Wednesday, November 27, 2019

Mental Cases Essay Example

Mental Cases Paper In The Show, I believe Owen uses many different techniques in order to present his feelings about war to the reader. I would take the word present to mean how Owen affects what the reader is thinking and feeling in order to communicate his feelings about war to us effectively, and what methods he uses to do this, looking closely at the language, form and imagery of The Show in comparison to some of his other poems. In The Show, one of the main techniques Owen uses to present his feelings is the metaphor that runs throughout the poem the constant comparison of the soldiers to the caterpillars is a technique that I believe is very effective. It has numerous effects on the reader, one of which is to make us feel that Owen is bitter about the war as a whole the comparison with the insects serves to generalise the soldiers which implies that somehow they are less valuable individually. As a result of this, the reader feels as if Owen is mirroring what he believes are the attitudes of people back at home to the soldiers, which is where the feeling of bitterness in the poem stems from. A similar effect of the continuous metaphor is that the reader feels that Owen is trivialising the soldiers and what they do he has reduced them to a comparison with insects. An aspect of this that is particularly effective is that in general, people do not think twice about killing insects, and so the link to the soldiers here is more disturbing for the reader as we realise what this link signifies. We will write a custom essay sample on Mental Cases specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on Mental Cases specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on Mental Cases specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer Here, it seems as if Owen is again highlighting public attitude about the war and is angry about how people perhaps would have not recognised the individual sacrifices and suffering of each soldier. Owen also compares the soldiers to less desirable groups in Dulce et Decorum Est, when he describes them as hags and old beggars. However, the effect of the comparison there is that it creates sadness for the reader, because we feel that it is awful that such young men should be reduced to being described as inferior to what they actually are, as the word hags has connotations of being old, wrinkled and are often seen as evil . As a result of this, Dulce appears to immediately communicate that Owen is bitter but also sad himself at this drop in standards for the men, showing that the same technique is used by Owen to great effect in numerous poems. I feel it also communicates his sadness to us through the mockery of the soldiers here, because he felt it significant enough to use in the opening lines of the poem, showing that he wished this to be one of our main reactions to Dulce. Another main effect of the running metaphor in this poem is that the comparison heightens the feeling of disgust for the reader much of the language creates gruesome images straightaway, but when applied to the alternative meaning of the metaphor (i. e. the soldiers) it becomes even more gruesome. For example, where they writhed and shrivelled, killed, creates awful imagery even when applied to the caterpillars, as writhed carries implications of suffering great pain. However, it is even more disturbing when applied to the soldiers because as well as writhing carrying implications of pain in this context, it is also an unnatural action for a human to make, whereas the natural actions of some insects could be described as writhing. The word shrivelled also has a similar effect, in that it is very graphic and very unnatural. The resulting imagery of a soldier being in such excessive pain that his body would contort in such a way is extremely shocking and disturbing for the reader, and makes us feel hugely sympathetic to all the soldiers. Another example of the disgust being created is when the caterpillars are described as plugs a plug is made to fit a hole, and the link that implies the soldier were also made to fill the ditches is somewhat disturbing. I believe Owen used such graphic and disgusting language in order to shock the reader, because that way it would effectively communicate the feeling of anger and bitterness about the situation. I also feel that Owen may have been trying to use this language to shock because he may have wished us to feel guilty about our attitudes. Owen also uses grotesque language in another of his war poems, Mental Cases, and I believe that the effects are similar to those of The Show, in that Owen used such language in order to shock the reader, for example shatter of flying muscles. This sentence is very graphic and creates horrific imagery in our minds as we read which creates shock and disgust. However, there is no hidden metaphor in Mental Cases, which means that the language has more of an immediate impact, but does not seem quite as disturbing as the aim of the use of this language seems to be more obvious to the reader. Although much of the language in The Show creates repulsive imagery, many of the words themselves seem to be very understated, for example curl, lift and flatten. These words are usually very normal and everyday words to describe movement they are not exaggerated or extreme. As a result of this, the reader again feels that Owen is somewhat trivialising everything in the poem, and making it less significant. A specific example of how he does this is when he uses the phrase bitten backs to describe the potentially fatal injuries that the soldiers have obtained on the battlefields.

Sunday, November 24, 2019

Beowulf Beowulf and Beowulf Essay Beowulf

Beowulf Beowulf and Beowulf Essay Beowulf Beowulf: Beowulf and Beowulf Essay Beowulf Beowulf Essay Beowulf’s appearance is one of greatness, arrogance, and confidence. When Beowulf and his team of Geats arrive at the Danes land, the first thing that the watchman notices is the greatness and boldness of the men that sailed to his land, especially Beowulf. The watchman states, â€Å"†¦ Nor have I ever seen, Out of all the men on the earth, one greater than has come with you†¦Ã¢â‚¬  as he examines Beowulf and his team (161-163). The watchman was confused as to why the Geats walk his land so openly and without secret, and even thinks their greatness is a cover-up made so that he may let them enter further into his land as spies. Beowulf is one of the oldest English epic hero. He’s a great one too. Beowulf, however, is prepared for this unfriendliness, and he answers his questions like a born leader, stating, â€Å"We are Geats. Men who follow Higlac†¦Ã¢â‚¬  as part of a grand speech he gives to the watchman, which results in his team being able to go on into the land (173-174). I thought in my opinion that it was a fine speech. He was able to speak to Hrothgar after that. â€Å"..Strongest of the Geats-greater/and stronger than anyone in this world.† (110/111) â€Å"..he was loved by the Geats†¦Ã¢â‚¬ (118) â€Å"..the bravest and best of the Geats†¦Ã¢â‚¬ (121 Beowulf makes sure that everything he does will only aid him in obtaining fame and glory. This is seen clearly whenever Beowulf fights Grendel. Before the fight, Beowulf explains, â€Å"†¦ My lord Higlac might think less of me if I let my sword go where my feet were afraid to†¦Ã¢â‚¬  which shows that he indeed cares about people’s thoughts of him (264-266). From the quote, it was clear that Beowulf does not want to carry weapons because it will give people something to talk about. It would have been much easier to use weapons against Grendel, but he wanted to fight fair. Unlike Beowulf, Hrothgar is not as brave. He wishes to save his people from this monster but he is aged and more emotional than Beowulf. In most of the story Hrothgar is either sharing his wisdom with Beowulf or grieving. Beowulf also does another thing that may

Thursday, November 21, 2019

Would the Investors Optimism About the Alibaba.com be Slipping Case Study

Would the Investors Optimism About the Alibaba.com be Slipping - Case Study Example From this paper it is clear that China is already in synergy with the Global Source’s media that serves China’s export and import sector. Global source occupies second largest share of online market in China that is equal to 21.2%. Global source is actively working on new products and has launched 11 new online market products in 2007. Moreover, Global source is actively penetrating the Chinese market via different strategies that include exhibitions, magazines and research articles. Its exhibitions are making the products of suppliers accessible to hard-to-reach customers. With the increasing trend (around 3% per year) in online market use by Chinese people and due to marvelous market penetration strategies of global source, it’s likely to be a great brand for potential customers of online market. This greatly shows the buyer’s inclination to global source in the future. This paper stresses that on the other hand Alibaba.com also caters its existing customers effectively specially Small Medium enterprises by providing them trust rating of suppliers that effectively enables them to choose right trading partners. However global source’s revenues are increasing and it is also working quite hard on the product development for growth. Global source is likely to introduce such service for SMEs to compete with Alibaba.com. Alibaba.com’s spending on advertising and promotion relative to revenue are decreasing as per it financial report given in the case. Promotional expenditures in 2004 were 54.2% of revenue and they are only 32% of revenue in 2007. Alibaba.com’s spending on product development has also decreased from 2004 to 2007. Marketing and product development are key to business success. Curtailing such important expenditures does not seem to be a healthy sign for Alibaba.com.  

