Saturday, October 12, 2019

Inner Evil :: essays research papers fc

We all have a darkness inside of us that is unleashed at different times in our lives. It can come out when we are jealous, angry, or just harassing someone. In the novel, A Separate Peace by Robert Knowles, Gene, the main character, is affected by a few evils inside a person and he also releases his own evil. Three characters from the novel, Quackenbush, Brinker, and Gene, all have darkness inside of them that they let come out in different ways. The first character from A Separate Peace that lets his evil out is Quackenbush. Quackenbush is the head of the crew team at Devon School. He is always teased and harassed by the other students and consequently, Quackenbush has low self-esteem. He feels that by making fun of Gene, unleashing his inner darkness, that it will make him feel better. For the time being it makes him feel big and important. The first incident is when Gene starts as the Assistant Crew Manager and Quackenbush is above him. â€Å"†¦Ã¢â‚¬â„¢Get some towels’†¦Ã¢â‚¬â„¢How many?’†¦Ã¢â‚¬â„¢As many as you can carry. That won’t be too many.’†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (69). Quackenbush hurts Gene another time too. After making fun of Gene, Gene remarks, â€Å"†¦You, Quackenbush, don’t know anything about who I am†¦Listen you maimed son-of-a-bitch†¦Ã¢â‚¬ (71). Then a fistfight breaks out between the two. Quackenbush doesn’t like when Gene stands up for hims elf, he cannot stand it. He wants to hurt Gene because he can tell by taking the position of Assistant Crew Manager that Gene has low self-esteem. Quackenbush lets out his inner darkness at Gene because he wants to feel momentous; he wants to feel important and that is one way that someone in this novel lets out their inner depravity. The second character I have chosen is Brinker. Brinker, who is the popular politician at Devon School, is very jealous of the friendship that Gene and Finny share. He says many things about the fall and how it happened to hurt Gene. â€Å"†¦Ã¢â‚¬â„¢I’ll bet you knew all the time Finny wouldn’t be back this fall. That’s why you picked him as a roommate, right?’ [Brinker asks.]’What? No, of course not. How could I know a thing like that in advance?’†¦Ã¢â‚¬â„¢You fixed it. You knew all the time, I bet it was all your doing.’†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (79-80). Brinker was jealous of not only Gene and Finny’s friendship, but also Gene having a room all to himself.

