Wednesday, August 26, 2020

How to Stay Passionate about Writing

Each author hits an impasse sometimes. Inventiveness is a quality that is characterized by pinnacles and valleys. Numerous well known essayists have experienced dry times of writer’s square where they felt their work was useless. Its not simply fiction journalists who endure this destiny. Columnists, scientists and even understudies additionally arrive at focuses where they feel bored with their work. So what would it be a good idea for you to do if your soul is slacking and you cannot discover the delight and rush in making something new? Go to gatherings and workshops Some portion of the test of composing is that its a lone undertaking. What's more, the human psyche is a dubious mammoth, it can evaporate truly quick without outside incitement. Going to journalists workshops and gatherings can start your energy once more. Getting input on your work can give you another point of view on it. Hearing the guidance of the facilitator can set you toward another path. Meet others taking a shot at fascinating ventures, this will fill you with the longing to continue onward or to begin again. Get yourself out of your work space the site of such a significant number of disappointing hours †this can invigorate your faculties and help flash new thoughts. Attempt an alternate class On the off chance that youre a humanist dealing with an exposition, take a stab at composing verse or fiction. In the event that youre a fiction author, have a go at composing a publication article about something you feel enthusiastic about. Its a route for you to continue working on composing without stalling out stuck. It can likewise help ease the heat off. Youre making an effort not to distribute a book of sonnets, youre simply messing with words. Youre not intending to turn into a writer, youre simply finding another approach to communicate. Once in a while stretching out into various territories and trying different things with styles can bring a happiness to your work. Re-read your preferred book A few authors have a specific book that propelled them to compose. Perhaps it impacted their reviewing style or opened them to additional opportunities recorded as a hard copy. When youre encountering a respite in your work, return to the early wellspring of your motivation. Re-read it. Strict individuals go to their consecrated writings when theyre in question. Go to yours. What did it show all of you those years back when you previously read it? What does it show you today? Instruct In the event that youre battling to discover the reason in your work, take a stab at instructing. Theres nothing preferred to light your fire over passing on the collected encounters of your long periods of keeping in touch with enthusiastic youthful essayists. Youll get the opportunity to check out all the difficulties youve defeat to arrive at the point youre at today. It might give you the fearlessness to defeat your present square. Offering guidance to them is additionally a roundabout method of offering guidance to yourself. Ensure you have sufficient opportunity Possibly your concern isnt absence of motivation however wear out. Did you take on such a large number of duties immediately? It is safe to say that you are attempting to adjust work and family and over-extending yourself? Theres not at all like having a lot on your plate to snuff your imaginative fire. Weariness, stress and blame are a poisonous mixed drink that solitary work to keep the dream under control. Adjust your calendar to incorporate enough an ideal opportunity for recreation exercises, to do the non-composing related things youre enthusiastic about. Starting energy in different pieces of your life may contagiously affect your career as a writer as well. Additionally, permitting yourself space from your issues is the thing that gives you the point of view to understand them. Take on work that you love Nothing executes your enthusiasm for composing like expounding on subjects you discover exhausting. Along these lines, if that is the thing that youre doing, stop. There are all that could possibly be needed composing gigs to go around in the territory that you love. Accept this guidance from Ray Bradbury: â€Å"I’ve never worked a day in my life. The delight of composing has impelled me from everyday and year to year. I need you to begrudge me, my bliss. Leave today and state: ‘Am I being joyful?’ And if you’ve got a writer’s square, you can fix it tonight by halting whatever you’re composing and accomplishing something different. You picked an inappropriate subject.† Join a journalists gathering Ideally one that meets face to face as opposed to on the web, yet on the off chance that that is impractical, at that point an online one is superior to nothing. It assists with conversing with different journalists and offer your work. Most authors will in general have a hover of essayist companions, however it tends to be a precarious thing to rely upon your companions to give you genuine input. A gathering of expert essayists can offer increasingly target counsel, yet they can give you the help and support you have to work through troublesome stages and arrive at the end goal. Take a gander at the little picture Here and there your composing dreams are too huge. You need to compose the Great American Novel or win the Nobel Prize for Literature. Be that as it may, rather youre sitting before a clear screen each day. In this way, take a stab at something different. Dont consider objectives. Dont even consider completing your book. Consider today. Single word after the other. What's more, after youre done, set it aside and quit considering it. And afterward tomorrow do something very similar. Ease the heat off to turn your enthusiasm on. Imprint Twain clarified his composing strategy along these lines: â€Å"The mystery of excelling is beginning. The mystery of beginning is breaking your complex overpowering assignments into little reasonable errands, and afterward beginning the main one.† Whatever hush youre experiencing at the present time, recall that numerous journalists before you have experienced it as well. Dont surrender. Simply make it to the curve. When you round it, things will appear to be unique once more.

Saturday, August 22, 2020

Representation of Men and Women in Advertisement Essay

Portrayal of Men and Women in Advertisement - Essay Example The pronunciation is shown up which is characterized as the way to achievement in private and public activity. Before you even open any lustrous magazine you understand that to show up on the front of it you have to fit every one of these rules. The models in the ads of design magazines are purposefully unreasonable and inaccessible: they appear to be weightless, fleeting creatures.â Printed media has clarified that slenderness is practically equivalent to sexual engaging quality and all the ladies who drop out of the class S and some of the time even XS size don't get any opportunities to rely on the consideration of men. The hole between ultra-dainty models and typical sizes of customary ladies is immense to such an extent that routinely examination becomes unavoidable.â â The most genuine is the way that promoting industry has made it a standard which implies that it has figured out how to force those ridiculous gauges on all ladies everything being equal and all nationalitie s. Design magazines models and Hollywood stars publicizing either item whose magnificence is a long way from normal with various plastic medical procedures and hordes of beauticians and hair specialists tell regular ladies how they should look, what they should wear, how they should smell.â For high school and school young ladies just as for grown-up ladies being presented to such an outrageous variation of excellence is upsetting. The main organization that attempted to beat these generalizations was Dove who welcomed ladies of ordinary size to publicize their items.

