ShantanuT01/DACTYL-Pretraining huggingface dataset:
Introduction Mind mapping is a concept used in psychology to analyze situations. It is used to represent ideas and information in the form of graphics. Particularly, information is represented in graphics that resemble a thinking mind. These graphics contain multiple branches that originate from a central point (Hamilton, 2002). They could be drawn by hands or computer software. Graphical representation helps learners to understand information easily. The strength of mind mapping lies on the ability to integrate art and analysis (Cozby, 1981). This implies that learners must engage their brain when dealing with mind mapping. Consequently, it eliminates shallow thinking, enhances creativity and discourages dull thinking. Mind mapping is applied in various fields of study. These fields include taking notes, making presentations and researching (Percival, 2003). In this paper, I will choose and analyze a topic using mind mapping strategy. After identifying the research topic, I will raise three questions that will be potential for a research. Lastly, I will choose one question that will help to make a research proposal. Topic This paper seeks to analyze politics. Politics is a necessary component of a community. It affects economic and social aspects of a community (Ray, 1979). In the world, people have experienced many cases of political instability and violence (Ray, 1979). Leaders are involved in struggle for power. Particularly, Africa has been the major victim of political instability. Therefore, analyzing this topic is important. Mindmap Narrative In the process of brain storming, I acquired various experiences. First, it made the analysis be interesting and objective. This activity eliminated the possible boredom that would arise in other methods of analysis. Drawing the branches was pretty involving and interesting. As a result, I managed to add many branches to the mind map. Consequently, I generated many factors that surrounded politics. This activity had an interesting formulation that facilitated effective results. The pictorial representation of the factors surrounding politics was a credible strength of understanding. I could read through the factors at a glance and relate them easily. It, therefore, made the analysis and development of research questions easy and fast. In addition, the figure represented an idea of the topic within a glance. This is contrary to the
Immanuel Kant and Soren Kierkegaard are two philosophers whose approaches to the concept of morality and the true way of life are strikingly different, yet possess many similarities. This essay compares Kant and Kierkegaard’s thoughts through their two major works, Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals and The Sickness Unto Death . Immanuel Kant wrote his Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals in 1785, while Kierkegaard wrote The Sickness Unto Death in 1849. However, since Kant was a rationalist and Kierkegaard a devout Christian, the two works have major methodological differences. Kant argues the case for morality to have certain apriori basis defined by his concept of ‘Categorical Imperative’ that simply put is nothing but standard of rationality from which all moral requirements are derived. Categorical imperative can also be simplistically defined as the unconditional command of our conscience to carry out acts that subscribe to common sense of goodness. For example it is common sense goodness not to use expletives in a conversation. Kierkegaard on the other hand looks at morality from the viewpoint of religious faith, specifically Christian faith in particular. Kierkegaard does not prescribe everyone to being Christians but to become like Christians. Kantian logic is based on analytical systematic rigors of rationalism where reason rules and the existence of God cannot be proved, Kierkegaard takes the same argument with an assumption that the world exists the way it is because of God. Kierkegaard uses the example of the New Testament story of Christ’s raising of Lazarus from the dead to argue that while the human body dies, the spirit lives on and thus it is not fear of physical death that should worry mankind but the spiritual sickness that pervades it. Man is given to despair and he loses his ‘self’ if he does not imbibe the ways God had laid out for him. While the ‘self’ forms the core of Kierkegaard’s a
Introduction The British Empire was made up of numerous territories controlled by the UK and was set up in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. At its peak, it was the unprecedented global power. However, all this changed rapidly and by the end of WWII, the US had become the new super power. Reasons the global power of Britain declined   * Low growth potential especially in the early years, coupled with a low social capability.   * Soft policies adopted by post-war governments; these domestic policy goals were sometimes sacrificed for foreign policy   * Disadvantages of a head start – After Industrial Revolution, Britain saddled with an out-of-date capital stock that could not enable it have an edge over other industrialized nations.   * Underskilled Workforce: – Comparative data for the 1960s and 1970s suggests that the proportion entering higher education was lower in Britain than in most other industrial, deficiencies were also evident in Secondary Schools.   * High marginal tax rates – Before Thatcher (in 1976), had 41% average rate (32% in U.S. and 21% in Japan).   * Sociological problems- Entrepreneurial spirit died with successive generations. The trade unions that had been established did not help as they stifled labor productivity (Almond et al, 2008). Similarities between the British experience and the current situation of the U.S Both the British and the U.S. systems are among the world’s oldest democracies in the world in similarity. In terms of labor markets, the British Labor Markets and Labor Relations covers about 27% of the labor force, down from 50 in 1980, but much larger than the current U.S. share. Before its final collapse after the WWII, Britain was engaged in numerous wars in its colonies, which spread across Europe, Africa, and even the Americas. As a result, Britain diverted most of its resources towards these wars while losing control of its own economy due the distraction from war. Unemployment was high and its economy was in decline. In contrast, other industrialized nations were prospering and Britain failed to keep pace with these developments. Ironically, these nations imitated Britain’s production methods and before long, Britain lost its position as the world’s super power. The trend is almost similar in the current US economy. The nation is fighting many wars around world, from the Middle East, Asia and Africa, consequently, its military spending has been so high, besides it has lost grip of its economy, especially after the recent global financial crisis. While other countries such as China are making efforts towards developing their economy, the US’ focus is almost entirely focused on other nations, and this has had a dire effect on its
Spike Lee’s “Malcolm X” attempts a biopic of events surrounding the transformation of a small-time criminal into one of America’s most revolutionary Civil Rights activists. Starring Denzel Washington in the titular role, the film begins on a voiceover note denouncing the idea of America as a sheer exercise in hypocrisy and a nightmare for blacks. In what appears to come straight from one of his fiery speeches, Malcolm charges the white man with unleashing a wave of oppression on black people, being history’s greates kidnapper, rapist and enslaver. The film makes an adequate documentary fiction attempt at Malcolm’s early phase in life, though taking several liberties with actual events that have been documented in Malcolm’s own autobiographical novel. For instance, in depicting his tryst with a wayward white woman, Sophia, the story omits mentioning the fact that this woman, whose real name was Bea Caragulian, caused him a longer prison sentence than he would have otherwise received had he not been in an interracial relationship. Instead, Malcolm is shown to be in league with a thug called Shorty. Both of them try to rob a white couple’s home, and get a long prison sentence. Back then, there was an all-pervasive taboo against interracial relationships. However, Spike Lee decides to play it down. Instead, once he’s in prison, Malcolm develops a close bond with Baines, who educates him about Elijah Muhammed’s teachings concerning the Nation of Islam. At first disinterested, Malcolm slowly begins to question his own identity as a black man in America, questions that always intrigued him to no end but to which, he never had any straight answers. Malcolm’s association with Baines begins to deliver him a strong sense of reasoning ability; by now he has now come to the same thinking horizon as the rest of the leaders of Nation of Islam. Soon, Malcolm starts delivering rouding, inflammatory speeches promoting the cause of the Nation of Islam, railing against the white man while increasingly espousing Islamist views. The depiction of these transition events is almost cartoonish as they do not give a background of the factors that compelled Malcolm to suddenly become virulently racist against whites. Although, an initial scene showed Ku Klux Klan horsemen issuing threats and intimidation to Malcolm’s family, there were other factors from the novel, Malcolm’s own childhood experiences in the racist South, that could have been put together to depict the huge transformation experienced by Malcolm. In prison, Malcolm experienced an epiphany, a vision by Elijah Muhammed which aimed to make him understand his role a
The students’ high academic achievements are usually considered as the best results of the good teachers’ performance. However, is it possible to speak about the direct connection between the processes when the teacher’s work is stimulated with the help of money? This principle was discussed as the major one while implementing the new system of merit pay for teachers. Today, the merit pay program which is provided with basing on the activities of the federal Teacher Incentive Fund (TIF) and the United States Department of Education (USDOE) is one of the most controversial aspects of the educational reform in the United States because of the fact there are no strict evidences which could support the hypothesis that merit pay programs can stimulate the improvement of the teachers’ performance, and this situation can lead to the higher students’ results in their studying process (“Teacher Merit Pay”). Although the teacher’s professionalism and perfect performance are associated with the students’ academic achievements, the United States should not implement merit pay programs for teachers without changing the basics of the educational system because according to the findings of recent researches, there are no direct connections between the students’ performance and teachers’ merit pays due to a range of the other significant factors. The implementation of the merit pay program in the United States cannot be discussed as the guaranty of increasing the students’ performance at school. In spite of the fact the financial compensations and merits can be considered as a kind of stimulation and the reason for increasing the level of the teachers’ motivation, the first results of impl
