ShantanuT01/DACTYL-Pretraining huggingface dataset:
American society can be considered as having both racist and sexist traits yet are not as overt as they were prior to the start of the American Civil Rights Movement during the mid 1900s and the Women’s Suffrage Movement during the mid 1800s. As a whole, American society has slowly, over the course of several decades, become more racially accepting and “gender blind” (i.e. equality between the sexes) due to gender and racial equality becoming societal norms as well as the implementation of legislation specifically preventing discrimination based on an individuals race or gender (Niwa, Way, and Hughes 2342). However, despite these positive changes, there are still some social elements that reinforce gender and race stereotypes. For instance, African Americans and Latin Americans are at times racially stereotyped as having criminal backgrounds and are often singled out by the police during investigations. The inherent problem with this type of stereotyping is that it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy wherein due to societal views regarding these races, they are given limited opportunities (Salupo 348). This creates a situation where some African Americans and Latin Americans have to turn towards crime which reinforces the connection between their races and criminal behavior. On the other end of the spectrum, while women’s rights have continued to improve over the past three decades, American society is still primarily patriarchal. This type of orientation influences how the role of women is viewed in society resulting in subtle methods of discrimination when it comes to hiring practices and supposed social roles that should be “exclusively” for women (Morris 77). Reinforcing these notions are programs seen on television which reinforce social ideas regarding race and gender (i.e. portraying African Americans and Latin Americans as having criminal orientations as well as showing women as having subservient roles to men). This type of reinforcement helps to subtly perpetuate adverse preconceptions regarding particular races and women resulting in the type of society that we see in America today that is a mix of both being socially accepting regarding race and gender as well as being biased (Harnois 473). Racism at Iona Prep The case of Iona Prep in particular is an excellent example of subtle racism in action wherein teasing regarding race is seen as normal and having no malice behind the insinuations. However, the fact remains that the idea continues to be perpetuated resulting in an “us and them” attitude instead of merely thinking of all people as the same. This causes the act of racism to continue despite racial diversity being accpeted as a common and even desired state within the school. Statistics on Hate Crimes in the U.S. Based on the latest statistical polls by the FBI, hate crimes within the U.S. have remained at a steady average of 225,000 cases per year with African Americans being the majority target for most hate crimes (Nadler and Stockdale 283). What this shows is thate despite greater acceptnce for racial diversity, there is still an underlying sense of racism present in the U.S. Understanding Racism The pro
Introduction This discipline investigation is a process of examining the trends, responsibilities, and possible career paths in the accounting field. By conducting the discipline investigation, my expectations are clarified. I am encouraged to add courses that will increase my employability. I chose to pursue a Bachelors degree in accounting because of the social recognition that financial managers have in public. Financial managers have the likelihood to become general managers or CEOs in a company if they have an accumulation of work experience from different firms. Most career paths allow employees to attain managerial positions depending on their contribution and experience. My perception was that accountants start at a rank that is very close to the top most position. It could be two or three steps to the top depending on the size of the company or department. It increases possibilities of being the general manager or CEO, and a higher salary package. Those who study commerce or marketing have to go through many stages. I thought for accountants to succeed, the skills needed are numerical accuracy, and paying attention to detail. An accountant does not have a sales target like some business-related careers. The first job may also start with an attractive paycheck. My expectations before the discipline investigation were that financial analysts have less work but receive a higher pay than most careers. I believe I am observant enough to recognize small changes in trends. The US has conformed to IFRS (International Financial Reporting Standards) standards from GAAP (U.S generally accepted accounting principles). International accounting standards were found necessary as part of adapting to the global market structure (Paul & Burks 3). Globalization has resulted in organizations setting business in several countries. Orga
