ShantanuT01/DACTYL-Pretraining huggingface dataset:
Firm’s History Toyota is a Japanese company that deals in the manufacture of automobiles. It is a multinational company with operations across the world. The company was started in the year 1937 by a man known as Kiichiro Toyoda. He had inherited a company that dealt with the creation of automobiles from his father. The company has formed partnerships with other companies such as Hino Motors, Daihatsu, and Lexus to constitute the Toyota Motor Corporation. Before the formation of this corporation, the Company’s operation in the Toyota Industries had started back in the year 1933. The first product produced by the company was the Type A Engine that was produced in the year 1934 when the company was still operating under Toyota Industries. It produced a passenger car for the first time in the year 1936. The car was called the Toyota AA (Liker & Meier, 2006). Firm’s strategy The company’s strategy is guided by the word KAIZEN, which means continuous and consistence improvement. It aims at continually producing quality products and improving its production each day. Quality production has been essential for the success of Toyota. The stakeholders of Toyota believe that even the best things can be improved thus they always work towards improvement. Toyota has incorporated innovation in its business strategy in the bid to continuously improve quality production. In addition, Toyota also integrates differentiation and cost leadership as part of its business strategy (Liker & Meier, 2006). This helps the company to reach virtually all classes of customers, including high income earners, middle, as well as low income earners. This strategy facilitates its market segmentation. Market position Toyota operates in an industry that is highly competitive. There are many players in the automotive industry, with all of them competing for the largest market share. Some of the major competitors against Toyota include German Automobile Companies such as Audi, BMW, Mercedes Benz, Volkswagen, and Porsche. It also faces competition from Ford, Chrysler, and Fiat, among other companies. Despite the competition, Toyota has been able to occupy a leading position in the market. However, its position is constantly threatened by companies such as Mercedes Benz, thus it has to find ways of maintaining and improving its competitive advantage (Liker & Meier, 2006). Specific Area of Alignment Toyota is a big company that has a number of businesses. However, the major area of alignment to be addressed in this project will be sale of cars. This also happens to be the core business for Toyota (Liker & Meier, 2006). The company produces various car varieties targeting different classes of customers. This project will aim at identifying HR methods that can be adopted to improve the Toyota car sale business. Although Toyota is already performing well in relation to most of its rivals, the competitive pressure is piling up and there is the need to be proactive to maintain its position. Human resource being the most valuable assets of any organization will be effective in helping Toyota in its efforts to maintain its leaders
Introduction Banks et al. (1989) say that the intangible aspects as well as symbols of a society make up their culture. Banks et al. add that the most important element of culture is how people interpret and attach meaning to the components of culture (1989). According to Damen (1987), culture is the share of human models that enable people to carry out day-to-day activities through socialization. Lederach (1995), on the other hand, describes culture as the material and non-material practices that differentiate a particular group of people. Culture is specific to groups of people based on race and language. Hofstede (1984) says that culture is the programming of the mind that helps differentiate different groups of people. From the definitions above, culture can be defined as the patterns of behavior that are shared among peoples, and the cognitive constructs that determine the behavior of people in everyday life. English is taught as a foreign language in Iran. According to Dollerup et al. (1992), there is a cultural influence perspective in teaching English as a foreign language (EFL) in Iran. Dollerup et al. add that teaching English in the country is always accompanied by the teaching interpretation skills from English to the local language that leaders believe is important for Iranian politics as well as international development (Dollerup et al. 1992). The leaders also believe that it is an effective way to preserve the indigenous Iranian language. This is because, while learners undertake English lessons, it ensures that they are knowledgeable about the indigenous language. High school learners in Iran aged between 15-18 use the textbook New Headway-Intermediate (Soars and Soars 1996). The research will center on the question of whether the book is suitable for teaching the English language. Additionally, the research will seek to find out whether elements of Iranian culture need to be incorporated into the system when teaching these students when using books such as New Headway . It is important to note that culture here means all the material and non material features that characterize the way of life of Iranians. Jenkins (2007) says that generally, the cultural aspect among learners especially high school learners is clearly embedded in the learning process. According to Jenkins, the learning process involves both formal and informal processes that aim at preserving the Iranian culture. Similarly, the system emphasizes the importance of the cultural aspect even in the teaching of foreign languages. Jenkins (2009) also adds that there is concern among course drafters in Iran that any foreign language teaching in Iran is tantamount to adopting the culture that the language represents and, therefore, recommends the incorporation of the local cultural aspect so that learners can learn the foreign language while appreciating their own culture. It is not to say that western culture is inappropriate for Iranians; rather, Iranians may consider some elements of western culture such as the modes of dress that may be considered offensive and, therefore, not desirable. For instance, a woman wearing trousers and exposing her
