ChaucerS Wife Of Bath Essays - Gender, The Canterbury Tales, Family

Chaucer'S Wife Of Bath Chaucer's Wife Of Bath, Allison, is a very interesting character. She almost seems to be an early feminist, but is not by her own words. She has her own authoritarian views on marriage, Scripture, and husband domination. Alison is one of the only characters who actually reveals herself openly, through her prologue. She has a personality, and that personality consists of her authority over her husbands, her own ideals on religion, and she uses her tale to back this all up. Allison establishes her authority on marriage and husbands through experience. Because of her aggressive outset to prove authority, some may see her as a wicked woman, and she is proud of this. ?Experience, even if there were no other authority in this world, would be grounds enough for me to speak of the woe that is marriage?. She has been married five times, the first at age twelve. Many people have criticized her, using as proof the fact that Jesus only went to one wedding. But she feels that her five marriages have only helped to build experience, and thus support her views. Those views being that women want to have dominance over their husbands. So she uses her prologue to mimic the way in which churchmen assert their authority-by quoting Scripture and works of authority. She does in fact quote actual, biblical Scripture, but her ?Bible? and works of authority are her own experiences and marriages. Her speech carries undertones of conflict with the male-dominant society, another reason to establish authority early. Allison has her own view on Scripture and Gods plan. She claims that God wants us to multiply and increase, and therefore being married more than once is okay. And besides, she only has one husband at a time. Some of the great Old Testament figures had many wives at once. She also attacks the church's view on virginity, saying that even if virginity is important, someone must be doing something to make more virgins! She pokes fun at the views of the church and establishes a base to better prove her own. Allison ultimately wants to control her husband, whomever that may be, but also have her own needs satisfied. She may rely on her certain ?charms? to establish authority, but in the end she always relies on good sense and intuition to get what she wants. But her usurpation of her husbands authority is mostly practical concern for her own desires of sex and money. She at first tries to justify her actions by appealing to the higher truths of the Scripture, but soon abandons this approach. She is not out to establish the ideals of feminism, but to present her own unique case in a sympathetic way. This is why she needs to establish her authority by experience, so she can justify her actions simply by having done them. Not only is she able to control her husband, justify it, but also reveals a kind of depth not shown in the other characters. She seems much more real, and sympathetic because she actually thinks. Her tale also subsequently proves her theme of dominance of men by women. The tale of the young Knight establishes her philosophy as the proper and just way for the world to work. But it accomplishes it in a different sort of way. By making the Knight, a male, force dominance unto a female, he commits a crime that can only be righted be obedience to a woman, and by finding out what women really want: dominance. But she also proves that she is not just a feminist out to champion female dominance. She only requires dominance in marriage, and this is just psychological control. She pays no heed to the fact that men hold all the positions of power in society, or that the woman who gives the Knight in her tale a chance can do so only by pleading with her husband. But more importantly, since by letting the old hag have dominance and make her own choice, both of them come out happy. By also including this sub-moral into her story, Allison clearly shows that she is not completely cynical to the idea of a mutually happy marriage. But the real message of the story, regardless of her apparent lack of real life cynicism, is that women, ugly or fair, should be obeyed in all things by their husbands. The Wife of Bath's authoritarian self confidence is a

Hypothesis Testing With One-Sample t-Tests

Hypothesis Testing With One-Sample t-Tests Youve collected your data, youve got your model, youve run your regression and youve got your results. Now what do you do with your results? In this article we consider the Okuns Law model and results from the article How to Do a Painless Econometrics Project. One sample t-tests will be introduced and used in order to see if the theory matches the data. The theory behind Okuns Law was described in the article: Instant Econometrics Project 1 - Okuns Law: Okuns law is an empirical relationship between the change in the unemployment rate and the percentage growth in real output, as measured by GNP. Arthur Okun estimated the following relationship between the two: Yt - 0.4 (Xt - 2.5 ) This can also be expressed as a more traditional linear regression as: Yt 1 - 0.4 Xt Where:Yt is the change in the unemployment rate in percentage points.Xt is the percentage growth rate in real output, as measured by real GNP. So our theory is that the values of our parameters are B1 1 for the slope parameter and B2 -0.4 for the intercept parameter. We used American data to see how well the data matched the theory. From How to Do a Painless Econometrics Project we saw that we needed to estimate the model: Yt = b1 + b2 Xt Yt Xt b1 b2 B1 B2 Using Microsoft Excel, we calculated the parameters b1 and b2. Now we need to see if those parameters