Tuesday, August 28, 2012

Research Paper about Turkey

Research Paper about Turkey

Turkey is considered to be a rather developed country, constitutional republic; its political system was set up in 1923 by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk after the fall of the Ottoman Empire, following World War I (Kinross, 11). Turkey was closer to the West, at the same time contributing to development of the relations with Eastern part. Due to its position the country has an unrivalled mixture of Eastern and Western cultural traditions. “A powerful regional presence in the Eurasian landmass with strong cultural and economic influence in the area between the European Union in the west and Central Asia in the east, Russia in the north and the Middle East in the south, Turkey has come to acquire increasing strategic significance” (Hale, 222). In this paper we will study the historical background of the country after World War I, the famous Ottoman Empire period, relations between Turkey and NATO and other main historical facts, which were of primary importance for the establishment of political system and cultural traditions of the country, pointing out the major advantages and disadvantages of the significant historical events and changes for the country’s cultural development.

 

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During the 8th and 9th centuries the Turkish nomadic tribes were converted to Islam. One century later the Seljuk tribe became one of the most powerful in Islamic world, they led settled life, had their administration and even taxation system. Later the conflicts between them and the rest tribes arose. “The tribe known as the Ottomans arose from one of the smaller emirates established in northwestern Anatolia after 1071” (Findley, 95). The Ottoman Empire was situated on the present territory of Turkey and had a strong influence in the southeast of Europe and the Middle East. In 1444 a significant battle took place on Varna, during which European army was not able to stop the Turks. “The Turks subsequently established an empire in Anatolia and southeastern Europe which lasted until the early twentieth century” (Kinross, 29). The powerful Ottoman Empire presented a serious menace for Christianity in the West, and the crusades of the Europeans were of little success.

The basic religious beliefs of Ottomans were initially based on shamanistic religion, but as soon as their contact to settled tribes was getting closer, they turned to Islam. For Islam were fighting the gazi warriors, at the same time some part of military forces of the Ottoman Empire, called the Janissaries, were paid for fighting on the side of Christian army. They were educated enough to become chiefs of the administrative offices in the Ottoman Empire. “In the 1340’s, a usurper’s request for Ottoman assistance in a revolt against the emperor provided the excuse for an Ottoman invasion of Thrace on the northern frontier of the Byzantine Empire” (Findley, 115). Thrace conquest was the first step for developing the empire over the territories of Anatolia, some of Byzantine territories and Minor Asia.

This is next to impossible to define the separate Ottoman culture, as it was rather a mixture of different cultures. During their invasions Turks gathered different cultural characteristics of the conquered territories and let them contribute to the Turkish folk culture. Thus for example the influence of Seljuk, Persian, Byzantine Greek, and Islamic architecture was evident upon the architecture of the Ottoman Empire. Classical period of Ottoman architecture belongs to the times of its growth, later during the period of stagnation this style was not in use any more and during the Tulip era it was under the strong impact of the Western Baroque, Rococo, and Empire styles.

Three languages were spoken in the Ottoman Empire: Arabic, Turkish and Persian without any special statues and as a result the spoken language presented the mixture of grammatical rules and vocabulary of all these languages. “In the last two centuries, French and English emerged as popular languages, especially among the Christian Levantine communities. The elite learned French at school, and used European products as a fashion statement” (Shaw, 54). Later Persian language was more often used for literature and Arabic - for religious ceremonies.

The education for the Ottoman elite people included classical music; they learnt also how to compose music. The roots of the Ottoman classical music can be traced in the fusion of Byzantine music, Arabic music, and Persian music. Apart of classical music, folk music was developed in different regions of the Ottoman Empire. “The most dominant regions with their distinguished musical styles are: Balkan-Thracian Türküs, North-Eastern (Laz) Türküs, Aegean Türküs, Central Anatolian Türküs, Eastern Anatolian Türküs, and Caucasian Türküs. Some of the distinctive styles were: Janissary Music, Roma music, Belly dance, Turkish folk music” (Shaw, 81).

The main problem from the Ottomans was caused by Tamerlane – the leader of Tatars – in the 15th century; however the Ottomans continued the attacks on the Eastern Europe and Byzantium.

In 1453 Constantinople was captured and in 1456 fell Athens and by 1480 the Islamic threat was hanging over Italy already. Their presence in Italy however didn’t last for a long period of time, and soon the battle were won by Europeans.

There were advantages and disadvantages during the times of Ottoman Empire. Certainly the territorial expansion was great, but at the same time Turks had to face problems with organization of power. For example the ruler Murad II taking faithful former slaves to administrative positions, was able to built a system, ruled by Sultans who “were able to play one faction against the other, a feature that came to typify the Ottoman Empire” (Findley, 168). However the weak point was connected with inheritance of the sultan’s throne, especially in the cases when there were no male children or several sons of the sultan. At the beginning to solve this problem the male relatives of the new sultan were murdered, later put to prison. Researchers state, that this had a negative impact upon the governing system of the Ottoman Empire. Besides, the territory was too large and the lack of sufficient communication system didn’t allow controlling all the regions of it. The tense relations between different ethnic groups of the empire and inability of the government to solve these problems also contributed to the failure of the Ottoman Empire.

However, the Ottoman Empire managed to develop one of the most successful governmental policies during the late Middle Ages. The Ottomans, owed their wealth to the control of the main trade routes and to its convenient position between Eastern and Western worlds within six centuries (Hale, 263).

Germany and Turkey entered the World War I in November 1914, announced war to Britain, Russia and France. The most famous battle, which took place on the territory of Turkey was the Dardanelles campaign Australian and New Zealand Army tried to attack the capital of the Ottoman Empire – Istanbul; however the attack was not a success. Mesopotamia also belong to the territories of Turkey and British troops fought there as well. In September 1917 they managed to take Jerusalem and Baghdad. Russia made an attempt to attack Turkey from the North, but because of the Russian Revolution of 1917 Russian forces had to recede.

After World War I the Ottoman Empire was split into several parts. “The process began with the signing of the Armistice of Mudros on 30 October 1918, followed 13 days later with the occupation of Istanbul” (Kinross, 65). In 1916 Britain signed a secret Sykes-Picot agreement with France for division of the territories of the Middle East. The occupation of Istanbul was followed by the Turkish War of Independence, aftermath the Republic of Turkey was founded. In 1945 Turkey entered World War II from the side of Allies and became a charter member of the United Nations in 1945 (Leslie, 31). In 1952 Turkey joined the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) after the Korean conflict, at the same time making an obstacle for the expansion from the Soviet side to the Mediterranean. At the moment the country is trying to develop its political and economical basis to enter European Union.

As it was already mentioned, the population of Turkey consisted of ethnic minorities, one of the separate ethnic groups were citizens of Kurdish origin. The Kurds had really strong influence upon national politics and were said to be a threat to the national unity of Turkey. The Turkish government tried to assimilate Kurds through prohibiting official speaking and writing Kurdish. From 1984 in the south east of Turkey Kurdish separatist movement started, later on growing into opposition to Turkish government. On one side the Kurds were struggling for autonomy from Turkey, on the other hand the majority of them still belonged to Turkish political parties and to Turkish society. The political leaders were trying to support the recognition of Kurdish cultural and civil rights. “In Turkey two major Kurdish dialects are spoken: Kermanji, which is used by the majority of Kurds, as well as by some of the Kurds in Iran and Iraq; and Zaza, spoken mainly in a triangular region in southeastern Turkey between Diyarbakir, Ezurum, and Sivas, as well as in parts of Iran”(Wink, 79. Turgut Özal, who was a prime minister in 1983 and then six years later became a president allowed officially to use the term Kurd. In 1991 he also recalled the ban for the use of Kurdish language. However, soon after his death in 1993, the political leaders of the country through the Constitutional Court declared the HEP – party of Kurds illegal. Instead a new organization - the Democratic Party – was formed, then later, in 1994 - Kurdish deputies formed the new People’s Democracy Party (Halkin Demokrasi Partisi—HADEP (Leslie, 36). Another well known radical movement of Kurds was the PKK. In general, the whole situation with Kurds’ conflict was really not easy for the country and strong political and social management was needed in order to solve it as soon as possible. The roots of the problem could be traced in the history of the country, which was built upon the expansion of the territories of other peoples and ethnicities that would at certain moment start their struggle for regaining their independence.

