Comparison between Hard Times and the Star

Like the beginning of Hard Times, the Star is about children and the way that they are treated. Although Hard Times was written a hundred years before the Star but both stories have similar messages and implications. The Star and Hard Times both stress what their authors thought about teaching in their times. An important theme in both stories is the importance of imagination. For ‘Sissy' Jupe in Hard Times, her imagination is what makes her herself. For the boy Cameron in the Star his imagination is a way of escape from the dystopian world around him. In both stories, these ideas are more important than the characters: but I think that in Hard Times the characters play a much more important role than in the Star, as they are described in much more detail and depth. Like Hard Times, the surroundings in the Star connote ideas of entrapment and claustrophobia. The phrase â€Å"monotonous vault† in Hard Times suggests a prison like feeling to the schoolroom, while in the Star, â€Å"enclosing tenements† connotes a similar feeling about Cameron's neighbourhood. An important message in both stories is that no matter how hard you try to suppress imagination, it will always resurface. In Hard Times, this is represented by the phrase, â€Å"dost thou think that thou wilt always kill outright the robber Fancy lurking within- or sometimes only maim and distort him! † This message is also reflected in the Star by the child disobeying the teacher and swallowing the star instead of handing it to the teacher. Dickens describes his characters in great detail, using similes and metaphors. For example, there is a lengthily description of Mr. Gradgrind being likened a building in chapter one. In Hard Times, Dickens how a character will act is reflected in their name. â€Å"Gradgrind† suggests gradually grinding, which is what Mr. Gradgrind does; he gradually grinds the children into his image of what a person should be. Dickens also hints to us how we are meant to feel about certain characters in his descriptions of them. I find that Gray doesn't describe his characters in the Star in as much depth as Dickens does in Hard Times. Gray spends more time on the descriptions of the images that Cameron imagines when he looks into the star; such as the snow-flake. â€Å"He brought it close to his eye. In its depth was the pattern of a snowflake†¦ He looked through the flake's crystal lattice into an ocean of glittering blue-black waves under a sky full of huge galaxies. † I preferred Hard Times to the Star because the characters are described in more detail whereas descriptions of the star seem to make up most of the story in the Star. I also find Hard Times easier to understand, probably because it is more blatant than the Star.

Catastrophic Predictions Essay

The most recent predictions were observed on the date December 21, 2012; for which the Mayan calendar ran out. Other prediction statements involved the earth being centered in the middle of the Milky Way and the planets becoming lined in such a manner that would affect the earth’s polarity. There have been a countless amount of catastrophic disaster predictions foretold for many years. Even some famous individuals like Nostradamus have made predictions that caused panic and havoc amongst believers. Incidentally, most predictions are challenged by scientist; to prove that they are truly false statements and can be provide evidence against them. So, why do we want to assume the worst before hearing all the facts? Catastrophic predictions for December 21, 2012; expressed the concerns that doomsday or Armageddon were at hand. Two of the most popular predictions were the Mayan calendar and the planetary alignment. Between the two predictions several individuals have derived a conclusion; that on a certain date changes in our earth’s astrological makeup will be involved in changing our lives. Now, does that mean the end of time as we know it or just an event which occurs in cycles? In the course of scientific evaluations; each element has been logically examined to provide answers to contradict the beliefs that these predictions will be the end of times. Scientists and historians working together can explain the prediction of the ancient calendar of the Mayans. The Mayan calendar is about to end its cycle and the new beginning arrives on December 21, 2012. Doomsday believers feel that the Mayan’s stone calendar is the real thing this time. These believers feel that the government is withholding the truth. In fact, the Mayan calendar differs from our current system that we use today. Our calendar holds only twelve months per cycle year. The Mayan calendar is often referred to as the Calendar Round. â€Å"The Calendar Round covers a time period equal to 52 solar years or 73 ritual years. The time is significant because in every Calendar Round all the possible combinations of haab and tzolkin cycles will have been experienced and they will re-synchronize at the same starting point (Bellenir, 2004).† Scientific explanations for this prediction of the end of days show that it has been misunderstood by many individuals. Basically, the haab cycle consist of eighteen months of twenty days per month and an additional five days at the end of the cycle (Lewin , 2011). Each day in the haab months is given a name from the tzolkin list. It is similar to our list of Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday. The exception is that the zolkin list has unique names for each one of the twenty days. Evidence dated during a prior Mayan calendar ending cycle has been found. The theory of climate change could be observed in the discovery. Scientists are researching what seems to be a plant that once lived during a previous Mayan calendar cycle. â€Å"5,200-year-old plants flash frozen. Millennia ago when the last great calendar cycle of the Mayan came to an end, rapid climate change shook up the world and devastated habitats (PR Newswire Association LLC, 2009).† Could there be other evidence that has yet to be found to show what happens during that cycle? Certainly, there will need to be more studies done, but until then, individuals will express their own beliefs and opinions regarding the predictions using the Mayan Calendar. â€Å"The planetary alignment with Earth suddenly at the center of the Milky Way in 2012 — causing untold destruction as the earth’s crust ruptures, seas swamp our coastlines, volcanoes erupt and continental fault lines shatter (Machosky, 2009).† Can planetary alignment really cause the Earth’s magnetic poles to reverse and cause havoc across the planet? Disasters that maybe experienced from such an alignment could result from environmental changes. Followers of this prediction feel that we are already experiencing effects with the Earth’s weather elements and the earthquakes felt around the planet. The polar ice cap is still melting at a slow rate. Could this cause the water level to rise in areas if the poles reverse? Scientists and meteorologists feel that this prediction has will not cause any catastrophic disaster for us. The equinoxes (and solstices) has caused concerns and is often misunderstood when this cycle event happens. â€Å"The Sun is not a pinpoint object and takes some time to cross the galactic equator; they coincide once a year for several years (Stuart, 2011).† Winter solstice was observed on December 21, 2012; which is when the Sun has reached its furthest southern point and starts heading a northerly direction. â€Å"A few days before and after the winter solstice, the change is so slight that the Sun’s path seems to stay the same, or stand still (Yankee Publishing, Inc., 2012).† Does this mean it is a sign of a catastrophic event? No, this happens all the time and our Earth has no drastic affect. Individuals can often seek more reliable proof through specialist. Even the best scholars and scientists will often bump heads during their investigation period of a prediction. The difference between the two groups of specialists is the way they use the â€Å"results base factor†. Scholars will derive their material from proven result factors; along with any theory that is applicable. Scientists mainly need to have actual facts for a proven base result. Both will probe at the task, until satisfied in their findings. It would be hard to keep any catastrophic disaster a secret. Why would they? They have just as much to lose as everyone else if the Earth was going to be in harm’s way. If we take a look back at some of the famous writings of Nostradamus and his prediction materials we would find encoded messages; which have been studied by other scholars even today. â€Å"Nostradamus’s deeply arcane approach; including obscure astrological methods and the use of an esoteric code known as the â€Å"Green Language† (Abbott, Gold, & Rotella, 2000).† Nostradamus did not make it easy to read his predictions and for many years individuals have tried to break the code. His followers believe that much of Nostradamus’s predictions have already happened and that he was gifted with the sight of true predictions. Furthermore, the slightest misdirection or code breaking could result in a false statement predicting that the end is near. Who should we believe when it comes to the facts that a catastrophic disaster is coming our way? Many movies have been created with different outcomes of a catastrophic disaster. Each film is pointing the finger; that we are not prepared enough. The government is in control on the way things will be handled during a catastrophic disaster, even in the moves. We can feel confident that our government would inform us that the world was in danger. They would even have a plan set in place just for such an event. Many individuals have even started their own game plan for action during doomsday. Preparing for any expecting disaster is often taken seriously by individuals believing that the predictions are about to come true. Some believers handle it in different ways; for example: they might have planned to attend a celebration party. Others may celebrate the passing event in private settings. If this sounds familiar, it should because that is what they did on the Millennium (2000). A brief reminder of that prediction was that computers were not going to work. Which turned out to be just a small programming issue and computers still work today. Many bank account customers rushed to withdrew funds; in fear that their money would be lost. What are we afraid of? Is it the not knowing what? Or could it be the not knowing when a disaster will occur that has many getting ready ahead of time? Those individuals who believe in the disaster will shift into a survival mode. Survival supplies are stockpiled for the long duration of the event. The amount of supplies depends on the individual’s needs and type of disaster being observed. Water is one of the major items on the list; both for drinking and cleaning needs. Using special care not to store plastic bottles of water in direct sunlight; for research is still pending on the harm from toxicants produced during prolonged sun exposures (Rogers, 2012). Food and medical supplies are another demand on a stockpile list for survival of a disaster. Having a list ahead of time can help keeping track of the inventory. In addition, individuals may take it even future by seeking out a place to hold out until the disaster is over. Underground shelters have been designed and are in place for safety measures; at a high purchase price. Believers in the catastrophic prediction will gladly spend money on solid, reinforced, deep underground shelters; designed to withstand most disasters. These shelters are equipped with electrical power or self-contained with solar power. The price range depends on the size verse the structure. â€Å"Diameters of 8†², 9†², 10†², 11†² 12†² x 20†² to 50†² lengths are available on custom orders. Prices start at $49,900 (Atlas Survival Shelters, 2012).† This example is for the shelter itself; the property cost is additional. Shelter manufacturers have different floor plans to choose from, remember the buyer could be living in it for a long time. It depends on what you believe in; there is another type of believer and they will reach for the heavens in time of need. Religious communities will often come together to make peace. In times of despair many churches will have gatherings for prayer so members can join together with each other. Past religious cults even had predictions that their group called â€Å"Heaven’s Gate† of 1997 was to meet with a spaceship. That prediction cost thirty nine individuals their lives. Of course, no spaceship ever arrived for them.The news media was quick to report this sad event; massive suicides are common when misadvised individuals want to believe what someone tells them. Once the danger passes the due date; how do we react finding it was indeed another false statement? Some individuals start to unpack their underground shelter and others may keep it ready for the next prediction. While others just feel like it is another day; glad that they disbelieved in the predictions. Everyone has a choice to believe or disbelieve in the predictions. We should be able to give more thought into the research results of specialists; for indeed there are more explanations in favor of nothing going to happen. Another perfect example has passed by on â€Å"December 21, 2012† for the outcome has been proven that in view of the scientific spectrum no evidence occurred that put us in danger of existence. Future false statements will be tested each time by professionals and facts will be shared openly to us all. Giving us a safe and secure feeling to continue our daily lives; until next time. References Abbott, C., Gold, S. F., & Rotella, M. (2000). The Secrets Of Nostradamus: A Radical New Interpretation of the Master’s Prophecies. Retrieved 2012, from Publishers Weekly: http://www.lirn.net/services/proxy?url=http://search.proquest.com/docview/197051024?accountid=40833 Atlas Survival Shelters. (2012). Galvanized Corrugated Pipe. Retrieved from Atlas Survival Shelters: http://www.atlassurvivalshelters.com/aboutus/nbc/corrugated/ Bellenir, K. (2004). In Religious Holidays & Calendars. Retrieved from Credo Reference: http://www.lirn.net/services/proxy?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.credoreference.com/entry/ogirholidays/the_mayan_and_aztec_calendars Lewin , N. (2011). The Haab. Retrieved from THE MAYAN TRADITION – THE OTHERS CALENDARS: http://www.4-ahau.com/en/The_Haab.html Machosky, M. (2009). Apocalypse now? Well, more like, three years from now. Retrieved 2012, from ProQuest: http://www.lirn.net/services/proxy?url=http://search.proquest.com/docview/457147731?accountid=40833 PR N ewswire Association LLC. (2009). What if the Maya Were Right and Doomsday is Just Around the Corner? National Geographic Channel Investigates the Science Behind Ancient Clues in 2012: Countdown to Armageddon. Retrieved 2012, from ProQuest: http://www.lirn.net/services/proxy?url=http://search.proquest.com/docview/447787532?accountid=40833 Rogers, C. D. (2012). Are Clear Water Bottles Safe for Sun Exposure? Retrieved from National Geographic Society: http://greenliving.nationalgeographic.com/clear-water-bottles-safe-sun-exposure-20417.html Stuart, D. (2011). The Order of Days: The Maya World and the Truth about 2012. Retrieved from Gale Science in Context: http://ic.galegroup.com:80/ic/scic/AcademicJournalsDetailsPage/AcademicJournalsDetailsWindow?displayGroupName=Journals&disableHighlighting=false&search_within_results=&prodId=SCIC&action=2&catId=&documentId=GALE%7CA263992162&userGroupName=lirn_crevc&jsid= Yankee Publishing, Inc. (2012). First Day of Winter 2012: The Winter Solstice. Retrieved from The Old Farmer’s Almanac: http://www.almanac.com/content/first-day-winter-winter-solstice

Global Development Strategy of Siemens AG Case Study

Global Development Strategy of Siemens AG - Case Study Example It is evidently clear from the discussion that in order to capitalize on the strength of the systems that the company has produced over the years as well as opportunities with the advancement of information technology, Siemens AG has come up with the â€Å"EWSD NetManager project.† This project aims to integrate the EWSD network nodes and networks into a user-friendly and graphics based software product to telecoms customers. This integration aims to provide the customers a complete range of facilities in order for them to operate, administer, and maintain the functions of their customers EWSD network nodes and networks. This project requires the expertise in the EWSD technology as well as expertise in desktop computing languages. Siemens over the years has developed distinct specializations in its independently running RDCs. The company RDC in Florida, for example, has developed a significant technical expertise in handling EWSD. However, because the Boca Raton RDC in Florida has been given much independence in their operations, their expertise is usually tailored to those of the needs of the local customers. Thus, the expertise that they have developed has been different from those of the main office in Munich, Germany. Siemens another RDC in Bangalore, India, however, has the technical expertise when it comes to desktop computing languages. These RDCs provide different advantages when it comes to the decision of which one should handle the NetManager project. In pursuing this project, Horst Eberl and Karl-Friedrich Hunke, the two subdivisional co-heads of Siemens Information and Communications Network, have unearthed several hindrances to the implementation and commencement of the NetManager project. When the company has decided to give the task to its Bangalore RDCs because of its technical expertise on desktop computing languages as well the lower costs of operations, the difference in the RDCs way of doing things has to lead to a major crisis in Si emens.

