ShantanuT01/DACTYL-Pretraining huggingface dataset:
Introduction Organizations rely on strategic plans to make suitable decisions that benefit their competitive advantages and capabilities in the market. Although strategic planning remains to be a traditional practice, organizations are embracing decision-focused strategic planning in the present day life (Harvard Business Review, 2000). This paper carries out an extensive analysis of Walmart, which is America’s biggest and leading chain of retail stores. Apart from the USA market, Walmart operates globally with retail stores established in the international market that spans across all continents in the world. The paper explores the external environmental factors, resources, capabilities, weaknesses, as well as the goals and objectives of the firm. Key Environmental Forces Facing the Firm Political forces As a multinational corporation, Walmart is exposed to various risks, particularly when entering into a new country. Political factions in foreign markets can easily target it, given that the firm is viewed as America’s cultural symbol. This risk is higher in countries holding opposing political views to those of the US. Economic forces Economic recessions and surges pose a great challenge to Walmart, particularly owing to the company’s low prices-high sales volume kind of business model. Economic recessions, such as the recent global financial crisis, implying that sales volumes are also affected because most buyers have the less disposable income to spend. Thus, the logic of low prices-high sales volume fails in such an instance. Social forces Walmart has been modeled to perfectly suit the American style, culture, and attitude in as far as shopping is concerned. However, exporting the same model to the foreign market reduces chances of success because different societies have varying preferences and cultures. Technological forces Technology is highly dynamic, given the modern day advances that are witnessed in the area of technology. This forces companies such as Walmart to continuously acquire improved and latest technologies to enhance performance efficiency. However, these technologies are expensive to acquire and eat into the resources of the firm. Legal forces Different laws govern different markets within which Walmart operates. These variations of
Facts The verse explains on what one must do to inherit everlasting life. Eternal life can only be achieved through obeying God’s law which is summarized into two: loving God and the neighbor. The emphasis is on doing not just knowing which has been repeated thrice: verse 25, 28, and 37. The parable given from verse 30 to 35 emphasis on the act of doing in the definition of a neighbor just the way the Good Samaritan helped a man who had been robbed and bitten then left to death, an act that the Priest and the Levite didn’t yet they knew and taught about God’s law on love (Alexander & Patricia, 1999). The conversation was between Jesus Christ and a lawyer. The lawyer knew the Jewish custom as he was a professional in their law which is both written and verbal. The lawyer was testing Jesus on the law where he even calls Him “Teacher.” Jesus having perceived his intention He then answers him with a question concerning what the law says. In the lawyer’s attempt of justifying himself, he therefore wants Jesus to verify who the neighbor is where He answers by giving a parable. There was nothing Christ gave against the law (Yancey & Quinn, 2001). Jesus was in Jerusalem when He was being tested by the lawyer. He gave a parable of man who was travelling from Jerusalem on his way to Jericho. Jerusalem is about 17 miles far from Jericho. Many people passed through the route but it wasn’t a safe route; there were robbers who attacked people. The victim was then left just by roadside where everybody could see him on his way; three categories of people saw him: the Priest, the Levite, and the Samaritan (Alexander & Patricia, 1999). The conversation took place when Jesus had already predicted His death. By this time the Jews had sought to kill Him by the argument that He made Himself God when He said that He’s from God who is His father. They w
The article by Fairclough titled “Tuskegee’s Robert R. Moton and the Travails of the Early Black College President” that was published in The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education in 2001 focuses on the role of an important historical figure. One of the most important aspects that should not be overlooked is that an educator was determined to make sure that there is an environment where people of color may safely return to their homes after such a traumatizing event as World War I. The importance of his continuous support needs to be mentioned. He had to deal with numerous issues but did not stop because he believed that his actions were right. It is also necessary to note that he was not only interested in education but also participated in other activities that were related to racial issues. He has attempted to investigate the way black individuals were treated during the war and has noted that they had to deal with such problems as worse equipment and others. The return from World War I has certainly had a tremendous impact on families because most people of color were proud of their participation and were expecting new opportunities for employment (Fairclough, 2001). It is paramount to note that I agree with this statement, and I believe that it has increased morale, and people were ready to participate in numerous meetings. A return to war is another aspect that needs to be discussed. It is imperative to note that people were much more ready this time. The fact that the government has realized that whites and blacks do not have to train separately to increase the level of communication was also vital. The impact of economic challenges also needs to be mentioned, and Moton understood that a significant percentage of people of color cannot afford education because of numerous internal and external factors. He has mentioned that various changes are necessary and viewed the situation as unacceptable. It is important to note that situation has started to improve significantly at that time (Morowski, 2013). Numerous migrations have had an impact on this topic because an educator had to get an understanding of changing demographics and the ways in which they affect the process of education. The role of the Harlem Renaissance also should not be overlooked because the interest in black art has been increasing at that time, and arts programs that he was able to initiate are quite remarkable. Also, it is necessary to mention that Moton has been frequently criticized for his speeches, and many thought that he tried to pander to particular audiences. On the other hand, the fact that his approach was effective should not be overlooked, and he has ma
