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Death Penalty In Illinois

There is a definite problem concerning the death penalty in Illinois. Many deal with problems concerning the rights of the defendant while being on trial for murder; others deal with a convict’s rights after they are found guilty and sentenced to death. Should a convict have the right to re-trial if there isn’t an adequate amount of circumstantial evidence? Should there be a criterion that has to be met by evidence in order to pursue the death penalty or should a court just be able to kill someone as long as they please?

On March 9, 2000, George Ryan appointed a commission to determine whether or not Illinois capital punishment was fair and accurate. Many reforms were taken into action in the attempt to rid the Illinois death penalty of any flaws. I believe that this 24- month process was a big waste of time and effort. How exactly can the Illinois court system be re-defined to make it entirely fair and at the same time accurate? How many times have you made a resolution that was deemed fair and accurate? Probably never!

The actions taken to rid the court systems of problems concerning the death penalty have never really been resolved, they have just came up somewhere else and in a different way. The idea of the court system finding a defendant not-guilty and sentencing them to death is completely ridiculous, considering they are being charged with killing two or more people. But one can be sentenced to death if they kill someone of higher authority than a normal citizen; we are talking about an officer, or a firefighter etc. This is also ridiculous, because why are their lives held up on a higher pedestal than any other person. Although I do feel, that once someone kills, it won’t take much for them to kill again. So why should the court system look past the people who have only killed one person? Do they really deserve to live any more than people who have killed more than one person? I would have to say no on that one. The Illinois court system has only been redefined once, and I believe that the court system should appoint a commission on a scheduled basis to re-determine the court system and it’s procedures. This should be done to ensure that accuracy and fairness prevails.

Even though most Illinois citizens support capital punishment there are still people who disagree with its entirety. People feel that the commission’s focused on individual cases, and because of this there is no possible way to ensure that there can be an accurate solution to these problems.

The state of Illinois attempts to seek fairness within the death penalty by issuing a stat- wide Commission, which includes: an attorney general, three prosecutors, and a retired judge. They all look over the local state’s attorney’s judgments within a death penalty case, which encompasses the next issue. How can the death penalty be fair when there is a commission that looks over every case? What’s the point of having a trial if the head commission is going to make the final decision in each case? Pre-trail hearings shouldn’t decide if a defendant is worthy of the death penalty. The relevance of information should be determined within the trail itself. Bias in the court system would then be harder to create, because the court would not know what type of evidence would be brought to trial. In some instances, evidence is tossed out because of its unreliability. What would happen if an eyewitness testified that the defendant is not guilty and specifies evidence that was earlier deemed as unreliable?

In today’s court system, information about the defendant’s past is relevant to the trial itself. In other words, the court’s decision on whether or not a human is guilty of a crime is relevant within the death penalty trial itself. The decision to sentence someone to the death penalty should not have anything to do with their past (before the crime was committed). People feel that it is immoral and unconstitutional to look into someone’s past during a trial. Some believe that pre-trial hearings are everything but fair.

Also it is unfair and inaccurate for the state to view other death sentences in an attempt to aid in the decision process pertaining to the death penalty. To look at a past trial in order to aid further decision on a present trial is wrong. How many people do you know have some kind of a past? Judges would be making their ultimate decisions with the help of evidence from past cases that are irrelevant to the trial at hand. The death penalty should be abolished altogether. There has been steps made fixing the death penalty’s flaws but it seems that these problems are far from gone. Harry A Blackmun states “ The court in my view has engaged in a futile effort to balance the constitutional demands…human error is inevitable and because our criminal justice system is less than perfect, searching appellate review of death sentences and their underlying convictions is a prerequisite to a constitutional death penalty scheme” (69).

The death penalty abroad is a difficult subject to discuss. The significance of it brings difficulty to the governor and his commission when trying to make new proposals that are correcting the ones that were first brought into effect. The Commission has the right to discuss openly their thoughts on each topic within the death penalty. The Governor has the final decision on whether or not to put each proposal into effect. Because of this it took almost 24 months for George Ryan’s Commission to develop these guidelines, which focused on finally making the Illinois death penalty fair and just. However the problems that were trying to be solved never really were.

After writing these proposals the Commission agreed that if the death penalty still seems to be the same it should be abolished altogether. Many skeptics wonder why the death penalty in Illinois hasn’t been eradicated yet. Skeptics say that in fact the same problems are resurfacing, creating new problems for the Illinois death penalty Commission to deal with. Some feel that the death penalty is morally wrong: Some feel that the death penalty is a waste of scarce resources. It costs between two and seven million dollars just to execute on convict. Some skeptics feel that the proposals made by the Commission, which were vital to absolute reform, would never be fully active.

According to Scott Turow a world famous author of law states that the capital jurisprudence isn’t in order:One reason our capital jurisprudence is such a mess is because even the justices of the U.S. Supreme Court, who have long experience in making and sticking with hard decisions, have waffled. Harry A. Blackmun is hardly alone. In the last twenty-five years, Justices Stewart, White, Powell, and Stevens have also taken varying positions when confronted with the question of whether or not capital punishment as currently practiced is constitutionally tolerable (115).

This provides further reason to abolish the death penalty. When confronted these people who have served the U.S. Supreme Court for at least twenty-five years agree that the death penalty should be abolished. Turow also served for the Commission with an attempt to reach new proposals.

Turow himself states that the death penalty today is such a mess that it should be abolished. Why would people who have served as justices of the U.S. Supreme Court want to get rid of the death penalty all together? One reason is that they have had years of experience with the death penalty and have been as close to its purpose and nature as humanly possible. They have finally come to the conclusion that there is no righteous reasoning behind the death penalty. The death penalty and all of its components are inevitable to failure (114-15).

I agree with the Abolitionists views regarding the death penalty. We should expose the death penalty to the citizens of Illinois. The media proves to be a major factor of the death penalty. Through the media citizens are becoming effectively aware of reoccurring problems within Illinois’ justice system. After all, this is truly a way for everyone in Illinois to become aware of what is happening within our court system. For example if people could see an authority of the Illinois justice system talking negatively about the death penalty there would be a greater chance for people to feel concerned instead of indifferent. Citizens just don’t understand the death penalty’s entirety. Most people focus on cases where the defendant has raped and killed a little girl. They would rather see him killed then sympathize for his claim of innocence. Is it righteous for the court system to kill? Isn’t that just committing the same heinous crime that we are trying to stop from happening?

We shouldn’t really question ourselves about the death penalty being fair or not considering the various mistaken convictions within Illinois Justice System. On December 15, 2002 George Ryan pardoned three-dozen men from the death penalty and commuted several more to life without parole. Convictions were made on the basis of an officer’s false testimony. Life without parole should replace the death penalty in Illinois. Not only is it cheaper for an inmate to live in jail throughout his natural life but also it is more humane. Besides the system can’t serve justice after someone is already dead. The government’s vigilant actions aren’t deterring Illinois from crime; the death penalty is state-sanctioned killing that only continues the cycle of violence. In fact Illinois crime rate is higher than ever.

