ShantanuT01/DACTYL-Pretraining huggingface dataset:
Introduction The Syrian Civil War is the ongoing multisided conflict that started in 2011 as a result of severe repression of peaceful pro-democracy anti-government protests of Syrian citizens by the security forces of the Bashar al-Assad government. Recent death tolls estimate more than 190,000 victims, and the number of refugees hits the four million mark. The international community should take measures to protect the Syrian population and to stop the violation of human rights of Syrian citizens by applying the Responsibility to Protect norm that is based on three principles: all states of the international community should bear the “responsibility to protect”, “responsibility to react”, and “responsibility to rebuild”. Responsibility to Protect The Responsibility to Protect is a norm of international law that attempts to develop the methods to prevent mass atrocity crimes that are committed within the boundaries of states. This norm was initiated after the humanitarian tragedies that occurred in Bosnia, Rwanda, and Kosovo in the 1990s. When international society only began to speak of a right of humanitarian intervention, this norm was a matter of many disputes. The Charter of the United Nations, a treaty that was signed by 50 countries in 1945, prohibits the use of military force and guarantees a state’s right to be free from military intervention. However, one of the declared principles of the United Nations calls for the protection of human rights, and, sometimes, countries need to use military force to prevent mass human rights abuse. In 2001, the International Commission on Intervention and State Sovereignty proclaimed three principles of the Responsibility to Protect norm. First, the “responsibility to protect”: all states are responsible for protecting their population. Second, the “responsibility to react”: if a state cannot protect its population, the responsibility for protection shifts to the international community. Third, the “responsibility to rebuild”: the international community should help the states to recover in the aftermath of a conflict (Williams et al. 482). The Responsibility to Protect norm is aimed to peacefully prevent the violation of human rights. This norm recognizes the importance of states’ sovereignty; however, it also suggests the framework that allows for the use of military force to protect states’ populations in case if the peaceful options have been exhausted. The first example that this norm can be successfully applied and used to justify the military intervention was in the case of the Libyan Civil War in 2011 (Holmes 143). In February of 2011, the Security Council passed Resolution 1970 demanding to stop the crimes that the government of Libya committed against its citizens. This resolution was an unsuccessful attempt to resolve the crisis peacefully. When it became clear that the Libyan government had no intention to stop its attacks, the Security Council sanctioned the use of military force to protect Libyan civilians. As a result, NATO military intervention disabled forces of the Libyan government, and the attacks against the Libyan population were stopped (
Introduction Competition can be a good thing, especially in the world of commerce. From the point of view of consumers and governments competition is a great thing. It allows for the creation of businesses that will provide products and services of high quality and yet available at affordable prices. If there is no competition, the business entities that will monopolise a particular industry have no incentive to innovate and improve. But for businessmen, competition is not always a good thing. It cuts into their profit margins and can easily drive a company to bankruptcy. Since a monopoly is impossible some businessmen tried to find a way around this legal problem and they discovered that the best way to do it is through the creation of cartels. But it did not take long before consumers and economists saw the danger of perpetuating this anti-competitive practice. Still, various firms from highly industrialized countr
Introduction With the beginning of the age of the Internet, the amount of generated information has increased manifold. The quality of that information remains highly doubtful 1 . Many websites claim to spread the absolute truth but when checked against reliable sources cannot withstand criticism. Wikipedia has become one of the most popular sources of knowledge in the modern world 2 . It contains millions of articles in several dozens of languages about virtually any topic possible. However, it faces the same problem of information credibility. Despite the fact that some articles are being created and approved by professionals in the corresponding sphere, the volume of such articles leaves much to be desired. Therefore, it is paramount to research Wikipedia articles’ accuracy checking them against scientific sources. Hundred Years’ War The article about Hundred Years’ War on Wikipedia seems to be well-structured in terms of periodicity and backed by the opinions of many historians. The Wikipedia contributors develop their narrative using academic yet easily readable language avoiding long sentences and complex structures. The text contains no offensive or otherwise inappropriate content. The authors also worked on the article’s visibility adding illustrations made by the artists of the corresponding period. Moreover, it features maps and dynasty networks that contribute to better information digestion. The article seems to present a clear and smooth transition between the portions of information. Since the information is plentiful a logical connection among the passages often benefits the understanding of the content. The choice of literature also seems to be corresponding to a well-developed academic paper. The authors mostly cite reliable sources, such as the Oxford Dictionary of National Bibliography, when referring to historical figures such as Edward, Prince of Wales and of Aquitaine, Thomas, Duke of Clarence, and other people. Most of the books cited in the article are published by Oxford or Cambridge University Press, which speaks further to the credibility of the used sources. However, some sources do not conform to the standards of scientific historical research. For instance, stating that the War of the Roses was anticipated by the dire consequences of England’s defeat in the Hundred Years’ War, the Wikipedia contributors cite Luminarium Encyclopedia. It is an online project with an unknown editor. Despite the statement being considered to be true, the citation could have been borrowed from a more sound source. As fo
