ShantanuT01/DACTYL-Pretraining huggingface dataset:
Introduction Henry David Thoreau was born in the year 1817 in Concord Massachusetts where he grew up. He graduated from Harvard University in 1837. Between 1835 and 1836, he was a teacher in Canton a school in Massachusetts. He contracted tuberculosis in 1835 and which finally caused his death in 1862. David’s writings have contributed a lot to today’s literature. His works provided people with knowledge in some aspects of life, which are still valuable in today’s society. Based on the works that he did, Thoreau should be included in the modern literature. This is because his works are closely related to that of modern writers since he used the same styles that are being applied in today’s writings. Discussion Thoreau wrote his first book “A week on the Concord and Merrimack rivers” in 1849.The book was about a journey he had taken with his brother john from Massachusetts to New Hampshire. Unfortunately, the book failed to sell as he had anticipated and therefore in the end, he remained with many copies, which were a great loss to him both in terms of money used in printing and time he had put in to write. The journey was divided into eight sections, the concord river and other seven sections showing activities of the week. The first section describes the flora, fauna and the location of the river. In his trip, they made use of a hand made boat, which they had designed. He gave description of the marine and plant life that he had came across in the sea. He carefully thought about matters of religion, nature and poetry. He compared ancient gods in traditional religion with the modern religion based in the belief of Christ. In his book, he compared eastern and western ways of life. This work is important in modern literature because it makes use of metaphor an important stylistic device in writing modern literary works. The book is actually not about a journey. The story is used to show changes in aspects such s region, which took place in England because of industrial revolution. Thoreau is against the occurrence of those changes because they contributed to changes in societal values (Thoreau 45). In 1849, he wrote another essay entitled Civil disobedience. This book is about a particular night in 1849 when Thoreau was taken to jail because of his refusal to tax. He wanted the Mexican war to be ended as well as slavery and that is why he rejected to pay taxes. He taught people and wrote articles about the disadvantages of slavery as well as organizing for the release of then slaves. Many people were leading desperate lives because of slavery. He praised himself for being able to stand against negative changes in his life. One of his principles was that, individuals should reject the desires of the government if they are against their own desires. According to him, people should follow their interests. His message inspired Mahatma Gandhi who mobilized Indians to fight against the Britain population, which had already occupied their land forcefully. Ideas of this book are still important in modern literature because they acted as an inspiration to the people,
Origins The European knights existed long before the Japanese Samurai. Originally from France, they came into being in the Middle Ages and were mere soldiers, but the role they played in the society became more important. The church Christianized the knights and elevated their status very highly in the society to nobility. ( Mohammed Abbasi). The Samurai means one who serves (Tim Clark). They were born of nobility and protected the Imperial court. The knights’ code of conduct was chivalry. They protected the weak in the society and maintained peace (Nationmaster.com, 2003) A comprehensive definition of chivalry as given by James is “a military institution, prompted by enthusiastic benevolence, sanctioned by religion, and combined with religious ceremonies, the purpose of which was to protect the weak from the oppression of the powerful, and to defend the right cause against the wrong.” On the other hand the Samurais code of conduct was the Bushido. Both the Knights Chivalry and the Samurais Bushido were not written but rather passed on from other distinguished warriors to others by word. They were inculcated in them during their trainings ( Etna Demonia). Stages of both warriors The knight underwent through three main stages ending with their fall due to the new social norms and modern trends which were characterized by discovery of new weapons like guns and bombs. The samurais also changed when Japan was pacified and were more engrossed with the arts, teaching others and matters of spiritual well being. (Nozomu Sonda) They were effectively swordless samurais like the European knights who are just awarded knighthood due to non battle achievements. The first knights lived in castles and fortresses.. With the establishment of feudalism, the societies were able to maintain the knights. They offered security to the leaders and the other peasants and they were given land, food and paid taxes for their duties. Through this they rose in society to nobility. Virtues for Relation with society The warriors, the knights and samurais had true loyalty to their superiors. It is given great significance in the art of chivalry, but nowadays it may not be so upheld due to various factors. The knights took vows to maintain the virtues of hospitality, courtesy to others, kindness, heroism. (Ted Shelton, 2003). The warriors had to protect the society because they valued other people (Ashburn L. 2007). Rectitude/ Justice for the Samurai is the personal authority to make up ones mind upon an action with logic without faltering, dieing without fear when necessary and attacking when its timely and the knights duty was mainly to protect the society at all costs. To do this the warriors had to have courage. This can only be a virtue if practiced for righteousness and rectitude, its being able to do the right thing. Courage was a major virtue for the samurais and for the knights, they had to show courage, bravery before being fully knighted. Benevolence/mercy was touted by Confucius a
