ShantanuT01/DACTYL-Pretraining huggingface dataset:
Although there is no universal definition of leadership, or the traits that comprise it, all definitions can be summarized as the “process of social influence in which one person can enlist the aid and support of others in the accomplishment of a common task” (Blake and Mouton, 1985). Basically, leadership concerns organizing a group of persons to realize a common objective and this involves inspiring them to adopt a teamwork strategy. There are four main concepts involved in leadership, i.e. the leader, the followers, communication, and situation. The leader must be honest in all his/her roles. It is vital to point out that it is the subjects who decide the success of a leader. Consequently, the leader must employ two-way communication and consider the situation before choosing a communication strategy. There are two models of leadership in use today: the Four Framework Approach and the Managerial Grid. The Four Framework model proposes that leaders show leadership traits in one of the following structures: Structural, Human Resource, Political, or Symbolic. However, the Managerial Grid employs two axes: “concern for people” and “Concern for task or results” (Blake and Mouton, 1985). The dimensions are plotted in the vertical axis and horizontal axis respectively and have a range of 0-9. Since a leader interacts with all persons, below, at par or above his/her rank, it is vital that he/she wins their support and be able to inspire them. This can be effected by understanding human nature, which is defined as the common traits of persons such as values, beliefs, and customs. Another important aspect in leadership is vision, purpose, and goals. Goals must be realistic and attainable, should improve the organization in all aspects, should involve all people, and should run on a predefined program. In addition, the following characteristics are important in goal setting: goal difficulty, specificity, feedback, and participation. Although there are no common leadership traits, the following traits are vital towards the success of a leader: honesty, competency, forward-looking (vision), inspiration, intelligence, fair-mindedness, broad-minded, courageous, straightforward and imaginative. These are just a fraction of the traits that a leader should possess. There are various styles of leadership, each of which should be used according to the situation. They are authoritarian, participative, and delegative forms of leadership. A good leader employs all the styles with one of them being dominant, however, a bad leader tend to stick to one form of leadership. A leader may be required to create a matrix team, lead one, or form a part of one. A matrix team may be a wor
The paper focuses on the rates of opioid use for pain management in university-level veteran students in contrast with other populations. As such, I am studying the use of opioids as medical treatment in this particular population within higher education settings. Additionally, It will be essential to highlight and categorize types of opioid misuse and discern the current social issues that arise from it. The relationship between pain management, transition to civilian life, and possible opioid misuse is also central to the theme of the paper. I am synthesizing recent articles on the topic, including questionnaires, to determine why veteran students fail to adapt to the new environment. Difficulties and factors that accompany the transition of former service members may have a causal effect on opioid misuse. My hypothesis is that veteran students need comprehensive support in their transition from military service to the collegiate environment to adapt to civilian life and avoid developing opioid use disorder. The core issue of opioid misuse is due to many factors, one of which includes the frequency at which it is prescribed for pain management. Understanding the intricacies of typically sustained injuries that veteran students may suffer is critical for the analysis. This also includes the distinct risk factors that veteran students face and other obstacles that are either systematic, medical, social, or legal. In the end, I will compare the found correlations or noticeable patterns between opioid use and risk factors, environments, mental health, and medical prescription, and the rates of suicide or overdosed in relation to opioids. Lastly, some solutions to the opioid misuse problem within the veteran student population will be developed. Opioid Use in Veteran Students and Other Populations Recent studies have continued to expose the prescription and illicit opioid crisis that often results in misuse, user disorders, and overdoses (Blanco et al., 2020; Smith et al., 2016; Zesiger, 2018). As of 2018, two million individuals have met the diagnostic criteria for opioid use disorders, which is a decrease from the previous years while still being incredibly concerning (Blanco et al., 2020). Though the misuse of opioid is not found strictly in specific communities and has an expansive reach, the adverse effects are more prevalent and frequent in certain populations than in others. These populations include groups within the judicial system, rural populations, veterans, youth and adolescents, and individuals who inject drugs. Each faces unique obstacles towards treatment while certain issues overlap between groups. Many of the barriers student veterans face with opioid misuse are actually not exclusive to their social group and have much deeper roots. Opioid use disorder, or OUD, is widely prevalent in veteran groups due to a number of disti
