Health Studies Dissertation Examination of Eating Habits That Affect Adult BMI
The dissertation will determine whether or not there is a close relationship between the identified dependent (i.e. the adult students’ actual BMI level) and independent variables (i.e. the habit of eating in fast food restaurants, adult students’ wealth or disposable income, and heavy marketing activities and advertisements on fast food logo/brand).
The dissertation accurately determine whether or not there a close relationship between the identified dependent (i.e. the adult students’ actual BMI level) and independent variables (i.e. habit of eating in fast food restaurants, the adult students’ disposable income or wealth, and heavy marketing activities and advertisements on fast food logo/brand), a total of 50 adult students will be invited to participate in the actual quantitative research study.
After requiring each of the 50 research participants to complete the research survey questionnaire, the researcher will gather and analyse the gathered data. As such, a regression analysis was performed in this study. Some of the quantitative data was analysed based on multiple regression, R Square (R2), t stat, P-values, and significance F values. Regression analysis result shows no direct relationship between increase in the adult students’ BMI level and factors such as the habit of eating in fast food restaurants, the adult students’ wealth or disposable income, and heavy marketing activities and advertisements on fast food logo or brand.
Adult BMI
Adult BMI Dissertation Objectives
The main objective of this study is to examine the perception of students with regards to the relationship between the identified dependent and independent variables. In this study, independent variables include habit of eating in fast food restaurants, adult students’ wealth or disposable income, and heavy marketing activities and advertisements on fast food logo or brand whereas dependent variable is the adult students’ actual BMI. Based on the students’ perception, is there a close relationship between the identified dependent and independent variables? As such, this study will focus on testing the following research hypotheses:
H1 = There is a relationship between the students’ actual BMI and the adult students’ wealth or disposable income
H2 = There is a relationship between the students’ actual BMI and heavy marketing activities and advertisements on fast food logo or brand
H3 = There is a relationship between the students’ actual BMI and the habit of eating in fast food restaurants.
Becoming overweight and obese can lead to the development of controllable diseases. Therefore, it is necessary to continuously examine and identify all factors that can contribute the increase in the student’s weight and adult BMI level. The adult students’ increase in adult BMI level is highly dependent on so many factors. Poor eating habits, sedentary lifestyle, and poor socio-economic factors such as low income could increase a person’s risks of becoming obese.
It appears that the coupling between energy intake and energy expenditure is at the heart of the obesity epidemic, both of which are greatly influenced by psycho-social factors and the environment in which we live and work. Currently the evidence points to changes in the level of physical activity and food system, which is producing more processed, affordable, and effectively marketed high-energy food. These changes in my opinion have led to a positive energy balance causing the obesity epidemic. Policies that encourage and promote physical activities and a change towards healthier food are needed to reverse the epidemic.
Dissertation Contents
1 – Introduction
Background on Obesity and BMI
Statement of the Problem
Purpose of the Proposed Investigation
Research Objectives
Research Questions and Hypotheses
2 – Literature Review
General Information about BMI
Significance of Race and Ethnicity in the Accuracy of BMI
Impact of Fast Food on BMI
Other Factors that Can Affect Changes in a Person’s BMI
Summary
3 – Research Methodology
Primary Research Study Design
Data Collection Tools
Sample and Population of Research Participants
Data Analysis
Research Ethics
4 – Research Findings and Discussion
Research Findings
Demographic Profile of Research Respondents
BMI Level
Eating Health and Well-Balanced Food
Lifestyle and Physical Activities
Budget Allocation for Fast Food Restaurants
Common Reasons for Eating in Fast Food Restaurants
Adult Students’ Perception of the Given Statements
Relationship between Dependent and Independent Variables
Discussion
5 – Conclusion and Recommendations
Conclusion
Recommendations for Future Research Study
I do hope you enjoyed reading this post on eating habits and how it affects adult BMI. There are many other titles available in the health studies dissertation collection that should be of interest to construction management students and building professionals.
There are many dissertation titles that relate to other aspects of health and nursing such as project management within the NHS, midwifery, nursing techniques and treatment of mental health to name a few. It took a lot of time to write this post and I would be grateful if you could share this post via Facebook and Twitter. Feel free to add your thoughts in the comments section. Thank you.
This Organizational HRM research paper focuses on Unilever which is an Anglo-Dutch multinational consumer goods company. It’s headquarter is located in London and its product range includes food, beverages, personal care products and cleaning agents. After Nestle and Procter & gamble, it is considered to be the third largest consumer goods company. The products of Unilever are available in almost 190 countries. Some of the major objectives of Unilever include maximization of the profits by providing quality service to the customers. Similarly, it also aims to achieve operational excellence by increasing the efficiency and effectiveness of the employees (Zisa, 2010). Furthermore, another important objective of the Unilever is the retention of the employees which is done by providing them excellent service. Moreover, producing innovative and high quality products is also another objective of Unilever. Human resource management (HRM) plays a very important role in the achieving the objectives of any organization. Similarly, the role of HRM is also very important in helping Unilever to attain its objectives. An important function of HRM is to hire and train the employees.
The HR department at Unilever not only hires the quality staff but also provides them training which increases their efficiency and effectiveness. The HR department of Unilever trains the employees in such a way that not only their service towards the customers improve but they also they achieve operational excellence as there are minimum wastes in all the operations of the organizations. The role of Organizational HRM in Unilever is not only limited to hiring and training the employees but also devising a proper compensation and benefits policies for the employees is also an important task of Organizational HRM. At Unilever, all the employees are provided appropriate incentives in order to increase their motivation towards their work. It is one of the reasons that the employees of Unilever remain committed and help the organization in achieving all its objectives. Thus, Organizational HRM increases the efficiency and effectiveness of the employees who demonstrate excellence in their respective departments due to which the overall efficiency of the organization increases and it achieves all its objectives successfully (Shantz & Latham, 2011).
