ShantanuT01/DACTYL-Pretraining huggingface dataset:
The case under analysis tells about the conflict between an English expatriate and his Barracanian successor. The present paper is aimed at analyzing the problematics of the case, possible solutions and their limitations. The interview was between Baker, the chief engineer leaving to Canada, and Rennals, a young and ambitious engineer of Caribbean Bauxite. Rennals was thought to become Baker’s successor but the interview was a failure because the latter made some remarks that the former perceived offensive (Evans 817-821). Baker did not realize that he may have sounded offensive because he, personally, would rather regard his statements as complimentary. The cause of misunderstanding is the cultural differences that can be subdivided into several aspects. First, Barracania is a communitarian culture while the UK society values individualism, as per Trompenaars’ cultural dimensions (Vance and Paik 56). The dimensions of communication mainly concern emotionality as opposed to neutrality and specificity versus diffusion. Emotional messages are attributable to Barracanian culture while the UK and other Anglo-clusters are neutral with their speech. Diffusion of Rennals’ culture is the reason he seems detached and unwilling to open up. The specificity and instrumentality of Baker’s communicative style mean he does not put any hidden meaning behind his words, while Rennals, accustomed to the indirectness of his native culture’s communication, has to elaborate a context and thus interpret what was said. The problem needs to be solved to avoid further misunderstandings like this one. Indeed, culture clashes seem to be a common cause of offense that is likely to divert valuable human resources. Executives like Baker have to learn how to use motivational techniques properly to avoid confusion. For instance, although Baker did acknowledge Rennals’ nationalistic drive, he failed to assume his intrinsic communitarianism as the main factor motivating him to be promoted. Complimenting Rennals on his progressiveness, Baker places him above his compatriots. Boosting his self-esteem could have worked if Rennals belonged to another cultural context; as a Barracanian, Rennals does not distinguish himself among his peers, which is why he is offended. Another important point is that Baker hinted at the Barracanians’ modest experience with the industry as opposed to the European one. For a nationally conscious person like Rennals, such remark sounded offensive because he thought Baker (and other Europeans) were stereotyping his culture as underdeveloped. Baker may not have meant to be offensive but the choice of the wrong motivation and the unawareness of the peculiarities of Barracanian culture (which relies heavily on context and elaborate communication) resulted in the conflict. A possible solution for Baker would be to choose a different motivating factor when appraising Rennals’ work. He should have been aware that Rennals’ culture was communitarian and diffuse and that his communication style consisted of emotive messages hidden in the cont
Willa Cather’s novels are often seen by students as being overly ‘common’ in their depiction of frontier life in Nebraska. Perhaps this is the reason why so many individuals tend to question her placement of specific elements of her stories, such as the segment entitled “Winter Memories” in her novel O Pioneers. While the novel essentially follows the love stories of two different couples, this segment is devoid of the male influence, relating Alexandra’s life almost exclusively with only the occasional foray into her world by the ‘loose’ Marie, a married woman romantically linked with Alexandra’s youngest brother. However, a close reading of the first line of the segment reveals Cather’s intentions in including this portion of the story which are reinforced throughout as she continues to emphasize the idea of women being free to be themselves. The first sentence of this segment makes it clear that Cather is attempting to give her female characters a chance to understand their true desires and intentions free of the male influence. The first words one reads upon turning the page to this segment are: “Winter has settled down over the Divide again; the season in which Nature recuperates, in which she sinks to sleep between the fruitfulness of autumn and the passion of spring” (Cather, p. 81). During this period in time, women were largely the subject of the men they were associated with, being required to acquiesce to male ideas and plans. This has been demonstrated throughout the book as Marie exists in a loveless marriage to Frank Shabata and Alexandra has refused her own longtime love interest, Carl Lindstrum, in deference to her brothers’ petty jealousies. Following this segment, the two women will be required to make decisions based on how they feel about the men in their lives, free of the influence of others. This segment, as Cather makes clear, is the season in which women, frequently associated closely with concepts of Nature, are given time to recuperate, to relearn who they are and what they want for themselves. As the women settle back into their normal routines, free of male influence and design, Cather illustrates the freedom this represents for them in the arrival o
We are able to change the statement “house of brick house “ to the “brick house.” This is mainly because the first statement refers to a particular house and the material used to set up the structure (Strumpf and Douglas 2004). We cannot however equate the statement “ the home of elephants” to the statement the “elephants’ home” because from experience we know that a home can only be made of certain materials and in no way can living creatures be part of these materials. This is the main reason why we need to add an extra ‘s’ to make the statement the elephant’s home make sense. This is because the latter statement does not necessarily refer to the material used to build the house but to the ownership and occupancy of the structure (Hurford 1994). The extra ‘s’ is used to indicate that a number of elephants own the place in question and this serves to get rid the dispute between ownership and structural components. This is mainly a grammatical statement and like many statement’s of its nature it refers to a given item (Murphy 2007). As it is in this case, the statement tries to set up a clear distinction between the physical characteristics of a structural component and its other features. In essence, the latter statement tries to create a sense of ownership while the earlier statement creates an idealistic view of the materials used to build the house. This is a grammatical paradox and would in essence call for an extensive detailing of the statements’ components just to make sure that the issues of contention are well addressed (Elliot 2006). Reference List Elliot, R. 2006. Painless Grammar. United States: Barron’s Educational Series. Hurford, J. 1994. Grammar: a student’s guide. United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press. Murphy, R. 2007. Essential grammar in use: a self-study reference and practice book. United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press. Strumpf, M. and Douglas, A. 2004. The grammar bible: everything you always wanted to know about grammar but didn’t know whom to ask. Maryland: Holt.
