ShantanuT01/DACTYL-Pretraining huggingface dataset:
Present Situation Wal-Mart Asda is one of the biggest retailers in the UK. It is necessary to note that Wal-Mart as well as its subsidiary Wal-Mart Asda is facing numerous constraints and the growth of the company has slowed down. Officials of the company note that the UK consumer is “under pressure” and people’s spending ability has decreased considerably (Thesing n.p.). At the same time, in the second quarter of 2013, Wal-Mart Asda had new customers (26% of the visitors were new customers) who spent more than average customers. Admittedly, it is tempting to focus on the new customers who spend 40% more. Nonetheless, it is crucial to take into account a number of issues. Opportunities and Threats Notably, at the period of the slowdown, the company has to consider new ways and approaches. However, the major marketing problem is whether the company should focus on the new group or stick to the target group of its customers. Focusing on the customers who spend more in the stores can be beneficial and can lead to a new wave of growth. However, it is necessary to remember that this trend can be short-lived and the new customers can stop spending more. The company’s officials admit that lots of their customers have been affected by the rise of prices, which has a negative impact on their spending ability (“Wal-Mart Results Hit” n.p.). It is important to pay attention to this trend while developing new strategies. Furthermore, the number of new customers is significant but even 30% of new buyers will not be able to spend more than 70% of the average customers of Wal-Mart. The company will have to develop a new approach to attract more new customers. However, it is unlikely that the number on new customers can increase significantly as the UK is facing various financial constraints. Effective Strategy Therefore, it is not wise to focus on attraction of the new customers. This strategy is too risky and can lead to huge losses as it can cause the loss of old customers. Thus, the retailer should not change the strategies employed. It is necessary to focus on the old customers. It can be helpful to develop new strategies to facilitate the old customers’ purchasing. At present, countries have to cope with financial constraints so it is not wise to change the focus and lose the target group of customers. At the same time, it is impossible to waste such an opportunity. It is important to attract the new customers. This direction should also be developed. Nonetheless, it requires certain research. It is possible to identi
The Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad is one of the greatest literary works of the early 20 th century. It discovers many subjects that were important for people of the society of that time. However, in the heart of this novel is theme of imperialism. There were many literary debates around this theme. According to some literary critics, it described only negative sides of imperialism, according to others, it depicted imperialistic positive influence on the society. At any rate, the story truly descries political and economic situation of that time, as well as its moral and ethical principles. The main character of the novel is a young sailor Marlowe who was fascinated by imperialism and was sure in its “perfect nature”. However, when he arrives to Congo, he observes that Congo people are oppressed by European imperialism. Thus, on the one hand, the exploration of Africa gives to a young man a possibility to improve his life, on the other hand, he begins understanding the paradoxes of imperialism while observing how its intrusion affects lives and souls of native people, as well as colonialists. European Imperialism reached its highest point in the 19 th century. The empires of Europe, that extended their influence around the world, were France, Italy, Portugal, Russia, the Netherlands, the UK, Belgium and some other countries. In the 19 th cen
Introduction The issue of the global crisis is of great importance to business management and aspects of finance in any country. Crisis of the magnitude that was experienced is a real threat to the economy of any country and it is imperative for people to learn as much as they can to avoid the circumstance that lead to the crisis. In The UK the financial crisis was less hard hitting than it was in the USA. The crisis is attributed to the mortgage business and chiefly to the lending services of banks. The culprit was banking practices that were not adequately regulated and not well adapted to changes. As a result, when the problems started arising it was too late to make any real changes. The government has tried its best to cushion the economy and has been successful in getting things back to normal little by little. It is only when the banking problems that led to the crisis are understood that measures against such a future problem can be anticipated and prevented. In the UK the crisis affected businesses as well as individuals. With a sluggish economy many consumers felt the pinch in spending and as a result, the economy suffered even more as spending became limited. Organizational context The research will be carried out in the organizational context of policies that govern the banking industry. This will reveal more directly the role that banks play and examine whether the policies facilitated in creation of the crisis. When the crisis was a phenomenon of banks in general it follows that there are certain characteristics of their practices that lent themselves to the crisis. Literature review According to Demirguc-Kunt and Detragiache (2002), one of the most important factors in banking is deposit insurance. Deposit insurance provides security in financial circles and enable economic crisis to e handled in ways that are not debilitating to the country. Demirguc-Kunt and Detragiache (2002), examined evidence taken from sixty-one banks between 1980 and 1997. Demirguc-Kunt and Detragiache (2002), found that for bank stability deposit insurance is necessary. These insurances are especially helpful in circumstances where there exists little regulation of interest rates. Additionally if the institutional environment is not strong, the insurance serves to create stability. In the case of UK crisis, the banking practices did not require explicit insurance that was relational to the risk taken. As a result the risks far outweighed the insurance. Even with the insurance compensation, the banks fell short of the amounts they needed to recoup. Goodhart (2008) offers the basic reasons why the crisis happened. What was reported in the USA had similarities with what was going on in the UK. Goodhart (2008) states the main reasons behind the crisis was mortgage backed securities, seemingly surpluses in global savings and macrostability (Goodhart 2008). As a