Wednesday, August 19, 2020

A Complicated Synthesis Question

A Complicated Synthesis Question For most of the semester, Ive  lived and breathed in the ever-growing and never-shrinking universe that is Organic Chemistry. Time and time again, I would spend hours locked away in a corner of the library staring at my laptop screen, scrolling through pages and pages of Janice Smith, constantly drawing and re-drawing mechanisms of all kind. Remember Afeefah, the arrow goes from the nucleophile to the electrophile. Enantiomers cant be overlaid. And hydroboration oxidation is Anti-Markovnikov. I really have been living in a universe of Organic Chemistry. To the point where Orgo and real-life appear to be well, not that different. The last question of an Orgo exam is always predictable: the infamous synthesis question. The task is eerily simple. Make the following molecule with the given starting materials. You have a whole toolbox of reactions to use. If youre able to pull out the pertinent reactions from your memory, congratulations, youve been blessed. Cant remember the reagents for the reaction you have in mind? Better luck next time. Eerily simple. Because you either get it or you dont. Recently, Im dealing with a new kind of synthesis problem. To label it the synthesis of life or even the synthesis of my future is unfavorable for a few reasons: 1) its as cringe as it is cheesy,  2) its terribly frightening and 3) it makes me sound like a try hard. But in the process of dropping a class (Jeremy thinks I should call it The Class That Shall Not Be Named), and somewhat restructuring my coursework for the semesters to follow, I cant help but look at the path ahead as one big, incredibly complicated synthesis question. A chain of reactions that build of one another in order to move towards the desired product. One big difference? Often times you don’t know what the starting materials are. You simply let life carry you from one reaction to the next, hoping for the best. Final Product So whats the final product for my super complicated synthesis question? Im not entirely sure. We might be looking at three weeks from now, when finals will be over and Ill be eating my grandmothers home cooked food in India. Or maybe were looking at three decades from now. But to keep it simple, were going to leave the final product more or less ambiguous. Just an Afeefah thats further along the timeline. Still a disappointing 52. Slightly older: Reaction ToolBox Now, our toolbox consists of just one reaction: decision-making. One decision creates a product that calls for yet another decision to be made. And that also seems a bit frightening. But again, we leave the decisions ambiguous. Maybe its simply whether I should go to bed at a decent time or squeeze in another episode of Gossip Girl. Or maybe its figuring out whether or not I should drop a class. Decisions, regardless of density and volume: Retro Synthesis Now, for the strategy. Theres only ever really one way to successfully solve a synthesis question, with the retro synthesis arrow. Rather than solving the synthesis question in the forward direction (essentially starting from the starting material and moving towards the final product), you go the other way. You start at the end, and trail your way back to the beginning. It makes the solution significantly less complicated to get to. Theres More Than One Answer Now putting it all together, you get something that looks like this: an interconnected web of decisions that lead to more decisions that ultimately lead to your final product. There is one big thing to notice here. With the arrows going in all directions, we can start at one decision (or another) and still somehow make it back to our final product. And that, my friend, is the beauty of the synthesis questions. THERE IS ALWAYS MORE THAN ONE ANSWER. More than one way to produce the final product. In the midst of making the biggest decision of the semester, I needed a reminder of that. Even though Im almost two years into life at the Institute (wait what Afeefah? its really been two years? same. same.), every day still brings with it an opportunity to learn a little bit more about myself. This semester, its been about exploring my upper boundaries. Exploring just how much I can add to my system before overheating. I quickly discovered that taking four classes, two seminars and UROPing 15 hours a week resulted in very v e r y l o n g d a y s. And while leaving my dorm at 8:30 every single morning and coming back to sleep at 2:00 am was doable for the first month or so, I eventually developed what I like to call brain blur. You cant expect your brain to constantly be working at optimal performance if its not getting enough sleep and not being fed enough glucose. I was making it through all of my classes, churning out all of my psets, but something was fundamentally wrong. I didnt have time to really sit down and enjoy a meal. I let go of my workout routine to make more time to study. I barely saw my friends anymore. Phone calls home became shorter and less frequent. Theres no point in being dishonest. I really truly believed that it would all be worth it. Youre saying no to going out to dinner with friends? Its ok Afeefah! You have a midterm coming up, you need to focus. And so I reasoned with myself over and over again, until eventually midterm grades started coming back and something just didnt seem to make sense. Why was I barely passing my classes when school is all I was focusing on? But the next round will be better, right? And so I kept going on, convinced that just a little bit more effort would change things around. This is when raw exhaustion replaced the brain blur. I was tired. Tired of making so-called sacrifices. Tired of running around all day. Tired of not seeing the results I wanted to see. But I was an optimist. I refused to believe that things looked as bad as they really were. I cried out my exhaustion, wiped away my tears and moved along. Things changed when my tutor suggested that I drop a class. I was very much aware that that was a possibility, just not a possibility for me. Naive Afeefah believed she would never have to fill out a drop form, because things would always go as expected. That is, until they dont. The more I let the idea marinate, the more it just seemed to make sense. I scheduled a time to meet with my TAs, met up with my advisor and made many phone calls home. Drop date was quickly coming up, and making a decision made me anxious. For many nights, I chose to simply go to bed or goof around with friends. Because I couldnt pull myself together to make a decision. Dropping The Class That Shall Not Be Named took a lot out of me. A part of me felt like I was giving up, accepting defeat. Another part of me was convinced that if I had started off the semester working harder, I wouldnt be having to make this decision in the first place. Another part of me was obsessed with the fact that dropping meant I had wasted all the time I put into the class in the first place. People told me a lot of things. About how I need to take care of myself before my academics. About how even if I drop the class, Ive learned so much. About how the class will be significantly easier the second time around. About how realistically speaking, a bad grade could interfere with my ability to get into grad school. About how I could totally recover from this and graduate on time. I listened to it all. But ultimately, it came down to listening to myself. Listening to my gut feeling. Listening to what I was willing to live with. And so I dropped The Class That Shall Not Be Named. Because I knew I could do so much better than I was doing. Not just academically, but holistically. I had simply taken on more than I could do. I wanted to be able to take things slightly slower again, to wake up excited about the day rather than stressed out about the millions of things on my to-do list. I wanted to feel whole again. And so I dropped The Class That Shall Not Be Named and moved on with my life. I plan to take the class again next semester. And I plan on CRUSHING it. Because, this semester hasnt been a waste at all. Aside from being exposed to all of the material, Ive learned a lot about who I am as a student. About how I cant put other things to the side to focus on my academics, because everything is interwoven and connected. I need to be able to sit down with a friend and catch up to be able to do a pset. I need to blow off some steam by weight training to take a test. I need to eat a full meal to be able to write an essay. Success isnt sacrificing a part of yourself to elevate another part. Its making sure that you can balance and recognize every single part of who you are. Its being able to really understand and listen to yourself. And in the midst of all of this, its nice to know that life moves forward in different directions. That theres more than one synthesis solution. That a set-back might not be a set-back at all, but just a different (possibly even more efficient) forward reaction. Since dropping The Class That Shall Not Be Named, Ive found a lot of time for myself again. Im getting eight hours of sleep. I have an hour to spare in the dining hall every night. Im able to step away from campus libraries and into city cafes to get work done. My grades have started an upwards climb. Things seem to be falling back into place again. And perhaps thats the true beauty of a synthesis question. If you start with the starting materials, its strenuous and difficult to get to the final product. But if you begin at the final product and take a look back, the chain of reactions are easily seen. In the moment of making a decision, the future looks really uncertain. But looking back at the decisions weve made and the people weve become because of it, it all just seems to make sense. Because, my friends, we dont make the right decisions. We make the decision right. So whether life takes me through the planned synthesis or not, well be ok. Because waiting, just around the corner will be an entirely new one:

