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Right to self-determination is one of the major principles of international law, but it was not always so. History of the present day political map of the world is the history of education and dissolution of solid state associations of the empire type. Collapse of empires as a rule is preceded by serious changes in the life of the society – elevation of national self-determination and activation of national liberation movements, which are directly mirrored in all spheres of national cultures, and first of all in literature. Development of such processes was fixed on the territory of Russian Empire, starting from the middle of the 19th century. In Latvia it was the first stage of the movement Atmoda /”Revival”/ of 1850-1880, in Georgia – the “sixties generation” – “Tergdaleulebi” (“Those who have drunken the water of the Terek river”). Rise of national-liberation movement is accompanied by the process of growth of national self-determination. This is why our attention was drawn by the verses “ბედნიერი ერი” / “Happy People”/ by I.Chavchavadze and “Musu Kultura” /”Our Culture”/ J. Rainis, directly appealing to self-determination of their own nations. Structuring of the inner artistic space of these verses is based on syllogism: thesis, antithesis and synthesis. Structure of verses shows that their authors are not only talented poets; they are also perfect orators, accustomed to address the wide audience skillfully using oratorical methods. Generality of the pursued task is apparent – touching self-respect, pride to break up the chain of routine to make a reader to look into eyes of reality and to ponder on it. Idea of liberation found its artistic embodiment in the history of many national literatures. In the period directly preceding cardinal changes in social life, literature process fixed creation of personified artistic symbols striving to Liberation – artistic embodiment of activists fighting for freedom. Identifying major tendencies of the mechanism of creating similar images seems interesting. The article includes a comparative analysis of the poems “Lauztās Priedes” /”Broken Pine”/ and “არწივი” /”Eagle”/ Vazha-Pshavela, demonstrated the connection of the idea of national self-determination and ethno-cultural symbolism. In the poetry of J.Rainis a function of such symbol is granted to a Pine. Transformation of this image in the poetic heritage of J.Rainis seems indicative, symbolic: general context forms poly-scale picture of alterations of social mood, spirit – irrespective of the fact that at the verge of centuries, hostile, antagonistic forces manage to cut, bring down the whole grove of majestic stock (“Broken Pines”), in pre-revolutionary years silently holding their breath while “Sole Pine” in alarming expectation is still waving boldly its crown. But after events of 1905, activity is substituted by reflections (“Dry Pine”). Thus, the more active are namely “Broken Pines” permanently striving to the freedom and the struggle for its attaining. This image kept its metaphorical significance for almost the whole century – popularity of its symbolism remained pressing till the moment of disintegration of the Soviet Union and obtaining state independence by Latvia. Eagle – one of the ancient solar symbols of the world. Symbolism, chosen by Vazha-Pshavela for opposition (Eagle ↔ Raven) clearly referred to the real meaning of a metaphor (Georgia ↔ Enemies). Thanks to this verse, a wounded Eagle has been conceived as allegory of Georgian nation - enfeebled in the fight with overwhelming enemies, but still keeping the will to fight. Poetic images appeal directly to emotions: they give birth to similar response in the hearts of readers. This is a faith in the victory and feeling of pride: pride for Pines, which will surely reach by water before sun-rise, pride for the Eagle, who will manage many crows before it dies. Its death will not be vain. Georgia will have still more enemies and it, similar to Latvia, will surely attain sun-rise of a new life. Symbolism of artistic personifications in the verses of Vazha-Pshavela and J.Rainis, drawn by centrifugal gravitation to comprehensiveness, attains high level of generalization (Georgian people, Latish people) and is transformed into moral category. In the process of poetic myth-creation, reconsidering transformation of mythologem → ethno-cultural symbol → national symbol, Georgian and Latish poets create not purely poetic symbols, but ethno-cultural archetypes with new semantic charging – constants of national spirituality, exerting influence of the formation of national behavioral model. ‘Other’ is not always alien. Irrespective of its uniqueness and originality, ‘other’ is perceived as close in the cases, when we trace conjunction of deep levels of culture development. In this perspective the paper analyzes the history of translations of the verse of Janis Rainis “Broken Pines” into Georgian and their functionalities in the conditions of the soviet totalitarian regime. As a result of the analysis, we believe it is possible to approve that: 1) the foreground poetic form of appeal to the conscience of the nation is a structure that allows the use of public speaking techniques; 2) in the process of creating an artistic image poets appeal directly to the people’s spiritual culture, which facilitates the decoding of poetic metaphors; 3) a high degree of metaphorization gives the artistic symbols the importance of ethno-cultural archetypes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

