Formative Assessment Essay Example for Free

Formative Assessment Essay Chapter IV A Fundamental Duties ARTICLE 51A Fundamental Duties It shall be the duty of every citizen of India(a) to abide by the Constitution and respect its ideals and institutions, the National Flag and the National Anthem; (b) to cherish and follow the noble ideals which inspired our national struggle for freedom; (c) to uphold and protect the sovereignty, unity and integrity of India; (d) to defend the country and render national service when called upon to do so; (e) To promote harmony and the spirit of common brotherhood amongst all the people of India transcending religious, linguistic and regional or sectional diversities; to renounce practices derogatory to the dignity of women; (f) to value and preserve the rich heritage of our composite culture; (g) To protect and improve the natural environment including forests, lakes, rivers, wild life and to have compassion for living creatures; (h) to develop the scientific temper, humanism and the spirit of inquiry and reform; (i) (j) to safeguard public property and to abjure violence; to strive towards excellence in all spheres of individual and collective activity so that the nation constantly rises to higher levels of endeavour and achievement. CONTENTS Page No. Acknowledgments Preface Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation School Based Continuous Comprehensive Evaluation Continuous Comprehensive Assessment and Evaluation in e-Typewriting- English/Hindi Assessment Rubrics e-Typewriting Syllabus and Scheme of Examination for Class IX TERM-I Unit 1: Introduction to e-Typewriting Unit 2: Keyboard Layout (QWERTY INSCRIPT) Unit 3: Touch Typewriting 10 16 21 XL XLI 1 (I) (II) (IX) TERM-II Unit 4: Introduction to Word Processing 29 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS. ADVISORY BODY †¢ Shri Vineet Joshi, Chairman CBSE. †¢ Dr. Sadhana Parashar, Head Innovations Research, CBSE. EDITING COMMITTEE †¢ Prof. Om Vikas, Retd. Prof. from DIT, Government of India. MATERIAL PRODUCTION GROUP †¢ Mr. Yogesh Kumar HOD, Computer Science. Meera Model School, Delhi. †¢ Dr. D. P. Bhatia, Mata Sundri College,University of Delhi. †¢ Ms. Gayatri Subramanian, Consultant, Ministry of Corporate Affairs , Govt of India. †¢ Mrs. Sunita Chug, Senior Lecturer, Mira Bai Polytechnic, Maharani Bagh, New Delhi. †¢ Mrs. Nancy Sehgal, Mata Jai Kaur School, Delhi. CO-ORDINATION †¢ Mrs. Sugandh Sharma, Education Officer (Commerce) CBSE. PREFACE Typewriters were developed to prepare documents with uniform letter prints, to overcome illegibility of hand written material and produce documents faster. Initially typewriters were mechanical, then electric and electronic typewriters came into being. Over a period, QWERTY keyboard layout was in use and it became the defacto standard for Roman Typewriting. Computers also use keyboard as an input device. Keyboard layout has specific letter on key allocation on the basis of frequency and count of letters over a fairly large sample of documents. High frequency letters are on middle/home row, distributed on both sides. For Indic scripts, Standard keyboard Layout is INSCRIPT. Mechanical typewriters are now becoming fast extinct. Computer empowers the user to input information with accuracy, speed and additional features of Word processing. The syllabus of Typewriting is hereby revised as e-Typewriting with an additional unit on Word processing in view of the growing use of computers for typewriting documents. Self assessment and keeping record of progress in Assignment files are encouraged so as to keep students motivated towards excellence. Profuse thanks are due to Prof. Om Vikas for steering the experts members Mr. Yogesh Kumar, Ms. Nancy Sehgal, Ms. Sunita Chugh, Dr. D. P. Bhatia and Ms. Gayatri Subramaniam for contributing towards development of the syllabus on -e-Typewriting and also the Formative Assessment Manual for Teachers. I also thank Ms. Sugandh Sharma, Education Officer for coordinating the meetings and bringing out the manual in this shape. It is expected that the students will enjoy this course even as an additional subject in view of the benefits of touch-typing skills in future career. We would welcome suggestions to improve upon content assessment methodology in tune with the objectives of CCE. (Vineet Joshi) Chairman, CBSE I Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation Education aims at making children capable of becoming responsible, productive and useful members of a society. Knowledge, skills and attitudes are built through learning experiences and opportunities created for learners in school. It is in the classroom that learners can analyse and evaluate their experiences, learn to doubt, to question, to investigate and to think independently. The aim of education simultaneously reflects the current needs and aspirations of a society as well as its lasting values and human ideals. At any given time and place they can be called the contemporary and contextual articulations of broad and lasting human aspirations and values. An understanding of learners, educational aims, the nature of knowledge, and the nature of the school as a social space can help us arrive at principles to guide classroom practices. Conceptual development is thus a continuous process of deepening and enriching connections and acquiring new layers of meaning. Alongside is the development of theories that children have about the natural and social worlds, including themselves in relation to others, which provide them with explanations for why things are the way they are and the relationship between cause and effect. Attitudes, emotions and values are thus an integral part of cognitive development, and are linked to the development of language, mental representations, concepts and reasoning. As childrens metacognitive capabilities develop, they become more aware of their own beliefs and capable of regulating their own learning. Characteristics of learning All lchildren are naturally motivated to learn and are capable of learning. Understanding l Children l and developing the capacity for abstract thinking, reflection and work are the most important aspects of learning. learn in a variety of ways-through experience, making and doing things, experimentation, reading, discussion, asking, listening, thinking and reflecting, and expressing themselves in speech or writing-both individually and with others. They require opportunities of all these kinds in the course of their development. something before the child is cognitively ready takes away real learning. Children may remember many facts but they may not understand them or be able to relate them to the world around them. takes place both within school and outside school. Learning is enriched if the two arenas interact with each other. Art and work provide opportunities for holistic learning that is rich in tacit and aesthetic components. Such experiences are essentially to be learnt through direct experience and integrated into life. Teaching l Learning l II Learning l must be paced so that it allows learners to engage with concepts and deepen understanding rather than remembering only to forget after examinations. At the same time learning must provide variety and challenge, and be interesting and engaging. Boredom is a sign that the task may have become mechanically repetitive for the child and of little cognitive value. can take place with or without mediation. In the case of the latter, the social context and interactions, especially with those who are capable, provide avenues for learners to work at cognitive levels above their own. Learning l Place of Evaluation in the Curriculum A curriculum is what constitutes a total teaching-learning program composed of overall aims, syllabus, materials, methods and assessment. In short it provides a framework of knowledge and capabilities, seen as appropriate to a particular level. Evaluation not only measures the progress and achievement of the learners but also the effectiveness of the teaching materials and methods used for transaction. Hence evaluation should be viewed as a component of curriculum with the twin purpose of effective delivery and further improvement in the teaching learning process. If properly understood, evaluation or assessment will not be perceived as something administered by the teachers and taken by the learners on the conclusion of a period of learning. When evaluation is seen as an end of the learning exercise, both the teachers and the learners will tend to keep it outside the teaching-learning process, rendering assessment broadly irrelevant and alien to the curriculum. Further such a perception associates anxiety and stress with evaluation for learners. On the contrary, if evaluation is seen as an integral part built into the teaching learning process; it will become continuous like both teaching and learning. When evaluation is subsumed into teaching-learning, learners will not perceive tests and examinations with fear. It will lead to diagnosis, remediation and enhancement of learning. The scope of evaluation in schools extends to almost all the areas of learners personality development. It should include both scholastic and co-scholastic areas, i. e. it should be comprehensive in nature. This is in line with the goals of education. Evaluation is continuous and reveals the strengths and weaknesses of learners more frequently, so that the learners have better opportunity to understand and improve themselves. It also provides feedback to the teachers for modifying their teaching strategies. In view of getting a complete picture of the childs learning, assessment should focus on the learners ability to – learn and l acquire a l acquire desired skills related to different subject areas. level of achievement in different subject areas in the requisite measure develop childs individual skills, interests, attitudes and motivation l understand and lead a healthy and a productive life. l monitor the changes taking place in a childs learning, behaviour and progress over time. l III l respond to different situations and opportunities both in and out of school.  apply what is learned in a variety of l work l independently, collaboratively analyze and evaluate. l environments, circumstances and situations and harmoniously. be laware of social and environmental issues participate in social and environmental projects and causes. l retain what is learned over a period of time. l Thus assessment is a useful, desirable and an enabling process. To realize this one needs to keep the following parameters in mind The need to: assess the learner. l use l a variety of ways to collect information about the learners learning and progress in subjects and cross curricular boundaries. collect information continuously and record the same. l give l importance to each learners way of responding and learning and the time it takes to do so. report on an ongoing continuous basis and be sensitive to every learners responses. l provide feedback that will lead to positive action and help the learner to do better l In the assessment process, one should be careful NOT to: l label learners as slow, poor, intelligent etc. make comparisons between them. l make negative statements. l Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation (CCE) refers to a system of school-based evaluation of students that covers all aspects of a students development. It is a developmental process of a child which emphasizes on two fold objectives. These objectives are continuity in evaluation on one hand and assessment of broad based learning and behaviourial outcomes on the other. The term `continuous is meant to emphasise that evaluation of identified aspects of students `growth and development is a continuous process rather than an event, built into the total IV teaching-learning process and spread over the entire span of academic session. It means regularity of assessment, diagnosis of learning gaps, use of corrective measures and feedback of evidence to teachers and students for their self evaluation. The second term `comprehensive means that the scheme attempts to cover both the scholastic and the co-scholastic aspects of students growth and development. Since abilities, attitudes and aptitudes can manifest themselves in forms other than the written word, the term refers to application of a variety of tools and techniques (both testing and non-testing) and aims at assessing a learners development in areas of learning like : Knowledge l Understanding/Comprehension l Application l Analysis l l Evaluation l Creativity Objectives of CCE are: l To help develop cognitive, psychomotor and affective skills. l To lay emphasis on thought process and de-emphasise memorization l To make evaluation an integral part of teaching-learning process l use To evaluation for improvement of students achievement and teaching – learning strategies on the basis of regular diagnosis followed by remedial instruction l. To use evaluation as a quality control device to maintain desired standard of performance l determine To  social utility, desirability or effectiveness of a programme and take appropriate decisions about the learner, the process of learning and the learning environment l To make the process of teaching and learning a learner-centered activity. Features of CCE are: l The continuous aspect of CCE takes care of continual and periodicity aspect of evaluation. Means assessment of students in the beginning of instruction (placement evaluation) and assessment during the instructional process (formative evaluation) done informally using multiple techniques of evaluation. means assessment of performance done frequently at the end of unit/term (summative) l Continual l Periodicity V l The  comprehensive component of CCE takes care of assessment of all round development of the childs personality. It includes assessment in Scholastic as well as Co-Scholastic aspects of the pupils growth. aspects include curricular areas or subject specific areas, whereas co-scholastic aspects include Life Skills, Co-Curricular Activities, Attitudes, and Values. in scholastic areas is done informally and formally using multiple techniques of evaluation continually and periodically. The diagnostic evaluation takes place at the end of a unit/term test. The causes of poor performance in some units are diagnosed using diagnostic tests. These are followed up with appropriate interventions followed by retesting. in Co-Scholastic areas is done using multiple techniques on the basis of identified criteria, while assessment in Life Skills is done on the basis of Indicators of Assessment and checklists. Source Examination Reforms, NCERT Scholastic l Assessment l Assessment l The functions of CCE are: l It helps the teacher to organize effective teaching strategies. Continuous l evaluation helps in regular assessment to the extent and degree of learners progress (ability and achievement with reference to specific scholastic and co-scholastic areas). evaluation serves to diagnose weaknesses and permits the teacher to ascertain an individual learners strengths and weaknesses and her needs. It provides immediate feedback to the teacher, who can then  decide whether a particular unit or concept needs re-teaching in the whole class or whether a few individuals are in need of remedial instruction. evaluation, children can know their strengths and weaknesses. It provides the child a realistic self assessment of how he/she studies. It can motivate children to develop good study habits, to correct errors, and to direct their activities towards the achievement of desired goals. It helps a learner to determine the areas of instruction in which more emphasis is required. and comprehensive evaluation identifies areas of aptitude and interest. It helps in identifying changes in attitudes, and value systems. in making decisions for the future, regarding choice of subjects, courses and careers. Continuous l By lcontinuous  Continuous l It helps l It provides l information/reports on the progress of students in scholastic and co-scholastic areas and thus helps in predicting the future successes of the learner. VI Continuous evaluation helps in bringing awareness of the achievement to the