ShantanuT01/DACTYL-Pretraining huggingface dataset:
Introduction The tobacco industry is worth billions of dollars in annual profits made from the sale of cigarettes. This industry promotes the smoking of cigarettes by millions of individuals in countries all over the world. While most people enjoy smoking, this habit has many harmful effects that outweigh any perceived merits. Tobacco smoking is the number one cause of preventable deaths in most nations across the globe. The United Press International (2010) reports that, “more than 440,000 U.S. residents die annually from cigarette smoking” (p.1). Smoking not only affects the smoker but also the people around him who are forced to inhale the polluted air. The CDC (2013) reveals that secondhand smokers incur adverse health conditions and even death because of the exposure. In addition to the negative health consequences associated with tobacco use, smoking leads to loss in productivity by an individual costing the economy billions of dollars annually. The CDC (2002) further notes that smoking leads to a loss of money for citizens as they use thousands of dollars each year to sustain their habit. Considering the significant negative impact that smoking has on the society, measures should be taken to address the problem. Policies should be implemented to ensure that people are dissuaded from smoking. If measures are not taken, the deaths and disease burden of smoking-related illness will continue to be prevalent in the society. Even more troubling, more young people will take up this damaging habit. The financial cost of smoking will also continue to be felt by the society. Solutions To solve the problem, I would impose laws that restrict adults from smoking in the presence of children. Specifically, parents would be prevented from smoking at home when their children are present. A report by Wang and Phil (2011) reveals that children who are exposed to secondhand smoke at home are likely to engage in smoking themselves in future. Making smoking in the presence of children illegal would therefore have the desirable effect of preventing most children from taking up smoking in the future. The community should engage in preventative programs to reduce smoking prevalence. Smoking remains to be a major problem due to the significant percentage of new smokers each year. Such programs would especially be effective to the youth who are thinking of picking up smoking. Lovato (2012) states that “teenagers are likely to start smoking due to peer influence while at school” (p.363). With effective preventative programs targeted at such groups, the number of new smokers will remain low ensuring that the problem of smoking is mitigated. The National Cancer Institute (2013) suggests that greater investments should be made in efforts to assist individuals to quit smoking. A large percentage of smokers attempt to quit the habit at some point. Reid et al. (2012) reveal that most of the smokers who are successful in their quitting attempts get some form of assistance from health care providers and community workers. To fund
Introduction The Great powers of the world have many differences spanning from ideological differences, policies, population, and geographical location among others. Throughout history, wars among nations, states, regions and internal conflicts have always been there. The effects of war are always devastating regardless of who wins or loses; there is destruction of property, loss of lives, fall of nations and empires, and environmental destruction. In an attempt to deter, avert or avoid wars altogether, nations of the world have seen it noble to exercise arms control. Attempts of arms control have been in existence through out history even in the ancient Greece and the Roman rule. Arms control is the common phrase used to refer to the restrictions and limitations laid down to put in check the ambitious development, massive production and stocking, increment, holding , experimenting and usage of weapons. This is emphasized when the weapons are of great danger or of mass devastation and destruction (Goldblat 12). Arms control has no fixed conventionality since arms production in the world and usage does not follow a consistent pattern. Emphasis on great control has been directed towards the major world powers, as they are the ones with great potential of mass destruction, igniting a major conflict or war. It has since become a common goal for all peace loving nations and the aim is to reduce hostilities in the world rather than spark them. In arms control, diplomacy is the main tool used. It is thus most preferable that relationship between nations must therefore be cultivated first and maintained although aggressive nations, like was after World Wars, could be compelled to arms control acts. The initiated diplomacy in most cases seeks nations to mutually consent then derive and impose limitations on the participants. This is mostly practiced through initiated and mutually agreed upon international agreements and treaties although limitations might be enforced to nations perceived as posing international threat to peace. Arms control in a community or within a nation involves the implementing of programs to regulate and control weapon acquisition amongst the citizens. History of Arms Control It was during the ancient Greece that the first documented arms control policies can be traced. During the peak of the Roman Catholic influence, the church tried to use its massive influence to limit the wars and magnitude of destruction incurred. The church formulated treaties and persuaded the governments of the time to abide by them. For example, the church provided immunity to the non combatant civilians. The church also prohibited Christians from fighting one another. However, Industrial Revolution saw massive arm race and weapon production. Population also increased creating a stress on the limited resources. Industrial Revolution saw the expans
