Russian History 1917 Essays - Asia, European People, Russian Empire

Russian History 1917 Russia has always played a major roll in global politics, economics and thought. However, in the past two centuries, Russia has had probably the greatest influence on the international world in modern times, surpassed only by the United States. The Russia that we've known this century though, has its roots in last centuries Russian. At the end of the nineteenth century, Russia experienced great changes internally, politically, socially and spiritually. The half century leading up to the Communist revolution in 1917 was a time filled with sweeping changes, literary triumphs and military defeat. All of these factors played in the eventual revolution and not only affected politics and thought in Russia, but in every nation on earth. After the defeat of the Russian army in the Crimean War, Russian realized that it needed to modernize its country, socially and militarily. Alexander II realized that to modernize mean that Russia needed to westernize. So in 1861 he emancipated the serfs from bondage. The emancipation was mean to bridge the gap between the elite and the general population, but was not the first of such liberal western type reforms. Catherine and Peter the Great had also made western type reforms during their respective reigns. All of their reforms, and especially Alexander's, were influenced by western thought. These thought were introduced into Russia by its Western European educated ruling class. Under Alexander II, the ruling class began to see serfdom as an immoral part of society. This moral problem was accompanied by the economics of the day, and the ethical conclusion was that serfdom must be dismantled. The abolition of serfdom was Alexander II greatest contribution to history. However, the 'Liberating Czar' enacted a whole series of fundamental changes including; comprehensive reform of the judicial system that finally introduced the unheard of idea of equality, trial by jury, public proceedings in legal matters and the impartiality of the courts. In the end though, none of these reforms really solved any of Russia's social or economic problems, eventually called the 'accursed questions'. These were taken up by the various political groups and writers of the time. The writers however were the most important. To Russians, the writer is not only looked upon as an artist of the word, but also as a guide and teacher in a deeper sense. The writer is supposed to understand life better than ordinary mortals, so it's his duty to impart this knowledge to others in appropriate shape and form. The reign of Alexander II was an age of great literary achievement, the 'Golden Age' of the Russian novel. Almost all of the great works of Russian fiction were produced during this time. The best minds were attracted to the novel, Turgenev, Tolstoy, Dostoevsky and Asakov all produced some of the greatest literary works of all time during this period. All of the writers during this time belonged to a political school of thought, and while some of the schools worked for similar aims, they were all different and each one possessed its own unique ideals. The Slavophiles were probably the oldest of the political schools at the time. The Slavophiles during the reign of Alexander II were of the second generation, and they were the ones to turn the Slavophile myth of old into a real modern political program. This program included the endorsement of the Orthodox religion and a patrimonial monarchy. The Slavophiles believed in the inherent virtue and goodness of the Russian people and culture. A main part of this culture was the ideal of 'sobornost', that is, the communal spirit. The Slavophiles saw this in action in the peasant communes, and believed that communalism in conjunction with Christian communal worship would become the source of Russia's sorely needed moral and cultural regeneration. In accordance with Russia's regeneration, Slavophiles saw the west as corrupt and immoral. They saw Russia's destiny as one in which it would save the west from spiritual decay. Fyodor Dostoevsky was Slavophilisms more down-to-earth and democratic member. He was also the movements' most effective proponent. In his book Discourse on Pushkin, Dostoevsky describes the Slavophile position. The major opponents of the Slavophile position were the western influenced Nihilists. These leftist radicals rejected religion, the authority of

