ShantanuT01/DACTYL-Pretraining huggingface dataset:
Introduction As the title of the essay suggests, my chosen essay is the majority opinion delivered by Justice Sandra O’Connor to decide whether the use of race was a factor in the student admissions by the University of Michigan Law School (UMSL) is unlawful or not. The complainant was Barbara Grutter, a white female, who alleged that the University of Michigan Law School discriminated against her. On the other hand, UMSL was represented by Lee Bollinger, Dean of UMSL. Since this essay is delivered as a speech, O’Connor’s style is direct, filled with facts, and succinct enough to describe why they came up with the decision that what UMSL did was not discrimination and she even lauded the school’s goal of “assembling a class that is both exceptionally academically qualified and broadly diverse” (O’Connor, p.133). Main body Compared to contemporary writing, O’Connor’s style does not even reflect the sophistication and sassiness of feature articles found in girly magazines. Reading through O’Connor’s essay, it easily recounted the details of events that transpired in the case filed by Grutter to the law school
School administrators in K-12 educational institutions are expected to be effective leaders who coordinate the work of the staff and adapt the teaching-learning process to recent changes in the sphere of education. For this reason, school administrators need to have developed leadership skills in order to demonstrate the effective and ethical decision-making, as well as the features of a change promoter and successful communicator (Paracha, Qamar, Mirza, Hassan, & Waqas, 2012). James Erickson, District Superintendent of Webster School District located in Webster, Wisconsin, was interviewed to analyze his leadership style and practices in the context of the leadership theory applied to environments of the K-12 educational institution. The questions for the interview were formulated to reveal the details of Mr. Erickson’s leadership (Appendix A). This paper aims to provide results of the interview with Mr. Erickson on his leadership skills, approaches to decision-making, ethical responsibilities and values, successes in managing the change, approaches to promote the shared vision, abilities in developing the certain organizational culture, and skills in motivation. Leadership Style and Decision-Making Approach Mr. Erickson notes that he combines features of two leadership styles to achieve the strategic goals and create the positive working environment in Webster School District. He follows the principles of the relations-oriented leadership combined with features of the instructional leadership. According to Mr. Erickson, this approach is most effective in the context of a school district because much attention should be paid to direct interactions with the staff and to providing clear instructions to achieve the set goals (J. Erickson, personal communication, October 2, 2015). Mr. Erickson also states that his goal is to develop the attributes of the transformational leader to adapt to constant changes in the educational sphere and help the team accept them effectively. Superintendent’s focus on the relations-oriented leadership is reasonable because he needs to use any opportunity for increasing the staff’s commitment and collaboration (Balyer, 2012; Devono & Price, 2012, p. 2). The elements of the instructional leadership are important for K-12 institutions where the quality of education depends on the work organization, guidelines, standards, instructions, and the communication with leaders (Bhengu & Mthembu, 2014, p. 45). Mr. Erickson’s aim to develop the qualities of a transformational leader can be easily achi
Healthcare has been a pressing political issue in the United States (US) for many years now. Pertinent issues have always revolved around accessibility, costs, reforming health insurance, the social implications of providing a universal health care system and the extent of government involvement in the whole matter. The current president, Barrack Obama initiated healthcare reforms that passed both the House of Representatives and the senate in late 2009 after which he signed the healthcare bill into law in March 2010 to kick start a series of economic reforms that has over the decades eluded the American society. America is termed as one of the developed countries with the highest healthcare costs when compared to the economic makeup of the country. Other developed countries have been able to achieve a universal form of health insurance for everyone but the US has in the past lagged behind in this respect. The Obama reforms are projected to provide health insurance to a number of Americans who have in the past lacked health insurance especially in this age where it is estimated that a great number of baby boomers are quickly ageing and exerting more pressure on the American healthcare system. The new reforms have however sparked a lot of debate in and out of media houses especially on matters relating to tax reforms, incentives in the health care system, staffing issues, technological adoption of procedures in medicine and such like factors. Proponents and critics of these reforms have been able to marshal support from the general citizenry and build opposite opinions over the same issue. This study seeks to analyze these views in the context of a social and liberal analysis of t