Introduction The theories of sociology serve to widen our understanding on the world’s problems. When faced with social challenges such as crime and deviance, we apply the theories in interpreting them. Without the theories, it would be almost impossible to decode social problems that are increasing on daily basis. Construction is a theory, which postulates that we generate understanding and we offer meaning to issues through our personal experiences and knowledge. It follows that as we interact more our knowledge base expands. As we grow up, we acquire knowledge that facilitates us to cope up with the wider society. The values differ from one society to the other. What is learned in one society is different from those of another society. Due to our mental constructs, we tend to use our own societal values to evaluate others. This can easily lead to subjectivity when interacting with members from other cultures. Refugees and Asylum Seekers The debate on refugees has been going on both in government and in the media industry. Lately, it has received wider media coverage due to its sensitivity. It has become a matter of national concern since early 1910s.The refugees started flocking the country during the civil unrests in their original homelands. Others wanted to be considered as asylum seekers. They were fleeing their states due to their differences with autocratic leaders. The Australians on their part did not take the case of refugee lightly. They had their mental constructs, which were negative. Tracing their roots from Britain and North America, they viewed the new comers as invading their territory. The Arabs are considered as violent and deviant. They are associated with crimes such as terrorism and kidnapping. They are believed to disregard established law and order. Opposition of refugee and asylum seekers can be noted in the language use in various newspapers and broadcast media. The use of phrases such as “we are soon to be awash”, “sneak in” and “exotic diseases” in the media shows clearly that people are not happy about the issue (Best, 1995). It is claimed that the refugees intend to defile the economy. They can offer cheap labor as well as provide competition in the labor market. The language used in the media suggests that there are no legal refugees. Even those affected by floods are illegal immigrants. They are branded as deviants. Even the proponents of the refugees who represent them in the press are dismissed in broad day light. They are reminded of the sovereignty of the state. Invasion b
It is important to note that modern life is fully integrated with technology, particularly the internet. Internet users comprise a large portion of the population, and some online service providers are becoming essential for humanity’s daily activities to the extent that company names are being turned into verbs. Such is the case with Google, the largest and most visited website in the world. Nicholas Carr’s piece of Google and the Internet is an example of normal concerns about new technologies, which took place throughout the history of human invention, but they are mostly invalid because humanity is able to adapt to them. However, Nicholas Carr’s statements are invalid because human progress brings more benefits than harms, and information and knowledge accessibility provided by Google outweighs any adaptations people need to do to such a medium, he romanticizes the past, and prospects of progress will bring better solutions. Romanticizing The Past One of the main flaws of Carr’s article is the common notion of romanticizing the past in the face of human progress. People are habitual creatures who tend to attach emotional labels to cognitive thoughts and data. It is evident that the author was brought up and raised in the pre-internet era when books and TV were the main sources of information. The emergence of the internet defies his previously held beliefs, emotions, and feelings about the previous sources of information, which forces him to adapt to new realities. However, it should be noted that any period of human history can be romanticized since the positives are not objectively measured against the negatives. For example, one can state that cavemen times were good because humans ate organic meat and plants, people regularly exercised due to hunting or gathering, and their minds were not ‘poisoned’ by media, which allowed them to live in the present. Any form of objective about such life quickly dismantles the romanticized illusion about such existence full of struggles with hunger, hypothermia, diseases, predators, and internal struggles. Therefore, romanticizing the past is not a harmful activity, but it is unproductive to see the progress for what it is, which is the betterment of human existence in this hostile environment of the planet. The author states: “I’m not thinking the way I used to think. I can feel it most strongly when I’m reading. Immersing myself in a book or a lengthy article used to be easy” (Carr par. 2). In other words, he is unable to immerse in older mediums as he used to do in the past because now, he can obtain information more quickly, which impacts his ability to concentrate. Technology has always brought convenience and comfort alongside
Introduction The number of patients diagnosed with Alzheimer’s and diabetes in the United States, and indeed globally, has increased significantly in the last few years. In light of this, multiple research studies have been conducted to find ways of fighting these diseases. The paper evaluates three newspaper stories on research conducted to identify modern approaches to treating diabetes and Alzheimer’s diseases. The first newspaper article, “U.S. Venture Gathers Drugmakers to Beat Alzheimer’s, Lupus (3),” is written by Alex Wayne on behalf of Bloomberg News. The second newspaper article, “Diabetes, Alzheimer’s Research May Yield Cures” is authored by Courtney Wills on behalf of the WebProNews. Lastly, the third article, “Drug Companies Join NIH in Study of Alzheimer’s, Diabetes, Rheumatoid Arthritis, Lupus,” is written by Monica Langley and Jonathan D. Rockoff of the Wall Street Journal. The paper attempts to critique the three identified newspaper stories with the objective of providing a comparison and evaluation of all three articles. Also, the paper will attempt to determine the impact of the news