Internet of Things

There are ten (10) tasks, one for each week: the tasks are detailed below. There is a table to complete for each task. Please fill in the information required.

Note: Each resource summary should be around 200-300 words.

The text discusses the elements of modern computing architecture however is largely silent on the individuals who played a role in its development. Find and summarise a resource that describes ONE such individual. The individual should have had a significant influence on the development of computers and/or components of modern computing architecture.

Provide the Title of the resource and full Harvard reference here. This should include the URL of the resource>

Provide a summary of around 200-300 words discussing what the resource is about and why it is relevant to the task here>

he text discusses the components and activities of operating systems however is largely silent on the individuals who played a role in their development. Find and summarise a resource that describes ONE such individual. The individual should have had a significant influence on the writing or development of operating systems.

Provide the Title of the resource and full Harvard reference here. This should include the URL of the resource>

The Internet didn’t just appear – it was an evolution from earlier networks. Find and summarise a resource that describes ONE of the networks that led to the development of the modern Internet.

Ethernet is an example of a Layer Two (L2) data link protocol that is discussed in the text. Find and summarise a resource that describes the features and uses of ONE other L2 protocol that is not discussed in the text (i.e. NOT Ethernet).

Provide the Title of the resource and full Harvard reference here. This should include the URL of the resource>

Provide a summary of around 200-300 words discussing what the resource is about and why it is relevant to the task here>

With the advent of mass data collection and storage has come data mining. Find and summarise a resource that describes ONE example where data mining has been used successfully by a business. You should not use any examples covered in the textbook.

<Provide the Title of the resource and full Harvard reference here. This should include the URL of the resource.

The text discusses the elements of modern computing architecture however is largely silent on the individuals who played a role in its development. Find and summarise a resource that describes ONE such individual. The individual should have had a significant influence on the development of computers and/or components of modern computing architecture.

Ahmad, W.A.Z.W., Mukhtar, M. and Yahya, Y., 2017, April. Exploring Elements and Factors in Social Content Management for ICT Service Innovation. In International Conference of Reliable Information and Communication Technology (pp. 851-859). Springer, Cham https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-319-59427-9_88

Summary: The resource emphasizes on the contributions of John von Neumann to the development of modern computing architecture concepts. The development of modern computing dimensions could be observed in the case of John von Neumann’s computing design was observed in the storage of instructions and data in a singular media. The resource provides an explanation of the impact that John von Neumann’s models have had on the development of modern computing architecture and underlying components. Neumann’s contributions can be apprehended from the implications of his model towards the inclusion of a control unit, input and output, memory, arithmetic logic unit and an interlink between the different parts involved in the model. The model presented by Neumann also reflected on the sequential nature of operations of modern computer which is initiated with the fetching of instruction from memory at the address referred to in the program counter. The resource also emphasizes on the next step involving the addition of the length of the instruction to the program counter followed by processing in which the instruction is decoded through the control unit. The contribution of Neumann’s architecture to the development of modern computing architecture frameworks has been overshadowed due to the lack of a pure von Neumann architecture in present computing architectures. However, the limitations of the von Neumann architecture observed in the form of excessive time consumption due to the linear sequence of data processing could be addressed through performing parallel processing or introduction of distinct buses in the architecture for instructions and data independently. It is imperative to observe from the resource that all modern computers and PCs follow the Neumann architecture only with the variations in initial architecture.

Week 2

The text discusses the components and activities of operating systems however is largely silent on the individuals who played a role in their development. Find and summarise a resource that describes ONEsuch individual. The individual should have had a significant influence on the writing or development of operating systems.

Bhattacharya, K., 2015. From Giant Robots to Mobile Money Platforms: The Rise of ICT Services in Developing Countries. IEEE Internet Computing, 19(5), pp.82-85 https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/abstract/document/7230220/

Summary: The resource describes references to Linus Torvalds, the individual responsible for design of Linux kernel that is accountable as a major component of the Linux operating system. The prominent inclination of Torvalds towards computer programming was noted in his initial days and the primary reason for which he engaged in development of a new operating system was his dissatisfaction with the operating system of his computer which used MS DOS. Therefore he was more inclined towards the use of UNIX operating system which led him to reach on the idea of creating a personal computer based version of UNIX since the operating system was utilized only on university computers. The efforts of Linus in months of programming led to the development of Linux operating system which he posted on the internet for free downloading alongside releasing the source code. The initiative of Linus was reflective of the opportunities that could be accessed by computer programmers for modifying the operating system according to specific purposes. The open access to source code was also responsible for assisting Linus in refining the software leading to the launch of the Linux kernel version 1.0 in 1994. The resource also emphasizes on the factor that Linux operating system was not easy thereby acquired less popularity which can be contradicted on the grounds of its capability to provide a failsafe environment. Subsequently, the operating system went on to compete with Microsoft with the promising support extended by companies such as Corel Corp., Intel Corp. and Oracle Corp.

Week 3

The Internet didn’t just appear – it was an evolution from earlier networks. Find and summarise a resource that describes ONEof the networks that led to the development of the modern Internet.

Byrne, D.M. and Corrado, C.A., 2017. ICT Prices and ICT Services: What do they tell us about Productivity and Technology?. https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2920451

Summary: The resource emphasizes on the history of TCP/IP protocols which could be assumed as one the networks preceding the development internet as we know it today. The effectiveness of the key protocols implemented in context of developing the internet network could be observed in their capability for defining the core operations associated with the suite. The definition of the internet protocol (IP) suggests the characteristic primary OSI network layer protocol which is utilized for functions such as datagram routing, addressing and the other significant tasks involved in an internetwork. The transmission control protocol (TCP) is characterized as a primary transport layer protocol that assists in the functions for establishing connection and managing the transport of data between devices and software processes. The resource also emphasizes on the comprehensive nature of TCP/IP networks that can be apprehended from the four layer architecture observed as a rough analogy to the OSI Reference Model. The development of modern internet framework has a formidable history of association with TCP/IP networks since they were utilized as sources for implementation mechanisms for internet. The development of these protocols could be largely attributed to the efforts of United States Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) as a part of a research network. The resource also emphasizes the efforts invested in development of the basic network ARPAnet into a wider application with limitations observed in context of the aspects of capacity. The developers involved with the new network were able to apprehend the flaws that could lead to problems with the use of TCP/IP networks due to the scaling of the operations of ARPAnet to a larger size alongside encompassing the prospects for novel uses and application.

Week 4

Ethernet is an example of a Layer Two (L2) data link protocol that is discussed in the text. Find and summarise a resource that describes the features and uses of ONE other L2 protocol that is not discussed in the text (i.e. NOT Ethernet).

Colombo, M.G., Croce, A. and Grilli, L., 2013. ICT services and small businesses’ productivity gains: An analysis of the adoption of broadband Internet technology. Information Economics and Policy, 25(3), pp.171-189. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0167624512000492

Summary: The resource explains the example of a layer two data link protocol other than the Ethernet i.e. Frame Relay and the significant aspects related to it such as its operations, effectiveness and challenges encountered with its usage. The definition of a frame relay is identified as a data link layer protocol that facilitates digital packet switching. The primary functions of Frame Relay are observed in the connection of networks and transfer of data across networks such as Local Area Networks (LAN) and Wide Area Networks (WAN). The working of frame relay comprises of the use of special purpose hardware such as bridges, switches and frame routers that are helpful in packaging of information into individual frame relay communications. The applications of frame relays are also indicative of the feature of multiplexing traffic from multiple connections across a shared physical link. Another promising feature of frame relay identified in the resource is the 10 bit Data Link Connection Identifier (DLCI) which helps the system for unique channel addressing. The offloading of error correction to other components of the network reduces network latency and the support provided by frame relay for variable length packet sizes enables the productive utilization of network bandwidth. Some of the other significant features that could be observed in context of the performance of frame relay refer to the support for data rates complying with the standard T1 and T3 lines as well as supporting fiber connections of speeds up to 2.4 GBps. The challenges presented for frame relay are observed in the dramatic increase in adoption of internet protocol based solutions and competition from Multi-protocol Label Switching (MPLS) that is used for enabling virtual private networks (VPN).