Creative process: four notable artists Igor Stravinsky Igor Stravinsky, born in Russia, was a musician, pianist, composer, and conductor, perceived by numerous experts and followers to be one of the leading and most significant composers of 20th-century music. Stravinsky’s compositional genre was noteworthy for its stylistic variety. He accomplished international distinction with three ballets commissioned by the impresario Sergei Diaghilev and performed by Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes (Russian Ballets): L’Oiseau de feu (“The Firebird”) (1910), Petrushka (1911/1947), and Le Sacre du Printemps (“The Rite of Spring”) (1913). (Wenborn, 1999) The genesis of a musical composition is subject to the dichotomy between inspiration combined with innovation and elaboration in consort with the skillful organization. Igor’s creative process was often a combination of the two. His works highlighted craftsmanship, but at the same time, he held spontaneous innovation in high esteem. Contrasting the different available versions of Stravinsky’s compositions reveal that isolated bars were cut without substitution, and in addition, the arrangement in which formal segments came into subsistence is frequently very dissimilar to the consequent versions. However, Stravinsky upheld a relatively conventional notion of work of art across his career. The concept of ‘work in progress (which actually has a Romantic origin) or the post-modern perception of openwork can only be associated with the artist’s creative process. The poetic detail in the conceptual phase of the composition provides a deep insight into the artist’s creative process. (Wenborn, 1999) Leon Battista Alberti Alberti was a renowned Italian author, artist, architect, poet, priest, linguist, philosopher, and cryptographer, and general Renaissance humanist polymath. In art, he is famous for his treatise De picture, which included the first scientific research of perspective. In addition, he penned down works on sculpture. In the field of music, he was supposed to be one of the earliest organists of that period. In architecture, he is commonly viewed as one of the most dedicated to refurbish the recognized language of classical architecture. His legendary significant work on architecture had been translated into several European languages by the 18th century. Alberti was also a skillful cryptographer and conceived both poly-alphabetic ciphers and machine-assisted encryption by means of his cipher disk. (Borsi, 1977) Alberti looked upon mathematics as the foundation stone for all forms of art and the sciences. The artist was familiar with the sciences of his time. He believed that the final aspiration of an
The portrayal of racism and its destructive consequences in literature serves the purpose of emphasizing the need to transform our society and respect the diversity of cultures. Tony Morrison is the author of the novel titled The Bluest Eye , which presents an overview of an African-American girl’s life and the challenges she encountered. This paper aims to summarize this novel, provide an assent of central themes and characters described by Morrison, and present a personal view of the topic discussed in this work. Novel Summary The events described by Morrison occur during the Great Depression, which affected all states of the country equally. The main focus is on a family living in Ohio that had two daughters and a temporary foster child. This child, Pecola, suffers from bullying in her neighborhood since people around tell her that she is not beautiful. As a result, the girl desires to have one thing she associates with beauty – blue eyes. Morrison (1990, 18) describes this issue in the following manner – “it had occurred to Pecola some time ago that if her eyes…were different, that is to say, beautiful, she herself would be different.” Perhaps such influence on her emerged as a result of seeing dolls with white skin and blue eyes that were considered beautiful by children around Pecola. The girl is living with foster parents because her father burned down their house. In general, the depiction of Pecola’s family suggests that the girl encountered many difficulties while growing up. Her parents were always fighting, and her father suffered from fits of anger as a result of his alcoholism. Moreover, Cholly, who is Pecola’s father, raped the gird and ran away, leaving her pregnant. At this point, the commune’s perception of Pecola changed because of these events. At the end of the novel, Pecola’s child dies, and she becomes insane due to the difficulties and traumatizing experiences she went through
The process of coffee growing has a one-year cycle, from preparing the soil for planting to sending coffee to the market. It starts in the middle of September, when the soil for future coffee growing is ploughed, fertilized, and weeded. Then coffee seedlings are planted, 4 seedlings per hole. The first stage takes 3 months, to the middle of December. For the next three months, the period of coffee growing takes place: the plots with the seedlings are irrigated, sprayed, fertilized, and weeded. This is the stage when coffee berries grow and ripen. After that, since the middle of March, ripe berries are hand-picked from the plots and transported to the processing plant by a tractor. Then the stage of coffee processing begins. It can be done in two different ways, with the help of machines or by hand. The first type of processing implies that coffee grains are removed from outer husks by a pulping machine and fermented. Then they are washed, which means that pulp and leaves leaving beans are removed. After that, the beans are sun-dried for 24 hours and then machine dried completely. The second way implies that the beans are at first sun-dried, which takes from 2 days to 2 weeks, and then the husks are removed and the beans are sorted by hand. When the primary processing is finished, the stage of coffee selling begins. Coffee is exported from Brazil to Europe, the USA, and other parts of the World. When the coffee is transported to the necessary place, it is roasted, ground, and sold for drinking. The whole cycle lasts till October.
