ShantanuT01/DACTYL-Pretraining huggingface dataset:
After World War II, world powers could not wait to engage in another battle. They were at it again during the Cold War. In this battle for supremacy, countries were engaged in a series of espionage and propaganda attacks against rivals. The weapons used in this engagement were not limited to the military. Art was used to perpetuating the war in America. America and the Soviet Union were some of the countries that used this kind of weaponry. For instance, the CIA was at the forefront of promoting American Abstract Expressionist art in the form of paintings (Frances, 1995). The Americans used art to demonstrate their ideals of freedom. The Russians believed that they were a culturally superior society compared to America. Consequently, the latter was forced to respond using propaganda to point out their society’s independence and cultural superiority (Frances, 1995). In 1958, the CIA used the New American Painting exhibition in London to popularize the country’s artistic heritage. The result saw American art gain acceptance among more European countries compared to Russian art. The scenario indicates that art is a weapon and was widely used during the Cold War. The Americans advanced ‘Abstract Expressionism’ through this warfare and made it gain the universal acceptance it enjoys today. Technology and Racial Separation Racial separatism results in the segregation of individuals on the basis of race. Technology has helped lessen this form of segregation. The media is one of the technological avenues used to achieve thi
A simulation is any model or context which attempts to assume an appearance of an object or event without it occurring in reality. Simulations for wells and reservoirs are a common practice in modern petroleum engineering and development. Using a computer model, the simulation attempts to mimic the appearance and behavior of the well through mathematical and physical computations in the attempt to describe the active geological processes ongoing in the reservoir. The primary purpose of such simulations is to estimate and predict mineral recovery in field settings, hypothesizing both the output and potential problems through the use of various methods such as drilling and fracking. Simulations can be complex but are inherently invaluable since they provide engineers with the ability to make educated predictions about physical wells which are costly, both financially and environmentally. Through the observation of the model and simulation of various production tools and conditions, engineers can consider a wide range of factors ranging from composition and thermal conditions to IMPES and porosity factors (“Reservoir Simulation”). In turn, optimal solutions can be found for the most efficient reservoir exploration. The Computer Modeling Group (CMG) is the primary corporation that produces reservoir simulation software for major oil and natural gas producers. It offers several modeling techniques through its programs which can be utilized by the industry for various purposes. Its three most well-known software programs are IMEX, GEM, and STARS. IMEX is a staple of the industry, used as a black oil reservoir simulator, and considered one of the best and fastest to model recovery processes. GEM software is focused on unconventional production through equation-of-state analysis and compositional modeling. Finally, STARS is a more complex model of thermal, chemical, and other sophisticated processing meant to simulate fluid behavior and injections (“Software”). CMGs software is renowned for its accuracy, advancement, and efficiency, serving the largest companies in the industry as well as continuing to invest heavily in further research and development. Such well-designed computer software simulations are vital to the oil and gas industry as it helps to greatly improve quality, safety, and efficiency while minimizing the impact on local populations and environments, an important factor in the development of extensive wells. The Rogersville Shale is located in North East United States including the states of Ohio and West Virginia and includes numerous wells such as the Roane and Calhoun County wells. It is part of a deep sub-basin known as the Rome Trough which began to be surveyed in the earl
The concept of strategic planning is usually associated only with profit organizations, yet, it is extremely important for educational institutions, in particular schools. It is hardly possible to achieve the goals, which these agencies set without identifying long-and short term policies. According to John Bryson, the process of planning involves ten steps (Bryson, 32). There is no need to enumerate all of them in this report, yet their essence comes down to identifying major participants, creating a vision, analysis of internal and external factors, and implementation program. The main purpose of this report is to analyze the data, provided by Texas Education Agency, namely, AEIS reports for the school Felix Cook Jr. Elementary and propose certain ways to address the problems, which this school may have. Judging from the AEIS report for 2006-2007, we may say that the most stressing issue in this educational institution is the number of at-risk students, approximately sixty percent. Certainly, it is mostly caused by external factors but they may have most detrimental effects on academic performance and overall development of the child. It should be pointed out that this number increased in 2008, which indicates that this problem has only aggravated. Ninety-five percent of students are