Stirfry

Stirfry Free Online Research Papers Look in a supermarket today and you will find a selection of food labeled gluten free, allergen free, dairy free, or lactose free. These products are usually limited, and extremely expensive. So for a person who is allergic to wheat, dairy and many nuts, how does on eat healthily, allergen free, and inexpensively? My answer to this question is stir fry. The term stir-fry was introduced into the English language in a book by Buwei Yang Chao called How to Cook and Eat in Chinese. The term was used to describe the chao technique of cooking. (1) According to Mark Vogel, â€Å"stir-frying is a technique whereby food is sautà ©ed quickly in a very hot, concave (bowl-shaped) pan called a wok. The bottom center of the pan is where the heat is most concentrated. It then dissipates as the sides of the pan are ascended.† Items for stir frying should be cut into small, uniform pieces to allow for even cooking. Once in the pan, foods should be kept in almost constant motion, often using more than one utensil. Usually longer cooking items would be placed in first, starting with a protein, adding harder vegtables, then softer vegtables, then noodles, aromatics, and sauces. Sometimes a protein will be seared, then reomved, and added back later. (3) A wok is not required to make stirfry, but it does have the advantages of spreading heat evenly and requiring less oil than a traditional pan, as well as keeping tossed foods in the pan instead of on the floor! Woks come in both a flot bottomed and a round bottomed shape. The flat bottom is best for those working with an electric stove, the round best for gas. With a round bottomed wok, there will often be a heat ring to balance to wok on and to help with heat dirtibution. (2) Stir-fries were not a regular food for me as a child. Growing up, my mom cooked a lot of pasta dishes, cassereoles, and comfort foods. We didn’t have a wok, and I didn’t know I was allergic to any foods, so I didn’t think twice about diving in to a regular bowl of pasta and meatballs or worry about the wheat flour in Cambell’s tomato soup. I learned to stir-fry in culinary school, and started using the technique because it’s quick, inexpensive, and if done well, can be very healthy. Stir Frying is a technique as much as it is a dish. One can use just about any ingerients in a stir fry that suits their tastes. I use whatever I happen to have around, or whatever happens to be on sale. My protein of choice is sually a lean cut of chicken or beef. Because the technique is quickly over high heat, proteins that are tough aren’t as ideal. For this particular stir fry I heated my flat bottomed wok up and used olive oil. I cooked my ground turkey, then drained off excess fat before adding bak choy, carrots, canned water chestnuts, and canned bamboo shoots. I coooked these down a bit before tossing in some pre-cooked rice noodles, which I cooked earlier inboiling water for 10 minutes. For a sauce I combine soy sauce with thai sweet chili sauce. To finish the dish I add slat and pepper to taste and then sqeeze a lime over the whole thing. This dish can then be served hot or cold. For the purpose of this class, I will seve mine cold. I was diagnosed with my food allergies after a lifetime of sinus problems and symptoms of a wekened immune system. I spent more time than I cared to at doctor’s offices, had numerous surguries on my sinuses, had tubes, and had my tonsils removed. Finally I got fed up with doctors who could only tell me I had yet another upper respiratory infection, and went to a naturopathic doctor. She diagnosed my allegies using a technique called Electrodermal screening, which uses the meridians of the body to detect inbalences in ones system. (4) After a diagnosis of allergies to both the lactose and the caseine in dairy, wheat (not gluten!) and certain nuts, I modifed my diet. Since modfying my diet I have noticed a significat improvement in the frequency of illnesses I have. It was explained to me that the more I eat foods that stress my system, the weaker my immune system grows. While the immune system is weak, I get sick much easier. I have experimented on my own; any time I e at pizza or regular bread now, I notice myself feeling fatigued, stuffy, and sore throated. After learning about my allergies, I started noticing just how expensive allternatives for people with allergies can be. I was spending an average of $70 a week on food when before I was only spending an average of $40. The bread and pasta alternatives are not only pricey, but from personal experience, the tastes and textures can be pretty odd. I’ve yet to find a gluten free bread that I can really palate, and the pastas in the â€Å"natural foods† section tend to be mushy. These sections often offer rice flour and other alternatives for baking, but these tend to be expensive for a college student as well. I knew from expereinces in culinary school that Asian cusines use a lot of rice flour in their cooking, and realized that we have a very nice Vietnamese market here in town. I decided to visit and see if I could find less expensive alternatives for myself that worked with my allergies. Lo and behold, they sell rice noodles, rice flour, and tapioca flour at reaso nable prices. They also have some very nice and very cheap produce. Thus, my love affair with stir fry was born, and now I hope I have passed it on! Sources: 1) Chao, Buwei