ShantanuT01/DACTYL-Pretraining huggingface dataset:
Presentation of the Company Established in 1991, Lukoil is a company whose principal business lies in the sale and distribution of natural gas and oil to local distributors located within Russia and several of the states within the CIS (DATAMONITOR: OAO Lukoil 2011, 1-9). Through its acquisition of a rival company (Getty Oil), Lukoil was able to expand its consumer base to encompass consumers in well over 40 countries around the world making it one of the largest oil and gas companies currently in operation. Through a strategy of expansion and acquisition, this has allowed the company to reach markets in the U.S. as seen in its acquisition of Schlotzmeyer Brothers enabling Lukoil to become one of the largest distributors of petroleum within New Jersey and Pennsylvania (DATAMONITOR: OAO Lukoil 2011, 1-9). Aside from supplying gas to its consumers within Russia and various other countries, the company also happens to provide home services to consumers in the form of responding to possible gas leaks, as well as maintaining the various gas pipeline within neighborhoods that it primarily markets. It must be noted though, that the company’s annual revenue has increased within the past few years to an estimated $113.6 billion due to increased demand and for oil and natural gas within Eastern and Western Europe (DATAMONITOR: OAO Lukoil 2011, 1-9). What Are They Trying To Do? At the present, Lukoil is trying to leverage its current strength as the second-largest oil and gas producer in the world in order to obtain an EFQM award for excellence. In fact, they had recently applied for such an award in 2011 and was nominated as a finalist, however, they were subsequently turned down due to noncompliance related to its policies involving local merchants and current product mismanagement. The company is currently attempting to showcase that it deserves the award by developing an internal policy that focuses on developing partnerships with oil and gas distributors within Eastern and Western Europe in order to become a leader within its current market. It should be noted though that while Lukoil has focused on the EFQM model of utilizing policy & strategies as well as partnerships & resources in order achieve a modicum of success, the fact remains that it neglects to focus on people as a sufficient enabler of success which may be the primary reason why it has only achieved finalist status instead of actually getting an EFQM award. Sequence and Timeframe In 2008 Lukoil was able to successfully conduct a billion-dollar merger with the petroleum distribution company, Akpet, in Turkey, which enabled the company to access several million consumers within Akpet’s service territory in Turkey as well as enabling the company to take control of nearly 600 petroleum stations (OAO Lukoil SWOT Analysis 2012, 1-10). The acquisition of Akpet by Lukoil created numerous opportunities in the form of possible alternatives to their mainline of business as well as a method of possibly accessing the lucrative markets of Turkey and possibly Greece through the use of container ships as a means of delivering na
Beowulf is a unique title of a famous and old epic poem, which has more than three thousand alliterative lines. It forms part of the important works of ancient Anglo-Saxon literature. Beowulf is a long and detailed narrative poem, which is rich in literature and other aspects, thus coming in handy in the study of language. The poem narrates on serious and great subjects who have a unique and elevated relationship. It centers on a quasi-divine or heroic figure namely Beowulf, described as an important person whose actions determine the fate of a nation, tribe, or the human race. This poem establishes genre of stories and epic poems. In addition, it shows work from old English literature and exemplifies the unique way of traditional culture. The poem describes how Beowulf fought against water monster Grendel together with Grendel’s mother. This essay demonstrates the linguistic, thematic, and cultural importance of Beowulf from the eyes of Grendel’s mother, an antagonist in the novel. John Gardner’s novel Grendel expounds the cultural importance of Beowulf through a character named Grendel’s mother who was a monster that lived in a cave located under water together with her son Grendel. Though she was a monster, she played important role in expounding the traditional culture in this novel. Gardner reveals major practices practiced in this culture. First, the role played by women in this culture was rather minimal, as the book presents them as confined to performing the tasks of playing stewards and or action-seeking warriors or men (Gardner 17). On the other hand, the author depicts women as peacemakers describing them as bestowing honors and gifts, which were important aspects in this culture. Men in this culture played roles of warriors and breadwinners to their families. The poem also reveals how the culture believed in supernatural being and in God. For instance, Grendel’s mother says that, “The humans believe that their God can prevent occurrence of accidents and help them win battles” (Gardner 43). Based on the entire piece, Beowulf manifests some crucial cultural values like bravery, respect, and relationship. These cultural values are of great essence as they reflect a unique culture that is rich in morals and honor. Families of Anglo-Saxon society are described as of great importance as they were the sources of identification. For instance, warriors and other people were mentioned not by their deeds, but by who their parents or brothers are. This emphasizes on the value of families in this culture. Beowulf has a lot of linguistic importance, as described by Gardner through his use of a character named Grendel’s mother. This poem is worth of analysis and study, as it contains many language intricacies, which are important in understanding the complex nature of traditional literature. The allitera
