Bravos Cheddars Case Study - 881 Words

Case Study: Brazos Partners and Cheddar’s Inc. Brazos Partners is a company founded by Randall S. Fojtasek, Jeff Fronterhouse, and Patrick McGee in 1999. It is a Leverage Buyout Firm that targets companies with enterprise values between $50 and $250 million, solid management, a well-defined niche and is often close to the Brazos’ Dallas home. Location is an essential part of Brazos cooperate strategic management; according to Patrick McGee Texas is the 11th largest stand alone economy in the world and has the third largest universe of public and privately held mid-market companies in the US. In addition, it is very underserved with only a dozen LBO groups, most of which were energy specific. In 2002, Brazos was contacted by an†¦show more content†¦The main questions facing Fojtasek and the Brazos partners is whether they should do another deal with Cheddars and if so what price should they sell their ownership shares back at and what concessions they should make. I believe that Brazos should do the deal with Cheddar’s. The company has proven itself to be a winner and is projected to grow even more over the next few years. With restaurants being built at twice the anticipated pace and the success of its spinoff chain Fish Daddy’s, Cheddar’s is projected to out preform all five of its top competitors. Not only is there continued success on the horizon, at the core of Brazos business strategy is relationships and Cheddar’s has proven to be a solid business relationship. Since Cheddar’s is clearly in a growth stage that relationship must continued to be valued in order to achieve the maximum profitability. With regards to the stoc k price, Cheddar’s stocks were valued at $1 dollar per share with a $60.5 million investment, which is Cheddar’s stock value according to Bravos initial investment. Using Cheddar’s 2004 revenue adjusted for EBITDA and the multiplier (7.1) I came up with a new value of $88.75 million then divided that by the initial investment. My calculations gives the company a per share value of $1.47. I would hold Cheddar’s to that price. There was also the issue of the new real estate policy brought forth by the Cheddar’s board. While the concern that the trajectory of that plan

Puritans And The New England - 1344 Words

Puritans were a group of English Protestants who believed that the Reformation of the Church of English was still to stuck on Catholic formalities and wanted to simplify and regulate types of worship. The Puritans left England out of a need to purify the church and their own lives. They followed the writings of John Calvin to America and formed The Massachusetts Bay Colony. The Massachusetts Bay Colony was one of the original settlements, settled in 1630 by a group of about 1,000 Puritan refugees from England, under the guidance of Governor John Winthrop. In 1929, The Massachusetts Bay Colony received a charter from King Charles I allowing them to colonize in New England between the Charles River and the Merrimack River. The Puritans created a government with theocratic rule which was limited to church members. The Puritans initially settled in Boston in 1630. After Boston, they settled in Cambridge, Lexington, Concord, Watertown, Charlestown, and Dorchester. The Puritan population, in New England, rose from 17,800 people, in 1640, to 106,000, in 1700. The beliefs of the puritans were simple and straightforward. They believed that the Bible was God s true law and it provided the blueprints for a righteous life. People who did not agree with the Puritans theological views were advised to disperse from the area or convert to the popular beliefs of the majority. In fact, those who deviated from the socially acceptable way of living were strictly disciplined. The PuritansShow MoreRelatedPuritans And The New England1248 Words   |  5 PagesThroughout fifteenth century England, Puritanism was severely persecuted. Puritans were forced to go to the Anglican Church where they were also pushed into associating with those that were predestined for Hell. The Puritans wished to purify the Church of England in a way that allowed them to not only practice their religion, but to do so in a different location than the Hell-bound. In 1620, the Puritans left England and settled in Plymouth, Massachusetts, where they were free to practice Puritanis mRead MoreNew England As A Refuge For Puritans Essay1984 Words   |  8 Pagesconcern: New England, the Middle Colonies, and the South. New England was a region with some aspirations of profit, but these aspirations were largely overshadowed by a desire to reform or purify English religion. Massachusetts was founded by John Winthrop as a refuge for Puritans escaping persecution. The Puritans were successful in promoting education, creating a sense of social cohesion, establishing a centralized form of government, and fostering a strong work ethic. However, the Puritans were limitedRead MoreEssay on Puritans in New England461 Words   |  2 PagesPuritans in New England Raised during the aftermath of the fall of the Spanish Armada to England, the Puritan generation they were children and grandchildren of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. An idealistic generation of the Colonial Cycle, the Puritans came to America seeking freedom, to practice religion in a manner different than that of the English. Puritans regarded New England as a place to establish a visible kingdom of God, a society where outward conduct would be accordingRead MoreThe Accusation of Witches in Puritan, New England1634 Words   |  7 Pagesweakness in times of trouble is the instinctive act of finding a scapegoat. Stemming from the Calvinistic religious beliefs of the Puritans who immigrated to America, anything that strays from the predestined lives of these puritanical people is the result of sin. The ideas of original sin and predestination are at the heart of Calvinism. Thus, the Calvinist Puritans have their lives planned out for them by God before birth and anything that disrupts that plan must be eradicated. It was on theRead MoreInfluence of the Puritan Faith on the Development of New England768 Words   |  3 PagesThe New England colonies rapidly developed though out the 1600s. This mass of development was influenced by the Puritans, whom founded a majority of the New England and several Middle c olonies. The Puritan philosophies and values formed and directed the progress of the colonies. Socially, strict emphasis on church and community was influential in other colonial settlements as well. Politically, unification and representation derived from the Puritans. Economically, ideas such as fair pricing originatedRead MoreThe Unjust System of New England Puritan Court System Essays1018 Words   |  5 Pages The court system in Puritan New England was an unfair and unjust system, stemming from the general court of Massachusetts. Many of the trials and procedures were ludicrous. General life in the Puritan communities was centered around religion and the judicial system reflected this. Religion crept into laws and the courts until they were practically combined. Puritans valued their religion zealously and it became part of everyday life in the colony. Religion was a huge part of law, the court, andRead MoreThe Impact of the New England Puritans and the Chesapeake Catholics on the Development of Colonial Society1144 Words   |  5 Pagesgroups often arrive and settle on a new piece of land, and happen to shape that society, around their beliefs and religion. The New England Puritans and the Chesapeake Catholics are prime examples to show how religion shaped the development of a colonial society. In 1624, the early 17th century, the religious group called the Puritans, settled for the first time in the New England territory. Once there, they chose to inhabit the Massachusetts area. The Puritans were a varied group of religiousRead Moreâ€Å"in What Ways Did the Ideas and Values Held by the Puritans Influence the Political, Economic, and Social Development of the New England Colonies from 1630 Through the 1660’s?†861 Words   |  4 PagesIn the 1630s and the 1640s, the Puritans traveled to the colonies to detach from their opinion of a convoluted Church of England. They set up towns and started new lives that were all based on their idea of a pure religion. The Puritans definition of a pure religion did not include many of the ideas of the Church of England. They built the colonies and made a system based upon the idea that God was the most important aspect of life. Puritan ideas and values influenced the political, economic,Read MoreHow Were The Puritans Dif ferent From The Pilgrims?961 Words   |  4 PagesHow were the Puritans different from the Pilgrims? According to US History, a community of christians traveled across the ocean to an unknown land, different from the society they left behind, they called themselves Pilgrims. The Pilgrims made up the states of Virginia, Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia, which were the southern colonies. The Puritans made up the New England colonies, they were located in Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, and Connecticut. The firstRead MoreThe Realities Of Puritan Life With M. Night Shyamalan s Theatrical Interpretation1390 Words   |  6 PagesIn order to compare the realities of Puritan life with M. Night Shyamalan’s theatrical interpretation, The Village, it is important to understand who Puritans were and what kinds of beliefs they had. Puritans, different from Pilgrims, attempted to â€Å"purify† the Church of England in the seventeenth century as they felt it had been insufficiently reformed. Their idea of reformation consisted of a Calvinistic appr oach to society; believing in the absolute sovereignty of God, absolute dependence on divine