match our theory, which was that B1 1 and B2 -0.4. Before we can do that, we need to jot down some figures that Excel gave us. If you look at the results screenshot youll notice that the values are missing. That was intentional, as I want you to calculate the values on your own. For the purposes of this article, I will make up some values and show you in what cells you can find the real values. Before we begin our hypothesis testing, we need to jot down the following values: Observations Number of Observations (Cell B8) Obs 219 Intercept Coefficient (Cell B17) b1 0.47 (appears on chart as AAA)Standard Error (Cell C17) se1 0.23 (appears on chart as CCC)t Stat (Cell D17) t1 2.0435 (appears on chart as x)P-value (Cell E17) p1 0.0422 (appears on chart as x) X Variable Coefficient (Cell B18) b2 - 0.31 (appears on chart as BBB)Standard Error (Cell C18) se2 0.03 (appears on chart as DDD)t Stat (Cell D18) t2 10.333 (appears on chart as x)P-value (Cell E18) p2 0.0001 (appears on chart as x) In the next section well look at hypothesis testing and well see if our data matches our theory. Be Sure to Continue to Page 2 of Hypothesis Testing Using One-Sample t-Tests. First we’ll consider our hypothesis that the intercept variable equals one. The idea behind this is explained quite well in Gujarati’s Essentials of Econometrics. On page 105 Gujarati describes hypothesis testing: â€Å"[S]uppose we hypothesize that the true B1 takes a particular numerical value, e.g., B1 1. Our task now is to â€Å"test† this hypothesis.†Ã¢â‚¬Å"In the language of hypothesis testing a hypothesis such as B1 1 is called the null hypothesis and is generally denoted by the symbol H0. Thus H0: B1 1. The null hypothesis is usually tested against an alternative hypothesis, denoted by the symbol H1. The alternative hypothesis can take one of three forms:H1: B1 1, which is called a one-sided alternative hypothesis, orH1: B1 1, also a one-sided alternative hypothesis, orH1: B1 not equal 1, which is called a two-sided alternative hypothesis. That is the true value is either greater or less than 1.† In the above I’ve substituted in our hypothesis for Gujarati’s to make it easier to follow. In our case we want a two-sided alternative hypothesis, as we’re interested in knowing if B1 is equal to 1 or not equal to 1. The first thing we need to do to test our hypothesis is to calculate at t-Test statistic. The theory behind the statistic is beyond the scope of this article. Essentially what we are doing is calculating a statistic which can be tested against a t distribution to determine how probable it is that the true value of the coefficient is equal to some hypothesized value. When our hypothesis is B1 1 we denote our t-Statistic as t1(B11) and it can be calculated by the formula: t1(B11) (b1 - B1 / se1) Let’s try this for our intercept data. Recall we had the following data: Intercept b1 0.47se1 0.23 Our t-Statistic for the hypothesis that B1 1 is simply: t1(B11) (0.47 – 1) / 0.23 2.0435 So t1(B11) is 2.0435. We can also calculate our t-test for the hypothesis that the slope variable is equal to -0.4: X Variable b2 -0.31se2 0.03 Our t-Statistic for the hypothesis that B2 -0.4 is simply: t2(B2 -0.4) ((-0.31) – (-0.4)) / 0.23 3.0000 So t2(B2 -0.4) is 3.0000. Next we have to convert these into p-values. The p-value may be defined as the lowest significance level at which a null hypothesis can be rejected...As a rule, the smaller the p value, the stronger is the evidence against the null hypothesis. (Gujarati, 113) As a standard rule of thumb, if the p-value is lower than 0.05, we reject the null hypothesis and accept the alternative hypothesis. This means that if the p-value associated with the test t1(B11) is less than 0.05 we reject the hypothesis that B11 and accept the hypothesis that B1 not equal to 1. If the associated p-value is equal to or greater than 0.05, we do just the opposite, that is we accept the null hypothesis that B11. Calculating the p-value Unfortunately, you cannot calculate the p-value. To obtain a p-value, you generally have to look it up in a chart. Most standard statistics and econometrics books contain a p-value chart in the back of the book. Fortunately with the advent of the internet, there’s a much simpler way of obtaining p-values. The site Graphpad Quickcalcs: One sample t test allows you to quickly and easily obtain p-values. Using this site, here’s how you obtain a p-value for each test. Steps Needed to Estimate a p-value for B11 Click on the radio box containing â€Å"Enter mean, SEM and N.† Mean is the parameter value we estimated, SEM is the standard error, and N is the number of observations.Enter 0.47 in the box labelled â€Å"Mean:†.Enter 0.23 in the box labelled â€Å"SEM:†Enter 219 in the box labelled â€Å"N:†, as this is the number of observations we had.Under 3. Specify the hypothetical mean value click on the radio button beside the blank box. In that box enter 1, as that is our hypothesis.Click â€Å"Calculate Now† You should get an output page. On the top of the output page you should see the following information: P value and statistical significance:The two-tailed P value equals 0.0221By conventional criteria, this difference is considered to be statistically significant. So our p-value is 0.0221 which is less than 0.05. In this case we reject our null hypothesis and accept our alternative hypothesis. In our words, for this parameter, our theory did not match the data. Be Sure to Continue to Page 3 of Hypothesis Testing Using One-Sample t-Tests. Again using site Graphpad Quickcalcs: One sample t test we can quickly obtain the p-value for our second hypothesis test: Steps Needed to Estimate a p-value for B2 -0.4 Click