American Civic Values Essay Example for Free

American Civic Values Essay In America our society has always been a morals run country, from our domestic everyday lives. Our society, groups with different civic values with who have a lot of power on our lives that we live everyday which includes schools and religious groups. There are some individuals who hold our civic values to a higher standard than those who have no regard for other members in their community. When it comes to undermining American civic values our media has a lot to be blame for as they promote and glamorize violence and illegal activities and does not show how communities can help each other adhere to civic policies. It is important for large groups to have set behaviors to adhere to, and civic values are important in keeping America a peaceful place that is safe for us as well as children. America has become a haven for special interest groups. If people don’t like something you say or do, plan on your freedom turning inwards and being used against you. Our society is no longer based off a country and its people as a whole, but by individual groups. The American civic values have dropped as special interest groups are in favor of political ground. There are several penalties that fail to adhere to the civic value such as â€Å"blue laws† these laws regulate behavior and restrict activities or the sale of goods on a Sunday to accommodate religious means. For an example in parts of one county here in North-East Florida we are not allowed to purchase alcohol on Sunday this day is constituted for religious matters. Another example of a blue law is the law in Pennsylvania where hunting is prohibited on Sunday’s as this day is recognized for a day of rest according to the religious groups.

Strategic management and information systems at Tesco

Strategic management and information systems at Tesco Outsourcing ICT is quite commonly used by organisations as an approach to strategic management. Assess the advantages and disadvantages that outsourcing can bring in developing effective uses of information systems in an organisation such as Tesco. What do you understand by knowledge management and knowledge management systems? Analyze how useful such a system could be to Tesco and why it is often difficult to persuade employees to use such systems. As markets evolve the companies that are in the top seats are the ones that excel in organizing human resources and materials, also forecasting the possible changes in markets. To manage this many companies use the help of other companies to grow in this straggle of competition. This is called Outsourcing. If a firm does not want to use its internal resources to build or operate information systems, it can hire an external organization that specializes in providing these services to do the work. The process of turning over an organizations computer center operations, telecommunications networks, and/or applications development to external vendors is called outsourcing (Laudon Laudon, 2005). This definition covers the greatest part of Outsourcing, but what happens when we refer to ICT Outsourcing? First of all, what is ICT? Information Technology (IT) is probably one of the most used terms in business nowadays. Information shouldnt be confused with knowledge, unfortunately this happens occasionally. The term information is used extensively in no formal speech. This, and the different meanings used, makes it hard to define. From my point of view after studying on this subject, information covers data to which meaning is assigned, according to context and assumed conventions. Knowledge is derived from information. (Miller, 1999) Any equipment or interconnected system or subsystem of equipment, that is used in the automatic and digital acquisition, storage, manipulation, management, movement, control, display, switching, interchange, transmission, or reception of data or information. The term information technology includes computers, ancillary equipment, software, firmware and similar procedures, services (including support services), and related resources. Taking under consideration the above we conclude that ICT Outsourcing can be defined as follows. Information Technology outsourcing is the concept of an organization contracting-out IT activities to a third party vendor, who in return provides and manages the services for a certain period of time in exchange for a monetary fee. The deal can include the transfer of IT assets and people involved with IT to the external entity. (Roland Booijen 2006) The main trend in international businesses nowadays is to outsource their production process as well as some of their services outside of their base country. The term outsourcing basically refers to the process of subcontracting goods and services from an outside supplier, usually from a different country. Most companies choose to outsource because of its many advantages over the traditional process of production. This article will show you some advantages that outsourcing can do for your business. Most companies choose to outsource because it lowers the cost of production and other expenses such as IT services and customer services. China and Vietnam, popular off shoring countries do not have strict labor laws allowing relatively cheaper wages. This guarantees that the company will get the most out of the capital invested in the business. A consequence of the advantage mentioned, outsourcing will reduce the overhead cost of maintaining the business. Outsourcing will allow you to reduce the number of your employees which will lead to savings in utilities, a save in taxes and less insurance among others. This will increase the funding of your company that can be invested in any other parts of the business. Another advantage of outsourcing is gives you better control of your business. Outsourcing can significantly reduce the