Monday, March 23, 2020

Mobile Phone and Technology free essay sample

In our daily lives, technology is being improved and developed every day, and has changed our society tremendously. Due to technology improvement, we are provided with several information that we are curious about. Devices such as a GPS, cell phones, computers, and even a calculator makes our lives easier. Communication is one advantage of technology in our society. Technological advances have saved our lives and have benefited our society. It has brought distant places closer and has made our world a smaller place to live in. Technology has changed our understanding of the way things work and changes the way we interact with one another. Every day, a new device is being released or introduced to us. When we think of technology, we think of computers and electronic devices. The truth is, technology can be almost anything. For example, the wheel is an example of technology and was one of the first few technology first invented. We will write a custom essay sample on Mobile Phone and Technology or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page The wheel was invented and first discovered by Mesopotamians. Nowadays, we have wheels on our cars, bicycles, chairs, etc. it has made our lives easier to move around. Another example of a technology that has been developed in modern day society is the first computer. In 1837 Charles Babbage proposed the first general mechanical computer, the Analytical Engine. Today, the computer is used worldwide and is being developed up till today. The computer has been improved an developed into a thin working machine and it provides us with several information. Companies that build these types of technologies want to make them better and more efficient and they keep releasing new devices that are smaller and faster. Everyone around the world, in terms of communication technology, uses any type of device to communicate. One of the most important effect and change of technology is communication. An endless number of people all over the world use and benefit from modern technology Computers were developed to attain the capability of being portable and integrate communication at the same time. Later on, laptops were invented. Instead of having to sit at a desktop, you can carry a laptop around with you, and get access to it through Wi-Fi. In terms of social media, many individuals use several sites to communicate with each other, such as, Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, Instagram, Gmail, etc. This had helped many people in such way as communicating with a relative or a loved around any part of the world, or finding the one for them. As a result of the internet and social media, it can be extremely beneficial. For instance, say a student is absent from class, and he/she is missing homework; he/she can simply ask a classmate through an email or any social media or their teacher through the computer or phone. Without the use of communication through phones, computers, and laptops, the outcome would lead to many unsolved problems and unknown solutions. We wouldn’t get business done. The evolution of technology has dramatically changed society. Medical technology, referring to equipment such as MRI and CT Scanners, mammograms, etc. , has improved the human life. Medical technology has extended our life expectancy. Doctors and nurses use medical equipment to search the patient’s body, to establish and examine what has happened to them. Examining the problem of the patient, through the outcome of the result of the scans or tests, the doctor or physician can determine what kind of treatment to provide the patient to cure them. From treatments to removing a tumor, giving vaccines, identifying a type of medication is all due to technology. This has made an impact in everyone’s lives. For instance, for those who suffer from diabetes now have access to very accurate blood glucose monitoring technologies. This means that they can monitor on a daily basis and control their condition much more effectively reducing the risk of suffering the common signs of diabetes, such as blindness and nerve damage. Technology in the medical field has allowed the ability for individuals with any type of illness, to have productive lives. Technology has made an incredible impression on education. Everything from smart boards to smart phones has transformed education from students and instructors perspectives. These tools have enhanced communication, research, literacy, etc. They impact the way students learn. As students continue to rely upon technology, they will master these tools and