ShantanuT01/DACTYL-Pretraining huggingface dataset:
Introduction In today’s society, people’s life expectancy is expected to keep on increasing due to the improved diet and health services being offered. The most visible sign of this improved quality of life is the increasing number of elderly people in our midst. Our senior citizens nowadays are more visible than before. Some of them are quite active, partaking in various excursions as they enjoy their lifelong savings. However, as they are approaching their demise, their level of activity drastically reduces and they have to rely on close relatives or nurses nursing homes to take care of them. In all regards, it is not a very pleasing job to do and cases of serious abuse in nursing homes have reached out to television screens. The level of abuse being directed towards elderly people has sort of been under the radar but organizations such as National Centre on Elderly Abuse plus countless others have brought this issue to the forefront It is estimated that “close to 2.1 million elderly people in America are victims of physical, psychological, or other forms of abuse and neglect.”(American Psychological Association). This figure is greatly undervalued since authorities believe that for every case of abuse being reported, five others go unreported. (1998) Types of Abuse Even though the limelight has been focused on nursing homes, the majority of abuse being reported occurs in residential houses where most elderly people are simply subjected to neglect. Some elderly people are subjected to physical abuse which involves grabbing and shaking violently. Other more extreme cases of slapping and hitting with an object have been reported. While some people might justify using physical restraints to control those who are mentally impaired or other necessary acts like force-feeding, the injuries suffered by elderly people from these acts show that such kind of force towards our elderly population is downright criminal and necessary actions should be taken. Sexual abuse does also occur but its prevalence is mostly based on speculation since the majority of the cases go unreported. Sexual abuse
Picture Description The image I chose is entitled as Hauling Freight captures the everyday life of people in Afghanistan. In particular, the picture depicts two Hazara men carrying a heavy load through a Kabul bazaar. The cart they are maneuvering is called Karachi, which is equipped with recycled tires and a trick axle. The men wear national clothes and headwear. Despite the incredible load they endure, their faces seem to be happy and calm as if they carry a cart regularly. The main idea of the photo is to demonstrate the image of peaceful life in the country and imprint the routine and culture of Afghan people during the 70s of the past century. In addition, the image illustrates the aspiration of Afghan people to reconstruct their country and contribute to its further successful development. The photo is represented in sepia undertones to emphasize the spiritual and cultural background of the revival period. It seems that even if the colors were presented, no specific contrast would be highlighted. In addition, the picture is also full of their details, such as people standing in front of counters and salesmen serving behind it. Attention to detail, therefore, makes the entire picture quite strong and culturally important. Overall, though the image detects one specific scene from everyday life, it still manages to capture the entire culture of Afghanistan. Therefore, I consider this picture to be my favorite one. While contemplating it, it is possible to understand what it means to live in a free and peaceful place for Afghan people. I can also feel that they are happy and optimistic despite the fact that they need to work hard to earn for living. Background Information about Joseph Hoyt Joseph Hoyt is an American photographer who traveled across Afghanistan in the 70s of the twentieth century. He was only 23 when he took photos of a peaceful country to capture their routine life (PARSA, 2012). Being a young traveler, Hoyt visited the country to make a valuable record of life in Afghanistan in a pre-war period. The photos, therefore, provide a contrasting view of the stereotypical interpretation of the spiritual environment in the country. The photography was fresh out of college when he started his journey across various countries. As an amateur photographer, he still managed to discover the spirit of Afghanistan and render the most striking elements of this culture. Although he traveled to more than 20 countries, Hoyt was fascinated by Afghanistan as he had never been to any other countries he had visited (PARSA, 2
Comparison of the Two Poems and representation of Canada Margret Atwood’s poetry work revolves around representative literature. She portrays Canada during the 19 th century. In her work, ‘Thoughts from Underground’, she portrays the challenges and the perception that different people had of Canada. The poem revolves around the country’s political and social organization. Moodie’s book, ‘ Introduction: Roughing it in the Bush’ speaks of the country in a disparaging way. She does not understand the fuss and hype about migrating to Canada. This paper seeks to compare and contrast the two literary works in the way they portray and represent Canada. In the introduction, Moodie is a pessimistic and negative person. She does not understand the rationale behind the massive migration to Canada. The poem ‘Thoughts from Underground’ depicts Canada in a transition. The author, Margret Atwood, portrays Susanna Moodie as the main character who had migrated from England to Canada during the 19 th century. At the outset, Moodie is upset with the country that she has migrated to and becomes a part of it. She hates Canada for very many reasons including its winter and summer. She is in total denial of her new