Sheppard v. Maxwell (384 U.S. 333) Supreme Court Case Essay

Sheppard v. Maxwell (384 U.S. 333) Supreme Court Case - Essay Example 333), the trial court did not conduct a fair trial because of media interference that may have caused excitement and prejudice in the ruling of the case (Sheppard 1966). The public distraction in the courtroom can influence the autonomy of court discussions thus distorting the conclusion arrived at by the jury either in favor of the accused or the wronged person (Sheppard 1966). Therefore, there should be a maximum order in the court so as to ensure fair ruling by the judges. The public has a right to know the truth by following the court proceedings in any case of interest to them. In that regard, media are a public watchdog and have the right to attend to the courts proceedings in order to make a follow up the of the court process and inform the public about the process (Siegel 183). The presence of media in the court proceedings influences the fairness of the court’s ruling. Therefore, it is essential to have controlled media presence in the court in order to avoid unnecessary interruptions that may result to â€Å"prejudicial publicity† (Sheppard

Using comics to increase writing achievement Essay Example for Free

Using comics to increase writing achievement Essay Abstract This paper will focus on a Classroom Action Research Project performed at an elementary school with a group of seven 5th grade English as a Second Language students. The project involved using cartoon comic strips to both motivate ESL students to write and also to see if a non-traditional approach to teaching writing will increase the student’s writing achievement. Popular newspaper comic strips were used to motivate students and they were required to read it and then answer a set of open-ended questions. Statement of Intent Many students have the ability to be successful writers. The ESL students struggle to write, but when they get motivated they seem to write better. Many ESL students are unmotivated about writing because of language, lack of background knowledge, or the topic is not authentic or interesting. The more the students write the better they will become at it. If ESL students can get motivated to write, they will write more and thus become better writers. Popular newspaper comic strips were used to motivate the 5th grade ESL students to write. Students read popular newspaper comic strips and then answered open-ended questions. Here are the questions that will be answered at the end of this Classroom Action Research Project: 1)Can ESL students get motivated to write? 2)Will a non-traditional approach to writing motivate 5th grade students to write? 3)Could the use of comic strips in writing help increase writing achievement in 5th grade ESL students? Rationale for Research Research into the process of writing has shown it to be a very complicated problem solving process requiring the writer to constantly monitor their progress towards a specific goal. Students that become good writers experience intrinsic as well as extrinsic rewards, but face problems with motivation along the way. Writing requires the individual to pay attention to motivational conditions. The following is a list of the four clusters of conditions that are keys to developing writing motivation: 1)Nurturing functional beliefs about writing. 2)Fostering engagement using authentic writing tasks. 3)Providing a supportive context for writing. 4)Creating a positive emotional environment. The teacher’s views, beliefs, conceptions, and misconceptions are very important in determining the right conditions in most writing contexts. Research is needed to better understand the process of motivation as it relates to writing. Children start writing at an early age by scribbling. The writing process continues from there and proceeds at different paces depending on the child. As writing develops children start forming letters, words and soon sentences. â€Å"They begin to shift away from list-like writing and localized control (e.g., linking to vocabulary used in  the previous sentence, repeating familiar syntactic frames) toward a more goal-directed, strategic approach ( Berninger, Fuller, Whitaker, 1996). Their writing has more topical and the- matic coherence (e.g., Flower et al., 1990), as purpose, planning, and revising play an increasing role. A growing metacognitive capability gives them the potential to shift from a knowledge-telling to a knowledge-transforming approach ( Bereiter Scardamalia, 1987) and to use information about audience, genre, and rhetorical stance to accomplish a variety of writing purposes ( Berninger et al., 1996). â€Å" Highly motivated capable writers that can adapt their writing to changes in audience and topic can only achieve the developmental writing process described above. They can use writing as a means of communication with others. They write the same way they would talk with another people, stress free and with control. In a 1997 National Center for Education Statistics writing assessment shows that 80% of eleventh grade students can write clear and focused responses and less that one third can write clearly enough to show sufficient information to support their claims. 2 % of students can write proficiently enough to show effective responses that have enough information to support details and discussion. Teachers are failing to develop positive beliefs and motivation about writing. Comic strips can be used to motivate and inspire students. For one thing, comics can take away the number one worry that students have about writing today: finding something to write about. Most of the times when you leave it up to the students to write about something, they never know what to write. Every teacher has heard the same thing. â€Å"I don’t know what to write about.† Introducing and discussing comic strips is a great way to motivate and stimulate students about writing. Many students already know the characters from comic strips and this makes the experience less stressful and fun. It also provides the students with kid friendly language and the relationship between the pictures and text makes it perfect for  lower level readers. All these facts put together makes it possible for comic strips to provide the level of motivation and interest that will help students stay focused a bout writing and this will in the long run improve their writing skills. Methodology The study was completed with a group of seven 5th grade ESL students for a period of three months one half hour a week. Starting in the beginning of September and ending at the end of November. This group of ESL students is composed of fluent English speakers that are limited English readers and writers. At the beginning of the study, the students read a short story about ants and then answered an open-ended question. The students were then told to draw a happy, straight,   or sad face depending on their level of frustration and/or stress. This was used as the pretest. At the beginning of the study students were introduced and exposed to newspaper comic strips. They read, discussed, and drew them. Students were exposed to a variety of lessons on the writing process and were required to do one comic strip writing prompt a week. Included in every writing prompt is smiling, straight, or sad face that is drawn by the student in the upper right hand corner of the paper to show their motivation level. A record of the student’s motivational level was kept to measure fluctuation patterns according to the cartoon character used that week. Research Analysis At the beginning of the study the students were told that they would be taking part in a study that would require them to write. Many of them immediately showed signs of stress and much complaining followed. We met once a week for half an hour and they were introduced to a comic strip and  discussions followed. The students then had two days to complete the prompt on their own, including a drawing of a face on the upper right hand corner to show how they felt about it before it was collected. The prompts that were used are from the Comic-Strip Writing Prompts book by Karen Kellaher (2001). During the initial pretest three students drew smiling faces, three drew straight faces and one drew a sad face. Although it seems that the percentage of students that felt good versus the percentage of students that had no emotion at all is the same their reactions during the writing would tell a different story. The students all seemed stressed and bothered with the writing. Most of the students answered the question during the pretest, but all are lacking creativity and emotion to their writing. All the answers came straight from the story. No opinions, personal connections, or point of views were part of anybody’s writing. There were only five students remaining in the group during the last week of the study. One moved and the other one tested out of the ESL program and was no longer available to meet. In the final writing prompt all students drew happy faces. They did seem to be more excited about the writing than in the beginning. This may be due to the social rewards as well as the stress free environment due to the fact that no grades went along with their writing assignments. The following chart shows the before and after motivation and writing results for each student in the group: Motivation BeforeMotivation AfterWriting BeforeWriting After Dayannara V. Below BasicBelow basic Jose V. Below BasicBelow Basic Jeffrey R. ProficientProficient Maria C. BasicBelow Basic Jacqueline A. ProficientBelow Basic * The Chart above shows the beginning and end results of the study. Comprehensive Conclusions and Reflections The study increased the overall motivation of the group, but it did not increase writing achievement and in-fact lowered the writing achievement of two students. The contributing factors associated with the lack of success of this study are as follows: 1)Time frame The group met for half an hour once a week. This was not enough time to effectively influence the writing achievement of these students. Using Comics to Increase 10 2)Reading level – The reading level of these students was not significantly high enough for them to be able to read the comic strip and understand it. Even if they could have understood the comic strip, the prompt questions were too hard to for them to understand. 3)Background knowledge – A student who is asked to write about ice hockey or fishing that has experience it first hand or has been exposed to it will definitely be able to write about it better. Many of the urban kids are asked to write about things that they know absolutely nothing about.  A good example is the time the Reading School District had a district wide writing assessment about snow. The students had to write about a snowy day. Many ESL students had never seen snow. 4)Can’t get the joke – This one is the most important when it comes to comic strips. Most of the students could eventually read what the comic said, but they could not understand the jokes. A good example of this was the comic strip where Garfield says â€Å"Cats have just surpassed dogs as the country’s favorite pets!† Odie the Dog comes hopping by and then Garfield says â€Å"Somehow the victory would have been more satisfying had the competition been stiffer.† The students had no idea what this meant and could not understand it without some explanation. 5) Vocabulary – The students don’t have a sufficient vocabulary to understand comic strips. Although comic strips are written at a lower reading level, some of the vocabulary words that are used are hard for ESL students to understand and some extensive explanations had to be done before they could start writing. Example: â€Å"Had the competition been stiffer.† In closing, the ESL students need a lot of help. They of course need to write as much as possible, but if we work on increasing their reading level and expose them to as many cultural experiences as possible then we can really begin on making them great writers. If the study was to be done again it is suggested that the group meet daily and that there be vocabulary development lessons done to supplement the comic strip writing activities. References Yale University. Retrieved December 11, 2006, from www.yale.edu Web site: http://www.yale.edu/ynhti/curriculum/units/1980/80.04.02.x.xhtml Tom Janz, T (2006). Newspapers in Education Middle School Writing. Litsite Alaska, Retrieved December 11. 2006, from http://litsite.alaska.edu/workbooks/midnewswrite.html North Carolina State Board of Education, (2006). Making the Grade: Writing Through The Grades. ncpublicschools.org, Retrieved 2006, from http://www.ncpublicschools.org/student_promotion/mtg/fall01.html Brunin, R (2000). Developing Motivation to Write . The Questia online library, 35, Retrieved December 11, 2006, from http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=ose=gglscd=94798356 Kellaher, K (2001). Comic-Strip Writing-Prompts. New York, N.Y.: Scholastic. Parsons, J (1993). Using Comic Books To Teach.. ERIC, Retrieved December 11, 2006, fromhttp://eric.ed.gov/ERICWebPortal/Home.portal?_nfpb=true_pageLabel=RecordDe tailsERICExtSearch_SearchValue_0=ED363892ERICExtSearch_SearchType_0=eric_accnoobjectId=0900000b8012cb2a Cohn , N (June 2006). Comixpedia. Retrieved December 11, 2006, from www.comixpedia.com Web site: http://www.comixpedia.com/comic_theory_101_seeing_rhymes

Sula: Character Analysis Of Nel Essay example -- essays research paper

The novel Sula, is a work which contrasts the lives of its two main characters Nel and Sula. They appear, on the surface, to be the epidemy of binary opposites but this is in actuality their underlying bond. The differences in their personalities complement one another in a way that forges an almost unbreakable alliance. Sula is compulsive and uncontrollable while her counterpart, Nel, is sensible and principled. To prove Nel human by subscribing to the theory that a human is one who possess both good and bad traits, one must only look at how she interacts with Sula, here both negative and positive traits are evident.Nel’s "good" traits obviously come to the forefront when looking at her character. One might say this is a result of how she was raised and that she was simply a pr...