Week 5

The text mentions the role of hackers in attacks on networked infrastructure. Find and summarise a resource that describes ONE famous or well-known hacker.

Giraldo, D., Herrera, A., Sánchez, M. and Villalobos, J., 2017. Analysis of ICT services by observing “fit for use” attributes. https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/f60e/7dbf79dead5cb34fc62acb82abaeba4ab886.pdf

Summary: The resource describes the case of Kevin David Mitnick, one of the renowned hackers in the world. The most renowned highlight that can be inferred from the resource is the conviction of Kevin in various communications and computer related crimes in the later part of the 20th century. The resource provides legible insights into the initial life of Kevin Mitnick such as his upbringing in Los Angeles and educational progress through James Monroe High School, Los Angeles Pierce College and USC. Kevin was also employed as a receptionist for Stephen S. Wise Temple for a brief duration. Presently, Kevin operate a computer security consultancy firm known as Mitnick Security Consulting, LLC that provides testing services for an organization to evaluate its strengths and weaknesses in context of security. The arrest of Kevin was one of widely touted arrests of the decade with the declaration of Kevin as the most notorious hacker involved in federal offenses such as hacking activities for a prolonged period of two and half years. The admission of offense by Kevin depicted his involvement in two counts of computer fraud, four counts of wire fraud and a single instance of illegal interception of wire communication. Kevin was also convicted on the grounds of violating terms of supervised release through his move to hack the voicemail of PacBell and other systems as well as on the basis of association with other hackers.

Week 6

Society is increasingly reliant on networks and network technologies but they are evolving at a rapid pace. Find and summarise a resource that describes ONE example of a future networking technology or trend that will impact society.

Heeks, R., Subramanian, L. and Jones, C., 2015. Understanding e-waste management in developing countries: Strategies, determinants, and policy implications in the Indian ICT sector. Information Technology for Development, 21(4), pp.653-667. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/02681102.2014.886547

Summary: The resource illustrates the inefficiency of frameworks for management of Internet protocol networks. Therefore the necessity for resolving the issues through reforms in design can be addressed through emphasizing on the specific dimensions of network control and management in context of the three guiding principles. The guiding principles involve references to direct control, network level objectives and network wide views. The network level objective allow the operation of a robust data network that relies on the accomplishment of objectives such as describing reliability, performance and policy as goals for the entire network observed distinctly from the low level network elements. The aspects of direct control could be anticipated from the decision logic that could facilitate a direct interface for configuration of network elements. The network wide views rely on the assumption that network views of topology are considered as major precedents for operation of a formidable network. The 4D architecture is based on four distinct aspects such as decision, dissemination, data and discovery. The distinct planes involved in the architecture presented formidable references to decision plane which referred to network level objectives. The decision plane is accountable for creating a network configuration. The dissemination plane is accountable for collecting information regarding the network state in context of the decision plane. The dissemination plane also performs the function of distributing output to routers. The discovery plane in the 4D architecture is responsible for enabling the devices for recognition of the directly connected neighbours. The resource also emphasized on the final stage of the architecture i.e. the data plane which is responsible for forwarding network traffic.

Week 7

The text mentions social business and the impact of the use of social networking platforms. Find and summarise a resource that describes the history of the development of ONE such social media platform.

Kaczorowska, A., Motyka, S. and Zielinski, J., 2015. Management of projects realization process in enterprises of ICT sector. Applied Mechanics and Materials, 791, p.81 https://search.proquest.com/openview/afa5c2dfd51cdc47f3483027df77580a/1?pq-origsite=gscholar&cbl=2029177

Summary: The resource emphasized on the history of Facebook which is one of the prominently accepted social media platforms across the world. The foundation of Facebook was realized by Mark Zuckerberg during his period of study at Harvard University where he was engaged in psychology studies. The resource described the inclinations of Mark Zuckerberg to develop various social networking websites for fellow students among which Coursematch was a promising example. The social media giant Facebook was initiated in February 2004 with the name of ‘the Facebook’ which profiled students and staff. It was observed that within 24 hours of its launch the website had almost 1200 users that had signed up and the success was further observed in the profiles of almost half of the undergraduate students in the university. The expansion of the network was made possible through reaching out to institutes such as Ivy league, Boston Universities and almost all US universities. The subsequent stages of development of the Facebook became profound in September 2006 by which the network was extended to users with authentic email addresses. The source of revenue of the website was primarily derived from advertising investments. The history of development of Facebook also suggested prominent references to the consistent development in website features. The resource also emphasizes on the specific legal implications that were observed in the history of Facebook’s development included the litigations raised by brothers Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss and Divya Narendra regarding plagiarism of their website ConnectU.

Week 8

With the advent of mass data collection and storage has come data mining. Find and summarise a resource that describes ONE example where data mining has been used successfully by a business. You should not use any examples covered in the textbook.

Mihovska, A., Kyriazakos, S.A. and Prasad, R., 2014, October. eWALL for active long living: Assistive ICT services for chronically ill and elderly citizens. In Systems, Man and Cybernetics (SMC), 2014 IEEE International Conference on (pp. 2204-2209). IEEE https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/abstract/document/6974251/

Summary: The resource describes the distinct opportunities for data and the process of data mining adoption along with prominent references to the case study of applying data mining in the ecommerce aspects of Wal-Mart. The improvement in business infrastructure has led to the improvement in system competences for data collection and the distinct aspects pertaining to consumer behaviour, performance of marketing campaigns, workflow procedures and supply chain management. The wide assortment of opportunities in context of data mining could be leveraged to accomplish strategic advantage by retail sector businesses. The development of computer algorithms have reformed the conventional approaches to evaluation of data by inducing facilities for effective connection of data sets that could promote a deeper and broader analysis. The definition of data mining refers to the extraction of business critical information from a colossal volume of information accessed from market research reports and other data collection methods. The applications of data mining in case of Wal-Mart are largely observed in the specific contexts of marketing and supply chain management. The use of data mining enables Wal-Mart to ensure the implementation of a comprehensive customer relationship management that allows the organization to review customer behaviour so that expected customer value can be maximized effectively. The resource also describes the feasible implementation of data mining in the case of Wal-Mart especially in terms of collection of almost 2.5 petabytes of information from almost 1 million customers every hour which is further supported by the implementation of data analytics to acquire the objectives of operational efficiency and marketing campaigns.

Week 9

One of the greatest success stories in application development in recent times has been the popularity of mobile apps. Find and summarise a resource that describes the story of ONE successful mobile app developer.

Mourshed, M., Robert, S., Ranalli, A., Messervey, T., Reforgiato, D., Contreau, R., Becue, A., Quinn, K., Rezgui, Y. and Lennard, Z., 2015. Smart grid futures: Perspectives on the integration of energy and ICT services. Energy Procedia, 75, pp.1132-1137. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1876610215012990

Summary: The development story of Instagram is accounted in the research with the references to its definitions and the story following its developers. The mobile app Instagram provides users with the opportunities to share uploaded content through imagery and video content. The applications of Instagram enable users to share real time experiences. The story of its developers Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger is accounted as one of the prominent highlights of the resource. The concept of developing Instagram was to combine the functionalities of telegram and instant camera. The initial version of the app was intended to be functional only in the iOS operating systems which could be accessed free of cost. The origins of the development of Instagram could be identified in the impromptu decision of the developers to direct a HTML5 check-in project towards mobile photography. The success of the app was noted in the one million monthly users at the initial stages which gradually progressed further towards 10 million users in September in the same year. The gradually growth of Instagram was observed in the user base which crossed almost 150 million monthly years as of 2013. The resource also emphasized clearly on the implications of new features included in the mobile app thereby making it a successful exemplary of mobile app development. The acquisition of Instagram by Facebook for $1 billion could also be accounted as a major highlight that validates the favourable prospects derived from story of Instagram developers, Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger.

