Study Skills And Work Based Learning - 1362 Words

STUDY SKILLS And WORK BASED LEARNING 1. INTRODUCTION The use of study skills and work based learning, help students to learn effectively as well as to achieve better grades in school/universities. This report indicates the importance and benefits of study skills and work-based learning, which will enable students to feel more confident when learning to achieve their goals. Studying is a very difficult issue for students in this modern age, this is because, there is a lot of information from the Internet, textbooks, journals etc. for them to process therefore having an easy way of processing, and understanding and memorising information is very essential. 2. WHAT ARE STUDY SKILLS Study skills is defined as skills or strategies that are applied to learning to enable students to understand what they are learning and how they can use the information effectively in their studies. (Ty). When studying, it is helpful to acknowledge your personal approach towards learning and to observe your own leaning style. Learning style simply means your unique way to learn e.g. visual learner (use of images to understand information), auditory (listening and speaking), read and write (students with a strong reading and writing preference learn best through words), kinesthetic (students are able to understand information through real life examples). This demonstrates that, students need to find the right learning style in order to improve their studies and by doing so, they will be ableShow MoreRelatedTechnology Skills in Todays Students1613 Words   |  6 PagesStudents today believe in their technology skills as a result of being familiar with technology in their daily lives. However, there is a need to examine students’ perception about their technology skills to determine what the students’ technology skill levels actually are; especially their prior knowledge in relation to school-related expectations. Indeed, the technology skills that students need to apply in their learning are not necessarily related to those they use in their social lives and mayRead MoreImportance Of Guidance And Counselling1060 Words   |  5 Pages Lesson plan Topic: Guidance and Counselling Credit: 1 Learning outcomes: †¢ Describe guidance and counselling concept †¢ Examine the need and importance of guidance Meaning of guidance and counselling It is processing to show direction. Guidance and counselling service help person to go in right way. This service promotes the personal, social, educational and career development of any person. Need of guidance and counsellingRead MoreE-Learning Tools Essay803 Words   |  4 PagesE-Learning Tools This paper will discuss three tools used at the University of Phoenix that give their students transfer lifelong skills that can be used in the work place as well as everyday life. Learning Teams, rEsource, and Problem Based Learning are the tools that teach students problem-solving techniques and social skills. The rEsource contains valuable links to information resources that allows students to enhance their research skills. The Value of rEsource R-Esourcse is a valuable toolRead MoreAssessment Is The Process Of Gathering Information And Evidence For Assess A Learner1258 Words   |  6 Pagesassess a learner. Assessors will work with the learner to identify gaps in learning, knowledge and skills and provide learning objectives with feedback to enhance their knowledge base, skills and progression. Assessment comes in differing forms and can be used either singularly or in conjunction with another to provide this information. Assessments will gather information and a judgment can be formulated in regards a learners competence, knowledge and skills. Some assessments used can be summarisedRead MoreProblem based learning is more advantageous than traditional learning in many aspects.1100 Words   |  5 PagesProblem based learning is more advantageous than traditional learning in many aspects. Academically, PBL medical students place more emphasis on meaning than on memorizing, use journals and on-line databases as sources o f information, and use a more in-depth approach of learning. Unlike PBL, conventional teaching separates the basic science from the clinical practice. In the conventional curriculum, teaching is tutor-centered and comprises large group lectures, tutorials, structured laboratoriesRead MoreEmployee Training At The Classroom Training Essay1667 Words   |  7 PagesAdvancements in technology has given a choice of either e-learning or a classroom based system. E-learning is electronic based where the trainee is self-learning by watching videos and taking online exams. A companies’ main concern is if both methods are effective and if so, which investment will benefit the company in terms of time and cost. For years, companies have trusted classroom style training, however living in a technology based world companies have to seek better options that are best