ShantanuT01/DACTYL-Pretraining huggingface dataset:
In the earlier decades, the world’s economy was mainly involved in foreign trade but was nonetheless insulated from external pressures. On the other hand, the modern day economies are highly open with goods and capital markets open to the many forces of international competition (Obstfeld 2001). With open economies, governments have to maintain a stable exchange rate with growing capital flows and monetary policies that are oriented toward internal goals. Stable exchange rates keep inflation down. Capital flows are important for enhancing growth and development especially in developing countries. Therefore, monetary policy control is essential for macroeconomic adjustments (Kamar and Bakardzhieva 2003). It would be ideal to have these three running smoothly but sadly, we cannot achieve all of these objectives simultaneously. This is what has been termed as a trilemma, the unholy trinity, irreconcilable trinity or inconsistent trinity. This trilemma influences the exchange rate policy to implement in developing countries. Developing countries like the Sultanate of Brunei have decided to have a fixed exchange rate regime while others like the Kingdom of Bhutan have a relatively flexible regime that is kept within limits of fluctuations against the Indian rupee. As a result of excess savings in Asia, there has been an abundance of global liquidity in the world economy and this has resulted in reduced interest rates. These outcomes have resulted in the current account deficits in both Bhutan and Brunei governments. This is a common phenomenon often observed where capital flows from capital-scarce developing countries to capital–rich developed economies (International Labour Organization 2010). It partly explains the deficits but these current account imbalances can best be explained using the Mundell –Fleming model. The Mundell-Fleming theory was created by Robert Mundell and Marcus Fleming. They individually came up with a model that could be applied to an open economy. Previous models applied to closed economies using the IS-LM model. Mundell and Fleming extended the IS-LM to form the IS-LM-BP. BP stands for balance of payments which represents the foreign market (IFOM). The IS-LM-BP model shows different combinations of interest rates and income that are compatible with equilibrium in the balance of payments (Fratianni and Hagen 1997). The
Introduction The modern world of capitalism and globalization provides a framework for each member of the global community to follow. The idea of progress, scientific advancements, and the humanity’s dominance over nature pertain to the capitalist approach. However, whereas scientific progress and the advent of technology represent the positive aspects of capitalism, consumerism and overall consumerist attitude towards nature are valid signs of a destructive character of the capitalist system. The Role of Nature and Environment in a Capitalist World The capitalist worldview contains a certain notion of the environment. The approach to nature is closely intertwined with consumerism, ensuring, therefore, that nature is not only a sphere that has to be dominated by humanity but also to be subject to calculation. To this end, nature becomes a domain where it is necessary to identify and estimate the profits that the humanity can gain from natural resources. Thus, in the capitalist framework, a consumerist approach to nature is evident. The environment and natural resources have become a commodity that can easily be sold and bought. Harvey cites a quote, “We abuse land because we see it as a commodity belonging to us. When we see land as a community to which we belong, we may begin to use with love and respect.” 1 Harvey poses a question regarding money in a capitalist society, i.e. the value that the humanity puts on nature and whether ecological/environmental politics could be coupled with socialist politics and transformed into a non-destructive relationship. The author attempts to answer the question why humanity strives to put value on nature and involve it in the process of monetary exchange. He affirms that, in our capitalist society, money is, indeed, the principal way of communication between the various domains, the main language that is employed to regulate these relationships. The modern environmental discourse, as seen in the capitalist framework, is aimed at regarding nature as an enterprise that can either bring profit or lead to significant losses. While Harvey’s point is valid, it is necessary to examine the issue from a critical point of view. As the author points outs, money has become the community in our society, leading the humanity to believe it is charged with the task of extracting value from anything it sees around it. The tendency to view the environment as a commodity led us to grave environmental problems that the planet faces today. Thus, this consumerist approach exhibited by the society is, in itself, destructive, as it results in the depletion of natural resources, great damage caused to the environment, and other serious repercussions that have become burning issues for the global community. Unless the humanity modifies its approach, the generations to come will face serious ecological problems. The tendency to consider nature as a source of profit is destructive, as it does no account for the fact that humanity also c
