My Father’s Life by Raymond Carver Essay

The last paragraph of this essay is my favorite by far, â€Å"†¦in their beautiful voices out of my childhood. Raymond. † The author of this story made it so tangible the dislike Raymond Jr. had for his birth name that it felt like a true revelation when the character finally embraced it. To hear his father’s name echo as his own name and to enjoy it leaves the reader with the same sense of happiness. The author of this essay has such a grasp on the lives and senses of a lower class worker that he surely must have experienced it in his childhood. It doesn’t surprise me to find out that his father worked at a saw-mill. That type of gritty upbringing must leave an indelible mark on your psyche. This mark was clearly a reservoir from which to pull deep and meaningful prose that truly paints a picture in the mind of someone who lacks those same experiences. This essay tells the story of a boy who liked his father more than most. This boy even liked his father, very possibly, more than his mother. It also tells how perceptive the boy and, later on, man were. This Raymond Jr. recognized the weaknesses of his father and still fell into the same traps himself. This essay taught me much about the depression era environment that the main character’s father, Clevie Raymond Carver, grew up in. His father rode on boxcards and pickled apples to get by. He also was able to set aside money to buy a car. I never imagined an environment where a day laborer would have the excess income to set aside spare change. In this modern age of paycheck to paycheck living that is truly an amazing feat. If the author was able to expand on his writings to fulfill a request of mine I would prefer to hear more about his father’s life before marriage. His father clearly had faults but what drove him into that personality. The character’s father was an alcoholic but still strived to better the life of his family. I’d like to know why.

Discussion Questions Week 1 Economics 365

Discussion Questions Week One Economics 365 TEAM C- WEEK ONE DISCUSSION QUESTIONS 1. What is economics? What role does economics play in your personal and organizational decisions? Provide an example of the role of economics in decision making. (Ana K Gonzalez) * According to â€Å"What Is Economics? A Definition Of Economics† (2012): * Economics is the study of the production and consumption of goods and the transfer of wealth to produce and obtain those goods. Economics explains how people interact within markets to get what they want or accomplish certain goals.Since economics is a driving force of human interaction, studying it often reveals why people and governments behave in particular ways. There are two main types of economics: macroeconomics and microeconomics. Microeconomics focuses on the actions of individuals and industries, like the dynamics between buyers and sellers, borrowers and lenders. Macroeconomics, on the other hand, takes a much broader view by analyzi ng the economic activity of an entire country or the international marketplace (Para. 2 & 3). Economics play an important role in all aspects of life and sometimes people don’t realize that they are using economics day by day.With the use of economics people can understand how to spend time and money. Unemployment, technological progress, interest rates and budget deficits are important issues presented in our daily personal and professional lives. As students, economics can help us to acquire more knowledge about what kind of difficulties business in our region presents, how to solve it, and the difference procedures to follow to succeed as a business holder. 2. What is the difference between a movement along and a shift of the demand curve?What is the effect on the equilibrium price and quantity that results from an increase in demand, supply, and both? Provide examples for each instance. What is the role of supply and demand in decision making? Provide a real-world example . (Sonia Elias) The difference between a movement along and a shift of the demand curve in the movement along is caused by a change in the price of goods or services performed and a shift of the demand curve is caused because a change in any non-price determining on the demand and it can change to both side the right or the left.The effect in the equilibrium price and quantity that result from the increase in demand is the price goes up because of the demand of the product is more and also the quantity has its effect because with more demand it requires more quantity on the product. A good example is the petroleum now its price is going up because of the demand it is suffer. The role of the supply and demand takes the role of decide how much quantity will require to provide the costumers with their demands on a certain product; it makes the decision of require more quantity of products to supply the costumers. . What is the definition of price elasticity of demand? What is the relat ionship between price elasticity of demand and total revenue? How does price elasticity of demand affect a firm’s pricing decisions? How does the availability of substitutes affect the price elasticity of demand? Provide an example. (Chuck Crain) By definition, price elasticity simply means the way demand responds to price changes. The relationship between price elasticity and total revenue can be a very successful one or a total nightmare based on whether or not the product has good elasticity.As long as the product is something the general public either needs or is very high on their want list, then the product has good elasticity and the profits will continue to increase, thus making total revenue much greater. However, if the product is something society can live without, then the product has bad elasticity and total revenue will go down. When a firm decides to make or sell a product, many considerations go into their long term plans, such as will this product stand the t est of time and will it be profitable even in tough financial cycles.As long as the product has good price elasticity and the competition is low, then prices can be adjusted to meet the current market price or to increase revenues. However, if the product has a bad elasticity, then the business will have to decide on whether or not to raise prices, but this decision could cost the company money now and in the future because the customers chose not to pay a higher price. When people want a similar product without the high price, they turn to substitutes.This can include any generic brands of products that provide close to the same experience for the customer, without the higher price of their original brand. Substitutes greatly affect the elasticity of price, because people can choose to buy another product at a lower price, and basically get the same results from the product. An example would be if a person loves to drink Coke, but can’t afford the price they charge.The perso n would turn to a cheap brand such as Sam’s Cola and receive basically the same benefit, without spending the extra money. * Reference Principles of Macroeconomics. (2009). Retrieved from http://ocw. mit. edu/courses/economics/14-02-principles-of-macroeconomics-fall- 2009/ What is Economics? A Definition of Economics. (2012). Retrieved from http://www. whatiseconomics. org/ Why is economics considered social science?. (2012). Retrieved from http://wiki. answers. com/Q/Why_is_economics_considered_social_science