Financial Analysis Apple Inc. Free Essays

————————————————- To: ————————————————- ————————————————- By: ————————————————- ————————————————- FINANCIAL REVIEW TABLE OF CONTENTS 1. Company Background 3 2. Stock Price Analysis 6 3. We will write a custom essay sample on Financial Analysis Apple Inc. or any similar topic only for you Order Now Risk Return Analysis 9 5. References11 PART I A. Company Background Apple Inc. long with its wholly-owned subsidiaries designs and manufactures and markets mobile communication, media devices, personal computers and portable digital music players along with a variety of related software’s, services, peripherals and networking solutions. The Company offers a range of mobile communication and media devices, personal computing products, and portable digital music players, as well as a variety of related software, services, peripherals, networking solutions and third-party hardware and software products. The most important of which are enumerated below: 1. Phone – iPhone combines a mobile phone and an iPod, Internet communication device in a single handheld product. 2. iPad – is a multi-purpose mobile device, for browsing web, sending and reading email, viewing photos watching videos, listening music, playing games and reading e-books etc. 3. Mac Hardware Products – includes likes of iMac, Mac-Pro and Mac mini. The iMac desktop has design that incorporates display, processor, graphics, storage, and other components in a single enclosure 4. iPod – line of portable digital media players includes likes of iPod touch, iPod shuffle and iPod classic. Pod is a flash-memory-based device with a widescreen display, a Multi-Touch user interface. 5. iTunes – is an application, which supports the sale, purchase, download, organization and playback of digital video and audio files and is also available for both the Mac and the Windows based computers. The Company not only sells to retail and bulk consumers, but also to small and mid-sized businesses, and to educational institutions, enterprises and government customers. The Company’s fiscal year ends on the last Saturday of September and is of 52 or 53-week period. The company has almost 60400 permanent employees and has the second largest market cap after IBM with about 563. 79 Billion dollars and an equal enterprise value, with revenues in excess of 142. 36 Billion dollars and with and EBITDA of 53. 27 billion dollars. B. Business Strategy Organization The Company’s business strategy is to uniquely leverage its ability to design, develop its own operating system, hardware, applications software’s, to its customers, and new products and new solutions with superior usage ease and seamless integration and innovative design. The Company’s strategy, also includes and basically rests on, expanding its distribution network so in order to effectively reach more customers. The Company manages business primarily on geographical basis and has segregated the business locations of its customers into the following 1. The Americas consisting of both North and South America, 2. Europe, Middles East and Africa, 3. Japan, 4. Asia-Pacific, Australia and Asian countries and 5. Retail. It is to be noted that all the above four segments do not include the retail segment figures and strategy. The retail segment consists of stores directly opened by the company and managed by it. C. Competition The products and services offered by the company are a part of highly competitive markets segment it faces stiff and aggressive competition in almost all areas of its business. The market is characterized by very frequent new product introductions and a rapid technological advancement that has substantial capabilities of use of mobile and related communications devices. There is a cut throat competition in the market where the company’s operates, as the competitors are continuously innovating and selling products at extremely low rates. However still the company has been able to maintain its market brand values and sees a good and extremely high level of operating cash flows generation. The Company’s major services i. e. digital content services is facing significant competition from other companies who are promoting their own digital music, services and content products, including free peer to peer video and music services. Some of Apple’s competitors have enough substantial resources and may provide such products and services in market at virtually little or no even profit to compete with the Apple’s offerings. The most important and major company’s competitors can be classified in various ways as below: However for our study later on, we shall consider HPQ or Hewitt Packard as a close competitor. PART II A. Stock Price Analysis For our stock price analysis, we consider the time period from 16 Mar – 2012 to 6 April – 2012. However it is to be noted that the time frame provided here is not ample for a detailed study and an accurate one for future predictions. We first study the movement of the Apple Inc. stock price movements’ vis-a-vis the SP 500. From the above figure it is clear that the movement of Apple is less volatile than that of the Index. It is also to be noted that the pattern of movement of Apple’s price show that it is lagging behind or trailing the trend movement of the index. Furthermore in the period under consideration above there seems to be an immediate uptrend developing and sustaining. Also the major point of astonishment here is during the period post 3 April 2012, the SP 500 and Apple’s stock prices are moving in opposite direction thereby indicating of some news based movement. This move was probably preempting the Q2 filing by the company which was due later in the next week. However no serious trend or movement is visible in either of the charts above. We do the same comparison of Apple with its peer HPQ for the same period. From the graph above it is quite clear that where Apple’s price movement is positively trending upwards, that of HOQ is a sideways movement without any perfect present trend or direction. The reason being the expectations from the forthcoming Q2 results of Apple, which was an event based movement for Apple, which was absent for HPQ. Now we study the movement of the stock prices on a standalone basis. From the above diagram it is clear that there is no significant or sudden movement in prices or volume of the stock. However they both show a good trend, and there is not much pressure on the prices of the stock at higher levels which is shown by the build of white candles and an uptrend, which indicates of further upside room present in the stock. However this seems to be news based event and should be properly traded. In all there are five black and ten white candles, which show an imminent uptrend in the stock price, which is also supported by sustenance in the daily volumes. PART III A. Risk Return Analysis We now perform a risk return analysis on the stock. We use the concepts of CAPM model and data for the period as specified in the above segment and calculate different measures as shown below and abridged in the accompanying excel file. From the above calculations we see that the Beta of Apple is lesser than that of HPQ and more close to 1 which resembles that Apple is less volatile than HPQ and more in tandem with the normal or broad market movement. On the other hand HPQ has a high beta indicating that the movement in prices of HPQ is more volatile and would yield a higher return, either positive or negative, as compared to Apple. This is also visible in the fact that the Expected return of HPQ is less than that of Apple, which is at least a percentage point or a 100 bps better than HPQ. It is also seen that Apple has been able to give positive returns as compared to HPQ and even the market. This means that Apple has been able to outperform the market. The reason behind the same is the fact that it is expected that the results of Apple for Q2 are going to be better due to the fact that they have recently launched new products and expanded on existing sales and product line, which would result in better revenue e, margins and sales and net profits, which would ultimately react in the EPS. Hence the returns of Apple are positive and more than that of HPQ. This indicates the fact that Apple seems to be an underpriced stock and should be bought as it seems to be giving more returns than the expected returns and compared to HPA and the index is an outperformer due to more fundamental reasons likes above expectation performance rather than purely and only technical reasons. All this is pretty evident in the Beta and the Expected returns of the stock. PART IV REFERENCES: 1. Thirty Year US T-Bill rate; Available at http://www. bloomberg. com/markets/rates-bonds/government-bonds/us/ 2. Apple Inc. Annual Report and About Company; Available at http://secfilings. nasdaq. com/edgar_conv_html%2f2011%2f10%2f26%2f0001193125-11-282113. html#FIS_BUSINESS 3. Stock Prices Data, Apple, SP, HPQ; Available at http://finance. yahoo. com 4. Apple Competitors; Available at http://www. nasdaq. com/symbol/aapl/competitors How to cite Financial Analysis Apple Inc., Essay examples

Beowulf13 Essay Example For Students

Beowulf13 Essay The Anglo-Saxon Culture as Illustrated in BeowulfBeowulf is an epic poem, which takes place in ancient Denmark and Geatland and describes the adventures of Beowulf, a Geat hero. Through their heroes, epic poems usually describe the traditions and beliefs of a certain culture. An Anglo-Saxon author wrote Beowulf about the Danes and Geats. The Anglo-Saxons had similar beliefs to that of the Dane and Geats, so the poem gives us some idea of what the Anglo-Saxon culture was like. Throughout Beowulf, it is illustrated that women were thought to be virtually valueless; that Anglo-Saxons believed in paganism, and that there was great emphasis on valuables and weaponry. The Anglo-Saxon culture did not value women highly. Women were not recognized for the deeds they did. The Danish Beowulfs own mother was not even recognized for her part in his birth. His father Ecgtheow was given all the credit for Beowulfs birth: And he gave them more than his gloryconceived a son for the Danes, a new leade r. (Beowulf, 1057). Kings usually would give away their daughters hand in marriage to a total stranger for a peace treaty with another nation. The daughter had no say in what was done with her, like Healfdenes daughter who was given away to Onela the Swedish king. In all aspects of life, women were not considered very valuable and were treated as objects rather than people. Hrothgar remembers Beowulf upon his arrival: His father was called Ecgtheow: Hrethel of the Geats gave him his only daughter for his home. Now has his hardly offspring come here, sought a fast friend.(1067). The daughters were usually forced to marry someone they did not know rather than being able to marry someone they loved. A woman was considered property, the ownership depending upon whether she was married or not. When married, she is her husbands, when unmarried, she is her fathers property. A man could beat his wife if she disobeyed him, and adultery by men was rarely punished, whereas women were disgraced and sent away for the same offense. Spinning, weaving, and cooking were skills possessed by nearly all of the women in the Anglo-Saxon period. Their main purpose was considered to bear children, feed, clothe their families, and to be a hostess for visitors. Women were not considered equal to men, especially in the aspect of fighting. In the wake of Grendels mothers attack, the destruction is not considered as mighty due to the fact that the attacker was a woman: The attack was less terrible by just so much as is the strength of women,(1079). The Anglo-Saxons were pagans, people who are not Christians. This is a trait that was shown throughout the poem. The warriors had the attitude that fate would decide their destiny. Beowulf leaves it up to fate as he prepares for the fight with Grendel: Fate always goes as it must! (1068). The people believed that Wyrd, the god of Fate, decided their future. The warriors showed a very fatalistic attitude. Beowulf proves this point when he tells Hrothgar not to mourn his friend Eshers death:Sorrow not, wise warrior. It is better for a man to avenge his friend than much mournLet him who may get glory before death: that is best for the warrior after he has gone from life. (1081). Beowulf believes that what happens is meant to happen and life will go on. The Anglo-Saxons thought that fate decided the outcome of their battles. When Beowulf decides to fight the dragon, fate is not on his side: His mind was mournful, restless and ripe for death: very close was the fate which should come to the old man, seek his souls hoard, divide life from his body, not long for him was the life of the noble one wound in his flesh. (1094). Beowulf illustrates the views of these people, and how their fighting was affected by their pre-Christian beliefs. Weapons and treasures were very important to the Anglo-Saxon people. These valuables symbolized all the fighting a warrior had done in order to receive them. The more good deeds a warrior had done, the more weapons and treasures he possessed. Unferth presents Beowulf with a great sword named Hrunting as Beowulf

