Wednesday, July 31, 2019

Rjft Organizational Management Task 2

Organizational Management RJFT2 Task 2 A1. The Utah Symphony was recognized as a Group II orchestra. Group I and Group II are distinguished by the endowment amount and level of annual expenditures. For the year of 2001-2002, the average endowment for Group I orchestras was around $76 million and $8. 8 million for Group II orchestras. The Utah Symphony came in just shy of $12. 2 million in 2000-2001 and was projected to be upwards of $13. 7 million for 2001-2002. That being said, the Utah Symphony was considered to be at the top end of Group II symphony orchestras in the United States (Ager & Delong, 2005).However, even with these strengths within the symphony, prior to the proposed merger of the two organizations, the Utah Symphony’s financial state was declining. There were several factors due to the weak financial state. The musicians were part of a union, which negotiated a contract requiring high salaries, benefits and annual pay increases, which would cause the organizati ons expenses to increase. So, while revenue was projected to increase, this was offset by the increase in expenses. The cash balance was $116,308 in fiscal year 2000-2001 and projected at $2,042 for the following year, yet another financial weakness.In order to ensure a successful start of the merger, Anne would need to would need to come up with a plan. She could start by addressing the musician’s salaries. By referring to the board, as well as union leaders, Anne can learn about the requests specifications of the last negotiation. When presenting a new contract, she can influence the musicians to either take a lower wage or not to take a pay increase by showing them the income statement and explaining that the life of the organization is dependent on cutting costs and increasing revenue.Through this, she can show how the organization will not be able to operate at a surplus if expenses continue to increase, offsetting the revenue earned. Eliminating pay raises could be pres ented as a temporary fix, or worst case scenario (assuming the organization would survive on its own without the merger and the musicians would be able to keep their jobs), wages could be decreased. Through this approach, she can show them that the success of the symphony and them keeping their jobs are dependent upon each other, but changes need to be made. In response to the increasing expenses offsetting he revenues, Anne could research their fundraising opportunities to determine what it is they do well and what could be improved. She can use fundraising ideas that work for her current organization as well as from the past. As there are financial strengths and weaknesses of the Utah Symphony, that applies to leadership as well. The organizations greatest strength in leadership is with Lockhart. Lockhart is known as one of the top rated conductors and his relationship with the musicians is very healthy. They look to him to support the group when decisions are being made.While thi s is strong, the board also appreciates and respects the leader, not wanting to compromise the relationship they have with him. Strength about this group is that Scott Parker, chairman of the board, realizes the difficulties the group is facing and cares enough to do something about it. While the symphony has great leaders, there are also some weaknesses involved. It’s possible that Lockhart’s focus is geared too much on the musicians and not enough on the survival of the organization. Parker is scheduled to move to New York and will be replaced by Peterson mid-merger.This could cause some confusion or instability due to lack of initial involvement on Peterson’s part. Another weakness is that there is no CEO. This organization needs a well defined leader to succeed. Anne will obviously have some leadership obstacles to overcome to ensure the successful start of the merger. Anne will need to convince Lockhart that while it is important to have the relationships h e has with the musicians, it is important that this does not block his vision of the overall organization. He is a leader of the group and should focus on the well being of the organization.She can do this by showing Lockhart that the two (musicians and organization) are dependent upon each other, without musicians, there would be no symphony; likewise, without no symphony, there would be no jobs for the musicians. Also, with Parker moving to New York during the middle of the merger, Peterson will have some catching up to do. Anne should meet with Peterson periodically if possible before he joins the team full-time. She should also provide him updates as the process continues via face to face meetings, emails, phone calls, etc. Once he is full time, the merger should be his primary focus.Anne should also introduce him to Bill Bailey so that he can gather input from someone at the same level. In addition to that, Ewers should request ongoing open communication with Parker as a refere nce to help ensure the start of the merger is secure. A2. Unlike the financial and leadership status of the symphony, the opera appears to be in a much healthier state. Financially, the total revenue and contributions totaling approximately $5 million far outweighs expenses, leaving a surplus of $582,409 in fiscal year 2000-2001 and is projected to continue the same trend in the following year.Not only do they have a solid surplus, the opera is also financially stable in terms of assets. The large costume inventory and 2. 9 acres of land accumulate to roughly $4. 8 million in assets. Due to the strong financial state, no weaknesses were identified. In order to maintain the organization’s current financial state, Anne should be proactive and continue to coordinate fundraising, and seek funding through other areas. If the merger were to take place, the amount of performances would increase, boosting attendance and sales as well as overall revenue. Just as the financial state of the opera is healthy, the leadership is as well.Anne has brought with her many accomplishments throughout her past experiences. While holding the general director position of Boston Lyric Opera, she was able to retire a $450,000 debt that was passed on to her from her predecessor. While there, she also built an endowment fund as well as increasing the number of productions from one to three. Anne also held the role of assistant director of both the San Francisco Opera and Canadian Opera Company. Within the USA and internationally, she has had the opportunity to act as stage director for more than 60 opera productions.During her 11 year tenure at UOC, she grew the organization’s annual budget from $1. 5 million to $5 million. Anne has a record of being successful at fundraising and is admired by both the opera and symphony boards. With this strong leadership, Anne will have lots of insight on how to address situations that come her way, based on her previous experience. The o ne weakness that is displayed is the resignation of Leslie Peterson. Leslie is the daughter of Glade Peterson, founder of the opera and is director of operations.Due to her disagreeing on the direction that the management is taking and her concerns about the merger, she resigned. To ensure a successful start of the merger, Anne has a few options. If the organization values Leslie and doesn’t want to see her go, Anne could meet with her and explain the plans for the merger. She could reassure Peterson that what her father built would remain the foundation of the organization going forward as it is built upon. Another direction Ewers could take would be to promote someone from within or hire a new addition to the team to replace Peterson.By replacing her, someone with a positive, supportive attitude that is excited and eager about the new merger would be a good fit for the combined groups. Anne could even look at replacing her with someone from the symphony to gain further trus t and respect from that group. With very little leadership weakness, this is one less thing Anne has to worry about. A3. The Utah Symphony could be considered as having a combination of two different cultures, create- looking to grow and expand, and collaborative- having an extended family feel.However, the collaborative culture best fits this organization. In organizations like this, employees work closely with one another. Employees can look to their leaders as supportive figures and feel fulfilled and safe with the work they do (Kelly, 2010). An example of this is Keith Lockhart and his relationship between the musicians and the board. Keith’s primary concern is the musicians. The business review also stated that the board would ultimately not move forward with the merger if Keith did not approve (Ager & Delong, 2005).The analysis of the scorecard is as follows: 1. Financial: The goal is to be financially stable and profitable by maintaining the same ticket price but incre asing fundraising to be able to do so and measuring this by profitability. This addresses their financial weakness as listed above (by remaining profitable, the 83 symphony members will be able to keep their jobs). In regards to their organizational culture, this supports collaborative culture, securing and supporting musician positions. 2.Customer: The goal is to meet customer wants and demands of seeing world-class performers appear and the organization can make this happen by hiring the top notch talent. To measure if they are successful at this, they will gather reviews and feedback from customers to gauge how well they are meeting demands. Through constructive feedback, the symphony will know if they are reaching their goal and delivering what customers want. Positive feedback will assure the group that their goals are being reached. The Utah Symphony envisions being world class and this is compliant with the vision. . Internal Process: Through the renegotiation of contracts wi th the musicians, their goal is to have some flexibility in decreasing expenses. The organization can measure this through the improvement of profitability. This was addressed earlier as a financial weakness and noted that if Anne is able to renegotiate contracts the organization would benefit financially. 4. Learning and Growth: The goal here is to offer a wider variety of symphonies to appeal to different audiences. This can be done by marketing towards those targeted groups, advertising symphonies of interest.An increase in ticket sales and returning audience is how this will be measured. While this exact scenario wasn’t listed above, it does reflect on the overall financial weakness and addresses the reducing the weakness by increasing profitability. All areas of this scorecard help address the financial weakness of the symphony and how to help alleviate it. In regards to the leadership weaknesses, the scorecard does not directly address them, but in the event they move f orward with the merger, they (leadership weaknesses) will be addressed then.The Utah Opera’s vision is to become a nationally renowned opera house by improving the quality of performances and increasing endowment funds. A complete organizational culture would best describe this organization. Complete cultures bring a results-driven environment and focus on success and reputation (Kelly, 2010). The culture differs from that of the symphony because the performers are not employed full time here, therefore lacking the extended family aspect as seen with the musicians. The analysis of the scorecard is as follows: 1.Financial: Through raising additional funds and realizing endowments, the groups’ goal is to be financially stable and obtain an increasing reserve fund. This goal will be measured by improving the reserve fund amount. As stated earlier, the financial stability of the opera is healthy and this shows one of the strengths of the group. 2. Customer: By excelling in the quality of performances and increasing patron attendance to full capacity or nearly selling-out, the goal of having regionally and nationally acclaimed opera performances will be reached.This will increase ticket sales, resulting in an increase profit. Through this increased attraction, investments will increase, maintaining the organizations’ strength of being financially sound. 3. Internal Process: The goal to maintain financial stability and to attract top talent is dependent on successful negotiations with the top performers. Customer reviews and profitability are measurements of this process. Top talent performances will increase ticket sales and will also allow the organization to grow both nationally and internationally through these popular performers.The boards’ vision will come to fruition in the event that this goal is met. 4. Learning and Growth: Setting this goal of 5 high-quality performances per year relies on measuring the endowment fund growth and increasing ticket sales. This can be measured by covering capital need by revenue from the ticket sales. With the growing group, individuals will be more likely to invest, adding to the groups’ financial strength yet again. In terms of the Utah Opera, all four aspects of this scorecard focus on strengthening their existing financial stability. This will help achieve the goals and vision the group has set.While the financial strengths are established in the scorecard, the leadership weaknesses are not addressed. However, the leadership weakness did not exist in the individual organization until the merger was made public and Peterson resigned, and therefore does not require being addressed. B. Merged Company Balanced Scorecard: The vision of the new company is to attract top performers while providing quality performances, being noted as a successful merged opera/symphony combination following the merger and maintaining a profitable organization while doing so. 1. Financial: Strategic Goal- Secure financial stability throughout the entire organization * Critical Success Factor- Maintain funding through opera patrons and increase the symphony’s through endowments and fundraising * Measure- Recognizing an overall increase in Surplus of the combined groups from one fiscal year to the next 2. Customer: * Strategic Goal- Through combining the opera and symphony, become known nationally (and internationally if possible) as one of the first successful at accomplishing this merger, therefore bringing in top talent that draws a wider range of performance- goers * Critical Success Factor- Recruiting op rated performers that viewers would be interested in seeing and that would bring extra attention to the organization * Measure- The organization would see performance attendees and ticket sales both increase 3. Internal Process: * Strategic Goal- Having revenue far exceed expenses, leaving a much larger surplus * Critical Success Factor- Negotiating new cont racts with the union for the musicians to hold off on pay raises and/or reduce salaries.Also, increasing fundraising and endowments * Measure- Successful increase in funding (endowments and fund-raising) as well as successful contract negotiations, reflected by an increased surplus 4. Learning and Growth: * Strategic Goal- Diversifying performances to attract different genres * Critical Success Factor- Making each performance unique and different from the last to attract different performance- goers * Measure- Gauge first time audience attendee by survey upon exiting performance and gather feedback C.When reviewing the proposed merged company, there will be some strengths and weaknesses of the new organization pertaining to each aspect of the scorecard as follows: 1. Financial: Historically, Anne has been successful in maintaining a healthy financial state of the opera. She exceeds in fundraising and attracting new endowments and is reflected in the surplus shown in Exhibit 3 (Ager & Delong, 2005). However, the weakness of the proposed merged company is the lack of a healthy financial state for the symphony. While their revenue appears much larger than that of the opera, so are expenses.Through the addition of the symphony, the financial state will decrease the strength of the opera, in turn weakening the overall financial state. The contract negotiations and work to increase endowments and fundraising will help alleviate this weakness. 2. Customer: When combining the two groups, they will have a greater ability to bring in more well known special performers. This potentially will bring in new patrons. However, through this strength, also comes a weakness- they would need to figure out how to attract these new customers to get them to the performances.This could be resolved through advertisement and support of community involvement. From being involved with the community, they will have the opportunity to hear what patrons would like to see, and gauge performa nces based on interest. 3. Internal Process: The strength as the combined group is that they will be much more capable of offering a wider variety of arts. With the management team they have and past challenges they have accomplished, the two groups together will be able to succeed in things on a larger scale.The one weakness to having such a strong internal process is not having enough funding to support efforts. As mentioned above, funding issues can be resolved through contract negotiations, increased endowment contributions and fundraising. 4. Learning and Growth: Together, as one organization, they will be able to grow through recruiting top rated talent for performances and learn what it is that their customers want to see. While this is growing, the slight weakness they will encounter is the time it takes for the economy to rebound and for sales to start increasing.D. During the merger process, a few highly probable issues could arise in finance, human resources, and customer satisfaction. Financially, the opera is sound. However they will more than likely become reduced due to the fact that they will have to help make up for the lack of financial stability of the symphony. Eventually, this can be resolved through contract negotiations with the musicians, increased fundraising and endowments, and through the economic rebound, allowing more viewers to attend performances.In regards to human resources, an issue will probably arise when Ewers approaches the union to re-negotiate contracts. While both the organization and the musicians are dependent upon each other, some sort of agreement will have to be worked out and the human resources department will need to be involved. Finally, with all of the skepticism brewing in the community of combining the two groups, there will more than likely be some contributors that will be hesitant to continue donating their normal contributions.While it will be a difficult challenge to overcome, the new organization can r ectify the situation by bringing in top rated performers as soon as possible that support the growth and excitement of the newly combined group. References Ager, David L. & Delong, Thomas J. , â€Å"Utah Symphony and Utah Opera: A Merger Proposal† August 8, 2005, Harvard Business Review Kelly, The Types of Organizational Culture, May 4, 2010 retrieved March 10, 2013 from http://blorgtheory. com/2010/05/04/the-types-of-organizational-culture/