Odysseus Essay

Odysseus Essay Odysseus Essay Categories Characters Setting Goal (What are they trying to achieve?) Obstacles (What prevents them from achieving Response (How do they respond to solve problems they face?) Consequence (How does this experience change them as individuals and/or a group?) Odysseus (What does Odysseus do? What do his actions reveal about the kind of Book 9 Polychemus Book 10 Circe,Eurylochus Land of the Cyclopes They goal was to escape from Polychemus’s cave and return to Ithaca Circe’s island Book 12 Sirens,Scylla,Charybdis,Euryloch us Island of the Sun Book 21 Penlope,Telemachus Book 22 Antinous,Athena Ithaca Ithaca Escape from Circe and Escape from the sea monsters and go back to Ithaca return to Ithaca Win the contest for Penelope’s hand To kill all the suitors Polychemus capture Odysseus and his men in his cave Circe Transform Odysseus men into pigs Charybdis Scylla and Zeus destroy Odysseus’s ship The suitors don’t let Odysseus to participate in the contest Antinous and the suitors want to kill Odysseus Odysseus and his men left Polychemus blind and escape by hiding in rams Odysseus tricked Circe and then kill her Odysseus tell his men to put wax Odysseus sends an in they ears so they can’t listen the arrow straight through sirens sing the ax heads Odysseus puts an arrow through his throat and then chopped all the others suitors Most of the men in the group die now they know that they have a clever leader All the men are grateful that Odysseus come back and save them risking his own life Now Odysseus is along in his long Now Odysseus is more journey close to recover his old life The whole family is united again Telemachus ,Penelope and Odysseus Odysseus

Demerger Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Demerger - Essay Example The segmentation strategies of both Daimler-Chrsyler not only enabled both companies to attain wider customer markets but also fresh chances for the expansion of their automobile lines. On the other hand, the only significant disadvantage in the demerging procedures of Daimler-Chrsyler was the internal adjustments that both companies had to endure particularly in budgeting their endeavors and initiatives. But all in all, the demerging of Daimler-Chrsyler had a positive impact on the succeeding profits of both companies in spite of the fact the demerger mandated both companies to regain their individual company designations. As the American automobile industry became aware of the effects of the demerger of Daimler-Chrsyler to their present system, other American automobile companies had been able to utilize this knowledge to get and maintain a control mechanism to enable them to become top organizations in the world market. In this way, the utilization of demergers and modernization had supported the US automobile industry to become competitive in the world market. The demerger of Daimler-Chrsyler enabled the fundamental enhancement in the economic progress of the American economy and significantly improved financial gains in the aftermath of transferring income and taxes to the American authorities. The demerger of Daimler-Chrsyler will defin

The Role of the Principal Officer Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

The Role of the Principal Officer - Essay Example The position of Principal Officer has an expanding role through the implementation of shared service, NOMIS, the Phoenix Program, and contestability. These programs not only demand a greater accountability of our resources, but also allows us a vision of where we fit in the organisation. Ultimately it can reach beyond human resource management and allow us to see the Service as the single entity it has become by tying us together through technology. The Principal Officer has many responsibilities and obligations under NOMS. We have a primary obligation to offer the prisoners a safe and healthy environment while encouraging skills programs. We likewise have a duty to provide our employees with a safe workplace and the tools they need to accomplish their job. We're bound by our mission to provide the public with the assurance that released prisoners will make an easy transition back into the community. We additionally need to commit to assuring that prisoners will not re-offend. Our obligation extends to other departments such as health and safety, police, probation and court systems. We need to interact with these agencies to provide them with timely and accurate information and offer plans and proposals in a continuing effort to improve our service. We have a responsibility to the Service to follow policies and procedures and insure fiscal efficiency. The effective Principal Officer will be able to balance these responsibilities as they compete for time and resources. The competent Principal Officer must be a good listener. To facilitate change it is necessary to evaluate how the changes are affecting the people that work for you and with you. Employee feedback is a valuable tool to gain knowledge of what we are doing right or what we are doing wrong. Employees need to feel free to comment and offer suggestions or criticism in an open environment. A well placed trust in the workforce and a view of the staff as trained professionals who are motivated to do an outstanding job will insure open communication with the Principal Officer. Motivating our employees is a many sided endeavour. We first listen and then we take action as deemed appropriate. We need to be proactive in the areas of fairness and respect. Regular meetings with employees to insure that they have an in depth understanding of frequently changing policies will allow workers to perform their jobs with confidence. Encouraging diversity is a way to bring in new ideas and methods and is critical to our continued improvement. Timely and adequate assessment of job performance is also crucial to keeping employees striving to succeed and excel. People need to be recognised for their outstanding efforts and rewarded accordingly. Along with recognition and rewards, we need to offer our employees a clear career path with focused career goals. This helps the employees remain involved with their work and offers them a reason to excel and the motivation to meet our organisational objectives. This will not only aid in retention of our quality employees, but will also attract a higher quality workforce. By providing clear career objectives we will produce a climate that can offer improved performance and greater dedication. As important as it is to interact with other agencies, the Principal Officer also must interact with their employees and involve them in the day to day operation of the system.