Dr. Nancy Krieger presents the scientific analysis of ethnic health inequities through biological racism expression; her research study is concentrated on the promotion of racial discrimination and its role in health status influenced by unfair societal conditions. She argues that ethnic inequities and health status are getting biologically embodied issues through life-course; the central factors impacting this phenomenon include social and economic deprivation, social trauma, harmful commodities marketing, and inadequate medical care. The analysis of economic and racial injustice through methodological and conceptual issues developed by Dr. Krieger demonstrated the real causes for the promotion of health inequities. The central aspect is to be focused on the identification of racism’s harmful impact on health. The author’s works underlined the stress on unnatural causes for diseases promotion; the ethical part of social life is considered to be the key element in human biological state maintenance. It is necessary to state, that racial discrimination, as well as various global problems of ethical instability in modern society, lead to ‘human sicknesses’ resulting from unnatural factors. It is important to concentrate on the issues connected with economic deprivation and its influence on human health; the depth of the problem lies in our understanding of ethical values significance, and its transference from social aspect into biological one. Dr. Krieger managed to highlight the interconnection between racism and health, speaking of racial inequities as the general phenomenon uniting all ethical problems of modern society. One of the most effective ways out is based on attempts to take measures aimed at improvement of social life conditions, impacting on structural discrimination within social groups. (Krieger, 2008). Ethical and social factors are considered to be important elements in the public health sphere; Dr. Krieger strived to underline the causes for gradual public health weakening created by people themselves. It is necessary to underline the idea that social pressure, to be more exact the problems of economic instability and class or racial inequalities, provide a direct impact on public health worsening. The research conducted in the sphere of public health demonstrated a close connection between economic instability and health weakening. It should be stressed, that the current financial instability, caused by the global economic crisis in 2008, directly influenced the fluctuations in public health statistics leading to the raise of depressions and moral breakages among the population of middle age. The rise of moral inequities observed throughout the world is considered to be the central stimulator for medical treatment development; most problems in public health are caused by morality differences between the people of various social cl
It is apparent that North Korea was officially declared the Democratic Peoples Republic after Japan ceased to take control of the country in 1945 (Lee 103). Pyongyang became the Capital of North Korea and the largest city in the country since then. This took place after Japan was defeated in World War II, a factor that left Korea dividend into two parts, namely the North and South (Kang 1). Besides, after the Second World War, North Korea was left in the hands of the Soviet Civil Authority, who established a domestic regime in the country to rule on behalf of the Unite Nations Organization. Consequently, the Democratic People Republic of North Korea was established in 1948 (Lee 103). This was after the Soviet Union withdrew its authority to rule North Korea to reunite it with South Korea. However, the failure of the Soviet to reunite Korea led to the firm establishment of the republic. It is evident that North Korea’s government is highly politicized and much regimented. In this case, it is an autocratic mode of governance. This can be supported by the idea that very little is known about the capital city, Pyongyang, especially by people living outside it (Kang 1). Although Pyongyang is regarded as a capital of revolution, people have no idea of the daily existence within the city. For instance, the economy of the country has increasingly diminished hence making it hard to maintain the normal life of people in the country. Needless to say, since the establishment of North Korea, there emerged constant disputes with the neighboring country on the south. This eventually sparked war in 1950 between North and South Korea (Lee 103). Regardless of several interventions by The United States, it developed into full-scale civil war. More powers, including China, intervened to create a balance between the warring nations. It was not until 1953 when the war was brought to an end and claimed millions of civilian’s lives. It is notable that though the war was eventually ended, the tension between the two countries remained high until they signed a North-south Joint declaration in the year 2000. This declaration was meant to seek a peaceful reunion. In line with this, leaders of the two countries held a summit in 2007 to reaffirm the principle of reunion and non-aggression (Lee 103). Nevertheless, since the establishment of North Korea and the war skirmishes, it has not been a smooth sail for the country. For instance, frequent disputes have relatively affected the peaceful operations within the country. In this case, the government of North Korea has been susceptible to assassination attempts against their counterpart in the South. For instance, they attempted to attack South Korea in 1968 and 1974. Moreover, the Rangoon bombing in 1983 is one of the attacks that have slowly affected the progress of North Korea. This can be deduced from the fact that in 2002, US President George W. Bush referred to North Korea as the “axis of evil” (Lee 103). Although both the South and North
