ShantanuT01/DACTYL-Pretraining huggingface dataset:
Introduction The issue of gun control remains a divisive topic in the United States. Those in favor of stricter laws regarding the purchase and ownership of firearms highlight various challenges that many American citizens continue to face. Different groups that support the possession of guns cite or identify the Second Amendment to the Constitution of the United States as the main foundation of their arguments. This law indicates that Americans should have the right to bear and keep firearms and that such a fundamental right should never be infringed. These aspects reveal that gun politics is a critical area that will continue to attract attention of different stakeholders, including leaders, citizens, religious groups, and human rights activists. The biggest question is: how can the U.S. address this issue from an informed perspective? Background Information Within the past three decades, the number of gun-related deaths, assaults, and robberies has been on the rise in the United States. For instance, around 39,773 citizens have lost their lives due to injuries that were related to arms in this country (Gramlich). These occurrences reveal that homicides, intentional offences, and criminal acts have been on the rise. Three-quarters of such deaths involved the use of firearms (Gramlich). Gun suicides have been on rise within the past decade. The level of crime in different cities in the country has increased within the last decade. A report by the Pew Research Center revealed that the issue of violence in the United States was something worrisome (Quinn 959). This was the case since the U.S. was recording more gun-related deaths that any other developed country in the world (Gramlich). Although the rates were lower than the ones recorded in different parts or regions in Latin America, there was a need for stakeholders to take the debate more seriously and be in a position to have long-lasting or evidence-based solutions. Gun politics is a development that experts need to examine from different perspectives. Americans amount to less than 5 percent of the global population (Lopez). However, these citizens own around 45 percent of all firearms in the hands of civilians across the globe (Lopez). The history of gun violence presents a unique perspective on this problem. In 2012, an unknown assailant shot and killed 26 people in Sandy Hook Elementary School in the town of Newtown (Lopez). From that day, the number of shootings recorded in the country has increased exponentially. Some skeptics still believe that most of the incidents and statistics revolving around the use of guns are not captured by
Loomis thinks that the accounting profession is under jeopardy due to lack of honesty in the Praca tice (75). The author is emphatic that some accountants have opted to ‘manage earnings’ of companies they represent so that the public and stakeholders may get a fair impression that their corporations are performing well in the market. Interestingly, this is a similar argument presented by Kolins (37). The author observes that a raft of measures and auditing rules were recently adopted to address the loopholes in the management of earnings in corporations. The latest rules and regulations were adopted to combat management in earnings. As much as the aspect of management earnings is a real ethical threat in the field of professional accounting, it is also pertinent to explore the roles played by audit committees in public companies. It is surprising that the new rules of engagement in the auditing of public corporations were bitterly embraced by most Corporate Boards of Directors. The AICPA Auditing Standards Board and the Exchange Commission should never be lenient with rogue accountants who are ready to lower the reputation of other honest and highly professional accountants. Dechow and Skinner also point out that the issue of earnings management has been regarded and treated differently by most accounting academics (235). However, this should never be the case. A uniform approach should be taken in regards to the issue of earnings management. In any case, any wrong, inaccurate or exaggerated reporting on the performance of companies should expressly be considered as a fraudulent activity. To some extent, regulators and practitioners seem to be on an agreement on how earnings management should be treated (Dechow and Skinner 237). It is clearly understood that there is always intense pressure to attain the expectations of Wall Street. However, impressive performance and increased reputation of a corporation in the public domain usually comes with a cost. The jail option reiterated by Loomis (76) may not be a proper approach of combating malpractices in reporting the performance of companies. There are several cases when the convicted individuals ‘buy’ their freedom from the court corridors even before they are sentenced to jail. Some instances are successfully appealed and dropped to the detriment of corporations that eventually incur millions of losses. T
