A Rose Or Marguerite By Any Other Name :: essays papers

A Rose Or Marguerite By Any Other Name So goes the quote by William Shakespeare, and many people believe this is true. However, to many of African-American descent, both past and present, to be â€Å"called out of your name†, is one of the greatest insults imaginable. â€Å"Mary,† a chapter from volume one, â€Å"I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings,† of Dr. Maya Angelou’s five-volume autobiography, details the horror and rage she felt, and the retribution she administered, at such an act.The year was 1938, and Dr. Angelou, then going by her birth name, Marguerite Johnson, was 10 years old and working as a maid & cook’s helper for a white woman named Mrs. Viola Cullinan, the daughter of wealthy Virginian parents. According to Miss Glory, the cook whose family had been slaves for the Cullinan’s, she had married beneath her to a man whose money â€Å"didn’t ‘mount to much†. Marguerite pitied Mrs. Cullinan because she was old, fat, and ugly and couldn’t ha ve children, though it was well known that her husband had two beautiful daughters by a colored lady. She tried to feel Mrs. Cullinan’s loneliness and pain, and tried very hard to make up for her barrenness by coming to work early and staying late. One evening Marguerite was asked to serve Mrs. Cullinan and her women friends their drinks on the closed-in porch. When asked her name, Mrs. Cullinan answers for her, â€Å"Her name’s Margaret.† A close pronunciation, but incorrect, nevertheless. Americans are particularly inept, I think, at pronouncing anything that has a foreign flair to it, or a foreign sound to it, and it's much easier for people to say â€Å"Margaret†, than â€Å"Marguerite†, or â€Å"Andrea† instead of â€Å"Andrà ©ica.† It is well known that the sweetest sound in any language is the sound of one's own name, so we don't take it mildly if somebody makes fun of our names or belittles us because of our name, or mispronounces our name. We proclaim ourselves with a name and we're very defensive about them, it is a major part of our identity. â€Å"Well, that may be, but the name’s too long. I’d never bother myself. I’d call her Mary if I was you,† said the speckle-face friend who had asked the question. The very next day, Mrs. Cullinan called Marguerite by the wrong name, and her dignity and pride, forged amid poverty and racism, became at stake.

Macroeconomic Terms

What I took away from week two's objectives after discussing and the topics that I feel comfortable with are the relationships between productivity and the cost of production. Productivity is being able to bring forth or produce goods and services. Understanding that there are many different types of cost that business' incur during the production cycle. It's important for firms, owners or managers, etc. To know about the various costs (I. . Fixed costs, variable costs and total cost).Also that accounting focuses on explicit cost and revenue; while economics focuses on both explicit and implicit cost and revenues. The topics that I struggled with are the understanding of economies of scale, discomposes of scale and understand the shape or the different reasons that would make the curve shift. The topics relate to my field because in the healthcare industry, the company has to be productive in order to stay afloat and they are constantly looking for ways to lower the cost of services that are provided to linens in order to increase the company's overall profit.Cherishes Whittier During week one, we discuss the difference between supply and demand and the affects that it has on prices and quantity. Example of shifts in demand would be taxes, expectations, income, and other goods. Examples of a shift in supply would be price inputs and technology. I believe that I am comfortable with supply and demand; however, I struggle with the graphs and the visuals of the shift. By taking macroeconomics before this class, in ways has prepared me to have a better understanding of microeconomics and how the economy is studied.Joan Ashcan Gathering from chapter one reading, it states â€Å"a key element in getting people to recognize that lunches aren't free is the concept of opportunity cost-every decision has a cost in forgone opportunities. ‘ The economists' model which helps you understands not only the opportunity cost numerically and graphically but this model helps us understand why a person specializes in what they do. From this I can apply to why the economy is very important in my personal decision making process because, it dictates my buying power, the market and my investing power.If the economy is good, sales and Job security will be secure. Paul Parker This week focused heavily on the basics of economics. The topic that interested me most what about the supply and demand curve and what makes them change. We have so many different factors that drive consumers to buy or not buy an item. This is going to be a very interesting aspect of class as we go through the five weeks. Another interesting topic from week one was opportunity costs. We always have to make sacrifices to choose between multiple options. We have to choose the best option that will provide the most benefit at the time.

