ShantanuT01/DACTYL-Pretraining huggingface dataset:
Argentina is precisely an emerging country, and it is classified among the middle-income countries. The country has a human development index is 0.811 against the 0.900 which is considered the minimum for the developed countries. This has been as a result of high living standards of its citizens due to high employment levels. Lately, Argentina has exhibited high poverty levels with the population below the poverty line being 8.35% as of 2011 (McCloskey 71). However, it has the least income disparities in Latin America. The country has advanced its manufacturing sector, and it’s the largest contributor to the gross domestic product. Moreover, the country has established its agriculture and tourism sector which contribute highly to its economy. Nevertheless, the government is highly indebted and recently billionaire Paul Singer decided to take ARA Libertad as collateral for the debts owed to him by the government. Argentina is highly endowed with natural resources which contribute significantly to its economic development. The country has a lot of minerals including coal, copper zinc, silver, and Gold. These minerals have helped in the advancement of the economy. On the same note, Argentina has a highly skilled population which can contribute positively to the economy (Gomez 115). These factors have been very crucial in propelling the country to a middle-income economy and also among the G-20 countries. It is important to note that the government is very supportive of the private sector. The good relationship has led to increased economic growth. The low-income inequalities have been responsible for not only increased living standards but also high rates of economic development. Moreover, the economy is highly diversified which makes the country rather protected from changing economic conditions. Effects of environmental externalities are not that very adverse in the Argentina economy. The position of Argentina is strategic, and the country can trade with very many countries both in Europe and North America. However, external economic conditions have had negative effects on Argentina’s economy. Argentina had a very bad tax system which had many loopholes that enabled many people to evade paying their taxes. Consequently, the government lost a lot of money leading to low savings and investments (Paolera and Alan 197). It is important to note that the government of Argentina has huge foreign as well as local debts. Servicing these loans has been very difficult for the government. Not only has it led to higher percentages of the GDP going to loans and the interests, but has also driven the country to economic crises. Furthermore, the economic conditions of Argentina have not been good especially after the crisis of 2001. As a result, ma
Introduction Beginning in 1550, the Portuguese started to trade enslaved Africans because of two main reasons. First, the local inhabitants did not quickly acculturate and became increasingly cautious of the Portuguese; therefore, obtaining new local slaves was getting harder and harder. Secondly, the Portuguese Empire had power over some phases in the commercial process of the African slave trade (Reis 1995). Consequently, this offered the Brazilian landowners the chance to bring in slaves from Portuguese trading stations in Africa. The ever-increasing demand for slaves made it possible for slave traders from Portugal, Africa, and Brazil to get high incomes. Throughout the 15th century, subsequently recognizing the extension and value of slave dealing for the African financial system, the soldiers, explorers, and traders in Portuguese Empire were engaged in dealing in enslaved black Africans together with other tradable items. This was via the establishment of numerous coastal operation stations. From around 1550, the Portuguese started to trade slaves from Africa to toil in the sugar plantations that they were building on in their newly found colony of Brazil. In spite of the fact that the Prime Minister of Portugal, Marques, had put an end to slave trade, it persisted in a number of Portuguese colonies. This was more so in Brazil where slave trade continued up to its final eradication in the year 1888 (Conrad1972). Brazil was the very last country in the Western world to put an end to slavery. The assistance of the slaves imported from Africa in the sugar cane plantations was far-reaching. One of the merits of using these slaves was that they were less susceptible to tropical illnesses. Slave trade involved almost all classes. From the late 18th century up to around 1830, comprising the era of the Revolts in Bahia, the high and middle ranks were privileged to own slaves (Klein & Francisco 2010). The advantages of using the slaves from Africa significantly surpassed the charges to the owners. In a period of two to three years, the slaves from Africa had reimbursed the cost of purchasing them, and the owners of slave plantations started to generate returns from them. The owners of sugar cane plantations in Brazil made worthwhile profits for every year. There was strenuous labour in the plantations that engaged the slaves in digging up of trenches with the use of hoes. They then planted sugar cane in the dug trenches and spread manure with their naked hands. Sugar and Slavery The hunt for silver and gold was a regular subject in overseas development. However,
