ShantanuT01/DACTYL-Pretraining huggingface dataset:
Introduction The chapter “Process-Oriented Quality Management” analyzes the identified concept about its most common features and components. The author uses an Integrative Management model to apply four of the most widely accepted quality management concepts (TQM, Six Sigma, BPR, and KAIZEN) to the generalized holistic quality management to determine their relevance for educational organizations. Quality Management According to the author, three paradigms central to the concept of management can be recognized: orientation at customers in favor of sellers, focus on overlapping processes rather than rigid hierarchies, and the decisive role of quality before sales and production volumes. Based on these paradigms, the author introduces the encompassing terms “process orientation” and “quality management.” The author argues that the former is often used as one of the dimensions alongside potential and result, which makes it necessary for inclusion in the holistic approach to organizational management. One of the reasons behind such wide recognition is its alignment with the modern approach to management that abandoned strictly defined organizational structures and functions in favor of a more integrative, process-driven approach, leading to the eventual adoption of horizontal business processes. An integrative approach to management is further clarified as comprised of four principal dimensions – normative, strategic, tactical, and operative management, all of which are interconnected and mutually influential. Once the boundaries of the integrative management and process-oriented quality management are determined, the author proceeds with outlining four of the most influential quality management approaches and evaluating them for consistency with the requirements of the Integrative Management model. The first approach, KAIZEN, relies on a three-step refinement model of process refinement before its use. While the approach is strongly oriented towards customers, it does not contain a holistic system-oriented approach and therefore cannot be considered an integrative management concept in the true sense. Instead, it should be perceived as a philosophy with numerous useful techniques and a focus on the innovation of processes. The second approach, Business Process Reengineering (BPR), is meant to facilitate major quality and process improvement through radical redefinition and subsequent restructuring of business processes. In a sense, BPR can be considered an approach opposite to KAIZEN due to its scale and rapidity. However, it also does not qualify as a holistic approach – instead, it facilitates a condition necessary for the introduction of integrative management. The third approach, Six Sigma, introduces a set of specific and customer-relevant quality criteria, key processes, and strictly defined improvement methods. The calculation of the results is automated, leading to a high degree of accuracy and reliability. In addition to measurement, such a
Problem Identification Cosmetic injections have become increasingly popular in recent decades. According to the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS, 2016), out of over 15 million minimally-invasive cosmetic procedures performed in the United States in 2016, over 7 million involved injections of Botulinum Toxin Type A and over 2.5 million procedures included soft tissue fillers, such as collagen, hyaluronic acid, calcium hydroxylapatite, and others. Since 2000, the number of minimally-invasive procedures performed annually has increased by 180 percent (ASPS, 2016). Cosmetic injections are widely perceived to be a safe alternative to plastic surgery. Indeed, if performed by a professional, the procedures yield satisfying results with virtually no consequences or side effects. However, some people still experience local side effects of different severity, such as inflammations, infections, asymmetries, allergic reactions, or even skin necrosis (Dumitrascu & Georgescu, 2013). According to recent studies, most of the side effects are not due to allergies, as previously believed, but due to the formation of biofilm (Dumitrascu & Georgescu, 2013). Dumitrascu and Georgescu (2013) define biofilms as “groups of microorganisms in which cells stick to each other in a three-dimensional structure, on a given surface” (p. 192). Biofilms are usually resistant to antibiotic treatment due to their outer layer, which consists of a protective polymeric substance offering antibiotic resistance (Sadashivaiah & Mysore, 2010). Biofilms can consist of several different microorganisms, including bacteria, protozoa, and fungi, which means that they can cause different types of infections (Sadashivaiah & Mysore, 2010). The concept of biofilm remains relatively new to dermatology, with few studies available on the formation of biofilm post-cosmetic injections; however, it is needed to explore the ways of preventing biofilm formation from reducing the occurrence of side effects and complications. According to Conrad, Alipasha, Thiru, and Kandasamy (2015), biofilms can cause delayed onset of sterile abscesses, as well as inflammatory responses similar to allergic reactions. Kim, Ahn, Jeong, and Suh (2014), on the other hand, argue for the involvement of biofilms in the formation of granuloma, which affects up to 1% of patients after cosmetic injections. Ozturk et al. (2013) add that “All fillers, especially longer-lasting products, are potential surfaces for biofilm formation” (p. 870), which is why it is crucial to generate an effective framework for the prevention of biofilm formation. “The guidelines on the best infection control practices for intradermal, subcutaneous, and intramuscular needle injections” (Hutin et al., 2003) have been issued by the WHO in 2003. They are still applied to cosmetic injections in the U.S. and the rest of the world. The guidelines stress the use of sterile injection equipment, prevention of contamination, needle-stick injuries, and access to used needles, as well as the use of appropriate hygiene equi
