Indiscreet and Indiscrete - Commonly Confused Words

Careless and Indiscrete - Commonly Confused Words The homophones careless and rash are not equivalent words. Rash is the more typical word. Tactless is a specialized term fundamentally utilized in logical composition. The modifier tactless methods incautious, lacking trustworthiness, or recklessly garrulous. The thing types of indiscreetâ areâ indiscreetnessâ andâ indiscretion. The modifier tactless methods not isolated into particular parts. The thing type of rash is carelessness. See additionally: Discreet and Discrete Models The attorneys tactless comments to the media incited a furious reaction from the appointed authority. Dr. John Watson: One word, Sherlock! That is all I would have required! Single word to tell me that you were alive!Sherlock Holmes: Ive about been in contact so often, however I stressed that, you know, you may state something indiscreet.Dr. John Watson: What?Sherlock Holmes: Oh, you know, let the feline out of the bag.(Martin Freeman and Benedict Cumberbatch in The Empty Hearse. Sherlock, 2014) The tactless core doesn't have an atomic film and is along these lines not discrete from the cytoplasm. Practice(a) Questions are never _____; answers here and there are.(Oscar Wilde, An Ideal Husband)(b) Topology intends to formalize some ceaseless, _____ highlights of room. Answers to Practice Exercises Glossary of Usage: Index of Commonly Confused Words200 Homonyms, Homophones, and Homographs Answers to Practice Exercises: Indiscreet and Indiscrete (a) Questions are rarely rash; answers now and again are.(Oscar Wilde, An Ideal Husband)â (b) Topology expects to formalize some persistent, careless highlights of room. Glossary of Usage: Index of Commonly Confused Words

Criticism of Patriot Act Essay Example

Analysis of Patriot Act Essay Example Analysis of Patriot Act Paper Analysis of Patriot Act Paper The death of the USA Patriot Act into law was an error for this country. The key arrangements of the Act incorporate empowering law implementation offices access to private data, reinforces the Treasures to control over money related guidelines, and urges movement specialists to confine and oust migrants all with an end goal to go around fear based oppressor action. The post-WI 1 insanity was all legislators expected to swiftly pass a demonstration that professed to be in support of the assurance of this country, however If additional time had been spent figuring out the real story the Act might not have been passed. It was passed under the ameliorating name of the Patriot Act yet the rights allowed by the Act disregard a huge number of the rights esteemed by the individuals of the country. I accept the Patriot Act Is a device that concedes a gross violating of intensity that will raise more ruckus than It will forestall. I accept the death of the Act puts our country on a dangerous slant wherein our Democratic culture transforms Into one of Totalitarianism. In the US, opportunity and protection are our essential rights, yet when fear mongering dangers the nation, it appears to be nonsensical for the nation to pass an Act that cheers the rights its own kin. The thoughts of the Constitution ought to never, under any condition, be undermined not even in the midst of emergency. I accept the regarding of a national emergency is an occupation that must be performed by the President, simply in the wake of assessing the response of general society after a devastating occasion. By trading off the thoughts of the Constitution with this Act, it starts a trend that will permit future extensions of capacity to be conceded without any problem. In the long run, it will become hazy where to choose how much force given to organizations is excessively. Endeavoring to repay psychological militants by riffing through private data is as powerful as finding an extremely elusive little thing. Since its passing, no fear based oppressor has been gotten under the Act yet rather instances of mixed up allegations have been made. In addition to the fact that it is ineffectual, humiliating. The United States eminence as a brilliant illustration of Democracy will be discolored by our erratic and purposeless factorization. The Act means well yet isn't the most ideal method of securing the country. Instead of the Patriot Act ought to be one that doesnt arbitrarily target individuals, yet one cap requires stricter safety efforts for methodology as of now set up. That way, less things will slip past specialists guaranteeing wellbeing. The main thing that the Patriot Act can guarantee isn't society living In a condition of security yet rather living In a condition of dread. Analysis of Patriot Act By Gingerbread data, reinforces the Treasurys to control over monetary guidelines, and urges movement specialists to confine and expel workers all in an exertion briskly pass a demonstration that professed to be totally supportive of the assurance of this country, yet on the off chance that country. I accept the Patriot Act is an instrument that allows a gross exceeding of intensity that will raise more ruckus than it will forestall. I accept the death of the Act puts our country on a tricky incline wherein our Democratic culture transforms into one of In the United States, opportunity and protection are our fundamental rights, yet when psychological oppression regarding of a national emergency is a Job that must be performed by the President, just that requires stricter safety efforts for methodology as of now set up. That way, Act can guarantee isn't society living in a condition of wellbeing but instead living in a condition of

PRACTICAL 1SENSORY RECEPTOR SENSITIVITY Example

PRACTICAL 1SENSORY RECEPTOR SENSITIVITY Example PRACTICAL 1:SENSORY RECEPTOR SENSITIVITY â€" Assignment Example > PRACTICAL 1: SENSORY RECEPTOR SENSITIVITY: Aim: To determine the characteristics of cetaceous receptors by studying variations in response of mechanoreceptors and thermoreceptors. To observe variations in localization of touch over various body parts. To observe variations in location and concentration of heat receptors. Introduction. The sensory receptors are widely classified into three categories depending with the origin of the stimulus: Namely; interoceptors, proprioceptors and the exteroceptors. This model of classification though has the limitation of revealing little regarding the sensory apparatus of the general somatic afferent. And for this matter is appropriate that we also base the classification of the kind of stimulation on which the receptor will respond to and are; the thermoreceptors, the nociceptors and the mechanoreceptors. Mechanoreceptors response to receptors or tissues is of similar mechanical deformations of touch, pressure, vibration and stretch. The sens ations recorded normally range from the random body position to touch and the orientation in space. In this Laboratory practical session, we are to observe the variation in discrimination over different body parts by deploying two-point discrimination method. Nolar, M.F. , (1987}Physiologically, the dermis of the skin has two specialized nerve endings which are the receptors for the temperature. The Krause’s end bulb is more sensitive than the receptors for heat and is specialized for cold reception. To distinguish the heat receptor from the touch receptors when the temperatures are low is always difficult and even when the temperatures are high, distinguishing them with the pain receptors is also difficult. Weinstein, S., (1968)Before going into the details of the composition of each receptor group, the significant to understand the various afferent fiber groups that work hand in hand with the various receptors kinds. There are two kinds of nerve fibers; the myelinated and the non myelinated. The myelinated nerve fibers have a much high velocity of conduction than the non-myelinated nerve fibers. The non myelinated nerve fibers are cuteneous nerves with a diameter of about 0.2 â€" 1.5 um and their conduction velocity is approximately 0.4-2.0 m/s. The stimuli sensitivity of the non-myelinated nerve fibers varies between the glabrous which are less sensitive and the glabrousskin being more sensitive. It’s the physical motion or the indentations that cause the excitement of the mechanoreceptors. Some mechanoreceptors are situated in the superficial and in the deep areas of the skin. At the superficial section, there is Merkel disk receptors and Meissner’s corpuscles. Schmidt, R.F. , (1981). Part A: Two-Point DiscriminationMethodology: 1.Blindfold the subject and ensure he/she is seated and relaxed with hands resting on a bench or arm rest. 2.Commence with a minimum separation of stimuli by using both ends of a two-point compass and stimulate the subject ’s finger. Ask the subject to report if he/she feels 1 or 2 stimuli. 3.Increase the separation distance of the compass points by 1 mm until the subject first reports 2 stimuli. RECORD the separation distance. 4.Start with a separation distance of 10 mm and progressively decrease the separation distance by 1 mm until the subject first reports one stimulus. RECORD the separation distance.

