ShantanuT01/DACTYL-Pretraining huggingface dataset:
The six dimensions of culture developed by Hofstede show how countries can be distinguished from one another based on their inclinations to the state of affairs. Power distance demonstrates the extent to which some less dominant individuals acknowledge that power is unevenly allocated. Regarding the individualism versus collectivism dimension, individuals may take care of themselves or others. Masculinity versus femininity can imply that members of a country may be heroes and assertive or they can be modest and caring. Uncertainty avoidance demonstrates how people in a community are uncomfortable with ambiguity. Long-term versus short-term normative inclinations show how individuals tend to handle future issues. The indulgence versus restraint element shows the degree to which a country allows free enjoyment of basic drives or vice-versa (Lo, Waters, & Christensen, 2017). As a leader, it is critical to comprehend how relationships between leaders and followers may be impacted by each of the cultural dimensions developed by Hofstede. Although the critical role of excellent leaders cannot be rebuffed, followers play important functions that contribute to the success of an organization. Persons in charge should understand how their followers perceive power, how modest or assertive they are, the extent to which they care for themselves or others, and how they handle future matters. If a follower does not hold that power should be distributed equally, he or she might have a sour relationship with a leader in the workplace (Farivar, Cameron, & Yaghoubi, 2016). It is the onus on both leaders and followers to adapt since many workplace situations require personnel to acquire new skills or change their ways of doing things to continue being productive. In real life, for instance, an added information management system may be introduced in a firm and a leader may change from being assertive to caring and modest to support his or her followers to learn how to utilize the new scheme to promote operations. In addition, followers may adapt to a situation in the workplace that requires them to change from being a restraint to indulgent (Taras, Steel, & Kirkman, 2016).
Christians’ views about human relationships, personal growth, and international affairs are developed with time, discovering new aspects and lessons. There are many cultural, geographical, and theological issues that may influence the position of Christians. After watching the video “The Rise and Fall of Nations,” the idea of the Christian responsibility with regards to geopolitics can be properly identified and understood. The example of Rome’s decline described by Augustine of Hippo proves that Christians had clear purposes to explain why God did not protect the nation. 1 In this paper, it is expected to find out the connection between human faith, religion, and geopolitics, using the doctrine of Augustine and the mandates of the Gospel. An understanding of geopolitical terms is the first supportive argument to verify the position of Christians and their social responsibilities. Focusing on subjective and objective considerations, Sicherman defines geopolitics as a combination of natural resources and actual locations of people. 2 In his work, Augustine underlined that Rome was the only civilization Christians knew at the moment of its fall, and it was evident that the resources, the land, and society turned out to be the main reason for the conquest. 3 Christians were responsible for geopolitical changes in the world, but their intentions were based on logic and knowledge, not on selfishness and envy. Their goal was to find new areas for their development in different fields, and Rome was defined as the best available alternative. Another perspective should be based on the Gospel and the lessons people could learn from the source. In Christianity, the image of Jesus was introduced through the prism of excessive love, forgiveness, and respect. Instead of being angry with people who betrayed him, Jesus was ready to forgive and give them his blessing. The same way was followed by Christians in their invasion to Rome. They did not want to punish or execute the locals because of their pagan religion. Polytheism had their deep roots that could be traced not in the fall of Rome but in the fall of men, in the Garden of Edem. 4 Christians’ responsibility lied in the promotion of internal transformation and the acceptance of one God and one faith in respect to paganism. Finally, the chosen video proved that Romans were not ready for invasion because of their deep beliefs and trust in their gods, and Christians found it necessary to show the weaknesses of the nation. After the decline of Rome, citizens, as well as invaders, were able to see that Roman gods never protected people, questioning the existence of this religion. 5 Therefore, it was correct for Christians and other religious thinkers to define Christianity as the only acceptable religion that connected the world, salvation, and dependence on supreme power. 6 While there were more than one religion and one God, it was always possible to doubt and
