ShantanuT01/DACTYL-Pretraining huggingface dataset:
Introduction Author Andrea Dworkin once said, “The discovery is, of course, that ‘man’ and ‘woman’ are fictions, caricatures, cultural constructs. As models, they are reductive, totalitarian, and inappropriate to human becoming. As roles they are static, demeaning to the female, dead-ended for males and females both.” (source B). In the essay “Women’s brains” Stephen Gould analyses several works by various authors on the inferiority of women (source B). Notably among these authors is Paul Broca whose work Gould strongly refutes. Gould also uses George Eliot’s work “Middlemarch” which laments the lives of talented women. Judith Cofer in the “Myth of the Latin woman” sheds light on the role culture plays in the demystification of women (source C). Judith narrates her life in Latin America and the role her upbringing played in shaping the woman she is today. William Shakespeare cuts his niche on the debate about the power that women behold. In his play entitled “Macbeth’’, Shakespeare depicts the activities of four women who make a considerable influence on the course of events that lead to the rise and fall of Macbeth. Lady Macbeth is portrayed as an initiator and a planner who designs her husband’s rise to the throne. Paul Theroux in “Being a man” explores the challenges that men face especially in America. Paul likens the idea of ‘being a man’ as an insult and abuse. He analyses the pains that a man has to undergo in his everyday life. Paul says that this difference in superiority is destructive, emotionally damaging, and at least socially harmful (source D). Women’s Brain In this essay, Eliot observes that the idea of females being weak is only due to the inconvenient indefiniteness nature has fashioned them. Eliot goes on to discredit the measurements carried on by various researchers to determine and reach a conclusion that women are less intelligent than their male counterparts; Broca’s work reached a conclusion that a woman’s brain is much smaller than men and therefore, inferring that men are more intelligent than women receive a rejection from L. maneuver. Manouvrier opposes the mere use of numbers by Broca to christen women as inferior. According to maneuver, women are no lesser beings; they’ve got talents and philosophical authorities. The use of numbers, commentaries, and touches of sarcasm go beyond the ancient deductions b
Introduction At present, many businesses have acknowledged the importance of paying a lot of attention to the issues of sustainability. Social equality and environmental concerns are being put to the fore by many organizations. It is also necessary to note that the 2008 crisis which is often associated with the ignorance of principles of sustainability has also shown that it is essential to adhere to these principles (Jackson, Boswell and Davis 2011). The Triple Bottom Line (TBL) and the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) are aimed at developing a more sustainable business environment on the global scale. These initiatives are based on quite similar principles. Moreover, it is possible to note that GRI is a more comprehensive and detailed version of the TBL. This is the major reason why I would choose this reporting initiative as a manager of a company. The Triple Bottom Line Reporting Initiative To understand major peculiarities as well as advantages and downsides of both initiatives, it is necessary to define them. The TBL reporting initiative is employed in business accounting “to further expand stakeholders’ knowledge of the company” (Jackson, Boswell and Davis 2011, 56). Robins (2006, 2) provides quite a precise definition of the TBL reporting initiative which “aims to extend decision making and disclosure so that business decisions explicitly take into consideration the impacts on society and the environment, as well as on proﬁt”. Clearly, this approach makes companies address three major issues when reporting, i.e. financial data, data on social and environmental sustainability. This approach was developed in the 1990s. Companies started including data on their social and environmental sustainability initiatives in their financial reports. According to surveys implemented in the early 2000s almost 70% of big European corporations and 40% of corporations in the USA exploited the approach in 2002 (Robins 2006, 4). Robins (2006) also stressed that the scandals of 2001 associat
Manuel Martinez’s short fictional story “What the Dead Know” invites the reader to imagine if dead people could be massively resurrected. According to the plot, this process started suddenly in hospitals for an unknown reason and continued for twenty-seven months. People who returned from the dead did not see any mystery in this situation; however, it caused significant disturbances to their families and the scientific community. The latter began investigating the inciting event for the wave of resurrections and discovered that the new particle accelerator caused the event. When society became uncomfortable with their behavior and a different attitude to life, the scientists developed a method to send all of them back. Martinez’s story demonstrates the conflict between the brutal honesty of the resurrected dead and the unprepared minds of the living, who were unable to reject the established societal rules. Such supernatural incidents as described in this story could be distressing for people. Indeed, some story characters died suddenly from the intense emotional disturbance. Others were shocked by the impoliteness and unacceptable openness of the resurrected. Furthermore, living people had a psychological struggle with admitting this behavior because society does not permit direct expression of one’s thoughts and violent opposition against some accepted forms of injustice. It appears that all these emotional struggles of the living can be described as the opposite of grief. Moreover, the psychological burden was accompanied by some legislative issues that eventually forced people to send these people who had risen from the dead back. The most prominent characteristic of the resurrected dead in this story was the ability to appreciate the present moment. Indeed, these people were not concerned about eternal life or external opinions; thus, they were focused on now. Like the characters of New Age novels, the resurrected did not differentiate between good and evil, viewing everything as an experience. However, their most distracting feature was the ability to speak the truth, something the living could not do even in the midst of the mass murder. To sum up, Martinez’s story is a revelation of society’s inability for authenticity. The conflict between the living and the resurrected dead shows that the only thing that seems to help people to value the present moment and be truthful is the experience of death. Sadly, most people remained silent when all the resurrected were returned because it was more comfortable than defending ethical values.