Tuesday, July 30, 2019

Childhood and Pg

How did Eddie die and why did he put himself in such danger? (pg. 15) he got smashed by a fiberglass cart from the drop nd to save a little girl Today is Eddie's Birthday (#1) What decade in the 1900s was Eddie born? (pg. 19) in the 1920s Chapter 2: The Journey Did Eddie die trying to save the little girl? (pg. 21) Did Eddie save the little girl? (pg. 1) yes, we dont know Why do you think Eddie doesn't feel worry or pain?Explain your answer. (pg. 22)its a earthly feeling Today is Eddie's Birthday (#2)How old is Eddie? And what is his party like? (pgs. 23-25)eddie is 5 it was fun with cake and he whore a cowboy costume Chapter 3: The Arrival Where does Eddie wake up? How is it different from what he remembered at the end of his life? (pgs. 26-27) ruby pier, old rides are still there How is Eddied different? What can he do that he hadn't done (or been able to do) for years? (pgs. 27-28) he can run At the end of the chapter, who is waiting for Eddie? (pg. 31). the blue man Chapter 4: Th e First Person Eddie Meets in Heaven Why does Eddie feel like a child? pg. 32) Hes back at his childhood place Where does the Blue Man tell Eddie he is? (pg. 34) In Heavan Why isn't Eddie happy with the answer? (pg. 34) He didnt want to believe it, he doesnt think that place is heavan According to the Blue Man, what is the purpose of heaven and how does it tie into the title: The Five People You Meet in Heaven? (pg. 35) (important to the novel's theme) To explain your life on earth What killed the Blue Man? (pg. 36) Eddie did. Based upon what you know about Eddie thus far, how do you think the Blue Man's evelation about who killed him affected Eddie?Explain your answer. yes he felt guilty Today is Eddie's Birthday (#3)Based upon what happened in this section, who is braver: Eddie or Joe? Explain why. He gets the ball nd Joe runs off like a little Describe the Blue Man's childhood. Why doesn't his father care for him? (pgs. 39-40) he was shy and fidgety, He was ashamed of him for emb arassing him Why is the Ruby Pier in the 1920s the Blue Man's heaven? (pg. 42) he felt accepted Today is Eddie's Birthday (#4) Where does Eddie unwillingly go on his 8th birthday? he had to Childhood and Pg By hhectr64

Monday, July 29, 2019

Discuss Ji-li Jiangs conflict between her support of communist ideals Essay

Discuss Ji-li Jiangs conflict between her support of communist ideals and her support of friends and family - Essay Example Factories and businesses came to a halt. The break out of violence and injustice was becoming more and more common. And perhaps worst of all, families were being broken up, members were being forced to betray and turn on one another, former friends and neighbors were turning away and abandoning those who became victims of the chaos to their pitiful fate. Ji-li, the protagonist is a twelve year old 'golden girl' of Communist China. She is clever, pretty and popular in school. Her very name means 'lucky and beautiful' (Ji-li Jiang:1) in Chinese and it appears as though the careful thought paid by her parents in naming her predicted her fate accurately. She loved China and the Communist party. 'Heaven and earth are great, but greater still is the kindness of the Communist Party; father and mother are dear, but dearer still is Chairman Mao' (Ji-li Jiang:2) However, all of this disappeared like a shattering window when Chairman Mao' Cultural Revolution turned everything Ji-li held dear onto its head. One of the central targets of the new regime was the idea of the 'four olds' (Ji-li Jiang :28-29) which China's society must be purged of. The things that used to be respected and valued have become things of ridicule. When her family is targeted and her home ransacked, Ji-li realizes that her place in the world has changed completely. Everything she used to be proud of has become a liability to be ashamed of and to hide. Even her family, which used to occupy the center of her life and form the foundation of her belief and support of the Communist ideology is now a great danger to her wellbeing. Her family is a firm part and example of the 'four olds,' old ideas, old cultures, old customs and old habits. Being part of this family and this class makes Ji-li a target and a victim in the new society. Evidence of her paternal grandfather's past reveals him, and thus his whole family, as 'filthy capitalists' and perhaps worse, as landlords. In the context of China's economic history, this revelation is a disaster. For the next three years her family become outcasts. They are labeled as members of tainted class. Ji-li and her siblings, being the children of capitalists and full members of their class become 'black whelps' and are spared none of the hardships and tortures of the rest of their family. They become pariahs, reviled by friends and neighbors, with no where to go and no one to turn to. While her mother's health deteriorates and her family begins to collapse all around her, Ji-li's father is taken to prison and the family become even more condemned and isolated. The ugly characteristics of the new regime, that causes students to renounce unpopular teachers and parents to fear their own children's condemnation become ever more apparent. (Ji-li Jiang:265-272 epilogue) In a strange way however, this trial of her family, brings Ji-li closer to her family than she ever could have become had none of it happened. She is marked as a member of her family, and must bare this mark everywhere she goes and with everyone she meets. The situation is analogous to that of the Jews during the holocaust who reported becoming more Jewish and having their identity cemented by the ordeal and common hardship they experienced together. Ji-li know's she is a part of her family in a way perhaps more real than most people ever experience. She is

Sunday, July 28, 2019

Environmental Analysis HTC Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words - 17

Environmental Analysis HTC - Essay Example Hence a strategic plan has been suggested in this study which could address this particular issue concerning the organization. The strategic implementation plan has also been recommended which can help HTC revive its position in the market and lead to increased revenue generation and profitability in the long run. This study entails formulating a strategic plan for HTC Corporation. The company engages itself in the business of designing, manufacturing and marketing Smartphone that is based on the Android operating system developed by Google and Windows operating system developed by Microsoft (â€Å"Company Profiles for HTC Corp (2498)†). The strategic plan and its implementation process have been discussed after analyzing the internal and external environmental factors affecting the organization. Environmental analysis of HTC Corp. refers to the various internal and external factors having an impact on the business activities carried out by the company. SWOT analysis can be used as an effective strategic tool to analyze the internal and external factors associated with the organization (Williams, Champion, and Hall 108). The primary objective of using the SWOT analysis is to uncover the opportunities, strengths, threats, and weaknesses of the company. The SWOT analysis of HTC Corp. is presented below: A. Strengths: The research and development (R & D) capabilities of HTC is immense. The company has been involved in investments related to enhancing its R & D capabilities on a consistent basis since its inception. A significant portion of the revenues generated by the company accounts for R & D investments made by the company. Moreover, R & D professionals constitute most of the employees working in the organization.