Introduction There is a great deal of controversies and contradictions surrounding the relationship between religion and public schools. On one hand, the public school system is not supposed to interfere with the affairs of the church, and on the other hand, religion is not expected to manifest itself within the state-school system. The gist of the church-state interaction is covered by the First Amendment of the United States Constitution. There are two clauses that act as guidelines to the church-state relations. The first clause “gives citizens the right to freely exercise religious convictions and the other one prohibits the government (including taxpayer-funded public schools) from establishing religion; meaning granting favorable treatment” (Alexander, 2011, p. 43). The nature of the laws that govern church-state relations is that they are brief and subject to several interpretations. For instance, it remains to be seen how much students and other staff members can be allowed to ‘express their religion’. Various court cases have been used to address and provide interpretations in matters concerning the churc
Literature Review State Transport Undertakings Since independence, the Indian bus industry has grown exponentially and dominated the transport industry. State Transport Undertakings (STUs), which are groups of companies owned by the public, dominate the bus transport industry. The rapid growth of the bust industry is evident as the number of buses has increased at the growth rate of 6.8% from 56,800 in 1961 to approximately 1.887 million in 2014 (Singh & Jha, 2017). STUs has dominated the bus industry and remained more competitive due to its organisation when compared to disjointed private companies. The analysis of performance indicates that STUs owns 137,000 buses and employs 700,000 workers, which have generated 15 billion bus-kilometres, 500 billion passenger-kilometres and transported 23 billion passengers (Singh & Jha, 2017). These figures demonstrate that STUs play a significant role in the bus transport industry in India. However, despite its dominance and competitiveness in the bust transport industry, STUs face numerous challenges that have made it decrease in efficiency, effectiveness and profitability. Profitability Factor Profitability is a key performance gage in various organisations, including companies in the transport industry. In a study to determine factors that influence profitability in the transport industry, Saripalle (2018) established that age, market share, liquidity and debt-equity ratio are marked predictors of profitability. Organisations that have existed for decades with large market share, high level of liquidity and low debt-equity ratio tend to perform better than recent companies. The analysis of the performance of STUs in eight cities in India revealed that swelling costs of inputs and declining productivity are two significant factors that have contributed to persistence occurrence of losses (Fatima & Kumar, 2014). The costs of labour, fuel and materials have increased considerably in the past 30 decades, resulting in diminished profits of STUs. Given that costs determine the profitability of transport companies, the application of an appropriate costing mechanism is critical. The use of activity-based costing method in the urban mass transport is relevant because it provides an accurate determination of unit costs, establishes resource allocation method and eliminates haphazard estimation of overheads (Popesko, Zamecnik, & Kolkova, 2016; Dwivedi & Chakraborty, 2016). The increasing costs of labour, fuel and other materials need accurate costing to enable STUs to manage their operations profitably and sustainably. Efficiency and Effectiveness Factors Inefficiencies and ineffectiveness have made STUs incur huge financial losses. Current stat
“Her First Ball” by Katherine Mansfield is a beautiful short story published in 1921. It describes the emotions of a country girl named Leila when she goes through her first experience of dancing with men. The ball serves as an occasion to expose the innocent excitement of a young girl when she enters her life dominated by men. When it is seen through the fantasy world of Leila, the story attains the level of a fairy-tale. Leila is just opening up in her life, and the thrill and anxiety which an ordinary event like a ball produces in her is the essence of the delicate story written by Mansfield. This paper gives a brief analysis of the character of Leila. “Her First Ball” is to be taken as Leila’s first exposure to her society. The way she reacts to the new situation enables the writer to show it as the emotional reaction of any girl placed in such a situation. The story begins with a description of her loneliness in society. She has no brother. Therefore, she hardly got a chance in her life to experience the emotional responses of a young man. She says, “Our nearest neighbor was fifteen miles” (Mansfield). It shows how much she was cut off from the social life which a girl living in towns enjoys or experiences. The very journey to the ballroom in a cab with the Sheridan girls gave her the excitement of a ball: “the bolster on which her hand rested felt like the sleeve of an unknown young man’s dress suit; and away they bowled, past waltzing lamp-posts and houses and fences and trees”. In other words, Mansfield makes it abundantly clear that Leila is a very inexperienced girl. This serves as a great contrast to the scene in the ballroom where she dances with a middle-aged man. Leila represents the female point of view. It is through her that the readers get the female fashion, age, customs, and traditions. Catherine describes very minutely the way the ladies fix their looks in their room before the ball begins. This is what attracts Leila too. “She was only at the beginning of everything”. Her struggle to get tamed with the dance as it proceeds cannot go unnoticed. Only she finds that the floor is slippery. The dance, thus, becomes a metaphor for learning to balance her on the slippery ground of life. The writer says that “she floated away like a flower that is tossed into a pool”. As the readers continue to enjoy the music and the sight of the rhythmic movements of life in the form of dance by young men and women, an elderly man is introduced. He serves as a contrast to the vitality of life, to remind them that dullness and old age is after all that finally awaits everyone. Leila suddenly asks herself, “Was this first ball only the beginning of her last ball, after all?” Confusion steps in and “At that the music seemed to change; it sounded sad, sad; it rose upon a great sigh”. The middle-aged man made her frustrated. “She wanted to be home or sitting on the ver