economically disadvantaged; consequently, we may speak about low educational expectations. Probably, it is necessary to launch in-school programs in order to shield students from harmful outside influence. Additionally such programs may enable to establish health relations between the faculty and students. Nonetheless, the school administration has not taken any measures to alleviate the tension. Jim Knight believes that it is of crucial importance to ensure that the objectives of the organization (school) and customer (students and parents) coincide (Jim Knight, 51). It appears that such agreement has not been reached. Certainly, the most difficult problem that schools have often struggled to resolve is funding. In order to substantiate this statement, we may draw some statistical examples, according to AEIS report in 2007, each student received only 2, 29 $ for instructional-related services, although, in the following year, the funding was increased, we may say that it is not sufficient. However, it is impermissible to shift the blame only on the problems with funding because in the vast majority of cases, the success depends on the structure of the organization or probably, on the relationships between various participants. As regards the academic performance, it is worth mentioning that this school did not achieve very good results in mathematics and reading. Certainly, it may be ascribed to a great number of factors; however, it seems that one of the underl
Highlight major milestones that are to be achieved by the Kyoto Treaty and Montreal Protocol. As of today, what should have been accomplished, and by whom? The main objective that led to the formation of the Kyoto Treaty and Montreal Protocol stems from the fact that in recent years, there has been a drastic change in the climatic conditions courtesy of rampant industrial growth. This is believed to have caused the degradation of the O-zone layer thereby exposing the Earth to adverse weather conditions. Scientists, the World over through the United Nation have mobilized nations to be signatories of these treaties to curb the depletion of the Ozone layer. To-date, with regards to both treaties, a total of 191 countries have signed and ratified the same. Surprisingly, of the signatories of the Kyoto Protocol, it is only the United States which has not ratified the same. To accomplish its mission, these treaties have specific objectives that are yet to be achieved. The most notable of them all that was passed by Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) was the “registration of the 2000 th project activity and the first inclusion of component project activities (CPAs) to registered programs of activities (PoAs)” (United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change 6). This is yet to be realized since; Conference of Parties 5 (CMP 5) was only able to streamline the procedures. Another objective that is yet to be achieved is to appreciably enhance efficiency as well as transparency of the processes of CDM. Once this is achieved, a significant reduction of greenhouse emissions would be achieved. Furthermore, CMP is devoted to ensuring that Certificate of Emission Reductions (CERs) as spelled out under CDM meets Stakeholders’ prospects for environmental integrity. Under the Kyoto Protocol,
Introduction Following up on the research question identified in SLP1 and the references selected in SLP2, the present paper provides a summary of articles from the second part of the session-long project. The main research question of the session was in identifying the research methods in IS which are suitable to the changes occurring in the workplace today and which remain central to the core identity of the IS discipline. In that regard, the main emphasis in the literature reviewed is on the characteristics of proposed IS models and the underlying assumptions of these models, and the basis for their formulation. Extending technology usage models to interactive hedonic technologies In Lin and Bhattacherjee (2010), the authors propose using and expanding IS research theories in order to enhance hedonic outcomes, rather than utilitarian outcomes such as productivity. In that regard, the authors draw a parallel between IS literature, identifying its key determinants, and new hedonic systems of entertainment, e.g. online video games (Lin & Bhattacherjee, 2010). The research framework established by the authors focused on customizing attitude theories in psychology literature by focusing on the unique attribute of hedonic systems, which are their technical quality and interaction quality. In that regard, both those attributes can be seen as reflective of the IT component of the IS systems, which is relevant to the proposed research question. Accordingly, the research model proposed hypotheses on the relationship between behavioral aspects such as perceived enjoyment and attitude with IT-related aspects such as technical quality and interaction quality. The article tested the hypotheses empirically through surveys, as the elements of the model can be quantified. The empirical tests validated the proposed system, finding that technical quality and interaction quality can be used as predictors of cognitive beliefs that influence the usage of IT systems. A Theoretical Integration of User Satisfaction and Technology Acceptance In Wixom and Todd (2005), the research method proposed by the authors was based on the integration of two areas of IS literature, related to the perceptions of system’s success, which are user satisfaction and technology acceptance. The authors argue that integrating both approaches allows building a conceptual model that will allow more fully examine the role of IT in organizations, and accordingly will eliminate the limitations of both approaches if taken separately. The logic linking both theoretical approaches through deriving the target behavior of interest (IT usage) from behavioral beliefs, determined in turn by object-based attitudes, which are influenced by object-based beliefs. Those obj