Industry and Competitive Analysis for entry Market

Iran markets are strategically positioned thereby making it possible for customers to access products that are to be sold by this company. From the survey done, it is evident that there are numerous industries in Tehran and its outskirts. It is also evident that these industries are prone to pollution making the population around them to have respiratory-related complications.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Industry and Competitive Analysis for entry Market specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Quantitatively, about 27 lives are lost every day due to pulmonary illnesses. It is imperative to note that the quality of air in Iran’s city is extremely hazardous. Moreover, the transport system has also contributed towards increased air pollution in the city. Moreover, cars and motorcycles contribute to approximate of 30% of air pollution. In this essence, Iran can serve as a better entry market since population will highly prefer nasal screens as an alternative to prevent themselves from pollution challenge. In terms of industrial mapping, it is always advisable to consider the attractiveness of a market entry (Global Business Union, 2011 par 2). In this case, Iran has wide range of industries in which workers need protective facilities such as defense filters to safeguard their health. For instance, within the medical hospitals, most of the allergy sufferers might prefer to use safety defense nasal screens in order to free themselves from foreign antigens such as dust, smell and pollen. In line with this, it is clear that majority of laborers work in agricultural farms and industries. On behalf of the company, it is highly likely that workers would benefit from our products and in the long run, they will be safe from harmful chemicals from farms and agro-industries. Eminently, Iran emerges as a competitive market entry point. There are certain competitive sets that make viable market entry fo r certain product (Porter, 1990 p.22). For instance, there are no sophisticated means of eliminating nasal borne illnesses in Iran. In actual sense, there are certain strains of flu that affect the population during cold weather. Therefore, people prefer taking antibiotics in ampoule form in order to prevent or cure such strains.Advertising Looking for essay on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Ironically, physicians in the country give prescriptions to patients which they are not even sure whether it will work or not. This implies that there are no better strategies of preventing people from getting respiratory complications in Iran. Moreover, people in hazardous conditions rely on masks that are not efficient for the risky environment. In this case, Iran offers this company a chance to make it a viable market entry point for the nasal screens. Therefore, it is beyond doubt that Iran is an attractive market for the nasal screens. It is also apparent that there are five forces which must be considered when evaluating the attractiveness of a target market (Porter, 1990, p.20). Considering the five forces analysis, there are no possible threats since there seems to be no many competitors for this market site. An empirical research conducted indicates that there are no other companies selling a similar product in the country. Moreover, there is lack of other significant products that might act as substitutes for the nasal screens since they are highly effective than the antibiotics. In line with this, the customer bargaining power is favorable since they are not price sensitive to an extent of putting pressure on the company (Porter, 1980, p. 10). On the other hand, suppliers bargaining power is excellent due to lack of substitute products in the country. Additionally, competition and market rivalry on the industry might not affect the company since there are means of developing sustainab le competition through use of new technology. The major competitors of Free Defense Nasal Screens include some of the diverse industries that manufacture face masks in USA. Although face mask industries have reached out for customers globally, these masks have not been fully convenient for people who work in hazardous air conditions. The strategies used by such companies include online advertisements and social media marketing in order to create market entries. Nevertheless, their products in the market are being replaced by other significant products such as nasal screens. According to the analysis done, the competitors target market entries in strategic places for easier shipping of their products (Porter, 1980 p. 12).Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Industry and Competitive Analysis for entry Market specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Moreover, their marketing agents are located on sites that are accessible and densely populated to ensure that customers can easily get the products. In any business weaknesses and strengths goes hand in hand (Global Business Union, 2011 par 3). There are certain weaknesses that are associated with the competitors’ products. For instance, face masks fail to offer absolute nasal protection as opposed to nasal screens. Moreover, the other shortcoming is that competitors’ products are not very reliable to protect individuals from highly toxic pollutants (Porter, 1990 p.22). This compels users to prefer nasal screens as opposed to face masks. Moreover, the technology used by competitors is inconveniencing as opposed to that of FDNS. For instance, our company ensures that the model of making nasal screens is attractive and does not impede one from doing certain activities. In this case, face masks impedes an individual from talking, eating or even sleeping. Contrastingly, free defense nasal screens are highly convenient since they don’t interf ere with sleep, work and communication. However, positive strength associated with the competitor’s products is that they are barely noticeable and are relatively cheaper than nasal screens. For instance, face masks are effective and therefore convenient for use. References Global Business Union. 2011. Market and Research Web. Available from  http://www.globalbusinessunion.com/market-research.php Porter, M. 1980. Competitive Strategy. New York: Free Press Inc. Porter, M. 1990. The Competitive Advantage of Nations. New York: Free Press Inc.Advertising Looking for essay on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More This essay on Industry and Competitive Analysis for entry Market was written and submitted by user Kali Kirk to help you with your own studies. You are free to use it for research and reference purposes in order to write your own paper; however, you must cite it accordingly. You can donate your paper here.

Looking for God Essays

Looking for God Essays Looking for God Essay Looking for God Essay Where are you supposed to look for God? How are you to look for God, and does it help to decide what sort of thing you are looking for first? What kind of thing is God?Looking from the perspective of someone with no previous faith, looking for general revelation, I would have to say you have to perceive what you think is God-like first. If you ask the majority of people with a faith what God is like, they would probably say all good and all-powerful. So are you looking for general signs of goodness, beauty, power and awe? If you are then you can rule out finding God in evil, ugliness, weakness and un-impressiveness. Or can you? I know that black isnt white, but people thought Hitler was good; beauty is in the eye of the beholder, so an ugly person to me might be stunningly beautiful to someone else; the queen bee is supreme over mere drones, however it looks a bit pathetic in comparison to even simple humans; and David Beckhams match and free kick against Gree ce last year left thousands of footy fans awe-struck, yet my brother just couldnt see what the fuss was about.God is deeply personal, so will be found in different places for everyone.If you thought that The Miracle Of life was completely un-earthly, and could only be explained with a super-human being, then I bet I could find half a dozen more that just think we are here accidentally.If you are solely looking for good, you can still find it in atrocities. In Sept. 11 you could find God in the power and awe of it all, but also in those brave people whose spirit never wavered, in those volunteers determined to help, in those fore-fighters who gave their life to save others, those selfless rescuers, counsellors, vicars, children. Osama tried to devastate American spirit and attitude as well as massacre, but he failed in crushing the love and goodness in peoples heats and minds. You could argue that God was acting in every fire-fighter that tragic day, helping to put lives back togethe r, but Muslims would say God (or Allah also all-good and all-powerful) was acting in those heroic terrorists.Here is the miracle of life presented to us, and what we to it.Here is the beautiful world: but which picture is which? Which is beautiful? Which is miraculous? Which is hideous? Which one has God in it, or which one has God acting in it?Here is another view. If God is linked with personal feelings and opinions, then what is a feeling, and what makes it right or wrong (because if we knew who was right, we would know whom has God sussed). Feelings are only felt or experienced by a living creature. So what is a life? Is a tree any more than just a bunch of leaves and wood? Yes and no. Yes it has a life, it can feel stuff. No leaves and wood is all it is made of physically. So if personal feelings govern what is good, beautiful, miraculous, etc, then does God love in feelings, actually IN us? Is God everything, good and bad? Pantheism?

Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of conducting personal Essay

Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of conducting personal communication in the public sphere - Essay Example An increasing number of people are using social networking websites in order to supplement personal communication. In this context, it can be stated that one of the most popular social networking websites Facebook provides the capability to organize and communicate in an effective manner. Simultaneously, Facebook also provides the capability to express the thoughts of people and to categorize them independently (Westling, 2007). Thesis Statement Considering this aspect, the essay is based on analyzing the vital aspects of conducting personal communication through Facebook. The objective of the essay is to understand the advantages and disadvantages of utilizing an online public sphere medium i.e. Facebook for conducting personal communication. Statement of Intent The essay will intend to address the facet of personal communication in traditional era as well as in present era. Besides, the essay also intends to discuss the suitability of internet as a public sphere medium. Personal Co mmunication Strategies in Past and Present There is a huge dissimilarity between personal communication strategies of past and present times. The actual dissimilarities have been observed due to the evolution of technology. In order to clarify the perspective, it can be depicted that traditionally, the common personal communication techniques were letter writing or telephone conversation among others. The personal communication techniques have evolved from letter and telephone to mobile communication and internet communication technologies. Mobile phone technologies are continuously being updated and developed with new features and devices and internet communication technologies such as social networking sites are continuously accumulating new applications and functionalities. Social networking websites in a sense is a grouping of every internet communication method. In social networking websites such as Facebook, people can create accounts and communicate with other people. It also provides the opportunity to stay up-to-date about the activities of friends and send information either publically or privately. In recent times, the popularity of social networking has increased dramatically where Facebook leads the competition with millions of active users. According to the research conducted by United Nations Research Institute for Social Development in 2000, the introduction of internet and social networking websites has increased the communication level. The level of information exchange through this new medium has far surpassed the traditional communication media such as telephone, face-to-face conversation and meeting among others. This trend represents financial benefits particularly to the poor nations. The present personal communication strategy of using social networking websites provides the opportunity for exploring new customs of other nations and also helps to enhance the knowledge (Serbanescu, 2011). Internet as Public Sphere Public sphere is partic ularly vital for communication in current civilization. It acts as a medium in which people can communicate effectively regarding important matters along with permitting people to inform about vital aspects. Considering the significant role played by internet, several researchers have framed normative theories which demonstrate how public sphere can be organized in order to ideally accomplish its roles. One of the most conspicuous