Introduction One of the aspects of contemporary living is that as time goes by, the world seems to become the ever more violent place. In fact, there are now talks about the impending WW3. Therefore, one’s decision to read the novel The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini could not have proven timelier. After all, The Kite Runner is essentially about the sheer importance for people to be able to act tolerantly towards each other. The book The Kite Runner is a fictional novel. It was written by the Afghan-American author Khaled Hosseini and published for the first time in 2003. The purpose of writing this book, on the author’s part, had to do with his intention to reflect upon his childhood memories of having lived in Afghanistan through the years 1965-1980. Hosseini also wanted to enlighten readers on what happens when people yield to religious fanaticism. The author was born in Afghanistan in 1965. His family immigrated to the US in 1980, following the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. In 1988, Hosseini graduated from Santa Clara University, majoring in biology. After having published his first novel The Kite Runner , which became a bestseller, Hosseini has been pursuing the career of a writer. There is nothing odd about the sheer popularity of The Kite Runner . Just as it is the case with other critically acclaimed works of literature, the novel’s themes and motifs have a strong universal appeal to them. What this means is that, regardless of what happened to be the religious or cultural affiliation of a particular reader, he or she will still be able to relate emotionally to what is being discussed in The Kite Runner . My evaluation aims to explore the validity of this suggestion at length. Summary The Kite Runner is best defined as a semi-autobiographical novel. It tells the story of Amir (the novel’s protagonist) – a man with the Pashtun ethnic background, who has spent his formative years in pre-revolutionary Afghanistan. While living in the mansion of his father Baba, Amir used to enjoy the company of his friend Hassan – a Hazara boy, hired by Baba as a servant. Because of his affiliation with Hazara (a socially underprivileged Shiite tribe in Afghanistan), Hassan never ceased suffering from being bullied by other Pashtun boys, led by the novel’s antagonist Assef. Even though he did like Hassan very much, Amir nevertheless lacked the courage to assume any active stance protecting his friend – something that caused the protagonist to experience the acute sense of guilt while living in America as an adult. Consequently, this prompted Amir to seek redemption in his own eyes. After having found out about Hassan’s death at the hands of the Taliban and about the fact that his childhood friend had a son (Sohrab), Amir decides to travel to Afghanistan to try to find and save the orphaned boy while hoping that this would help to redeem his guilt. Despite having been almost killed on numerous occasions in the ‘old country’, Amir nevertheless succeeds in his undertaking. As a result, he is shown feeling much better about himself at the nov
Introduction The purpose of this case study is to discuss market entry strategies of Allure Cruise Line, the main competitors of this company in new markets, positioning strategy, and the difference between Allure and other companies. Company Overview Allure Cruise Line is a small company in the North America, which started its journey in 1993 with only three ships to sail out of Landerdale, Florida, San Juan, and other itineraries within the Caribbean Sea (Dereskey, 2007, p.1). According to the part one of the case study, it has more than 1000 employees (including crews, managers, board members, engineers and so on) and this company recruited the crews from 40 different countries and nationalities considering complex culture and importance of advance communication system to provide quality service. However, the following two figures show Allure’s vision and mission statements and organizational structure – Figure 1: Allure’s Vision and Mission Statements Source: Dereskey (2007, p.1) Figure 2: Organizational structure of Allure cruise Line Source: Dereskey (2007, p.3) The way of Market Penetration by Allure The top-management team of Allure Cruise Line needs to research on the global cruise industry to find out potential market to enter and gain competitive advantages. Before attempt to enter new markets, it is also essential for this company to consider its mission, vision, corporate structure, current challenges, political and cultural factors, financial position, legal barriers, leadership, human resource management, and market competition, size and growth of the cruise industry particularly North American, cruise industry and so on. However, Dereskey (2008, p.35) pointed out the hierarchical model of market entry modes to help the companies select the suitable entry route strategy, for instance, Figure 3: The hierarchical model of market entry modes Source: Dereskey (2008, p.35) The above figure demonstrates non-equity modes and equity modes of market entry; however, considering the service features of Allure Cruise Line, it can be argued that equity modes strategy would be suitable for this company to enter new zone. In this context, the management of this company should contact with the management of small companies of the new selected markets to sign joint-venture agreement, which will give the opportunity to the Allure to share its resources and technologies wit
COVID-19 outbreak has undoubtedly affected the lives of millions, and there are several important lessons that healthcare professionals and healthcare educators can learn from this pandemic. Most importantly, it highlighted the fact that despite the medical advancements that were made over the years, the United States is not well-equipped to address a serious health crisis. It is possible, however, that through education and the use of this experience with COVID-19, some changes will be made to the way healthcare is perceived. Personal Reflection Firstly, it is necessary to point out the severe problems that nursing professionals experienced as a result of the pandemic in the inability of hospitals to provide protective equipment to employees who work with COVID-19 patients. This is one of the essentials that every medical professional should have access to, yet Chiu (2020) highlights the protests and lawsuits filed by nurses because of the inability to have protection, and Stockman and Baker (2020) report that nurses have to “beg for protective gear and better planning” (para. 1). Apart from safety concerns, it is unethical to force people to work in dangerous conditions, knowingly subjecting them and their families to the danger of being infected. Apart from that, very little research exists on the topic of protective gear, such as masks, making it difficult for people to make at-home masks that would be effective for protecting themselves and others. Although CDC does provide some recommendations and standards of medical masks, it also highlights the need not to buy protective masks for the general population to make them available to medical professionals (Koehler & Rule, 2020). However, little advice is given to individuals who will follow the advice but still w
