ShantanuT01/DACTYL-Pretraining huggingface dataset:
Analyzing a design in order to check its efficiency and comment on its strengths and weaknesses is not an easy task, mostly because personal taste issues will most likely stand in the way of an objective evaluation. However, when taking a wholesome construction of a design of a particular object or site apart, one can possibly provide an adequate evaluation of the expressivity of the chosen artistic means and the message that the design in question conveys. Although the way in which the SOL dome looks might strike one with the lack of meaning and expressivity, after a thorough analysis of its elements, one will be able to see the efficacy of the chosen medium and the uniqueness of the construction. A single glance cast at the SOL installation is enough to be impressed by its grandeur and magnificence; truly a work of art, it incorporates the modern idea of what technology is and what it is going to be. First, it is important to stress that the material When it comes to the color cast of the installation, one must mention that the artwork, as well as its creator, has stuck in the eighties, with the rainbow-like choice of colors and the combination of the color cast with the texture. Although the latter can be considered a technological breakthrough, as it has been mentioned above, the palette chosen by the artist washes the message that the given texture conveys away and sets the stage for the fashion of the era whose time in the sun was at least two decades ago. It could be argued, though, that the choice of colors was restricted by the material that was chosen for the installation. Indeed, when it comes to picking the palette for solar powered LEDs, an artist is most likely be restricted by the limitations of the material; in fact, the audience was lucky enough to see the sculpture the way it was made, luminescent yet at the same time not shedding an acid bright light all over the place. Nevertheless, taking the honeycomb structure into account, one can assume that the choice of a warm color instead of a cold palette would have been a much more reasonable choice; in fact, the color of steel would have hit the chord with the general idea of the installation in a much better way. However, the message has still been conveyed efficiently. The author of the installation has out a proper emphasis on the role of technology in the present-day world by stressing the fact that the construction is powered by the sun. Thus, a cautious remark about the nature vs. nurture conflict has been made. That being said, the SOL dome definitely makes an impression. It can be argued that the shape of the construction lacks clarity and that the color cast could be improved for the installation to be brighter, therefore, pushing its exotics to the breaking point and, thus, transporting the audience to the postmodern era. However, the fact that the author of the installation decided to take such a bold s
The importance of timber cannot be described fully enough. Since the ancient times man has discovered the beauty and strength of timber making because it is theideal material for constructing houses, worship centres, bridges, sea ports, animal shelters and many more. But as world population level grows and as income increases the clamour for timber in the construction industry has also grown in leaps and bounds. There is therefore the need to learn more on how to conserve this valuable resource and how to make the harvesting of timber a sustainable process. Sustainable Practices In recent decades a barrage of scientific information concerning the need to conserve natural resources swept through learning institutions and government agencies. People continue to talk about it because it something that can be seen and felt everywhere. For urban dwellers the decline in air quality and the pollution of rivers and streams are very much evident. For those who live outside urban centres the change of weather patterns wreak havoc to their farms and source of livelihood. This is not only true in the United Kingdom or Australia. This phenomenon is known all over the world. Young and old are aware of the problem. There is a general understanding that the burning of fossil fuel is the root cause of the problem. The burning of fossil fuel produces greenhouse gases that blanket the atmosphere. It is like creating an artificial climate wherein the heat that is produced by the sun’s rays are trapped within the earth’s ecosystem and could not escape. As a result the temperature of the planet increases. The phenomenon is now known as global warming and it is being blamed for abnormal weather patterns and super typhoons that have brought a great suffering and destruction to almost every country in the world. The study of this phenomenon has reached a point wherein scientists are able to determine the exact correlation between greenhouse gases and global warming. As a result a new buzzword has taken conservation societies by storm and the term is carbon footprint. This is clearly an attempt to create some form of accountability because of the fact that everyone shared one planet and yet different countries contributed varying degrees of carbon dioxide emissions into the atmosphere. One of the experts who weighed in on the issue is Dr. Stephanie Baldwin of UK’s Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology. According to Baldwin, “A carbon footprint is the total amount of CO2 and other greenhouse gases, emitted over the full life cycle of a process or product. It is expressed as gr