Power Tactics and Sources of Power Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Power Tactics and Sources of Power - Assignment Example Charles was trained to take over from the father since childhood, and he portrayed traits of a great Chief Executive. The training through life involved strict and sometimes harsh treatment from his father that hardened him. Their mother, Mary somewhat protected Bill and David, who were twins. David was athletic and competitive and grew up to be the perfect business partner for Charles. Bill, on the other hand, was the jealous type, always picking fights with David since childhood and often losing. He grew up to be a threat to Charles’s peace, taking Koch industries through strenuous legal proceedings. The brothers owned percentages of Koch industries, each with his shares (Schulman, 2014). Both Charles and Bill Koch had power in Koch Industries. Charles’ sources of power included reward power whereby he was handed the mantle of CEO by his father having been trained since childhood. The father had earlier lost hope in his eldest son Frederick, who was mostly involved in art and theater. Charles also had legitimate power in Koch Industries being the legal CEO. Therefore, he was in charge of many key decisions made within the company and also directed management of funds regardless of how happy or angry others would be with the cash distribution. Charles was well educated in terms of business and market and therefore had expert power which saw him, together with the help of other business partners, grow Koch Industries. Bill’s sources of power included the coercive power that he gained by threatening Charles to make Koch Industries public if he did not meet his demands. These threats were tabled to Charles in writing and got him shaken for some time. Bill always wanted liquidity of assets so that he could benefit from the riches he only had in paper. He even tried to convince Frederick, who had lesser shares in the company to join his course. Bill also had legitimate power in that he owned slightly over twenty

Saturday, July 27, 2019

Introduction to Philosophy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Introduction to Philosophy - Essay Example The next part in Plato’s model is ‘belief’. At that part, reality or ‘truth’ is made based on one’s superstition, views of reality, and actual objects. Belief is an emotional state that becomes a part of an individual because of the powerful influences of culture, religion, or any widely believed aspect of the period. Beliefs that are based on religion are impossible to challenge because knowledge is strongly tied by the influences of religion. A person’s belief in heaven and hell and the presence of saints are some examples of knowledge at this part. The third stage is ‘scientific knowledge’. This stage is shown by mathematical formula, research, and empirical data. Some examples are medicine, law of inertia, gravity, and so on. The top part of knowledge is ‘reasoning’, defined as the rational combination of all forms of knowledge. The vertical line from the lowest stage to the highest one shows that there is a certain extent of knowledge gain at every stage, but as the line moves from the bottom kinds of truth to the top, there is a related movement from the lowest level of reality to the highest. The line is broken up into two very different parts. The higher and bigger part is a symbol for the intelligible area and the lower, smaller part is a symbol for the visible part. This unbalanced separation represents the lower level of truth as located in the visible part in comparison to the higher reality in the intelligible domain. As shown in the earlier diagram, the lowest kind of knowledge is ‘eikasia’ (imagination). Imagination is the shallowest kind of brain work where the mind deals with impression or the least level of truth. Obviously, imagining may refer to the act outside plain appearances of objects to their inner truth. However, Plato defines imagining as the senses view of appearances i n which such appearances are understood as the truth. On the other hand,

Friday, July 26, 2019

Down Syndrome Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Down Syndrome - Research Paper Example In this assignment the particular emphasis would be on translocation as it occurs in Downs’ Syndrome. Downs’ Syndrome is also known as trisomy 21 in which the process of translocation occurs on the chromosome number 21. This essay would further revolve around Downs’ Syndrome putting forward each and every aspect that is important in understanding the syndrome. Translocation In order to understand the basics of Down syndrome one has to know enough about the structural abnormality of translocation. Translocation is a process in which the whole segment of a chromosome is exchanged by another chromosome. In other words a part of chromosome is exchanged with another part of another chromosome. There are two types of translocations known as reciprocal translocations and Robertosonian translocations. Reciprocal translocation takes place when segments are exchanged between nonhomologous pairs of chromosomes. Reciprocal translocation usually does not cause any disease or symptom but it may cause leukemia. However in some cases this type of translocation leads to abnormal fertilization and hence abnormal birth. Robertosonian translocations are the ones which are more lethal and occur between two acrocentric chromosomes. The acrocentric chromosomes break near the centromere or the middle part of the chromosome and then join together in such a way that the p arm of the chromosome is lost. This type of translocation occurs in many different types of syndromes and can cause a profound effect on the individual. Trisomy 21 or Down syndrome is a cause of Robertosonian translocation and has a profound effect on the individual (Sadler 2009; Ugazio et al 1990) Prevalence of Down syndrome Down syndrome has been seen as a major chromosomal disorder occurring in the United States. The incidence of Down syndrome found in the newborns of United States is 1 in 700. The problem is further aggravating as the genetic problem has yet not been provided with any cure. The problem of Down syndrome has increased over decades and this has been proved by a research carried out by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Although women choose to end pregnancies with trisomy 21 it is still seen that the genetic problem is on the increase. It was also found that mothers with an age over 35 were more prone to the problem than the mothers who were below that age. Although the problem has been accounted to the maternal age it is still seen that the birth trends move women to give birth at an older age. The CDC reported an increase from 9 infants per 10,000 births to 11.8 in 10 diverse states of the United States of America. However on the other hand the prevalence of Down syndrome has remained steady in the United Kingdom. Prenatal diagnosis and other methods have also helped mothers to get over the problems that are associated with the syndrome. It was estimated that around 92 percent of the mothers choose abortion when they found that the embryo had trisomy 21 (James 2009). History of Down syndrome Although much has become known about Down syndrome in the recent centuries it is analyzed that the syndrome dates back to the 16th century. The condition could not be recognized in those times until finally in 1866 when Doctor John Langdon Down found about it. He analyzed that many of the children that he was treating shared certain characteristics. Before the syndrome was identified

Thursday, July 25, 2019

Why do people choose to take Complementary Medicines and Therapies Essay

Why do people choose to take Complementary Medicines and Therapies - Essay Example Here the emphses re rther different. While mny of the topics my seem fmilir from the policy driven gend-regultion, the evidence bse, use of CM by generl prctitioners (GPs), nurses nd others-they re treted in very different wy. ssumptions re chllenged; motives nd strtegies re explored. CM is first nd foremost exmined s topic worthy of study in its own right, s historiclly specific socil product. Phenomen re studied in their socil context. It is this sociologicl rther thn policy-driven strting point tht underpins this study. While the reserch covered herein my provide insights of prcticl benefits, tht is not usully its fundmentl purpose. I have to express my thankfulness to people who participated in my research. They were of great help as through the interviews I conducted it became possible to complete the research. I am also acknowledged to my professor, Mr INSERT THE NAME, who instructed me during composition of my thesis. Also I have to mention my wife/parents, who helped through writing and research. I feel honoured to know such great people and am happy that this topic is of such a broad interest. Complementry nd lterntive medicine (CM) is now mjor prt of the helthcre system in ll dvnced societies. It is lso common prt of discourse in medicine nd helthcre. This growth of interest hs only prtilly been mtched by cdemic study of it. Indeed, over recent yers there hs been n incresing recognition tht CM is essentilly under-reserched (House of Lords 2000). However, with this recognition hs come n incresing concentrtion on prticulr form of reserch-tht gered towrds the production of n evidence bse nd/or n immedite relevnce to policy nd prctice. There ws n extrordinry growth in the use of complementry nd lterntive therpies nd medicines (CM) in the ltter hlf of the twentieth century in Europe, ustrli, Cnd nd the US (Ernst 2000; Sks 2001; Wootton nd Sprber 2001). This pper sets out some of the explntions tht hve been presented to help understnd this extrordinry growth nd, wherever possible, exmines empiricl studies to evlute, modify or extend those explntions The globl extent of the growth nd the globl chnge in sttus nd nomenclture mens tht the reson for the chnges cn not be found by exmining specific country's helthcre systems. Nor cn it be found by exmining helth providers or even by looking t people who re sick. Sick people do turn to CM, but the dys when doctors could dismiss lterntive medicine s the lst refuge of the terminlly ill re long

Wednesday, July 24, 2019

DISCUSSION AND REPLY TO A DISCUSSION( 4th year Nursing course) Essay - 1

DISCUSSION AND REPLY TO A DISCUSSION( 4th year Nursing course) - Essay Example The article also attempts to determine the extent to which formal FPDR policies exist in hospitals, and the level of awareness among the nurses there. Thus, the article has a great utility to the practicing nurses as it explicates salient issues about the practice of FPDR identified by nurses who responded to the qualitative portion of the survey. The conclusions of the study have great implications for the practice of nurses who experience family presence during resuscitation. "The practice of FPDR impacts both family members and members of the resuscitation team. Nurses weigh these impacts when considering whether or not to bring family members to the bedside." (McClement, Fallis, and Pereira, 2009). According to the findings of the study, the majority of critical care nurses support FPDR which suggests that the formal policies in hospitals to facilitate this process. Therefore, the article provides illumining insights into the nurse's perspective in regards to the presence of fami ly members during resuscitation and it also deals with benefits and risks of FPDR for family members and health care professionals.

Tuesday, July 23, 2019

Is Monogamy a More Sustainable Relationship Style than Polyamory Research Paper

Is Monogamy a More Sustainable Relationship Style than Polyamory - Research Paper Example However, the circumstances are rapidly changing and the institution of marriage has been brought into great disrepute by the rising number of divorces worldwide. This has raised the question of whether monogamy is still relevant in the modern times or people should instead embrace the various forms of non-monogamous relationship styles such as polyamory (Barker, 2005). On this backdrop, this paper seeks to determine whether monogamy is a more sustainable relationship style than polyamory. The paper proposes and roots for polyamory and more specifically egalitarian polyamory as the most sustainable relationship style in the prevailing circumstances. Monogamy is the relationship style where a person has one spouse. For so long, monogamy has been upheld by the Western culture as the ideal and the right relationship style (Gourdreau, 2012). Strassberg (2003) asserts that the most significant benefit of monogamy is fidelity. The partners in the relationship uphold sexual faithfulness. Sexual fidelity implies that neither spouse could get into a sexual interaction that potentially makes the other partner feel uncomfortable (Goudreau, 2012). The emphasis is thus on sexual, emotional and spiritual exclusivity with the spouse. Monogamy has, however, come under close scrutiny in the recent past due to the increased cases of divorce. It is estimated that around 53% of marriages in the US end up in divorce before the fifth year of marriage (Mitchell, Bartholomew and Cobb, 2014). According to Ashbee (2007), a significant percentage of these divorces are grounded on sexual infidelity. Furthermore, incidences of cheating scandals among celebrities, political and power elites have also increased remarkably. Monogamy has, thus, showed that it is less sustainable in contemporary times where people are demanding to get their needs satisfied be it by a single or multiple partners. Given the evident

