Case Study Analysis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words - 1

Case Study Analysis - Essay Example Babcock conducted wide level strategic changes specifically in areas of process re-engineering, management restructuring as well as people’s management. Efforts were successful and within first year of performance Babcock managed to generate efficiencies in excess to targets across the board without compromising any security risks and services. Babcock over years developed successful relationship with all stakeholders resulting Faslane to become home base for the entire UK submarine fleet. The case assessment herein provides the review of the strategic measures exercised by Babcock for the purpose in relevance to academic management literature. CASE STUDY ANALYSIS The strategic changes undertaken by Babcock from 2002 to 2010 changed the strategic model of Faslane. Broadly, the change has been taken in the areas of process re-engineering, people’s management with flattening management structure etc. The section provides the assessment of the referred changed from three a spect as discussed as follows: Describe the Strategic Change Context In 2002 The change undertaken at Babcock has can be defined as the transformational change among options set out below: (Balogun, J. (2001) Transformational change requires changing in believes and the culture in all (Johnson, Whittington, & Scholes, 2011). As noted in the description people at Faslane were more towards Inwards River fencing than actually intending to serve the Navy. John Howie the managing director of Babcock then also declared that efficiencies in the project are to be explored by changing the mindset of the people serving at Faslane to delivering services with minimum possible cost. Babcock adopted the strategic path for change with intense consideration adhered to factors that are sensitive to firm. These considerations were given to underlying situation of the firm within outer, middle and internal context as follows: (Balogun, J. (2001) Changes undertaken were strictly aligned to maintain wit h the organisational context as focus. Therefore, focus was made changing attitudes and processes than organisation. Low level changes were timed on first place with managerial transformation in later phase. Scope was maintained to change the attitudes towards jobs than changing jobs or people. Such as processes were engineered to ensure value addition to the processes ensuring critical steps preserved while eliminating wastes and redundancies. Almost entire staff was moved towards change with exploring change and efficiency possibilities and capabilities across the board. Small level readiness of employees for changed were enhanced with consistent communication and increased sharing of power. Restructuring, top-down path and participative approach, management leveraging support to understand the value addition paradigm of serving with least possible expense, leadership and involvement of change action team formed the defining characteristics of the strategic change design implement ed by Babcock at Faslane. For such change implementation Babcock undertook measures that consistently increased the strength of factors that appreciated and supported change (Milicevic & Ilic, 2010). In line with Lewin’s Force field analysis (Thompson & Martin, 2010), John undertook measures that also weakened the forces resisting change. Change drivers originally strengthened from the Babcok gaining contract for the job. Further, consistent contact with stakeholder ensuring the enhanced quality of service while reducing bureaucratic pressures from employees also

Financial analysis Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Financial analysis - Case Study Example However, the fall in sales is attributed to operation expenses such as administration, general and sales expenditures. The scale of operations needed to execute the services and product manufacturing of the new venture is larger than when the company had not acquired Exterran Holdings (Haunschild, 570). The Gross Profit in 2013 was $963,006. However, the forecasts in 2014 indicate that there is a fall in gross profit. Despite the fact that this value is lower than 2013 reports, the figure gradually increases in 2015 and 2016 financial years. By 2016, the gross profit, after the acquisition of the new business, will be $195,865; a reflection of 19.6% increase from 2014. Forecasts in the growth of gross profit in 2015 record an increase by 9.4% from the values reported in 2014. From the percentage growth in gross profits, it is evident that in every financial year, the business’s gross profits, after acquiring Exterran Holdings Inc., doubles. Total operating expenses before the company acquired the new business decreased from 2010 ($888,015), 2012 ($864,909), and 2013($714,315). The decrease in the values of total operating expenses means that the company had acclimatized to the business conditions after establishing its niche in the new market. Consequently, the significant rise in operating expenses from the forecasts in 2014 ($121,434), through 2015 ($132,825) to 2016 ($145,284) indicate the business has not adapted to the new market conditions and challenges because of its wide operational needs. Acquiring the new business will also realize a significant growth in earnings before taxes and interests. The year 2011 and 2011 reported losses of $193,818 and $80,133 respectively. Because the business had just began, the challenges in the market and operating environments contributed to the loses in earnings. The forecasts in 2014 financial year records a fall in earnings before taxes and

American history Essay Example for Free

