Empirical Asset Pricing Theory Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Observational Asset Pricing Theory - Assignment Example At the end of the day, the paper will take a gander at the negative covariance of SDF and overabundance returns. The paper will likewise diagram the Fama-French components. This will incorporate involving how these variables work, and the intentions behind picking or choosing of models. At long last, the paper will examine how the method utilized by Pastor and Stambaugh vary from the ones utilized by Fama-French components. Stochastic Discount Factor Pricing Model SDF as a Factor Pricing Model According to Fama and French (25 - 30) this model aides in the figuring of n econometric investigation that is utilized in the estimating of advantages. The strategies incorporated this model incorporate the capital resource evaluating model that was proposed by Sharpe in 1964 and different just as the utilization based between worldly capital resource valuing models (CCAPM). Stochastic markdown factor (SDF) utilizes both of the methodologies that are utilized in resource valuing. This incorpor ates the outright and the overall valuing of benefit. The outright estimating of benefit include the valuing of an advantage comparative with the sources that open it to the macroeconomic dangers. The general valuing of benefit involves estimating resources as indicated by how different resources are evaluated. The valuing condition that is utilized to assess the stochastic rebate factor is ordinarily expected. The constraints that are forced on the conduct identifying with the stochastic model are thought to be standard. In view of the evaluating condition suspicions the model, the cost of n resource which is indicated as ‘t’ is determined through limiting the estimation of the benefits in the time of paying off. The condition for deciding the cost of the benefit is: Pt=ET (Mt+sXt+s). The advantages pay off is spoken to by Xt+s while the limiting variable is spoken to by Mt+s. the part meant as ET speaks to the desire given the data that is accessible at a given time t . The limiting component speaks to the stochastic variable (Renault and Hansen 3-15). The benefits that can be evaluated utilizing this model incorporate a stock that delivers a profit of DT+1. This stock ought to likewise have a resale esteem and a result period. A treasury bill is likewise relevant if just it pays just a single unit of merchandise or a decent being devoured. This compares the result to 1. A bond whose coupon installment is consistent but can be sold is pertinent for estimating utilizing this model. This model can likewise value bank stores that pay the hazard free return rate and compare the result time frame to 1+ rft. At last the consider choice whose cost is Pt and gives the holder of the alternative the privilege of buying any stock at the cost worked out (Renault and Hansen 12-21). Suppositions Relating to the Form of SDF In the advancement of the stochastic estimator, there are four presumptions that are taken into contemplations. The main supposition that w ill be that the estimating condition 2 consistently holds. This condition is proportionate to the law of one cost. The suspicion here is that all the protections that have a similar result should bear a similar cost. There are no decisions of the inclination. The subsequent suspicion expresses that the stochastic limiting component names Mt to be more noteworthy than zero. The equivalent applies even to mirroring portfolio. The suggestion here is that no exchange open doors exist. The third suspicion expresses that the hazard free rate exists. The hazard free rate is quantifiable comparative with sigma-polynomial math. The molding set that is additionally utilized in the calculation of the molding minutes produces this variable based math. The presence of this rate takes into consideration result space that is

In Search of Our Mothers Corpses Motherhood and the Lacanian Order in Meridian - Literature Essay Samples

In the essay â€Å"In Search of Our Mothers’ Gardens,† Alice Walker presents a moving portrait of matrilineal art and creativity extending throughout black history. Following this line, Walker illustrates generations upon generations of lost artists, mothers and grandmothers â€Å"driven to a numb and bleeding madness by the springs of creativity in them for which there was no release† (232). Among her imagined foremothers, Walker conjures the nameless ghosts of unrecognized genius and talent: stifled painters, thinkers, and sculptors emerge as black incarnations in the tradition of Virginia Woolf’s Judith Shakespeare. Walker traces this lineage, suggesting that even when systemically repressed and silenced, this creative spirit has survived, if only to be passed down in the hope of finding expression in the next generation of black women. In her exploration of Walker’s fascination with matrilineal inheritance, Dianne Sadoff notes a certain disparity between Walker’s veneration of her foremothers in certain texts and her anxieties about motherhood in others. Proposing a revision of Sandra M. Gilbert and Susan Gubar’s theory of the â€Å"anxiety of influence† unique to female authors—itself a revision of Harold Bloom’s model of literary influence—Sadoff suggests that although Walker’s conception of matrilineage appears â€Å"not at all melancholy or anxiety laden,† her fixation on the subject â€Å"masks an underlying anxiety that emerges, although disguised, in Walker’s fiction† (7). Indeed, for all Walker’s veneration of mothers—both biological and otherwise—the sacred state of motherhood receives a notably different treatment in Meridian. Walker’s second novel sees motherhood both implicitly and explicitly aligned with necessary and inevitable death. Complete with a cast of corpses both literal and metaphorical, mothers dying both real and symbolic deaths, Meridian presents an unmistakable association between womanhood and death, underscoring a dominant patriarchal narrative in which female martyrdom is privileged at best, and demanded at worst. Silenced by a patriarchal order reflected in a Lancanian conception of paternal structures of meaning, these mothers see their voices stifled and suffocated in their offspring, rather than renewed in the promise of a new generation as illustrated in â€Å"In Search of our Mothers’ Gardens.