Sunday, May 24, 2020

There Will Be Blood Analysis - 1581 Words

There Will Be Blood is a historical drama written and directed by P.T Anderson. The film explores themes of ambition, loneliness, lust for power, false personas, hatred, lack of faith, mistrust and loss of humanity. Anderson explores these themes through the characters of Daniel Plainview and Eli Sunday. In addition to character exploration, Anderson uses a variety of cinematic techniques in order to subtextually portray these themes. These techniques include, contrasting lighting, long shots, wide angles and mis en scene. The first themes to be explored in There Will Be Blood are ambition and loneliness. The film begins with a wide shot of a vast and open terrain. This signifies the emptiness of our setting. We meet the character of†¦show more content†¦Eventually, Eli attempts to exert power over Daniel by blackmailing him into being baptized. However, we are able to see that Daniel still holds full power through the God imagery association in the scene. A large bright cro ss is placed over Plainview’s head as he is being Baptized. Also, despite being on his knees he is still filmed as the dominant in the frame. The baptism is also used for ironic purposes because a man who lacks any humanity has now allegedly been saved. The film then jumps through time to the mid 1920’s. Daniel is living alone in an enormous mansion with nothing but a servant as company. This brings the theme of loneliness full circle. Plainview started out the film alone and in search of power. He now has massive amounts of wealth and power but is still alone. We also see a sequence in which Plainview drunkenly walks down a flight of stairs. This is visually symbolic of Plainview’s descension. This can also be compared to Plainview being underground in a mineshaft in the start of the film. Despite his long journey and quest for power, Plainview has made no progression. The film climaxes with a final meeting between Daniel and Eli. Eli demonstrates his false per sona in this scene when he claims that he and Daniel are old friends. This is just in a desperate attempt to get money. This puts Daniel in the ultimate position of power. He forces Eli to abandon his faith by denouncing God. This acts as an anti baptismShow MoreRelatedAnalysis Of There Will Be Blood 799 Words   |  4 PagesDaniel Plainview, from â€Å"There will be Blood†, also illustrates the dangers of greed through his ruthlessness to get what he wants by abandoning his humanity and the inevitable outcome that accompanies it. In the beginning, we see Daniel as a prospector who discovers a large piece of silver. After damaging his leg and retrieving the silver, he drags himself out of the well and into town to cash in on what he had found. We see the tenacious determination of this man and the extreme lengths he is willingRead MoreBlood Spatter Analysis1370 Words   |  5 PagesAnalyzing blood spatter at crime scene is a science that has developed significantly over th e last 20 years. David Camm was arrested for the murder of his wife and two children in 2000. Several blood spatter specialist would be called to the stand to testify on the blood spatter evidence that was found in the crime scene with varying results. Most notably, Robert Stites, a blood spatter analyst from Portland Oregon credentials and capability would be called into question many times. ExperienceRead MoreAnalysis Of Crips And The Bloods Essay1361 Words   |  6 Pages In Crips and the Bloods we see multiple examples of labels continuing crime. First off, most of the children born in this area are black and poor. Already they are labeled and stereotyped as being dangerous to communities, useless to society, and destined for failure. One man says â€Å"I grew up in the hood, I was born in the hood, I was raised in the hood, and I’m going to die in the hood. I didn’t choose my destiny, my destination chose me† (Peralta, 2008). This phrase demonstrates the power of aRead MoreBlood Pattern Analysis3007 Words   |  13 PagesBlood Spatter Pattern Analysis Kimberley Kanuch-Brown Everest University Abstract Given that blood spatter analysis is an emergent field, with rapidly occurring developments have significant probative implications for the court system, this project will seek to examine the multi-faceted elements of blood spatter analysis to provide an overview of the field’s different dimensions. Focusing on technical developments, analytical interpretation and court relevance, the project will propose thatRead MoreAnalysis Of Crips And The Bloods Essay1375 Words   |  6 PagesThe documentary Crips and the Bloods: Made in America tells the dramatic story of the perpetual gang violence that runs the streets of Los Angeles, California. Gaining an inside look at how and why this violence is continued, the video focuses on the individuals that are affected by the gangs. Families are torn apart due to endless murders, children are taught to hate and act violently towards their neighbors, and people lose their soul to the gangs that they call their families. Of course everyRea d MoreBlood Wedding Analysis765 Words   |  4 PagesThe theater Blood Wedding is based on the tragedy of the Spanish dramatist Federico Garcà ­a Lorca. In this theater, there are five main characters, including Leonardo, the bride, the groom, the groom’s mother, and Leonardo’s wife. The Blood Wedding story happened on the day of a wedding in a village. A wealthy family has a large vineyard and the youngest son in the family is about to get married. Behind this coming marriage, the bride had been with a young man who’s name was Leonardo for sevenRead MoreBlood Spatter Analysis Essay735 Words   |  3 PagesRunning Head: Blood Splatter Analysis Blood Spatter Analysis Kenisha Callahan AJS 592 Dr. Steven Gilbert Blood Spatter Analysis Blood spatter analysis is â€Å"the systematic assessment of the visual patterns of bloodstains at crime scenes based on the physics of fluids† (Brodbeck, 2012, p. 51). It has been studied since 1895 when Dr. Eduard Piotrowski published Concerning the Origin, ShapeRead MoreAnalysis Of Blood Exo DNA996 Words   |  4 Pages Blood Exo DNA ProTeckâ„ ¢ Vacutainer blood collection tube for stabilizing extracellular vesicle DNA in a whole blood sample Research Use Only. Store at room temperature (18 to 25⠁ °C) Catalog # 0019273 9 Ãâ€" 10 mL tubes 0019273 100 Ãâ€" 10 mL tubes Intended Use Blood Exo DNA ProTeckâ„ ¢ is a 10 mL vacutainer blood collection tube for stabilization of extracellular vesicle DNA in a whole blood sample at room temperature for at leastRead More Blood Splatter Analysis Essay1264 Words   |  6 PagesBloodstain pattern analysis (BPA), known in the criminal justice field as blood splatter analysis, has been studied since the 1890s. Blood splatter, or bloodstain pattern constructional readings, is a technique that seeks to piece together the incident that caused an individual’s bleeding. Understanding blood splatter on a wall or various surfaces can be instrumental in formulating if a crime was committed and if the blood discovered at the crime scene can be used as evidence. The first documentationRead MoreAnalysis On Blood Ritual 1913 Words   |  8 PagesModulations The score, however, does not just contain catchy bass lines and majestic melodies, but is also full of modulations. Klaus Badelt has set the standard for such modulations like the extract shown below from â€Å"Blood Ritual†. â€Å"Blood Ritual† contains a very slow and solemn introduction as it depicts the pirates trying to regain their real identity. This modulation is based upon the tonic intervals of D minor, which then descends to A minor. Since it is slow-paced, it allows for the listener

Wednesday, May 13, 2020

The Inaccessible Inner Life of Wakefield Essay - 849 Words

The Inaccessible Inner Life of â€Å"Wakefield† â€Å"All these—all the meanness and agony without end I sitting looking out upon, See, hear, and am silent.† –Walt Whitman We are presented with a piece of gossip of a man named Wakefield who leaves his wife for twenty years to live in a house the next street over. If this story were workshopped in a present-day fiction writing class, it would be argued that this story has interesting elements but is not, as a whole, an interesting story-- that the story lies within Wakefield’s motivation for leaving or within the reaction of Wakefield’s wife upon the return of her presumed-dead husband, or that the point of view ought to be reconsidered in order to tell the full story. Much of†¦show more content†¦The narrator utilizes the collective first person in order to draw the reader closer to his story, addressing his audiences with phrases such as â€Å"Let us imagine,† as though we can somehow know the narrator in viewing another’s story through the narrator’s mind. The reader ideally feels as though he is one with the narrator in the way that all men are communal ly â€Å"one† together. The very act of the narrator’s writing his own thoughts on the event into a story, however, distances the reader, as we still now read the personal projections of another human being, one who, too, who cannot be known. â€Å"We know, each for himself, that none of us would perpetrate such a folly, yet feel as if some others might,† says the narrator, bonding his audience together against the questionable act of Wakefield. But what makes us so different from a man about whom we know so little? We know as much about Wakefield as we know about the narrator, and if we are one with the narrator, we are, naturally, one with Wakefield himself. And so we remain, each one of us, Outcasts of the Universe ourselves. â€Å"Amid the seeming confusion of our mysterious world, individuals are so nicely adjusted to a system, and systems to one

Wednesday, May 6, 2020

Opinion on American Gothic Painting Free Essays

I have seen this image, but don’t know the tittle. I have seen it in movies, cartoons, and parodies of the painting. The painting is a male and female who most likely live on farmland. We will write a custom essay sample on Opinion on American Gothic Painting or any similar topic only for you Order Now The male is holding a pitchfork, both of them look very serious but looking in different directions. They may either be just posing for the painting or waiting for intruders to leave their property. The male and female look bothered with something, they are not happy. They are wearing old-fashioned clothes, very traditional American clothes. They look healthy but the male looks older than the female, maybe her father or an older husband at the time. They look like typical suburban American people at the time. The top of their house looks a little like a church but they are definitely farmers. The painting represents the typical American family/folk in a certain time period and area. The painting is famous because it’s the reality of suburban American life at that time, and this may be controversial. No one likes to hear/see the truth. I did not know the name of the painting so I googled, â€Å"famous American paintings†. It was the first photo that came up, so I clicked on it and found out the artist and the painting’s name. I googled the name of the painting and got many websites that have material on it. The artist’s name is Grant Wood native of Chicago. The painting is of a farmer and his daughter posing in posing in front of their house, whose window and tracery had an American gothic style, which inspired the name of the painting, â€Å"American Gothic†. The models were the artist’s sister and dentist. Wood was accused of creating in this work a satire on the intolerance and strictness that the limited nature of rural life can produce. He sold this painting to the Art institute in November of 1930. How to cite Opinion on American Gothic Painting, Papers

Tuesday, May 5, 2020

A Moment In Your Life When You Took On A Great Challenge free essay sample

Describe a moment In your life when you took on a great challenge. What was the outcome? It was a rainy and windy day In Validly, where the Spanish Rugby Championship was being held. Thirty teams had managed to enter the tournament; the Spanish creme De la carme (including little 01 me), but now only eight remained. The other seven had withered away like leaves on an autumn wind. The other team seemed ready; an orgy of feelings flooded the pitch: fear, excitement, and anxiety.Our team, David stand in front of several Goliath but that doesnt make us back down but stand up, our opportunity has finally arrived, or better said, we have finally gained what we deserve. As we entered the pitch, eyes gouging our backs, eyes that underestimate, eyes that devour. We headed to the locker room, our war room, where we get ready for battle. I visualize some plays, review the codes and I think about my team, my brothers Inside the field, who I will protect and fight for during the whole day, and they will do the same for me. We will write a custom essay sample on A Moment In Your Life When You Took On A Great Challenge or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Our first battle started at am, against a northern team from Barcelona, nominated s the second favorites to win the tournament. Expectations were clear. Six more teams were watching, In the same way a predator looks at its prey. We are ready, we get off to the field, we went over some tactics and strategy, from this moment I hardly thought, I acted and made my body do what It has so long trained for. It was like an avalanche, we were the smallest team on the tournament, but we were still in advantage as we werent just a team, we were a family and each one of us we were willing to sacrifice for any member of our family.This made the tough, strong ND motivated rival, crush against an impenetrable wall formed by us. As the battle advanced, our enemies started to back away In fear, theyre moral abandoned them and now they were nothing but scared kittens In front of powerful wolves. We classified for the next round, the four teams that lasted now knew what we were capable of, or they thought they knew. The next round was against the host, a strong team with a well-dissevered reputation. The battle was hard, but no matter how hard they tried, there was no way of breaking our defense.It was the semi final and everybody was watching, although looks were no longer full of disdain but respect. The game was over, our enemies, destroyed, although we all knew that the great battle was still to arrive, this had only been a mere warm up. CA Valiance, the authentic Goliath was waiting for us, to destroy us. They had no kind of difficulty burying they re rivals on the previous games, and they were waiting fight and bleed for me, as I will do for them. Nothing mattered but the game, suddenly some memories came up to my mind: Training, having dinner together, partying, helping down syndrome children play rugby.. . , I couldnt give up, no matter how big and strong our rival was, I knew I was going to give all I had. The game was a real battle: every tackle, a blow, and every move, a lightning. Our rivals were real titans, they were the biggest team on Spain, the doubled our size and strength, but we had much more power of will, and thats more than anything. The game finished. We lost. We fought with all that we had and we were proud of each other, we made a legend out of nothing. It was then when captain of the rival team came up to us offering the trophy, saying that we were the real champions of the tournament.A small team, full of small people in size, had shown everybody what we were capable of. Yes, we didnt win the tournament, we ended up second and we rejected the trophy as it was then who won, although everybody knows who the real champions are, and if not, we do. And thats how people remember us, as real rugby players, fighters, and brothers. A year separates this event from today, but nothing has changed between me and my comrades, we are still together, aiming to win the championship this year, where things have changed a lot, and we are no longer a small team formed by brave wolves, it is a brotherhood of starving lions.