Sampling Strategy From September 1999 to June 2004, Homik, Jacobsohn, Orwin, Piesse, and Kalton (2008) embarked on a research study to evaluate the behavioral changes that followed a government anti-drug campaign. The researchers used the stratified sampling strategy to select their respondents. The low possibility of human bias using this sampling strategy is a strong point of the stratified sampling strategy (Lund Research, 2012; Dessel, 2013). The sampling strategy also allowed the researchers to come up with highly representative data, based on the statistical conclusions derived from the sampling strategy (using large samples of respondents included in the study). The use of the stratified sampling strategy also helped Homik et al (2008) to come up with superior data because it not only helped to improve the potential for the researchers to divide the larger population sample into different units, but also improved representations across several strata. One limitation of the stratified sampling strategy was the difficulty associated with re-contacting the respondents, if there was a need to do so (Lund Research, 2012). This is because this sampling strategy requires the use of large samples of people, who may be difficult to re-contact after the first contact (Lund Research, 2012). However, the sampling strategy was appropriate for the “vast nature” of the research phenomenon investigated. Strengths and Limitations of Sampling Strategy The strengths and limitations of the sampling strategy adopted by Homik et al. (2008) depend on the fundamental processes that underlie the overall strategy in the first place. Key in the study’s sampling strategy was the use of questionnaires (administered on laptops) and the data collection setting. Using questionnaires as the main data collection technique limited the credibility of the study’s findings because it was difficult to establish if the respondents were telling the truth, or not, using the questionnaire responses alone. Furthermore, phenomenologists believe that most questionnaire designs limit the type of information that most researchers could get in a study (Lund Research, 2012; Dessel, 2013). Conversely, this data collection method limited the study’s validity. Homik et al. (2008) collected data in three phases, separated in 6-month intervals. This duration of data collection was appropriate for the study’s goals (evaluating behavioral changes) because understanding behavioral responses requires more than a couple of months of observation (Dessel, 2013). Therefore, if there were any behavioral changes emerging from the national anti-drug campaigns, the researchers would best capture them in the first few months of their imp
Descriptive statistics are critical because they summarize data by indicating the extent of dispersion and the degree of concentration. According to Holcomb (2016), descriptive statistics form the basis of data analysis and interpretation since they indicate the behavior of data in terms of patterns and trends of variations. Primarily, descriptive statistics comprise measures of central tendency, namely, mean, mode, and median, and measures of dispersion, viz. standard deviation, variance, and range. In this report of analyzing health data, descriptive statistics were used to calculate measures of central tendency and dispersion in the daily duration of physical activity for one week. Descriptive statistics (Table 1) indicate that physical activity for one week had a mean of 45.43 minutes, a median of 36 minutes, a standard deviation of 33.54 minutes, and a variance of 1124.95 squared-minutes. Comparative analysis indicates that gym had a higher and more dispersed duration of physical activity (M = 74.67, SD = 31.56) than walking (M = 23.5, SD = 9.47). Similarly, the median and variance (Mode = 59, Variance = 1124.95) of the duration of gym were higher than those of walking (Median = 22.5, Variance = 89.67) Table 1. Descriptive Statistics of the Duration of Exercise. Statistics          Walking (Minutes)  Gym (Minutes)  All Physical Activities (Minutes) Mean                23.5               74.67          45.43                             Median              22.5               59             36                                Mode                #N/A               #N/A           #N/A                              Standard Deviation  9.47               31.56          33.54                             Sample Variance     89.67              996.33         1124.95                           Count               4                  3              7                                  The examination of the nature and the distribution of the duration of physical activity shows that the mean offers the most appropriate description. Holcomb (2016) asserts that the mean is the best measure when a variable exists on a continuous scale, the data follows the normal distribution, and the distribution has insignificant outliers. The duration of physical activity in minutes is on a continuous scale that permits numerical analysis. The distribution of the duration physical activity depicts the normal distribution in walking, gym, and all types of exercise. A critical examination of the distribution shows that the data lacks significant outliers because most values fall within one standard deviation and all occur within two standard deviations from the mean in walking, gym, and all types of exercises. Descriptive statistics reveal that the duration of physical activity exhibited a high level of dispersion. All physical exercises performed in a week had a standard deviation of 33.54 minutes and variance of 1124.95 squared-minutes. These findings imply that the distribution of the dur