Proposed Research Topic The investigation as to the role of color in sexual attraction and to understand why certain colors worn by members of the opposite may influence sexual attractiveness. Background Human beings crave knowledge in the same way that they crave for nourishment. Knowledge is important from a human development point of view. Knowledge is a crucial ingredient when it comes to survival, especially in ancient times when communities are at the mercy of the elements. The family, tribe, and people group that have access to information have higher chances of success. In this present age the information that is considered of prime importance is related to sexual attraction. This is an important piece of information for many reasons. First of all, men and women are eager to know what can attract the opposite sex or what do they find desirable in a person. Secondly, this information can be used by businesspeople in terms of marketing products. Think of how advertising agencies can really profit from a clear understanding of how sexual attraction really works. For example a product for men can be marketed using a woman holding that product and yet at the same time wearing something that would c
Face Recognition, Identification, & Classification People recognize faces after they have analyzed features that are associated with that face. In this case, a person’s facial features will be analyzed by looking at the relationship between known features. It should be known that for an individual to recognize specific objects there is need for proper information. This is mostly about parts of the object and how they are related to each other. In a broad perspective, this process is known as first-order relational information. As much as this process is important, it is not enough for a person to recognize a face (Smith 2008, p. 13). This therefore implies that he or she needs more information than just the eyes for proper recognition. Most notably, this information can be relayed through various mechanisms that will ultimately enhance recognition. As a matter of fact, people are able to recognize faces through the second-order relational information. This is necessary because it is a process that involves comparisons. In this case, it is in relation to an analysis on what an average face is supposed to look like. The ability to recognize and know what an average face is supposed to look like occurs through experience. As time goes by, the information that an individual gains through experience ends up as the basis upon which a person uses to compare different faces. All withstanding, this is the most important process that people use to recognize faces. The upright face has a unique pattern which means that faces are encoded as whole configurations (Smith 2008, p. 38). In a broad perspective, the face is stored as a whole which is not the case with other objects that are supposed to be broken down into pieces before they can be recognized. This implies that if only a small part is displayed, it will be very difficult for identification. The fusiform face area is the one that is activated when an individual views a given face. Concepts and Categories Face recognition can be said to be different from object recognition because of various factors. Most notably, it is different because of the point of entry that is necessary for recognition. In this case, it should be known that the common point of entry is referred to as basic-level categorization. As much as this is a necessity, it is not enough for proper identification of faces. This means that the basic level of recognition should be enhanced to guarantee identification that leads to recognition. For proper recognition of human faces, the point of entry is always at an individual level. After proper evaluation, it implies that objects can be recognized and discriminated upon. This is mostly based on the parts of the object although it is different from faces that can be recognized holistically. When different objects are viewed, the face area is always lit up w
The Subject’s Background Information The subject is a five-year-old boy named Travis, an American of Irish descent, native English speaker. His parents are divorced, he lives with his mother. He does not like reading too much and prefers television as a major source of information about the world. His favorite programs include cartoons and children’s shows like The Amazing World of Gumball and Henry Danger. The Assessment Process For this paper, I have chosen Sebastian Wren’s guide to the evaluation of cognitive aspects of early reading development. It is simple, it lets the tester be creative, and it has three easy steps: Reading Comprehension Assessment, Language Comprehension Assessment, and Decoding Assessment. Travis seems to have trouble concentrating and often gets distracted. He can receive and process information during tests and lessons, but he does not seem to memorize it after a test or a lesson is done. He does not have any speech impediments and translates his thoughts into words quite well for his age. He comprehends verbal speech without any difficulties. When asked to read a passage, as it is predicted in Wren’s methodology, the subject sometimes stumbles through the words, reads them incorrectly, or makes emphases in the wrong places. The Maze cloze reading comprehension task (Faykus & McCurdy 1-21) showed that the subject could guess the omitted words fine unless they had the meaning he did not know or could not guess from the context. He can answer questions about a text without any problems, which confirms the fact that he at least understands its contents. Sometimes the subject asks questions of his own to gain a better understanding of what is being required of him. The subject seems to understand written text better when he reads it out loud. He says he does not really understand it as much when other people do not correct him or explain unfamiliar words to him along the way. Travis also has some