Car Parking Slot Allocation System

Chapter 1 INTRODUCTION Background of the Study Parking in big parking lot can be very challenging and effortful. Even when an indication is provided that a small percentage of slots is still available in the enormous car parks, most drivers do not seem to be able to locate those slots. Car Parking Slot Allocation System is a system that automates the searching and guides drivers on which location is their chosen slot located in the parking area. The system is designed to prevent problems usually associated with parking cars in a certain parking lot. How does it work?When a car is waiting at the entrance, the operator will give the driver the slot card number indicating where to park in the area. This will avoid time delay if there are any cars waiting in the entrance waiting for their turn. How does the system know which parking slot to allocate? The group created a simulation of a parking lot which composed of two separate parking areas – Parking Area A and Parking Area B, an d thus each area is consisting of 40 parking slots. Because there are two parking areas in the parking lot, both of this areas will be applied using Allocation Algorithm.The application of Allocation algorithm in these areas will only allocate the vacant or available slots. Those slots that are not vacant or already occupied will not be allocated anymore and this will be ignored by the system. The purpose of this project is to simulate and implement a real parking lot environment that allocate vacant parking slots using Allocation algorithm. As computer science students, the used and application of algorithm is the most important foundation of the field of Computer Science. Through this algorithm, this will tell the computer to do the task in the most efficient manner.Hence, by applying Allocation algorithm in the group’s study, an effective and efficient solution in the problems of allocating parking slots will be easily located by the system because of the application of al gorithm. In addition, an algorithm is a solution of a problem by a finite sequence of instructions each of which can be performed by a machine. Every computer program is essentially a set of instructions placed in a systematic fashion, that when executed, produce a desired result. The advantages covered in this system will be user interaction, ease f use, and effectiveness in demonstrating Allocation algorithm to those who don’t know much about it. Furthermore, the group hope that through this project, they can improve technological improvement to the car parking establishment in making an efficient and systematic car parking. Statement of the Problem The researchers envision solving the problems by answering the following questions: 1. How does the application of Allocation algorithm will be implemented in the Car Parking Slot Allocation System? 2. How will Allocation algorithm allocate or search vacant slots? 3. Will Allocation algorithm allocate occupied slots? 4.How does the system know which parking slot to allocate? 5. How to simulate the parking areas consisting of 80 slots that applies Allocation algorithm? Objectives of the Study The primary objectives of this study are the following: 1. 2. To implement the application of Allocation algorithm in allocating and searching for vacant or available parking slot. 3. To create and design a sample parking lot that demonstrate the simulation and use of Allocation algorithm. 4. To test and prove that the used of Allocation algorithm in the simulation of the parking areas will be functional, applicable and appropriate. Significance of the StudyThis study will be implemented and expected to give good effects and will be beneficial to the following: For the Operators, this study is significant to the Operators because this will provide a valuable guide to the advantages and disadvantages of the car parking operations. For the Car Drivers, this project easily assists the car drivers in finding parking slot q uickly with no trouble. The system helps to cut down the amount of searching time that drivers spend on looking for an available parking slot. Therefore, through this project, it will save their time by providing instant space availability information and frustration levels.For the Students, they would be able to use this data for them to get the ideas and references if they are planning to conduct the same study. This study could inspire interested students to make their own project or improve and innovate on our project. This helps them enhance their skills and potential in their field of specialization. For the Future Researchers, this project will benefit other group of researchers who wish to undertake similar studies as they can get more background information from the result of the study, which can serve as a basis to modify or improve their own research.For the Proponents, conduting this study is significant to the proponents because it can add knowledge in their field as a computer science student. It also enables them to research more about programming languages and various algorithms which is very essential in their course. Through this study, this also adds significant knowledge and experience to the proponents’ capabilities of making a simulation system. Scope and Delimitation There is no hardware required in the system, the group limit its study on the algorithm used together with the simulation of the parking lot.The group used Allocation algorithm in conducting the study to emphasize the use and its function in the implementation of the system. The group created a simulation of the parking lot so as to indicate the result of the algorithm. In the simulation, a car will run to locate the slot that has been selected. Once the car reaches the correct slot, it will stop and the animation ends there. The purpose of the simulation is to guide the driver to the slot where it is located. The group colored the vacant slots with color white, while the slots that are already occupied are colored with color red.Also in this study, the group included other features which is beneficial in the system such as generation of reports – specifically list of cars report and income report, and the parking payment system. The parking payment system will calculate the total payment of the driver during its parking period. Other than that, this study will not describe problems regarding human decision making or behavior issues. Like, if the driver will park on the wrong slot of fail to follow the operator had recommended, the system will identify the slot that the driver has chosen to be occupied and that the rong slot which the driver had wrongly parked will be noticed as available in the system. Problems like this will arouse conflicts in the parking lot. The solution of this matter will depend on the behavior of the driver. Another consideration in this study is that, if the parking area provides 5 slots, 5 cars can be parked in the area. When the driver forgets to remember where he parked his car in an area, the operator will ask for the plate number of the car and then the system will identify where slot the car was parked. The driver is also able chose whether to follow recommendations provided by the operator of the system or not.The driver is still able to choose any slot he/she likes. This study is also not about creating new parking slots. Once a parking lot is fully loaded, the parking problem remains. There are other solutions to solve that problem, but they are outside the scope of this study. Definitions of Terms Algorithm. It is the central concept of Computer Science. Formally, an algorithm is defined as a well-ordered collection of unambiguous and effectively computable operations that, when executed, produces a result in a finite amount of time. Algorithms are intended to solve computational problems.Allocation Algorithm. It is an algorithm that will only allocate slots which are vacant or av ailable. Allocated Slot. A slot is called allocated when there is no car parked at the slot, but the system is guiding a car to that specific slot. Cars. This refers to those designed to run primarily on roads, typically have four wheels and is construct principally for the  transportation  of people. Entrance. It is a location in the parking lot where cars can enter in the parking lot. Exit. It is a location in the parking lot where cars can exit or leave in the parking lot.Full. A parking lot is called full or filled, if all the slots are occupied. This means that no slot is vacant. Gray-box Testing. The gray-box testing is a combination of black-box and white-box testing. The intention of this testing is to find out the defects related to bad design or bad implementation of the system. Microsoft Access. It is the database application from the Microsoft Office Suite of applications. Usually abbreviated as MS Access. It is an easy-to-use program for creating and maintaining dat abases. Microsoft Visual Basic 6. It is the third generation ve-driven programming language and integrated environment (IDE) from Microsoft for its COM programming model. Visual Basic is also considered a relatively easy to learn and use programming language, because of its graphical development features and BASIC heritage. Occupied slot. A slot is called occupied if and only if a car is parked on the slot. Parking. It is the act of stopping a vehicle and leaving it unoccupied for more than a brief time. Parking Lot. It is a building or area that contains slots where cars can be parked. A parking lot has at least one entrance and exit. Simulation.It is the imitation of some real thing available, state of affairs, or process. The act of simulating something generally entails representing certain key characteristics or behaviors of a selected physical or abstract system. Slot. A certain amount of space in a car park, often surrounded by white stripes, that can hold exactly one car. Sy stem. It is a collection of elements or components that are organized for a common purpose. Vacant Slot. A slot is called vacant when there is no car parked on the slot, and the system is not guiding any car to this slot at the moment. Chapter 2 REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE AND STUDIESApparently, this problem is not very new. Siemens already wrote about it in the early 90's and they were already thinking about solutions back than. Concrete results where not found at that time though. Toyota (a car manufacturer from Japan) started developing Parking Guidance and Information (PGI) systems in 1995. It looks like there isn't much guidance though. The users seem to guide themselves, after receiving information about parking intensity around the city. Initiatives like this also arose in other countries but they only indicate an approximation of the number of vacant slot per car park.Related Literature iSpot One of the initiatives out there is iSpot, also referred to as iPark. The creators , four students from Boston University, call it a vision based awareness system. The project identified the exact same problem and tried to find a solution for it. Though the system uses digital cameras to detect whether slots are vacant or not, it does offer single space monitoring as well as parking slot reservation. Parking slot reservation can be compared with the user preference for certain slots.The information about which slot is vacant and which one isn’t is communicated to the user at the entrance using an image of the car park, so the user can choose one of the vacant slots and drive there. Though their system has quite some overlap with the group’s system, there are some problems which are not addressed. First of all, the system uses digital cameras in combination with license plate extraction to detect whether certain slots are occupied, and to keep track of the cars. Though this might sound promising on paper, an initiative like this could get quite some r esistance from organizations which are fighting for privacy.Another problem which is not addressed is the chaos of the crowd. Everybody sees which slots are vacant, but the system does not assign specific cars to specific slots. This could lead to a situation where car A sees a vacant slot on the screen at the entrance, and decides to go there. Car B sees the same vacant slot, because car A did not yet reach that slot, and also decides to choose that one. When car B arrives at the slot, he sees that car A already