ShantanuT01/DACTYL-Pretraining huggingface dataset:
Welfare Ever since the promoters of neo-Liberalism had taken over the designing of social policies in Western countries, their preoccupation with popularizing the concept of the “welfare state” assumed pathological qualities. Nowadays, the majority of people in these countries are made to believe that society’s proper functioning cannot be assured, without citizens becoming automatically eligible for various social assistance programs; every time they find themselves unemployed. However, under closer look, the very essence of this seemingly progressive idea appears to be utterly counterproductive; because, whatever illogical it might sound – modern social assistance programs do facilitate poverty. In this paper, we will aim at substantiating the validity of this suggestion and also at revealing the very concept of charity as not only metaphysically senseless but even socially dangerous, when applied practically. In their book “Social Welfare: Politics and Public Policy”, Diana DiNitto and Linda K. Cummins provide us with the insight on historical origins of social assistance programs in America: “Originally, the Social Security program covered only retirement benefits for workers in about half of the labor force; many farm and domestic workers and self-employed people were exempted, as were state and local government employees” (DiNitto, Cummings 127). In other words, what initially used to qualify American citizens for welfare in the thirties was their previous extensive work record, because only people, who had proven their willingness to work hard in the past, were assumed as eligible to receive monetary assistance from the government, in order to be able to get back on their feet. This can be explained by the fact that ever since the founding of the United States in 1776, the designing of socio-political policies in this country was firmly based on Protestant existential ethics, which derive out of principle: “if you cannot help yourself – no one can”. Therefore, it is important to understand that originally, America’s social assistance programs were being conceived as “stimulus” rather than “help”. Nowadays, this is no longer the case, because the government considers welfare as simply a practical tool of building a “fair and tolerant society”, with American citizens being expected to “celebrate diversity” as their foremost priority. Whereas, before the outbreak of WW2, the issue of poverty has been viewed through the lenses of both: sociology and biology; today, the causes for poverty are assumed to be strict of environmental nature. In their book, DiNitto and Cummings make a perfectly good point when they state: “Although inadequate income has always been a concern during economic depressi
Coding the conversation from the movie “12 Angry Men” was both a rewarding and insightful experience. While it was mostly aligned with what I expected, some aspects turned out to be noticeable barriers to accurate observations. First, I would like to point out that the coding process did not pose a significant challenge. I was able to grasp the main principles and detect the characteristic phrases rather quickly, and closer to the second half of the paper, I could assign a code much faster than during the initial phase. My partners were similarly successful in the activity, which can be derived from the feedback received during the conversation following the initial submission of the paper. While I cannot conclude whether I was successful in mastering the fundamentals, it is a practical certainty that the procedure is less challenging than I expected. The received feedback confirms this suggestion since it indicates no need to resubmit papers and only contains a reminder about the conversation between the partners. The inter-rater reliability brought up in the conversation requires special attention. As was expected, we had several differences in coding specific phrases. However, two aspects must be pointed out. First, the rate of disagreement was higher than anticipated, with three different opinions in some cases. I attribute it to the novelty of the activity and expect this metric to go down once y partners and I become more experienced on the matter. Second, and, perhaps, more importantly, the final segment of the conversation was subject to much less disagreement than the rest of the text. With few exceptions, the entire scene was unanimously coded as consisting of fight statements. The most likely explanation, in my opinion, is the prominent use of non-verbal devices by the characters in question. As most of them could easily be linked with an aggressive stance, the team coded the segment uniformly. However, I believe that while in this particular situation, it was a helpful detail, in many other instances, such predisposition may open up the possibility of bias. Therefore, such unanimity of statements is to be approached with caution and considered an illustration of the possible weakness of the technique. Overall, the exercise was helpful in understanding the necessity of procedures meant to ensure inter-rater reliability. The conversation we had after the initial submission revealed several controversial points on some of the phrases and coding suggestions. Most notably, counter-dependent statements were often coded in disagreement between the peers (possibly because they are less intuitive than more familiar fight and flight ones). I also want to bring up the issue of the possibility of bias at this stage. While on most occasions it is necessary to consider the arguments of the peers and adopt the most reasonable point of view, at least on some occasions, such intention will lead to accepting the wrong position for reasons such as the authority of the partner or the perceived lack of competence. Therefore, the increase in concordance from 46% at the beginning to 61% a
