Themes of Modern Terrorism Bakunin’s God and the State

Mohit Mulani Prof. James Gilligan 22/12/12 â€Å"God and the State† The idea of malevolent terrorism is fundamentally rooted in an extremist interpretation of religion enabled and to a great extent encouraged by priests and political figures. To examine this closely with reference to historical situations and ideas, we can apply the notions bought forward by the Russian 19th century philosopher and nihilist Bakunin in his seminal book, â€Å"God and State. †In the book, doctinaires are critiqued quite heavily for their relentless imposition of impractical ideals upon the world. With regards to the, Bakunin states, â€Å"They are so jealous of the glory of their God and of the triumph of their idea that they have no heart left for the liberty or the dignity or even the sufferings of living men, of real men. Divine zeal, preoccupation with the idea, finally dry up the tenderest souls, the most compassionate hearts, the sources of human love. God & the State, 65)† C omparing these 19th century doctinaires with modern day terrorists we see a group of people so completely enthralled by the superiority of their belief systems that they are more than willing to compromise the lives of non-believers to ‘persuade' others. This follows in the line of a traditional process that requires the destruction and absolute overhaul of a current system and its institutions in order for a new one to establish itself and thrive.Referred to in the line, â€Å"Every development necessarily implies a negation,† the idea is the basis of aggressive and violent terrorism globally (God & the State, 9). The September 11th attacks for instance were planned to include bombings of the Pentagon and White House, both symbolic locations representing the centers of Western imperialism and sources of resentment for the jihadis. This is particularly important given how modern day authors, journalists and thinkers have emphasized the peaceful nature of Islam when inte rpreted by its scriptures. Looking at the sheer organization and potency of terrorist rganizations, it seems as though the hyper-violent aspect of this otherwise ‘peaceful' religion must have arisen from an understanding of this dogma. There must prevail the idea that without the destruction of certain reviled Western ideals, their preferred value systems cannot be secured across the world. Another aspect bought up in Bakunin's statement about doctrinaires was the erasure of love and sympathy towards the victims of terrorist acts. The perpetrators here have been blinded by the aggressive, nationalistic rivalry between ideologies towards the pain and suffering of others.In some cases, the real or imagined suffering of their own people, often at the hands of the West is used as a tool to harden their emotional facilities towards demonized groups of people. Several recruitment communications and propaganda display in explicit detail the torture practices, prison camp conditions a nd drone attacks the Western nations have inflicted upon suspected terrorists. This intensifies the unbridled hatred that ultimately fuels the metaphorical terror machine-churning out thousands of graduates armed with suicide vests and destructive ideals that they wish to impose upon the world.An important point here is that the origin of such behaviour isn't singularly caused by hate or resentment; it is rather the amalgamation of several factors including socio-political ones that in their totality create this belligerent section of the world. Bakunin speaks of, â€Å"the whole history of humanity, intellectual and moral, political and social, [being] but a reflection of its economic history (God & the State, 9). † The fiscal nature of countries and their people often have direct consequences on the views and positions adopted by them.The effect of poverty on the terrorist world-view most directly can be two fold. In the first case, people join jihadist factions for direct monetary recompense to themselves or their family; a significant factor in desperately poor nations and villages. An instance of this was seen after the Mumbai train bombings of 2008 in which the prime suspect Ajmal Kassab confessed to expecting approximately US$3,352 after succeeding in his mission. According to police sources, he was unaware of any Islamic tenets or verses from the Quran but had a virulent message to send nonetheless.The other effect of a poor economic state is an increased susceptibility to false priests and their version of religion. Lower socio-economic groups when faced with inconsequential lives resort to belief systems that give them comfort, solace and often a sense of superiority with respect to ideology held. This often translates to more suicide bombers by means of greater anticipation for the afterlife. A fair amount of terrorists that go onto perform suicide missions do so after comparing their current lives with the ones they expect to lead in heaven or jannah.They see poverty, distress, debt and suffering as something they can leave behind to reach a land of fountains, gardens, angels and virgins if they do the right thing. Here is where opportunistic priests and politicians swoop in employing, â€Å"base and criminal means †¦ to keep the nations in perpetual slavery. (God & the State, 11)† These self-proclaimed, â€Å"guardians and the fathers of the people,† clearly do not have their best interests at heart and see them rather as tools by which they can achieve their respective political and religious agendas.A preacher who sermonizes on the value of taking lives, leveling cities and particularly in Iran- the use of nuclear weapons, cannot possibly be representing to the people any interpretation of religious texts. Instead of performing his duties as the spiritual head of a community, he uses