished his or her work or has been working well, I let them pass out the good work tickets, which they love doing. This is a great thing to do with problem children; kids who are usually in trouble will love monitoring their classmates behavior. The students are usually more strict than I am with handing them out. Since they are free, it doesnt matter how many you give out.   Awarding Incentives On Fridays, I do a little drawing. The rewards are things like: Sit at the teachers desk for the day15 minutes playing an educational computer gameBe the caller for multiplication bingoMake up a math problem for the other children to solveGo to lunch 5 minutes early with a friendStay out for a longer recess with a friendChoose your seat for the dayRead out loud to the class You can tailor these rewards to what the cool things in your classroom are. I usually pick two  or three winners and then, just for fun, I pick one more, and that person is the Cool Person of the Day. The kids and I just thought that was a funny thing to do and a nice way to wrap up the drawing. Also, I keep a bag of candy in my cupboard for a quick reward (if someone catches a mistake I make, goes above and beyond the call of duty, etc.). Its a pretty cheap thing to have around just in case. Just throw candy to the kid and keep on teaching. Dont Overemphasize Rewards I didnt place a large emphasis on rewards. I tried to make learning fun, and my kids genuinely did get excited about learning new things. I had them begging me to teach them harder math concepts because they knew they could handle it. Ultimately, how you use rewards in your classroom is a personal decision. There are no right or wrong answers. Like everything in teaching, what works for one teacher may not work for another. But, it does help to discuss your ideas with other educators and see what others are doing in their classroom. Good luck!

Experience never be forgeten Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Experience never be forgeten - Essay Example ollection of those events and how we challenged that situation has always been a thrilling experience for me and the story is often repeated by me to my inquisitive friends and relatives. We were a group of five friends and we made elaborate arrangements for the proposed camping adventure. A week before the date of departure for the camp, we busied ourselves in shopping and we collected tents and trappings and other equipment needed for the camping. We collected various items of food. The choices of each of one we were different and thus we had a good collection of food items. We had decided to stay overnight at the camping site which was all the more exciting. We started off early in the morning, and loaded our suitcases on the carrier of the car, and by 7.30 a.m. began heading for the destination. We had rented a car, and I had not thoroughly checked its condition, before agreeing to take it, and that was a serious mistake that I committed, especially when we were going on a long journey. The car began to tell its story and it seemed as if it is not happy with its noisy companions. We had covered a distance of about fifteen miles and at a lonely stretch and I had to bring the car to a screeching halt due to a flat tire and I had a difficult time in controlling it. None of us were experts in fixing the tire, but with great difficulty and hesitation we solved the problem. My only fear was what we should do, if another tire would go flat. After fixing the tire problem, we had tea and snacks in a roadside restaurant and then we moved further. I was driving slowly and after covering about 10 miles, I suddenly realized that I forgot my cellphone at the restaurant, and we had just crossed a bridge and the next exist was after 4 miles. We had to get back and I felt that the bridge was mocking at us, for we were using it for the third time in less than one hour. The GPS was also quite unfriendly and was constantly teasing us with â€Å"Keep Right† and â€Å"Keep Leftà ¢â‚¬ 

The Truman Doctrine and the Marshall Plan Essay

The Truman Doctrine and the Marshall Plan - Essay Example He thus enunciated the doctrine that would go hand in hand with the Marshall Plan that would greatly help Europe get back on its feet. A scenario a decade later in which if the Truman Doctrine and the Marshall Plan were not implemented would result in a Europe whose economies would be faltering, each independently finding its way out of the devastation. Politically, the Soviet Union's influence would have grown stronger beyond Poland and East Germany. Political and economic stability would still be a long hurdle. By 1957 without the Truman Doctrine and the Marshall Plan, Europe would find itself an economically fragmented continent and the European Union, established in 1957 would not exist. Probably there would not also be a European Coal and Steel Community which was established in 1950. This is because the Marshall Plan allowed for the possibility of European states working together to draft a plan that would make economic cooperation possible. Europe's treasuries would not be as quickly replenished because of the absence of immediate US monetary aid and food and survival would still be the top priority, and not economic growth and stability. Europe would not