Tuesday, March 31, 2020

Keisha Brent Essays (622 words) - Education, Educational Psychology

Keisha Brent October 20, 2016 Psych 3820 A New School System In order for the philanthropist plan to donate money in the development of a school system in less industrialized country and it be successful he/she would have to come up with an outline. Within the outline they would have to know exactly what they will be donating money to and would the school system run properly. For instance they would need educators, updated technology, meal plans, books other supplies in order to bring the school system into the 21 st century. T his plan may or may not work due to the fact that the country more than likely have other economic problems and putting money towards education may backfire if things don't go right. Also the country more than likely have their own traditional way of living and became equipped with their daily routines. While the term "21st-century " is generally used to refer to certain core competencies such as collaboration, digital literacy, critical thinking, a nd problem-solving that help people strive to be successful and keep up with today's society. Being that this is a poor, rural, agricultural less industrialized country it would more than likely take time for everyone to adapt. Another thing the philanthropist may need to know is that there are differe nt types of learning; formal, non-formal, and informal . A formal example would be school and t o become truly literate in a 21st century classroom, it would seem both teache rs and students not only need a capable, working knowledge of the technologies available to them, but also knowledge about how to utilize those devices in such a way that meaningful learning occurs inside and outside of the classroom. Then th ere's non-formal , which would be educational programming aimed at those left out of formal education. This would be the discards of school system who usually are non-literate, making it more challenging for them to catch on to such an updated system. Lastly the informal way of learn ing normally would be taught by parents, peers, community members, etc which would also be the less likely to be affected by the "21 st century", upbringing. I say this becaus e people tend to learn things faster when they're raised around advanced technology and system updates, they become more immune. I n America we have come to value formal educa tion/ learning as a step ping stone to better opportunities career and skill wise, set apart from our context of daily living. In addit ion formal learning in the 21 st century here, teachers are responsible for imparting knowledge and skill, along with; learning via verbal exchange and teaching by verbal presentation. Were as we view informal here in America as embedded in our daily life activities and the learner is responsible for obtaining knowledge and skills. Usually learning by observation and imitation, while teaching via demonstration. Both being two good ways of learning and normally goes hand in hand. Over all the philanthropist plan would impact the traditional culture of the country significantly depending on how far behind there culture is from our 21 st century culture in America. Being that our technologies for most classrooms include such things as desktop and laptop computers, LCD pro jectors and SMART boards, w ith so many different technologies available, educators have their hands full trying to keep up with all the workings o f these capabilities. But once everyone get the hang of things the transition may be smooth and the plan could succeed with the right people and proper training. If the philanthropist really invest a wealthy amount of money its possible but will take time.

Saturday, March 7, 2020

SpanishAmerican War essays

SpanishAmerican War essays THESIS : The United States didnt want to get involved in the Spanish-American War, but was dragged into it due to yellow journalism, they wanted to control the seas, and wanted complete control over Cuba. The Splendid Little War For 113 days during the summer of 1898, the United States was at war with Spain. Neither the president of the United States, nor his cabinet, nor the the queen of Spain, nor her ministers wanted the war wanted the war. It happened eventhough they made their best efforts to prevent it. It happened because of ambition, miscalculation, and stupidity; and it happened because of kindness, wit, and resourcefulness. It also happened because some were indifferent to the suffering of the worlds wretched and others were not (OToole 17). By winning the war the United States proved the the rest of the world and to itself that it could and would fight against foreign nations. For many years, world power had been concentrated in the countries in Europe. Nations such as Great Britain, France, Germany, and Spain had the most influence in global affairs. But a shift in power was gradually taking place as the United States matured. The young nation gained wealth and strength. Its population grew immensely, and many people believed it would become a major world power (Bachrach, 11) Spain was one of the many European countries that had territory in the United States. Spain controlled mostly some islands off the coast of Central America. The most important of these were Cuba and Puerto Rico. The United States was led to believe that the Spanish mosgoverned and abused the people of these islands. In fact, Spain did overtax and mistreat the Cubans, who rebelled in 1868 and again in 1895. Thus, the American people felt sympathetic toward the Cuban independence movement. In addition, Spain had frequently interfered with trade between i...

Thursday, February 20, 2020

Final self-assessment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Final self-assessment - Essay Example 1. How does your enthymeme help determine the organization of your essay? Choose one of the essay cycles from the quarter and explain how and where the essays enthymeme drives its organization. Directly quote or paraphrase from the essay to support your answer, and provide citation for all quotations and paraphrases. The essay virtue and trust was based on the enthymeme that the rich people in the society are the most morally corrupt based on the depictions in most entertainment media. Therefore, the organization of the essay relied on the ability to draw references form the various depictions of the rich people in the media and the actual perception of the people in the society. The essay is divided into various sections, which are aimed at independently expounding on the issue of virtue and trust. The first section of the essay is the introduction, which briefly highlights the topic in order to engage the reader on what the essay will entail. In the essay, the line â€Å"The entertainment media has continuously brought out the working class as uncouth, un-nurtured, unlettered, undesirable and less moral than the middle and upper classes in the society† (2.2, 1) provides the enthymeme which is aimed at provoking the reader to establish whether the statement is true. In order to establish the validity of this statement the introduction offers a thesis statement â€Å". Is it true that the working class lack virtue due to their physical appearance and outward presentation? Is it true that speech, grooming, and association define virtue?† (2.2, 1). Therefore, the rest of the essay uses a thirteen-paragraph structure, which expounds the validity or invalidity of the claim. For instance, the observation that â€Å"The society judges people mostly based on the outcomes of their actions and not on the contributions that they make to society† proves that the depiction of the wealthy people in the society is not based on their wealth but due to how they treat other

Tuesday, February 4, 2020

Hamlet Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words - 2

Hamlet - Essay Example With this understanding in mind, the express focus of this brief analysis will be with regards to comparing William Shakespeare’s â€Å"Hamlet† with Tom Stoppard’s â€Å"Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead†. Rather than merely coming to the delineation that these two plays are from different eras and represent a specific and unique take upon the realities that define life, it is the hope of this author that the forthcoming analysis will be beneficial in helping the reader to understand specific dynamics of these plays, specific approaches of the authors, and a specific level of understanding with regards to the comparison and contrast that will be delineated. The very first element of comparison and contrast that should be made between these two plays is with regards to the differential in approach of norms and mores that define society, religious belief, and/or reality itself. For instance, Shakespeare’s â€Å"Hamlet† presents the reader w ith something of a unanimous and ordered society, uniform in its slot, religious beliefs, ideology, and business transactions (Javed 329). The hierarchy that is represented within the play is of course denoted with regards to the manner in which Hamlet acts as the ultimate freeman; able to define his own fate and that of his countrymen upon a whim. Moreover, religious belief is something that is uniform throughout Shakespeare’s play; with Hamlet and others oftentimes representing and unshaken belief that an afterlife and the purpose of the current life can be defined through a very strict Judeo-Christian norm. By means of comparison, â€Å"Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead† is much more asymmetrical its approach. ... By means of comparison, â€Å"Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead† is much more asymmetrical its approach. As such, a lack of religious faith, a destruction in the belief or understanding that social norms are acceptable and efficient in their application, and the integration of the fact that a vast level of irrational and ideological thought impacts the way in which decisions are made and humans interact with one another is evidenced at nearly every juncture (Lewis 611). By means of contrast of the simplistic understanding of religion and social order exhibited in Hamlet, the social order and religious conviction that are exhibited in â€Å"Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead† is far different. Ultimately, an erosion of conviction, a lack of faith, a plurality of society, and the belief that diversity rather than uniformity is the greatest means of empowerment. With regards to style and form, it can also be noted that â€Å"Hamlet† is a classical drama; refe rencing a discernible shape, beginning, midpoint, and in. As such, as a result of the fact that the preceding elements of the plot demand a level of conclusion, the reader is left to understand that action is required within the conclusion as a means of rectifying this tension. However, by means of comparison, the irrationality and the loss of sense of control that â€Å"Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead† exhibits and denotes an underlying lack of confidence with regards to the way in which the plot will be resolved. Further, a unique level of differential also exists with regards to the representation of man in both place (Nejad 59). Whereas men are represented within

