ShantanuT01/DACTYL-Pretraining huggingface dataset:
The Kuwait Stock Exchange (KSE) is the national stock market in Kuwait. Some companies, such as the National Bank of Kuwait, have existed long before the creation of the stock exchange. Despite this fact, the law on the organisation of the stock market in the country was adopted only in 1962. Moreover, KSE proper was officially established in 1977 (Almujamed, Tahat, Omran, & Dunne, 2017). The Kuwait stock exchange is the first largest and most important stock market among the Gulf countries, as well as one of the most significant in the world. However, Kuwait has experienced many disasters over the past five decades. The Kuwaiti stock market suffered crises at least three times – in 1977, 1982, and 1997. To understand the causes of financial crises in Kuwait, it is necessary to distinguish between external constraints and various internal factors, such as monetary, fiscal and institutional. The 1977 Crisis In 1970, Kuwaiti government passed a law to organise the trading process among shareholding companies. After that, the market started to rise rapidly and by the beginning of 1974, it had developed significantly, partly due to forward trading (Hassan, Al-Sultan, & Al-Saleem, 2003). Preliminary forward trading promoted by brokers and investors, who regarded it as an effective and beneficial financial tool, was one of the key factors of the Kuwait stock market growth (Al-Yahya, 2013). Moreover, this situation led to a further pick-up in 1975 and 1976 and increased real estate prices. That is why the Kuwait stock market became one of the world’s largest markets. Such an actively developing economy could not but result in fueling a financial bubble, which was expected to burst (Algharaballi & Goyen, 2012). Consequently, the turnover of the Kuwaiti stock market declined sharply in 1977. Therefore, the government had to intervene to rectify the situation. The government interfered through acquiring a stake in listed companies and imposing some regulations on market participants. As a result, these measures were successful and contributed to significant improvements in the market. An official stock market was established and standards on trading and forward deals were adopted in April, 1977 (Oxford Business Group, 2015). Furthermore, operations on the stock market started to be monitored to prevent inadequate transactions previously made by unregulated real estate brokers. The 1982 Crisis: Al-Manakh Crash The Al-Manakh market was considered, after the stock exchange, the second Kuwaiti market. That is why the Al-Manakh Crisis in 1982, regarded as the most catastrophic event for Kuwait’s economy, had a negative impact
Introduction Every organization, in spite of its enormity, has fully developed and implemented management concepts that enable smooth running of activities aimed at realising the projected vision, goals and objectives. The functions of management break down into four areas that take care of strategic, tactical and operational pronouncements of an organization. Thus, management in an organization is a creative tool of solving problems through planning, organizing, leading and controlling. In essence, the functions of management solve a particular problem facing an organization. Consequently, the results will provide an avenue of accomplishing the goals, objectives and mission of the organization. The functions of management in an organization is to provide a framework of focussing both short and long term views hence, foster it towards success. Additionally, management as a decision-making process entails a premeditated vision, fixed goals, a crafted plan, all which if executed and implemented properly, will see an organization achieve its mission. From in-house operations to industry, the functions of management serve to address issues affecting a certain organization for example, effective utilization of resources, appraisal of core competencies, evaluation of the present and prospect participants, and strategic control among others (Himanshu, 2009, p.1). Nevertheless, the four function of management cannot bring success into an organization minus sound leadership from the mangers. In most cases, the manager’s style of leadership affects the operation of an organization, positively or negatively. Thus, good managers should exhibit certain traits and skills, which will enable an organization, achieve its mission, goals and objectives. For example, an organization with highly skilled workers makes managers to be allowing, while an organization with less skilled workforce mandates the manager to take a closer look on production. Thus, god managers are the ones who flex their style, train and inspire employees to work towards the realization of vision, goals and objectives. The paper will examine the four functions of management namely: planning, organizing, directing and controlling within an organization (Haridimos, 2004, pp. 289-301). Planning This is the first contrivance of the four function of an organization’s management process. Primarily, the success of an organization depends on the planning procedure. The planning procedure is the one that determines whether a manager is successful or not. Planning provides logical understanding on how to make decisions, which will drive an organization towards the path of attaining its objectives. Good managers