incendiary rhetoric to stir people who are repeatedly manipulated by their governments into believing serious propa ganda against Western nations. Bakunin expresses particular outrage at such figures referring to their acts as, â€Å" this crime of treason against humanity committed daily, in broad day, over the whole surface of the civilized world. This is interesting mostly because it alters our perspective on ideas of terrorism and makes us look intensely at what goes into the formation of one. As a global community, we express daily outrage when acts of terror be they car bombings, hijackings, kidnappings and murders occur. Caught up in these, it gets difficult to see the simultaneous crime being carried out throughout large tracts of the Middle East where the populace is systematically denied a real education in lieu of religious madrasas and indoctrination.Though vastly different, we can examine Bakunin's analysis of 19th century education and modern day madrasas. â€Å"Such are the absurd tales that are told and the monstrous doctrines that are taught, in the full light of the nineteenth century, in all the public schools of Europe, at the express command of the government. They call this civilizing the people! Is it not plain that all these governments are systematic poisoners, interested stupefies of the masses? † ( God ; the State, 11) There is quite certainly a reason for the establishment of such schools.We can posit that due to a certain moral vacuum, created by the influx of Western/European morality which itself was a consequence of the Scientific Revolution, there exists a motive to enforce conservative and restrictive moral systems. These motives when taken to their extreme engender resentment towards other forms of thinking and see them as counterproductive or directly hostile to their own. In the case of Islamic theology, the teachings have been co-opted by a small, but active militant and extremist sector.This group opposes in principle all people who do not share their belief systems calling them indicatively; non-believers, infidels and heretic s. Much like how in post war Europe this very moral vacuum was filled with branches of Totalitarianism and Fascism, the radical Middle East has adopted a similarly authoritarian system. This system is firstly authoritarian in the literal sense as most nations like Saudi Arabia have no free press, democratic governments or political parties. Secondly on a more abstract level, its religious tenets when exercised by extremists or the Mutaween are highly prohibitory and insular.An example of this sprung to international attention when in March of 2002, a girl's school in Mecca caught on fire. Members of the Mutaween or the religious police were on hand to prevent improperly dressed girls from leaving the burning building. As school was in session with an entirely female population, for the sake of comfort most girls had seen fit to take of their confining abayas and headdresses. When attempting to escape, According to a civil defense officer, the girls were forced to return by use of fo rce.This is one of many examples of religious confinement and how it is inherently parochial and inhibitory. The masses must indeed be stupefied, as Bakunin says if they consider it God's will that girls burn to death for not being dressed appropriately. Though applicable to a wide range of scenarios, this example gives us insight into the aggressions of terrorist groups. It is clearly not enough that they follow the rigid principles set in the scriptures and interpreted by their mullahs, virtually everyone must do so as well.Some priests go so far as to imply that forcing or â€Å"converting† non-believers to the jihad proffers to them a place in heaven. With this tendency to make the world follow the teachings of Allah, it seems natural that they would resort to the means made popular by tradition and used quite frequently in history for such purposes; violence. Bakunin reprimands this agenda harshly in a letter to S. Nechayev: â€Å"You said that all men should be such, t hat a complete renunciation of self, of all personal wishes, pleasures, feelings affections and ties, should be a normal, natural, everyday condition to everybody without exception.You wished and still with to make your own selfless cruelty, your own truly extreme fanaticism, into a rule of common life. You wish for an absurdity, an impossibility, a total negation of nature, man and society†¦ no society however perfect its discipline and however powerful its organization can conquer nature(On Violence, 9). † This is precisely what the terrorists seem intent on doing, enforcing by means of violence their way of life upon the world. The term ‘nature' is used here to reference the progress and advancement of society, morals and behaviour.The Scientific revolution occurred some 300 years ago and since then we have evolved, developing new systems of morality and using the social sciences to fill in the gaps left by religious dogma. These â€Å"science[s] of the futureâ €  like psychology and sociology are tools we use to fashion a new way of thinking and living(God ; the State, 61). Though they exist popular and normative definitions of good and evil, we have to a great extent outgrown them as new, more ethically complex situations arise and we approach them differently.Observing moral gray areas that we face everyday like bioethics in legislation for instance gives us an idea as to how we have been forced to evolve our moral ideas to keep up with out lifestyles. Though significant, bioethics is representative of a much larger and more pervasive phenomenon due to which we approach virtually all situations differently. For one, we refrain from moralizing a lot of issues that we would have historically used an ethical framework to describe. Our collective