Role of Organizational HRM at Unilever
HRM plays an important role in the overall success of the Unilever. With the help of Organizational HRM not only the best employees are hired but are also provided excellent training to increase their efficiency and effectiveness. Similarly, the motivation of the employees is increased with the help of proper compensation and benefits policy (Price, 2011). There are many benefits for the employees like monthly bonuses, promotions and incentives which are all associated with their performance. Those employees who achieve their targets are rewarded accordingly. Similarly, Organizational HRM also plays an important role in providing the excellent services to the customers (Price, 2011). The relevant staffs who directly interact with the customers are provided special training in order to win the new customers and retain the existing customers for a long period. Furthermore, performance management and performance appraisal of the employees is also an important role which is played by Organizational HRM in Unilever. At Unilever, the feedback of HRM is also considered to be very important in the key decisions of the organizations. For instance, if the organizations intends to expand into a new country than the HR department will also have to devise the plan for the recruitment of the staff in that area. Moreover, Organizational HRM also plays an important role in planning, organizing, staffing, controlling and budgeting at Unilever.
Recruitment and Retention Strategies
The recruitment and the retention of the employees are considered to be very important in different organizations. It is the role of Organizational HRM to not only to recruit the best talent for the organizations but to also retain them for a long time. The recruitment at Unilever is done on a constant basis and a candidate has to go several tests and interviews before the final selection. The major aim of recruitment tests is to check the aptitude and critical thinking abilities of the employees and only those employees are finally selected who meet these two requirements. The recruitment process begins with the advertisement for the recruitment after which the applications are received and among those applications the applicants are shortlisted who have on the basis of their qualification and experience that have to then appear in the interview (Hendry, 2012).
After the success in the initial interview, the candidates are asked to appear in the second interview before the panel and after success in the second interview the candidates are finally hired. The hired employees are then provided orientation about the major operations of the organization. The role of Organizational HRM does not only end at recruitment but also retaining the employees is also considered to be an important function of the HR. Unilever provides lots of benefits and incentives in order to retain the employees for a long term. The employees are provided bonuses and promotions on a constant basis. Similarly, all the managers are trained to treat their subordinates well and increase their motivation by providing them all the support. Furthermore, a consultative approach is applied at Unilever and all the major decisions of the organization are taken with the consultation of the employees which also increases their motivation. Thus, the employees are not provided the monetary benefits but also a get a sense of recognition which due to which they stay with the organization for a long period of time (Hendry, 2012).
Developing Employees in the Organization
The development of the employees is very important for the success of the organization. There are various techniques and strategies which are implemented at Unilever in order to increase the motivation of the employees. A variety of strategies are employed at Unilever in order to develop the employees in an effective way. The workforce is organized in such a way at Unilever which encourages team work among the employees. Team work is very essential for achieving the goals of the organization. The teams could be formed either within the same department or among the different departments. The role of Organizational HRM is very important in creating a spirit of teamwork among the employees (Armstrong & Taylor, 2014). At Unilever, the employees are provided training which encourages team work among them. For the development of the employees it is also essential that apart from the traditional sessions, they must also be provided additional training.
Organizational HRM Dissertation
Therefore, Unilever conducts seminars, meetings, weekend retreats, mentoring and web-based training programs are all considered to be very important in increasing the knowledge of the employees. Furthermore, it is also essential for the employees that they should be held accountable for their productivity. Unilever expects best work from its employees and conducts regular assessments in order to judge the performance of each employee. The assessments also help the organization to determine the effectiveness of the training model and make changes wherever possible. Furthermore, the use of the reinforcement techniques is also considered to be very important for the development of the employees (Armstrong & Taylor, 2014). By using the reinforcement techniques, the productive behaviors are encouraged and the counterproductive behaviors are avoided. There are four forms reinforcement which are employed at Unilever for the development of the employees. These include positive reinforcement, negative reinforcement, punishment and extinction.
Ensuring the engagement of the employees
The techniques which are used for the development of the employees significantly increase the engagement of the employees. They skills that are provided to them to work in different teams increase their performance and they take active part in all the teams which are wither formed within the same departments or among the different departments. Similarly, the additional training which is provided to the employees also increases their productivity and effectiveness and their knowledge also increases to great extent. The productivity of the employees also increases as they think that they will be assessed on the basis of their performance (Sharma, 2013). The performance appraisal also helps the employees to increase their performance and they take active part in all the activities. Moreover, due to the reinforcement techniques which are used for the development of the employees, the employees engage in the productive behaviors. Those employees who work well are provided recognition for their accomplishments using the positive reinforcement. Thus, the strategies which are used for the development of the employees increase their overall performance and they engage in productive activities which are not only rewarding for the organization but are also detrimental to the success of the organization (Armstrong & Taylor, 2014).