number of your employees, thus making the rest of the staff easily manageable. By that, you can increase the responsibility of your workers inside your company and make them feel like a part of the business, something they have put their effort to bloom. Outsourcing gives you the chance to focus on other business aspects like the marketing process. By taking other parts of the business like production and other process away, you have more time to plan others steps of your company like how to sell you r products in a more efficient way. This can give you the weapons to become a recognizable marketing power company. Another advantage of outsourcing is that it allows you to choose professional level of processing or utilization according to the needs of your company. Since you choose expertise in their field, the quality of your service will also improve. Outsourcing would mean to expose your production to external procedures that you may not know or considered looking into. This can provide innovation capabilities for your business. This provides useful information on how to improve your products by using the earned technological info and professional production means. These are some of the benefits that outsourcing can brink to your business. In companies like Tesco using outsourcing can benefit in many ways as this huge business colossus always needs innovation, using outsourcing provides fresh ideas for them and also can keep them focused on other parts of the business like promotion or marketing. As you study your way through using outsourcing you will have to keep in mind that there are advantages to outsourcing and disadvantages of outsourcing. Some of the disadvantages of outsourcing are the following: One disadvantage is loss of management Control .Whether you sign a contract to have another company perform the function of an entire department or single task, you are turning the management and control of that function over to another company. True, you will have a contract, but the managerial control will belong to another company. Your outsourcing company will not be driven by the same standards and mission that drives your company. They will be driven to make a profit from the services that they are providing to you and other businesses like yours. Another disadvantage is hidden costs .You will sign a contract with the outsourcing company that will cover the details of the service that they will be providing. Anything not covered in the contract will be the basis for you to pay additional charges. Additionally, you will experience legal fees to retain a lawyer to review the contacts you will sign. Remember, this is the outsourcing companys business. They have done this before and they are the ones that write the contract. Therefore, you will be at a disadvantage when negotiations start. Yet another drawback may be the threat of Security and confidentiality .The life-blood of any business is the information that keeps it running. If you have payroll, medical records or any other confidential information that will be transmitted to the outsourcing company, there is a risk that the confidentiality may be compromised. If the outsourced function involves sharing proprietary company data or knowledge, this must be taken into account. Evaluate the outsourcing company carefully to make sure your data is protected and the contract has a penalty clause if an incident occurs. One more disadvantage may be quality problems. The outsourcing company will be motivated by profit. Since the contract will fix the price, the only way for them to increase profit will be to decrease expenses. As long as they meet the conditions of the contract, you will pay. In addition, you will lose the ability to rapidly respond to changes in the business environment. The contract will be very specific and you will pay extra for changes. Another disadvantage is to be tied to the financial well-being of another company. Since you will be turning over part of the operations of your business to another company, you will now be tied to the financial well-being of that company. It wouldnt be the first time that an outsourcing company could go bankrupt and leave you holding-the-bag. One more disadvantage is bad publicity and Ill-will .The word outsourcing brings to mind different things to different people. If you live in a community that has an outsourcing company and they employ your friends and neighbors, outsourcing is good. If your friends and neighbors lost their jobs because they were shipped across the state, across the country or across the world, outsourcing will bring bad publicity. If you outsource part of your operations, morale may suffer in the remaining work force. Companies like Tesco can use ITC outsourcing in their intercompany communications, by using a system of comlinks or anything like that. Another possible use is better organizing stock and storage of items by using computer based systems, databases for storage and self items would be a great effective way of ICT usage etc. 2. Knowledge management and Knowledge management systems ( KMS) are a class of informational systems that refer to the application of managing informational knowledge in an organization. That is, they are IT-based systems developed to support and enhance the organizational processes of knowledge creation, storage/retrieval, transfer, and application. Although not all KM initiatives involve an implementation of IT, and admonitions against an emphasis on IT at the expense of the social and cultural facets of KM are not uncommon (Davenport and Prusak 1998; Malhotra 1999; O.Dell and Grayson 1998), many KM initiatives rely on IT as an important enabler. While IT does not apply to all of the issues of knowledge management, it can support KM in many ways. A very common application of knowledge management systems is the creation of knowledge networks (Ruggles 