Is Iraq a Democracy

Democracy in Iraq bears the hallmarks of a political system born in foreign occupation and civil war. It is marked with deep divisions over the power of the executive, disputes between ethnic and religious groups, and between centralists and advocates of federalism. Yet for all its flaws, the democratic project in Iraq brought to an end more than four decades of dictatorship, and most Iraqis would probably prefer not to turn the clock back. System of Government The Republic of Iraq is a parliamentary democracy introduced gradually after the US-led invasion in 2003 that toppled the regime of Saddam Hussein. The most powerful political office—even more so than the president—is that of prime minister, who heads the Council of Ministers. Prime minister is nominated by the strongest parliamentary party, or a coalition of parties that hold the majority of seats. Elections to parliament are relatively free and fair, with a solid voter turn-out, though usually marked by violence. The parliament also chooses the president of the republic, who has few real powers but who can act as an informal mediator between rival political groups. This is in contrast to Saddam’s regime, where all institutional power was concentrated in the hands of the president. Regional and Sectarian Divisions Since the formation of the modern Iraqi state in the 1920s, its political elites were drawn largely from the Sunni Arab minority. The great historical significance of the 2003 US-led invasion is that it enabled the Shiite Arab majority to claim power for the first time while cementing special rights for the Kurdish ethnic minority. But foreign occupation also gave rise to a fierce Sunni insurgency which, in the following years, targeted US troops and the new Shiite-dominated government. The most extreme elements in the Sunni insurgency deliberately targeted Shiite civilians, provoking a civil war with Shiite militias which peaked in 2006–08. Sectarian tension remains one of the main obstacles to a stable democratic government. Here are some key features of Iraq’s political system: Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG): Kurdish regions in Iraq’s north enjoy a high degree of autonomy, with their own government, parliament, and security forces. Kurdish-controlled territories are rich in oil, and division of profits from oil exports is a major stumbling block in relations between KRG and the central government in Baghdad.Coalition Governments: Since the first elections in 2005, no one party managed to establish a solid enough majority to form the government on its own. As a result, Iraq is normally ruled by a coalition of parties—including Shiites, Sunnis, and Kurds—resulting in plenty of infighting and political instability.Provincial Authorities: Iraq is divided into 18 provinces, each with its own governor and a provincial council. Federalist calls are common in oil-rich Shiite regions in the south, which want greater proceeds from local resources, and in Sunni provinces in the north-west, which don’t trust the Shiite-dominated governm ent in Baghdad. Controversies These days it’s easy to forget that Iraq has its own tradition of democracy going back to the years of the Iraqi monarchy. Formed under British supervision, the monarchy was toppled in 1958 through a military coup that ushered in an era of authoritarian government. But the old democracy was far from perfect, as it was tightly controlled and manipulated by a coterie of king’s advisors. The system of government in Iraq today is far more pluralistic and open in comparison, but stymied by mutual mistrust between rival political groups: Power of the Prime Minister: The most powerful politician of the first decade of the post-Saddam era is Nuri al-Maliki, a Shiite leader who first became prime minister in 2006. Credited with overseeing the end of the civil war and reasserting state authority, Maliki was often accused—by both Sunnis and Shiites—of shadowing Iraq’s authoritarian past by monopolizing power and installing personal loyalists in the security forces. Some observers fear this pattern of rule may continue under his successors.Shiite Domination: Iraq’s coalition governments include Shiites, Sunnis, and Kurds. However, the position of prime minister seems to have become reserved for the Shiites, due to their demographic advantage (est. at 60% of the population). There has yet to emerge a national, secular political force that could truly unite the country and overcome the divisions brought about by the post-2003 events.

Thomas Paine And The Bill Of Rights - 880 Words

Thomas Paine, Thomas Jefferson and the Bill of Rights are three things that have some sort of connection. Thomas Paine and Thomas Jefferson both have documents. Their documents were both a result for the rule that Great Britain had over us. The Bill of Rights is also a piece where its writing had to do with a freedom type document written to let others feel free. Thomas Paine was one of the great supporters of the American Revolution. He was a journalist and used his utensils to get the public to break free from Great Britain. When Revolution against the British Empire came, Thomas Jefferson was not JUST ready. Before he wrote his main legendary contribution to the revolutionary cause, he wrote Summary View, the most important contribution to The Declaration of Independence. In 1791, the Bill of Rights, which included 10 amendments, was approved into the constitution. The document’s purpose was to make clear the rights of the people that the government could not trespass upon. These amendments logically became an important part of the original document, making them part of ‘The Supreme Law of the Land. Thomas Paine and Jefferson, as well as the bill of rights, all share a common theme. Thomas Paine wrote secretly, yet spoke to the public on the occasion of him speaking out about his beliefs. The first pamphlet he published, persuading liberation from Britain, was called Common Sense. Paine believed that America needed to break free of the British controls. He was againstShow MoreRelatedSummarize and compare and contrast the English Bill of Rights, the Cahier of the 3rd Estate and Common Sense.1484 Words   |  6 PagesThe English Bill of Rights, the Cahier of the Third Estate of the City of Paris and Common Sense were all written during a time of revolution in their respective countries. Although all three political writings originated in a different country, they each share several important similarities. Each document also addressed specific issues, which the others did not. The English Bill of Rights, the Cahier of the Third Estate of the City of Paris and Common Sense all served as a bridge between their countriesRead MoreCommon Sense By Thomas Paine957 Words   |  4 Pagespamphlet known as Common Sense was written by Thomas Paine in 1776. This pamphlet contributed in promoting the independence of America. In the pamphlet Thomas Paine challenged the American colonists to separate from England and create a democratic and independent society. Along with challenging the American colonists, he hinted at his own opinions about a democratic government that America should plan towards if they seek to separate from England. Thomas Paine also bluntly proposed that the monarchy wasRead MoreThe Enlightenment And The Enlightenment907 Words   |  4 Pagesdespair. Science and reason could bring happiness and progress. Kings did not rule by divine right. They had an obligation to their subjects. Moreover, Declaration of Independence also supported the Enlightenment principles of government advocated by John Locke. John Lockes ideas that people are entitled to their natural rights and that men are created equal contributed to the Declaration of Independence. When Thomas Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Independence, he took some from Locke’s ideas and wroteRead MoreThe Irish And Indian War924 Words   |  4 Pagesthe minds of the American colonists that they were only a â€Å"means to an end† for Britain. Thomas Paine would only help to stoke the flames of the coming movement for American independence through his work â€Å"Common Sense† where he brought the hypocrisies and sins of the British government to light along with arguing why the colonies would be better off on their own. Within the contents of â€Å"Common Sense†, Paine would go toe-to-toe with the arguments of colonists who opposed independence in areas suchRead MoreThomas Paines Com mon Sense Essay1149 Words   |  5 PagesIn the work of Thomas Paine, Common Sense Paine mentions throughout of the working for a positive government with the idea of equality. Thomas Paine writes different excerpt that give theories and idea with the goal of implementing those ideas into a government that may be just and fair. Paine reflects on the English constitution specifically the crown. Paine also provide an insight to having a higher power to run a government. Paine also criticizes the idea of monarchy and hereditary successionRead MoreThe s Belief That All Men1295 Words   |  6 Pages On African Slavery by Thomas Paine was available for the public ten months and two days before Common Sense. Despite the difference in publishing dates these two written works provide numerous similarities. For example, On African Slavery is addressed â€Å"To Americans:† (Paine 1) and Common Sense is similarly â€Å"Addressed to the Inhabitants of America† (1). Furthermore, b oth written works address Paine’s belief that all men are â€Å"originally equals† (71). In Common Sense, Paine uses this belief to discussRead MoreThe Separation Of Powers Is The Division Of Political Authority Essay1502 Words   |  7 Pagesexcessively infringes or powerful on the rights of the citizens ( Gray, Kenneth, et.al 2005). The term separation of powers or ‘trias politica’ was formed by Charles-Louis de Secondat, baron de La Brà ¨de et de Montesquieu, an 18th century French political and social philosopher. Spirit of the Laws is one of his publications and considered as one of the tremendous works in the history of and jurisprudence and, political theory; it inspired the Declaration of the Rights of the Constitution and Man and ofRead More`` Common Sense `` By Thomas Paine1202 Words   |  5 PagesAccording to Thomas Paine s pamphlet, he had supported the American Revolution that refers to â€Å"American Independence†. The objective t o write â€Å"Common Sense† is that challenged to the British government and motivated American to follow their own destiny. Furthermore, His written work was the first time that asked for independence from Britain. The inspiration of Thomas came from the suggestion of Benjamin Rush who is an outspoken defender of American rights from Great Britain. Common Sense was bothRead MoreThe Declaration Of Independence And The United States Of America Essay1411 Words   |  6 Pagesevery citizen is granted the right to life, liberty and pursuit of happiness. Furthermore, it marks the turning point in American history where the United States gained its independence from the British Government. The Declaration of Independence argues for the protection of people’s, and to a certain extent, negates government power. Embedded in the Declaration, it states â€Å"whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends (revolution), it is the right of the people to alter or abolishRead MoreThe American Revolution Essay1373 Words   |  6 Pages In the midst of revolution, influential authors Thomas Paine, Benjamin Franklin, and Thomas Jefferson each speak volumes about the clear vision that is to become independent America. It is the work of these individuals that one may accredit the characterization of America as it stands in the present day. In a country built on â€Å"life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness,† certain values have been deemed favorable by the founding fathers. American political culture has thus been molded into one representative