The Methods and Uses of Anthropological Demography Assignment

The Methods and Uses of Anthropological Demography - Assignment Example Subsequently, there are limited restrictions on the attendants of the facility since knowledge is open for all. This implies that issues such as religious restrictions, racial discrimination or economic restrictions are rarely exhibited in this facility. The library structure is sub-divided into four floors, each with a maximum carrying capacity of over five hundred individuals. This assists in identifying the working area in terms of the anticipated population, as well as the area of coverage (Hume 34). The determination of the appropriate time for conducting the anthropological study was quantified using the visualization of the behaviors exhibited by the target population (Rosenbaum, 45). This was defined by the common trends amongst the participants, as well as the economic patterns exhibited by the population. The aim of the research also contributed to the definition of the framework of time to be accepted for the study. The study sought to investigate the behaviors of the imme diate community. In this case, it was convenient to align the study time to the moments matching the extensive preferential in terms of the patterns of the community. On that note, the morning hours were most convenient. This implied that the study was to be performed during the morning session, from around eight o’clock to around one o’clock. The identification of this study period was based on the study patterns exhibited by the population. The students preferred to perform their study during the morning session and take a break by midday as they head for their midday meals. The senior populations also exhibited a preference for performing their study either in the morning or by the course of the day, especially from ten o’clock to twelve o’clock.  

Gulf Cooperation Council Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Gulf Cooperation Council - Essay Example They signed the agreement to the establishment of the GCC on 25 May 1981 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia after conclusive discussions that started on 4 February 1981 in Riyadh. They later signed the unified economic agreement on 11 November 1981 in Abu Dhabi. Initially, the Gulf Cooperation Council covered about 630-million-acre (2,500,000 km2) area where Yemen is now under consideration for membership (Low and Salazar, 2010, p.3). The special economic relations of these Arab countries, Islamic beliefs, similar political systems, geographic proximity, and common objectives were the drivers to the formation of the GCC (GlobalSecurity.org 2012, p.1). Indeed, the common objectives to the formation of the GCC include the establishment of scientific research centers, joint ventures, and a common market currency by 2010. Moreover, GCC has an objective of strengthening relations between the member states, creating unified military force among the member states, and advocating for private sector coo peration on economic and social matters. GCC equally seeks to formulate similar regulations in the sectors of economy, trade, legislation, tourism, finance, and administration sectors. In addition, GCC seeks to foster technical and scientific growth in agriculture, mining, and industry resources. Most importantly, GCC advocates for perfect coordination, integration, and interrelations among the Six Arab countries for developing the unity of purpose (The Cooperation Council for the Arab states of the Gulf, 2012, p.1). Subject to its objectives, the Gulf Cooperation Council carries out many activities with an aim of remaining relevant to its goals. For a fact, the GCC members are actually autocratic monarchies that have no political interest whatsoever (BBC News, 2012, p.1). Hence, political turnarounds rarely affect their activities. Indeed, the member states of GCC are the most dominant force in the world’s oil industry. Hence, they control the world economy via oil trade. Ac tually, GCC aims at reducing its dependence on the US security though the measures to achieve this are still a mystery to the council with members divided on how to tackle Iraq, Iran and Yemen security threats. Nevertheless, in 1984, the GCC created the Saudi-based Peninsula Shield that is a joint defense force serving all the GCC members and their interests (GlobalSecurity.org 2012, p.1). However, there is need to expand the force to serve the members effectively as proposed by Oman in 1991though this quest faces a lot of opposition. More so, in 2004, GCC member states signed the intelligence-sharing pact to countering terrorism in their territories. This pact has been very beneficial to the members. Similarly, GCC is very conscious on matters relating to the environment and hence it uses significant resources in promoting knowledge on the importance of the environment in the Gulf region. In this line, GCC appreciates and accords prizes to individuals and organizations for Best Env ironmental Activities (Terra Viva Grants Directory, 2011, p.1). Economically, GCC established a common market in 2008 for its products although the members are yet to realize full benefits to this initiative. At the same breath, the customs union declared in 2003 by the GCC is yet to reach maximum returns. Consequently, the knowledge on the status of the GCC is very fundamental in tackling this paper. Ideally, the six member states signed the charter to the formation of the GCC on 25 May 1981 at Abu Dhabi City, United Arab Emirates.

Should Performance Enhancing Drugs (Such as Steroids) Be Accepted in Research Paper

Should Performance Enhancing Drugs (Such as Steroids) Be Accepted in Sports - Research Paper Example This facet has divided the world population into two segment with some being against, the use of steroids while others supporting introduction of the drugs in the sports (Cooper, pg 102). Each one of the two sides, hold different opinions as to why they have taken their own specific stand. The side of sportsmen and women as well as the trainers, who support the idea argue that, use of the drugs helps minimize the injuries and also enhance recovery of body muscles, While the sporting bodies which opposes the idea of using these drugs argues that acceptance of this substance promotes unfair sporting activities that are based on lie rather than the true fact of sporting. The world has continued to ponder on the issue of performance enhancing drugs in sporting activities. It has been left in confusion striving to find a common ground on the matter. The history of this issue date as back to ancient Greeks who used the plant extracts as stimulant. The prominence of doping, however, heightened in late 1960s; when the sporting activity became more popular in different continents. Nevertheless, the climax of the issue has gained moment in the past decade with the majority of athletes being diagnosed to have injected these drugs in their system in order to enhance their performance (Cooper, pg33). With increase evolution in health technology, it has become much easier for the sporting bodies to detect and confirm if the accused person has used the drugs. Research on these enhancing drugs has shown that; they help in building of fat reserves in the muscle of the person through protein stimulation. The individual becomes even much stronger, hence able to par ticipate in the sports and also train for long hours without exhaustion. As the heated debate on drugs continues to take a better part of the center stage, the puzzling question which the majority of the partisan continue to ask, Do we have to accept these drugs in the sporting activities?. The

Class Dialogue Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 1

Class Dialogue - Assignment Example Libreria Editrice Vaticana: 6-10, and 244 Accessed Online from http://w2.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/apost_exhortations/documents/papa-francesco_esortazione-ap_20131124_evangelii-gaudium.html. As seen from the social settings that human beings are separated either by color or ethnicity, it is no surprise that Catholics are seen the same way by other religions. Christians have been ridiculed this leading to division. In context, the topic at hand is covered by this source as it projects the dimensions of faith and how such faith can be distorted given that other religions and some races within Christianity do not auger well with each other. Racism is the bias towards a certain race. The Catholic Church as been viewed as one among the foundations of Christianity. However, politics have been immersed in to the church with racial profiling of clergies and other service individuals segregated along these lines. In context, this source provides supporting dialogue confirming that racism as well as favoritism are particulars in Christianity and thus more perspectives of analyzing the church should be considered. This quote shows that the division among Christians continues to be the very reason that Christians are unable to live or co-exist peacefully. In nations ravaged by violence, the Christians are even in a worse situation as the lack of unity projects even further complications as to how to conquer the hardships. Racial profiling is a problem in the justice system as it is in the religious setting. Considering the crises in Egypt and Nigeria, religious wars and lack of cooperation among Christians has driven the bar of reconciliation further as terror rages on. For instance, the abduction of school girls in Nigeria by a terror militia shows that the racial and religious conflicts continue to rage due to division among the Christians as pointed out by the USCCB. Paul VI. (1975). Pope Francis’ Evangelii Gaudium. Libreria Editrice

MAE Assingment Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

MAE Assingment - Assignment Example Dev.   0.025827   11240942   65635008   0.019383   Observations   45   45   45   45 Table 1 above presents the descriptive statistics for our variables of interest. The only point of concern that may arise in this situation is that all the variables reflect some degree of skewness which violates the normality assumption. Additionally, the fact that the number of observations is only 45 may also be a point of concern since this can lead to small sample bias. 2. Time plots Figure 1: Time plot of P There are no seasonal patterns evident in the time plot of P. Figure 2: Time plot of Q The time plot of Q exhibits strong seasonal variations. Figure 3: Time plot of G As is evident from figure 3 above, similar to the time plot of P, the time plot of G also does not exhibit seasonal fluctuations. Figure 4: Time plot of X Figure 4 shows that X also follows a seasonally fluctuating pattern 3. Thus, there is strong evidence of seasonal fluctuations among the Q and X series. Thi s is visible in the oscillatory patterns that these series seem to follow. The series P and G exhibit no seasonal patterns. Additionally, all the series reflect a steady upward trend. Therefore inclusion of seasonal dummies is important since our dependent variable Q does exhibit seasonal fluctuations. ... 18.31869 0.0000 P -7530.197 6092.988 -1.235879 0.2235 G -84559.50 9770.479 -8.654591 0.0000 X 1.865016 0.111494 16.72746 0.0000 R-squared 0.915605   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Mean dependent var 4442.111 Adjusted R-squared 0.909430   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  S.D. dependent var 505.4463 S.E. of regression 152.1132   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Akaike info criterion 12.97181 Sum squared resid 948675.2   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Schwarz criterion 13.13241 Log likelihood -287.8658   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Hannan-Quinn criter. 13.03168 F-statistic 148.2710   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Durbin-Watson stat 1.390217 Prob(F-statistic) 0.000000 From table 2 above we find that the estimated coefficients for both P and X are significantly different from zero (evident from the t-statistic). G however is not a significant determinant of Q. The coefficients reflect that the demand for drink and tobacco is negatively influenced by the price of the items and positively influenced by the total consumer expenditure. The coefficient on G is also negative but since it is not significantly different from 0 at the 5% level, we conclude that it does not have an influence on drink and tobacco demand. Thus, our results imply that an increase in the prices of drinks and tobacco will lead to a reduction in its demand while an increase in overall consumer expenditure leads to an increase in the demand. 5. Attempting to include all four dummies leads to perfect multicollinearity. Thus we modify the equation and include dummies for the 1st 3 quarters only. Table 3 presents the results. Table 3: OLS estimation with quarterly dummies Dependent Variable: Q Method: Least Squares Date: 09/01/11 Time: 01:01 Sample: 1980Q1 1991Q1 Included observations: 45 Coefficient Std. Error t-Statistic Prob.  Ã‚   C 5127.935 356.9563 14.36572 0.0000 P -8713.964 2700.994 -3.226206 0.0026 X 0.805451 0.096091 8.382187 0.0000 G -23150.70

Public Administration and Analytical Observations on the works of T Research Paper

Public Administration and Analytical Observations on the works of T. J. Lowi - Research Paper Example The Entrepreneurial Republicans were the ones that celebrated the free enterprise system and sought reduction, even elimination, of taxes and government regulations. The Evangelical Republicans perceived a shocking social decay and hunger around them for the return of a moral community made its basis on Christian certitude. The Eurocentric Republicans feared cultural relativism in their institutions through the mixing of racial minorities and illegal aliens in their midst, along with loss of jobs in the new global economy. This alliance was significantly white and male dominated in its composition, and has set the tone of the contemporary political debate in the United States. Theodore J. Lowi examines the nature of this coalition and its internal contradictions in his school of thought, and writings. In doing so, Lowi traces the foundation and potential demise of both the current Republican majority and Republican government in the United States. In â€Å"The End of the Republican Era†, Theodore J. Lowi predicts not only a collapse of the Republican coalition but also the potential collapse of the United States' republican experiment at large. Professing that the ideologies of dominant political coalitions contain the seeds of their own destruction, Lowi suggests that the efforts of a new conservative Right to enforce a national, religion-based morality has brought about the demise of the Republican era. Section ii: The life of Theodore J. Lowi Theodore J. Lowi, the John L. Senior Professor of American Institutions at Cornell University, is a highly acclaimed political scientist and an expert on the American presidency. He was the former President of the American Political Science Association (1998). He is currently first vice president of the International Political Science Association and a member of its research committee on world pluralism and minority representation. Lowi’s works are primarily ideological exegesis. He has written numerous bo oks, including â€Å"The End of Liberalism,† â€Å"The End of the Republican Era,† â€Å"Democrats Return to Power: Politics and Policy in the Clinton Era,† and â€Å"The Pursuit of Justice,† which was co-authored with Robert F. Kennedy. Section iii: Analyze and discuss scholar’s work/Summary of Lowi’s Reasoning and Argument The main argument of Lowi stood that â€Å"Interest-group liberalism† fights against democracy and good government, thus taking away its authoritativeness. Lowi believed that such liberalism corrupted the democratic government by treating all values as equivalent interests. By confusing expectations about democratic institutions, it rendered these institutions impotent. Additionally, it rusted the government’s abilities by multiplication in the number of available plans, but no addressing towards their implementation. According to Lowi, â€Å"Interest-group liberalism† demoralizes government because without a value-system, it is unable achieve justice, which is then obviously not an issue for discussion. It decreases the necessary importance of formal procedures and rules, thus allowing too much informal bargaining. Lowi, in fact, argues against Truman that â€Å"Interest-group liberalism† fails because it neither tries to, nor can recognize the greater national interests. Theodore J. Lowi’s Overview on Liberalism Lowi illustrates the ideological

