ShantanuT01/DACTYL-Pretraining huggingface dataset:
Racial Issues in the United States The issue of race has been widely analyzed and examined by many American sociologists. For very many years, racial issues have continued to affect the economic and social welfare of many American citizens. The “immigration rates experienced over the past three centuries have made the United States one of the most racially-diverse nations in the globe” (Levin 6). The historic election of the first African American president was seen as a new beginning for positive race relations in the country. However, half of the population believes strongly that racism is still a major challenge in the country today. As well, racial tensions have increased significantly in the country within the past three decades. Such “tensions have led to animosities and oppressions especially within the country’s criminal justice system” (Bonilla-Silva 29). Takaki observed that many Americans were segregated in different parts of the country (89). Statistics have indicated that “around 70 percent of American citizens interact, work, and collaborate with individuals from their own race” (Bonilla-Silva 31). Similar findings have proved that over 75 percent African Americans and Hispanic Americans are treated unfairly in the country (Bonilla-Silva 32). Some of these “cases of discrimination are encountered in different workplaces, shopping malls, restaurants, healthcare centers, and criminal justice systems” (Bonilla-Silva 49). Takaki indicates that more African Americans are arrested and incarcerated every year (51). Very few majority whites have friends or relatives who have been incarcerated within the past five decades. This issue shows clearly that racism is a major challenge that is experienced in different sectors, institutions, and fields. Bonilla-Silva argues that racism is one of the causes of socioeconomic imbalances and inequalities in the United States (65). The problem of racial segmentation has been observed in lending, politics, elections, housing, employment, and education (Bonilla-Silva 97). These facts therefore explain why racism has always permeated every aspect of life in the nation. Solutions and Recommendations Several strategies can be undertaken in order to address this problem of racism in the United States. To begin with, all American citizens should have access to various resources such as education, healthcare, and housing. The government should use the concept of economic inclusion to empower every racial group. The government can avail new job opportunities and financial resources to various minority groups. The criminal justice system should also be reformed in order to improve the level of justice. Every citizen should be able “to get fair trial” (DiTomaso 48). The government should also make new amendments to minimize the level of racial discrimination. Such reforms will elimi
Introduction Antarctica, the white cold Southern mass of land covers 10 percent of the world’s land and is one of the ideal places to study climate change and the environment as it is the least populated and is the most protected from human exploitation. According to legend: “It was the ancient Greeks who first came up with the idea of Antarctica. They knew about the Arctic – named Arktos – The Bear, from the constellation the great bear and decided that in order to balance the world, there should be a similar cold Southern landmass that was the same but the opposite “Ant – Arktos” – opposite The Bear.” 1 (Antarctica History) The thesis statement that this research paper argues for is the fact that the Antarctic Treaty has been effective in maintaining peace and order in the region. With regards to this, there have been seven nations that claim the territory of the continent, but while Arctic claims have been heatedly debated and contended, Antarctica boasts of having the least amount of conflict in its history as a place in this world might have. Given this argument, the paper traces the history of Antarctica to fully explore how and why the claims came about, the individual claims of the countries and the treaty and the system it is included under as well as the conclusions drawn from the upholding of the treaty to date. History of Antarctica Many countries over the world have been involved in shaping the continent’s history and have been pivotal in its development to date. However, who discovered the continent and saw it first, has been controversial as Nathaniel Palmer, an American explorer, Edward Bransfield an English explorer and, a Russian naval officer Captain Thaddeus Bellingshausen, have all claimed to have been the first to see the continent in the year 1820. These explorers were preceded by Captain James Cook, who was the first to cross the Antarctic Circle in 1775 but claimed no land sightings. Antarctica was an attractive prospect for many seal and whale hunters at the close of the nineteenth century as the ocean rich with sea life, especially seals and whales was seen as a means of commerce by many nations. The sealing vessels that visited Antarctica in those days were mainly from America and Britain but many other countries such as Argentina, New Zealand, Australia, Norway, Germany, and South Africa were also participants. There were some visitors in Antarctica; however who went there for the purposes of exploration, discovery and science and these included the likes of the French expedition led by Dumont d’Urville in 1837 when Adélie Land was discovered by the expeditionary team and later it was claimed for France. Moreover some other expeditions that took place for reasons of science and exploration include that of Charles Wilkes where a large portion of the East Antarctic Coast was explored and the Clark Ross expedition after which the sea they discovered is named. 1898 was an important year for Antarctic explorers as the feasibility of surviving winter in