on the radio box containing “Enter mean, SEM and N.” Mean is the parameter value we estimated, SEM is the standard error, and N is the number of observations. Enter -0.31 in the box labelled “Mean:”. Enter 0.03 in the box labelled “SEM:” Enter 219 in the box labelled “N:”, as this is the number of observations we had. Under “3. Specify the hypothetical mean value” click on the radio button beside the blank box. In that box enter -0.4, as that is our hypothesis. Click “Calculate Now” P value and statistical significance: The two-tailed P value equals 0.0030By conventional criteria, this difference is considered to be statistically significant. We used U.S. data to estimate the Okuns Law model. Using that data we found that both the intercept and slope parameters are statistically significantly different than those in Okuns Law. Therefore we can conclude that in the United States Okuns Law does not hold. Now youve seen how to calculate and use one-sample t-tests, you will be able to interpret the numbers youve calculated in your regression. If youd like to ask a question about econometrics, hypothesis testing, or any other topic or comment on this story, please use the feedback form. If youre interested in winning cash for your economics term paper or article, be sure to check out The 2004 Moffatt Prize in Economic Writing

A raisin in the sun by Lorraine Hansberry Research Paper

A raisin in the sun by Lorraine Hansberry - Research Paper Example With $10,000 worth of insurance check, Hansberry asks if this is enough to buy their American Dreams. Raisin in the Sun depicts the deferred American Dream, where blacks diverge on their ideas of being African American and how this affects their definition of the American Dream, but as a family, they resolved their individual differences through affirming racial equality through racial integration and the variety of their dreams. The play argues that the poverty of the black working-class is a product of racial prejudice and a misplaced sense of humility. The setting of A Raisin in the Sun embodies the constrained life of African Americans. The Southside Apartment of the Youngers is a place of â€Å"weariness† where â€Å"too many people have lived for too long† (Hansberry Act 1 Scene 1). Blacks are compressed in a limited space through the policies and programs of the government that rely on racial prejudice. May talks about the space that limits African American growth, a space that ensures their poverty. She says: â€Å"Hansberry speaks to the material/ecological situatedness of her characters’ lives† (May 130). Most blacks rented and did not own their houses, a situation that Lena wanted to change. For her, having a house in a white neighborhood is already the realization of her American Dream. Walter thinks differently, however. Washington argues that Lena’s American D ream opposes Walter’s version of it. He asserts: â€Å"[Lena’s] is in short, not the true American Dream, but a second-class version of it reserved for Black Americans and other poor people† (Washington 130). Lena has a misguided sense of humility because she sees that a house is enough. Walter knows better because he does not aim for mere existence, but a true sense of development through a business undertaking. But Lena warns him of taking more than what the white society can afford to give blacks. She says: â€Å"When a man goes outside

Schizophrenia Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Schizophrenia - Research Paper Example hink that schizophrenia may be caused by genetic predisposition, environment, and different brain chemistry and structure; thus, exact cause is unknown and anti-psychotic treatments are usually designed to alleviate the symptoms (National Institute of Mental Health, 2009, p. 6-8). The patient is a 42-year old, single, and black female. Psychiatric assessment of the patient revealed a diagnosis of paranoid schizophrenia, a condition characterized by persecutory or grandiose delusions and hallucinations and excessive religiosity. The patient stated that every night, Oprah Winfrey was climbing through her 5th floor apartment window, trying to force her to write letters so that Oprah could get into her mind and take all the information in her mind such as bank accounts and family history. This assessment illustrates persecutory hallucinations (a positive symptom) characterized by seeing or hearing things that orders that orders the person to do something (National Institute of Mental Health, 2009, p. 4). The patient also believed that she’s a prophet from God that was sent to the world to pray day and night for the people. Again, this is also a positive symptom, particularly a false belief or delusion of persecution of a schizophrenic person, believing tha t they are someone else, such as a prophet or any famous historical figures (National Institute of Mental Health, 2009, p. 4). Another psychiatric assessment that would support the diagnosis of paranoid schizophrenia is extreme religiosity which is also evident in the patient’s condition. The patient verbalized a lot about high heel shoes and missing being in church. In addition, patients with paranoid schizophrenia often have thought disorders (National Institute of Mental Health, 2009, p. 5). For instance, the nurse questioned the patient about relapse prevention and the patient’s answer is illogical to the question and hard to understand stating that her sister will going to take care of her and that she

Demand and Elasticity in Health Care Assignment

