ShantanuT01/DACTYL-Pretraining huggingface dataset:
Introduction Fahrenheit 451 is a classic science fiction novel written by Ray Bradbury and first published in 1953. It is the tale of a dystopian society that outlaws books and a man who becomes their preserver. The story is rich with themes and symbolism, as well as other literary devices that make it one of the most well-known works by Bradbury. This paper will provide a literary analysis of the themes, symbolism, realism, allegory, and other aspects of this acclaimed novel. Summary Fahrenheit 451 tells the story of Guy Montag, a fireman whose job is to burn books. Books are illegal in this society and have to be destroyed regardless of their content. Montag has worked as a fireman for years, but one day his world is changed by an encounter with an inquisitive young girl. Her words and nature make Montag question the world in which he lives. During one of his shifts, an elderly woman decides to burn herself with her books instead of handing them over to the firemen. This event inspires Montag to start reading the books that he had been hiding in his house, including a copy of the Bible that he had taken from the old woman’s house. He meets an old professor and conspires with him to start working against the firemen. However, his plans are interrupted when his wife and her friends report his stash of books to the firemen. The captain makes Montag burn his books along with his house. When the act is done, the captain finds the device that the professor used to communicate with Montag. This prompts Montag to burn the captain to death. Montag eventually escapes to the house of the professor and finds out that there are other people who are trying to preserve books. After leaving town, he finds these people and discovers that they have found a way to make people remember the contents of any book they’ve read. Therefore, people serve as living libraries of books. Subsequently, the city and all of its inhabitants are destroyed by a nuclear attack. At the end of the book, Montag and his newfound partners make their way to the city to hopefully restore society. Symbolism Fahrenheit 451 is rich with symbolism in its use of names and imagery. The fire imagery is the most overt. Firemen use salamanders (Crump, and Fenolio 144) and phoenixes (Nigg 15) in their iconography, both of which are creatures with mythological connections to fire. The fire itself also holds different meanings depending on its context in the book. The kerosene fire that the firemen use is associated with the chaotic nature of fire and the firemen’s desire to destroy. When the firemen work, entire buildings are burned, even though they only come to burn books. This symbolism culminates in the nuclear attack on the city that causes the largest fire, which burns it completely to the ground—an event perhaps inspired by the real-world destruction caused by the nuclear bombs in World War II. These images of fire are designed to take away from people. On the other hand, the image of fire in the wilderness is completely different. Its nature is in t
The pollution through fuel use, technology and many other aspects of civilized life has brought about many changes that humanity was not ready for, including a lessening of resources used for energy, a shifting pattern of crop’s growth and emergence of diseases. The Earth’s population must get ready for a new era that will require a more efficient use of energy and a better conservation of people’s health. Energy is the force that runs everything present in the world. The law of conservation of energy states that no energy can be made out of nothing or destroyed, as it can only be converted. Energy changes states and cannot be produced out of emptiness, as some processes have to take place to bring it out (Lawson, 2001). Due to this fact, humanity must use a source of energy to its advantage, and nature is the one that provides these sources (Niele, 2005). Unfortunately, the planet is seeing a major depletion in natural resources and fossil fuels which are the established source of energy that must be greatly counted, due to the decreasing numbers. There are many known ways to produce energy that are not polluting and are in greater numbers, such as hydro electric stations, wind power, sun energy and nuclear power plants. Unfortunately, some availability is underdeveloped and others sound extreme. Nuclear power is a topic that is discussed with real care and people are hesitant to rely on it alone. Even though it shows to be beneficial in areas of pollution, it is an extreme step and there is still a danger of accidents and accumulated pollution (Benduhn, 2008). Fossil fuel is one of the options that can be used and it is rather cheap to manage. The benefits include low cost, high energy output and technology already exists to produce and contain the fuel. The disadvantages are the pollution or CO2 gases that cause greenhouse effect, as well as uncertain amount of fossils. It is clear that there is a limit to how
