ShantanuT01/DACTYL-Pretraining huggingface dataset:
Introduction Groupthink, as the term suggests, is a phenomenon where members in a group prioritize the desire to achieve harmony and concordance within the group at the expense of the appraisal of the other alternatives they may have. Irvin Janis, a psychologist, came up with the term to help us understand the unbelievingly bad decisions that leaders and business people make which come from the influence of group mentality. Groupthink is “the process by which members of a cohesive group arrives at a decision that many individual members privately believe is unwise” (Kendall, p.150). This means that there are no other alternative decisions that the group may reach. In fact, the hidden views might have the potential to produce better results, but for fear of brewing arguments within the group, the members hold back and go with the seemingly popular decision. Members of the group often want to remain as a unit. Therefore, they glorify unity to the sense that they would not want to jeopardize the unity by bringing up contradicting ideas and opinions. Consequently, it results in everyone agreeing to the decisions and holding back what they privately think is more practical and workable. Forsyth says that, in a cohesive group, members refrain from speaking out against decisions, avoid arguing with others, and strife to maintain friendly, cordial relations at all costs (p.341). The members of the group get out of touch with reality and give precedence and priority to issues that do not matter. Groupthink denies one the desire to be creative and innovative amongst a group of individuals in an organization. Why would anyone bother to come up with an idea if they cannot voice it in the fear of creating discordance in the group? It suffocates the life out of an organization and brings about stagnation. Individuals view change as an enemy and do anything within their power to resist it. Groupthink is known to thrive in the presence of mind guards. Mind guards are individuals within a group who are usually self-appointed. They make sure that no member of the group stands up to raise a different opinion. Usually, they are the most talkative members and who seem to have more charisma. Groupthink is known to have very adverse effects on decision making. Groupthink can be referred to as “the deterioration of mental efficiency, reality testing, and moral judgment that results from in-group pressures” (Weick and Roberts, p. 357). Any leader, chairman, or director of a group in an organization should be very keen to tosspot the symptoms of groupthink and nip it in the bud before it crashes the whole organization. Symptoms of groupthink Groupthink is characterized by certain characteristics. Some of these traits include the following: Close-mindedness In as much as close-mindedness of individuals can be a cause or breeding ground for groupthink to thrive, it is also a trait that a group leader should be on the look out for. Close-minded individuals are resistant to change, and they tend to be rigid and alle
Civil Rights The civil rights events have been a part of American history for more than a hundred years. Though history has witnessed the success of many such movements, there are countless wars to be fought for securing the civil rights of people. Two civil rights events that we will discuss in this paper are the women’s movement for equal pay and the gay rights movement. The Equal Pay Act passed in 1963 that aimed at removing wage disparities between men and women in the US (Alkadry & Tower, 2006). Even though the bill was passed fifty-four years ago, women are still fighting for pay equality at work (“What the Women’s March Stands For,” 2017). The civil rights movement that arose in the sixties ensured that the Equal Pay Act was passed in 1963. However, there still exists a gender gap in wages. Nonetheless, the civil rights movement for equal pay for women has changed the government’s point of view regarding equal opportunities that have reduced the wage gap considerably. The gay rights movement aims to ensure non-discrimination of men and women based on their sexual orientation. Gay rights have been an issue that has plagued the American government since the nineties. Initially, the government was reluctant to pass any law recognizing gay rights. However, the continued movement has opened the eyes of the government, and the Supreme Court has proclaimed same-sex marriage legal and has adjudged it to be a right (Liptak, 2017). Further, many states had legalized gay marriage before the Supreme Court ruling. Two Media Events Media plays a crucial role in forming public opinion. Often, governments use media events for propaganda. These events are usually scripted. Nonetheless, they appear spontaneous to the viewer. Though people do not absorb media coverage uncritically, nevertheless, it has the power to draw public interest to critical subjects. Usually, a speech by a leader or a public demonstration event is elevated to the status of a media event. For example, during the Vietnam War, the media coverage of Tet Offensive of January 1968 showed that the operation in North Vietnam was a success even when it was a military failure (Walsh, 2017). Such a positive portrayal of the war quickly changed the public opinion from negative to positive as the public viewed this win as a triumph over the Communists. Consequently, the outrage of the American people against the government on having started the Vietnam War changed. Propaganda used by the US government during the War on Iraq in 2003 had helped to shape public opinion about government actions. There were more than 600 journalists stationed in the military units reporting the progress of the war in Iraq (Kumar, 2006). The US government used mass media after 9/11 to garner public support. Further, while reporting about the War on Iraq, CNN created a “script approval” procedure wherein the news report was first sent to unnamed officials in Atlanta before it went to the press (Kumar, 2006). Thus, the aim of the media events, orchestrated by the go