HRM department Strategies
The HRM department can play an important role in helping the organization to achieve its goals. There are many. Thus the HRM department must employ effective strategies which should encourage the achievement of the organizational strategy. The HRM department must devise an effective recruitment strategy with the help of which the best employees are selected for the organization. Similarly, the creation of an effective training program is also very essential with the help of which the productivity and knowledge of the employees could be increased. The HRM department must also devise a proper compensation and benefits program which should increase the motivation of the employees and encourage them to work hard (Sharma, 2013). The performance appraisal of the employees is also an important function of the HRM department which will significantly increase the motivation of the employees. The achievement of the organizational strategy of an organization is totally dependent upon the effective HRM strategies. Thus, the HRM department must keep into consideration the organizational strategy and use the effective strategies for achieving the organizational strategy.
Planning Human Resource Requirements
The planning of the human resource requirements is very essential for the success of the organization. The human resource is an important resource for the organization and if the organization does not have this important resource then it will face lots of difficulties. The organization must plan the human resource requirements in such a way that it should neither have the employees in excess nor in shortage. The Human resource planning at Unilever is done in effective way at Unilever (Zisa, 2010). The employ retention ratio is very high at Unilever and most of the employees do not leave the organization. But even then the organization keeps the employees in loop. Furthermore, the organization hires the employees on an annual basis from the reputable universities as every year many of its employees retire as well. Furthermore, due to the expansion in new country or the development of some new product or project, the human resource requirements are planned in advance and are hired subsequently. In planning the human resource requirements, it is ensured at Unilever that the employees are neither recruited in excess nor in shortage.
Management of Physical Resources
The management of the physical resources is considered to be very important for the success of the organization. The physical resources include production facilities, marketing facilities and information technology (Milan, Edita & Aleksandar, 2014). The production facilities include location of the production facilities, investment and maintenance, capacity and production processes. The marketing facilities include marketing management process and distribution channels. Furthermore, the information technology includes IT systems (Milan, Edita & Aleksandar, 2014).
The following table indicates the objectives of the Unilever and the physical objectives required to achieve each of these objectives.
Organizational HRM Objectives
Physical Resources
Resource Management Implications
To maximize profits
Production facilities, marketing management facilities, Information technology
The profits can be increased significantly by management of all these resources
To increase customer satisfaction
Marketing management process, Ensuring quality
The effective marketing management processes and excellent quality will increase the satisfaction of the customers
Expansion of business into new countries
Increasing production processes, Getting new facilities
In order to expand the business the new facilities must be hired and the production processes should also be increased
Development of new products
Increasing capacity and increasing distribution channels
For the development of the new products the existing capacity should be increased along with the distribution channels.
The physical resources are considered to be very important at Unilever. The locations of the facilities are properly selected in the different countries. Similarly, the production facilities and the marketing facilities are also managed in an effective way. The physical resources are managed in an effective way at Unilever at whether it is the management of the production facility or that of the distribution facility it is done effectively. Furthermore, Unilever achieves the operational excellence by properly managing its physical resources. The planning of the physical resources at Unilever is done by keeping in consideration its objectives (Zisa, 2010).
Marketing Activities
The marketing activities are very important for an organization and help it to achieve its goals in an effective way. With the help of the marketing campaign the objectives of the organization can e achieved in an effective way. With the help of the marketing activities an organization selects its target market and provides its offerings in the best possible to way to its target market. One of the major objectives of every organization is to increase the satisfaction of the customers and it could be done by providing them quality service along with discounts and other offerings. An important marketing activity involves promotion of the products of the company and different medium of advertising are used by the companies like online advertising, advertisement through TV and advertisement through newspapers and magazines (Kington et al., 2012). The marketing and promotional activities have also become very important due to the competitive environment. Unilever relies heavily on the marketing activities for the achievement of its objectives. All the products of Unilever are marketed in an effective way in order to get the attention of the customers. With the help of the marketing activities Unilever presents its product in a best possible way to its customers which thus increases the chances it success. Thus, the marketing activities are directly related to the success of the company and help it to achieve its objectives (Kington et al., 2012).
Market Operations
The marketing operations of the Unilever are different from the other local and small companies. It is due to the fact that it is a multinational company and has presence in more in almost 190 countries of the world. Therefore, the marketing operations of Unilever are also global. Unilever produces a variety brands and it devices a separate marketing campaign for each of its brands. Furthermore, Unilever has also an effective marketing mix for its products. It has an efficient distribution network with the help of which the products reach the customers in effective way. The pricing of the products are also done differently in the different countries based on the buying power of the customers. The promotions of the products are also done using the different modes of advertising. Before devising a marketing campaign for a brand, the target market is kept into consideration. For instance, in many developing countries, the online advertising is yet not very effective so the advertisement through TV is only used in these counties as it is considered to be effective in these countries. The packaging of the products is also done in different sizes with different prices in order to facilitate the customers. Thus, the overall marketing operations of Unilever have been quite successful which can be ascertained from its overall global success (Kotler & Armstrong, 2013).
Processes used by the Organization
Different processes are used by Unilever for the development of its markets. The first step in this regard includes market segmentation in which the market is segmented. The second step involves the selecting the target market which are considered as the potential customers of the company. A detailed research is conducted before selecting the target market for the company. Once the target market is selected, the next step is to provide the products and offerings of the company to the selected market. The company introduces its products with an effective distribution network accompanies with a powerful promotion (Zisa, 2010). The promotion activities involve marketing the product using different medium of advertising. The advertising could either be done with the help of TV, newspapers and magazines or through internet. Furthermore, the pricing and packaging of the different products is also done keeping in view the needs and buying capacity of the consumers of that market.