Adolescence and Mental Disorders Free Essays

Mental health refers to a psychological and emotional state. It is how people think, feel, and act as they face life’s situations. It affects how people handle stress, relate to one another, and make decisions. We will write a custom essay sample on Adolescence and Mental Disorders or any similar topic only for you Order Now Mental health influences the ways individuals look at themselves, their lives, and others in their lives. Like physical health, mental health is important at every stage of life. All aspects of our lives are affected by our mental health. Caring for and protecting our children is an obligation and is critical to their daily lives and their independence. When untreated, mental health disorders can lead to school failure, family conflicts, drug abuse, violence, and even suicide. Mental health problems and mental illness for children and adolescents refer to the range of all diagnosable emotional, behavioral, and mental disorders. They include. But are not limited to: depression, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, anxiety, conduct, and eating disorders. Serious emotional disturbances for children and adolescents refer to the above disorders when they severely disrupt daily functioning in home, school, or community. According to studies by Health N. I. (2003), in early to middle childhood, mental illness affects about 1 in 10 children. In adolescent years, the number doubles to 1 in 5 young people. During adolescence, many biological changes are taking place as the child becomes an adult. Many of these changes are physical but emotional, social and psychological changes take place as well. Adolescence in itself brings on emotional highs and lows similar to the symptoms of bi-polar manic depressive disorder. Therefore proper diagnosis of some mental illnesses, unless somewhat severe, can go unnoticed and undetected. In children and adolescents, the most frequently diagnosed mood disorders are major depressive disorder, dysthymic disorder, and bipolar disorder. Because mood disorders such as depression substantially increase the risk of suicide, suicidal behavior is a matter of serious concern for clinicians who deal with the mental health problems of children and adolescents. The incidence of suicide attempts reaches a peak during the mid-adolescent years, and mortality from suicide, which increases steadily through the teens, is the third leading cause of death at that age (CDC, 1999; Hoyert et al. , 1999). Although suicide cannot be defined as a mental disorder, the various risk factors, especially the presence of mood disorders, that predispose young people to such behavior are given special emphasis in this section, as is a discussion of the effectiveness of various forms of treatment. The evidence is strong that over 90 percent of children and adolescents who commit suicide have a mental disorder. Bipolar manic-depressive disorder is a mood disorder in which episodes of mania alternate with episodes of depression. According to the surgeon general, frequently, the condition begins in adolescence. The first manifestation of bipolar illness is usually a depressive episode. The first manic features may not occur for months or even years thereafter, or may occur either during the first depressive illness or later, after a symptom-free period (Strober et al. , 1995). The clinical problems of mania are very different from those of depression. Adolescents with mania or hypomania feel energetic, confident, and special; they usually have difficulty sleeping but do not tire; and they talk a great deal, often speaking very rapidly or loudly. They may complain that their thoughts are racing. They may do schoolwork quickly and creatively but in a disorganized, chaotic fashion. When manic, adolescents may have exaggerated or even delusional ideas about their capabilities and importance, may become overconfident, and may be uninhibited with others; they start numerous projects that they do not finish and may engage in reckless or risky behavior, such as fast driving or unsafe sex. Sexual preoccupations are increased and may be associated with promiscuous behavior. Reactive Depression, also known as adjustment disorder with depressed mood, is the most common form of mood problem in children AND adolescents. In children suffering from reactive depression, depressed feelings are short-lived and usually occur in response to some adverse experience, such as a rejection, a slight, a letdown, or a loss. In contrast, children may feel sad or lethargic and appear preoccupied for periods as short as a few hours or as long as 2 weeks. However, mood improves with a change in activity or an interesting or pleasant event. These transient mood swings in reaction to minor environmental adversities are not regarded as a form of mental disorder. All in all, I have concluded that it is definitely more likely for mental illness symptoms to surface during How to cite Adolescence and Mental Disorders, Essay examples

Reformation and Rise of Nationalism

Introduction Profound changes in human conduct have been witnessed in the world especially in medieval Europe. The changes which were mainly brought about by rights movement and discontent with established practices culminated into the organization society with orderly and systematic way of doing things. This paper seeks to describe the sequence of things that led to Reformation, the rise of nationalism and finally the development of universal laws.Advertising We will write a custom research paper sample on Reformation and Rise of Nationalism specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Reformation Reformation is a term that is used to refer to the â€Å"Christian reform movement that led to the establishment of Protestantism as a constituent branch of contemporary Christianity† ( Revesz 45). The advent of this reform movement can be traced to 1517 after the publication of the â€Å"Ninety-Five Theses† by Martin Luther (Malhotra , pars. 3). The reformation was facilitated by Catholics from western European Catholics who had tried to transform the Roman Catholic Church (Revesz 26). This faction was opposed to the doctrines and practices of the Roman Catholic Church. They were especially discontented with the habit of â€Å"buying and selling of clerical offices which they regarded as evidence of the systematic corruption of the Church’s Roman hierarchy† (Social Origins of Democracy, pars. 34). The â€Å"ninety-Five Theses on the power and Efficacy of indulgences† written by Martin Luther mainly argued and criticized both the Pope and the church (Revesz, pars. 3-5). The movement was joined by various reformers who later disintegrated due to lack of doctrinal consensus. As a consequence, various protestant denominations were established. This later led to a 30 year ware between the rulers who had adopted Protestantism and those who defended the Roman Catholic. In the end a treaty was signe d to ensure that: all the states be aware of the â€Å"peace deal which allowed the prince of a given state to determine the religion of his own state; Christians living in states where their denominations were not the established church would be guaranteed the right to practice their faith†. Origins of nationalism and equal rights The roots of nationalism can be traced to the reformation period. The interdenominational wars resulted into insecurity. In the â€Å"absence of strong Government’s the people surrendered their lands and labor to local war loads in return for shelter and support† (Malhotra, pars. 2). This systematically gave rise to aristocracy which would later form the basis for revolutionaries towards nationalism. â€Å"The first expression of nationalism came with the French Revolution in 1789† (Malhotra, pars. 3). The country was then an already operational state was being ruled by monarchy. â€Å"The political and constitutional changes that came in the wake of the French Revolution led to the transfer of sovereignty from the monarchy to the body of the French citizen† (Malhotra, pars. 4).Advertising Looking for research paper on history? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More This was the first historical instance in which collective identity was being introduced on the people by various practices and actions that â€Å"emphasized the notion of a united community enjoying equal rights under a constitution† (Malhotra, pars.4). During this period many changes took place including the election of estate generals, abolition of duties, and establishment of a system for administration and nationalizing of the French language which was previously used in Paris alone (Malhotra, pars. 4). The French revolutionaries required the established French nation to play an integral role in the liberation of Europeans from despotism. The campaigns that followed led to mo vement of the â€Å"French armies into Holland, Belgium, Switzerland and much of Italy in the 1790s† (Social Origins of Democracy, pars. 6). The return to monarchy in France under Napoleon led to the destruction of democracy though he brought onboard other principles that led to a more balanced system. The â€Å"Civil code of 1804, which is often referred to as the Napoleonic Code-did away with privileges based on birth, established equality before the law and secured the right to property† (Malhotra, pars. 6). This code was replicated in other states that were controlled by France. â€Å"In the Dutch Republic, in Switzerland, in Italy and Germany†, the administrative divisions were made simple, feudalism done away with and freedom from serfdom offered to peasants (Social Origins of Democracy). Before nationalism was established in â€Å"Europe, Germany, Italy and Switzerland were divided into kingdoms, Duchies and cantons whose rulers had autonomous territorie s of which lived diverse people†. The individual groups in these countries communicated in different dialects and never envisioned themselves coming together â€Å"under a common culture or collective identity† (Malhotra, pars. 5). The groups had only the emperor as common factor. In terms of social and political status, the aristocrats were the foremost class in Europe. Members of this class were drawn from different regions and were unified by similar lifestyles which were basically defined by owning estates in the countryside in addition to townhouses, speaking French for societal status or diplomatic reasons among others (Malhotra, pars. 4). The aristocrats constituted a small percentage of the population that was dominated by peasants. In the 19th century, the concept of national unity was closely associated with the notion of liberalism (Revesz 45). Liberalism, as interpreted by the emerging middle classes was seen as a concept that emphasized â€Å"freedom for a n individual and equality of all before the law† (Malhotra, pars. 6).Advertising We will write a custom research paper sample on Reformation and Rise of Nationalism specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More A political definition depicted the term stood for â€Å"Government by consent† (Revesz, 56). However, equality before the law did not have the same meaning as universal suffrage. In France, the initial steps to the attainment of liberal democracy had several downsides. For instance, â€Å"the right to vote and get elected was granted exclusively to property owning men. Men without property and women were excluded from all political rights† (Malhotra, pars. 7). Thus in the 19th the new middle class based their strong demands on these practices. The â€Å"defeat of Napoleon led to the establishment of conservatism whereby established traditional institutions such as the church, monarchy and social hierarchies were t o be conserved† (Malhotra, pars. 6). â€Å"Conservative regimes became so autocratic and did not tolerate any criticism and dissent† which led to the rise of many secret societies composed of liberals (Social Origins of Democracy, pars. 4). This culminated into revolutions that ended in the creation of nations states. Conclusion This paper sought to describe the sequence of things that led to Reformation, the rise of nationalism and finally the development of universal laws. It has been established that the reformation of the church and the resulting wars formed a strong foundation for the establishment of nationalism (Malhotra, pars. 4). It has been established that the first forms of nationalism were expressed after the French revolution. Works Cited Malhotra, Jyoti. THE RISE OF NATIONALISM IN EUROPE. June 2009. Web. Revesz, Imre. History of the Hungarian Reformed Church, Knight. Washington D.C: Hungarian Reformed Federation of America, 1956. Print Social Origins of D emocracy. February 2010. Web.1 November 2010 http://www.icpd.org/democracy/index.htm.Advertising Looking for research paper on history? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More This research paper on Reformation and Rise of Nationalism was written and submitted by user BettyBrant to help you with your own studies. You are free to use it for research and reference purposes in order to write your own paper; however, you must cite it accordingly. You can donate your paper here.

