Wednesday, October 30, 2019

American Law Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

American Law - Essay Example The power is there restrained to Indians not members of any of the states, and is not to violate or infringe the legislative right of any state within its own limits. What description of Indians were to be deemed members of a state, had been a question of frequent contention and perplexity in the federal councils. And how the trade with Indians, though not members of a state, yet residing within its legislative jurisdiction, could be regulated by an external authority, without so far intruding on the internal rights of legislation, seems altogether incomprehensible. A regular system of free and speedy communication, is of vital importance to the mercantile interest, but on a wider scale we must also admit it to be of the first consequence to the general benefit. In time of peace, it tends to keep the people duly informed of their political interests; it assists the measures of government, and the private intercourse of individuals. During a war, the rapid communication of intelligence, by means of the post, and the greater facility of transferring bodies of men or munitions of war, to different places, by the aid of good roads, are evident advantages. If these establishments should in practice produce no revenue, the expense would be properly chargeable to the Union, and the proceeds of taxation in the common forms be justly applied to defray it. If, however, as has proved to be the case, the post office yields a revenue, which is with the other revenues of the United States applicable only to the general service, it is obvious, that no state o ught to interfere by establishing a post office of its own. This is therefore an exclusive power so far as relates to the conveyance of letters, &c. In regard to post roads, it is unnecessary, and therefore would be unwarrantable in congress where a sufficient road already exists, to make another; and on the other hand, no state has a power to deny or obstruct the passage of the mail, or the passage of troops, or the property of the United States over its public roads. The power given to congress, in respect to this subject, was brought into operation soon after the Constitution was adopted, and various provisions have at different times been enacted, founded on the principle of its being an exclusive power. It has been made a constitutional question, whether congress has a right to open a new mail road through a state or states for general purposes, involving the public benefit, and the same doubt has been extended to the right of appropriating money in aid of canals through states. At the end of the Revolution, the United States was in a difficult economic position. Its resources were drained, its credit shaky and

Monday, October 28, 2019

ESL learners feel anxious when doing reading comprehension tests Essay Example for Free

ESL learners feel anxious when doing reading comprehension tests Essay This paper will explore in depth all the implications of the claim that ESL learners feel anxious when doing reading comprehension tests. First of all, the psychological and social causes of anxiety in ESL speakers during reading comprehension assignments will be explored and analyzed. Secondly, the level of anxiety will be assessed. Finally, the paper will suggest several ways to reduce negative feeling associated with performing reading comprehension tests by ESL speakers. Psychological causes of anxiety in ESL students partially mirror the experience of any other school related anxiety. Students are unsure of their abilities under the conditions of internal (i. e. a desire for self-affirmation) and external (i. e. a desire to please parents) pressure. Presently, students feel an incredible pressure to achieve and be at the top of their class, since the realization that school grades determine their future comes very early. Therefore, the joy of learning is often transformed into a struggle to excel (DeNoon, 2007). High expectations and competitive environment contribute greatly to the experience of anxiety and even panic. As concerns the severity of anxiety experienced by ESL speakers, it might range from slight psychological discomfort to serious physical symptoms. For example, short-term memory loss might be the result of extreme anxiety (the feeling of suddenly ‘remembering’ the correct answer immediately after turning in the test). Physical expressions of anxiety may include rapid pulse, a feeling of breathlessness, trembling, sweaty palms, dry mouth, chest pains, digestive problems such as nausea or diarrhea, loss of appetite, headache, sleeplessness, and stomach ache (BUPAs Health Information Team, 2004). Anxiety may also result in undesirable social consequences, such as loss of trust between parents and students, since the latter sometimes tend to conceal the difficulties they encounter, as well as test results. Such behavior eventually results in unfavorable family atmosphere. The practical values of this research lies in the field of practices and methods aimed at eliminating the causes of anxiety and helping students benefit fully from the learning process. Negative thoughts about possible failure discourage active learning and, taken to extreme, can produce a generally devastating effect on personality development. Furthermore, anxiety during the testing process can distort result, since students who are able to control their emotions better will tend to get higher score, despite the fact that their knowledge might be less complete as compared to students who suffer from extreme anxiety. Together with exercises aimed at increasing students’ self-confidence, relaxation exercises might be very helpful for those who suffer from anxiety. It is also of paramount importance to teach students to plan their time for taking the test so that they would not feel lost and experience a state of panic. The methods of research will be qualitative and will include questionnaires and interviews. At one hand, questionnaires will help to gather statistically significant data and understand the pervasiveness of the problem. From another perspective, interviews will help to research the problem in depth by analyzing students’ perceptions, emotions, and experiences. Therefore, the combination of these research methods will provide the most accurate picture of anxiety in ESL speakers during reading comprehension tests.

Saturday, October 26, 2019

Hamlets Horatio - A Man of Thought, Fortinbras - A Man of Action :: comparison compare contrast essays

Hamlet: Horatio - A Man of Thought, Fortinbras - A Man of Action In the play Hamlet, William Shakespeare proposed two kinds of men. Horatio is the character who represents a man of thought. The other kind of man is represented by Fortinbras, a man of action. Hamlet is the character that manages to be both, thought and action. Hamlet failed to avenge his father's death because he was both. According to Shakespeare in the play Hamlet, a man could not succeed if ge was both action and thought. The most evident man of thought in the play was Horatio. Horatio sees the world with the eyes of a scholar and views things in a logical manner. Horatio sees the ghost and Hamlet says " There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, Than are dreamt of in your philosophy" (1.5.166-168). This reveals Horatio's attitude to the audience. It shows that Horatio only believes in what scholars say. Study is his only purpose I life. He is admired and used by others for his knowledge, The audience becomes aware of this admiration when the soldiers use Horatio the speak with the ghost. Marcellus says "Thou art a scholar; speak to it, Horatio" ( 1.1.42). The soldiers need Horatio because he is an educated man. As a man of thought Horatio has a significant role in helping society. Fortinbras is a man of action. He takes action before he thinks about the consequences of his actions. The king is making use of these characteristics when he says "we have to writ to Norway, uncle of young Fortinbras—Who impotent and bed-rid, scarcely hears of his nephew's purpose to suppress his further gait" (1.2.29-32). In this quote the king has stopped Fortinbras' invasion of Denmark. The king was able to do this because Fortinbras didn't consider what would happen if His uncle found out. Another quotation showing Fortinbras' action without thought is made by Hamlet. Hamlet has just learned of the invasion of Poland led by Fortinbras. When Hamlet says "The imminent death of twenty thousand men, that for a fantasy and trick of fame" (44.60-61) he is stating the consequences of Fortinbras' actions. Hamlet is saying that many men will die just so Fortinbras can be famous. Fortinbras is the character who best represents a man of action in this play. The hero of the play, Hamlet, Is a man of both action and thought. The cause of Hamlet's failure is being a man of both. Hamlet is aware that his thinking is getting in the way of his revenge.

Thursday, October 24, 2019

Assess the Impact of the Suez Crisis on the Conservative

Assess the impact of the Suez crisis on the conservative party 1955-1959 The conservative party managed to recuperate after the Suez crisis, which was a major low point in the party’s history. But how could the party bounce back after such a major event? The conservative’s policies changed to cater of everyone with re-established the conservatives as a strong party. The Suez crisis greatly affected the conservative party as a whole. For an example the lack of trust with the party.Eden secretly colluded with the Israelis, even when this want known by the public the war between the Israelis and the Egyptians looked like a convenient excuse to seize the canal. However aside from this inconvenience the conservative’s social policies had changed increasing the party’s popularity. Such as the economic prosperity at the time. Things such as TVs were becoming increasingly common in people homes. White good such as fridges and washing machines were too becoming inc reasingly common this prosperity ment people didn’t want change because the quality of life was getting better and there was no need for a change in government.And, as a result of perhaps the most distinctive Conservative policy of these years, home ownership rose from some 30 per cent to nearly 50 per cent, as the famous pledge given in 1950 to build 300, 000 new homes a year was redeemed by Macmillan as Housing Minister after 1951 – giving substance to the great Tory ideal of a property-owning democracy popularised by Anthony Eden after the war, as did the increase in personal savings from under ? 200 million to nearly ? 2, 000 million.Welfarism was also a policy of the conservative party, it ment that the poor were looked after by the government more than before by being provided council houses and of course the free healthcare provided by the NHS. The post-war „baby boom? meant that there was in any case a need for more schools and teachers, but a series of r eports arguably both highlighted the importance of education and influenced policy development. The Education Act 1944 had laid the foundations for a system of secondary education grounded in the idea of selection through the „11-plus? xamination, with some children progressing to grammar schools and others to secondary moderns, and in some places technical schools. However, during the 1950s a number of local authorities began to introduce an alternative model, comprehensive schools, but the Conservative Party, including in its general election manifestos in 1955 and 1959 manifestos promised to defend and develop grammar schools. Following the White Paper Secondary education for all a major school building programme took place, albeit mainly of secondary moderns.Within higher education, university colleges such as Sheffield and Southampton were upgraded to university status, and even before the publication of the Robbins report approval was given for seven new universities, in cluding East Anglia, Lancaster, Warwick and York. The economic policy of the Conservative Party is to help create the conditions in which the British people can steadily improve their standard of living. By the end of the decade, things were not going well.Staying in the Middle East had led step-by-step to the confrontation with President Gamal Abdel Nasser in Egypt, and the disastrous decision to seek his overthrow by force in collusion with Israel. The 1956 Suez Crisis was a savage revelation of Britain's financial and military weakness and destroyed much of what remained of Britain's influence in the Middle East. In the colonial territories, more active interference in social and economic matters, with a view to speeding the pace of development, had aroused wide opposition and strengthened nationalist movements.The economic policies of the conservative party were unconventional, such as using Keynesian economics, which was more on the socialist side. But sorting out unemployment was one of the reasons the party survived; it made them more popular with the working class. Keynes stated that Unemployment was due to a deficiency in the demand for goods and services. Governments could, by adjusting their own spending, overcome that deficiency. Control of the money supply and interest rates could also influence investment. Macmillan was convinced that this would solve the unemployment.The intervention in Suez was a disaster. US President Dwight Eisenhower was incensed. World opinion, especially that of the United States, together with the threat of Soviet intervention, forced Britain, France and Israel to withdraw their troops from Egypt. In Britain too there had been widespread outrage. A United Nations peacekeeping force was sent in to supervise the ceasefire and to restore order. The Suez Canal was cleared and reopened, but Britain in particular found it’s standing with the US weakened and its influence ‘east of Suez' diminished by the incident.Th e Suez Crisis strained Anglo-American relations, but as Cold War Allies in the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) they continued to cooperate, and by 1962 Britain had adopted the US Polaris missile system. During the period of opposition between the conservsatives and labour, the feud between the Gaitskellites and Bevanites continued. In 1954 Gaitskell and Bevan ran against each other for the position of Treasurer of the Labour Party, which was seen as a stepping-stone to the position of Party Leader.Gaitskell defeated Bevan. Following Labour's defeat in the 1955 election, Attlee announced his retirement as Party Leader. In the leadership election, the Labour left rallied around Bevan, while the Labour right was split between Gaitskell and Herbert Morrison. Gaitskell defeated both, gaining almost sixty percent of the vote, and on December 14, 1955, became both Leader of the Labour Party and Leader of the Opposition. Harold Macmillan took over as Prime Minister after Eden had resigned over the Suez crises.Soon after his appointment, Macmillan took part in a Ministerial broadcast so he could introduce himself to the British people. After seeing his performance, Macmillan commented that he had the â€Å"appearance of a corpse looking out of a window† and decided to learn television techniques. With his government losing by-elections and behind in the polls, Macmillan was confident enough to create events for television. During 1959 he visited the Soviet Union and made brief tours of most European countries.In August 1959 he invited the BBC to No 10 Downing Street so a live informal discussion with the American President Eisenhower could be shown on television. Afterwards both leaders went on to a dinner party held in No 10. The broadcast gave the impression of a statesman like Macmillan who was above politics. The following week, Macmillan announced the date of a General Election, which he would win by a landslide victory. Macmillan knew that televi sion was an important part of politics.The conservative party’s reputation declined after the Suez crisis. However the conservative party managed to recover quickly, from foreign policy to housing the party changed radically, incorporating socialist policies such as Keynesian economics and increasing spending on the welfare state. Altogether the socialist side of the party played to their advantage and the party stayed in power for 13 years. The Suez crisis was handled badly by Eden but after his resignation everything improved from housing to the economy.