The World Health Organization estimates that there is a shortage of more than 4.3 million health care professionals in the world. Therefore, most people in the world today do not receive the health care services that they deserve. The shortage of health care professionals has made it difficult for people to gain access to life-saving health care services. The most vital health care services that many people are usually unable to gain access to include child immunization and prevention from contracting HIV/AIDS. The international recruitment of health care professionals from low and middle-income countries has made this situation worse. For example, studies reveal that approximately1200 health care professionals were trained between 1990 and 2001 in Zimbabwe. However, only 360 health care professionals were present in the country in 2006 (Taylor, Hwenda, & Daulaire, 2011). It is said that countries in Sub-Saharan Africa are the ones that lack enough trained health care personnel. It is also estimated that these countries have a disease burden of 24 percent. However, these countries own about 3 percent of the global health care professionals. Most of the world’s population is said to be aging. This condition is forcing many health workers to specialize in providing health care services, thereby increasing the demand for specialized health care services in the world. However, many nations are not investing adequately in educating health care professionals. This has led to a decline in the provision of health care services in the world. The WHO International Health Regulations Code aims at promoting the health security of the world population. Therefore, it is important for nations to have strong health care systems so that they can manage to improve the health care needs of the regions that are underserved. However, most nations often lack skilled, motivated, and well-supported health care workers. This state of affairs makes it difficult for these nations to provide vaccines and other health care services to their people in an effective way (Taylor, Hwenda, & Daulaire, 2011). There are many countries that are working hard so as to ensure that they incorporate the Code into national law so that they can encourage health care workers can return to their home countries. Therefore, to ensure that health care workers return home, countries such as Kenya, Namibia, and Rwanda are monitoring and financing their health care systems so as to motivate health care professionals to bring their expertise home. In the case of high-income countries, Norway has incorporated the Code, which has then enabled it to scale up its education system. This has then made it possible for Norway to implement its own health care system. Norway has, therefore, refrained from hiring health care professionals who come from countries that experience a severe shortage of health care professionals. It can therefore be observed that though the Code does not offer permanent solutions to the shortage a
Introduction A survey conducted in 2006 in Britain indicated that the majority of people believe that the world is losing the war on terror. This survey should have been a wake up call to the United States. The Bush Administration could have been made aware that it was using the wrong strategy to fight terrorism. Terrorism cannot be defeated through the use of force alone. We cannot eradicate terrorism without worldwide unity from political, social and religious standpoints. By addressing these three issues, analysts believe that the fight towards the eradication of terrorism would be worn ( http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2006/aug/17/foreignpolicy.uk ). Main Text A look at the origin of the largest terrorist groups in the world indicates that their most important objective is to seek solutions to a political stalemate. These groups believe that certain political injustices have been committed against them and they should be addressed. The Palestine Liberation Organization was formed with a broad intention of addressing the obvious injustices meted out against them in the Middle East. The disputes between Palestine and Israel are being resolved through a political process. Terrorist groups and political parties espouse the same ideals of change, the main difference being their tactics towards achieving this. While political parties push for their agenda through compromises, lobbying and political representation, terrorists groups go further and are ready to wage violent attacks against the aggressors and establishments to force them make concessions (William E. Messenger, 34). They are entangled in the same maddening pursuit of power and influence just like the politicians. It is only that the means of getting it may seem unconventional. Deep down, the cause of the aggression and hostility exhibited by the Hamas is because they would want to entrench themselves in a position of power to probably address their grievances. Terrorist organizations usually lack the financial and logistical muscle to get to power through the conventional means. So they resort to making attacks against the civilians to instill fear and drive their point home. Politicians have resorted to fighting terrorism with military strikes. The term terrorist is being used worldwide to brand groups that are considered the enemy of the existing establishment. This is not resolving the underlying issue, which are political. The misdiagnosis of the problem is leading to maltreatment and if this is not correct, respite is nowhere near. Nelson Mandela was branded a terrorist and the African national union in South Africa, a terrorist group. Mau Mau in Kenya was regarded by the British to be terrorist organization. These two groups were simply trying to fight against colonial and racist establishments. They lacked in financial and tactical resources and guerilla warfare was the only
