Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant

AP Book Report 1. Title of Work: Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant 2. Author and date written: Anne Tyler, written during the 1970s-1980s. 3. Country of author: Baltimore, Maryland, United States of America 4. Characters: Pearl Tull (major)- The single mother of three children, Cody, Ezra, and Jenny. She is very independent and resourceful. Pearl sets very high standards for herself and does not want assistance from anyone. Ezra Tull (major)- Ezra is the middle child and the youngest son of Pearl. He is the most sympathetic character in the novel. Throughout the novel, Ezra is noted to be the favored child of the three. Cody Tull (major)- Cody is the eldest son of Pearl. He is the least sympathetic character in the novel is very straightforward. He grew up with a troubled childhood and usually takes most of his anger, hatred, and jealousy on his brother, Ezra. He dominates the novel because Tyler has given him more chapters on his point of view than others. Jenny Tull (major)- The is the youngest and only daughter of Pearl Tull. Jenny often recalls painful events of her childhood, most of which involves her mother. She grows up to become a pediatrician and is married three times. Towards the end, she realizes she has a lot in common with her mother. Beck Tull (minor)- The husband of Pearl and father of the three children. He is handsome, fragile man who is employed as salesman. Beck abandons Pearl after fifteen years of marriage claiming that his company has relocated. Mrs. Scarlatti (minor)- Ezra's business partner and the owner of Scarlatti's Restaurant. She is also like a mother figure to Ezra. Mrs. Scarlatti is a relaxed and flexible character. She leaves the restaurant to Ezra after she dies and he changes the name to Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant. 5. Major settings: The story is mainly set around Baltimore, Maryland. Pearl, Ezra, and Jenny, with the exception of her college and medical school years, have resided in Baltimore most of their lives. Cody spends the less time in Baltimore because his job requires traveling. However, he purposely decides to choose a place away from home. The novel takes place from the 1920s to 1979. 6. Plot Outline: The novel starts with Pearl Tull lying in the hospital bed dying. She is reminiscing while her youngest son, Ezra is by her side. The story then slowly flashes back to when her kids were younger. It begins when the Tull family is abandoned by their father. Pearl is left to raise three kids on her own ithout the assistance of others. The story progresses as each of her children tells of their past experiences. Her oldest son Cody, often criticized his mother on his upbringing. He is jealous of his brother, Ezra, claiming that he is his mother's favorite. Ezra, on the other hand is the most innocent child of the three. He is closest to his mother and apprecia tes her. Ezra was part of the military but later decided to come back to Baltimore and work at Scarlatti's Restaurant, owned by Mrs. Scarlatti. After becoming a favorite of his boss, who he also considers a surrogate mother, he ends up owing part of the restaurant. When Mrs. Scarlatti dies, Ezra is left with the restaurant and he renames it to â€Å"Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant†. Her youngest child, Jenny, is the first one of her children to get married. Jenny runs into trouble in all her marriages. She has divorced and married three times. However, Jenny seems to be the only one that is able to find happiness. She works as a successful pediatrician and is raising kids as well. The main goal in the novel is to complete a family meal. The Tulls will often gather together at Ezra's restaurant, but every time the dinner starts, it always ends in an argument. In the end, Pearl dies and is not able to join her children for a complete meal, but they have their father present to take her place. 7. Major themes: Alienation and Loneliness- Pearl Tull is portrayed as an extremely alienated individual. After her husband leaves her to care for three children, she is determined to raise her kids without assistance from anyone. She won't even inform her best friend about her husband, and when the neighbors ask about him, she tells them he's on a business trip. This distance she has with the community affects her children as well. They long to see her gossiping with other women or having some outside connection with others. Growth and Development- Each of the characters in the novel have grown or developed in one way or another. As time passes, Jenny begins to realize that she's acquired some of her mother's good and bad traits. Ezra, however, remains somewhat of a child as he grows up. Nonetheless, he shows the most concern for others, even non-family members. Cody still remains as competitive as he was as a child. He doesn't find much happiness and is confused about his motivation until he confronts his father. He then begins to realize his actions and reactions in the past. 8. Symbols in the book: One of the symbols in the novel is the restaurant. The restaurant is a symbol of togetherness in the family. The restaurant and the Tull family are not very stable, and both have Ezra trying to keep them from falling apart. After Ezra is left with the restaurant, her changes the name and tries to keep it running. In addition to that, he is also trying to bring his family together. He often calls them for a family dinner. However, the dinners always end up in some sort of argument. Another symbol in the novel is vision. In the novel, Pearl's vision is slowly dissapearing. This symbol represents that she is starting to lose her children. She only remembers them as children and doesn't know them as adults. However, when there's a lot of light in the room, she can see the silhouette of Ezra, which shows that he is closest to her. 9. Significant Imagery: Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant is a novel that suggests a homely, everyday activity. In this novel, the action is eating. Ezra, the cook in his restaurant is the central image. He serves food that is not only for consuming but also medicinal and curative. The colors, textures, and feel of the delicious food serve as an essential component in both cooking an eating. The novel revolves mostly around olfactory images. 10. Significance of title of work: The title of the novel is the name of Ezra's restaurant. â€Å"Homesick† can be interpreted in many ways, as it is in the novel. Someone can be â€Å"sick for home†, â€Å"sick at home†, and â€Å"sick from home†. The Tull family often has family dinners, but they always go unfinished due to an argument. However, these dinners are what keep the family together. In the end, everyone but Pearl has a finished dinner. The pressure might have lessened after she died. 1. Author's techniques that are important to this work: Anne Tyler tells Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant from many different viewpoints. Each of the chapters is told from a characters perspective. These chapters also reveals something that is unique or unusual about the character. By alternating the di fferent viewpoints, the reader understands the characters better than they understand themselves. Another technique Tyler uses is the emotional tone of the novel. Throughout the novel, majority of the conversations have an overwhelming emotion in it. This suggests that the family lives under a lot of pressure.

Aspects of Meaning

Jubayr zakariyya Aspects of meaning assignment 1 The experiment that has been conducted, and written about in the paper ‘The representation of polysemous words', by Devorah Klein and Gregory Murphy, endeavours to uncover the degrees to which different senses of polysemous words use the same or diverse kind of representations. Whilst homonyms from a linguistic perspective, are groups of words that share the same orthographical and phonological characteristics, yet do not share the same semantic meaning.There are a number of theoretical perspectives pertaining to the root cause of how two separate word meanings are able to converge on the same phonological representation, or how a single word is able to separate into diverse and separate semantic meanings. But the term ‘polysemy' refers to something that is intrinsically more complex, and as Klein and Murphy have noted in their paper, more problematical in terms of defining its root source and in which ways are the senses r elated and represented.What Klein and Murphy mean by this, and have studied in this paper, is the process in which words semantically relate to one another, through a process of extension. Yet unlike homonyms, polysemous words do not have lexically separate meanings, which leads to the questions of whether polysemous words have a single represented sense that can be accounted for every use of a word, how can they be linked in memory, and how are they co-ordinated in processing. Klein and Murphy aim to ‘provide data that will constrain accounts of the representation and processing of polysemy'(Klein and Murphy (2001)).The first experiment that was conducted entailed the use of memory performance in order to measure the representation of polysemous senses. it was particularly looking at whether people were more familiar with a same sense or a different sense than the original presentation given. the results showed that same phrase items were the most precisely evaluated, which w as followed by the consistent sense phrases. The inconsistent sense phrases were the most error prone. Klein and Murphy also suggest that words being seen in identical context was the most helpful in getting a correct evaluation.The results here point out that the way in which a polysemous word is processed initially affects later memory access. After conducting a number of detailed experiments, Klein and Murphy conclude that polysemous senses are semantically related, yet they are not extremely similar, which consequently results in ‘same-sense facilitation' and ‘cross sense inhibition' (Klein and Murphy (2001)). If a polysemous word does not contain a core meaning, it is no longer a substantial semantic component thatis common to all senses in a given word. word count: 429

