ShantanuT01/DACTYL-Pretraining huggingface dataset:
Abstract Nortel is engaged in the supply of telecommunications equipment for Canada’s telephone systems. It engaged in an infamous accounting scandal. Top executives of Nortel Networks Corporation rather supplied cooked-up figures to the Board and the audit committee and based on the representation’s made b the Nortel top management, they approved the quarterly results and the issuance of bonuses to top executives. This research essay discusses the accounting scandal in detail. Introduction For more than 10 decades, Nortel is engaged in the supply of telecommunications equipment for Canada’s telephone systems. In the 1890s, the company started manufacturing manually, operated switchboards, which have later turned into establishing the fiber-optic systems for the Internet today. Nortel Networks Corporation is having its headquarters in Brampton, Ontario, Canada was considered as one of the leaders of the telecommunications industry during the late 1990s. About three-fourths of the Internet traffic of North America was transacted through Nortel equipment. Nortel had around 73,000 employees around the world. The company’s share was listed on both at the “Stock Exchanges” of Canada and New York (www.Nortel.com). Nortel had a market capitalization at a peak price of C$ 124.5O and had over 3.8 billion shares worth C$473.1 billion as of July 2000. Nortel accounted for over thirty percent of the value of the S & P / TSE 300 Composite index. Nortel has been forefather in establishing many significant technological advances. Regrettably, its luminous technological expertise has not been corroborated by its ability to administer itself. In its history, the company has been highly praised and blamed. The company has also been blamed for how it pitched bad news. During the 1990s. Nortel was flourishing, and the company was regarded for reporting enviable gains in the new economy by shifting and by embracing Internet technology from manufacturing phone equipment. Nortel was on the victorious spree as it reframed to make the company more aggressive, had outsourced its production, and made key acquisitions. In the 1990s, Nortel equipment was carrying about three-fourth of the Internet traffic in North America. Nortel’s CEO John Roth, in the late 1990s, expended more than US$22 billion to make Nortel the pioneer on the Internet information highway. In the fiber optics section, Roth acquired 16 companies to build upon Nortel’s strengths. Roth was regarded as Canada’s most farsighted executive by National Post Business Magazine and Time, and by other publications and institutions, and had managed the leading expansion of share capital in Canada’s corporate annals. In July 2000, Nortel was at its climax which was worth about $265 billion, a te
Executive summary This report is basically an exploration of Andy Wood concern regarding targeted marketing in financial service companies. The paper gives examples from freedom finance, one of the leading financial service organizations in the United Kingdom. Andy Wood argues that financial service sector has greatly lagged behind as far as customer relation is concerned. The reason for the decline in customer retention in financial sector is due to poor Customer Relation Management and over concentration on young customers, without paying attention to older customers. The paper focuses on how Freedom Finance stresses the issue of communication and how it is relevant and targeted to its chosen customer base. Freedom finance values communication with the customers and uses difference methods in order to keep in touch with its customers. For instance, the company uses telephone contacts, physical address and fax as a war of communicating with the customers. The company also makes relevant information available to its customers in the company website. This is information entails the product description, terms of service, loan interest rates, maximum and minimum amount to be offered. The company also uses various strategies in ensuring customer retention which are discussed in this report. Introduction Marketing is a very vital role in success of any business. This is so because it brings the awareness of a certain product to the customer especially targeted marketing. Communication, being of passing information, helps to improve the interaction between the seller and the customer. Information communication is very necessary as it will help in making strategic decision in marketing which can only be obtained from external sources. Communication has emerged as one of the key strategy in attracting and retaining customers in financial services organizations. According to Wood (2008, p.1), most financial service providers face a challenge of retaining their customers due to poor communication. Customer satisfaction is directly correlated and when customers are satisfied, they stay and spend more in favor on the organization. This is termed as customer retention. The objective of this paper is to address how targeted marketing standards could be improved in order to increase customer retention in the financial services sector. The paper focuses on analyzing how freedom finance, one of the leading financial services provider in the United Kingdom, addresses the need to make its communications more relevant and targeted to its chosen customer base and its customer retention strategies. How freedom finance uses communication to its chosen customer base Freedom finance group has been in operation in the United Kingdom for more than 25 years in providing financial services. It is one of the leading finan