Insight into the Stagnant Performance of Textile Industry in Pakistan Literature review

Insight into the Stagnant Performance of Textile Industry in Pakistan - Literature review Example Pakistan is a major player globally in the textile industry. The textile industry in Pakistan can be traced back to its origins in 1947. In 1947, the country produced approximately 1.1 million bales of cotton (Iqbal 2010). Over the years, the production of cotton has increased to reach over twelve million bales in 2010. The country has also diversified its cotton products to increase the quality and quantity of products that are exported. For instance, Pakistan textile industry has increased the quantity of ready made garments that are exported. However, the textile industry in Pakistan has been faced with numerous challenges. One of the issues that have affected the textile industry in the country is the stagnation in the amount of textile products that are exported (Channar & Nannik 2010). Also, other Asian countries such as Bangladesh and China have become fierce competitors in the textile industry. Due to these challenges, it is necessary for the Pakistan textile industry to reinvent itself in order to improve the quantity and quality of cotton products so as to stay competitive. The study would evaluate the current status of the Pakistan textile industry and globally. The research will examine the global market and production of cotton and cotton related products in to contextualize the situation in Pakistan. The rapid globalization of the world economies has made all countries to be intertwined such as that international issues significantly affect national economies. The research will also look at the amount of investment that Pakistan has dedicated to the development of the textile industry in the country. The research aims to evaluate the factors that have led to the stagnation of the Pakistan textile industry with a view of answering the research objectives. A critical understanding of the issues affecting the growth of the textile industry will help the

El Salvador Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 1

El Salvador - Essay Example The poor groups are characterized with poverty and without property, with little opportunity to explore the possibility of expanding their income as well as education opportunity. This population increasingly lives in poverty, a situation that has been associated with high birthrate. (Romanoff, Steven, 28) Study reveals that the increasing population of the El Salvador is as a result or poverty rather than the later being the course of the former. (Romanoff, Steven, 30) The largest share of the population in El Salvador is employed in the Agricultural sector work in the plantation. This presents another question of what could be the structure of the population and what is the evolution it has obtained overtime? What are the functions that have perpetuated poverty among those who live in the rural, and what are the consequences of the increase in the rate of population growth. There is a high level of poverty in rural as well as in urban among the people of El Salvador. (Romanoff, Steven, 32) This has been contributed to the fact that there is a high level of unequal distribution of land. (Maxwell, Daniel G., John W. Parker, and Heather C. Stobaugh, 69) Land is a key factor of production in El Salvador and lack or possession of it has a bearing in determination of the poverty gap. In a study conducted on the family income in El Salvador, it was revealed that 10% of those who received their income among the wealthiest obtained more wealth than the remaining 90% put together. While those who could be classified as top 1% obtained more income than that of the 50% of the poorest in the society. The wealthy families at 5.2% and were having more than 10 hectares of land were controlling overwhelming 73%. (Maxwell, Daniel G., John W. Parker, and Heather C. Stobaugh, 69) A different study conducted in 1992 revealed that 72% of the rural

