Hamlet :: essays research papers

Hamlet   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  One of the themes I found in the play Hamlet, was the way Hamlet seemed to hold back on getting revenge for his father’s murder once he know who did it. After his father’s death and the hasty remarriage of his mother to his uncle, Hamlet started to spiral into a suicidal frame of mind. It is in this state that he meets the mysterious figure of his father’s ghost where he is told that it was his uncle, Claudius responsible for his death. Hamlet pledges to revenge his murder by Claudius who, the ghost also informs Hamlet, had already committed adultery with his queen during his lifetime. â€Å"Although Hamlet accepts the ghost’s word while he is with him, seeds of doubt about the ghost’s authenticity have been sown from the very beginning of the play and continue to torment Hamlet up until the end of the play† (Heilman p.45). Hamlet is not shore if this is really his farther or a devil in disguise. Hamlet Swears revenge will be quick for his father’s murderer. For the two months since Hamlet has seen the ghost, Hamlet has been unable to commit his vowed revenge; unable to explain to himself either his long delay or his depression and insanity. Maybe he’s scared of taking revenge on Claudius, he may think by taking revenge he endangers his own soul. â€Å"No matter how right a man might think his motives are, if Claudius is innocent; the act of revenge would inevitably make Hamlet as evil as the accused in the eyes of God† (Becker p.32). â€Å"Hamlet decides to test Claudius’ guilt and the authenticity of the ghost; he will stage a performance of a play, which will reproduce Claudius’ crime and observe his reaction to it†(Durband p.304). This plan was successful because Claudius broke down during the performance. Hamlet now knows Claudius is the murderer, and the ghost was actual his father. Hamlet has a perfect opportunity to achieve his revenge when he accidentally comes upon the guilt-ridden Claudius alone in prayer. Again he rationalizes himself into delay, this time on the grounds that his revenge would not be horrible enough as Claudius penitence might save his soul from hell. Although Hamlet dies at the end, he was able to avenge his father’s death. Because Laertes confessed that the king was to blame for hamlets mothers death as well as for the poison on the sword, Hamlet was able to achieve his revenge in terms that exonerated his soul from danger.

The Secret of Ella and Micha Chapter 1

8 months later†¦ Ella I despise mirrors. Not because I hate my reflection or that I suffer from Eisoptrophobia. Mirrors see straight through my facade. They know who I used to be; a loud spoken, reckless girl, who showed what she felt to the world. There were no secrets with me. But now secrets define me. If a reflection revealed what was on the outside, I'd be okay. My long auburn hair goes well with my pale complexion. My legs are extensively long and with heels, I'm taller than most of the guys I know. But I'm comfortable with it. It's what's buried deep inside that frightens me because it's broken, like a shattered mirror. I tape one of my old sketches over the mirror on the dorm wall. It's almost completely concealed by drawings and obscures all of my reflection except for my green eyes, which are frosted with infinite pain and secrets. I pull my hair into a messy bun and place my charcoaled pencils into a box on my bed, packing them with my other art supplies. Lila skips into the room with a cheery smile on her face and a drink in her hand. â€Å"Oh my God! Oh my God! I'm so glad it's over.† I pick up a roll of packing tape off the dresser. â€Å"Oh my God! Oh my god!† I joke. â€Å"What are you drinking?† She tips the cup at me and winks. â€Å"Juice, silly. I'm just really excited to be getting a break. Even if it does mean I have to go home.† She tucks strands of her hair behind her ear and tosses a makeup bag into her purse. â€Å"Have you seen my perfume?† I point at the boxes on her bed. â€Å"I think you packed them in one of those. Not sure which one, though, since you didn't label them.† She pulls a face at me. â€Å"Not all of us can be neat freaks. Honestly, Ella, sometimes I think you have OCD.† I write â€Å"Art Supplies† neatly on the box and click the cap back on the sharpie. â€Å"I think you might be on to me,† I joke. â€Å"Dang it.† She smells herself. â€Å"I really need it. All this heat is making me sweat.† She rips some photos off her dresser mirror and throws them into an open box. â€Å"I swear it's like a hundred and ten outside.† â€Å"I think it's actually hotter than that.† I set my school work in the trash, all marked with A's. Back in High School, I used to be a C student. I hadn't really planned on going to college, but life changes – people change. Lila narrows her blue eyes at my mirror. â€Å"You do know that we're not going to have the same dorm when we come back in the fall, so unless you take all your artwork off, it's just going to be thrown out by the next person.† They're just a bunch of doodles; sketches of haunting eyes, black roses entwined by a bed of thorns, my name woven in an intricate pattern. None of them matter except one: a sketch of an old friend, playing his guitar. I peel that one off, careful not to tear the corners. â€Å"I'll leave them for the next person,† I say and add a smile. â€Å"They'll have a predecorated room.† â€Å"I'm sure the next person will actually want to look in the mirror.† She folds up a pink shirt. â€Å"Although, I don't know why you want to cover up the mirror. You're not ugly, El.† â€Å"It's not about that.† I stare at the drawing that captures the intensity in Micha's eyes. Lila snatches the drawing from my hands, crinkling the edges a little. â€Å"One day you're going to have to tell me who this gorgeous guy is.† â€Å"He's just some guy I used to know.† I steal the drawing back. â€Å"But we don't talk anymore.† â€Å"What's his name?† She stacks a box next to the door. I place the drawing into the box and seal it with a strip of tape. â€Å"Why?† She shrugs. â€Å"Just wondering.† â€Å"His name is Micha.† It's the first time I've said his name aloud, since I left home. It hurts, like a rock lodged in my throat. â€Å"Micha Scott.† She glances over my shoulder as she piles the rest of her clothes into a box. â€Å"There's a lot of passion in that drawing. I just don't see him as being some guy. Is he like an old boyfriend or something?† I drop my duffel bag, packed with my clothes, next to the door. â€Å"No, we never dated.† She eyes me over with doubt. â€Å"But you came close to dating? Right?† â€Å"No. I told you we were just friends.