Challenges Experienced in Childhood Frederick Douglass experienced the first challenges associated with racism during the first years of his life as a slave because he was separated from his mother and observed the slaves’ sufferings from beatings, physical tortures, and other cruel practices performed by slave owners. Douglass stated that those practices were “a common custom” (Douglass 15). During his childhood, Douglass received self-education because of his efforts and contacts with educated masters such as Mrs. Sophia Auld who taught the alphabet for Douglass (Douglass 45). However, Douglass became an influential anti-slavery and human rights activist because in the early childhood he learnt the power of education to fight inequality with the help of his literary and public speaking skills to mobilize people against the evil of slavery. If Douglass began to suffer from being a black slave during his early childhood, Barack Obama born in the family of Ann Dunham and the Kenyan Barack Obama Sr. did not face the challenges of racial discrimination so vividly. Thus, Obama coped with challenges of racism with the help of his relatives’ explanations and support of the friends. Obama states, “The children of farmers, servants, and low-level bureaucrats had become my best friends” (Obama 25). However, Obama portrays his first-hand experience with racism as the struggle to fit in the American society of white people and access equal education because of being one of several black students in the school environments (Obama 31-38). Education Being a slave, Frederick Douglass had no opportunity to attend schools and receive education. The white farmers made it impossible for slave children to access education, making the blacks more ignorant when white children could be sent to the best schools to contribute to their future careers. According to Douglass, it was typical for the white farmers to keep their slaves uneducated to perpetuate slavery. Douglass even refers to one master’s words, “Learning would spoil the best nigger in the world” (Douglass 41). Thus, Douglass had to educate himself and learn how to read and write (Douglass 46-47). This situation differs from the case of Barack Obama who was not prevented from receiving education because of race and social status. Although Obama was provided with an opportunity to receive the perfect education in the Punahou elite private school loc
The questions of the Shari’a law and its application in the modern European states have been discussed a lot in the recent years. However, the matter still remains unclear. This paper aims to discuss the issue based on the movie “When We Leave” and the class readings. Shari’a Law The Islamic law is complicated. It consists of Shari’a – a set of religious commandments each Muslim must follow, and fiqh – the interpretations of those religious teachings. Shari’a is the center of the legal practices, but it can be applied differently in different cases (“Islamic Law: Europe’s Shari’a Debate” 1). Many principles of Shari’a are controversial. They establish strict patriarchal relationships within the society, promote discrimination and justify honor killings. However, it still is an inseparable part of the immigrants’ culture and their lifestyle. The problems of just leaving the immigrant communities unattended are demonstrated well in the movie “When We Leave” describing a situation when a family is essentially shattered by the conflict between the traditional values and the basic human rights ( When We Leave ). The tension between two legal systems can lead to tragedies, and the governments must take actions to mediate the situation. Legal Contradictions One of the most common misconceptions about the Shari’a law is that they fully contradict the human rights and the secular values widespread in the Western Europe. That is only partially true. The application of the Shari’a law differs widely from country to country and even tribe to tribe. Some of the Muslims do follow the religious rules dictating gender inequality and harsh, inhumane punishments. However, most of the Islamic states deviate from the strict Shari’a code in one way or another. That leads to different migrants having different views of how their community should operate. This, in turn, means that some of these interpretations are largely in line with the general law of the European countries. It also
The Housemaid is a classic South Korean film released in 1960 in a transitional time for Korea. In the time after the Japanese occupation and the Korean War, the country finally had a sense of peace and began its path to modernization and development, influenced by an influx of Western values and economic goods. The effects of such changes were reflected in the film, which also presented a unique perspective on a classic Korean melodrama genre. The director Kim Ki-young elevated a staple genre to a more frantic thriller that used innovative filming techniques and provided social commentary on the ongoing changes in the country’s identity. Kim Ki-young utilizes various film elements to portray the film’s theme and message. The plot centers around an ambitious family seeking to live the bourgeois lifestyle based on better material wealth than the majority of the population. “Instead of the consumer paradise promised by advertising culture, the opulent settings became gothic dens of lurid bloodletting and perversity…dramatizing the intense anxieties unleashed by modernization” (Berry, 2012, p. 102). These settings are a large part of the film’s aesthetic and mise-en-scene. Ki-young uses erratic movements of the camera and shot angles, which relay the psychological mood and power dynamics. There is also the