AIDS in the World

AIDS is the fast becoming and the worst human disease disaster the world has ever seen. It is clear that in the next ten to fifteen years, AIDS will claim more lives than any other epidemic. As a matter of fact, every year and a half, it claims more human lives than the Holocaust. Nothing can be compared to the drag that AIDS has caused to human life.There is just no human suffering and devastation as worst as it is. In the year 2002, there have already been 28 million recorded deaths due to AIDS and that is only the paltry beginning. The United Nations Security Council has labeled AIDS as a global security threat.According to UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, terrorism is not the most serious problem faced by the world today, but the AIDS epidemic. It is more than anything else destabilizing the entire planet (Hunter 2003).History of AIDSThe Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome or commonly known as AIDS was first observed in 1981. When it was first observed, it gained little attention as an infectious disease among experts. Accordingly, the first report was by Dr. Michael Gottlieb from the University of California Los Angeles. It was nothing from the AIDS that we know today. He described it as a rare form of pneumonia among homosexual men.At the same time, there were also other reports referring to the same disease saying it was a rare kind of cancer (Conner et al 2007). Furthermore, the most mainstream case would be what happened in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention where they publish an article entitled â€Å"Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report†.In this article, experts described the case reports of five young men at three different hospitals in Los Angeles. All five of them were sexually active and gay. Also, all five of them are suffering from a lung disease.Furthermore, there were also case reports on 26 young homosexual men from New York and California that were diagnosed with Kaposi Sarcoma that was on the extreme level accompanied w ith skin and mucous membrane lesion.It is observed that most of the victims were homosexual men so scientists asked what practices the homosexual community is engaged in that made them contract the disease. They postulate that a drug called amyl nitrate used by homosexuals to increase sexual pleasure may be the culprit.There is also a theory that there are certain organisms in the homosexual body that caused the disease. By 1983, aside from the United States, there were already 16 countries that reported AIDS cases alongside more than 1000 Americans that were positively diagnosed (Weeks and Alcamo 2006).This situation is often compared to that of the story of the six blind men and the elephants that is familiar to all of us as children. The elephant was the disease and the six blind men were the scientists and doctors that were grappling with its emergence.They still do not have a clear idea what AIDS is, so they were treating the epidemic piecemeal. What physicians observed was tha t patient’s immune system was literally suppressed but they do not have any idea it was the very cause of the disease. Before 1984, the situation worsened.There were no clear definition for AIDS, no test available to affirm the diagnosis, and certainly no cure was in sight (Weeks and Alcamo 2006).Despite the pessimisms among the people, researchers were beginning to unravel the mysteries of the disease that soon they call AIDS.   The observed symptoms were then later on labeled as AIDS or Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome mainly because the symptoms were consistent with damage to the immune system among healthy people.Furthermore, it was also learned that the disease was not congenital nor was it inherited but acquired from an infection of a virus. As of the present, the disease has become a prominent fixture in everyday language as its common name AIDS (Conner et al 2007).Basic research on AIDS was primarily done in the United States by two of the leading governmental in stitutions: the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and the National Institute of Health (NIH). There were also studies conducted in Western Europe by Pasteur Institute.The Pasteur Institute was famous for their specialization in virology because it started out as center to combat rabies, the most horrible of all viral diseases. Prior to this, scientists in this institute has also done other viral discoveries such as that of Constantin Levadati who discovered the polio virus, Amedee Morrel who studied animal onco-viruses, and Felix d’Herelle who discovered bacteriophage.They are part of the team who had will soon develop the field of molecular biology and soon understand the biological strategy of the AIDS virus (Grmek et al 1993).The Pasteur virologists first encountered AIDS during a controversy about the Institute’s production of hepatitis-B vaccine. The process required a massive amount of human plasma. In 1981, they purchased around 2, 500 liters of plasma from the United States blood banks.A third of these were mixed to European plasma in order for them to prepare vaccine. When the product was tested to the chimpanzees, one of them developed hepatitis, and another died out of arbovirus infection (Grmek et al 1993).In September 1982, Jacques Leibowitch, a physician working at the Raymond Poincare Hospital in Paris had been convinced that AIDS is caused by an exotic virus of African origin that affected T4-cells transmitted by blood.The description of the virus was similar to that of HTLV retrovirus. He gave a seminar at Cochin hospital and informed the French task force about it. The French Task Force was pretty much convinced that the retrovirus might be the probable cause of AIDS. They were also –persuaded that it could be transmitted through blood (Grmek et al 1993).Other scientists believe the agent came from a virus that causes African swine fever since the same virus can result to immune suppression of pigs. Others believed that i t was cause by a slow virus, one that is multiplying at an extreme low rate that it only affects and manifests itself in the body after a few years.Another group believes that the agent is a vital escapee from a genetic engineering laboratory. There was also speculation that says that it came from a failed biological war against Cuba (Grmek et al 1993).In the United States, the group of Robert C. Gallo identified a virus in the blood of 48 patients with virus. They named the virus HTVL-III. They have published their works on the Science. In a few months that followed, there has already been a rivalry between the American and French experts each claiming that they were the first one who isolated the virus.They contested that they should be one who’ll receive international awards, research grants, and millions and billions of dollar patent rights. Until, they have settled after some time that the virus that they have been examining were of the same type. The United States for i ts part have a

