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Technology Guide

“Advanced technology” redirects here. For the Advanced Technology form factor, see AT (form factor). This article is semi-protected indefinitely in response to an ongoing high risk of vandalism. By the mid 20th century, humans had achieved a mastery of technology sufficient to leave the atmosphere of the Earth for the first time and explore space. Technology is a broad concept that deals with human as well as other animal species’ usage and knowledge of tools and crafts, and how it affects a species’ ability to control and adapt to its environment. Technology is a term with origins in the Greek “technology”, “τεχνολογία” — “techne”, “τέχνη” (”craft”) and “logia”, “λογία” (”saying”).[1] However, a strict definition is elusive; “technology” can refer to material objects of use to humanity, such as machines, hardware or utensils, but can also encompass broader themes, including systems, methods of organization, and techniques. The term can either be applied generally or to specific areas: examples include “construction technology”, “medical technology”, or “state-of-the-art technology”.
The human species’ use of technology began with the conversion of natural resources into simple tools. The prehistorically discovery of the ability to control fire increased the available sources of food and the invention of the wheel helped humans in traveling in and controlling their environment. Recent technological developments, including the printing press, the telephone, and the Internet, have lessened physical barriers to communication and allowed humans to interact freely on a global scale. However, not all technology has been used for peaceful purposes; the development of weapons of ever-increasing destructive power has progressed throughout history, from clubs to nuclear weapons.

Technology has affected society and its surroundings in a number of ways. In many societies, technology has helped develop more advanced economies (including today’s global economy) and has allowed the rise of a leisure class. Many technological processes produce unwanted by-products, known as pollution, and deplete natural resources, to the detriment of the Earth and its environment. Various implementations of technology influence the values of a society and new technology often raises new ethical questions. Examples include the rise of the notion of efficiency in terms of human productivity, a term originally applied only to machines, and the challenge of traditional norms.
Philosophical debates have arisen over the present and future use of technology in society, with disagreements over whether technology improves the human condition or worsens it. Neo-Luddism, anarcho-primitivism, and similar movements criticize the pervasiveness of technology in the modern world, opining that it harms the environment and alienates people; proponents of ideologies such as Tran humanism and techno-progressivism view continued technological progress as beneficial to society and the human condition. Indeed, until recently, it was believed that the development of technology was restricted only to human beings, but recent scientific studies indicate that other primates and certain dolphin communities have developed simple tools and learned to pass their knowledge to other generations.

Definition and usage

The invention of the printing press made it possible for scientists and politicians to communicate their ideas with ease, leading to the Age of Enlightenment; an example of technology as a cultural force. The Merriam-Webster dictionary offers a definition of the term: “the practical application of knowledge especially in a particular area” and “a capability given by the practical application of knowledge”. Ursula Franklin, in her 1989 “Real World of Technology” lecture, gave another definition of the concept; it is “practice, the way we do things around here”. The term is often used to imply a specific field of technology, or to refer to high technology or just consumer electronics, rather than technology as a whole. Bernard Stigler, in Techniques and Time, 1, defines technology in two ways: as “the pursuit of life by means other than life”, and as “organized inorganic matter.
Technology can be most broadly defined as the entities, both material and immaterial, created by the application of mental and physical effort in order to achieve some value. In this usage, technology refers to tools and machines that may be used to solve real-world problems. It is a far-reaching term that may include simple tools, such as a crowbar or wooden spoon, or more complex machines, such as a space station or particle accelerator. Tools and machines need not be material; virtual technology, such as computer software and business methods, fall under this definition of technology.
The word “technology” can also be used to refer to a collection of techniques. In this context, it is the current state of humanity’s knowledge of how to combine resources to produce desired products, to solve problems, fulfill needs, or satisfy wants; it includes technical methods, skills, processes, techniques, tools and raw materials. When combined with another term, such as “medical technology” or “space technology”, it refers to the state of the respective field’s knowledge and tools. “State-of-the-art technology” refers to the high technology available to humanity in any field.Technology can be viewed as an activity that forms or changes culture. Additionally, technology is the application of math, science, and the arts for the benefit of life as it is known. A modern example is the rise of communication technology, which has lessened barriers to human interaction and, as a result, has helped spawn new subcultures; the rise of cyber culture has, at its basis, the development of the Internet and the computer. [7] Not all technology enhances culture in a creative way; technology can also help facilitate political oppression and war via tools such as guns. As a cultural activity, technology predates both science and engineering, each of which formalizes some aspects of technological endeavor.

Science, engineering and technology

The distinction between science, engineering and technology is not always clear. Science is the reasoned investigation or study of phenomena, aimed at discovering enduring principles among elements of the phenomenal world by employing formal techniques such as the scientific method. [8] Technologies are not usually exclusively products of science, because they have to satisfy requirements such as utility, usability and safety.
Engineering is the goal-oriented process of designing and making tools and systems to exploit natural phenomena for practical human means, often (but not always) using results and techniques from science. The development of technology may draw upon many fields of knowledge, including scientific, engineering, mathematical, linguistic, and historical knowledge, to achieve some practical result.
Technology is often a consequence of science and engineering — although technology as a human activity precedes the two fields. For example, science might study the flow of electrons in electrical conductors, by using already-existing tools and knowledge. This new-found knowledge may then be used by engineers to create new tools and machines, such as semiconductors, computers, and other forms of advanced technology. In this sense, scientists and engineers may both be considered technologists; the three fields are often considered as one for the purposes of research and reference.
The exact relations between science and technology in particular have been debated by scientists, historians, and policymakers in the late 20th century, in part because the debate can inform the funding of basic and applied science. In immediate wake of World War II, for example, in the United States it was widely considered that technology was simply “applied science” and that to fund basic science was to reap technological results in due time. An articulation of this philosophy could be found explicitly in Vannevar Bush’s treatise on postwar science policy, Science—The Endless Frontier: “New products, new industries, and more jobs require continuous additions to knowledge of the laws of nature… This essential new knowledge can be obtained only through basic scientific research.” In the late-1960s, however, this view came under direct attack, leading towards initiatives to fund science for specific tasks (initiatives resisted by the scientific community). The issue remains contentious—though most analysts resist the model that technology simply is a result of scientific research.