My research was dedicated to determining the purpose of education from the perspective of ESL teachers. During my research, I interviewed an ESL teacher to provide a first-hand opinion on this question. During the interview, three patterns emerged. The first is that education is designed to provide equality to all students. The second purpose is that it provides a direct benefit for individual success of the students. The third and final pattern showed that the purpose of education is to provide opportunities to improve the environment around the students as a whole. This paper will examine these patterns as the results of my research. The First Pattern The first pattern that was noted during my interview is that the purpose of education is to promote equality through its actions. Each student is given the same material and opportunity to learn in school. The teacher stated during the interview that “when teaching ESL, your group can come from widely different backgrounds.” In these classes, diversity is common and is promoted to allow all students to receive the same level of education. It also allows students to better understand other cultures. Unity is also promoted so that the varying backgrounds do not become an issue and instead of a strength of the class. As a result, it shows that the perspective of the ESL teacher on the purpose of education is closely tied to the need to provide an equal education to all students while keeping the class united. The Second Pattern The second pattern that was revealed during the interview was that the purpose of education is in the benefits of education for individual success of the students. This pattern is reflected in the following ways. The first is in the improvement of skills that education provides and the second is in the achievement of students’ individual goals. By being in a social environment of the classroom, the communication skills of the students improve through interactions with the teacher and the students alike while achieving their educational goals. During the interview, the teacher stated: “that is the foundation on which they will build their social and language skills.” This result shows that ESL teachers are also concerned with providing opportunities to improve and meet goals for all the students. The Third Pattern The third pattern of the interview was that the purpose of education is in providing students with opportunities to improve their environment. This pattern consists of three important elements. The first is teaching the students to love people around them. It may be difficult to create a connection with others when you don’t know the language well, but it is important to try and develop an appreciation of yourself, others and the environment as a whole. The second element is related to learning and promoting peace. Current political environment often revolves around various forms of conflict. However, it should not dissuade people from wanting peace. The last element is the development of society. Throug
Inditex’s success in a difficult market suggests that their global strategy is indeed working. Although it operates a chain of fashion stores across a number of countries, the company is still enjoying success to a surprising degree in a difficult market during a period of economic hardships. The company’s success, especially within the fashion market through Zara stores, is pegged to its flexibility in a dynamic and ever changing environment. In addition, the company also operates from a central location with most of its stores serviced with merchandise all the way from Spain. However, the company’s expansion program in various countries is beginning to face challenges, due to the fact that expenses for most of the new stores are accumulating faster than revenues. This is further exacerbated by the global economic downturn, which has made selling some of its premium brands more difficult, as well as the fact that the company has failed to expand its production line sufficiently over the last few years to keep up with the increased demand from new stores. Due to globalization and a rapid expansion process, Inditex is facing a number of challenges (Continued Growth for Zara and Inditex” 1). Because of the rapid expansion in terms of the number of stores under its management, operating from a central location in a manner that allows it to retain its competitive advantage is proving quite difficult. Effectively monitoring its 4,430 stores across 73 countries is proving a challenge for the company, as it is no longer able to monitor the popularity of various clothes lines within its stores. This has considerably curtailed its flexibility and ability to promptly respond to trend changes and changes in fashion preferences. Furthermore, keeping a large amount of its production so close to home has led to growing costs as well as a strained supply line for the numerous number of stores. Although keeping production close to home guarantees quality, it has raised the costs of production considerably due to higher labor costs and transport costs, especially for its stores outside Europe. This has forced the company to price its products differently in various regions, which could lead to an inconsistent brand image. Furthermore, such a pricing strategy could pose significant challenges within its online market curtailing the company’s ability to utilize such an important marketing tool. The global nature of Inditex’s market exposes it to currency fluctuations, which significantly reduce the company’s realized profits. For instance, the company’s gross profit margin fell from 56.4% to 55.3% in 2009 due to a strong dollar performance, a loss of about 1.1% in profits simply due to fluctuations in a single currency. This poses a huge challenge for a company that operates in more than 73 countries (“Continued Growth for Zara and Inditex” 2) The best solution to some of these challenges faced by Inditex due to globalization would be to decentra