Introduction New York Yankees is a name that is used to refer to the baseball professional players in the New York City. The club was founded in 1901 in Baltimore and later relocated to New York City in 1903. “They were previously referred to as the New York high Landers and later they were nicknamed the Yankees,” (Greenberger, p20). They have occupied the Yankee Stadium in New York since 1923 to last year. They have now moved to a new stadium which has also been named the Yankee Stadium. The group is a member of the Major League Baseball in America. They have actually been involved in many champions’ leagues in the history of American sports in regard to baseball. “From the period of the 1920’s, the Yankees started to make a remarkable record on their success in the baseball games,” ( Twins, p35). This followed the move to purchase high quality players from other teams which included the Red Sox and the Chicago white sox. Red sox were the major team that was involved in trading its players through its owner Harry Frazee to clear some debts. One of the players who were greatly talented and gifted in the game was Babe Ruth. “His trade to the Yankees really affected the performance of the Red Sox since they did not win any games for the following eighty six years,” (Jim, p17). This one trade of the Red Sox became like a curse to the team as it tremendously turned out to be a supernatural reinforcement for the Yankees who were now very famous of their success. In 1921, The Yankees faced another great team, “the Giants” and their defeat saw their removal from the World Series. They however returned in 1922 but suffered yet another defeat from the Giants. The rise of the Yankees “The period of the 1920’s to 1930’s were great years for the Yankees with the honor owed to the two champions of the team Babe Ruth and Gehrig,”(Joe, p27). During this period the team hired a new manager by the name Miller Huggins and a general manager who was Ed Barrow. Barrow was also a former member of the Red Sox and he served the Yankees for a period of 25 years. His service was greatly credited for the success of the Yankees. The 1927 team of the Yankees was very successful making continuous wins remarkably in 1939, 1961 and 1998. This earned the Yankees another nickname as the murderers. Ruth’s total home runs amounted to 60 in 1927 which made history for the next thirty four years. “This period also saw Gehrig make his first big season by managing forty seven round trippers,” (Robinson, p9). In 1928, the Yankees faced the Philadelphia and the St Louis Cardinals in the World Series. In these series, Babe Ruth made 625 hits with three home runs. On the other hand Lou Gehrig made 545 hits and four round trippers. The Yankees then returned to the World Series after three years under a new manager Joe McCarthy where they won over the Chicago clubs with consecutive twelve wins. During this season Ruth became very famous of his called shot home run in the third series on th
Introduction The importance of leadership in shaping the direction an organization takes cannot be gainsaid. This is because the leadership of an organization is charged with the responsibility of influencing followers and rallying them together for purposes of performing an action, completing a task, or behaving in a specific manner (Bass & Steidlmeier 1999). The effectiveness of a leader is gauged from his ability to influence organizational processes, stimulate subordinates toward changing their values and attitudes, and augment their self-efficacy beliefs. An effective leader is also able to engage in activities that promote the internalization of his vision by applying strategies of empowerment. Authorities are of the opinion that a leadership that nurtures employees can easily raise the culture of the organization and values held by employees to very high echelons of ethical concern (Hatch, Kostera & Kozminski 2005). Ethical leadership can only be offered by ethical leaders. It takes an ethical leader to make sure that the entire organization is ethically carrying out its practices. Ethical leadership has been necessitated by a number of factors which make it the preferred kind of leadership. Further, ethical leadership could be used to counter the effects of bad leadership that has seen many organizations experience problems. The Need for Ethical Leadership Ethical leadership practices its leadership roles in a manner that is respectful of other people’s rights and dignity. Trevino, Hartman and Brown (2003) opine that “As leaders are by nature in a position of social power, ethical leadership focuses on how leaders use their social power in the decisions they make, actions they engage in and ways they influence others” (p.128). Employees regard leaders who had the highest moral horizons to be ethical. These leaders stand out from the crowd as fair, just, and had set very clear examples for the rest to follow. When such leaders set standards of ethical behavior and inspire their followers to reciprocate, the entire organization is able to speak the same ethical language, thereby bridging the gap between the ethical and unethical members of the organization. There are compelling reasons why organizations need ethical leaders at the helm. Ethical leadership involves leaders who act and lead ethically at all times (Mendonca & Kanungo 2006). It is incumbent upon the leader to act as a role model for the organization within which he works and the general community. Usually, a leader is a person of influence whom everybody wishes to emulate. If a leader acts ethically, the rest of the organization will act similarly and soon everybody will be behaving in the same way. This will lead to an ethical organization and community. People will learn to do good at all times without pres