Introduction Postcolonial literature comprises the writings expressing the reaction to the phenomenon of colonization in the world history. Raising the issues of de-colonization and the consequences of the political and cultural dependence of the colonized territories, the postcolonial writers criticize the racist inclinations of colonizers and the colonial rule in general. The issue of national identity is one of the central problems discussed in postcolonial literature. Shedding light upon the outcomes of colonization, the postcolonial authors criticized the beliefs in racial superiority and emphasized the importance of resurrection of national identity on the territories which have been colonized previously. These authors try to explore the concept of national identity by covering the effects of post colonial processes in their books. The novel An Imaginary Life by David Malouf is a work of postcolonial literature which shows postcolonial transformation of a child who has been brought up by wild animals and is involved into the civilized world. Thesis The paper critically analyzes the novel An Imaginary Life by David Malouf. The author used the principles of postcolonial literature in his novel. Illuminating the effects of social colonization on the indigenous population, Malouf shows it from a new perspective, demonstrating the touching liaison of Ovid and the child of the wilderness. About David Malouf David Malouf is Arab (Lebanese) by descent author, who was born on Australian soil and received international recognition as one of postcolonial writers. Malouf’s ethnical origin and international background had impact on the choice of themes and perspectives for his literary works. The motifs of physical displacement concern the main characters who do not feel that they belong to the place in which they find themselves at the moment. These shades of meaning are implied in the novel An Imaginary Life and can be explained with the cultural background of the author. As opposed to other Arab-Australian writers, David Malouf as an Arab author writing in English used the themes of marginalization in the community and the cultural diversity of society in his works without overemphasizing them. Malouf has spent the greater part of his life in Australia but for several years spent in Europe. Al Maleh (2009) noted that “his [Malouf’s] writing is poetic, musical, and firmly grounded in the Australian landscape” (p. 46). For this reason, the immigrant motifs are not directly developed in his works but only implied as a hidden theme of his writing. The characters created by Arab-Australian author as a rule do not fit their surrounding and do not feel their belonging to the location in which they are placed. Malouf’s ethnical origin had impact on his writing style but did not become a decisive factor predetermining his talent of a recognized writer (Randall, 2007, p. 78). The motif of the main character’s spiritual displacement is used by Malouf in his novel An Imagi
Introduction Successful business entrepreneurs integrate Michael Porter’s five forces as a yardstick in identifying and evaluating profitable business investments. Porter (200) asserts that for a risk taking entrepreneur to profitably invest in a new business, in this case a stable for rent business, one must identify the buyer’s behavior, in this case tenants, suppliers powers, rivalry among competitors who may be business entrepreneurs or organizations with similar investments, threats of business entrepreneurs or organizations intending to invest in the same industry, and threat of substitute products who may include industry players who may threateningly provide alternative housing services which tenants may opt for. To invest in the industry, the entrepreneur conducted an analysis of the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT) prevalent within the industry players to determine the best market entry strategy. Industry competitors included Mars Group Enterprises (MGE), Housing Finance Company (HFC), and Best Enterprises ltd (BE). Attractive growth opportunities in the stable for rent industry were analyzed and strategies to align the new business enterprise were tailored to raise profitability, competitive power of the business in the form of product differentiation, quality, pricing, and product uniqueness. Customers’ buying behavior According to Porter (210), customer buying behavior formed the basis for identifying and analyzing customer needs which influenced decision-making in tailoring rental houses appropriate for the customers. Marketing concepts integrated in the market research compared various aspects of the buyer’s behaviors incorporating income levels of the target market, demographic factors, family sizes, and an emphasis on customer needs. In addition, the elements researched in the market included product pricing which influenced the pricing mechanisms with special emphasis on cost vis-à-vis floor space, legal and environmental issues which covered the customer and the entrepreneur, and social and cultural issues regarding the target market. Of interest were the levels of commitment and motivational factors which were the driving forces in purchasing the new product. This greatly influenced the buyer’s behavior. Some of the factors included aesthetic values associated with the rental premises, psychological factors including the esteem and safety with regard to occupying the building, consumer lifestyle which focused on one’s freedom and privacy in addition to personal feelings and factors which influence the buying behaviors of the target market. In addition, the industry was characterized by extensive buying behavior, an important concept in evaluating an investment plan. The sensitiveness of buyers to price adjustments, concentration in terms of need and population, and the degree of dependence on existing products provided by other industry players were analyzed. This analysis was based on the readiness with which housing units could be made available between the time a customer places a request and the time they could be made available, the number of requests for the units, a