Insurance Guide

History

Aviation Insurance was first introduced in the early years of the 20th Century. The first aviation insurance policy was written by Lloyd’s of London in 1911. The company stopped writing aviation policies in 1912 after bad weather and the resulting crashes at an air meet caused losses on many of those first policies. In 1929 the Warsaw convention was signed. The convention was an agreement to establish terms, conditions and limitations of liability for carriage by air, this was the first recognition of the airline industry as we know it today.
By 1933 realizing that there should be a specialist industry sector the International Union of Marine Insurance (IUMI) set up an aviation committee and by 1934 eight European aviation insurance companies and pools were formally established and the International Union of Aviation Insurers (IUAI) was born. The London insurance market is still the largest single centre for aviation insurance. The market is made up of the traditional Lloyds of London syndicates and numerous other traditional insurance markets. Throughout the rest of the world there are national markets established in various countries, this is dependent on the aviation activity within each country, the US has a large percentage of the world’s general aviation fleet and has a large established market.
No single insurer has the resources to retain a risk the size of a major airline, or even a substantial proportion of such a risk. The Catastrophic nature of aviation insurance can be measured in the number of losses that have cost insurers hundreds of millions of dollars (Aviation accidents and incidents).

The Risks

The hull “All Risks” policy will usually refer to something like “all risks of physical loss or damage to the aircraft from any cause except as hereinafter excluded”. Airline hull “All Risks” policies are subject to a standard level of deductible (that is an uninsured amount borne by the Insured) applicable in the event of partial (non-total) loss. Currently, this deductible can range from $50,000 in respect of a Twin Otter to $1,000,000 in respect of a wide-bodied jet aircraft, such as a Boeing 747.
Deductibles too can be reduced by means of a separate “Deductible Insurance” policy. The Deductible Insurance Policy is affected to reduce the large “All Risks” policy deductibles to a more manageable level. For example the US$1,000,000 applicable to a Boeing 747 can be reduced to say US$100,000. The term “all risks” can be misleading. “All risks of physical loss or damage” does not include loss of use, delay, or consequential loss. “Grounding” is a good example of consequential loss. Some years ago when there had been a couple of accidents involving DC10 Aircraft, the Civil Aviation Authorities throughout the world imposed a “grounding order” on that type of aircraft.
That order in effect said until certain things had been established and checked out those aircraft could not fly. The operators of those aircraft were unable to fly them and as a consequence of that they “lost” the use of them. But the aircraft were not “lost” – it was known precisely where they were but they could not be used to carry passengers. Such an eventuality would not be covered by an “all risks” policy because in such circumstances there is no PHYSICAL loss or damage. What the policy will cover is the reinstatement of the aircraft to its “pre-loss” condition, if repairable damage is involved, or some other form of settlement in the event that more substantial damage is sustained. Exactly what form of settlement will depend on the policy conditions? Today, the vast majority of airline hull “all risks” policies are arranged on an “Agreed Value Basis”. This provides that the Insurers agree with the Insured, for the policy period, the value of the aircraft and as such, in the event of total loss, this Agreed Value is payable in full. Under an Agreed Value policy the replacement option is deleted.

Exclusions

1. Wear, tear and gradual deterioration – in common with most non-marine policies these perils are thought to be a trading expense and not a peril to be insured. 2. Ingestion damage – caused by stones, grit, dust, sand, ice, etc., which result in progressive engine deterioration is also regarded as “wear and tear and gradual deterioration”, and as such is excluded. Ingestion damage caused by a single recorded incident (such as ingestion of a flock of birds) where the engine or engines concerned have to shut down is not regarded as wear and tear and is covered subject to the applicable policy deductible. 3. Mechanical Breakdown – likewise is thought by aviation insurers to be an operating expense, but subsequent damage outside the unit concerned is usually covered. However, it is possible to obtain insurance coverage against mechanical breakdown of engines by way of a separate policy. This coverage has a high degree of exposure and as a result is relatively expensive. The majority of airlines do not purchase it probably viewing such exposure as a part of the “engineering” budget.

Spares

First of all we must identify what we mean by a “spare” or perhaps – “when is a spare not a spare” to which a simple answer is “when it is attached”. Under most “Hull” policies the word “Aircraft” means Hulls, machinery, instruments and the entire equipment of the aircraft (including parts removed but not replaced). Once a part is replaced it is no longer, from an insurance viewpoint, part of the aircraft. Conversely once a spare part is attached to an aircraft as a part of that aircraft (not in the hold as cargo or on the wing as an extra pod) it is no longer a “spare”. If the equipment is insured on the hull “All Risks” policy the automatic transfer of coverage from “aircraft” to “spare” and vice versa is automatically accomplished.
Having established when a spare is a spare how is it insured as such? Usually in one of two ways. Either under a “spares” section of a hull policy or by a separate Spares Policy. In either case the scope of coverage will probably be similar. All Risks whilst on the Ground and in Transit for a limit of [so much] any one item or sending or any one location. War Risks can also be covered (in respect of transits), Strikes, Riots, Civil Commotions can be covered in accordance with standard market clauses. Spares coverage is usually subject to a small deductible except, however, in respect of ground running of spare engines when the appropriate Ingestion deductible will be applied. Spares are normally covered on an agreed value basis – usually their replacement cost (be it new or reconditioned – as is required).
Spares installed on any aircraft are not covered by the Spares Insurance. They become, from an insurance standpoint, a part of the aircraft upon which they are installed and a part of the Agreed Value for which it is insured. This becomes particularly important if the parts are loaned to another airline.

Hull War Risks

The hull “All Risks” policy will contain the exclusion of “War and Allied Perils”. Generally speaking, throughout the aviation insurance world, “War and Allied Perils” have a defined meaning. In the London Aviation Insurance Market the standard exclusion is called the War, Hi-jacking and Other Perils Exclusion Clause (currently known by its reference – AVN48B for short) this lists and defines these so-called war and allied perils.
1. War Definition 1. War – this includes civil war and war where there is no formal declaration. 2. The detonation of a weapon of war employing nuclear fission or fusion. 3. Strikes, riots, civil commotions and labor disturbances. 4. Political or terrorist acts. 5. Malicious or sabotage acts. 6. Confiscation, nationalization, requisition and the like by any government. 7. Hi-jacking or any unlawful seizure or exercise of control of the aircraft or crew in flight.