suitedRead MoreReflective Portfolio Of Skills Development Essay1738 Words   |  7 PagesReflective portfolio of skills deve lopment 1. Introduction This report would analyse the skills developed throughout the MA in Personnel and Development Programme in LJMU. The learning process would be contextualised using literature from adult learning theory to analyse and write a critical reflection that demonstrates reporters’ competence in specific areas. Three broad areas would be covered in doing so. Firstly, learning process of self-management (of this report writer) would be explored focusingRead MoreThe Implementation Of The 21st Century Essay1498 Words   |  6 PagesThe implementation of the 21st century skills requires the development of the core academic subject its knowledge and understanding among all students. In the K-12 curriculum the development of scientifically, technologically, and environmentally literate and productive members of society who are critical problem solvers, responsible stewards of nature, innovative and creative citizens, informed decision makers and effective communicators is the Science curriculum goal. To carry out this goal, theRead MoreLearning Style : The Factor That Affecting Learning Relating Performance1641 Words   |  7 PagesLearning style is one of the factor that affecting learning-relating performance.{148} The method an individual choose to approach a learning situation has an impact on his performance and learning outcomes. Learn ing define as a process that lead to change which occur as a result of experience, and increases the potential for improving performance and future learning. Any concern about selection of effective teaching, must begin with a consideration of students preference learning styles. AccordingRead MoreNA In Language Teaching Essay1325 Words   |  6 Pagesadvocating meaningful learning opportunities for specific learners, integrating NA would provide them with deep insights into what and how to teach, in light of the learners’ perceived needs, the pedagogical requirements, and the institutional context. Moreover, integrating NA in curriculum design has contributed to the advancement of the learner-centered curriculum. Unlike the teacher-centered curriculum that is designed based on teachers’ assumptions about the learners and their learning purposes, the

Animal Rights And Animal Testing And Abuse - 2163 Words

Research Paper: What are animal rights according to animal testing and abuse? For as long as people and animals have been around there has been question to what their rights are; the main ones being how they should be treated, and if they can feel pain like humans. People all around the world eat meat on the daily like it is no big deal but what they do not know is how a lot of the animals are treated while being raised. Chickens, cows, and pigs are a major part of this; people raise them on farms with only one purpose; to make money off their meat, milk, and young. Organizations around the world try to help reduce the neglect and abuse they receive. Some of these organizations are PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals), ASPCA (American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals), CARE (Coexistence of Animal Rights on Earth), along with many local shelters and veterinary clinics. Although many people think that animal abuse isn’t very common, it happens every day all around the world. Cats, dogs, mice, horses, cows, pigs, chickens, ra bbits, and even fish along with many others are punished unequally. Animals do feel pain and it is proven that they feel it just as a human would. So the thing to ask is; what are animal rights when it comes to abuse, testing and neglect? It happens every day but still continues to be in the world, if they cannot defend themselves is it fair? Animals are continuously tested for the comfort of humanity: examples of some testsShow MoreRelatedThe Implications of Different Views on Animal Rights Essay1285 Words   |  6 PagesShould animals and humans have the same rights? Or, the same penalty for their abuse? Have you just sat back and wondered how we got where we are today? Should animals be lower than humans or the same? With the advancing of new technology, medications and medical advancements haven’t we gained this knowledge by animal testing/ animal cruelty? Do we, as humans, think animal testing/ animal cruelty and domestic violence all have similarities and should all of them have the same fines? Many peopleRead MoreAnimal Testing Should Not Be Banned1673 Words   |  7 Pages8322020 Animal Slavery Imagine you being tested on what do you think that feels like ? The total amount of animals used for testing on agriculture experiments is 1.13 million. This is only in the agriculture industry. Now imagine all the other industries that allow animal testing.They’re rights are being violated and there is nothing they can do about it but just take the pain that they don’t deserve. All