moral psychology as a whole has become more imaginative and we have a much larger scope to use morality in out lives.This broad, nonconservative approach has been interpreted as an empty, decade nt and immoral (rather ironically) philosophy that is engendered by liberal Western culture and extends through its rather large sphere of influence. This perceived emptiness or moral vacuum is then filled by priests, zealots and a restrictive culture that is almost reactionary in its principles, formed so diametrically opposed to the ones it aims to eliminate. Bakunin explains to Nechayev that regardless of a particular society's moral system, it is impossible to â€Å"conquer nature† or stop progress.This evolving of moral systems is the progress we've made in a past few centuries and various terrorist movements are largely the backlash experienced as a result of it. The abandonment of traditional value systems is understandably frightening and this very fear has been molded into a consequential, aggressive and parochial movement that uses undiscerning violence to erase centuries of moral advancement and replace it with a very specific, scripture-based morality that is reas suring in its decisiveness.Of note is the attempt made thereafter to brutally enforce this morality upon to world, to ensure that every woman, man and child follows the distinctive set of rules that govern radical Islamic morality. To see how truly regressive such a system is, we can examine the treatment of women in particular. The advance of feminism, especially at the turn of the century, led a revolution of ideas and social norms. The roles previously dictated by a predominantly patriarchal tradition changed and the restrictions placed on women were more or less eliminated.All terrorist groups share a contempt for women's rights and this can be explained by their aversion to change and the reversal of traditional roles. Though this discomfort with feminism also involves an element of insecurity as male roles in these societies are so dependent and inverse to female roles, it cannot possibly by itself cause men to go around in trucks shooting schoolgirls; that requires priestly o r political influence. What the terrorists fail to account is the nature of advancement and how it cannot be prevented from happening by beating people into submission. Everyday there is resistance in the ranks.Malala Yousafzai, an activist from Pakistan was shot on the 9th of October, 2012 while on a school-bus. This sort of advancement is likely to perpetuate itself amidst a large portion of the world and even killing everyone who noticeably advocates it will not prevent its growth. In Somalia, at the age of five, Ayaan Hirsi Ali underwent the torturous procedure of female circumcision (of genital mutilation as it is commonly and aptly called). This was one amongst several regressive traditions of her tribe and yet she emerged from the harshest of circumstances as an adamant feminist and atheist thinker. Man has emancipated himself; he has separated himself from animality and constituted himself a man; he has begun his distinctively human history and development by an act of disob edience and science-that is, by rebellion and by thought. (God & the State, 12)† Herein lies the key to our humanity, the very feature that is being suppressed by terrorists in favour of a more convenient, straightforward and primitive form of thinking. It is inherent in out nature to seek change, to ask questions and to doubt the dogmas we have been handed down.The fact that this leads to a complete social overhaul and the creation of multiple cognitive vacuums does not deter us from repeatedly being skeptical and thinking. The quote mentioned above refers to the Creation story of Genesis which showcases the act of disobedience, questioning of rules and the disastrous results that follow. At the end of it however, as humans we wouldn't have it any other way. Doubting the doctrines we were brought up with reduces the strangle-hold religion has upon out society and the amount of influence clergymen can exert.This is an important motivation for the priests of the Middle East to carry on with their rabble-rousing diatribes. Doing so can maintain the last vestiges of power they have over people who no longer believe in their divine capacity anymore. By diverting attention from the actual tenets of Islam and bringing to the forefront firebrand phrases from other scriptures to spur people on, they engage in self-preservation rather than the progress of the human race. The key to our development has always been in thought and rebellion, by preventing it combatively, the terrorists hold back the world nd regress us to an age before we challenged conventions. In another section of the letter to S. Nechayev, Bakunin refers to what he observes as, â€Å"an enormous lack of critical sense without which it is impossible to evaluate people and situations, and to reconcile means with ends. (On Violence, 9)† These shortcomings of Russian nihilistic revolutionaries are now echoed by Islamic terrorists. Despite their explicable beliefs, what is truly terrifying abo ut them is the raw violence and destruction jihadis seek to force upon the world.Their defensiveness towards tradition and resentment over past wars has been channeled into a form of nondiscriminatory havoc ceases to differentiate between military personnel and innocent citizens. This method is what is somewhat irreconcilable with the, â€Å"ends† it seeks to achieve. Though a destruction of the current system is required for any meaningful change to occur, it does not have to be gruesome and violent. It is however much harder for priests and politicians to spur their populace on towards peaceful goals than it is to make them favour blind violence.Speaking then about how to deal