The Private Finance Initiative Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4000 words

The Private Finance Initiative - Essay Example The basic premise behind the concept was to involve private players in service provision hence lessening the burden on the government. It was also meant to bring a touch of professionalism that is common in the private sector in provision of public services. The entry of Britain in the European Union also played a significant role in the starting of this scheme. New EU laws put a cap on government expenditure resulting from both internal and external debt. These laws consequently put a major strain on government expenditure on public projects such as new schools, roads and hospitals. Technical experts therefore resulted to PFI in order to expedite the provision of essential public services. In some circles the scheme was also known as the Private-Public partnership or simply the PPP. While the scheme was designed to ensure efficient provision of public services and reduce government borrowing from the public sector, it drew some criticism in some quarters. Some economic experts and political scientist pointed holes at the idea saying that it was a blatant display of government inefficiency. There was also fear that providers of these public services may be motivated by profits and end up providing mediocre services. In public finance, the government provides public goods since unlike private players; it is not motivated by profits. ... As noted earlier the Private Finance Initiative was the brainchild of the conservative government then led by John Major. It was billed as the most cost effective means of service provision to the public. As expected this attracted the wrath of the then opposition labour party who accused the government of engaging in unplanned privatisation of key government services. Courtesy of some wheel dealing and backroom consultations the labour party warmed up to the idea and consequently the Private Finance Initiative was implemented. In spite of its initial opposition to the idea, the labour went ahead to adopt PFI when it eventually swept to power under the stewardship of the youthful leader Tony Blair. The chancellor Gordon Brown who was one of the most vocal opponents of the scheme beat a hasty turn around and became scheme's number one supporter. The chancellor praised the scheme pointing out that it was due to PFI that over 150 new schools were built, 40 new hospitals constructed and a dozen road and rail projects constructed within a very short span of time. Economists at the treasury also argued that it was due to PFI that the government had spent more on capital projects and there was less public borrowing by the state. PFI was well manifested in London as it was responsible for the building of the ultramodern London Underground system. Mayor Ken Livingstone was forced to eat humble pie and support the project after its success. Akintole et al (2003) points out that Private Finance Initiative was one of the thorny issues in the labour government. There was the usual criticism that public assets were managed by private individuals in a questionable manner for a very long period of time. It was also quietly pointed out that some highly important

Hormonal Disorders Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Hormonal Disorders - Essay Example Acromegaly is a condition that arises in the frontal pituitary gland when it produces excess growth hormones at puberty level (Lloyd, 2001). The patient had acromegaly because of the symptoms the doctors discovered. The teenager portrayed same symptoms of an individual with acromegaly. These symptoms were vision problems, enlarged hands and feet, severe headache and neck rigidity. This proves that the boy had acromegaly. Other common complications that arise with adenoma are sleep apnea and swelling of the body parts. These parts are: the arms, face, feet, tongue and a change in the shoe or ring size. Other unusual happenings are spreading of teeth, facial paralysis, carpal channel conditions, joint bone pains, gentleness gigantism, excessive perspiration and oily skin impotence (Lloyd, 2001). The patient needs to be monitored for a long time for increasing hormone levels. This is because if the hormonal levels rise and the patient are not monitored the case might be more severe in the feature than in the present (Lloyd, 2001). In conclusion, if treatment does not stabilize the hormone levels, a practitioner should regularly start on additional drug