Week 10

While information systems and technology deliver many benefits to society, they can also result in (sometimes inadvertent) negative effects and outcomes. Find and summarise a resource that describes ONE example of where the use of an information system or technology has led to negative consequences for humans.

Prause, G. and Hunke, K., 2014. Secure and sustainable supply chain management: integrated ICT-systems for green transport corridors. Journal of Security and Sustainability Issues, 3(4), pp.5-16 https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Gunnar_Prause/publication/282180651_Secure_and_sustainable_supply_chain_management_Integrated_ICT-systems_for_green_transport_corridors/links/56a2ab1d08ae232fb201ca04/Secure-and-sustainable-supply-chain-management-Integrated-ICT-systems-for-green-transport-corridors.pdf

Summary: The resource describes three distinct cases of negative consequences arising from the use of information systems. However, the specific case to be considered in context of this report is the information system failure of Hilton hotels. The organization implemented a system for customers and was characterized with provisions of confirming reservations in car rentals and hotel bookings. However, the project failed because of the inability of the organization to address the weaknesses of the system that can be summarized as follows. Operations management in a transaction processing system could be accounted as a major disadvantage leading to the failure of the information system. The negative consequences that could be observed in this context are identified in the form of concurrent bookings as well as failed transactions and issues with refunding for customers. The information system was not developed effectively to manage the colossal volumes of business and consumer data which lead to the implications for frequent security breaches. The impact of hardware malfunctions was also responsible for creating pitfalls in the security of information which can be accounted as a key reason for its failure. The requirement for Hilton Hotel to address the integration of information system in alignment with other departments such as accounting and inventory management was also not addressed effectively thereby leading to negative consequences for the users.

Importance of Organisation of Information

Analyze and evaluate the search engines and the metadata on each site. Here are a few questions and suggestions to stimulate your thinking:

• Try several types of searches: vague terms, specific terms, searches you know will bring up disparate records (like “tire”).
• In evaluating the results of the search(es), ask yourself: did I get too many returned Too few Are they the images I expected to get Why or why not What things are similar about the images, what are different
• Evaluate the search engines themselves. What works What doesn’t work What features do you wish they offered What features were completely useless to you Was there an advanced search feature Did it do what you expected it to do
• Apart from a “search bar,” was there any other way to narrow the records that were returned to you (Explore the entire site – sometimes these things are hidden in plain view…)
• What elements or entities are present in the metadata associated with each image Are they the same for all the records you examined
• Do the metadata values appear to be standardized How do you know In what way(s) are they standard
• Would the website benefit from using standards (e.g., standards associated with Data Structure, Data Value, or Data Content) If so, which one(s) What would those standardsallow you to do
• What metadata elements would be the best access points? (i.e., which elements are the most important when you are looking for a digital image)
• Getty Images and Wikimedia Commons have slightly (or not-so-slightly) different purposes.What are the purposes of each site How does the purpose of each website affect their respective search engines How does the purpose affect their respective metadata schemata and/or standards.

Getty Images Getty Images was found by Mark Getty and Jonathan Klein in the year 1995. It is headquartered presently at Seattle in Washington. The company was formed with the aim of providing licensed images to customers for specific needs. The repository of Getty Images is humongous and contains an unlimited archive of photographs and licensed videos. The major industries that Getty images target are advertising, publishing, graphic designing and corporate requirements. Getty images provide access to millions of images, that include a a few of historical importance which could be used for education or commercial purposes. 

Wikimedia Commons Wikimedia Commons was the brain child of Eric Möller, who initialized its operations in September, 2004. Its a huge collection of digital media content such as photographs, audio and video files. The intent of Wikimedia Commons was to provide content mainly for education across all the projects of the Wikimedia Foundation. It was planned as a common platform for all services including Wikipedia, that gave a universal platform for accessing and uploading media files. 

The main type of image retrieval mechanisms from repositories are image retrieval using Metadata and Content Based Image Retrieval (CBIR). In image retrieval using metadata, the common method of searching an image is by the use of keywords that are associated with the image. These keywords may be added as description or annotations along with the image. In Content Based Image Retrieval, the images are searched using the peculiarities of the content. This may be an images size, shape, color or texture. The main difference between the two methods are that in metadata search, the retrieval is very much dependant on the annotation quality while in CBIR the search performs completely on the basis of the images attributes.

 The main criteria for testing both the websites would be to check for the quality of the search results. Different criteria could be used to analyze the search results. The number of images returned, whether the search results very specific or generic, the UI and the user friendliness of the website and what features distinguish both the websites. The metadata of the images are also analyzed. How specic are the annotation? What are its access points? What is the basic difference between the two websites fundamentally? 

 Initially the site is searched using very generic terms like "mountains", "people", "wildlife", "books“. The results denote that specific results appear for each search term. Close to 60 images per page with around 100 pages of similar content are displayed in an average. The images are all of high quality and the site has particular filters to narrow down the search more particularly. 

Next vague terms such as about, it, do, the etc are used to analyze the results. The different vague terms return results that are in no relation with the word used for the search. The number of search results also varied to a great degree for each search term. The common thing noticed for each of these vague terms were that the search results returned mainly sports images and images of celebrities for these searches. 

A few words that have disparate meanings are given in the search bar. Words like tear, row, project, axes, bat which have the same spelling but different meanings are given for search. It could be noticed that the results that are displayed shows a majority of mostly one of the intended meaning in homographs. As an example, the word bat displays mainly the animal instead of the sports equipment. Similarly the word "row" displayed large number of results that illustrated a fight between people instead of the sport. 

 Metadata gives information about a particular data, in this case an image file. Metadata of images gives information about the image that facilitates searching and working with them more efficiently. On analysis of the Metadata, it could be identified that the images are not retrieved based on the annotations that are given on the image. The search is based on the embedded metadata of the image. 

 Initially the site is searched using common terms like “people", “animals", “nature", “vehicles“. The results denote that subcategories for each search term appears. The sub categories are again subdivided further to smaller more specific categories. The images are of comparatively fewer in number and contains a lot of illustrations and drawn images as compared to Getty images. 

As in the previous exercise, vague terms such as about, it, do, the etc are used to analyze the results. The different vague terms returned results lesser than compared to Getty Images. The results gave further suggestions for the terms given in the search box and seemed to be more streamlined, organized and specific. The search results seemed to be more organized in Wikimedia Commons. 

A few words that have disparate meanings are given in the search bar. The same words like tear, row, project, axes, bat which have the same spelling but different meanings are given for search. When the term “bat” was given, the results displayed only the animal’s picture and not the sports equipment. When the term “cricket bat” was specifically given, it displayed a few results containing the image of the particular search term. The results mostly show that the search was carried out entirely different from Getty Images. It could be analyzed that the images were retrieved based on the context. 

There were fewer options of narrowing the search terms. There is an option of doing the search based on a specified language on the left side. The search could also be narrowed down based on the quality of the images. The search options used for narrowing the quality were categorized as Featured pictures, Quality Images and valued images. 

 The metadata of the image is an information that is recorded at the time it is being captured. The Metadata of the image could be used to gather information about the image and is used while searching for the image. As mentioned, the type of metadata of an image could be categorized as technical metadata, contextual metadata and embedded metadata. In Wikimedia commons the search pattern is different from that of Getty Images. Here the metadata analyzed would be based on the texts around the image. This would be similar to that of a Context Based Image retrieval system.