Wednesday, October 23, 2019

Discuss Mr. Collins’ Proposal to Elizabeth Bennet in Jane Austen’s Novel ‘Pride & Prejudice’ Essay

‘It is a truth acknowledged, that a man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife’ This quote not only opens the novel, but also sets the tone of the narrative story. It says that a man in possession of money and being an eligible bachelor would have every spinster in the neighbourhood wanting to be his wife In the nineteenth century women were below men in status. Men owned everything. After the death of the master of the house all his possessions were given to the next male relative. In the novel as there were only five daughters Jane, Elizabeth, Kitty, Mary and Lydia and no males in the immediate family, so their mother, Mrs. Bennet, as she is called in the novel is determined to get her daughters married as soon as possible. When the Bennet family received the letter from Mr.Collins, which included the words, ‘.. Assure you of my readiness to make them every possible amends, but of this hereafter’ this shows that Mr. Collins was hinting that he is looking for a wife. When Mrs. Bennet read this she was pleased at the news. When the daughters heard of his visit, they were not as pleased as their mother, ‘ He must be an oddity†¦ I cannot make him out†¦ The is something very pompous in his style.’ They also added that in his letter there was a mixture of servility and self-importance. Elizabeth was stuck with his extraordinary deference to Lady Catherine de Bourgh, his patroness. Mr.Collins visited the family with the sole purpose of finding a wife, in his letter he states, ‘ I feel it my duty to promote and establish the blessing of peace in all families..’ this is just an excuse to come to Longbourn because he really wanted to ‘admire’ the girls and propose to one of them. Mr.Collins didn’t really want to get married, it was actually his patroness; Lady Catherine de Bourgh who had recommend, advised or rather orders him to marry and wished to comply with her wishes. When Mr.Collins arrived, out of all the sisters only Mary thought anything of him but everyone else found faults in him. Mrs.Bennet also had the same opinions as her daughter, she knew he would be a suitable husband for one of her daughters because he knew Lady Catherine and lived near her. When he arrives D he wished to propose to the eldest daughter, Jane, but soon found out she was to be engaged to Mr.Bingly. Mr.Collins had only to change from Jane to Elizabeth and it was, ‘Done while Mrs.Bennet was stirring the fire’ Mr.Collins obviously didn’t have true feelings towards Jane or Elizabeth, since he was able to change his mind so quickly. He obviously only wanted to please his patroness. Elizabeth was very intelligent, independent and her interests in many different things like reading, playing the piano, singing, needlework and dancing. She believed marriage had to have an element of love and not just wealth like her mother believed. When Mr.Collins proposed to her, as a reader we knew that she had an independent mind. In the proposal, Mr.Collins made it quite obvious that the proposal was more of a business transaction and he asked for a chance to speak with Elizabeth, ‘May I hope, madam, for your interest with your fair Elizabeth, when I solicit for a private audience with her..’ before Elizabeth could even blush with surprise, Mrs.Bennet instantly answered. Elizabeth begged her mother not to go, but Mrs.Bennet obviously knew what Mr.Collins had in mind and insisted that she stayed with Mr.Collins. At this time Mr.Collins really thought she was being shy and modest tried to add it to a compliant, ‘.. your modesty, so far from doing disservice, rather adds to your perfections.’ Elizabeth would have had a clear idea that he was about to propose to her. Mr.Collins started off staying, ‘Almost as soon as I entered the house, I singled you out as the companion of my future life.’ This was not true to the reader, as the truth is that he was going to propose to the eldest daughter, Miss Jane Bennet, but when he heard the news of her engagement he changed to Elizabeth. Mr.Collins then came out with his first reason for his proposal, ‘†¦first that I think it a right thing for every clergyman in easy circumstances (like myself) to set the example of matrimony in the parish;’ This shows he obviously wants to marry her to set a good example to his parish, it also this shows her doesn’t care about her, but what Lady Catherine de Bourgh wishes and his reputation. He then states, ‘..secondly, that I am convinced it will add very greatly to my happiness;..’ Once again he is showing that he thinks marriage will bring him happiness, he has no idea that marriage is suppose to be about being in love, trust, companionship and getting to know each other beforehand. ‘.. and thirdly-which perhaps I ought to have mentioned earlier, that it is the particular advice and recommendation of the very noble lady whom I have the honour of calling patroness.’ This is actually the only true reason that he wants to marry her, to please Lady Catherine de Bourgh. Mr.Collins is frightened of not complying with her wishes. He sees her suggestion as an order or a command and he would never disobey her because he is very aware of her superior rank in the society, this shows him to be cowardly, weak and rather silly man who can be easily intimidated. He wants Elizabeth to see Lady Catherine’s advice and recommendation as her wanting to see Mr.Collins happy, settled down and to carry on working for her. He then went on and tried to compliment Elizabeth and make her see that Lady Catherine will welcome her into her estate. In his reasons for the proposal he had no references to Elizabeth’s happiness which showed how self-centred he really was. The connection that she could have with Lady Catherine and show she could boast about knowing a person of high status, was the real reason that he could give her for accepting the proposal. This showed how little he knew about Elizabeth’s personality, as this reason would not have meant anything to her. Elizabeth would bot feel inferior to people of higher rank in society. Mr.Collins then went on about how she would have pressure to wed when she gets to her late twenties, ‘ As I am to inherit this estate after the death of your honoured (who, however may live for many years), I could not satisfy myself without resolving to chuse a wife among his daughters, that the loss to them might be as little as possible.’ This comment was to persuade Elizabeth’s decision and make her feel guilty if she was to refuse his proposal, because her unmarried sisters and mother would have nothing if they were made to move out of their home. He was certain she would accept his proposal when he used his persuasive comment because he thought himself was a worthy choice, that he was already making plans for their married life, ‘you may assure yourself that no ungenerous reproach shall ever pass my lips when we are married.’ Elizabeth found it necessary to interrupt him by telling him that she hasn’t given him an answer and politely. Mr.Collins being so full of self-importance saw he refusal as a way to make him more passionate, ‘It is usual with young ladies to reject the address of the man whom they secretly mean to accept.’ Elizabeth was not that type of girl to lead a man on or to keep him waiting and stated she was not the girl who would have been foolish enough to risk her future happiness on the chance of being asked again by someone she truly loved and Mr.Collins failed to see that, ‘I cannot therefore by no means discouraged by what you have just said, and shall hope to lead you to the altar ere long.’ Elizabeth tried to make it even clearer, without being rude and even added that Lady Catherine would not approve of her independent mind and he would not want to upset his patroness by choosing an inappropriate partner. Even when Elizabeth gives him these reasons for refusal he still continues, ‘I cannot imagine that her ladyship would at all disapprove of you’ The reader will know that he has once again mis-judged her character. Later on in the novel Elizabeth and Lady Catherine are introduced to each other. Lady Catherine clearly despises Elizabeth’s outspoken manner and lack of awe. Elizabeth, getting annoyed by the lack by his persistence still behaved as a young lady and had to remain polite and assure him that he could only leave Longbourn feeling he has done his duty. ‘In making me the offer, you must satisfied the delicacy of your feelings with regard to my family.’ She then went to leave the room, thinking he had finally understood her, but Mr.Collins was persistent and had not understand why she refused such a great and wonderful proposal, as he thought himself eligible and worthy husband. He tried once again to change her mind, ‘My situation in life, my connection with the family of de Bourgh and my relationship to your own, are circumstances of high favour’. Mr.Collins the greatly insulted her, as she was just to leave the room, ‘it is by no means certain, that another offer of marriage may be ever be made to you’ , but as a reader we know that that is certainly not true.