Introduction As of today, I feel strongly inspired by the sheer courageousness and thoughtfulness, with which Russia’s President Vladimir Putin goes about promoting the cause of peace around the world and defending traditional values. After all, it was solely due to Putin’s decision to become actively involved in the ongoing civil conflict in Syria, as a supporter of the legitimate government of Bashar Assad, that the U.S. choose in favor of not subjecting this country to the ‘humanitarian’ bombardment with cruise missiles. I think that this alone deserved Vladimir Putin the Nobel Peace Prize, as a person, who contributed rather substantially towards the preservation of peace on Earth. What also inspires me, in respect to how modern Russia positions itself in the arena of international politics, is that it does not bow to the foreign pressure to allow the representatives of sexual minorities to celebrate their ‘uniqueness’, at the expense of undermining the foundations of the society’s morality. The success of Vladimir Putin as president The reason why the above-mentioned inspires me is that I think that, regardless of how strongly ‘democratic’ a particular country happened to be, it still does not have the right to meddle in the internal affairs of other countries. Such my belief correlates perfectly well, with what happened to be the international law’s main principle. Therefore, the fact that Russia was able to prevent the planned invasion of Syria, by America and its Western allies, is indeed inspiring. This simply could not be otherwise, as it does show that, contrary to what the representatives of the financial elites in the West tend to assume, it is much too early for them to be considered the undisputed ‘masters of the world’. In its turn, this reduces the likelihood for the world’s richest oligarchs (who are the actual policy-makers in the West) to succeed in striving to enslave humanity, under the excuse of introducing people to the ideals of democracy. The reason why I feel inspired by the ‘anti-gay’ policy, currently enacted in Russia, is that, unlike what it happened to be the case with the unofficial policy of enforcing a gay-agenda upon people, regardless of whether they happened to like it or not (deployed in some Western countries), it is fully consistent with the notion of sanity. By making it clear that the propaganda of sexual eccentricities (especially among children) is the subject of a criminal prosecution, Russia showed to the whole world how the aggressive minority of sexually unconventional individuals (disproportionately represented in the government of just about any Western country), should be dealt with. Conclusion The world is well aware of Vladimir Putin’s sheer successfulness, as a President. Therefore, I do not think that I will be able to contribute substantially towards the process of this person becoming well recognized just about anywhere in the world. Nevertheless, I do apply a modest effort into trying to convince my friends and relatives that, contrary to what the mainstream media would like us to believe, Russia is not America’s enemy. Quite on the contrary – it is
The new project requires a whole new facility. It will support the work of the old complex but will mainly deal with the inpatient admissions. It will require new staff and new equipment. The paper presents the requirements to facilitate the initiation of the project in the new complex. Description of Project La Verne Medical Hospital Center has had a massive influx of patients in need of medical care. The Affordable Care Act has allowed the citizens access to medical services through expansion of the insurance services (Cokins 275). Now the short-stay patients can occupy beds for not more than 23 hours. Therefore, the new 5-story building will have Medical-Surgical beds and Intensive Care Unit beds. The new 50-bed nursing wing should begin operations by January 1st, 2017. Basic Workload Calculation The new nursing unit will be run at an 80% capacity (40 beds) so we will need to budget 40 beds (50 X 0.80) for a full year (365 days). The result is equal to 14,600 patient days. However, these patient days contain two different levels of nursing services: 6 hours per day for medical-surgery patients and 12 hours per day of ICU patients. 30 medical-surgery patients beds X 365 days = 10,950 patient days 10 ICU patient beds X 365 days = 3650 patient days 14,600 patient days Productive Time Calculation The budget task is to find out the number of nursing hours that can provide 14,600 days of patient care (both medical-surgical and ICU) (Osborne and Ball 525). 1.0 Full-time Equivalent (FTE) is equal to 2080 hours per year (40 hours/ week X 52 weeks). But we need to calculate productive time—the time employees worked. Nonproductive time for the nursing staff is: Vacation takes 15 days, Holidays (7days), and 4 Sick Days. The unproductive days total to 26 days. Productive Time per FTE: 2080 – 208 = 1872 hours Required FTE Calculation Required FTEs equal workload divided by productive hours, therefore: 30 medical-surgical beds = 10,950 patient days X 6 hours/ patient care = 65,700 hours 10 ICU patient beds = 3,650 patient days X 12 hours/ patient care = 43,800 hours 14, 600 patient days 109,500 hours 109, 500 = Required Patient Care Hours = 58.49 FTEs (based on acuity) 1872 Productive Time per FTE The calculation for multiple shifts for 24-hour care. 58.49 FTEs X 1.4 = 81.886 FTEs Calculation for nurse specialties . [email protected] 43,800 hours/year = 40% of FTEs [email protected] ,700 hours/year = 60% of FTEs Management and supervision (nurse manager position) will need 4.95 FTEs Therefore the salaries and employment benefits will be as follows; Salaries and Employment Benefits                                   Unit       Cost per unit  Salary     Employment Benefits  Total     New Registered Nurses             82.0 FTEs  62,400
