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Computer Science / Parallel Computing
Parallel Merge Sort with Load Balancing
This technical research article investigates the performance limitations of conventional parallel merge sort and proposes a load-balanced alternative designed to improve processor utilisation in distributed-memory parallel computing systems. Traditional parallel merge sort progressively reduces the number of active processors during successive merge stages, causing many processors to remain idle and reducing the performance benefits of parallelisation. The proposed approach addresses this limitation by ensuring that all processors continue participating throughout the merging process. Parallel_Merge_Sort_with_Load_B… The paper first explains the conventional parallel merge-sort process, in which data are locally sorted before processors are paired for a series of merging operations. At every subsequent stage, the number of participating processors is halved until only one processor remains responsible for the final merged list. This results in poor processor utilisation and increasing workload concentration. Parallel_Merge_Sort_with_Load_B… The proposed load-balanced parallel merge sort distributes each partially sorted list across multiple processors so that every processor maintains approximately the same number of keys throughout execution. Processor groups use histograms and boundary values to determine how data should be redistributed during merging. Histogram-based partitioning reduces unnecessary data movement, while an index-swapping mechanism is introduced to avoid transferring large blocks of keys when logical processor reassignment can achieve the same result more efficiently. Parallel_Merge_Sort_with_Load_B… Parallel_Merge_Sort_with_Load_B… The algorithm was implemented in C using MPI and experimentally evaluated on a Cray T3E parallel computer and an eight-node PC cluster. Testing considered both uniform and Gaussian key distributions. Results show that performance improvements increase as processor count grows, although communication and histogram-management overhead can reduce benefits for small workloads. Parallel_Merge_Sort_with_Load_B… The proposed technique achieved a maximum merge-phase speedup of 9.6 on a 32-processor Cray T3E and 2.3 on an eight-node PC cluster when processing four million keys. The study concludes that distributing approximately equal workloads across processors can substantially improve parallel merge performance and may also be applicable to related parallel sorting algorithms. Parallel_Merge_Sort_with_Load_B… Overview word count: approximately 330 words. For your portal, I would not label this as university coursework unless you also have the actual assessment brief that uses this paper. This PDF itself only establishes a published academic paper and the authors’ Korea University affiliation.
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Project Management / Professional Development / Business Strategy
5,000 words
Professional Project Portfolio and Strategic Business Presentation
This Level 7 assessment requires students to compile a comprehensive Portfolio of Evidence demonstrating their project contribution, reflective learning, professional skills and career development. The portfolio has a maximum length of 5,000 words and is designed to evidence both technical or disciplinary project engagement and the student’s development as a reflective professional. The assessment is organised into three main components: a Discipline Report, Project Work Logbook, and Career Development Plan. Assessment Overview The Discipline Report, worth 40% of the portfolio, provides an overview of the project and its conclusions, alongside a self-reflection on the student’s project experience. Students also complete a personal skills analysis and provide a confidential summary of their team’s delivery. This section therefore combines project understanding with critical self-evaluation, skills awareness and evaluation of collaborative performance. Assessment Overview The Project Work Logbook, worth 30%, records the student’s activities on a weekly basis. Students summarise the work completed each week and document problems or challenges encountered during the project together with the approaches used to resolve them. The marking criteria emphasise consistency, level of detail, organisation and the ability to identify and address project-related difficulties. Assessment Overview Assessment Overview The Career Development Plan, also worth 30%, requires students to define a realistic future career pathway, identify relevant jobs and organisations, and evaluate the skills and knowledge needed to progress toward those goals. Students must also complete an additional professional-development course, such as CPD or LinkedIn Learning, to demonstrate practical upskilling and continued professional development. Assessment Overview A related team presentation forms a second assessment activity. Teams of four to five students must present face to face for approximately 10–15 minutes to a small management-board audience. All team members are expected to contribute approximately equal content and speaking time, with provision for questions and answers. The presentation focuses on the team’s overall findings, analysis of the business problem, practical recommendations, proposed implementation approach and final conclusion. assessment Overview 1 Strong presentations are expected to be engaging, professionally structured and supported by relevant evidence, graphics, tables and other appropriate visual material. Higher-level work should move beyond description by applying theory critically to a real-world business problem, recognising the limitations and contextual applicability of theoretical concepts and producing recommendations that are appropriate to the organisation being analysed. assessment Overview 1 Overall, the assessment develops and evaluates project reflection, professional communication, teamwork, career planning, critical analysis, employability, problem solving and evidence-based business recommendation skills. It combines an individual reflective portfolio with a collaborative management-style presentation, allowing students to demonstrate both personal development and the ability to communicate project findings professionally.