find a way to freely exchange their currencies and dismantle trade barriers among the different states as the establishment of the European Payments Union in 1950 and in effect until 1958. Furthermore, without the Marshall Plan, a decade after the end of the World War, would result in a Europe with its economic foundations not as str ong as they were and industries would not be reborn as they were quickly because of the Marshall Plan. Well known European companies such as "Renault, Pechiney and Dassault in France; Volkswagen and Daimler-Benz in Germany; Fiat in Italy; plus Norse Crown Canning in Norway were started or restarted with American assistance after the war" (Swardson A1). Without the Marshall Plan these companies, indeed a lot of industries would not still be back on their feet or even existing a decade after the war. Germany, Europe's industrial giant would still be probably crippled and its economic strength not utilized. Politically, had not the policy of containment enunciated in the Truman Doctrine, it would have been a great probability that ten years hence after the end of the war, Turkey and Greece would have fallen under sphere of influence of the Soviet Union. Britain which received the biggest share of US aid would not be as strong as it was in being a democratic leader in the continent - and this was shown when it had to stop helping Greece that forced the US to be fill up the vacuum. Further, the fall of Turkey and Greece would have bolstered the communist movements in France and Italy, which though not as vulnerable would have resulted in unstable political regimes, backed by economic instability because rampant social discontent, hunger economic dislocation. In short, Europe ten years hence, would again be vulnerable to totalitarianism. The Truman Doctrine and the Marshall Plan paved the way for Europe to work together as one continent so that it could rise from the rubble of World War II. Economically, it drew the European states together to set up mechanisms to foster economic integration, without which there would be the present-day European Union and the

Software Reuse Essay Example for Free

Software Reuse Essay Abstract Effective reuse of software products is reportedly increasing productivity, saving time, and reducing cost of software development. Historically, software reuse focused on repackaging and reapplying of code modules, data structures or entire applications in the new software projects (Prieto-Diaz 1994). Recently, however, it has been acknowledgedas beneficial to redeploy software components across the entire development life-cycle, starting with domain modelling and requirements specification, through software design, coding and testing, to maintenance and operation. There were also attempts to reuse aspects of project organisation and methodology, development processes, and communication structures. However, as the concept of reusing software components is very clear at the code level (whether in source or binary form), the very same concept becomes more fuzzy and difficult to grasp when discussed in the context of reusing specifications and designs (whether in textual or diagrammatical form), or quite incomprehensible when applied to software informal requirements, domain knowledge or human skills and expertise (expressed in natural language, knowledge representation formalism, or existing only in humans). This problem of dealing with reusable software artefacts resulting from the earliest stages of software development, in particular requirements specifications, attracted our particular interest in the reusability technology. Our work is motivated primarily by the possibility of improving the process of requirements elicitation by methodical reuse of software specifications and their components with the aid of information extracted from user informal requirements documents. The problems and issues that we aim to investigate in this research are best illustrated by the following statement outlining current needs and the goals for the future research in requirements reuse: †¢ More research is needed on the advantages and the necessary methods for requirements reuse. For example, what are requirements components’, what makes them reusable, how can we store and retrieve them, and how do we write a requirements specification that gives us the highest probability of creating or reusing existing requirements components? (Hsia, Davis et al. 1993). Definitions To address the issues advanced by Hsia, Davis and Kung, and to avoid any confusion farther in this paper, we need to clearly define some major concepts of software reuse, reusability, reusable artefacts, their possible forms, reusability methods, their major motivators and inhibitors, etc. Hence, we adopt our definitions from Prieto-Diaz (Prieto-Diaz 1989) as follows :-†¢ reuse is the use of previously acquired concepts or objects in a new situation, it involves encoding development information at different levels of abstraction, storing this representation for future reference, matching of new and old situations, duplication of already developed objects and actions, and their adaptation to suit new requirements; †¢ reuse is the use of previously acquired concepts or objects in a new situation, it involves encoding