CS403 GDB no 2 Solution


Total Marks
5
Starting Date
Wednesday, January 18, 2012
Closing Date
Thursday, January 19, 2012
Status
Open



Dear Students
GDB will be open for 2 days on 18th January 2012.
The topic of discussion is given below
“Normalization Process removes the anomalies from the data but ultimately it affects the Query Performance of DML operations:” why..? Justify the statement.
Guidelines      
·         Discuss both “Positive and negative effects” (if any)
·         Your answer should be precise and should not be greater than 6 lines
·         Do not post the answer of GDB topic in MDB


Solution 

Application of normal forms beyond third normal
form can tend to produce too many entities, resulting in too many
entities in SQL query joins. Too many entities in SQL query joins can
reduce system performance for any type of database. The more entities in a
join, the more difficult queries are to tune. Also, more query complexity
makes it more difficult for a database query optimizer to make a best guess
at the fastest execution path for a query. The result is poor performance.
From a purely commercial perspective, good performance is much more
important than granular perfection in relational database design. It’s not
about the design but more about satisfied customers and end users. Poor
response time from a computer system will upset people. In fact, poor
response time can be much more than simply upsetting because it can
impact business and the bottom line for a company.

Over normalization using third normal forms and beyond can lead to
poor performance in both OLTP and data warehouse type databases. Overnormalization
is more commercially in top-down designed Java object
applications. In this situation, an object structure is imposed onto a relational
database. Object and relational data structures are completely different
methodologies, because the fine details of granularity are inherent in
object modeling. The same is true of extreme application of normal forms,
but that creates too many entities, too much processing built into a database
model, and ultimately highly complex SQL coding and poor performance
as a result.




--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------




Database normalization is the process of organizing the fields and tables of a relational database to minimize redundancy and dependency. Normalization usually involves dividing large tables into smaller (and less redundant) tables and defining relationships between them. The objective is to isolate data so that additions, deletions, and modifications of a field can be made in just one table and then propagated through the rest of the database via the defined relationships.


            


MKT501 GDB No 2 Solution



Total Marks
20
Starting Date
Tuesday, January 17, 2012
Closing Date
Thursday, January 19, 2012
Status
Open
Question/Description

Topics covered:

  • Critique of Selling
  • Selling techniques
Mr. Aslam is an entrepreneur and commenced his own small scale retail store business to earn his livelihood. With the passage of time his business started growing and he decided to update his business on modern technological processes. He decided to introduce inventory management system and scanned price tags in order to bring more accuracy and transparency in stock holding and accounts maintenance. Mr. Aslam intended to purchase that technological equipment from a world known electronics store. At the end of December, he visited the store, met a sales agent, told him the requirements and asked him to guide accordingly. Being at the end of the month, the sales agent was intrinsically compelled to meet his target sales. Hence; instead of guiding Mr. Aslam for a low cost Core2Duo machine (which can easily fulfill his requirements), sales agent persuaded him to purchase more expensive laptop and presented him its features in such an illusive manner that Aslam decided to purchase an expensive laptop. After some time, back at business place, Aslam regretted to purchase an expensive machine though it was no more beneficial to him than any other low cost computer and he decided not to go for shopping at that electronics store.


Discussion Question:
By keeping above case in consideration you are required to discuss the ethical perspective of the selling technique adopted by sales agent and the customer while purchasing a machine.

Important Instructions:

1.   Your discussion must be based on logical facts.
2.   Your comments on the topic should not exceed 500 words.
3.   The GDB will remain open for 2 working days/ 48 hours. (Change if more days are allowed)
4.   Do not copy or exchange your answer with other students.  Two identical / copied comments will be marked Zero (0) and may damage your grade in the course.
5.   Obnoxious or ignoble answer should be strictly avoided.
6.   Questions / queries related to the content of the GDB, which may be posted by the students on MDB or via e-mail, will not be replied till the due date of GDB is over.

