ShantanuT01/DACTYL-Pretraining huggingface dataset:
“White lies” refer to the small lies that anyone can tell without the intention of harming, lies that are not very awful or do major harm. The girl narrates that when she was growing up she used to tell several white lies to people without any care what would be the consequences in a carefree manner. It was her age and immature thinking that she had no worries about what she was saying and could tell so many lies in every color. Meaning in every other act probably she might have said several kinds of lies with an irresponsible and immature attitude. There’s a lot of symbolism and imagery language use. The poet conveys the message that during the transition from childhood to adulthood there are many phases, not only by physical development of the body but also by psychic and mental maturity. A grown-up is responsible for his attitude and what he says. Adults cannot tell lies in such frequency and are always responsible for the words they speak and things they do, which is an indication of maturity and a responsible attitude. Poet stresses that in childhood first of all a child is not that mature, her thinking and mental level are immature that she does several such acts which are not wise. While the girl was in her growing-up age she had no worries and she spoke several lies with people in a carefree manner. Here she uses color imagery to indicate that almost all kinds of lies she had spoken. “The lies I could tell, when I was growing up light-bright, near-white, high-yellow, red-boned In a black place, Were just white lies.” (Natasha Trethewey) “ Light-bright, near-white, high-yellow, red-boned In a black place, Were just white lies” are all different colors indicating different lies at different situations she might have told, however, were white lies. Those are small ones not of any major harm and not too bad to speak of. Symbolism in the “White Lies” is about the lies she told to white people only. As in the second stanza, she writes, “ I could easily tell the white folks ” meaning she’s addressing white people and without any fear whatever lies she had to tell. She’s not afraid of white people nor does she feel inferior to them. But she thinks she can easily tackle them and hide her poverty by telling them lies about her. “I could easily tell the white folks that we lived uptown, not in the pink and green shanty-fied shotgun section along the tracks. I could act like my homemade dresses came straight out the window of Maison Blanche. I could even keep quiet, quiet as I kept, like the time a white girl said (squeezing my hand), Now we have three of us in this class”. (Natasha Trethewey) Now the above lines have a lot of symbolism. In the opening stanza, she admitted that she had spoken several lies in her childhood when she was growing up. In the second stanza, she explains that what kind of lies she was speaking and to whom. It has symbolism about racial
Introduction Managing the marketing process is an issue that companies have to contend with in the new dynamic and competitive environment. Performance of most businesses in contemporary environment is gradually shifting to the need of superior marketing strategies that are able to respond to the market needs in the most appropriate way. Therefore, this research intends to look at how management of marketing process can be enhanced in the increasing competitive business environment. The research will be a case study on Virgin Blue Company, which is an airline company based in Australia. Manage the Marketing Process Virgin Blue Company sees itself as possessing a humble background and beginning especially for being the first type of company to initiate the first and unique sustainable low far airline in Australian skies (Virgin Blue Company n.d). The company, through steady progress, has evolved and grown to become a recognized company in the world as innovator and leader in the global aviation industry. Blue Virgin Company started its operations in on 31 August 2000, with initial two aircrafts to start with (Virgin Blue Company n.d). It operated one route and had 200 team members who collectively shared a clear and concise goal of changing in the most drastic way the air travel in Australia (Virgin Blue Company n.d). As a way of revolutionalizing aviation industry with regard to way of doing business, the company reduced the airfares by almost 50 per cent while at the same time introducing genuine Guest service to the flying public, coupled with a strong commitment to being the best in the business (Virgin Blue Company n.d). Company’ mission indicates what the company is trying to achieve, what is the purpose of the company, and why it exists, hence, mission statement constitutes a short statement that says what a company stand for and it outlines a company’s strategy that becomes a key referential tool by company’s members in making key decisions (Griffins and Goffar n.d) . Virgin Blue Company’s culture has been created based on the company’s core values. For instance, the company expresses that “the big secret to Virgin culture is simple – there is no secret, where creation and maintenance of an enviable culture has been the top secret of the company and this has been done by infusing the company’s core values into everything th