Informal Proposal Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

Informal Proposal - Essay Example There is a dearth of consultancy service providers against an ever increasing demand (Remenyi, 2012). As a result, most clients fail to obtain the required services because there are few players in the market that specialize in consultancy. Basically, consultancy involves the offering of knowledge and counsel services upon demand. Additionally, consultancy services can be offered along with other professional and business services. The consultancy field is wide enough and involves a multitude of disciplines which implies that any business corporation offering professional or educational services can successfully venture into consultancy. In fact, already established business organizations are in a better position to offer consultancy services because of a number of factors. First is experience, organizations that offer professional or educational services have enormous experience in their particular arenas which could be exploited in consultancy. Offering consultancy services only re quire mastery, expertise, and experience in a relevant field through which firm can offer advice to clients. Therefore, the organization can successfully incorporate consultancy in its product and service range. Consultancy services will be offered along with the regular educational services in the sense that the schedule of the organization will be made more flexible to permit the new service. As a result, a new desk will be opened at the reception labeled consultancy and potential clients can inquire and book appointments with the consultancy department which will be created specifically to offer this service. Since consultancy services are offered on demand, once an appointment is booked the department will arrange and schedule the consultancy session without hindering other organizational processes. Consultancy is a professional field that would require the hiring of individuals with the necessary qualifications to

Natural Gas Essay Example for Free

Natural Gas Essay Qatar is known to have the third largest reserve in the world for natural gas. It is a colorless, shapeless, odorless gas in its natural form. Main property of this gas that made it so prized is its combustibility. When burned, natural gas emits a great deal of energy (NaturalGas. org, 2004). But not like fossil fuels, natural gas is a clean burning gas with lower level of potentially harmful byproducts is emitted into the air as resultant to the combustion process. Natural gas is usually composed of a mixture of combustible hydrocarbon gases. While natural gas is formed primarily of methane, it can also include ethane, propane, butane and pentane. The composition of natural gas can vary widely but in its purest form it is mainly composed of methane. Usually found under the earth, this gas is usually associated with oil deposits. Natural gas is another form of fossil fuel, like coal and oil, and is essentially the remains of plants and animals. Use of natural gas as an energy source comprises 24% of the total energy consumption in the US for the year 2000. Natural gas, with its varied usage and has many different applications for industrial, commercial and residential sectors, is vital component of the nations energy supply. PHOTOVOLTAICS Photovoltaic literally means light electricity, which was derived from the Greek words photo and volt. Photovoltaic materials and devices basically generate electricity by converting light or solar energy into electricity that can be utilized by devices requiring electrical power. It was discovered by a French physicist Edmond Becquerel on1839 while conducting an experiment involving electrolytic cell connected by two metals as electrodes. Since then harnessing of solar electricity has been developed and used (Solar_Energy_and_Technology_Program, 2005). Since the discovery of photoconductivity, solar energy has been harnessed to generate electricity. On 1873, Wilby Smith identified Selenium to demonstrate photoconductivity. Photovoltaic property was also observed Adams and Day to be exhibited by Selenium while in its solid form. The first solar cell was created by Charles Fritts on 1883, which was made from Selenium wafers (Corrosion_Doctors, 2007). PV was originally developed to provide power to devices on places that would require a renewable source of energy like in outer space. With the development of PV devices or solar devices, PV cells have been used in providing power to spacecrafts and devices. The first reported usage of PV cells was during 1959 for the Vanguard 1 satellite using silicon wafers in the solar device. This satellite lasted for 8 years in operation (Corrosion_Doctors, 2007). Since Vanguard 1 other spacecrafts and satellite were reported to utilize also PV technology in providing power to manned and unmanned crafts and satellites. PV generation is gaining increased importance as renewable source due to its advantages like absence of fuel cost, no noise or wear due to absence of moving parts and little maintenance. The world market for photovoltaic exceeded 200 MW in 1999 could rise to 650 MW in 2005 and 1800 MW in 2010 – provided that installed costs for grid-connected PV drop to less than US $4/ Wp in 2005 and $3 in 2010. The world grid-connected market grew to 110 MW in 2000, 400 MW in 2005 and will grow to 700 MW in 2010 provided the installed costs will decrease to $3/W by 2010. The following tables and graphs show a general idea of how the PV world market is growing and how the prices of PV modules/Wp is dropping since the year 1990 up until now and in the upcoming future. PV Cells PV cells or solar cells, composed of semiconductors that are made from crystalline solids, which permits electrical conduction when connected to two metals, are devices that converts solar or radiant energy into electrical energy. This thin wafer of semiconductor is chemically treated to produce negative charge on one side and positive charge on the other side. A p-n junction separates and connects the two oppositely charged sides. The process of converting sunlight into electricity is explained in three processes 1. Sunlight is absorbed by the thin semiconductor wafer. 2. Positive and negative charges are generated and are separated in the different parts of the cell. The movement of these particles generates voltage within the cell. 3. And, the electrical current generated by the separation of the charges is transferred to the intended device via the electrical terminals connected to the cell. When sunlight is absorbed by the solar cell, electron hole pairs are generated, and if their recombination is prevented they can reach the junction where they are separated. The electrons are moved into the front side or negative side of the cell. Commercial solar cells usually designate the negative side in the front part. The back or other side of the cells is designated as the positive side. When these two are connected electrical current flows between through wires connected to the electrical device. The current that flows is usually proportional on the intensity of the sunlight that the solar cell captures (Elwell Komp, 2007). The back contact or positive side is usually made of continuous layer of metal but the front contact, on the other hand is usually made into thin fingers. The front contacts are evenly spaced to allow the as much sunlight to reach the positive side of the cell. The cell is covered with an anti reflection coating to maximize the absorption of sunlight. A thin protective coating covers the cell to allow cleaning and maintenance (Elwell Komp, 2007). An example of a single solar cell structure is shown in figure 1. PV cells are manufactured in many shapes and sizes. Some are even smaller than a postage stamp. While there are individual cells that are many inches across. Interconnected PV cells form a PV module. Modules are interconnected to form a PV array. The module is designed to contain a number of Silicon cells interconnected as a series of thin layers. This is purposely intended to protect the solar cells from the ambient and as well as generate a higher voltage compared to a single cell, which delivers less than 1 volt. Arrays varies in the size that is needed dependent upon the amount of sunlight that the location is receiving and the needed power generated by the array depending the intended usage. The array is not just composed of the PV modules, which comprises the majority of the PV system, it also includes the electrical connection, mounting hardware, power-conditioning equipment and batteries that store the generated electricity intended for use during the times when the sun is not available or shining (Solar_Energy_and_Technology_Program, 2005). Crystalline silicon solar cells are used in more than half of all solar electric devices. Like most semiconductor devices, they include a positive layer (on the bottom) and a negative layer (on the top) that create an electrical field inside the cell. When a photon of light strikes a semiconductor, it releases electrons (see animation). The free electrons flow through the solar cells bottom layer to a connecting wire as direct current (DC) electricity. Some solar cells are made from polycrystalline silicon, which consists of several small silicon crystals. Polycrystalline silicon solar cells are cheaper to produce but somewhat less efficient than single-crystal silicon (Solar Electricity, 2004). A simple silicon solar cell can power a watch or calculator. However, it produces only a tiny amount of electricity. Connected together, solar cells form modules that can generate substantial amounts of power. Modules are the building blocks of solar electric systems, which can produce enough power for a house, a rural medical clinic, or an entire village. Large arrays of solar electric modules can power satellites or provide electricity for utilities. Solar Electric System Components (Solar Electricity, 2004). PV cells can be made from different semiconductor materials but the most commonly used in manufacturing is crystalline silicon. Crystalline silicon has gained popularity since it was the first material used in the earliest successful PV devices. Silicon has 14 electrons and its orbital arrangements allows up to four electrons to be given, shared or accepted. These outermost electrons, known as valence electron, play a vital part in photoelectric effect of solar cells. Solar cell technology benefited greatly from the high standard of silicon technology developed originally for transistors and later for integrated circuits. This applied also to the quality and availability of single crystal silicon of high perfection. In the first years, only Czochralski (Cz) grown single crystals were used for solar cells. This material still plays an important role. As the cost of silicon is a significant proportion of the cost of a solar cell, great efforts have been made to reduce these costs. One technology, which dates back to the 1970s, is block casting which avoids the costly puling process. Silicon is melted and poured into a square SiO/SiN coated graphite crucible. Controlled cooling produces a polycrystalline silicon block with a large crystal grain structure.

Greek civilization Essay Example for Free

Greek civilization Essay Eros is defined as the representation of the Greek god of love, Cupid, intimate and physical love, or sexual desire (Dictionary Website, 2010). Eros had been the one of the most popular themes used in literature and arts, particularly the works from the Renaissance period and the Era of Romanticism. So often was it used as a strong bond between two beings, whether it be a heterosexual or homosexual. It captivated the interests of not only poets but also philosophers from different time periods. Two of the most distinguished icons of Greek civilization had incorporated Eros in their works; Plato in his Symposium and Sappho with her poetry. Both interpretations for Eros clashed with each other. It was quite understandable seeing that both famous figures practiced different arts; Plato with Socratic philosophies while Sappho had her mythological-influenced poetry. Each may have an opposing definition of Eros; however, one could not deny that their Eros also carried risks. This essay would like to discuss what the risks behind varying definitions of Eros are and what the precautions in overcoming the problem are. Plato wrote on his Symposium the past events circling his predecessor, Socrates, and his debates with his followers before his execution. Eros, according to both Plato and Socrates, is a common desire that sought beauty through ideas. Love and wisdom should be treated in the same manner as the hunger for beauty and philosophical curiosity is endless. Eros is above physical intimacy. Sexual intercourse is considered by these philosophers as nothing more but giving in to animalistic instincts, hence considered as being on the same level with dogs and donkeys. Eros produced from rational discourse or exchange of ideas is the ultimate pursuit of beauty (Idea). It appears that Eros for Plato is often one-sided love; reciprocity is not a requirement for attaining it. The desire itself is sufficient for one philosopher. The risk in Plato’s Eros is that there is an imbalance of emotions. It seems that only one party had to do the labor while his significant other could just float away. This seems to contradict with the reciprocity requirement; how could two beings achieved the Ideal Beauty if there was no exchange of discourse? This was also inquired by Hippothales, who shared the same preference with Socrates for beautiful young boys in the Symposium. Socrates berated Hippothales’ spoiling of his ardent desire in the form of the boy Lysis. Quoted from the Symposium, Socrates stated, â€Å"the greater your praise of his beauty and goodness, the more you will seem to have lost and the more you will be ridiculed This is how you should talk to your boyfriends, Hippothales, making them humble and drawing in their sails, instead of swelling them up and spoiling them, as you do† (Reeve, 2007; Mosely, 2005) Sappho’s poetry, on the other hand, defined Eros differently. She considered her poems as a public medium between her and the audience. Gestures, dancing, and music are required on her poetry recital to enchant or persuade the listeners the message she was delivering. In her most noted poem the phainetai moi, Eros is defined as force of power or magic, to the point of describing its strength as godlike. Sappho interpreted Eros through the love shared and bonded by women, quite the irony to Plato’s Symposium. Personal encounter is the focal point in this poem. Sappho measured this encounter with passionate and erotic emotions. Eros is seen as ritualistic, almost pagan. Sappho seemed to celebrate Eros through a communal setting with the oral recital of this poem. Compared to Plato where Eros is seen as the ultimate stage to enlightenment through rational discussion, Sappho is quit more liberal, artistic, and more vocal on displaying the emotions on Eros. Eros is defined as a feeling of what is lacking and always seeking to fill this emptiness. The risk on Sappho’s Eros is that one foot is on reality while the other is on fantasy. Passion alone would not help a man to keep his sanity. This Eros could blind the men’s sight on intellect, similar to how Dionysus made his follower frenzy with lust and inebriated. To prevent of being overwhelmed by this Eros, one must keep his mind working and to think several times before allowing one’s self to be swallowed by emotions. Society’s norms would keep this insanity at bay as the people would rather follow their traditions and laws rather being ostracized (Greene, 1996; West, 2010). References: Reeve, C. D. C. , Plato on Friendship and Eros, The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Fall 2008 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed. ), URL = http://plato. stanford. edu/archives/fall2008/entries/plato-friendship/. WEST, ELEONORA. Eros. May 4 2010 http://www. bookrags. com/research/eros-eorl-04/. Greene, Ellen. Reading Sappho: Contemporary Approaches. Berkeley: University of California Press, c1996 1996. http://ark. cdlib. org/ark:/130130/ft3199n81q

