ShantanuT01/DACTYL-Pretraining huggingface dataset:
Admittedly, Kafka’s Metamorphosis is one of the most outstanding literary works. Many ideas come across the reader’s mind. It is necessary to note that the idea of the triumph of the self is one of the last ideas that can appear in some readers’ minds. However, on second thoughts, it becomes obvious that the novel is really about the man’s triumph. The story starts with the man’s dissatisfaction with his work and his entire life. The man does not like his job as a salesman. The reader cannot but agree that Gregor Samsa, the novel’s protagonist, has a rather meaningless life. Therefore, it is possible to assume that the man’s transformation is a symbol of his understanding. Thus, he finally understands that his life is meaningless, and the man cannot fit the world, which becomes hostile to him. Of course, death is not the most winning option for a man. However, in Gregor’s case, the man did not have another choice. He could not realize himself in any other way. The only thing left was to die. More about The Metamorphosis What’s the Metamorphosis’ genre? 5 486 What are the examples of existentialism in The Metamorphosis? 4.6 2337 What is the setting of The Metamorphosis? 4.6 2994 What does The Metamorphosis’ ending mean? 4.7 9131 Why does the office clerk come to the Samsa house? 5 416 What Kafkaesque Examples Can You Find in The Metamorphosis? 4.2 4995 It is possible to note that there is one more literary work that has the same theme. Kate Chopin’s story “The Story of an Hour” dwells upon a woman who is not happy. Just like Gregor, the woman suddenly understands that there is no meaning in her life. When she hears that her husband is dead, she obtains hope that she can change her life and make it meaningful. However, soon she loses this hope as the man is alive. Chopin sees only one way out. Just like Kafka, she ‘kills’ her protagonist. Chopin suggests that death could be the only way to realize self for that woman at that period of time.
Abstract The paper is devoted to the mutual fund performance, tournaments and their interconnection with algorithmic trading. The theoretical research has been conducted with the purpose of understand the nature of tournaments in the industry of mutual funds. Then, the methodology was designed with the purpose to follow the risk-taking behaviour of competitors in tournaments. This allows us to draw a conclusion that endogenous benchmark is not spread in tournament behavior, while exogenous benchmark has stronger influence. Introduction Mutual funds’ functions are limited to helping people have a small share in big corporation. There are two main ways of getting profit from mutual funds, interest or dividends to the fund or the raise of security in value. 1 There are a lot of advantages of mutual funds, like professional management of investments, affordability, variety and diversification, high convenience and easiness in recordkeeping. 2 Technologies have revolutionized the processes at the financial markets and influenced the trading of financial assets. 3 Having implemented different electronic platforms and algorithms for trading, some market operators are aimed at competing with others instead of “trading with a counterparty that has no high-speed access”. 4 Therefore, the mutual funds are affected as well. The necessity to adopt algorithmic programs is felt due to the increases of the expected performance. 5 Tournament behaviour in the mutual fund industry is defined as “the intense competition between fund managers who alter their portfolio risk with the expectation of improving or maintaining their existing ranking relative to the relevant peer group”. 6 Fund managers try to reach the leading top positions at the end of the year 7 as these activities are used as the basis for the first decade of a new year. There is no much difference between middle and bottom positions in the mutual fund tournament rating, so, “the optimal response of a fund manager to its interim performance is an adjustment of her risk taking”. 8 Mutual fund tournaments cover “the attempts of rational fund managers to maximize their expected compensation by adjusting the risk of their portfolios in accordance with their relative performance over a year”. 9 According to Wang, “managers increase their portfolio riskiness in response to the gambling incentives, which tends to have a negative effect on fund performance”. 10 Such behaviour
Introduction Before discussing how the West may engage Russia, in regards to the ongoing crisis in Ukraine, I will need to expose the actual reasons (which happened to be strictly Realist) why this crisis occurred, in the first place. The crisis’s actual roots date back to 1989, when Mikhail Gorbachev agreed to allow the unification of Germany and to move 24 Soviet divisions out of the country, on a condition that NATO will refrain from expanding eastwards (towards Russia). Within the course of the next ten years, NATO accepted 12 Eastern-European countries as its members – thus, establishing its new Eastern ‘border’ in the immediate proximity to Russia. Even though this constituted a striking violation of the mentioned ‘non-expansion’ promise by NATO, Russia nevertheless ‘swallowed’ it, while hoping that this would satisfy the organization’s geopolitical appetite. This Russia’s hope proved in vain – in 2008, NATO declared that it was only the matter of time, before the former Soviet republics of Ukraine and Georgia join NATO. By acting in this manner, NATO crossed the ‘red line’ – if Ukraine joins Russia, it will render Russian nuclear force useless, because after having their missile-defense systems moved to the country’s underbelly (Ukraine), Americans will be able to shoot down Russia’s land-based nuclear rockets within the matter of a few seconds, after they leave the ground. This, of course, will leave Russia defenseless in the situation when, let say the