Many people are concerned with maintaining their health, as well as that of their loved ones. However, the main issue is whether body weight is the only cause of poor health. There is a false perception among members of society that overweight is a sign of unhealthy condition while underweight is a confirmation that an individual has a good health. Convincing members of society to believe that unhealthy conditions are caused by various factors is an issue of concern. In this article, unhealthy behaviour would be evaluated in detail by discussing some of the factors that contribute to poor health. Body weight should never be used to measure the health of an individual because even slim individuals would be suffering from certain ailments. Therefore, healthy is an issue of concern while overweight is a major problem that would cause poor health (Costa, 2006). The major problem, which is related to overweight, would be resolved through the application of body mass index (BMI) while the issue related to health would be resolved through evaluating the risk factors for diseases, as well as some conditions that are often related to obesity. Body mass index is an instrument that is utilized in measuring an individual’s weight and obesity. Body mass index calculates an individual’s health by computing his or her height and weight. In other words, it approximates the body fat, which is a risk that would predispose an individual to various forms of diseases. Body mass index shows the healthiness of an individual meaning that the higher the body mass index, the higher the chances of contracting diseases. Individuals with high body mass indexes tend to suffer from hypertension, diabetes, gallstones and other heart related diseases. Furthermore, research shows that individuals with high body indexes have high chances of suffering from cancer. Even though body mass index is a reliable tool for measuring the weight of an individual, it should not be relied upon so much in reporting the weight of athletes because it might overestimate their weight. On the other hand, it may end up underestimating the weight of old persons. Those with body mass indexes of over thirty are considered obese while those with body mass indexes of below 18.5 are underweight. The measure of waist circumference is another technique that could be utilized effectively to determine whether an individual is healthy or not. In this regard, an individual should not have too much fat around the waist because it would predispose him or her to diabetes. Since health is a great issue in society, individuals should keep off from practices that would predispose them to high blood pressure, high cholesterol, high triglycerides, and high blood glucose. People who are obese, meaning that their body mass index exceeds thirty, should be encouraged to lose weight for them to be accepted as healthy individuals (Sheila, 2004). An individual with a body mass index of between twenty-five and thirty is considered overweight hence he or she should lose weight. It should be understood that weight is a
Because of various factors influencing the development of nations and the shaping of the specific national peculiarities, the pace of West Europe development is considerably different from the one of the other parts of the world, which predetermines the specific features of the West European countries and their unusual features that distinguish them from the rest of the world. Analyzing the specific changes that occurred to the West Europe in the course of its development, one will be able not only to come to certain conclusions concerning the peculiarities of the West European culture, but also understand what issues and circumstances predetermined the given change. Thus, the reasons for the cultural difference between various countries will be found. In addition, the prerequisites of several major changes in the world politics, economics, financial and cultural life can be found if analyzing the changes in the West Europe carefully, which calls for an all-embracing consideration of the West Europe in XIX and the specifics of its development. It seems that there could not have been anything more romantic than the XIX-century England Victorian epoch. Introducing a whole world of refinement and elegance, the Victorian morals, though claimed by a number of people pretentious and fake (Pionke xvi), still seem to be an attempt on introducing certain flair of romantics into the prosaic world of the ordinary. However, it is necessary to admit that the Victorian Romanism also enhanced the evolution of privacy ideas and the concept of private exchange of letters, which, in its turn, must have served as a powerful incentive for the further personal rights campaign and the development of post service secrecy. According to Pionke, the Victorian epoch neglected the privacy rules until a certain event that served as a turning point of the Victorian mail history: Welsh observes that Victorian novels with blackmail plots often endorse not a revelation, but a reconcealing, of the truth as the proper and of ethical behavior whereas Vincent uses the Post Office scandal of 1844 – when it was discovered that the Post Office regularly opened suspicious mail, including potentially that of radical MPs – as an introduction to ways in which certain forms of information were concealed from public in the name of national security. (xvii) Therefore, the necessity to reconsider the cons