It could be identified that the image retrieval of both the websites is done entirely differently. In Getty images, the search is carried out as in normal search engines, based on the keywords that are given at the time of search. Getty Images is mainly a repository for Stock photography, that could be used for commercial purposes. 

On evaluation, the search results given by Getty Images were very relevant only in specific scenarios. Especially if the search terms that were given were ambiguous, the results also turned out to be irrelevant. Similarly the number of images that the website returned for each search term was also on the higher side. 

In some of the searches, relevant results did not come up. There should be a better way of organizing the myriad of data and image files that they have in the repository. Especially if the search involved homographs, there should be suggestions to retrieve the exact results for the user. Categorizing the files under appropriate headings would help the user to carry out the search more efficiently.

The metadata information is used to retrieve the results from a particular search query. The search could be carried out by manual annotations given in the image. For example, a particular image of a forest could be named as “jungle”, “woods” or “thicket”, which would result in the image being displayed in the search. Another method is to carry out the metadata search based on the context. The image would be displayed by automatically detecting the text surrounding the image. 

In Terms of Wikimedia Commons, the search takes place differently from that of Getty Images. Most of the search terms have to be specific for the correct results to be displayed. Especially if the search terms are vague or disparate, the results give out categorized suggestions in links. 

The collection of images in Wikimedia Commons seemed to be less as compared to Getty Images. The quality of the images in terms of resolution and other specifications were also not at par with Getty Images. The images were mostly intended for an education purpose. The UI also was not as adept as Getty Images for searching or categorizing the images. 

The main drawback of Wikimedia commons was the limitation in terms of the repository that contained the images. The variety and sub-types of images were also limited. If the term “root” was searched, images pertaining to the types of root system were not available. The number of related illustrations and video content was also limited. 

The images in Wikimedia Commons contained the Exif data, which contained the date and time the photo was taken and also other specifications. The metadata also contained license information about the image. The metadata is analyzed in an image search based on the context or the embedded information. Both these come under the metadata for the image. 

Conclusion 

The importance of metadata in search engines, especially during image search is analyzed using 2 websites with image content. Image search is mainly carried out based on the different kinds of metadata in the particular image. There are algorithms and mechanisms to organize the search based on specific metadata attributes. The metadata could either be contextual, technical or embedded. And the search could be done wither of these attributes. 

References 

Bach, J. R., & Horowitz, B. (2000). U.S. Patent No. 6,084,595. Washington, DC: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Cai, D., He, X., Li, Z., Ma, W. Y., & Wen, J. R. (2004, October).

Hierarchical clustering of WWW image search results using visual, textual and link information. In Proceedings of the 12th annual ACM international conference on Multimedia (pp. 952-959).

ACM. Datta, R., Joshi, D., Li, J., & Wang, J. Z. (2008). Image retrieval: Ideas, influences, and trends of the new age. ACM Computing Surveys (Csur), 40(2), 5. Gudivada, V. N., & Raghavan, V. V. (1995).

Content based image retrieval systems. Computer, 28(9), 18-22. Jain, A. K., & Vailaya, A. (1996). Image retrieval using color and shape. Pattern recognition, 29(8), 1233-1244. Smeulders, A. W., Worring, M., Santini, S., Gupta, A., & Jain, R. (2000).

Content-based image retrieval at the end of the early years. IEEE Transactions on pattern analysis and machine intelligence, 22(12), 1349-1380. Yee, K. P., Swearingen, K., Li, K., & Hearst, M. (2003, April).

Faceted metadata for image search and browsing. In Proceedings of the SIGCHI conference on Human factors in computing systems (pp. 401-408). ACM. Zacks, C., Telek, M., Marino, F., Taxier, K., & Harel, D. (2002). U.S. Patent Application No. 10/324,457.

Introduction to Hospitality and Tourism

Introduction:

The purpose of this group presentation is to develop students’ skills in applying relevant Hospitality and Tourism analysis tools. This will enable students to apply learned Hospitality and Tourism theories and concepts to a ‘real world’ scenario within a safe learning environment. More importantly, this is a fantastic opportunity for students to develop essential group work skills that are such a necessity in today’s Tourism and Hospitality Industry.

Students are to form groups of three to four members (no more), and your task is to prepare a 15-minute power point presentation and record the voice over component per each slide. Once you have created a group, you then need to get aquatinted with the rest of the members and select your team leader. In this assessment, your group will concentrate on the Commonwealth Games 2018. More specifically, your group must investigate and analyse the potential social, economic, cultural, political, and environmental impacts on Queensland’s and national Hospitality and Tourism Industry.

In your presentation you must address the following points:
1. A brief Summary about Commonwealth Games 2018
2. The potential impacts on the state and national Hospitality and Tourism Industry in Australia:
Economic
Political
Social
Cultural
Environmental

In creating your presentation, you will need to include images and any other visual aid that validates your research. You are required to reference at least 8 sources of information. These may include corporate websites, government publications, industry reports, census data, journal articles, newspaper articles, and textbook material.

It is a sport event which is formed at international level. The 2018 Commonwealth games are officially known as XXI Commonwealth games. The venue for athletes will be Gold Coast’s Carrara stadium.Gold Coast 2018 will attract more than 1,00,000 visitors which enhance the profit of hospitality ad tourism industry positively (Byrne, 2014).  The contribution of $2 million has been contributed by Australian government to conduct the legacy programs. There are huge official suppliers and supporters will become the part of this commonwealth games.  

 

There are various partners of commonwealth games 2018 to make sure that all set up expectations of Queensland will be proved effectively. Major sporting events involving Sydney cups and Asian cups are the part of games which enhance the attraction of localities (Misener, McGillivray, McPherson, and Legg, 2015). Australian government is contributing to $154 million to the Queensland government. 

 

The citizens of Australia will get motivated through commonwealth games (Matheson, 2010). People will get attract fro  culture events and they will be able to know the different culture of different countries. Due to traffic jams, the daily routine life of people will get disturbed (Chalip and Leyns, 2012).  

 

There are so many cultural programs will be held to show the culture of different countries who will participate in the commonwealth games (Müller, 2015).  Theatrical productions, breathtaking dance, striking visual arts, native art practices of traditional, electric collection of musicians and physical theater pieces will be the major attractive events for commonwealth games (Rahman, Harley and Plummer, 2017).  

 

Advantages  It has the huge impact on environmental such as number of jobs will increase. It will attract number of tourists.Country will get huge financial advantages.Disadvantages  the financial profit for the Gold Coast was entirely unquantifiable. The amount of tax payers will utilize directly to conduct the event efficiently. The infrastructure cost will be priceless once tourist will go home (Ghazali and Cai, 2014).  

References: 

Byrne, C., 2014, Relationship of convenience?The diplomatic interplay between the Commonwealth Games Federation and the Commonwealth Games host city. Sport in Society, 17(9), pp.1204-1219. Misener, L., McGillivray, D., McPherson, G. and Legg, D., 2015,

 

Leveraging parasport events for sustainable community participation: The Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games. Annals of Leisure Research, 18(4), pp.450-469. Matheson, C.M., 2010,

 

Legacy planning, regeneration and events: the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games, Local Economy, 25(1), pp.10-23. Rahman, K.M., Harley, D. and Plummer, D., 2017, Zika virus infection and Commonwealth Games 2018 on the Gold Coast, Australia, Infection, Disease & Health, 22(1), pp.48-50. 