Yang, How to Cook and Eat in Chinese, New York: John Day, 1945, accessed November 16th 2010 2) Parkinson, Rhonda, Before You Buy a Wok, About.com Guide, accessed November 16th, 2010 3) Vogel, Mark, R, Stir Frying, Food for Thought, July 23rd, 2008, Accessed November 16th, 2010 4) 4) Electrodermal Screening, Stillpointe Natural Health, stillpointe.net/getdoc/5c56d91e-7bb5-4be2-b5bd-b018c46526d0/Electrodermal-Screening-%28EDS%29.aspx, accessed November 16th, 2010 Research Papers on StirfryGenetic EngineeringBook Review on The Autobiography of Malcolm XMind TravelThe Effects of Illegal ImmigrationMarketing of Lifeboy Soap A Unilever ProductTrailblazing by Eric Anderson19 Century Society: A Deeply Divided EraPersonal Experience with Teen PregnancyIncorporating Risk and Uncertainty Factor in CapitalAssess the importance of Nationalism 1815-1850 Europe

Feminism †In Search of Our Mothers Gardens

Feminism – In Search of Our Mothers Gardens Free Online Research Papers ABSTRACT In this essay I have intended to outline the movement named as ‘feminism’ in Critical Theory and in our social life first and then to focus on one of the womanist writer’s work which is ‘In Search Of Our Mothers’ Gardens’ by Alice Walker. Its natural development in art, literature or in politics in terms of equal social rights for women has been mentioned briefly to understand this social phenomenon. Actually this movement has various outcomes or effects from humanities to politics and from economy to daily social life. Feminism includes some of the sociological theories and philosophies concerned with issues of gender difference. It is also a movement that campaigns for womens rights and interests. It has changed traditional perspectives on a wide range of areas in human life from culture to law as well. Briefly, the premises of feminism in these areas as well as the changing perspectives in our life will be mentioned. Then a womanist writerâ €™s work ‘In Search Of Our Mother’s Garden’ has been analyzed through her point of views. My own views, experiences and comments have been added to describe these concepts better. Although I am biologically ‘male’, probably I might have ‘patriarchal’ influences and from time to time I call my wife ‘feminist’ to make her angry, I really share common ideas with respect for the women whose rights – from education to production of artistic works in art, literature, sculpture etc., from voting to being selected as Members of Parliament, from working as officials to maternity leave – have been taken from their hands and neglected for a long time. As in case of Alice Walker their natural rights of FREEDOM have been captured by the POWER whoever has been holding in their hands which is worse than the white women’s conditions in Europe. The readers of this essay will go on a journey and see how women got the ir natural rights in time and in what extend our lives in society have been changed within their effects. DEFINITION Feminism refers to political, cultural, and economic movements aimed at establishing greater rights and legal protections for women. Feminism includes some of the sociological theories and philosophies concerned with issues of gender difference. It is also a movement that campaigns for womens rights and interests.[ ] Nancy Cott defines feminism as the belief in the importance of gender equality, invalidating the idea of gender hierarchy as a socially constructed concept.[ ] Lois Tyson defines feminist criticism which examines the ways in which literature (and other cultural productions) reinforces or undermines the economic, political, social, and psychological oppression of women. However, just as the practitioners of all critical theories do, feminist critics hold many different opinions on all of the issues their discipline examines.[ ] From these definitions broadly we see that it is a movement in politics, culture, economy and social sciences to gain equal rights and to prevent oppression in these areas. In my opinion, like wars, slavery system and unequal rights for women or discrimination or oppression on them anywhere is a great shame of us. This is the shame for everybody or especially for the rule or law makers or the powerful people, countries or systems that have abused their authorities. When we look into their cases it will be much clearer that not only the women but also the weaks and the poors have suffered and still have been suffering in many parts of the world. It’s a great honour for the people especially for the women who have fought for their natural rights. HISTORY Feminist activists have campaigned for womens legal rights such as rights of contract, property rights, and voting rights while also promoting womens rights to bodily integrity and autonomy, abortion rights, and reproductive rights. They have struggled to protect women and girls from domestic violence, sexual harassment, and rape. [ ] On economic matters, feminists have advocated for workplace rights, including maternity leave and equal pay, and against other forms of gender-specific discrimination against women. [ ] Although the terms feminism and feminist did not gain widespread use until the 1970s, they were already being used in public parlance much earlier; for instance, Katharine Hepburn speaks of the feminist movement in the 1942 film Woman of the Year. Feminists and scholars have divided the movements history into three waves. The first wave refers mainly to womens suffrage movements of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries (mainly concerned with womens right to vote). The second wave refers to the ideas and actions associated with the womens liberation movement beginning in the 1960s (which campaigned for legal and social rights for women). The third wave refers to a continuation of, and a reaction to the perceived failures of, second-wave feminism, beginning in the 1990s. [ ] BLACK FEMINISM Black feminism argues that sexism, class oppression, and racism are inextricably bound together.