Principles of Safeguarding Essay

Introduction OCR has reproduced this exemplar candidate evidence to support teachers in interpreting the assessment criteria for the unit HSC 024, Principles of safeguarding and protection in health and social care. This exemplar evidence should be considered alongside the unit requirements, the Learning  Outcomes and Assessment Criteria. This content has been selected by the OCR Chief External Verifier for the Health and Social Care Diplomas, to illustrate how the assessment criteria are applied, and to provide some commentary on what factors contributed to the final outcome. The exemplar candidate evidence is intended to demonstrate how criteria have been met and are supported by a commentary. While the exemplars are intended to be useful in interpreting the specification’s Assessment Criteria, they should in no way be regarded as definitive evidence. This resource is provided for advice and guidance only. Read more: Identify ways to ensure that evidence of abuse is preserved  essay 4 Unit HSC 024 Exemplar Unit: HSC 024 – Principles of safeguarding and protection in health and  social care  unit purpose †¢ Raises awareness of how to recognise signs of abuse †¢ Raises awareness of how to respond to suspected or alleged abuse †¢ Introduces national policies and local systems of safeguarding †¢ Introduces ways to reduce the likelihood of abuse †¢ Raises awareness of how to recognise and report unsafe practices 5 Unit HSC 024 Evidence for Learning Outcome 1 Know how to recognise signs of abuse Assessment Criteria: AC1.1 – Define the following types of abuse: †¢ Physical abuse †¢ Sexual abuse †¢ Emotional/psychological abuse †¢ Financial abuse †¢ Institutional abuse †¢ Self-neglect †¢ Neglect by others AC 1.2 – Identify the signs and/or symptoms associated with each type of abuse Extract from Assignment: Assignment: ‘Define the following seven types of abuse and for each include their associated signs and symptoms: ‘physical, sexual, emotional/psychological, financial, institutional, self-neglect and neglect by others.’ Response: ‘1) Physical abuse is deliberate physical force that may result in bodily injury, pain, or impairment. Both old and young people can be physically abused. There are signs or indicators to show physical abuse and there are ways in which victims and abusers act or interact with each other. Physical abuse includes the smashing of furniture and personal belongings, being pushed or shoved, being held against your will, slapped, bitten, kicked, pinched, punched, choked or ducked under water, threatened or hurt with a weapon, threats of violence, locked in or out of the house, hair pulled †¦burnt with cigarettes, acid, an iron, hot food or water †¦ Signs of physical abuse in adults are: bruising, particularly in well-protected and covered areas, fractures, sprains or dislocations, lacerations, burns – including friction burns and scalds, drowsiness, pressure sores, cowering and flinching, unexplained hair loss, significant weight loss, etc†¦. Symptoms include feeling low, angry and in pain. 2) Sexual abuse is when a person is forced or tricked into taking part in any kind of sexual activity. When sexual contact is non-consensual, it is an abuse. It can happen to men and women of any age that is both old and young. It can include sexual penetration of any part of the body with a penis, finger or any object, sexual exploitation, making threats about sexual  activities, exposure to pornographic material, touching of breast or genitals, kissing, etc. Activities such as showing pornographic material, forcing the person to watch sex acts or forcing the person to undress are also considered sexual abuse. The signs and symptoms of sexual abuse in the elderly can be bruises around breasts or genitals, genital infections, unexplained vaginal or anal bleeding, torn, stained, or bloody underwear, disturbed sleep patterns, vulnerable adult appears withdrawn and fearful, inappropriate dressing, etc†¦ 3) Emotional Abuse is where one person gains power and control over another through words and gestures which gradually undermine the other’s self-respect†¦Emotional abuse can be name-calling, blaming, screaming, making threats, yelling†¦.neglecting, manipulation, not listening, withholding affection†¦belittling and untrue accusations. Signs of emotional abuse are depression, anxiety, withdrawing or refusing affection, fearful or agitation, lower self-esteem and self-confidence, shouting or swearing, behaviours such as rocking, hair twisting and self-mutilation, vulnerable adult withdrawn and fearful†¦ 6 Unit HSC 024 Response continued: 4) Financial abuse is stealing or defrauding someone of money, goods and/or property, allowing others to steal money or property, tricking or threatening individuals into giving away money or property, withholding money, refusing to allow individuals to manage their finances, etc. for example when a support worker is taking money from a service users’ purse without his or her knowledge. Signs of financial abuse are signatures on cheques that do not resemble the service users’ signature, or signed when the service user cannot write, unexplained withdrawals of large sums of money by a person accompanying the  service user, lack of amenities, such as TV, personal grooming items, appropriate clothing, that the service user should be able to afford, deliberate isolation of service user from friends and family, resulting in the support worker alone having total control, the unexplained sudden transfer of assets to a family member or someone outside the family†¦. Symptoms include the person feeling fearful, anxious, embarrassed and belittled. 5) Institutional abuse happens when the lifestyles of service users are sacrificed in favour of the routines and/or restrictive practices of the home. Institutional abuse comprises neglect, physical abuse, sexual abuse, verbal abuse, discriminatory abuse, psychological and emotional abuse, financial abuse, service users not being allowed to go out, their personal letters are opened and read, their privacy not respected, their interest not at the centre of every decision being made, excessive medication and complaints procedure not made available for the service users. Signs and symptoms include lack of own personal clothing and possessions, †¦no flexibility of bedtimes, eating times or waking times, dirty clothing or bed linen, misuse of medication, lack of care plans, lack of heating, staff entering into service users’ rooms without knocking. 6) Self-neglect is when a person does not pay attention to their health and well-being. Service users can neglect themselves due to illness or depression or might intentionally neglect themselves. The signs and symptoms include: living in dirty conditions, poor personal hygiene, poor nutrition†¦not getting medical help, not being interested in the way they look, long toe nails not taking medication. 7) Neglect is when a carer does not carry out their duty of care and fails to care for a service user this can be deliberate or unintentional due to the carer being ill or stressed†¦ Signs and symptoms of neglect include absence of food, water, and heat†¦ poor personal hygiene including soiled clothing, dirty nails and skin†¦inappropriately dressed for cold or hot weather, bedsores†¦.constant hunger, withdrawn, illness†¦ COMMENTARY FOR EVIDENCE FOR ACS 1.1 and 1.2 †¢ Assessment Method: The learner has completed an assignment to explain the meaning of each of these seven types of abuse as well as their associated signs and symptoms. The learner has produced factual details that provide evidence for ACs 1.1 and 1.2. The assessment method is valid as it measures the learner’s understanding and knowledge of the definitions and signs and symptoms associated for each type of abuse. †¢ Quality of Evidence: The learner’s response is of a good quality because the learner reflects own understanding of the meaning of each type of abuse. The learner also provides a very detailed account of the signs and symptoms associated with each type of abuse and distinguishes well between signs (what can be seen) and symptoms (the way the individual feels). The information that the question extracts from the learner is more than is required to meet this AC; as the learner provides a description, where a list of the different signs and/or symptoms would have been sufficient. †¢ Breadth of Evidence: The learner has stated clearly the meaning and signs and symptoms of each type of abuse. The learner’s evidence meets AC1.1 fully in terms of providing a definition and the signs and symptoms of the following types of abuse: physical, sexual, emotional/psychological, financial, institutional, self-neglect and neglect by others. 7 Unit HSC 024 Assessment Criteria: AC1.3 – Describe factors that may contribute to an individual being more vulnerable to abuse. Extract from Written Questioning: Written Question: ‘Describe different factors that may contribute to an individual being more vulnerable to abuse’: Response: Living with the carer may increase the chances for abuse to occur as this may cause stress and resentment if the carer feels they cannot cope. If an individual is looked after staff who do not have the right training, any supervision at work or support, are stressed, have personal problems or do  not like working in care then this can increase the risk of an individual being abused. If an individual is not mobile, is confused, has dementia, or is aggressive or challenging then this can increase the risk of abuse as the carer might not know how to deal with this, get frustrated and might take it personally and abuse the individual. Domestic violence can also play a part as can the relationship between the individual and their parent or spouse if it was poor and involved abuse.’ COMMENTARY FOR EVIDENCE FOR AC 1.3 †¢ Assessment Method: The assessor has used an open written question with this learner ‘Describe different factors†¦Ã¢â‚¬â„¢; this encourages the learner to think about the different ways an individual can be more vulnerable to abuse and provides them with an opportunity to provide a more detailed response and to also provide evidence for AC1.3. The assessment method is valid as it measures the learner’s understanding and knowledge of the factors that may contribute to abuse. †¢ Quality of Evidence: The learner’s response is of a good quality because the learner reflects own full understanding of the different factors that may contribute to an individual being more vulnerable to abuse in terms of the social care worker, the carer, the individual including the relationship between these as well as the health and social care setting itself. †¢ Breadth of Evidence: The learner has detailed clearly the different factors that may contribute. The lea rner’s evidence meets AC1.3 fully in terms of providing a description of the factors that may contribute to an individual being more vulnerable to abuse. 8 Unit HSC 024 Evidence for Learning Outcome 2 Know how to respond to suspected or alleged abuse Assessment Criteria: AC2.1 – Explain the actions to take if there are suspicions that an individual is being abused Extract from Written Questioning: Written Question: ‘Explain the actions to take if there are suspicions that an individual is being abused: Response: ‘If I suspect abuse through noticing a sign of physical abuse or change in the behaviour of an individual, I will make sure that I ask the individual what has happened telling the individual the changes that I have noticed. If it is in my place of work and the name of the person that abused the individual is known, whether staff or another service user, I must also record and report this. I will listen to the individual carefully; it is up to them to tell me, I would not ask them any questions about this as this is not part of my job role and would stay calm. I will make sure that I record what the individual tells me using the individual’s own words. I will make sure that I reassure the individual and explain that their safety is the most important and that it is my duty of care to tell the manager. I will make sure that I let my manager know what has happened immediately and pass this information on in private and make sure my report is also confidential. I will only report and record the facts – what the individual has told me. Depending on what is found out the individual might need to continue to be monitored and a plan of care will be put in place that must be followed to protect the service user. ‘I will make sure that I let my manager know and report and record this in private but if the allegation is about my manager or the manager is unwilling to do anything, I will follow my company policy of reporting abuse and report to CQC.’ 9 Unit HSC 024 Assessment Criteria: AC2.2 – Explain the actions to take if an individual alleges that they are being abused Extract from Written Questioning: Written Question: ‘Explain the actions to take if an individual alleges that they are being abused: Response: ‘If an individual alleges that they are being abused, I will make sure that I listen to the individual carefully to know exactly what happened. If it is in my place of work and the name of the person that abused the individual is known, whether staff or another service user, I must also record and report this. I will make sure that I record the detail of all allegations that the individual tells me using the individual’s own words; I will not ask any questions or make any judgements about what I have been told and I will stay calm. I will make sure that I record the date and time when the abuse was reported and then sign this record. I will make sure that I take the allegations seriously and reassure the individual that they are right to tell me as their safety is the most important.  I will make sure that I let my manager know and report and record this in private but if the allegation is about my manager or the manager is unwilling to do anything, I will follow my company policy of reporting abuse and report to CQC.’ COMMENTARY FOR EVIDENCE FOR ACS 2.1 and 2.2 †¢ Assessment Method: The assessor has used an open written question with this learner ‘Explain the actions to take†¦Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ for each AC; this encourages the learner to think about the different actions that need to be taken when there are suspicions and allegations of abuse made. The assessment method is valid as it measures the learner’s understanding and knowledge of how to respond to both suspicions and allegations of abuse. †¢ Quality of Evidence: The learner’s response is of a good quality because the learner reflects own full understanding of the two different sets of actions that need to be followed for suspicions and allegations of abuse including when nothing is done in response to these: ‘if the allegation is about my manager or the manager is unwilling to do anything, I will follow my company policy of reporting abuse and report to CQC.’ The learner also details own knowledge of who may be implicated in both allegations and  suspicions of abuse and the actions that must be taken: ‘If it is in my place of work and the name of the person that abused the individual is known, whether staff or another service user, I must also record and report this†¦ if the allegation is about my manager or the manager is unwilling to do anything, I will follow my company policy of reporting abuse and report to CQC.’ †¢ Breadth of Evidence: The learner has detailed cl early the actions to take for both suspicions and allegations of abuse. The learner’s evidence meets ACs 1.1 and 1.2 fully in terms of providing an explanation of the actions to take if there are suspicions that an individual is being abused and if an individual alleges that they are being abused. The learner’s response can also be cross referenced to ACs 5.1 and 5.2. 10 Unit HSC 024 Assessment Criteria: AC2.3 – Identify ways to ensure that evidence of abuse is preserved Extract from Written Questioning: Written Question: ‘List different ways to ensure that evidence of abuse is preserved: Response: ‘Ways to ensure that evidence of abuse is preserved are as follows: By leaving things as they are and not touching anything.  By not removing, cleaning or washing what the individual is wearing and by not handling the individual’s clothes or bedding. By keeping the area safe and not allowing anyone to enter into the area. By recording and reporting carefully, confidentially and in full all that was told to me by both the individual and others if present at the time and also what I noticed; stating the facts only. By preserving any first aid items used. COMMENTARY FOR EVIDENCE FOR AC 2.3 †¢ Assessment Method: The assessor has used a clear written question with this learner ‘List different ways †¦Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ ; this encourages the learner to identify  different ways to ensure that evidence of abuse is preserved. The assessment method is valid as it measures the learner’s understanding and knowledge of the different methods of how to preserve evidence of abuse. †¢ Quality of Evidence: The learner’s response is of a good quality because the learner reflects own full understanding of the different ways of preserving evidence of abuse and includes a range of practical ways this can be done in terms of both protecting evidence physically as well as clear recording and reporting procedures. †¢ Breadth of Evidence: The learner has clearly identified the different ways of preserving evidence of abuse. The learner’s evidence meets AC 2.3 fully in terms of identifying ways to ensure that evidence of abuse is preserved. 11 Unit HSC 024 Evidence for Learning Outcome 3 Understand the national and local context of safeguarding and protection from abuse Assessment Criteria: AC 3.1 – Identify national policies and local systems that relate to safeguarding and protection from abuse AC 3.2 – Explain the roles of different agencies in safeguarding and protecting individuals from abuse Extract from Written Questioning: Written Question: ‘List the national policies and local systems that relate to safeguarding and protection from abuse and explain the roles of different agencies: Response: ‘National policies – †¦.’Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act 2006, the Vetting and Barring Scheme run by the Independent Safeguarding Authority (ISA), Criminal Records Bureau, Human Rights Act 1998. Local Systems – Safeguarding Adults Boards, Safeguarding policies and procedures for vulnerable adults.’  Safeguarding Adults Boards – these bring together a number of different local agencies that work with vulnerable adults to share information and monitor their work i.e. local agencies like the police, MIND, housing teams, advocacy groups. The Police – their role is to safeguard vulnerable adults, investigate all reports of vulnerable adult abuse and protect and uphold the rights of vulnerable adults. CQC – to monitor and provide guidance on what all health and social care providers must do to safeguard vulnerable adults from abuse; the safeguarding policies, procedures and systems developed are in place to prevent vulnerable adults from being abused.’ COMMENTARY FOR EVIDENCE FOR AC 2.3 †¢ Assessment Method: The assessor has used a clear written question with this learner and paired together these two ACs ‘List the national policies and local systems †¦and explain the roles of different agencies’ ; this encourages the learner to identify relevant policies and systems as well as explain the role of different agencies in safeguarding and protecting individuals from abuse. The assessment method is valid as it measures the learner’s understanding and knowledge of national policies, local systems and the role of agencies. †¢ Quality of Evidence: The learner’s response is of a good quality because the learner reflects a full understanding of both national policies and local systems that relate to safeguarding and protection and then details the specific role of three different agencies: Safeguarding Adults Boards, The Police and the CQC in safeguarding and protecting vulnerable adults from abuse. †¢ Breadth of Evidence: The learner has clearly identified national policies and local systems and detailed the roles of different agencies in safeguarding and protecting individuals from abuse. The learner’s evidence meets ACs 3.1 and 3.2 fully in terms of identifying national policies and local systems that relate to safeguarding and protection from abuse and explaining the roles of different agencies in safeguarding and protecting vulnerable adults from abuse. 12 Unit HSC 024 Assessment Criteria: AC3.3 – Identify reports into serious failures to protect individuals from abuse Extract from Written Questioning: Written Question: ‘List reports into serious failures to protect vulnerable adults from abuse: Response: ‘A report about Castlebeck Care Ltd which failed to ensure that the vulnerable living at Winterbourne View were adequately protected from risk, including the risks of unsafe practices by its own staff. Individuals in Winterbourne View which is a home owned by Castlebeck Care Ltd were pinned down, slapped, doused in cold water and repeatedly taunted and teased by staff in the home. Castlebeck Care Ltd failed to notify the Care Quality Commission of these incidents, injuries to individuals and of occasions when individuals had gone missing. A report about the murder of Steven Hoskin, a young man with learning difficulties who was abused and murdered in July 2006. In addition to being pushed over the railway and falling from a great height, it was also found that Steven had taken paracetamol tablets, had been drinking alcohol and had sustained recent injuries from cigarette burns. In addition he suffered appalling treatment from his abusers who took over his bed sit and he had neck bruises from having been hauled around his home by his own pet’s dog-lead and the backs of his hands had the  marks of foot-prints.’ COMMENTARY FOR EVIDENCE FOR AC 3.3 †¢ Assessment Method: The assessor has used a clear written question with this learner ‘List reports into serious failures to protect individuals from abuse’; this encourages the learner to identify reports into serious  failures to protect individuals from abuse The assessment method is valid as it measures the learner’s knowledge of different reports into serious failures to protect vulnerable adults from abuse. †¢ Quality of Evidence: The learner’s response is of a good quality because the learner reflects a full understanding of two different reports where there were serious failures to protect vulnerable adults from abuse. The information that the question extracts from the learner is more than is required to meet this AC; as the learner provides a description, where a list of reports into serious failures would have been sufficient. †¢ Breadth of Evidence: The learner has clearly identified reports into serious failures to protect individuals from abuse. The learner’s evidence meets AC 3.3 fully in terms of identifying reports into serious failures to protect vulnerable adults from abuse. 13 Unit HSC 024 Assessment Criteria: AC 3.4 – Identify sources of information and advice about own role in safeguarding and protecting individuals from abuse Extract from Oral Questioning: Oral Question: ‘Where can you go to get information and advice about your role in safeguarding and protecting individuals from abuse?: Response: ‘Local authority Adult Services Department like Social Services My manager, colleagues My company’s policies and procedures on safeguarding The internet Care Quality Commission Independent Safeguarding Authority Books Training and advice from training centres.’ COMMENTARY FOR EVIDENCE FOR AC 3.4: †¢ Assessment Method: The assessor has used a clear oral question with this learner ‘Where can you go to get information and advice†¦.; this encourages the learner to identify different sources of information and advice in safeguarding and protecting vulnerable adults. The assessment method is valid as it measures the learner’s knowledge of different sources of information and advice. †¢ Quality of Evidence: The learner’s response is of a good quality because the learner reflects a full understanding of the different sources of information and advice available from both own workplace and external agencies. Due to this AC being an ‘identify’ the information could also have been presented in the form of a spidergram. †¢ Breadth of Evidence: The learner has clearly identified sources of information and advice. The learner’s evidence meets AC 3.4 fully in terms of identifying sources of information and advice about own role in safeguarding and protecting individuals from abuse. 14 Unit HSC 024 Evidence for Learning Outcome 4 Understand ways to reduce the likelihood of abuse Assessment Criteria: AC 4.1 – Explain how the likelihood of abuse may be reduced by: †¢ working with person centred values †¢ encouraging active participation †¢ promoting choice and rights Extract 1 from Discussion: Discussion: ‘Tell me about how working with person centred values can reduce the likelihood of abuse: Response: ‘Person-centred values include the individuality of the person, the rights of  the individual, the individual’s choice, the individual’s privacy, the individual’s independence, the individual’s dignity and the individual being respected If person centred values are taken into consideration when supporting an individual there is less likely to be abuse as all the staff will be working in the same way and will feel shamed if they abuse because of the way that they have been taught to work. If an individual is considered to have a say in what he or she wants and is at the centre of any decision, it will be more unlikely that there is abuse. The individual will know what suits him or her and will not get so frustrated. I always put the service users I work with, their families and friends at the centre of any decision about them and they are an active partner in their own care. Individuals decide what to do, where to go, what clothes to wear and are tr eated with dignity, respect, confidentiality and are able to make their own choices.’ Extract 2 from Discussion: Discussion: ‘Tell me about how encouraging active participation can reduce the likelihood of abuse: Response: ‘Active participation is a way of working that recognises an individual’s right to participate in the activities and relationships of everyday life as independently as possible; the individual is regarded as an active partner in their own care or support, rather than a passive recipient. So if the individual participates actively in their daily activities, which is what I practice, then the risk of abuse is low. For example in choosing the kind of meal to prepare I support individuals to make the lists of what they want to buy and go shopping with them so that they can choose the brand they want. The individual cooks the food the way they want it with little or no support. This is the same with all choices of clothes and outings.’ Extract 3 from Discussion: Discussion: ‘Tell me about how promoting choice and rights can reduce the likelihood of abuse: Response: ‘Individuals are supported to make their choices in anything they want like in choosing food or drink, in what to wear, whether to use hot or cold water  to bathe, etc. No individual will choose what will hurt him or her therefore abuse is reduced to the minimum. Individuals’ rights are promoted throughout the service. My service user has the right to do anything that they wish to do and if it is what they want as long as it is not dangerous; a risk assessment is then done to stop any abuse happening. I ensure that I promote service users’ rights and choices by allowing them to make their own choices and support them to have the rights of anyone else.’ 15 Unit HSC 024 COMMENTARY FOR EVIDENCE FOR AC 4.1 †¢ Assessment Method: The assessor has used discussion to encourage the learner to think about how the likelihood of abuse can be reduced. ‘Tell me about†¦Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ encourages the learner to provide a more detailed response and to also provide evidence to fully meet AC4.1. The assessment method is valid as it measures the learner’s understanding of how to reduce the likelihood of abuse. †¢ Quality of Evidence: The learner’s response is of a good quality because it reflects a full understanding of how the likelihood of abuse occurring can be reduced. The learner divides up own response to address each part of this AC in full and details how working with person-centred values, encouraging active participation and promoting choice and rights can each specifically reduce the likelihood of abuse from occurring. The learner also includes some good examples of how she applies these approaches to own working practices in own health and social care setting. †¢ Breadth of Evidence: The learner has detailed clearly how the likelihood of abuse may be reduced. The learner’s evidence meets AC4.1 fully in terms of providing an explanation of how working with person-centred values, encouraging active participation and promoting choice and rights can reduce the likelihood of abuse occurring. 16 Unit HSC 024 Assessment Criteria: AC 4.2 – Explain the importance of an accessible complaints procedure for reducing the likelihood of abuse Extract from Discussion: Discussion: ‘Tell me about why an accessible complaints procedure is important for reducing the likelihood of abuse’: Response: ‘The complaints procedure gives the complainant the right to be heard and supported to make their views known. An accessible complaints procedure is understandable and easy to use. It sets out clearly how to make a complaint, the steps that will be taken when the complaint is looked into. It also provides flexibility in relation to target response times. An accessible complaints procedure resolves complaints more quickly as the complainant feels that they are being listened to and their complaint taken seriously. This sets up an open culture of making sure that abuse will not be tolerated in any form and encourages the complainant to not accept this. I remember when Mr R felt very happy when his complaint of being denied sleep was recorded in the complaints procedure. I supported him to write down the complaint and this was taken seriously†¦.’ COMMENTARY FOR EVIDENCE FOR AC 4.2: †¢ Assessment Method: The assessor has used discussion to encourage the learner to think about the importance of an accessible complaints procedure. ‘Tell me about†¦Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ encourages the learner to provide a more detailed response and to also provide evidence to fully meet AC4.2. The assessment method is valid as it measures the learner’s understanding of the importance of an accessible complaints procedure for reducing the likelihood of abuse. †¢ Quality of Evidence: The learner’s response is of a good quality because it reflects a full understanding of how the likelihood of abuse occurring can be reduced by an accessible complaints procedure. The learner begins by detailing her understanding of the meaning of an accessible complaints procedure and then ends on an example of the support provided to an individual in own health and social care setting. †¢ Breadth of Evidence: The learner has detailed clearly how the likelihood of abuse may be reduced. The learner’s evidence meets AC4.2 fully in terms of providing an explanation of the importance of an accessible complaints procedure for reducing the likelihood of abuse. 