Affirmative Action Essays (3214 words) - Law, Politics,

Affirmative Action Although many people believe that affirmative Action is a form of racism, it is actually used to help minorities find employment in an otherwise racist world. In the United States, equality is a recurring theme. It has flared into a fervent moral issue at crucial stages of American history: The revolutionary and Jacksonian Period, and the New Deal. In each era, the legitimacy of American society is challenged by some set of people unhappy with the degree of equality (Verba and Orren). Following the Civil War, Congress passed a number of laws designed to put former slaves on an equal level with white people. The Fourteenth Amendment made the freedmen citizen and prohibited states from enforcing any law which took away the privliges of any citizen, depriving men of life, liberty, or property without due process of the law, or denied men equal protection of the laws. In 1875, Republican majority in Congress, aware that reconstruction would soon end, passed a civil right act to secure by law semblance of equality for Black Americans (Urofsky 19). Many white Americans really did not like the idea of equality for the Black Freedmen. Gideon Welles, who had been prevailing sentiment when he wrote in 1871: Thank God slavery is abolished, but the Negro is not, and never can be the equal of the white man. He is of an inferior race and must always remain so(Urofsky 23). The supreme court agreed and in 1883 passed the Civil Rights act which diluted much of the protection of th e Fourteenth Amendment. Justice Joseph Bradely interpreted the enforcement provision of the amendment as strictly remedial; congress has the power to remedy a discriminatory state law, but could not take affirmative steps to protect blacks from other forms of prejudice (Urofsky 21). As a result of this decision, the federal government took no action to combat racism in the country until the second world war (Urofsky 22). Because resentment continued to increase within the black communities and because of the threat of a march on Washington, President Franklin D. Roosevelt issued an executive order on June 25, 1941. This order directed African Americans to be accepted into job-training programs in defense plants. The order also stated that discrimination would not be excepted by employers holding defense contracts. It also set up a fair employment practice commissions to investigate charges of racial discrimination. Harry Truman and Dwight Eisenhower continued to enforce fair employment legislation after Roosevelts policies because Congress was unwilling to do so. In 1954, the supreme court decision Brown v. Board of Education pressured both houses of Congress and the executive office to take some positive steps on behalf of civil rights. In January 1961, John F. Kennedy took office. Almost immediately Roy Wilkins of the NAACP called for action to promote employment opportunities for African Americans. John F. Kennedy responded with executive order 10925, which created a presidential commission on equal employment opportunity; it also mandated federal contractors to take Affirmative Action to ensure that there would be no discrimination by race, creed, color or nationality. This was not the first time that the government ordered it own contractors not only to avoid discrimination, but to take positive steps to redress the effects of discrimination in society. In some cases contractors were asked to pay employees doing similar work, the same amount of pay. Without congressional action an executive order could only last so long, and in 1963 Kennedy secured passage of the Equal Pay Act. The Equal Pay Act prohibited employers from paying women less than men for the same work. A short time later due to the assassination of kennedy Lyndon B. Johnson called for the passage of the Civil Rights Bill as a memorial to the late president kennedy. Lyndon B. Johnson skillfully guided and expanded versions of kennedys proposal through the house and senate. The Civil Rights Act was signed into law July 2, 1964. Title VII of the act banned employment discrimination based on race, color, sex, and nationality, it also created a permanent equal employment opportunity commission to enforce its provisions. The act also for the first time included obligations not to discriminate to private employees, labor unions, and governmental agencies.(Urofsky

