ShantanuT01/DACTYL-Pretraining huggingface dataset:
Introduction The stories by Karen Russell from the Orange World collection are fascinating due to the unusual background setting, twisted plots, and deep, emotional characters. Male and female relationships and feelings are presented more sharply due to integrating the altered reality background setting (Soler 316). The element of the fantastic, unearthly, allows one to abstract from the clichés and routine of everyday life and see partly banal experiences in a new light. This paper explores how two stories from the Orange World collection present male and female relationships by viewing them from the perspective of the altered reality and how the stories reveal the conflicts people face with the opposite gender. The Tornado Auction In this story, against the fantastic background setting of magical living elements, the reader gets acquainted with the life story of Robert Wurman, a 73-year-old retired Nebraska tornado farmer. Tornadoes have always been Wurman’s main passion, and he was so captured by them that he had no free time for his wife and daughters (Russell 89). One day, his wife Estelle forbade him to indulge his passion after the farmed tornado broke free and injured Suzy, Wurman’s daughter. Estelle left Robert, and his daughters also did not communicate with him, as he hurt them with his inattention when they were children. One day Robert goes to the fair and decides to resume his old hobby since no one can stop him. He begins to grow a tornado in a barn, after which the hurricane breaks free, and Robert hopes that he will connect with an actual natural tornado. After learning his decision, the daughters leave many messages on his answering machine, as they are worried about him. However, Robert does not change his decision to follow the tornado to the very end and let it kill himself until he imagines how his daughters will identify his body. Robert decides to take such a crazy step, as he suffers from loneliness. Too proud to change or apologize for his not-so-good parenting, he expects his daughters to take the first step. However, already on the verge of his suffering and worries, he realizes that he is wrong and refuses to commit suicide. For Robert, this is not a happy ending, but at least he gains some semblance of hope for a better tomorrow. The plot of the story could be pretty prosaic, like any family relationship, but a non-standard setting allows for a deep empathy with the main characters. Different genders of the related people – father and daughters – do not allow them to understand each other well, and therefore gender is an important obstacle in relationships. Gender stereotypes implying that men did not have to show emotions towards their family l
Since time immemorial, the value of human life has been the issue of heated debates of philosophers, scientists, and governors. The very essence of this matter lies in the person’s recognition of oneself as a unique human being able to reflect on his or her role on this planet. While some may argue that numerical indicators cannot measure human life because of its divine nature, the reality is that it is impossible to do without the measurable characteristics of life in solving the health care, emergency, and social issues. There is no doubt that from the philosophical, religious, and to a great extent from legal points of view, human life is priceless. The UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights states that “human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights” (The United Nations, n.d., para. 9). The worth of the person is considered the fundamental precondition of any interaction between states and in society as a whole. Philosophers believe that the value of human life is endless and that any attempts to provide its monetary equivalent are morally unacceptable. Religion considers every human to be created as a supreme being in God’s image, and as well as God cannot be measured materially (Hammer, 2011). Economics, however, is the realm where no abstract irrational characteristics can take place. The human is a “social animal” and his activities, performance, and conditions of staying in the society have to be measured at least approximately. The value of statistical life is therefore established to calculate various risk factors influencing the quality and expectancy of human life (Fourcade, 2009). Hammer (2011) notes that the term refers to some statistical but not specific life: “…It is not about the monetary value of concrete human life but the monetary valuation of the reduction of mortality risks” (p. 232). There is no shade of morality in this term; it is only about the objective evaluation of concrete aggregate indicators (Fourcade, 2009). Human life is infinitely valuable, but when it comes to safety and injury compensation issues, the price should be defined precisely. Calculating the value of statistical life is crucial in many different situations. It is used to determine the amount of material compensation for the injury or death of people in the process of production, in industrial accidents, in natural and manmade
The article by the National Institute of Health (NIH) talks about the development process of an investigational vaccine, mRNA-1273, which is being developed to protect people against Covid-19. According to the article, the vaccine is currently undergoing Phase 1 clinical trials. This vaccine has been specifically designed to induce the production of antibodies that can neutralize the “spike protein” at the receptor site that the coronavirus uses to attach and enter human cells. In Phase 1 clinical trials in March 2020, 45 volunteers aged between 18 and 55 years were recruited. The participants were divided into three groups, each having 15 people, before they were given two intramuscular injections of the vaccine with each group receiving a dosage of 25, 100, or 250 mcg. In April, more participants were recruited in the Phase 1 trial, focusing on those aged over 55 years, and it now has 120 participants. So far, there have not been any reports of serious adverse effects caused by the vaccine. The common issues being reported among participants include pain at the injection point, which is expected, chills, fatigue, myalgia, and headaches. These adverse effects increased after the second injection, and they were more pronounced among those receiving the highest dosage. This information is important as it will play a central role in Phases 2 and 3 clinical trials of the vaccine. Towards the end of May 2020, enrollment for Phase 2 had started, and Phase 3 clinical trial is expected to be launched in July 2020. My questions about this vaccine development include – is the short period taken to conduct Phase 1 clinical trial enough to ascertain how the vaccine works? Is the small number of participants enough to assess the vaccines’ efficacy and safety? Reference Experimental COVID-19 vaccine safe, generates immune response. National Institute of Health, 2020. Web.