I feel that the commission should have never brought the victims’ families into the research that was taking place during the moratorium. It is bad enough that some of the victims’ families have sat through re-trials and have witnessed unbearable information time and time again. Why should the families have to suffer any more because of the justice system? Many would agree that true closure isn’t possible for the families, according to the professional web site Progress Report “studies have shown that the continual process of appeals necessary to insure the due process…force families to confront the gruesome details of the crime many times over, making it impossible to get on with their lives.” The death penalty should be abolished if the justice system has to learn from families who have nothing to do with the crime at all.

Bibliography:

22 year old college junior

Brief Background of the Slide

The slide (appendix 1 below) presents case facts for IT system issues for Derbyshire County. The slide presents an overview of the issues that continue to face Derbyshire County workers who are owed thousands in wages due to a problem in the council’s IT systems. The slide further highlights the data that the IT system at the council is supposed to store, manage, and process. The system stores the details of the staff at Derbyshire County, it manages the data on the hours employees work in the council, it processes data on the payment of the employees and staff, and manages data on wages vis-à-vis individual workers. Further, there are problems that have emerged in the council due to a lack of training. The problems with the IT systems have led to poor performance because 1500 received the wrong pay, increased work-related issues, for example, 2500 employees have not got the right wage. Other consequences include the fact that there are many unhappy employees (for instance one of the employees is owed £ 500) and there is an organization-wide time wastage, for instance, the council says they are still dealing with problems of previous months. The consequence is that there is a short-term bottleneck where process delays are leading to other inadvertent consequences such as delayed payments, unhappy staff members, and other system delays that may reflect back to the entire organization.

Reflection and Discussion

It is important to note that in the business world, competition for a bigger share of the market is being fueled by the use of digital technologies by both commercial and public sector rivals. However, the same efficiency that is experienced in the business world is now expected for every governmental institution and organization. Derbyshire County has hed some issues with technology that may be solved using proper management of information systems. When confronted with difficult IT-related circumstances, some managers find it difficult to communicate or manage IT business requirements. These predicaments are the result of a lack of understanding of Information Systems and the potential of technological innovation (Chanias, Myers, & Hess, 2019). In order to do this, information systems must first establish performance standards and then notify corporate owners when those requirements are not being fulfilled.

An effective management information system is capable of locating and collecting all of a company’s critical indicators. For example, the management information system (MIS) can offer information on sales, customer profitability, and market penetration. Furthermore, it has the capability of keeping track of items such as employee pay and benefits. A management information system is beneficial in increasing competitiveness (Sanchez & Terlizzi, 2017). Especially when it comes to creating reports and diagnosing issues, this application performs admirably. The information contained in these reports may be used by business owners to improve the performance of their company and the productivity of their personnel.

In the future, organizations such as Derbyshire County will be established on technological foundations. Everything, from end-user encounters to every internal operation, will be strongly reliant on the computer systems that operate everything. For a majority of the processes today, IT already has a strong role and foundation in establishing control and efficiency. The MIS that are used in today’s organizations are comprised of a diverse variety of technologies and the people who administer them. In addition, there are various other issues that are comparable, such as a lack of strategic planning, a lack of organizational expectations, a shortage of skilled employees, and a lack of technology integration.

In the organizations today, managers are increasingly reliant on a wide range of computer-based information technologies in order to make and implement choices in their organizations. In order to achieve specific aims, most of these systems were designed from scratch (Sanchez & Terlizzi, 2017). As a result, they differ greatly from ordinary electronic data processing systems in terms of functionality. MIS includes transaction processing systems, management support system, and office automation systems, all of which are components of a larger information system and IT integration (Chanias, Myers, & Hess, 2019). The transaction processing system is responsible for gathering and organizing information about a company’s actions. Management decision support systems are systems that are designed to assist managers in making better decisions.

Derbyshire County can use MIS to manage its human resource in order to streamline employee issues that seem to have an impact on its direction and overall wellbeing. A dynamic environment where bright new ideas and quicker time-to-market can be implemented quickly and simply is required for organizations and services that change on a regular basis. The importance of HRM in today’s competitive climate has increased in recent years, as operation models need the development of innovative approaches to employee. It has been necessary to develop new logics in order to deal with these issues, and most HRM practitioners have had to let go of old habits and ways of doing things. When it comes to human capital development, on the other hand, they should be a valuable asset to businesses, assisting them in formulating strategies and putting plans into action. HRM has been more efficient as a result of improvements in recruitment procedures, corporate communication, employee involvement, and the competencies of HR managers, among other things (Konstantinopoulou & Lazakidou, 2021). It is therefore up to human resource management departments to link human capital efforts to the most appropriate technological solutions. This approach includes HR initiatives that are driven by information technology (IT) and that are focused on connecting people with corporate strategy in order to promote fast adaptation to changing needs. As a result of these overlapping requirements, an IS/IT-driven human resources program is becoming increasingly necessary.

Everything that goes into creating and maintaining Derbyshire County information system is included in this umbrella term. The organization can solve its wages issues by simply using an accounting information system (AIS) in line with its already present IT infrastructure. AIS are used by accountants, business analysts, managers, chief financial officers (CFOs), regulators, and tax authorities to store, analyze, retrieve, and report financial data acquired by a company. The AIS at Derbyshire will be used to primarily detect and notify management of emerging issues on salaries, wages, benefits, and all pay-related issues including provision of recommendations and solutions in order to ensure that the organization remains within legal and ethical business processes. AIS are also known as financial data warehouses.

In the government-related sectors such as Derbyshire County Council, AIS training ensures that financial transactions and records are as accurate as possible while also safeguarding the integrity and security of the data. Keeping track of a company’s accounting and commercial activities is accomplished through the usage of an accounting information system. AIS are comprised of the people, data, internal controls, software, procedures and instructions, and information technology infrastructure (Sanchez & Terlizzi, 2017). Personnel, procedures and instructions, data, software, information technology infrastructure, and internal controls are the six major components of accounting information systems. These can be used to solve the issues at Derbyshire County through automating the financial section of the organization, aligned to the IT requirements.

An AIS often contains information on income, expenses, customer information, staff information, and tax information, however the exact contents vary depending on the industry and the size of the firm. The accounting cycle would be incomplete if it were not for the several components that make up an AIS to support the council in streamlining its IT structure to solve issues relating to employee pay and noting issues. The detailed data in sales orders and analysis reports, purchase requisitions, bills of sale and check registers, as well as inventory and payroll, are all examples of detailed information. Data must be stored in a database structure in order for an accounting information system to function properly. Table and data manipulation are possible in this database structure as a result of the query language that was used to create it during its creation. In an AIS, there are a number of places where information can be entered and edited. Accounting information systems, on the other hand, are often protected against viruses, hackers, and other intruders that seek to steal data (Ibrahim et al., 2020). As more organizations keep their data on the internet, the need of cybersecurity is becoming increasingly apparent (Silva & Lima, 2018). Accounting information system outputs demonstrate how a system can alter data in a variety of ways, depending on the system. Accounts receivable aging reports, fixed asset depreciation schedules, and financial reporting trial balances are some of the reports produced by AIS. Client lists, tax computations, and inventory levels are all options that can be printed as additional options. Due to the fact that they are not directly related to financial reporting or bookkeeping, correspondence, memos, and presentations are not included in the archive.

