Tuesday, August 25, 2020

A Comparison of EVA and NPV Essay Example

A Comparison of EVA and NPV Essay Fund administrators are required not exclusively to do the math and create estimate yet to think fundamentally, seeing the numbers as well as understanding their suggestions. This is the thing that Melon (1994) alludes to as directing a monetary evaluation which frequently includes; the examinations of the organizations benefit in delight to its rival, an assurance of the greatness of its venture, assessing the probability of premiums, and anticipating the effect investors may support. (Melon, 1994, p. 454) While all divisions of an association add to its prosperity, it is the account office that frequently drives significant choices. We will compose a custom article test on A Comparison of EVA and NPV explicitly for you for just $16.38 $13.9/page Request now We will compose a custom article test on A Comparison of EVA and NPV explicitly for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Recruit Writer We will compose a custom exposition test on A Comparison of EVA and NPV explicitly for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Recruit Writer Do we contribute, would we be able to stand to contribute, and assuming this is the case, what amount? This is an essential case of the sort of inquiries posed much of the time of an account official. Through examination of the numbers created by the bookkeeping office, or by leading a budgetary appraisal of the association, upgrade administrators are regularly ready to control the dynamic procedure, and in perfect circumstances, produce incomes and development for their organization. This obviously, isn't to infer that the account office has the last say, as per Melon (1994), dynamic at the authoritative level includes mix, considering all the issues brought by officials up in different jobs, considering all the lines of thinking that may be produced, and choosing how best to consolidate the aggregate information and convictions (Melon, 1994, p. 439). This useful paper will survey scholarly writing to draw an examination between charm money related speculations, EVA (Economic Value Added) and NAP (Net Present Value). Organized in four segments, this paper will: (1) characterize EVA and NAP featuring their likenesses and contrasts; (2) disclose why organizations decide to embrace EVA; (3) talk about a portion of the issues confronted while executing EVA; (4) lastly chronicling McKee Foods Corporations experience while actualizing EVA. Similitudes and Differences between EVA (Economic Value Added), and NAP (Net Present Value).

Saturday, August 22, 2020

Climate Change Impacts and Adaptation

Question: Is government or business best positioned to address environmental change? Talk about, utilizing models and drawing upon the ideas educated in this unit. Answer: Presentation One cannot foresee or absolutely advise how atmosphere changes are going to change the planet, however there are hardly any things that are exceptionally sure to occur: the complex climatic changes and varieties in ecological effect is legitimately going to influence the business, government frameworks, society, and biological systems; and the administrations will along these lines anticipate bring the necessary changes for the individuals and alleviate the impacts brought by complex climatic changes with broad guidelines (Schuur and McGuire, 2015). Up to this point, there are such a significant number of organizations that have set different guidelines and included gauges for carbon emanations to frame up in the coming days. These undertakings will progressively find that these discharges from the climatic changes around them will saw a value climbs as far as the general public and financials (Boucher and Randall, 2013). In this manner, there are incredible possibilities that the or ganizations that keep on sitting as an afterthought lines will be injured unequivocally when contrasted with a few different organizations and friends who are presently finding and contriving most recent methodologies to guarantee a decrease in the ecological hazard. Grist: A Strategic Approach to Climate A correct way to deal with find natural answers for different organizations is profoundly significant. There must be a methodology that is condition cordial and in this manner the organizations who are right now running on systems or work place with carbon discharge or unsafe particles arrangement need to locate an alternate way to deal with address environmental change (Edenhofer, 2015). The business and the administration is absolutely the best spot to address these destructive changes in the climatic conditions. Just those organizations who will prevail to get their methodologies right and fitting for tending to the complex climatic conditions and changes will have the option to discover tremendous chances, which will later assist them with getting both the business income gains and furthermore make social energy on the worldwide stage (Shine, 2014). Environmental change today is under persistent concentration by the administration and these progressions are additionally assuming an immense job in how business tasks will perform. Different GNH or ozone depleting substances, carbon impressions, destructive gases disposal will be too much followed, controlled, and fined monetarily by the administration organizations (Adger and Aggarwal, 2007). A few gatherings or individual chiefs can discover these progressions non-existent and furthermore differ about the prompt climatic changes brought about by the emanations from their working environment or items and they may neglect to see the noteworthy effect of environmental change, however at some point or another every one of these sorts of organizations will be qualified for incorporate the eco-accommodating arrangements in their business and the legislature should force tough activity to spare the nature. There are a few organizations that persevere having condition spare work medications, yet the sole motivation behind including such changes are to spare their organizations. There are various firms which are not paying attention to the issue. .A companys atmosphere approaches are probably going to get influenced by the duties and desires for the partner and the different gauges and standards for start socially mindful. Be that as it may, the impacts of the intricate changes in the earth or atmosphere on the everyday work activities of a firm will turn out to be very unmistakable and can be battled with the administration polices and enactments (Rogers and Marres, 2016). From Effectiveness to Strategy When there are discussions about the ways to deal with tackle the perplexing and hurtful climatic changes in our condition, one can plainly observe the there is nobody answer for take care of all the various issues to address the complex climatic changes. (NASA, 2010) Each and every business venture and every industry's methodology should be subject to its specific business, working condition, methodologies utilized the answer for address the climatic changes ought to synchronize with the general corporate techniques. For each industry and the business, the way to deal with manage these progressions must incorporate brilliant and exacting activities that will turn successful at alleviating the atmosphere related expenses and the dangers that will occur in its worth chain (Xu and Grumbine, 2014). All the business heads across various enterprises and organizations are required to consider that the carbon emanations are expensive issues. They should understand that these carbon emanations and gases will be become costly entirely soon, and the capable companies consequently need to survey the dangers their working are causing to the earth (Field, 2015). Each organization, mechanical parts and specialists need to get those fundamentals right, and work towards tending to the issues genuinely remembering the worldwide viewpoint. Any of the organization that has more number of workers than the quantity of representatives required in its delivery division is quite incapable; when one looked carefully can obviously observe how the chiefs are spending all their business assets and making a procedure where execution is kept at a low level. Correspondingly for a case there is an organization that is creating over the top carbon or radiates other hurtful gasses during its different activities identified with transportation at that point, such organization can be professed to be an imperfect organization with a great deal of operational wasteful aspects. Such organizations are just squandering their whole asset base and furthermore causing extra undesirable costs. Such costs will in general ascent yearly too. Along these lines, it is profoundly critical to execute best of the accessible practices in organizations to deal with the atmosphere related expenses and stay serious in the market (Christensen, Kanikicharla, Marshall and Turner, 2013). Moreover with the expanded expenses caused because of persistent unsafe gas emanations, each businessperson, organizations and every such sort of firms likewise need to assess and comprehend its operational affectability and its commitment to the changes on the planet atmosphere. (Melillo, Richmond and Yohe, 2014) Procedures of Corporations, an Inside Out and Vice Versa Approach To set a companys demeanor in tending to the intricate atmosphere changes brought about by the discharges and to make discovery of their vital tasks, all the partnerships out there must break down their inner activities. This is in fact named as a methodology of back to front. This will in the end help them appropriately acknowledge how their activities are negatively affecting the earth. These organizations additionally need to examine in, for this will assist them with seeing how changing atmosphere may thus influence the earth and abilities of their business (Collins and Knitti, 2012).To comprehend these things in a positive point of view, chiefs should watch the worth chain arrangement of the firm. Such a worth chain framework has everything identified with activities, coordinations, deals. Administrations, advertising and so forth which are all assessed to see how they are affecting nature (Crate and Nuttall, 2009). Hazard: Investing in Global Security Atmosphere changes are going on unexpectedly and there are going to change a ton sooner rather than later, whose impacts could be annihilating. Along these lines, it is significant how organizations working on a worldwide scale will respond on a current day in different areas which will affect their business sectors. These reckless usable strategies are really a medium to put resources into worldwide security and the organizations need to improve corporate social duty and their adaptability to receive these. Certain things are probably going to occur and they can raise security worries for organizations making the foundation get completely harmed, disappointment of the Earths biological system, disturbances in the farmlands and horticultural segment and some progressively (Stocker, 2013). In this manner these organizations are taking a chance with the earth and numerous lives, for the limits of movements in atmosphere can annihilate a fruitful situation of an undertaking and even the social world living around. Along these lines, business officials and proprietors, firm proprietors and organizations require foreseeing the manner in which atmosphere changes can influence their business and take preventive measures for it (Fann. Also, Nolte, 2015) End The effect of the discharges from the worth chain related exercises can be both direct and complex. The different carbon emanations can either be with the end goal that it gets activated by any movement which has been done under the organizations direct operational methodologies and the discharges can likewise be initiated by the providers, channels, and clients. These effects have possibly progressive ramifications that may not, at this point be appropriate in a world which is loaded up with emanations causing immense consumptions. High carbon presentation is certainly not a sign that for an organization atmosphere concerns must be a moment key change. Or maybe the supervisors need to devise a powerful activity intend to recognize and address such a grave issue. The earnestness of the issue can be taken as a vital arrangement. On the off chance that business ventures can bring down their carbon impression contrasted with their rivals, there are high possibilities that they are venturing out in front of every one of its rivals sooner rather than later. Back to front examination will likewise help them in lower such vitality utilizations and equalization out the discharges caused from its activities which are financially affecting its worth chain. The representatives and the whole firm and individuals related with the firm should consequently cause customary evaluation of all these common dangers and afterward to choose which things and operational procedure to diminish. This should viably be possible through updating the working or delivery tasks, proficiently understanding what activities are causing what impacts, utilizing authoritative supporting and protection which nature ca

Monday, July 27, 2020

How to Figure Out What Youre Good At (Not Just What Youre Passionate About)