of this could be stopped but to stop it has to begin somewhere. Animal testing does nothingRead MoreDo Animals Have Rights?900 Words   |  4 PagesDo Animals Have Rights? Animals have rights, or at least they should. Animals are not for us to eat, experiments on, wear or abuse in any which way. It is cruel to treat animals like they are not living souls. Animals are not tools that we can use however we want. They too have hearts and brains like us humans. Therefore, animals have all the rights to live their own lives without suffering and free from exploitation (Why). Animal testing is performed for the making of human products. Even afterRead MoreAnimals And Society : An Introduction To Human Animal Studies907 Words   |  4 PagesScientifically testing an animal is another way people abuse animals. When testing on animals, it causes them harm throughout their life. In the book Titled â€Å"Animals and Society: An introduction to Human-Animal Studies† by Margo DeMello he explains how animals hurt from birth to their last breathe. DeMello says, â€Å"Animals used for medical experiments and product testing live – from birth until death – often painful, lonely lives in small cages† (p. 237). These animals are kept in laboratories to testRead MoreAnimal Abuse Is The Act Of Cruelty And Infliction Of Pain On Non Human Animals1120 Words   |  5 PagesJonathan Corbin Ms. Powell English 1020 5 Nov, 2015 Animal Abuse Animal abuse is the act of cruelty and infliction of pain on non-human animals. Dogs are the most common victims of the abuse. How do you feel about people abusing poor, innocent animals? I strongly believe there should be a greater punishment for the crimes committed.The controversy has grown greatly in the last few years with the increase of most abuse cases. Animal rights activists are working hard to bring success into theRead MoreAnimal Rights : Animal Cruelty Essay1520 Words   |  7 PagesAnimal Rights Animal rights, the rights believed to belong to animals to live free from use in medical research, hunting, and other services to humans. Animal Cruelty is the human infliction of suffering or harm upon any non-human animal, for purposes other than self-defense or survival.   Ã‚  Animal Cruelty exists and it should not. Animals feel pain and fear like we do, but they are helpless.They can’t tell us that it hurts, they can’t communicate their pain because we do not speak their languageRead More Animal Testing Essay1729 Words   |  7 Pages Animal Testing nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;More and more animals are being taken form their natural habitats and tested on every year. Researchers, scientists, and companies just trying to make new products are using animals to further their experiments. If animal testing continues to happen at this rate then their will be no animals left to use for food, study, or even for simple amusement. When the animals are being taken form their natural environments it harmsRead MoreAnimal Rights and Ethics Essay1746 Words   |  7 Pagesâ€Å"Animal Rights and Ethics† Gary Grey Introduction to Ethics and Social Responsibility Stacey Hiles March 21, 2011 Is it ethical for animals to have the same rights as humans? During this paper I will present the views of both sides. I will try my best to give the reader a chance to come to there own unbiased conclusion. I will talk about the key areas of animal ethics. I will present the facts and reasoning behind the arguments over Animal cruelty, testing, hunting, and improper housing. MyRead MoreAnimal Cruelty And Animal Abuse1572 Words   |  7 Pages LITERATURE REVIEW 5 China, US and the EU 5 A. Research Connections to Animal Cruelty and Abuse 6 B. Alternatives to Animal Testing 6 IV. SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION 7 V. REFERENCES 8 â€Æ' I. INTRODUCTION The abuse and cruelty by humans towards animals have been on the rise as producers and retailers of cosmetics and drugs rush to position their products in the global markets. Scientific tests remain a leading player in animal abuse, especially due to the controlled environment while being experimentedRead MoreProtection Over Animals : Animal Abuse1510 Words   |  7 PagesProtection Over Animals We should understand that animals have feelings and have a brain even though they do not have the same physical appearance as we do. I believe people that are caught committing the acts of abuse, the consequences of breaking the animal laws should be strongly enforced. In reality I’m sure that I am not the only person who would love nothing than to help our loving animals to live a full and happy life. The reason for my paper is to reach out to people on how important animals are, just

Case Study Dilbert Toys