Hidden Figures Movie Summary Hidden Figures (2016, directed by Theodore Melfi) is a movie that will simultaneously inspire and make people angry at the injustice African-American women faced both in professional and daily life. The main characters of Katherine Goble, Mary Jackson, and Dorothy Vaughan worked at NASA and saw many opportunities for their professional growth; however, their bosses and colleagues did not offer these women support nor did they respect their dignity since they were all African-American. Key characters included in the analysis will be Katherine and her supervisor Al Harrison in scenes about “colored” restrooms. Both arguments will build upon Bonevac’s principle of giving a statement first, providing evidence, and then making a conclusion (64). In the essay, two main arguments will be made based on the events described in the movie: while the women’s colleagues at NASA did see the potential in them and tried to eliminate barriers that prevented African-American women from being treated as equal to other members of the staff, the movie distorted some real-life events and painted an image of NASA as an inclusive workplace (run by white men) where women of color could successfully work. Hidden Figures Analysis First, NASA’s steps to accommodate Katherine, Mary, Dorothy, and other women of color will be discussed. A crucial scene to analyze in this case is the removal of a “colored bathroom” sign. Invited to contribute to the Space Task Group due to her brilliant skills in analytic geometry, Katherine had to work in a building where there were no restrooms for African-American women. At the time, such a simple accommodation as a bathroom was highly segregated, which meant that Katherine could not visit any other restroom than for Blacks. Every day, she had to run across the entire campus to go to a “colored bathroom.” When confronted with the question of where she was going every day for forty minutes, Katherine broke down and gave the brilliant “there are no restrooms for me here” speech, in which she mentioned how hard she was working, how low her payment was, and how difficult it became to run half a mile every day just to relieve herself (Melfi). After listening to her speech, the Group’s supervisor, Al Harrison, decided that it was time for a change and knocked down the “colored bathroom” sign saying “No more colored restrooms, no more white restrooms […] We all be the same color” (Melfi). If to use the U.S. Constitution to support the analysis, it is important to mention three specific points: the Thirteenth Amendment to the constitution declared an end to slavery, the Fourteenth made the freed slaves citizens of the country, and the Fifteenth provided the right to vote to all races. In this case, it can be beneficial to quote the Fourteenth Amendment: “Nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws” (“14th Amendment”). It is cl
Introduction The establishment of the office of the president by the United State’s Constitution towards the end of the 1780s marked a significant milestone in the country’s history. According to Clause 1 of Article Two of the United States Constitution, “The executive power shall be vested in a President of the United States of America. He shall hold his Office during the Term of four Years, and, together with the Vice President, chosen for the same Term, be elected, as…” (Amar 49). The Constitution advocated the election of a powerful and responsible person and people outside the legislature would elect the president. This move created an opportunity for the president to work without interference from the Congress. This paper seeks to address how the office of the president has grown with time in connection with the recognition of the executive powers. Currently, a president is held accountable for his/her actions and s/he works with different arms of the government to ensure balanced governance. It is important to consider this topic as it addresses the majority of controversies surrounding the office of the president. In most controversies, people criticize the president for implementing decisions beyond his/her presidential powers. However, this topic will highlight the significant milestones that this office has achieved since its formation in a bid to achieve a balanced government. With reference to the theory of federalism, this paper will be based on Alexander Hamilton’s article, The Federalist No. 70. Articulation of the article in relation to the growth of presidency and executive powers Hamilton’s article, Federalist Paper No. 70, assumes a counter-intuitive approach to defending the implementation of executive powers and safeguarding the safety of the republicans. The separation of executive powers between the two houses, viz. the House of Representative and the Senate is of equal importance due to the debate on domestic violence among other issues that affect the society. In most cases, the people’s perception toward a democratic government entails pushing its officials to fulfil the majorities’ will. However, Publius, in Hamilton’s article, associates democracy with the good execution of people’s will by the government officers (Hamilton par. 1). From the article, it is evident that Hamilton advocated the establishment of an executive branch to strengthen unity among states. According to Allen and Cloonan, the theory of federalism advocates governance by a group of people bound by a covenant, but headed by a representative (85). Hamilton’s suggestion to have an executive branch was in line with federalism, as the executive would ensure a democratic government characterize