How to Figure Out What Youre Good At (Not Just What Youre Passionate About) Have you ever noticed that some people seem to be succeeding without struggles?Someone starts a business and in six months, they are making profit. Someone else changes career and they seem to have made the best decision ever. Everything is working for them.But what about you?You may have tried you hand in a couple of things. Marketing, nursing, architecture, entrepreneurship or teaching.Still, you didn’t manage much success.You know you put in the hard work. Made the sacrifices. It just didn’t work out.Is it a case of you not being the successful type?Before you hit the road again on a new venture, take some time and learn an important lesson.This lesson will save you from despair. You definitely have what it takes and can succeed just like those you envy. The only thing you have to do is know the right thing to do.Everyone has the ability to succeed in life.How you succeed is however different from how someone else succeeds.This difference is what many people do not understand. They end up assuming that we are all the same and that we should succeed the same way.This is why whenever there is a popular investment idea, everyone goes for it. The idea is generally assumed to be good for everyoneWhen you see someone succeed, it is their way of doing things that gives them an edge. That’s what guarantees them success.Before copying them, realize that their way of doing things is very personal.What does this mean?People are different. They are actually unique. You can see this clearly when you consider your school days. There is a particular subject you always succeeded in. Others were very challenging. There is a sport you always played well. Maybe the team could not play without you.There are things you can do very well naturally. There are others which you struggle doing.In most cases, many people are engaging in what they struggle doing. Such struggles limit their productivity and often results in mediocrity. Yet the pursuit is for success.Are you among t hese?This article will help you get to the other side. If you are doing what you do well, then you will get better.  Mediocrity will never do. You are capable of something better. Gordon B. HinckleyIn all the things you do, whether voluntarily or out of obligation, there is some effort involved.The amount of effort plays a big role in determining how far you go. Since there are rarely any straight paths in life, the crookedness of the paths has an impact on your success. This impact shows in two ways.How far you goObstacles present challenges. Depending on how you look at them, challenges can be good or bad. If you often find yourself making excuses, then you see challenges as a bad thing.If you enjoy adventure and tackling problems, then you see challenges as a good thing.Why?Because they enable you utilize and develop your creativity and resilience.If you are doing what you are good at, you are more likely to see challenges as a good thing. They will be an adventure you are ready and willing to go on. This is primarily because you know you can handle them.Deep inside you, you are sure that the challenge cannot take you down. This way, you boldly take it on anticipating your victory. You thus get the drive to proceed even when it seems difficult.Though you can develop the right mindset to tackle challenges, nothing beats a natural solution.For example, two people may be required to draw an airplane out of imagination. One person may have artistic talent while the other is good at making detailed comparisons.If this is a contest, the one with an artistic talent will obviously win.How fast you goAnytime you start a new project, you will most likely be full of excitement and vigor. As time goes by, these start disappearing yet you need them to progress.As the project continues, challenges show up. You are suddenly required to deal with an aspect of it that is too big for you. Maybe you lack the ability to hire a needed specialist for a specific task.Being the p roject manager, you need to complete the project successfully. Maybe your team is becoming demoralized. Probably the project is taking too long to complete.What do you do?Can you rally your team to proceed? Can you come up with some ingenious ways of tackling the skills deficit? If you are struggling on the inside, then were you the right person for the position?Remember those school days? The subjects you were good at? The sports you excelled in? That is where the answer lies.There are specific things you can do very well while others, you will simply struggle. And as you struggle, there are those who are excelling in them. Yet you are competing against them. What are the chances that you will win?For the sake of success in life, you need to focus on what you can do well. If there is something you are struggling with, just drop it. If you are employed and can’t just drop your duties, you can still do something. Do your job in such a way that you use your natural skills.For exampl e, are you good in math but working as a warehouse supervisor instead of accountant? You can get your juniors to arrange products in a way that makes it easy for you to count. Whenever a report is thus required, you spend less time counting.Are you analytical but confined to doing sales because finding a data analyst’s job is hard?You can use your analytical skills to assess the profitability of the clients you visit. Analyze your conversations with them. Which ones are likely to buy soonest?Focus on those.This will help you use your time better. Instead of visiting as many as ten clients a day, you can visit three and close the deal with two.These are ways of using your inborn skills to make your work better. Do you have the opportunity to start afresh? Do you want to start a new business but are not sure what business to run? Your best bet is to do what you are good at.Whether you know what you’re good at or not, you definitely have an idea about it. The problem is that you ma y not have taken the time to acknowledge and appreciate your natural abilities. When this is the case, you end up focusing on the strengths you can see in others. This promptly leads to comparisons.Watch the below video to understand why comparing yourself to others is not a good idea. In this article, you will learn how to figure out what you are good at. When you know this, then you are well on your way to success. First, some differences between what you’re good at and what you’re passionate about.DIFFERENCES BETWEEN WHAT YOU’RE GOOD AT AND WHAT YOU’RE PASSIONATE ABOUTFor a better understanding of these differences, let’s look at what you’re good at and what you’re passionate about separately.What you are good atThe things you are good at are those which either require little extra effort or little training to do. These are those you easily excel in. These are things which when called upon to do, you will finish them quickly.For example, since you’re good at math, you may be asked to assist the accountants. Your natural skills will enable you spot inconsistencies quickly. If some records do not match, it may not take you long to find out the reason.For the analytical person, you may form part of the team doing a market research. When everyone is trying to piece the data together, you may quickly spot some trends. These will give you some market insights and enable you make projections.Whatever you are good at, you rarely struggle doing it. You will also do it better than everyone else. Or at least be among the best.Below are the ways in which what you’re good at stands out from what you’re passionate about.Driven by natural abilityWhat you’re good at is completely dependent on your natural ability.This may be anything from your genesto what you learned while you were young.Whichever the case, you have developed a capacity to easily and quickly get the job done. While working at it, there will be very few obstacles which can stop you.Yo u may get stuck at some point but you will get a way through.For example, you may be good at repairing car engines. Your dad may or may not have been a mechanic.But since you have the skills and knowledge of an engine’s working, challenges won’t last long. An engine problem you have never encountered may take some time to figure out but will eventually get sorted.Tied to knowledgeWhat you’re good at has a strong relationship with knowledge.Even if your skill comes from your lineage, there is knowledge attached to it. For example, traditional medicine men normally picked one of their children to continue the work. It was not by chance however.Among their children, one would show not only interest, but also a natural knowledge.In some cases, it was considered superstitious.A child would pick knowledge from his parents without being taught. It is such children that showed the greatest promise. When taught, they would always learn quickly.Motivated by recognition or appreciationDo ing what you’re good at has a reward: recognition.This is not a bad thing and you should not shun it. It is not necessarily seeking a selfish end.When utilizing your natural skills, you automatically stand out. This is because when others would struggle to succeed, you are getting it easy.There is simply no match for you. Deep inside, you will always have a sense of pride when you are the first to accomplish a task.Not only do you feel proud of yourself, but you intrinsically want everyone to notice it. It is not a surprise if you come out shouting after beating others in an area you’re good at.Note that seeking recognition or appreciation for what you do well is not a bad thing. It may be argued that you may become arrogant. The arrogance however is not automatic and can be prevented.The natural sense of pride that comes with doing what you’re good at is good for you.This is what builds your self-confidence. The more you do what you’re good at and celebrate yourself, the mo re confident you become in your abilities.Self-confidence is a key ingredient for success. Self-confident people know what to go for and what to avoid. If they have to tackle something they are not good at, they will seek help.Some people find it difficult to seek help.According to them, it paints them in bad lightâ€"as weak.However, these same people will rarely get the job done. If it’s done, it may not be done well or on time. This is also a sign of low self-confidence.What you are passionate aboutIf you are passionate about something, then the need to do it consumes you. You burn with a desire to do it and do it well.‘Well’ in this case it is not about meeting a high standard set by someone or a standards body. It is about helping bring about a needed change.This is what passion is all about. It burns inside you and the result is a product or service which makes life easier for people.At the heart of you doing what you’re passionate about, is other people. It is not abou t you. Of course you will benefit. But your greatest benefit is the joy of doing the work.Whenever you are passionate about something, you connect with it beyond your mind. You don’t need to be very skilled to do it.Whenever challenges come, passion helps you exercise creative thinking. You look at the situation as something that is limiting your ability to better people’s lives. For their sake, you will seek a solution and try out different things until you get a solution.Some ways in which what you’re passionate about stands out from what you’re good at.Driven by passionObviously, your passion is at the center of it.Compared to what drives what you’re good at, passion goes deeper. Passion seeks to bring out the things which matter to you.When you’re passionate about something, you may put in whatever sacrifice is necessary. Passion is very strong and once you set yourself on its path, the ‘small’ achievements are what keep you going.Passion, when strictly pursued, can really eat into your personal life.For example, if you are passionate about something that your friends are not, you may lose them. You may spend too much time in it that you no longer have time for social events.The loss of friends should however not raise much alarm. You are likely to get new ones along the way.Tied to the environmentWhat you’re passionate about will always have an emotional connection to it. It is this emotional connection that generates and sustains the passion for doing it.This is the fuel that enables you to go the extra mile and make serious sacrifices.Emotions are usually temporary.However, passion does not end as quickly as emotions change. What you’re passionate about is tied to the environment.It is the environment that inspires the emotion and passion. Environment here could be anything that surrounds you. You may be seeing a situation every morning from where you live.If this situation inspires you to do something, then you will.It may not be a physical situation but a thought that is always in your mind every morning. Thinking about it gives you joy and the prospect of its fulfillment gets you moving in the work.When you consider the things you are passionate about, you will discover a connection to an environment.On the contrary, what you’re good at doesn’t need an environmental connection tied to it. It is the achievement through what you’re good at that may bring about an emotion such as joy.The emotion comes afterwards whereas for your passion, the main emotion comes before.Motivated by need for changeDoing what you’re passionate about is about making a change.Someone’s life will be positively impacted whenever you do what you’re passionate about. Apart from having an emotional connection, passion also has a deeper need it seeks to satisfy.The environment provides the situation which stirs an emotional connection. The emotion then moves you to want to see a change.For example, your neighborhood may be full of street families. Every morning when you look outside your bedroom window, you see one.When driving to the store, you see another one. On your way to work, you see some three families out in the cold.When your internal systems recognize that this is not an ideal situation, you see the need for change.You however do not shrug it off.Unlike many others, you don’t say that it’s the government’s job.This situation gets your full attention and you decide to act. You do not have the capacity to house them or even give them food. But you start with a small gesture anyway.Gradually, you include them in your monthly budget and soon decide to use your garage to house one family. When you see this family out of the street, you get a sense of fulfillment. You feel satisfied that you have made a difference in the world.It may not be a big one but it’s something. Remember, passion brings a sense of fulfillment while skills bring a sense of pride.With these differences, it is clear that these two, passion and skills are distinct. They can also work together.For example, you may be naturally skilled in the technical aspects of electricity. This may cause you to study electronics in college and specialize in micro-chips.Looking at the current technology, you may notice a weakness in today’s microchips. Despite their advancement, they may not be handling security properly.Since you have witnessed hackers defrauding innocent people, you may decide to do something about it. You can use your knowledge to invent a chip which has a unique way of preventing identity theft.This way, you will have combined what you’re good at with what you’re passionate about.You are good at electronics and passionate about reducing crime. In such combinations, your passion will be utilizing your skills.This is how some not-for-profit organizations begin. Their staff are highly-skilled and use their prowess to give services to the general community.FIGURING OUT WHAT YOU’RE GOOD ATLet ’s look at how to figure out what you’re good at. Note that this is not something new you’re bringing into yourself.It is inside you only that you probably never paid much attention to it. Start by watching the below video for a brief introduction to what you’re good at. Check your personalityYour personality is probably the best place to get answers from. It is thus a good place to start. As much as there are a number of personalities, your personality is unique to you.There is no personality which is made up of only one trait. There are always several traits. Some will manifest more strongly than others. It is the special combination of these traits that make you unique.Every personality has strengths and weaknesses. Since the interest is in knowing what you’re good at, your focus should be on your strengths.There is a free personality test here which can even tell you which career options would be best for you. This can paint a good picture for you.Your personality is d etermined partly by your genes and partly by your upbringing. In psychological circles, these factors are known as nature and nurture.Nature is your genetic makeup whereas nurture is your learned tendencies. Nature is what you picked from your parents. It can be easily seen as flowing in the family as a strength. Nurture on the other hand, shows what you picked up when growing up.An example of nature may be you coming from a family of great football players or marathon runners. An example of nurture may be your response to bullies. Are you afraid of them? Would you rather negotiate with them or fight back?Your personality is a reflection of you. When you know your personality’s strengths, consider them as the basis of what you’re good at. If one of your strengths is making friends easily, then you might be good in communication.This opens you up to careers or entrepreneurship along the lines of sales and marketing. If one of you strengths is being detailed, then you could be a r esearcher or data analyst.Note that strengths may also come out as weaknesses. For example, the ability to make friends easily could also mean that you talk more about yourself. This could further mean that you are not a good listener. It is therefore important that you see these as strengths which need some pruning for better results.Take an aptitude testAptitude tests are a handy tool for employers during the hiring process. They use them to test the natural abilities of the candidates. This enables them know who is strongest for the position to be filled. Many websites offer free aptitude tests for practicing purposes.They help candidates improve themselves for specific positions. You can use one of these to know what you’re good at. There is one available here and it gives you possible careers to choose from.Since there are more job seekers than available jobs, many people end up practicing for several positions. The intentions are good enoughâ€"increasing their chances at bei ng selected by the panel. Aren’t they searching for a job anyway?If you do this, then you must take care to keep up with what you practiced for. Otherwise, a problem may arise when a challenging situation comes up while at the job. It will no longer be a test but a reality.For example, you may have wanted a managerial position and gotten it. Your natural abilities could have been towards finances i.e. you’re good with numbers.If you only practised with the tests for this job, then you may soon disappoint your boss. You may be unable to deal with situations requiring you to make tough decisions.Therefore, as you take the aptitude test, ensure you don’t get tempted into pursuing what you want. Remember that you’re seeking to know what you’re naturally good at. So answer the questions honestly.A good way doing it is buy not thinking too much about the choices given. Just pick what comes natural to you. You will have the opportunity to improve yourself.Ask aroundThis method re lies on what other people think about you. Ensure you ask the people who you know genuinely love you.Explain to them what you intend to achieve and let them be sincere with you.You can pick some friends to participate in this as well as family members. Some questions to ask may include:What strengths have you seen in me?Since these people have lived with you and know you they have seen you exhibit some traits. Whether good or bad, they have seen more about you than you may realize.In this case, you are only interested in the good. When answering this question, they should be as precise as possible. Ways of improving can come later.What have I helped you achieve in the past?The answer to this question will be a clear indication of what you are good at. The reason is because it builds on your strengths. Whatever strength that was not mentioned in the first question will come out here. This is where you look for patterns.If two or more people mention similar things, then you have what you are looking for. For example, there may be a couple of situations you helped resolve.Though different, the context may have been the same. Situations like advising someone when they could not make a car purchase decision. Advising another when choosing a neighborhood to move into. Helping a relative find some information online.These could point to your ability to research and critically analyze data. It is this that enabled you find the correct information online. It also enabled you know the best car given the specifications and needs of your relative.What do you think I can do well in?This question is an indirect way of asking someone what he thinks you are good at.The beauty of using it is that it pushes for the truth without strongly asking for it. It thus denies the person the opportunity to tell you something good which may not be true.In most cases, we tell our friends nice things so as not to hurt them. When this is at the expense of improving them, then it does more ha rm than good. Still this is a common human behavior. This question will help you deal with that.The answer you receive will be based on the strengths you friends have seen in you. As they attempt to match you to a great career, they will seek to convince you of your abilities.And if you find it difficult seeing their point, just politely ask them to explain further. At the end of the day, you will sit and judge for yourself.If you notice that they struggled explaining some things, just ignore those ones. If they mentioned something you never thought about but it makes sense, consider it.What compliments do you receive?All throughout life, you have received many compliments. Check these out more closely. This is about complements of jobs well done. You may have performed well due to your ingenuity or natural prowess. Try to remember what the compliments focused on.What exactly did the individual people talk about? Did they mention the speed at which you delivered? The accuracy of the information you presented? The depth of knowledge you showed? These are the signs of areas you can perform best in.These compliments can help you see that you have most likely been receiving more jobs along specific lines. You may have been your boss’ go-to person for reports. You may be the one called upon to handle difficult customers.You may have been called back from leave to assist manage an urgent project. These are the non-verbal cues for you that you are good at something.What were your childhood successes?Your childhood has more to tell than the games which resulted in the scars you have. It is in your childhood that you tried almost everything.Some of the things you tried, you actually did well without putting much thought to them.Naturally, every human is born with certain skills which easily show. It’s as though those skills long to be recognized and allowed to work.For example, you may have looked at a small boy playing with the lego toys. Checking what he has made or asking him, he says it’s a car. Though it may not resemble anything on the road, you can tell where the boy’s imagination lies.Similarly, there are things you used to do when you were a child. These can also point you into the direction of what you can naturally do well.Since some of these things may not be easy to remember, engage your parents. If they are not available, you can check with your siblings or relatives. Childhood friends can also help you remember some of them. These may pass as mere hobbies for that period in time but they probably weren’t.They showed what your mind was interested in doing. If you for example loved making cars, then designing cars and other equipment may be easy for you.It is such things that hint at careers in graphics design and architecture. In the different engineering fields, you may do well as a designer of the items to be made.You may stand out from others because of your keenness to detail. This will ensure that your designs are wel l thought out.Also, it may be easy for you to come up with improved versions of existing models. This comes in handy when for example designing environment-friendly cars.What are your values?What is it that makes you want to be like the person you admire? What makes you want to partner with someone for a project or business?Your values can also tell you what you might be good at. You will always gravitate towards the things you value. For example, you may value friendships.This will make you have a tendency to move towards groups of people. Valuing friendships means you value people. It also means that you care about their welfare.In the groups therefore, you will be keen to ensure friendships are built and sustained. You may then be having natural mediating skills to help with conflict resolution. You may also have a very natural skill for customer care services.CONCLUSIONFiguring out what you are good at is the first step towards success. Differentiating what you’re good at from what you’re passionate about helps you know what to focus on. Focusing on what your passionate about gives you satisfaction in bringing change to other people’s lives.On the other hand, focusing on what you’re good at leads you to achieve personal goals.The greatest importance in knowing your natural skills is that you stop competing with others on their terms. Once you know your strengths and focus on them, no competition will unsettle you.You will have an easier time maneuvering around obstacles as creativity flows naturally.More than that, if you need to increase your knowledge, you won’t find learning to be difficult.With less struggling and your efforts directed at the job, success becomes easier than you thought.