Tuesday, October 22, 2019

The Natural Cafe Essay

The Natural Cafe Essay The Natural Cafe Essay Vanessa Wiley English VO1A Evaluating Essay The Natural Cafà © Now-a-days everyone is looking for a way to eat healthier meals. More and more you’ll see vegetarian and vegan restaurants becoming the â€Å"it† place to eat. While we all want to eat healthier, a lot of us don’t have the time to cook meals ourselves every night and are forced to eat out. The Natural Cafà © is a fantastic restaurant to go to for a healthy, reasonably priced meal, but lacks in traditional restaurant customer service. The Natural Cafà © is a small chain of restaurants based throughout Ventura County that serves health hearty meals with organic ingredients. It is open every day for lunch and dinner and they have pick up and to-go orders as well. The restaurant is very earth friendly and recycles all of their glass, cans, and paper. As you walk in the door of the restaurant they have really set the tone for a serene and calm setting. There are very high ceilings and splashes of earth tone colors, like green and deep yellows and oranges and brown, cover the walls. There are plenty of spacious dining tables to choose from once you order. The booths are wooden and not too comfortable to sit in but it gives to that nature feel in the dining area. Like most cafà ©s there is seating outside as well. The outside seating area has patio heaters with tables and chairs with padding. For the vegetarian or vegan, they have a variety of different veggie options and for the meat lovers they offer entrees from a great chicken enchilada to an even better turkey burger. They also offer natural sodas, made-to order fresh fruit and vegetable smoothies, and also beer and wine. Everything is prepared fresh daily. When you pay to eat at a restaurant, you should be waited on from the time you step foot in the door. There should be a hostess there to greet the customer, show them to their table and handed a menu. At The Natural Cafà ©, you are in charge of seating yourself after ordering your meal at the counter. That can be good for the customer that likes the freedom to sit where they please. There is no one waiting at the door to greet you; instead, you will be greeted by an employee standing in the opposite direction behind a cash register that will let you know where you can grab a menu and when you are ready, she will take your order at the counter. This is informal for the customer that would like to relax and take their time to sit down and think about what sounds good on the menu without being rushed. The menus are usually hanging in a slot on the right side just before you walk down toward the cashier. The cashier is very friendly and if you have questions about something on the menu the employee is more than happy to answer it. They are very aware of what ingredients are used and how it tastes. After giving your order at the counter, you’re given a number to be set at your table. This is so that the person bringing out your food will know what order is yours. To some people, that could be impersonal and considered rude to the paying customer. Also, if there were a waiter that took the order at the table the waiter sat them at, the food would come out faster and hotter because that waiter would know whose table to bring it to and not have to look all over the restaurant for your number on the table. The food should look appetizing and taste delicious. Not everyone wants to eat healthier unless it looks and tastes tempting. The Natural Cafà © does a great job at making their entrees look presentable and the smell of the juicy Gobbler Burger-which is a popular item on the menu- lets you know it’s going to taste amazing. This meal is served on an ov al shaped glass plate that comes in a variety of different earthly colors to go with the â€Å"nature† theme. The burger is made of ground turkey that is char-broiled and topped with grilled red onions, lettuce, tomato, and sprouts and served on a whole wheat bun with 1000 island dressing and you can add cheese if you’d like. On

Monday, October 21, 2019

Losing Independence of India Essays

Losing Independence of India Essays Losing Independence of India Essay Losing Independence of India Essay All of us have gathered here to celebrate the 67 th Independence Day of our great Bharath Varsha. At this juncture, I want to express my perspective of Independence. Independence is such a beautiful word that reminds us of Freedom and all niceties associated with it.In all these 67 years we have managed to talk what we want, see what we like, develop technology, invade space, build nuclear bombs, choose our brands, elect our leaders, create business empires, chat and tweet and so on and so forth. What we have gained so far has been heart-warming but what we have truly lost is heart-rending. What is Independence? Independence is simply non-depending, a stand-alone. We have the right to call us Independents only when we are back to what we were? I am about to espouse on the Independences we are still to possess. Shocked? Sad? But true.Cultural Independence For Millennia, India has been the beacon of culture and civil. No other culture can compare with ours. We, Indians, can proudly say that we have actually sown the seeds of Civilization. Having been pioneers and peers of lifestyle, the current happenings in our lives is bitter and disappointing. Sad, but true. Having been slaves to a 300 year old regime, we have submitted ourselves so completely and shamelessly. We have totally ignored our glory and heritage. We are DEPENDANT and have adopted their language, dress, education, and manners. Where is our sense of Propriety?Do we lack the talent or are we inferior to anyone? No, No and No. Our immense talent and IQ have been proved beyond doubt. We have to obtain our independence from this cultural catastrophe. Folks I can quote China, Russia, France, Germany, Japan all undisputed technological giants and members of G8 learning and augmenting their skills only in their respective mother tongues and nobody has changed their identity or their culture in the past millennia. But, what about us? We have sacrificed our mother tongue, and have miserably succumbed to the Im perialist’s ploy.Friends, I am no enemy to any language, but as an independent Indian, I am only trying to get off my dependency of foreign language and foreign culture. Sad, but true Eating Independence Our great Bharat varsha is home to multiple delicacies to the vast multitudes, all well-balanced diet, rich in proteins and vitamins. This food that has nourished our bodies and souls, through these millennia, is now perceived as outmoded and outdated with the advent of Imported junk snacks. The youth of the present have become dependent of these and have become obese. Let us gain our Independence from these agents of obesity.Sad, but true. Character Independence I am pained to own up that we Indians have taken for granted that dishonesty is the way of life†. We have started voting for â€Å"Not the Honestâ€Å", but â€Å"the least Dishonest†. Sad, but true. Whilst our ithihasas, puranas, Upanishads and Vedas keep extolling honesty, and we being paradigm of tr uth once upon a time, now have lost ourselves in myriad of lies and corrupt practices perpetrated by our 300-year Masters. No doubt, Gandhiji is the epitome of truth to this world, but we Indians have managed to keep him only in our currency but discarded him from our lives. Sad, but true.Education Independence I have a complaint against on not what we learn but on what we don’t learn. Our exhaustive culture always aims at making every individual a worthy one. Through shlokas, poetry, epics and tales, our ancestors have always strived to bring the best potential in every human being. But where are those now. Not even grandmothers of this day know them. I strongly request the appropriate Authorities to reinstate those Moral Science classes and nurture those epics, which have been part and parcel of our lives for so long. Lifestyle Independence Odi Vilayadu Pappa, Nee Oynthirikka lakathu PappaSang the great Mahakavi. But where is the space now. Living in a concrete jungle, hard pressed for time we end up doing different things but no things differently. We do not have time for outdoor games, we are so engrossed with television and computers. We can’t frequent out because of pollution and traffic. Late to bed and late to rise is the order which ends up in losing. We have lost our originality and deprived our kids of what the Great Mahakavi sung. We do not even go for excursions, where we can enjoy each others’ company, as these days most of us are allergic to bus travel.Whither gost the comradeship? Whither gost the friendship? Sad but true. Parents, Teachers, all elders and the revered Chief Guest, please make us Independent. Kindly bring us back our epics, culture, food, honesty as a habit, and the brilliant childhood that you had enjoyed. We deserve it. I am feeling sad, nevertheless it is true. Fortunately we have full Independence to do what we think. I request you to think and provide us with the Independence that makes us complete pers onalities, say humans with virtue, not just Engineers and Doctors. Thanking you in advance. Jai Hind. Jai Bharath