Alternate energy

Alternate energy – the solution to our depleting natural resources. A viable way to counter the effects of global warming. But is it really so? Every argument has its own pros and cons and we need to study both the sides before reaching on a hasty conclusion. As with all other discussions, the discussion centering around alternate energy sources has its own handful of proponents and opponents. Alternate energy sources are hailed the most due to their inexpensive and less polluting nature. Alternate energy sources are those which can be substituted for fossil fuels and include biofuels.Biofuels include among them vegetable oils, ethanol and methanol. As against fossil fuels, non renewable energy sources do not have a limited supply and hence their usage is not feared to bring about a rapid exhaustion of the resources. Careful studies of nonrenewable sources have made scientists to predict about possible exhaustion of these resources in coming century. The Federal Institute for Geosciences and Natural Resources puts an the lifetime of conventional oil to be only 32 years more, while its estimates about natural gas show that it will last 65 years more.This is one of the reasons that renewable resources are so much sought after now since the continuance of our work processes depending on these resources, is not threatened by their diminishing supply. Scientific studies have already revealed how the use of non renewable sources has proved to be hazardous to not just the environment but also the health of the population. This paper will discuss multiple sides of the issues of using these alternate energy sources. These issues are economic, ethical, social and environmental. We will discuss how the use of alternate energy sources will lead to less of global warming.In the environmental context, fossil fuels have been proven to be hazardous to nature and health. The environment is at great stake if we continue to use these fossil fuels. The combustion of fossil fuels leads to a number of pollutions ranging from water and land pollution to air pollution. It is held today that the highest amount of environmental pollution can be attributed to none other than the combustion of these fuels. The smog caused by the combustion of these fuels can not only cause human sickness but can also be dangerous to the sustainability of crops.Similarly, the release of carbon dioxide in environment form the burning of these fuels is a major cause of global warming. Many climate changes are a result of this global warming. Continued use of these fossil fuels will only aggravate the situation. The conversion of fossil fuels is another environmental problem as it results in solid waste accumulation. Another threat posed by fossil fuels is that of spill offs in seas and oceans during their delivery. This proves to be a menace to the marine life and very difficult to clean up. Biofuels in contrast do not have any such hazards attached to them.Burning biofuels rele ases carbon monoxide and sulphur dioxide in lesser quantities. A model by Argonne National Laboratory (ANL) shows that neat biodiesel form soya beans cut down the global warming pollution by more than 50% in comparison to conventional petroleum based diesel. Some other sources for biofuels such as algae have the potential of providing up to 90% reductions in global warming pollution. Biodiesel is also made form recycled food oil and waste products. Use of advanced technologies in future will see that the waste streams are being converted to diesel fuels.This will result in production of low carbon diesel. Biodiesel has got an edge over petroleum diesel fuel when it comes to low pollution emission. Biodiesel emit less of hydrocarbons as compared to conventional diesels and thus are environmentally safer. In environmental context then, biofuels seem to be a more viable option, by being less harmful and detrimental to environment and health. The issue of energy sources is such that now it has even got mixed with politics. In evaluating the viability of alternate energy sources, we also have to consider the political context relevant to the situation.Governments are now more than ever concerned about the dwindling supplies of fuels and hence are pushing for alternate energy sources. Before using an alternate energy source then, the political issues that need to be considered are many. One of the many aspects considered by a government before venturing into the development of any alternate energy source is the jobs and the growth provided by the fuels industry. The renewable industry is a newly developing one and has potential for growth in future. This is what the Canadian government has in mind and is one of the reasons why it is pursuing a greater use of renewable energy sources.Governments like Canada seek alternate energy source such as biofuels because they offer immense reductions in greenhouse gases (Susanne, 2007). They also provide an economical energy so urce for governments in the face of increasing petroleum prices. The basic reason however governments may consider alternate energy fuels such as these is the wish to support farming and rural communities. Hence, political issues such as consideration of population and growth and job opportunities in the alternate energy industry are some of the political aspects a government considers before opting for such a resource.The Canadian government has opted to go for biodiesels which shows that this form of energy is being sought after readily by governments and they think it as a feasible option to not only counteract the effects of global warming but also be beneficial in terms of providing job opportunities to the farmer population. If we consider the socio-economic aspect of this issue, we would see that alternate energy sources are being seen by governments as a lucrative option since governments have seen an increase in farm-products and thus that this could boost rural incomes (FA O, 2008).Hence, all the more reason to support the alternate energy source. Economically, the biofuels could prove to be fruitful for farmers in developed countries. The FAO report 2008 states that farmers of the developing countries could be supported and aided to reap the benefits of its production. If biofuels is produced in developing countries, not only will it be economically profitable for the local population but it will be a major cause for reduction in pollution. Todaro, in his book Economic development states that the most cumulative environmental degradation has been caused by the developed world.However, this trend is very much likely to reverse because of decreasing income patterns and high population growth rates in developing countries. Thus, providing the population of developing countries with a cheap substitute to fossil fuels will ensure lesser pollution created in the developing world. Keeping all these points in view, I opine that alternate energy sources are i ndeed the need of the day and promoting their use will reduce pollution and combat global warming. However, some contrasting views have also been found related to the use of biofuels.These present some problems in deciding whether to promote the use of biofuels or not. Producing biofuels requires more fossil fuel energy than is gained by the consumption of the fuel (Pimentel, 2001). Hence, it contributes to global warming and pollution too. On the political forefront, biofuels, particularly ethanol is being opposed against by the environmentalists on the grounds that promoting the use of biofuels might encourage farmers to abandon food crops and plant cash crops instead, which could then be used in producing fuel.Europe is one such region which has pursued in the past for policies favoring biofuels. However, the policy decision made in 2008, has met with strict criticism from lobbyists, citizens and environmentalists. Ethanol, one of the biofuels, then does not appear to have a stro ng foothold when it comes to political grounds. Policies to promote biofuels in regions such as Europe and U. S have met with censure and disapproval as it does not seem to be such a feasible source. Political and environmental arguments however are not the only ones to be considered.The social aspects have to be considered too. One may argue that producing biofuels will be good for society. More cash crops will be grown, with better return to society and less production of pollution. However, a study shows how the production of biofuels is actually a social tragedy for humans. To sum up, the report declares that producing biofuels is not a feasible option as it will only be disastrous for farmers, the environment, and citizens, particularly, the poor ones (Altieri & Bravo, 2007). The report gives example of U.S that how even the utilization of all soya bean and corn crops will not be enough to meet more than 12% of its gasoline’s needs and 6% of diesel needs. One-fifth of co rn harvest in U. S has already been dedicated to biofuels but this too could meet only 3% of its domestic energy demands. Is it then ethical to pursue this option when it seems to have a plethora of arguments opposing it? Apparently, there is a trade-off between the economic and environmental benefits to be reaped from the production of biofuels, against the social costs of getting the food crops being replaced by cash crops.Cheap fuel to source the industries of a country or food for feeding the population? These are the two precarious questions waiting to be answered. Through the course of the discussion of paper, we have seen how alternate energy source may prove one of the ways to combat pollution and be beneficial for the environment. However, to do so at the social cost of hungry population would be a crucial mistake. The key to this problem is maintaining a balance between the two. In the face of food crisis and rising food prices, priority should be set on solving the proble ms of food security.Developing countries, hence must not seek out so actively to promote the use of alternate energy source. Rather, their focus should be on getting the food crisis resolved. One of the FAO’s recommendations with regard to this aspect says that â€Å"policies should be developed with appropriate international coordination to ensure that the international system supports environmental sustainability goals as well as social goals for agricultural development and poverty and hunger reduction†.Hence, to achieve the goals environmental sustainability, alternate energy source i. e. biodiesels must be sought keenly but only if the social costs of doing so are not greater than the economic profitability. References: FAO report, (2008), The State of Food and Agriculture, Part I: Biofuels: Prospects, Risks and Opportunities, pp 88-90. Retrieved August 17, 2010 from http://www. foodfirst. org/node/1662 R. S. , Susanne (2010, February), Canadians backing biofuels. Retrieved August 17, 2010 from http://www. biodieselmagazine. com/article. jsp? article_id=3993 Pimentel. (2001), The limitations of biomass energy, Encyclopedia of Physical Sciences and Technology. San Diego: Academic Press,159–171 Altieri, M. A. , & Bravo, E. (March 2007), The ecological and social tragedy of crop-based biofuel production in the Americas. Retrieved August 17, 2010 from http://www. foodfirst. org/node/1662 Todaro, M. P & Smith, S. C, Economic Development, 2002, Prentice Hall

Computerized Management Systems Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Computerized Management Systems - Essay Example Computer System evaluation In order to attain efficiency and excellence, hospitals may implement the ELECTRA System. This system is valuable in that it provides health institutions with the appropriate management tools. These tools include stimulation, analysis and modeling. Proper documentation is also attainable through the use of the ELECTRA system. These management tools are equally vital because they enable health care providers to offer quality services to patients and increase their level of productivity (ACGIL, 2010). Administrator plus Administrator Plus is used together with other technologies and assists in carrying out different duties in health care institutions. Administrator plus is particularly used by different specialists in promoting health care. These specialists are mainly the administrators and managers. The system can only run using Microsoft applications (Accurate Info Soft Pvt. Ltd., 2011). Discussion How computerized management systems could increase quality of care ELECTRA The utilization of the ELECTRA system is of great advantage to hospitals because it helps in the promotion of quality services offered to patients. In addition, hospitals that wish to operate at low costs while still ensuring efficiency should consider applying the ELECTRA system. This system provides different managerial advantages to a health care institution including telemedicine, enquiry management, pharmacy management and queue management. The ELECTRA system allows healthcare providers to serve many patients within a short period. ELECTRA helps in keeping patients’ data and booking appointments with staff members. Computer systems that improve the quality of work in health care institutions are those that can effectively serve many patients within a short period (ACGIL, 2010). Administrator Plus Administrator Plus promotes quality by streamlining the different operations carried out in hospitals. This is made possible through consultant management, pati ent management and OPD. Patient management is vital because it enables staff members to collect and retrieve data. This system is most effective in a hospital that serves hundreds of patients at any particular time. Administrator Plus is of considerable advantage to doctors because it helps to save time (Accurate Info Soft Pvt. Ltd., 2011). Getting nurses involved The application of ELECTRA and Administrator Plus cannot be successful unless nurses are involved. This is because nurses are expected to give a report on the inflow and outflow of patients in hospitals. It is therefore important to involve the nurses’ in the selection of the type of system that would be most appropriate in health care. Gordon and Cox noted that when nurses are involved in implementation of technology, managers learn about their attitude towards certain technology (ACGIL, 2010). In addition, the medical fraternity will be linked to different technological experts through the involvement of nurses in the implementation of technology. Involvement of nurses also helps in setting the priorities among staff members. This is a vital step in avoiding cryptic issues. It can therefore be noted that health care institutions should not only ask nurses to apply certain technologies to their operations but should also