Introduction The piece of work written by Naomi Shihab Nye is called “To Any Would-Be Terrorists”. The author is an Arab-American freelance writer who has received various awards for her texts and has traveled a lot around the country and the world working as a guest writer in educational institutions (“Naomi Shihab Nye,” n.d.). The main point of Nye in terms of the current letter is her powerful allusion to those people who have become extremists or intend to be terrorists. The work was written after the attacks of September 11. Naomi Shihab Nye provided numerous examples of why terrorism and violence had to be stopped immediately and why this issue was critical. Importantly, imagery and personification are the two approaches that allowed the author to create such a powerful open letter to terrorists. Overall, the essay carries a significant message; however, the author did not build her argumentation using strong stylistic or rhetoric devices. Nevertheless, the essay has an important meaning and is relevant for modernity. The purpose of this paper is to review this piece of writing by Naomi Shihab Nye. Summary Being an American citizen with Palestinian roots, the author tried to speak openly about the implications of terrorism. Notably, the letter did not only address those who wanted to join extremists but also those people whose families had suffered from violence and who had certain and understandable fears connected to their future life (Shihab Nye, n.d.). The thesis can be concluded to the author’s statement that all people are made out of the same flesh, and all human beings have been born equal. The country of origin, race, religion, income, or any other factor plays no role, and it should not divide people. Alluding to the events of September 11, Naomi Shihab Nye recalls the horrors and sufferings experienced by all people who were somehow affected by these actions (Shihab Nye, n.d.). While trying to address the extremist audience, the writer resorted to the strong methods of personification to be able to talk straight to each reading the letter (Hurley, 2014). Despite the character of the text, the writer is objective because she tries to consider both sides of the argument. Naomi Shihab Nye is a Palestinian residing in America; therefore, she can speak openly about the implications for both Arabs and Americans. Evaluation As it was mentioned above, the author wrote her open letter about the events on September 11. The accuracy of the information covered by the author was adequate since Naomi Shihab Nye, as well as he
Introduction Organic food is those products that have been grown and produced in a natural way without the use of synthetic pesticides and artificial dyes and have not been subjected to mineralization. Despite the fact that there are many studies confirming that such foods have greater nutritional properties, many researchers have a sceptical position on this matter. The purpose of this discussion is to provide arguments to prove that organic food should be promoted. Arguments Organic food is beneficial for the health of the population in different ways. It has been proved that naturally grown fruit and vegetables contain more nutrients and that pesticide residues are found in significantly lower amounts in organic products. Organic crops “have higher concentrations of antioxidants, lower concentrations of Cd and a lower incidence of pesticide residues” (Barański et al. 2014, p. 794). Therefore, people who consume such food run a lower risk of developing chronic heart and vascular diseases as well as neurodegenerative conditions. Individuals suffering from certain forms of cancer are recommended a dietary intervention that implies consuming organically processed foods (Barański et al. 2014). Moreover, antibiotic use during food production is another crucial aspect. According to Mie et al. (2017, p. 1), “the prevalent use of antibiotics in conventional animal production” is “a key driver of antibiotic resistance in society”. Organic foods are processed without the active use of dangerous chemicals, which makes them safer for human health. Concluding Points Thus, it can be concluded that organic food should be promoted due to a number of reasons. It has been confirmed that it is more nutritious than conventionally produced products. In addition, it contains fewer pesticides and dangerous chemicals that negatively affect human health. Moreover, antibiotics are not used when growing and processing organic food, which makes it safer and recommendable not only for healthy people but also for those who suffer from various chronic diseases. Reference List Barański, M, Srednicka-Tober, D, Volakakis, N, Seal, C, Sanderson, R, Stewart, GB, Benbrook, C, Biavati, B, Markellou, E, Giotis, C, Gromadzka-Ostrowska, J, Rembiałkowska, E, Skwarło-Sońta, K, Tahvonen, R, Janovská, D, Niggli, U, Nicot, P & Leifert, C 2014, ‘Higher antioxidant and lower cadmium concentrations and lower incidence of pesticide residues in organically grown crops: a systematic literature review and meta-analyses’, British Journal of Nutrition , vol. 112, no. 5, pp. 794–811. Mie, A, Andersen, HR, Gunnarsson, S, Kahl, J, Kesse-Guyot, E, Rembiałkowska, E, Quaglio, G & Grandjean, P 2017, ‘Human health implications of organic food and organic agriculture: a comprehensive review’, Environmental Health , vol. 16, no. 1, pp. 1-22.