Artificial sweeteners importance is considered to be a crucial point for discussion in a variety of countries. For a long period of time, many people found it obligatory to contribute the sphere of chemistry and food technology in order to decrease the level of calories not at expense of sweet taste (Ropeik & Gray, 2002). However, a number of investigations prove that it is not always possible to achieve the required results and succeed in the chosen activities. Of course, more people get a possibility to believe that they can eat and drink and be able to control their weight (Webb et al., 2008). However, the information offered by Linda Bartoshuk (2011) in her article helps to understand that artificial sweeteners continue influencing human bodies in a variety of ways. To learn better the role of artificial sweeteners in human lives and human bodies, it is very important to consider a variety of existing researches, e.g. basic, applied, correlational, or experimental, and choose those which are more appropriate for the investigations in the chosen sphere; a thoughtful and properly weighted approach will help to understand why people agree to unsafe substitutes just in order to get a hope instead of thinking about more justified and ethically correct activities which may help to improve the quality of life. The peculiar feature of Bartoshuk’s article is the presentation of information with the help of which it is clear that a variety of scientific approaches in order to gain knowledge about artificial sweeteners may confuse many people, this is why it is very important to identify the priorities and make the necessary conclusions. Ryan (2011) says that the main disadvantage of basic correlation research is that causality cannot be determined, this is why it is better to rely on applied experimental research with the help of which it is possible to change the variables and introduce some new resolutions to the already existing problems. In the article under analysis, the Figure 1 introduces the data that proves that in spite of t
Nowadays, one of the most common methods of non-pharmacological medical treatment is physiotherapy. Physiotherapy includes a wide range of therapeutic physical factors that differ in their nature, penetrating ability, techniques and technology of application, mechanism of action, and therapeutic efficacy. Physiotherapeutic methods are applicable to patients of all ages and can be useful in the treatment of almost all diseases, both acute and chronic. In my opinion, properly selected doses of the physiotherapeutic interventive procedures influencing various physical components of the human body may be regarded as a safe and effective method of treatment because they help to activate the inner protective and regenerative mechanisms. Nowadays, I have some academic experience in studying medicine – currently, I am at level 1 in a BS course in Public Health. Moreover, I also have the Access to Higher Education Diploma, Level 3 – Nursing and Midwifery. While being a participant in different educational programs, I have accumulated a share of knowledge both of the general and specialized characters. Studying at the Public Health course allowed me to understand the multiple health-related educational and organizational issues, to get familiar with the social and medical theories, understand and evaluate the distinct methods of disease prevention and treatment, etc. Although today I am only at the beginning of my professional development, based on the quality of knowledge received through education, I feel confident enough to evaluate the benefits of Physiotherapy and claim its significant value for medicine. In my early adolescence, I obtained the evidence for the physiotherapeutic treatment efficiency from personal experience. One of my relatives was diagnosed with dysplasia of the hip and a lower limb, and she had multiple neurologic complications developed because of the disease. As a result, she frequently suffered from severe pains in the lumbar area and leg swelling. Usually, the drug interventions had a limited and imperceptible effect on her condition. However, a significant positive result was achieved through the course of the magnetotherapy – the swelling was reduced, and the pain disappeared. For me, this live example is the best evidence for the effectiveness of physiotherapy and its benefits for the health of the patients. In medical practice, many available forms of electrical, mechanical, radiant and thermal energy are used for physiotherapeutic treatment. However, a practitioner in medicine needs to have a sufficient amount of the professional competence and knowledge to use this rich arsenal of physical methods in practice. Therefore, the education in the course of Physiotherapy is of great interest to me. And it is why I would like to change my current course in the medical education. Being an undergraduate at the level 1, I have s
