ShantanuT01/DACTYL-Pretraining huggingface dataset:
Introduction The development of the personal computer marked the emergence of a new genre of competitive games referred to as “eSports.” The popularity of eSports has led to a greater focus on the controversial issue of whether video games should be considered a sport or not. Video games share numerous similarities with conventional sporting events such as massive audiences, high earnings, and the application of rigorous strategy and skills. Proponents of video games present the aforementioned similarities to support the argument of classification as a sport. However, the similarities are not good enough reasons to promote competitive games to a sport. Video games should not be considered a sport because they do not involve any physical exertion or the application of athletic ability that conventional sports require. Definition, Background, and History A Sport is a contest in which people participate in a physical activity, compete against each other, and follow certain rules (Brookey & Oates, 2015). A recent study conducted by Baronowski et al. (2012) found out that providing active video games to children does not provide any health benefit to children because it does not additional physical activity when compared to passive video games. In the spring of 2015, a cable and satellite television channel (ESPN) aired a tournament of college students competing in a video game known as “Heroes of the Storm.” The broadcast was criticised by individuals who were opposed to the classification of video games as a sport. Opponents of video games argue that television networks that are devoted to sports should only broadcast tournaments that involve physical activity (Borg, 2015). One of the features of conventional sports is organisation. Sports are organised into leagues that are differentiated by the levels of expertise possessed by players. In contrast, video game tournaments are poorly-organised (Borg, 2015). The main weakness of video game leagues is the lack of a proper strategy to manage players. The only strategy used is the imposition of fines. Moreover, players can play independently or participate in international competitions without joining any league (Borg, 2015). This essay will argue that video games should not be considered a sport because of the lack of physical exertion, which encourages sedentary lifestyles that are non-existent in conventional sports. Playing video games is not a sport but a hobby. It is a pastime activity that people engage in when they are bored or when they want to relax. The difference between a sport and a competitive hobby is the amount of physical exertion involved (Cashmore, 2010). Many people choose video games as hobbies because they do not involve physical movement. According to the World Health Organisation, one of the challenges that young people face is the negative health effect of embracing sedentary lifestyles because they encourage the deve
Life poisoned with a drop of despair is truly unbearable. Spreading like cancer, the feeling grips body and mind without letting one take a breath. This haunting emotion is something that one cannot deal with o his/her own – the incredible tension within breaks the person down, crushing the very stem of what makes a man – the belief. With his incredible ability to see the truth under the thick layer of lies, Thoreau managed to notice that despair is the integral part of what makes a man. Considering Shakespeare’s most famous tragedies, Hamlet and Macbeth, one will inevitably see that Thoreau was speaking the sad truth. Despite the power and the fortune that the lead characters of the plays possessed, they were still seized by the tormenting feeling that was devouring their very self. Hamlet is completely desperate, there can be no doubt about that. Surrounded by lies and treachery, with not a single person to trust in, he becomes an outcast, willingly isolating himself from the society. It is evident that the life with the people who have betrayed him once is completely impossible for him. The very strain of the situation that Hamlet got trapped in is burst out together with his lonesome cry: “O God! God! How weary, stale, flat and unprofitable, Seem to me all the uses of this world!” (Shakespeare). Torn apart by the conflict within, Hamlet is in the pit of despair, and, like a fox pursued by the hound, he cannot stop being cautious even for a moment. Together with his father’s murder, he faces the necessity to live with the traitors and pretend to know nothing, which his grief and despair stems from. Shocked by the lies that his mother and his uncle were trying to feed the prince with, Hamlet seeks his consolation in his friendship with Horatio, yet even this one true friend cannot take away the pain within: Thrift, thrift, Horatio! the funeral baked meats Did coldly furnish forth the marriage tables. Would I had met my dearest foe in heaven Or ever I had seen that day, Horatio! My father! – methinks I see my father (Shakespeare) However, because of the threat that the prince is subject to, he must keep silent, which is why his despair is silent – as Thoreau said, this is the “quiet desperation” that is already interwoven into Hamlet’s pattern of life. This splinter cannot be extracted from Hamlet’s heart, and he is doomed to bear this dull pain till the day he dies. However, together with the anguish, there is one more feeling that makes the despair even more unbearable, though it seems impossible, and that is the sting of revenge. Tramped into mud and stamped on with the feet of
The power of policy is enormous; education is one of the spheres where this power expands. The Supreme Court case we will discuss below serves as a bright example of the policy intervention into the educational system of the USA and the negative outcomes this intervention may have. The case under consideration is Mayer vs. Monroe County Community School Corp., 06-1657. The event occurred in January, 2003 at a Bloomington, Indiana, in the elementary-school where Deborah Mayer taught. The fourth-through sixth-graders students were debating about the article which was a part of the curriculum approved by the school. The article was extracted from the children’s edition of Time magazine and contained protests against the preparations of the USA for Iraq invasion. While discussing the problems of the article a student asked Mayer about her participation in demonstration. The teacher answered that “she blew her horn whenever she saw a “Honk for Peace” sign” (Egelko, 2007) Mayer highlighted that any problem, war including, may be solved peacefully. The