development information at different levels of abstraction, storing his representation for future reference, matching of new and old situations, duplication of already developed objects and actions, and their adaptation to suit new requirements; †¢ reusability is a measure of the ease with which one can use those previous concepts or objects in the new situations. Reuse Artefacts The object of reusability, reusable artefact , can be any information which a developer may need in the process of creating software (Freeman 1983), this includes any of the following software components :- †¢ code fragments, which come in a form of source code, PDL, or various charts; †¢ logical program structures , such as modules, interfaces, or data structures; †¢ functional structures , e.g. specifications of functions and their collections; †¢ domain knowledge , i.e. scientific laws, models of knowledge domains; †¢ knowledge of development process , in a form of life-cycle models; †¢ environment-level information, e.g. experiential data or users feedback; †¢ artefact transformation during development process (Basili 1990); etc. A controlled collection of reuse artefacts constitutes a reuse library. Such libraries must contain not only reusable components but are also expected to provide certain types of services to their users (Wegner 1989), e.g. storage, searching, inspecting and retrieval of artefacts from different application domains, and of varying granularity and abstraction, loading, linking and invoking of stored artefacts, specifying artefact relationships, etc. The major problems in the utilisation of such reuse libraries are in determining appropriate artefact classification schemes and in the selection of methods to effectively and efficiently search the library. To bypass the problems with reuse libraries, the use of specialised domain-specific languages was proposed as an alternative. Such languages use strict syntax and semantics defined in terms of an application domain and its reusable artefacts. While enforcing notational conformance with a predetermined syntax and semantics, the domain-specific languages restrict the number of possible classification and search mechanisms used in the process of composing a problem solution, e.g. as in DRACO (Neighbors 1989) or GIST (Feather 1989). Artefact Characteristics Certain classes of software artefacts have been identified as eminently suitable to become part of a reuse library and be, subsequently, utilised as reusable software resources. Such artefacts usually share a number of characteristics, deemed to actively promote reusability (Biggerstaff and Richter 1989; Matsumoto 1989; McClure 1989), those artefact are perceived to be :-†¢ expressive, i.e. they are of general utility and of adequate level of abstraction, so that they could be used in many different contexts, and be applicable to variety of problem areas; †¢ definite, i.e. they are constructed and documented with a clarity of purpose, their capabilities and limitations are easily identifiable, interfaces, required resources, external dependencies and operational environments are specified, and all other requirements are explicit and well defined; †¢ transferable , i.e. it is possible to easily transfer an artefact to a different environment or problem domain, this usually means that it is self-contained, with few dependencies on implementation-related concepts, it is abstract and well parametrised; †¢ additive, i.e. it should be possible to seamlessly compose existing artefacts into new products or other reusable components, without the need for massive software modifications or causing adverse side effects; †¢ formal , reusable artefacts should, at least at some level of abstraction, be described using a formal or semi-formal notation, such an approach provides means to formally verify an artefact correctness, it enables to predict violation of integrity constraints during artefact composition, or to assess the level of completeness for a product constructed of reusable parts; †¢ machine representable, those of the artefacts which can be described in terms of computationally determined attribute values, which can easily be decomposed into machine representable parts, which can be accessed, analysed, manipulated and possibly modified by computer-based processes, have a clear potential for becoming part of a flexible reuse library; those artefacts can be easily searched for, retrieved, interpreted, altered and finally integrated into larger system; †¢ self-contained , reusable artefacts which embody a single idea are easier to understand, they have less dependencies on external factors, whether environmental or implementational, they have interfaces which are simple to use, they are easier to extend, adapt and maintain; †¢ language independent, no implementation language details should be embedded in reusable artefacts, this also means that most useable artefacts are those which are described in terms of a specification or design formalism, or those low level solutions which could be used from variety of programming languages on a given implementation platform, either by appropriate macro processors or link editors; †¢ able to represent data and procedures , i.e. reusable artefacts should be able to encapsulate both their