Introduction The educational system of a society is fundamental to the development and ultimate advancement of the entire community. Educators and governments all over the world have acknowledged that teaching practices can have a significant effect on the education of the population leading to significant impact on economic and social outcomes of their citizens. For this reason, high educational achievements have been seen as favorable for a nation’s well being. However, over the last few decades, it has been noted that the Asian children have had higher educational achievements than their American counterparts. This paper shall conduct a review of the article “How Asian Teachers Polish Each Lesson to Perfection” by Stigler and Stevenson. This shall be in a bid to highlight the differences between the Asian and American teaching methods. The significance of this particular article to me shall also be articulated and the reasons why I chose it discussed. Summary of the Article The article by Stigler and Stevenson aims at explaining why there is poor performance by American students in mathematics while their Asian counterparts seem to excel. The onset of this problem is from a study conducted in America, China and Japan among the first and fifth graders. The data obtained from the studies highlights the poor performances of American children in mathematics as compared to their Asian counterparts. While the obvious answer would be that there is a difference in the intelligence levels of the children of these two different ethnicities, Stigler and Stevenson assert that there is no overall difference in intelligence and as such, the cause for the staggering differences in mathematical achievements must be as a result of other factors. A closer look reveals that there is a difference in how mathematics is taught in the different cultures. The first major difference observed was that in Japan and China, the role of the teacher was that of a knowledgeable guide who constantly relied on students as sources of information. This is in contrast to the American practice where the teacher was the prime information dispenser. The article illustrates that as a result of the Asian teacher’s role as a guide, children were active participants in the learning process as opposed to being passive automatons as was the case amongst the American children. The article also reveals how Asian teachers utilize carefully crafted examples to guide their children to discover and eventually remember important mathematical concepts. Stigler and Stevenson observe that Asian teachers focus on interpreting and relating a real-world problem to a mathematical one. As such, a lesson may begin by giving and solving a real world problem and the mathematical concepts of the same are only given at the end. The American teachers on the other hand begin by introducing abstract mathematical concepts and solving them before giving their real world implications. This two difference approaches have significant implications since young children are more likely to
The following sites are concerned about the conflicts that start in schools and at home. Parents are advised to be very careful and control what their children watch on TV because some shows can affect their perceptions and influence their actions. The article below is a website about a study conducted on the prevention of aggression in schools and pre-school violence. The other websites talk about the same topic on aggression. Bullying in schools was previously taken as a common phenomenon in many schools. To control the menace, PTA and school management have vowed to make sure that all students are protected from bullies in schools, as illustrated by the following sites. Cyberbullying is one of the most recent forms of bullying, which takes advantage of the current technology. These sites provide further information on this topic. Maintaining peace and reconciliation is an important tool in ensuring that schools are safe places for students. The school management should ensure that it has strategic plans that involve the integration of peace and reconciliation in these learning institutions. the following sites provide more information on this. The site below is about racial discrimination in schools, the problem has affected the integration of students in schools. Race, gender, and the place of origin is the most desperate thing that most schools in the United States are faced with. Under the center for conflict transformation, students are taught how to resolve their issues amicably, without losing values of competence and reliability.
The assurance of affordable and equal access to health care is the overriding priority of every civilized nation. Nevertheless, issues related to health care disparities emerge in both developed and developing countries due to influences exerted by socioeconomic conditions (Braveman & Gottlieb, 2014; Griffith, Evans, & Bor, 2017). Similar trends are observed in the United States’ populations with different income statuses (Chetty et al., 2016). Despite efficient state interventions, such as the Affordable Care Act (ACA), in the United States, economically disadvantaged individuals have irrelevant health insurance coverage, lower life expectancy, and far worse access to health care services than those with higher income. Insurance Coverage in Low-Income Populations Socioeconomic indicators of income, wealth, and employment predetermine the insurance coverage level. Although rates of uninsured individuals have reduced significantly in the United States since the implementation of the ACA in 2014, there are still 12% of Americans without insurance within various social groups (Chen, Vargas-Bustamante, Mortensen, & Ortega, 2016, p. 140). Moreover, the enrollment in health-insurance exchanges varies across the United States because some states opted out of the Medicaid expansion (Griffith et al., 2017). In accordance with more recent research conducted by Griffith et al. (2017), 35% of low-income residents of nonexpansion states are uninsured, and 21% of poor individuals are uninsured in expansion states (p. 1508). Persistently high rates of uninsured Americans are mainly a reflection of their low economic status and inadequate incomes. Aggravating racial and ethnic disparities in health care, inappropriate insurance coverage is apparent in low-income individuals from ethnic minorities. The lowest rates of insurance are identified in Latinos “compared with all other racial/ethnic groups” (Chen et al., 2016, p. 141). Although to improve ethnic minorities’ access to high-quality health care and insurance, under the ACA adopted in 2014, the U. S. Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) expanded the Community Health Centers Program and the