how they work, increasing their ability on education. In addition, if a student is home schooled or needs tutoring, an excellent way to approach this, is through the internet. The students can get tutoring online from teachers. Another way technology has made an astounding influence on education is doing research. A student might have to do a report or an essay on a topic he/she has never heard about nor has little knowledge about; they can basically go online and do research on that topic. The internet will provide you with countless information. In addition, with computers teachers can monitor a student’s progress or give them more individual help they need. Nowadays, students don’t need to carry around an enormous heavy book around. All they need is a laptop or a portable device. They can find all the books they need for their classes, instead of having to have several books stacked up on each other. It saves you less money and weight. In terms of education, technology has been proven to help students reach their goals and become successful in achieving their goals. Technological advances can be a significant part of life and can makes our lives unproblematic. However, some individuals might not think the same way and might not agree to this statement. Social networking can cause many problems. There have been many reports on cyber bullying and it has led to several deaths. For example, a female can be talking to a male online, and she might think he’s generous, and she might want to meet him somewhere. As a result of this case, she could possibly get raped, abducted, or killed. The main point is that people can imitate or make a fake profile of themselves and place someone else’s picture online and the other person wouldn’t know who it really is. Many parents fear when their child is online talking to someone because they think of the other related stories that have happened to other individuals. Otherwise, a safe solution is to simply not talk to anyone online or make sure it is the person that you are really talking to. You can do this by trying to video chat with them, but never try to meet up with them. The key is to be careful and take caution of who you are talking to. Technology has simplified the access to many necessary tools people need in education, industry, medicine, communication, transportation, etc. In my perspective, technology is a great thing in life. It has helped me in plenty of ways. Due to medication, when having the flu, and taking the antibiotics, it makes me feel better and healthier. You can also get the vaccine to prevent the sickness from happening. Furthermore, communication also has benefited me. I communicate with family members that I have from other countries, such as Guyana. Having a computer , laptop, or cell phone, helps you communicate with anyone around the world and assists you in keeping updated with them. Watching the news every morning on the television, keeps me and others updated with events that are occurring around us, including updates about the weather so you k now what to wear before you step out the house. Besides communication, doing homework and research in relation to education, the internet helps out with a great number of solutions to problems and information. It benefits me in getting things finished more rapidly and I learn more from the devices I use, making me more advanced in my education. Technology has helped me throughout my daily life. Technology is being improved and developed every day, and has changed our society tremendously. Tremendous opportunities it provides play a significant role in almost all fields of human life. The devices that we use today, that were used in the past (about 20 or more years ago) are still being improved in several ways such as a computer, and most importantly, cellular phones. Today, we have phones and laptops that are much smaller, thinner, and faster. Communication is the number one beneficiary in our society and has helped us get to know each other way better and made our world a smaller place to live in. Medicine has made everyone’s life expectancy longer. Years ago, the life expectancy would be approximately 30-50 years of age. Nowadays, people live from 60 to almost 90-100 years of age. Moreover, technology has promoted and assisted many students in education in terms of getting the right information and gaining more knowledge of what they want to learn. Technologys purpose is to make tasks simpler for humans to perform. In 2013, we need technology to help us make a solution to our problems and it has definitely made our daily lives a lot more modest and straightforward.

