ShantanuT01/DACTYL-Pretraining huggingface dataset:
The contemporary society is made up of different kinds of people shaped by the ideas represented in the media and the popular culture. Generally, the ideal man is portrayed according to the views of the media and in most cases; many individuals do everything possible to resemble the people represented in the media. Being a black American in a white society has its difficulties as many stereotypes are associated with this particular race. All these stereotypes and differences are majorly influenced by the ideas represented in the media. This is further exacerbated by the position the media plays as an influential agent of socialization that has the capacity to influence even the other agents of socialization such as peers, the family and the family or school institutions. JHally in his documentary “Desire, sex and power in music videos”, talks about women and men who are represented in an overly exaggerated manner as opposed to a real representation. He describes the women represented in music videos as a fantasy of the adolescents. The ideal woman is defined as one who is slim and light skinned in complexion, with blonde hair being overly exaggerated as a mark of beauty. The men portrayed in the music videos are also associated with certain features, which include the masculinity aspect. A real man is supposed to be masculine and thus, the girls who get to watch such kind of men may end up losing partners in their lives because they always look for the ideal man as represented in music videos and other visual media. Relationships are represented in a stereotypical manner. For instance, in Katz video “Tough Guise”, he analyzes violence, media and crisis in masculinity. In this video, masculinity is analyzed in terms of relationships that exist between the male and other males and the males and females. In both videos, the aspects of racism, classism and heterosexism are represented. People relate with each other in terms of race and class. Thus, the blacks associate with fellow blacks and the whites too. Heterosexism is an aspect that is not strange according to the whites and according to the “Tough Guise” video male-male relationships are part of their relationships in their society. However, these two videos are against the stereotypes associated with human beings as they urge people to watch all videos with a critical eye. The directors of these videos say that, the media and popular culture can influence our thinking and lifestyle in a great way albeit all the views they represent are not true. The ideas and views in these videos are a mere representation of the adolescents’ fantasies. These representatio
Today, due to traditional failure in educational reforms, many educational researchers and experts are proposing a different approach to education reforms. Presently, educational research focuses on improving student learning by decreasing teacher isolation and encouraging collaboration between educators (DuFour and Eaker 21). The new focus of school improvement, termed Professional Learning Communities (PLCs), involves a small group of teachers who work collaboratively towards attaining common goals to improve student achievement (Newmann and Wehlage 63). This research, using mixed methods research design, will investigate how the teacher perceptions of the professional learning communities (PLCs) in elementary school can contribute to improvement in student achievement. Research Paradigm and Research Design This research study will use a positivist approach to establish the relationship between student academic achievement and professional learning communities. This research study will use a mixed-methods survey that incorporates both quantitative and qualitative to analyze both the teacher perceptions of the PLCs process and the student achievement results. In this way, a better understanding of whether the PLCs contribute to improvement in student achievement can be achieved. A combination of qualitative and quantitative approaches ensures a comprehensive understanding of the research topic than when each method is used separately (Creswell 34). Statement of the Problem For a long time, elementary schools have been developing and implementing educational reforms due to increased pressure from local, state, or federal organizations and legislations that demand for improvement of academic standards. In addition to these pressures, the school reform efforts are also driven by the technological and economic developments. The educational reforms aimed at improving the quality of education and ensure that students acquire high-level skills necessary for economic development. However, the implementation of appropriate reforms to improve and sustain student achievement has proven to be a challenge for most schools. The professional Learning Communities (PLCs) are considered the best approach that holds promise for promoting and sustaining student achievement (DuFour and Eaker 41). The traditional approach of teaching and learning has been characterized by a lack of teacher collaboration contributing to low academic standards in schools. Under this approach, the student learning in a particular subject was the responsibility of a single teacher with less influence from the other staff members. However, the new approach, the PLCs, instills a culture of teacher collaboration to improve and sustain student achievement in schools. Much research conducted on the effectiveness of the PLCs indicates that it contributes to staff development that leads to school improvement. However, less research has been done to establish the link between academic results and student improvement, and