Fiscal Policy A deficit on the national budget takes place when national spending is more than the revenue in a given fiscal year. It is equal to the government spending less revenue collectible (Eisner, 2004). On the other hand, a budget surplus occurs when government revenue collectible is more than the national spending in a given fiscal year. In the case of the United States, these two aspects of fiscal policy have some effects on the economy (Eisner, 2004). A budget deficit means that the government has to look for alternative ways of filling the void in the budget. In this case, taxpayers have to bear the burden since the government will have to increase taxes by a significant margin. Taxpayers will have to dig deeper into their pockets to meet the demands of the revenue authority (Ricciuti, 2003). This means that households will have to survive on strict budgets, which could necessarily mean cutting on their spending. When a deficit is significantly high, the government will also seek to reduce its annual spending, which has an impact on the amount the national treasury allocates to government services. This normally includes such services as infrastructure, social security, and security (Ricciuti, 2003). Social security and Medicare services, which draw direct or indirect funding from the national treasury, are always among the first services to experience massive cuts on the allocations they get from the government (Seater, 2006). A deficit will also have indirect effects on the private sector. Since the government will reduce its spending and increase tax rates, the private sector will have to bear increased taxes. In turn, businesses will increase the cost of goods and services to maintain their profitability. However, as households cut on their spending, business organizations and the private sector, in general, will make losses or operate under strict budgets. Since both the government and the private sector reduce spending, they will attempt to reduce the amount of money they allocate to salaries and wages (Ricciuti, 2003). Since they are not willing to send off their employees, they need to reduce or temporarily halt the process of hiring (Eisner, 2004). As such, the rate of employment will reduce, while the number of unemployed people will increase. Also, unemployed people will be spending more than normal in their daily needs due to an increase in taxes imposed on businesses and the private sector. One of the major initiatives the government is likely to undertake in case of a budget deficit is to reduce national spending. Therefore, higher education, like Medicare and social services, will face reduced allocations. This means that students who depend on the
In the year 2009, Nokia’s net sales decreased by 19% from EUR 50,710 million to EUR 40, 984 million (Nokia, “Nokia Group 2005-2009, IFRS” 64). Operating profits reduced by 76% from EUR 4,966 million to EUR 1197 million. The company’s profit before tax was reduced drastically by 81%. In the same year, Europe led in the sales percentage, accounting for 37% of the total sales. It was followed by Asia-Pacific while China came in at a third place. North America was last accounting for only 4% of the company’s sales. China remains the best market for Nokia leading in the list of markets in which Nokia generated the greatest net sales. The country was still at the top of the list in 2008 while India held the second position in both 2008 and 2009 results. The company’s gross margin was 32.4%, a decrease from 2008 which registered a gross margin of 34.3% (Nokia corporation and subsidiaries 10). The operating margin was on a downward trend as it dropped from 9.8% to 2.9 %. Its devices and services operating profit shed off 43% from EUR 5,816 million in 2008 to EUR 3,314 million (Nokia, “Financial results review by board or directors” 3). The company’s operating cash flow was EUR 3,247 million, a rise from EUR 3,197 million in 2008. This is perhaps from a strengthened portfolio of mobile phones and other products with new models in the market during the period. Several aspects of the financial results remained the same such as the company’s expenditure on research. Its costs represented 14.4% of the company’s net sales up from 11.8% in the previous year (Nokia, “Nokia in 2009” 2 ). At the end of the year 2009, the company employed over 37,000 people in their research and development projects in 16 different countries. As a result of constrained finances, the company tried to reduce some of its expenses. Selling and marketing expenses were reduced from EUR 4,380 in 2008 to EUR 3,933 million. Its administrative expenses were also reduced from EUR 1,145 million to EUR 1,284 million in 2008. Group function expenses went down to less than half the figure in 2008, from EUR 396 million to EUR 134 million (Nokia, “Consolidated financial statements” 21). The company’s numbers downward trend was largely attributed to the economic global crisis which saw many countries’ economies deteriorate. Many regions experienced weaker consumer and corporate spending which negatively affected sales (Nokia, “Financial results review by board or directors” 3). The 2008-2009 period also suffered problems with credit availability as sources became constrained. As a result, it was hard for businesses to borrow reducing their expenditure and consumption levels. The company couldn’t access expansion funds easily and as a result, had to cut its expenditure and hold some projects which would have been influential in sales. Many markets were going through volatile currencies making it hard for Nokia to plan and roll out sales and promotion programs. Even though the markets started picking up by the end of the year and the dema