Wednesday, November 20, 2019

Measurement and interpretation of the application of corporate Research Proposal

Measurement and interpretation of the application of corporate governance to increase the competitive advantages of the economic units - Research Proposal Example The corporate governance codes are generated by the companies so as to satisfy the stakeholders, which include employees, investors, customers and suppliers. The research aims at understanding whether the corporate governance codes are effective enough to increase the strength of the company or whether it can be considered as one of the most important strategy to increase its competitive advantage. Therefore, corporate governance codes are defined along with its relevance at different levels of management. It is observed that the impact of effective corporate governance code leads to increase in market share of the company as the customers and investors are satisfied with their overall performance. Hence, the research will aim at establishing the relation between corporate governance and competitive advantage in a broader way. Corporate governance has become one of the active topics of discussion and research among the academic researchers and also a significant subject for initiating a debate. There have been several studies pertaining to corporate governance highlighting its importance and impacts on the performance of companies (Singh and Davidson, 2003). There are also researchers, who have focussed on the mechanism of corporate governance i.e. establishing a relationship between board of directors and stakeholders, transparency in the disclosure and safeguarding the interest of stakeholders. However, these researchers have ignored the importance of practising external corporate governance, which has the ability to prevent interference of the managers that may affect the welfare of the stakeholders (Singh and Davidson, 2003). In this case, it should be stated that both external and internal corporate governance are essential for gaining competitive advantage. The overall effect of the interference is reflected on effectiveness of the governance of the company. Therefore, in order to fill up the gap in the academic researches on this

Sunday, November 17, 2019

Land Law Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words - 4

Land Law - Essay Example 1 As such, the good order of property law is disrupted by proprietary estoppel. In successful proprietary estoppel claims, the court may transfer, change the nature of, or totally rescind proprietary rights. This is accomplished without first requiring the parties to comply with the strict formality tests to which property rights transactions are subject.2 Moreover, it seems that proprietary estoppel violates the all – important principle of property law that there has to be consensus for transfer of interests in property. The underlying notion is that the law of property should function in a manner that protects individual property rights. In addition, while applying it, the court should desist from involving itself in issues related to distributive justice. These issues are the preserve of the legislature and other branches of law. 3 As such, a certain amount of support is provided to proprietary estoppel by those who believe that it permits the courts to redistribute property rights, with scant regard for the owner’s consent. Such thinking is challenged by those who contend that equity should not trespass into realms, wherein the parties can be expected to control their relationship by means of a binding contract. 4 In Yaxley v Gotts,5 the court reiterated that in accordance with the principles of proprietary estoppel, it was unconscionable for a promisor to break the promise made to the promisee. A very important conclusion to be derived is that an agreement that does not comply with Section 2 of the Law of Property (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1989, can all the same be enforced by resorting to the doctrine of proprietary estoppel.6 In Pritchard v Briggs, the Court of Appeal held that an interest in land was not created by a right of pre – emption, acting in isolation. What was required, in addition, was the