“This girlchild was: born as usual and presented dolls that did pee-pee and miniature GE stoves and irons and wee lipsticks the color of cherry candy. Then in the magic of puberty, a classmate said: You have a great big nose and fat legs. She was healthy, tested intelligent, possessed strong arms and back, abundant sexual drive and manual dexterity. She went to and fro apologizing. Everyone saw a fat nose on thick legs. She was advised to play coy, exhorted to come on hearty? exercise, diet, smile and wheedle. Her good nature wore out like a fan belt. So she cut off her nose and her legs and offered them up. In the casket displayed on satin she lay with the undertaker’s cosmetics painted on, a turned-up putty nose, dressed in a pink and white nightie. Doesn’t she look pretty? everyone said. Consummation at last. To every woman a happy ending.” This is the tale of a poor little rich girl we shall call Barbie. Her birth was nondescript. Nothing would indicate anything extraordinary except that she was born into a wealthy family. Apparently, her parents loved her dearly; they didn’t just buy her expensive toys. They presented her with dolls that were almost human (that did pee-pee). They came with a dollhouse complete with all the accouterments of daily living, with “miniature G.E. stoves and irons and wee lipsticks the color of cherry candy.” In short, Barbie had everything money could buy. With all the conveniences surrounding her, she seems to have had a happy, normal childhood. Until tragedy struck! “In the magic of puberty,” the storyteller relates, “a classmate said, ‘you have a great big nose and fat legs.” Why the magic of puberty? Because it denotes a drastic change in life. The child becomes a teenager on the road to adulthood. His/her body undergoes not only physical but psychological change. People no longer regard him as a child. His hormones begin to rage and even his attitudes alter. Where before, having a bulbous nose and fat legs didn’t count, now they do – a lot! Despite the changes that were taking place, the girl Barbie was tested and adjudged healthy and intelligent. She was strong and dexterous with an abundant sex drive that needed to be appeased, but of course, couldn’t since the young woman was unattractive. The poet tells us, “Everyone saw a fat nose on thick legs.” Could anything be done about the situation? To all appearances – nothing- poor little rich girl! Even if she went about apologizing to everyone for what was not her fault in the first place. She was rich, she had parents who doted on her and she had friends, but nothing could be done to camouflage her ugliness. She took the advice of people around her. She tried playing coy or hearty accordingly. She exercised, dieted, smiled, and wheedled, but nothing worked. Until her good nature wore out “like a fan belt.” Nothing is more frustrating than a fan belt that gives out, to a driver on a long journey. In her total exasperation, Barbie ended her life. She could have committed
Dallas Buyers Club is a drama directed by Jean-Marc Vallée, starring Matthew McConaughey and Jared Leto. Jean-Marc Vallée is a Canadian filmmaker who also directed Wild featuring Reese Witherspoon and popular TV series Big Little Lies and Sharp Objects . The movie was released in 2013 and received numerous awards, including Best Picture and Best Original Screenplay at the 86th Academy Awards (“Dallas Buyers Club Awards”). It is inspired by the real story of Ron Woodroof, who researched and experimented with different drugs to cure AIDS (“Ron Woodroof Biography”). Matthew McConaughey gets into the character of Ron to recreate his life as a founder of the Dallas Buyers Club. Ron attempts to go against the federal system – the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) – and distributes medication for those in need. The film depicts how certain groups of society are discriminated on the basis of gender and sexual orientation. Discrimination forces individuals to hide their health issues, which hinders progress in finding HIV and AIDS treatment. It is a story of hope, inner power, and desire to oppose the system to help others. Dallas Buyers Club reveals the author’s core goal of demonstrating the change of Ron’s attitudes toward homosexuality and transgender people. Vallée lets McConaughey improvise to create a more realistic picture of every-day life. The evolution of McConaughey’s character is a leitmotif of the whole story that helps the director to reach his goal. His life comprises of rodeo performances, drinking parties and careless sexual relati
Brain Lesion techniques Brain lesions refer to regions of the brain that have been impaired as a result of infections and malformations associated with inheritance or trauma (Garg & Sinha, 2010). Although this condition is quite scaring to many people, the degree of brain lesions differs significantly from one case to another. Hence, proper diagnosis is vital in order to ascertain the severity of the damage. Nonetheless, evidence based research reveals that in spite of the high success rate on brain lesion techniques, there is still no perfect technique. There is need to understand the merits and weaknesses of each technique before applying it. The underlying assumptions should be established beforehand. The idea behind radiosurgery in the removal of brain lesions came as a result of the need to control and treat functional brain disorders (Garg & Sinha, 2010). For a long period of time, the use of radiosurgical methods in the treatment of lesions was restricted in other parts of the body and not the brain owing to sensitive nature of the latter and inability to conclusively detect damaged parts of the brain in advance. Nonetheless, lesion removal methods have advanced with the