Scientists Complete the Periodic Table

Scientists Complete the Periodic Table   The periodic table as we know it is now complete! The International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) has announced verification of the only elements left elements 113, 115, 117, and 118. These elements complete the 7th and final row of the periodic table of elements. Of course, if elements with higher atomic numbers are discovered, then an additional row will be added to the table. Details on the Discoveries of the Last Four Elements The fourth IUPAC/IUPAP Joint Working Party (JWP) reviewed literature to determine claims for verification of these last few elements have fulfilled all the criteria necessary to officially discover the elements. What this means is the discovery of the elements has been replicated and demonstrated to the satisfaction of scientists according to the 1991 discovery criteria decided by the IUPAP/IUPAC Transfermium Working Group (TWG). The discoveries are credited to Japan, Russia, and the USA. These groups will be allowed to propose the names and symbols for the elements, which will need to be approved before the elements take their place on the periodic table. Element 113 Discovery Element 113 has the temporary working name ununtrium, with symbol Uut. The RIKEN team in Japan has been credited with discovering this element. Many people hope Japan will choose a name like japonium for this element, with symbol J or Jp, since J is the one letter presently absent from the periodic table. Elements 115, 117, and 118 Discovery Elements 115 (ununpentium, Uup) and 117 (ununseptium, Uus) were discovered by a collaboration between Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Oak Ridge, TN, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California, and the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research in Dubna, Russia. Researchers from these groups will propose new names and symbols for these elements. Element 118 (ununoctium, Uuo) discovery is credited  to a collaboration between the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research in Dubna, Russia and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California. This group has discovered several elements, so theyre sure to have a challenge ahead of them coming up with new names and symbols. Why Its So Hard To Discover New Elements While scientists may be able to make new elements, its difficult to prove the discovery because these superheavy nuclei decay into lighter elements instantaneously. Proof of the elements requires demonstration that the set of daughter nuclei that are observed can be unequivocally attributed to the heavy, new element. It would be much simpler if it was possible to directly detect and measure the new element, but this hasnt been possible. How Long Until We See New Names? Once the researchers propose new names, the Inorganic Chemistry Division of the IUPAC will check them to make sure they dont translate into something funky in other language or have some prior historic use that would make them unsuitable for an element name. A new element may be named for a place, country, scientist, property, or mythological reference. The symbol needs to be one or two letters. After the Inorganic Chemistry Division checks the elements and symbols, they are presented for public review for five months. Most people start using the new element names and symbols at this point, but they dont become official until the IUPAC Council formally approves them. At this point, the IUPAC will change their periodic table (and others will follow suit).

Implementation of Infrastructural design for information technology in Research Paper

Implementation of Infrastructural design for information technology in financial environment - Research Paper Example Keywords: servers, farm, co-location, co-lo, IT, information technology, location, maintenance, email, instant messaging, ticketing system Implementation of Infrastructural Design for IT in a Financial Environment I. INTRODUCTION i. Background of the problem The recent advancements in information and technology have resulted in widespread adoption of networked information systems thereby creating new threats to the integrity, and safety of the information infrastructure and transactions in a number of financial environments across the globe. Consequently many banks and other financial organizations are increasingly implementing secure infrastructural designs of information technology in their financial environments not only to secure their sensitive communications and transactions but also to improve the reliability and integrity of their systems. According to Harris (2001, p.39), an effective IT infrastructure design reduces the risks of potential financial losses due to network fau lts while at the same time reducing the expenses related to network management. A properly implemented infrastructural design for information technology in a financial environment often integrates a number of technological components to support business needs of the particular organization. IT infrastructure comprises a group of shared tangible IT resources that offer a foundation to enable present and potential business applications. These recourses include the operating systems, key data. Core data-processing applications network and telecommunication and shared its services. Information management is the heart component of government infrastructure; it is the intellectual capital of accountability governance. Best practices and standards leads in efficient, responsible and cost effective use of resources. IT comprises of a full spectrum of technology and services that back-up information management. Financial institutions are often demanding environments dealing with massive quan tities of sensitive information. In this regard, it is critically important to implement reliable and secure infrastructural designs for such environments to ensure their robust performance as well as provide secure access to information. This paper seeks to detail the specific server farm setup that will be utilized by the company, the design of the IT department, the type of software and hardware that would be best suited for the company, as well as the different possibilities for co-location sites that would be used for the servers themselves. ii. Researcher’s Work Setting and Role The researcher is a graduate student pursing masters of Science Degree in Management. As the lead researcher, my primary role will be to outline the specific research problem and work closely with the other members of the research team towards the achievement of the research goals. I will also be obligated to participate in the data collection processes as well as to provide a supervisory role t hroughout the research. iii. Statement of the problem For any information and communication system in any enterprise to run smoothly a