with an opposing civilization, Bakunin stats, â€Å"Societies which are inimical or positively harmful must be dissolved, and finally the government must be destroyed. All this cannot be achieved only by propagating the truth; cunning, diplomacy and deceit are necessary. (On Violence, 34)† Nowh ere in the aforementioned advise does he mention violence as a useful way to achieve success. This is particularly important as there hasn't as of yet been a noticeable conversion to the Islamic cause.Efficacy is a factor that the terrorists seem not to have consider seeking only to assuage their manufactured rage. â€Å"Hate, the negative side alone, does not create anything, does not even create the power necessary for destruction and thus destroys nothing. (On Violence, 29)† When four homegrown terrorists from London attacked the underground system, their primary motive was to avenge their fellow Muslims who had previously suffered as a result of actions undertaken by the Western governments.A large amount of bombings are becoming more about revenge and hatred than actually changing the status quo. This achieves nothing while a great deal is simultaneously sacrificed. Distinct from revenge, another cause for hatred is how the terrorists perceive the world. Bakunin refers t o the source of our progress as, â€Å"Satan, the eternal rebel, the first freethinker and the emancipator of worlds. He makes man ashamed of his bestial ignorance and obedience; he emancipates him, stamps upon his brow the seal of liberty and humanity, in urging him to disobey and eat of the fruit of knowledge. God & the State, 10)† It is fair to assume that they see the West and people such as Malala as Satanic and a corruptive influence. Both of these try to upend traditional thought and how we think about morality. By objecting to blind deference to a book or set of purportedly divine rules, democracies seek to alter people's moral psychology. This procedure has seen a backlash even in Western countries themselves in the form of radical Christianity. Ironically though this branch of religion despises Islam and the jihadis, it seeks to achieve incredibly similar goals.Every time a pastor in some midwestern state pushes for the inscription of the Hebrew commandments in fron t of court-houses, as a species, we take a collective step backwards into the Middle Ages where people believed in a fixed set of dogmas that seemed more interested in who they worshipped than in how they behaved. Similarly with the feminist movements, with the objectives of terrorism being so inherently misogynistic, we risk living in a world where women don't have the civil liberties we spent a good couple of centuries achieving.Though things in the past were straightforward and idealistic, they were also horrendously underdeveloped in modern concepts of liberty, freedom, thought, science and society. Reverting back to those circumstances involves necessarily having to deal with all its downfalls as well as the clarity of ethics it provides. We do not get to cherry-pick which part of the Middle Ages we'd like to being with us into this century as the terrorists have made amply clear.We will need to accept the oppression of women, religious minorities, homosexuals, transgenders and scientific thought as though we were actually living in the 16th century. This regression must be avoided at all costs. â€Å"Thus we come back to the essence of all religion–in other words, to the disparagement of humanity for the greater glory of divinity. (God & the State, 37)† With this statement Bakunin sums up the thrust of the religious terrorist movements around the world. They seek to avenge a perceived disrespect of a divine being and are willing to kill for it.Though they wouldn't do so spontaneously, this hatred ad murderous instinct has to be carefully cultivated from childhood by mullahs and other authoritative sources. These children then become people who are capable of leveling entire buildings for the glory of God whose existence they cannot be sure of and an afterlife they might never get to experience. Such is the power of, â€Å"collective insanity,† that drives a movement like this. (God & the State, 68) Since the 200,000 years we've exist ed, we've spent quite a lot of it questioning, developing and doubting.Attempts to prevent this are shameful in that they send us hurtling back hundreds of years to less enlightened times of dogma and religious persecution. We've outgrown the juvenile need for extremely strict religious guidance and have as a society agreed upon a set of common sense laws that don't vary significantly across national borders. We've developed social sciences to deal with the moral vacuum left after the removal of dogmas and are can deal with them without resorting to driving airplanes into skyscrapers.The existence of terrorism proves that for every collective step forward we take, there are elements that will be rendered irrelevant and have thus felt the need to make the loudest clamor possible. Though we cannot obviously devise a straightforward solution to a complex and varying problem, we can however seek to understand it. Bibliography Bakunin, Mikhail, â€Å"God and the State. † Dover Pub lications, Inc. , New York. 1970 Bakunin, Mikhail, â€Å"On Violence-letter to S Nechayev. † New York: Unity Press, [19–]

Electrochemistry experimen Essay