By the mid late 1970s, Indian development slowed down significantly. Bardhan attributes India’s weak performance in the 1970s and 1980s to the governments need to placate contending dominant groups. What were the dominant groups? What were their interests? How did the government policy advance these interests? The dominant groups included the rich farmers, the industrial capitalists and the professionals. The industrial capitalist class consisted of top business families, mainly from western India (Barhan 40). They controlled a larger share of the national capital and sales (Bardhan 42). They emerged dominant from the colonial period. They needed to be protected from foreign firms. It resulted in the protective policies that protected local enterprises from international competition. The businesses targeted import-substituting products, which were supported by the government. As a result, their interest shifted to lower excise duties, tax exemption, and government subsidies. Some of the dominant firms registered small firms to allow them the benefits that targeted small-sized enterprises. The industrial institutions had an interest in loans. The loans were provided by public financial institutions (Bardhan 40). The government policy was to increase the availability of capital for private enterprises. The loans became the main source of private firms’ expansion. Firms that were unable to repay were set to be taken over by the government or the loan was converted to equity. Bardhan (40) states that the policy resembled a risk absorption policy for private firms. Firms that performed well were retained by private owners. Those that performed poorly were passed over to state ownership. The industrial classes were also interested in the allocation of import licenses. The government protectionist policy was to issue a few import licenses (Bardhan 41). The end result is that the large companies violated government protective policy, which aimed at protecting emerging industries. They also made oligopolistic profits because few import licenses were issued. Oligopolistic profits are higher than the profits made in a free market. The sales of a few industries also multiplied several times within a decade (Bardhan 43). The private industry groups were also interested in acquiring technology. Initially, they collaborated with foreign firms. Later, the government facilitated complete purchases of technological rights that allowed local firms to be self-reliant (Bardhan 44). The government policy is to promote private firms’ independence from licenses, which require regular payments. The purchase of rights allowed multiple private firms to make similar products. The rich farmers are the second dominant group. The rich farmers emerged from the colonial period through the passing of colonialists
Introduction As components of organisational development, wellbeing interventions are intended to produce change to an organisation or part of it to ensure that there is an improvement in production. The wellness interventions for employees are aimed at improving their performance at the workplace to ensure that they contribute positively to the organisation. According to Armstrong (2006), an intervention refers to a series of planned activities, events, or actions in an organisation. The activities are aimed at improving its performance. Intervention levels in an organisation can be categorised into strategic interventions, which focus on the organisation as a whole, techno-structural interventions that subdivide functions and roles in the organisation, and the human resource interventions (Ryness, Gerhart & Minette 2004). Human resource interventions improve the performance of individuals working in the organisation with the target of influencing the overall organisational improvement (Armstrong 2006). Many interventions have been tried in the past. Some of them have some degrees of effectiveness. Examples of interventions that are aimed at employees include goal setting, performance appraisal, reward systems, workforce diversity management, and career planning and development (Armstrong 2006). The other interve
Introduction August Wilson, an American playwright, wrote a play The Piano Lesson and was premiered on 26 November 1987. It was played first in Yale Repertory Theatre before it debuted in Broadway in 1990. The play received well-praised and positive perception among its audience. Perhaps one of the contributing factors that made this piece entertaining is the characterization of the characters in it. Carrie Dorsey of Virginia Community College System (2003) described them as “colorful characters”, in which it has “festering family conflict” (Dorsey, 2003). The accuracy or the realism of the characters within certain regards is fairly important of why this play became very much effective as contributing element of the splendor of the piece. To discern this is through discussing a little review of the story and discussion of each character for some key element needed. The play’s primary theme is inheritance and legacy. The material inheritance is the piano that had been to the family of Berniece and Boy Willie for generations. Each has different aim with the inherited piano. Boy Willie Charles First part of the play opened where Boy Willie has a plan to sell the old piano. His real dream was to have a farm and he will only be able to buy one if he sold the piano. He was fixed in selling the piano despite its heritage value just to own the piece of land he is tending with, to be free from the fragment of enslavement and be an independent farmer (Ardentheater, 2008). Among the characters in the play within the Charles family, he