The whole history of Turkey was very dynamic and no wonder, that the culture of the country was developed under constant changes and extremes. It was already mentioned, that Turkey is considered to be the only country, where the Eastern and Western cultures interlaced with one another, forming a unique combination. During the times of the Ottoman Empire a great number of ethnic groups were united under one system, but they all had their own religious identities and cultural customs. After World War I, when the Ottoman Empire fell, the new born Turkish republic build a unitary approach, aimed at producing the Turkish national culture on the bases of all the constituent parts of the mixture. “This mixing, instead of producing cultural homogenization, instead resulted in many shades of grey as the traditional Muslim cultures of Anatolia collided with (or had imposed upon them) the cosmopolitan modernity of Istanbul and the wider West” (Shaw, 111). The main disadvantages for cultural development of the country were certainly the constant inside and outside conflicts, Turkey had to go through; it is evident that formation of the unique culture and language was a rather sophisticated task under such circumstances. On the other hand, there is hardly any other country with such a rich and versatile culture like Turkey, in fact we could call the contemporary Turkish culture the connecting link between the past and the present traditions, between West and East. Besides the growth of economy in Turkey, which started from the year 2002 continues till the moment, average from 2002 till 2006 it made 7.5 % and another 6.1 from 2006 till 2007. There are certainly some problems connected with fall of exchange rate and account deficit. In order to continue the economical growth of the country implementation of reforms, especially concerning fiscal policy is needed. As it was already said, Turkey already started negotiations about joining EU, thus the sectors of banking, telecommunication and retail are concentrated on enlarging foreign investments.
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Monday, August 27, 2012

American Popular Culture Research Paper

American Popular Culture Research Paper

I completely agree that popular culture is not a slideshow. Popular culture adopts to the existing realities in which people live and serves those realities. The change in popular culture is affected by numerous social, economic, political and other factors, which, joined together, form the conscience of the society at large. Of course, popular culture is often artificially imposed; nevertheless, it cannot be compared to the ‘slideshow’. The times America went through during the Second World War and couple of decades after war illustrate how popular culture adopted to the existing realities of the contemporary life in the United States.

Along with the explosion of countless bombs and artillery shells, popular culture burst on the landscape of World War Two. Consumer products and entertainment, pleasure and diversion - particularly for the millions of young Americans who became soldiers - were introduced to large numbers of civilians. Chewing gum and candy bars, the jokes of Bob Hope and the music of Glenn Miller were such military exports. Like the simply drawn figure with nose and fingers appearing over a wall, with the caption “Kilroy was here,” popular culture became widely familiar, if not commonplace. (Edgerton, 2001)

 

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As warfare expanded to new dimensions, so did the manufacture and distribution of military equipment. What was later called “globalization” - worldwide marketing, primarily of commodities, by multinational corporations - was first battle-tested. The most significant (if unintended) effects of the war effort on postwar popular culture were aspects of this spread of things. (Lowenthal, 1996) The two chief ones were spatial: proximity and mobility, an exceptional distribution of goods and services reaching most war fronts, and reaching them quickly, a phenomenon that would only increase after the war to become the vast commodification of our own age.

War material both amazed people in America and littered their places of residence. President Franklin D. Roosevelt had none of this in mind when he referred to the United States as the “arsenal of democracy.” (Seabrook, 2000) Nor could he imagine that the country was becoming the proto-supermarket to the world. If any proof were needed of this “avalanche of stuff coming at you,” to go back to Gehry’s statement, it was easily and amply provided by Coca-Cola. (Seabrook, 2000) Considered a refreshing means to boost morale, Coca-Cola followed the troops wherever they went.

By war’s end some 64 Coke plants had been constructed around the world and five billion bottles of the beverage had been consumed. (Seabrook, 2000)

By the end of the war American cigarettes, appearing in packages of five in the field C-rations of American soldiers, were serving as surrogate currency in Germany. As for “durable goods,” the omnipresent product then was strictly military: the Jeep.

(Edgerton, 2001) Both the most affectionately treated and the most versatile of war weapons, the Jeep raced across the North African desert, bounced along jungle trails in New Guinea and plunged ahead in heavy snow during the Battle of the Bulge in Belgium in December 1944. The Jeep was just about everywhere, the 586,489 produced during the war assuring that it was indeed commonplace, equally so because it was clearly an all-terrain vehicle, an SUV before its time. (Lowenthal, 1996) When produced after the war, it continued to be popular among American youth as the first sport utility vehicle.

The Jeep also suggested a further democratization of the technology that had made the automobile the conveyance of large numbers of people. The Jeep was driven by both corporal and colonel, a new equality of military position. And when the high-ranking officer was not at the wheel, he was at the side of the driver. Everyone drove a Jeep, and no one of consequence sat in the back seat. And then there was military clothing. So much of it was produced that it became a postwar commodity featured in the army and navy surplus stores that flourished in the United States. Surplus khaki clothing, the summer wear of fighting men, became popular casual wear of the 1950s.

Clothing companies now also produced it, as it joined the blue blazer in the new style of “casual smart.” (Edgerton, 2001) Popular figures like the movie star James Dean and the author Jack Kerouac were seen in khakis.

The Civil rights movement, which many historians state started in the 1960’s, actually started to evolve slowly after the war was over. With this change in the American conscience, popular culture changed to adopt as well. The major production shift in the 1960’s was the obvious one: consumer goods replaced military equipment, reversing the earlier shift to military equipment from consumer goods. World War Two, if viewed as a commodity enterprise, a matter of statistical advantages, was able to assure mass destruction because of effective systems of mass distribution. (Lowenthal, 1996)

Little more than a year after MacArthur’s declaration, millions of American servicemen had also returned, but to the United States. By then the conversion of swords into plowshares was moving forward at great speed. The austerity of war gave way to the new abundance of peace. Automobiles were quickly weighed down with chrome (in some instances 45 lb of it) and their bodywork alluded to features of the aircraft that the automobile manufacturers had turned out during the war. In the first decade after the war, automobiles sported rear fins and hood ornaments (“bonnet mascots” in British usage) suggestive of fighter planes. (Boorstin, 1992) Buick even provided a chrome-plated variant of a bomb sight as a hood ornament, and named its new model Le Sabre after the F-86 Sabre jet fighter - with the French article inserted, one can guess, to suggest interior comforts a fighter plane never had.

Plastic, a new and soon a major product of the chemical industry, began as the wartime substitute for battle-consumed metal. When the Civil Rights Movement became an essential part of America, plastic was widely used in kitchenware, in furniture and in textile fibers, and made its dramatic appearance as a major automobile material in the first plastic body sitting on the frame of the 1964 Chevrolet Corvette. (Seabrook, 2000) Easily produced, easily shaped and very versatile, plastic became the new building material of the age, as vinyl covered floors and outside walls and became the characteristic material of the first generation of McDonald’s restaurants.

Through its “baby boomer” children of war veterans at home and through its servicemen serving as occupation troops abroad, the United States introduced new attitudes and practices easily grouped under the phrase “casual living.” (Seabrook, 2000) Clothing distinctions, so long the visual demarcation between rich and poor, gave way; and youth dress, formerly little more than a derivative of adult fashion, emerged as the new and profitable fashion line.

The two obvious items that expressed youthful rebelliousness against formality during the Civil Rights Movement era were T-shirts and jeans. Both quickly won acceptance, because they were worn by the young. One other element completes the current global fashion in clothing: the baseball cap. During World War Two, this headgear moved from the ball park to the Pacific naval theater of operations where it appeared as part of the on-ship wear of naval officers. With deliberate irony about twenty years later the anti-war movement adopted the neo-military look as casual fashion. (Boorstin, 1992) The hippies, youngsters who happily disengaged from the work-ethic society, laid back, as the term goes, in communes of simple self-sufficiency. Their counter-culture attire, mismatched and misplaced, consisted of army uniforms: jackets, overcoats with military regalia left sewn on.
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This is a free research paper on American Popular Culture topic. Keep in mind that all free research project samples and research paper examples are taken from open sources – they are plagiarized and cannot be used as your own research project. If you need a qualitative custom research project on American Popular Culture for college, university, Master's or PhD degree – you are welcome to contact professional research writing company to have your paper written online by academic research writers.
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Risk Assessment Research Proposal

Toxic Hazard and Risk Assessment Research Proposal

Introduction
Basically, the development of human society was accompanied by the implementation of new technologies and materials which were used to facilitate the life and work of people. At the same time, as technologies used in agriculture and industry grew more and more complicated, the threat of hazards related to human activities and materials used by people in the industrial and agricultural production increased dramatically. Nowadays, it is even possible to speak about the great threat human activities and, especially the use of hazardous chemical materials, expose to nature and to human life and health as well. What is meant here is the fact that people do not only facilitate their life but they also consciously expose themselves to the risk of dangerous hazards caused by human activities and, in this regard, chemical materials are particularly dangerous because their effects on human health are particularly dangerous.

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In this respect, the use of such materials as ammonia is particularly dangerous because this material is extremely dangerous but, at the same time, it is widely spread in agricultural and industrial production. This is why even such areas as the IUB one may be potentially exposed to the threat of chemical hazards, including those involving ammonia. Consequently, the prevention of such a threat should be one of the primary concerns of the local authorities and specialists working with such chemical materials, which are very dangerous for environment and human health.

