ShantanuT01/DACTYL-Pretraining huggingface dataset:
The movie I chose for the analysis is “Forrest Gump,” directed by Robert Zemeckis and starring Tom Hanks. The main focus of the movie is the life of Forrest Gump, a simple man with low IQ and good intentions who goes through many significant events of the second half of the twentieth century. For my analysis, I chose the opening scene of the movie. It consists mostly of wide shots followed by medium close-ups showing first a feather and then Forrest. Particularly, wide shots are used to show the floating feather, and medium close-ups are used to show the feather falling down near Forrest’s feet. In terms of camera movement, it pans and tilts in order to follow the feather. The entire opening scene consists of one single shot. The angle of the camera does not change before the arrival of the bus at the bus stop. The editor decided to choose one long shot without any interruption in the opening scene in order to show all the way the feather traveled to get to Forrest Gump, thereby creating an adventurous and thoughtful atmosphere of life sustained by calm music. The setting of the scene is a small and peaceful town. It is relatively new, as buildings look modern and clean. The pacing is chiefly slow but with several sharp turns caused by the movement of the feather. In my opinion, this particular pacing was created to sustain the atmosphere of life and adventures, which is mostly peaceful but sometimes interrupted by extreme and unexpected moments. Finally, regarding the cutting, there are no cuts in the opening scene, as it is made of one single shot. However, the first cut that appears after this scene is a type of a jump cut, namely an axial cut when the camera zooms out, and the shot changes from wide to establishing in order to show the park where Forrest is sitting, and the approaching bus.
Introduction In today’s globalized society, international business has largely expanded from the provision of quality goods and services. Increasingly, customers enjoy multiple options for sourcing products and services. Since many options for sourcing goods exist, the provision of quality products stand out as an important factor in making wise purchasing decisions for most importers. China is one market that has a robust manufacturing industry that meets the demand of most world markets. However, many observers express their reservations regarding the quality of Chinese products (Chan 17). For example, in America, there are serious concerns regarding the quality and safety of Chinese food products (ICIS 5). According to the US Consumer Product Safety Commission, more than 65% of the total product recalls in the US trace to imported products (ICIS 7). Most of these recalls are of Chinese products. The same situation replicates in Europe where the European Commission increased its surveillance of Chinese products because of quality concerns (ICIS 7). For example, Spain recently recalled several brands of Chinese toothpastes after scientists detected that the products contained diethylene glycol (DEG) – a potentially harmful addition to the products (ICIS 7). Midler (1) says that these Chinese products are often dangerous and shoddy. Such accusations have dominated many debates regarding the quality of Chinese imports, thereby prompting many people to believe that most Chinese products are of poor quality. However, highly influential names in the Chinese export business defend Chinese manufacturers by saying that most of them only comply with their customers’ standards. This paper explores the regulatory basis of these arguments and the remedies that the importers may adopt to ensure they only buy quality products from China. Regulatory Control China has had a strong competitive edge over most of its competitors because of the perception that Chinese products are affordable. However, Chan (17) fears that this competitive edge erodes the quality of Chinese products because it is difficult to produce quality products at such low costs. However, the low cost of Chinese products do not suffice as the only measure of product standards. Instead, the implementation of product regulations manifest as the greatest measure of product quality (Chan 17). Indeed, China’s recent export scandals have shown that the greatest weakness facing most Chinese manufacturers stem from their failure to comply with existing quality standards. Indeed, as ICIS (6) demonstrates, China is still an emerging economy and many of its economic, legal, and social systems have not met the needs of its expanding economy. Consequently, many observers say the inferior product qu
Alcohol has a unique place among similar substances that cause addiction. It is well-known that alcohol was a part of many civilizations’ entertainment activities (Goode, 2015). However, for some of the people who drink it, alcohol presents a number of serious threats to their physical and mental health. For this paper, I chose to write about the nuances of the legal and social status of alcohol. There is a controversy that stems from a difference between moderate and excessive alcohol consumption. Despite the traced co-occurrence of criminal activities and alcohol consumption, people argue that there are many positive aspects of drinking moderately, such as relaxation that is useful in many social environments (Goode, 2015). Many issues stem from alcoholism that can occur in some cases when drinking is no longer a strictly socially-oriented activity. I believe that it is especially vital to examine the time when selling alcohol was outlawed in the United States. People continued to seek ways to acquire alcohol to the point where the criminal environment went out of control due t