It would be virtually impossible for Derbyshire County to miss out on issues relating to its IT system problems. Having an effective AIS system will notify the entire system and the management will have a larger response window to rectify the issues. The expected benefits include internal control, interfacing departments, and overall reduction of pay-related issues. The goal of an accounting information system is to facilitate communication with other departments (Al Shobaki et al., 2017). The sales department may utilize the system to upload their sales budget, which will be available to everyone. This information is used by the inventory management team to conduct inventory counts and to acquire items (Chanias, Myers, & Hess, 2019). When an item is purchased, the system may send a notification to the accounts payable department informing them of the purchase. Additionally, the production, shipping, and customer service divisions may all be alerted of a new order through the use of an AIS. Internal controls are a key component of accounting data systems, and they cannot be overlooked. Controlling access to information may be accomplished by the use of physical access approvals, login requirements, access logs, authorizations, and work division, among other methods. As a consequence, policies and procedures for the system may be designed to guarantee that sensitive information about customers, vendors, and businesses is kept safe and protected.

Conclusion

The aim of this report was to show that the management of information systems can be used to put an end to IT-related problems at Derbyshire County and eliminate losses in the long run. The slide in Appendix 1 provides evidence that the problems with the IT systems have led to poor performance because 1500 received the wrong pay, increased work-related issues, for example, 2500 employees have not got the right wage. Other consequences include the fact that there are many unhappy employees (for instance one of the employees is owed £ 500) and there is an organization-wide time wastage, for instance, the council says they are still dealing with problems of previous months. In the end, proper management of information systems saves organizations from such issues. the discussion above shows the need for more IS/IT integration into the organization. An effective management information system is capable of locating and collecting all of a company’s critical indicators. An AIS is recommended for Derbyshire County due to its benefits that include internal control, interfacing departments, and overall reduction of fraud. In order to do this, IS must first establish performance standards and then notify corporate owners when those requirements are not being fulfilled.

References

Al Shobaki, M. M., Naser, S. S. A., Amuna, Y. M. A., & El Talla, S. A. (2017). The Efficiency of Information Technology and its Role of e-HRM in the Palestinian Universities. International Journal of Engineering and Information Systems, 1(5), 36-55.

Chanias, S., Myers, M. D., & Hess, T. (2019). Digital transformation strategy making in pre-digital organizations: The case of a financial services provider. The Journal of Strategic Information Systems, 28(1), 17-33.

Ibrahim, F., Ali, D. N. H., & Besar, N. S. A. (2020). Accounting information systems (AIS) in SMEs: Towards an integrated framework. International Journal of Asian Business and Information Management (IJABIM), 11(2), 51-67.

Konstantinopoulou, A., & Lazakidou, A. (2021). Developing the ELENXIS Information System for Financial Inspections of Food and Beverage Enterprises and Health-Related Businesses. Journal of US-China Public Administration, 18(2), 93-96.

Sanchez, O. P., & Terlizzi, M. A. (2017). Cost and time project management success factors for information systems development projects. International Journal of Project Management, 35(8), 1608-1626.

Silva, M. S. A. E., & Lima, C. G. D. S. (2018). The role of information systems in human resource management. Management of Information Systems, 16, 113-126.

Appendix 1: Chosen Slide

Abnormal Psychology- Diagnostic Paper

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Abnormal Psychology- Diagnostic Paper

The primary role of the film Horse Girl, Sarah, has been identified as having paranoid schizophrenia. Sarah’s primary occupation was working as a saleslady at a craft store. She had a family history of mental illnesses, with her mother and grandmother diagnosed with depression and schizophrenia. Her mother committed suicide after being diagnosed with depression. In the film, Sarah is introverted and has very few friends. However, things change after her birthday. The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 5th Edition (DSM-5) criteria have been used in this paper alongside examples used to diagnose Sarah of the disorder. The report also includes a journal that has a possible treatment for Sarah. Since the journal with the treatment options is recent, it will have better treatment solutions that could have helped care for Sarah.

Diagnostic Criteria According to DSM-5 about the Movie

Schizophrenia can significantly negatively influence a person’s physical and mental health. This is because it obstructs your subconscious natural processes, making it difficult for you to think, reason, and effectively use your senses, amongst many other factors. Schizophrenia often destroys interpersonal, professional, and personal relationships (Davidson, 2019). Furthermore, it may be challenging for an individual to order his or her thoughts, and they might take actions that raise their risk of getting into fatalities or contracting severe illnesses. Schizophrenia occurs in three stages. The first stage, known as the onset, involves some changes, which include withdrawal, anxiety, lack of motivation, and poor hygiene. The next stage is the active stage, where the changes take full effect. The main visible signs include delusions, hallucinations, unusual movement, and incoherent speech. People need to be portraying at least two signs to consider the diagnosis. The last stage is residual, where a person has signs and symptoms that do not appear severe (Viher et al., 2016). At some point, the person may seem healed entirely. However, after some time, the person returns to the active stage.

Schizophrenia cannot be spread from one person to another. According to DSM-5, for a diagnosis to be made, the person being diagnosed should meet several requirements. One of the requirements is two of the five main symptoms (Davidson, 2019). The symptoms need to have lasted for one month, and their effects need to be evident after six months. The condition should have also affected their professional and social lives. The diagnosis requires several tests. One of the tests includes imaging tests of Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) and Computerized Tomography (CT) scans. These tests rule out brain tumors, stroke, and brain injuries (Viher et al., 2016). Blood and urine sample tests are done to see if the changes are explanatory hence ruling out infections or poisoning. The mind’s electrical activity can be found and recorded using an electroencephalogram (EEG).

Instances where Sarah Portrayed Signs and Symptoms of Schizophrenia

There are several incidences where Sarah portrayed the disorder. The first instance is when her roommate’s boyfriend, Brian, finds her in the kitchen, standing very still. Brian was also the first to point out that Sarah sleepwalks (Baena, 2020, 00:21:42). Another time is during her birthday, her roommate, Nikki, invited her boyfriend and his roommate. The four spent the night drinking and smoking until Sarah started nose bleeding. That night she started a relationship with Darren. She later dreamt about being in white surroundings lying next to a man and a woman (Baena, 2020, 00:24:16). She was, however, not aware of her surroundings. This dream takes place many times in the film. Every time she had a dream, she would wake up in a place she could not recognize.

In one instance, Nikki found Sarah sleeping on many pillows on the living room floor with scratches on the wall. Sarah also saw the man from her dream immediately after experiencing another nosebleed at work. She once lost her car, only to find it later at a tow station. The state in which she found the car suggested she was the one who had left it but could not remember where and when (Baena, 2020, 00:37:05). She also found herself on a sidewalk after sleepwalking but can not explain the time lapse that took place. All these occurrences convince Sarah that aliens are abducting her because she is her grandmother’s clone. Her friend at work advises her to visit the family doctor due to her known history of mental illness.

Later in the movie, Sarah tries to convince her boyfriend to dig up her mother’s grave so that she can take her DNA and find out she is her grandmother’s clone. Darren gets confused and does not agree to the plan making Sarah accuse him of plotting against her (Baena, 2020, 01:05:35). Sarah is admitted to a psychiatric hospital after stripping naked at work. She continues to sleepwalk at the hospital while having dreams about aliens. She meets the woman in her dream in the hospital. Sarah is later discharged from the psychiatric hospital, considering that her social worker could notice no improvement.