Art can be compared to writing a story. Mittler and Raggans agree that an artist, similar to a writer, “starts out with an interesting idea, event, or thought. He or she then captures this idea and expresses it in a way that often communicates strong feelings or emotions as a visual statement that communicates an idea, expresses a feeling, or presents an interesting design” (4). Consequently, art media are like words and sentences in literature. They are diverse and serve to express ideas or feelings. Common or unusual art media make people look at the same piece of art differently. Thus, there exists a trend to recreate famous paintings applying non-traditional art materials. For example, The Scream of Munch was recreated with the help of thousands of colored pencils, and the famous Marilyn Monroe’s portrait was made of gummy bears candies (Nyberg par. 2, 8). Thus, an artist does not have limits in his or her creativity and freedom to choose the media, which helps transfer ideas, feelings, and emotions. Expressing the Idea When I was thinking of an idea for my art pieces, I decided to depict something that many people lack in modern life. They hurry to work and back, are in chase of success, but they forget to stop and dream. Thus, the presented pieces illustrate dreams and freedom. The balloon depicted on them is a symbol of secret wishes which can come true. A balloon in the blue sky flying to the sun, as high as only birds can reach, embodies a free person’s way to something good. Bright colors symbolize light, joy, and happiness, which accompany a person who follows the dream. The Choice of the Art Media The choice of art media determines its final look. The art media is a tool which allows the artist to express the idea of the piece of art, and disclose its content. I support Lazzari and Schlesier, who state that “It is easy to think that the idea is all that matters in a work of art, but in fact, the physical embodiment of the idea is important as well. When artists choose the best medium to support their ideas, their art is stronger” (56). I also like the idea expressed by a social commentator Marshall McLuhan (qt. Mittler and Raggans 67), that “the medium is the message.” I had used those principles when I was thinking of the media to express my idea. The first sketch is a drawing, which is a two-dimensional piece of art. I have used an ordinary pencil to make it. Thus, it combines two traditional media, a pencil, and paper. I believe it symbolizes that a dream can be freely modified the same way as this drawing of a balloon can be changed or just erased. I think I could have used a pen or ink for the sketch. However, I prefer pencils due to the opportunity to make a quick drawing or change something in case of necessity. The second piece is using traditional media and is two-dimensional as well. This time, it is a painting on the same piece of paper. I have chosen a watercolor technique because of the opportuni
Introduction In 1235, the Vatican issues an order authorizing the start of an Inquisition aimed at re-establishing the orthodoxy of the Christian faith. Heresy was charged with, or as witchcraft, because any sort of magic necessitated an association with the devil. This form of judgment went on and only partially died away in the seventeenth century (Carroll and Ward 2). This window allowed for artists such as poets, painters, writers to utilize their creativity to artistically depict the horrors that were prevalent at the time. Visual art inspired playwrights and later film directors into bringing paintings to life. For instance, Hieronymous Bosch, a Dutch artist produced paintings with religious themes and disturbing impact between 1470 and 1516. In 1781, Henry Fuseli, a professor of painting at the British Royal Academy made the grisly painting, The Nightmare, that portrayed a woman deep in sleep with her arms thrown below her and demonic incubus crouching on her chest (Horror Palace). Consequently, he was considered quite insane by most of his peers as a result of his more macabre tastes. Main body In 1819, a court painter from Spain, Francisco Goya produced a series of eighteen frescos commonly referred to as the Black Paintings, as a response to the French invasion. He had a knack for the dark themes and subjects as shown in his earlier works that were a satire to witchcraft beliefs, war, depression, loneliness, and anxiety (Pomona College 3; Carroll and Ward 2). Some modern horror films and franchises have drawn inspiration from the imagery and terminology used in some of Goya’s Black Paintings. A contemporary example is the depiction of the devil as a goat in the film series, The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina and the 2015 film The Witch, which bear close semblance to the same entity’s depiction in Goya’s The Witches Sabbath painting. Other examples may include demon-like antagonists, such as in The Conjuring and The Exorcist film franchises, with a similar case depicted in Goya’s Two Old Men painting. Additionally, the mythology of pagan deities used in Goya’s