data structures and logic, down to a fine grain of detail, such an approach increases artefact cohesion and reduces the possibility of artefact coupling by common data passed via arguments or global variables; †¢ verifiable , as any other software components, reusable artefacts should be easy to test by their maintainers, and, what is even of a greater importance, by their users who embed reusable components into their own systems, and who must have the capability to monitor the components computational context and their interfaces; †¢ simple , minimum and explicit artefact interfaces will encourage developers to use artefacts, simple and easy to understand artefacts can also be easily modified by developers to suit new applications; and †¢ easily changeable, certain type of problems will require artefacts to be adopted to the new specifications, such changes should be localised to the artefact and require minimum of side effects. Reuse in Software Life-Cycle Computer software can be systematically reused across the entire development life-cycle, i.e. domain analysis, requirements specification, design and implementation, it has its place even in the post-delivery stages of development, e.g. its continuing quality assessment or software maintenance. Implementation. Early experience with software reuse was limited to reuse of program code in source and binary form. A great emphasis was put on development of programming languages which could support various methods of clustering, packaging, modularisation, parametrisation and sharing of data and code via data types and code blocks (ALGOL), named common blocks (FORTRAN), parametric functions and macros (FORTRAN and LISP), copy libraries (COBOL), information hiding (PASCAL), modules (SIMULA and MODULA), generic packages (ADA), objects and classes (SMALLTALK and C++), etc. The idea of code sharing was further supported by various operating system utilities which allowed independent program compilation, creation of relocatable libraries or link editing (Reed 1983). In those early days, no serious effort on a commercial scale was undertaken to reuse the early life-cycle artefacts, i.e. designs, specifications, requirements or enterprise models. This situation was caused by :- †¢ the lack of awareness of potential benefits that could be gained from reusing more abstract software artefacts; †¢ unavailability of commercial methodologies embracing software reuse at their centre-point; †¢ informal nature of early specification and design documents; and †¢ shortage of tools capable to represent specifications and designs in a computer-processable form. At the same time, †¢ the construction of libraries was known to improve software development productivity, and was practiced in nearly every commercial organisation; †¢ program code was written according to a formal grammar and it adhered to established semantic rules; and †¢ the construction of code libraries was supported by editors, compilers, loaders and linkers, which could be freely customised to accommodate various reuse tasks. Design. Today’s development approaches, such as object-oriented methods (Graham 1994) or rapid application development (Martin 1991), vigorously advocate reusing software artefacts at the earliest possible stage of the software life-cycle. Program design methods are now capable of utilising well-defined diagrammatic notations, which allow production of documents which are simpler and more legible than code, which clearly exhibit their conceptual contents, which are well structured and modular, and which allow dealing with problem complexity at various levels of abstraction and granularity. With the advent of CASE tools (McClure 1989) the contemporary design techniques are also supported by specialised software environments capable of capturing design ideas in a form leaning towards further processing by computer-based reuse tools. Today, it is also commonly perceived that reuse of software designs, as opposed to code reuse, is more economic, and cognitively a much more intuiti ve process. Requirements Specification. While application of reuse techniques to software design has visible advantages over code reuse, some researchers (Matsumoto 1989) claim further increases in the scope of software reusability when given opportunity to reuse modules at higher levels of abstraction, i.e. software specifications and requirements. Others support this claim, voicing the need to reuse large-scale artefacts going beyond design components and including entire design frameworks and domain resources (Li 1993). Bubenko et. al. (Bubenko, Rolland et al. 1994) further propose to combine design and reuse libraries to accommodate development processes capable of reusing conceptual schemas to support the process of requirements engineering. Such an approach provides users with the library of reusable components that could match their requirements, improves the quality of requirements specifications by making available well-defined conceptual components as early as requirements specification, and improves the productivity of the requirements engineering process by shortening the requirements formalisation effort (Castano and De Antonellis 1994). In the REBOOT system, Morel and Faget (Morel and Faget 1993) aim at extending