parked there. Car B is now lost in the big car park and the only way to find himself a vacant slot it to search for it himself in the old fashioned way.This could not only happen for two cars, but as long as the first car did not reach the slot. All but the first of those cars will end up unsatisfied. If this keeps happening, the original problem isn't really solved at all. Cars drive to slots which turn out to be occupied when they arrive. IrisNET Another interesting proje ct is called IrisNET from Intel. The project doesn't have much to do with the group’s problem but defines a platform that connects cheap sensor-nodes, to the monitor. To speed up the acceptance of this platform, Intel created a couple of demo implementations.One of those demo implementations is called the Parking spot Finder. Webcam information from a large network of webcams, can be used for a higher goal, if combined. Feeds from webcams all over a car park, or as Intel states it, all over the city, can be combined to gather information about vacancy of parking slots. What does the demonstration look like? Cheap webcams are pointed to parking slots, or small groups of parking slots. Computers near these webcams can process the information, and determine whether certain parking slots are vacant or not.This information can be fed to the network. Central computers gather all this information via IrisNET and combine it to make a list or vacant parking slots. This list can then b e offered to other services, like Yahoo maps, for example. People could see the vacant slots on their car navigation system using existing technology. It's just a matter of connecting the services via IrisNET. It seems like a complete system, even for a demo implementation. It is not clear whether the problem of guiding multiple cars to the same spot or how to keep a reservation, was solved.Knowing the fact that this is just a demonstration of IrisNET, could mean that the system does not provide these extras. We can conclude that this Parking spot Finder is a great source of inspiration, but not a solution for the parking problem as stated in the previous chapter. EzPARK EzPARK is the name of a company as well as the product they are developing. The mission statement of EzPARK is the following: â€Å"EzPARK is a low-cost, wireless parking lot infrastructure that enables the customers to see the empty spaces at the entrance, and leads them to their vehicles on their way back†. This system seems to satisfy quite some of our requirements. EzPARK does what iSpot does, and on top of that, also leads customers back to their vehicles. Apart from that, the system also gives a hint to the driver, where to park the car, which is a form of guiding him. So if all the cars park where they are told to park, the system would work like the one we want. Unfortunately, that is a significant assumption. Apart from this, it is unclear how the system decides which slot to hint. How does EzPARK solve the problem? When the user enters the car park, he receives 2 RFID tokens and a hint where to park.One of the RFID tokens would be left in the car, to identify the car, and the other one would identity the user itself. The system can associate the two when the user returns for its car. The RFID tag in his car is also used to register whether a parking spot is occupied or not. Combining the availability information of all spots can result in a hint for a new visitor. The entire ca r park will have to be filled with RFID readers, which communicate to each other wireless so all the information of the slot states can be centralized. These wireless units, so called MOTEs, are prefabbed sensor nodes.Apart from the fact that there is no actual guidance during the driving through the car park, this seems to be a very good product to solve the original problem. But the problem remains, what if driver D decides to park on the same spot as driver E, driving in front of him. Driver E would have to go all the way back to the entrance to find a new parking slot, or he could solve it the old fashioned way. And why would the system prefer one spot over another when giving a hint? Related Studies The Urban Parking Finder is another project, done by a small group of students. They tried to find the closest parking spot in an urban setting.Though their report doesn't describe how to measure whether a spot is vacant or not, their simulation works like you would expect. They mad e a bunch of virtual streets with cars parked all over the place, and some vacant slots. A car could drive around within the streets and whenever the user is interested in a parking slot, he can press a button and the system calculates the closest parking slot, as well as the shortest path to that slot, and gives directions to the user to guide him. This solution only solves a small part of our problem but interestingly enough, a part that was not mentioned in the other initiatives.The students don't describe how exactly they calculate the closest parking slot, but it probably looks very much like the â€Å"close to the exit† allocation algorithm. The Parking Space Optimization Service from the University of Zurich describe an e- Parking model where not only the driver and parking lots communicate with the system, but also events and businesses in the neighborhood, payment services etc. The system also takes care of reservations. Cars can identify themselves using Bluetooth w hen they enter or leave the car park. The payment is made automatically when the car leaves the car park.Please note that this system might seem brilliant on paper, the future seems to be far from a living implementation of such a system. Every user should have a properly configured Bluetooth device in his car. Another identification method could be used to solve this though. Apart from the identification issue, the paper does not mention any active guidance. The Parking Meter Supervision System describes an urban non-free parking system. This might not be the kind of system we are looking for, but this is a system that was actually tested in a Japanese city and the results are very promising.The system displays vacant parking spot information around the city so drivers can spend less time searching for a free slot. Without the system 14. 1 cars parked on a slot each day on average. After introducing the system, this increased to 15. 9 cars on a slot on average. These figures show t he need for a parking guidance systems, though the problem might be slightly bigger in urban areas. The Evaluation of Parking Search using Sensor tries to solve the problem a little differently. Sensors are placed within the vehicles. These vehicles gather information while they drive.Vacant slots can be located this way. The information including a location is wirelessly transmitted to other cars within a certain range. These cars retransmit the information to the cars they â€Å"meet†, and so on. If one driver is looking for a vacant slot, he/she will be informed of the existence of that slot by a passing car. All the information expires, so it doesn't leave the surrounding area of the parking slot. Thought this initiative might not directly solve our problem, the approach of the problem is original and worth mentioning. The system was simulated but never built.The IcanPARK is a remote management system for all types of car parks. Each slot is equipped with a little sonar s ystem which determines whether a car is parked on that slot. Signs inform the driver where to find the nearest vacant slot. The entire system can be monitored by an operator, who can check the car park status, make reservations or close certain areas for maintenance. The allocation problem is not addressed in this project. Last but not least, the group found out about Sipark. Sipark is the world's largest Parking Guidance System is in the making at Munich Airport, developed by Siemens.This system monitors each individual parking slot using ultrasound sensors and guides cars to vacant slot using this information. The guiding is done by hundreds of LED displays all over the car park. The solution also includes zone and aisle counting. This means that any vehicles still en route to a parking space are also acquired by the system which avoids guiding too many drivers into a sector that only contained a few unoccupied spaces when the car entered the car park. Chapter 3 METHODOLOGY Method UsedThe researchers’ primary methods in gathering information are through internet research, consultations, and observation and surveys. With these methods, the group is able to gather data on the behavior, practices, opinions, interests and perceptions of the drivers and parking establishment owners and even the parking operator on the existing and the proposed system, and then such data is analyzed, organized and interpreted. The analysis and design which is very crucial in the whole development of the project will be drawn based on the actual data gathered and also with the inputs coming from the group’s IT Consultant.Sources of Data The sources of data that the group used are the methods and techniques applied in gathering informatiion that will formalize the necessities in order to simplify details concerning the application of algorithm and simulation. However, the methods and techniques are not enough for the group, so they had also conducted a research on rela ted literatures and existing studies with regards to the system. For that, related literatues and related studies contributed a lot because this leads them to give answers to some questions they had not understood.On the other hand, the group did have constant discussions with their IT Consulatant and Adviser, in which they suggested their ideas to help the group understand the flow of the system. With this, all gathered facts and information were significantly used for the generation of the system. Procedure of the Study In conducting the study, the group had a discussion on the matter with regards to the development of the car parking simulation system. The group initially identifies the objectives and aims of the study.Then, the group looked for related literature to see whether there are any initiatives like this. Looking for related literatures and studies is the most important step because in doing any project, it gives information and details about a certain study. Next, the group discussed the information gathered from the methods used and from the brief discussion with IT experts, the group are able to recognized and understand the nature of the system to be built. From this, the group are able to identify the software and hardware requirements that will be used for this project.After getting all of the information, the next step is the coding and designing of the simulation of the system which denotes the programming and database interaction. Afterwards, the last step is the integration of both algorithm of the system and then test whether the system achieve the goal or not and make an analysis of the project result. Requirements and Specifications For the research component of this project, access to the library’s resources and the Internet will be critical. More importantly, this project involves a significant coding component.All coding for this project will be done in Visual Basic 6, and, where necessary, the group used the Adobe Shockwave Flash 8 as a tool to display the car parking simulation interaction. Access to a decent computer with Microsoft Visual Runtime Library and glut libraries installed will be essential. Microsoft Acces is used as the database of the system. No special hardware will be required. However, a faster computer (Pentium 500 or better) will help speed up the testing phases of the project, and a good graphics card 9GeForce or better) will ensure a smooth animation to see car parking simulator in operation.Approaches and Algorithm The goal of the project is to implement a parking lot simulation system that simulates car parking operations which guide drivers to a vacant parking slot. The focus will be on applying Allocation algorithm on the system which will determine and allocate the vacant slots. Allocation algorithm is noted for its performance and accuracy, it enjoys widespread used and it is widely used in pathfinding and graph traversal, the process of plotting an effeciently traversable path between points, called nodes. Peter Hart, Nils Nillson and Bertram Raphael first described the algorithm in 1968.Meaning, by applying this algorithm to the system, it will only allocate those slots which are vacant or available. Those slots which are already occupied will be unnoticed and will be ignored by the system. Though this algorithm will not be very sophisticated and not very complex, it just allocates vacant slots. The group finds that the application of Allocation algorithm is very interesting in the simulation of the system. In the  development process, the group had used the  top-down approach which play a key role in this project.The top-down approach emphasize planning and a complete understanding of the system. Top-down approach is the process of breaking the overall procedure or task into component parts and then subdivide each component module until the lowest level of detail has been reached. It is called top-down approach since it starts â€Å"at the top † with a general problem and design specific solutions to its sub problems. Using this method, a complex problem is separated into simpler parts, which can be programmed easily. Software Design and ProgrammingIn the software design and programming, the design is performed in a visualize and detailed manner, code generation of the system was accomplished without much complication. For this reason, the group used a high level programming language like the Microsoft Visual Basic 6. 