† But only because I wouldn't let us be anything more. Micha saw too much of me and it scared me too much to let him in all the way. She twists her strawberry blonde hair into a ponytail and fans her face. â€Å"Micha is an interesting name. I think a name really says a lot about a person.† She taps her manicured finger on her chin, thoughtfully. â€Å"I bet he's hot.† â€Å"You make that bet on every guy,† I tease, piling my makeup into a bag. She grins, but there's sadness in her eyes. â€Å"Yeah, you're probably right.† She sighs. â€Å"Will I at least get to see this mysterious Micha – who you've refused to speak about our whole eight months of sharing a dorm together – when I drop you off at your house?† â€Å"I hope not,† I mutter and her face sinks. â€Å"I'm sorry, but Micha and I†¦ we didn't leave on a good note and I haven't talked to him since I left for school in August.† Micha doesn't even know where I am. She heaves an overly stuffed pink duffle bag over her shoulder. â€Å"That sounds like a perfect story for our twelve hour road trip back home.† â€Å"Back home†¦ † My eyes widen at the empty room that's been my home for the last eight months. I'm not ready to go back home and face everyone I bailed on. Especially Micha. He can see through me better than a mirror. â€Å"Are you okay?† Lila asks with concern. My lips bend upward into a stiff smile as I stuff my panicked feeling in a box hidden deep inside my heart. â€Å"I'm great. Let's go.† We head out the door, with the last of our boxes in our hands. I pat my empty pockets, realizing I forgot my phone. â€Å"Hold on. I think I forgot my phone.† Setting my box on the ground, I run back to the room and glance around at the garbage bag, a few empty plastic cups on the bed, and the mirror. â€Å"Where is it?† I check under the bed and in the closet. The soft tune of Pink's â€Å"Funhouse† sings underneath the trash bag – my unknown ID ringtone. I pick up the bag and there is my phone with the screen lit up. I scoop it up and my heart stops. It's not an unknown number, just one that was never programmed into my phone when I switched carriers. â€Å"Micha.† My hands tremble, unable to answer, yet powerless to silence it. â€Å"Aren't you going to answer that?† Lila enters the room, her face twisted in confusion. â€Å"What's up? You look like you just saw a ghost or something.† The phone stops ringing and I tuck it into the back pocket of my shorts. â€Å"We should get going. We have a long trip ahead of us.† Lila salutes me. â€Å"Yes, ma'am.† She links arms with me and we head out to the parking lot. When we reach the car, my phone beeps. Voicemail. Micha â€Å"Why is Ella Daniels such a common name,† Ethan grunts from the computer chair. His legs are kicked up on the desk as he lazily scrolls the internet. â€Å"The list is freaking endless, man. I can't even see straight anymore.† He rubs his eyes. â€Å"Can I take a break?† Shaking my head, I pace my room with the phone to my ear, kicking the clothes and other shit on my floor out of the way. I'm on hold with the main office at Indiana University, waiting for answers that probably aren't there. But I have to try – I've been trying ever since the day Ella vanished from my life. The day I promised myself that I'd find her no matter what. â€Å"Are you sure her dad doesn't know where she is?† Ethan flops his head back against the headrest of the office chair. â€Å"I swear that old man knows more than he's letting on.† â€Å"If he does, he's not telling me,† I say. â€Å"Or his trashed mind has misplaced the information.† Ethan swivels the chair around. â€Å"Have you ever considered that maybe she doesn't want to be found?† â€Å"Every single day,† I mutter. â€Å"Which makes me even more determined to find her.† Ethan refocuses his attention to the computer and continues his search through the endless amount of Ella Daniels in the country. But I'm not even sure if she's still in the country. The secretary returns to the phone and gives me the answer I was expecting. This isn't the Ella Daniels I'm looking for. I hang up and throw my phone onto the bed. â€Å"God Dammit!† Ethan glances over his shoulder. â€Å"No luck?† I sink down on my bed and let my head fall into my hands. â€Å"It was another dead end.† â€Å"Look, I know you miss her and everything,† he says, typing on the keyboard. â€Å"But you need to get your crap together. All this whining is giving me a headache.† He's right. I shake my pity party off, slip on a black hoodie, and a pair of black boots. â€Å"I've got to go down to the shop to pick up a part. You staying or going?† He drops his feet to the floor and gratefully shoves away from the desk. â€Å"Yeah, but can we stop by my house. I need to pick up my drums for tonight's practice. Are you going to that or are you still on strike?† Pulling my hood over my head, I head for the door. â€Å"Nah, I got some stuff to do tonight.† â€Å"That's bull.† He reaches to shut off the computer screen. â€Å"Everyone knows the only reason you don't play anymore is because of Ella. But you need to quit being a pussy and get over her.† â€Å"I think I'm going to†¦ † I smack his hand away from the off button and squint at a picture of a girl on the screen. She has the same dark green eyes and long auburn hair as Ella. But she has on a dress and there isn't any heavy black liner around her eyes. She also looks fake, like she's pretending to be happy. The Ella I knew never pretended. But it has to be her. â€Å"Dude, what are you doing?† Ethan complains as I snatch my phone off my bed. â€Å"I thought we were giving up for the day.† I tap the screen and call information. â€Å"Yeah, can I get a number for Ella Daniels in Las Vegas, Nevada.† I wait, worried she's not going to be listed. â€Å"She's been down in Vegas.† Ethan peers at the photo on the screen of Ella standing next to a girl with blonde hair and blue eyes in front of the UNLV campus. â€Å"She looks weird, but kinda hot. So is the girl she's with.† â€Å"Yeah, but she's not your type.† â€Å"Everyone's my type. Besides, she could be a stripper and that's definitely my type.† The operator comes back on and she gives me a few numbers listed, one of the numbers belongs to a girl living on the campus. I dial that number and walk out into the hall to get some privacy. It rings and rings and rings and then Ella's voice comes on the voicemail. She still sounds the same, only a little unemotional, like she's pretending to be happy, but can't quite get there. When it beeps, I take a deep breath and pour my heart out to the voicemail.

Business Mgt Essay