1998). For example, when Chrysler reorganized from functional to platform based organizational units, they quickly Knowledge management a nd Knowledge management systems (KMS) are a class of informational systems that refer to the application of managing informational knowledge in an organization. That is, they are IT-based systems developed to support and enhance the organizational processes of knowledge creation, storage/retrieval, transfer, and application. Although not all KM initiatives involve an implementation of IT, and admonitions against an emphasis on IT at the expense of the social and cultural facets of KM are not uncommon (Davenport and Prusak 1998; Malhotra 1999; O.Dell and Grayson 1998), many KM initiatives rely on IT as an important enabler. While IT does not apply to all of the issues of knowledge management, it can support KM in many ways. A very common application of knowledge management systems is the creation of knowledge networks (Ruggles 1998). For example, when Chrysler reorganized from functional to platform based organizational units, they quickly realized that unless the suspension speciali sts could communicate easily with each other across platform types, expertise would deteriorate. Chrysler formed Tech Cul, bringing people together virtually and face-to-face to exchange and build their collective knowledge in each of the specialty areas. In this case, the knowledge management effort was less focused on mapping expertise or benchmarking than it was on bringing the experts together so that important knowledge was shared and amplified. Providing online forums for communication and discussion may form knowledge networks. The idea of a KM system is to enable employees to have ready access to the organizations documented base of facts, sources of information, and solutions. For example a typical claim justifying the creation of a KM system might run something like this: an engineer could know the metallurgical composition of an alloy that reduces sound in gear systems. Sharing this information organization wide can lead to more effective engine design and it could also lead to ideas for new or improved equipment. A very good example in Tescos case is when they decided to implement an online ordering system that connected the customers with the warehouses and the suppliers. Some of the benefits of KMS systems are: Increased order processing capacity, Reduced hardware cost , Increased flexibility in maintaining supplier relationships , Better integration of programs, increased reliability in day to day operations. The key aspect of KM and KMS is to convince existing long term employees to make use of such systems in order to produce/sell more and drive profits upwards. Such a challenged is described in the Tesco Case Study as far as the living service scheme is described in the context of making employees comfortable with the new changes in the way they operates so far. This was achieved by implementing their managers in the process, in order to encourage employees that they have some ownership over their workplace and was achieved with 3 day workshops. However one of the major drawbacks was that the managers had to face was the skepticism of the employees who viewed the whole scheme as suspicious. Trilogy, the group of companies that was outsourced for this purpose made sure that the whole process would like a completely internal Tesco-like procedure to ensure that they had the employees full trust on the living service program. that unless the suspension specialists could communicate easily with each other across platform types, expertise would deteriorate. Chrysler formed Tech Cul, bringing people together virtually and face-to-face to exchange and build their collective knowledge in each of the specialty areas. In this case, the knowledge management effort was less focused on mapping expertise or benchmarking than it was on bringing the experts together so that important knowledge was shared and amplified. Providing online forums for communication and discussion may form knowledge networks. The idea of a KM system is to enable employees to have ready access to the organizations documented base of facts, sources of information, and solutions. For example a typical claim justifying the creation of a KM system might run something like this: an engineer could know the metallurgical composition of an alloy that reduces sound in gear systems. Sharing this information organization wide can lead to more effective engine design and it could also lead to ideas for new or improved equipment. A very good example in Tescos case is when they decided to implement an online ordering system that connected the customers with the warehouses and the suppliers. Some of the benefits of KMS systems are: Increased order processing capacity, reduced hardware cost, Increased flexibility in maintaining supplier relationships, Better integration of programs, increased reliability in day to day operations. The key aspect of KM and KMS is to convince existing long term employees to make use of such systems in order to produce/sell more and drive profits upwards. Such a challenged is described in the Tesco Case Study as far as the living service scheme is described in the context of making employees comfortable with the new changes in the way they operates so far. This was achieved by implementing their managers in the process, in order to encourage employees that they have some ownership over their workplace and was achieved with 3 day workshops. However one of the major drawbacks was that the managers had to face was the skepticism of the employees who viewed the whole scheme as suspicious. Trilogy, the group of companies that was outsourced for this purpose made sure that the whole process would like a completely internal Tesco-like procedure to ensure that they had the employees full trust on the living service program.