U.S. (NATO) declares that this extremely resource-rich country suffers from the lack of ‘democracy’ and sends planes to bomb it into the Stone Age, just as it recently did to Yugoslavia, Afghanistan, Libya, Iraq and now doing in Syria. What it means is that, for as long as the current situation in Ukraine is being concerned, one would be much better off talking about the aggression of the West that took place against Russia, as opposed to blaming Russia as the actual aggressor. The validity of this statement can be well illustrated, in regards to the fact that there is a plenty of evidence available that Ukraine’s anti-constitutional coup of February 21, 2014, which allowed the formerly marginal Ukrainian Neo-Nazis (who openly fly swastika flags) to seize political power in the country, was organized and financed by the American embassy in Kiev. The U.S. top-officials do not even try to make any secret of it: “In a speech to the National Press Club on December 13, 2013… Victoria Nuland boasted that the US has ‘invested’ $5 billion in ‘organizing a network’ to give Ukraine ‘the future it deserves’” (“Defeat Neocon” 1). Thus, the situation with what is going on in
Literature Review Child abuse and parental neglect are the two problems that bother the American society as well as other people around the whole world. Gloud, Clarke, Heim, Harvey, Majer, and Nemeroff (2012) introduce the two main dimensions, types of child abuse effects: one of them is based on the neurocognitive aspect like the problems with “visual memory, executive functioning, and spatial working memory” (p. 503), and another aspect touches upon the emotional problems and stresses that may bother children through the whole lifespan. Their studies aim at providing a practical perspective of how the problem of child abuse should be regarded and solved. Though it is possible to address special stress-management professionals (Lemoncelli, 2012), it is hard to be sure that the consequences like anger or social misunderstanding can be totally removed, and additional investigations are required to explain how child abuse effects may be understood by a society. As a rule, the effects of child abuse are the problems that can be solved by the encouragement of cognitive self-regulation explained by Iwaniec (2006). Still, treatments from child abuse may vary considerably because people are eager to offer helpful ideas and unique approaches as soon as parental neglect was recognised as a traumatic event that has to be analysed and prevented like it was done by Cloitre, Cohen, and Koenen (2011). In addition, Fang, Brown, Florence, and Mercy (2012) identify the economic burden of the problem as more $30000 is spent on each child’s health care costs by means of the analysis of certain financial operations. Taking into consideration the fact that more than 600000 American children are defined as maltreatment victims annually (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2014), the actual sums are hard to imagine. Adults should understand that they steal from themselves when they demonstrate poor treatment to their children and make them suffer. It seems to be better to follow some preventive ideas and suggestions and regard their importance as they help to decrease the number of disabled children in a society (Stalker & McArthur, 2012). The effects of child abuse are numerous and touch upon different spheres of life. Some researchers find it more effective to focus on one particular aspect and prove its urgency. For example, Moylan, Herrenkohl, Sousa, Tajima, Herrenkohl, and Russo (2010) use the behavioural changes as the main problems that have to be solved. Child abuse and family violence change children’s nature considerably, worsen the way of how children may understand the world, and poorly define the future cooperation with the outside world. The other experts try to compare several consequences at the same time and explain how psychological, societal, physical, and behavioural issues predetermine a future member of a society (Child Welfare Information Gateway, 2013). Child abuse is the problem that plays an important role in a society. Even if people think that they are far from such troubles, and child abuse never becomes their own concern, it is necessary to remember that t
The article highlights the different challenges that managers face in working with their staff for the smooth operation of the firm. It elaborates when the firm should hire permanent or temporary staff, where to find the right personnel and what to look at in the staffing firm. It clearly gives the effects of having less or excess staff at a firm and recommends the right blend of permanent and interim staff. In a nutshell, the article tackles reducing staff management costs while maintaining the high quality of consumer services (Hosking, 2009). After careful analysis of Hosking’s article, I approve the approach and tact he puts across on managing a firm’s expenditure in various economic situations, I agree with his strategies and opinion. For instance, appropriate staffing is a vice that has affected most business firms and many administrators find it difficult to maintain their staff during a low economic period due to financial constraints. The firms face a labor shortage crisis during peak economic times. Hosking explains in the article the strategies to avoid when hiring and overspending during high economic periods as well as retrenching during low economic times while maintaining high customer service (Hosking, 2009). This information concurs with my earlier understanding of staffing in organizations. A common trend in many organizations is where managers strain to maintain high standards of customer service while incurring a minimal cost. As a result, they hire a small number of permanent staff which is cost effective, although it leads to over-utilization of the staff (Bechet, 2008). Consequently, the same managers spend