Global Capitalism and its Discontent

Global Capitalism and its Discontent Introduction At the inner core of the ideologies of free market, there is an associative mode linked to Adams Smith. The mode predominantly points out the profit-propelled market forces, which shape economies efficiently in a manner that permits the realization of plausible outcomes.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Global Capitalism and its Discontent specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More From the conceptualizations of Smith’s model, these free market forces orient economies in a way that ensures maximum efficiencies and effectiveness to sustain the growth of economies. In the sphere of the modern economic arguments, a considerable achievement rests on the capacity to demonstrate the logical contexts, conditions and the sense under which the conclusions reached by Adams Smith are valid and correct. In the economic theory, people argue that in the situations of imperfect information flow coupled with incomplete mark ets, a situation more common in the developing countries, hard works that are invisible also end up as imperfect. However, a government and international trade organizations and institutions introduced by market failures can deploy some interventions to bridge the inefficiencies. Globalization, as a concept widely acclaimed by the World Bank, is one of the concepts that people believe to narrow the gap of inefficiencies in production capacities of less endowed nations. It fosters the transfer of human capital while not negating the free global movement of skills. Consequently, people have formulated many of the World Bank’s policies to achieve the mentioned goals of globalization. However, with the advancement of the arguments by anti-globalists about the capacity of globalization to introduce inconsistencies and discontents, over the last decade, the World Bank has considered an alteration of some of its policies and practices in relation to drumming up the support for globa lization. By appreciating such changes, the paper unveils some reasons why the World Bank reformulated its development policies and practices in the last decade.Advertising Looking for essay on international relations? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Why the World Bank reformulated its development policies and practices in the last decade Reformulation of development policies and practices by the World Bank over the last decade was not only anticipation but also a necessity. In the book Globalization and Its Discontents, Stiglitz’s reflects his 1993 personal experiences while serving the capacity of the chairperson of the Bill Clintons’ council of advisors coupled with his experiences as the chief economist of the World Bank as from 1997. According to Stiglitz, IMF and other international institutions work without paying much attention to the poor nations while formulating their policies (2002, p.26). S omewhat paramount to note is that policies formulated by such international institutions were mainly framed in such a way that they would foster the breakdown of world nations demarcations in terms of flow of human capital, technology and trade. Unfortunately, as Hass posits, these goals are not precisely achieved since globalization results in the placement of an obligation for nations to conduct an abridgement of their social legislations (2009, p.79). Often, this obligation gives rise to domestic protests. The trade policy debate during campaigns in the US may perhaps exemplify the magnitude of such protests especially in times of economic distress. Through the conceptualization of such a case under study, Stiglitz, (2002) claims about â€Å"†¦The IMF, WTO, and the World Bank’s lack of transparency and accountability†¦Without government oversight, they reach decisions without public debate† (p.57). With other criticisms and conflicts of globalization intro duced and discussed by O’Brien and Marc (2010) and Ravenhill (2010), a clear indication of the reasons why World Bank reformulated its policies and practices over the last decade surfaces. After the collapse of the infamous Washington DC conference, termed by Stiglitz (2002) as a conspiracy meeting aimed at engineering ways of running worldwide reforms in economic sectors (p.98), the World Bank considered sponsoring an online debate about globalization. People defined the subject under discussion as â€Å"the most common core sense of economic globalization† (Stiglitz 2002, p.98). This means that the core aim of globalization is to foster integration of the world economies into a single whole. During the Aspen Institute’s Conference, the president of the World Bank, Mr. Wolfensohn, informed the audience that â€Å"Globalization is a practical methodology for empowering the poor to improve their lives (Stiglitz 2002, p.98).Advertising We will write a cus tom essay sample on Global Capitalism and its Discontent specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More The query on the capacity of globalization to achieve this noble role has, in return, immensely contributed to the alteration of the World Bank’s policies and practices. However, arguably, the change of the World Bank policies and practices in relation to globalization results from the repercussions of globalization as a worldwide trend. Proponents of globalization argue that global institutions, such as the World Bank, have been capacitated by advents of globalization to extend their services to not only their member states as stipulated by their charter, but also the global economy that is integrated. Nevertheless, Ravenhill reckons that â€Å"concrete reality lies behind that grand abstraction, not real individual workers, peasants, or small businessmen, but rather giant fictitious individuals, the transnational corporations† (2010, p.1 08). It is perhaps then significant to consider now some of the consequences of globalization that have made the World Bank to reconsider its policies and practices over the last decade. In the advancement of the arguments in the next sections, people consider globalization as part of World Bank and other international organization policies. Ability of nations As argued by critics, â€Å"Globalization has, over the years, been undercutting nations’ abilities to comprehend social and environmental costs in terms of prices† (Sklair 2002, p.77). Economic integration, as guided by principles of free markets in this context, may appear to produce lowering of standards of competition. However, as Stubbs and Underhill (2005, p.37) clarify, â€Å"The most competitive advantage in the arena of the international trade remains a reserve for those nations that conduct the poorest merging of social and environmental costs with prices†. The most conspicuous consequence of thi s is that a big portion of the world production moves to the nations that carry out the poorest tasks of counting costs. In a different perspective, this gives rise to contrasting impacts on domestic politics of a nation especially in those nations that are industrialized. On one hand, enhanced productivity improves the wellbeing of citizens. On the other hand, unemployment emerges. This constitutes to a paradox that requires interventions especially in the era of globalization.Advertising Looking for essay on international relations? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More A migration from menial tasks also takes place following the global transfer of human capital permitted by globalization. Clash of cultures arises coupled with the emergence of nationalism euphoria that advocates for exclusions. Advocates of globalization including the World Bank have then looked for ways of addressing this challenge. Perhaps based on these predicaments, the World Bank, over the last decade, has altered its policies and practices to incorporate and establish a central concern for multiculturalism tolerance. Anti-globalists argue that globalization, as highly advocated for by the World Bank, serves as a sure catalyst of global production efficiency reduction. It becomes necessary to alter practices and policies of the World Bank especially by bearing in mind that â€Å"As uncounted, externalized costs increase, the positive correlation between GDP growth and welfare disappears, or even becomes negative† (Stubbs Underhill 2005, p.37). In high wage nations such as the United States, standards-lowering competition, which is a key component of globalization, produces income disparities. With the easy flow of human capital fostered by globalization, people anticipate in a global bidding of the labor. Since free market principles advocate for a reduction of production costs to maximize their profits, it is likely for unemployment levels to rise especially upon the embracement of other components of globalization such as overseas contracting. However, nations have the chief obligation of providing employment opportunities to their citizens. The World Bank, consequently, finds it necessary to control the porosity of the national boundaries as various nations endeavor to increase their productivity and global spread. One of the subtle ways of accomplishing this precisely is through alteration of policies and practices of international bodies that fund and praise globalization such as the World Bank. The World Bank recognizes this fact. Over the last decade, it has aligned its policies to foster comparative advantage to all nations. Its focus has been in the advancement of financial aid to poor nations in the endeavor to bridge and reduce the gap between the developed world and the developing world. Open capital and trade quality With regard to the constructs of competitive advantage upheld by globalization proponents, â€Å"†¦free trade and capital mobility amplifies specialization pressures† (Stubbs Underhill 2005, p.98). Interpreted differently, this implies the creation of a narrow range of ways of earning livelihood. Perhaps, as an example, if the main economic activity in America would be livestock farming with respect to the voices of competitive advantage, then every American would be a cowboy or a shepherd only contributing towards this effort in the global market. Any concerned person would import anything else consumed in America in exchange with mutton, leather and beef among other animal products. A more robust interpretation of competitive advantage is that those Americans who may wish to indulge in other careers such as piloting, manufacturing and other chores need to migrate into other nations that specialize in these activities. While this may not have been the actual interpretation or meaning of specialization as a key constituent of globalization policies on the ground, international systems give rise to the emergence of paradoxes. With this in mind, the World Bank appreciates that while the prosperity and success of nations are akin to the flourishing of globalization, a dielectric that works counter to the globalization process surfaces thereby deterring the initially intended aspirations of the process. The altered practices and policies within the last decade have an evident proactive shaping to neutralize this dielectric. Additionally, the success of the new 21st century phase of globalization predominantly rests on the capacity to bridge the gap between political and economic stalemates, which more often than not, are incongruent. This means that the established challenges also need a matching set of policies and practices. The World Bank has a noble role to respond to these sets of demands. According to Stiglitz (2002), there was an evident unfair pushing through of the process of globalization in that liberalization policies were based on rapid implementation and enactment, following wrong order and, more importantly, through the deployment of inappropriate and inadequate economic analysis models (p.145). From this argument, instances of social conflict, general frustrations and destitution arising henceforth, require a collective mechanism tantamount to and reflected by the experienced variations in the policies and practices of the World Bank over the last decade. Sequencing and speed emphasis Success of economic liberalization is dependent on the sequence and the speed of advancement of reforms. Stiglitz (2002) argues that, in the endea vor to achieve success in the process of economic liberalization, it is critical for the concerned parties to implement reforms at the right pace following the right sequence (pp.73-78). This means that in case of a rapid opening of capital accounts, the chances are that conspicuous dislocations are eminent. However, it is essential to note that the debate on pace and sequence in policy discussions is not a new thing in the economic profession. In his book, Wealth of Nations, Adams Smith had argued about the issue of pace and sequence of policies as hard, which often required political interventions (Manfred Ravi 2010, p.49). The World Bank stood an excellent chance in the front line, as it was immensely interested in the understanding of issues related to sequencing and speed of policy discussions. Upon conducting numerous studies in 1980’s, the members present reached some various recommendations. One of the recommendations was that liberalization of trade was essentially worth realizing in a buttressed and gradual process that required extensive foreign aid. In relation to sequencing, the reform agenda needs to embrace the demands of the nations experiencing large fiscal imbalances and escalated inflations (Stiglitz 2006, p.87). They placed appropriate strategies on high demand to ensure that in cases where the reform agenda produced unemployment, they maintained the consequences minimal. In addition, they recommended that financial reforms required some regulatory agencies for their cute performance. Finally, in the last sequence order, they recommended capital accounts that they needed to liberalize as the process summed up. However, they placed a precondition on this last proposition: liberalization of capital accounts was only necessary when an economy had established strong foundations for its export sector. Even though these recommendations never satisfied all economists, they have been critical constituents of propellers of the alterations of the World Bank’s development policies and practices. Conclusion With the stringent concerns of globalization, the World Bank recognizes the various drawbacks introduced by the policies that multinational organizations cringed on to enhance their profitability and global presence in the years proceeding the last decade. As argued in this paper, the World Bank, consequently, adopts various changes in its development policies and practices to improve and redefine such institutions coupled with incentives extended to help in inculcating the spirit of efficiency and fair competition in the global fronts. The reasons why this is necessary are that destitution, corruption and abuse are critical elements for curtailing the success of policies that aid in hiking the productivity of nations. By providing hindrances to the spreading of such drawbacks of national productivity, globalization ends ups as a fair process. Therefore, industrialized nations acquire the ability to dismantle th e hindrances of the growth of their productivity. The main agenda and objective of the World Bank is to shield bureaucrats, corrupt politicians, and xenophobic autocrats from running the economies of nations if the nations of the world are to move coherently in a homogeneous way with the calls of globalization. References Hass, P., 2009. Controversies in Globalization. Washington, DC: CQ Press. Manfred, S., Ravi., 2010. Neoliberalism: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press. O’Brien, R., Marc, W., 2010. Global Political Economy. Basingstoke: Palgrave. Ravenhill, J., 2010. Global Political Economy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Sklair, L., 2002. Globalization: Capitalism and its Alternatives. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Stiglitz, J., 2002. Globalization and its Discontents. London: Penguin books. Stiglitz, J., 2006. Making Globalization Work. London: Penguin books. Stubbs, R., Underhill, G., 2005. Political Economy and the Chang ing Global Order. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Ducts and Dukes Lead the Way

