ShantanuT01/DACTYL-Pretraining huggingface dataset:
Introduction There is no conventionally agreed definition of poverty within the Canadian government but the federal government and social policy analysts only use national statistics on low income as the parameter to measure the incidence and depth of poverty. This essay seeks to briefly discuss why the Aboriginal people and women in Canada are more susceptible to poverty. Women and Poverty in Canada Women and poverty in Canada are closely linked because of several reasons; key among these reasons is the structural factors which work together to ensure that women become more vulnerable to poverty. The adoption of a different model or economy which involved cutting down of social services has worsened the income level of the low income segment of the population. Despite signing and ratifying of international agreements like the Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), there still exists a limited guarantee to effect the protection of women rights in the country (Marika 1). Women are also victims of poverty in several other ways which are dependent on issues of race, ethnicity, sexual orientation and linguistic background. The categories of women experiencing poverty are: those women who raise families single handedly or rather families that are headed by women, senior or aged women, single women, immigrant women, migrant women and those women who suffer from particular forms of disability (Marika 1). The following are the factors that contribute to the poverty of women: First is the gender related roles; this is whereby women are only restricted to household roles. At some instance women are supposed to forfeit their jobs or they may refuse job promotions in order to take care of their children whereas men are not permitted to do that. This has the negative impact on the wages of women or on the accumulation of pensions. Consequently, majority of the women only perform part time employment. Household chores is not factored in on human development index or in the computation of poverty index, hence the assumption that women are poor (Marika 1). Furthermore women are paid low wages for their work; most of the women work is supposed to be free like the caring of children, the elderly and the disabled. These jobs are not considered valuable or skill based hence attracts small pay (Marika 1). Aboriginal Poverty in Canada Just like women, aboriginal people also suffer from poverty. The causes of this poverty are the lack of education, cultural destruction, unemployment and discrimination and traditional beliefs. Lack of education: limited or lack of education means that the aboriginal people are geographically isolated which has the impact of disadvantaging them when compared to the urban communities. Low or no education at all makes the aboriginal people unable to secure high paying jobs that can support their families (Hoeppner 161). Destruction of culture and rootedness of traditional beliefs: the cultural background o
Executive Summary This report deals with the Salford Christmas Land project. The event will be held during November and December. It is aimed at providing a pleasant Christmas experience to the community and developing an important touristic attraction. The city council will attract sponsors and local entrepreneurs. One of the major objectives is also to facilitate communication between people of different backgrounds to help the inhabitants of Salford to address diversity issues. Introduction Purpose This report includes detailed information on the project Salford Christmas Land. The Salford Christmas Land project is a family event for members of the community as well as guests of the city. The major theme of the Christmas event will be diversity, which is a topical question in the city council as well as the community ( Equality and diversity 2014). Background It is necessary to add that Salford is famous for its attention to festivities, and Christmas is one of the major holidays for all people. The city council has arranged various events both free of charge and those that had certain fees ( Salford’s Christmas countdown 2013). At that, the city has never had a grand Christmas event that would make people relax and reflect on an important issue as well as develop particular skills to address the issue. This year, it is possible to help people have fun and learn more about diversity in the community and ways to handle it. Since the major stakeholders are children, this will be a valuable experience. Literature Review Before considering the exact plan for the Salford Christmas Land, it is necessary to choose the most appropriate approach to handle it. Such major methods of activities estimation as analogous, bottom-up, parametric, and simulation exist (Richman 2011). The analogous approach is based on the analysis of the previous event, its costs, duration, flaws, advantages, and so on. This information helps to develop a plan for an event that will take into account the previous experience. Parametric modeling is based on the use of complex mathematical parameters and standards to estimate the costs of an event. The bottom-up model is based on the estimation of costs of all individual works and estimation of the total. This approach is quite complex as the estimation should be quite detailed (Richman 2011). The simulation model is based on the use of the computer simulation where the specific software estimates the costs (duration, and so on) of the project and provides possible alternatives. This is a costly approach as it requires purchasing the necessary software (Richman 2011). The analogous model is the most suitable in this case as it does not require significant investment (compared to the simulation) or complex calculations (compared to a parametric approach or bottom-up model). To assess the success of a project, it is possible to u