EEducation policies are always directly dependent on ruling ideologies as state policy determines the respective education policies. Soviet ideology changed Latvian system of education after World War II when the second Soviet occupation started in Latvia. This ideology was reflected both in every school curriculum and in every course book. The aim of this paper is to describe the influence of Soviet ideology on the contents of the Latvian language course books in the period from the second half of 1940s up to 1953, when the ideological pressure on Latvian system of education reached its peak. The education policy of every country is based on certain ideological settings. After World War II the ruling ideology and its principles in Latvia were determined and implemented by the Communist Party; these principles were broadly applied to every area of life, and schools were no exception. The Latvian language school curriculums included statements and references to congresses of the Communist Party and its leaders; the course books included direct appraisal of the Soviet regime. The ideological pressure in the Latvian language curriculums and course books reached its highest level in the period of 1949-1953, when all study material and curricula mentioned the name of Joseph Stalin. After 1953 Soviet ideology certainly remained present both in course books and curricula, but the intensity of the ideological pressure was lower. Course books were selected for publication and use at schools not according to their quality and methodological value but only according to the ideological criterion. This explains the urgent necessity to publish new Latvian language course books for primary schools in early 1950s. As the first edition was prepared in a great hurry, the corrected and complemented edition included changes in those assignment texts, which previously insufficiently described the achievements of the Soviet regime. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper the research results of English CRN railway noise propagation prediction model applicability possibilities in the conditions of Latvian railway are described. Experimental measurements of railway noise levels from different types of trains were done in the area or railway station Dole and were compared with the CRN model numerical calculation results. Relatively small difference between the experimentally and numerically gotten results proves the reasonability of investigation of the currently developed mathematical CRN model for railway noise propagation applicability possibilities in the conditions of Latvian railway. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Social Sciences Bulletin / Sociālo Zinātņu Vēstnesis is the property of Socialo Zinatnu Vestnesis and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Social Sciences Bulletin / Sociālo Zinātņu Vēstnesis is the property of Socialo Zinatnu Vestnesis and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Social Sciences Bulletin / Sociālo Zinātņu Vēstnesis is the property of Socialo Zinatnu Vestnesis and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Social Sciences Bulletin / Sociālo Zinātņu Vēstnesis is the property of Socialo Zinatnu Vestnesis and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This paper continues a discussion on the number of pearl mussel species of the genus Margaritifera in northern Europe. A biometric study of 1711 pearl mussel Margaritifera margaritifera shells from 15 rivers in Russia and Latvia (basins of the White and Baltic seas) has been conducted. All the examined samples fall into two groups: the northern group (with the shells more flattened on average, f. margaritifera) and the southern one (with more convex shells, f. elongata); the boundary between these groups is at 63 degrees N. Analysis of intrapopulation variation has shown that the samples contain individuals that correspond to f. margaritifera, f. elongata, and f. borealis. However, any hiatus between these forms is absent in all the samples, and individuals belonging to two intermediate forms are rather frequent. The hypothesis on the species specificity of the shell valve frontal section has not been confirmed based on examination of large shell samples. The pearl mussels inhabiting rivers of Northern Europe belong to a single species, M. margaritifera.

The paper presents data on air pollution of the working environment with chemical substances in dental rooms. The concentrations of chemical pollutants, such as mercury, lead, arsenic, disinfectants, drugs, and polymer dust in most working places have not been found to be more than the legally established MAC. Blood tests support that mercury has entered the workers' body. Mercury concentrations of in the dentists' blood correlate with those in the air. Chemical health risk is estimated to be low.

The paper presents the results of studying peculiarities of the Sh. sonnei of different biochemical types spread established by their typing scheme suggested by the authors earlier according to rhamnose, xylose and maltose. The epidemic process in dysentery both during the years of the rise and of the decline of its incidence at various territories of the countries proved to be maintained on account of circulation of Sh. sonnei of various biochemical types. The results of studying their dissociative and virulent properties confirmed the biological separation of individual biochemical types. An interrelationship between the character of the biochemical pattern of Shigellae sonnei at the individual territories and the persisting activity of different ways of dysentery transmission was determined. The results of studying the biochemical pattern could be used as an indicator of the degree of activity of individual ways of dysentery spread at various territories.

The author discusses the history of roentgenology in Latvia singling out 3 periods in its development: 1) from the discovery of x-rays up to the Great October Socialist Revolution and the establishment of Soviet power in Latvia; 2) the bourgeois period in Latvia (1920-1940); 3) from the beginning of the Great Patriotic War to the present period. The paper is devoted to an analysis of the main historical events and facts pertaining to the formation and further development of roentgenology and radiology in Latvia. The role and importance of the roentgenology and radiology chair and the Republican roentgenoradiological center in the development of roentgenoradiology as independent clinical branches, training of specialists, the development and clinical application of present-day methods of radiation therapy are considered. The chief advances of Latvian radiologists and their contacts with leading specialists are marked.