Friday, October 11, 2019

Let’s Be Lefties for a Day

â€Å"The perception of normality is based on how closely you resemble the majority of people† (Devry College, 2013, Week One Assignment, Para. 1). I have been right handed since 2nd grade. This was not always the case though. When I began Kindergarten in 1985, I was predominantly left handed. I was persistently discouraged from writing with my left hand and eventually I became fluent in penmanship with my right hand. At the time, I recall being told that â€Å"Everyone should write with their right hand!† I was taught early on, that to be normal is to be like everyone else. To this day I am still right handed as far as for writing, however, I have always favored my left hand for activities such as gymnastics and driving. I remember feeling weird and looked down upon for being different and for taking longer than my classmates to learn how to write with a hand that felt foreign to me. Did it pay off? Was there an advantage to being right handed versus left? These are qu estions that are not as black and white as they may seem.This paper examines normalcy and what it means to be a part of the majority versus being a minority. In our society, right-handed people reflect the majority or dominant group and left-handed individuals would be considered the minority based on the percentage of right versus left-handed people. In order to understand the affects of being in a minority group, we were challenged to â€Å"Let’s be lefties for a day. † It was quickly apparent that our society and environment is catered toward right-handed people.This reflects a principle known as institutionalized discrimination where minority groups are at a disadvantage because of the normal way society operates (Devry College, 2012, Week One Lecture, para. 2). Take buttons for instance. It is much easier to button jackets, or pants, etc†¦ with one’s right hand as opposed to one’s left. The reason for this is simply that the vast majority of mec hanisms for buttoning, or zippering, are adapted for ease of right-handed individuals. Another example is door knobs. Most door knobs are manufactured with right-handed ergonomics in mind.Opening doors with my left hand involved twisting my wrist in a manner that is both awkward and uncomfortable. Further exploration found that items such as golf clubs, scissors, kitchen utensils, and keyboards, are available for left-handed individuals; however, they come at a price. Not only were they more expensive per unit than â€Å"standard† items that are readily available; but they also required internet access as they are primarily found online, and included shipping fees in addition to the already hefty price tag.It was evident that in this instance, being in the minority or less dominant group incurs inconvenience and monetary penalty. â€Å"Through these major institutions, the dominant group will shape the society in ways that reflect its interests, values, and beliefs and minim ize those of less dominant groups. The result is discrimination† (Devry College, 2013, Week One Lecture, Para. 2). Having spent the majority of my life right-handed, I hadn’t given much thought to what it means to be left-handed.It is easy to not have to consider what life is like for those in the less dominant groups when things as simple as the ease of opening a door, or a can, or sharpening a pencil, and/or buttoning ones pants do not require a second thought. Devry College, 2013, Week One Lecture states that â€Å"[u]nlike the dominant group, most minority groups recognize and understand cultural differences. Unfortunately, they also feel the need to be wary and defensive at all times† (Para. 8). This is very similar to how I felt almost 30 years ago when I took my first penmanship class in Kindergarten and was instructed to become a rightie versus a leftie.The Devry College, 2013, Week One Lecture continues â€Å"[t]he end result is that subordinate groups always know and understand more about the dominant group than the dominant group does about the subordinate group† (Para. 8). It is important to recognize that we all have differences, be it cultural, ethnic, gender, or something as seemingly simple as being right or left-handed. These differences are what creates diversity and adds richness and color to our world and â€Å"†¦is a major component in the social glue holding a culture together.What we want to do is simply recognize that we do have prejudices arising from our ethnocentric view of the world† (Devry College, 2013, Week One Lecture, Para. 10). There is an old familiar saying that you never know a man till you have walked a mile in his shoes. This is so true and it can be easy to forget that beyond our obvious differences, we are all human. How does all of this relate to the business setting? M. Bell, 2012 states that â€Å"[i]n inclusive organizational cultures, employees feel as though they are accepte d, belong, and are able to contribute to decision-making processes† (M.  Bell, 2012, p. 5).Imagine all of the important discoveries, policies, and practices that would not exist if we had not recognized the contributions of minority members of our society! That said, there is still a long way to go. Individuals need to be recognized and considered for their qualifications when seeking employment or promotion, not discriminated due to their gender, ethnicity, or cultural differences. In conclusion, the leftie experiment was a real eye-opener! I never realized how difficult seemingly simple things can be for some, and how much I take for grantedThe world is a different place for minorities and we need to level the playing field through acceptance and understanding. Ethnocentricity is not always a bad thing. It is the tie that binds us; but when used to discriminate, it serves only to tear us apart. How do we move forward? Devry College, 2013, Week One Lecture declares that hon esty and â€Å"explaining all options and services available† are key to braking down the barriers between majority and minority groups created by distrust (para. 11).