Part I. Assume you have taken over responsibility to play the lead Information Technology (IT) management role in Magnum Enterprises. Your boss, Rachel Heigl, is Magnum’s CIO. The IT management group is comprised of six people who you will be supervising. Ms. Heigl is an enlightened manager, and she believes that if you are to carry out your responsibilities effectively, you need to work with her in defining your IT management role. As a first step, she invites you to write a short statement where you describe what you see to be your role as head of the IT management effort at Magnum. Proper IT Management requires researching and discerning information technology as a company resource guiding both operational and crucial company capabilities. Using information technology to maximize satisfaction of the customer alongside productivity and profitability will ensure that our competiveness with other business stays at a maximum. In turn IT can make business processes more effective and efficient to provide said resources to customers. The lead IT shall ensure performance of the company through managing technology while encompassing priorities of the business into the role. Striving to be a partner with great initiative this business will discover its leader will have accomplished and achieved what they desired. My first role of business would be to establish the parameters and to understand the IT knowledge areas. These are made up of development processes; management challenges information technologies, business applications and foundation concepts. Concepts of the foundation are making sure the role of information systems paired with business and technical concepts are a familiarity with the end user. Familiarity of concepts in entry level information systems bind with a competitive strategy can lead to an overwhelming strategic advantage. Educating Magnum’s team upon the significance of information technology with the three roles that the business world performs in order to combine business management, software, and hardware capabilities. At the Management level, decision making would lead to significant improvements for IT utilization. Business operations see information systems as a huge support to review and collect data from financial operations, managing manufacturing processes that are very sophisticated, tracking company inventory, and productivity. The use of metrics paired with identifying trends to assist the company in making informed decisions faster to provide information about our competitors. IT  is used quite often to provide a strategic support advantage for the company. Automated inventory and ordering systems an assist with the savings costs. With this information we would need to review our mission statement that identifies the company’s functions, provides oversight on the overall goal, a sense of direction, and guides decision making. Investigating and development towards understanding how we generate money and ensuring a customer base for our company. Envisioning the business plan, mission, with current IT structure and the ability to communicate with senior leadership will guide me with necessary tools to assist the Chief Information Officer (CIO). To ensure a strategic IT plan is created in which will be shared and implemented with my team. Planning to have Magnum’s team familiar with data resource management capabilities, hardware, networks, telecommunications, and software within the company is the second area of information systems known as information technologies. In today’s society PDA’s (personal digital assistants; IE. Blackberry’s ETC.) Personal computers and network servers are integral computer hardware and are crucial in our business environment. Being extremely knowledgeable is vital to our team troubleshooting and resolving hardware issues instead of having to call anot her company for maintenance. We have the ability to break down our company’s software into two categories, application software and system software. Both types normally off the consumer shelf as commercial software instead of having an employee on the team write the software codes for these programs. I plan to ensure my teams are extremely familiar with all software programs and have a firm foundation when troubleshooting and resolving technical issues. Additionally, if not already formed, I will institute a configuration control board and implement test scenarios to ensure future hardware and software being purchased will not have compatibility issues. Also a part of information technologies is data resource management. This is essential in sustaining and maintaining our company. We will require a database management system of good quality that is capable of data consolidating into a database in turn can be accessed my several program applications. Within the past fifteen to twenty years networks and telecommunications software have played a vital role. To ensure the expansion and growth for Magnum Enterprises, we will need out network to be consistent, reliable, monetary sufficient. I would prepare the team to  either install or review and change as needed our network management system that assists with traffic management, capacity planning, network monitoring, and security in essence that our system will grow and change with modern day business culture and practices as the company expands. In order to have the most dependable and proven with the cost of it a ring network should be put into place. The next area, development processes, deals with designing, planning, identifying ideas, and implementing information systems to meet potential business opportunities. It is critical that we ensure our business management capabilities alongside our hardware and software are integrated successfully within our company. Basis within t he development process and depending upon the circumstance, there are a couple of processes we want our team to employ as resolving problems com along with our business systems. Those processes are considered or known as the prototyping approach and he systems development life-cycle. The synopsis of prototyping involves quickly developing or constructing test modules of a desired system in which we will engage when we cannot determine or classify the end user requirements. These systems would be used to assist our personnel with the capabilities to design or create an information system that will be intuitive and easy to navigate for consumers. Prototyping involves four steps with the first being investigation and analysis step. This step, requirements grouped and defined. Second, is the analysis and design step in which a model is developed and constructed to meet consumer business requirements. Next, in the design and implementation, this finalizes the model that was tested and begins