Snap Shot of a Dog Essay -- English Literature Essays

Snap Shot of a Dog James Thurber is a famous and popular American writer and artist. His humorous prose and drawing are never gay because the enthusiasm is dampened by melancholy. His fantastic characters are mostly animals whose balance of life is distorted and disturbed by a malignant fate. ‘Snap Shot of a Dog’ is taken from THE THURBER CARNIVAL which contains his most impressive work. Many of his writings and drawings deal with dogs. He understands them and he has the gist of being able to communicate his understanding to the reader. This piece is typical of Thurber. It is both humorous and serious as his writings usually are. The story flows along easily and smoothly and the reader has the impression that the writer is talking to him. The writer looks upon the dog sympathetically and at times affectionately. Rex was the name of the author’s pet dog. He was no doubt a dog of his own type who was fond of adventures. This account is as such written objectively. The dog has been dead long ago. The memory of the dog is still fresh in the mind of writer when he wrote this story. Rex was a bull terrier. He has a strong built. Indeed he was a beauty. The writer and his two brothers loved it dearly. He was a faithful dog and carried out all the orders of his maters. There was nothing impossible in his world. The writer describes certain qualities of his pet. Though he was strong and pugnacious yet he never started the fight. He had a gentle nature. He never bit anybo...

Effectiveness of Software Quality Assurance in Offshore Development Enterprises in Sri Lanka

EFFECTIVENESS OF SOFTWARE QUALITY ASSURANCE IN OFFSHORE DEVELOPMENT ENTERPRISES IN SRI LANKA Malinda Sirisena, Department of Computer Science & Engineering, University of Moratuwa. ABSTRACT The aim of the research described in this thesis is to evaluate the effectiveness of software quality assurance approaches of Sri Lankan offshore software development organizations, and to propose a framework which could be used across all offshore software development organizations. An empirical study was conducted using derived framework from popular software quality evaluation models.The research instrument employed was a questionnaire survey among thirty seven Sri Lankan registered offshore software development organizations. The findings demonstrate a positive view of Effectiveness of Software Quality Assurance – the stronger predictors of Stability, Installability, Correctness, Testability and Changeability. The present study’s recommendations indicate a need for much emphasis on software quality assurance for the Sri Lankan offshore software development organizations. Keywords: Software Quality Assurance (SQA), Offshore Software Development, Quality Assurance Evaluation Models, Effectiveness of Quality Assurance. BACKGROUND INFORMATION Software Quality Assurance (QA) plays a major role in successful implementation and maintenance of a software project. In many organizations, QA has been simply traded-off to project cost [1]. The motivation of this research is to highlight the value of Software Quality Assurance against the economic cost. The IEEE standard ANSI/IEEE 730-2002 defines software quality assurance as â€Å"a planned and systematic pattern of all actions necessary to provide adequate confidence that the software conforms to established technical requirements†[2].QA is not only holding a direct relationship of meeting customer satisfaction, but it has a very high impact on project schedules and cost. Failing to pay attention is often resu lted in budget overruns and schedule delays [3]. Software Quality Assurance has paid back in many industries such as telecommunication, health, travel, law, hospital, government and schools in many American organizations. †¢ A system of teaching hospitals conservatively estimates $17. 8 million saved on an investment of $2. 5 million in quality management over a five-year time period. The University of Pennsylvania saved more than $60,000 a year from one project focused on reducing mailing cost. †¢ The U. S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reduced the time needed to produce the monthly Consumer Price Index (CPI), compiled by 650 people in five departments, by 33 percent with no loss in accuracy. [4] Even in Sri Lankan software engineering companies, have been recognized QA as an important element. In 2005, Affno (www. affno. lk) has won the National Best Quality Software Gold Award for their product – eTender, which developed for Sri Lanka Telecom to automate their tende ring process [5]. 2 THEORETICAL BASE OF THE STUDY 2. WHAT IS SOFTWARE QUALITY The IEEE standard ANSI/IEEE 730-2002 defines software quality assurance as â€Å"a planned and systematic pattern of all actions necessary to provide adequate confidence that the software conforms to established technical requirements†[2]. By going down the path of IEEE definition, there are two major camps when defining software quality[6]: 1. Conformance to specification: quality defines in terms of the level which the product or service meets its’ written specifications. 2. Meeting customer needs: meeting customer’s explicit or implicit needs, irrespective of any measurable product or service characteristics.Currently software quality assurance is measured in two ways: from technical perspective and from user perspective[7]. In the technical perspective of measuring software quality is based on specifications. Developers measure quality and ensure specifications in terms of errors i n code through testing process and through other mechanisms such as formal specifications, structured programming[8]. End-user perspective of software quality is measured through user experience to denote how well software meets user expectations. User dissatisfactions do not necessarily be resulting from failure to meet specifications or coding errors. . 2 SOFTWARE QUALITY MANAGEMENT PHILOSOPHIES This section of the literature presents different philosophies of quality from view points of quality management gurus. These quality management philosophies could be a good alternative to formalized quality models which the research is going to based on. Quality management requires customer satisfaction, prefers prevention to inspection, and recognizes management responsibility for quality[9]. 2. 2. 1 DEMING AND FOURTEEN POINTS FOR MANAGEMENT Walter Edward Deming defines quality in terms of customer satisfaction[10].Customer satisfaction is beyond conformance to specifications. According to Deming, the judge of quality should be the end user or the customer. Deming argues that management system should implement in a way that everyone in the organization to be responsible for quality of their output to the internal stakeholders. He introduced fourteen points for management for people to understand and implement necessary quality transformation[10]: 1. Create constancy of purpose for improvement of product and service: Stay in business and provide jobs through innovation, research, constant improvement and maintenance. 2.Adopt the new philosophy: For the new economic age, management needs to take leadership for change into a learning organization. 3. Cease dependence on mass inspection: Eliminate the need for mass inspection by building quality into the product. 4. End awarding business on price: Aim at minimum total cost and move towards single suppliers. 5. Improve constantly and forever the system of production and service: Improvement is not a one-time effort. Man agement is obligated to continually look for ways to reduce waste and improve quality. 6. Institute training: Workers should be trained properly on their jobs. . Institute leadership: Leading shall consist of helping people to do a better job and to learn by objective methods. 8. Drive out fear: To assure better quality and productivity, people feel secure. 9. Break down barriers between departments: Team work culture across departments. 