How can business ethics and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) complement an organization’s aims and objectives? Every organization has a code of conduct that governs the behavior of its employees on how they relate with each other and their customers. Business ethics can therefore be described as the application ethical values on business behavior and operations. Winstanly and Woodall (2000) say that business ethics involve every aspect of the business including accounting practices, treatment of employees and clients, as well as its operations (p. 78). It is important to note that business ethics apply on both individual employees as well as companies as a whole. Corporate social responsibility on the other hand is the approach that companies take to address the impact of its core operations on the social and corporate environment. Winstanly and Woodall (2000) further say that CSR also entails the contribution that a company makes towards the wellbeing of the communities it serves both locally and internationally (p. 81). Some scholars would describe CSR as giving back to the community part of the profits businesses have made from the same community. Reilly and Williams (2006) assert that for an organization to demonstrate responsibility towards the communities that it serves, it needs to observe ethics such as honesty, openness, integrity, trust and care for the environment (p.91). The above marks the connection between CSR and corporate ethics. The main aim of a corporate is to make profits. However, there are other aims and objectives that if not achieved will frustrate any company’s core business operations (Reilly and Williams 2006, p. 95). Harmony with its customers and surrounding community and good relationship with customers are some of them. Business ethics and CSR help a corporate to achieve the above mentioned policies effectively contributing to the main aim of making profits. Business ethics in other words help a corporate to achieve or work toward fulfilling their missions, achieving their visions, and adhering to their core values. What is the business case for an ethical approach to HR management? According to Winstanly and Woodall (2000), ethical management of employees in business has not been given much emphasis throughout much of corporate history (p.1). The subject of ethics has been emphasized in the business relations with clients and the environment ignoring the critical element of ethical management of employees. Winstanly and Woodall (2000) further add that there has been little debate about serious incorporation and enforcement of managerial ethical approaches in HR policy and practice (p. 1). The HRM field has also deliberately overlooked the issue of incorporation of ethics into HR practice. There is increased curiosity among professionals of other disciplines about the apparent lack of analysis on ethical running of HR. the most drastic ones even seem to think that HR itself in totality is not ‘ethical’. Since the late 1990s, scholars have increasingly become vocal in their calls for the ethical rearmament of HR to ensure they display some ethical sensitivity and awareness. HRM is pr
Rationale I have specifically chosen Progress by Max Cougar as my topic for further research because of the sheer contemporaneity and importance of its subject. Technologies are becoming more advanced with each day, and so does communication. The real question, though, is whether this advancement heads toward the right direction. Although it is hard to believe that technologies could ever substitute face-to-face conversation, with the current tempo of scientific and technological development anything can become possible given enough time. Being a common user of technologies myself, I think it would be logical to investigate the issue as Max Cougar did. In fact, many of the things that were told by Max in his presentation had already been known to me or at least assumed by me. However, in order to better understand and realize the context of the issue regarding communication through technologies, it would take more than one presentation. My goal is to establish whether the advancement of communication does indeed affect society in a detrimental way, or it is just a necessary evolution process we have to go through. Progress by Max Cougar Oswald Max’s choice of combining recorded and in-person speech was his way of displaying the difference between the effects of the speech made in person and the one using modern technologies, and, ultimately, proving his main point – the necessity of drawing the line where the abundant usage of technology may turn into decadence. He did this in order to show that even though using technologies for conversation is easier, it would not provide the same effect as speaking to people in person. Max provides us with his personal examples of how technology, notably Facebook, has changed the true meaning of friendship. He mentions that despite having thousands of friends on Facebook, he barely even knows them. Max also questions the effects of multitasking that