Saturday, August 31, 2019

Othello and O

Othello and â€Å"O† The movie â€Å"O† by Tim Blake Nelson is based on Shakespeare’s play â€Å"Othello. They both have many differences as well as similarities. The same trap is laid for the main character in both versions and the same amount of casualties happens in both final scenes. Nelson sets his story in modern time prep school, and his characters are not the adults of Shakespeare's play. Shakespeare Othello is set in the 16th century while Nelsons â€Å"O† is set I the 20th century.In Othello, the setting is in 16th century Cyprus during a war with the Turkish Empire. The language used in respectful and nice compared to â€Å"O†. Brabantio calls Othello to the summit and questions him what sorcery he has used to take his daughter Desdemona away from him. Desdemona denies the fact that Othello used any sorcery and says that there love is true and that she left her father for her husband and he left his family for her mother. In this play De sdemona is married to Othello.Iago’s reasons of jealousy are that Othello promoted Cassio to Lieutenant instead of him and that there’s a well-known rumor that Othello has slept with his where the truth hasn’t been brought to light. Nobody is aware of neither Iago’s nor Rodrigo’s intentions. Othello has epilepsy and Iago doesn’t help until Cassio walks in. Desdemona is slapped by Othello and no one can believe that the well-known respected general would do such a thing. Othello makes Iago his blood brother and Iago tells him to kill Desdemona and he will kill Cassio for him.But Iago Sends Rodrigo instead of doing it himself to kill Cassio but fails wring and Rodrigo gets injured and runs away than Iago comes and stabs Cassio in the leg then goes and kills Rodrigo. When Othello kills Desdemona, Emilia comes in and see’s that Desdemona is dead and Othello confessed to his crime so Emilia cries out murder where everyone came in including Iago where he starts to argue with Emilia and tells her to be quite but she doesn’t listen and then he tells her to go home but she doesn’t go therefore disrupting him and then she tells the truth about the handkerchief so stabs and kills her and then runs away.When Othello realizes what he has done he stabs himself and lays on her and kisses her in the lips as he dies. In â€Å"O†, the setting is in the modern-era prep school where instead of a war being fought it’s a series of basketball games. In this movie foul disrespectful language is used compared to Othello. Iago feels that his father Duke loves Oden more than he loves him so he tries so hard to win his father’s love from Oden.When Brandy calls Oden to the main office he accuses Oden of forcing Desy and then accuses him of using drugs again because of his skin color. Then Duke calls for Desy and she tells her father that they been together a few months before he even found out and that ità ¢â‚¬â„¢s none of his business. Oden gets injured during a game while in Othello he doesn’t. Desy is more aware of Iago and Oden beats up Rodger because he is aware of Rodger. Oden is so jealous and angry that he attacks Hugo and then storms out the court.Instead of Oden having epilepsy he takes cocaine instead. The scene on Othello where Othello slaps Desdemona is different in the fact that instead Oden after he takes cocaine and is hyped up he enters the court for the slam-dunk contest and breaks the backboard which everyone one loves at first until he breaks the backboard completely and takes off the rim slams it and disrespects a kid and pushes him off to the side where the whole audience, crowd was shocked because they couldn’t believe what they seen.Instead of using a knife, Rodger shoots Hugo in the leg and then Hugo gets frustrated and kills Rodger and tries to make it look like and accident then Brandy came and Hugo asked for her help to call the cops but she g ot scared and ran away. Hugo instead of stabbing Emily he shoots her and runs away. When oden realizes what he has done and knows everything he shoots himself in the deck of the house and lay’s on the couch away from Desy. In both the play and the movies Iago and Hugo are fueled by jealousy.The same trap is set in place for the characters and the same amount of deaths happen in the end of the movie/play. In both Emalia/Emily steal the scarf for Iago/Hugo which leads them to having sexual intercourse. Both Desdemona/Desy believe they have misplaced the scarf given to them by Othello/Oden. In both the play and the movie Iago/Hugo is very envious of Othello/Hugo because everyone respects and admires him. Othello is the only black person in the play and so is Oden in the movie.Othello/Oden promotes/chooses Cassio/Mike instead of Iago/Hugo. In both plays Iago/Hugo build hatred/jealousy against Iago/Hugo which starts the whole plot of both the movie and play. Iago/Hugo betrays Othe llo/oden and does not care who gets hurt in the process of destroying Othello/Hugo. Iago/Hugo does not do everything alone he is helped out by Rodrigo/Rodger which in both the play and the movie is secretly in love with Desdemona/Desy. Iago/Hugo and Rodrigo/Rodger make Othello/Oden believe Desdemona/Desy has been cheating on im with Cassio/Mike. When Iago/Hugo kills Emilia/Emily he runs away but is later caught by other men and when Othello/Oden asks Iago/Hugo why has he done all of this to him and Iago/Oden replies that he doesn’t need to know and from now on he will not say another word. After Othello/Oden realize t=what they have done he kills himself. Both the play Othello by Shakespeare and â€Å"O† by Blake nelson are wonderful and have a great story line that catches the viewers’ attention.They both have a tragic story and a very sad ending with high body counts. Both the play and movie have everyday problem and issues that still happen even today that pr oves Shakespeare is a very intelligent man. It’s a sad thing that these problems were around for many centuries and still exist today. Since the movie was based on the play they are very similar except that the movie is set in a modern time period. They both are very great and I recommend them both.

Friday, August 30, 2019

Why women failed to gain the vote between 1900 and 1914?

The women's suffrage movements were originaly from the United States during the 19th Century. In colonial America, as elsewhere(Austrialia and new zealand] in the world particularly Britain, civil law did not recognize the equality of men and women. some men thought that many women were a waste and can never be good as men. During 1900 and 1914 a woman had no legal rights. A married women's belongings belonged to her husband, this included earnings as well as all her property and goods. in other words she was like a mere object in the mans hands. To today's standards this is completely outrageous, in today's society women can expect to be treated exactly as the opposite sex when it comes to work and other things. This is abundant in the rise of popularity of woman's football and female boxing. During the 1800, women were expected to be perfect – in those days a perfect lady would be expected to have a pale face, do absolutely no exercise and have very delicate constitution, they where expected to be good hostesses and certainly know their place in society. Women never even received the same level of education as men. ome women nerver even got eduction. They were considered as being too stupid for higher education. However not all women where satisfied with their position in life. They believed that they were stuck in a vicious circle, which if not impossible, would be very difficult to break out of. The earlier years of the 20th centruary in Britian saw a concerted campaign for the right to vote for women. the women's social and political union, otherwise known as the suffragettes, was founded in 1903 by the Pankhurst family. he campaign for the right to vote for women between 1905 and 1914 became increasingly militant as women were prepared to take direct action, such as distruption of meetings, chaining themselves to railings outside 10 downing street, smashing windows and rioting. at one stage the prime minister,s country house was fire bombed. as a result of this many suffragettes found themselves inside holloway prison where they resorted to hungry strikes. the prison aouthorities responded with forcible feeding. There is no simple answer why the suffrage movement failed between 1900 and 1914, instead, a series of long and short term causes. The main point of this essay is to analyze, as well as discuss these reasons in detail. If possible I will put them in order of importance. women where treated very harshly in the 1900 as they were objects in front on mens eyes. when a woman got married all her belongings wer transfered to her husband and they were now the property of the husband. in other words married women were legally dead in the eyes of the law. omen had no property rights, all thier property was thier husbands. all women were robbed off thier self-confidence and self-respect and this made them totalyy dependent on men. No woman could get eduction since no college or university would accept women students but there were 1 or 2 exceptions. the women wanted the vote becouse they wanted to be equaly nown in public as men. wanted there rights. wanted thier belongings. wanted to be rembered for somethin. wanted to have the right to vote and have a saying in the country. anted people to hear what they have to say about how the country is run. The Suffragists were called the shrieking sisterhood, branded as unfeminine, and accused of immorality and drunkenness. Many citizens and a great deal of newspapers where strongly against ‘The National Union Of Women's Suffrage Societies'. Suffragist leaders were often subjected to physical abuse. Suffragist meetings were repeatedly stormed and disrupted by street gangs. On many occasions the speaker at a suffragist meeting would hold a revolver to discourage possible attacks from the audience. However, it was not only men that were against the suffragist movement, many, if not most upper-class women were against the movement, including Queen Victoria. There were many reasons why anti-suffragists felt this way. The anti-suffragists partly based their assumptions on the difference between the male and female physical abilities; they did not discuss the biological difference because they did not believe it was appropriate for public discussion. Instead, emphasis was put on the ‘fragility' of the women claiming that this is what made her ‘unsuited' for the vote. The physical weakness of the female would be potentially dangerous. They argues that assuming she reached the polling place, she might get caught up in a brawl and given the women's natural fragility, she would be the one to get hurt. Beyond these reasons existed the belief that allowing women to vote would jeopardize the nation's security and lead, ultimately, to war. One leader of the anti-suffragists said: â€Å"Allowing women to vote would lead to foreign aggression and war. † The second areas of difference between men and women which the anti's argued, was the issue of morality. A anti who spoke at a hearing in Connecticut on women's suffrage observed that: â€Å"The most convincing reason I have heard was the one offered by Miss Pearson. ‘We want the ballot, and we want it when we want it. ‘ This shows the depth of intelligence. † The anti-suffragists also predicted that if women were given the vote disastrous results would occur. The antis believed that political involvement would put them in situations were the male vulnerability would be exploited. However, above all the anti-suffragists were afraid about the emotional state of women. Men where described as rational and emotionally stable, women were portrayed as ‘high strung,' tense, irritable and irrational. One anti said that â€Å"when women generally vote and hold office, the desire for publicity and love of the limelight will combine to produce a form of hysteria. † Some took this idea further and argued that since all women suffragists bordered on hysteria there was no need to take their arguments seriously. They said that when women vote, she would let her feelings rather then her intellectual concern be the main reasons for their vote Some more eccentric people said that allowing women to have the vote would breed a nation of transvestites and that women could hide extra voting slips in their ‘voluminous sleeves' The position of certain key political parties was also a huge contributor to why women never got the vote between 1900 and 1914. For if women wanted the vote, ultimately if would have been the MP's that they would have had to convince. Many backbench Liberal MP's were supporters of votes for women, but the Liberal leaders were opposed to it. This was because they feared that, if only better-off, property owning women got the vote, these women would vote for their arch rival, the Conservative party. On the other hand, some conservative leaders, liking the prospect of more conservative voters, were quite keen on women's suffrage. But they took no action because their backbench MP's were completely opposed, on principle, to change the role of women. In addition, both parties had bigger worries then female suffrage. Neither party was prepared to adopt female suffrage as party policy, so it never got priority in parliament. In 1903, many suffragists where angry at the lack of success that had come their way, as a result, a lady called Mrs. Emmeline Pankhurst founded a new organization, which was called the Women's Social and Political Union or WSPU in short. The Daily Mail called then the ‘suffragettes' and with them making so many headlines this name became hard to shake off. The suffragettes had the same goal and ambitions as the suffragists, however, they believed that the only way to reach their goal was to become more radical and militant. The suffragettes disrupted political meeting and repeatedly harassed ministers. Asquith, who at that time was a Liberal Prime Minister, came under particularly heavy abuse due to his views on women suffrage. they physically assulted politicans, destroyed paintings in the national gallery and in 1913 emily davison threw herself under the king's horse and was killed. there violent tactics may have lots support for the camaign. After a women's suffrage bill ran out of time in 1908, direct action from the suffragettes began. The suffragettes began making speeches at 10 Downing street, they even chained themselves to railing to stop being moved on, in doing so getting themselves arrested. In that same year stones where thrown thought the windows of 10 Downing street There was however logic behind the violence. The suffragettes believed that the government ignored the calls for women suffrage because there where more important issues. The Suffragettes believed that by becoming more radical and violent the government where forced to listen whether they liked it or not, they believed that processions and petitions, however large, were easily ignored. the goverment di not want to be seen to give in to the violent demandss as this would mak them look weak. There where mixed reactions to the ‘Direct Action' that the Suffragettes employed. Some people where worried, some sympathetic and some were scornful. It was the reaction from the Suffragists that surprised people the most. Many suffragists admired the readiness of suffragettes to go to jail for the cause. When the first suffragette was imprisoned, Mrs. Fawcett put on a banquet for them when they where released. This did not last, for as the Suffragettes got more violent and radical the further apart the two groups got, relationships between then become very strained. The suffragists believed that you cant win the right for a democratic vote by using undemocratic methods, they also believed that the violence would put of the MP's that would have backed their cause. There is no doubt that the increase in violence alienated the support for woman's suffrage. By 1913 many suffragettes where imprisoned. The violence did however achieve one of its goals, it certainly raised the profile of the issue and it could not longer be ignored. But in doing so they damaged the bigger picture, for know there was a reason for their opponents for rejecting woman's suffrage. If the MP's gave in to the violence from the suffragettes what hope will they have when dockers or mine workers riot for higher wages? From 1911 onwards, whenever the issue of woman's suffrage was debated in parliament, there was a bigger majority against women's suffrage. In 1914 Britain declared war in Germany, from August to September many different women's organizations were set up, including the Women's Hospital Corp and the Women's Police Volunteers. This meant that all suffragist and suffragette campaigns had to be halted. I think that the most important reason for why the women suffrage was unsuccessful during 1900 and the 1914 was the fact that, peoples minds at that time where not prepared for such a big advancement, it is true that the suffragettes reduced their chances significantly, but I believe that even if there was no violence the women would have still not got the vote until after the war becouse that is when they really proved themsleves as they helped out greatly in the first world war.