Managerial report on design of Honda Element Essay

Managerial report on design of Honda Element - Essay Example The rear doors open in a suicide way even though the suicide doors open independent from the front doors. To be on the safe side the front doors should be opened first to open the rear doors. After the doors are opened the interior is totally spacious. There is plenty of rear sear room and these seats can be folded either up, to the side, even folded down or the most astonishing part removed totally. The Element being motivated by Box on wheels the headroom is very plentiful. The front seats are very comfortable and there is ample amount of space given. The hatch opens in two sections in which one door flips down and the other flips up. This is also a utility and loading stuff is easy. With the hatch just being opened the lifting of stuff is very low. The theme of the car's interior is somewhat rugged. The floor is not covered in carpet and the entire floor is covered with a material, which does not absorb any moisture. Dirt, sand and even mud wipes totally. To achieve a rugged interior Element unlike other SUV's does not come with a hard plastic. A rubber like material covers the door panels and the dashboard area and it feels as if this material will come up against all kinds of punishment without scratching, cracking, denting or fading. The Element is an unusual vehicle with its utilitarian mode for Honda but they have come up with a good SUV. Element has a functional interior and combining that with its exterior design it has the features of a SUV and a pick up truck and is a target for the young and active buyers. It has been designed to serve also as a base camp, room for the young buyers. The Element can hold up to four adults and they can have a splendid journey. With the rear seats easily folded anything can be put in for the weekend trip. The interior has been designed in such a way that it could be easily cleaned. There are some additional features too including an AM/FM radio with a 6 CD Changer and a MP3 player, which has video game outlets. Honda has never excelled in its audio system area. The previous Honda systems were just a simple four-speaker system, which sounded tiny and flat. With Honda knowing the target market for Element, there was a big no for a simple and tiny stereo. The end result was in the Element EX, Honda put in a mid range, nice system with a good bass, treble and sub woofer. The system, which is a 270-watt, uses 7 speakers and gives out a deep bass, clean and a brilliant sound. Additional bonus is the adjustable sub woofer. When driving the Honda Element it feels as if driving a Jeep of Sorts. The windscreen, which is upright and seat position, which is very high, it gives a good view of the road with out sacrificing the interior understanding. The Gauges are arranged in three circles, which are similar to a Pontiac Vibe, but Honda has finished the rings in a silver matte rather than shiny chrome found on the Pontiac. Every thing in the Element has quality, feel and a nice variety of textures, which work together to drive the concept theme of a car. The Element is powered a 2.4 liter, inline 4, I-VTEC engine which produces 160 horsepower. The Element is not a sports car but there is sufficient power available for many driving situations. The Element never feels underpowered. The 5-speed manual

Lab Discussion Report Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Discussion - Lab Report Example Further, when carrying out the consistent, repeatable measurements the slopes of position versus time graph and the average velocity were found to be relatively same as deduced from the ranges of each measurement. In which case, the maximum value for slope coincided with that for average velocity same to the minimum value; hence, we deduced that the ranges are in agreement. This shows that a change in position against time directly affects the average velocity of the object in question. Further, the experiment also showed that the relationship between position versus time and velocity is affected by the direction of motion. This was deduced when the motion detector was rotated thereby giving different curves at each instance of rotation. Further, when the graphs for velocity were recorded for the different curves, aforementioned, the velocity versus time graph effectively changed. The rotation of the car leads to a change from positive slope to a negative slope. Consequently, this shows that just the way rotation affect the position time graph so it does to the

Application for admission middle school Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Application for admission middle school - Essay Example One is the Doing the Right Thing Award given after I fed a quadriplegic student every day during lunch hour for one year. The second is Student of the Month awarded to me by teachers for assisting fellow students to excel in their homework. The third is Team Spirit Award scooped for helping fellow students to perform to their full potential through my encouragement. In addition to the above, I am a volunteer at the Humane Society and Food Panty and a member of my school’s Volunteering Committee. I am also an elected member of the Students Council and a teachers-elected Safety Patrol for 2 years. My teacher also has selected me to be helping young students in their performance during and after school. I believe that in Middle School I will offer these and more so as to improve the lives of others while excelling in my studies. Works cited Richards, Keith and Fox, James. Life. Little, Brown and Company, 2010.

Rhetorical context assignment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Rhetorical context assignment - Essay Example A poll, published the same day he delivered his speech, had it that only 26 per cent of the public approved his handling of the Vietnam War. With the rest 74 per cent being against his handling of the war, it was evident that majority were for the view that the United States should stop its bombardment of Northern Vietnam. The Pacifica Radio/UC Berkeley had reported that, the advisory body of current and retired President’s advisers that President Johnson constituted on Match 25 to 26, had advised him against increasing war troops in Vietnam in for peaceful negotiations. According to the HistoryPlace article titled, ‘President Lyndon Baines Johnson decides not to seek re-election’, there was popular and political erosion for the support of the war. The Democrats were against the decisions and led various demonstrations in America. Moreover, the Newshistory.com article titled ‘President Johnson Orders Air Strikes against North Vietnam’, had it that, th ere was a reason for America escalating the war on Vietnam because the Asian communists went on provoking America to shoot and bomb Northern Vietnam. In this case, there were different reactions on this topic according to different affiliations. As he stated in his speech, peaceful negotiations were the only way out, and this move was preferred by the rhetoric of the time. The rhetoric of stopping the Northern Vietnam bombardment and seeking peaceful negotiation inspired the president to deliver this speech. In this case, the rhetor was responding; to the idea that the bombardment of the Northern Vietnam should be de-escalated. Secondly the people’s opinion favored peaceful negotiations rather than war in approaching the situation in Vietnam. He used his speech to show the benefits of peaceful negotiations to the Northern Vietnam, a move which was meant to gladden the majority who were against his former stand. The rhetor was also aware that his

