ShantanuT01/DACTYL-Pretraining huggingface dataset:
One of the world’s most incredible genii, Botticelli with his idea of the fine art as the source of unceasing inspiration and the beauty that the world is based on, was a truly magnificent person. Devoting his entire life to the art of painting, he contributed to the humankind as much as hardly anyone in the world history did. Because of the context underlying his stunning Primavera, one of the most well-known pictures of his, the grandeur of the artwork increases several times, filling it with the mystery and the magnificence of the ancient legends and myths. However, before coming closer to the discussion of the painting itself, it would be a good idea to shed some light on the life of the great artist and the way in which his ideas shaped under the influence of the epoch and his own astounding genius. It is essential to mention that the personality that had the greatest impact on Botticelli and his further personal development was the Florence symbol, Lorenzo the Magnificent (Malaguzzi 10). It must have been the Florence chic and the plethora of luxury that shaped the great artist’s idea of painting and fine art. Both refined and intellectual (Malaguzzi 10), the artist managed to comprise the traditional sound and reasonable thinking with the incredible power of his amazing imagination, as Malaguzzi explained: ”A city of sound financial and mercantile tradition, already in the first half of the fifteenth century it had undergone a singular cultural development with its ensuring flowering of the arts” (10). Inheriting the practical spirit of the city where the great artist was born, Botticelli still possessed the spirit of the Florence refinement and the passion for the refined art with its amazing and mysterious implications. Speaking of the message that is hidden under the layer of paint in the Primavera, one can claim that Botticelli managed to interpret the ancient Greek myth in the most original and impressive fashion. It is quite peculiar that the original intention of the artist is still a mystery even for the connoisseurs of fine arts in general and Botticelli in particular. Some consider though, that the painting was created to celebrate a certain event in the history of the state. According to the most popular assumption, this was the wedding of the Medici family that was in the focus of Botticelli’s attention as he created the incredible artwork: The constant reiteration of the theme of love has led some critics to hypothesize that the Primavera was painted to celebrate the wedding of Lorenzo Minor and Semiramide Appiani, which took place in May 1482 (64). Yet there is another suggestion that seems quite credible: …such a reading does not exclude another more subtle interpretation, in which the mythological figure of Venus and the other goddesses appear against the abstract scenario of neoplatonic philosophy, whose themes
Introduction Stock brokers are professionals who are trained to transact in a stock market. A stock market is basically a market where trading of stocks such as shares is done. The stock brokers are responsible for buying and selling stocks to the interested customers and on behalf of their clients within the stock market. The purchasing of these stocks normally depends on the market trends and thus the orders that are placed by the buyers and sellers within the market. The profession is generally very interesting and has a lot of pride in it and any one pursing such a career will need to have developed a lot of interest within the field (Edwin, p17). The job is quite demanding especially when one gets to the senior level since one will have to manage the stocks of their clients. The task of managing the investments of other individuals is very sensitive and needs a lot of care since you are transacting investments of behalf of other individuals. The stock brokers have the responsibility of deciding which investment stocks are profitable for their clients. Educational Qualification Being a stock broker requires various qualifications and experience within the field. Of all the qualifications the first qualification is developing adequate interest of working within the field. The most important of all is having the educational qualifications that are fit for the market. That is obtaining a first degree that is conversant within the field such as a degree that is business related. The degree that is normally considered fit for the field must be a business and mathematics related degree. Right away from high school, the candidate to the field must be a performer in mathematics. Other subjects that one must take great interest in are economics and statistics. Stock broking is usually used as an indicator of the performance of the economy. It is therefore very important for individuals with interest in the field to have a back ground of economics and the market players. Having a master’s degree in this field is of great advantage to individuals planning to be stock brokers (Andrew, p29). Another important subject that one must pursue is statistics which is also a mathematics related subject but in an advanced level. This means that one must have great interest in calculations since the field involves a lot of calculations. Practical experience Another important step for qualifying in the field is having good training. The stock broking firms will normally hire the graduates who are bright and have enough interest to be trained in the field. Securing a job in such firms is very important since it helps the individuals to acquire enough experience of practicing in the field. Training helps the individuals get first hand practical experience of practicing as stock brokers in the field. Such training jobs are also useful avenues of getting hired as a stock broker in such firms. After training such firms are most likely to hire the individuals they have trained themselves than hiring from other firms. The experience that is gained during training is very important as it introduces the individuals to the market and they learn how to prac