Introduction: Redox reactions are reactions where the oxidation states of the atoms change. The atoms are either oxidized or reduced, depending if they lose or gain electrons. Electrochemical cells are devices that cause a current from redox reactions. It is set up so that electrons lost from one of the reagents can travel to another reagent. This creates a voltage, which is also known as the electric potential difference. This voltage can be read if a high-resistance voltmeter or multimeter is connected to the circuit. Salt bridge is used to allow migration of ions between two electric cells to maintain neutrality of solutions. It is usually made up of a filter paper moistened with an inert solution or an inert solution/gelatine salt bridge to prevent oxidation of certain ions. This experiment is divided into 2 parts: part A and part B. Part A Objective: To investigate the effect of change in lead(II) ion concentration on the potential of the Pb2+(aq) |Pb(s) electrode Introduction: This experiment investigates the e. m. f. of the cell: Cu(s) |Cu2+(aq) |Pb2+(aq)|Pb(s). Keeping the ion concentration in the copper electrode system constant(1M) and varying the ion concentration in the lead electrode system, the effect of change in lead(II) ion concentration on the potential of electrode as well as the Kc of the above reaction can be found. Chemicals: Copper foil x1, lead foil x1, 1M Cu2+ solution, 0. 1M Pb2+ solution, saturated potassium nitrate solution Apparatus: 250 cm3 beakers, 50cm3 beakers multimeter, distilled water bottle, filter papers, electrical wires with electrode holders, forceps, 100ml volumetric flask,10ml pipette x2, dropper Procedure: 1. The 0. 1M, 0. 01M, 0. 001M, 0. 0001M Pb2+ solutions were prepared from 0. 1M Pb2+ solution by dilution(1 portion solution plus 10 portions water). 2. The copper and lead electrodes were cleaned with a sand paper. 3. The circuit was connected as the diagram below. 4. The e. m. f. was recorded when the data shown was stable. 5. The above steps(2-4) were repeated with 0. 01M, 0. 001M and 0. 0001M Pb2+ solutions. Safety precaution: Potassium nitrate solution: Contact with combustible material may lead to fire 1M Copper(II) sulphate solution: harmful and irritating to eyes and skin. –>Safety goggles should be worn. Experimental set-up Results: [Pb2+]/M log[Pb2+] E/V 0. 1 -1 0. 482 0. 01 -2 0. 502 0. 001 -3 0. 521 0. 0001 -4 0. 545 Graph of E against log [Pb2+]: Trend shown: Given the ion concentration in the copper electrode system constant, it is found that the potential of the cell drops as the lead(II) ion concentration increase. The electrode potential is inversely proportional to the ten folds of ion concentrations. Calculation: When the reaction Cu2+(aq) + Pb(s) –> Pb2+(aq) + Cu(s) achieves equilibrium, the net e. m. f. of the cell=0 volt. The equilibrium expression of this reaction is: Kc= [ Pb2+(aq)][ Cu(s)] /[Cu2+(aq)][ Pb(s)] The effective concentration of Pb(s)/ Cu(s) are independent of its amount present and can be considered as constant. This reduces the expression to Kc= [ Pb2+(aq)] /[Cu2+(aq)] = 1Ãâ€"1021 Conclusion The potential of the cell decreases ad the ion concentration of Pb2+ increases. Further Analysis: Using the Nernst equation: E=E? -0. 059/n log[ox]/[red], Take [Pb2+]=0. 1 M as an example, E=0. 47-0. 059/2 log(0. 1/1)=0. 4405(V) [Pb2+]/M log[Pb2+] E/V(calculated) E/V(measured) %difference 0. 1 -1 0. 4405 0. 482 9. 42% 0. 01 -2 0. 529 0. 502 5. 10%.0. 001 -3 0. 5585 0. 521 6. 71% 0. 0001 -4 0. 588 0. 545 7. 31% It is shown that difference is present between the calculated value and measured value. This may be because of different conditions, resistance of the multimeter or errors in preparation of various concentrations of solutions. Part B Objective: To find out the equilibrium constant by e. m. f. measurement Introduction: The equilibrium constant for the below reaction is found out: Ag+(aq) + Fe2+(aq) Fe3+ (aq) + Ag(s) By e. m. f. measurement on the cell Pt |Fe2+(aq), Fe3+(aq)|Ag+(aq)|Ag(s) Chemicals: 0. 1 M Fe3+ solution, 0. 2 M iron(II)sulphate, 0. 2M barium nitrate, 0. 4M silver nitrate, platinum electrode, silver electrode Apparatus: gelatine salt bridge, 250 cm3 beakers, 50cm3 beakers ,multimeter, distilled water bottle, electrical wires with electrode holders, forceps, 10ml pipette x2 Procedure: 1. Equal volumes of 0. 2M FeSO4 and 0. 2M Ba(NO3)2 were mixed and the precipitate was allowed to settle without disturbance. 2. Equal volumes of 0. 1M iron(II) nitrate solution obtained and the iron(III)nitrate solution were mixed. This was the Fe2+(aq)/Fe2+(aq) half-cell. 3. The 0. 4M, 0. 2M, 0. 1M, 0. 05M, 0.025M silver nitrate solutions were prepared from 0. 4M silver nitrate solution by dilution. 4. The silver electrode was cleaned with a sand paper. 5. The circuit was connected as the diagram below. 6. The e. m. f. was recorded when the data shown was stable. 7. The above steps (4-6) were repeated with 0. 2M, 0. 1M, 0. 05M, 0. 025M silver nitrate solutions. Safety Precaution: Silver nitrate: harmful and oxidizing; 1) Poisonous if swallowed or inhaled 2) Skin contact with silver nitrate solid or solutions is likely to leave silver stains on the skin. Barium nitrate is poisonous and very harmful if swallowed. It is also a strong oxidizer, so may be hazardous if mixed with flammable materials. Experimental Set-upResults: [Ag+]/M log[Ag+] E/V 0. 4 -0. 398 0. 023 0. 2 -0. 699 0. 005 0. 1 -1 -0. 030 0. 05 -1. 301 -0. 050 0. 025 -0. 025 -0. 053 Graph of E against log[Ag+(aq)]: Calculation: When the reaction reaches equilibrium, both forward and backward reactions proceed to the same extent. This means that both the half cell reactions would have the same potential to proceed, so that the net e. m. f of the cell =0 volt at equilibrium. From the graph, the x-intercept is log[Ag+(aq)]=-0.72, hence,[Ag+(aq)]eqm=0. 1905 Ag+(aq) + Fe2+(aq) Fe3+ (aq) + Ag(s) KC= [Fe3+ (aq)]/ [Ag+(aq)][ Fe2+(aq)] =0. 1/ (0. 1905X0. 1) =5. 2493(mol2dm-6) ~5. 25(mol2dm-6) Conclusion: The equilibrium constant for the reaction between Fe2+/Fe3+ and Ag+ is 5. 