Demand and Elasticity in Health Care - Assignment Example Complementary goods or services on the other hand possess lower price elasticity. The meaning of price elasticity of demand is that the demand elasticity for any product (healthcare goods and services) which makes up higher proportions of income also remains generally optimal due to the increase in the price of the commodity which curtails further consumption expenditures on other products. Given that the elasticity of demand refers to a measure of responsiveness that consumers exhibit towards a given product demand as a result of adjustments in the price of these commodities, it must also be true that price elasticity of demand for healthcare services must coincide with health status. This means that health status becomes useful when studying price elasticity of demand. By looking at price elasticity of demand in light of health status, one is able to focus on absolute magnitude of changes, instead of the relative ones. One of the reasons why price elasticity of demand and health status relate is because healthcare is only valued to the extent it betters health. Likewise, it is an obvious fact that the demand for healthcare heavily depends on income, education, health status and age. Despite the demand for healthcare being ultrasensitive to income and prices, the value of price elasticities have values that range from 0 to -1. Likewise, the degree of utilization of healthcare services is shown to be not only tied to income, but also to be very good at the individual level of response (Dewar, 2010). Giving respect to the relationship between price elasticity of demand for health care and health status on the other hand helps in making comparisons on different demand responses across different individuals, countries and products. It is most probable that increase in educational attainment in the community will increase the demand for healthcare services.

Comparison of Colonisation in Brazil and Ireland

Comparison of Colonisation in Brazil and Ireland INTRODUCTION Purpose of this paper is to compare the colonisation of Ireland with that of Brazil. In order to do this, the paper has been structured into three parts. The first part looks at the pre-colonial period of Ireland and Brazil. This is followed by the comparison of colonisation processes that each one was faced with. Finally, the post-colonial Ireland and Brazil are discussed. PRE-COLONIAL PERIOD COUNTRY AND POPULATION According to Smith (1999), authority within the Irish island was decentralised, with important regional variations between communities of independent or semi-independent Gaelic chieftaincies, turbulent Anglo-Irish marcher lordships, and an east coast area regularly influenced by the operations of English common law and the officials of the royal administration at Dublin. Its population has been estimated at around 2 million (Encarta 2000). Most of the hundreds of indigenous peoples who inhabited eastern South America prior to the arrival of the Europeans were members of the Tupà ­-Guaranà ­ cultures. In Brazil, the native Toupi-family groups we found in areas along the eastern coast of the continent south of Amazon River and inland south of the Amazon to the Andean foothills (Encarta 2000). According to Economist (2000), population of pre-colonial Brazil was about 2.5 million when the Portuguese arrived. According to Encarta (2000), this number is difficult to estimate since there are no written records, with recent calculations suggesting between 1 and 6 million Native Americans in 1500. CULTURE AND LANGAUGE Said (1990) described Ireland as a third world country, both England’s poor â€Å"other† and belonging to the cultural domain of the developed world. However, Encarta (2000) indicates that its Celtic culture was famous for its artworks, music and cultural institutions. People spoke Celtic, Gealic language. Indian societies belonged, for the most part, to the great Tupi cultural root, which had been lasting for at least 500 years when contact with the Europeans was established (Metcalf 2005). In comparison to Irish, Tupi society was much more primitive. The village was the basis of the Tupi social organisation. The society was often referred to as the ‘land without evil’ and it had no slavery among its groups. According to Encarta (2000), these people had no metal tools, no written language, no beasts of burden and no knowledge of the wheel. They worshiped spirits and relied on religious figures known as shamans for healing, divination of future events, and connection to the world of spirits. They spoke variations of the Tupian language. COLONIAL PROCESS SYSTEMATIC VS ACCIDENTAL In the history of the Irish colonisation by England there are two distinct colonisations (Nelligan 2000). The first was in the 13th century with the arrival of the Anglo-Normans. This was a colonisation that had some form of dialogue, an interaction between the coloniser and the colonised, where eventually it is deemed that the colonisers became â€Å"more Irish than the Irish themselves†. However, the second type of colonisation in Irish history occurred in the 1560s, with the advent of Cromwell’s campaign, which entailed the attempted total destruction of Irish culture, language, history, lifestyle, and rights of the Irish people. This entailed no dialogue except for the threat of death if compliance with the coloniser was not forthcoming. While the colonisation of Ireland was systematic from the beginning, discovery of Brazil by the Portuguese came in 1500 by accident, when a fleet commanded by Pedro Alvares Cabral and bound for India was blown off course (Economist 2000). Furthermore, it has been claimed that the conquest and appropriation of the Brazilian territory, and the questions that they provoked, did not always put Europeans and Indians one against the other (Abreu 2004). Colonisation often demanded that the Europeans allied themselves to the natives against other Europeans, and that the natives allied themselves to Europeans against other natives. SETTLEMENT AND OPPRESSION VS ECONOMY BY SLAVERY Irish colonisation was an attempt at annihilation of the Irish in order to make room for English settlers (Nelligan 2000). It was an outright attempt at domination, usurpation and control of the Irish people. According to Lilley (2000), the process of colonisation in medieval Ireland needs to be viewed in the context of Norman and English depictions of the Irish as non-urbanised and therefore uncivilised, because towns were of operated without urban laws. This lack of written urban law has sometimes led historians to accept that the Normans and the English introduced urbanism into Ireland and that they therefore also ‘civilised’ the country. This was done in order to show that there was just cause to settle and urbanise the ‘barbarous people’ of Ireland. The legal and economic privileges contained in these urban laws initially excluded indigenous peoples, and the landscapes of newly developing towns were organised so that Irish were spatially marginalised. I n this context, the idea that the Irish were socially and culturally inferior to the Normans and the English was reinforced. This confirms Meining’s (1982) assumptions that the exercise of ultimate political authority by the invaders over the invaded involves the locating of agents representing the imperial state in the subordinate area; as well as his argument that imperial expansion is basically predatory, and that agents of the imperial power will seek to extract wealth from the conquered territory, creating new economic relationships. This also goes inline with Meining’s (1969) argument that only by appreciating the nature of the geopolitical environment of the early seventeenth century can the ideological significance of the Self/Other theme be truly recognised. Colonisation of Brazil served different purpose. According to Marchant (1942), it involved two stages. The first one, prior to colonisation, was dominated by barter and was profitable for both sides. This is why the natives were compelled to search for contact with the Europeans. In fact, bartering became so important to some native communities that they continued to practice it even when the terms of trade were modified, that is, after the Europeans started to require the ownership of the Indian labor force. The second phase started in the fourth decade of the sixteenth century, when the first sugar mills were established. To be profitable, sugar production demanded a multiplicity of hands and hard work journeys, which the majority of the Portuguese settlers had no condition or will to provide. Furthermore, Portugal did not possess a demographic surplus that would be able to sustain, at the same time, the voracity for men of the Brazilian sugar plantations and the labor force needs of metropolitan agriculture. As the option for wage-earning labor was not considered, because it made impossible the commercial production of sugar, the enslavement of the native of the country started. According to Metcalf (2005), an ever increasing West African slave trade did not only carry powerful economic interests, but the well developed justification for slavery, as well as legal principles certified by the pope. The trade in Africa encouraged an immediate adoption of slave trading in Brazil by Portuguese merchants. Argeu (2004) claims that, with the establishment of a general-government in Brazil, in 1549, the first official determinations against slavery appeared but only to the ‘allied’ natives, required to be settled near the European cities and towns. The policy of Indian settlements was introduced at the end of the 1550s. The work of the natives was compulsory in the settlements. In the last quarter of the sixteenth century, as the natives were becoming rare in the coast, it became necessary to attract the native populations from the interior, thus starting the cycle of ‘transfers’ that would last until the eighteenth century. It involved conv incing the natives in the interior that it was their interest to settle near the Portuguese, for their own protection and well being. Reality, however, ended up by being different, as it became very common to bring the natives by force to the coast, where they were distributed among the sugar cane plantations and European settlers. In 1570 the crown adopted the medieval concept of ‘just war’ to Brazil, and slavery was seen as the fair price paid by those who opposed themselves to the civilising and catechising role of the Europeans. Although only the king or the governor general had the power to declare just wars, the requirements were not always obeyed, resulting in the breaking out of just wars everywhere. This resulted in the massive enslavement of all kinds of natives, including the allies. Thus, according to Metcalf (2005), Indian slavery expanded dramatically after 1570, becoming an integral part of the colonial Brazilian economy and society. Following the discove ry of gold in the late 1600s, Brazil expanded its borders into the interior of the continent (Encarta 2000). Gold made Brazil the most economically important region of the Portuguese. In the late 17th century, gold was also discovered north of Rio de Janeiro. By 1700 the western world’s first great gold rush had begun as thousands of colonists and slaves poured into the region. It received new stimulus in the 1720s with the discovery of diamonds in the region north of the gold fields (Encarta 2000). The slave system began to disintegrate in the 1880s with the