0 for the coding and design of the system. With respect to the type of application, the right programming language is chosen essentially by the group for its graphical environment and ease of use. Implementation Besides the practical implementations of the system, the problem can also be used for theoretical purposes.In both the practical and theoretical implementations the time it takes to solve the problem has been essential. In certain instances, it has been proven that in order to solve the problem (to an optimum) an excessive amount of time is required. For such instances we have come to rely on algorithms that sacrifice the quality of the solution in favour of reducing the solving time. Testing Procedure In the testing procedure, the group tested the performance of the system according to the program made. The group used the gray-box testing. The gray-box testing is combination of black-box and white-box testing.The intention of this testing is to find out the defects related to bad design or bad implementation of the system. This means, every after coding and design of the system, application of gray-box testing takes place. The group designed test cases based upon their knowledge of the system. For example, the group consider a hypothetical case wherein they have to test the Allocation algorithm if it works as it was designed in the simulation of the parking lot. And after that by means of testing, it integrates as each feature is added in the system.Since the project is a computer program, testing included debugging the code and running through the program to make sure that it did what it was intended. The group used the gray-box testing because it is non-intrusive, it is not biased, and it applies straight forward technique of testing. The group makes sure that the system will work properly and accurately, and that through the use of gray-box testing, it will minimize and eliminate any errors that will interrupt in the system. TimeLine ID| Task| Start| Finish| Duration| 1| Project Proposal| 6/20/2011| 6/24/2011| 4 days| | Project Title Approval| 6/27/2011| 6/29/2011| 2 days| 3| Planning ; Analysis| 7/1/2011| 7/9/2011| 8 days| 4| Initial Data Gathering| 7/11/2011| 7/29/2011| 18 days| 5| Data Modeling| 8/2/2011| 8/13/2011| 11 days| 6| Problem Modeling| 8/15/2011| 8/22/2011| 7 days| 7| Project Objectives| 8/17/2011| 8/27/2011| 10 days| 8| Document Analysis| 9/5/2011| 9/30/2011| 25 days| 9| Algorithm| 10/3/2011| 10/15/2011| 12 days| 10| Final Project Documentation| 10/13/2011| 10/20/2011| 7 days| 11| Project Defense| 10/22/2011| 10/22/2011| 1 day| 2| System Modeling ; Requirements| 11/7/2011| 11/19/2011| 12 days| 13| System Coding| 11/28/2011| 2/13/2012| 77 days| 14| Database Implementation| 12/5/2011| 1/30/2012| 53 days| 15| Animation| 12/12/2011| 2/4/2012| 54 days| 16| System Analysis ; Design| 1/16/2012| 2/13/2012| 28 days| 17| System Testing ; Finalization| 2/17/2012| 2/25/2012| 13 days| 18| Final Documentation| 2/13/2012| 2/25/2012| 12 days| 19| Project PPT Presentation| 2/23/2012| 2/26/2012| 3 days| 20| Final Defense| 2/28/2012| 2/28/2012| 1 day| Chapter 4 RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS Results and DiscussionsAfter the group studied and identified the objectives, problems and solutions, the function of the system, the programming language used and the current program it has, the implementation of Allocation algorithm takes place. At first, the group conducted several studies and researches on what approaches and algorithm were ap propriate and compatible to the system to minimize the time of searching and allocating vacant slots. The group gathered all the necessary facts and came up to the use of one programming approach that has proven to be most productive, it is called the top-down approach.The top-down approach is the process of breaking the overall procedure or task into component parts and then subdivide each component module until the lowest level of detail has been reached. It is called top-down approach since it starts â€Å"at the top† with a general problem and design specific solutions to its sub problems. Using this method, a complex problem is separated into simpler parts, which can be programmed easily. Then, after gathering information and applying the to-down approach, the group started to program and apply the algorithm that was planned to be used.The program codes was initialized to integrate the simulation and the other features of the system that where also incorporated with the group’s objectives. In the simulation of the system, the group started by determining the number of slots and came up with 80 slots. The group divide this 80 slots into two, making it 40 slots per area. There are two areas, parking area A and Parking area B. Parking area A and Parking Area B both occupies the Allocation algorithm. Filled or occupied parking slot are colored with red, while the vacant or available parking slot are colored with white.In the Parking Areas, both applies the Allocation algorithm where it only search and allocate the vacant slots. The slots which are not vacant will not be recognize because they are already occupied. For example, if parking slot 1A is already occupied, the slot will turned into red for indication that it is not anymore available. The system is responsible for choosing the parking slot available and will automatically print out the slot card number. If the driver is waiting in the parking lot, waiting for his turn to get inside, the operator will give the driver a printed slot card number so as to identify which area is the slot located.The good thing here is that, it will lessen the time of waiting and avoid time delay. The designing and development of the simulation was also very crucial for this will be the basis of implementing the Allocation algorithm. In the simulation, the car will locate the slot that has been selected, this serves as a guidance to the driver in locating the selected slot. Apart from this, other features of the system where also implemented such features are the payment system and generation of reports. These features are also very important for this will be very beneficial to the operator and the owner of the parking lot establishment.The calculation of payment is through the rate per minute. This will calculate the time of entry in the parking lot, the duration of parking in the parking area until the car leaves the area. With this, the generation of income report is conducted since it is incorporated with the payment. Another generation of report is the list of cars, this are the records of all the cars that had park in the parking lot. The operator could view and print these reports daily, weekly, monthly, annualy or any days the operator wants.After implementing the simulation, the payment system and the generation of reports, the next thing the group implemented is the database of the system. The database is one of the most critical and sensitive part. The construction of the tables and the amount of data will either make or break the entire application. The database of the system is not quite large but the group make sure that the database will not be very complicated and complex. Upon database completion, technical and trial and error analysis were carried out by the group to remove glitches in the animation and also in the programming.Thus, through further study, implementation, analysis, and a series of testing of the entire system the group was able to achieve its goals and objectives. Chapter 5 SUMMARY, CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS Summary There are various concepts in computer science which can be compared when searching, allocating and choosing the right parking slot. This concept is through the algorithm used. The algorithm used in this study is the Allocation algorithm. This algorithm allocates the parking slot that are vacant or available. Parking slots that are occupied will be ignored and will not be allocated by the system.The Allocation algorithm was initially analyzed, before implementing to the simulation system. A cost function is created to measure which of these algorithms would give better results under which circumstances. This cost function measured and calculate the efficiency and accuracy of the algorithm used, and so the different algorithm was compared under different situation. Differences are small but there is quite something to win over the old situation where no guidance were given. The implementatio n of the Allocation algorithm along with the simulation of the parking lot can mimic most legal car movements.The simulation was created and tested and this seems to imitates the drivers preferences of choosing the parking slot and locate the slot directly. To summarize, the group implemented and tested the system succesfully, and met its desired goals and objectives of the project. Conclusions After a series of crucial programming and designing of the system, trial and error, and evaluating different allocation strategies, there are several conclusions to draw. The system met its desired expectations on the project.The system can now search and allocate which slots are available and occupied using the Allocation algorithm. The other features of the system such as the payment system and generation of reports was also implemented and can now be easy to managed because the system administrates the reality of the actual car parking lot. The slot that is chosen by the driver will get oc cupied as soon as he enters the parking lot. However, the group did not find a method to prevent neglecting of recommendations or choices of the driver, or in cases when the driver forgets which slot was recommended to him.In situations like this, whenever a driver might decide to neglect a recommendation or either his preferred choice of slot, this has a big influence on the system, but this is a matter of the driver’s behavior. Because there was no actual parking lot to run tests on, the group implemented a parking lot simulation. The animation is relatively simple but it depict every step in developing Allocation algorithm. Nonetheless, before the animation takes place, some conditions must be met. The animation was done by using the Adobe Shockwave Flash 8, showing a graphical representation of the parking lot that communicates with the system.The simulation can model the most basic movements in a parking lot and the recommendation system can â€Å"real-time† adapt to new situations. The simulation is a tool to demonstrate the work of the different algorithms used by the group. Recommendations The system has many capabilities that the group did not include due to lack of time and budget of materials. Some of this is the printing of receipt of the payment system. The group would like to have the printer receipt but was too expensive. Along with that, the future researchers could also enhance the simulation of the system, like creating more slots and making more entrances and exits.Also for future recommendations, there are many rooms for improvement to ensure the reliability and impeccability of the system. A potential approach of enhancing the system is to implement the security system such as image processing technique so that security and safety in the parking lot is rest assured. This could be very helpful since safety is very important nowadays. And thus, the group would like to recommend the application of image compression algorithm for this will be very effective in a way of capturing images from time to time. Aside from that, another recommendation for future researchers is the reservation system.The reservation system does not take drivers preferences into account yet, but people or the drivers specifically could be able to make a reservation over the internet and this reservation could be linked to the licensed plate number of their car. So, these are just some of the recommendations that the group would like to commend on future reasearchers who are interested in making the study in a different manner. Chapter 6 BIBLIOGRAPHY Internet Sources: [1]Caldrera International Inc. (February 11, 2003) Allocation Algorithm. Retrieved, January 18, 2012. From www. osr507doc. sco. com/en/tools/ld_alloc. html web address. 