Costs are incurred in the process of producing goods and services. The costs incurred can be classified into direct and indirect costs. This essay briefly discusses direct and indirect costs in regard to the process of production. Direct costs are the expenses which can be attributed directly to a specific project. For instance, the cost of a material used to manufacture a product is treated as a direct cost – it is directly related to the cost of the final product. Direct costs form a bulky of the expenditure in a project undertaken; approximately, sixty to seventy percent of all the expenses incurred in a project are direct costs. Examples of direct costs include the wages paid to the employees who specifically work on a particular project, and the cost of the materials used in a project among others. Direct costs can be classified into direct materials, labor and expenses. The sum of cost of the materials and labor is often referred to as a prime cost. In some cases, the direct costs may be equal to the cost of a good. Calculating the direct cost will depend on the product being manufactured and thus the methods used vary. It has been observed that in most cases, the direct costs are variable costs. Variable costs change with the volume of unit outlets; the more units produced the high the direct costs. This is because the production of more units will often require more input of the direct costs, for instance, the volume of materials has to be increased to produce more unit outlets. In the same way, more input of labor will also be required to ensure that the output volume is sustained. In getting the cost of a project or a product, the direct costs are fully added to the costs of production. Indirect costs are the costs incurred in carrying out a project but cannot be related directly to that particular project. The costs affect the whole organization and cannot be pinned down to one particular project or product. These costs are spread across the board. These costs are said to form about thirty to forty percent of the total costs of production. The most common indirect costs are: “engineering overhead, materials overhead, manufacturing overhead, general and administrative expense, and selling expense” (Burt, Petcavage & Pinkerton, 2010, p. 341). In most cases, the indirect costs are fixed and thus are independent of the volume of output. A good illustration is the salary of an administrator overseeing a project; regardless of how much the output volume will be increased chances are his/her or her salary will remain fixed. It has been pointed out as significant to distinguish between direct and indirect as indirect costs are tax-deductible items. A given percent of the indirect costs are added to the cost of a product when calculating the cost of a product. The percent of the direct cost to be included in the cost of production has to be proportionally calculated. In conclusion, it has been shown that direct and indirect costs are different. While in most cases, direct costs are variables
Proposition 37 is the initiative which is presented as the California Right to Know Genetically Engineered Food Act by the representatives of the Organic Consumers Association in California. Proposition 37 requires labeling genetically engineered foods. It is developed to become the regulatory law the main purpose of which is to control the process of labeling genetically engineered foods which are sold within different markets and to prohibit the sale of genetically engineered products as natural ones. Those raw foods, fruits and vegetables which are genetically engineered are required to be labeled as “Genetically Engineered” in order to provide consumers with the knowledge about the possible risk for their health (Cross). Proposition 37 is associated with Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act and Food Safety Law. The Proposition was enacted by the representatives and activists of the Organic Consumers Association, but it is still not adopted. Proposition 37 is expected to be supported in California in November, 2012 (Lifsher). The main objectives of Proposition 37 which is associated with US Food Safety Law reflect such social values as the public’s health, and it is worked out to prevent the possibilities to do harm to the public’s health with providing the genetically engineered foods which can be noxious for human organisms. Moreover, the fact of concealing the information about genetically engineered foods can be discussed as the violation of the people’s rights and their values and beliefs. The discussion of Proposition 37 by the public is based on the obvious gap between the “law on the books” and the “law in action” because Food Safety Law which is associated with the Proposition was worked out without references to such problem as the distribution of the genetically engineered foods, and the development of the regulatory law in relation to the problem is a challengeable process. Thus, the opponents of the Proposition accentuate such weak points of the act as numerous exemptions for different products the concentration on which can lead to the violation of the people’s rights “in action”. As a result, the non-labeled products can appear to be genetically engineered and harmful for people (Lifsher). The aspects of Proposition 37 can be discussed from the point of Emile Durkheim who accentuated the connection of legal questions, social and moral principles. Thus, law can regulate not only the life of the community but also its morality. From this poi