Introduction Environmental issues have raised significant concerns and attention in society due to climate change and pollution problems. Using technologies that reduce waste and increase productivity is the current trend in many companies. Our industry is very technological and, in that way, it is always new inventions and improvements, which create competitive advantages for different companies. To stay competitive there, it is essential to be ready for constant development, keep track of scientific progress, and implement new technologies as soon as possible. As the environmental theme becomes popular, companies in our industry begin to use green messages in their marketing programs to reach the advantage. The situation is that the competitor company of our firm started to use technologies which will allow them to cut their prices significantly. We examined our own technologies and developed the process of sensor production, which requires less energy than before. No one of our competitors has such a technology, and it is our advantage that we should use to maintain our market share. In addition, with the popularity and importance of green technologies, we can use such a message to reach an even more competitive advantage. It will require the throughout evaluation of our technological processes and incorporation of the green strategy in our company and, it that way, will lead to drastic changes in it. Although such changes will require hard work, they will be beneficial for the company and the environment, and my position is that they should be implemented. The Decision As a company CEO, I decided to use the ecologically friendly message in our marketing strategy. We will state that our sensors are produced with reduced energy usage while admitting sincerely that the production wastes are not directly reduced yet. Still, as our new technologies enable us to produce sensors more efficiently, the amount of waste will be reduced in any case, as the less usage of energy generates fewer wastes connected with this. Because the energy required for the production is reduced, more sensors will be produced using the same amount of energy as before. In addition, the company is working to achieve the actual wastes reduction, and our customers should know about our tendency. Incorporating such a green strategy is a large-scale decision for our company, and it will affect all its levels. However, those changes will be progressive and productive, and we should embrace them both to increase our incomes and make our production more environment-friendly. There are several other elements of this decision: one of them is that natural compound usage is irrelevant for our product. It is not necessarily more environment-friendly if the natural
Arab countries are becoming more influential in the nowadays world; that is why there are also successful business companies there. One example of such companies is Saudi Business Machines (SBM) that was founded in 1981 by the Juffali Group. It has evolved from a serviced office of the International Business Machines (IBM) that was established in 1956 to provide services to the Arabian American Oil Company (ARAMCO). In 1986, it became IBM’s General Marketing and Service Representative. In 2001, SBM was the first Saudi IT provider to be granted ISO9002 Certification of quality ( SBM Corporate Timeline, 2011). Today, Saudi Business Machines employing more than 900 project managers and certified consultants of almost 40 nationalities is the company with the largest human resources in the region ( SBM Facts and Figures, 2011, para. 11). Like any other business organization, SBM has its business mission and vision. Its mission is “to unleash the power within enterprises and organizations to allow them to transform their own industries” ( SBM Vision and Mission, 2011, para. 2). SBM’s vision is “to evolve as a fluid learning organization, to be the foremost hub for IT knowledge creation and to be a magnet for brilliant minds” ( SBM Vision and Mission, 2011, para. 1). To achieve its vision, the organization turns out products and offers services. Among the company’s main products are hardware systems and servers, storage systems, printing systems, points of self-service and sale, personal computers and software for business analytics, content and information management, etc. ( SBM Products, 2011). Among
Founded in 1997, Netflix Company has grown and is currently well placed in the movie rental industry of America. Despite its outstanding performance and quick recovery from the global financial crisis of 2010, the company is currently facing the dilemma of a sustainable positioning strategy due to the current hostile business environment. The threat of competition, non deliveries on Saturdays and the 28-days delay before delivery of new films has put the company in a fix (Cholewa et al. 305). Thus, this reflective treatise attempts to develop a product branding strategy and market segmentation for Netflix in order to remain competitive in the sensitive film industry of America. Product development In order to remain afloat, Netflix Company should offer the Kiosk model as part of its product brands in order to retain its customers that would be affected by the 28-days delay period before delivery of new films. Reflectively, the kiosk model will facilitate timely distribution of the films to clients and increase the returns since the aspect of convenience will not be compromised. Besides, unlike its competitors, the company has better distribution network that might facilitate implementation