Wednesday, November 27, 2019

Khrushchev, Nikita Sergeyevich (1894-1971), Soviet Communist Leader, W

Khrushchev, Nikita Sergeyevich (1894-1971), Soviet Communist leader, who was first secretary of the Soviet Communist party from 1953 to 1964 and premier of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) from 1958 to 1964. Born in Kalinovka, the son of a miner, Khrushchev worked in his early years as a shepherd and locksmith. After serving in the czarist army in World War I (1914-1918) and participating in the Russian Revolution, he joined the Communist party and the Red Army in 1918 and fought in the civil war. He attended a Communist party high school in 1921 and was active as a party organizer until 1929. For the next two years he attended the Industrial Academy in Moscow. Khrushchev advanced rapidly in the party, becoming a member of the Central Committee in 1934. From 1935 to 1937, as first secretary of the Moscow Regional Committee, he directed the industrialization program of the second five-year plan. In 1938 he was transferred to the Ukraine as first secretary of the Ukrainian party organization and made a provisional member of the party Politburo; he became a full member in 1939 and was also appointed to the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet. During World War II (1939-1945) Khrushchev headed the political department of the Red Army on the southern front. In 1944, after the Germans were driven from the Ukraine, he was entrusted with restoring agricultural production, establishing order, and punishing traitors. Returning to Moscow in 1949, he was appointed a member of the Secretariat of the party's Central Committee. Subsequently he emerged as the foremost Soviet agricultural expert. After the death of Joseph Stalin in 1953, Khrushchev became first secretary of the Central Committee, in effect the head of the Communist party of the USSR. A struggle for power ensued between Khrushchev; Georgy Malenkov, head of the government; and Lavrenty Beria, head of the secret police (known as the KGB). Malenkov and Khrushchev, along with many members of the government, wanted to reduce the power of the KGB, which had operated with virtually no constraints throughout the Stalin era. Beria, in contrast, wanted to increase the KGB's political power. The party supported Malenkov and Khrushchev, and Beria was arrested and executed in 1953. Khrushchev was able to outmaneuver Malenkov because Khruschev controlled the party apparatus; he had appointed many of its members, and they were loyal to him. In 1955 Malenkov resigned. In 1956, during the 20th Party Congress, Khrushchev took an unprecedented step and denounced Stalin and his methods. Khrushchev accused Stalin of being responsible for mass murders and deportations, the German invasion during World War II, and the USSR's break with Yugoslavia. Khrushchev's motivations for this de-Stalinization were complex. He wanted to bring the rule of law back to the government, but he also wanted to eliminate competition within the party. Although Khrushchev had himself been involved in Stalin's purges and terrorism, he was able to implicate many of Stalin's top men who bore even more responsibility for these crimes. Khrushchev's de-Stalinization efforts, however, dealt only with false trials and forced confessions of Communist party members. They did not address the millions of average citizens who were murdered or imprisoned by Stalin. Consequently, de-Stalinization lifted only slightly the fear and sense of oppression instilled over three decades. Domestically, Khrushchev's biggest challenge was agriculture. The government's grain forecasts were not very realistic; they were based on years with high production, and actual production frequently fell short of the predictions. Khrushchev opened up large sections of virgin land in Siberia, the Ural Mountains, and Kazakstan to farming, but production was hampered by problems with climate, choice of crop, and lack of equipment and labor. Khrushchev worked to improve living standards in the USSR, creating a minimum wage in 1956 and building large housing complexes. In foreign affairs, Khrushchev advocated peaceful coexistence with the West, while continuing the USSR's strong control over Eastern Europe. Civil unrest in Poland in 1956 was resolved without military conflict; in contrast, Soviet troops invaded Hungary the same year to crush an uprising and place a Communist, pro-Soviet government in control. Relations with the United States were tense because Khrushchev favored nuclear weapons over conventional armies. These tensions culminated during the Cuban missile crisis of 1962, when the United States demanded that the USSR remove nuclear missiles that it had placed in Cuba. After several very strained days, the USSR agreed. Khrushchev lost support from the KGB and the conservative members of the Communist party when he denounced Stalin, and he alienated the military by advocating defense