this approach to the entire software life-cycle. Such advances in requirements and specification reuse were in part facilitated by :- †¢ Development of the new types of programming languages, such as PROLOG or EIFFEL, which combine elements of program specification and design (via logic and class specification) at the level of code, such an approach promotes interpretation and reuse of abstract program descriptions throughout the life-cycle; †¢ dissemination of prototyping tools and visual programming environments capable of graphic representation of user requirements and the subsequent generation of code or code skeletons (Vonk 1989; Ambler and Burnett 1990), facilitating effective composition of programs of domain-specific, visual, reuse components; †¢ introduction of formal requirements and specification languages, such as RML (Greenspan, Mylopoulos et al. 1994), Z (Spivey 1989), VDM (Woodman and Heal 1993) or LARCH (Guttag and Horning 1993), permitting representation, structuring, verification, and reuse of specification components; †¢ object-oriented technologies integrating various diagrammatic techniques into a single methodology, e.g. Information Engineering (Martin 1993), or unifying elements of conceptual modelling, program specification and design into one consistent notation, e.g. Object-Oriented Conceptual Modelling (Dillon and Tan 1993), such object-oriented development methods allow creation of abstract conceptual schemata which can be readily adapted by instantiation and inheritance to new problem solutions; †¢ development of full-text databases utilising efficient information retrieval methods (Salton 1989), being introduced as a repository for storing, classification and subsequent retrieval of design and specification texts (Frakes and Nejmeh 1988; Maarek, Berry et al. 1991; Fugini and Faustle 1993); and finally †¢ application of knowledge-based techniques and intelligent software development assistants in requirements acquisition and specification (Lowry and Duran 1989); Domain Analysis. The final frontier for software reuse in the development life-cycle is a thorough analysis of a given problem domain. This approach is grounded on the belief that in a real-life situation reusability is not a universal property of program code or processed information but it rather depends on a context of the problem and its solution, which themselves are relatively cohesive and stable (Arango and Prieto-Diaz 1991). The main aim of domain analysis is the construction of a domain model of which components could be reused in solving variety of problems. Such a model will customarily include definition of concepts used in the specification of problems and software systems, definition of typical design decisions, alternatives, trade-offs and justifications, and software implementation plans. Such a model may take variety of different forms, to include (cf. Figure 1) :- †¢ definitional model, which provides knowledge taxonomies and actonomies describing domain concepts, their structure, semantics, and relationships between them; †¢ knowledge representation model, giving domain semantics and explanation facilities; †¢ domain-specific languages , which when expressed as formal grammars and supported by parsers may provide direct translation of specifications into executable code; †¢ instructional models , indicating the methods of constructing working systems in a given domain, such methods may be described by standards, guidelines, templates, or interface definitions; †¢ functional models, describing how systems work, using representations such as data flow diagrams or program description languages; †¢ structural models, provide means to define architecture of domain systems; etc. In the process of constructing a domain model, the common knowledge from related systems is generalised, objects and operations common to all systems in a given domain are identified, and a model is defined to describe their inter-relationships. The main problem with this process is that knowledge sources for domain modelling (as found in technical literature, existing implementations, customer surveys, expert advice or current and future requirements) are frequently verbose and informal. Thus, special techniques and tools are needed to deal with it, e.g. knowledge acquisition tools, entity-relationship modelling tools, object-oriented methods, semantic clustering tools, CASE and parsing tools (Agresti and McGarry 1988). Reuse Process. In this work, we will view the process of software reuse as comprising three stages of artefact processing (cf. Figure 2), i.e. their analysis, organisation and synthesis. †¢ Artefact analysis starts with identification of artefacts in existing software products (Ning, Engberts et al. 1994) or in a currently analysed domain (Arango and Prieto-Diaz 1991), this is followed by their understanding and representation in a suitable formalism to reflect their function and semantics, with possible generalisation to widen the scope of their future applications. †¢ Artefact organisation includes classification and storage of artefacts in an appropriate software repository, the subsequent repository search and artefacts retrieval whenever they are needed in the reuse process. †¢ Artefact synthesis consists of artefact