Introduction Dysphagia disorder that is also referred to as swallowing disorder is a complication, which is very common in people suffering from Parkinson’s disease. The combination of the two increases the risk of a patient already suffering from Parkinson’s disease. This situation is worsened because the dysphasia disorder (swallowing disorder) reduces the ability of a victim to take food drastically. Inability to eat leads to a rapid deterioration of the patient’s health status. Discussion Parkinson’s disease is a disorder of the central nervous system. The nervous system is composed of the spinal cord, which enhances body motion at all times. Hence, a person suffering from Parkinson’s disease is unable to control their body movements. Once attacked by this disease, the patient’s brain loses its capacity to work normally (Anonymous, 1995, par 5). According to Ronken and Scharrenburg (2002), Parkinson’s disease affects more than 3% of the people above 65 years (p. 17). This implies that the older members of the society are more prone to these complications than the younger people. However, this disorder is also common in young children. Parkinson’s disease is associated with the deficiency of dopamine. This forms the main target for therapeutic treatments. Losing dopamine in the patient induces changes in the functioning of basal ganglia network hence affecting cholinergic and glutamatergic synapses (Scharrenburg, 2002, p. 17). Apart from these two synapses, it also has some effects on others. On the other hand, dysphagia disorder can be defined as a complication which is characterized by disordered swallowing of food or drink. It is a complication which is very common in people suffering from Parkinson’s disease which usually lead to severe consequences (Pfeiffer & Wollner, 2005, p.95). Other than swallowing, this disorder also affects the ingestion processes. This is because a complex motor cascade or complications of the nerves leads to complications when the food being swallowed passes through the lower esophageal sphincter (Pfeiffer & Wollner, 2005, p.95). The majority of the patients with Parkinson’s diseases also get Dysphagia disorders. These two disorders go hand in hand because the symptoms of Parkinson’s disease make the patient’s body more susceptible to the Dysphagia disorder. Pfeiffer & Wollner (2005), observed that despite the fact that Dysphagia is mostly asymptomatic in Parkinson’s disease, a keen radiological and clinical examination of patients suffering from symptomatic dysphagia detects various abnormalities in every phase of ingestion (par 95). This raises the need for a close attention while attending patients suffering from this disorder. There are several reasons for prevalence of dysphagia disorder in people suffering from Parkinson’s disease. People suffering from Parkinson’s disorder experiences motor destruction. This is one of the main ways through which Parkinson’s
The modern understanding of the American dream and success is closely associated with the idea that successful people follow a unique lifestyle full of pleasures and comfort. This idea is closely correlated with the vision that modern successful people pay much attention to gadgets and different mobile devices because their success depends on sharing a lot of information typical for the digital era. The Huffy Corporation chooses to focus on the promotion of the opposite ideals while associating the successful lifestyle with the pleasure of riding bicycles as the pattern for the effective advertisement. The Huffy advertisement published in Good Housekeeping attracts the female readers because it supports the idea of the successful lifestyle full of such pleasures as riding the trendy bicycle while opposing these pleasures to the modern focus on gadgets as the symbols of the modern digital era. To understand the reasons why the Huffy advertisement published in the magazine for women is effective to evoke the consumers’ interest, it is necessary to analyze the magazine’s ideal reader; such features of the advertisement as the color, format, content, layout, and rhetorical elements; and evaluate the advertisement within the context of Good Housekeeping magazine. The ideal reader of Good Housekeeping is the successful woman aged 25-45 years who has the family and lives in harmony with herself and the world. This woman is white, or she can be African American, Asian, and of the Hispanic origin, as it can be stated referring to the magazine’s materials. The woman’s religion does not matter. The ideal reader’s job is part-time, without references to the profession because this woman can balance the work and housekeeping. The ideal female reader prefers to spend much time creating comfortable conditions for her family, and she likes to spend much time with relatives. To sell such a product as a yellow-pink trendy bicycle successfully, the designers focus on the advertisement’s color scheme, format, content, layout, and rhetorical elements to draw the audience’s attention to the advertisement. Referring to the Huffy advertisement’s format, it is necessary to note that it is the print advertisement based on the principle of analogy. While discussing the advertisement’s layout, it is necessary to note that the illustration takes most of the advertisement when the caption is presented in the upper right corner. The main female character is depicted in the foreground, and the other people and buildings are depicted at the background. This technique makes the reader pay attention to priorities. One of the most important features is the color scheme. Dark purple and violet colors which are associated with the mysteries and fantasies are used as dominating ones. They serve as the perfect contra