Weigel and Cao’s (1999) article describes the issues with logistics at Sears, Roebuck, and Company. As a large retail company that operates within a chain of department stores, Sears uses software to develop transportation routes for the distribution and delivery of products. The article outlines the problem with the efficacy of a previously used geographic information system (GIS) for timely route decision-making, the solution designed to eliminate the problem, and the benefits the company obtained from the implemented new system. The problem encountered by Sears, Roebuck, and Company was related to two essential departments of the company, including Sears logistics services and Sears product services. The company’s primary operations depended on the effectiveness and efficacy of these services since they predetermined the speed, time-effectiveness, and cost-effectiveness of transportation of products by delivery vehicles. In particular, in the USA, the corporation manages a “fleet of over 1,000 delivery vehicles that includes contract carriers and Searsowned vehicles” (Weigel & Cao, 1999, p. 113). Within the Sears product services, the company operates as repairing and installing agent managing 12,500 vehicles and responsible technicians. The planning and adjustment of vehicle routs were commonly implemented on the basis of regional subdivisions of offices in accordance with customer location. Vehicle-routing problems with time windows emerged because routes were planned one day before the delivery and were handled mostly manually. It imposed such problematic issues as time, operational, and cost losses. The newly designed software solution had to integrate the core business process and eliminate the problems without high additional costs. The solution proposed by the creators of the new system was in the implementation of efficient software based on the system of work already existing in the company. In essence, the new system aimed “to enhance Sears’ existing mainframe-based delivery order system (DOS) and national product services (NPS) systems to consolidate operations, improve services, and reduce costs” (Weigel & Cao, 1999, p. 114). Thus, the new algorithms improved the existing systems and generated Enhanced Home Delivery System and the Computer-Aided Routing System (Weigel & Cao, 1999). These solutions utilize the geographical information s
Summary of the News The news in the area of the State of Ohio was expected to revolve around homicides and car break-ins. The news that was found showed that this statement was partially true. The first piece of news dealt with a guy who shot a woman, her unborn child, her father, and her two younger siblings (17 and 19 years old respectively) and then pleaded guilty in order to escape a possible death sentence (“Suspect in Cleveland slayings pleads guilty, avoids death sentence,” 2017). Regardless, he was sentenced by the judge to five life sentences due to certain aggravating circumstances and will have no possibility to shorten the jail term or bail out. The second piece of news told us the story of a former bus driver who hit a pedestrian and pleaded not guilty (“Highland Heights woman pleads not guilty in death of Cleveland pedestrian,” 2017). According to the report, she slowed down but it was not enough to evade the accident, and she hit the pedestrian when the latter was in the crosswalk. The former bus driver was charged with aggravated vehicular assault but managed to evade the sentence. The third piece of news dwelled on an increased number of car break-ins in Vermilion and presented it as a trivial pattern that is not going to develop into a large-scale car break-in streak (“String of car break-ins reported in Vermilion,” 2017). All of the accidents are still under investigation. Several juveniles were seen in the area, but the law enforcement officers did not have any evidence that would help them to identify those juveniles as the offenders. Influence of the Media on Criminal Justice It is pivotal to understand that the news became one of the fundamental parts of our life. Therefore, its direct and indirect impact, even if not palpable, majorly influences our perceptions regarding crimes and illicit behavior (Mallicoat, 2016). Overall, the current media has a substantial impact on society and shapes the outlooks of the latter in line with the governmental and criminal justice requirements. This means that we only see some things in the news that were previously approved to be shown on TV or printed in the newspapers. Nonetheless, the dynamic nature of crime cannot be underestimated, and one has to understand that the majority of contemporary individuals may search the Internet for the latest news and find things that were not intended to be seen by the majority of the public (Marion & Oliver, 2015). Despite both positive and negative connotations of the decision to conceal some of the data, the government (in association with the law enforcement agency) does a great job managing the data stream that makes it to the headlines. Ultimately, the news is one of the aspects that influence the development of the concept of criminal justice and help the government find weak spots in the legislation. The Connection between Local Crimes and Crime Control Policies The co
The American Civil War was fueled by aggressive actions from the South’s states, not the North. The US Constitution provided for each country’s independence and their voluntary unification into a nation, the Confederation took many actions to start an armed conflict. Attitudes towards slavery and the immediate outbreak of war in an armed conflict can be ranked as acts of aggression from the South. People’s opinions on slavery varied greatly between the North and the South. While the former relied on the Enlightenment idea, advocated for equal rights for all citizens of the country, the latter, for the most part, proclaimed ideas that presupposed the dominance of one race over another. Inhuman working conditions, the constant expansion of plantation areas, which caused a continuous increase in the number of African-American slaves, was the main reason for the Civil War outbreak (Capek, 2017). It is impossible to calculate the exact number of people who died due to abuse by slave owners. Besides, the first battle of the Civil War was an attack by Confederate forces on Federation territory. The Battle of Fort Sumter (April 1861) is the evidence of aggression from the South (Capek, 2017). The southern states decided to unite into the Confederation due to their reluctance to change the slave system. Having no other way to defend its interests, the South began to undertake acts of aggression against the North to protect itself. In conclusion, secession was legal, and the Southern states tended to solve slavery by force. The same system of slavery, which implies the absence of minimum rights and freedoms for the individual, coupled with the outbreak of hostilities, became the main factor for waging a full-scale civil war. Without giving up the opportunity to protect their interests, the South was forced to start a war. Reference Capek, M. (2017). The battle over slavery: Causes and effects of the U.S. Civil War . Capstone Press.