Introduction Since its attainment of independence from British in 1919, Afghanistan has had a turbulence history characterized by foreign invasions, sectarian wars and poor governance. From the 1980s the Taliban, which began as a resistance group fighting against the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, has played a key role in the affairs of Afghanistan. While the Taliban governance may have appeared to be limiting the rights and freedoms of Afghans by their strict enforcements of religious laws, they brought about relative peace and stability by ending the near anarchy state that ensued following Afghanistan’s splitting along ethnic lines after the Soviet withdrawal in the late 1980s. Following the US led invasion of Afghanistan, the Taliban lost the almost absolute control it held in the country. However, the Taliban is still a potent force and the group still has some influence in the county. Through the course of the last two decades, Taliban has made a number of reforms which affect the lives of the people in Afghanistan. This paper shall argue that Taliban reforms are by the large good for the wellbeing of Afghanistan citizens. To buttress this assertion, this paper shall give a detailed description of some of the Taliban reforms which resulted in an improvement in the lives of the people of Afghanistan. Arguments for Taliban Reforms One of the most significant reforms by the Taliban was the crushing of the drug industry in Afghanistan. Afghanistan is hailed as the world’s biggest opium producer and its production capacities are reported to have increased significantly following the toppling of the Taliban regime. While it would be a fallacy to assume that there was no poppy cultivation during the Taliban reign, it is a well documented fact that on July 2000, the Taliban “issued a decree banning opium poppy cultivation” (Perl 2). Following this decree, the drug production was almost stamped out of the Taliban controlled regions in Afghanistan. This reform demonstrates the Taliban’s commitment to establishing a drug free Afghanistan. However opponents of the Taliban rule have argued that the Taliban regime did in fact encourage the production of poppy and subsequently used the poppy-derived income to fund their arms purchases and training of their police. This is a view that is refuted by Whitaker who concedes that the Taliban only threatened to allow the resumption of opium production in light of imminent military action against them by US in 2001. In addition to this, the invading forces and the interim government that replaced the Taliban showed great reluctance in putting pressure on local farmers to stump out poppy production. One especially damaging report by Nathan of the USA today magazine affirms that the Afghan authorities continue to enjoy up to 12% in taxes from opium sales. Arguably one of the most notorious laws by the Taliban was the strict application of Islamic law which in some instances compelled doctors to “cut off the hands and feet of thieves in accordance with the Shariah”. Another significant reform by the Taliban justice system was that killers were tried pr
Introduction The industry of market research was orderly, predictable and fairly calm in the past days when professionals worked for suppliers and companies in marketing departments. These professionals worked in an environment with well defined space and roles. As such, they were specialised in research where they assessed various attitudes that affected consumer behaviour (Peck & Payne 2008, p. 13). In addition, statistics, survey designs, voter behaviour, and sociology became an important strategy in marketing. This was followed by apprenticeships where professionals were promoted to project directors from research assistants. A bit of predictability and stability were obtained in this system of market research, but it did not last for long. In the recent past, many organisations have experienced a growth in customer relationship management, market research, data mining, and competitive intelligence. It has become a crucial strategy for companies to clearly understand their marketing approaches as well as identify and know each of their customer’s taste and needs since this information is fundamental in marketing (Powell 2010, p. 300). Besides, understanding the customer’s requirements helps organisations to open new markets and services that suit the needs of their clients. On the other hand, it is thought that an individual customer is equivalent to an atom of business, and a group of individuals comprise a market with huge potential for demand. Role of Market Insights in enabling Outside-In Strategies Insight in marketing plays an important role in shaping the strategies of outside-in companies. Insights that are strategically useful address the real needs of the customers, identify places of weakness where other companies are likely to exploit, give possible explanations concerning customer defections and ways of retaining them, predict the likely outcome if a company cuts prices of selected products, and choose the most