country and misses her home country a great deal (Moodie 36). To this end, the poem portrays Canada as a mean country where everyone seems not to care. Moodie sees that every person is rude while she is not. She feels out of place and struggles to fit in the society. These thoughts of Canada portrays the country in a negative manner where everyone seems little concerned about the happenings of the outside world. As the country changes, Moodie becomes successful and is not willing to let her initial hatred ruin her success. She becomes proud of Canada owing to the success that she achieves in the country and starts comparing it with England (Atwood 59). Although her heart is in love with Canada, she also holds the same feeling for her native country. She rationalizes her feelings by accepting the fact that she would not be in a position to go back to England and finds it a good idea to love Canada. This however, does not change the fact that the country is not comparable to Britain where the society is kind and loving. As she continues with her life in Canada, she becomes a part of the society and feels that she is a part of it. It is at this time that she ponders how she has changed although she had attributed the changes to the dynamic environment of the country. Atwood depicts the country as dynamic since it begins to appreciate diversity. After so many years of discrimination, the country has become of age and treats every person with the same regard. To this end, the poem highlights how Moodie felt on her arrival to the country and her acceptance of the fact that she would succeed in Canada and that it was impossible to go back to England. She becomes aware of that fact and begins to appreciate the opportunities that her new country offers (Atwood 61). After evaluating all the negative feelings she has had in the country, she begins to have a new perspective
Introduction Archives contain collections of unique materials, whichare records of value. They may be records of an organization or of private individuals. The materials are not oldin the real sense, but are preserved in a variety of formats in which they appear. The difference between the archival materials and the library materials is that in the archives,the materials are arranged in groups on the basis of their information content. This refers to the institution which selects, preserves, and avails to the public those materials of permanent value(Forde,2007).Archives are vital as resources that promote knowledge and efficient operation of the institutions which they serve. They support and nourish teaching and learning at that institutions and within the wider intellectual community (Forde, 2007). The archives may collect and preserve the materials, which are not official records to the public or institutions; but which document the history, development and accomplishments of the institutions (Forde,2007).The records in an archive possess some basic features which distinguishes them from any other form of records. These features include; Inter-relatedness -They come as a result of accomplishments or processes of lifeand therefore, they appear like specific frames of motion picture films, and structures of materials closely knit that they cannot be utilized in absence of each other; if the meaning and integri
In the novel, Ibsen brings up questions concerning class conflict and accumulation of wealth, power of money, economic relations, and exploitation. The events reflect the economic and social constraints of society and the role of money in the life of the characters. The play is based on class-labor relations unveiling the socio-economic situation of the society. The theme of money shapes the atmosphere and creates a story conflict influencing the decisions and behavior patterns of the main characters. Money rules the world of Nora and her husband Helmer. The background of the play is an industrial society that had a major impact on all social processes. A major concern of social thinking is to identify the nature of industrialization and to trace its social and political effects. The society depicted in the play is distinguished by its characteristic modes of production and economic life. Quite early Nora explores the meaning and significance of money in life. Helmer explains his vision of happiness: ‘There can be no freedom or beauty about a home life that depends on borrowing and debt” (Ibsen). Nora hopes that a marriage with Helmer secures her social and economic position. In the play, Ibsen depicts confrontations between money and honesty. As though to emphasize his vision of the life-denying nature of most modern existence, Ibsen does not use the imitative method to portray characters through motivation and conditionality. Ibsen portrays money in a specific manner which helps him to convey the main message of the story and express his own attitude towards interference of wealth and personal values. It means that economic power is a tool in the process of ruling the society. Ibsen depicts that when money starts to dominate people forget about moral principles and honesty driven by economic gain only. Ibsen portrays Krogstad as a man who lacks personal morality seeing money as the main source of power. Krogstad explains his position as: “And all this—only for the sake of money!” (Ibsen). Ibsen underlines that social conflict is a feature of the transition between older and newer social orders, world perception and values, spiritual and materialistic understanding of the world by Nora. Nora describes her experience: “I only know that I have paid every penny that I could scrape together. … Then I used to sit here and imagine that a rich old gentleman had fallen in love with me” (Ibsen). The theme of desperation is shown through the theme and symbol of money which helps to unveil the harsh realities of a family’s life. For Nora, money is freedom from debts while for Helmer money determines a class location and happiness. As the most important, money creates a story conflict and determines relations between all characters in the play, their happiness and anxieties. Nora explains: “It w
