Plagues And Diseases Essay -- essays research papers fc

Plagues and Diseases Plague. A word that has struck fear in the hearts of man since the earliest of times. It has also lead to some of the greatest historical events and stories of our time. The ancient cities of Rome and Athens, in their downfall, were finished off by pestilence. The Bubonic Plague, also known as The Black Death, devastated Europe in the 14th century, starting a new age. The great warrior Ivan the Terrible was stricken with disease, and driven mad. During the "exploration" of the new world, Cortes's greatest ally against the Aztecs was smallpox. Napoleon's Grand Army was defeated by the Russians, and typhus. Queen Victoria spread hemophilia to her heirs, leading to the illness of the only son of Czar Nicholas, and the fall of monarchy in Russia.1 All the events are horrible in every way, but have struck a chord with people around the world. Perhaps it is our inherent morbid curiosity. So, the question is, if these events happened once, why can't they happen again? Let us take a look at the most horrible, so far, of the plagues: The Black Death. It took Europe by storm from approximately 1345 to 1361. It would also make small comebacks throughout the next 400 years, but never like it did the first time. It also reached into Africa, China, Russia, and the Scandinavian countries. It was truly a worldwide pandemic. But, it has a secondary effect that not many people are aware of. The colonies of Greenland, settled by the Vikings, were stricken by the plague and they soon disappeared. It is known that these colonies kept in contact with "Vinland", which was near New Foundland, in Canada. The Vikings had already discovered North America! But, alas, with these colonies all dead, Greenland was forgotten, and not discovered again until 1585.2 It is estimated that the plague took 24 million lives, about a quarter of the European population. This may seem incredulous to people today, but it happened. During those times, where there were humans, there were black rats. And where there are rats, there are fleas. And where there were fleas, there was the plague. Bubonic plague, and also pneumonic plague, were everywhere. France, Italy, Russia, England, you name it. When a village was infected, people fled, most likely taking the plague with them to the next village.3 One ca... ...n't, but it sure does sound good. I hope to have entertained you through this paper, and given you something to chew on for a few weeks. And I have just one more thought. When people think of the end of the world, they think of a big mushroom cloud destroying everyone in a pillar of light. But, I just don't see that. I see something less spectacular. When the end comes, it won't be with a bang. No one will see it coming. An army of the smallest soldiers will attack us from the inside out. One-billionth of our size, and they'll beat us. BIBLIOGRAPHY 1. Abel, Ernest L. America's Top 25 Killers. Hillside, N.J.: Enslow Publishers Inc., 1991 2. Archer, Jules. Epidemic! New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanich, 1977. 3. Berger, Melvin. Disease Detectives. New York: Thomas Y. Crowell, 1978. 4. Cartwright, Fred F. Disease and History. New York: Thomas Y. Crowell, 1972. 5. Guerrilla Warfare. "Time: Frontiers of Medicine." Vol. 148, No.4, Pg. 58-62. 6. McNeill, William H. Plagues and Peoples. New York: Anchor Press/Doubleday, 1976.