     For Detailed Instructions please see the GDB Announcement





SOLUTION


See this one correct idea solution 
Mr. Aslam may seek the advice of a salesperson given that a salesperson can help him realize the right car given those criteria. This can be a socially useful function; salespeople have specialized knowledge of products that can help consumers make an informed decision.
However, a salesperson may also talk a consumer into purchasing more expensive equipment then he needs or can afford.
However, it is sometimes the case that customers purchase a product or service that was not initially intended and remains an inappropriate purchase after the fact. On the other hand, the consumer in this scenario can be held partially responsible for the inappropriate purchase; indeed, "A fool and his money are soon parted." (English proverb)
Selling Technique is the body of methods used in the profession of sales. A good salesperson is much more knowledgeable about their product or service than the prospect could ever likely be and can offer valuable information and insight to the decision making process.
Good selling involves asking questions to elicit the prospect's needs and desires and finding the appropriate product or service that meets those needs and that the prospect is willing to pay for. If good prospecting (qualifying) is done, then the prospect may already be well suited to the product or service and the salesperson simply needs to lead the prospect to act on the desires and needs he has. A good salesperson is much more knowledgeable about their product or service than the prospect could ever likely be and can offer valuable information and insight to the decision making process.


Plz don’t copy make your own word this is only idea and one more

Persuasive selling technique was used by the sales agent to persuade Mr. Aslam and due to it he bought the expensive machine. Sales agent personal involvement was also in it because he wanted to meet the target of his sales. Ethically it is wrong to show such type of behavior even after getting the full details from the buyer so sales agent crossed the boundary of ethics by changing the thinking of Mr. Aslam and he successfully made the sale by persuasion technique.
On the other hand Mr. Aslam went there only to buy inexpensive machine and ethically he took help and guidance from the sales agent. But he was misguided to buy expensive machine.
In the end don’t forget that persuader was sales agent and he persuaded Mr. Aslam but no sale can be completed without buyer’s intention to buy that product "A fool and his money are soon parted" in this case Mr. Aslam became fool and he bought an expensive machine. Ethically sales agent was wrong and Mr. Aslam was right in this case.
If you feel that this will not help then please do reply to get better solution.



STA630 GDB no 2 Solution


Discussion Question
Chamber of commerce is interested to find out the factors which influence the success of inherited entrepreneurs. In this context, your have been assigned to conduct the interviews of inherited entrepreneurs.
For the purpose of data collection, you have downloaded list of entrepreneurs from the Chamber of Commerce website. But you were astonished to see that there is no information available about family entrepreneurs.
Task which seems quite easy becomes an uphill task for you. You are in the middle of no where and you discussed this situation with another researcher, Muhammad Ali. He advised, “You should find a person who is a family entrepreneur, and ask him, if he knows any one who is also a family entrepreneur i.e. contact will give you other contacts. This chain of information will give you the direction to find other family entrepreneurs. It is a long process but you will get authentic data.”

Which type of sampling technique Muhammad Ali is pointing out? Whether Muhammad Ali’s advice is right or wrong? Justify your opinion.

Instructions:

Read the following instructions before giving your comments on GDB:

1.        Use the font style “Times New Roman” and font size “12”.
2.        Your answer should be relevant to the topic i.e. clear and concise.
3.        Do not copy or exchange your answer with other students.  Two identical / copied comments will be marked Zero (0) and may damage your grade in the course.
4.        Books, websites and other reading material may be consulted before posting your comments but copying or reproducing the text from books, websites and other reading materials is strictly prohibited. Such comments will be marked as Zero (0).
5.        Obnoxious or ignoble answer should be strictly avoided.



Semester “Fall 2011”
Research Methods (STA630)”
Dear Students,
This is to inform that Graded Discussion Board (GDB) will be opened according to the following schedule:
Schedule
Opening Date and Time
January 12, 2012 At 12:01 A.M. (Mid-Night)
Closing Date and Time
January 16, 2012 At 11:59 P.M. (Mid-Night)
Topic/Area for Discussion
Types of Sampling
Note: The discussion question will be from the area/topic mentioned above.  So start learning about the topic now.

  Guidelines for Preparation:

  1. For acquiring the relevant knowledge, do not rely only on handouts but watch the course video lectures, which can be downloaded for free from www.youtube.com/vu, and also use other reference books.