use of shadows, framing, and focus, which help blur plausible reality and fictionalized horror elements. The plot of The Housemaid is an emotional story that seeks to explore the impact of Western influences and goods into a modernizing Korean society. “Material possessions of importance to middle-class families, such as houses, television sets, and housemaids, are an important part of this code [modernity]. Yet, the middle classes with these characteristics developed extremely rapidly, and so it is natural that their modern also has dark and grotesque elements” (Min-Hwa, n.d., para. 2). Material wealth is portrayed to be synonymous with temptation, which threatened traditional family values. The maid, a lower-class woman, hired to help the financially stable couple represents bringing greed and physical obsessions into a home. The result brings woe and convoluted morality, which overturned the status quo and ultimately shifted the power dynamic in her favor through deceit and manipulation. It inherently betrays Korea’s traditions and brings the danger of losing control worse than Korea experienced in its recent troubled history in 1960. The film’s ending is unexpected as the audienc
Network convergence or media convergence simply refers to a process whereby numerous modes of communication are integrated into a single network or medium, to offer convenience and flexibility of communication between various infrastructures. In other words, this refers to the integration of various media components into common interfaces within single components or devices, for efficient exchange of content. The main role of network convergence is to combine multiple communication services into a single unit to enable flexible communication between various units of an organization (Das et al., 2010). The benefits of network convergence are evident in my department, where technology and computer systems applications are highly applied. There is enough evidence that, the Internet, LAN, and extranets fully converge in my department, and this can be confirmed through various characteristics of a basic network convergence that can be observed in all the operational structures within THE department. For instance, there is a fast constant exchange of rich IP data and information among workers from different units through multiple end-user platforms in the organization. The other possible evidence of a network convergence can be observed in other various ways, such as the manner by which data from a single website can be interchanged between different key management units in the department, using the concept of internet working. All these operations of data networking can only take place through the integration of network convergence. Network convergence has been a common trend in the modern era of technology, and its application in business has greatly contributed in the evolution of improved industry structures and technology services (Melody, 2009). As it would be observed, the trend comes with immense benefits to organizations. For instance, it serves as the basis of all forms of business communication in units in my department, thus opening avenues for enhanced productivity and profitability. There is also increased mobility in the department, since there is only a single network to manage. Another advantage of this practice is that, it guarantees that numerous applications operate together, thus increasing credibility and efficiency in work (Laudon and Laudon, 2009). Apart from improving communication processes in my department through integration of various applications and databases, the idea of network convergence has also brought many benefits to the entire business environment. Some of these benefits would include things such as; increase in network reliability, fast deployment of applications, easy integration of technologies, and reduced costs for resources and other basic requirements that would be required in the department. The trend of network convergence also helps in encouraging and facilitating grounds that would encourage better and flexible worki
Influence of Schools of Thought Mental testing practices were rudimentary in China as far back as 2000 B.C. (Gregory, 2011). Much later, the 19th century Europe and Great Britain showed another wave of interest to this subject, which resulted in the formation of mental testing movement. Among the pioneers of this movement, one can enlist Wilhelm Wundt, Francis Galton, Alfred Binet, and others. At the baseline of mental testing lies the possibility of scientifically estimating the capabilities of mind. Before the “brass instruments” era, this aspect of psychology was unexplored (Gregory, 2011). Although the measures that the specialists conducted were crude and the methodology was close to naiveté, the value of mental testing is undeniable. The foundational new idea put forward by Wundt was that every person has a different mental capacity (Gregory, 2011). In his turn, Galton was assured that sensory and intellectual capacities were intertwined. His assumption led him to attempt to derive the level of intellect from sensory discrimination measurements (Minton, 1998). After Galton’s attempts were dismissed, Binet, in collaboration with Theodore Simon, devised a method of intelligence assessment to distinguish mentally retarded children who required special education. It was then that intelligence came to be measured through indicators other than motoric capabilities, namely imagination, memory, comprehension, and other cognitive skills. Binet-Simon tests used heterogenic samples of schoolchildren and a method of scoring to derive numerical results. These methods have laid basis for functionalism and led to development of IQ testing: a ratio of a person’s intellectual performance to their age. Overall, the mental test
