ShantanuT01/DACTYL-Pretraining huggingface dataset:
The video “The science of selling” by Frontline seeks to highlight the role of market research in increasing product sales. The video begins by showing how surveys are used to assess consumer perception concerning particular products. It then introduces the concept of market research where the desires of consumers are investigated and once identified, used to increase sales. The video focuses on an influential marketing researcher called Clotaire Rapaille. This market research guru provides services to up to 50 of the fortune 100 companies and many influential advertising agencies. Rapaille’s first career was in psychiatry where he dealt with autistic children. From here, he learned how to decode needs without the use of words. He contends that people have unconscious associations with the product they buy. Rapaille offers insights into the mind of the American consumer. His first declaration is that individuals are always purchasing items they do not need. Rapaille articulates his belief that every person has unconscious impulses and needs that drive him to make certain purchases. In this video, Rapaille is addressing the “Luxury Marketing Council of America” with the aim of breaking the code of luxury. Rapaille’s first goal is to understand why consumers behave in the manner they do. Through a series of focus groups, Rapaille attempts to crack the code on luxury. This is done through a three-stage psychic journey beginning with reason, then emotions, then to the primal core where the purchasing decisions lie. Rapaille’s goal is to discover what exists in the primal core of the individuals. He is searching for a trigger he refers to as “the reptilian hot button”, which is the thing that drives people to act in particular ways. According to him, these primal urges always win. Rapaille uses the information pr
Introduction The term financial management refers to organization of monetary resources to achieve desired objectives and maximize companys’ worth while ensuring positive growth. This paper seeks to highlight the four elements of financial management and explain the generally acceptable accounting principles and financial ethical standards. It is evident that the need for proper financial management and adherence to sufficient financial reporting is vital for every organization irrespective of the industries in which they operate. Financial management Financial management entails planning, organizing, directing and controlling of financial processes in a firm. Financial resources in the enterprise are therefore managed using generally accepted principles to promote transparency and accountability. It takes into consideration investment decisions by defining allocation of financial resources, e.g. capital budgeting. Financial management deals with issues pertaining to raising finances or capital from a variety of sources for purposes of expansion, growth and new investments. Objectives of financial management Control and efficient allocation of resources is aimed at the following:  1. Ensure the company invests in safe endeavors.  2. Strike a balance in capital structure (i.e. there should be a capital balance between debt and equity).  3. Ensure efficient use of financial resources with minimal wastage. Elements of financial management The four elements of financial management include planning, controlling, organizing (and directing) and decision making. Planning ensures that finances are available at the required time to satisfy organization needs as they arise periodically. Planning requires that the company draws up short term as well as long term needs. Short term needs include employee remunerations, payment of utilities, purchases and others. Long term needs include opening new outlets or investing in new options. Financial objectives are also defined in planning. In controlling, the immediate objective is to ensure that financial goals are being achieved. This is done to identify areas that need monitoring and attention within the organization. Controlling seeks to measure efficiency in the use of assets while determining security of these assets. It also entails examining whether all activities undertaken are as per the organizations’ policies and procedures. Organizing and directing involves deciding how resources will be allocated having identified the most feasible or viable investment options. Directing ensures that the results of organizing are efficient. Decision making is parallel to planning, organizing, directing and controlling. It allows organizations to choose amo
Marx developed the theory of capitalism to explain the system’s long-term dynamic trend, and it can be summarized in three propositions. First, capitalists have a tendency to accumulate the majority of the surplus value that they generate (Hodgson, 2015). Second, the accrual of capital is directly proportional to the constant and variable capital ratios. Third, an increase in capital composition over time decreases the rate of profit (Hodgson, 2015). The falling rate of profit theory is based on the third proposition. Marx argued that the profit rate would tend to decrease over time due to changes in technology despite the existence of short-run contrary influences. According to him, this was the most significant law of modern political economy. The capitalist system is at one point destined to either fall into a crisis or stagnate. He, however, did not project the rate of profit to decline in a persistent and uninterrupted style because certain forces interrupt the decline at certain points. This theory has been described by many economists as the foundation of revolutionary Marxism. In modern economies, individual capitalistic firms operate under a similar