Friday, May 22, 2020

Everyday French Phrases

There are some French phrases that you will hear literally every day or even multiple times a day and even use yourself. If you are studying French, or plan to visit France, its important that you learn and practice five often-used French phrases. Ah Bon Ah Bon  literally means oh good, though  it  commonly translates into English as: Oh yes?Really?Is that so?I see. Ah bon  is used primarily as a soft interjection, even when its a question  where a  speaker is indicating interest and maybe a little surprise. The examples list the French sentence on the left with the English translation on the right.     Speaker 1:  Jai vu un film intà ©ressant hier.  I saw an interesting movie yesterday.  Ã‚  Speaker 2: Ah  bon?  Ã‚  Oh, yes? Or in this example: Speaker 1: Je pars aux États-Unis la semaine prochaine.   Im going to the United States next week.  Speaker 2: Ah bon? Really? Ça va Ça  va  literally means it goes. Used in casual conversation,  it can be both a question and a reply, but its an informal expression. You probably wouldnt want to ask your boss or a stranger this question unless the setting was casual. One of the most common uses of  Ãƒ §a  va  is  as a greeting  or to ask how someone is doing, as in: Salut, Guy, à §a va?   Hi, Guy, hows it going?Comment à §a va?   Hows it going? The expression  can also be an exclamation: Oh! Ça va!   Hey, thats enough! Cest-à  -dire Use cest-à  -dire when you want to say I mean or that is. Its a way to clarify what youre trying to explain, as in: Il faut à ©crire ton nom là  , cest-à  -dire, ici.   You need to write your name there, I mean, here.Il faut que tu commences à   y mettre du tien ici.   You need to start pulling your weight around here. Il Faut In French, its often necessary to say its necessary. For that purpose, use il faut, which is the conjugated form of  falloir,  an  irregular French verb.  Falloir  means to be necessary or to need. It is  impersonal, meaning that it has only one grammatical person: the third person singular. It may be followed by the subjunctive, an infinitive, or a noun. You can use  il faut  as follows:   Ã‚  Il faut partir.  Ã‚  Its necessary to leave.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Il faut que nous partions.   We have to leave.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Il faut de largent pour faire à §a.   You need money to do that. Note that this last example literally translates to, Its necessary to have money. But, the sentence translates into normal English as You need money to do that, or You have to have money for that. Il Y A Whenever youd say there is or there are in English, you would use  il y a in French.  It is most commonly followed by an  indefinite article   noun, a  number   noun, or an  indefinite pronoun, as in: Il y a des enfants là  -bas.   There are some kids over there.Jai vu le film il y a trois semaines.   I saw the movie three weeks ago.Il y a 2 ans que nous sommes partis.   We left two years ago.

