ShantanuT01/DACTYL-Pretraining huggingface dataset:
Discovering Common Themes Education and nutrition are closely connected areas in the lives of school-age children. Even though it is not officially recognized by policymakers, school nutrition largely affects students’ health outcomes. The above assumption may be regarded as the first common theme covered by the recent scholarly literature from different angles. Ahmed, Oshiro, Loharuka, and Novotny (2011) emphasize such impacts of school nutrition as overweight and obesity caused by sedentary lifestyles and “disequilibrium in energy intake” (p. 11). The study conducted by the above authors outlines the fact that obesity in the US is more characteristic of ethnic minorities. Consistent with Ahmed et al. (2011), Pantea-Stoian, Chilianu, Stefanca, Elian, and Serafinceanu (2015) state that obesity is distributed unequally among populations. In other words, several sources stress the importance of the problem and pinpoint the fact that different ethnicities and genders should be taken into account while discussing the identified issue. One more essential theme outlined in the literature is the implementation of physical activity in schools to prevent and decrease overweight and obesity in children. In the recent article, Stephens, Black, Chapman, Velazquez, and Rojas (2016) reveal the low interest of students in doing physical exercises, which shows the need for elaborating on strategies of engagement. Likewise, the mentioned study, the one by DeVries (2016), detects the potential impact of Kick and Cook-a-Palooza introduced as a means to increase students’ awareness of their weight. In their turn, Ahmed et al. (2011) provide another evaluation of another opportunity – school-based gardening and its perception by educators. While the study discovers such perceived benefits as nutrition and health education, social skills promotion, as well as increased physical activity, the research proves the effectiveness of school-gardening. The focus on assessing the existing programs implemented to combat child overweight and obesity in schools may be regarded as the third common theme. As can be observed from the literature review, several studies make an attempt to align school nutrition, children’s outcomes, and the role of programs. Barnes, Skelton-Wilson, Cooper, Merlo, and Lee (2017) analyze the State Public Health Actions to Prevent and Control Diabetes, Heart Disease, Obesity, and Associated Risk Factors and Promote School Health (State Public Health Actions) program and find its early outcomes rather positive. In particular, several school nutrition practices and wellness policy requirements were improved based on a sample of 29 million US students. The advantageous impact of the 2010 Hunger-Fee Kids Act is pinpointed by Vaudrin, Lloyd, Yedidia, Todd, and Ohri-Vachaspati (2018), who assess school nutrition participation from 2008 to 2015. Several studies identify the need to consider the implementation of further adjustments to the existing policies and the a
Introduction African religion prior to the arrival of Muslim and Christian missionaries comprises of a variety of traditional believes which are indigenous to the African continent. Although most customs in the traditional religion are common in most African societies, every ethnic group has unique believes and some of these aspects are still maintained by most African Muslims and Christians religion. African religions are associated with concepts of culture, ethnic identity and language of the African people and affect every aspect in life and therefore they are unlimited to beliefs in God and the spirit. (Mbiti, 1991 pp23-25) Importance of African religion prior to the arrival of Muslim Christian missionaries Traditional African religion comprises of teachings and practices that formed structures to the native societies and the way the locals perceived the supernatural with a slight variation from one community to another. The Africans believed in the existence of a God, the creator of the universe while others recognized a complimentary god and the existence of priests for various deities like sun, lightening and the earth. They worshiped their God through consultations with ancestral spirit and lesser deities which were honored through sacrifice of precious metal, animals and vegetables. Oracular deities were also consulted by the believers so that the will of God may be sought while at the same time they believed that the living connected the ancestors and the unborn. They did not believe in heaven or hell or any physical reinforcement like holy texts, temples or prophets but when they were in great need like natural calamities and unexplained deaths, they could have a correspondence with their higher being. Traditional African religion during its teachings did not engage children in vigorous training during the time of maturation which made the missionaries believe that African religion was non-existent. The Africans also believed that a good person who would be compared with the one going to heaven was the one who was being remembered after death by other people during ceremonies. Going to hell was compared with the person who would be completely forgotten after his death. (Mbiti, 1991 pp26-30) Virtues and vices of traditional African religion Traditional religion in Africa was connected with aspects of life in the community such a social behavior like respecting parents and elderly, rising of children appropriately, being courageous, honest and able to provide hospitality. If a person engaged in immorality this was taken to be disobedience to his God depending on the way the community lived. They believed that God could guide a virtuous person through his conscience just like the devil would do for a bad person. Priests existed in some communities to act as intermediaries between persons or whole communities and the deities and would