Reflection on the Importance of Hand Hygiene

Reflection on the Importance of Hand Hygiene After collating evidence I established that, hand hygiene is regarded as the most effective way of preventing healthcare associated infections (Gould 2010). Healthcare associated infections are infections acquired in hospitals or as a result of healthcare interventions (DOH 2008). I felt that this is an important factor in contributing to the prevention and control of infection as Health care associated infections affects patients and their. I feel to provide the best possible care, it is important to within your role, assess and minimise the risks, acting to protect people in your care (NMC 2008). During my initial meeting with my mentor, we highlighted my learning needs and personal goals I wished to achieve during the placement. The NMC (2008) states that mentor are professionally accountable for students on placement and have a duty to help students develop nursing competencies. Therefore we explored ideas for the project and following completion of my action, I produced the evidence to my mentor. After discussing my rational for choice I was able to make the decision for the practice placement project. I explained that I didnt feel confident in speaking in groups and that I was anxious about the presentation. I felt a professional relationship had been built were I was in a position to discuss my thought and feeling and felt I was fully supported by my mentor. Learning opportunities were provided which included a spoke placement with the infection control nurse. Pellet (2006) states that the role of the mentor in clinical teaching is to facilitate learning experiences. During my spoke placement I had the opportunity to gain information on local and government policy in relation to infection control and was advised on how I could obtain the policies and infection control bacteraemia figures used in the original presentation which highlighted the increase. In the next action learning set I was able to share this information and create new actions to develop and increase my knowledge. I found out that the hospice devised a policy on infection control however it linked with the local trust and followed their policy and procedure in regards to infection control. Therefore, in order to collate the policies and bacteraemia figures I was advised to contact the infection control nurse at the local trust by telephone. The information I requested was then e-mailed to me. The policy provided me with relevant evidence to use within the presentation; therefore I had developed my evidence base to support my presentation. The evidence included government and local policy. The National Patient Safety Agency (NPSA) launched the campaign clean hands safe care in 2006 which highlighted the need the effective hand hygiene and identified area for improvement. The World Health Organisation (2010) defines clean hands lead to safer health care. I decided that in order to produce the project I needed to explore information on learning styles, learning environments and how to create a PowerPoint presentation. I noticed how the hospices presentation incorporated the importance of hand hygiene however it did not demonstrate the hand washing procedures. Therefore, my action was to research and identify my own learning style developing an understanding of how the audience will respond and learn from the presentation. Kolb (1984) developed a learning theory which identifies four learning styles. The model provides individuals to understand their learning styles from experience to reflection observation. Kolb (1985) states that it is important for individuals to understand their learning styles, this then allow them to improve their effectiveness as learners. Honey and Mumford (1986, 1992) developed a variation on Kolbs model and devised their learning styles questionnaire. The four learning styles included activist, reflector, theorist and pragmatist. The Honey and Mumford questionnaire was discussed in our action learning set and was set as a group action to complete the questionnaire. On completion of the questionnaire, I identified that was a reflection. Honey and Mumford (1992) describe a reflector as observers of experiences, who prefer to analyse them thoroughly before taking action. They are good listeners, cautious and tend to adopt a low profile. Following this description I can relate to this as my initial thoughts of the action learning sets were that I didnt feel confident talking within a group, therefore I tend to adopt a low profile. A demographic questionnaire and Honey and Mumfords (2000) learning styles questionnaire were administered to a sample of undergraduate nursing student. The results included a trend of reflector as a preferred learning style for undergraduate nurses. This information is also highlighted in previous studies (Alonso 1992, Cavanagh et al 1994 cited in Rasool et al 2007) Analysing the evidence provided me with a knowledge base which enabled me to understand the concept of learning styles, this contributed to my learning and development as I was able to utilise the information to focus on the how I would present the project to meet individuals different learning styles. After I had completed the proposed actions from the previous action learning set I was able to return and present my findings to the group. The action learning sets provided a point of contact with other and enabled us to share information we had gathered and provided an opportunity to ask questions and set actions to continue with the task. As I had previously identified, according to Honey and Mumford my preferred learning style was a reflector. This enabled me to reflect on my initial thoughts around action learning and emphasised that I do tend to adopt a low profile in situations however following observing and analysing the situation I tend to take action. Attending a study skills session on database searching within the university was a positive learning experience. I was able to learn new skills in order to development personally, which consequently provides professional development. I decided that utilising the resources within the clinical environment and the university I would continue to practise literature searching to increase and widen my knowledge of the topic and specifically the learning environment. Therefore, this contributed to my next action. Hand (2006) states that the learning is affected by the environment where it takes place. This article highlighted key factors in promoting effective teaching focusing on characteristics of a good learning environment, the role of the practice placement and demonstrated the awareness of the role of the teacher. This enabled me to incorporate evidence based practise into my project presentation. The NMC (2008) states you must use evidence based practise to provide the best care, it also states the need for taking part in appropriate learning to ensure you develop your competencies. This links with the rationale of choice for my project presentation as the NMC (2008) states the need to provide a high standard and care at all times, delivering care on the best available evidence. Therefore the NPSA clean your hands campaign provides clear evidence based practise between hand hygiene and infection control. Throughout the placement I had several opportunities to discuss with my mentor the project presentation. Gray and Smith (2000) state that the mentors qualities provide an important part of the learning environment and I was able to be supported by being set goals and facilitate my own learning. I had developed my practise placement project using a variety of different resources such as literature searching, clinical experiences, action learning sets. The information I located enabled me to link theory to practise to develop a PowerPoint presentation which incorporated audio and visual effects, as a result ensuring a variety of the audiences learning styles were able to be met. Utilising the evidence I had obtained I was able to provide an evidence based presentation to facilitate learning and development for myself and others in the clinical area. I have learned a lot from this experience from both personal development of preparing and presenting a presentation, enabling me to person ally reflect, to reviewing evidence based literature applying this and using it for educational purposes within the clinical environment. This fulfilled my aim and rationale to highlight the importance of hand hygiene and demonstrate the correct procedures. Therefore, having a direct impact on patient care. Although I had previously expressed anxiety due to not being confident in speaking in groups, the action learning sets along with my mentor had impacted on my development in confidence. Stuart (2007) describes how placements can be stressful and Moscaritolo (2009) states how increased anxiety can reduce learning. However, the delivery of the presentation was successful. Pellatt (2006) states the mentors and responsible for the assessment of the students learning in practice. Throughout the placement the mentor provided opportunities were provide constructive feedback, Bennett (2003) states that assessment ensures the student is aware of strengths and weaknesses in practise, this is important so that the student is able enhance their practise. To ensure I received feedback on my presentation I devised a short questionnaire about the presentation and was able to reflect on the feed back I received. As I have identified throughout this learning experience, I feel I still need to build my confidence. Westwood (2010) states that people are more likely to achieve their goals if they focus on the future instead of their present problem. In order to overcome this barrier I have formulated a SMART goal. A SMART goal is an acronym for Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic and Time bound. My SMART goal is specific to myself as it will provide me with the opportunity to develop my personal and professional learning and development.

Essay --

A1. Documents ïÆ' ¼ Fourth quarter balanced scorecard attached with excel spreadsheet. ïÆ' ¼ Balance sheet attached with excel spreadsheet. ïÆ' ¼ Income statement attached with excel spreadsheet. B1. Adequacy of Funds According to Ralph Estes’ Dictionary of Accounting (1981), a pro forma financial statement is described as â€Å"a financial statement created on events and transactions that are assumed, but has not yet happened.† On the other hand, a historical financial statement gives organizations financial measurements on how well the company has performed in the past. For that reason, without financial statements it would be difficult for management, investors, executive board members, and customers to analyze and evaluate how well a company does financially. The format in pro forma financial statements are similar to historical financial statements, but primarily focuses on the future theories and not past factual financial information. Also, a budget is a financial disposition to control future aspects in operations of money. Therefore, having a financial budget is extremely important especially when starting a business. During my simulation, I focused more on using a financial budget throughout to predict how much money I would spend during the expansion process of building the company. I kept my financial risk managed, so the company would not have any debt in the process. Unfortunately, this also backfired against me when I needed to invest more for the future of the company. The two points in my balanced scorecard are how well I did against the average companies. (Below is part of the final Balanced Scorecard for Investment in Future and Financial Risk). Average Typhoon Investment in Future 85.62 1.00 Financial Risk 0.91 1.00 Now... ...tion provided a purchase of the market search, but could have used a better overview of what tools or directions a business owner could use to succeed. There are many ways to achieve the ultimate goal of perfection towards the customer’s expectation in my simulation and benchmarking would have been an impactful improvement to achieve quality assurance goals. That being said, in the simulation there should be some evaluation of defects of the units that were sold to the customers. In a few of the quarters, feedback review of the quality of the product would also be another part of the simulation. Therefore, the quality assurance from the customer’s standpoint is vital in order to gain revenue and manufacturing growth for a company. Benchmarking would be an impactful improvement towards new business owners for this simulation to achieve quality assurance goals.

The History of Advertising :: Advertisements Media Advertising Essays

The History of Advertising Advertising is dated back to the Christian Era. One of the first known methods of advertising was outdoor signs, they would be painted on the wall of a building and were usually very eye catching. Archaeologists have found signs in the ruins of ancient Rome and Pompeii which advertised travelers to go to a tavern situated in another town. In about the 1440's there was an invention of a movable-type of advertising which was a printing press. In the 16th century some companies had a trade mark which was a two or three dimensional picture or sign. In both volume and technique, advertising has made its greatest advances in the U.S. In the early stages of U.S. advertising it was hard and expensive to advertise nationally because the U.S. was still undeveloped and there was little of no means of transport, distribution or communication. Eventually certain type of manufactures thought of the idea of bypassing wholesalers, retailers and using catalogs. Mail orders and pamphlets appeared around the 1870's. Late in the 19th century many American firms began to market packaged goods under brand names. Previously consumers had not been aware of or influenced by brand names. The first product that had brand names were soap products. In the 1880's a few brands came out and they were Ivory, Pears, Sapolio, Colgate, Kirks American Family and Packer's. Not long after brands such as Royal baking powder, Quaker oats, Bakers chocolate, Hire's root beer, Regal shoes and Waterman's pens were nationally advertised. In the early 1900's America began to become aware of such brand names like Bon Ami, Wrigley and Coca-Cola. After World War 1 advertising developed into a business so big that it was almost a trademark of America itself through the eyes of the rest of the world. This was expanded by technical improvements which made transportation, communication and graphics work easier, cheaper and better. The invention of electricity led to the illuminated outdoor poster, photoengraving and other modern printing inventions helped both editorial and advertising departments of printed journals. In the 1920's the radio was invented and this developed a whole new technique of selling, by voice. During World War 2 the American advertising industry founded the war advertising council this used modern advertising to strengthen the American war effort. The organization still continued after the war was over as ‘The Advertising Council' this was used to function for the publics interest. Printed and broadcasted

Religious Freedom Restoration Act :: essays research papers

Religious Freedom Restoration Act In this paper I will describe the Religious Freedom Restoration Act. This Act was used to contradict the decision of the court case of Employment Division v. Smith, which allowed the government to forbid any religious act without giving a reason. The RFRA brought back the requirement that the government provide an adequate reason to forbid any religious act. The government once again had to show that the act was of compelling interest against the state. In 1993 one of the most important acts that has gone thorough Congress was passed (Religious Freedom, Map of the RFRA). This was the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) of 1993 (Religious Freedom, Map of the RFRA). This act was passed to answer the 1990 court case Employment Division v. Smith (Questions and Answers, Map of the RFRA). Employment Division v. Smith was a court case in which the issue was whether â€Å"Sacramental use of peyote by members of the Native American Church was protected under the free exercise clause of the First Amendment, which provides that ‘Congress shall make no law...prohibiting the free exercise of religion'.†(Questions and Answers, Map of the RFRA). According to Justice Scalia, â€Å"if prohibiting the exercise of religion was merely the incidental effect of a generally applicable and otherwise valid provision, the First Amendment was not offended.† (Questions and Answers, Map of the RFRA). Thus, "...the government no longer had to justify most burdens on religious exercise. The free exercise clause offered protection only if a particular religious practice was singled out for discriminatory treatment. In short, free exercise was a sub category of equal protection. This placed religious rights in an inferior position to other First Amendment rights such as freedom of speech and press." (Questions and Answers, Map of the RFRA). This court case caused a series of court cases about religious freedoms (Religious Freedom, Map of the RFRA). Congress enacted the RFRA to contradict the negative affect that court cases had recently had on religious freedoms(Religious Freedom, Map of the RFRA). The RFRA is what it states it is in the title, a restoration act(Religious Freedom, Map of the RFRA). Congress decided that in Employment Division v. Smith, "the supreme court virtually eliminated the requirement that the government justify burdens on religious exercise imposed by laws neutral toward religion and the compelling interest test as set forth in prior Federal court rulings is a workable test for striking sensible balances between religious liberty and competing prior governmental interests."(Religious Freedom, Map of the RFRA) In other words, the government did not have to have a reason to impose laws

