Production and Operations Management Assignment - 2

Production and Operations Management - Assignment Example This assignment describes the corporation, that has developed its network in their most important inter-related activities, that include crude oil imports, refining, marketing and transportation to terminals. Eventually, Marathon Oil Corporation started to develop their own convenience stores and gas stations. This assignment focuses on answering 4 questions on production and operations managment. The first answer given contains information on analyzing Marathon’s Oil Corporation product process and determining which phase is open to the greatest number of efficiency improvements, that could be done. Second answers focuses on discussing the relationship between the retail price of gasoline and the world demand for crude oil. Third answer explains what Marathon Oil Corporation could do to keep the price at the pump. The last answer given in the assignment researches and describes an impact of a continued moratorium on deep-water drilling for retail gas prices in the U.S, that was established in June 2010 by President Obama. The most important function of production and operations management are also discussed in this assignment. These are managing the production process in way that reduces the lead time, minimizing the wastage of resources and ensuring continuity of operations. The assignmnet also researches chain management of US oil and gas industry, transportation terms and issues, transfering the finished products and ways to accelerate the process of crude oil transportation through pipelines.

A critical analysis of the application of the doctrine of Essay

A critical analysis of the application of the doctrine of self-determination in the context of South Sudan with reference to the Naivasha agreement of 2005 - Essay Example Moreover, this issue is central to the efficacy of international law as a regulatory mechanism particularly in human rights issues as a gap between theory and practice clearly undermines the objectives of both customary international legal principles and UN Charter provisions.2 Directly correlated to this is the concept of â€Å"state† and â€Å"inter-state relations†, which in terms of individual human rights protections at international level has become a central issue particularly in context of rapid globalisation3. Furthermore, the complex notion of state and the role of ethnic groups within states have challenged colonial geographic boundaries of the state4. In turn, the changing nature of the global order in the post Cold War environment has created novel conflict scenarios and significantly reshaped the dynamics of conventional warfare5. This has challenged pre-existing international legal principles, which is highlighted by the problematic doctrine of self determination and its boundaries in international law6. The doctrine of self determination has remained contentious in international law as whilst the objective of the doctrine as expressed in the UN Charter 19457 was arguably triggered by the increasing desire for decolonisation; the practical consequences has often seen the doctrine of self determination being utilised to perpetuate conflict8. contextual reference to Southern Sudan and the 2005 Naivasha Agreement, which enables the Southern part of Sudan to vote on its legal status in a referendum in January 2011. It is submitted at the outset that the 2005 Naivasha agreement highlights the conflict between the subjective interpretation of the doctrine of self determination and legality under established international legal principles. Therefore, in evaluating the doctrine, Section 2 will consider the models of self determination and the legal basis for self determination. Section 3 will