Management Information Systems At Access Fulfillment Ltd The WritePass Journal

Management Information Systems At Access Fulfillment Ltd Introduction Management Information Systems At Access Fulfillment Ltd IntroductionManagement Information Systems at Access Fulfilment LimitedManagement Information Systems for Decisions on New Warehouse LocationsManagement Information Systems for Decisions on Alternate FinancingManagement Information Systems for Decisions on Maintaining CompetitivenessManagement Information Systems for Decisions on Employee welfare PoliciesThe Relationship between Management Information Systems and Other Information SystemsConclusionRelated Introduction In an organizational setting, the main application of information is in making sound decisions and finding the best remedies to a problem. These practices are closely related, and form foundations of all successful companies (Oz, 2008: p.8). In order to achieve this, most organizations have embraced different information systems. By definition, an information system is a collection of related company resources, which aid in retrieval, processing and distribution of information that supports the decision making process. (Heijden, H., Heijden, M. and Govardus, 2009: p.3). It obtains data as input and uses it to process and output useful information for decision making. In this paper, we explore on the application of Management Information Systems by Access Fulfilment Limited, a distribution company for a wide range of products, based in Kent, U.K. Management Information Systems at Access Fulfilment Limited According to Sadagopan (2004: p.1), management information systems (MIS) are computer based systems which provide access to data, which is speedy and flexible. There are several management areas where the management information systems have been used to make strategic decisions at Access Fulfilment Ltd. Management Information Systems for Decisions on New Warehouse Locations In an effort to expand the company, new offices and branches are often opened in different locations. To identify the most ideal locations, management information systems often aid in this analysis. Before a final decision is made, internal company information, as well as environmental information is generated by a management information system. This information includes both the shot and long term aspects that should be considered before setting up the new branch. These include the market and changeability, which is a prediction of the possible market response at the tine the branch is set up and the government policy, among others. For the warehouse branches that have been opened in the recent past, which are at Suffolk and Bristol, this system has provided the management team with the necessary information they need to execute the correct strategic decisions. As stated by Sadagopan (2004: p.14), strategic management information systems require mechanisms necessary for the assimilation of environmental information. This is necessary for influencing strategic decisions systematically. Management Information Systems for Decisions on Alternate Financing In every business, the decision for alternate financing is one of several strategic decisions that need sufficient information before being arrived at (Depamphlis, 2010: p.209). At Access Fulfilment Limited, a summary of status information about the internal financial status of the company is made. This summary is then referred to when such decisions are being made. This summary includes details on payrolls, the company budget, overruns, and variance analyses. In addition to this, external information, which is critical to the long-term status of the company, is also considered. The knowledge of these components of the business environment has enabled the managers of the company to make strategic decisions on this issue. This strategic decision, which applies the management information system, has turned out to benefit the company. For more than ten years that Access Fulfilment Limited has been in business, it has experienced substantial growth. One of the contributions towards this is alternate financing decisions. Management Information Systems for Decisions on Maintaining Competitiveness Competition is one of the major challenges faced by every business organizations (Waters, 2010: p.6). For Access Fulfilment Limited, the main sources of competition are other distribution companies that were in business even before it was founded. Having an advantage of a broader customer base as compared to Access Fulfilment Limited, these companies were difficult to compete with. Thus, decisions that had to be made by management to overcome this were very significant for the company. Management information systems aided in