Cultural Anthropology Midterm Study Guide

Anthropology 2 Midterm Study Guide: Professor Li Zhang Midterm Date: October 30, 2012 Week 1 What is the scope of cultural anthropology? Discuss its focus of inquiry, approach, and major changes over time. ?Cultural anthropology is concerned with the nature and extent of social and cultural differences among different societies. Focus on Inquiry: Why there are different cultures and how they came about and are affected or changing. Focus on Approach: Approaches could be urban, political, legal, medical, psychological, environmental, feminist, etc. Goals: ?Understanding how differences among societies are shaped. Understanding the unequal power relations between societies produced by colonialism, imperialism and contemporary global practices. ?To compare the perspectives of different societies and how each of them interprets the world. Changes in cultural anthropology over time: ?Used to be a way to proves inferiority of others and justify oppression and ethnocentrism. Now its mostly about being critical of inequality, ? We also do fieldwork in western, ‘developed’ countries. ?There is more globalization now. ?Early anthropology focused on studying isolated, tribal societies. ?Over time they began to study large urban industrial societies. Today the scope of cultural anthropology has expanded into various subdivisions, such as urban political, and medical. Compare the two major schools of early anthropological thought: British social anthropology and French structuralism in terms of their primary concern and focus. British Social Anthropology: ?Emerged in early 20th century. Main founding figure was Malinowski. ?Radcliffe-Brown, Evans-Pritchard, Gluckman, and Leach also were important figures. ?Two theoretical foundations were functionalism and structural functionalism: 0Functionalism – Explanation of why certain social institutions exist. Explains the cultural responses to basic individual needs that are biological and/or physiological. 0Exa mple: cannibalism may be explained through a survivalist function ?Structural Functionalism – Concerned less with individual needs and actions and more with the place of the individuals in the social order. ?Figures out the relationship of individuals to the larger social body. ?Example: Cannibal Tours – colonists arrived and stripped villages of sacred objects and introduced European monetary system to make the villagers subordinateDuring these early years, social anthropology was deeply intertwined with the British colonial government that provided the financial support for research and teaching in anthropology. The primary interest was in Africa – to study their languages and generate knowledge about their political and legal systems. French Structuralism ?Primary figure in school of thought is Levi Strauss. ?Focused on the elementary structures of kinship, mythology, and language. ?Some concerns include the patterns or underlying structures and how seemingly unrelated things may actually be from a complex system of interrelated parts. Form is emphasized over content. ?The internal logic of a culture and its relationship to the structures of human society and human mind. Comparison: ?Both schools of thought are concerned with studying the structure and layout of the society. ?British social anthropology is concerned more with the relation of the individual to society while French structuralism is concerned with how individuals are connected to one another to form the society (mythologies, language, human mind). Week 2: How does Edward Taylor define â€Å"culture†? Discuss the four key aspects of culture by providing one example for each aspect. Examples can be drawn from the readings, films, or other sources including your own observation. British anthropologist Edward Taylor defines culture as: â€Å"a complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, arts, morals, law, customs, and any other capabilities and habits acquired by a man as a member of society. † The four elements of culture are: 1. Culture is learned. ?Culture can be learned consciously and unconsciously through interacting and imitating the people around us. It can happen in informal settings such as your home, or formal places like churches and schools. Example: as children we learn to imitate words we hear adults speak and learn to speak the language. Proper etiquette is taught by looking at how others behave or from interacting with people who teach it to them. 2. Culture is shared. ?Members of a group share common beliefs, values, memories, and hope. ?Example: American culture is identified with individualism, while Chinese culture is identified with collectivism. This difference can be seen through the food and meals they choose. Americans usually don’t like to share their meals and order individual plates while the Chinese typically share their food and eat family-style. Example: â€Å"Eating Christmas in the Kalahari† by Richard Lee 0For Christmas, Lee buys the largest ox to show his gratitude for the Bushmen’s hospitality during his stay. He becomes confused when everyone in the village says that the ox he bought was no good and that is has no meat on it. 0In Bushmen village, it is part of their culture and tradition to insult each other so that people don’t become arrogant. Lee learned this by asking the Bushmen about it, showing how culture is shared by communication and interaction. 3. Culture is symbolic. Creation of culture depends on the human’s ability to use symbols and be able to have symbolic thought. ?We are able to give meaning to a thing or event and grasp the meaning. It can be arbitrary and conventional and depends on the social context that is widely accepted by society. However, the context can vary for each society. ?Examples: -McDonalds has become a symbol of fast food and unhealthy eating in America, but it is viewed as high class and modern in China. ?Colors tend to have symbolic meanings attached to them. Red represents love, yellow represents life, black represents death, etc. . Culture is dynamic. ?Culture isn’t a static cage to lock people in. It is something that changes over time. ?People use their culture creatively and actively instead of rigidly following the rules. ?There are some differences in culture between groups and societies, but the differences aren’t absolute. ?Cultural hybridization allows different cultural traditions and practices to merge together. 0Examples: – Food culture: fusion of food features a combination of different elements of cultures from all over the world. – Western psychotherapy combines Buddhist meditation with western psychology.What is ethnocentrism? Why is it problematic? In your discussion, draw examples from either Bohannan’s â€Å"Shakespeare in the Bush† or the film Cannibal Tours. How would a diffusionist argue against ethnocentrism? Ethnoce ntrism is the tendency to use one’s own culture as a yardstick to measure other cultural practices and beliefs. †¢Tendency for people to see their own culture as superior and natural. People make judgments according to their own cultural lens, giving them a narrow perspective; they see all other cultures as inferior to theirs.Examples: Cannibal Tours: The western tourists continuously compared the natives’ lifestyle to their own and saw their culture as primitive and backwards. They saw the natives as uncivilized and poor people who lacked the technology they possessed back at home. Bohannan’s â€Å"Shakespeare in the Bush†: While reading through Hamlet, both the storyteller and the audience exhibit ethnocentrism. What Bohannan took for granted and viewed as common sense were things that the elders did not understand because it didn’t exist in their culture.Ghosts and the afterlife did not exist in the native’s culture, and young people should not fight against their elders. Elders constantly made remarks about the play as if they knew what was going on, believing that they were telling her the true meaning of Hamlet and how her interpretation of Hamlet is actually wrong. According to Franz Boas, no culture is pure and authentic. Instead, cultural boundaries are porous and cultural exchanges have long existed in human societies. 0Diffusionism shows that all cultures are interrelated to one another, so ethnocentrism does not exist. In Ralph Linton’s â€Å"One Hundred Percent American,† he shows that cultures are not 100% from their own country and that culture is diffused and adapted by various places as part of their culture. What is cultural relativism? Discuss its pros and cons. What is your take on it? Support your argument with evidence and analysis. Cultural Relativism is the view opposite of ethnocentrism: believes that one shouldn’t judge the values and practices of other people accordi ng to their own standards. †¢The main idea is to see things from the point of view of those who live their lives.This allows the anthropologist to fully appreciate another culture. Pros: ?Objective approach in doing research; helps anthropologists another culture more thoroughly. ?Promotes unity between cultures and between groups of people in general since it would help people respect and understand each other. Cons: ?Helps justify controversial practices such as female genitalia mutilation, cannibalism, animal sacrifice, etc. *I am of the opinion that cultural relativism is an important philosophy to apply to any anthropological research, however a delicate balance must always strive to be maintained.To me, respect should always be asserted, but human rights should have authority over political correctness. †-malinowski According to Malinowski, what is a holistic approach to doing ethnographic research and why is it important? What constitutes the proper conditions for ethnographic fieldwork? Explain three central ethnographic techniques (don’t just list them, but explain in greater detail). A holistic approach in doing ethnographic work is to understand a culture as a whole and all aspects are connected/intertwined and must be understood in relation to one another. The goal of the ethnographer should be to provide an anatomy of the culture, understand the facts and put the focus into a broader context. †¢You must understand that all the small institutions of a culture, such as religion, education, kinship, are all related to one another in order to grasp the meaning as a whole. †¢The proper conditions for ethnographic fieldwork is to observe the details of the natives’ family and communal life by staying as close in contact with them as possible and cutting yourself off from the company of anyone else other than the natives.You must immerse yourself into the local society for a long duration because there is a difference b etween sporadic plunging into the company of the natives and really living with them and connecting with them. Three central ethnographic techniques: 1. Observation and participant observation. ?Careful and detailed observation is important to collect data to answer questions, which requires a lot of patience. ?You should try to be objective and keep away from any bias thoughts or else the collected data will be compromised.You must also remember to be invisible and make sure they don’t know they are being observed or else the data will be inaccurate. ?Participant observation is when you participate in events with the natives in order to analyze and take notes. 0This allows you to get closer to the natives and helps you to better understand their culture through your experience and interaction with them. 2. Interviews. ?Interviews involve asking several individual questions to get a better understanding of the culture from a native’s point of view. The goal of the inte rviews is to see a pattern that emerges in the answers you receive. ?Interviews can be informal, semi-structured, or structured. ?Informal interview – an interview that doesn’t follow a straight schedule and takes advantage of the opportunity when it arises. ?Semi-structured / structured interview – interviews that are planned out with the questions you want to ask written down and planned beforehand. 0Semi-structured interviews may have some open ended questions. 0Interviews are the most effective method and are the core of ethnographic research. When you interview people you know, you may get introduced to people that you could possibly interview, and you can therefore gather up more data and opinions for your research. This is called the snowballing effect. 3. Key informants and life histories. ?Also called cultural consultants. These people are important figures that are able to give you more insight and information in various aspects of a culture. 0They are the few people who are willing to tell you more and explain in clear details while incorporating their personal experience to help you understand.Key Informant: Someone you build an amicable relationship with, who acts as a representative of the culture. Generally someone in a high position who will be able to explain the ins and outs of the culture from an intimately informed POV. What are the core issues in the code of ethics for anthropologists (discuss at least three)? Why is it important to follow them? The three core issues in the code of ethics for anthropologists include: 1. Full disclosure. ?It is important for the anthropologist to be open and honest to the people s/he is studying. Must inform them of every aspect of the study and any consequences that may happen as a result of the study. 2. Informed Consent. ?The people being studied must be well informed about the procedure, and the anthropologist must have them sign a paper or ask for verbal consent before proceeding w ith the study. 0This is to make sure that they have fully agreed to the terms and have proof that they have willingly volunteered themselves. 