10. Eliminate slogans, exhortations and numerical targets: Let workers formulate their own slogans. Then they will be committed to the contents. 11. Eliminate numerical quotas or work standards: Quotas take into account only numbers, not quality or methods. They are usually a guarantee of inefficiency and high cost.A person, in order to hold a job, will try to meet a quota at any cost, including doing damage to the company. 12. Remove barriers to taking pride in workmanship: People are eager to do a good job and distressed when they cannot. 13. Inst itute a vigorous programme of education: Both management and the work force will have to be educated in the new knowledge and understanding, including teamwork and statistical techniques. 14. Take action to accomplish the transformation: It will require a special top management team with a plan of action to carry out the quality mission.A critical mass of people in the company must understand the 14 points. 2. 2. 2 JURAN AND THE IMPORTANCE OF TOP MANAGEMENT COMMITMENT TO QUALITY Joseph M Juran proposes two meanings to quality[11]: 1. Quality consists of those product features which meet the need of customers and thereby provide product satisfaction. 2. Quality consists of freedom from deficiencies. In the handbook Juran propose quality as â€Å"fitness for use† rather than â€Å"meeting customer needs† he argues that it is not a feasible task to meet customer need. His view is much closer to the thought – â€Å"conformance to specifications†.Juran propose s three fundamental managerial processes for the task of managing quality. The three elements of the Juran Trilogy are[11]: 1. Quality planning: A process that identifies the customers, their requirements, the product and service features that customers expect, and the processes that will deliver those products and services with the correct attributes and then facilitates the transfer of this knowledge to the producing arm of the organization. 2. Quality control: A process in which the product is examined and evaluated against the original requirements expressed by the customer. Problems detected are then corrected. . Quality improvement: A process in which the sustaining mechanisms are put in place so that quality can be achieved on a continuous basis. This includes allocating resources, assigning people to pursue quality projects, training those involved in pursuing projects, and in general establishing a permanent structure to pursue quality and maintain the gains secured. 2. 2. 3 CROSBY AND STRIVING FOR ZERO DEFECTS Philip B Crosby is a â€Å"conformance to specification† adherer. Crosby summarizes his perspective on quality in fourteen steps that is built around four fundamental â€Å"absolutes† of quality management[12]: 1.Quality is defined as conformance to requirements, not as â€Å"goodness† or â€Å"elegance† 2. The system for causing quality is prevention, not appraisal. That is, the quality system for suppliers attempting to meet customers' requirements is to do it right the first time. Crosby is a strong advocate of prevention, not inspection. In a Crosby oriented quality organization everyone has the responsibility for his or her own work. There is no one else to catch errors. 3. The performance standard must be Zero Defects, not â€Å"that's close enough†. Crosby has advocated the notion that zero errors can and should be a target. . The measurement of quality is the cost of quality. Costs of imperfection, if corrected, have an immediate beneficial effect on bottom-line performance as well as on customer relations. 2. 2. 4 ISHIKAWA AND FISHBONE DIAGRAM Kaoru Ishikawa defines quality as â€Å"meeting customer needs†[13]. He further argues that no specific quality standard could ever define and following them does not meet the expected quality levels. According to Ishikawa, quality is a very broad concept which goes beyond product, service, process, information quality, etc.He introduced quality circles through Fishbone diagrams. 2. 2. 5 FEIGENBAUM AND TOTAL QUALITY CONTROL Armand Vallin Feigenbaum built his thought around â€Å"total quality control†[14]. Feigenbaum states that quality is a dynamic factor which must be defined in terms of customer experiences. He further states that quality should satisfy customers’ explicit and implicit needs[14]. 2. 3 SOFTWARE QUALITY MODELS Previous section focus on different view points of quality management gurus. These points wi ll be helpful in solving common quality management problems in Sri Lankan, offshore enterprises.Quality management philosophies presented in the previous section represent flexible and qualitative view of quality; this section will present a rigid and quantitative[15] quality structure, which will be a roadmap of identifying independent variables for current study. 2. 3. 1 MCCALL’S QUALITY MODEL Jim McCall’s quality model is primarily aimed towards the system developers and development process, however he has tried to bridge the gap between users and developers by focusing on number of quality factors, considering both user’s and developer’s priorities[16, 17].The quality model is organized around three quality characteristics[16]: Figure 1: McCall’s quality model organized around three types of quality characteristics McCall’s model furthermore elaborated with a hierarchy of factors, criteria and metrics around the three types of major pers pectives. Figure 2: McCall’s quality model Eleven factors on the left-hand side of the model represent the external view of quality as viewed by end users. These eleven factors attribute to twenty three quality criteria, which describe the internal view of software. The evaluation is done by answering each quality criteria with â€Å"yes† and â€Å"no†.Finally the quality level is derived as a percentage based on the responses received as â€Å"yes†. 2. 3. 2 BOEHM’S QUALITY MODEL Barry W Boehm’s model has similarities to McCall’s model. His qualitative approach of defining quality stems from three levels in the hierarchy, which ends with primitive characteristics[18]. These primitive characteristics individually contribute to the overall quality level. Figure 3: Boehm's software quality characteristics tree[19]. Quality measurement is carried out through extent or degree to which the product or service achieves each characteristic[19] . 2. 3. 3 ISO 9126Among the ISO 9000 series of quality standards, ISO has released the ISO 9126: Software Product Evaluation[20]. Figure 4: The ISO 9126 quality model [20]. ISO further proposes quality characteristics/guidelines to evaluate the above six areas of importance. Figure 5: ISO 9126 quality attributes Each quality factor/ six areas of importance is represented by sub-factors as depicted in the above diagram. Details of each selected attribute will be discussed in the next chapter. 3 CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK This chapter elaborates how the conceptual framework for the study has been derived through the existing work identified in the literature review. . 1 EXISTING WORK Since the study is on evaluating software quality from software developing organization’s view, it is necessary to filter down the quality attributes discovered in the literature, only to represent developer view of software quality. Therefore it has been decided to take the union of developer related qu ality attributes from all three popular models referred in the previous chapter. It is not an easy task to differentiate developer oriented quality attributes from user oriented attributes as quality classifications are different from each model and some attributes are subjective to their multiple definitions.For a consistent interpretation of the quality attributes, the definitions of attributes have been used according to Software Engineering Institute’s (SEI) Software Technology Roadmap glossary[23] and ISO 9126[24] definitions. 3. 1. 