the initial installation. The last step to this four step process is implementation and maintenance, which would consist of the business system being accepted, used, and maintained. Prototyping advantages are: decrease in the development time, development costs and requires user i nvolvement. This generates higher satisfaction results. I plan to employ this type of approach to small initiatives. The next area is business application for information systems. This will consist of being familiar with commerce and business applications for our employees and which are used within the company to make strategic leadership and management decisions. A few of the most used business applications within a majority of companies are accounting, human resource management, enterprise resource planning, supply chain management, customer relationship management, financial management,  and supply chain management. An Architectural picture of or IT business applications will ensure that I will have familiarity with all applications that we use. This approach will identify the current interrelationships, interfaces with customer, employees, business applications, and stake holders. We will then need to review the chart and see if there are any potential process improvements that we can make to integrate those systems cross functionally and keep operational costs to a minimum. The systems devel opment lifecycle employs the systems approach to create IT solutions. This lifecycle is often utilized for large applications and it is composed of five processes that I expect my team to know and become familiar when employing the systems development lifecycle: systems investigation, systems analysis, systems design, systems implementation and systems maintenance. The first process, systems investigation, involves project brainstorming, planning and performing a feasibility study. During the brainstorming and planning initiative, a project management implementation plan is created identifying the detailed steps that will be accomplished during the creation and development of the system. The feasibility study is critically important as this outlines all requirements for the system. It also explores four major areas, organizational, economic, technical, and operational feasibility, which determines if it’s worthwhile to invest in potential business ventures. In reviewing the organization’s feasibility, we need to determine if the system is in line with and supports our company’s strategic objectives. The economic feasibility identifies and evaluates the project’s tangible and intangible cost and benefits. Technical feasibility is assessed by confirming if the necessary hardware and software will be available or can be developed and tested before implementation. Operational feasibility is determined by the motivation, desire, willingness, and competence of the stakeholders (management, employees, customers and suppliers) to use and operate the proposed system. Systems Analysis consists of consolidating requirements and includes a detailed breakdown of the business needs and requirements of the organization. This starts with an organizational analysis from one of the business end users. This individual must be keenly aware of the organizational management structure, business requirements, and current IT systems operati ons and its proposed relationship with the newly created system. Some of the outputs generated from the systems analysis  include system flowcharts, data flow diagrams, and connectivity diagrams which aid in the development of the analysis report The next process, systems design, focuses on the design, process diagrams, business rules, and developing specifications for the hardware, software, data resources that will meet the proposed requirements for new business system. The three major outputs produced from the systems design phase are user data, interface, and process design. The fourth process of the systems development lifecycle is system implementation. This encompasses either acquiring the hardware or software or developing it from company resources and then testing the products in a test environment to see how well they operate and integrate with your existing IT architecture. If testing goes well, an implementation plan including training end users and developing system documentation will be accomplished prior to incorporating and execu ting this system within our IT architecture. The final process, systems maintenance consists of consistently monitoring and evaluating the newly implemented system. This also includes correcting errors and discrepancies not identified during the testing phase and continuously making system improvements, advancements and upgrades. The final area of information systems is management challenges. There are numerous challenges that our IT team may be faced with at Magnum Enterprises. One challenge is addressing our security concerns which involve several areas. For instance, our IT team needs be constantly vigilant and on the alert for potential competitors trying to or actually hacking into our systems to steal or damage our data. Additionally, we may also be challenged with setting up restrictions and locking down the network for personnel to only use the network and its software applications for official business. Ensuring that our software is controlled and that employees are not illegally making copies of software for personal use is another area of concern. Preventing virus attacks to our network and installing anti-virus software to diagnose and remove computer viruses is of utmost concern. Failure to maintain a secure network can potentially halt our business from being productive and resulting in thousands of dollars in lost revenue. Additional challenges the IT team may be faced with may involve expanding our infrastructure and network to address our growing business. Ensuring our network provides our employees accessibility to the data they need, wherever they require it, regardless of their location will test our innovativeness.  