Russian Trade Profile Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 2

Russian Trade Profile - Research Paper Example With regards to imports, the nation brings in food, pharmaceuticals, foot wear, textiles and ground transports (Lalayants p 41). The principal trading partners of Russia include China that controls 7% of total exports and 10% of total imports. Germany dominates over 7% of exports and about 8% of the total imports.In 2013, the Russia Federation's merchandise exports reduced by 1.1% despite the fact that the exports increased by 11.2%. This was a poor performance in relation to the Asia-Pacific's collective growth of 2.1% in merchandise exports, but higher than the region's 4.9% rise in service exports. The service imports grew by 18.2% while the merchandise imports rose by 2.2%. This trade surplus remained stable reaching $ 180 billion in 2013 as shown in figures 1 and 2. This resulted in the growth of GDP and GDP per capita ("Asia-Pacific Trade Briefs: Russian Federation").Russia also experiences the largest expansion in FDI inflows in 2013, that increased with 56.7% to $ 79 billion. This growth has been strong since 2011 surpassing the regional total of 6.6% for 2012 whereby the outflows were larger than the inflows. The outflows in 2013 grew by 94% reaching $ 95 billion as shown in figures 1 and 3 ("Asia-Pacific Trade Briefs: Russian Federation").Cyprus was Russia's largest investment accounting for 18% of the FDI inflows. It reflected her repatriation of the earlier investments caused by the Cyprus financial problems. This resulted in the creation of more employment.

Pirates Of Silicon Valley Essay Example for Free

Pirates Of Silicon Valley Essay The movie â€Å"PIRATES OF SILICON VALLEY† is all about how Apple and Microsoft got started. This creation was made because of the two intelligent people: Steve Jobs for Apple and Bill Gates for Microsoft. It shows how the first Apple computer was made which is the Macintosh. The movie is also about how the two intelligent persons compete to each other in order to be a successful or famous. It also shows how a good leader handles his employees or team. Just like with Steve Jobs. He is so abusive to his workers. It just like he is only the good person. He always wants to follow his decisions and not giving chance to listen to the opinions or decisions of his teammates. That’s why he had also a problem when it comes to his family. It is quite opposite to Bill Gates. Because Bill is just a simple man and he used his intelligence in good way. That’s why he succeeds much compared to Steve Jobs and became a wealthiest man in the world. I learned from that negative attitude of Steve Jobs. It teaches me not to be high regard to yourself in whatever achievements you will have. It’s because we cannot conclude what the future will holds, sometimes those who are not considered now might be the one who will succeed more. In everything we do, we should be humble. We should also consider the opinions of others. Their points of view will sometimes help us succeed not only for our own interest but to the whole organization as a whole. Because in an organization, it’s not only a matter of one mind functioning but it’s a sharing of thoughts, information and ideas to make the organization successful. But if there’s a negative point out in the movie, there is also a positive value that I admired. First is the companionship of each main character. The companionship of Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniac and with Bill Gates and Paul. Despite also of the negative attitude of Steve Jobs, I admired how he persists to be successful. After he was fired in the Apple for after five years, he started a company named NEXT and another company named Pixar. Despite of being a loser in Apple, he didn’t lose his hope to be successful again but still dreams that someday he  will be a successful one. That’s good. We should not think that rejections in our life will still be there. Let’s make it as our inspiration to achieve our goals. We should learn from our mistakes because failure is success. The more we fail, the more we will be a better one if we learned from it.