25 mol2dm-6. Discussion(for both parts): 1. Possible Errors: -The electrodes (Cu(s),Pb(s),Ag(s)) were not cleaned very well with a sand paper so that they are not conducting electricity in all parts. The e. m. f. measured may hence be underestimated. -The same ammonium nitrate/gelatine salt bridge was used several times in part II of experiment. Ions of previous measurement may remain in the salt bridge and change the concentration of ions in the next measurement. -The apparatus including pipettes, beakers and volumetric flask may not be washed to be very clean. The error in concentration may be enormous when handling very dilute solutions (e. g. 0. 001M, 0. 0001M, 0. 025M) -The electrode touched the salt bridge once so that the accuracy of measurement of e. m. f. was affected. The solution is not exactly passed. -Air gap may be present in the ammonium nitrate/ gelatine salt bridge, increasing the resistance of ion migration. 2. Difference in effect of ion concentration on electrical potential of cell: -In part A, the cell e. m. f. increases as [Pb2+(aq)] decreases. However, in part B, the e. m. f. drops as [Ag+(aq)]. This suggests that when the species is a stronger oxidizing agent in the reaction and undergoes reduction, the presence of its ions tends to increase the e. m. f. whereas the one which undergoes oxidation tends to reduce the e. m. f. The species with more positive standard reduction potential has a positive effect but the one with less positive potential has a negative effect. Reference: Physical Chemistry II by TM Leung and CC Lee( p. 295-298 &299-301).

Albert Heijn-History

Albert Heijn 1602 (Barneveld) History Context Albert Heijn is a big supermarket chain which emerged from a small grocery store that once stood in Oostzaan. The 21-years old Albert Heijn took over the store from his father in 1887. The young Albert Heijn quickly began to expand the store towards other places. Albert also started to sell his self-made cookies and self-burned coffee (Albert Heijn, 2013). Now Albert Heijn is one of the largest supermarket chain in the Netherlands. Quality and customers are of great importance within the formula of Albert Heijn.For this reason all subsidiaries have to have the same style. In the small village of Barneveld there is also an Albert Heijn. This Albert Heijn was managed by Mr G. Aartsen for more than 15 years. Albert Heijn Barneveld did not experience quite a lot of changes. The only changes where changes of assortment and a small expansion of the shop. Trigger The management of Albert Heijn demands that every supermarket manager is managing f or a maximum period of 4 years. This is due the fact that a manager could turn into a friend when staying too long on the same position.Another reason is the emerging of business blindness. To prevent this from happening, all managers (except for the franchise shops) have to switch places once in a while. For example: the manager of Utrecht goes to Amsterdam after 4 years, the manager of Amsterdam goes to Groningen and so on. Philosophy The manager of Albert Heijn Barneveld was like a father to all the personnel. Mr Aartsen was often called â€Å"papa Aartsen† (daddy Aartsen). Mr Aartsen was not just the manager who commands the personnel.He was a kind guy who often smoked in his office (while this was not allowed), he just had his own rules and it worked. When there was a lot of pressure on the personnel he always helped them. For example, during Christmas time he helped stocking the shelves. Mr Aartsen also had a good relationship with the customers. Change idea Diagnosis A lbert Heijn Barneveld had the same manager for 18 years. For this reason the headquarters decided to make some changes. Mr G. Aartsen had to go. This was a big shock for the regular customers and the personnel. Change of strategyThe change of strategy was decided, there were no discussions possible. Mr Aartsen protested towards the headquarters, but their decision was final. Albert Heijn had accepted the fact that Mr Aartsen was the manager for a longer period than 4 years for a long time. However it was time for change. The headquarters wants all the shops to be the same, as well in layout as in the way of managing. Intervention plan The headquarters of Albert Heijn did not really had an intervention plan. They made up the rules and were the boss of Albert Heijn, so Barneveld had to listen.Albert Heijn did replace Mr Aartsen, however, the headquarters were much more open about where Mr Aartsen should manage after Barneveld. This decision was made together with Mr Aartsen. The other intervention plan that the headquarters had, was the implementation of two managers in Barneveld. This way Barneveld was managed better and with good efforts. Sadly enough, things were not any more than they were. Interventions 1 With the help of the two new managers the intention was trying to introduce a new way of thinking.However this did not work quite well. After a few weeks the headquarters decided that Barneveld had to do it with one manager again. This time the dissatisfaction was even bigger. Interventions 2 When it turned out that Barneveld did not run as well anymore as it did, the headquarters tried to bring old personnel back. An old assistant manager came back from another subsidiary. This happened to work out. The headquarters decided that Barneveld had to steer itself again. The next step was giving personnel promotions.This way, people who worked for Mr Aartsen were able to get more influence and help each other to get over the situation. Results of change process The change process for Mr Aartsen has led to overwrought, unfortunately the changes were too big for him. For Barneveld the changes were positive as well as negative (see table 1). Positive changes| Negative changes| Albert Heijn made Barneveld a real Albert Heijn. Barneveld had struggled with the changing process, however now Barneveld was now a real Albert Heijn like all the other subsidiaries. Albert Heijn Barneveld always was a neighbourhood supermarket, now it was one of those mass city supermarkets. The changes caused the dissatisfaction of the most customers. | Table 1, Positive and negative changes Albert Heijn Barneveld Conclusion Albert Heijn headquarters did not much effort steering the change process. Due to the lack of comprehending, the change process took a lot of time. At the end, Albert Heijn headquarters succeeded in making Barneveld a real Albert Heijn. However, the headquarters did not research whether the customers wanted this change or not.