is provided by technology today by stating that “quantity is vitiating quality” (“Progress”). He backs up this claim with an example of how multiple conversations in online chatting distract people from giving their full consideration to what is being discussed in those conversations. As a frequent user of online technologies, I find this statement to be rather true and corresponding to the actual reality. Max also discusses the cheapness of today’s communication because of how easy and accessible it is. His reasoning for making this claim is that compared to letters that were written centuries ago, the current way of delivering information takes away the meaningfulness of messages. I partially agree with this, as the efforts to write a letter were indeed much higher, but, at the same time, it all depends on how one can write a message. By switching from the recorded presen
The company selected for the market opportunity analysis is IKEA in USA. The Swedish company basically deals in textiles and furniture, and operates in more than 38 countries of the world (IKEA, 2011). IKEA is considered as the world’s largest furnishing business. Hence, it has a global demand. IKEA has also high demand in the US market and is currently succeeding, but it is not yet able to overtake competition in the furniture market in the country as it did in the other parts of the world. The income of the American consumers is relatively high as compared with other markets, but IKEA is not able to attract higher end of the market, because it is not able to understand it. IKEA has a strong brand name however the American people have not yet recognized the innovative ideas of the company in the furniture sector. To move up the competition ladder the company should review its strategies and focus on the demographic segregation of the market which is very important in the US. Larger urban areas of the country are more prosperous markets for IKEA. The company must only focus to expand in these urban areas and it should not lose energies on the other sectors. The younger Americans, and budget shoppers, especially college students have higher potential to appreciate IKEA’s modern and stylish furniture in the urban areas. IKEA can use advertisement techniques specifically directed at this market segment to generate consumers’ attraction. IKEA will have to understand the culture of America, so that Americas find their products more appealing. IKEA is considered as a cost leader and it has a great advantage over its competitors because it sells products 30 to 50 percent below the price of its competitors in the world (Zeller & Dimitriadis, 2002). The economy of the US is strong for business, yet there are tough laws for international companies, especially the environmental laws (Daly, IKEA Marketing Plan, 2011). One way of making itself more attractive IKEA will have to adapt an eco-friendly policy of using non-wood furniture. The competition in the US is tough becau
The case in point is an accident that happened to Mr. Geringer, a father of the Geringer family, and his son, on the Wildhorn Ranch. After Mr. Geringer and minor Geringer, the son, drowned in an accident due to the poor condition of the boat and the corresponding equipment on the ranch, Mrs. Geringer filed a case against the owner of the ranch under the pretext of negligence which caused her husband’s death. As soon as the claim was filed, the defendant made it clear that the diseased did not wear life jackets, which was completely against the rules established in the Wildhorn Ranch, Inc. In addition, the fact that Mr. Geringer used the boat that has been secured to the shore, according to the defendant’s evidence, was also taken into account as a justification for the owner of the Wildhorn Ranch, Inc. In the course of the case, the idea of the corporate alter-ego was also presented to clarify the actions of the Wildhorn Ranch, Inc. owner: The theory of corporate alter-ego requires plaintiff to show that an individual consistently disregarded the formalities of the corporate form and so dominated the affairs of the corporation, in a manner which injured the plaintiff, that to continue to acknowledge the legal fiction of the corporation would promote injustice and harm public convenience. (Geringer v. Wildhorn Ranch, Inc., 2010) Therefore, it must be taken into account that the defendant had several points for justification. In addition, it is worth noting that the defendant had several motions before and during trial; however, neither of these motions was accepted by the court as legit. Thus, the court holding, in the result of which the defendant was considered to be the guilty part, can be considered as doubtlessly correct. According to the court decision, the basic principle which made the tipping point in the case was whether the Wildhorn Ranch Inc. shoul