The exclusion also applies to any loss or damage occurring whilst the aircraft is outside the control of the operator by reason of any of these “war” perils. The majority of the excluded “War and Allied Perils”, other than the detonation of a nuclear weapon and a war between the Great Powers (the aviation insurance world identifies these as the U.S.A., the Russian Federation, China, France and the UK), can normally be covered by way of a separate “War and Allied Perils” policy. Aircraft deductibles are not normally applied in respect of losses arising out of “War and Allied Perils”.
Other exclusions insurers will usually apply are, as follows:-
1. Confiscation etc. by the “state” of registration (this exclusion can often be deleted in respect of financial interests – albeit, in some instances at an additional premium charge) 2. Any debt, failure to provide bond or security or any other financial cause under court order or otherwise; 3. The repossession or attempted repossession of the Aircraft either by any title holder or arising out of any contractual agreement to which any insured protected under the policy may be party;
4. Delay and loss of use. (Although there is often an extension to the policy for a limited amount for extra expenses necessarily incurred following confiscation or hijacking).
The aircraft hull “War and Allied Perils” policy will cover the aircraft on an “Agreed Value” basis against physical loss or damage to the aircraft occasioned by any of these perils. This statement is made carefully and deliberately in order to highlight the essential difference from a “Political Risks” Insurance.

Liability Insurance

Liability can be divided basically into two categories: 1. Liability in respect of Passengers, Baggage, Cargo and Mail carried on the aircraft. These liabilities result from the operations the airline is set up to perform and are normally the subject of a contract of carriage like a ticket or airway bill, which provides some possibility of limiting the airline’s liability. 2. Aircraft Third Party Liability – the liability for damage done to property or people outside the aircraft itself. Every airline will arrange liability insurance for these two categories, normally in a single liability policy. In many countries there are requirements laid down imposing minimum limits of liability that are a prerequisite to obtaining an operator’s license. Elsewhere limits are specified for an aircraft to be allowed to land. The size of limit required is often related to the size of the aircraft concerned (and it’s potential for causing damage). A small aircraft operating only in remote regions and using small airstrips incurs considerably less potential exposure than an aircraft flying into and out of major airports.

General Liabilities

The other category of liability covers premises, hangar keepers and products liability and is called “Airline General Third Party” – being the liability for damage done to property or people arising from other than the use of aircraft. Many airlines cover their “Airline General Third Party Liability” within their main liability program.
It is called “Airline General Third Party Liability” these days since the insurers took steps specifically to exclude all non aviation activities (for example hotel ownership or management) from “Aviation” Policies a few years ago. Basically for a risk to be considered as “Airline General Third Party Liability” it must arise from what are described as “aviation occurrences” being those involving aircraft or parts relating thereto, or arising at airport locations or arising at other locations in connection with the airline’s business or transporting passengers/cargo or arising out of the sale of goods or services to others involved in the air transport industry.
This means that there is a definitive language detailing what is considered as “aviation exposure” such that any other (non-aviation) exposure is excluded. Most policies are placed on a Combined Single Limit Basis. This means Bodily Injury and Property Damage combined. In the past, personal injury was included but now this has been separated. It should be mentioned, however, that these days the term “bodily injury”, in addition to bodily injury, sickness and death resulting at any time, will include shock and mental anguish. “Personal Injury” on the other hand is defined as “offences against the person”, such as false arrest, malicious prosecution, invasion, libel or slander and the like. In respect of Personal Injury the full policy limit, whatever that may be, is not available and is usually limited to US$25,000,000 any one offence and in the annual aggregate.
What are excluded from liability insurance are such things as: - 1. Damage to the Insured’s own property. (It is after all a third party liability policy). 2. War and Allied Risks although these are “written back” by a device called “The Extended Coverage Endorsement – AVN 52″. 3. Radioactive Contamination. 4. Noise and Pollution – unless caused by or resulting in a crash, fire, explosion or recorded “in flight” emergency Both the Aircraft and General Liability policies usually includes the “war and allied perils” exposure by way of a “write back” and will probably provide for such things as search and rescue expenses, first aid and other humanitarian expenses and also defense costs. Hull Total Loss Only Cover
This is similar to Hull All Risks cover given above but will respond only to total losses of aircraft, whether actual, constructive or arranged. This is particularly given for old aircraft since the old aircraft are heavily depreciated and insured for low sums and premium on such low sums would result in low premium, which would be inadequate for the partial losses. The ratio of partial losses to total losses in such old aircraft is distorted.

Security Guide

The word security is derived from the Ancient Greek “Se-Cura” and literally translates to “without fear”. ‘Security’ is therefore the state of being secure, or the actions employed to achieve that state, i.e. to be secure is to be without fear of harm. The definition of security provided by the Institute for Security and Open Methodologies (ISECOM) in the OSSTMM 3 is geared towards operations and how we interact with security. It states security is:
* A form of protection where a separation is created between the assets and the threat. This includes but is not limited to the elimination of either the asset or the threat. In order to be secure, either the asset is physically removed from the threat or the threat is physically removed from the asset. The definition given in a UN study, in 1986, is interesting as a contribution to the understanding of the concept of security, “Security is a state at which countries think that there is no danger of military attack, political pressure, or economic coercion, so that they can develop and progress freely. * With respect to classified matter, the condition that prevents unauthorized persons from having access to official information that is safeguarded in the interests of national security.
* Measures taken by a military unit, an activity or installation to protect itself against all acts designed to, or which may, impair its effectiveness.

Perceived security compared to real security

It is very often true that people’s perception of security is not directly related to actual security. This article may contain original research or unverified claims. Please improve the article by adding references. See the talk page for details. (May 2009) For example, a fear of earthquakes is much more common than a fear of slipping on the bathroom floor; however, the latter kills far more people than the former. The tool may be mistaken for the effect, for example when multiple computer security programs interfere with each other, the user assumes the computer is secure when actual security has vanished.
Another side of this is a phenomenon called security theatre where ineffective security measures such as screening of airline passengers based on static databases are introduced with little real increase in security or even, according to the critics of one such measure – Computer Assisted Passenger Prescreening System – with an actual decrease in real security.
Conversely, if it is perceived that there is security then there will be an increase in actual security, even if the perception of security is mistaken. Sometimes a sign may warn that video surveillance is covering an area, and even if there is no actual visual surveillance then some malicious agents will be deterred by the belief that there may be.

