ShantanuT01/DACTYL-Pretraining huggingface dataset:
Introduction Ethical behavior has always been assumed to be the foundation of a productive and well functional society. Despite this, business ethics have not been given much consideration and businesses have been subjected to little criticism for their ethical behaviour so long as they did not break the law. Ethics can loosely be defined as a system of moral principles by which social conduct is judged as either “right” or “wrong”. In business terms, ethics are moral principles which dictate what legitimate behavior is in varied business dealings (Chryssides & Kaler 1993, p.3). While the public and government previously demonstrated little concern for business ethics, the financial meltdown of 2008 that resulted in the near-crash of the global economy has called for a more critical look at business ethics. This action has to a large extent been catalyzed by the widely held perception that ethically unsound practices by the financial industry were responsible for the financial crises. This paper shall argue that sound ethics in business are paramount for the stability and continued prosperity of the global economy. To reinforce this assertion, this paper shall demonstrate that the recent global financial crisis was caused by unethical behaviour in the finance industry and as such, could have been avoided by ethical behaviour. Ethics and the Global Financial Crises An interesting concept when dealing with ethics is that there does not exist a standardized approach to dealing with ethical issues as they all spring from very unique legal, political, social and economic backgrounds. As such, there are no “uniform” ethical practices though there may be those practices that are generally accepted by the society. This vague interpretation of the word ethics is what makes ethical issues in business dealings especially hard to determine. Coelho, McClure and Spry (2003) therefore suggest that the operative words in ethics are “without deception or fraud”. One of the factors that led to the financial meltdown of 2008 was the overemphasis on profits at the expense of all else. This practice was against the utilitarian ethical theory which stated that the collective welfare of the people overrides the individual. The lack of concern for the overall good of the society stemmed from the increase in equity-based compensation to top executives which resulted in the declaration that “the paramount duty of management and board is to the shareholder and not to other stakeholders” (Holmstron & Kaplan 2003, p.11). Bearing in mind that corporate governance and management has a direct influence as to the running of an enterprise and therefore its ethical practices, the shift in their allegiance to primarily protecting the interests of shareholders led to unethical practices. While the aim of all businesses is to make a profit, it is reasonably assumed that this profit is within limits of the investments that the business owners make. It is therefore perceived to be unethical for a business to hope to achieve profits that far transcend the investments made. When a business endeavors to reap
Concentrator Photovoltaic (CPV): Structure and Functions The Concentrator Photovoltaic, or CPV, is often viewed as the most efficient tool for retrieving solar energy to power various systems. The primary purpose of a CPV is to keep the solar radiation focused on the solar cells, therefore, accumulating the solar radiation. Creating the environment, in which the transformation of solar power into heat energy becomes a possibility, the device in question should be viewed as one of the means of introducing a policy of sustainable use of resources into the contemporary industry realm. Structure The primary structure of a CPV system is rather simple. The funnel lenses serve as the primary tool for capturing the solar energy and focusing it in the cells. The secondary optics allows magnifying the effect of the sun radiation, therefore, helping retrieve the necessary amount of energy. Finally, the cell assembly creates the environment, in which the process of receiving energy becomes a possibility. The cell assembly consists of a secondary concentrator and an electrical contact between the cell itself and its prismatic cover, the solder with a copper heat spreader, and a conductive adhesive supported by a module housing. The housing, in its turn, performs the function of a container for the cells and the optics. Limitations It should be noted, though, that the use of CPV is only possible in specific areas that can provide an environment favorable for the further accumulation of solar energy. Understandably enough, the tool in question is only applicable in the areas that provide exposure to large doses of solar radiation; particularly, it is required that the Direct Normal Irradiance (DNI) doses should reach 2,000 kWh/m 2 a at the very least [1]. Otherwise, the adoption of the CPV system is unlikely to be successful. Taxonomy Phillips et al. [1] specify two types of CPV, which are currently used as the primary means of collecting solar energy, based on their capacity. The High Concentration PV and the Low Concentration one differ primarily in the concentration ratio 300 to 1,000 and less than 100 correspondingly), the tracking type (solely two-axis one or the one inviting an opportunity for using either one- or two-axis approach), and the type of converter (III-V multi-junction solar cells or c-Si/other cells correspondingly). It should also be borne in mind that the above options allow for a significant reduction in the costs for the cells since the technology used to create the items in question has become quite popular and, therefore, reproducible. Strengths The application of CPV has a plethora of advantages as a tool for accumulating energy for its further use. First and most obvious, the high-efficiency rates that the specified tool displays, when applied in the environment of direct-normal radiance, need to be brought up [1]. Another essential outcome that sets the concept of CPV aside from the rest of the to