Ethical Problems in Business Environment Essay

â€Å"Business ethics examines ethical principles and moral or ethical problems that arise in a business environment. It applies to all aspects of business conduct and is relevant to the conduct of individuals and business organizations as a whole† (â€Å"Business Ethics,† 2010). In today’s society, many people pursue careers in businesses for different reasons such as convenience, salary, and many other reasons that do not include ethics. Unfortunately, people’s professional values are no longer mirroring their personal values. (Tinkler, 2005). Individuals are giving up everything to move ahead professionally and as a result, businesses are becoming worse at upholding their ethical standards because they are able to get away with it. Poor Human Resources practices are one example of how today’s businesses affect our community. Many businesses fail to create a system where there is strong communication between the employees and human resources. As a result, employees are unable to voice their complaints to the HR department and the HR department is unaware of problems within the company. Employees must clearly know what is expected of them, and when they are not delivering they must be addressed. This type of system is beneficial to the company because once flaws are addressed, then the company can come up with solutions to better manage the business. When businesses take the time to discuss projects and explain their goals to the employees, the employees feel as though they have a special place within the company and they become motivated. Keeping the employees updated on tasks, the more they become invested in the project. Also, many times companies fail to recognize and reward their employee’s achievements and this creates a bitter relationship between the employees and the company; human beings become motivated to do well through positive reinforcement. Favoritism also becomes a huge problem between human resources and the employees; if all employees are treated fairly then everyone will put in the effort to perform well and stay loyal to the company. Human Resources play one of the largest roles in ethics within businesses; many of the reasons employees stay loyal to companies are because of the solid structure of the human resources department. In addition to keeping the employees of a business happy, in order to uphold business ethics, customers must also trust and respect a business. Unethical practices in marketing and products are another reason today’s businesses are negatively affecting our community. In today’s society, consumers no longer have any trust in businesses. Businesses are encouraging their employees to aggressively approach customers by using deceptive advertising; customers are often times mislead through copied packaging styles, high pressure selling, and â€Å"bait and switch† selling; these techniques entail targeting groups such as the elderly and finding ways to attract customers and eventually convincing them to purchase an item they can not afford and do not need. Businesses are also hiding information from consumers; unsafe products are on the market and side effects are not stated, as well as information on animal testing. Products are also inaccurately tested. â€Å"NBC Los Angeles uncovered a scheme at local Jiffy Lube stores where customers were charged for repairs that were never done† (Grover, 2008). The scandal was caught on video tape and the public were alarmed and angry; people were going in for services that were never being done. After this story was uncovered to the public, it created anger, confusion, and worst of all trust was lost. Situations like these force consumers to go to competitors and lose faith in businesses altogether. Our last ethical issue in today’s business environment are unfair labor practices. Innocent children and families are working in terrible conditions and making hardly any money so that American companies can manufacture more for less money. Consumers now, need to research companies that they are used to purchasing from because companies are hiding these facts from the government since it is illegal. This practice is beyond unethical, it is cruel. Coca Cola is guilty of this practice; â€Å"From 5,000 to 30,000 Salvadorian children, some as young as eight years old, are working in El Salvador’s sugarcane plantations where injuries, particularly severe cuts, are common, according to the report† (Lobe, 2010). It is unbelievable to watch companies that make billions of dollars, become so greedy that they are willing to practice such unethical ways of labor. Unfortunately, external social pressures sometimes influence business ethics; echnology, competition, and changing social attitudes put pressure on businesses. As a result, they lean towards decisions that are unethical and beneficial to the business. As individuals become aware of some of the unethical practices many businesses are taking part in, they will hopefully choose more wisely which companies they would like to work for. Our choices affect society as a whole, and as long as we ignore our own personal virtues and values, we will continue to support businesses that are unethical.

Personality Traits Of The Workplace - 1722 Words

BMCC Leonard Pierre PSY100 As people, we have a multitude of personality traits; also as human beings we can’t label anyone’s personality strictly into just one word or term. Everyone has a vast array of personality traits which can be from how sad, to how happy; to even how sexual someone can be that is different from one another. But we can qualify people into various personality traits that can just barely summarize a person’s overall personality, specifically in this case, as either introverts or extraverts. Introverts and extraverts are traits that are very different from one another and can be called opposites. These two personalities can differ in people with how they react in society, in private, public, in the workplace, and how the person with either of these personalities react with people and other stimuli, and much more. Generally speaking, extraverts are people that like to have company around them and introverts are people who like to be isolated more than not. But, peo ple who are either an introvert or an extravert as part of their personality can be much more diverse in various ways. Although, these two terms can be described and characterized in many ways there is truly no solid and brief definition for them. These two terms originated from Carl Jung and received much attention for hisShow MoreRelatedPersonality Traits Within The Workplace1342 Words   |  6 PagesFive-factor trait theory As a professional many struggle with attempting to control the dominance of his/her personality trait, in fear that it may be damaging to one s current position. Personally, there has been several instances when an employee was ridiculed because he/she expressed personality traits within the workplace, opposite of what the employer personally desired. 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