ShantanuT01/DACTYL-Pretraining huggingface dataset:
Introduction Having studied the various ways by which the progress of a project can be monitored, it is important to note that monitoring is by itself not management, and finding out how the project is progressing is quite meaningless unless corrective measures can be taken when something is amiss with the project. There has been a common trend for project managers to sit at their computers all day, going through the project data while the project is spiraling out of control, a management method christened ‘management by spreadsheet’. Frequently, this management method is ineffectual and calls for an improved method for exercising control that entails a proactive management process (Cadle and Yeates, p. 207). Elements of Exercising Control Exercising control consists of four elements. The first step involves an evaluation of the current situation, then an evaluation on the various strategies that could be used. The third stage involves the selection and implementation of one of strategies identified in the second stage while the final stage links back into the monitoring process because of the need to check that the control action has had the desired corrective action on the project. Evaluating the Current Situation This stage starts from the information gathered through monitoring processes. These may include the timesheet information showing the current phase of the project, quality review data indicating whether the deliverables are meeting their quality criteria, and financial information that shows the current accrued expenditure and future forecasts for the same (Cadle and Yeates, p. 208). The information obtained at this stage is compared with the various plans to find out if there is an anomaly and, if so, its magnitude. For instance, if the project is behind schedule, is it on a critical path? If it is not, can the situation be arrested? Arresting the situation may entail directing more resources, such as manpower and financial resources. If additional resources are used, can the extra costs be compensated by using lower quality materials? The three variables of time, cost, and quality should be balanced to ensure that the projects meets, or comes close to meeting the initial project details. Possible Corrective Measures Some of the most common project management corrective measures to problems encountered on IS projects are listed below, however, caution should be taken not to forget the great influence that the project team members have on the success of the project. Doing Nothing This should always be the first option as it provides a benchmark against which to assess all other possibilities and it may turn out to be the solution. Doing nothing does not mean failing to act, rather, it means that the manager assesses all the other corrective measures and then decides that leaving things as they are is the best option. This option provides two pitfalls: first, the manager may opt for this strategy when in fact a more vigoro
Introduction The largest volcanic explosion in the late Pleistocene occurred in Lake Toba, approximately 72,500 (+- 3000) years ago. The super eruption of Toba has attracted a lot of scientific disrepute due to various reasons. When viewed from space, the caldera is observed as one of the biggest volcanic craters on earth, since it measures over 100km. On the steep was of the caldera is lake Toba. This lake is said to be the largest volcanic lake on earth. Various scientists including Gasparotto, Spadaforab, Summac, Tateoc, Spadafora and Summa (567) and Jones, Gregory and Stott (725) sugest that the eruption resulted in a massive volcanic winter that caused a human population bottleneck. Super-volcanoes are colossal eruptions that are referred to as super-eruptions, and they vary from other catastrophes like tsunamis or earthquakes since their environmental outcomes threaten global civilization (Buhring and Sarnthein 277). These super eruptions are known to occur once in about 500,000 years, like the largest Yellowstone eruption in the USA, or the Toba eruption in Indonesia. Figure 1: Distribution of volcanic ash from the 73 ka Toba super-eruption showing location of marine cores and sections sampled in India According to Ninkovich, Sparks and Ledbetter (5), super-eruptions occur in areas of the earth where the tectonic plates collide. Ambrose, Williams and Chattopadhyaya (167) also suggest that super-eruptions can occur in areas where hot material wells up from the deep earth interior below a continent. According to Williams and Clarke (633), there are many regions on earth that are suspected of volcanic activity, like Andes and Japan. A cause for concern is the location of super-volcanoes within or near continents, which impies that these vents are situated in areas that have crowded populations (Lang, Leuenberger & Schwander 934). This paper looks at the eological setting of Toba, in an effort to understand the super eruption and its probable effects. In doing this, this study seekd to validat that the eruption resulted in the putative bottleneck. Table 1: Particle size distribution of the YTT ash at the Rehi section, Son valley, India. Geological Setting of Toba Toba is located in western Indonesia, in the island of Sumatra, in the north province. It is found in the Barisan Mountains as shown in figure 1. Fig. 2: Tectonic setting and location map (inset) of the Toba Caldera. Tectonic map modified from Simkin et al. (2006). These mountains comprise metamorphic rocks, Quaternary volcanic and Miocene sedimentary rocks (Ambrose 274). De Silva (671) suggests that Indian-Austrlain plate located beneath the continental Eurasisn subdues a the rate of aproximately 5.5cm.year, towards the Sunda trench, which has resulted in the formation of an active volcanic (Gathorne-Hardy and Harcourt-Smith 228). Sadler and Grattan (186) suggest that the crust is about 30 to 39 km thick under Toba, with a visible depth of around 125 km (De Silva 671).