At the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, nations adopted preventive measures such as country lockdown, initiating social distance protocols, COVID-19 vaccinations, and implementing policies to introduce mask-wearing as a habit. However, various individuals and populations oppose the necessity to participate in the COVID-19 prevention measures, demonstrating distrust and resilience towards vaccination. The article “Building trust in COVID-19 vaccines and beyond through authentic community investment” by Ojikutu et al. effectively explains the dynamic factors influencing the COVID-19 vaccine uptake among minorities. Furthermore, the lack of societal engagement in the vaccination is a phenomenal challenge due to insufficient transparency and public trust (Ojikutu et al. 366). I agree that the lack of ineffective strategies to involve the community in the awareness campaign planning poses a complication for the COVID-19 immunization activities across the population. Although the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic became a tremendous challenge for numerous communities, Ojikutu et al. note that participation in these activities remains a crucial concern. As such, the rates of Coronavirus infections are especially high among ethnic minorities, and the authors are concerned that engagement levels in this population remain extremely low (Ojikutu et al. 366). Indeed, as the COVID-19 pandemic can be efficiently managed only when all populations are involved in the prevention measures, Ojikutu et al. rightfully suggest that more productive interventions should be established to enhance community participation. A significant point raised by the scholars concerns the poor awareness campaigns and their impact on the ethnic minorities’ engagement in COVID-19 vaccination. The authors argue that the current strategies are primarily focused on short-term outcomes and community outreach, which does not allow for the establishment of a long-term relationship between the government bodies and the ethnic communities (Ojikutu et al. 367). Skepticism and decreased participation rates can indeed be fostered by improperly implemented campaigns that do not target particular social groups. As community-centered campaigns are highly vital for creating a stable relationship between minority groups and state institutions, the authors address a vital concern regarding community trust and vaccination participation. Another complication addressed by the authors is related to the role of racism in community health disparities. Ojikutu et al. claim that a proper awareness campaign is necessary for improving the efficiency of the COVID-19 vaccination, and promoting participation among ethnic minorities (366). The long-lasting i
Big Data Makes Cities Smarter Facts In 2013, the Center for Urban Science and Progress was opened in New York. Its main objectives are to improve the quality of life of the residents and the efficiency of the public and municipal services. The Center collects data as to the existing problems and enables the required improvements. The data is collected by means of the placement of sensors and cameras, the use of mobile apps that allow the citizens to report the issues, and, possibly, the engagement of the social networks. The city of Barcelona also employs smart city initiatives. Among the issues tracked by the initiatives is the consumption of resources, city planning and zoning, urban decay, and noise pollution. The projects produce positive results but are likely to result in privacy violation claims from the residents. Key Issues The key issues of the case are the optimization of various aspects of the “smart city” initiatives such as the problem of data access and use, in a combination of possible privacy violation concerns because some footages recorded by the multiple cameras around the city may contain private information the residents would not want to share. Besides, one more set of issues is the processing of data and the provision of a speedy response to the collected information. Finally, the data collection is another problem as the “smart city” initiatives’ leaders offer using social networks as the sources of public opinions, and these sources are not always reliable as the basis for policymaking. Alternative Courses of Action To address the privacy concerns of the “smart city” initiatives one may use various courses of action. The first alternative course of action is to provide the data access to all of the users and ensure equality of sharing (for instance, to enable all the drivers to see what the drivers around them are doing, and with what speed they are going). The second alternative is to hide the data from public use and only enable the authorized services to access it (the police, for example). The third alternative is to reveal a part of the data helpful for the users (for example, show the speed of the other cars but not the “driver states” such as texting or holding a cup or looking away). Evaluation of Course of Action Showing the drivers the information about the other cars would reduce the likeliness of road accidents. However, it may serve an additional concern for the drivers in terms of distraction. For instance, while checking whether all the drivers have eyes on the road and follow the speed limits, an individual looks away and endangers themself and the others. Besides, seeing what the other drivers are doing may become a reason for aggression and violent behaviors on the road and increase the rates of accidents instead of minimizing it. Providing access to the data only to the authorized services will