child, teachers and parents from time to time. They can look into the probable cause of the fall in achievement if any, and may take remedial measures of instruction in which more emphasis is required. Many times, because of some personal reasons, family problems or adjustment problems, the children start neglecting their studies, resulting in a sudden drop in their achievement. If the teacher, child and parents do not come to know about this sudden drop in the achievement and the neglect in studies by the child continues for a longer period then it will result in poor achievement and a permanent deficiency in learning for the child. The major emphasis of CCE is on the continuous growth of students ensuring their intellectual, emotional, physical, cultural and social development and therefore will not be merely limited to assessment of learners scholastic attainments. It uses assessment as a means of motivating learners in further programmes to provide information for arranging feedback and follow up work to improve upon the learning in the classroom and to present a comprehensive picture of a learners profile. It is this that has led to the emergence of the concept of School Based Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation. Source : Ncert VII Scholastic and Co-scholastic Assessment In order to have Continuous and Comprehensive evaluation, both scholastic and co-scholastic aspects need to be given due recognition. Such a holistic assessment requires maintaining an ongoing, changing and comprehensive profile for each learner that is honest, encouraging and discreet. While teachers daily reflect, plan and implement remedial strategies, the childs ability to retain and articulate what has been learned over a period of time also requires periodic assessment. These assessments can take many forms but all of them should be as comprehensive and discreet as possible. Weekly, fortnightly, or quarterly reviews (depending on the learning area), that do not openly compare one learner with another and are positive and constructive experiences are generally recommended to promote and enhance not just learning and retention among children but their soft skills as well. VIII School Based Continuous Comprehensive Evaluation There has been a consistent move towards reducing the load on the student by making public or board examination stress free. Over the decade there has been a high pitched race towards more marks and thus more competitiveness among students and schools. The move of the CBSE to replace marks with grades is a step in the right direction. The paradigm shift is to empower schools by creating a workable school based continuous and comprehensive scheme. School Based Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation system should be established to: reduce stress on children l make evaluation comprehensive and regular l provide space for the teacher for creative teaching l provide a tool of diagnosis and remediation l produce learners with greater skills l Position Paper on Aims of Education NCF 2005. NCERT Aims of School Based CCE l Elimination of chance element and subjectivity (as far as possible), de-emphasis of memorization, encouraging Comprehensive evaluation incorporating both scholastic and co-scholastic aspects of learners development.  evaluation spread over the total span of the instructional time as an integral built-in aspect of the total teaching-learning process. And meaningful declaration of results for effective use by teachers, students, parents and the society. uses of test results for purposes not merely of the assessment of levels of pupils achievements and proficiencies, but mainly for its improvement, through diagnosis and remedial/enrichment programmes. in the mechanics of conducting examinations for realizing a number of other allied purposes Continuous l Functional l Wider l Improvement l Introduction of concomitant changes in instructional materials and methodology. l Introduction of the semester system from the secondary stage onwards. l The l use of grades in place of marks in determining and declaring the level of pupil performance and proficiency. The above goals are relevant for both external examination and evaluation in schools IX Characteristics of School Based Evaluation : l Broader, more comprehensive and continuous than traditional system. l primarily to help learners for systematic learning and development. Aims l Takes care of the needs of the learner as responsible citizens of the future. l Is more transparent, futuristic and provides more scope for association among learners , teachers and parents. School based evaluation provides opportunities to teachers to know the following about their learners: What they learn l How l they learn l What type of difficulties / limitations they face in realising learning objectives together l What the children think l What the children feel l What their interests and dispositions are. The focus has shifted to developing a deep learning environment. There is a paradigm shift in the pedagogy and competencies of ‘controlling’ to ‘enriching’ to ‘empowering’ schools. Traditional Schooling l Teacher centred l Subjects and classes l Sorting and ranking Enriching Schooling Student centred l l Directed Self l Continuous assessment Empowering Schooling Experience centred l l Virtual authenticity l Multi literacies individuals Competency: l Memory l Competitive Competency: l Critical thinking l Collaborative l Creative Competency: l taking Risk l Ethical l Interactive There are four Assessment Paradigms Assessment of Learning Most commonly, assessment is defined as a process whereby someone attempts to describe and quantify the knowledge, attitudes or skills possessed by another. Teacher directedness is paramount and the student has little involvement in the design or implement of the assessment process in these circumstances – X Summative l Teacher designs learning l l Teacher collects evidence l Teacher judges what has been learnt (and what has not) Assessment for Learning The assessment for learning involves increased levels of student autonomy, but not without teacher guidance and collaboration. The assessment for learning is sometimes seen as being akin to ‘formative assessment’ and can be seen as informing teaching. There is more emphasis towards giving of useful advice to the student and less emphasis on the giving of marks and the grading function – Teacher designs learning l Teacher designs assessment with feedback to student l Teacher assesses what has been learnt (student develops insight into what has not) l Assessment as Learning ‘Assessment as learning’ is perhaps more connected with diagnostic assessment and can be constructed with more of an emphasis on informing learning. Assessment as learning generates opportunities for self assessment and for peer assessment. Students take on increased responsibility to generate quality information about their learning and that of others – Teacher and student co-construct learning l Teacher and student co-construct assessment l Teacher and student co-construct learning progress map l Assessment for learning and assessment as learning activities should be deeply embedded in teaching and learning and be the source of iterative feedback, allowing students to adjust, rethink and re-learn. Assessment in Learning The assessment in learning places the question at the centre of teaching and learning. It deflects the teaching from its focus on a ‘correct answer’ to focus on ‘a fertile question’. Through the inquiry, students engage in processes that generate feedback about their learning, which come from multiple sources, and activities. It contributes to the construction of other learning activities, lines of enquiry and the generation of other questions Student at the centre of learning l Student monitors, assesses and reflects on learning l Student initiates demonstration of learning (to self and others) l Teacher as coach and mentor l XI Teachers and students need to understand the purpose of each assessment strategy so that the overall assessment ‘package’ being used by learners and teachers accurately captures, generates and uses meaningful learning information to generate deep learning and understanding. Purpose of Assessment To lascertain what learning, change and progress takes place in the child over a period of time in different subjects of study and other aspects of the childs personality. To find out the needs and learning style of every learner. l To ldevise styles. To improve the teaching-learning materials by adding value. l To help l every learner find out their interests, aptitudes, strengths and weaknesses so that the learner can evolve effective learning strategies. a teaching-learning plan that is responsive to the individual needs and learning To measure the extent to which curricular objectives have been realized. l To enhance the effectiveness of the teaching-learning process. l To l record the progress of every learner and communicate it to parents and other stakeholders. a dialogue between the teacher and the student and also the parents as a collaborative endeavor for overall improvement of the system. To lmaintain To involve the learners in the process through peer and self assessment. l Different stages in Assessment Examination is not assessment; it is only one of the tools of assessment. As we have seen above, assessment is an integral part of the teaching-learning process and hence cannot be seen as the final stage in isolation. The overall aim of assessment is to gather information to improve the teaching-learning process. So it has certain distinct stages. Stage 1: Gathering information about and evidence of the extent of effectiveness of teaching and learning We gather information in a variety of ways, using a number of tools. Observation, conversation and discussion, assignments, projects, different types of tests etc are some of the methods and tools we use for collecting information. Stage 2: Recording of Information The information gathered has to be systematically recorded because it constitutes not only rich inputs that have to be used for improving teaching and learning but also evidence to support the conclusion we come to about the progress made by the students. In order to make the recording effective, we must use different recording devices such as learner profile, XII ancecdotal records, case studies, report books etc. It is essential that the information is recorded in both quantitative and qualitative terms along with well thought out and objective observations by the teacher. It is also necessary to keep samples of students work as evidence to support the report of the teacher. The most important aspect of good recording and reporting is that it shows the progress of the learner in different domains over a period of time. Stage 3: Analysing and Reporting the Information Collected The recorded information constitutes valuable feedback that the teacher, the student and the parents should use to enhance the learning process. To do this, the gathered information has to be analysed periodically so that the teacher can draw conclusions about how a child is learning and progressing. Such analysis and the grading that is done is actually a mapping of the progress of students in a learning environment. Analysis and review also leads to unambiguous statements about the strengths of every child and the aspects requiring further improvement. The report has to be communicated to the learners and their parents so that they are able to collaborate with the teacher to take the necessary steps for improving learning. It is essential that the child is encouraged to compete with self rather than with others. One of the key components of engaging students in the assessment of their own learning is providing them with descriptive feedback as they learn. Research shows descriptive feedback to be the most effective instructional strategy to move students forward in their learning. Descriptive feedback provides students with an understanding of what they are doing well, links to classroom learning and specific input on how to reach the next step. Stage 4: Using the Information for Improvement Assessment should result in improvement. Though the student, the teacher and the parents are all stakeholders in this paradigm, it is the teacher who has to take the initiative to use the analysis of information on each learner to enhance learning. This calls for reflective practices. Some questions that the teacher could ask himself/ herself are: 1. Are all the learners involved in the activities of the class? 2. Are there learners who face problems in coping with the pace and flow of the teaching learning process? 3. What are their problems and how should I help them? 4. Is there something in my teaching strategy that has to be modified to make the class learn better? How should I go about it? 5. Are there some learners who are not challenged by the materials and methods and hence lose motivation quickly? How should I respond to their special needs? 6. Are there some lessons/ chapters/ units that pose difficulties to many learners? How should I add value to these portions of the syllabus? 7. Have I identified certain common errors, mistakes and instances of lack of conceptual clarity from the information collected and analysed? How should I go about an effective programme of remediation? XIII 8. Is my classroom time management effective? What are the changes that I could introduce to make it more learner and learning oriented? 9. Am I getting adequate support from the school management, my colleagues, the parents and the community? How can I involve all the stakeholders more actively in what I am doing for the benefit of my learners? 10. What are my own needs of professional development? How can I fulfil them in a continuous manner? Such reflective questions will help the teacher modify and refine the programme of teaching to achieve the learning objectives as well as to enhance his/ her professional competence continuously. By now it is well established that learning is a continuous process and it involves informal, formal and non-formal modes. It is also widely acknowledged that children learn by constructing their knowledge and it makes learning a process that takes place within the children rather than without. In this paradigm of constructivism, the teacher ought to recognize the importance of different stages of learning i. e. , the initial stage where the existing knowledge of the learner is seen as the entry level, the second stage where new knowledge is understood and accommodated with the existing knowledge and the third stage where the constructed knowledge as a whole is tested by the learner by applying it to real life situations for making sense of the world and the self and for drawing conclusions, problem solving, decision making etc. What constitutes knowledge at the third stage automatically becomes the learners existing knowledge for further learning and thus it is a cyclical process. The main purpose of assessment is to enhance the effectiveness of the learning process and hence it has to be integrated appropriately with every stage of learning. Since learning is continuous, assessment also must be continuous. Otherwise the learner will not be able to know whether she/ he is proceeding along the right lines, what is the stage at which he experiences difficulties, what are the new inputs and strategies that are required to successfully continue the process of construction of knowledge and what is the help that is expected from the teacher. Similarly the teacher also has to know at what stage of learning each learner is at a particular point of time, what are the changes that are to be made to the teaching strategies to make every child learn effectively and what further help can be provided. For instance, when a child in class I comes to school, it is probable that the child has not had any formal schooling earlier. It does not mean that the child has no prior knowledge because learning, as has been pointed out earlier, can be through informal and non formal modes too. So the teachers duty is to identify the prior knowledge of the child while dealing with a particular concept or skill.