The threat of ammonia hazard
As the matter of fact, ammonia is widely used in the modern industries and agriculture. At the same time, the use of ammonia in both industry and agriculture in Indiana as well as in any other part of the US is inevitably accompanied by the serious risk of ammonia gas emission and its consequences. It should be pointed out that ammonia is a really dangerous chemical material due to its flammability and, what is even important, its impact on human health is extremely destructive if the share of ammonia gas in the air consistently exceeds the natural norm. Potentially, the emission of ammonia gas may be cause explosions if its concentration is high and some source of fire is available or any other material which can provoke inflammation comes into contact with ammonia. As for human health proper, ammonia produces an extremely destructive impact on the respiratory system and can lead to the death of an individual exposed to the inhalation of ammonia gas. This is why the threat of ammonia to human health is obvious.

However, the situation is deteriorated by the fact that ammonia is widely spread and even though IUB, for instance, can hardly be named the center of industrial or agricultural production but still any accidents that can occur in the neighboring area may affect IUB as well because ammonia gas may move on quite a long distance on the condition that there is a wind that flows in the particular direction, i.e. in the direction of the IUB area threatening to the health of people that are there at the moment of the hazard.

Consumer exposure and vulnerability factors
In general, the threat of chemical hazards involving ammonia seem to be rather hypothetical in the case of IUB but, it is necessary to remember about the fact that ammonia gas emission can cover substantial territories in a case of the serious accident that occur on some plant or in the area of storage of ammonia. In such a situation, the distance from the area of accident to the IUB area may be not very effective barrier on the way of the ammonia gas spread to IUB and local population.
Naturally, it is necessary to admit the fact that people which are in the epicenter of an accident involving ammonia will suffer more injuries, for instance, employee of a farm or plant where ammonia is used (http://www.cdc.gov/nasd/docs/d000901-d001000/d000994/d000994.html). Nevertheless, in the situation, when people living or working in the IUB area are uninformed about the approaching cloud of ammonia gas which is formed in the result of some accident the effects may be really disastrous because ammonia gas may really lead to lethal outcome in the result of the poisoning of human body. Obviously, if people fail to protect themselves from such a threat they will naturally be exposed to serious injuries or even the risk of getting killed by this poisonous chemical material.

Risk assessment of the threat
In such a situation, the risk assessment of the threat of ammonia hazards and the effective emergency management are of a paramount importance. In fact, it should be said that risk assessment may play the key role in the prevention of hazards involving ammonia because the condition of storage of ammonia are extremely important in the prevention of accidents while the use of the material in accordance with the existing standards makes the risk of a hazard minimal. This is why nowadays there is a variety of legislative acts that regulate the use and storage of ammonia that can be very helpful in the prevention of potential catastrophes (http://www.eea-inc.com/rrdb/DGRegProject/Ammonia.html).

In this respect, it is obvious that in order to make the existing norms and standards defined in legislative acts work effectively in relation to the storage and use of ammonia it is necessary to assess the areas where ammonia hazards can occur. This means that it is necessary to carefully research the environment and neighboring territories around IUB to identify the potential sources of ammonia threat. As soon as they are identified it is necessary to establish control over the use and storage of ammonia. At the same time, it is also necessary to inform people about the potential threat of ammonia since in a case of an explosion it may injure and kill many people while the gas emission of ammonia may cause even larger harm poisoning a larger number of people because it will affect not only those people who were working in a farm or plant where the emission occurs but also those who are in the area where the gas can move, including IUB.

Obviously, in such a situation, people should be immediately informed about the threat and they need to know what they should do in order to avoid the harmful impact of ammonia on their health. In this respect, the existing system of notification in IUB can be really effective (http://www.iub.edu/~uconnect/news/award.shtml) since if people are located in the safe areas where ammonia gas cannot penetrate than the threat is minimal or reduced substantially.

However, for the more prevention of the negative effects of ammonia on human health it is necessary to inform people by means of educational programs, for instance, about its impact on humans and ways of protection against this threat. In addition, it is necessary to provide the local population not only with safe areas but also with respiratory systems that could protect them from the negative impact of ammonia gas.

Conclusion
Thus, taking into account all above mentioned, it is possible to conclude that the threat of ammonia hazards is quite probable due to the wide spread of this dangerous material in agriculture and industry. Nevertheless, the effective system of notification and availability of safe areas and respiratory systems can minimize the negative impact of ammonia gas on the health of people in the IUB area. At the same time, the prevention of hazards involving ammonia should be the primary concern of the local authorities and emergency services.
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This is a free research proposal on Risk Assessment topic. Keep in mind that all free research proposal samples and examples of research paper proposals are taken from open sources – they are totally plagiarized! If you need a quality custom research proposal on Risk Assessment for your college, university, Master's or PhD degree – you are welcome to contact professional research proposal writing company to have your paper written online by academic research proposal writers.
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Sunday, August 26, 2012

PhD Research Proposal Writing Guide

PhD Research Proposal Writing Guide

Every student who applies for writing a PhD research paper has to prepare a good research proposal. When you choose a topic you have to start researching it at once in order to know something about it and to be able to write a proposal.

Choosing a topic you are expected to be interested in it and to have great intentions to deepen your knowledge in this sphere and to present something new into the discipline. In order to be permitted to write a research paper, you have to attract your teacher’s or supervisor’s attention with the help of a good PhD research proposal which presents your ideas and predictions concerning the future research. If you want to impress your supervisor and win the permission to research the chosen topic, there are professional PhD research proposal writing guidelines which will be useful for every student.

PhD Research Proposal Writing Tips:
  1. First of all make the title page and include your name, the name of the supervisor, department and educational institution. Write the title of the project under research and prepare a good abstract including the brief outline of your future work, its problems, questions, methods, predicted results. After that write a plan of the research project and present the data which will be analyzed, questions and subtopics. Share with the literary sources which can be used for writing your proposal and the supervisor will have the opinion that you have planed the whole writing process scrupulously and know how to achieve the predicted results.
  2. Now include the methodology section which will describe the way how you will investigate the topic ans its subtopics. The more methods you use the better chances you have to complete a successful research proposal, because teachers and supervisors are mostly interested in the methodology - you abilities to analyze things in different ways.
  3. Now write about the ways of data collection. How you are planning to find enough material which will be useful for the research and help you achieve the predicted results. Write the aim of the research, predict the results and say how they influence the discipline. Write what you want to achieve and what tools you need for the research and analysis. Present how many sections your research paper will contain and what questions will be discussed. Remember about the logical organization of the paper if you do not want to miss some important point.
  4. Finally, write the amount of time required for the research and prepare a good bibliography with the literary sources valuable for the research. Remember to organize the bibliography and the whole research proposal according to the required formats and standards of your educational institution.
With EffectivePapers.com research proposal writers you will get a high-quality custom research proposal paper on any topic and discipline.

Wednesday, August 15, 2012

Computer Technology Research Paper

Computer Technology Research Paper

Motherboard Developments 

Introduction 
The current level of the development of technologies is extremely high. In fact, modern technologies have provided ample opportunities to achieve results people could have never even dreamed about. In this respect, the development of IT, computers and hardware was particularly important since it contributed consistently to the development of new technologies. It is necessary to underline that such a development resulted in the wide spread of PCs which entered practically all households and are really an essential element of the modern life, which facilitate the life of people considerably. At the same time, it should be said that the development of motherboards was one of the most significant factors that provided the rapid development of computing and hardware industry making modern PCs more compact and effective. On the other hand, the development of motherboards actually reflects the development of computer industry at large. In such a situation, it is really important to trace the development of motherboards in order to reveal the major trends in the motherboards market at the moment.

 

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The development of motherboards in the late 1970s – early 1980s
Speaking about the development of motherboards, it is necessary to underline that it is one of the basic and essential elements of modern computers. In fact, it is hardly possible to believe that in the past computers did not have motherboard in its modern form. At any rate, in the early stages of the development of PCs, in 1970s, computers were built in a case or mainframe where all the elements constituting a computer were connected. The connection was made by means of backplane, which consisted of a set of slots. The slots were connected between themselves by means of wires. In such a way, the predecessors of the modern motherboard were quite complicated and inconvenient to mass production. Moreover, the reliability of such a system was relatively low, but, what was probably more important, this system could not meet the growing demands the progressing computers should meet.

It was obvious that mainframes consisting of the set of slots connected by wires could not be effective enough as the new devices, which grew more and more sophisticated, could be installed on PCs. As a result, the need to change and improve the mainframes was obvious. In this respect, it should be said that the implementation of microprocessors was probably the major factor that determined the emergence of motherboards since it was more cost effective to place the backplane connectors, processor, and glue logic onto a single board, a motherboard (Chien, 1992, 38). The use of motherboard made computers much more effective and their production cost saving. At the same time, the use of mother board did not limit functions or potential of computers, instead, it enlarged them consistently. For instance, with the invention of the motherboards and their first implementation in computers, there was a possibility to combine the use of the motherboard and “child” boards, so-called daughterboards, with video, memory and I/O functions (Chien, 1992, p.102).