Agriculture plays an important role in human life. Through this activity, humans can produce adequate food to ensure their survival. However, agricultural practices have major effects on the ecosystem. In Australia, the Golden Sun Moth has been affected significantly by farming. While this diurnal species was once widespread throughout southeastern Australia, its numbers have decreased dramatically. Currently, the moth is in the list of most endangered insect species in Australia. This paper will highlight the negative effects that farming has had on the golden sun moth. Agriculture has led to the destruction of the natural habitat of the moth. The golden sun moth is found in the temperate native grasslands. The demand for more agricultural land has led to vast tracks of grasslands being cleared for farming. O’Dwyer and Attiwill (2000) state that when land is cleared for agriculture purposes, large numbers of the moth population are destroyed. Unlike other species of moths that can migrate to other areas in search of suitable habitats to colonize, the golden sun moth can only travel short distances. Grund (2009) documents that this moth flies at a relatively slow speed, and the females are semi-flightless, which inhibits their ability to travel. For this reason, when their current habitat is cleared for farming, the moths that previously occupied the habitat are likely to be destroyed. Farming has reduced the availability of the grass needed to sustain the golden sun moth in its early development state. Unlike most other insects that can survive on a variety of plants in their larva state, this moth requires grass for its survival. Staak (2009) documents that the larvae of the golden sun moth feed almost exclusively on the native Wallaby grass found in the Australian grassland. Farming practices have led to the dramatic reduction of the grass needed for the survival of this moth. The original Wallaby grass species has decreased dramatically due to extensive grazing. Staak (2009) notes that grazing by farm animals leads to a competition for the grass needed for the moth’s survival. Without adequate grass supplies, the golden sun larva cannot survive into its moth state. The golden sun moths are also affected by the agricultural practices of insecticide and he
Overview For several years, “sex” was the number one search term on the internet but when “mp3” started gaining momentum, it did not stop until it became the most frequently searched word on internet search engines. Mp3 has since been then cited as a perfect example of how the internet can not just change, but revolutionize an industry. Likewise, mp3 files give music consumers a new level of access to hundreds and thousands of songs and previously unheard of artists (Cirulis et al, 2007). Its twin downside: piracy. The piracy issues stems directly from the ease of distribution online. Cirulis et al (2007) proposed that one of the ways mp3s are being deployed is to get around the traditional distribution channels that the industry controls–either by bands that want to reach their fans directly, or by pirates who want to become distributors themselves. Illegally downloading files has become very common, and as much as other intellectual property rights issues, provided controversy about whether infringement of copyrighted music has either hurt or helped CD sales. While studies found that file sharing has a negative impact on record sales (Liebowitz, and Waldfogel, 2006), other studies concluded that file sharing has no negative effect on CD sales (Olberholzer-Gee and Strumpf, 2007) after analyzes of actual downloads on file sharing networks as file-swapping translated into more album sales that was statistically indistinguishable from zero. The study showed these downloads of 500 random albums of varying genres improved album sales of the top albums in stores at the time. Turn of events however, indicate that CD sales have dropped 20% since last year, said to be the latest sign of the shift in the way people acquire their music. The music industry, and other types traditional of media such as film and TV may have a difficult time adapting to the digital age but BigChampagne LCC has reported that around one billion songs a month are being traded on illegal file-sharing networks. This has resulted in decline of CD sales, translating to a significant amount of record stores going out of business making it more difficult for consumers to find and purchase older titles in stores (Smith, 2007). The Wall Street reported that, “Apple Inc.’s sale of around 100 million iPods shows that music remains a powerful force in the lives of consumers. But because of the Internet, those consumers have more ways to obtain music now than they did a decade ago, when walking into a store and buying it was the only option,” (Smith, 2007). Some find the music industry almost powerless as it struggles together with the film, TV and publishing industries. Smith’s report (2007) also showed the music industry posting the weakest sales it has ever recorded sampling two lowest-selling No. 1 albums, tracked by Nielsen SoundScan: one week “American Idol” runner-up Chris Daughtry’s rock band sold just 65,000 copies of its chart-topping album and anoth