3. Potential Harm. 0It is the anthropologist’s duty to inform the subject of any consequential harm that may come to them. The anthropologist must ensure not to harm safety, dignity, or privacy of any parties involved. ?It is important to follow the code of ethics in order to avoid any lawsuits and also to make sure that the people being studied are well informed and know exactly what they are signing up for so that no harm will come to them. Week 4: Today most anthropologists recognize that race is a social construct that does not have a biological reality. Discuss how Boas and Montagu each defend this view. What evidence from modern genetics does the film â€Å"Race: The Power of an Illusion† provide to further support this position?Franz Boas also referred to as the â€Å"Father of American Anthropology,† talks about ra ce as a social construction in his paper, â€Å"Mind of Primitive Man† ? He believes that racial groups never existed, and that races are not as pure as we imagine them to be because migration patterns in the past intertwined cultures together and created diverse groups of people. ?Boas talks about purity and boundedness, stating that biological significance is only possible when races have uniform, closely inbred groups where family lines are alike. However, these conditions can’t be achieved with humans, especially in large populations. He also argues about the instability of populations, meaning that the physical and psychological attributes of people are dynamic and fluctuate constantly to adapt to various circumstances. 0The biological, linguistic, and cultural traits of people are the product of historical development and the environment. Ashley Montagu in her article, â€Å"The Concept of Race in the Human Species in the Light of Genetics,† uses the idea of cooking an omelet as a metaphor for the making of race. 0When an omelet is made, the end result may all look the same, but the ingredients used to make the omelet may vary.This is the basis for the anthropological view of race in that although groups of people may have different appearances and characteristics, everyone is essentially the same. 0His argument is based on modern genetics, stating that no two humans are genetically identical to one another, therefore races cannot categorize groups of people since they don’t share the same genetic background.  ¦Racial characteristics are artificial and have no genetic base. Example of the use of modern genetics in the film, â€Å"Race: The Power of an Illusion. †¢In the film, a group of students performed an experiment to compare genetic similarities to other classmates using blood samples, skin color, and saliva swaps. The result of the experiment turned out to be different from what they expected. The students found that their genes were most similar to people they least expected, and that there was no correlation between their genetic patterns and their skin color. †¢Dr. Richard Lewontin, with the use of gel electrophesis, found that 85% of all variations among humans are between individuals of the same local population. There is as much difference between two individuals of the same race as there is between individuals of different races, so race can’t be determined biologically. What is scientific racism? Why is it flawed and dangerous? Use one of the examples discussed in the lecture to support your argument (Morton versus Gould or The Bell Curve). How do anthropologists understand gender and patriarchy? Provide two examples (from the lecture or your own observation) to show that gender roles change from society to society and from time to time.Scientific Racism is the attempt to prove â€Å"scientifically† that some â€Å"races† are not just different, but superio r to others. 0Scientific techniques and observations are usually utilized to prove this belief but the collected data is usually inaccurate and tainted with racist beliefs. Example: Dr. Samuel George Morton versus Stephen J. Gould. †¢Samuel George Morton attempted to prove that some races were superior to others by measuring the skulls of people of different races,  ¦He believed that the cranial capacity of the skulls would tell how intelligent people were. His results concluded that white people were the superior race among other groups, because his measurements showed that they had the largest skulls compared to the others. ?Stephen J. Gould repeated the research and found several errors with Morton’s conclusion. 0Morton manipulated his data by including more female skulls for blacks than for whites, so the measurement for the skulls of the blacks turned out to be smaller. 0When Gould measured again fairly, the average size of a black person’s skull turned out to be much larger than the skull of a white person’s. The data was manipulated because of Morton’s bias. His beliefs caused him to already have the results in mind that he wanted, regardless of what is actually true. Example: The Bell Curve 0A book written by Richard J. Hernstein and Charles Murray: argues that blacks carry inferior genes of intelligence compared to whites, and so they naturally score lower on IQ tests.  ¦Their low IQ scores are what prevent the blacks from attaining a higher level job, and it is also because of their low intelligence that they have a higher crime rate. The controversy that comes with this claim is that if the government agrees with it, then the blacks should not receive social welfare for their low-income families because they are genetically inferior. Scientific racism is usually incorrectly proven using data that has been deliberately altered to support bias beliefs, so the results are not accurate. The danger that can result fro m this if it is actually proven, the groups may be neglected or abused, or at the very least treated with social injustice. Gender – All the traits that a culture assigns to and indicates in men and women. It is a social construct of male and female characteristics and roles. ?Gender differences come from culture rather than biology. ?Patriarchy – A social and political system rule by men in which women have inferior social and political status. 0Females are carried out as subordinates to men in this system. Most common in patrilineal societies (involving counting the descent line of the father’s line, which includes property inheritance, names, titles, etc. ) Examples of gender roles changing between societies and through time: ?Forager/hunter and gatherer societiesThis type of society shows a typical gender division of labor. Men were responsible for hunting and fishing while women were responsible for gathering fruits and nuts. Men would usually bring in more food than women, so the men had a higher social rank in these societies. When women are the ones to contribute more food, then the women would have an equal relationship with the men. ?Agriculture societies Men are assigned to heavy labor such as plowing the field, while women are responsible for domestic work, child rearing, and light far work around the house. These societies tend to have a stronger gender inequality. Industrial societies Gender roles in industrial societies tend to change over time in response to economic conditions and social climates. Before the 1900s, it was common for men, women, and children to work in factories. Things began to change in the 1900s with the large influx of immigrants that increased the male labor force and also brought up ideas that women weren’t fit to work in the factories and should stay home and take care of the kids instead, During WW2, things changed again as men are drafted into the military and women began working in factorie s again to fill the gap.The women’s return to the factory was received in a positive notion and was even viewed as patriotic. What are gender stereotypes? What is the role of advertising in making and reinforcing gender stereotypes and normalcy? Draw two concrete examples from the film (Killing US Softly) in your discussion. Gender stereotypes – oversimplified yet strongly held ideas about the characteristics of men and women. Advertisements mainly target women and girls about beauty and the ideal body they should have, as well as a childlike / quiet demeanor. Many girls express the fear of being fat, and the number one wish of girls between the age of 11-17 is to be thinner. ?Most of the people who suffer from eating disorders are girls who are self-conscious and obsessive about their body. Examples in Killing us Softly: ?Ads of women of color tend to show them with animal prints which turn them into animals rather than human beings. ?Ads about women who lost weight t ypically say they were able to get married because they lost weight.This gives the idea that women who are fat probably won’t ever get married, and this serves to lower women’s self-esteems even further and increase their drive to become skinnier and purchase products to expedite the process. ?Images of thin women are often used to silence women and put them down. ?Ads show pictures of women exhibiting passive body language such as their hands over their mouths and faces. ?When there is an ad of a man and a woman, the man is usually taller and is looking down at the woman, while the woman looks up and smiles compliantly. This encourages female submission to men and conveys the message that women should be quiet and obedient. According to Martin’s article, how do stereotypical gender roles shape scientific accounts of the egg-sperm romance? Stereotypical gender roles shape scientific accounts by how the sperm and the egg are described and how they function. ?The sperm is described as masculine, active, agile, and penetrating, while the egg is described as passive, feminine, fragile and dependent. ?The egg is portrayed as a damsel in distress who waits quietly in a still spot for her knight in shining armor, the sperm, to fight his way to her. The female reproductive system is seen as wasteful and a failure while the male reproductive system is seen as productive. ?Scientists question why women are born with so many eggs only to have most of it go to waste, yet the don’t consider the excessive amount of sperm men create as a waste. ?New research found that the sperms aren’t that forceful and what actually matters is that the surface of the egg is what traps the sperm, showing that eggs are more active than previously thought. This shows that the relationship between the egg and the sperm is interactive. Even with this new research, the egg is still viewed in a bad light. ?The more active role of the egg is seen as too aggressiv e and the reproductive system of women as a dangerous place since it tries to kill sperm cells that enter it. How does Ortner explain why women are universally put in an inferior position to men? Do you agree with her argument? Why or why not? Support your view with evidence. Ortner argues that the subordination of women is a universal idea by referring to how a lot of anthropological literatures show accounts of how women are devalued in society. Symbolic acts of women are believed to justify their inferior role. Menstruation is considered a symbolic act that restricts the freedom of women. During a women’s menstruation period, she was not allowed to come near sacred objects because of the fear that she might contaminate them. Menstruation was believed to be a threat of warfare. ?Social and political structures also serve to affect the status of women in societies, and exclude women from participating in areas with people of high authority. ?Women are associated with nature while men are associated with culture, and culture is typically viewed as superior to nature.Men use their creativity to create technology and symbols that are transcendental and last for eternity, while women are restricted by their natural duties that involve reproduction and creating life.  ¦Destruction of life by men has more prestige and is viewed as transcendental, while creation of life by women is regarded as less important.  ¦The things that men create last forever while what women produce are doomed to die.  ¦The reason why women are associated with nature more is because of their physiology, social role, and psyche. ?No I do not agree with Ortner.I believe that these views are socially constructed, and that we’ve evolved past them. Week 5: What are the five different economic systems in the world? Define each briefly. ?Forager: hunting and gathering; moving from place to place; gender roles due to unequal division of labor, egalitarian (old people are respect ed). ?Horticulture: Cultivation with simple tools, fields not permanent property (slash and burn) mobility, depend on rainfall. ?Agriculture: Use animals for food and labor. These groups are less mobile, live in larger and more permanent settlements, and use advanced irrigation systems. Pastoral: Focus on domesticated animals for food; nomadic. ?Industrial: Mechanized forces, factories, and technology for mass production; increased population density. Briefly explain the three basic principles that govern exchanges according to Karl Polanyi. ?The Market Principle: Supply and Demand, Capitalism. Coffee beans they were selling. Export of crop. ?Redistribution: Socialism; Goods move from local level to center: taxation, welfare. Redistributing the pigs and wealth within the people. ?Reciprocity: exchange between those who are socially equal (gift economies); want to give back.What is a moral economy? What is a system of total service defined by Marcel Mauss? ?Moral Economy: A type of e conomy in which economic activities are an integral part of social relations and moral obligations. Economic and non-economic activities and institutions are embedded in one another. Economic activities and exchange systems are governed by conceptions of social justice, norms, and expectations. ?Systems of total service – The exchange is not solely about property and wealth, but also about the social and moral obligations. Part of the more general and enduring contract.According to Marcel Mauss, why does a gift have the special power to cause its recipient to pay it back? ?The Power – Gifts are never â€Å"free,† so they give rise to reciprocal exchanges. The giver does not merely give an object, but also a part of him/herself. This intrinsic bondage weighs on the conscience of the recipient. What is potlatch? How do Ruth Benedict, Marcel Mauss, and Marvin Harris explain why potlatch exists? ?Potlatch means to give away, or a gift; it is a festival ceremony, and its goal is to give away joy and wealth – more than the rival. Explanations – 0Ruth Benedict: Driven by obsession with prestige and status, (because the more that you give the more prestige you claim). 0Marcel Mauss: Compelled by reciprocity, (responding to a positive action with another positive action, rewarding kindness). 0Marvin Harris: Serves an economic purpose (rational cultural adaptation). Says that potlatch is a logical cultural mechanism. Says that participating in potlatches creates a constant flow of goods. Serves as an economic purpose, human social life is a response to practical problems of earthly existence.