  Important Instructions:

1.   Your discussion must be based on logical facts.
2.   The GDB will remain open for 5 days/ 120 hours.
3.   The GDB will open and close at above specified date and time. Please note that no grace day or extra timewill be given for posting comments on GDB.
4.   Use the font style “Times New Roman” and font size “12”.
5.   Your answer should be relevant to the topic i.e. clear and concise.
6.   Do not copy or exchange your answer with other students.  Two identical / copied comments will be marked Zero (0) and may damage your grade in the course.
7.   Books, websites and other reading material may be consulted before posting your comments; but copying or reproducing the text from books, websites and other reading materials is strictly prohibited. Such comments will be marked as Zero (0).
8.   You should post your answer on the Graded Discussion Board (GDB), not on the Moderated Discussion Board (MDB). Both will run parallel to each other during the time specified above.  Therefore, due care will be needed.
9.   Obnoxious or ignoble answer should be strictly avoided.
10.  You cannot participate in the discussion after the due date via email.
11.  Questions / queries related to the content of the GDB, which may be posted by the students on MDB or via e-mail, will not be replied till the due date of GDB is over.
12.  For planning your semester activities in an organized manner, you are advised to view schedule of upcoming Assignments, Quizzes and GDBs in the overview tab of the course website on VU-LMS.




Solution

Stratified Sampling
In a stratified sample the sampling frame is divided into non-overlapping groups or strata, e.g. geographical areas, age-groups, genders. A sample is taken from each stratum, and when this sample is a simple random sample it is referred to as stratified random sampling.
In my opinion Mr ali’s opinion is wrong because its difficult to find a family entrepreneur because there is no such a great info available. 




It is "Snowball Sampling" hand out page 91 Muhammad ali is right.
think this method is good
as with referals he cant get
others to conduct a survey
but Convenience Sampling will also be good
chk ur self please 



   

MGT603 GDB no 2 Solution




Semester “Fall 2011”

“Strategic Management (MGT603)”
This is to inform you that Graded Discussion Board (GDB)
has been opened according to the following schedule

Schedule

Opening Date and Time
12th January 2012 At 12:01 A.M. (Mid-Night)

Closing Date and Time
16th January 2012 At 11:59 P.M. (Mid-Night)

Note: No extra or bonus/grace period is available for attempting GBD.

Discussion Question
A strong culture is a big obstacle in new strategy implementation. Comment on this statement with solid reasoning.
Important Instructions:

1.   Your discussion must be based on logical facts.
2.   Your comments on the topic should not exceed 500 words.
3.   The GDB will remain open for 3 working days/ 72 hours.
4.   Do not copy or exchange your answer with other students.  Two identical / copied comments will be marked Zero (0) and may damage your grade in the course.
5.   Obnoxious or ignoble answer should be strictly avoided.
6.   Questions / queries related to the content of the GDB, which may be posted by the students on MDB or via e-mail, will not be replied till the due date of GDB is over.
Ø     For Detailed Instructions please see the GDB Announcement





Solution


GDB MGT603 #2 IDEA SOLUTION 


Organizational culture refers to the compilation of the set of values and norms which are shared by the people and groups in a particular organization. It is also defined as the communication process which creates, sends, stores and process information which is observed or examined through words, behaviors and material things. Additionally, it being a set of shared mental assumptions and guide interpretation, it defines the appropriate behavior at any given instance. 


The Pros of an Organizational Culture are:


● There is recognition of diversity among employees and managers
● There is a just and reasonable treatment for each employees
● Due credit is given to an employee's contribution
● There is equal opportunity for all employees
● Employees can accomplish and achieve their full potential
● There is a stronger communication and information dissemination among the employees regarding the company's policies and issues. 
● It produces dedicated leaders with a vision and purpose. 
● It will enable the company to compete with similar organization
● Increase in efficiency of the employees owe to the company's investment in employees' trainings.
● There company will have a sustainable and consistent programs as well as understandable guidelines for the employees. 


The Cons of Organizational Culture

● It is criticized as a futile endeavor to "pigeonhole" or categorize the organizational culture itself. 

● It is disadvantageous to the organization if the employees focus on the company's rules and regulations rather than the real and concrete goals of the company.
● It is also unfavorable to new employees joining the team because of the presented culture, which makes improvement and advancement impracticable. 
● Employees will be slow to react and reply to varying and shifting demographics. 
● Difficulty for outsider working with the company to figure out what's going on. An example of which is job descriptions are automatically understood by the insiders without having the necessity of explaining it to co-workers from the outside.