17 Unit HSC 024 Evidence for Learning Outcome 5 Know how to recognise and report unsafe practices Assessment Criteria: AC 5.1 – Describe unsafe practices that may affect the wellbeing of individuals Extract from Personal Statement: Personal Statement: ‘Describe unsafe practices that may affect the wellbeing of individuals’: Response: ‘Unsanitary conditions can spread infection as cross-contamination can occur and can affect the well-being of the individual and others. Improper hand washing can also pose a risk. Dirty kitchen surfaces and equipment can spread infections, not covering hair when cooking can pose a risk to individual as can not reporting faulty equipment when working or not having cleaning materials can also be unsafe. In terms of health and safety not having risk assessments in place when a service user hurts themselves. Staff not checking when a service user is ill or unsteady on their feet. Staff not recording in care plans about a service user’s wellbeing and health and not monitoring them. Other unsafe practices which also amount to abuse can occur such as leaving a service user on the toilet too long, ignoring or not listening to them.  Marks on body not taken seriously and complaints not taken seriously can put them at more danger, harm and risk of abuse. I ensure that I keep to all the procedures for checking for abuse and the wellbeing of the individuals that I work with; by following these and the individual’s care plan I keep within  the minimum standards of care and also work in a person centred way to make sure all individuals are happy and safe.’ COMMENTARY FOR EVIDENCE FOR AC 5.1: †¢ Assessment Method: The learner’s personal statement provides the learner with an opportunity to express own understanding of unsafe practices. The assessment method is valid as it measures the learner’s understanding and knowledge of unsafe practices that may affect the wellbeing of individuals. †¢ Quality of Evidence: The learner’s response is of a good quality because the learner details own understanding of a range of different unsafe practices that may affect the wellbeing of individuals including those relating to the spread of infection, health and safety, neglect and abuse of individuals. The learner concludes by confirming how she works in line with agreed ways of working: ‘I keep within the minimum standards of care and also work in a person centred way to make sure all individuals are happy and safe.’ †¢ Breadth of Evidence: The learner has given a detailed account of a range of different unsafe practices. The learner’s evidence meets AC5.1 fully in terms of providing a description of unsafe practices that may affect the wellbeing of individuals. 18 Unit HSC 024 Assessment Criteria: AC 5.2 – Explain the actions to take if unsafe practices have been identified Extract from Personal Statement: Personal Statement: ‘Explain the actions to take if unsafe practices have been identified ’: Response: ‘If I identify unsafe practices then I must follow the whistle-blowing procedure and report to the appropriate person(s). I will report to my manager immediately or if it involves my manager then to another appropriate person(s). I will monitor all unsafe practices and make sure that I record  and report in full all the evidence and then will talk to my manager because all unsafe practices are dangerous practices that could cause harm to the individual and others. For example, I talked to my manager last week about things being left on the stairs that may cause service users and others to fall over and hurt themselves. She has talked to the staff and now this has stopped.’ COMMENTARY FOR EVIDENCE FOR AC 5.2: †¢ Assessment Method: The learner’s personal statement provides the learner with an opportunity to express own understanding of the actions to take over unsafe practices. The assessment method is valid as it measures the learner’s understanding and knowledge of the actions to take when unsafe practices have been identified. †¢ Quality of Evidence: The learner’s response is of a good quality because the learner details own understanding of the full actions that need to be taken when unsafe practices have been identified. The learner concludes by explaining the actions taken when unsafe practices were identified in own health and social care setting: ‘†¦I talked to my manager last week about things being left on the stairs that may cause service users and others to fall over and hurt themselves. She has talked to the staff and now this has stopped.’ †¢ Breadth of Evidence: The learner has given a detailed account of the actions that must be taken when unsafe practices occur. The learner’s evidence meets AC5.1 fully in terms of providing an explanation of the actions to take if unsafe practices have been identified. 19 Unit HSC 024 Assessment Criteria: AC 5.3 – Describe the action to take if suspected abuse or unsafe practices have been reported but nothing has been done in response Extract from Personal Statement: Personal Statement: Describe the actions to take if suspected abuse or unsafe  practices have been reported but nothing has been done in response: Response: ‘If suspected abuse or unsafe practices have been reported but nothing has been done in response or if it has to do with my manager then I will report to the next level or manager. If it has to do with my manager then I will report to management, then to the social worker and safeguarding team and to the care quality commission and even to the police depending on the response I get. When I worked in a nursing home there was some abuse of service users being left too long on the toilet and I talked to the nurse in charge and changes were made immediately. I had to record the information and give the nurse and manager a copy of my confidential report. If the nurse or manager had not done this then I would follow the whistle blowing procedure.’ COMMENTARY FOR EVIDENCE FOR AC 5.3: †¢ Assessment Method: The learner’s personal statement provides the learner with an opportunity to express own understanding of the actions to take over reported suspected abuse or unsafe practices that have not been responded to. The assessment method is valid as it measures the learner’s understanding and knowledge of the actions to take when unsafe practices or suspected abuse have been reported but nothing has been done in response. †¢ Quality of Evidence: The learner’s response is of a good quality because the learner details own understanding of the full actions that need to be taken when suspected abuse or unsafe practices have been reported but nothing has been done in response. The learner concludes by explaining the actions taken in relation to unsafe practices that were identified in a health and social care setting: ‘†¦When I worked in a nursing home there was some abuse of service users being left too long on the toilet and I tal ked to the nurse in charge and changes were made immediately. I had to record the information and give the nurse and manager a copy of my confidential report. If the nurse or manager had not done this then I would have followed the whistle blowing procedure.’ †¢ Breadth of Evidence: The learner has given a detailed account of the actions that must be taken when suspected abuse or unsafe practices occur and nothing has been done in response. The learner’s evidence meets AC5.3  fully in terms of providing a description of the actions to take if suspected abuse or unsafe practices have been reported but nothing has been done in response. 20 Unit HSC 024 Summary of How Exemplar Evidence for HSC 024 Meets the Assessment Requirements and Assessment Criteria Variety of assessment methods used Yes Oral and Written questioning Personal Statement Assignment Discussion Valid assessment methods used Yes All assessment methods used were appropriate for validating the learner’s knowledge of all the assessment criteria in this unit. Quality and Breadth of evidence sufficient Yes Evidence provided meets all the assessment criteria fully. 21 Unit HSC 024 This resource has been produced to support your delivery of OCR’s Health and Social qualification. These are not mandatory but are provided to offer you creative and informative materials that you may wish to use with your learners. Disclaimer Please note that whilst every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of the content, OCR’s resources are provided for general information purposes only to be used at the discretion of teachers and centres. The resources are provided for guidance purposes only and do not constitute an endorsed teaching method that is required by the Board. OCR shall not have any liability whatsoever for any losses, including losses for any misinterpretation, or subsequent impact howsoever caused. 22 CONTACT US Keep up to date on the latest news by registering to receive e-alerts at www.ocr.org.uk/updates OCR Customer Contact Centre Vocational qualifications Telephone 024 76 851509 Facsimile 024 76 851633 Email vocational.qualifications@ocr.org.uk For staff training purposes and as part of our quality assurance programme your call may be recorded or monitored.  © OCR 2013 Oxford Cambridge and RSA Examinations is a Company Limited by Guarantee. Registered in England. Registered office 1 Hills Road, Cambridge CB1 2EU. Registered company number 3484466. OCR is an exempt charity.

Psychoanalytic and Trait Approaches Personality Assessment Essay

I have always attributed personality as being a culmination of environment first, biology second, and traits, or what my understanding of them was. I was not aware of Sigmund Freud’s psychoanalytic approach, or the correct definition of the trait theory prior to beginning this class. The psychoanalytic approach to personality defines the origins of personality as being divided in to three parts; the id (unconscious), the superego (preconscious) and the ego (conscious). Each part plays a distinct role in memory, response, desire, decision making, and conscience. With all three parts interacting, conflicting, expending psychic energy, and dictating who we are. In contrast the trait theory approach describes personality characteristics that are stable and are the basis of why individuals to do something, in certain ways, consistently. The psychoanalytic approach is subjective and is not easily measured whereas the trait approach specifically identifies and measures the various tr aits that make up an individual and how they interact with each other to form a personality. Freud believed that personalities are formed in the early stages of childhood, and are a series of sexually themed developmental stages. The first stage; birth to roughly 18 months, is the oral stage. At this stage babies are all about their mouths, and their behavioral patterns originate from this area. Freud believed that during this stage if a negative experience occurs, and too much of the psychosexual energy is expended in this area, then a fixation of psychic energy can occur. The result would be the development of an oral personality as an adult. Adults with oral personalities tend to need some type of oral fulfillment; often putting their hands to their mouths, they may be smokers, or may drink too much. The second psychosexually themed developmental stage that children go through, according to Freud, is the anal stage. This stage, like the first, is where behavioral patterns can emerge depending on the amount of psychosexual energy which is expended. Here, children have to learn control over bodily functions and depending on whether the experience is positive or negative, like behavioral patterns emerge. Freud believed that a negative experience could result in an adult personality that is obsessive, and stubborn. According to Freud, defense mechanisms exist as a way for the ego to deal with things it cannot filter from the anxiety created within the superego and the id. Displacement is a classic example of a defense mechanism. Have you ever had a bad d ay at work where nothing you did would satisfy your boss? Wanting to tell your boss off or acting on the frustrations or feelings would be detrimental to your job status. Instead of acting on that frustration it stays pent up, and by the time you get home from work you explode at your child, or spouse for some insignificant little infraction. Your taking your aggression out on a person who did not pose a threat to you is displacement. A second defense mechanism is reaction formation. Freud believed that using reaction formation allows us to hide how we feel by acting the exact opposite. A good example would be a person who is extremely outspoken about gay rights. Freud would have no doubt believed that because this person’s beliefs were so extreme that this person must be fighting an internal demon; maybe this person was fighting their own secret feelings of attraction for the same sex. Hence the old adage â€Å"†¦doth protest too much, methinks† (Shakespeare, 1601). A third defense mechanism is Intellectualization. This defense mechanism helps a person to distance themselves by removing the emotional side of the circumstance which allows a person to focus from a colder intellectual viewpoint. A good example of this would be a husband that passes away and the wife, also a mother does not allow herself to feel or show her pain for the sake of the children. She reasons that if she shows her pain the children will feel worse and above all else she must protect them so she reads, learns, and concentrates on methods to help get them through it. The Big Five Factor that best describes my personality would be openness. I do have an active imagination, and am open to considering new idea’s, and am not happy in an environment that is routine. I tend to thrive in chaos, and enjoy research. The Big Five factor that least describes me is Agreeableness. I do c onsider myself to be a helpful person, and while I volunteer for many organizations, I tend not to be sympathetic or trusting. I guess I have some trouble categorizing myself as being one way or the other, or having a specific trait over another because I find that it all so subjective. I would have to say the trait theories best align with my personality. I have some trouble identifying with the psychoanalytic personality description. The core theories, though some of them make sense, do not seem to align with what goes on inside my head. I have been through some pretty traumatic things in my life, but I am conscious of all of them. Why? I am so aware of them, have had to feel them in my head, my whole life. What makes me so different from other people who have been able to shove them to an unconscious level? And, is that better? The psychoanalytic approach as found in the text says that defense mechanisms are believed to offer an instrument for the mind to be able to isolate what it cannot deal with, yet this approach does not offer any stable patterns on what makes one person less able to deal with something than another. In conclusion, it appears that no one theory easily defines what makes up an individual’s personality and so far it all appears to be subjective. Reference: Burger, Jerry M. (2008). Personality (7th ed.). Mason, Ohio: Cengage Learning.