Friday, November 15, 2019

Barriers to McDonalds Growth

Barriers to McDonalds Growth Be the best employer for our people in each community around the world. Deliver operational excellence to our customers in each of our restaurants and achieve enduring profitable growth by expanding the brand and leveraging the strengths of the McDonalds system through innovation and technology. Try to fulfill our customer, automatically our profit will improve. Our customers favorite place and way to eat with inspired people who delight each customer with unmatched quality, service, cleanliness and value every time. Objective of McDonalds Most people can find a McDonalds in any metropolitan city anywhere in the world. McDonalds global success can be attributed to company objectives. When consumers are aware of McDonalds objectives, they better understood the value of such a large, global franchise in helping people find employment and in offering a cheap, sustainable product to their consumers. Future goals of McDonalds In the next few years, McDonald aim to advance their balanced, active lifestyle efforts by, continuing to develop new menu offerings that provide their customer with range of choices that correspond to their needs and preferences and fit into a balanced diet, develop more happy meal choices, including new entrà ©e offerings and non-carbonated beverages without added sugar and sticking to their timetable for phasing in their new nutrition information initiative for core packaging items, continuing to assess, listen, learn and evolve their policies and marketing and communication practices so that they can continue their special regard for young people . The first original McDonalds opened up in 1940, a restaurant created by Richard and Maurice McDonald, in San Bernardino, California. The first franchised McDonalds was opened up on April 15, 1955, by Ray Kroc, in Des Plaines, Illinois, the 9th McDonalds overall. Miami entrepreneurs James McLamore and David Edgerton founded Burger King Corporation in 1954. The Challenge With more than 30,000 restaurants in 118 countries -many of them serving menu items that appeal to local tastes and cultural preferences we face a major challenge in gathering, organizing and communicating the nutrition values of foods and beverages servedaround the world every day. We are therefore developing a new global database to maintain detailed information about our offerings. When it comes to the pitfalls of operating a fast-food chain, Burger King (BKC) has experienced them all: falling profits and sales, angry franchise owners, mediocre innovation, growing competition. What happened McDonald had to face with high employee turn over. Some people say McDonalds are entitled to sell junk food in exactly the same way that chocolate or cream cake manufacturers do: if people want to buy it thats their decision. Nutritionists, for example, argue that the type of high fat, low fiber diet promoted by McDonalds is linked to serious diseases such as cancer, heart disease, obesity and diabetes. several parties, including the government have argued that Burger King has contributed to obesity and unhealthy eating behaviors in Western nations by producing products that contain large amounts of salt, fat, trans-fat and calories. Over come Editorial focuses on a series of endeavors launched by McDonalds Corp. designed to reshape the chain into a more contemporary and versatile competitor. Views on the initiatives; Criticisms on the changes; Design of the chains kitchen systems. Burger King has done none of that and is facing a difficult reality in this new world. As consumers demand higher standards, Burger King is going to have to invest billions of dollars in capital over a period of years to get its brand perception to where it needs to be. Task 2 Employee.Mcdonald only hire employees with a good sets of personal skills. Personal skills like Communicate intelligently, Communicate intelligently, Deal with confrontation, Team work,Know when to speak up and many more. McDonald target the employee first, in order to have good sale. McDonald need to analysis the internal employee in order to have good performance. They are two types of employee which are skill employee and unskilled employee. Skill employee has good sets of personal skill whereas unskilled employee needs training from senior employee that works in McDonald. Stakeholder .McDonalds also plans to include in it contributions from a number of campaigning groups and organizations to highlight what it calls some of McDonalds more surprising connections from The Marine Stewardship Council to animal welfare charity Compassion in World Farming. Competitors. The worlds biggest fast-food chain is battling more than the bleak global economy that is curbing appetites for purchases of its hamburgers, salads and smoothies. Restaurant chains like Burger King Worldwide Inc (BKW.N) and Yum Brand Incs (YUM.N) Taco Bell now are challenging McDonalds in the United States with revamped menus, celebrity endorsers and a renewed focus on low-priced food. Burger king competitors with McDonald because it has to do with how they prepare their hamburgers. McDonalds fries their hamburgers while Burger King Flame broils their hamburgers. In one sense, McDonalds doesnt have any real competitors, as they are the largest restaurant chain worldwide. But some of the other restaurant chains large enough to cut into its market share include Burger King Corporation, Subway, Starbucks, Wendys/Arbys Group, and YUM Foods(owners of Taco Bell, Pizza Hut, KFC, Long John Silvers, and AW, among others). Supplier. McDonalds supply chain is unique. Our supply chain model is based on a culture of partnership and collaboration which makes it possible for us to serve consistently safe and high quality food. It is important to us that our suppliers operate sustainable and profitable businesses and benefit from their partnership with McDonalds Australia. It is equally important to us that we source our products in a responsible and ethical manner that contributes to the development of sustainable agriculture and food manufacturing processes. McDonalds Canada works closely with more than 100 leading Canadian suppliers, striving to source quality products and supplies. Together, suppliers, the company and franchisees create new products, help reduce costs and ensure our customers get the same great McDonalds taste in every community across Canada. McDonald invests in Canadas agricultural sector by sourcing quality food products domestically, including the annual purchase of more than $760 mi llion in food and materials from more than 100 suppliers in Canada. McDonald shop where our customers shop our basket is just a bit bigger! McDonalds buys and serves the same wholesome foods our customers use at home, supplied by brand name companies Canadians know and trust. McDonalds suppliers include leading Canadian companies such as Coca-Cola, DANONE, Heinz, McCain, Minute Maid, Mother Parkers, Nestle, Renà ©es, Quaker and Saputo. Customers. Internal Analysis once of the major problems faced by McDonalds and can clearly be seen in Internal Analysis McDonalds Value Chain, is the lack of recruiters and led to a dramatic falloff in the skills of it employees. As we can see on Competitive Advantage Building Blocks, McDonalds is very efficient. An organization is the analysis of strengths and weaknesses, which focus on internal factors that give an organization certain advantages and disadvantages in meeting the needs of its target market. Strengths of McDonalds are successful Advertisement (Im loving it), Great Partnership (Coca Cola), Clean Environment and playgrounds for Kids, Professional Training for employees (Hamburger). External Analysis there is two conditions that are most significant in McDonalds external environment that are: The new trend in which customers are changing fast -food restaurants to healthier ones. The arising competition to achieve growth in this industry. The fast-food industry is very complex and saturated. The key success factors in show that in order to be able to compete there is a need for research and developments, achieve differentiation with your competition, create quality with your products, and be price competitive. Large capital is needed to be able to develop new products in order to differentiate among competitors. The creation of quality is very important because the switching costs majorly in this industry are very low. This explanation is supported in Five forces of competition. Although the environment is very competitive it is very difficult to enter because of the need of capital, the regulation faced by the government, and especially because of the customers loyalty towards other restaurants. Distributors. Radhakrishna Foodland (P) Ltd. [Foodland] is a part of the Radhakrishna Group, which is engaged in food and related service businesses. Also one of the distributor for McDonald. From July 1993, much before McDonalds started its operations in India; sincere efforts were made by Foodland to carefully understand McDonalds operations and requirements for the Indian market. Better facilities and infrastructures were created and new systems were adopted to satisfy McDonalds demands. Finally, all those efforts put in by Foodland culminated into a handshake agreement with McDonalds India, to serve as Distribution Centres for their restaurants in Mumbai. The division has focused all its resources to meet McDonalds expectation of Cold, Clean and On-time Delivery. This in turn, evolved their mission statement, To ensure that all McDonalds restaurants are supplied without interruption, products conforming to acceptable standards at lowest local costs to the system. The Distribution Centre (DC) is responsible for procurement, quality inspection programmed, storage, inventory management, deliveries to the restaurants, data collection, recording and reporting. Value added services like repacking of promotional items are also carried out at the DC. The DC plays a very vital role in maintaining the integrity of the products throughout the entire cold chain the distribution system that ensures the products, which arrive at McDonalds restaurants from suppliers all over India, are absolutely fresh and as per McDonalds Quality Standards. All these operations need to be managed in the most cost- effective manner. The operations and accountings a re totally transparent and are subject to regular audit. Marketing strategies of McDonalds are demographic segmentation, psychographic segmentation and behavioral segmentation. Demographic Segmentation is McDonalds offers different products like Happy Meal which includes a free toy for kids. For families it has made different outlets and meals which are suitable for takeaways and drive-thru. McDonalds has made its environment which is suitable for students of school to hang out with their friends and can get their lunch at McDonalds. Psychographic segmentation is McDonalds has adopted itself according to the convenience and lifestyle of the consumers. Malaysians has different culture people so McDonalds came up with a different and new product line which includes items like McChicken, double beef chicken and etc. They also made McDonalds as a place to relax and even for entertainment. Behavioral segmentation is McDonalds offers occasions like certain familys select McDonalds on various occasion like birthday party, treat to their children, wedding anniversary and etc. Targeting, from the market segments discovered, the most profitable target market segment seems to be the working adults market. The working community segment is considered the largest group of consumer of McDonald compared to children and youth. There are more sensitive to trends and lifestyles in todays culture and in almost everywhere. In addition, working adults has their own income thus able to make their own choice without too much constrain. Hence they have the tendency to determine their eating habits. Also, the McDonald provides fast services thus suit those working adults who are also always on a go and fast moving especially those in the capital cities. Positioning, in order to position itself successfully, McDonalds need to establish criteria that may allow it to differentiate itself from other competitors (Schiffman, et.al, 2008). In the fast food industry, McDonalds has positioned itself as the market leader in the sense of pricing and services. Its 24 hour services in almost all of the outlet nationwide makes them a place to look for food even it is in the middle of a night. However, it is hard for McDonalds to position itself far away from the competitors as others are also following the trend. There have 4 market mixes in McDonalds: Product: McDonalds takes into account cultural factors in serving the Malaysian consumers. The food serve is halal and servers local taste as well. They have wide range choice of menu similar with burger king. Seasonally they serve the prosperity burger for Chinese New Year. McDonalds also serves healthy food but this will effect on the taste and consumers eating experience. Product is the physical product or services offered by the company to its customers. McDonalds include certain aspects of its product such as packaging, desirability, looks etc. Price: McDonalds have more price reduction compared to KFC and Burger King. They offer a very competitive food prices. They have the Value Mc Savers and the Mc Value Meal. KFC do have their value meal called Jom Jimat Everyday and Burger King but in term of their price, McDonald offers the best price for fast Food. However, McDonalds, they offered only during certain period of time there-for rise the question of its availability. McDonald s has certain value pricing and bundling strategies such as happy meal, combo meal, family meal, happy price menu etc to increase overall sales of the product. Place: They are built