Sunday, October 20, 2019

The New SAT Math What’s Changing

The New SAT Math What’s Changing SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips Starting in March 2016, there will be a newly redesigned SAT. The new SAT only has two sections: Evidence-Based Reading and Writing and Math. While most people are focused on the changes to the Reading and Writing section, there have been a few changes to the SAT Math section that are important to know. What are these changes? How will your SAT study strategy need to change? I’ll delve into that and more in this guide. Math: The Major Changes in the 2016 New SAT Let's go through each of the important alterations to the math section of the test. Two Sections: One With Calculator, One With No Calculator On the old SAT, the whole math section allowed you to use a calculator. On the new SAT, the math section is divided into two portions: one which allows calculator and one which does not. The non-calculator portion will always be the third section of the test. The calculator portion will always be the fourth section of the test. Don't be afraid of the no-calculator section. The reason you’re not allowed a calculator is you should be able to solve these questions without one. Some of the skills required to answer these no calculator questions include: Simple math (addition, subtraction, multiplication, division) Simplifying single equations or phrases (using the FOIL method) Solving a system of two equations Knowing square roots (or being able to find a square root by multiplying) Being familiar with powers (and how to reconfigure powers). These questions can get somewhat challenging. Here is a sample no calculator question (from an official practice SAT) that requires you to use your knowledge of powers: If $3x-y=12$, what is the value of ${8^x}/{2^y}$? A) $2^12$B) $4^4$C) $8^2$D) The value cannot be determined from the information given. Answer Explanation: One approach is to express $${8^x}/{2^y}$$ so that the numerator and denominator are expressed with the same base. Since 2 and 8 are both powers of 2, substituting $2^3$ for 8 in the numerator of ${8^x}/{2^y}$ gives $${(2^3)^x}/{2^y}$$ which can be rewritten $${2^(3x)}/{2^y}$$ Since the numerator and denominator of have a common base, this expression can be rewritten as $2^(3x−y)$. In the question, it states that $3x − y = 12$, so one can substitute 12 for the exponent, $3x − y$, giving that the $${8^x}/{2^y}= 2^12$$ The final answer is A. Here is a sample no calculator question that requires you to simplify: If $x3$, which of the following is equivalent to $1/{1/{x+2}+1/{x+3}}$? A) ${2x+5}/{x^2+5x+6}$ B) ${x^2+5x+6}/{2x+5}$ C) $2x+5$ D) $x^2+5x+6$ Answer Explanation: In order to find the answer, you need to rewrite the original phrase and to do that you need to multiply it by ${(x+2)(x+3)}/{(x+2)(x+3)}$. When you multiply through, you should get ${(x+2)(x+3)}/{(x+2)+(x+3)}$. Continue simplifying by multiplying $(x+2)(x+3)$ in the numerator and simplifying the denominator by completing the addition of $(x+2)+(x+3)$. You should then get: $${x^2+5x+6}/{2x+5}$$ That matches answer choice B, so that is the final answer! Less Emphasis on Geometry Geometry took up about 25-35% of questions on the old SAT, but it will now account for less than 10% of questions on the new SAT. The questions will remain relatively the same, but there will simply be less of them. Here is a sample Geometry question from a new SAT practice test: Answer Explanation: The volume of the grain silo can be found by adding the volumes of all the solids of which it is composed (a cylinder and two cones). The silo is made up of a cylinder (with height 10 feet and base radius 5 feet) and two cones (each with height 5 ft and base radius 5 ft). The formulas given at the beginning of the SAT Math section (Volume of a Cone $V={1}/{3}Ï€r^2h$ and Volume of a Cylinder $V=Ï€r^2h$) can be used to determine the total volume of the silo. Since the two cones have identical dimensions, the total volume, in cubic feet, of the silo is given by $$V_(silo)=Ï€(5)^2(10)+(2)({1}/{3})Ï€(5)^2(5)=({4}/{3})(250)Ï€$$ which is approximately equal to 1,047.2 cubic feet. The final answer is D. Also, somewhat ironically, although the number of Geometry questions is decreasing, the College Board decided to give you more Geometry formulas in the reference section, which is at the beginning of the SAT Math sections. The reference section lists some formulas and laws for you to use when answering questions. Here is the old reference section: Here is the new reference section: In addition to the formulas included in the old reference section, the College Board has included the volume formulas for a sphere, cone, and pyramid. Also, the College Board gives you an additional law of Geometry: "the number of radians of arc in a circle is 2Ï€." For a full list of provided formulas and formulas you should memorize, read our guide to formulas you must know. Want to learn more about the SAT but tired of reading blog articles? Then you'll love our free, SAT prep livestreams. Designed and led by PrepScholar SAT experts, these live video events are a great resource for students and parents looking to learn more about the SAT and SAT prep. Click on the button below to register for one of our livestreams today! Increased Focus on Algebra Algebra will now account for more than half of the questions in the SAT math section. While algebra was always a part of the math section, it’s now being emphasized even more. These questions can be very tricky because they ask you to apply algebra in unique ways. Some of the algebra skills required to succeed on the SAT math section include: Solving linear equations Solving a system of equations Creating linear equations or system of equations to solve problems (used in the example below). Creating, analyzing, solving and graphing exponential, quadratic, and other non-linear equations. The following example algebra question is from a real new SAT practice question: Answer Explanation: To solve this problem, you should create two equations using two variables ($x$ and $y$) and the information you’re given. Let $x$ be the number of left-handed female students and let $y$ be the number of left-handed male students. Using the information given in the problem, the number of right-handed female students will be $5x$, and the number of right-handed male students will be $9y$. Since the total number of left-handed students is 18 and the total number of right-handed students is 122, the system of equations below must be true: $$x + y = 18$$ $$5x + 9y = 122$$ When you solve this system of equations, you get $x = 10$ and $y = 8$. Thus, 50 of the 122 right-handed students are female. Therefore, the probability that a right-handed student selected at random is female is ${50}/{122}$, which to the nearest thousandth is 0.410. The final answer is A. Increased Focus on Modeling The new SAT math section has a new type of question which asks you to think about what equations or models mean. You will be given a model or equation and be asked to explain what certain parts mean or represent. These questions are weird because they're asking you to do something you rarely do: they ask you to analyze the significance of the number or variable in context rather than solve the equation. Here is a sample modeling question from a new SAT practice test: Kathy is a repair technician for a phone company. Each week, she receives a batch of phones that need repairs. The number of phones that she has left to fix at the end of each day can be estimated with the equation $P=108-23d$, where $P$ is the number of phones left and $d$ is the number of days she has worked that week. What is the meaning of the value 108 in this equation? A) Kathy will complete the repairs within 108 days.B) Kathy starts each week with 108 phones to fix.C) Kathy repairs phones at a rate of 108 per hour.D) Kathy repairs phones at a rate of 108 per day. Answer Explanation: In the given equation, $108$ is the value of $P$ in $P = 108 − 23d$ when $d = 0$. When $d = 0$, Kathy has worked $0$ days that week. In other words, $108$ is the number of phones left before Kathy has started work for the week. Therefore, the meaning of $108$ in the given equation is that Kathy starts each week with $108$ phones to fix because she has worked $0$ days and has $108$ phones left to fix. The final answer is B. More Advanced Topics Addition of Trigonometry Trigonometry had never been asked on the SAT Math section†¦ until now! Trigonometry will now account for as many as 5% of math questions. You'll be tested on your knowledge of sine and cosine. Here is a sample trigonometry question from a real new SAT practice test: In triangle $ABC$, the measure of angle $∠  B$ is 90 °, $BC=16$, and $AC=20$. Triangle $DEF$ is similar to triangle $ABC$, where vertices $D$, $E$, and $F$ correspond to vertices $A$, $B$, and $C$, respectively, and each side of triangle $DEF$ is $1/3$ the length of the corresponding side of triangle $ABC$. What is the value of sin$F$? (This is a grid-in question, not multiple choice, so there are no answer choices listed with the question.) Answer Explanation: Triangle ABC is a right triangle with its right angle at B. Therefore, $\ov {AC}$ is the hypotenuse of right triangle ABC, and $\ov {AB}$ and $\ov {BC}$ are the legs of right triangle ABC. According to the Pythagorean theorem, $$AB =√{20^2-16^2}=√{400-256}=√{144}=12$$ Since triangle DEF is similar to triangle ABC, with vertex F corresponding to vertex C, the measure of $\angle ∠  {F}$ equals the measure of $\angle ∠  {C}$. Therefore, $sin F = sin C$. From the side lengths of triangle ABC, $$sinF ={\opposite \side}/{\hypotenuse}={AB}/{AC}={12}/{20}={3}/{5}$$ Therefore, $sinF ={3}/{5}$. The final answer is ${3}/{5}$ or 0.6. Addition of i Questions asking you to use $i$ have been added to the new SAT math section. On the exam, problems that use $i$ will always remind you that $i=√(-1)$. However, you should know that this also means $i^2=-1$. You should otherwise approach problems that use $i$ in the same way you'd approach any other math problem. Let's attempt this $i$ example problem below: $${8-i}/{3-2i}$$ If the expression above is written in the form $a+bi$, where $a$ and $b$ are real numbers, what is the value of $a$? (Note: $i=√{-1}$) A) $2$ B) $8/3$ C) $3$ D) $11/3$ Answer Explanation: To rewrite ${8-i}/{3-2i}$ in the standard form $a + bi$, you need to multiply the numerator and denominator of ${8-i}/{3-2i}$ by the conjugate, $3 + 2i$. This equals $$({8-i}/{3-2i})({3+2i}/{3+2i})={24+16i-3i+(-i)(2i)}/{(3^2)+(2i)^2}$$ Since $i^2=-1$, this last fraction can be reduced simplified to $$ {24+16i-3i+2}/{9-(-4)}={26+13i}/{13}$$ which simplifies further to $2 + i$. Therefore, when${8-i}/{3-2i}$ is rewritten in the standard form $a + bi$, the value of a is 2. The final answer is A. How Does Your Study Strategy for SAT Math Need to Change? Let's go through the key steps you need to take to prepare for this new version of the test. Practice Mental Math Since there is a non-calculator portion of the new SAT math section, you need to be prepared to do math without a calculator! Make sure you’re sharp on your basic math skills (adding (including adding fractions), subtracting, multiplying, dividing). Also, make sure you know some common square roots (and squared numbers). My advice for making sure you're ready for the non-calculator portion of the new SAT math section is to practice a lot. Make sure you take every free new SAT practice test available. Don’t use your calculator on the non-calculator section and see how you do! Practice makes perfect! However, to get really good at your mental math, you need to stick to the real testing conditions. Realistic practice makes perfect! Spend Most of Your Study Time on Algebra Since algebra counts for 50% or more of the new SAT math section, you need to make sure your algebra skills are at maximum strength! Check out our two fantastic algebra guides for help with systems of equations and linear, quadratic, and algebraic functions. Make sure you get realistic practice. Take every free new SAT practice test available, and make sure to do a thorough review of your test. Get Familiar With Advanced Topics For trigonometry, don’t worry about spending too much time on it since it accounts for less than 5% of questions, but you should make sure you know the basic trigonometry formulas you’ll need to use and how to apply them. If you have the basic trigonometry formulas (sine and cosine) memorized and know how to apply them, then you should be able to answer most SAT math trigonometry questions. Since trigonometry only accounts for about 5% of the math section, only spend about 5% of your SAT math study time on it. For $\bi i$, also don't worry too much. There are usually only 1-3 $i$ questions per test. As I said before, the problems that use $i$ will always remind you that $i=√(-1)$. Just make sure you remember that if $i=√(-1)$ then $i^2=-1$. If you keep this in mind, you should be able to solve the $i$ questions on the SAT. The Bottom Line Though the changes to the new SAT math section might feel major, they're actually relatively subtle. There has been a slight shift in the material covered, which means there needs to be a shift in how much time you spend studying certain math topics. The questions asked are generally more straightforward than those on the previous SAT math. The Major Changes to Math Are: #1: Less geometry (down to less than 10%)#2: More algebra and modeling (50% or more of the test)#3: Trigonometry and $i$ have been added#4: You’re not allowed to use your calculator on one portion of the math test You Should Change Your Study Strategy By: #1: Knowing your mental math#2: Focusing your time on algebra#3: Learning trigonometry and $i$ (but not spending too much time on them) What’s Next? Need to brush up on some basic math in preparation for the no-calculator section? Our articles on the distributive property, perfect squares, inequalities, adding and subtracting fractions, and tips for easy multiplication can help. Want a ratio and proportions challenge? Try calculating how many seconds there are in a day, week, and year, then check your process and answers here! Interested in testing yourself with the hardest SAT math questions out there? Check out our 13 toughest SAT math question guide. Running out of time on the SAT math section? Our guide will help you beat the clock and maximize your score. Aiming for a perfect score? Check out our guide on how to get a perfect 800 on the SAT math section, written by a perfect scorer. Want to improve your SAT score by 160 points? Check out our best-in-class online SAT prep program. We guarantee your money back if you don't improve your SAT score by 160 points or more. Our program is entirely online, and it customizes what you study to your strengths and weaknesses. If you liked this Math strategy guide, you'll love our program. Along with more detailed lessons, you'll get thousands of practice problems organized by individual skills so you learn most effectively. We'll also give you a step-by-step program to follow so you'll never be confused about what to study next. Check out our 5-day free trial:

Saturday, October 19, 2019

Buddhism1 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Buddhism1 - Essay Example Thirdly, I was surprised to learn that Buddhism to a certain extent is a rebel religion. I never thought that it is important to engage the analysis of Hinduism which is the dominant spiritual tradition in the area when it comes to understanding the true meaning of the religion in question. The part of the text which dealt with four noble truths as well as eightfold path was extremely informative for me since it contained a brief summary of the Buddhist teaching and allowed me to learn the fundamental concepts of it in a short period of time. Finally, having read the text, I think that there is a great future ahead Buddhism. Indeed, while other religions are primarily based on some miracles and encourage people to look outside for the answers, Buddhism argues that all the answers are inside. I believe that numerous people around the world would find the tenets of this spiritual tradition quite interesting and will be willing to incorporate it into their

Friday, October 18, 2019

Maintenance of fish diversity on disturbed coral reefs Article

Maintenance of fish diversity on disturbed coral reefs - Article Example However, other studies have also shown that certain types of disturbances such as coral disease and bleaching, during which the structural complexity of the coral reefs are maintained, may actually not cause any change in species richness thus stressing the point that the extent of habitat damage and the condition of the reef will determine the fish species richness. The study analyzed the data collected from surveys carried out for a period of 11 years to determine the effect of various disturbances on the coral cover, structural complexity of the reef and diversity of the fishes. The biological and physical changes in coral reef and its consequent effect on the reef fish community were analyzed. The study encompassed documenting the changes occurring in the coral cover, structural complexity and species richness in 10 reefs along the GBR. The major disturbances that were found to occur during the study period included COTS outbreaks, storms and coral bleaching. Disturbed reefs coll ected from 47 areas which were subjected to such disturbances were used for the study.