Uganda’s Silent War is a story about atrocities faced by the people due to poor leadership. The northern part of Uganda was controlled by rebels through the leadership of Joseph Kony. He has terrorized the Northern part of Uganda over twenty years by capturing small children and turning them into child soldiers and also killing the elderly or cutting off their noses, mouth and ears. The rebel group goes under the name “The Lord’s Resistance Army”. That terroristic community was formed in order to liberate the people of the northern Uganda from what poor leadership of the government. The move was echoed by many but as time passed by, the Lord’s Resistance Army changed their tactics, and instead of targeting the government, they started preying upon the locals. They have
In Chapter Two of her book Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America, author Barbara Ehrenreich relates her experiences attempting to survive on low-wage employment in the state of Maine. To do this, she took a bus into town and rented a room at the local Motel 6 with only her laptop computer (essential for recording her experiences in the process of writing this book), a suitcase with a few changes of clothes and essential toiletries and $1000 to survive on until she can find a job. Although she admits that her sudden launch into a completely unfamiliar town is not the typical type of action most people might undertake willingly, it is also noted that for the very poor, this type of scenario occurs all too often and, it is not noted, usually omits the part about having $1000 in her pocket with which to make a new start. By examining her working experiences in Maine closely, it is possible to extrapolate information about the common conditions of people living in these conditions everywhere in the country, forcing one to rethink the position of the low-wage worker and hope something better might be worked out before long. In Maine, Ehrenreich managed to secure employment at two different places within days of her arrival in Portland. It was necessary to get two jobs, she said, because of the cost of living expenses. The room that she eventually gained is located at least 30 minutes away from the city proper because everything available in town is at least $1,000 per month, which would take all the money she has in hand, not counting any security deposits. After some searching, she eventually finds a small efficiency apartment for $120 per week with a $100 security deposit required. In her search for employment, she discovers that all the low-wage jobs available continue to ask her to sell herself to the company at the rate of $6 or $7 per hour, meaning that her rent alone will require approximately half of her weekly income. The job with The Maids is described as “$5 to $6 an hour for what this lady freely admits is heavy labor with a high risk of repetitive-stress injuries” (60). Ehrenreich is offered $6.75/hour with the threat of reduction of income should she fail to show up for a day. In order to be sure she can pay her bills, Ehrenreich also takes a job for $7/hour with a nursing home on the weekends. For transportation, she is reduced to what she terms a Rent-a-Wreck, but never mentions the actual price of this wreck, and utilities are presumably an additional expense as well, given that she later mentions her use of water in her shower as an extravagance she has earned. While she is provided with a uniform for one of her positions, she is allowed to wear her own clothing for her work at the nursing home while food expenses are kept to a minimum by eating hom
Qualitative and quantitative researches have benefits and disadvantages, can be suitable only for certain types of studies, and require a different range of sampling. Technological development and demand for new knowledge made scientists try mixing the methods to receive more precise results (Ostlund et al., 2011). Indeed, the mixed-method approach is frequently used for studies with extensive sampling where experience-based information is combined with the numeral one (Ostlund et al., 2011). For instance, the recent COVID-19 outbreak-related studies require statistical data about the cases, duration of treatment, or demographical details, while the personal experiences with symptoms are also considerable. This paper aims to discuss a hypothetical pandemic-based situation where utilizing a mixed-methods approach would be beneficial, assess the cooperation of quantitative and qualitative data, and discuss the potential challenges. COVID-19 pandemic forced healthcare systems worldwide to adjust most practices to address the disease conditions in various cases. For example, vaccination for pregnant women requires research because multiple factors, personal and external, influence the decisions and recommendations. In a study exploring the need to receive the COVID-19 vaccine for a particular group, qualitative data would provide records categorized as personal experience of having the infection, pregnancy description, and other necessary themes. The quantitative data to retrieve can contain the general information about vaccinations nationwide, the outbreak’s size, and risk rates for cases’ quantity increase. In research where statistics and experiences are equally important, generalization methods can be exercised to explore populations and transferability (Polit & Tatano-Beck, 2010). Consequently, the mixed-methods approach would benefit such a study because the broader scope of evidence would be collected, making the results more rigorous and reliable. Qualitative data is commonly gathered through interviewing and