2]G. P. Kegel (March 2009) The Parking Spot Finder. Retrieved, October 10, 2011. From www. alexandria. tue. nl/extra1/afstversl/wsk-i/kegel2009 web address. [3]Lou Tylee (1998) Learn Microsoft Visual Basi c 6. 0. Retrieved, November 17, 2011. From www. thainguyen. edu. vn/Thanhvien/c2bachquangsc web address. [4]Ningyuan Chen (September 2011) Simple Parking Lot Management System. Retrieved, August 3, 2011. From www. publications. theseus. final/handle/134024 web address. [5]Ramdeo Anand (May 5, 2010) Gray-box Testing. Retrieved, February 15, 2012. From http://www. testinggeek. com/gray-box-testing web address. 6]Rochester Institute of Technology (December 6, 2001) Best-Fit Allocation Algorithm. Retrieved, January 5, 2012. From www. cs. rit. edu/~ark/lectures/gc/03_03_03. html web address. [7]Wikipedia – The Free Encyclopedia (March 2011) Allocation Algorithm. Retrieved, September 29, 2011. From http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Allocation_algorithm web address. [8]Wikipedia – The Free Encyclopedia (June 2011) Top-down Approach. Retrieved, January 10, 2012. From http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Top_down_approach web address. Chapter 7 APPENDICES Screen Shots Fig. 1: Main Form (Parking Area A) Fig. 2: Main Form (Parking Area B) Fig. : Login Form Fig. 4: Slot Card Form Fig. 5: Out Car Form Fig. 6: Payment Rate Form Fig. 7: Account Setting Form Fig. 8: Database Form Fig. 9: Logout Form REPORTS: Fig. 10: Car List Report Form Fig. 11: Income Report Form Source Code ModPark________________________________________________________________ Global CON As ADODB. Connection Public RSpark As ADODB. Recordset Sub main() Set CON = New ADODB. Connection CON. Open â€Å"Provider=Microsoft. JET. OLEDB. 4. 0;data source = † ; App. Path ; â€Å"db. mdb;† ; â€Å"jet oledb:database password=ParkMe;† Load frmMain frmMain. Show vbModeless Load frmLogin frmLogin. Show vbModelessEnd Sub frmMain________________________________________________________________ Dim x, y, z, s, ok As Integer Dim hold, m As String Private Sub cmdPlay_Click() On Error GoTo PlayERR If hold = â€Å"† Then Exit Sub If cmdPlay. Caption = â€Å"PLAY Animated Parking† Then cmdSearch. Enabled = False cmdPark. Enabled = False If Right(hold, 1) = â€Å"A† Then swf1. LoadMovie 0, App. Path ; â€Å"SWF† ; hold ; â€Å". swf† ElseIf Right(hold, 1) = â€Å"B† Then swf2. LoadMovie 0, App. Path ; â€Å"SWF† ; hold ; â€Å". swf† End If For s = 1 To 40 lblcar2(s). Enabled = False lblCar1(s). Enabled = False Next cmdPlay. Caption = â€Å"STOP Animated Parking†ElseIf cmdPlay. Caption = â€Å"STOP Animated Parking† Then cmdSearch. Enabled = True cmdPark. Enabled = True If Right(hold, 1) = â€Å"A† Then swf1. LoadMovie 0, App. Path ; â€Å"SWF† ; † . swf† ElseIf Right(hold, 1) = â€Å"B† Then swf2. LoadMovie 0, App. Path ; â€Å"SWF† ; † . swf† End If For s = 1 To 40 lblcar2(s). Enabled = True lblCar1(s). Enabled = True Next cmdPlay. Caption = â€Å"PLAY Animated Parking† End If PlayERR: End Sub Private Sub Form_Unload(Cancel As Integer) If MsgBox(â₠¬Å"Are you sure you want to exit? â€Å", vbYesNo, â€Å"System Exit†) = vbYes Then Me. Enabled = False Load frmLogOut frmLogOut. Show vbModeless End If Cancel = 1End Sub Private Sub lblCar1_Click(Index As Integer) For x = 1 To 40 If lblcar2(x). BackColor = vbYellow Then MsgBox â€Å"There is a selected slot in Parking Area B. Please deselect it first by double-clicking the yellow slot before continuing. â€Å", _ vbOKOnly, â€Å"Parking Area B Error† Exit Sub End If Next If lblCar1(Index). BackColor vbRed Then lblCar1(Index). BackColor = vbYellow hold = Index & â€Å"A† ElseIf lblCar1(Index). BackColor = vbRed Then hold = â€Å"† End If x = Index nump = x For Index = 1 To 40 If Index x Then If lblCar1(Index). BackColor vbRed Then lblCar1(Index). BackColor = vbWhite End If End IfNext End Sub Private Sub lblcar2_Click(Index As Integer) For x = 1 To 40 If lblCar1(x). BackColor = vbYellow Then MsgBox â€Å"There is a selected slot in Parking Area A. P lease deselect it first by double-clicking the yellow slot before continuing. â€Å", _ vbOKOnly, â€Å"Parking Area A Error† Exit Sub End If Next If lblcar2(Index). BackColor vbRed Then lblcar2(Index). BackColor = vbYellow hold = Index & â€Å"B† ElseIf lblcar2(Index). BackColor = vbRed Then hold = â€Å"† End If x = Index nump = x For Index = 1 To 40 If Index x Then If lblcar2(Index). BackColor vbRed Then lblcar2(Index). BackColor = vbWhite End IfEnd If Next End Sub Private Sub lblcar2_DblClick(Index As Integer) If lblcar2(Index). BackColor = vbRed Then Load frmOut frmOut. lblout. Caption = lblcar2(Index). Caption frmOut. Show vbModeless Set RSpark = New ADODB. Recordset RSpark. Open â€Å"select * from tblPark where SlotNo='† & lblcar2(Index). Caption & â€Å"‘†, CON, adOpenKeyset, adLockOptimistic With RSpark frmOut. txtPlate1. Text = Left(! PlateNo, 3) frmOut. txtPlate2. Text = Right(! PlateNo, 3) frmOut. lblTI = ! TimeIn End With Me . Enabled = False Exit Sub End If lblcar2(Index). BackColor = vbWhite hold = â€Å"† End Sub Private Sub lblCar1_DblClick(Index As Integer)If lblCar1(Index). BackColor = vbRed Then Load frmOut frmOut. lblout. Caption = lblCar1(Index). Caption frmOut. Show vbModeless Set RSpark = New ADODB. Recordset RSpark. Open â€Å"select * from tblPark where SlotNo='† & lblCar1(Index). Caption & â€Å"‘†, CON, adOpenKeyset, adLockOptimistic With RSpark frmOut. txtPlate1. Text = Left(! PlateNo, 3) frmOut. txtPlate2. Text = Right(! PlateNo, 3) frmOut. lblTI = ! TimeIn End With Me. Enabled = False Exit Sub End If lblcar2(Index). BackColor = vbWhite End Sub Private Sub mnuChange_Click() If user = â€Å"Operator† Then MsgBox â€Å"Permission denied! Please contact the Administrator. , vbInformation, â€Å"Administrator Only† Exit Sub End If Me. Enabled = False Load frmAccount frmAccount. Show vbModeless End Sub Private Sub mnuDB_Click() If user = â€Å"Opera tor† Then MsgBox â€Å"Permission denied! Please contact the Administrator. â€Å", vbInformation, â€Å"Administrator Only† Exit Sub End If Me. Enabled = False Load frmDB frmDB. Show vbModeless frmDB. Height = 980 frmDB. Width = 7300 End Sub Private Sub mnuLogout_Click() Load frmLogin frmLogin. Show vbModeless End Sub Private Sub mnuExit_Click() Unload Me End Sub Private Sub mnuIncome_Click() Me. Enabled = False Load frmReport frmReport. Show vbModeless frmReport.Caption = â€Å"Income Report† End Sub Private Sub mnuList_Click() Me. Enabled = False Load frmReport frmReport. Show vbModeless frmReport. Caption = â€Å"Car List Report† End Sub Private Sub mnuLost_Click() Me. Enabled = False Load frmOut frmOut. Show vbmdeless frmOut. txtPlate1. Enabled = True frmOut. txtPlate2. Enabled = True frmOut. cmdSLost. Enabled = True End Sub Private Sub mnuRate_Click() If user = â€Å"Operator† Then MsgBox â€Å"Permission denied! Please contact the Administ rator. â€Å", vbInformation, â€Å"Administrator Only† Exit Sub End If Me. Enabled = False Load frmRate frmRate. Show vbModeless End Sub Private Sub Timer1_Timer() blday. Caption = Format(Now, â€Å"dd mmmm yyyy†) lbltime. Caption = Format(Now, â€Å"hh:mm:ss AMPM†) End Sub Private Sub txtPlate1_Change() If Len(txtPlate1. Text) = 3 Then txtPlate2. SetFocus End If End Sub Private Sub txtPlate1_KeyPress(KeyAscii As Integer) If KeyAscii = vbKeyBack Then Exit Sub If KeyAscii ; vbKeyA Or KeyAscii ; vbKeyZ Then KeyAscii = 0 End If End Sub Private Sub txtPlate2_KeyPress(KeyAscii As Integer) If KeyAscii = vbKeyBack Then Exit Sub If KeyAscii ; vbKey0 Or KeyAscii ; vbKey9 Then KeyAscii = 0 End If End Sub Private Sub cmdPark_Click() If Len(txtPlate1. Text) ; 3 Or Len(txtPlate2.Text) ; 3 Then Exit Sub Set RSpark = New ADODB. Recordset RSpark. Open â€Å"select * from tblPark where PlateNo='† ; txtPlate1. Text ; â€Å"-† ; txtPlate2. Text ; â€Å"‘â₠¬ , CON, adOpenKeyset, adLockPessimistic With RSpark If ! TimeOut = â€Å"-† Then MsgBox â€Å"The inputed plate number already exist. â€Å", vbInformation, â€Å"Ops! † Exit Sub End If End With ok = 0 For z = 1 To 40 If lblcar2(z). BackColor = vbYellow Or lblCar1(z). BackColor = vbYellow Then z = 40 ok = 1 End If Next If ok = 1 Then Set RSpark = New ADODB. Recordset RSpark. Open â€Å"select * from tblPark†, CON, adOpenKeyset, adLockPessimistic With RSpark .AddNew Date = Format(Now, â€Å"dd mm yyyy†) !PlateNo = txtPlate1. Text ; â€Å"-† ; txtPlate2. Text ! TimeIn = Format(Now, â€Å"hh:mm ampm†) !TimeOut = â€Å"-† !SlotNo = hold !Amount = â€Å"0† .Update hold = â€Å"† End With Call DataPut Call Check txtPlate2. Text = â€Å"† txtPlate1. Text = â€Å"† lblS. Caption = â€Å"—† cmdSearch. Caption = â€Å"Search† txtPlate1. SetFocus End If End Sub Sub DataPut() lv1. ListItems. Cl ear lv2. ListItems. Clear Dim d, y, holdDate As Variant Set RSpark = New ADODB. Recordset RSpark. Open â€Å"select * from tblPark where TimeOut='† ; â€Å"-† ; â€Å"‘†, CON, adOpenKeyset, adLockOptimistic With RSpark Do While Not .EOF d = Left(! Date, 2) m = Mid(! Date, 4, 2) Call month y = Right(! Date, 4) holdDate = d ; † † ; m ; † † ; y If Right(! SlotNo, 1) = â€Å"A† Then Set k = lv1. ListItems. Add(, , holdDate) k. SubItems(1) = ! PlateNo k. SubItems(2) = ! TimeIn k. SubItems(3) = ! SlotNo ElseIf Right(! SlotNo, 1) = â€Å"B† Then Set k = lv2. ListItems. Add(, , holdDate) k. SubItems(1) = ! PlateNo k. SubItems(2) = ! TimeIn k. SubItems(3) = ! SlotNo End If .MoveNext Loop End With End Sub Sub month() Select Case m Case â€Å"01† m = â€Å"Jan† Case â€Å"02† m = â€Å"Feb† Case â€Å"03† m = â€Å"Mar† Case â€Å"04† m = â€Å"Apr† Case â€Å"05† m = â€Å"May†Case â€Å"06† m = â€Å"Jun† Case â€Å"07† m = â€Å"Jul† Case â€Å"08† m = â€Å"Aug† Case â€Å"09† m = â€Å"Sep† Case â€Å"10† m = â€Å"Oct† Case â€Å"11† m = â€Å"Nov† Case â€Å"12† m = â€Å"Dec† End Select End Sub Sub Check() For x = 1 To 40 lblcar2(x). BackColor = vbWhite lblCar1(x). BackColor = vbWhite Next Set RSpark = New ADODB. Recordset RSpark. Open â€Å"select * from tblPark†, CON, adOpenKeyset, adLockOptimistic If RSpark. RecordCount ; 0 Then Do While Not RSpark. EOF For x = 1 To 40 If lblcar2(x). Caption = RSpark! SlotNo Then lblcar2(x). BackColor = vbRed ElseIf lblCar1(x). Caption = RSpark! SlotNo Then lblCar1(x). BackColor = vbRed End If Next RSpark. MoveNext LoopEnd If End Sub frmLogin_______________________________________________________________ Private Sub cmdExit_Click() If MsgBox(â€Å"Are you sure you want to exit? â€Å", vbY esNo, â€Å"System Exit†) = vbYes Then Unload Me End Else Cancel = 1 End If End Sub Private Sub cmdGO_Click() Set RSpark = New ADODB. Recordset RSpark. Open â€Å"select * from tblAccount†, CON, adOpenKeyset, adLockOptimistic If txtPass. Text = RSpark! Password And txtUser. Text = RSpark! UserName Then Unload Me frmMain. Enabled = True frmMain. Show vbModeless Else MsgBox â€Å"Incorrect Username or Password. Please try again! â€Å", vbExclamation, â€Å"Login Error† txtPass. Text = â€Å"† xtUser. Text = â€Å"† txtUser. SetFocus End If End Sub Private Sub Form_Load() Me. Icon = LoadPicture(App. Path ; â€Å"ParkMe. ico†) imgLogin. Picture = LoadPicture(App. Path ; â€Å"GraphicLogIn. jpg†) Dim mByte() As Byte Open App. Path ; â€Å"Park. dat† For Binary As #1 Open â€Å"C:WINDOWSdb. mdb† For Binary As #2 ReDim mByte(0 To LOF(1)) Get #1, , mByte() Put #2, , mByte() Close #1 Close #2 End Sub frmSlotPrint______________ _____________________________________________ Private Sub Form_KeyPress(KeyAscii As Integer) lblEnter. Visible = False Dim f, w As Integer Me. PrintForm If KeyAscii = vbKeyReturn Or KeyAscii = 13 ThenIf MsgBox(â€Å"Is there an approaching car? â€Å", vbYesNo, â€Å"Parking Slot†) = vbYes Then If Right(lblSlot. Caption, 1) = â€Å"A† Then back1: nump = nump + 1 If nump = 41 Then nump = 1 End If If frmMain. lblCar1(nump). BackColor = vbRed Then w = 0 For f = 1 To 40 If frmMain. lblCar1(f). BackColor = vbRed Then w = w + 1 If w = 40 Then MsgBox â€Å"There are no more vacant parking slot! â€Å", vbExclamation, â€Å"Parking Area A Error† Unload Me frmMain. Enabled = True frmMain. Show frmMain. txtPlate1. SetFocus Exit Sub End If End If Next GoTo back1 End If frmMain. lblCar1(nump). BackColor = vbYellow hold = nump & â€Å"A† ElseIf Right(lblSlot.Caption, 1) = â€Å"B† Then back2: nump = nump + 1 If nump = 41 Then nump = 1 End If If frmMain. lbl car2(nump). BackColor = vbRed Then w = 0 For f = 1 To 40 If frmMain. lblCar1(f). BackColor = vbRed Then w = w + 1 If w = 40 Then MsgBox â€Å"There are no more vacant parking slot! â€Å", vbExclamation, â€Å"Parking Area B Error† Unload Me frmMain. Enabled = True frmMain. Show frmMain. txtPlate1. SetFocus Exit Sub End If End If Next GoTo back2 End If frmMain. lblcar2(nump). BackColor = vbYellow hold = nump & â€Å"B† End If End If End If Me. Enabled = False Unload Me frmMain. Enabled = True frmMain. Show frmMain. txtPlate1. SetFocus End Sub rmOut_________________________________________________________________ Dim dumm, hold, hold1, hold2 As Single Dim hr, min As Variant Private Sub cmdCancel_Click() frmMain. Enabled = True Unload Me End Sub Private Sub cmdChange_Click() On Error GoTo Err txtAmount. Text = Format(txtAmount, â€Å"####0. 