Single Professional Code in the Construction Industry Essay

Single Professional Code in the Construction Industry - Essay Example Interestingly, there are apparent moves on the part of contractors to promote ethical codes in their own backyard. Considering this innovation, it is being entertained if creating a single professional code under the umbrella of the construction industry is feasible and practical. (Society of Construction Law Hong Kong. Events by Other Organizations. 7th May 2008, [internet]). As a matter of fact, there have been initiatives to the effect of adopting a single ethical code for unorganized groups working within the coverage of construction law. (Franklin, Kim. Ethical gauntlet thrown down in pursuit of construction code. Architects' Journal. EMAP Architecture. 2004. [internet]). On the question of feasibility, it is believed that there are no hindrances or hitches in consolidating the various standards of conduct among the different callings or disciplines with the end in view of covering the professional relationships between all concerned parties in construction projects. This will be a matter of crafting the papers which will address all the ethical concerns of persons or entities in the construction industry and which will guide all those involved in every project. However, in the meantime, the consolidated version does not have to encroach on the ethical code of each individual organization. In short, the new code will be something like an amalgamation of the individual codes which will be applicable in the inter-actions and inter-relations of the covenanting parties in construction undertakings. As to whether the plan for a single ethical code is practical or not, it is opined that it will be so, the reason being that any party who needs clarification or is in doubt may readily refer to only one set of deliberated and agreed standards, that is, the new single code of ethics. Whatever it will be, the more important consideration is that the so-called seven principles of public office may be covered in the new single convention as the main guiding icons for construction professionals, practitioners and other participants, thus: honesty, fairness, integrity, objectivity, reliability, accountability and leadership. (Seven principles of public office. Standards - Related Information. www.parliament.uk. [internet]). Putting all these virtues together in one array of dictums in the building industry for the players to observe, follow and obey under pain of reasonable sanctions will greatly instil good behaviour and wholesome attitude. In the process, performance will be enhanced a nd the positive results will naturally redound to the benefit of the stakeholders. Honesty has very significant repercussions in construction projects. One example is in the case of bribery, a form of dishonesty. If a contractor makes illegal special deals with environment regulators, he puts at stake the welfare of the people. This becomes relevantly true today owing to the current global sentiments over climate phenomena. Other classes of dishonesty in the construction industry are fraudulent claims, kickbacks or illegal and immoral commissions, and forgery of pertinent documents, among others. The exercise of fairness among the players in the construction industry necessarily boosts morale among its key players who will thereby work harder and more effectively. On the other hand, if a contractor, for instance, is biased in favour of a sub-contractor, the

Should fighting be banned from hockey Explain your reasoning Essay

Should fighting be banned from hockey Explain your reasoning - Essay Example Recently NHL has been banning fights, but as said earlier, the fights remain to be a main attraction in hockey games. While the NHL does not necessarily approve of the violence in the game, there are some unwritten rules in hockey and most of them have something to do with fighting. On the other side of the coin there are also written rules when playing hockey, and some of it are (McNaughton 1): 1) not being the third man in; 2) not leaving the bench to join the fight and 3) dropping of gloves and stick if someone intends to enter into an altercation. There are definitely penalties for getting into fights like being ejected or suspended; and all players must adhere to the rules or they are subjected to additional penalties which are generally known as misconducts. Another article claims that hockey fighting should not be banned in the game because hockey is a physical sport and things are expected to get rough now and again. But nobody likes to see a player get seriously hurt during or after a brawl (Ruth 1). Revising the rule calls for imposing correct restrictions that if a player gets out of line or intentionally hurts another player, then â€Å"he must be put in his proper place.† John Buccigross says he finds it hard to believe that hockey fans merely go to the games and watch it because of the expected fights, which if they do happen is usually short lived (1). He goes on to suggest that to avoid head and face injuries, hockey players should wear full facial protective gears. Buccigross also pointed out that enforcers within the games are needed to protect the star players who play in order to win the game. He likewise states that even if the NHL bans fighting in the games, there would still be fights due to the tensions and expectation of the players. Rick Sadowski of Rocky Mountain News similarly commented that there will always be fighting in hockey games even if the league officials impose sanctions like automatic

World Food Programme Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

World Food Programme - Essay Example It is evidently clear from the discussion that the European Union is the major donor and it plays an integral part in the WFP. This includes proving support to the organization in order to help them meet their stated goals. However, there are other various organizations that are dedicated to disaster assistance, and among them is the American Red Cross, Oxfam, Catholic Relief Services and many other organizations. WEP work in various areas where there is problems of weather and other disaster issues. The mission of WFP is based on their strategic goals; thus there is mission is to regard as a living document that is reviewed occasionally. The main aim of the program is to promote food security and help the populations that have been impacted by a disaster. The first role is to provide food to help the victims to maintain a healthy life. They have a policy that governs them and these include poverty and hunger eradication across the globe. They target intervention is to improve the li ving standards of people. They work in order to improve life of people living under absolute poverty and those that have been impact by crisis. WFP respond to the disaster issues by providing disaster relief to improve the socio and economic growth of the country or the population that have been impacted by disaster. They meet refugees and offer emergency food security to the victims. They also help in emergency situation in case the victims need special medical attention. Lastly they support the victims through promoting self-reliance especially to the poor people or communities through labor-intensive programs. Their operating budget is used for developmental activities and saving the lives of people being impacted by disasters. They partner with the government in areas that have being impacted in order to allocate relief id effectively. This organization concentrates on emergency cases and utilizes the available resources effectively in order to deliver humanitarian aid effective ly across the areas that need their help. Another organization dedicated to disaster assistance is American Red Cross (ARC). The Washington D.C established this organization in 1881 and it is a global organization that dedicates them toward saving the lives of people.  ARC is a humanitarian organization, which offers relief emergency and education within the U.S. It helps the needy and dedicates themselves towards distributing blood to those who require blood. This is in most cases where accidents have occurred and offer education on disaster preparedness. They also educate people on the way they can maintain health and offer safety as well as relief programs. The mission of the organization is to avert and alleviate people suffering from any disaster issues; thus they offer emergency though mobilizing volunteers and donors. The vision statement is working with the network of volunteers and donors in any emergency cases; thus turning action to help the affected people. They operat e their budget by setting aside relief emergency resources for using during the emergency cases. They utilize their resources in ensuring that the nation access to health, safe and blood products. Their program is voluntary and they work together with those who volunteer themselves to maintain unity; thus they work without discrimination of age, sex or race.

Summary of the narrative life of frederick douglass, An american slave Essay

Summary of the narrative life of frederick douglass, An american slave - Essay Example His mother died without him knowing her well. At the age of seven, his mother's body was found dead in one of Frederick master's farm, near Lee's Mill. Having no slight intimation with his mother, he accepted her death like an ordinary death of a stranger, with no spark of pain in his heart. His first master was Captain Anthony. People by his time say that his master is his father by which he did not confirm to be a fact. Captain Anthony is a clerk and superintendent of Colonel Edward Lloyd. This man owns from three to four hundred slaves in his plantation. Every month the slaves receive their monthly allowance of food - eight pounds of pork or fish, and one bushel of corn. Aside from this, they also receive a yearly clothing of two coarse linen shirts and one pair of shoes. Just when he thought he is going to spend his entire life under the agony of slavery, suddenly hope came his way upon knowing that he was allowed by Captain Anthony to stay in Baltimore with Mr. Hugh Auld. He was between the age of seven and eight that time. By the time Frederick reached Mr. and Mrs. Auld's house, he had felt the warmest welcome he had ever experienced in his entire life. This was the first time he had ever seen the most pleasant faces of slaveholders. The city slave, unlike the slaves in the plantation, is almost a freeman. His stay to this place gave him the opportunity to learn the basics of English alphabet, through the help of Sophia Auld, his new mistress. But then, when her husband found out what she was doing, she had been forbidden to teach Frederick, for the reason that according to him, "learning would spoil the best nigger in the world." Frederick this time has to learn reading in his own perseverance, and to bring his dream into reality, he made friends with the white boys whom he encountered in the street that later on helped him succeed in learning to read. At the age of ten or eleven, he returned to his hometown, Holmes Hill Farm. This is because his master, Captain Anthony, died and all the slaves, including him have to be divided between his master's children, Mrs. Lucretia and Mr. Andrew. During this process, slaves were scrutinized before the division. No one wished to be a slave for Mr. Andrew for he is cruel and merciless like all other masters. Lucky enough, Frederick was chosen to be a slave for Mrs. Lucretia's and was sent back to Baltimore. Upon reaching the age when he could give dates, Frederick has left Baltimore to live with Master Thomas in March 1832. This time, he was sent to a guy named Mr. Covey. This guy claims to be religious, but has no heart for his slaves. He finds pleasures in whipping them all the time, and Frederick, being one of the slaves, did not escape this. He was beaten almost everyday until the time he thought it would be a benefit to take his own life. But the Ganadores 3 hope of freedom still lingers in his mind that stopped him from committing