It is worthy of mention that the leading computer producers, such as IBM and Apple argue concerning their leadership in the invention of the motherboard. In this respect, the latter has a better position in this argument since it was Apple, which created Apple II in 1977, the computer that featured a motherboard with eight extension slots (Golding, 1981, p.105). On the other hand, IBM argues that it was this company that initiated the development of the motherboard industry. To put it more precisely, in 1981, this company created 5150 Personal Computer which was based on a motherboard (Moritz, 1996, p.95). This is why the company estimates that it was IBM that started the implementation of motehrboards.

However, the company that started the production is not so significant compared to the perspectives motherboards opened for the computer industry. At the same time, the late 1970s – early 1980s were just the dawn of the motherboard industry since it was a new hardware used in computers and specialists should continue to work on this hardware in order to find the most effective implementation to motherboards.

The development of motherboards in the late 1980s – 1990s 
The late 1980s – 1990s became the period of the rapid progress and development of the motherboard industry. In fact, during this period of time motherboards had evolved from the first models developed by IBM and Apple to motherboards which may be viewed as the basis of the contemporary motherboards. On analyzing the development of motherboards in the late 1980s – 1990s, it is necessary to underline that one of the major trends in this epoch was the shift to the increase of peripheral functions on motherboards. This means that due to such a shift, the producers of motherboards, mainly IBM and Apple, attempted to increase the number of functions that could be fulfilled with the help of motherboards. In fact, it was obvious that multi-functionality of computers based on the more effective of motherboards could be a determinant factor in gaining the advantageous position in the market. On the other hand, it should be said that such a trend in the development of motherboards was stimulated not only by purely economic factors, but also by the further progress of computer technologies, which actually created ample opportunities to develop peripheral functions on motherboards and, therefore, increase functionality and effectiveness of computers at large.

It is worthy of mention that by the late 1980s motherboards had already included single ICs capable of supporting a set of low-speed peripherals, such as keyboard, mouse, floppy disk drive, serial ports, and parallel ports. The further development of motherboards naturally increased the capabilities of motherboards.

The major trends in the development of motherboards market 
Basically, the current trends in the development of motherboards market are, to a significant extent, defined by the history of the development of motherboards. To put it more precisely, historically, IBM and Apple were the major competitors in the production and implementation of new motherboards. As a result, these two companies are viewed as the leaders of the motherboard industry. However, it is worthy of mention that in recent years other companies attempt to enter this industry and gain their share of the market. Basically, these companies are situated in Eastern-Asia and operated in countries where the level of the development of science and technologies provide opportunities for the wide implementation of innovation in the process of manufacturing of motherboards.

Nevertheless, it is necessary to underline that the position of Apple and, especially, IBM are extremely important in the development of the motherboard market since it these two companies that are the major computer producers and, therefore, major consumers of motherboards.

Conclusion 
Thus, taking into account all above mentioned, it is possible to conclude that the development of motherboards was extremely important for the development of the computer industry at large. On the one hand, the development of motherboard was determined by the economic factors since producers of computers attempted to make the process of production more cost effective and the use of motherboards proved to be very effective in this regard. On the other hand, the technological development also stimulated the development of motherboards independently from the impact of economic factors. In such a way, the development of motherboards may be viewed as a natural response of the industry on demands of the epoch. Finally, it should be said that the motherboard industry has made a considerable progress since the late 1970s when the first motherboard was created.
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This is a free research paper on Computer Technology topic. Keep in mind that all free research project samples and research paper examples are taken from open sources – they are plagiarized and cannot be used as your own research project. If you need a qualitative custom research project on Computer Technology for college, university, Master's or PhD degree – you are welcome to contact professional research writing company to have your paper written online by academic research writers.
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Tuesday, August 14, 2012

Research Proposal on Smoking

Research Proposal on Smoking

It has already been claimed everywhere for millions of times that smoking is harmful for individual’s health. It not only can lead to lung cancer and lesson one’ s life, but also during the life period it slows down processes of metabolism and deteriorate nearly all essential human organs.

A person gets used to smoking and becomes an addict that is even worse as he stops to be thinking individual. Person loses his own power of will and becomes unable to make decisions by his own. His smoking habit becomes uncontrollable and smoking becomes the leading power of his life.
 

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There are a lot of points of view upon smoking question, but what bothers me the most- is smoking in public places. Passive smoking is defined by scientists as being even more harmful than active one. Passive smokers in general cannot be protected from this influence and there should be commonly introduced regulations on the state level in order to protect non-smokers’ rights and freedoms.

There are a lot restaurants, clubs, enterprises and companies where people can choose which area to be in- smoking or non-smoking. But in general, when a person leaves his house, where only he decides what to do and how to behave and what air to breathe, he is no longer protected from the harmful influence.

Having smoked for about five years and after quitting this habit for about three year, I have classified people’s attitudes towards smoking in public places into four categories. First category are people who are violent enemies of smoking, they do not smoke, never smoked and claim that will never put a cigarette into their mouth. One of the brightest representatives was professor of oncology who thoroughly studied all smoking consequences for health. He was strongly contra all types of smoking- passive and active and of course contra smoking in public places. The second category can be called democratic one. It refers to people who equally understand both sides, but still do not smoke. As to the representatives, one of them was a Chief Executive Officer of one large financial consulting group, who had equipped special rooms –smoking areas, which were accordingly conditioned and totally separated from non-smoking personnel. He is a friend of my father and I have always admired his clear and calm mind and behavior. He was not smoking by himself, as he was practicing yoga and he didn’t need that, but he still cared of his smoking colleagues and subordinates not judging them and just trying to understand and allow them to do what they want to. He always said that each person is responsible for himself only and for his own choice, and that is why it is no sense to forbid smoking in the company.

The third category was absolutely indifferent to this matter. They didn’t care for smoking or not smoking, doing this on public or not. They were just interested in themselves and not in their surrounding. As an example I would like to write about my aunt who cared only of her appearance, TV shows and her favorite dog. When I asked her why she smokes and why she can’t understand that it is harmful for her appearance, beauty and health, she used to answer me that it is no sense in dying healthy and she can handle her beauty with cosmetics help and surgeon interference. She also always insisted on the fact that live is too short to restrict yourself and there is no sense in this, and that is why she will always do what she likes and if it would correspond to her inner beliefs and would be her true desire, it will never do any harm to her.

The forth category was very much interested in ecological matters of smoking. They usually were occupied with the diminishing ozone volume, global ecological problems and problems of lack of fresh air for all living beings on the world. Examples of this category were my friends from the university with ecology major, who decided to make what bothered them a lot the work of all their lives.
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Friday, August 10, 2012

How to Write a Master's Research Proposal

How to Write a Good Master's Research Proposal

When you plan to prepare a research paper, bare in mind that you have to write a good research proposal at first. Writing a Master’s research proposal is a delicate process which demands strict organization and responsibility. It is quite obvious that a Master's research proposal should be more complicated than the research proposals of the previous years. The standards are higher, so you have to take more efforts to achieve positive results and win the permission to write a research paper. Sometimes students have difficulties with proposal writing, so there are high-quality Master’s research proposal writing tips which will be useful for every young professional.

Master's Research Proposal Writing Guidelines:
  1. First of all think about a good topic for the research. It is important to choose a narrow topic, because it will be easier for you to research it and on the other hand, general topics which present vast amounts of information on various areas are often rejected by the teachers. Then, create a good title for your research proposal. Remember that it should be as short as possible but illustrate the idea of the whole research proposal, the problem under research and its urgency. Write a few words about the value of your research, what has been investigated by different scholars before and what new ideas you are going to present.
     
  2. Now write about the methods and techniques which will help you conduct your research and achieve the predicted goals. Teachers are always interested in methodology, so devote enough time for this section to make it look perfect. Using a great number of techniques and methods, you demonstrate your knowledge and professional skills of a young scholar. Write the outline and the timetable to show your future research process. When the teacher sees that you have planed the whole process demonstrating every stage and step in detail, your proposal will likely be approved.
     
  3. Write a list of literary sources, equipment and facilities which will help you make a research. The more facilities you use, the better chances you have, but bare in mind that the research itself will be more complicated. Remember to divide your Master’s research proposal into categories to make it look nice and logical.
     
  4. Try to meet with your supervisor any time you have serious questions or problems. Every university has its own standards and requirements, so you should consult with your supervisor to make sure you are on the right way. Make sure you prepare your proposal according to the required formats, whether you have organized it properly. When you have completed your proposal, try to proofread it scrupulously to avoid any mistakes which can spoil the general view of your paper. 
You can also buy a research proposal at EssayLib.com online written by professional PhD writers. Contact this research proposal writing service.

    Thursday, August 9, 2012

    Research Paper on Disabled People

    Employment Equality for People with Disabilities in Canada

    We all are fully aware of different kinds of discriminations, both from school and just from our every day life. We have read loads of articles in newspapers and have heard a lot of stories about racial or ethnic discrimination against Black, Asian, Native American, and Arabic people. Moreover, most of us are educated in the fields of the Holocaust in which over six million of European Jews were killed, and Armenian, Ukrainian, Gregorian and many other genocides. We seem to know what discrimination is, what forms in comes in and who suffers from it. Moreover, we seem to think that today it does not exist at all, or, if it does, then in a very light form.