minor problems with decoding information – often he does not have any idea how to pronounce the words he sees for the first time. When isolated words are presented to the subject in the oral form, he tends to repeat them correctly 50% of the time. As for the next test when a child is asked to match a spoken word or a part of a spoken word with a written word (Wren 4), the subject is successful approximately 80% of the time. Questions that Show Gaps in the Subject’s Learning The subject’s lack of proper attention poses a slight problem. As I have written earlier, he often gets distracted and cannot memorize certain bits of information due to that. I suspect a minor case of attention deficit disorder. Symptoms of ADD usually include “inattention, hyperactivity, or impulsivity” (“ADHD: Clinical Practice Guideline for the Diagnosis, Evaluation, and Treatment of Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder in Children and Adolescents” 6). I presume, Travis has these symptoms. It does not amount to too much trouble for
Political socialization is the process of peoples’ acquiring political values in the course of time and living in a particular community (Greenberg, 2009). In this respect there are different stages of socialization which people get through in accordance with their entire life. Moreover, a deeper analysis of this political process in social life finds juxtaposition in a mere extent of peoples’ awareness of what is going on in their country. As a matter of fact, it is all about politics and citizenry represented in a definite country. The question is about the United States and peculiarities of political socialization as applied to different layers of the society (as for ethnicity, gender, stratum, etc.). It came out to be that people living in America seem to be unaware of what the politics are going to implement in the economical and social growth of the country. In turn it provokes conflicts in the American society which destabilize the overall state of affairs in it. Hence, political socialization is an opportunity of every American to get involved into the political process being in evidence in America. My personal involvement into the political socialization is at its initial stage. The thing is that I originate from Asia and came to the United States in 2008. However, it makes a difference for me as a newbie here. My rights and my personal participation in social and political life of the country are based on sincere desires to shift the things for better. First of all, it corresponds to me as a citizen and then to the rest of the society. Even though my level of involvement into the affairs of national concernment is too small to date, I do not screw down but am interested in political issues taking place in America every now and then. Constant speculations on the American way in politics resulted in my personal involvement into political socialization. It was not spontaneously, but grounded on concrete events in the USA (internal and external) which preceded my arrival to the country. The main agents of socialization which influenced were my family being aware of what the concept of American politics is, then it was in college, and afterwards the overall society pushed on my choice in political values. However, the main obstacle faced is considered with cultural issues of the multinational and multiethnic American society. As it might be seen, political socialization as referred to ethnical minorities in the US goes through the difficulty of recognition (Greenberg, 2009). On the other side, it
Business Concepts The book gives advice to companies that want to be great but are average. There are several concepts that James highlights that great companies should adhere to. He therefore advices companies that desire greatness to practice certain concepts (Collins, 2001, p4). The book discusses seven business concepts in the book and in detail. The first is “Good is the enemy of great” where the company examines itself. It should move beyond doing the right thing and stop focusing on that only. The company should ask themselves if what they are doing is simply done because it is the industrial norms. Concentrating on the good only causes a company not to achieve the great things. The second highlighted concept is “Level 5 leadership” talking of company management. In the companies that moved from being good to great, the author noticed something interesting. They had a different kind of leader who was humble, seeking excellence and practising professionalism. He was a leader who surprisingly took the blame when things went wrong. However when things went extremely well, he would ensure others got the full credit. The third business concept the author highlights is “First Who…then what” which is necessary. The companies that desire greatness should be concerned about the quality of their staff. This aspect is more critical than the management setting their goals and strategies. He actually refutes the claim that the people are not the company’s great asset (Wilson, 2007). The right kinds of people, according to him are the company’s asset. The author uses the bus, to bring out this argument very clearly. The right people should board the bus and the wrong people should exit. Secondly the right people have to be seated at the right place. The company should be concerned about who they are paying the salary to. It should not be burdened with how they are paying the salaries. Furthermore, the character of the employee is more important than their qualifications. The company should concentrate on such values as integrity, work ethic and commitment. It should not concentrate at all times on the credentials and qualifications alone. The company should endeavour to “Confront the Brutal Facts” at all times. The company should have an environment where the truth is always heard. There should be dialogue and discussions in the company among the staff and employees. Secondly, the company should know its core competency and strengths and maximise on them. The company should work towards being the best in these specific areas. The staff in the company should have a “Culture of Discipline” consistently. The author states that the company should manage the systems in the organisations. Most companies have the tendency or practice of managing the people instead. The people should exhibit strict discipline so that they are not micro-managed.