How Manager Make Decision : Explained by Real Time Data Tables

The Delux Nut Company produces a deluxe mix composed of almonds, cashews, peanuts and walnuts.The deluxe mix must contain at least 10% of each kind of nut. At least half of the mix must be composed of almonds and cashews and it can contain at most 20% peanuts. The company also produces a companion mix composed of cashews, walnuts and raisins. This mix must contain at least 10% cashews, at least 30% walnuts, and between 20% and 40% raisins. Raisins are available in unlimited supply at a purchasing cost of R3,60 per kilogram. The quantities of nuts available and the purchasing costs in rand per kilogram are as follows:

Both mixes are sold in 100 g packages. The company must produce at least 4 000 packages of the deluxe mix and at least 5 000 packages of the companion mix.
(a) Formulate an LP model for this problem. 
(b) Solved the LP using LINGO or SOLVER 
(c) Write down the optimal purchasing plan and the associated purchasing costs.
(d) The suppliers inform the company that the availability of almonds has been reduced to 200 kg and that of peanuts to 100 kg. How will this influence the optimal plan and purchasing costs Give reasons for your answer. 
(e) An extra 50 kg of walnuts can be bought at R11,00 per kg. Would you make use of this offer Give reasons for your answer.

(f) Assume that the optimal plan is obtained from the original available quantities of nuts. The company now decides that it must produce at least 4 500 packages of the deluxe mix. Will the total purchasing costs be influenced? Give reasons for your answer.

(e) The supplier of peanuts announces a 40% increase in price. What will the effect of this be? Give reasons for your answer.

The Bloom & Blossom Company wants to expand its activities. In the next few years a number of large capital amounts will become untied, and they wish to plough these back into the company. The amounts that will become available at the beginning of each year are given in the following table:
 Year Amount
1 R150 000
2 R135 000
3 R210 000
4 R120 000
5 R 90 000

Four projects are being considered. The capital needed per year for each project (in R1 000) and the present value of the net return (in R1 000) on each project are given in the table below.
Capital needed Net
Project 1 2 3 4 5 return
1. Expand plant in Alberton 30 60 81 60 30 240
2. Build new plant in Port Elizabeth 60 30 120 60 60 300
3. Enlarge small machine capacity in Rosslyn 30 15 60 30 0 120
4. Enlarge large machine capacity in Rosslyn 90 60 30 30 30 210.

If a project is selected, it has to be completed as a whole. Money not used can be invested at 12% per annum for a year. Bloom & Blossom wants to select one or more of the projects in such a way that the net return on the chosen projects will be a maximum. Formulate the problem as linear integer programming model. Do not solve the model!

Nuts	Cost of purchasing (Rand/kg)	Material available (Kg)
Almonds	1200	400
Cashew	1060	200
Peanuts	280	600
Walnuts	840	300

As given in question,

In a pack of Delux mix the amount of almond cashew is Xa and Xc, … Xr respectively

Similarly in companion mix, the amount of almond, cashew and raisins will be as a, c, p,w,r

One again suppose the package of Delux mix is D and companion mix be C

Our objective function will

Minimise (Total Cost) = Cost of almond + Cost of Cashew + Cost of Peanut + Cost of Walnut + Cost of raisins

Now I have to formulate LP. This is as follows.

Cost(Z) = Xa*D +Xc(Dc +Cc)+Xp*Dp+Xw(Dw+Cw)+Ir*Cr

The constraints are stated in excel file, which is as follows

General constraint

a<=400

c+x<=200

p<=600

w+y<=300

For delux Mix

a>=0.1(a+b+c+d)

c>=0.1(a+b+c+d)

p>=0.1(a+b+c+d)

w>=0.1(a+b+c+d)

(a+b)>=0.5*(a+b+c+d)

p<=0.2(a+b+c+d)

(a+b+c+d)>=(4000*0.1)

For companion Mix

x>=0.1(x+y+z)

x>=0.3(x+y+z)

x>=0.4(x+y+z)

z>=0.2*(x+y+z)

(x+y+z) >=(5000*0.1)

After setting and running the solver we get the following result

Cell	Name	Original Value	Final Value
$B$8	Total Cost(Z) Cost of purchasing (Rand)	482000	482000
Cell	Name	Original Value	Final Value	Integer
$E$3	Cashew Companion mix	120	120	Contin
$E$5	Walnuts Companion mix	180	180	Contin
$E$6	Unlimited Companion mix	200	200	Contin

The optimum purchasing plan for deluxe given below

Nuts	Cost of purchasing (Rand)	Material avaialable (Kg)	Delux mix	Companion mix
Almonds	1200	400	120
Cashew	1060	200	80	120
Peanuts	280	600	80
Walnuts	840	300	120	180
Raisins	360	Unlimited	0	200

Since requirement of almond and peanut is quite less that availability, therefore, no effect on purchase plan will be seen. We require only 120 kg of almonds and 80 kg of peanuts. Supply is still more than demand.

After purchasing the 50 kg of walnut at the price of R 1100/kg, the average price of walnut becomes around R 877 /kg. After feeding the update price of walnut, we have to again run the solver. It was seen that no effect on total cost of the plan is seen. The reason is that we are already using almond in minimum way, we cannot use more at higher price.

Yes, the price is changed from 482000 to 525500, this because after increasing the constraint from 4000 to 4500, the amount of material required also changed accordingly, almond increased by 40 kg, Cashew is reduce by 15 kg, Peanut increased by 10 kg and walnut by 15 kg.

The new plan is as follows

Nuts	Cost of purchasing (Rand)	Material avaialable (Kg)	Delux mix	Companion mix
Almonds	1200	400	160
Cashew	1060	200	65	135
Peanuts	280	600	90
Walnuts	840	300	135	165
Raisins	360	Unlimited	0	200

If the price of peanut will increased by 40%, then its new price will be 280+280*0.4= 392. We have to place the new price in solver and solve accordingly. I think this effect is only due to unlimited stock of raisins, But raisins already have at optimum use. Therefore, it’s not affected the solution.

Early Childhood Education in Australia

This unit introduces students to the field of early years education through the exploration of historical and contemporary approaches to the education of young children. Foundational philosophies such as those developed by Dewey, Steiner, Montessori and Petalozzi are critically discussed in relation to their influence on contemporary approaches that inform early childhood education in local and global contexts. Students develop insights into a range of contemporary programs including but not limited to the Reggio Emilia and Forest Schools approaches.

In addition students are introduced to practice guidelines and principles relevant to their specific contexts such as the professional code of ethics, curriculum frameworks and policy documents. Understandings of daily practice are informed by the United Nations Conventions on the Rights of the Child to uphold the rights of the child and by ethical considerations for respectful, meaningful and quality education and care for children. Through critique and analysis of historical and contemporary practices, students develop their own emerging personal philosophy of early years
education.

1. demonstrate understandings of foundational philosophies and contemporary international approaches that have informed current local early years education practices
2. demonstrate understanding of policy, practice guidelines and principles in key early years education documents used in local contexts
3. prepare a well-informed personal learning and teaching philosophy that reflects foundational philosophy and contemporary models of early years education.

I want to become an early childhood teacher because it is my heart’s calling. I want to build my career in this profession not because I just love children. Instead, the driving force for this profession is that it entails more than spending days with little children. The profession involves intriguing study of child development, forming strong teaching teams, building rapport with colleagues as well as learning about family systems. People in this profession need to stretch themselves to create partnership with people from different background with varying beliefs and values.

 My conversation with familiar early childhood teachers in my circle reminds me of their experience where they say that in this work they feel that the classroom becomes communities with their unique culture. It excites me when they narrate their experiences where children puzzle them, challenge or surprise them and then teach them more than they dreamed of.