or open in retail areas like shopping malls due to a trend of all Malaysian who loves to shop in malls. They also open in some rural areas however KFC has more restaurants in the rural area. In some strategic places, McDonalds also opens in several local gas stations such as PETRONAS Mesra. They open an express cafà © that serve some popular products. There are also games for children the one example is Children play games till the time there parents spend quality time in McDonalds. Promotion: McDonalds television advertisement is place on a seasonal basis which they only advertise during festive seasons and movie. Normally, their ads attract children rather than adult consumers. McDonalds in Malaysia primarily focus of it marketing campaign by sending flyers to houses and attach coupon in newspapers. McDonalds also advertise their product using billboard. They place their latest advertisement on McDonalds Mc Value Meal at major roads that indeed attract attention. Task 3 There are a few factors that affect this non-organizational based on microenvironment. Among the factors are Political, environmental, economic, technological, social-culture and legistration. Below is the explanation of each factors. Political factors The international operations of McDonalds are extreme under influence of a policy of the separate state put into practice by each government. For example, there are certain groups in Europe and the United States which demand the acts of governmental power concerning medical values of meal of fast food. They have specified that harmful elements as cholesterol and negative influences as fatness are concerning consumption of products of fast food. On the other hand, the company operates the separate policy and instructions of operations. The certain markets concentrate on various areas of anxiety, such as various area of health, protection of the worker, and environment. All these elements are noticed in the state control of licensing of restaurants in the corresponding states. Economic factors The organizations in the fast food industry arent excused from any disputes and problems. Definitely, they really have the separate problems involving business factors. Branches and privileges of networks of the enterprises of fast service as McDonalds has a tendency to experience difficulty in cases where the economy of the corresponding states is amazed by inflation and changes in exchange rates. Clients hence face a survey stalemate through their separate budgets, whether they should spend more on these foreign networks of the enterprises of fast food. Hence, to these chains, possibly, it is necessary to take out problems of effects of economic environment. Especially, their problem depends on the answer of consumers to these main principles and how it could influence their general sales. In an estimation of operations of the company, food chains as McDonalds tend to import the biggest part of the raw materials to certain territory if there is a delivery lack. Exchange rate fluctu ations will also play an essential role in companys operations. Socio-Cultural factors Articles about the international strategy of McDonalds, apparently, function on several areas to guarantee profitable returns for the organization. To illustrate, the organization changes to the best an establishment of positive thinking from their basic consumers. McDonalds indulges a special variety of consumers with certain types of persons. Also it has been noticed that the company has given the markets, such as the United Kingdom, a choice concerning their lunch requirements. Specified that McDonalds beginnings considerably valued set of meal which offers a reliable degree of quality for the corresponding market where it works. In addition, those who are elderly only below a bracket of thirty five as said are the most frequent consumers of McDonalds privileges. Many-sided character of business is reflected now in sharp value of the information about the existing market. This procedure is essentially identified in area as market research. Information concerning the reference and potential areas of the market would double as a barrier to success of the company if this area of operations neglected. In case of McDonalds they establish good system in determining of requirements of the market. The company uses concept of consumer individuality of a product of behaviour and decisions on purchase to its advantage. Technological factors McDonalds makes a demand for their organizations own products. The key tool of the company for marketing is by means of TV advertisings. There are some requirements that McDonalds is inclined to interest the younger population more. Existence of game stains also toys in the meal offered by the company shows this validity. Other demonstration of such marketing strategy is obvious in advertising they use. They use recovered descriptions of the characters as Grimace and Hamburglar. Other advertising operations employ popular celebrities to promote their products. Similar became endorsees for McDonalds all over the world loving it campaign. Besides, operations of McDonalds have considerably been infused with new technology. Elements as the system of stock and management of the value chain of companys creation consider easy payments for the suppliers and other sellers with which the person supplies in the corresponding agreement on the markets. Technology integration into operations of Mc Donalds tends to increase cost of their products. Basically it is shown in improvements on its chain of creation of value Legal factors/ Legistration There was a current roar against the fast food industry. It has forced McDonalds to apply more close examination on their corporate social responsibility. As a whole it has addressed to requirement of the company to generate its corporate reputation to more positive and the more socially responsible company. The reputation of McDonalds is obviously a huge question. Noticed on companys web site, seems, that they have got steps to take in hand the key social condemnation that they abused them in the last decades. The company gave to their clients the corresponding data in which they need the relation of food essence of their products. It is connected with socio-cultural market signs which they influence. For example, operations in predominantly Muslim countries demand, that their meat corresponded to Halal requirements of the law. In the same regard, those that operate in countries in the European Union should correspond to the existing laws forbidding usage of genetically modified mea t products in their meal. Other legal concepts as tax obligations, employment standards, and requirements to a degree of quality are only a few of important elements on which the company should consider. Otherwise, smooth operations should be difficult to reach. Environmental factor Social responsibility of McDonalds on the state influences to company operations. They involve charges of harm to environment. Among the reasons why they are accused of such requirements, is that the work of substances is not decomposed by microorganisms for their drinks glasses and treasury of expanded polystyrene for meal. Some civil groups in Hong Kong have made actions to make McDonalds privileges in Hong Kong aware of the rather copious use of containers of expanded polystyrene and resulting abusing by environment. Further, has specified that in 1995, McDonalds Hong Kong ran through the expanded polystyrene used by both Australia and the incorporated United States. Task 4 and Task 5 Agriculture -potatoes In 2007, with the share of 19,3%, the EU-27 was the second largest producer of potatoes in the World (China occupying the first place). Despite the relative and absolute decline in production observed over the recent years, which was mainly due to structural transformations of the potato sector in the new member states, potatoes for human consumption belong to the most competitive segments of EU agriculture. The sector shows also a competitive edge in international markets, especially in the sub-sectors of seed potatoes and processed products. Potatoes for human consumption are not covered by the Single Common Market Organization, except for the standard rules on state aids. Since 2008 all the potato areas in the EU can be potentially eligible to receive direct payments. Moreover, potato operators may benefit from the CAP promotion and quality schemes. Business Competitors The competition authorities inform each other of proposed decisions and take on board comments from the other competition authorities. In this way, the ECN allows the competition authorities to pool their experience and identify best practices. It should ensure an efficient division of work and an effective and consistent application of EC competition rules. The EU Commission and competition authorities from EU member states cooperate with each other through the ECN by, informing each other of new cases and envisaged enforcement decisions, coordinating investigations, where necessary, helping each other with investigations, exchanging evidence and other information and discussing various issues of common interest. Climate environment The EUs role: Spreading knowledge on climate change impacts and risks; Providing guidance on best approaches; Coordinating national activities, particularly when impacts cross borders such as in river basins; Adopting legislation and targets; and Providing funding. Employment and social right Health and safety at work is one of the areas where the EU has had the biggest impact with a solid legal framework covering the maximum number of risks with the minimum number of regulations. The Commission also works with the European Agency for Health and Safety at Work and the Conditions to disseminate information, offer guidance and promote healthy working environments particularly in small businesses. Legal basis: encourages improvements in occupational health and safety in all sectors of activity, both public and private, Promotes workers rights to make proposals relating to health and safety, to appeal to the competent authority and to stop work in the event of serious danger, Seeks to adequately protect workers and ensure that they return home in good health at the end of the working day. Statistics: European Statistics on Accidents at Work (ESAW) case-by-case data on occupational accidents with more than 3 days of absence from work and fatal accidents and European Occupat ional Diseases Statistics (EODS) harmonized data on occupational diseases from 2001 onwards, Labor Force Survey ad hoc modules on accidents at work and work-related health problems. Committees: Committees of national experts contribute to developing, implementing and monitoring EU legislation on health and safety at work, Advisory Committee on Safety and Health at Work (ACSH), Scientific Committee on Occupational Exposure Limits (SCOEL) and Senior Labor Inspectors Committee (SLIC). Task 5 Economic Factors: Definitely turbulence in economy also plays vital shift of demands of the market segment. Recent world economy is shaken by the Credit crunch issue, citizen has less disposable income, and there is wild redundancy and less GDP in almost every economy. The major geographic markets of McDonalds are also affected by higher interest rate and inflation. So, cost of doing business has increased and a sale is generally decreased. This has affected also the sales of McDonalds like all other businesses throughout the world. McDonalds has recognized this issue reduced their menu to a reasonable prices and also offering a wide range of foods. Environmental factors: Green issues, renewing energy sources, recycling of rubbish or waste disposal all are a matter of concern. But these are less of significance for McDonald for the moment. Environment is the biggest challenge due to its commitment towards the environment; it has adopted Rain Forest Policy. This states its assurance for beef purchasing practices that do not cause tropical de-forestation by any means. It fully aware of the fact that enormous utilization of the natural resources can imbalance the eco system. That is why, it is recycling vegetable oil, grease etc. by converting them as fuel for their diesel trucks. Demographic factor The worlds age is changing. In some areas, mostly in developed countries such as the United States, Japan and many in Western Europe, the median age of the population is growing older, due to slowing birth rates and longer life expectancy. In the newer, emerging countries, such as those in Asia or Africa, the median age is getting younger mostly due to higher birth rates. These different trends require different marketing approaches. McDonalds caters to both segments of the population, domestically and globally by targeting each segment individually. It is not unusual to see television commercials showcasing older generations enjoying a McDonalds meal. A viewer is just as likely to see another commercial aimed at the younger generation, characterized by progressive music or urban attractions. In McDonalds stores, customers will see Happy Meals complete with an advertisement for the latest Hollywood action movie as well as coffee offered to senior citizens for 49 cents. Technological factor: Till now, the market trend does not reveal high impact on fast food restaurant for technologies. However, the general equipments, temperature regulators, control devices, point-of-sales(POS) systems, inventory management, financial information and communications are all linked to different technologies. Any improvement of integrating better technologies for better purposes will give an edge of operations and can also help it better marketing strategies. For example, recently McDonald has installed facility for free access to internet at their restaurants through Wi-Fi systems. This has increased the value of brand market positioning.