Friday, March 6, 2020

Color Psychology Essay

Color Psychology Essay Color Psychology Essay â€Å"Douglas and Jaelyn are plunked down next to each other playing with dinosaurs. They don't seem to be interacting, but every now and again, one of them will check out the other. And when Jaelyn segues to a different play area, Douglas follows.† (http://wondertime.go.com/learning/article/baby-parallel-play.html) Parallel play is one of the of human psychology. , that we are still uncovering new information about. Play is one of the most essential things that form a child’s life, personality, interests and opinions. However, not all children have a happy childhood. Children of wars, or from abused families, for example. Some children live in rural areas, without companionship from siblings or friends. Solitary play helps the growth of kids without friends around them. Imagination is a child’s greatest tool and is used to its full advantage. From blocks to painting, to dolls and puppets, to running around in a back yard or laughing with friends, play extends everywhere. What is parallel play? Mildred Parten born in 1902, who wrote an article in the Journal of Abnormal Psychology, where this was discussed, named the idea of parallel play. Parten also named other types of play such as cooperative, solitary and onlooker. In a â€Å"social participation act† with forty preschool children, she compared and contrasted play behaviors. Put simply, as she described it, parallel play is when two children are in a room together, possibly even playing with the same toys-but not interacting. Cooperative play however, is just about the opposite of that. Cooperative play is when children interact. Usually children transfer from parallel play between the ages of two and three years old (Social and Personality Development - William Damon -Secondary source) when a child is still in preschool. Sometimes parents mistake the growing into cooperative play for the child growing out of parallel play. Some children that grow into cooperative play do so later than others. Interference from a parent or teacher can influence this and can prove to be unhealthy. Even though kids grow into coopereative play, no matter what their stage is they still engage in parallel play as well. Parten had identified the concept of parallel play to understand social development of people better. After she completed her doctoral course in 1929 (genealogy.org), she developed the five types of play- parallel, onlooker; solitary, unoccupied, associative and cooperative (Social and Personality Development - William Damon -Secondary source) . As William Damon states in his book â€Å"Social and Personality Development solitary play helps children develop on their own. Without toys, children use their imagination. Without friends, children use their imagination. Imagination is one thing that never dies no matter what, because it fosters a child’s natural curiosity, if not pushing it gently to its limits. Onlooker behavior occurs when a child does not participate in a game or a movement with the rest of a group. follows. He simply does not feel like participating, though he may be friendly with other children. Parallel play is mentioned above. Associative play is full-blown cooperative play. A child will play with his friends, and probably include talking in the activity. If he is- observed, he will show more interest in his friends and/or environment then the toys around him, although hey will still pay some attention to the toys. Cooperative play begins as mimicry. At this stage, when a child sees something similar to what he has in his possession, he will be interested. Mimicry could be eating the same food, having the same toy, or even imitating body movements. 1. As William Damon states in his book â€Å"Social and Personality Development† solitary play helps children develop on their own. Without toys, children use their imagination. Without friends, children use their imagination. Imagination is one thing that never dies no matter what, because it

Tuesday, February 18, 2020

Motivation and Motivation Strategies-PSY Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Motivation and Motivation Strategies-PSY - Essay Example Using Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs it is the case that I am not attending school to attain many lower level motivators (Food, shelter etc) but I am attending school for a spectrum of middle of higher needs. I do seek respect, and friendship from my peers but I also attend school to attain a higher level of education which could lead to a well paying career. Moreover I am also seeking enlightenment and wisdom through my studies. What motivates you generally? (Consider arousal, incentive, and self-determination theories) When utilizing a self determination theory I believe that I have a real desire to better myself through studies. There are a number of externalities in my life, however the experience that I get from studies is entirely self directed insofar as I enroll in classes that I believe are stimulating. In regards to incentive theory I believe that self directed rewards motivate me the best. In some regards I am not always motivated by money yet I enjoy physical activity because I know that it is healthy for me and will ultimately make me stronger. From an arousal perspective I believe that this theory holds particularly true for me because many activities are not solely directed for the reduction of tension (Such as exercising) yet I often seek a balance between physical activity and achieving goals.

Tuesday, February 4, 2020

Genral planning (related to the city that you choosed) Essay

Genral planning (related to the city that you choosed) - Essay Example This paper focuses on land use planning as an important element in the general planning of the city of Los Angeles. With a population of nearly 3.8 million people as per the 2010 census, Los Angeles city is currently the most populous city in California. The city is known all over the world as a center of entertainment, culture, trade and technology. As home to the Hollywood entertainment industry, Los Angeles is also home to many of the world’s celebrities. The general plan of Los Angeles was primarily designed to be a strategy of the future growth of the city using the population forecasts as the basis of planning. Consequently all the elements of a city’s general planning are intended to accommodate the future populations in a way that enhances environmental conservation. Just like many other cities around the world, demographic and spatial changes such as transport congestion are proving to be the major challenges facing sustainable land use in the city of Los Angeles and its environment (Davis, 23). As a result, land use planning in Los Angeles has been largely based on the principles of sustainability in an attempt to mitigate both the present and future challenges regarding the dynamics of urban land use. Additionally land use planning in the city of Los Angeles is also designed to promote the growth and development of both the residential neighborhoods and commercial districts of the city with regard to the future growth in population. The general planning of the city of Los Angeles has designated specific locations to be used for particular new land uses. The land use in these locations is determined by the respective community plans. A number of land use categories in the city of Los Angeles are in the areas that were originally designated for industrial, commercial and residential uses. It is however worth noting that the