1 DEVELOPER ORIENTED ATTRIBUTES FROM MCCALL’S MODEL McCall’s model mainly goes hand in hand with external quality factors. Following are the quality attributes extracted from McCall model, which are related to developer related quality based on SEI definitions. Selected Attribute Maintainability SEI Definition[23] â€Å"The ease with which a software system or component can be odified to correct faults, improve performance, or other attributes, or adapt to a changed environment. † â€Å"The degree to which a system or component facilitates the establishment of test criteria and the performance of tests to determine whether those criteria have been met. † â€Å"The ease with which a system or component can be modified for use in applications or environments other than those for which it was specifically designed. † â€Å"The ease with which a system or component can be transferred from one hardware or software environment to another. â€Å"The degree to which a software module or other work product can be used in more than one computing program or software system. † â€Å"The ability of two or more systems or components to exchange information and to use the information that has been exchanged. † Testability Flexibility Portability Reusability Interoperability Table 1: Developer related quality attributes from McCall’s model 3. 1. 2 ADDITIONAL ATTRIBUTES FROM BOEHM ’S MODEL Boehm’s model, which has put the utility perspective in terms of quality, is much similar to McCall’s model.After evaluating definitions, following two attributes were added to the list. Selected Attribute Understandability Modifiability SEI Definition[23] â€Å"The degree to which the purpose of the system or component is clear to the evaluator. † â€Å"The degree to which a system or component facilitates the incorporation of changes, once the nature of the desired change has been determined. † Table 2: Additional developer related quality attributes from Boehm’s model 3. 1. 3 ADDITIONAL ATTRIBUTES FROM ISO 9126 Following are sub-attributes taken from the ISO 9126 definitions.Selected Attribute Analyzability ISO Definition[24] â€Å"The capability of the software product to be diagnosed for deficiencies or causes of failures in the software, or for the parts to be modified to be identified. † â€Å"The capability of the so ftware product to enable a specified modification to be implemented. † â€Å"The capability of the software product to avoid unexpected effects from modifications of the software. † â€Å"The capability of the software product to be adapted for different specified environments without applying actions or means other than those provided for this purpose for the software considered. â€Å"The capability of the software product to be installed in a specified environment. † â€Å"The capability of the software product to co-exist with other independent software in a common environment sharing common resources. † Changeability Stability Adaptability Installability Co-existence Replaceability â€Å"The capability of the software product to be used in place of another specified software product for the same purpose in the same environment. † Table 3: Additional developer related quality attributes from ISO 9126 model 3. 1. 4 FINAL ATTRIBUTE LISTAfter anal yzing the above mentioned attribute lists and completing the preliminary studies, the list could filter down to the following for the current study. 1. Correctness 2. Testability 3. Changeability 4. Stability 5. Installability In the following sections, each of above attribute will be discussed in terms of their quality characteristics. 3. 1. 4. 1 CORRECTNESS SEI defines correctness as â€Å"The degree to which a system or component is free from faults in its specification, design, and implementation†[23]. McCall attributes correctness through[16]: †¢ †¢ †¢ Traceability Completeness ConsistencyThrough traceability, it makes possible to know the relationships of each module or component and thereby higher confidence states correctness. Completeness assures that there are no parts left in terms in executing a function of a system or a procedure; thereby 100% completeness ratio guarantees correctness. Inconsistent systems or functions will lead to higher error pro bability; therefore it is a part of correctness. Through the initial discussions with some key personnel, it was revealed that these characteristics are equally hard to reach to achieve Correctness. . 1. 4. 2 TESTABILITY SEI defines testability as â€Å"The degree to which a system or component facilitates the establishment of test criteria and the performance of tests to determine whether those criteria have been met†[23]. Both McCall and Boehm have attributed testability to quality assurance on following characteristics[16, 18]: †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ Simplicity Instrumentation Self-descriptiveness Modularity and structuredness Accountability Accessibility Communicativeness. Simplicity of applications will make easier in testing comparatively to complex applications.Instrumentation makes possible to put probes in the system in order to deduce test data. Self-descriptive systems have inbuilt help or system documentation which will be sufficie nt to understand the system by going through. Modularity helps in isolating system tests which structuredness denotes consistent organization of the system. Accountability on system for which it is possible to measure the usage of the code[19]. Such measurements are typically covered by debugging tools, which exist specifically for programming languages. Accessibility of a system allows usage of its parts in a selective manner[19].This allows in creating flexible test scenarios. Through communicativeness, systems make easier to understand inputs and output, which makes easier to compose test cases. 3. 1. 4. 3 CHANGEABILITY ISO defines changeability as â€Å"The capability of the software product to enable a specified modification to be implemented†[24]. Changeability is an attribute defined in ISO 9126 and lacks supporting characteristic definitions. However changeability could be achieved through: †¢ Aiming simple solution rather than complicated systems as by nature si mple applications are easier to change. Low coupling of individual modules of a system as lower interactions make easier to change individual components. †¢ Designing the systems change in mind from the beginning while keeping application evolution. 3. 1. 4. 4 STABILITY ISO defines stability as â€Å"The capability of the software product to avoid unexpected effects from modifications of the software†[24]. Therefore stability in this context does not denote the ability of the system to show stable behavior when used. However, if modification often results in unexpected behavior, there will be a high impact on stability.Stability is directly influenced by Changeability. Low changeability is likely to show low stability. This will depict the fact that, trying to change a low changeable system will lead to a greater risk of instability. 3. 1. 4. 5 INSTALLABILITY ISO defines Installability as â€Å"The capability of the software product to be installed in a specified enviro nment†[24]. Installability requirements are generally specified in the form of an installation process. The target environment in this case will have to be known at the development time.Installability is measured as a percentage exercised of the total specified Installability requirements. In the Sri Lankan context, Installability is commonly referred as Deployability. 3. 1. 5 RELATIONSHIPS OF VARIABLES Having identified the variables and attributes, it had been decided to limit the study to following variables, after interviewing key quality assurance personnel in target organizations. Based on their arguments, on applicability to offshore organizations, the best suited variables have been selected for the study. Dependent Variable: Effectiveness of Software Quality Assurance Independent Variables: . Correctness a. Completeness b. Consistency 2. Testability a. Simplicity b. Modularity c. Structuredness 3. Changeability a. Simplicity b. Coupling 4. Stability a. Changeability 5 . Installability Having identified the variables, following relationships have been derived based on the reviewed literature in the previous section. Correctness Testability Effectiveness of Software Quality Assurance Changeability Stability Installability Independent Variables Figure 6: Schematic diagram for conceptual framework Dependent Variable 3. 