Everyday millions of containers circle the globe and 250, 000, 000 container movements are performed around the globe yearly through 220 ports. Approximately 2% of in-transit containers are physically inspected, while empty containers are rarely inspected. A serious container event could trigger a worldwide massive port shutdown. Government security officials recognize container shipments as one of the world’s greatest security threats which press for dramatic improvements in air and maritime security. Port Authorities are striving to increase efficiency through effective supply chain management, while focus is being placed on control, visibility and security. This paper is based mostly on the possible implementation of an RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) based container tracking system for Port Louis harbor. RFID will enable the identification of containers over long distances and in demanding environments such as the port area. This will help in real-time identification and tracking of containers, reaching new levels of traceability and control. Companies will know at any point in time, where their assets are and all movements at key locations will be recorded for eventual streamlining and optimizations. These will lead to a reduced capital costs and significant overall savings in the long run for Port Louis harbor. The implementation of this system however relies on a solid collaborative network to link the various stakeholders of Port Louis harbor, by taking into considerations the specificities of Mauritius which is strategically positioned in the Indian Ocean.

In this paper, we demonstrate the use of design patterns to develop games for mobile devices on the J2ME platform. We believe that the proposed idea will help J2ME game developers to write better re-usable code faster. We consider a single player Sudoku board game which is based on the model-view-controller architecture. The view is configured with a Game Controller Choice pattern so that different controllers can be selected. The view and the model implement the Game State Observer pattern. The Canvas drawing logic is created using the Drawing Template pattern, which ensures reusability of the board size computation as well as provides a means for the programmer to implement game specific drawing functionalities. A generic undo method is provided using the Game Memento pattern. Setting of the current display is achieved through the Change Screen pattern. We note that the use of patterns in the Sudoku game makes it possible to cater for changes without breaking up the overall architecture of the game. By considering a downgraded version of the standard Soduko game, we show that patterns allow modifications to be made without opening up too many classes. We also show how the proposed design of the Sudoku game facilitates the design of other games.

The functional approach to software development has been used for years and new methodologies have evolved, including, object-oriented approach. Objects are sharing an important part in the software business. They have become the building blocks of many systems whether commercial applications, real-time applications or embedded systems applications. As objects represent an abstraction of the real world, systems modelled using objects can be easily read and interpreted. Design patterns have been used on desktop systems. Today, the trend is towards building applications on small hand-held devices like mobile phones, PDAs or pocket PCs. Due to the limitations of hand-held devices, applications should be optimised and design pattern is the right choice to cater for this need. In this paper, the design pattern chosen for mobile services using J2ME is the One-function structure design patterns. Although it resembles the behavioural design pattern, the One-function structure name has been given because the pattern is made up of other classes and objects and is performing a single task. The patterns have been used in two applications with basic management functions namely add, edit, erase and search and the result obtained proves their re-usability and reliability.

We present the initial study based on the development of an online tool for sales representatives of cosmetic products in Mauritius. The management tool to be developed is expected to help the sales representatives to better manage their business. Virtually all the sales representatives in Mauritius are currently using a manual system and hereby face lots difficulties to optimize their business. We expect that the web-based stock management tool for the sales representatives will help to solve this problem in an effective way by providing an online means to manage the system which they can securely access from anywhere via the Internet. In this article, we analyze the various problems that the representatives are currently facing and we provide considerable solutions to these problems. We also describe the various functionalities and features that the system will cater for.

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