The origins of social welfare

The origins of social welfare Historically, it is hard to trace the origins of social welfare or social policy in Britain. There is a debate when exactly the foundations of the welfare state were laid. Slack suggested that the welfare state was established by the end of the eighteenth century. On the other hand Roberts argued that the basis of the welfare state was laid between 1833 and 1854. However, most commentators incline to associate the term Welfare State with the start of the modern welfare state of Britain in 1945 (Harris 2004, p.15).Contrary to this conception, in my view, the origins of welfare state could go back as the earliest medieval Poor Law which came into existence in 1349. Not to forget to mention, the idea of welfare emerged thousands of years ago in many societies and civilisations. Voluntary and charitable help was provided through individuals, the state and religious organisations (Day 2000). The Poor Laws were introduced as a mechanism to tackle poverty amongst the poor by giving those help. Those poor people who are getting help including the sick and elderly were known as paupers. According to Oxford English Dictionary 2009 a pauper is A recipient of relief under the provisions of the Poor Law or of public charity. Now hist. (http://www.oed.com/).The main criticism to the poor law was it paid more attention to the maintenance of public order rather than the relief of poverty. This raised a question, whether the start of the welfare system for the poor was an act of mercy and compassion or the fear that homeless people will involve in unlawful activities. Based on the historical facts, the poor laws were divided into the Old Poor Law and the New Poor Law. The 1834 Poor Law Amendment Act was regarded as the start of a new era of Poor Laws referred to as the New Poor Law. (http://www.workhouses.org.uk/) The New Poor Law revolutionised the local and central governments relations. The Commissioners Report 1834 was the core of the 1834 Poor Law Amendment Act. The 1834 Poor Law Amendment Act known also as PLAA had taken the administrative power from the local authority (parishes) to the central government authorities. It also reformed the Old Poor Law which was in place. Furthermore, the act dealt with the flaws of the Old Poor Law due to the bad administration of the local parishes. However, the act faced criticism from the local parishes opposing the idea of the central control, which will put limitation on their powers. Another criticism that the act restricted the relief to the poor and the conditions inside the workhouses were harsh and repulsive.( http://www.workhouses.org.uk/) . The commissioners report had also recommended the building of workhouses as a vital strategy to discourage claimants of the outdoor relief. However, many Northern Local Authorities opposed the building of warehouses, because they saw it as an expensive solution for the problem of unemployment (Harris 2004). According to (www.workhouses.org) 2009, The Oxford Dictionarys first record of the word workhouse dates back to 1652 in Exeter The said house to bee converted for a workhouse for the poore of this cittye and also a house of correction for the vagrant and disorderly people within this cittye. However, workhouses were around even before that in 1631 the Mayor of Abingdon reported that wee haue erected wthn our borough a workehouse to sett poore people to worke Under the New Poor Law (The Poor Law Amendment Act 1834) the workhouse unions acted as a deterrent for the able-bodied to claim outdoor relief. However , the law also introduced the outdoor labour test premised the distribution of outdoor relief to able-bodied men in return for a task of work .The initial plan of the workhouses to build different workhouses to accommodate different types of need such as children ,women and elderly . But later the plans had changed in favour mixed workhouses to accommodate all paupers. Apart from deterring able-bodied men from claiming relief, the workhouses were also intended to be institutional accommodation to accommodate various sections of the population who cannot look after themselves in their homes or in community. However during 1830s and the 1840s many cases of abuse and neglect inside the workhouses were reported in the media. The editor of The Times published more than a hundred cases of cruelty inside the workhouses in that period (Harris 2004, p.49 -52). Although the workhouses were not a prison, people inside were called inmates. The situation inside the workhouses was tough, the food was basic, and they had to wear rough uniform and to sleep in common dormitories. The able-bodied were given hard work such as stone breaking and picking old ropes apart called oakum (www.workhouses.org). During the 1800s the notion of charity in response to the needy spread rapidly throughout the world. As a result this led to the emergence of Charity Organisation Society. The Charity Organisation Society shared the same values as the Poor Law and they complemented each other. There was a debate whether the charities made the poor more dependent on the help they receiving, which might discourage them from seeking work. Later, the Charity Organisation Society spread to the USA which was helped by the lack of consistent state support to the poor (Payne 2005, p.34-8). From the origins of social work in the Victorian Charity Organisation Society (COS) The idea of settlement houses was to bridge the gap between social classes, In order to achieve that, it was suggested that the rich and educated should spend time and live amongst the poor. According to Payne settlements emerged as a movement to educate the working class and to maintain the moral Christian social behaviour in poor neighbourhoods in the new cities. Those students involved would use their education and moral beliefs in activities which (Payne 2005) The Seebohm Report was regarded as a landmark in the development of social work. Initially the Seebohm committee was set to find ways to reform local authority personal social services. The committee recommended the merge of local authority into social services department .As a result social work moved to be more generic, whereas before social work was specialised such as childcare and psychiatric social work . The object was to utilise resources. Consequently, the social work was modernised social work as it brought together the separate department offering social services to different client group into a single social services departments (James 2004) .Subsequently, social work in Britain reached its peak and saw massive state social work expansion by 1970 with the implementation of the Local Authority Personal Social Services Act 1970 which was an outcome of Seebohm Report. Additionally, this period saw the birth of British Association of Social Workers in April 1970 after the mer ging of 8 associations (Payne 2005). However, towards the 1980s there been a move back towards specialisation especially in mental health and childcare. As the Mental Health Act 1983 made a condition that only approved social workers should be allowed to deal with mental health cases. Also, as a result of the rise in child abuse cases child protection teams became the norm within Local Authorities. Additionally in 1989 the government put  £10 million pounds towards child protection training programme (Johnson 1990, p. 161-2). The Beveridge Report 1942 was regarded as the foundation for the modern welfare state in Britain. Lowne R states that, Despite its somewhat unglamorous title (and author) , the Beveridge report on Social Insurance and Allied services immediately acquired immense popularity , both at home and aboard , as a practical programme for the elimination of poverty , and it has subsequently come to be regarded as a blueprint for the welfare state. (Lowne 1999, p. 130) Beveridge stressed in his report the need to eradicate the five evils: Want, Disease, Idleness, Squalor and Ignorance. Furthermore, he suggested measures to be implemented by the government to tackle to issues. However, the Beveridge report was not fully implemented by the various governments and was abandoned by the conservatives. The conservatives criticised Beverdige for suggesting a flat rate contribution. Following his report, the National Health Service (NHS) was born on 5th July 1948 . In my opinion, this was one of the most important outcomes of the Beveridge Report and a major event in the history of modern welfare state in Britain. However, some social policy commentators had different view. Glennerster stated that Beveridge is often credited with the founding of the National Health Service, which definitely he did not do. And goes on, he is more possibly credited with the founding of post war system of social security, the subject of his great report, yet in many ways this is also a mistake. Although he acknowledge the report had a great impact at the time (Glennerster 2000, p. 18). Payne (2005, p. 31) suggests that social work in Britain evolved from three different sources : the Poor Law , charity organisation and the settlement movement. When Margaret Thatcher came to power in 1979, social work started to decline. Different factors contributed to the deterioration of social work. There was a service failure especially in child protection. Social work was seen as a soft police. Thatcher government increased control over public expenditure. After the child care scandals, social work got a negative image in the media and the public. Then social work was seen as the problem rather than the solution. One of the huge dilemmas for social workers in the 21th century, the shift in social work culture. Nowadays, on the managerial level, more importance being put on budgets and targets. Social workers had massive caseloads to deal with, topped with numerous paperwork to fill, which somehow hinder the process of service delivery to the service user. The rise in the workload for social workers led to divert the focus from the quality to the quantity. It became the quantity rather than the quality.