Effects of Computerized Cognitive Training

Effects of Computerized Cognitive Training CHAPTER FIVE: DISCUSSION This chapter will discuss†¦ it will also discuss its public health significance†¦ and also report strengths and limitations of the review. 5.1  Summary and discussion of the evidence: 5.1.1  To what extent was the intervention effective? The overall aim of this study was to investigate the effects of computerized cognitive training aimed at improving cognitive function in individuals at a high risk of developing dementia. The ten trials that have been included in this study are spread widely across different countries. They vary enormously even within each subdomain analysed in terms of sample size, intervention characteristics (overall length of duration, number of training sessions and their frequency) and outcome measures used. Participants were assessed on a number of cognitive outcome measures that were unrelated to the trained tasks, this was necessary to show that cognitive improvement was not task specific as suggested by previous studies (Ball et al. 2002). The results from these ten studies suggest that computerized cognitive training is a promising approach for improving cognitive performance in persons with mild cognitive impairment. Participants showed improvements over a wide variety of neurocognitive o utcome measures, such as memory, attention, executive function, working memory, visuospatial ability, general cognition and speed of processing. Among these cognitive domains the most consistent improvements across all studies were observed in visual and verbal memory, attention, and executive function. Improvements in cognitive outcome measures suggests that individuals with MCI, despite cognitive deficit retain significant amount of neuroplasticity (Rosen et al. 2011) which makes them responsive to cognitive training. These findings are consistent with previous studies that demonstrate positive effects of cognitive training on cognitive performance in individuals with MCI (Brum et al. 2009; Ball et al. 2002; Rapp et al. 2002). Previously it has been suggested that training gains are influenced by the frequency and duration of the intervention (Gates et al. 2011), however, findings show no difference in training effects among studies with longer duration of intervention and those with smaller duration (Rozzini et al. 2007). The inability to conduct a meta-analysis due to heterogeneity of diagnostic criteria, intervention characteristics and outcomes measured made it difficult to precisely identify which cognitive domains benefited the most from the training. It has been pointed out several times over the years that unless accompanied by behavioural, psychological or other changes, changes in cognition let alone are not sufficient to justify a cognitive intervention (Woods, 2006). Out of the ten studies included, five studies assessed behavioural, psychological and everyday functional symptoms apart from neurocognitive outcome measures (Gaitan et al. 2013; Gagnon and Belleville, 2012; Finn and McDonald, 2011; Rozzini et al. 2007; Galante et al. 2007). The findings revealed positive effect of the intervention on some aspects of subjective measures of memory. Depressive symptom scores decreased most consistently. This was followed by reduction in anxiety levels. However, no significant improvements were observed in self-reported activities of daily living or everyday functioning memory. This could be explained by the fact that as individuals were carefully screened out in order to meet criteria for MCI, the participants were not impaired in everyday functional abilities and hence, it was difficult to assess the effect of training in terms of transferability to real world outcomes. No changes in well-being were reported. This is in contrast to the findings by Belleville et al. (2006) which reported positive impact of computerized cognitive training on the participant’s feelings of well-being. This can perhaps be explained by the inclusion of pre-training sessions on stress, self-esteem and imagery that were part of the intervention in their study. Despite the importance of quality of life to patients and caregivers, none of the studies measured quality of life. According to Rozzini et al. (2007) although use of cholinesterase inhibitors has also been associated with reduced depressive symptoms, but computerized cognitive training supersedes pharmacological therapy as no negative or adverse effects of training have been found in participants, contrary to adverse effects and high dropout rates reported in drug tri als in MCI (Clare et al. 2003). 5.1.2  To what extent were the effects maintained after the intervention? Four studies included a follow up assessment ranging between 3 months to a period of 12 months (Gaitan et al. 2013; Herrera et al. 2012; Galante et al. 2007; Rozzini et al. 2007) and one study used a longitudinal design (Valdes et al. 2012) to ascertain if the training gains lasted longer, showed stability over time and hence, could possibly contribute to preventing future cognitive decline. General cognitive function remained stable up to 9 months post training (Galante et al. 2007); recognition, attention and recall improvements were maintained at 6 months (Herrera et al. 2012); executive function (Gaitan et al. 2013), episodic memory and abstract reasoning (Rozzini et al. 2007) showed improvement trends at 12 month follow up; and effects on speed of processing were maintained at 5 years after the end of the training programme (Valdes et al. 2012). Two studies showed reduction in behavioural disturbances such as depression and anxiety (Gaitan et al. 2013; Rozzini et al. 2007) at a 12 month follow up. Evidence suggests that computerized cognitive training is at least effective in slowing or delaying the progression of cognitive decline and onset of dementia. Moreover, it also suggests that if computerized cognitive training show cognitive gains, these improvements are likely to be preserved at follow up. In summary, computerized cognitive training justifies Swaab’s (1991) phrase â€Å"use it or lose it† used to explain the relationship between declining neuronal activity and neurodegeneration. Overall, these results show findings similar to a recent meta-analysis by Li et al. (2011) that showed improved overall cognition, domain specific cognitive improvements and positive training effects on follow up in the intervention group after receiving traditional cognitive training. According to literature, computerized cognitive training has shown to be more effective than traditional cognitive training (Kueider et al. 2012), the results from this study suggest that structured computerized cognitive training produce significantly greater benefits in individuals with MCI as compared to those engaged in cognitively stimulating activities only. Evidence reveals that individuals with MCI that were randomized to intervention group showed larger cognitive gains as compared to active control groups. 5.2  Public health Significance: With the elderly population of the world increasing rapidly, the numbers of older adults suffering from dementia are bound to rise. With 1 in 3 people above 65 years developing dementia, the number of individuals with dementia are projected to be as high as 135.46 million in 2050 (Alzheimer’s Disease International, 2013). Dementia has several devastating consequences. The economic impact of dementia globally is quite alarming. This has diverted attention not only towards the treatment of dementia itself but also towards preventive therapies specifically aimed at individuals with MCI. In 2007, the average cost of care for a patient with Alzheimer’s disease in the United Kingdom was estimated to be around  £29,746 (Alzheimer’s Society, 2008). This makes the principles of disease prevention and health promotion particularly relevant to dementia (Geda, Negash and Petersen, 2011). The prevention of a disease involves the identification of groups that are at high ris k; MCI indeed, is a high risk state for dementia particularly of the Alzheimer’s type (Alzheimer’s Disease International, 2013). Individuals with MCI are identified as high risk groups as they are 3 to 5 times more at risk of developing dementia than those without MCI (Alzheimer’s Society, 2014). As findings from this study reveal that many of the cognitive domains retain effects from as low as 6 months up to 5 years post computerized cognitive training and demonstrate delay in the progression of cognitive impairment. This can have positive implications for public health. This is because according to the Alzheimer’s Society (2007) delaying the progression of cognitive decline and hence onset of dementia merely by 5 years would halve the number of deaths that are directly attributable to dementia. It would also reduce the huge economic costs associated with dementia care borne by the carers and the government. In addition, it would also cut down the costs borne by individuals or their carers as computerized approach itself is a cost effective approach as explained earlier. Growing evidence on the positive effects of computerized cognitive makes it a strong candidate to be on the priority agenda for policy making on tackling dementia in coming years. As demonstrated, much evidence in literature exists highlighting the positive impact of cognitive training on cognitive performance. NICE guidelines (2011) recommend the use of structured cognitively stimulating programmes for individuals with mild to moderate dementia irrespective of the drugs prescribed for the treatment of cognitive symptoms of dementia. Results from this study indicating the potential of computerized cognitive training and other relevant evidence in literature advocates that the use of computerised cognitive training for MCI patients can be included in the clinical practice guidelines. However, for that to be practically useful, there needs to be developed a structured computerised cognitive training service which can be commissioned when needed. Such service should identify in particul ar the software to be used, the duration and frequency of training sessions and sequencing of training sessions. Kueider et al. (2012) highlighted that older adults did not need to be tech savvy in order to complete and benefit from the intervention. Moreover, these findings could have positive implications as contrary to the old belief that older adults may not welcome the idea of using technology; research suggests that older adults in many cases are the fastest growing users of computer and internet technology (Wagner et al. 2010). Moreover, as mentioned earlier, computerized cognitive training offer flexible and personalized approach as the difficulty level can be adjusted according to the user’s performance, hence, keeping it engaging and enjoyable for users. 5.3  Strengths and limitations of the study: The review was undertaken after a thorough search of literature available around the research question. To the author’s knowledge this is the only systematic review to-date that has been conducted on this topic and includes up to date evidence. Another strength of this study is the strict inclusion criteria in terms of study design. Only randomised controlled trials were included in the review. Although there were other relevant studies available having other study designs but according to the Cochrane review guidelines (Higgins and Green, 2011), the author decided to limit the final studies to randomised controlled trials. This helped to decrease bias and increase the methodological quality of the overall review. The author intended to synthesize the results from best available evidence. Although efforts were made to ensure a transparent and reproducible review, a number of caveats need to be mentioned that might have influenced the results. 5.3.1  Time frame: The time frame to conduct a systematic review was extremely limited keeping in view that there was only one researcher carrying out the entire procedure. Maximum time was spent searching through different electronic databases and other sources and reading the abstracts of different articles in an attempt to identify relevant studies. There may be a possibility of selection bias as the selection and screening of studies was done solely by one reviewer. However, in order to minimise such bias, the search and screening of articles was done twice. 5.3.2  Methodological limitations: Across the literature on computerised cognitive training common but notable methodological limitations emerge. One of the general limitations of this systematic review was small sample sizes used in majority of the studies. The small sample sizes led to reduced statistical power which may have obscured the detection of potential differences between the groups. Larger groups could have allowed detecting smaller gains in performance. A second limitation was that several studies lacked an adequate active or placebo control group. Failure to include a proper control group may not only have had an impact on the results but also made interpretation of results difficult as attribution of cognitive benefits could have originated from other sources besides computerized cognitive training. These issues impact on the main aim of the study which was assessing how computerized approaches compare with traditional approaches. Only two studies used an active control group indulged in activities similar to traditional cognitive training (Gaitan et al. 2012; Herrera et al. 2012) making it difficult to directly compare both the approaches. The review supports findings from previous studies (Sitzer et al. 2006) that intervention groups show larger effect sizes when compared to waitlist instead of active control conditions. Several studies reported inclusion of participants receiving pharmacological therapy (Cholinesterase Inhibito rs) raising the possibility that the cognitive gains were not because of the training solely but were a result of the synergistic effect between pharmacological therapy and training. An important limitation of this study was the scarce availability of data for individuals with mild cognitive impairment despite the relatively large time span covered. Furthermore, although most studies used the Petersen’s criteria to diagnose and assess individuals with MCI but modifications in the exact application of this definition existed e.g. the use of MMSE- scores one of the included studies used MMSE scores > 24 () while one study used MMSE scores of 23 (). Additionally the heterogeneity of the outcomes measured across studies made cross-comparison difficult but at the same time highlighted the need of developing robust research designs for cognitive training intervention studies. According to the inclusion criteria, only studies that were randomised controlled trials were to be included. This led to the exclusion of many quasi-experimental studies that were related to the research question and that could have contributed to the results (Talassi et al. 2007; Belleville et al. 2006; Cipriani et al. 2006; Tarraga et al. 2006; Schreiber et al. 1999). 5.3.3 Dual vs Single person data extraction: The Cochrane Collaboration (Higgins and Green, 2011) expects each study included in the review to be data extracted by at least two independent researchers who are blind to the study authors and institution from which the study has been published. This however, was not possible owing to the time limitations and practicality of an MSc degree and therefore, data extraction was carried out by a single reviewer. According to Edwards et al. (2002) study screening and data extraction by two or more researchers increases the reliability and accuracy of the systematic review. 5.3.4  Language limitation: The requirement of studies being published in English language led to the exclusion of two studies deemed relevant by their abstract as the body of text was published in German and Spanish (Ott-Chervet et al. 1998; Fernà ¡ndez-Calvo et al. 2011). Summary: This chapter discussed on the results that were generated in the previous chapter. Computerized cognitive training had positive impact on multiple aspects of cognition, including behavioural and psychological symptoms. The effects of training on multiple outcome measures were retained for as less as 6 months to 5 years after the end of the training programme. This showed that the effects of training were not only immediate but also halted cognitive decline. These findings were extremely important from the public health.

