Social Studies

Immortality of the human soul has been, like other problems in philosophy, an unresolved and perennial problem. Over the years, solutions to this problem have proven inadequate as a result of the varieties of modes of philosophizing; philosophers? theories or views; as well as the logical tenacity of these theories. A materialist, who is logically consistent with the tenets of materialism, cannot accept the existence of any spiritual reality. Bertrand Russell denied the immortality of the soul on the basis that man, instead of being made up of substances that is body and soul, is composed of events .He believes that death brings the human event to an end. Since there is a difference between “being”, and “acting”, we can argue that the existence (being) of a soul that survives death could be logically defended. The human soul exists, though it is not explicitly graspable. It is, ontologically independent of the body. In fact the soul accounts for the boringness of the body. Though the soul and the body unite essentially in man, their union does not in any way deprive the soul of its uniqueness. Thus, at their separation, the soul retains its properties and nature viz: being, substantiality and spirituality. Thing being this way, this research is aimed at refuting the claim that the soul ceases to be when the body is gone. In other words , the human soul, being spiritual and subsistent, as well as the cause of life in the human person, is immortal. So, however convincing Russell?s argument against the doctrine of immortality of the soul may be, we must not lose sight of the truth that life is larger than logic. This study will employ the expository, hermeneutical and analytical method of philosophy.

Sri Lankan historiography relating to immigrant plantation worker community under colonialism in the 19th century has so far failed to examine the inner complexity of strategies of labour management. This historiography tends to emphasize institutional developments in the plantation sector as and overall process of modernization where the colonial state and the British planters combined to provide better social, health and sanitation facilities for the welfare of the immigrant workers. Women were looked upon as machines of reproduction that would serve the long term labour requirements of the plantations while at the same time providing cheaper female and child labour.

Ryle’s thesis on the mind arises polemically from the mind-body dualism of Rene Descartes. Ryle refers to Descartes dualism as the official doctrine because it was so prevalent amongst theorist and even laymen. Ryle introduces the term the dogma of the ghost in a machine to describe the philosophical concept of the mind as an entity separate from the body, Ryle posited that it is false not in detail but in principle, and that Descartes made a mistake of a special kind by postulating an interaction between the mind and the body in his philosophy of the mind, hence Ryle called it a category mistake. The work presents a historical, evaluative and logical behaviourist account of the human person, that is to say; you can know people based on their public behaviour and it raises critical problems concerning the deceptive nature of the displayed human behaviour. the work presents a beautifully written account of the will, emotion, self-knowledge, imagination and disposition and occurrences. The project unveils the achievement and lapses of Gilbert Ryle’s conception of the mind. It gives a philosophical insight to anyone interested in the nature of human behaviour.

As the number of elderly is rising and the social environment is changing, the percentage of the needy among them is also increasing. These factors are also leading to the need for a large number of old-age homes where the elderly may enjoy the end part of their lives in a group of their specific. The effect of the above causes may be observed in the living arrangements of old age Indians. With the evolution of the rural population, the area of arable land is lessening to meet the increased plea for housing, leading to incremental and disguised unemployment. As a result, the rural commonalities are forced to voyage to the urban areas in search of a livelihood. According to the framework of economic development developed by Arthur Lewis, the movement of labour from the “traditional sector” involving agriculture and allied areas that produce traditional outputs for all societies, to the “modern sector” (industrial area, which produces manufactured items) is placed on the centre stage. The traditional sector may be assumed to supply an unconstrained number of labourers, but the absorption of the same critically depends on the supply of capital to the modern sector. The level of savings and investment funds are the determinants of the growth of the modem sector and, hence, the generation of employment as well as the process of urbanization. This paper deals with the issues of aged people in India.

Widow inheritance is a prevalent cultural practice among some Asian and Sub Saharan African communities and has been found to affect the lives of widows. The general purpose of this study was to establish socio-economic implications of widow inheritance rituals. The objectives of the study were to: describe the rituals associated with widow inheritance, decipher the underlying cultural meaning and value of widow inheritance rituals and explore the socio-economic implications of widow inheritance rituals. The theoretical framework was anchored on Clifford Geertz theory of the interpretation of culture. This theory puts emphasis on the uniqueness of a ritual that one may not find even in a similar culture. The uniqueness derives from their loci. Descriptive research design was adopted in this study. The study population was 214 people of Kagan clan in Homabay County. Simple random sampling was used to select 48 widows, 7 Luo elders and 10 HIV intervention officers. The study sample therefore, comprised a total of 65 key informants. Interviews and questionnaires were used to collect data from the sampled respondents. The test-retest approach was used to determine the reliability of the research instruments and validity of the instruments was ascertained by presenting the questionnaires and interview guide to experts who are authorities in the study area for scrutiny and advice on the instruments. Qualitative thematic analysis was the main method adopted in analysing data. The researcher found out that despite the original good intensions of widow inheritance rituals, the current practice involving professional inheritors, an alternative as cleansing ritual, has made widows vulnerable to HIV and AIDS and the practice was degrading and humiliating the widows. The study concluded that widow inheritance has got adverse effects on widows’ socio-economic lives. Therefore the study recommended that community based education targeting the Luo elders, widow inheritors and inherited widows should be enhanced so that safer sexual practices are adopted even as widow inheritance rituals continue. In addition, widows and inheritors empowerment through education is necessary to enable them make informed choices.