Introduction The success of any business depends on the business practices it upholds, besides the forces of demand and trends in the market. The type and kind of organizational structure it embraces will therefore dictate the type of the operations it will provide to its employees and most significantly its customers. The choice of an organizational structure is therefore an aspect which should be determined with a lot of care as this may either dictate the success or the failure of an organization. In essence, an organization should integrate best practices in its operations with the aim of reducing burdens and cutting down some capital costs. Reduction of capital costs may be reached at if only significant organizational structures are chosen, which entail well defined source of authority besides enhancing the welfare of employees. This paper seeks to analyze and discuss the organization’s design aspects and their influence on management functions. Flat versus a tall organization In determining the type of structure to assimilate, the company is obliged to choose the line structure it requires in its operation. Therefore
Located in Seattle Washington, the iPremier company is a web-based commerce company founded in 1996 by two students from Swarthmore College. Since its founding, iPremier has registered a success story in e-commerce selling vintage, luxury and rare goods over the internet (Austin, 2007). Customers use their credit cards to transact business online. With impressive sales and profit margins, iPremier is among the few companies that survived the 2000 technical stock recession (Austin, 2007). Management at iPremier consists of young employees who were its pioneers and a number of experienced managers recruited over time. The company’s working atmosphere is dynamic with strong values of professionalism, discipline, commitment to results delivery and partnership for-profits achievements (Austin, 2007). iPremier’s management orientation is on “do what it takes” to have projects done on schedule. Being a web-based commerce company, iPremier had contracted Qdata to provide the majority of its computing equipment and internet connectivity (Austin, 2007). Qdata, though not a leading industry in information technology was selected due to its close proximity to iPremier’s company headquarters. iPremier once suffered a denial of service attack on 12 th January 2007 that almost rendered the company’s site nonfunctional (Austin, 2007). A denial of service attack can be defined simply as an attempt to prevent the availability of computer resources to its legitimate users (Encyclopedia Britannica). This is achieved through halting an internet site or service from working efficiently and can be temporarily or permanently. Hackers had launched the denial of service attack on iPremier but luckily it was launched either by a script-kiddie or a competitor trying to interfere with service otherwise it would be worse. The attack last
Introduction and Overview of services offered. Al-Tayya Travel Group is a limited company which has its origin from, and operations centralized in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The company also has interests abroad. The specialization of the company is in planning and designing of tourism trips as well as itineraries (Bloomberg Business week 1). The company offers reservations tickets for customers on many backgrounds. For those travelling by the sea, the company is ready to make them bookings for their stay upon disembarking from the sea trip. Those travelling by air also receive this service. For those on land, there are many reservation and related services offered (Hertog 204). They include car rental where the company helps them obtain transportation to the different destination they would desire upon disembarking from their vessels of travel. Besides the car rentals services, the company also offers tourists, services of external hotel reservations. They help the tourists get their bookings to hotels which fit their descriptions (Bloomberg Business week 1). This service enables the tourists, not only to get access to the best in the hotel service sector but also to match other issues such as their financial base. While servicing as a middle ground on these, the company has developed a wide connection with many travel agencies as well as hotels in the country and the region to which it books the clients or to sea, air as well as land. The above are not the only services which are offered by the company. Besides the above, the company also offers airport schedule transfers. This activity is wholly done by the company through online messaging upon request for such by the customers who wishes to make flight reschedules. For the company, this is achieved through the customer advancing the details which he or she intends to be passed to the flight operators as reasons for this change. Serving as a middle ground in the communication, the company gets paid for enabling the two to converse and the customer to have satisfaction of travelling at his or her convenience. The above aside, the company is also engaged in helping tourists with their cargo issues. In