[ ] Forms of feminism that strive to overcome sexism and class oppression but ignore race can discriminate against many people, including women, through racial bias. The Combahee River Collective argued in 1974 that the liberation of black women entails freedom for all people, since it would require the end of racism, sexism, and class oppression.[ ] One of the theories that evolved out of this movement was Alice Walkers womanism. It emerged after the early feminist movements that were led specifically by white women who advocated social changes such as womans suffrage. These movements were largely white middle-class movements and had generally ignored oppression based on racism and classism. Alice Walker and other womanists pointed out that black women experienced a different and more intense kind of oppression from that of white women.[ ] LOIS TYSON’S IMPORTANT ASSUMPTIONS[ ] 1. Women are oppressed by patriarchy economically, politically, socially, and psychologically; patriarchal ideology is the primary means by which they are kept so. 2. In every domain where patriarchy reigns, woman is other: she is objectified and marginalized, defined only by her difference from male norms and values, defined by what she (allegedly) lacks and that men (allegedly) have. 3. All of Western (Anglo-European) civilization is deeply rooted in patriarchal ideology, as we see, for example, in the numerous patriarchal women and female monsters of Greek and Roman literature and mythology; the patriarchal interpretation of the biblical Eve as the origin of sin and death in the world; the representation of woman as a nonrational creature by traditional Western philosophy; and the reliance on phallogocentric thinking (thinking that is male oriented in its vocabulary, rules of logic, and criteria for what is considered objective knowledge) by educational, political, legal, and business institutions. As we saw earlier, even the development of the Western canon of great literature, including traditional fairy tales, was a product of patriarchal ideology. 4. While biology determines our sex (male or female), culture determines our gender (masculine or feminine). That is, for most English-speaking feminists, the word gender refers not to our anatomy but to our behavior as socially programmed men and women. I behave â€Å"like a woman† (for example, submissively) not because it is natural for me to do so but because I was taught to do so. In fact, all the traits we associate with masculine and feminine behavior are learned, not inborn. 5. All feminist activity, including feminist theory and literary criticism, has as its ultimate goal to change the world by promoting women’s equality. Thus, all feminist activity can be seen as a form of activism, although the word is usually applied to feminist activity that directly promotes social change through political activity such as public demonstrations, boycotts, voter education and registration, the provision of hotlines for rape victims and shelters for abused women, and the like. Although frequently falsely portrayed in opposition to â€Å"family values,† feminists continue to lead the struggle for better family policies such as nutrition and health care for mothers and children; parental leave; and high-quality, affordable day care. 6. Gender issues play a part in every aspect of human production and experience, including the production and experience of literature, whether we are consciously aware of these issues or not. ALICE WALKER Alice Walker is an American author and poet. She has written at length on issues of race and gender, and is most famous for the critically acclaimed novel The Color Purple for which she won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. She was born and raised in the state of Georgia. Her works typically focus on the struggles of blacks, particularly women, and their struggle against a racist, sexist, and violent society. Her writings also focus on the role of women of color in culture and history. Walker is a respected figure in the liberal political community for her support of unconventional and unpopular views as a matter of principle. Additionally, Walker has published several short stories, including the 1973 Everyday Use, in which she discusses feminism, racism against blacks, and the issues raised by young black people who leave home and lose respect for their parents culture. [ ] Alice Walkers essay In Search of Our Mothers Gardens, which I will be focusing on in detail after all this warm-up information, explains the hardships that black women had to endure and their perseverance in maintaining their creativity throughout. ‘IN SEARCH OF OUR MOTHERS’ GARDENS’ Men or women are the halves which completes each other. I mean each of them have some superior parts or qualities from born which should be used or let’s say shared by the