Shakespeare?s Sonnets: The Theme Of Love Essay -- essays research pape

Shakespeare’s poems are the monument of a remarkable genius but they are also the monuments of a remarkable age. The greatness of Shakespeare’s achievement was largely made possible by the work of his immediate predecessors, Sidney and Spenser. Shakespeare’s sonnets are intensely personal and are records of his hopes and fears, love and friendships, infatuations and disillusions that in turn acquire a universal quality through their intensity. The vogue of the sonnet in the Elizabethan age was brief but was very intense. Sir Thomas Wyatt and The Earl of Surrey brought the Petrarchan sonnet to England and with that an admiration for lyrical poetry. This had major consequences on English verse; it was not only due to the beauty of the form of the sonnet but also because the Sonnet had become the vehicle of expression of one’s personal feelings. It was with the sonnet that Lyricism entered English Poetry. The Elizabethan sonnets show the mingling of the conventional with the original. There was a greater influence of Italy and France on the English sonnet form but in the hands of the three great masters Sidney, Spenser and Shakespeare it took a unique form. The sonnets had marks of sincerity that were in direct relation to life and their authors. In the Elizabethan Age there were dramatic authors who wrote verse as secondary to their plays and the songs or the lyric were the best in these collections. The songs of this period had the blending of the genius of the people and the artistic sense awakened by humanism. England became the impassioned lover of songs. Most were love-songs, some very free and profane but there were religious songs as well and many were purely fantastic. But Shakespeare’s songs were the most original and spontaneous and they were rich in their impression of Nature. They contained a sort of fresh and rustic realism. Like in ‘Winter’s Tale’ the image of â€Å"when daffodils begin to peer† and the white sheet is â€Å"bleaching on the hedge.† And also the purely fantastic songs, which borrow from Nature as in ‘Midsummer Night’s Dream’, banishing the â€Å"spotted snakes with double tongue.† Shakespeare’s sonnets cannot be classified. They are embedded in a scene and lose their special beauty and subtlety when taken out of context. The majority of Shakespeare’s poems were written in the early stage of his career. The narrative poems ‘Venus and Adonis... ...t displayed when he says, â€Å"Against my love shall be as I am now, With Time’s injurious hand crush’d and o’erworn†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (LXIII) Shakespeare’s sonnets are concerned with the relationship of individual experience (personal ties of love and friendship) with Time. The poems express a conviction of the permanence and validity of emotion in all its different forms, as sonnet 116 does â€Å"Love’s not Time’s fool, though rosy lips and cheeks Within his bending sickle’s compass come†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Shakespeare felt that under the pressure of mutability ‘love’ becomes ‘lust’; it changes form being an intense human experience to an expenditure of ‘spirit’. As love and friendship are born in time they are subjected to impermanence and so he believed that â€Å"what is rooted in time, time itself destroys.† And so in sonnet XCIV he says â€Å"Lilies that fester smell far worse than weeds.† The Sonnets of Shakespeare hold a dominant place among the development of the Sonnet sequence in the Elizabethan period. His poems show how the sonnet form in it’s strict formal limits imposes upon the language a distinctive economy and intensity. The sonnets might be based on historical events but they have a Universal significance.