retrieving large scopes of descriptive records about participants’ experiences. Conversations-based can complement the quantitative part of the study as the responses contain the numerical information, or the quantity of positive and negative answers can be further recalculated to the evidence-based rating (Guetterman et al., 2019). Statistical data about the numbers of COVID-19 cases at specific locations can influence the interviews’ structure for participants and explore their experiences more deeply. For instance, the knowledge that a pregnant woman is from a state with a significant number of infected can be asked about her fears or thoughts that influence the decision to vaccinate. Quantitative data complements the qualitative by providing a foundation for selecting a direction of research and helping scientists categorize and code the responses (Guetterman et al., 2019). The mixed-methods approach is necessary for exploring various cases wh
A Midsummer Night’s Dream is a must-read fascinating chef-d’oeuvre written by William Shakespeare that is believed to have been compiled in the period 1590 to 1596 during the lifetime of Shakespeare. It is one of the most famous and popular works of Shakespeare that are still relevant today with most people acting various plays based on the original piece. The three terms id, ego, and superego are psychological terms founded and defined by Freud’s structural and topographical models of personality. The id is that part of human beings that enables them to meet their basic needs. On the other hand, the ego is another side of people’s personality. It is based on reality principles. The part makes people respect other’s needs and concerns. It also secures them respect from other people. Superego is also a psychological term that represents the moral part of human beings. Thesis As a fact, based on the way the author strategically presents various characters, psychological critics have suggested that some characters in the A Midsummer Night’s Dream can be seen as representations of the ego, the id, and the superego. The play depicts various themes that people encounter in their day-to-day associations, for instance, marriage, love, and magic among many other themes. In my opinion, the play is a real-life revelation that successfully explains the difficulties that people go through in pursuit of love. These challenges sometimes make people lose hope and turn to different ways of satisfying their ego. Some of the characters appear in various scenes while others are minor. Hence, they are only depicted or come into the limelight shortly. The characters, as the paper reveals, represent ego, superego, and id. Body Example In support of the concept raised by psychological critics concerning the work, Egeus is one of the characters that represent the ego. Explanation Egeus, Hermia’s father, has an ego that leads him to permit Demetrius to marry his daughter. However, the daughter is not in love with him. Rather, she loves Lysander. He, therefore, brings complains to Theseus, the king of Athens, on why his daughter has refused to listen to his wishes. Egeus feels that his daughter is walking on a bad road by refusing to listen to him. He wants his daughter to marry a man who he feels is suitable and appropriate for her. However, this does not take place. His anger and dissatisfaction are manifested in his taking of actions to go to Athens to report the matter in a bid to seek a solution or rather a satisfaction. He even goes ahead to threaten her daughter that she will be forced into marriage or else go to a convent. Quote from the text He says, “As she is mine, I may dispose of her” (1.1.42). The way the two are thinking and reasoning differ in terms of their wavelengths. Whilst Egeus thinks and feels that Demetrius is a suitable man for her daughter, her daughter has no such love concerns for the man. Therefore, the ego of Egeus is not forthright: he fails to succeed. On the same sc
Kohlberg was born in 1927 in Bronxville New York. A brilliant scholar, Kohlberg had an informal and unassuming nature. According to Kohlberg, every individual goes through each of these stages in his life. In order to arrive at the classification of these stages in Moral Reasoning, Kohlberg (1984) conducted various experiments with children, in the age groups of 10, 13 and 16 years. Independent judges later subjected his views to thorough scrutiny, in order to discover the reliability of his experiments. Once these initial experiments conducted by Kohlberg were proven to be consistent (by the judges), the classification process began. Kohlberg’s stage theory of moral reasoning is believed to occur at three primary levels, the first being “self-interest” which is also the “lowest level” of reasoning (p. 412). This stage has 2 further stages. ‘Moral decisions’ is the first stage and is based primarily on the “fear of punishment” while the second stage is “guided most by satisfying one’s self-interest” (p. 412). Children fall into this category. The reason why childhood is called pre-conventional is, that children have as yet, not been totally integrated into the moral fabric of society. Initially children are conditioned to understand that obedience to superiors will be duly rewarded. Conversely, rebellion against accepted norms of behavior will be dealt with with appropriate punishment. This is later replaced by the desire to satisfy one’s own interests. The next step/stage in Moral reasoning is “Social Approval” and refers to the “intermediate level of moral reasoning” which also has two stages – one in which moral decisions are impacted by “conforming to the standards of others we value” (p. 412). At this stage, it is primarily societal norms that influence our behavior and determine what is