couples in the family. Alice Walkers In Search of our Mothers Gardens is an essay about the hardships that black women have had to endure in the past and their persevering ability to maintain their creativity throughout the years of oppression they have been through. Walker uses a variety of different methods to convey this message and explain in detail exactly how black creativity has survived throughout the most painful and enduring times. Alice Walker states, In the still heat of the post-Reconstruction South, this is how they [black women] seemed to Jean Toomer: exquisite butterflies trapped in an evil honey, toiling away their lives in an era, a century, that did not acknowledge them, except at the mule of the world(Walker 232) Alice Walker uses Jean Toomers view on black women in the South to show how abused and ruined these poor women were. They were viewed as solely the mule of the world(Walker 232), working women who were nothing more than bodies to be used as tools for work or even impregnation. To the world around them, they had no creativity and certainly no intelligence, which forced their creative thoughts into suppression and their bodies into submission. They were not allowed to have creative thoughts and not allowed to think of art, or anything other than the work they were assigned to do, breaking them further and further away from their creative instincts and deeper and deeper into the forced labor they had to carry out day in and day out. However, even though they were so beaten down and ruined by the world around them, that creativity was still present within them and, given the chance, they could have been the artists they were meant to be, if they could only escape the evil honey of the wo rld around them and express themselves freely like so many white men and women of that time period. Similar to Virginia Woolf in A Room of Ones Own, Walker examines womens ability to become artists, in this case particularly, black women who were denied to have artistic creativity. How was the creativity of the black woman kept alive, (Walker 234) Walker asks, year after year and century after century, when for most of the years black people have been in America, it was a punishable crime for a black person to read or write? (Walker 234) Walker refers to Phyllis Wheatley, a black slave of the middle 1700s, who was highly educated and wrote poetry, in reference to Virginia Woolfs essay; how was this slave able to become a writer if she not only had no money and a room of her own, but didnt even own herself? Walker continues with other examples of strong women, most notably her own mother, who ran away at 17 to marry, had eight children, did all the work at home plus labored alongside her husband in the fields. Unfortunately, women in many parts of the world had been forced to work hard at home and even outside, to look after their children and to please their husbands. I remember my own mother, for instance, while my father had to work abroad, my mother had to run the house, – cooking, washing up, doing the cleaning, and even entertaining the children – had to work in the fields, had to do shopping in short of money, and had to take care of her children’s education. In the village conditions all these works were harder, when we (four children) got ill she was the person who took care of our health, when we got bored she was near us to tell her stories. Although, I listened to most of these stories many times but she never objected to tell them whenever I asked her to tell me a story. She never showed her boredom and she had been giving her positive energy to her all children. Similarly, in case of Alice Walker, probably our mother was the source of our talents in teac hing, and creative skills in writing. Walker also states, But at last, Phillis, we understand. No more snickering when your stiff, struggling, ambivalent lines are forced on us. We know now that you were not an idiot or a traitor; only a sickly little black girl, snatched from your home and country and made a slave; a woman who still struggled to sing the song that was your gift, although in a land of barbarians who praised you for your bewildered tongue. It is not so much what you sang, as that you kept alive, in so many of our ancestors, the notion of song(Walker 237). Walker explains through this quote that even though Phillis Wheatleys poems seem as if they were written to make white slave owners look respectable, we understand that these were not Phillis true ideas, but the ideas that had been forced upon her for so long that she knew nothing else to believe in. Walker exposes the contrary instincts that were imposed on Phillis Wheatley through this quote, and explains that although Phillis Wheatley may have not thought the way that it seems in her poetry, she was forced to conform to these ideas because that was all she had known and was told from the day that she was born. She was conditioned to believe that she was inferior and that white people were in fact gods or goddesses. Even though Wheatley was forced into this kind of thinking and her poems do not reflect the ideas consistent with others of her ethnicity, Walker explains that it was not so much what Wheatley wrote about, but the fact that she wrote and carried on her creativity that i s the most important for her and her race as a whole. She persevered through the hardships she was forced to endure and kept her creativity alive, even if it wasnt the most accurate representation of her or her people it still passed on her creativity and kept that spirit alive within herself and other black women who may have been inspired by her poetry. Alice Walker also uses her own mother as a method to explain the creativity that has lived on in black women from the post-Reconstruction era on. She explains, Guided by my heritage of a love of beauty and respect for strength- in search of my mothers garden, I found my own.