incorporation of computer tomographcal images in the process. Moreover, the distribution of radiation on the affected spot in the brain can now be calculated to ascertain that the right amount of radiation is directed in the impaired zone. This is indeed a very successful advancement in technology as far as the diagnosis and treatment of brain lesions is concerned. However, the identification and eventual treatment of damaged spots in the brain still require thorough research in order to conclusively deal with this medical challenge. Non invasive techniques are used in contemporary applications of radiosurgery whereby suspected lesions are destroyed with high level of precision without due interference with the unaffected parts of the brain. In order to achieve the right dosage of radiation, two main classes of radiant energy have been employed; the particulate that makes use of the beam from positively charged particles or a beam of radiation from helium while the second form of radiant energy has been electromagnetic. In the case of electromagnetic energy, cobalt 60 radioisotope decays naturally and leads to the emission of gamma rays with high penetrating power. This energy is then used for radiosurgical operations. It is popularly known as the gamma knife. On the other hand, linear accelerators are used to emit a beam containing a photon or packet of energy (Goulet, et al., 2009). To achieve the highest level of precision and avoid missing the target, a technique called stereotactic is used. Although radiosurgery has been used in the treatment of myriad types of impairment on other body parts, it is more effective when dealing with arteriovenous malformations. Nonetheless, the effectiveness of this technique does not lack its own side effects. For instance, radiation necrosis has been established as the main cause of concern. Tran
Overview Total quality management (TQM) and Six Sigma are among the most popular quality management strategies. TQM developed from approaches applied to ensure quality in the early years of 20 th century. The approach became well defined in 1950s where Japanese companies applied it to improve quality. By 1970s, TQM was the popular approach in many organizations in the world. Six Sigma is mostly considered an improvement on TQM. The approach originated from Motorola in early 1980s and has gained popularity with many organizations. Total Quality Management TQM refers to a management approach that aims at offering customers with products that meet or go beyond their quality expectations. The approach is focused on customers and ensures all sectors on an organization are keen on quality. The term ‘total’ indicates that all individuals in an organization must be dedicated towards quality. The approach is based on continuous improvement in all sectors of an organization in order to achieve high quality (Daft & Marcic, 2008). A number of important principles, with hope that by adhering to the principles an org
Introduction As justly noted in the assigned readings, action research goes far beyond being purely theoretical (Ferrance 2000). True, the knowledge obtained through empirical, cerebral reasoning is a critical part of problem identification and goal setting. At the baseline, however, such research relies firmly on evidence, which is unattainable unless a sufficient amount of data is gathered through thorough and systematic fieldwork (Atweh, Kemmis & Weeks 1998). The fundamental principles of action research are specifically applicable to teaching, where managing change based on a solid body of evidence advocating for or disproving the efficacy of this or that particular method is the only way to actual improvement (Dadds 2003; Hattie 2005). Some might argue that an imprudent step can turn the situation to the worse and aggravate an otherwise perfectly functional educational practice. As far as my personal experience is concerned, however, the place for improvement is always present. Besides, action research is designed so that it can prevent unwanted damage and achieve the goal of utilizing evidence-based and efficacy-tested practices. Background De La Salle College, where I had my latest placement practice, is a Catholic educational institution for boys. The College pursues the mission to ignite faith and provide the students with the set of skills necessary for them to become members of society. Preparing young men for the world, the College acquaints them with the values proposed by St. John Baptist de La Salle. These include respect for everyone regardless of their religious convictions, high-quality education, and striving for excellence, diversity and inclusion, social equality, and faith. The College’s overall strategy for the following years is to continue promoting education in faith to form the staff around the Lasallian values, improve their appreciation of these values, use the Lasallian principles as a guide to foster the readiness to serve in students, and equip students and staff with everything they need to contemplate and reflect on socially significant issues ( De La Salle College 2016). In learning and teaching, the strategy mainly concerns improving the students’ academic performance through cultivating the atmosphere compliant with the needs of a diverse classroom and careful monitoring. The strategic steps the College is planning to take concern, namely, embedding the innovative leadership structure into the school’s mission and vision, selection and review of the best curriculum alternatives (specifically, with the inclusion of digital learning), alignment of the improvement plan with the staff’s capacities, and clear goal-setting ( De La Salle College 2016). As one can see, the College’s leadership is perfectly aware there is a place for improvement. My first-hand experience in teaching science to 7-graders and 9-graders allows me to point out some