Introduction Animation has grown in recognition in modern times. It has been utilized more often than not for entertainment reasons. Nonetheless, at the moment it is also being utilized for educational purposes and instructional animation to sustain knowledge management in educational institutions. Animation is a procedure of making movies, films, computer or video games through modeling or sketching of animals and people to illustrate them appear as if they are moving. An impression is formed by display of imagery of static constituents (Ollie, p. 28). Animation is an extremely intensive process both in terms of time and expense. Most animation tasks are prepared in animation studios. This field has been in existence ever since 1950s, when motion picture production or video production was done by persons or self-regulating studio. This technique can improve production and reduce the cost by generating a short cut in animation process (Webster, p. 85). The results of animation were realized long before. It is not a new innovation. In cave art of Old Stone Age, animals were painted having more than one leg on superposed spots trying to capture the progressive movement. Flip books became famous in 1800 when by scrolling throughout the books; the viewer could perceive the notion of movement. It was following the advent of motion picture films, that the field of animation was generated as films became popular. No one can be credited for being the creator of film animation. Early Pioneers George Melies was one of the pioneers in the field of animation. He discovered by accident the technique commonly referred to as the stop motion. This was when he accidentally broke his camera. J. Stuart Blackton incorporated the stop motion technique together with hand drawings. He is in fact, often known as the first animation pioneer to have flourished. He was later followed by Emile Cohl. This French artist created a film in eighties that involved cartoon strips were decorated by hand. The movie was titled Fantasmagorie. Fantasmagorie (Parent, p. 41). It later became the most initial animated film. If truth be told, animation is mostly credited to the continent of Europe. France particularly had an immense task in the advancement of the animation sector. These days, this type of artistry benefits from the grand backing found in Europe and from immense program scheduling. Walt Disney and Warner Bros studio are the renowned nam
Upon hearing the word ‘crime,’ people usually tend to think about murders, assaults, robberies, and other violent and property crimes. However, along with the so-called ‘white-collar’ crimes involving financial schemes, another category of professional-related offenses exists. These crimes are frequently referred to as violations of public trust as they undermine such pillars of society as justice, transparency, integrity, and honesty. Such crimes involve corruption, bribery, embezzlement, election fraud, and jury tampering, which will be discussed in detail in the present report. Jury tampering refers to the illegal practice of attempting to change the outcome of a trial by altering the composition or influencing the decisions of a jury. Since trial by jury is a fundamental aspect of the United States justice system, many have attempted to take advantage of it to benefit from a more favorable verdict. Jury tampering may take a variety of different forms. Most common approaches involve attempts to bribe or threaten a jury into changing their decision or otherwise interfering with the integrity of the judicial process. More recently, the system of justice administration witnessed the birth of another type of jury tampering: the so-called stealth jurors. They are individuals who engage in illegal behavior so as to be selected to serve on a jury and attempt to influence the process single-handedly from within (Gershman, 2005). Clearly, such practices are inadmissible as they constitute obstruction of justice (Samaha, 2013). Generally, obstruction of justice can manifest itself in several other crimes such as witness tampering, witness retaliation, bribery of judicial officials, and destruction of evidence, to name a few. All of these activities are outlawed by the federal law, namely, Title 18 of the United States Code, the criminal and penal code of the country (Doyle, 2014). Jury tampering, in particular, is covered in paragraph 1503 of the Title, prohibiting the use of force, threat, and other corrupt methods to intimidate jurors or legal officers. The punishment for committing this crime depends on its specific circumstances: if a juror has been killed, then the punishment for the perpetrator will be determined by sections 1111 and 1112 of the Title. Otherwise, jury tampering may result in a prison sentence for up to 10 or 20 years, depending on whether a killing has been attempted or not (Legal Information Institute, n.d.). However, there is one area in the