(Walker 243) This quote shows how Walker was able to find her own creativity by seeing her mothers creativity in the creation of her gardens. Walkers mother grew beautiful gardens at every single house they had ever lived in, gardens so brilliant with colors, so original in its design, so magnificent with life and creativity, that to this day people drive by our house in Georgia- perfect strangers and imperfect strangers- and ask to stand of walk among my mothers art(Walker 241). These gardens inspired Walker to a degree and by viewing her mothers creativity she was able to write and find her creativity in writing. This shows that even to this day, black women are keeping their creativity alive and passing it on to each new generation. Walkers mother kept her creativity alive by creating these beautiful gardens and through her keeping her creativity alive, she has given her creativity to her daughter and allowed her daughter to become the magnificent writer that she is today. Let me note down a Turkish idiom at this point. â€Å"However you are in your 7, you are the same person in your 70s.† [ ] which means people’s basic characters are shaped or formed until the age of seven. So it implies that the mothers’ education given to their children has the most influential effect on us/people. CONCLUSION As we have seen from the definitions, history of feminism, Tyson’s assumptions, and the analysis of Alice Walker’s work â€Å"In Search of Our Mothers’ Gardens† women had to suffer and probably have been suffering due to men’s oppression, abuse or patriarchal mentality in people’s minds. In time women activists struggled and surely in many parts of the world they are still struggling to get their natural rights from politics to law, from equal education rights to show off their creative skills in art, literature or in any science. Unfortunately in the past women’s natural rights such as; 1. living; (many small girls at the age of 2-7 were buried alive in the desert in Arabia before the Prophet Muhammad changed this cahiliyye-ignorant tradition.)[ ] 2. freedom; (slavery system) 3. voting; (started in UK, case of suffragettes in Europe) 4. producing artistic works in art, literature †¦etc; (Women writers, artists have started to emerged just a few centuries ago) 5. working in offices or having any jobs (from being a president or a minister in the parliament to being a secretary or a teacher at a school, they were not allowed to work in many state jobs) †¦etc. The number of the natural rights can be increased but what I want to emphasize is that although all these rights even with the ones that I haven’t mentioned, are their rights from born but some of them in some parts of the world by some people have been taken from their hands. And worst of all a lot of women unfortunately have and still have been facing domestic’s violence, sexual harassment, and rape. They are bought and sold like objects. And their bodies are sold for the pleasure of men. I believe that that not only women but true men must fight for the natural rights of women. Women are our mothers, our aunts, our sisters, our nieces and our daughters. Alice Walker’s mother was great when she explained her children about the different races giving as an example that people have different colours as the flowers have in her garden. Everybody, men and women, have been contributing for the goodness of humankind in the society, we shouldn’t discriminate any group of people just because of their race, gender or even age. Let me put an end with Tyson’s statements [ ] from her book ‘Critical Theory Today’; ‘Because feminist issues range so widely across cultural, social, political, and psychological categories, feminist literary criticism is wide ranging, too. Whatever kind of analysis is undertaken, however, the ultimate goal of feminist criticism is to increase our understanding of women’s experience, both in the past and present, and promote our appreciation of women’s value in the world.’ BIBLIOGRAPHY Agnes, Michael (2007). Websters New World College Dictionary. John Wiley Sons. Collins Dictionary and Thesaurus. London: Collins. 2006. Cornell, Drucilla (1998). At the heart of freedom: feminism, sex, and equality. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press. Cott, Nancy (1987). The grounding of modern feminism. Yale University Press. pp. 4–5. Echols, Alice (1989). Daring to be bad: radical feminism in America, 1967–1975. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press. p. 416. Humm, Maggie (1992). Modern feminisms: Political, Literary, Cultural. New York: Columbia University Press. Humm, Maggie (1990). The dictionary of feminist theory. Columbus: Ohio State University Press. p. 278. Krolokke, Charlotte; Anne Scott Sorensen (2005). Three Waves of Feminism: From Suffragettes to Grrls. Gender Communication Theories and Analyses:From Silence to Performance. Sage. p. 24. Price, Janet; Shildrick, Margrit (1999). Feminist theory and the body: a reader. New York: Routledge. p. 48 Tyson, Lois. (2006). Critical Theory Today: A User-Friendly Guide. Second Edition. Routledge Taylor Francis Group. New York London 92 p Defining Black Feminist Thought. feministezine.com/feminist/modern/Defining-Black-Feminist-Thought.html. Retrieved May 31, 2007. Combahee River Collective: A Black Feminist Statement. 