Monday, July 22, 2019

Gathering Blue Essay Example for Free

Gathering Blue Essay Kira was born into a world ruled by the Council of Guardians, which spared her life when she was but an infant and her mother and her mother’s father—who was the chief guardian—pleaded with them to spare her life instead. Now that her mother has died, her father eaten by beasts before she was born, and her possessions taken to an aggressive woman named Vandara, Kira wonders about her future and her life now, being alone. However, because of her special, magical talent in artwork and needlecraft, Jamison of the Council of Guardians looks at her with favor, offering her a special place and task of keeping and designing the Singer’s robe. On the other hand, her young friend, Thomas, whose parents have also departed, and who has a special talent in woodwork, would take care of keeping the Singer’s staff. An old woman, Annabella, helps and teaches Kira in the art of dyeing. However, Annabella dies right after Kira hears beasts in the forest, and Kira and Matt suspect that maybe their parents died under the direction of the Council of Guardians, especially after Matt hears a frightened girl named Jo crying from the Edifice of the Guardians. By the time of the Gathering, Thomas follows Kira to her room where the former has prepared a special gift to her—her father whom she thought was already deceased; yet her father narrates that he was blinded right after Jamison, his political rival, struck him from behind and then left him for dead. Kira leaves the village to start a new life with her father. Theme: At first it appears that people who are born with a defect or an illness can never help the society, but the opposite appears to be true: children of imperfection can also possess special talents that make them unique and valuable to the society. Personal Response: Writer Lois Lowry is a magnificent writer I understood perfectly how it is to be despised in a community where defects and imperfection are enough reasons to be neglected and left to die. I enjoyed reading the vivid scenes, but the part I enjoyed most is when Kira meets her father, who appeared to be a blind man struck by Jamison, whom I did not suspect would be anything but good. Lois Lowry has a talent in bringing suspense to the fullest, making the reader jump in anticipation to another scene that would be anything except boring. It made me think that culture and traditions have a way of ruling people especially children. Instead of helping people out, certain old traditions are taking their life out. Extension Ideas: What do you think are the talents that you possess? Express it with the use of art. Do you have certain talents that, you believe, should be honored and harnessed? Make a list of them and then classify them if they are under the weak, medium, or strong categories. Kira tried her best to fight for her life and her rights. What do you think would you have done if you were put on Kira’s shoes? At the end of the story, Jamison is left in his world, while Kira and her father leaves and searches for a new and better world. What would you do to Jamison if you were one of the members of the Council of Guardians? Explain in the form of a narrati

Othello Essay Example for Free

Othello Essay In the play Othello written by Shakespeare, the issue of racism is addressed. Othello, the protagonist of the play, is African American or black. â€Å"According to Lois Whitney, many of Othello’s specific attributes probably derive from Shakespeare’s reading of Leo Africanus, whose Geographical Historie of Africa which was translated and published in London in 1600†(Berry, 1990). Many critics have different views on this. â€Å"If Shakespeare depended upon Leo Africanus for such details, he must have been much more interested in racial psychology than critics such as Bradley or Heilman suggest†(Berry, 1990). One of the most prominent features of this Shakespeare play is the numerous references to Othellos skin color made by multiple characters however some critics tend to ignore or underplay the issue of Othello’s race. Many critics have different views and arguments on Othello’s skin color. â€Å"A. C. Bradley, fro example, asserts that in regards to the essentials of his character Othello’s race is unimportant, and that Shakespeare would have laughed if anyone had congratulated him on the accuracy of his racial psychology† (Skura 2008). Others differ and believe Othello’s race was important. â€Å"Laurence Lemer calls Othello the story of a barbarian who relapses and concludes that Shakespeare suffered from colour prejudice† (Berry, 1990). Throughout the play Othello is referred to as a Moor. Moor is a term meaning a descent from Africa. â€Å"Harold Clarke Goddard argues that Othello is neither a Negro nor a Moor but any many who is more beautiful within than he is without† (Skura, 2008). Some critics even put the audience of the play into consideration. The potential impact of his physical appearance upon audiences is suggested by Charles Lamb’s frank admission that although he could find Othello admirable in the reading he was only repelled by the figure of a coal-black Moor on stage, he concluded that the play should rather be read and not seen† (Berry, 1990). Many critics have tended to ignore or underplay the issue of Othello’s skin color, but these select critics have not. Along with critics making references to Othello’s race, many characters in the play do as well. The characters that are most racist refer to Othello by his real name less than the people who are least racist. â€Å"Othello’s blackness is not only a mark of his physical alienation but a symbol, to which every character in the play himself included must respond† (Berry, 1990). Othello does not refer to himself as African but rather as an exotic Venetian. Other characters do not see Othello as that. Many characters call Othello numerous names other than his real one. â€Å"For Iago Othello is an old black ram, the devil, and a barbary horse† (Berry, 1990). Many see Othello’s blackness as a symbol of ugliness, bestiality, treachery, and demonic. None of those words describe how Othello really is. Those words are the stereotypical definition of what a black man is. This stereotypical definition puts Othello is a predicament and makes his acceptance in the Venetian society difficult. â€Å"Once such critics conclude that Othello is not a stereotype, he tends to lose his individuality as a Moor and to become a representative of humanity† (Berry, 1990). The stereotypical image of a black man plays an important role in the play’s ending. Since this play is a tragedy and Othello is a tragic hero, his blackness does play a role in that. A tragic hero is the protagonist in a tragedy. This play is a tragedy considering Othello commits murder and ultimately takes his own life. â€Å"Othello’s Africanness is crucial to his tragedy not because of what he is, innately or culturally but because of how he is perceived by others and himself† (Skura, 2008). If it wasn’t for Othello being black, the play may have had a different outcome. Throughout the play, Othello sees himself either as an exotic Venetian, a convert in the fullest sense, capable of complete assimilation, or he sees himself as a barbarian, worthy of destruction† (Berry, 1990). In the play Othello was worthy of destruction. It was the racism and hatred that drove him to it. If the other characters weren’t so judgmental about his skin color, the play would have ended very differently. â€Å"His failure to break free of this constricting framework, to achieve a true sense of personal identity, is one of the play’s most powerful sources of tragic feeling† (Berry, 1990). With all the commotion over Othello’s race, it really didn’t give him a chance to be himself. By him being black, it makes him feel less accepted into his society. â€Å"Othello attempts to shape an image of himself that will win acceptance in Venice† (Berry, 1990). Critics also even see how Othello’s identity is altered by the constant racial tension against him in the play. â€Å"Stephen Greenblatt argues, Othello’s identity depends upon a constant performance of his story, a loss of his own origins, an embrace and perpetual reiteration of the norms of another culture† (Greenblatt, 1990). All of this racism in the play causes Othello some serious anxiety. Anxiety is a condition that can drive an individual to do things that are out of character for them. â€Å"He cannot probe the real cause of his anxiety because to do so would be utterly destructive, leaving him with only two options: to embrace his blackness and hurl its beauty and power in the face of his enemies, as does Aaron in Titus Andronicus, or to internalize their image of him and yield to self-loathing† (Berry, 1990). Othello doesn’t really do either in the play. He let others put thoughts into his head about his wife cheating on him with another man, which led to a murder scene where he killed his wife and in the end took his own life too. â€Å"His immediate reaction to the murder thus reflects his divided image of himself: he is either doomed like all great men or destroyed by his own blackness† (Skura, 2008). Based on the evidence in the play, Othello is definitely destroyed by his own blackness. His blackness is what drove him to commit the murder and kill himself. In conclusion, Othello’s skin color is central to the play. â€Å"It is important not merely because Shakespeare portrays Othello as a Moor or because racial tension and anxiety pervade the atmosphere of Venetian society, affecting Othello’s relationship with every character and increasing his susceptibility to Iago’s appeal; it is important because Othello himself in his aspirations towards assimilation and anxieties about his blackness, internalizes a false dichotomy that can only dehumanize him† (Berry, 1990). This play does give the stereotype of black people a negative name. Many critics argue what role his race played in the play. Some think it was really important while others argue it wasn’t important at all. One of the most prominent features of this Shakespeare play is the numerous references to Othellos skin color made by multiple characters however some critics tend to ignore or underplay the issue of Othello’s race.