making decisions. Through the application of this information system, vital information about these competitors was obtained. This information comprised of the competitors’ present and future strategies for their distribution businesses. This information was quite helpful to the company. Since the managers were aware of what their competitors had planned, strategic decisions about advertisement and all other marketing functions of the company were arrived at. This enhanced Access Fulfilment Limited’s competitiveness in the market. It has also helped the company survive and grow for the period that it has been in the market, as is hopeful for further growth. For this reason, the application of the management information system has been beneficial to Access Fulfilment Limited. Management Information Systems for Decisions on Employee welfare Policies Any decision that concerns an organization’s welfare policy is among the strategic decisions that are taken by personnel management. In order to execute this decision successfully, internal information about the staff members is vital (Sadagopan, 2004: p.15). At Access Fulfilment, the information that influences such decisions includes staff size, quality of staff, their salary enumerations, motivations, and many more. However, what really governs this decision in the organization is the future vision and plans that the managers have. It is also governed by the probable labour market conditions in the business environment. By the application of management information systems, both the internal and external information needed by Access Fulfilment is obtained. This system has been quite resourceful in terms of setting the salaries for employees and motivating them. This strategy has enabled the company to retain most of their pioneer employees. Had the company failed to apply this system, probably the external job market could have been promising for the employees without the knowledge of the management team. Thus, failure or delay in adjusting the welfare of the employees to match or surpass the external market could prompt some of them to leave. The Relationship between Management Information Systems and Other Information Systems At Access Fulfilment Limited, several information systems are applied. Apart from the management information system (MIS), there is the executive support system (ESS), decision support system (DSS) and the knowledge management system (KMS), among others. One common thing about these information systems is that they all contribute towards the making of sound decisions that will see the company grow. What differentiates these systems is the level of management in which they are used and when they are used. The executive support system, for instance, is used by top level executives in decision making (Stair Reynolds, 2011: p.446). Thus, for this company in as much as management information systems are used on various management levels, executive support systems are exclusive to the top management. Decision support systems, on the other hand is a support system for the management, with more capabilities than the management information systems (Janakiraman Sarukesi, 2004: p.26) Conclusion Access fulfilment has been experiencing reasonable growth ever since 2000, when it started business. Although this cannot be entirely attributed to management information systems, it has been shown that these systems have had their contribution to its success. As aforementioned, this support system has been of great aid to the company in terms of strategic decision making. The aim of management information systems is to offer the right information from company reports (Sarukesi, 2004: p.26). Among the several strategic decisions that this system has helped make, this paper has addressed decisions for new locations, employee welfare policies, alternate financing and maintaining competitiveness in the business. On evaluating of this system at Access Fulfilment Limited, it can be concluded that it has been of a positive impact to the company. REFERENCE Depamphlis, D. 2010. Mergers and Acquisitions Basics: All You Need to Know. Oxford: Academic Press. Heijden, H., Heijden, M. and Govardus, J. 2009. Designing Management Information Systems. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Janakiraman, V. S. and Sarukesi, K. 2004. Decision Support Systems. Delhi: PHI Publishers. Oz, E. 2008. Management Information Systems. Massachusetts: Cengage Learning. Sadagopan, S. 2004. Management Information Systems. Delhi: PHI Learning. Stair, R. and Reynolds, G. 2011. Principles of Information Systems. Massachusetts: Cengage Learning. Waters, T.J. 2010. Hyperformance: Using Competitive Intelligence for Better Strategy and Execution. California: John Wiley Sons.