Schizophrenia Treatment and Management: Article Summary

Although schizophrenia cannot be cured, it is frequently treatable. Sometimes people with schizophrenia are capable of completely recovering from it. This does not constitute a solution because it is impossible to anticipate who will encounter a recurrence of this condition and who will not. Medical practitioners, therefore, presume that those who recuperate from this ailment are in remission (Davidson, 2019). Schizophrenia is frequently treated using a combination of medications, therapy, and unconscious techniques. Although therapy can successfully cure most mental health issues, medications are often required to manage schizophrenia. Early identification and action are essential because they raise the chances of a good outcome. Two classes of medications are used to treat schizophrenia: standard antipsychotics and atypical antipsychotics (Davidson, 2019). Typical antipsychotics, also known as 1st generation antipsychotics, restrict dopamine, a neurotransmitter the brain processes for cell-to-cell interaction. Drugs known as atypical antipsychotics work in different ways from antipsychotics of the first generation. As 2nd generation antipsychotics, they are indeed recognized. Both dopamine and serotonin, which are crucial for transmission, are inhibited by these.

A doctor may also recommend other drugs to address symptoms that develop concurrently with or as a result of schizophrenia symptoms. Additionally, they may recommend drugs to aid with antipsychotic side effects, including tremors (Davidson, 2019). The medical care practitioner is the ideal person to discuss potential prescription drugs with. They can provide more detailed information about a particular issue, such as individual opinions, living conditions, and past health records. One psychotherapy method that can help people with schizophrenia manage and sustain their disease is Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) (Davidson, 2019). Lengthy therapy may be beneficial for schizophrenia treatment and linked issues like substance misuse, depression, and anxiety. If particular medications are tried, a person’s schizophrenia does not improve, and they are at risk of harming themselves or others, medical practitioners may recommend getting Electroconvulsive Therapy (ECT). When medication alone takes too long to act, this procedure can deliver immediate relief.

Application of the Treatment in the Article

Different people in the movie acknowledged that Sarah had a mental illness. Her family history of mental illness also demonstrates that Sarah had a mental illness. From the article, early diagnosis is likely to have better results than when the patient is diagnosed late (Davidson, 2019). Due to Sarah’s family history, she should have taken tests to determine if she was at risk of carrying a mental illness gene. It is most likely for the gene to be passed on. For example, in the film, Sarah’s grandmother had paranoid schizophrenia. Her signs and symptoms were noticed in Sarah by other people and even by Sarah herself. The people did not have a broad knowledge of what happened to Sarah or her grandmother. They said that they were crazy.

As much as Sarah had signs and symptoms of schizophrenia, no tests were done on her. She was once admitted to the psychiatric hospital for stripping at work. This is because everyone assumed she was crazy. The necessary tests would have confirmed a positive schizophrenia diagnosis, and the doctors would have taken her to a medical facility which would have provided better help for Sarah. The social worker was no help to Sarah since he just spoke to her on the first and last day of her admission to the psychiatric hospital (Baena, 2020, 01:13:59). Sarah needed a doctor who would prescribe medications and work through the recovery journey with her. She would have especially gained assistance with Cognitive Behavioral Therapy. It is observable that Sarah left the psychiatric hospital worse than when she arrived due to the decisions she took after.

As per the article, a sound support system would have helped Sarah recover better. Her roommate focused more on her boyfriend to observe that Sarah needed help. Her boyfriend Darren was confused and did not know how to help Sarah (Baena, 2020, 01:05:35). As for her ex-stepfather, all he seemed possible to offer was money. Her only possible support system was Joan, a workmate. Joan knew about Sarah’s family history and tried to help Sarah where she could. The people in Sarah’s life, such as her roommate and boyfriend, should have also gotten counseling on how to help Sarah get better.

References

Baena, J. (Director). (2020). Horse Girl [Film]. Douglas Brothers Production. Netflix.

Davidson, M. (2019). Cognitive impairment as a diagnostic criteria and treatment target in schizophrenia. World Psychiatry, 18(2), 171. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6502436/Viher, P. V., Stegmayer, K., Giezendanner, S., Federspiel, A., Bohlhalter, S., Vanbellingen, T., … & Walther, S. (2016). Cerebral white matter structure is associated with DSM-5 schizophrenia symptom dimensions. NeuroImage: Clinical, 12, 93-99. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2213158216301115

MANAGEMENT ACCOUNTING CARBON EMISSION:

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Management Accounting Carbon Emission

Introduction

The activities of larger cooperates such as Macdonald Australia Limited and Toyota Australia could also have new services and products developed to curb climate change and other climate effects of the organization be established effectively if the managers have pertinent information regarding carbon dioxide (CO2). These two corporations have independently gotten recognition from their sound sustainability and effective sustainability reporting. With their outstanding sustainability practices, these organizations would also be anticipated to be the leading in reporting, collections, assurance, awareness, and application of carbon related information as (Rappaport 2005) observed.

According to (Schaltegger, Burritt, & Petersen 2003), traditional management accounting of these firms have a focus on the dissemination and collection of financial representation of environmental effects of the organizations and these companies grown in significance due to the establishment of systems of emissions trading. Within the wider setting, emissions reduction revenue, costs of curbing environmental effects, monetary investments linked to greener products and cleaner production all offer the need for financial information in making decision. From the standpoint of environmental management, the results indicate avoidance and reduction in CO2 emissions for purposes of compliance gives the major concern regarding these companies’ managed practices of carbon. Some of these information are physical in their measurement or orientation and thus, could be reflected for instance by the eco-balances, carbon footprints, targets for carbon emission reduction expressed in relative and absolute terms, and actual reductions and emissions in relations to the trends or plans overtime.

A lot of accounting concerns are linked to the physical data need; however, studies give evidence that fiscal quantification plays a similar significant role in reference to the climate change data and information. For example commitments of carbon reduction require business (education, training or technology) so that the actual emission reduction is usually directly connected to the volume of resources invested, in which case, these resources are stated in fiscal units. These two organizations whose operations are directly linked to emission of carbon and thus, the law require them to give a comprehensive emission report, gather data from physical units as Rappaport (2005) suggested. The physical units do not just serve the purposes of regulatory reporting but are also keyed into the systems of performance measurement which develop key performance indicators of the organizations performance in absolute provisos. This physical information is then translated into capital units so as to sustain the management decisions linked to resource allocation, planning and costing.

Conclusion

Information from these two corporations indicate that physical information is more or less retained for bookkeeping functions and is hence available when no carbon or environmental management section is formally accountable for the management of such materials. For instance, comprehensive data linked to the energy consumption is collected by the department of accounting in all the two firms. The information has been applied to deliver an account of the operation costs and is given to the facility supervisors and other line managers on frequently.

References:

Rappaport A. (2005), The economics of short-term performance obsession, Financial Analysts Journal, Vol. 61 No. 3, pp. 65-79.

Schaltegger, S., Burritt, R. and Petersen, H. (2003), An Introduction to corporate environmental management, Greenleaf Publishing, Sheffield.