Factors Affecting Share Prices

supranational research day take c ar as of finance and economic science ISSN 1450-2887 electric outlet 30 (2009) Eurojournals Publishing, Inc. 2009 http//www. eurojournals. com/finance. htm Determinants of uprightness expenses in the filiation marketplaces Somoye, Russell Olukayode Christopher Dept. of entrusting & knuckle under, faculty of caution erudition Olabisi Onabanjo University, Ago Iwoye, Nigeria P. O. stripe 1104 Ijebu-Ode, Ijebu-Ode, Ogun State, Nigeria e-mail emailprotected com Akintoye, Ishola Rufus Dept. of account statement, readiness of Management Science Olabisi Onabanjo University, Ago Iwoye, Nigeria E-mail emailprotected com Oseni, Jimoh Ezekiel Dept. f Banking and finance, Faculty of Management Science Olabisi Onabanjo University, Ago Iwoye, Nigeria E-mail emailprotected com Abstract Brav & Heaton (2003) in solelyeges securities manufacturing indeterminacy (a item where it is inconceivable to determine whether an addition is expeditiousl y or in stintingal completelyy scathed) in the bank line foodstuff. Kang (2008) repugn that a posteriori tests of bilinear rundown determine ideals show charge of mis impairment in increase pricing. plus pricing is considered efficient if the addition terms reflects both obtainable commercialize information to the design no informed backingr stop subdue the mart and / or the unlearned trader.This depicted object fancyd the extent to which just about information divisors or securities industry indices concern the neckcloth footing. A standard be by Al-Tamimi (2007) was apply to regress the variables ( descent sets, fee per sh ar, vernacular national crop, budge affaire respect and exotic ex intensify wander) after testing for multicollinarity among the unaffectionatelancer variables. The multicollinarity test revealed in truth squiffy cor similitude coefficient coefficient surrounded by gross municipal precede and crude fossil vegetable rock oil exp exterminateiture, gross domestic product and unusual exchange arrange, bestow post deem and inflation ordinate.All the variables eat up exacting correlation coefficient to filiation footings with the censure of contri merelye interest evaluate and contrasted exchange pass judgment. The sequels of the cartoon agree with introductory studies by Udegbunam and Eriki (2001) Ibrahim (2003) and Chaudhuri and Smiles (2004). This study has enriched the surviveing belles-lettres piece it would help insurance makers who atomic repress 18 interested in deploying instruments of m wholeness and only(a)tary policy and a nonher(prenominal) economic indices for the fruit of the crown trade. Keywords computer storage wrongs, CAPM, frameworks, coefficient, efficient, extraction foodstuff. impertinent(a) enquiry diary of pay and economics exhaust 30 (2009) 78 1. 0. Introduction The hurt of a commodity, the economist makes us to hope i s determined by the forces of accept and come forth in a free deliverance. plain if we accept the economists view, what federal agents make for demand and pass around behavior? Price? Yes, entirely non every last(predicate) the while, at to the lowest degree on that point be round another(prenominal)(a) factors. In the securities market, whether the primary or the endorsementary market, the expense of right is signifi tramptly becharmd by a number of factors which include tidings harbor of the crocked, dividend per conduct, earnings per sh ar, set earning ratio and dividend insure (Gompers, Ishii & Metrick, 2003).The most basic factors that influence determine of integrity shargon be demand and show factors. If most people put down buying then costs move up and if people start selling prices go down. G all overnment policies, incorruptibles and industriousnesss outstanding punishment and potentials realise do on demand behaviour of app arelors, ii in the primary and befriendary markets. The factors touch the price of an integrity address puke be viewed from the macro and micro economic perspectives. Macro economic factors include politics, global economic conditions i. e. how the providence is performing, establishment regulations, etc.Then thither may be other factors alike demand and sum conditions which fag be influenced by the performance of the comp all and, of course, the performance of the comp any(prenominal) vis-a-vis the industry and the other players in the industry. In a study of the equal of dividend and earnings on standard prices, Hart adept (2004) argues that a solidly af degene footstepatory restore is made on righteousness prices if relegateive earnings information occurs after nix dividend information. Also, a authoritatively cast out sham occurs in rightfulness pricing if validating dividend information is followed by controvert earning information.Docking and Koch (2005) discovers that on that point is a channelise relationship amidst dividend announcement and fair play price behavior. Al-Qenae, Li & draining (2002) in their study of the inwardness of earning (micro-economic factor), inflation and interest set up (macro-economic factors) on the furrow prices on the Kuwait wrinkle Exchange, discovered that the macro-economic factors most-valuablely allude nisus prices negatively. A previous study by Udegbunam and Eriki (2001) of the Nigerian not bad(p) market as blind drunk as shows that inflation is inversely cor think to billet market price behaviour.A number of illustrations veritable for addition pricing argon twain variable models. For instance the capital plus pricing model (CAPM) developed by Sharpe (1964) considers the risk-free return and volatility of the risk-free return to market return as the determinants of asset price. asset price as described by CAPM is linearly related to the two in low-level variables. Many studies eat up conclude that over the age assets were be underpriced (Smith, 1977 Loderer, Sheehan & Kadlec, 1991) and this raises the question of the adequacy of the various asset pricing models to ensure efficient asset pricing.Brav & Heaton (2003) alleges market indeterminacy, a situation where it is impossible to determine whether an asset is efficiently or uneffectively priced. Kang (2008) found that empirical tests of linear asset pricing models show presence of mispricing in asset pricing. asset pricing is considered efficient if the asset price reflects all acquirable market information to the extent no informed trader can outperform the market and / or the uneducated trader. This study aims at examining the extent to which whatever information factors or market indices walk out the commonplace price.The rest of the paper is knowing as follows armalisation 2 reviews gives on factors influencing asset prices, personal effects of inefficient asset pricing and some of the existing asset pricing techniques. Section 3 dry lands the data and the sources, the data restructuring and the model utilise for data depth psychology while Section 4 discussed and interpret the results of the data compendium. Lastly, section 4 is the conclusion. 2. 0. Conceptual Framework and intelligences Review 2. 1. Conceptual Framework several(prenominal)(prenominal) attempts pretend been made to identify or study the factors that affect asset prices.Some researchers have in any encase tried to determine the correlation surrounded by selected factors (internal and immaterial, 179 worldwide look for journal of pay and political economy Issue 30 (2009) market and non-market factors, economic and non-economic factors) and asset prices. The outcomes of the studies change expecting on the scope of the study, the assets and factors examined. Zhang (2004) designed a multi-index model to determine the effect of industry, rural and international factors on asset pricing. Byers and Groth (2000) specify the asset pricing service as a component split up utility (economic factors) and non-economic (psychic) factors.Clerc and Pfister (2001) posit that mo earningsary policy is capable of influencing asset prices in the long run. Any change in interest evaluate oddly unanticipated change affects reaping expectations and the pass judgment for discounting enthronement next(a) hard currency hunt downs. Ross (1977) minded(predicate) model which could be transfern as a protest of one factor model of CAPM which assumes that asset price depends completely on market factor intend that the asset price is influenced by twain the market and non-market factors such(prenominal) as foreign exchange, inflation and unemployment rates. maven of the defects of APT in animosity of its patterned advancement of asset pricing model is that the factors to be include in asset pricing atomic number 18 unspecified. Al Tamimi (2007) place com pany vestigial factors (performance of the company, a change in board of directors, appointment of impudent trouble, and the creation of in the altogether assets, dividends, earnings), and external factors ( government rules and regulations, inflation, and other economic conditions, investor behavior, market conditions, bills supply, competition, uncontrolled natural or environmental circumstances) as influencers of asset prices.He developed a simple relapsing model to taproom the coefficients of correlation amongst the in subordinate and dependent variables. SP = f (EPS, DPS, OL, gross domestic product, CPI, INT, MS) Where, SP Stock price EPS shekels per sh ar DPS Dividend per share OL Oil price gross domestic product Gross domestic product CPI Consumer price index INT quest rate and MS Money supply. He discovered that the bulletproofs fundamental factors exercise the most significant impact on rail line prices.The EPS was found to be the most influencing factor over th e market. perusing the effects of the Iraq war on US financial markets, Rigobon and Sack (2004) discovered that increases in war risk ca riding habitd declines in treasury yields and truth prices, a widening of lower-grade integrated spreads, a fall in the dollar, and a rise in oil prices. A positive correlation exists between the price of oil and war. They argue that war has a significant impact on the oil price.Tymoigne (2002) argue that in the financial market, banking meeting and financial convention work together to fix the assets market prices. According to him the financial convention creates a speculative conceit of whether crownworkists are much prone to sell, or to buy assets while the banking convention determines the state of consultation as evidenced by the confidence of the banking heavens and ability of investors accessing credit leverage for asset acquisition purpose.He concluded that conventions do not determine asset-price, it is the rectitude of suppl y and demand that does so, conventionsonly influence the behaviors of financial actors fanfare as an external factor exerts a very significant negative influence on the gun phone line prices in Nigeria (Zhao,1999 & Udegbunam and Eriki, 2001). Factors affecting asset prices are numerous and inexhaustible. The factors can be categorise into menage, industry, country and international or market and non-market factors, and economic and noneconomic factors. All the factors can be summarized into two classes micro and macro factors.Factors in all(prenominal) class of the classification are inexhaustible. For instance, the firm factors include, ownership structure, management quality, crusade force quality, earnings ratios, dividend payments, net sustain note appraise, etc. have impact on the investors pricing decision. Molodovsky (1995) believes that dividends are the over metric weight unit core of stock beat appraise. The harbor of any asset equals the have value of all silver stops of the asset. 2. 2. Effects Of Inefficient asset determine Inefficient asset pricing could be a catalyst to inefficient resource allocation among competing productive investment opportunities.Underpricing can serve as positive signal to the market (Giammariano & Lewis, 1989) to compensate the uninformed and get them to participate in the impudent world(prenominal) Research journal of pay and economic science Issue 30 (2009) one hundred eighty offer ( reel, 1986 Allen & Faulhaber, 1989 Grinblatt & Hwang, 1989 Welch, 1989). The market is information-sensitive. Prices tend to take a declining trend a few(prenominal) days to the release of a firms new offer and the price convalescence starts few days after the consequence of the offer, especially if he offer is richly subscribed (Barclay and Litzenberger, 1988). Easley, Hridkjaer and OHara (2001) agree that market is information sensitive at least to the extent that private (insider) information affect asset re turns and advised that it should not be ignored for efficient asset pricing. The firms genus Beta ratios, its market value to password value, its current price to earnings ratio and the historical result rate in earning per share are place by Moore & Beltz (2002) as possessing slopped influence on the righteousness price of the firm.They also argue that the identified factors have vary effects on the price and the effects vary from time to time, sector to sector and even from firm to firm within the same industry. For instance, they argue that fair play prices of soulfulness firm in heavy industries (chemical, petroleum, alloy and manufacturing) are exclusively influenced by the firms beta and market to book value while firms in the engineering science sector are influenced by the historical harvesting rate in earning per share as come up as beta and market to book value ratio.The truth price in transportation industry is affected by beta and price to earning ratio. Though, Moore & Beltz (2002) constructed a tree relating the impact of each(prenominal) identified factors in each of the selected model but did not construct a model that could be used in assessing direct impact of the identified factors on the equity price. Asset pricing could be a challenge.Hordahl & Packer (2006) argue that a clear understanding of the assets stochastic discount factor and future payoffs is necessary to understand the factors that determine the price of an asset. Unfortunately, only Government instruments provide their stochastic discount factor in advance while the future payoffs are not observable directly but could be add upd from some other data. Corwin (2003 identifies dubiety and crooked information as a strong influence on the firms equity pricing and as a subject area of fact lead to underpriced instrument.In the illume of the preceding literature review, many factors both micro and macro-economics, have impact on equity pricing in the stock market, the impact differs from firm to firm, industry to industry, economy to economy and from time to time, but one comforting conclusion is that most of the factors pop to have the same behaviour regard slight(prenominal) of time, industry or firm constraints.For instance, increase inflation and interest rates, declining dividends, earnings, poor management leave negative impact on equity pricing and vice-versa 2. 3. Asset Pricing Techniques There are several asset pricing models aside from CAPM and APT which are both linear model. A few of the available (non-linear) asset pricing techniques are reviewed in this section. 2. 3. 1. residuary Income paygrade This is one of the oldest e rating model with a abide by to the work of Preinreich (1938).The military rating model discounts the future evaluate dividends and potential value of shareholders capital to the posture value, giving effect to a proposition that the price of equity can be realised from the present value of all fut ure dividends. Lo and Lys (2000) reviewed the Olhson feigning (OM) developed in by Ohlson (1995) and which has been acknowledged with wide adoption (Joos & Zhdanov, 2007 Chen & Zhao, 2008). The OM provides a platform for the empirical test of the residual income valuation (RIV).Lo and Lys (2000) delimitate RIV as RIV = Pt = ? R-r Et (dt+r) Where Pt is traced as the equity market price at time t, dt represents dividends at the end of time t, R is the unity plus the discount rate (r) and Et is the expectation factor at time t. The RIV from the present value of judge dividend is based on the assumptions that (i) the write up system meets the clean intemperance relation i. e. 181 planetary Research journal of Finance and scotchs Issue 30 (2009) To derive RIV from PVED, two additional assumptions are made.First, an accounting system that satisfies a clean surplus relation (CSR) is assumed bt = bt-1 + xt dt, bt represents the book value of equity at time t, xt represents the e arnings at time t, and (ii) it is assumed that the book value of equity would grow at a rate less than R, that is R-r Et (bt+r) ) 0 The assumptions form the buns to argue that the present value of pass judgment dividend is a subroutine of both the book value and discounted expected abnormal earnings.In that case RIV signifying the price of the asset can be stated thus Pt = bt +? t=1 R-r Et (xat+r) Where xat = xt rbt-1. Testing RIV empirically could be a contention on the premises that it has only one sided surmisal asset price is a function present value of future dividends. A rejection of the hypothesis when tested empirically may arouse dissenting voices from researchers who had believed in the dexterity of the model. In fact, Lee (2006) expressed the view that residual income valuation model provides a better valuation than the dividend model. commode and Williams (1985), and Miller and Rock (1985), argue that dividend is a communication ray of light for the firm to pass information to the market in the event of information unbalance which implies that in that respect is a positive correlation between information asymmetry and a firms dividend policy. 2. 3. 2. stinting Valuation fabric This model traced to Tully (2000) is developed to tell economic meshs as against the use of book receipts in the valuation of asset.The model builds on the premises of make maximization by owners of the firm and the utility is not to be restricted to book value, rather it covers the hazard speak to of not investing in profitable projects. frugal profit is unlikeiated from the book profit as the difference from tax revenues and economical cost (i. e. book costs plus opportunity cost of failure to invest in profitable project. The book profit can be defined as revenue less costs while economic profit is defined as be revenue from investment less cost of capital.Economic profit is racyer than normal book profit because of the opportunity cost considered in t he former. There are two approaches to the affection of economic value added (Koller, Goedhart & Wessels, 2005 Jennergren, 2008). The first is NOPLAT less capital charge (i. e. WACC multiplied by initial capital outgo). The value of the operate assets is wherefore the initial capital outlay plus the present value of currency fly the coops derived from economic value added.To obtain the equity value, the value of debt is deducted from the value of the operating assets. The second approach involves EBIT less taxes (i. e. PAT). PAT less capital charge after recognizing deferred taxes as part of the invested capital. The operating assets remain as the initial capital outlay (having considered the effect of deferred taxes) plus the present value of all income derived from the economic value added.Economic Valuation of Asset (EVA) Model as defined by Kislingerova (2000) is stated as EVAt = Pt = NOPATt Ct x WACCt where NOPATt is Net Operating clear After Tax or the profit after tax (PAT), Ct is semipermanent capital (Ct is the sum of equity and invested capital or alternatively, it is the total of fixed assets and net working capital), WACC is Weighted Average appeal of Capital. Whenever EVA O, the shareholders wealth is maximized, if EVA =0 then in that respect is a break-even point and at EVA 0 the shareholders wealth is in decline.EVA model serves as a tool in measuring both the performance of the firms as well its value. WACC serves a dual purpose. It is used in the calculation of EVA and its serves as the rate for discounting the present value of future earnings to the present time t. The value of the firm is on that pointfore the addition of the book value of capital and the present value of future EVA. To derive the value of equity the value of debt would be deducted from the value of the firm. International Research diary of Finance and political economy Issue 30 (2009) 182 2. 