Thursday, October 10, 2019

Ethical Issues Created by Technology Essay

It is my belief that a crucial part of the ethics of business is computer ethics or information ethics. Most corporations today are teetering on whether computer improprieties are a violation of â€Å"professional ethic† rather than a legal ethics issue. The purpose of this paper will be to examine some of the ethical issues of the Internet as it relates to the theft of private or personal information from the material sent over the Internet. Professional ethics can best be defined as learning what is right or wrong as it relates to the workplace and then doing the right thing. This Code of Professional Ethics lays down the standards of integrity, professionalism and confidentiality which all members of that particular profession shall be bound to respect in their work. Where as legal ethics is best defined as principles of conduct that members of the profession are expected to observe in the constraints of the governing laws. These ethics are usually the outgrowth or the development of both case or Tort court findings and verdicts. To better explain this issue. The Internet is a global Web of linked networks and computers, whose nature is such that it is very difficult if not impossible, to determine its size at a given moment. It is indisputable, however, that the Internet recently has experienced a tremendous growth, with the ranks of new users swelling at ever-increasing rates. This expansion has catapulted it from the realm of academic research towards newfound mainstream acceptance and increased social relevance for the average individual. This increased reliance on the Internet has the potential to erode the personal privacy that an individual once took for granted. New users of the Internet generally do not realize that every post they make to a newsgroup, every piece of email they send, every World Wide Web page they access, and every item they purchase online is monitored or logged by some unseen third party. The impact on personal privacy is enormous. Databases of many different kinds, selling or giving away collections of personal data, already exist, and this practice will only become more common as the demand for this information grows. One of the most interesting examples is that of advertisers and marketers who, by using sophisticated new research, have begun to target the rapidly growing numbers of users online. World Wide Web sites and other interactive online services are being designed to capture the loyalty and spending power of â€Å"the lucrative cyber tot category.† A variety of new interactive advertising and marketing techniques have been developed specifically for this new medium. The right to privacy in Internet activity, especially in creating databases out of personal information, is a serious issue facing society. As such it raises serious ethical issues. An additional example is of the people on the Internet who use anonymous servers as a way to avoid responsibility for controversial and inappropriate behavior. Cases of harassment and abuse have become increasingly frequent, aided by a cloak of anonymity. There are also problems with fraud and scam artists who elude law enforcement authorities through anonymous mailings and postings. These types of examples describe the ethical issues created by technology and the people or corporations that control them. In conclusion I believe that the global nature of the Internet makes addressing the ethical issues associated with Internet or information privacy daunting and complex. It is an arena without walls or physical boundaries, where the ethical values vary from country to country. Even within the United States there is dissent and disagreement about the definitions of â€Å"Internet Privacy,† who owns that information, and what constitutes appropriate or inappropriate use of that information. Perhaps the issues that have been unsuccessfully resolved through the law (or because of a lack of relevant laws) can be resolved through the creation of moral and ethical guidelines that will frame the issues, at which point legal protections can be put in place.

Wednesday, October 9, 2019

Decision Support Systems and Competitive Advantage Assignment

Decision Support Systems and Competitive Advantage - Assignment Example These systems do not make decisions by themselves, but through the presentation of information in a manner that enables decision-making possible and informed (Power, 2002). Â  Their application majorly in most organizations is to help create competitive advantage. This refers to an organization’s resources, capabilities or skills that significantly enhance its success within the market it operates and against rivalry situations it encounters. Such results from carrying out activities better than competitors thus creating value and superior performance to consumers and clients alike (Parsaei, Kolli & Hanley, 1996). A decision support system can only create a competitive advantage for an organization when certain criteria are met. These involve: using it and making it become an important and significant strength of the particular organization once it is implemented; being unique and proprietary to the organization and taking of the advantage provided by its sustainability until the adequate payback is received, which normally takes at least three years. These criteria have to be carefully considered to derive the benefits of the decision support s ystems throughout (Power & Business Expert Press, 2009). Â  Managers have increasingly integrated the use of decision support systems in their organizations through the use of sophisticated data-driven systems to obtain information that was initially present in ordinary files and those on computer storage systems (Green, Stankosky & Vandergriff, 2010).

Tuesday, October 8, 2019

Radiation Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Radiation - Essay Example Finally, I could be exposed to radiation from radio nuclides ingested into the body through food, say from crops that might have taken up radioactive isotopes from the ground or soil as noted by the US Environmental Protection Agency, EPA (2012). Therefore, both natural and artificial objects could expose me to radiation. Exposure to radiation poses adverse health effects, particularly when the duration of exposure is elongated and the intensity of radiation is high. Radiation could cause cancer as tissues get exposed to radioactive elements. Secondly, when foetuses are exposed to radiation, birth defects could occur which include smaller brain size or head, mental retardation or poorly formed eyes. Finally, radiation, particularly ultraviolet radiation from the sun, causes cataracts which are the leading cause of blindness (Nadakavukaren, 2011). The sievert, Sv, is the unit of radiation weighted dose which measures the harmful potential of radiation based on the type of radiation and also the sensitivity of the body organs and tissues involved. 3. Imagine that the LADWP decided to build a power plant on the vacant land at the northwest corner of Lassen and Zelzah.   For the purposes of this exercise, they are considering one of the following three options: a coal power plant that employs 100 people, a solar plant that employs less than ten full time employees, or a nuclear power plant that produces three times the amount of energy as the other two choices. Provide 9 full sentences describing the pros and cons of the proposed options.   Focus on the environmental health issues and include at least 2 statistics in the response. The argument should be balanced and incorporate factual material from at least 3 journal articles from the database link noted above. Should LADWP opt to build a coal power plant, they could benefit from its widespread availability which further protects the environment from the pollution that could result from its transportation had it