Reflection paper In their editorial, White, Aarons, and Chapman refer to the European Commission’s decision to investigate the claim that there is very little anti-trust integrity left in what accounts for the contractual relationships between online retailers and manufacturers. If this claim proves legitimate, it will most likely result in the Commission’s sub-sequential decision to impose additional anti-trust regulations in the domain of web-commerce: “It may become necessary for the commission to scrutinize certain clauses restricting online sales” (par. 2). The purpose of such a hypothetical development would be to undermine the bargaining power of manufacturers. In its turn, this is expected to ensure the continued transparency of the competitive dynamics in the European online-market of goods and services – hence, benefiting price-sensitive consumers in Europe. Before proceeding to discuss the actual effects of the initiative’s implementation on the fashion industry in the West, we need to highlight the discursive significance of some of the issue’s qualitative aspects. One of them is that nowadays, manufacturers strive to charge ever-higher prices for their products and discourage retailers from selling these products online – the trend that appears dialectically/objectively predetermined. The logic behind this suggestion has to do with both: the fact the overwhelming majority of apparel manufacturers have their production lines operating in China, and the fact that the standards of living in this country continue to improve rather rapidly. 1 Whereas, as recent as twenty years ago, a Chinese worker would be more than happy being paid $1 per day for slaving in some ‘sweatshop’, he or she will now demand a much higher daily salary. What it means is that, as time goes on, the feasibility of the ‘outsourcing’ practice will continue being reduced. One of the strategies, deployed by the Chinese-based (but Western-owned) manufacturers to cope with this issue, is trying to prevent retailers from becoming a little too competitive and consequently capable of applying too much bargaining pressure on suppliers. In other words, the concerned strategy, on the part of manufacturers, is fully consistent with the main principles of how the ‘free-market’ economy operates. Therefore, the Commission’s decision to interfere may only have a temporary effect, in the sense of disenfranchising manufacturers. The reason for this is that, despite the seemingly libertarian essence of the Commission’s initiative, it is politically driven and ultimately protectionist. To illustrate the validity of this suggestion, one will need to refer to what has always been considered the societal role of fashion – to serve as the medium through which people channel their domination-seeking anxieties. As Hemphill and Suk noted: Fashion is adopted by social elites for the purpose of demarcating themselves as a group from the lower classes. The lower classes inevitably admir
Introduction A palliative care nurse’s role can be very stressful and emotionally draining as we need to deal with a variety of emotions every day. This essay will discuss how being a member of the palliative care team supports patients at the end-of-life stage and their families in dealing with death. Main Body In the case provided, there is no denying that Sandy and her family are now facing her impending death and need all the understanding and support from the people around them. Caring for Sandy for the past three weeks and witnessing the deterioration of her condition directly affects me too. The nature of my work encourages me to form a close personal relationship with her and her family. The focus of palliative care will be the patient and her immediate family. First, we discuss Sandy’s case. She is supposed to be at the peak of her life. In Erikson’s Stages of Psychosocial Development, she is at the Generativity vs. Stagnation stage (Erikson, 1963). Middle-aged people characterized to be in this stage have a strong urge to leave a legacy by helping the new generation. Sandy is supposed to be very productive as she adjusts the discrepancy between her dream and her actual accomplishments. Failure to achieve a sense of productivity results in psychological stagnation (Erikson, 1963). As it is, Sandy has been an achiever as a teacher way up to the time that her cancer reached its end stage a few months back. I would understand her frustration with her inability to continue a very fulfilling career due to her illness, as she is only forty-two but is already disabled from working. At the same time, I know that in the period when I cared for her, she slowly accepted that her cancer is putting an end to her life. Lying still in her bed, I know that she contemplates life and death. I remember the words of Kübler-Ross (1969) on death and dying: Man has to defend himself psychologically in many ways against the increased fear of death and increased inability to foresee and protect himself against it. Psychologically he can deny the reality of his own death for a while. Since in our unconscious we cannot perceive our own death and do believe in our own immortality, but can conceive our neighbor’s death, news of numbers of people killed in battle, in wars, on the highways only supports our unconscious belief in our own immortality and allows us – in the privacy and secrecy of our unconscious mind- to rejoice that it is “the next guy, not me. (p. 28). In Sandy’s case, the rapid deterioration of her health may make her face and accept the reality of imminent death and may worry more about the family she is leaving behind. It is important for the multidisciplinary palliative care team to create an environment that encourages open communication (Jones, 2006). From the beginning, they should attempt to establish a good rapport with the patient and her family to enable them to understand their value system. The family and friends should not feel inhibited to talk about Sandy as it l