Introduction A pricing method in relation to services is defined as the procedure that an entity follows in order to arrive at a decision on the prices of its or service(s) (Avlonitis and Indounas 48). The term ‘pricing method’ is synonymous to ‘pricing model’, except for the fact that ‘pricing method’ is used more in referring to the procedure followed in arriving at the price while ‘pricing model’ is used more in reference to the price structure relating the price of a service to the quantity of service offered. The two terms are, however, very closely related and are mostly used interchangeably. The services sector has seen major changes in the recent past, with improvement in technology and increase in competition, particularly in emerging industries that rely on technology such as business process outsourcing (Goolsby), managed information technology services (Devery) and cloud computing (Cloudtweaks). This has caused entities in the service sector to change their pricing methods from the traditional cost and target based pricing to new innovative pricing methods to ensure they stay in business and remain competitive. This paper identifies and discusses the more recent pricing methods in use today. Pricing Methods in the Services Sector Subscription based pricing method This is a pricing method that is used in almost all industries. In the software industry, the method is used in pricing software packages. Traditionally, software companies sold their software to consumers with a one-off sale which granted perpetual ownership of the software to consumers. Consumers could get software support perpetually. This has proved unsustainable because the cost of the software could not cater for the support services and updates for software perpetually. This method was therefore replaced by the subscription method which requires consumers to purchase the license to a software product for a limited amount of time and renew their subscription if they withes to continue enjoying the software services (NetMBA.com). A good example of a company that uses this pricing method is Kaspersky with its one year subscription to its anti-virus and internet security products. Some companies such as Microsoft have, however, stuck to the old model of the one-off sale. In other industries such as managed IT services, the subscription may be periodic but pegged on specific criteria such as subscription per device or per user (Devery). Elastic pricing method This pricing method is also known as ‘pay as you use’ (Cloudtweaks). In this method, prices are charged based on the quantity of service consumed by the customer. The service is broken down into ‘units’ to which a price is set. It utilizes an accrual method which produces a bill to the customer. The method is used in pricing most utility services including telephone and cloud computing. Ti
Solving problems creatively There are varieties of approaches to creative problem solving. First, a problem should be viewed from different perspectives. This calls for employees to play around with different possibilities of solving the problem. Second, energy and talent should be invested in taking highly unusual ideas (Isaksen, Dorval & Treffinger, 2010). This shapes and refines the unusual idea into a workable solution. Third, employees should be keen and sensitive to the problem, in order to support and enhance an agreement concerning the best solution. Employees should also be encouraged to be open to different possibilities and maintain a positive attitude. Finally, employees should be made aware of their powers and roles in the creative problem solving process as this can create diverse solutions to the problems encountered. Creative problem solving among employees can be encouraged in a number of ways. First, an open and safe environment should be created. Second, employees should be supported through the provision of appropriate and realistic amount of time and work. Employee motivation Employees can be motivated through several ways, when changing organization culture. First, they should be given an opportunity to develop themselves. This can be done through training and coaching. Second, the management should make them understand their contribution to their organizations. In addition, individual contribution should be valued in order to motivate employees. Third, the employee’s effort should be recognized through simple praises and appreciations. Furthermore, employee learning should be enhanced. This develops employees’ integrity, compassion, and emotional maturity. They also feel that they are part of the organizational change, and hence get motivated to focus on achieving organizational goals. Fourth, organizational goals should be aligned to the employees’ personal goals, so as to increase workforce motivation during the time of organizational change. Organization goals should enhance community relationships. Moreover, the goals should sustain responsible profit levels. This move can motivate employees to identify the goals, and hence work harder than before to achieve the new objectives and goals. Finally, managers should frequently and openly communicate with employees about the new strategic directions to be followed, the rationale behind the change, and the employee’s roles and responsibilities in the workplace. This keeps employees “in the know”, thereby motivating them to contribute to organizational success (Durkin, 2010). The role of leadership in the innovative culture of an organization Company leadership plays a critical role i
