ShantanuT01/DACTYL-Pretraining huggingface dataset:
Introduction Modern life is surrounded by images. We see images in newspapers, billboards, television, and even in mobile phones. The images that are presented all around us are open books that chronicle the history and the social binding of society. Images help us understand not only the message in it but also about the culture. This paper discusses how images help to create social history. The paper will also discuss how images make a social distinction between men and women and how the commercial pillage objectifies the latter to validate certain long-standing social constructs. Analysis Ways of Seeing is a seminal work by John Berger published in 1973 that propounds that academics have obscured the meaning of images. The main argument posed by Berger is that what we see is influenced by what we understand. In other words, what we see is influenced by what we know and believe (Berger 8). Images are the vehicle to create certain responses, which are actually the connection the brain makes to the image and the construct related to that image. Thus, an image, when separated from time and place will hold little meaning to the observer for she will have no reference to derive its meaning. This idea reverberates the theory presented by Roland Barthes who points out that we never encounter images in its literal purity for they are always painted with a symbolic message (Barthes 42) Production of images has changed over the years and this has changed the perception man has about them. For instance, the first visual representation of images was that of things that were not present. However, when the historical value of the image was discovered, men started depicting images that were already there in order to create a path
Environmental crime History of the case According to Carole (1998), in a course of over forty years, PG&E, the largest utility company in California, was dumping toxic waste in Hinkley’s unlined ponds. PG&E was dumping toxic chemical Hexavalent Chromium, also known as Chrome 6, which is a lethal toxic chemical. The town of Hinkley experienced great number of deaths.Both people and animals died due to respiratory illnesses and various forms of cancers. Chrome 6 was used in the companies cooling towers as an anti-corrosion agent. The water contaminated by the chemical collected in the unlined ponds eventually seeped into the underground water. Chrome 6 is fatal as it may penetrate the body through ingestion, inhalation, and absorption. Erin Brockovich, a young Los Angeles lawyer, discovers evidence that the company knew the effects of the pollution but hid it to local residents. She made steps to move to court with 600 plaintiffs. (Stephen, Henry and Robert, 2010) Social economic status of the offender According to Asimov, (2006), In California, PG&E is the large utility company, which has strong financial capabilities. It was able to settle out of court where it paid $333 million in terms of damages. Penalties imposed In the case, the 600 plaintiffs with advice of their lawyer Erin Brockovich decided to use alternative dispute resolution method of arbitration with dealing with PG&E. The judges made an arbitral award in favor of the plaintiffs. According to Koscielski, (2010) PG&E paid for damages accounting to $333 million. The company was ordered to clean up the contaminated site. Moreover, the use of Chrome 6 was prohibited. The penalty was justified that the victims of the pollution were granted relief and despite the fact that nothing could be done regarding the contamination in past events, the court ordered the sites to be cleaned and the use of chrome to be stopped. This is supposed to protect the future of the people of Hinkley and grant them a form of relief in monetary terms. Policy to combat environmental crimes The EPA is a statutory body that is charged with the responsibility of combating environmental crimes. It is not able to serve its purpose due to limitations in terms of personnel and funding. However, despite the stringent environmental laws present in the US, they do not apply in isolation unless a lawyer enforces such law. (Van Voorst,1993). It is essential that personal injury lawyers are encouraged to work hand in hand with the EPA, as they are the only tools available in making the polluting companies pay for their atrocities. (Marzulla, Roger and Kappel, Brett, 2001) Analysis of the punishment of environmental law criminals In the case of Dupoint Company, which was contaminating the Ohio River town with a toxic substa
According to Shaun, Pichler (April 3, 2005 ) in ‘trans-genders in working places’ Michigan University, the culture of lesbians, gays and transgender is here to stay, the culture is as old as human history, only that it was not as published as it is in recent times, the public has to wake up and face reality, you can stigmatize the individuals involved, but when you look at it in another dimension, you realize that it has no boundaries, your relatives, family, daughter, son, might turn out to be one! The in-depth of the gay, lesbians and trans-gender culture is felt everywhere globally, although it is a minor group compared to other cultures. Even as “culture wars” rage the reality is that gays, lesbians, and bisexuals and transgender acceptance are making slow and steady progress across workplaces, the differences that may be perceived by co-workers as strange is their perceived gender identity and sexual orientation, most co-workers cannot understand nor fathom what these relationships are all about, ‘a woman to woman and a man to man relationship’? They wonder, and the culture of gays, lesbians and trans-gender is viewed as ‘abnormal.’ by other co-workers who are a majority. hence discrimination, bullying and isolation what makes it more difficult for gays, lesbians, and trans-genders in the workplace, is that co-workers don’t take time to understand them and writes them off as soon as they get informed of their sexual orientation. They are selfish enough not to understand that these gays, lesbians, trans-genders are human beings who have feelings, who even try to find out the origin of their sexual orientation? As a manager with employees who are of diverse sexual orientations and gender identity, I would encourage dialogue about sexual orientation and gender identities and acts to create a conducive workplace that is healthy and respectful of cultural diversity amongst employees. Offer information or education to the ill-informed workers informing them that it is through respect, dignity, and equality for all l we can reach our full potential at the workplace. Making the information clear and accessible to the broadest range o
Application of the right codes of conduct is essential in effective service delivery. On the same note, maintenance of high ethical standards is vital for client confidence, satisfaction and retention. Therefore, practicing psychologists and counselors should observe high ethical and moral values while discharging their duties and that is why it is important for them to undergo ethical training. Although ethical training paves way for moral and legal considerations, there is need to increase awareness in the working environment. The codes contained in the Washington State Regulation (WAC) and the Revised Codes documents have a provision for client-psychologist relations in regards to legal and moral practice. It does not focus much on ethical codes of retention and total client confidence which is vital in psychology discipline (Sanders, 2007). In this case, there is need to put in place viable tools in form of recommendations that can be used to improve the field of psychology and counseling. To begin with, Washington Rules and Regulations together with the revised codes of Washington contain insufficiencies in definition of the level of service delivery. According to Jackson (2005), service delivery is crucial as part of boosting customer’s confidence, retention as well as assurance of privacy. As such, much of the emphasis should be laid on competency. Additionally, there is need to clarify the level of practitioner competency. It is imperative to note that under-competency may adversely discourage clients bearing in mind that customer confidence is based on effective service delivery. On the other hand, over-compete
Introduction The Spanish American war took place between the months of February and December in 1898. This war saw the transformation of American society from being a modest nation to a crucial player in the international arena. It also resulted in the acquisition of Guam, Puerto Rico and the Philippines through the treaty of Paris. The Debate of African American Involvement in the War At the time of the Spanish American war, American society was pursuing expansionist strategies and this presented different dynamics for racial relations in the military. In that decade, the army had grown both in size and might and they therefore felt little need for black soldiers. In fact most African Americans that had been recruited in the army in the 1890s got vey poor receptions upon returning to their country. They would frequently be subjected to antiracists sentiments while serving in that army. Therefore by the time the US began pondering over expansionist strategies, tensions were still prevalent between black and white soldiers and many questioned the necessity of actually involving African Americans in any war. On the other hand, Black Americans were interested in demonstrating their ability to defend the founding principles of their nation by involving themselves in war. Despite this interest in participation, most blacks rarely got the opportunity to enter into war zones. On top of that, they were unhappy with the way they were being treated in their own countries but this did not make any of them resort to violent means. After America witnessed the sinking of the Maine, it became clear that they had to engage in war with the Spaniards. However, this event occurred unexpectedly and caught the US off guard as its army size was not sufficient to cater for its expansionist strategies. Therefore, the country had to resort to unconventional measures for recruitment. It looked towards the African American population because these black soldiers had ample experience. Also, it was assumed that their bodies could easily adapt to humid conditions that can render them immune to the tropical diseases of the Spanish territories. The first expedition focused on Cuba where the first black units were disseminated and they included the 10 th , 9 th , 24 th and 25 th Cavalries. They had to wait in Florida before entering Cuba and it was while in this state where racial prejudices against them were reaffirmed. Nonetheless, when they entered Cuba, they were designated to a route that lacked roads and it was quite difficult for them to march towards their targets. On the other hand, the 1 st volunteer cavalry (Rough riders) consisting of Theodore Roosevelt and other white soldiers were also assi