Van Den Haag Regarding Capital Punishment Philosophy Essay

Van Den Haag Regarding Capital Punishment Philosophy Essay In this paper, I will examine the debate over legalizing the death penalty, specifically by referring to the writings of Turrow in To Kill Or Not To Kill and Van den Haag in On Deterrence and the Death Penalty. I will argue that in responding to Van den Haags positions for the death penalty, Turrow would more strongly object to the argument that rests on its justice on opposed to its value as deterrent. I will then consider the merit of the arguments on both sides with regards to justice, eventually concluding that Turrows points are most convincing. Although Turrow makes space in his article to refute arguments based on both deterrence and justice, his argument against deterrence is much shorter and open to criticism. It boils down to the fact that he has not encountered sufficient evidence that the presence of the death penalty results in lower instances of crime. Van den Haag gives several arguments as to why this fails to make a convincing argument against the practice. The ones that are given the most time are the theoretical reasoning that a higher penalty for an action increases deterrence and why the lack of evidence for deterrence should not cause us to assume it does not exist. Since Turrow does not concern himself with the theoretical grounds for deterrence, this argument is unlikely to convince him. If the facts do not back up this theorizing then there is little reason to base policy on it. Luckily, Van den Haag also responds to concerns about the lack of evidence showing that the presence of the death penalty has any deterrent effect on crime. While he admits that no evidence can be found that the death penalty reduces crime, we should not conclude that this effect is not present. Because there are so many factors that influence things like homicide rates, it is impossible to derive a causal relationship or lack thereof between magnitude of punishment and frequency of offense. As Van den Haag puts it, it is wrong to believe, lack of evidence for deterrence is evidence for the lack of deterrence, (Van den Haag, 145). This is accompanied by the claim on Van den Haags part that often criminals are not even aware of laws in their state regarding capital punishment, so its presence would not factor into their cost-benefit analysis. Now, an immediate question raised by this is: How can the death penalty deter criminals if they arent aware of its existence? Even though only part of Van den Haags appeal to deterrence seems to carry any weight to Turrow, the inability to draw any solid conclusion from statistical analysis should be enough to give Turrow pause, if not necessarily convince him. I will now argue that while Turrow may still disagree with the deterrence argument, he will object more strongly to the appeal to justice that Van den Haag gives. This is not to say that Turrow rejects the idea that justice should be an end we seek in punishing criminals. In his article, he makes several statements that would be nonsensical if this were not the case. Firstly he says, Ive always thought death-penalty proponents have a point when they say that it denigrates the profound indignity of murder to punish it in the same fashion as other crimes. (Turrow, 4) Turrow is not appealing to deterrence or potential for rehabilitation here in his argument for the death penalty. His objection is based on the fact that some crimes are so heinous that we must respond in kind for the sake of the moral order. It seems to me that restoring the moral order, is as good a definition of justice as any other. Now that I have concluded that both Van den Haag and Turrow see justice as a legitimate ground on which to base arguments for and against capital punishment, I must show that appealing to justice leads the two authors to different conclusions. Van den Haags appeal to justice is a very much utilitarian argument that is dependent upon his argument from deterrence. He argues that whatever way that we were to define injustice, the correct action should be that which results in the least injustice. This leads him to conclude that if we are concerned with innocent people being mistakenly given the death penalty, we must consider the number of innocents killed this way and compare it to the number of deaths that could have been prevented by deterrence and see if we have a net gain in innocents saved. He then goes on to argue that capital punishment deters enough would-be killers to make its legality just. Turrow would object more strongly to claims of justice than to deterrence because, as Van den Haag states, the validity of his justice argument is dependent on the validity of his deterrence argument. I have already mentioned that Turrow is skeptical of claims of deterrence. I turns out that even if he were to reverse his stance on deterrence, he would also disagree with Van den Haags reasoning for why this would make a system with capital punishment a just one. The main flaw that Turrow finds with capital punishment is its inability to be properly implemented within our justice system. He relates stories of his firsthand experience with cases in which men are given, or very nearly given, the death sentence for crimes they did not commit. This deeply troubles him, and he is not so willing to accept this tragedy as Van den Haag is by simply requiring that more innocent lives are saved by the act than are wrongfully executed. He simply states that, Now and then, we will execute someone who is innocentà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ (Turrow, 7) He makes no reference to the number of people saved by this practice, because that number is not significant. Turrow seems to believe that wrongfully executing someone is far worse than the crime of murder enacted by an individual. This may be that the first is a sort of betrayal of the justice system, whereas the latter is simply a failure of it. Therefore, because Turrow would disagree with both the main argument (jus tice) and that which it relies upon (deterrence), his objection to justice would be the stronger of the two. I will now evaluate both arguments from