Introduction Economic, social and political development of a society is inevitably an outcome of proper design and pragmatic planning. In other words, there are many factors which are requisite for realization of development in any country. Good governance is one of the fundamental requirements necessary for enhancement of political and socioeconomic development of the greatest majority in a society. The form of government known as democracy though not perfect has been accepted by many societies committed to sustainable socioeconomic and political progress as a viable method of managing their public affairs. The purpose of this paper is to discuss why Japan was able to build her successful democracy, identify key differences between Japanese democracy and British and US democracies and establish whether Japan’s economic success has led to increased democracy or an increase in democratic capacity has led to increased economic performance? Why Japan was able to build a successful democracy Building a successful democracy is a long and protracted process whose pace depends on various factors which are usually unique to individual countries. From a historical point of view, even though democracy is not an absolutely new ideology to Japanese the role played by USA in Japan’s democratization process during its occupation of Japan cannot be downplayed (Nguyen, 2008). Distribution of political power and its exercise, resources and wealth is certainly an important component of any political system that is fit to be regarded as democratic. Nguyen (2008), argues that without an occupational authority in the name USA, the level and scope of land reforms that took place in post-war Japan would not have taken place because of the immovable resistance of the old powerful elites and minority regimes. According to Nguyen (2008), reorganization of land ownership and tenure essentially leveled Japanese society and narrowed the gap between the rich and the poor, establishing an environment where middle class could prosper socio-economically as well as politically. He fu
Around fourteen years ago, after spending 10 years in Brazil, I came back to Panama with my wife to settle down, start a family and build a career. A few months later I was feeling I wasn’t quite happy with what Panama had to offer compared to living in Brazil, but I wasn’t satisfied with living in Brazil either. I remember taking a walk with my father when I realized he should have gone through the same dilemma. As many other Panamanians, my father studied in a foreign country. He and my mother went to Madrid and lived there for 8 years. Two of my sisters and myself were born there while he was studying architecture. In 1976 we came back from Spain to live in Panama and he has been here ever since. So I told my father that I could not continue to stay in Panama because of its chaotic nature and was longing for the wonderful relationships I had enjoyed during my stay in Brazil. I made up my mind to go back to Brazil few days later after coming to the realization that there is no perfect country in the entire world. My next trip to Brazil would be more purposeful because I was determined to make a difference in the lives of those around me. I needed to do something instead of waiting for something to be done. It might seem like a herculean task, but I’ll be satisfied if I could only change people around me. I’m sure you are already doing this too. Actually, I think you have been doing this before I took that walk with my father. You did it with your kids and I’m sure you feel satisfied about it. Now, your task there is done and you have much more to do here in Latin America. Teaching is about sharing knowledge. A good teacher also lets her students find their own answers. This approach gives the students a sense of responsibility. Cooperative learning helps in motivating students and gives relevance to instructions. The students can work individually or in groups towards realizing the objective of the course. By letting students find their own answers, the teacher sparks some intrinsic motivation in the students that makes them to be more creative and competent. The self- esteem of students is developed through inclusive learning and at the same time enhances team work. Since graduate students are being prepared to go to the field, teamwork and creativity are essential skills needed and cooperative learning promotes that. Yes, a lot can be done for Brazilian graduate students and that is a good reason to consider teaching there. Brazil is a great place to live, to teach, and learn. Mostly to learn, it is such a rich and diverse culture. You can have anything between raw indigenous Amazonian villages in the North to a European colonial town in Porto Alegre, So
In the Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) project, it is necessary to choose a policy or an intervention and demonstrate its impact on the health of the population through various quality improve models and frameworks. In the analysis of the worth of a mindfulness meditation program for nurses, a translational science model will be applied. The main idea of this model is to focus on the connection between scientific and practical knowledge. It was developed bench-to-bedside clinical research by Khoury at el. in 2007 (as cited in Reavy, 2016). There are four main phases of the translational science model, also known as T-phases, that interact with each other during the entire intervention. The first translational phase includes such elements as basic research and development. As soon as a problem area is identified, and the background information is gathered to prove the necessity of the intervention, new opportunities and approaches to a health problem are discussed. In this case, a