Of Mice and Men Essay Essay Example for Free

Of Mice and Men Essay Essay â€Å"The language of friendship is not in words, but in meanings† – Henry David Thoreau While reading the novel, Of Mice and Men, the reader gets a front row view into the relationship of the two main characters, Lennie and George. In every friendship, there are dysfunctional moments, ups and downs, genuine moments and never ending adventures. By definition, a friend is someone to talk to, do things with, be there for each other in time of need and be each other’s crying shoulder. Throughout this novel, Lennie and George display a friendship unlike any other. It is so dysfunctional and rare it makes the reader wonder why these two are friends. For example, the boss says â€Å"Well, I never seen one guy take so much trouble for another guy.† â€Å"I just like to know your interest.† In this quote found on page 25, the boss is trying to make sense of their friendship. Even though this quote highlights the rarity of George and Lennie’s bond, this causes the boss to suspect wrong- doing on George’s part. At the end of the novel, George ends up shooting Lennie. This perfectly displays the dysfunctional and rare qualities in their friendship. There are many ups and downs in Lennie and George’s friendship in addition to it being dysfunctional and rare. Lennie is mentally ill. There is absolutely no rhyme or reason behind his actions. For instance, without Lennie, George could â€Å"Go get a job an’ work an’ no trouble. No mess at all and at the end of the month I could take my fifty bucks into town and get whatever I want.† This shows Lennie and George’s Relationship being down. Even though Lennie is a huge burden, George ultimately chooses to not be without him. Even though it seems like George is being held down by Lennie, George stays with Lennie because they both want the migrant dream. â€Å"Someday – we’re gonna get the Jack together, have a little house and a couple of acres an’ a cow and some pigs and we’ll have a big vegetable patch.† Thus, these two cannot live without each other. Lennie and George have a genuine relationship too. George takes really good care of Lennie, almost like in a maternal way. George says, â€Å"Lennie, for God’ sakes don’t drink so much, you gonna be sick like you was last night.† This shows he cares about Lennie. In the beginning, Lennie assaults a lady by tearing the front side of her dress  off in their old town Weeds. George could’ve easily left Lennie to fend for himself but he realized that wasn’t the right thing to do. Lennie hears his dead aunt Clara telling him â€Å"When he got a piece of pie you always got half or more’n half.† â€Å"An’ if there was any ketchup, why he’d give it all to you.† As the novel progresses, Lennie’s past catches up with him and the authorities start looking for him. George knows that if it is caught, the officers would throw him in jail and he wouldn’t survive. So George shoots Lennie to basically put him out of his misery. Clearly, they have a genuine friendship. With every friendship, there are many adventures along the way. The novel starts off in a scenic woodsy area by a lake. Lennie and George run away together from their home town of Weed to run from the authorities and start a new life as migrant workers. When they’ve finally reached the barn, they meet new people and build relationships with them. The boss, Curley, Curley’s wife, Slim, Crooks, and Carlson. Lennie is always getting into trouble and George is always looking to get him out of it. Lennie kills a mouse, strangles Curley’s wife and also kills the dog. Although this book had many twist and turns, it was a heart- warming thriller that illustrated what life was like back in the 1930s. it surely wasn’t easy but having a dream meant a lot to the characters and made them strive to live their dream.