Sunday, January 26, 2020

Critique Of Living With Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease Nursing Essay

Critique Of Living With Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease Nursing Essay This assignment will be appraising a study by Fraser, D.Kee, C and Minick, P (2006) à ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ãƒâ€¦Ã¢â‚¬Å"Living with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: insidersà ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚ ¢ perspectiveà ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ã‚ , The aim of the study was to gain a better understanding of older people who suffer from severe COPD and their experiences of living with the condition in their daily lives, including techniques used to manage their disease. This knowledge could then be used along with nursing knowledge to aid patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease so they can achieve their maximum quality of life (Fraser et al2006). The appraisal will also include the researcherà ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚ ¢s suitability for carrying out research for the study, the validity, methodology, ethical approval, data collection and analysis as well as sampling methods; it will touch upon what nursing implementations can be taken from the authorà ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ãƒ ¢ „ ¢s findings. Although not much is mentioned in the article to ascertain the suitability of the authors to carry out the study there is one small paragraph in the article at the bottom of the introduction which states the lead author (Fraser, D) had hospital experience in pulmonary nursing which then motivated her into getting a better understanding of the disease from the patients point of view, this form of clinical experience and dedication gives the author some insight into this disease which will contribute to the study (Parahoo 1997 p, 24) upon further investigation one of the other authors has various research interests including Nursing expertise and patient outcomes, Pain management, Phenomenology, Critical care nursing with several national and internationally published papers(Minick 2008), this form of academic achievement improves the rigor of this paper through its trustworthiness and its credibility. According to Parahoo (1997) abstracts are short summaries of information from the study aimed at giving readers enough details of the article so that they may decide whether the article is of interest to them or not. The Fraser article is set out in a similar way to how Parahoo (1997) describes, such as it briefly states the aim of the study, its background, the methodology used in the study, the studyà ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚ ¢s findings and its conclusion, however it does not state what form of sampling was used in the study such as convenience sampling, purposive sampling or snowball sampling, there was also no mention of the type of data analysis that was used during the study as well as no mention of whether the interviews where structured or unstructured (Newell and Burnard 2006). This article is laid out in an organised manner with clear sections which make it easy to follow, these include what the aim of the study are, ità ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚ ¢s design, how data was collected and analysed, its findings, discussion, study limitations and its conclusion. However there is no section on what recommendations can be made from this study although it is mentioned in the conclusion section. According to Fraser et al hermeneutic phenomenological research was used for the qualitative study due to the way it allowed the researcher to ask the subject a host of open à ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬ended questions that are focused around the aim of the research study, this unstructured interview technique allows the subject to answer in their own words, this also allows the researcher to ask questions for elaboration on specific areas of the story so that they may get a better understanding of their experience, this in turn can allow intriguing and vivid insight into the patients care and their experiences (Newell and Burnard 2006). However Qualitative research does have its limitations such as the interviews themselves, Parahoo (1997) states that not enough information is given on what actually takes place between interviewer and the subject, this makes evaluating difficult. Secondly as the interviews were semi-structured the subjects may not be asked the same questions which may make yo u question the validity of the findings. Hermeneutic phenomenological research may be problematic when it comes to the rigor of the study itself for example this study may produce different results if the study was conducted on a different day or at a different time due to the subjects experiences being affected due to illness, moods or some other factor that could change (Parahoo 1997). Fraser et al (2006) states Participants were contacted by telephone where a brief explanation about the purpose of the study was given, the article also states that consent was given prior to the interview and that they were interviewed either at the participantà ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚ ¢s home or at the hospitals pulmonary rehabilitation centre. However it does not mention whether it was informed consent that was given and it also makes no mention if the study was clearly explained and understood by the participant (Ryan et al 2007). There is also no mention of the duration of the interviews for example were they carried out over two hours in one day or over several interviews throughout 2003 (Parahoo 1997). Analysing qualitative data can be done in several ways and it is essential that the correct process is used to determine the credibility of their findings (Ryan et al 2007). The seven steps outlined in Colaizzià ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚ ¢s (1978) method allows the researcher to develop themes