Aluminium Metal Matrix Composites: Literature Review

Aluminium Metal Matrix Composites: Literature Review Literature Survey- Based on Aluminium Metal Matrix Composites. 1]Shilpa P.S et al They studied the effect of reinforcement of Boron Carbide with the Al2024. By adopting stir casting technique fabricated the specimen by varying the wt% of Boron Carbide. The specimens are developed as per the ASTM. In the end they come to know that as the reinforcement Boron Carbide increased by wt% increases the Hardness, Tensile strength and Yield strength. The percentage of elongation decreases with the increase of Boron Carbide in the composition. 2]F.Abdi et al-They investigated the effect of 5 wt% of TiB2 as a reinforcement with the Al356.1 metal matrix at various temperature i.e.750c, 850c, 950c using stir casting technique. They found that at temperature 950c shows best result s for Tensile strength and Hardness and the TiB2 particles are homogenously distributed. 3]Sandeep Kumar Ravesh et al(C)-They investigated the effect of the various weight fraction of SiC i.e.2.5%,5%,7.5% and 10% and 5% flyash is reinforced with Aluminium 6061 metal matrix composite by using the stir casting method. They observed that Tensile strength, Harness and Impact strength increased with the increase in weight fraction of SiC particle. A best tensile strength 115 N/mm2, hardness 93RHN and toughness value 7.8 for 10% SiC and 5% flyash reinforced composite material was obtained. 4]K.L.Meena et al(D)-They investigated the mechanical properties of the   developed SiC reinforced with Al6063 metal matrix composite material using Melt stirring technique where the experiment was carried out by varying the reinforcement particle size such as 200 mesh, 300 mesh, 400 mesh with the different weight percentage i.e..5%, 10%, 15% and 20% of SiC particle reinforced material. The stirring process was carried out at the speed of 200rpm using the graphite impeller for a period of 15min. A homogenous dispersion of SiC particle in the aluminium matrix was observed. The tensile strength, hardness and yield strength were improved with the enlargement of particulate size and weight percentage of SiC. Percentage reduction area and percentage elongation and impact strength decreases as the increase in reinforced particle size and weight percentage of SiC particle. Maximum hardness (HRB) 83 and impact strength 37.01 Nm was achieved. 5]H.G.Rana et al-They investigated the mechanical properties and wear properties of Al7075 with the reinforcement of Boron Carbide. They concluded that using the using Friction Stir casting the fabricated specimens provides uniform mixing and enhances the tensile strength and hardness. Hence the microstructure are studied with the help of Image analyser. Based on Zirconia as Reinforcement. 6]Ram Narayan et al They investigated the effect of flyash and zirconia with the mechanical properties of Aluminium 6061 alloy composite samples developed by using the technique Stir casting. They developed the specimen by varying the zirconia (5% and 10%) and kept the flyash 10% as a fixed percentage by weight fraction. They observed that due to the presence of flyash and zirconia Hardness and Tensile strength was increased where the elongation decreased as compared to the unreinforced aluminium. The characterization will be done using the scanning the electron microscope machine and image analyser. 7]S. Roseline et al They observed the mechanical properties of aluminium alloy mmc with the reinforcement of fused Zirconia alumina. They developed the specimens by varying by the weight fraction by percentage. They evaluated the mechanical properties which indicates the variations in the Hardness, Tensile strength and Impact strength. The optimum result for mechanical properties found on the reinforcement to be 90 and 10 by weight percentage of the matrix respectively. 8]Jithin Jose et al-They investigated the effect of flyash and zircon (zirconium silicate) with the mechanical properties of Aluminium 7075 alloy and the stir casting technique was adopted to develop the specimens by varying weight percentage .They after conducting the different test concluded that keeping the zircon at a fixed weight percentage and varying the flyash found that the wear rate decreases where the tensile strength and the hardness increases. 9]Adil Ahmed.S et al-They studied the incorporation of Zirconium Nano Particles in Al356.2.The stir casting technique was used for the development of composite specimen where the Al356.2 is heated at around 750c and the Zirconium Nano particles are added .Mechanical properties are increased for 15wt% of reinforcement particle developed at 750c shows homogenous reinforcement particle and through using the Scanning Electron Microscope the microstructure of the specimen shows homogenous reinforcement. 10]J.Jenix Rino et al-They investigated the mechanical properties of Aluminium 6063 alloy composite enhance i.e. strengthened by the addition of alumina particle and zircon sand with an overall reinforcement in the Al6063 material matrix. They observed the Hardness and Tensile strength of the composite having higher value at the composite developed specimen, which having reinforcement mixture of 4wt%ZrSiO4+4wt% Al2O3. 11]K.B. Girisha et al-They studied the effect of various weight fraction of zirconium oxide nanoparticle i.e. 0.5%,1%,1.5% and 2% reinforced with Al356.1 metal matrix composite by using stir casting technique. Here they observed that particle agglomeration in the composite is due to high amount of zirconium oxide nanoparticle. Hardness and wear properties are increased as the increase in weight fraction of zirconium dioxide nanoparticle. 12]M.A.Baghchesara et al They studied the mechanical properties of developed composite specimen using the stir casting method where they considered zircon and TiB2 ceramic particles with size 1 micron and the temperature 750c respectively. The microstructure were studied by using scanning electron microscopy and hence the dispersion of reinforcement as noted. Situation of compounds of the developed specimen were examined by XRD. The end results shows mechanical properties and microstructure behavior of composite was improved compared to the monolithic alloy. Microstructures of the composites in as cast conditions shows uniform distribution of the particles and reveals the better bending in case of zircon reinforced composites compared to the TiB2 composites. But increase in the amount of reinforcement shows better conditions in case of TiB2 reinforced composites. Based On Flyash with Aluminium- 13] H.C. Anilkumar et al-They investigated the mechanical properties of Al 6061 reinforced by flyash. They fabricated the composite specimens using the stir casting method. They developed three sets of composites with particle size of flyash of 4-25,45-50 and 75-100 µm was used. The three set of composites are developed by varying weight fraction of 10%, 15% and 20%. The mechanical properties are like Tensile strength, Compressive strength, hardness and Ductility are studied. They found that increase of particle size of flyash decreases tensile strength, compressive strength and hardness of the developed specimens. They also find that by increase of weight fraction of flyash increases compressive strength ultimate tensile strength, hardness but decreases with increase of flyash particle size. 14]Muruganandhan.P et al-They investigated the effect of flyash reinforced with Al6061.By varying the wt% of flyash using the stir casting method the specimens was developed. The found that increase of flyash increase the mechanical properties upto 20% of fly ash in the metal matrix but the corrosion resistance decreases with increase of flyash addition. 15] M.Sankar-They investigated the Silicon carbide and Flyash reinforced with the Aluminium 6061 alloy.They developed the specimens using the stir casting method.They found that as the reinforcement contents increased in the matrix material, the composites hardness also increased. Tensile strength decreased with increased amount of reinforcement.   The wear rate of the composites reduced with increased weight percentages of the reinforcements. Who was Responsible for the Cold War? Who was Responsible for the Cold War? When looking at the issue of who was responsible for the cold war, we have to look at what the relationship between the United States and USSR (Union of Soviet Socialist Republics) was like before the start of World War Two. By the end of the nineteenth century Marxism in Western Europe was becoming more and more national. The imperial implications of both Marxist thought and Russian history provide the broad background and context for understanding soviet involvement in cold war. The soviet worldwide had been shaped by a history that was dramatically different from that of the west  [1]  . For example the Bolshevik revolution, the civil war, and the experience of World War two all contributed to a unique soviet perspective. Furthermore after the revolution of 1917, soviet Russia assumed the responsibility of spreading the Marxist message. Stalin seen himself as the keeper of the Marxist faith, it would emancipate mankind  [2]  . In addition historians such as Zubok and Const antine suggest that history gave the Russians the reason to see themselves as saviours of the world. Due to the events that occurred before the Cold War we can see this. Furthermore historians believed that each of them would make his own intricate cold war journey, guided by the two misleading suns of empire and revolution. Many historians believe that it was because, the United States and USSR ideologies were so different and believed that to be the underlying cause for their fear of one another. For example Russia was communist which put the needs of the state ahead of personal human rights and was ruled by a dictator. The USA was a capitalist democracy which valued freedom and believed that communism was something to fear. Americans saw themselves as champions of the free world, and tyrants such as Stalin represented everything the United States opposed. At the same time, the Soviets, who believed that capitalism exploited the masses, saw the United States as the oppressor. To emphasise the difference between the two nations we can see this by looking at their visions of the world. For example Stalin saw the world as divided into two camps: imperialist and capitalist regimes on the one hand, and the Communist and progressive world on the other. In 1947, President Harry Truman also spoke of two diamet rically opposed systems: one free and the other bent on subjugating other nations. Although World War Two was meant to be the War to end all wars it was not, the repercussions and the aftermath of what the war had caused, it just lead to a more apprehensive atmosphere all over the world, and as we can see this was defiantly the case when considering the relationship between the US and USSR. Although relations went on a downward spiral after World War Two it was not always this way, they were once allies during World War Two. However things changed after WW2, once the threat of Hitler was over, they became fearful of each other, Russias hatred for capitalism deepened when they was not rewarded for their efforts during World War Two, instead they became focused back on by the world that they was the threat the red scare began to intensify. Moreover historians have suggested that because of the enormous sacrifice of the Russian people in the Second World War, had led to the soviet lea ders to believe that the allies owed them a great deal. The cold war emerged from the ruins of world war two  [3]  Stalin expected to be rewarded for their contribution in the war especially when Russia lost 27 million people. His primary task was to regain the territories lost to Russia during the war and revolution from 1915 to 1921: the Baltics, Finland, Poland, and Bessarabia. This goal was virtually fulfilled by the end of 1945. The Cold War was a period of East-West competition, tension, and conflict short of full-scale war. It was characterized by mutual perceptions of hostile intention between military-political alliances or blocs, both systems believed that they were doing the right thing. The events that happened before and after World War two had an irreversible impact on how both of these countries perceived one another. Furthermore Stalins foreign policies contributed an enormous amount to the tensions of the Cold War. His aim, was to take advantage of the military situation in post-war Europe to strengthen Russian influence, this was perceived to be a threat to the US and everything they stood for. Stalin was highly effective in his goal to gain territory, with victories for example in Poland and Romania. To the western world, this success looked as if it were the beginning of a series of Russian aggressions. The aggressive expansion in Eastern Europe was one of the main reasons for the cause of the cold war. Therefore it can be questioned that if the Soviets had not adopted the expansionist policy, then the Truman Doctrine and the Marshall Plan may not have been initiated to keep Stalin and his spread of communism at bay. Furthermore Stalins own persona could be seen as another cause for the cold war, for example when Ivan Maisky and Maxim Litvinov were appointed in 1943. Maisky wrote that the main soviet goal after the war would be to ensure a durable peace enough for the USSR to become so powerful that no combination of powers in Europe or in Asia could even think of threatening her  [4]  . This suggest that even though Russia had not got the rewards they was expecting from World War two and the contribution of the west in the civil war in 1918 all contributed to Stalins view on spreading Communism and being strong enough to not be threatened or have a fear of being invaded by any other country. In addition Stalins actions to wanting to spread communism throughout the world, lead to policies such as the china policy which historian Odd Arne Westad came to the conclusion that Joseph Stalin china policy in the fall of 1945 was as aimless and incoherent as his European policy. However much he hoped to avoid post war confrontation with the United States, Stalin could not make his mind how to achieve this aim.  [5]  This view gives important insight into the impact of Stalins persona on the origins of the cold war. In addition Historians have also wondered whether another cause for the cold war was Stalins poor diplomacy. For example the diplomatic pressure he put on turkey caused him great problems with the west and later in 1948 his attempt his attempt to remove Tito in Yugoslavia by means of communist democracy backfired and only weakened their position. The errors Stalin made and the policies he created showed him to be aggressive and wanting to expand USSRS borders spreading they way of communism. This ultimately created more of a hysteria and fear in US, therefore being a main contributor to the cause of the Cold War. In addition when the Western democracies and the Soviet Union met up to discuss World War II, and the nature of the post-war settlement at conferences in Tehran 1943, Yalta February 1945, and Potsdam July-August 1945. At these conferences the Soviets agreed to allow the nations of Eastern Europe to choose their own governments in free elections. Stalin agreed to the condition only because he believed that these newly liberated nations would see the Soviet Union as their savoir and create their own Communist governments. When they failed to do so, Stalin violated the agreement by wiping out all opposition to communism in these nations and setting up his own governments in Eastern Europe, causing the situation to intensify. To make the situation worse, Stalin deepened the estrangement between the United States and the Soviet Union when he asserted in 1946 that World War II was an unavoidable and inevitable consequence of capitalist imperialism and implied that such a war might reoccur. This resulted in an increase in world spread fear of communism due to Stain basically going towards the thought of another World war, which could have lead to a nuclear war. In addition many of the tensions that existed in the Cold War can be attributed to Stalins policy of Soviet expansion. It is necessary to consider that the role of Stalin can be seen as a catalyst to the Cold War Furthermore the situation involving Poland was that Poland had always been the key state needed from which to launch an attack against Russia. He also wanted Poland to have a pro-Soviet government. Therefore after some time, he set up a communist government in Poland. He said that his control of Eastern Europe was a defensive measure against possible future attacks to the west it appeared to them that Russias attitude went against all of the promises that Stalin had made at Yalta mainly that Stalin would permit free elections in the eastern European states. Russia argued that it needed to maintain a sphere of influence in the area for security reasons. This caused further anxiety over Stalins policy of expansion. This then lead to the West to introduce the Truman Doctrine and the Marshall Plan, both of which sought to arrest the spread of communism. The initiation of the Marshall plan for European recovery, however from Stalins point of view the marshal plan was a large scale attempt by the United States to gain lasting influence in Europe. The marshell plan was a serious challenge to Stalin vision of a future Europe as well as to German- soviet relations. Thus he had to protect his borders but by doing so it caused him to look like an aggressive bully towards countries that would not follow his lead. For example when leadership of Czechoslovakia hesitated before ending their participation in the Marshall plan it outraged Stalin, he told Czechoslovakia immediately to cancel the plans to receive aid from the US, Gottwald (leader of Czechoslovakia) complied. This just shows the intimidation Stalin was willing to put other nations through to keep them communist and not wade to the side of the US. The nations that complied with Stalin and agreed not to participate in the Marshall plan, their economies deteriorated, while those of th e western European states began to recover and see improvement in their economies. To Stalin this was a challenge of his authority in Eastern Europe, therefore his next actions was to focus on Czechoslovakia, the communist group in Prague carried out a coup in February of 1948. Shortly after the coup the Czech president was replaced by the leader of the Czech communist party, Gottwald. Furthermore it was incidents like these that caused outrage in the western world, the intimidation of another country to not take a chance that could help their economy, to stop them countries from distracting from the way of communism rather than capitalism. Thus if Russia had not behaved and acted this way due to their expansion policy , it may not have ever got out of control and there would have been no need to implement the Marshall plan which lead to the implementation of the Truman Doctrine. To further Americas fear of communism, due to their aggressive foreign policy, between 1943-46 most western European Communist parties were at a peak in the years immediately following World War Two. The French Communist Party, for example, won almost 30% of the vote in 1946 elections. Greece was in crisis they were at the brink of civil war which finally occurred in 1946 after the Greek communists tried to seize power in 1944 due to a rise in communist leg guerrillas. This resulted in an economic crisis which at the time was being supported by Britain however this was no longer possible. Therefore America stepped in because they feared that the people would look more towards communism through desperation. This then resulted in the introduction of the Truman Doctrine in March, 1947. The Truman doctrine announced that was to be given to Greece and Turkey in the stated context of a general war against communism. The US gives $400 million as aid to help Greece in their economic crisis. However it can be said that in many ways, the Truman Doctrine marked the formal declaration of the cold war between the United States and the Soviet Union .It also solidified the United States position regarding containment. However, even though this suggests that US started the war, but if Russia had not been aggressively expanding their empire and spreading communism then it would not have caused the US to intervene and introduce the Truman doctrine due to their fear of communism. By 1946, the United States and Britain were making every effort to unify all of Germany under western rule. The Soviet Union responded by consolidating its grip on Europe by creating satellite states in 1946 and 1947. One by one, communist governments, loyal to Moscow, were set up in Poland, Hungary, Romania, and Bulgaria. Stalin used Soviet communism to dominate half of Europe. This created more of a mistrust in the USSR and the US relations resulting in the build up to the Cold War, and evidently showing that the roots of the problem was the Russias expansion policy. In relation to the previous point made to show Russias expansion during the time leading up to the Cold war, we have to look at Winston Churchill Iron Curtain. Churchill said that From Stettin on the Baltic to Trieste on the Adriatic, an iron curtain has descended across the continent. Behind that line lie all the capitals of the ancient states of central and Eastern Europe -Warsaw, Berlin, Prague, Vienna, Budapest, Belgrade, Bucharest and Sofia.  [6]  Therefore showing the scale of how fast Russia was expanding through Eastern Europe. It also emphasis the split between Russia and the US creating more of an estranged relationship between the two super powers, because it is showing the spread of communism and how quick it was occurring. The United States feared the most was the Red Scare which was becoming more serious with each invasion of the countries within Eastern Europe. Stalin also set up the Berlin Blockade with the idea that he could push western power out of Eastern Berlin, which only escalated the situation. The cold War was the brave and essential response of free men to Communist aggression.  [7]  Schlesinger believes that the soviets were wrong and that the USA was trying to stop the USSR from going any further. Another view is T.A. Bailey who also believed that the Soviets were to blame; he thinks that they always had one more plan for world domination up their sleeves. In addition further actions took by Stalin which was contributing to the end result in being the cold war, was the Berlin Blockade on the 24th June 1948. Stalin decided to blockade West Berlin by cutting off road and rail links. To break the blockade armed forces would have to smash the blockade, however this would be seen as an act of war which Stalin new US wouldnt do. He believed they would abandon their zones and leave the whole of Berlin in soviet hands. However Stalin failed to gain control of Berlin. Although he failed in this case, it still antagonised America causing them to retaliate. Therefore due to Stalin wanting to gain a foot hold in Europe and to keep aggressively expanding. This shows that each action Stalin made were all catalysts in causing the Cold War. In addition the relationship between Russia and the US escalated further to the extent were another proxy war was occurring, which was the Korean War (1950- 1953). The Korean War was a military conflict between the Republic of Korea, supported by the United Nations, and the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea and Peoples Republic of China (PRC), with air support from the Soviet Union. The war began on 25 June 1950 it was a result of the political division of Korea by agreement of the victorious Allies at the conclusion of the Pacific War. In 1945, following the surrender of Japan, American administrators divided the peninsula along the 38th Parallel, with United States troops, occupying the southern part and Soviet troops occupying the northern part. It was soviets foreign policy that lead to them being involved in the Korean War however it was China who physically participated in the war, where as Russia was acting behind the scenes to not actually cause a physical war between them and the US. By being involved in the war it just caused the US to be more wary of Russia and showed how much influence and power the USSR had gained to have that control over China and other countries that were also communist. After looking at the events leading up to the cold war, the short term and long term causes when focusing on the US perspective we see that their view was flawed because they feared what they did not understand, they did not understand how a country could be ran under a communist government and still work, especially when the US system was capitalist. The USs response was based on their misunderstanding and fear of USSR which was more commonly known as the red scare. For example the US and Britain believed that just before WW2 they seen the USSR as more of a threat than Hitler at that time. Overall some historians such as the Traditionalist believed that Russia was to blame for the Cold War. They believed that the Soviet-led governments sought to overthrow existing capitalist governments, which can be reinforced by the fact that Russias foreign policy was aggressive expansion. In addition the US and its allies were merely responding to the threats of the Soviet Union, as we can see by the Truman doctrine. I agree with traditionalists idea due to the fact that Stalin and his successors were convinced that the legitimacy of their rule depended on validating Marxist-Leninist predictions of world revolution. If they believed that they would only succeed when these predictions were completed then they were to blame for the cold war. Russia actions of aggressive expansion throughout Eastern Europe support this.