Information Systems Management (ISM)
Information systems Management (ISM) involve the application of the information to support the major activities or functions of the organization. At Unilever, ISM is considered to be very important for achieving the objectives of the organization. With the help of the ISM all the activities of the organization are linked with each other (Laudon & Laudon, 2011). The communication among the different departments is considered to be very critical and ISM facilitates the effective communication among the different departments. Similarly, the coordination among the different departments enables them to be focused on achieving the objectives of the organization. With the help of the ISM information resource managed effectively in the entire organization and important information among the different departments of the organization is shared in an effective way (Chaffey & White, 2010). The ISM is usually used in the functional areas of the organization such as manufacturing, finance, marketing and human resources. With the help of the ISM all the major information of the business is shared among the different functional departments and key people which increases the overall efficiency of the organization and helps it in achieving its objectives.
Planning IS requirements
The IS requirements are planned in an effective way at Unilever. The IS requirements are planned at Unilever depending on the nature of the product. The IS requirements are planned according to the overall strategies of the organization. If for a certain product or process more coordination is required among the different functional areas then the IS requirements are planned accordingly. On the other hand, if the information is only to be shared only between the few departments such as marketing and finance then the IS requirements are planned accordingly by Unilever (Zisa, 2010).
References
Armstrong, M., & Taylor, S. (2014). Armstrong’s handbook of Organizational HRM practice. Kogan Page Publishers.
Chaffey, D., & White, G. (2010). Business information management: improving Organizational HRM performance using information systems. Pearson Education.
Hendry, C. (2012). Human Resource Management – Organizational HRM. Routledge.
Kington, H., Chapman, M., Clarke, C., & Beesley, S. (2012). Principles of marketing. BSAVA manual of small animal practice management and development, 462-477.
Kotler, P., & Armstrong, G. (2013). Principles of Marketing 15th Global Edition. Pearson.
Laudon, K. C., & Laudon, J. P. (2011). Essentials of management information systems. Upper Saddle River: Pearson.
Milan, D., Edita, K., & Aleksandar, A. (2014). Organizational HRM As Competitive Advantage Factor Of An Organization. Of Economics And Law, 30.
Price, A. (2011). Human resource management. Cengage Learning.
Shantz, A., & Latham, G. (2011). The effect of primed goals on employee performance: Implications for Organizational HRM. Human Resource Management, 50(2), 289-299.
Sharma, M. (2013). Organizational HRM.
Zisa, L. (2010). An analysis of Unilever’s legal form, financial performance and business strategy.
The exposure of cloud computing is being increased day by day. Each and every organization, whether it’s online or offline, is trying to induce the effective cloud computing due to countless number of reasons and benefits. The federal government of US is has also planned to incorporate the cloud computing services due to number of benefit such as the reduction of costs, relief to taxpayers, robustness, reliability etc. The first part of this paper talks about the term of cloud computing as it defines it through various perspectives. The second part of this paper talks about the architectures of cloud computing which have been developed and being utilized with the real world and further talks about these architectures briefly. The next part of this paper highlights the needs of federal government which urge for the development and deployment of cloud computing infrastructure. The upcoming part reflects the impacts of cloud computing on federal government along with the issues, risks and benefits after the implication. The next part talks about the models which have been developed for cloud computing and are being utilized by the federal government. The upcoming part of this paper talks about the issues and risks which are being faced by the government due to the implementation of cloud computing models. The upcoming parts talk about the accumulative advantages and disadvantages.
Introduction
Cloud computing is becoming more widespread in the IT industry. In fact, the demand for cloud computing services over the past few years has seen an enormous surge of investment in infrastructure and gained a reputation as a model with broad use. According to the National Institute of Standards and Technologies (NIST), cloud computing is a model for enabling convenient, on-demand network access to a shared pool of configurable computing resources (networks, servers, storage, applications, and services) that can be rapidly provisioned and released with minimal management effort or service provider interaction. From an economic standpoint, cloud computing implementation benefits the federal government in several ways by: connecting its constituents more rapidly and efficiently, streamlining services and requests, making service more reliable, and providing significant expenditure savings.
What is Cloud Computing?
Cloud computing can be referred as an internet metaphor, the interconnected computers over internet in a diagram represents a cloud which further represents a network. In cloud computing the files are stored over the servers as they host these files and form a cloud by making those file available to countless servers and computers which are accessible over internet in web browser instead of desktop. (Miller, 2008, Ch. 1) The cloud computing makes the access to specific data effortless as the cloud formed by the hosted servers enables the user to access the file anywhere on any computer with the facility of internet as it just requires a web browser for this purpose.The cloud computing also enabled the users to work in collaboration in form of groups such as the group’s members can easily access the documents and programs without the barriers of location. The current technological situation has enabled every user to get involved in cloud computing for both the commercial and domestic purposes. There are countless programs which being utilized by individuals over internet without consent that they are using cloud computing, these applications consists Apple Mobile Me and Google calendar which are solely based over web. Apart from this, there are many online platforms which are offering the hosting and sharing facilities such website contribute to cloud computing. Picasa Web Album and Flicker are also an example of cloud computing where snaps are shared over the cloud and can be accessed anywhere in the world. One of the main reason for the implementation of cloud computing is that it offers faster, cost effective and flexible amalgam of technologies and involves various tools for its achievement. Cloud computing can be referred as a transformed model of computing where the operations and computation are carried out over the data somewhere on cloud. (Gillam, 2010 p. 3) The cloud can be referred as a center for data collection by third party. Cloud computing is referred to systems software, hardware which further include the applications which perform their services on internet. The cloud with the paid facilities for public is called public cloud.