    One other misconception that most of us have is that in today’s world the discrimination can be only racial, on the base of gender, religious, or finical. Conversely, this is not the full list of possible groups that suffer from discrimination and inequity. Yes, we were told stories at school and/or by our parents about those who suffered from acts of sanctioned discrimination, such as racism, anti-Semitism, anti-feminism, and other evil biased tactics. Even so, a group that is now exceptionally disadvantaged has been left out in the lectures of our teachers and parents, history books and television shows. That discriminated and deprived at all times group are disabled people. As sad as it is, people, as well as the government tend to forget about this group of their counterparts. Such fact is shameful and serious actions should be taken in this field in order to change the living and working conditions disabled people have to suffer today.

     

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    In my essay I would like to discuss the problem of equal employment for people with disabilities in Canada. To begin with I will briefly expound the history of advocacy movementa of disabled people in Canada, that is, in fact, quite remarkable. Later on in the paper I will talk about the current situation of the employment of disabled people in the country. Afterward I will try to find the solutions and actions that should be taken in Canada to put in force full equity of employment of disabled people.

    When speaking about the current situation of disabled people on the Canadian labor market, the attitude of Canadian people to that group must be described. It can be seen today that Canadian attitudes toward people with disabilities have improved greatly. Having looked through some older posts of disabled people from Canada on the Internet I realized that not that long ago disabled people in Canada were basically expelled from the mainstream society (Benchmark Survey, 2004). Young parents, whose children happened to be born disabled, were getting refusals from the daycares and kindergartens, because it was not desired to have disabled children next to their healthy coevals. This seems too evil to be true, though it is, according to the recollections of those who particularly suffered from it.

    The time has passed, the society today is more liberal and people are more accepting and equitable, so more and more disabled people get employed and achieve great success. As it is for every critical issue, it is very inspiring to see that the changes for the better have been successfully done (Benchamark Survey, 2004). In the present day not only there are “equal rights and the provision of services for Canadians with disabilities” on paper, but also in real life. Though, the situation with disabled people is not perfect yet, and without a shadow of doubt, when it comes to this issue “overall perfection” and not just “visible improvement” must be required.

    Now I would like to take a closer look at the history of advocacy of equity employment of people with disabilities in Canada. According to the article of D’Aubin, in Canada people with disabilities have a long advocacy practice (2004). Moreover, advocating the overall equality of disabled people is an imperative part of “the Canadian public policy framework” (D’Aubin, 2004). Of course, all the efforts of independent advocates and advocacy organizations were and are to completely eliminate discrimination in the country. The main goals of these groups were to eliminate the obstacles still existing on the way of disabled people and prevent the appearance of new obstacles in the future (D’Aubin, 2004).

    Of course, all issues that deal with labor market tend to be difficult to solve. Consequently, the issue of improving the participation of people with disabilities in labor market was hard indeed. It was one of the most difficult projects undertaken by the advocacy groups of people with disabilities. Various Canadian associations tried a lot of strategies in order to diminish and, in the best case, obliterate the unemployment and underemployment of disabled people. In addition to that, disabled individuals acted independently trying to achieve better life for them and their counterparts (D’Aubin, 2004). Of course, the response to such a strong appeal from the Canadian government was “to secure the necessary legal protection that would have the scope to tackle the discrimination rampant in the labor market” (D’Aubin, 2004).

    After some time mutual advocacy efforts of the disability community were successful. In order to strengthen all the changes that had to be made in the positions of the disabled people of Canada the Human Rights Act was signed in 1995. This Act offers protection to people with disabilities of all kinds. Yes, the equity for disabled people had made a huge break-though, though later in the paper we will see whether all the points mentioned in Canadian Human Rights Act are held in real life.

    Besides, later on in addition to Canadian Human Rights Act another document was signed that is Disability Discrimination Act (DDA or DD Act). The Disability Discrimination Act (1995) has been subject to a number of amendments. It was modified in 2003 and 2005 because, of course, at different times different obstacles appear on the way of disabled people. At first place this act was composed to emphasize that even though disabled workers share the same general employment rights as other workers, they also possess some special provisions and benefits.

    These provisions are cautiously stated in Disability Discrimination Act and every disabled employee should be aware of all his/her rights and possible provisions stated in the act. For example under the Disability Discrimination Act it is illegal for employers to “discriminate against disabled people for a reason related to their disability, in all aspects of employment, unless this can be justified” (Disability Discrimination Act, 1995). Also there are such helpful points as application forms, interview arrangements, job offers, terms of employment, and information about work-related benefits in the Act (Disability Discrimination Act, 1995). Thus, all the possible things that a future or a current disabled employee may need are available for him/her.

    The facts stated above make it seem that the discrimination on the base of physical disability does not exist in Canada anymore. It seems that two such strong and serious documents as Canadian Human Rights Act and many times reviewed and modified Disability Discrimination Act should take care of all the problems and discrimination that may occur when looking for a job or at the work place. Though, we know that the employment inequity of disabled people still persists.

    Lower I would like to point out the obstacles that The Canadian Association of Professionals with Disabilities considers being in the way of people with disabilities. The Canadian Association of Professionals with Disabilities was formed to identify, address, and embody issues facing Canadians with disabilities on labor market. The organization was formed because there was some kind of a structure needed to put an end to the inequity existing. The Canadian Association of Professionals with Disabilities considers that there are a lot of barriers on the way of disabled people to equal employment. I will mention some of these reasons/obstacles that prevent equity employment for disabled people lower.

    To begin with, after all these years of advocacy there is still little consciousness and support on the subject of workers with disabilities. The Association holds an opinion that the employment situation cannot be improved until people with disabilities are fully accepted and until there is full awareness on the matter of their state (The Canadian Association of Professionals with Disabilities, 2007). Unawareness leads to another problem that was also stated by the Canadian Association of Professionals with Disabilities. As the surrounding people are ignorant they make it impossible for disabled people to find employment. Even in our times there is still a disgraceful stigma attached to being an employee with a disability. This leads to the fact that many disabled employees simply don not make known, if it is possible, that they have some particular disabilities. They are just afraid to loose their job, if already accepted, and are afraid not to ever be hired, if applying for a job (The Canadian Association of Professionals with Disabilities, 2007).

    A further reason is that the support services directed to help disabled workers are not given enough resources and support to in fact help them. Therefore people with disabilities do not receive adequate and appropriate education, rehabilitation, and employment services. Of course, not all professionals with disabilities require disability supports to help them in their work, but a lot of them do and their needs must be satisfied (The Canadian Association of Professionals with Disabilities, 2007).

    The last but one reason for undemocratic employment of disabled people I would like to state is as follows. Even if a professional with disabilities is a great worker, standard at every skill, there is still prevention for the employer. If choosing to hire a disabled professional, the employer should not forget about the amount of “real or perceived accommodation costs” that devolve from hiring him/her (The Canadian Association of Professionals with Disabilities, 2007). Last of all, professionals with disabilities, seeing that the situation with employment for disabled people is rather displeasing and discouraging may not even want to try to get employed. They prefer to struggle but try to survive receiving only the disability/health benefits.. Of course, they would be poorer though they find it better than being humiliated trying to find employment (The Canadian Association of Professionals with Disabilities, 2007).

    Another sad thing is that even today in Canada people with disabilities cannot get decent education. Thus less people with disabilities get university and college degrees. Of course, employment and earnings depend on the education received. Therefore, it is not surprising that Canadians with disabilities do not fully participate in the country’s labor force, and earn less (Learning Disabilities, 2007). In addition to all stated above, in Canada, according to the Canadian Council on Social Development, those disabled people who did get university/college education and did get employed are usually less likely to receive training from their employers. Thus, considering that training usually leads to promotion and promotion leads to receiving more money, employees with disabilities are also less likely to be promoted and receive higher salaries (D’Aubin, 2004).

    While doing my research I noticed that it is rather hard to find accurate up-o-date statistical facts on the issues concerning employment of disable people. Still, the facts that I have already mentioned in my paper give some indication of the problem. In my opinion, the best way to increase the number of public employees with disabilities is to make it so people fit the job, not that a job fits people. We live in the world of complete availability of all possible technologies. Therefore, it should be possible that every job, every position can be easily adjusted to a disabled person (Public Service Human Resource Agency, 2003).

    From my point of view, the only way to fight the employment discrimination of disabled people is creating specialized associations and of course taking up some actions. Some things in this area are already done. A good example is the Canadian Association of Professionals with Disabilities that is a federal non-profit organization. This organization supports professionals with disabilities no matter who they are and where they come from, their career fields, current employment statuses, or degrees they have received at college.

    In conclusion I would like to say that discrimination against the disabled takes place in all the countries and in Canada in particular on every-day basis. Of course, it is an ugly, disgracing and lamentable truth, but even that kind of a truth is still a truth that requires sharp and critical attention. In 1948 couple of years after the World War II the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was signed. One of its passages stated that “Recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world” Today fifty-nine years after the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was signed, it is disappointing to review the issue people with disability are still faced with. It is also sad to realize that principally we all still have to fight for basic human rights.