Years ago my own moment of revelations has come. As a child I was attracted to teachers who always comforted me, helped me in zipping up jackets, hold my hand when I was scared. It was this tiny act of caring from which I learned to trust them. I have learned from my teachers how caring for each other makes us human. They taught me other fundamental values such as sharing, listening, and being honest. I wanted to become teacher ever since I was ten years old. From my personal experience of teaching preschoolers in neighborhood I realized I get strength when I explain them authentically from centre. This experience helped me recognize that teaching is an intimately personal profession. It is a natural antidote to burnout.

I believe that a good teacher is the one who tends to promote the personal, social and academics development of a child and stand as a role model to young children. The attributes of a good teacher according to my experience with them as a learner includes enthusiasm for children, patience and humor, communication skills, respect for difference in children, flexibility and creativity in working. I consider this attributes as necessary as these are the ones that helped me well connect to my teachers during my preschool and kindergarten. It has great impact on my ideas towards education.

I believe in fairness of children which have developed as I reflect on my time as a student where I have experienced discrimination based on culture. This experience dropped my self esteem and I always stayed away from such teachers. Therefore, I believe that teaching should involve “open mind attitude” to build a positive foundation to the children. I do not believe in favouritism. I believe in balancing between the good level of control and strictness and love, care, patience and attention. I believe and value the teaching environment that mirrors the culture, attitudes, values and teaching practice of culture within the teachers.

Discussion of early childhood education in Australia today

Early childhood education in Australia is delivered to children via a range of settings including preschools or kindergartens, and childcare centers. In Australia, accession to early childhood education is more than just participation in service. There is a significant reform in this sector in Australia with increasing attention and investment as its importance being recognized by all levels of government business and community. Children are paramount to the investment decision. Success with this investment ensures sustainable benefits to the broader community, business and individual families (Tayler et al., 2013).

In the early childhood sector “Early Childhood Australia or ECA” is the peak body established in 1938. It represents 2500 members comprising of local, private, community based service providers, individual schools, educators, universities and other organisations working passionately toward well being of the children in Australia. ECA provides quality education in early childhood (Tayler et al., 2013). According to the study of Harrison & Joerdens, 2017) across the Australia approximately 70% of the children education services have received the quality rating and is reported by the National quality framework.

These reports showed that at least 38% of the early child education services are meeting the national quality standards in five of the seven areas of quality. Page, (2016) highlighted that preschool is available to children in their first and the second year of their life. However, there is peak in the participation at 4 years with some participating at 5 years and 3 years age. The main provision of the formal early childhood education and care is the long day care where 30% of the children are of one and four years old and 40% of the children are of age 2-3 years.

According to Tayler et al. (2013) the Australian early child education services should also cover elements of quality and relevance to children. The literature review shows that there is less likely participation in this service by the Indigenous children. The National quality framework introduced by the Australian Federal government provides a formal base when compared with other educational sector. It includes improvement in the staff to child ratio, curriculum development; development of the personnel’s in the field, increased remuneration of the professionals and tax rebates for families, need of higher standard for tertiary qualification and improved financial support for the socially disadvantaged. The early childhood education and care sector in Australia strives to support the social, cognitive and heath development of the children.

Every early childhood education centre has a philosophy that guides the practice. It is developed over time considering the needs of the community accessing the setting. The Early Year learning Framework in Australia does not define its philosophy. It beliefs that there are 3 Bs in which the learning of young children are inherent including “being, belonging, and becoming”. Its values are embodied in 5 principles include respectful relationships, partnerships with families, respect to diversity, high expectation and equality and reflective practice.

There are six guiding principles in which the national quality standard covers its philosophy it is applied across all seven quality areas. Firstly, children rights are paramount, Secondly, equity, inclusion and diversity. Thirdly, the children are capable, competent and successful learners. Fourthly, value cultures of Aboriginals and Torres Strait Islanders. Fifthly, respect and support the role of parents. Sixthly, high expectations for the service providers and children educators (Page, 2016).

Each child comes from different background with different set of values and beliefs. Therefore, every child is unique and grows at their own development level. I believe that it is the duty and responsibility of the early child educator to understand the “child as whole” and develop the curriculum according to the needs and the requirements of the child. A high quality of environment is required to be built in the classroom. The environment should facilitate the children to learn, grow, explore at his or her own developmental level. In the subsequent section the essay will discuss about my personal philosophy about the teaching style that I believe is best for early child education.

Philosophy of early childhood education

As an early childhood educator I believe in promoting the social, cognitive, emotional and physical development of the child. I believe and value the play based learning. It is an important aspect incorporated in the “Early Years Learning Framework” in Australia. This approach has been found effective by various researchers in developing brain, all types motor skills, facilitate adult child interactions, and enhance creative expression by child (Page, 2016). Play can be voluntary and may involve verbal, mental or physical engagements. An activity can be chosen for play that is pleasurable and enjoyable. Children love to play so this approach is the best method which I enjoyed as a child.

Finding balance between the child initiated and the teacher directed activities is essential. According to the physiologist Jean Piaget, efforts come from the student naturally and it is not required to be imposed on them. The efforts put by the learner are the outcome of the intelligence they have. According to Piaget intelligence undertakes authentic work. Intelligence cannot be cultivated by simply accepting the predigested knowledge (Tourmen, 2016). I believe that it can be done by using the practice approach that is developmentally appropriate. It means that the activities should be developed in a manner that is relevant to the needs, ability, and interests of the children. The same was highlighted in the study of Allen & Cowdery (2014). I believe in cooperating with the child’s family and respect their culture.

I believe that the art of teaching is the true meaning of pedagogical approach and is the best way an educator can teach a child. As per my experience using “positive manner” is the best way to teach or guide a child. The rationale behind this approach is the fact that a child spends most of the time in early child educators and is mostly surrounded by the peers. Therefore, it is the educator who guides the child in the right path. Book does not give guidance or knowledge of what is right or wrong. Books teach how a certain thing can be done but it is the guidance that facilitates decision making in child. I believe that a child should not be excluded from the curriculum based on the cultural background, financial condition and presence of power.

The same is supported by Gregoriadis et al. (2016) who stated that Education should be provided to all irrespective of rich or poor, gender, cost of living, noble or ignoble. I would use the same philosophy in my curriculum as an early child educator. People may perceive that those intelligent may need no guidance. There is no doubt that the stupid ones need instructions to shove off their natural dullness. However, intelligent children without guidance may occupy their mind with what is pernicious, curious, and useless. Therefore, I would avoid discrimination or favoritism towards children and create a positive environment to provide an opportunity for each learner them to grow and learn. For this purpose I would ensure provision of all the necessary equipment and sort of the conflicts in professional manner.

I believe in the philosophy of having “trusting and open-minded relationship” with colleagues, parents, and administrators. I would apply this particularly while dealing with children with special needs. I would respect the demand of the parents irrespective of ethnicity, culture and respect their style of teaching. I would demonstrate sensitivity to wide areas of circumstances. If the administrators and the teachers too exemplify the same philosophy, the child is sure to develop positively.

In order to establish strong base for each child many different curriculums have been developed. Particular curriculum cannot be used for each child. Therefore, the best thing to do is to use a bit of each curriculum in teaching as each has its own strategy of educating a child. One such great teaching style is the “Waldorf Education”. According to Roberto Trostli, while teaching, an educator’s soul-spirit should be in harmony with the temporal body. This spiritual aspect of teaching is in alignment with the concept that a child when born do not completely fit into the physical world. Therefore, the child must be born into the harmony which is the role of the educator. Thus, I believe in this philosophy and would implement the same as an early child educator (Steiner, 2017).

My experience from the Montessori school makes me believe in the Maria Montessori method. She was the first woman doctor of Italy who created objects for physical activity in children such as opening, dusting, etc. This goal oriented activity emphasised by her coincides with my personal philosophy. In this method of teaching child sense of moral can be developed by small errands or work. For instance asking a child to wash hands if dirty is itself an example where the child grows up to excel in meeting society’s expectations and demands on how to behave in life. These ideas facilitate conducive learning (Cossentino, 2017).