It is reported that power corrupts even though in the real sense, it is the use of power that determines whether people with authority succeed or fail. In a local school, the new principal found himself between a rock and a hard place when the president of the board approached him and proposed that the vacant librarian position be reserved for her daughter. The principal was the party responsible for evaluating the list of recruits before the final list was submitted to the board of trustees for approval. The final decision on who was hired rested in the hands of the principal as per the school’s tradition. What made the situation tricky was that the daughter of the board president was not qualified for the post while the three other candidates had the required qualifications for the job. Do you think it would be right for the principal to hire an unqualified candidate on the basis of their interpersonal relationship? To influence the decision making process of the principal, the president assured him that she would get the board to support whichever policies that he brought forward. The principal considered how beneficial it would be to have his policies supported and approved by the board and so he gave in to the president’s demands. The outcome of this decision was that the performance of the new librarian began to raise question marks after a few weeks. This made the board to confront the principal and inquire why the other three qualified candidates were not appointed for the librarian position. The matter threatened to blow out of proportion when the three candidates who were not appointed heard about what happened and publicized the story during the next board meeting. The issue was resolved by the board agreeing to staff the three candidates in the school while retaining the president’s daughter as the librarian. Talk of a messed up situation. What would you have done at this point if you were a board member? One factor that contributes to the crooked nature of management systems is the need to survive. All persons are struggling to survive in the competitive world despite the tough economic times. Opportunities are no longer reserved for those who are qualified as the capitalist philosophy takes over in most parts of the world. In a free world, any person has the right to own property and succeed. Success is not only for those who work hard but for those who work smart. In this sense, unqualified individuals are using other means to achieve success. Since some people lack qualifications, elite backgrounds and relevant working experience, they use interpersonal influence to capture opportunities; e.g. the approach taken by the president of the board of trustees in the case (Du Brin 10; Pfeffer 214). Management of power is required in society because many managers fall prey to connection power and influence tactics that are used by their superiors (Du Brin 63). Those in power always try to influence our decisions through the use of bribes, threats and exchanging favors (173). Others attempt to use social networking so
Introduction Financial reporting is a significant task for all businesses, and they should invest much effort to cope with this assignment. Specific documents and templates exist to provide companies with assistance to present their information comprehensively and effectively. Form 10-K is among these documents because it helps publicly-traded companies describe their financial performance. Thus, the principal purpose of this paper is to explain the purpose of a firm’s 10-K and describe three essential items as well as their significance based on Ford Motor Company’s Form 10-K. Main text To begin with, one should state that Form 10-K is an annual report that the government represented by the US Securities and Exchange Commission obliges businesses to prepare. This document usually includes company history, risk factors, financial statements, and other significant data. As a rule, Form 10-K is requested by investors. It is so because these individuals can read the report to determine whether it is reasonable to buy or sell shares and whether they should invest in the business’s corporate bonds. It is not a surprise that investors can make the decisions above since Form 10-K interprets the firm’s financial strength. It relates to the fact that this detailed document offers both selected financial data and its analysis. Consequently, the firm tries to demonstrate that the correlation among earnings per share, executive compensation, and subsidiaries is attractive for investors. In addition to that, this document includes an income statement and balance sheet that are useful to show how much money a particular company can generate. Finally, the letters from the firm’s chief financial officer and chief executive officer are attached to ensure that the information in Form 10-K is valid and up-to-date. It is reasonable to comment on three essential items that are found in Ford Motor Company’s Form 10-K. The first item is called Business, and it is crucial because it allows stakeholders to understand the company’s background and how it makes money. In its Form 10-K, Ford Motor Company (2012) describes its market position, production process, sales volume, and others. Risk Factors stand for the second significant item to consider. Stakeholders can read this section to understand what problems the firm is likely to witness, and what their probable consequences are. As for Ford Motor Company (2012), these factors include financial crisis, decreased sales, failure to achieve growth, continued or increased price competition, and many others. A positive feature is that there are no unresolved staff comments in the Form 10-K under analysis. The final item relates to the Selected Financial Data because it helps inve