Nathaniel Hawthornes Young Goodman Brown Essay -- Young Goodman Brown

Nathaniel Hawthorne's "Young Goodman Brown" Nathaniel Hawthorne’s story â€Å"Young Goodman Brown† portrays the growth of Young Goodman Brown through vivid symbolic setting. â€Å"Young Goodman Brown† is an allegory in which the setting is very important to the theme of the story. Throughout the narration, detailed setting and emblematic characters surround Goodman Brown. Goodman Brown is an Everyman character, which could be any one of us, struggling with his Puritan heritage, more specifically his spiritual faith. The setting is first introduced during a conversation between Goodman and his wife â€Å"Faith† which is symbolic of his struggle with his spiritual faith throughout the story. Standing in the doorway of his own home he turns to confront his wife, who encourages him to stay at home with her, the first expression in the story of his internal conflict with his â€Å"faith†. Walking away from his wife, he begins to question himself in several ways. Why is he leaving? What is he longing for? Where exactly is he going? â€Å"â€Å"Poor little Faith!† Thought he, for his heart smote him. â€Å"What a wretch am I to leave her on such an errand!†Ã¢â‚¬  (391) Without knowing the exact answer to any of the questions he enters the woods, dark and dreary, which Hawthorne uses to express the sense of evil. To understand the significance of the setting you have to understand the background of the Puritan culture which Hawthorne doesn’t state but expects the reader to know. Puritans live their lives for God. They believe everyone and everything is evil and one must live his life so to not unleash this inborn sin. Throughout the story, Goodman struggles with his own image of faith. Just as any young adult may step back and question their initial upbringing, he too, questions his forefathers. He doesn’t want to become who they were, the common feeling among younger generations. Brown could be any one of us who as we mature begin to discover flaws in our families and acquaintances we knew not existed. Continuing down his path in the woods he runs across a man â€Å"in grave and decent attire†. The word â€Å"grave† suggests the danger and seriousness of the journey. Soon the author persuades us that this man represents the devil in Goodman’s struggle with his beliefs. The man is willing to lead Goodman deep into the forest, or in other words, deep into sin. The man even addresses Brown telling him... ... himself from the generations before; he cannot completely separate himself from his parent’s faith and culture without losing his own identity. Hawthorne displays vivid setting throughout â€Å"Young Goodman Brown† to help him deal with the insecurities concerning not only his character but also his own forefathers and his own faith. The setting in â€Å"Young Goodman Brown† is critical to understanding the internal struggle for maturation of the main character. From â€Å"Faith† his wife, his journey through the dark and lonely yet demon- populated woods, supernatural happenings, Hawthorne takes his readers on an adventure filled with symbolic setting. To fully appreciate and understand â€Å"Young Goodman Brown† one must recognize with and pull out the expression of allegory Hawthorne uses to fulfill the curiosity in young maturing minds. Goodman Brown could be any of us, struggling with the inconsistencies in our own lives, and the unknown journeys we will venture to take while trying to form our own identities of self and mature into functioning adults in our society. Works Cited Hawthorne, Nathaniel. "Young Goodmam Brown", The Story and Its Writer, 4th ed. Ed. Ann Charters. Boston:

Symbolism in Jacksons The Lottery Essay -- The Lottery Essays

Lottery: A Terrifying Trip Symbols can be used to convey a special meaning to the reader by association, especially when a material object is used to represent something abstract. Throughout the years, American writers have been using their works as a way to describe society to their broad audiences. As time periods change, writers as well as readers change their view about society. Several factors affect how readers view society in a piece of literature. To get a better understanding of the society expressed in a piece of literature, one must consider not only the time period in which the work was written, but also the life of the author, the style in which the work was written, and criticism of the piece. In Shirley Jackson’s â€Å"The Lottery,† the society is demonstrated as unchangeable due to the underlying fear and evil of human nature. By using, main types of symbols represented in this story, are characters' names and objects. Jackson wrote several pieces of literature throughout her life, she is most known for her short story â€Å"The Lottery.† The lottery takes place in a small town on June 27th. The lottery is an annual event handled by Mr. Summers and the postman, Mr. Graves. The night before the lottery, Mr. Summers and Mr. Graves made slips of paper that are placed in an old black box that has been used for the lottery for a very long time. The children are the first to arrive for the lottery, then the men, followed by the women. As Mr. Summers calls the names of the families in the town, heads of the households, the men, come and draw slips of paper from the black box. During the lottery, Mrs. Adams mentions that the other towns are thinking of stopping their lottery, to which Old Man Warner responds it wil... ...l human character. Writers of American literature have many different opinions on the society. In order for readers to understand an author’s view on the society, they must look at many different aspects including the writer’s life and the time period in which the work was written. Though writers have different theories about the society, they express their philosophies into their work. The town who seem horribly uncivilized, where a son stones his mother, yet they can easily be compared to today's society. Following customs blindfolded in any given society does prove to be fatal, and as I would like to say, disgusting. We need to realize that although, we make a society in the end it is painful for the society as a community to conclude life according to a black box. Work Cited Wilson, Kathleen, ed. Short Stories for Students. Detroit: Gale, 1997.

Freud – Analysis of a Phobia in a Five-Year-Old Boy – Little Hans

Analysis of a Phobia in a Five-Year-Old Boy – Little Hans Chronological Summary of Events 1903 Hans born. (April) 1906 3 to 3 ? First reports. 3 ? to 3 ? First visit to Gmunden. (Summer) 3 ? Castration threat. 3 ? Hanna born. (October) 1907 3 ? First dream. 4 Removal to new flat. 4 ? to 4 ? Second visit to Gmunden. Episode of biting horse. (Summer) 1908 4 ? Episode of falling horse. Outbreak of phobia. (January) 5 End of analysis. (May) Background Little Hans (Herbert Graf) was born in April 1903 to Olga Graf (mother) and Max Graf (father).He undertook four months of treatment, which was conducted by Hans’ father himself, and supervised by Freud, who took somewhat of a backseat. Freud wanted to explore what factors led to the phobia and what factors led to its remission. He believed children face subconscious emotional conflicts just as adults do, and their future adjustment depends on how well the conflicts are solved. It was the first ever psychoanalytic treatment on a child. Freud believed that the sexual impulses in a child would be fresh and naive, unlike when conducting the analysis on an adult, where the impulses have to be ‘dug out’.Freud hypothesised that the analysis would correspond with his previous work in the ‘Three Essays on the Theory of Sexuality’. Overview First observations were taken at three years, where Hans’ spirit of enquiry towards ‘widdlers’ became apparent with his initial observation that the presence or absence of a widdler differentiated between inanimate and animate objects [p. 9]. He also assumed that all animate objects were like himself and possessed this important bodily organ – thus allowing him to arrive at a genuine abstract knowledge: ‘A dog and horse have widdlers; a table and chair haven’t. He was not deterred from this notion despite noting the lack of a ‘widdler’ on his sister Hanna [p. 11]. Hans had begun to practise the commo nest – and most normal – form of auto-erotic sexual activity; Giving himself pleasure by touching his member. The castration complex was first planted in to Hans’ head at three and a half years when his mother told him the doctor would come and chop his widdler off if he didn’t stop playing with it. [p. 7-8]. At the present time he was unfased, and suggested he could wee out of his bottom.His mothers threat made Hans believe it was possible to lose your genital organs, which he would later subconsciously believe would happen for repressing oedipal desires. This concern for the loss of his widdler was initially dismissed from his thoughts but made its effects apparent at a later period. Taking pleasure in his own sexual organ soon turned in to scopophelia, in active and passive forms with his main fantasies and dreams being aimed around widdlers, widdling and wishing that the girls in Gmunden would help him widdle [p. 19]. At age 3 ? e asked his father â⠂¬ËœDaddy, have you got a widdlers too? ’ When he asked his mother if she had a widdler, she replied with ‘why of course’. He also repeatedly expressed the desire to see his mother and fathers widdlers in order to draw comparison. Hans had observed that larger animals had correspondingly larger widdlers and formulated the hypothesis that this was the case with his parents. For example; his mother he thought must have a widdlers ‘like a horse’. This reflection could be interpreted that a child’s wish to be ‘bigger’ had been concentrated on his genitals.The sexual aim in which he pursued his girl playmates had ‘found it’s way into object love’ in the usual manner from the care he had received as an infant. It’s suggested that this sudden erotic urge originated from the pleasure derived from the cutaneous (skin) contact of sleeping next to his mother (Hans would crawl into bed most mornings). This caused se xual arousal or ‘Satisfaction of the instinct of concentration [Moll (1898). Cf &SE;, 7, 169 n. 2. ]. This facilitated his increased interest in other girls (wanting to sleep with Mariedl Etc. and ultimately wanting to see their widdlers. Little Hans showed affection towards both genders of children indiscriminately and once described Fritzl as ‘the girl he was fondest of’ [p. 16]. This contributed to Freud’s idea of ‘object-choice’ and ‘homosexuality in children’ suggesting that most children have homosexual tendencies as they are only acquainted with one kind of genital organ. Freud intimates that because little Hans had a widdler, and gave so much importance to it, he chose to have this ‘familiar feature’ as his sexual object.It is also important to note that in his future development he demonstrated ‘an energetic masculinity with traits of polygamy; he knew how to vary his behaviour, too, with his varying fem inine objects—audaciously aggressive in one case, languishing and bashful in another. His affection had moved from his mother on to other objects of love, but at a time when there was a scarcity of these it returned to her. ’ Hans demonstrates elements of the sexual relations of a child to his parents discussed in Interpretation of Dreams [1900a, in Section D (? ) of Chapter V; Standard Ed. , 4, 248 ff. ] and in Three Essays [1905d, Standard Ed. 7, 222 ff. ] with regard to being a little Oedipus who who wanted to have his father ‘out of the way’, to get rid of him, so that he might be alone with his beautiful mother and sleep with her. This wish had originated during his summer holidays at Gmunden and had developed with the alternating presence and absence of his father (due to work commitments). Hans identified that his fathers’ absenteeism gave him the opportunity of increased intimacy with his mother; which he longed for. This desire for his fath er to ‘go away’ then later developed into a desire for him to permanently go away – to die.This caused great conflict within Hans as it contradicted the deep love he also felt towards his father. For example; hitting his father then immediately kissing the place he had hit [p. 42]. Freud goes on to comment that ‘the emotional life of man is made up of pairs of contraries such as these. ’ And that ‘†¦they usually go on supressing each other until one of them succeeds in keeping the other altogether out of site. ’ Children offer the exception to this in that they can exist peaceably side-by-side for some time. Baby Hanna and the Stalk The most important influence upon the course of Hans’ psychosexual evelopment. Hans wathed how Hanna was cared for and this stimulated trace memories of his own early experiences of pleasure. His fever a few days after Hanna’s birth was an indication of how little he liked the addition to t he family [p. 11]. Although affection came later his first thoughts were hostility and fear that yet more brothers and sisters might arrive – further eroding the time and affection mother would devote to him. Freud states that it is clear within Hans’ unconscious he treated his sister and father in the same way – wanting them permanently out of the way.Interestingly Hans did not associate the same guilt towards his sisters death wish as that of his father. He subconsciously wanted mummy to drop Hanna in the bath so she would be gone, which consequently caused Hans great anxiety when having a bath himself, fearing it would happen to him as a punishment for thinking such things. Again, this