1974. feministezine.com/feminist/modern/Black-Feminist-Statement.html. Retrieved May 31, 2007. Walker, Alice (1983). In search of our mothers gardens: womanist prose. The Women’s Press. San Diego : Harcourt Brace Jovanovich. First Edition Walker, Alice. Everyday Use. Perrines Literature: Structure, Sound, and Sense. Comp. Thomas R. Arp. New York: Harcourt Brace College, 1994. 90-97. 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Hazardouse agents in the work place Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3500 words

Hazardouse agents in the work place - Essay Example Such conditions result from excessive exposure and can only be avoided through adequate control measures which will prevent or minimise exposure to harmful agents. The process by which evidence of hazardous occupational conditions and information on control methods is translated into actual implementation of control and prevention strategies to eliminate or dramatically reduce the hazardous exposure and associated health risk, is often the result of a subtle compromise between scientific evidence of varying degree of certainty, interest group lobbying, and feasibility considerations. Workplace fatalities, injuries and illnesses remain at unacceptably high levels and involve an enormous and unnecessary health burden, suffering, and economic loss amounting to 4-5% of GDP. According to the latest ILO estimates for the year 2005 there are 2.0 million work-related deaths per year. WHO estimates that there are only 10-15% of workers who have access to a basic standard of occupational health services. (World Health Organization) A potential health hazard exists when a ... WHO estimates that there are only 10-15% of workers who have access to a basic standard of occupational health services. (World Health Organization) A potential health hazard exists when a person comes in contact with any agent whose properties can cause harm to the body when excessive exposure takes place. A health hazard may result in an illness or a disease. An illness or disease is a specific malfunction of the body, or one of its systems or organs, which has a particular set of symptoms. Occupational illnesses and diseases are those caused by exposure to a hazard in the workplace. According to the module titled, "Your Body at Work" by the International Labour Organisation (UN), the human body has natural defense systems which help to protect us against many hazards or dangers. Further, these defense systems also help the body to heal or repair itself when it gets injured or sick. However, there are hazards - arising from bacteria, viruses, chemicals, dusts, vapours, noise, extreme temperatures, work processes, etc. - to which a worker may be exposed or which are surrounding him or her at work or in the general environment, that can break down and weaken the body's defense systems. Dealing with health hazards in the workplace involves three key steps: recognition, assessment and control. Recognizing the hazard means identifying those substances and agents present in the workplace which have the potential to cause adverse health effects. Assessing the hazard involves a process of identifying the actual or potential exposure of workers to the hazard and determining whether or not the exposure is hazardous. Controlling the hazard means limiting or preventing harmful exposure of workers to

Walmart Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Walmart - Research Paper Example Thus, the legacy of Wal-Mart began with this legendary entrepreneur and former military veteran Sam Moore Walton. He opened his first store in 1962 in Rogers, Arkansas. Wal-Mart grew significantly in the 1970s (Murphy, 2008). The first Wal-Mart distribution and official Wal-Mart Home Office opened in Bentonville, Arkansas in 1971. Forbes magazine ranked Wal-Mart number one among competitors for the eighth year straight in 1983. Walton had invested 345% of the capital just to open the first Wal-Mart store. On April 5, 1992, Sam Walton passed away. Just before his passing President George H.W. Bush presented him with the Medal of Freedom during a ceremony at Wal-Mart headquarters, this award is the nation’s highest civilian honor (Soderquist, 2005). International success Ever since then, Wal-Mart grew to twenty four stores in Arkansas, and had already reached up to $12.6 in sales. By 1968, Wal-Mart had opened its stores outside Arkansas in Missouri, Oklahoma, Claremore and Sikes ton. To this date Wal-Mart International Operations expand a cross twenty six markets. However, it was soon known as the top most retailing outlet in the world. Wal-Mart had seen immense growth ever since it was opened. The strategies and the milestone were right on the track of perfection. The history of Wal-Mart is the perfect example to learn how to manage growth without losing sight of your values. Wal-Mart stock was offered for the first time in New York Stock Exchange in 1972 (Frank, 2006). With this infusion of capital, Wal-Mart grew to about 276 stores in 11 