Einstein Essay Example

Einstein Essay Example Einstein Essay Einstein Essay Essay Topic: Apocalypse Now Einsteinian concept of space time 1.0. Introduction Meditations on the nature of time began with the questions about its nature of existence. Though many problems are related to the concept of time, these problems will be more in the epistemological realm and less in the ontological level. Time is the basic category of existence,â„ ¢ wrote Heidegger, referring very definitely to time. Time is the immediate datum of consciousness,â„ ¢ said Bergson. Time, for Kant, is the formal a priori condition of all appearance whatsoever.â„ ¢ Aristotle defined time as the number of motion in respect of before and after.â„ ¢ St. Augustine, when asked about time, conferred: What, then, is time If no one asks me, I know; if I wish to explain to him who asks, I know not.â„ ¢ In his book A Sense of Time Vatsyayan explains beautifully, the different thoughts about time. Usually when somebody says to us you missed meeting him; he was waiting for you long time. Then I may ask, when did he goâ„ ¢ The answer can be: he came at 12 oâ„ ¢ clock and went just now; he must have reached the road junction. Here my question was about time, but the answer was related to space and distance i.e. 12 oâ„ ¢ clock is when the small and big metallic pointers in the clock meets at 12, which is a spatial representation and road junction (from the house)â„ ¢ is distance. Ordinary use of time is without much problem provided we have a watch or clock and we know how to say it. This experiential aspect gives rise to the philosophical aspects when we dive deep into the river of time. It is interesting to quote Kant here Time is ideal, but the concept of time is not derived from sense experience alone[further] Kant insists that all possible knowledge of objects mus t be tied to and constrained by sense experience.â„ ¢ 2.0. What is Time A question we generally ask and easily get the answer immediately is whatâ„ ¢s timeâ„ ¢ But if somebody stares at us when the question is asked he must be a philosopher. For many centuries people believed that time was essentially cyclic in nature, but later the idea of time replaced with the linear progression measured by the clock (though the time showed in the clock is circular) and calendar ( which seems to be linear). The problem of time has the two aspects: 1) As it is lived by man, whether linear or circular. 2) In its relation to its existence, whether it is eternal, infinite or relative. Whether we like it or not, we cannot escape from time. That may be the reason why the 3-dimensional experience of space was added with one more dimension of time to make it four-dimensional experiences. So what will we say Time flows in us or we flow in time Be it circular or linear, time is not at all static. If then, we are always caught up in the questions, if time is so much inter-related to oneâ„ ¢s life what it isâ„ ¢ What is the moment which always escapes from us What is the relation between the no-longer-past and present What is the relation between not-yet-future and present Because they confused the intelligible with eternal the early philosophers saw that in every exercise of the intelligence we detect an attempt to suspend and even to suppress time. This obliged them to look down individual feeling, moving, enduring element in human beings to nothingness and to conceive of eternal life as a logical life absorbed in the contemplation of unity. 2.1. Greek view of Time Greeks, though they believed in the cosmo-centric universe, had a good knowledge in astronomy. They had a cyclical view of time by which they believed nothing new can be introduced onto earth. For them, Plato would be born again and teach in the same school in Athens where he once taught. As a circle cannot have a beginning and an end, so as the cyclical time cannot have beforeâ„ ¢ and afterâ„ ¢. The time was infiniteâ„ ¢. For them, the concept of time and the cyclical movement of stars were linked. The universe was a reflection of the divine. The metaphysical necessaries goodness, truth and beauty are present in the universe. The cosmic order is the note of a universal symphony of harmonyâ„ ¢. Aristotle in his cosmological views considered that there are seven spheres in this universe and in the 8th sphere is the unmoved mover. This view was also a teleological one, for we came from him and ultimately moving to him. But the contradiction seen here is that how from this cyclical time † where events appear, disappear and reappear † do we go out 2.2. The Christian Concept of Time Christianity washed away the Greek concept of cyclical time. While for Greeks time was reversible and lacked the concept of teleology, the Christian concept of linear time was based on the firm belief in the Bible, and was irreversible. From the days of Jews of the Old Testament people were looking for the Messiah and after the Messiah had reached the Christians believe that they were freed from the bondages of sin. The history of incarnation of Christ is the centre of the redemptive history of the Christians. There was a time ran before the birth of Jesus. St. Augustine declared Christ died, once and for all, for our sins. There is a linear time running in the Bible from the first chapter of Genesis to the last chapter of the Apocalypse, which describes the salvation of humanity by the redemptive suffering, death and resurrection. The time runs in a linear process from the first fall of man. This is not a cyclical one, rather the gift of life given to him only once. Time as linear and irreversible always moves forward in one direction. It had a beginning, however remote, and an end, however distant. Now the time, as linear and irreversible has an orientation and meaning which it did not have in cyclical and reversible time. 3.0. Background of Einsteinâ„ ¢s Relativity Theory Every man is influenced by some or other external influences, no matter whatever field it may be. Scientists are not an exception for this. Einstein had a long way to go many centuries back. Let us see the different persons and concepts which acted as stepping stones for the success of the Einstein of today. 3.1. Geometry There shall be 101 questions about any theory. When these epistemological questions are answered by proving that the theory is evident or self-evident by reason, it is with satisfaction we accept that the theory has a rational description of the world. Such a kind of self-evident theory is geometry and mathematics. Even in geometry there are different geometries which have different explanation. 3.1.1. The Development of Euclidean Geometry It is interesting to note that before the beginning of great era of Greek philosophy there was a quite systematic knowledge of a wide range of Geometric truth. The Greek mathematicians have treated many problems like congruence of plane figures, division of angles into equal parts, and so on. The greatest bulk of their systematic knowledge was in the study of plane figures bounded by segments of straight lines. One of those ancient geometries was formed by Euclid (c. 300 B.C). These results like the sum of interior angels of a triangle is equal to a straight angleâ„ ¢ and that the square of the length of hypotenuse of a right triangle is equal to the sum of the squares of the lengths of its sidesâ„ ¢ are familiar to school children. The early Greeks thought that this universe was an unending plane. This may be the reason why Euclid must have built geometry of plane figures bounded by segments of straight lines. His geometry consisted of a system of theorems logically ded uced from five axioms and five postulates. Euclidean geometry specified the properties of Euclidean space and these properties were assumed to be logically certain. So, naturally what happened was that the philosophers who followed after Euclid took this geometry to be logically true. Thus was the concept of space and time created by the Greeks, medieval as well as classical physicists. The five axioms and five postulates are only assumptions which are not proved, but taken to be true. From them remaining truth of geometry are deduced. What relation does these postulates and axioms hold is not at all clear. The form (not the original form) of the axioms and postulates for our purpose is given below. AXIOMS 1. Things equal to the same thing are equal to each other. 2. Equals added to equals yield equals 3. Equals removed from equals yield equals 4. Coincident figures are equal to one another in all respects 5. A whole is greater than any of its parts. POSTULATES 1. Two points determine a straight line. 2. A straight line may be extended in a straight line in either direction. 3. About any point a circle at a specified radius exists. 4. All right angles are equal 5. If a straight line falling across two straight lines makes the sum of the interior angles on the same side less than two right angles then the two straight lines intersect, if sufficiently extended, on that side. A logical conclusion from the 5th postulate was that through a point outside a given line one and only one (parallel) line can be drawn which does not intersect the given line, no matter how far it is extended. 3.1.2. Non-Euclidean Geometries During the nineteenth century two mathematicians, George Friedrich Benhard Riemann (1826-1866) and Lobachevski suggested two different geometries for two theoretical spaces. The problem was lying in the fifth postulate. And both of them refuted and postulated another possible postulate. Riemann postulated that through a point outside a given line no parallel line can be drawn and the lines will intersect at some point. Lobachevski, on other hand, postulated that through a point outside a given line infinitude of intersecting lines may be drawn. These two different sets of axioms gave birth to two non-Euclidean geometries. Though during the time of formulation they were regarded as mathematical speculations of theoretical space, later Einstein made Riemannian geometry a stepping stone of his success. 3.2. Astronomy The world picture was systematized about 140 A.D. by Ptolemy of Alexandria in his famous work Almagest. It was Ptolemy who proposed that earth being the centre of the solar system. Though he was aware the earth was spherical in shape [because of his proof that Polar Star was higher in the north and lower in the south; also an eclipse of the moon was observed at different times thought the eclipse was single objective event and should be seen everywhere at same time] he was not admitting that it could move. Though he was a great astronomer, he also took the commonsensical opinion into consideration and concluded earth is at the centre. This principle had dominated the human minds for more than thousand years. Then came Nicholas Copernicus (1473-1543) to undermine the hitherto principle which governed the world. It is remarkable to applaud his scientific knowledge. Contemporary period to Copernicus was Tycho Brahe who was a builder of outstanding instruments. From him, later, h is student Johann Kepler continued the work with precise instruments. He was the one who determined that Mars was also elliptical in shape from the many individual observations of the course of the motion of Mars. Thus with these mere measurements he suggested the other laws of planetary motion, called after him The Keplers lawsâ„ ¢. Kepler used to dream, what we call the impossible. This may be the reason why he worked hard for factual accuracy. But he himself in his work Harmony of the world (1619) humbly wrote that he used to dream natural harmony present in the heavenly movements, but later he discovered that they were more perfect than the perfection of his imagination. His expressions in the following words are more impressive: Here I cast my dice and write a book to be read by my contemporaries or by the future generations. It may wait long centuries for its reader. But even God himself had to wait for six thousand years for those who contemplate his work. Astronomy got its realm a little closer to us by the observations of the universe made by Galileo Galilei (1564-1642) through the invention of the telescope. He constructed it after hearing about such instruments used by Kepler. He directed his telescope towards the moon, the Venus, Saturn and Jupiter and found the marvellous reality. By the invention of all these things and the discoveries made by this he was establishing slowly what Copernicus proposed was true. But poor Galileo had to pay with many years of imprisonment for his adherence to the Copernican theory. Galileo invited many noted philosophers from the University to take a view either at the moon or the telescope. But all closed their eyes to the light of truth. Galileo in his letter to Kepler thanked him for having taken interest in his investigations and giving full credence to his contentions. He was pouring out his heart in the letter saying to Kepler that those philosophers in the University compares the text a nd try to existence of the new planets by mere logical arguments. They (the philosophers) assert themselves comparing the text rather than through the study of the world or nature. He even shared the experience with a scientist who was when asked to take a look at the telescope refused to do so telling that he might be confused. Galileo was the first man to establish the basic laws of mechanics. He was the first man to investigate the laws of falling bodies. He had no watch to measure the time of the falling body from a distance. In spite of this difficulty he was able to determine the relationship between the distance and the time of fall, and also the law of acceleration. Finally, he formulated the basic law of motion that every body unaffected by external forces moves in a straight line at a uniform speed and that this motion can never stop by itself. We see that Galileo had discovered many laws which are merely bits of factual information. But Galileo might not even have thought the far reaching applicability of his findings which was destined to attain significance when the English physicist Isaac Newton (1642-1727) came onto the scene. Newtonâ„ ¢s achievement was that he combined all the individual discoveries of Copernicus, Kepler and Galileo into one magnificent system. His contribution to physics was this: He discovered that the power of attraction or gravitation proposed by Galileo concerning falling bodies had a far reaching region which transcends the earth. This power of attraction is a property of all mass, and that it determines the planetsâ„ ¢ behaviour across cosmic distances. Newton discovered that this power of attraction diminishes with distance. Newton even calculated the length of time required for the revolution of the moon around the earth and wanted to know whether this gravitational power was indeed responsible for the revolving of the moon in a particular way. But unfortunately Newton was not able to prove it. Later, astronomers gave a new measurement of earthâ„ ¢s radius and showed the blunder made by Newton in basing the calculation on incorrect radius of earth. New radius of earth proved Newton was right and thus the Copernican conception of the universe was, at last, scientifically established. Also as Kepler dreamt the universe was in perfect harmony in their cosmic motions. 3.3. Electro-Magnetic Field Einsteinâ„ ¢s doctrines are by no means an outgrowth of astronomical reflections alone, but also they are grounded in the facts of the theory of electricity and light as well. At this juncture of finishing the discussion on astronomy and mechanics let us proceed to the theory of electricity and light in order to make room for the discussion on Einsteinâ„ ¢s theory of Relativity. We might think that it would be easy to answer the problem of light too by explaining electrical and optical phenomena. But the studies show that the problem was solved the other way round i.e. by studying electrical and optical phenomena we solve the problem of astronomy and mechanics. Light is the electromagnetic radiation that can be detected by the human eye. In terms of wavelength, electromagnetic radiation occurs over an extremely wide range, from gamma rays with a wavelength of 3 ? 