00†) txtChange. Text = Format(txtAmount – dumm, â€Å"####0. 00†) If Left(txtChange. Text, 1) = â€Å"-† Then txtChange. Text = Right(txtChange. Text, 5) MsgBox â€Å"The amount paid is not enough! The amount lack P† & txtChange. Text, vbExclamation, â€Å"Payment Error† txtChange. Text = â€Å"† End If Err: End Sub Private Sub cmdCompute_Click()Set RSpark = New ADODB. Recordset RSpark. Open â€Å"select * from tblRate†, CON, adOpenKeyset, adLockOptimistic If lblout. Caption = â€Å"—† Then Exit Sub lblTO. Caption = Format(Now, â€Å"hh:mm ampm†) hold1 = Left(lblTI. Caption, 2) * 60 hold1 = hold1 + Mid(lblTI. Caption, 4, 2) hold2 = Left(lblTO. Caption, 2) * 60 hold2 = hold2 + Mid(lblTO. Caption, 4, 2) If hold2 < hold1 Then hold2 = hold2 + 720 End If dumm = hold2 – hold1 If dumm > 60 Then hold = dumm / 60 hr = hold If Mid(hold, 2, 1) = â€Å". † Then hr = Left(hold, 1) ElseIf Mid(hold, 3, 1) = â€Å". † Then hr = Left(hold, 2) End If hold = hr * 60 min = dumm – hold lblTotal.Caption = hr ; â€Å"hr/s and â €  ; min ; â€Å"min/s† Else lblTotal. Caption = dumm ; † min/s† End If dumm = Format(dumm, â€Å"####0. 00†) * RSpark! Rate lblPay. Caption = Format(dumm, â€Å"####0. 00†) End Sub Private Sub cmdOut_Click() If lblTI. Caption = â€Å"† Then MsgBox â€Å"No plate number was found! Please check the correct plate number again. â€Å", vbExclamation, â€Å"Plate Number Error† Exit Sub End If If txtChange. Text = â€Å"† Then MsgBox â€Å"Please pay the parking payment first. â€Å", vbInformation, â€Å"Payment Error† Exit Sub End If Set RSpark = New ADODB. Recordset RSpark. Open â€Å"select * from tblPark where SlotNo='† ; lblout.Caption ; â€Å"‘†, CON, adOpenKeyset, adLockOptimistic With RSpark !TimeOut = lblTO. Caption !SlotNo = lblout. Caption ; â€Å". † !TimePark = lblTotal. Caption !Amount = lblPay. Caption .Update End With frmMain. lblS. Caption = â€Å"—† frmMain. cmd Search. Caption = â€Å"Search† frmMain. Enabled = True Call frmMain. DataPut Call frmMain. Check frmMain. Show Unload Me End Sub Private Sub cmdSLost_Click() Dim dum As String dum = txtPlate1. Text ; â€Å"-† ; txtPlate2. Text Set RSpark = New ADODB. Recordset RSpark. Open â€Å"select * from tblPark where PlateNo='† ; dum ; â€Å"‘†, CON, adOpenKeyset, adLockOptimistic With RSpark lblout.Caption = ! SlotNo lblTI. Caption = ! TimeIn End With If lblout. Caption = â€Å"† Or Right(lblout. Caption, 1) = â€Å". † Then lblout. Caption = â€Å"—† lblTI. Caption = â€Å"† MsgBox â€Å"Please type the plate number and click the Search button to out the car. â€Å", vbExclamation, â€Å"Out Car Error† End If End Sub Private Sub Form_Load() Me. Icon = LoadPicture(App. Path ; â€Å"ParkMe. ico†) imgOut. Picture = LoadPicture(App. Path ; â€Å"GraphicLogIn. jpg†) End Sub Private Sub txtAmount_KeyPress( KeyAscii As Integer) If KeyAscii = vbKeyBack Or KeyAscii = 46 Then Exit Sub If KeyAscii ; vbKey0 Or KeyAscii ; vbKey9 Then KeyAscii = 0 End If End SubPrivate Sub txtPlate1_KeyPress(KeyAscii As Integer) If KeyAscii = vbKeyBack Then Exit Sub If KeyAscii ; vbKeyA Or KeyAscii ; vbKeyZ Then KeyAscii = 0 End If End Sub Private Sub txtPlate2_KeyPress(KeyAscii As Integer) If KeyAscii = vbKeyBack Then Exit Sub If KeyAscii ; vbKey0 Or KeyAscii ; vbKey9 Then KeyAscii = 0 End If End Sub frmRate________________________________________________________________ Private Sub cmdCancel_Click() frmMain. Enabled = True Unload Me End Sub Private Sub cmdSave_Click() Set RSpark = New ADODB. Recordset RSpark. Open â€Å"select * from tblAccount†, CON, adOpenKeyset, adLockOptimistic If txtRate.Text = RSpark! Password Then Set RSpark = New ADODB. Recordset RSpark. Open â€Å"select * from tblRate†, CON, adOpenKeyset, adLockOptimistic RSpark! Rate = txtNew. Text RSpark. Update MsgBox â€Å"Your new rate is † ; txtNew. Text, â€Å". â€Å", vbInformation, â€Å"Rate Status† frmMain. Enabled = True frmMain. Show Unload Me Exit Sub End If MsgBox â€Å"Incorrect Password! Please enter the correct password again. â€Å", vbExclamation, â€Å"Password Error† txtRate. Text = â€Å"† txtRate. SetFocus End Sub Private Sub Form_Load() Me. Icon = LoadPicture(App. Path ; â€Å"ParkMe. ico†) imgRate. Picture = LoadPicture(App. Path ; â€Å"GraphicLogIn. pg†) Set RSpark = New ADODB. Recordset RSpark. Open â€Å"select * from tblRate†, CON, adOpenKeyset, adLockOptimistic txtCurrent. Text = RSpark! Rate End Sub frmDB__________________________________________________________________ Dim x As Integer Private Sub cmdClear_Click() x = 0 lblDB. Caption = â€Å"† If MsgBox(â€Å"Warning! All data will be permanently deleted. Are you sure you want to continue? â€Å", vbYesNo, â€Å"Data Removal†) = vbYes Then Set RSpark = New A DODB. Recordset RSpark. Open â€Å"select * from tblPark†, CON, adOpenKeyset, adLockOptimistic If RSpark. RecordCount ; 0 Then Do While Not RSpark. EOF RSpark. Delete adAffectCurrentRSpark. Update RSpark. MoveNext Loop x = 0 lblDB. Caption = â€Å"† Call loadDB Call frmMain. DataPut Call frmMain. Check End If Else Cancel = 1 End If End Sub Private Sub cmdConfirm_Click() Set RSpark = New ADODB. Recordset RSpark. Open â€Å"select * from tblAccount†, CON, adOpenKeyset, adLockOptimistic If txtPass. Text = RSpark! Password And txtUser. Text = RSpark! UserName Then Me. Height = 9150 Me. Width = 7530 cmdConfirm. Visible = False txtUser. Enabled = False txtPass. Enabled = False Call loadDB Else MsgBox † Incorrect username or password. Please try again! â€Å", vbExclamation, â€Å"Administrator† txtPass. Text = â€Å"† txtUser. Text = â€Å"† xtUser. SetFocus End If End Sub Sub loadDB() ListView1. ListItems. Clear Set RSpark = New ADODB. Rec ordset RSpark. Open â€Å"select * from tblPark†, CON, adOpenKeyset, adLockOptimistic With RSpark Do While Not . EOF Set k = ListView1. ListItems. Add(, , ! Date) k. SubItems(1) = ! PlateNo k. SubItems(2) = ! TimeIn k. SubItems(3) = ! TimeOut k. SubItems(4) = ! SlotNo .MoveNext Loop End With End Sub Private Sub cmdDelete_Click() If x = 0 Then Exit Sub Dim d As Integer d = 1 If MsgBox(â€Å"Warning! Are you sure you want to delete this data? â€Å", vbYesNo, â€Å"Data Removal†) = vbYes Then Set RSpark = New ADODB. RecordsetRSpark. Open â€Å"select * from tblPark†, CON, adOpenKeyset, adLockOptimistic If RSpark. RecordCount ; 0 Then Do While Not RSpark. EOF If x = d Then RSpark. Delete adAffectCurrent RSpark. Update x = 0 lblDB. Caption = â€Å"† End If d = d + 1 RSpark. MoveNext Loop End If Call loadDB Call frmMain. DataPut Call frmMain. Check Else Cancel = 1 End If End Sub Private Sub Form_Load() Me. Icon = LoadPicture(App. Path ; â€Å"ParkMe. icoâ⠂¬ ) x = 0 End Sub Private Sub Form_Unload(Cancel As Integer) Unload Me frmMain. Enabled = True frmMain. Show vbModeless End Sub Private Sub ListView1_ItemClick(ByVal Item As MSComctlLib. ListItem) x = ListView1.SelectedItem. Index lblDB. Caption = â€Å"Database line † ; x End Sub frmReport______________________________________________________________ Dim RStemp As ADODB. Recordset Dim CRrep As CRAXDRT. Report Dim CRapp As CRAXDRT. Application Dim sel1, sel2, hold, mn, dy, yr As String Dim d, d1, d2, m, m1, m2, y, y1, y2, fin As Variant Dim pay As Single Private Sub cmdView_Click() On Error GoTo Err If lblMV1. Caption = â€Å"† Or lblMV2. Caption = â€Å"† Then MsgBox â€Å"Please select the appropriate date of report you want to display. â€Å", vbInformation, â€Å"Report Advisory† Exit Sub ElseIf m1 ; m2 And y1 = y2 Or y1 ; y2 Or m1 = m2 And y1 = y2And d1 ; d2 Then MsgBox â€Å"Invalid date range! Please select the appropriate range of date. †Å", vbExclamation, â€Å"Report Advisory† Exit Sub End If lblLoad. Caption = â€Å">> Loading†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. † Screen. MousePointer = vbHourglass Set RStemp = New ADODB. Recordset RStemp. Open â€Å"select * from tblTemp†, CON, adOpenKeyset, adLockOptimistic If RStemp. RecordCount ; 0 Then Do While Not RStemp. EOF RStemp. Delete adAffectCurrent RStemp. Update RStemp. MoveNext Loop End If If Me. Caption = â€Å"Car List Report† Then Set CRrep = CRapp. OpenReport(App. Path ; â€Å"CarList. rpt†) ElseIf Me. Caption = â€Å"Income Report† Then Set CRrep = CRapp.OpenReport(App. Path ; â€Å"Income. rpt†) End If Set RSpark = New ADODB. Recordset Set RStemp = New ADODB. Recordset RSpark. Open â€Å"select * from tblPark†, CON, adOpenKeyset, adLockOptimistic RStemp. Open â€Å"select * from tblTemp†, CON, adOpenKeyset, adLockOptimistic pay = 0 pay = Format(pay, â€Å"#####0. 00†³) Do While Not RSpark. EOF d = Left(RSpark! Date, 2) m = Mid(RSpark! Date, 4, 2) y = Right(rsparkDate, 4) If y1 = y2 Then If m1 = m2 And d = d1 And d = d2 And m = m1 And m = m2 Or _ m1 = m2 And m = m1 And m = m2 And d1 ;; d2 And d ;= d1 And d ;= d2 Or _ m1 ;; m2 And m = m1 And d ;= d1 Or _ 1 ;; m2 And m ; m1 And m ; m2 Or _ m1 ;; m2 And m = m2 And d ;= d2 And y = y1 Then RStemp. AddNew dy = Left(RSpark! Date, 2) mn = Mid(RSpark! Date, 4, 2) Call month yr = Right(RSpark! Date, 4) hold = dy ; † † ; mn ; † † ; yr RStemp! Date = hold RStemp! PlateNo = RSpark! PlateNo RStemp! TimeIn = RSpark! TimeIn RStemp! TimeOut = RSpark! TimeOut RStemp! SlotNo = RSpark! SlotNo RStemp! TimePark = RSpark! TimePark RStemp! Amount = RSpark! Amount RStemp. Update pay = pay + RSpark! Amount End If ElseIf y1 ; y2 Then If m1 ;; m2 And m = m1 And d ;= d1 Or _ 1 ;; m2 And m ; m1 Or _ m1 ;; m2 And m1 ; m And m ; m2 Or _ m1 ;; m2 And m = m2 And d ;= d2 Or _ m1 = m2 And m = m1 And d ;= d1 Or _ m1 = m2 And m ; m1 Or _ m1 = m2 And m ; m2 Or _ m1 = m2 And m = m2 And d ;= d2 And y ; y1 Then RStemp. AddNew dy = Left(RSpark! Date, 2) mn = Mid(RSpark! Date, 4, 2) Call month yr = Right(RSpark! Date, 4) hold = dy ; † † ; mn ; † † ; yr RStemp! Date = hold RStemp! PlateNo = RSpark! PlateNo RStemp! TimeIn = RSpark! TimeIn RStemp! TimeOut = RSpark! TimeOut RStemp! SlotNo = RSpark! SlotNo RStemp! TimePark = RSpark! TimeParkRStemp! Amount = RSpark! Amount RStemp. Update pay = pay + RSpark! Amount End If End If RSpark. MoveNext Loop fin = Format(pay, â€Å"#####0. 00†) If Me. Caption = â€Å"Income Report† Then CRrep. Sections(4). ReportObjects(â€Å"crtxtTotal†). SetText fin End If If lblMV1. Caption = lblMV2. Caption Then fin = lblMV1. Caption Else fin = lblMV1. Caption ; † – † ; lblMV2. Caption End If CRrep. Sections(1). ReportObjects(â€Å"crtxtDate†). SetText fin CRrep. Database. Tables(1). SetDataSource RStemp Screen. MousePointer = vbHourglass CRVie wer91. ReportSource = CRrep CRViewer91. ViewReport Screen. MousePointer = vbDefault lblLoad.Caption = â€Å"† Err: End Sub Sub month() Select Case mn Case â€Å"01† mn = â€Å"Jan† Case â€Å"02† mn = â€Å"Feb† Case â€Å"03† mn = â€Å"Mar† Case â€Å"04† mn = â€Å"Apr† Case â€Å"05† mn = â€Å"May† Case â€Å"06† mn = â€Å"Jun† Case â€Å"07† mn = â€Å"Jul† Case â€Å"08† mn = â€Å"Aug† Case â€Å"09† mn = â€Å"Sep† Case â€Å"10† mn = â€Å"Oct† Case â€Å"11† mn = â€Å"Nov† Case â€Å"12† mn = â€Å"Dec† End Select End Sub Private Sub Form_Load() Me. Icon = LoadPicture(App. Path ; â€Å"ParkMe. i