Concepts in Autopsy Investigation

Concepts in Autopsy Investigation Homicide Investigation Outline the five specific steps involved in the complete medicolegal autopsy (postmortem examination) and provide the purposes for doing it. Evaluate the differences between: 1) the cause of death, 2) the manner of death, and 3) the mode of death. Science keeps on shaping the universe of equity, filling wrongdoing examinations and meaning the advancement of current innovation. While measurable science incorporates a huge number of strategies, the writing to take after will concentrate on the craft of criminological post-mortem. In spite of the fact that autopsies are all the most frequently utilized for purposes disconnected to wrongdoing, they assume such an urgent part in homicide examinations, that this field of legal science has an extensive effect on where the examination ought to start (Gallaghe, Burton, McDonald, Goldman, 2003). Legal pathologists perform autopsies with the objective of uncovering as numerous truths applicable to the examination of criminal cases. For example, how the victimized person kicked the bucket, when the death happened, what created the demise, and the way of the death being referred to. Examination of the outer body for different markings or physical gimmicks will give pieces of information w ith respect to how the victimized person kicked the bucket, when the demise happened, what brought about the death, and the way of death of the victimized person being referred to. The outer examination can likewise uncover the personality of the exploited person through recognizing skin colorations, ethnicity, sex, surmised age, hair shade and length, and in addition eye color depending upon the reason for death and/or the state of deterioration in addition to different variables. The inner examination of the body can further answer those inquiries that stay after the outer examination (Roulson, Benbow, Hasleton, 2005). Through various diverse methodologies, the inside examination comprises of reviewing the inward organs of the body for confirmation of trauma or different signs of the reason for death. The significant methods of scientific science and the capacities of the criminological pathologist in the investigative procedure are wonderful and frequently are the beginning stag e for specialists in criminal cases. The writing that takes after uncovers those particular strategies and the reason that they serve in criminological post-mortems. Cause, Mechanism, and Manner of Death At the point when a death occurs, a doctor or therapeutic analyst must round out a death authentication. So as to legitimately finish this archive, they must focus three things: the reason, the instrument, and the way of death. There is regularly disarray about which will be which. The reason for death is the malady or damage that creates the physiological disturbance inside the body, bringing about death, for instance, a shot wound to the midsection. The system of death is the physiological unsettling that brings about the death. An illustration of a system of death because of the discharge wound depicted above is exsanguination (great blood misfortune). To wrap things up, the way of death is the way the death came to fruition. Outline and describe the nine specific things about the body that can help to identify it and prepare it for an autopsy After death examinations consider the assessment of new indicative tests, surgical systems, gadgets, and medications. The revelation of infectious diseases, heritable sicknesses, and natural poisons is conceivable. The posthumous revelation of word related maladies and an ecological peril give profit to the group. Post-mortem examination likewise gives an expansion of therapeutic learning and intends to record the well being of society by creating substantial mortality facts (Roulson, Benbow, Hasleton, 2005). In legal post-mortem examinations, the after death examination builds the reason and the way of death. Despite whether a post-mortem examination is for restorative or scientific purposes, an educated choice with respect to the post-mortem starts with learning pathologists, clinicians, and human services foundations. Lawful contemplations encompass death the autopsy ought to be viewed as and included in post-mortem examination exchanges. Pathologists need to be concerned with issues of approval, execution, deformation, organ maintenance, disappointment to diagnose, and the unapproved arrival of the post-mortem discoveries (report). The apprehension of medicinal carelessness claims focused around post-mortem examination execution or nonperformance is likewise of critics to both clinicians and health awareness establishments. Explain why the bodies of alcoholics are more difficult to accurately determine the cause of death as suspicious or possibly homicidal. The deciding reason for death is the most imperative undertaking a pathologist can perform amid the course of a post-mortem. Regarding legitimateness it is a need for law authorization to have the capacity to demonstrate without question that the expert has passed on of means other than characteristic reasons. Without a doubt such are the facts of homicide in parts of the world that it is a fundamental necessity for any person who has passed on suddenly to have an examination performed on them to demonstrate unquestionably the reason for death and preclude the possibility of treachery. Variables to Consider Deciding the reason for death is carried out by taking various components into thought. Firstly was the deceased found in an area where he or she would not regularly have been? Were they in a state of disrobing or have obvious wounds not typically display in a common death? On the off chance that wounds were available would they, say they were the aftereffect of a blade or firearm assault? These inquiries must be addressed and addressed agreeably according to a pathologist. In a few deaths an investigation is important to settle on how an individual died or passed away- be it death by misfortune, unplanned demise or characteristic reasons and a pathologist will be called upon to give master affirmation that will demonstrate without question what the reason for death really was. Choosing a Reason The accurate nature of death is such that demonstrating how it happened can in some cases be a troublesome assignment. There strength, not so much be unmistakable indications of how demise happened and in like manner there power wasnt any history of health to fall over on as a method for conclusion. Medical records, psychiatric or medical reports and explanations from the closest relative are all obliged when demise happens without any cautioning (Roulson, Benbow, Hasleton, 2005). This is so a point by point picture of the singulars life could be developed along the way. This is helpful if for instance the expired experienced large amounts of anxiety and where heart disappointment may have been a probability. At the same time the principle path in which the reason for death might be dead set is via doing a post-mortem examination; a post-mortem offers clear confirmation as to the reason for death furthermore can reveal insight into how the death happened. Case in point if the exploited person died or passed away as an aftereffect of a deadly cutting an autopsy can demonstrate that the culprit was either left given or right, taller or more diminutive, heavier or lighter, all qualities which are helpful in developing a physical profile of the aggressor. In the same way a post-mortem can demonstrate if the expired attempted to safeguard themselves or was just overcome by their aggressor; again valuable data when developing a picture of a wrongdoing. these focuses an examination can likewise go somehow to helping gauge the time of death, something that could be made unpredictable if the expert has been discovered outside or has been found after a long time of being absent. Again, deciding the reason for death and evaluating the time of death are gigantically helpful in any criminal examination and present important intimations as to the last minutes or hours of a singular life before they died. Write and essay describing the five specific purposes of ordering a medicolegal autopsy by the medical examiner and the rationale behind each type of request. Medicolegal examinations give confirmation to legitimate activity and show and make accessible information on ascertainment of the particular reasons for the unnatural demise (crimes, mischance’s, suicides, and so forth.) in a specific geographic range (Roulson, Benbow, Hasleton, 2005). The unnatural death is one of the markers of social and mental wellbeing status of the general public. Crime eludes the death of one person as the aftereffect of behavior of an alternate An autopsy is an exam of the assortment of an individual who has passed on. The motivation behind a post-mortem is to answer addresses about the individuals ailment or the reason for death. Also, examinations give significant data that help specialists, spare the lives of others. Autopsies are performed by extraordinarily prepared doctors, called pathologists. The autopsy starts with a complete outer examination. The body weight and stature are recorded, and recognizing stamps, for example, scars and tattoos are archived. The internal examination starts with the formation of a Y or U- formed cut from both shoulders, joining over the sternum and proceeding down to the pubic bone. Collections of deceasing persons are brought to this office in light of the fact that the law obliges that the restorative analyst research deaths of persons kicking the bucket from savagery, or all of a sudden when in evident wellbeing, or in any suspicious, uncommon or unnatural way. The Medical examiner is in charge of deciding the reason and the way of their demise. A body might likewise be brought to the Restorative examiner’s Office if the personality of the deceased or the closest relative is obscure. The choice regarding whether an autopsy will be performed is at the carefulness of the criminological pathologist relegated to the case. What categories of death can be investigated and only certified by the chief medical examiner or coroner. all deaths in which there is some motivation to accept that the death is not because of a characteristic malady methodology, is a manslaughter, suicide, mischance or one of the numerous sorts of deaths said by law, must be accounted for to the workplace. Just Medical examiner can explore and sign the Demise Testament if the death is identified with a crime, suicide, mishap, a patient with no going to doctor, a mechanic related demise, an unidentified individual or where there is some restorative motivation to consider that the death may be because of an infectious infection Those deaths that are obviously destructive, self-destructive, or happening under suspicious or obscure circumstances Resulting from the unlawful utilization of controlled substances or the utilization or ill-use of chemicals or lethal operators. Occurring while detained or while in the care of a law requirement officer. Apparently unintentional or after a pain or harm. By illness, harm or poisonous operator amid or emerging from work. While not under the consideration of a doctor amid the period promptly going before the demise. Related to illness which may constitute a danger to the wellbeing of the overall population. In which human remains have been discarded offensively References Brian Gallagher, Burton EC, McDonald KM, Goldman L (2003). Changes in rates of autopsy-detected diagnostic errors over time: a systematic review. JAMA 289 (21): 2849–56. Roulson J, Benbow EW, Hasleton PS (2005). Discrepancies between clinical and autopsy diagnosis and the value of post mortem histology; a meta-analysis and review. Histopathology 47 (6): 551–9.