10-14 centimetre to long radio waves measured in millions of kilometres. In that spectrum the wavelengths visible to humans occupy a very narrow band, from about 7 ? 10-5 centimetre (red light) down to about 4 ? 10-5 centimetre (violet). The spectral regions adjacent to the visible band are often referred to as light also, infrared at the one end and ultraviolet at the other. The first step in understanding the phenomenon called lightâ„ ¢ was taken by a Danish astronomer Olaf Roemer during Newtonâ„ ¢s time. It was he who discovered the velocity of light in 1676 by his investigation the eclipses of Jupiterâ„ ¢s satellites. He noticed the appearance reappearance of these moons in their orbital motion when they passed the cone-shaped shadow of the planet. As a result, he found that the duration of such darkening of the moon were not always precisely the same but varied by seconds, according to the time of the year. Roemer observed these durations and inferred the velocity of light. The explanation he gives about the above figure is that: The path of the earth is here portrayed as an ellipse with the sun (s) occupying one of its foci. Jupiter (J), with the orbit of one of its moons, is found to the right. When the moon enters the conical shadow of Jupiter at point M, it sends the last beam of light reaching the earth several minutes later at point E1. After a few day the moon emerges from the conical shadow, turns slowly around Jupiter and reaches once more point M (in reality this is not the same point M, insofar as Jupiter with its moons will have moved forward; but this movement is very slow and can be disregarded in our explanation). At the moment of this second disappearance the moon sends again its last beam to the earth. The latter (the earth) has moved in the meantime to E2, however, so that the beam has now a longer trip to make. If the earth would have remained at E1 itself the astronomer could have seen the disappearance of the moon at definite intervals the time required the light to travel at ME1. But this is not the case because the earth is moving. So now the astronomer with his calculations of (i) duration of each revolution of moon (ii) the distances of ME1 and ME2, calculate the intervals of time required for propagation of light. Now, Newton who knew the discovery of Roemer explained the propagation of light as the emission of tiny particles thrown into space and capable of passing through air and gases because virtually they are small particles. Those who supported the view of Isaac Newton were Henry Lord Brougham and David Brewster. The historical background of this theory which proposes light as particles traces back to the first edition of Opticksâ„ ¢ by Isaac Newton in 1704. Book III of this edition contains 16 questions concerning nature of light. Later editions expanded this number to 31. Query 29 begins as follows: Are not the Rays of light very small Bodies emitted from shining substances For such Bodies will pass through uniform Mediums in right lines without bending into the shadow, which is the Nature of the Rays of light. They will also be capable of several properties, and be able to conserve their properties unchanged in passing through several Mediums, which is another condition of the Rays of light. But later Newton was proved wrong by the mathematician Christian Huyghens who recognised that the phenomenon of light-transmission was by means of wave-propagation. It was put like a cart before the horse. Only a few scientists accepted it, because in ordinary and easily observable facts of light-propagation Huyghens theory had extreme difficulty in offering explanations. It explained the phenomena of the bending and interference of light easily understood, but it was very difficult to explain the rectilinear propagation of light. This is why scientists cling to Newtonâ„ ¢s emission theory of light which explained the rectilinear propagation of light easily. An analogy is given to show that wave-theory, though complicated, is true comparing to Newtonâ„ ¢s emission theory. The analogy was this: when we look from a high mountain at the smooth surface of the sea we will not be inclined to think that, in reality, it has the character of a wave like curved surface; rather, we will visualize it on a large scale and consider it as a plane. Similarly, when we face nature in everyday experience, we see it only in a broad outline. It needs the sharp eyes of science to explain everything. The scientific discovery with great precision done by Roemer proves that naive beliefs will not withstand long. This is a clear evidence for those who attack science saying that science does not study anything from the nature, but only from the laboratory conditions which control the phenomena which do not exist in nature. The victory of wave theory of light was achieved in connection with the phenomenon of interference. The theory can be described in this way that the addition of two brightness results in darkness or to follow an equation: light +light= dark. This phenomenon cannot be observed in daily life, but by a special arrangement of light rays. But if it is for Newtonian theory the combination of two material particles can result in more material, not the negation of it. By another example this can be made clear. Let us imagine a wave produced by the swinging of a rope attached to a flag-pole. The arrival of a wave-crest at the top of the pole will result in a shaking of the pole, and a similar shaking in the opposite direction will be produced by the arrival of a wave-trough. If we produce, in such a way, that both wave-crest and wave-trough reach the top of the pole simultaneously, then the crest and trough will cancel each other and no tremor of the pole will occur. We can symbolically put this as: push +push =repose. This will be further made clear when we understand light is not light-particlesâ„ ¢ but light-waves.â„ ¢ This great merit of making the theory of light-waves reasonable and true belongs to the French Physicists Augustine Fresnel. There are two types of waves: longitudinal (linear waves) and transverse (waves across something). Water waves belong to transverse waves in which individual particles of water dance up and down and move transverse to the progressive direction of the wave. In longitudinal waves individual particles move back and forth, in which thickening and thinning take place and spread forward. Sound waves belong to longitudinal waves. Fresnel, from his study proved that the light was connected not to longitudinal waves but to transverse waves and the studies dealt primarily with the so-called polarization of light, a phenomenon characterised by the transverse quality of light. Then the question raised was that if light is not a substance but a wave, which also a phenomenon of motion in a medium, then what is that mediumâ„ ¢ The proponents of wave-theory of light of course believed that light can move only through a medium and designated this imaginary medium, ether. This designation wa s something interesting because water-waves are produced because of the material water particles dance up and down, but this movement of light wave presents an immaterial phenomenon on a material background. But we need such a background to explain the movement of light waves. But yet the question about the ether remains: if ether is present for light waves to move it should also exhibit itself in some other manner too, such as water can be experience in many ways other than the transverse-waves it produces. In what form did the ether exist Hence to know the presence of ether we need to have finest physical instruments. Similar to that of current arising in water, which is transverse waves, the assumption of current, other than light, in ether is questioned. But the results attained by experiments were that there was no ether. The results of the experiments of science were not in favour of light travelling in a medium. Then, we need to look into the nature of water itself. Water is not a uniform substance but material (atomic) particles. This realisation showers some positive light for our discussion. These so-called scientists denied the existence of ether only because it cannot be experienced anywhere else other than to support the propagation of light. This denial from the part of scientists was because they were experimenting only macroscopic relations. Now, thus, our discussion turns to the microscopic dimensions. This path in the microscopic dimension reaches in the progress made in another physical discipline, the theory of electricity. Here we come across with field of forces which are different from mechanics. We are going to lay down the following rule regarding the artificial field of force. There is always a muscular sensation felt when we start or stop a motion of matter. The measure of the force applied is scientifically calculated by the momentum in a given time. Force is not a mysterious agency, but a flow of motion of molecules which is moving to the body that is being acted upon which can be seen in a laboratory set up. But what is dealt in this section is a different kind of field of force, i.e. electromagnetic field of force. We have bridged between the waves of wireless and light rays. Waves of wireless are of higher frequency because of shorter waves. But the light rays are of longer waves which are not seen by the human eye. All these waves together are called a spectrum. There are electrical waves of different wavelength in a spectrum. By this knowledge of multitude of electrical waves scientists have succeeded in producing electrical waves which has the frequency greater than that of light. These waves of high penetrating capacity are the X-rays, discovered by Roentgen. When examined the radioactive substances we find that they send out even faster vibrating and more penetrating radiation namely the gamma-rays. In the spectrum of electric waves light is only a small narrow section, only for which the human eye is sensitive. The highest known frequency is gamma rays. The eye responds only to the frequency of light. To know the other frequencies we need complicated instruments. Though the sun emits rays of different realms, the eye is sensitive only of light rays. These rays are permeated on the earth permits for an action between human beings and things which we call seeingâ„ ¢. The biological set up of our eye is in such a way to receive only light rays. But we avail ourselves of other physical instruments to modify the action of the waves of higher and lower frequency than that of the light and enjoy the effects which our sense organs register as visual or auditory phenomena. At this juncture it is worth knowing the experimental investigations of Michael Faraday (1791-1867). He was the first to produce an electric current from a magnetic field, invented the first electric motor and dynamo, demonstrated the relation between electricity and chemical bonding, discovered the effect of magnetism on light, and discovered and named diamagnetism, the peculiar behaviour of certain substances in strong magnetic fields. He provided the experimental, and a good deal of the theoretical foundation upon which the English man James Clerk Maxwell erected classical electromagnetic field theory which shows that the electrical current flows not only in the wire, but also the electrical and magnetic fields found in the air or empty space contain power and energy. This existence of electric and magnetic fields permeate space and penetrate bodies. It is not a kind of substance or existence as air or water, but a different kind of microscopic existence. They have the qualit y which the material bodies do not have i.e. penetrability. They are present everywhere, but at the same time do not enclose space. While the material body can be placed alongside each otherâ„ ¢ the electric field can be placed within each other.â„ ¢ When they are placed within each other they both altogether form a new electrical field. But simultaneously when the third new field is created the other two fields can still be explained. Hence it will be good to retain the word fieldsâ„ ¢ opposed to substanceâ„ ¢. All material bodies contain electrons. These are negative charges circulating around heavier nuclei that are positively charged. When an electric field is applied to a material body, the average positions of the negative charges relative to the positions of the positive charges are changed. This creates an internal electric field. Similarly the action of a magnetic field on a material changes the movement of the electrons and sets up an internal magnetic field. This study of electricity taught us to conceive materiality in a new way i.e. not only as substanceâ„ ¢ but also as fields.â„ ¢ We can consider ether in this concept of matter of microscopic form. This binding-together of electric and magnetic conditions through the phenomena of induction (creating magnetic field by means of electric current, or vice versa) was done by Maxwell. Thus he reduced optics to phenomena of electricity. His mathematical conclusions made him to propose that electrical vibrations spreads through the space and they are identical with light which is nothing other than electrical phenomenon similar to the electric or magnetic fields arising in the area surrounded by electrical currents. The difference between electric fields and magnetic fields is that the electric fields have extraordinarily high rate of vibrations. Though these were established with mathematical precisions Maxwell was himself not able to give any experimental proof. But these were confirmed by other experiments in two lines. On the one side Starkâ„ ¢s and Zeemannâ„ ¢s effect proved that the electric and magnetic fields can have effect on light generating structures or radiant atoms and thus prove that the emission of light was essentially an electrical phenomenon. On the other hand Heinrich Hertz (1857-1894) a German physicist began his studies of the electromagnetic theory of James Clerk Maxwell. Between 1885 and 1889, while he was professor of physics at the Karlsruhe Polytechnic, he produced electromagnetic waves in the laboratory and measured their length and velocity. He showed that the nature of their vibration and their susceptibility to reflection and refraction were the same as those of light and heat waves. As a result he established beyond any doubt that light and heat are electromagnetic radiations. It i s interesting to see how a discovery made purely for theoretical reasons in search of understanding natural phenomena can yield unsuspected benefit, never thought even by Maxwell himself. These fields should not be regarded to be bound to a material medium. These electric waves are in which electricity is continually alternated between positive and negative. They are independent of material particles which have up and down, but move through space. Today we are able to say that light is a simply a train of electrical waves of high frequency. Now, as we conclude this discussion we introduce a new type of wave called electrical wave other than longitudinal waves and transverse waves. These electric waves pervades everywhere in all directions. Though earlier we proposed that light is connected to transverse waves we alter it because we need to presuppose a current in the ether as we see current in the water. The problem of presupposing a current in the ether is that current also presupposes light as a solid or material object or particle, because water is a material particle. But what we conclude here is that light is an electrical wave including electric process rather than a mechanical one. It is not related to water waves or sound waves, but more related to radio waves. But the presence of ether is not answered in negative yet. 3.4. Presence of Ether Proved Wrong The explanations in the previous sections made clear that light is not water wave or sound wave, rather electrical waves of the electrical spectrum, more akin to radio waves emitted into space from aerials and consisting in rapid changes of an electric and magnetic field. Yet, the question about the medium of light-travel is remaining. We had explained that ether is not a substance in the mechanical sense of the world. But, it is to be discovered yet whether there cannot be a particular fine substance underlying electrical fields so that we can answer the existence of the unknown ether in negative. The justification given to the presence of ether was that for our cruder senses only cruder material substances can be seen and ether being a fine matter cannot be seen to our senses.