American history Essay In the course of American history, the American people have been confronted with different threats to its politics, economy and way of life. At present, the continuing threat of international terrorism and the unceasing wave of Anti-Americanism are constantly putting the lives of simple Americans towards fear and uncertainty, notwithstanding all the different social issues they face each passing day, such as gay marriage, abortion, and stem-cell research, among many others. These threats had their own counterparts in previous years, and it is worthy to note that different side of the American political fence all had their own positions on various matters of serious concern then, and seemingly, those old issues remain as hotly debated up until this moment. The paper will examine the actual threats and pre-conceived threats by Americans through the different decades such as racism, immigration, government regulation, evolutionism, and many other issues and social questions that have made the United States the brimming democracy of ideas it continues to be until today. Evolution and the Origin of Man and the Earth In the twenties, a most important concern has been the continuing discourse on evolution vis-a-vis fundamental Christian preaching on the ancestry of human beings. In Reverend Dixon’s Sermon on the Evils of Darwinism and Evolution, he is clearly mistaken for lumping the theory of evolution per se, with the racist theory of social Darwinism of Herbert Spencer. He is clearly mistaken in doing so, because never had the theory of evolution posited that evolution is merely a matter of survival of the fittest, thus, the weak may necessarily be oppressed, thus, may be destroyed in the conduct of human evolution. (165) Such a position is clearly misinformed, because what the theory of evolution merely suggests is that humans, as per the evidence culled in the development and evolution of other species, may have descended, not from the biblical Adam, as many fundamental Christians believe, but from apes and monkeys. The trouble with Reverend Dixon, and all other purveyors of the biblical interpretation on the origin of man is that their answers to the scientific question on evolution was never based on a scientific reply itself, but merely on a reassertion of Bible verses that never could man have descended from apes, precisely because he descended from God himself. Then and now, the reason why creationism remains absolutely discredited among scientific circles is the basic fact that no scientific reply has ever been posited to the Darwinian challenge on the origin of man. The evolutionary scientists are no less Christian by continuously asserting their Darwinian position. Defense Attorney Darrow’s interrogation of Prosecutor Bryan during the Monkey Trial is helpful in better understanding the fundamentalist Christian views of the day, which permeates much in the evolution debate of today. Darrow’s line of questioning clearly seeks to debunk the literal biblical interpretation of fundamentalist Christians, which in this case might be Prosecutor Bryan. While Bryan asserts that the creation of the world occurred six-thousand years ago, Darrow insists that the Chinese civilization had been in existence thousands of years more than that, and rightly so, but Bryan remains unfazed with such statements, firmly believing, in mocking fashion, that the truth is on his side. (167) In the discourse of the origin of man, and the creation of the world, fundamental Christians have remained unfazed, in the face of overwhelming scientific evidence, especially on the age of the earth, that the truth as stated in the Bible is the only truth that needs to be believed by any God-fearing person. Such a position is dangerous, because it creates a faith that is blind and dogmatic, and obscures believers from the well-intentioned truth provided by science in determining previously unknown facts about humans and the natural world in which they exist. Unfortunately, this position remains the subject of intense debate until today, with creationism advocates appealing School Boards and lobbying Capitol Hill to cut funding for the instruction of evolution, and/or to provide equal educational exposure to creationism and its corollary theory, Intelligent Design. White Supremacy and Racism Another threat during the twenties was the rise of white supremacy in the face of a nascent anti-racism and black civil rights movement as represented in the literary works of Langston Hughes and F. Scott Fitzgerald. The Klan treatise on Americanism is nothing but empty rhetoric on the need to assert white supremacy in all corners of America, through patriotism, Protestantism and the glorification of the white race. (171) The trouble with their position on Americanism is that much of their assertions are based on their normative conception of the world and its history, without due regard to other history narratives on the founding of America, the role of Protestantism in exposing the excesses of Roman Catholicism, and the absolute poverty of a discourse based on the mere historic successes and failures of races. It is clear, however, the Klan remains stuck on their unrepentant Southern position on the continuing subjugation and slavery of African-Americans to be treated like chattel, and the relegation of other colored races as mere secondary citizens to American whites, precisely because the conflicts and contradictions that occur in this world is race-based, instead of class-based. It is a successful racist position though, because rich whites American obfuscate the apparent class contradictions between peasants and landowners, regardless of race, in order to completely gain the trust of poor white Americans against the hapless African-American who remains to exist as chattel in the racist eyes of the white