Central Banks & other International banks Assignment

Central Banks & other International banks - Assignment Example In some cases, the central government may place restrictions con how to hold and use foreign exchange or how to dispose local currency. 2. What did the central banks do to stabilize the financial systems in 2007–2009? In order to stop the financial crisis, central banks across the world followed plans that were almost parallel inaction. The eurozone, US and Britain central banks cut interest rates almost to zero, injected capital in the markets (through massive stimulus programs) and guaranteed bank lending (Allen, 2008). These actions were taken in a bid to restore investor confidence and liquidity. In some nations, the central governments have endeavored to coordinate debt issuance with an aim of avoiding the destabilization of their financial markets. 3. In an effort to stabilize the financial system how much money, in U.S. dollar equivalent and as a percentage of the country's GDP, did the European Central Bank, Bank of England, Bank of China, and the Federal Reserve put i nto the economy in 2008 and 2009? The Central banks responses to the financial crisis were quick and dramatic. The US pumped close to one trillion USD in total in 2008 and 2009 in two massive stimulus packages. In the final quarter of 2008, the European Central Bank and the US Federal Reserve purchased about 2.5 trillion USD worth of government debt and private assets from banks (Spiegel, 2008). Today, the US has spent about 11 trillion USD to the financial crisis about 9.8 trillion USD going to troubled US corporate entities including JPMorgan Chase and General Motors. About 1.2 trillion USD has been set for use in the countries stimulus programs. Of the 9.8 trillion USD, about 6.4 trillion USD is set to be used in Federal Reserve Rescue Efforts. The Bank of China in 2008pledged to release 586 billion USD in the domestic market to stimulate the country’s economy (Morrison, 2009). 4. How well did each country's efforts work at stabilizing the economy? The central banks of mos t countries have worked in coordination with their counterparts elsewhere cutting short term interest rates. Even the People's Bank of China joined the major economies in cutting interest rates. The central bank interventions worked positively for all the countries in mitigating the effects of the financial crisis. In fact, the effects of the crisis have continued to dwindle over time. 5. What appears to be the major constraint that the central banks used to determine the limits of the monetary injections into the economy? The US assumed a most proactive role in tackling the financial crisis. The Federal Reserve has mainly applied interest rate changes to stop the financial crisis from having greater effects on the economy – more than any other central bank. The bank’s interest rate has been reduced from about 5.3% in September, 2007 to about 1.4% over the last couple of months (Senanayake, 2009). 6. Did the United States use the same or different criteria? Through thi s action, the bank has managed to shelve away worries related to high inflation rates. The US applied interest rate reduction, stimulus packages and a relaxed monetary policy like the other central banks albeit more proactively. By lowering interest rates, the supply of money in the market got to increase thereby reducing inflation and panic in the market. 7. To what extent to do you agree/disagree with the actions of

International & Comparative Employment Relations Essay - 3

International & Comparative Employment Relations - Essay Example 57). These approaches have various effects on the labour standards. This paper analyses the approaches to regulating labour standards in a particular context of Multinational corporations (MNCs). Multinational corporations are business organizations that operate in at least one country apart from their home country. The paper will also consider the effectiveness of current approaches and their sustainability over the long-term. In response to the race to the bottom in labour standards the International Labour Organization decided to focus on what they thought had articulated as core labour standards. This led to a Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work which defined the fundamental rights of workers to be: freedom to associate and the right to collectively bargain to be recognized; illegalization of any type of compulsory or forced labour; abolition of underage labour; and illegalization of discrimination when it comes to occupation and employment (Weil & Mallo 2007, p. 799). International Labour Organization’s member states are supposed to make sure that these fundamental rights are promoted within their territories. This can be said to have been the beginning step toward making sure that the race to the bottom in labour standards is properly dealt with. However, there have been some concerns with regard to the ability of the International Labour’s ability to influence the regulation of labour standards. Despite the fact that the ILO is charged with the responsibility of setting international labour standards it has been observed that these role is in most cases educational, promotional, and normative (Williams & Williams 2014, p. 123). This is because they can only encourage member states to adopt the international labour standards that they propose. They can also be of assistance when it comes to the implementation of these labourstandards. Therefore, it should be noted that