    What employers should understand is that like any employee, a worker with disabilities wants to find a good, morally satisfying and of course well-paid job. Like anyone else, people with disabilities want career choices and opportunities and not career boundaries and restrictions. These professionals want to work in the bright and light office surrounded by other employees who also work for the wellbeing of the company. These professionals do not want to be hidden in the backrooms in solitude. These professionals are highly energetic, have plenty of innovative ideas and are open for cooperation (Heumann, 2006).

    Today like never disabled people should stand up and speak out as they already start to be doing. As for me, I just simply do not understand how it is possible that in our developed and modernized society, where there seems to be “freedom and liberty for all” such issues as discrimination against disabled people may exist. It is shameful, it is disgracing and this situation must be changed.

    The issue of equal employment for people with disabilities is not addresses by various organizations, thought it should be addressed by each and every of us as well. We should not simply take it for granted that we can go shopping, get serious, adequate education at school, college, and university, use banks, post offices, and libraries. We should not forget that there are people who are not capable using services we are so used to using. We should think more about these people and do everything possible to encourage their equal employment.

    The health conditions of disabled people should be respected. Though, at the same time, sometimes it is better to shut the eyes when looking at these conditions and give disabled people a chance to show all their abilities and talents. Disabled members of our society must be treated like those without any special conditions and only this way we will help them feel that they are the mainstream members of our society.
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    Research Paper on Torture

    The Use of Tortures as a Controversial Issue

    The use of torture has become a subject of great controversy recently. Despite torture is officially prohibited all over the world, it still exists in the modern society. There are two controversial opinions concerning this issue.

    Proponents of the torture believe that despite being an undesirable means tortures still can be accepted in some separate cases. They state that in the case when using torture can help to save many lives of innocent people this use can be justified. They give arguments of self-defense when the harm inflicted to the person during self-defense can be justified. In other words, making harm during self-defense and when using torture has the same moral justification – causing less harm in order to avoid bigger harm. In hostage-taking scenario, when wrongdoer threatens a life of innocent person putting the gun next to his head, a police is also allowed to shoot the criminal. In this case moral laws allow the use of force and even bringing criminal’s life as a sacrifice for the sake of saving a life of an innocent people.

     

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    The same logic is not applied for the torture case, though. In the hostage scenario it is permitted to violate the life of the criminal in order to save a life of an innocent person, but in the case with tortures rights of the criminal are saved in the prejudice of the lives of innocent people. Modern laws do not justify tortures, even if the life of other people depends on the use of tortures, state the proponents of the torture using. They also state that argument that tortures will dehumanize society and weaken moral values can not be considered as a serious argument against tortures. Despite using tortures is morally doubtful, not using them can be interpreted as the act in the benefit of the criminals, and in this way we make even bigger moral harm to the society. So, proponents of the tortures do not believe this argument to be strong enough. They also believe that the argument, that tortures do not always guarantee one hundred per cent that they will help to save a life of an innocent person, is also not very impressive. They state that violent actions against wrongdoer are allowed in the case of self-defense, and that is why they should be allowed in the case of tortures.

    Opponents of those, who believe that tortures can be accepted in some separate cases, have a strong belief that tortures are inhuman and can not be justified by any means. They compare contemporary society with the one of the past. In ancient times all the prisoners were killed in order to prevent the possible danger in the future. The use of torture was a usual thing in ancient times, but mankind has gone by the path of progress and evolution and the use of torture moves mankind back to the uncivilized past. Prohibition of tortures has definitely become one of those means, which help to save a contemporary society from primitive chaos and cruelty. Moral reasons make the basis of arguments given by those, who stand against the use of tortures.

    Opponents of the torture turn to facts and numbers in order to make their arguments more convincing. In spring of the year 2004 people all over the world saw a number of photos where American soldiers tortured Iraqi prisoners at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq. All the world saw that the United States of America, the country that for many centuries has served as an example of the liberal attitude and democracy, breaks the norms of the convention and mistreats prisoners. It became an international scandal that could not leave this problem without authorities’ attention. As states Defense Secretary, Donald Rumsfeld: “These events occurred on my watch. As secretary of defense, I am accountable for them and I take full responsibility… I feel terrible about what happened to these Iraqi detainees… It is important for the American people and the world to know that while these terrible acts were perpetrated by a small number of U.S. military, they were also brought to light by the honorable and responsible actions of other military personnel” (Stone, 2004). Despite the government of the country gives excuses and promises to perform necessary actions, the problem is still burning as it uncovered more serious problem of breaking the rules of the Geneva Convention. The Geneva Convention became an embodiment of humanistic principles and rational counting which let save the principles of humanism during the period of war and helped to resolve any kind of conflicts. The United States of America signed this Convention and applied its principles and regulations to its military system. Moreover, since the time the Convention was ratified, U.S. has played a prominent role in proclaiming its principles all over the world. The war against terrorism, proclaimed after the September 11 changed the situation. Unfortunately nowadays, the U.S. shows lack of desire to obey the norms and principles proclaimed by the Geneva Convention. The number of acts, issued during this period, contradict some points of the Geneva Convention. People cannot be sure if that was single case of such treatment or it was one of hundreds of cases that had become known by the public. The use of tortures breaks principle rules of the Geneva Convention and contradicts not only to moral values of the American society but also decreases the authority of the country.

    The Geneva Convention is among the main acts which regulates the treatment to the prisoners of war (POW). This convention prohibits any kinds of tortures, and the most civilized counties have agreed with this point by singing this Convention. It is very important to note that prisoners are not in the hands of individuals or organizations who have caught them, they belong to the Power of the enemy country. So, irrespective, aggressive or rude attitude of the individuals must be penalized by the Law. The Detaining Power of the country has the responsibility for the good treatment of prisoners. Those, who stand against tortures, turn to these shameful facts of the US history in attract public attention to the problem. They also bring statistics from other countries and state that the use of tortures not only humiliates human rights, but also brings damage to the authority of the government and armed forces of the country where tortures are used. Moral argument and defense of human rights are also strong arguments brought by those, who believe the use of torture to be inhuman and morally wrong.

    Both sides have strong argumentations of their positions and they are not likely to come to any kind of agreement in the nearest future. I believe that the root of the problem is in the fact that they approach the problem of torture from different sides. Moral aspect and protection of human rights, which are the main argument of the opponents of the torture use, do not appeal to those, who base their argument on the defense of the innocent lives and, in this way, justify the use of tortures.
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    Wednesday, August 8, 2012

    Research Paper on Concept of Identity

    Youth Identity and Schooling Instructions: The strengths and weaknesses of the concept of identity

    Introduction 
    The concept of identity traditionally evoked numerous discussions since this concept contributes to the better understanding of the essence of human self and its formation. Obviously, the concept of identity is really important to research and it opens new opportunities to understand what can influence the formation of the personality of an individual, his/her character, beliefs, views, opinion, etc. At the same time, it is necessary to underline that the concept of identity is often criticized since it is possible to estimate that the concept of identity imposes the external influences on the formation of the personality as determining factor, while other factors, basically concerning the internal world of an individual are practically ignored.

     

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    At any rate, whether one supports the concept of identity or not, it is still necessary to remember that the human identity and human “self” are not exactly the same things for the latter seems to be a wider notion which incorporates not only the notion of identity which, to a significant extent defines self, but it also implies the development of an individual independently from the process of identification with certain community, culture, nation, etc. In such a way, self actually reveals the major weakness of the concept of identity and its limitations. Nevertheless, the concept of identity is worthy of profound research because it can be very helpful in understanding of young people’s experience of school. To put it more precisely, the concept of identity helps better understand the process of formation of an individual in school and the impact of the social surrounding as well as the education system at large on the formation of the individual’s identity and self.

    In such a way, it is necessary to analyze the concept of identity, understand its essence, and critically evaluate this concept in order to reveal the major strengths and weaknesses of the concept of identity. After that it will be possible to fully reveal the significance of the concept of identity for understanding of young people’s experience of school.

    Basic implications of the concept of identity
    In fact, the concept of identity is quite complicated and it is hardly possible to give a universal definition of this concept. Nevertheless, it should be said that the concept of identity, as many specialists agree (Russell, 2002), is of a paramount importance and its existence cannot be denied. Also, it is worthy of mention that basically the concept of identity implies that an indidivudal’s personality is shaped under the impact of his social surrounding and external influences of his cultural surrounding, norms and beliefs accepted within a particular community the individual lives in. Gradually, in the course of the formation of an individual, he acquires the existing social and moral norms accepted in his community and, what is more, he attempts to identify himself with this community in order to get integrated in it and lead a normal social life. Otherwise, i.e. if an individual fails to identify himself with certain social groups, he is doomed to become a kind of outcast, who does not really belong to any community and leads asocial life, though it does not necessarily means that he is some criminal or his behavior is antisocial. In fact, such an individual is simply lost for community as well as the community is lost for him, but such cases are rather exceptional than normal and, as a rule, practically all individual are normally socialized and, consciously or not, acquire their own identity which actually unites them with the rest of the community and make them feel a constituent and inseparable part of this community.

