ShantanuT01/DACTYL-Pretraining huggingface dataset:
Introduction Southwest Airlines has a rich organizational culture. The company has been accredited for excellent customer service due to its fun-loving attitude, warrior spirit, and servant’s heart that emphasize living the Southwest way (Johnson et al. 22). In this light, the human resource factor of the company has played a significant role in the enhancement of efficiencies resulting in the need for expansion to widen the scope of operations and success. Southwest Airlines struck a $1.4 billion deal with AirTran Airways in a bid to expand operations (Merkert and Morrell 854) This move implied that the company’s cancelation of flights to smaller cities would be reduced, thus resulting in more operations in various destinations. Therefore, the human factor had to be catered for in a bid to facilitate an effective merger that would observe the company’s core values that focus on customer satisfaction. This paper will highlight the human resource aspects of the Southwest Airlines and AirTran Airways merger through the utilization of a SWOT analysis to identify the pertinent HR factors before recommending strategies for improved operations. HR SWOT Analysis A SWOT analysis focuses on the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats that a company faces in its operations. Strengths Southwest Airlines has recorded impressive financial gains in the recent past. In the 2013 fiscal year, the company recorded a $754 million profit, which was the highest since 2008. In the first half of the 2014 financial year, the company’s cash flows were above $1.6 billion (“CAPA Centre for Aviation” par. 3). In this perspective, the company has portrayed the potential for the growth of its workforce and becoming the preferred employer due to its financial stability. The company upholds a healthy domestic network that has safeguarded its demand in the US market. The firm’s network of domestic flights resulted in an 8% revenue growth of its passenger unit in 2014 that made the company record the highest gains in the US in its category. The company’s merger with AirTran has facilitated the increase of its seating capacity, which has seen the company acquire a substantial market share of 8 out of 10 cities in the US in 2014 (“CAPA Centre for Aviation” par. 5). In this regard, the expansion of the workforce to uphold the company’s core values in the increasing destinations is essential for its growth. Weaknesses Southwest Airlines is faced with minimal revenue opportunities due to the rejection of the strategy to allow custom tailoring of the traveling experiences. Therefore, the
Introduction The Itaipu Hydroelectric Power plant was constructed on the Parana River that flows through Brazil and Paraguay to provide power and act as a source of water, is the world’s largest hydroelectric power plant with a capacity of 12,600 Mw, an amount high enough to meet the power demands of London for 3 years. The dam was a joint effort between Brazil and Paraguay at a total cost of approximately $ 18 billion, as a result, a consortium of the two countries known as Itaipu Binacional manages the dam, electricity from this project generates about 72% of the energy requirements of Paraguay and almost 28% for Brazil. Its construction began in 1975 and was completed in 1991 (Civil Engineering Portal, para. 1). A large number of workers were involved in the construction of the dam; about 40,000 of them coming from all over Brazil, some of whom lost their lives during the construction process. The total length of the dam is 7235 m and is 196 m high, it is made up four different dams. As of 2009, Itaipu had 20 power generation units and each produces 700 Mw. An aerial view of the Itaipu Dam. Construction In February 1971, the companies contracted
Analysis of the recruitment process To improve its operational efficiency, Parsons Brinkerhoff is in the process of recruiting an experienced construction manager to oversee the construction of the Eglinton-Scarborough Cross-town LRT transit project. To attract a large number of applicants, the company will advertise the position in the newspaper. Additionally, the firm will also use the internet in advertising the position. The advertisement will stipulate the various requirements for the candidate. For example, the selected candidate should have the capability to perform diverse tasks such as managing the personnel, ensuring on-site construction safety, and executing quality control tasks. In executing the managerial duties of issuing contracts, the candidate must adhere to the Ontario Human Rights Commission stipulations. Some of these stipulations relate to ensuring that contracts are issued competitively. Additionally, he should act by the law by desisting from any form of discriminative acts such as based on age, gender, disability, age, race, and creed when issuing contracts. The manager must also be able to perform the necessary administrative tasks by the company’s client’s requirements. He or she should also possess good communication skills to relate well with the various parties. Analysis of the selection process To select the most qualified candidate, the construction manager will be sourced from the external labor market. To be effective in its recruitment, the company will tap into both the local and foreign labor markets. According to Mathis and Jackson (183), sourcing human capital from the foreign labor market can be very challenging. To be successful, the company will take into consideration the existing laws in the foreign labor market. In the foreign market, the company will seek approval from local labor authorities. To be effective in its recruitment process, the firm will form a recruitment committee of 10 individuals. The members of the committee will be selected internally from the various departments. The committee will be composed of board members, an administrator, a chairperson, the recruiter, and a construction staff member. Their role will be to identify the sources of human resources, develop the interviewing process, evaluating the job applicants to identify the most suited candidate for the job, and to assign specific responsibilities. The selected recruiter will also develop a contacts and prospects list and evaluate the applicants’ cr