Architecture of Cloud Computing
The architecture of cloud computing consist of specific design which is further based on software application, these application utilize on demand services and internet access (Gillam, 2010, p. 24) The architecture of cloud is an infrastructure which utilized its resources when they are asked to perform specific jobs, when the job is completed, these resources are relinquished after disposal. This architecture has enabled the cloud services to be utilized anywhere in the world using one cloud access point. The cloud services consist of platform, infrastructure and applications. The services which are provided by cloud work under real time environment over internet.
Figure 1: Cloud Computing Architecture
Software as Service (SaaS)
Software as a service or SaaS platform works concurrently; these services use the single instances to support both the application and the object code along with the interaction with the database. This service deals with the number of concurrent client connections in real time environment by using the shared resources. SaaS uses Application Service Provider models. The service providers using models are NetSuit, SalesForce.com, Microsoft and IBM etc.
Platform as a Service (PaaS)
This service is meant for developers as it enables the developers to work on a platform for the provision cloud services by development, deployment, testing, and implementation of web based applications services. Through this, it has become very easy for developers to craft the applications for business purposes to be utilized over internet. The very reason behind the invention of PaaS system was to solve the problem of creation and maintenance of infrastructure so reduce the time consumptions. There are many key examples of PaaS which include Microsoft’s Azure, Google AppEngine and Heroku etc. PaaS provides the swift development of services and tools as compared to the traditional methods in quick manner.
Hardware as a Service (HaaS)
This service model has been developed for enterprise solutions as it allows the consumers to acquire the hardware license in direct manner. It allows the pay as you subscriptions services to cope with the needs of data centers. The entrepreneurs mostly lean towards this model as it alleviates the need of management and building of data centers.
Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS)
Infrastructure as services is also referred as IaaS, the computer infrastructure with this approach is utilized as service. It not only provides the flexibility but also provides the intelligent usage based scheme of payment such as the consumers only pay when they grow. This also gives the satisfaction to consumers that they are utilizing up to date technology. The consumers can easily acquire the swift delivery time with this type of services. There are various companies which are based on infrastructure as service include Flexiscale, GoGrid, AppNexeus, Layered Technologies, Mosso, Joyent and Rackspace etc. The cloud modes further consists of further 3 parts which are private cloud, Public Cloud and Hybrid Cloud.
Virtualization
Virtualization is referred as a technology which couples the abstraction of operating system and hardware. The physical resources are abstracted with logical resources to reduce cost reduction, enhancement of flexibility, agility which in return enhances business values. In cloud computing, there are different types virtualizations such as storage, network, server virtualizations. The server virtualization can be referred as multiple logical partition or representation of single physical resources. The virtualized environment enables to shrunk, expand, move or create the computing environment dynamically accordingly to the underlying demands. This is the very reason due which the virtualization is incorporated into the infrastructure of dynamic cloud as it offers significant advantages regarding isolation, sharing and manageability. There exist numerous solutions which are introduced in market for the management of various solutions such as VMWare, VirtualBox, XEN, KVM and MVMM etc.
Need of Cloud Computing and Federal Government
The US Federal Government has intended to save billions by incorporating the new technology of cloud computing to information systems. The new system development was initiated by the US federal government in order to save billions under the expanses of government operation along with the impact reduction over data centers operating under government. The very reason behind this initiative is to get rid of business regarding data centers. Currently the US federal government is running approximately 1100 data centers. (Stair, Reynolds, 2011, p. 512) For this purpose, the government is intending to outsource the data centers to the cloud operators under SaaS infrastructure which would also be responsible for the consolidation of remaining confidential and sensitive data storing operations with the new cloud computing technology of virtualization. Through this process, the accomplishment will require very less number of servers. The government would be able to reduce greenhouse gases emission along with the reducing in spending by reducing the data centers to 90%.
The very first step for the implementation of clouding computing taken by the federal government was the introduction of an application store for the federal agencies. This application store www.apps.gov provided the links of essential business applications such as social media, productivity applications. These services are currently being provided by the PaaS, SaaS and IaaS vendors. These data centers are incorporated with the securities and service policies vetted by the government. These cloud services can enable the federal agencies to adopt and discover the services of cloud computing from this website for the development of their own system projects. A website www.infor.apps.gov has been introduced by General Services Administration (GSA) which has depicted the helping material which is responsible for the understanding development amongst agencies regarding the pros and cons related to cloud computing along with the discovery of useful applications. It is presumed that with the implication of cloud computing, the agencies would be able to save and reap the benefits of clouding computing by shifting their data from government data centers to cloud services. The data center project of government is being referred as the largest consolidation project by federal government. It depicts the trend of transformation of data from private and small data centers to big data centers such as Amazon, Google, Microsoft and many other vendors which are providing cloud computing services abiding by the government compliance and regulations.
Impact of Cloud Computer on Federal Government
According to analysts, the current economic situation and has badly impacted the financial situation of government and to minimize this stress, it is being urged to adopt the cloud computing first at government sector. It is fact that the new technology of cloud computing provides the financial rebates along with the lower energy consumption and higher utilization for the provision of availability of applications. Due to the availability of countless benefits of cloud computing, many organizations are eagerly willing to adopt this technology with intention to face the challenges related with it. Due to the tight budgets of governments, it has become mandatory to adopt the new technology of cloud computing as it is very cost effective methods of inducing new technologies into government. It is presumed that the shifting of government information systems to cloud computing would significantly aid the government for server management and also emphasize the critical technology in government agencies. The cloud computing technology enables the organizations to focus over the core business technologies. The impact of cloud computing, under the context of budget, is really eye opening on US federal government information systems.