heavily when trying to hire new staff to meet the shift in the firm demands or lay off several staff depending on the change in customer demands. Hosking’s argument for having the correct blend of staff concurs with my prior knowledge of its relevance to resolving staffing issues. For instance, a firm may only hire extra temporary staff when it requires a certain specialized skill. Such occurs when a member of staff is on sick leave or off duty on medical grounds and the main aim is to help curb fatigue caused by over-utilization (Hosking, 2009). The staff usually feels appreciated, and sense of job security when the company does not lay them off. The article explains that using staffing firms to hire not only helps cut down on expenses and but also saves time, it also exposes the manager to a wide range of skills and increases their chances of getting the best employees. Thus, it is reasonable to consider the reputation of the firm and its procedures of recruiting before engaging with it. Good staffing firms do not charge their skilled personnel for consideration (Hosking, 2009). The analysis of the article has placed me in a position to incorporate the knowledge into my career. The approach discussed is simplified, cost friendly and quite an elaborate approach in coming up with economic changes in terms of staff management while maintaining the required firm standards. Applying the approach makes sure managers spend minimal time in supervision and manageria
Long before the twenty-first century, education was only for the people belonging to the middle and upper social classes. This meant that education to the people in the low classes was something they could not afford, hence did not have any chance of being educated. However, the case of the immigration that took place between 1880 and 1920 led to a great revolution on the education systems. This was because, most of the immigrants belonged to the low class group in the society. As a result, there were major changes on development and styles of learning after the twenty-first century. According to Article 26.1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, it is stated that every human being has a right to education regardless of factors such as social classes, cultural differences, and gender among other differential factors (Power, 2000, p.152). Nevertheless, this initiative has been affected by several factors, which include: The home environment has a significant effect on the learning and its development. For instance, the children from slum regions (especially the immigrants) will not have a good home environment that is conducive for learning. On the other hand, those from high-class regions have a proper environment because of the low population in those regions. The same case applies to the socio-economic status in which the children belong. Children from low classes will lack most of the essential learning tools such as stationary hence affecting their learning. Cultural differences also affect learning and development because they bring about issues of discrimination among the students. Parental involvement is another factor influencing learning and development in the twenty-first century, mainly because if parents do not support their children by providing for them as well as assisting through coaching the students may not perform well. Last is the influence from media, which has changed the look of education. For instance, it is now possible to learn without physically attending classes, through online tutors. All the aforementioned factors have significantly influenced learning styles and development either positively or negatively. Learning styles entail all that has to do with using the best method to induce learning on the students (Schunk, 2011). The approach used by tutors differs with age of students among other factors. As such, it is true to say that, there are no bad or good learning styles. The important thing is having the students understand their learning styles, as well as giving them the opportunity to major on them to achieve their educational goals. Concisely, the instructional implication therefore entails identification of personal learning styles for the students and supporting them to en
In a world fraught with much noise and chaos brought in by advancing technologies, arts, and music, the concept of Zen became synonymous with going back to simplicity, tranquility, and peacefulness that is not found in most subcultures of today. Not just in religion, the recent spate of incorporating Zen into contemporary living has become so popular that it has inspired people to apply it in designing their homes, artworks, or even in dealing with other people in organizations. Its emphasis on combining simplicity and harmony makes it an ideal lifestyle because it could summon good concentration and deep-seated meditation. Thus, we can consider Zen Buddhism as a subculture of what popular culture is all about today since it is a segment of society that suggests a distinctive pattern of mores, lifestyles, and values that differs from the larger society. The fact is that Zen is just a branch of the Buddhist religion. Reinders (1999) wrote that the word “Zen” originated from the “Sanskrit word dhyana (generally referring to an emptying or stilling form of meditation)” and that “was transliterated into Chinese as channa and abbreviated to chan; zen is the Japanese pronunciation of the Chinese character chan” (p. 797). According to Encyclopædia Britannica Online (2008), Zen became an important school of Buddhism in Japan because it claims to transmit the spirit or essence of Buddhism, which consists in experiencing the enlightenment (bodhi) achieved by Gautama Buddha. In fact, it “constitutes the mainstream monastic form of Mahayana Buddhism in China, Korea, and Vietnam and accounts for approximately 20 percent of the Buddhist temples in Japan”. This type of teaching arose in the 6th century in China as Ch’an, a form of Mahayana Buddhism; though introduced centuries earlier, Zen did not fully develop in Japan until the 12th century. In its secondary developments of mental tranquility