2 HYPOTHESES FORMULATEDIn order to statistically test the derived conceptual framework, following hypotheses have been formulated. Since the study is targeted to test each independent variable separately, hypotheses also have been formulated independently to each independent variable. H01: there is no relationship between the Correctness of software developed and released to QA team), on the effectiveness of software quality assurance approach. HA1: the greater the Correctness of software developed and delivered to QA team, the higher the effectiveness of software quality assurance approach.H02: there is no relationship between the Tes tability of software developed and released to QA team, on the effectiveness of software quality assurance approach. HA2: the greater the Testability of software developed and delivered to QA team, the higher the effectiveness of software quality assurance approach. H03: there is no relationship between the Changeability of software developed and released to QA team, on the effectiveness of software quality assurance approach. HA3: the greater the Changeability of software developed and delivered to QA team, the higher the effectiveness of software quality assurance approach.H04: there is no relationship between the Stability of software developed and released to QA team, on the effectiveness of software quality assurance approach. HA4: the greater the Stability of software developed and delivered to QA team, the higher the effectiveness of software quality assurance approach. H05: there is no relationship between the Installability of software developed and released to QA team, on the effectiveness of software quality assurance approach. HA5: the greater the Installability of software developed and delivered to QA team, the higher the effectiveness of software quality assurance approach. RESEARCH DESIGN Research design will outline the roadmap of achieving the research objectives thorough the identified variables and theoretical framework. Details of study Purpose of the study Type of investigation Extent of researcher interface Minimal: studying events as they normally occur and defining a framework Study setting Measurement Measurement and measures Effectiveness of Software Quality Assurance in Emerging Offshore Development Enterprises in Sri Lanka Descriptive: quality evaluation framework Hypothesis testing: to validate the evaluation frameworkCorrelation: study of correlations to effectiveness against evaluation factors Noncontrived: study in real business environment Quality factors and their applicability through quality matrices and Likert scales Data analysis 1. Classification of data 2. Goodness of data Unit of analysis Sampling design Time horizon Data collection method 3. Hypotheses testing Individuals based on job categories in Offshoring organizations Judgmental sampling of individual in the entire population of offshore enterprises Crosssectional Interviews, Questionnaires, Observations Figure 7: The research design 4. 1 TYPE AND NATURE OF THE STUDYThe study was an empirical study through analysis of responses to the questionnaires which was formulated through the conceptual framework. 4. 2 DATA COLLECTION METHODS Since the study is on offshore software development organizations, it has been decided to collect data from all registered companies in Software Exporters Association Sri Lanka and seven other offshore software development organizations in Sri Lanka. There were forty seven registered members as of first August, 2007. Questionnaires were distributed to the key quality assurance person or to the most senior quality assurance person in each organization. . 2. 1 QUESTIONNAIRE DESIGN A structured questionnaire was used to gather responses apart from the preliminary interviews. The questionnaire is divided in to four main sections. Section one has eleven questions, capturing organizational demographics of the responder. Section two has six questions, to capture responder’s personal demographics. Section three is the main section of the questionnaire which captures organizations’ software quality assurance, project specific demographics and responses to test the conceptual framework. Section four is targeted to capture additional information for the conceptual framework. RESULTS OF DATA ANALYSIS Responses received had been categorized to qualitative data and quantitative data. Qualitative data had been used to understand the responder’s and company background. Quantitative responses, where the scale data is measured have been assigned scores as per following table for statisti cal analysis. Response Selected Strongly disagree Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly agree Score Assigned 1 2 3 4 5 Table 5: Rates given for questionnaire responses Each response was individually assessed to ensure data validity and integrity.Incomplete responses have been followed up with the responder with available contact information and have been able to complete in many instances. For the blank responses, score three was assigned in case the question is not applicable to the responder’s organization. Following summary shows the statistics of the questionnaire distribution and responses received. Number of Organizations that Questionnaire had been sent 47 SEA registered companies + 7 other offshore companies Total Responses Received 39 Invalid / Unusable 2 Number of Valid Responses 37Table 6: Statistics of questionnaire distribution responses received 5. 1 PILOT STUDY To test the primary data a pilot study was run among fourteen Quality Assurance Engineers at an offshore so ftware development organization, using a draft questionnaire. On the scale of reliability in order to treat results with credibility[25] and the internal consistency of the draft questionnaire, was checked by using Cronbach’s alpha coefficient. The alpha coefficient should be above . 7 for the scale to be reliable[26]. The overall Cronbach’s alpha coefficient was . 81, thus the questionnaire was considered to have a good internal consistency and suitable for collecting the data for the main study. Details of Cronbach’s alpha are discussed under Analysis of Reliability Section, below. 5. 2 PRELIMINARY ANALYSIS All thirty seven organizations selected as valid responses are exporting software. 89. 19% of the selected organizations are locally owned while 10. 81% of organizations which are in Sri Lankan operation are owned by foreign parties. 64. 86% of the target organizations are project based companies while 21. 2% of the organizations focus only on their own pro ducts. However 13. 51% of the organizations undertake client projects while they market their own products. 10 8 No. of Organizations 6 4 2 0 1. 00 2. 00 3. 00 4. 00 5. 00 6. 00 7. 00 8. 00 12. 00 14. 00 No. of years in Sri Lankan Operation Figure 8: Analysis of organizations against number of years in operation According to the above graph, most of the Sri Lankan offshore organizations under the current study have started their operation two years before. 75. 68% of the responders were males and the balance 24. 32% were females.The average age of responders was 30. 11 years. On an average, they posses one year of experience in their current position in the respective organizations. The following chart represents the education level of responders. 30 25 20 Count 15 10 5 0 Non IT Graduate IT/Comp. Science Post Graduate Graduate Deploma MSc/MBA/Post Graduate Degree Other Education Level Figure 9: Education level of responders Majority of quality assurance heads in the target organizat ions posses Information Technology or a Computer Science degree. 3. 03% Little Early 9. 09% On Time 24. 24% Too Delayed 3. 