Change Management And Organizational Culture Management Essay

Change Management And Organizational Culture Management Essay 1. INTRODUCTION This assignment discusses on two major change management issues, which are culture and leadership, pertaining to a cultural change. The nature of cultural change will be discussed in two parts which are the different approaches to viewing cultural change in an organisation leading to its implications and two reasons why cultural change is needed. Culture and leadership are essential in a cultural change because they are fundamentally conceptually intertwined (Section 3). In culture, we will be discussing the different perspectives of how culture is shared which leads to the issue on subcultures and change resistance. Furthermore, different approaches to effect a cultural change will be discussed as well. In leadership, theories on effective leadership styles will be looked into together with guidelines on how to effect a cultural change. Case studies and recommendation will be laid out for each issue. Beginning with the end in mind, change agents leading a cultural change will have a deeper understanding of its main issues and recommendations for an effective and successful change. 2. THE NATURE OF CULTURAL CHANGE The scientific approach views culture as an object or a thing that organisations have. McKinsey 7s framework (Peters Waterman, 1982) illustrates culture, shared values, as one of the several components (strategy, skills, staff, system, structure etc) of an organisation. Thus, cultural change is defined as unlike other forms of organisational change, it is the change of shared beliefs, values and behaviours of organisational members rather than solely focusing on the systems and structures within which people work (Waterhouse Lewis, 2004:353). However, the anthropological approach sees culture as what an organisation is or is being. Anthropologist suggests that if cultures in societies are regarded as something societies are, should not organisations be view in the same way too? In support of this view, one suggests that, since organisation ultimately resides in the heads of the people involved, effective organisational change implies cultural change (Morgan, 1986:138). There are two implications resulting from the idea that organisational change is cultural change. The first is that since cultural change is organisational change, no distinction made between a strategy for cultural change and a strategy for organisational change (Bates, 1994). The second is that cultural change is not about what we study, rather; the way one looks at an organisation. Therefore, in a cultural change, one must think culturally rather than to think about culture (Bate, 1994). Although there is no hard and fast rule when it comes to deciding which approach is right, one must therefore take balanced view that the anthropological approach is good for theorys sake while the scientific approach is helpful for practise. Two main reasons for a cultural change The first reason lies in the question, what cause organisations to change if cultural change implies organisational change? One main answer is that the environment is ever-changing thus methods used today may not be relevant and successful for tomorrow. Now, basic assumptions shared among members are considered as methods and processes in an organisational of how people work and solve problems. Thus the change in methods implies change in basic assumptions which means a cultural change. The second reason lies in the perception that there is a relationship between an organisations performance and its culture (Kotter Heskett, 1992). Furthermore, researchers argue that this positive link will exist only if the culture has the ability to adapt to changes. Therefore, changing culture can result in higher performance in an organisation. 3. TWO CHANGE MANAGEMENT ISSUES: Organisational Culture Leadership Culture and leadership are the non-negotiables in cultural change as they are conceptually intertwined (Schein, 1992 pg2). Culture begins with leaders who instil values and assumptions on an organisation which in time are taken for granted if proven to be successful. In this case, the culture now defines leadership (Schein, 1992 pg2). Case in point: Richard Branson, CEO of Virgin Corporate, is famous for his radical, charismatic and unconventional leadership style. In 2007, he pulled out a publicity stunt during the launch of Virgin America by jumping off the Palms Casino Hotel in a bungee rope (Yaqoob, 2007). The point is- the reason to Virgins phenomenal culture is largely rooted in Bransons leadership. Thus, one may also understand his leadership style by examining Virgins culture. Since cultures begin with leaders, developing and transforming culture has to begin with leaders too and this justifies the need to examine culture and leadership as the two major change management issues in any cultural change of an organisation. 4. ORGANISATIONAL CULTURE Although many writers have associated organisational culture as an organisations climate (Schneider, 1990), embedded skills (Argyris Schon, 1978), habits of thinking (Hofstede, 1980) and shared meanings (Geertz, 1973), they just seem unable to hit it on the nail. They are merely descriptions of what culture is but not its definition and as Schein puts it, none of them are the culture of an organisation (Schein, 1992 pg10). In this view, Schein defines culture as a shared pattern of (1) basic assumptions that a given group has invented, discovered or developed (2) in learning to cope with its problems of external adaptation and internal integration, and that have (3) worked well enough to be considered valid and, therefore, to be taught to new members as the correct way to perceive, think, and feel in relation to those problems (Schein, 1992 pg12). 4.1 Dimensions of Organisational Culture The understanding of what organisational culture is leads one to question, What constitutes to an organisations culture? To answer this, there are two models of cultural dimensions. The first is the cultural web model (Johnson Scholes, 1992) which lays out six dimensions (stories, symbols, power, structure, controls and rituals) constituting culture. The second is the levels of culture model (Schein, 1992) which describes three dimensions in degrees of depth: 1. Artefacts (surface level): This refers to the physical architecture of the organisation, the mannerisms, attire and even gossips/stories of the organisation (Schein, 1992 pg17). 2. Espoused values (middle level): They are strategies, goals and philosophies of the organisation. 3. Basic assumptions: This refers to the way things are done in the organisation (e.g. processes of solving issues) that are taken for granted, changing these requires much time and can be very difficult and anxiety provoking (Schein, 1992). Iceberg concept The knowledge of what constitutes to an organisations culture provides a clear, comprehensive and deep understanding of it. Furthermore, one can derive from this knowledge a clear direction of what needs to be changed and worked on in a cultural change. When managing a cultural change, one must be mindful of not falling into the error of the Iceberg concept (Watson, 2002). Cultural changes are often reflected only at the top of the iceberg (e.g. physical appearances, attires, vision etc) while the processes and basic assumptions among the members have not changed or are not changing. Therefore, it is our recommendation that change agents look into the dimensions of the organisations culture (maybe as a checklist) ensuring every aspect are taken into account of for a successful change. Case in point (http://www.income.com.sg/aboutus/releases/2009/aug28.asp): Since the start of a cultural revolution led by Mr Tan Suee Chieh, CEO of Income cooperative, many aspects of the Incomes culture have been changed. At the surface level (Artefacts), Incomes logo was re-designed, particularly from red to orange, to give a sense of relevance and vibrancy. At the deeper level, philosophies and strategies are re-constructed from a work-life balanced perspective to a competitive oriented one. Basic assumptions have been changed to encourage members to be take initiatives rather than wait for a top-down order. 4.2 Subcultures Speaking of shared shared basic assumptions, an important question one must consider is, to what extent are they shared? To answer this, Martin suggests that there are three perspectives to view it (Martin, 2002). The Integration perspective refers to a unanimous consensus of the organisations culture shared across every level and department with no room for ambiguity. Differentiation perspective refers to a certain level of ambiguity and inconsistency in interpretation resulting in a collection of subcultures. Members who have shared norms and beliefs gravitate together forming subcultures. Subcultures may or may not be from the same subgroups or divisions of an organisation and the norms and beliefs they share often arise from changing demands. Subcultures may also be a place to express common unhappiness and conflicts. Fragmentation/ambiguity perspective has a high level of ambiguity and unclear consistent or inconsistent manifestations. Subcultures are unbounded and are extremely dynamic. In other words, organisations can either only have single cultures with no subcultures or a collection of subcultures with a/no overarching culture. It is useful to understand this when overcoming resistance as subcultures can be a resistant to change. 4.3 Resistance Unfortunately, change resistance are inevitable and often begins at the initial stage when motivating members to change. Subcultures, fears, anxieties, uncertainties, misunderstandings and the inertia to change can contribute to change resistance resulting in a stall in the change process. Case in point (Madslien, 2010): Lufthansa and British Airways found hard to persuade members to accept operational changes as they could not win the hearts and minds of their staff. The contributing factor is plausibly that there is a great inertial in members to change. We recommend change agents six ways to overcome resistance to change (Kotter Schlesinger, 1979): 1. Education and persuasion- Provide information for the need for change. 2. Participation and involvement- Empowering members with the sense of ownership in the change. 3. Facilitation and support- Provide counselling and coaching. 4. Negotiation and agreement- Embrace the give and take spirit. 5. Manipulation and cooptation- Distort information forcing them to accept change. 6. Direction and reliance (coercion)- Similar to the aggressive approach where it commands/directs members to change if not they have to face certain consequences. Change agents may also use the expectancy theory model (Vroom, 1964) to motivate members to change. The key is that members would be more motivated to change (if there is a reward/benefit at the end) by integrating all three aspects: 1. Valence- The willingness members to change for a particular outcome. 2. Instrumentality- The effort members must put in to achieve a particular outcome. This must be weighed with the reward/benefit (equity) gained from change. 3. Expectancy- The capability required of an individual to accomplish the task/s. Case in point (www.osl.ltd.co.uk): Joseph, general sales manager of Universal Property Agency Ltd, decided to propose a sales contest to motivate his staff for better sales. He believed that members would be motivated to bring in more sales by rewarding them with cash rewards Members may feel that the effort they must produce is more than the reward, although they may seem attractive. Thus, we recommend that change agents take in to account all three aspects of the expectancy model together in order to motivate members to change. 4.4 Two types (strategies) of cultural change Developmental change focuses on strategies to maintain order and continuity of an organisations culture while transformational change seeks for change and discontinuity. To avoid a Castalian tragedy, we recommend change agents to integrate both strategies; linking each strategy to a different point in the cultural development cycle (CDC) (Bate, 1994). Case in point (http://www.income.com.sg/aboutus/brands/index.asp): Income underwent a cultural revolution of both developmental and transformational change. It is developmental because the point of cultural change is for Income to remain to its cause by being relevant and competitive. It is transformational because the logo of Income is changed and the values and basic assumptions among members are re-constructed. In order for a comprehensive integrated strategy, one must consider the following: 1. The existing culture- Nature of present culture to be changed. 2. Origins trajectory through time- A telescopic perspective to gain a complete picture. 3. The CDC the stage an organisation has reached- The life cycle of its culture and stage where the organisation is at. 4. The environmental context- The context outside the organisation where the culture is situated. 5. The subjective dimension- The culture envisaged after change. 4.5 Four approaches to effect cultural change Aggressive approach The aim is to cause disruption of traditional values, fears and panic among members as a clear intention that change is on its way regardless how members feel or prefer. It is like someone barging into the meeting room forcing a change down the throats of everyone. Case in point (T. Nakajo T. Kono, 1989): Japanese Brewery, Asahi, threw the idea of capitalism out of the window taught members the idea of communism. Food ration were reduced to anyone who resisted the change. Aggressors claim to use this approach only as the last resort for survival where radical times demand radical remedies (Dunphy Stace, 1988:321). In other words, it is being cruel to be kind (Bate, 1994:177). Furthermore, aggressors argue that unlike democracy that allows the opposition to sip in, they should take the initiative and have a single say where there is no chance for negotiation but only complete submission. This approach is dangerous as it may backfire; caused by increase in segmentation of unhappy members. Secondly, the aggressor may be too self-centred and motivated by selfish desires that the change may sidetrack off its intended purpose. Conciliative approach Conciliative approach believes that mutuality is key as it promotes incremental changes quietly without offending either the proposition or opposition. Conciliatives see resistors as being reasonable and believe that both parties are able to work things out amiably. Conciliative use this approach because they feel they have a lack of power to compel members to change. Case in point (Mayo, 1989): Although Peter Bonfield, chairman of ICL, saw the need for a total cultural change; he did not dare to impose it as he did not feel empowered to effect the change. Also, conciliatives use this approach because they want to avoid conflict. They believe it is always better to collude than to collide with members who object the ways things are done. Lastly, conciliatives believe in promoting continuity for cooperative relations rather than discontinuity which breeds resistance. It is an attempt to avoid opposition through gradual continuous development (Renfrew, 1979). However, this approach may be time wasting as conciliatives are always afraid of conflict thus it is difficult to move on (Bate, 1994). Also, one need to critique whether revolutionary changes possible through evolutionary change. Corrosive approach As the name implies, this approach sees cultural change as a political process and aims to incrementally corrode the oppositions power until they become either submissive or irrelevant (Bate, 1994:187). This is achieved through networking and deviously manipulating relationships. They argue that cultural change has to involve networking as it is at the core of cultural development and change (Bate, 1994); empowering individuals which in turn will collaborate with other individuals to effect a cultural change (Brass, 1984). Furthermore, they claim to focus on actions instead mouthing change; it is a concept of pulling rather than pushing for change. This can be dangerous as it can subtly move from change-directed to order-directed and relationships formed are considered as informal which may shift frequently. Indoctrinative approach This approach sees cultural change as a learning process (Schein, 1985) whereby members are being educated of the new culture through intentional training and workshops. This approach is used to change the underlying assumptions of members in an organisation and give new meaning to them. Case in point (Financial Times, 27 March 1991): British Telecom organised a successful three-day course (Project Sovereign) to educate staff the new culture- the new BT will not allow customer calls to get lost. Case in point (Andrew Mayo, Director of Personnel, ICL International, 1989): ICL International conducted major educational programmes to educated members why we are doing what we are doing, to know why they have to shift their thinking. However, this approach faces a problem whether members will buy the message conveyed. Furthermore, the new messages conveyed may not be realistic in actual practise. Change agents may face the issue of how to select the best approach. Thus, we recommend using each approach in different stages of the CDC in a sequential/continuum way (although they are distinct and independent). For example, the Aggressive approach can be used in the unfreezing stage followed by the Conciliative (hearing from members suggestions) and Indoctrinative approach during the cognitive reconstructing stage. Lastly, the Corrosive approach can be used for networking to sustain change. 5. LEADERSHIP Although Stogdill suggests, There are almost as many definitions of leadership as there are persons who have attempted to define the concept (Stogdill 1974 pg259), we believe the most appropriate definition is- leadership is a process whereby an individual influences a group of individuals to achieve a common goal (Northouse 2004 pg 3). And process denotes that leadership and learning are indispensable to each other (John F. Kennedy). Moving on from the definition of leadership, one must also consider the different theories on understanding effective leadership in practise. The development of leadership theories can be understood in two categories and they are the classical and emerging approach in chronological order. We have characterised the two approaches in that the classical approach focuses on the hardware of leadership (which includes traits, functions, behaviours etc) while the emerging approach looks into the software of leadership (relationships, emotional/social intelligence, charisma etc). 5.1 Classical approach Trait theory Trait theory is simply a response to the question of, what qualities distinguish an individual as a leader? It believes that effective and successful leadership styles are dependent on certain traits. Examples of leadership traits are self-efficacy, physical characteristics, conscientiousness and skills distinguish a leader from an ordinary man (Carlyle, 1841). These traits are argued to be inherited as leadership cannot be created or promoted and it cannot be taught or learned (Drucker, 1954 pg158). However, behavioural theory suggests that people can learn such traits through learning and observing others. According to the managerial grid theory (Blake Mouton, 1964), there are five different leadership styles resulting from two dimensions of behaviours (concern for people and concern for task) country club style, impoverished management, middle of the road, team management and authority compliance. Although both theories agree that effective leaders must possess certain traits, they differ in that behavioural theory believes that such traits can be acquired. Thus, a learning attitude is important for effective leadership (Schein, 1992). Situational theory Unlike trait and behavioural theories, Situational theory argues that successful leadership styles are dependent on the situational contexts (Hemphill, 1949). Therefore, it is crucial that leaders examine the situation prior to effecting any change. Case in point (Hogan, 2003): Enron, a real-life example of situational theory, was caught in a major scandal in 2001 for insider trading and conspiracy. Due to this situation, an immediate action was taken by dismissing many senior management and leaders. Contingency theory Contingency theory is an expansion of situational theory that suggests effective leadership styles are dependent on the situation and environmental variables such as the groups atmosphere, task structure and leaders power position (Fielder, 1967). The Vroom-Yetton contingency model elaborates Fielders theory stating that personal characteristics and attributes of the leader are important contingent elements too (Vroom Yetton, 1973). Therefore, there is no right leadership style but only the best depending on the environment after carefully examining it. Functional theory Functional theory dismisses the idea that effective leaders possess a common set of traits but propose that they possess the competence to handle a wide range of different situations (Gill, 2006). According to the Action Centred Leadership model (Adair, 1973), there are three areas a leader must consider: 1. Task- Accomplishing the teams goal. 2. Team- The development and building of teamwork. 3. Individual- Empowering and helping individuals develop full potential. As all three aspects are interdependent, it is crucial for a leader to strike a balance among them in order for the group to succeed. Leadership styles An expansion of Lewins theory of three main leadership styles which are autocratic, participative and laissez-faire (Lewin, 1939) resulted in a continuum of seven leadership styles (Tannenbaum and Schmidt, 1958): Figure 1 (www.mindtools.com) describes the seven leadership styles by arranging them in a single continuum. This means that leaders are not restricted to choosing only one style (independent) but are able to select any point of degree within the continuum. 5.2 Emerging approach Transformational/charismatic theory Transformational theory suggests that effective leadership styles depend on the form of relationship between a leader and his members; e.g. leaders and followers encourage one another to higher levels of morality and motivation (Burns, 1978). This can be measured in the influence (trust, respect, inspiration and admiration) a leader has on his followers (Bass, 1985). The relationship between the leader and follower is extremely crucial and is likened to a magnetic force attracting people. Case in point: Herb Kelleher, CEO of the Southwest Airlines, is an example of a transformational leader. Some call him the energizer bunny of the skies (Jones, 1994) and Americas funniest fly-boy (Beddington Loftus, 1998). His personality emanates a force that draws and influences others, producing warm and determined employees which ultimately define culture. 5.3 Selecting the right theory Most leaders face the question, How does one select the right theory or approach and apply it in a cultural change? Our first recommendation is that leaders can employ any one or more theories on a case by case basis. This means that if a leader needs to learn how to connect with his staff in order to motivate them for change, he can employ the trait/behavioural and/or transformational theory. Or the leader can employ the situational/contingency theory in the case of examining and understanding the current situation prior to effecting change. Secondly, we recommend leaders to adopt all theories in a step by step manner sequentially: Step 1 (situational/contingency): Scan the environment to know what leadership needs are essential for change. Step 2 (trait): Select particular traits to meet particular demands for a successful change. Step 3 (styles): Select a style along the continuum model for conveying messages, leading members and motivating them for change. Step 4 (functional): Be clear on areas under each function that is needed to be considered when effecting change Step 5 (transformational): Build and maintain relationships with members during the change for a successful outcome. To conclude, it is crucial to note that there are no right leadership styles or approaches, rather; there are only the best ones depending on the situational context. 5.6 Effecting a cultural change We now move on from selecting leadership styles to effect change to the actual steps in effecting change. We recommend the use of Lewins three steps model to effect change as a guiding principle: 1. Unfreezing: To weaken resistance to change (Schein, 1992) and motivate members for change (Lewin, 1951) in three stages. (a) Disconfirming data: This refers to any information that shows an organisation that it is not meeting its goals in order to stir up discomfort and disequilibrium (Schein, 1992 pg299). (b) Anxiety and/or guilt: Disconfirming data must generate anxiety/guilt in order to leave members with no choice but to accept change. (c) Psychological safety: Change is stressful (Korunka, 2003) as it removes members from their comfort zone (Jarrett, 2003) causing fears of uncertainty and discouragement. Providing a psychological safety net for members through adequate assurances (long term especially); relevant information and gratitude to members (Weick Quinn, 1999) 2. Cognitive restructuring: Redefine organisational traditional values, basic assumptions and processes etc through workshops and courses. 3. Refreezing: Constantly reinforce changes through artefacts reflections, certain behaviours and processes. Case in point (http://www.youtube.com/user/tansueechieh): Incomes CEO gave disconfirming data in his speech entitled, cultural revolution, awakening staff of their lethargy. Cognitive restructuring was accomplished through workshops and new companys statement. Furthermore, Income underwent a rebranding reflected in advertisements, new logo and new colours. These help to reinforce the changes and new culture of Income. Sustaining a new culture, be it a discontinuity or continuity change, is tedious and difficult. The role of rites theory, by Trice and Beyer (1990), suggests cultures can be reinforced by repeating a certain set of rituals. The six rites are the rites of passage (induction), enhancement (rewards), degradation (to publicly identify failures; ATT case), conflict reduction (acknowledge and resolve differing opinions), integration (foster cohesion) and renewal (maintenance). 4. CONCLUSION We have began with the end in mind which is that change agents will have a deeper understanding of two major change management issues, which are culture and leadership, when managing a cultural change. This assignment has discussed issues pertaining to culture such as resistance, different perspectives and the iceberg concept. Issues pertaining to leadership such as the different theories and the guidelines on how to effect a cultural change have been described in detail as well. Both change management issues are supported with case studies and recommendations to assist change agents make better decisions. (4,187 words in total)