Microaggressions

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Microaggression

Even though our culture has generally “condemned” overt acts of racism and discrimination, less apparent instances of these evils, referred to as “microaggressions,” continue to persist. Given the pervasiveness of political correctness in the modern era, overt displays of racism, sexism, and homophobia are increasingly frowned upon. Unfortunately, unconscious biases based on race, gender, sexual orientation, and other identities may still exist and negatively impact how people interact with one another. Microaggressions were first identified in the context of racism, but research has shown that they can be directed toward any marginalized group. This includes people of color, women, the LGBT community, those with physical or mental impairments, and members of underrepresented faiths. Despite being “condemned,” overt acts of racism and discrimination nevertheless persist. While ignorance and misinterpretation are sometimes to blame for microaggressions, the subtle nature of these slights typically stems from our education. There are the talks many have with our loved ones and friends at home, college parties, and workplaces. They can be seen everywhere, from Internet memes and team mascots to pop culture and educational materials.

Many pick up microaggressions from the dominant society, which discreetly instills in us a disposition of suspicion, distrust, fear, and a desire to assert our own moral, behavioral, value, belief, and rational superiority over those of others. It’s the “common sense” held by those in power, and their shared worldview supports it. In many professions, society tends to presume that our motives are pure and that our interventions are always in the client’s best interests. Despite my best efforts, the identities covered in this issue are not meant to be representative of every imaginable group that faces microaggressions. This issue focuses on the harmful effects of microaggressions, but it should have done more to highlight the oppressed groups’ capabilities, an instinct for survival, opposition, and resilience.

Microbial Fuel: Potent Alternative Energy Resource

Name:

Professor:

Course:

Date:

Because of modernization of world there could be identified a number of problems out of which, destruction of resources and their depletion is the key one. In fact, as a consequence of blind exploitation of natural reserves (like; fossil fuels) their quantities have been reduced significantly thus; there is a huge demand of alternative energy resources. Another reason of such demand is pollution caused by over-exploitation of fossil fuels because of which, our surroundings are being destroyed in a quick manner.

To conquer such challenges, researchers are constantly trying to explore novel resources of energy that could be categorized as; renewable and eco- friendly. Though, it’s a fact that numerous such reserves have been discovered so far for instance; solar energy and wind energy, but according to experts, several limitations are also linked with them like; indefinite nature, technical obstructions, and questions raised by conservationists who consider safety of surroundings more important than development (Farrar et al., 2003). So; what I would like to suggest here is “Application of microbes for generation of energy”.

Indeed, microbes have been blessed by nature in terms of vast metabolic activities that could be shown by them. Even they can generate such chemicals via metabolic transformation of biomass (variable by nature as shown in figure) that might be utilized further for the purpose of power- generation for instance; bio-gas, bio-ethanol, bio-butanol, bio-hydrogen, and oilgae.

How these chemicals may be produced, utilized, and what are the positive and/or negative aspects linked with them it could be understood as follows: (a) Bio-hydrogen may be applied for electricity-generation in hydrogen fuel- cells, but its existing production cannot be considered sufficient because of the cost of reactors required for generation of photochemical, and due to the insufficient yields achieved through anaerobic fermentation, (b) Bio-ethanol can be produced predominantly with the help of Saccharomyces cerevisiae, but the substrates used by this creature as food are limited thus; it could be grown on a variety of food-sources only with the help of genetic engineering, (c) Production of Bio-gas may be performed via anaerobic biodegradation of waste organic stuff, but it can be used as fuel mainly in Combined Heat and Power (CHP) systems, and (d) Oil can be extracted from Microalgae (well-known as; Oilgae) and could be utilized for construction of biodiesel, but it cannot be classified as an economical energy-reserve. In addition to above, lack of proper tools and techniques is another problem related with its development as energy resource.

Despite the fact that microbes’ based fuels have their own limitations, we may adopt Bio-butanol (can be generated primarily with the help of Clostridia which could exploit a number of carbohydrate resources to create such products that might be used for extraction of energy) as an alternative source of energy (Atsumi et al., 2008). Major advantages linked with this energy-resource are:

1. It can be mixed with gasoline at higher quantity than ethanol for its application in standard vehicle engines. Additionally, its energy content is almost equivalent to ethanol and it can be produced through a range of feed- stocks hence; might be termed as an outstanding economical choice.

2. Further, possibility of segregation of Bio-butanol from gasoline in presence of moisture is less in comparison to ethanol hence; it could be used with the help of existing industrial infrastructure without any alteration in facilities related with mixing, storage, and pumping etc. Additionally, its transportation is more convenient than other existing bio-fuels (Boehlein et al., 2009).

3. There is no need to use gasoline base blends (inhibit liberation of Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs)) with it because, it does not increase the vapor-pressure when mixed with gasoline.

4. In addition to above, Bio-butanol is well-matched to present vehicle and engine systems because of which, automakers do not need to compromise on performance so that, the environmental laws could be obeyed (Hankamer et al., 2007).

Thus; in my opinion, Research & Development processes must be encouraged to improve this renewable, economical, and eco-friendly energy reserve with the intention that, we could not be compelled to start our return trip towards the age when approaches, practices, and/or tools were not advanced and we were destined to reside in caves.

References

Atsumi S., Cann A. F., Connor M. R., Shen C. R., Smith K. M., Brynildsen M. P., Chou K. J. Y., Hanai T., Liao J. C. (2008). Metabolic engineering of Escherichia coli for 1-butanol production. Metab. Eng. 10:305–311.

Boehlein S. K., Shaw J. R., Stewart J. D., Hannah L. C. (2009). Characterization of an autonomously activated plant ADP-glucose pyrophosphorylase. Plant Physiol. 149:318–326.

Hankamer B., Lehr F., Rupprecht J., Mussgnug J. H., Posten C., Kruse O. (2007). Photosynthetic biomass and H2 production by green algae: from bioengineering to bioreactor scale-up. Physiol. Plant. 131:10–21.

Topic: Management Accounting for Business Decisions

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Course

Instructor

Date

Introduction

Management accounting is a system mainly utilized by the company managers to collect and analyze any accounting information purposely to be used for planning and reporting company matters. This information offers the managers with a basis to make logic business decisions that enable them to be better and fully equipped in their management roles and control functions. As opposed to financial accountancy information, the management accounting information is often confidential and utilized by the management body, worked out by reference to the requirements of the managers, regular using management information system rather by reference to common financial accounting standards (Management Accounting 1999). This assignment aims to study the changes impacted by Enterprise Resource Planning systems and Online Analytical Processing on management accounting practices.

Background Information

Management accounting has been described as a process that offers relevant information for organizational managers in basis of performance evaluation and planning. Atkinson et al (2001) perceives that, management accounting is a value adding progressing improvement process of operating financial and non-financial information, designing and measuring information system that directs the management actions, creates and holds up the cultural values which are essential in achieving the organization’s goals, motivates behavior and assists in tactical and operating goals. According to the previous researchers, management accounting ought to support organizations’ in ongoing organizational transformation and in making decisions. As brought out by Atkinson (2001), the functions of management accounting comprise of, strategic control, management control, customer and product costing as well as operational control. Operational control offers information regarding the performed tasks. Customer and product costing resolves the products costs and services generated for customers. Management control task assesses the operating unit and the managers work, while strategic control function centers on long term strategic decisions (Management Accounting 1999). Management accounting may also be referred as internal accounting; therefore, management accounting information refers or directs to the accounting information utilized inside the company. By tradition, accounting information has been long considered as financial in its nature. Dissimilar kinds of financial information entail for example, cost of manufacturing goods or services or cost acquired in any department. Nevertheless, management accounting information has commenced to also take in non-financial information subjective measures for instance, customer satisfaction as well as quality (Management Accounting 1999).