“Despite the heightened security, Marissa could not travel weeks after the event, as the thought of being on a plane evoked great fear in her. As she overcame her anxiety of flying on a trip to Florida, she underwent a personal set back when experiencing a panic attack in the plane due to the presence of a man that she associated with terrorism. Another awkward giggle escapes Marissa as she states that she does not consider herself a judgmental person based on looks, but she could not help feeling scared. It was a first reaction, and a wrong one, and she panicked and had to force herself to fall asleep so she would not think about the risk of another September 11th event happing with her 3000 miles in the air. Marissa does not experience any major anxiety when flying now, but she still experience minor degrees of anxiety, which she simply blocks out by telling herself that everything will be ok.” (Marissa, personal communication, 17 September 2008). These are the views of a 22 years old Adult and goes to show the psychological effect of the 9/11 blasts. Many a people are being wrongly suspected of being terrorists, this has been one of the biggest changes in the psychology of the adults which has taken place since the 9/11 incident. “The majority of participants reported that the events of 9/11 and the war in Iraq changed the way people define who is a true American. Changes that were typically reported included heightened levels of racial profiling, discrimination, and an “us-versus them” mentality. With regard to perceptions of increased racial profiling, some individuals shared specific and personal incidents of discrimination. One Asian American woman stated, “I know my fiancé´ looks Middle Eastern, he was getting different looks from other Americans…. Right after it happened, he felt like people were thinking he was a threat.” Other participants described being aware of heightened levels of discrimination, but were not directly affected. One participant explained, “A lot of people, not just people from one culture, but people from other cultures seem to be a little bit more suspicious of Muslim people.” (True American, 17 September 2008). The changes in the psychology of Marissa after the 9/11 incident is again evident here in the above case. The Adults have become very suspicious; this is one of the biggest psychological changes which have taken since the 9/11 incident. Marissa experienced panic attacks on looking at a person, whom she suspected of being a terrorist another middle Asian America woman felt that her fiancé was looked upon by people as a potential threat, all these evidences show a major ch
Introduction Volkswagen (VW) is a German-based automobile company, which manufactures and sells cars in over 153 countries across the globe. Ferdinand Porsche founded the firm in the 1930s with the objective of manufacturing and selling cars in Germany (Buiga, 2012). In its initial period, the company manufactured cars in small scale, which it sold in the local German market. However, following its high quality branding, the company grew rapidly and added trucks and public vehicles to its product list. Before 2015, the company was among the market leaders in the automobile industry despite the high competition in the market. In the mentioned period, the company supplied over 9.7 million vehicles annually to different countries across the globe (Boston & Houston-Waesch, 2015). VW profits were also high owing to the premium pricing it charged to its customers that matched the quality of its vehicles. For instance, Passat, which was launched in 2010, pushed the company ahead of the competitors owing to its innovative features. However, the company’s turnover took a downward trend in 2015 following the exposure of the emission scandal (Boston & Houston-Waesch, 2015). This paper seeks to establish the impacts of the mentioned scandal on the firm’s brand equity and its overall profits. To achieve the stated objective, the paper shall give a brief overview of the emissions scandal, its effect on the company’s reputation and brand equity, and then explore the ethical issues applicable to the case. Overview of the VW emission scandal The infamous VW emission scandal is a controversy revolving around a kind of software fixed in the company’s vehicles with an aim of fraudulently misleading the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The software, which was popularly known as the “defeat device”, was fitted in about 11 million vehicles that had already been distributed globally (Lane, 2015). The fixing of the software in the vehicles followed a requirement by the EPA for the automobile industry to regulate the amount of carbon emissions. Under the requirement, EPA would conduct carbon emissions tests before approving any newly designed vehicle (Boston & Houston-Waesch, 2015). To pass the test, Volkswagen fraudulently fixed a defeat device that would reduce the amount of carbon emissions during such tests. The software could automatically detect when such tests were being carried out and adjust the running of the engine accordingly to minimize the carbon emissions. The fraud was unearthed in 2015 by an independent investigator causing the company great losses in term of brand equity and loss of customers. Effects of the scandal on VW’s brand equity Brand equity refers to the perceptions of the customers about a certain product or service. Strong brand equity, therefore, implies that the customers perceive a company’s product as superior to that of the rivals (Helm & Tolsdorf, 2013). Weak brand equity, on the other hand, implies that a company’s product is less superior compared to that of the c