â„ ¢ Scientists cannot take this explanation for the presence of ether. That too for physics which dive deep into the nature of things should look for precision than supposition. The theory of Einste in gained important only because it explained itself with the experimental facts more than the structure of thought or the depth of its ideas. The position that the theory enjoys today is only because its relation to the experimental facts. Many contemporary scientists of Einsteinâ„ ¢s time want to determine the movement of this hypothetical (theoretical) light-ether. We concluded by saying that ether fills the universe for the light to travel, which means earth had to move through it. The aim of the scientists was to measure the movement of the earth with regard to the ether. But, as usual, result blinked negative. In our previous section we mentioned the light is of the quality penetrability and so, different from substance which is of impenetrability. But we should also take into consideration the second property which is the determination of state of motion.â„ ¢ For example, we shall take water itself into consideration. The waves of the water are in movement and the velocity is calculated both during the low tide and high tide. The velocity will be higher when it is at high tide e.g. waves moving from ship to island. Only with regard to the wave the speed of the wave is equal in all direction. This is what we understand from state of motion.â„ ¢ Only with respect to the water the water waves receives the natural value. Water and state of motion of water are distinctive. Now we shall take this reflection for the explanation of the astronomical relation of ether. Let us compare water and ether, water-waves and light-waves. As we know light travels the world-space and ether is filled as mass of water in which planets float like isles. Thus there should be a relation between the state of motion of ether and state of motion of planets. Consequently there will be variation in the velocity of light in ether and velocity of light on a planet, earth. Light has no property which says it is like water waves or air waves. As we have mentioned earlier light has the property of impenetrability, there is also the second property of light as an electric field which is the determination of state of motion. To explain the concept of state of motion let us now take the example of throwing a stone to a calm water surface. The velocities of the water wave when it is at rest and when it is in motion are different to that of water surface. Only with regard to the water surface the velocity of water is detected. That is what we understand by the determination of state of motion. Such reflections were entertained with that of the presence and movement of ether. The scientists were questioning the relation of ether to astronomical objects. As light traverses the worldâ„ ¢s space, ether must fill it like a great mass of water in which planets float like isles. In so far as planets move around the sun, they must be characterised by a different state of motion from that of ether. Thus one comes to the assumption that the velocity of light, as measured on planet like the earth, must vary with direction, simply because ether is understood as substratum of light waves and only with regard to it can the velocity of light receives its natural value. But all these astronomical relations were in assumptions till Michelson with his devised instrument proved that the presence of ether is impossible. Michelson began constructing an interferometer send the two parts of light beam along perpendicular paths, then bring them back together. If the light waves had, in the interim, fallen out of step, interference fringes of alternating light and dark bands would be obtained. From the width and number of those fringes delicate measurements could be made, comparing the velocity of light rays travelling at right angles to each other. The arrangement was like this: The apparatus consisted of two horizontal metal bars AB and AC. In A there is a source of light from which rays are sent to B and C where they are reflected in a mirror and meet again at A. The question is: if the rays leave A simultaneously, will they return to it simultaneously This would be the case were the apparatus and its metal bars to rest motionless in ether, for then the speed of light is equally great in both directions AB and AC. But the apparatus rests on the earth and hence participates in the motion of the earth through ether. It follows that the velocity of light must be different in the two directions. A simple calculation shows that, when the earth moves through ether in the direction AB, the ray A-B-A must return to the starting point a little later than A-C-A. Michelson felt sure at that time that it was possible to prove the tardy return of that ray; after all, his methods were exact enough, and he used the finest optical instruments. The belated arrival of the ray could be proved by means of interference, by the appearance of shadow-bands created by the coincidence of hills and the dales of the two current of waves. Yet the surprising result was that no shadow-bands appeared at all. It was Michelsons intention to use the interferometer to measure the earths velocity against the etherâ„ ¢ that was then thought to make up the basic substratum of the universe. If the earth were travelling through the light-conducting ether, then the speed of the light travelling in the same direction would be expected to be equal to the velocity of light plus the velocity of the earth, whereas the speed of light travelling at right angles to the earths path would be expected to travel only at the velocity of light. His earliest experiments in Berlin showed no interference fringes, however, which seemed to signify that there was no difference in the speed of the light rays and, therefore, no earth motion relative to the ether. In 1883 he accepted a position as professor of physics at the Case School of Applied Science in Cleveland and there concentrated his efforts on improving the delicacy of his interferometer experiment. By 1887, with the help of his colleague, American chemi st Edward Williams Morley, he was ready to announce the results of what has since come to be called the Michelson-Morley experiment. Those results were still negative; there were no interference fringes and apparently no motion of the earth relative to the ether. It was perhaps the most significant negative experiment in the history of science. In terms of classical Newtonian physics, the results were paradoxical. Evidently, the speed of light plus any other added velocity was still equal only to the speed of light. To explain the result of the Michelson-Morley experiment, physics had to be recast on a new and more refined foundation, something that resulted, eventually, in Albert Einsteins formulation of the theory of relativity in 1905. These many experiments were made but nothing could prove the existence of ether and it was better to stop believing in ether. In the opinion of Einstein there was no such thing called ether, in the sense of a carrying medium of light and there was no special frame of reference in which the velocity of light is equally great in all direction, but this is the case in every uniformly moving frame of reference. At last, since the existence of ether could not be determined Einstein concluded that there was no such thing called ether. In Michelsons experiment he showed the velocity of light, not measured in one single direction, but as the totality of time necessary for a light-ray to travel there and back to the same point. Einsteinâ„ ¢s contribution was that related to single direction which says that for every uniformly moving frame of reference the velocity of light is equal in all directions. Then a question is raised how do we know that the velocity is identical in both the directionsâ„ ¢ This takes us to the famous doctrine of Einstein, relativity of simultaneity.â„ ¢ 4.0. What Is Theory Of Relativity We see that the post-modern philosophy giving importance to individuals because every one is unique. Uniquenessâ„ ¢ is thought of only when there are minimum two. Why to go to such a difficult understanding when we have simple examples at hand Take for example, somebody asking which side of the road is your house, right or left I can answer it only being in a reference i.e. from the side of junction X it is on to the right side and from the side of junction Y it is on to the left side. Like this every assertion makes sense only being in a particular frame of reference. Likewise the answer to the question is it day or night nowâ„ ¢ depends on the location of which part of the world we are in. Once the people believed that earth was flat and assumed that everywhere on earth the vertical distance is same, but when it was discovered that the earth is spherical the distance upâ„ ¢ and downâ„ ¢ became relative. No one questioned the concept of space and time which was proposed by Newton who used Euclidean geometry. But there came the scientist Albert Einstein (1879-1955) whose new physics arose from his study of problems relating to the transmission of light and other electromagnetic vibrations. But to solve these problems Einstein had to postulate that the velocity of light was constant in all frames of reference. This basic assumption of Einstein brushed away the notion of simultaneity in classical physics which had the assumption that velocity of light changes according to the frames of reference. These are the concepts he takes up in his special theory of relativity which he proposed in 1905. One of the consequences of Special Theory of Relativity was that the space and time which was established as absolute by Newton was re-established as relative by Einstein. Newton: Newton, a God-fearing man, was a very humble scientist. He was humble enough to acknowledge his predecessors in saying: If I have gone further in my experiments it is only because I stood the shoulders of the giants. Newton proposed the concept of absolute time and time was independent from the frame of reference. Let us see in Newtonâ„ ¢s own words in which he described two understanding of time. He defines time as follow: Absolute, true, mathematical time, of itself, and from its own nature, true, flows equably without relation to anything external, and by another name is called duration: relative, apparent, and common time, is some sensible and external measure of duration by the means of motion, which is commonly used instead of true time; such as an hour, a day, a month, a year. Newton was a scientist who based his laws observing the everyday world. The nature was an immediate picture by which a scientist can easily understand the events. Newtonâ„ ¢s first contribution to science was the laws of motion. The first law states that until and unless an external force is applied the object continues to be in the state of rest or in a state of uniform motion. But later Newtonâ„ ¢s law was replaced by saying that moving objects come to rest eventually because of friction â€Å" friction of air, friction of water, friction between substances and the like. For Newton, mathematical time was real time and not merely a conceptual construct or an abstraction from matter and motion. Newton conceives of true time as flowing in a single mathematical line, independently of all matter and motion. The ontological existence of time was in a particular manner. It was neither substance nor accident, but it was an emanent (coming out) of God. Time was real and it was imp ossible for God to exist without time. God was also with time and temporal existence was attributed to God by Newton. Since God necessarily exists He must exist at some time, namely always. Because Newton calls time as emanation; he denies the aspect of creation for time. God as a creator of everything in time He existed prior to time but with time. He based his metaphysical assumption on appeal to God. Absolute space and Absolute time were manifestations of God. For him, space was eternal and changeless. Newton conceived of space itself as having an absolute position, so that any portion of space (as opposed to any body in space) was fixed. As Newton perfected the absolutistic conceptions of space and time which were supported by Democritus, Euclid and other, Einstein perfected the relativistic conceptions of space time which were in the line of Parmenides, Aristotle and Leibniz. Einstein, the inventor of relativity theory, harmonized in this single theory the ideas of scientists like Mach, Lorentz and Maxwell. This is also called as revolutionary physical theory because it brushed away the notion of space and time of classical mechanics. The views of time and space, which I have to set forth, have their foundation in experimental physics. Therein is their strength. Their tendency is revolutionary. From henceforth space in itself and time in itself sink to mere shadows and only a kind of union of the two preserves an independent existence. (H. Minkowski) 4.1. The Special Theory Of Relativity Classical physics owes its definitive formulation to the British scientist Sir Isaac Newton. According to Newton, when one physical body influences another body, this influence results in a change of that bodys state of motion, its velocity; that is to say, the force exerted by one particle on another results in the latters changing the direction of its motion, the magnitude of its speed, or both. Conversely, in the absence of such external influences, a particle will continue to move in one unchanging direction and at a constant rate of speed. This statement, Newtons first law of motion, is known as the law of inertia. As motion of a particle can be described only in relation to some agreed frame of reference, Newtons law of inertia may also be stated as the assertion that there exist frames of reference (so-called inertial frames of reference) with respect to which particles, not subject to external forces, move at constant speed in an unvarying direction. Ordinarily, all laws of classical mechanics are understood to hold with respect to such inertial frames of reference. Each frame of reference may be thought of as realized by a grid of surveyors rods permitting the spatial fixation of any event, along with a clock describing the time of its occurrence. According to Newton, any two inertial frames of reference are related to each other in that the two respective grids of rods move relative to each other only linearly and uniformly (with constant direction and speed) and without rotation, whereas the respective clocks differ from each other at most by a constant amount (as do the clocks adjusted to two different time zones on earth) but go at the same rate. Except for the arbitrary choice of such a constant time difference, the time appropriate to various inertial frames of reference, then, is the same. If a certain physical process takes, say, one hour as determined in one inertial frame of