Ducts and Dukes Lead the Way Ducts and Dukes Lead the Way Ducts and Dukes Lead the Way By Mark Nichol The Latin verb ducere, meaning â€Å"lead,† is the basis of many English words pertaining to action, development, and movement. This post lists and defines these words. To abduct (literally, â€Å"lead away†) is to kidnap or seize someone; one who does so is an abductor, and the action is called abduction. Abduce is a synonym for the medical sense of the word; abduce and abduct both describe drawing a body part away from another. (Abductor is used as a noun in this sense as well.) To adduce (literally, â€Å"lead to†), by contrast, is to draw a body part toward the axis of a limb or the center of the body. It also means â€Å"provide an example, proof, or reason to support a proposition.† (Abduction and adductor are the noun forms, and abducent and adducent are the adjectives.) A duct is a channel or a conduit; aqueduct literally means â€Å"water channel.† (Duct tape, sometimes, as a result of a mishearing, called â€Å"duck tape,† is so named because it was developed for repairing ducts.) Something that is ductile is capable of being beaten thin, bent, or pulled (as in the case of certain metals), of being formed anew (as in the case of other malleable materials), or of being easily influenced or lead (as in the case of people). To conduct is to lead to a particular result, though conduce is sometimes used for this meaning. Something that leads is a conductor, as in the case of a substance that carries heat or another form of energy or a person who is the head of an orchestra or an official on a train. The act is conducting in the sense of carrying energy is called conduction. To deduce is to figure out by reasoning or to trace; a deduction is the result. Deduct is synonymous with deduce, but it also means â€Å"subtract.† Induce and introduce both mean â€Å"lead into,† but the former pertains to influence, persuasion, or persuasion, or to forming or producing. (In the sense of producing an electrical current, the verb form is induct.) Introduction, by contrast, refers to the act of presenting, especially for the first time, or to inserting or instituting something. To produce is to develop; something produced is a product, although produce is employed to refer to fruits and vegetables; production is distinguished from product in that it refers to the creation of goods or of artistic works. To reduce is to diminish the amount of something, and to seduce is to literally lead away or astray, either in a physical, sexual sense or in the figurative sense of â€Å"persuade.† Less common words derived from ducere include circumduction (â€Å"circular movement of an extremity or limb†), subduction (â€Å"movement of the edge of one tectonic plate below another†), traduction (â€Å"defamation,† although it also has senses pertaining to logic and rhetoric), and transduction (â€Å"transfer of energy or information†). Words that may not be immediately apparent as belonging in the ducere family include educate (literally, â€Å"lead out†); someone who educates, or teaches or trains, is an educator, and the act of teaching or training is education. (The adjectival form is educational.) Another is douche, which came to English from French by way of an Italian word for â€Å"spray† and as both a noun and a verb refers to vaginal cleansing. Duke, meanwhile, stems from the Latin word for â€Å"leader† and referred originally to a prince and later to a high-ranking nobleman. The adjectival form is ducal, the domain of a duke is a dukedom, and the wife of a duke is a duchess. (The verb and noun dock may also derive from ducere, although it may have a Germanic origin.) Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Vocabulary category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:"Because Of" and "Due To" 50 Idioms About Arms, Hands, and Fingers40 Words Beginning with "Para-"

The Requisite Factors to Successful Team Buildup Research Paper

The Requisite Factors to Successful Team Buildup - Research Paper Example The goal of teams should be to share knowledge and other pertinent information in a free manner, to learn from each other, to assist each other in the completion of mutual jobs, to assist each other in the breaking of bottlenecks that are unexpected when they occur, to flexibly shift workloads and to share the resources at their disposal. All these expectations can be summed up by simply saying that collaboration yields the best results in teams. Team members should be in a position to say that they â€Å"swim and sink† together, desire for the success of each other and consider their goals as being common (Bayazit & Mannix, 2003). The starting point in order to achieve the set objectives is the support from the executive. The most senior educator ´s policy is the one that is reflected in the everyday performance by the teams. Research has shown that teams usually perform to the best of their abilities following their executives ´ investment in support of social relationsh ips, the creation of gift culture, demonstration of collaborative behaviour within themselves and in the interaction with employees (Shadur, 1999). Interaction perhaps is the most crucial as employees will view it as a gift in itself and will treasure it hence acting as a motivator. The investment in signature relationships among employees and subordinates can be in a variety of ways equally effective and unique to the setup they are being invested in. For example, having a single staffroom where teachers have cubicles can assist in the creation of a community sense compared to having individual offices for teachers.

Performance Management Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Performance Management - Research Paper Example The key behaviors that are important for the better job performance are: Effective communication: For retail sales associates, it is necessary to convey complete information and express facts and thoughts in a clear manner. Listen and understand actively to every situation in order to respond creatively. It is essential to adjust communication style according to customers and situations. Create good relationships with customers so that they do not feel reluctant to repeat the store anytime. Inclusiveness: Interact suitably with team, business partners, employees, community and customers without considering individual traits. Make a personal commitment to build an ever welcoming and friendly environment in the store. Ethical and tidy appearance: To gain the customers’ trust, create an environment that respects an individual and their perceptions. Treat and welcome customers with respect and dignity and demonstrate the importance of customers’ need by resolving their issues related to product or store. Tidy appearance is as importance as ethics. Untidiness in representatives’ appearance or store can cause customers to avoid enter in the store. Behaviorally-Anchored Rating Scales (BARS): This evaluation scale appraises the employees on various performance dimensions. BARS involve six or seven performance measurements that are anchored by a multi-point scale. For example, rating specific job performance with different employees’ behavior like poor, normal, or outstanding behaviors, that are relevant to specific job (Kane, Bernardin and Wiatrowski, 2013). Behavior Observation Scale (BOS): This scale enlists the behaviors that are required to perform a specific job successfully. These behaviors are measured based on the rate of recurrences of behaviors. It relates the job performance with the behavior by identifying frequency of employee engagement in