Introduction Although government often influences the economy of the state greatly, the link between the two is rather loose. In fact, once a state allows private entrepreneurship, economy is no longer in the hands of those beholding power – on the contrary, these are business people who shape the realm of the state’s economy, thus, contributing to its development and enhancing the cooperation with foreign countries. Naturally, letting the state economy be guided by private industries must seem extremely risky to the government, which must be the key reason why in most states, the question whether economy should be government-driven or powered by private entrepreneurships solely remains open. Like many other dilemmas, the given one seems to have its solution concealed in between the choices. While private entrepreneurships must be the key driving power behind the state economy, in the instances of crises, the interference of the government is crucial for the state economy to be stable; however, in an attempt to control the market and prevent the possibility of a crisis, the government creates obstacles in the way of private enterprises development. Government Control vs. Freedom of Entrepreneurship: The Golden Mean Whenever government tries to take control over the state economy and coordinate the actions of private entrepreneurs, the progress of the state is threatened, mostly because authorities tend to impose their vision of what strategies the companies should adopt. Therefore, basically, by intruding into the sphere of private entrepreneurship, the government creates only two problems, yet these problems affect the business sphere immensely, shaping the economy of the state and influencing other fields, such as finances, social life, the international image of the state, etc. To be more exact, with its interference into the realm of private business, government restrains entrepreneurship and intrudes rudely into the financial operations of private businessmen, which can be viewed as the infringement of the latter’s rights. Another obvious problem with the intrusion of the state into the private business sphere is that the solutions to the problems, as well as the strategies, cannot possibly take into account every single specifics of the company in question; otherwise, the state would have to control every single move of every single company, which would be practically impossible. To make the matters worse, the principles of organizational and industrial psychology would be ignored completely in the cases when the state would have to make a decision for the company. Therefore, not only the financial state of affairs in the company would gradually turn worse, but also the company culture and the quality of the organizational behavior. Finally, being ruled by the government, an organization can possibly lose the track of the updates on the company data, which will definitely lead to the organization’s rapid decay. The last, but definitely not the least argument concerns personal freedom. Even though the state control over entrepreneurships might be viewed as the means to make certain that the state economy is goi
Introduction: Football Is More Competitive Than One Might Think Although the very concept of being a fan implies being passionate about a particular person or phenomenon, one might believe that the link between football fans and crime might be somewhat farfetched. However, recent cases show that there is a propensity among the people developing an emotional attachment to a particular football team to express violence toward the fans of other teams (Scholtz, 2016). Although typically restricted to minor confrontations between the representatives of the opposing teams, the identified phenomenon may take a larger scale: “Sometimes the violence has escalated to riots and murder” (Gerstenfeld, 2013, Chapter 8). One must admit that purely football-based hatred is a comparatively rare occurrence in the contemporary environment. As Gerstenfeld (2013) explains, most of the conflicts between football fans are fueled heavily by racial and ethnic prejudices: “While some of their violence is directed at anyone who supports opposing teams, a great deal of the violence is also fueled by racism or ethnic tensions” (Gerstenfeld, 2013, Chapter 8). Nevertheless, the very idea of committing crimes over the devotion for a particular football team seems rather odd. Since the hate crimes committed under the pretext of being affiliated with a particular football community are often fueled by the specific ethnic, racial, or national ideas, the subject matter can be viewed as the tool for introducing the participants to the emotion-related factors and allowing the situation to spin out of control. The assumption above means that football hate crimes can be avoided by reducing the competitiveness of the sport and promoting the idea of participation as opposed to winning as the focus of the game. Thus, the line between sport-related crimes and hate crimes committed based on racial conflicts could be drawn, and further instances of football hate crimes could be mitigated. A Brief History of Hatred: Playing for the Wrong Team The phenomenon of football hate crimes is rather old. However, the subject matter has recently reached a new stage of development. According to the recent report produced by BBC, the problem of football hate crimes has grown twice over the past year: “There was an increase of 50% in the number of football teams that the accused were affiliated with” (Football hate crimes rise by almost 50% in last year, 2016, para. 22). The change in the percentage of hate crimes committed on the premise of sport-related conflicts can be explained by the increasingly high