Friday, May 8, 2020

Article Review 5 Reasons For Love Online Bingo - 2099 Words

Article 29 – 5 reasons to love online bingo It is the social online casino game of our time and is one that is played up and down the country by thousands daily. Online bingo is a game that is simple enough in premise, but has enough complexity to keep people engaged. The following looks at why online bingo is such an easy game to fall in love with. Reason 1 – Play anywhere and everywhere you wish Do you remember the days of bingo’s past? The times when you would have to venture out to a smoke filled town hall to play? Well thanks to the introduction of Internet and online bingo, players can now player whenever and wherever they wish. No longer do you even need to take a seat anywhere to play, simply log-on to an online casino via a computer or smartphone, select a bingo game of choice and start playing. It really is just that simple! Reason 2 – Everyone is a winner Unlike slot games, online bingo is a game that pays out a fair amount to players on a regular basis. What this means is that from the huge jackpots to the token prizes, there is plenty up for grabs whenever you sit down to play a ticket or two. It is reported that up to  £4 million is handed out in prizes every single day to online bingo players, that stat in itself stands for a lot. Reason 3- Bingo is brain training Have you ever wondered what makes up those brain-training games that you see advertised everywhere? Well it may come as a surprise, but bingo games actually feature in various titles in suchShow MoreRelatedManagement Course: Mba−10 General Management215330 Words   |  862 PagesHarvard Business Review Finance Articles The Power of Management Capital Feigenbaum−Feigenbaum International Management, Sixth Edition Hodgetts−Luthans−Doh Contemporary Management, Fourth Edition Jones−George Driving Shareholder Value Morin−Jarrell Leadership, Fifth Edition Hughes−Ginnett−Curphy The Art of M A: Merger/Acquisitions/Buyout Guide, Third Edition Reed−Lajoux and others . . . This book was printed on recycled paper. Management http://www.mhhe.com/primis/online/ CopyrightRead MoreMarketing Management 14th Edition Test Bank Kotler Test Bank173911 Words   |  696 Pageskeeping, and growing customers through creating, delivering, and communicating superior customer value. A) Marketing management B) Knowledge management C) Operations management D) Strategic management E) Distribution management Answer: A Page Ref: 5 Objective: 2 Difficulty: Easy 3) Identify the correct statement about marketing management. A) It is primarily concerned with the systematic gathering, recording, and analysis of data about issues related to marketing products and services. Read MoreLogical Reasoning189930 Words   |  760 Pagesinformal logic – keeping an eye on the sorts of arguments found in books on formal logic – forget, or underplay, how much of our daily reasoning is concerned not with arguments leading to truth-valued conclusions but with making choices, assessing reasons, seeking advice, etc. Dowden gets the balance and the emphasis right. Norman Swartz, Simon Fraser University v Acknowledgments For the 1993 edition: The following friends and colleagues deserve thanks for their help and encouragement withRead MoreStrategic Marketing Management337596 Words   |  1351 Pageseconomic, social and technological environments Coming to terms with the industry and market breakpoints Coming to terms with the very different future: the implications for marketing planning Approaches to environmental analysis and scanning Summary 5 Approaches to customer analysis 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 5.5 5.6 5.7 5.8 5.9 Learning objectives Introduction Coming to terms with buyer behaviour Factors influencing consumer behaviour The buying decision process The rise of the new consumer and the implications

Wednesday, May 6, 2020

Reaction Paper on Crazy by Free Essays

Ha Song Pham PSYCH 252 02/17/2012 Reaction Paper 1 on Crazy When talking about prison, one usually thinks of two kinds of people, the guards and the prisoners. But nowadays, when 16% of inmates have serious and persistent mental illness, it is not surprising to find psychiatrists working in prisons. The Miami-Dade County Pretrial Detention Center mentioned in Crazy was not an exception. We will write a custom essay sample on Reaction Paper on Crazy by or any similar topic only for you Order Now On the ninth for of Miami jail, we found mentally ill prisoners, guards, Dr. Poitier who was the chief psychiatrist of the jail, and the nurses. The medical staff and the prison officers hold opposite viewpoints about how the inmates should be treated. The great conflicts and complications between the justice system and the mental health system had made the job of the psychiatrists in prisons across the United States an extremely difficult task. Dr. Poitier and nurses on the ninth floor of Miami jail worked daily in a very unhygienic condition: â€Å"The air in C wings stinks. It is a putrefied scent, a blending of urine expectorant, persperition, excrement, blood, flatulence, and dried and discarded jailhouse food. When the jail’s antiquated air conditioning breaks down during the summer, which it often does, some officers claim C wing’s pink wall actually sweats. It’s decades of filth and grime bubbling up, rising through coat of paint†. I wonder how one could be expected to live, let alone work in a condition as such. Under such horrible conditions, I wonder how effective the doctors were doing their job. And even if they were trying to do the best they could, I don’t think the inmates’ conditions could get any better when they did not even get to live in basic living condition which has a standard level of hygiene. If the states were paying for the psychiatrists to treat the inmates, the first thing they should have thought about was the working conditions of the doctors and the living conditions of the inmates because those played a key role in the efficiency of one’s job and the recovery of one’s disorder. In addition to the poor working conditions, the medical staff were not treated well by both the officers and the inmates. The nurses got screamed at, threatened, and humiliated. In Crazy, Earley told the incident of one nurse having a prisoner toss a cup of feces and urine at her. Nevertheless, the nurse did not quit the job for she understood that she could not take anything personally at her work. Most of the nurses were women. Inmates frequently masturbated in front of them. They did not get any protection from such hazard because the state attorney thought that it was not a crime that was worth pursuing. Doctors and nurses saw inmates as patients, while officers saw them as prisoners. The officers (or correctional staff as referred to in Crazy) treated the inmates very badly when the doctors were not around. Due to the opinions that were at two extremes with each other, the efforts to help the inmates by the medical staff turned out to be useless by the poor treatment that the inmates received from the officers. On a larger scale, the psychiatrists received very little to no help from the state government. What’s more, they had to comply with the ridiculous, non-sense regulations that were originally constructed to protect the rights of the mentally ill. In Crazy, Dr. Poitier had no access to resources. The inmates were booked into jail without carrying their medical records. He had to prescribe medication based largely on what the inmates told him. Plus, he had to follow the Miami-Dade County Public Health Trust’s instruction to prescribe Risperdal first whenever possible rather than Zyprexa, which was much more expensive. He had no freedom to do his job even though he received sufficient psychiatric training, while those people at the health trust were only thinking about the â€Å"so-called† economic benefits. Civil right laws such as Baker Act prevented the doctors from forcing inmates to take medication unless they posed an imminent danger or a threat. Dr. Poitier was very disappointed by the Act. He stated that: â€Å"A person who is a chronic schizophrenic doesn’t have the full control over his thoughts. He can’t make rational decision. If you release him untreated back into the community, you aren’t protecting his civil rights. You’re condemning him to stay sick and a horrible life of suffering on the streets. † The Baker Act was particularly complex when viewing it at different angles. For psychiatrists like Dr. Poitier, it hindered them from treating the inmates. They believed that the inmates were not mentally healthy enough to make ecisions about whether or not they wanted to to treated. On the contrary, public defenders and civil rights attorney felt that they had to protect the constitutional rights of the mentally ill. But what if what the mentally ill chose to do went against the wish of their loved ones, and negatively affected community. â€Å"Acting crazy is not a choice†. The men tally ill didn’t choose to be crazy. I couldn’t help but wonder what exactly these attorneys were trying to protect here. Were they trying to say protect a choice that no one wished to make? But after all, I did not experience a mental illness, which would invalidate any opinions I would have about how a mentally ill person would feel or react. In the end, there was a price to everything. One could not expect to do a thing without having to face a trade-off. The decisions should be made in a way that benefited most people as it possibly could. Even though I was fully aware that the psychiatrists in the prisons were doing their best to help the inmates, I believed it was better if they understood the job that they were doing involved more parties than them and the inmates. In Crazy, Dr. Poitier pointed out that: â€Å"My first concern is restoring this man’s mental health. But that is not the first concern of the lawyers, or of the judge who will be making this decision. This should be a medical matter, not a legal issue†. I didn’t think that was just a medical issue. Doctors alone would not be able to help the mentally ill without the support of other forces. Where would they find the resources such as medication, facilities, accommodation to assist the patients without the regulation or policy that allowed them to do so? It was never one man’s business. It took the cooperation of a whole system in order to effectively help the mentally ill who also happened to commit crime. Despite innumerable difficulties and controversies involved in their jobs, the doctors and nurses were getting paid much less than the medical staff in mainstream hospitals. For example, the nurses on the ninth floor earned an average of $2,000 per year less then their counterparts in Miami hospitals. Part of the reason was because they were recent immigrants who had received their formal qualifications in a country other than the US. Working in the section for the mentally ill in a prison was certainly not their first choice nor their second nor their third. It could be the only option that they had. However, they did not complain about their jobs. They did not go on strike. They did not sue the states for providing such little support. Instead, they were doing as much as they possible could to help the inmates. Dr. Poitier addressed inmates as â€Å"Mr. † to show them respect. He asked very common questions that a doctor usually asked a patient: â€Å"How are you feeling today? He was treating the inmates as patients who needed help, and did not care whether they were also criminals or not. For him, they were just very ill people who needed medical help. He once said: â€Å"Most mentally ill inmates do stupid things, not bad things†. Dr. Poitier believed that the inmates on the ninth floor needed help that they would not get there. I wonder if he ever felt hopeless when he knew these people needed help, and he could give help, but those two things certainly would not happen in the prison. The inmates were unable to understand that Dr. Poitier was trying to help them because of their dysfunction. Dr. Poitier was fully aware that he would not be able to do much to help the inmates because of messiness of the system and the daily conflicts between doctors and prison officers. They were stuck in a place where no one was better off. The question that baffled me the most was why they decided to stay at their jobs. There must have been something great and meaningful that made them almost irrationally continue their work. In Crazy, Dr. Poitier answered this question for me: â€Å"The inmates who end up here have been given up on. But some can and do get better. And that’s the driving force that keeps me coming to work each day – knowing I can make a difference. Knowing I do make a difference. Besides, if I didn’t do this, who would? † No matter how much trouble and confusion the job has brought, Dr. Poitier and the psychiatrists in general have managed to put their work ethics on top of everything else. Thanks to them, the mentally ill inmates get the support that keeps them through the days. Otherwise, the prison could actually become the hell hole on earth. It takes a lot of efforts in order to do good in any jobs. But for the psychiatrists in prisons across the United States, they have to go to extra lengths in order to help the mentally ill inmates. However, their efforts alone are never enough, every other force involved in the system has to do their best as well. In addition, it is importance that they all try to come to understand each other’s job and the reason behind it so that they can make the whole system work for the inmates instead of the current climate when the mentally ill are stuck in the revolving doors of the jails and the hospitals. How to cite Reaction Paper on Crazy by, Essay examples