Monday, January 27, 2020

Organizational information systems and their functionalities

Organizational information systems and their functionalities The concept of an information system is used in organizations in reference to a computer system which provides the management and other personnel with updated information on the organizational performance such as current inventory and sales. The organizational information systems are designed/developed administered and maintained in order to capture, analyze, quantify, compile, manipulate and share the information. The management information systems are those systems that serve the general, predictable management functions with technological advancements, the enterprise resource planning software and the executive information systems which have improved functionality, integrated and high flexibility. (Hoganson, 2001). The internet further accelerates the information system processes and information exchange through avenues such as e-mail, intranets and the extranets. It allows for wider accessibility and a faster rate of information exchange. The internet technologies such as web-casting and videoconferencing allows for quick and real-time exchange of information. Other modes of mobile computing in line with the internet communication have also increased the accessibility these include; the multi-functional mobile phones, and the IPad. Organizations information systems and their functionalities Organizations implement the information systems for the purposes of improving on efficiency and the effectiveness, to achieve the purpose of implementation, the organization should determine the capabilities of the information system, the work systems and the development/implementation methodologies. The traditional information was composed of executive information systems, the decision support system, management information systems and lastly the transaction processing. The advancement of technology has led to the emergence of new categories of information systems that include; Databases Enterprise systems The enterprise resource planning Office automations Global information systems Expert systems Human Resource Management Systems Information system functionalities The information system functions are varied, for the Riordan Manufacturing Virtual Organization the functions of the information systems will include; The document and record management This is the most crucial aspect of information system especially for the manufacturing organizations such as the Riordan Manufacturing Virtual Organization, the information in the documents is analyzed, quantified compiled and manipulated to enable the organization to determine the means to create the new products and services, the information also provides the market information such as demand and supply, procurement, shipment and customer billing. (Fairhtorne, 1961) The documents include accounting, marketing, financial, manufacturing and human resource. The information system serves as the organizational library since the information is collected and indexed according to the requirements and type of the organization. The information systems improves the accessibility of the information Information, this is because the location and retrieval of the archived information involves a direct and logical process. The designing of the information systems employs a very careful plan which outlines how the information is organized and indexed. Information system as a collaborative tool These serve the purpose of data and information sharing through the use of the information systems software and hardware. The information systems allows the exchange and of data between different departments of the organization and resource sharing in the context of real-time communication, therefore the utilization of the information systems as the collaborative tool in a manufacturing organization such as the Riordan Manufacturing Virtual Organization greatly improves its efficiency. Data mining The information systems enable the analysis of empirical data and the extrapolating of information. Manufacturing and even processing organizations use the extrapolated results in the forecasting and definition of the future trends in the market. Information systems as Query tools The information systems functions as the query tools by allowing the sorting and filtering of information in accordance to the management specification and the system administration. These enable the user to find specific information that is needed in performing a given function. The organizations have a workforce with a varied and wider knowledge base, the information systems ensure a successful navigation of various information levels. The information system administrator helps in ascertaining that the varied collection, retrieval and the analyzation of the systems operate on a common platform. The querying of the information also employs the use of the intelligent agents which customizes the information in order to fit to the individual needs of the organization. The Human Resource Management Systems These systems employ the use of the client-server, the Application Service Provider, and the Software. Human Resource Management Systems have increased the administrative control. Human Resource Management Systems encompass; the Payroll, Work Time, HR management Information system, Recruiting and Training (Learning Management System) Global interconnectivity The payroll module enables the automation of the pay process through gathering data about the employees attendance, calculation of various deductions and the taxes, and the generation periodic pay cheque and reports The work time module collects the standardized time and work related efforts, it provides a broad flexibility for data collection, the distribution of labor and the data analysis features. The HR management module covers many aspects of HR ranging from the application to the retirement. These include; the system records, the basic demographic, the address data, the training and development plans, and the compensation plan records. The advanced systems provide the ability to read the applications and data entry in relevance to applications of the database fields, through the global interconnections the employers are notified and provided with a good management position and overall control. The Human resource management function involves; recruitment, placement, evaluating, compensation and the development of the organizations employees. (Caldelli Parmigiani, 2004) The businesses use the computer based information systems to; produce the pay checks and payroll reports; maintain the personnel records; and enhance Talent Management. The global interconnectivity enables online recruitment and analyzing of personnel usage in organizations; identification of the potential applicants; and the recruitment through online recruiting sites or publications that market to both recruiters and applicants. The globalization also provides the training module creates the system for organizations to easily administer and track the employees training and career development efforts. HR managers can also track the education qualifications and skills of their employees, the process of outlining training courses or the web based learning materials are also enabled through the interconnection of the HRMS. A failure in the operation of a major system of operation of the human resource management system could lead to fatal losses that can cause the fall of an organization. Therefore the main reason for the protection of this system is because it the backbone of all the operations of the organizations which depend on human resource for the utilization of other resources.