64% Little Delayed Figure 10: Project completion against estimates Responders were asked to select a completed project/product when they responded to part 3 of the questionnaire. The above pie chart highlights the project/product completion time against the estimates of the selected projects by the responders. From the selected projects/products, majority have been completed with a little delay from the estimates. Mean and the variance are calculated for each question under each independent variable and the dependent variable through the assigned scores as per Table 5.Question No. Question Mean Variance Effectiveness of Software Quality Assurance 18 19 20 21 22 23 Software QA is a very important discipline in our organization Without QA our products/services will not meet current level of customer satisfaction Our Software QA approach/practice helps us in winnin g new businesses Our organization has adequate number of QA Human Resources Our organization has invested enough in Software QA tools Our Software Development or any other Process has considered QA as a major practice 3. 622 4. 081 3. 811 3. 919 3. 514 3. 865 0. 686 0. 99 0. 658 0. 465 0. 812 0. 842 Correctness 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 â€Å"If the systems or components we deliver meet specifications to 100%†, we can say that it’s a high quality factor Systems or components we deliver, always met specifications Uniformity of functionality/operations/navigation of the designed system always contributed to high quality System maintained Uniformity of functionality/operations/navigation across individual functions If a function of a system, completes its execution without in between failures, we can say it is a high quality factor.Our systems do not fail in executing a function or procedure to its completion Our QA team measures our systems, whether they meet specifications o r not 3. 703 3. 568 3. 703 3. 324 3. 243 3. 243 4. 108 0. 604 1. 141 0. 715 1. 003 0. 745 0. 634 0. 544Testability 37 If all functionality/operations/navigation of systems could be tested enough, then we can say it denotes high quality All the functionality/operations/navigation of our systems are properly being tested by our QA team Even the complex operations of our systems are represented by simple user interactions in order to make applications simple and user friendly Our applications are decomposed in to manageable modules in implementation in a practical manner Consistent organization of modules/code are evident in our applications Our QA team measures or put emphasis on testability (Simplicity, Modularity, structuredness) of applications during the QA cycle 4. 595 0. 303 38 4. 514 0. 312 39 4. 297 0. 270 40 3. 946 0. 330 41 3. 838 0. 417 42 4. 432 0. 308 Changeability 43 If a product allows a specified modification to be implemented without much difficulty, then we can say i t denotes a high quality factor Our systems do not need much effort to accommodate minor specification changes (i. e.Adding a new field to a form) at implementation or quality assurance stage Our systems maintain low interactions between individual modules, therefore it is easier to change individual components without affecting others Our QA team measures put much emphasis to test changeability and stability of systems during the QA cycle 4. 000 0. 111 45 3. 946 0. 164 46 3. 838 0. 251 48 3. 919 0. 299 Stability 44 If the systems avoid unexpected effects after modifications, it denotes a high quality or it’s a high quality factor After the design changes done to one module, our systems have very few side effects to other modules Our QA team measures put much emphasis to test changeability and stability of systems during the QA cycle 3. 595 . 359 47 3. 703 0. 437 48 3. 919 0. 299 Installability 49 If the system could be installed in a specified environment without challenges, it denotes high quality or it can be considered as a high quality factor Our systems do not get challenged during the installation in the agreed/specified environment Our QA team measures Installability of systems they test 3. 568 0. 863 50 3. 162 3. 541 0. 862 1. 311 51 Table 7: Means and variances of questions Frequency distributions of responses to each of above questions have been presented in Appendix 2. 5. 3 SECONDARY RESULTS ANALYSIS Primary data is further analyzed to derive more meaningful results.For statistical analysis, the ratings gathered through individual questions were summed up to derive scores for individual independent variables. Variable = sum of marks for relevant questions I. e. Correctness = Q30 + Q31 + Q32 + Q33 + Q34 + Q35 + Q36 Sample Mean, where, n = sample size, and = scores Sample Variance, Standard Deviation, Following table illustrates the statistics of independent variables, which denotes the effectiveness of quality assurance. Standard Deviation 0. 569 0. 552 0. 422 0. 327 0. 445 0. 752 Variable Effectiveness of QA Correctness Testability Changeability Stability Installability Mean 3. 802 3. 556 4. 270 3. 926 3. 739 3. 423 Variance 0. 324 0. 305 0. 178 0. 107 0. 198 0. 566Table 8: Basic statistics of independent variables and the dependent variable Following is the graphical illustration of above statistics. 4. 500 4. 000 3. 500 3. 000 2. 500 2. 000 1. 500 1. 000 0. 500 0. 000 Mean Variance Std. Div. Figure 11: Basic statistics of independent variables According to the above illustration, Testability contributes to QA effectiveness most while Changeability remains at the second position. Installability was rated as of least significant to the QA Effectiveness in the subject domain. 5. 3. 1 ANALYSIS OF RELIABILITY OF DATA Cronbach’s alpha measure is used to determine how well the target independent variables measure single, unidimensional QA Effectiveness latent construct.Cronbach's alpha can be written as a function of the number of test items AND the average inter-correlation among the items. N where, N = number of items and = inter-item correlation among items. Cronbach's Alpha Based on Cronbach's Standardized Alpha ( Items . 912 . 918 Table 9: Reliability statistics N of Items 28 Cronbach’s alpha for all twenty eight questions is 0. 912, which denotes that the collected data is acceptable for the research. 5. 4 HYPOTHESES TESTING Analysis had been done to test each set of hypothesis to find out whether there are relationships defined through the hypotheses exist among independent variables and the dependent variable.The correlations between the factors hypothesized to effectiveness of quality assurance shown in the following table: Set of Hypothesis/Independent Variable H1:Correctness H2:Testability H3:Changeability H4:Stability H5:Installability ** Correlation is significant at the 0. 01 level (2-tailed). Pearson Correlation/ Effectiveness of QA . 678** . 589** . 559** . 728** . 613** Sig. (2-tailed) . 000 . 000 . 000 . 000 . 000 Table 11: Correlations between hypotheses for quality assurance Hypothesis H1: According to Hypothesis H01, Correctness which is influenced by Consistency and Completeness has a positive relationship to effectiveness of software quality assurance approach. Since this hypothesis is supported by the data analysis (Sig. value was . 000, p

Essay Chang-rae Lees novel A Gesture Life - 1117 Words

Chang-rae lee, in A Gesture Life, pictures a Japanese immigrant named Franklin Hata. Hata have been seeking assimilation into the American society. To become part of the society, Hata tries to become the perfect citizen in the society, a mascot who everyone knows and respects. To further his assimilation, he tries to complete the picture of a whole and healthy family as many ideal Americans. Through adapting Sunny, Hata wants to assimilate through a parental figure. Through parental figure that is caring, a good parent and good heritage, supremely suggesting that a parent that is successful in all is a parent that is successful in society. But Sunny plays a different character in his life, a character that alters Hatas idea as she is a†¦show more content†¦Sunny cant be the innocent symbol of benevolence and discipline related as Hata wanted. Almost a year after Sunny left Hatas home and moved to the city to live with her boyfriend, Lincoln Evans, Sunny contacts Hata because she is pregnant and she needs help. This difficulty is another instance of Hatas desperate wish to gain control of his own life by policing the bodies of women. Sunny is not only pregnant, but near full-term and Hata finds himself taken back by the broad, curving shape of her. Although anyone else would have thought that she was too long with the child, that it was much too late, that there was nothing left to do(p.339), Hata not only arranges an illegal abortion for Sunny but also assists the physician, whose nurse would likely not agree to assist such a procedure(p.343). What Hata wishes to prevent in this instance is to breed miscegenation and keep his reputation. For Sunny wants to ensure the success of Hatas assimilation, the racial makeup of her future children is essential to his success. Hata