Tuesday, April 28, 2020

Never Mind The Bullocks by Sex Pistols free essay sample

As bands in the U.S.A. such as Led Zeppelin, Aerosmith, Pink Floyd, Queen, and Lynyrd Skynyrd were alive and well, in England Punk rock was just getting its roots in. This is a review of one of the most influential albums belonging to the punk rock genre. This album by the Sex Pistols produced by Chris Thomas and Bill Price and belonging to the Virgin record label, was released October 27th, 1977. The same year, it reached number 1 on the UK Albums Chart. Never Mind the Bollocks consists of eleven songs, 1. â€Å"Holidays in the sun† 2. â€Å"Liar† 3. â€Å"No feelings† 4. â€Å"God Save The Queen† 5. â€Å"Problems† 6. â€Å"Seventeen† 7. â€Å"Anarchy in the U.K.† 8. â€Å"Bodies† 9. â€Å"Pretty Vacant† 10. â€Å"New York† 11. â€Å"EMI† The lyrics to these songs are very politically based; including mentions of abortion, anarchy and the Berlin Wall. The band members played the following roles in the album: Johnny Rotten-lead vocals Steve Jones guitar, bass guitar, backup vocals Sid Vicious- Bass Guitar in â€Å"Bodies† Glen Matlock- bass guitar on â€Å"Anarchy in the UK† Paul Cook-Drums The quality of the music, in my opinion, is superb. We will write a custom essay sample on Never Mind The Bullocks by Sex Pistols or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Others may believe that they vocals are shoddy, but in the genre of Punk Rock the music is not necessarily supposed to sound â€Å"good†, it is all about the message. Many people in the past, and today still, would probably be appalled by the lyrics this album brought to the unwashed masses. This is album is considered by some to be one of the most .controversial ever. Although most people have never heard of this band or album, and most never will, I hold it to be true that this album in itself has shaped the future of all Rock music and absolutely distinguished the thick line between Punk Rock and every other musical genre. Citations: Never Mind the Bollocks, Heres the Sex Pistols. Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 19 Nov. 2013. Web. 22 Nov. 2013.

Friday, March 20, 2020

Psychology Theories Sigmund Freud essays

Psychology Theories Sigmund Freud essays Psychology Theories Sigmund Freud is one of the most famous psychologists to ever hit the study of psychology. His name alone symbolizes the importance of his theories, and the name that comes to most people's heads when saying the word psychology is Sigmund Freud. Freud was a psychodynamic psychologist and came from the conservative point of view which states that man is bad and society is good, which I do not agree with 100% because not all man's actions are necessarily bad and with bad intentions. Freud was a real pessimist when it came to human nature. He identifies man's weaknesses in saying that man is a biological creature with biological drives. He reflected these ideas off of Darwin's original ideas. I do agree with this theory because man's drives are survival and self-preservation. Freud also stated that mankind's aggression helps him to survive, he says that man has an innate sense of survival. I also agree with this theory because aggression and dominance guarantees our survival. He also believed that over the many thousands of years that man has been alive man developed rational thought. Freud stated that people do not have to live like animals because overtime we developed a society that has rules and regulations in order to keep our animal nature in check. I agree with Freud on this because of many cases when a person has some bad intentions in mind but let's them go when they know the consequences. Another thing Freud said was the idea of Opposing Instincts which when comes to mind creates conflict. The first of the two opposing instincts is the Eros, which is the life instinct, which also ensures the organisms life. The ID presses us to survive and pushes us to produce. The Eros seeks pleasure and then we rationalize it. Next comes the Thanatos, which is the death instinct, and this instinct says that all organisms have a death wish towards themselves and I agree completely. This he says becomes our own destruction. ...

Tuesday, March 3, 2020

Transitivity - Definition and Examples

Transitivity s In the broadest sense, transitivity is a method of classifying verbs and clauses with reference to the relationship of the verb to other structural elements. Put simply, a transitive construction is one in which the verb is followed by a direct object; an intransitive construction is one in which the verb cannot take a direct object. In recent years, the concept of transitivity has received special attention from researchers in the field of Systemic Linguistics. In Notes on Transitivity and Theme in English, M.A.K. Halliday described transitivity as the set of options relating to cognitive content, the linguistic representation of extralinguistic experience, whether of phenomena of the external world or of feelings, thoughts, and perceptions (Journal of Linguistics, 1967). An Observation The traditional notion of a transitive verb referred to a simple dichotomy: a transitive verb was a verb which required two argument NPs to form a grammatical clause, whereas an intransitive clause required only one. However, there are many languages where this basic distinction does not adequately cover the range of possibilities. (Ã…shild NÃ ¦ss, Prototypical Transitivity. John Benjamins, 2007) Verbs That Are Both Transitive and Intransitive Some verbs are both transitive and intransitive, depending on how they are used . . .. In response to the question, What are you doing? we can say Were eating. In this case eat is being used intransitively. Even if we add a phrase after the verb, such as in the dining room, it is still intransitive. The phrase in the dining room is a complement not an object. However, if someone asks us, What are you eating? we respond by using eat in its transitive sense, Were eating spaghetti or Were eating a large gooey brownie. In the first sentence, spaghetti is the object. In the second sentence, a large gooey brownie is the object. (Andrea DeCapua, Grammar for Teachers. Springer, 2008) Ditransitive and Pseudo-Intransitive Constructions More complex relationships between a verb and the elements dependent upon it are usually classified separately. For example, verbs which take two objects are sometimes called ditransitive, as in she gave me a pencil. There are also several uses of verbs which are marginal to one or other of these categories, as in pseudo-intransitive constructions (e.g. the eggs are selling well, where an agent is assumedsomeone is selling the eggsunlike normal intransitive constructions, which do not have an agent transform: we went, but not *someone sent us. (David Crystal, A Dictionary of Linguistics and Phonetics. Blackwell, 1997) Levels of Transitivity in English Consider the following sentences, all of which are transitive in form: Susie bought a car; Susie speaks French; Susie understands our problem; Susie weighs 100 pounds. These illustrate steadily decreasing levels of prototypical transitivity: Susie is less and less of an agent, and the object is less and less affected by the actionindeed, the last two dont really involve any action at all. In short, the world provides a very wide range of possible relations between entities, but English, like many other languages, provides only two grammatical constructions, and every possibility must be squeezed into one or the other of the two constructions. (R.L. Trask, Language and Linguistics: The Key Concepts, 2nd ed., ed. by Peter Stockwell. Routledge, 2007) High and Low Transitivity A different approach to transitivity . . . is the transitivity hypothesis. This views transitivity in discourse as a matter of gradation, dependent on various factors. A verb such as kick, for example, fulfills all the criteria for high transitivity in a clause with an expressed object such as Ted kicked the ball. It refers to an action (B) in which two participants (A) are involved, Agent and Object; it is telic (having an end-point) (C) and is punctual (D). With a human subject it is volitional (E) and agentive, while the object will be totally affected (I) and individuated (J). The clause is also affirmative (F) and declarative, realis, not hypothetical (irrealis) (G). By contrast, with a verb such as see as in Ted saw the accident, most of the criteria point to low transitivity, while the verb wish as in I wish you were here includes even irrealis (G) in its complement as a feature of low transitivity. Susan left is interpreted as an example of reduced transitivity. Although it h as only one participant, it rates higher than some two-participant clauses, as it fulfills B, C, D, E, F, G and H. (Angela Downing and Philip Locke, English Grammar: A University Course, 2nd ed. Routledge, 2006)

Sunday, February 16, 2020

Poetry Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words - 6

Poetry - Essay Example Comparatively, the changes may be drastic but the impact of his poems remain the same and it is for this reason that he remained an influential poet throughout his lifetime and beyond. â€Å"A Map of the City† is that characteristic early work of Gunn which encapsulates why he had become a prominent name in The Movement in the 1950s. The style, incorporating the obvious rhythm and rhyme in each line, makes it in that great British tradition of classic poetry. The first stanza, in all its four lines ends with the same syllable with much stress on the ‘e’ sound. This recurs throughout the poem together with other syllabic sounds that are used regularly throughout. Also, the poem was traditionally constructed as a quatrain with four lines in each of its five stanzas. Then, with â€Å"On The Move ‘Man, You Gotta Go.’† there has been a slight deviation from the traditional meter with the use of varying rhymes but certain sounds recur such as the ‘o’ and ‘e’ sounds. There is also still that inclination to adhere to traditional form as each of the five stanzas is composed of an octave. However, though the ‘e’ and ‘th’ sounds are also repeated in â€Å"In Time of Plague,† they do not appear to be placed consciously as Gunn moves toward the free verse approach. The stanzas do not have uniformity in terms of rhyme and meter as the first stanza has 13 lines, the second has 15, the third has four, and the last has six. This shows an unrestricted adoption of poetic verse where Gunn has transformed his poetry away from the identity of The Movement toward a nonconformist standpoint. It would be amiss to talk about or even understand how the poetry of Gunn has progressed without taking into consideration the major changes he had effected in his life. In his earlier years, Gunn had already established himself as a major poet alongside Larkin

Sunday, February 2, 2020

Critical Evaluation Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Critical Evaluation - Essay Example McCullin, Don, "Don McCullin in Syria, December 2012" Don McCullin, internationally known British photojournalist, is majorly renowned and known for his war photography and post-war coverage especially for his visit to Syria at the age of 77. His work features 134 exceptionally taken photographs that cover world's most dangerous and conflicted images. For the first time, the work of a British photojournalist is being exhibited in the National Gallery of Canada (NGC) till April 14, 2013. Major newspapers and magazines including The Sunday Times, The Daily Telegraph and The Observer have also printed his works. McCullin has always depicted the unemployed, the impoverished and the downtrodden. NGC director and CEO Marc Mayer reported to have said, "McCullin's photographs belong in an art gallery because they consistently bring clarity and compositional grace to their compelling subject matter. These pictures are both hard to look at and hard not to" (Mallet, 2013). However, his recent e ncounter of Syria has not been displayed in the gallery, as Sobey Curatorial Assistant Katherine Stauble writes, "Likely (these images) were not meant to hang on a gallery wall, but rather, to communicate information, to reveal truths and to mobilize action. Now that McCullin has escaped the battlefield and for the past twenty years has been focusing his lens on landscape and still life, one might expect the artist moniker to sit more comfortably with him" (as cited in Mallet, 2013). The following attached files are few of pictures of his last war with Anthony Loyd: Figure 1: Anthony Loyd  and Don McCullin  Atmeh, on the Syria-Turkey border. According to McCullin, "Photography for me is not looking, it’s feeling. If you can’t feel what you’re looking at, then you’re never going to get others to feel anything when they look at your pictures" (Mallet, 2013). This is what has been the most predominant feature of McCullin's photography as shown in Figure. 1. There has been embedded in his pictures "the feelings of people" rather than focusing on the other artistic values (figure 1). He, through his images, has tried to get the sympathetic feelings for the affected people. By capturing a child's picture, he is making use of emotions and feelings of people to get attention. As Susan Sontag writes in her book, Regarding the Pain of Others (2003), that sufferings and emotions sell more than any other factors (Sontag, 2003). Figure 2: Don McCullin for The Times. The most effective and credible advantage of McCullin's work (as shown in Figure. 2) would be his unbiased reporting. He not only showed images of the public dying and their sorrows, but he also showed the sorrows of the free Syrian army (Figure 2). "I'm just a carrier pigeon that brings the message back home" (Archer, 2013), says McCullin. Thus, effectively, his images do not downplay the role of one opposing army to another nor do they cast blame on any side. His images can nev er prove to be the barriers against peace-making between the conflicted armies (Greenslade, 2013). The images represent war in a way that they do not exploit people nor do they express problematic ideas that would exacerbate the situation and/or the relationship between photographer and his subject (figure 2). Figure 3: McCullin in Syria McCullin's photography explicitly points out at the major weakness of his images which was the portrayal of sufferings of the evicted people as shown in