The significance of project pricing estimations can hardly be overrated; providing a strong foundation for the further financial strategy of the organization, it serves as a means of locating the financial issues that may emerge and impede the process of the company development. Moreover, the estimations in question contribute to the creation of an elaborate allocation of the project resources, thus, providing the project members with options for addressing possible crises. Thus, even in the worst-case scenario, an organization may handle financial issues once the necessary estimations are carried out. Since the project in question is managed with the help of the principles of sustainability, requires a comparatively small amount of financial resources, and depends on the target buyers’ behavior to a considerable extent, it will be reasonable to assume that the project will have to be based on value pricing. Among the existing pricing strategies, the one that includes a flexible system of discounts and a range of options for the customers’ needs to be mentioned. First and most obvious, the clients will have to be presented with opportunities to buy the target product cheaper. Specifically, the buy-two-get-one-free scheme will have to be considered as an option. While it would be unreasonable to make the selling price of the T-shirt equal to its actual value, it is still necessary to provide as many options for the target customers to save money as possible, since students typically tend to seek opportunities in terms of saving money. Herein the importance of considering the specified approach lies. Another pricing system, which can be adopted in the designated scenario, the competition-based pricing system deserves to be mentioned as a rather efficient tool for attracting the target denizens of the population to what the project has to offer. According to the existing taxonomy, the specified tool helps the project strive in the realm of stiff competition (Kerzner, 2013). On the one hand, the above-mentioned approach can be deemed as fairly reasonable, seeing that there are a plethora of products similar to the one in question. On the other hand, it should be borne in mind that the product under analysis should be viewed as a token rather than an item of clothing. Therefore, a different strategy needs to be considered. The pen
How Amazon’s Corporate Strategy Affects Its Supplier Selection Criteria One of the major characteristics of Amazon’s corporate strategy is the company’s strict orientation toward the needs of consumers. In other words, Amazon can be recognized as an ultimately customer-centric business whose main point of difference is the ability to deliver purchased goods within just one day or overnight, as well as replace the purchases that were broken or damaged with no fault of consumers. As a result, Amazon’s extremely organized and efficient supply chain is the backbone of this business. In addition to fast delivery, Amazon’s competitive advantage also is tightly connected to its prices. In other words, Amazon is known for selling a wide range of goods that can be delivered within one or two days for the prices lower than those of its competitors. As a result, criteria for the selection of suppliers help the professionals of Amazon to sort through suitable and not suitable vendors. Specifically, since Amazon’s websites are very busy and have a large base of consumers in many countries of the world, Amazon can negotiate prices so that suppliers can sell more items for lower prices and still generate profit. However, the example of the MacMillan case shows that there are challenges in such negotiations. In particular, MacMillan refused to lower their prices, to which Amazon responded by disabling the “buy” buttons on the company’s products. In turn, MacMillan prepared to leave Amazon and take its business to Apple. As a result, Amazon had to agree to MacMillan’s terms. This case signified that regardless of Amazon’s striking success, the company has to compete against some very powerful rivals who can take over at any moment, and so Amazon has to maintain the highest level of quality, the lowest prices, and the fastest delivery and shipping time to retain its customers. Amazon’s Sourcing Strategy Jeff Bezos, the leader of Amazon, started this business as online retail of books. Eventually, as Amazon’s success grew, it started to make sense to expand the business. As a result, the sourcing strategy of this business changed as it began targeting music records in addition to its selection of books. Further, Amazon expanded into a variety of other markets, thus diversifying the list of goods that could be purchased on its websites. Also, very quickly, the leaders of Amazon began to develop a so-called eco-system similar to the one that was built by Apple. To be more precise, Amazon created its digital reader – Amazon Kindle that aligned with the company’s strong presence in the electronic books market. Alongside the expansion of the selection of goods sold online, Amazon also made several acquisitions that boosted its profit and performance allowing the business to grow. Finally, recognizing technologies as one of the most progressive and profitable future markets, at the beginning of the 2000s, the leaders of Amazon decided to expand into the IT market and start offering website development services. Eventually, this endeavor resulted in the creation of Amazon Cloud Drive, as well as Amazon’s ownership of a variety of large online companies such as