The digital divide manifests the unbalanced growth between developed and developing world. This paper analyzed the existing digital divide through retrieving data in the period of 2000 - 2014 in Ethiopia. The result revealed that a huge gap in sex-disaggregated information appeared in Ethiopia. In addition, poverty, education and infrastructural development significantly affected accessibility, use and skill discrepancy in ICT between the genders. The digital divide trajectory is diminishing over time as the educational attainment and level of income increasing.

Motivation plays an integral role in any kind of learning in general and consequently language learning in particular. Demotivation,the other side of motivation (Dornyei, 2001a), is regarded as a very significant factor in language learning. As Dornyei (2001b) postulates in second language learning ,demotivation has a central role and more studiesare required to be undertaken in this regard(p. 5). However, there is a dearth of research in demotivation in both EFL and ESL contexts.They are categorized into three majorfields: Causes related to a) instructors, b) learning/teaching context, and c) learners.

The study was conducted to study the effects of the use of pieces of rubber as a partial substitute in bitumen flexible pave ACW 14. Bitumen is one of the binder materials used in construction of roads and pave has increased prices and costs to achieve it. As a result of increasing economic and traffic load, road bitumen structure designed should have the durability and capability services play a key role in the communication network, the most important. Objective of this study is to reduce the quantity of bitumen used and replaced with pieces of rubber. Therefore, many efforts have been undertaken to improve the quality of the existing bitumen. In this study, modified bitumen grade 80/100 pricking is done with the addition of various pieces of rubber per cent content. Percentage of rubber used is 0%, 3%, 6%, 9%, 12% and 15% of the total amount of bitumen used. ACW 14 mixes compacted with mechanical junkie and tested values Marshall Stability. Potential ACW 14 modified with a mixture of rubber elasticity modulus obtained by studying, scorching and Maximum Load and then compared with the control capabilities through a mixture of ACW 14 Indirect Tensile Test. Once the three parameters were studied, the percentage of rubber content can be determined that the optimal content of 12% rubber. Based on studies conducted, it found pieces of rubber bitumen ability to increase capacity by an increasing in the occurrence of Blowing Point Temperature Index and pricking of altered samples. It also can decrease the value of pricking. In addition the ability of a mixture of slip resistance also showed good results through the slip resistance test. Overall analysis carried out shows, the addition of pieces of rubber in the mixture can enhance the capability of the mixture 14 as ACW pave flexible.

Reaching the goal of using a language -communication and interaction- is only possible with choosing the most appropriate language devices in both spoken and written genres. There are a plenty of such devices of which discourse markers are paramount. Speakers need to be able to master discourse markers, particularly discourse markers of reformulation, in order to be able to communicate as well as to be recognized as a proficient member of their community. In response to research recommending a more explicit focus on variation among adolescent, this article aims to add to the study of adolescent speech production from a reformulation-centered perspective as well as to add to socio-pragmatic studies. This paper was an attempt to presents the results of analyzing transcriptions of reciprocal oral interaction in a simulated informal context, for Iranian female adolescents, discussing the importance, frequency, and distribution of the different types of reformulation markers (namely paraphrastic and non-paraphrastic) through employing Gülich and Kotschi’s (1995) classification. The analysis revealed no significant differences in employing different types of reformulators. The low frequency of observed reformulation samples revealed that Farsi adolescent speakers are not highly concerned with the use of reformulation markers. They took advantage of a few non-paraphrastic reformulators to clarify their intention. Regarding reformulators of explanation, as a sub category of paraphrastic reformulators, they tended to employ it more in comparison with other subcategories. Accordingly, some suggestions on further research of the present study are proposed.

Based on a well-known saying in the field of language teaching, teaching language is nothing but teaching culture. This study is also another evidence for this saying. In other words, the aim of this study was, in fact, to highlight the role of teaching foreign language culture in language learning and teaching. To conduct the intended purpose, two questionnaires were distributed among the student and teacher participants of the study in Shiraz, Iran. The purpose of using the two questionnaires was to find out first, to what extent teachers and students are aware of the role of foreign culture awareness in language learning and teaching; and second, to what extent does teachers are aware of the strategies and techniques of teaching foreign language culture and how students benefit from it. The study revealed that first, both students and teachers do believe that culture and language are inseparable and second, teachers were able to conduct strategies and techniques of teaching foreign language culture to emphasize it in class. The study also provides a few implications regarding the culture and language teaching.