Select 3 artworks designed by 3 graphic artists of your choice Essay

Select 3 artworks designed by 3 graphic artists of your choice. Following an extensive research on the elements and principles - Essay Example The message in it is feeling good. Although there is a sense of humor in the design of this work, this has not overridden the sense of seriousness in it because his sincere thoughtfulness and intimate approach elevate his design. Evidently, the graphic designer has managed to achieve a commendable presentation of the elements and principles of art in this piece of work. The color selection and distribution has been wisely done and this has created a good tonal contrast, enhanced harmony in the artwork and helped to mark out the shapes of the various components of the artwork more clearly. There is a good contrast between the various components of the art like the acacia trees, the shrubs, the Good design and the sky. Texture and shape are well brought out in the artwork using shapes, color and lines. A single look at artwork is enough to reveal that the acacia leaves are smooth but they have sharp thorns and the branches of the shrubs are sharp and prickly. The artist has managed to stimulate the ‘feel good mood’ through a strategic positioning of the Good design, using color contrast and shape to emphasize on it and the use of the bright color tones around it. The tactful tilting of G and d is powerful enough to provoke limitless feeling of happiness in the viewers of the artwork. There is a good use of space and representation of distance through a careful selection of color shades, use of light and size of objects. For example, bigger and light objects represent the nearest distance while the furthest part of the sky is represented by the dark blue color. Generally, the artwork is of a good scale, it is well balanced and all the components are proportional. No component is too big or small for its location and neither is one-half of the artwork more overloaded than the other one. This work is both directional and emphatic. wiu.edu (1) defines direction as the visual path the viewer’s eye will follow. Direction has been created using color and observers can easily assume their standing point behind the dark leaves and focus towards the artwork’s focal point, the Good design. By paying attention to the smaller details of this work, Sagmeister managed to come up with a piece of graphic art that offers something new every time one looks at it. Bobby Logic Bobby Logic is one graphic artist who strongly believes that artwork is a mood shifter and awakens the inner soul of man. This is clearly evidenced by the artist’s pieces of work including the Sancta Margot, a piecework he produced in 2011. Seemingly, the intention of this art is to enlighten the hearts and minds of those who see it by generating a dramatic mood. The artist has achieved this very well. The selection of bright colors, especially for the Sancta Margot and the bubbles is powerful enough to electrify the mind of the viewers and bring radiant beauty, making life colorful and vibrant. The artist also deserves credit for his careful use of line to enhance the mood of the artwork. The soft sensitive lines of the face and arms were effective in creating a graceful image, which is powerful enough to generate emotional attachment unlike when he could have used a heavy gesture line or mechanical lines. The representation of the bubbles as round, bright and smooth is helpful in drawing the viewers of this artwork into a solemn moment of reflecting on the good and pleasurable side of life. The careful use of lines and color has also helped to enhance shape, tonal

Law (International Business) - Problem Question Essay

Law (International Business) - Problem Question - Essay Example In the case of Shipping Corporation of India Ltd v Gamlen Chemical Co (A/Asia) Pty Ltd (1980)147CLR 142 (High Court of Australia, 1980), the facts of the case was that the carrier – Shipping Corporation of India Ltd was contracted to transport goods to Gamlen from Sydney in Australia. During the ship’s passage it encountered heavy weather and rough seas in Australian waters. On arrival the goods were found to be in damaged. The shipper sued the carrier for breach of article 3(2) of the Hague-Visby Rules which requires that the goods be carefully loaded, handed, cared for and discharged. The court of Australia found that the damage to the goods was the result of a combination of factors involving perils at sea and improper stowage. Therefore the carrier was not allowed to invoke the Article 4 exceptions which allows for perils at sea. This was due to the carrier’s failure to exercise due diligence which was considered to be a concurrent or dominant cause of the da mage sustained. The carrier could not therefore deny responsibility for the losses suffered by the shipper in circumstances where the carrier’s failure to exercise due diligence was one of the causes of the losses incurred.

Apple with Porters Model and Core Capabilities Essay Example for Free

Apple with Porters Model and Core Capabilities Essay Introduction Apple Inc was founded in 1976 by Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak with another 20 employees, the company started in Steve’s garage. Apple inc and its subsidiaries or collectively Apple is a manufactures, design and owner of variety of high technology included media player, portable music player, personal computer, smart phone, tablet as well as selling the related digital products like software, network services, third party digital content and application for Apple’s products. Apple first announced new innovated laptops called the Mac book and the most important step for further success is the accessing the MP3 player with their own iPod in 2001. Moreover, they even entered the recently mobile phone industry with the Smartphone- Iphone in 2008. Apple has been changing the entire of the market with the position of the world’s largest producer of PC’s main marketshare holder. The featured products of Apple in the recent years include Iphone, Ipad, mac, Ipod high reted platform and its application for consumers in the iOs and Mac Os. From being Pc producer at the beginning of 80’s, with controlling a small share of industry, after several circumstances it changed to be the success organisation due to its Mac computers and other products are profitable. But there is only temporary issues for Apple to claim its market lead position in the PC industry. Apple success analysis with Porter’s strategies and Core Capabilities Goal and structure of this report In this report, a review of the current situation of personal computer industry and Apple’s PC Business and discuss: Review the of Apple by giving a brief introduction of the organisation and history of the products that are developed by Apple. Critically evaluate Porter’s five forces model and Porter’s generic strategies and discuss the extent to which these ideas by giving our strategic advice to aid the company in attaining sustainable for competitive advantage within the PC industry. Critically discuss the concept of core competencies and explain how the Apple could build on its core capabilities to enhance their further strategy. We end this report with our recomendation and our conclusion on the subject. Business background Apple several times confirmed to bring the best user experience to their consumers thourgh their innovative products. Besides, Apple’s strategy creates a unique power to develop its own unique platform with superior quality with the simplest design and easy to approach. Apple continues to invest in research and development and marketing to maintain their products’s positions in markets. As a part of plan, Apple has been expanding its platform to delivery of third party digital content and applications via the itune which allows customers to download applications, books, music through either iOs’s products namely iPhone, iPad or Mactonish as well as Windows computers. Apple also has been supporting the information technology community in the world for the development of third party software and hardware products. Apple’s strategies in plan include both expanding its sale market to close reach more consumers and serve a superior before and after purchases su pport experience. Porter’s Five forces Competitive Force 1: Rivalry among Existing Firms Apple mainly get involve two field in the hardware industry are the personal computer and portable devices markets. According to the Credit Suisse First Boston, it is estimated that personal computer growth in 2005 will be approximately 8%, which is 3% lower than 2004. And concentration in this market which is controlled by a few very large competitors who have a great deal of capital invested in the firms, namely, Dell, HP Compaq, Gateway, and Apple. In 2005, Dell and Apple are speculated to have the most potential to increase market share in the PC market due to lack of new product introductions by other firms and the anticipation of Microsoft Longhorn in 2006. If Apple is able to increase its market share by a few percentage points, its profits and ability to spend on marketing, and research and development (RD) could allow them to become a much more serious player. Currently, Apple dominates the portable music industry music market with an estimated 90% for hard disk based players, and 65% of the total portable music market. In both the personal computer and portable music markets, component costs are large part of the total hardware costs, but through Apple’s product differentiation and higher pricing they are able to counteract the price wars that usually ensue under such conditions. Finally, there are little to no exit barriers in either market, which could be advantageous in ousting some of Apple’s competition in the future. Competitive Force 2: Threat of New Entrants There are no many large companies that take the huge shares in market, who these are Dell, Hp, Compaq. There are large economies of scale in PC market, and it limits the new threat of entrants. The threat of entry, therefore, puts a cap on the profi t potential of an industry (Porter 2008 p 4). A new entrant have to create advantages to compare the old strong ones in computer market. And that is not the only one barrie which limits new entrant, patents of forms are legal barriers where late rival can not be competitive giant. The more patents on personal computer designs, the more competitive the leaders can get, which is not an easy for new entrant and get over with out huge