this, the company helps such individuals in their clearing of cargo at custom points (Bloomberg Business week 2). To enable this, the company has staff that operates to bridge the services of cargo handling with the necessary officials. They help such get the permits for transit of cargo at these points. For the tourist with large cargo, this whole process of cargo handling can be done by the company without their presence as long as the customer sends the details. This way, the company has helped many people ensure the safety of their cargo and their reach to their desired destinations many days before they make their own trips to transact or visit places. The company has been framed to absorb many of services relating to the needs of tourists. At the center of the company, are staffs employed to engage in different activities. Besides the above staff, the company also has staff to provide secur
Vietnamese culture and experience have evident distinctions from the American cultural environment in terms of history, perception, philosophy of life, and religion. Many historical periods reveals different encounters and challenges that Vietnamese people should overcome on the way to freedom and independence. While through different historical documents and fictional novels – discussing the events of the mid 1960s and analyzing the fiction literature of the nineteenth century, it is possible to track the most important events happened in Vietnam, as well as define the main differences and peculiarities between the above-identified cultural identities. Thus, the readings reveal that Vietnamese people have deep affiliation to Chinese traditions, particularly to Confucian ideology. They have also provided me with a better picture of how American and Vietnamese experiences are related. In the second half of the past century, the American and Vietnamese experiences crossed in the Cold War lasting for more than two decades. During this confrontation, both Americans and Vietnamese had to adjust to each to other customs and traditions to survive. At this time, Vietnamese people were facing significant challenges because of the discriminative policies held by both military parts, one of which was supported by the Americans (Halberstam 38). Difficulties were experience both the American people fighting in Vietnam and the civil people – the residents of Vietnam. Though the experience exchange had negative consequences for both rivals, their cultural experiences were also related. The aspiration for Vietnamese people to struggle for freedom, as well as their extreme commitment to their country and traditions is brightly revealed in the diary written by a young doctor Dang Thuy Tram. A twenty-seven-year old woman was killed by American military forces during the Vietnam conflict. The diary can be regarded as a prism through it was possible to learn much about the devotion of the Vietnamese people to their families and friends, as well as experience horrors and pain of the war. Their dedication to freedom and desire to reach independence are at the core of the Vietnamese cultural and ethnical identity. At this point, Tram writes, “Oh, my dearest ones in this land of Duc Pho, can anyone see my heart? The heart of a lonely girl filled with unanswered hopes and dreams” (7). Emotionally colored and intensified, the diary fully conveys the hardships of those times. Struggles for freedom and social pressure are also similarly discussed in the eighteen century novel called Tale of Kieu written by Ngueyn Du. The story is closely associated with a classical Chinese period and reveals a difficult situation, as well as the role and place of women in society. Because, the novel is under the influence of Confuc
Introduction Mary Shelley’s epic novel Frankenstein is one of the key texts in contemporary literature as it explores the possibilities of human scientific advances. The book is full of tragedy, and this may have resulted from the difficult life that the author lived in her childhood. The novel is dark and gripping, and it is an illustration of the depraved state of human beings. Frankenstein is a story full of tragedy. The Tragedy of Victor Frankenstein The novel begins in Geneva, Switzerland, with the youthful Victor Frankenstein, his adopted sister, as well as his mother and father. The life of Victor depicts the first tragedy in the novel. The tragedy of Victor is seen due to his loneliness and struggle with the world on his own. His tragedy was a tragedy of fulfilling the wishes of his parents, even if he did not want to. Regarding him as a toy, his parents perceived that he “was in their hands to direct to misery or happiness” (Shelley, 34). Victor’s childhood was full of miseries, and this subconsciously made him desire to have somebody he could control as he wished. More so, his parents failed to instruct him on how to differentiate between what is right and wrong. This failure led to the second tragedy in the novel: the creation of the monster. Victor had a keen interest in Natural Philosophy and Chemistry, and he went to school in the town of Ingolstadt in Bavaria, Germany, where he created the monster. More about Frankenstein How is Frankenstein a Romantic Novel? 5 928 What Do Victor and Walton Have in Common in Frankenstein? 5 1764 What Genre is Frankenstein? 5 385 Why Did Victor Decide to Become a Monster Girl Maker? 5 64 How is Foreshadowing Used in Frankenstein? 