ShantanuT01/DACTYL-Pretraining huggingface dataset:
Introduction Value Management Value management can be defined as a structured process, with the participation of key stakeholders, which seeks to maximize the value for money for any particular project subject to resource constraints. It also seeks to enhance service delivery to the clients without compromising on quality and, at the same time, using the lowest possible costs on the total project. The process gives both the internal and external stakeholders the opportunity to dialogue. They come to an agreement as to what constitutes value and in that way enabling the organization to achieve one of its stated objectives of minimizing costs (‘Institute of Value Management’ 2001). It involves an examination of the functions of the project as a whole and comes up with possible alternatives to achieving them. Out of the possible alternatives, one could select the most efficient way of achieving the desired functions while optimally using the resources available. Consequently, it helps organizations, corporations, and governments to make savings on cost (Miga solutions 2012). Behind the theory of value, management is the assumption that there is always more than one solution to a given problem and that it is always important to examine all of them in order to come up with the most efficient. Value management studies utilize workshops, which incorporate all the key stakeholders of the group. They include project teams, technical experts, community representatives, and other stakeholders under the guidance of an independent facilitator. The method further utilizes the various expertise possessed by the participants. However, it is crucial to draw a difference between value management and value engineering or what is sometimes referred to as the job plan. Value engineering is concerned with achieving a given function at the minimum possible costs. The underlying assumption is that function is an objective measurable parameter waiting to be identified. It further assumed that all possible design options provide the same level of function implying that, their suitability can be assessed on the basis of cost alone (Miga solutions 2012) On the other hand, value management is concerned with determining what value means to the end-user in a particular context. This is achieved by bringing all the stakeholders together to deliberate and agree on the project’s objectives. These are used to evaluate the design solutions which are generated and ensure that they conform to the pre-determined
A variety of the world’s nations can be characterized by specific traditions and rituals. Many cultures also have their national consumes. In several European and Western countries, national dresses are considered an archaic tradition that is appreciated and given respect to occasionally on the days of national celebrations. At the same time, there are nations that promote wearing traditional garments as the only right way of dressing. Among such countries, there are many Islamic, Buddhist, and Hindu states. There is an opinion that the promotion of modest dresses and valuing of virginity enforces the devaluation of women in society. In my opinion, these two phenomena are not necessarily related and “appropriate” garments also can be viewed as the symbols of women’s independence and dignity. As stated by Leila Ahmed, in Islamic cultures, the issue of wearing hijab is not only of a religious character, but it is intertwined with cultural, aesthetic and anthropological views of certain ethnic groups (Marginalia Review of Book). Hijab in Islam represents many different notions. For example, it can be seen as a symbol of women’s obedience before men, as well as an element of fashion. The former view is rather common in the contemporary world, as the vast majority of Western feminists tend to view veils as the results of male domination and oppression of women. At the same time, many Muslim women, including the ones that live outside of the Islamic world, state that wearing hijab is their initiative because being covered helps them feel protected and secure. The value of virginity can be found in many cultures, yet it is not always connected to certain types of clothing. When virginity is viewed as the main feature that makes a woman valuable, this certainly is a sign of devaluation of a woman as a person and a society member. When virginity is promoted as a reasonable and responsible lifestyle, it adds value to women prioritizing activities other than sexual behavior. The dress called “appropriate” in the cultures dominant in Islamic countries includes long garments as well as hoods and veils covering women’s chests, heads, and faces. In this case, such clothing is not only excellent protection from sun radiation very dangerous in the desert areas, but also a good way to be dressed in a stylish, yet dignified way. Women all around the world argue about the meaning of showing too much skin and the message it carries. Feminists typically protect women’s freedom and independence, yet they often forget