Introduction Sometimes society may apply double standards when dealing with certain groups even without realizing it. In no situation is this matter more apparent than in gender profiling where principles of profiling are applied in reverse. Why gender profiling is contradictory Profiling of any kind is very common in the United States. Some companies do it in order to understand their consumers and hence create products that cater to each group profiled. In marketing, profiling has led to the creation of loyalty cards as well as the concept of personalized advertisements. In the banking sector, especially in this age of information technology, profiling has led to fraud prevention and other similar innovations. In human resources, profiling helps in skills management. In forensics, profiling is normally applied so that specific cases can be solved or so that potential criminals may be found. Perhaps the most spoken about profiling occurs in law enforcement and security checks in traffic or at airports (Brooks, 2). All these profiling methodologies have brought up a lot of legal and ethical issues. Some people oppose them on the basis of privacy invasion because affected parties are rarely consulted. Others object against the process used to place one in a certain group while others feel that this is discriminatory and tantamount to inequality. Others object the liability that arises out of profiling. Most of these objections are often raised in one of the most common types of profiling i.e. racial profiling. Profiling does not necessarily have to be racially based because sometimes it is gender based. Although these instances are usually few, it still does not undermine the fact that they exist. The contradictory aspects of gender profiling are quite interesting and they come in different forms and shapes. When a Muslim couple enters the United States through an airport, it is likely that the man will be detained while the female will allowed in. Brook (13) explains that this happened at an international airport to a real couple. The US Justice Department decided that they would make this mandatory for any individuals from Muslim countries after the September eleventh attacks. All men from those countries were required to register their names upon entry and exit from the United States. Those who failed to do that would be immediately deported to their countries of origin or would serve in jail. These Department-of-justice regulations do not consider any female wrongdoers as most of them would simply pass through and enter the country. One would therefore wonder why there is a difference
One of the reasons why the issue of drug legalization continues to spark up a public controversy in America, is that the representatives of the country’s so-called ‘moral majority’ (intellectually arrogant bible-thumpers) are still being in the position to influence the social dynamics within the US. Therefore, the discussion of whether drugs should be legalized or not, does not concern the actual issue at stake, as much as it concerns people’s inability to expand their intellectual horizons. After all, for those individuals, who retained their ability to think in terms of logic, the fact that the ongoing ‘war on drugs’ is absolutely pointless, appears self-evident. In this paper, I will explore the validity of the above-stated suggestion at length, while promoting the idea that the very laws of history predetermine the eventual legalization of drugs. The biggest argumentative flaw, on the part of those individuals who support the idea that drugs should remain outlawed, is the fact that they seem to have no idea, whatsoever, as to what causes people to experiment with drugs, in the first place. This is exactly the reason why they believe that, once drugs are being legalized, it will necessarily result in triggering the epidemic of a drug-abuse across the nation. After all, it represents a commonplace practice among the self-appointed guardians of a public morality to think of the drugs’ addictiveness in terms of a universally recognized truth – even when such a recreational drug as marihuana is being concerned. As Califano pointed out: “Now a body of work indicates marijuana as physically addictive and demonstrates that teens who play with the fire of cigarettes, alcohol and marijuana increase the danger that they will get burned by the flames of heroin, cocaine and acid” (2). Nevertheless, if this author bothered to educate himself on the subject matter, he would know that the reason why, after having tried drugs, many people do turn into drug-addicts, has very little to do with the drugs’ addictiveness. This reason for this is simple – as sociologists and psychologists are being well aware of, the number of potential drug-addicts in just about every human society is static and approximately equals 10%-15% of the total population – the same applies to the societies of highly sociable mammals, such as primates (Chuan-Yun, Xizeng and Wei 29). Therefore, the ‘epidemic of a drug-abuse’, in which moralistically minded individuals believe, is a myth. The reason why, as time goes on, there appears to be more and more druggies in Western countries, is that the populations of these countries continue to grow progressively enlarged – pure and simply. What make some people more likely to get ‘hooked’ on drugs, as compared to what it is being the case with the others, are the genetically predetermined specifics of their ‘brain-wiring’. This, of course, presupposes that it is impossible to reduce