Introduction The following paper provides information about the differences in the culture and the values of two countries, Germany and the United States of America. The cultural differences are discussed in terms of the value of respect and the value of the community. The specific views of the people of the two countries about the environment, the race-based relations as well as the gender roles, and marital systems are specifically provided. History Germany and America share a very abnormal and unique history. The two countries stated their relations as two opposing parties in the world war, however, after the defeat of the Nazis in the world war and the two countries have become strong Allies. The transition was not instantaneous and resulted in a period of gold war in the post-world war II period. However, with the development of the status of the West German economic institutions, trade between the countries improved and resulted in a formation of an alliance between the two nations. Despite the relationship of the two countries, the people and the communities in the two countries are significantly different from each other in terms of their values, the role of the different people in the community as well as c
While Laurence Olivier depicts the story of “Hamlet”, the original version by William Shakespeare is the most profound. In terms of the ghost, Olivier took Shakespeare’s writings and adapted them to fit his own standards of what the ghost represents to Hamlet. Moreover, Olivier’s version required him to focus on less traditional approaches due to his need to shorten the production and the need to perform a psychological analysis of the characters determine his interpretation of the play “Hamlet”. He illustrates this through various scenes, settings and themes in the film. The presentation of the Ghost in the film builds the main theme of revenge and tragedy. It forms the central part story of the play. For instance, it says, “I am thy father’s spirit, Doom’d for a certain term to walk the night, and for the day confined to fast in fires, till the foul crimes done in my days of nature…burnt and purged away…I am forbid” (Shakespeare 1.5.9-13). The ghost appears twice as portrayed by Olivier through lots of fog, dim lights and highly filtered voice. This did not clearly pick up the picture implied by Shakespeare in the original text, but they demonstrate the importance of the Ghost in the film. The message, language and imagery the ghost leaves last the entire play. The ghost builds the play. It is easier to tell that the director wanted to depict his own viewpoint of the play Hamlet by Shakespeare. This, therefore, made the film be all about Hamlet. Therefore, when Hamlet is not in the scene, then his imagination is. As a result, he cut out most part of the original script by Shakespeare. The Guildenstern, Rosencrantz, and Fortinbras are cut out. All the characters are presented in Hamlets point of view hence the film is not exactly the reproduction of the play but an interpretation. Olivier shows that the Oedipus complex is a crucial aspect in understanding the play especially the character of Hamlet and his relationship with Claudius, Ophelia, The Ghost and Gertrude. Hamlet is more saddened by his mother sexuality than news of his father is killing, according to critics. He hates all women and expresses this hate by saying, “Frailty, thy name is woman!” (Shakespeare 1.5.8)…Despite the warning from his father’s ghost, “Taint not thy mind, nor let thy soul contrive / against thy mother aught: leave her to heaven” (Shakespeare 1.5.9). Hamlet does not seem to pursue revenge but question his mother’s reason for marrying Claudius. In fact, the ghost comes to remind him that he should not be so much fixed on Gertrude. The focal point of the play is engraved in the way it expands from the traditional convention of revenge, tragedy and majorly the Ghost appearance makes the fundamental implication. The way Olivier presents the ghost has little to talk about yet it is a tremendously significant aspect in the play. When the ghost appears to Prince Hamlet in the original Shakespearean play, he talks about purgatory and his wanderings on earth before describing the details of his death (Shakespeare 1. 3.14). These same descriptions are not prevalent in the 1