first politicians’ concern should be to find peaceful solutions before starting the war. As it is seen, the importance of the human values was admitted by the teacher in her reply to the student’s question. But after the lesson the student’s parents’ complains came. Mayer was forbidden to discuss political issues and her perception of them with the students. At the end of the school year, in June 2003, her contract with the school was not renewed. The following reasons for her dismissal were presented by the district: poor performance and complaints by parents. But Mayer states that her previous evaluations are good, moreover, the complaints were solicited by the district after the event happened. The appeals court Mayer has appealed to assumed that the teacher was fired because of her political comments. It turned out that the school had the right to penalize teachers for defying its policy. Mayor declared that this policy never existed before, but the court refused her appeal. In the Supreme Court papers Mayor was called a “failing teacher” whose speech was a reaction to her salary. “The Constitution does not enable teachers to present personal views to captive audiences against the instructions of elected offici
The case of Bridgestone vs. IBM presents an example that displays the importance of communication in cooperation between businesses. In brief, the American subsidiary of Bridgestone requested IBM to develop an extensive business system that will be capable of processing a large volume of orders. Due to several complications, the system developed by IBM was released behind schedule yet way earlier than the last steps of development, which resulted in millions of financial losses and the deterioration of both companies’ images. Analyzing the details of the case provides an understanding of common complications in significant projects and how improper execution of extensive projects can influence the reputation of collaborating companies. First, in defining what each side could do differently to improve the outcomes, one could notice immediately that both companies had issues hindering their work and left them undiscussed. IBM had trouble working with a project already attempted several times by other vendors, which caused additional obstacles not previously discussed by the management. The obstacles resulted in delays in system release, and due to a lack of understanding in communication, Bridgestone proceeded with the release of the unfinished system. The simplest solution for Bridgestone that could have sufficiently improved the outcomes, in this case, was to postpone the release and give IBM time to finish the system. While delaying the system release could have resulted in additional expenses, the order data could have been saved without any threats to the existing customer base. Moreover, it seems that IBM insisted on running a testing launch of the system. Therefore, the adverse outcomes could have been prevented if Bridgestone did not fail to process the vendor’s request and was not excessively focused on improving the existing system in a short time. Next, there is a significant difference in the harm that publicity around this project caused to the two companies. On the one hand, Bridgestone lost a substantial portion of customers, business partners, and brand supporters. Moreover, the company seemingly suffered crucial financial damage from unsuccessful system implementation, while the development of the system was out of Bridgestone’s competence. Thus, Bridgestone suffered more losses from the project’s failure than IBM. However, IBM’s image was more harmed by the event’s publicity when Bridgestone filed a suit against IBM. In addition to being charged in breach of contract, Bridgestone company accused IBM of fraud as IBM’s budget for developing the system exceeded Bridgestone’s initial budget. Furthermore, Bridgestone accused IBM of assigning incompetent personnel that lacked the necessary skills and experience to execute the project. Therefore, even though the early launch of the system was Bridgestone’s mistake, IBM’s reputation as a vendor who failed to fulfill its functions was harmed more by the event’s publicity. Lastly, considering the scale of the conflict between the two c
Andorno et al., in their article “Geneva Statement on Heritable Human Genome Editing: The Need for Course Correction” (2020), claim the following. The decision to modify the human genome cannot be legal without broad and essentially meaningful public participation. This decision requires time and thought, as it can seriously affect future generations. Flatow, in his audio podcast “The First CRISPR-Edited Babies, Are (Probably) Here. Now What?” (2018), states the following. He believes that such research involving CRISPR interference with human genes goes beyond the ethical limits of gene-editing technology. In my judgment, genetic engineering and genome editing need to be approached with the utmost caution. Such interventions in human DNA can benefit, which is especially important for the treatment of rare genetic diseases (Andorno et al., 2020). At the heart of gene editing and understanding why it was needed were studies of bacteria that showed how they developed protection against bacteriophages. This area is up-and-coming and can help humanity eliminate many problems, but people should not forget about prudence. This study has indisputable advantages, including the birth of two twin girls with resistant immunity to HIV using CRISPR-cas9. In addition, with the help of a modified Ca9 protein, it is possible to turn off genes that interfere with the normal degeneration of cells and lead to malignant formations. That is, the results of this study could potentially help to find a long-awaited cure for cancer (Flatow, 2018). However, there are concerns that such an intervention may lead to the reproduction of new cells becoming even worse. In addition, people should not forget about the ethical side of this issue. Whether genetic research is a cause for concern is a complex but essential question. Now it is impossible to say that tomorrow people risk getting undesirable consequences of genome editing. Firstly, research is still underway, and people have not had time to do something serious. Secondly, even when the mass application of technology to humans begins, it will be possible to understand the actual consequences only after several generations. So far, scientists are cautiously predicting the likelihood of making such changes to the human genome. It will take a long time before people learn enough about genetic engineering to change their DNA without fear.