Mortality is one of the measures of epidemiology that describes the number of deaths in a certain population or which measure the number of people out of 1000 who die because of specific diseases within a certain population group. On the other hand, morbidity is the rate of occurrences of diseases within a given population and which is measured in terms of the rate of such individuals falling ill due to such diseases as well as the degree of vulnerability of the members of the population to contracting certain illnesses within a specific period of time. Although Australia fairs quite well in terms of health for its inhabitants and the availability of highly organized and effective health systems, it has not been completely exempted from situation of some group within its population being faced with the risk of morbidity and early mortality. Today, a number of factors can be attributed to the incidences of morbidity and early mortality as far as the Australian population is concerned. For instance, one factor that has been earmarked as the greatest single cause of death among individuals in Australia is the Coronary Heart Diseases(C HD). According to Dobson et al (2008), Coronary Heart Diseases are most common in the eastern region of Australia which is mainly inhabited by individuals who hails from fairy poor social economic backgrounds. According to the latter, it is in this region where most deaths related to CHD have been reported in the recent past. Deaths related to coronary heart diseases are greatly affected by the variations in individuals’ way of life. For instance, cases of CHD mortalities have in the past been reported to reduce with the reduction in smoking among the populations of eastern Australia, as well as reduction in the amount of tar that is clear evidence that smoking, especially of cigarettes with high tar concentration contributes significantly to the coronary heart disease cases in eastern Australia. As a result, it increases the rate of CHD related deaths. In addition, individuals who had regularly consumed butter had a higher risk of being affected by CHD relative to those who used margarine (Dobson et al, 2008). According to the latter, individuals are subjected to massive daily stress due to poor living conditions as well as being subjected to unfavorable living conditions. Such factor as imprisonment and jailing, physical torture under captivity and lack of freedom increased the vulnerability of individual’s to coronary heart diseases, mental illnesses and stroke. As a result, the rate of early deaths among the members of this population group is quite high (Pubmed, 2007). According to Australian institute of health and welfare, (2009), Coronary Heart Diseases and relate
Budgeting Goal The primary goal of the activity is to create a budget for the exhibitions that will open the next year, as well as the 2017 November and Flag Day exhibitions. Particularly, a flexible pricing strategy that will allow attracting a significant number of customers and at the same time helping the museum retain its profitability will have to be designed. Maintaining the variation cost at 10% should also be viewed as one of the key objectives of the internship. ELCC Standard and Explanation The identified objectives can be linked to the ELCC Standard #3, which states that one must apply the strategy that allows for careful and efficient use of the school’s resources, in general, and its financial assets, in particular. In other words, the identified framework demands that the principles of sustainability in financing should be utilized as the foundation for building a resource management framework that could help attain the identified goal. The standard, therefore, will help shape the current pricing policy so that a compromise between the needs of the project and the financial capacities of the target population could be reached. Learning Activity For this goal, I worked on the budgeting plan for the collection and exhibition department for the next year The learning activity included a detailed overview of the existing risks and the possible expenses that the exhibition might entail. As a result, a comprehensive overview of the possible scenarios was designed, and a sensible approach toward managing internal and external risks was created to reduce costs. Consequently, the foundation for introducing a sustainable budgeting strategy to the project was built. The identification of the income sources showed that the budgeting process required a significant amount of flexibility since the available financial resources were rather restricted. Therefore, it was crucial to not only identify possible investors but also develop a sustainable approach toward the allocation of money. Among the key variable indirect costs, one must mention electricity. Seeing that the exhibition will require a lot of light so that every object could be displayed properly, the electricity bills are going to be rather big. The specified issue was addressed by cutting some of the costs associated with transportation so that the financial resources could be used in a more sustainable manner. Therefore, the activity shed a lot of light on the importance of using a sustainable approach toward allocating the available resources. I also worked on the budget of the exhibition that will open end of November which also includes a variable cost that had to be added which was more than 10% The issue of variation costs seems to remain one of the primary concerns for budgeting the exhibition. While some of the direct expenses linked to contracts and design of the p