Lower Divison Capstone Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Lower Divison Capstone - Essay Example These new ventures are being opened in the lesser developed urban centers of Australia. Basic legal environment They are the factors associated with the legal environment of the firm. In Australia, there have been many changes in the legal framework of the firm such as increase in minimum wage, introduction of disability and age discrimination legislation and greater requirements of the firms to keep the standard requirements by the Law. These changes have helped JB Hi-Fi to be up to standard in offering the best services to the customers. It has also facilitated it new projects that aim at expanding the customer reach (Porter, M., 1998). Social environment Demand for a firm’s product depends on the social trends in a country, the willingness and availability affects the rate of demand. In Australia, like any other developed country, the population is aging because of increasing life expectancy and low infertility. This has resulted to very few people with the age below fiftee n years and being a threat to the company because the market is stagnant (Porter 1998). Economic environment These include taxation changes, interest rates, exchange rates, inflation and economic growth. Demand for a certain firm’s product may rise because of an increase in national income. Investments are always discouraged by increase in interest rates. Wage demand may be proved by inflation because overall demand drops. Taxation leads to increase in price because an increase pushes the price upwards thus discouraging demand, this call for new strategies to dominate the market such as starting up new ventures in other regions (Richard 2002). Managerial, operational and financial operations of the company Project management Project management defines the following: business and project goals and objectives, project purpose, scope and expectations, constrains and assumptions, roles and responsibilities, expectation and scope, project management, project budget, ground rules o f the project, the conceptual of the new advanced technology and project timeline. Many objectives and goals have resulted from implementation of this quality project by the management. These includes: market dominance, healthy competition, availing quality products at low cost, encouraging remunerations which enhances effectiveness and the ability of staff to perform their job, increases the security of the data and provides a flexible, open, reliable base for the future (Disaster Recovery 2011). Critical paths and Contingency planning In a project plan, a project schedule is the main plan included in any project management. The main purpose of project schedule is bringing project time, quality and cost under control. It also helps in linking resources such as time and task. Once the project manager has efforts estimates, work breakdown structure (WBS), he/she is fully equipped for project schedule. The risks involved in any project are avoided and analyzed by the project schedule; the Critical Path Methodology (CPM) comes in because it is one of the elements of the schedule network analysis together with Critical Chain Project Management (CCPM) (Australian Bureau of Statistics 2011).

Thursday, October 17, 2019

Investigating Leadership Development practices in Private Sector in Literature review

Investigating Leadership Development practices in Private Sector in Oman - Literature review Example e changes within the organization, it is important for the leader to first understand the fears of the employees as well as anticipating their questions (MacKenzie, 2013). It is this understanding which will assist in the leader gaining support for a change instead of opposition which might lead to the failure in the structure of the organization. The leader has to realize that organizations that are successful in enforcing change do so through embracing strategic value of communication with employees. The leader should ensure that communication takes place before the change is implemented, during the change process, and after the transition of the organization. Therefore, it is essential that throughout the entire transition process of the organization, to constantly have communication. It has been claimed that in order for a leader to be effective, the first strategy that he should have in mind involves focusing on issues related to the people (Cashman, 1997). In such a scenario, the leader can focus solely on convincing the most talented people within the organization as well as those who hold key positions to accept his vision for the organization’s future. The need to convince such individuals is based on the fact that they are the ones who are most likely to offer resistance in case they are not convinced of the strategies being adopted by the leader. Therefore, continuity should be ensured through an understanding of the business and the leader’s realization that his vision affects the successful future of the organization (Harris & Cole, 2007). If a leader does not put this understanding into consideration when making decisions, he might face a challenge where a pivotal talent does not exist. The presence of communication between the leader and key employees; his ensuring that employees are empowered and the creation of a culture that enables them thrive are an integral part of focus on people during integration. The effective communication from the

Comprehensive Mental Health Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Comprehensive Mental Health - Essay Example Diagnosis 3: Risk of serious malnutrition and existing malnutrition indicated by greater than 1 lb weight loss in a week, which is probably related to this current illness. The patient's feeling of heaviness of limbs, back, head, and aches in the same areas; loss of energy and fatigability, difficulty eating without the staff urging poses risks for further malnutrition. Gastrointestinal symptoms of dry mouth and somatic psychic gastrointestinal symptoms of depression manifested by wind, indigestion, diarrhoea, cramps, belching may aggravate the decreased appetite. Slight retardation at interview may indicate lassitude, and irritability may further aggravate loss of appetite, since it may represent inner tension representing feelings of ill-defined discomfort, edginess, inner turmoil, mental tension mounting to panic, dread or anguish that may lead to further loss of desire for food. Priority 1: Diagnosis 1: Risk for Injury related to hopelessness and impaired pro... ion manifested by suicide attempt in the current admission and sadness, suicidal thoughts, dejection, or episodes of weeping on assessment and feeling of rejection, despondence, self-reproach, and hopelessness indicated by expressions of feelings of discouragement, despair, pessimism about future, which cannot be dispelled. Also, current serious attempts of suicide and helplessness and worthlessness indicated by patient's statement on interrogation. Rationale of the Priority 1: Depressed individuals have negative evaluation of their worth, which often is unrealistic. They are known to have guilty preoccupations or ruminations about minor past failings, where always they blame themselves. It is very common for these individuals to misinterpret neutral or trivial everyday events as due to failure of his or her person. Their exaggerated sense of responsibility for untoward events makes them very commonly feel hopeless, helpless, worthless and powerless. Due to her previous history of paranoid schizophrenia, it would be natural to expect possibility of disorganized thought processes, such as circumstantial or tangential thinking. Although there is no evidence of such in examination or history, there is a high possibility of hallucinations and delusions. Any assessment of depression requires that the risk of self-harm or suicide be assessed. This is the first priority since patient safety if the first nursing priority. In this patien t, due to attempted suicide and related admission, this becomes a greater priority. In depressed patients, self-harm and suicide are very prevalent. Anyone showing symptoms of severe depression, especially psychomotor retardation and/or psychotic symptoms should be regarded as at high risk of suicide, as should anyone who has previously

Wednesday, October 16, 2019

Investigating Leadership Development practices in Private Sector in Literature review

Investigating Leadership Development practices in Private Sector in Oman - Literature review Example e changes within the organization, it is important for the leader to first understand the fears of the employees as well as anticipating their questions (MacKenzie, 2013). It is this understanding which will assist in the leader gaining support for a change instead of opposition which might lead to the failure in the structure of the organization. The leader has to realize that organizations that are successful in enforcing change do so through embracing strategic value of communication with employees. The leader should ensure that communication takes place before the change is implemented, during the change process, and after the transition of the organization. Therefore, it is essential that throughout the entire transition process of the organization, to constantly have communication. It has been claimed that in order for a leader to be effective, the first strategy that he should have in mind involves focusing on issues related to the people (Cashman, 1997). In such a scenario, the leader can focus solely on convincing the most talented people within the organization as well as those who hold key positions to accept his vision for the organization’s future. The need to convince such individuals is based on the fact that they are the ones who are most likely to offer resistance in case they are not convinced of the strategies being adopted by the leader. Therefore, continuity should be ensured through an understanding of the business and the leader’s realization that his vision affects the successful future of the organization (Harris & Cole, 2007). If a leader does not put this understanding into consideration when making decisions, he might face a challenge where a pivotal talent does not exist. The presence of communication between the leader and key employees; his ensuring that employees are empowered and the creation of a culture that enables them thrive are an integral part of focus on people during integration. The effective communication from the

Tuesday, October 15, 2019

Use a variety of accounting theories to respond to Adams (2002) Essay

Use a variety of accounting theories to respond to Adams (2002) statement - Essay Example The corporations need to reform their reporting systems to include all aspects of operation in this era when the global economy is undergoing widespread reforms. The fundamental aim of this paper is analyzing the statement by Adam’s (2002) based on the theories of corporate social responsibility. According to the political theory, organisations have power to analyse the environment and participate in corporate social responsibility. Power is the ability to influence and control behaviour of a certain group of people. Thus, organisations have the political power to influence the aspects of social and environmental concern. Rendtorff (2009) classifies the political theory into two categories: these are corporate citizenship and corporate constitutionalism. Corporate citizenship is founded on the need of firms performing their responsibility to the environment. Corporations are referred to as legal persons (Deegan & Rankin, 1996); hence, they are considered independent individuals who ought to be responsible of their actions on the environment. Demonstrating of corporate accountability is achieved by making publications and reports discussing and analysing their contributions to the community’s wellbeing. Failure to report to the community leads to negative public view a nd lack of credibility of an organisation. The primary aim of constitutions in firms is to create and entrench power. A corporate constitution, thus, governs choices incorporated in the state law and the certificate of incorporation. According to Mahoney, Thorne, Cecil and LaGore (2013), the decision to assign powers to directors over decisions is the choice of governance structures. If directors fail to effectively and responsibly use the powers endowed to them, the community can take away the power and give it to responsible parties (Orlitzky & Swanson, 2008). The community can take away the power by cutting partnerships with them, legal actions, avoiding buying