Long before the 1940s, Europeans had already expanded into Africa and established trade in slaves. Therefore trade was one of the motives they were expanding into America. Slaves who were acquired from Africa were also traded in America. They imported African slaves to work in their plantations in Native American lands. With the arrival of Columbus in western and southern parts of America, there was the exploration of Gold in these parts of the country. Therefore we can point out clearly that the Spanish had an intention of exploring gold resources in western and southern America. Spaniards also arrived in North America as missionaries with the intention o0f spreading Christianity. This, to the establishment of churches and Monasteries, and they managed to convert the natives into Christianity. The missionaries, both French and British, exerted great influence in the hinterland. The French came to North America so as to trade with the natives. They were also interested in the natural resources that the continent was bestowed with. The French had people like Champlain. LaSalle contributed significantly to their explorations, like when they settled at the two major rivers. The English were looking for colonies that could trade with their mother countries. They, therefore, wanted to establish these colonies in parts of America. The French expanded in parts of Mexico, where they establish forts for their trading activities. The French and the English had a rivalry in the course of their expansion in America. The French expansion to America started earlier, around 1504. The French visited the coasts and harvested things like cod. There were also some aspects of culture that were found in the Native Americans, such as costumes and canoes, which were attractive to the foreigners; hence their demand made them expand in America. The English were interested in forming colonies with rich agricultural lands. They, therefore, established seaboard colonies. The British expanded to America due to some political factors. These include the desire to show off their might and the rise of nationalism. The people who conquered states became nationalists afterward. In America, the colonies that were established by the English, French, and Spaniards reflected different views. The Spanish colonies reflected an expansion in trade in minerals. For instance, gold and silver were adequately explored in the colonies. Trade-in these colonies in the minerals increased. In the British colonies, agriculture was a predominant economic activity led by the English settlers. There was also a notable change in culture and religion whereby Christianity became the religion, and there were so many missionary activities in their
Opportunity Cost Opportunity cost is a term that is applied in the microeconomic theory where a decision has to be made between two or more choices. An opportunity cost refers to the choice that is forgone when another choice is made. For a choice to qualify as an opportunity cost, the alternatives should be mutually exclusive with reference to the available resources. When individuals in business make a choice that can be considered the best at that point in time, other alternatives that the individuals forgo comprise the opportunity cost. In economics, decision-making mainly entails deciding between several mutually exclusive choices. Therefore, managers in businesses lose some of benefits of the choices they forgo. The concept of opportunity cost demonstrates the relationship between choice and scarcity that characterise this field. Chance outlay may be in the form of economic and pecuniary expenses, occasion, gratification, effectiveness, or any advantage that the vanished choice may have brought to the business environment. An example of application of opportunity cost in economics is where an individual has to decide between an investment in the stocks of a company and another investment such as a government bond. If the individual chooses to invest in the stocks of the company, the utilised money cannot be used in the purchase of the government bond. Supposing the stocks generate a return of 2%, and that the equivalent value in investment will generate 6% returns over the same period, the investor has an opportunity cost of 4%. This figure is obtained by subtracting the value obtained in the investment in stocks from that which would have been obtained from the government bond (6%-4%). Product Differentiation Product differentiation is another concept of marketing and economics. Organisations use it to differentiate their products from those of their competitors. Organisations in the business environment often have a special target group for their products, with success in the industry being dependent on how well the organisation is able to market itself to this target group. Product differentiation makes product more attractive to an organisation’s target group. An organisation may also produce several products. The concept of product differentiation in this case enables the organisation to provide a choice for consumers by differentiating between the various products. Product differentiation as a concept in economics arose from the theory of monopolistic competition proposed by one of the renowned economic scholars. Edward Chamberlain proposed the concept in the publication of this theory in the early 30s. An example of product differentiation is the multinational organisation Coca-Cola that produces several types of refreshment products. The company produces some brands that have dominated the market for several years, including the famous Coca-Cola brand. Because of the rise of several global competitors such as Pepsi Cola, Coca-Cola has had to apply intense marketing wit
Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) has widely been in use by various media platforms to imply a metaphysical approach to syntax and lexis, as well as its manifestations across different groups. As a concept of liberal arts analysis, CDA continues to emerge as an intellectual orthodoxy with prowess to contextualize worldviews. As CDA continues to rise as an intellectual concept, a certain tendency for being confounded is in the offing. Breeze (493) opines that many people, as well as different institutions, apply the concept simply as a valid way of giving their researches greater weights without necessarily considering its weaknesses and other concepts that continue to attain intellectual respectability. For instance, the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS) menace is a real danger that gives contemporary governments no sleep. The task that lies ahead in tackling the ISIS menace is great. However, a robust counter-offensive strategy does not only rely on the airstrikes and heavy combating of the ISIS loyalists and sympathizers, but also on a calculated intelligence approach. ISIS, as Castells (79) notes, is no longer an ordinary