Introduction The purpose of the study was to examine the correlation between brain reduction and the presence of Alzheimer’s disease (AD). The researchers used magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to estimate 1-year atrophy in 132 healthy participants. The ‘selected group had not been diagnosed with AD or cognitive impairment within the last three years’ (Buckner & Carroll 2007, p. 52). The approach was necessary towards understanding the issues associated with brain changes in elderly persons. The study was relevant because one-year changes are common in older adults. Such changes are ‘distinguished by unique frontotemporal patterns’ (Blennow & Zetterberg, 2006, p. 3661). The researchers wanted to examine the nature of such changes in elderly individuals at low risk for AD (Addis, Roberts & Schacter, 2011). Article Summary Several researchers have identified brain reductions in healthy adults. The outstanding challenge is that the presence of AD-related complications will hinder every effort aimed at examining different brain changes. The researchers identified ‘considerable volumetric reductions throughout the brain’ (Fjell et al. 2013, p. 8237). Although the collected samples varied significantly, reductions were common in every subgroup. The researchers subdivided their participants into several low-risk groups. The researchers used cognitive, genetic, biomarker, or clinical criteria to define their subgroups. The observed volume reductions matched the previously examined frontotemporal changes in healthy individuals. The pattern was also associated with healthy aging. According to Fjell et al. (2013, p. 8241), ‘normal aging will affect frontostriatal circuits. This development will result in reduced brain functions and secondary recollection problems. The findings also explain why patients with Alzheimer’s disease (AD) encounter frontotemporal vulnerabilities. Such changes are normal because they portray th
Introduction Operations management has increasingly become complex in the modern society where efficiency and cost reduction are critical issues in achieving success. According to Levine (2010), firms are under pressure to find ways of improving their operations management strategies using concepts that can help in identifying and eliminating redundancies, reduce production time, improve efficiency and reliability. Many concepts have emerged in the recent past that operations managers can use to improve this important department. Just-in-Time is one of the concepts that have gained massive popularity in operations management. The issue of product design is also becoming critical in defining the overall quality of the products that are delivered to the clients. In this paper, the researcher will review three articles that focus on how Just-in-Time can be used to improve efficiency in operations management. Article Analysis Introduction and summary of the articles The researcher will review three articles that focus on how Just-in-Time concept can be applied to improve operations management within a firm. The article by Faccio, Gamberi and Persona (2013) focuses on the adoption of supermarket concept in the operations management. It emphasizes on the need to have a clearly arranged warehouses where raw materials are arranged in a logical manner to reduce time wastage in the production unit. The article Multi-criteria models for just-in-time scheduling by T’kindt (2011) focuses on Just-in-Time philosophy. Under this philosophy, the author emphasizes on the need to organize the elements of production to promote coordination among the relevant stakeholders and improve efficiency at all stages of production. The article Assessing the impact of just-in-time on operational performance at varying degrees of repetitiveness by Bortolotti, Danese, and Romano (2013) talks about ways in which Just-in-Time concept can be used to promote lean management, especially when addressing production tasks which are always repetitive. According to the article, the repetitive nature of production activities makes it easy to come up with a standard model that can be used at every stage to minimize resource wastage, redundancy, and time wastage. The three articles will be critically analyzed to determine the relevance of this concept in operations management and how firms can use it to promote efficiency and lower the cost of production. Learning points The summary of the three articles reveals the following important learning points that operations managers should observe.   * Achieving efficiency in operations management requires a clear model that defines the specific activities that should be done by individual employees and how they should relate within the production unit.   * Operations management is an interdisciplinary activity
Long-Term Care Insurance Coverage varies widely depending on the provider and the needs of the customer. In addition, different states have different home care and assisted living facilities and these vary the cost of the long-term care insurance. These include home care, living assistance, and daycare for adults. The long term insurance packages also contain tax benefits such that the beneficiary does not need to pay tax on the payments received (Health and Human Services Paying For Long-Term Care, 2010). Beneficiaries obtain financial coverage of long-term care. The long-term care insurance allows one to make use of their savings and life insurance for other purposes. Under the federal program members benefit from a group rate lower than individual payment rates. To qualify for long-term insurance, the purchaser should not have a preexisting medical condition. Anyone above 18 years may purchase long term insurance. Limitation may come in because purchase of long-term insurance from non-qualified companies jeopardizes ones benefits. Secondly, monthly premiums are expensive (All About Long Term Care, 2010). Medicare Medicare is a form of insurance. It exists in three forms namely Medicare as hospital insurance, Medicare as medical insurance and Medicare as prescription drug coverage. In addition, there are medical advantage plans provided by private companies. They encompass one or more of the other categories