Monday, October 14, 2019

Police Administration Essay Example for Free

Police Administration Essay The role of police in the safety of the community has long been recognized.   It is thus of great importance that the operations behind the police system be well understood in order to identify points that are considered to be exemplary, as well as areas which are in need of further evaluation and reorganization.   This research paper will discuss areas of police administration that are related to the recruitment and hiring process.   A brief review of other related areas of police administration will also be presented in order to provide a holistic overview of the topic. POLICE WORK AND RELATED PROBLEMS The area of police work is an occupation that is strongly associated with misconduct and criminal acts.   The act of performing police work is highly discretionary because it entails a combination of both standard police principles and personal ideologies that influence a police officers values and morale.   Police work also involves coercive activity that regularly occurs in the most private situations which are often not in the presence of their immediate supervisors but in the vicinity of witnesses who, unfortunately, often distort the details of the criminal event when interviewed or asked to testify.   Police work is also strongly associated with corruption through the extreme abuse of police authority for the wrong benefits of other individuals (Klockars, 2000). Corruption is a form of misconduct that has long been a concern of every society.   Several attempts has been made to control the application and use of corruption in police work yet there are several factors that decrease the likelihood of success in controlling this social problem.   One of the factors that hinder the control of corruption is that police officers refuse to report activities that are deemed corrupt to their fellow officers.   Also known as The Code or The Code of Silence, this secret has been with the police force for decades. Another factor that prevents the control of corruption in police work is that police administrators are hesitant in acknowledging that corrupt events do exist in their respective police agencies.   The idea that corrupt activities may benefit the police officers in terms of extra financial income also influences police officers to continue performing or acknowledging corrupt acts.   Another factor that prevents the success in controlling corrupt activities within the police force involves the scarcity of victims of these shameful acts who are willing to report the corrupt incident to federal investigators. For some time, corruption has been viewed by police administrators as a sign of the insufficiency of moral standards among police officers.   To date, the officials of police administration has actively fought the problem of corruption in the police force by meticulously and cautiously screening the new applicants for positions in the police force in order to lessen the probability that newly hired police officers will not succumb to the perennial problem of corruption in their field of work.   In addition, police administrators have also aggressively followed and hunted down any members of the police force that are known to deal with corrupt activities during their line of duty with the police force.   Once these morally delinquent police officers are tracked, they are dismissed from their positions so that any additional cases of corruption will surely be prevented. The removal of these corrupt police officers also assure that the negative influences of these police officers will not spread to the rest of the members of the police force.   The concept of removal of a corrupt police officer from the police force is similar to the bad apple theory in agriculture and this approach has been strongly criticized in the past years.   In order to better understand the problems associated with police work, it is essential that the field of police work first be presented. THE ROLE OF A POLICE OFFICER   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   A police officer pertains to a working employee of the police force who has been trained in special responsibilities such as counterterrorism and surveillance.   A police officer is also equipped with the capabilities for child protection as well as protection of diplomatic individuals.   Police officers are experienced in investigating crimes such as murder, burglary, rape and drug trafficking. It should be understood that the duties of a police officer encompass a wide range of functions.   These officers are expected to be capable of responding to any type of situation that may occur during their time of duty.   Police officers are considered as government officials during investigatory events of crimes.   In specific cities and communities, it is the responsibility of a police officer to maintain peace and conduct in the area, even if they are not on duty.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Society perceives a police officer as a person who is responsible for instilling peace and order in his particular area of duty.   Peace and order can be attained through the enforcement of rules or prohibitions in terms of social interactions.   Police officers are also responsible in discouraging attempts to commit crimes, aside from investigating a crime that has already occurred in a particular area.   In addition, police officers carry the legal role and authority to arrest any suspected individuals that may have played a role in a crime.   They also have the authority to interrogate and detain the suspect, as well as report the incident and the associated suspects to the proper authorities.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Police officers may also help in instilling the safety of the public during large gatherings.   Such role may be similar to an emergency service wherein they could be called on to facilitate in public operations such as town or city programs and parades.   These individuals also serve as a source of immediate response during times of emergency and disasters because they serve as the first person at the scene of an incident. Once a police officer arrives at the particular site and makes a quick survey of the area, he then quickly informs the fire and emergency medical units of the city to respond to the situation.   Depending on the state or country, police officers and firemen have the same line of call, wherein these two groups of government employees may respond to the scene of a disaster at the same time.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Minor offenses are also reported by police officers in the form of citations which generally results in the implementation of fine.   One good example of a minor offense includes the violation in the laws of driving and traffic such as illegal parking or over-speeding.   Other traffic violations may include accosting a driver who has consumed more than the allowable amounts of alcohol drinks.   The detention of drivers that manipulate a vehicle under the influence of alcohol prevents car accidents as well as deaths.   Police officers are also trained in assisting individuals that are caught in the middle of an accident or even a simple car breakdown.   It is interesting to know that police officers are trained in techniques in first aid as well as cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Park rangers are also considered as police officers who man the national parks and other open recreational locations.   These individuals also enforce specific laws in order to instill peace and order in these specific areas.   Police officers are also visible in areas where rallies and political activities are frequently held.   These law enforcers are responsible in suppress overly active protests that hinders the rest of the public from performing their daily functions such as going to work. Police officers make sure that rallies and other kinds of protests are held within the allowable parts of the public area such as sidewalks and the rest of the people and vehicles are not hindered from moving through their usual activities.   There are some cases wherein protesters may be extremely upset regarding a particular political or ethical issue and these individual may start screaming and acting in more violent behavior.   Should this be the case, the police officers are authorized to control such actions to an acceptable level of protest. QUALIFICATION OF A POLICE OFFICER   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The credentials of a police officer often vary in each country, mainly depending on the expectations and roles of the police officer in that part of the world.   However, it is a general requirement that a candidate for a position of police officer must show proof that he has completed some kind of formal education.   Several decades earlier, police officers were not required to finish a college degree yet currently this has changed. Mostly due also to the changing times and the evolution of the society in terms of values and morals, candidates for positions of police officers are now required to carry a tertiary degree.   In addition, the candidate for police officer is required to undergo two to three years of training as a police constable prior to promotion to a position of higher rank such as inspector or sergeant.   It is a common path that a police officer originates from a military or security position.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   In addition to carrying a college degree, a candidate for police officer is also required to undergo a physical fitness examination.   In the United States, there are currently laws that vary by state that describe the requirements for candidates for the position of police officer.   The requirements include specific information regarding the applicant’s age and educational level, as well as the criminal records and training.   A police agency is generally similar to that of a semi-military organization that requires particular training and experience before applicants are admitted to the police force.   There are also specific qualifications before a particular police officer can be promoted to a higher position in the police force.   It should be noted that promotion to a higher rank in the police force is not an automatic operation that occurs once a police officer has served for three years. Promotion to a higher rank entails taking additional examinations that serve as tools that will help assess the police officer if he is ready and competent enough to hold a higher ranking position.   An interview is also conducted by the review board that serves as a personal questioning session for the candidate police officer for promotion.   The stringent requirements for promotion of a police officer to a higher rank are commensurate to the responsibilities that this police officer will hold once he is awarded the higher police rank. It is actually normal for a police officer to remain in the same position ranking for some time and it is usually the highly competent officers that are often deserve a higher rank in the police force.   There are some instances when a specific police officer stays at the same position rank for a decade or more because it has been observed through their performance that the particular police officer is not competent to serve from a higher position.   Police officers who have served in the police force for a particular duration may also apply for the position of police specialist.   The specialist positions include the detective, firearms officer or motorcycle officer. TRAINING AT THE POLICE ACADEMY   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   A police academy is a training facility that is generally managed by the police department in order to serve as a venue for the education and development of the new recruits.   These individual recruits were previously hired by the police department yet they are first required to undergo training at the police academy before they are allowed to work with the police force.   The trainees at the police academy are taught essential skills that are expected of a police officer.   The training involves both classroom and actual action training that runs for several months. Full-time training requires that the candidates are present for the entire day at the police academy, with provisions for letting them stay in for several months.   In private police academies, training is conducted during the evenings so that the trainees are able to work during the day time to earn their wages to support themselves.   In police academies that are run by the police department, stipends are given to the trainees because they are already considered as employees of the police force.   Training at the police academy includes the principles of arrest and booking of individuals.   The use of firearms is also taught at the academy. Special driving skills are also taught at the police academy because this is essential is chasing suspects and criminals.   The trainees are also educated in terms of CPR and first aid skills because these capabilities are expected of a competent police officer.   Trainees are also taught skills in writing police reports as well as ethical measures in interacting with individuals that they would likely deal with on a daily basis as a police officer.   Theories of investigation and criminality will also be undertaken during the training of police officers.   Methods in interacting with the community will also be taught at the police academy.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   After several months of training at the police academy, the trainees are required to take written and practical examination to gauge the comprehension of the lessons that have been given to them.   Upon passing the requirements of the written and practical examinations, the trainee is awarded a certification of police academy training and will then be assigned as a member of the police department.   It has been observed that there has been an increase in recruitment of police officers in the past decade and it has been predicted that the number of newly recruited police officers will increase in the coming years.   This is mostly due to the change in the society and politics of the country, as well as the increase in urbanization of cities. THE CIVIL RIGHTS ACT OF 1964 AND EQUALITY AMONG MEN   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The hiring and recruitment of police officers has been influenced by the Civil Rights Act of 1964.   Years ago, Martin Luther King had a dream that all men and women would be equal.   