in the transcriptions by extracting specific phrases and statements, this can only be done by carefully reading the transcripts to get a better understanding of the subjects. Although this method allows the researcher to validate and verify the themes and conclusions with the subjects, this can cause problems with some researchers due to subjects changing their minds. This can happen for a number of reasons such as having time to think about the interview or looking at the question from a different perspective (Newell and Burnard 2006). The reason for literature reviews is to determine what has already been published or researched on a given subject area, Caughlan (2007) states that literatures reviews are used to develop the research question which should help identify the correct method to use for data collection. This review would also identify any gaps in the literature that might be filled using the current research topic. Parahoo (1997, p96) also agrees that although a literature review helps those primarily doing the research it also gives the reader an insights into what research has been done previously and why the current study is necessary. Despite the Fraser et al article focusing solely on elderly people with severe COPD defined by the GOLD (2003) revision the author does believe that their study will contribute to the research of COPD and seems to agree with the other authorà ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚ ¢s findings. There are some issues that appear in the article in relation to ethical approval such as there is no mention of informed consent being sought from the participants additionally the author has not stated whether the research process was explained to them clearly. This should have been clearly stated in the article (Griffiths, 2006), however Fraser et al does point out that ethical approval was obtained from the sponsoring University and the hospital institutional review boards. A purposive sample of participants was taken aged 55 or older who were living at home, English speaking and willing to speak about their experiences with COPD (Fraser et al 2003). This sample consisted of five men and five women eight of which were Caucasian and two were African American and met the GOLD (2003) revision. This form of sampling can aid the researcher to hand pick his subjects based on his/her criteria. Sampling of this nature is often small as the researcher is not trying to generalise their findings this ensures richness in data for the study (Ryan 2007). Fraser (2006) states that the aim of the study was to explore the experiences of older adults with severe COPD to get a better understanding of how this disease effects their lives, this form of sampling may not be representative of the population due to possible subjectivity of the researcher (Black 1999). The research findings were broken down into three themes knowing what works, hanging on à ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ã‚ ¦barely and losing control-gaining control. Letà ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚ ¢s look at knowing what works as an example to what type of information this method of research uncovers, the participants talk about the various ways they control and manage dyspnoea such as the use of inhalers or nebulizers, oxygen therapy and breathing exercises. They also talk about what doesnà ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚ ¢t work such as friends and family hovering around and telling them what to do. The author recognised the study limitations that are common with most qualitative studies these include size of sample the limited geography of the sample and the criteria inclusion for the study. The author also accepts the fact that the participants may be better educated in their illness and thus have a better management of their illness due to their involvement in the relevant programs from which they were part of. More information could have been obtained in this study using a quantitative and qualitative approach known as Mixed Method triangulation (Maclnnes 2009). This form of study would give the researcher the statistical information as well as the in-depth richness which in turn would produce more insightful findings into the study (Maclnnes 2009). More research needs to be carried out to get a more accurate account of patients experiences of living with COPD, this study would need to include a larger sample from a wider geographical area so that it may be more representative of the population in question. Due to the scale of such a study, Mixed Method triangulation (Maclnnes 2009) may be better suited. There are several aspects of this article that could have implications for nursing practice such as COPD affects everyone in different ways and no two days are the same. Nursing staff must take this into consideration when treating the patient as the patient has more experience with the illness than the nurse treating them and knows what does and doesnà ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚ ¢t work. This is also stated in the NMC (2009) where à ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ãƒâ€¦Ã¢â‚¬Å"you must support people in caring for themselves to improve and maintain their healthà ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ã‚  (NMC 2009). Another important point made in the article is addressing any interventions that may be implemented to help patients quality of life must have input from both patient and nurse. Fraser et al also states that you must acknowledge the changes and problems that are associated with COPD, this understanding will aid the rapport and communication between nurse and patient. The author also stated that general nursing care for all patients with this condition should include monitoring medication proper education on the use of that medication as well as breathing techniques, appropriate exercise and making sure patients have access to organisations that can help with financial aid, depression loneliness and other information that they may need.