selection from a number of retrieved candidate artefacts, their adaptation to suit the new application, and their integration into a completely new software product. The tasks undertaken in the three stages of artefact processing are also frequently discussed from the perspective of development-for-reuse and development-by-reuse (Bubenko, Rolland et al. 1994). †¢ Development-for-reuse is emphasising the construction of the reuse library, involving the identification, understanding , generalisation , and the subsequent classification and storage of artefacts for later reuse. †¢ Development-by-reuse is concerned with the effective utilisation of the reuse library to support new software development, it involves searching, retrieval , selection , adaptation, and integration of artefacts into the software system under construction. As reuse is quite independent of any particular development process model, it, thus, could be embedded into a variety of methodologies, to include waterfall model (Hall and Boldyreff 1991), rapid prototyping (Martin 1991), object-oriented design (Meyer 1987),etc. While the inclusion of reuse into a development cycle is of a significant benefit to the entire process, at the same time it may complicate the development process (e.g. see Figure 3). Also, reuse tasks may significantly overlap with those performed in other development phases, e.g. software integration or maintenance. The separation of concerns lead some researchers (Hall and Boldyreff 1991) into pointing out that reuse must occur across different projects or problem areas, as opposed to those tasks which aim at the change, improvement or refinement of software undertaken within a single project which should not be regarded as reuse, e.g. †¢ software porting , which only aims at adopting existing software product to different hardware or operating system environments; †¢ software maintenance , which strives to correct software erroneous behaviour or to alter the existing program to suit changing requirements; and †¢ software reconfiguration, which provides a method of customising software to be used with different hardware components or making only a subset of its facilities available to the user. Assessing the Reuse Process and its Goals The value of software reuse cannot be gauged in simple, unambiguous, congruous and canonical fashion. One of the reasons for this difficulty lies in the fact that there is a variety of reusable artefact types and the methods and techniques for their creation, manipulation and maintenance. Another reason can be set in inadequacy of measuring tools to assess the reuse benefit or its hindrance, as it can be measured using variety of incompatible metrics, some of which are based on economic, some on technical, then again others on social or cognitive principles. Finally, it is the numerous software stakeholders who are not likely to agree on the common goals of the reuse process itself, as they will all have distinct and opposing development goals. The contention on thee success or failure of reuse approaches is best reflected in the myths, biases and preconceptions of software developers and management, this section will, thus, summarise such opinions as they are reported in the software engineering literature. Reuse benefits. Adopting reuse-based software development process attracts a number of well recognised economic and psychological benefits to both the end-users and developers (Tracz 1988b; Hemmann 1992). These include the following. †¢ Savings in costs and time. As a developer uses already pre-defined components, hence, the activities associated with components specification, design and implementation are now replaced with finding components, their adaptation to suit new requirements, and their integration. Experience shows (also from other fields, like electronic engineering) that the latter set of activities takes less times and therefore costs less. It should be noted, though, that development of components for reuse will certainly attract additional effort, time and cost. This costs, however, can be offset by savings in a number of different software projects. †¢ Increase in productivity. A set of reusable artefacts can frequently be viewed as a high-level language of concepts drawn from a given problem domain. Hence, a developer is given an opportunity to work with more abstract notions related directly to the problem at hand and to ignore low-level, implementation details. It has been shown that working at a higher level of abstraction leads to an increase in development productivity. †¢ Increase in reliability. Reuse library can be viewed as a software product itself, therefore, its development follows a normal cycle of requirements specification, design, implementation, testing, documentation and maintenance. By the very assumption, the user base and a life-span of reuse artefacts is much greater than that of any individual product, thus, the reliability of such artefact is also increased. This also leads to an improved reliability of systems built of reusable components rather than of those built entirely from scratch. †¢ Increase in ease of maintenance. Systems constructed of reusable parts are usually simpler, smaller, and more abstract. Their design is closer to the problem domain and