Thursday, August 29, 2019

Personnel Administration

Personnel Administration This lesson complies with the following course outcomes: CO 3: To analyze the policy and decision making process in public administration CO 5 : To discuss the importance of ethics in public administration Synopsis While the country’s public administration is considered an important machinery of the government, the people; men and women who devote their time more than eight hours a day are the key to successful public service. The public administrators of any country share the same goal to deliver services as best as possible to the citizen.Unlike their counterpart in the private sector, employees of the public sector made up a huge team of officers and staff paid through public fund to deliver services. In Malaysia alone, the public service is an employer to more than 1 million people around the country. Thus, the administration of these personnel surely isn’t a joking business. As time goes by and with the introduction of sophisticated managem ent systems and technologies, the personnel of the public service need to be trained and re-trained continuously to keep up. 89Personnel Administration in the Public Sector While the country’s public administration is considered an important machinery of the government, the people; men and women who devote their time more than eight hours a day are the key to successful public service. The public administrators of any country share the same goal to deliver services as best as possible to the citizen. Unlike their counterpart in the private sector, employees of the public sector made up a huge team of officers and staff paid through public fund to deliver services. In Malaysia alone, the ublic service is an employer to more than 1 million people around the country. Thus, the administration of these personnel surely isn’t a joking business. As time goes by and with the introduction of sophisticated management systems and technologies, the personnel of the public service need to be trained and re-trained continuously to keep up. So, who are these massive staff of the public service? Of course, they must be people with good calibre and worthy to be appointed into the service. One of the most important characteristics of modern public personnel dministration is the merit system or a system of appointment and promotion based on recognized ability and capability such as tertiary education, skills and experience. Historically, Prussia, one of the constituent states of what was to become modern Germany, was the first modern nation to institute a merit system. It was this German civil service that inspired Max Weber’s famous â€Å"ideal-type† bureaucratic model. In 1789, this system was The mertit system adopted by France, British-India in 1830s and in Britain in 1850s. 1 pposses any criteria of recruitment and promotion based on political preferences, nepotism and discrimination, also known as the â€Å"spoils system†. 1 Jay Shafritz, Albert Hyde and David Rosenbloom (1986). Personnel Management in Government: Politics and Process, New York: Marcel Dekker. 90 With the huge number of staff working for the public service, government ought to give attention to their welfare and career advancement. You see, working with the public service is actually a career because government provide opportunity for each staff to improve himself/herself throughout heir years of service. They can be trained, promoted, and transferred for job enrichment. All these are done through what we called public personnel administration. Public personnel administration covers â€Å"all activities that forecast on the number and type of employees which an organization will need and then find, and develop them with necessary skills† (Robert D. Gatewood). It is â€Å"concerning both the management of and the policy making for people, and positions in the government bureaucracy† (Nicholas Henry). Important functions of Personnel Adm inistrationSome of the most important functions of personnel administration include the followings: †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ Formulation of rules and regulations for an appointment which include terms and conditions of employment Establishment of suitable and reasonable remuneration system or the reward system Recruitment Promotion to encourage the most suitable and qualified people to apply and fill in the job Provision of attractive and long term career development Provision of sufficient and suitable training and development Application of fair and just disciplinary system Provision of fair and equitable welfare system Application of attractive pension system upon retirement 91As a career employment, each job in the public sector is well thought of before initializing recruitment. The government is very careful in identifying the needs of each job. For example, a government’s clerk should be able to conduct functions that are required from him/her at whichever department or agency. That is why the basic requirements needed for a person to fill in the post of a government clerk would be the same across the country. Thus, the government would need to enlist those needed requirements and advertise them to encourage qualified persons to apply and finally fill in the post. The process can be applied to all jobs within the public sector. The government should also be an ‘equal opportunity employer’.What it means is that public sector jobs should not only open to specific races, gender or religious background. The government must be an employer to all. However, there are some posts in the government that would require special criteria and skills. Take for example, anyone who would like to join the armed forces, police force or any other regimented bodies should pass the medical tests. This requirement cannot be considered as discriminating against those who are medically unfit. It is just that some occupations would require individual who possesses certain skills and capabilities. When one is hired into the service, the job should prepare him/her for further advancement.This is done through training, development, transfer, attachment and promotion. Employees undergo annual appraisal process in which the department would be able to tell the persons about their performances and readiness to shoulder more important responsibilities. These processes are well explained in Max Weber ideal-type bureaucracy as you have learned in the previous lessons. Among them is the guaranteed reward or compensation paid to the employees in terms of monthly salary. Now lets us look at the different processes of personnel administration. 92 Human Resource Planning In the previous section, I have briefly explained some of the processes involved in human resource planning.Planning is a very important aspect of personnel administration. If you failed in your personnel planning, then the productivity o f the organization will be at stake. According to Edgar Schein, â€Å"†¦ if you wrongly hired a person to any posts, then you would need to spend a lot of money to train and re-train the person to put him/her at par with requirements of the job†. Well, that is considered if he/she has the right attitude. It the public sector, there are numerous rules and procedures to follow that once a person is hired, it is difficult to fire under normal circumstances. Thus, taking in the right the person for a particular job is very, very critical.It all begins proper planning for the job by the personnel manager or administrator. Firstly, the manager should perform an in depth study about what the job will perform and ultimately a ‘list of duties or functions’ will be made ready for the job. Some call it the ‘job specifications’. Second, the manager needs to identify the right qualifications, skills and experiences of the potential candidate. Third, the mana ger also needs to ascertain the remuneration and other allowances for the candidate. Forth, the manager should also concern in identifying various training programs for the candidate’s later professional development. Criteria and Methods of RecruitmentWhen a public manager has prepared the request for a new post or to fill in a vacant post, approval needs to be gained from the higher authorities. This may refer to a higher office such as from a district office to the state office, from state office to the main office say in Putrajaya or from the main office to the Central Agency, Public Service Department (JPA). The request from the original manager will be studied and upon approval from the central agency, the request will be submitted to the Public Service Commission (SPA) for recruitment exercise. Some agencies are given the empowerment to hire when JPA has granted the ‘warrant to hire’. However, most hiring by government departments except for part time and c ontractual jobs are conducted by the SPA. 93Some of the criteria that will be considered for hiring purposes would include the followings: †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ Academic qualification Age Skill (technical staff) Working experiences Health Working ability Attitude (cooperation, passion and etc) Interest in work The recruiting bodies (either SPA or the relevant agencies) would first need to advertise vacancies in a wide communication medium. This would include newspapers, television and radio channels, websites, letters to associations etc. It is very important that the government use all these mediums to reach almost everyone that are qualified to fulfill its role as an equal-opportunity-employer. Candidates will then be short-listed and call for interviews. The persons who are responsible to conduct interviews should be well prepared and equipped with instruments or questions that are relevant.Since interview sessions would certainly make ca ndidate exposed some of their own personal information, the interviewers should exercise confidentiality and professionalism. At the end of the process, when a candidate is selected, he/she would receive a letter of appointment together with the job specifications, remunerations and terms of the appointment. Training and Development New staff is at their best when they first joined the organization. However, as time goes by, he/she would need training and development to continue to be relevant to the organization. New methods of doing a job, technology and skills change almost everyday. Thus, every employee needs to be trained and re-trained.The public is very generous in proving fund for employees’ training and development. So, it is not surprising that each one of then should fulfill at least 36 hours of training time in a year. Some organizations provide more than 36 hours! 94 Training and development encompasses three main activities: training, education, and development. Training refers to activities that are focused upon the enriching the job a particular staff is currently holding. They are meant to help him/her to perform well in the job. They can be conducted on the job or can also be held outside the organization. Training is makes the person more competent in the things he/she does. 2 Training is an event.Training has a beginning and end. Participants are exposed to knowledge and skills associated with new concepts during the event. Many organizations think, all we have to do is conduct some training and everyone will embrace the new: strategy, system, method, process, procedure, tactic or tool. They will go back to work the next day, use the new way and execute flawlessly within a short period of time. 3 Training usually refers to some kind of organized (and finite it time) event — a seminar, workshop that has a specific beginning data and end date. It's often a group activity, but the word training is also used to refer to specific i nstruction done one on one. Education activities focus on the jobs that an individual may potentially hold in the future. These activities are planned to move up an individual staff to a higher position and responsibility. 5 Finally, development focuses on activities that the organization plan to continuously improve an employee not only his/her skills but also attitude, esprit d’ coup, productivity and quality. Development is a process. IT is a much bigger, inclusive â€Å"thing†. For example, if a manager pairs up a relatively new employee with a more experienced employee to help the new employee learns about the job, that's really employee development. If a manager coaches and employee in an on-gong way, that's employee development.Or, employees may rotate job responsibilities to learn about the jobs of their colleagues and gain experience so they might eventually have more promotion opportunities. That's employee development. Thomas N. Garavan, Pat Costine, and Nor een Heraty (1995). â€Å"Training and Development: Concepts, Attitudes, and Issues†. Training and Development in Ireland. Cengage Learning EMEA. pp. 1. 3 4 2 http://ezinearticles. com/? Whats-The-Difference-Between-Training-and-Developmen t? &id=1038575 http://performance-appraisals. org/faq/trainingdevelopment. htm Derek Torrington, Laura Hall, and Stephen Taylor (2004). Human Resource Management. Pearson Education. pp. 363 5 95 Different Kinds of Training and Development 1. On-the-job Training and LecturesThe two most frequently used kinds of training are on-the-job training and lectures, although little research exists as to the effectiveness of either. It is usually impossible to teach someone everything she needs to know at a location away from the workplace. Thus on-the-job training often supplements other kinds of training, e. g. , classroom or off-site training; but on-the-job training is frequently the only form of training. It is usually informal, which means, unfor tunately, that the trainer does not concentrate on the training as much as she should, and the trainer may not have a well-articulated picture of what the novice needs to learn.On-the-job training is not successful when used to avoid developing a training program, though it can be an effective part of a well-coordinated training program. Lectures are used because of their low cost and their capacity to reach many people. Lectures, which use one-way communication as opposed to interactive learning techniques, are much criticized as a training device. 2. Programmed Instruction (PI) These devices systematically present information to the learner and elicit a response; they use reinforcement principles to promote appropriate responses. When PI was originally developed in the 1950s, it was thought to be useful only for basic subjects.Today the method is used for skills as diverse as air traffic control, blueprint reading, and the analysis of tax returns. 3. Computer-Assisted Instruction (CAI) With CAI, students can learn at their own pace, as with PI. Because the student interacts with the computer, it is believed by many to be a more dynamic learning device. Educational alternatives can be quickly selected to suit the student's capabilities, and performance can be monitored continuously. As instruction proceeds, data are gathered for monitoring and improving performance. 96 4. Audiovisual Techniques Both television and film extend the range of skills that can be taught and the way information may be presented. Many systems have electronic blackboards and slide projection equipment.The use of techniques that combine audiovisual systems such as closed circuit television and telephones has spawned a new term for this type of training, teletraining. The feature on † Sesame Street † illustrates the design and evaluation of one of television's favorite children's program as a training device. 5. Simulations Training simulations replicate the essential charac teristics of the real world that are necessary to produce both learning and the transfer of new knowledge and skills to application settings. Both machine and other forms of simulators exist. Machine simulators often have substantial degrees of. physical fidelity; that is, they represent the real world's operational equipment.The main purpose of simulation, however, is to produce psychological fidelity, that is, to reproduce in the training those processes that will be required on the job. We simulate for a number of reasons, including to control the training environment, for safety, to introduce feedback and other learning principles, and to reduce cost. 6. Business games They are the direct progeny of war games that have been used to train officers in combat techniques for hundreds of years. Almost all early business games were designed to teach basic business skills, but more recent games also include interpersonal skills. Monopoly might be considered the quintessential business game for young capitalists.It is probably the first place youngsters learned the words mortgage, taxes, and go to jail. Source : http://ezinearticles. com/? Six-Types-of-Training-and-Development-Techniques&id=1944536 97 Roles of Public Service Commission (PSC) and Public Service Department (PSD) There are constellation of information from the SPA and JPA websites about their functions, history and other things that you can learn from. Please visit these two websites and perhaps you want to ask them something related to this course. Good Luck! Public Service Commission (PSC) Website. Public Service Department (PSD) Website. 98 Lesson 7 Assignments Please check with your Seminar Facilitator for a list of assignments for this lesson. 99 100 Similar essay: Theories Actually Seen in Practice in Ojt