Exploring Optimal Levels of Data Filtering

Exploring Optimal Levels of Data Filtering It is customary to filter raw financial data by removing erroneous observations or outliers before conducting any analysis on it. In fact, it is often one of the first steps undertaken in empirical financial research to improve the quality of raw data to avoid incorrect conclusions. However, filtering of financial data can be quite complicated not just because of the reliability of the plethora of data sources, complexity of the quoted information and the many different statistical properties of the variables but most importantly because of the reason behind the existence of each identified outlier in the data. Some outliers may be driven by extreme events which have an economic reason like a merger, takeover bid, global financial crises etc. rather than a data error. Under filtering can lead to inclusion of erroneous observations (data error) caused by technical (e.g. computer system failure) or human error (e.g. unintentional human error like typing mistake or intentional human err or like producing dummy quotes for testing).[1] Likewise, over filtering can also lead to wrong conclusions by deleting outliers motivated by extreme events which are important to the analysis. Thus, the question of the right amount of filtering of financial data, albeit subjective, is quite important to improve the conclusions from empirical research. In an attempt to somewhat answer this question, this seminar paper aims to explore the optimal level of data filtering.[2] The analysis conducted in this paper was on the Xetra Intraday data provided by the University of Mannheim. This time-sorted data for the entire Xetra universe had been extracted from the Deutsche Bà ¶rse Group. The data consisted of the historical CDAX components that had been collected from Data stream, Bloomberg and CDAX. Bloombergs corporate actions calendar had been used to track dates of IPO listing, delisting and ISIN changes of companies. Corporations not covered by Bloomberg had been tracked manually. Even though few basic filters had been applied (for e.g. dropping negative observations for spread/depth/volume), some of which were replicated from Market Microstructure Database File, the data remained largely raw. The variables in the data had been calculated for each day and the data aggregated to daily data points.[3] The whole analysis was conducted using the statistical software STATA. The following variables were taken into consideration for the purpose of identifying outliers, as commonly done in empirical research: Depth = depth_trade_value Trading volume = trade_vol_sum Quoted bid-ask spread = quoted_trade_value Effective bid-ask spread = effective_trade_value Closing quote midpoint returns, which were calculated by applying Hussain (2011) approach: rt = 100*(log (Pt) log (Pt1)) Hence, closing_quote_midpoint_rlg = 100*log(closing_quote_midpoint(n)) log(closing_quote_midpoint(n-1)). Where closing_quote_midpoint = (closing_ask_price+ closing_bid_price)/2 Our sample consisted of the first fifteen hundred and ninety five observations, out of which two hundred observations were outliers. Only the first two hundred outliers were analyzed (on a stock basis chronologically) and classified as either data errors or extreme events. These outliers were associated with two companies: 313 Music JWP AG and 3U Holding AG. Alternatively, a different approach could have been used to select the sample to include more companies but the basics of how filters work should be independent of the sample selected for the filter to be free of any biases so for instance if a filter is robust, it should perform relatively well on any stock or sample. It should be noted that we did not include any bankrupt companies in our sample as those stocks are beyond the scope of this paper. Moreover, since we selected the sample chronologically on a stock basis, we were able to analyze the impact of these filters more thoroughly on even the non-outlier observations in the sample, which we believe is an important point to consider when deciding the optimal level of filtering. Our inevitably somewhat subjective definition of an outlier was: Any observation lying outside the 1st and the 99th percentile of each variable on a stock basis The idea behind this was to classify only the most extreme values for each variable of interest as an outlier. The reason why the outliers were identified on a per stock basis rather than the whole data was because the data consisted of many different stocks with greatly varying levels of each variable of interest for e.g. the 99% percentile of volume for one stock might be seventy thousand trades, while that of another might be three fifty thousand trades and so any observations with eighty thousand trades in both stocks might be too extreme for the first stock but completely normal for the second one. Hence, if we identified outliers (outside the 1st and the 99th percentile) for each variable of interest on the whole data, we would be ignoring the unique properties of each stock which might result in under or over filtering depending on the properties of the stock in question. An outlier could either be the result of a data error or an extreme event. A data error was defined using Dacorogna (2008) definition: An outlier that does not conform to the actual condition of the market The ninety four observations in the selected sample with missing values for any of the variables of interest were also classified as data errors.[4] Alternatively, we could have ignored the missing values completely by dropping them from the analysis but the reason why they were included in this paper was because if they exist in the data sample, the researcher has to deal with them by deciding whether to consider them as data errors, which are to be removed through filters or change them for e.g. to the preceding value and hence it might be of value to see how various filters interact with them. An extreme event was defined as: An outlier backed by economic, social or legal reasons such as a merger, global financial crises, share buyback, major law suit etc. The outliers were identified, classified and analyzed in this paper using the following procedure: Firstly, the intraday data was sorted on a stock-date basis. Observations without an instrument name were dropped. This was followed by creating variables for the 1st and 99th percentile value for each stocks closing quote midpoint returns, depth, trading volume, quoted and effective bid-ask spread and subsequently dummy variables for outliers. Secondly, after taking the company name and month of the first two hundred outliers, while keeping in consideration a filtering window of about one week, it was checked on Google if these outliers were probably caused by extreme events or the result of data errors and classified accordingly using a dummy variable. Thirdly, different filters which are used in financial literature for cleaning data before analysis were applied one by one in the next section and a comparison was made on how well each filter performed i.e. how many probable data erro rs were filtered out as opposed to outliers probably caused by extreme events. These filters were chosen on the basis of how commonly they are used for cleaning financial data and some of the popular ones were selected. 4.1. Rule of Thumb One of the most widely used methods of filtering is to use some rule of thumb to remove observations that are too extreme to possibly be accurate. Many studies use different rules of thumb, some more arbitrary than others.[5] Few of these rules were taken from famous papers on market microstructure and their impact on outliers was analyzed. For e.g.: 4.1.1. Quoted and Effective Spread Filter In the paper Market Liquidity and Trading Activity, Chordia et al (2000) filter out data by looking at effective and quoted spread to remove observations that they believe are caused by key-punching errors.   This method involved dropping observations with: Quoted Spread > à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬5 Effective Spread/Quoted spread > 4.0 % Effective Spread/%Quoted Spread > 4.0 Quoted Spread/Transaction Price > 0.4 Using the above filters resulted in the identification and consequent dropping of 61.5% of observations classified as probable data errors, whereas none of the observations classified as probable extreme events were filtered out. Thus, these spread filter looks very promising as a reasonably large portion of probable data errors was removed while none of the probable extreme events were dropped. The reason why these filters produced good results was because it looked at the individual values of quoted and effective spread and removed the ones that did not make sense logically rather than just removing values from the tails of the distribution for each variable. It should be noted that these filters removed all the ninety four missing values, which means that only five data errors were detected in addition to the detection of all the missing values. If we were to drop all the missing value observations before applying this method, it would have helped filter out only 7.5%[6] of probab le data errors while not dropping any probable extreme values. Thus, this method yields good results and should be included in the data cleaning process. Perhaps, using this filter in conjunction with a logical threshold filter for depth, trading volume and returns might yield optimal results. 4.1.2. Absolute Returns Filter Researchers are also known to drop absolute returns if they are above a certain threshold/ return window in the process of data cleaning. This threshold is subjective depending on the distribution of returns, varying from one study to another for e.g. HS use 10% threshold, Chung et al. 25% and Bessembinder 50%.[7] In case of this paper, we decided to drop (absolute) closing quote midpoint returns > |20%|. Perhaps, a graphical representation of time series returns of 313music JWP 3U Holding can be used to explain why this particular threshold was chosen. Figure 1. Scatter plot of closing quote midpoint return and date As seen in the graph, most of the observations for returns lie between -20% and 20%. However, applying this filter did not yield the best results as only 2.5% of probable data errors were filtered out as opposed to 10.3% probable extreme events from our sample. Therefore, this filter applied in isolation doesnt really seem to hold much value. Perhaps, an improvement to this filter could be achieved by only dropping returns which are extreme but reversed[8] within the next few days as this is indicative of data error. For e.g. if T1 return= 5%, T2 return= 21% and T3 return=7%, we can tell that in T3 returns were reversed, indicating that T2 returns might have been the result of a data error. This filter was implemented by only dropping return values > |20%| which in the next day or two, reverted back to the value of return, +/- 3%[9]of the day before the outlier occurred as shown below: r(_n)> |20%| |r(n-1) -r(n+1)| |r(n-1) -r(n+2)| Where r(_n) is closing quote midpoint return on any given day. This additional filter seemed to work as it prevented the filtering out of any probable extreme events. However, the percentage of filtered data errors from our sample fell from 2.5% to 1.9%. In conclusion, it makes sense to use this second return filter which accounts for reversals in conjunction with other filters for e.g. spread filter. Perhaps, this method can be further improved by using a somewhat more objective range for determining price reversals or an improved algorithm for identifying return reversals. 4.1.3. Price Filter We constructed a price filter inspired by the Brownlees Gallo (2006) approach. The notion behind this filter is to gauge the validity of any transaction price based on its comparative distance to the neighboring prices. An outlier was identified using the following algorithm: | pi -   ÃŽÂ ¼ | > 3*à Ã†â€™ Where pi is the log of daily transaction price, the reason why logarithmic transformation was used is because the standard deviation method assumes a normal distribution.[10] ÃŽÂ ¼ is the stock sorted mean and à Ã†â€™ is the stock sorted standard deviation of log daily prices. The reason why we chose the stock sorted mean and standard deviation was that the range of prices vary greatly in our data set from one stock to another, hence, it made sense to look at each stocks individual price mean as an estimate of neighboring prices. This resulted in filtering 56.5% of probable data errors which were all missing values. Thus, this filter doesnt seem to hold any real value when used in conjunction with a missing value filter. Perhaps, using a better algorithm for identifying the mean price of the closest neighbors might yield optimal results. 4.2. Winsorization and Trimming A very popular filtering method used in financial literature is trimming or winsorization. According to Green Martin (2015a), p. 8, if we want to winsorize the variables of interest at ÃŽÂ ±%, we must replace the nÃŽÂ ± largest values by the nÃŽÂ ± upper quantile of the data, and the nÃŽÂ ± smallest values by the nÃŽÂ ± lower quantile of the data. Whereas, if we want to trim the variables of interest by ÃŽÂ ±%, we should simply drop observations outside the range of ÃŽÂ ±% to 1- ÃŽÂ ±%. Thus, winsorization only reduces extreme observations rather than dropping them completely like trimming. For the purpose this paper, both methods will have similar impacts on dropping outliers outside certain ÃŽÂ ±%, hence, we will only analyze winsorization in detail. However, winsorization introduces an artificial structure[11] to the dataset because instead of dropping outliers it changes them, therefore, if this research was to be taken a step further for e.g. to condu ct robust regressions, choosing one method over the other would depend entirely on the kind of research being conducted. The matter of how much to winsorize the variables, is completely arbitrary,10 however, it is a common practice in empirical finance to winsorize each tail of the distribution at 1% or 0.5%.5 We first winsorized the variables of interest at the 1% level, on a stock basis, which led to limiting 100% of probable extreme events and only 42.9% of probable data errors. Even though intuitively it would make sense for all the identified outliers to be limited because the method used for identifying outliers for each variable considered observations which were either greater than the 99th percentile or less than the 1st percentile, and winsorizing the data at the same level should mean that all the outliers would be limited. However, this inconsistency in expectation and outcome results from the existence of missing values winsorization only limits the extreme values in the data, overlooking the missing observations which have been included in data errors. We then winsorized the variables of interest at a more stringent level i.e. 0.5%, on a stock basis, which led to 51.3% of the identified data errors and 18.6% of probable extreme events to be limited which doesnt exactly seem ideal as in addition to data errors, quite a large portion of extreme events identified was also filtered out. Taking this analysis a step further, the variables of interest were also winsorized on the whole data (which is also commonly done) as opposed to on a per stock basis, at the 0.5% and 1% level. Winsorizing at the 1% level led to limiting 51% extreme events, 24.2% data errors and an additional one thirty four observations in the sample not identified as outliers. This points toward over filtering. Doing it at the 0.5% level led to limiting 28% extreme events, 12.4% data errors and an additional seven observations in the sample not identified as outliers. Thus, it seems that no matter which level (1% or 0.5%) we winsorize on or whether we do it on a per stock basis or on the whole data, a considerable percentage of probable extreme events is filtered out. Of course, our definition of an outlier should also be taken into consideration when analyzing this filter. Winsorizing on a per stock basis does not yield very meaningful results as it clashes with our outlier definition. However, doing it on the whole data should not clash with this definition as we identify outliers outside the 1st and the 99th percentile of each variable on the data as a whole. Regardless, this filter doesnt yield optimal results as a substantial portion of probable extreme events get filtered out. This is because this technique doesnt define boundaries for the variables logically like the rule of thumb method, rather it inherently assumes that all outliers outside a pre-defined percentile must be evened out and outliers caused by extreme events dont necessarily lie within the defined boundary. It must also be noted that the winsorization filter does not limit missing values which are also clas sified as data errors in this paper. Thus, our analysis indicates that this filter might be weak if we are interested in retaining the maximum amount of probable extreme events. Perhaps, using it with an additional filter for limiting missing values might yield a better solution if the researcher is willing to drop probable extreme events for the sake of dropping probable data errors. 4.3. Standard Deviations Logarithmic transformation Many financial papers also use a filter based on x times the standard deviation: xi > ÃŽÂ ¼ + x*à Ã†â€™ xi x* à Ã†â€™ Where xi is any given observation of the variable of interest, ÃŽÂ ¼ is the variable mean and à Ã†â€™ is variable standard deviation.[12] An example would be Goodhart and Figliuoli (1991) who use a filter based on four times the standard deviation.[13] However, this method assumes a normal distribution, 9 so problems might arise with distributions that are not normal and in our data set, except for returns (because we calculated them using log), the rest of the distributions for depth, trading volume, effective and quoted bid-ask spread are not normally distributed. Therefore, we first log transformed the latter four distributions using: y = log (x)[14] Where y is the log transformed function and x is the original function. The before and after graphs, using log transformation are shown in Exhibit 4. We then dropped observations for all the log transformed variables that were greater than Mean + x*Standard Deviation or less than Mean x*Standard Deviation, first on a stock basis and then on the whole data for values of x=4 and x=6. Applying this filter at the x=6 level on a stock basis seemed to yield better results than applying it at the x=4 level. This is because x=6 led to dropping 25.6% less probable extreme events for a negligible 3.1% fall in dropping probable data errors. The outcomes are shown in Exhibit 3. However, upon further investigation, we found that 100% of the probable data errors identified by the standard deviation filter at the x=6 level were all missing values. This means that if we dropped all missing values before applying this filter at this level, our results would be very different as this filter would be dropping 7.7% extreme events for no drop in data errors. Applying this filter on the whole data led to the removal of less outlier than applying it on a per stock basis. Using the x=6 level (whole data) appeared to yield the best results 58.4% of probable data errors were filtered out while no probable extreme events were dropped. For more detailed results, refer to Exhibit 3. However, even in this case, 100% of the probable data errors identified were missing values. This means that if we were to drop all missing values before applying this filter, this filter would identify 0% of the probable extreme events or probable data errors. Thus, the question arises if we are actually over filtering at this level? If yes, then should x Data cleaning is an extremely arbitrary process which makes it quite impossible to objectively decide the level of optimal filtering, which is perhaps, the reason behind limited research in this area. This limitation of research in this particular field and inevitably this paper should be noted. That being said, even though some filters chosen were more arbitrary than others, we have made an attempt to objectively analyze the impact of each filter applied. The issue of missing values for any of the variables should be taken into consideration because they are data errors and if we were to ignore them, they would distort our analysis because they interact with the various filters applied. Alternatively, we could have dropped them before starting our analysis, but we dont know if researchers would choose to change them to the closest value for instance or filter them out, therefore, its interesting to see how the filters interact with them. Our analysis indicates that when it comes to the optimal amount of data cleaning, rule of thumb filters fare better than statistical filters like trimming, winsorization and the standard deviation method. This is because statistical filters assume that any extreme value outside a specified window must be a data error and should be filtered out but as our analysis indicates, extreme events dont necessarily lie within this specified window. On the other hand, rule of thumb filters set logical thresholds, rather than just removing/limiting observations from each tail of the distribution. The outcomes of different filters which are shown in exhibit 1, 2 and 3 are represented graphically below. Figure 2. Box plot of outcomes of all the data cleaning methods As shown in section 4.2 and the graph above, Winsorization whether on a stock basis or on the whole data, tends to filter out a large portion of probable extreme events. Thus, it is not a robust filter if we want to retain maximum probable extreme events and should be probably avoided if possible. As far as the standard deviation filter is concerned, as shown in section 4.3, applying it at the x = 6 level, whether on a per stock or whole data basis, seems to perform well but it is not of much value if combined with a missing values filter and all other scenarios tested, actually dropped more probable extreme events than data errors. Therefore, it is not advisable to simply drop outliers existing at the tails of distributions without understanding the cause behind their existence. This leaves us with the rule of thumb filters. We combined the filters that performed optimally spread and additional return filter which accounts for reversals, along with a filter for removing the missing values. This resulted in dropping one hundred and two i.e. 63.4% of all probable data errors without removing any probable extreme events. At this point, a payoff has been made: in order to not drop any probable extreme events, we have foregone dropping some extra probable data errors because over scrubbing is a serious form of risk.[15] This highlights the struggle of optimal data cleaning, because researchers often dont have the time to check the reason behind the occurrence of an outlier, they end up removing probable extreme events in the quest to drop probable data errors. Thus, the researcher has to first determine what optimal filtering really means to him does it mean not dropping any probable extreme events albeit at the expense of keeping some data errors like done in this paper, or does it mean giving precedence to dropping maximum amount of data errors, albeit at the expense of dropping probable extreme events? In the latter case, statistical filters like trimming, win sorization and standard deviation method should also be carefully used. The limitations of this paper should also be recognized. Firstly, only two hundred outliers were analyzed due to time constraint, maybe, future research in the area can look at a larger sample to get more insightful results. Secondly, other variables can also be looked at in addition to depth, volume, spread and returns and more popular filters can be applied and tested on them. Moreover, a different definition can be used to define an outlier or to select the sample for e.g. the two hundred outliers could have been selected randomly or based on their level of extremeness but close attention must be paid to avoid sample biases. Future research in this field should perhaps, also focus on developing more objective filters and method of classifying outliers as probable extreme events. It should also look into the impact of using the above[16]two approaches of optimal filtering on the results of empirical research for e.g. on robust regressions, to verify which approach of optimal filtering performs the best. Table 1: Outcome of Rule of Thumb Filters Applied Table 2: Outcome of Winsorization Filters Applied Table 3: Outcome of Standard Deviation Filters Applied Figure 3: Kernel Distribution before and after log transformation 3.1 Depth 3.2 Effective Spread 3.3 Quoted Spread 3.4 Volume   Ãƒâ€šÃ‚   Figure 4. Kernel Distribution before and after log transformation of transaction price   Ãƒâ€šÃ‚   References Bollerslev, T./Hood, B./Huss, J./Pedersen, L. (2016): Risk Everywhere: Modeling and Managing Volatility, Duke University, Working Paper, p. 59. Brownlees, C. T/Gallo, M. G. (2006): Financial Econometric Analysis at Ultra-High Frequency: Data Handling Concerns. SSRN Electronic Journal, p. 6 Chordia, T./Roll, R./Subrahmanyam, A (2000): Market Liquidity and Trading Activity, SSRN Electronic Journal 5, p. 5 Dacorogna, M./Mà ¼ller U./Nagler R./Olsen R./Pictet, O (1993): A geographical model for the daily and weekly seasonal volatility in the foreign exchange market, Journal of International Money and Finance, p. 83-84 Dacorogna, M (2008): An introduction to high-frequency finance, Academic Press, San Diego, p. 85 Eckbo, B. E. (2008): Handbook of Empirical Corporate Finance SET, Google Books, p. 172 https://books.google.co.uk/books?isbn=0080559565 Falkenberry, T. N. (2002): High Frequency Data Filtering, S3 Amazon, https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/tick-data-s3/pdf/Tick_Data_Filtering_White_Paper.pdf Goodhart, C./Figliuoli, L. (1991): Every minute counts in financial markets, Journal of International Money and Finance 10.1 Green, C. G./Martin D. (2015): Diagnosing the Presence of Multivariate Outliers in Fundamental Factor Data using Calibrated Robust Mahalanobis Distances. University of Washington, Working paper, p. 2, 8 Hussain, S. M (2011): The Intraday Behaviour of Bid-Ask Spreads, Trading Volume and Return Volatility: Evidence from DAX30, International Journal of Economics and Finance, p. 2 Laurent, A. G. (1963): The Lognormal Distribution and the Translation Method: Description and Estimation Problems. Journal of the American Statistical Association, p. 1 Leys, C./Klein O./Bernard P./Licata L. (2013):   Detecting outliers: Do not use standard deviation around the mean, use absolute deviation around the median, Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, p. 764 Scharnowski, S. (2016): Extreme Event or Data Error?, Presentation of Seminar Topics (Market Microstructure), Mannheim, Presentation Seo, S. (2006): A Review and Comparison of Methods for Detecting Outliers in Univariate Data Sets, University of Pittsburg, Thesis, p. 6 Verousis, T./Gwilym O. (2010): An improved algorithm for cleaning Ultra High-Frequency data, Journal of Derivativ