amount of start-up capital in the modern market. Moreover, basically, there are two main operating systems for PC: windows and Mac OS X, and the second one is impossible to get license for new entrants. Apple is comfortable with enjoying the one of first starter in hardware manufactors of creating innovative products include Iphone, iPod while numerous portable devices in markets in last five years which are not different from others or the advantages are not enough to controll the market like Apple has been doing. The threat of a counter of consumers who eventually are being shy away from company’s dominace. The fact is the phenomenon when Microsoft is on the top of OS market and some of consumers are heading to another ocean and Mac oS and Linux are samples. Eventhough it is not an immediate threat, Apple could be aware of that. Competitive Force 3: Threat of Substitute Products On the side of PC, Apple’s market contains a huge number of products from above rivals. Especially, each of competitors possess a wide range of products in term of designs, prices, functions. It would seem as Apple PC can be replaced anytime in case of Apple’s products do not against the same level products. When the threat of substitutes is high, industry profitability suffers (Porter 2008 p7). In the last few year, Apple has reduced the concentration in PC and portable music player, it is not only because it do not create economical benefits or lack of competition. Apple recently focus on the smart phone side because it is now more competitive and provide more profit than others. The new smart phones have annouced in every season with new design and function, in term of price and level, Iphone always stays on top luxury phone while Nokia, Samsung or HTC still take pole on the low price phone to get more customers. They could be out of perform of Apple in both speed and quality, the company has set apart from other by keeping core capilities and be unique in the market. Apple would have to stay on the old road to be innovative and price- quality in conscious of loyal users as well as leading the market as the strategy against rivals. Competitive Force 4: Bargaining Power of Buyers Apple since start-up moment, always concentrate on differentiation itself from rivals by keep inside of unique way. Apple’s product represent for the symbol of innovation, luxury and high technology, by the feature of innovation, Apple sets them apart from market. The buyers less concern in term of price when give decision to purchase a product from Apple’s stores. In market, Apple create their own position for their products as it is difficult to get the same products with similar functions as well as stylish look. Moreover, customers of Apple have low relative bargaining power to consider buying a high volume of Apple’s products. Businessess are much more concern bargaining power when it end up purchasing PC or devices of Apple, in the other side, individual buyers are not literally controlling over Apple to their prices. Once Apple sells to end consumer, it has basically secured future purchases of the related products due to a lack of substitutes and third party replacement. It is more likely monopoly and give customers less relative bargaining power and substitutes to shop for better options or their demands of software and hardware upgrade. Competitive Force 5: Bargaining Power of Suppliers The company applied the strategy to take partner with various suppliers for manufacture Apple’s components for their products. In fact, Apple does not apple any limit for single supplier for process of assemble final products. This is an ace for Apple to deal with suppliers and give them less bargaining power concerning price. It is not rare in modern business, Apple used to be an alliance with Foxconn to assemble most of products, especially new Iphone and Ipad. Besides, they uses both Nvidia and ATI for video cards in computers to avoid any negative bargain in price negotiation. According to Apple report, This is the same for its motherboards (ASUSTeK and Ambit Microsystems), Display units (Samsung, Toshiba, International Display Technology), storage devices (Hitachi Global Storage Technologies, Western Digital, Seagate), and CD/DVD drives (Samsung, Hitachi Global, and LG. Phillips Co.). Powerful suppliers capture more of the value for themselves by charging higher prices,limiting quality or services, or shifting costs to industry participants (Porter 2008 p5). Porter’s Genetic Cost Leadership Strategy Cost Leadership corresponds to the â€Å"no frills† experience, like the low-cost airline carriers, who choose the cost leadership strategy to achieve competitive advantage. Differentiation Strategy Apple make differentiation by making products feel uniquely from those companies or more appealing to customer demand. It is count on your several impacts, like industry, market, consumer demand, and the nature of organisation and services. This is known as differentiation strategy (Grant 2005:241-242).The key success factor of the differentiation strategy is to make it either very difficult or high level of price for rivals to replicate Apple’s ones. To achieve that, the companies have to focus on: * Research Development; * Production and delivery of high-quality and unique products or services; * Marketing and sales to create awareness and desire for it’s unique products. Focus Strategies Apple is playing on niche markets. Companies pursuing Focus Strategies have a deep understanding of a particular market and the unique needs of it’s customers. They can therefore develop unique lower cost or differentiated products or services for that specific market. These companies usually have a very strong brand loyalty amongst their customers and tend to monopolize that segment (particularly in smaller markets), making it less attractive to competitors thus mitigating the risk of attack from other niche players, new entrants or broad market competitors looking to enlarge their customer base through product or service specialization. Steve Jobs and Apple’s Core Capabilities Core Strengths For one, Apple has a powerful footing in the personal computer market by being â€Å"different† with its innovative style and ease of use. Its operating system is developed in house, leaving it free from the tangles of the dominant like Microsoft operating systems. Central to an approach to strategy is organisation core capabilities which explains how company creates values and achieves superior performance, it also is the proven strength that it is different from other organisations in the market because of tacit knowledge, historical investments over time, relationships, human capital, and its culture (Lynn Perry Wooten p 7).In most of cases, there are include customer service, brand value, quality of products, organisational culture, human resources, and financial strength. Since the return of S. Jobs, Apple’s core capability approach the definition of innovation and easy to use for every end users, and digital products stick to lifestyle of consumers via functions and designs. Apple concentrate on development and sales of its core products include OS, software to hardware and portable devices. Market Opportunities Since Apple is already recognized as one of the main leaders in the portable music market they have the ability to further increase their company image and quality image reputation. This will allow Apple to maintain their already well established clientele as well as attract new customers. The closed system is sealing the core of Apple’s strategy since Mac Os or iOS will not give license , only accept music and video through iTunes and recently the only partner of Apple in the US is ATT for sale of iPhones. The begin of Apple is starting dominating in the market, it creates a concious in typical consumers’s mind that the design of Apple’s one is technically symbols of art of simple and fashionable. Apple engineers and designers figure that the products shoul have to look like and designate its features, and they bring that to life, wrapped with a user-friendly interface. Recommendation for the company to build based on core capabilities Use SWOT Analysis to determine your company’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats in each Generic Strategy scenario; Use Porter’s Five Forces to assess the balance of power and how it might affect your company; Use the Congruence Model or the McKinsey 7S Framework to determine what performance drivers your company would have in each scenario; Cross-analyze the results of each finding and work out which Generic Strategy provides the strongest set of options. Reduce cost across the value-chain by engaging with specialist suppliers; Make smart investments in specialized technology to increase production efficiency; Eliminate activities in the value-chain that are superfluous in you target segment; Adopt JIT production; * Limit production to specialized products for your target segment. In a Differentiation Focus Strategy companies can: * Make its products or services increasingly specialized; * Increase differentiation through innovation and your specialized knowledge of your target customers’ needs. Conclusion From our analysis and research we can lead the following statement: eventhough with superior products, Apple still stay on top with a bewared threats from rivals in their sides of markets of high tech products and digital contents. This can be explained by their own success in last ten years with the counters from both consumers and competitors. Futhermore, the bigger the company is, the more innovative and responsible the structure of Apple needs to be maintain the values of culture in organisation as well as speed of growth in development of Apple in future. By being opposite the side of strength inside the company, competitors have been learning from them and concentrate on the weakness of the core capabilities of strategy which Apple stays on the unique nature beyond the market. Reference 1. Building a Company the Steve Jobs’ Way: A Positive Deviance Approach to Strategy- Lynn Perry Wooten, PhD 2. Comprehensive Business Analysis 3. THE FIVE COMPETITIVE FORCES THATby Michael E. Porter SHAPE IN ESSENCE, the job of the strategist is to under-STRATEGY 4. http://www.forbes.com/sites/susanadams/2012/09/12/apples-new-foxconn-embarrassment/ 5. http://www.apple.com 6. http://www.forbes.com/markets/2005/01/21/0121automarketscan05.html 7. Porter’s Genetic strategy http://thousandinsights.wordpress.com/articles/on-strategy-planning/porters-generic-strategies/