Introduction to the concept and position of marketing research Marketing management requires enough and related information to enable planning and achieving winning decisions about a marketing scheme. The marketing manager’s experience in the milieu of marketing, coupled with the data obtained from marketing research and other sources within the organisation aids guide decision-making in union with other departmental managers (Stevens, 2006). As such, in order to enable collection of information required for making objective marketing decisions, the marketing manager has to borrow a lot from an intuitive knowledge of marketing research. This research paper explores a number of themes in the role of secondary data in marketing research. Marketing research is a technical process of collecting and processing information to aid decision-making in marketing management. As the adage goes, knowledge is power. Such phrases are being echoed in the business milieu. Knowledge is obtained from information, which comes from data, which comes from marketing research. The world is increasingly becoming a multifarious place. Changes are happening at an alarming rate, and with the growth of information technology, consumers are open to more and more information on which to ground their decisions (Zikmund & Babin, 2009). Marketing research can be categorized as basic or applied. Basic marketing research is more general and simply is geared towards obtaining and generating information about aspects of the marketing system. There is little or no emphasis on how to utilize or relate this information in the marketing management process after the research is completed. The research is not usually meant for a particular organisation but serves a broader function. This category of research is grounded on a supposition and a theory and is carried out methodically and entirely (Smith & Albaum, 2005). Contrary to basic research, applied research is aimed at enabling management make informed decisions about a particular aspect. This research is done to resolve a specific problem and is more precise to the organisation (Hair, et al, 2005). Apart from the two broad types of marketing research, there are three other categorizations of marketing research according to the key roles they play. The first one is descriptive research. This type of research shows a contemporary situation. The emphasis is on offering the specific organisation with past and cotemporary data about the consumer, industry, and environment and the effects or significance of this data to the company under study. The second t
Introduction Consumer behavior refers to “the decision making process and physical activity involved in acquiring, evaluating, using and disposing of goods and services”. Consumer behavior studies attempt to investigate the shopping patterns in terms of when, why, how, as well as, where individuals purchase or do not purchase a product. The importance of understanding consumer behavior includes the following. First, it helps in developing effective marketing mix in terms of the right price, product, place and promotion. Second, consumer behavior helps in formulating marketing strategies in terms of good timing, effective advertising and excellent customer services. Third, it helps managers to understand public policy and the impact of the product in the society. Finally, it helps in changing consumer behavior in order to enhance sales. Given these benefits, marketers have focused on market research in order to understand consumer behavior. Through such studies, marketers have been able to understand consumers’ perception of products and substitutes. Market research has also facilitated understanding of how a product is used by consumers and the improvements that consumers expect to be made on the product. Additionally, researchers have been able to understand buyers’ attitudes towards a product, adverts and the influence of family and friends on purchasing decisions. E-commerce or online shopping was introduced to leverage the determinants of purchasing decisions. In particular, online shopping attempts to reduce costs and time involved in shopping. However, the problems of online shopping such as insecurity, lack of adequate product information and inaccessibility to internet have negatively impacted consumers’ online purchasing decisions. This paper focuses on consumer behavior by analyzing the situational factors that influence the purchase of ladies handbags. The Company Gap Inc is a leading international specialty retailer in the fashion and apparel industry. The company was founded in 1969 in San Francisco where its headquarters is located (Gap Inc, 2012, pp. 3-85). The company retails fashion accessories, clothes, ladies handbags, and personal care products. These products are sold under the five brands of Gap Inc. The brands include “gap, banana republic, old navy, piper-lime and athleta” (Gap Inc, 2012, pp. 3-85). As at January 2012, Gap Inc had 13,200 employees working in its 3,000 stores around the world (Gap Inc, 2012, pp. 3-85). Gap Inc also operates 200 franchise stores in various parts of the world. The Problem Despite being one of the largest firms in the global apparent industry, Gap Inc has not been able to improve its profitability in the last financial year (2011 financial year). In general, Gap Inc reported a significant reduction in both sales and profits in the 2011 financial year. The company’s net income for the fourth quarter of 2011 was $218 million which was 40.27% less than the $365 million recorded in 2010’s fourth quarter (Gap Inc, 2012, pp. 3-85). The company’s sales in the fourth quarter of 2010 were $4.4 billion. However,