For many years now, television has been a part of every household not only in America but all over the world. Some consider television as the thing that binds a family because watching TV is a time for everyone to gather around after a day’s work and school. Weekends are spent watching and snacking while watching. It has become a routine. The way a family member thinks, his values, attitude towards his surroundings, and how he deals with people signifies a great deal and how they are inside their homes. The effect of watching too much TV and not talk anymore with folks and avoid emotional interaction would indicate how the youth would shape the future. CyberCollege/Internet Campus (2007) cites that television weakens the tastes of the society for the arts. They are stooping down to a lower-level form of art. Before people would go to theaters and exhibits to appreciate art, they were more sophisticated back then. In connection with this, television also weakens moral standards. It makes casual sex and drugs look “cool” for young people. Crooks and thieves are portrayed by “heroes” that they end up getting the loot happily ever after. People of all ages are urged to be escapists the moment they fix their eyes on TV. It is a bit scary because there is some kind of hypnotism or drug that comes along with it. Like alcohol that relaxes and soothes pain and trouble brought by the day’s harsh reality. Consumers are also easy prey on the lure of television advertisements. Viewers become impulsive when they see a very appealing commercial and will not hesitate to buy a particular product. They lose their sense of practicality and spend money on something just because it looks good on TV. With regards to the issue that television ‘exhibits a liberal bias ‘, Conservatives blame the media for the social change. Television opened its doors to “taboos” like homosexuality, civil rights abuses, women’s rights, anti-war advocacies, and the legalization of marijuana, etc. There are sensitive issues regarding the statement that television sets up false images of reality. Some shows depict criminals or the bad guys as “colored”. It sets standards or stereotypes which could be demeaning to colored people in America like Asians, Blacks, Italians, Mexicans, etc. It somewhat generalizes people according to their color, physical appearance, and way of life. On the other hand, television also distorts reality thru emission, in the opinion of critics. It edits out other matters when they should be heard or seen. Viewers should have the right to know the facts concerning things about their everyday lives. Some are at a loss as to what the truth is and end up looking stupid. It only
The question on what makes people happy has perennially escaped many thinkers, be they scholars, psychologists or therapists. Humanity is yet to master what exactly makes people happy as the indexes used to measure happiness have shown that even in places where people are expected to be happy, they are not as happy as they are expected. For instance, if wealth equates to happiness or it has a direct link to the level of happiness, then it would mean that the wealthiest nations in the world would be ranked as the happiest nations. However, this is not the case as America, despite its massive wealth compared to other nations of the world, ranks a distant twenty third in the happiness index (Breakthrough Para 14). Therefore, this shows that wealth is not the source of happiness. The concept of happiness is surrounded by a number of fallacies, paramount being the misconception that material possession is a source of happiness. In most parts of the world, people express that they would be happier if they acquired more material wealth. For instance, people may assert that getting a better and even bigger house, live in a bigger and posh estate or drive an expensive car can be a source of happiness. However, Mathews and Izquierdo, (112), note that in most cases, this fallacies are the main sources of people’s unhappiness as they end up creating for themselves too much ambition that makes them be unable to reach the ideal happiness. Going by Mathews and Izquierdo’s argument, people should be contented with whatever they have as opposed to spending too much time on agonizing on what they don’t have. They further point out that people should focus more on what they have as opposed to what they would wish to have as this only adds pain to their aspirations. After years of working as a journalist, Weiner sets out to explore the idea of happiness by conducting interviews with people of those areas that have recorded the highest levels of happiness as well as those people who have recorded the lowest levels of happiness. This journey made him do many things in the quest to ensure that he establishes the real idea of happiness. In his book, Weiner (64) establishes that for one to be happy, the element of trust even to a government has a lot of emphasis on whether a person will be happy or unhappy. For instance, the book establishes that in Bhutan where the leadership has deliberately pursued a policy of happiness for all citizens, the people report to be happy as they trust their king. This shows that the trust that the people of Bhutan have in their leadership reduces their worries hence making them be happy. Therefore, according to Weiner (44), trust in the leadership is an excellent way of making people happy. However, critically thinking, this can be a fallacy as one cannot lay total trust on the leadership if the leadership has no capacity to meet the needs of an individual. For instance, if the government power was to be explored in relation of its influence on the capacity to influence the level of happiness, then it would be evident that Americans would be happier than many other people of the world. This is because the leadership of the United St