Introduction Mercury International Limited is a global company that engages in the design and marketing of sports and fitness products with its history dating back to 1974. The products include apparel, footwear and accessories. Mercury is the established brand name for the company which serves the product lines of Boost, Sweatless Apparel and Trailstep. Mercury also engages in the licensing of its trademark and its intellectual property to third parties for use on apparel, sporting goods, equipment, accessories, health clubs and other fitness products and services for the reinforcement and capitalization of the brand’s reputation. The company has major competitors although it has established a substantive market share. The issues of concern for the company include mainly its products and services due to the need for innovation, the value discipline based on the recommendable organizational structure, concern for the drop in the quarterly earnings, financial risks, competition in the industry, the expected trends in the industry and the process of realignment. Analysis of key issues in footwear and apparel industries The identification of the key issues facing Mercury Limited involves the macro environmental and micro environmental issues, the state and changes in the economy as well as their influence on spending, lifestyles, manufacturing and income levels. Description of the Key Issues facing Mercury International Limited Products and Services Mercury Ltd holds the fourth position in market share in the worldwide apparel and footwear industries. The design and performance of the produ
Introduction Music is an art that creates images by combining sounds and silence. It can serve as both an independent artist and as an accompaniment to other art forms. Although it might seem that in the latter case, music is secondary, it is a powerful tool the role of which is often crucial. For instance, music is widely used in movies. Here, music can be diegetic and non-diegetic. Diegetic music originates in the plot; characters can hear it. It often indicates the place and time or peculiarities of the setting. Non-diegetic music is “background music” that communicates the psychological aspects of the story, coloring the actions that take place on the screen, showing the pace of on-screen events, and creating the atmosphere (“Diegetic Music’” par. 1-4). By utilizing the ways the human brain commonly interprets various combinations of sounds, music “directs attention, induces mood, communicates meaning, cues memory, heightens arousal and suspends disbelief, and… adds an aesthetic dimension” (Cohen, 17-18). Therefore, it can be argued that the art of cinematography would be crippled without music. In our paper, we will consider three examples of movies: Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, Inception, and Interstellar , and describe some elements of music which are recurrent in these films. Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (2001) is the first movie in the famous fantasy heptalogy. The film was directed by Christopher Joseph Columbus; the music was written by John Williams. One of the major themes employed in the movie is “Hedwig’s Theme.” It represents the feelings and experiences the young boy has while entering the wizarding world (Webster 90). The theme creates the anticipation of something mysterious but benevolent. Despite being initially intended only for scenes with Harry’s owl, the theme was used in many parts in the movie, as well as in some of the following Harry Potter films (“John Williams Themes” par. 2). The most distinctive instrument played in the theme is the celeste. The resulting sound is also electronically controlled, makes the music “literally unreal” (“John Williams Themes” par. 5). The theme begins with a high register, which then changes to a lower register; this usua
Introduction One can argue that there are three major social issues plaguing America’s youth, and these are cyberbullying, addictive behaviors, and teen suicide. It is interesting to note that all these problems share common ground as indirect outcomes of how teenagers view themselves either through media representations or peer pressure. At the heart of the matter is an invisible process of shaping identities, expectations, and behavioral outcomes through male and female stereotypes. It is critically important to redefine gender concepts in order to stop the current social decline, as evidenced by the significant increase in the number of victims of violent and desperate behavior as a consequence of poor self-image. It is imperative to confront the careless use of male and female stereotypes in order to preserve decency, community, and the lives of children and teenagers. Where is our society headed? In the absence of an effective intervention strategy, the statistics on teen suicide, violent deaths, and addictive behaviors will continue to rise unabated. In a film entitled The Mask You Live In , the producers were able to focus the spotlight on the destructive impact of false gender conceptualization (Newsom, 2011b). The film’s purpose is to document how popular culture and mainstream media are shaping a boy’s worldview when it comes to socially accepted behavior in a world of men. It was a disheartening occasion for the viewer who valued the importance of respect and honesty, seeing images of adults pressuring boys and teenagers to disconnect from their emotions (Newsom, 2011b). Viewing the film was not a pleasant experience for those who are opposed to the practice of objectifying or degrading women. Nonetheless, the production team was able to capture the ugly truth of how boys are unconsciously trained to adopt values that are counterproductive in the long run. These young and impressionable minds were forced to accept lies about their gender. In answering the question as to the path created by these false ideas, consider the glorification of violence as an integral part of America’s masculine culture. As a consequence, young boys and teenagers are prone to using aggression and excessive force as tools in dealing with conflicts. Men are also subconsciously trained to perceive women as mere objects that they can use. Thus, the evening news and news articles are filled with stories of sexual assault and sexual harassment cases. This is the slippery path that this particular society will fall into if a counter-movement is not initiated soon. Nonetheless, there is hope for change. Is it too late for change? It is too early to raise the white flag and surrender the struggle, allowing the status quo to permeate the still unblemished parts of American society. Neverthele