rise of a vocal abolitionist movement, largely in the cities, and the growing tendency for slaves to flee from their masters. By 1888 unrest on plantations, and the refusal of the army to step in and halt the flight of slaves from their masters, brought the system to the brink of chaos (Encarta 2000). The colonial process in Brazil was inline with Meining’s (1982) and (1969) arguments discussed above. POST-COLONIAL PERIOD INDEPENDENCE For Said (1990), Irish people were central to the emergence of Irish nationalism. Independence was finally achieved in the early 20th century. According to McDonnell (2001), there were two stages of decolonisation. The first stage of decolonisation was the founding of the Free State. The second stage was the decision of the Irish Free State to remain out of WWII, where as the northern state became more and more identified and incorporated into the UK as a colonised state. One of the major results of decolonisation was that the state of Northern Ireland was formed which would remain under British control. Ireland is usually referred to as post-colonial despite continuing conflict over Northern Ireland. This led to the isolation of Northern Irish Catholics within that territory and their further colonisation. Northern Ireland will never be apart of the republic, and at bet will be its own independent state. Many argued that Ireland had not fully decolonised and expressed the struggle t hat was the begging of the process (McDonnell 2001). According to McDonnell (2001), Irish became own critics when they no longer had critics. The colonial thinking led to the selective teaching of history in Ireland, as the 19th and 20th century was not taught in schools until the 1950s. Today teachers still have an agenda to give a republican perspective on what happened (McDonnell 2001). In contrast to Irish, Brazilian independence was achieved without violence. When Napoleon invaded Portugal and Spain in early 19th century, Portuguese were forced to transfer the center of the empire to Rio de Janeiro (Encarta 2000). In 1815 John VI elevated Brazil to the status of a kingdom, placing it on an equal footing with Portugal. The presence of the monarchy and court in Rio brought Brazilian and Portuguese elites together and paved the way for a gradual transition to independence. Once Napoleon was defeated, John VI reluctantly left for Portugal in 1821. His son Pedro remained in the colony as prince regent of Brazil. Pedro and his advisers realised that revolutions in other Latin American countries were encouraging a movement for national independence in Brazil and decided to take control of this movement. In 1822, after receiving orders from the Portuguese Cortes curtailing his authority in Brazil, Pedro declared Brazil’s independence. COUNTRY SIZE AND POPULATION Ireland republic today comprises about five-sixths of the island of Ireland, and excludes North Ireland (Encarta 2000). The country consists of the provinces of Leinster, Munster, and Connacht (Connacht) and part of the province of Ulster. The rest of Ulster, which occupies the northeastern part of the island, constitutes Northern Ireland, a constituent part of the United Kingdom. The population of Ireland is predominantly of Celtic origin and no significant ethnic minorities exist. In 1998 it was estimated at 3,619,480, which is a decrease from the 1840s, when about 6.5 million people lived in the area included in the republic. This was largely because of a high emigration rate (Encarta 2000). Colonisation of Brazil, on the other hand, has resulted in an enormous country, occupying area along the eastern coast of South America and including much of the continent’s interior region (Encarta 2000). The population increased during the 18th century as a result of natural increase and immigration to Brazil’s gold fields, which were discovered in the late 17th century. Population further increased when the Portuguese brought more than 2 million slaves from Africa to Brazil to provide labor for the sugar plantations and gold mines. During the early part of the 19th century over 1 million more slaves were imported. After the slave trade was abolished in 1850, the country’s population continued to grow by natural increase and immigration from Italy, Portugal, Germany, and Spain. By 1900 the population was just over 17 million. Immigration continued to be substantial until the 1930s, with many Japanese arriving after 1908. Since then, population growth has been p rimarily due to natural increase. In 1950 Brazil had 51,944,000 inhabitants, and in 1998 estimated 169,806,557 (Encarta 2000). However, colonisation has reduced the number of natives from perhaps 2.5m when the Portuguese arrived, to just 100,000 in the 1970s, although the Amerindian population has now risen to 325,000 (Economist 2000). Native population decreased rapidly as a consequence of war, enslavement, and the introduction of European diseases. In the 1990s Native Americans made up less than 1 percent of the population, living in isolated groups in remote regions of the rain forest. However, it has been suspected that their birth rate is now 10% above the Brazilian average. As a consequence of colonisation, Brazil’s population is a mixture of Native American, European, and African peoples. These groups have intermingled over the years to create a society with considerable ethnic complexity. CULTURE Evidence suggests that both Irish and Brazilian cultures suffered from colonisation. It has been claimed that the exposure to Portuguese society was shocking. It resulted in introversion and shame, created by slavery, which lasted longer and involved larger numbers in Brazil than anywhere else (Economist 2000). It also resulted in isolation of Brazil form its Spanish-speaking neighbours. Negative effects of colonisation in Ireland varied from loss of culture to the emotional and material losses (McDonnell 2001). Colonisation of Ireland had caused feelings of withdrawal and inferiority. Kenny (1985) described the post-colonial Irish personality as one in which the inner world is elaborated, bringing a focus on fantasy, magical thinking, superstition, and creativity. Furthermore, the reaction to the outer world is one of helplessness and passivity, as people came to believe in their own inferiority and powerlessness to change things. According to Economist (2000b), five centuries of miscegenation in Brazil have blurred the racial boundaries between Europeans, Africans and Amerindians. Today 38% of Brazilians call themselves brown, blacks are only 6% and Amerindians a mere 0.2%. Such racial mixing encouraged Brazils largely white elite to nourish a myth that their country had overcome the legacy of slavery and become a racial democracy, with no colour prejudice (Economist 2000b). Different off-shot has been seen in Ireland where, according to Lipsky (1979), the group accepts very narrow definition of its membership, including being catholic, nationalist, and a member of the GAA. This effectively excludes many because thy do not conform to some rigid stereotype, or they themselves do not feel a part of the group. Internalised oppression leads to mistrust about their own thinking and intelligence among members of the group, trusting more their oppressing group’s thoughts and opinions, rather than that of each other. According to Economist (2000b), Brazil’s deep social inequalities run broadly along racial lines. Brazil is still largely governed, managed and owned by whites. Blacks and browns are disproportionately poor, and find it harder than similarly qualified whites to get a job. After being elected in 1994, president Cardosa took modest steps towards solving the problem, setting up an advisory council on race issues and appointing Pele as Brazils first black minister. Recently, the Brazilian army gained its second black general and the federal police its first black commander. Access to education is still the greatest obstacle to the advancement of black Brazilians. Amerindians are in even worse circumstances, urging the Congress to pass a law to strengthen their rights, which has been under discussion for nine years. Although Irish people have a long historical experience of oppression, they still participate in the oppression of many other groups (McDonnell 2001). Ireland at the present has become a primary destination for immigrants from war-torn African countries and Eastern European countries. Many people reflected that it ironic that people in Ireland are acting in a racist fashion against these incoming peoples considering how much Ireland depended on having a welcome in other countries during the hard economic times. Violence is present in both countries. According to Economist (2000), Brazil has ugly everyday violence. In Ireland, the frustrations of repressed emotions and interpersonal suspicion have led to behaviour that evidences anger and violence, and also is abusive to other Irish people in particular (McDonnell 2001). According to McDonnell (2001), most people accepted that Irish are looking for an opportunity to find a way around the law, are being indirect about the truth, and have problems being empathetic and helpful. In addition, most people seem to think that the Irish emphasise the need to own the land but do not care for its beauty or upkeep, which is seen as a direct result of colonisation. Furthermore, it has been argued that Irish have more problems with sexuality and alcohol than other nations. LANGUAGE Only about one-fourth of Irish speak Irish, a Gaelic language, while almost all the people speak English (Encarta 2000). The constitution provides for both Irish and English as official languages. However, some have interpreted acquisition of the English language in positive terms, as it has helped people who emigrated from Ireland to establish themselves in English speaking countries. The second advantage of the English language is that it has helped to attract foreign business, in particular America. Finally, the success of Irish people in adapting to the English language has produced world renowned literature. Portuguese is the official and prevailing language of Brazil, although there are some regional variations in pronunciation and slang words (Encarta 2000). Since 1938 Portuguese has been the compulsory language for teaching in schools, but German and Italian are still spoken in homes in the South by some descendants of immigrants. English and French are the main second languages of educated Brazilians. There are also over 100 indigenous languages, of which the most important are Tupà ­, Gà ª, Arawak, and Carib. The Portuguese borrowed some Indian words, particularly from Tupà ­. Many settlements and physical features still have Indian place-names. The settlers also borrowed some words from the vocabulary of African slaves. CURRENT CHANGES Irish culture is, at present, undergoing a transition time and is emerging out of some of the effects of colonisation such as poor self-esteem and lack of self-confidence, into a new and effective role in the world (McDonnell 2001). The Celtic Tiger, the name given to the recent economic boom in Ireland, is seen to have the most change, brining economic success and concurrent financial independence and efficacy to the culture. This is perceived to have reached many levels of the culture, bringing benefits and a general increase