each of these in regards to the justice of having a death penalty. Here I will assume that the argument for deterrence is valid and some innocent lives are spared since Van den Haags argument for justice is contingent upon this fact. As I have described it, the crux of this debate hinges on whether or not it is acceptable to allow some innocents to be executed in order to save more from would-be murderers who do not commit crimes out of fear of the death penalty. Van den Haag is satisfied as long as the number of innocents killed is less than without the death penalty whereas Turrow is against any system in which the innocent may be wrongfully given a death sentence. Something potentially overlooked by Van den Haag is that there may be more consequences to capital punishment being accepted than the accidental killing of innocents. The very idea that ones government may wrongfully convict you for a crime you did not commit could fray the trust that should theoretically exist between a citizen and the government designed to protect him or her. While this argument could certainly be made for any sort of crime, both authors make the distinction in the death penaltys irrevocability. If one has faith that the system may eventually discover its error (by no means certain), then a jail term can be ended and the victim compensated but this is not possible with death. This fear on the part of the citizen could lead to a lack of cooperation or assistance with the police in a case for fear that they will become a suspect. However, the argument that we should not inflict the death penalty because we may sentence the wrong person to death deserves a bit more analysis. The common point made by both authors is that it may be better to give a life-in-prison sentence because then any mistakes in conviction may be found and reversed. However, if this does not actually happen then this weakness of capital punishment does not actually exist. It would be worthwhile to examine statistics of how many prisoners serving life sentences are found to be innocent and released. This would give us insight as to how many innocent lives would be lost were capital punishment allowed, and be a mark in favor of prohibiting it. In other words, if life-in-prison sentences are never overturned then prisoners given them in lieu of the death penalty have no chance of being released so the increased chance of righting the wrong does not actually exist. Granted, this theoretical wrongfully accused person does gain life-in-prison as opposed to execution, but this seems like small consolation to a man who committed no crime. This is a measurable quantity, one that I suspect will come down in favor of prohibition. Of course, as with any objection to a utilitarian viewpoint, as the numbers become more and more extreme our convictions seem less concrete. Would we allow the wrongful execution of one man in order to deter the murders of one million? Because this case is quite unlikely, it does not bear much weight in my considerations. In this paper I have outlined reasons for which Turrow would object most strongly to Van den Haags defense of capital punishment on the grounds of justice, namely that wrongfully executing someone is far worse than failing to deter a murderer from doing the same. I have then considered the justice-based arguments of both authors and decided that, despite potential lives saved and pending statistical reinforcement, the societal consequences of capital punishment outweigh its benefits.

Multinational Corporations and the Destruction of the Family Essay

The pursuit of the bottom line is the goal of many businesses of a variety of sizes. The ability to buy cheaply, sell dearly and minimize costs across the board gives businesses an edge that allows them to create vast amounts of wealth for those with a stake in the business or corporation, but at what cost? Multinational corporations create great deals wealth but they propagate social and cultural inequality, poverty and environmental damage at rates to rival their gains. Multinational Corporations wield incredible amounts of political and economic clout, clout that allows them to manipulate a region without fear of recourse on the part of the localities in which they reside. The gains of corporations with respect to political and economic status are often accompanied by the withering of political and economic status on the part of indigenous populations and local labor forces. Specifically, the appearance of multinational corporations has served to aggravate the erosion of political and economic status at the familial level. The wielding of this economic and political power on the part of corporations is often characterized by violence on the part of its agents. One aspect that allows multinational corporations to survive in the business world is their lack of responsibility to the localities in which they do business. Albert J. Dunlap, a former CEO of multiple corporations had this to say about corporations : â€Å" The company belongs to people who invest in it- not to its employees, suppliers, nor the locality in which it is situated†. Even the market itself encourages corporations to be amoral and to turn a blind eye towards the needs of its employees and the regions. According to Richard Robbins â€Å"the fact is that environmenta... ...rized by the gendered conflict endured on the part of women worldwide. Female workers are appealing to multinational corporations because they are less likely to object to substandard working conditions(less likely to riot) and because corporations are able to pay women far less than what a man would make performing similar work. Women suffer physical and sexual abuse at the workplace in developing countries, trapped because they need the small wage they earn to support their families. The choice between starvation and abuse is a grim reality that many around the world suffer. Corporations have the power to pay women equally, and to pay all workers at a level that they can survive on, without threatening their profit margins by more than a few percent. Yet consider once again the Dunlap and Robbins quotes near the start of the paper, there is no motivation to do so.