Introduction Service oriented architecture is a set of design principles that are concerned with connections and comes into use during systems development and integration stages of a project (Marks & Bell 2006). It is basically a collection of services that are loosely integrated and communicate with each other to support different strategic levels of an organization. The communication could be in form of data passing from one station to another or different services supporting a specific activity (Slama 2004). Therefore, for this to be possible there must be a medium for connecting these services to each other and this connection medium is the Web service. In information technology, a service can be described as a properly defined, self supportive function that is independent of other services’ behaviors and responds to user requests. Components of a service oriented architecture   * Service provider : this is described as a component or set of modules in the architectural design of a service oriented system that takes in user defined inputs and outputs, and based on this executes a function.   * Service consumers : this can be described as a set of modules forming a component that are looking forward to directly use a single or more services that are offered by the service provider.   * Service repository: this is the component that holds the services descriptions defining the state, behavior and characteristics of the services. All services are usually stored in the repository for the consumers to be able to access and make use of as per the definition of their needs. Reasons for implementing a service oriented architecture The complexity and wide distribution of IT resources within many organizations in a long time has posed a real challenge in terms of access and management. T
Introduction According to Jean-Paul Sartre, understanding of the body is obscured by many factors. Moreover, its relation to consciousness is masked. In addition, its problems are concealed. He argues that this is attributed to the complexities surrounding consciousness. For instance, the body has laws that govern it. Moreover, it is observable as matter. Furthermore, the body can be defined from the outside. However, this is not the same as with consciousness. Consciousness is reached by peculiar intuitions, which are inside the body. This complicates its understanding since one has to relate it to the body organs. Sartre claims that after internal intuitions, one can then unite consciousness to the various body organs for action. Therefore, Sartre tries to define the relationship between body and consciousness. In addition, he tries to explore the problems of the body. This paper will review Sartre’s theories on the body as well as its relation to consciousness. The Body Jean-Paul argues that consciousness is quite complex to understand. However, he finds it quite easy to cognize the body. Interestingly, once consciousness has been achieved, then its unity to the various body organs such as the nervous system becomes increasingly complex to analyze. However, he argues that the difficulties arise from trying to connect one’s conscience with other people’s bodies. Interestingly, he notes that no one has ever seen or will ever see his/her brain. That is, people look to others for explanation about their bodies. In that sense, he sees one’s body organs as his/her property than as his/her being. Through this, he notes that observable body organs such as the eye, the legs, and the ears, among others can only be seen in a single perception, which does not involve itself. In essence, Sartre argues that people see their organs as the other in relation to themselves because they cannot comprehend how they function to communicate sense. Therefore, he claims that people deal with different orders of reality. In this regard, he rejects the notion of double sensation because these two orders of reality are in incommunicable levels. In essence, he claims that the orders of reality are radically distinct. Sartre also agrees with other theorists that the discovery of the body as being is real. However, he claims that the body is indeed a being for others. On this, he argues that people usually link their consciousness of objects on the body of others. Sartre gives an example of an inverted image seen from the lens to show that conscience can refuse to be bound by the laws of objects so that it conveys an upright image. In this regard, he posits that it is only possible to reflect on the nature of the body by first establishing the order of reflection. This should conform to the order of being which states that people
Introduction The novel The Day of the Triffids is a unique narrative about a post-apocalyptic world that focuses strongly on social and personal analysis. As the plot unfolds, the protagonist encounters various situations and characters that offer a distinct perspective on life after the meteor shower. Wyndham includes minor characters in order to give depth and realism to the plot. Just like real life, each person has their own story and a different mindset towards survival in the ensuing chaos. Dennis Brent is a character who the author includes in order to represent resilience through his will to survive and adapt for the sake of his family. Character Description Dennis Brent is the owner of Shrining Farm who lives with his pregnant wife and a family friend, Joyce Taylor. The meteor shower blinds all the inhabitants and the farm is isolated. After Joyce is stung by a triffid, Dennis is able to think rationally, sucking the poison from the wound and applying first aid. This helps save Joyce’s life. Realizing that supplies would be needed, Dennis sets out to the nearby village. However, unlike other characters, he devises protection for himself by using household tools. Dennis continually exhibits critical thinking by using a vine to guide himself to the village, using his other senses to determine his surroundings, and taking precautionary measures. He is able to come up with practical solutions to compensate for the lack of vision or availability of resources. However, his bravery and determination are especially prominent in his continuous attempts to explore and develop. Despite various difficulties, Dennis seeks to acquire and learn Braille. “He did not curse in the futile way I had heard so many others do; he resented it with a vicious bitterness as if it had forced him into a cage where he did not intend to stay” (Wyndham 101). Both his blindness and the state of things greatly frustrate Dennis, who seems to have an efficient approach to finding solutions to any problem. Nevertheless, he is still human and faces the fear of losing his life, family, and home. “Worst, perhaps, for Dennis in knowing that everything depended on the care of two willing but inexperienced girls. His self-control aroused my helpless admirat