Sunday, July 21, 2019

Evidence from International Stock Markets

Evidence from International Stock Markets Portfolio Selection with Four Moments: Evidence from International Stock Markets Despite the international diversification suggested by several researchers (e.g. Grulbel, 1968; Levy and Sarnat, 1970; Solnik, 1974) and the increased integration of capital markets, the home bias has not decreased (Thomas et. al., 2004 and Coeurdacier and Rey, 2013) and there is no complete explanation of this puzzle. Furthermore, there are the fastgrowing concerns of investor for extreme risks[1] and the investors preference toward odd moments (e.g. mean and skewness) and an aversion toward even moments (e.g. variance and kurtosis) considered by numerous studies (e.g. Levy, 1969; Arditti, 1967 and 1971; Jurczenko and Maillet, 2006). According to these reasons, this paper propose to investigate whether the incorporation of investor preferences in the higher moments into the international asset allocation problem can help explain the home bias puzzle. The study will allow investor preferences to depend not only the first two moments (i.e. mean and variance) but also on the higher moments, such as skewness and kurtosis, by using the polynomial goal programming (PGP) approach and then generate the three-dimensional efficient frontier. The main objective of the proposed study is to investigate whether the incorporation of skewness and kurtosis into the international stock portfolio selection causes these issues: The changes in the construction of optimal portfolios, the patterns of relationships between moments, and the less diversification compared to the mean-variance model. Since several researchers (e.g. Grulbel, 1968; Levy and Sarnat, 1970; Solnik, 1974) suggest that investment in a portfolio of equities across foreign markets provide great diversification opportunities, then investors should rebalance there portfolio away from domestic toward foreign equities. However, US investors continue to hold equity portfolios that are largely dominated by domestic assets. Thomas et. al. (2004) reported that by the end of 2003 US investors held only 14 percent of their equity portfolios in foreign stocks. Furthermore, Coeurdacier and Rey (2013) also reported that in 2007, US investors hold more than 80 percent of domestic equities. Many explanations have been recommended in the literature to explain this home bias puzzle include direct barriers such as capital controls and transaction costs (e.g. Stulz, 1981; Black, 1990; Chaieb and Errunza, 2007), and indirect barriers such as information costs and higher estimation uncertainty for foreign than domestic equities (e.g. Brennan and Cao, 1997; Guidolin, 2005; Ahearne et. al., 2004). Nevertheless, several studies (e.g. Karolyi and Stulz, 1996; Lewis, 1999) suggests that these explanations are weakened since the direct costs to international investment have come down significantly overtime and the financial globalization by electronic trading increases exchanges of information and decreases uncertainty across markets. Since the modern portfolio theory of Markowitz (1952) indicates how risk-averse investors can construct optimal portfolios based upon mean-variance trade-off, there are numerous studies on portfolio selection in the framework of the first two moments of the return distributions. However, as many researchers (e.g., Kendall and Hill, 1953; Mandelbrot, 1963a and 1963b; Fama, 1965) discovered that the presence of significant skewness and excess kurtosis in asset return distributions, there is a great concern that highermoments than the variance should be accounted in portfolio selection. The motivation for the generalization to higher moments arises from the theoretical work of Levy (1969) provided the cubic utility function depending on the first three moments. Later, the empirical works of Arditti (1967 and 1971) documented the investors preference for positive skewness and aversion negative skewness in return distributions of individual stocks and mutual funds, respectively. Even Markowitz (1959) himself also supports this aspect by suggesting that a mean-semi-variance trade-off [2], which gives priority to avoiding downside risk, would be superior to the original mean-variance approach. While the importance of the first three moments was recognized, there were some arguments on the incorporation of higher moments than the third into the analysis. First, Arditti (1967) suggested that most of the information about any probability distribution is contained in its first three moments. Later, Levy (1969) argued that even the higher moments are approximately functions of the first moments, but not that they are small in magnitude. Several authors (Levy, 1969; Samuelson, 1970; Rubinstein, 1973) also recommend that in general the higher moments than the variance cannot be neglected, except when at least one of the following conditions must be true: All the higher moments beyond the first are zero. The derivatives of utility function are zero for the higher moments beyond the second. The distributions of asset returns are normal or the utility functions are quadratic. However, ample evidence (e.g., Kendall and Hill, 1953; Mandelbrot, 1963a and 1963b; Fama, 1965) presented not only the higher moments beyond the first and their derivatives of the utility function are not zero, but also the asset returns are not normally distributed. Furthermore, several researchers (Tobin, 1958; Pratt, 1964; Samuelson, 1970; Levy and Sarnat, 1972) indicate that the assumption of quadratic utility function is appropriate only when return distributions are compact. Therefore, the higher moments of return distributions, such as skewness, are relevant to the investors decision on portfolio selection and cannot be ignored. In the field of portfolio theory with higher moments, Samuelson (1970) was the first author who recommends the importance of higher moments than the second for portfolio analysis. He shows that when the investment decision restrict to the finite time horizon, the use of mean-variance analysis becomes insufficient and the higher moments than the variance become more relevant in portfolio selection. Therefore, he developed three-moment model based on the cubic utility function which expressed by Levy (1969)3. Following Samuelson (1970), number of studies (e.g. Jean, 1971, 1972 and 1973; Ingersoll, 1975; and Schweser, 1978) explained the importance of skewness in security returns, derived the risk premium as functions of the first three moments, and generated the three-dimensional efficient frontier with a risk-free asset. Later, Diacogiannis (1994) proposed the multi-moment portfolio optimization programme by minimizing variance at any given level of expected return and skewness. Consequently, Athayde and Flores (1997) developed portfolio theory taking the higher moments than the variance into consideration in a utility maximizing context. The expressions in this paper greatly simplified the numerical solutions of the multi-moment portfolio optimal asset allocation problems4. 23 Levy (1969) defines the cubic utility function as U(x) which has the form: U(x) = ax + bx + cx , where x is a random variable and a,b,c are coefficients. This function is concave in a certain range but convex in another. Jurczenko, E. and Maillet, B. (2006) Multi-Moment Asset Allocation and Pricing Models, Wiley Finance, p. xxii. Different approaches have been developed to incorporate the individual preferences for higher-order moments into portfolio optimization. These approaches can be divided into two main groups, the primal and dual approaches. The dual approach starts from a specification of the higher-moment utility function by using the Taylors series expansion to link between the utility function and the moments of the return distribution. Then, the dual approaches will determine the optimal portfolio via its parameters reflecting preferences for the moments of asset return distribution. Harvey et. al. (2004) uses this approach to construct the set of the three-moment efficient frontier by using two sets of returns[3]. The results show that as the investors preference in skewness increases, there are sudden change points in the expected utility that lead to dramatically modifications in the allocation of the optimal portfolio. Jondeau and Rockinger (2003 and 2006) and Guidolin and Timmermann (2008) extend the dual approach in portfolio selection from three- to four-moment framework. A shortcoming of this dual approach is that the Taylor series expansion may converge to the expected utility under restrictive conditions. That is for some utility functions (e.g. the exponential function), the expansion converges for all possible levels of return, whereas for some types of utility function (e.g. the logarithm-power function), the convergence of Taylor series expansion to the expected utility is ensured only over a restricted range6. Furthermore, since Taylor series expansion have an infinite number of terms, then using a finite number of terms creates the truncation error. To circumvent these problems, the primal approach parameters that used to weight the moment deviations are not relate precisely to the utility function. Tayi and Leonard (1988) introduced the Polynomial Goal Programming (PGP), which is a primal approach to solve the goal in portfolio optimization by trade-off between competing and conflicting objectives. Later, Lai (1991) is the first researcher who proposed this method to solve the multiple objectives determining the set of the mean-variance-skewness efficient portfolios. He illustrated the three-moment portfolio selection with three objectives, which are maximizing both the expected return and the skewness, and minimizing the variance of asset returns. Follows Lai (1991) who uses a sample of five stocks and a risk-free asset, Chunhachinda et. al. (1997) and Prakash et. al. (2003) examines three-moment portfolio selection by using international stock indices. Regarding the under-diversification, many studies (e.g. Simkowitz and Beedles, 1978; Mitton and Vorkink, 2004; and Briec et. al., 2007) suggested that incorporation of the higher moments in the investors objective functions can explain portfolio under-diversification. Home bias puzzle is one of the under-diversification. It is a tendency to invest in a large proportion in domestic securities, even there are potential gains from diversification of investment portfolios across national markets. Guidolin and Timmermann (2008)[4] indicate that home bias in US can be explained by incorporate the higher moments (i.e. skewness and kurtosis) with distinct bull and bear regimes in the investors objective functions. Several researchers use the primal and the dual approaches to examine the  international portfolio selection. Jondeau and Rockinger (2003 and 2006) and Guidolin and Timmermann (2008) applied the dual approaches using a higher-order Taylor expansion of the utility function. They provide the empirical evidence that under large departure from normality of the return distribution, the higher-moment optimization is more efficient than the mean-variance framework. Chunhachinda et. al. (1997) and Prakash (2003) applied the Polynomial Goal Programming (PGP), which is a primal approach, to determine the optimal portfolios of international stock indices. Their results indicated that the incorporation of skewness into the portfolio selection problem causes a major change in the allocation of the optimal portfolio and the trade-off between expected return and skewness of the efficient portfolio. Appendix 1 presents methodology and data of the previous papers that study international portfolio selection with higher moments. In the proposed study, I will extend PGP approach to the mean-variance-skewnesskurtosis framework and investigate the international asset allocation problem that whether the incorporation of investor preferences in the higher moments of stock return distributions returns can help explain the home bias puzzle. Since previous research (e.g. Levy, 1972; Singleton and Wingerder, 1986) points out that the estimated values of the moments of the asset return distribution sensitive to the choices of an investment horizon, I will examine daily, weekly, and monthly data sets in the study[5]. The sample data will consist of daily, weekly, and monthly rates of return of five international indices for all available data from January 1975 to December 2016. These five indices cover the stock markets in the main geographical areas, namely the United States, the United Kingdom, Japan, the Pacific region (excluding Japan), and Europe (excluding United Kingdom)[6]. Moreover, the study also use three-month US Treasury bill rates as the existence of the risk-free asset in order that the investor is not restricted to invest only in risky assets. The data source of these indices is the Morgan Stanley Capital International Index (MSCI) who reports these international price indices as converted into US dollar at the spot foreign exchange rate. The MSCI stock price indices and T-bill rates are available in Datastream. The methodology proposed in the study consists of two parts. First, the rate of return distribution of each international index will be tested for normality by using the Shapiro-Wilk test. Then, the PGP approach will be utilized to determine the optimal portfolio in the fourmoment framework. 4.1 Testing for normality of return distribution At the beginning of the empirical work, I will test the normality of return distributions of international stock indices and the US T-bill rates. This test provides the foundation for examine the portfolio selection problem in the mean-variance-skewness-kurtosis framework. Although several methods are developed, there is an ample evidence that the ShapiroWilk is the best choice for evaluating normality of data under various specifications of the probability distribution. Shapiro et. al. (1968) provide an empirical sampling study of the sensitivities of nine normality-testing procedures and concluded that among those procedures, the Shapiro-Wilk statistic is a generally superior measure of non-normality. More recently, Razali and Wah (2011) compared the power of four statistical tests of normality via Monte Carlo simulation of sample data generated from various alternation distributions. Their results support that Shapiro-Wilk test is the most powerful normality test for all types of the distributions and sample sizes. The Shapiro-Wilk statistic is defined as where is the i th order statistic (rate of returns), à ¢Ã¢â‚¬ ¹Ã‚ ¯ . à ¢Ã¢â‚¬ ¹Ã‚ ¯ / is the sample mean, are the expected values of the order statistics of independent and identically distributed random variables sampled from the standard normal, and V is the covariance matrix of those order statistics. Note that the values of are provided in Shapiro-Wilk (1965) table based on the order i. The Shapiro-Wilk tests the null hypothesis of normality: H0: The population is normally distributed. H1: The population is not normally distributed.    If the p-value is less than the significant level (i.e. 1%, 5%, or 10%), then the null hypothesis of normal distribution is rejected. Thus, there is statistical evidence that the sample return distribution does not came from a normally distributed population. On the other hand, if the p-value is greater than the chosen alpha level, then the null hypothesis that the return distribution came from a normally distributed population cannot be rejected. 4.2 Solving for the multi-objective portfolio problem Following Lai (1991) and Chunhachinda et. al. (1997), the multi-objective portfolio selection with higher momentscan be examined based on the following assumptions: Investors are risk-averse individuals who maximize the expected utility of their end-ofperiod wealth. There are n + 1 assets and the (n + 1)th asset is the risk-free asset. All assets are marketable, perfectly divisible, and have limited liability. The borrowing and lending rates are equal to the rate of return r on the risk-free asset. The capital market is perfect, there are no taxes and transaction costs. Unlimited short sales of all assets with full use of the proceeds are allowed. The mean, variance, skewness, and kurtosis of the rate of return on asset are assumed to exist for all risky assets for 1,2, à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ . Then, I define the variables in the analysis as = ,, à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ , be the transpose of portfolio component , where is the percentage of wealth invested in the th risky asset, = ,, à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ , be the transpose of whose mean denoted by , = the rate of return on the th risky asset, = the rate of return on the risk-free asset, = a (n x 1) vector of expected excess rates of return, = the expectation operator, = the (n x 1) vector of ones, = the variance-covariance (n x n) matrix of , = the skewness-coskewness (n x n2) matrix of ,= the kurtosis-cokurtosis (n x n3) matrix of . Then, the mean, the variance, the skewness, and the kurtosis of the portfolio returns can be defined as:[7] , , à ¢Ã…  -,[8] Kurtosis = = à ¢Ã…  - à ¢Ã…  - . Note that because of certain symmetries, only ((n+1)*n)/2 elements of the skewnesscoskewness matrix and ((n+2)*(n+1)*n)/6 elements of the kurtosis-cokurtosis matrix must be computed. The components of the variance-covariance matrix, the skewness-coskewness matrix, and the kurtosis-cokurtosis matrix can be computed as follows: à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã¢â‚¬Ëœ, à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã¢â‚¬Ëœ, à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã¢â‚¬Ëœ, à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã¢â‚¬Ëœ, à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã¢â‚¬Ëœ, à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã¢â‚¬Ëœ. Therefore, the optimal solution is to select a portfolio component . The portfolio selection can be determined by solving the following multiple objectives, which are maximizing the expected return and the skewness while minimizing the variance and the kurtosis: , , à ¢Ã…  -, = à ¢Ã…  - à ¢Ã…  - . subject to 1. Since the percentage invested in each asset is the main concern of the portfolio decision, Lai (1991) suggests that the portfolio choice can be rescaled and restricted on the unit variance space (i.e. | 1 ). Under the condition of unit variance, the portfolio selection problem with skewness and kurtosis (P1) can be formulated as follows: , à ¢Ã…  -, (P1) = à ¢Ã…  - à ¢Ã…  - , subject to 1 , 1 . Usually, the solution of the problem (P1) does not satisfy three objectives (, , ) simultaneously. As a result, the above multi-objective problem (P1) involves a two-step procedure. First, a set of non-dominated solutions independent of investors preferences is developed. Then, the next step can be accomplished by incorporating investors preferences for objectives into the construction of a polynomial goal programming (PGP). Consequently, portfolio selection by satisfying the multiple objectives that is the solution of PGP can be achieved. In PGP the objective function ( ) does not contain a portfolio component , it contains deviational variables ( , , ) which represent deviations between goals and what can be achieved, given a set of constrains. Therefore, the objective function ( ) is minimization of the deviation variables ( , , ) to determine the portfolio component . Moreover, if the goals are at the same priority level, the deviations from the goals ( , , ) are non-negative variables. Given an investors preferences among mean, skewness, and kurtosis ( , , ), a PGP model can be expressed as: . subject to à ¢Ã‹â€ - , à ¢Ã…  -à ¢Ã‹â€ - , (P2) à ¢Ã…  - à ¢Ã…  - = à ¢Ã‹â€ - , 1 , 1 , ,, 0 . where à ¢Ã‹â€ - = the extreme value of objective when they are optimized individually, then à ¢Ã‹â€ - |1 , à ¢Ã‹â€ - |1 , and à ¢Ã‹â€ - |1 , = the non-negative variables which represent the deviation of and à ¢Ã‹â€ -, = the non-negative parameters representing the investors subjective degree of preferences between objectives, The combinations of represent different preferences of the mean, the skewness, and the kurtosis of a portfolio return. For example, the higher , the more important the mean (skewness or kurtosis) of the portfolio return is to the investor. Thus, the efficient portfolios are the solutions of problem (P2) for various combinations of preferences . The expected results provided in this section refer to two parts of methodology, the normality test and the international portfolio optimization in four-moment framework. 5.1 The expected results of the normality test Many researches examine the international stock indices and found that most of the stock return distributions exhibit skewness and their excess kurtosis are far from zero. For instance, in the work of Chunhachinda et. al. (1997), the Shapiro-Wilk statistics indicate 5 markets and 11 markets reject the null hypothesis of normal distribution at ten percent significant level, for weekly and monthly data, respectively. Prakash et. al. (2003) use the Jarque-Bera test to trial the normality of each international stock index, their results indicate that for 17 markets for weekly returns and 10 markets for monthly returns reject the null hypothesis of normal distribution five percent significant level. Therefore, I expected that the Shapiro-Wilk tests in the proposed study will be significant and reject the null hypothesis of normality. In other words, the return distributions of international stock markets during the period under study are expected to be non-normal. 5.2 The expected results of the multi-objective portfolio selection 5.2.1 The changes in the allocation of optimal portfolios Chunhachinda et. al. (1997) and Prakash et. al. (2003) both indicated that the incorporation of skewness into the portfolio selection problem causes a major change in the allocation of the optimal portfolio. However, their definitions of a major change are different. Chunhachinda et. al. (1997) found that there is a modification in the allocation when they compare between the mean-variance and the mean-variance-skewness efficient portfolios. However, both types of portfolios are dominated by the investment components of only four markets[9]. On the other hand, Prakash (2003) results show that the structural weights of the mean-variance and the mean-variance-skewness optimal portfolios are dominated by different markets. Therefore, I expected that when I compare between of the mean-variance efficient portfolios, the three-moment efficient portfolios, and the mean-variance efficient portfolios, the percentage invested in each asset will be different in magnitude and ranking. 5.2.2 The trade-off between expected return and skewness Most of the studies of international portfolio selection with higher moments (e.g. Chunhachinda et. al., 1997; Prakash et. al., 2003; Jondeau and Rockinger, 2003 and 2006) reported that the mean-variance efficient portfolios have the higher expected return while the three-moment efficient portfolios have greater skewness. Thus, they indicated that after incorporation of skewness into portfolio selection problem, the investor will trade the expected return of the portfolio for the skewness. More recently, Davies et. al. (2005) applied PGP to determine the set of the four-moment efficient funds of hedge funds and found not only the trade-off between the mean and the skewness, but also the trade-off between the variance and the kurtosis. Thus, I expected to discover the trade-off between the expected return and the skewness and the trade-off between the variance and the kurtosis. In addition, I will also investigate other relationships between the moments of return distribution and report them in both numerical and graphical ways. 5.2.3 The less diversification compared to the mean-variance model. To investigate whether the incorporation of higher moments than the second (i.e. skewness and kurtosis) can help explain the home bias puzzle, I will examine the hypothesis: H0: ZMV à ¢Ã¢â‚¬ °Ã‚ ¤ ZMVSK. H1: ZMV > ZMVSK. where ZMV and ZMVSK are the number of nonzero weights of the mean-variance efficient portfolios and the four-moment efficient portfolios, respectively. If the number of nonzero weights of the mean-variance efficient portfolios (ZMV) is greater than the number of nonzero weights of the four-moment efficient portfolios (ZMVSK), then I will rejected the null hypothesis. This implies that the incorporation of the higher moments into the portfolio decision can help explain the home bias puzzle. However, the results from the literature are mixed. On one hand, several researchers (e.g. Prakash et. al., 2003; Briec et. al., 2007; Guidolin and Timmermann, 2008) provided the evidence that the incorporation of skewness into the portfolio selection causes the less diversification in the efficient portfolio. On the other hand, the results of some studies (e.g. Chunhachinda et. al., 1997; Jondeau and Rockinger, 2003 and 2006) found that when compare with the mean-variance efficient portfolios, the diversification of the higher-moment efficient portfolios seem to be same or even became more diversify. I expected the results to show that the four-moment efficient portfolio is less diversified than the mean-variance one. In other words, the incorporation of the skewness and the kurtosis into the international portfolio selection can help explain the home bias. [1] Jurczenko, E. and Maillet, B. (2006) Multi-Moment Asset Allocation and Pricing Models, Wiley Finance, p. xxii. [2] Semi-variance is a measure of the dispersion of all observations that fall below the average or target value of a data set. [3] The first set consists of four stocks and the second set consists of four equity indices, two commodities, and a risk-free asset. 6 Jurczenko, E. Maillet, B., and Merlin, P. (2006) Multi-Moment Asset Allocation and Pricing Models, Wiley Finance, p. 52. [4] Guidolin and Timmermann (2008) analyze the portfolio selection problem by using the dual approach. [5] Chunhachinda et. al. (1997) and Prakash et. al. (2003) studied the portfolio selection across national stock markets by using two data sets, weekly and monthly data. [6] Guidolin and Timmermann (2008) reported that these markets represent roughly 97% of the world equity market capitalization. [7] I use the derivations of skewness and kurtosis as provided in the textbook Multi-Moment Asset Allocation and Pricing Models of Jurczenko and Maillet (2006) to transform the expectation operators into the matrix terms. [8] Let A be an (nÃÆ'-p) matrix and B an (mÃÆ'-q) matrix. The (mnÃÆ'-pq) matrix Aà ¢Ã…  -B is called the of matrix A and matrix B: [9] The four markets are Hong Kong, Netherlands, Singapore, and Switzerland. These markets have high rankings of the coefficient of variation under the sample period.