content on global health. Evaluation of the articles Article 1 In his article, Wayne (2014) argues on the proposed partnership between the U.S government and leading drug manufacturers in the U.S in the hope of finding novel ways to Alzheimer’s disease and diabetes. The article explores some of the major diseases that affect the majority of Americans (Wayne, 2014). These diseases cost U.S taxpayers billions of dollars in the form of patient treatment and a reduction in production due to ill health. The article suggests that the venture will specifically target Alzheimer’s research because out of the over 100 research studies carried out over the past 16 years, none of them has been a real success. This view is valid because, so far, there is no cure for Alzheimer’s. The article has established that over 5 million Americans are suffering from Alzheimer, and the figure is projected to increase three-fold in the next two decades (Wayne, 2014). The NHS will spend $1.1 billion on funding diabetes, $260 million on arthritis research, and $562 million will go towards research on Alzheimer (Wayne, 2014). The major strength of the article is that it clearly elaborates why the collaboration between drugmakers and other stakeholders is necessary. For example, such a collaboration would not only provide a cure to Alzheimer’s disease, but it would also provide a breakthrough to the cure of other diseases such as lupus 3 (diabetes) and arthritis. The author of this article admits that collaboration would be most welcome because it would provide a breakthrough in unraveling the causes and cure of diseases such as diabetes and Alzheimer’s (Wayne, 2014). The article is formulated well, and the content is credible and informative to the target audience. Besides, the paper provides an insight into how the stakeholders could partner to achieve a common goal by setting their differences aside. However, the article fails to provide an estimate of the time taken to come up with a cure. It does not also cover the anticipated challenges. In additi
Introduction Different phenomena in human life have attracted explanations from experts and other observers, which unfortunately, have become to be regarded as the conventional truth even when they seem to fail. This paper seeks to analyze an article that describes the different explanations advanced for changing trends in crime, politics and other social factors in the American society. The article is termed freakonomics, the authors (Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner) analyze different social aspects of the daily life in the most dazzling way that defies conventional wisdom. The article mainly dwells on the changing trends of crime in the American society. It also uses other social indices such politics and professionalism to underscore the misconceptions that lead to erroneous explanations for different phenomena in the United States and the world at large. Analysis This article mainly intends to show that some of the expert views which are often held as conventional may be sometimes, if not always false. The article begins by citing the soaring levels of crime that were witnessed in the 1990’s. The level of crime was rising at rates that had never been witnessed before. The rising trends in crime got experts forecasting a more chaotic future. For instance, the article cites that in 1995, a criminologist named James Alan Fox produced a report that pointed to a sharp rise in cases of teenage homicide over a decade. Similar sentiments were being propelled from different quarters such as other criminologists, political scientists and other learned forecasters. As time went by, it became apparent that the exact opposite of what had been forecasted was taking place. Instead of soaring levels of crime, the country was experiencing unpredicted decrease in crime levels. The sharp fall which peaked in the year 2000 was much more baffling than the later days when crime was the order of the day. False predictions were giving way to false explanations by the same experts. According to the article, the sharp decrease in crime levels
The use of Gross Domestic Product to measure the business cycle Gross domestic product (GDP) is the entirety marketplace assessment in dollars, of all the goods and services produced by all citizens in a nation, within the boundaries of that country at a given year. GDP is essentially an assessment of the fiscal output used as an indicator to decide on the status of a fiscal system. There are various factors that establish the escalation of GDP. It does not adjust noticeably each year year. This is because they follow cyclic arrangement or fluctuations known as commerce cycle (Saunders & Gilliard, 2005). This cycle occurs in four states; the peak, recession, trough and recovery states (Saunders & Gilliard, 2005). The effectual use of pecuniary policy speeds up revival of a system and even eliminates depressions that take place in the invention cycle. Amplification in GDP reflects an increase in goods and services produced and also increase in prices of such goods and services. Real GDP is fathomed when GDP is adjusted for price point alteration. Probable GDP of a nation depends on the excellence and measure of natural capital, skills and volume of the work force, eminence and size of its capital supply (Saunders & Gilliard, 2005). Per capita procedures of real GDP are in general compared to assess the presentation of their economies and review the well being of citizens. The limits that come with this advance are that GDP dimensions do not hold in regard the dissimilarities in goods produced or allocation of income. Recession occurs when GDP declines for at least six months. Government reduces the level of business cycle fluctuation by implementing monetary policies that will affect genuine GDP (Saunders & Gilliard, 2005). National fiscal policy National fiscal policy is defined by Arthurs Smithies “as a policy against which a government uses the revenue