Wednesday, August 28, 2019

Marketing journal Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 1

Marketing journal - Essay Example Normally surveys are conducted demographically to determine various segments of buyers according to age, sex, education, location and other factors. However this kind of division fails to highlight the motivation of the consumer and often marketing based on such results is disappointing. A good method of measuring this has been devised by SRIC-BI who has conducted psychological survey of thousands of consumers from every walk of life during 1987-92. They call it VALS. This survey attempts to analyze the inherent instincts or psychological traits of the consumer that have developed over his/her experiences and knowledge and have become the drivers of purchase decisions. This has provided an insight about why we buy. I undertook this seemingly incongruous survey that seemed simple and somewhat inconsequential. However the results highlighted my attitude and aptitude and I must admit that it was able to capture the essence of my personality. The survey categorized me into the segment called Thinkers. Under VALS terminology the three segmentations of consumers are determined by their motivation. These are Innovators, Thinkers and Survivors. The descriptions are indicative of their capabilities; the innovators are daring and will be easily induced to trying new products and experimenting with the unknown; the thinkers are conservatives but willing to try new products within the existing parameters of their attitudes and aptitudes; while the survivors are those who are practical and will make decisions only according to their means. Recently I decided to buy a laptop for use in my consulting profession. My requirements were that the product had to be easily portable, that would not fail at a critical moment, should be reasonably priced and, since it was a high-tech gadget, good and prompt after sales service should be available whenever and wherever needed.

Tuesday, August 27, 2019

The U.S. Supreme Court Powers Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

The U.S. Supreme Court Powers - Research Paper Example Subject-matter jurisdiction refers to authority over the facts and law involved in a particular case based on a specific subject matter such as divorce or bankruptcy. Subject-matter jurisdiction limits the authority of the court within matters directly relating to the subject matter (Garner, 2006). This is to say, therefore, that a divorce court may not hear cases involving bankruptcy. Information retrieved from the Harvard Law Review indicates, â€Å"Lack of subject matter cannot be waived.† (Cushman, 1998, p 89) Any decision from a court that lacks subject matter jurisdiction over a given case is invalid to that extent. Personal Jurisdiction By granting personal jurisdiction, the Supreme Court confers authority over the parties involved in a specific case. The court therefore gains jurisdiction based on the individuals involved in the case. Sources indicate that the personal jurisdiction, as a legal concept, draws from the traditional concept that a King exercised his author ity within his domain and not outside the kingdom. Every state in the US has personal jurisdiction over its citizens. Likewise, all courts within the state can exercise authority over citizens. The constitution unequivocally states that consent, power, and notice are the three elemental principles of personal jurisdiction that restrain the authority of courts to bind property or individuals to their decisions.

Chosse any theme and write after reading NADJA by ANDRE BRETON Essay

Chosse any theme and write after reading NADJA by ANDRE BRETON - Essay Example The story is not only a case-study of a woman with profound perception of the world and life, who later descends into madness, but also follows the writer’s personal transformation as well. (Watson et.al. 2002) The novel became a momentous contribution while the movement was still in its embryonic stage. The plot revolves around the author’s obsession with a woman named Nadja, whom he meets in Paris. She haunts the author for a considerable amount of time, but by the end of the novel she is institutionalized after being diagnosed with ‘schizophrenia’. It is a tragic fate for Nadja, but her insanity is deemed as the prime source of conflict for the narrator and paves the path of self-discovery for him. While Nadja loses herself in an asylum, the author subsequently finds himself through the establishment of surrealist consciousness. The relationship between Nadja and the author is described through vague metaphors in a non-linear fashion with 44 pictures that depict pictures of their rendezvous points, Nadja’s sketches and surrealist art. Conception of surrealist notions was triggered by the psychodynamic paradigm that proposed that thought processes and behaviors were caused by the interaction between conscious and the unconscious mind. According to this paradigm, the main driving force behind such interaction is an individual’s sex drive or libido. However, unlike using the model to understand or resolve mental conflicts, surrealists use it as a form of artistry. The surrealist elements are not only ostensible through the notions discussed in the novel, but the sentence structuring and vocabulary also contain the same essence. Besides the titular character that embodied mystery, the vocabulary and metaphors are most cryptic in nature and give the novel the elements of both poetry and a prose. Nadja herself had been an avid lover of various surrealist artists and writers,