Introduction Chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) is a cancer of CD5+ B cells. This disorder is typified by the buildup of tiny, mature-looking neoplastic lymphocytes in tissues such as the bone marrow, blood, and secondary lymphoid tissues (1). The consequences of this buildup include enlargement of the spleen, lymphocytosis, lymphadenopathy, and leukemia cell infiltration of the marrow. The development of CLL is linked to genetic factors. It has been observed that CLL is the most prevalent adult leukemia in western countries. However, its incidence is low in people of Asian origin (1). CLL is classified into two main subgroups that contrast in their clinical behavior. The basis of the distinction between the two subgroups is whether the diseased cells express transformed or untransformed immunoglobulin heavy-chain variable region gene (IGHV). This phenomenon reflects the phase of normal B cell differentiation from which they arise. CLL cells that produce an unchanged IGHV stem from a B cell that has not gone through segregation in germinal areas. In most cases, this group of patients displays a more aggressive form of the disease compared to patients with CLL cells that produce a transfigured IGHV. CLL cells with changed IGHV originate from B cell that secretes immunoglobulin that has experienced somatic hypermutation or immunoglobulin isotype switching such as that seen in healthy B cells in an immune reaction to an antigen. The somatic mutations observed in IGHV at the germinal sites is a normal part of affinity development of antibodies and is not morbid. Additionally, certain CLL cells resemble untransformed CLL cells but stem from B cells with constrained somatic mutations, for example, CLL with immunoglobulin heavy chains encoded by mutated IGHV3–21 genes. The cellular origin of CLL is illustrated in Figure 1. The collection of immunoglobin molecules secreted by the CLL cells of all patients is significantly smaller than the range of immunoglobulin molecules a single person can produce. This observation points towards the prejudiced use of specific IGHV genes. The limited immunoglobulin selection in CLL is emphasized by the observation that approximately 1 in 75 CLL patients have diseased cells express identical immunoglobulin molecules. The narrow assortment of immunoglobins provides strong proof that CLL B cells are chosen according to the binding action of immunoglobulins expressed on their surfaces, which implies that B cell receptor (BCR) signaling affects CLL pathogenesis significantly. The sequence of BCR signaling is indicated in Figure 2. Genetic experiments show that several genetic alterations are found in C
Abstract Cloud computing is a relatively new approach of offering computing services on a shared hardware and software platform due to the benefits associated with the approach. That is the rationale for organizations such as Google and Amazon among others in shifting toward the cloud in their service provisions. Typically, the entire system of cloud computing drawing from its definition provides the infrastructure for organizations to offer clients services dynamically responding to their needs based on the pay-as-use basis, and the economic benefits which include positive net present value, a positive value on the benefit to cost ratio (BCR) calculated based on the ratio between cloud benefits and discounted investment costs and the discounted payback period on the period it takes for a firm that has shifted its services into the cloud computing platform. However, for organizations to shift to the new computing platform, it is crucial to draw in the principles of system engineering which also draws on the Capability Maturity Integrated (CMMI) model to integrate the service. A comparative study of Google vs Amazon, emerging technologies adopted by Google and Amazon EC2 are presented in addition to the impact of cloud computing on technologies with a focus on virtualization. Introduction Cloud computing is an approach organizations in the recent past have adopted of offering computing services to clients without the need for the client own dedicated software and hardware resources, but a computer to access the services on the cloud. It is a computing approach defined as “ internet based computing where virtual shared servers provide software, infrastructure, platform devices, and other resources and hosting to customers on a pay-as-use basis”. These computing services are offered on shared hardware and software platforms characterized by network access, virtualization, multitenant model, and resource pooling based on private, public, and hybrid clouds. It is with significant success that many organizations, such as the giant Google and Amazon have migrated into offering their computing services based on the cloud. However, the successful migration to the cloud computing platform draws on the economic benefits derived from offering cloud computing services on the shared platform reflected in the above definition. The migration approach is however, implemented base on the central system engineering and the capability maturity model play in the design, development and integration processes. However, despite the migrations, a number of security issues related to the cloud computing environment have unfolded with well-designed counter measures despite the differences existing in the approaches by Google and Amazon and impact cloud computing has had on technology such as