Introduction “Behaviorism, focal point on variables we can watch, gauge, manipulate; and avoid whatever is slanted, interior, and engaged i.e. mental (1998, C. George Boeree).” Behaviorism is an extremely old theory of character. One of the oldest hypothesis dates back to Rene Descartes. He brings in the idea of matter dualism, and called “the person a machine needy on outside events whose soul was the phantom in the machine (material dualism).” Meaning that what is cerebral, and things that are physical are totally disconnect. Modern behaviorism though modifies this theory in refusing to admit any internal workings of the intelligence. Behaviorist considers that, persons are nothing more than “mediators flanked by behavior and surroundings (Skinner, 1993).” Because the internal workings or the human intelligence are ignored, adversary to the theory makes a strapping case against it. Behaviorism is incapable to give details human language, and reminiscence. Even though these disapproval point to a failure in this hypothesis. It isn’t deprived of that behaviorism can teach the globe a lot regarding human behaviors. Theoretical Approach of Watson Behaviorism as it is known today was founded on the ideas of John B. Watson. Watson claimed that behavior should be examined, rather than describe how the mind was working. He compete that it was possible to state humans and animals. In his well-known study, Watson conditioned a young child named Albert to terror a white rat. He did so by creating a loud noise when Albert strokes the rat. Scared by the loud noise, the child linked the rat to this feeling, and feared the rat the similar way he dread the noise. Watson’s work was backed by the majority noted behaviorist B.F. Skinner. Skinner’s complete system is based on operant training. “The life form is in the process of operating on the environment (Skinner, 1993).” While operating, the creature encounters a special type of stimulus, called a strengthen stimulus, or just a reinforcer. This particular stimulus has the consequence of rising the behavior occurring just before the reinforcer. Operant training is: “the behavior is followed by a result, and the nature of the result modifies the organisms’ propensity to repeat the behavior in the future (Behaviorism, 1997).” Skinner ran experiments to prove this by placing a rat in a confine called a Skinner Box. His cage would have a bar or handle on one wall that, when pressed, causes a little instrument to release a foot pellet. The rat would then rebound approximately the cage, doing whatsoever it is rats do, when he by accident presses the bar, a food pellet falls out. No doubt, the operant is the behavior just prior to the reinforcer, which is the foodstuff pellet. In no time at all, the rat is irately peddling away at the bar. “A behavior followed by a strengthen stimulus results in an increased likelihood of that behavior occurring in the prospect (Stacy Breslau, 2003 ).”
Green Movement The Green Movement can be summed up as a political ideology whose main goal is the creation of an ecologically sustainable society where conservation and sustainability are everyday practices rather than isolated rarities in an increasingly consumerist global population. The main concept that drives the Green Movement is the idea that the finite resources available on Earth cannot hope to support the potentially infinite expansion of humanity 1 . It is a belief that states that the Earth itself is a closed off ecosystem with no resources entering into it, as such its surface can only support a certain population of species, both human and animal alike, before the ecosystem inevitably collapses in on itself as a result of a severe strain on the planet’s natural and ecological resources 2 . It is this exponential proliferation and the resulting unmitigated consumption of natural resources and the pollution that it creates that the Green Movement is trying to fight against through the use of environmentalism, social liberalism and various kinds of grassroots democracy. On the other hand it must be noted that skeptics of the Green Movement have continuously stated that the various assumptions made by the movement itself have all been grossly exaggerated. For example, the case of global climate change over the past decade has been attributed by the Green movement to the rapid proliferation of fossil fuel burning power plants and cars which has in effect raised global temperatures as a result of excess carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Skeptics on the other hand state that such an assumption is inherently fallacious in that it has been shown by various studies that the oceans and the rapid proliferation of algae have in effect enabled the absorption of excess CO2 in the atmosphere. The increased heat they state is all due the solar cycle of our sun which goes through periods of dormant and active states wherein the current increase in temperature is actually due to the sun entering its active state. Furthermore such pundits have created the argument that an increased population should not be considered a bad thing since it encourages economic growth and technological development. Based on this it can be seen that both arguments presented by both sides are can be boiled down to one indicating the potential doom of the Earth through the overconsumption of resources and the rapid population growth while the other argument states that the current state of society is indicative of a trend towards unparalleled growth and development previously unseen in other ages of humanity. It must be noted that while both arguments do present valid cases the ideas presented by the Green movement are not without merit. It is due to these facts that various organizations that are part of the Green Movement have campaigned for the use of g