The Millenium Dome Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

The Millenium Dome - Essay Example A project is not something that is part of the normal operations of the business. Most of the times a projects are typically created only once, besides being temporary, and specific. A project just like the Millennium Dome consumes a lot resources and it has funding limits. In project management it requires the application of techniques, knowledge, and skills to efficiently and effectively execute the project. Therefore, project management is a competency strategy for most organizations; this enables them to tie the project results to the goals and objectives of the business (Kousholt, 2007:90). In addition, many projects have funding limits and a projected budget unto which it must operate from. This creates the need to have a project manager. Project management process During the project management process of Millennium Dome, it was done in five (5) phases. Project initiation; during this phase an idea of the project to be undertaken is carefully examined to establish if it is bene ficial to the organization. A decision making team is formed to determine whether the project can be realistically be completed. Project definition and planning; a project plan is put in writing giving an outline of the work that is to be performed. It is at this stage that the list of deliverables to be presented and also the potential outcome of a set of specific activities (Meredith & Mantel, 2011:455-7). During project planning the requirements of completing the project are defined. The project manager of Millennium Dome identified how many people and also how much expense was to be involved in the project and any other requirements necessary for the completion of the project. According to Haughey (2013:55) reported that a project manager is to make sure that he manages the assumptions and risks that are related to the project. In addition, he also determined the constraints of the project. The constraints accrued in the Dome were related to budget, scope, schedule, and resource s. It was found out that a small change in one constraint typically affected the other constraints. Project launch or execution; Resources and tasks are distributed and the teams were informed of their responsibilities. This was a good time as any other information related to the project was welcomed so as to make adjustments to the project. The project manager in this phase is to know how many resources and how much budget he had to work with for the project. The Dome cost ?789 million. He was able to assign those resources and allocated the budget to the various tasks of the project. Moreover, he is to ensure that the project team works in harmony. Project performance and control; the incorporation of project managers was tantamount for the Millennium Dome project as there was need to compare the status of the project to the actual plan, as the resources performed the scheduled work. The project managers were tasked with adjusting schedules in addition to doing what was necessary so as to keep the project on track (Meredith & Mantel, 2011:468). The project manager is in charge of updating the plans of the project to reflect on the actual time elapsed for each task. Project closure; this is when the project manager, owner of the project, and any other person having interest in the project, pulls together to analyze the final outcome of the project. Project closure is when the Millennium Dome was completed and the client approved the outcome which was the government of the United Kingdom. Project manager The project manager works with the sponsor of the business who wants to have the

Why Was There a Spanish Armada Essay Example for Free

Why Was There a Spanish Armada Essay England and Spain have had religious differences since Henry VIII changed England into a protestant country as a result of the divorce his first wife, Catherine of Aragon. When Henry died his son, Edward I, was a strong protestant and reinforced the protestant faith in England. When Edward I died at the age of 15, his half sister Mary became Queen. She was a strong Catholic, and this resulted in England returning to the Catholic religion which resulted in the persecution of non-Catholics. She married King Phillip of Spain who was also a devout Catholic. When Mary died, her half sister Elizabeth I became Queen of England, who immediately stopped the persecutions of non- Catholics and changed England back to protestant. The main reason for the Armada was because King Phillip of Spain wanted to take over England and to change it back to Catholic, just as Elizabeth had turned it protestant. King Phillip offered to marry Elizabeth thinking that he could have control over English politics and persuade her to keep the Catholic faith. After she refused his offer he made several failed attempts to kill Queen Elizabeth to replace her with a Catholic Monarch, Mary, Queen of Scotts. King Phillip was getting angry with Queen Elizabeth because she was letting English pirates attack Spanish ships as long as she got a percentage of the spoils. She also offered to help Protestants who rebelled against Spanish rule in the Spanish Netherlands. Elizabeth ordered the execution of her cousin Mary Queen of Scots, which convinced King Phillip to attack England. Queen Elizabeth knew that King Phillip had a big fleet of ships and lots of essential supplies. She sent the Royal Navy to do a surprise attack on the Spanish ships at the harbor in Cadiz. The British attacked and damaged several warships, some very severely. They also destroyed the barrels of food, water, and gun powder on the ships. They had to make new ones but they did not let the barrels dry long enough which caused the contents to spoil. The food rotted, the water became undrinkable, and the gun powder was useless. This delayed the Spanish Armada attack for one year.