Tragedy and Redemption in Toni Morrisons Beloved Essay -- Toni Morris

Tragedy and Redemption in Beloved "This is not a story to pass on."(1) With these enigmatic words, Toni Morrison brings to a conclusion a very rich, very complicated novel, in which slavery and its repercussions are brought into focus, examined, and reassembled to yield a story of tragedy and redemption. The "peculiar institution" of slavery has been the basis for many literary works from Roots to Beloved, with particular emphasis on the physical, mental, and spiritual violence characteristic of the practice of slavery in the South. A far greater shame than slavery itself is the violence that was directed against slave women in the name of slavery. Slave women bore the heaviest burden of slavery, forced to be not only fieldhands and domestic workers, but to satisfy their masters' sexual appetites. Frederick Douglass wrote that the "slave woman is at the mercy of the fathers, sons or brothers of her master."(2) Slaveowners considered their slave women to be fair game, forcing themselves on their female slaves with impunity, and any resulting children were considered property, to be sold like the calves from a cow. The family institutions of the slaves meant nothing to their owners; the children of slaves were likewise considered property and could be sold at their owners' whim. Schoolteacher referred to Sethe and her children as "...the breeding one, her three pickaninnies and whatever the foal might be..."(279) Slave children often did not know who their fathers or even their mothers were... ...gain. Beloved is an unsanitized picture of slavery and its consequences, a condemnation of the violations that humans impose upon each other. That the presence of Beloved is still felt, long after the players have left the stage, is representative of the scars that remain on the hearts and minds of women, that such horrors could be visited upon their sisters once. Notes 1. Toni Morrison, Beloved (New York, 1987) 337. All subsequent quotes from Beloved are followed by page numbers in parentheses. 2. Frederick Douglass, My Bondage and My Freedom (New York, 1968 [1855]) 60, qtd. in Blassingame 83. Works Cited 1. Blassingame, John W. The Slave Community: Plantation Life in the Antebellum South. New York: Oxford University Press, 1972. 2. Morrison, Toni. Beloved. (New York: Penguin Books USA Inc., 1987)

On the Value of Philosophy Essay

â€Å"On the Value of Philosophy† by Bertrand Russell discusses the implications of philosophy and philosophical thinking. Special attention is paid to problems and core values of philosophy. The author argues that philosophy should be studied not to find answers for questions of particular interest, but for the sake of the questions themselves. It is noted that philosophy helps to distinguish truth, to enrich intellectual imagination, to enlarge understanding of the world order and to diminish dogmatic assurances. According to the author, human mind should be open for critical thinking and speculation because the power of the mind is strong enough to change the thinking of the globe. Russell states the philosophy aims at providing knowledge â€Å"which gives unity and system to the body of the sciences, and which results from a critical examination of the grounds of our convictions, prejudices, and beliefs†. (Russell, 14) Nevertheless, philosophy hasn’t succeeded in providing definite answers to questions of particular interest. Philosophy is interested mainly in issues which are hardly explanatory. If a questioned is fully answered, then it is separated from philosophy. For example, firstly human mind was a part of philosophy, though later it became a science of psychology. Therefore, philosophy is interested in uncertainty rather than reality. The value of philosophy is in uncertainty. The value of philosophy is that it makes people free in their thinking and attitudes towards the word order. Inability to comprehend philosophy makes all objects definite and common. The greatest value is that philosophy makes all objects great and worthy of attention. Philosophical life is full of something confined and feverish. Russell argues that â€Å"many philosophers have held that philosophy could establish the truth of certain answers to fundamental questions†. (Russell, 16) Thus, philosophy aims at enlarging not only human thoughts towards objections, but also about affections and actions.