system of socioeconomic policies. Therefore, there is a tendency for the rate of profit to attain equilibrium between organizations. The phenomenon is more pronounced in situations where competition between firms is stiff (Hodgson, 2015). In that regard, capitalist competition results in the creation of a common rate of profit. This tendency has also been observed in monopolies that operate under the capitalist system because of the competition and independence that exists between firms. The competition that exists under capitalism forces the market players to lower the cost of production in order to win more customers. In that sense, capital can be considered as a self-expanding value (Hodgson, 2015). Industries that have slower means of production are phased out by those that have faster means. In that regard, the introduction of machinery enhances labor productivity and increases surplus labor time. Capitalists who use new techniques of production can sell their goods above their individual value, thus making higher profits. Competition between firms results in the centralization and concentration of capital (Hodgson, 2015). Capitalists can collectively drive down rates of profit in order to course-correct with regard to capital expansion and centralization. Moreover, they could instigate it to bring changes to industries such as manufacturing. Human labor is the only source of profit according to Marxian theory (Hodgson, 2015). Therefore, as more capitalists replace people with machinery, there is a decline in the average labor time that is needed for the production of goods. As a result, profits fall because the ratio of surplus-value to investment drops across the entire s
Introduction For several centuries now, the United States Supreme Court had the power to issue landmark decisions on civil rights and liberties by offering a different interpretation of the country’s Constitution. One of such cases was Brown v. Board of Education which effectively ended racial segregation and sparked the Civil Rights Movement (Cheeseman 5). More recently, the U.S. Supreme Court relied on the Constitution to declare state prohibition of same-sex marriage unconstitutional. Clearly, these decisions are quite controversial and frequently revolutionary for their times. Unsurprisingly, the opponents of such decisions often claim that the Founding Fathers originally wrote the Constitution to be interpreted narrowly and literally. However, I believe that the main legal document of the United States was intended to be a living document, flexible to adjust to changing times. First of all, if the authors of the Constitution wanted to spell out all the laws to be followed in the United States, they had an opportunity to do so. However, the very nature of a constitution as a legal document implies that its main aim is to outline the most important underlying concepts and principles that the society should be guided by. Consequently, they included such values and notions as freedom, justice, and equality. Secondly, while some may argue that these values and principle have a rigid definition, history has proved that this is not the case. Nowadays, it is absurd to imagine that someone would argue that “separate but equal” is a fair principle. Surely, the Constitution cannot and should not be revised on an everyday basis. However, I believe that the existing judicial structure and system of checks and balances provides sufficient protection against capricious and unjustified changes in interpretations of the Constitution. The analysis The Voting Rights Act adopted by Congress in 1965 was one of the most effective pieces of legislation to deal with race-based discrimination in the field of voting (Cheeseman 16). While 1965 seems to be a very recent time, it is nevertheless quite distant in terms of racial inequality in the United States. Even though slavery had been abolished for almost a century by 1965, racial segregation and discrimination persisted well into the 20th century. While the state legislatures could no longer implement laws directly discriminating against the African Americans, they found legal loopholes to adopt measures that would effectively prevent this minority group from voting and otherwise participating in the political life of the country. Such acts were highly unethical as they purposefully targeted minority groups to exclude them from the life of the society. Consequently, Congress had sufficient moral and legal justification to enact the Voting Rights Act to protect the rights of American citizens, regardless of their race. Congress also had sufficient evidence to believe that some state
World War I was one of the most large-scale weapon conflicts in the world history. The name “World War I” was established only after the beginning of the World War II. According to the official version, the main motive for this war was the killing of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria in June 1914. However, this version is still debated in the historical circles. No matter what the reasons of this war were, one thing is certain, it involved almost half of the world and ruined lives of millions of people. The conflict arose among two powerful alliances: the Central Power and the Allies, “since the Great War of 1914-18 was fought, on all the oceans of the world and ultimately involved belligerents from every continent, it can justifiably be termed a “world war” (Howard 1) Millions of people were killed on both sides and it influenced lives of many people involving all aspects of modern society. It affected both soldiers and civilians alike, no matter to what nation or culture they belonged. In this paper, we are going to discuss how the World War I affected live of people and what was the life of