Introduction American Born Chinese is a graphical novel that belongs to the genre of bildungsroman or coming of age story, depicting the challenges that are encountered by the young people in finding their identity and destiny and focusing on the psychological growth of the protagonist. The novel dwells on a Chinese boy who was born in America. Faced with the challenges of adopting two contrasting cultures together with the identity issues that come with teenage life, the boy is almost confused (University of Chicago 78). Yang chose the tropes characteristic of traditional bildungsromane, such as a young protagonist, depiction of inner conflict, physical and emotional maturation of an adolescent to enhance the process of characterization. The mise-en-scene, frames, and sound effects were used by Yang to show the audience the characterization of Jin/Danny, the main protagonist of American Born Chinese, through his speech and actions for making the character believable. Peculiarities of mise-en-scene The mise-en-scene in American Born Chinese is used for conveying the author’s main message, focusing on the characters and their facial expressions and leaving the landscape and surroundings in the background. Every element of mise-en-scene is aimed at focusing the readers’ attention on the development of the characters. “The mise-en-scene organizes the different parameters of the image (framing, choice of point of view, composition, ‘actions’ of the characters, lighting, etc.) in accordance with the internal dynamic of the sequence, to produce an aesthetic or dramatic effect” (Groensteen 120). In most screens of the comics a reader can see only the characters and their voice balloons in the forefront, while the rest of the details are not emphasized, some of the lines are blurred, and the faces of the characters placed at the background are indefinite or even blank. When Jin Wang, the main protagonist, retells a legend about a mother moving with her son to diverse places because of devastating effects of the surroundings on her child, the woman’s face is left blank, while the whole figure does not resemble a human being. This approach is helpful for distinguishing between the screens depicting the main lines and screens depicting the incorporated citations of legends and secondary stories in order not to confuse the readers. The author’s choice of perspective is predetermined with the peculiarities of both bildungsroman and comics genres. The details of the location are optional and just complement and frame the events taking place at the forefront. However, the change of the scenes is important for depicting the course of time and accelerated development and maturation of the main character’s personality. Designing the screens of the comics, the author paid attention to meaningful facial expressions, incorporating particular symbols into the screens with the aim of intensifying the readers’ impressions. For example, the author uses the traditional indicators for communicating a particular message to the readers. Thus, for example, the markers “less than” and “more than” were used to indicate a phrase in Chinese. When a Chinese
Introduction According to Porter’s five generic strategies, companies can achieve competitive advantage through; focus strategy, cost leadership and differentiation strategy. Companies can gain competitive advantage by targeting market segments with broader opportunities for future expansion. Walt Disney faces stiff competition from Universal Studios, Six Flags and SeaWorld. The microenvironment in this industry gives buyers a higher bargaining power because of the low switching cost. Thus, Walt Disney has to apply differential strategy in order to remain competitive and relevant. However, its rival Universal Studios uses customer focus strategy to penetrate into new markets and retain new and old customers. Differentiation strategy For Walt Disney to effectively apply differentiation strategy as one of Porters five generic strategies, it must possess the capability to develop unique products and services that are difficult to imitate. According to Porter generic model, customers must perceive Disney products as being more superior to those of their competitors. In order to achieve these goals, Disney must develop a unique brand name that is perceived by customers as having desired qualities. Using this logic, we can conclude that Walt Disney uses differentiation strategy. First, the company focuses on consumer goods, Theme Parks and Resorts, Media Networks and Studio Entertainment. Walt Disney has succeeded in diversifying its products and services which has enabled the company to grow both horizontally and vertically. In fact, the company intends to differentiate its operations by opening new theme parks in China and Russian. Disney also employs the focus strategy that concentrates on a particular market niche that has less competition.