In the course of the recent fifty years, the endorsement and guideline measures for drug specialists have developed and expanded in multifaceted nature. The uncommon projects have been added as the utilization of proxy measures has been empowered. The FDA subsidizing expected to actualize and deal with these projects has been tended to by growing industry-paid client charges (Oram, 2016). The FDA has progressively acknowledged not so much information but rather more substitute measures and has abbreviated its audit times. The historical backdrop of medication advancement in the country is one of proceeded with progress accentuated by ground-breaking occasions, and entry of the Kefauver-Harris Amendments and the Modernization Act are two of those extraordinary occasions. They controlled the showcasing of conventional medications to shield them from being sold as costly drugs under new trademarks. 1962 Drug Efficacy Amendment to the FDCA 1962 Kefauver-Harris Amendments portrayed a fitting logical approach and guaranteed drug adequacy prior to available sales. 1962 correction by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) presented a prerequisite for scientists to give confirmation of the adequacy and safety of their medications before endorsement. It required medication publicizing to unveil precise data about results and halted modest nonexclusive medications being advertised as costly ones under new business trademarks as new advancement prescriptions (Bonson, 2017). The U.S. law requires testing of new medications before endorsement to guarantee that they give a characterized advantage that is similar to their dangers. The correction was a reaction to the thalidomide misfortune, wherein a huge number of youngsters were brought into the world with birth absconds because of their mothers taking thalidomide for morning affliction during pregnancy. The bill required medication makers to give verification of the adequacy and security of their products before endorsement. Thalidomide had not been endorsed for application in the U. S. and that the disastrous birth abandons that happened were in different nations. Frances Oldham Kelsey was the FDA analyst who would not approve thalidomide for use (Ruberg et al., 2019). There were congressional hearings and discussions about the requirement for satisfactory and controlled preliminaries, including points. For example, randomization, regardless of whether fake treatment-controlled preliminaries were moral, and why specialists ought to be blinded to the investigation prescription. During the years following the section of the Act, FDA proclaimed guidelines that characterized and set norms for these preliminary attributes while recruiting analysts to survey the ampleness of the proof (Ruberg et al., 2019). The util
Introduction Taxation is a process through which compulsory payments are levied on people, establishments and property to support political, economic and service delivery by the government. Tax is defined as a payment remitted to fund government services/programs. History of taxation The concept of taxation is traceable to 13 th century. It is believed that the French and the Latin initiated the concept as government source of revenue. However, existing literature suggests that tax existed in multiple forms across different civilizations. Leaders in power imposed and collected tax from their subjects as a way of funding operations. Items taxed and form of tax varied from one jurisdiction to another (Jaffee, 2012). In ancient Egypt, Pharaohs taxed cooking oil. The taxes were collected by scribes that ensured all subjects paid taxes as appropriate. In Greece, tax was only paid during wars. Proceeds obtained in the result of taxation were used to purchase weapons. In the Roman Empire appointed people (publicani) forcefully collected gifts from people in markets and offered to Emperor Caesar (Jaffee, 2012). On the other hand, in Britain, taxation is traceable to the 11 th century when Lady Godiva agreed to ride through the streets naked if only her husband would agree to lower taxes charged on peasants (Atkinson, 2009). Key points of taxation Taxation involves multiple points including:   * It is charged as a percentage of value of an item, property, or establishment (Li, 1991).   * It is charged over a specified period of time   * Tax percentage is based on income levels   * Covers a specified age bracket Pros and cons of taxation Taxes, like all other aspects of public policy have its advantages and disadvantages. Its advantages include:  1. Taxes are used to fund government operations. Such operations are useful to both the government and the general public.  2. Distribution of wealth. Wealth is distributed through subsidies government offer to the poor through tax generated funds.  3. Regulating consumption. In some instances taxes are increased o