of Medicare. Medicare covers hospitalization bills, doctors’ fees and drug costs depending on the type of Medicare. Qualification for Medicare is only available to people above the age of 65. People with certain disabilities and falling below the age also qualify. The beneficiary has to pay regularly for the program. Medicare limitation is that the financial compensation under Medicare may be insufficient to cover all long-term costs (Who pays for long-term Care?, 2010). Medicaid With Medicaid, the beneficiary receives long-term home care within their community or in a nursing home. With Medicaid, the beneficiary does not have to leave their home, instead they can ask for care provisions at home. Members must be earning low incomes and have limited resources to access Medicaid. Limitations for Medicaid are that the beneficiary can only access the service form a licensed facility for Medicaid. Moreover, the facility must have a capacity for caring for the patient (Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services, 2010). Continuing Care Retirement Community (CCRC) Long-term costs are taken care by monthly fees and entry fees. In addition, there is a centralized care within communities for all beneficiaries. Members get nursing services, healthcare services and social services. All members have access to assisted facilities and may live alone or in shared apartments. The requirements for CCRC include a provision that the beneficiary must be able to purchase the monthly payments for care. There is also an entry f
Although some patients believe that their dreaming process has ceased, they might experience impoverished dreaming. This condition is characterized by an attenuation of the dreams, but they do not cease completely. Different conditions, such as alexithymia or PTSD can cause it; patients who have alexithymia (not able to express their emotions verbally) reported that they had had colorless dreams. Dream impoverishment in patients with PTSD might be linked to the adaptive strategy of the organism that allows avoiding nightmares connected to trauma. Thus, dreams of patients are related to their real medical conditions or experiences that they find traumatic. Excessive dreaming can produce various dreams which content includes fantastic settings or routine daily activities. Patients who had experienced this complained that they felt exhausted or dizzy. Although it is still not clear why excessive dreaming occurs, it makes patients feel as if they have experienced that what they saw in dreams. Repetitive Dream Content Repetitive dream content, as the author points out, can be triggered by REM sleep behavior disorder and Parkinsonism. Patients see vivid dreams that are filled with action, violence, and stressful scenes. Many patients saw a dog in their dreams that tried to bite them; they began to defend themselves or hit the dog, and, in reality, they hit their spouses or walls/beds. Some of them jumped out of bed, or ran, and also hurt themselves. One of the patients with PTSD charged his weapon (while dreaming) and injured himself. Such dreams trigger reactions that do not stay in the dream; they affect individuals or objects around the patient. Patients with epilepsy saw short episodes of the seizures in their dreams that could be reflections of their previous seizures that they did not remember. Repetitive dreams are common for patients with epilepsy too, but the patients’ ability to recall those dreams depends on the type of a seizure. Dreams of PTSD patients are often connected to reality because patients experience traumatic experiences repeatedly in these types of dreams. Especially exact are the dreams about combat or war traumas. Thus, episodic memories in these dreams become extensive and remind the patient about the trauma. Prodromal cardiac dreams are often related to the cardiac issues patients have, but the dream content can indicate possible problems in direct and indirect ways. While some patients saw blood and death related scenes and then experienced cardiac arrest or similar cardiac events, others felt chest and heart pain in the dream because they were fighting or attacked. Dream-Reality Confusions Reality can be confused with dreams if the latter become too
Introduction The existence of all the forms of life on Earth is dependent on the conditions of the natural environment in which these forms exist, evolve, and go extinct. The activities of human beings have made the issue of environmental protection into a burning one. Such phenomena as global warming, the greenhouse effect, the destruction of the ozone layer, climate change, and many others, have made humanity start thinking of ways to stop the destruction and to take more care of the natural environment. Not surprisingly, the major regulatory role in the process of environmental protection has been attributed to laws, which serve as the basis of modern human society. In Australia, the situation is not different from the rest of the world as whole sets of laws are established in this country to ensure proper environmental protection. However, these laws have their numerous drawbacks, among which the anthropocentric character of the regulatory models and tools used in the Australian environmental laws is the major one. Anthropocentric Australian Environmental Law Personal Views Thus, beginning the consideration of the anthropocentric character of the Australian environmental laws, It should be stated that the position of this paper’s author in this respect is rather clear and firm – the environmental laws in Australia are indeed anthropocentric. At the same time, it can be seen that the roots of this issue go much deeper than the legislative perspective and can be observed in the minds of both ordinary people and those individuals who possess the legislative and executive powers to create and enforce laws in Australia. In more detail, the above expressed firm commitment to the above-expressed belief is based on the idea that it is common in modern society to argue about the environment and the need for its protection exclusively about the needs of, and potential threats to, the existence of human beings. Even when the issue is discussed in the plane of animal species extinction, it is usually related to the effects of this phenomenon upon the lives of human beings, their nutrition, surroundings, or comfort. Respectively, the regulatory models and tools used in the Australian environmental laws are also anthropocentric as far as they are developed by ordinary human