Introduction Laying the basis or a foundation of a business organization is perhaps one of the most challenging aspects of doing business. Being anew entrant in the market, there is always the likelihood of facing opposing forces that are already dominant in the market. This could and always pose a threat for the new entrant. These challenges however are overcome with time and some of those firms later emerge to be the market leaders a couple of years later. The following case study focuses on a company that has created a niche for itself in the entertainment world. Nintendo has managed to overcome fierce forces such as Microsoft and Sony to top up the world in terms of sales of video games. This discussion will focus on its beginning, some of the challenges that the company has had to overcome as well as the launching of its most popular product Nintendo Wii. Also discussed are some of the strategies that the company has employed in order to emerge top. Establishment Nintendo was established in the year 1889 and was only known for making playing cards. It is not until the year 1979 that the first game system was developed. A year later, the first LCD video game of its kind was developed. It was unique as it had a microprocessor. Five years after The Nintendo Entertainment System that had 8 bits was developed. The video console performed well in terms of sales as it was one of its kind and none of those in the market by then could measure up to its features. This video console would then be used as a benchmark setting the standards on which all other video consoles at the time were based upon. Competitors were on the look out and were not willing to let Nintendo enjoy monopoly. They therefore came up with similar gadgets some of which had improved the features of The Nintendo Entertainment System. Realizing that the competition was getting stiffer, Nintendo came up with an improved version of NES which was known as Super Nintendo Entertainment System. This new product equally did well in keeping the competitors at bay ad boosting the sales of the company. However, the company was not to enjoy monopoly for long as yet again the competitors struck with an improved version of SNES The Concept and Launch of the Wii Having been in the market for quite a long period and having studied the market properly, Nintendo realized that there was need to come up with a product that will not only keep the competitors away but also ensure that what is churned out into the market is highly enticing to the consumer. It is at this time that the ideas of the Nintendo Wii struck. The Gamecube which had been in the market prior to the conceptualization of Will had performed well although competitors such as Microsoft and Sony came close into producing similar products (Sutherland, 2012). Wii whose pronunciation is ‘We’ was mainly chose to emphasize that this came for everyone (all of us). The intention of establishing a completely new and different game in the market was to bring a revolution in the world of entertainment. Nintendo Wii also came with a remote that could also for the user to control the game. This is one of the aspects that made N
The Global War on Terror (GWOT) is a worldwide military campaign initiated by the US, UK and several other countries in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001, attacks on the World Trade Centre. Its stated aim was the eradication of militant Islamic groups that were targeting America and its allies and its scope was the whole world. The concept of a GWOT originated from the US, which before 2001 had been the target of Islamic militant attacks at its overseas interests. However, the 9/11 attacks changed the country’s defense approach, with former President George W. Bush declaring on September 16, 2001, at Camp David that, “This crusade, this war on terrorism, is going to take a while”. These remarks marked the beginning of a change in strategy. Hitherto, terrorists had attacked the US on foreign soil and even at sea in the bombing of the USS Cole in October 2000 . However, 9/11 was the first time ever since Pearl Harbor that the country had experienced an aggressive act on its own soil. With the Bush administration taking longer than usual to find its feet in its first year of office, the attacks gave it renewed focus. On September 20, 2001 the US president addressed congress and for the first time used the phrase “war on terror”. He said, “Our war on terror begins with Al Qaida, but it does not end there”. “It will not end until every terrorist group of global reach has been found, stopped, and defeated”, he continued. The president and other leaders in