Also, often when there is actual security present in the area, such as video surveillance, an alarm system in a home, or an anti-theft system in a car such as a LoJack, signs advertising this security will increase its effectiveness, protecting the value of the secured vehicle or area itself. Since some intruders will decide not to attempt to break into such areas or vehicles, there can actually be less damage to windows in addition to protection of valuable objects inside. Without such advertisement, a car-thief might, for example, approach a car, break the window, and then flee in response to an alarm being triggered. Either way, perhaps the car itself and the objects inside aren’t stolen, but with perceived security even the windows of the car have a lower chance of being damaged, increasing the financial security of its owner(s).
However, the non-profit, security research group, ISECOM, has determined that such signs may actually increase the violence, daring, and desperation of an intruder. This claim shows that perceived security works mostly on the provider and is not security at all. It is important, however, for signs advertising security not to give clues as to how to subvert that security, for example in the case where a home burglar might be more likely to break into a certain home if he or she is able to learn beforehand which company makes its security system.

Categorizing security

There is an immense literature on the analysis and categorization of security. Part of the reason for this is that, in most security systems, the “weakest link in the chain” is the most important. The situation is asymmetric since the defender must cover all points of attack while the attacker need only identify a single weak point upon which to concentrate.

Types

IT realm * Application security * Computing security * Data security * Information security * Network security

Physical realm

* Airport security * Port security/Supply chain security * Food security * Home security * Hospital security * Physical security * Shopping centre security * Infrastructure security

Political

* Homeland security * Human security * International security * National security * Public security

Monetary

* Financial security * Aviation security is a combination of measures and material and human resources intended to counter the unlawful interference with the aviation security. * Operations Security (OPSEC) is a compliment to other “traditional” security measures that evaluates the organization from an adversarial perspective. [5].

Security concepts

Certain concepts recur throughout different fields of security: * Assurance – assurance is the level of guarantee that a security system will behave as expected * Countermeasure – a countermeasure is a way to stop a threat from triggering a risk event * Defense in depth – never rely on one single security measure alone * Exploit – a vulnerability that has been triggered by a threat – a risk of 1.0 (100%) * Risk – a risk is a possible event which could cause a loss * Threat – a threat is a method of triggering a risk event that is dangerous * Vulnerability – a weakness in a target that can potentially be exploited by a threat

Security management in organizations

In the corporate world, various aspects of security were historically addressed separately – notably by distinct and often no communicating departments for IT security, physical security, and fraud prevention. Today there is a greater recognition of the interconnected nature of security requirements, an approach variously known as holistic security, “all hazards” management, and other terms. Inciting factors in the convergence of security disciplines include the development of digital video surveillance technologies (see Professional video over IP) and the digitization and networking of physical control systems (see SCADA). Greater interdisciplinary cooperation is further evidenced by the February 2005 creation of the Alliance for Enterprise Security Risk Management, a joint venture including leading associations in security (ASIS), information security (ISSA, the Information Systems Security Association), and IT audit (ISACA, the Information Systems Audit and Control Association).

Health Guide

At the time of the creation of the World Health Organization (WHO), in 1948, Health was defined as being “a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity. This definition invited nations to expand the conceptual framework of their health systems beyond issues related to the physical condition of individuals and their diseases, and it motivated us to focus our attention on what we now call social determinants of health. Consequently, WHO challenged political, academic, community, and professional organizations devoted to improving or preserving health to make the scope of their work explicit, including their rationale for allocating resources. This opened the door for public accountability.
Only a handful of publications have focused specifically on the definition of health and its evolution in the first 6 decades. Some of them highlight its lack of operational value and the problem created by use of the word “complete.” Others declare the definition, which has not been modified since 1948, “simply a bad one. More recently, Smith suggested that it is “a ludicrous definition that would leave most of us unhealthy most of the time. In 1986, the WHO, in the Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion, said that health is “a resource for everyday life, not the objective of living. Health is a positive concept emphasizing social and personal resources, as well as physical capacities.” Classification systems such as the WHO Family of International Classifications (WHO-FIC), which is composed of the International Classification of Functioning, Disability, and Health (ICF) and the International Classification of Diseases (ICD) also define health. Overall health is achieved through a combination of physical, mental, emotional, and social well-being, which, together is commonly referred to as the Health Triangle.

Aspects of health

Physical fitness refers to body health, and is the result of regular exercise, proper diet and nutrition, and proper rest for physical recovery. This is also influenced by the standard of living and quality of life. Genetics also plays a major role in people’s height. The study of human growth, its regulators, and implications is known as Axiology.

Mental health

Mental health describes either a level of cognitive or emotional well-being or an absence of a mental disorder. The World Health Organization defines mental health as “a state of well-being in which the individual realizes his or her own abilities, can cope with the normal stresses of life, can work productively and fruitfully, and is able to make a contribution to his or her community”. However, despite official definitions, the term mental health, and the question of whether or not an individual is ‘mentally well’, remains a subjective assessment.

Social determinants of health

The LaLonde report suggests that there are four general determinants of health including human biology, environment, lifestyle, and healthcare services. Thus, health is maintained and improved not only through the advancement and application of health science, but also through the efforts and intelligent lifestyle choices of the individual and society. A major environmental factor is water quality, especially for the health of infants and children in developing countries. Studies show that in developed countries, the lack of neighborhood recreational space that includes the natural environment leads to lower levels of neighborhood satisfaction and higher levels of obesity; therefore, lower overall well being.[6] Therefore, the positive psychological benefits of natural space in urban neighborhoods should be taken into account in public policy and land use.

Self care

Achieving health and remaining healthy is an ongoing process. Effective strategies for staying healthy and improving one’s health include the following elements:

Social relation

Personal health depends partially on the social structure of one’s life. The maintenance of strong social relationships is linked to good health conditions, longevity, productivity, and a positive attitude. This is due to the fact that positive social interaction as viewed by the participant increases many chemical levels in the brain which are linked to personality and intelligence traits.

Sports nutrition

Sports nutrition focuses the link between dietary supplements and athletic performance. One goal of sports nutrition is to maintain glycogen levels and prevent glycogen depletion. Another is to optimize energy levels and muscle tone. An athlete’s strategy for winning an event may include a schedule for the entire season of what to eat, when to eat it, and in what precise quantities (before, during, after, and between workouts and events).

Hygiene

Hygiene is the practice of keeping the body clean to prevent infection and illness, and the avoidance of contact with infectious agents. Hygiene practices include bathing, brushing and flossing teeth, washing hands especially before eating, washing food before it is eaten, cleaning food preparation utensils and surfaces before and after preparing meals, and many others. This may help prevent infection and illness. By cleaning the body, dead skin cells are washed away with the germs, reducing their chance of entering the body.