Monday, August 26, 2019

Risk and Quality Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Risk and Quality Management - Essay Example ..†¦13 8.0 References†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦14 9.0 Introduction By definition and ISO 9000:2005 recognition, quality is the degree to which a set of variables has the ability to meet the required standards. Risk can be simply defined as the possibility of failure. The Risk management is the continuous process of identifying, prioritizing and eliminating potential sources of failure to reach preset objectives. Operational risks that risk managers seek to minimize eliminate or control is enterprise risk, project risks and process risks. (Perkins, 2011) Literature Review; project and quality management Project management processes and quality management processes are correlated. ... Quality management comes in to ensure that the project management process is successful. In quality management, the value of output against the set standard is key. Time taken to deliver the output is kept in mind when quality management is done. The two processes, therefore, marry and work as one in the realization on organizational goals. (Greenberg, 2012) Tools and strategies used In total quality management, some common tools are used. These tools are grouped into categories. The categories alongside their tools include the following basics. Quality tools such as histograms, Pareto charts, fish bone, flow chart, scatter diagrams, control charts and check points. These are used to explain the relationships between two decision variables. In project planning and implementation, they are used to determine which project to invest in. the determining factors are the cash inflows and outflows and the gestation periods of the project. (Wiley, 2006 p 72) The use of histograms diagrammati cally shows the comparison of cash flows and benefits of projects. In risk and quality management, they are useful since they allow the representation of large volumes of data. From a glance, one can tell the frequency and variation of the represented data. In this case, the project planners can tell the future trend of their venture. The data values that are to be measured is collected and tabularize. The minimum values per item, say, output per hour of product A to G is 100. Statistical values on each variable are made. These are the mean, standard deviation, minimum, maximum, skewness, kurtosis, class width and number of classes. These statistics are used to compare the

Sunday, August 25, 2019

English Language Learners Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 1

English Language Learners - Essay Example So, Slavit et al (2002) introduces many ways to learn second language along with highlighting similarities and differences. The main obstacle while learning English as a second language characterizes the students into two categories social and unsocial. For those students who possess a social and outgoing attitude, it is easier to learn as they are carefree about the mistakes and try experimenting the language while imitating phrases. Here they are not concerned about the mistakes. On the other hand it is difficult to learn English for those who possess a shy attitude and are conscious to what they should say and what not. Such students are unsocial and are concerned about grammatical mistakes. Hence it is difficult for them to utter and imitate phrases. ‘Errors’ and ‘Social Interaction’ are two profound approaches, which help a learner to learn the best of a language. Errors are the indicators of progress and if dealt positively can lead a child towards language perfection. In this context in case of errors it is not encouraging to adopt an attitude that points out errors in a learner, instead a better strategy is to highlight the correct form in the form of a model. Social interaction is another way of learning which not only is helpful in grasping new concepts but also encourages an individual to take part in oral and written language development through talking and listening. This is the reason for why today there is a growing trend of ‘chat forums’. According to Drucker (2003) there is a strong interconnection between listening and reading. This is evident from the fact that children who are able to read a little are when subjected to learn phonetic words, they found an ease to develop interest, which is helpful in learning and memorizing phonetic words, while on the other hand those words that are bore to pronounce are not remembered easily. In this context

Saturday, August 24, 2019

Processes and Evaluation in Employment Relations Essay

Processes and Evaluation in Employment Relations - Essay Example A study of the Australian workplace scenario shows that strategic HRM are often faced with issues when trying to affect cultural changes as lack employee focus, leading to increased work related insecurities and a persistently decreasing job satisfaction (Leah, 1999). Culture, which fundamentally relates to the meaning an individual deciphers about the world around him and an understanding of the tools with which he must deal with this world, the primary objective of cultural changes within a workplace is associated with conscious and active processes aimed at developing capabilities that enable individuals to find new methods of working. It makes way for new processes, beliefs, thoughts, and measures that help to bring about organizational success. Owing to current large-scale globalisation, business strategies have become more intricate, making it necessary that workplace culture within an organisation becomes more complex in order to implement various modifications. This paper wil l study the role of HRM as regards affecting cultural changes within an organisation and will derive that implementing cultural changes is a complex and difficult process, and HR management has a limited role in affecting these changes. Human resource management can be defined collectively as comprising of â€Å"all concepts, strategies, policies and practices which organizations use to manage and develop the people who work for them† (Rudman, 2002, 3). The current function of HR is to manage long-term goals, and to take a wider and more balanced approach, instead of convening only on internal issues pertaining to human resource management. Modern HR managers emphasise more on future-based goals, long-term strategies, value adding leadership roles with focus on global integration, primarily in terms of economic and socio-cultural integration (Adler and Gundersen, 2008, pp.7-9). Fig 1: Human resource activities of a modern business firm (International HRM and organizational be havior learning guide, 2010). Ulrich (1996) delineated HRM roles and divided them into four categories based on their functions. These are Change Agent, Strategic Business Partner, Administration, and Employee Champions (Ulrich, 1996, pp. 19-20). Besides these, HR managers must be knowledgeable about the socio-cultural effects of globalization and be technologically oriented. In context of HR functions as a change agent and a strategic business partner, which encompass bringing in strategic cultural changes within an organization, these are associated with guiding and assisting in creating an overall business strategy and framing of HR plans and activities, keeping in mind the current globalization. If human resource strategies are incorrectly planned and implemented, an organization is likely to face failure within the global market that is highly competitive in nature (Belcourt and McBey, 2010). Here, the human resource managers help to formulate overall business strategies and se t goals for a firm, while bringing in suitable workplace cultural changes within an organization that would assist in achieving success in overall business outcome. The word ‘organisational culture,’ which became popular during the 1980s, is often considered

Friday, August 23, 2019

Quiz Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 3

Quiz - Essay Example Since its creation, the WTOs focus has shifted from public interest goals to ones dealing primarily with the liberalization of trade, helping trade flow as freely as possible. The philosophy of the most favored nation (MFN) is an outcome of the WTO agreements, what it implies is that if a country was to give preferential treatment to any one country with regard to any trade related issues, it was to treat all members equally regarding the same issue. Originally the MFN clause was included in bilateral trade agreements; however, several steps which limited the functioning of the MFN principle were taken in the1930s which led to the division of the world economy into a number of separate trade blocks. After going through this ordeal the WTO introduced MFN in the form of a multilateral reciprocal relationship. Ans: A customs union (CU) is a kind of trade bloc or a form of trade agreement under which the members preferentially grant limited or a tariff free market which allows access to each other’s import while upholding a common set of external tariffs to the imports from the non-member nations. Jagdish Bhagwati, who is known for his espousal of free global trade, would not be in favor of forming such a union as in such a situation, whether a country is part of the union or not, it is worse off than before. He is known to have criticized the foundations on which customs unions function for instance proximity of the trading nations & the volume of trade criterion. We should note however that formation of a custom union is the transition period between two states of trading equilibrium. Given any initial trading equilibrium, there exists a series of steps, and at each of these steps either new customs unions are created or the older unions are enlarged this happens due to the innate nature of the negative impact the unions create that in order to ensure that no member is harmed there is need to expand continuously ,ultimately leading to