A precise idea solution is also here:

Culture in an organization is mainly developed due to working environment over decades. Such cultures become almost unwritten laws in such organizations, being followed by all very strictly and rigidly, thus in such conditions these also act as barriers for implementation of new strategies, ideas, unfreezing the situations, changing the existing rules or changing the employees from their places etc. However, one needs to carefully workout and diplomatically handle such issues / situations in order to bring result oriented changes in organizations.

Remember! This is an idea for all to generate their own answers. Similar answers may score ZERO marks due to copy / paste etc.
      



People or business that is founded on a solid culture is not susceptible to change. They have a firm believes and practices that are deep rooted over a period of time and even generations. This makes it impossible or even hard to subject these people to change in terms of new strategies.


Culture is formed by screening and selecting new employees who share the same values as your organization. However, culture evolves, it is not static. Both internal (hiring, staff turnover, etc) and external (technology, competition, etc.) factors shape your culture. Your beliefs, vision, objectives and business practices may be compatible with culture. If this is the case, your culture becomes a valuable ally in strategy implementation. On the other hand, if there is conflict then you do not have a strategy-culture fit and you need to do something about it quickly. 


Strong cultures promote successful strategy implementation while weak cultures do not. By strong culture, I mean there is a shared belief in practices, norms and other practices within the organization that helps energize everyone to do their jobs to promote successful strategy implementation. 


Logical Reason and Example 


For example, if your culture is built around listening to customers and empowering employees (both authority and responsibility), it promotes the execution of a strategy that supports superior customer service. In weak cultures, employees have no pride in ownership of work, work is sloppy, there are very few values and people form political groups within the organization. Such cultures provide little or no assistance to implement strategy.


Hence Changing a culture is the toughest of all management tasks. It takes time to change unhealthy culture and you may have to weed out obstacles to a healthy culture. This experience was a valuable lesson for me. In weak cultures, people do not take risks that is needed to succeed. They believe in moving cautiously, preferring to follow than lead.


Some time ago, I was working with a small business that in the software industry. They had been in business for a number of years before I was brought in. One of the things I noticed initially was that there was constant re-work; i.e. bulk of the developers’ time was spent in fixing bugs instead of new development work. Deliverables were always late. Customers who did receive the product found the software buggy. The organization’s reputation suffered as a result. To combat this we initiated a number of measures; from letting unprofitable customers go to introducing time tracking, etc. But we forgot the most fundamental aspect; to initiate a change in the culture.


Culture in an organization is mainly developed due to working environment over decades. Such cultures become almost unwritten laws in such organizations, being followed by all very strictly and rigidly, thus in such conditions these also act as barriers for implementation of new strategies, ideas, unfreezing the situations, changing the existing rules or changing the employees from their places etc. However, one needs to carefully workout and diplomatically handle such issues / situations in order to bring result oriented changes in organizations.


“A strong culture is a big obstacle in new strategy implementation. Comment on this statement with solid reasoning.”


Solution





Organizational Culture
Many definitions of culture give primacy to the cognitive components, such as assumptions, beliefs, and values. Others expand the concept to include behaviors and artifacts, leading to a common distinction between the visible and the hidden levels of organizational culture.
Strong culture
Strong culture means a shared belief in practices, norms and other practices within the organization that helps energize everyone to do their jobs to promote better work environment.
Strategy Implementation
 Strategic Implementation is a process of activating the strategy. It is the sum total of all the activities and choices required for execution of a strategic plan.·
 It is the process by which strategies· & policies are put into action through the development of programs, budgets and procedures
 Strategy implementation may be said to consist of securing resources, organizing these resources and directing the use of these resources within and outside the organization.·
“A strong culture is a big obstacle in new strategy implementation”.
Reasons:
Though the Strong Culture in an organization is the strength of it but it may bounce back a fool proof strategy and its implementation as:
In large companies, those who implement the strategy likely will be different people from those who formulated it. Thus it is sometimes contradict the current culture hence provoking uneasiness amoung the employees that straightly affects the implementation process.
In lower level position, managers resist its implementation because they don’t understand why the particular strategy was selected
Strong culture increases the commitment of employees hence creates uncertainty amoung the staff when they feel any upcoming change in their culture. They start resisting against the implementation process of the strategy.
Strong Culture endeavors confidence and cohesion amoung the work environment and employees. Working out of your comfort zone is mesmeric as per human nature and this generates obstacles in implementation of strategy.