A humanitarian war is generally defined as the trans-boundary use of military force for the main purpose of protecting citizens undergoing abuse from their government, either directly, or by allowing and aiding extreme mistreatment (Heinze 8). The invasion of Kosovo by NATO military forces in 1999 is widely perceived by many as the almost perfect example of a humanitarian war given that it is the first war to have been declared on humanitarian grounds (Bacevich and Cohen 79). It is therefore the best war to analyze and investigate to find out if the use of force can be justified as a humanitarian war. In March 1999, the forces of NATO under the command of General Wesley Clark of the US army invaded Serbia and attacked Serbia’s military forces with the aim of rescuing innocent civilians from a brutal campaign of ethnic cleansing (Badsey and Latawski 135). As much as the war was staged based on genuine humanitarian concerns, it is widely acknowledged that, as a legal matter, NATO indeed violated chapter seven of the UN Charter by using force without authorization from the UN Security Council (Segell 210). Article 2(4) of the UN Charter prohibits the use of force on humanitarian grounds although there are exceptions included in the Charter which allow for the employment of force. As noted by Malone (30), chapter seven of the Charter allows for force by any member of the UN in situations that threaten international security and peace. Article 51 also allows for the use of force if it is for the purpose of self-defense. NATO’s use of force did not satisfy any of the above conditions. This therefore implies that when the war is examined from a legal perspective, the use of force in the invasion was as a matter of principle, in breach of international law and therefore was unjustified (Wilson 49). The invasion was even criticized by China and Russia, though they lost the vote to stop the invasion (Rushefsky 142), and after the invasion, NATO was accused of falsifying genocide charges so it could find the excuse to engage in the war. Be that as it may, by examining the invasion from a moral perspective, the illegality of the war can be challenged. To determine whether the use of force was justified morally, one has to examine whether or not a humanitarian emergency existed before the intervention by NATO forces, and whether a humanitarian crisis would have taken place, perhaps over a number of years had the situation been left to continue without intervention. A close examination of the situation in Kosovo results in an affirmative answer for both considerations. This is so because tensions between the communities in Kosovo and Serbia were present for a lengthy time period in the 20 th century and at times, these tensions culminated into wars (Totten and Parsons 441). Just before the invasion, the administration of President Milosevic was accused of carrying out cruel acts against innocent
The ordeal that Mr. and Mrs. M went through could only have served to strengthen their relationship and tighten the bond they both shared. The death of one of the twins must have been devastating to them but it must also have brought them closer together. This may be attributed to the fact that they shared a common pain and they were probably the only ones who knew what each other was going through. However, the fact that one twin survived must have pushed the couple to be strong for his sake. They probably realized that they would need a lot of encouragement and support from each other in order to deal with the situation. The lingering thought at the back of the couples’ mind was probably whether to tell the surviving twin about the incident or whether not to. It is not easy to hide such a huge secret forever and, at some point, the truth is bound to come out. At some point, in his life, the boy might be required to fill out forms about his family medical history and the issue might resurface. The question is, would the couple prefer their son to find out on his own or would he rather hear it from them? It would probably be best for the couple to bring the boy to light about the circumstances surrounding his birth in the hope that he would understand why they did what they did. Depending on how old he would be by the time they decided to tell him, the boy’s reaction might be that of understanding or quite the opposite. At a tender age of say 6, the boy may be inclined to believe in his parent’s reasons for letting his brother go. By this age, his personality is still developing and he can easily be influenced by the beliefs and opinions of those around him. It would be easier and smoother for him to grow up knowing his parents made the right decision. However, if the parents decided to enlighten the boy later on when he is say 16 years of age, the situation could be much more volatile. There is no telling to how the boy would react, but one thing is for certain: he would feel betrayed by his parents who let him believe that he was born alone, yet he had a twin brother who died soon after birth. At this point, in