Summary Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 69

Summary - Essay Example India has made well-publicized progress especially in technical education, and we also see that China has not held back.  These two countries have a breathtaking level and pace of investment. As clearly observed, China reforms led to the creation of 22 million new businesses employing 135 million people who would have remained peasants. This has greatly been facilitated through creation of Special Economic Zones where foreign companies which are willing to build modern factories hire cheap labor, and are exempted from taxes, leaving it to the government to build roads and other infrastructure needed (Faigley & Jack 394). The â€Å"big elephant phenomenon† has been mainly due to the removal of barriers to the flow of capital from abroad. This has led to the rise of very effective and internationally competitive softwares and IT, together with the influx of multinational corporations like Starbucks and MacDonald’s, which have several branches in these two countries, thus elevating the country from the crisis of 77% living on 2$ a day.   These two countries have embraced the fact that technology is only one dimension of international competitiveness, and that low labor cost is one more.  We are individualists in our personal ambitions but we either follow or fail as one people in our search for economic progress (Faigley & Jack

Theories Of Language Acquisition

Theories Of Language Acquisition This essay will deal with three theories of language acquisition: the linguistic theory, behaviourist theory and social interactionist theory. Each theory will include an explanation of the theory, a look at whether it is nativist or empirical, whether the evidence is more focused on competence or performance, the evidence supporting and criticising the theories and examples of how the theories apply to the areas of speech and language therapy will also be looked at. The concept of a language faculty was first proposed by Noam Chomsky in 1976 and suggested that humans have an innate knowledge of grammar which has two levels of linguistic processing; deep structure and surface structure. Level one incorporates phrase structure rules which are the basic relationships underlying all sentence organisation in all languages. Level two incorporates transformational rules that govern the rearrangement of the phrase structure rules based on a specific structure. He suggested that humans have a language acquisition device -replaced by Universal Grammar in his later work- that allows us to create symbols and organise communicative expressions. Harley (2008). He argues that it is acquired at a time when the childs intellectual capabilities are not yet developed and therefore cannot be dependent on cognition. Harley (2008) Recently Chomsky has revised some of his previous claims and his more recent approaches are the Minimalist Program and the Principles and Parameters theory. Chomsky refers to the idea of parameter setting to explain the acquisition of different languages, that exposure to a specific language is constrained by switches that are set off within a certain environment. Harley (2008). An example of a parameter setting is whether a language is pro-drop or not. If a child is exposed to a pro-drop language such as Italian or Spanish they automatically know that they are allowed to drop the pronoun, whereas an English language learner will have the parameter setting at non-pro-drop, and keep the pronoun. According to Chomsky, as cited in Harley (2008) the language faculty should involve a cognitive system that holds information, and a performance system that can use this information. Competence-which is a persons knowledge of language involving the rules of grammar-, is favoured over performance within linguistic theory. The focus of language learning in linguistic theory is on the child. Unlike in behaviourism, the environment does not shape or train verbal behaviour. Berko Gleason (2005). Nativists follow the idea that language is much too complex a process to learn and that it is learnt at such a fast rate, that it would be impossible for it not to be innate. Lennebergs critical period hypothesis states that language development occurs during a critical period of a childs life and that certain linguistic events must take place in order for it to progress. Harley (2008). However, evidence from second language acquisition research shows that this can be true for phonological and syntactic development, but research has shown that it is not a perfect test of the critical theory hypothesis overall, as second language learners will have already acquired a first language. Harley (2008). Supporting evidence cross-linguistically shows that regardless of the word order of a language, subject-object order is followed by children, which proves the existence of a language acquisition device universally. Berko Gleason (2005). If children are deprived of linguistic input during the critical period, studies have shown they are unable to acquire language normally, as is the case with Genie. Genie was a normal child who suffered extreme abuse in her home and spent most of her time tied up in isolation, so she was unexposed to speech from a young age. Because of this abuse, she was deprived physically and socially and her linguistic skills were undeveloped. When she was taken into care at almost 14 years of age, Genie was taught language but she never reached full fluency. She learned certain syntactic structures but her case proves that a limited amount of language can be learnt once the critical period has been passed. Harley (2008) Contrary evidence claims that just language alone is not sufficient to acquire language, that input is necessary and that the influence of environmental