The company may not have a backup plan to allow it to operate effectively and efficiently in the event of a forced relocation. If that is the case, I will recommend to our management staff that we establish a continuity of operations plan enabling us to relocate with minimum impact to our business operations like a hot site for temporary functionality. In the dynamic world of IT we will always be faced with challenges, however, utilizing IT and being on the leading edge of new IT systems provides our business with many benefits and makes our organization more effective and efficient. For example, IT can be used to improve and promote new business processes such as creating an automated inventory system which will save money in additional labor costs. Another use of IT in making it more efficient and effective is that using certain software programs enables us to identify and target our top customers in terms of profitability to our business. In summary, IT enables our company to successfully plan, integrate, manage, and carry out strategies which lead to profit. Part II. Six months after you take over the lead IT management role at Magnum, the CIO, Ms. Rachel Heigl, is pleased with your work. She has just attended a meeting of Magnum’s executive committee (the committee comprised of the most senior managers of Magnum), where the CEO and Vice President of marketing have indicated that Magnum’s mediocre e-business capabilities must be strengthened. As CIO, Ms. Heigl is given primary responsibility in improving Magnum’s e-business performance. She in turn puts you in charge of a small task force comprised of representatives from the marketing, operations, finance, and legal departments. In order to advance and improve Magnum’s e-business performance operations, it’s vital I establish a cohesive team with representatives from the marketing, operations, finance, and legal departments. Their input and perspective is necessary and essential in developing a way ahead and strategic plan for the future of our e-busin ess department. Developing success with our e-business begins with marketing the company. Marketing is concerned with developing and creating an innovative plan so that the product or service can be promoted and sold. Promoting our products and services are key and critical in attracting new customers as well as maintaining our current customer base. It is important that I develop an understanding of the marketing role and how it can benefit  by using Information Technology systems. Marketing information systems support well established and e-commerce processes that sustain major elements within the marketing function and is described as a continuing and interacting structure of people, equipment and procedures to gather, sort, analyze, evaluate, and distribute pertinent, timely and accurate information for use by marketing decision makers to improve their marketing planning, implementation, and control. The major components of marketing information systems include interactive marketing, sales force automation, customer relationship management, sales management, product management, targeted marketing, and market research. Two of the seven components I will be discussing are interactive marketing and customer relationship management. In our environment today, marketing information systems aid marketing personnel in a variety of tasks associated with branding products and customer service initiatives. For instance, interactive marketing is largely dependent on utilizing the internet, which permits the business and its customers and potential customers to become partners in developing, socializing, acquiring and advancing products and services. With the IT department enabling this type of communication, the company benefits from generating new ideas for other products and services as well as establishing strong customer loyalty. Another area within the marketing information systems is C ustomer Relationship Management (CRM). This incorporates and automates many customer service processes. It consists of utilizing an IT framework to construct, automate, and integrate marketing processes with the company’s business operations. CRM is usually comprised of a software suite that allows a business to provide efficient, effective and reliable service to its customers. Additionally, CRM permits a company to identify and target their most important customers as well as facilitate real-time customization of products and services based on the customer’s wants and desires. Understanding the marketing department’s views and concerns enables the IT department to implement and install an IT infrastructure that will be capable of supporting various information technologies. Some of the benefits that can be obtained from the marketing department are: an opportunity to increase sales and revenue, a chance to touch new market areas, 24/7 accessibility for the customer, and more flexibility and convenie nce for the customers. The production and operations function is supported by  manufacturing information systems. Manufacturing information systems are designed to be used specifically in an operations and production environment. Different types of manufacturing information systems consist of computer integrated manufacturing (CIM), process control, machine control and robotics. CIM involves using computers to control the total manufacturing process, from design to distribution, to produce produces products of the highest caliber. Process control involves utilizing computers to oversee and control continuing physical processes. Machine control consists of using a computer based system to direct the actions of a machine. Robotics involves designing, constructing, and building machines that have the intelligence of a computer and human like physical capabilities. It’s key I understand how the operations representative depends on these information systems to operate effectively as well as their expec tations for these systems. Working together as a team will enable the IT and operations department to develop better ideas to increase the manufacturing and production process. Developing an understanding of all the accounting and financial based systems within our business and discussing these systems with the finance representative enables our IT and finance departments to plan effectively when troubleshooting and performing upgrades. These systems include but are not limited to order processing, inventory control, accounts receivable, accounts payable, payroll, general ledger, cash management, investment management, capital budgeting and financial planning. The success of these systems is integrally connected with its information technology and services. For example, the order processing system â€Å"captures and processes customer orders and produces data needed for sales analysis and inventory control and the accounts payable system keeps track of data concerning purchases from and payments to suppliers. Communicating with the finance representative is essential in setting up or modifying these systems to meet the needs of our business. Any interrupti on or degradation in service can lead to severe damage to the business and financial services that Magnum Enterprises relies on to function and