Greek Philosophers :: essays papers

Greek Philosophers Socrates, Plato and Aristotle had virtually the same beliefs about man's relation to the State, although Plato's political theory of the State was more rational than Socrates or Aristotle's. Socrates, Plato and Aristotle all believed that man was not self-sufficient, they believed man would be most happy living in a State. They also believed that all men wanted to live the truly good life where they could be in tune with the truth and achieve their ultimate goals. Although Socrates, Plato and Aristotle's political views of the State are similar, Plato's view is more rational than Socrates and Aristotle's in the sense that he created an ideal State. Socrates, Plato and Aristotle were three philosophers in ancient Greece who believed that no man was self-sufficient enough to live on his own. Plato believed "a State comes into existence because no individual is self-sufficing" (Stumph, 70). This theory of Plato's was also shared by Aristotle who said "He who is unable to live in society or who has no need because he is sufficient for himself, must either be a beast or a god" (Stumph, 103). These two views indicate the importance of a State to an individual according to Plato and Aristotle. All three philosophers believed that man would be much happier if he was part of a State rather than on his own. Socrates once stated "We are all more productive if we specialize in one thing rather than try to excel at many things" (Stumph, 40). Within the State Socrates believed that there would be a division of labour for the provision of food, shelter and clothing. An individual living outside of a State would have to provide thems! elves with these necessities. As Socrates stated above within the State you would specialize in one thing only, while a different individual would specialize in something else and this would allow the quality and the quantity of the product to increase. "Plato assumes that we are all born with physical and intellectual equipment that makes us suited to perform some tasks better than others" (Rice, 42). So now individuals only have to specialize in something that they are physically and intellectually suited for according to Plato. These three philosophers believed that if man could be more productive by specializing in something that they are suited for they would be happier. Aristotle made the point that "Every community is established with the view to some good; and that mankind always act in order to obtain that which they think good" (Copleston, 351). Socrates, Plato and Aristotle all believed that man needs to be

Analysis of Alfred M. Green’s Speech

Persuasion is the influence of beliefs, attitudes, actions, intentions and other such things; it is a process aimed at a person’s or group’s attitude or behavior towards some event, idea, object, or person. Albert Green cleverly uses connection and inspiration to persuade his fellow African Americans to join the ranks of the military. He connects with them by not only using unifying diction but also by appealing to their emotions, namely by speaking of their common historical plights, their â€Å"sires† or fathers.Green, instead of separating himself as the speaker, from his audience, and singling out the individuals making up the audience, in attempt and hope of persuading each and every one of them separately through the appeal of logic, as done commonly in the execution of persuasive speeches, uses unifying diction to connect with his fellow African Americans. He does so by using such phrasing as â€Å"we† instead of â€Å"you† or â€Å"I† and â€Å"ours† instead of â€Å"yours. † This simple change in word choice makes his tone sound sincere and genuine.Through the use of the word â€Å"brethren,† Green is able to makes religious connection. â€Å"Brethren† is the formal word used for brother in many religious scriptures predating the 12th century. Green hopes to connect with them at an emotional as well as spiritual level through use of commonly labeled as religious diction that is familiar to the African American people of this time, of whom a majority are highly religious Christians. He also connects with his audience through references to their common history, concerning their â€Å"sires† or fathers, dating back to the times of Washington and the Revolutionary War.He brings to light the failures â€Å"to bring [them] into recognition as citizens† and abuse caused by the fugitive-slave laws, Dred Scott decisions, indictments for treason†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Green does not hide these acts of humiliation, injustice and abuse; he claims that it is their â€Å"duty †¦ is not to cavil over past grievances. † He tells his fellow â€Å"brethren† that they should not keep grudges over the past for it has already happened and cannot be altered.Instead, he pushes and attempts to persuade them through inspiration, to take action and charge of the present and change the future for the better. To truly inspire another, one must appeal to their deep emotion and character ad Green does in his speech. Green makes reference to one’s honor and values as he explains they â€Å"may again give evidence to the world of the bravery and patriotism of a race in whose hearts burn the love of country of freedom, and of civil and religious toleration. Green speaks of â€Å"duty† when telling them they must â€Å"endeavor to hope for the future and improve the present auspicious movement† to make new their â€Å"claims upon the justice and ho nor of the Republic,† nor let the â€Å"honor and glory achieved by [their] fathers be blasted or sullied by a want of heroism. † What Green means by this is that he and his fellow â€Å"brethren† should not sulk over the â€Å"rights and wrongs† of the past but instead take action to form and enforce better for the present and upcoming future. Green wants them