Saturn Devouring his Son is popular in modern films such as The Pale Man and the Supernatural series Saturn Devouring his Son Figure 1: Saturn Devouring his Son by Francisco Goya from The Guardian Saturn Devouring his Son is the name that was given to a painting developed by the Spanish artist Francisco Goya. The traditional interpretation of the painting was based on the Greek mythology of the Titan Cronus, who ate his children upon their birth fearing that they would grow up to overthrow him. Goya painted the background black while the limbs and the head of Saturn seemed to pop out of the shadows, his eyes huge and bulging like he was mad, his fingers digging into the back of the child has already devoured his head and right arm (Horror Palace). The entire image is dark and eerie, and regardless of the meaning behind it, l
The government in the UK has tried to enforce some changes in the health care sector to reduce bureaucracy in the management staff. This is aimed at provision of quality health care services to the people. The changes have entailed the performance of a radical pro-market shake-up among personal doctors, health centers and private health institutions that are known to compete for patients. This is done to enable them to select the treatment and care in plans put forth by the government. This paper tries to explain some of the factors influencing or rather affecting reforms in the delivery of national health services. Most health care cooperatives have considered the shift towards a ‘primary care-led NHS’ as a health strategic goal. However, it has been attested that the pace at which the change is being carried out has gone down. To ensure that the goals of most health care centers are attained, there is need to assess the progress of the reforms as well as the barricades hindering its development. During the investigation of the nature as well as barriers to the reform, the following was some of the results that were obtained. It was ascertained that the shifts in progress from secondary to primary care was small, not strategic, gradual and not directly influenced by resource shifts. In fact, in physiotherapy, counseling, asthma, diabetes, chiropody and complementary medicine clinics, primary care-led commissioning has never been seen as the major driver
One of the main foundations in the study of science is the validation of theoretical propositions through experimental data. Theories can then be evaluated to be true or false depending on experimental results. The verification of theoretical prepositions can then help us to predict multiple outcomes in our world. In the direction of trying to understand the universe, man has developed an array of disciplines that do not necessarily follow the experimental approach which is used in contemporary science. Medieval science is among the most important disciplines that have resulted from man’s effort to understand his universe (Fisher, 2011). Although some of the prepositions and beliefs in medieval science are contrary to common sense and contemporary science, medieval science is still finding a wider acceptance in the general populace. The inclusion of astrology columns in all major newspaper editions tells a lot about our general beliefs. Perhaps, contemporary science is ignoring “undiscovered” forces that play a crucial role in influencing our lives; thus, forcing man to seek alternative means of understanding mysterious phenomenon (John, 2005). Background Among the most common disciplines that have been in application over many years, despite their unscientific approach, include astrology and alchemy. In a nutshell, astrology is a discipline which revolves on the concept that our behaviors, destinies, and our general life is pre-determined and influenced by forces from celestial bodies. Astrology is a broad discipline that is based on astronomical observations which have been noted over many years (Stefanos, 2011). Life in the ancient world, including medicine, politics and religion was centered on astrological beliefs. Although astrology has a wide berth of acceptance and application in our modern world, scientists have argued against the use of astrological prepositions as facts. Phenomenons that can be “explained” by astrological prepositions should thus be considered random and accidental. Like astrology, alchemy is a discipline that is based on prepositions that are contrary to intuition and scientific approaches. Alchemists believe that it is possible to transfer the form of an object to another object through the process of metaphysics. Because of their existence, objects are considered to posses some form of metaphysical powers that can be moved from one object to another. Among the most important beliefs that are held by modern alchemists is the possession of healing powers by crystals. Some modern healers propose the combined use of crystals and meditation for healing certain ailments (Andrew, 2008). The Quartz Crystal Experiment Methodology In the direction of ascertaining the claimed healing power of crystals, I set out to perform an experiment to test the healing notion of crystals. Among the most common approaches that can be employed in the direction of verifying hypotheses is the use of chi-squared experiments. First, a hypothesis is stated. For the stated hypothesis to be valid, the result