Introduction The World War I and the events that preceded it had significant and long lasting implications on modern art. There was an explosion of innovation and creativity both in technology and art during the period 1 . The automobile and the airplane are some of the recent technologies that quickened the pace of human life and triggered a lot of curiosities and ambition among people 2 . Artists from different places of the world started converging in European cities such as Paris and London where there aligned themselves with artistic movements such as cubism, constructivism, futurism, and imagism among others 3 . The paper aims at analyzing the role that the World War I played in shaping the modernism movements in the arts both before and after it took place. World War I implications: how they influenced modern art Among the modernists who prevailed before the start of the war were the futurists led by Filippo Marrinetti 4 . He launched the movement in 1909 in his famed Futurist manifesto 5 . Just like the other avant- garde artists, the futurists resented everything that was representative of the older schools of thought and expressed a sense of hope for the future through science. Other artists such as “the painters Umberto Boccioni, Carlo Carra, Giacomo Balla and Liugi Russolo later joined Marrinetti” 6 . The works of the futurists as evidenced by “Boccioni’s The Street Enters the House (1911) reflect their admiration of speed, technology, violence, youth, the car and the airplane which are all representatives of the technological triumph over nature by humanity” 7 . This movement in modern art tried to integrate the dynamism of the machine age that contributed to the emergence of the war with art 8 . They bore the ‘smear of madness’ 9 proudly. The objected the serenity and harmony that was represented in earlier artistic pieces. They praised scientific inventions as they paralleled their worldview of the future. 10 Fred kleiner 11 considers Artistic excitement to have reached its peak in 1914 when the First World War began. The war was responsible for the horrors that saw a generation of young men wiped out across the European continent and those who survived left with mental conditions that completely changed their lives 12 . The war triggered the catastrophic Russian revolution forming the foundation for worse conflagration that came to take place decades later. For the artists and most of the people in Europe, the time that preceded the World War I, the actual war period and the aftermath of the was presented a period of profound disillusionment 13 . The people as well as the artists were completed with the values that the great civilizations wanted a new representation of the reality as it was. Modernism depicts the break away from the Victorian bourgeois morality and the optimism that was represented by the art works of the 19 th
Introduction Ever since its creation, cinematography served as a mirror of society. Through the representation of different opinions, norms, and traditions in cinema, it is possible to make an impression about the social and cultural tendencies of the time period as a whole. The representation of women and sexuality has been steadily shifting ever since the beginning of the 20th century and well into the 21st century. Bit by bit, women claimed their liberty for social and sexual representation in films. The views on women in cinema are evolving along with the society. Acceptance of women as individuals and as independent characters comes hand in hand with acceptance and normalization of different sexual identities. The purpose of this paper is to reflect on the image of women and homosexuality in modern cinema by analyzing the film titled “Pariah” (2011) by Dee Rees and compare it with the standard staples of the Production Code films, aired in the 1930s-1960s. Women, Homosexuals, and the Society in the 1930s-1960s Before we talk about “Pariah,” it is necessary to talk about the Motion Picture Production Code. It was developed by Will H. Hays in the 1930s, and its purpose was to protect the society from “disruptive influences” and susceptibility to low moral standards (Halberstram, 2017). In other words, the Production Code was a censorship tool. Among the most frequent offenders of the Code were scenes of murder, open sexuality, homosexuality, and rebellions against racial and gender norms. The majority of the movies featuring gay characters or women trying to lodge their way into independence or push away from traditional gender roles were usually set up for a tragedy or failure (Smelik, 2016). This trend reflected the views of the society towards women and homosexuals in the 1930s – 1960s – homosexuality was considered a hard taboo, whereas women who did not wish to comply with their roles were perceived as morally weak and unworthy (Rudy, 2016). One of the examples of vilification of homosexuality can be found in the 1941 film titled “The Maltese Falcon,” which depicted one of the characters, Cairo, as morally bankrupt, in order to avoid persecution by the followers of the Hay’s code. The Code was officially abandoned in 1968, which heralded the gradual return of women and themes of female sexuality into the American cinematography. Racial Undertones in Pariah “Pariah” is a unique film. The majority of the motion pictures involving the description
Introduction The objective of this review is to provide a synopsis of the events surrounding the Second World War as presented in the book by Robert Alexander Clarke Parker The Second World War: A short history (1997-2001) . This review seeks to establish whether the content of the book reflects the actual happenings that took place during the Second World War. The review is further meant to analyze the author’s motives and attitudes when compiling the writing and establish whether he is prejudicial or not. The review will explore the author’s feelings, reasons that prompted him to write on the issue, and the sources he used in the work in a bid to determine its credibility. Finally, this review will explore the strongest as well as the weakest issues depicted in this piece of work. Summary of the book This book offers a sweeping survey of all the events that took place during the Second World War in a simple and clear manner, all wrapped up in a single volume. It seeks to explore the causes of the war, how long it lasted, and its short-term and long-term effects on humanity. It also gives a clear picture of the severity of the war as well as its participants and perpetuators. The book takes the reader through the war and comprehensively describes the events as they unfolded in the period between 1939 and 1945. In addition, it gives a brief summary of the historical crisis that characterized the period in