Volleyball at the Beach :: Descriptive Essay About A Place

Volleyball at the Beach Park Nestled between high-rises filled with lavish condominiums and quaint beachfront shops lies the center of teenage life on Saturday mornings, Laudermilk Beach Park. It is here that all of the problems of everyday life are forgotten for a few hours every Saturday, and teenagers are able to relax and do what teenagers do best, play volleyball. The day’s events begin around 10 o’clock a.m. when most adolescents make their way from their beds to their bathrooms. After showering and dressing in the customary cut-off T-shirt and swim trunks (most often shorts adorned with flowered designs), teens start their cars and head off to the Laudermilk Park, about a thirty-minute drive. Around eleven o’clock, the parking lots become filled, and volleyballs begin flying through the air. Before long, teams of twos and fives take over the courts and begin to play. Onlookers get quite a show. Shouts can be heard everywhere on and off the court. On the court, teammates shout to one another, ordering sets and spikes, working hard for the next point. Off the court, kids celebrate the well-constructed plays of others and claim rights to the next match. At the end of each game, winners run swiftly to the adjacent beach for a swim, while losers meander sullenly to a drinking fountain housed under an elevated shelter. It is only seconds before new games begin, and the cycle begins again. Next to the court, under the shade of a large oak tree, sits Ali. Ali is a man of about 55 who attends the gathering every week. He used to be a professional volleyball player, and now spends his time watching the game at a youth level, and giving advice to novices and experienced players alike. He watches pensively from under the shade of the large branches, quietly munching on his turkey sub-sandwich. Every few minutes Ali yells wisely to a young player. He says, â€Å"Keep your jump approach in stride,† and â€Å"Remember to cup your hand before you make contact, then follow through.† Down near the water teams celebrate, and boys and girls flirt in the warm ocean. An occasional roar erupts from all around when a boy on a skimboard attempts a flip and lands headfirst in the water. Uninterested girls lounge lazily in the sand, turning themselves every so often to avoid burning, as if they were on a rotisserie.