Budget Planning and Control Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Budget Planning and Control - Assignment Example Budgets are highly important in obtaining debts from the financial institutions. Banks and trade creditors usually examine the financial stability of the company to ensure that their debts are well secured by the assets of the company. Effective budgets reflect the plans and cash flows of the company that makes it easier for the creditors to decide whether or not to grant debts (Kemp, 2003). Effective budgets assist the management in determining the costs with accuracy. If the company determines the costs and expenses in advance, it will help them in making pricing decisions and in implementing the cost control policy. Thus it is necessary to prepare effective budgets in order to establish strategies that are important in highly competitive markets. 1. Nordstrom should decide on budget committee and the participants that should be involved in the budget setting process. Participation of managers is essential to consider their point of view while establishing budgets. 8. Review the performance on a timely basis and determine any variation in actual results about budget. Investigate the problem and reasons behind the variation to resolve the matter on efficiently (Shapiro, 2008). An important aspect of budget management is employee participation. Managers of individual departments should be informed on regular basis about any updates and alterations made in the budgets. By getting regular updates, it will become easier for the managers to implement the budgets and changes on a timely basis. Another advantage of the employee participation is that it motivates the employees and create the sense of ownership among them (Donovan, 2005). For long-term and effective implementation of budgets, it is necessary to keep track of resources to determine whether or not they are sufficient to fulfill future needs. In case of lack of resources or destruction of resources, budgets should be altered in such a way

Education Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 5000 words

Education Management - Essay Example N., J.J. Van Muijen, and P. Koopman, 2003, 19-34). Therefore, the recent adding of NME raises lawful questions concerning the underlying principle or require for this new field. One strength quarrels that all management is basically the similar and consequently that nonprofit executive should take MBA and other time-tested management amounts. Strategic View of This Activity Strategy Management of manufacturing enterprise engrosses the harmonization of human attempt and fabric resources toward the attainment of organizational objectives. Furthermore, the essential objectives of manufacturing associations in any country are financial in natural world, and in the end reflect the requirements of civilization for useful goods and armed forces (Dalal, N.P., Quible, A., & Wyatt, K, 2002, 607-621). This is true whether the venture is a confidential business attempting to attain a desired height of profitability, or a community entity attempt to fulfill a manufacture plan recognized by condition establishment. In the final psychoanalysis, all manufacturing enterprise are social organization, and their continued existence is in a straight line connected to their aptitude to give useful goods and services, regardless of whether these merchandise and armed forces are inspired by other associations, the administration, or the community at great (Drucker P. F, 2001, 88-93). According to the expert analysis the basic difficulty of engineering management, from society's end of view, is to turn out to be steadily additional efficient over occasion. Growing productive competence is usually careful a desirable goal for executives in most civilizations. No doubt, in fact, rising productive competence may be regard as the basic... From this discussion it is clear that  management of manufacturing enterprise engrosses the harmonization of human attempt and fabric resources toward the attainment of organizational objectives. Furthermore, the essential objectives of manufacturing associations in any country are financial in natural world, and in the end reflect the requirements of civilization for useful goods and armed forces. This is true whether the venture is a confidential business attempting to attain a desired height of profitability, or a community entity attempt to fulfill a manufacture plan recognized by condition establishment. In the final psychoanalysis, all manufacturing enterprise are social organization, and their continued existence is in a straight line connected to their aptitude to give useful goods and services, regardless of whether these merchandise and armed forces are inspired by other associations, the administration, or the community at great.As the paper highlights  some kind of ed ucation passes on some information. But it is the type and deepness of information and skill imparted from side to side teaching and preparation that are vital in connection with the excellence of managerial presentation. In this study we are paying attention not merely in the only quantitative aspect of Soviet teaching and training that narrate to management progress, but also in the excellence and satisfied of them.