time, the boy might require the intervention of a third party whom he can trust other than his parents. His grandparents may step in to try and neutralize the situation by explaining to the boy that his parents had to make a tough decision. Enlisting the services of a professional counselor would also go a long way in helping the boy come to terms with the situation. This difficult situation could still bring the parents much closer only if they understand what the boy is going through and let him act form his own opinions. Forcing their beliefs on him may only make the situation worse (Pavlina, 2006). Most people who have suffered such ordeals more often than not end up trying to have another baby. This may be because of the desire to prove to themselves and/or others that they can have a second chance. The loss of a child often creates a void or vacuum within pare
The process of globalization has contributed to the development of multinational corporations conducting the majority of their operations outside their headquarters. In order to preserve high levels of productivity and to avoid considerable costs, the on-boarding approach is highly appraised by managers administering and controlling global organizations. Interestingly, most companies are ready to sacrifice their time and costs to engage fresh insights from the incoming employees since this approach guarantees better company’s performance and productivity. The global tendency to provide regular employee engagement has been researched by Bill Trahant (2009). In his research, the author has concluded that “strong employee engagement correlates to strong organizational performance” (Trahant, 2009, p. 54). With regard to political and governmental policies in the United States, the new on-boarding program encouraged by incumbent president Barack Obama is crucial for the development and improvement of the country, which is especially important in the era of globalization (Trahant, 2009, p. 54). Aside from beneficial outcomes provided by ongoing employment, a comprehensive on-boarding program starts with recruitment before entering into organization (Plunket, 2010, p. 176). As this process involves complicated steps, it is vital for company’s managers to work out the plan allowing new employees to adapt to new conditions. Each manager is aware of the fact that active engagement of the new labor force is fundamental to organizational success. In this respect, Trahant (2008) has also managed to define six attributes contributing to the top performance of organizations, and one of which considers on-boarding activities. The research states that employment level increase and employees’ engagement in business activities will encourage the workers to provide viable solutions to the problems. A company that strives for success and high productivity should not rely on a single-source investment, specifically because of the process of globalization.
Introduction Humans usually prefer conviction and claim it from preachers, doctors and scientists. Many fields of knowledge have raised concerns for ages. One of the fields where humans are struggling to offer convicting answers to is the field of astronomy. This field has attempted to explain a number of concepts, but none of them has been given more prominence than the issue of the origin and age of the universe. This essay attempts to examine the fundamentals of astronomy regarding the age and origin of the modern universe. It will also shed light on the measurement of the age of the universe. Though astronomy may seem a purely science-oriented subject, a number of theories have been advanced to explain how the universe was created. For purposes of this essay, the theory that will be given priority is the Big Bang theory. The essay will also expound on the implication on recent findings concerning the age of the universe, as well as their implications on future telescopic activities. Cosmology and the Big Bang Theory The study of the universe from a scientific perspective about the large-scale properties that make up it is known as cosmology. The popular theory that attempts to explain the origin and evolution of the universe is the famous Big Bang theory. The Big Bang theory or model (as it will be frequently referred to in this essay) estimates the age of the universe to be 12 to 14 billion years. It posits that during that period, the portion of the universe that is visible today was only a few millimeters in size (Kutner, 2003 p. 21). Since then, it has stretched from its initial hot dense condition into the huge and much cooler cosmos currently inhabited by humans. Leftovers of the hot dense matter are seen as the modern very cold cosmic microwave background radiation, which is still found in the universe. These remnants are only visible to microwave detectors. They appear as a homogeneous glow across the entire sky. Pillars of the Big Bang Model The Big Bang model is based on two hypothetical pillars dating back to the early twentieth century. These pillars are General Relativity and Cosmological Principle. Albert Einstein developed the General Relativity pillar in 1916. One major postulation of the General Relativity concept is that gravity is no longer explained by a gravitational field but, instead, it should be a deformation of time and space itself. Physicist John Wheeler precisely posited that matter dictates space how to curve whereas space shows matter how to move (Freedman, 2002 p.13). One of the fundamental assum