their reliability is greater. This of course has an very positive impact on the quality of such systems maintenance. †¢ Improvement in documentation and testing. Reusable components are normally accompanied by high quality documentation and by previously developed tests plans and cases. Whenever a new system is created by simple selection and altering of such components, then, their documentation and tests will have to be much easier to develop as well. †¢ High speed and low cost replacement of aging systems. As the reuse-based systems share a very large collection of program logic via the reuse library, thus, they are significantly less complex and much smaller in size than those developed from scratch. Such systems will therefore need less effort during porting or adaptation to new hardware and software environments. It should also be noted that it would normally be the reusable components of the system that is technology intensive, and thus, very expensive to develop, e.g. graphical user interfaces, databases, communications, device control, etc. Sharing that cost across several systems would certainly reduce it when a global replacement of computing resources is called for. Reuse drawbacks. At the same time, in practice, radical gains in productivity and quality cannot be achieved due to some preconceptions held by developers and their management (Tracz 1988b; Hemmann 1992). The claims commonly put forward by programmers include :- †¢ reusing code, as compared with development of entirely new systems, is boring; †¢ locally developed code is better than that developed elsewhere (NIH factor); †¢ it is easier to rewrite complex programs from scratch rather than to maintain it; †¢ there are no tools to assist programmers in finding reusable artefacts; †¢ in majority of cases, developed programs are too specialised for reuse; †¢ adopted software development methodology does not support software reuse; †¢ reuse is often ad-hoc and is unplanned; †¢ there is no formal training in reusing code and designs effectively; †¢ useful reusable artefacts are not supported on the preferred development platform; †¢ the reuse process is too slow; †¢ interfaces of reusable artefacts are too awkward to use; †¢ code with reusable components is often too big or too inefficient; †¢ programs built of reusable components are not readily transportable; †¢ reusable components do not conform to adopted standards; †¢ reuse techniques do not scale up to large software projects; †¢ there are no incentives to reuse software. Meanwhile, management also raises objections based on the following arguments :- †¢ it takes too much effort and time to introduce reuse in workplace; †¢ perceived productivity gains will result in cuts to the project man-power; †¢ customers may expect reusable artefacts to be delivered with their product; †¢ it may be difficult to prevent plagiarism of reusable artefacts; †¢ reuse of code may lead to legal responsibility in case of software failure; †¢ the cost of maintaining reusable libraries is prohibitive; †¢ management is not trained in software development methods with reuse; †¢ there is no coordination between software project partners to introduce reuse. Such problems of perception often result from irrational, nevertheless, deeply rooted myths about reusability and the reuse process. A selection of such myths (cf. Table 1) were reported and subsequently demistified by Tracz (1988a). Reuse motivators. While the common prejudice, miconceptions and outright myths among developers and management prevent companies to effectively introduce reuse into their mainstream development, Frakes and Fox (1995) show in their survey that only few factors listed above have any real impact on the success or failure of software reuse, i.e. †¢ the type of application domain althought the reasons for this phenomenon are not known, it seems that certain types of industries show significantly higher levels of reuse (e.g. telecommunication companies) in certain areas of the life-cycle than others (e.g. aerospace industries); †¢ perceived economic feasibility in those organisations where management convinced its software developers that reuse is desirable and economically viable had a much higher success in the introduction of reuse into those organisations; †¢ high quality and functional relevance of reuse assets increases the likelihood of the assets to be reused; †¢ common software process although developers themselves do not regard a common software process as promoting reuse, there is a strong correlation between the gains in the process maturity and the gains in the level of software reuse; and finally, †¢ reuse education education about reuse, both in school and at work, improves reuse and is a necessary part of a reuse program, however, since the issues of software reuse are rarely discussed in the academic curriculum, it is necessary for management to bear the responsibility to provide reuse-specific training to its employees. The same study also showed that other factors, widely perceived as reuse motivators or inhibitors, have only a minimal effect on the reuse process, e.g. †¢ use of specific programming languages and paradigms it is often perceived that structured, modular, object-oriented, or high-level languages improve the