factors cannot be ignored. Pinkers (1984) poverty of stimulus idea offers that just because someone cannot imagine how a particular behaviour might have been learned, it does not mean it was not learned. Berko Gleason (2005) Chomsky does not focus on the link between syntax and semantics though he does refer to it in his book Syntactic structures with the quote colourless green ideas sleep furiously which shows an example of a syntactically correct sentence lacking meaning. In terms of how linguistic theory applies to the area of speech and language therapy, an explanation of aphasia and agrammatism is necessary. Aphasia is a language disorder that results from brain damage caused by disease, stroke or brain trauma. The main characteristics of one type of aphasia, Brocas, are; the speech being telegraphic, which means that articles, conjunctions, prepositions, auxiliary verbs and pronouns and morphological inflections are omitted. Agrammatism is a feature of BrocaÂÂ ´s aphasia and the various linguistic theories that deal with agrammatism are; trace deletion hypothesis, theta assigning principle, double dependency hypothesis and tree pruning hypothesis. Edwards (2005).One of these theories, the tree pruning hypothesis, is an example of how the syntax of a language can be affected. The impairment occurs on the highest nodes of the syntactic tree and in English, this means that Wh questions and yes/no questions are affected, although in other languag es, it can vary. The impairments are in word order, in embedded clauses and inflection for tense. Edwards (2005). While a syntactic explanation for language impairments in BrocaÂÂ ´s aphasia and agrammatism can show what needs to be worked on in therapy, the exact nature of the deficits are different depending on whether it is a production or comprehension deficit so the speech and language therapy case management plan would have to be modified depending on which one it is. In contrast to the linguistic emphasis on language use, the behavioural emphasis was mainly developed by the psychologist BF Skinner in his book Verbal Behaviour (1957).His basic premise is that children learn to talk because of imitation and reinforcement. Despite many variants of hypotheses concerning behaviourism, most theories consist of the idea that language is a subset of a behaviour which is learned through connections between a stimulus and a response. Owens (2008). They agree that there are some internal connections with language learning in the brain yet disagree with the idea of specific internal structures and suggest further research is necessary to understand the processes. Berko Gleason (2005) In comparison to linguistic theory where the focus is on competence, performance is highlighted more in behaviourism. Skinner (1957) described language as being something we do and that it is a learned behaviour like any other skill. Contrary to nativists, he claimed that syntactic forms were not important and defined language as verbal behaviour since a child is unable to create a rule and thus shaped by external stimuli (parents). The idea that language is a learnt behaviour opposes that of nativism. Skinner (1957) claimed that parental reinforcement allows a child to acquire language and that it is a process of imitation that a child must work at. In this model, children are seen as passive recipients of language training and it is suggested by Skinner that the child has no active role in acquisition. According to Whitehurst and Novak (1973) after a lot of trial-and-error modelling the adult role-models in the environment-by shaping and imitation training-reinforcement and punishment will improve childrens speech output. An example of this reinforcement is soothing or attending to the child when they produce correct speech sounds. It is said that with enough sound samples, the child will learn a word association pattern rather than rules of grammar. Owens (2008). What is suggested is that language behaviour is shaped by the environment and not governed by rules or maturation, unlike in Chomskys generativist a pproach. Supporting evidence for behaviourism include studies of both disordered and normal children. Since Skinners research, environmental input is considered an essential part of the acquisition of language, despite Chomskys conclusion that Skinners work was premature. Owens (2008). Lovaass (1977) advancement with behavioural modification of children with autism has shown that techniques such as shaping and reinforcement assist children with restricted speech abilities. It should be noted that despite this discovery, it is unclear how the acquisition process differs between normal and disordered children. In a 1968 study by Palermo and Eberhart, adults were shown to follow the same learning patterns as children, when they were taught an artificial language. Evidence against behaviourism shows that while lab studies on adults show positive results, they do not provide a full explanation on how children acquire language since they are not done in a childs environment. Adults also provide a poor model of imitation as their grammar is full of errors, dialects and slang. What this shows is that children do not copy parents because how could they select correct speech over erroneous speech? Additionally, research by Brown and Hanlon from 1970 shows that children are not punished or rewarded for using certain utterances and the main focus of correction or reward is more on the semantics than the syntax. What this shows is that in behaviourism, input is focused on excessively and is inadequate at explaining the full gamut of what is required to learn a language. Berko Gleason (2005) As previously mentioned, behaviourism has been useful in speech and language therapy in the area of autism. With the Picture