Similarities Between USA and Nigeria in Terms of Hofstede’s Six Cultural Dimensions Considering the Hofstede’s cultural dimensions theory, the U.S. and Nigeria are similar in terms of masculinity, uncertainty avoidance, and long- term orientation, the half of all the suggested factors by Baack (2012). As explained by Saenz, McGregor, and Nguyen (2018), with a masculinity score of 62, American society is characterized as driven by success, achievement, and competition. Similarly to the USA, Nigerians score 60 in masculinity and tend to evaluate an individual’s success upon the material assets (Mordi, 2017). The factor of uncertainty avoidance is slightly lower in both countries: 46 in USA and 55 in Nigeria. As suggested by Saenz et al. (2018) and Mordi (2017), both cultures feel threatened by uncertain events that may happen. The last similar dimension for the two countries is long term orientation. Both USA and Nigeria are labeled as normative cultures, meaning that they value traditions and maintain old societal norms (Saenz et al., 2018; Mordi, 2017). Despite the striking distinctions in mentality, the USA and Nigeria share three of the six Hofstede’s cultural dimensions. Differences Between USA and Nigeria in Terms of Hofstede’s Six Cultural Dimensions Main differences between the U.S. and Nigeria lay in individualism, power distance, and indulgence. With a score of 91, USA is considered a highly individualistic culture, where people mostly look after themselves, being self-reliant and focusing on their well-being (Saenz et al., 2018). Unlike the U.S., Nigeria scores 30 on the individualistic scale, being labeled as a collectivistic society, where people demonstrate a deep sense of belonging to their community (Mordi, 2017). Nigeria and America also differ in terms of power distance. While Nigerian culture accepts the hierarchy in society with inherent unjustifiable inequalities in the social order, Americans tend to believe in the equality for all citizens regardless of their differences (Saenz et al., 2018; Mord
The first story under consideration is devoted to a person with Down syndrome and his mother (“A Mom, a Son,” 2016). As the title of the story implies, Joshua Myers, the person in question, has suffered through inability to accept the disorder. He regarded his condition as a curse and has attempted a suicide by walking into a busy crossroad. A stranger had a dialog with Joshua and obviously made him change his point of view. Joshua’s mother has been stressed over not being able to cope with her son’s condition as well. However, the incident has made an impact on her stance and improved her relationship with her son (“A Mom, a Son,” 2016). The second article describes a person who accidentally ended his sister’s life when they both were children (“Gone with a Gunshot,” 2016). Sean Smith, aged 10 when the accident occurred, and his eight-year-old sister Erin found a gun in their father’s room; inadvertently, the boy pulled the trigger, and the shot killed his sister. Albeit the conversations with his family, Sean was seriously affected. Unable to cope with his sister’s death, he was later expelled from school and suffered substance abuse. With the birth of his son, Sean’s attitude partially changed and he started to recover. Sean’s mother has suffered the loss and has been worried for Sean, but his recovery after more than twenty years of pain has revived her optimism (“Gone with a Gunshot,” 2016). The issues – both emotional and behavioral – discussed in the articles can be considered the signs of an adjustment disorder (AD). The direct signs of AD that we are able to witness in the first case are sadness, desperation, the sensation of being overwhelmed, and suicide attempted by the overwhelmed person (Casey & Doherty, 2012). The second case presents the emotional and behavioral determinants in the form of crying spells, escaping reality, and, possibly, poor performance at school that resulted into the protagonist being expelled (Casey & Doherty, 2012). As we can see from both articles, the AD-exposed persons have experienced a sufficient improvement in their coping skills. In the first article, one of the sources of improvement was support provided by a third party – the conversation between Joshua and a stranger – which basically summarizes the aspects of the social support strategy (Santrock, 2006). Another one would be using humor to manage the taxing condition: Joshua and his mother have developed some rituals that boost their spirits and generally cheer them up. Also, one of the possible factors that have proved efficient in eliminating stress was the pro-life attitudes Joshua and his mother developed after the suicide attempt, which is an implementation the of positive thinking strategy (Santrock, 2006