supremacist. On the other hand, the Klan’s position on Protestantism is without any causal connection to their white supremacist cause, except for the assertion that without Protestantism, there would have been no America. (171) Sadly, it is based on this simplistic formulation on Protestantism vis-a-vis Americanism that the Klan discriminates against whites who do not share their same belief system, in much the same manner that, precisely because other races are non-white, they deserve to be discriminated, ipso facto. Nonetheless, such simplistic and flawed logic is also the reason by which the Klan has only remained and self-degenerated in the poorer, uneducated sections of the American South, and never really expanded into the large coastal cities where racial prejudice is much less because of continuous racial intermingling and higher levels of educational attainment. It must be stated, however, that despite the apparent rise of white supremacy in the American South, the seeds of the black civil rights movement of the fifties and the sixties had been planted as early as the twenties, through the prose and poetry of Langston Hughes. In his poetry, One-Way Ticket, it laments about the situation in the American South, and the persona would rather be in the cosmopolitan cities where African-American are better respected and given their fair share of human dignity, in comparison to the lynching and ridicule of the South. (173) It is a good thing, nonetheless, that the struggle between white supremacy and black civil rights had been quite successful for the latter, not only from Brown v. Board of Education and desegregation, but until today, with the election of Barack Obama, African-American, and 44th President of the United States of America.

Differentiation Of The Self

Differentiation Of The Self Murray Bowen laid a foundation for family systems theory and established an effective way of carrying out family therapy. Among his concepts is that of differentiation of the self, which will be explored in this paper. The paper begins with my own connection with the idea. Next, I explore the theory, describing key players in its development, those related to differentiation, and how it can be used to treat family therapy issues. Keywords: Bowen, differentiation of self, family therapy I am he as you are he as you are me and we are all together. (Lennon and McCartney, 1967.) In the above lyrics from the song I am The Walrus, the singer sees himself and others as just another version of each other. Any differentiation between self and other is erased. The ability to self-differentiate, however, is critical for personal development, especially with respect to family members. Consequently, the differentiation of the self is not merely a theoretical idea but also a life task for all individuals, including family therapists. As I listen to this Beatles song, I reflect upon how I both might find my place in the world and how I might relate to my family of origin. I find Bowens theory of differentiation of the self compelling because it offers me a means of reviewing past family relationships and dealing with present dynamics in a positive manner, rather than simply cutting off family members entirely and disowning them. Personal Connection To The Theme My interest in Murray Bowens idea of differentiation of the self arose as I reread family therapy literature. Bowens theories spurred me to reevaluate my life, most recently my marriage of June 2010 and my first move outside my parents home in September of the same year. I had moved into this house with my family in August 9, 1974, the day that Richard Nixon resigned from office. This move from our previous home took place to live in a better school district as well as help care for my elderly maternal grandparents. Those grandparents died in 1975. On February 13, 1976, just three days after my ninth birthday and when my brother was not yet eight, my father died of a heart attack. The changes to our family dynamics were profound. At a very young age, I was forced into a position in which I had adult responsibilities as the man of the house, and as my mothers confidante, which included not only hearing adult topics, but being triangulated when my brother acted out. Other new alignments included us brothers acting against our mother and my brother and mother aligning against me. These dynamics have continued and remain the dominant modes of interactions between us three. At times, over the last nineteen years, our emotional interactions became particularly intense, including my departure to attend college, my brothers moving in and out of the house several times, and my mothers repeated illnesses. From 1991 to 2010 I served as my mothers caregiver, with extensive duties including her transportation, errands, house-cleaning, unofficial psychotherapy, and some medical care. During this period, I sacrificed career advancement and earning potential by refusing to consider jobs that would lessen my availability to her if needed. At the same time, I also pursued avenues such as computer training to keep me busy and out of the house. It was very difficult to resolve these competing goals. The dynamics began to change when I met my wife in April, 2009. We bonded over a period of six months, became engaged, and were wed on June 27, 2010. My mother was opposed to our relationship from the start, insisting that a relationship would get in the way of my schoolwork. My brother also was hostile to my wife, saying snide things. Clearly, both preferred the status quo of my enslavement. After the wedding, my wife moved into the house and helped me take care of my mother for two months. This situation soon became intolerable for all three of us. We moved out on September 1, 2010, angering my