prospects of successful software reuse, the collected statistics, however, show no such correlation; †¢ utilisation of software support environments and CASE although development tools are frequently marketted as greatly enhancing software reusability, some studies show that the current employed CASE tools are not particularly effective in promoting reuse of life-cycle objects across projects in an organisation; †¢ employment of staff experienced in software engineering it seems to be evident that experienced software development practitioners are potentially better reusers than those who have no formal training in software engineering, however contrary to this belief, it can be shown that experience and knowledge of software development principles is not a substitute for training in methods and techniques specific to reuse activities; †¢ provision of recognition rewards as an incentive to promote reuse practices in the organisation it is likely that only monetary rewards are a more effective motivator for implementing reuse practices; †¢ existence of perceived legal impediments to the utilisation of reusable software as majority of reuse efforts concentrates on the in-house development of reusable artefacts, thus, the legal issues are of less concern; †¢ existence of reuse repositories many organisations consider such repositories as central to their reuse efforts, practice, however, shows that those organisations which do not use sophisticated computer-aided tools assisting the classification and retrieval of software artefacts achieve similar levels of reuse as those who are active proponents and users of such automated repositories; †¢ the size of an organisation conducting a software development project the project or development team size is often used as an argument against the introduction of a formal reuse process, small companies believe the narrow scope of their application domain will limit the potential benefit of reuse, while the big companies fear the necessary investment of resources and money to properly implement systematic reuse, the apprehension in both of these cases in unwarranted and the likelyhood of a success or failure of reuse efforts is independent of the company or project size; †¢ considerations of software and process quality majority of surveyed developers had generally positive experience in reusing various software assets developed outside their home companies, overall, the quality concerns had little impact on the level of software reuse, the situation would probably be very different if the quality of reused assets were to deteriorate; †¢ reuse measurements in majority of companies measurement of reuse levels, software quality, and software productivity are not done, however, those organisation which measure software reusability are not getting any significant higher reuse levels than those which fail to monitor their successes or failures in reusing software artefacts, thus in practice, measuring software reuse has very little effect on the whole of the reuse process. Finally, Krueger (1989) provides four tenets of the successful software reuse, the tenets based on the technical and cognitive factors which he believes will ultimately translate into variety of development goals to achieve an effective policy on software reusability, i.e. †¢ reuse must reduce the cognitive effort of software development; †¢ constructing systems of reusable components must be easier than to building them from scratch; †¢ finding reusable artefacts must be more efficient than building them; †¢ understanding artefacts is fundamental to their effective selection. Summary This paper defined the concepts of software reuse, reusability, reuse artefact and reuse library. It listed those attributes of software artefacts which increase a chance of them being reused, e.g. they have to be expressive, definite, transferable, additive, formal, machine representable, self-contained, language independent, able to represent data and procedures, verifiable, simple, and easily changeable. Then the paper gave an overview of major reuse efforts in the life-cycle, starting with coding and design, and then going through specification and requirements capture, and finally covering domain analysis and modelling. Two forms of reuse-based development were discussed, i.e. development-for-reuse, aiming at the construction of reuse library, and consisting of artefact identification, generalisation, classification and storage; and the second, development-by-reuse, aiming at the construction of a new software product with the use of reuse library, and including the tasks of searching for reusable artefacts, their understanding, adaptation to new requirements, and their integration into a new system. The stages of artefacts processing include their analysis, organisation and synthesis. Finally the paper analyses the benefits and the perceived disadvantages of software reusability, focusing in particular on the myths and misconceptions held by developers and their managers. Four preconditions for reusability success were given as reduction in cognitive complexity, ease of implementation, ability to understanding of artefact structure and function, and finally, economy of reuse. 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