Saturday, January 18, 2020

How Did the Australian Government Respond to the Threat of Communism After WWII?

Australia faced the threat of communism after WWII ended in 1945. The threat was known as the Red Menace which was caused by all the conflicts in Asia and also things that were going on in Australia at the time. The Australian government responded to the Red Menace in many ways. They took military action, made alliances, gave economoc aid and tried banning the Communist Party in Australia. Communism is a social organisation where everyone in the country/community all have common property and money is shared equally. Australia didn't see communism as a threat until China was taken into control and turned into a communist country. Australia then began to fear that it would only be a matter of time ‘before the reds were on our doorsteps. ‘ Australia responded to the threat of communism in Asia by joining the Korean War in 1950. We joined it because we had a belief that it would be better to fight communism overseas rather than wait for it to reach Australia and fight it here. The Korean War was a part of our government's ‘Forward Defense Policy'. Military action was sent to Korea to help our allies to fight communism overseas. Another response to communism in Asia was the ANZUS Treaty which was one of the most important steps that Australia took to protect Australia from the threat of communism. The treaty was an agreement signed by Australia, New Zealand and the United States; it meant that each of the three nations involved would be obliged to help the other if one was attacked. It was an agreement of aid in common defense. The reason why it was signed by Australia was because we believed that a strong ally was needed to keep Australia safe from communism. There was also another agreement that Australia got involved with called the SEATO alliance. The SEATO alliance was signed by Britain, Thailand, Pakistan, the Phillipines, France, New Zealand, Australia and the United States, in 1954. The alliance was started by the United States becasue of the increasing communist activity in South-east Asia from 1945. The Korean War had just ended and communist activity was spreading to France and communist guerillas were currently active in Malaya. This made the United States feel vulnerable, so they proposed an alliance with the East- Asian countries to fight ‘communist aggression'. Australia was very happy to sign this alliance because it confirmes to the Unites States that we had their back and it supported our ‘Forward Defense Policy'. Australia later joined the Vietnam war to support their role of an ally and to maintain a close tie with the United States. In 1962, Prime Minister Robert Menzies began sending 30 Australian military instructors to South Vietnam where Vietcong were trying to overthrow non-communist South Vietnam. The reason why Australia felt that it was vital to help the United States fight in this war was because of the advice we received from Washington telling us that if we help the United States fight North Vietnam, then when Australia need military assisstance, USA would help us. Fear of communism was also another reason which lead to Australia fighting in the Vietnam war. We believed that if one more Asian country fell into communism, other countries as well as Australia would follow. This was called the ‘Domino Theory'. As well as responding to the threat of communism overseas, Australia also took precautions within the country. In 1949, Robert Menzies promised that he would ban the Communist Party Dissolution Bill which outlawed the Communist Party. The Bill was ruled as unconstitutional by the High Court and was narrowly defeated after a referendum was held. Many Australians feared that communism was getting closer and they were quite worried. It was time for an elction and the Labor Party was confident that they were going to win thhe next elecion. Just shortly before the election, there was a huge ‘spy scare'. This was the Petrov affair. It was about Petrov and his wife Evdokia who provided detailed documents about a Soviet Spy Ring operating in Australia. Robert Menzies used this case and used the fear of communism for his own political ends, which made him win the election. This was how the Australian government responded to the threat of communism after WWII ended.