Comparison Of Euripides Antigone And Lysistrata

Fascinatingly, two dramas can be so diverse all because of one aspect they both contain but differ in. Written during the 5th century in ancient Athens. Antigone and Lysistrata both are two important, popular plays that contain a main character that was female. Although they can both be seen as very similar, they do differ in many ways. The most important difference between Antigone and Lysistrata is that Antigone has a community that does not approve of the main character’s plans and although they feel sympathy for her, they take the opposing side, while Lysistrata has a society of people that come together to help the main character achieve her goal. This difference is important because the community’s actions play a tremendous role in the overall outcome of the play and the way the original viewers, who were only men, felt when the play finished. The conclusions and the feelings brought forth by the drama indicate the style it was written in, tragedy or comedy. An en ding with a death, leaving an audience feeling sorry creates a tragedy, as an accomplishment from something completely unrealistic would create a comedy. Antigone’s community does not involve themselves with her decisions which leaves her to fight by herself. Furthermore, this influences her tragic fate and leads the male Athenians watching to feel sorry for Antigone but unresponsive of her personal choices. In Lysistrata, the community joins Lysistrata and accomplishes to stop a war that was going on duringShow MoreRelated Comedic Violence in The Medea, The Oresteia, and Antigone Essay2353 Words   |  10 PagesComedic Violence in The Medea, The Oresteia, and Antigone      Ã‚  Ã‚   Almost no Greek tragedy escapes the use of violence. The Medea, The Oresteia, Antigone, and other classic works of Grecian tragoidia all involve huge components of violence in many prominent places, and for all of these stories, violent action is an integral part of the play. Medea, especially, is a character worthy of note in this regard; her tumultuous life can be plotted accurately along a path of aggression and passionate fits

The Pat Parker Case Essay - 644 Words

Pat Parker Case The Pat Parker Case The Pat Parker case is about a lawyer who started his own firm concentrating on writing reports and conducting political opposition research for political candidates. This particular case is about how Parker devised a research report for one particular political candidate then two years later, some trial lawyers wanted to buy the research on the Republican Attorney General. Parker was unsure on how to proceed knowing that this could potentially jeapordise the political partys candidate or even worse, he could be arrested for soliciting the information. Would Parker be violating contract law? Would he be infringing the copyright law? Would he be violating campaign statutes and other codes of ethics?†¦show more content†¦If Parker opted to sell the research, he would be breeching the contract and depending on how much of the research and other materials the Republican party used to perhaps win the elections, the Democratic party would have the right to sue for damages. You also need to ask whether Parker would be infringing the copyright law? According to the copyright law, the holder has the right to control the material covered by the copyright. In this case, the Democratic Party candidate owns the copyright since Parker provides a service to produce this data for them. Therefore, the Democratic party candidate is the only one who can decide how the materials are used, distributed, reproduced, and displayed to the public or to individuals. If the research and other materials were sold to the Republican candidate the Democratic candidate could sue in violation of the copyright. Remedies for the violation could include damages, jail time, an injunction, and/or destruction of the infringing items. Parker would have violated campaign statutes and other codes of ethics by reselling the research. Though the campaign statutes were not explicitly mentioned, they probably would have stated that selling a Partys intellectual capital was not only unethical but against campaign practices. Though the research was constructed of various news clippings and other factual data, the researchShow MoreRelatedShould Children Need Participation Trophies?1200 Words   |  5 Pageschildren do not learn valuable life lessons by receiving participation awards. Contrarily, people argue that children need participation trophies to help fuel children’s want to do better to win first or second prize. Ashley Merryman, Betty Berdan and Parker Abate wrote three separate articles discussing participation trophies. 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Creative Writting Essay- the Things They Carried Free Essays

While Rat was telling the story about Mary Anne Bell, what was Mitchell Sanders thinking? Did he believe the story? Was he sceptical? Here is an overview of exactly what he was thinking while listening to Rat’s story, and his opinion concerning certain aspects. As soon as Rat started telling me about that guy Mark Fossie who shipped his girl over to Vietnam to spend time with him, I couldn’t believe it. He says he saw the whole thing, and that he was there when everything happened, but I doubt it; Rat is the type of guy who would lie to get his story more interesting. We will write a custom essay sample on Creative Writting Essay- the Things They Carried or any similar topic only for you Order Now But anyhow, I agreed for him to tell me the story even though I was very sceptical about the whole thing. It almost seemed like he was fooling me. So I crossed my arms, and let him amuse me with his anecdote. Although Rat’s source was Fossie himself, the story seemed so over the top, Mary Anne arriving as such a sweet girl just out of high school and becoming â€Å"one with the nature† in the end. It is overwhelming how people can change depending on the environment they are put in, I thought. I had to stop Rat once, because he was totally wrecking the tone of the story. He had no consistent sound! He still was able to keep my attention until the end, mostly because I was so anxious to hear what he was going to throw at me as a conclusion knowing his information was thirdhand. I was getting pretty impatient and of course, when Rat came to tell the end of the story, it was not at all what I had expected. Never would I have thought a simple girl could have transformed into a totally different person; one ready for the kill. The story wasn’t moral and there was no point to it. That’s what made it seem so true. How to cite Creative Writting Essay- the Things They Carried, Essays

Business Law Legal Environment