Mixture & Solids

Fawn Lovell February 25, 2013 Lab#2 Separation of Mixture of Solids PURPOSE The purpose of this lab was to understand the steps involved in separation of multiple solids and how to proceed in the separation of iron filings, sand, table salt and benzoic acid. DATA SEPERATION OF MIXTURE OF SOLIDS | |DATA TABLE | | |GRAMS |PERCENT OF MATERIAL | |IRON FILINGS |1. | | |SAND |1. 5 | | |TABLE SALT |UNKNOWN LAB WAS COMPROMISED **** |UNKNOWN LAB WAS | | | |COMPROMISED*** | |BENZOIC ACID |. | | |TOTAL |3. 3 total for the above available count | | ****while mixture of water and table salt were evaporating in the cupboard in-law accidently spilt out of container it was in so test amount was never able to be done*** OBSERVATIONS The separation of material for the iron filings were to get out of the mixture even though a few passes had to be done to make sure all of them were out.The experiment to extract the sand, table salt and benzoic was slightly difficult of a process and with only one t est material available the lab was not able to done correctly. The process to get the sand and the Benzoic acid was easily accomplished but even four days of evaporation time to get the distilled water to evaporate to the grams of table salt would be available there had been no evaporation and then the experimental incident with the spillage of the salt/distilled water . CALCULATIONSUnable to complete due to percentage of table salt not found due to accidental spilling of distilled water and table salt left in cup to determine appropriate percentages between all substances. CONCLUSION/DISCUSSION The experiment to find how to extract multiple materials out of one sample was a long and difficult process to this researcher. The flow chart was helpful in understanding the steps but when the experiment was conducted it was not as simple. There were plenty of iron filings and with the strength of the magnet provided took multiple passes to retrieve all of them out of the mixture.The benzo ic acid crystals in the cold bath went better than expected and was the researcher was surprised how many crystals were obtained out of the original mixture. The hardest was to obtain the salt grams and percentage, the evaporation time was to short and with the invalidation due to an experimental accident was never obtained and the experiment was never completed correctly. What the researcher has learned from this experiment is to better allocate time, understanding evaporation time and to make sure experiments that need to take time to complete are stored in a better location.QUESTIONS A. How did your procedures or flow charts at the beginning of this experiment compare to the actual procedures of this lab exercise? The procedural flow chart that was designed to extract all the mixture followed the lab experiment, however possibly a slightly bigger magnet could have been used for the iron filings, they were hard to extract all of them and also the procedure to obtain the salt might have been designed better so days would not have been involved since the experiment had a time limit and evaporation can take weeks.B. Discuss potential advantages or disadvantages of your proposed procedure compared to the one actually used. The advantage of using a flow chart procedure is to show how you are going to conduct the experiment so other researchers can follow the same steps as the previous researcher so if experimental errors occur the researcher can go back to what step might have been done incorrectly. C. How would you explain a sand recovery percentage that is higher than the original sand percentage?The sand recovery percentage that is higher from the original sand percentage might be from not letting it dehydrate all the way and could still hold the potential of water molecules in it. D. What were potential source of error in this experiment? The potential sources of error could possibly be from not extracting all the mixture out of the sample, evaporation of the distilled water and as in this researchers case having the material being accidently spilled.

Changing Font Properties in VB.NET

Changing Font Properties in VB.NET Bold is read-only in VB.NET. This article tells you how to change that. In VB6, it was dead easy to change a font to bold. You simply coded something like Label1.FontBold, but in VB.NET, the Bold property of the Font object for a Label is read-only. So how do you change it? Changing Font Properties in VB.NET With Windows Forms Heres the basic code pattern for Windows Forms. Private Sub BoldCheckbox_CheckedChanged( _ByVal sender As System.Object, _ByVal e As System.EventArgs) _Handles BoldCheckbox.CheckedChangedIf BoldCheckbox.CheckState CheckState.Checked ThenTextToBeBold.Font _New Font(TextToBeBold.Font, FontStyle.Bold)ElseTextToBeBold.Font _New Font(TextToBeBold.Font, FontStyle.Regular)End IfEnd Sub Theres a lot more than Label1.FontBold, thats for sure. In .NET, fonts are immutable. That means once they are created they cannot be updated. VB.NET gives you more control than you get with VB6 over what your program is doing, but the cost is that you have to write the code to get that control. VB6 will internally drop one GDI font resource and create a new one. With VB.NET, you have to do it yourself. You can make things a little more global by adding a global declaration at the top of your form: Private fBold As New Font(Arial, FontStyle.Bold)Private fNormal As New Font(Arial, FontStyle.Regular) Then you can code: TextToBeBold.Font fBold Note that the global declaration now specifies the font family, Arial, rather than simply using the existing font family of one specific control. Using WPF What about WPF? WPF is a graphical subsystem you can use with the .NET Framework to build applications where the user interface is based on an XML language called XAML and the code is separate from the design and is based on a .NET language like Visual Basic.  In WPF, Microsoft changed the process yet again. Heres the way you do the same thing in WPF. Private Sub BoldCheckbox_Checked( _ByVal sender As System.Object, _ByVal e As System.Windows.RoutedEventArgs) _Handles BoldCheckbox.CheckedIf BoldCheckbox.IsChecked True ThenTextToBeBold.FontWeight FontWeights.BoldElseTextToBeBold.FontWeight FontWeights.NormalEnd IfEnd Sub The changes are: The CheckBox event is Checked instead of CheckedChangedThe CheckBox property is IsChecked instead of CheckStateThe property value is a Boolean True/False instead of the Enum CheckState. (Windows Forms offers a True/False Checked property in addition to CheckState, but WPF doesnt have both.)FontWeight is a dependency property of the Label instead of FontStyle being the property of the Font object.FontWeights is a NotInheritable class and Bold is a Static value in that class Whew!!  Do you think Microsoft  actually tried to make it more confusing?

Research Paper on DNA

Research Paper on DNA Deoxyribonucleic acid is present in all organisms. Whether it is mammal, bird or bacteria DNA is responsible for a functioning organism. Looking at the two tables provided, there are some noticeable trends that could be identified, as well as conclusions that can be derived. The idea that more complex organism have more DNA mass per cell, that the mass of DNA in somatic cells is constant (there is a range but it is very slight) for any particular organism, that sperm cells are haploid cells and that all organisms have DNA present in their cells are ideas present from the tables provided. The fact that all of the organisms, whether it is mammal, bird or fungi have a mass of DNA present in their cells shows that DNA is present for a reason. If a mammal has an approximate DNA mass in each cell of 6pg and birds have an average DNA mass of 2pg per cell then this DNA has to have a specific function in the body, which explains its initial appearance in each cell. Also, because the organism has a DNA mass in each cell then DNA would have to be passed from the parents onto their offspring. The masses of DNA in the somatic cells of the chicken are all approximately the same. The DNA mass found in a heart cell of the chicken measured at 2.45 pg while the mass of the DNA in each kidney cell weighed at 2.50pg. This can be explained by the fact that when an egg is fertilized by a sperm cell, the fertilized egg eventually becomes the starting point for all the different cells. During the process of mitosis, the fertilized egg is duplicating to form a cluster of cells, while doing so the DNA is also being duplicated and eventually these cluster of cells will become specialized for different functions in different areas of the body. The small but notable variance in the value of masses of the somatic cells can be attributed to experimental error. More complex organisms have a higher DNA mass content per cell. Per cell a mammal has a DNA mass content per cell of 6 pg while a bird has an average DNA mass content of 2pg. The mass of DNA present in each of the cells is dependant on how complex the organism is, the higher the complexity the more DNA that is needed for the organism to function with its internal functions. Since there is more information for the organism itself, then the DNA mass will increase. From the tables provided the mass of the DNA found in sperm cells can be noted. While the mass of DNA seems to fall in the same range for all the different cells in the chicken’s body, the sperm cell is an odd case. With a mass of DNA of 1.26 pg the sperm cell holds the smallest number, as well as the number that does not fit in with the rest of the other values assigned as values for DNA in the different parts of the cells in the chicken’s body. This can be explained by the fact that the sperm cell is a haploid cell, and that it carries half the DNA that an organism will eventually obtain, the other half coming from the egg. If the sperm cell, with a DNA mass of 1.26 pg were to fertilize the egg (which has a DNA mass of 1.26 pg), the resulting organism will have a DNA mass of 2.52 pg. This value fits in with the rest of the values observed in the second chart. It can be noted that DNA is passed on from both the sperm and egg cell. The initial presence of the DNA in each of the organism’s cells, the fact that the mass of DNA in each of the somatic cells of the chicken is approximately the same, that sperm cells carry half of the mass of DNA of an ordinary somatic cell, and that more complex organisms have a higher DNA mass content per cell than lower organism are ideas present in the tables. From these four points extracted from the tables DNA seems to be an important component for each organism responsible for carrying information.