I will never forget my first time, when I saw the art by Picasso. It was not my first visit to museum. However, it was the most remembering one. It was not so long time ago, in the end of the April I think. It was a special event, a Birth of a Museum exhibition, at Manarat Al Saadiyat. It was the first time one particular Picasso’s work was displayed. It was called Portrait of a Lady . It was designed in black, white, red and gold colors. It was made of paint and paper cutouts. Some sources claim that it is a portrait of Natalie Paley, a daughter of Grand Duke Paul Alexandrovich of Russia and a granddaughter of Tsar Alexander II. “Being a collage, it’s one of the key elements that Picasso used and it’s not something that is always seen in other museums. It’s a very distinct style that he developed at that time” (Hassani 2013). The lack of publicity and the fact that the work has never been shown were a distinctive feature of that very special masterpiece. I could not take my eyes of it. I was just standing there and kept watching. Suddenly, someone called me. I turned around and realized that the man from the personnel was watching me for a while. I was a little confused. I asked him, what he wanted. He told me that I was talking to myself. He said I was whispering something about ‘play of colors’ and ‘ambiguous patterns’. I was embarrassed and I said I was sorry, but what happened next, became a big surprise for me. He asked me if I was familiar with common concepts of art. I told him that I was a student of the University of Art & Design. Then, he asked me if I could guide that particular part of exhibition. I was shocked and became speechless. He explained that their guide was hospitalized. He has some kind of trauma earlier. First, I tried to refuse, but the man was persistent. I never liked to argue, so I accepted his proposition. However, I was not a good talker and I did not have any experience of such kind. The man told me not to worry and left. A few minutes later, he returned with a group of people. I was about to get nervous, but then I looked at Picasso’s Portrait of a Lady. I pulled myself together and started to tell the group all I knew about art of that period and all I thought about that particular work. That was a quite new and interesting experience. I had an opportunity to express my thoughts and feelings concerning art. I liked it. After the exhibition, another man came to me and told me that I nicely managed the situation. He asked me if I wanted to work there as a guide for some time, until the real guide would recover. I told him that I would think about it. Eventually, I agreed and took a post of a guide in a well-known museum. In such a way, I found my first job due to someone else’s trauma, my own inability to refuse and love of art. I have worked there for a couple of month. Thus, I realized what I am good at and gained some valuable experience in that area. Reference Hassani, Z 2013, Picasso’s never before exhibited Lady to show her face in Abu Dhabi
There are several important architectural components to an Oracle database system, many of which are added as the new features of Oracle 11g. There are several processes that run the Oracle database code, where some of them are active, while others are run in the background. One of the background processes in Oracle is Space Management Coordinator (SMCO) process (Oracle, 2011c). The main tasks of such process as its title implies is coordinating task which are related to space management, examples of which are proactive space allocation and space reclamation (Oracle, 2011c). SMCO performs theses tasks through spawning slave processes. Slave processes are those processes which perform tasks on the behalf of other processes, i.e. they initiated by other processes, in this case by SMCO. An example of the order of processes and tasks that will typically involve space management coordination can be seen through processes related to proactive space management. For example when more than one user implements space related task and commands, the background process SMCO is initiated to dynamically allocate and/ or reclaim space through coordinating the space management tasks (Oracle, 2011b). The background process does not perform the tasks by itself where it spawns slave processes that has the form Wnnn, where n is a number. Thus, the first slave process spawned by SMCO has the form W000 (Oracle, 2011a). W000 executes the instructions received from SMCO, and if necessary, required slave processes will be spawned additionally with the name W001, W002, etc (Oracle, 2011a). The principle of operation of W000 process can be seen as follows. Once the slave process is spawned, it will perform tasks such as pre-allocation of space reclaiming space form dropped files, securing file segments. A single database instance, i.e. a memory structure and a background process, can spawn up to 10 Wnnn slave processes. Once spawned such process acts autonomously, performing tasks in the order they are queued. After a particular idle time, a slave process will be terminated. The interaction between the background processes in SMCO and the slave process it spawns W000, can be seen as an autonomous maintenance tasks, which aim is keeping sure the database is running. As process that belong to the manageability infrastructure such as allocating and reclaiming space is mostly non intrusive and also a background process, SMCO is a common process that can be seen most single instances (Kyte, 2005, p. 190).