Functional Requirements of Airline Reservation System

Functional Requirements of Airline Reservation System This project deals with the development of a Software Requirements Specification (SRS) document that specifies what an airline reservation system should and should not do. The SRS document is divided into five sections namely System Objectives This section lists all the goals and objectives of the system categorized based on the viewpoint of the airline company and the customer (passenger). These are higher-level goals which are somewhat broad in nature. They help in a top-down development of the SRS. System Context This section clearly depicts the environment and boundaries of the ARS and the entities with which it interacts. It helps us see how the system fits into the existing scheme of things. What the system will do by itself and what it expects other entities to do is clearly delineated. Functional Requirements This section is the bulk of the document and precisely states the functions of the system what it should do and what it should not. This section is split into subsections modeled after the real world activities like reserving tickets, rescheduling tickets etc. Freedom from ambiguity and navigability were kept in mind while documentation. A consistent terminology has been followed throughout and the terms are explained in the appendix. The subsections follow a logical sequence that reflects the real world. For example, a customer cannot reschedule a ticket unless he has bought one earlier and cannot buy one unless he has checked its availability. Non-functional Requirements These are quality requirements that stipulate the performance levels required of the system for various kinds of activities. Numerical lower and upper limits set conditions on the response times, access times etc of the system. Sometimes, tradeoffs are necessary among various non-functional requirements. Future Requirements These are the specifications which are not provided for now in the current version of ARS but which could be incorporated into future versions. Some of these need advanced technologies and interfaces with other systems. The ARS could be designed in future to enhance the existing capabilities or add entirely new ones. The assumptions and limitations of the ARS have been interspersed in the SRS to present the same in their proper context. 1. System Objectives 1.1 The Airline Reservation System (ARS) is a software application to assist an airline with transactions related to making ticket reservations, which includes blocking, reserving, canceling and rescheduling tickets. 1.2 From the viewpoint of the airline 1.2.1 Minimize repetitive work done by the system administrator and reservation clerks. 1.2.2 Maintain consistency among different access modes, e.g. by phone, by web, at the information desk and across different physical locations. The users should be basically taken through the same steps by the system as they go through in conventional desk-reservation systems. 1.2.3 Maintain customer information in case of emergency, e.g. flight cancellation due to inclement weather. The profile can also be used by the airline company to track user preferences and travel patterns to serve them better, plan routes, for better marketing and efficient scheduling of flights. 1.2.4 Maximize the revenue of the airline company by various means: 1.2.4.1 Increase awareness among frequent travelers about various special offers and discounts. 1.2.4.2 Minimize the number of vacant seats on a flight and maximize flight capacity utilization. 1.2.4.3 Maintain the capability to adopt a flexible pricing policy. The price of the tickets should be dynamically determined based on how early, before the date of departure, the customer buys the ticket. 1.3 A survey conducted by airline companies shows that users of an existing reservation system would respond favorably to an ARS that satisfied or helped them satisfy the following objectives: 1.3.1 Reduce effort and frustration for travelers in scheduling a trip, especially by reducing the search effort for the flight they need to take. 1.3.2 Show all possible combinations and itineraries available for a pair of origin-destination cities. 1.3.3 Reduce redundancy in the information required from the customers in order for them to buy tickets, create user accounts etc. 1.3.4 Check the validity of input data and give a feedback to the user in case of errors or inconsistency. 1.3.5 Provide flexible access modes to users internet, telephone, PDA. 1.3.6 Protect customers privacy concerns. 1.3.7 Make it easy for travelers to check the ticket status or make changes to their trip. 2. System Context 2.1 The ARS will provide the following types of easy-to-use, interactive, and intuitive graphical and telephonic interfaces. 2.1.1 The ARS will provide an easy-to-use, intuitive Graphical User Interface (GUI) as part of the Clerk/Administrators working desktop environment. 2.1.2 The ARS will also provide an interactive GUI, on the World Wide Web for the general customers. The above two ARS interfaces shall help provide the following functionalities to the users access to the ARS to check the flight schedule, availability of seats, ticket price and to block, reserve, cancel, and reschedule tickets. The ARS will also provide an easy-to-use, simple telephonic user interface, which can be accessed by the customers through telephone or cell phone from anywhere. This interface shall provide access, only to the following functionalities, namely, check flight schedule and check ticket status including any change in the flight timings. The functionality available through this telephonic interface is limited because of security constraints. 