Language contact is one the most researched social science problem in the modern society. There has been a need to explain the events that always take place during such interactions, and their possible outcome. According to Baker and Hengeveld (2012), when there is an interaction between two or more communities, it is likely that the language spoken by the dominant group will prevail over other smaller spoken languages. A linguistic diglossic relationship will develop especially when two or more languages have almost similar number of speakers (Rosenberg 2003). Analyzing this relationship among children can be very interesting because the barrier in language will not stop them from the urge to interact and play together. This analysis will also give a true result of this relationship because children would talk freely without fear of ridicule from peers. In this study, the focus was on the experience of international students at CBU bringing up their young children in Cape Breton in an English dominant environment. This study was conducted within a small location with a high number of international students within Cape Breton. The focus was to determine the result of the interaction of different languages that these young children had learnt as their first languages. According to Baker and Hengeveld (2012), young children have a higher ability to learn a foreign language than the older people. This is partly attributed to their aggressiveness in trying to understand a foreign language by making several mistakes and learning from these mistakes. One thing that was observed was that, in this community, the first language for these young children was numerous. This population had Africans, Arabs, Indians, Portuguese, Chinese and European. The language was so diverse that it was difficult for the children to learn all of them. During the initial interactions of these young children with varying languages, it was interesting to witness their manner of speech. Most of the communication was done using sign language. One child would issue an instruction in its mother tongue only for the other party to respond in a different language. Although this phenomenon was a little shocking to them, they easily adapted to it. It was witnessed that these young children would try to pick some words from other parties that were commonly used in order to make the communication easier. However, their language gradually converged to English because of a number of factors. According to Baker and Hengeveld (2012) children are great learners and they would be attentive to observe environmental factors that affect them directly. It would be inter
Universities use several tools to assess the academic progress of undergraduate students. Examples of these tools include essays, projects, final examinations, research papers, and reports (Brookhart & Nitko 2008). Many institutions combine several of the aforementioned tools because none of them addresses all learning objectives. Each type of tool assesses a different type of learning outcome. One of the most common tools used is essays. Essays are used as assessment tools by universities because they play diagnostic, formative, and summative roles (Dunn et al. 2010). They help teachers to determine the baseline ability of each student. They also serve as a method of assessing the strengths and weaknesses of learners and provide feedbacks regarding the areas that need improvement. Finally, they help teachers to identify the level of academic performance achieved by individual students. All courses have learning objectives that determine the teaching methods used. Assignments help teachers to determine whether students comprehended the concepts covered in various topics as well as evaluate the level of skills and knowledge acquired (Brookhart & Nitko 2008). The feedback obtained from the essays is then used to create teaching strategies that capitalize on the students’ strengths and that aim to improve their weaknesses (Schwartz & Webb 2014). Essays are graded using scoring rubrics that are linked to learning objectives, which are given to students at the start of all course units. These assessment tools help teachers to evaluate the effectiveness of their teaching styles. For instance, high grades indicate that the teaching styles used are effective in imparting knowledge and skills. Poor grades indicate that the teaching methods are ineffective and need to be changed, improved, or replaced with better ones (Dunn et al. 2010). Projects help to impart students with practical skills that are tied to the theoretical knowledge attained in class (Swaffield 2008). Therefore, they provide a channel through which teachers provide complete learning experiences to students. In addition they encourage the development of thinking, writing, reasoning, synthesis, analysis, and research skills (Dunn et al. 2010). Assignments and conventional examinations have different levels of effectiveness with regard to their use as learning tools. Final examinations are grouped under summative assessment methods because they aim to evaluate the overall degree of learning achieved by students after completing a certain course. Conventional examinations only indicate the extent to which a student has comprehended academic material offered in a specific course unit (Schwartz & Webb 2014). They do not have room for feedback that is necessary for improvement or evaluation of learning methods. In contrast, assignments are effective learning methods because they evaluate the extent t