acceptable and what is not. Adolescents and young adults typify this level. It is believed that we function mostly at this level because of the impact and influence of family members and society, which sets the standards for moral behavior. At the third level is the “post-conventional stage” which is also the “highest level of moral reasoning” and has only a single stage (p. 412). At this level, moral decisions are taken after a careful thinking process “about all the alternatives and striking a balance between human rights and laws of society” (p. 412). Very few adults get across to this stage and most individuals generally function at the second level which is greatly impacted by the laws of society. In short, children in Stage 1 are influenced by parents and follow the course of obedience in order to avoid punishment. As they grow older, i.e. Stage 2 they realize the power of bargaining to further self-interest and are no
Companies should improve the quality of their products to attract the customer’s attention in the competitive business world. What was profitable last year may not provide profits this year. Product positioning and differentiation are the main strategies of modern business. Product differentiation is the complex of means which aim at attracting the customer’s attention and making the product desirable and different from other products (Nielsen, n. d.). The products which have unique advantages are more competitive in the world market. Positioning is the way the company presents and advertises its products. Firstly, the company should invent the unique advantage of the product and secondly advertise this advantage in the most attractive way (Nielsen, n. d.). Positioning statement expresses the main advantage of the product and helps to differ it from the other ones. The success of the product depends on its quality and price on the one hand and its popularity which is achieved with the help of creative advertisements, on the other hand. Let us demonstrate how these strategies work on the example of the company Victoria’s Secrets which produces beautiful women’s lingerie. The case under the study deals with the sale of women lingerie for plus-size women. Firstly, the unique adventure of the product may be found out. Although the majority of women are interested in the quality of the product, its attractiveness is also very important to them (Kumar, 2005). Plump women also want to be sexual wearing attractive lingerie. More than that, plus-size women want their lingerie to cover the imperfections of their figures. That is why sexuality and form are the main key points to advertise the line of products for plus-size women. This lingerie should allow them to feel more confident despite their minor imperfections. Positioning statement may be formulated in the following way: “Be perfect and sexual”. All women dream of being perfect and having a model appearance. Curvaceous women should be taught to highlight their advantages and Victoria’s Secrets may help them. This line of products for plus-size women is unique in the world market since the company is the only one that produces such beautiful and sexual lingerie of big size. High quality combined with beauty for quite afford
Introduction Beauty points to the aspect of social identity that builds a reputation out of first contact appearances, expressions, and consistent behaviors observed and judged by others as an indication of overall individual life capital. Despite being a physical connotation, beauty is a flexible human element that forms an emotionally innate identity of an individual shaped by both interactions and social constructs, making it a subject of manipulations to meet the demands of different groups or cultures. According to Erickson and Turner (2016:44), beauty constitutes social constructs, ideas, thoughts, or physical attributes that appeal to human senses. This notion confines beauty to an emotional context locking out other spheres of life such as rehabilitative or corrective measures that naturally lower the satisfaction state. Thus, based on the element of social construct that varies depending on geographical settings, the standards of beauty differ significantly across cultures, societies, and times. Since beauty has a double effect, that is, to provoke detestation or affection, it is necessary to understand that varying potentials of beauty draw varying degrees of these two opposing effects. Therefore, this concept of polarized tastes informs the choice of the topic to analyze the relationship between beauty and social inequality such as gender and class. In this line of thought, the process of influence follows Bourdieu’s concept of cultural capital, which is a social asset involving an established point for relative judgment that one inherits and builds from predecessors and the immediate environment (Croteau and Hoynes 2018:221). In effect, stratifying and unjustly rewarding individuals for biologically influenced physical attributes dramatically affects people’s way of life. Thus, the interest to study the role that social ideas about beauty play in shaping individual lives further informed the choice of this topic. Therefore, in its association with social inequality, it is agreeable to determine the mechanism through which beauty favors or disapproves individuals based on the flawed premises that shape lives. However, it is important to note that beauty is a social construct that emanates from human insecurities and develops majorly due to false perceptions. People construct elements of beauty based on their cultural and social interactions, and then attribute positive qualities to attractive features. Hakim coins the term “erotic capital” to refer to beauty as a form of power and profit, which combines s