Alice in Wonderland Essay -- essays papers

Alice in Wonderland In Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, Lewis Carroll tells an entertaining story about a young girl’s adventures in a strange â€Å"Wonderland.† This novel represents a typical girl’s struggle to break away from adult control and receive a desired freedom from their absurd society. Although the novel was written during the Victorian age and many of the events of the story are based on Victorian society, children today also feel the suffocation of adult control and a society without morals. Carroll uses symbolism and various scenes throughout the novel to show the reader the freedom that Alice strives to achieve as well as how she tries to break away from the domination and conformity. The first scene in which Alice’s struggle to break away from adult control and Victorian England’s society is in Chapter 1. After falling into the rabbit hole, Alice finds herself lost in a corridor with many locked doors. The doors being locked represents Alice being controlled by society. The reader can see Alice’s struggle to break away from this control when, finding a key, she searches right away for the door that it fits in. She finds that it fits a very small door and when she unlocks it, Alice first sees â€Å"the garden.† She believes it to be the â€Å"loveliest garden you ever saw† and â€Å"longed to get out of the dark hall, and wander about among those bright flowers and those cool fountains...† Alice’s strong desire to enter the garden is clearly evident. After trying everything she can think of to get into the garden, Alice finally realizes that she is not yet able to enter it and breaks down in tears. Not being able to get into the â€Å"lovely garden,† which represents a place Alice can be away from... ...an society, it was not considered proper etiquette to raise your voice to anyone, whether you are an adult or not. Alice rebels against the rules of the Victorian culture by expressing herself in such a manner. Free in the garden, Alice defies the Queen when she tries to execute her. It is then that Alice realized she must act against society or it would control her. Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland is a paradoxical novel that represents a typical child’s struggle to break away adult society’s beliefs and rules. It is shown in three vital scenes of the novel how Alice struggles to enter the lovely garden of â€Å"Wonderland,† which represents a freedom from society’s rules and regulations. Alice did understand until the closing of the novel that society cannot be changed and to get away from it, you have to change yourself and rebel against it.