Saturday, January 25, 2020

Themes of Forgiveness in Literature

Themes of Forgiveness in Literature Themes Of Forgiveness In Novels Forgiveness. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, it is an action or a process of forgiving or being forgiven. On the other hand, Brà ¥kenhielm (1993) said that the difficulty of defining forgiveness is because it is very much like love, it is ambiguous. Also, that there is no single concept that can define what it is. But there are many authors who tried to define forgiveness in many ways, two of these ways are: in psychological perspective and in theological perspective, respectively. One of the many authors is Canale (1990), according to him, forgiveness is a therapeutic agent in psychotherapy and that it is a cognitive restructuring that complements the emotional aspects of dealing with pain and resentment in therapy. Forgiveness cannot be described or defined using only one concept. In this paper, I will discuss four of the most popular books in relation to forgiveness. These books attack different aspects of forgiveness. It is very interesting to know that one simple word can have multiples and multitudes of different applications. In this paper, the following books will be discussed briefly: Author: Robert Enright and Joanna North Title: Forgiveness: A Bold choice for a Peaceful Heart (1992) Author: Robin Casarjian Title: The Handbook of forgiveness (2005) Author: Everett L. Worthington Jr. Title: The Sunflower: On the Possibilities and Limits of Forgiveness Author: Simon Wiensenthal Exploring Forgiveness by Robert Enright and Joanna North (1998) This book is a compilation of 12 great, touching short stories that will teach any person how to deal with one of lifes toughest issues. This will help you face real and deep problems with acceptance and confidence in a positive way. To start with, Chapter 2 of this book tackles about a mother who forgave her daughters murderer. The title of the article is: the power and reality of forgiveness. It is a very sad but inspiring story. If you come to think of it, how can a mother forgive her daughters murderer? It is very unusual but it is the right thing to do. This was just the beginning of it. The mother didnt instantly forget what has happened to her daughter. It took her lots and lots of strength to face her daughters murderer and tell him that she doesnt want him to be killed. Instead, she appealed for a lifetime imprisonment without bail. It was hard for her, but she realized that it was the right thing to do. After the tragic event, the mother became a part of a team that motivates people who suffered the same pain that she did. Today, she probably enjoys her life with her conscience clear helping other people cope up with the same situation as she did. This is what is meant by power and reality of forgivenes s. Another point stressed in the book is that of Joanna North, on her article named, The Ideal of Forgiveness: A Philosophers Exploration. It is a clear, thorough explanation on what forgiveness is, what it is not, and other aspects of forgiveness such as its multiperspectival nature. North (1998) said that forgiveness is more than just acceptance of the person who have been wronged. Forgiveness is multiperspective in nature, in the sense that it takes into account the point of view of the wrongdoer: the process of being forgiven, the process of acceptance of forgiveness of the wrongdoer from the injured party. This acceptance of forgiveness is commonly known as self-forgiveness of the wrongdoer. When these two concepts have been joined together, process of forgiveness and self-forgiveness of the wrongdoer, then, we will have a bigger understanding on what forgiveness is really all about. Forgiveness: A Bold choice for a Peaceful Heart by Robin Casarjian (1992) In this book, Casarjian (1992) stresses that forgiveness frees us from fear, which is an underlying feeling behind resentment. Furthermore, it focused on a broad range of topics, from why to choose forgiveness, forgiveness for your family, forgiveness for yourself, and lastly, forgiveness for the world. Also, Casarjian (1992) said that forgiveness equals peace. Forgiveness, regardless of the situation or problem, gives the peace that we really want and yearn. According to Casarjian, forgiveness is the means of the heart to mend itself and make it whole again. It gives us the freedom to love, sincere love. When we experience forgiveness, or we accepted forgiveness from others, we are transformed, giving us a fresh start. Furthermore, it tells about how our physical health may improve if we practice forgiveness. It goes beyond understanding others, to how they cope up with the situation. Forgiveness must not be dependent on somebody elses readiness or willingness to forgive. It explains that each person has his or her own way of letting go of their pain and anger. Let them be. Respecting them is another aspect of forgiveness. Not letting your self-forgiveness be dependent on the other persons feelings or emotions. The Handbook for forgiveness by Everett L. Worthington Jr. (2005) In this book, Worthington (2005) describes that forgiveness isnt just a science, it is also an art. This discussion can be found in chapter 1 of the book. In this discussion, I will be focusing on the questions answered by Worthington in chapter 1. One question is: How does forgiveness affect the participants in the forgiveness process?. According to Worthington, forgiveness involves a wrongdoer, a victim, and sometimes a third party, for instance, a small range of the society. For the wrongdoer, some might actually be able to forgive themselves easily, some may not. But, one thing is for sure, for a transgressor that is forgiven, response is a must both intraphysically and interpersonally. This implies that the experiences of the perpetrator are interlocked with the experiences of the victim. For the victim on the other hand, forgiveness is dependent on the personality and experiences of the victim. Some people might forgive easily, some may not. This accounts to a number of personal characteristics. Also, forgiveness can also involve people around you: relatives, neighbours, etc. This is why crimes affect society. In most tribes, wrongdoings can disrupt the harmony of it. That is why forgiveness is a crucial subject. Worthin gton summarized that forgiveness is a complex summary of intrapersonal process, interpersonal process, and interpersonal process within societal and political context. Another interesting concept presented in the text is the benefits of forgiveness. Like what Casarjian (2005) mentioned in his book, forgiveness has a lot of benefits: physical, mental, relational, and spiritual health. The explanation is a trivial one. According to Ludwig et al. (2001), Unforgiveness is stressful and makes people drown in their negative thoughts. This results in different negative consequences, be it physically, mentally, relationships, or spiritual health. Also, a survey in 2001 associates fewer poor health conditions in elderly people with forgiveness. Moreover, forgiveness lessens the anger, pain, and other negative feelings that a person experiences. Another interesting concept discussed in the book was correlation of primate conflicts with human forgiveness. This was a study about the reconciliation behaviour of Chimpanzees and Macaques. The observed responses to conflict was kissing and the so-called hold-bottom ritual. Kissing in Chimpanzees was a sign of reconciliation between two former opponents. The conclusion of this study was that it was unable to prove that the former opponents have forgiven each other; the positive side was that the behavioural correlate levels of anxiety reduced or lowered after the reconciliation between the former opponents. The Sunflower: On the Possibilities and Limits of Forgiveness by Simon Wiensenthal (1998) This is a very intriguing book that aroused the minds of many thinkers and writers. It is about a concentration camp prisoner who was subjected to an unexpected situation wherein a dying SS (German militia) man asked for his forgiveness after having participated in the Jews genocide. His response was to walk away. Nothing. He questioned if his response to the situation was right or wrong. He confronted the reader that if the reader was in his place, what would the reader do. Wiensenthal wanted to pose a question to the reader, that in the case wherein the author already exposed his tragic situation. Wiensenthal wanted the reader to put their fit on his and question his mind, What would I do?. This is a question that not only tickles the minds of the reader. This question poses a more serious predicament to consider his/her personal moral and ethical beliefs. These moral and ethical beliefs influence our actions greatly towards negative situations like crimes, justice, compassion, and individual responsibility. Further reading of the book contains the responses of 53 different men and women about the question posed by Wiensenthal. The respondents came from different backgrounds. Their responses acted as pillars for the readers to be able to contemplate on their own perspectives. His work I believe was to wake up the readers, to stand up, to think, to survive and face the obligation it entails. As what he have said, Survival is a privilege which entails obligations. I am forever asking myself what I can do for those who have not survived. -Wiensenthal (1989), p. 351.