The Pulitzer Prize The Pulitzer Prize is an annual award for great achievements in various spheres, which encompass literature, online journalism, newspaper, magazine, and music. The award is administered by Columbia University, which chooses a winner for each of the 21 categories. The categories vary significantly and include Public Service, Breaking News Reporting, Investigative reporting, Explanatory Reporting, Local Reporting, National Reporting, International Reporting, Feature Writing, Commentary, Criticism, Editorial Writing, Editorial Cartooning, Breaking News Photography, Feature Photography, Fiction, Drama, History, Biography or Autobiography, Poetry, General Non-Fiction and Pulitzer Prize for Music. Winners of 20 categories receive a certificate and $15,000. The winner in Public Service receives a gold medal. Not all works in the media are automatically considered by the Pulitzer Prize. The work should be entered in a specific way, and the author is expected to pay a $75 fee before sending the work. Moreover, it is important to distinguish between entrants and nominees, as some writers and journalists tend to claim that they are nominees immediately after their works are submitted. The Golden Globe Awards The Golden Globe Awards honor outstanding achievements in filmmaking (American and International) and American television. All films which are considered by the jurors are to be at least 70 minutes and released for at least 7 days in Los Angeles (except for the Best Foreign Language Film category). A TV show must be produced in the US (or co-produced) and air in the US between the evening primetime hours. Jurors vote for their top five nominee choices in each category, numbering them 5 to 1. The winners then are selected by plurality voting. Currently there are numerous categories: Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy, Best Motion Picture – Foreign Language, Best Motion Picture – Animated, Best Actor in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy, Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy, Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture, Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture, Best Screenplay – Motion Picture, Best Original Score – Motion Picture, Best Original Song – Motion Picture, Cecil B. DeMille Award for Lifetime Achievement in Motion Pictures, Be
Introduction The global financial crisis (GFC) affected many countries, although some showed great potential in withstanding the resulting economic turbulence. For example, Australian banks came through the GFC with relatively low losses compared to other Western countries. Factors that helped Australia to cope with the economic challenges included diversification, capitalization, intermediation, healthy profitability, and adequate policy responses. These will be discussed in this paper. Factors and Policies To understand how Australian banks managed the GFC, it is essential to pay attention to the very structure of its banking. One of the most significant factors is that “banks are subject to a prudential capital ratio (PCR) of eight percent of total risk-weighted assets” (Hawtrey 105). This shows the capitalized nature of Australian banks, while their Western counterparts are often characterized as low-capitalized ones. The second beneficial factor is associated with a stable funding basis and diversification, which are ensured by two crucial sources: wholesale funding and customer deposits (“Chapter 1: Resilience”). In cases where investment in many financial institutions was uncertain because of the crisis, diversification allowed Australian banks to preserve at least part of its funding sources. A culture of intermediation adopted by Australian banks benefitted in reliable lending practices as the impaired loan ratio composed only 0.2 percent during the GFC compared to 1.1 percent in the US or 5.4 percent in Italy (Hawtrey 104). Even though securitization was present in the Australian banking system, intermediation served as a dominant model, especially in mortgage lending. The primary lending focus was associated with small risks, taking approximately one percent of non-conforming housing loans, while the US system accounted for 12 percent. The fact that Australia kept its provisioning loan higher than 100 percent is another issue related to intermediation and this acted as an additional protective measure. The focu