soldiers and civilians serving and living on the frontlines. The war is considered to be “a men business”, however, it is too farfetched to assume that only grown-up men served on the frontlines and participated in battles. There were many children under the age of 18 who took weapons and served as soldiers. There were many women who served as nurses in the frontlines and there were women who took weapon and fought for their native land. The war brought many violence, grief and death in peoples’ lives. Many people died as heroes, many people died accidentally and many people died because of the terrible conditions of life. The war influenced all aspects of the social life changing people’s lives, way of thinking and perception of the better world. Civilians who lived on the home fronts faced all the horrors of war; they were witnesses of mass killings, disappearance, home destructions, hunger, etc. The war was extremely expensive for civilian people. They had to pay for the war debts. People could not cover these expenses and many people could not earn a living and suicide because of despair. When the voluntary service was introduced, many patriotic people joined the army. Thus, numerous workers left their professions and production of vital good suffered. Such situation brought many drawbacks for the industry and governments of many countries were forced to return people on their work places. People volunteered into the armed forces because they could not earn their living in the home fronts and it was the only way to survive (or, actually, die). The number of crimes also rose. People killed for food and clothes. Many people shared the philosop
Modern, modernism, and modernization are the notions which may be easily defined in human mind, it means that one can understand what modern, modernism, and modernization mean, however, when it comes to formulation of the definition of the notions, people are unable to cover those with words. There are a lot of different ideas presented as the definitions of modern, modernism, and modernization, however, they all may be criticized as they lack specification and realism. Thus, the main idea of this paper is to consider the definitions of modern, modernism, and modernization from different angles trying to find the most appropriate ones. Trying to differentiate between these three notions, it is possible to consider the following data. Modernity is defined as the typical feature of the time. Each epoch has its own characteristic features of modernity. Modernism is a cultural response of the time to artistic movements. Modernization is a social process which defines the development such as technological innovations, national states, democratization, secularization etc. It is possible to agree with the idea that modernism is the project which covers progress and emancipation. Reading Essays on Mexican Art by Octavio Paz, it is possible to conclude that the vision of modernization during the 18 th century was absolutely different from how we perceive modernization now, however, it was modernization (Paz 37). Max Weber said that modernity is the process of disenchantment of the world. I definitely disagree with this statement as making such statement, Max Weber assures the whole humanity that the previous population is worse than the previous one as from one century to another one the disenchantment of the world makes it worse and worse. Looking at the modern tomes and comparing those with the previous ones many advantages and disadvantages may be found. The world is changing, the time is passing. There are always people who are unable to accept the changes and they consider all the development as the steps back. However, there are people who always look positively in the future and they consider present times better than the previous ones. However, it is important to measure modern, modernism, and modernization as various notions while arguing Max Weber’s statement. Being a cultural response to the artistic movements, modernism cannot be perceived as disappointment, it may be misunderstood. Social processes are the natural developments which may not disenchant the world. These processes also reflect human life and their vision of the modern world. Modernity cannot be the disenchantment of the world as it is the state of affairs, it just characterizes the state of affairs without being able to make any judgments. Therefore, it is possible to conclude tha
The Finance and Banking industry Goldman Sachs is one of the dominant players in the banking industry in the United States and Europe. The banking industry has experienced significant changes over the past decades due to a number of external factors in the market. According to Williams (2016), the banking industry is one of the most important industries in any economy because of the level of dependency that other industries have on it. The industry has very tight regulations in the United States compared to others because it is entrusted with the country’s wealth. It is an attractive industry in terms of profitability and that is why it has attracted numerous firms keen on tapping into the profits that it offers. In the United States, there are numerous financial institutions offering varying products to their clients. Goldman Sachs is one of the leading local players in this industry. Foreign financial institutions have also emerged to compete with local firms in this industry. Scherf (2014) says that over the past five decades, competition in the banking industry has intensified as new firms are created to compete with the existing firms over the same market share. The United States banking industry is one of the most attractive in the world because of a number of factors. The country is home to some of the