Organizational culture refers to common behavior patterns within the group of people make up the organization. A strong organizational culture means that people within the organization tend to have similar beliefs and behavior patterns. A strong organization culture also means that there is less tolerance for behavior that move away from the accepted patterns. Strength of organizational culture is an important factor in determining the organizational performance. But much more important is the level to which the pattern of behavior supported by it is in line with the requirements of an organization. The impact of strength of organizational culture itself is mixed. A strong organization culture tends to bind together the people of the organization and contributes to smoother functioning. However, a strong culture also tends to build in inflexibility in the organization. It discourages change, and slow down creativity. Therefore, a very strong organization culture may not be very suitable for organization operating in dynamic environment, requiring frequent changes in its working style. 



         

CS201 Assignment No. 04 Solution

Assignment No. 04
Semester: Fall 2011
CS201: Introduction to Programming
Total Marks: 20
Due Date:16/01/2012

Instructions:

Please read the following instructions carefully before submitting assignment. It should be clear that your assignment will not get any credit if:
§         The assignment is submitted after due date.
§         The submitted assignment does not open or file is corrupt.
§         Assignment is copied(partial or full) from any source (websites, forums, students, etc)

Note: You have to upload only .cpp file. Assignment in any other format (extension) will not be accepted and will be awarded with zero marks. For example, if you submit code in .doc (Word document) or .txt files, no reward will be given in any case.


Objectives:

The objective of this assignment is to provide hands on experience of:

§         Classes
§         Member Functions
§         Dynamic Memory allocation in C/C++
§         String Manipulation Functions
§         File Handling


Guidelines:

§        Code should be properly indented and well commented.
§        Follow C/C++ rules while writing variable names, function names etc
§        Use only dev-C++ for this assignment.
§        Use appropriate C/C++ structure i.e. if-else; switch statement etc to get inputs from user where required (Marks will be deducted if inappropriate structure will be used).








Problem Statement:  Airline Schedule System

Write a program for Flight Schedule System which will check the flight schedule.  

Detailed Description:

In the program, you are required to make a class with name 'Schedule' and following are the data members of class schedule.

ñ     Trip
ñ     Date of departure
ñ     Date of return
ñ     Destination(Going to)
ñ     Origin (Leaving from)
ñ     Flight No
ñ     Departure time
ñ     Arrival time

Initialize all these data members with their default values by creating constructor for the class. Object creation of class should be done dynamically using dynamic memory allocation functions. Also class schedule should have a destructor.
Along with constructor and destructor of class, it is mandatory to used getter and setter functions for all above stated data members to properly assign their values.

Detail description of all data members are given below.

Class data members description:

Trip:
Class variables; trip should be off type Boolean; value of the variable should be taken from the user, if user sets it to true, then user should enter the required information for following data members and this trip will become a Round Trip:

  • Date of departure
  • Date of return
  • Destination
  • Origin

And if user set the variable values to false, prompt user to enter the required information for one-way trip:

  • Date of departure
  • Destination
  • Origin

Date of departure/Date of return:
Date of departure and date of return can be any date, entered by the user.


Flight No:
Flight numbers will be assigned randomly which can be any number from 0 to 200. 

Origins/Destinations:
The user can chose one of five destinations and origins:

§         Lahore
§         Karachi
§         Islamabad
§         Peshawar
§         Quetta

Departure Time and Arrival Time
Both these will be generated randomly and must have at least difference of two hours in-between departure time and arrival time.

When you are done with this, you are required to write a member function of class named WriteData().In the function WriteData(), you are required to create a new text file name “schedule.txt” in same folder/directory where you have saved your .cpp file. Open this file by using file handling functions and then write all Schedule information in that file in following format:

Flight No:
Origin:
Destination:
Date of Departure:
Date of Return:
Departure Time:
Arrival Time:


Points To Remember:

Following points should be kept in mind and handled accordingly, otherwise marks will be deducted. 

ñ     Reading and writing from text file, must be done with standard file handling functions provided in handouts. 
ñ     All data members must be declared and initialized with appropriate data type.
ñ     Exceptional cases must be kept in mind and handled accordingly while taking input from user.
ñ      User must be prompted if there is any error while:

       Creating a file.
       Opening a file for reading/ writing.