Star dust relationships

Captain Shakespeare mentor of youth In the movie Stardust, a movie about a boy becoming a man though a Journey for love, relationships play a key role in the plot. Temptation sent the main character Tristan on a Journey that will change the course of his life. Tristan eventually finds the fallen star and the relationship between Yvaine and Tristan has begun. Tristan and Yvaine learn many things along their Journey especially while meeting Captain Shakespeare.The things they learn from Captain Shakespeare are that, there are ifetimes to build seconds to destroy, Tristan becomes a man and they both learn that true love is right in front of them. Tristan's lust towards Victoria has sent him on a Journey to find the fallen star, which has fallen on the other side of the wall, a place where people from England are not to cross. When Tristan finds the star, Yvaine, he takes her on the Journey back to the wall. Eventually after a period of time they end up in the clouds where they are picke d up by the terrifying captain Shakespeare.Captain Shakespeare is a man iding something else, something that he wouldn't show someone he doesn't trust, hiding the fact that he has a very soft side. He devised a way to get Tristan and Yvaine to the wall. During that time he shows Tristan how to fght and Yvaine to waltz, the whole time trying to hide this soft side he has, even though he is overflowing with joy. He reveals to Yvaine about the known fact that she is a star since she has been glowing brighter every day and he thinks he knows exactly why. This mentor to pupil relationship is one that relates to many different things, such as the kids learning rom their parents.The second thing these two learn from Captain Shakespeare is that there are lifetimes to build and seconds to destroy. This means what it sounds like, one has a whole lifetime to build a reputation for them, while yet there are seconds to destroy. Captain Shakespeare is a fine representation of this for he himself has a very large, and inaccurate, reputation to proceed. Being the captain of the Sky vessel and son of the legendary Captain Ghostmaker, he is known as a blood thirsty killer who is tough as nails.He chose his name Shakespeare because of the English poet and playwright, but his crew sees it as â€Å"shake spear†, or shaking a spear. Under his tough exterior captain Shakespeare could be called a â€Å"softy', he likes to dress up as a woman sometimes to express his true feelings. He will later be caught in the action by Prince Septimus, one of the 2 remaining princes attempting to track down Yvaine, the fallen star. Captain Shakespeare's crew, after chasing Septimus off the vessel, sees him dressed up as a woman with makeup on and says that they all knew he was whoopsie.They wouldn't have viewed as anything different then as their captain no matter how he was, which also shows that reputation isn't exactly everything. The last thing that Captain Shakespeare teaches Tristan i s that love is right in front of him. Tristan originally went to find the star for the girl of his dreams Victoria, she gives him a week to find the star and bring it back to her or she will marry Humphrey. Victoria wants to â€Å"bought† for her love and when Yvaine asks Tristan to tell ner some more about Victoria Tristan nas no more to say about her.He never ully realizes what he has in front of him until he meets Captain Shakespeare. Shakespeare has seen Tristan and Yvaine grow to be different from the people that arrived on the vessel at the beginning of their Journey. Tristan now has long hair, a sword and the skills to go with the sword. Yvaine is no longer in a bathrobe and has learned to waltz. The two have changed into bigger and better people. During the time in which Yvaine and captain Shakespeare are dancing Tristan takes Yvaine away from Shakespeare and dances with her, as they dance she begins to glow as she miles and laughs at things Tristan says and does.This makes captain Shakespeare smile. Before the two leave captain Shakespeare gives Tristan a thing of lightening and a whisper, in which he said that Tristan's true love is really right in front of him obviously what he was saying, is that Yvaine is his true love. This in turn, turns out to be true for Tristan and Yvaine become married and Tristan becomes king. Captain Shakespeare teaches Tristan 3 main things that love can sometimes be right in front of you, that there is a lifetime to build and seconds to destroy, and shows and eaches Tristan how to become a man.Tristan and Yvaine become married and Tristan learns who his mother really is. In Tristan becoming a man he goes to Victoria and instead of throwing the rock at his window, a childlike thing to do, he knocks on her door to tell her that he doesn't want be and she needs to grow up. Then as he is leaving stands up to Humphrey and proves even more that he has grown into something more. This is how Tristan and Yvaine grow into d ifferent people through the wonderful shaping hands of Captain Shakespeare.

Time Management for Right-Brained

MANAGING TIME USING THE RIGHT BRAIN As we prepare ourselves to meet the challenges of the new century, we need to be concerned about the most critical of all resources, Time. As the pressure to become more competitive builds up, this resource is becoming more and more scarce. One can create and destroy any resource, but not time. However, the way time is managed differs from person to person. It is not how much time one has that is important. It is what do one does with one’s time. Most people have ambitions and aspirations in life. Every one wishes that he or she manages the goals in life successfully.But the critical issue is only a few succeed in reaching them in full. Why is that? There are different words to describe an outcome or an end result : ‘wish’, ‘desire’, ‘need’, ‘wants’, ‘goals’, are some of them. Of these, the word ‘goal’ presupposes a time frame and quantification and some efforts. B ut there is one more dimension to a goal in terms of its strength and intensity as understood by the mine. It is called ‘empowerment’. Empowerment is the process of giving an inner strength and wherewithal to reach the goal in spite of obstacles. It results in a mindset of restlessness and urge to reach the set goal.We need to look at the concept of time management from a different perspective. The process of what goes on in the mind is more important than what is exbibited outside a person in terms of setting priorities and pursuing various activities. To make a success of time management, it should be first be understood that it is a mind driven concept and not a system driven practice. To understand why some people manage time well, we should locate the seat of all our goals and aspiration in life. For this we should understand the working of the human brain.The human brain has two halves : the left and the right. The left brain is involved in language skills, it is analytical and it processes information in a linear fashion one after the other. It is logical and verbal. The right brain is the intuitive part of the brain, which is holistic and non-linear. This imaginative and creative part is responsible for the dreaming function. One this aspect of the brain is understood, it is easy to interpret what goes on in the mind of a successful person who manages his time effectively. In fact, there is no such thing as time management.The issue is self-management through pursuing an empowerment through emotional commitment. Any one who attaches a deep sense of emotion to the goal finds out a way of setting priorities to realise the same. He is able to withstand all the pains of initiating the controlling the various actions towards reaching his goal. For transferring the goal to the right brain, the visualisation skill of the right brain should be used. Before trying to manage one’s time, one should start with a powerful picture of the goal in his mind. One should visualise the goal with emotional attachment.It could all start with what others may dub it as a fantasy. After all, when you think about it, all inventions are a result of some one’s fantasies! 1 When the goal is powerfully represented in the mind through a bright picture of the future, the effect of the same involves the person so emotionally that it gets into his subconscious mind. The right brain alone can understand a person’s emotional attachment to his goal. When confronted with problems while reaching one’s goals, the left brain is logical and analytical and reasons out how it is impossible to reach the goal given the difficult circumstances.It reasons out how intense will be the problems to be surmounted, and, if allowed to prevail on the mine, will make the person to give up his goal. The way the right brain interprets the goal is different. It is not logical but intuitive. It is emotionally involved in the process of goal setting and will not give up. The right brain is not logical but creative and thinks about innovative ways of reaching the goal. It has already visualised the final scene of the goal achievement and hence ‘knows’ how nice it is to be in that situation of achievement and will not rest until newer and alternative methods of reaching the goal are found.A limiting belief makes you feel you are not capable of performing, as you want to due to some things present in the external system. Actually, limitation is not outside the person. It is within the mind. This is mainly due to the interpretation of the situation by the left brain, as it understands the situation. In such a situation, the right brain has to be used to get emotionally connected with the goal. This process will make the person believe in himself and his abilities to reach the goal. (Source : N. C. Sridharan’s article in The Hindu) 2 Related article: Â  Time Management

Operation management within maintenance operation in Maersk Oil Qatar Essay

Operation management within maintenance operation in Maersk Oil Qatar - Essay Example The intention of this study is an operations management as a segment of business that focuses on the production of goods and services. It focus is to make sure that business operations are efficient in that it uses as little resources as possible and effective in terms of meeting customer requirements and expectations. It focuses on managing the process that transfers inputs (in the forms of materials, labor and energy) into outputs (in the form of goods and services). Major operations management and problem solving techniques pertaining to the oil and gas industry include: estimating, organizing, modeling, planning and controlling resources and schedules with the aim of optimizing project performance and quality. Due to intense competitiveness, companies need to look for differentiating elements in the products and services they offer. After the business and service strategies have been identified, the management of productive and logistic operations plays a crucial role in the deve lopment of products and services to be supplied. Once the requirements of various clients have been identified, the operations management is applied to assess, define, schedule and monitor the resources and capacities needed to provide the solutions they want. Operations management is needed so as to make sure the efficiency and effectiveness of the flows of materials from the supplier, through the productive and distribution systems, to the customer, along with the related information flows.