The laws and progression of civil rights and immigration has changed the United States.   Racial inequality and color prejudice has damaged the United States; affecting the government system through legislation. The differences in culture background and heritage are being traversed. Borders are supposedly being crossed. Educational theories and classroom practices are taking up new forms in order to conform and meet the educational needs of the global societies. Educators and teachers are being expected to share views and recognize values from different cultures, races, societies and ethnic groups. They are expected to move outside the system and custom of the dominant society and incorporate beliefs other than those they are accustomed with. Our laws and progression of Civil Rights and immigration has changed the United States (AARP, 2004). The challenges that face our nation’s children relates to the civil right movements and immigration laws. The 1800’s industrialization expansion and slave trade increased immigration to the United States, bringing around twenty-five million people between 1866 and 1915.   In 1917, the United States began placing and enforcing restrictions on immigration.   The government did have provisions before, however most statutes were requirements for naturalization, government powers, reporting of aliens or items allowed to import. Amid 1875 to 1888, the government wanted to exclude people from coming into the United States that were criminals (whether convicted of crime or misdemeanor), prostitutes, paid or slave laborers, people with contagious diseases, polygamist, anarchist, or any person who wanted or thought it was okay to overthrow a government through forceful violence or assassination of public officials.   On February 5, 1917, a commission set forth by the President Woodrow Wilson, proposed and passed a law that enacted previous exclusions and added to exclude illiterate aliens. The excludable people were â€Å"imbeciles, feeble-minded persons, persons with physical or mental defects which may affect their ability to earn a living, persons afflicted with tuberculosis, children unaccompanied by their parents, persons who admitted the commission of a crime involving moral turpitude, and women coming to the United States for immoral purposes†. The 1920 U.S. census showed that the heaviest immigration prior to that time were from Great Britain, Ireland, Germany, and other countries in northern Europe. In the course of the ending of World War II in 1945, the number of aliens both legal and illegal increased dramatically. Immigrants were trying to escape poverty and oppression from all over the world. Citizens of the United States began feeling the pressure of immigrants taking their jobs and using expensive social services provided by the U.S. government with American tax dollars. The media began to portray evidence of racial inequality and color prejudice, damaging the image of the United States. Therefore, immigration and racial equality became debated hot topics. In 1857, the National Education Association (NEA) was formed to benefit teachers and students, and work to bring attention to educational issues, such as low teacher’s salaries, teacher retirement benefits, student testing and other bureaucratic demands. The NEA became an advocate for students and teachers through curriculum enhancements to both English language arts and history to benefit Immigrants, African Americans, and Indians (Holcomb 2006). The NEA lobbied to encourage laws like The Civil Rights Act of 1964 and The Immigration Nationality Act of 1964, which still affects our laws today, encouraging the idea of multiculturalism, thus expanding subjects such as history and language arts to include viewpoints of historically powerless and oppressed groups. During the civil rights movement, there were two America’s, a black America and a white America. The school, bathrooms, water fountains, restaurants, bus seats, libraries, movie theaters, hospital floors, and even the line to see Santa Clause were all segregated based on the color of skin.   African Americans went to school four months out of the year because they needed to help earn incomes the rest of the months. Their schools had no cafeteria, most with outside bathrooms; and their books were passed down from the white schools so they were all out of date. The school building that contained African American students were falling apart.    The classes were overcrowded with too many students, and not enough room for all the needed classes and materials. For the most part, these students had teachers that were substitutes who didn’t know what they were doing.   The teachers that were in these schools had fixed values for these students and did not provide curriculum that was interesting or pertained to the students who were learning. The assumption of teachers was that these African American students did not deserve â€Å"a great deal in life and that a little, even a very little, (a very little) for a Negro child is a great deal more than he or she has earned†. Complaints were being vocalized with the school districts letting white students ride the bus to attend white schools, and black students had to walk to their school when they lived right next to an â€Å"all white† school. In 1951, the Supreme Court finally had to face and rule on the subject of civil rights. A group called the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), created in 1909 to work towards eliminating segregation and discrimination, came together in a court case Brown versus Board of Education. African Americans had started filing suits against the educational systems as early as 1845, but the Supreme Court combined five cases to hear in 1951. The issues brought before the court was because of school conditions, segregation, deficient curriculum, pupil to teacher ratio, teacher training, extracurricular activity programs offered, transportation deficiencies, and of course teacher salaries. The discriminatory environment derived from civil rights and immigration issues unlocked, and then caused the world to see that human tendencies are to prejudge, discriminate against, and stereotype people based on their ethnic, religious, physical, or cultural characteristics. In 1954, Brown versus Board of Education of Topeka, also called Brown I ruled by Chief Justice Warren, acknowledged learning to be the most significant task of state and local government and repudiated the separate but equal doctrine, deciding that racially segregated schools were inherently unequal (Brown Foundation, 1996). The decision had great impact and important to the civil rights movement. The Supreme Court ruled that school had no place for separate but equal status. A year later the Supreme Court decision in Brown II defined how and when school desegregation would be achieved because there was no standard or deadline set in Brown I.   The legal precedence of this time caused far reaching social and ideological implications that brought about changes in the 1960’s and beyond. On the other hand, the legal wrangling did not make immigration and civil right issues disappear because of the ambiguity of the legal decisions. The 1960’s brought about race riots all over the U.S., deaths because of race, and more laws that declared discrimination illegal. On January 20, 1964, Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson was sworn into the Presidency, after the sudden death of President John F. Kennedy. As America mourned the death of JFK, President Lyndon B. Johnson placed his hand on the Holy Bible that was being held by his wife and took the oath of office. On that particular day, Lyndon B. Johnson launched his new program called the Great Society. The agenda was intended to produce a better quality of life for all Americans.   Reporters knew the Presidency of Lyndon B. Johnson as a legislative miracle.   In fact, Dick West of the Dallas Morning News expressed that Mr. Truman could not get started on a civil rights bill because a rebellious congress passed an immigration law over a veto.   Jack Kennedy took one whirl at federal aid to education, and then backed off. Then he tried to get Congress to set up a Department of Housing and Urban Development with Cabinet Status and was turned down in the House 264 to 150.   On the other hand, West writes that President Johnson was able to get these laws passed exactly the way he wanted them, thus being named The Congressional Magician.   President Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964 on July 2, 1964, during a luncheon honoring late President Abraham Lincoln in the East room of the White House. The bill was about discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex or national origin.   The President sat at a small table in the center with racks holding 72 pens, which was an insufficient amount.   He actually used over 100 pens to sign this triumphant bill into law.   Robert F. Kennedy sat in the front row, Martin Luther King sat in the second row, and other senators and cabinet members attended.   President Johnson’s speech was swift but had great emphasis as he called on all Americans to close the springs of racial poison and eliminate the last vestiges of injustice in our beloved America. The President spoke of the challenge that Lincoln bestowed upon America asking for preservation of the union, enlargement of liberties for America and for being true to the Declaration of Independence which gives liberty to all.   The speech was a direct challenge for all Americans to ensure that all people including Black American’s will be a part of a complete and equal society. Immigrants thus have an equal opportunity to apply as police officers.   However, it has been observed that most immigrants do not perform well in the written examination for police officers because the links between illiteracy and illegal immigration is astounding.   Hispanic immigrants come to the United States without having the basic literacy skills needed (Garraty and Carnes, 2001).   Teachers in Texas are finding that their classes are mostly English language learners. Bilingual assistants are there to translate to students and teacher regarding teaching information and notes; they are also there to translate during parent teacher conferences. Each state requires that each police officer candidate establish a language proficiency assessment to show that he passed the proficiency and achievement-level this is required for those individuals whose primary language is not English.   The examining committee classifies the applicant and recommends placement and help to benefit the applicant.  Ã‚   There are now reports that the translator and the English Language Learning programs are now improving.   Most immigrants are visual learners hence English or Spanish languages are no barriers to learning.   The problem is when the Hispanic people take the summers off to return to Mexico. Jackie stated that it seems like they lose the English proficiency learned previously.   While some teachers see the problem improving there are immigrants who have voiced their concern. There are certain citizens who are concerned that teachers are spending more time because of English Language Learners and have even dealt with hearing the American-born individuals in a special class because of observation as a slow reader. Upon further investigation, it was realized the teacher was teaching and reading to the children in Spanish, which English-speaking students did not understand. Because education focus has become multi-cultural teachers use literature to teach about other cultures. Multi-cultural literature develops values and self-concept for students. On the other hand, some say American-born students reading and writing scores are declining and achievement gaps are closing.   Some believe that many linguists and educators focus on the multicultural aspect, degrading the English Language. As of 1992, many states require teachers to have a certification to teach English as a Second Language, also called ESL in order to assist immigrants who are in training.   Teachers must have the appropriate academic background is ESL theory and methodology. While there are some educators who back bilingual education, which is where students learn basic skills in their own language while they are learning to speak English.   English-speaking students will have a chance to learn Spanish. However, we are facing political efforts to make English the United States official language.   Senator Pete Domenci of New Mexico expressed that the inherent shallowness behind ‘English Only’ would deny the United States the opportunity to meet is full market potential. Therefore, he introduced an approach called English Plus.   English-plus, adopted in New Mexico’s constitution requiring those public school teachers must be trained in both English and Spanish so that Spanish-speaking students will be taught English properly.   On the other hand, many believe there is no need to make English the official language of the United States because it limits us from having a world–view.     The English Language is the most multi-cultural language and it celebrates diversity because of the multi-cultural influences from the French, Germans, and African’s, which continually make it powerful and diverse. There is an increase in the need for police officers to establish peace and order in the country.   At the same time, the country is experiencing a rapid immigration increase of Hispanics and African American students. The appeal of the current level and police administration in terms of the hiring and recruitment process is an interesting area to cover. The costs of raising education potential for both African Americans and Latino students in order to provide equal opportunity for hiring immigrants would be high, yet there would be benefits by savings in public peace and order expenditures and increased tax revenues based on higher incomes.   Holding onto our legacy of the past, we are now teaching with a cultural approach attempt to raise the academic and professional achievement of all trainees and students through culturally relevant lessons.    Reference AARP, LCCR, Library of Congress (2004). Save Our History: Voices of Civil Rights. The History Channel: The Hearst Corporation. Brown Foundation (1996). Brown VS Board of Education: About the Case. Retrieved March 9, 2006 from http://brownvboard.org/summary/. Garraty, J.A. Carnes, M.C. (2001). A Short History of the American Nation. (P. 450). New York: Longman Klockars CB (2000):   The measurement of police integrity.   U.S. Department of Justice Research Briefs.   May 2000.