Sunday, November 24, 2019

Italian Verbs For Beginners - Mood and Tenses

Italian Verbs For Beginners - Mood and Tenses When learning Italian, students naturally tend to look for grammatical patterns. Studying Italian verbs in a programmatic fashion is a wise idea because its an efficient use of time, and Italian verbs are classified in a variety of ways. When studying Italian verbs, though, avoid the temptation to make absolute comparisons to English. Although there are many similarities between the two languages, there are also many fundamental differences. In addition, there are always exceptions to the rule. So while taking an organized approach to Italian verbs is a terrific way to improve your Italian, think of it like ordering in an Italian restaurant: be prepared to order a different primo if your favorite dish isnt available. The Santa Trinit of VerbsVerbs are fundamental to any language, and Italian is no exception. There are three primary groups of Italian verbs, classified according to the ending of their infinitives: first conjugation (-are verbs), second conjugation (-ere verbs), and third conjugation (-ire verbs). Most Italian verbs belong to the first-conjugation group and follow a highly uniform pattern. Once you learn how to conjugate one -are verb, youve essentially learned hundreds of them. And what about those Italian verbs that dont end in -are? Second-conjugation (-ere) verbs account for approximately one-quarter of all Italian verbs. Although many have some sort of irregular structure, there are also many regular -ere verbs. The final group of Italian verbs is those that end in ​-ire. Feeling Tense? A Little Moody?Feeling tense studying Italian verbs? Or maybe youre a bit moody. There is a difference. Mood (a variation of the word mode) refers to the attitude of the speaker toward what he or she is saying. There are four finite moods (modi finiti) in Italian: indicative (indicativo), which is used to indicate facts; subjunctive (congiuntivo), which is used to express an attitude or feeling toward an event; conditional (condizionale), which is used to express what would happen in a hypothetical situation; and imperative (imperativo), which is used to give commands. (Note that modern English only has three finite moods: indicative, subjunctive, and imperative.) There are also three indefinite moods (modi indefiniti) in Italian, so-called because the forms do not indicate the person (i.e., first, second, or third): infinitive (infinito), participle (participio), and gerund (gerundio). Moods are divided into one or more tenses, which indicates the time when the action of the verb takes place (present, past, or future). For reference, the chart below lists the mood and tenses of Italian verbs in English and Italian. ITALIAN VERBS: MOOD AND TENSEIndicative / Indicativopresent / presentepresent perfect / passato prossimoimperfect / imperfettopast perfect / trapassato prossimoabsolute past / passato remotopreterite perfect / trapassato remotofuture / futuro semplicefuture perfect / futuro anteriore Subjunctive / Congiuntivopresent / presentepast / passatoimperfect / imperfettopast perfect / trapassato Conditional / Condizionalepresent / presentepast / passato Imperative / Imperativopresent / presente Infinitive / Infinitivopresent / presentepast / passato Participle / Participiopresent / presentepast / passato Gerund / Gerundiopresent / presentepast / passato Conjugating Italian Verbs SingularI personII personIII personPluralI personII personIII person Learning six forms for every verb would be an endless task. Fortunately, most Italian verbs are regular verbs, meaning they are conjugated following a regular pattern. In fact, there are only three irregular first conjugation verbs. Once the regular verb endings are memorized the pattern can be applied to other verbs of the same group. Or, they are irregular, and do not follow a regular pattern. Although numerous, even the irregular second and third conjugation verbs fall into a few groups that make it easier to memorize. Essere and Avere: Dont Leave Home Without ThemLanguage means action, and you cant speak Italian without the verbs essere (to be) and avere (to have). These two essential verbs are used in compound verb formations, idiomatic expressions, and many other grammatical constructions. Become the maestro of these two verbs and youll have taken a giant step towards learning Italian. In TransitReady for action? Then its time for a transitive verb- those that take a direct object (complemento oggetto): Luisa legge un libro (Luisa reads a book). Transitive verbs can also be used in the absolute sense; that is, with an implicit direct object: Luisa legge (Luisa reads [a book, magazine, newspaper]). Intransitive verbs, on the other hand, are those that never take a direct object: Giorgio cammina (Giorgio walks). Some verbs can be classified as either transitive or intransitive, depending on the context of the sentence. Verbs With Voice!Italian verbs (like verbs in many other languages) have two voices. A verb is in the active voice when the subject carries out or performs the action of the verb: Marco ha preparato le valigie (Marco packed the suitcases). A verb is in the passive voice when the subject is acted on by the verb: La scena à ¨ stata filmata da un famoso regista (The scene was filmed by a famous director). Only transitive verbs with an explicit direct object can be transformed from the active voice to the passive voice. Mirror, Mirror, on the WallYou wake up (svegliarsi), take a shower (farsi la doccia), comb your hair (pettinarsi), and get dressed (vestirsi). You couldnt start your day without reflexive verbs (verbi riflessivi). Those are verbs whose action reverts to the subject: Mi lavo (I wash myself). In Italian, reflexive pronouns (i pronomi reflessivi) are required when conjugating reflexive verbs. Coulda, Woulda, ShouldaThere are three important Italian verbs known as verbi servili or verbi modali (modal verbs). These verbs, potere (to be able to, can), volere (to want), dovere (to have to, must), can stand alone, taking on their given meaning. They can also follow the infinitive of other verbs, functioning to modify the meaning of those verbs. Verbs That End In -sene, -sela, -celaThere are a group of Italian verbs that are conjugated with two different pronoun particles. Verbs such as meravigliarsene and provarcisi are called pronominal verbs (verbi pronominali). In fact, they are still classified as either first-conjugation (-are verbs), second-conjugation (-ere verbs), or third-conjugation (-ire verbs) according to the ending of their infinitives. Many pronominal verbs are used idiomatically. Shadowed By A PrepositionCertain Italian verbs (and expressions) are followed by specific prepositions such as a, di, per, and su. But to the consternation of students of all levels and abilities, there is no hard-and-fast set of rules governing this grammatical usage. This is one instance in which language learners must familiarize themselves with tables that include Italian verbs and expressions followed by specific prepositions as well as verbs followed directly by the infinitive.