Contributions of Bill Gates Essay

Bill Gates was born on Oct. 28, 1955. He grew up in Seattle with his two sisters. Their father, William H. Gates II, is a Seattle attorney. Their late mother, Mary Gates, was a schoolteacher, University of Washington regent, and chairwoman of United Way International. Gates attended public elementary school and the private Lakeside School. There, he discovered his interest in software and began programming computers at age 13. In 1973, Gates entered Harvard University as a freshman, where he lived down the hall from Steve Ballmer, now Microsoft’s chief executive officer. Gates dropped out of school for one year to work for TRW in computing, earning $30,000 (Microsoft, 2010). In 1974, Bill was attending Harvard University when Allen spotted an advertisement for a $350 assemble-at-home computer called the Altair 8800, manufactured by MITS, a company headquartered in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Bill and Allen worked nonstop for six weeks to devise a simple version of BASIC, a programming language, for the Altair. They demonstrated their finished product to the company’s engineers with great success, and the following year, Bill and Allen founded Microsoft Corporation. Microsoft had entered the personal computer (PC) industry at an opportune time. In 1980 Microsoft won a contract with IBM to operate personal computers using Microsoft’s system, commonly known as MS-DOS. By 1983 the IBM PC had become the industry standard and MS-DOS was its operating system. In 1995, Microsoft introduced Windows 95 which again revolutionized the PC market, and became an industry standard (Master of Business, 2010). Bill Gates has accomplished so much beginning at age 13, starting with the creation of Traf-o-Data, then starting Microsoft, on to writing books, and finally becoming one of the richest and most giving philanthropist in the world. In 1970, Bill Gates and Paul Allen had been involved in some impressive software projects by then, most recently at TRW working on software to control the Northwest power grid. Traf-O-Data was a little different. Traf-O-Data was a computerized machine for processing paper tapes from traffic counters, those black hoses most of us have driven over on roads throughout the United States. It was an early example of a microprocessor-controlled â€Å"embedded system,† not really a computer as we  know it, but computerized. It began with the idea of automating the processing of traffic tapes for the local road department, which a group of students at Gates’s and Allen’s Lakeside School was doing by hand at the time and it would also require special hardware. Neither of the two had much hardware experience, so they enlisted the help of a friend, Paul Gilbert, to construct the machine while they wrote the software. The plan was to manufacture the Traf-O-Data and sell it to state and local governments, but their one demo was a failure. The tape reader malfunctioned and the sale was lost. They repaired and debugged the machine, but it never became a product—which was fortunate. Success would have distracted Gates and Allen at a crucial moment. As it was, by the time the lone Traf-O-Data began processing traffic tapes in 1975, the two had turned the operation over to Gilbert and moved on to form Microsoft (Startup – Albuquerque and the Personal Computer Revolution, 2006). Gates eventually sold this system to the city for $20,000 when he was only fifteen years old (Master of Business, 2010). Microsoft is founded by Bill Gates and Paul Allen in 1975. With annual revenues of more than $32 billion, Microsoft Corporation is more than the largest software company in the world. The company’s core business is based on developing, manufacturing, and licensing software products, including operating systems, server applications, business and consumer applications, and software development tools, as well as Internet software, technologies, and services. Led by Bill Gates, Microsoft has succeeded in placing at least one of its products on virtually every personal computer in the world, setting industry standards and defining markets in the process. Microsoft’s big break came in 1980 as IBM began developing its Personal Computer, or PC. While IBM contracted Microsoft to develop languages for the PC, IBM’s first choice to provide an operating system was the leader in the field, Digital Research. However, IBM and Digital Research were unable to agree on terms, so the contract for the operating system was awarded to Microsoft. As Microsoft was under a tight deadline and did not have an operating system of its own, the company purchased the rights to one from Seattle Computer Products for $75,000. The year 1980 also saw the arrival of Steve Ballmer, a close friend of Gates from Harvard, who was hired to organize the  non-technical side of the business. Ballmer later recalled the company’s stormy beginnings under Gates’s leadership: â€Å"Our first major row came when I insisted it was time to hire 17 people. He claimed I was trying to bankrupt him.