Saturday, July 20, 2019

Women in Post-Revolutionary Russia: The Opportunities and Obstacles :: Russian Russia History

Women in Post-Revolutionary Russia: The Opportunities and Obstacles The last Tsar of Russia abdicated the throne in February of 1917. With the fall of the old regime, many old gender barriers fell, as well. The period after the Bolsheviks rose to power was a time of many changes for all Russians, but none were more affected than the women of the time. Lenin, the leader of the Bolshevik party (later called the Communists) was greatly disturbed by the domestic enslavement of Soviet women, and almost immediately granted political equality for females throughout the nation. With this newfound freedom, women were presented with many new opportunities in all aspects of life, and many challenges, as well. Lenin reformed many civil and penal codes to the advantage of women. Almost overnight all learning institutions opened their doors to both sexes, which suddenly gave women the opportunity to strive for professional careers and higher paying jobs. Women were given equal standing in marriage, and it became possible for them to get divorced, to have abortions , and to sue for child support. Women could own property. Within the Communist party, women rose to leadership positions. In theory, there was complete equality between the sexes. However, even with the advantages of the Communist leadership, there were some pitfalls, as well. While the increased leniency of divorce laws was obviously an advantage to many unhappy wives, some men made use of the new freedom also. Some women were left to raise their children alone, and without the salary of their husbands, found it almost impossible. Although these women now had complete economic independence under the laws of Lenin, in practice all was not as simple. With several young children to watch over during the day, it was difficult for any mother to be able to engage in any work outside of family life. The realities of these women were shown clearly in Alexandra Kollontai's novel Love of Worker Bees. based on life in post-revolutionary Russia. When Mr. Feodoseev abandons his wife for another woman, she is horrified at the thought of trying to get a job while raising three school-aged children. However, in Kollontai's novel, she is seen as petty and jealous by certain m embers of the party, instead of a woman with great financial difficulties. Perhaps this shows a certain blindness that many communist leaders had to the realities of women's everyday lives and circumstances.