This paper analyzes a designer’s website in detail using the 10 fundamental rules as discussed in class lectures. The website chosen for this particular assignment is http://shotopop.com/ which has quite respectable clients including Orange and Publicis. 10 Fundamental Rules The first thing to notice when we go to the site is the time taken to load the webpage. But once it’s loaded, we enter a world of a designer who takes the viewer to a colorful journey mixed with style and fashion. For a closer inspection, let’s pick each fundamental rule and comment on it. Design for a Computer Medium The website is built solely on Adobe Flash and would require a user to have this Flash plugin installed before the website can be viewed. With this plugin, the website opens in its due time and can be viewed very well in any browser and at any resolution. Thus the first fundamental rule passes the test. Consistency of Design The website is based on Flash thus all navigation, buttons and roll-overs are of consistent design all over. All web pages are lined with a navigation bar on the top while a static informational bar is displayed at the bottom. The colors for each navigation button change appropriately giving an effect on its own. The text font used is same for all pages with mostly lowercase used for navigational bars and sentence case used for items within the sub-navigational bar. The test of consistency is also passed. Design Bandwidth Consideration As expected, a designer’s website is heavy in terms of bandwidth consumption. When the website was first opened, it took quite a while to load the Flash applet. However once the applet was loaded, the navigation to one page to another took no time at all. The only place where the website took more time was in loading archive pictures that the designers have uploaded as a part of their portfolio. When the website was opened after a day, the Flash applet loaded instantaneously showing that the computer had saved the applet in its temporary memory thus helping in loading webpage faster. The best part about this loading process was that a progress bar runs on the top showing the percentage of webpage loading completed. In this aspect, the website would again pass the test. Portability of Design Design portability may be an issue with this website. As mentioned before, the design is built on Flash which allows a designer a lot of leeway into stretching the limits of development. If the designer wants portability on computer only, then this website will pass the test in flying colors since flash can be used. However when we talk about the print medium, portability can be an issue due to the limitations of the paper texture, printing color and the ability to uplift the design on the any paper color. Although today’s printing capabilities far exceed anything we have seen before,
History of Dispensation The ideology of dispensation is one of the most significant aspects when it comes to religion. By definition, it is considered as a range of time where God tests human beings with regards to the respect and compliance to revelation or guidance of God’s will. In other words, it is a time when God seeks to test the extent to which man obeys the revelation given to him in respect to God’s wills and intentions. From this definition, it is evident that dispensation has three critical and distinct aspects that define it. First, dispensation embodies a revelation which seeks to provide knowledge about God’s will. In that regard, therefore, it implies that God provide insight concerning his intention for man to make decision in respect to whether he will obey or not. The second aspects, which is portrayed in the definition, relates to the fact that God has allowed man the power of choice. As such, the man is responsible of making the decision as to whether he will obey or neglect the revelation. Indeed, the idea of allowing man to make decision dates back to the time of creation when God permitted Adam to choose between good and bad deeds. Thirdly, the definition of dispensation encompasses a period of time in which the revelation and the test prevails. As such, during this period, God sustains the revelation in order to test whether man is prepared to act in accordance to God’s will. Indeed, the ideology of dispensation has evoked heated debates worldwide due to the differing perspectives in respect to its definition and components. In addition, the clear difference between dispensation and covenant theology has evoked critical controversy bearing in mind the near similarity. With regards to these debates, this paper seeks to discuss some of the issues revolving around dispensation, including its history, biblical support, and biblical contravention among others. The history of dispensation is quite deep and extensive in terms of scope and period. In this regard, dispensation dates back to 110-165 A.D during the reign of Justin Martyr (Couch 2000, 72). This was a strong believer who was persecuted in 165 A.D in Rome following his stringent and outspoken faith. Justin displayed the ideals of dispensation because he believed in premillennialism. As such, he believed that Jesus will come back after one thousand literal years to pass judgment to the world. This implies that God will be evaluating humankind for the next 1000 years in order to test their obedience. Indeed, if Jesus will come after the specified period to pass judgment, it means that the