3. 3.Discounted Cash prey Model The model uses accounting data as enter and the objective of the model is to derive equity value of a going concern. The value of equity is derived by deducting the value of debt (excluding deferred taxes and trade credits) from the total assets. Deferred taxes are regarded as part of equity (Brealey, Myers & Allen, 2006). There are several readings to the adoption of the model (Jennergren, 2008). The discounted cash precipitate (DCF) is more adaptable to the valuation of a firm with laid-back level of assets in place and low level of uncertainty about future cash flows (Joos & Zhdanov, 2007).Cash flows available for discounting include dividends, free cash flow to equity and free cash to the firm (debt and equity). A firm can date three types of growth ranging from s public treasury growth, spirited growth to still growth and steep growth through transition to a stable growth. The discount rate could be either cost of equity, cost of debt or the charge cost of capital (WACC). The superior of discount rate should depend on the type of cash flow (equity or firm) to be discounted. At least two models can be derived from the cash flow model.The Dividend Discount (DD) Model is suitable for a firm that pays dividends close to the free cash flow or where it is difficult to presage the free cash flow to equity. The second model, Free Cash Flow Model is suitable where thither is a significant margin between dividends and free cash flow to equity or if dividends are not available. The value of firm witnessing stable growth is given as C mathematical functionrsjoseniD esk top D esk to pDISCOUNTED CA SHFLOW MODELS WHA T THEY A RE A ND HOW TO CHOOSE THE RIGHT ON E__filesImage8. if or a firm that experiences two demos of growth (i. e. utmost growth to stable growth), the value of the firm is CUsersjoseniDesk topDesk topDISCOUNTED CA SHFLOW MODELS WHA T THEY A RE A ND HOW TO CHOOSE THE RIGHT ONE__filesImage9. gif The value of a firm experiencing three levels of growth (i. e. high growth through transition to stable growth) is given as CUsersjoseniDesk topDesk topDISCOUNTED CA SHFLOW MODELS WHA T THEY A RE A ND HOW TO CHOOSE THE RIGHT ONE__filesImage10. gifWhere V0 represents equity value or firm value depending on which is discounted, CFt represents cash flow at time t, r represents cost of equity (for dividends or free cash flow to equity) or cost of capital ( for free cash flow to firm), g represents expected growth rate, ga represents initial expected growth (high growth spot) and gn represents growth in a stable outcome n and n1 are defined as the plosive speech sound in a two stage growth and high growth in a three stage growth models respectively while n2-n1 represents the transition period in the three stage growth model. . 3. 4. Dividend Valuation Model This is one of the commonest and simplest models for valuation of equity in the secondary market. The equity value is taken as the summation of discounted dividends receivable each year till the year of maturity and the price the equity is expected to be sold at maturity. The value of an investment is taken to be the discounted value of the cash flows.There are different variations to the model ranging from One period valuation one Period to multi-periods Po = D1/(1 + ke) + P1/(1 + ke) Po = D1/(1 + ke)1 + D2/(1+ke)2 ++ Dn/(1+ke)n + Pn/(1+ke)n multi- period and to indeterminate length of time Infinity and, growth Po = D/(1+ke) (including Gordon growth) variations. D0(1+g)1 + D0(1+g)2 +.. + D0(1+g)? Po = (1+ke)1 (1+ke)2 (1+ke)? or 183 Po = International Research Journal of Finance and Economics Issue 30 (2009) D0 ke g) Where D = dividend compensable / expected g = dividends growth rate = cost of equity or equity rate of return ke 1 n = period variation One of the motives behind the use of this valuation model is to identify over and underpriced shares. Moving outdoor(a) from the simplest form of this model Go and Olhson (1990) introduced a more tasking process for generating dividends and returns on equity investment which they adopted in some more specific valuation models.The process is based on some assumptions such that equity holders would receive net dividends and in that respect exists a linear relationship between variables. John and Williams (1985), and Miller and Rock (1985) argue that dividend is a communication tool for the firm to pass information to the market in the event of information asymmetry which implies that in that respect is a positive correlation between information asymmetry and a firms dividend policy. 3. 0. Research methodology We define the research hypotheses, sampling and data collecting techniques as well as the statistical techniques used to test the data. . 1. Research Methodology We test the following hypotheses Ho1 The earning per share importantly affects the stock price Ho2 The national gross domestic products importantly affect the stock price Ho3 The bring interest rate importantly affect the stock price Ho4 The forei gn exchange rate significantly affect the stock price 3. 2. Model From the hypotheses, the stock price is a function of the impact of earning per share, dividend per share, gross domestic, interest rate and oil price.We restricted the influencing factors to five as representatives of the firms fundamental factors and external (country) factors. A simple linear regression model derived from Al-Tamimi (2007) is adopted for the study. Unlike Al-Tamimi (2007) who included consumer price index (CPI) and money supply (MS) as nonsymbiotic variables, those variables were replaced with inflation rate (INFL) and foreign exchange rate (FX) in view of the significant impact they have on the economies of developing countries.SP = f (EPS, DPS, gross domestic product, INT, OIL, INFL, FX) Where, SP is the stock price EPS is the earnings per share DPS is the dividend per share gross domestic product is the gross domestic product, INT is the contribute interest rate, OIL is the oil price INFL is in flation and FX is the foreign exchange rate. SP is the dependent variable and it is used to regress the other independent variables (EPS, DPS, gross domestic product, INT, OIL, INFL, FX) in the stock market. The outcome of the regression would be the variance on the dependent variable as resulting from the impact of the independent variables.To pardon the effects of multicollinearity unremarkably associated with multi-variables in regression analysis, multicollinearity test is conducted to explain the extent of correlation between the independent variables.. A multiple regression computer software product (WASSA) was used to test the multicollinearity among the independent variables in front proceeding to conduct the regression analysis. International Research Journal of Finance and Economics Issue 30 (2009) 3. 3. Data taste 184 There are over cxxx companies whose shares are being traded in the Nigerian capital market.The Banking sector in the furthest five years has dominate d the market in terms of trading volumes and market performance. The earning per share (EPS) and dividend per share (DPS) of twelve companies listed on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) and (average) yearbook GDP, crude oil price (OIL), loaning interest rate (INT), inflation rate (INFL) and foreign exchange rate (FX) are used are analysed for effect on the stock price. The period covered by the data is year 2001 to 2007. The choice of the companies and period used for the data gathering depend on availability of data. . 4. Data Restructuring Weights are attached to EPS and DPS for each of the companies sampled for each of the year. The weight is derived as a ratio of the companys EPS or DPS to the total EPS or DPS of all the companies for each of the years. The weight is thenceforth multiplied with the respective company EPS or DPS to derive weighted stock price (SP), EPS or DPS and thereafter all the companies weighted SP, EPS or DPS are summed together for each of the year (APPE NDIX I). 4. 0. Findings and InterpretationIn a linear face where more than two variables are deployed, multicollinearity between variables may not be rule out. A multicollinearity test is therefore conducted for all the independent variables. Using the Pearson coefficient of correlation, we consider any correlation between two variables + 0. 75 as strong. For instance, from Table 1 beneath there is no significant correlation between earnings per share and dividend per share. Our translations for it are into parts.First, all the companies in the sample report earnings per share for each of the years covered by the study though in some instances the EPS are negative but not all the companies say and /or paid dividends throughout all the periods. Secondly, EPS movement unlike DPS is largely outside the control of the Management. There is a strong correlation between crude oil price and GDP. The justification for the correlation between crude oil price and GDP can be found in the fact that the Nigerian economy preponderantly depends on oil revenue.Table I DPS EPS GDP OIL INT INF FX Outcomes of the Multicollinarity Test (Pearson Coefficient of Correlation DPS 1 -0. 302 0. 609 -0. 395 -0. 498 -0. 521 0. 724 EPS 1 -0. 523 -0. 596 0. 366 0. 778 -0. 037 GPD 1 0. 959 -0. 702 -0. 492 0. 795 OIL INT INFL FX 1 -0. 706 -0. 434 0. 614 1 0. 988 -0. 424 1 -0. 313 1 A strong correlation also exist between INFL and INT which expertness be the result of manufacturers and service providers passing increased lending interest rate to consumers. A strong correlation exists between FX and GDP.Unexpectedly, there is a strong correlation between INF and EPS, we do not have any explanation for this relationship. For our regression analysis, OIL and INFL were dropped from the model. Though there is a strong correlation between FX and GDP, both variables are used in the regression. FX and GDP variables are significant to the economy of developing nations like Nigeria, therefore thei r projection from the regression would result in a very high immutable (? ). 185 International Research Journal of Finance and Economics Issue 30 (2009)A regression analysis was run on the independent variables DPS, EPS, GDP and INT after dropping OIL, INFL and FX. Table I shows the result of the regression analysis. Table II Summary of the obsession summary R2 0. 99996 ? 67. 2385 0. 3835 0. 0869 0. 3805 0. 8236 1. 9741 correct R2 0. 99978 T Test 9. 597 36. 259 33. 369 21. 809 7. 375 11. 214 Standard wrongdoing of Estimates 0. 4752 F Test 5385. 033 R 0. 99998 changeless DPS EPS GDP INT FX The stock price (P) is extremely sensitive to variation as indicated by R2 of 0. 99996. In other words there is 99. 9% and as a matter of fact 100% in stock variation caused by the independent variables. The discrepancy as measured by coefficient of variation (? ) is expectedly positive for DPS, EPS and GDP and expectedly negative for lending interest (INT) though quite significant ly. The ? for DPS and EPS though positive were not significant. Many of the companies resorted to gift issues instead of dividends and the Nigerian investors are more interested in incomes rather than capital appreciation especially where the stock market performance is poor.The failure to declare and pay dividend leaves two negative impacts on stock prices. The existing investors are denied additional capital to invest and the potential investors seeking investment incomes are deter. The hypothesis that EPS affect stock price significantly is accepted. The positive GDPs coefficient in relation to the stock price is in agreement with some other studies (Udegbunam and Eriki,2001 Ibrahim 2003 Mukherjee and Naka 1995 Chaudhuri and Smiles, 2004). The ? is insignificant at 0. 805 and this might not be separated with the increase foreign reserve maintained by CBN from the rejoinder of crude oil sales. The proceeds of the crude oil sales are not released to the economy for investment in various productive sectors of the economy but rather held in foreign economies as part of the CBNs monetary policies. The domestic economy is denied of the investments that would have occurred if the funds in the foreign reserve are released for disbursal in the domestic economy. The hypothesis that the GDP affects stock price significantly is accepted.The coefficient of interest which is negative is expected and found to be significant. The negative coefficient of the lending interest rate is in agreement with the findings of Al-Qenae, Li & Wearing (2002), and Mukherjee and Naka (1995). Lending interest rate is a strong tool in the pass on of CBN to influence the economy and where the interest is high as it is Nigeria where lending interest rates hovers between 22% and 25%, the approachability of the investors to access funds is curtailed and the impact on the stock price would be negative as shown.The hypothesis that lending interest rate affects the stock price significantl y is accepted The foreign exchange rates coefficient is significantly negative at significant level of 10%. This is not unexpected. Local and foreign investors tend to invest in an economy that has a very high currency exchange rate to foreign currencies. The local investors are discouraged from taking their funds out of the economy for fear of reduced purchasing while foreign investors are encouraged other for increased purchasing power. The hypothesis that foreign exchange rate affects the stock price significantly is accepted.Lastly, the constant (? ) is 67. 2385 (negative). This suggests that the minimum stock price in the market is 0. We had ab initio excluded FX from the regression for the reason of its collinearity with GDP but the constant was negative and excessively high. The inclusion of FX has reduced the negativity which is an indication that there are other important variable(s) that significantly affect the stock prices but not considered in this study. The stock price cannot be 0 except the company is in liquidation. International Research Journal of Finance and Economics Issue 30 (2009) 186This raises an important question of what factor(s) could have accounted for the extra mediocre stock market performance in Nigeria between 2005 and 2007 where some stocks return over 1000% per annum. The nation House of illustrations Committee on Capital merchandises expressed disgust at the hitch up in the stock prices of companies in the banking and oil sectors (Thisday sensitivespapers, 2008). The hike which may not be a non-economic factor (such as political, icteric competition, profiteering by issuers who are at the same time market investors) may be the omitted important variable accounting for the high ?. . 0. Conclusions and Recommendations The forces of demand and supply have direct effect on the stock price while the other indeterminate number of firm, industry and country factors influences the demand and supply factors. The effect, positive or negative the other factors apart from the demand and supply leave on stock price are not static rather changes. For instance, lending interest rate effect could be positive or negative depending on the aim of the CBN in deploying it as one of the tools for implementing monetary policy.The study has contributed to existing literatures in confirming or raising new issues with respect to other factors influencing stock prices. affaire researchers may want to identify and examine the non-economic factor that account for the high constant (? ) which may not be unconnected with the current meltdown in the Nigerian stock market. Lastly, policy makers who are come to about the growth of the capital market are better informed on how to deploy the monetary policies instruments as well other economic indices to achieve the sought after market growth. Bibliography 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Allen, F. nd G. R. 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Frank (2004) Information Uncertainty and Stock Returns An Article Submitted to The Journal of Finance Manuscript 1149 www. afajof. rg/afa/forthcoming/zhang_information. pdf Zhao, Xing-Qiu (1999), Stock prices, inflation and output evidence from China, Applied Economics Letters, 6 extension attachment I Selected Market Indices (2001 2007) YEAR set* DPS* EPS* GDP** INT** 42. 53 430. 00 393. 29 431,783. 10 21. 34 2001 43. 70 432. 72 412. 52 451,785. 60 29. 70 2002 109. 21 577. 63 459. 83 495,007. 10 22. 47 2003 116. 76 552. 48 600. 59 527,576. 00 20. 62 2004 110. 56 466. 97 708. 90 561,931. 40 19. 47 2005 102. 33 553. 87 1,666. 03 595,821. 61 18. 43 2006 95. 87 549. 93 894. 96 561,776. 34 19. 1 2007 Source Central Bank of Nigeria Statistical Bulletin** Cashcraft Asset Management hold / APT Securities and Fund Limited * OIL** 24. 50 25. 40 29. 10 38. 70 57. 60 66. 50 54. 27 INFLE** 18. 90 12. 90 14. 00 15. 00 17. 90 8. 20 13. 70 FX ** 111. 94 120. 97 129. 36 133. 50 132. 15 128. 65 131. 43 189 International Research Journal of Finance and Economics Issue 30 (2009) Appendix II reasoning backward Analysis Of Selected Market Indices (2001 2007) Multiple analog Regression Esti mated Regression Equation SPt = +0. 38353330161483 DPSt +0. 086971432931437 EPSt +0. 38049146437789 GDPt -0. 82357353121514 INTt -1. 740597666311 FXt -67. 238476376193 + et Multiple Linear Regression Ordinary Least Squares Variable DPSt EPSt GDPt INTt FXt changeless Variable %DPSt %EPSt %GDPt %INTt %FXt %Constant Variable parametric quantity 0. 383533 0. 086971 0. 380491 -0. 823574 -1. 97406 -67. 238476 Elasticity 2. 201042 0. 359282 2. 221624 -0. 200986 -2. 822992 -0. 75797 Stand. Coeff. S. E. 0. 010577 0. 002606 0. 017447 0. 111666 0. 17603 7. 006084 S. E. * 0. 060703 0. 010767 0. 101869 0. 027251 0. 25173 0. 078979 S. E. * T-STAT H0 parameter = 0 36. 259468 33. 368601 21. 808584 -7. 375331 -11. 214366 -9. 597156 T-STAT H0 elast = 1 19. 785697 -59. 07274 11. 992081 -29. 320395 7. 241855 -3. 064493 T-STAT H0 coeff = 0 2-tail p-value 0. 017553 0. 019073 0. 029171 0. 085794 0. 056618 0. 066096 2-tail p-value 0. 032148 0. 010697 0. 052964 0. 021704 0. 087356 0. 200805 2-tail p-valu e 1-tail p-value 0. 008776 0. 009536 0. 014585 0. 042897 0. 028309 0. 033048 1-tail p-value 0. 016074 0. 005349 0. 026482 0. 010852 0. 043678 0. 100402 1-tail p-value 0. 008776 0. 009536 0. 014585 0. 042897 0. 028309 0. 5 S-DPSt 0. 763848 0. 021066 36. 259468 0. 017553 S-EPSt 0. 69251 0. 020753 33. 368601 0. 019073 S-GDPt 0. 729372 0. 033444 21. 808584 0. 029171 S-INTt -0. 09814 0. 013307 -7. 75331 0. 085794 S-FXt -0. 48017 0. 042817 -11. 214366 0. 056618 S-Constant 0 0 0 1 Computed against deterministic endogenetic series *Note Multiple Linear Regression Regression Statistics Multiple R 0. 999981 R-squared 0. 999963 Adjusted R-squared 0. 999777 F-TEST 5385. 033289 Observations 7 Degrees of Freedom 1 Multiple Linear Regression Residual Statistics Standard Error 0. 475177 Sum square Errors 0. 225793 Log Likelihood 2. 086595 Durbin-Watson 3. 380955 Von Neumann Ratio 3. 944448 et 0 3 et 0 4 Runs 6 Runs Statistic 1. 333946 NB Regression analysis was done using a software develop ed by Wessa (2008)