Women in Mathematics

Women in Mathematics Every human is created with a gift of some sort. Whether it is an athletic ability, a wonderful singing voice, or an ability to relate to other individuals, every one has a special gifting. For many women in history, their ability was deciphering and understanding the intricacies of math. Although various cultures discouraged women mathematicians, these women were able to re-define the standards for women in this field of study. Hypatia of Alexandria was born in Roman Egypt and was the daughter of a teacher of mathematics, Theon of Alexandria.Hypatia studied with her father as well as with many other mathematicians. When she was older, she taught at the Neoplatonist school of philosophy. She wrote on mathematics, philosophy, as well as anatomy. Her studies covered the motion of the planets, conic sections, and number theory, which is â€Å"one of the oldest branches of pure mathematics, and one of the largest. It concerns questions about numbers, typically meani ng whole numbers as well as rational numbers. Although little information about Hypatia survives, it has been discovered that she was a very popular lecturer that drew students from various locations.She is known for her invention of the plane astrolabe, which is an elaborate inclinometer with the ability to locate and predict the locations of the sun, moon, planets, and stars and the graduated brass hydrometer which was used to determine the relative density or specific gravity of liquids. Hypatia's teachings were not accepted by the Christian bishop, Cyril due to her pagan beliefs. His public dislike towards her is said to have been the cause of the attack by a mob that lead to her death.Most of her work was destroyed when the library of Alexandria was burned by the Arab conquerors, however, her studies have been discovered through the work of others who quoted her as well as through letters. I believe Hypatia was one of the first inspirational women mathematicians. Despite the da nger she knew she was facing, she chose to do what she enjoyed. Elena Cornaro Piscopia was born in 1646 in Venice into the family of a public official. Her father provided the means of education to his children.Elena was recognized as a child prodigy when she was seven years old by a parish priest. She then began to study theology, mathematics, Latin, Greek, and music. Clerics, royals, and scientists came to Venice to speak with her due to the widespread attraction of her achievements. As she grew older, Elena was the first woman to apply in theology at a university in Italy. She was also the first woman to earn a doctoral degree. After receiving her master's and doctorate degrees in philosophy, she went on to become a lecturer in mathematics at the University of Padua until her death in 1684.Although she is not famous for discovering any particular math problem, she was very influential in her time and inspired many other women to pursue mathematics. Maria Agnesi was born in Italy in 1718 and was the daughter of Pietro Agnesi, a wealthy nobleman and professor of mathematics. Maria, like Elena, was recognized as a child prodigy and was taught five languages. Her father invited his colleagues over for Maria to present speeches to. By the age of 13 Maria was able to debate in French, Spanish, and Latin.Although Maria did not enjoy giving the speeches, she continued until the age of twenty. That year, Maria made a compilation of the speeches she had given over the years and published them in Latin. The title of the compilations in English is â€Å"Philosophical Propositions. † The topics included celestial mechanics, which refers to the branch of astronomy that deals with the motions of celestial objects and applies to the field of physics, Isaac Newton's Gravitation Theory that states that any two objects in the universe exert gravitational attraction on each other, and elasticity.Maria's father married twice after the death of her mother, causing her to be the eldest of 21 children. She was required to provide education to her siblings. Maria wrote a mathematics textbook over the course of ten years which was titled† Instituzioni Analitiche† which was published in 1748 in two volumes. The first volume contained information on algebra, arithmetic, trigonometry, analytic geometry, and calculus. The second covered infinite series and differential equations. Due to her ability to understand many languages, Maria was able to bring together various ideas from mathematicians of all cultures.The name â€Å"witch of Agnesi† refers to a mathematical problem of finding the equation for a certain bell-shaped curve which was named after her by English mathematician John Colson. When Maria's father passed in 1752, Maria discontinued the education she had been providing to her siblings and devoted her life to helping the less fortunate. I found Maria's story to be very admirable due to the extreme selflessness she possessed. Al though she desired to further her mathematical studies, she spent a large portion of her life educating her younger siblings, and spent the remaining time devoted