Implications of an Uncertain Future on Port Planning and Design Introduction Ports act as economic gateways of various countries. The reason behind this is because they play a key role in the development of both domestic and international trade. According to Bichou, the effective operation of ports is dependent on, among others, the mission statement of the planners (99). It is also noted that the operations of these facilities differ between regions. The differences result from the laws, approaches, and attitudes of specific nations. In the recent past, analysts have shown interest in conducting studies on port development. The scope of research has become a dominant theme in the field of maritime economics. Harlaftis, Tenold, and Valdaliso note that the studies aim at understanding the uncertainties and evolution of the port industry (102). Besides, scholars want to gain more knowledge of the changing role of ports in logistics and supply chains. In this section, the author will discuss a statement made by Taneja et al. regarding the uncertainties affecting port planning (222). Uncertainties Affecting Port Planning and Design In the journal ‘Implications of an Uncertain Future for Port Planning’, Taneja et al. make several observations regarding the future of the maritime industry (224). They note that the uncertainties under which docks operate make planning and designing of these socio-technical infrastructures difficult. Uncertainty refers to inadequate knowledge of past, current, or future events. According to Taneja et al., the port industry is characterized by an evolution of function, logistical, economic, and technological ambiguities (221). The statement by the scholars is true. The reason is that the factors mentioned are linked to globalization and liberalization. In the recent past, the business environment has experienced extensive changes. Analyzing the Uncertainties Mentioned by Taneja et al. (221-245) Evolution of the Functions of the Port Over the past few decades, the maritime industry has experienced extensive transformation. Since the introduction of commercial containers, shipping has become a faster and cheaper way of transporting merchandise from one continent to the other (Pineiro 89). Due to these changes, the functions carried out by ports have evolved. Initially, the role of these facilities was to handle, distribute, and stack merchandise. Today, ports have become multipurpose logistic chains. Transportation of goods in harbors flows f
The United States correctional system needs to focus more on rehabilitation rather than punishment because the latter method has proven to be ineffective. Punishment centers on payback while rehabilitation dwells on transforming criminals. Punishment increases recidivism while rehabilitation reduces it. Lastly, rehabilitation tackles cognitive and behavioral issues, yet punishment does not deal with those matters. Punishment within US prisons is based on the premise that individuals who have never committed crimes will be discouraged from doing so once severe penalties are put in place. Alternatively, this punishment role is also propagated by the need to deter already convicted lawbreakers from committing crimes again (Diiulio, 1990). Usually, the correctional system employs three major platforms to punish individuals and they include: incarceration, probation and the death penalty. Incarceration refers to the instatement of offenders in a correctional facility to serve time after conviction. Probation focuses on introducing the same limitations found in correctional facilities outside such settings. On the other hand, the death penalty is administered by taking away an offender’s life. There are several reasons why punishment is still seen as a central role in the country’s correctional systems. Proponents argue that the longer and the harsher prison time is made, the more effective that method will be in correcting criminal behavior. Furthermore, these same proponents believe that punitive measures such as the death penalty should continue to be administered against any hard criminals because this kind of treatment easily fits the magnitude of very heavy crimes. To them, this is a form of payback and hence justice for victims who have been wronged. In fact extreme supporters of this type of correction claim that prison reforms tend to lessen the level of retribution that criminals go through; consequently, they believe that conditions in prison should be made as difficult as possible. This is an outlook that has been in place for many decades and continues to exist today. Punishment is also seen as a method of keeping dangerous members of society away since they cannot commit any crimes against general society while locked in prison (Fuller, 2003). Therefore, the main force behind punitive roles in correctional facilities is the need to settle scores. The aim of rehabilitation in correctional systems is to ensure that individuals can become positive members of society upon exiting prison systems. Usually there are several platforms that are employed and they include counseling convicted offenders, offering them training in vocational skills or taking them through rehabilitation programs once it has been established that they committed drug related crimes. Sometimes education for illiterates may be used to rehabilitate. Religion may also be another avenue. Counseling works by analyzing and possibly reversing past psycholog