Thursday, August 22, 2019

Christianity and Islam Essay Example for Free

Christianity and Islam Essay A few months ago, when a Vatican official announced that Catholicism was surpassed by Islam as the world’s largest faith, many news agencies around the world carried what seemed to have been a largely unnoticed issue for this present generation – religion. At least for some time, renewed debates about whether or not one should indeed consider Islam as a religion that commands world’s largest followers surfaced one after another. The issue many people think should not be dismissed is the fact that Christianity – a religion which combines an array of all its offshoots namely Roman Catholicism, Orthodox, Protestantism, Anglicanism, Evangelicals, among others – still has the largest adherents compared to any other religion, including Islam. Even if Christianity may be broken down into some larger or other smaller denominations, many people subscribe to idea that since all Christians root their belief in Christ, one must take them as belonging to a singular religion, the largest in the world to be exact. To consider Christianity as a single religion involves rounds of new separate debates. Surely, when the differences between the mainstream Christian blocks and the thousand of other minor denominations are brought into the fore, their respective beliefs will manifest diversity, resemblance, opposition, and even contradiction. Tedious as this process may appear, one may not yet consider the fact that even in the Islam religion itself there are further classifications of membership that must be taken into careful account. Again, it is legitimate to inquire whether it is proper to take Islam as a unitary religion, or they too must be broken down into their finer types. As one may correctly observe, inner divisions within the world’s largest religions – Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Hinduism, etc. – appear to be a fundamentally given fact. One can perhaps inquire whether it is possible to identify a major religion with millions, if not a billion of adherents, which does not have any, or have not suffered from any inner rift at any given point of its history. It may be interesting to ask therefore, what accounts for the eventual internal fall out of world religions in history? Better yet, how must we attempt to understand what happens in a religion that has been divided into smaller aggregate types in the course of history? II. Rationale and Scope This brief study presents a case for divisions transpiring within world religions. But since the scope of studying the issue is broad (considering that there are many major world religions to cite), this research shall be restricted at tackling Christianity and Islam as chosen types. Specifically, the study shall describe the events that transpired during the Catholic-Protestant divide of the mid 1500’s for Christianity, and the Shiite-Sunni divide for Islam. To be sure, there are other identifiable divisions which can be noted in the history of Christianity. While there are small schisms involving â€Å"heretics† who refuse to accept fundamental Christian teachings, Christianity is said to have been divided into two major blocks during the 11th century. It produced the dichotomization between the Roman Catholics and the Eastern Orthodox, which until the present still exists. For the purposes of limiting this study, the Christian division which shall be discussed in this study shall dwell on the Luther-led Reformation of the 1500’s. Meanwhile, it is also insightful to note even in the Islam religion, there have been various types of smaller divisions and schisms. For the purposes of this study too, the rift between the Shiites and the Sunnis that was created in the early years of Islam religion shall be the one in focus. A short analysis and interpretation of the sample religions used shall comprise the conclusion of this study. III. Discussion Proper a. Nature of Religion Before relating the events defining the divisions that were experienced both by Christianity and Islam, it will be helpful to cite some theories to help explain the dynamics of religion. This is important since it shall provide a working perspective which is to be used later on in the analysis. Religion is a phenomenon which may be understood in many ways. Basically speaking, it refers to the common innate feeling or â€Å"belief in a Supreme Being† (McCutcheon, 2007, p. 22). Religion obviously stems from a belief that there is a higher being that must be worshiped or adored. But religion does not pertain to kind of personal belief alone. It also describes how a believer finds the need to belong to a community which shares the same belief, and thus obey a given set of rules within it. Thus, another definition for religion may also be expressed as a â€Å"unified system of belief and practices relative to sacred things† which â€Å"unites (believers) into one single moral community† (McCutcheon, 2007, p. 22). Combing both definitions enable one to fully appreciate the fact that religion pertains to both a personal ascent to God, and a commitment to a community, a set of rules and a specific set rituals. When seen under the lenses of scientific inquiry (e. g. anthropology, sociology, philosophy, etc. ) religion reveals patterns and dynamism consistent with human belief system, knowledge, interest and relationships. This means that religion is molded into the belief system of the believers. For instance, if Christians hold that Christ in his lifetime was compassionate to the poor, it follows that they too, since they follow Christ, must do something good for their less fortunate brethren. Or if Moslems take Mohammad as their example, and Mohammad was a deeply spiritual man, they too must not take spirituality lightly in their lives. Religious mindset is committed to certain courses of action (Slater, 1978, p. 6); and these actions are meaningful only because believers draw their identities from a person or a belief system they embrace – be it the Lordship of Christ, or the greatness of the Prophet Muhammad (Slater, 1978, p. 82). This is one of the primary reasons why religions possess their â€Å"continuing identities† (Slater, 1978, p. 82). So long as a group of Christians identify themselves to the teachings of their religion, say Catholic Church, they will remain to be Catholics. As indeed, so long as a group of Moslems identify themselves to the teachings of their religion, say Shiite group, they will remain to be identified with it. What explains the shift in a belief system is when one cannot anymore identify either with a teaching, or specific religious structures. It is a general rule that key to a religion’s perpetuity is establishing an identity. When people start to feel alienated with what they used to hold or believe it, it can explain why a group of believers create their own groups to accommodate their otherwise alienated belief system. To help establish the point, it may be good to lay down two glaring examples. b. The Shiite-Sunnis Divide Islam was born at least five hundred years after Christianity was already an institutionalized religion. But what started out only as a small community following Muhammad, Islam grew in exponential proportion in just a short span of time. Within the rapid growth came bitter disputes and eventual breakaways. Although Islam is a religion which does not readily recognize that there are divisions within them, scholars are almost unanimous in agreeing that some factions already broke from within the Moslem community dating back to the days when the religion itself was merely beginning to be established. In a sense, Islam is a religion broken down into at least two major divisions even before it got to be formally established as a religious phenomenon. It all started when a certain man named Muhammad, who by the way was born in 570 to a very poor family, begun to attract followers after experiencing visions and revelations (Renard, 1998, p. 7). His reputation spread in neighboring places, and soon found himself at odds with ruling empires for the large number of followers he had gathered. After this increasingly expanding community finally settled in Mecca in 630, Muhammad would die two years after (Renard, 1998, p. 7). His death would then see his community figure in a prolonged tug-of-war for rightful succession, and would officially begin the drift within the newly established religious community. One group claimed that Muhammad chose his rightful successor in the person of his son named Ali before he died. The other group contested the claim and said, no instructions were made by the Prophet whatsoever. Instead, they held that it was appropriate for to appoint leaders themselves, and eventually chose Abu Bakr, Muhammad’s father-in-law, as the first of the four caliphs (meaning head), to rule the Islam community. Those who embraced the leadership of Ali were eventually known as the Shiites, while the followers who believed Abu Bakr’s caliphate eventually came to be known as Sunnis. As such, the neat separation within the just-emerging Islamic religion has been established. Since it exists up until today, it can be described as the â€Å"largest institutional division within the Muslim community† so far (Renard, 1998, p. 13; Ayoub, 2004, 72). c. The Catholic-Protestant Divide The era that colored the Catholic-Protestant divide was a Church marred with controversies, silent disenchantment and an ever growing discontent among Christian faithful. As history would show, it was through and because of Martin Luther – and his whole ebb generating protests against the Church – that the radical break from Catholicism was to be established. But hundreds of years before the supposed break, there had already been numerous events that point to the restlessness within the membership of the Church which it tried to quell. What were the controversies about? As early as the 1300’s, roughly two hundred years before Luther was born, an ordained priest by the name of John Wycliffe started to publish series of attacks against some of the major teachings and traditions of the Church. In 1372, he was summoned and reprimanded by Church authorities for his teachings that dwelled on the following: his denial of the doctrine of transubstantiation (a belief that the bread and wine used in celebrating the Eucharist is transformed into the real body and blood of Christ), attacks on the authority of the Pope as the head of the Church, corrupt practices within the Church, and emphasis on preaching and the use of Scriptures for teaching the doctrines of the Church (Cook, 2008, p. 95). Wycliffe probably represented the first courageous voices which tried to confront what’s wrong with the Church. In fact, he did try to raise legitimate concerns about both the divisive doctrines and lamentable discipline which the Church at that time practiced. Years after, Luther would pick up from where his predecessors had left out. In 1517, he released his Ninety-Five Theses to the public – a collection of ninety-five protests against many Church teachings – both doctrinal and moral – and Church practices, such as indulgences (spiritual merits obtained in return for monetary donations), celibacy (the promise for priests not to marry), Eucharist, among others (Cook, 2008, p. 100). Since the general religious atmosphere at that time was already ripe for reforms, his ninety-five theses were easily duplicated and spread throughout the German empire – a testament, as it were, to a huge popular support he enjoyed for the risks he took. Luther’s break from the Church was formally established when he burned the Papal bull Exsurge Domine (a decree which threatened him of excommunication if he did not recant his protests) in front of many people in a public square (Cook, 2008, 101). After which, he did subsequently ask the authorities of the German kingdom to support his cause for Church reform. Luther is remembered as a man who broke the Catholic Church apart. True enough, even before he died, he already saw the far reaching effects of his call for reforms he perhaps initially did not intended to jumpstart. Thanks to Luther, Christianity would never be the same again. The â€Å"Germany after (the) Reformation† movement in the mid 1500’s became a home to a new breed of Christians who came to be branded as Lutherans, Calvinist, Reformers, or even Protestants (Pennock, 2007, p. 168). In principle, Luther earned the reputation of being an agent of division within the Christian religion. IV. Conclusion To be sure, Christianity and Islam are not the only major religions in the world which had suffered a kind of break-up from within. Religious divisions are commonplace, and that variations sprouting from within large communities may be brought about by various factors. When divisions occur, one normally observes that differences pertaining to a host of issues including (but not limited to) doctrines, practices, or even recognized leadership become patent. As earlier mentioned, the dynamics of religion may help explain why a feeling of alienation (or a loss of identity) can push a believer or a group to break-away from mainstream religion to form their own set of practices and norms independently. Christianity and Islam were taken as exemplifications. In the points that were developed, it was seen that they share a history with lots of bitter disputes, which in turn led to an eventual division. But both religions suffered from internal rifts quite differently as well. Islams division was more political in nature, as two major factions with their respective claims to rightful succession to their now-dead Prophet-leader tore the emerging community apart thus, the Sunnis and the Shiites. Christianity on the other hand, after experiencing many breakaway groups in the course of history, had to suffer yet another major blow from internal disputes led by Martin Luther in the 1500s on account of doctrine and practices. What followed was a Christian religion torn once again, which ushered the creation of a big faction named Protestants. Religious divisions can be put under rigorous inquiry. There are viewpoints that consider these divisions as something that separate one group after another, while there are those who propose to see the same divisions as something that merely distinguish (but not separate). While the two viewpoints may be valid in their respective senses, this study places much interest not on their â€Å"distinguishability† or â€Å"separability†, but on the fact that, truly, religious divisions from within happen. References Ayoub, M. (2004). Islam. Faith and History. Oxford: Oneworld. Cook, C.. (2008) The Routledge Companion to Christian History. New York: Routledge. McCutcheon, R. (2007). Studying Religion. An Introduction. London: Equinox. Pennock, M. (2007) This is Our Church. A History of Catholicism. Notre Dame, Indiana: Ave Maria Press. Renard, J. (1998)101 Questions and Answers on Islam. New York: Paulist Press. Slater, P. (1978). The Dynamics of Religion. Meaning and Change in Religious Traditions. San Francisco: Harper and Row. (Also consulted) http://ca. news. yahoo. com/s/capress/080330/world/vatican_muslims

Wednesday, August 21, 2019

Language skill is essential tool in the job market Essay Example for Free

Language skill is essential tool in the job market Essay Language skill is essential tool in the job market. Being able to speak a prefect english language is a skill that a person have over other graduates and being able to boost up the chances of getting the job. English language proficiency works as a determination of people’s opportunity to get a job. Hence it can be concluded that a persons ability and perseverance of a language plays an important and vital role in future employment. A person must have the ability to convey their ideas with a good english and to achieve it a daily practice of the language will give a better result. A better understanding of the language will secure a place for a better job. The characters in both articles teaches that we can improved the language skill if we try to our best. If we got enough self-motivation, it is possible brush up our language skills in our spare time. There are plenty ways to practice and improve the english language skill and one of it is through learning new words from dictionary. Other than that, Amy tan in her article â€Å"Mother Tongue† celebrates the fact that she did not follow the expectations that people had of her because her maths are better than her english and of her struggle with writing and language. Its shows that self-determination contributes to the success. I agree with you that it is essential that we properly understand the role that English plays and will play in our daily life. For many jobs, communication skills in English are in increasing demand. English is becoming a basic requirement for a job. Importance of the English language in the workplace continues to be a top concern among employers. A person who are more competent, fluent and impressive in speaking in English than other graduates have better opportunities in the job market. Every employee faces interview before getting a job. If that person is not suitable for the respective job in terms of English language, the chances of getting the job will be low.Hence, a good english language skill is important to secure a better job. The characters of both articles also says that we can learn and improve English language if we have a self-motivation and improve our daily communication. We can started with a simple English and improve it day by day .