What is the Difference Between AC and DC :: electricity electric current

What is Current. First off, what is current. Current is expressed in a unit called Amps. Amps are a measurement of how many electrons pass per second. That is to say, a wire with 40 coulombs passing any point in a 2 seconds would be said to have 20 Amps of current (40 Coulombs (a unit of charge given as 6.24x1018 electrons) / time in seconds or in this case, 2 seconds. The Amp is also known as Coulombs per second) Another trick about current is that it is measured in the movement of the positive charge. Literally that is to say the current moves in oppostion to the electrons. This is because originally it was thought that the positive charge is what moved, both are viable, but in reality a positive charge is generally fixed since within an atom the electrons are migratory, while the protons and neutrons tend to be stationary. What is AC/DC? AC and DC literally stand for Alternating Current and Direct Current. Direct Current is very convenient and is used in many modern day utilities. For a circuit with DC the current is constanly in one direction, while the voltage remains constant. This makes for a simplistic circuit, for example a flashlight, The batteries are a source of electrochemical DC power and . However AC is called Alternating Current because the voltage changes from negative to positive a given number of times a second, this is also described as the frequency of the power. An example of this would be a motor ran by a hand crank. The inversing of charges creates a sinusoidal graph which looks something like figure 1 (given in radians). This makes for an unsteady power source and can often times be warped from the sinusoidal shape. So the main difference between AC and DC is the way the energy is transmitted. Why are we using Alternationg Current today? There are a few reason although mainly it was due to the technology of the late 1800's and early 1900's. Nikola Tesla being one of the leading scientists for Alternating Current, created a way to run engines and also convert AC Volts and Amps. He came up with this while he was supposedly in a park in Budhapest. He sat down and drew out the basic diagram of a motor run by a magnetic flux.