The conditions of roads in some states in the US, Massachusetts not being an exception has been reduced due to the problem of funds for maintenance. In the article “Pump It Up,” Gabrielle Gurley gives an elaboration of what neglect to the roads in Massachusetts has led to. Due to the lack of proper funds for maintaining the roads and bridges in the state, they have slowly but steadily run to dilapidation. The bridges need maintenance services so as to continue giving services, but there are no funds for this. The roads and bridges were initially built by the state. This has been done and is still done by the Massachusetts Highway Department which is charged, under the statutory laws, with the responsibility of constructing, maintaining, and operating the roads and bridges belonging to the state. For the maintenance of the roads and bridges, the state has been charging a gas tax for the maintenance of the roads and there is also the federal fuel tax which also has not been adjusted with the financial changes which have occurred since 1993. the gas tax for roads maintenance has also not been increased since 1991. with increasing inflation, the roads maintenance department has gradually crept into huge debts and the budget is running into deficits. The Transport Finance Commission in Massachusetts also presented a report detailing the extent of the financial crisis that the department has been plunged into and that there is a $20 billion deficit for the Massachusetts commonwealth for the continuation of the maintenance of the roads. Since it has been found that the current system of roads maintenance system is not effective enough to ensure that the roads are well maintained and also the fact that the burden that has been put on the state is too strenuous for its budget and cannot continue supporting it, it is of utmost importance for the state to look for other solutions for maintaining the roads for the safety of everyone. One of the most viable options is to sell out the major highways to private companies to charge tolls and to do the maintenance of these roads. Some other proposals which have been presented as possible solutions include the introduction of electronic tolling and congestion pricing whereby vehicle owners would be required to pay more if they are to drive at peak hours. This option is already being done by other states across the nation. (Giglio J.M. 2008) The other is the increase in the gas tax. Since the gas tax in Massachusetts is not the highest, the increase would not be necessarily resisted by many. The collection mechanism needed for the gas revenues is very simple and it is already in place therefore implementing it will not be costly. Apart from this, the increase is popular among many people. The other thing is that the tax is “broad-based,” (Gurley, 2008). This implies that the amount paid by all the road users will be dependent on how frequently they use them. For this reason, I am fully for the increase of gas tax for funding the roads maintenance. This aspect can be justified in the sense that the amount of tax paid by anyone for roads maintenance is in direct propor
There has been indisputable evidence that media violence accelerates aggressiveness and violent behavior that might have either short or long-term consequences in any given society (Nier, 2006). It has also been argued that exposure to media violence triggers aggression whether verbally, emotionally or in terms of perception. Converging studies reveal that children who are exposed to elements of media violence tend to become aggressive during adulthood. Additionally, undesirable acts such as spouse abuse, forcible rape as well as physical assaults are likely to be aggravated by habitual exposure to media violence from childhood (Nier, 2006). Apparently, study conducted delineates the reason for increased aggression by evaluating on the existing aggressive scripts and programs in the media (Nier, 2006). Consistent presence of children in violent media avenues is a major factor that results to increased aggression even as they grow up. Statistics indicate that individuals who spent more time watching media programs committed violent acts more than those who spend fewer hours in the media (Nier, 2006). Scholars argue that, media violence influences social behaviors both positively and negatively (Nier, 2006). However, enormous damage has been noted in correlation with watching aggressive programs. A qualitative review from psychologists affirms that, as media violence amplifies, case of aggressive behavior has become widespread. Pointless to say media violence exceedingly contributes to violent behavior. However television and media institution decline that violent media can not result to aggressive behavior (Nier, 2006). Moreover, they insist that entertainment industries influence behavior positively. In this case, violent media shows help to release aggression that would be locked in peoples mind. For instance, films on murder are seen as therapy to remove individual antagonism (Nier, 2006). Philosophers argue that, viewing violent plays enhances an emotional release from bad feelings such as doubt and phobia. Imperatively, my opinion supports the scientific perspective indicating that, media violence results to aggressive behavior. Apparently, a country like America whose media is full of violence has experienced a high score of violent cases (Nier, 2006). In this case, there is a close link of social aggressive behavior with media violence. Article analysis: Altruism Altruism is a behavioral condition where individuals voluntarily help others at their own cost. In an ethical perspective, altruistic individuals benefit others without expecting returns or compensation (Fels & Zeckhauser, 2008). Philosophers affirm that philanthropists opt to enhance their wellbeing with their colleagues in order to live happily co-exist with them. Theoretically, altruism has a basic principle that asserts that man has no right to live for his own sake. In this case, philanthropists view serving other people as the only way to justify holistic existence (Fels & Zeckhauser, 2008). Moreover, self-sacrifice is perceived