Graduate Study of Clinical Psychology :: Graduate Admissions Essays

Graduate Study of Clinical Psychology My dedication to the field of psychology is evident in the various activities in which I am involved. I am a student affiliate of the American Psychological Association, as well as a student member of the Iowa Psychological Association. I have been actively involved in the community as a volunteer working with patients, families, and staff in the emergency room of a local hospital. I have been a devoted member of the psychology club for two years and am currently serving my first year as an officer (Vice-president of Special Events). Finally, I have been a teaching assistant under the supervision of Dr. Frank Barrios, clinical psychologist, and Dr. jack Yates, cognitive psychologist, both of the University of Northern Iowa, where I have had such responsibilities as preparing and grading exams and essays, holding office hours, working with individual students, assisting students with assignments and presentations, and answering any questions students may have about the material. Not o nly do I feel confident about my preparation in psychology, I am also working toward a minor in sociology, acquiring knowledge of the human relations that exist between the individual and the community. In addition to these activities, I have been involved in research under the supervision of Dr. Augustine Osman, clinical psychologist, University of Northern Iowa. Currently, I am working on three separate measures that will soon be submitted for publication. One is an attempt to validate a measure concerning pain and is entitled, "The Pain Catastrophizing Scale (PCS): Factor Structure and Psychometric Properties." The second is an effort to differentiate between anxiety and depression in a college sample. And the third is an attempt to differentiate between anxiety and depression in a clinical sample. Given Dr. Osman's excellent record of previous publications, I fully expect for these articles to be accepted for publication and for myself to be listed as co-author on all of them. Through my experience with research, I have been involved in data entry and collection, interpretation of data using SPSS, as well as scoring of the MMPI-2. To gain applied experience in the field of clinical psychology, I decided to obtain an internship. To accomplish this, I approached the program facilitator of the mental health unit at Covenant Medical Center in Waterloo, Iowa. I spent the summer of 1996 carrying out this voluntary internship under the supervision of Dennis Feltz, LMHC, while gaining hands-on experience working with both the adolescent and the adult populations.

Friday, July 19, 2019

Essay --

Introduction: Sharon Creech’s childhood memories, college experiences, and creative brain significantly affected her writings. She rarely thought of being an author growing up, but as time progressed, she began to really think about it. Creech first became interested when she entered college and something sparked her career. She wrote multiple books with her much thought and creativeness leading her to an outstanding writing career. I. Sharon Creech experienced many journeys as a child, triggering a spark in her writing career. A. Creech accounted for many memories during her early childhood years. She took many trips with her parents and four siblings. She enjoyed the company of others and making memories. Often, grandparents, uncles, aunts, cousins, and friends visited her and her family, making her always used to warm, large, extended family. Her favorite memories came from Creech’s traditional summer vacations to various destinations. She loved road tripping with her â€Å"noisy and rowdy family† across the country. Her never-forgotten memories eventually led to her recreation of the trip into many of her books. 1. â€Å"In the summer, we usually took a trip, all of us piled in a car and heading out to Wisconsin or Michigan or, once, to Idaho. We must have been a very noisy bunch, and I’m not sure how our parents put up with being cooped up with us in the car for those trips. The five-day trip out to Idaho when I was twelve had a powerful effect on me: what a huge and amazing country!† Creech said in author chat in 2002. On Creech’s official website, she stated, â€Å"One other place we often visited was Quincy, Kentucky, where my cousins lived (and still live) on a beautiful farm, with hills and trees and swimming hole and barn and hay... ...s to me, I don't realize that it resembles a real person in any way. It's only later, after a book has been published, that sometimes I can see similarities between the character and someone I know.†(The New York Public Library) 2. Here, she explains the way she bases her characters from and how she begins to write a story with her creative storytelling brain. Conclusion: In conclusion, Sharon Creech’s childhood memories, college experiences, and creative brain greatly affected her later writings. Even though, she did not know what she wanted to do with her life, God helped her figure it out and have a successful career. Her early childhood journeys helped her write her books and create characters. Her teaching experience also helped her have a more effective writing style. Sharon Creech had a remarkable writing career and it is one to never be forgotten. Essay -- Introduction: Sharon Creech’s childhood memories, college experiences, and creative brain significantly affected her writings. She rarely thought of being an author growing up, but as time progressed, she began to really think about it. Creech first became interested when she entered college and something sparked her career. She wrote multiple books with her much thought and creativeness leading her to an outstanding writing career. I. Sharon Creech experienced many journeys as a child, triggering a spark in her writing career. A. Creech accounted for many memories during her early childhood years. She took many trips with her parents and four siblings. She enjoyed the company of others and making memories. Often, grandparents, uncles, aunts, cousins, and friends visited her and her family, making her always used to warm, large, extended family. Her favorite memories came from Creech’s traditional summer vacations to various destinations. She loved road tripping with her â€Å"noisy and rowdy family† across the country. Her never-forgotten memories eventually led to her recreation of the trip into many of her books. 1. â€Å"In the summer, we usually took a trip, all of us piled in a car and heading out to Wisconsin or Michigan or, once, to Idaho. We must have been a very noisy bunch, and I’m not sure how our parents put up with being cooped up with us in the car for those trips. The five-day trip out to Idaho when I was twelve had a powerful effect on me: what a huge and amazing country!† Creech said in author chat in 2002. On Creech’s official website, she stated, â€Å"One other place we often visited was Quincy, Kentucky, where my cousins lived (and still live) on a beautiful farm, with hills and trees and swimming hole and barn and hay... ...s to me, I don't realize that it resembles a real person in any way. It's only later, after a book has been published, that sometimes I can see similarities between the character and someone I know.†(The New York Public Library) 2. Here, she explains the way she bases her characters from and how she begins to write a story with her creative storytelling brain. Conclusion: In conclusion, Sharon Creech’s childhood memories, college experiences, and creative brain greatly affected her later writings. Even though, she did not know what she wanted to do with her life, God helped her figure it out and have a successful career. Her early childhood journeys helped her write her books and create characters. Her teaching experience also helped her have a more effective writing style. Sharon Creech had a remarkable writing career and it is one to never be forgotten.

Thursday, July 18, 2019

Cognitive Linguistic Approach to Language Study

It has its origins in the sass as a conscious reaction to Chomsky linguistics, tit its emphasis on formalistic syntactic analysis and its underlying assumption that language is independent from other forms of cognition. Increasingly, evidence was beginning to show that language is learned and processed much in the same way as other types of Information about the world, and that the same cognitive processes are Involved In language as are Involved In other forms of thinking.For example, In our everyday lives, we look at things from deferent angles, we get up close to them or further away and see them from different vantage points and with efferent levels of granularity; we assess the relative features of our environment and decide which are important and need to be attended to and which are less important and need to be backgrounder; we lump information together, perceive and create patterns in our environment, and look for these patterns in new environments when we encounter them.As we will see in this volume, all of these processes are at work in language too. The two key figures who are associated with the inception of Cognitive Linguistics are George Alaska and Ronald Linebacker. Both, t should be remembered, started their careers as members of a group of young scholars associated with the radical new approach spearheaded by NOAA Chomsky. By the sass, however, both Alaska and Linebacker were becoming increasingly disaffected with the formalistic approach to syntax associated with the Chomsky school.Both scholars turned their attention, Instead, to semantic Issues, which had been relatively neglected within the Chomsky framework. Alaska raised fundamental questions with regard to ‘objectivism' SE antics that is, theories which maintained that entente meaning maps onto objectively verifiable states of affairs in the world. He argued, instead, that semantic content is mediated by how speakers construe and conceptualize the world. An important aspect of co nstrual is how we categorize the things in our environment.Taking up the notion of prototype category developed by cognitive psychologist Eleanor Roach, Alaska argued that words do not name classically defined categories, that Is, categories constituted by a set of necessary and sufficient conditions. Rather, entitles can be good, or less good, members of a category. In a crucial and highly influential move, Alaska then proposed that the a syntactic construction, might also be analyses in terms of a central, prototypical member, and a number of extended, or more peripheral senses.A noteworthy milestone here is the dissertation by one of Alaska s students, Claudia Bergman, on the polymers of the preposition (Bergman, 1981). Bergman argued that t he ‘central', ‘prototypical' sense combines the meanings of ‘above' and ‘across', as in The bird flew over the yard . Extended senses, related in virtue of some common shared features, include the ‘above' sense , as in the electric is hovering over the hill, the ‘across' sense, as in Sam drove over the bridge , the ‘covering' sense She spread the tablecloth over the table, the dispersal sense, as in The guards were posted all over the hill , and several more.Bargeman's thesis (presented in Alaska 1987: Case Study 2) not only inspired a plethora of -studies, it also provided a template for polymers studies more generally. La Coffs second main contribution was to id entity a number of ‘conceptual metaphors' that underlie our abstract concepts and the way we think about the world and ourselves (Alaska and Johnson 1980, 1999).For example, one of the most important conceptual metaphors is the idea that ‘good' or ‘active' things are ‘up' whereas ‘bad' or ‘static' things are ‘down', which allows us to say that we're feeling IoW or having ‘down time', that things are or that that they are ‘up and going' . This metaphor was taken to r eflect our basic experience with the world that we have as children; when we fall over we feel bad; when we lie down we are stationary, when we get up we are active, and when we are feeling good, we literally ‘stand tall'.As discussed in a later chapter, conceptual metaphor theory has come in for a good agree of criticism in recent years and the theory has been refined to take account of empirical psycholinguistic findings as well as more socio-cultural approaches to language, but the basic tenets remain the same: language tends to reflect our physical interactions with the world and abstract concepts are linked to physical experiences through metaphor. Linebacker's contribution is perhaps more fundamental than Lassoes .His Cognitive Grammar (Linebacker 1987, 1991, 2008) offers a radical re-think of basic issues concerning the nature of linguistic meaning and its relation to the surface form of utterances. He proposed a ‘minimalist' approach, whereby the only elements in linguistic description are (a) phonological representations, concerning the overt form of an expression (whether spoken, written, or signed), (b) semantic representations, roughly, meanings, broadly understood to include pragmatic, situational, and encyclopedic aspects, and (c) symbolic relations between elements of (a) and elements of (b).On this basis, a language comes to be characterized, quite simply, as an inventory of phonological, semantic, and symbolic units, and language acquisition is a matter of a speaker's increasing command of these units. Importantly, the units differ along a number of dimensions. Thus some units are internally complex, while others are schematic to some degree or other.For example, the expression can-opener is internally complex, while the component unit can is an instance of the more schematic unit Noun, the whole expression being an instance of the complex schematic unit [N V- ere] and its associated semantics (roughly: ‘ a device that can be used for V- ins Ins'). The schematic unit can sanction an open-ended set of instantiations; in this way, Cognitive Grammar is bled to handle syntactic and morphological generalizations.It should also be noted that the unit has other semantic values (think of examples such as dog-lover , which denotes a person, not a thing, and , where the initial noun designates the place where a person dwells); in other words, the unit is polygamous, Just like the words of a language. The mechanics of Cognitive Grammar are discussed in more detail elsewhere in this volume. Three aspects, however, may be singled out for special mention here: The first concerns the way in which ‘grammaticality (or ‘acceptability- cognitive insists see little reason to distinguish the two concepts) is to be understood.Grammaticality, namely, has to do with the extent to which an expression is sanctioned, or legitimated, by an already existing schematic unit, or possibly by several such units, in the langu age; the fit, needless to say, need not be perfect, neither will different speakers of the language always assess the matter in the same way. * The second observation concerns the idea that syntactic organization is inherently symbolic and therefore meaningful, and that syntactic structures – Just like individual words ND morphemes associate a form and meaning.An early indicative study concerned the passive construction in English (Linebacker, 1982). Rather than being seen as the result of syntactic transformations, the construction and its various components, such as the verb be the verbal participle, and the by phrase, were argued to have semantic content, which contribute cumulatively to the semantic and pragmatic value of the passive construction. Thirdly, the Cognitive Grammar approach is sympathetic to the notion that linguistic knowledge, rather than residing in a small number of very road, high-level abstractions, may actually be rather low-level and ‘surface or iented', consisting in multiple memories of already encountered usage and relatively shallow generalizations over these remembered instances.In practical terms, this means that linguistic knowledge will tend to be centered on individual lexical items and their idiosyncratic properties, concerning the syntactic environments in which they occur and their stylistic or pragmatic values. Similarly, the representation of syntactic and word-formation constructions will incorporate knowledge of the lexical items which typically occur in hem, in addition, once again, to information about the kinds of situations in which they are likely to be used.Although it represents a radical departure in some ways from many established ideas in linguistics (such as the formerly widely held view that syntax, semantics and pragmatics were largely independent of one another), the principles underlying Cognitive Linguistics resonated with many traditional concerns one thinks of classics such as Gustavo Steer 's Meaning and Change of Meaning (1931), C. S. Lewdest Studies in Words (1960), and various works by Stephan Almsman (e. G. , Almsman, 1964)