2.2 The system and its environment and the interactions between them are depicted in the diagram below. DB-Reservations Flight Schedule Database Customer Via Web DB-User DB-Schedule I N T E R F A C E CW DB-Geography ARS software INTERFACE Cp Customer Via Phone INTERFACE A Administrator The closed boundary above clearly delineates the system and the environment. The diagram shows the interactions between the ARS software and the databases inside the system. There are three databases internal to the system and which the system maintains. DB-user is the database containing all the personal information of the registered users of the ARS. This can be updated by the user by logging in to the system. Information from this database is used during transactions like charging the credit card etc. DB-schedule is a copy of the flight schedule database. The latter exists independently and is updated by a flight scheduler system which is out of scope of the ARS. DB-schedule is updated with the latest status of the flight schedule database whenever there is any change in the latter. For example, if a flight has been added to the schedule between two cities on Tuesdays, DB-schedule gets updated with this change through a process with which we are not concerned. It is external to th e system and is out of the scope of this SRS. DB-schedule also contains the base prices of tickets for various flight numbers. DB-reservations are a database containing information regarding the number of seats available on each class on different flights. It has provision for marking how many of the reserved seats have been blocked but not yet bought. DB-reservations should update itself using DB-schedule, for example, if a new flight is added. DB-geography is a database, which contains information about the cities and towns serviced by the airline. The distance between all cities and towns is contained in a matrix form. There are three interfaces, one for the administrator, one for the customer via web and another for the customer via phone. The administrator can update DB-schedule with any changes in the base prices of flight tickets. The system uses a pricing algorithm and dynamically determines the actual price from this base price depending on the date of reservation vis-Ã  - vis date of departure. The customer interfaces (web and phone) enable multiple functions which are described in the following section section 3. 3. Functional Requirements 3.1 User Accounts 3.1.1 The passenger, who will henceforth be called the user, will be presented with 3 choices by the reservation system, as the first step in the interaction between them. A user can choose one of these and his choice would be governed by whether he is a guest or a registered user and whether he wants to check the availability of tickets or also block/buy them. The terms registered user and guest are described below. 3.1.1.1 A user who has traveled by the airline earlier would have been given a user id and a password. He would have his personal information stored in the database referred to earlier in section 2 as DB-user. This personal information would be henceforth referred to as profile. Such a user with a profile in DB-user shall be called a registered user. A registered user will be able to check the availability of tickets as well as block/buy a ticket by logging into the system. 3.1.1.2 A new user, on the other hand, would either have to register himself with the system by providing personal information or log into the system as a guest. In case of a, the new user becomes a registered user. In case of b, the new user would remain a guest. A guest can only check the availability of tickets and cannot block or buy tickets. But a registered user can also act as a guest if he only wants to check the availability of tickets. Availability of tickets always refers to viewing the flight schedule for given days, the price of tickets and any discount offers. The system shall present the user with an option to exit from the system at any time during the following processes. 3.2 Registration and creation of user profile The system shall require a user to register, in order to carry out any transactions with it except for checking the availability of tickets. It will ask the user for the following information at the least a user id, a password, first name, last name, address, phone number, email address, sex, age, preferred credit card number. The system will automatically create a sky miles field and initialize it to zero in the users profile. 3.3 Checking Availability 3.3.1 After logging in a user (either a registered user or a guest), the system shall request him to enter the following details origin city and destination city. City is a generic term and refers to a city or town as the case may be. The origin and destination cities would be entered as text. The system shall now refer to the flight schedule database, referred to as DB-geography in section 2, and check if there is any ambiguity with the names of the cities. In case there are more than two cities with same name as entered by the user, the system shall list all of them (with more qualifications) and ask the user to select one of them. In case, either the origin or destination cities are not listed in DB-geography as being directly serviced by the airline, the system shall suggest the nearest city to which service is available, including the distance of the destination city from this nearest city. After the origin and destination cities are ascertained, the system shall now access the flight schedule database, referred to as DB-schedule in section 2, and checks if there is a direct operational service between the two cities. If not, the system shall suggest possible routes and transfer points using a route selection algorithm. The user shall now be presented with a choice of either selecting one of the routes. In case he selects a route, the system shall fill in the intermediate stop over points and create a multiple trip itinerary for the user. 3.3.4 The system shall now ask the user to enter the following details class, one-way or round trip, departure date and the number of adult passengers, children and senior citizens. Class refers to business class/first class/club class/smoking/non smoking. This choice shall be made by the user through a drop down menu indicating all the possible combinations of choices. One-way/round trip shall be either a drop down menu or a check box selection. Departure date refers to either a single date or a range of dates, entered through a calendar-like menu. This menu shall not show dates in the past or those dates that are too ahead in the future(as determined by the airline policy). In case, the trip is a round trip, the system shall also ask the user to enter the departure