Friday, January 10, 2020

Survey of Software Systems

Week 6 Case Study 1. How important is the reservation system at airlines such as WestJet and JetBlue? How does it impact operational activities and decision making? The reservation system is extremely important to small airline companies such as WestJet and JetBlue. Since these companies are small and fairly new, efficient customer service is essential to their success. When potential customers visit the JetBlue and WestJet websites and view their competitive rates, it is imperative that they are met with a completely capable, efficient information system to book their reservations on.Also, the reservation system will impact operational activities because it clearly lies out how many reservations are currently booked which is essential in deciding on the number of aircraft to use for a specific block of time to a specific destination. It also provides foresight on how much fuel to have on the aircraft etc. Another thing that the reservation system helps is the ability to know when to advertise specials on certain flights in order to fill the roster and offer standby to last minute travelers. 2. Evaluate the risks of the projects to upgrade the reservation systems of WestJet and JetBlue and key risk factors.There are several risks associated with upgrading any information systems within a company. Typically the most difficult tasks involve providing training to the employees that are responsible for using, operating or receiving data from the upgraded information systems. In this situation in particular, one of the major concerns for these companies was that the information system updates would cause defects in the system and also that the time that it would take to upgrade the reservation system could cause a gap in services to the user.An outage in their web services would cause major setbacks for both companies and neither of them could afford the loss. The text states that WestJet had been running practice tests and training for over 100,000 hours in prepara tion for the live upgrade. Still, they encountered some issues that they had not planned for during the live upgrade. This caused the website to be inaccessible for quite some time during and after the upgrade. This caused an enormous number of dissatisfied customers.Users flocked to Facebook and other social networking sites to express their dissatisfaction with WestJet’s services; they also called customer service in an effort to gain a better understanding about what was going on. As a result of the increase in customer service calls that WestJet was also unprepared for, there was a major increase in customer service wait times, which then led to more angry customers. Luckily WestJet was able to redeem itself some time down the road and didn’t take too much of a hit financially because of that mishap.This goes to show that the risks associated with upgrading information systems within a company are extremely high and in no way should they be undermined. Companies sh ould always be prepared when attempting to upgrade information systems otherwise the loss has the potential to be devastating. 3. Classify and describe the problems each airline faced in implementing its new reservation system. What people, organization, and technology factors caused those problems? The problems that WestJet faced in implementing its new reservation system ran the gamut.They had a number of organizational problems which included the fact that they obviously hadn’t considered the possibility that the transfer could not go as planned. Although they trained and practiced for over 100,000 hours in preparation for the transfer, they failed to have a backup plan, which is something that every company needs to have should they need to employ other options. When the initial plan was foiled, there weren’t even enough employees to handle the commotion that the lack of web services caused.They also had a critical technology problem, and that was that the file tra nsfer didn’t go as planned. Another technology problem was that the unsuccessful file transfer caused the web services to be down for a number of hours. There should have been a backup webpage to mitigate that gap in service. JetBlue on the other hand, was very well organized based on the information that the text gave. They had a backup for their webpage that they ended up needing to use because their servers were down due to the file transfer.They chose a low web traffic day to initiate the file transfer; and they hired 500 temporary employees to man the call center in case they had an increased number of customer service calls. JetBlue also had technology problems which caused a delay in their data transfer but the reason that it didn’t affect them as bad as it did with WestJet, is because they were prepared, 4. Describe the steps you would have taken to control the risk in these projects.The risk associated with performing live data transfers is imminent. There wil l never be a way to completely mitigate that risk, but if I were in that situation I would handle it like JetBlue did. I would examine all of the possible outcomes and have a backup in place to control the possible damage. I would have definitely had a backup web interface and I would have hired temporary employees to help with the extra workload. Basically, I would have done the exact same things that JetBlue did.