The antitrust laws were created to enhance competition in the market. The law provides equal opportunities to all firms in the market, and regulates firms which develop strategies to hinder other firms from competing with them. The government aims at creating competition in the market so that firms can provide good quality products. At the same time, these products should be given reasonable prices. This law protects firms and consumers too. Companies that do not comply with the provisions of these laws risk being sued and fined (Hylton, 2003). Wal-Mart is an example of a company that has been reported to contravene the provisions of the antitrust laws. In many occasions, the company has experienced lawsuits in protest to a contravention with antitrust laws. Wal-Mart has established retail stores and has dominated the US market. The firm has the characteristics of a monopsonist. A monopsonist refers to a situation where a single firm dictates the supply of products in the market. In such a situation, only one buyer seeks the products of several suppliers. This gives the monopsonist the opportunity to dictate the market by offering low prices to suppliers (Besanko, 2011). A monopsonist operates at a point where marginal cost (MC) is equal to marginal revenue (MRp). Therefore, the firm gets extraordinary profits because the demand is equivalent to the aggregate demand of supply. From the diagram below, it is evident that monopsonist gets abnormal profits because the labor demand is higher while the wage price is low. Source: Haworth (n.d.). Wal-Mart has been accused of applying the strategies of a monopsonist despite the fact that many similar firms exist in the market. For example, Coca-Cola Company has been forced by Wal-Mart to sell its products at very low prices. Since Wal-Mart has the capacity to buy many products from Coca-Cola, the company has developed the strategy to offer low prices. Wal-Mart has also been accused of offering low wages to the workers. The company has employed many people and has taken advantage of being a top employer by offering very low wages. This has made the employees of the company strike. Labor unions have complained about the low wages offered to workers by the firm (Lynn, 2006). In 2005, Wal-Mart and Netflix colluded to create a monopoly in the DVD market. The two companies had developed a strategy to divide the market for DVDs. This was done to reduce competition in the market. The agreement was that Wal-Mart would not rent DVDs through the online channels. This would offer Netflix the opportunity to sell DVDs in the market. This strategy was adopted when Blockbuster Company started to sell DVDs through online systems. The strategy developed by Wal-Mart and Netflix would make Netflix the sole marketer of DVDs. This would discourage any other company in the industry. As such, suppliers of DVDs would be influenced to offer their products at low prices. Netflix started to offer competitive prices to its subscribers. This aimed at drivin
From the two case studies, it is evident that Lilly implements a reactive diversity management approach, while IBM implements a proactive diversity management approach. Although Lilly has several ongoing diversity management programs, it relies to a large extent on guidelines, rules, and regulations that have been put in place to guard against workplace discrimination and harassment. On the contrary, IBM has implemented its diversity initiatives by undertaking a holistic approach in the involvement of employees through practices such as recruiting individuals with disabilities, developing work/life balance for employees, as well as facilitating women in the workforce through female mentoring and encouraging girls to seek fulfilling careers in the IT industry. Another key difference is predicated upon the fact that Lilly diversity management initiatives are overemphasized in various diversity policies implemented by the company though they lack effectiveness in practice; on the contrary, IBM has been successful in integrating its diversity policies and practices into its core business strategy, hence ensuring that employees from diverse social and cultural strata are able to assist the company in understanding and serving its customers better. Lastly, IBM uses more initiatives (e.g., diversity calendar, diversity taskforces, diversity network groups, diversity councils, Shades of Blue, etc) to move its diversity agenda forward than is the case at Lilly. Choice of Diversity Management Approach In my own opinion, the proactive diversity management approach implemented by IBM is far much better due to a number of factors that are either absent or inadequately represented in Lilly’s diversity management approach. These factors include  1. direct involvement of employees in making decisions relating to diversity,  2. training and mentoring programs targeted at women and minorities,  3. direct involvement of the senior management and lower-level managers in underst