Patients with mental illness have been regarded as a vulnerable population in a healthcare setting for a long time. The reason for their inequity is the lack of a legal framework to address the mental health issues, the absence of awareness to treat it, and the financial burden of therapy. However, the recent developments in policymaking have implemented significant changes to improve people’s quality of care in regards to psychiatric illnesses. One of such fundamental changes made to facilitate eliminating barriers to healthcare is the Mental Health Parity Act of 2008. It has been introduced to minimize the distinctions between physical and psychological well-being, as well as enable patients to seek treatment for both aspects of their welfare equally. More specifically, the given regulation obliges insurance to cover behavioral therapy equally to a surgical and physical one. Thus, every insurance coverage enables a person to seek treatment for both psychological and physical issues without any distinction. This policy has a drastic effect on vulnerable populations and their access to mental health services. According to the research done by Goldberg and Lin (2017), there has been at least a “10% increase in psychiatric therapy prevalence and more than 75% of medication prescription” (p. 35). Furthermore, people seeking psychological treatment have more than tripled since the policy’s implementation, which signifies a need for behavioral health equity. As evident from the statistic given above, the regulation has significantly contributed to improving emotional well-being among patients by enabling them to seek relevant medical care. This policy has also been the first step in battling the stigma surrounding the behavioral illness. As Thalmayer et al. (2017) state, negative stereotypes and stigmatization of people with mental illness have been the primary barrier to change when reducing the financial and social burden of depression. With the introduction of the policy, a major ethical shift in perception has been made in terms of normalizing psychological treatment and therapy, which allowed more people in need to address their problems medically and be able to afford it. As it concerns the perspective of healthcare providers, the policy has been helpful in terms of enabling workers to provide much-needed psychological help to patients regardless of the patients’ insurance. While this policy has implemented a positive change, it has also uncovered an underlying ethical issue within healthcare. According to Goldberg and Lin (2017), “patient race/ethnicity, practice setting, physician specialty, and primary source of payment were associated with the diverging likelihood of being prescribed depression treatment” (p. 36). This finding indicates that people of particular socioeconomic, racial, and ethnic backgrounds are less likely to receive treatment even if it is covered by their insurance. Social determinants of health are prevalent in psychiatric treatment, and healthcare professionals should be able to recognize and address hid
Neurological conditions are usually complex disorders that affect a person’s quality of life. This paper aims to review three neurological diseases impacting ears, eyes, and the system in general. Neurological disorder connected to eye functioning is optic neuritis, which is a malfunctioning of the immune system during which it attacks the protective nerve coverings (Knobbe). Symptoms include loss of eyesight and impairment of other sensory functions. Typically, the cause of multiple sclerosis and this condition affect people over the age of 45 (Knobbe). Other causes include toxoplasmosis, neurological disorders, or genetic issues. The diagnostics include an eye examination, and treatment involves IV steroids. Photo 1 displays an image of the eye, where the eye nerve affected by the optic neuritis can be seen. Photo 1. Image of an eye (Knobbe). Auditory neuropathy is a disease due to which the inner ear is unable to send the signal to the brain, despite being able to detect it successfully. The diagnostics involve a hearing test and assessment of speech perception capabilities. Although people with this condition may have a mild or small hearing impairment, a specific symptom is difficulties when recognizing words and speech while hearing the sounds. Also, auditory brainstem response and otoacoustic emission are used for detecting the disease (“Auditory Neuropathy”). There are several causes, including damage of the hair cells and impairment of the neurotransmitter cells that are responsible for ensuring that sound is transmitted to the brain. Additionally, a genetic mutation affecting this sensory system is another possible cause. Auditory neuropathy treatment involves hearing aids, implants, or other devices that can help improve this function. However, no medical or surgical procedure that would illuminate the cause of this condition is currently used by the professionals in the field. Instead, the patients are encouraged to improve their listening and communication skills to improve their quality of life (“Auditory Neuropathy”). No prevention practices can ensure that this disease does not develop. Based on the information above, one can conclude that the main anatomical structures affected are the inner ear, nerves, and neurotransmitters. Photo 2 displays the inner ear that is affected by the condition in question. Photo 2. Auditory neuropathy (Moser & Starr 135). The last neurological disease that will be discussed in this paper is amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). It affects the muscles by impacting the ability of nerve cells to transmit the signal (“ALS”). In general, people in the age range of 40 to 60 are diagnosed with this condition. The symptoms include the inability to control muscles, loss of strengths and coordination, fatigue, issues with breathing or swallowing (Dana). Physical exams can help a medical professional diagnose ALS in addition to blood and urine tests. Electromyography is another valid approach to determining the functioning of the nerves (“ALS”). Riluzole is used to slow the progression of the con