Exchange Communication System (PECS), communication for children with autism can be vastly improved and act as an aid in devising strategies for solving issues and improving the standard of living for people. The interactionist approach puts forward the idea that a variety of factors influence the language development of a child, while using a mix of the linguistic and behavioural approaches. There are three different approaches concerning interactionism; Piagets cognitive theory, information processing and the social interactionist theory. Piagets interactive approach focuses on constructivism, which is the idea that linguistic structures are the emergent properties of language. His idea that childrens processes are essentially different to adults would also have an effect on language acquisition. The second approach sees cognition as being computational, deriving patterns from data while assuming the mind as a type of software and the brain as hardware. The third approach is one that will be focused on here and it concerns the social interactionist theory. According to Vygotsky (1962) cognitive and social factors can influence the development of language acquisition, which in turn can have a reciprocal influence on cognition and social abilities. Social interactionists believe that children influence their parents in their acquisition of language and that they and the language environment work together as a dynamic system. Berko Gleason (2005) In terms of competence and performance, interactionists need more performance input than what is suggested by generativists. Parents must provide the communication aids that children need in order to acquire language. According to Vygotsky (1962) language is only initially something used for young children to interact socially and is only developed over time to become something else. Interactionists also believe that maturation and cognition are an essential part of language acquisition and that until a child is at a certain level of cognition; they will be unable to acquire language. Similar to behaviourists, the environment is where interactionists believe language skills appear, but more emphasis is placed on social development than on Piagets cognitive development. Non-linguistic elements (turn-taking, mutual gaze and joint attention) are necessary for social development along with motherese, or child-directed speech (CDS) which is a specific way of speaking to children that differs to how adults communicate with one another. Bruner, as cited in Harley (2008) claims language development occurs within a language acquisition socialization system (LASS) which contains these innate non-linguistic elements. In positively evaluating this theory, those in favour, believe that CDS is an assisting factor in child language acquisition. This is confirmed by studies of fourteen different languages and proves that infants have preference over this kind of speech. In a study by De Casper and Fifer from 1980, infants are found to prefer their own Mothers CDS over another Mothers CDS. Berko Gleason (2005). In a study cited in Berko Gleason (2005), by Tomasello and Farrar from (1986), it appears that Mothers who focus on the object of their childs gaze have children who speak their first words earlier and also have larger vocabularies. Despite positive evidence from studies, detailed analysis on how development is influenced by social interactions is insufficient. As already mentioned, evidence suggests further testing is needed in the area of social interactionism. An explanation for the lack of detail is provided by Berko Gleason (2005) and suggests two of the issues with this theory are that it does not exist in all languages, and it has not been in existence for the same length of time as other theories, so may not have the counter evidence to compare it to. To date, studies have shown the difference of features between CDS and adult-like speech, yet the existence of these patterns does not prove the assistance in the acquisition of language for children. A suggestion is made by Baker and Nelson, cited in Berko Gleason (2005) that it is difficult to know whether language development is caused by parents lack of communication or childrens. Research of language delays in neglected children suggest that the childrens impairments may de-motivate parents with the result being neglectful parenting. An example where social interactionism can assist in the area of speech and language therapy is the previously mentioned example of Genie. Genies experience of neglect highlights the evidence that the correct environment is necessary for language learning, that a specific social context is required for normal language learning to occur. This knowledge can assist in the assessment and evaluation of a neglected child. Another example, such as the Hanen programme, is based on the social interactionist model where parents facilitate language learning in everyday situations, but as it requires a lot of parental input at home, it may be a difficult kind of intervention to apply in practice. To conclude the social interactionist analysis, this approach takes from both the linguistic theory in terms of children having an innate specialized language device and from the behaviourist theory; it values the influence of the environment on language acquisition. This essay looked at three theories of language acquisition: the linguistic theory, behaviourist theory and social interactionist theory. Each theory included an explanation of the theory, discussed whether it took a nativist or empirical approach and whether the evidence was more focused on competence or performance. The evidence supporting and criticising the theories was included along with examples of how the theories applied to the areas of speech and language therapy.