Between mid 1950s and late 1960s, civil rights movements in America were at its peak. The civil rights movement was sparked by various factors that undermined and oppressed the black population. As a matter of fact, blacks were treated like half citizens, and they had no right to complain. For instance, the South had devoted their energy in stabilizing and perfecting the Jim Crow ideology that required blacks to be segregated and separated from the white people. As a result, there was the lack of decent education, poor jobs and rampant poverty among the blacks. In response, the black citizen resorted to fighting for his rights; thus, the rise of the civil rights movement. During this era, there were key events that eventually led to a breakthrough in the fight for civil rights. Some of these events are described briefly in the following paragraphs. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was a spokesman for African Americans in the struggle for equal rights during the era. However, King received stern opposition from whites such as Governor George who was the symbol for opposition to racial interlink. King asserted that civil rights movement was more of a human rights movement than just a movement for black rights. According to King and other Black leaders, as long as Blacks were denied their full rights America could not be free. Under his leadership, key events such as the Brown vs. Board of Education case, the Montgomery Bus Boycott, and the 1960s Sit-Ins gained momentum. Overwhelmed by the poor quality of their school, students at Moton High School resorted to taking the matter to court (Robinson, 2005). The main cause of poor education facilities in the African American schools was the segregation laws. In 1954, the Supreme Court declared its verdict that segregation of White and Black Schools was unconstitutional (Robinson, 2005). As a result, segregation was phased out of schools and Black children had the right to attend white schools and receive a quality education. This key event enabled all citizens to explore education to the highest level regardless of race or color. Another key event is the Montgomery Bus Boycott that took place between 1956 and 1957. According to the segregation rules in public transport vehicles, Blacks were supposed to leave their seats for white travelers (The Henry Ford, 2002). In 1955, however, a lady called Rosa Parks refused to leave her seat for a white traveler and was fined by the court of law for misconduct. “Thereafter, fifty Black leaders organized a “Montgomery Bus Boycott” to demand a more humane transport system” (The Henry Ford, 2002). 381 days later, a federal court ordered the buses to drop the rules and allow for equal rights of travel. Martin Luther King participated in this boycott that resulted in equality among all Montgomery users. “In another scenario (1960)
Introduction Developing and developed countries are confused about either protecting the environment or their jobs. While both goals are noble, countries must make sacrifices in one area in order to realize gains in another sector. The options Global leaders agree that global warming is a real problem; if the rate of increase in green house emissions continues, then the world would experience greater flooding along coastal lines, more droughts, heat waves and other unwanted outcomes. However, to cut down on these emissions, nations must commit to green house gas reduction policies that often take a toll on their financial status. Countries are now confronted with an ethical dilemma. They are concerned about job losses that may emanate from the replacement of environmentally unfriendly energy sources with clean fuels. On the other hand, if they do nothing, then they may have to make drastic sacrifices in the future to save the environment. This state of indecision was reflected in the latest environment convention – The Copenhagen Accord. Not only did this report lack any precise reporting and verification procedures, but it also had no particular targets on emissions. Countries only agreed on the vague goal of cutting down global warming by 2 degrees Celsius at the end of this century (Peng Global 49). A number of the leading polluting countries such as the United States and China could not agree on one clear direction. The US wanted to make a deal with China that would require it to finance the country’s environmental efforts provided it met certain conditions. Conversely, China cried foul and argued that this would infringe on their sovereignty rights. The lack of consensus between such central nations in the emissions-debate implies that international climate conventions are gridlocked. Peng The Global strategy (97) claimed that Chinese multinationals are now global enterprises. Consequently, their polluting effects have international ramifications. If the world aims at solving the problem of global warming then it must work hand in hand with countries like China. To understand the extent of this ethical difficulty, one can analyze the effects of eliminating or at least reducing coal-dependant power plants. Since the coal industry employs a high number of workers, then eliminating it would result in millions of job losses. In