Introduction Violent crimes often cause serious negative impacts on the victims, relatives, and the state. Hence, the public and the state have openly condemned and engaged in discussions that seek to help in deterring the persistence of violence. Scholars have researched widely and offered different perspectives that can help to develop strategies for preventing violent crimes. However, before developing any policy, it is important to understand the nature and trend of crimes among other features. This ensuing discussion provides a precise analysis of violent crimes. The goal is to show how such offenses can be prevented. Differences among the National Measuring and Counting Systems for Gauging Crime According to Reiss, Roth, and Miczek, criminal acts can only be regulated if they are properly measured (404). Therefore, effective systems for computing violent events need to be established. Indeed, one single act can result in several offenses. For example, a homicide case reported by the media can involve other crimes such as illegal possession of firearms, murder, and possibly robbery with violence. Foremost, the United Crime Reports system (UCR) comprises statistics of criminal acts recorded in law enforcement institutions and the actions that the responsible agencies take against such crimes. Secondly, the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) death registration system comprises records of mortalities elicited by violent acts and details on their occurrence. Medical examiners generate and keep these statistical findings. The National Crime Survey (NCS) is also another measuring system, which works through retrieving demographic data to determine the criminal cases within a given period (Reiss, Roth, and Miczek 411). To interpret the findings of cases of violence, the NCS utilizes data from the Survey of Occupational Injuries and Illnesses (SOII) and the National Hospital Discharge Survey. Injury Surveillance System (ISS) is also used to quantify violent crimes through keeping statistics of victims who seek compensation and individuals who seek treatment of injuries that result from criminal incidents. Notably, the UCR and NCS systems are used to count and categorize the specific acts that translate into violence. The UCR keeps a record of very serious crimes such as homicides cases and the perpetrators who were apprehended at the crime scenes. Conversely, the NCS measures victimizations from violent incidents. It caters to the cases that are not reported to law enforcers. When NCS an
Reading has always been my hobby, which enabled me to take fascinating journeys, visit new countries and learn about new cultures without leaving my room. By exercising my mind and using my imagination, I can experience a full range of feelings, such as sorrow, empathy, admiration, and joy when reading a book. Every book tells me a story about its author, his/her views, and cultural experiences to broaden my scope. For these reasons, I decided to take this African American literature course, which can benefit me with new knowledge of this unique culture and its phenomena. When reading the novel Flight to Canada by Ishmael Reed, I have learned the main features characteristic of a new black aesthetic and Reed’s individual style. In his novel Flight to Canada, Ishmael Reed blurs the boundaries between the prose and poetry as well as the past and the present to express his satirical criticism of the legacy of slavery even after its official abolishment. By establishing the link between the narrative of Raven as an escaped slave and the late-twentieth-century practices of social, economic, and aesthetical discrimination of black artists, Reed combines his personal experience with the satire of the times. From the opening pages of his narrative, Ishmael Reed uses the category of time to create a link between the historical condition of slavery and the oppressive cultural environment of then-contemporary culture, which discriminated against him as a black writer. The novel starts with a poem entitled “Flight to Canada,” in which the protagonist Raven Quickskill tells a story of his escape from slavery. “I flew in non-stop/ Jumbo jet this a.m. Had/ Champagne/ Compliments of the Cap’n/ Who announced that a/ Runaway Negro was on the/ Plane…” (Reed 3). Raven, who acts as the author and the protagonist of the poem at the same time, tells about his past in an ironic key, making fun of the tragic episodes of history. This poem demonstrates Reed’s attempts to reconsider traditional slave narratives. By intertwining the story of Raven’s escape and his own searches for creative liberation, the author of the novel establishes the relationship between the subdual of African Americans under the system of slavery and the cultural practices of the twentieth century restricting the civil rights of black artists. By comparing the cultural practices of commodification and exploitation of African Americans within the two historical periods, Reed juxtaposes his own destiny as an African American writer in the late twentieth century with Raven’s situation as a slave narrator. Thus, the author uses the category of time to create the link between the practices of material and spiritual slavery and criticize its legacy in the late-twentieth-century community. In contrast to