operate. As with any business, competitors are always looking for an advantage to get them ahead in their particular discipline or industry. Unfortunately, being extremely aggressive and ambitious can sometimes cloud your decision making capabilities to the point that you may  be committing breaking privacy laws and monitoring and copyright violations. As the IT lead manager for Magnum Enterprises, I’m charged with ensuring our network infrastructure and IT systems are operating proficiently. However, when it comes to addressing privacy issues from an IT perspective, opinions and viewpoints from a legal expert are necessary. In regards to privacy, several websites accumulate usernames and passwords and personal information such as home addresses and phone numbers without authorization from users. Applying internet monitoring technology within the workplace raises concerns about where the boundaries lie between personal use and public resource use. Copyright concerns and violations has become an issue with the development of the Internet and upgrades to technology. Discussing these concerns with a legal expert and implementing and adhering to strict guidelines will help prevent our company from committing these violations. In addition to the goals of strengthening the capabilities of the e-business, attention must be paid to some key technical challenges. Overseeing secure information throughout our business is extremely difficult to implement and maintain successfully. Key technical issues that may be encountered when re-engineering our e-business include privacy and confidentiality, authenticity, data integrity, access control, availability and infrastructure. Privacy and confidentiality involves businesses protecting and securing personal information while being stored or t ransmitted through email. This can be accomplished by utilizing encryption devices or firewalls. Authentication is used to confirm an individual’s identity and during e-business transactions, the purchaser and buyer wants assurance that proper identity is established. A secure way to assist with confirming identity to both individuals is to utilize a virtual private network. Data integrity means the data is correct and has not been altered while being stored or transmitted. The use of firewalls assists in preventing unauthorized users and safeguarding data. Another way to ensure data integrity is through the use of antivirus software which also aids in keeping your data free from viruses. Access control exists when you’re authorizing certain individual’s permission to restricted systems or data. Several measures that can help with access control include firewalls, access privileges, passwords, digital certificates and virtual private networks. Availability is an issue when customers and employers need information  without any disruptions. Uninterrupted Power Supply (UPS) systems, data backups and the use of anti-virus software assist with ensuring data is always available. Our e-business infrastructure constantly needs to be monitored to ensure its meeting the needs of our business. An infrastructure that is unable to consistently support the network traffic load can potentially cost our company thousands of dollars in lost sales. If the network is continually slow, increasing the speed of the network backbone will assist in providing faster and reliable support for our customers. In addition to increasing the speed of the network backbone, implementing cross-functional enterprise systems will assist in improving critical business processes throughout Magnum enterprises. A final technical challenge is ensuring all of our systems are compatible and can operate on several different hardware platforms. By having this capabi lity, our operating costs from a technical refresh perspective will decrease. While strengthening capabilities and addressing technical issues, there are management challenges within the e-business that must be addressed. As discussed earlier, our team must be vigilant in addressing security challenges such as hacking into our systems, software theft, and protecting our software applications. In addition to security issues, there are ethical concerns that must be addressed. Privacy has always been a serious and contentious issue amongst employers and employees. For instance, computer monitoring is considered by many personnel to be an infringement on the employee’s privacy and shouldn’t be allowed. However, employers argue that since the computer is a company owned resource, they should be allowed to monitor the work of their employer. In reality, many employers are concerned as to whether or not the employee is actually working and producing or just goofing off and surfing the internet. Utilizing IT equipment at work has been mentioned to cause a variety of health issues which management must address. For example, if your job consists of being in front of a computer all day, some of the health problems you may experience damage to the neck and arm muscles, eye strain, carpal tunnel syndrome, job stress, poor posture and poor circulation. Resolutions to some of these health concerns can be through the science of ergonomics. The objective of ergonomics is to devise and create safe health work conditions with the goal of decreasing health issues and increasing employee morale and work productivity. If  Magnum Enterprises has customers internationally, they also may be faced with political, geo-economic and cultural challenges. From a political concern, there are countries that have restrictions regulating or denying the transfer of data across their borders which can potentially result in customers or businesses from having to pay import or export fees. Geo-economic concerns involve issues such as identifying and locating personnel with IT skills to work at remote sites and communicating with personnel across all 24 time zones. Cultural challenges â€Å"include differences in languages, cultural interests, religions, customs, social attitudes, and political philosophies†. For example, if Magnum Enterprises was conducting a business transaction via a Video Teleconference it would be disrespectful to look them in the eye when introducing yourself. Before meeting an international customer, it would prudent to review their customs and courtesies to ensure a smooth business relationship. Improving Magnum’s e-business performance faces several challenges. Consulting with key department personnel from operations, marketing, finance and legal as well as addressing technical and management obstacles will assist me in charting a plan to put our e-business on the right track towards success.