Introduction Suncor Energy is an energy producer that extracts and upgrades sands of oil into high-quality refined crude oil products as well as diesel fuel. Like many successful companies, Suncor also focuses on differentiation strategy that implies the techniques better than the competitors. As it has a good relationship with its customers, it occupies several opportunities to differentiate itself that start from the customers’ realization of a product needs to the desire of disposing of it. However, it can be expected that Suncor can continue its innovative features that may satisfy the customer’s experience about their product which can be termed as the process of consumption chain. In this way, the company can obtain the opportunity to position its products & offerings in such way that would never be followed by the competitors. So, according to the referred authors, there is a twin approach that can assist this company in the identification of newer techniques of differentiation. The former is- “Mapping the consumption chain” & the latter is “Analysis of customer’s experience”. How do people become aware of their needs?   * As the 1st step of strategic differentiation is mapping the customer’s needs, the company should perform this task in each essential customer segment. But as Suncor produces the necessary energy for fueling the vehicles, heating houses & providing power to schools, business places & hospitals, it needs not contact its customers by phone or physical meetings.   * Suncor products provide as a feedstock of producing many types of consumer goods like- household detergents & plastics, so the customers are already known about their extreme needs of such goods.   * To fulfill the customers’ diversified demand, Suncor should create a strong methodology of differentiating its product that will emphasize customer’s awareness of their unique needs of the product. This can accrue to the firm if it is capable of anticipating & then satisfying the needs that are unknown to the target customers. If Suncor is successful to provide the customers this unexpected value- that is a product performance capability or characteristic they did not request, yet do value. For example, while using the heating system in home that does not ensure the safety from burning, after the ending period, Suncor, by introducing the environmental safety of its heating system, can find a way in which the item can communicate with the customers.   * Another strategy emphasizes the availability of products at any time & any place that is not offered by the competitors. This process should be easy, che
Introduction The post Second World War period has seen spurred economic growth of some nations that were previously colonized and undeveloped but have risen to have a global influence. Taiwan is one such country which, despite its historical colonization under different rulers, has experienced spurred growth after the Second World War to be described as a high income economy due to its advanced. The economic growth and development of Taiwan is largely linked to its change from an agricultural economy to an industrialized nation with focus on new technologies for the improvement of production and sectors in the economy (Gill, 2007). This shift has been associated with the help it received from the United States government as well as the influence of the Japanese rule in the nation. This paper focuses on the evaluation and analysis of the Japanese rule in Taiwan and specifically on their impact on the transportation system. The discussion focuses on how the modern day economic development and modernization of Taiwan into an advanced economy is linked to the transportation system developed under the Japanese rule. Description of Taiwan Taiwan is an island which is located in the South eastern coast of China as the mainland in the East Asia of the West Pacific ocean. The name of the island is normally used in reference to the entire territory of the republic of China. This is because of the fact that the treaty entered into during the 1950s, allowed China to control the island (Ka, 1995). Taiwan as an island has a topography of mainly mountains. The borders of the island to the south are the Philippines’s batanes islands, to the east the Ryukyu Islands and to the north the East China Sea and the islands of Japan. It also has other minor islands and is mainly covered by tropical vegetation. Politically and legally, Taiwan Island faces the controversies over its control. These are usually between the People’s Republic of China and the Republic of China following the fact that no actual authority was given over the island when the Japanese ended their rule after the Second World War. It is still believed that it assumed sovereignty following the renouncement of the Japanese possession of Taiwan. The island has experienced rapid growth and advancement especially after the Second World War to become an influential economy not only in the Asian region but also globally. Taiwan has a great transportation system with the integration of its regions and increased technology to increase the speed and reliability of its transport system which has spurred production (Ching, 2001). Historical Analysis of Taiwan Taiwan is believed to have been settled first by the Austronesian people and existed as a kingdom monarchy (Morris, 2002). In the 17 th century, the Dutch colonized and controlled Taiwan and defeated the Spanish who had tried to colonize Taiwan in 1642. The Dutch controlled Taiwan to th