Question: Case study about Dilbert Toys. Answer: Summary The case is about Dilbert Toys (DT), a company that manufactures toys. It has been producing two different varieties of toys$Floppin Freddy$Frog and Jumpin Jill$Junebug doll in different lots. The company needs to change the set up for each lot production. They have been estimating the set-up costs by taking number of set-ups$as the cost driver. But, the newly hired accountant Bec$Williams has proposed that$number of set-up$hours should provide an improved cost estimation as the time required for making the necessary arrangements for each kind of toy manufactured by the company is different i.e. for setting up the machinery for production of one toy the time taken is less than the time taken for setting up the machinery for production of second toy. Thus the company collected monthly data for a period of 9 month and noted the number of set ups, number$of set up hours and set up costs. Using regression analysis, it was found that the R-squared value of the set up cost and number of se t up hours is greater than the R-squared value of the set up cost and number of set ups. Thus it can be concluded that the number of set-up hours is better indicator to estimate the set up costs than the number of set-ups and henceforth DT should use number of set-up hours to determine the set-up costs and it has superior understanding of the costs borne by DT. This will help them take necessary steps to reduce the cost and improve efficiency of the firm. Case Dilbert Toys (DT) is a company that manufactures toys. It has been producing two different varieties of toys$Floppin Freddy$Frog and Jumpin Jill$Junebug doll. The company has incurs a set up cost for each lot of dolls that it produces to set up the raw materials, labour and machinery required for the manufacturing of every lot. Because of this, DT has to bear set-up costs for each batch of toys that it manufactures. DT currently uses number of set-ups as the cost driver for approximating the set-up costs with each lot and computing overall production cost in the manufacture of the dolls. The new hired accountant by Dilbert Toys is Bec Williams. He thinks that since the set-up time for every lot produced by DT is not the same, it makes more sense to use number of set-up hours as the cost driver instead of number of set-ups. To understand the relation between the set up cost and number of set up hours, he collected the monthly data of the number of set ups, number of set up hours and set up costs for a period of 9 months. He has collected the following information. Month Number of set-ups Number of set-ups hours Set-up costs 1 300 1840 104600 2 410 2680 126700 3 150 1160 57480 4 480 3800 236840 5 310 3680 178880 6 460 3900 209620 7 420 2980 209620 8 300 1200 90080 9 270 3280 221040 To understand the relation between the set up costs, the number of set up hours and number of set ups, a regression analysis is used. Month Number of set-ups Set-up costs 1 300 104600 2 410 126700 3 150 57480 4 480 236840 5 310 178880 6 460 209620 7 420 209620 8 300 90080 9 270 221040 SUMMARY OUTPUT Regression Statistics Multiple R 0.682 R Square 0.465 Adjusted R Square 0.388 Standard Error 51351.141 Observations 9.000 ANOVA Df SS MS F Significance F Regression 1.00E+00 1.60E+10 1.60E+10 6.08E+00 4.31E-02 Residual 7.00E+00 1.85E+10 2.64E+09 Total 8.00E+00 3.45E+10 Coefficients Standard Error t Stat P-value Lower 95% Upper 95% Lower 95.0% Upper 95.0% Intercept 14256.330 61323.419 0.232 0.823 -130750.514 159263.175 -130750.514 159263.175 X Variable 1 421.469 170.960 2.465 0.043 17.214 825.724 17.214 825.724 Using the above data in Excel, Regression analysis was performed. The number of set ups was used as input range X and the set up cost was used as the input range Y. The output generated from the regression analysis in excel, is given below. There are 9 observations and the R-squared value for the regression analysis is 0.464 The coefficients of the intercept is 14256.33 and The coefficients of X variable 1 are 421.469. Thus the regression equation is Set up costs, Y = 421.469* (Number of set ups) + 14256.33 Y = 421.469* X + 14256.33 The F test of significance validates the R square value and the test is statistically significant. Month Number of set-ups hours Set-up costs 1 1840 104600 2 2680 126700 3 1160 57480 4 3800 236840 5 3680 178880 6 3900 209620 7 2980 209620 8 1200 90080 9 3280 221040 Using the above data in Excel, Regression analysis was performed. The number of set up hours was used as input range X and the set up cost was used as the input range Y. The output generated from the regression analysis in excel, is given below. SUMMARY OUTPUT Regression Statistics Multiple R 0.920 R Square 0.846 Adjusted R Square 0.824 Standard Error 27572.584 Observations 9.000 ANOVA Df SS MS F Significance F Regression 1.0 29163550009.7 29163550009.7 38.4 0.0 Residual 7.0 5321731679.2 760247382.7 Total 8.0 34485281688.9 Coefficients Standard Error t Stat P-value Lower 95% Upper 95% Lower 95.0% Upper 95.0% Intercept 7526.778 26191.24 0.287378 0.782144 -54405.7 69459.22 -54405.7 69459.22 X Variable 1 55.75526 9.002085 6.193594 0.000448 34.46871 77.04181 34.46871 77.04181 There