How To Develop An Effective Content Marketing Promotion Strategy

How To Develop An Effective Content Marketing Promotion Strategy If you want the content marketing strategy for your business to be successful, you can’t rely on developing great content alone. No matter what your content goals are, you need traffic to your content to achieve them. This is where effective content promotion comes into play. In this post, were going to look at five steps you can follow to promote each piece of content you create and get the best possible results from your content. How To Develop An Effective #ContentMarketing Promotion Strategy @sujanpatel Step 1: Optimize Your Content For Search In the long run, if you optimize your content properly, search engines will likely be the best source of traffic for your content. You don't have to think about search engine optimization while you are creating your content. As a matter of fact, it's best if you don't think about SEO until after you have crafted a great piece of content with your visitors in mind. It's best if you don't think about #SEO until after you've crafted great #content. @sujanpatel How to easily optimize your content for a  keyword. Once you have finished creating your content, you will want to optimize it for one keyword phrase. To do this, you can use Google's free AdWords Keyword Planner. Add a few keywords or keyword phrases that best represent your piece of content. Google's Keyword Planner can help you optimize your content so people looking for your stuff can actually find it. Once you have found the best keyword phrase for your piece of content, you will want to make sure it is included in the title, meta description, first paragraph, last paragraph, and images. As an example, let's look at this post. We started with "How To Develop an Effective Content Promotion Strategy" as the title. After using the Google AdWords Keyword Planner, we revised it to "How To Develop an Effective Content Marketing Promotion Strategy", which includes content marketing strategy, as that has a higher search volume. Note that while it's good to have all of the words for the keyword phrase you target together (such as content marketing strategy), it's not required. Those who don't search for content marketing strategy in quotes will get anything with those three words in the title in their search results. Here's an example of the top competition for the content marketing strategy keyword with a Google search engine results page. In addition to adding content marketing strategy to the title, we added it into the other areas mentioned, including the filenames of all of the images in the post. This optimization should help this post rank well for content marketing strategy in search engines. Choose one keyword, use it in headings, titles, images, and first and last sentences. #SEOStep 2: Optimize  Your Content For Social Sharing There are three ways to optimize your content for social sharing. 1. Offer  social sharing buttons. The first is to make sure that each page on your website has social sharing buttons. You can add them to your website's template files using the official code provided by networks like Facebook, Twitter, Google+, LinkedIn, and Pinterest. Or, for those using platforms such as WordPress, you can install plugins like Socialize or Flare.   2. Use awesome images. Next, you will want to have at least one great image per piece of content. When people share your content on social networks, most networks will pull a thumbnail image from your content to make it stand out in the news feed. If you don't add an image to your content, the shares of your content either won't have an image or will have an unrelated image from elsewhere on your website. 3. Implement open graph tags. Finally, you will want to implement open graph tags for your content. Open graph tags allow you to customize the way that your content is shared on social networks like Twitter, Facebook, and Pinterest. For example, this code for Twitter... ...will allow tweets from the page it is implemented upon to look like this: You can find the code you need to implement open graph tags in the developer's support pages for Twitter Cards, Facebook Open Graph, and Pinterest Rich Pins. Or, for WordPress users, you can install plugins like JM Twitter Cards and Facebook for simpler open graph tag implementation. Step 3: Share Your Content With Your Social Media Audiences Don't just leave it up to your visitors to share your content on social media. 1. Promote  your content on multiple social networks. Your fans and followers connect with your social pages and profiles for a reason. Share your content with all of your social media audiences. It might sound like overkill at first, but keep in mind that you have different fans and followers on each network. If you just tweet your content, your Facebook and LinkedIn only audiences might miss it.

Twelve questions in Management Information System Assignment

Twelve questions in Management Information System - Assignment Example In the â€Å"conversations† that introduce the textbook chapters thus far, Lucas Massey, the IT Director, tends to get a lot of pressure from his colleagues at GearUP. He has suggested approaches that do not align with the company’s strategy, and several times, when he has attempted to explain his perspective, he and his co-workers get frustrated. Using the skills gained in this course it will be easy for me to manage a situation like this in my job experience. In simple terms, I will just employ quality communication and teamwork skills to ensure that we as a team speak one a language. In addition, to ensure that the targeted MIS ends up a successful project, I will involve most of the key company stakeholders (both I.T professionals and other workers or targeted users of the system) in the development and implementation of the MIS. Lastly but certainly not the least, I will work closely with all the team members to ensure that the MIS goes hand in hand with the business strategies of the company (Oz

Topic 1-2 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Topic 1-2 - Essay Example In most cases, people get jobs to earn income and gain status, which are part of reasons that make people to work. Career as work refers to a collection of jobs that a person involves in over the individual’s work life. This description is not to mean that work can be a career when a person serve as a nurse for ten years, and then as an hotelier for five years. Work only becomes a career when a person maintains a particular line of work practice though for different periods, positions or work place. For instance, work can be a career when one serves as a junior engineer for ten years and later as chief engineer for ten years. Additionally, a person can be in a career if they work for a particular company as engineer for three years and then for another company in the same position for six years (Brown & Lent, 2013). As a calling, work involves performing a certain activity with great passion and conviction. Work becomes a calling when a person is very concerned about work and considers it a social responsibility and less concern pay even though they work on paid

International trade Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 2

International trade - Essay Example It has made remarkable foreign investments, mostly in its nearby countries, owing to its huge capital reserve and high market prices. For LUKoil, foreign acquisitions are a means of acquiring experienced workers and technological know-how to gain efficiency and effectiveness in both domestic and global competition. It has acquired 800 U.S. stations from ConocoPhillips and 100 per cent of Getty Petroleum in the United States. It is imperative for both Russia and LUKoil to export petroleum in order to fulfil their economic goals. However, LUKoil’s future ability to export may be hampered by the sorry state of political relations of Russia both inside and outside the nation. Thus, to make sure that the company operates successfully, it must lay more emphasis on foreign investments and relations with the oil companies in the West. Russia’s position as an oil exporter can be explained on the basis of the theory of absolute as well as competitive advantage. Russia ranks eighth largest in the world in terms of its oil reserves and hence the country enjoys the natural gift of such a comparative advantage. As compared to Saudi Arabia, Russia presently has 15 more established oil reserves. Besides, the country enjoys not only natural but also acquired advantages with respect to oil production. In the global oil market the prices are determined by the basic laws of demand and supply. Of Russia’s total oil production, just 27 per cent is put to use for inland purposes and the remaining 73 per cent is exported. Moreover, its oil companies have come up as major players in the global competition. Thus, factor proportions theory is also valid for Russia’s competitive advantage. The country similarity theory can also be applied in this case if we consider the fact that a major part of its foreign expa nsion corresponds to the countries that were formerly a part of the Soviet Union. In addition to this, Russia’s global position as an oil exporter can be

Setting up an Organic Farming Business Assignment

Setting up an Organic Farming Business - Assignment Example The mission of this business is to provide high quality, healthy, organic produce that is otherwise difficult to find. By targeting the right sellers and customers the business will be able to sustain itself and expand; the customer profile for the produce encompasses people who believe that fresh, organic produce is important to healthy living, and that the preservation of traditional, rare vegetables is important for the ecosystem and maintenance of high vitamin and mineral levels. Once a foundational customer base is established the business can expand to produce a wider variety of rare vegetables as well as seeds for home use. Land value will rise, however equipment will need maintenance and replacing regularly; as the business expands more land will need to be acquired. By starting locally and selling organic produce in small farmer's markets a customer base will form, after which larger sellers can be called upon to buy in larger quantities. By focusing on unique produce with the organic label, this business will succeed where the average produce selling business fails.

Bollywood as a global industry Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Bollywood as a global industry - Research Paper Example It is very easy to establish that every local channel has an Indian music or movies. On top of that, movies, songs and dance styles are loved by many people who even do not understand the language. For example, one of the old Hindi films called Shree 420(1955) is still aired up to date, although some changes have been made to it. Bollywood is a perfect example of a global industry. It is one of the largest film making industries not only in India but also in rest the world. It is located In Mumbai, India. The name Bollywood is derived from two names; Bombay which is the initial name for Mumbai and Hollywood which is the famous American film producers. Bollywood naming mainly came to being because of â€Å"Tollywood† which refers to the film industry of West Bengal. Tollywood started at around 1932. In 1930s, Bollywood started to venture in sound filming. This was mainly because at that time, there was a huge market for the Indian music as evidenced by the first Indian sound film (Ardershir Iran’s Alam Ara) which was a great realization. However Bollywood passed through many tough times which could easily have lead it to collapse. Such times include World War 2 (1939-1945), great depression and struggle for independence. After India got its independence in it experienced a â€Å"golden age†. Under this period, Bollywood produced several films which are largely acknowledged up to today. They include Kaagaz Ke Phool of 1959 and Madhumati of 1958. It is also during this time that it produced extolled actors and actresses who include Mala Sinha, Guru Dutt and Mani Kaul. Over time, Bollywood incorporated romantic and action films and also improved in the animation sector. From the year 2000, Bollywood started to increase its market target by increasing interconnectedness of countries through adopted of advanced technology (Ganti, 2012). Bollywood has help a lot in cultural development. Through these films, it has spread

What are the main justification for a health system funded largely Essay

What are the main justification for a health system funded largely through private and public taxation and what are the strenghth and weaknesses of the two opposing view point - Essay Example may be required to pay little fee that is not significant to their income, a factor that bridges potential differences in care access based on economic status. Healthcare is also budgeted for, resources availed through the formal budget and taxation policies, and this guarantees continuous availability of care services (Leatt and Mapa 2003, p. 49). A publicly funded healthcare system also ensures quality of care to citizens. This is because the system is organized and qualified professionals manage it. It therefore also offers a benchmark to private practitioners who must match the level of quality in order to attract and retain customers (Ho 2012, p. 68). The system is also comprehensive to meet diversified needs and is in some cases compulsory, a factor that motivates people to seek care and therefore ensures quality of health (Morfaw 2009, p. 109). One of the contrary viewpoints to justification of the publicly funded healthcare system, through taxation and through a special system, is its â€Å"inflexibility and bureaucratization† (Leatt and Mapa 2003, p. 49). The opinion is strong because such a scope may lead to regional scarcity of resources and restrained access but proper management through accurate forecast of needs undermines this criticism. Another criticism is that success of the publicly funded care system may be over-valued because it does not bear some of its costs such as time wasted on waiting lists. The cost may be significant to identify overestimation of the derived utility but such wastes may be inevitable and may also exist in privately funded care systems (Leatt and Mapa 2003, p. 49). Even though opposing views exist to the justification of publicly funded healthcare system, weaknesses of such opinions are more significant than their strengths. Justifications of the system are further more practical. The publicly funded care through taxation is therefore