Introduction Every business unit would always envision working in an environment that is peaceful, orderly and law abiding. Law in business is very important. No single business can succeed in an environment that lacks clear laws and regulations. In a business environment, there are many entities. The business itself is the first entity, which is distinct from the owner considered to be another entity. Other entities are related to the business in one way or the other. Employees are very important part of every organization. According to Kongolo (2008), employees are important assets in every organization. A clear relationship should exist between the employees and the firm. As stated above, a business unit is an entity and when one is employed in the business. This means that there must be some specified relationship between the entity and the employee. There are various occasions where there arise disagreements between the business and the employees. The employee should always feel that the firm is fair. Furthernmore an employee should acknowledge the fact that his or her effort is appropriately rewarded. In this regard, an employee should note that he or she is taken care of within the firm. The firm should also be comfortable with the employee and feel that the amount it is paying to the employee as salary or wages is dutifully earned. Because of this necessity, the government has developed laws that would ensure that both parties have their interests taken care of without violating the interest of others. This paper seeks to analyze employment laws and determine how they help in ensuring that both the employer and the employee get what they deserve without infringing on the rights of the other. Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 (FMLA) This law became effective in August 15, 1993 as a federal law that ensured that employees were entitled to annual leave or
Introduction According to a report by Datamonitor. (March 2007), the global software and services industry group grew by 10.8% in 2006 to reach a value of $1,350.8 billion. In 2011, the global software and services industry group is forecast to have a value of $2,219.5 billion, an increase of 64.3% since 2006. IT Services account for 53% of the global software & services industry group’s value. 40.2% of the industry group’s value is produced in the United States. Clearly, IT and software has increased its presence and offers a strong growth area and the growth would be sustained for quite a long time. This paper analyzes various forces that drive and shape the software industry. Social, Cultural and Demographic Forces Various social, cultural and demographic forces are at work in shaping the software industry. This chapter provides a discussion on these forces and how they serve to act as drivers for the industry. Software Demographics differences Band (July 2007) has suggested that there are clear demographic differentiators in the software industry and they are the software developer and the software vendor. Software developers are the companies that take up outsourced IT application work for other companies while software vendors are the companies that sell packaged software. The author has stated that that all the global 10 leading software vendors have off shore software development centers in India while a few of them have offices in China, Taiwan and other Asian countries. The leading software vendor companies are Microsoft, Oracle, SAP, Sungard Data Systems, Computer Associates, Symantec, Intuit, Amdocs, Misys and BMC Software. The leading software services companies are based in India and include Infosys, Tata Consultancy Services, Patni Computers, Mastek Ltd. and a few others. The software services providers also provide BPO services and call center services and Band says that there is a marked demographical preference for Asian developers, mainly from India while China is also racing forward. Importance of cultural differences in software industry Victoria Furness. (2007) has highlighted the cultural differences in the software industry, especially in the Asia-Pacific regions and countries such as China, India, Japan and others. According to the author, India has a specific advantage over the countries with its liberalized education system and the overall higher level of intelligence of students in the country. Countries such as Korea, Taiwan and China are next in the line while Japan is regarded more as a consumer of software products and services. The author has argued that since a long time, Indian citizens from prestigious institutions such as IIT and other engineering colleges have emigrated to US and Europe, settled and