Introduction The ancient Greek philosophers have played a fundamental function in the formulation of, not only the western philosophical tradition, but also modern philosophical thought. Many philosophers and other theorists today admit that ancient Greek philosophy has, for centuries now, shaped the entire western thought (Barnes 5). The ancient Greek philosophers are known to have dissociated themselves from a mythological approach to explaining the events of the universe, and embraced a rather holistic approach based on reason and inquiry (Ancient Greek Philosophy para. 2). However, according to the a
Performance Management Performance management refers to the process of ensuring that goals are met in a consistent, efficient and effective manner. It involves ensuring that the performance of a firm, a department, employees or the processes within the organization is running as efficient as would be expected. The world is increasingly getting competitive. There are various competitive advantages that firms are trying to come up with to ensure that they are able to sustain the market competition. The only way that a firm can manage to be competitive in the market is to come up with performance management system. In managing employees, organizations have embraced performance contract. The performance contract allows the management to ensure that the performance of employees is well managed. It allows the employer and the employee to agree on what should be achieved within a specific period, and how success will be measured. The department can also sign a performance contract where they commit to complete a given task within a specific period. When an individual employee performs optimally, the entire department will be successful, and this success will be transferred to the entire firm. Performance management has gained popularity in the current competitive market. Consumers are demanding for a consistent quality delivery for every item they purchase. This makes the firm feel the pressure to deliver this quality in a manner that will be satisfactory to these customers. For this reason, the management must have a system that would closely manage this performance in a manner that will give the desired result. It is only through this that a firm can be sure to retain its customers. It is through this customer retention that a firm can be sure to maintain a competitive advantage in the market. This will help in assuring the firm of sustainability in the market. The Science of Behavior in Business The science of behavior can be defined as a process of understanding the impact of behavior on the performance of a business, and how this behavior can be manipulated by a leader to help in achieving specific objectives. In the current dynamic world, leaders are under great pressure to achieve specific results through themselves and other employees. A leader will only be effective when he or she has the capacity to make others act in a manner that would help achieve specific results. A leader must be in a position to make employees feel that there is a strong urge to deliver in a manner that will not only be satisfactory to the management, but also other relevant stakeholders of the organization. Actions of an individual will always be shaped by the behavior. An individual will approach an assigned task based on the behavioral pattern. For this reason, the only way through which a leader can ensure that employees work as expected is to influence their behavior. In a more practical term, such beh
Company and Post Description As the chosen company, the world-famous retail chain H&M is selected, which is a supplier of fashionable clothes to various countries. The target job title is the manager of the logistics department that controls deliveries and optimizes interaction with partners. The staff of this corporation is large, and this post is important for the retailer who sells worldwide and is one of the leaders in its field. Questions to H&M’s Vice-President In order to obtain valuable information about the upcoming work and responsibilities of the logistics manager, a conversation with the Vice-President of H&M may help determine the key requirements for an applicant. Also, the answers of the representative of the Board of Directors can be used as a guide to action that could simplify adaptation to activities in such a global corporation. The questions that are of most interest are as follows:  1. Is the logistics manager in H&M responsible for innovation in the supply chain organization?  2. Does this post imply career prospects and professional development opportunities?  3. Does the company provide conditions for the implementation of optimization development strategies and resources for strategic interventions?  4. Can a logistics manager in H&M establish partnerships, or his/her responsibilities come down to control over the delivery of goods? Anticipated Responses to the Questions When assessing the business activity and the sphere of influence of H&M, introducing innovations to optimize production processes is an important component of the company’s work. In the field of logistics, the head of this department is one of the responsible persons who develop the necessary strategies by using modern equipment. Accordingly, this post implies participating in projects dedicated to finding alternative ways of improving the department’s performance outcomes. Evaluating innovations with their subsequent implementation in the operational process is one of the logistics manager’s obligations. H&M Corporation is a steadily growing and modern organization where corporate culture is maintained and productive interaction among colleagues is encouraged. Accordingly, any employee has an opportunity to get promoted if he or she takes enough initiative and realizes one’s potential as successfully as possible. With regard to the position of a logistics manager, career prospects are high because the company has numerous branches around the world. Therefore, the possibility of employment as a senior manager is real, and work in any country may be offered. The management of H&M encourages employee initiative and stimulates team leaders to promote development strategies. As a rule, if an objective plan is proposed on the basis of analytical activities, the initiative group receives all the necessary resources that may be needed to implement the set optimization tasks. With regard to the logi