In a world of rapidly changing economic situation, the role of a leader for a development of any company is of a great importance. Leadership may be identified as a set of personal qualities of an individual, which inspires motivation in other people to move toward a definite aim. One way or another every person is involved in the leader-follower relations in many spheres of human activity. Apart from responsibility, every authentic leader should possess some qualities. A successful leader must have an adequate knowledge of psychology, in order to be a good judge of character. A leader should possess a quality to defer to opinion of others and to postpone own interests to the public welfare. At the same time, it should be distinguished between a leader who possess the leadership skills and between a person who is just vested with authorities of a leader. Hogan, Curphy and Hogan state (as cited in Bolman, & Deal, 2008) “the skills of one-half to three-quarters of American managers are inadequate for the demands of their jobs” (p.8). That is why the leadership studies and their practical application is of a great importance for a successful functioning of a company. In my opinion, the person who fully possesses the qualities of a true leader is the famous business magnate Bill Gates. It seems to me that the reason, which has predetermined his success, is that Gates has an optimistic view on a problem no matter how complicated it is. At a young age, he had a dream to provide every family with a personal computer. That time this goal seemed unattainable. Now we can see that nothing is impossible. Apart from his unquestionable professional expertise, this person has a quality, which is necessary for every leader. He has persuasion skills and the ability to lead the way. When in 1980 the IBM Company entered the market of personal computers, Gates had a reputation of one of the leading specialists in this sphere in the USA. Tim Paterson created the operating system, which was called Q-DOS. Then Gates and his friend Allen bought and upgraded this system. At first sight, it seemed that this buying was a failure for the Microsoft, but Gates even at that time was result oriented. He realized all the long-term perspectives of this project. The IBM Company assumed obligations to sell the computers produced by them only with this system paying interest to the Microsoft. During his entire career there was a wide range of successes and misfortunes, nevertheless this person was always able to take a risk. It seems to me, that in spite of his extreme wealth, Gates has never worked for the sake of money. He was carried away by enthusiasm and was able to captivate others with his ideas. Moreover, his approach to the organization of a working process is rather in
Introduction Although many nations in the world remain politically focused wherein politicians of a country strive to protect their country’s sovereignty, many nations in the world continue stay away from universal inclusiveness, simply because each nation contains citizens with quite different ideologies. The differences exhibited in ideologies among citizens in a given nation; limit universal integration and inclusiveness of nations of the world. In addition, within a nation, the sense of inclusiveness remains unknown and therefore, the community’s political sovereignty remains imaginable. It is, therefore, true that many nations are far from universal inclusiveness. Nations universal inclusion In the present world, nation’s universal integration and inclusiveness continue to diminish with the setting in of political governance, which sets restrictions on both local and national boundaries, which further limits national inclusiveness. Philosophers observe that communities of many nations in the world today have little knowledge about communities of other nations and therefore, they live in an imagined community in which they just imagine that others do exist, but they have not met them although they all live in the same nation (Benedic 1991, p. 6). Because of the local boundaries, in this sense, therefore, members of the nations do no integrate freely. Boundaries demarcating nations limit universal inclusiveness as each nation regards and protects its sovereignty. Another limitation involves the definite procedures in membership of different nations to international organizations such as the United Nations. Many argue that at every definite time, the United Nations contains a definite number of members and therefore, the non-member states fail to enjoy national inclusiveness privileges enjoyed by the member states (Cameron 2007, p.141). The limitation in this sense is the denotatively laid down process of membership, which would prevent willing nations from being members. These governing procedures deprive nations the prerogative of enjoying the benefits accrued from national inclusiveness of the member states of the organization. This same idea also trickles down to the individual countries whereby political organization in a country would have definite membership procedures, which translates to legitimate memberships and definite number of members accountable to the political movement. Non-members of these political movements do not delight on the gains generated from the inclusion of different peoples and cultures in the political movement formed. Furthermore, the inherent sense born in minds of many people from different nations in the world belonging to a particular nation limits national and international inclusion since everyone fights to establish and preserve his/her national values and sovereignty. Accordi