Stress management

This section does not cite any references or sources. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unforced material may be challenged and removed. (May 2009) Prolonged psychological stress may negatively impact health, and has been cited as a factor in cognitive impairment with aging, depressive illness, and expression of disease. Stress management is the application of methods to either reduce stress or increase tolerance to stress. Relaxation techniques are physical methods used to relieve stress. Psychological methods include cognitive therapy, meditation, and positive thinking which work by reducing response to stress. Improving relevant skills and abilities builds confidence, which also reduces the stress reaction to situations where those skills are applicable. Reducing uncertainty, by increasing knowledge and experience related to stress-causing situations, has the same effect. Learning to cope with problems better, such as improving problem solving and time management skills, may also reduce stressful reaction to problems. Repeatedly facing an object of one’s fears may also desensitize the fight-or-flight response with respect to that stimulus—e.g., facing bullies may reduce fear of bullies. Prolonged hours of surfing on the Internet is a major concern that can affect the eyes significantly.[citation needed] White backgrounds on computer screens with a viewing distance of less than 14 inches is known to increase strain, mental fatigue and temporary did-chromatic visions in a normal healthy human being. Trying to opt for black or any non-white backgrounds can help in reducing eye strain in front of PCs.

Health care

Health care is the prevention, treatment, and management of illness and the preservation of mental and physical well being through the services offered by the medical, nursing, and allied health professions.

Workplace wellness

Workplace wellness programs are recognized by an increasingly large number of companies for their value in improving the health and well-being of their employees, and for increasing morale, loyalty, and productivity. [Citation needed] Workplace wellness programs can include things like onsite fitness centers, health presentations, wellness newsletters, access to health coaching, tobacco cessation programs and training related to nutrition, weight and stress management. Other programs may include health risk assessments, health screenings and body mass index monitoring.

Public health

Public health is “the science and art of preventing disease, prolonging life and promoting health through the organized efforts and informed choices of society, organizations, public and private, communities and individuals.”[Citation needed] It is concerned with threats to the overall health of a community based on population health analysis. The population in question can be as small as a handful of people or as large as all the inhabitants of several continents (for instance, in the case of a pandemic). Public health has many sub-fields, but is typically divided into the categories of epidemiology, biostatistics and health services. Environmental, social and behavioral health, and occupational health, are also important fields in public health. The focus of public health intervention is to prevent rather than treat a disease through surveillance of cases and the promotion of healthy behaviors. In addition to these activities, in many cases treating a disease can be vital to preventing it in others, such as during an outbreak of an infectious disease. Vaccination programs and distribution of condoms are examples of public health measures.

Health science

Health science is the branch of science focused on health, and it includes many sub disciplines. There are two approaches to health science: the study and research of the human body and health-related issues to understand how humans (and animals) function, and the application of that knowledge to improve health and to prevent and cure diseases.

Sources

Health research builds primarily on the basic sciences of biology, chemistry, and physics as well as a variety of multidisciplinary fields (for example medical sociology). Some of the other primarily research-oriented fields that make exceptionally significant contributions to health science are biochemistry, epidemiology, and genetics.

Application

Applied health sciences also endeavor to better understand health, but in addition they try to directly improve it. Some of these are: biomedical engineering, biotechnology, nursing, nutrition, pharmacology, pharmacy, public health (see above), psychology, physical therapy, and medicine. The provision of services to maintain or improve people’s health is referred to as health care.

Education Guide

Systems of formal education

Education is a concept, referring to the process in which students can learn something:
* Instruction refers to the intentional facilitating of learning toward identified objectives, delivered either by an instructor or other forms. * Teaching refers to the actions of a real live instructor designed to impart learning to the student. * Teaching refers to learning with a view toward preparing learners with specific knowledge, skills, or abilities that can be applied immediately upon completion.

Primary education

Main article: Primary education Primary school in open air. Teacher (priest) with class from the outskirts of Bucharest, around 1842.
Primary (or elementary) education consists of the first few years of formal, structured education. In general, main education consists of six or eight years of schooling starting at the age of five or six, although this varies between, and sometimes within, countries. Globally, around 70% of primary-age children are enrolled in primary education, and this proportion is rising.[1] Under the Education for All programs driven by UNESCO, most countries have committed to achieving universal enrollment in primary education by 2015, and in many countries, it is compulsory for children to receive primary education. The division between primary and secondary education is somewhat arbitrary, but it generally occurs at about eleven or twelve years of age. Some education systems have separate middle schools, with the transition to the final stage of secondary education taking place at around the age of fourteen. Schools that provide primary education are mostly referred to as primary schools. Primary schools in these countries are often subdivided into infant schools and junior schools.

Secondary education

Main article: Secondary education
In most contemporary educational systems of the world, secondary education consists of the second years of formal education that occur during adolescence.[citation needed] It is characterized by transition from the typically compulsory, comprehensive primary education for minors, to the optional, selective tertiary, “post-secondary”, or “higher” education (e.g., university, vocational school) for adults.[citation needed] Depending on the system, schools for this period, or a part of it, may be called secondary or high schools, gymnasiums, lyceums, middle schools, colleges, or vocational schools. The exact meaning of any of these terms varies from one system to another. The exact boundary between primary and secondary education also varies from country to country and even within them, but is generally around the seventh to the tenth year of schooling. Secondary education occurs mainly during the teenage years. In the United States and Canada primary and secondary education together are sometimes referred to as K-12 education, and in New Zealand Year 1-13 is used. The purpose of secondary education can be to give common knowledge, to prepare for higher education or to train directly in a profession.
The emergence of secondary education in the United States did not happen until 1910, caused by the rise in big businesses and technological advances in factories (i.e. emergence of electrification), that required skilled workers. In order to meet this new job demand, high schools were created and the curriculum focused on practical job skills that would better prepare students for white collar or skilled blue collar work. This proved to be beneficial for both the employer and the employee, because this improvement in human capital caused employees to become more efficient, which lowered costs for the employer, and skilled employees received a relatively higher wage than employees with just primary educational attainment. In Europe the grammar school or academy existed from as early as the 1500s, public schools or fee paying schools, or charitable educational foundations have an even longer history.