The analyst firm from public sector has estimated that the investment by the federal government in IT sector would significantly increase at the annual rate of 3.5% which would further reach to $90 billion in 2014. Besides this, it is estimated that the growth with the implementation and deployment of cloud computing will boost the growth and it would be estimated 30% annually under the same time frame. The analyst firm further revealed that the investment by federal government over cloud computing services will be triple in upcoming five years. (Sobh, 2010, p. 8) This calculation has given an estimation that the federal government would need to invest approximately 1 billion for services offered by cloud computing. The market analyst has depicted that the cloud computing portrays the basic reconsideration of investment in IT sector. Furthermore, 40% compound annual growth rate has been depicted by market analysis for federal sector spending for cloud computing.
Current Cloud Computing Models in Federal Government
Computing clouds are based on deployment models and services (Sosinsky, 2011, p. 5). The deployment models refer to the management and location of infrastructure of cloud while the services models enable the provision of various services over the platform of cloud computing.
NIST Model
The major customer of computer resources is United States government and hence included in the significant users of cloud computing environments. The national institute of standards and technology (NIST) has defined the definition of working which further distinguish the deployment and services models of cloud computing. The model developed by the NIST did not ask for pool of virtual resources neither it falls under the definition of multi-tenancy. According to the latest definition of cloud computing by NIST, it is stated that the cloud computing networks support both the multi-tenancy and virtualization at the same time. The cloud computing is being renovated to architectures which are based on services and it is expected that the NIST may include those features in future in its model as well.
The Cloud Cube Model
The cloud cube model is maintained by an open group which is named as Jericho forum, the main focus of this group the security concerns of cloud computing networks. The interesting model invented by this groups categorizes the network into four dimensions which are physical location of the data, ownership, security boundary and sourcing.
Deployment Models
A deployment model mainly defines the core purpose for the creation of a cloud along with its nature and location. There are four deployment models which are further defined by NIST which are public cloud, private cloud, hybrid cloud and community cloud. The infrastructure of public cloud is openly available to public usage and is run by the cloud service selling organizations. The private cloud infrastructure refers to the cloud being utilized for specific organization of government agency. The private clouds are operated, managed and maintained by third party or organization itself. The hybrid cloud consists of all public, private and community clouds as a single unit with boundaries between them. A community cloud is referred as a cloud where it serves or performs the common purpose or function.
Service Models
The deployment models refer to the deployment of infra structure, since the cloud services provided by the different vendors have some addition of subtraction of additional services. For this type of services, service models are defined. The service models are defined as something as a service such as infrastructure as service (IaaS), platform as service (PaaS) and software as service (SaaS) which already defined above in this paper.
Issues Regarding Implementation and Deployment of Cloud Computing to Federal Government
Cloud computing paves both the negative and positive impacts such as the security of information can be increased or decreased in federal agency systems. The vigorous security benefits incorporate the latest technology named virtualization for faster development of security patches such as the scalability of economics which includes the cost reduction from threats. (Wilshusen, 2010, p.2) The risk is based over the assurance provided by the vendor and dependency upon the security measures as well. Furthermore it is also concerned with the computer resources sharing. The intensity of the risk may also be found varying as it also depends upon the deployment model. The implementation of private clouds into the federal government also bears the risks of low intensity. However, to address the security issues, a thorough examination is mandatory regarding the security controls before the implementation of cloud computing at place. Federal government is giving its hectic efforts to address the security issues related information systems for cloud computing. The very reason which preventing these efforts is lack of guidance due which all efforts have become vague and incomplete. Many federal government agencies have incorporated specific security measures according to their needs but there is not generic guidance has been developed. For instance, there are nearly nine federal government agencies which have undergone the agreement of cloud computing with vendors having the approved procedures and policies. Many federal agencies have also pointed out the issues and challenges which are being faced by already defined security guidance along with the implementation process. It also includes the concerns regarding the compliance of cloud computing service vendors with the information system security policies and requirements and the distribution of obligations between vendor and customers.
However, there are many organizations which have initiated the security measures regarding cloud computing which are General Services Administration (GSA), Office of Management and Budget (OMB). OMB has started the strategies for cloud computing which were under process, during this process GSA has started its own strategies for the procurement of cloud computing and undergone countless challenges. On the other hand, NIST has also induced its efforts for information security concerns for cloud computing but still it has not promulgated the security guidance for cloud computing security. It is comprehended that if the agencies remain unable to develop the authentic and effective security guidance, it might become impossible to implement significant security controls for cloud computing applications.
Advantages of Cloud Computing
There are countless advantages which are associated with cloud computing consist of up time, scalability, cost, convenience along with environment can be referred as few major beneficial constraints (Kozloff, 2010, p. 7).
Convenience
The federal government can easily limit the expanses by adopting the cloud computing environment in a convenient way as it offers the mature infra structure where the federal government would not be worried about the delivery of electricity or power. The services are provided on demand, which makes the acquisition of information or data convenience as it reduces and balances the load significantly. So, the data shifted to cloud computing can be acquired from any communicating device.
Cost
One of the major advantage which is associated with cloud computing is the cost effectiveness. It is misunderstood by many consumers that the cloud computing services are only available to federal agencies due to heavy costs and expense. But, in fact, the cloud computing services are much affordable and come with the structured price plan. It is also a fact that cloud computing cannot be considered as the cheapest solution but it still saves the consumer from overrun costs. Hence federal government has introduced the cloud computing to prevent the overrun costs annually.