states within a decade. By the 1980’s, the Sam’s Club members-warehouse store was opened. Then the first Supercenter was opened in 1988, which features a complete grocery and 36 departments of general merchandise. The sales had grown immensely from $1 billion to $26 billion only in 1980. In the 21st century, there are 10, 185 Wal-Mart stores throughout the globe in 27 countries, 2.2 million associates emplo yed and more than 176 million customers a year. Internal and External analysis Walton knew that the major factor that has to be controlled is the payroll. If he wanted to continue keeping the costs down, he had to clearly look into the payrolls and the recruitment. Walton wrote in his autobiography, "No matter how you slice it in the retail business, payroll is one of the most important parts of overhead, and overhead is one of the most crucial things you have to fight to maintain your profit margin." The way Walton controlled the payrolls was to hire as less people as he could, and pay them more than he had to for that job (Robert, 2005). Because of this unique approach, Walton was always opposed by the unions and he had to fight them. He wanted to give the best life to all the Americans whether benefiting them with low priced goods or whether by employing them on a pay above average. His employees nevertheless accepted this and loves working with Walton. Even when Wal-Mart reached other countries, Walton used to travel country to country to keep in touch with his employees. He also gave his employees a stake at the company. He introduced a profit sharing plan that allowed the employees to put in a certain percentage of their wage in the stock purchase. As a truck driver stated that Walton told him 'If you'll just stay with me for twenty years, I guarantee you'll have $100,000 in profit sharing' †¦

Language and Content Objectives Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Language and Content Objectives - Essay Example Language and content learning can be segregated in three domains, i.e. Social Language (SL), School Navigational Language (SNL) and Curriculum Content Language (CCL). While all these domains aim at developing the linguistic skills and communication abilities of pupils at their early life, their core purposes differ widely in their application. For instance, the objective of SL is mainly to assist the learners to communicate with their family members and friends when conducting their daily activities. Thus, at a larger paradigm it helps in creating a social status for the learners amid their surrounding community. Again, SNL helps the learners to communicate with their peers and teachers, inducing a degree of formalism in their language, when communicating within the school environment. Accordingly, CCL emphasises helping learners to communicate with teachers, instructors as well as peers, wherein the learners focus on obtaining instructions and following them within the classroom env ironment. Thus, it can be stated that while SL is a much casual approach, SNL and CCL are gradually more systematic and formal procedures of communication that the learners need to implement in their day-to-day interaction (Haynes & Zacarian, 2010; Bailey & Heritage,

Financial Administration in the City of San Antonio TX Essay

Financial Administration in the City of San Antonio TX - Essay Example The researcher states that budgeting in the City of San Antonio TX is done by the office of Management and Budgeting. It is meant to act as a financial guide, a policy paper and a financial plan. The city of San Antonio TX budget is well formulated and executed. The budget presents an adequate overview of the entity and its financial position. This is so because it provides a summary of all the budget components, its allocation and the role of these components in enhancing the objectives of the city. The budget summary covers the element of public safety, where the police and the fire department of the city are committed to respond to the safety needs of the city residents. The budget seeks to increase the number of officers in patrol and also the fire vehicle technicians. Street maintenance is another element covered by the summary, with an additional $ 1.8 for pavement preservation and some more $6 million provided to cater for advanced transport. Animal care services will be cater ed for by a $1.7 million while education and library services will be funded to a tune of $30.6 million, which will cater for the construction of new libraries and fund the operations of the already existing ones. Employee compensation and Economic development are the other components of the budget, allocating $32 million towards civilian salary adjustments and $7 million to support the creation of new jobs, support new business development and encourage new investments. (Maria, 2011). This gives a brief overview of the budget and its components, while giving information about the city objective at a glance, to make the city government smarter and more efficient. The greatest percentage of the operating budget is accounted for by public safety, which involves fire and police department, financed to a tune of $343 million, in a total adopted budget of $948 million. The reason for such huge funding of the department is because the public safety is the priority of the city of San Anton io TX (Maria, 2011). To enhance this public safety through community policing and