Information Privacy

Information Privacy Information privacy is the privacy of personal information within organizations, and their attempts to define content of information stored on computer systems that third party can also access. Data masking, encryption, and authentication are some of the ways of protecting data from the public so that only authorized personnel can access such information (Rouse, 2013).Advertising We will write a custom research paper sample on Information Privacy specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Organizations always use this aspect of information technology (IT) to increase confidentiality within the management in order to reduce vulnerability and exposure of their systems to unauthorized segment. Information on finance, medical data, criminal records, and business information are some of the personal data that require continuous privacy. The United States, for instance, has different legislations on data privacy that deal with specific sectors given the different needs that emanate from them. Data usage by unauthorized persons is illegal in most parts of the globe. Therefore, concerned parties must come up with relevant protective measures to address the possibilities of such pieces of information of finding their way on the wrong hands. Patients’ records are essential in managing health facilities by ensuring that they offer quality services to the clients. For instance, a patient’s medical history is essential in determining the types of medication to administer to the patient. Such data remain confidential, and should only be used for treatment purposes only. As a way of preventing information leakage, which may result in stigma to a patient, the management must ensure that pieces of information on all patients are kept securely to maintain confidentiality. The US has the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPPA) that ensures that patients’ data remain accessible only to the authorized segment of the staff. HIPAA uses electronic data interchange to give patients’ information unique identifiers that the unauthorized group cannot interpret. Users are given privileges under strict laws to access all medical records, and, at the same time, have to maintain data integrity and confidentiality on information that may lead to identification of a patient (Rouse, 2013). Websites also have confidentiality policies that guide their service provision. Some organizations have put tracking measures in place to identify those accessing their websites for security purposes. For example, when one accesses such sites, the computer stores cookies automatically. This move prevents hacking of information by third parties as the organizations can trace all their users. This issue of cyber security has been contentious, with opponents arguing that it is against the privacy policy to allow organizations to track their users through cookies. However, proponents hold that even though the move infringes on the privacy of the public, it has impressive impacts on guarding the security of organizations. That is, loss of data by an organization has great impacts on society as compared to tracking individuals.Advertising Looking for research paper on communications media? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More The US citizens use cyberspace to travel, power their homes, communicate, provide essential government services, and run their economy. The overreliance on the network has posed serious attacks thus causing more information vulnerability. Organizations should work towards limiting data breaches that may arise from information hacking. Using password-protected data is one way of improving the security of online data (Zhan, 2009). Markedly, choice of passwords is key in limiting data loss. In cybercrimes, one does not need to break into a physical property to steal information or use force to access the materials. For example, bank frauds have been on the rise with the coming of this new technology. In addition, cases of information confidentiality is worrying, as other internet savvy people can access such information, a recent example is the Wikileaks. These cases prompted US to pass legislations that could help in eradicating this menace. Since many departments and organizations use this modern technology, fighting the vices is a shared responsibility (Raab Mason, 2002). The private and public sectors are collaborating to create awareness on cyber security among the internet users. With the high rates of cybercrimes, financial institutions, for instance, have to use complex mechanisms to enhance the security of their data, as fraudsters can easily transfer funds through the online platform to their accounts. In this aspect, the browsing history of users is significant in enhancing information security for the benefit of both the users and website owners. Internet security has made most users to maintain anonymity while online. A study by Pew Research Institute revealed that 86% of Americans prefer being anonymous to keep their data private (Gorodyansky, 2013). They protect their IP addresses, encrypt emails, and delete cookies frequently from their computers. Information privacy remains a controversial issue in the US given the recent phone-tapping move by the federal government. The government has also gained access to emails of prominent personalities as a way of enhancing the overall security of the country. Instances of terrorist attacks similar to the 9/11 that led to loss of lives and destruction of properties have been common with the manufacture of nuclear weapons by some Middle East Nations. In security line, the US can breach the information security policy in order to enhance the safety of its citizens and the entire world. References Gorodyansky, D. (2013, October 13). Internet Privacy and Security: A Shared Responsibility. Wired.com. Web.Adv ertising We will write a custom research paper sample on Information Privacy specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Raab, C. D., Mason, D. (2002). Privacy, Surveillance, Trust and Regulation. Information, Communication Society, 5(2), 237-241. Rouse, M. (2013, August 5). Data privacy (information privacy). SearchCIO. Web. Zhan, J. (2009). Information Privacy: Security and Integrity. International Journal of Information Privacy, Security and Integrity, 1, 55-83.

The Stock Market Crash of 1929