Rapidly developing technologies allow their adoption in every industry to benefit people. The theory of smart cities has been a utopian concept for many years; however, it started to be increasingly implemented across the world, allowing for significant enhancement of the cities with various innovative technology. Boston is one of the most progressive places in the United States, which has been successfully embedding smart city high-tech in the infrastructure. The report provides a comprehensive summary of Boston’s implementation of the smart city concept. Unfortunately, most attempts to adopt smart technology to the city’s public services end in the stage of an idea; however, Boston has solemnly decided that making their town innovative and friendly to robotics is the best way to make it more comfortable for the citizens. The city council developed a playbook outlining each change planned to be implemented to become a smart city (City of Boston, 2020). In recent years, Boston acquired multiple applications, such as The Boston 311 app, that help residents and visitors improve City neighborhoods by reporting any issues. There are also Trash Day which allows tracking the upcoming dates of collecting your garbage, ParkBoston which enables people to pay for parking online, and Street Bump accommodating the government to follow local roads’ condition. Street Bump App has become a valuable app for citizens and the government, allowing them to resolve hazardous road issues and eliminate paths in critical conditions. In that way, citizens contribute to the city’s enhancement by simply submitting a request on their smartphones. The new technology developed by the Boston council allows users to submit data about the road statuses, giving the city the ability to fix matters as fast as possible. Moreover, sensitive to GPS, Street Bump can find potential problems on their own using a phone accelerometer and add them to the map marking them as urgent or ripe for investment. The app collects data throughout a person’s trip, and, at the end of it, the driver presses the button to upload the locations of street bumps and potholes; then, the algorithm determines the severity of the matter. Defects are showcased on the map once they were identified by at least three different people, allowing the authority to act upon the problem. The Street Bump App has shown much progress and b
Most people have a tendency to equate learning with the concepts of training or teaching, which, like the textbook, ABCs of E-Learning by Boradbent (2002: 111) identifies as being merely input devices to coerce students into remembering data provided. However, learning, as it will be discussed in this paper, refers to the outputs that are demonstrated by the student, which are identified within this same text as being the “acquisition of skills, knowledge, and attitudes”. A rich learning experience, therefore, is one in which students are actively engaged in the learning process, acquainting them with knowledge and techniques that will assist them in becoming more productive in their futures and providing them with skills they will utilize throughout their lives. As a lifelong learner, there are numerous elements of a learning environment that are helpful and even necessary in building a rich learning experience that can be translated into the online environment with careful attention and technological accessibility. My personal learning experience has taught me that there are no hard and fast theories that can accurately describe my preferred learning style or what will work best for my learning at any particular time. This concept is supported in the book when it discusses David Kolb’s classification of four learning styles, of which I fit into two rather nicely (divergers and accommodators) and occasionally dip into numbers three and four. An open environment in which discussions can be held without concern of offending and where ideas can be explored through a variety of means and methods is usually what helps me to learn best. The reason I believe this is so is that depending upon my mood for the day, one means of engaging my attention will work while another that has worked in the past may not. This is also supported by the textbook: “learning styles are not cast in concrete. Learners are not always hooked on one style”. Instead, I agree with Mel Silberman (cited in Boradbent, 2002: 115) who indicates that an effective learning environment for a variety of learning styles is one that combines visual, auditory, and kinesthetic activities within the instructive curriculum. As the following examples will show, a good learning experience will be one that engages the students in the activity, regardless of what the activity is, and that fosters the student’s development in some way to provide them with long-term higher-level thinking skills. Anything that is not able to engage the students in some form is a poor learning experience as little is being retained and no development is occurring. I can think of several examples of good learning experiences in my past; however, I will concentrate on two in particular. During a traditional class on Shakespeare, our instructor had us place our desks into a circle so that everyone was facing everyone else and then initiated a discussion about Hamlet. She opened