5 146 What Was Victor Frankenstein’s Strongest Motivation for Creating Life? 5 1593 Despite his desire to have someone to control, he was unable to exercise authority on the monster because it was another living being who could make its own decisions. The monster was a ‘dream come true’ to him, but it brought more tragedy than he had anticipated. Because Victor did not think about the scientific consequences of his actions, this dramatically changes the mood of the novel as the new ‘being’ creates havoc throughout the story. In the creation, he did not consider the previous warnings by various scientific experts that not paying attention to all the aspects of scientific discovery is detrimental. Once the monster knew how to read, write, and think critically, it brought tragedy to its creator as well as to other humans. Another tragedy in the novel appertains to the difficulties that faced Victor and his family after the creation of the monster. Soon, his younger brother is brutally killed, and he is forced to go back home. Upon reaching, he again comes face to face with the creature. The monster enters into a bitter argument with Victor and gives him a terrible request to create another ‘being’ to be his friend. Otherwise, it will not leave his family and mankind alone. The creature tells Victor that he will not relent until it gets rid of him and all his family members. Conclusion
Summary of the Situation and Decision to Be Made Promoting competition among the staff can be viewed as an efficient tool for increasing the performance rates among the employees and encouraging the latter to acquire new skills and knowledge. However, when spinning out of control, increasingly high competition rates may have a strikingly negative effect on a company’s performance. In some companies, the rivalry between the staff led to a drop in efficacy due to the lack of cooperation. Therefore, the application of the strategies aimed at team building and the leadership approach that would contribute to encouraging mutual support among the staff members should be viewed as an essential step toward maintaining the key corporate processes and enhancing the production process, as well as improving communication with customers. Contingency Factors to Be Applied to the Situation When considering the scenario described above, one must keep in mind that, in the realm of unceasing rivalry, every single participant feels rather stressed and quite insecure. Therefore, placing a heavy emphasis on addressing the individual needs of employees must be viewed as a necessity. Indeed, a closer look at the situation that could be observed at Company X will show that it was the inability of the participants to avoid a culture clash that led to misunderstandings, conflicts, and the following drop in the company’s performance rates. Indeed, according to DuBrin (2015), the “talent and motivation of the individual being led” (p. 171) is a crucial contingency factor that needs to be taken into consideration when creating the environment in which employees will be willing to excel in their performance. The direction of the influence that the company’s leader will exert should also be viewed as an essential contingency factor that will define the outcomes of the applied strategy (DuBrin, 2015). Indeed, unless the staff members are provided with a proper role model that they can follow, they will be unable to resolve the conflict independently. Herein lies the significance of using the influence-based aspect as the framing device for the scenario in question. Challenging Contingency Factors The factor associated with the management of the cultural issues must be recognized as the most complicated one. The difficulty thereof concerned primarily the necessity to reconcile the representatives of several cultures and the need to frame the problem in a way that can be understood and accepted by all parties involved. Furtherm
Qualitative Research Questions  1. How do teacher’s attitudes affect student’s performance?  2. How does a teacher’s ability to deliver learning materials effectively affect the student’s outcome?  3. What are the socio-economic factors that affect the performance of students?  4. How does the teacher/student relationship influence the performance of students?  5. How does the availability of resources in school affect the performance of students?  6. How do parents motivate students to achieve good performance?  7. What are the background issues that influence the performance of students?  8. How does the quality of education offered to students influence their performance? Qualitative Research Study Plan Sample For successful completion of this research, the researcher identified 100 participants to participate in the study. The participants will be drawn from ten different schools, which will be divided into public or private. Out of 100 participants, twenty will be teachers who will be drawn from all the schools participating in this study. Ten parents will also be selected for this research. The rest of the participants will be students who will be selected randomly for the study. Study Survey Interviews and questionnaires will be used as data collection tools. The study will be conducted by going to the field to collect the data needed to complete the study. The participants of the study will be expected to fill out questionnaires containing research questions. Participants will be interviewed by administering the questio