Wednesday, July 17, 2019

Occupational Psychology

Theories of want provide those that atomic number 18 in managerial positions with greater taking into custody of what makes employees perform to their peak instruction execution. The pr recreateice of comprehending want grass result in influencing and managing the deportment of a surveyforce effectually. Motivation is intimate or extrinsic and is seen as a desire or need that gives an case-by-case focus and drive in their percentage, assigns they ar employed to do and controls an several(prenominal)istics behavior. We argon tout ensemble motivated by different things and in different slipway. Some people ar motivated by doing a unplayful undertaking and look for personal apprehension and personal growth, whereas others argon motivated by m whizzy and promotion. When utilize to the pass awayplace it is astir(predicate) getting the most from an employee through cost increase in narrate for them to give the outgo functioning in their role.Two theories tha t keep up regularized organizations and argon utilise to date ar Maslows speculation power structure of require and Lockes speculation on purpose mountain. Maslows supposition is referred to as a content opening of need and suggests how an exclusive be put one overs in a workplace is mutu whollyy beneficial on the need or prerequisite to fulf sickish certain inescapably. If an man-to-man does non accomplish these necessitate they encounter an imbalance which they leave alone try to rectify. The theory suggests we be motivated by basic needs and as these needs atomic number 18 met we run for to another take of the hierarchy of needs until we go on the pinnacle of the pyramid. The levels that Maslow proposes we all go through are, basic needs, safety needs, accessible needs, esteem needs and self-actualization. Once individuals reach the self actualization level, the need continues to act as a motivator, the to a greater extent(prenominal)(prenominal) they follow through the need, the more they want to experience come on growth and satisfaction.A national by Parker et al (1991) looked into motivation needs and their family relationship to life victor. The get wind looked at the responses of managerial and non-managerial industry workers. It showed that the need to achieve was positively associate to success. This included status-wealth, contri unlession to decree and professional fulfillment, but was negatively related to security and when carried out the grapheme of role i.e. managerial and non managerial was an essential predictor of power needs and accomplishment.C.L. Cooper (2001) similarly supported Maslows theory of needs believe that they are extremely important because the personality of work is changing, as employment is straightway insecure or short precondition contracts. British employment structure is proper more Ameri green goddessized, having longer hours, intrinsic line of credit insecurity and employi ng a bottom eminence management approach. Cooper proposed that Maslows theory is further more important today with the British workforce than it was in the last century. P.E. Ajang (2012) also supports the theory that Maslows hierarchy of needs make been useful in physical compositions in motivation, believe that in effectuate for them to be effective and efficient, managers and the organisation must be testament to understand and provide factors that motivate employees within their roles and duties.Greenberg & Baron (2003) support the distinction surrounded by the growth needs and deficiencies in Maslows theory but proposed that not all individuals are fit to quit their higher order needs in employment. Their research frame that managers from higher ranks in organisations were able to satisfy both their growth and insufficiency needs whereas managers at a lower level were only able to satisfy their deficiency needs at work. Nadler & Lawler (1979) cited in graham flour & Messner (1998) believed there were three major criticisms of Maslows theory arguing that the theory makes assumptions roughly employees in general. These are that employees are similar, all situations are similar and that there is only one best way to meet their needs.Lockes theory is referred to as a process theory of motivation and proposes that employees are motivated by having specific terminuss set them and being condition the necessary feedback. He suggests that if we are effrontery remnants it motivates an individual to achieve a tendency which improves overall public presentation. Goal setting employs expose points, referred to as SMART. These are specific, measurable, agreed upon, possible and succession bound. Goals should be specific (so an individual knows what to do), measurable (so an individual knows when they have to be completed), agreed upon (this way an individual has a joint/vested interest in their success), veridical (difficult but realistic to acco mplish in period allotted, making sure they are not impractical objectives as this will demotivate them) and time constrained (having a time limit ensures individuals complete the task).Morisano et al (2010) investigated whether terminus setting would enhance pedantic performance for struggle students, following the conclusion that in universities twenty five percent neer complete their course. The study found that the students who followed the refinement setting intervention showed extensive improvements in their performance compared to those that had not had name and addresss set. They propose that if they are standardized, easily administered and time limited that sweetener in academic performance female genital organ be attained in struggling students.Steele-Johnson et al (2000) found in their compendium of goal taste and task motivation effects on motivation, affect and performance that participants with performance goal orientation were more satisfied with their over all performance on an simple task as this offered a better possibility for them to demonstrate their capability. Their results showed that advantages of goal direction were dependant on the type or intricacy of task given. business line complexity affected goal orientation on affect and performance and task consistency moderated goal orientation on intrinsic motivation and self-efficacy.In Latham & Steeles (1983) study on college students performing toy assembly, and whether work strategies or goal setting would kick upstairs performance, the results showed that specific goals set by a supervisor led to elevated performance rather than generalized do best objectives. The study found and supported Lockes theory of goal setting as did other studies by Mento et al (1987), Locke & Latham (1990) and Locke & Latham (2002).Grants (2012) study on goal setting in teaching and shape saw goal setting as an ideal structure in order for individuals to explore, recognize and modify unaccommo dating silent goals. This would promote positive change and a motivational effect on behaviour, but he also matt-up that it could resist performance, especially if the task allotted was overly complicated, was too exigent or the individual was unpracticed, had low self-efficacy and resources were limited. He also proposed that individuals were more possible to cheat and be un cooperative with peers if there were highly competitive situations or high performance goals. He felt that SMART goals suppress the development of civilise comprehension and noesis. He stated that undecipherable managerial perception or knowledge of Lockes theory could result in ill informed decision making and infatuated practice.In conclusion the level of influence on performance and motivation is dependent on how a theory is applied and by whom and whether they are proficient at applying the theory. When using Maslows theory if an individual is inexperienced in teaching or bringing up methods (i.e. , supervisors, managers, etc) the theory is absolutely ineffective, although if they are a trained teacher or academic they may have some success in its application. Employers need to be able to work out which level of the hierarchy of needs an individual is at in order to motivate them i.e. if someone is on a low salary and are struggling to get by they are unlikely to be motivated be receiving a credential for a job hearty done, they are more likely to be motivated with the offer of a salary increase. Problems exist with the theory as individuals arent always predictable, they tidy sum also sometimes be driven to do well by what they feel strongly about and not necessarily by what they require.In contrast Lockes theory seems to have more success and is an established method used in organisations today. It has been shown to be a steady-going and effective way of motivating employees. Studies have shown that performance improvements that are related to goal setting can be amid t en and twenty percent. Goal setting works because it gives individuals objectives, energizes individuals, provides a challenge and encourages creativity in an individual in their workplace. To managers and supervisors it is light-headed enough to employ and can be very useful as the results can be easily understood and supervised. In academics and teachers who are highly proficient it can be very useful as can show levels of attainment and can be a good power on how to progress and improve an individuals overall performance and if applied correctly will have great advantages.In abbreviation we all require motivation to work hard, but individual differences in motivation are due to factors such as locus of control and personality. We are all motivated in different ways and by different things, such as personal gain, money, reward or by achievement and personal success. These motivations can spay depending on our circumstances. Lockes theory seems the most useful in addressing hum an problems in motivation but ultimately it is down to the organisation and which method they employ, that determines whether a theory has been helpful or unhelpful. The competency on the individual using the theory will apparently determine whether motivation of an individual is lucky or not in the workplace.