brother because he had not been consulted about our mothers care arrangements. Since then, I have provided my mother with community resources for her various needs, leaving it up to her to decide if she wishes to use them, as I do not have the time to take care of her any more. Meanwhile, I am currently addressing my self-differentiation process in both individual and couples therapy. As I reflect again upon the Beatles song, I apply it to my own situation, seeing how critical it is to differentiate on the one hand from the he (referring to a deceased father) and the he (referring to a brother), not to mention a she (referring to a mother). I know firsthand how it is a major challenge to become oneself yet at the same time retaining healthy and loving ties with ones family of origin. It is with this difficult enterprise in mind that Murray Bowen developed his highly influential theory. This paper will discuss this theory and its relation to differentiation of the self, beginning with a history of the theory, its key-players and successors. Early History and Successors According to Nichols and Schwartz (2009), Murray Bowen was a psychiatrist at the Menninger Clinic in the late 1940s. He was interested in the relationship between schizophrenics and their mothers, which he understood not as a symbiosis of two equal partners, but as an amplified version of a tendency to emotionally react in relationships. Then, while working at the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), which he became a part of in 1954, he initiated the hospitalization of entire families with a schizophrenic member. Among his significant findings was the realization that the entire family was involved in the bond between the mother and the disturbed child. From these observations he formulated the idea of anxious attachment, a phenomenon in which closeness in troubled families is driven by anxiety to the point that family, members were stuck together or fused to the point that they lacked personal autonomy. When the NIMH project ended in 1959, Bowen moved to Georgetown Universit y, where he worked for 31 years. In 1990, he died after a long illness, but not before imparting his wisdom to several students and successors. Nichols and Schwartz (2009) note that Bowens students Philip Guerin and Thomas Fogarty formed the Center For Family Learning in New Rochelle, New York in 1973. Guerin was interested in measuring the severity of the conflict and then singling out specific issues to work on. This therapy model had several components. Guerin stressed the multigenerational context of families, carefully defined familial relationship patterns, and paid close attention to addressing the intense emotions of the family member. Bowen also passed the mantle to Betty Carter and Monica McGoldrick, who are best known for elucidating the family life cycle and promoting feminist perspectives within the field. Perhaps Michael Kerr is Bowens most faithful student and colleague. He has been the director of the Georgetown Family Center since 1977. He wrote the book Family Evaluation with Bowen in 1988. Theoretical Constructs Bowens theory is multifaceted. According to Winek (2010), his first main idea is that of chronic anxiety, which holds them together. Bowen found that although chronic anxiety is found across the animal kingdom and it is less a cognitive response than an automatic one. When the anxiety experienced by individuals is low, those persons have a greater capacity to contemplate either a specific situation or their overall existence. When the level of anxiety increases, the ability to think about a situation calmly declines and affected individuals become far more emotionally reactive. Over time, an emotionally reactive person becomes conflicted, distant or emotionally cutoff. These cutoffs will be discussed later. As noted by Winek (2010), the contrasting ideas of differentiation and emotional fusion are important to Bowen in the attempt to relieve a patient of that anxiety. Differentiation refers to how a person functions in response to his or her level of anxiety. This is an individual reaction in that differentiated persons can deal with their anxiety on their own and allow emotional issues to be addressed without being fused with others emotions. Bowen worked with Michael Kerr to develop a differentiation scale, and stressed that the more differentiated a person was, the less likely they would be ill or irrational because of stress. In contrast, emotional fusion is in many ways an unhealthy extension of a natural process. When infants are born, they are emotionally fused with their primary caregiver, usually the mother. They have the developmental task of developing their own personality, and should be able to grow into adolescence and adulthood, move out and start their own family. If a f amily is said to be fused, family members share common emotional responses. If a single family member experience anxiety, the entire family does so as well. If one member attempts to become more autonomous, the other members collectively experience these actions as abandonment. Emotionally fused persons are disempowered in several ways. They can cope with anxiety-producing situations either emotionally or intellectually, but not both at the same time. They also have an all or nothing approach in dealing with relationships, to the point that when these relationships become too intense, they tend to cut off emotionally and physically. These acts of cutting off do not ultimately reduce anxiety, but instead increases it (Winek, 2010). Other ideas important to Bowen include the pseudo-self, which he developed with Michael Kerr. When people sense they lack positive attributes such as strength and wisdom, within themselves, they attempt to put on a false front