The Sucess of Spain in the New World

The Success of Spain in the New World During the sixteenth century after Christopher Columbus discovery of the new world, many European empires were attracted to the new world. Among all the empires that ruled over the new world; Spain was the most successful one. The reason for their success over the other empire was due to their ability to manipulate the economy, establishment of political system and their relation with the aboriginals and the disease they brought in the new world. It wasn’t an easy for them to settle compare to other empires but during the time they were in control of parts of the new world. It brought them an enormous amount of wealth. The main motives of the Conquistadors were to extract resources, increase trade, spread Christianity and build a Spanish empire. After the Spanish had well settled in the New World. They immediately started trading with the mother country. The Spanish exploited lots of the goods that they received from the new world. They were extracting goods from the New World and were sending them to Spain where it was traded to other countries. The commons goods that they were trading were Silver, Spices and gold. During that time these goods were rare in Europe and had great value. Trading these goods brought a huge amount of riches to Spain. Spain was successful to make great use of the New World. They have gained a lot of money from the new world which supported them in battle and increasing its army. This will classify Spain as one of the successful leaders because they used the new world to their advantage to support them financially and the aboriginal people did not rebel against the fact that the Spanish are taking away their goods and they are not getting anything. This is because of the rules and oppression that the Spanish introduced. It was a great success as they were able to control the aboriginal people. During that time Spain revolved around Christianity. They were willing to do anything to save Christianity even go to war. After they established in the new world they knew that it would be an opportunity to convert the indigenous people into Christian which would increase the population of Christian throughout the new world. They wanted to take this action because during that time the protestant was just formed and they were threatened by their presence in Europe. They opposed their religion even more than their language over the indigenous tribes. Missionaries, the army and Spanish citizens used to destroy and stop every religious item or ritual that was not part of Catholicism. Later on to it became more all-pervading as they were burning anyone who did not wanted to convert to Christianity alive. After eliminating all of the subjects that were against conversion they were left will all Catholics. Since they were all sharing the same beliefs more or less it helped in decreasing conflicts between the indigenous and the Spanish. The missionaries were still carrying out their job by preaching to the indigenous folks to make them more knowledgeable about Christianity. By using these following procedures they were able to implement their religion through the New World which was one of the objective to conquer the New World. The Spanish established a great political system to the New World. While they were in the process of taking over the New World they’ve used a smart political strategy to take over the country. Whenever there was a fight between two prodigious tribe the Spanish always use to ally with the stronger side and help them defeat the weaker side. By doing so they had eliminated and weakened many major tribes in the New World. Afterward they usually turn against the tribe they allied with if they do not accept the conditions of the conquistadors, which were commonly conversion to Christianity. This process made domination of the New World easier for the Spanish because at the end they were only left with a limited number of feeble tribes or village to take over. They also used to establish new laws when they were taking over. They had put in effect a new law that the indigenous people cannot have a metal sword in their procession. By doing so they eliminated some of the threat that they might face. Since the indigenous people were not allowed to have an effectual weapon in procession they would not be able to rebel against the Spanish as they were not in procession of any weapons that can harm the Spanish as most of the weapons that could be protential dangers were taken away from them. They brought in diseases with them that soon spread through the Indian community which resulted in death of millions. It was not the intention of the Spanish to harm the Indians instead they wanted to use the Indians as labour. After this event there was a discussion in Spain about the rights of the aboriginal people. This whole issued lead to a debate about the right of the aboriginal people and new laws were in issue for Spanish colonies in the new world. The Spanish introduced law/rules based on a constitution in the New World. Since lots of the aboriginal people died from those diseases their tribe were not strong enough to oppose the Spanish and they also needed the Spanish for their remedies for these diseases that they have never seen before. This also contributed to their success as the tribes were weaken and couldn’t confront them. Also because the aboriginals had to rely on them for medication. This made the Spanish important figures in that society. The aboriginals were dependant on the Spanish due to the disease that they brought along with them. The disease wasn’t not the only reason why the aboriginal people were oppressed by the Spanish and didn’t do anything. The Spanish had an advance military and they’ve use a smart strategy to keep the Indian in control. They’ve allied with bigger tribe. So smaller tribe couldn’t go against their will as they were being oppressed by both the Spanish and the bigger tribes so they had to do whatever the Spanish wanted them to do.