in confidence. Ireland is undergoing a transformation from being an economic underdog to one of first world economic success. The process of Ireland being caught in the colonial dynamic of relating only to the coloniser, Britain, was seen to be ameliorated by the coming of the EU. This was followed by the influx of American companies into Ireland, which effectively changed the economic status of the country. According to Economist (2000), only Japan recorded faster economic growth than Brazil between 1900 and 1982. And though Brazil is not free of racism, it has been strikingly more successful than the United States and many other countries in creating a multi-racial society. Its recent democratic governments have made big efforts to tackle other social problems, ranging from education to land reform. Having overcome hyperinflation, and ridden out last years devaluation, the economy is now set to grow again. Brazils prospects now look brighter because over the past decade the country has moved far in opening itself up, slashing tariffs, abolishing state monopolies and selling off state-owned businesses to private investors, many of them foreigners. BIBLIOGRAPHY Abreu, M.A. (2004). â€Å"European Conquest, Indian Subjection and the Conflicts of Colonization: Brazil in the early modern era†. GeoJurnal, Vol.60, pp.365-373. Eagleton, T., Jameson, F., Said, E. (1990). â€Å"Nationalism, Colonialism and Literature (eds)†. University of Minnesota Press. Economist (2000). â€Å"Brazil’s 500 Years of Solitude†. Vol.355, Iss.8167. Encarta Encyclopedia (2000). Microsoft. Economist (2000b). â€Å"Brazil’s Unfinished Battle for Racial Democracy†. Vol.355, Iss.8167. Kenny, V. (1985). â€Å"The Post-Colonial Personality†. The Crane Bag, Iss.9, pp.70-78. Lilley, K.D. (2000). â€Å"Non Urbe, Non Vico, Non Castris: territorial control and the colonization and urbanization of Wales and Ireland under Anglo-Normans lordship†. Journal of Historical Geography, Vol.26, Iss.4, pp.517-531. Lipsky, S. (1979). â€Å"Internalized Oppression†. Black Re-Emergence, Iss.2, pp.5-10. Marchant, A. (1942). â€Å"From Barter to Slavery: The economic relations of Portuguese and Indians in the settlement of Brazil, 1500-1580†. Johns Hopkins University Press. McDonnell, A.P. (2001). â€Å"Internalized Colonisation Ireland and Irish Culture: A psychological enquiry†. American School of Professional Psychology. Meining, D.W. (1969). â€Å"A Macrogeography of Western Imperialism: some morphologies of moving frontiers of political control† in Gale and Lawton settlement and encounter. Oxford University Press. Meining, D.W. (1982). â€Å"Geographical Analysis of Imperial Expansion† in Baker and Billinge Period and place: Research methods in historical geography. Cambridge University Press. Metcalf, A.C. (2005). â€Å"The Entradas of Bahia of the 16th Century†. The Americas, Vol.61, Iss.3, pg.373. Nelligan, L.M. (2000). â€Å"Home Fronts: Domestic civility and the birth of colonialism in 16th century Ireland†. University of California. Smith, B. (1999). â€Å"Colonisation and Conquest in Medieval Ireland: The English in Louth, 1170-1330†. Cambridge University Press.

The Web Unwoven :: Expository History Interenet Essays

Introduction The WWW and the Internet are joined at the hip. The two are not separate—at least today. (Galbreath, 1977).(1) Most graduate students today, especially those of us majoring in Instructional Technology (IT), use the World Wide Web (WWW or Web) and the Internet (Net) for research. However many students do not know exactly how the Web came about nor do they understand its relationship to the Internet. Students, along with the general public, often consider the words Web and Internet interchangeable, meaning one and the same thing, primarily for the reason that Galbreath mentions above—the two seem joined at the hip today. The purpose of this paper is to provide a synopsis of the historical evolution of the Internet, to distinguish between it and the Web, and to present a glimpse of the Internet's future. History J.C.R. Licklider of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) recorded the first conceptual description of computer networked social interactions in August 1962. His Galactic Network concept essentially described, in spirit, the Internet of today. It involved computers interconnected around the globe through which we could quickly access data and programs from any site. He convinced several of his colleagues of the importance of this networking concept. (2) Evidently, computer networking research work at MIT (1961-1967), the RAND Corporation (1962-1965), and at NPL in the UK (1964-1967) all proceeded in parallel without any of the researchers knowing of the other's work. (For a complete timeline of Internet developments visit Hobbes Timeline.) (3) For instance, in July 1961, Leonard Kleinrock at MIT published the first paper on packet switching theory and later in 1964 he published the first book on the subject. Meanwhile, in 1962, The RAND Corporation published Paul Baran's report On Distributed Communications Networks. The report was funded by a US Air Force contract to explore how the US military could protect its communications systems from hostile attack. In this and his subsequent reports, Baran recommended a national public utility to transmit digital data among a large set of subscribers. With his proposed packet switching system, messages are divided into packets, which are separately addressed and separately transmitted. Each packet is passed from node to node on the network. Although each packet may follow different paths, when it ends up in it's proper destination, all the packets are then reassembled into a complete message.