that exhibit those traits to seek validation from others, the false self they present is the pseudo-self. Another important idea Bowen presented is that of borrowed functioning, which refers to an individual who ostensibly functions at a higher level than his or her partner. For example, in a couple in which there is a health problem, the ill partner may be functioning at a lower level in part because the other partner is invested in perpetuating a dynamic in which he or she is a caretaker. Both pseudo-self and borrowed functioning operate at an unconscious level (Winek, 2010). Winek (2010) states that the remaining constructs developed by Bowen further help to elucidate differentiation of self. Other theorists refer to a family system but Bowen calls it the emotional system. Bowen refers to a naturally occurring multigenerational transmission process, in which current generations are connected to past generations. Thus, current symptoms in a given family emotional system may derive from an earlier generation. These longstanding symptoms may persist until individual family members are able to differentiate further. One can think of differentiation, fusion and the pseudo-self all as attempts to relieve anxiety in an emotional system. According to Winek (2010), this is particularly apparent in Bowens idea of the emotional triangle. When two family members experience anxiety, they achieve balance by incorporating a third member into their relationship, thus creating the triangle. Triangles occur in what Bowen called nuclear family emotional system. Viewed in this way, any constant anxiety within a family unit over time would show up as a dysfunction within the whole family. An example of a triangle is when parents experience marital difficulties, but rather then address the problems together, they focus their attention together upon one or more children. Bowen also was able to conclude that birth order will affect a childs relationships including involvement in triangles by drawing upon Walter Tomans work concerning ten distinct personality subtypes of siblings based on birth order. Lastly, Bowen extended his work with the family to apply to society as a whole, which he believed also operates like a family, with its own multigenerational transmission, chronic anxiety, and struggles of differentiation. Within both a family and society, there are ebbs and flows in anxiety, with social problems occurring when high anxiety is present. Bowen even applied his idea of societal regression to the family therapy profession, and was concerned that it might have rapid growth, but also fade quickly like a fad. He was afraid that it might quickly ebb and flow (Winek, 2010). Fortunately for mental health professionals and society, family therapy has not faded. More Perspective On Differentiation Becvar and Becvar (2009) provide further detail regarding differentiation, noting that Bowen was concerned with two kinds of differentiation, both the external differentiation of the self from others and also the internal differentiation of feeling processes from intellectual processes. People who are undifferentiated from others are likely to marry or make permanent commitments to each other. Instead, a couple composed of two undifferentiated persons will experience one or more of the following: emotional distance between themselves, dysfunction in at least one of the spouses, open conflict, or projection of problems onto children. Children indeed are significantly affected in such a family. Bowens believed that because a child resonates the mothers instability, the mother, thinking the child is the one with the problem, becomes overprotective, thus further impairing the child. According to Bowen, simply because individuals live physically apart from their family of origin, it does not mean that they are differentiated. As noted above, even a complete emotional cut off is not a successful form of differentiation. Until emotional attachments and cutoffs are successfully negotiated, fusion will increase and the multigenerational transmission will persist. Amidst these attachment issues, a highly differentiated person will recover from stress because they have more coping mechanisms in contrast to a person who is less differentiated. Finally, Becvar and Becvar stress that though Bowen valued a high degree of differentiation, he nevertheless acknowledged that it was a theoretical ideal in which each person could be self-reliant, and not make others responsible for their emotions (Becvar and Becvar, 2009). Assessment and Treatment Issues Walsh and McGraw (2002) discuss the practical applications of Bowens theory for the assessment, diagnosis and treatment of family issues. Therapists following Bowens theory do not pathologize a single family member, but instead address the problem in the context of the family system. The first sessions consist of taking a history of the presenting problem, the nuclear family as a whole, as well as a history of both spouses extended family systems. Thus might include the initial documentation of births, divorces, and deaths on a genogram. Particular attention would be given to any triangles and emotional cutoffs that affect the nuclear family. The most important issue for Bowenians in the practical applications of his theory is to foster differentiation of the self. The reason is that if individuals increase differentiation, they can better cope with anxiety intellectually and will hopefully lessen their emotional reactivity as they improve their intellectual functioning. A related go al with family therapy is to take care of unfinished business in the family of origin. Bowenian therapists will seek to reduce anxiety and lessen symptoms. While symptom and anxiety reduction can occur between a few sessions