The Hepatitis B Virus and Vaccination Essay -- Exploratory Essays Rese

The Hepatitis B Virus and Vaccination    The hepatitis B virus (HBV) has a long history of being shrouded in mystery concerning its cause and transmission and the treatment of its resulting symptoms and diseases. As more was learned about the virus in the first half of this century, it came to be identified largely with homosexuals and intravenous drug users. Due to its prevalence among such already marginalized members of society, hepatitis B was viewed as a highly stigmatized disease and further research concerning HBV was not a top priority in the United States. However, these sentiments have changed somewhat in the past several decades, due in part to the spread of HBV to a wider, non-stigmatized, segment of society. By studying more patients and devoting more research energy to HBV, the biology of the virus is more clearly understood. This increased biological knowledge provided for the development of a vaccine against hepatitis B. With the advent of a vaccine, hepatitis B has lost much of its stigmatization and, as a known and in many cases preventable disease, is now viewed much more favorably by the medical community. Controversy concerning HBV remains in the form of debate about the effectiveness, safety, and necessity of the vaccination, and this debate is better understood through an understanding of the history of HBV, development of the vaccination, and views towards both through time. The development of the HBV vaccine has followed a fairly straightforward and logical path. It is believed that HBV has been present in human populations for thousands of years, based primarily on descriptions of common hepatitis B symptoms in ancient texts (Blumberg, p. 402). However, since many of the mild symptoms of HBV are sha... ...cine is Life-Saving" [Online]Available: http://www.hepnet.com/hepb/news012599.html [February 26, 1999]. Blumberg, Baruch. (1988) "Hepatitis B Virus and the Carrier Problem" in Social Research , vol. 55, no. 3; pp. 401-412. Lee, Samuel, M.D. (1997) "Hepatitis Vaccination: Questions and Answers" [Online]Available: http://www.hepnet.com/update11.html [February 26, 1999]. Muraskin, William. (1995) The War Against Hepatitis B . Philadelphia, Pennsylvania:University of Pennsylvania Press. Murray, Rosenthal, Kobayashi, and Pfaller. (1998) Medical Microbiology, 3rd Edition .St. Louis, Missouri: Mosby Publishing Co. pp. 526-532. Schumacher, Karin (Webmaster). (1999) "Hepatitis B Vaccine Reaction Reports Outnumber Reported Disease Cases in Children According to Vaccine Safety Group" [Online] Available: http://www.909shot.com/hepatitisb.htm [February 26, 1999].