Tuesday, August 20, 2019

Rheumatoid Arthritis Treatment Methods

Rheumatoid Arthritis Treatment Methods INTRODUCTION Autoimmunity is the inability of an organism in recognizing its own parts as  self, which triggers an abnormal immune response against its own cells or tissues. Due to such a response, autoimmune diseases occur. Autoimmune diseases are broadly divided into the following: Systemic autoimmune diseases: The symptoms and damage occurs throughout the body, i.e the antigen is not tissue-specific. Localized autoimmune diseases: The damage is localized, i.e., the antigen is tissue specific. Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic  inflammatory, systemic autoimmune disorderthat may affect many tissues and organs, but mainly attacks the flexible (synovial) joints. 75% of the reported cases of RA occur in women, especially at age: 30 and 40 years and between 50 and 60 years (Bach, 1982). It can be a disabling and  painful  condition, which can lead to consequential loss of mobility and function if not treated adequately. But it is still unclear whether T-cells primarily respond to a microbial antigen, or a self-constituent antigen (Chiniet al., 2002). Lesions developed in RA appear to be involved in both cell-mediated and humoral responses. Prior research work focused on identifying the cells present in the affected synovium, and has been concluded that CD4+ T lymphocytes, active B lymphocytes, and plasma cells, combined with well-formed lymphoid follicles having germinal centers (in more serious cases), are present in the synovium of the patients (Abbas et al., 1994). Major cells present in the synovial filtrate of patients are T-cells, and a partial therapeutic effect was observed due to depletion of T-cells in these patients (Berneret al., 2000). Present understanding of RA conveys that TH1 cells which are specific for a particular antigen (which hasn’t been identified yet) are present in the joints of the patients. Pathogenesis and symptoms Fig1.1: Release of cytokines due to T-cell activation causing an inflamed synovium and pannus. Cytokines released in the synovium are Interleukin(IL)-1, IL-8, Interferon-gamma (INF-gamma), and Tumour Necrosis Factor-alpha(TNF-alpha). But the clinically important ones are IL-1 and TNF-alpha. These cytokines stimulate increase in collaginases, IL-6, chemokines, nitric oxide and Cyclo-oxigenase-2(COX-2) production. The combined action of these and a few others like IL-2 and IL-4 lead to the pathogenesis of the disease. Other than antigens, RA also involves antibodies- this is most likely due to formation of immune complexes. The auto-antibodies produced are called ‘rheumatoid factors’ and are specific to the Fc region of IgG. This rheumatoid factor is an IgM antibody and hence the immune complex consists of IgG-IgM which cause the damage (Janeway et al., 2001). Symptoms include stiffness, pain, swelling, and erythema, joints become tender, swollen, and warm. As it progresses, multiple joints would be affected (polyarthritis). The clinical manifestations are collection of polymorphonuclear leukocytes and macrophages at the inflamed region, cartilage damage, and, destruction of the joint Synovitis (inflammation of the synovium) can lead to  tethering  of tissue, lack of movement and erosion of the surface leading to deformity and loss of function. Systemic complexities are damage to various other organs like lungs, myocardia, pericardia pleura, eyes, and Central Nervous System as a result of inflammatory reactions (fig-1.1). Many agents are now available to treat RA, and many of them are monoclonal antibodies. Several new monoclonal antibodies are currently under development and hopefully will be available as other alternatives The focus of this paper is to state the latest therapeutic monoclonal antibodies being used for RA treatment, to state their merits and demerits and whether they are better than normal drugs/medication. Monoclonal antibodies with different mechanisms of action and route of administration are discussed and whether they pose as good therapeutic agents with an acceptable safety profile. 2. REVIEW OF LITERATURE 2.1  Treatment of Rhematoid Arthritis Some of the treatments for RA are: Anti-TNF-alphaTreatments Medications Therapeutic monoclonal antibody treatment Earlier it was believed that if one cytokine signal cascade was blocked then another cytokine would takeover. It was hypothesized that IL-1 caused the cartilage and bone damage.Through a study(at Kennedy Institute of Rheumatology), it was found that IL-1 bioactivity had stopped due to TNF-alpha blocking. This led to the development of anti-TNF-alpha treatments like- cyotokine antibodies and soluble-receptor antagonists (Feldmann et al., 1999). There are mainly four types of medications being used- Disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs (DMARDs), Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), immuno-suppressants, and corticosteroids (glucocorticoids).(Rang et al.,1995). DMARDs include pencillamines (Cuprimine ®, Depen ®), gold compounds (Myochrysine ®, Ridaura ®) and chloroquine (Plaquenil ®). Although their mechanism of action is not properly understood, they have a very significant effect on RA patients. NSAIDs like asprin, ibuprofen (Advil  ®), ketoprofen (Orudis ®), naproxen (Naprosyn ®), etc.. have a variety of effects like anti-inflammatory, anti-pyretic, and analgesic effects.Immuno-suppressants like cyclosporine and cytotoxic agents like azathioprine suppress both humoral and cell-mediated immunity. Corticosteroids like prednisone, hydrocortisone, etc., have immunosuppressive and anti-inflammatory effects (Rang et al.,1995). 2.1.1 Therapeutic monoclonal antibodies: Each B-cell synthesizes only one kind of antibody and every organism has various populations of B-cells which secrete various antibodies specific to various antigens being recognized. But in order to turn this function into a helpful tool, we need huge amounts of a same antibody. So we need to culture a B-cell population originating from the same ancestral B-cell and hence obtaining the same kind of antibodies.Such a population of cells are called ‘monoclonal’ and the antibodies are‘monoclonal antibodies’(mAbs).Such monoclonal antibodies used for various therapeutic purposes are referred to as ‘therapeutic monoclonal antibodies’. If a specific antibody of a B-lymphocyte is needed, that B-cell should be secreted in an organism. So the antigen for which the antibody is needed is injected into a mouse and it secretes the B-cell antibodies against the antigen. Such B-cells are isolated from the spleen and fused with myeloma cells (using Poly Ethylene glycol, or electroporation), forming hybridomas. To selectively isolate the hybridoma cells, they are grown in HAT(Hypoxanthine AminopterinThyamidine) medium. (Fig 2.1.1) The cancer cells are HGPRT- and the B-cells are HGPRT+(HGPRT is an enzyme Hypoxanthine-guanine phosphoribosyltransferase which helps in the synthesis of nucleotides from hypoxanthine). Therefore, all the unfused myeloma cells die in the HAT medium and all the unfused B-cells can’t divide for long and only the hybridoma cells survive indefinitely. It is from these cells that the antigen-specific antibodies are labelled and isolated using radioactivity or immunofluorescence. Fig 2.1.1- A summary of the process of monoclonal antibody production. Types Till date there are four types of therapeutic mAbs- Murine Chimeric Humanized Human Murine antibodies (suffix omab)refer tomAbs made from any mammal of the family muridae (like mouse, rat). These mAbs were produced using hybridoma technology and were analogous to murine antibodies. But these were not a success because immune complexes formed due to which they only had a short half-life in vivo and caused cytotoxicity resulting in allergies and anaphylactic shocks .Hence these were replaced by chimeric and humanizedmAbs.Chimeric mAbs (suffix ximab) has variable regions of murine and constant region of humans fused together (they are 65% human). This decreases immunogenicity. Humanized antibodies (suffix –zumab) are made by grafting murine hyper-variable region onto the amino acid region of the human Abs (they are 85% human). However, these antibodies lacked the specificity of their parent murine mAbsso, affinity was increased by introducing mutations in the CDR (complementarity determining region). Phage display libraries or transgenic mice are use to produce human mAbs (suffix –umab). In this the murine genome is injected with the human immunoglobulin genes due to which it becomes transgenic. This mouse is injected with the desired antigen to yield the subsequent mAbs(Hudson PJ, Souriau C., 2003). 2.1.1.1 Monoclonal Antibodies Directed Against TNF-ÃŽ ± TNF-ÃŽ ± is a key mediator of the inflammation-induced joint damage that is a hallmark of this disease. Monoclonal antibodies to TNF bind soluble and transmembrane TNF, thereby down-regulating TNF-induced immune responses including adhesion molecule expression, cytokine production, matrix metalloproteinase production, neutrophil activities, dendritic cell function and osteoclast differentiaion. (Blumi S, Jet al.,2012) Monoclonal antibodies to TNF, except for certolizumab have the ability to lyse TNF-expressing cells in the presence of complement. (Kukar M, et al.,2009). Currently there are four mAbs approved for the treatment of RA Infliximab This is a chimeric IgG1 mAb and has human constant region with murine variable regions.(Perdriger A., 2009). This is best used with methotextrate(MTX) and is available only in the intravenus form. In 2001, it was approved by the FDA in combination with MTX to treat moderate to severe RA. Effectiveness and improvement in the disease compared to placebo was shown in multiple, randomized trials(Elliott MJ, et al., 1993) ,( Lipsky PE, et al., 2000), (MainiRN, et al., 2004). It was proven to be effective in early stages of the disease (et al., 2004).Given that influximab is comprised of a significant proportion of murine protein it was anticipated that patients would develop antichimeric antibodies that could impair the efficacy and increase the risk of infusion reactions. The combination of infliximab and MTX results in a substantial reduction in antichimeric antibody and increased serum infliximab levels.. Adalimumab Adalimumab is a human recombinant IgG1 mAb that has no murine component and is produced by phage display technology. It was FDA/EMA approved in, or soon after, 2002 for the treatment of moderate-to-severe RA as monotherapy or in combination with disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARDs). It is available in the subcutaneous form at a dose of 40 mg every 2 weeks. Despite adalimumab being a fully human antibody, anti-adalimumab antibodies have been detected in a significant number of patients(Vincent FB, Morland EF, Murphy Ket al.2013). Adalimumab responses and long-term sustainability may be reduced by anti-adalimumab antibodies, but adalimumab generally has good sustainability similar to that of etanercept and generally better than infliximab. Golimumab Golimumab is a fully human IgG1 anti-TNF-ÃŽ ± antibody that was generated and affinity matured in an in vivo system. It is very similar in structure to infliximab without the mouse protein. It was approved by the FDA/EMA in or soon after 2009 for the treatment of moderate-to-severe RA in combination with MTX(Kremer J, et al,2010). Certolizumab Certolizumabpegol is a humanized Fab fragment (Fc free) fused to a 40-kd polyethylene glycol (PEG) moiety. It was FDA/EMA approved in 2009 for the treatment of moderate-to-severe RA as monotherapy or in combination with MTX. It is available in the subcutaneous form at a dose of 400 mg at 0, 2 and 4 weeks, then every 2 weeks or 400 mg every 4 weeks. 2.1.1.2 Antibodies against B Cells B cells are critical to the pathogenesis of RA. Mature B cells may evolve into antibody producing plasma cells. Although the precise role of B-cell-producing autoantibodies in RA remains unclear, B cell and plasma cell infiltration into synovium has consistently been found.In addition to their role as precursors to antibody producing plasma cells, B cells may function as antigen-presenting cells and may also produce inflammatory cytokines and co-stimulatory molecules important for T-cell function.(TngYKO,et al., 2007). Rituximab As rituximab is a B-cell-depleting agent, chimeric/IgG1 monoclonal antibody which binds to the CD20 cell surface marker found on several maturation stages of B lymphocytes. It gained FDA/EMA approval in 2006 for the treatment of moderate-to-severe RA in combination with MTX in patients with inadequate response to anti-TNF. Rituximab is given via the intravenous route at a dose of 1000 mg for two doses 2 weeks apart for each cycle. The first study evaluated rituximab in RA was reported by Edwardset al., 2004.Four treatment groups consisting of MTX monotherapy, rituximab monotherapy, rituximab plus cyclophosphamide and rituximab plus MTX were compared, and all rituximab groups had a better ACR20 response compared with MTX monotherapy, with a comparable safety profile. 2.1.1.3 Antibodies That Interfere With IL-6 Function IL-6 is a cytokine produced by immunologically important cells that has an important role in T-cell activation and immunoglobulin secretion.It also stimulates synovial fibroblast differentiation and osteoclast activation.Dysregulation of IL-6 is also, in part, responsible for many of the generalized systemic effects of RA, including anemia of chronic disease as well as the acute phase reactants seen in this disease(Tanaka.Tet al. , 2010). Tocilizumab Previously called MRA, tocilizumab is a humanized/IgG1 mAb directed against IL-6 receptor in its soluble and transmembrane form. It was approved by the FDA/EMA in early 2010, or slightly before, for the treatment of moderate-to-severe RA in patients with an inadequate response to DMARDs and/or anti-TNF. A subcutaneous form of tocilizumab is currently under study. It is also indicated in patients with anemia of chronic disease since it dramatically increases hemoglobin as a consequence of reduction in hepcidin – the protein that inhibits iron utilization in RA. 2.1.1.4 Antibodies That Interfere With IL-1 Function IL-1 is produced by many cell types in response to myriad inflammatory stimuli and mediates multiple immunologic and inflammatory pathways. In patients with RA, the levels of naturally produced IL-1 receptor antagonist in the synovium is thought to be insufficient to counteract the increased levels of IL-1 produced in this disease (Arend WP., 2002) Anakinra Anakinra is the recombinant form of a human receptor antagonist (IL-1ra), and was approved by the FDA/EMA in, or slightly after, 2002 at a daily dose of 100 mg subcutaneously for moderate-to-severe RA that has been unresponsive to initial disease DMARD therapy. It has been studied in RA in several trials. (Fleischmann RM.et al,  2003) 2.1.1.5 Safety Infections Infections are the most common adverse event associated with the use of all biologics. Infection risks with anakinra and tocilizumab are probably similar to the TNF inhibitors, with rituximab perhaps having slightly less risk.Infection risk may be higher with the use of increased doses of infliximab and anakinra.Respiratory tract infections are most commonly reported. The risk of granulomatous infections, such as tuberculosis, is also increased in patients using monoclonal antibody TNF inhibitors. Malignancies The use of TNF inhibitors in patients with RA has not been associated with an increased risk of solid cancers, with the exception of cutaneous malignancies.. Malignancies have been reported with anakinra, tocilizumab and rituximab, but the risk does not seem higher than predicted in RA patients.(Ding T et al., 2010)Longer-term follow-up is required to more clearly understand the risk of malignancies with these drugs. Demyelinating diseases Symptoms of demyelinating neurologic dysfunction have been associated with TNF inhibitors. Resolution of these symptoms with drug withdrawal is common. TNF inhibitors should be withdrawn immediately if neurologic symptoms occur with use, and probably should be avoided in patients with pre-existing demylelinating symptoms(Ding T, Ledinghamet al., 2010).   3. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION 3.1 Drugs vs mAbs Just as monoclonal antibodies have various side effects the medication used for RA also have various complications There have been many news reports about how pain-killing drugs known as COX-2 blockers increase heart attack and stroke risks. Additional studies suggested that older non- steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) like ibuprofen could also elevate heart risks.One of the culprits: methotrexate. It’s the most commonly prescribed disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drug, orDMARD, for rheumatoid arthritis. It’s also responsible for hair loss in about 1 to 3 percent of people. The hair loss happens because methotrexate is doing what it’s supposed to do – stop cells from growing, including cells causing inflammation and, unfortunately, hair follicles. Folic acid, which is commonly prescribed with methotrexate to mitigate some of its side effects, is a synthetic form of folate, a B-complex vitamin. It can help keep hair healthy, but it has not been fou nd to promote hair growth.Generally as a drug-related side effect, the hair loss is not drastic and the hair does not fall out in patches. And it usually grows back once the patients stop taking the drug.So as of now, most of thesuccesful treatments for RA using monoclonal antibodies are in combination with methotrexate. 3.2 Conclusion and future prospects Monoclonal antibodies with different mechanisms of action and route of administration are highly effective therapeutic agents in the treatment of RA with an acceptable safety profile. Choosing the appropriate treatment is a complex decision that is affected by clinical data, physician and patient preference, and payers. Almost undoubtedly, these types of agents will continue to be important agents in the rheumatologists armamentarium. How to use these agents more selectively, particularly regarding which agents are best for which patients, hopefully will be better established in the future with new biomarkers. Prediction as to what agent to use in the right patient at the right time is clearly a research priority. Monoclonal antibodies as new agents are expensive, and the cost/benefit analysis justifying their use is also critical to practitioners. . Many aspects regarding the efficacy and safety of the supposedly cheaper biologics need to be evaluated before they are available for w idespread use, but their availability and the emergence of new agents in the future may substantially change the RA treatment landscape. Although current therapies can reduce the signs and symptoms of RA for many patients, the quest for a cure (or a more complete blockade of the structural damage) in RA is still ongoing and will need treatment approaches, which are not exclusively confined to blocking a particular cytokine, receptor, or auto-reactive B or T cell involved in disease progression. To this end exciting treatment alternatives and drug targets are on the horizon that may become available to patients in the future.