Tuesday, November 12, 2019

Power Utility Consumption Capm in Uk Stock Markets

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

Sunday, November 10, 2019

Australian Aboriginal Dot Art Essay

Aboriginal art has been overshadowed by the idea that it is primarily presented in dots. It has got to the point where people believe that certain Aboriginal people own the dot and artists both Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal are hesitant to use consecutive dots within artwork. Explain how the above has evolved and where dot art has come from Dot paintings today are recognised globally as unique and integral to Australian Aboriginal art. On the surface the dot is simply a style of Aboriginal painting, like the use of cross-hatching or stencil art. Exploring deeper into the history of the Aboriginal dot painting a world of camouflage, secrecy and ritual is discovered. The term ‘dot painting’ stems from what the Western eye sees when faced with contemporary Aboriginal acrylic paintings. This painting style arose from the Papunya art movement in the 1970s. Papunya Tula artists used a process which originally mirrored traditional spiritual ceremonies. In such rituals the soil would be cleared and smoothed over as a canvas (much like the dark, earthy boards used by the Papunya Tala) for the inscription of sacred designs, replicating movements of ancestral beings upon earth. These Dreaming designs were outlined with dancing circles and often surrounded with a mass of dots. Afterward the imprinted earth would be smoothed over, painted bodies rubbed away, masking the sacred-secrets which had taken place. This ritual was shifted from ground to canvas by the Papunya Tula who eventually added an array of naturally produced colours to the restricted palette of red, yellow, black and white produced from ochre, charcoal and pipe clay. Such pieces reveal a map of circles, spirals, lines, dashes and dots, the traditional visual language of the Western Desert Aboriginal People. However these marks were permanent and due to arising interest made public, creating internal political uproar. Consequently representations of sacred objects were forbidden or concealed through the dotting technique. Now that the collecting of pieces of Aboriginal art has become so popular world-wide, a common, mistaken belief is that the Dot Painting Style of Central Australia is a recent development. This belief arises because it was in the 1960s that a Central Australian school teacher encouraged the old men of the tribe to record their art on European sheets of board, using acrylic paints. This use of acrylic paints on flat board dates from that time. However, the art style itself, with geometric designs, is seen in the petroglyphs (rock engravings) dating back thousands of years. Ancient petroglyphs showing concentric circles (non-naturalistic art style), inland South Australia The use of dots was once Australia-wide, particularly seen on body decoration when people are painted for ceremonies, and paintings in the remote Kimberley region where dots are clearly seen on the body decoration of some of the earliest human figures, likely to be older than 20,000 years. See accompanying photo. ) Dot decoration on the body of an ancient human figure, Kimberley Aboriginal Art: Traditional to Contemporary The resurgence of Australian Indigenous art has become one of the ‘most brilliant and exciting new eras of modern art. ‘ It has grown with such amazing diversity and enthusiasm that art critic, Robert Hughes, has described it as ‘the last great art movement. ‘ For indigenous Australians art has been a part of their culture and tradition for thousands of years and is recognised as one of the oldest living art traditions. Though, over the past 30 years it has progressed from being confined primarily to the tourist industry, to become a richly, evolving international art movement. Since the Renaissance of Aboriginal art during the early 1970’s, Aboriginal artists have been encouraged to find new, innovative ways of incorporating cultural traditions into their imagery. This encouragement first began through an art teacher, Geoffrey Bardon, who became the catalyst for contemporary Aboriginal art. Fascinated by the traditional sand designs created by Indigenous children in Papunya, Bardon encouraged the Aboriginal community to re-create their Dreamtime stories through paintings. He introduced them to acrylic paint and from there Aboriginal art gained a more permanent form and the style, popularly known as ‘dot art’, emerged as the most recognisable form of Aboriginal art. It was a new form of art which also allowed Aborigines to, for the first time, express to the rest of Australia and the world, the ancient traditions of their culture. Many Aboriginal artists have chosen to continue practicing traditional art as a means of conserving the conventional method of creating, inherited from their tribal ancestors. Their content, which is explicitly aboriginal, is usually derived from their history and culture, as a continuation of the spiritual link they possess with their country. Research When The emergence of ‘dot’ paintings by Indigenous men from the western deserts of Central Australia in the early 1970s has been called the greatest art movement of the twentieth century. Prior to this, most cultural material by Indigenous Australians was collected by anthropologists. Consequently, collections were found in university departments or natural history museums worldwide, not art galleries. Where That all changed at a place called Papunya. Papunya was a ‘sit-down’ place established in the early 1960s, 240 kilometres northwest of Alice Springs in the Northern Territory (NT). The settlement brought together people from several western desert language groups: the Pintupi, Warlpiri, Arrernte (Aranda), Luritja, and the Anmatyerr, who were unaccustomed to living in close proximity to each other. Dot Painting or Aboriginal Dot Art originated in the desert using natural substances on the ground in the sand. Those pictures in the sand are not unlike the paintings we see today produced using acrylic paints. The acrylic paintings are usually done using acrylic paint and it is applied to canvas or art board with various diameter sticks dipped into paint and then applied one dot at a time. The Australian Aborigine of the western desert constructed their stories using ochre, sand, blood, coal from their fires and plant material placed together on the ground clump by clump for various ceremonial occasions. If you look at the desert landscape from the height of any small bluff or hill what you see looking down are clumps of growth scattered about a red landscape. The spinifix grass, desert hardwood bush and occasional rocks or rock outcrops make up the myriad of dots that seem to cover the landscape. Because everything in the desert has meaning to the Australian Aborigine these seemingly unimportant arrays of pattern in the desert have special meaning to the Dot painters of the western desert. If you were to ever fly over the desert low enough to see what was on the ground you would see what he dot painting has replicated for you to see. These dots are a myriad of clumps of natural splendour which might go unnoticed had you not seen a dot painting and looked to see what it was about. The arrangement of the plants, rocks and water are all part of the spirit of creation and it is because of this placement that Aboriginal people have traversed the deserts safely without printed maps for th ousands of years. The placement and arrangement of all of these natural things are in songs and these songs are often sung while the painting is being created. Nearly every painting has a song and the songs often disclose important ceremonial facts about a particular region or area. These important ceremonial places are often in the paintings but because they are sacred to Aboriginal people they are camouflaged in some way, visible to the initiated person but invisible to others who do not know what to look for. Many paintings contain these special hidden meanings and the new owners of these paintings will never know what the whole story of their purchased painting is about. Only over time may some insight be gained from looking at the painting. This is a point of pride among the Australian Aboriginal artists because they see the purchase of their art or for them the sale of their art, as a validation of their race and culture by others. This is because a value has been placed on the art. Since the Australian Aboriginal culture is depicted in all traditional paintings they are passing down their knowledge in the only way they are able, to those who have yet to understand it. The Aboriginal people do not have a written language so these painting of their stories and ceremonies are all they have to save this culture for future generations. The colour and the placement of the dots are important to depicting the visible message and camouflaging the hidden message in Aboriginal dot art. Even the over painting of an area of the work has special significance and may convey different messages. Some people gifted with a since of tactile feeling are able to feel a special vibrancy emanating from their painting. Who Many of the significant