world’s largest companies such as Apple Inc, Coca Cola Company, Microsoft Corporation, Wal-Mart, Exxon Mobil, and many others. It also has a huge population of relatively rich people compared to other parts of the world. People and companies all depend on banks for their financial transactions. It makes the country’s banking industry one of the most competitive in the world. That is why it has been attracting both local and international firms. This industry is prone to external environmental forces that individual firms must understand in order to survive. Analysis of the Finance and Banking Industry The management of Goldman Sachs has been keen on ensuring that operations of this firm are in line with its strategic goals. Williams (2016) says that in the current competitive business environment, the success of a firm largely depends on its ability to understand the external environment and to align internal environmental factors to these external environmental forces. It is, therefore, very necessary to conduct a comprehensive analysis of the external environment of the banking industry where this firm operates. The analysis will focus on the market environment in the United States and Europe where this firm majorly operates. PESTEL analysis can be very useful in this analysis. The United States has enjoyed a long period of political stability since the end of the Civil War in the 1860s. The country went through the civil rights era where a section of the society championed their rights, but that did not destabilize the country. During the First and Second World War era, Goldman Sachs was already in operations, but it
Each person has a right to see and interpret art in a variety of ways depending on personal interests, preferences, and background knowledge. However, it is not forbidden to use some additional help in order to gain various forms of art comprehension and achieve the best results in evaluating a new material. For example, John Berger’s work, “Ways of Seeing”, introduces one of the main points about how people may see art taking into consideration different circumstances like the ways of how images may be obscured by academics or distorted by the existing social or moral values (Berger 14). According to Berger, the way people see art is predetermined by what is known about a particular artwork and what people want to believe about the work. In other words, text recognition is a very important issue in regards to art and its impact on human lives. People want to enjoy art, and what they see in paintings, sculptures, and photography, etc., however, they cannot get rid of the information they may have about the works of art. People are too emotional and undergo certain effects of the surroundings when it is time to enjoy art. Still, they do not want to know anything about art. This is why they try to improve their background knowledge before they meet a certain form of art (Desmond 1). Unfortunately, not only some moral or social norms may influence how people can understand art because the appearance of new forms of art may also define how people can see art. For example, the advent of photography at the beginning of the 1800s considerably influenced and changed the role of painting with its practical functions, social duties, and the abilities to give information about the physical appearance of the world. Photography promotion proved that not only people’s styles and tastes could be changed, but also technologies and their impact on media and human imagination could be improved (Adams 25). The inability to interpret the fear of new improvements and changes properly makes Berger introduce the issue of cultural mystification as a process of explanations of something evident still unclear. This type of mystification helps to realize that camera or any other art devices cannot be regarded
Introduction Advocacy is vital to improving the living conditions of people because it serves as a connection between communities and the government. It allows people from underserved and vulnerable groups to voice their needs and suggest actions that will help them to have a meaningful and fulfilling life. For example, the senior population has specific health-related concerns that need to be addressed in the field of healthcare. In the state of New Jersey, multiple organizations work with older adults to solve their problems. Two of these entities are Alzheimer’s New Jersey and Seniors-4-Seniors (S4S). The present paper will discuss these organizations and their current projects and aims. It will introduce new advocacy actions and policy to further improve the wellbeing of senior citizens in the state. Agencies The first advocacy organization is Alzheimer’s New Jersey, formerly known as the Greater New Jersey Chapter of the Alzheimer’s Association. In 2015, the agency disaffiliated itself from the larger national organization to focus on the needs of the state’s population and preserve its independence (Alzheimer’s New Jersey, 2019a). Currently, the entity focuses on providing support, consultations, awareness-raising, and education for seniors and health care providers working with Alzheimer’s. Around 600,000 people have this condition in New Jersey, and the number increases every day due to the lack of research, awareness, and prevention strategies (Alzheimer’s New Jersey, 2019a). One of the latest campaigns developed by Alzheimer’s New Jersey is Walk to Fight Alzheimer’s – a fundraiser for the agency’s other programs (Alzheimer’s New Jersey, 2019b). It covers many areas in the state and allows residents to participate in local walks. The second entity is Seniors-4-Seniors (S4S), an educational program created by the Commission of Accreditation for Home Care. Its main goal is to empower older citi