Abstract Attempting to understand sea-level history provides a vigorous intellectual workout. After negotiating a long path through data and the concept of mixed quality. One finds global ice volume has fluctuated by tens of meter sea level equivalent at a rate that is difficult to resolve. The recent mass mortality of Caribbean reef corals dramatically altered reef community structure and begs the question of the past stability and persistence of coral assemblages before human disturbance began. We report within habitat stability in coral community composition in the Pleistocene fossil record of Barbados for at least 95 000 years despite marked variability in global sea level and climate. Results were consistent for surveys of both common and rare taxa. Comparison of Pleistocene and modern community structure shows that Recent human impacts have changed coral community structure in ways not observed in the preceding 220 000 years. The case is made by presenting the first quantitative history of water depth above the Red Sea sill for the last 470,000 years, a time period that includes the four most recent glacial-interglacial cycles, and by discussing the predictable consequences of any land bridge formation on the Red Sea sedimentary and microfossil records. The absence of post-Miocene Red Sea land bridges has extensive implications for biogeographic models in the Afro-Arabian region. Introduction In the history of life, environmental change has had a very uneven effect on the earth biota. Some of the changes have occurred on the very grandest of scales, such as the Merging and ensuing breaking up of huge supercontinents, or the decimation of the dinosaurs by extra-terrestrial impacts. reefs are not invulnerable to such process, the history of their diversity throughout the past 600 million years of the Phanerozoic has been enormously affected by environmental changes in ocean chemistry, sea level and climate. The main integral part of the development of reefs, both coral and non-coral are climate changes. The recent past history of living species resident on today’s reefs have been affected by multiple cycles of global environmental change throughout the past 2 million years (Ma) of the Quaternary. Here, I provide two examples from the Pleistocene fossil record of coral reefs that illustrate the way in which an understanding of the history of reefs might provide relevant information to the ecology of living reefs in the face of environmental change. I follow the distinctions made by Buddemeier and Smith (1999) and use “clim
Organizational justice is a fairly new field of research. Its roots are deeply in literature and philosophy, but of late, a legal issue. The concept deals with how employees perceive fair treatment when interacting with the managers, supervisors and co-workers. The perception of justice by employees directly affects their productivity, health, and relationships with coworkers or even the employer. Workers may indulge in counterproductive behavior such as theft or sabotage if they experience unfair treatment. Organizational justice, therefore, requires attention in alleviating work based problems as well as maintaining optimal productivity. Principal focus is the strength of relationships between employees and managers. Managers have the mandate of ensuring all workers receive fair treatment in relation to job allocation and compensation for completed tasks. Organizational justice has three components namely distributive justice, interactional justice, and procedural justice. Distributive justice is the arm of organizational justice which deals with fairness in resource allocation. The allocation takes into consideration the resource available, an appropriate procedure for distributing and the pattern. The arm recognizes three principles namely equity, equality and need. In an organization, employees have the tendency to compare their input and output towards completed tasks with those of their fellow workers. A person whose ratio is higher than the rest raises concern as being inequitably overpaid, and the converse is true for the person whose ratio is low. Enforcement of distributive justice calls for a strict balance. When equality becomes the central element, all workers get an equal share of resources. This results in a truncated level of satisfaction since not all employees have the same level of experience. Their needs are also different. Another option is a distribution based on an individual’s contribution. Hardworking employees get extra benefits. This can only work in an organization where all workers get an equal chance to compete. Distribution on the basis of need is also a viable option for allocation of resources. If all workers need get assessed and benefits shared depending on level of need, the level of satisfaction is high. This can work in an organization where the workforce has homogenous experience and competence. Procedural justice deals with how individuals perceive their leaders as being fair in decision making and rationality in making those decisions. Employees in an organization desire laid down procedures and processes of decision making in which they have participated. They feel secure when involved in making decisions that affect their operation. The management should allow workers to air their opinion prior to making vital decisions even when the outcome is not favorable. Employees would still perceive the procedure as fair due to consideration of their opinion. In a large workforce, the organization enforces procedural justice by allow