Is Any Body Out There? Essay

‘The machine is not an it to be animated, worshipped, and dominated. The machine is us, our processes, an aspect of our embodiment. ’ (Haraway, 1991: 180) My paper starts with the recognition that Information, Communications and Telecommunication technologies (ICTs) are certain to play a central role in defining who we are, how we think and how we relate to one another. The guiding principle for my work, is that although change is an inevitable result of the conjunction between people and technology, the nature and extent of human intervention profoundly influences its shape and character. What I believe to be important changes in the nature of the body, subjectivity and identity are the key concerns of this paper. I want to explore these terms and the debates surrounding them with particular reference to developments in ICTs. Rather than focus on more esoteric examples of technological development, I will restrict my discussion to the Internet and computer games. My theoretical touchstones for this discussion are feminism and postmodernism, primarily because they have both been implicated and implicit in discussions of cyberculture and the possibility of social change that it represents. Postmodernism, that most polysemic of terms, seems nevertheless to be discussed along a continuum between the utopian and dystopian, particularly when considering the possibilities for social change. Whichever reading is made of the term, notions of profoundly fragmented subjectivities and identities appear almost as constants. This seems particularly apparent in feminist responses to postmodernism. Feminists have broadly read postmodernism as either a threat to feminist social criticism or an opportunity for the questioning and contestation of notions of gender and sexuality (presenting the possibility of re-inscription of the body in post-gender terms). Baudrillarian postmodernism sees the collapse of our referential universe, including its hierarchies and inequalities, as offering little hope for social criticism and change. This is a problematic position for much feminist thought, because of feminism’s identification of clear oppressive structures that can only be changed by unified social action by women. For Baudrillard, the descent into a mediated hyperreality offers us only the politics of refusal (to act) and the pleasures of the spectacle. In a short article, published in Liberation, he suggests that developments in media technologies have resulted only in ‘panic and resentment’, transforming us into ‘free radicals searching for our molecules in a scanty cyberspace’ (Baudrillard, 1995: 2). Here we have a clear sense of our corporeal bodies exchanged for atomised virtual bodies in what we might think of as life behind the screen. Although Baudrillard has not written specifically of the Internet, he has clearly indicated a belief that media technologies have accelerated the transition form the ‘real’ to the ‘hyperreal’. Baudrillard’s assertion that the ‘Gulf War never happened’ is his most memorable and misconstrued example of media induced hyperreality2. Following Baudrillard, Mark Nunes has suggested that an element of this shift to hyperreality has been the erosion of the realm of representation and the establishment of a mode of simulation. This new mode has produced, in cyberspace, an ‘increasingly real simulation of a comprehensible world’ (Nunes, 1995: 5). In The Ecstasy of Communication (1988), Baudrillard outlined the fate of the ‘real’, with particular reference to our corporeal bodies and their associated subjectivities and identities: â€Å"As soon as behaviour is focused on certain operational screens or terminals, the rest appears as some vast, useless body, which has been both abandoned and condemned. The real itself appears as a large, futile body. † (Baudrillard, 1988) For Baudrillard, the virtual world we are coming to inhabit is far from the global village envisioned by Marshall McLuhan in the late 1960s (McLuhan and Fiore, 1967). The rather comforting term, global village, was grounded in the assumption that ICTs would act as ‘extensions of man’ and serve to expand our knowable world and increase global interdependence. Baudrillard’s cyberspace is a colder, more desolate space, where information has no meaning because it has been dislocated from its referential universe. In an article on global debt, Baudrillard claims that information about debt is meaningless because the debt can never be repaid. However, whilst having no financial meaning, the spectre of debt still has a purpose: â€Å"It has no meaning but that of binding humankind to a destiny of cerebral automation and mental underdevelopment. † (Baudrillard: 2) For Baudrillard, both global debt and global media are so pervasive that they deaden any attempts at social change. There is too much to watch and to worry about to lift our heads from the screens and contemplate progressive social change. This pessimistic postmodernism hardly seems to offer a productive base for the re-definition of identities and subjectivities central to feminist theorising. One of the difficulties with this strand of postmodernism is the seemingly totalising belief in fragmentation and alienation which it asserts, whilst dismissing totalising explanatory categories such as race, gender, ethnicity and class. Such categories of inequality have until recently been seen as both the impediments to progressive social change and the means by which to agitate for such change. Baudrillarian postmodernism seems to sweep away these tools for liberation and domination. As Mark Poster has suggested: â€Å"The postmodern position is limited to an insistence on the constructedness of identity. In the effort to avoid the pitfalls of modern political theory, then, postmodern theory sharply restricts the scope of its ability to define a new political interest. † (Poster, 1995: 2). Anyone interested in progressive social change must surely ask if the transition to a simulated virtual world is really so contingent on a loss of value and meaning? To restate the question: is there anything left beyond Baudrillard’s morose fatalism? Many of those staking their claims on the electronic frontier of the Internet see themselves engaged in the construction of value-laden (and decidedly masculine) virtual worlds predicated on existing notions of subjectivity, identity and wider democratic concerns. Few pioneers of the Internet lack a sense of meaning and purpose. For instance, Mitch Kapor, founder of the US-based Electronic Frontier Foundation3, has little doubt about the guiding principles of the Foundation’s vision of cyberspace: â€Å"Life in cyberspace †¦ at its best is more egalitarian than elitist and more de-centred than hierarchical †¦ In fact, life in cyberspace seems to be shaping up exactly how Thomas Jefferson would have wanted: founded on the primacy of individual liberty and commitment to pluralism, diversity and community. † (Kapor in Nunes, 1995: 7) Kapor’s assessment of cyberspace is deeply contradictory. We are first offered a vision of a de-centred and egalitarian virtual space, then this is overlain with a Western (more accurately, North American) view of democracy based solidly on the primacy of the individual (neat shorthand for capitalist social organisation). Kapor’s vision seems to belie the supposedly fragmented and schizophrenic domain of cyberspace, which Baudrillard puts forward. Citizens of the Internet appear to be taking their cultural and social baggage with them on their journey to the other side of the mirror. Although existing structures of inequality are, I would argue, becoming apparent in cyberspace4, they may be even more heavily contested than they have been in ‘real’ space. The Internet, because of its decentralised structure seems to militate against unified concepts of citizenship and community and presents a heterogeneity of subjectivities and identities. Whilst people may wish to transfer the more stable values of the real into the realm of simulation, such attempts are often contested5. Resistance is more likely because virtuality, almost by definition, reveals the constructed nature of subjectivities and identities. The case of Louise Woodward reveals the jarring effect of juxtaposing contradictory identities and positions. In the domain of cyberspace (enabled by the trans-frontier nature of satellite technology), the reduction of Woodward’s sentence was presented simultaneously with celebrations at the Rigger pub in the English village of Elton. Judging from the Internet discussion group provided by the local Boston newspaper, American opinion was deeply offended by the virtual co-presence of the jubilant villagers and their assumption of Woodward’s innocence. For many contributors to the American discussion, the villagers appeared to be ‘dancing on the grave’ of a dead child. Before the advent of instantaneous cross-cultural communication such juxtapositions would not have been possible. Virtuality offers this co-presence, but the reaction to it in this case, seems to support claims that such cultural encounters are replete with struggle and meaning, rather than free of them. A posting by Katie is typical of the angry and mystified response of many American contributors to the clash of co-present cultural identities. Without a Doubt, Louise Woodward *IS* Guilty! Guilty! Guilty! by Katie, 11/6/97 As I said in other postings†¦ Poor Louise Woodward†¦ she loved eight-month old, innocent Matthew Eappen†¦ so she wrote to her family and friends back in England†¦ she did not see Matty hurt his head she testified teary eyed†¦ but smiled broadly and gave a little laugh when next she was asked if she slammed Matty’s head. Poor Louise. Woodward†¦ 27 seconds after the guilty verdict was announced she became hysterical†¦ (aah!how sad, she is just a child, such injustice, cried Geraldo, Gibson, and the like)†¦ her hysterics lasted all of 118 seconds†¦ minutes later she left the courtroom unassisted, composed, and dried eyed. Poor Matthew Eappen†¦ the media decided to focus on poor Louise Woodward. In the realm of cyberspace we become arbiters of the identities and positions paraded before us. Of course, our existing cultural ties have a considerable impact on who we choose to identify with us, but we cannot ignore the co-presence of other identities, which call into question the construction of our own. Texter has identified the Internet as the first stage in the construction of a virtual reality, towards the manufacture of identity without the corporeal body: â€Å"The social construction of the body becomes clear in cyberspace, where every identity is represented [for Baudrillard, simulated], rather than ‘real’. The consensus of cyberspace is a precarious one; identification is entirely contingent, based on a consensual agreement to take one’s word for it. † (Texter, 1996: 3) Texter suggests identity in cyberspace is often about ‘passing off’, offering up a fluid sense of self, projected onto an imaginary virtual body. As a slight corrective, I think it is important not to exaggerate the difference between the creation of real world identities and virtual ones. Judith Butler contends that the constitution of identity (with particular reference to gender) is always something of an unstable and contradictory performance, whether simulated or real: â€Å"Gender ought not to be construed as a stable identity or a locus of agency from which various acts follow, rather, gender is an identity tenuously constituted in time, instituted in an exterior space through a stylised repetition of acts. † (Butler in Texter, 1996: 4) Perhaps what the Internet does, by removing the visual cues that partly gender us, is open up possibilities for experimentation and play with existing manifestations of subjectivity. Here, the work of Dona Haraway is particularly important. Haraway’s influential Cyborg Manifesto (1985) has inspired other cyber-feminists, such as Sadie Plant, to foresee a post-gender future where existing boundaries and categories no longer have the profound structuring effects that have resulted in gender inequalities under patriarchy. Haraway’s work marks a profound break with feminist thought that posits a unified category of ‘women’, who can only be liberated by the development of collective consciousness and action. â€Å"There is nothing about being female that naturally binds women. There is not even such a state as ‘being’ female, itself a highly complex category constructed in contested social-scientific discourses and other social practices. † (Haraway in Keen: 1) Haraway’s profoundly anti-essentialist analysis rests on the notion of the cyborg, an entity based on the conjunction between technology and our selves. Haraway contends that we are ‘all cyborgs now’, because of our immersion in, and dependence on, techno-culture. She does not mean to suggest that we are robots in the Science Fiction sense, but that the relationship between people and technology is so intimate, that it is hard to tell where machines and people end and begin. As an example of our close relationship with technology, try to wrestle the TV remote control away from its regular user (who is also often, coincidentally, the male ‘head of the household’). For Haraway, we have come to see our bodies as high-performance machines that must be monitored and added to by technological innovation. Given that the boundaries between the natural and the technological have collapsed, then so have the assumptions that cluster around these terms. For instance, the belief that women are ‘naturally’ passive, submissive and nurturing can no longer be sustained in the era of the cyborg. The cyborg displays a ‘polymorphous perversity (Haraway in Kunzru, 1997: 4), and in conjunction with technology constructs identity, sexuality and gender as it pleases. Haraway has little time for either techno-utopians or the knee-jerk techno-phobia she sees in some feminist thought. She urges women to become part of networks (such as the Internet) that constitute the cyborg world. However, her ideas of connectivity should not be taken to equate with existing concepts of community based on the model of organic family. For her, the cyborg has no fear of ‘partial identities and contradictory standpoints’ (Quoted in Keen: 2). What is not allowable in the cyborg world, is a call to arms around a unified notion of ‘women’ posed against an equally cohesive notion of ‘men’. Butler’s work on the performative nature of gender reaches many of the same conclusions, regarding the category of ‘women’ central to much feminist thought as limiting and exclusive. She argues that feminist theory â€Å"has taken the category of women to be foundational without realising that the category effects a political closure on the kinds of experiences articulable as part of feminist discourse. † (Butler in Nicholson (Ed. ), 1990: 325) Post-structuralist feminism has long attempted to question the essentialising concept of gender in feminist thought, but some writers have been wary of jettisoning gender as a unifying and explanatory category for the nature of women’s oppression. Angela McRobbie, who is by no means hostile to postmodernism or post-structuralism, has expressed the tension poignantly, in a discussion of the nature of identity: â€Å"On the one hand, it is fluid, never completely secured and constantly being remade, reconstructed afresh. On the other hand, it only exists in relation to what it is not, to the other identities which are its other. † (Quoted in Texter, 1995: 18) I broadly accept McRobbie’s argument that any re-definition of identity needs something to define itself against. I would further argue that our existing tools for the construction of identities are drawn from often narrow and predictable paradigms, particularly when commercial considerations become part of the process. In my concluding section I would like to offer an example of how the structuring effects of gender seem to be still very apparent in the more mainstream sectors of cyberspace. Two computer games have secured huge followings in the last couple of years. Both are touted as offering virtual reality experiences (although without the headsets and gloves of experimental virtual reality). Quake and Tomb Raider are available across a variety of computer and video game platforms and both render quite ‘real’ simulated virtual worlds to explore and three-dimensional adversaries to shoot at6. My first example, Quake, presents us with a subjective view of our virtual world. Screen-shot: the view through your eyes. We, as the heavily armed protagonist, are able to freely roam through this world. All we see of our virtual self is the end of whichever weapon we have selected. In Quake we see the virtual world through our own eyes. When we are low on energy we hear our breathing become laboured. When we are killed we view the world from a prone position (our subjectivity seems to survive death) until the text ‘Game Over’ appears. The sound of our breathing and the grunts that emanate from us are decidedly masculine. Quake offers us an uncomplicated masculine gender identity based on the idea of identification with a male protagonist who drives the narrative towards a possible (although not inevitable) resolution. Quake closely conforms to the observations made by Laura Mulvey on the dominance of the male gaze in narrative cinema. Mulvey, writing in the early 1970s, suggested that Hollywood Cinema routinely places the active male at the centre of the narrative and invites us to identify with this character, which through force of personality, brings about narrative resolution. It is somewhat depressing to note that the virtual reality offered by Quake is such an unreconstructed one. The fit with Mulvey is very close: â€Å"As the spectator identifies with the main male protagonist, he projects his look onto that of his like, his screen surrogate, so that the power of the male protagonist as he controls events coincides with the active power of the egoistic look, both giving a satisfying sense of omnipotence. † (Mulvey in Easthope and McGowan, 1992: 163) In Quake identification is aided by the conflation of the male protagonist with our selves, perhaps even intensifying our ‘satisfying omnipotence’. Even if we read Quake ‘against the grain’ in a Barthesian sense (as some of my women friends do), it is hard to argue that this commercial manifestation of virtual reality offers us anything but a very clear, uncomplicated subject position to inhabit. What we do not get with Quake, is much space within the text to contest existing gender categories. My second example, Tomb Raider, offers a much more ambivalent experience. In this game, the main protagonist is a heavily armed female character identified as Lara Croft. Unlike in Quake, Lara is represented on-screen. She is modelled in the Anime style that originated in Japanese ‘graphic novels’ and animations. Lara, as can be seen from the screen shot below, is both attractive and physically powerful. Screen-shot: Lara Croft on-screen A number of my female students raised the issue of Tomb Raider in a discussion on the gendering of video games and said that they regularly played the game and found it an empowering experience (partly because of the novelty of having a female protagonist to identify with). Having played video and computer games since the late 1970s I was interested by the notion of a game that seemed to contradict the usual masculine gendering usually found within this medium. Although Lara does drive the narrative, she is also heavily eroticised. We control her movements and identify with her, but she is also the object of our gaze7. Mulvey suggests that female characters in narrative cinema often halt the narrative flow (Mulvey in Easthope & McGowan, 1992: 163) for moments of ‘erotic contemplation’. Initially, the active narrative role of the protagonist in Tomb Raider seems to defy this, but the game does encourage us to gaze at Lara ‘though male eyes’. We can manipulate our view of the character to see her from a range of angles using movements of the frame that closely resemble cinematic zooms, tracking shots and pans. These features make the game-play rather clumsy but allow us to fetishise the protagonist. As Mulvey comments on narrative cinema: â€Å"[This fetishism] builds up the physical beauty of the object transforming it into something satisfying in itself. † (Ibid. 165) This perhaps explains why, when I first played the game, I spent some time making Lara perform a variety of acrobatic manoeuvres that were far removed from the task of killing adversaries. The ambivalence in Tomb Raider lies in the unusual tension between its basis in the male gaze and its simultaneous identification with an active female protagonist. That my female students felt empowered by, and attracted to, Tomb Raider, suggests it does mark a shift in conceptions of subjectivity and identity. However, this shift is not total and still appears to be rooted in existing gender definitions. Whilst some of the claims of cyber-feminism seem overstated, and rather too willing to claim the existence of a virtual space where traditional dualisms and hierarchies have collapsed, virtuality may offer new sites for contestation and the expression of difference. Indeed, in a recent interview, Dona Haraway has suggested that technology is a value-laden area of contestation rather than a blank screen to be straightforwardly inscribed with new subjectivities and identities: â€Å"Technology is not neutral. We’re inside of what we make, and it’s inside of us. We’re living in a world of connections and it matters which get made and unmade. † (Haraway in Kunzru: 1997: 6) I am conscious of having steered a fairly delicate and cautious course through the hazards and attractions of structuralism, post-structuralism and postmodernism throughout this paper. I recognise that the body is becoming an increasingly contested site of theoretical debates and diverse social and cultural practices. The erosion of subjectivities and identities seems to be closely bound up with the heightened sense of mediation and virtuality that inflects the way we view the world, and equally importantly, how it views us. Postmodernism helps us trace the shifts from unified to fragmented subjectivities and identities, but it is a poor tool for investigating the possibilities of social change and identifiying the barriers to it. I have tried to show how the tools of structuralism still have salience, even when applied to the texts of cyberspace. It would perhaps be convenient to wish away the seemingly intractable hierarchies posited by structuralism, but to do so might also lessen the space for cohesive social criticism and unified political action. This is clearly a tension felt by many feminists and certainly not one I have managed to resolve in this paper. What I hope I have done, is to point out the necessity of retaining some existing explanatory categories, whilst recognising the need for constant reflection on, and reaction to, changing subjectivities and identities both in the ‘real’ world and the emerging virtual world. If Baudrillard is proved right, and we do eventually come to exclusively inhabit a rather hyperreal and schizophrenic virtual world, the need for critical engagement will surely be more vital than ever, however difficult and contradictory such critical practice might prove to be. Notes 1 Much writing on subjectivity and identity in cyberspace uses marginal practices as illustrative examples. I think this focus on what might fairly be called an avant-garde often descends into futurology. The mainstream may not be as exotic, but it is where most of us live, and will live, in the future. 2 What Baudrillard seems to have meant was that the Gulf War never happened for those of us in the West, beyond the simulated hyperreality of ‘surgical strikes’ and Cruise missiles with the ability to wait at traffic lights and avoid innocent civilians on the way to their targets. 3 The use of the term electronic frontier indicates powerful myths of male colonisation, the establishment of laws and the hierarchical regulation of behaviour. 4 According to UNESCO 95% of the world’s computers are located in advanced industrial countries and the ten richest countries have 75% of the world’s telephone lines. Networking and poverty seem to be effectively de-coupled at the moment 5 For example, the on-line group Guerrilla Girls are working against the masculine domination of cyberspace, albeit in a playfully aggressive and ironic manner. 6 Quake can be played across computer networks and has been held responsible for jamming up corporate networks in North America. 7 There are a number of Internet sites devoted to Tomb Raider. All of them contain numerous screen-shots of Lara Croft. On one site there were even a collection of images of Lara sans clothing, suggesting that male identification with Lara is rooted largely in objectification. Select Bibliography Note: Where publication dates are not listed this is because the material is drawn from Internet articles where such dates are absent. Internet addresses are given where known. †¢ Baudrillard, J (1988): ‘The Ecstasy of Communication’, Semiotext(e) (trans. Bernard Schutz & Caroline Schutze) †¢ Baudrillard, J (n. d. ): ‘Global Debt and Parallel Universe’, [WWW document] URL , first published in Liberation, Paris (trans. Francois Debrix). http://www. Ctheory. com/e31_global_debt. html †¢ Baudrillard, J (1994): ‘Plastic Surgery for the Other’, [WWW document] URL , Figures de l’alteritie (trans. Francois Debrix). http://www. Ctheory. com/a33-plastic_surgery. html †¢ Butler, Judith (1990): ‘Gender Trouble, Feminist Theory, and Psychoanalytic Discourse’ in Nicholson (Ed.) op. cit. , pp. 324-41 †¢ Easthope, A and K McGowan (Eds. ) (1992). A Critical and Cultural Theory Reader, Buckingham: Open University Press †¢ Haraway, Dona (1990): ‘A Manifesto for Cyborgs: Science, Technology, and Socialist Feminism in the 1980s’. In Nicholson (Ed. ) op. cit. , pp. 190-234 †¢ Keen, Carolyn (n. d. ): On the Cyborg Manifesto, [WWW document] URL http://www. english. upenn. edu/~jenglish/Courses/keen2. html †¢ Kunzru, Hari (1997): ‘You are Cyborg’ in Wired, Issue 5. 02 †¢ McLuhan, Marshall and Quentin Fiore (1967): The Medium is the Massage. London: Penguin. †¢ Mulvey, Laura (1992): ‘Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema’. In Easthope and McGowan (Eds. ), op. cit. , pp 158-67 †¢ Nicholson, Linda J (Ed. ) (1990): Feminism/Postmodernism. London: Routledge †¢ Nunes, Mark (1995): ‘Baudrillard in Cyberspace: Internet, Virtuality, and Postmodernity’, http://www. dc. peachnet. edu/~mnunes/jbnet. html †¢ Pesce, Mark (n. d. ): ‘Proximal or Distal Unity’, Cyberconference Home Page, http://www. hyperreal. com/~mpesce †¢ Poster, Mark (1995): Cyber Democracy: The Internet and the Public Sphere http://www. hotwired. com/wired/3. 11/departments/poster. if. html. †¢ Sawchuk, K A (1995): ‘Post Panoptic Mirrored Worlds’, Ctheory, [WWW document] URL http://www. Ctheory. com/r-post_panoptic_mirrored. html †¢ Steffensen, Jyanni (1996): ‘Decoding Perversity: Queering Cyberspace’, Parallel Gallery and Journal, http://www. va. com. au/parallel/parallel@camtech. com. au †¢ Steinbach, J (n. d. ): ‘Postmodern Technoculture’, http://omni. cc. purdue. edu/~stein/techcult. htm †¢ Texter, W (1996): ‘†I May be Synthetic, but I’m not Stupid†: Technicity, Artifice and Repetition in Cyberville’, http://www. texter. com/Textual/thesis. html December 1997 †¢ E-mail the author: spittle@uce5. u-net. com.