Question: Discuss about the Business Law for Legal Environment. Answer: Introduction: In the contemporary world, particularly in all the countries that have a stable government and guided by the rule of law, business operations are regulated by various statutory provisions (Lampe, 2006; Cheeseman, 2007). In Singapore, for example, companies are mainly governed by the Companies Act (Han, 2016). Nonetheless, it is important to note in some cases, specific types of companies are regulated by both the Companies Act and some other laws. For instance, apart from the requirement to comply with the Companies Act, banks and insurance companies have a legal obligation to comply with the provisions of the Banking Act and the Insurance Act respectively. Moreover, limited liability partnerships, although recognized as body corporates, are regulated by the Limited Liability Partnership Act. Han (2016) also points out that besides meeting the requirements stipulated under the Companies Act, corporates are also required to comply with particular provisions found in other laws such as the Securities and Futures Act. Furthermore, the legal provisions that regulate the activities of businesses in Singapore are complemented by the Common Law. Subsequently, in one way or another, the law affects a business from the point of its inception to dissolution, thereby performing several key functions. First, the law facilitates businesses to acquire a legal status for purposes of creating legal persons that can sue and be sued (Lee Chen, 2016). In Section 17(3) of the Companies Act, an enterprise or business entity that has a membership exceeding 20 is required to be incorporated as a company (Hans, 2016). Accordingly, this enables the business to enter into contracts and act in its individual capacity when carrying out its operations. Second, business law operates to protect the rights of consumers (Wee Cheong, 2013). Accordingly, the law offers the general guiding principles for business operations, thereby making it mandatory for businesses to apply ethics and good pr actices when dealing with their customers. Consequently, this ensures that the customers are satisfied and at the same time, have their rights protected. Finally, the law provides a mechanism through which the various interests of the different stakeholders in the business are protected (Lee Chen, 2016). For example, to protect creditors of a business, business law provides a precise liquidation or winding up procedure (Hans, 2016). Consequently, financial institutions that provide credit services to business are cushioned from the possibility of losing their funds in the event a business or company is wound up. An effective arbitration clause contains four essential elements (Eisenberg, Miller Sherwin, 2007; Friedland, 2007). The first element, which incidentally is typical to all forms of agreements, is to produce compulsory consequences for the subject parties. According to Friedland (2007), the significance of this element is that it compels the parties to act in a certain positive manner so as to avoid a specified sanction. The second element is that which excludes the intervention of the state courts in case a dispute arises, at least prior to the issuance of the award. Ideally, this element is important in that it allows the parties to exhaust all the appropriate non-judicial mechanisms before considering or seeking judicial intervention which in many instances is a lengthy and expensive process (Eisenberg et al., 2007). The third key element in an arbitration clause is to accord arbitrators the power to resolve the potential disputes between the parties. Eisenberg et al. (2007) expl icate that this feature is critical because it empowers the arbitrators to make binding decisions that would help resolve the dispute in question. The final important feature in an arbitration clause is to allow the putting in place of a mechanism resulting under the ideal conditions of rapidity and efficiency to the issuance of an award that can be enforced by the courts. Overall, this feature is important because it expedites the resolution of the conflict and at the same time, it is relatively cheaper than the courts. Incidentally, an example of an arbitration clause provided by Singapore Law Committee (2016) is as hereunder: "Any dispute arising out of or in connection with this contract, including any question regarding its existence, validity or termination, shall be referred to and finally resolved by arbitration in Singapore in accordance with the Arbitration Rules of the Singapore International Arbitration Centre (SIAC Rules) for the time being in force, which rules are deemed to be incorporated by reference in this clause. The Tribunal shall consist of arbitrator(s) to be appointed by the Chairman of the SIAC. The language of the arbitration shall be . Subsequently, in cases where the parties to a contract decide to resolve their disputes using an arbitration mechanism, there is usually a significant chance that the outcome of the arbitration is a win-win for both parties (Goltsman et al., 2009; Thomas, O'Hara Martin, 2010). A good example of a successful arbitration in real life is one that involved a European software developer and an Asian Company in which there arose a dispute about the performance of the licence agreement (World Intellectual Property Organization, 2016). On prima facie of the factum, it is conclusive that Megastorez.com and Adrian were parties to a contract that is voidable. In a nutshell, a voidable contract is one that is enforceable but which may be rejected or affirmed at the discretion of one of the parties (Smith Atiyah, 2006; Anson et al., 2010; Koffman Macdonald, 2010). In the present instance, although Adrian agreed to purchase a laptop under the said terms and conditions, he is not bound to the contract due to lack of mutuality in the contract. Thus, he is capable of repudiating the contract at his discretion and thus, Meegastorez.com is under a legal obligation to deliver to him one silver coloured laptop (Model No. LP100) or alternatively, offer him a full refund. It is imperative to note that for a contract to be enforceable and bind the parties that have contracted, it must contain four essential elements, namely: offer, consideration, acceptance, and mutuality (McKendrick, 2014). In other words, if a contract lacks any of the said elements, such a contract lacks legal enforceability. McKendrick (2014) describes an offer as a promise made by one of the parties in the contract. On the other hand, consideration refers to something of value promised to the offeror in exchange for a particular action or omission. Cartwright (2009) elucidates that a consideration may take the form of a considerable expenditure of effort or money, a promise to deliver some service, or reliance on the promise. According to Chen-Wishart (2012) and Chen-Wishart (2012), it is the element of consideration that differentiates a contract from a gift. In contrast, acceptance takes place when a party responding to an offer agrees to it either by conduct or statement (Koffm an Macdonald, 2010). In general, the acceptance has to reflect the terms provided in the offer. In case the acceptance is different from the terms presented in the offer, then such acceptance is perceived to be counteroffer and a rejection (McKendrick, 2014). The final key element to an enforceable contract is mutuality, that is, the parties have a meeting of the minds so far as the agreement is concerned (Adams Brownsword, 2007). However, it appears from the current situation that Adrian and Megastorez.com were not at ad idem with regard to the sale and purchase of the laptop. Adrian was interested in a particular model of a laptop and his mind was set that once he makes the prescribed payment in accordance with the set terms, Megastorez.com would deliver to him a silver-coloured laptop. Nonetheless, to compensate Adrian, the online store delivered to him a laptop that was of a higher retail price and one that did not match the specifications he had provided. Although Megastorez. com reserves the right to substitute products, the fact that Adrian was not in mutual consent with having his product substituted when making payment makes the contract voidable in its entirety unless he accepts the delivered laptop. In the event that Adrian is unable to resolve the matter with Megastorez.com, he has the option of seeking the intervention of the court or the assistance of the Consumers Association of Singapore (CASE). According to Consumers