The body of a human being is made up of various systems all of which are important for its functioning. Some of the major body systems include the respiratory, digestive, nervous, sensory, and reproductive systems just to mention a few. The systems work concurrently or one leads to the other helping the body function as required. This paper is an in-depth analysis of the sensory system by looking at its functions in the body as well as the pathways it uses. The sensory system happens to be part of the nervous system, which is concerned, with passage of information from the external environment to the internal environment and vice versa (Kandel et al., 2000). A sensory system comprises of the brain and muscles in the internal environment while the external environment is made up of several body parts such as the eyes, ears, skin and hair. The main function of the sensory system is the conduction of information to the brain for processing. It does this through the sensory receptors that receive stimuli and transmits it via neural pathways. The information conducted by the sensory system is referred to as sensory information. Sensory information is known to cause conscious awareness in some instances thus creating sensation. The sensory system is important to human beings and other animals as it helps in vision, hearing, taste, smell and touch modalities among others. Without the sensory system, the aforementioned senses would not be felt and the body would be as numb as a log. The sensory system functions with the help of receptors and receptor organs to enable the transmission and interpretation of information in the respective sensory organs. Once the information is transmitted, the sensory system stimulates action of the receptive organ. For example, when a person steps on a sharp object and pricked, the sensory system sends pain information to the brain (Neil, 2010). The brain then activates the leg muscles making the muscle remove the leg from the point of pricking to prevent more pain. The sensory system uses sensory pathways to transmit information from one site to another throughout the body. Sensory pathways are therefore the routes used in the transmission of information from the external environment to the brain. There are various types of sensory pathways. They differ with regard to the location of the information transmitted. For instance, there are sensory pathways that transmit information from the body parts to the brain which are normally known as general somatic afferent (GSA) pathways. The GSA pathways are responsible for the transmission of information concerning pain, temperature, touch, kinaesthesia, and pressure ( Kolb and Whishaw, 2003). There are also sensory pathways that transmit information from the face to the brain. These will transmit information regarding pain, pressure, crude touch and temperature
Introduction Traditionally, surveys have been carried by sending a team of research assistants to collect data in the field. In this method, questionnaires are prepared and carried as hard copies. Interviews are conducted face to face. With current increase in internet use, online surveys are being conducted as they have proved to be efficient and fast. This requires one to be well equipped with knowledge of how to use internet, authoring programs, HTML code, and scripting programs. Online survey is young and evolving at a high rate. Survey authoring software packages and online survey services make online survey researches much easier, cheap, and fast. The way a survey is to be conducted is determined by the kind of research. This is because it is not all researches that can be carried out online. Many disciplines have not yet discovered the use of online survey researches and thus they have not been used in most disciplines (Abramson & Abramson, 1999). This paper will look at the advantages and disadvantages of using online survey researches. Advantages Accessibility to Population There has been increased acquaintance with internet use and this has caused the young generation to be more into computers and curious to explore all that can be done with internet. The cost of computers and soft ware has continued to reduce over time. Researchers in different disciplines have found online survey to be suitable and productive. Online survey allows a researcher to reach all the population. It provides an opportunity to reach to the populations that cannot be reached using other forms of surveys. There are groups of people and communities that exist in cyber space. It is possible to reach virtual communities that share the same interests and values through internet. Virtual communities can allow a researcher to reach a unique group of people that share the same interest and ideas concerning a specific topic or problem (Ade, Mellenbergh, & Hand, 2008). One can also reach to old group of people who use internet and get to know their opinion on different topics. Compared to traditional methods of data collection, it would be difficult to reach to a similar demographic population as it is in online survey research. In health communication, it has been possible to reach to unique groups with certain conditions like HIV through online surveys for there is no stigma as in offline surveys (Abramson & Abramson, 1999). Time Online surveys save time for researchers. It allows a researcher to reach many people with similar characteristics within a short time. It allows the researcher to reach to people who are separated by long distances within no time. A researcher can gain access to reach population by simply posting an invitation to take part in chat rooms and message boards. Online surveys also allow the researcher to carry out other tasks. Data collecte