Chaucers Canterbury Tales - The Nun’s Priest’s Tale :: Nun’s Priest’s Tale Essays

The Nun’s Priest’s Tale      The tale told by the Nun’s Priest is a fable or story with animals as the main characters and usually ends with a moral of some sort. This tale takes place on the farm of and old, poor widow. All that she posses can be summed up in a few lines. It is among her possessions that we find the rooster Chanticleer, who’s crowing is more precise than any clock and a voice that was jollier than any church organ.   The tale is told from the point-of-view of Chanticleer. One night he has the dream of a fox pursuing him and killing him. When he wakes, his wife, Lady Pertelote tries to convince him that it was just a dream and that it has no meaning.   Chanticleer argues with Pertelote and produces a tale of his own. This is the tale of two young travelers who in search of lodging must separate. One of the travelers found a bed in a farmer’s barn, the other in a lodge of some type. In the night, one of the travelers hears his friend in a dream calling out for help. He says that he is to be murdered for his money and his body is to be hidden in a dung cart at the west end of town. In the morning, the man goes in search of is friend and discovers him dead in exact location that he learned from his dream. Chanticleer uses this story to try and prove to Pertelote that dream have meaning.   The fox enters the scene the next morning as the hens and Chanticleer come down from their roost to feed and relax in the sun. The fox waits and watches Chanticleer and the hen’s for a good bit of the day from a nearby cabbage patch. However, right before he is about to crow, Chanticleer catches a glimpse of the fox and silences himself. The fox sensing that his meal maybe lost quickly comes up with a new scheme to trick Chanticleer. He instantly claims to be friendly and means no harm towards Chanticleer. He then uses flattery on Chanticleer, convincing him that the fox came only to hear his beautiful voice and how he had been waiting so long to hear it, this tricks Chanticleer into lowering his guard, it is at that moment that the fox strikes and runs with the almost lifeless body of Chanticleer towards the woods.