question. It places Britain and Europe at the centre of the war and analyzes deeply the role of the two in the war. According to the book, the war started as a geographical war at first with Germany fighting Poland in order to control it (Parker 2001, 9). The war later turned continental, when Britain and France intervened to oppose the move by Germany and declared war against the latter. This move prompted Russia to join the war by attacking Poland from the south and controlling a great section of the country. The author traces the cause of the war from the Europeans and the Germans who were the key participants in the crisis. He assesses the strengths and weaknesses of each participant and strategies that each used in the fight. The author conveys a clear picture of the events that made this war different from any other that came before this historical one. Packer is unbiased when writing this piece of work and he narrates the entire story without taking sides. Critical analysis Robert Alexander Clarke Parker wrote this chef-d’oeuvre book with the assistance of a team of historians. The author is a European historian with great experience in the field. He worked as a history lecturer at the University of Manchester (Will
Introduction When science revealed to the world about Darwin’s evolution theory, it suggested that human beings evolved from apes. Based on this assertion, there was widespread public uproar because many people thought this fact was far-fetched (Derstine 1). In the years after this revelation, different religious groups debated how such scientific ideologies affected biblical teachings about human existence (Age of the Sage 1). Mainly, they debated whether it was necessary for the church to endorse such evidences, or support their faith, as they knew it. Although some sections of the Christian faith reconciled the evolution theory with mainstream religious teachings, some fundamental religious groups (mainly Protestants) preferred to adopt a strict position against evolution theories (US History 1). In 1925, religious fundamentalists pushed legislators to enact an anti-evolution law as a solution to what they perceived as an increasingly materialistic (scientific) world. This law was the Butler Act (US History 1). The Scopes Monkey Trial happened in 1925 as a contravention of the Butler Act . It involved a high school teacher, John Scopes who stood trial for teaching evolution to his students. The state charged the teacher with this crime because it was unlawful for such professionals to teach human evolution to students (mostly in public schools). The court found the defendant guilty of the crime and fined him $100 (Groce 108). This paper shows that this trial was significant to America’s social, political and economic development because it described the relation between the church and the state. Based on this understanding, this paper argues that the trial was important to America’s social and political progress by expounding on the debate surrounding the conflict between science and religion. In line with this realization, the major conflicts of the time included the clash between modernism and reli
Introduction Motivation refers to the drive that brings about certain behaviors in an individual. On a detailed perspective, motivation can be defined as the process that initiates, directs, and sustains goal-oriented behaviors in people (Bernstein, 2010). The three key components of motivation are:  1. Activation  2. Determination  3. Intensity Activation is the decision that kicks off a behavior. On the other hand, persistence is the continued effort that people put to achieve an objective (Bernstein, 2010). Intensity is the concentration and vigor that an individual puts to achieve set goals and objectives. Given all these facts, this paper will critically analyze the concept of motivation and the impacts it has on individuals. Sources of Motivation According to Shah and Gardner (2008), motivated characteristics that occur because of forces that originate from internal sources indicate internal casualty. On the other hand, the characteristics that are displayed by an individual due to the presence of external factors result in external casualty. Accordingly, enjoyment and pleasure are the major outcomes of people who are mostly motivated by intrinsic processes. This explains why people prefer to work together as a team because of the desired results that teamwork has in achieving the set goals. Consequently, people who are motivated as a result of instrumental rewards tend to strive to achieve certain goals due to the desirable outcomes that will accrue. Examples of these outcomes include an increase in salary, promotion, or winning titles such as the employee of the month. Such a notion is based on expectancy and equity premise because the source of motivation is derived from the exchange of relations. Therefore, the ideal status of an individual is achieved by adopting the role and expectations of reference groups (Bernstein, 2010). Furthermore, individuals seek to fulfill the expectations of others by behaving in a manner that will draw out a social feedback that is consistent with their self-perception. That is why individuals belonging to the same peer groups find it easier and indispensable to communicate with each other. Furthermore, self-concept motivation develops from an individual being primarily inner-directed whereby personal surroundings and internal standards are the source for ideal self (Bernstein, 2010). Motivation and Behaviors Motivation determines the goals that individuals strive to achieve and the choices they will make. As Sorrentino & Higgins (1996) explain, individuals desire to achieve competence and avoid ineptitude due to their desire to triumph. This is the basis of the achievement motivation theory. Consequently, this theory attributes that a significant determinant in attainment behavior in people is their desire to thrive and avoid failure. Thus, motivation bo