Selected Health-Related Bill The history of marijuana ( Cannabis sativa ) is something rooted in many communities and societies. The issues surrounding the use of marijuana have led to disparate legal, medical, and religious aspects (Guffey, 2014). Lewis, Broitman, and Sznitman (2015) argue that the use of marijuana for medicinal purposes is something that has been embraced by many societies for centuries. For instance, the ancient Chinese are known to have used marijuana to treat pain, rheumatism, constipation, and gout (Hasin et al., 2015). In the United States, the use of marijuana for medicinal purposes gained attention in the early 19 th century. However, marijuana would be banned in the country in the year 1937 (Carah et al., 2015). In the recent past, the marijuana debate has resurfaced as more scientists continue to support its use for medicinal purposes. In the 1980s, the marijuana policy focused on several illicit drugs such as heroin and cocaine. In 1996, the landmark Compassionate Use Act (CUA) allowed caregivers and patients to use C. Sativa for medical purposes. During the same time, the Controlled Substance Act of 1970 was also in place. Consequently, the emerging contradiction has created numerous conflicts in different states across the United States. The marijuana policy remains critical in the United States. Political Actors and Interest Groups The medical marijuana debate has attracted the attention of many political players, religious leaders, theorists, ethicists, and interest groups. To begin with, federal and state governments have been focusing on new ideas to address this issue. Different politicians and policymakers have presented powerful arguments to support the use of bhang for medical purposes. This movie explains why the State of California approved the use of marijuana for treatment purposes depending on doctors’ recommendations (Roby, Jacobs, Kertzner, & Kominski, 2014). Many policymakers and politicians in different states have been divided over this issue. The federal government and some politicians still insist that marijuana is an illicit compound or drug that does not have any known medical value (Roby et al., 2014). This is a clear indication that politicians have presented a wide range of views to oppose or propose this issue. Some interest groups, religious organizations, and communities have been against the legalization of marijuana for medicinal use (Schick, 1991). These stakeholders believe strongly that marijuana is a harmful compound to a person’s health. The drug, according to them, results in numerous challenges in society. Business entities and corporations have gone further to support this policy (Carah et al., 2015). According to them, medical marijuana can improve many people’s wellbeing. The stake
Excessive Weight and US Health Care Obesity is regarded as one of the most dangerous pandemics of the modern world. The USA has been one of the leading countries regarding the rate of people with excessive weight. The problem is associated with such serious health issues as cardiovascular diseases, type 2 diabetes mellitus, and even cancer (Malik, Willett, & Hu, 2013). Malik et al. (2013) claim that obesity leads to considerable financial losses for the American economy, as “medical costs attributable to obesity” reached the US $147 billion in 2008 (p. 13). This is a heavy burden on the country’s economy as well as its healthcare system. Obesity among adolescents is of specific concern, as the lifestyles developed at early ages persist and define people’s behaviors in adulthood (Ahluwalia et al., 2015). Ahluwalia et al. (2015) note that adolescent obesity tends to have long-term effects irrespective of people’s weight in adulthood. It has been acknowledged that the rate of overweight adolescents in the USA has stabilized, which is a positive trend. Researchers note that there is quite a small increase in the number of obese adolescents in the USA, which is a positive change given that the rate of overweight adolescents had been increasing in past decades at a significant pace (Ahluwalia et al., 2015). Vereecken et al. (2015) note that there is a certain growth in fruit and vegetable consumption among US adolescents (during the 2000s). It is noteworthy that the physical activity of US youth has also increased considerably. These findings show that there is a certain positive shift in health-related behaviors as American adolescents tend to have healthier diets and lifestyles as compared to older generations. Nonetheless, these seemingly promising trends conceal one of the major issues persistent in US society. Social disparities contribute to a substantial difference between the lifestyles of minorities and economically disadvantaged groups and middle-class and rich adolescents (Frederick, Snellman, & Putnam, 2014). Frederick et al. (2014) emphasize that recent research shows that the obesity rate among high-socioeconomic status adolescents decreased while the same index for economically disadvantaged groups increased considerably. It has been found that major factors contributing to the prevalence of obesity among teenagers coming from low-income families are population density, distance to parks, affordability of fruit and vegetables, and the availability of high-quality healthcare and educational services. Rossen and Talih (2014) note that demographic and geographical factors are major contributors to the prevalence of unhealthy behaviors among American adolescents. Young people coming from low-income and ethnic minority groups have few opportunities to be physically active and consume healthy food, which increases the rate of obesity. It is noteworthy that the US government has tried to address this i