Explain the Potential Effects of Five Different Influences on an Individual

Explain the effects of five different life stages on the development of an individual. In today’s society it is almost impossible to grow up without being affected by the things around us. During an individual’s development there are five main key factors that affect them. These include: * Genetic factors * Socio- economic factors * Biological factors * Lifestyle factors * Environmental factors To begin with, there are 23 chromosomes in each cell found in the nucleus.It is these cells that determine the hereditary of a child as well as the sex during conception. Genetic diseases make up a large proportion of the total disease burden, for example 50% of deafness is due to genetics as well as 40-50% of miscarriages. Another disease that is generally caused by genetics is cystic fibrosis which is caused by a defective gene. As many as four people in the UK have this gene; however the gene is recessive meaning children will only get the gene if both parents are carriers. Cy stic fibrosis results in a sticky mucus forming in the lungs, pancreas and intestines, and in the past it meant a low life expectancy but today a lot can be done to solve this. In relation to Jason asthma also seen as a genetic disease and Jason’s development of asthma could be a result of his Mother smoking of drinking during pregnancy. However the causes of asthma may not just be due to genetic inheritance but also due to environmental factors which I will further later in the essay. Closely related to this and sometimes somewhat confused are biological factors.Biological factors also start from conception and one of these is Foetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS) which is the biggest cause of mental handicap in the western world as well as the only one that is 100% preventable. The first stages in prenatal are the most important and again this relates to Jason as one of the effects of FAS is falling behind with leaning development and Jason found school hard to cope with but in the end caught up, however this could be as a result of many reason and it does not mean his mother consumed alcohol during pregnancy. A woman’s diet also affects the foetus as well as during breast eeding, research shows that if a mother had a high sugar diet her child is more likely to develop high cholesterol and a higher risk of heart disease in later life. Malnutrition or a lack of health food could also lead to poor health for the child in later life Jason’s mother also could have smoke during pregnancy leading to his asthma. Socioeconomic factors also heavy a heavy impact on development for example if a family is poor there is a higher risk a child will suffer from malnutrition as well as the fact in later life they will want to do better.Within the factor is values and attitudes, a prime example of this would be education, if parents have went to college they will more than likely want their children to as well, however it could also be argued that if parent haven ’t went to college they will want their children to achieve more in life than they did. In relation to Jason although he may want to go to college he may not be able to as he does not come from a well off family and may not be able to afford to do so. Continuing on from this is Lifestyle factors, which is a highly varied subject.For example a person who has been brought up in a poor household will be completely different that one brought up in a well off household. Nutrition and dietary is a big part of this however it is only if you are reasonably well off that you can afford to buy the healthier choices. As well as this alcohol intake and the misuse of substances can affect you and this happens to be on of the most controversial issues in society. It can have social, physical and mental effects on an individual from the expense, to long term health risks or the fact it could lead to depression.In relation to Jason’s lifestyle the fact he may not be able to afford col lege and the fact he lives in a high density housing estate may mean he is not that well off money wise meaning he may not get the healthiest foods and could also have been bullied not only as a result of his asthma but also as he cannot afford the things some of the other children could. Lastly is environmental factors, this has a huge impact on our development and research shows that 1 out of 5 children are malnourished. However this is a varied range of situations.Exposure to pollution as well as poor housing can lead to health problems for example carbon monoxide takes away oxygen from the red blood cells as they have a higher affinity for it which can then lead to heart disease and nitrogen and sulphur dioxide can lead to lung disease as these gases irritate the lungs. This is not the only environmental effect however, Jason got bullied a lot at school which means he could suffer from depression and will have low self-esteem in later life. As well as this fact when he was 8 his parents divorced which leaves a great mental effect on individuals and at his age it was a lot to go through.Separation can lead to anger issues for the child as well as abandonment issues and this could even go on to affect Jason in later life it could even lead to AD (anxiety disorder) which could be as the child’s routine is disrupted. Jason’s parents’ divorce may be the reason he fell behind at school and when he reached adolescence he adapted which may be why his school work improved. Environmental factors can affect development both physically and mentally. In conclusion all five factors can affect an individual’s development as shown through the example of Jason, and all five have different effects yet still equally importantBibliography * http://www. livestrong. com/article/217996-factors-affecting-early-child-development/ *http://www. psychologytoday. com/blog/surviving-your-childs-adolescence/201112/the-impact-divorce-young-children-and-adolesc ents *http://www. ucl. ac. uk/support-pages/information/alcohol-and-drug-abuse *http://www. lbl. gov/Education/ELSI/Frames/pollution-health-effects-f. html *http://uk-air. defra. gov. uk/air-pollution/effects *http://www. succeedsocially. com/lifestyle *Class notes *Moodle

12 requisitos para patrocinio de visa niñera para EE.UU

12 requisitos para patrocinio de visa nià ±era para EE.UU Trabajar como nià ±era (au pair) en Estados Unidos requiere seguir unas directrices estrictas establecidas por el gobierno para sacar la visa J-1 para ese programa especà ­fico. Adems, las agencias autorizadas para contratar extranjeros para esa posicià ³n pueden establecer sus propias preferencias. En este artà ­culo se informa sobre los requisitos legales y tambià ©n sobre los que habitualmente piden las agencias autorizadas para contratar. Adems, se mencionan otras programas alternativos pensados para jà ³venes extranjeros que quieren pasar una temporada corta en Estados Unidos aprendiendo inglà ©s y disfrutando la experiencia americana. Puntos clave La visa para nià ±eras extranjeras es la J-1, programa de au-pairSolamente agencias autorizadas por el gobierno de EE.UU. pueden patrocinar la visaAunque se habla de nià ±era, lo cierto es que se puede ser mujer o varà ³nEl tiempo mà ­nimo de estancia en EE.UU. es de un aà ±o y el mximo de 2. 8 requisitos legales de visa J-1 para trabajar de nià ±era en EE.UU. Para poder aplicar con à ©xito para una visa J-1 en el programa especà ­fico para nià ±eras es obligatorio cumplir con requisitos de edad, estudios y experiencia. Los principales son los ocho siguientes: Tener entre 18 y 26 aà ±os de edad, gozar de buena salud, no tener rà ©cord criminal y haber completado, como mà ­nimo, los estudios de secundaria. Adems, es necesario poder demostrar experiencia de al menos 200 horas de trabajo cuidando nià ±os. La manera de probarlo admite muchas variantes, desde haber trabajado en una escuela o guarderà ­a a tener muchos hermanos pequeà ±os o participar como voluntario en campamentos infantiles, escuelas dominicales, etc. Tambià ©n se exige no haber estado previamente en Estados Unidos como au pair, es decir, nià ±era. Asimismo, es necesario entender y hablar, como mà ­nimo, un inglà ©s de nivel intermedio. Finalmente, las reglas de esta visa exige a los candidatos comprometerse a vivir con una familia estadounidense un mà ­nimo de un aà ±o. Este periodo se puede extender por tres, seis o doce meses. 4 requisitos de las agencias para patrocinar la visa de nià ±era Estos requisitos son obligatorios, desde un punto de vista legal, pero lo cierto es que para las agencias es mucho ms fcil colocar en una familia a una au pair que los reà ºna y, por lo tanto, suelen pedirlos. Entre los ms frecuentes destacan los siguientes: En primer lugar, ser mujer. Es un hecho, las familias prefieren a una muchacha antes que a un varà ³n para trabajar en sus casas cuidando de los nià ±os. En segundo lugar, tener licencia de manejar. Hay que tener en cuenta que en muchà ­simos lugares de Estados Unidos el transporte pà ºblico puede ser inexistente y que las distancias son enormes. Facilita mucho la contratacià ³n el saber que una persona sabe manejar. En tercer lugar, ser flexible en cuanto al rea geogrfica en la que se quiere vivir y tambià ©n en relacià ³n al nà ºmero de hijos que debe tener la familia de acogida. Una au pair que quiera ser contratada en zonas muy populares como California o Nueva York y en casas con un sà ³lo menor puede tener ms dificultades a la hora de encontrar una familia. Y, en cuarto lugar, no fumar. Estos son los Estados Unidos de Amà ©rica. Va a ser realmente difà ­cil y tomar su tiempo antes de que se encuentre a una familia dispuesta a contratar a una nià ±era fumadora. A tener muy en cuenta para evitar problemas migratorios Para los extranjeros sin papeles para trabajar en EE.UU. sà ³lo es posible pasar una temporada como au pair en Estados Unidos participando en el programa a travà ©s de agencias autorizadas por el gobierno. Si hay una familia dispuesta a patrocinar a una extranjera como nià ±era, la familia deber hablar con una agencia autorizada para patrocinar visas J-1 de au-pair y el papeleo debe hacerse a travà ©s de ellas. En otras palabras, una familia estadounidense no puede patrocinar directamente una visa J-1 de esta categorà ­a. Para asegurarse de que se trata con una agencia legà ­tima y que no se est ante un caso de fraude, se recomienda verificar que est incluida en el listado de la pgina oficial del Departamento de Estado para estos efectos. Si es una agencia ubicada en fuera de los Estados Unidos, verificar para quà © agencia autorizada en Estados Unidos est trabajando. Las au pairs recibirn una visa J, que son de intercambio. Debern respetar sus caracterà ­sticas generales que aplican a todos los programas incluidos en esa categorà ­a de visa.   Adems, para recibir la visa no es suficiente con tener en mano la oferta de la familia y la intervencià ³n de la agencia autorizada. Si se es inelegible o inadmisible para recibir la visa, la peticià ³n de esta ser negada por el oficial consular. Por à ºltimo, se recomienda encarecidamente no mentir sobre los conocimientos de inglà ©s. En el momento de la entrevista en la Embajada o consulado se determinar si realmente se tiene el nivel de inglà ©s requerido. Si no se tiene, la visa ser denegada, el dinero de la aplicacià ³n no se regresa y la mentira quedar en el rà ©cord de la solicitante para las autoridades consulares y migratorias de Estados Unidos. Opciones a la visa de nià ±era Los jà ³venes de otros paà ­ses que desean pasar una temporada en Estados Unidos trabajando y aprendiendo inglà ©s pueden optar a distintos tipos de programas dentro de la categorà ­a de visas J-1, por ejemplo: Prcticas o pasantà ­as en una ONG.Estudiante de high school durante un aà ±o acadà ©mico completoPrcticas profesionalesVisa para trabajar y viajar en veranoTrabajo en un Summer Camp  como staff de un campamento de verano. Este es un artà ­culo informativo. No es asesorà ­a legal.