Nativism Essay -- essays papers

Nativism All so called "Native Americans," were once immigrants. There were two waves of immigration between the early 1800’s through the early 1900’s. The first wave of immigrants called the "old immigrants" came to America between 1890-1897. They were primarily from Northern Europe: Great Britain, Germany, and Scandinavia. The second wave of immigrants called the "new immigrants" came to America from 1897-1924. The "new immigrants" primarily came from Southern and Eastern Europe countries such as Poland, Russia, and Italy. Nativist parties, like the Know-Nothings and the Order of the Star Spangled Banner verbalized their distaste and disapproval of immigrants. Actions and regulations against immigration did not begin until near the end of the "old immigration" and the beginning of the "new immigration." Nativists had many fears and concerns regarding immigrants. These concerns included being socially ill-suited to live with the older stock Americans, stealing jobs from the nat ive work force, and bringing new, radical ideas to the country. These fears and concerns caused nativists to come up with schemes to keep immigrants out of the country. These strategies had a great impact on immigration in our country. Nativists had many concerns regarding immigrants. They feared that immigrants would take the jobs of "native Americans" because they were willing to work for very low wages. When the native work force went on strike many workers feared that many immigrants would displace them in the workplace. Another concern was that immigrants were hard to "Americanize." These people came to American with their own culture, traditions, and language; many of them didn’t even know English. Many nativists resented immigrants because they permeated the city and made it unsafe and dirty. Their slums were breeding grounds for disease and violence. Nativists regarded immigrants as an inferior class of people. One of the theories to support this dispute was eugenics. Eugenics is the study of human heredity, aimed at "improving" the genetic quality of the human stock. The eugenics movement was an effort to grade races and ethnic groups according to their genetic qualities. Eugenicists claimed that immigrants were inferior to Anglo-Saxons and were polluting the "pure" American bloodstream. The sheer number of immigrants entering the country also scared many people. A. P.. . ...ch made it so intelligent immigrants were allowed into the country. In 1921, the Emergency Immigration Act was passed. This act made it so the number of aliens of any nationality admitted to the U.S. in a year could not exceed 3 percent of the number of foreign-born residents of that nationality living in the U.S. in 1910. Even though this heavily cut down the number of immigrants entering the country, the majority of the immigrants were "new immigrants." This led to the National Origins Act in 1924. This act was harsher than the act of 1921 because it decreased the percentage of immigrants from 3% to 2%, and pushed the year from 1910 to 1890, thus making the majority of immigrants "old immigrants." It is quite ironic that these "nativists" came to America for the same reasons as the immigrants who came in the time period of 1880-1925; however, they do not accept the immigrants who came in that period, just as they had once wanted to be accepted. Emma Lazarus’ "The New Colossus", which is on the Statue of Liberty, reads "Give me you tired, your poor, Your huddled mass yearning to breathe free," but in fact, many Americans, nativists, did not want these poor, huddled mass at all.

Monday, August 19, 2019

Women, Sport, and Film :: Sociology Norms Society Essays

Women, Sport, and Film There are two sides to every coin. This is something to keep in mind when examining the topic of gender in sport. Specifically, I am speaking of the costs and benefits of a male or female entering a sport in which he or she is not traditionally accepted for their gender. The two sides to this concept lay not only the individual's sacrifices as the underdog, but also in the benefits the individual encounters on his or her adventure into uncharted territory. Of course, it is a struggle for the individual to become accepted by the sport world, and also the general public. It can be an uphill battle in order for him or her to even be able to participate initially. On the other hand, upon crossing the gender boundary, the individual can earn great recognition. This brings the concept to another level; there are cultural benefits that arise from an individual entering a non-traditional sport for their sex. Three movies that we viewed in the first half of this course have served to demonstr ate the individual costs and benefits involved when women become involved in sports that are not traditionally accepting of the female sex. After close analysis of "Girl Fight", "Pumping Iron II", and "Personal Best", effects that these women have on the female culture as a whole, to this day, become clear. In the movie "Girl Fight", Diana struggles as a female boxer living in the inner city. Because of the abnormality of her involvement in this typically male dominant sport, Diana has a hard time adjusting to the scrutiny she gets from her surrounding culture. This brings up the first social cost she stumbles upon due to her choice. She must remain secretive about her new found love for the sport of boxing. She is excited to have found a coach, a gym, and an outlet for her energy, however she is silenced by the fear of being shunned by her friends and peers, and worse, her dad and brother. As she (inevitably) progressively gains skill in the sport, it becomes harder for her to hide her excitement, and so she invites her best friend and other peers to one of her boxing matches. Another individual benefit for Diana is a social one. By being the only girl involved in boxing, she has potential boyfriends and opportunity for friendships and loves surrounding her.