International (2016), CASE is fully committed to advocating and protecting consumer interests in Singapore through the provision of consumer information and education. Moreover, CASE is keen in ensuring that all the relevant players comply fully with the provisions of the Fair Trading Act and the Consumer Protection (Fair Trading) Act. Thus, CASE would help Adrian appropriately because it has the appropriate resources for the same. In addition, since CASE is a not for profit entity, it would assist Adrian at no charge. It is important to note that a contract can be made orally or in writing (McKendrick, 2014). Thus, in the instant case, Lina has made several pre-contractual statements that are considered to be contractual terms in employment. First, Lina states to Ken that Ken would be working in the routine working hours of 9 am to 5 pm, Monday to Friday. The implication of this is that the company would not be assigning Ken duties and responsibilities over the weekend. Accordingly, Ken would be able to continue with his part-time studies even during weekdays, especially after 5pm. Second, Lina stated to Ken that during the working days, the Companys employees are required to wear corporate uniforms. Ideally, this statement means that since Ken would not be an office staff once hired, he would be required to be dressed in corporate uniform each hour he is on duty. In brief, if and when Ken accepts a job offer from the Company, he must be ready and willing to dress in the accepted company uniform d uring the working hours. It is also implied that if Ken works overtime, that is, past 5 pm on the weekdays and over the weekends if need be, he would be required to wear the corporate uniform. Finally, Lina made statements about Kens remuneration package, including medical benefits and the yearly leave entitled to a Company driver. It can be inferred that if Kens appointment was on a permanent basis, Lina must have mentioned to him prospective basic and gross salary he would earn at the end of the month when discussing about his remuneration package. However, if Kens appointment was on a casual basis, Lina must have disclosed the amount of wages that would be payable to Ken. Moreover, apart from the salary and wages, Lina must have also informed Ken other rewards that would accrue to his remuneration, for example meals or milk, electricity or gas, accommodation, and mobile phone for communication purpose. Regardless of the nature of the employment contract, whether written or oral, the Singaporean courts would always imply that such a contract has a provision for fair dismissal of the employee. In other words, the courts assume that even if it is not documented or mentioned at the time of entering into the contract, an employment contract has a mechanism through which an employer can dismiss an employee from work. It is now a legal fact that individuals earning a basic pay of not more than $4,500 are currently secured under the Employment Act and may seek for review against wrongful and unjustifiable dismissal by their employers with the Ministry of Manpower. The treatment of this category of workers would now be very like the majority representatives who are secured under the Employment Act. This is not withstanding that there is likewise another classification of custom-based law worker in which human resource professionals would comparably need to oversee as though they are wrongfu lly and unreasonably dismissed, the plan of action is through the common courts. In perspective of the above, there are fundamentally three classifications of employees in Singapore. The treatment of rejecting either by notification or without notification for the three classifications of workers contrast significantly. Managers ought to utilize reasonable techniques while dismissing their employees because supplanting them is costly and claims for illegal dismissal can be exorbitant and tedious to the Company. Incidentally, the court is always focused on promoting justice and fairness and consequently, if it establishes that an employ was dismissed in an unfair manner that cannot be deemed to be reasonable, it would be inclined to issue a judgment that would be in favour to the subject employee. Overall, despite the absence of a term that describes the procedure or manner an employee would be terminated from work, the courts always imply that there is always such a term in the employment contracts and that such terms are consistent with the principles of administrative active, which include the employ being notified of the intention to terminate their services. More importantly, such notices must have justifiable reasons for reaching that decision and simultaneously, the employee must be accorded a n opportunity to be heard so far as such notice is concerned. There are instances in which employees have invoked this implied term in court. For example in Chan Miu Yin v Philip Morris Singapore Pte Ltd [2011]SGHC161, the plaintiff argued that there is an implied term of employment contract that a worker cannot be dismissed unfairly or without due diligence (Wong, 2013). Although the court agreed with this submission, it dismissed the application because the merits of the case could not satisfy a ruling in his favour. References Adams, J. N., Brownsword, R. (2007). Understanding contract law. London, UK: Sweet Maxwell. Anson, W. R., Beatson, J., Burrows, A. S., Cartwright, J. (2010). Anson's law of contract. London, UK: Oxford University Press. Cartwright, J. (2009). The English Law of Contract: Time for Review?. European Review of Private Law, 17(2), 155-175. Cheeseman, H. R. (2007). Business law: Legal environment, online commerce, business ethics, and international issues. Upper Sadle River, NJ: Prentice Hall. Chen-Wishart, M. (2012). Contract law. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. Consumers International (2016). Consumers International - Our members - Member directory. Retrieved 22 August 2016, from https://www.consumersinternational.org/our-members/member-directory/CASE%20-%20Consumers%20Association%20of%20Singapore Eisenberg, T., Miller, G. P., Sherwin, E. (2007). Arbitration's Summer Soldiers: An Empirical Study of Arbitration Clauses in Consumer and Nonconsumer Contracts. U. Mich. JL Reform, 41, 871. Friedland, P. D. (2007). Arbitration clauses for international contracts. Huntington, NY: Juris Publishing, Inc.. Goltsman, M., Hrner, J., Pavlov, G., Squintani, F. (2009). Mediation, arbitration and negotiation. Journal of Economic Theory, 144(4), 1397-1420. Han, C.T . (2016). Ch.16 Singapore Company Law. Retrieved 21 August 2016, from https://www.singaporelaw.sg/sglaw/laws-of-singapore/commercial-law/chapter-16 Koffman, L., Macdonald, E. (2010). The law of contract. Oxford University Press. Lampe, M. (2006). A new paradigm for the teaching of business law and legal environment classes. Journal of Legal Studies Education, 23(1), 1-51. Lee, Pey Woan and Chen, Christopher C. H.. Modernising Company Law: The Singapore Experience. (2016).Company and Securities Law Journal. , 34(2) , 157. Research Collection School of Law. McKendrick, E. (2014). Contract law: text, cases, and materials. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. Singapore Law Committee (2016) .Sample Clauses. Retrieved 21 August 2016, from https://www.singaporelaw.sg/sglaw/resources/sample-clauses Smith, S. A., Atiyah, P. S. (2006). Atiyah's Introduction to the Law of Contract. OUP Oxford. Thomas, R., O'Hara, E., Martin, K. (2010). Arbitration Clauses in CEO Employment Contracts: An Empirical and Theoretical Analysis. Vand. L. Rev., 63, 957. Wee, C. H., Cheong, C. (2013). Determinants of consumer satisfaction/dissatisfaction towards dispute settlements in Singapore. Asia Pacific International Journal of Marketing. Wong, R. J. (2013). Employment ContractsTermination and Dismissal. Singapore Law Gazette, December. World Intellectual Property Organization (2016).WIPO Arbitration Case Examples. Retrieved 22 August 2016, from https://www.wipo.int/amc/en/arbitration/case-example.html