Outline In the field of computing, the past 20 years or so have been marked by an increase in the capability of the devices and a massive increase in the use of computers connected via networks to carry out business and related tasks. The processing power of desktop computers has increased almost 100 times. The processing power of an average desktop computer today is in the range that was only dreamed about in the ’80s. Alongside this development, people began to use computers to do much more than word processing, preparation of spreadsheets, and simple database tasks that characterized the MS-DOS era. Computer networks link banks, schools, hospitals, government agencies, and people, making work much easier to accomplish. As populations become more reliant on these devices and networks, crime has also begun to emerge due to vulnerabilities. In this paper the discussions presented will introduce a concept in modern computer networks namely Wi-Fi. The discussions will briefly highlight how this concept is implemented and focus on the threat caused by increased insecurity caused by high-powered Graphics processing Units. The Introduction of Wireless Technology Networks and networking are commonly used terms in the field of computing. This term often refers to a connection of various computers and devices through the use of communication channels. Networks are important because they increased efficiency by allowing users to share resources. For example, in an office, it is common to see a single printer used to serve many computers or workstations. This is made possible via a network that relies on wired or wireless technology to provide the services of printing to the various computers at the same time. In the absence of this network, each computer would have to be attached to a separate printer thus increasing operating costs. The advent of the internet saw a vast increase in the use of the internet. The internet is a global network of computer networks that brings together governments, learning institutions, commercial and other agencies together, thus allowing a large pool of easily accessible resources to millions of people all over the world. As more and more people began to use the internet to meet various daily needs the computer industry was under a lot of pressure to improve the quality of networks. The gradual process of improvement led to the type of networks that this paper will focus on, namely, wireless networks or Wi-Fi. As earlier stated, a computer network provides a communication backbone through which various computers and peripheral devices can be shared. As the name suggests a wireless network provides users with the advantage that connections from one point to the next, do not require cables. The wireless network is thus much easier to set up and the lack of wires reduces maintenance costs. These networks make use of remote information transmission through electromagnetic waves such as radio waves. In recent years the telecommunication industry has also grown and a new and popular type of wireless network exists in the
The concept of American exceptionalism has been discussed for decades, and researchers have not agreed on whether it is good or bad. Some claim it is an important and beneficial trait of character adherent to all Americans. Others stress that it has both positive and negative sides. It is possible to consider ideas of researchers on the matter to identify major features of the concept and try to answer the question concerning positive and negative (if any) sides of American exceptionalism. In the first place, it is necessary to define the concept to understand whether American exceptionalism is good or bad (or both). Since the phrase is believed to be coined by De Tocqueville, it is also necessary to consider his view on American exceptionalism. Thus, the author notes that Americans’ position “is entirely exceptional” due to their focus on particular material things (De Tocqueville 517). Nonetheless, the term (as well as the nation) evolved and acquired new meanings. For instance, modern researchers define the concept as “Americans’ deprecation of power politics and old-fashioned diplomacy… and belief that liberal values transfer readily to foreign affairs” (Sellevold 47). Hence, the term is seen as Americans’ view of themselves and their belief that the American way of life as well as an ideology is exceptional and should be copied by other nations. As has been mentioned above, there are different viewpoints on the matter, and it is possible to consider two opposing opinions to take a glance at the debate. Koh claims that American exceptionalism has two sides, positive and negative (111). On the one hand, this concept fosters patriotism in Americans and leads to numerous positive changes in the world as the USA tends to be the driver of the change. On the other hand, American exceptionalism leads to chauvinism and makes Americans think that their nation is better than the rest, and this is seen as a reason to interfere in other nations’ affairs. The researcher also notes that American exceptionalism is closely connected with the concept of double standards, or the trend to justify certain actions undertaken by Americans and condemn the same actions undertaken by others if it is against Americans’ interests (Koh 112). At the same time, Bromund claims that Koh’s view on the American exceptionalism is highly negative (n.p.). Bromund also argues that the American exceptionalism bears only positive traits, and all arguments against it are groundless as Americans’ ideology is truly exceptional and enables the country to remain the leading state. Notably, the author stresses that the American nation was the first one to do many remarkable things, including but not confined to the creation of a democratic society (Bromund n.p.). These two views are very different and to understand which one is correct. It is important to look into features of the concept as well as its origins. De Tocqueville sees the origins of this type of mindset in Puritanism and ideas of settlers (517). Notably, the vast majority of researchers agree with the author as it is a fact that first settlers came to the new world to build a new and just state. Tho