The basic motive behind any investment is maximizing wealth and minimizing risk so it would be a natural instinct to prefer and select an investment which provides the highest amount of returns and has the lowest level of risk associated with it. In reality this is not the case at all as high risk investments yield high profits and low risk investments yield low profits. This preference of profit can be further divided into two aspects of long term and short term returns. Some investors prefer short term returns and others prefer long term stable earnings. The shares or stock of a company are the most popular investment option available to investors as they provide stable long term earnings in the form of dividends and short term gain in the form of capital gain when the price of the shares increase. Executive Summary The financial and trend analysis of a company is quite helpful in evaluating a company’s strengths and weaknesses and making investment decisions. This analysis not only helps investors in evaluating the growth prospects of an investment but also provides investment options based on interest or dividends. If this analysis is carried out using a group of companies in an industry as a comparison a more feasible and valid conclusion can be derived from the analysis. The analysis carried out in this report involves two companies from the retailing industry which are Target Corporation and Wal-Mart Stores Inc. The comparative financial ratio analysis of these companies indicates that both of these companies have their respective strengths and weaknesses. Wal-Mart is quite healthier in terms of asset management and debt management while Target is stronger in the areas of liquidity and profitability. Wal-Mart is a better alternative for investors seeking interest based returns and long time growth while Target is a viable option for investors considering dividend and capital gain based returns. The comparative trend analysis of the two companies with each other and with the S&P 500 Index indicates that the share prices of Target are closely linked with movements in the S&P 500 Index while the share prices of Wal-Mart indicate a higher level of stability as compared to the share prices of Target and the fluctuations in the S&P 500 Index. Company Overview The financial analysis has been done on Target based on financial ratios and trend analysis of the company in comparison with Wal-Mart. Target is a retailing company with more than 1719 stores throughout several states of USA with the highest number of stores in the state of California which is 238. The business strategy in Target is to provide high quality products at competitive and attractive prices and increasing revenues through an online shopping portal. The average sales of the company in recent years are more than $60,000 million with average net income close to $2,500
Executive Summary The business world is changing very fast due to changes in various factors of production. Firms are forced to come up with projects that will make them competitive in this market. This is one such project. In this project, the main aim is to improve communication, increase the working space and generally improve service delivery within the firm. The project has a clearly defined scope and objectives which state what the project stands to achieve. To make this a success, various stakeholders within the firm will play various responsibilities within their respective areas. From the top management to junior officers, each member will have a role to play in this project to realise desired results. Project Definition Vision The vision of this project clearly states its purpose and aim in this industry. The vision gives this project a sense of direction. With a clear vision statement, the project members, and other members of this organisation will be certain of what is to be achieved by this project. They will have to develop their expectations based on the vision stated in the project. The following is the vision statement of this firm.   * To develop a robust telecommunication infrastructure within this firm between various customer locations. This vision statement clearly states what is expected of the project upon its completion. The project should improve interdepartmental communication within the firm as a way of improving the efficiency of the entire firm. Objectives According to Panneerselvam and Senthilkumar (2010, p. 110), projects should always have clear objectives to be achieved by the project members. This scholar says that most projects have failed due to the lack of clearly stated objectives in the project. Project objectives help in defining the scope of the project. This scholar says that project objectives must always meet the SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and time-sensitive) criteria. The following are some of the project objectives.   * To provide customers with an online system which would enable them to communicate directly to the firm from their homes.   * To develop a new work premise having a bigger working space, increased parking spaces, and reduced costs of operations as compared to the existing one.   * To relocate existing technological infrastructure to the new premises within a span of two days without causing any inconvenience to the customers.   * To have a generally improved system of communication within various departments within this firm upon completion of the project. The above objectives are the specific objectives that should be achieved upon completion of this project. There are some benefits that the project will bring as the implementation will be underway. The above objectives can be adjusted accordingly, based on the prevailing circumstances. Scope Defining scope of a project is one of the most important aspects of a project. A project should always be focused on achieving specific objectives. Defining project scope helps in various ways. First, it helps in making the project members determine what is expected of them within a given time-frame.