Grad. Student Essay

Grad. Student Essay Grad. Student Essay Tracey Renee Paxton 3700Kingwood Drive #2523 Kingwood, TX 77339 713-530-9807 TrPaxton81@gmail.com Objective * Seeking to obtain an opportunity where I utilized my earned degree; while looking for a challenging position in the field of human service where I can maximize my skills in an effort to help others help themselves; thus give back to the community. * Areas of Strengths Skills * Communication: Oral Written Case Management * Customer Service Proficient with Internet Explorer, Excel and Microsoft Word Mentoring Currently studying Spanish to become bilingual * Team Building Education Sam Houston State University – Huntsville, TX Bachelor of Arts in Criminal Justice - May 12, 2007 Employment History Logan’s Roadhouse February 2012 – Present * Provides customer service as server/waitress * Knowledgeable of menu and food items which enables suggestive selling and up selling * Operations of closing of business Victoria’s Secret, Sales Associate-Cashier November 2010-February 2012 * Assisted with customer relations and excellent customer service * Awareness and knowledgeable about products, new items, sales and promotions * Promoted new products by using suggestive and persuasive selling techniques National HME, Customer Representative June 2009- November 2010 * Responsible for placing and receiving orders for medical equipment for patients and hospices * Responsible for providing excelling customer service via telephone correspondence, filing, weekly timesheets and any other duties as assigned Sheldon ISD, Substitute Teacher October 2007-June 2009 * Responsible for carrying out the teacher’s duties in her absence and or providing assistance to teacher as needed * Assisted students with assignments and behavior

Dr. Francis Townsend, Old Age Public Pension Organizer

Dr. Francis Townsend, Old Age Public Pension Organizer Dr. Francis Everitt Townsend, born into a poor farm family, worked as a physician and health provider. During the  Great Depression, when Townsend himself was in retirement age, he became interested in how the federal government could provide old age pensions. His project inspired the 1935 Social Security Act, which he found inadequate. Life and Profession Francis Townsend was born on January 13, 1867, on a farm in Illinois. When he was an adolescent his family moved to Nebraska, where he was educated through two years of high school. In 1887, he left school and moved to California with his brother, hoping to strike it rich in the Los Angeles land boom. Instead, he lost almost everything. Dejected, he returned  to Nebraska and finished high school, then began to farm in Kansas. Later, he started medical school in Omaha, funding his education while working as a salesman. After he graduated, Townsend went to work in South Dakota in the Black Hills region, then part of the frontier. He married a widow, Minnie Brogue, who worked as  a nurse. They had three children and adopted a daughter. In 1917, when World War I began, Townsend enlisted as a medical officer in the army.  He returned to South Dakota after the war, but ill health aggravated by the harsh winter led him to move to southern California. He found himself, in his medical practice, competing with older established physicians and younger modern physicians, and he did not do well financially. The arrival of the Great Depression wiped out his remaining savings. He was able to obtain an appointment as a health officer in Long Beach, where he observed the effects of the Depression, especially on older Americans. When a change in local politics led to the loss of his job, he found himself broke once again. Townsend’s Old Age Revolving Pension Plan The Progressive Era had seen several moves to establish old-age pensions and national health insurance, but with the Depression, many reformers focused on unemployment insurance. In his late 60s, Townsend decided to do something about the financial devastation of the elderly poor. He envisioned a program where the federal government would provide a $200 per month pension to every American over the age of 60, and saw this financed through a 2% tax on all business transactions. The total cost would be greater than $20 billion a year, but he saw the pensions as a solution to the Depression. If the recipients were required to spend their $200 within thirty days, he reasoned, this would significantly stimulate the economy, and create a â€Å"velocity effect,† ending the Depression. The plan was criticized by many economists. Essentially, half the national income would be directed to the eight percent of the population over the age of 60. But it was still a very attractive plan, especially to the older people who would benefit. Townsend began to organize around his Old Age Revolving Pension Plan (Townsend Plan) in September 1933 and had created a movement within months. Local groups organized Townsend Clubs to support the idea, and by January 1934, Townsend said 3,000 groups had begun. He sold pamphlets, badges, and other items, and financed a national weekly mailing. In mid-1935, Townsend said that there were 7,000 clubs with 2.25 million members, most of them older people. A petition drive brought 20 million signatures to Congress. Buoyed by the immense support, Townsend spoke to cheering crowds as he traveled, including to two national conventions organized around the Townsend Plan. In 1935, encouraged by the massive support for the Townsend idea, Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s New Deal  passed the Social Security Act.  Many in Congress, pressured to support the Townsend Plan, preferred being able to support the Social Security Act, which for the first time provided a safety net for Americans too old to work. Townsend considered this an inadequate substitute and began angrily attacking the Roosevelt administration.  He joined with such populists as the Rev. Gerald L. K. Smith and Huey Long’s Share Our Wealth Society, and with the Rev. Charles Coughlin’s National Union for Social Justice and Union Party. Townsend invested much energy in the Union Party and organizing voters to vote for candidates who supported the Townsend Plan. He estimated that the Union Party would get 9 million votes in 1936, and when the actual votes were less than a million, and Roosevelt was reelected in a landslide, Townsend abandoned party politics. His political activity led to conflict within the ranks of his supporters, including the filing of some lawsuits. In 1937, Townsend was asked to testify before the Senate on allegations of corruption in the Townsend Plan movement. When he refused to answer questions, he was convicted of contempt of Congress.  Roosevelt, despite Townsend’s opposition to the New Deal and Roosevelt, commuted Townsend’s 30-day sentence. Townsend continued to work for his plan, making changes to try to make it less simplistic and more acceptable to economic analysts. His newspaper and national headquarters continued. He met with presidents Truman and Eisenhower. He was still making speeches supporting reform of old age security programs, with audiences mostly of the elderly, shortly before he died on September 1, 1960, in Los Angeles. In later years, during a time of  relative prosperity, the expansion of federal, state, and private pensions took much of the energy out of his movement. Sources Richard L. Neuberger and Kelley Loe, An Army of the Aged. 1936.David H. Bennett. Demagogues in the Depression: American Radicals and the Union Party, 1932-1936. 1969.Abraham Holtzman. The Townsend Movement: A Political Study. 1963.