Impacts of ERP

Enterprise resource planning systems well known as ERP have made it possible for most organizations to take advantage of their business information. From the introduction in the mid nineteen ninety’s, adopters of enterprise resource planning system have highly increased (Zeng 2003). The major important factor that differentiates enterprise resource planning system from the former generations of information systems like material requirement planning and manufacturing resource planning is that, enterprise resource planning allows the organizations to incorporate business practices and optimize the available resources. As stated by Zeng (2003), an enterprise resource planning system is always flexible and has the capacity to respond to the changing needs that an organization may have in future. This system is able to support a range of organizational processes, as well as covering different modules for instance, materials management, human resource, sales and distribution and financial accounting. An excellent enterprise resource planning system is not limited by the organizational boundaries, that is, it holds up linkages to entities outside an organization (Zeng 2003). However performance of enterprise resource planning does not repeatedly offer any merits for the organization, although there are some noted benefits which include;

Managerial benefits, the enterprise resource planning system with their data analysis and databases capacities can enhance the decision making and performance improvement in operating divisions. Thus enterprise resource planning systems offers planning benefits to the management.

Operational benefits, an enterprise resource planning system computerize daily operational procedures and therefore, one could expect that the system provides benefits in terms of customer service, cost reduction and improvement in productivity (Zeng 2003).

Strategic benefits, an enterprise resource planning system can offer an organization IT- based cutthroat merits by helping in establishment of outside alliance with clients and by promoting business development, differentiation and innovation. This enterprise resource planning system generates an infrastructure which enhances an organization to cope up with future changes and also decline the IT costs and raise the potential to implement other applications.

Organizational benefits, an enterprise resource planning system improves the working patterns, communication and organizational learning among people, hence, improvement in the organizational culture is also attainable (Zeng 2003).

Some researchers have studied the impacts of enterprise resource planning systems implementations on general firm performance and the study of Hunton (2003) disagreed from others because Hunton compared enterprise resource planning system adopters with the non-adopters from different financial companies whereby he came to an identical conclusions as the others-there were no notable improvements in the financial ratios during the subsequent period of assessment.

Impacts of online analytical processing

Online analytical processing (OLAP) is an assortment of techniques that the organization can make use of to accomplish multidimensional analysis and toil with comprehensive data. Generally the online analytical processing enables the user to observe information in a range of dimensional views (Yazdifar 2005). There are online analytical processing systems that support management decision making, budgeting and reporting. It’s very beneficial in any management accounting department for it offers more flexible ways to access the data as compared to data warehouses. Its tools provide more highly developed reporting formats and offers possibilities to view the data from a variety of perspectives thus making the work easier (Yazdifar 2005). Data in online analytical processing environment is normally structured in a departmental format, this means that the department is well able to identify metrics that are pre-computed and hoarded in the online analytical processing system. Online analytical processing facilitates the querying of data, that is, it raises the level of aggregation and also depreciating the level of aggregation. It holds up departmental customization, hence, departments are in a position to come up with their own summaries on the similar data according to their requirements (Yazdifar 2005).

OLAP, ERP Systems and Management Accounting

According to studies, management accounting ought to assist organizations to cope up with coming changes in the business environment. It should enable the organization to recognize the requirements to undertake changes by suggestive of suitable measures (Tin, 2006). Equally very crucial, management accounting should not block the changes by putting an emphasis on performance measures that sustain the status quo. A researcher suggests that management accounting may lead to growth of custom based on former experience. Although these customs will assist the organizational to respond to identical kind of situations as encountered in the former periods, they lessen the organizations capability to respond to latest events (Tin, 2006).

At lower levels, the management accounting systems have traditionally centered on assisting middle level supervisors to supervise floor workers. The routine has, however, shifted from the managers’ supervision on the assistant to self regulating by the assistants (empowerment). At the senior levels, management accounting is used to organize the federal decision making and also to offer information for decision making in the decentralized organization. From this, we can clearly observe that, the online analytical processing and enterprise resource planning systems are being used as a way to assist the organizations to change (Tin, 2006). As laid down from the previous information, organizations performing in a regularly changing business environment calls for real time information which may somehow be structured into multidimensional contexts. Online analytical processing technology allows the user to produce multidimensional presentation of data in a data warehouses and generate cubes that systematize and summarizes the data permitting well-organized analytical querying. According to Jordan (1999), the implementation of an online analytical processing database lessened the time linked to forecasting, distributing and consolidating financial management reports. To add on, the online analytical processing database makes analysis of data more successful and competent, while at the same time lowered the risk of depending on a single individual to sustain the systems supporting the management reporting (Tin, 2006).

Conclusion

As explained from the above information the online analytical processing and enterprise resource planning systems have a direct or indirect impact on the management accounting. In spite of the benefits towards the management accounting, these two systems may also have a limitation. Although in different organizations the enterprise resource planning system implemented had resulted in organizational sovereignty or new tasks, these adjustments had not led to changes in the sense of management accounting (Neely 2001). Hence, the top benefits of these current systems for accounting have only mirrored in enhanced heap processing of documents, whilst no noteworthy improvements can be observed in decision making. A small impact of enterprise resource planning on the management accounting can be well explained by the fact that, a number of organizations who were in their early phase of implementation, were under pressure due to functionality issues which had left less time to dedicate on value adding features like management accounting. In addition the enterprise resource planning system may have a steady role and end up reinforcing the existing management accounting routines instead of developing them (Neely 2001). The impact of the changing business environment on management accounting may in future come with more advanced changes which will improve the management accounting by making the work easier accessible and faster.

References

Management Accounting (1999); The changing role of the management accountant and Its implications for qualification development, September 1998; 76, 8, pp. 68-69

Neely A, M. R. Sutcliff, H. R. Heyns (2001): Driving Value Through Strategic Planning and Budgeting, New York, NY: Accenture.

Tin, H. (2006). Management Accounting Practices And Management Accounts. Retrieved on 26 November 2010, Available at; HYPERLINK “http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:0INPxMw6QDIJ:www.pafis.shh.fi/graduates/tinho04.pdf+The+Impact+of+the+Changing+Business+Environment+on+Management+Accounting+Systems&hl=en” http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:0INPxMw6QDIJ:www.pafis.shh.fi/graduates/tinho04.pdf+The+Impact+of+the+Changing+Business+Environment+on+Management+Accounting+Systems&hl=en

Yazdifar, H and Tsamenyi, M (2005): Management accounting change and the Changing roles of management accountants: a comparative analysis between dependent And independent organizations, Journal of Accounting & Organizational Change, Vol. 1, Issue 2.

Zeng Y, R.Chiang H and D. C. Yen (2003): Enterprise integration with advanced Information technologies: ERP and data warehousing, Information Management & Computer Security, Vol. 11, Issue 3 September 1998; 76, 8, pp. 68-69

Business Concept Report

Student’s Name

Institution Affiliation

Course Name and Code

Professor’s Name

Date

Business Concept Report

Introduction

Blanding fresh juice creates an environment where customers can quench their thirst in a naturally fresh drink. As such, my business idea and plans get based on the extensive production of freshly blended fruit juice and online delivery of the product to the market. Therefore, the paper analyzes the business concept report by determining market needs, solutions, proposed business models, competitors, and market plans.