Johnson vetoed the first and second reconstruction acts Essay Example for Free

Johnson vetoed the first and second reconstruction acts Essay The impeachment of the 17th president of the United States, Andrew Johnson was a key event in the history of Reconstruction as well as in the history of our nation. In the spring and summer of 1864, it seemed unlikely that Abraham Lincoln was going to be reelected. Not only had the war been going rather badly for the Union, but a president had not been reelected in the past thirty years and it was almost understood that Lincoln would follow that form. One of the ways in which Lincoln helped himself to get elected, as well as planning for the time in which the North and South would need to be reconciled to each other, Andrew Johnson, representative from the border state of Tennessee was selected. Johnson was a Southerner but he hated with a passion, his countrymen from the south who left the Union and despised them. However, despite his hatred for the Southern aristocrats, which Johnson had blamed for the Civil War, he certainly was no friend to the African American and this apathy towards their plight would be seen in one veto after another. Johnson also vetoed the Freedman’s Bill which sought to ensure that the newly freed African Americans would have land and a chance to make a new life for them and to ease the transition from a life of slavery to one of freedom. All of the above mentioned, led to the first impeachment of an American President. The radical Republicans became increasingly frustrated at the rate in which President Johnson was vetoing everything that they had worked so hard to form as it was their goal to make sure that the Civil War was not fought in vain. President Johnson, in the minds of the Radical Republicans and an increasing number of other representatives in both Houses of Congress, started to see Johnson as the enemy. When President Johnson fired Secretary of War Edwin Stanton, it was seen as the last straw and impeachment procedures begun. However, even though Johnson escaped formal impeachment by a single vote, his hopes for a second term, and his first full term, vanished as he was now seen in league with the Southerners whom he had previously professed to hate. When Andrew Johnson was selected by President Lincoln as his running mate in the 1864 election, many Republicans, especially radical Republicans like Thurlow Weed and Secretary of War Edwin Stanton, were very suspicious of Johnson’s motives as he was from Tennessee. Their fear left when Johnson expressed his hatred towards the aristocratic land owners of the South, whom he had faulted for the start of the war in the first place. However, suspicion soon returned when Johnson made his feelings know concerning the need for Reconstruction in the first place: â€Å"Those states have not gone out of the Union. Therefore reconstruction is unnecessary. † This would be a theme that Johnson would keep through his formal responses concerning his multiple vetoes. Johnson was either hopelessly optimistic about the plight of the African Americans in the South, apathetic, or purposely took on a mission to help the white farmers against what he considered the legislation of the reformers to be in aid of the black farmer over the white. When Congress met in December of 1865, the first time that both Houses had met since the death of President Lincoln, only Mississippi had failed to adopt the lenient measures that both President Lincoln and Johnson had put in place in order to ease the transition of the South back into the Union. When it was realized that the Southern legislations had placed African Americans in a sort of quasi slavery through the restrictive black codes, Radical Republicans were enraged and sough to instill within the southern states, a series of laws which would ensure and forever protect the rights of the African American as it was their legal rights that were to be protected, the Union had the ability to ensure that these rights were enforced by their military presence in the area and to make sure that the Civil War was not fought in vain. These were the motivations of the Radical Republicans and it soon became clear, that such goals were in direct conflict with the motivations of President Johnson. The trouble between Congress and President Johnson began in February of 1866 with the veto of the Freedman Bill. The original bill had been passed in March of 1865 and it was up for its yearly renewal. The bill called for the redistribution of land to the freedmen, provided schools for their children and set up courts which were reinforced by the military which ensured that these laws would be carried out. President Johnson did not see the need for such expenditures and called it too expensive and unconstitutional. â€Å" I share with Congress the strongest desire to secure to the freedmen the full enjoyment of their freedom and property and their entire independence and equality in making contracts for their labor, but the bill before me contains provisions which in my opinion are not warranted by the Constitution and are not well suited to accomplish the end in view. † Since then, it has become clear by historians that this was not the true motivation of President Johnson. â€Å"President Johnson sought to return African Americans to a state of the oppressive and restrictive black codes. In being an enemy of the large land owners of the South, he still was no friend to the African American. † Also, there seemed to be a sense of ignorance concerning the condition of the African American in these southern states. Upon closing his formal reply in this veto, President Johnson said: â€Å"It is hardly necessary for me to inform Congress that in my own judgment most of these states, so far, at least, as depends upon their own action, have already been fully restored and are to be deemed as entitled to enjoy their constitutional rights as members of the Union†¦Ã¢â‚¬  This would mean, and it would be a common theme that would be seen in many of President Johnson’s responses to repeated measures by Congress to expand or protect the rights of the African America, that President Johnson would not be aiding in any legislation which helped to protect the rights of the African American, despite his aforementioned statements. The next measure which put President Johnson at odds with the Congress was his veto of the 1866 Civil Rights Bill. The Civil Rights Bill was put in place as a reaction the oppressive Black Codes which the South had implemented in order to return African Americans to as close to their previous slavery conditions as possible. Within these codes, African Americans were given a curfew, were not allowed to carry guns, serve on a jury or congregate with other African Americans in a group to name a few of the provisions. The Civil Rights Bill would later be used as a stepping stone for the 14th amendment which said that all persons born in the United States are therefore citizens and as a result, are entitled to equal protection under the law. In his veto of the 1866 Civil Rights Bill, President Johnson stated: â€Å"This provision of the bill seems to be unnecessary, as adequate judicial remedies could be adopted to secure the desired end without invading the immunities of legislators, always important to be preserved in the interest of public liberty; without assailing the independence of the judiciary, always essential to the preservation of individual rights†¦Ã¢â‚¬  It was believed by the Radical Republicans that such beliefs were not only overly optimistic and ignorant of the current situation in the South, they were simply wrong. The Congress would override Johnson’s veto on the Freedman’s Bill and sought to do the same here. However, President Johnson continued to veto every bill that dealt with Reconstruction and further alienated himself from both Houses of Congress. 1867 would not be a kind year in the Johnson Administration. On March 2nd of that year, President Johnson vetoed the first of two Reconstruction Acts that would be presented to him. The Reconstruction Bill stated that in order for the previous laws to be enforced within the Southern States, the South would be divided up into military districts and put under a type of martial law, depending upon the severity of those who ignored the law. Again, President Johnson vetoed the bill as he saw it to be unnecessary. â€Å"This is a bill passed by Congress in time of peace. There is not in any one of the states brought under its operation either war or insurrection. The laws of the states and of the Federal government are all in undisturbed and harmonious operation. † This certainly was not the case but it would seem to be out of the character of President Johnson if he ever recognized the grave state that the African Americans were under within the South. President Johnson seemed to be oblivious towards this fact and his voting record surely did reinforce this notion. In March of 1867, President Johnson would veto his second Reconstruction Act which provided for military commanders to reconstruct the Southern states into states which would recognize the rights of the African American by force if necessary. In his veto, President Johnson again stated the lack of need for such pieces of legislation. â€Å"The existing Constitution of the ten States conforms to the acknowledged standards of loyalty and republicanism. Indeed, if there are degrees in republican forms of government, their constitutions are more republican now than when these States, four of which were members of the original thirteen, first became members of the Union. † President Johnson will always assert a sort of â€Å"lassie faire† notion towards the South; a notion that is in direct conflict with the Republican majority in both the House and the Senate and especially with regards to the very vocal Radical Republicans. Throughout 1867, The House Judiciary Committee, further irritated by Johnson’s repeated vetoes, sought to find some illegal activity in which to possibly impeach the President. However, upon their investigation, there was no evidence in which to do this. However, later that year, on August 12, 1867, President Johnson removed Secretary of War Edwin Stanton. Stanton certainly was no friend of Johnson and there was no love loss between them. Stanton repeatedly undermined the President at every turn and President Johnson viewed Stanton as a hold over of the Lincoln Administration and not loyal to his administration. As a result of the firing, which was in violation of the Tenure of Office Act, eleven articles of impeachment were brought against the president. Ironically, it was this very law which President Johnson had vetoed earlier that year on March 2, 1867 in which he said: â€Å"The question, as Congress is well aware, is by no means a new one. That the power of removal is constitutionally vested in the President of the United States is a principle which has been not more distinctly declared by judicial authority and judicial commentators than it has been uniformly practiced upon by the legislative and executive departments of the Government. † President Johnson had overplayed his hand and formal articles of impeachment would be brought to him. On February 24, 1868, the House of Representatives voted to impeach President Johnson. Congress. The formal reason was the firing of Stanton but in reality, President Johnson’s refusal to adhere to the political flow of Congress, which at that time, sought to regulate by force if necessary, the Southern states into submission on the issues of securing the rights of African Americans. However, a President could only be impeached if he was guilty of â€Å"high crimes and misdemeanors† as it states in the Constitution. Article I of the Impeachment document formally spelled out his charge of high crimes and misdemeanors: â€Å"That said Andrew Johnson, President of the United States, on the 21st day of February 1868, at Washington, in the District of Columbia, unmindful of the high duties of his office, of his oath of office, and of the requirement of the Constitution, that he should take care that the laws be faithfully executed, did unlawfully and in violation of the Constitution and laws of the United States of America issue an order in writing for the removal of Edwin Stanton from the office of Secretary for the Department of War†¦.. † The impeachment committee was made up of all Radical Republicans: Thaddeus Stevens, Benjamin Butler and James Wilson, the most notable of the cast. Johnson’s defense, as President Johnson was never present at the hearings, was Henry Stanberry, William Evarts and Benjamin Curtis as well as Jeremiah Black who would later resign from the hearings. On the first day of the trial Johnson’s defense team asked for a forty stay since they had not been given enough time to gather up their defense. The trial, which was processed over by Chief Justice Salmon P. Chase, a former member of President Lincoln’s cabinet, allowed a stay of only ten days. Another six day extension was voted upon by the Senate and granted. On March, 30, the trial began in which Benjamin Butler, former Union General, talked for three hours in which he lambasted the President for his violation of the Tenure of Office Act and the fact that even that the President had given orders to subordinates of General Grant before even allowing him to see and review them. The defense opened by stating that President Johnson had not violated the Tenure of Office Act with the firing of Secretary of War Stanton and that Stanton had tried everything in his power to undermined the President at every turn. Also, the fact that President Johnson had not reappointed Stanton meant that his office was not under the protection of the Tenure Act. The prosecution called other witnesses but in the end, proved unhelpful. The prosecution added further charges to the President. Article VIII stated: â€Å"That said Andrew Johnson, President of the United States, with intent unlawfully to control the disbursement of the moneys appropriated for the military service and for the Department of War, did unlawfully, and in violation of the Constitution of the United States of America, , and without the advice and consent of the Senate of the United States†¦ there being no vacancy in the office of Secretary for the Department of War, and with intent to violate and disregard the act aforesaid, then and there issue and deliver to one Lorenzo Thomas a letter of authority. The charges went further in order to prove that the firing of the Secretary of War was done with premedidation. Article IX states: â€Å"That said Andrew Johnson, President of the United States, unmindful of the high duties of his office and of his oath of office, on the 21st day of February, in the year of our Lord 1868, at Washington, in the District of Columbia, did unlawfully conspire with one Lorenzo Thomas, by force to seize, take, and possess the property of the United Sates in the Department of War, and then and there in the custody and charge of Edwin M. Stanton, Secretary for said Department, contrary to the provisions of an act entitled An act to define and punish certain conspiracies, approved July 31, 1861, and with intent to violate and disregard an act entitled An act regulating the tenure of certain civil offices, passed March 2, 1867, whereby said Andrew Johnson, President of the United States, did then and there commit a high crime in office. † It would also be the vocal opinions of the Radicals which helped the country to come to this stage in the first place. Charles Sumner stated that his objections with the President came from his many vetoes. † Andrew Johnson is the impersonation of the tyrannical Slave Power. In him it lives again. He is the lineal ancestor of John C. Calhoun and Jefferson Davis. And he gathers about him the same supporters. Original partisans of slavery North and South; habitual compromisers of great principles; maligners of the Declaration of Independence politicians without heart; lawyers, for whom a technicality is everything, and a promiscuous company who at every stage of the battle have set their faces against Equal Rights; these are his allies. It is the old troop of slavery, with a few recruits, ready as of old for violence cunning in device and heartless in quibble† Senator John Sherman voted to impeach the President because, he had abused his power and in his words: â€Å"Armed by the Constitution and the laws, with vast powers, he has neglected to protect loyal people in the rebel States, so that assassination is organized all over those States, as a political power to murder, banish and maltreat loyal people, and to destroy their property. All these he might have ascribed to alleged want of power, or to difference of opinion in questions of policy, and for these reasons no such charges were exhibited against him, though they affected the peace and safety of the nation. â€Å" However, there would be members of Congress which would come to his defense. One such member was William Fessenden who stated in his defense: â€Å"To the suggestion that popular opinion demands the conviction of the President o these charges, I reply that he is not now on trial before the people, but before the Senate. In the words of Lord Eldon, upon the trial of the Queen, I take no notice of what is passing out of doors, because I am supposed constitutionally not to be acquainted with it. And again, It is the duty of those on whom a judicial task is imposed to meet reproach and not court popularity. The people have not heard the evidence as we have heard it. † Lynman Trumble would also concur by stating in his formal decision: â€Å"What law does this record show the President to have violated? Is it the tenure of office act? I believe in the constitutionality of that act, and stand ready to punish its violators; but neither the removal of that faithful and efficient officer, Edwin M. Stanton, which I deeply regret, nor the ad interim designation of Lorenzo Thomas, were, as has been shown, forbidden by it. Is it the reconstruction acts? Whatever the facts may be, this record does not contain a particle of evidence of their violation. Is it the conspiracy act? No facts are shown to sustain such a charge†¦Ã¢â‚¬  The trial had commenced and now a formal vote would be needed in order to either convict of acquit the President. In the end, senators who voted for his guilt numbered 35 and those for his innocence was 19 which was one shy of the necessary 2/3 vote needed from the senate. The Radical Republicans had gambled and lost and the zeal that the country had for Reconstruction, would eventually end with the Great Compromise of 1877. A quasi form of slavery would impede the African American from experiencing his equal treatment under the law and as a result, future laws which would be used. Jim Crow laws and grandfather clauses kept African Americans from the polls and placed their previous masters, as masters again. Also, the hopes that President Johnson had for reelection were gone and General Grant would follow him in two lackluster terms as President. It was a sad chapter for the President as well as the Presidency as a whole. Such events make historians wonder how the country would have been different had President Lincoln never been assassinated. Tempers among North and South might not have come to a head as they did and most accurately, African Americans would not have had to wait as long as they did for equal treatment under the law. The choice of Andrew Johnson for Vice President had consequences for the Union which could not have been seen when President Lincoln first appointed him as the Vice President in 1864. Only unhelpful speculation can possibly answer what the make up of this country and race relations for the forty years after the end of the Civil War would have looked like, had President Johnson, in the spirit of â€Å"malice towards none and charity for all. † Nobody will ever know. WORKS CITED Commanger, Henry Steele Documents of American History. New York: Century Press. 1947 Goodwin, Doris Kearns. Team of Rivals. New York: Simon Schuster 2006 Reconstruction and the Courts New York: PBS American Experience 2003 http://www. impeach-andrewjohnson. com/ Downloaded on June 5, 2007.