Conjugating Grandir (to Grow) in French

Grandir is just one French verb that means to grow. Its an easier word to remember than  croà ®tre  (to grow), especially if you associate it with the English grand. This is a very useful word to know and youll want to understand how to conjugate it to mean growing or grew. Conjugating the French Verb  Grandir​ Verb conjugations help us transform a verb into a particular tense, such as the past, present, or future. In French, this is done by adding infinitive endings to the verb stem, but theres a catch. Not only does the ending change with each tense, it also changes with each subject pronoun. That means you have more words to memorize, but with a little practice, its not too bad. Luckily,  grandir  is a  regular -IR verb  and it follows a common pattern in the conjugations. For instance, in the  je  and tu  present tense, an -s  is added to the verb stem  grand-. This gives use je grandis and tu grandis, which mean I am growing or you grow respectively. For the future tense of  nous, -irons  is added to create nous grandirons, a simple way of saying we will grow. Subject Present Future Imperfect je grandis grandirai grandissais tu grandis grandiras grandissais il grandit grandira grandissait nous grandissons grandirons grandissions vous grandissez grandirez grandissiez ils grandissent grandiront grandissaient The Present Participle of  Grandir The  present participle  of  grandir  is  grandissant. This is not only a verb, but can become an adjective, gerund, or noun in certain contexts. The Past Participle and Passà © Composà © The  past participle  of grandir  is  grandi and it is used to form the past tense  passà © composà ©. To complete this, you must also conjugate the  auxiliary verb  avoir  to fit the subject pronoun. For instance, I grew is jai grandi and we grew is nous avons grandi. More Simple  Grandir  Conjugations to Learn Those are the most important verb conjugations of  grandir  and should be the priority of your studies. As your French improves, youll find a  use for a few more forms.   In conversation, if you want to imply that the action of growing is somehow questionable, turn to the subjunctive verb mood. Similarly, the conditional verb mood says that the growth is dependent on something else.   If you read much French, you will surely encounter the passà © simple tense of  grandir. It -- along with the imperfect subjunctive  -- is a literary tense and learning (or, at least, recognizing) these will help your reading comprehension. Subject Subjunctive Conditional Pass Simple Imperfect Subjunctive je grandisse grandirais grandis grandisse tu grandisses grandirais grandis grandisses il grandisse grandirait grandit grandt nous grandissions grandirions grandmes grandissions vous grandissiez grandiriez grandtes grandissiez ils grandissent grandiraient grandirent grandissent The imperative verb form is used for short demands and requests. In keeping with this brief statement, simplify it and do not include the subject pronoun: use grandis rather than tu grandis. Imperative (tu) grandis (nous) grandissons (vous) grandissez