Bollywood as a global industry Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Bollywood as a global industry - Research Paper Example It is very easy to establish that every local channel has an Indian music or movies. On top of that, movies, songs and dance styles are loved by many people who even do not understand the language. For example, one of the old Hindi films called Shree 420(1955) is still aired up to date, although some changes have been made to it. Bollywood is a perfect example of a global industry. It is one of the largest film making industries not only in India but also in rest the world. It is located In Mumbai, India. The name Bollywood is derived from two names; Bombay which is the initial name for Mumbai and Hollywood which is the famous American film producers. Bollywood naming mainly came to being because of â€Å"Tollywood† which refers to the film industry of West Bengal. Tollywood started at around 1932. In 1930s, Bollywood started to venture in sound filming. This was mainly because at that time, there was a huge market for the Indian music as evidenced by the first Indian sound film (Ardershir Iran’s Alam Ara) which was a great realization. However Bollywood passed through many tough times which could easily have lead it to collapse. Such times include World War 2 (1939-1945), great depression and struggle for independence. After India got its independence in it experienced a â€Å"golden age†. Under this period, Bollywood produced several films which are largely acknowledged up to today. They include Kaagaz Ke Phool of 1959 and Madhumati of 1958. It is also during this time that it produced extolled actors and actresses who include Mala Sinha, Guru Dutt and Mani Kaul. Over time, Bollywood incorporated romantic and action films and also improved in the animation sector. From the year 2000, Bollywood started to increase its market target by increasing interconnectedness of countries through adopted of advanced technology (Ganti, 2012). Bollywood has help a lot in cultural development. Through these films, it has spread

Engage In Personal Development Essay Example for Free

Engage In Personal Development Essay 1.1 Describe the duties and responsibilities of own work role Job description 1.2 And 3.1 Explain expectations about own work role as expressed in relevant standards. Evaluate own knowledge, performance and understanding against relevant standards. A day in the life at my setting. Arriving at my setting each day I am required to sign in and note down the time. I put my bag in a safe and secure place so children cannot access. I check the message board and liaise with other staff members for any important updates. We have a child with a food intolerance so I informed the cook to make them aware the child was catered for at all meals during the day. My 1st hour was spent upstairs with the toddlers aged between 2 and 3 years. I then checked the planner to see what activities we had for that day. Today I set up the drawing table ensuring there was enough paper, crayons and chairs available for all the children present. I sat with the children whilst they joined in with the activity. Talking to the children about what they were doing and describing all the different colours, sizes, shapes etc. This was promoting their speech and language development and using creative skills too. Whilst supervising this activity I decided to complete a short observation on one of the children as she began to count and sing. I was interacting with all of the children trying to maintain interest. After a short while it was then time to tidy away all the equipment from the actives in which we encourage the children to help too. Once the room was tidy we decided to take the children outside in to the garden. Most of our toddlers are able to collect and put on their coats which we also encourage to do but some children are unable to achieve this at the moment. I helped to escort the children safely down the stairs ensuring they hold on to the rail and do a head count to make sure all children were present. I performed the outdoor risk assessment using the  daily check list. The children then are supervised using the toilet and washing their hands ready for lunch. I seat the children down at the tables ensuring they have cleaned their hands and they have adequate space to eat. I supply them all with a drink and we sing songs whilst the food is being dished out. I have prepared the child’s food separately who has the food intolerance ensuring they receive the correct meal . The child is also supervised eating to ensure they do not mix foods with the other children. Some children have not developed the skills to cut their own food so I will assist with helping them to do that. Ensuring the meals are cool enough I then give each child a meal and always remind them of good manners by saying â€Å"please† and â€Å"thank you†. If children do not like the meal or try to refuse it I will always encourage them to try it. If I am working alongside the babies the above applies except some of the babies are too young to feed themselves and have not yet developed those skills. Babies will also need help with bottle feeding. I would also prepare the bottle feeds following the nursery policy. Ensuring correct formula is mixed and all bottles have been sterilised. Back in the toddler room, a child was struggling with their food and looked like they was choking. I immediately helped the child by taking the food out of their mouth with my little finger. The child became distressed so I comforted them until they were able to return to their meal. Meal times are always supervised by all members of staff to help with any incidents like this. All meal times are recorded in the daily chart. This is where we write down what the child has eaten so we can relay this back to the parents/carers. When the children have finished their meal I help to clean the children up and get them ready for their afternoon sleep. I assist with the toileting and other members of staff will go through the nappy change routine. The children in the toddler room go to find their own sleep mats with the aid of their name and picture tag. Most children will remove their own footwear but again some have not yet developed those skills, so I will help. Some children have their own comforters which I put out for them and I help to get them off to sleep with gentle patting. Once the children are asleep, I ensure the room monitors are on and working, make sure the room temperature is ok and all the children have their own blankets and they are safe. I then record each child in the daily sleep chart. This chart is for ours and parents benefits. We record when they sleep and when they wake up. As some children are only allowed a certain amount of sleep, this will help us to know when we have to wake them up. I then check on the children in the sleep room every 10 minutes with the aid of a timer. When children wake from their afternoon sleep they are always asked to use the toilet. Some children are upset when they awake so I will always comfort them. The afternoon usually consists of taking the children outside for free play. I get all their coats bags etc together and help to put their coats on. On this occasion it was a nice sunny day so I applied their own sun cream following the nursery sun cream policy. I ensure they have sun hats and the sun cream is applied liberally. Before we go outside I take 4 children at a time down the stair and reiterate the importance of holding the hand rail. A head count is once again recorded and an outdoor check is done following the outdoor risk assessment. The toddlers are escorted outsi de counting each child as they go. They are shortly followed by the children/babies from the tiny room downstairs and they all play in the same garden. The children are supervised with in ratio. As its free play time, I leave the children to play but some children like me to join in with what they are playing with. Child A is playing with a dolls pram and child B is trying to take that away from them. I intervene and explain to child B â€Å"we do not take toys from our friends when they are playing with them, it’s not very kind†. Child B is upset so I took the child away and provided them with another toy to distract them from child A. This works very well and child B goes off playing happily alone with the other toy. Child A is also happy and also continues to play. Shortly after another incident happened where a child has fallen and bumped their head. As I comfort the child I asked another staff member to get a cold compress. This is applied to the child for 10 minutes whilst still trying to comfort the child. The head bump is not too bad and the child soon calms down and returns playing. I then completed an accident form following nursery policy. This is then signed by the parent when the child is collected. During the afternoon, parents/carers come to collect their children. I greet the parents and explain what their child has been doing throughout the day, taking the information off the daily record sheet. We usually have a short chat with the parents/carers about the child’s day and will also take interest in their day too. We have a good  relationship with our parents/carers and this also helps us to get to know the parents/carers and children too. After all the children have gone home, we tidy round and ensure the nursery is ready for the next day ahead. 2.1 Explain the importance of reflective practice in continuously improving the quality of service provided. The nursery setting is always changing is so many different ways. We have new children being welcomed in to the setting and then we have children going through different types of transitions. The service we provide must reflect the needs of the children and by constantly improving our services we can better meet the need of the children and support their development. By constantly reflecting on out practice we can assess where we may be lacking in skills or knowledge and we can update these regularly to keep our services up to date and as supportive to the children as possible. A good example on reflective practice is, we have a child that has developed an intolerance to milk, dairy products etc. We have briefed all staff members with information regarding lactose free diet for this child. We have a couple of children who have turned 2 years and have completed the transition u pstairs to the toddler room. This meant we have more babies downstairs in our tiny room and the room has been slightly equipped with more age relevant toys and equipment. If we did not reflect on this, it could hinder the development of the younger babies. Everyone makes mistakes – they are one way of learning. It is important not to waste your mistakes, so if something has gone wrong, make sure you learn from it. Discuss problems and mistakes with your supervisor, and work out how to do things differently next time. You can use reflective skills in order to learn from situations that have not worked out the way you planned. It is important that you consider carefully why things turned out the way they did and think about how you will ensure that they go according to plan next time. Talking to colleagues and supervisors is equally useful when things work out really well, as it is important to reflect on success as well as failure. If you reflect on why something worked, this will make it more likely that you can repeat it. Information taken from http://www.pearsonschoolsandfecolleges.co.uk/ 2.3 Describe how own values, belief systems and experiences may affect  working practices What we believe in, what we see as important and what we see as acceptable or desirable is an essential part of who we are. The way in which we respond to people is linked to what we believe in, what we consider important and what interests us. We may find we react positively to people who share our values and less warmly to people who have different priorities. As a professionals, we are required to provide the same quality of support for all, not just for those who share our views and beliefs. The key term here is Diversity – being different; people are unique according to their own background, culture, personality, race, any disability, gender, religion/belief, sexual orientation and age. 4.1 Identify sources of support for planning and reviewing own development. Personal development is to do with developing the personal qualities and skills that everyone needs in order to live and work with others, such as understanding, empathy, patience, communication and relationship-building. It is also to do with the development of self-confidence, self-esteem and self-respect. In my setting there is always support for planning and reviewing my own development. I have already opted to improve my skills and development with a couple of course due to start in December 2014. You need to have these goals in mind; †¢ What you are trying to achieve? †¢ How you are you going to achieve it? †¢ How you will be able to tell when you have achieved it? It’s also helpful to further your development by asking other team members, duty manager and managers. We have a fantastic team who are very helpful and are ready to give any help and advice to anyone who needs it. At my setting there are many text books, magazines and brochures with vital information I can look through if I feel need some extra information in a certain topic of interest to further my development. We also have regular appraisals to guide and encourage further development and to also discuss current work practice. I feel this is extremely important. This not only boosts self-esteem but also gives management a chance to reflect on your work practice and if there is any further development training needed. Ref: http://www.pearsonschoolsandfecolleges.co.uk