Introduction Environmental economics is a branch of economics that deals with the study of issues that pertain to the environment. It thus covers issues such as the effects of environmental policies on issues like features that involve air, water, harmful substances, and wastes among other environmental features. The study of environmental economics covers in general terms inefficiencies in resource allocation. In this paper I seek to discuss the Chinese demand for commodities and the effects of the demands on the world economy as well as the effects of these demands on the sustainability of the commodities. I will examine the trend of Chinese demand on commodities such as copper, glass, cement and oil. I will also shade some light on the trend in the global economy due to this demand and the impacts of these demands on the sustainability of these commodities. I have three major sections in this paper: Chinese demand for commodities, the impact of the China’s increasing demand and the effects brought about by this ever increasing demand. The commodities that I specifically addressed in this paper are oil, cement, copper and glass. Chinese demand for commodities I will start by addressing the demand for oil and then cement, copper and glass in that order. The dominance of china in demand for commodities in the global market is significantly reflected in the oil market. The Chinese demand for oil is again realized to be different to that of other countries. While the demand for petroleum products in other countries can be explained and their future trends determined, that of china has left experts perplexed. The issue is that the rate at which the Chinese demand for oil is increasing is high and its trend is not forecasted to stop in the near future. Analysts have equivalently pointed out that unreliability of data as revealed by the Chinese government agencies also poses threats to understanding the country’s trends in a perfect manner. The drivers to the Chinese increasing demand for oil are basically internal features that range from the country’s economic expansion to its population structure. The changing population trend of the country has for example been characterized by a shift of the country’s population from rural based to an urbanized population. This has equally been accompanied by a change in the type of energy used by the people of china which has heavily shifted to dependence on oil for energy. The change in the population structure to an urban dominated form has also been resulting in changes in lifestyles with an observed increase in the number of motor vehicles being purchased and used by the urban dominated population. The increased ownership and usage of motor vehicles has therefore also caused increased demand for oil by china. Other factors such as increasing income of the Chinese population as well as the country’s expanding economy have also been factors behind the increased demand for oil by the people’s republic of china (Congressional 12). The trend in consumption of oil by china has equally been on an increasing scale. The country, for example, had its demand for the commodity increase to the level tha
The real meaning of politics may seem difficult to unravel because of the difference in systems of government, applications and functions or attributes of the politicians in different countries. A Canadian definition of politics would significantly vary from that of an American since the Canadian sees politics as natural and a growth in human behavior. On the other hand, the American will view it as the most important discipline that determines the success or failure of a state. It therefore suffices to claim that people do not see politics from the same perspective. They have different political ideologies, which they embrace ranging from conservatism, liberalism and even fascism. Therefore, in my own definition, politics is an art and science of ensuring freedom, liberty, adherence to constitution, fairness and justice, equality and adherence of human rights. Political opinions like any other opinion from someone can strengthen or weaken democracy of a nation based on the nature of the opinion. However, when clearly researched with the chosen sample acting as a representative of the entire population and views of people, opinion polls will strengthen democracy. Furthermore, free and fair opinion polls result to the achievement democracy as opposed to discriminative polls, which lean on one side thereby interfering with the expected democracy. Such cases will automatically weaken democracy leading to dictatorship. Therefore, It becomes vital to have an idea of what others thinks and feel about certain political ideas or an issue before making up our mind in order to understand the issue in context in depth to avoid making unsubstantial remarks about the same. Failure to do so will cause mayhem in the political field influencing us negatively even leading to our fall and lose of authority and trust. Individuals’ ideas and ideologies form the basis of politics. These ideologies differ from one politician to another and may be positive or negative to the society. Ideologies and idea in politics are important because they provide the leadership style of a politician. They assist a politician in formulating his/her policies thereby ensuring the adaptation of the best leadership. Furthermore, these ideas ad ideologies help a person to identify the kind