    At the same time, it should be said that nowadays there are a lot of discussions concerning the problem of defining human identity and human ‘self’. But the question is not new. A specific feature of the contemporary researches and discussion is that the main characteristic of these notions is that they are constantly changing. Furthermore, a significant influence on human identity and ‘self’ produce the society people live in. Among those who support this point of view may be named Zygmunt Bauman and Erving Goffman. Actually, they have some common points in their views on the problem of identity, human “self”, and human society. However, the views of Bauman are particularly interesting for the analysis of the concept of identity since this researcher focused on the problem of holocaust in the context of modern society and, in this respect, it is also possible to refer to Goffman’s research of German society and the influence it produced on individuals. These researchers, referring to the extreme points in the development of human society as well as in the formation of human identity perfectly reveal the essence of this concept and the extent to which human identity may be affected by the surrounding culture and social environment of an individual. In fact, an individual’s identity may be shaped by his environment to the extent that he attempts to belong to the community even though its norms and rules, at the current moment of development, contradict to basic human values or even human nature itself, promoting intolerance, discrimination, and simply genocide as it was in the case of Holocaust. At the same time, this problem is also important for the modern society since it helps better understand the formation of human identity.

    Bauman is famous for his works dedicated to the problem of modern society and separate individuals which he analyzed in two of his works “Modernity and the Holocaust” and “Modernity and Ambivalence”. He believes that modern society tends to be a society of order in which science and reason play the main role. At the same time, this tendency influences identity and force individuals to adapt to the changing society. At this point he is close to views of Goffman who analyzed the Nazi period in German history and came to the conclusion that Germany was a solid mechanism, an asylum or total institution as he said. According to this point of view, individual’s identity and human “self” are changing and depending on the changes in the society and social conditions around people. In other words, the concept of identity is not static, in stark contrast, identity is constantly changing and these changes are the reaction of an individual on the evolution of his socio-cultural environment. This means that an individual can hardly avoid the impact of society and, therefore, he is susceptible to the external influences which affect his identity. Moreover, an individual has a natural need to feel that he is a part of the community for he cannot live in a complete isolation from society. Otherwise, he could not lead a normal social life and become some sociopath. As a result, an individual’s identity is affected by the changes in the surrounding world and adapts to new socio-cultural norms whatever they are, if these norms are accepted by the overwhelming majority of society.

    Actually, Bauman, on analyzing the processes that take place in modern society and paying a particular attention to study of Holocaust during World War II, indicates that in the modern world identity and human ‘self’ disappear in the context of rapid political and social changes like it happened in Nazi Germany and Jewish population of the whole Europe when there was a shift in human identification and their ‘selves’ as well as perception of representatives of other people as a ‘lower, worse race’. One of the conclusions he makes after the analysis of holocaust and its influence on human ‘self’ and identity is that the process of changes is practically a never-ending process and now it is characterized by a tendency to orderly organized society.

    In this respect, it is particularly important to refer to the researches conducted by Goffman concerning German society and human identity and “self” at the period of World War II. He attempted to trace what happens to an individual who enter a total institution. Germany at large could be treated as a giant organism where order was everything and might be called a total institution because to its high organization and bureaucracy. Nazi tended to establish a new order in the whole world and according to Goffman’s views it would necessarily involve the evolution of identity and human “self” of each individual. In such a way, the researcher proves the profound impact of the socio-cultural environment and dominating ideology on human identity since he underlines that the dehumanization of German society at the period of World War II was basically the result of the dominant ideology and Nazi propaganda which affected identity of each individual provoking either positive or, what was rarer negative reaction on the changes in the life of German society. Eventually, this led to the probably greatest tragedy in the history of mankind but, what is more, this led to considerable changes of human identity, which under the impact of external factors, simply transformed individuals in puppets in hands of Nazi puppeteers who controlled all spheres of life, including education, and, therefore, could influence the formation of individuals’ identity.

    Actually, Goffman states that in order to survive in any kind of social order an individual has to engage in a continuous process of evaluating the demands and expectations made upon him or her, and attempt to satisfy those by presenting an acceptable behavior to the outside world, in such a way adapting to a new social order (Russell, 2002). He also gives several examples which he treats as extremes in such a situation. For instance, he describes the story of a boxer, Rocky Graciano who was moving from one institution to another and everywhere he tends to fight the system until he join the boxer club in the prison. Since that time on he stopped fight against the system and was completely absorbed by it. On the other hand, he draws another extreme example that is a story of Robert Maxwell who plays according to the system’s rules but finally his ‘self’ rebels. His official ‘self’ became unbearable for him and he committed a suicide been unable neither to play the system nor to oppose it. Thus, Goffman depicts two possible extreme ways out either to be absorbed by the system or be withdrawn.

    Actually, it may be projected to Bauman’s study of Holocaust. It is quite obvious that both Germans and Jewish had to adapt to new rules of the system created by Nazi. At this context quite noteworthy is a disbelief of Goffman in ability of collective actions to change the system or the situation somehow in favor of individual’s identity or ‘self’, in order to protect them from cruel rules. In order to prove it he draws examples of Nazi concentration camps Auschwitz and Treblinka in which groups of inmates have managed to gather enough strength and against the worst odds sabotage part of gas chambers. But even those who survived people have managed to do this only due to the fact that they were in groups and played by their rules. In spite of the fact that the researches discussed above involve the past experience of the epoch of World War II they are extremely important for the contemporary world. As it has been already mentioned above, such notions as identity and human ‘self’ are changing and such specialists as Bauman and Goffman believe that they are dependent on the system existing in the society that force individuals to adapt to it. In this respect, Holocaust and German history during the Nazi period may be treated as evidences of this statement. What is more, these historical examples indicate to the great role the concept of identity may play in the life of society at large and each individual in particular since individuals’ identity is shaped under the impact of their surrounding. This is why an individual’s identity may change respectively to existing social norms and existing social structure. In such a situation, it is obvious that it is possible to create conditions in which a limited group of people that have all the power in society can influence the development of human identity and shape it according to their own interests. It is necessary to underline that this risk is not a myth nowadays. In contrast, it is quite probably, taking into consideration the increasing role of media and the fact that they increase their influence on the formation of identity while education can hardly resist to the negative influences of students environment. In such a situation it is really important to perfectly understand the significance and essence of the concept of identity in order to better understand students’ experience of school and attempt to minimize negative and increase positive influences of their socio-cultural environment. However, it will be impossible to do without the analysis of basic strengths and weaknesses of the concept of identity.

    Strengths of the concept of identity
    Speaking about strengths of the concept of identity, it is necessary to underline that this concept refers to the natural need of an individual to be a part of the community. To put it more precisely, the concept of identity implies that an individual, as a social being, cannot live in a complete isolation from the rest of society. Consequently, an individual needs to get integrated in the community he lives in to lead a normal social life. In this respect, the concept of identity helps better understand the process of individual’s integration and external factors that influence his integration in the community and, what is probably even more important, the factors that influence the formation of his self.

    It should be said that an individual is really a dependent being and the concept of identity explains the mechanism of the formation of his id the identity in the result of the influence of his socio-cultural environment. In this respect, it is necessary to underline that one of the strong points of the concept of identity is the fact that this concept reveals the irrevocable power of the social surrounding of an individual and its influence on his identity to the extent that an individual cannot resist to the influence of the existing social norms, rules, regulations, cultural traditions and customs. As a result, an individual, as a rule, is not even conscious of the fact that his self and his identity are influenced somehow and that is actually not his own rules and norms in accordance with which he lives but it is rather the rules and norms that are imposed on him, on his identity by society.

    Furthermore, it should be said that the concept of identity also reveals the changing nature of human self and its dependence on the changes in socio-cultural environment. To put it more precisely, the changing nature of the concept of identity helps explain the changes that occur to individual’s views in the course of his development and throughout his life. In practice, this means that the concept of identity gives a reasonable explanation why individuals can change their views even in the adulthood or late adulthood when their character and personality at large are actually shaped. In such a situation, the concept of identity proves the fact that individuals constantly react on the changes in their socio-cultural environment and adapt their behaviour respectively to the changes that occur in society. In such a way, due to the idea of the changeability of identity, it is possible to understand the fact that human self, human personality constantly evolves and it cannot be a rigid structure. In other words, an individual cannot be a programmed machine or, to put it more precisely, an individual cannot be a machine once programmed and being unsusceptible to reprogramming or changes.