Rationing can be defined as the available allocation of resources by the government so that there is equal distribution of resources within the population. It is adapted so that a country can have price controls and conserve the available scarce resources. There are different methods of rationing which include rationing to benefit a person, an organization, a ministry or a community (Jones, 2004). In this paper, I am going to deal with rationing in healthcare. As discussed by Doyal (1992) rationing in healthcare is mainly concerned with assigning and giving priorities of healthcare resources. When distributing resources in healthcare, a number of factors should be considered which are: meeting the needs of the population according to their numbers and their distribution; allocating resources according to the needs of the people; giving out resources effectively even if are scarce; giving out healthcare resources irrespective of the lifestyle of the people; and making healthcare accessible to all irrespective of their moral behaviors (Doyal, 1992). While the intention of rationing is meant to give healthcare to all people, its effects are not consistent because it seems to benefit more those people who have new resources. According to Jones (2004), the basis of ethics of rationing in healthcare is entirely on the call for the people and the goodwill of the government to support those people who cannot access healthcare. Presently, the population of people above the age of 65 years stands at approximately 12% of the world’s population. In addition, the population of the aged people is growing at a very fast rate. Therefore, as the number of elderly people increases, there is a need for diversity in healthcare so that the needs of the elderly and other disadvantaged people in society are met (Jones, 2004). Several groups analyzed healthcare rationing and proposed that ethical principles should not be neglected when determining allocations. The basis upon which rationing is determined is based on the current needs of the people and can be restrained by moral constraints of that time. Issues on methods of application of rationing have been raised by both professionals and moral practitioners. In their concerns, views were collected from groups of their experiences and understan
Medicare is a centralized health insurance program for older people, and some young people who are disabled, while Medicare covers low-income people, and sometimes seriously sick or disabled individuals. Medicare and Medicaid have a special place in Ohio State because the health factor is important to all Ohioans. Therefore, the following paragraphs explain the healthcare insurance program of Ohio, considering the requirements that must be met, and the financing of the system. Ohio prepares its budget which is approved by the federal government, and for the last ten years, Ohio has been allocating a figure between ten and fifteen billion dollars to its healthcare system. The system is meant to serve everyone who resides in Ohio including legal immigrants (Harlow, 2011). However, some requirements must be followed before one can be absorbed into
Introduction Directed by James Whale, Frankenstein, a 1931 film, story line is largely adapted from the Peggy Webling play, which is based on Mary Shelley’s novel by the same title. The film features the story of human struggles to unveil the realities of nature, through deploying science to recreate life. Frankenstein was done during the pre-code era. With the adoption of codes for regulation of films with moving pictures in 1931, it was apparent that the movie was open to censorship. With this critical acclaim, the paper seeks to scrutinize how Frankenstein (1931), through its textual operations attempts to generate a socially or politically “appropriate” message and whether or not it succeeds in doing this. Additionally the paper respond to the questions: does the film expel, discipline, or otherwise “manage” the elements of the film that might conflict the sanctioned meaning and whether these elements end up subverting or overwhelming this sanctioned message. Overview of Frankenstein Frankenstein opens up by Edward Van Sloan warning on the immense horrors to ensue in the course of filming, before the audience is opened up to eerie and dismal cemetery. As Dirks reveals, “the presentation of a funeral is silent, but conducted in a terrifying atmosphere setting, characterized by mourning sounds with the priests mumbling prayers” (Para.3). When the mourners leave, the casket is cautiously lowered into the grave and is filled up with soil, which causes chilling sounds as it hits the coffin. Upon the disappearance of the gravediggers, Frankenstein and Fritz emerge to dig up the fresh grave to access the coffin. Unfortunately, the brain is useless. Elizabeth, the wife to Frankenstein, is disturbed by her husband absence for a number of months and considers looking out for Dr Waldman (her husband’s to be a mentor) to aid her in finding Frankenstein. In his secluded laboratory, Frankenstein does not have a healthy brain to use in his endeavor to recreate life. Consequently, he sends his assistant, Fritz to invade the laboratory of Dr. Waldman to obtain one. Scared by a powerful and horrific loud crash, he hastily picks the defective brain (criminal brain) and quickly leaves. On one stormy and proverbial dark night, Frankstein permits Elizabeth, Fritz and victor to witness the final parts of his experiment in his watchtower laboratory. “As the body is raised to the laboratory’s ceiling, all his electrical equipments are engaged, and the body then comes down in a brilliantly pyrotechnic scene” (Dirks Para.2). When the hand slowly moves, Frankenstein is overwhelmed with joy and proclaims the famous movie’s lines- “Look! It is moving. It is alive. It’s alive…It’s alive, it’s moving, it’s alive, it’s alive, it’s alive, it’s alive, it’s alive!…in the name of God. Now I know what it “feels like to be God” (Dirks Para.2).The defective brain, however, makes the creature to