wish would mean he could have his mummy all to himself. This hostility is represented by a fear of the bath [p. 66]. The use of a Stork to explain the origin of Hanna was in conflict with the childish sexual theories he had begun to apply to the material in front of him.There i s a clear progression from his initial acceptance of his fathers explanation; ‘he declared with conviction: â€Å"The stork's coming to-day. ’ to a growing awareness that ‘Everything he says shows that he connects what is strange in the situation with the arrival of the stork. He meets everything he sees with a very suspicious and intent look, and there can be no question that his first doubts about the stork have taken root. [p. 10] Causes of anxiety and the beginning of the phobia Little Hans suffered an anxiety-dream shortly before the start of the phobia, in which mummy had gone and he had ‘no mummy to coax with’.This, combined with his separation from his mother at the time of Hanna’s birth [p. 96] led to a sudden surge of wanting mummy. Initially he would show signs of distress when away from her but it soon became evident that he was still afraid even when his mother went with him. Freud suggested Little Hans had now concentrated his li bido on her. His want to be with her constantly now changed into anxiety producing the phobia. He was initially scared of a big white horse biting him in the street, and his father worried this was connected to the fear of big widdlers, which he had once taken great pleasure in examining.His fear was so strong that he struggled to leave the house, even more so without his mother. Whereas Little Hans once loved the fact that big animals had big widdlers, he now repressed it and was scared. This was thought to be due to him being so dissatisfied with his own. Anxiety was caused by mixing his ‘former pleasure’ of big widdlers with his ‘current un-pleasure’ of them. Little Hans admitted to placing his hands on his widdler every night which resulted in some kind of sexual pleasure or satisfaction (something which Freud later distinguished as a normal form of auto-erotic sexual activity).Yet at this early stage of the illness when his anxiety was heightened he ex pressed a fear that ‘the horse will come into the room’ [p. 24]. His father worried that this masturbation was not helping the phobia. Freud suggested that it was his affection for his mother that he was trying to replace with his fear of horses [p. 28]. His libido was attached to seeing his mother’s widdler and masturbation was giving him gratification. Attempts were made to stop this act, and daddy told Hans that mummy did in fact not have a widdlers [p. 31], which calmed the phobia for a short while.Freud believed that accepting women do not have widdlers risked destroying Hans’ self-confidence and heightened the castration complex, so he resisted the information. After a short time an episode of illness caused the phobia to return. Freud finding similarity between the psychological structure of these phobias and that of hysteria termed this ‘Anxiety-hysteria’ concluding that such hysterias are the most common of all psychoneurotic disorder s and goes on to state they are par excellence in the neuroses of childhood. Little Hans’ outbreak of anxiety-hysteria was by no means as sudden as it first appeared.The anxiety dream he had where his mother had gone away and he was left with ‘no-one to coax with’ [p. 26] was proceeded by two examples of attempts to seduce her [p. 19 ; 23]. Hans dreamt of ‘exchanging endearments and sleeping with her; but all of the pleasure was transferred into anxiety – causing a punishment and repression. The catalyst for suddenly turning this sexual excitement into anxiety is speculated upon by Freud suggesting that mothers’ rejection of his advances could be one possibility. His fear of horses was traced back to an impression he had received at Gmunden [p. 9] when his father warned him ‘‘Don't put your finger to the horse; if you do, it'll bite you. ’ The words, ‘don't put your finger to’, which Hans used in reporting this warning, resembled the form of words in which the warning against masturbation had been framed. ’ Hans attempted to communicate his feeling towards his mother, in what was still a distorted form, with the phantasy of the two giraffes. Little Hans’ story of the big giraffe and the crumpled giraffe was interpreted by his father and Freud. His father was indeed the big giraffe and mummy was the crumpled giraffe.Subconsciously, little Hans wanted to take possession of mummy, by taking her away from daddy. Hans loved getting in to bed with mummy in the morning, it gave him pleasure, but the big giraffe calling out was his father dislike of him getting in. Immediately after the giraffe fantasy Hans disclosed two others; ‘forcing his way into a forbidden space at Schonbrunn, and the other of his smashing a railway-carriage window on the Stadtbahn [p. 40-41]. In each case the punishable nature of the action was emphasized, and in each his father appeared as an accomplice . This again links to the oedipal characteristic of taking possession of his mother.This combined with his burgeoning childish sexual theories that ‘taking possession’ would involve some form of consummation which gave rise to the elusive thought of something violent and forbidden – which the dreams allude to. Freud states that the dreams were therefore ‘symbolic phantasies of intercourse’ and that his father plays accomplice within the dreams as Hans has very astutely deduced that ‘I should like’, he seems to have been saying [to his father], ‘to be doing something with my mother, something forbidden; I do not know what it is, but I do know that you are doing it too. The giraffe fantasy resulted in Freud and father deciding it was the right time to inform Hans ‘he was afraid of his father because he himself nourished jealous and hostile wishes against him’ and thus ‘partly interpreted his fear of horses for him: the horse must be his father— whom he had good internal reasons for fearing. ’ [p. 42] Subconsciously he was extremely fearful that his father would find out, as he feared if he did he would castrate him. When an internal situation such as this one cannot be processed, it becomes pathological, and a compromise-formation needs to happen, which becomes apparent at the very end of the analysis.Enlightening Hans on this subject had cleared away his most powerful resistance against allowing his unconscious thoughts to be made conscious; for his father was himself acting as his physician. As a result Hans became more aware/willing/confident to describe the details of his phobia; ‘He was not only afraid of horses biting him—he was soon silent upon that point—but also of carts, of furniture-vans, and of buses (their common quality being, as presently became clear, that they were all heavily loaded), of horses that started moving, of horses that looked big and heavy, and of horses that drove quickly.The meaning of these specifications was explained by Hans himself: he was afraid of horses falling down, and consequently incorporated in his phobia everything that seemed likely to facilitate their falling down. ’ [p. 46-7]. Hans described going for a walk with his mother and witnessing a bus-horse fall down and kick abut with his feet [p. 49]. He was terrified thinking the horse was dead and that all horses will fall down. He then associated this with the wish for his father to ‘go away’ and wanted him ‘to fall down in the same way and be dead. When confronted with this notion Hans did not dispute it and later went on to play a game of biting his father; symbolically accepting the theory that he had identified his father with the horse he was afraid of. [p. 52]. Upon questioning Hans’ father uncovered an impression which lay concealed behind that of the falling bus horse of an event that occurred during t heir summer at Gmunden. While they were playing horses Fritzl had hit his foot against a stone and fallen down. [p. 58].Seeing the bus horse fall while walking with his mother had reminded him of this although Hans initially denied this [p. 82]. Freud commented that ‘It is especially interesting, however, to observe the way in which the transformation of Hans's libido into anxiety was projected on to the principal object of his phobia, on to horses. ’ Hans regarded Fritzl as a substitute for his father, particularly as Fritzl competed with Hans for the attention and affection of the girl playmates at Gmunden in a similar way to the manner in which Hans competed with his father for his beloved mothers affection.Freud also states that ‘When repression had set in and brought a revulsion of feeling along with it, horses, which had till then been associated with so much pleasure, were necessarily turned into objects of fear. ’ The ‘Lumf’ Complex Han s became unexpectedly preoccupied with ‘lumf’ showing disgust at anything that reminded him of evacuating his bowels [p. 55]. Hans had been in the habit of insisting upon accompanying his mother to the W. C. [p. 63]. His friend Berta filled his mother's place, until the fact became known and he was forbidden to do so [p. 1]. His father speculated that there was a link between the symbolism of a loaded horse cart passing through some gates (which Hans had observed in the Customs House opposite their home) and the passing of faeces out of the body [p 66-68]. Hans further clarified the symbolism of lumf with an additional phantasy of the plumber; ‘Daddy, I thought something: I was in the bath, and then the plumber came and unscrewed it. Then he took a big borer and stuck it into my stomach. ’ [p. 65]. Freud interpreted this as ‘With your big penis you â€Å"bored† me’ (i. . ‘gave birth to me’) ‘and put me in my mother's w omb. ’ His fantasy regarding the plumber unscrewing the bath and then struck him in the stomach with a big borer was further interpreted later on in the analysis. He was remoulding a ‘fantasy of procreation’, distorted by anxiety. The big bath was his mother’s womb and the borer was his fathers penis; giving a connection to being born. We must also consider Hans’ earlier confession that he wished that his mother might drop the child while she was being given her bath, so that she should die [p. 72].His own anxiety attached to bathing was a fear of retribution for this evil wish and of being punished by the same thing happening to him. Hans moved on to draw the natural conclusion that little Hanna was a lumf herself and that all babies were lumfs and were born like lumfs. We can thus deduce that all furniture-vans, drays and buses were only ‘stork-box carts’, and were therefore symbolic representations of pregnancy; and that when a horse fell down it can not only be seen as his dying father but also his mother in childbirth – a conflicting desire and fear.As discussed during the stork analysis Han’s had noticed his mothers pregnancy and had ‘pieced the facts of the case together’ without telling anyone. Which was demonstrated by his sceptical attitude towards the stork explanation given by his father and his description of Hanna joining them at Gmunden a year before her actual birth. Hans justified this phantasy, and in fact deliberately embellished it as an act of revenge upon his father. against whom he harboured a grudge for having misled him with the stork fable. Freud eloquently summarises Hans’ subconscious feeling on the matter; ‘If you really thought I was as stupid s all that, and expected me to believe that the stork brought Hanna, then in return I expect you to, accept my inventions as the truth. ’ Hans continued to seek revenge within the phantasy of teasin g and beating horses [p. 79]. This phantasy, again, had two constituents. Firstly to reinforce his pleasure at the teasing he had submitted his father with the recollection of Hanna at Gmunden; and secondly, it reproduced the obscure sadistic desires directed towards his mother. Hans even confessed consciously to a desire to beat his mother [p. 81].Hans discloses further phantasies which seem to confirm his growing confidence to communicate his conscious wish to ‘get rid’ of his father and that the reason he wished it was that his father interfered with his own intimacy with his mother. As Freud states this clearly shows Hans’ ‘progressive development from timid hinting to fully conscious, undistorted perspicuity. ’ Overcoming his fears – Concluding phantasies Freud describes the first of these as a triumphant, wishful phantasy, and with it he overcame his fear of castration’ in which the plumber gives Hans a new and, as his father gues sed, a bigger widdler [p. 98].His second phantasy confessed to the wish to be married to his mother and to have many children by her [p. 96-97]. Significantly this phantasy also provided an acceptable [to Hans] resolution to the unacceptable conflict within him caused by his desire to kill his father. Instead he promoted him to marry Hans’ grandmother. Thus resolving the alternating emotions of love and hate towards his father and the evil thoughts he’d harboured towards him. Hans had made up for the loss (reduced care and attention received from his mother) he experienced as a result of the birth of his sister by ‘imagining he had children of his own. And so long as they were at Gmunden he could really play with his children and therefore found an acceptable [to him] outlet for his affections. The families subsequent return to Vienna refocused Hans’ attention on his mother resulting in him gaining satisfaction by ‘a masturbatory stimulation of his g enitals. His desire to have children was twofold: He considered Hanna to be born like passing a lumf and therefore