Introduction The current account deficit is a state of economic imbalance due to the financial crisis arising from the backlog of the trade sector in a given nation. The current account status reads negative when there are deficits, an indication that growth in business sectors is sustained on debts. The economic imbalances of nations reflect on their gross domestic product (GDP) every quarter within a year (Sadiku et al., 2015, p. 91). The current account balance is impacted by the relative income per person in a nation. Moreover, the exchange rates on a real-time basis, the cycles in various business sectors, and trading agreements determine the current account status. The fiscal policy has also been found to impact the current account status (Sadiku et al., 2015, p. 92). This paper answers the question as to why the European governments will experience a current account deficit following the COVID-19 pandemic. Furthermore, it suggests one of the main policies used to reduce the current account deficit in Europe in the time of the Coronavirus crisis. Deficits from Economic Drop Following Reduced Production Economic production to sustain the current account positively on the global market requires the active participation of citizens in businesses. However, the Coronavirus pandemic has driven the already impacted nations into lockdown. Europe is one of the most COVID-19 stricken regions, as per the March 2020 statistics which indicated that 50 percent of the infected populations were from Italy, Spain, and Germany (Benassy-Quere et al., 2020, p. 4). The pandemic shock on major European nations resulted in a reduction in labor forces while the consumption rate remained constant, especially in the food industry and agricultural sectors. Furthermore, the containment measure to ensure sanity for securing citizens from Coronavirus infections has lowered down the trade activities and suppressed the domestic demands. The impact of the pandemic on the lives of productive people has resulted in a recession of economic growth. Consequently, it has led to the Eurozone GDP drop by 3.8 percent. It implies that external support has to be put in place to sustain the economy of the European Nation (Boysen-Hogrefe et al., 2020, pp. 5-13). Therefore, an external economic imbalance of the European governments yields automatic debts that create deficit
Human development index (HDI) is used by organizations to estimate and rank economic status of countries based on certain criteria. The key components of life expectancy are income, education and life expectancy (Nagel 2). In this paper, the HDI for three countries, these are, India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh will be compared. Based on the first criterion, that is, life expectancy at birth, Bangladesh had the highest value at 68.9 years while India and Pakistan had a tie at 65.4 years. The values indicate that Bangladesh has a better health care system than the other two countries. Based on the second criterion, Pakistan had the highest mean years of schooling at 4.9 years, followed by Bangladesh at 4.8 years and India at 4.4 years. The values show that the citizens of Pakistan spend more years in school than the other two countries. The third criterion is the expected years of schooling. Based on this measure, India reported the highest value at 10.3 years, followed by Bangladesh at 8.1 years and Pakistan with 6.9 years. Thus, when analyzing the first three components of the HDI, it can be observed that there is a small margin between the three countries. The final component is the GNI (gross national income) per capita. India had the highest GNI per capita estimated at $3,468, followed by Pakistan at $2,550 while Bangladesh had $1,529. The ratio shows that the citizens of India have a higher standard of living than the other countries. When all the four components are put together, India had the highest HDI at 0.547, followed by Pakistan at 0.504 while Bangladesh had 0.500 (The United Nations Development Programme 23). Thus, based on HDI India has a better well-being than the other countries. Trend of HDI between 1980 and 2011 The graph presented below shows the trend of HDI of the three countries between 1980 and
American courtroom drama “ Twelve Angry Men ” is a perfect instance to reveal how the decision-making process can be influenced. It describes the examination of homicide by twelve jurors, one of which contradicts others’ attitudes towards the case (13Youtoo, 2012). It is possible to reflect on how participants change their minds during the process. The seventh juror agrees to vote for not guilty because overwise the conversation would last too long for him. The third juror finally realizes that he only projecting his feelings about his son on the defendant while the tenth one just sticks to the other’s positions at the end. The fourth juror is logical and he is influenced by facts that prove the innocence of the defendant, and so does the sixth one, persuaded by the new case details. The twelfth juror is not interested in the case and changes his opinion many times, tending, therefore, to the prevalent decision, as the second one does, because of the lack of confidence. The ninth juror is calm and thoughtful which makes him change his mind easily, while the eleventh one begins to doubt because he believes in justice. Finally, the first juror, who is the foreman, tries to be fair while listening to others and voting, and he is also the one who does not believe in the boy’s guilt initially. I should admit that if I were a juror, I would, like all others but one, immediately consider the boy to be guilty, because of the persuasive evidence provided. Despite other jurors, who have personal motivation to complete the case as soon as possible, I would be deceived by how the story was presented. Some men want to go home early, while others are focused on facts provided, which are against the defendant, that prevent jurors from deepening further into the murder. Some jurors have related experiences or characteristics that make them vote for one or another decision (13Youtoo, 2012). Although I do not have any preconceptions, connections, or features, which other jurors have, I still would change my opinion after all the participants’ contributed to the case’s details like the fourth one. Reference 13Youtoo. (2012). 12 Angry men [Video]. YouTube.