Benefits of Evidence Based Practice in Nursing

Benefits of Evidence Based Practice in Nursing Assignment: Nursing Evidence based details Table of Contents Part A: Essay References Part A: Essay The health care practices that are evidence based are accessible for many diseases and ill health cases like diabetes, heart failure, Asthma etc. The implementations of the evidence-based safety excercises is not an easy job, and require to form policies which deal with the complication of the health-care system. There is a requirement for the healthcare ways to be evidence based as per the changing environments. The evidence based practice is considerable and very careful in utilization of the existing finest evidences along with the clinical know-how and the norms of the patients to make right decisions in terms of health care. These best evidences comprise of practical evidences as of unsystematic controlled assessments, as of few scientific approaches like descriptive and qualitative study with the implication of details of some previous researches, reports, and opinions of the skilled people. In case there is not much of the research evidence accessible, then the health care decisions can be taken by non research substantiations like, opinions of the experienced people etc. And in case, the ample research results are accessible, then the practice can be as per the substantiation of it along with the skills in nursing and the norms of the patients (Cullen et al.2005) The models for the evidence based practice (EBP) are many in number and have been put to use in various clinical situations. All these models have one or two components which are similar. These can be choice of a theme for the EBP, evaluation and syntheses of evidence, application, and assessment of the influence on the care of the patients and the thoughts regarding the situations in which these practices are exercised. The discovering that happens amid the procedure of making an interpretation of examination into practice is profitable data to catch and input into the process, so others can adjust the confirmation based rule and/or the execution methodologies (Straus, 2000). There is wide acknowledgement of the idea that interdisciplinary joint effort is a vital building square for effective health-care groups. This conviction is grounded in our understanding of how group’s capacity to address complex care needs that change with intense sickness or damage. This general understanding has been accepted in studies that have reported good conclusions connected with effectively executing interdisciplinary models of health-care conveyance in non-discriminating care settings. The brief time spans over which the care needs of basically sick or harmed grown-ups change and the group approach taken by almost all Icus emphatically propose that interdisciplinary cooperation is additionally gainful in this setting. It has been foreseen that those health-care arrangements that productively employ interdisciplinary partnership will be prior to the arc in offering premium care at as small a price as probable. These kinds of institutions will in addition possibly b e superior situated for civilizing teaching and offering a better groundwork for decisive care study in their establishments. Source: Leape, 2005 Steps of advertising reception of EBPs could be seen from the point of view of the individuals who behavior scrutinize or produce knowledge, those who utilize the proof based data in practice, and the individuals who serve as limit spanners to connection learning generators with information clients. These phases of information exchange are seen through the viewpoint of scientists/makers of new learning and start with figuring out what discoveries from the patient security portfolio or individual exploration ventures should be dispersed. Steps of learning move in the AHRQ model speak to three real stages: (1) Information creation and refining- Information creation and refining is leading exploration (with expected variety in preparation for utilization in health care conveyance frameworks) and afterward bundling significant examination discoveries into items that might be put vigorously, for example, particular practice suggestions consequently improving the probability that exploration confirmation will think that its path into practice.37 It is crucial that the learning refining procedure be educated and guided by end clients for examination discoveries to be executed in care conveyance. The criteria utilized within learning refining ought to incorporate viewpoints of the end clients (e.g., transportability to this present reality health care setting, plausibility, volume of confirmation required by health care associations and clinicians), and also customary information era contemplations (e.g., quality of the proof, generalizability). (2) Dispersion and spread- Dispersion and spread includes banding together with expert presumption pioneers and health care associations to scatter learning that can structure the premise of activity (e.g., crucial components for release educating for hospitalized patient with heart disappointment) to potential clients. Dispersal organizations join analysts with mediators that can work as learning representatives and connectors to the professionals and health care conveyance associations. Middle people might be proficient associations, for example, the National Patient Safety Foundation or multidisciplinary information exchange groups, for example, those that are powerful in scattering exploration based malignancy avoidance programs. In this model, scattering associations give a legitimate seal of approbation for new learning and help distinguish persuasive gatherings and groups that can make an interest for application of the proof in practice. Both mass correspondence and focused on dispersal are utilized to achieve groups of onlookers with the expectation that early clients will impact the last adopters of the new usable, confirmation based examination discoveries. Focused on dispersal endeavors must use multifaceted spread procedures, with a stress on channels and media that are best for specific client portions (e.g., attendants, doctors, drug specialists)? (3) Authoritative reception and execution. End client reception, usage, and systematization is the last phase of the information exchange process.37 This stage concentrates on getting associations, groups, and people to receive and reliably utilize proof based exploration discoveries and advancements in ordinary practice. Actualizing and managing EBPs in health care settings includes complex interrelationships among the EBP point (e.g., lessening of pharmaceutical failures), the hierarchical social framework aspects, (for example, operational structures and qualities, the outer health natures domain), and the individual clinicians.35, 37–39 A mixed bag of techniques for execution incorporate utilizing a change champion as a part of the association who can address potential usage difficulties, guiding/attempting the change in a specific patient care territory of the association, and utilizing multidisciplinary execution groups to support in the commonsense parts of inserting developments into continuous authoritative me thodologies. Changing practice requires significant exertion at both the individual and authoritative level to apply confirmation based data and items in a specific connection. At the point when changes in care are exhibited in the pilot studies and conveyed to other important units in the association, key faculty might then consent to completely receive and manage the change in practice. Once the EBP change is fused into the structure of the association, the change is no more considered an advancement however a customary of care. Application of evidence to every patient Application of evidence to every patient administration is such an argumentative issue, to the point that it merits further elaboration (Titler, Cullen and Ardery, 2002). Once the clinician has found the evidence important to the patients clinical condition, he/ she need to choose about its appropriateness. Measures of treatment viability got from clinical trials are normal measures and because of the unavoidable biologic variability, are certain to change over the populace. Be that as it may it pays to remember that patients selected in clinical trials are prone to be significantly more like one another than they are liable to be different. Thus, significant contrasts in the greatness of impact are impossible (Karthikeyan, 2007). Qualitatively diverse impacts (hurt for some and profit for others) are to a great degree uncommon. In this way, the consequences of clinical trials could be connected at the bedside, to patients extensively like those in clinical trials with the reckoning of profits like that seen in the trials. The vicinity of co-dreariness and expansive contrasts in age from the study populace is a few components, which can genuinely impact the clinicians choice. A related region of significance to individual-patient choice making is the utilization of subgroup dissects. As clinicians, the aftereffects of subgroup dissects hold instinctive engage us. It is calming to recall that, implanted in any clinical trial populace; there are a limitless number of subgroups and subgroup impacts, the vast majority of which are spurious. The genuine trouble is in searching out the genuine subgroup impacts. In assessing subgroup breaks down, the accompanying issues need to be viewed as: (i) Were the dissects pre-specified or were they left upon in the wake of looking at the information, (ii) How expansive are the impacts? (iii) Is the subgroup impact biotically conceivable? (iv) Would it say it is factually not quite the same as whatever is left of the study populace? v) Is there substantiating evidence from different studies? The criteria for tolerating subgroup results need to be stringent on the grounds that, as we called attention to, most are spurious and in fact, not very many subgroup breakdowns have rested the test of time. Nursing division has an important part to play in the plan of evidence-based conveyance of care. EBP just obliges that the clinician be sufficiently acquainted with the evidence-base in his/ her field and have the capacity to unbiasedly evaluate it, so he or she can apply it suitably in practice. Clinicians ought to recognize that EBP is a paramount stage in the advancement of the act of prescription, which endeavors to convey care of consistently high caliber. As the central executors in charge of conveying this care, they ought to instruct and prepare themselves better for this key part. References Cullen L, Greiner J, Greiner J, et al. Excellence in evidence-based practice: an organizational and MICU exemplar. Crit Care Nurs Clin North Am 2005;17(2):127-42. Leape LL. Advances in patient safety: from research to implementation. Vol. 3, Implementation issues. AHRQ Publication No. 05-0021-3. Rockville, MD: Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality; 2005. Karthikeyan G. Evidence-based medicine and clinical judgment: an imaginary divide. J Am Coll Cardiol 2007; 49 : 1012. Straus SE, McAlister FA. Evidence-based medicine: a commentary on common criticisms. CMAJ 2000; 163 : 837- 41. Titler MG, Cullen L, Ardery G. Evidence-based practice: an administrative perspective. Reflect Nurs Leadersh 2002;28(2):26-27, 46.

Revenge in Shakespeares Hamlet Essay -- Tragedy of Hamlet Shakespeare

Revenge in Shakespeare's Hamlet Revenge. Revenge causes one to act blindly through anger, rather than through reason. It is based on the principle of an eye for an eye, but this principle is not always an intelligent theory to live by. Young Fortinbras, Laertes, and Hamlet were all looking to avenge the deaths of their fathers. They all acted on emotion, and this led to the downfall of two, and the rise to power of one. Since the Heads of the three major families were each murdered, the eldest sons of these families swore vengeance, and two of the three sons died while exacting their acts of vengeance. Revenge is a major theme in the Tragedy of Hamlet. There were three major families in the Tragedy of Hamlet. These were the family of King Fortinbras, the family of Polonius, and the family of King Hamlet. The heads of each of these families are all slaughtered within the play. Fortinbras, King of Norway, was killed by King Hamlet; slain by sword during a man to man battle. "†¦our valiant Hamlet-for so this side of our known world esteem'd him-did slay this Fortinbras." This entitled King Hamlet to the land that was possessed by Fortinbras because it was written in a seal'd compact. Polonius was an advisor to the King, and father to Laertes and Ophelia. He was nosy and arrogant, and he did not trust his children. He was killed by Young Hamlet while he was eves dropping on a conversation between Hamlet and his mother. "How now! A rat? Dead, for a ducat, dead!" King Hamlet was the King of Denmark, and Hamlet's father. He had killed King Fortinbras, only to be killed by his brother, Claudius. "†¦My offense is rank, it smells t o heaven; A brother's murder†¦" Each of these events effected the sons of the deceased in the same way, it ... ...es of his poisoned wound. Young Fortinbras regains his fathers land, without use of violence, or death to himself. Hamlet names him new ruler of Denmark before he dies, and Fortinbras regains all of his father's lost land, and becomes King of Denmark. Since the Heads of the three major families were each murdered, the eldest sons of these families swore vengeance, and two of the three sons died while exacting their acts of vengeance, revenge is a major theme in the Tragedy of Hamlet. As a theme, revenge was present in all parts of the play. It seems ironic that Claudius, Laertes, and Hamlet all died of the same sword. It is also ironic that the first the seek revenge against Claudius, Fortinbras, becomes King of Denmark. Revenge was the driving force behind three of the main characters of the play, for two it led to downfall, and for the other it led to greatness.