Current Social Problem EX. Homelessness Research Paper

Current Social Problem EX. Homelessness - Research Paper Example While the wider society has expressed a desire for authorities to respond appropriately for the safety of children, there is a standoff on the best political approach. The Obama administration has favored a policy towards gun control, but the Republicans do not approve of such measures as the best solution to the problem. Even so, it appears that the best solution to gun violence behavior should lie in understanding the motivation for such behavior. This paper will analyze gun violence as a social problem, which is a product of behavior maladjustment. Various scholars have made an effort to offer various explanations and motivation for gun violence. Together, such perspectives, opinions and studies make up the psychology of gun violence. In an analysis of gun violence as a social problem, scholars such as Carl Fisher and Jeffery Lieberman (2013) have examined the issue through the prism of mental stability. The scholars argue that a correlation between gun violence and mental illness is inevitable. According to them, gun violence is indeed a public health issue. Fisher and Lieberman affirm that although there are some correlation between gun violence and mental illness, such close correlations have been exaggerated out of misconceptions. They agree that persons with mental disorder pose potential threat, as they cannot rationalize their actions. Even so, they contend that mental illness is the major cause of gun violence. The researcher argue that it is not always the case that people with mental illness are able to orchestrate w hat appears to be well-planned gun violence. It is important to note that the researchers, nevertheless, point out that certain mental disorders such as depression and bipolar have been noted to be responsible for some spate of violence. The researchers offer a proposal that the society should consider clinical care as a solution for reducing gun violence. Their position is informed by an analysis that treatment of mental illness has

Economic Journal Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Economic Journal - Essay Example Another effect is that consumers would tend to consume less today and wait until the prices still lower in the future. People will think that if prices are low to day, it will still decrease further in the future. Inflation is indeed harmful to the economy especially when it is paired with unemployment. However, deflation can also be detrimental to the economy. Lower prices tend to make buyers postpone their shopping thinking that prices would still lower in the future. Although it may seem that this is not a bad thing, it can affect the demand and supply of commodities in the economy. Since the consumers don't want to spend, commodities will be oversupplied and supply will swamp demand. According to Paul Krugman, "deflation discourages borrowing and spending, the very things the depressed economy needs to get going." ("What is deflation, what are the risks of deflation, and how can the Fed combat deflation")Since people do not want to spend their money, there is a tendency for firms to incur losses. This will in turn affect the employees of the company and there is a tendency for wages to drop and increase unemployment rate. Also, since deflation makes it difficult for firms to repay their debts, bankruptcy is most likely to occur and jobs will be lost. Yes, lower prices at first might seem to be pro-poor or more of an advantage to those who cannot afford some commodities. But in the long run, households and the people in the economy are still the ones who will suffer since they might lose their jobs and can add up to the problem of recession. Author: Justin Fox Title: The Economy Really Is Fundamentally Strong Magazine: TIME Publication date: October 16, 2008 Summary: It is known to everyone that America is experiencing problems with their economy. That is why when presidential candidate John McCain said that the fundamentals of the US economy are strong, many eyebrows were raised and his opponent Barack Obama didn't miss the opportunity to mock his statement. McCain's running mate Sarah Palin defended that McCain was talking about their workforce and the ingenuity of the American people. She was actually right because the American workforce and their being skillful remain to be strong in the midst of economic meltdown. Many economists assert that it is productivity growth that signals the economic well-being of a country. Productivity growth refers to the economic output per hour worked. This productivity growth was actually the reason why America was able to rise during the Industrial revolution despite the stagnation. What really caused the productivity growth during the industrial revolution is the dependence of the US in technology, electricity, combustion engine, and communication. In the mid-1990s, the engine was replaced with computers and the internet. After that, productivity growth continued to fluctuate. High productivity growth does not guarantee a good economy but it makes it more possible to have economic growth. With all these talks about productivity growth, maybe McCain was right that the fundamentals of the American economy are still strong. Analysis: The workforce of a country is