are 9 observations and the R squared value of the regression analysis between the number of set up and the set up cost is 0.845 The coefficients of the intercept is 7526.77 and The coefficients of the X variable 1 are 55.755. Thus the regression equation is Set up$costs, Y = 55.75* (Number$of set ups) + 7526.77 Y$= 55.755* X + 7526.77 The F test of significance validates the R square value and the test is statistically significant. In$a linear regression, the co-efficient of the independent variable helps in understanding the effect it has on the independent variable. If the co-efficient of the independent variable is positive, then the dependent variable will increase with the increase in independent variable. The constant term gives the fixed cost that the company will incur even if no set up change takes place. In this case the variables number of set-up hours and set up costs are positively correlated. The R square value of the regression is the percentage of variation that can be predicted by the independent variables. The R squared value helps to keep an eye on the$data and determine how they are related to each other. The R squared value varies from 0$and 1. The greater the value$of R squared the more accurately the regression line can predicted the output for a particular input. In case of DT, it has been established that the R squared value for number of set-ups and set up cost is 0.464 whereas the R$squared value$for the other regression is 0.845. P value of a regression analysis helps us understand the statistical significance of the co-efficient obtained from the regression. It tells us how confident we can be about the relation between the dependent and independent variable. In this case we can be 95% confident about the results from the regression analysis in both the cases. Thus as the number$of set up hours varies from product to product, the cost suffered by the DT in setting up raw materials, labour, for manufacturing of various product fluctuates with the time consumed in setting up. Thus the company should use the number$of set up hours to determine the set up cost as a substitute of number of set ups. References Interpreting Regression Output. (n.d.). Frost Jim (2013). How to Interpret Regression Analysis Results: P-values and Coefficients. Kishore Aseem. (2010). Add a Linear Regression Trendline to an Excel Scatter Plot. Case

Personalisation in social care Essay Example For Students

Personalisation in social care Essay Personalization starts with the person and the individual circumstances rather than the service. This means that choices offered must not be limited to what the service decides to provide, personalization is giving people who use social care support services a choice and control over how, when and by whom their support service is delivered by care book) I _2 It is giving control back to the person that is needing the support and letting them know they dont just have to go along with what everyone else is saying Its about freedom of choice. . 3 The individual get their rights from legislation, human rights and equality right. Under this legislation the individual have the right to make their own choices i. E social activities, intellectual activities, spiritual, personal care, specialty activities, creative activities, physical activities. I . 4 The White paperwork The white paper 2010 The mental capacity act 2005 Code of practice for social care workers 2004 Common assessment framework for adults 2010 Putting people first 2007 Living well with dementia a national dementia strategy 2009 Guidance on eligibility criteria for adult social care 2010. 2. 1 List local and national systems that are designed to support personalization Putting people first The white paper The individual budget. 2. 3 Direct payments are cash payments given to the service user in lieu to community care services They have been assessed as needing and are intended to give users greater choice in their care. The payments must be sufficient to enable the service user to purchase service to meet their eligible needs. Personal budgets are an allocation of funding given to users after an assessment which should be sufficient to meet their assessed needs. Users can either take their personal budget as a direct payment or while still choosing how their care needs are met and by whom- leave councils with the responsibility to commission the service or they can have a combination of the two. People sing personal direct budgets and direct payments as Of march 2012 is 53%Of ongoing users of community services in England were on personal budgets some 432,000 people were using personal budgets. 3. 1 Person control thinking is a set of values, skills and tools used in person centered planning and in the personalization Of services used by people Who need supports provided by social or health care. Person centered planning is a set of approaches designed to assist someone to plan their life and supports.