The Stock Market Crash of 1929 Free Online Research Papers The stock market has been around and well-known for many years and has been dated back into colonial times. However, in 1929, the stock market unfortunately took a drastic turn for the worst. In just a matter of days, the market underwent a cascading decline, and took everything down with it. To many, the stock market may seem very complicated and esoteric. However, after some research some come to find its actually very simple, because someone else basically does the work for you. This ‘someone else’ is a stock broker. In simpler terms, a stock broker is like an auctioneer. The job of an auctioneer is to pair a buyer with a seller, much like the job of a stock broker. They also determine adequate pricing of whatever it is being sold (Gerlach). In the stock market, shares of companies are what is being sold. If you buy a share of a stock, you own a part of that company. Generally, if the company did well, you would earn a profit, and if it didnt do so well, you could potentially lose money. Investors soon purchased stock on margin. Margin is the borrowing of stock for the purpose of getting more leverage. For every dollar invested, a margin user would borrow 9 dollars worth of stock. Because of this leverage, if a stock went up 1%, the investor would make 10%! If a stock drops too much, a margin holder could lose all of their money AND owe their broker money as well (Stock Market Crash). Investing money in the stock market was a very risky act. Some lucky investors end up acquiring huge profits and simultaneously become millionaires over night. However a lot of patience is necessary as not to panic and sell your share as soon as the prices drop in the slightest bit. Keeping calm through a downfall could ultimately be your saving grace in the end. Because more and more Americans were purchasing stocks, the value of the marked drastically increased (Ohio History Center). There was a peak in prices in September 1929, and after this, the priced dropped. Some brokers were on the brink of panic and quickly called in there loans, which would have been a wise decision. On the other hand, many brokers carried on, continuing to loan money, and looked at the decline as just a bad day in the market. On Wednesday October, 23rd, the Dow Jones had descended 24 points in a mere half hour, causing a slight panic across the nation. The next day, Thursday the 24th, all brokers called in their loans causing all prices on the market to face a gargantuan downfall. Many at this point figured the stock market just need a few days to bounce back. To keep a lid on the hysteria, brokers began to merge their funds to buy enough stocks to even out the market. This briefly balanced the priced. However, by the following Monday, prices had fallen again. Tuesday October 29th, 1929, ‘Black Tuesday,’ was the day all hell had broken loose. This was the very day of the stock market crash. Because of the rapidly declining prices, the once reliable ticker tape had trouble keeping up and ended up causing mass confusion and chaos. On account of the dwindling prices, many people vacated the market and withdrew all their funds while their debts were still meager. With everyone pulling out at once, mass mayhem had occurred and the market had crashed. After the crash, the suicide rate skyrocketed. Many people leapt to their demise out of tall buildings because being dead was easier than facing financial debt. The most abundant time of suicides came in 1930, the year following the crash. In 1925 the number of suicides in New York was 14.4 per 100,000 of the population. In 1934, that number had escalated to 17.0 per 100,000 of the population (Galbraith). Also, the stock brokers who decided suicide was not the answer, lost their jobs. American across the nation were in debt. However, it was the Americans who has invested all they had who were hit the hardest and has lost everything as a result of the crash. Eventually the crash of the stock market has negatively effected everyone. Research Papers on The Stock Market Crash of 1929Analysis of Ebay Expanding into AsiaTwilight of the UAWQuebec and CanadaThe Effects of Illegal ImmigrationDefinition of Export QuotasMarketing of Lifeboy Soap A Unilever ProductAppeasement Policy Towards the Outbreak of World War 2Open Architechture a white paperHip-Hop is ArtBionic Assembly System: A New Concept of Self

Reality creation and practice Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4250 words

Reality creation and practice - Essay Example The social construction framework is useful to human service workers in the fields of family therapy and psychotherapy in that it allows practitioners to investigate and empower client’s creation of meaningful understandings of themselves and the wider world. The framework focuses on the key influences of sociocultural forces and the environmental context of human understanding, learning and accumulation of knowledge. Within family therapy this theory provides the therapist with a powerful ability to draw family members away from blaming each other for their behaviors, and placing these behaviors within a larger sociocultural context. For example, the Western values of independence, competition and profit contributing to the family to place pressure on their son to find gainful employment and to do better in life than what they have. In turn, the son has felt misunderstood, isolated and unable to achieve due to constant â€Å"failures† and has chosen to drop out of soci ety. Now living in a shelter, the son is attempting to find work, but constantly faces rejection, which is further inhibiting his self-esteem. His parents feel they are unable to help him, feel guilty for his poor upbringing and don’t have anyone to talk to. The framework is useful for the family therapist in this instance in that the family can be encouraged to exhibit agency within the therapeutic process, such as role playing each other as well as perceived ideals, and with their increased agency and autonomy be less dependant on the therapist to provide meaning for their experiences. The psychotherapist as well benefits from the use of the social construction framework in that theories such as Bandura’s self-efficacy model complement the concept of reality being constructed through human activity. Using social modeling of Bandura allows the personal counselor to empower their client by

The Causes of World War One and Two Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words - 1

The Causes of World War One and Two - Essay Example He then maintained a non-aggression and cordial relationship pact with Russian. However, Kaiser Wilhelm 11, his successor, dismissed him in 1890. Kaiser Wilhelm 11 could not renew the pact arguing that it was logically inconsistent with Germany’s commitments to Austria Hungary. The Russian foreign affairs ministry maintained friendly relations with Germany. However, the Russian military insisted that a new alliance with France was more important for Russia’s national security. Consequently, the Tsar military aid opened direct talks between the French and Russian generals of staffs. Despite the reservations of professional diplomats, the generals persuaded Tsar Nicholas 11 and the French cabinet to sign the pact. The secret military convention was signed in 1892 and later ratified in 1894. There was the crow memorandum of 1907. This treaty gave rise to the Anglo-Germany antagonism. Influential career diplomat Sir Eyre Crowe spearheaded this treaty in 1907. This was brought about by the fact that Great Britain considered France as the most serious threat to its African and Asian interests. However, under a strong fear of Germany in 1904, the British concluded the â€Å"entente cordiale† with France. This was a friendly resolution of differences in Africa. The British inspired this resolution after they stood firmly beside France against Germany in the first Morocco crisis. Germany had protested forcefully against the creation of a French protectorate in Morocco. In the memorandum, Crowe sought to persuade the British foreign secretary, Sir Edward Grey, to conclude a similar agreement with Russia. This led to† Anglo Russian entente† of 1907 that paved way for diplomatic cooperation and joint military planning between France, Russia, and Great Britain. Crowe considered Germany as the greatest peace threat in Europe. There were four major diplomatic crises in Europe from 1905 to 1913.