Higher education

Main article: Higher education The University of Cambridge is an institute of higher learning.
Higher education, also called tertiary, third stage, or post secondary education, is the non-compulsory educational level that follows the completion of a school providing a secondary education, such as a high school, secondary school. Tertiary education is normally taken to include undergraduate and postgraduate education, as well as vocational education and training. Colleges and universities are the main institutions that provide tertiary education. Collectively, these are sometimes known as tertiary institutions. Tertiary education generally results in the receipt of certificates, diplomas, or academic degrees.
Higher education includes teaching, research and social services activities of universities, and within the realm of teaching, it includes both the undergraduate level (sometimes referred to as tertiary education) and the graduate (or postgraduate) level (sometimes referred to as graduate school). Higher education in that country generally involves work towards a degree-level or foundation degree qualification. In most developed countries a high proportion of the population (up to 50%) now enter higher education at some time in their lives. Higher education is therefore very important to national economies, both as a significant industry in its own right, and as a source of trained and educated personnel for the rest of the economy.

Adult education

Main article: Adult education
Adult education has become common in many countries. It takes on many forms, ranging from formal class-based learning to self-directed learning and e-learning. A number of career specific courses such as veterinary, medical billing and coding, real estate license, bookkeeping and many more are now available to students through the Internet.

Alternative education

Alternative education, also known as non-traditional education or educational alternative, is a broad term that may be used to refer to all forms of education outside of traditional education (for all age groups and levels of education). This may include not only forms of education designed for students with special needs (ranging from teenage pregnancy to intellectual disability), but also forms of education designed for a general audience and employing alternative educational philosophies and methods.
Alternatives of the latter type are often the result of education reform and are rooted in various philosophies that are commonly fundamentally different from those of traditional compulsory education. While some have strong political, scholarly, or philosophical orientations, others are more informal associations of teachers and students dissatisfied with certain aspects of traditional education [citation needed]. These alternatives, which include charter schools, alternative schools, independent schools, and home-based learning vary widely, but often emphasize the value of small class size, close relationships between students and teachers, and a sense of community. Indigenous education
Increasingly, the inclusion of indigenous models of education (methods and content) as an alternative within the scope of formal and non-formal education systems has come to represent a significant factor contributing to the success of those members of indigenous communities who choose to access these systems, both as students/learners and as teachers/instructors.
As an educational method, the inclusion of indigenous ways of knowing, learning, instructing, teaching and training, has been viewed by many critical and postmodern scholars as important for ensuring that students/learners and teachers/instructors (whether indigenous or non-indigenous) are able to benefit from education in a culturally sensitive manner that draws upon, utilizes, promotes and enhances awareness of indigenous traditions.
For indigenous students or learners, and teachers or instructors, the inclusion of these methods often enhances educational effectiveness, success and learning outcomes by providing education that adheres to their own inherent perspectives, experiences and worldview. For non-indigenous students and teachers, education using such methods often has the effect of raising awareness of the individual traditions and collective experience of surrounding indigenous communities and peoples, thereby promoting greater respect for and appreciation of the cultural realities of these communities and peoples.
In terms of educational content, the inclusion of indigenous knowledge, traditions, perspectives, worldviews and conceptions within curricula, instructional materials and textbooks and course books have largely the same effects as the inclusion of indigenous methods in education. Indigenous students and teachers benefit from enhanced academic effectiveness, success and learning outcomes, while non-indigenous students/learners and teachers often have greater awareness, respect, and appreciation for indigenous communities and peoples in consequence of the content that is shared during the course of educational pursuits.
A prime example of how indigenous methods and content can be used to promote the above outcomes is demonstrated within higher education in Canada. Due to certain jurisdictions’ focus on enhancing academic success for Aboriginal learners and promoting the values of multiculturalism in society, the inclusion of indigenous methods and content in education is often seen as an important obligation and duty of both governmental and educational authorities.

Hosting-Domains

Web Site Technology and Expiry Issues
Domain Name Registration

Inside a domain registration is contact information, and a pointer to the server where one actually finds the hosted website for the specified domain (via what’s called the Name Server). Contact information is used to confirm any requested changes to domain registration info, including change of registrar, and renewals.
If you’re thinking of transferring your domain to a new Registrar, you need to: * unlock the domain to allow Domain Transfer * authorize the transfer by confirming the email sent to your domain’s Administrative Contact * pay the one-year-renewal fee (which buys you one more year after your current expiry date) to complete the transfer, based on the fee set by the registrar you’re transferring to.

The Name Server

The Name Server is like a telephone directory. If I’m looking up someone’s name, then I can find their phone number. The Name Server lets you look up the domain name, and it comes back with the address of the actual computer on the internet where your site is hosted…the IP address of the hosting server. There is no cost associated with Name Servers, and the Name Server is usually managed by your hosting company. Using this IP address, customers’ browsers will actually end up talking to the hosting server while accessing your site.

The Hosting Server

The Hosting Server is the computer that actually holds your website’s files/databases/images etc. You pay your Hosting Company for the use of their server and its resources, whether paid monthly or annually. Included in this fee is the charge for an allotted amount of bandwidth (quantity of data sent to customers while surfing your site) and storage space among other things. When your hosting account expires, your hosting company will typically update your site’s Name Server setting to point to a “Site Has Expired” page instead of your real account. They don’t touch your hosting files. They just deny access to the real data.

SSL Certificates

When an SSL Certificate is purchased, it is issued to a particular domain name. Certificates are purchased in 1-year blocks. The certificate is installed on your Hosting Server and linked to your site so that your customers can shop with encryption protection when needed. When SSL Certificates expire, your site is no longer able to offer encryption services without giving a warning to your customers that the certificate is expired. No real harm is done, but their shopping experience isn’t protected.
SSL Certificates are an add-on to a hosting account, and are not directly tied to a hosting plan’s expiry dates, etc. However, since hosting plans are usually purchased first, and SSL certificates are issued a few days later, it is quite common for a hosting plan to expire a couple days before an SSL certificate expires. Certificates cannot be directly transferred to another host due to the public/private key generation systems. This is primarily to protect you against theft of identity or the certificate. To move an existing certificate to another server requires that the Issuer (whoever you bought the certificate from originally) re-issue the certificate tied to the new private/public key of your new hosting server, sometimes for a nominal re-issuance fee. Thus, it’s simplest to issue certificates around the same time as switching hosting from one place to another.

