fragmentation

This sales term describes a market condition whereby there exists no dominant group of buyers or suppliers, but where many buyers are chasing many suppliers.

Last updated: June 15, 2004.

n.

1. The act or process of breaking into fragments.
2. The scattering of the fragments of an exploding bomb or other projectile.
3. Computer Science. The scattering of parts of a file throughout a disk, as when the operating system breaks up the file and fits it into the spaces left vacant by previously deleted files.

(1) Storing data in non-contiguous areas on disk. As files are updated, new data are stored in available free space, which may not be contiguous. Fragmented files cause extra head movement, slowing disk accesses. A defragger program is used to rewrite and reorder all the files.

(2) In an IP network, breaking a data packet into smaller pieces in order to accommodate the maximum transmission unit of the network. See IP fragmentation.

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A situation where many files are broken up into small fragments scattered over the surface of a hard disk. A computer can keep track of where the pieces are, but finding and linking them slows its operations. Most operating systems have utilities to defragment drives when they become too fragmented. Fragmentation occurs over time as files are erased and portions of new files are tucked into the resulting empty spots.

Fragmentation describes a state of the self that is the opposite of cohesion. It is a diagnostic sign.

This notion appeared in Heinz Kohut's 1968 article "The Psychoanalytic Treatment of Narcissistic Personality Disorders." A sign of the narcissistic personality, as compared with the neuroses, fragmentation triggers disintegration anxiety, a counterpart of castration anxiety. The fragmentation corresponding to the auto-erotic stage is total in psychosis, in contrast to the narcissistic personality, in which the self is cohesive. In narcissism, transient fragmentation is seen during analysis and during certain periods when the self is vulnerable, such as adolescence.

This notion was developed throughout Kohut's work, becoming one of the four fundamental concepts of self psychology set forth in "Remarks about the Formation of the Self" (1974). To Kohut, narcissistic pathology tends to be progressively reduced to variations in the state of the self, which is fragmented at the preoedipal and oedipal levels. Fragmentation of the self triggers an intensification of the drives, which are redefined as products of the disintegration of the self in the service of its restoration.

Fluctuations in the state of the self are important clinical data for diagnosis and treatment, but the drives become secondary to the self.

Bibliography

Kohut, Heinz (1968). The psychoanalytic treatment of narcissistic personality disorders. In The search for the self (Vol. 1). New York: International Universities Press.

——. (1971).The analysis of the self. New York: International Universities Press.

——. (1974). Remarks about the formation of the self. In The search for the self (Vol. 2). New York: International Universities Press.

——. (1977). The restoration of the self. New York: International Universities Press.

——. (1984). How does analysis cure? Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

—AGNÈS OPPENHEIMER

Division into small pieces.

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Dansk (Danish)
n. - udspaltning, deling, cellekernedeling

idioms:

• fragmentation bomb    fragmentationsbombe

Nederlands (Dutch)
versplintering, verbrokkeling

Français (French)
n. - morcellement

idioms:

• fragmentation bomb    bombe à fragmentation

Deutsch (German)
n. - Zersplitterung

idioms:

• fragmentation bomb    (Mil.) Splitterbombe

Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - κατακερματισμός, θρυμματισμός, κατάτμηση, κατατεμαχισμός

idioms:

• fragmentation bomb    (στρατ.) βόμβα εκτόξευσης θραυσμάτων

Italiano (Italian)
frammentazione

idioms:

• fragmentation bomb    bomba a frammentazione

Português (Portuguese)
n. - fragmentação (f)

idioms:

• fragmentation bomb    bomba (f) de fragmentação

Русский (Russian)
фрагментация

idioms:

• fragmentation bomb    осколочная бомба

Español (Spanish)
n. - fragmentación

idioms:

• fragmentation bomb    bomba de fragmentación

Svenska (Swedish)
n. - uppsplittring

中文（简体）(Chinese (Simplified))
分裂, 破碎

idioms:

• fragmentation bomb    碎裂弹, 杀伤弹

中文（繁體）(Chinese (Traditional))
n. - 分裂, 破碎

idioms:

• fragmentation bomb    碎裂彈, 殺傷彈

한국어 (Korean)
n. - 분열, 파쇄

日本語 (Japanese)
n. - 分裂, 無糸分裂, 分割

idioms:

• fragmentation bomb    破砕性爆弾, 破片爆弾

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(الاسم) تجزئه‏

עברית (Hebrew)
n. - ‮התרסקות, ריסוק, קיטוע, חלוקה‬

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