or months of treatment, improving differentiation can take years. Along with assessment, Walsh and McGraw (2002) delineate six steps in treatment. First, the presenting problem is explored, Second the therapist works with the family to develop their genogram. Third, systemic questions are used to understand family relationships. Fourth, the focus is broadened to larger family systems. Fifth, feedback is provided to families. Finally, techniques are used to promote change. In contrast to other family therapy models, Bowenian family therapy does not employ many techniques. Those that are used are designed to decrease anxiety and emotional reactivity in the family. The use of genograms remains the most important component in this model, because genograms both organize family information and capture family dynamics. Also central to success in family therapy are other techniques. This includes the therapists commitment to a stance of emotional neutrality, thus ensuring that he or she does not being triangulated into the system. To this end, Bowenian therapists employ factual questioning to focus with the family upon their dynamics as opposed to the tense emotionality and reactivity. They make use of didactic teaching by directly teaching family members about emotional systems so that family members can think more objectively. Other helpful techniques a therapist can suggest for family members include role-playing, talking to an empty chair to represent absent members, journaling, and writing letters to each other about family situations and their feelings about them. In multiple family therapy, families work as a group, with Bowen addressing one family at a time while the other families observed (Walsh and McGraw, 2002). Discussion In preparing for this paper, I learned how much of Bowens theory made sense for my own life. My development as an adult including my familys response to my recent marriage have provided unique educational models. I have learned how to enforce boundaries with my mother and brother, while my wife does the same with her family. I started preparing this paper shortly after we started couples work to deal with our families of origin. While I have not finished my differentiation work, I see myself in the midst of the process with my wife. We want to have healthy emotional lives, and are concerned about passing on dynamics to our children. I have also realized that there are common treatment issues in all families. For example, many families like my own face anxiety in how members relate. There are degrees of fusion and separation in families. Mine has been obviously fused, probably for some generations back. I also realized that physically cutting myself off from my family or my wife doing so would not help anyone. I choose to acknowledge my own family experience with those clients I meet, and will seek to remain objective. My own preference for using Bowens model is to be more engaged than observational. I am particularly interested in using the aforementioned techniques of genograms, role-playing, letter-writing and the empty chair. As a future counselor, I also know that differentiation does not mean isolation and abandonment of ones family, and I will take that knowledge into my practice. In returning to the song lyrics, I hope that I can apply Bowens theories to my life and my work. My goal is to separate being me from he or you or she. Then, I can truly say that we are altogether as individuals, not in a fused mass.

Chatting, Online Communities, and Cyber-Rape :: Personal Response Chat Message Essays

Chatting, Online Communities, and Cyber-Rape What is an online community? An online community is a computer location where people can go to access information or to get an answer to a question that they might have. Examples of online communities are chat rooms and discussion boards. Chatting, posting, and responding to different things on the internet are some of my favorite activities. With just a click of a button, I am able to access any topic, from the weather forecast to the score of yesterday’s football game. Online communities are fun and interesting. However, some people find them addictive and harmful. My membership in an online community showed me the necessity for self-discipline so that I could enjoy the benefits of this experience without risking psychological damage. On Thursday, October 3, 2002, through Monday October 7, 2002, I performed a 5-day project that enabled me to search for an online community, become a member, observe what was going on, and respond to the community. I searched everywhere looking for a community that satisfied my interests, but I could not find one. I finally logged on to http://www.mtv.com/community/message_boards/ . This is a website that gives people all kinds of information, whether it is about news or music issues. While surfing this site, I found out that it had discussion boards and chat rooms. I logged on as a guest, and then I looked around the site to see if this was the community for me. I browsed through many of the discussion boards offered, but I did not post any messages because I was just observing what was going on. While observing, I read different responses people had posted on particular topics. The language that they were using was plains and simple often consisting of incomplete sentences. The messages that I read were mainly about music. Since listening to music is another one of my favorite hobbies, I felt that joining a message board pertaining to music would give me better insights into favorite choices of music. The people who logged onto this website seemed cool and easy to talk to. They were of all ages, ranging from teens to adults. They also were from varied ethnic backgrounds and lived in places all over the country.