Qualitative researchers usually rely on three methods for collecting primary data: participating in the process/observing directly, undertaking interviews, and studying documents and materials (Dipasquale & Wheaton, 1994). These primary research methods form the core of inquiry and are sometimes supplemented by secondary research. Observation This process involves the methodical noting and recording of proceedings, behaviors, and objects in the social setting that the researcher selects for the study. The observational record is regularly known as field notes—detailed, impartial, but hard-evidenced reports of what has been observed in the study area. Observation can range from a highly designed, comprehensive notation of behavior structured by checklists to a more all-inclusive report of observations depending on the complexity of the study. The disadvantage of this method is that it is limited to measuring behavior, is time consuming, and is subject to partiality. Interviews Qualitative researchers rely quite extensively on various forms of interviewing to obtain first-hand information. These methods include personal interviews, telephone interviews, and self-administered questionnaires. Interviews enable a researcher to explore a few general topics to help uncover the participant’s views and still ask questions outside the prepared questionnaire, partly guided by the participant’s responses (Ortalo-Magné and Sven, 1999). The advantage of interviews is that it allows the researcher to have detailed and in-depth questions and responses and minimizes non-response. However, it can be costly over large areas, can result into erroneous responses due to investigator bias, and may lead to incorrect answers since the respondent may give answers to please the investigator. Errors associated with interviews and use of questionnaires may be reduced by using open-ended questions where respondents are given complete freedom to answer in their own words without following the questionnaire format. Besides, this method significantly reduces “forced choice” bias and leads to an unlimited response varieties. Studying documents and materials This method involves analyzing original documents pertaining to the research topic (Clayton, 1996). For instance, in the study of the influence of distance from the city on house prices, a researcher could look at documents used in the purchase transactions from banks, mortgage firms, or from actual owners of the homes (Case & Shiller, 1989). The researcher could also obtain records from various government agencies for analysis and inference. One advantage of the method is that it eliminates the weaknesses associated with the above mentioned methods of primary research and improves the accuracy of the research findings. However, the method can be very expensive as the investigator has to make travel arrangements and sometimes be forced to pay the information he/she requires. However, the benefits of this method outweigh the costs.
Introduction The main objective of this essay will be to look at the courtship practices between African Americans and Caucasian Americans. Courtship practices around the world have mostly been determined by the values and norms that exist in the society. Despite courtship being personal and intimate, each story of courtship usually has an enactment within a certain societal context. Each society has an investment in the type of person one of their members marries or becomes involved in. Courtship has been practiced by the privileged and less privileged members of the society as well as the different races and classes that exist around the world. African American courtship practices differed from those of Caucasian Americans during the slave trade and over the course of American history. African American immigrants brought with them practices that were different from those being practiced in America. Their experience with slavery and oppression had an impact on their perceptions of love and marriage as well as their courtship practices. For several decades now, the society of African-American has expanded disjointedly from that of other American society due to the continued discrimination in race and also slavery. It is until recently that the African American culture became integrated into that of the American culture. Their general courtship practices differed considerably from those of Caucasian Americans as some of these practices had some element of ethnicity, religion and race incorporated into them (Cherlin, 2005). History of Courtship Practices Before humankind became more evolved and revolutionized, what passed as courtship was a raid on other tribes that saw the capture of women who were forced into marriage. True courtship practices did not exist during the early periods of man’s evolution and any feelings of affection or emotion did not exist during these courtship practices. As human beings became more behaved and civilized, people of the opposite sex sought to make themselves more attractive and presentable to the opposite gender. Anthropologists and scientists involved in human history and social behavior studied the courtship practices that took place during the early periods of evolution and they noted that early courtship practices included ornamenting, painting and tattooing themselves so attract the opposite sex (Grouse, 2001). While some cultures did not allow for people to choose their mates, other cultures permitted their young members to select their own spouses. In the event that two people selected one person, they had to duel it out which at times always led to t
Introduction Interpretation and extraction of information from remote sensing images are fundamental concepts that define image processing and analysis approaches. Much information is required from images for effective interpretation (Liew, 2001). Consequently, various techniques and algorithms have been developed, but their usages depend on the objective of each image. Image enhancement techniques work by enhancing the quality of image to aid interpretation while feature extraction methods are vital for extracting as much information as possible from remote sensing images. In this report, a study area of Rushworth, Victoria North of Melbourne has been selected to demonstrate some techniques applied in analysing and interpreting remote sensing images. Rushworth is located 157 km north of Melbourne via the Hume Freeway and Goulburn Valley Highway. Objective   * To demonstrate the spatial information of various land covers within an image   * To use image enhancing techniques and derive the NDVI to be applied in interpretation of the location and areal extent of forest and crop coverage in the region and identify vegetated and non-vegetated zones Data source Data for the study will be obtained from the Rapideye image of Rushworth, Victoria. Software Erdas Imagine software will be used for image enhancement and analysis. All results will be reported using MS Word. Method The study methods applied in this study were obtained and followed as described in the exercise note.   * Blue – represents water   * Green – shows vegetated regions   * Red – represents non-vegetated areas or bare areas The Results and Discussion of Imaging Tasks Task 1: Band combinations Rapideye bands and channels were used to determine the most reliable forms discrimination of various land cover types. Band 5 depicted red, band 4 highlighted Blue while band 3 captured Green (see figure 1). These Band selection and combination were appropriate for depicting bare areas or non-vegetated regions, vegetated regions and water. Figure 1: Band selection for land cover discrimination. Task 2: Image enhancement and Different Algorithms The General Contrast technique and standard deviation were applied to enhance and enlarge the image. Consequently, both road and drainage patterns could be easily identified from the image. All bands were readily visible because of these techniques. A linear transformation was used to enhance slightly dark parts of the image. This adjustment was also possible with the Breakpoint Editor, which was applied to identify image changes (see figure 2). Figure 2: Enhanced image. Task 3: A spectral profile of a point (water, pasture, crop and forest land covers) The Spectral Profile is applied when visualising reflectance s
Introduction Even though the Roman and the Mongol Empires were located in separate continents, they shared some elements in common. Similarities existed in terms of their organization, leadership and justice system among others. Similarly, both empires were large; they covered large geographical areas with huge populations. In enhancing administration, both empires were divided into distinct territories, for instance, the Roman was divided into provinces whereas the Mongol was divided into four major divisions. Though these empires had common similarities, they differed in their style of leadership. The Mongol embraced the monarchy whereas the Romans had a decentralized and democratic system of administration. Thus, due to the vastness of the two empires, internal problems such as; lacks of unity, economic and political and military turmoil were common, in fact, these problems contributed to their collapse. Why Mongol was “Empires” rather than an “Empire” The vastness of the Mongol empire made it to be known as the “empires”. The empire had small empires within itself. It covered a contiguous land mass stretching as far as Eastern Europe, Central Asian, Middle East to Siberia, Iran and the Sea of Japan 1 . Burbank and Cooper indicates that the total area covered by the empire was approximately 9,300,000 sq. miles which was equivalent to about 16% of the total earth surface. The empire had a population of about 100 million people 2 . Characteristics of the Mongol and Roman Empire Organization The Mongol empire was organized on Confucian ideas and education. By embracing Confucian ideas, the empire fixed creative ways of organizing its army. For example, to ensure efficiency in the army, the empire created divisions within depending on responsibilities and tasks to be completed. Security was important for the its survival and conquest of new lands; hence, the empire established the Kheshing to address security issues in the whole empire 3 . Reward for the army for their loyalty to the empire was a policy. Promotions were awarded to loyal armies whereas those who failed to observe this virtue were dismissed or punished 4 . Similarly, the Roman Empire had an organized system anchored on classical learning and the Roman law. They had astute army which was organized in ranks. Roman law was an order to be followed by all in the empire. Road System The Mongol empire had an elaborate road network. The roads spawned across the empire linking the entire empire to the outside world. Of great importance was the Silk Road 5 . Silk road supported the economy of the whole empire and was important in the transportation of porcelain, silk and tea to the outside world. Romans also had an elaborate road system that connected Rome to the rest of the empire. The road system was vital; it simplified movement of the army and connected the empire to major trade routes in the region. The roads were paved, thus, lasted for many thousand years. Differences among the Empires Religion Religious beliefs were perhaps the major distinction between the two empires. While the Romans practiced Christi
Introduction Our contemporary notion about the chevaliers is formed mostly by the books about noble and courageous medieval aristocrats who defended their ideals and performed exploits. As a rule, chivalry is supposed to have existed during at least 7 centuries, from nearly 800 to nearly 1500. However, this period can be considered quite long in the historical context; it was full of dramatic changes. That is why it is difficult to imagine that some phenomenon existed for such a long time, not evolving. Thus, it is interesting to analyze whether it is possible to speak about chivalry as a real phenomenon of medieval society. Main body Besides the fact that the idea about chivalry evolved significantly through the centuries, it is necessary to argue the fact of the existence of chivalry itself. Many historians have disputed this fact in their works. First of all, Bloch proved in his (I949) that chivalry evolved differently in different countries. In Western Europe since the times of Carolingians belonging to Cavalry did not mean being an aristocrat. During several centuries there was no hereditary aristocracy; instead, there was chivalry, characterized by a certain way of life and special military function. However, during the XII century the circle of chivalry became isolated, which implied that without being a descendant of a chevalier, one could not enter the chivalry. This situation was more typical for France, while in Germany chivalry included several subdivisions, which means that not all the chevaliers were noble (particularly, the lowest subdivision not belonging to the nobility was called “Ministerialen”). The question of the chevaliers’ nobility is still not solved completely. For example, during Charlemagne’s epoch chevaliers were simply the warriors of Cavalry. During the government of William, the Conqueror chivalry became closer to the traditional understanding; however, it could hardly be called homog