neighborhood teamwork, the budget seeks to increase the number of officers in patrol for narcotics by 17 more. It also seeks to add another 25 officers to the service of the people and an additional 4 fire vehicle technicians to enhance rapid response services to the public. The department is also to be awarded with two more management analyst to enhance the management of the police and the fire department, and to enhance its effectiveness and efficiency. The technology used by the department is to be advanced through new software development and installations, meant to improve the payroll division of the department. Owing to the above needs for improvements in the department of fire and police, and due to the crucial role it plays of providing public safety, the city’s office of management and budget sought to allocate more fund to this department (Paul, 1998). The department alone accounts for close to 40% of all the funding done in the annual budget of 2012. This is a clear indication that the interest of the city residents takes priority in the city’s management issues. Police protection is the category within that area that accounts for the greatest budget, being a key service that is very crucial for the wellbeing of the people. A total of $1.5 is to be dedicated to the improvement of neighborhood and narcotics patrol. This is meant to increase the presence of police in all the areas of the city, thus reduce the rates of crimes and drug abuse. $850,000 is meant to reassign 17 police officers to patrols, while $597,000 is meant for increasing the number of officers serving the community neighborhoods. A new helicopter mechanic, and another new helicopter mechanics supervisor are to be hired to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of services delivered to the people by the fire and the police department. This will be funded to a tune of

Research and develop knowledge on the Atrio PMS system and apply it to Paper

And develop knowledge on the Atrio PMS system and apply it to the Diva hotel( San Francisco) - Research Paper Example When people arrive at the hotel, they have to stroll past an amazing sidewalk of fame, which is the superb Diva sidewalk that has signatures of celebrity guests and entrance directly in its lobby. Recently, the hotel renovated its structure and now it offers most extraordinary features to its customers (Hotel Diva, 2012). Each room in the hotel has been renovated with the most superb amenities that comprise carpeting with cobalt, headboard sculptured with stainless steel, CD players set inside the room, two telephones that have touch-tone and allow global internet data ports, voicemail and fax machine, latest televisions with VCRs, pay-per-view movies, Nintendo, honor bar showcase that has special items of San Francisco, maid services, and fresh newspapers (Stowe, 2012). All dining facilities are superb: California Pizza Kitchen, which offers inside dining and room service, and Starbucks, which is adjacent to the lobby. Along with dining facility, there are top quality day laundry an d dry cleaning services, parking by valets that offer parking within and outside privileges, workout room with complimentary cardio services, video library that has a range of newly released films, a caretaker lounge that has magazines, brochures of tourism in San Francisco, literature on San Francisco, as well as green apples of Granny Smith and a gourmet coffee. The hotel is fully-equipped for business; it offers wireless high-speed internet access (â€Å"The Future of Hospitality is Here†, 2012). The target market of Hotel Diva comprises rich people looking for best quality services and complete access to all mandatory amenities. According to Creamer (2012), Diva Hotel has a reputation for offering customized services that are in accordance with customer demands; its management supports innovation and even has boutique properties that are providing access to ample services in a nearby location. The main objective of Hotel Diva is to exceed customer expectations by providin g superb quality services and instant access to the most diverse range of facilities (Hotel Diva, 2012). ATRIO Property Management System (PMS) PAR Springer-Miller Systems, Inc., commonly known as PSMS is the wholly owned subsidiary of PAR Technology Corporation, which is recognized globally for providing hospitality management systems that are guest-centric, so that hotels, restaurants and all companies of hospitality industry can effectively manage their operations (ParTech, Inc., 2011). The company is well-known for development of ATRIO system for hospitality industry that can revolutionize the operations of all companies present in this particular industry. ATRIO platform of solutions is believed to be the latest generation of hospitality management software, which have been purchased by and built for hotels so that they can maintain their IT infrastructure (â€Å"ATRIO Guest Experience Management†, 2012). Since technological advancements happen on an ongoing basis, it is crucial for companies to upgrade their IT systems so that they have well-designed IT infrastructures that will allow them to integrate all requirements of hotel businesses; ATRIO is the best alternative for IT solutions, as it allows hotel owners to save money and control their IT cost. Every hotel and resort has a choice of deployment either on premises or on cloud or even a combination of