Sunday, January 19, 2020

Power Utility Consumption Capm in Uk Stock Markets

Pricing of Securities in Financial Markets 40141 – How well does the power utility consumption CAPM perform in UK Stock Returns? ******** 1 Hansen and Jagannathan (1991) LOP Volatility Bounds Volatility bounds were first derived by Shiller (1982) to help diagnose and test a particular set of asset pricing models. He found that to price a set of assets, the consumption model must have a high value for the risk aversion coefficient or have a high level of volatility.Hansen and Jagannathan (1991) expanded on Shiller’s paper to show the duality between mean-variance frontiers of asset portfolios and mean-variance frontier of stochastic discount factors. Law of one price volatility bounds are derived by calculating the minimum variance of a stochastic discount factor for a given value of E(m), subject to the law of one price restriction. The law of one price restriction states that E(mR) = 1, which means that the assets with identical payoffs must have the same price. For th is constraint to hold, the pricing equation must be true.Hansen and Jagannathan use an orthogonal decomposition to calculate the set of minimum variance discount factors that will price a set of assets. The equation m = x* + we* + n can be used to calculate discount factors that will price the assets subject to the LOP condition. Once x* and e* are calculated, the minimum variance discount factors that will price the assets can be found by changing the weights, w. Hansen and Jagannathan viewed the volatility bounds as a constraint imposed upon a set of discount factors that will price a set of assets.Therefore, when deriving the volatility bounds, we calculate the minimum variance stochastic discount factors that will price the set of assets. Discount factors that have a lower variance than these values will not price the assets correctly. Furthermore, Hansen and Jagannathan showed that to price a set of assets, we require discount factors with a high volatility and a mean close to 1. After deriving these bounds, we can use this constraint to test candidate asset pricing models.Models that produce a discount factor with a lower volatility than any discount factor on the LOP volatility can be rejected as they do not produce sufficient volatility. Hansen and Jagannathan find evidence that using LOP volatility bounds, we can reject a number of models such as the consumption model with a power function analysed in papers such as Dunn and Singleton (1986). 2 Methodology To test whether the power utility CCAPM prices the UK Treasury Bill (Rf) and value weighted market index returns, we first calculate the LOP volatility bounds.The volatility bound is derived by calculating the minimum variance discount factors that correctly price the two assets for given values of E (m). The standard deviations of the stochastic discount factors are then plotted on a graph to give the LOP volatility bound shown in figure one. Figure 1 here The CCAPM stochastic discount factors are then calculated for different levels of risk aversion. The mean and standard deviation of these discount factors are then plotted on the graph and compared to the LOP discount factor standard deviations.Pricing errors can then be calculated and analysed to see whether the assets are priced correctly by the candidate model. To accept the CCAPM model in pricing the assets, we expect the stochastic discount factors variance to be greater than the variance of the LOP volatility bounds. It is also expected that pricing errors and average pricing errors (RMSE) will be close to zero. These results will be analysed more closely in the later questions. 3 Power Utility CCAPM vs LOP Volatility Bounds In order for the power utility CCAPM to satisfy the Law of One Price volatility bound test at any level of risk aversion, the standard deviation f the CCAPM stochastic discount factor at that level of risk aversion must be above the Law of One Price standard deviation bound for the mean value of t he CCAPM stochastic discount factor at the same level of risk aversion. This is the null hypothesis and if it is accepted then the model satisfies the test. The alternative hypothesis is that it the standard deviation of the stochastic discount factor is below the Law of One Price standard deviation bound for the mean value of the stochastic discount factor.If the null hypothesis is rejected and the alternative hypothesis is accepted then the model does not satisfy the test. Table 1 here Figure 2 here Figure 2 shows LOP volatility bounds and the standard deviations and means of the CCAPM stochastic discount factors for levels of risk aversion between 1 and 20. It is obvious the standard deviations (Sigma(m)) of the CCAPM stochastic discounts factors are much lower than the LOP volatility bounds corresponding to the means (E(m)) of the CCAPM stochastic discount factors.This is true for any level of risk aversion, because the entire CCAPM (green) line lies below the LOP volatility bou nds (dark blue) line. Table 1 shows the standard deviations of the stochastic discount factors and the precise LOP volatility bound values, corresponding to the stochastic discount factor means so that the CCAPM can be formally tested. All of the standard deviations are lower than their respective volatility bound values. Therefore the null hypothesis is to be rejected and the alternative hypothesis is to be accepted for all levels of risk aversion between 1 and 20.Furthermore it would take a risk aversion of at least 54 to accept the null hypothesis. Therefore the power utility CCAPM stochastic discount factor does not satisfy the Law of One Price volatility bound test. These results are consistent with the equity premium puzzle study by Mehra and Prescott (1985). The study examines whether a consumption growth based model with a risk aversion value restricted to no more than 10 accurately prices equities. They have found that according to the model equity premiums should not excee d 0. 5% for values of risk aversion (? ) between 0 and 10 and values of the beta coefficient (? ) between 0 and 1. However the average observed equity premium based on the average real return on nearly riskless short-term securities and the S&P 500 for the period 1989-1978 was 6. 18%. This is clearly inconsistent with the predictions of the model. In particular if risk aversion is close to 0 and individuals are almost risk neutral, the model fails to explain why the sample’s average equity returns are so high.If risk aversion is significantly positive the model does not justify the low average risk-free rate of the sample. The results of Mehra and Prescott’s (2008) empirical study are consistent with our results, because the power utility CAPM did not satisfy our empirical tests. 4 Kan and Robotti (2007) Confidence Intervals The Law of One Price volatility bounds calculated in part 2 are subject to sampling variation. We have calculated point estimates of the volatilit y bounds, but we did not take into account that our results are based on a finite sample of Treasury Bill and market returns.To more accurately test whether the power utility CCAPM passes the LOP volatility bounds test, we need to identify the area in which the population volatility bound may lie. The area used is that between the upper and lower 95% confidence intervals for Hansen-Jagannathan volatility bounds obtained by Kan and Robotti (2007), shown in table 2. If the standard deviations of the CCAPM stochastic discount factors lie below that area for values of risk aversion between 1 and 20, then the power utility CCAPM model is to be rejected according to this test.Table 2 here Figure 3 here Figure 3 contains point estimates of the LOP volatility bounds, the standard deviations and means of the CCAPM stochastic discount factors for levels of risk aversion between 1 and 20 and the 95% confidence intervals for the volatility bounds. All of the standard deviations are below the ar ea in between the upper and lower confidence intervals for the volatility bounds. This indicates that at a 95% certainty the CCAPM does not satisfy the LOP volatility bound test even when sampling errors are taken into account. Performance of Power Utility CCAPM In recent academic literature on the subject of asset pricing models a common formal method of evaluating model performance is to calculate the pricing errors on a set of test assets. In this report the test assets are the Treasury Bill and Market Index quarterly returns from Q1 1963 to Q4 2009. The pricing error is calculated as [pic] Where [pic], [pic] Treasury Bill and Market Index returns, and [pic] is the pricing errors. Table 3 hereFor a model to correctly price an asset it would require that the pricing errors are as close to zero as possible since the pricing error is a measure of the distance between the model pricing kernel and the true pricing kernel. From Table 3 we can see that the pricing errors for the differe nt values of risk aversion are not close to zero and the size of the errors actually increases with the level of risk aversion. We can also see that the Route Mean Square Pricing Error (RSME) which measures the average distance from zero of the pricing errors is not as close to zero as we would hope and also increases with the level of risk aversion.If we note the case for a risk aversion level of 20 then the RSME is 6. 76%, since this is quarterly data this works out to an annual RSME of approximately 27%. With such large pricing errors we would not expect this model to perform strongly. Hansen and Jagannathan (1997) found that for different levels of risk aversion the pricing errors do not vary greatly. As noted above, this is not the case in our sample in which the error increases with the level of risk aversion, thus creating an ever wider dispersion of pricing errors.This is counterintuitive to what we would usually assume as with increased levels of risk aversion the consumer is only willing to accept a certain level of return for lower and lower levels of risk, therefore we would expect at some point that the mean variance level would pass the volatility bounds and therefore correctly price the assets. Conforming with this report Cochrane and Hansen (1992) found that in order to satisfy the levels of variance necessary to surpass the volatility bounds a risk aversion level of at least 40 was necessary.It should be noted that in reality this is quite unreasonable and also that for this level of variance to be attained the expected return might also have to drop below the level necessary to surpass the volatility bounds. Table 4 here From Hansen and Jagannathan (1991) we know that in order to price a set of assets correctly the stochastic discount factor (SDF) should be close to one and have high levels of volatility. Table 4 shows that SDF’s at low levels of risk aversion are relatively close to one but have very low levels of volatility.When the level of risk aversion increases the SDF’s get further and further away from one yet the volatility also increases. Therefore it seems reasonable to conclude that we would not expect any of these SDF’s to price the assets correctly. The results illustrated above are consistent with the earlier analysis and point to the conclusion that the power utility CCAPM does not do a good job in pricing the two test assets and thus does not perform well in UK stock returns. Cochrane and Hansen (1992) agree with this conclusion but Kan and Robotti (2007) find the opposite.The reason for this could be the use of sampling error in the Kan and Robotti paper and the different data used the in the analysis. This report illustrates that there exists not only an equity premium puzzle but also a risk free rate puzzle. This risk free rate puzzle as noted by Weil (1989) states that if consumers are extremely risk averse, a result of the equity premium puzzle, then why is the risk free rate s o low. Weil cites market imperfections and heterogeneity as the probable causes of this puzzle; however, this is not the explanation that Bansal and Yaron (2004) find.Using a model that accounts for investor reaction to news about growth rates and economic uncertainty they are able to go some way to resolving not only the risk free rate puzzle but also the equity risk premium puzzle. One method that could be used to improve the performance of the power utility CCAPM would be to construct the model using conditioning information; this would enlarge the possible payoff space available to investors. Kan and Robotti (2006) find that including conditioning information in models reduces the pricing errors by allowing the prices of volatility to move in line with the market.Although as Roussanov (2010) finds, conditioning information does not necessarily improve model performance and may actually exacerbate the problem. 