The Art of Drawing the Penis Essay Example For Students

The Art of Drawing the Penis Essay Uncouples in the Satirical and Luscious in Metamorphoses are each put in the role of outsiders on the fringes of society and are enabled to act as observers and commentators. Although they are viewed as outcasts and deal with the same types of scenarios, Uncouples and Luscious live in two completely different worlds. Uncouples and Luscious respond to their societies and the people they encounter in their own individual ways. Firstly, discussing Uncouples and his background will begin our knowledge on how he and Luscious differ. Uncouples in the Satirical lives in a world where he is instantly tempted by sex. We will write a custom essay on The Art of Drawing the Penis specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now The former gladiator and newly arriving student is involved in a sexual relationship with his sixteen. Year old lover and slave. Boy, Citing. Throughout the novel, Uncouples struggles with staying faithful to his lover. Uncouples is enticed more than once throughout the novel by some sort of sexual pleasure that leads to him being unfaithful to Citing. On top of being a faithless lover, Uncouples has a criminal background. The book speaks of him stealing and even murdering a man. Being unfaithful and having a criminal background shows a little bit of the type to person Uncouples was. Secondly, we will review Luscious and his background in Metamorphoses. Luscious, a man to good birth and a mentor, starts out his journey on the way to Thessaly where he hears a hard-to-believe tale that intrigues his curiosity about magic and myths. Throughout the first half of The Golden Ass, Luscious learns about a few literal and metaphorical tales that sparks his interests on the magic happening within Thessaly. He learns that the wife of the family he is staying with is a witch and tries to turn himself into a bird as he saw her do. Instead of turning into a bird, his curiously led him into changing into an ass. The novel continues with Luscious going on many journeys as an ass and learning and hearing even more stories relating to magic. After all of his hardships and journeys, Luscious eventually comes into contact With the goddess Isis and she changes him back into human form after joining her cult. NOW that we know a little behind the characters Of Uncouples and Luscious, we can compare the two to one another. Uncouples and Luscious are each the main characters and the narrators in their novels. Everything in Satirical and Metamorphoses is involved around the two. Uncouples and Luscious both deal with temptation. However, Uncouples struggles with sexual temptation and Luscious struggles with the temptation of magic. Luscious is a curious character and wants to learn about everything whereas Uncouples is more into pleasuring himself. They both relate in the way that Uncouples is a student and Luscious is a mentor. In Satirical, it tells how Uncouples is a new student and in The Golden Ass it tells how Luscious ran into a former student at the market hence, he is a mentor, As it has already been stated, Uncouples has a criminal background relating to burglary and murder, Luscious was thought to have killed three men in The Golden Ass but it ended up being wineskins, not men. Even though Luscious was thought to have murdered a few men, Luscious comes off as a peaceful character where as Uncouples comes off as a bit chaotic. All in all, Uncouples and Luscious handle their situations in very different ways. Uncouples allows temptation to take over and becomes vulnerable in scenarios whereas Luscious tries to think things through thoroughly and come up with a clever plan. Satirical and Metamorphoses shows the reader how two men coming from Roman novels react to climatic scenarios in completely different ways.