mindfulness meditation program plays a crucial role in nursing wellbeing because job burnout is hard to avoid, and it has negative outcomes on the quality of work. The main objective of this phase is to understand the research process and apply findings to practice (Reavy, 2016). Recommendations for new research must be created on the basis of the offered plan, methods, and literature review. The next phase is a practice that consists of evidence-based practice (EBP) findings and pilot implementation. In other words, the DNP project should be based on an EBP intervention that has already been applied in the real world. In the 1970s, Jon Kabat-Zinn created the mindfulness-based stress reduction program for patients who struggle with difficulties and physical/mental illnesses, following simple Buddhist principles (Ackerman, 2020). Although this program aimed at helping patients in need, with time, it has become a solid intervention for people from different fields to control their stress and improve the quality of work. The Center for Mindfulness at the University of Massachusetts and other related websites provide clear guidelines on how to take exercises and achieve mindfulness (Ackerman, 2020). This EBP intervention program lasts eight weeks, and each week has its goals and impact on the participants. Mindful breathing during the first week helps to understand the basics of mind-body medicine, and body scan exercises of the second week show participants how they could react to stress. The third phase of the translational science model is known as dissemination research, when EBP guidelines are translated into health practice. At this period, the researcher has to compare the conditions offered in the already chosen EBP intervention with the conditions of the current study. As s
In this particular session, I managed to interview Mr. Thomas Anderson (who is my uncle) about his disability. The accident happened eight years back when he was thirty-eight years old; he is now forty-six. It was one late evening, at around midnight, and everyone in the vehicle had their seatbelts on. My uncle was seated at the back with one of his friends while the other two were in the front. Suddenly an oncoming car hit their vehicle head-on, causing severe injuries to both vehicles’ occupants. It was later established that, apart from being drunk, the other driver had also been speeding. The unfortunate incident could have been prevented if the other driver had not been drinking or had chosen not to drive that evening and instead take a taxi home. Right after the incident, some first responders came to the rescue and the injured received first aid on the spot. Several surgeries were done at the hospital to repair the damage, but some of it was impossible to fix. The occurrence has altered the victim’s way of life and has also affected the well-being of their loved ones. The family had to shift to the ground-floor apartment so that my uncle would be able to move around instead of being carried up the stairs. The family’s main objectives have also changed from focusing on material things to, instead, concentrating on the most basic needs since the victim can no longer work. His greatest advice was that one should never drink and drive, and if one is drunk, it would be advisable to take a taxi so as to save lives and also avoid injuries. He also said that forgiving was the best way to free oneself from anger and that it helps in the recovery process. This interview has taught me much about disability and how life can change suddenly. According to Park (2017), being permanently incapacitated is a dreadful experience, and the transition is extremely difficult to manage. The accident had changed Mr. Anderson’s life, and one could tell that he felt helpless because he could no longer provide for his family. He was troubled as he thought he would not be a good father anymore. This was a tough moment for him, and it affected his healing process, but he continued to attend physical therapy sessions. My uncle gave me some advice too, where he said that, whenever one feels like their life has taken a different direction from the one they had hoped for, it is better to accept it and strive to cope with the unexpected changes. He alleged he never thought this could happen to him, and that such incidences only occurred in the movies or to other individuals but not to him. In the beginning, it was difficult for him to accept. It was also extremely damaging to him, both emotionally and mentally. Finally, my uncle’s condition and his advices have taught me to always accept any emerging consequences and move on with life. Reference Park, J. (2017). Disability discrimina
Introduction In recent decades, capital investment decisions are increasingly becoming a core function of managerial accountants and financial analysts. Owing to various factors operating within the internal and external contexts of the firm, these professionals avoid making decisions on capital projects or delay such decisions, leading to a situation which may be costly for the organization in terms of time, effort and lost opportunities (Sawers, 2005). This essay illuminates one such factor, known as the Dodd-Frank Act, with particular reference to discussing how this regulation has impacted financial institutions’ ability to lend money to firms for capital projects and acquisitions, and how it could assist to prevent a financial crisis. Additionally, the paper will evaluate the viability of Net Present Value and Internal Rate of Return (IRR) in evaluating capital projects, before creating criteria that could be used to evaluate capital projects. Dodd-Frank Act & Shifts in Lending Regulatory Environment On July 21, 2010, the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, which is commonly referred to as the Dodd-Frank Act, was signed into law by President Barrack Obama to herald