and expenditure programmes, to come up with desirable effects and do away with undesirable effects on national production, employment and income” (Saunders & Gilliard, 2005). It is noteworthy that monetary strategy is implemented by the management. The tools used during execution of nationwide monetary strategy incorporate: Public expenditure policy Public disbursement affects the wealth of a country on a wider scale. These expenditures can be of two kinds thus developmental and non developmental. It is noteworthy that developmental expenditure is necessary in wealth growth. This requires large resources, which cannot, be raised by the private sector thus; the public disbursement must be amplified. The main constituents of government policy concerning unrestricted expenditure include; “development of public enterprises, infrastructure development, social welfare and private-sector support” (Jain, T, Trehan, M & Trehan, R, 2009). Taxation policy Taxes are the most important basis of revenues to the administration. The taxes are charged either directly or indirectly. Direct taxes are issued in a direct mode to the administration as illustrated by income tax. It is noteworthy that indirect taxes are paid through
Conventional Business Organisations And Online Stores The paradigm shift is a noteworthy characteristic at a time when a very momentous change is about to take place. Most of the time, a paradigm shift involves a discontinuity in the normal order of events. This concept is very critical in understanding the way electronic businesses emerged and how they have gained popularity (Stroud 2002, p 145). Traditionally, the physical presence of a customer was necessary for purchasing a certain product or service. However, with the advent of information technology, the business has gone online. Products are now displayed on the internet where shoppers can do their browsing and view the available offers. Later on, they can also make purchases on the internet (Stroud 2002, p. 145). There are some very distinct differences between the conventional brick-and-mortar business style and the e-business style. The latter has additional benefits in comparison with the conventional way of doing business (Stroud 2002, p 145). Online stores have reduced operational costs and can cover a very wide geographical area. Shopping can be done at any time. As a result, an increasingly higher number of potential customers can be reached (Malhotra 2000, p. 5). Competition is very high as many businesses are venturing into online business. On the other hand, conventional business organizations enjoy greater customer loyalty since they offer a tangible and real display of their products. Such stores are often easy to locate and the products can be scrutinized first hand (Malhotra 2000, p. 5). However, the process of opening up a store requires so much dedication in terms of time, money, and effort. It’s also expensive to operate and maintain. The Public sector in the UK has been urged to post its services online for effective delivery (Malhotra 2000, p. 12). This is projected to offer speedy services delivery and it would be convenient since it would cut down costs like traveling ns waste of time. The Role of ICT’s in the Virtual Environment Information communication technology (ICT) technology has a lot of other benefits apart from economic advancement, time an
In an article by Schoen (2012) published on the NBC News website, the author reported on the amount of tax revenue spending. The author claims that the U.S. government spends more than $3.5 trillion annually on various services including Medicare, homeland defense and safety, education, transportation, and the interest on debt obligations. Many taxpayers believe that an income tax is unnecessary despite the services the collected funds are supposed to cover. Nevertheless, income tax is necessary for the U.S. economy, mainly because there is no other way to gather enough revenue to enable all the mentioned services, at least under current circumstances. However, economic experience worldwide suggests that there are a number of ways to provide high-quality public services without relying on income tax. Countries such as Saudi Arabia or Hong Kong have created an economic model that allows for alternative means of collecting tax revenues to provide necessary services. Moreover, these countries demonstrate a surprisingly high economic capability. Thus, it may be necessary for the U.S. government to remodel the tax system. Possible approaches, advantages and disadvantages, and other aspects of this topic will be the focus of this paper. Saudi Arabia’s Way of Providing Benefits In their book, Alshahrani and Alsadiq (2014) covered various aspects of Saudi Arabia’s economic model. The authors stated that “fiscal policy is a key element of Saudi Arabia’s macroeconomic policy given the importance of public expenditures in financing investment and consumption activities and their role in meeting the growing need for public social services” (Alshahrani & Alsadiq, 2014, p. 4). Governmental spending has grown steadily since 1970, increasing at an astonishing rate of more than 9,500%, also an indication of higher overall economic performance, according to the authors. This is evidence of high governmental expenditures in Saudi Arabia, which may mean greater efficiency in economic performance. Saudi tax rates indicate that most taxes are collected from various types of entrepreneurial activities. For example, businesses that deal with producing oil and hydrocarbons are taxed at a rate of about 85%. Businesses exploiting the natural gas sector are taxed at a rate of 30%. Saudi shareholders are also taxed at a rate of 2.5%. Residents and foreign companies providing services within the Saudi borders are not taxed. Resident entrepreneurs are taxed based on the total income they achieve while conducting business in Saudi Arabia. Every company located in Saudi Arabia or registered in the Regulations fo