Health and Welness for the Employees :: essays research papers

There are many reasons for the employees to get involved in a wellness program. Whether they like it or not overall wellness will affect their everyday life, at home as well as at work. The fact of the matter is that people that are in good health are usually more coherent and are able to enjoy more out of life. With more incentive going towards corporations paying subsidies to encourage employee participation there is increasing demand by employees to have a wellness program implemented. A study of health risk data and medical insurance claims at a paper mill in Canton, North Carolina, revealed that the Canton employees who had taken part in a health and fitness programs spent an average of 30% less on medical claims than non-participants. Having established a clear link between health and fitness activities and lower health care costs, the Canton study led to refine and expand wellness programs. The company took a closer look at all the issues that could affect job performance and determined that the company needed to broaden the concept of wellness to include mental and emotional health as well as physical well being. In short, the company began to recognize that each employee is a whole person who brings much more than job skills to work every day. The company also began to understand that efforts at wellness promotion could only succeed by taking the needs of the whole person into account. Fitness programs can reduce absenteeism. There are many documented situations of fitness and wellness programs are effective. In a one-year study of over 500 employees, each took part in a work place fitness program. The for each employee that worked out as little one day a week, cut their average number of sick days in half, from over ten sick days on average in the previous year without any activity to less than five in the following year. The report also showed that the employees that did not maintain a workout load of at least once a week did not reduce any sick-days. (Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, 1997; 39:827-831) Each of the participants followed a one-hour supervised workout consisting of a warm-up, stretching, calisthenics, cardiovascular and strength-building program. Later in the study Dr. Lilian Lechner, M.P.H. stated, â€Å"While previous studies have found that employees most likely to partake in workplace fitness programs are those who already ge t the most regular exercise and tend to be in better health, the current show that work-based fitness offers added health benefits for employees regardless of their fitness level.

Are Crises Threatening the Benefits?

Are crises threatening the benefits from international portfolio diversification? This essay examines whether rising international stock market correlations during market crises are weakening the efficacy of modern portfolio theory, which promises benefits from international portfolio diversification. The importance of the combining assets that are not perfectly correlated is discussed, as are reasons why we might expect markets to move more closely during crises. If it is clear that markets are moving more closely together during crises, investors are losing diversification benefits at the most critical time.However, because of assumptions, it is apparent that there is considerable debate over the validity of the correlation coefficient for use in explaining the co-movement of market returns. It may be that markets are moving closely together at all times. Also, over the long run, short term rises in correlations may have negligible effects for the investor. For these reasons, we ca nnot discredit the worth of international portfolio diversification. The correlation coefficient is a key statistic for devising the optimal portfolio.In accordance to Modern Portfolio Theory, where risk is to be minimized for a given level of return, the correct combination of assets relies critically on the correlation between those assets. When defining the risk of a portfolio as its standard deviation, when assets that are less that perfectly correlated are combined, the standard deviation of the portfolio is actually less that the weighted average of each individual asset’s standard deviation, although the expected return from a portfolio is simply the weighted average of the expected return of each individual asset (Bodie, Kane, Marcus, Perrakis, &Ryan, 2008, p. 08). This is why combining assets with correlations of less than one (proper diversification) is referred to as a ‘free lunch. ’ It is also apparent that this principle also extends to international portfolio diversification, where market returns are less that perfectly correlated. From examining the correlation data from Table 2, the financial crisis of the late 2000’s seems to be yet another example of international stock market correlations rising during bear markets.The selective correlations of the UK’s FTSE 100 Index, Japan’s Nikkei 225 Average, and Brazil’s Bovespa Index to the S&P 500 come from simple fifteen year data series’ on monthly index returns. All correlations were higher from 2008 to March 2009 (the substance of the S&P 500’s decline during the financial crisis) relative to correlations for the entire sample period, and even higher relative to correlations for the bull run of 2003-2008. This correlation behaviour may create misgivings for an investor who values his ‘free lunch,’ and raises the questions: do markets move more closely during crises and why ?When using the correlation coefficient to measure the comovement of market returns, we are making assumptions about the underlying data (stock market returns. ) An important assumption is that the underlying data follow a normal distribution. A study by Campbell, Forbes, Koedijk, and Kofman (2007) examined annualized mean return data for five stock indices from 1990-2005 and found that each data set failed to conform to normality, by displaying significant skewness and kurtosis.They also test conditional correlation estimators under normality and under the student-t distribution, and find that â€Å"earlier studies may have overestimated the excess in conditional correlation by assuming bivariate normality,† and that under the student-t distribution excess conditional correlation ceases for the left tail (bear markets) of returns (para. 4). Furthermore, Forbes and Rigobon (2002) assert that the correlation coefficient is further biased as an estimator of market comovement because of the heteroskedasticity of market return da ta (volatility changes), while the correlation coefficient assumes homoskedasticity.They conclude that increases in volatility during crises result in an upward bias in correlation coefficients during those periods. After adjusting for this bias, they find that there is no statistically significant increase in market correlations during crises. They do find that markets comove strongly at all times, which they call â€Å"interdependence†(p. 2250). It is important to note that Forbes and Rigobon’s result is not uncontested, and that they also employed their own set of assumptions, and when violated, â€Å"correlation coefficients are not always biased measures of dependence when markets become more olatile†(Bartram and Wang, 2005, para. 1). This illustrates the academic uncertainty of dismissing or accepting correlation coefficients as an effective measure of market co movement. It is because of the uncertainty in the literature, and the inherent assumptions of t he correlation coefficient, that we cannot strictly conclude, by examining stock market return correlations, that markets move more closely together during crises.In a study of the comovement of stock market returns during the aforementioned financial crisis, Didier, Love, Soledad, and Peria (2011) provide some insights into why shocks may transmit and manifest in different stock exchanges. They test three possible drivers of market comovement: real linkages through trade; financial linkages, both direct and indirect, including the actions of international investors with respect to margin calls, risk aversion, and herding; and ‘demonstration effects’, where investors give new attention to risks that have materialized, and then update valuations.From their empirical tests, they find that financial variables played the largest role in transmission during the financial crisis of the late 2000’s, while ‘demonstration effects’ also contributed to increase d comovement in the early stages of the crisis. Also, although trade linkages were not found to explain co movement during the period, the authors remind â€Å"this does not mean that they will not play an important role in future crises (as they have in the past)† (p. 2). The drivers of stock market correlation by Didier et al. do provide meaningful explanations of why we might expect markets to move together during crises, but they aren’t all excluded from working in the opposite direction (not just in crises). Assuming market correlations are in fact an unbiased and accurate measure of market comovement during crises, this would result in a significant loss of the benefits of international diversification during downturns.According to Butler and Joaquin’s (2002) test of an equally weighted portfolio amongst international markets, investors would get an annual return of 2% less than predicted by the normal distribution in extreme bear markets (5% left tail). T hey conclude that in this case investors may benefit from trying to predict which markets will have near-normal market correlations during bear markets, and then weight their portfolios more heavily in these markets. Is that (potential guesswork) really necessary? According to Asness, Israelov, and Liew (2010) the answer is no, at least if you are a long-term investor.Asness et al. compare the returns of holding a local portfolio vs. an equal-weight global portfolio, where they find that a global portfolio shows lower short term volatility (for one month and one year averages) but greater skewness where â€Å"simultaneous market crashes cause the global portfolios to experience worse risk adjusted crashes†(p. 6). Over the long run, though, they find that holding a global portfolio provides considerable insulation from local downturns, and the skewness of the global portfolio approaches zero.They contend that in the long run countries’ market returns are driven by count ry-specific underlying economic performance, and that international diversification insulates the investor from being exposed to any one underperforming country in concentration. This long run result gets back to the premise of modern portfolio theory, that is, combining assets that aren’t perfectly correlated, or don’t co-move in direct proportions. As we can see, it is hard to discredit the efficacy of international portfolio diversification by strictly examining rising international market correlations.Because market return data may not conform to the assumptions inherent to the correlation coefficient, there is uncertainty over its usefulness as a measure of market co-movement. Also, if the investor has a long-term horizon, the benefits from international diversification are still strong. References Asness, C. S. , Israelov, R. , & Liew, J. M. (2010). International diversification works (In the long run). Social Science Research Network, n/a. Retrieved from http:// www. retailinvestor. org/pdf/ForDiversify. pdf Bartram, S. M. , & Wang, Y. H. (2005).Another look at the relationship between cross-market correlation and volatility. Finance Research Letters, 2(2), 75-88. doi:10. 1016/j. frl. 2005. 01. 002 Bodie, Z. , Kane, A. , Marcus, A. , Perrakis, S. & Ryan, P. (2008). Investments: sixth Canadian edition. Canada: McGraw Hill. Butler, K. C. , & Joaquin, D. C. (2002). Are the gains from international portfolio diversification exaggerated? The influence of downside risk in bear markets. Journal of International Money and Finance, 21(7), 981-1011. doi:10. 1016/S0261-5606(02)00048-7 Campbell, R. A. , Forbes, C.S. , Koedijk, K. G. & Kofman, P. (2007). Increasing correlations or just fat tails? Journal of Empirical Finance, 15(2), 287-309. doi:10. 1016/j. jempfin. 2007. 01. 001 Didier, T. , Love, I. , Soledad, M. , & Peria, M. (2011). What explains comovement in stock market returns during the 2007–2008 crisis? International Journal of Finance and Economics, n/a. doi: 10. 1002/ijfe. 442 Forbes, K. J. , & Rigobon, R. (2002). No contagion, only interdependence: measuring stock market co movements. The Journal of Finance, 57(5), 2223-2261. doi: 10. 1111/0022-1082. 00494