Introduction This paper will identify the design of the study used in gathering information for the paper titled “The Effect of Accuracy of Instruction, Teacher Delivery and Student Attentiveness on Musicians’ Evaluation of Teacher Effectiveness.” The paper will discuss the issues in quantitative design such as validity, reliability and generalizability, and application of statistical tests. Additionally, the paper will identify the unanticipated results in comparison to the findings of previous research, and how the design used in the study might have been strengthened through alternative procedures. Validity Validity of research data is based on an evaluation of whether a particular research is really measuring what it is supposed to be measuring (Thyer, 2001). There are two types of validity as discussed below. Internal validity Internal validity refers to the approximate truth about suppositions derived concerning cause and effect in a given research work (Thyer, 2001). Internal validity is usually relevant in research works that try to ascertain a causal relationship. The key question is whether the changes observed in a particular research program can be attributed to the research methods used or to other causes (Thyer, 2001). In the research article being investigated in this paper, the researcher used attributes such as eye contact, vocal delivery and body language to evaluate their performance. While these attributes can be relied on at particular time, they are bound to change depending on the prevailing conditions. An inference can be made that the students’ expressions at the time of study were caused by factors such as the tone used in the research. Body and feelings are not measurable and change from time to time and thus affect the validity of the data unless the research is done time and again. The researcher used a sample (a representation of the entire po
When applying feminist theory in communication to analyze popular music, one ought to examine the extent to which individuals can forge their meanings and how social ideology is depicted through music. Feminists agree that culture is not static and that music can be a process of creating new feminist identities in culture rather than just portraying conventional notions of women. To demonstrate how feminist theory in communication is relevant to music, the paper will analyze the depiction of females, the vocal arrangements, representation of female roles and their visual appearance in Lady Gaga’s “Telephone” music video where it will be argued that the video is a mix of conventional notions of gender and non-feminist ideologies. Analysis Patriarchal society The collaboration of Beyonce Knowles and Lady Gaga in their ‘telephone video’ is not just a narration of a story about an irritating telephone call; it is a reflection of male domination hence patriarchy. A glance at most of the scenes in the video reveals half-dressed females who are designed at appealing to male viewers. Lady Gaga is herself quite scantily dressed; in one scene where she takes on the role of a waitress, Gaga can be seen wearing a see-through dress with nothing more than pastries to cover her upper body ‘essentials’. In another scene, she can be seen wearing innerwear designed after the American flag. This video actually illustrates how women have become over-sexualized in music videos and are often regarded as male property. This only serves to increase male domination since images that please males are given precedence over those that do not. Feminist theory often argues that various cultural elements are used as objects to propagate the views of those in high positions. In this case, the over-sexualization of Lady Gaga and Beyonce shows how music is a tool for reinforcing the views of males who dominate their female counterparts and hence demonstrate a patriarchal society. (Dibben, 331) Hegemony Cultural hegemony is proliferated by various elements including music. In this way, dominant conceptions held by males are sometimes reinforced through music. The sexual explicitness of the telephone video is a representation of how male objectification is reinforced hence illustrating male hegemony. For instance, at the start of the video, Gaga wears a leather dress and then gets stripped nude. There are several other scenes where the actors exemplify sexual objectification. Although these actions seem somewhat personal, adherents to Antonio Gramsci’s hegemony argue that rules are not just a creation of the government since social processes are also characterized by domination. To this end, feminists argue that the personal translates to the political and that power relations are reinforced by common day-to-day occurrences. Gaga’s telephone therefore illustrates society’s definition of race, gender and class as defined in music. Sheppard (54) asserts that males feel naturally sidelined because they are not central to the biological process during reproduction. To compensate for this, they opt to dominate women so that they can feel that they are in control of the worl