Buisness Guide

As the cofounder, chairman, and chief executive officer of Microsoft, the world’s leading provider of software for personal computers, Bill Gates played a prominent role in launching the Information Age. Now this modern visionary reveals how expanding technology is propelling the business world into an exciting new economic era…how every manager can—and must—stay ahead of the curve…and how integrated information systems can help every organization achieve…

Business @ the Speed of Thought

Chances are your company has a sizable investment in technology—and is realizing only 20 percent of its potential benefit. As Gates explains, you’re probably viewing hardware and software as a way to solve specific problems. But like a living organism, an organization functions best if it can rely on a nervous system that will instantaneously deliver information to the parts that need it. In clear, no technical language, Business @ The Speed of Thought shows you how a digital nervous system can unite all systems and processes under one common infrastructure, releasing rivers of information and allowing your company to make quantum leaps in efficiency, growth, and profits.
With eye-opening, detailed tours into Microsoft and other major corporations, Gates unveils the way digital nervous systems—from the simplest to the most sophisticated—is revolutionizing the very nature of business. You’ll learn how integrated technology can:
instantly access scattered information to analyze patterns and trends
decrease cycle time and get new products out before the competition
deliver up-to-the-minute sales and inventory statistics on every one of your products, anywhere in the world
Help customers solve their own problems and, using intelligent software, automatically feed complaints to designers and line workers … and much more.
“I have a simple but strong belief,” Gates writes. “How you gather, manage, and use information will determine whether you win or lose.” Business @ the Speed of Thought gives you the information you need to win.
Business is going to change more in the next ten years than it has in the last fifty.
As I was preparing my speech for our first CEO summit in the spring of 1997, I was pondering how the digital age will fundamentally alter business. I wanted to go beyond a speech on dazzling technology advances and address questions that business leaders wrestle with all the time. How can technology help you run your business better? How will technology transform business? How can technology help make you a winner five or ten years from now?
If the 1980s were about quality and the 1990s were about reengineering, then the 2000s will be about velocity. About how quickly the nature of business will change. About how quickly business itself will be transacted. About how information access will alter the lifestyle of consumers and their expectations of business. Quality improvements and business process improvements will occur far faster. When the increase in velocity of business is great enough, the very nature of business changes. A manufacturer or retailer that responds to changes in sales in hours instead of weeks is no longer at heart a product company, but a service company that has a product offering.
These changes will occur because of a disarmingly simple idea: the flow of digital information. We’ve been in the Information Age for about thirty years, but because most of the information moving among businesses has remained in paper form, the process of buyers finding sellers remains unchanged. Most companies are using digital tools to monitor their basic operations: to run their production systems; to generate customer invoices; to handle their accounting; to do their tax work. But these uses just automate old processes.
Very few companies are using digital technology for new processes that radically improve how they function, that give them the full benefit of all their employees’ capabilities, and that give them the speed of response they will need to compete in the emerging high-speed business world. Most companies don’t realize that the tools to accomplish these changes are now available to everyone. Though at heart most business problems are information problems, almost no one is using information well.
Too many senior managers seem to take the absence of timely information as a given. People have lived for so long without information at their fingertips that they don’t realize what they’re missing. One of the goals in my speech to the CEOs was to raise their expectations. I wanted them to be appalled by how little they got in the way of actionable information from their current IT investments. I wanted CEOs to demand a flow of information that would give them quick, tangible knowledge about what was really happening with their customers.
Even companies that have made significant investments in information technology are not getting the results they could be. What’s interesting is that the gap is not the result of a lack of technology spending. In fact, most companies have invested in the basic building blocks: PCs for productivity applications; networks and electronic mail (e-mail) for communications; basic business applications. The typical company has made 80 percent of the investment in the technology that can give it a healthy flow of information yet is typically getting only 20 percent of the benefits that are now possible. The gap between what companies are spending and what they’re getting stems from the combination of not understanding what is possible and not seeing the potential when you use technology to move the right information quickly to everyone in the company.