Evaluation on the Validity of the Claim That American Public Education Essay

Evaluation on the Validity of the Claim That American Public Education Has Been Consistently Lowering Its Standards and Expectations - Essay Example According to the survey conducted by ‘The National Assessment of Educational Progress’ (NAEP), the result known as â€Å"Nation’s Report Card,† depicted the positive outcomes of the students belonging to 4th, 8th and 12th grade standard on an international basis. Whereas, in contrast to the reports that presented by NAEP, it can be viewed that the scores of the US were much of lower standard in the worldwide context (Gropman, â€Å"Waning Education Standards Threaten U.S. Competitiveness†; Alexander and Leticia 325-327). It has been further argued that the aspect of ‘Downward Mobility’ is haunting the education system of America. The students in the US are avoiding in attending schools and colleges with a fear that their juniors possessing greater education background will be much more educated as compared to them. Further details on the argument for the stand i.e. ‘American Public Education’ is getting consistently lowered in terms of its standards along with expectations have been cited with certain valued observations. For instance, Andreas Schleicher, who is regarded as a special advisor related to education at ‘Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’ (OECD) proclaims that "It's something of great significance because much of today's economic power of the United States rests on a very high degree of adult skills - and that is now at risk," (Coughlan â€Å"Downward mobility haunts US education†). This reflects a clear picture about the prevailing education system of America. In support of the argument, the survey report of OECD revealed that the young adults are being more educated than their parents based on the ratio of 1:5. According to the viewpoints of Miles... This paper stresses that it will be a fallacy to judge the failure of American Public education system due to the persistence of various dissimilar viewpoints about the concerned subject matter. It is the result of the series of activities and the political interferences that eventually deprived the public education system of America from being flourished. In the study, it has been argued that racial discrimination, depriving the middle-class families, inequality and rise in the education expenditures are few of the reasons that contributed in consistent failure of American public education system in terms of lowering its standards along with expectations. The author of the paper talks his own oppinion on the problem of American public education which based system have not declined in recent days. There are several governmental policies levied upon the education sector, proving the effectiveness of the American public education system. It is the teachers who play an effective role in determining the development of education system of any nation. This report makes a conclusion that on contrary to the failure of the American public education system, the government is taking initiatives to implement changed rules and policies for improving the same. Furthermore, it has been viewed from the study that public education system of the US greatly affects five vital security fronts that comprise economic growth along with competitiveness, physical safety of the nation, US global awareness and US unity along with cohesion. Thus, it is necessary for the US government to formulate policies on immediate basis to develop the existing public education system of America.