Introduction Sophocles famous tragedy “Oedipus the King” has always been a subject of thorough literary, psychological, and even ethical analysis. This play raises a great number of philosophical questions that can be analyzed from various standpoints. Certainly in the, majority of cases, the emphasis is placed on the main character, especially his complexity and paradoxicalness. Analysis In this essay, we are going to explore the following issues; first, whether, Oedipus can be perceived as a hero in the traditional meaning of this word, in other words, we have to answer the question whether the main character deserves his fate or not. Another issue to be discussed is the use of dramatic irony. It is necessary to show how the author plays with the characters and the readers. Judging from it, we have to answer the quest
Abstract Nike is the major player in the global sportswear industry due to its significant market share. The prominent role of the firm in the sportswear market is attributed to the adoption of strategic knowledge as its core competitive advantage. Nike has outwitted its rival in the market as a result of its unique ability to integrate strategic knowledge with consumers’ taste and preferences, supply chain management and product design and development. The firm’s strategic knowledge in these areas involves an intricate blend of tacit and explicit knowledge about consumers, design, advertising and supply chain management- which is tremendously hard for rivals to emulate. Nike is thus expected to sustain its leadership in the sports apparel market in the near future. International Branding The standard consumer market is flooded with thousands of brand adverts every day. However, a small number of these commercial messages achieve their objectives in the market. In order to create a lasting impression in the sports apparel market, some of the highly successful companies have adopted marketing strategies that appeal to all consumers of their products. The idea of branding has evolved considerably over the years as rival companies such as Nike and Adidas compete for market share (Lindstrom, 2006, p.1). This paper will thus analyze the development of Nike as an international brand and its current position in the market. Throughout the 1980s, Nike employed Organizational Selling Proposition (OSP) as its branding strategy. In the 90s, most brands had achieved enormous popularity in the consumer market. As a result, Nike switched to the Brand Selling Proposition (BSP) to market its brands. Soon, the company’s brand acquired enormous strength as end users became preoccupied with the Nike brand which was visibly engraved on wallpapers, sportswear and brushes. The contemporary hi-tech innovation has led to the emergence of a new branding strategy-Me Selling Proposition (MSP) – where end users are able to own brands. Currently, buyers can access internet sites run by Nike to tailor the company’s products specific
Introduction The day when Martin Shkreli, the current CEO of Turing Pharmaceuticals, increased the price tag of the drug used in the treatment of HIV by 5000% was questioned by everyone in the US. Daraprim is a drug that has been on the market for many years and before the current price, it increases cost no more than 13-14 dollars per tablet. Now, the shocking price of 750 dollars per pill means that the annual cost of the treatment could be hundreds of thousands of dollars (Fang par.1). Public reaction to Shkreli’s decision Daraprim is the tradename for pyrimethamine – a compound that helps to treat and prevent malaria and is also used to treat toxoplasmosis. Toxoplasmosis is an infectious disease that can cause serious problems to people with weak immune systems (Rushton par.1). Babies born from infected women are especially at danger since the parasite can cause blindness and neurological complication. Shkreli’s decision to increase the price of a drug that has been used since 1940 by such an incredible amount was immediately met with opposition and critique from various specialists in infectious diseases. Dr. Judith Aberg, the chief of the division of infectious diseases at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, stated that such a sudden increase in the price of Daraprim might compel hospitals to use alternative forms of treatment that could probably be less effective (Pollack par.3). Shkreli’s response to the critique Martin Shkreli justified his decision by stating the money the company would get from the increased price would go towards the development of much better analogs for treating toxoplasmosis. During one of the interviews where Shkreli was asked to explain the current price tag of the drug, Shkreli responded: “Because the drug was unprofitable at the former price, so any company selling it would be losing money. And at this price, it’s a reasonable profit. Not excessive at all.” (Boyle par.12). Shkreli also has been questioned about his decision numerous times on Twitter, but people could not get a definite answer from the CEO of Turing Pharmaceuticals, as Shkreli preferred to answer the question by calling names. What is more interesting is that, in reality, a pill of Daraprim costs one dollar to be produced, but, according to Shkreli, this does not count the costs of marketing and distribution (“US Pharmaceutical Company Defends 5,000% Price Increase” par.5). Unfavorable outcome The negative backlash Martin Shkreli received from various sources regarding his decision made him to officially state to ABC News that the price of Daraprim was going to be reduced, although he did not specify by how much exactly. However, it did not save him from further critique and accusation towards his price increase. Furthermore, his competitors responded accordingly. As a reaction to Shkreli’s outrageous decision, Imprimis Pharmaceuticals Inc. offered to sell their Daraprim for one dollar per pill. The CEO of Imprimis Mark Baum shared his feeling towards the issue to Business Insider: “I’ve served this patient population for a long time, and when I see a company do this … it just shocks the conscience” (Mille