Introduction The world has undergone a significant globalisation era within the last decade. National economies for different countries have expanded their network to operate in the international arena. Expansion of markets to foreign nations implies a number of changes in both the regional and global economic, social, cultural, and political sectors. These changes include variations in the order of trade dynamics where traders move goods, services, labour, and capital freely across countries and continents. With the development of free market policies in the 1980s, governments expanded their capacities to claim the global economic share. The technology revolution has led to the enhancement of neo-liberal globalisation through the invention quicker transport means such as the aeroplanes and ships as well as faster means of communication that includes advanced telephony, instant and email messaging, and online banking among other computer-related services. In the light of neo-liberal globalisation, this paper aims at providing a discussion on how the transformation of the state reflects specific class formations and contestations in Australia. Neo-Liberalism in Australia Australia is renowned for embracing a peculiarly open-minded approach to public policies before the 1980s. The Australian government experienced high levels of economic regulation through the enactment of tariff policies and control of imports. These practices significantly offered protection to the local manufacturing industries. Besides, the Australian approach to public policy enhanced the determination and centralisation of wages as per the living standards of the Australians (Harbridge & Walsh 2002). Obligatory negotiation and appeasement of industrial disputes ensured the reduction of unemployment rates and protection of wages. The overall goal is to embrace the distinctive approach to create and sustain high rates of employment and favourable compensation schemes for employees. Public policy mainly aimed at standardising working regulations based on payment and work conditions rather than mere profitability and compensation capabilities of the bosses. However, during the 1980s, Australian government abandoned the open-minded approach to public policy to embrace a deregulation and marketisation approach that led to the adoption of neo-liberal policies. Quiggin (1999) agrees with the Marxism economic and social theory that explains the influence of scientific advancement and education on social life and market trends. Neo-liberal policies represent a set of rules that privilege people to gain influence on the development agenda of the country. The Australian government is one of the many worldwide governments that have embraced the neo-liberal policies in an attempt to transform the Australian status quo. Neo-liberalism is a broad concept that explains ideologies such as liberalisation, deregulation, a
ZBB Zero-based budgeting (ZBB) allows managers to periodically reassess ongoing activities and programs in comparison with new projects, based on criteria of future costs and expected results. The objective of using this approach is to make timely decisions based on the most reasonable financial calculations instead of continuing to finance projects that have questionable forecasted results (Warren et al., 2018). For instance, if $100 million was spent to build an automobile assembly plant over the past five years, and new forecasts show low demand for cars in the future, the company, traditionally, may either sell created capacities or re-profile them (Warren et al., 2018). ZBB, however, allows making changes to the project, to technological equipment, and to the design of products that were to be produced. Primary procedures involved in ZBB are the identification of decision units, making decision packages, ranking decision packages, allocation of available resources, and monitoring and control. A decision unit can be an independent activity or a complete project (Warren et al., 2018). It is then broken down into smaller packages, each of which has a priority rank (Warren et al., 2018). Funding decisions are made during resource allocation, and the control step monitors the performance and output of each package. Main advantages of ZBB are related to company expenses – in zero-based budgeting, all managers have to justify costs for each new period, because every period has its own budget. Also, ZBB ensures that legacy expenses are checked for more efficient allocation of resources (Warren et al., 2018). However, there is a significant drawback of using ZBB – because a new budget is created for every new period, managers may start pursuing only short-term goals. ABB Activity-based budgeting (ABB), as the name suggests, is a system that is based on the identification of activities that incur costs. After assessing each of the identified items and thinking of ways of making them more efficient, a budget is developed. ABB consists of rigorous processes, and its objective is to decrease costs and maximize profits (Warren et al., 2018). ABB is based on activity-based costing and has similar procedures. Overall, the ABB process can be divided into three steps. First, activities have to be identified – these are the cost drivers that may generate revenue or incur costs (Warren et al., 2018). Then, for each activity detected, the number of expected units is recorded (Warren et al., 2018). The last step is calculating the cost per each unit of activity and multiplying that with the expected number of units. For instance, if a company expects