CHANGING TECHNOLOGY AND EXPECTATIONS

The job that most companies are doing with information today would have been fine several years ago. Getting rich information was prohibitively expensive, and the tools for analyzing and disseminating it weren’t available in the 1980s and even the early 1990s. But here on the edge of the twenty-first century, the tools and connectivity of the digital age now give us a way to easily obtain, share, and act on information in new and remarkable ways.
For the first time, all kinds of information-numbers, text, sound, and video-can are put into a digital form that any computer can store, process, and forward. For the first time, standard hardware combined with a standard software platform has created economies of scale that make powerful computing solutions available inexpensively to companies of all sizes. And the “personal” in personal computer means that individual knowledge workers have a powerful tool for analyzing and using the information delivered by these solutions. The microprocessor revolution not only is giving PCs an exponential rise in power, but is on the verge of creating a whole new generation of personal digital companions-handhelds, Auto PCs, smart cards, and others on the way-that will make the use of digital information pervasive. A key to this pervasiveness is the improvement in Internet technologies that are giving us worldwide connectivity.
In the digital age, “connectivity” takes on a broader meaning than simply putting two or more people in touch. The Internet creates a new universal space for information sharing, collaboration, and commerce. It provides a new medium that takes the immediacy and spontaneity of technologies such as the TV and the phone and combines them with the depth and breadth inherent in paper communications. In addition, the ability to find information and match people with common interests is completely new.
These emerging hardware, software, and communications standards will reshape business and consumer behavior. Within a decade most people will regularly use PCs at work and at home, they’ll use e-mail routinely, they’ll be connected to the Internet, they’ll carry digital devices containing their personal and business information. New consumer devices will emerge that handle almost every kind of data-text, numbers, voice, photos, videos-in digital form. I use the phrases “Web work style” and “Web lifestyle” to emphasize the impact of employees and consumers taking advantage of these digital connections. Today, we’re usually linked to information only when we are at our desks, connected to the Internet by a physical wire. In the future, portable digital devices will keep us constantly in touch with other systems and other people. And everyday devices such as water and electrical meters, security systems, and automobiles will be connected as well, reporting on their usage and status. Each of these applications of digital information is approaching an inflection point-the moment at which change in consumer use becomes sudden and massive. Together they will radically transform our lifestyles and the world of business.
Already, the Web work style is changing business processes at Microsoft and other companies. Replacing paper processes with collaborative digital processes has cut weeks out of our budgeting and other operational processes. Groups of people are using electronic tools to act together almost as fast as a single person could act, but with the insights of the entire team. Highly motivated teams are getting the benefit of everyone’s thinking. With faster access to information about our sales, our partner activities, and, most important, our customers, we are able to react faster to problems and opportunities. Other pioneering companies going digital are achieving similar breakthroughs.
We have infused our organization with a new level of electronic-based intelligence. I’m not talking about anything metaphysical or about some weird cyber episode out of Star Trek. But it is something new and important. To function in the digital age, we have developed a new digital infrastructure. It’s like the human nervous system. The biological nervous system triggers your reflexes so that you can react quickly to danger or need. It gives you the information you need as you ponder issues and make choices. You’re alert to the most important things, and your nervous system blocks out the information that isn’t important to you. Companies need to have that same kind of nervous system-the ability to run smoothly and efficiently, to respond quickly to emergencies and opportunities, to quickly get valuable information to the people in the company who need it, the ability to quickly make decisions and interact with customers.
As I was considering these issues and putting the final touches on my speech for the CEO summit, a new concept popped into my head: “the digital nervous system.” A digital nervous system is the corporate, digital equivalent of the human nervous system, providing a well-integrated flow of information to the right part of the organization at the right time. A digital nervous system consists of the digital processes that enable a company to perceive and react to its environment, to sense competitor challenges and customer needs, and to organize timely responses. A digital nervous system requires a combination of hardware and software; it’s distinguished from a mere network of computers by the accuracy, immediacy, and richness of the information it brings to knowledge workers and the insight and collaboration made possible by the information.
I made the digital nervous system the theme of my talk. My goal was to excite the CEOs about the potential of technology to drive the flow of information and help them run their businesses better. To let them see that if they did a good job on information flow, individual business solutions would come more easily. And because a digital nervous system benefits every department and individual in the company, I wanted to make them see that only they, the CEOs, could step up to the change in mind-set and culture necessary to reorient a company’s behavior around digital information flow and the Web work style. Stepping up to such a decision meant that they had to become comfortable enough with digital technology to understand how it could fundamentally change their business processes.
Afterward a lot of the CEOs asked me for more information on the digital nervous system. As I’ve continued to flesh out my ideas and to speak on the topic, many other CEOs, business managers, and information technology professionals have approached me for details. Thousands of customers come to our campus every year to see our internal business solutions, and they’ve asked for more information about why and how we’ve built our digital nervous system and about how they could do the same. This book is my response to those requests.
I’ve written this book for CEOs, other organizational leaders, and managers at all levels. I describe how a digital nervous system can transform businesses and make public entities more responsive by energizing the three major elements of any business: customer/partner relationships, employees, and process. I’ve organized the book around the three corporate functions that embody these three elements: commerce, knowledge management, and business operations. I begin with commerce because the Web lifestyle is changing everything about commerce, and these changes will drive companies to restructure their knowledge management and business operations in order to keep up. Other sections cover the importance of information flow and special enterprises that offer general lessons to other organizations. Since the goal of a digital nervous system is to stimulate a concerted response by employees to develop and implement a business strategy, you will see repeatedly that a tight digital feedback loop enables a company to adapt quickly and constantly to change. This is a fundamental benefit to a company embracing the Web work style.
Business @ the Speed of Thought is not a technical book. It explains the business reasons for and practical uses of digital processes that solve real business problems. One CEO who read a late draft of the manuscript said the examples served as a template for helping him understand how to use a digital nervous system at his company. He was kind enough to say, “I was making one list of comments to give to you, and another list of things to take back to implement in my company.” I hope other business readers discover the same “how to” value. For the more technically inclined, a companion Web site at www.Speed-of-Thought.com provides more background information on some of the examples, techniques for evaluating the capabilities of existing information systems, and an architectural approach and development methodologies for building a digital nervous system. The book site also has links to other Web sites I reference along the way.

To make digital information flow an intrinsic part of your company, here are twelve key steps:

For knowledge work:

1. Insist that communication flow through the organization over e-mail so that you can act on news with reflex like speed.
2. Study sales data online to find patterns and share insights easily. Understand overall trends and personalize service for individual customers.
3. Use PCs for business analysis, and shift knowledge workers into high-level thinking work about products, services, and profitability.
4. Use digital tools to create cross-departmental virtual teams that can share knowledge and build on each other’s ideas in real time, worldwide. Use digital systems to capture corporate history for use by anyone.
5. Convert every paper process to a digital process, eliminating administrative bottlenecks and freeing knowledge workers for more important tasks.

For business operations:

6. Use digital tools to eliminate single-task jobs or change them into value-added jobs that use the skills of a knowledge worker.
7. Create a digital feedback loop to improve the efficiency of physical processes and improve the quality of the products and services created. Every employee should be able to easily track all the key metrics.
8. Use digital systems to route customer complaints immediately to the people who can improve a product or service.
9. Use digital communications to redefine the nature of your business and the boundaries around your business. Become larger and more substantial or smaller and more intimate as the customer situation warrants.

For commerce:

10. Trade information for time. Decrease cycle time by using digital transactions with all suppliers and partners, and transform every business process into just-in-time delivery.
11. Use digital delivery of sales and service to eliminate the middleman from customer transactions. If you’re a middleman, use digital tools to add value to transactions.
12. Use digital tools to help customers solve problems for themselves, and reserve personal contact to respond to complex, high-value customer needs.
Each chapter will cover one or more points-good information flow enables you to do several of these things at once. A key element of a digital nervous system, in fact, is linking these different systems-knowledge management, business operations, and commerce-together.
Several examples, particularly in the area of business operations: focus on Microsoft. There are two reasons. First, customers want to know how Microsoft, a proponent of information technology, is using technology to run our business. Do we practice what we preach? Second, I can talk in depth about the rationale for applying digital systems to operational problems that my company actually faces. At the same time, I’ve gone to dozens of pioneering companies to find the best practices across all industries. I want to show the broad applicability of a digital nervous system. And, in some areas, other companies have gone beyond us in digital collaboration.
The successful companies of the next decade will be the ones that use digital tools to reinvent the way they work. These companies will make decisions quickly, act efficiently, and directly touch their customers in positive ways. I hope you’ll come away excited by the possibilities of positive change in the next ten years. Going digital will put you on the leading edge of a shock wave of change that will shatter the old way of doing business. A digital nervous system will let you do business at the speed of thought-the key to success in the twenty-first century.