early artists at Papunya were senior men who had vivid memories of their first contact with white people. Typically, they came out of the desert as adults during the 1950s drought and their connection to ritual law was strong. The first artists’ collective, Papunya Tula Artists, was set up in 1972 by men from this settlement. Papunya Tula Artists was the inspiration and model for many other Indigenous artists’ collectives. In 2009 there are 42 desert Indigenous art communities represented by Desert. The artwork was seen as a way to keep the culture alive, and carry Indigenous stories to the world. The movement was seen as being about recollection and cultural memories linked to Dreaming’s’ or story types. Why the modern aboriginal â€Å"dot art† movement started? Geoffrey Bardon AM (1940–2003) Geoffrey Bardon began working as an art teacher at Papunya Special School in 1971. Concerned that the school’s curriculum, appearance and ethos seemed out of step with Aboriginal culture, Bardon attempted unsuccessfully to involve his class in painting a series of murals on the school walls. Thereupon Kaapa Tjampitjinpa, Long Jack Phillipus Tjakamarra, Billy Stockman Tjapaltjarri and others created the Honey Ant Mural, which inspired many senior men to ask Bardon for painting materials and eventually begin painting in the Men’s Painting Room. The Men’s Painting Room, Papunya – Johnny Warangkula Tjupurrula can be seen in the middle ground painting a Kalinypa Water Dreaming. His two boomerangs are placed in front of the board as percussion instruments, ready to be used to accompany the verses of the Water Dreaming, sung at intervals during the painting process, June-August 1971 Photo: Michael Jensen Convinced of the groundbreaking importance of what he was witnessing, Bardon made comprehensive photographic, moving film and written records of the artists and the paintings that they produced while he was at Papunya. From his primary research, Bardon wrote three books and made three films that initiated public interest in Western Desert art. In 1988 Bardon was awarded the Order of Australia Medal for his unique contribution to the Western Desert art movement. The Honey Ant Mural, July 1971 Geoffrey Bardon and his Arerrnte assistant, Obed Raggett, had noticed people drawing designs in the sand at Papunya. Following this precedent, they drew circles and spirals on the blackboard in an unsuccessful attempt to encourage their class of adolescent boys to paint a series of murals on a whitewashed, cement-rendered wall of the Papunya Special School. In late July 1971, after painting a series of smaller practice murals, seven painters collaborated in the painting of a monumental mural representing the Honey Ant Dreaming specific to the site of Papunya. Working under the direction of custodians Mick Wallangkarri Tjakamarra and Tom Onion Tjapangati, the artists included Kaapa Tjampitjinpa, Billy Stockman Tjapaltjarri, Long Jack Phillipus Tjakamarra, Johnny Warangkula Tjupurrula and Don Ellis Tjapanangka. The Honey Ant Mural, a bold expression of Aboriginal culture in a government settlement, occasioned great rejoicing at Papunya and inspired immense pride in the community. Geoffrey Bardon in front of the Honey Ant Mural, Papunya, August 1971 Photo: Robert Bardon  © artists and their estates 2011, licensed by Aboriginal Artists Agency Limited and Papunya Tula Artists Pty Ltd Pintupi people from the Western Desert Pintupi is the name of a Western Desert language spoken by Aboriginal people who belong to a large stretch of country in the Gibson Desert of Western Australia and the western edge of the Northern Territory. When the Pintupi arrived in the government settlements east of their traditional lands between the 1930s and the 1950s, they adopted the term ‘Pintupi’ to distinguish themselves from the surrounding Aboriginal inhabitants as the ‘people from the west’. They were among the last Aboriginal people in Australia to abandon their nomadic lifestyle, the last family arriving into the newly established community of Kiwirrkura in 1984. In Papunya, the Pintupi, bound to each other by their dominant loyalties of relatedness and kinship, were ostracised due to their lack of conversance with kartiya (non-Aboriginal) customs and their perceived lack of sophistication. Diversity within â€Å"dot art† – showing two different artists works. Uta Uta Tjangala – Traditional Artist Uta Uta Tjangala, who is an exemplar of the historical cultural tradition, Uta Uta’s painting career and reputation is closely aligned to the artistic renaissance that began at Papunya in 1971. He was a founding member of the men’s painting group, inspired other Pintupi tribesmen, and becoming one of the most senior and influential painters amongst the group. Born in Western Australia in Drovers Hills, he made the epic journey to Haasts Bluff with his family during the severe drought of the mid to late 1950’s in the company of Charlie Tarawa. Two years later, after returning to his homelands, he made the journey once more with Timmy Payungka, Pinta Pinta and their families. Uta Uta Tjangala (early years) Employed as a gardener at the Papunya school Uta Uta, then in his 40’s, became one of the original group drawing and painting on composition board with encouragement from art teacher Geoff Bardon. When supplying paints to Uta Uta and his gathering group of enthusiastic friends, Bardon suggested the men use their existing cultural symbols to depict their Dreamings and links to the land. The Pintupi men, having been pushed from their traditional homelands by government policy and European development, painted under a bough shelter behind the camp ‘pouring into their work their acute longing for the places depicted †¦ and chanting the song cycles that told the stories of the designs as they worked’ . These early works aroused strong protest within Aboriginal communities when first exhibited in Alice Springs in 1974 because of the disclosure of secret and sacred knowledge. A period of experimentation followed, resulting in the development of a symbolic language of classic ideograms and the characteristic dot covered areas that veil sacred elements from the uninitiated. The large, tribally mixed population of Papunya intensified the interaction, but under the influence of artists like Uta Uta, the painting group was able to break through the political and cultural constraints toward a safer stylistic conformity, and prepare the way for personal and distinctive styles to emerge. Uta Uta in particular, with his exciting and charismatic personality as well as his bold and dynamic style, played a vital role in these developments. Bardon recalled many years later, ‘everything that came from him was genuine’ . Uta Uta’s 1971 and 1972 paintings generally featured major story elements with only the barest dotted in-fill within the iconography and small sections of the background. The aesthetic balance and harmony of these works is derived through colour and weight rather than by a geometric division of the painted surface. The rather crude dotting and line work of these early paintings on board embues them with an energy and power that is less apparent in his later more technically proficient works. His paintings are far stronger and more powerful when the clean unadorned background remains, unlike paintings by his contemporary Kaapa, whose early works became more aesthetically appealing as he began to in-fill the background. In developing a style that censored the more secret and sacred content in his painting, Uta Uta added more dot-work as the years went by. He painted more Tingari sites completely surrounded by neat dots that became less and less detailed. Despite his advancing age during the late 1970’s he continued to paint as he spent increasing time at outstations west of Papunya and, at the beginning of the 1980’s, he completed what was to become one of the most important and revered works of the entire Western Desert art movement. Yumari 1981, possibly his largest and most significant painting, reveals the mythical Tingari ancestors traveling across vast stretches of country as they create sites and institute rituals. Yumari is a rocky outcrop in his home country and the key ceremonial site of the area. Story elements and natural features blend seamlessly into a beautifully balanced geometry of concentric circles and connecting lines that enclose a central, abstracted figure. This body continues rather than interrupts the intense, minutely dotted background configurations, yet still holds the central focus. The work is characterised by the sinuous movement of converging regular and irregular shapes, accentuated by outlining white dots. The predominant use of an earthy red alongside vivid yellow ochre, further emphasizes the assertive quality in this cohesive and powerful statement of Aboriginal tradition. The work was exhibited at the XVIII Bienal de Sao Paulo in 1983 and is now in the collection of the National Museum of Australia. While painting Yumari, important discussions were taking place at Papunya concerning the move back to the Pintupi homelands at Kintore. Land rights legislation during the 1970’s returned ownership of the land to its traditional owners and Uta Uta was a strong advocate for resettlement.