Public vs. Investors Perception on Materiality Term Paper

Public vs. Investors Perception on Materiality - Term Paper Example The main purpose of performing an audit on financial statements is to help the auditor to put forth an instant judgment as to whether the financial statements are duly organized in accordance with the recognized financial reporting systems like the GAAP (Generally Accepted Accounting Principle). The perception of materiality assessment is highly dependent on the expatriate opinion. According to FASB (1975), "material information is that whose omission or misstatement could influence the economic decision of stakeholders to the financial statements. Materiality is dependent on the size of the item or error judged in the particular scenario of its omission or misstatement. Materiality provides a threshold or cut-off point rather than being a primary qualitative characteristic whose information must have if it is to be useful." Public vs. Investors Perception on Materiality The public and the private investors have different perceptions on materiality. The entry of auditor’s mate riality is perceived as proprietary data by numerous certified public accounting companies as they are not normally reported to the public (Ryan, 2004). Numerous regulators and scholars have suggested that the auditors must be asked to give a report on materiality entry to the users of the financial statements in their report of audit. ... This stand by FASB regarding materiality has compelled scholars to investigate the opinion of organizers, users and auditors of the statements of finance where most of these researches uncover that there is an anticipation break amongst the users and auditors of the statements of finance as to what that amount to a material misstatement. The expectation break has the implication that the criterion of materiality entirely used by auditors to describe and perform materiality is essentially unique from that used by the users of buyer financial statements. The absence of consistency in materiality opinion limits the users from being knowledgeable in regard to misstatements or omission of items they feel to be material in the financial statements. In this regard, the position taken by the FASB and the â€Å"expectation void† in materiality opinion consequently made scholars and regulators suggest that materiality by auditor’s entry to be reported to the public. The normal al legation is that revealing of the auditor materiality entry would give the users the information of the extent of suitable error or misstatement in the buyer statements of finance and finally, minimize the disparity of materiality decisions by the users and auditors (Fields, 2011). The users of the public financial statements would also be in a position to substantially make use of the auditor materiality entry to evaluate the degree of dependence they can allocate on the audit to ascertain that public financial statements are independent from material misrepresentation. Therefore, it is claimed that the revelation of auditor materiality entry might assist in creating a high agreement amidst the public anticipation of the auditor, including its judgment of the performance by

Objects of significance Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Objects of significance - Essay Example Nevertheless, when we shared special moments during our school life with my best friends, some of them gave me these objects as a reminder of our friendship. In fact, I only get a chance to meet my best friends during the summer and winter break. My prime objective to attend CCQ was to study and leave this place; thus, I never had any intentions to socialize with other students. Instead, I had chosen to spend all recreational time on my phone since I get the chance to chat with my high school friends. However, one of them has recently decided to join CCQ, but we barely get a chance to spend quality time together due to our inflexible schedules. Once I read a quote by Edna Buchanan, â€Å"friends are the family we choose for ourselves." I realized the true meaning of this quote, when my friends, whom we had spent years together, are beyond my reach. These friends are my chosen family; in fact, they were even becoming very close to my mother. Therefore, with this background information, I hope it will be easy to make you understand what this bracelet and necklace mean to me. The bracelet was a gift from one of my oldest friends in NYC, though time difference has taken a toll on our friendship we have still managed to remain close friends. In fact, it is a gift with more psychological effects than sentimental value. Moreover, it keeps me closer to my friend despite the distance between us. On the other hand, this necklace was a gift on my birthday by another friend, who currently lives in Lebanon, and the necklace has the same value as the bracelet; thus, this gives a reason why these objects are of significance to me. Thank

Technology and Logistics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Technology and Logistics - Essay Example In the IT landscape of an organization, a TMS usually â€Å"sits† between the order processing system and the warehouse management system of an ERP. Ideally, TMS should include both the inbound as well as outbound orders. Load Consolidation: Organizations can reduce their transportation costs by consolidating on various considerations such as routing, delivery date, capacity, customer preferences etc. This will help in reduction of both billable as well as payable freight costs. Route Planning and Scheduling: This enables an organization to find out the most efficient and cost-effective route plan. Using this functionality, an organization can assign orders and customers to routes, move orders and customers between routes, rearrange route sequences, establish balanced zones and territories, and pool equipment and driver resources according to established business rules. Freight Audit and Payment: A TMS allows calculation of full bottom-line freight costs and evaluation of rating and service options. This enables a supply chain manager to improve its freight audit accuracy. Generally, a TMS is integrated with ERP and other Financial systems of the organization to give a complete picture throughout all the departments of the organization Freight Procurement: This feature of a TMS helps organizations to manage the various types of bidding processes such as incremental bidding, multi-round bidding and expressive bidding. It facilitates online bidding from 3PLs Multi-modal Transportation: A TMS also allows an organization to choose between various modes of transportation including ocean, rail, air, road, barrage and ferry etc. and arrive at the best combination of modes to increase efficiency. Shipment Tracking and Trace: This feature allows customers as well as managers to track their consignment online. The almost real time accurate tracking enables efficient sharing of relevant

The Postcolonial Cultural Identities of Individuals and Nations Essay

The Postcolonial Cultural Identities of Individuals and Nations - Essay Example Therefore it is possible to read E.M Forster’s novel A Passage to India, written many years before the Indian independence, as a text that represents both colonial and postcolonial sentiments. Derek Walcott’s long poem ‘The Schooner Flight’ deals with the complex cultural aspects of identity and nationalism in the colonial Caribbean islands. Edwards Said’s thoughtful analysis of the ways in which the West has constructed an orient that suits their colonial needs has left an indelible impression in the cultural discourses prevalent in the latter phase of the previous century. He exposed how the West conveniently constructed the misconceptions of cultural stereotypes for their benefit. Such cultural labeling and role-fixing had been a part of the dominant colonial discourses that misrepresented the history and culture of colonized nations. In his view, â€Å"the Orient was almost a European invention and had been since antiquity a place of romance, exotic beings, haunting memories and landscapes, remarkable experiences† (1). Chinua Achebe tries to deconstruct the popular notions of the false notions of innate inferiority and cultural dependence of once-colonized nations to the colonizers. His responses to the brash comments by the Western critics aimed at the emerging postcolonial literature are laden with a judicious blend of intelligent arguments and indigenous cultural sentiments. Contesting the accusation that writers like him have been imitating the Western forms of cultural discourses, he observes: The colonialist critic, unwilling to accept the validity of sensibilities other than his own, has made a particular point of dismissing the African novel.  

Intellectual property right Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Intellectual property right - Assignment Example To a certain extent, it prevents the plethora of similar products. It helps an organization to remain unique in its own products. This paper discusses the necessity of Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) and how it provides good protection for traditional knowledge as well as patents. The Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) is an international agreement, administered by the World Trade Organization (WTO). It annotates minimum standards and guidelines for the various forms of intellectual property (IP) regulations, for nations who are signatories of the WTO. TRIPS came into existence in 1994, through the negotiations in the final stages of the Uruguay Round of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), guaranteeing protection for many things. When the Uruguay Round concluded and the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS Agreement) was put into force in 1994 many believed that it is a step towards reaching a global solution for many product violation cases. (Alsegard 2004). Trips recommends all its signatory nations to follow and bring into effect the laws protecting intellectual property of various organizations, countries or individuals. The signatories consist of 153 countries, which represent s close to 95% of total world trade. These countries can be assured of, if or when they implement TRIPs, will be the avoidance of the economic and trade sanctions which industrialised countries would be entitled to impose under the terms of GATT. (McGrath 1996). There are certain standards which the nations laws should meet with regards to IP rights including: copyright rights, like the rights of performers including music artists, films, geographical indications, trademarks, etc, etc. These standards are stipulated by the TRIPS. Hence the WTO’s TRIPS agreement aims to facilitate the protection of rights in a more efficient way and so that it can be

The relationship of the mass commercial media we are living with and Research Paper

The relationship of the mass commercial media we are living with and experimental film - Research Paper Example The research paper also discusses whether it is possible to commercialize modern experimental films or video art (Barnett 39). Commercial media vs. experimental film Mass media is a combination of diverse media technologies whose main purpose is to reach to a large group of audience through mass communication. The technologies used to achieve this objective vary. For instance, broadcast media such as recorded music, radio, televisions, and films transmit their messages electronically. On the other hand, experimental cinema or experimental film is a form of cinema (Barnett 111). Experimental film is a type of artistic practice that easesof both cinema and visual arts. Experimental film has its origin in Europe, which took place during the twentieth centuries. Experimental film has established its history through theories such as that of P. Adams Sitney, and its distribution advance through non-profit institutions such as The Film-Makers’ Cooperative of New York and other organi zations in other countries (Barnett 192). Experimental film influences on commercial media Although experimental film is familiar witha relatively small group of academics, practitioners, and connoisseurs, it has highly influenced, and will continue influencing visual effects, cinematography, and editing (Biolsi 84). Experimental film has highly influenced and led to the advancement of commercial media, which is currently familiarwith a large group of people such as televisions. Experimental film influences cinematography, which is the science or art of motion picture shooting. It is the technology used in movie photography, which includes both shooting and production of films (Biolsi 221). Cinematography also refers to film director’s major visual turncoat. Secondly, experimental film influences visual effects; these are a variety of processes for creating or manipulating imagery outside live action’s context. These visual effects influence commercial media since they involve mixing of live-action generated imagery and footage aided in creating media environments, which look more realistic, although, they would be expensive, dangerous, impractical, or not possible to capture on film (Biolsi 505).Visual effects with computer-generated images have currently become more accessible to the filmmakers due to the introduction of user-friendly, affordable composting, and animation software. Lastly, experimental film influences editing, which is the process of preparing and selecting visual, written, audible, and film media used to communicate commercial information. The editing process involves condensation, correction, organization, and other editing performed with aid of producing consistent, correct, complete, and accurate information (Biolsi 507). The editing process starts with ideas of the author of the work, proceeding as a partnership between the editor and the author as the entire work’s edition takes place. As such, editing process invo lves human skills, creative skills, and an accurate set of procedures. The music video’s genre is a commercialization of a number of experimental film’s techniques. Experimental film has also influenced television advertising and title design hence making television broadcasting more attractive than before. Song video or music video refers to a short film combining