Introduction Google is a company which started as a research project for two Ph. D students in 1996. Google is a company that was founded on September 4, 1998. This company was founded by Larry Page and Sergey Brin who were at that time students at the Stanford University. The company name was derived from a spelling error of the word “googol,” which means 10 100 . This implies that Google is a search engine which is used by the internet users to locate information from the World Wide Web. The company’s headquarters are located in Mountain View, California. As a company, Google has grown rapidly since 1998. This growth has provided the company with capital which has translated in remarkable expansion that has been observed. Currently, Google is a publicly held corporation. As per the records dated December 31, 2008, the company had full time employees totaling to 20,222. The company’s initial public offering took place on august 24, 2004. This resulted in raising $ 1.67 billion, which implied that the company’s approximate stood at $23 billion. Currently, the company stands as one of the powerful and reputable brands across the globe. Today, this company continues to grow as it has been indicated by its growth in terms of stock. Essentially, from an initial price of $100 per share, the share price grew to $500 in 2008. This company is ranked as one of the five most reputable sites on the web. In the US, the company is raked as number one, among other countries. Essentially, this company attracts over 40 million users every month. This company has grown as an advertising company. Essentially, the company generated revenues worth $16 billion in 2007. Google leadership Just like another organization, Google depends on its leadership to steer the company in the direction which is in line with the company’s vision and objectives. The top leadership is made up of a board of directors and executive officers. The board of directors is made up off the following members;  1. Larry page  2. Eric Schmidt  3. Sergey Brin  4. Doerr John  5. Green Diane  6. Hennerssy John  7. Otellini Paul  8. Shriram Ram  9. Tilghman Shirley. The executive officers is made up of  1. Schmidt Eric  2. Larry Page  3. Sergey Brin  4. Arora Nikesh  5. Drummond David  6. Pichette Patrick. Google products and services Google has established itself as a popular online search engine. Due to rapid technological advancement, the company has been forced to come up with new ideas regarding some of the services and projects that it offers. Essentially, Google has taken up an innovation approach which has evolved it into a software company which has gradually threatened the Microsoft dominance. The company has quietly been launching products which have gained prominence in the information technology world. Some of the products that Google has successfully launched include desktop search; Gmail; software to
Progressivism is a movement that took place in the 20 th century. It was maintained by people who wanted to find the best practical solution of the issues connected with modernization. They wished to make the government more efficient, eliminate corruption and improve the educational system. They were also targeted at the regulation of large corporations and assurance of charity work. It was a diverse group of people supported by the middle class, including lawyers, teachers, and people engaged in business, etc. They utilized scientific methods regarding different aspects of life, such as economics, family, and others (Oakes et al. 234). They were active at different levels. In this way, at the local one, they tried to improve education by expanding he schools, provide children with playgrounds and dismiss corrupt politicians. The progressives also considered the minimal salaries for females, provided the industrial accident insurance and created the limitations for the child labor at the state level. At the national one, they reduced taxes, provided the regulations to control railroad industries and banking. They administrated the meat-packing and improved the working conditions for the general public. Moreover, the Constitution was improved. The Progressives allowed the women to vote, prohibited alcohol and accepted income taxes. Progressivism was widely discussed, and its imprint can be found in many texts. For example, John Watterson wrote Inventing Modern Football that focuses on the scandals that occur in this sport. It exposes political corruption, which interested the Progressives. To deal with it, special examination for the players was adopted by dint of which they proved that they could play on the decent level (Watterson 3). In Saint Jane and the Ward Boss, Anne Scott discloses the battles of the progressive era (Scott 7). The essence of Progressivism is seen in the Father of the Forests that is written by T.H. Watkins. It tells about a zealot who contributed to the appearance of environmentalism, which was a crucial issue. The text is related to the readings, as it includes the information about the President Roosevelt’s ideas and believes. It proves that the Pinchots had dreams similar to those Roosevelt had. They wanted to contribute to the creation of parks and nature preservers. Being a forester, Pinchot spent years studying forest management and utilizing his knowledge to develop the ideas of environmentalism. More than million acres of forests still exist by virtue of his work (Watkins 6). As the Progressives wanted to make the usage of natural resources efficient and minimalize benefits, this essay is useful for the understanding of the era. It describes the connection of this field to coal-mining and human rights. The involvement of such politicians as Taft, Ballinger and others is also underlined. The significance of the Progressive era is in its determination to improvement. The government implemented a range of changes targeted at the appearance of the better living conditions for the general public. The Progressives want