of the kiosk model. Through the kiosk model, the company will offer films to its customers in convenience stores across its distribution channel. The kiosk model will counter the non deliveries on Saturdays since clients will be in a position to directly purchase from its virtual kiosks. Consumer segmentation The kiosk model targets home user consumers who form the majority of the Netflix market catchment. Since this target group frequent movie store, Netflix will be in a position to conveniently direct the customers to their designated delivery points and stores without having to directly deliver. The company should merge the strategy with advertisements since this group of consumers has access to social media. Due to exposure to information sources such as new papers, television, radio, and magazines, product announcement through these avenues will come in handy. Decision on the best product relies on information feedback after multiple exposures to different competing products. As forecasted in the market research, this strategy will be successful towards dominance as it offers a variety of options to consumers, while at the same time, maximizing benefits of economies of scale to the company. Marketing Mix The marketing mix is a selling model which is made up of four elements. These elements include price,
After retirement, the lives of many people change rapidly and dramatically. Most people begin to feel useless, lonely, and socially isolated. Many older people strive for opportunities to show their unrealized abilities, and trying to help other people might be a great way to do that. Volunteering may become their incentive to continue self-development and overcome age restrictions. It can be an essential component of their socialization and improvement of the self-esteem for older people, for the strengthening of their physical and mental health and stress-resistance. Volunteering is one of the best ways to combat the loss of social value, as it makes the elderly people feel needed, helps with maintaining social skills and improves their psychological health. Volunteering is the best way to break the stereotype of older people’s perception as a burden for society. When retirement changes the social environment of a person, there is a break in many social ties. In my opinion, this is a significant problem because the loss of social activity often results in loneliness and depression. According to Brown and Okun, a person does not feel that they belong to a community of citizens who benefit society (171). The elderly themselves often do not know how to use their potential for public and personal benefit. Therefore, for them, participation in volunteering becomes something more than just leisure time spending. From the perspective of a comprehensive approach to the re-socialization of the elderly, volunteering is an ideal option. Researchers note that it combines the realization of unclaimed knowledge and skills of a person and the desire for a socially active life. It also fulfills their needs for communication, education, restoration of lost social ties, and the acquisition of new ones (Brown and Okun 173). Based on my personal experience of participating in volunteer projects, I can say that volunteers, while doing the necessary work, can at the same time meet their own social needs. For an older adult, communication with clients of a volunteer organization is an opportunity to lead an exciting social life. Volunteering improves mental health and can have a positive impact on a person. Incredibly, helping others can improve the mood more than if they did something for themselves. The biological mechanisms by which altruism can enhance psychological health have been identified. Performing actions aimed at helping others encourages the body to release dopamine, which provides a good mood. In some cases, volunteering can help reduce the symptoms of depression. According to Brown and Okun, helping others can ease the impact of daily stress (Brown and Okun 170). Volunteers also begin to adapt more quickly to different life situations. It was helpful to learn that selfless help to others increases stress resistance and improves a person’s mental and emotional state. Volunteering is a way for older citizens not to reduce their social activity after retirement, realize and apply their knowledge, skills, and experience to live for others’ benefit. Even such severe reasons as limited mobility, disability, and old age are not an obs
The American intercontinental university [AIU] is a higher educational institution offering associate bachelor’s and master’s degrees. This institution is owned by the profit-making Career Education Corporation. This institution was established in 1970 and is located in Atlanta, Georgia in the United States. Some of the degrees offered by the AIU online program include bachelors and master’s in marketing, criminal justice, and education among others. Enrollment to AIU online is open was by; all those who apply are admitted based on their academic qualifications. Within this institution, all students are given equal opportunities and optimum fairness is practiced in the process of admission. Based on the discussion, student satisfaction should be the main objective of the AIU; which can be achieved through several strategies like increasing the number of degree programs offered by the institution. By so doing, this will meet the increasing demand for higher education and also ensure adequate vacancies to meet students’ choices. A wide diversity of online degree programs by AIU; will also ensure the admission of students adequately across the globe. Being an international institution; the AIU is bound by an unlimited demand of degree programs in different areas, thus the need for its expansion (Braxton et.al. 1997). Integrity in the university operations is very essential to students’ satisfaction in various aspects like enrolment, grading of graduates, good control and also the monitoring of learning. There has been an allegation of misrepresentation of programs and classes especially by the Los -Angeles campus; which included the admission of students who never graduated fr