An Introduction to Windows 2000 Professional Essay -- Essays Papers

An Introduction to Windows 2000 Professional Reliability Windows 2000 Professional is up to 30 percent faster and, according to National Software Testing Labs (NSTL) tests, 13 times more reliable than Windows 98. The operating system is the most reliable version of Windows ever produced. Memory conflicts and missing or altered system files caused many of the system crashes prior to Windows 2000. To put an end to these problems, Microsoft changed Windows 2000 memory management to reduce the chance that software applications will interfere with one another. In addition, Windows 2000 includes a built-in safeguard called Windows File Protection. This feature helps prevent critical operating system files from being deleted or altered by users or applications. Industry studies show that as much as 80 percent of system failures can be traced to human errors or flawed processes. If a system file should be changed or deleted, Windows File Protection can detect the change, retrieve a correct version of the file from a cache, and restore it to the system file folder. The end user never knows the repairs have been made because Windows 2000 just keeps running ( (1)Windows). The following is a list of improvements in Windows 2000. It should be noted that this covers the entire Windows 2000 family (Server, Advanced Server, and Professional). †¢ Improved Internal Architecture: Windows 2000 includes new features designed to protect your system, such as preventing new software installations from replacing essential system files or stopping applications from writing into the kernel of the OS. This greatly reduces many sources of operating system corruption and failure. †¢ Fast Recovery from System Failure: If your system does fail, Windows 2000 includes an integrated set of features that speed recovery. †¢ Improved Code with Developer Tools: Microsoft provided third-party developers with tools and programs to improve the quality of their drivers, system level programs, and application software. These enhancements make it easier for independent software vendors to write dependable code for Windows 2000. †¢ Reduced Reboot Scenarios: Microsoft has greatly reduced the number of operations requiring a system reboot in almost every category of OS fun... ...ss/relavail Asp, Accessed 9 September 2001. 3. Mobile Computing and Windows 2000 Professional, www.mightywords.com, Accessed 15 September 2001. 4. (2) Windows 2000 Professional and Server Score an ‘A’ for Performance and Reliability, http://www.microsoft.com/windows2000/professional/evoluation/ news/external/gigaa.asp, Accessed 9 September 2001. 5. (3) Windows 2000 Professional: Built for Mobile Users, http://www.microsoft.com/windows2000/professional/evaluation/business/overview/ mobile/default.asp, Accessed 16 September 2001. 6. (1) Windows 2000 Professional: Most Reliable Windows Ever, http:// www.microsoft .com/windows2000/professional/evaluation/business overview/reliable/muchmore, Accessed 9 September 2001. 7. (4) Windows 2000 Professional: Easy to Use and Maintain, http://www.microsoft.com/windows2000/professional/evaluation/business/overview/ manage/default.asp, Accessed 21 September 2001. 8. (5) Windows 2000 Professional: Internet Ready, http://www.microsoft.com/ windows2000/professional/evaluation/business/overview/internet/default.asp, Accessed 22 September 2001.

Jose Saramagos Blindness Essay -- Jose Saramago Essays Blindness

  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  When defining the word blindness, it can be interpreted in various ways. Either it can be explained as sightless, or it can be carefully deciphered as having a more complex in-depth analysis. In the novel Blindness, Jose Saramago depicts and demonstrates how in an instant your right to see can be taken in an instant. However, in this novel, blindness is metaphorically related to ‘seeing’ the truth beyond our own bias opinions. Saramago’s novel clearly illustrates themes that describe the importance of the awareness of others, in terms of feeling oppressed by fear, lack of trust, dehumanization, and segregation. He describes in full detail the importance of the government’s involvement in the lives of the blind victims, which allows the reader to understand and recognize our own societal misfortunes in health care, as well as other world problems. For example, our government allows Hispanic women to be eligible for â€Å"Medicaid or state-sponsored child health insurance programs, yet many Hispanic American families fear that enrolling family members in such plans could be used against them when they apply for citizenship† (Minority Women’s Health). Not only are Hispanic Americans afraid of getting ill while without health care, but they also fear that having health insurance could devastate their chances of acquiring a citizenship. Moreover, the government is obviously not seein g the pain and suffering through the eyes of the less fortunate, and in turn robs them of their freedom and vulnerability for being in a lower class.      