Friday, January 17, 2020

Wwii and Immigration

Following decades of isolationist policy, World War II was an essential time in the United States history because it gradually opened up American society to once again receive immigrants who are in search of better opportunity and refuge. In the early 19th century, the United States began to re-think about its stance on immigration. As the numbers of immigrants increased, questions about the leniency of the American government on immigration were raised by the â€Å"Progressive Movement†. Consequently, the United States began to employ a closed door policy of immigration.Chinese male immigrants, who had been coming in masses, inspired the implementation of the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, which forbade further immigration of laborers of Chinese descent. This act forced prohibited Chinese males from bring over their families and destroyed possibilities of citizenship for Chinese immigrants by making them permanent aliens. Furthermore, in 1907, adding to the isolationist stanc e of the U. S. , the city of San Francisco attempted to remove Japanese students from white schools and put them in segregated schools with Chinese students.The Japanese government was infuriated by with this comparison to the Chinese; this led to the establishment of the Gentleman’s Agreement. This was an informal agreement stating that the Japanese government would restrict further immigration of their people to the United States and, in return, Japanese children in San Francisco would be able to attend school with white children. Over the next half century, further restrictions on immigration were implemented, many based on racist assumptions that immigrants were inassimilable and could not be Americanized.However, we see examples in Nisei Daughter, where the children like Monica and her siblings became Americanized and came to detest the strict Japanese culture their parents were raised in. this contradicts the assumption that immigrants would not assimilate. Continued pr essure to limit immigration in the United States eventually led to the Immigration Act of 1917, which created the Asiatic Barred zone. This meant that people from the Asiatic zone, which included Japan, Korea, India, and Arabia were barred from coming to the United States. Furthermore, the Act restricted people who were illiterate and above the age of 16 from immigrating.As a result of the 1917 Act, the immigration process included a literacy test that only allowed people of a certain educational background to enter the United States under the assumption that they would be able to assimilate better with America’s progressive ideologies, provide skills for the work force, and contributing to the economy. Despite increased restrictions, in between the First and Second World War, immigration to the US was relatively high due to the scarcity of unskilled labor needed in mines and factories in the United States.After WWI, The Immigration Act of 1924 was passed which set a quota of a 165 thousand immigrants per year allowed into the United States. While there had been restrictions placed on Asian immigrants before 1924, there were still ways for students to come into America. Thus, the Second Quota Act was passed which stated that no Asians were permitted to come to the United States. There was an exception of 50 people per country provided those who came were racially white, jut just happened to be living in Asian countries.This act made it easier for people from Germany, France, and Great Britain to migrate to the United States because they were white and as such were thought to be able to assimilate more easily into the American Culture. The only region these quota restrictions did not apply to was the western Hampshire. These limitations did not apply to Mexican immigrants because there was a high demand for their labor in the south, and employers made it difficult for congress to restrict that labor. Overall, Before World War II, it was extremely hard to immigrate to the United States unless there was demand the labor of immigrants.By 1924, there was a clear racial hierarchy among immigrants in the United States based on skills as well as race. In Homestead: The Households of a Mill Town, Margaret Byington mentions the difficulties immigrant communities, such as the Slavs, faced as they tried to assimilate into the American culture. The government did not take any steps to address the hardships of these communities or help them assimilate into American culture. This is important because, after WWII, the United States went out of its way to welcome immigrants and develop programs to ease the adjustment process.The United States was very dissatisfied with their involvement in WWI; thus when the Great Depression occurred, they dealt with it by further isolating themselves from the rest of the world. The United States government focused on solving its economic difficulties at home and dealing with the decade long depression. Even after WWII began in Europe, the United States stayed true to its isolationist policies and wanted nothing to do with the war. However, the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941 forced the United States to enter WWII. Success in WWII made the United States the leading power in the world.After the United States witnessed the devastation Hitler had caused in WWII, the American government vowed to never allow that to happen again. As a result, immediately after WWII, the lessons learned from Hitler were applied to Stalin in the cold war. Instead of turning away from communist Russia, the United States engaged in the Cold War. Their goal was to contain communism around the world. The United States began strengthening their relationship with their own allies by building programs that would help these countries with education and health in order to get their assistance in containing the spread of Communism.After WWII though, Americans, especially those in the executive branch who dealt with f oreign policy, increasingly saw immigration and naturalization policies as tools for shaping foreign relations and advancing American interest. One of the first acts passed in the interest of immigration reform was The McCarran Walter Act of 1952, which not only illuminated the category of aliens ineligible for citizenship. This was the category many of the Issei Parents in Nisei Daughter were placed in but now they were permitted to become American citizens like their Nisei children.Also, the restrictions of The Asiatic Barred Zone, was lifted. Now, all Countries including China, who had previously was not been allowed to send any immigrants to the United States, unless they were white, now have a small quota to send people to the United States regardless of their racial background. Also, there was recognition among Americans that there were more people who wanted to come to the United States than the country could accommodate. As a resold priority was given to those who had family in the United States and needed to be reunified with them.Although some of the restrictions on immigration were loosened with The McCarran Walter Act, the country still allowed only a small number of people to immigrate. President Truman was pushing for immigration reform for years and was not fully satisfied with the new policy so the United States government sought out ways to expand immigration while still keeping what was best for the country in mind. President Johnson, who succeeded Kennedy, signs in the passage of the immigration and nationalization act of 1965.This act reforms the country and erases the old system of discriminatory and restrictive quotas based on national original and race while replacing it with a much less racist system. It was a new way of thinking, not just about immigrant but toward the American society. To manage immigration now, the United States divided the world into western hemisphere which constituted North, Central and South America, and Eastern hemisphere which was everything else. Over 300 thousand immigrants are allowed to come to the United States yearly with this new cap.Certain people were given preference with 80 percent of the groups under the new cap coming under different forms of family unification. Because of our involvement with different wars around the world and our efforts to end communism, the United States was increasingly allowing people to come above the set cap to find refuge in our country. These new loose policies on immigration coincided greatly with the civil rights movement. The movement comes at the same time the US becomes conscious of its role as a world leader.When the United States sought out to stop communism, they needed to show the world that their system was better but they could not do that when the world saw America as segregated and racist against some of their own people. Unequal treatment among Americans led some countries to want to turn to communism as a better policy. Immigration r eform and the Civil Rights Movement reinforced one another and eventually left. In 1950s, more than half of immigrants came from Europe and there were more Canadians coming into the country than Mexicans but beginning with 1965, Asians and Mexicans have began to come in mass.Congress did not understand when they passed act of 1965 was just how large the number of immigrants coming in would become. This unexpected increase in immigrants scared some Americans. There was especially great number of people coming from Mexico who many entering the country illegally and not being counted in the quota. The Mexican population in the US jumped from 60 thousand people in the 1940s to 1. 6 million in the 1980s. Even though this high number of immigrants was brought up concerns about the current immigration policy, the country’s new understanding after WWII would not allow then to close their doors once again.