identified with his own feelings of pleasure in passing stool. Secondly the compensatory pleasure of passing his affection onto them. The conflict within Hans arose by his inability to cognise his fathers ole in Hanna’s (and therefore his own) birth. Hans could understand that he and Hanna were his mothers children – after all he now knew she had bought them into the world. But what role had his father played and what gave him the right to say they were his? As discussed Hans considered his fathers presence detrimental to his relationship with his mother for example by preventing her from sleeping with him. This revelation further reinforced Hans’ hostility towards his father which was compounded by stork lie which Hans perceived to be a conscious decision by his father to ‘keep Hans from the knowledge he was thirsting for. This, Hans conclude d, was therefore putting him at a disadvantage on two fronts. Despite hating his rival he was the same father whom he had always loved and was bound to go on loving, who had been his model, had been his first playmate, and had looked after him from his earliest infancy; thus giving rise to his first conflict. Freud therefore states that the ‘hostile complex against his father screened [the] lustful one about his mother. ’ Summary ; Conclusions Witnessing the horse falling down carried no ‘traumatic force’.It acquired significance due do Hans’ former interest in them and the earlier event in Gmunden which lead to the association of horses from Fritzl to his father. This was then compounded by the additional association of the horse falling with his mother in childbirth. Freud describes this ‘return of the repressed’ as returning in such a manner that the ‘the pathogenic material was remodelled and transposed on to the horse-complex, while the accompanying affects were uniformly turned into anxiety. Hans’ phobia was also further distorted by the warning he had been given about masturbation and its link to the hostility he felt towards his father. Hans was later affected by a ‘great wave of repression’ giving up masturbation and turning away in disgust at everything that reminded him of excrement and of the pleasure he had previously derived from observing other people performing their natural functions. This repression, considered natural by Freud [Three Essays [1905d, Standard Ed. ]], was not however the ‘precipitating cause of the illness. The two key conditions leading to Hans’ phobia were tendencies within Hans that had already been suppressed and had therefore never been able to find uninhibited expression: i) Hostile and Jealous feelings towards his father ii) Sadistic impulses (premonitions of copulation) towards his mother. These repressed ideas forced their way into Han s’ consciousness as the (distorted) content of the phobia. As Freud describe this was however a ‘paltry success’ as the forces of repression ‘made use of the opportunity to extend their dominion over components other than those that had rebelled. The purpose of the phobia was therefore to restrict his movement: Keeping him closer to his mothers affections. Hans had always taken pleasure in movement ‘I'm a young horse’, he had said as he jumped about’ [p. 58]. This pleasure in movement had however included the instinctive impulse to copulate with his mother and resulted in Hans causing his symbol of movement (the horse) to develop into a conscious anxiety. Alfred Adler suggested that anxiety arrises from the suppression of an ‘aggressive instinct’ [Adler, ‘Der Aggressionstrieb im Leben und in der Neurose’ (1908)].However Freud disagrees with this notion and goes on to state that this aggression is an ‘indis pensable attribute of all instincts. ’ Or to simplify; ‘each instinct [has] its own power of becoming aggressive. ’ Frued identifies the two instincts which became repressed in Hans as ‘familiar components of the sexual libido. ’ Freud seemed to hold Hans in high regard describing him as ‘well formed physically, and was a cheerful, amiable, active-minded young fellow who might give pleasure to more people than his own father. He went on to observe that it is ‘by no means such a rare thing to find object-choice and feelings of love in boys at a similarly early age. ’ Signigficantly he also goes on to speculate that ‘sexual precocity is a correlate, which is seldom absent, of intellectual precocity, and that it is therefore to be met with in gifted children more often than might be expected. ’ This is demonstrated by Hans’ ability to cognate abstract reasoning; particularly towards his childish sexual theories rel ating to the origin of his sister Hanna.Freud continues to say that Hans ‘is not the only child who has been overtaken by a phobia at some time or other in his childhood. ’ In fact such phobias can be ‘extraordinarily frequent. ’ Typically ‘Their phobias are shouted down in the nursery because they are inaccessible to treatment and are decidedly inconvenient. In the course of months or years they diminish, and the child seems to recover; but no one can tell what psychological changes are necessitated by such a recovery, or what alterations in character are involved in it. He therefore concludes that ‘Hans’ illness may not have been any more serious than that of many other children who are not branded as degenerates. As discussed in previous papers [For example; last section of the third of Freud's Three Essays on the Theory of Sexuality(1905d), Standard Ed. , 7, 225. ] psycho-analytic analysis of adult neurotics regularly identifies infan tile anxiety as the ‘point of departure. ’ Freud goes on to discus wider societal issues stating that we ‘concentrate too much upon symptoms and concern ourselves too little with their causes. An issue arguable still as relevant today as it as at the time of Freud’s writing. Freud’s concern was that ‘In bringing up children we aim only at being left in peace and having no difficulties, in short, at training up a model child, and we pay very little attention to whether such a course of development is for the child's good as well. ’ It can therefore be argued that the phobia was in fact an advantage for Hans as it directed his parents to ‘unavoidable difficulties’ in ‘overcoming the innate instinctual components of the mind. With his father assistance Hans now longer carries the repressed complexes other children still have to bear. It is also fair to state (as Freud does) that such complexes (as the origins of babies) a re not only repressed by children but dreaded by their parents. Freud also looked to counter potential criticism that by bringing Hans’ ‘wicked instincts’ into his conscious he might act upon then. For example; acting out his evil wishes against his father?In his Postscript (1922) Freud scornfully comments that some readers of the case study had foretold ‘a most evil future’ for little Hans who had been a ‘victim of psychoanalysis’ thus ‘robbing him of his innocence. ’ He triumphantly reports that none of these predictions had come true and that the analysis actually facilitated Hans’ recovery. It had in fact helped prepare him for the emotional turbulence of his parents separation in subsequent years. A further point to consider from the postscript is teenage Hans’ apparent ‘infant amnesia’ towards the challenges of his early years.He also argues in favour of ‘full disclosure by telling him about the ‘vagina and copulation’ allowing him to put an end to his ‘stream of questions’ without loosing ‘love for his mother [or] his own childish nature. ’ In his conclusion Freud discusses a number of principles common to modern psychotherapy. For example: ‘A number of individuals are constantly passing from the class of healthy people into that of neurotic patients, while a far smaller number also make the journey in the opposite direction. ’ ‘A child's upbringing can exercise a powerful influence for good or for evil upon the disposition’ they subsequently exhibit. The origin of pathogenic complexes†¦ deserves to be regarded by educators as an invaluable guide in their conduct towards children. And subsequently ‘At what cost has the suppression of inconvenient instincts been achieved? ’ He also passes comment on the psychoanalytic process itself. Specifically relating to this analysis he states: ‘Previously, his father [the therapist] had been able to tell him [Hans] in advance what was coming, while Hans had merely followed his lead and come trotting after; but now it was Hans who was forging ahead, so rapidly and steadily that his father [the therapist] found it difficult to keep up with him. This alludes to the significant challenge the therapist faces in containing and interpreting the information and emotions the patient transfers onto them. In the case of Hans this is compounded by the conflict produced within the father-son/therapist-patient diad. Something Freud refers to when discussing the considerable barrier in bringing Hans’ hostility towards his father into the little boys conscious. This is summarised beautifully by Freud in the following paragraph: ‘The physician is a step in front of him in knowledge; and the patient follows along his own road, until the two meet at the appointed goal. ‘Beginners in psycho-analysis are apt to assim ilate these two events, and to suppose that the moment at which one of the patient's unconscious complexes has become known to them is also the moment at which the patient himself recognises it. They are expecting too much when they think that they will cure the patient by informing him of this piece of knowledge; for he can do no more with the information than make use of it to help himself in discovering the unconscious complex where it is anchored in his unconscious. ’

Women As ‘Real Men’

Throughout the selected stories in Giovanni Boccaccio’s The Decameron many themes are brought to a readers attention. These themes help relate and compare the tales to one another in more ways than one. In the tale, Day two Story nine it raises a certain question on how a man may look as his wife, and the standards his wife may have to uphold. In comparison Day Five Story Ten, the question raised is a question of loyalty of a wife to her husband, which in turn, compare with the standards a wife may have to uphold for the husband. In both of these stories women are seen in the end as tough characters that take these actions from their husbands without any question; they are the real men in the tales. The tale Day Two Story Nine is about a man Bernabo whom is married to Zinevra, a very trustworthy wife. Bernabo and his friend Ambrugiolo while away get into a conversation about how easy it is to cheat on their wives while they are away, because in the end Ambrugiolo’s thought is that they do the same thing. Bernabo disagrees he looks at his wife as very trustworthily and Zinevra would never do such a thing. Because of a bet the two men end up making, Amrugiolo undeservingly wins the bet, or so Bernabo is led to believe. Bernabo orders a servant to murder Zinevra because of this misleading sin she been framed of committing. She pleads to the servant for her life and runs away to begin a new life as a man. Zinevra made a new life for herself after she was framed and moved on. But one day in the market she ran into her husband, Bernabo after much talking they realized who each other were. In the end, Zinevra gets revenge on Ambrugiolo and he is killed. Zinevra was in control of her decision to either go back to her husband Bernabo after he did not trust her word and ordered her to be killed, or not. She ends up goes back to her husband and in a way is a hero. Bernabo did not trust the loyalty of their marriage and was quick to judge Zinevra, but in the end the two lived happily ever after. Day Five Story 10 is another story with the loyalty of a husband and a wife. The story is about a man Guaitieri marrying a beautiful peasant, Griselda. Quick to marry, Guaitieri does not know if Griselda is truly a loyal companion and tests her through dramatic and horrific tricks. Including lying to Griselda about killing both their daughter and son, and Griselda does not question it and agrees with his actions. Guaitieri does not know what will break his wife because he believes this woman could not be so loyal. Therefore he pretends to divorce the peasant, and tells Griselda that he is getting remarried. He wants her to not only attend the wedding, but also clean and decorate the house for the event. Griselda agrees yet again, and in the end Guaitieri is convinced that she is just as loyal as she acts and tells her the whole truth of the matter. Their children were never killed, and the woman he was about to marry was their daughter. The loyal Griselda takes back Guaitieri and they live happily ever after. While reading these stories, which were written in a time not like today, a reader may be taken back. With the Bernabo and Zinevra story, a reader may question why Bernabo was so quick to judge what he thought was a trustworthy and loyal wife. But as we see in the selected tales women are viewed almost as a prize or object not as a companion or a real person. We see that in Guaitieri and Griselda’s story as well Guaitieri tests Griselda over and over and would not believe that she really was a loyal as she was coming off to be. Readers would take this story and see Griselda as almost an abused women, husbands do not treat their wives this way this time in age. In contradiction back in the day Griselda was seen as such a loyal women and wife because of her reactions to Guaitieri’s terrible lies. In both tales, the women over come their challenges and are viewed as harder and tougher people then the men.