Seton Hall Fire On January 19, 2000, a fire broke out in the lounge of Seton Hall University situated in South Orange, New Jersey. The fire killed three students, injured fifty-eight people (including firefighters), and forced the majority of Hall’s residence out of the building to save themselves. It started on the third floor where false fire alarms were frequent; therefore, students at firsts did not take the alarm that began ringing seriously (Barry par. 4). After conducting an in-depth investigation, two residents of Seton Hall were charged and convicted of arson. The charged Joseph LePore and Sean Ryan were high school buddies and joined the university together in 1999. However, in the aftermath of the fire, their names floated around the campus because some witnesses had seen them committing the crime (Hanley par. 5). According to the expertise conducted by experts sit months after the fatal tragedy, it was found that the fire, which started in the lounge could be easily eliminated with the use of automatic sprinklers that were not available at the time of the fire. Upon visiting the campus, Governor Whitman signed a bill that required the installation of automatic sprinklers in all educational facilities, including sorority and fraternity residences (Moroz par. 4). The University applied for state funding to afford to pay for the automatic sprinklers to make sure that similar situations like the January 2000 fire never happen again. The law requiring the installation of automatic sprinklers in all educational facilities was proven to be very consolidating to students’ parents since the tragedy in Seton Hall caught the nation’s attention. Nowadays, Seton Hall follows strict guidelines and rules regarding fire safety due to the lack of appropriate fire elimination strategies at the time of the fire. Despite the range of fire safety strategies implemented by the authorities in Seton Hall, the University remained subject to criticism because of the lack of attention to safety techniques, which did not prevent the fire from starting. For example, Sean Ryan’s attorney, Michael Bubb, criticized the University for the malfunctioning system of fire alarms, no available fire extinguishing hoses and sprinklers, as well as furniture that was too flammable and gave off toxic fumes. Also, smoking was a regular practice on campus, and everyone was used to false fire alarms. Southern Adventist University Fire On April 25, 2005, a 20-year-old female student, Kelly Weimer, was killed in the fire in a women’s residence hall at Southern Adventist University while two other students were sent to a hospital. According to the written statement released by the university authorities, the fire started o
Environmental issues have a rather unpleasant property of recurring after they have been considered partially solved. When it seemed that the environmental awareness craze had become less topical compared with other issues on the world’s agenda, the extinction of species and the subsequent alteration of the environment were discovered. As the pace of habitat change increases, species migrate in order to find more favorable environment. As a result, these migrating species conflict with the ones that emerged in the chosen habitat naturally. After the conflict between the alien species and the local one erupts, the change in the ecosystems ensues. The situation that can be witnessed in Spain is a graphic example of the phenomenon in question. Because of the introduction of such alien species as Agave Americana, Carpobrotus spp., Eriocheir sinesis, etc. into the local habitat as a result of economic and particularly trading relationships, the existence of Junipenis phoenicea, Corema album, Limonium emarginatum, etc. has been jeopardized (Garrido 50). According to the traditional definition of the term, alien species are the “plants and animals that have been intentionally or unintentionally introduced, have established populations and have spread into the wild in the new host region” (Otero, Cebrian, Francour,. Galil and Savini 8). The implications of having alien, or, as they are also termed quite often, exotic, introduced or non-native species, are quite negative. These species disrupt the habitat of the area, creating imbalance and, thus, leading to the extinction of the local species, deterioration of the land, and the following economic issues caused by the lack of the specified natural resources. A closer analysis of the issue will show that the change in the climate of a range of regions is not the only factor that has caused the invasion of alien species into the Spanish natural habitats. Apart from the obvious need for species to relocate in order to find the environment with a proper climate, hunting, trade and other human induced factors must be mentioned (European Commission 12). Overall, the human factor has played a major role in the spreading of alien species in Spain. Although, technically, climate change can be viewed as a human-induced catastrophe, there are more obvious and direct effects that people have had on the Spanish environment and the increase of the alien species population within the area mentioned above. To be more specific, such phenomenon as hunting deserves to be listed among the key causes for the current prevalence of the alien species within certain Spanish habitats. In addition, a range of species, particularly, fish and amphibians