Business decision making in different ways

Business decision making in different ways 1.0 Introduction This project is not only done for the sake of submitting as we are asked to but also to gain knowledge by a lot of means in both practical and theoretical ways. Text books and study guides cannot give complete knowledge to any student. And I believe that the assignments are given for students to gain extra practical knowledge from the wide world around. In the study of business decision making us mainly focus on the knowledge of different methods of data analyses and how it is useful for business contest and then the presentation of data in an appropriate way to make decisions and predictions. Its purpose is to build better understanding of different business issues and the ways to tackle them. This project report is under the wide range of business decision making of an organization. We have discussed representative measures and measures of dispersions and the difference between them and how they are used to interpret information in a useful manner. After that we use graphs to prese nt the data in order to make them easy then using the graphs I draw some conclusion for business purposes. Finally we have given some solutions for a company which is encountering problems in telecommunications and inventory control. I have discussed the usefulness of intranet in the process of inventory control to overcome from poor inventory management. Also I have provided some solutions by comparing two proposals using DCF and IRR techniques and clearly mention which proposal the company should adopt in order to enhance its inventory control capacity effectively. This report helped me to apply the theoretical knowledge into real world examples and evaluate the advantages and disadvantages and make business decisions. 2.1Collecting and maintaining the medical data and Medical Records. In modern clinics and hospitals, and in many public health departments, data in each of these categories can be found in the records of individuals who have received services there, but not all the data are in the same file. Administrative and economic data are usually in separate files from clinical data; both are linked by personal identifying information. Behavioural information, such as the fact that an individual did not obtain prescribed medication or fails to keep appointments can be extracted by linking facts in a clinical record with the records of medications dispensed and/or appointments kept. Records in hospitals and clinics are mostly computer-processed and stored, so it is technically feasible to extract and analyze the relevant information, for instance, occupation, diagnosis, and method of payment for the service that was provided, or behavioural information. Such analyses are often conducted for routine or for research purposes, although there are some ethical constr aints to protect the privacy and preserve the confidentiality of individuals. Primary sources- Primary data sources are where YOU yourself have collected the data and it is not someone elses. For example a questionnaire created by you and handed out to the specific people, is a primary source. You can then use them to prove a certain hypothesis and explain a situation. Statistics, Surveys, Opinion polls, Scientific data, Transcripts Records of organizations and government agencies Secondary data- Secondary data are indispensable for most organizational research. Secondary data refer to information gathered by someone other than the researcher conducting the current study. Books Periodicals government publications of economic indicators, Census data, Statistical abstracts, Data bases, The media, annual reports of companies, Case studies Other archival records. 2.2 Data collection methodology and Questionnaire Records of Births and Deaths Vital records (certifications of births and deaths) are similarly computer-stored and can be analyzed in many ways. Collection of data for birth and death certificates relies on the fact that recording of both births and deaths is a legal obligation—and individuals have powerful reasons, including financial incentives such as collection of insurance benefits, for completing all the formal procedures for certification of these vital events. The paper records that individuals require for various purposes are collected and collated in regional and national offices, such as the U.S. National Center for Health Statistics, and published in monthly bulletins and annual reports. Birth certificates record details such as full name, birthdate, names and ages of parents, birthplace, and birthweight. These items of information can be used to construct a unique sequence of numbers and alphabet letters to identify each individual with a high degree of precision. Death certificates contain a great deal of valuable information: name at birth as well as at death, age, sex, place of birth as well as death, and cause of death. The personal identifying information can be used to link the death certificate to other health records. The reliability of death certificate data varies according to the cause and place: Deaths in hospitals have usually been preceded by a sufficient opportunity for investigations to yield a reliable diagnosis, but deaths at home may be associated with illnesses that have not been investigated, so they may have only patchy and incomplete old medical records or the family doctors working diagnosis, which may be no more than an educated guess. Deaths in other places, such as on the street or at work, are usually investigated by a coroner or medical examiner, so the information is reasonably reliable. Other vital records, for example, marriages and divorces and dissolution of marriages, have less direct utility for health purposes but do shed some light on aspects of social health. Health Surveys Unlike births and deaths, health surveys are experienced by only a sample of the people; but if it is a statistically representative sample, inferences about findings can be generalized with some confidence. Survey data may be collected by asking questions either in an oral interview or over the telephone, or by giving the respondents a written questionnaire and collecting their answers. The survey data are collated, checked, edited for consistency, processed and analyzed generally by means of a package computer program. A very wide variety of data can be collected this way, covering details such as past medical events, personal habits, family history, occupation, income, social status, family and other support networks, and so on. In the U.S. National Health and Nutrition Surveys, physical examinations, such as blood pressure measurement, and laboratory tests, such as blood chemistry and counts, are carried out on a subsample. Records of medical examinations on school children, military recruits, or applicants for employment in many industries are potentially another useful source of data, but these records tend to be scattered over many different sites and it is logistically difficult to collect and collate them centrally. Health Research Data The depth, range, and scope of data collected in health is diverse and complex, so it cannot be considered in detail here. Research on fields as diverse as biochemistry, psychology, genetics, and sports physiology have usefully illuminated aspects of population health, but the problem of central collection and collation and of making valid generalizations reduces the usefulness of most data from health-related research for the purpose of delineating aspects of national health. Unobtrusive Data Sources and Methods of Collection Unobtrusive methods and indirect methods can be a rich source of information from which it is sometimes possible to make important inferences about the health of the population or samples thereof. Economic statistics such as sales of tobacco and alcohol reveal national consumption patterns; counting cigarette butts in school playgrounds under collected conditions is an unobtrusive way to get a very rough measure of cigarette consumption by school children. Calls to the police to settle domestic disturbances provide a rough measure of the prevalence of family violence. Traffic crashes involving police reports and/or insurance claims reveal much about aspects of risk-taking behavior, for example, the dangerous practice of using cell phones while driving. These are among many examples of unobtrusive data sources, offered merely to illustrate the potential value of this approach. The questionnaire contains something in each of the following categories: Personal identifying data: name, age (birth date), sex, and so on. Socio-demographic data: sex, age, occupation, place of residence. Clinical data: medical history, investigations, diagnoses, treatment regimens. Administrative data: referrals, sites of care. Economic data: insurance coverage, method of payment. Behavioral data: adherence to the recommended regimen (or otherwise). 3.0 Data Analysis Representative Values. These are also called as measures of location or measures of central tendency. They indicate the canter or most typical value of a data set lies. This includes three important measures: mean, median and mode. Mean and median can be only applied for quantitative data, but mode can be used with either quantitative or qualitative data. Mean This is the most commonly used measure which is the average of a data set. This is the sum of the observations divided by the number of observations. Advantages of mean-objective: Easy to calculate Easy to understand Calculated from all the data. Disadvantages-affected by-outlying values May be some distance from most values. Median Median of a data set is the number that divides the bottom 50% of the data from the top 50%. Advantages- Easy to understand Give a value that actually occurred Not being affected by outlying values. Disadvantages- Does not consider all the data Can be used only with cardinal data. Not easy to use in other analyses. Mode Mode of a data set is the number that occur frequently (more than one) Advantages- Being an actual value Not affected by outlying value Disadvantages- Can be more than one mode or none Does not consider all the data Cannot be used in further analyses. Comparison of mean, median and mode For this garage, its representative values are as follows, Mean- 335 Median- 323 Mode- 430 As we can see mean and median does not vary drastically, but mode on the other hand varies. Here the owner has to select which price he has to charge among all these. Mode is very high and it doesnt consider all the values, so if the owner charge  £430 it will be expensive and the customers may switch to competitors. Therefore, owner should not choose mode. Now the selection is between mean and median. Both of them look reasonable and close to most of the cost in October. Median is usually preferred when the data set have more extreme observations. Unless it is likely to select mean because it considers all the data. From the overview of the cost in October it doesnt have extreme values at all. So the mean value wouldnt have affected much. Therefore it is advisable that the owner chooses the mean value of  £335 Measures of Dispersion Representative measures only indicate the location of a set of data and two data sets can have same