Brief Description of Business Concept

A business concept is construed as a system that describes and defines new business ideas on the business initiative to strategize the production of new products for the customers or create a new company. My business concept gets based on determining ways of online delivery of blended fruit juices to consumers. Online fruit juice delivery is embedded in the ability to focus on the ideas that constitute the business purpose (Talukder, 2019). As such, the concept offers a high-level and quick summary of the organization’s goals, objectives, and missions. Through business concepts, the company can quickly identify the challenges consumer experiences.

The Market Need

My business idea will fill the void in the marketplace by introducing technology to the market. My product will solve the challenge of the low production rate that most businesses have exhibited due to poor infrastructural development. The current business in my surrounding has not introduced artificial intelligence technology in production (Borodavko et al., 2021). As such, the business needs to formulate contemporary technology that will mitigate the detriment of slow production and ineffective communication.

My Solutions

Introducing technology in the production process will enhance effective communication between the employees and management and interaction between the business and the customers. It also creates a mechanism through which data storage systems get technologically improved. Artificial intelligence in production will create a market internationally due to the intensification of communication and order of goods and services through online channels (Borodavko et al., 2021). My products target technology-oriented youths and opt for fast production and delivery of fruit juices. Most importantly, I am the perfect person to introduce the use of technology, especially artificial intelligence, to target my computerized clients hence creating a channel of increased production of blended fruit juices.

My Proposed Business Model

My proposed business models are the direct sales model and the advertising-based model. Direct sales provide an opportunity to deal with the direct client by offering essential goods and services to their satisfaction (Guo & Jiang, 2020). Also, the advertisement-based business model encourages online advertisement through the use of social media technology to reach a large number of target customers. Implementing technological advertising using social media like Facebook and Twitter enables a comprehensive marketing model.

Unique Value Proposition

My product is different from other products because it provides a natural taste of fruits. The blended juice is obtained from natural fresh fruits. An individual would prefer to buy my product because I offer a variety of fruit juices according to the customer’s taste. Also, I employ the new technology by using the electric-driven blender to improve the quality and quality of juice production daily. Notably, the juices are sold at affordable prices, enabling the customers to quench their thirst at a practical cost (Shamsudin et al., 2020). Through the online initiative, I offer door-to-door delivery that gets charged at lower delivery rates.

Succinct Competitive Analysis

My major competitors in the market are Coca-Cola, Pepsi, and Nestle. The competitors provide the manufactured beverages that the clients consider fast food drinks. Majorly, Coca-Cola is vital in marketing because it is already established in global drinks. The weakness of the competitors entails the provision of manufactured beverages that are, to some extent, harmful to human health. Most importantly, the annual revenue of Coca-Cola is $36.59 Billion (Guo & Wen, 2021). In the United States., the market share of Coca-Cola is 43.7%. As such, I need to encourage an active marketing framework through innovative approaches in technology, production, and management to offer customers a variety of fresh fruit drinks to compete favorably with Coca-Cola.

Overview of My market Plan

My market will be critical to success by effectively identifying the target audience. After identifying the target audience, I will use the media mix optimization to target the audience on the ideal platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. My target audiences are workers in industries, youths, and students (Chambers, 2021). Through the generation of ads, the target customers will get informed through social media advertisements. Furthermore, social networking and the delivery of brochures physically to target consumers using the existing customers will promote business ideas.

Conclusion

Production and delivery of blended fresh juice is a business that requires a comprehensive analysis of the market and the use of contemporary technology in production and marketing. Analyzing the market entails determining the market needs and highlighting the solution to the business challenges. It also entails the determination of the practical business model for marketing and production, identifying the unique value proposition, overviewing the market plan, and competitive analysis.

References

Chambers, R. (2021). Social media marketing plan: developing an online brand persona. https://www.theseus.fi/handle/10024/171631Shamsudin, R., Zulkifli, N. A., & Zaman, A. K. (2020). Quality attributes of fresh pineapple-mango juice blend during storage. International Food Research Journal, 27(1), 141-149. http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/37561/1/15%20-%20IFRJ17900.R1.pdfGuo, R., & Jiang, Z. (2020). Optimal Dynamic Advertising Policy Based on Generalized Advertising Gains. http://2021.cswimworkshop.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/cswim2021_paper_56.pdfBorodavko, B., Illés, B., & Bányai, Á. (2021). Role of artificial intelligence in the supply chain. Academic Journal of Manufacturing Engineering, 19(1), 75-79. https://www.ajme.ro/PDF_AJME_2021_1/L11.pdfTalukder, S. (2019). Corporate identity design for Cafe Ava’s fruit juice and drinks. https://repository.au.edu/bitstream/handle/6623004553/24220/AU-Student-Report-Fulltext-24220.PDF?sequence=2Guo, X., & Wen, M. (2021, December). Research on Competitive Strategy of Coca-Cola Company. In 2021 3rd International Conference on Economic Management and Cultural Industry (ICEMCI 2021) (pp. 2879-2885). Atlantis Press. https://www.atlantis-press.com/proceedings/icemci-21/125965872

Abigail Adams And Mercy Otis Warren

Introduction

Abigail Adams and Mercy Otis Warren are two women who can be identified as the founding mothers of the United States. Abigail Adams was married to the former president of United States John Adams. She was actively involved in the political life of her husband. She pushed her husband to recognize the legal rights of women. Mercy Otis on the other hand, vehemently opposed the British colonization in Massachusetts. Her work as an artist is often considered to be her way for presenting her political opinions. As a political writer she gave her voice when many other women maintained their silence. The two women were both born at Massachusetts, and both actively engaged in politics as feminist pushing not just their husband agendas, but the voice of women. These papers excavate into the lives of these two great women in American history.

Abigail Adams

She was born on November 11, 1744. Her parents were William Smith and Elizabeth Quincy. She was born at Weymouth, Massachusetts. She did not have formal education, but instead learnt at home. She learned writing, reading, and mathematics. She also studied dance, music, and Irish. She had access to her father and grandfather’s libraries. Her father was someone who loved to learn and read and often encouraged his children to look at his extensive library. Her special interest was on theology, philosophy, Shakespeare, ancient theory, the classics, and government law.

She met her husband and a lawyer John Adams when she was only 15, they later married on October 25 1764 and moved to Boston with him. They bought a huge track of land in 1787, known as Peacefield, and John Adams was then a minister for Great Britain. Their marriage conceived three children among them the Sixth president of United States, John Quincy Adams. Her first child came into their lives almost immediately after marriage. Therefore, her first role as a wife was to raise these children. Her other roles in the family included helping her husband in managing finances for their household, and producing crops. In 1774, Abigail, was left behind by her husband as he went to serve the British government as a delegate of the colony in the First Continental Congress. This period led to a correspondence between the two that forms the basis of much of the public debates regarding her. In these letters she passed various advices to her husband political questions. She also reflected her own observations as well as the unfolding events during the revolution. Abigail in 1776, when the Second Continental Congress came close, began to write letters to her husband telling him that there was need for new government to uplift the legal status of women to the level of men. Though she did not succeed in pushing him to admit the need to do this, her writing are the first known attempts to have women enjoy the same rights as men. She remained separated with her husband as he moved between countries in official duties, but she kept him informed of what was taking place locally.