his administration such as Vice President Dick Cheney, National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, and Secretary of State Colin Powell, went to great lengths to prepare Americans for a long and almost endless campaign that aimed at destroying what they described as the international terrorist infrastructure. In American thinking, an attack at home, against one of the best-defended countries in the world, was an outrage that required immediate attention. From that point on, the American Government increasingly reshaped its policies to fit the demands of the war on terror. The national budget had to accommodate a war, the defense systems required reorganization and country’s foreign policy went through a redesign, and most importantly, a campaign to win public support ensued. Over the last 10 years, several commentators came up with various reasons to explain the waging of the war on terror. Most of these observers fall into three groups; those who supported the war at the start and still do, those who always opposed the war from the beginning and those who initially supported the war but changed their position. By examining these three groups, it is possible to come up with the rationale behind the GWOT. The first group that always supported the war was of the view that there was a need to maintain America’s territorial integrit
Overview The existing literature suggests that aging is a social problem that has cropped up in the North American society. In the twentieth century, an average adult life span was approximated at forty-seven years. Studies also confirm that only three million were approximated to be alive over the age of sixty. In the modern society, characterized by improved healthcare and developments in the field of medicine, individuals are expected to live beyond the age of seventy-five (Schulkin 17). In fact, the population that is over seventy years is stronger than expected. In the 1900s, diseases such as cancer, tuberculosis, pneumonia and gastrointestinal diseases took away the lives of many. Such diseases are now under control but the new diseases affecting the elderly are cancer and heart diseases (Rowe 67). In the North American society, individuals attaining the age of sixty-five are expected to retire to pave way for the new generation to manage the economy. However, the elderly are faced with a number of problems, given their weakening muscles and capabilities to perform important roles in society (Palmore 12). The aging initiative project would aim at advocating for the rights and needs
The question The question in this memorandum is whether Tishner has reasonable grounds to appeal against the District Court’s ruling that found him in breach of copyright when he reproduced the sounds and images, initially copyrighted to Portholes, Inc. Statement of the case Alan Tischner creates electronic and visual compositions by sampling sounds and images from electronic devices; particularly from Portholes Software, Inc. and distributes them through a free social website called WeFeed.com. Nobody noticed his initial compositions until his latest video, “Portholes is the Devil”, became a hit. The increased demand forced Tishner to purchase an Internet domain name, Portholeisthedeveil. He then posted a link to WeFeed.com and started selling advertising space on his new site from which he made about $1,000 weekly. Portholes Software, Inc. sued Tishner for copyright infringement. The company claimed ownership of content used in the new composition. This content, Portholes Software, Inc. claimed, formed part of its operating software. Tischner admitted to using the sounds and images after modifying them substantially enough to make them different from Portholes Software, Inc. He also argued that his website contained many other compositions and that his profits were derived from advertising. His other argument was that his video was a parody that had the protection of the First Amendment. The District Court ruled in favor of Portholes Software, Inc. because the sounds and images are still recognized versions of the original sounds and images. Summary of the argument Several arguments will be used in this appeal. In the first place, the Copyright Act of 1976 permits limited use under certain circumstances. The case law on parody and fair use could apply in these circumstances. The second ground is that the District Court did not establish whether the sounds and images in the composition were recognizable on their own or because of the title. This appeal will also argue that the sounds and images on the computers are public and can be used by anybody without copyright infringement. The computer is merely an artistic instrument. The fourth ground of appeal is that the content is distributed on social media and that Tishner’s objective is not to make profits from the images and sounds in the video. There is no commercial motive in Tishner’s use of the sounds and images. Other grounds as my help advance the case for the benefit of Tishner will be used. Argument The Fair Use Rule Permits Copyright Infringement in Certain Cases The District Court failed to consider the fact that the Fair Use rule permits copyright infringement in certain circumstances. Section 17 U.S.C. § 107 (1992) that places limits on exclusive use provides that copyright can be infringed if reproduced copies