Introduction People struggle with the conceptualisations of abnormality/normality, disability, and the ability of the human body. In the development of this debate, the main question that emerges is how (ab) normality and (dis)ability are constructed. Normality refers to “constituting, conforming to, not deviating from or differing from the common type or standard, regular or usual” (Davis 24). Conceptualisation of abnormality and normality in relation to interpretation of the perceived normality of performance of the human body drives developments in the medical body of knowledge. Historically, the goal of ‘medicalisation’ has been to enhance the correction of perceived physical or biological abnormalities to conform to normality. In every aspect of human life, the concept of normality is explored. For instance, in literary works such as novels, authors “create and bolter the image of normalcy through comparisons, deconstructions and processing of abnormal vs. normal images of human experiences (Davis 44). People are born with differences in terms of their physical and biological constitution of their bodies. For instance, at birth, some people can hear while others cannot hear. Others are born infertile while others are born fertile. What do people then consider as normal? In the case of infertility, is it mandatory for people to sire children for them to uphold conformance to the perception of normality? In the debate on ability and disabilities, another important theoretical question is whether perceptions of what is normal and abnormal are adequate grounds for prescription of certain medical interventions to enhance conformance to perceived normality. For instance, does cloning of human beings lead to correction of dis (ability) concerns in terms of fertility. This paper discusses this question with reference to an article titled “World’s first GM babies born” appearing in the Daily Mail Online within the paradigms of freedom of choice, (ab) normality, and (dis) ability developed in the lectures. Overview of the article Genetic modification of human beings is a topic that attracts heavy debates on both ethics and appropriateness of conducting such a medical endeavour in the name of ensuring that people otherwise deemed infertile are given an opportunity to have children carrying their own DNA makeup. From a very young age, people
Demand Estimation The estimation of demand for a specific product a company sells is a significant component for conducting performance analysis of any business. Thus, all decisions related to whether a company should enter the market, whether there is a need for lowering or increasing the prices, how the production capacity should be planned directly relate to demand estimation. Using calculating the estimated demand, a manager can direct the business decisions linked to the future demand for a particular product (“Demand Estimation” 1). A method of calculating estimated demand is illustrated in Figure 1: Fig. 1. Estimated Demand Calculation (“Is This How It’s Done?”). 2016 Demand Forecast for LG and Mitsubishi Industrial Air Conditioners If the LG AC system’s prices have increased by 20% since 2010, the 2016 price will be approximately 38000+20% = 45600. If the price for the Mitsubishi AC has decreased by 25%, then the estimated prices will be 49500-25%=37125. The analysis of the data table on the prices and total sales of AC systems shows that there is a pattern of overall sales increase that is not threatened by the increase in the prices for air conditioners. Furthermore, it is important to note that the second quarter of the year exhibits the most demand and sales since April, May, and June are months when the air temperature significantly increases. Substitute Commodity and Cross-Elasticities A substitute commodity is essentially a substitute for a particular product. Thus, when the price of one commodity increases, the demand for its substitute will rise (Econogist par. 2). Cross-elasticity of demand is an estimate which indicates “the percentage change in quantity demand for a good after the change in the price of another” (Economics Help par. 1). It is calculated by dividing the percentage of change in quantity demanded of good (QD) of one good by the percentage of change in the price of another good. Concerning LG, the price of which has increased by 20%, and the GD of its substitute has increased by 5%. The estimated cross-elasticity will equal +0,25. Complementary Commodity Price Estimation A complementary good or commodity is a product or a service that is directly linked to the operation of another good. If a price for one item declines, the public tends to buy the complementary product regardless of whether it increases or not (Hill par. 3). In the market of AC systems, electricity is a complementary commodity, the price of which is predicted to rise by 38% in 2016, taking into account an overall pattern of electricity price changes shown in the table. Adv