Abstract African American men are at greater risk of developing malignant prostate tumors than Hispanics or white men are. This risk factor necessitates the need for public health interventions to improve the health outcomes of this population. The M-PACT project is a public health initiative that aims to enhance prostate cancer screening by blacks through public education. It is based on the public need for interventions meant to increase healthcare service utilization. This paper evaluates the economic principles underlying community health needs assessment of the initiative and the health economics relevant to the utilization of the service. The Need for the Public Health Initiative Ethnicity or race is a major risk factor in prostate cancer. The risk of prostate cancer is 60% more in black males than in their white counterparts (Saunders, 2012). Blacks are also two times more likely to succumb to prostate cancer than white men are (Saunders, 2012). Given the cancer health disparities, there is a clear need for a public health initiative to create awareness and improve the outcomes of the at-risk group. A community health needs assessment (CHNA) centers on the identification and evaluation of the determinants of health to support the prioritization and planning for the unmet needs (Cookson, Drummond & Weatherly, 2009). In Maryland, the University of Maryland’s M-PACT initiative has a goal of enhancing prostate cancer awareness in the black population (Saunders, 2012). One of the underpinning principles of this initiative is a focus on the needs of the disadvantaged groups. The economic evaluation focuses on the project’s needs that are not satisfied by the current resource allocations. It helps identify the opportunity cost of the initiative, i.e., an alternative action with the best possible outcomes for the target population. Another principle is that an evaluation should generate optimal results per unit cost for the identified need. The aim is to attain the best possible health outcomes without exceeding the budget. It entails a cost-benefit analysis of an initiative to determine its cost-effectiveness in addressing the unmet needs (Cookson, Drummond & Weatherly, 2009). All the relevant costs and outcomes of the intervention are reflected in the analysis. It must also capture the potential tradeoffs in reducing the health inequalities. Macroeconomic vs. Microeconomic Program The M-PACT initiative seeks to support informed decisions on prostate cancer screening to promote population health. The economic gains of an intervention are usually based on microeconomic evaluations. Microeconomics focuses on utility maximization and decisions at the individual level while macroeconomics describes the “sum total of economic activities, such as growth, inflation, and unemployment” (Getzen, 2013, p. 41). Building
Culture in Organizations in Canada Organizations in Canada can be characterized as ones who base their development on the principles not of the strong hierarchy and centralization, but on the possibilities for the communication and interaction on all the levels in the company for achieving the best results. Thus, managers in Canada accentuate the effectiveness of teamwork and involving a lot of people in the decision-making process as equals (Carter, Giber, & Goldsmith, 2009). In this situation, it is possible to focus on creativity and individualism in solving definite problems and completing the organizational tasks. Behavior Canadians can be considered as self-confident and praying their individualism and personal freedom, but quite open to the discussions for gaining the results. Moreover, the peculiarities of the behavior also depend on the region of the country. Thus, “there is tension between the French province of Quebec and other Canadian provinces. Citizens of Quebec tend to be more private and reserved. Ethnocentrism is high throughout Canada, but particularly in Quebec” ( Canada business etiquette & culture ). In spite of the fact, Canadians are quite open to innovations, changes, and differences; they can be rather strict in relation to the following definite rules and norms (Carroll, 2009). Results-Orientation When Canadians work, they are oriented to the best results of their working process. Thus, they do not hesitate to implement the necessary changes in the working process according to the effects which are provided. It is typical for employees and managers in Canada to find the most effective and efficient ways for achieving definite goals and for the realization of the necessary strategies while arguing and debating the most controversial aspects of the problem with expressing the personal vision of it (Dobuzinskis, Howlett, & Laycock, 2007). The possibilities to use these ideas should be openly discussed because of the principle of transparency (Parker, 2011). Hofstede’s Five Dimensions for Canada To determine the level of the 5-dimensions model’s realization in Canada, it is necessary to examine the situation for the country as the whole one, without dividing it into two parts according to the language used. Power / Distance This dimension is used to determine the level of social equality or inequality in a definite country according to which the relationship in companies and administrations is organized. The high level of power/distance is characterized by the development of centralized companies with strong hierarchies, and the low level is characterized by focusing on supervising and teamwork ( Hofstede’s cultural dimensions ). According to this criterion, the score of Canada is 39, which can be considered as rather low. The managers in companies concentrate on communication, information exchange, and consultations. Thus, “hierarchy in Canadian organizations is established for convenience, superiors are always accessible, and managers rely on individual employees and teams for their expertise” ( What about Canada? ). Individualism This dimension accen