Introduction Some Americans are inclined to accentuate their freedom provided in the democratic society with references to different aspects of the social life and legal policies. The possibility to have handguns to use them for protecting the property or life is also discussed in the context of stating the human rights and freedoms. However, the problem is in the fact that the real consequences of having handguns are in providing the threats for the other people but not in protecting themselves. Gun assaults are typical for the American society, and they emphasize the controversial character of the question associated with appropriateness of providing the public with the open access to handguns. Today, many sociologists and politicians insist on developing the restricting laws for guns’ ownership or on the absolute control of the process. Guns should be controlled or restricted in the country with references to the legal policies and laws because guns’ ownership is directly connected with the high rate of homicides in the USA, the availability of handguns affects the increase of suicide rates, provokes the growth of the children’s violence and intimate partner violence, and affects the increase of the violent attacks, using guns. Homicides and Strict Gun Control It is impossible not to pay attention to the fact that the rate of homicides in the USA is rather high. The problem is in fact that the causes of the phenomenon are not only in increasing the atmosphere of violence in the society but also in the availability of the methods to realize the violent intentions. From this point, gun ownership can be discussed as one of the most provocative aspects associated with the criminal situation in the country. According to Stell, “gun assaults are 5-7 times more likely to result in death than non-guns assaults … 70% of American homicides are committed with guns”, and moreover, “other countries with assault rates similar to America’s but with lower gun prevalence and with a commensurately lower percentage of homicide committed with guns enjoy homicide rates 50%+ lower than America” (Stell 38). It is possible to speak about the direct correlation between the availability of handguns and their usage as the means to kill the other person. The fact that 70% of homicides in the country are committed with guns can have the inverse dependence, and it is possible to affect the rate of homicides with controlling the access to handguns and their usage. Thus, Stell states that “reducing the percentage of homicides committed with guns is the key to reducing America’s homicide rate” (Stell 39). That is why, the only way to reduce the rate of homicides is the provision of the restricted laws and policies to control the usage of handguns by the population. From this point, “carefully-crafted, well-enforced firearms control policies can contribute to marginal reductions in criminal violence” (Stell 38). Thus, the rate of homi
Introduction Diabetes among African Americans is an urgent theme in many medical studies and nursing research. Although certain improvements and opportunities have been discovered for the chosen group of people, control and prevention cannot be ignored. According to King, Moreno, Coleman, and Williams (2018), the number of diabetes-related deaths has considerably decreased due to the expansion of Medicaid for African Americans. However, the health consciousness of communities has to be promoted to reduce diabetes risks (Gross, Story, Harvey, Allsopp, & Whitt-Glover, 2017). Relying on the PEN-3 model, cultural empowerment remains a significant factor in developing culturally sensitive programs for diabetes prevention among African Americans (Ilunga Tshiswaka, Ibe-Lamberts, Mulunda, & Iwelunmor, 2017). In this paper, diabetes risk and positive, existential, and negative beliefs towards healing, God, and food quality will be defined to prove that African Americans are a properly chosen group for this SLP project. Cultural Empowerment Cultural empowerment is the ability of people to share their values and traditions within the same cultural group. It is not only the necessity to identify beliefs and interests but an opportunity to contribute to positive health outcomes and well-being. According to the PEN-3 model, cultural empowerment is “a type of collectivism, in that people tend to follow the social norms and expectations of others within their cultural group” (Gross et al., 2017, p. 577). The goal is to define cultural attributes and develop an intervention with the help of which diabetes among African Americans can be controlled. Positive Beliefs Positive beliefs introduce the first factor of cultural empowerment, which includes perceptions, nurturers, and enablers to promote health behavior. In the case of African Americans and their intentions to predict diabetes complications, Purcell and Cutchen (2013) defined a belief in God as a source of power and strength. The importance of family cannot be neglected because of the expected impact on future generations and the possibility to share a controlling experience. Existential Beliefs The second factor consists of existential beliefs that are characterized by no harmful consequences and poor evidence for being incorporated in the intervention. For example, in their investigation, Purcell and Cutchen (2013) found a person who believed that pain relief was the result of his pastor’s prayer because the pain was gone the next day after communication. Faith healing can be an existential belief because it has a positive emotional effect on a patient, but no credible proof can be found. Negative Beliefs Negative beliefs share the attitudes that prevent African Americans from engaging in positive health behaviors. One of the common examples is the choice of food made by African Americans (Ilunga Tshiswaka et al., 2017). Purcell and Cutchen (2013) said