reference, it will take precisely one hour with respect to any other inertial frame; and if two events are observed to take place simultaneously by an observer attached to one inertial frame, they will appear simultaneous to all other inertial observers. This universality of time and time determinations is usually referred to as the absolute cha racter of time. The idea that a universal time can be used indiscriminately by all, irrespective of their varying states of motion†that is, by a person at rest at his home, by the driver of an automobile, and by the passenger aboard an airplane†is so deeply ingrained in most people that they do not even conceive of alternatives. It was only at the turn of the 20th century that the absolute character of time was called into question as the result of a number of ingenious experiments described below. As long as the building blocks of the physical universe were thought to be particles and systems of particles that interacted with each other across empty space in accordance with the principles enunciated by Newton, there was no reason to doubt the validity of the space-time notions just sketched. This view of nature was first placed in doubt in the 19th century by the discoveries of a the English scientist Michael Faraday, and the theoretical work of the Scottish-born physicist James Clerk Maxwell, all concerned with electric and magnetic phenomena. Electrically charged bodies and magnets do not affect each other directly over large distances, but they do affect one another by way of the so-called electromagnetic field, a state of tension spreading throughout space at a high but finite rate, which amounts to a speed of propagation of approximately 186,000 miles (300,000 kilometres) per second. As this value is the same as the known speed of light in empty space, Maxwell hypothesiz ed that light itself was a species of electromagnetic disturbance; his guess has been confirmed experimentally, first by the production of light like waves by entirely electric and magnetic means in the laboratory by a German physicist, Heinrich Hertz, in the late 19th century which we had seen in the previous sections. Both Maxwell and Hertz were puzzled and profoundly disturbed by the question of what might be the carrier of the electric and magnetic fields in regions free of any known matter. Up to their time, the only fields and waves known to spread at a finite rate had been elastic waves, which appear to the senses as sound and which occur at low frequencies as the shocks of earthquakes, and surface waves, such as water waves on lakes and seas. Maxwell called the mysterious carrier of electromagnetic waves the ether, thereby reviving notions going back to antiquity. He attempted to endow his ether with properties that would account for the known properties of electromagnetic waves, but he was never entirely successful. The ether hypothesis, however, led two U.S. scientists, Albert Abraham Michelson and Edward Williams Morley, to conceive of an experiment (1887). Albert Abraham Michelson a German-born American physicist established the speed of light as a fundamental constant and pursued other spectroscopic and metrological investigations. In 1878 Michelson began work on what was to be the passion of his life, the accurate measurement of the speed of light. He determined the velocity of light to be 299,853 kilometres (186,329 miles) per second, a value that remained the best for a generation, until Michelson bettered it. 4.2. Relativity of Space and Time An Irish and a Dutch physicist, George Francis FitzGerald and Hendrik Antoon Lorentz respectively, independently showed that the negative outcome of Michelsons and Morleys experiment could be reconciled with the notion that the Earth is travelling through the ether, if one hypothesizes that any body travelling through the ether is foreshortened in the direction of travel. The travelling body would be flattened completely if its speed through the ether should ever reach that of light. Suppose, now, that the variations in the speed of light were to be determined not by interference but by means of an exceedingly accurate clock and assume further that in such a modified experiment the motion through the ether were still imperceptible, then, Lorentz showed, one would have to conclude that all clocks moving through the ether are slowed down compared to clocks at rest in the ether. Thus, all rods and all clocks would be modified systematically, regardless of materials and construction des ign, whenever they were moving relative to the ether. Accordingly, for theoretical analysis, one would have to distinguish between apparent and true space and time measurements, with the further condition that true dimensions and true times could never be determined by any experimental procedure. Conceptually, this was an unsatisfactory situation, which was resolved by Albert Einstein in 1905. Einstein realized that the key concept, on which all comparisons between differently moving observers and frames of reference depended, is the notion of universal, or absolute, simultaneity; that is to say, the proposition that two events that appear simultaneous to any one observer will also be judged to take place at the same time by all other observers. This appears to be a straightforward proposition, provided that knowledge of distant events can be obtained practically instantaneously. Actually, however, there is no known method of signalling faster than by means of light or radio waves or any other electromagnetic radiation, all of which travel at the same rate, c. Suppose, now, that someone on Earth observes two events, say two supernovae appearing in different parts of the sky. Nothing can be said about whether these two supernovae emerged simultaneously or not from merely noting their appearance in the sky; it is necessary to know also their respective distances from the observer, which typically may amount to several hundred or several thousand light-years. By the time one sees the eruption of a supernova, it has in actuality faded back into invisibility hundreds of years ago. Applying this simple idea to the observations and measurements made by different observers of the same events, Einstein demonstrated that if each observer applied the same method of analysis to his own data, then events that appeared simultaneous to one would appear to have taken place at different times to observers in different states of motion. Thus, it is necessary to speak of relativity of simultaneity. Once this theoretical deduction is accepted, the findings of FitzGerald and Lorentz lend themselves to a new interpretation. Whenever two observers are associated with two distinct inertial frames of inference in relative motion to each other, their determinations of time intervals and of distances between events will disagree systematically, without one being right and the other wrong. Nor can it be established that one of them is at rest relative to the ether, the other in motion. In fact, if they compare their respective clocks, each will find that his own clock will be faster than the other; if they compare their respective measuring rods (in the direction of mutual motion), each will find the others rod foreshortened. The speed of light will be found to equal the same value, c = 186,000 miles per second, relative to every inertial frame of reference and in all directions. The status of Maxwells ether is thereby cast in doubt, as its state of motion cannot be ascertained by any conceivable experiment. Consequently, the whole notion of an ether as the carrier of electromagnetic phenomena has been eliminated in contemporary physics. 4.3. Relativity of Simultaneity Einstein distinguishes between simultaneity at the same spot and simultaneity of events separated by distance. To explain this simultaneity we shall take astronomic dimensions into consideration. An astronomical observer is attached to his spatial place; yet he receives messages or signals from distant points. He is able to record immediately only the simultaneity of their arrival to his place. Although this place is by no means a mathematical point, nevertheless it may be considered as virtually dimensionless as compared to distances traversed by light in a few seconds and referred to by the theory of relativity. The arrival of a signal may be designated as a coincidence, as a point-event; that is to say, as phenomenon spatially and temporally dimensionless. The logical problem arising beyond the sensory perception is this: How does an observer arrive at the temporal order of events separated by space The answer is simple i.e. by means of physical instruments and mathematical calculations. The time for the signal to travel for a particular distance is calculated from dividing the spatial distance and the speed of the signal. If a beam of light from Sirius reaches the earth simultaneously with a beam from the sun, then it is possible to estimate at what time each of the beams was emitted by taking into consideration the respective distances of the stars and the velocity of light. 4.4. Velocity of Light From the previous section we understand that the measurement of velocity of light is a necessary element for the result of the calculation. Then, how can the velocity of light be measuredâ„ ¢ is our concern in this section. To determine the velocity for one single direction we need to place clocks at both the points A and B. But there too occur a difficulty in our measurement of the velocity of light. In order to estimate the differences in time at the points the clocks are arranged so that both show the same figures at the same time. The problem here is that we arrange the clocks for the measurements of velocity solely for the purpose of finding the simultaneity at points located remotely from each other. Now we are caught up in a vicious circle that in order to know the simultaneity at a distance we need to know a velocity, and in order to measure the velocity we must be capable of judging the simultaneity of events separated by distance. Einstein with his famous theory o f relativity of simultaneity has shown a way out from this circle. For Einstein: The simultaneity of distant events cannot be verified, it can only be defined. It is arbitrary; we can determine it in any manner without committing a mistake. When accordingly we make measurements, the results will contain the simultaneity which has been introduced by definition; this process can never lead to contradiction. Indirectly the theory contains the mind of Einstein concerning the non-existence of any special frame-of-reference with regard to the propagation of light. But there is a hidden contradiction in this theory. To study that contradiction let us go deep into the theory itself. The theory in its exact form is, the velocity of light is identical in all directions in a uniformly moving frame of reference, provided simultaneity is correspondingly defined. The last words makes Einsteins mind clearer. There is also an assumption for Einsteins theory which is nothing other than the assumption that no velocity greater than that of light can occur in nature. Let us check out the depth of this assumption. A light signal is sent out from A at 12 oâ„ ¢ clock; it is then reflected and returns to A at 10 minutes after 12 oâ„ ¢ clock. At what time did it reach B According to Einstein, this cannot be determined by experiments; we can only establish it by definition. We may, for instance, record it as having occurred at 12:05; but we can think of it also as occurring at 12:02 or 12:08. But we may not declare that the arrival at B takes place at 11:59; for then the light would have arrived at B earlier than it has started from A. We know that no physical occurrences can run backward as to time. This is the only limitation; any number within the stretch of time between 12:00 and 12:10 can be chosen. Let us therefore set the time for the arrival of the light beam at 12:02. Can this lead to no contradiction There would always be a possibility of contradiction were there signals faster than light in existence. Let us suppose that there is a signal requiring three minutes less than light to traverse the distance AB. Let this signal be sent from the point A simultaneously with the light-beam. As the light-beam arrives at B at 12:02, the other signal will arrive, according to our assumption, at 12:02 minus 3 minutes, that is, at 11:59. Now, both signals were sent out from A at 12 oâ„ ¢clock. It follows, absurdly enough, that the new signal arrives at B sooner than it starts from A. The determination of simultaneity has led us to a contradiction; but only because we have accepted the possibility of the existence of signals travelling faster than light. Though we question the contention that there are no other rays which travel faster than the velocity of light we need to admit that no one has found any other rays which has the velocity fastest than the light. This does not mean that there cannot be any, but we need to wait with science to unprove the most important contention of special theory of light. Einsteinâ„ ¢s point on this absoluteness of the velocity of light can be connected also to the energy of the moving bodies. Every body in motion carries within itself an amount of energy which increases with the velocity of the body. This energy is required to start the motion. According to Einstein the content of energy in a moving body grows with an increasing speed. In order to bring a body up to the velocity of light, an infinite amount of energy would be required. It is impossible for a body to move quicker than light; in fact no material body can reach the velocity of light. Also, as we have seen in the previous sections, the limitation of this velocity of light rests upon our knowledge that light is not a physical phenomenon, rather it represents an electrical phenomenon and that light waves are only a small section of the great spectrum of electrical waves. With these realms of knowledge can we be clear in the idea of simultaneity. An example will do to explain this notion of simultaneity. Let us say that I wish to visit a friend of mine in Southampton. I depart in a steamer from New York at 12 oâ„ ¢clock. Now it happens that my friend leaves Southampton for New York precisely at the same time. Neither of us knows about the otherâ„ ¢s departure. Only at the last moment do we send telegrams to each other. We shall now consider a small delay of the telegram due to its being written out and carried out, and we shall assume that the telegram arrives within a few minutes. Such a telegram is then the quickest practical signal, although the delay makes it a little slower than the velocity of light. If both the telegrams start out simultaneously, each will reach its destination slightly late, that is, after the shipâ„ ¢s departure. The fact that we both left simultaneously means an exclusion of causal connection. When two events P and Q take place simultaneously, there is no possible effect of P on Q or of Q on P. This makes clear the indeterminacy of simultaneity and also the limited character of the velocity of light. Though great the velocity of light there cannot be simultaneous events in a time interval of zero, but arbitrarily with a short time interval. With these different contentions one may further read Einsteins theory of space-time in the following way. The clocks we use have no magnitude independent for themselves, but adjust themselves to metric field of space; it is clear in the case of magnetic needle adjusting itself to the field of the magnetic forces. If a clock is moved from a place and returned to its original place it shows a time slower than a clock which remained motionless at the same spot. Theory of relativity goes to the extent to say that any running mechanism, regardless of any kind, would manifest a similar retardation. If this is to be fully understood, we must realise that all the processes of the