Monday, October 7, 2019

Survey of Healthcare Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Survey of Healthcare Management - Essay Example This can also mean that the service delivery becomes slow or there are resources which might fall short of the expected count. This can result in many other service related failures which shall have a direct effect on the lives of the people who come to this healthcare organization and seek help. The need is to understand where the healthcare organization is going wrong and what corrective measures are required on its part to achieve success in the long run (Haines 1993). The service strategy should be such that any issues or concerns are directly addressed by the people who are at the helm of affairs. This would mean that there is a concerted effort to look after the customers so that the customer service can be made better and any issues that might seem failing are addressed at the earliest. This is the need of the hour as far as ensuring that a culture of customer service is developed within a healthcare organization. The service strategy at the healthcare organization creates an environment for employees by detailing each and every policy and standards to them. It has chalked out a plan under which the employees are acutely aware of what is expected of them and what they need to do in order to deliver at the facility. This keeps each and every action of theirs under a check and allows them to be vigilant no matter what happens. Also the healthcare organization is quite aware of the signed rules which have been done by all the employees so that there are no ambiguities which might result from time to time. The need is to understand where the employees might go wrong and what corrective steps shall be required on their part. This is the reason why the service strategy is more focused towards the tasks of the employees than anything which is different from the same. Hence the healthcare organization does not have any issue in understanding where employees might go wrong or what steps would be neede d in the wake of difficult

Sunday, October 6, 2019

Failed bill on education in Texas Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Failed bill on education in Texas - Term Paper Example The Texas education bills passed in the recently were on the expected economic constraints. The recent global economic shortfalls too have affected governance and political engagements in policymaking and legislation. A bill to cut expenses on education in Texas faced rejection from the teachers since it would reduce their salaries and they would be laid off without compensation. In addition, the appropriation bill had a shortfall in students allocation per head this affected the number of entries of new students and the it was seen as if it would compromise on output by teachers (Collegedegrees.com, 2011). Apart from that the political differences also affected the bills since different positions were taken not to give more money to the financially derailed schools and hoping for organizations to chip in and sponsor some programs. Whilst most legislators were interested in maintaining their strength in the house, the bills were falling back. Legislation is all polices and the game o f politics is never a clan game but various personal interests are vested upon at the expense of the commoners, hence, you find that implementations of bills don’t meet the threshold so as to bring actual enactment required since the politicians played their cards close to their chests. The bill that failed to pass in Texas was that which could allow concealed weapons on campuses. Proponents of the bill argued that responsible armed students can make campuses safer than before and assist in preventing shootings like the one witnessed in Virginia Tech in 2007. It had a lot of support from the public, the governor, eighty eight co- sponsors, two thirds of the senate and one hundred and fifty members from the house of representatives, the public were sure it will become a law but the bill faced several procedural roadblocks and could not reach the governor’s desk and be passed. In addition, those who proposed the bill argued that this bill was based on matters of self-def ense in cases where harmless students are attacked. On the other hand, opponents of the bill argued that if guns were allowed on campus, it could lead to increased violence (Austin, 2011). The school voucher bill was viewed as one that will take away money from the public schools and that this would work contrary to their favor as much as the bill gave parents a choice and liberty for their children to enjoy private schools at the expense of taxpayer’s money. The charter bill also did favor the military and treat children of the rich families as very special. Citizens must be treated equally without favor or prejudice. In addition, level of abilities must be known and those of less ability should be given better terms while enjoying their liberty of choice. Some bills would give parents unwarranted powers, for example, to close down a low performing school. This was viewed as a self-gun shot in the leg since parents would peck their fingers and over demand. Parents cannot be trusted with some powers, given to them, this would bring undue unrest and hatred amongst the students and teachers as scenarios of students accusing the teachers would be witnessed. This bill was ill motivated and was not guaranteed to succeed for the sake of teacher-parent relationship and coexistence between the teachers and students (Austin, 2011). One of the failed bills was to favor charter schools in which they would be allowed to participate in extracurricular activities at traditional schools. The approach to win it was tactful but it failed since it was acquired that this would be more work for the public schools as those in charter schools made their choice at the expense of co curricular activit