6 Sampling Error in the Volatility Bounds When using the volatility bo unds as specified by Hansen and Jagannathan (1991) to test asset pricing models we must be wary of sampling error in the bounds. As noted previously if a model does not lie within the Hansen and Jagannathan volatility bounds then we can conclude that it does not price the test assets correctly.However, Gregory and Smith (1992) and Burnside (1994) first noted that this test does not take into account significant sampling variation and could therefore reject models that price assets correctly. Burnside (1994) uses Monte-Carlo simulation to illustrate that over repeated samples if sampling error is ignored the volatility bounds test performs poorly. Gregory and Smith (1992) state that the sampling error could be due to large variability in the estimated bounds or the use of sample data in the analysis.Kan and Robotti (2007) derive the finite sample distribution of the Hansen and Jagannathan bounds in order to take account of this sampling error. They argue that confidence intervals tha t take into account the variation can be constructed and used to test asset pricing models. The importance of this new method of testing cannot be underestimated as it could affect the decision to reject an asset pricing model or not, this is best illustrated with reference to examples. Kan and Robotti test the equity premium puzzle using data from Shiller (1989) to show the implications of taking into account sampling error.Through constructing the 95% confidence intervals for the Hansen and Jagannathan volatility bounds they are able to show that the time-separable power utility model being tested may not be rejected at low levels of risk aversion. This is in stark contrast to the findings when sampling error is not taken into account where the model is strongly rejected except for unfeasible levels of risk aversion. From Figure 3, as noted earlier, even when sampling error is taken into account for the model tested in this report it does not fall within the volatility bounds.Howe ver, it does decreases the distance between the model and the volatility bounds which is the major consequence of the Kan and Robotti paper. This new method goes some way to solving the problem noted by Cecchetti, Lam, and Mark (1994) who found using classical hypothesis tests that the Hansen and Jagannathan bounds without sampling error rejected true models too often. Again, an extension here could be to use conditioning information to improve the volatility bounds by using the methods of Ferson and Siegel (2003) and as a result hopefully reduce the sampling error in the bounds.References Bansal, R. and A. Yaron, 2004, Risks for the long run: A potential resolution of asset pricing puzzles, Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 59(4), pages 1481-1509, 08. Burnside, C. , 1994, Hansen-Jagannathan Bounds as Classical Tests of Asset-Pricing Models,† Journal of Business & Economic Statistics, American Statistical Association, vol. 12(1), pages 57-79 Cecchetti, S. G. , P. Lam, and N. C. Mark, 1994, Testing Volatility Restrictions on Intertemporal Marginal Rates of Substitution Implied by Euler Equations and Asset Returns, Journal of Finance, 49, 123–152.Cochrane, J. H. and L. P. Hansen, 1992, Asset Pricing Explorations for Macroeconomics, NBER Chapters, in: NBER Macroeconomics Annual 1992, Volume 7, pages 115-182 National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. Dunn, K. , and K. Singleton, 1986, Modelling the term structure of interest rates under Non-separable utility and durability of goods, Journal of Financial Economics, 17, 1986, 27-55. Ferson, W. E. , and A. F. Siegel, 2003, Stochastic Discount Factor Bounds with Conditioning Information, Review of Financial studies, 16, 567–595. Gregory, A. W. and G. W Smith, 1992.Sampling variability in Hansen-Jagannathan bounds, Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 38(3), pages 263-267. Hansen, L. P. and R. Jagannathan, 1991, Implications of Security Market Data for Models of Dynamic Economies, Journal of Political Economy, Vol. 99, No. 2 (Apr. , 1991), pp. 225-262   Hansen, L. P. and R. Jagannathan, 1997. Assessing specification errors in stochastic discount factor models. Journal of Finance 52, 591-607. Kan, R. , and C. Robotti, 2007, The Exact Distribution of the Hansen-Jagannathan Bound. Working Paper, University of Toronto and Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta. Mehra, R. , and E. C.Prescott, (1985), The equity premium: A puzzle, Journal of Monetary Economics 15, 145-161. Roussanov, N. , 2010, Composition of Wealth, Conditioning Information, and the Cross-Section of Stock Returns, NBER Working Papers 16073, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. Shiller, R. , 1982, Consumption, Asset Markets and Macroeconomic fluctuations, Carnegie–Rochester Conference Series on Public Policy, Vol. 17. North-Holland Publishing Co. , 1982, pp. 203–238. Shiller, R. J. , 1989, Market Volatility, MIT Press, Massachusetts. Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsev ier, vol. 16(3), pages 361-364.Weil, P. , 1989, The equity premium puzzle and the risk free rate puzzle, Journal of Monetary Economics 24. 401-422. Appendix [pic] Figure 1 LOP Volatility Bounds. The figure shows the LOP volatility bounds (dark blue line) which were found by using Treasury Bill and market returns as test assets. [pic] Figure 2 LOP Volatility Bounds with CCAPM.The figure shows the LOP volatility bounds (dark blue line) which were found by using Treasury Bill and market returns as test assets. It also shows the means and corresponding standard deviations of the CCAPM stochastic discount factors (green line) for values of risk aversion between 1 and 20. [pic] Figure 3 LOP Volatility Bounds with CCAPM and Confidence Intervals. The figure shows the LOP volatility bounds (dark blue line) which were found by using Treasury Bill and market returns as test assets.It also shows the means and corresponding standard deviations of the CCAPM stochastic discount factors (green line ) for values of risk aversion between 1 and 20. The figure contains the confidence intervals, with a 95% level of confidence, estimated by Kan and Robotti (2007) for E(m) between 0. 97 and 1. 0082 for the Law of One Price volatility bounds for their first set of test assets. The light blue line shows the upper bounds of the confidence intervals and the red line shows the lower bounds of the confidence intervals. Table 1 CCAPM stochastic discount factors’ means and standard deviations and corresponding LOP volatility bounds CCAPM |LOP volatility bounds |CCAPM | | |means | |st. dev. | | |0. 985121 |0. 82806186 |0. 011749 | |0. 980404 |1. 2067111 |0. 023503 | |0. 975849 |1. 57451579 |0. 035275 | |0. 971456 |1. 93015539 |0. 04708 | |0. 967223 |2. 27320637 |0. 58934 | |0. 963151 |2. 60350158 |0. 070853 | |0. 959239 |2. 92096535 |0. 082854 | |0. 955486 |3. 22555764 |0. 094953 | |0. 951893 |3. 5172513 |0. 107169 | |0. 94846 |3. 7960217 |0. 11952 | |0. 945187 |4. 06184126 |0. 132027 | |0. 942074 |4. 31467648 |0. 14471 | |0. 939121 |4. 5448604 |0. 15759 | |0. 93633 |4. 7812196 |0. 17069 | |0. 933701 |4. 99481688 |0. 184033 | |0. 931234 |5. 19520693 |0. 197645 | |0. 928931 |5. 38230757 |0. 211552 | |0. 926792 |5. 55602479 |0. 225781 | |0. 92482 |5. 71625225 |0. 240361 | |0. 923016 |5. 8628708 |0. 255322 |This table shows the means of the CCAPM stochastic discount factors for levels of risk aversion between 0 and 20, the corresponding LOP volatility bounds and the standard deviations of the CCAPM stochastic discount factors. Table 2 95% confidence intervals for E(m) between 0. 97 and 1. 0082 E(m) Lower Upper 0. 9700 3. 1823 5. 2069 0. 9710 2. 9385 4. 8383 0. 9719 2. 7038 4. 4830 0. 9729 2. 4781 4. 1411 0. 9738 2. 2617 3. 8125 0. 9748 2. 0544 3. 4974 0. 9757 1. 8565 3. 1959 0. 9767 1. 6680 2. 9080 0. 9776 1. 4890 2. 6337 0. 9786 1. 3195 2. 3731 0. 9795 1. 1597 2. 1262 0. 805 1. 0097 1. 8931 0. 9815 0. 8696 1. 6739 0. 9824 0. 7394 1. 4685 0. 9834 0. 6194 1. 2770 0. 9843 0. 5096 1. 0993 0. 9853 0. 4101 0. 9356 0. 9863 0. 3212 0. 7857 0. 9873 0. 2429 0. 6497 0. 9882 0. 1755 0. 5275 0. 9892 0. 1190 0. 4192 0. 9902 0. 0736 0. 3248 0. 9912 0. 0393 0. 2445 0. 9922 0. 0160 0. 1784 0. 9931 0. 0030 0. 1275 0. 9941 0 0. 0938 0. 9951 0 NaN 0. 9961 0 0. 0938 0. 9971 0. 0029 0. 1279 0. 9981 0. 0159 0. 1798 0. 9991 0. 0395 0. 2474 1. 0001 0. 0745 0. 3302 1. 0011 0. 1212 0. 280 1. 0021 0. 1796 0. 5408 1. 0031 0. 2498 0. 6689 1. 0041 0. 3317 0. 8123 1. 0051 0. 4255 0. 9714 1. 0061 0. 5309 1. 1461 1. 0072 0. 6481 1. 3368 1. 0082 0. 7769 1. 5437 This table shows the upper and lower bounds of the 95% confidence intervals Kan and Robotti (2007) calculated for the volatility bounds for their first set of test assets. The confidence intervals presented are for values of E(m) between 0. 97 and 1. 0082. Table 3 Pricing errors for the Treasury Bill (Rf) and the value weighted UK market index (Rm), and the Root Mean Square Pricing Error (RSME) for each level of risk av ersion Level of Risk Aversion |Error Rf |Error Rm |RSME | |1 |-0. 0104 |0. 0047 |0. 0080 | |2 |-0. 0152 |-0. 0001 |0. 0107 | |3 |-0. 0199 |-0. 0049 |0. 0144 | |4 |-0. 0244 |-0. 0094 |0. 0184 | |5 |-0. 287 |-0. 0138 |0. 0225 | |6 |-0. 0329 |-0. 0180 |0. 0265 | |7 |-0. 0369 |-0. 0221 |0. 0304 | |8 |-0. 0408 |-0. 0260 |0. 0342 | |9 |-0. 0445 |-0. 0297 |0. 0378 | |10 |-0. 0480 |-0. 0333 |0. 413 | |11 |-0. 0514 |-0. 0367 |0. 0446 | |12 |-0. 0546 |-0. 0399 |0. 0478 | |13 |-0. 0577 |-0. 0430 |0. 0508 | |14 |-0. 0606 |-0. 0459 |0. 0537 | |15 |-0. 0634 |-0. 0487 |0. 0564 | |16 |-0. 660 |-0. 0513 |0. 0590 | |17 |-0. 0684 |-0. 0537 |0. 0614 | |18 |-0. 0706 |-0. 0560 |0. 0636 | |19 |-0. 0727 |-0. 0580 |0. 0657 | |20 |-0. 0747 |-0. 0600 |0. 0676 | | | | | |The pricing errors above are calculated as [pic], where [pic], [pic] Treasury Bill and Market Index returns, and [pic] is the pricing errors. The RSME is simply the average pricing error of the stochastic discount factor for each level of risk aversion. Table 4 Summary Statistics for power utility CCAPM stochastic discount factor |Level of Risk Aversion |Average |St Dev |Min |Max | |1 |0. 9851 |0. 0117 |0. 9551 |1. 0436 | |2 |0. 804 |0. 0235 |0. 9214 |1. 1000 | |3 |0. 9758 |0. 0353 |0. 8889 |1. 1595 | |4 |0. 9715 |0. 0471 |0. 8575 |1. 2223 | |5 |0. 9672 |0. 0589 |0. 8273 |1. 2884 | |6 |0. 9632 |0. 0709 |0. 7981 |1. 3581 | |7 |0. 592 |0. 0829 |0. 7699 |1. 4316 | |8 |0. 9555 |0. 0950 |0. 7428 |1. 5090 | |9 |0. 9519 |0. 1072 |0. 7166 |1. 5906 | |10 |0. 9485 |0. 1195 |0. 6913 |1. 6767 | |11 |0. 9452 |0. 1320 |0. 6669 |1. 7674 | |12 |0. 421 |0. 1447 |0. 6434 |1. 8630 | |13 |0. 9391 |0. 1576 |0. 6207 |1. 9638 | |14 |0. 9363 |0. 1707 |0. 5988 |2. 0701 | |15 |0. 9337 |0. 1840 |0. 5777 |2. 1821 | |16 |0. 9312 |0. 1976 |0. 5573 |2. 3001 | |17 |0. 9289 |0. 116 |0. 5377 |2. 4245 | |18 |0. 9268 |0. 2258 |0. 5187 |2. 5557 | |19 |0. 9248 |0. 2404 |0. 5004 |2. 6940 | |20 |0. 9230 |0. 2553 |0. 4827 |2. 8397 | This table shows the average value, standard deviation, minimum and maximum for the stochastic discount factor at each level of risk aversion. ———————– 24th November 2011