to the poor.Sophie Germain was born in France in 1776 and was the daughter of Ambroise-Francois Germain, who was a wealthy middle class silk merchant and a French politician. During Sophie's childhood, the French Revolution was occurring, so Sophie was kept isolated from the chaos by staying in her home with her two sisters. She chose to pass the time by reading through the books in her father's extended library. Sophie was particularly fond of the story of Archimedes of Syracuse who was killed while reading geometry. To see a man so captivated by a subject influenced her to pursue math.Sophie taught mathematics to herself in her native language as well as in Latin and Greek so as to be able to gain understanding from a wider range of mathematic books. Her family was not particularly fond of her studying, but she was so en thralled by mathematics that she studied at night until her family accepted what she loved. In eighteenth century France, women were not normally accepted into universities, however, Sophie was able to borrow the notes from mathematic professors and was able to send comments about the work to the professors by hiding behind the pseudonym of a male, â€Å"M. e Blanc. † Sophie Germain studied number theory and Chladni figures, which is a technique that shows the various modes of vibration of a rigid surface. Her study of these figures was the foundation to the mathematics used today when constructing skyscrapers. Her study of number theory lead to partial progress on Fermat's Last Theorem, which states that if x, y, z, and n are integers then xn + yn = zn cannot be solved for any n greater than 2. Sophie was able to show that for prime exponents less than 100, there could be no solutions relatively prime to the exponent of that number.After this work, she was accepted into sess ions at the Institut de France and became the first woman with this privilege. She died in 1831 of breast cancer. I believe Sophie is inspirational due to her extreme intelligence by finding an addition to Fermat's two-century's old theorem. Had she not been diligent in pursuing mathematics although it was inconvenient, she would have never been presented the opportunity to impart such knowledge into history. Sonya Kovalevskaya was drawn to mathematics in a rather peculiar way.As a young child, born in 1850 in Russia, Sonya was mesmerized by the lecture notes of Mikhail Ostrogradsky on differential and integral calculus that made up the wallpaper of her family's estate. Sonya's father did not allow her to study mathematics abroad, and Russia did not allow women to attend the universities, thus Sonya was forced to find an alternative means of furthering her education. She entered into a marriage of convenience with Vladimir Kovalensky, and left Russia with him and her sister. Sonya w ent on to Heidelberg where she was granted permission to study at the university.Two years later, she went on to study mathematics with Karl Weierstrass who assisted her in pursuing a degree in mathematics. Sonya's dissertation on partial differential equations, which refers to an equation that contains unknown multivariable functions and their partial derivatives, resulted in receiving a doctorate without having attended any class at the university and is today called the Cauch-Kovelevskaya Theorem. Sonya was also awarded with the Prix Bordin from the French Academie Royale des Sciences for her research over how Saturn's rings rotated, now referred to as the Kovelevskaya top.She also was appointed to a chair at the Swedish Academy of Sciences- making her the first woman to receive this title. I believe her story is especially inspirational due to her ground-breaking achievements including titles and positions that had never been awarded to women before. All of these women pioneers of mathematics teach a very valuable lesson. The culture during the time of these five particular women did not accept the studies that these mathematicians longed to be educated in.Their extreme ability, or gifting, of solving problems and assembling theorems was not only widely unaccepted, it was also widely unappreciated. Even after the accomplishments of these women, their work is often undermined. In the midst of opposing forces telling them they should not, or even could not go into the field of mathematics, they believed in their ability enough to pursue it whole-heartedly and in return, they have left a legacy and have inspired women to fight what is culturally accepted to follow what is in your heart, and the things for which you have a particular talent in.Citations Lewis, Jone J. â€Å"Women in Mathematics  History. † About. com Women's History. N. p. , n. d. Web. 10 Mar. 2013. Lewis, Jone J. â€Å"Hypatia Of Alexandria. † About. com Women's History. N. p. , n. d. Web. 11 Mar. 2013. â€Å"11: Number Theory. † 11: Number Theory. Ed. Dave Rusin. N. p. , 02 July 2006. Web. 12 Mar. 2013. Swift, Amanda. â€Å"Sophie Germain. † Sophie Germain. N. p. , Apr. 1995. Web. 12 Mar. 2013. â€Å"Partial Differential Equation. † Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 14 Mar. 2013. Web. 12 Mar. 2013.