    In this respect, it is possible to speak about another strong point of the concept of identity, namely about its role in the revealing the possibility of negative impact and the opportunity of the establishment of the total control over an individual from the part of a state or a limited group of people that have the power and are able to control various spheres of the life of society, including economy, politics, and education. The researches of Nazi regime and its comparison to modernity are particularly noteworthy since they fully reveal the danger of such a situation when human identity is practically manipulated by a criminal regime that leads to dehumanization of each individual and the entire society. In fact, the concept of identity, helps better understand the ways in which human self may be influenced and, therefore, the understanding of the concept of identity gives ample opportunities to avoid blindfold programming of masses of people by means of education, for instance, since as educators fully realize the role and significance of identity and how it is shaped they can also influence its formation in a positive way.

    Consequently, the concept of identity turns to be quite strong since it is based on the social nature of human beings and their need to be a part of the community they live in. This concept reveals the possibility of manipulation and influence on the formation of human identity and, what is more, it helps better understand the extent to which such manipulations may be dangerous. Moreover, the concept of identity helps understand that an individual’s identity may change not only in the result of some manipulations but also in the result of any changes in social life and existing social order. This is why the concept of identity contributes to the more careful attitude to the implementation of radical changes which can affect identity of each individual. This is particularly important since the formation of identity and external influences occur basically unconsciously for an individual, who sincerely believes that his views, ideas, opinion are exclusively of his own and not imposed on him by his socio-cultural environment.

    Weaknesses of the concept of identity 
    Naturally, the concept of identity cannot have only strengths and as any other theoretical concept it is susceptible to criticism revealing weak points of this concept. In fact, the concept of identity is not an exception in this respect and has certain weaknesses which may decrease the significance of its impact on the formation of individuals’ personality and their life and behavior at large.

    First of all, it should be said that the concept of identity implies the irresistible need of an individual to feel that he is a part of the particular community. In other words, this concept implies that an individual needs to identify himself with certain socio-cultural formation which has its own rules and norms. In practice, this means that an individual does not simply wants to get integrated in any community but, moreover, he wants to share the same values, traditions, norms, culture, etc. only on the basis of the necessity of his identification with the community he lives in. As a result, the concept of identity makes the socio-cultural integration even more important than the process of socialization itself. What is meant here is the fact that it is still quite an arguable point that an individual does need to identify himself with some community. Instead, it is possible to presuppose that it is just a normal process of socialization when an individual simply tends to live in accordance to the existing norms that are accepted within a particular community without regard to its essence.

    In this respect, the idea of changeability of identity may be a kind of response to criticism of the concept of identity, but it is still worthy of reminding that nowadays, the problem of the loss of identity is often discussed (Chriss, 1993). To put it more precisely, the current trends prove the fact that modern society gets more and more integrated and various communities tend to unification and the creation of the new, universal community. In fact, this is a part of the process of globalization that affects the formation of individuals, but, at the same time, it is important to underline that such loss of identity indicates to the fact that people, or their identities are able to change to the extent that they cannot simply identify themselves with any particular community. Instead, they simply become a part of the world community where the problem of identification with a particular social group is practically irresolvable. As a result, the essence of the concept of identity is under a question, i.e. if there is a problem of the loss of identity than it would be logical to presuppose that the role and significance of identity was exaggerated since, in the modern world, people, originally having different socio-cultural background and, therefore, different identity, can normally live in multicultural community and feel their unity partially preserving their uniqueness and partially integrating in the new, global community. As a result, the concept of identity turns to be susceptible to changes to the extent that it can simply vanish in the process of the formation of the new, global community which leads to the loss of socio-cultural identity of individuals related to a particular and unique community or culture. In perspective, it is possible to speak about the formation of the community that will unite people of the entire world and, in such a situation, the concept of identity loses its significance even more because the only community individuals will need to identify themselves with will be mankind.

    In such a way, it is obvious that the concept of identity should not be bound solely to the unique socio-cultural background of an individual, but, instead, it should incorporate all the external influences society produces on the individual. Though in such a situation, the existence of the concept of identity seems to be doubtful for there is actually no really motivated need of an individual to identify himself with the particular socio-cultural background but simply the natural need of socialization and acquisition of the essential social skills, learning existing social norms in order to lead a normal social life and adapt his behavior to the existing social norms.

    Anyway, being a part of community is not necessarily equal to the identification with the community. It is another weak point of the concept of identity, which exaggerates the external influences on an individual and minimizes his internal power and inclinations. In this respect, it should be said that an individual cannot be totally dependent on his social environment because each individual is a unique personality. At any rate, it is obvious that whatever the community is and regardless the extent of its impact on an individual there are no absolutely identical individuals. Naturally, people may be similar in their behavior, share similar beliefs, have similar ethical and moral norms, etc. but still they are different. This difference is determined by individual, internal peculiarities of each person and it has nothing in common with the concept of identity. Otherwise, all people would be the same and they would be really programmed machines without their own will and deprived of independent judgments. Obviously, such a situation is practically impossible and even the arguments of the supporters of the concept of identity that there were totalitarian regimes that totally controlled people and shaped their identities are not very convincing since even in Nazi Germany as well as in any other totalitarian state there was opposition, there were dissidents who did not want identify themselves with dehumanized community.

    The importance of the concept of identity in understanding young people’s experience of school
    Nevertheless, in spite of certain weaknesses of the concept of identity, it is still very important in understanding young people’s experience of school. In fact, whether one supports the concept of identity or is skeptical about it, it is hardly possible to deny that people strongly tend to social integration and they attempt to gain the recognition and public acclaim. This is why it is possible to estimate that people tend to identify themselves with the community they live in to gain the desirable recognition and acclaim. Such identification is particularly important to adolescents because adolescence is a very important period in the life of each individual which is marked by consistent physiological and psychological changes which affect the personality of an individual dramatically.

    In this respect, it should be said that the role of school experience increases considerably for adolescents since due to the changes that occur in this period of their development their school environment, basically consisting of their peers, grows more significant than their family environment, i.e. their parents. This means that in school, as students grow older, especially in the period of adolescence, they tend to become a part of their own community consisting of their peers. In other words, they want to identify themselves with the new social group, different from that they get used to, for their family and other significant adults play less and less important role in the social life of an adolescent, while the role of peers increases considerably.

    As a result, they attempt to create their own, unique community, where they live according to their own rules and norms. No wonder that such trends often lead to unpredictable or even antisocial behavior of adolescents. Basically, adolescents are often dissatisfied with themselves since at this period of their life they have not really found their own identity yet but they are rather in search of it and their attempts to identify themselves with the group of their peers may be viewed as the first relatively independent attempts to identify themselves with some social group. Naturally, educators and parents should understand these changes that occur to young people in school and react adequately to changes in adolescents’ behaviour and psychology. In such a situation the concept of identity turns to be of a paramount importance because it helps better understand and explain the motives of actions of adolescents, their behaviour at large and, what is more, reveal their actual needs. Obviously, this can help construct more effective model of relationships with adolescents since when educators and parents know the needs of adolescents and their motivation, it is possible to meet the demands of educators and parents to needs of students. To put it more precisely, due to the concept of identity, it is possible to create a positive school experience of young people assisting them in their efforts to find their own identity.

    In this respect, it is necessary to underline the important role of educators and parents in the guidance of young people in their search of identity. Naturally, it does not mean that educators and parents should shape the identity of students. In fact, in adolescence and later, they will hardly be able to totally control students and shape their identity avoiding influence of peers, but it is extremely important to guide adolescents in the search of their identity and their self that is possible to achieve by means of establishing effective and cooperative relationship with students. The latter goal is quite difficult to achieve but the knowledge of the concept of identity can enlarge educators’ and parents’ opportunities to influence students because the concept of identity implies that identity is changeable and, therefore, educators and parents should simply choose the proper way how to influence positively the formation of identity of adolescents. At this point, it is necessary to underline that the interference of educators and parents in the process of development of adolescents and formation their identity should not be excessive. Instead, they should simply assist and guide but not rule adolescents.

    Anyway, the concept of identity is extremely important for young people in school. In fact, it is in school they made their first steps in search of their identity and, consequently, school experience is very important for them. Moreover, it is even possible to estimate that the experience they acquire in school can, to a significant extent, the further development of their identity and their personality. Even though identity is susceptible to changes, it is still necessary to remember about the great role of the adolescence and young adulthood in the formation of identity and personality of individual. In fact, both identity and personality of an individual are shaped by the end of his schooling that proves the importance of this period in the life of each person. This means that, by the end of schooling, the identity is practically shaped and after school it will simply change and evolve under the impact of various external factors and changing socio-cultural environment.

    Conclusion
    Thus, taking into account all above mentioned, it is possible to conclude that the concept of identity is very important since it plays a significant role in the process of formation of an individual and affects an individual throughout his life. At the same time, it is necessary to underline that the concept of identity has both strengths and weaknesses, which should be taken into consideration in order to avoid exaggerating or underestimating the importance of the concept of identity. The latter is particularly important in relation to the understanding of young people’s experience of school. In fact, the concept of identity help educators and parents better understand the changes that occur to students in the process of their development, especially in adolescence, and assist them in their formation. At the same time, the concept of identity is also important for young people in school as well because it is there they acquire the essential social experience and the basis of their identity and personality is created.
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