She took an active role in her husband political life. Following her husband election to the presidency of United States between March 179 7 and March 1801 as the second president, she rose to the status of First Lady. She stayed with him in Philadelphia and later on at Washington, D.C for a period of eighteen months in both places. Often, she openly criticized those she considered to be against her husband Federal Party. The anti-Federalist inclined to Thomas Jefferson like Albert Gallatin became her immortal enemies and openly criticized her in press. He called her names and nicknamed her “Mrs. President not of the United States but a faction”. Although such statements hurt her a lot, she was not intimidated. She did not fear to give her personal opinion. She was not liked for her opinions, but was highly valued by her husband. Her influence on presidential appointments made her a number one enemy of the opposition. In addition, she consistently campaigned for freedom of African-American slaves and equality in education for girls.

Just about the time the continental Congress gave the independence declaration in 1776, she had written a letter to her husband requesting him to put ladies into consideration while drafting new code of laws she argued that ladies were going to rebel if they were not going to be represented or given a voice. It is known that her husband refused to harkens to her statement, and Holton writes how she went ahead to revolt against these laws within her household. As one of her letter in 1782, revealed, she took issue with the law degradation of women by giving husbands undue rights to control and even disposal of the properties of their wives. She went ahead to defy these laws and created her own wealth. In 1816, convinced she was in the edge of death she sat down and wrote down a will. Legally she did not have a right to own properties while her husband was alive and the mere act of drafting this will was an a act of rebellion. Even more intriguing is the fact that she decide to live her properties not to her sons, but to other married women.

She is therefore, known to have initiated a revolution for personal property rights. Like many other patriots in the revolutionary period her husband abandoned his family for a very long period. As a result, he was not able to manage their properties. Abigail was therefore responsible for managing the financial aspects of the family and she was very good at it. She was very good at investing these fiancés because she was open to risks. She invested her husband money in government securities and other ventures. Out of this money she stashed away some, which she referred to as her own pocket money. In her will she gave out most of her wealth to her granddaughters as compared to what she left for her male relatives. Holton argues that the main reason for doing this was not because she hated them, but because she wanted to cut her life as one of advocating for women rights to own property. Her will did not have any weight in the court of law, but it was honored by her husband.

Mercy Otis Warren (1728-1814)

She was born in Barnstable, Massachusetts as the daughter of Colonel James Otis and Mary Allyne. Her parents did not take her to school, but she was allowed to attend her brother’s lesson, with his tutor Reverend Russell. Therefore, like Abigail Adams she also received exceptional training unlike other women of 18th century. Her brother, James Otis had great influence on the direction of her life. Besides, his influence in convincing their parents to allow her attend his lessons, his political life also shaped the path of her life. James Otis was brutally attacked as he walked towards British Coffee House in Occupied Boston by the British officers. This incident had a great impact on Mercy Otis life.

Mercy had a talent for writing and she was urged on by her brother. He also took over her tutoring and was the first to read her initial poems. Her first writing was mainly influenced by her religious background. However, her writing was transformed and she became a political playwright, satirist, and historian. She married James Warren, in 1754. Her brother continued to influence her even in marriage life. It was time for the American Revolution and James Otis forged the phrase that “taxation without representation is tyranny” to oppose the British government oppressive taxes. In the 1750s and 60 her husband John Warren and others joined her brother to form the Sons of Liberty. Her home hosted many political meetings and she was involved in deliberating liberty and independence issues. She played a key role in facilitating the growth of this movement by starting to write political satire through pamphlets, poems, and plays.

Mercy Ortiz in particular took offense with certain individuals. She considered Governor Hutchinson’s actions as one of the reasons for her father political disappointments. She also associated the British attack on her brother to what later befell him, which is mental incapacitation. Following attack of James Otis in 1769, she decided to carry his mantle. She was determined to keep the mantle of liberty that his brother initiated with her writing. She also kept close friendship with Abigail Adams and John Adams. Together with her husband, these friends helped her to carry on her new role. John Adams in particular, helped her to publish her first play “the Adulateur” in 1772. It was published in the Massachusetts Spy and acted in Upper Servia. She used this play to criticize the governor of Massachusetts, Thomas Hutchinson. She portrayed his leadership as being wicked. She criticized him and his allies for what she considered to be monopolization of public offices. This play also depicted the people she considered to be the patriots of the nation including James Warren, Sam Adams, and James Otis. Her other plays like The Defeat (1773) as well as the Group (1779) also praised the patriots and rebuked the British troops and tyrannical leaders. They represent her filial emotions and patriotism.

Conclusion

These are two exception women involved in their own unique ways in shaping American future in the revolution period. Abigail comes out as a strong champion of women right to education and in property ownership. Her role as a political leader can also not be undermined, as she not only shaped her husband political direction prior to his presidency, but also during his tenure. On the other hand, Mercy Otis Warren comes out as an exceptional writer who uses her literary work to influence the public perception of patriotism and traitors. These two women depicts the strengths of women in the prehistoric time, despite not being well empowered by the society. They both did not get formal education, but they did great with the opportunity given to them by those who loved them.

References

Primary Sources

“First Lady Biography: Abigail Adams”. National First Ladies’ Library. Web

Black, Allida. “Abigail Smith Adams”. theWhite House. (2009). Web.

Hamlin, Joanne. Mercy Otis Warren: Patriot with a Pen. Helion Nine, Vol.8, (1983): 84-90.

Secondary Sources

Donnelly, M. A. Mercy Otis warren (1728-1814): Satirist of the American Revolution. ProQuest Dissertations and Theses. (1988).

Holton, Woody. Abigail Adams’ Last Act of Defiance. American History. 45.1, (2010). 56-61.

Wheeler, Jill C. Abigail Adams. Edina, Minn: ABDO. (2010).

Final Writing Project

Breece D’J Pancake’s “First Day of Winter”

Breece D’J Pancake’s stories are set in the harsh backdrop of rural West Virginia. Pancake often uses the environment to help reveal the burdens and inner-conflicts of his most hardened characters. In “First Day of Winter,” Pancake introduces us to Hollis, a farm boy confronting the ever-present reality of the approaching season and what it means for his fate. Hollis’ endless struggle with his own desires, family guilt, and his inner failings are juxtaposed against the fierce, unrelenting environment (both outside and inside of the farmhouse). This haunting, bare-bones account of Hollis closing down the family farm before the hardest season hits is sure to leave you with a deeper sense of his inner-strife born from a dark sense of “place”.

Format: MLA typed Reader Response paper; 5 paragraphs

Exact quotes from the text to support your claims

 

Analysis Prompt: At the end of the story, Pancake crafts a final image of Hollis succumbing to the reality of his dire situation. Pancake uses funeral imagery to describe Hollis as he takes his nap, and we can assume Pancake wants to convey how dead and hopeless Hollis feels. But why?  Now, look back at the story and develop a thesis explaining which elements from the story help to understand/reveal/prove why Hollis feels like he is attending his own funeral. 

Provide support for your claims; Use quotes from the text

Develop your analysis in each body paragraph but only one point per paragraph

Discuss his main conflict within the story/why he would feel so dead

You may want to analyze symbols/symbolism which help to reveal his feelings

 You may want to describe and/or use examples from the text /Pancake’s descriptions of the setting to support your understanding of Hollis’ feelings

 Maybe discuss family relationships, guilt and neglect–are these factors?