Introduction Throughout the history of humanity, people have always had a great number of various objects that had a symbolic meaning and played a great role in the life of society. The reasons why these artifacts were given such great power and significance were different, however, one should accept the role they played in the development of the whole world. Traditionally, these artifacts were closely connected with some religious or supernatural matters because being not able to explain some phenomena and having the need for the object of worship humanity believed in the unusual character of some common things. The combination of peoples beliefs, natural phenomena, and sociocultural conditions led to an increase in the role of artifacts in the life of society. Analysis Nowadays, the development of science resulted in the appearance of new knowledge that dispels a great number of myths, however, there are still some artifacts that are given a great deal of attention. The fact is that the majority of modern objects of worship are connected with religion as people need an idea to believe. One of them, Mecca, the sacred city of all Muslims, could be taken as the greatest artifact of the modern world which has an outstanding influence on the life of millions of people all over the world. This city is the main symbol of the Muslim world and has its own unique history. Nevertheless, there are several aspects that should be analyzed in order to understand Meccas symbolism and importance for people. Mecca is an ancient city situated on the territory of modern Saudi Arabia. It is believed that it was founded by Ishmaels descendants in the 1st century BC (“The History of Mecca” para. 1). Being a small town in the area, it was not given great attention until the birth of Muhammad. According to Islam, he was born in a cave near Mecca. This fact led to the reconsideration of the role of the city and an increase in its importance for people who adhered to Islam. Muhammad also had his first revelation in Mecca which resulted in the creation of the Quran and further development of the given religion. That is why very often Mecca is called the origin of Islam. Realizing the great importance of the city for their world, Muslims, headed by Mohammad, entered the city and conquered it. All people who lived there converted to Islam. This event could be taken as the turning point of the citys history because since that time the importance and role of Mecca for the Muslim world had increased. The rulers devoted great attention to the development of the city, building new mosques and promoting the spread of Islam in the region. Despite the lowering of political importance, Mecca remain
Introduction Capitals can either be tangible or intangible. While the tangible capital includes the physical wealth and assets such as plant, equipment, physical cash (capital) and financial capital among others (Adler & Kwan, 2002:19), intangible capital refers to the human and social capital mainly presented by individuals, human presence, intellectual property, skills and expertise availability to the organization. Human and social capital in the organizational context therefore is shaped by the degree of professionalism, skills and human expertise, intellect that is greatly entrenched in the career training and experience of the various human resources available to the organization (Brian, 2007:2). This paper therefore looks into how career engineering can contribute both social and human capital for the others in the society. Engineering (definition) According to Adler & Kwan (2002:19), engineering is a career field or profession in which individual acquire and apply technical, scientific and mathematical knowledge in designing and put into practice beneficial materials, structures, machines, devices, systems, and processes in a manner that enables them, others, organizations and institutions to realize their objectives or invention of goals in the most ideal and safe way. Specifically, human capital is the bank of knowledge. Consequently, pursuing a career in engineering as well as practicing engineering does not only lead to acquiring and accumulation of knowledge, but it also help an individual to develop essential such knowledge through continued practicing and experience that results from the later. Contribution of engineering career to the human capital Human capital is generally the capital that is presented either to a country’s institutions or to a business enterprise by the individual, personnel or rather human resources that belongs to it. As such, it is defined as the bank of knowledge, skills and expertise accumulated by an individual or worker and which increases his or her ability, efficiency, and effectiveness to perform the tasks that he or she is supposed to (Brian, 2007:4). Being a career and a profession, engineering contribution of capital resources to the society is virtually immense. First, the knowledge that is in possession of an engineer is very vital to the society both economically and socially. For instance, virtually all aspects of the economy and its well being entirely depends on the amount of engineering expertise that it posses. The sectors of the economy such as transport & telecommunication, physical planning and infrastructure development, incorporation of technology in sectors of governance, industrialization and trade development among others directly relies on engineering expertise. Consequently, engineering is one of the most important sources of human capital that drives the economy of a region. In addition,