There are Montessori curriculums where children are allowed to explore themselves by living and walking. It also based on the theory of Jean Piaget which emphasise on learning through independent exploration of world around them (Tourmen, 2016). For example the knock-knock game of teaching subtraction was very fun and enjoyable. According to Montessori Method there are three stages of learning. It includes introducing a concept by means of book or lecture followed by the processing of information by understanding it through experimentation or creation. Last stage of learning includes understanding the lesson, ability to pass the test followed by the gain of confidence to teach others. I would teach seldom through books and emphasise on environment by capitalizing on interests and excitement of the child about the subject.

The theories of Lev Vygotsky focus on the development of cognition by means of social interaction. According to his theory, in the process of “making meaning”, community plays a central role (Potrac et al. 2016). According to him a child may be more knowledgeable than other adult children or have more experience which must be respected. In such case the teacher must be programmed with more knowledge to meet the demands of the learner.

I believe in this philosophy and would programme myself with more knowledge than the learner does. It is an important concept to facilitate proximal development. This concept refers to difference between what can be achieved by the child through guidance and what a child can achieve independently without any skilled partner. My philosophy coincides with Lev Vygotsky method of developing skills in children by facilitating effective interaction with peers.

Conclusively, an educator is the curriculum because the better an educator envisions a child the better he or she focuses on the social, physical, cognitive, emotional development of the child. Being an early child teacher is to build a foundation for learning and a help a child learn right from wrong. A good teacher is the positive role model of the learner and resolves conflict in the work place in appropriate manner. A curriculum should always emerge from set of different curriculum found in literature as they have already proven to be effective and each has unique style of teaching. I appreciate all the brilliant teachers but I am grateful to those who touched my feelings. Warmth is raw material for any curriculum, soul of the child and for growing a plant.

How to Revise Your High School Assignment Like a Pro?

 Revising your high school assignment once you are done with it will improve it and definitely make it better. Revising does not mean that you have not written it properly; it is just important to alter things for the better once they are done. Even the best scholars and writers spend a lot of time revising their work and editing it.

 

You must utilise your time after writing the assignment in improvising it through revising. The experts at Assignment Prime have conducted thorough research and have come out with the best ways to revise the assignment and provide you high school assignment help. Let us have a look –

 

1. Take a break – You must set some time aside for revision at the beginning itself. Revision should not be started just after you have finished writing your high school assignment. Give a small break to refresh you, and then start revising it with a fresh mind.

 

2. Revisit the idea – Here, we are not just talking about spelling mistakes to be corrected during revision. You must keep your original idea in mind when you look at your paper and ensure that your target has been duly achieved and it has turned out the same way as you have planned.

 

3. Check out the overall formatting and organization – While revising, check out whether the word count is within limits, the font and font size is perfect, and referencing is as per the standards. Also, look for the overall layout, including the various sections of the assignment like title, introduction, body, and conclusion. They must have enough information to supplement your idea.

 

4. Read it loud – You can better find out mistakes when you hear them clearly. Therefore, it is best to read out your assignment aloud to listen to the obvious mistakes you often avoid. In addition, you will be better able to identify grammatical mistakes and sentence formation errors by listening to the content.

 

5. Plagiarism check – Taking someone else’s idea or content is considered theft in literature, which is intolerable. You may have to bear heavy consequences for plagiarism, and therefore before you submit your paper, do ensure that you have referenced everything properly. Even accidental plagiarism is punishable.

 

You can also take help from peers or family to get feedback about your assignment. It is also a good way to find out where things have gone wrong. In case of any doubts or if you need any assistance, you can always contact the experts at Assignment Prime. They will be happy to help.

Best Stock Market Analysis

1. Calculate the daily market return over the last five years from the daily prices,calculate the monthly returns from the daily returns, and calculate the yearly returns from the monthly returns.

2. Calculate the total risk (i.e. yearly standard deviation of the daily returns).
3. Calculate the yearly systematic / market risk using the daily returns of the stock and daily return of the market index.

4. Calculate the unsystematic risk / firm specific risk.Suggest whether this company is a good investment. Answer the following questions while making your suggestion.

1. a) What is the basis for selection of this stock if you suggest this as a good investment
2. b) Would you invest all your money into this stock If not, why not How will you address this concern

ABC Ltd. would like to set up a new expansion plant. Currently, ABC has an option to buy an existing building at a cost of AUD 24 000. Necessary equipment for the plant will cost AUD 16 000, including installation costs. The economic life of the equipment and building are 5 and 40 years, respectively. The project also requires an initial investment of AUD 12 000 in net working capital. The initial working capital investment will be made at the time of the purchase of the building and equipment.

The project’s estimated economic life is four years. At the end of that time, the building is expected to have a market value of AUD 15 000 and a book value of AUD 21 600, whereas the equipment is expected to have a market value of AUD 4 000 and a book value of AUD 3 200.

Annual sales will be AUD 80 000. The production department has estimated that variable

manufacturing costs will total 60% of sales and that fixed overhead costs, excluding depreciation, will be AUD 10 000 a year. Depreciation expense will be determined for the year using straight line depreciation method. ABC’s tax rate is 40%; its cost of capital is 12%; and, for capital budgeting purposes, the company’s policy is to assume that operating cash flows occur at the end of each year. The plant will begin operations immediately after the investment is made, and the first operating cash flows will occur exactly one year later.

Requirements:

1. Compute the initial investment outlay, operating cash flow over the project’s life, and the terminal-year cash flows for ABC’s expansion project.
2. Determine whether the project should be accepted using NPV analysis.
3. Do the sensitivity analysis using different levels of change (e.g. 2%, 5% and 10% increase and decrease) of each of the key inputs (e.g., sales, variable costs and cost of capital)
4. Identify the most sensitive factor
5. Perform the scenario analysis

An investor undertakes risk in order to get returns from an investment. The return is the form of dividends from the stock and also the stock price appreciation. Risk is the variation in the price of the stock over a period of time. Higher the risk, higher is the return of the stock. An investor normally undertakes the risk return analysis of the stock before investing in a stock in order to know if the returns are higher than the risk. The analysis is done with respect to the market. if a stock has returns higher and risk lower than the market, it is advisable to invest in the stock. In the report, we have undertaken the risk analysis of APA Group Stapled for a period of five years.

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Capital budgeting is a process of determining whether the long term investment undertaken by the company is feasible or not in terms of its profitability. There are various techniques which are used to arrive at such decisions. NPV and IRR are the two most effective and popular methods. A capital budgeting analysis has been carried out for ABC Ltd. which plans to set up a new expansion plant. The decision has been given on the basis of NPV, sensitivity analysis and scenario analysis.

Risk and Return Analysis

1) The daily returns, monthly returns and the yearly returns of APA Group Stapled from the period 1-1-2012 to 31-12-2016 are given in the annexure.

2) The yearly standard deviation for the daily returns of 5 years for the company is presented below:

Year	Yearly standard deviation
2012	0.0135
2013	0.2424
2014	0.6100
2015	0.0161
2016	0.0123

(Finance. yahoo, 2017)

From the yearly standard deviation, the total risk can be calculated using the formula:

Total Risk = average of standard deviation of yearly standard deviation

= 17.89%

3) The systematic risk using the daily returns of the stock and the market has been calculated in excel using the excel function:

Beta = Covariance (Stock daily returns, market daily returns) / variance of market returns

= 0.7

The calculations are included in the annexure attached (Finance. Yahoo, 2017)

4) The unsystematic risk or the firm specific risk is the same as total risk calculated above. It is the standard deviation of the daily returns of the stock.