Background The striate cortex is vital in ensuring neurologically healthy vision. The striate cortex retro-geniculate lesions caused by various purposes such as mechanical damage can lead to the blindsight phenomenon during which patients can identify the visual stimuli even with damaged vision neurons. Many scientific papers experimentally examine the patients’ awareness of visual stimuli and their role in the blindsight process. As far as the many experiments prove the correlations between the monkey and human neurological blindsight and the striate cortex functioning, a number of experiments to find the possibility to use conscious vision to minimize the effects of sight damage can be held on monkeys (Cowey, et al., 2002). Therefore, from a long-term perspective, blindsight can be used to identify conscious vision peculiarities and explore the methods to treat blindness. The purpose of the study is to, hold the critical analysis of the practical research of neurologically conditioned aspects of functional blindness in monkeys and humans, evaluate the theoretical possibility of the blindness treatment based on the monkey striate cortex experiments under the conscious vision. A problem under discussion in this paper is the possibility to use vast empirical scientific research results to uncover the correlation between the monkeys’ and humans’ striate cortical functioning to provoke the blindness treatment testing and development. Aim and goals This long-established aim to develop the blindness treatment opportunities requires preliminary research and summarizing of the results of the existing experiment to ensure the theoretical foundation for the subsequent valuable experiments. To achieve the aim of the study, particular goals should be set. The first goal is to find relevant scientific papers representing the experiments revealing the correlation between the striate cortex of monkeys and humans. Second, analyze the resources from the point of the stimuli similarities of the species under the condition of blindsight. Third, compare the scientific research results and highlight the relevance for the neurological blindness treatment. Fourth, explore the medical testing opportunities on monkeys due to the similarity of the conscious vision functioning. Fifth, compare the retro-geniculate lesion of the monkey’s striate cortex and human according to the literature. Sixth, present the results of the analysis of the experiment in percentage and figures. Seventh, based on the critical analysis and summaries of the experiments’ results, propose the possible theoretical opportunities for the blindness treatment or minimizing the negative consequences of the striate cortex damage. Methods and procedure During the research, the method of the survey of the literature will be used to explore the correlation between the two variables of the study: the striate cortex stimuli activities of the human and monkey. To summarize and compare the experiments on the neurologically-conditioned vision damage and
Introduction With the changes in information technology, a lot is expected from scientists and engineers on what they will do to facilitate change. There are many changes in terms of transport and communication, which remain to be vital in today’s society. Globalization has even increased the need to travel as well as uses the least possible time to ensure a person reaches their destination faster. Airplanes have been considered to be the fastest means of transportation and most convenient for overseas travel. However, there are a number of challenges; cost and safety are among them. Even though most people who have to go abroad travel by plane, many admit that they use airplanes simply because they do not have a better alternative. There is however good news in the transportation industry following the invention of the magnetic trains. This technology uses the attraction and repelling nature of magnets to move a machine. The paper will be focusing on magnetic technology and its effective use to ease the move of transport across the globe. History Rail transport has undergone a lot of change over the years. The earliest trains used fossil fuels to aid their movement. Through such a technology, coal and such similar fuels would be used to generate the needed energy to make the train move. Even though the technology is still common especially where there is no inadequate technology, its use has diminished. Petrol or diesel has never been preferred to rail transport considering its cost and the fact that it is not easily accessible. The engines that are used to move trains are also heavy and this would require large tanks of fuel, which may never be adequate. Fuelling such trains would be quite a challenge taking into consideration the fact that most trains are preferred for long distance travelling and transportation of cargo. People who travel far have considered rail transport to be the best option at a cheaper cost. The main challenge has however been the speed of the trains, which makes travellers spend quite some time on the rails. To solve the issue of speed, electric trains were invented and they work using electronic forces (Sadiku & Akujuobi, 2006). The train still operates using the engine yet the engine is mainly used to control the speed and ensure that the vehicle stops whenever