Hospitality Operations Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words - 1

Hospitality Operations Management - Essay Example This enhances timeliness and relevance in learning topics. The main purpose for this organization is to roll out a program that aims at boosting the overall performance of students in colleges and to help them nurture their talents. As a mission plan, this is highly valued and the executives work hand in hand to achieve it. They provide an opportunity to all students to interact with the virtual arts for the first time and improve their academic performance. The main goal of Hilton is to transform the image of arts and culture among its members and the entire world. They also seek to transform the educational sector for all students to have an experience of new technologies and how they influence studies. The target market for the products will be the college students. To reach out to them, the organization will be relying on the social networks which are commonly used by students. One the social media will provide signup option for the students that they will use to register with them organization. Such accounts will provide a platform for students to pin ads at a commission; this posses a large number of students to register with the organization for such ideas. The other way to reach out to their target customers is through creation of flyers and leaflets to persuade more people to join the organizations production tastes. For this kind of organization, their target markets are the students in various institutions and colleges. Their demands are always incorporated in the strategic developments. It is perceived that most of the college students are accessible to online sources of information and can easily read them. This organization, therefore, uses this opportunity to nurture their marketing opportunity to ensure that they realize large sales volume on their products. This also assists in identifying various market segments for such products and coming up with a good marketing and promotional

A modest proposal Essay Example for Free

A modest proposal Essay Swift also incorporates the use of gruesome details delivered in a pleasant voice, an example of this is, the skin of which, Artificially dressed, will make admirable Gloves for Ladies. This challenges the readers beliefs between right and wrong, and makes him think of how horrible and cruel they are to the Catholics. It does this because the idea of making anything with parts of a human is horrible, and to make something associated with the rich, Gloves for Ladies makes it even more horrible that they dont want to relate to the narrator, who is someone like them. We also see this when he says, particularly Weddings and Christenings. Here, the narrator suggests eating babies at Christenings, which is sickening and goes against any human feelings. He uses this to makes the reader aware that this problem is getting out of hand, and makes the reader realise that is something should be done soon or the problem will escalate to something as sickening as eating babies. This technique desensitises and spoils the readers expectations, and the fact that they are shocked makes them question the fact that they have associated with the narrator in the first place. Another technique Swift uses is entirely unacceptable suggestions made as if acceptable. An example of this is, A Child well Nursed is at a year Old a most delicious, nourishing and wholesome Food. This unexpected exaggeration of detail stuns the reader and makes him think how sick and twisted the narrator is. He then realises that the narrator is Protestant, and how Swift is mocking them and therefore becomes aware of how badly the Catholics are being treated. Another example of this is when he says, I rather recommend buying the Children alive, and dressing them hot from the Knife, as we do roasting. This technique changes the perceptions of the reader because it gives them a twisted image of something that would normally sound appetizing (when roasting a meat), and who up to this point has identified with the narrator, and encourages the reader to think of alternatives to solve the problem, that are moral and justified. Swift also includes some truth, to show how the Catholics are living and being treated. An example of this is when he says, they are every Day dying, and rotting, by cold, and famine, and filth, and vermin. This use of truth creates feelings for the Catholics and makes the reader understand their position. These subtle digs at the affluent Protestants tell the reader they are to blame, this is shown when he says, for Landlords, who as they have already devoured most of the Parents. This shows the mistreatment of the Catholics because they make them seem like murderers, something a high-class person would hate, and makes the reader realise of this and object to the idea. A Modest Proposal has been written with two levels of meaning. The first is that Swift adopts a persuading false act, which is shown through the narrator, but reveals true anger and disgust at the indifferent attitude of landowners the rich and religious Protestants and the intolerance of his time. Swifts use of satirical techniques shows us what was happening at his time through a very different approach. He uses this approach to surprise and mock the readers, which is much more effective, because it makes the readers realise by comparing their ideas to horrible ones that they are in the wrong. This also makes the reader listen and realise better than just a pamphlet saying how bad the Protestants are. The use of satire helps people understand better, through a more enjoyable way and addresses the problem in a more empathetic way. Show preview only The above preview is unformatted text This student written piece of work is one of many that can be found in our GCSE Jonathan Swift section.

Ethics in the Consultancy Profession

Ethics in the Consultancy Profession Ethics in the profession of consultancy Introduction: There are many reasons why individuals and organisations take the help of a consultant. Organisations resort to this practice regularly since the complexities of doing business are rising with reference to competition, new markets, laws and regulations, technology etc. Sometimes companies have their own consultants or they seek the help of professionals competent in their chosen field. In short a consultant is a person who is qualified to advise anyone who approaches him. This indicates that there should be trust in the client towards his consultant and the consultant on his part should not do anything to misuse it. In other words the consultant is expected to behave ethically toward his client. Ethical behaviour means a code of conduct with the belief that what is done is right with reference to own values, religious beliefs, law and what is generally accepted by the society. Ethics in the profession of consultancy: One of the most respected authorities on ethical consultancy is Peter Block who is a consultant himself. He has authored a number of books including the widely acclaimed Flawless Consulting: A Guide to Getting Your Expertise Used. Mr. Block has given several guidelines that are expected to be a part of the code of conduct of a consultant. The most essential element according to Mr. Block is of the opinion that the consultant always tells the truth even if it is unpleasant to the client. The trouble with many consultants today is that they force the clients to think in their viewpoint by acting clever. It should be noted that the client may have his own viewpoints which may be relevant and the consultant is expected to review that before advising the client. Such behavior on the part of the client will make him skeptical of the consultant and the level of trust or faith in him will diminish. Clients see right through the fast language and persuasion techniques and, as a result, their level of skepticism rises. Instead, consultants should be who they are and tell the truth in a caring way, which will establish the balance that leads to a trusting, productive relationship with the client (Meet the MasterMinds: Flawless Consulting with Peter Block, Management Consulting News). http://www.managementconsultingnews.com/interviews/block_interview.php. The author is of the opinion that the role of consultancy has changed over the years. Consultancy organizations have grown in size and the role they play is more of a manager than an advisor. They end up taking the responsibility of performing the tasks they advise the clients in the first place. What will happen in this case is that the consultants become a part of the client organization. They loose the freedom that is essential for a consultant because of the policies and organizational politics that exist in the client organization. Mr. Block says that this situation came about not because it is a part of consultancy but because there is money in performing such tasks for the client. Another area of concern regarding ethics is the lack of accountability on the part of the consulting industry. He consultancy firms have their own models and methods which they force it on the clients. There is no negative impact in this industry even if the models do not work. The fact is that the clients themselves have come to accept such a behavior on the part of the consultants. Sometimes the consultant will agree to the clients point of view totally without voicing any disagreement just to keep the client happy. The consultant may give advice on matters that are beyond their area of expertise. Clients are usually willing to listen to the advice of their consultants totally. This might prompt the latter to overemphasize their point of view, thereby bringing loss to the client. The same situation may also result in a proper study of the issues on the part of the consultant. It could also happen that the client d id not disclose all necessary information so that the consultant will offer advice which is acceptable to the client. The consultant may disclose confident information of the client for personal gain. Sometimes the consultant may use the client as a testing ground for some new model or technology that the consultant may have developed or acquired. The consultant may also disclose confidential information given by the head of the client organization to other members of the management in the belief that it will help them to solve a problem. The above information was those given by experts and clients who felt that these are instances of unethical behavior by consultants. It can be seen that such behavior occurs also because of the attitude of the client towards the consultants. Some of the instances occurred because it was the client who made it possible. Example: The best example of unethical consulting behavior in the recent past involves Arthur Anderson Consultants and Enron Corporation. The collapse of the multinational giant resulted in huge losses for its average investors and the loss of millions of dollars of pension funds which were very valuable to its employees. Hundreds of people lost their jobs, creditors lost their money and many were affected in other ways. Arthur Anderson Consulting, which was well known throughout the world as practitioners of high ethics lost face and exists only to clear the various litigations against it. This particular situation is a result of greed, non-disclosure of facts by Anderson Consulting for fear of losing the client, in this case Enron Corporation and the consultant moving out of its real area of expertise which was that of accountants. The fact was that Anderson had two previous audit failures prior to Enron. The two companies involved were Waste Management and Sunbeam. The company had to spend $110 million to cover litigation costs. In the case of Enron, the company had appointed Andersons consultancy division for a very large fee. It was due to this that Andersons had to go along with the crooked accounting policies of Enron for fear of losing that account. There were also another factor involved. Enrons impressive growth during its earlier years made them arrogant. This led to a number of growth plans that were not feasible. Enrons growth plans including its asset light policy did not proceed as expected. The end result was that Enron had stakes in a number of loss making concerns. If the figures were to be disclosed in the company accounts, Enron would have to report a loss and the value of its shares would fall. The company falsified the losses of these companies by saying that they were hedged by another company. The truth was that it was Enron itself that held majority stake in the hedging company. This move resulted in the company s howing excess earning of one billion dollars during the period of 2000 to 2001. The company had also misappropriated funds by formation of certain companies like Chewco, LJM1 and LJM2. The formation of such companies resulted in huge illegal financial gains for its former CEO and certain employees of the company. According to the report by the Special Investigation Committee of the company formed immediately after the company filed for bankruptcy, former SEO Andrew Fastow received 30 million dollars from this deal. The company also found other methods to falsify its accounts. For this purpose, Enron created a separate entity called Special Purpose Vehicle or Special Purpose Entity (SPE). Such entities are usually formed for performing certain accounting tasks subject to regulations. Enron could treat the SPE as it were a totally independent company. Two conditions in forming the SPE were met by Enron. They are that an independent investor should invest at least 3% in the assets of t he company and that the independent investor should have control over the company. Another investment in a company called JEDI (Joint Energy Development Investment Partnership). To avoid showing the losses of this company in the company accounts, the then Enron CEO Fastow authorized Chewco to invest in a 3% stake in the SPE. The company, when reviewing the situation along with Anderson later in 2001 found that the investment in the SPE did not satisfy the rules. They decided to change the already published figures by incorporating JEDI in Enron accounts which resulted in a massive reduction income and a huge increase in debt. The question is what role did Anderson have in the whole affair. Reports from the Special Investigation Committee indicate that all the accounting tricks were done on the advice of Anderson. In virtually all of the transactions, Enrons accounting treatment was determined with extensive participation and structuring advice from Anderson, which Management reported to the Board. Enrons records show that Anderson billed Enron $5.7 million for advice in connection with LJM and Chewco transactions alone, above and beyond its regular audit fees. (Summary of Findings, William J Powers, Page 5, February 1 2002, Report of Investigation by the Special Investigative Committee of the Board of Directors of Enron Corp). http://files.findlaw.com/news.findlaw.com/hdocs/docs/enron/sicreport/cover.pdf It can be seen that Anderson had played a part in advising and helping to falsify accounting practices of Enron Corporation. Both its auditing and consultancy divisions were at fault and had behaved in a very unethical manner.