Unsystematic risk = 58.25%

While selecting a stock for investment, the investor should look at the beta of the company. Beta is the volatility of the stock in comparison to the market. It is the change in the stocks returns as a result of a change in the market return. A beta of 1 means the change in stock return is equal to the change in market return. A beta of more than 1 means the increase in return stock return is higher than the increase in market return and a beta of less than 1 means increase in stock return is lower than the market return. If an investor has invested in a stock with beta more than 1, it is assumed to be a risky stock and if the investor is not getting the required return than he should sell it off.

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Here the APA Group Stapled stock has a beta of 0.7 which is less than 1. This means the stock is more or less stable as compared to the market. If there is an increase in market returns by 10%, the return of the company’s stock will increase by only 7%. Whereas if there is a fall in the market return by 10%, the returns from the company’s stock will fall only by 7%, thus minimizing risk. So it can be considered to be a safe stock with low market volatility. Though the increase in stock return would be less than thr market return but when the market return will decrease, the stocks return will decrease by a lower margin, thus making it less risky. Such stocks are suitable to risk averse investor who is interested in undertaking lower risk and can settle for lower returns as well. Also such investors are interested in regular returns in the form of dividends. Moreover, for selecting a stock an investor also sees if the stock is overpriced or underpriced.

An investor will not invest all the money in this stock because the returns would be low for this stock as compared to the market. Hence in order to increase his overall returns, an investor would invest in a more risky stock which would be a growth stock. A risky stock will have a beta of more than 1 and will give higher market returns when the market is rising. And in times of falling market returns, the stocks of APA group will help balance the fall in returns as the returns will not fall as much as the market and thus a balance would be maintained. Therefore, in order to minimize risks and maximize returns, one should have a diversified portfolio of stocks where all types of stocks like with beta less than 1 and more than 1 are present. Also other than stocks, investments can be made in bonds (Damodaran, NA)

Capital Budgeting Analysis

The capital budgeting analysis of the new expansion plant by ABC Ltd. is discussed below:

1) Initial Investment outlay

Building	$24,000
Equipment	$16,000
Working capital	$12,000
Initial investment	$52,000

Operating Cash Flows for the projects life

Year	1	2	3	4
Sales	$80,000	$80,000	$80,000	$80,000
Variable manufacturing costs	$48,000	$48,000	$48,000	$48,000
Fixed overhead costs	$10,000	$10,000	$10,000	$10,000
Depreciation on building	$600	$600	$600	$600
Depreciation on equipment	$3,200	$3,200	$3,200	$3,200
Total operating income	$18,200	$18,200	$18,200	$18,200
Tax @40%	$7,280	$7,280	$7,280	$7,280
After tax income	$10,920	$10,920	$10,920	$10,920
Operating cash flows	$14,720	$14,720	$14,720	$14,720

Terminal Cash flows

Terminal cash flows would comprise of after tax salvage value of building and equipment and the return of working capital.

After tax salvage value (building)

Cost of building	$24,000
Useful life	40 years
Depreciation	$600
Book value end of 4 years	$21,600
Market value	$15,000
loss on sale	$6,600
Tax gain on sale	$2,640
After tax salvage value	$17,640

After tax salvage value (Equipment)

Cost of Equipment	16000
Useful life	5 years
Depreciation	$3,200
Book value end of 4 years	$3,200
Market value	$4,000
Gain on sale	$800
Tax gain on sale	$320
After tax salvage value	$3,680

Terminal value

Return of working capital	$12,000
After tax salvage value (building)	$17,640
After tax salvage value (equipment)	$3,680
Terminal value	$33,320

2) NPV of the project

Year	0	1	2	3	4
Sales		$80,000	$80,000	$80,000	$80,000
Variable manufacturing costs		$48,000	$48,000	$48,000	$48,000
Fixed overhead costs		$10,000	$10,000	$10,000	$10,000
Depreciation on building		$600	$600	$600	$600
Depreciation on equipment		$3,200	$3,200	$3,200	$3,200
Total operating income		$18,200	$18,200	$18,200	$18,200
Tax @40%		$7,280	$7,280	$7,280	$7,280
After tax income		$10,920	$10,920	$10,920	$10,920
Operating cash flows		$14,720	$14,720	$14,720	$14,720
Terminal value					$33,320
Initial investment	-$52,000
Net Cash flows	-$52,000	$14,720	$14,720	$14,720	$48,040
Discount [email protected]%	$1	$0.893	$0.797	$0.712	$0.636
Present value of cash flows	-$52,000	$13,143	$11,735	$10,477	$30,530

NPV = $13885.2

NPV is the most preferred capital budgeting technique and projects acceptability depends mostly on NPV. Other techniques in capital budgeting include IRR, payback period and ARR. Other techniques also are helpful in deciding the acceptability of the project depending on the nature of the project.

Yes, the project should be accepted as the NPV is positive. Under capital budgeting, if the NPV of a project is positive it means the cash inflows are more than the cash outflows and there is profit from the project, hence it is recommended to accept the project.

3) A sensitivity analysis was performed by using different levels of change of the three key inputs, sales, variable costs and cost of capital. Both increase and decrease in the above inputs was taken into consideration individually and the impact of the same was seen on NPV. The table below represents the change in the NPV values with a change in the above inputs:

	2%	5%	10%
Original NPV
Increase in sales	$15,052	$16801.10	$19716.95
% Change in NPV	8.4%	21.0%	42.0%
Decrease in sales	$12718.90	$10969.389	$8053.5340
% Change in NPV	-8.4%	-21.0%	-42.0%
Increase in variable costs	$12135.73	$9511.46	$5137.67
% Change in NPV	-12.6%	-31.5%	-63.0%
Decrease in variable costs	$15634.75	$18259.027	$22632.81
% Change in NPV	12.6%	31.5%	63.0%
Increase in cost of capital	$10617.95	$6161.63	$-252.99
% Change in NPV	-23.5%	-55.6%	-101.8%
Decrease in cost of capital	$17418.42	$23279.41	$34832.29
% Change in NPV	25.4%	67.7%	150.9%

From the above table, we see that NPV is most sensitive to the cost of capital, followed by variable costs and lastly sales. Even by a 2% increase in cost of capital, the NPV becomes negative and the project becomes unacceptable. With a decrease in cost of capital by 10%, the NPV increases by 151%. So we can say NPV is highly sensitive to the cost of capital. If the assumption of cost of capital goes wrong, the whole project may go in for a toss. Hence the company should focus on determining the most accurate cost of capital if the project is to be successful.

4) Cost of the capital is the most sensitive factor.

5) Scenario Analysis

For the scenario analysis, the best case has been taken as increase in sales by 10%, decrease in variable costs by 10% and decrease in cost of capital by 10% and vice versa for the worst case. The results are presented below:

	Total Sales	Variables Costs	Cost of capital	NPV
Normal case	320000	60%	12%	$13,885.2
Best case	352000	54%	2%	$54,206
Worst case	288000	66%	22%	-$11,504

We see that the worst case proves the project unacceptable.

Conclusion

On the basis of the risk and return analysis of APA Group Stapled, it is advisable for an investor to invest in the company as the company has risk lower than the market and the average returns are higher than the market. It is a good investment for a risk averse investor. But it is advisable that the investor should also look at other stocks which are growth stocks in order to diversify his portfolio. The stock of APA Group Stapled are low risk stocks as the beta is less than 1, hence it is advisable that the investor should also invest in stocks with higher beta in order to maximize his returns.

The NPV analysis makes the project acceptable as the NPV is positive. This means the inflows are more than the project outflows. Moreover the sensitivity and scenario analysis also give positive results to a far extent and only make the project unacceptable when the cost of capital increases by 10% as cost of capital is the most sensitive to the project.