Porter’s model emphasizes the mutual influence of a company’s performance and the market (Ormanidhi & Stringa, 2008). To define an appropriate strategy, a short description of the market’s structure needs to be presented. Alibaba Group is a relatively young e-commerce company (founded in 1999) that used to be operating primarily in the Chinese and Japanese markets, where it has become the leader in the industry (Hoover’s, 2016). Nowadays it is successfully entering the world market. Given its current performance the company is in the stage of growth ( By the Numbers: 60 Amazing Alibaba Statistics , 2015). Its NYSE debut provides evidence to this fact (Mac, 2014). The products of Alibaba Group that include modern e-commerce platforms, mobile payments, a TV channel, mobile games, and cloud computing are definitely in the stage of rapid growth: nowadays, the demand for all these products and services is very high, and the level of innovation in them is corresponding ( Alibaba Group Holding Ltd (BABA.N) , 2016). To sum up, this company is technically an entrant to the worldwide industry of e-commerce, but back in China and Japan, it is already a very reputable and distinguished firm. It can be said that the strategy of the company in China deals with differentiation: it is a prominent organization with unique (branded) products and services. The question of whether a similar strategy would work for the world market remains open for the time being. Given the competition of Amazon.com and E-bay (that, according to Hoover’s (2016), are the key competitors of Alibaba Group) it may be recommended to attempt the price leadership strategy in the world market. At the same time, the products of Alibaba Group are quite distinct from what Amazon.com and E-bay are offering (in the terms of e-commerce, it is just a platform without warehousing, for example). Whether this distinction is going to be appreciated worldwide as much as it was in China and Japan is an open question for the time being. In any case, given the differences that these two markets have in relation to Alibaba Group, it appears logical to apply the focus strategy for these different environments.
The dependence on economic merits has always been a significant factor in people’s lives, making them approach the choice of career cautiously and thoroughly. Without a sufficient amount of money, one cannot get access to all the necessary things and services, on some of which not only one’s well-being but also life may depend. However, even despite the importance of financial stability, not all individuals are driven by the “carrots and sticks” motivation. 1 In modern society, people are more and more interested in continuous improvement of their results rather than merely in receiving an award for their work. The concepts of engagement and meaningful work have altered with the emergence of new work opportunities and new “operating systems” of societies. 2 Many thousands of years ago, the core motivation to work was the survival instinct. However, with the appearance of more complex societies, the operating system grounded purely in the biological drive was not sufficient any longer. Actually, it was even necessary to restrain such a system in order to prevent people from stealing someone’s food or taking away one’s partner. 3 Thus, a new drive emerged – that of reward and punishment as the means of motivating workers. Taking control of that motive was crucial to economic progress in many countries. In that approach,
Introduction Thomas Malthus, a notable demographer and economist, proposed a population growth theory almost over 200 years ago which still attracts much attention. His prediction mainly comprised of a time where population would outrun the food supply resulting in a decline in food per person. The outcome of such a situation is mass starvation. This theory was based on the fact that population grows at a geometric rate, if unrestrained, whereas food at an arithmetic rate, causing a scare of possible mass starvation. Mass starvation, simply put, is the shortage of food supply for the masses ultimately resulting in death. It often arises due to the inability to exchange their precious possession, usually money, for food. The term “mass starvation” can also sometimes be used interchangeably with famine. Overpopulation, of humans as well as animals, is a condition that arises when the number of inhabitants of a region exceeds the capacity that can be supported by that region. It may be because of high birth rates, reduction in the number of deaths due to advancement in medical facilities, depletion of resources or increasing immigration. Mass starvation due to overpopulation, I believe, is a real danger for humans and steps need to be taken to prevent such a catastrophe. Overpopulation of mainly humans and to some extent of animals, contributes the greatest to the issue of mass starvation as seen in the recent times, thus proving Malthus’s theory to be correct. Mass starvation, as seen in the light of Mathus’s theory, poses to be a re