Softball And Much More Essays - Therapy, Free Essays, Term Papers

Softball And Much More Essays - Therapy, Free Essays, Term Papers Softball and Much More Lisa O'Grady I was sitting alone on the front step of the school, worried about what I was getting myself into. It was the first day of softball tryouts my junior year, and I never even met my coach. I skipped the team meeting two weeks prior to tryouts, so I never got to meet her face to face. She is a gym teacher at the school, so I had seen her around all of the time. I was just too intimidated by her, so I never tried to talk to her. It turns out that this person that I was afraid to talk to at one point, has now had the biggest impact on my life, and taught me about softball and so much more. Before I move on, I would like to give you some insight into the aspects of my coach's life. Her name is Kristin Politi and she lives in New York. She graduated from Rutgers University where she played softball for the Lady Scarlet Knights. She started to teach at Roselle Catholic right out of college; she was only 22 years old. She teaches gym and health, coached boys junior varsity soccer, and varsity softball. Last I heard, she was a few months shy of obtaining a Masters from Montclair State University. She is now engaged to be married in May. The first day I met Kristin was at tryouts. As soon as she got there, she took attendance and introduced herself and her boyfriend to us. Her style of practice was one that I have never been introduced to before. We started off practice by taking a 15- minute run, and ending with sprint after sprint after sprint. I will never forget my first memory of Ms. Politi. It started to rain during the middle of practice, so the grass was slick. She was showing us how to round first base and head towards second the proper way, almost. She took the inside of the base while her friend, and former teammate, took the outside. She was making her turn and fell flat on her face. Everyone laughed at her-especially her boyfriend. It was at that moment that I realized two things: she had a great sense of humor and that softball would be fun. The first time that I ever spoke to her was the day before she made the final cuts. I went up to her and asked her very sheepishly if I could talk to her after our next practice. First she asked me if I was going to quit. After I said no, she said, "Well then, sure you can talk to me." At this point in my life, I was having a lot of trouble and I was in therapy. This would require me to miss at least the first or last half -hour of practice once a week. I felt it necessary to tell her about this dilemma before she made a list of the final team. I was very scared. She was very understanding though. She asked a few questions, but she really seemed to understand. I had only known Kristin for about a week or so when I went to her and trusted her with my deepest, darkest secret. I will never forget what she did for me, and the effort she put into helping. She might not think she did much, but she did in my eyes. She gave me a sense of security. I knew that if I ever needed to talk, or cry, she was there. I also knew that she would be honest with me and tell it like it is. I don't know how many times I found myself in her office sharing with her my thoughts and my fears. When I became a senior, I was really scared of graduating and leaving her, and her guidance, behind. I was not sure yet of what college I was going to attend; she helped with that too. I did know that I was no longer going to be living in New Jersey. I think what scared me the most was knowing that I could no longer walk down that hallway everyday either before gym class or