terrorist organization, but a highly sophisticated Jihadist movement that demands a lot of intelligence to intercept. As a movement, ISIS continues to conquer Syria and Iraq to establish its ideological orientation with impunity. The ISIS continues to gain momentum, and in the process engages the world in the war of ideas. With its elaborate networks, strategic propaganda, and enhanced technical offensive support, the global community must now look at new angles from which to fight this movement. It is necessary and appropriate to avoid framing the CDA strategy as the only intelligence modicum to counter-terrorism approach. While the CDA analysis aids in the understanding of the relationship existing between discourses and ideologies, it is equally necessary to go beyond the narratives of syntax and lexical solutions to the ISIS menace. The Syrian ISIS solution is a great concern to the international community. There is an urgent need to gather the necessary momentum and put ISIS on the road to self-destruction. As the world contemplates the next step, ISIS continues to cause unprecedented humanitarian suffering in the regions subdued by its forces (Lewis par. 2). T
1. What is the research question the author(s) is trying to answer?                       In fact, there are no direct or indirect research questions in the article. For that reason, it is hard to say what particular questions the authors tried to answer in their project. In the beginning, they identified β–lactoglobulin as one of the main whey proteins that could be found in the milk of cows and other ruminants. Then, the assumption that some DPP-4 inhibitors could be found in short peptides of the chosen protein was made. The authors did not question this possibility but underlined the necessity to investigate the presence of DPP-4 inhibitors in the offered context.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  2. What is the purpose of the article? Is it clearly described?                           The aim of the article is the identification of DPP-4 inhibitors that can be found among short peptides of hydrolysates of β–lactoglobulin. The importance of this project is clearly described in the introductory section. The authors admit that the administration of foods that may influence incretin degradation cannot be ignored. Inhibition of intestinal DPP-4 determines the work of the gastrointestinal tract. The presence of DPP-4 inhibitors in β–lactoglobulin-derived peptides remains a poorly discovered research topic. The authors made a decision to focus on angiotensin-converting-enzyme (ACE) inhibitory activity a
Introduction The focus of Onetech is to help marketers in the process of identifying, nurturing, and converting customers. It deals with technical decision makers since they are their primary clients. Chief finance officers and decision makers are their secondary clients. Managers and directors in the information technology departments are their major target customers. The time of engagement is between three to six months. The company offers secondary services indirectly. Due to its nurturing budget, it deals mainly with a few technical people (Irving 1982, p. 65). The Process of decision-making In order to build trust in the registration process, it gives clients an opportunity to download the content that includes case studies. This allows prospective clients to make decisions concerning their goals as far as signing up is concerned. An individual’s decision is based on whether he or she is interested in the quantity or quality. Onetech designs its questions clearly, which serve as a guideline (Enneth 1995, p. 112). This helps people to make right choices. In order to encourage people to provide accurate addresses for correspondence after registr
Tim Burton’s 1990 film “Edward Scissorhands” portrays a small suburban society and the introduction of a man who just doesn’t fit in. Edward Scissorhands is the lonely unfinished creation of the mad scientist who lives up the hill from a relatively ‘normal’ suburban neighborhood. The neighborhood has all the men leave at the same time in the morning on their way to work and all the women begin to go about their daily activities. These are revealed as Peg Boggs makes her rounds as an Avon lady desperate to make a sale. Not having any luck, she eventually makes her way up to the mansion where Edward has been living alone following the death of the mad scientist. She brings him home with her and tries to integrate him into mainstream society but fails because of his unusual and sometimes uncontrollable scissor-like hands. Although everyone in the neighborhood appears to be ‘normal’ on the outside, they all have their quirks and eccentricities that somehow fall outside of the realm of the acceptable – overly religious, overly sexual, etc. When the men finally come home and have the barbeque to welcome Edward into the neighborhood, they are revealed to be equally strange and eccentric on an individual basis as the women. However, within this realm, each person makes the effort to conform to an undefined ‘norm’ as a means of being acceptable. Unfortunately for Edward, he is incapable of conforming like the others because of a fundamental physical difference – the scientist had not yet completed Edward’s hands which were still in the form of giant scissors. Although different, Edward is obviously very innocent, sweet, and gentle as is shown in the detailed and creative topiaries and hairstyles he creates for the various neighbors. His physical difference can be overlooked, but the difference in the way he thinks, as is seen in these creations, illustrates that he can never fit into their mentality either. Because of his differences, he is persecuted by at least one member of the community, a jealous boyfriend of Kim’s, and is treated with great suspicion by others. When he accidentally cuts first Kim and then Kevin, he is chased out of town by a mob. Through its depiction of the gentle but different Edward as compared to the sometimes malicious but outwardly similar suburban dwellers, this film demonstrates the sociological danger of being different and the pressure to conform. When Edward finds himself in a completely different world from the world of the mansion he had known, he attempts to conform to the expectations of the society, but despite his best efforts, his differences are alarming to the community. At the same time, the superficiality of the community as compared to their reality confuses Edward.