Seattles Suburbs History. Essays - Century 21 Exposition

Seattles Suburbs History. Essays - Century 21 Exposition Seattle's Suburbs History. Preamble Learning about what has changed has made us realize more than ever how constant change is. The way we see things around us is not the way they always have been and more important, are only an intermediate stage to where ever they will be tomorrow. Talking to people who saw what has changed to get here allows us to see the direction we have come, and finally the direction we are going. Outlined in this paper are six different angles viewing different parts of the past that collectively help us to find that direction. World's Fair Three of the prime events that attracted people to Washington in the 20th Century were the World's Fairs. The first of Washington's World Fairs was the Alaskan-Yukon-Pacific Exposition in 1909, which was located on the 250 acre University of Washington campus. The fantastic buildings, most of which still stand today, were designed by the famous Olmstead Brothers' landscape and architecture firm for the $150 million project. Among the celebrities at the exposition were President Howard Taft and industrialist Henry Ford. The Alaskan-Yukon-Pacific exposition opened on June 1st and closed on October 15th . However, no A-Y-P structure was as prominent as the futuristic Seattle Space Needle of the Century 21 World's Fair in Seattle in the year 1962. This, along with the wondrous monorail and Pacific Science Center were all leftover from the great fair. Lasting for almost six months, the '62 Seattle World's Fair attracted approximately ten million visitors, and, as Jack Crawford put it, "It was one busy place." Among the exhibits were the various ethnic and state booths, the hydroelectric waterfall, and the great fountain made from plumbing parts, which has just recently been remodeled. All during the fair, various acts played in the Seattle Opera House. Inside the future exhibit was the famous Bubble-ator elevator, which now resides down in sunny Redondo, California as greenhouse. A lot of wonderful memories were produced at this illustrious event; Gene Duarte recalls, "I remember hearing East Indian music for the first time and falling down on the floor laughing. I was se! ven, and it was the funniest thing I had ever heard." As civic boosters had had hoped, it brought national attention to Seattle, and in spite of early problems, the 1962 Seattle World's Fair became a financial success. Twelve years later, Spokane held EXPO '74 for which the city tore down old buildings and cleaned up the pollution, the theme being the environment. 'Nam 'Nam. What most people seem to remember about the Vietnam War here in Seattle were the big protests. The protesters opposed military escalation and fought to bring the GI's home. Kathy Duarte-Wilson remarks, "People were very scared of being drafted. We wore POW bracelets in honor of those who went to war. They were almost a fad. Then there were the flower children," she laughs, "I remember wanting to be one when I grew up." Some GI's were pulled out of Vietnam when President Nixon's first troop reduction order was acted upon in July of 1969 at McChord Air Force Base. Two days later there was a combination military parade, welcome home celebration, plus antiwar protest filling the streets of Seattle. The antiwar campaign really heated up in the May of 1970. Days of protesting went on against the bombing of Cambodia and the killings of four student demonstrators by national guardsmen in Kent State University in Ohio and two killed by state police in Jackson State College in Mississippi. Ten thousand protesters blocked Interstate-5 in Seattle in a march from the University of Washington to the federal courthouse down town. Boeing Depression When asked about a time remembered for hardship and kindness, the Boeing depression is often the top of the list. When the Boeing company went through hardship the entire state felt the repercussions. When nearly ? of all the people in the region worked for Boeing, layoffs created vast unemployment causing a severe regional depression. "Last one out of Seattle, please turn out the lights" read the sign off the side of the highway, echoing much of the feelings of the region's population. The utter lack of jobs and opportunity lead to a large migration of people away from

Discussion on Learning Experiment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Discussion on Learning Experiment - Essay Example However, there were certain theories that did predict that no difference would occur in the aformentioned conditions or target cues. This discussion will outline these thoeries. It will likewise discuss why Cue A in the experiment caused impairments in causal judgement about Cue B relative to the other conditions. One of the thoerists that predicted a noticeable difference between target cues E and G was Kamin. His study proposed that in a blocking experiment, if the US is changed during Stage 2 (e.g., by making it significantly stronger or weaker), then significant new learning can occur about the added element (CS2) of the Compound CS, and strong conditioned responses to CS2 will be expressed in Stage 3. The "surprising" change in the US supports formation of new associations during Stage 2, since CS2 is the "best predictor" of the surprising change in the US. However, Kamin also suggested that this will not be the case when for target cue E. He proposed a difference between the two situations which was not demonstrated in the experiment conducted. With regards to the rational behind the ability of cue A to impair causal judgement relative to target cue B, this can best be explained by refering to the associative learning theory promulgated by Rescorla and Wagner.

Ku Klux Klan Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Ku Klux Klan - Research Paper Example The original name of the club was from the Greek word Kuklos meaning ‘for circle and cycle are formed’. The confederates later modified the word to Kuklux adding the word clan at the end since all the founders were of Scottish descent. Kuklux Clan became the name of the organization, later it was divided into three words and a ‘K’ used for each word. The name therefore changed to Ku Klux Klan. There are other suggestions about the origin of the name. Romine states that members of the Klan could have become familiar with the mythology of the ‘God of Light’ who was called Cukulcan since many volunteer troops went to the Mexican War from Tennessee and members of the early Klan sometimes called themselves the sons of light(Quarles 32). Another story told that the name did not come from a Greek word meaning circle but from the two phased cocking sound of a shotgun. Many different stories have been told and written creating mystery about the organizat ion which later came to be known as the ‘Invisible Empire’. The six former confederate members met in the law office of Judge Thomas M. Jones located eighty miles south of Nashville in Pulaski, south central Tennessee. One of the town’s prewar buildings has a plaque marking the occasion. The Klan is an American institution though it has been exported to other lands by racists. The formation of the club was not a major historical event; the group was informally constituted during the first meeting. Directing and planning of the Klan activities began later as further meetings developed goals and objectives, leadership titles were chosen and organizational rules instituted (Quarles 30). All evidence supports the fact that the founding of the Klan was innocent with no ulterior motive or effect. Many scholars also believe that the beginning was innocent; this is because of the tricks that the early Klansmen performed. The first noted activity of the Klan was that it was a brotherly association. Some members used childish methods of pursuing victims. The original purpose of the young confederate veterans was to scare black adults and cause trouble as an amusing way of passing time in a southern society that was altered and a destroyed economy. Klansmen dressed in white sheets and covered their horsemen in the same way. The Ku Klux Klan members believed that racial integration and racial equality of society was a threat and could destroy the white race. The Klan opposed public policies that promote social and political equality for historically disadvantaged groups like the blacks through antidiscrimination laws and affirmative action. Their beliefs were that the nature of mankind is unequal therefore hierarchical. Ku Klux Klan members described themselves as white Protestant Christians. Their primary objection was initially against blacks’ freedom and extension of rights to include blacks. This was after slavery in the United States was brought to an end. In terms of their strength in the political history of th e United States, the Klan has had three specific periods. The first Klan blossomed in the South in