Introduction Individuals grow and develop throughout their life. They pass through different stages of life such as birth and infancy (0 to 2 years), early childhood (3 to 8 years), adolescence (9 to 18 years), early adulthood (19 to 45 years), middle adulthood (46 to 65 years), and later adulthood (post-65 years). This paper studies different characters from two films On Golden Pond (Rydell, 1981) and Little Miss Sunshine (Dayton & Faris, 2006) at different stages of life to understand their biological, cognitive, and social/emotional differences. On Golden Pond On Golden Pond is a movie mainly about Norman, Ethel, and Billy. Norman, 80, is in his late adulthood, Ethel, in middle adulthood, and Billy is a 13-year-old adolescent. The other characters are Chelsea and Billy Senior, who are in their middle adulthood. Biological Biological changes are inevitable with age. Norman, who is older than Ethel, is less energetic. Both Norman and Ethel show distinct signs of aging. They are frail with wrinkled skin and stooping back (Rydell, 1981). However, Norman is shaky while walking and lacks balance, while Ethel is agile and swift. On the other hand, Chelsea is more energetic and athletic, and Billy being an adolescent, is vibrant and full of life. However, when Norman spends more time with the adolescent boy, his physical f
Quality Function Deployment first originated in Japan. There was a need among the manufacturers to produce products that would meet customers’ needs. There was strong competition from other international firms in the manufacturing industry, especially the American firms. As such, Fifield (2007, p. 98) explains that the manufacturing industry, through research, realized that this model was the best way through which they could manage the market competition. Quality function deployment has a close relation to Total Quality Management. It is meant to ensure customer satisfaction by ensuring quality from the production stage. Quality Function Deployment has four phases. The first phase is product planning. This is essentially taking into consideration the customers’ requirements. These Japanese firms had realized that it would be important to define the products according to the specifications of the customer (Ahmed & Rafiq 2002, p. 46). It would require some form of research in order to determine the requirements of the customers. Using the gathered information from the customers, the production unit can then plan on the production process. The second phase is the product design. In this phase, the production unit would use information from the customers to design a product that best meets the specifications of the customers. In manufacturing plants, Slack, Chambers, and Johnson (2010, p. 54) state that it would involve a laboratory process where different products would be designed and tested for their suitability to the expected quality. The third phase is the process planning which is basically the manufacturing phase. Having tested and confirmed the desired quality in the second stage, the production unit would embark on the product that best met the expectation of customer
Explanation of the Federal Reserve The Federal Reserve Act that was approved in the United States led to the creation of the Federal Reserve, which is widely known as the Fed (Hubbard & O’Brien, 2008). This enactment followed the harsh financial crisis that had hit the country. Over the years, the Federal Reserve System has changed into a large institution that performs monetary roles and responsibilities. The Federal Reserve System serves as the central banking system of the American economy. In addition, the main roles of the Fed are to oversee the implementation of monetary policies, ensure effectiveness in banking operations, and/or maintain efficiency in payment systems. Therefore, the Federal Reserve stabilizes prices to ensure reasonable interest rates in the economy. Employment opportunities also increase through proper implementation of the Federal Reserve System. The paper presents the major tools that the Federal Reserve System can use to boost the US economy. Besides, the study offers some recommendations that Fed can adopt to perfect its mission. Tools the Federal Reserve can use to boost the Economy The major tool that the Federal Reserve can use to influence the economy is the open market operation. A committee created by the Fed administers the open market operations to implement the monetary policy. Open market operations refer to selling and buying of government securities to influence interest rates on a short-term basis. The growth of money and credit in the economy arises from the influence of the open market operations in the United States. The Fed plays the role of a lender to financial institutions to enable them meet short-term financial needs. It offers them loans on a discount to ensure the stability of reserve supply and demand, thereby affecting the economy in a positive way. In addition, Fed uses other approaches such as controlling reserve requirement and discount rates to boost the economy. When the stored money is reduced, economic output goes up in a country since financial institutions have enough funds to give. If raised, the fiscal supply declines, thereby restraining growth because monetary associations lack sufficient funds to disburse (Hubbard & O’Brien, 2008). The reserve requirement is the amount of funds that the Fed requires all financial institutions to hold for purposes of lending when any need arises. Moreover, the Fed remains in control of charges, which comprise the interest rates that banking institutions pay for loans that they get from the central banks. Recommendations to the Fed When faced with a high-interest rate environment, the Federal Reserve System can adopt considerable measures that promote economic growth in the quest to prevent severe financial crises such as the great depression that once hit the United States. In my opinion, the Fed can adopt suitable monetary policies to deal with high-interest rates to promote GDP growth. Since factors such as demand and supply of money are the major determinants of