Many people have claimed that the most destructive war in the history of mankind is almost ready (Macdonald 1). Further, it is claimed that the war will not be confined to one region or small sets of countries, but rather, it will have an effect on all everyone. There several events happening today that point towards this direction and the power that is behind them is vastly gaining nuclear weapons. This power is none other than Iran, which has declared its ambition to wipe the Israel nation out of the world map. In one of his many meetings on the Middle East peace process, the former United States President George Bush is quoted as saying that Iran was a threat, and there was, therefore, a need for the international community to act swiftly, and prevent the country from developing the abilities to build a nuclear weapon. 5 years down the line, the international community, seems to have a lacklustre approach when dealing with Iran. However, whether world leaders take action or not, Iran is about to get the nukes, and the first target will be Israel followed by American and the rest of the world. In the recent past, Iran has shown that it can start and sustain a war. Iran is
Introduction In any constitutional system, the verge between what is allowed and what is prohibited by the Constitution is rather vague. It causes polemics over if the political decisions of the government are constitutional or not, and whether they conform or violate the Constitution. In many present-day constitutional democratic societies, courts play a crucial role in an attempt to resolve constitutional boundary disputes. It is exercised using judicial review. So in this paper, the relations between the Canadian judicial review and parliamentary supremacy are analyzed. Canadian Parliamentary Supremacy The point of view of the ongoing polemics is the roles that legislatures and courts play in the dialogue on human rights. This dialogue is democratic because it combines both majoritarian and representative principles which are embodied in democratic legislatures on the one hand and demonstrates respect for individual rights provided by the courts on the other hand. The claims of judicial review are reconciled with those of parliamentary supremacy. The feature that is considered to be innovative in terms of the parliament-judiciary dialogue is the Notwithstanding Clause. The Notwithstanding Clause is a compromise that was reached in 1982 during the polemics over the new constitution. It reflects the mixed character of the Canadian political system. The written constitutional rights were introduced in 1982; it can be then denoted as an American-style system. As for the British tradition, it can be traced to parliamentary supremacy. The question is if the Charter checks on parliamentary power. Some scholars state that judicial review undermines parliamentary supremacy. It is argued that it enables the citizens to revolt against the existing government. It is also argued that the Charter shifts power from the officials to the judiciary, and then the courts have the final word. This clause has much in common with the Canadian Bill of Rights. It claims that law “shall operate notwithstanding the Canadian Bill of Rights.” But in the Charter, the rights which could be invalidated are specified (Bilder, 23). Unlike the British equivalent and the New Zealand one, the Canadian Charter is protected by the Constitution. On its base a provincial legislature or national Parliament may strike down a judicial finding of unconstitutionality; in such a way the supremacy of elected institutions over the courts is preserved. Judicial review Judicial review is usually denoted as the power of the judiciary to review the actions of bodies of the public sector if their lawfulness is doubted. It means that a court can annul the acts which it considers incompatible with the existing higher norm. In different jurisdictions, the term separation of powers is interpreted differently. There exist different legal norms. So the scope of judicial review is different in different countries. “In Canada, there is a provision for the review of legislation by courts, and courts there, like their U.S. counterparts, may decline to apply a national or provincial statute if it violates the provisions of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. But Canadian legislation (prov