A Brief History of the KGB and Its Origins

A Brief History of the KGB and Its Origins If you grafted the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), added a few hefty tablespoons of paranoia and repression, and translated the whole megillah into Russian, you might wind up with something like the KGB. The Soviet Unions main internal and external security agency from 1954 until the breakup of the U.S.S.R. in 1991, the KGB wasnt created from scratch, but rather inherited much of its techniques, personnel, and political orientation from the greatly feared agencies that preceded it. Before the KGB: The Cheka, the OGPU  and the NKVD In the aftermath of the October Revolution of 1917, Vladimir Lenin, the head of the newly formed U.S.S.R., needed a way to keep the population (and his fellow revolutionaries) in check. His answer was to create the Cheka, an abbreviation of The All-Russian Emergency Commission for Combating Counter-Revolution and Sabotage. During the Russian Civil War of 1918-1920, the Cheka - led by the one-time Polish aristocrat Felix - arrested, tortured, and executed thousands of citizens. In the course of this Red Terror, the Cheka perfected the system of summary execution used by subsequent Russian intelligence agencies: a single shot to the back of the victims neck, preferably in a dark dungeon. In 1923, the Cheka, still under Dzerzhinsky, mutated into the OGPU (the Joint State Political Directorate Under the  Council of Peoples Commissars  of the U.S.S.R. - Russians have never been good at catchy names). The OGPU operated during a relatively uneventful period in Soviet history (no massive purges, no internal deportations of millions of ethnic minorities), but this agency did preside over the creation of the first Soviet gulags. The OGPU also viciously persecuted religious organizations (including the Russian Orthodox Church) in addition to its usual duties of rooting out dissenters and saboteurs. Unusually for a director of a Soviet intelligence agency, Felix Dzerzhinsky died of natural causes, dropping dead of a heart attack after denouncing leftists to the Central Committee. Unlike these earlier agencies, the NKVD (The Peoples Commissariat for Internal Affairs) was purely the brainchild of Joseph Stalin. The NKVD was chartered around the same time Stalin orchestrated the murder of Sergei Kirov, an event he used as an excuse to purge the upper ranks of the Communist Party and strike terror into the populace. In the 12  years of its existence, from 1934 to 1946, the NKVD arrested and executed literally millions of people, stocked the gulags with millions more miserable souls, and relocated entire ethnic populations within the vast expanse of the U.S.S.R. Being an NKVD head was a dangerous occupation: Genrikh Yagoda was arrested and executed in 1938, Nikolai Yezhov in 1940, and Lavrenty Beria in 1953 (during the power struggle that followed the death of Stalin). The Ascension  of the KGB After the end of World War II  and before his execution, Lavrenty Beria presided over the Soviet security apparatus, which remained in a somewhat fluid state of multiple acronyms and organizational structures. Most of the time, this body was known as the MGB (The Ministry for State Security), sometimes as the NKGB (The Peoples Commissariat for State Security), and once, during the war, as the vaguely comical-sounding SMERSH (short for the Russian phrase smert shpionom, or death to spies). Only after the death of Stalin did the KGB, or Commissariat for State Security, formally come into being. Despite its fearsome reputation in the west, the KGB was actually more effective in policing the U.S.S.R. and its eastern European satellite states than in fomenting revolution in western Europe or stealing military secrets from the U.S. (The golden age of Russian espionage was in the years immediately following World War II, before the formation of the KGB, when the U.S.S.R. subverted western scientists in order to advance its own development of nuclear weapons.) The major foreign accomplishments of the KGB included suppressing the Hungarian Revolution in 1956 and the Prague Spring in Czechoslovakia in 1968, as well as installing a Communist government in Afghanistan in the late 1970s; however, the agencys luck ran out in early 1980s Poland, where the anti-Communist Solidarity movement emerged victorious. All during this time, of course, the CIA and the KGB engaged in an elaborate international dance (often in third-world countries like Angola and Nicaragua),  involving agents, double agents, propaganda, disinformation, under-the-table arms sales, interference with elections, and nighttime exchanges of suitcases filled with rubles or hundred-dollar bills. The exact details of what transpired, and where, may never come to light; many of the agents and controllers from both sides are dead, and the current Russian government has not been forthcoming in declassifying the KGB