                              

SOLUTION



#include <iostream>
#include <fstream>
#include <string>
using namespace std;


class Schedule
{
public:
       enum Place
       {
            Lahore =0 ,
            Karachi,
            Islamabad,
            Peshawar,
            Quetta
        };
private:
    bool trip;
    string departureDate;   
    string returnDate;
    Place destination; //(Going to)
    Place origin;      //(Leaving from)
    int flightNo;
    int depatureTime;  //only hour (not full time like 12:56)
    int arrivalTime;


public:
       Schedule()   //default constructor
       {
           trip = false;
           departureDate = "";
           returnDate = "";
           destination = Lahore;
           origin = Lahore;
           flightNo = 0;
           depatureTime = 0;
           arrivalTime = 0;         
       };
       
       ~Schedule() //destructor
       {
           cout<<"Destructor ..."<<endl;       
       };
       
//get/set properties       
      bool getTrip() {return trip;};
      string  getDepartureDate(){return departureDate;};
      string  getReturnDate(){return returnDate;};   
      Place  getDestination(){return destination;};
      Place  getOrigin(){return origin;};
      int  getFlightNo(){return flightNo;};
      int  getDepatureTime(){return depatureTime;};
      int  getArrivalTime(){return arrivalTime;};
      
      void  setTrip(bool val) {trip = val;};
      void  setDepartureDate(string date){departureDate = date;};
      void  setReturnDate(string date){returnDate = date;};   
      void  setDestination(Place val){destination = val;};
      void  setOrigin(Place val){origin = val;};
      void  setFlightNo(int val){flightNo = val;};
      void  setDepatureTime(int aTime){depatureTime = aTime;};
      void  setArrivalTime(int aTime){arrivalTime = aTime;};


// method for get input 
      void getInputData()
      {
           int i;
    
           cout<<"\n==========================="<<endl;
           cout<<"Enter flight information :"<<endl;
           cout<<"Trip type (0: Oneway Trip | 1: Round Trip): ";
           cin>>trip;
         
           cout<<"Date of departure: ";
           cin>>departureDate;          


           
           returnDate = ""; 
           if(trip)//round trip
           {       
               cout<<"Date of return: ";
               cin>>returnDate;                         
           }
           
           do
           {           
               cout<<"Destination (0: Lahore, 1: Karachi, 2: Islamabad, 3: Peshawar, 4: Quetta): ";
               cin>>i;          
           }
           while (i<0 || i >4);
           destination = Place(i);
           do
           {           
               cout<<"Origin (0: Lahore, 1: Karachi, 2: Islamabad, 3: Peshawar, 4: Quetta): ";
               cin>>i;          
           }
           while (i<0 || i >4);
           origin = Place(i);
           
           /* initialize random seed: */
           srand ( time(NULL) );
           flightNo = rand() % 201;
           
           depatureTime = rand() % 24;
           arrivalTime = rand() % 24;
           if(abs(arrivalTime-depatureTime)<2) arrivalTime = (arrivalTime + 2)%24;           
       };    
       
// method for write to disk
       void writeData()
       {
          static char *places[] = {
                 "Lahore", "Karachi", "Islamabad", "Peshawar", "Quetta"
          };
          
          ofstream myfile ("schedule.txt");
          if (myfile.is_open())
          {
            myfile << "Flight No: "<<flightNo<<endl;
            myfile << "Origin: "<<places[origin]<<endl;
            myfile << "Destination: "<<places[destination]<<endl;
            myfile << "Date of Departure: "<<departureDate<<endl;
            if(trip)
            {
                myfile << "Date of Return: "<<returnDate<<endl;    
            }
            else
            {
                myfile << "Date of Return: N/A"<<endl;  
            }           
            myfile << "Departure Time: "<<depatureTime<<":00"<<endl;
            myfile << "Arrival Time: "<<arrivalTime<<":00"<<endl;
            myfile.close();
          }
          else cout << "Unable to open file";
       };   
};


int main()
{
    Schedule *mysdl = new Schedule();
    mysdl->getInputData();
    mysdl->writeData();
    
    system("pause");
    return 0;
}