Reliability
The federal government, with the implementation of cloud computing, can easily alleviate the need of data centers. These services are offered by the data centers having specialization in software, personal management along with the hardware setup. These data centers further accommodate frequent update and upgrade of both the operating software and underlying hardware. Cloud computing is referred as mirror such as the consumer can reach it from anywhere in the world without having any problem regarding location while the data is placed on another location. This phenomenon gives the federal government regarding the reliability of sensitive information and data as it would be able to keep the location of cloud secret while it would be accessible by federal departments.
Scalability
One of the major advantage which is favored by the federal government for the deployment of cloud computing is its scalability. It means that according to the governmental changing demands, the cloud computing environment can be extended or shrunken according to changing needs.
The Environment
The virtualization technology under cloud computing has made its application of flexible due to limiting the utilization of resources during work. The virtualization has enhanced the performance of cloud computing by just making several images of single physical server to allow it work simultaneously. This type of environment has saved the federal government from the waste of many both internal and external useful resources.
Disadvantages
There are several potential risks and issues are associated with the cloud computing which consists of security, privacy, network and internet dependency, service quality etc.
Security
One of the major concern which is being analyzed seriously is the security issue with cloud computing. Apart from federal government departments, there many organizations which percept that they can control the flow of data by keeping the data centers under lock and key on premises this would ensure them the low levels of data leakage outside of that organization. But it cannot happen like this as high levels of expertise, skills and equipment are required to ensure the security measures which are very expansive. This is the very reason which hurdles the implementation of cloud computing. One of the main reasons is that the security guidance regard cloud computing in federal government is vague and incomplete due which it makes it inefficient for the deployment. However, many agencies and organization have sorted out and created their own security guidance and policies but they are not generalized hence cannot be utilized with other departments. However, the datacenters are equipped with the hardware and software layers with the proper protection to prevent the data theft along with the network attacks.
Privacy
The federal government agencies would never tolerate the issue with privacy and they would not even tolerate the server management at different locations. For such cases, the regulation of data storage compliance is ensured as Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPPA) and Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX). For this purpose, federal government needs the regulations for the retention of data along with the varying needs. However, the implementation of private cloud can easily alleviate this issue along with the proper compliance of regulations.
Internet and Network dependency
The internet is considered the crucial part for cloud computing services as without internet connectivity, it would be impossible to communicate with the data centers at other locations. However, VPN can solve the problem of connectivity to data centers with the security and reliability.
Conclusion
To conclude, the cloud computing is no doubt a lucrative approach for the implementation and deployment of cost effective datacenter for federal government. Cloud computing have opened the chances for federal government to reduce the expenditures which are incurred for the creations, development, implementation and maintenance of own data centers. The cloud computing provides the virtual environment which ensures the robustness, reliability and assurance of data delivery under the specific constraints. The initial deployment of cloud computing has significantly paved its impacts on the performance and transportation of data. The cloud computing is based on architectures which are based on platform, hardware and software. However, federal government has provided the tools to all agencies to incorporate them and produce the cloud computing applications according to their needs. Agencies are free to use the architecture of their own choice or they may also develop one according to their standards or needs. Virtualization is another technology which falls under the cloud computing. The federal government strictly intending to deploy the virtualization technology, one of the major issues which are preventing the deployment of cloud computing is the guidance regarding security measures. NIST and other departments are failed to provide the appropriate security guidance for the progress is pending and efforts are incomplete. But, no doubt, the implementation of cloud computing in federal government would save the taxpayers and billions of annual expenditure of government.
References
Antonopoulos, Nick, & Lee G. (2010). Cloud Computing: Principles, Systems and Applications. London: Springer.
Kazloff J. (2010), Cloud Computing for Learning and Performance Professional: Infoline, NY: American Society for Training and Development.
Miller, M. (2009). Cloud computing: Web-based applications that change the way you work and collaborate online. London: Que Publishing.
Stair, Ralph M. & George R.(2012). Principles of Information Systems. Boston, MA: Course Technology, Cengage Learning.
Sobh, Tarek M., and Khaled E. (2010). Innovations in Computing Sciences and Software Engineering. Dordrecht: Springer.
Sosinsky, A (2011) Cloud Computing Bible. Indianapolis, IN: Wiley.
Wilshusen, G.(2010). Information Security: Federal Guidance Needed to Address Control Issues with Implementing Cloud Computing. New York: DIANE.
The guide below represents a small part of what you need to investigate when undertaking your dissertation. The intention of these materials is not to provide research training as such but rather to help the students move into the work of doing their dissertations. Currently, work relating to research methods and critical approaches to research reading and writing is integrated into one of our course modules (Intercultural Perspectives on Academic Writing and Research). By contrast, the materials below comprise part of a short intensive program held at the end of the second semester just prior to students starting to focus more seriously on their own research projects.
These activities can be staged over two one hour sessions or a single two hour session and involve a lot of small group discussion. Students are expected to question each other to probe beneath the surface so that topics become clearer and more refined. This gives them what is often a first chance to talk about their own particular research interests with peers and encourages them to develop their ideas in an informal but directed situation.
Normally the materials are presented on PowerPoint slides with supplementary handouts along the lines of what is below. After each stage we would normally have some kind of plenary feedback.
About Dissertations
Get into a small group and talk about the following:
Why do you think we ask you to do a dissertation?
What’s it for?
What do you think are the main differences between this and a coursework essay?
What are you looking forward to doing and what are you dreading?