Sunday, August 18, 2019

Wedding Speech †Best Man -- Wedding Toasts Roasts Speeches

Wedding Speech – Best Man Before I begin with Leon’s character assassination, I should probably introduce myself, as a lot of you don’t know me†¦my name is Andy. My full name is actually Andy WhatcanIgetyou. For those of you who I meet in the bar later, I’d appreciate it if you could Use my full name. I’d also like to remind you, that the more you laugh at my gags the faster my speech will be delivered†¦so it’s in your own best interest†¦ I think being a best man can be a very nerve racking experience†¦(pause)†¦ if there’s one person here this afternoon feeling nervous, apprehensive and queasy about what lies ahead†¦.then it’s probably because you’ve just married Leon. Anyway, I wanted to take this opportunity, not only to demolish Leon’s reputation and character, but also to talk about Leon AND Lucy as a couple. In September 1998, Leon and I both started and met at Bath University. I think, in hindsight, going to Bath was one of the best decisions Leon ever made, as a few days in, he met Lucy. And from what I remember about 1st year (which frankly isn’t a lot), within a few weeks they were spending a lot of their time together and started to get quite close†¦ I remember myself and the other lads in our house used to constantly badger Leon to make an advance. And as you’ll probably know, Leon IS a bit of a fast mover when it comes to the ladies ..(pause†¦), so it took him only 1 year (pause†¦) (and severa... ...st doesn’t like to interrupt. On a more serious note, there’s not many best men who can describe both the groom and the bride as a true friend, and in that, I think I’m very lucky. It is an honour, albeit a most terrifying one, to have been asked to be the best man here today. But if I’m honest I do feel a certain relief to see the end of my duties in sight, as I’m totally certain that Leon will never have a need to call on met to be his best man again. As a final thought – â€Å"you don’t marry someone because you can live with them, you marry them because you simply cannot live without them†Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ Ladies and Gentlemen, please be upstanding and join me in a toast†¦ to Mr and Mrs [groom’s surname]†¦Leon and Lucy

Saturday, August 17, 2019

Stuart Hall’s Cultural Identity and Diaspora

Ouahani Nasr-edine A Paper about Stuart Hall’s article: Cultural Identity and Diaspora Stuart hall talks about the crucial role of the â€Å"Third Cinemas† in promoting the Afro-Caribbean cultural identities, the Diaspora hybridity and difference. Hall argues that the role of the â€Å"Third Cinemas† is not simply to reflect what is already there; rather, their crucial role is to produce representations which constantly constitute the third world’s peoples as new subjects against their representations in the Western dominant regimes. Their vocation is to allow us to see and recognize the different parts and histories of ourselves. They should provide us with new positions from which to speak about ourselves. Stuart Hall provides an analysis of cultural identities and what they stand for, their workings and underlying complexities and practices. Hall argues that cultural identities are never fixed or complete in any sense. They are not accomplished, already-there entities which are represented or projected through the new cultural practices. Rather, they are productions which cannot exist outside the work of representation. They are problematic, highly contested sites and processes. Identities are social and cultural formations and constructions essentially subject to the differences of time and place. Then, when we speak of anything, as subjects, we are essentially positioned in time and space and more importantly in a certain culture. These subject positions are what Hall calls â€Å"the positions of enunciation† (222). Hall talks about cultural identity from two different, but related, perspectives. First, he discusses cultural identity as a unifying element or as the shared cultural practices that hold a certain group of people together and second, he argues that as well as there are similarities, there are also differences within cultural identities. In the following paragraphs, we will discuss these two sides of cultural identities. In the first sense, cultural identity is held to be the historical cultural practices that held to be common among a group of people; it is what differentiates them from other groups and held them as of one origin, one common destiny. In this sense, cultural identity refers to those cultural codes which are held to be unchangeable, fixed true practices. This underlying â€Å"oneness† or â€Å"one true self† is the essence, Hall argues, of â€Å"Carribeaness†, of the black Diaspora. It is this identity which should be discovered by the black Diaspora and subsequently, should be excavated and projected through the representations of the â€Å"Third Cinemas†. Here we would add that this collective identity is not only to be represented by the â€Å"Third Cinemas† but also by The Third Literature and through The Third Academia. It is this sense of cultural identity which plays a critical role in eliciting a lot of postcolonial struggles. The act of discovering such identity is at the same time an act of re-shaping and rehabilitating, of re-claiming â€Å"the true self†. It is an act which goes beyond â€Å"the misery of today† to recover and reconstruct what colonization have distorted. Imaginative rediscovery plays a crucial role in restoring such identity. The emergence of counter discourses (like feminist discourse, anti-racist discourse, anti-colonial discourse and so on) which tries to highlight and bring to the forth the â€Å"hidden histories† are an outcome of the creative force of such sense of cultural identity. Hall gives the example of Armet Francis photographs about the peoples from the â€Å"Black Triangle† which is considered as a visual attempt, an act of imaginary reunification of blacks which have been dispersed and fragmented across the African Diaspora. Another universal unifying element of blacks is the Jazz music. It is an attempt to restore the black agent to his home â€Å"Africa†, to relocate him, symbolically, within his true essence: â€Å"Africanness†. Such counter discourses are resources of resistance which problematizes the Western regimes of scholarly and cinematic representations of blacks. The second side of cultural identity is related to the discontinuities and differences, to the historical ruptures within cultural identities. Cultural identity is not just a matter of the past, a past which have to be restored, but it is also a matter of the future. It is a â€Å"matter of ‘becoming’ as well as of ‘being’† (225). In this sense cultural identities no longer signify an accomplished set of practices which is already there; they are subject to the â€Å"play† of history, power and culture. They are in constant transformation. Hall argues that it is this second sense of cultural identities which enable as to come to terms with â€Å"the traumatic character of the ‘colonial experience’. The Western representations of the black experiences and peoples are representations of the ‘play’ of power and knowledge. Western categories of knowledge not only position us as ‘Other’ to the West but also makes as â€Å"experience ourselves as Others† (225). This colonial experience puts as in a dangerous position: it makes us ambivalent in our life, our needs, and our thought. This colonial experience had produced uprooted subjects, split between two words in an unidentified space. This rootlessness, this lack of cultural identity which the colonial experience produces leads us to question the nature of cultural identity itself. In this sense it is never a fixed, shared entity. It is not one and for all† (226). It is not something which happens in the past but it is a process. What we told ourselves about our past is always constructed through â€Å"memory, fantasy, narrative and myth†. Cultural identities are not essences but are ‘positionings’; they are constructed sites from which we speak about ourselves. Hall states that black Caribbean identities are shaped through two operative vectors: the vector of the continuity which is related to the past heritage and the vector the discontinuity which is the result of slavery, transportation and migration. In this sense, it is the Western world that unifies the blacks as much as it cuts them, at the same time, from direct access to their past. This colonial effect on the Caribbean positions the different regions of the Caribbean archipelago as both the same and different simultaneously. In relation to the West, we are positioned in the periphery, one space, one fate and one destiny; but in relation to each other, we have different cultural identities. These variations within cultural identities cannot be simply cinematically presented in simple binary oppositions as â€Å"past/present† or â€Å"them/us†. Drawing on the concept of â€Å"differance† which the French philosopher Jacque Derrida had developed, Hall explains that cultural identities which, generally, we think of as eternal and unified are instead, merely a temporary stabilization and arbitrary closure of meaning historically and culturally specific. Cultural identities are subject to the infinite nature of the semiosis of meanings and the endless supplementarity within those meanings. The complexities of the Caribbean cultural identities can be partly understood if we relate it to the three ‘presences’ over the islands: â€Å"the presence Africaine†, â€Å"the presence Europeenne† and the â€Å"presence Americain†, the terra incognita. The presence Africaine is the space of the repressed. It is inscribed in every aspect of the Caribbean everyday life and it is the secret, hidden code by which Western texts are re-read. This is the live Africa from which â€Å"the Third Cinemas† and other representations should derive their materials. The discontinuity and ruptures which are caused by slavery and transformation makes us aware of our â€Å"blackness†. It causes as to return back to our past to discover our real essence which unites us despite our differences. This process returning back enables the emergence of a ‘new Africa’ grounded on and necessarily connected to the symbolic ‘old Africa’. Our journey to the old Africa is an imaginative journey, a symbolic journey to the far past to make something of the present day Africa. The presence Europeenne, on the other hand, has positioned us in the rims of the centre and inscribes in us a sense of ambivalence manifested in our attitudes of and identification with the West, going backward and forward from moments of refusal to moments of recognition. Finally, the Americain or the â€Å"New World presence† constitutes the battleground where different cultures from different parts of the world grapples and collide with each other, what Mary Louse Pratt calls a â€Å"contact zone†. It is the ‘empty’ space, the third space or the space of no one. It is the place where the processes of creolizations, transformations, assimilations, syncretisms and displacements occur: It stands for the endless ways in which Caribbean people have been destined to ‘migrate'; it is the signifier of migration itself- of travelling, voyaging and return as fate, as destiny; of the Antillean as the prototype of the modern or postmodern New World nomad, continually moving between centre and periphery. 234) In this sense, the â€Å"New World presence†, the terra incognita, constitutes the very beginning of the Diaspora of the black presence, of diversity, hybridity, and difference. It is an open symbolic space which is constantly producing and re-producing, a space of heterogeneity of constant newness and uniqueness. The rich past of sameness and difference, of shared spiritual and cultural habits on the one hand and of memories of ruptures and discontinuities_ slavery, migration, transformation†¦_ on the other hand constitute â€Å"the reservoir of our cinematic [and other] narratives†. It is the real black Diaspora. Reference:Rutherford, Jonathan. Identity, Community, Culture and Difference. Ed. London: Lawrence & Wishart Limited, 1990.[ 1 ].All the quotations stated in this work are taken from Stuart Hall’s article ‘Cultural Identity and Diaspora’ in Jonathan, Rutherford. Identity, Community, Culture and Difference. Ed. London: Lawrence & Wishart Limited, 1990. PP 222–237