Saturday, January 11, 2020

Discuss How Different Approaches to Learning Can Affect Student Success in Higher Education Essay

It utilized a questionnaire based on an academic text, gathering some students, asking them to read the text then answer the questionnaire. Two distinctive groups were formed: students with high levels of understanding and perfect answers, named deep approach learners, and another with lower level, referred to as surface approach learners (Ramsden, 2003). Later, another approach was discovered and named as the strategic approach to learning (Chin, 2000). This essay recommends the deep approach to learning to be followed as a key of success in higher education, arguing particularly about the advantages and disadvantages of both deep and surface approaches to learning. Advantages of surface approach: The expression of the word surface means â€Å"the top layer of something† (Cambridge, 2009). Students who are surface learners are characterized by mechanical memorization (Chin, 2000), which stands for memorizing facts without understanding their objectives. These students learn only to pass exams or to meet a demand. Surface approach has only a lone advantage which can only benefit some students and not all. It is applicable particularly for the students who work while they are studying or who suffer from work loads such as preparing for academic assignments and doing extensive homework. This can fulfill their need of acquiring a time saving approach that enables them to succeed in their studies. Disadvantages of surface approach: In contrast, surface approach has many disadvantages. Some of these disadvantages can be summarized in five main ways. First, the students who follow this route of learning can not demonstrate the new ideas learnt thoroughly, neither can they relate them with other fields (Ramsden, 2003). Second, it directs the student to be a dependent learner. For instance, if a chemistry instructor asked his students to prove an experiment practically, then the surface learners will depend on their peers’ idea to verify the experiment. If they do not, then they will easily give up and this can be considered as a third disadvantage. The forth disadvantage is that it makes them easily ignore the points that they do not understand. As in the first example, those students neglect and forget about the ideas that were not helpful in doing their experiment. Finally, it brings the learner to forget the knowledge learnt easily and fast (Johansson, n. d). Advantages of deep approach: The expression of the word deep means â€Å"being a long way down from the top or surface to the bottom† (Cambridge, 2009). So, deep learners are the students who search for the full of meaning of the subjects they learn by following strategic ways to achieve that. Deep learners, unlike surface learner, use memorization when necessary but not always. There are many advantages related to deep approach. First of all, deep approach encourages the students to become more interested in their subjects and to have the curiosity to learn further. The second is that it assists the students to predict new information by analyzing recent ideas and connecting them with their prior experience and with other fields, as a result forming a complete image of the task required (Chin, 2000). Thirdly, it enables the students to have high quality outcomes in higher education (Johansson, n. d. ). The last is that it encourages the students to be independent learners (Entwistle, 1990). Disadvantages of deep approach: However, there is only one disadvantage of deep approach, which can be described as the obsession and passion that the student may follow in order to learn everything about the subject being learnt (Johansson, n. d). This can waste time and cause irregularity for other subject timetables. For instance, many deep learners like to know the whole idea about everything they learn, however they are not supposed to know everything, but this obsession leads them to waste time unconsciously. This situation can occur sometimes within the period of final exams revision, which can drive the student to have lower marks than expected for a deep learner. Conclusion: After the classification of the students into deep and surface learners, many universities recommended their students to follow the deep rather than the surface approach to learning owing to its benefits that their students are going to obtain. Perhaps the surface approach is applicable for some students but not all. Nevertheless, the advantages of deep approach to learning are more than surface approach; in addition the disadvantages of the deep approach are much less than the surface approaches. Therefore, by following the deep approaches to learning, students’ success in higher education will be advantageous. 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The Student Learning Process: Learning Styles or Learning Approaches? Teaching in Higher Education, 10(2), (pp. 235-249). United Kingdom: Manchester. 3. Entwistle, N. (1991). Approaches to learning and perceptions of the learning environment. Higher education, 22 (pp. 201-204). Edinbrugh: University of Edinbrugh. . Entwistle, N. (2000). Promoting deep learning through teaching and assessment: Conceptual frameworks and educational contexts. In: the TLRP Conference, Leicester, November 2000. 5. Fowler, J. & Wilson, K. (2005). Assessing the impact of learning environments on students’ approaches to learning: Comparing conventional and action learning desig ns. Assessing & Evaluation in Higher Education, 30(1), pp. 87-101. 6. Fox, J. & Bartholomae, S. (1999). Student learning style and educational outcomes: evidence from a family financial management course. Financial Services Review, 8(4), (pp. 235-251). 7. Iran-Nejad, A. (1990). Active and dynamic self-regulation of learning processes. Review of Educational Research, 60(4), (pp. 573-602). USA: University of Albama. 8. Kolb, A. & Kolb, D. (2005). Learning Styles and Learning Spaces: Enhancing Experiential Learning in Higher Education. Academy of Management Learning & Education, 4(2), (pp. 193-212). 9. Prosser, M. & Trigwell, K. (1999). Understanding Learning and Teaching: The Experience in Higher Education. Buckingham: Open University Press. 10. Ramburuth, P. & McCormick, J. (2001). Learning diversity in higher education: a comparative study of Asian international and Australian Students. Higher Education, 42, (pp. 333-350). Netherlands: Kluwer Academic Publishers. 11. Scouller, K. (1998). The influence of assessment method on students’ learning approaches: Multiple choice question examination versus assignment essay. Higher Education, 35, (pp. 453-472). Netherlands: Kluwer Academic Publishers. 12. Xu, R. (2004). 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