was the one who remained in the South. He attended the land that the ancestors enslaved for in generation. In parallel to his faithfulness in the farm where the family worked is his interest to dispatch the piano that also been with the Charles’s for generation for his personal motive. Berniece, Boy Willie’s sister, on the other hand strongly opposed Boy Willie’s plan and wanted to restore and carry on the legacy. Thus this brings conflict between him and Berniece, the tension build up and revolved with this. Boy Willie’s argument regarding the old piano is about practicality. He is pointing to Berniece that she’s not even playing the piano, and that it should be used for more beneficial pronouncement. Analyst said that this argument of Boy Willie is a “good example of pragmatic approach in life”, it is regarded to be realistic in the given situation especially in those depressing period (Answers.Com 2006). However, it doesn’t mean that Boy Willie is right as his justification obviously lies on the selfish motivation he has since. He failed to see that he is a
Logistics Logistics is an essential function of many organizations today. All companies look to minimize the cost of attaining logistics objectives. Logistics deals with moving goods from one place to another, handling and storing them. Primary logistics functions include warehousing, inventory management, transportation, and logistics information management (Kotler & Armstrong, 2009) Warehouse Management System As mentioned above, one of the functions of logistics is warehousing. One must wonder just why warehousing is that important anyway. It seems like it is only about storing goods in a prominent place. There is much more to it in the background. It involves all the other functions of logistics; that is, all processes are interrelated and affect each other. For example, effective inventory management is essential for minimizing warehousing costs. This is where Warehouse Management System, or WMS, comes in – to achieve logistics functions in the most efficient and cost-effective manner. WMS – What it is A Warehouse Management System is an information system that, in its most simple version, controls the movement and storage of materials within a warehouse and process-related transactions such as shipping, processing, receiving, etc. However, more advanced systems are now including manufacturing, accounting systems, transportation, and order management also (Piasecki, 2007). The way a WMS works is based on real-time information. This dynamic information is given by Auto ID Data Capture (AIDC) technologies such as Radio Frequency Identity (RFID). These chips are placed on goods that monitor their movement and send back information when they are read through a transmitter. Any WMS must have a flexible location system, user-defined parameters to assign warehouse tasks, and integrated technology to collect data (Piasecki, 2007). For example, at Toyota, data is captured from the parts, and an associated tag label is created, which gives part details and locations. This information is then stored on the mainframe to meet the order of
Introduction The mortality and morbidity rates for patients who suffer from VAP are approximately 27 percent. VAP also leads to a high increase in healthcare costs for individuals receiving treatment for the disease as they have to stay in the hospital for a duration of five to seven days. The cost of receiving VAP treatment is calculated to be $40,000 per hospital admission per patient. This amounts to $1.2 billion per year. Despite the various efforts to contain the disease, the disease continues to experience high mortality rates with estimated patient deaths amounting to 30 percent. Background: Pathophysiology of VAP Mayall (2001) defines ventilator-associated pneumonia as patients who have pneumonia and have been placed on mechanical ventilation equipment for more than 48 hours. VAP is a type of pneumonia that is caused by a bacterium that occurs in patients receiving mechanical ventilation support. If the infection occurs within the first 48 to 72 hours, it is referred to as an early-onset infection which is caused by three types of bacteria that are Staphylococcus aureus, Haemophilus influenzae and Streptococcus pneumoniae. The VAP infection that occurs after 72 hours is referred to as late onset and it’s caused by Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Acinetobacter (Craven 2000). Bacterial colonization occurs when colonies of bacteria form in the endotracheal tube that is used to support the mechanical ventilator. If not dealt with, the bacterial colonies will spread to the lungs and other different parts of the body such as the sinus cavities, the teeth, oropharynx and the gastro intestinal tract. It can also be caused by sources from outside the body such as patient-to-patient contact and the ventilation circuits in the ventilation machine (Kunis et al. 2003). The endotracheal tube connected to the ventilator circuit provides a direct route for the bacteria to move to the host’s upper and lower airways. Any oral secretions by the host create a biofilm above the cuff of the endotracheal tube which creates a perfect environment for bacterial colonization. The biofilm that forms around the tube is usually dislodged by instilling saline into the tube, by tracheal suctioning, changing the position of the tube or coughing reflexes (Morehead and Pinto 2002). The aspiration of gastric contents is also seen to be another cause of VAP. This is because the stomach acts a storage unit for bacteria in the body because of the digestion of food. Patients that are undergoing mechanical ventilation usually have a nasogastric tube inserted inside their gastric systems for feeding purposes as well as for passing medication to the patient. The presence of the gastric tube however affects the processes that take place in the gastroesophageal sphincter resulting in increased reflux in the gastrointestinal chamber. The increased reflux creates an environment for bacterial colonization in the upper air