date on the return trip. Having taken all the above input from the user, the system checks for any false entries like the departure date on the return trip being earlier than the departure date on the onward trip. In case of incompatibility, the system shall display a suitable error message and prompt the user to enter the information correctly. Having taken all of the information as laid out above in 3.3.1 and 3.3.4, the system shall now access the flight schedule database DB-schedule and queries it using the input provided by the user. The system queries the reservation database DB-reservations to check which of the flights on the schedule have seats available. The system displays the results in a suitable form (a tabular form) with the following information depicted for each flight number the flight number, departure time in origin city, arrival time in destination city, the duration of the flight (taking into account the possibility of a change of time zone) and the number of seats available on that flight. There can be several flights between two cities and all of them will be listed for the particular date that the user wants to depart from the Origin City. In case, the user has entered a range of dates, the system shall display all the flights for all those dates in the range. If the user has requested a round trip, the system shall display two tables one for the onward trip and one for the return trip. There will be a check box in front of each line in the table representing a flight with available seats. The user is now asked to check one of the boxes reflecting a choice of a flight number and time. In case of a round trip, the user is asked to check one box each in the two tables. The system shall now display the price of the ticket for the trip. This will be the sum of the prices for all the members of the travel party being represented by the user. The system shall also list any rules regarding the cancellation of tickets what percentage of the price will be refunded within what date ranges. This will be displayed as a table. Making Reservations/Blocking/Confirmation 3.4.1 After having taken the user through the step 3.3, Checking Availability, The system will now ask the user if he wishes to block/buy the ticket. If yes, and if the user has been a guest, he will have to first register and become a registered user and then log onto the system. If the user is already a registered user, and if he has logged on already, he can block/buy the ticket, but if he has been acting as a guest, he will have to log on. Having ensured that the user is logged on validly according to 3.4.1, the system compares the departure date with the system date. If the departure date falls within 2 weeks of the system date, the system informs the user that he has no option to block the ticket and asks him if he would like to buy it. If the difference between the departure date and system date is more than 2 weeks, the system asks the user if he would like to block or buy the ticket. The system informs the user that he can block the ticket at no cost now. It also informs him that if he chooses to block the ticket, he should make a final decision before 2 weeks of the departure date. The system shall send an email to the user, 3 weeks before the departure date as a reminder, in case he decides to block the ticket now. Having taken the input from the user in 3.4.2, the system shall now proceed to update the reservation database DB-reservation. It will decrement the number of available seats on the particular flight for the particular class by the number of travelers being represented by the user. In case of a blocking, the system makes a note of it in the database to be used if the user doesnt turn up before 2 weeks of the departure date. It generates a blocking number and displays it for the user to note down. In case the user buys the ticket, the system accesses his profile and charges the price of the ticket to his credit card number. It simultaneously generates a confirmation number and displays it to the user for him to note down. The ticket has been reserved. It adds the mileage of the trip (accounting for the number of travelers) to the skymiles in his profile. 3.5 Confirm Ticket 3.5.1 A user who has earlier blocked a ticket after going through the steps 3.2 through 3.4, is required to either confirm the ticket before two weeks of the departure date or the ticket stands cancelled. To let the user confirm a ticket, the system shall first log him on and ask for his blocking number. Then it accesses DB-reservation and removes the check mark, which so far represented a blocked seat. The seat is now confirmed and reserved for the user. The system accesses DB-user and charges the price of the ticket to the credit card number of the user. It simultaneously generates a confirmation number and displays it for the user to note down. The ticket has been reserved. It adds the mileage of the trip (accounting for the number of travelers) to the skymiles in his profile. 3.6 Reschedule Ticket The system shall present the user with an option to re-schedule his travel partys trip. In order to do this, the system first logs on the user and requests his confirmation number. It will not allow a user to reschedule a blocked ticket but only a confirmed ticket. Using this, it queries DB-reservation and presents the details of the trip to the user, including but not limited to origin city, destination city, date of departure and date of arrival (in case the trip is a round trip). The system shall now ask the user to select new dates from the calendar-menu. It now goes through step 3.3. In case, there are no available tickets for the dates entered, it displays a suitable message informing him that rescheduling to that date is not possible. In case there are tickets available, the system asks the user to select the flight number for the trip (another for the return trip if the trip is a round trip) and proceeds to update the database. The system accesses DB-reservation and decrements the number of available seats on the flight(s) by the number of members in the users travel party. It then increments the entry for the previous flight by the same number to reflect an increase in the available seats on it as a