Friday, November 8, 2019

10 Argumentative Essay Topics on Air Pollution

10 Argumentative Essay Topics on Air Pollution Writing an argumentative essay requires extensive research of reputable literature already published on the subject matter your essay will be based on. In more extreme cases, were there are no ready data or literature to consult, a student may have to collect his or her own data using surveys or experiments due to the nature of an argumentative essay. This is because an argumentative essay is the one that requires a student to thoroughly investigate a topic, collect or generate valid evidence in order to establish a position on the subject to be discussed. Writing an essay on air pollution falls under the expository and argumentative essay niche because it requires the use of facts to intelligently argue your stance on air pollution. But unlike an expository essay, the argumentative essay requires empirical evidence from reliable source as well as extensive research to showcase your line of reasoning to get the reader on your side. Therefore, to ease the burden of finding established facts on air pollution for your essay, below is an accurate list of air pollution facts that can help. 10 interesting facts on air pollution: Air pollutants are harmful. Pollutants released into the air are generally made of gas and tiny particles which can be harmful to human health. Statistics show that pollutants released into the air are more harmful than pollutants on land and water. This is because they are more difficult to notice and combat. Human and natural factors pollute the air. The emission of air pollutants is not solely due to human activities as nature also plays its part. A World Health Organization study found that approximately 70% of the pollutants found in the air are due to human activities while natural occurrences such as volcanoes and hurricanes account for approximately 20% of the pollutants currently in the air. The great smog of London which killed approximately 8,000 people is an example of how natural and human activities- cold weather and using fossil fuels- combine to pollute the air leading to deadly consequences. Air pollution adversely affects human health. Statistics show that the average human takes in 3400 gallons of air each day which is more than our food and water intake. With pollutants in the air the average human life-span is shortened by approximately 2 years. Other health problems it causes include itchy throats, breathing issues and death. Air pollutants are also accountable for approximately 5,000 premature deaths in California alone, approximately 50,000 yearly in the US and 250,000 in China. In Beijing, the high level of air pollution has led to constant coughing among its residents and this condition was named the ‘Beijing cough’. Air pollution adversely affects the economy. Statistics show that air pollution is not only dangerous to human health but also to the economy. A 2013 research on air pollution in Europe found that deaths caused by air pollution in the EU cost the region approximately â‚ ¬161billion and $200million in the state of California. Air pollution is prevalent among developed nations. The large scale industrialization that is currently going on in the developed world has led to the emission of air pollutants in unprecedented numbers. In the US, people high up at the Grand Canyon are unable to see its other side just a thousand miles away due to air pollution. While in China, air pollution can travel as high as the Central Valley in Asia. The fallout of this widespread air pollution is that 65% of deaths in central Asia and 25% in India are due to air pollution. The use of fossil fuels in vehicles is the leading cause of air pollution. Statistics from the UK’s Environment Audit Committee showed that diesel cars produce around 46% carbon monoxide and 42% nitrogen oxide. In China, 70% of air pollutants are currently being produced from the exhaust tail pipes of vehicles in use while in the US 28% of Americans believe that the use of fossil fuel is the leading cause of air pollution. The air in your home could be the worst. The WHO released a report stating that the level of air pollution in households could be worse than in public places due to poor ventilation. In under-develop nations, household pollution is caused by the burning of kerosene and other fossil fuels while in developed countries the use of cooking gas and space heaters produce air pollutants that congest the household air we breathe in. Air pollution creates attention problems. Studies have shown that exposure to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs)- emitted by burning fossil fuels- can affect one’s ability to focus. The study went on to explore the effects of air pollution on children below 9 and found that air pollution is in part responsible for attention deficit disorders in children which can lead to negative long-lasting effects in the future. Air pollution threatens our future. Statistic show that the continuous burning of fossil fuels at current rates will prove to be disastrous for future generations. Predictive analysis showed that by 2050, approximately 6million people will die per year due to air pollution related health issues. This will also be due to the exponential growth in vehicle purchases, heavy traffic jams and natural disasters. Air pollution is currently being fought. All hope is not lost as the WHO, UNICEF and government agencies are putting checks on pollutants we produce for a better tomorrow. In China, the largest air purifying tower currently purifies a million cubic feet of air in an hour. The taxation of fossil fuels in nations such as New Zealand, Great Britain and Finland is also set to reduce air pollution in these regions by approximately 60% by 2030. These are the top 10 interesting facts on air pollution you should consider using in your argumentative essay when trying to establish your stance on pollution. It is also important to note that we have provided extra reading material such as tips on writing a platinum tier argumentative essay on air pollution. Students can also select a topic on today’s subject by reading this article containing 20 argumentative essay topics on air pollution. References: Matyssek, R. (2013). Climate Change, Air Pollution and Global Challenges. Burlington: Elsevier Science. Sullivan, C. (2016). Human-Made Fires Pollute Air with Ozone Half a World Away. Eos, 97. Luo, M., Cao, B., Ouyang, Q. Zhu, Y. (2016). Indoor Human Thermal Adaptation: Dynamic Processes and Weighting Factors. Indoor Air. Pillai, V. (1996). Air pollution in developing and developed nations: A pooled cross†sectional time series regression analysis. International Planning Studies, 1(1), pp.35-47. Beckrich, A. (2015). The Green Room: Air Pollution in the Developing World. The Science Teacher, 082(05). Nandasena, S. (2013). Indoor Air Pollution and Respiratory Health of Children in the Developing World. World Journal of Clinical Pediatrics, 2(2), p.6. Pearce, D. (1996). Economic Valuation and Health Damage from Air Pollution in the Developing World. Energy Policy, 24(7), pp.627-630.