mean, median and mode. In that case we cannot make any decision using representative values. To describe the difference we use a descriptive measure that indicates the amount of variation which is known as measures of dispersion or measures of spread. This includes the following measurements: Range-Range is simply the difference between the highest value and the lowest value. It is easy to calculate and understand, but it only consider the largest and smallest value and ignore all the other values and it is highly affected by extreme values. Quartile range- Quartile range is the difference between 3rd quartile and 1st quartile. It is also easy to calculate, but it does not consider all the values in a data set so it is not a good indicator. Variance and Standard Deviation- Variance measures how far the observations are from the mean. This is more important statistics because it considers all the observations and is used for further analysis. Standard deviation is the square root of variance. Both variance and standard deviation provide useful information for decision making and making comparisons. From the calculation range is  £284 and quartile range is  £170, but because of the defects of them we cannot use them to derive further decisions. Variance is 8426.9 and standard deviation is 91.79. From the figures we can see observations are highly deviated from the mean. Variance and Standard deviations are used to compare two data sets. So the owner of this garage can compare these two figures with a similar garage or the cost of November and make decisions such as select the price which has smaller variance and standard deviation. Quartiles and percentiles also like representative measure. They indicate the percentage of value below a certain value i.e. 3rd quartile indicate 75% of the observations are below a certain amount and 25% of observations are above. Quartiles and percentile values of the garage Quartiles- 1 248.5 2 322.5 3 418.5 Percentiles- 75% 418.5 50% 322.5 60% 349.4 From the above figures we can see only 25% of the values are above  £418 so we shouldnt charge a price above than that if we do so we will lose many of their customers. 25% of the observations are above  £248.5 so we have to select a price between  £248 and  £ 418. Earlier we have found out the mean which is  £335. This is between 2nd quartile and 60% of percentile. So from the use of quartile and percentile we can select  £335 as the service price. Thus quartile and percentile help us in decision making. Correlation coefficient measures the strength of the linear relationship between two variables. It is denoted by â€Å"r†. Value of â€Å"r† always lie between -1 and +1. If â€Å"r† is closer to +1, two variables have strong positive relationship. Correlation and coefficient also helps to make business decisions. 4.0 Presentation of Information Tables are good at presenting a lot of information, but it can still be difficult to identify the underlying patterns. Therefore the uses of charts and graphs play an important part in data presentation in an effective way. Graphical method includes scatter graph, bar charts, line charts, pie charts and histograms. Pie charts They are simple diagrams that give a summary of categorical data. Each slice of a circle represents one category. Pie charts are very simple and can make an impact but they show only very small amounts of data. When there is more data it becomes complicated and confusing. But using pie charts we can make comparisons. Here we can see the amount of commission Trevor plc paid is increasing because year 2008 has big proportion in the circle then 2007,2006 and 2005.so we can expect the amount will be higher than 2008 for the next year. Bar Charts Like pie charts, bar charts show the number of observations in different categories. Each category is represented by separate bar and the length of the bar is proportionate to the number of observations. Contrast to pie chart, more amounts of data can be plotted in bar charts. It is easy to make comparisons in different periods with different observations. Here sales of BMW and Mercedes are increasing continuously but sales of other cars fluctuating. Also we can see over all turn over also increasing year by year. Line Chart This is also another way of data presenting. Here we use line rather than using bar or circles. It is easy to draw line chart and easy to understand the underlying trend and make predictions. Area chart also like line chart but it shows the whole amount and shows each category as area. By using area chart we can understand the trend and also make comparisons. Line chart of Trevor plc indicates except Lexus, sales of other cars are increasing. But Mercedes show a dramatic increase from 2006 to 2008. During the period between 2005 and 2006 car sales tend to be steady. From the out come of this line chart Trevor plc mainly focus on BMW and Mercedes to increase its turn over in the forth coming years. Area chart also indicates the same result that line chart shows. Scatter Diagram and the trend line Scatter diagram drawn using two variables. Here we draw commission against year. Commission is plot in the â€Å"y† axis and year in the â€Å"x† axis. Scatter diagram explain the relationship between two variables whether they are positively or negatively correlated and whether they are strong or weak. Commission has a positive relationship with year for Trevor plc and the relationship is strong because most of the observation lies closer to straight line. We have calculated the correlation coefficient between commission and year and it comes 0.9744 this indicates strong positive relationship. Trend lines used to understand the underlying trend and make useful forecasting. The trend line of Trevor plc shows upward trend among commission and year. We can predict the commission would be approximately  £18000 in 2009 and it would be  £18500- £19000 in year 2009. 6.0 Intranet To: The Board of Directors From: Management Consultant Date: 20.12.2009 Subject: Intranet and its evaluation Intranet is a private network that is contained within an enterprise. It may consist of many interlinked local area networks. Typically, an intranet includes connections through one or more gateway computers to the outside Internet. The main purpose of an intranet is to share company information and computing resources among employees. And also to share information within the branches of the same organisation. Advantages: Easy access to internal and external information Improves communication Increases collaboration and coordination Supports links with customers and partners Can capture and share knowledge Productivity can be increased Margins of errors will be reduced High flexibility It provides with timely and accurate information It allows communication within the branches of the organisation. Disadvantages: Installation can maintenance can be expensive. This may reduce face to face meetings with clients or business partners. 7.0 Management Information System Management information system (MIS) is a system that allows managers to make decisions for the successful operation of businesses. Management information systems consist of computer resources, people, and procedures used in the modern business enterprise. MIS also refers to the organization that develops and maintains most or all of the computer systems in the enterprise so that managers can make decisions. The goal of the MIS organization is to deliver information systems to the various levels of managers: Strategic, Tactical and Operational levels. Types of Information vary according to the levels of management. Strategic management will need information for long term planning and corporate strategy. This will be less structured. Tactical Management needs to take short term decisions to focus on improving profitability and performance. Operational management needs information on day to day operations of the organisation. 11.0 Conclusion Finally, I would like to conclude my report on Business Decision making. Firstly, I started with various method of data collection the analysis of the data gathered and prepared a sample questionnaire based on the example used. Then the presentation of data through tables have been discussed and continued with the information for decision making. Afterwards, I moved to evaluate the advantages and disadvantages of Intranet and its usefulness in controlling inventory. I also discussed about various inventory control methods used by organisations. Finally, I drew a conclusion on the investment decision scenario given. This report made me clearly understand all the subject areas I learnt in the lectures and I found it useful.

Cooperative Learning Essay -- Education Mathematics Essays

Cooperative Learning What is cooperative learning? In their article Cooperative Learning in Mathematics, Roza Leikin and Orit Zaslavsky propose four conditions that establish a cooperative-learning setting: (1) Students learn in small groups with two to six members in a group; (2) the learning tasks in which students are engaged require that the students mutually and positively depend on one another and on the group’s work as a whole; (3) the learning environment offers all members of the group an equal opportunity to interact with one another regarding the learning tasks and encourages them to communicate their ideas in various ways, for example, verbally; and (4) each member of the group has a responsibility to contribute to the group work and is accountable for the learning process of the group. The third condition is considered to be important because it shows that cooperative learning is more than just having students form groups in a class. The purpose of cooperative learning is not just for students to work with their peers, but to also be able to interact and communicate, which is very helpful in mathematics in particular. For example, â€Å"Cooperative learning includes the following features: face-to-face interaction, positive interdependence, individual accountability, and building social skills† (Rubenstein, Beckmann, and Thompson 11). Through this technique the students will learn and grow at the same time. However, before beginning this process, there are a few things that need to be taken into consideration. Before beginning cooperative learning in a classroom the teacher needs to make decisions. Determining the size of each group is the first choice to be made; this depends on the numb... ...h one another, and therefore developing their social skills. They are learning interpersonal and small-group skills by building trust within their groups and using conflict-resolution skills. Overall, â€Å"Cooperative learning is an effective tool for building collaboration within classrooms, a major component of learning communities† (Rubenstein, Beckmann, and Thompson 11). It is a teaching strategy that, in most cases, is beneficial to all. Bibliography Davidson, Neil. Cooperative Learning in Mathematics: A Handbook for Teachers. Menlo Park, CA: Addison-Wesley, 1990. Leikin, Roza and Orit Zaslavsky. â€Å"Cooperative Learning in Mathematics.† Mathematics Teacher 92 (March 1999): 240-246. Rubenstein, Rheta N., Charlene E. Beckmann, and Denisse R. Thompson. Teaching and Learning Middle Grades Mathematics. Emeryville, CA: Key College Publishing, 2004.