DEWA’s background history The Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA) got established on January 1, 1992 (DEWA Homepage, 2011). This was after His Highness President Sheikh bin Rashid issued a decree that called for a merger between the then Dubai Water Department and the Dubai Electricity Company. The two entities had previously worked on independent basis with the main objective of availing adequate and reliable water and electricity to the citizens of Dubai. In its efforts to meet the ever increasing demands for its important services, DEWA has kept on rebranding. As such, its recent logo has been uniquely designed to incorporate 3 circles that symbolize the harmonious relationships that the authority strives to cultivate between the environment and the power. Figure 1 showing the 3 cycles that symbolize DEWA’s rebranded logo Source: DEWA Homepage, 2011. DEWA’s Vision, Motto, Mission, and Values To ensure that the authority maintains its competitive advantage, the management has established a 5 year strategic plan that spans from the year 2011 to 2015. This plan was structured to include the vision, motto, values and mission aspects. These aspects give rise to additional four themes herein referred to a balanced scorecard. These four themes of the balanced scorecard include the internal and financial processes, learning and growth, customers and the support. Figure 2 is a pictorial representation of how DEWA’S mission and value-based strategy aims to drive the additionally highlighted 4 perspectives. Source: DEWA Homepage, 2011. DEWA’s vision is to be recognized as a world-class utility. Its mission is to meet customer satisfaction by delivering water and electricity services. This is to be achieved at a world-class level of efficiency, reliability and safety environment. DEWA’S motto states that the authority is committed to sustain a long-time future that delivers water and electricity to the Dubai population. This is to be achieved by observing sustainable and ethical attitude to the development of water and electricity. The authority’s values are derived from its mission statement. Following this, they encompass fairness, integrity, teamwork, industry leadership, corporate social responsibility, transparency and customer focus. DEWA’s workforce and stakeholder identification According to the latest statistics on the authority’s website, the total number of employees stands at 7696 (DEWA Homepage, 2011). This expanding workforce is led by the Managing Director who also tops up as the CEO. The remaining employees are spread in a 12-level organizational structure as depicted in the succeeding figure 3. DEWA’s key stakeholders are grouped into 5 main categories namely the government, employees, customers, society/community and its partners. These were further sub-divided as evidenced in figure 4. Source: DEWA Homepage, 2011. Areas or activities for improvement Despite the management of the authority insisting on its website that the authority has pre
Modernity and its relation to newness Generally, one is to keep in mind that the issue of modernity should be regarded rather ambiguously. Newness as the quality of being new and original is considered to be one of the most appropriate definitions modernity is associated with. As far as numerous changes the modern world experiences are closely related to the past, one can probably conclude that there are the processes of reincarnation, which determine the interdependence between tradition and modernity. The phenomenon of modern subjectivity involves a wide range of constituents; although it is the work of the imagination , which is recognized to be one of the most important elements the subjectivity includes. Thus, deeper understanding of the issue of modernity depends upon a variety of factors, which impact on numerous contextual literacies. The modern vs. the global In our days, the semantic meanings of the modern and the global seem to be the same. All sorts of societies make no difference between the two notions. For instance, when speaking about electronic media, one can notice that it is multiplicity of the forms of media, which determines people’s comprehension of the new reality. Due to the fast flow of mass-mediated images, a number of outdated issues can be also considered from the point of view of modernity. Thus, the story of mass migrations can be regarded as a classic example of instability the modern subjectivity is based on. In other words, it becomes evident that the rapid flow of mass-mediated images and the viewers themselves are the main causes of specific irregularities in the creation of modern subjectivities. So, one can make a conclusion that the interdependence between the modern and the global depends upon the cohesion of mass-mediated events and viewers. The role of the imagination The plurality of imagined worlds depends upon social transformations. On the one hand, one can state that there is no need to overestimate the role of the imagination, as there is nothing new about it. On the other hand, it seems to be obvious that different societies have different mentality and, thus, different viewpoints on a variety of issues, including social, political and cultural values; therefore, one can state that different societies have different approaches towards the same issues. For this reason, the second perspective seems to prove the extremely important role of the imagination. The common feature, however, which cannot be neglected, is that all sorts of people seek to implement th