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   In Saramago’s novel, the government’s commands, instant decisions, and fears about the blind epidemic is what the blind infected, vulnerable characters are terrified about the most. â€Å"Look here, blind man, let me tell you something, either the two of you get back to where you came from, or you’ll be shot [†¦] they’re terrified and are only obeying orders† (63). With a large number of people going blind quickly and with no apparent cause, public health officials’ panic and the blind internees are not only afraid for their lives in terms of their sickness, but they are also terrified of the government’s command to shoot and kill the infected internees. The most important things in life is not power and the ability to instill fear on others, it is compassion, love, and understanding. Without these three qualities, we become blind t... ...and can be set aside, has an absurd psychological way of thinking. People should not devalue others’ because they are â€Å"weaker,† or â€Å"different† from him/her. â€Å"Fear can cause blindness, said the girl with the dark glasses, Never a truer word, that could not be truer, we were already blind the moment we turned blind, fear struck us blind, fear will keep us blind† (Saramago 129). In today’s society, people are more concerned with their own â€Å"little world,† rather than looking at the extensive perspective of life. One reason why people can sometimes be classified as being â€Å"blind† is because people fear the unknown, and rejects the unfamiliar. Many people are not comfortable with stepping out of their shell and exploring their surroundings, let alone trying to look through the eyes of the segregated minority. In the novel Blindness, Jose Saramago metaphorically uses the word â€Å"blindness† as a term meaning, the truth that we cannot bear to see. To avoid the outside world, many people tend to shelter themselves from the obvious reality, and tend to focus of their â€Å"own† meaning of r eality. However, when our vision is stripped from our secluded selves, reality is all you can truly â€Å"see.† Jose Saramago's Blindness Essay -- Jose Saramago Essays Blindness   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  When defining the word blindness, it can be interpreted in various ways. Either it can be explained as sightless, or it can be carefully deciphered as having a more complex in-depth analysis. In the novel Blindness, Jose Saramago depicts and demonstrates how in an instant your right to see can be taken in an instant. However, in this novel, blindness is metaphorically related to ‘seeing’ the truth beyond our own bias opinions. Saramago’s novel clearly illustrates themes that describe the importance of the awareness of others, in terms of feeling oppressed by fear, lack of trust, dehumanization, and segregation. He describes in full detail the importance of the government’s involvement in the lives of the blind victims, which allows the reader to understand and recognize our own societal misfortunes in health care, as well as other world problems. For example, our government allows Hispanic women to be eligible for â€Å"Medicaid or state-sponsored child health insurance programs, yet many Hispanic American families fear that enrolling family members in such plans could be used against them when they apply for citizenship† (Minority Women’s Health). Not only are Hispanic Americans afraid of getting ill while without health care, but they also fear that having health insurance could devastate their chances of acquiring a citizenship. Moreover, the government is obviously not seein g the pain and suffering through the eyes of the less fortunate, and in turn robs them of their freedom and vulnerability for being in a lower class.      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   In Saramago’s novel, the government’s commands, instant decisions, and fears about the blind epidemic is what the blind infected, vulnerable characters are terrified about the most. â€Å"Look here, blind man, let me tell you something, either the two of you get back to where you came from, or you’ll be shot [†¦] they’re terrified and are only obeying orders† (63). With a large number of people going blind quickly and with no apparent cause, public health officials’ panic and the blind internees are not only afraid for their lives in terms of their sickness, but they are also terrified of the government’s command to shoot and kill the infected internees. The most important things in life is not power and the ability to instill fear on others, it is compassion, love, and understanding. Without these three qualities, we become blind t... ...and can be set aside, has an absurd psychological way of thinking. People should not devalue others’ because they are â€Å"weaker,† or â€Å"different† from him/her. â€Å"Fear can cause blindness, said the girl with the dark glasses, Never a truer word, that could not be truer, we were already blind the moment we turned blind, fear struck us blind, fear will keep us blind† (Saramago 129). In today’s society, people are more concerned with their own â€Å"little world,† rather than looking at the extensive perspective of life. One reason why people can sometimes be classified as being â€Å"blind† is because people fear the unknown, and rejects the unfamiliar. Many people are not comfortable with stepping out of their shell and exploring their surroundings, let alone trying to look through the eyes of the segregated minority. In the novel Blindness, Jose Saramago metaphorically uses the word â€Å"blindness† as a term meaning, the truth that we cannot bear to see. To avoid the outside world, many people tend to shelter themselves from the obvious reality, and tend to focus of their â€Å"own† meaning of r eality. However, when our vision is stripped from our secluded selves, reality is all you can truly â€Å"see.†