result of the rescheduling. The system now checks if there is any difference in the prices of the tickets. If so, it accesses DB-user and charges or credits the credit card as the case may be. The system generates a new confirmation number and displays it to the user. 3.7 Cancellation The system shall also give the user an option to cancel a confirmed ticket or a blocked ticket. The latter case is simpler and will be dealt with first the system shall first log on the user and request the blocking number. Then it accesses DB-reservation and updates it by incrementing the number of available seats by the number of people in the users travel party. In the former case, i.e., for a confirmed ticket, it asks for the confirmation number and accesses DB-reservation and presents the details of the trip as in step 3.6.1. It then lists the applicable rules for cancellation of tickets and depending on the system date and the departure date, it displays the % of the amount that would be refunded if the user cancels the ticket. After the user cancels the ticket, the system generates a cancellation number and displays it for the user to note down. It accesses DB-reservation and updates it by incrementing the number of available seats on that flight by the number of travelers in the users party. It accesses DB-user and credits the refund amount to his credit card number. The system then deducts the mileage of the trip (taking into account the number of travelers in his party) from the sky miles in his profile. 3.8 Update Profile The system shall enable the user to update his profile at any time. Changes can be made in fields including but not limited to address, phone number and preferred credit card number. 3.9 View Ticket Status The system shall allow a user to view all information about his trip. After logging him on, it asks for his blocking number or his confirmation number. It accesses DB-reservation and retrieves the details of the trip and presents them to the user in a convenient format, including any last minute changes to the flight timings etc. Such changes will be highlighted. 3.10 Query Flight Details The system shall allow any user (registered or non registered) to access the details about the arrival and departure times of a flight by requesting the user to input the flight number and date. The system accesses DB-schedule and presents the time of arrival and departure. Telephone access The system shall be accessible through a touch-tone telephone. The telephonic interface shall, at the least, provide the customer with the facility to check availability of tickets and query flight details. The system shall walk the customer exactly through steps 3.3 and 3.9 respectively but through a telephonic interface. Non-functional Requirements 4.1 Performance 4.1.1 Response time of the Airline Reservation System should be less than 2 second most of the time. Response time refers to the waiting time while the system accesses, queries and retrieves the information from the databases (DB-user, DB-schedule etc) (A local copy of flight schedule database is maintained as DB-schedule to reduce this access time) ARS shall be able to handle at least 1000 transactions/inquiries per second. ARS shall show no visible deterioration in response time as the number of users or flight schedule data increases 4.2 Reliability ARS shall be available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week ARS shall always provide real time information about flight availability information. ARS shall be robust enough to have a high degree of fault tolerance. For example, if the user enters a negative number of passengers or a value too large, the system should not crash and shall identify the invalid input and produce a suitable error message. 4.2.4 ARS shall be able to recover from hardware failures, power failures and other natural catastrophes and rollback the databases to their most recent valid state. 4.3 Usability ARS shall provide a easy-to-use graphical interface similar to other existing reservation system so that the users do not have to learn a new style of interaction. 4.3.2 The web interface should be intuitive and easily navigable Users should be able to understand the menu and options provided by ARS. 4.3.3 Any notification or error messages generated by ARS shall be clear, succinct, polite and free of jargon. Integrity 4.4.1 Only system administer has the right to change system parameters, such as pricing policy etc. The system should be secure and must use encryption to protect the databases. 4.4.2 Users need to be authenticated before having access to any personal data. 4.5 Interoperability ARS shall minimize the effort required to couple it to another system, such as flight schedule database system. 5 Future Requirements 5.1 Support for waiting list functionality 5.1.1. ARS shall be made more flexible in ticket reservation handling, and shall accept waiting list for reservation. 5.1.2 The waiting list handling capability of ARS shall be made more advanced, by enabling it to send requests to the Flight Scheduler to schedule extra flights, depending on the demand in a particular corridor, and providing the wait listed passengers with a new flight. 5.2 The telephonic interface of the ARS shall be improved to support more functionality like allowing the customers to cancel a ticket etc., by incorporating security measures. 5.3 ARS shall be made more dynamic and helpful to the users by enabling it to send instant messages to the passengers, of a cancelled or rescheduled flight, through email, phone, fax etc., informing them about the change, and providing them with other feasible alternatives. 5.4 Information about the kind of meals served in a flight and the type of entertainment offered on a flight should be incorporated into the system. Provide service integration with auto rental agencies and hotel chains. Interface for the travel agents shall be provided in the future versions with additional features like informing them of any availability of seats on a flight which was earlier booked to capacity. Choices like aisle or window seats shall be provided to the users. The ARS shall be able to handle the situation where flight services are available to multiple airports in a single city.