archives. Inside the U.S.S.R., the attitude of the KGB toward suppressing dissent was largely dictated by government policy. During the reign of Nikita Khrushchev, from 1954 to 1964, a certain amount of openness was tolerated, as witnessed in the publication of Alexander Solzhenitsyns Gulag-era memoir One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich (an event that would have been unthinkable under the Stalin regime). The pendulum swung the other way with the ascension of Leonid Brezhnev in 1964, and, especially, the appointment of Yuri Andropov as the head of the KGB in 1967. Andropovs KGB hounded Solzhenitsyn out of the U.S.S.R. in 1974, turned the screws on the dissident scientist Andrei Sakharov, and generally made life miserable for any prominent figure even slightly dissatisfied with Soviet power. The Death (And Resurrection?) of the KGB In the late 1980s - partly because of the disastrous war in Afghanistan and partly because of an increasingly costly arms race with the U.S. - the U.S.S.R. began to fall apart at the seams, with rampant inflation, shortages of factory goods, and agitation by ethnic minorities. Premier Mikhail Gorbachev had already implemented perestroika (a restructuring of the economy and political structure of the Soviet Union) and glasnost (a policy of openness toward dissidents), but while this placated some of the population, it enraged hard-line Soviet bureaucrats who had grown accustomed to their privileges. As might have been predicted, the KGB was at the forefront of the counter-revolution. In late 1990,  then-KGB head Vladimir Kryuchkov recruited high-ranking members of the Soviet elite into a  tight-knit conspiratorial cell, which sprang into action the following  August after failing to convince Gorbachev to either resign in favor of its preferred candidate or declare a state of emergency. Armed combatants, some of them in tanks, stormed the Russian parliament building in Moscow, but Soviet President Boris Yeltsin held firm and the coup quickly fizzled out. Four months later, the U.S.S.R. officially disbanded, granting autonomy to the Soviet Socialist Republics along its western and southern borders and dissolving the KGB (along with all other Soviet governmental bodies). However, institutions like the KGB never really go away; they just assume different guises. Today, Russia is dominated by two security agencies, the FSB (The Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation) and the SVR (The Foreign Intelligence Service of the Russian Federation), which broadly correspond to the FBI and the CIA, respectively. More worrisome, though, is the fact that Russian President Vladimir Putin spent 15 years in the KGB, from 1975 to 1990, and his increasingly autocratic rule shows that he has taken to heart the lessons he learned there. Its unlikely that Russia will ever again see a security agency as vicious as the NKVD, but a return to the darkest days of the KGB is clearly not out of the question.

Paper 2 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Paper 2 - Essay Example The government also guaranteed losses to the tune of $300 billion due to troubled assets of the Citibank. Subsequently, the restructuring exercise done by the management under the leadership of the newly joined CEO Vikram Pandit did turn the table. The bank showed profit in the last four figures is a testimony to the successful strategic actions taken by the management. Pandit in an address to the company employees listed the following objectives to spearhead the bank to old glories. 1. The focus is now on emerging markets. Citibank is well placed to tap the opportunities due to wide network of its offices throughout the world. Bank aims at remaining number one in emerging markets. 4. Bank would take great strides in the coming years by meeting financial needs of their clients from infrastructure to alternative energy to many development projects in the fastest growing economies in the world. The recent performance of Bank of America does not show much of a promise as BOA made losses to the tune of $8.8 billion in the second quarter this year. The biggest issue with BOA is $408 billion of mortgages that bank is holding in home equity. Banks future is linked with the recovery of housing market and that is not likely to show any sign of recovery because of the high unemployment rate prevailing in the US market. Depressed economy in US and high unemployment rate will keep housing market in a subdued state for quite a long time. For this reason, BOA remains a highly risky stock with not much of a hope of any dramatic improvement in coming years. Moreover, BOA is not active enough in the emerging markets and developing economies with a possibility of getting benefited like Citibank. From the above analysis it seems that though both the banks had worst period during the subprime crisis, Citibank is displaying required dynamism to come out of the crisis through