Occupy Wall Street is a movement, whose purpose is to fight against the excess of the Wall Street. The followers of the movement decried the apparent rate of income inequality; pushing for economic rights of the 99%. The bottom 90% of Americans earns yearly an average of $31,244 while the top 1% is making an average of $1,137,684. Further, compare that the top 1% have 34.6% of American GDP while the bottom 90% contribute 26.9% of GDP. Without considering, top 1% in the apparent American income inequality equation, it falls from the current 11% to 6%. Though 50% of the top 1% has a distribution among various professions, Wall Street contributes close to 50% of the top 1% richest Americans. First, directly through top executives and financial professions who make each 31.0% and 13.9% respectively of this group, combined they are over 40%. Secondly, addition of some lawyers (8.4%), especially considering the substantial number of layers in business law and the total sum of the group, who derive wealth from the Wall Street, is close or just above 50%. Looking into the income distribution within corporate America validates this point: the average employee makes close to 185 times less than average top Executive. The changing fortunes of American economy indicate a growing income inequality in America and blaming income inequality to the top 20% instead of top 1% Americans is hypocritical: it is just a means to pacify the common person to get less people to join the movement. Over the years, income of the bottom 90% Americans has been constant; meanwhile, the top 1% has grown from just above $400,000 to $1,137,6849 (1980- 2008). Even after the recent world financial crisis, while the American and European have had economic recovery job creation has been low in comparison to growth. More and more Americans are working at multiple jobs since 1990; increasingly less are under unions, more jobs move to other countries than job creation within USA. The results are drastic. The minimum wage has grown 21% since 1990 while the cost of living by 67%. Wall Street profits grew by 720% between 2007 and 2009; also growing over this period, is the rate of employment at 102% while home equity fell by 55%. The top 10 richest congress members are worth a combined $2.8 billion. The rest are not considerably rich as this group but have an average wealth of $912,000. The first group all voted for Bush tax cuts; these among other tax breaks favoring rich are quite significant. Especially considering that while the average income of top 400 richest grew by 392% (1992-2007), their taxation rates fell on average by 37%. In conclusion, ideal and current class stratification of American society is unfavorable: in comparison to top 1% average yearly income of $1,019,089, top 0.01% – 0.1% make $2,802,020; top 0.01% earn $23,846,950 on average over the same period while bottom 90% earn $31,244. Certainly, Occupy Wall Street movement with its chant, claiming they are the 99%, has a valid argument for rebelling against the existing inc
Introduction “Brand” represents the emotional and the intellectual association developed by people, towards a given product, company or person. While brands may be used in a qualitative manner, the core meaning of the brand, which is often communicated through advertisements, lies under the subjective, unique, understanding and the interpretation of the brand (Stephanie, 2004; Aaker, 1996). The meaning developed around a brand is guided by the social interactions and the cultural settings under evaluation, as well as the markets conception about the given product (Turow and McAllister, 2009). The science behind advertising relates to influencing and fashioning the thinking of consumers, which results in the development of the brand (Turow and McAllister, 2009). For the case of the advertising campaign regarding the redeveloped perfume by Calvin Klein, Eternity, the perfumed was first presented as a female perfume. Next, a male version was launched through advertising campaigns (PRNewswire, 2012). The male version was later redesigned, and a women’s version of it introduced into the market through advertising. The first brand was Eternity, next was the male version, Eternity Aqua, and then came the female version, Eternity Aqua for women (Lauro, 2002). This paper discusses the role of advertising in brand rejuvenation, where a product, which is almost reaching retirement, is brought into the market as a new and innovative brand (Turow and McAllister, 2009). The paper also explores the difficulties that come with advertising, as a brand rejuvenation strategy. Calvin Klein expanded their ETERNITY perfume campaign, which is characterized by an insistence on intimacy and lasting love. The new advertising campaigns debuted internationally in February 2002. It consisted of four print models and two 30-second TV advertisements (PRNewswire, 2012). The commercials emphasize on the noteworthy interactions in family life. The TV advertisement featured family life scenes where Aimee Mann performs the song, “What the world needs is love.” That was the first advertisement that used a song as the background,