Wednesday, November 6, 2019

Job analysis of an elementary teacher Essays

Job analysis of an elementary teacher Essays Job analysis of an elementary teacher Essay Job analysis of an elementary teacher Essay Essay Topic: Elementary In this paper we will examine how a Job analysis which helps describe Jobs and/or human attributes necessary to perform the tasks and Job Component Inventory OIC) method are used for an elementary teacher; by shows what tools, responsibilities, communication and demands are required for this position(Specter, 2014). This will allow an Individual to see how the reliability and validity of ICC works and how It describes the use of objects that will relate to the workers in this setting. Next, we ill see how a performance appraisal in this Job is based on professional learning and growth (Teacher Performance Appraisal System, 2014). Finally, we will look at the benefits and vulnerabilities that are associated with ICC and how it may affect this work setting. The hope is that in the end we can see how ICC can be used as a guide line for teachers. Job Summary With direction from the school principal the teacher is responsible for the education of selected students and will generate a flexible curriculum and classroom environment encouraging for learning and personal growth. The teacher needs to create a strong relationship with the student to help motivate students to develop skills, attitudes, and the know how to provide a strong foundation for future education, while taking the students valuables Into account. There will also be professional relationships developed and maintained between parents and other teachers. The physical demands for this field is considered a LIGHT physical demand characteristic of work position in accordance with the Dictionary of Occupational Title (DOT). Educating the Students Vital Functions The teacher must teach subject matter such as reading, language arts, mathematics, social studies, art science, physical education, and music while utilizing the curriculum proposed by the Board of Education. Then there must be a course plan developed that assists each students needs, and utilize the different teaching techniques to express the lesson In a way that Is productive to student learning and utilizes the allotted time available for the Instruction. The use of computers, chalk boards, overhead projectors and other visual aids will be used for student instruction. Physical demands for this position require the teacher to be able to stand and walk around the classroom the majority of the time. While also being able to bend, kneel, lean at the waist to communicate with a student at their desk. The ability to hold light weight objects for demonstrations at waist level and slightly above the head may be frequently required. The use of the black board is frequently required while also grasping chalk and an eraser while reaching below, at waist, and above the head occasionally with the frequent need to twist at the waist and neck to observe the class. On a rotating basis there Is a need for assistance with physical education which Involves lifting, using the upper body to assist students with their pull-ups and other actively. While on playground duty It Is required to be able to walk on even and uneven surfaces such as grass, gravel and maneuvering around curbs. The ability to lift up to 25 pounds around the room and halls maybe required The need for communication with parents is necessary through conferences over the phone or in person to discuss academic and personal progress and talk about there school programs. As a teacher the communications with other academic advisors will be needed for professional and personal growth. The participation in faculty meetings and committee sponsorship student activities is required on occasions. The need to address a stressful situation created by an upset or hostile student may arise but the ability to remain calm and listen non-critically but must also remain consistent with Judgments. Remain sensitive to a student who is non- compliant by try to meet the students needs by showing increased personal interest and involvement. Upholding Professional Standards Demonstrate professional ethics while conforming to district policies including attendance, evaluations and absences. The attendance must be sufficient to successfully perform the listed Job functions. Also the need to maintain professional proficiency is done through in-service activities offered by the district and self- selected growth activities. The times that are required for attendance are as followed teachers arrive at AAA. M. And may leave between 4:30-5:00 p. M. And there is also a 30 min lunch offered as long as weather permits. Working in the classroom 84-90% of the day but when needed outside activities such as recess, fire drills and any other special activity may occur. Reliability and Validity of ICC In this type of setting ICC can prove to be validated and reliable because it has helped to evaluate if a person meets requirements or needs more training in certain areas. Even though situations may vary the overall assessment is positive. This method shows what tools and physical demands will be placed on a teacher and how certain requirements can affect performance appraisals. As for the benefits and limitlessness for ICC it has its share of both due to personal interpretation and exaggerations people use to get Jobs. In closing this paper has shown what a Job analysis may look like using Job Components Inventory as a method and what some of the requirements are of an elementary teacher are. There are not only physical but mental demands required to hold this position. Planning and meeting ones own professional goals as well as those of the students helps to make for a proper teacher and good performance appraisals. The validity and reliability for ICC has been shown to be high in regards to eloping professionals pick Jobs that meet their abilities and skill set. The benefits and vulnerability aspect has not been conclusive due to human nature to exaggerate ones own abilities in a Job interview. However, it has sill shown beneficial with regards to pointing out key functions required for the position as a teacher.

Sunday, November 3, 2019

Recomedation to Managers Who Feel Stuck or Underutilized in their Jobs Essay

Recomedation to Managers Who Feel Stuck or Underutilized in their Jobs - Essay Example At this stage in life, children would have grown up and left home. This allows such managers’ to do things they would not do when they were younger.The managers are not tied down to geographical areas or neighborhoods, it is possible to accept overseas posting or to new environments within their own country. The managers are seasoned, experienced and have in-depth knowledge of the working of the company. This allows them to seek new opportunities for opening and running overseas company branches or newly acquired businesses. Many companies utilize managers who are at this stage of company development to integrate newly acquired businesses. In midlife, some neglected or latent parts of the self-begin to bubble up and be manifest. Managers who feel stuck in their jobs should utilize their new personality traits to seek out more challenging opportunities to utilize their skills in combination with these new personality traits. Managers who feel underutilized should be creative and carefully plan how to renew their careers with the support of their immediate supervisors.Constantly thinking of new ideas and seeking different approaches to solving problems and going to the immediate supervisor with specific practicable suggestions will help in shining the spotlight on the development needs. These managers may solicit for opportunities to review or develop company policies, as their opinions and perspectives on processes, problems and important issues are greatly valued. Managers who feel stuck in their jobs should join training programs and aim to improve their overall development; they should acquire new skills, techniques and develop a variety of specialties that will open new avenues for challenging.