† Conservative in his spending, Gates dictated th at the company must always have enough money in the bank to operate for a year with no revenues. Nearly 20 years later that policy still stood–in 1999 Microsoft had cash reserves of more than $13 billion and no long-term debt–while Ballmer, who had by then become Microsoft president, remained Gates’s closest friend and adviser. In March 1986 Microsoft held an initial public offering (IPO) of 2.5 million shares which raised $61 million. Within a year the stock had risen from $25 to $85, making Bill Gates a billionaire at the age of 31. Before 1990 Microsoft was primarily a supplier to hardware manufacturers, but after 1990 the bulk of the company’s revenues came from sales to consumers. That year Microsoft became the first software company to reach $1 billion in revenues, closing the year with 5,600 employees. Before 1990 Microsoft was primarily a supplier to hardware manufacturers, but after 1990 the bulk of the company’s revenues came from sales to consumers. That year Microsoft became the first software company to reach $1 billion in revenues , closing the year with 5,600 employees. In 1998, the U.S. Department of Justice and a group of 20 state attorneys general filed two antitrust cases against Microsoft alleging violations of the Sherman Act. While the antitrust suit against Microsoft showed threats of a forced breakup of Microsoft, innovations in the company continued. In 2000, Microsoft invested $135 million in the software publisher Corel. Apparently, Corel negotiated the investment, offering to drop â€Å"certain legal actions† it had against the company, even as it had no legal claims filed against Microsoft. The Department of Justice ruled that they would not enforce a breakup of Microsoft. By the end of 2002, the U.S. District Court approved the settlement Microsoft reached with the Justice Department. The settlement included preventing Microsoft from benefiting from exclusive deals that could hinder competition; uniform contract terms for computer manufacturers; the required ability of customers to remove icons from certain Microsoft features; and a requirement that Microsoft release specific innovational technical information to its rivals, in order to enforce competition. By 2004, with more than 56,000 employees and anticipated year-end revenues of  up to $38 billion, Microsoft continued to hold a strong lead in the computer software industry. (Funding Universe, 2004). Microsoft’s revenues this year will be around $36 billion, or $100 million a day (Overview of Microsoft Today, 2010). While at Microsoft, Gates started to write a series of books. His first book was published in 1995, The Road Ahead. The book was at the top of the â€Å"New York Times† bestseller list for seven weeks. In the edition of The Road Ahead, Microsoft Chairman and CEO Bill Gates laid out his vision of an interconnected world built around the Internet. Based on the premise that life will be transformed by the convergence of inexpensive computing and inexpensive communications, Gates drew from his experience at the center of the personal computer revolution to give insights on the growth, evolution and impact of technology. (Microsoft, 2010). In 1999, Gates wrote â€Å"Business @ the Speed of Thought†, a book that shows how computer technology can solve business problems in fundamentally new ways. The book was published in 25 languages and is available in more than 60 countries. â€Å"Business @ the Speed of Thought† has received wide critical acclaim, and was listed on the best-seller lists of the â€Å"New York Times†, â€Å"USA Today†, â€Å"The Wall Street Journal† and on Amazon.com. Gates has donated the proceeds of both books to non-profit organizations that support the use of technology in education and skills development (Microsoft, 2010). Gates has written so many other great books that have been translated into Spanish, German and other languages. Bill Gates has accumulated a huge personal fortune over the years. In 2005, Gates committed himself to donating $750 million to the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisation charity. The Gates foundation, which (at the time) is worth $30 billion, is now the largest charity to have been created by a single benefactor or private company, following a previous $3 billion gift from its founder last July. Mr Gates has stated that he intends to give away 90 per cent of his fortune, which is currently valued at about $50 billion (Bill Gates, Saviour of the World?, 2005). As of December 31, 2009, the total grant commitments since inception has came up to, $22.61 billion. The Gates foundation has given to several charities and organizations around the world (Foundation Fact Sheet, 2010). Works Cited (2010, January 26). Retrieved 2010, from Microsoft: www.microsoft.com/presspass/exec/billg/?tab=biography (2010). Retrieved 2010, from Microsoft: www.microsoft.com/presspass/exec/billg/writing/default.mspx Bill Gates, Saviour of the World? (2005, March 17). Retrieved 2010, from Marxist: www.marxist.com/bill-gates-capitalism-170305.htm Foundation Fact Sheet. (2010). Retrieved 2010, from Gates Foundation: www.gatesfoundation.org/about/pages/foundation-fact-sheet.aspx Funding Universe. (2004). Retrieved 2010, from Funding Universe: http://www.fundinguniverse.com/company-histories/microsoft-corporation-company-history.html Master of Business. (2010). Retrieved 2010, from Bill Gates Microsoft: www.billgatesmicrosoft.com/history.htm Overview of Microsoft Today. (2010). Retrieved 2010, from Acedemic Earth: http://acedemicearth.org/lectures/overview-of-microsoft-today Startup – Albuquerque and the Personal Computer Revolution. (2006). Retrieved 2010, from Startup Gallery: http://www.s tartupgallery.org/gallery/story.php?il=45