Thursday, November 21, 2019

Nielsen Media Research Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words - 1

Nielsen Media Research - Case Study Example n this paper the author will present different issues that are affecting Nelson Media and forecast on their success story, as well as areas where they need to improve. The different factors of management are looked into and the possible ways of improvement are found out too. There are a lot of environmental considerations that affect Nielsen Media performance. Some of the environmental factors are competition and customer confidence. Customer confidence affects the number of clients that the company has, while competition also affects the profit made by the company. To be able to overcome these issues, the company has to improve the quality of its services which starts with changes in management and the general change in their workforce. When estimating the number of people who watch a show, the company may at times be forced to intrude the privacy of people. For example, in order to know the family members who are watching movie at some particular time, the company has to know what exactly is being shown and who is watching the movie and who is not. This enables them to get confidential information that should not be available to the general public; it is one of the ethical issues that arise for the company consideration. This is avoided by keeping all the clients’ information confidential. The primary issue in this case is the spreading of all the clients’ information across many databases. The complete picture of the client is not achieved; his/her needs are not met by the company. There was no information about the participants of the communication in this system. The main contextualizing environmental factors are time and weather conditions. The factors that affect the level of ethical choices are the manager, the organization, and the stage of moral development. The manager is the one who has to make important decision with respect to the company. The criteria for finding the ethical decision can be used here to find out if indeed the decisions that