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Global Business Strategy
2,500 words
Global Business Strategy – Strategic Analysis of a Global Company
This assessment is an individual portfolio for the Global Business Strategy module. The assignment requires students to conduct a comprehensive strategic analysis of a named global company that is facing a significant business problem and to develop strategic options that can support the organisation's sustainable growth and future success. The selected company can be from any industry and may be a large or small global organisation. Students must identify a company that has experienced significant challenges during the past five years or is currently facing strategic difficulties. These may include loss of market position, inability to gain or regain market share, operational challenges, or declining revenues and profits. The assessment requires students to investigate the company's strategic purpose, vision, mission and objectives before examining the internal and external global business environment that may have contributed to its challenges. Relevant strategic theories and models should be applied to support the analysis. The portfolio is developed progressively across the semester. The first stage focuses on selecting the global company, identifying its key problem and analysing the internal and external business environment. The second stage examines sustainable business strategies, diversification and competitive advantage through a resource audit, together with an appropriate model for supporting global business growth. Students must also propose an appropriate mode and strategy for entering an international market in which the selected company does not currently operate. The third stage focuses on strategic change, leadership and governance. Students are expected to demonstrate an understanding of effective leadership styles, the role of leadership in strategic change, good governance and the importance of ethics in international business. Practical examples should be used to demonstrate how leadership, governance and ethical considerations can contribute to business growth. The fourth stage addresses good strategy execution and evaluation. Students must justify how the proposed strategy can be effectively implemented using available organisational resources and process management tools that support continuous improvement. The analysis should lead to strategic recommendations and an evaluation of how the proposed strategies could affect the company's future performance and competitiveness in the global market. After completing the individual portfolio tasks, students must prepare a summary report of approximately 1,000–1,500 words. This report should synthesise the key learning and insights gained from each task and demonstrate how the different strategic concepts have been applied to the selected organisation. The final e-portfolio is compiled as a single academic report in PebblePad and submitted as a PDF through Turnitin. The overall report should be approximately 2,500 words ±10%, excluding references and appendices, and sources should be cited using the ULBS Harvard referencing style.
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Ethical Hacking
2,500 words
Ethical Hacking – Professional Penetration Testing Report
This resit coursework for the Ethical Hacking module at Coventry University requires students to conduct a professional penetration testing examination of a small office environment represented by a number of virtual machines. The purpose of the assessment is to evaluate the security of the target environment, identify vulnerabilities, demonstrate appropriate exploitation techniques within the authorised assessment environment, and produce professional recommendations for improving the security of the systems. The assignment carries 15 credits and requires a report of approximately 2,000 words, with a permitted variation of ±10%. The report should follow a structured penetration-testing approach. The first section covers reconnaissance and target analysis, requiring students to investigate the target environment and identify its structure, services and potential attack surfaces. The marking criteria emphasise the use of appropriate tools to identify network structure and services and the identification of vulnerabilities during the scanning process. Students are expected to analyse the results rather than simply reproduce the output of scanning tools. The second section focuses on exploitation. Students must describe in detail the steps taken and the tools used to exploit relevant vulnerabilities identified during the assessment. The marking criteria distinguish between compromising the desktop and gaining access to the server, with higher achievement involving multiple relevant vulnerabilities and successful access through more than one vulnerability. The report should provide appropriate screenshots and sample sessions to support the findings. The third section addresses post-exploitation activities. Students are required to document and analyse activities carried out after gaining access to the target systems. Examples identified in the marking criteria include dumping password hashes and creating a persistent backdoor. For server assessment, the criteria also consider activities such as obtaining root access or establishing a persistent connection. The report should explain the significance of the activities rather than merely listing technical actions. The fourth section provides recommendations for securing the target machines. Recommendations must address all vulnerabilities identified during the assessment, not only vulnerabilities that were successfully exploited. Security issues should be discussed using an established risk-rating approach such as OWASP, and proposed countermeasures should be relevant to the specific vulnerabilities discovered. The report should also analyse how vulnerabilities relate to one another and fit within the wider security context. The final section presents the conclusions, including an evaluation of the penetration-testing work and alternative approaches that could have been taken. The overall learning outcomes require students to critically discuss the legal, technical and ethical scope of ethical hacking, evaluate penetration-testing methodologies and security assessment tools, analyse vulnerabilities, and professionally report penetration-test outcomes with suitable countermeasures.
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Big Data Analytics / Data Analytics
4,000 words
Big Data Analytics Using Python and Business Intelligence with Tableau
This individual Big Data Analytics assessment requires students to critically analyse data using programming languages, statistical techniques, data visualisation methods and business intelligence software. The assessment combines practical data analytics using Python with interactive business intelligence and dashboard development using Tableau, requiring evidence of technical implementation, research, critical appraisal and justification of the selected analytical approaches. The first section, worth 70%, is based on a dataset containing accidental drug-related deaths recorded in Connecticut between 2012 and 2024. The dataset contains 12,964 observations and 49 variables. Students are required to conduct exploratory data analysis using Python, develop three to four research questions, formulate null and alternative hypotheses, and apply appropriate statistical methods. The analytical process also requires an evaluation of alternative technologies and methodological approaches, supported by relevant research. Students must justify their selected methodology and present a clear workflow diagram. The solution-development stage involves data preprocessing, descriptive statistical analysis, visualisation, answering the research questions and conducting statistical significance testing to determine whether the null hypothesis should be accepted or rejected. Evidence of coding and a link to working code are also required. The final Python component requires evaluation of the findings, consideration of limitations and recommendations for future development using emerging technologies. The second section, worth 30%, focuses on Business Intelligence using Tableau and uses a historical Olympic Games dataset containing 271,116 rows and 15 columns. Students analyse relationships between medals and host cities, athlete age and medal type, season and medal counts, and sex and medal type. The section culminates in an interactive Tableau dashboard containing at least four interconnected sheets, where changes to relevant parameters are reflected across the dashboard. Overall, the assessment develops practical competence in Python-based analytics, statistical reasoning, research-question development, hypothesis testing, data visualisation and interactive business intelligence dashboard design. Overview word count: approximately 350 words. AI note: the brief permits AI for limited support such as grammar, structure, organisation of ideas and suggestions, but states that the main content, analysis and conclusions must remain the student's own work. AI use must also be declared.
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