Thursday, January 9, 2020

An Analysis Of Hedge Fund Performances - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 10 Words: 3037 Downloads: 8 Date added: 2017/06/26 Category Statistics Essay Did you like this example? 1. INTRODUTION: Hedge funds are actively managed portfolios that hold positions in publicly traded securities. Gaurav S. Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "An Analysis Of Hedge Fund Performances" essay for you Create order Amin and Harry M. Kat (2000) stated on their report that à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“A hedge fund is typically defined as a pooled investment vehicle that is privately organized, administrated by professional investment managers, and not widely available to the publicà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬?. It charges both a performance fee and a management fee. It allows a flexible investment for a small number of large investors (usually the minimum investment is $1 million) can use high risk techniques. 1Now days it is very clear that in the matter of alternative investment mutual fund is not performing well. As a high absolute returns and typically have features such as hurdle rates and incentive fees with high watermark provision hedge fund gives a better align to the interests of managers and investors. 2Moreover mutual funds typically use a long-only buy-and-hold type strategy on standard asset classes, which help to capture risk premia associate with equity risk, interest rate risk, default risk etc. However, they are not very helpful in capturing risk premia associate with dynamic trading strategies. That is why hedge fund comes into the picture. This is the year of 2009, which takes the greatest history of the world in the following century. In the year of 2008 the world saw the greatest fall down of the world economy. Lots of people missing their jobs, lots of company were stopped. The world economy faced the highest losses in the history. These all factors are showing only one way to makeover from that greatest downfall that is hedging. 3The last couple of decades have witnessed a rapidly growing in the hedge funds. Relative to traditional investment portfolios hedge funds exhibit some unique characteristics; they are flexible with respect to the types of securities they hold and the type of the position they take. 1 Agarwal, V. and Naik, N. (2000). à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“Multi-period performance persistence analysis of hedge fund sà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬?. The journal of financial and quantitative analysis. Vol. 35, No,3. PP-327. 2 Agarwal, V. and Naik, N. (2004). à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“Risks and portfolio decisions involving hedge fundsà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬?. The review of financial studies, Vol. 17, No.1. PP-64. 3 Journal of banking and finance 32(2008) 741-753- à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“Hedge Fund Pricing and Model Uncertaintyà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬? by Spyridan D. Vrontos, Ioannis D. Vrontos, Daniel Giomouridies. 4The number of FOHFs increase by 40% between 2001 and 2003, and now comprised almost two third of the $650 billion invested in the USAà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s hedge fund market. Due to its nature it is difficult to estimate the current size of hedge fund industry. 5Van Hedge Fund Advisors estimates that by the end of 1998 there were 5380 hedge fund managing $311 in capital, with between $800 billion and $1 trillion in total assets, which indicates the higher number of recent new entries. So far, hedge fund is based on American phenomena. About 90% hedge fund managers are based in the US, 9% in Europe and 1% in Asia and elsewhere. Now a dayà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s around 5883 hedge funds are trading around the world. (*Barclay Hedge database) 4 Financial times, 29th October, 2003. www.vanhedge.com https://www.barclayhedge.com/products/hedge-fund-directory.html 1.1 Categories of Hedge fund investment objectives: Event Driven: Distressed securities- manager focuses on securities of companies in reorganization and bankruptcy, ranging from senior secured debt to the common stock of the company. Risk arbitrage- manager simultaneously buys stock in a company being acquired and sells stock in its acquirers. Global: International- manager pays attention to economic change around the world (except the United States) but more bottom-up oriented in that managers tend to be stock-pickers in markets they like. Uses index derivatives to a much lesser extent than macro managers. Emerging- Manager invests in less mature financial markets of the world, e.g. Hong Kong, Singapore, Pakistan, India. Because shorting is not permitted in many emerging markets, managers must go to cash or other markets when valuations make being long unattractive. Regional- Manager focuses on specific regions of the world, example- Latin America, Asia, and Europe. Global macro: Opportunistic trading manager that profits from changes in global economies typically based in major interest rate shifts. Uses leverage and derivatives. Market neutral: Long/short stocks- half long/half short. Manager attempts to lock-out or neutralize market risk. Convertible arbitrage- Manager goes long convertible securities and shorts the underlying equities. Stock index arbitrage- Manager buys a basket of stocks and sells short stock index futures, or the reverse. Fixed income arbitrage- Manager buys T-bonds and sells short index futures or the reverse. Short sales: Manager takes a position that stock prices will go down. Used as a hedge for long only portfolios and by those who feel market is approaching a bearish trend. U.S Opportunistic: Value à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å" Manager focuses on assets, cash flow, book value, out-of-favor stocks. Growth à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å" Manager invests in growth stocks, revenues, earnings, and growth potential are keys. Short term à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å" Manager holds positions for a short time frame. Fund of fund: Capital is allocated among a number of hedge funds, providing investors with access to managers they might not be able to discover or evaluate in their own. Usually has a lower minimum than a hedge fund. Source: Carl Ackermann, Richard McEnally, and David Ravenscraft, à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“The performance of hedge funds: Risk, Return and Incentives,à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬? Journal of finance 54, no.3 (June 1999) figure 1, page-843. Reproduced from a hedge fund database firm named Managed Account Report (MAR) Inc, and distributed through LaPorte Asset Allocation System. 2. Literature review: Despite the increasing interest and recent development, few studies have been carried out on hedge funds comparing to other investment tools like mutual funds. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“An analysis of Hedge Fund performance 1984-2000à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬? by Capocci Daniel using one of the greatest hedge fund database ever used on his working paper (2796 individual funds including 801 dissolved), to investigate hedge funds performance using various asset-pricing models, including an extension from of Carhartà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s (1997) model combined with Fama and French (1998), Agarwal and Naik (2000) models that take into account the fact that some hedge funds invest in emerging market bond. At the end they found that their model does a better job describing hedge funds behaviour. That appears particularly good for the Event Driven, Global Macro, US Opportunistic, Equity non-Hedge and Sector funds. Since the early 1990s, when around 2000 hedge funds were managing assets totalling capital of $60 billion, the subsequent growth in the number and asset base of hedge funds has never really been refuted. The industry only suffered from a relative slowdown in 1998, but since then has enjoyed a renewed vitality with an estimated total of 10,000funds managing more than a trillion US dollars by the end of 2006. The growing trend of the sector remained remarkably sustained during the stock market collapse that started in March 2000, when the NASDAQ composite Index reached an all-time high of 5,132 and finished three years later with a floor level of 1,253. In the meantime, the global met asset value (NAV) of hedge funds continued to grow at a steady rate of 10.6% (Van Hedge Funds Advisors International, 2002), contrasting with a decrease of 2.7% in the worldwide mutual fund industry ( Investment Company Institute, 2003). In 2001, Capocci and Hubner(2004) estimated that there were 6,000 he dge fund managing around $400 billion. In 2007, Capocci, Duquenne and Hubner (2007) estimated that there were 10,000 hedge funds managing around $1 trillion. This is a growth of 11% in the number of funds and 26% in assets over six years (6PhD thesis paper by Daniel P.J. Capocci). Other studies from practitioners Hennessee (1994), and Oberuc (1994) also showed an evidence of superior performance in the case of hedge funds. Ackernann and Al. (1999) and Liang (1999) who compared the performance of hedge funds to mutual funds and several indices, found that hedge funds constantly obtained better performance than mutual funds. Their performance was not better than the performance of the market indices considered. They also indicated that the returns in hedge funds were more unstable than both the returns of mutual funds and those of market indices. According to Brown and Al. (1997) hedge funds showing good performance in the first part of the year reduce the volatility of their portfolio in the second half of the year (Capocci Daniel- An analysis of hedge fund performance 1984-2000). Taking all these results into account hedge funds seems a good investment tool. 6 PhD thesis paper by Daniel P.J. Capocci. Electronic copy available at: http//ssrn.com/abstract=1008319. 3. Research design and Methodology: In this section I would like to describe the empirical methodology to be used to measure the performance of hedge fund as well as the performance of FTSE 100 and SP 500. My aim is to identify which will give the better return for an investor. To investigate hedge funds performance and performance of FTSE 100 and SP 500 my study will follow some models like 4-factor model from of Carhartà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s (1997) model, the 3-factor model from Fama and French (1993) models, the Sharpe ratio (1966) and Jensenà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s alpha (1968) and CAPM. I divide my research into three sections. First section will analyse the performance of hedge funds, FTSE 100 and SP 500. This section sets out the models of performance measurement I will use. Second section will made correlation between Hedge fund vs. FTSE 100 and Hedge fund vs. SP 500 to find out the better portfolio. Third section will exposes a discussion as well as a description of my database and finally concludes the paper. 3.1. Performance measure models: The 4-factor model from Carhart (1997) Carhartà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s (1997) 4-factor model is an extension of the Fama and French (1993) factor model. It not only takes into account the size of the firms, the book to market ratio, but there is an additional factor for the momentum effect. Grinblatt, Titman and Wermers (1995) define this effect as buying stocks that were past winners and selling past losers. This model is estimated with the following regressions: Rpt-Rft=ÃŽÂ ±p+ÃŽÂ ²pi (Rmt à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å"Rft) + ÃŽÂ ²p2 SMBt +ÃŽÂ ²p3 HMLt + ÃŽÂ ²p4 PR1YRt + ept t= 1,2,,T Where SMBt= the factor mimicking portfolios for size; HMLt= the factor mimicking portfolio for book to market equity; PR1YRt= the factor mimicking portfolio for the momentum effect7 7 for a description of the construction of PR1YR see Carhart (1997). As stressed by Daniel et al. (1997), this model, which is effectively a four factor Jensen measure, assumes that betas with respect to the returns of four zero investment factor mimicking portfolios, are appropriate measures of multidimensional systematic risk. According to this model, in the absence of stock selection or timing abilities, the expected return for a fund is the sum of the risk free return and the products of the betas with the factor risk premium, which are simply the expected returns of each of these zero investment portfolios. The Carhart (1997) approach identifies a matching passive portfolio return for each fund return. This passive return, which is subtracted from the fund return to generate ÃŽÂ ±p, is a weighted average of the returns of the Carhart factor portfolios and the return of a one month T-bill (Capocci Daniel 2001, Journal- European Private Bankers, Nov, 2001). The 3-factor model from Fama and French (1993): Fama and French (1993) 3 factor model is estimated from an expected form of the CAPM regression. It takes the size and the book to market ratio of the firm into account. It uses the time series approach from Black, Jensen, and Scholles (1972) in the sense that the monthly returns on stocks are regressed on the returns to a market portfolio of stocks and mimicking portfolios for size and book to market. It is estimated from the following extension of the CAPM regression: Rpt-Rft=ÃŽÂ ±p+ÃŽÂ ²pi (Rmt à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å"Rft) + ÃŽÂ ²p2 SMBt +ÃŽÂ ²p3 HMLt + ept t= 1,2,,T Where, SMBt= the factor mimicking portfolios for size, and HMLt= the factor mimicking portfolio for book to market equity. SMLt which comes from small minus big meant to mimic the risk factor in returns related to size, and HMLt which comes from high minus low meant to mimic the risk factor in returns related to book to market equity8. HML (respectively SMB) is neutral relative to the size effect (respectively to the book to market). This means that these factors do a good job isolating the firm-specific components of returns (Fama and French 1993, 1995, 1996 and 2000). 8 See Fama and French (1993) for a precise description of the construction of SMBt and HMLt. The Sharp Ratio (1966): The Sharp ratios (1966) calculate the ratio of the average excess return and the return standard deviation of the fund that is being evaluated. As such it measures the excess return per unit of risk. Assuming all asset returns to be normally distributed, the CAPM tells us that in equilibrium the highest attainable Sharpe ratio is that of the market index. In more general terms, the market indexà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s sharp ratio represents the set of return distributions that is obtained when statically combining the market index with cash. With the market index being highly diversified, these distributions offer the highest achievable expected return for every possible standard deviation (Gaurav S. Amin and Harry M.Kat (2002), Hedge fund performance 1990-2000). Jensenà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s Alpha (1968): Jensenà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s alpha was introduced in Jensen (1968) and equals the intercept of the regression: (Rh-Rf)= ÃŽÂ ± + ÃŽÂ ² (Ri- Rf) + eh, Where Rh is the fund return, Rf is the risk free rate and Ri is the total return on the market index. Like the Sharpe ratio, Jensenà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s alpha is rooted in the CAPM. According to the CAPM, in equilibrium all (portfolios of) assets with the same beta will offer the same expected return, any positive deviation therefore indicates superior performance (Gaurav S. Amin and Harry M.Kat (2002), Hedge fund performance 1990-2000). Capital Asset Pricing Model: The first performance model that will be used is a capital asset pricing based single index model (CAPM). This model developed by Sharpe (1964) and Linter (1965) is the oldest performance evaluation model. Its formula is the following: Rpt à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å" Rft = ÃŽÂ ±p + ÃŽÂ ²p (Rmt-Rft) + ept t= 1,2,, T Where, Rpt= return of fund p in month t, Rft= risk free return on month t, Rmt= return of the market portfolio on month t, ept= the error term, ÃŽÂ ±p and ÃŽÂ ²p= the intercept and the slope of the regression estimated. The intercept of this equation, ÃŽÂ ±p commonly called Jensenà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s alpha (1968) is usually interpreted as a measure of out or under performance relative to the market proxy used. There are several extension of this model have been developed like- the Breeden (1979) intertemporal CAPM or the Ferson and Schadt (1996) CAPM that allows time variation in the expected returns and the risk (Capocci Daniel 2001, An analysis of hedge fund performance 1984- 2000). 4. Data Preparation: For data preparation my first step will be to collect the monthly data of the hedge fund index, FTSE 100 and SP 500. For my data collection I will use some sources like- Credit Suisse/ Tremont Hedge Fund Index (CSTHFI hereafter) which is an appropriate representative of the entire hedge fund industry, there are three biggest database of hedge fund in the world these are Managed Account Reports (MAR), Hedge Fund Research, Inc (HFR) and TASS Management (TASS). These databases were the most used in academic and commercial hedge fund studies. For the FTSE 100 and SP 500 I will use yahoo finance. 4.1. Bias in Hedge fund data: According to Ackermann et al. (1999) and to Fung and Hsieh (2000), two upward biases exist in the case of hedge funds. They do not exist in the case of mutual funds, and they both have an opposite impact to the survivorship bias. Survivorship bias is an important issue in mutual funds performance studies (see Carhart and al. 2000). This bias is present when a database contains only funds that have data for the whole period studies. In this case, there is a risk of overestimating the mean performance because the funds that would have ceased to exist because of their bad performance would not be taken into account. The two upward biases exist because, since hedge funds are not allowed to advertise, they consider inclusion in a database primarily as a marketing tool. The first phenomenon stressed by Ackermann and al. (1999) and called the self-selection bias is present because funds that realize good performance have less incentive to report their performance to data providers in order to attract new investors. The second point called instant history bias or backfilled bias (Fung and Hsieh 2000) occurs because after inclusion a fundà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s performance history is backfilled. This may cause an upward bias because funds with less satisfactory performance history are less likely to apply for inclusion than funds with good performance history (Capocci Daniel 2001, An analysis of hedge fund performance 1984- 2000). To avoid these biases I will try to take all funds both living and dissolved into account. Once I have collected all the data that I need I will use SPSS to test the correlation between my two benchmarks FTSE 100 and SP 500. 5. Contingency Plan: To make my research effective I made a well constructed plan. I have drafted a project plan (Appendix A) with scheduled dates for when I intend to complete sections for submission. After completing my final exam I will jump in to this field. Advises from previous students who completed their dissertation, I made my project plan flexible to keep some things in mind like supervisorà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s holiday and any unforeseen events such as my illness. I will try to keep a good communication with my supervisor for checking that I am in right track. I plan to make some formal meetings with my supervisor to discuss my progress and I will try to inform him about the state of my work. It is hard to spending too much time over one task and going off track, I hope I will manage this if there is no rush at the very last minute. Another worry is the collecting and analysing the data, that is why I plan to collect the data early June once I have finished my research design. If I face any kind of difficulties I will inform him and make a cut-off point where I should stop searching the board data and start my own primary data. As I do all SPSS classes and briefly touched about this, I think it will be easy to analyze the data but I need to increase a bit of use of control on it by practicing more. So I will set aside time for collecting data and practice more SPSS for regression analysis. I hope if all these go well, I will make my dissertation very effectively.