Sunday, October 13, 2019

Politics Essays Making Democracy Work

Politics Essays Making Democracy Work Making Democracy Work A Review of Robert Putnam’s Making Democracy Work Introduction: Since its publication in 1993, Robert Putnam’s Making Democracy Work: Civic Traditions in Modern Italy has been hailed for changing the way academics and policy-makers approach the relationship between politics and society. Putnam accomplishes this feat not so much with his compelling arguments, but with the innovative methodology he employs. Much attention has already been given to the way Putnam combines quantitative and qualitative data in his research; he amalgamates numerical data on Italian institutional performance and civic culture, with the path-dependent historical legacy that predates it. Similarly, much attention has also been focused on the introduction of social capital as a new variable worthy of social scientists’ consideration. Since these topics have already been exhausted in reviews as well as other literature connected to Putnam’s book, this essay will attempt to go a different route. This essay will primarily argue that Putnam has successfully managed to combine both a structure and agency-centered approach into a cohesive research design project. Firstly, the structural approach is inherent in Putnam’s study due to the fact that he is attempting to analyze why Italian regions with the same political structure perform differently. Secondly, using network analysis, Putnam’s social capital and civic culture variables will be understood as being related to agency and of affecting institutional performance. Finally, the overall strengths and weakness that arise from combining the two approaches in a research design project will be highlighted. Overall, despite several unavoidable limitations, in Making Democracy Work Putnam shows that using a combined structuration approach is capable of harvesting a fuller understanding of a particular issue in this case, Italian institutional performance. The Study and the Setting: In 1970 the highly centralized Italian government set-up identical regional governmental institutions in each of the country’s twenty regions. The experiment offered Robert Putnam and his colleagues a unique opportunity to analyze institutional performance over time, and what precisely makes government work in a setting where national factors and institutional design are held constant. Despite the fact that all the Italian regions got identical institutions, the performance of these institutions varied widely across Italy. The discrepancy between the regions particularly between the North and the South led Putnam to believe that â€Å"social context and history profoundly condition the effectiveness of institutions† (Putnam, 182). Therefore, in the causal argument that Putnam puts forth in order to explain what affects institutional performance, institutions are framed as both an independent and dependent variable. So to speak, even though institutions do shape politics, institutions themselves are shaped by social context and history. For this reason, Putnam considers yet another independent variable in his complex causal relationship civic culture. Putnam’s Methodology: Before analyzing how structure and agency unite, and the way in which civic culture is measured in Making Democracy Work, it is worthwhile to take a look at the broader and overarching methodological backdrop on the grounds of which Robert Putnam’s study takes root. The setting for the study, as alluded to above, offered Robert Putnam and his colleagues the opportunity to embark on a twenty year voyage of inquiry; their choice of vessel, a sub-national comparison. Certainly with the case of Italian institutional performance a sub-national paired comparison is sure to prove more illuminating than a cross-national comparison because one can hold-constant for national context. That being said, it is necessary to note that often when one considers cultural, historical, economic and/or socioeconomic conditions, there will invariably be cases where greater variation exists within countries than does between them (Snyder, 96). The experience of Italy provides a unique backdrop for Putnam to study institutional performance because many factors are held constant, relatively speaking. Aside from holding institutional design constant, Italy is a far less diverse country than say India or even Russia with regards to language, religion, ethnicity, class and caste. Though it might prove hard for Putnam’s methods to travel beyond a Western context and be directly applied, it should not be held against him or discredit his book by any means. Just because the arguments might have difficulty traveling (and we should note that Putnam’s arguments in Making Democracy Work are the underpinnings of his second book Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of the American Community) does not mean that they should be judged negatively. After all, this is the precise purpose of a sub-national paired comparison to develop theories or generalizations that one is unable to make through cross-national paired comparisons due to all the intervening variables that cannot be held constant. Furthermore, Making Democracy Work does not qualify merely as a sub-national paired comparison. Putnam really tests his arguments against a broad spectrum. In so doing, he avoids the common problem of selection bias, and derivatively of false dichotomies. Putnam does not pick and choose the regions he incorporates in his study. Making Democracy Work is extensive in that it includes and considers all of the regions in Italy equally, and weighs them up against the same credo (where information permits). In each region Putnam interprets quantitative data on institutional performance and then analyzes it alongside quantitative data regarding its civic culture. He then pushes the envelope by reaching far-beyond direct causal inference and into history. The historical qualitative data that Putnam accumulates, allows him, ostensibly, to isolate the main factor that leads to variance in institutional performance in Northern and Southern Italy social capital. Making Democracy Work benefits from diverse measurements the indicators used are wide-ranging, innovative, impressive, and provide for a superior demonstration of Putnam’s arguments. In fact, it is the combination of both the quantitative and qualitative data that earn Robert Putnam and Making Democracy Work the recognition of being simultaneously both a large-N and small-N sub-national comparison. Structural Forces: Having laid out the methodological framework that Putnam has developed it is now possible to focus on the structuration approach that he incorporates. The explanation of institutional performance the dependent variable is contingent to a certain degree on a structural analysis. While all the regions in Italy are constrained by the same national structural force the highly centralized government, the regions are also constrained by their own historical legacies and the structures that have emerged from the past. In this sense, according to Putnam, the history of the North has cultivated an arena/structure much more conducive to proper institutional performance than has the South. Putnam chooses twelve indicators as evidence of institutional performance, or â€Å"good government†. These indicators include: Cabinet stability, budget promptness, statistical and information services, reform legislation, legislative innovation, day care centers, family clinics, industrial policy instruments, agricultural spending capacity, local health unit expenditures, housing and urban development and bureaucratic responsiveness. Far from agency-centered, the conditions of these indicators are all determined by the structure in which they are situated. Essentially, the greater the influence of the structure, the more predictable the political behaviour is likely to be. Following Putnam’s path-dependent argument that historical legacies shape the structural forces (which come to light from such indicators), it is important to then consider the nature of the historical legacies themselves. In Putnam’s view the historical legacies worth exploring are those of civic culture. Analyzing the Affects Agency: The affects of agency on Italian institutional performance is not analyzed explicitly in Making Democracy Work. Putnam does not look at individual leaders, regional representatives, or even influential citizens in any of Italy’s diverse regions contemporarily nor historically. However, implicit in his definition of civic culture, as the â€Å"norms of reciprocity and networks of civic engagement† (Putnam, 167) is an understanding of agency nonetheless. If agency is based on the actions and decisions of a single person, it must also be based on the interactions and collective wills of many people. A horizontal-network analysis is an ideal approach to take when trying to understand the affects of agency in regional patterns of behavior. From a nominalist point of view the researcher must use a conceptual framework to define the boundaries of the network or who/what is and is not included in the research agenda. For his part, Putnam proposes four indicators in which one can find evidence of a civic culture; these indicators include participation in voluntary associations, newspaper readership, referenda turnout, and personalized preference voting (or lack thereof). Even though groups like football clubs are internally heterogeneous and diverse, network analysis helps Putnam to disentangle the inherent complexity and to highlight the important aspects of functioning as a group. To the point of emphasis, the fact that Putnam also correlates these â€Å"objective† measures with more opinion-based survey indicators of civic culture goes to show that Putnam is committed to incorporating the role of agency in his research design. Essentially, he moves from a nominalist to a more realist network analysis by focusing on the individuals. More specifically, Putnam shows that network boundaries are established based on the subjective perspectives of the network actors themselves. For this reason, the data in his research is based to large degree on surveys, questionnaires and interviews. The difference between the North and the South of Italy therefore, can be expressed in the different types of networks they produce. Putnam considers all of the following: the different types of networks that exist, the organization of the networks, and the individuals within the networks. Relating to the different types of networks, Putnam notices that the density of networks in the North is much greater than in the South. Not only do more social groups exist in the North, but membership in them is greater and the pattern of ties between the members is stronger. With regards to the networks’ organization, in the North there is a higher frequency of interaction, and a larger amount of emotional investment within the network. Lastly, as far as individuals are concerned, Putnam looks at subjective measures like trust, solidarity, personal closeness and ideological proximity to ultimately discern that in Northern Italy individuals are more likely to enter horizontal-networks and develop a more cohesive civic culture that fosters responsive government and higher institutional performance. Strengths and Weakness of Structuration: In a sense, Putnam has combined a structural and agency approach into a single research design. The structuration approach has several strength and weaknesses worth highlighting, particularly with reference to Making Democracy Work. Perhaps the major benefit of combining the analysis of structure and agency in the case of Italian institutional performance is that Putnam is able to recognize and demonstrate the interplay between the two. Putnam shows how structures and agents are co-determining and mutually implicating. When assessing the causal relationship between civic culture and Italian institutional performance the case is made that the two entities are defined by their internal relationship, such that the two entities derive their meaning by their relationship and have no meaning or basis without the other. People produce the structure, and the structure in turn reproduces the people. So to speak, agents and structures are ontologically equal in Making Democracy Work. Inherit in this methodological approach’s greatest strength is also its greatest weakness. One of the major problems with operationalizing the structuration approach is that it is often difficult to design a research strategy that can draw valid causal inferences. As with the case of Making Democracy Work, the difficulty in making inferences is determining whether something is a cause or an effect there has to be a starting point for an analysis. One inevitably has to choose a bottom-up or top-down approach treating either agent or structure as ontologically primitive. Robert Putnam, by discerning them ontologically equal has failed to choose a starting point for analysis. Instead of a parsimonious and simple linear causal relationship, Putnam points to vicious and virtuous circles that have led to contrasting, path dependent social equlibria (Putnam, 180). Good or bad institutional performance will further continue a history of good or bad civic culture. More so, the correlation between civic associations and social capital that Putnam professes is also circular: While to think purely in terms of linear causation is to do injustice to the overall interconnectedness of the variables, the danger of thinking in terms of equilibria is that you develop a ‘chicken or egg’ scenario. One begins to beg the question of where in history it is right to draw the line when studying Italian civic culture? Indeed, Putnam’s historical record has become the focus of considerable criticism from scholars. Sidney Tarrow, in â€Å"Making Social Science Work across Time and Space†, contends that social scientists go to history with a theory to prove, and do not objectively derive viable generalizations from history. History requires picking and choosing; one must even choose where in history to draw the line before beginning a study. However, if a line can always be drawn back farther one must ask whether cases can really be isolable and independent at all. For example, can the case not be made that because the North of Italy colonized the South, that the problems of the South are really the problems of the North? Some critics say that it is unfair for Putnam to displace the problem of poor institutional performance on the South and not to consider the possibility of contamination. However, Putnam can hardly be criticized for this everything can be understood as ex post facto something else. Irrespective of whether Putnam is right or wrong on where in history he draws his line, Making Democracy Work should be hailed for its attempt to regardless of its actual success at combining quantitative and qualitative data, and structure and agency, in creating a complex causal relationship. Conclusion: In Making Democracy Work: Civic Traditions in Modern Italy, Robert Putnam has successfully managed to unite both a large-N and small-N sub-national comparison into a single model of inquiry. Equally as impressive, he has successfully managed to combine both a structure and agency-centered approach into a cohesive research design project. Putnam uses a structural approach to analyze his dependent variable political institutions, and an agency-centered approach to analyze an independent variable that has an affect on the development of political institutions and their efficacy civic culture. In so doing, Putnam manages to turn political institutions into an independent variable too, highlighting the interconnectedness of the two variables. Due to this interconnected circular nature of Putnam’s argument, Putnam’s study of Italian institutional performance, though both descriptive and predictive, lacks convincing prescriptive capabilities. Nevertheless, despite its prescriptive shortcomings, Putnam shows that using a combined structuration approach is capable of harvesting a fuller understanding of a particular issue in this case, Italian institutional performance. Works Cited Putnam, Robert D. Making Democracy Work: Civic Traditions in Modern Italy(Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1993). Snyder, Richard. â€Å"Scaling Down: The Subnational Comparative Method,† Studies in Comparative International Development 26:1 (Spring 2001), pp. 93-110. Works Consulted Dwainpayan, Bhattacharyya, et al. (eds.) Interrogating Social Capital: The Indian Experience. (New Delhi: Sage Publications, 2004). Furlong, Paul. â€Å"Review of: Robert Putnam’s Making Democracy Work: Civic Traditions in Modern Italy,† International Affairs 70 (January 1994), pp. 172. Kwon, Hyeong-Ki. â€Å"Associations, Civic Norms, and Democracy: Revisiting the Italian Case,† Theory and Society 33 (2004), pp. 135-166. Levi, Margaret. â€Å"Social and Unsocial Capital: A Review Essay of Robert Putnams Making Democracy Work,† Politics and Society24 (March 1996), pp. 45-55. Putnam, Robert D. Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community (New York: Simon and Schuster, 2000). Sabetti, Filippo. â€Å"Path Dependency and Civic Culture: Some Lessons from Italy About Interpreting Social Experiments,† Politics and Society 24 (March 1996), pp. 19-44. Tarrow, Sidney. â€Å"Making Social Science Work Across Space and Time: A Critical Reflection on Robert Putnams Making Democracy Work,† American Political Science Review 90 (June 1996), pp. 389-397.