(This activity followed by a plenary helps to dispel some myths and allows the students to voice uncertainties that they might have. It also reveals that their individual concerns are actually held in common).
Dissertation Topic
It is quite common for you to have a strong idea of the topic you want to write about. It may be an idea that you already had before joining the course or it might be something that you have become interested in during the course. For example, you may want to do your dissertation on the topic of ‘The Role of English in the World’ which is one of the key themes of the whole course. However a topic is not enough by itself. A topic needs to be controlled in some way to prevent it from being too general or too vague. This ‘control’ is what turns a topic into a research project.
Look at the following topics that previous students started out with when they were at a similar stage as you.
What further information would you need to know in order to understand what the dissertation is actually about? Think about the questions you might ask the students concerned.
Native speakers in ELT in China
The discourse of computer mediated communication
Code switching
The relation between language and culture
If YOU were going to write about these topics, what particular aspect(s) would YOU focus on?
(These topics can, of course, be replaced according to the relevant discipline)
Dissertation Title
Now look at the titles of the dissertations. How do they help narrow down the topic?
What do they tell you about the focus of the research?
What do they tell you about the work involved in the dissertation?
What kind of data do you think the students obtained and how?
What is the contribution of native speakers in ELT in China and how can they be best used?
The discourse of Computer Mediated Communication: code-switching and mode-switching in Nepalese on-line communities
Code-switching among English speaking Turkish communities in London
The relationship between language and culture in Ghana: a comparative study of address terms in two speech communities in Cape-Coast.
(Plenary feedback could involve a comparison of their own views with those chosen by the actual writers)
The way you move from topic to title is not as easy as it appears here, however. The process involves an interaction between your chosen topic, the initial questions you have about the topic, the further questions that arise as a result of your reading and the insights you develop (which result in further questions) from analyzing your data. In other words, your ideas develop in the course of actually doing the dissertation.
Starting to Write
It’s common for people to think of research as a sequence of activities moving from one to the other as if in a straight line. This is because when we read other people’s research it looks as if this is how it’s done. However, what research looks like when it’s been published doesn’t really represent ‘what you did in order to do the work’ as the physicist Richard Feynman complained in his 1966 Noble Prize speech.
IF you take the approach that first you’ve got to do all the reading (research context, methodologies, theories etc.) and then you do all the research (data collection, data analysis etc.) and then you come up with all the conclusions (discussion and implications) and finally you write it up, you’ll find it difficult to make progress. You’ll probably get stuck at the reading stage.
HOWEVER, if you start writing from the very beginning, you are more likely to get into the work itself and your reading will be more focused and therefore more relevant. Doing a dissertation is not a linear process, it is more like a series of cycles of activity involving all elements of your research work. The first cycle is to find out what you know about your chosen topic already.
Doing A Dissertation
What You Already Know
Get together with one or two other students and talk through the following questions:
What topic are you planning to discuss?
What particularly interests you about it?
Why is it worth writing about?
What sort of things do you want to find out?
How is it relevant to what you’ve been doing recently (at work? on this course?)?
How is it relevant to you personally?
Make sure you ask your colleagues to go into as much detail as they can. You might also discuss the following questions:
About the data:
What kind of data are you hoping to collect?
How are you thinking of getting it?
Why do you think this data will be helpful?
About the research context:
Who else has looked at this?
Whose work are you planning to read?
What kind of analytic framework are you planning to use?
Don’t worry if you don’t have ‘answers’ to all these questions. They are just to help you begin to work out your ideas. You might even be able to suggest things to one another. Remember, though, that you will all be at different stages depending on the projects you are developing. The important thing here is to use this opportunity to explore the ideas you already have and to help others to do the same.
(Feedback can involve discussion about whether and how these discussions have been helpful).
Now that you’ve talked about your research, you’re ready to start writing. In preparation for your first supervision session, write out ‘answers’ in response to the questions above. Use these questions to help you work through your ideas in writing. You don’t have to do any reading at this stage, rather start writing about what you already know, what you want to find out more about and what you’ll need to do to find it out. This will ensure that your own ideas and questions will lead your research. This, in turn, will help you manage your reading and refine your research methods. It will also mean that you have something concrete to bring to your supervision session which helps your supervisor to help you. A further advantage of this process is that it provides you with the basis of your first chapter (a working introduction) and means that you will have already started writing the dissertation itself.
Over the years the construction industry has changed and this has resulted in increased production rates, changes in construction techniques and total quantities of materials used each year. The size of construction projects are now considerably much larger than they ever were. All of this has resulted increased demand for materials which has resulted in increased waste. The UK construction industry as a whole uses over 400 million tonnes of natural resources per year of which 60 million tonnes is sent to landfill. This is a significant concern due to the fact that millions of pounds are being lost each year. In order to save money in construction projects and increase profits, wastage must be reduced. This paper has identified the three main areas where material wastage is produced. Within these areas the client, architect and contractor have been identified to have a pivotal role in reduction methods. Reduction methods have been assessed to identify the most effective way in which to apply waste minimization within the UK’s built environment.
Waste Reduction UK Construction
The aim of the dissertation is to identify what stage within the project lifecycle material waste is created and analyse methods available that may be effective in reducing waste and saving money. The author will attempt to answer the hypothesis question through conducting a literature review, analyzing a questionnaire and reviewing case studies. The findings will then be compared and contrasted to find how to reduce material wastage and at what stage in the project will it be most effective.
Dissertation Objectives
To determine what stage of a construction project material waste is created
To establish how wastage adds to project costs
To evaluate the measures that can be applied to reduce material wastage