† Out of this cast of corpses, Meridian’s titular character emerges to break the cycle of silence and martyrdom by refusing motherhood—the most privileged form of female sacrifice. In refusing to accept suffering or to privilege the sacrificial rite of motherhood, Meridian issues a challenge to the patriarchal order, one that parallels a similar rejection of the martyrdom associated with the novel’s conception of collectivist activism. In Meridian, dominant narratives surrounding both womanhood and political collectivism encourage and privilege suffering and sacrifice for an allegedly noble cause. Both as a woman and an activist, Meridian maintains her individuality at all costs, refusing to conform to any collectivist demands that insist she sacrifice her identity or independence. In refusing to conform to these patriarchal standards and rejecting martyrdom, Meridian escapes the narrative of sacrifice that plagues her fellow activists. As Lynn Pifer outlines, Meri dian’s eventual reconciliation of political activism with her need for individualism parallels her gradual reclamation of voice. At the end of the text, Meridian—who spends much of the novel refusing to participate in authorized discourse—at last â€Å"finds her voice and moves beyond her method of strategic silences† (Pifer 88). Meridian’s rejection of motherhood issues a challenge to the patriarchal narrative of suffering, while simultaneously breaking the Lacanian cycle of silence. In rejecting motherhood and martyrdom, Meridian gains the freedom to accept and use language outside the parameters of authorized patriarchal discourse. As noted, motherhood in Meridian is enacted primarily by a cast of dead women. Among the ensemble are literal corpses, along with departed women whose deaths have lived on in folklore, and even still-living women who have suffered metaphorical deaths. To this body count, I offer for comparison the addition of another famous literary corpse mother: Addie Bundren in William Faulkner’s As I Lay Dying. At various points throughout Meridian, the decidedly postmodern novel invites comparison to its modernist predecessors, specifically in its occasional evocation of a distinctly southern gothic grotesque. This Faulknerian imagery is perhaps most evident in the novel’s bizarre opening scene, featuring none other than the novel’s first maternal corpse: the body of the slain Marilene O’Shay repurposed as a carnival attraction. This influence resurfaces later in the novel, with the description of Meridian’s mother bearing prominent similarities to Faulknerâ₠¬â„¢s Addie Bundren. Presenting Faulkner’s Addie as parallel to Walker’s Mrs. Hill, an analysis of the Lacanian significance of Addie’s rejection of language illuminates a similar treatment of language and motherhood at work in Meridian. First, however, it may be helpful to examine the corpse mothers of Meridian exclusively. The novel’s first corpse, the grotesque Marilene O’Shay, functions as a literal embodiment of the dominant female narrative against which Meridian pushes. Pointing to the the three epithets painted on O’Shay’s carnival trailer: â€Å"Obedient Daughter, Devoted Wife, and Adoring Mother (Gone Wrong),† Pifer illustrates the ways in which the corpse â€Å"sums up the narrow possibilities for women in a patriarchal society,† (80). Significantly for Meridian, whose reluctance to submerge or obscure her identity drives much of the conflict in the story, these â€Å"possibilities† all necessarily compromise a woman’s individuality, redefining her identity in terms of her relationships within the patriarchal order. While Marilene’s violent death at the hands of her husband speaks to a recurring motif of sexual violence against women throughout the novel, perhaps of even greater significance is her ability to fall back into her husband’s favor in death. Despite the allegedly universal acknowledgement among authorities and family members alike that O’Shay’s actions against his wife are justified, â€Å"Cause this bitch was doing him wrong,† the wronged husband softens considerably toward his wife in death (Walker 7). When her body resurfaces years later, according to the local legend, â€Å"He’d done forgiven her by then, and felt like he wouldn’t mind having her with him again,† (8). In death, Marilene O’Shay is the embodiment of ideal womanhood: sacrificed, silent, and, as Pifer notes, â€Å"utterly possessed† (81). In her petrified and powerless state, Marilene ascends to such a high rank of patriarchal womanhood that her va lue is literally quantifiable. Deciding his wife’s body could be â€Å"a way to make a little spare change in his ol’ age,† Henry O’Shay effectively commodifies his wife (Walker 8). Marilene’s successors, the novel’s other female corpses, all follow in her footsteps as â€Å"mothers gone wrong,† in some capacity or other. Meridian highlights a narrative in which womanhood is almost synonymous with motherhood, depicting a series of women who simultaneously meet their demise and maximize their societal value as martyrs through motherhood. The Wild Child is the next victim of womanhood to surface in the novel. â€Å"Running heavily across a street, her stomach the largest part of her,† The Wild Child dies largely a victim of her pregnancy (Walker 25). While in life, The Wild Child is rejected by all but Meridian, in death her value increases, not unlike that of Marilene O’Shay. When The Wild Child dies, the same Saxon classmates who previously begged their house mother to have Meridian’s young ward removed from the honor’s house find new appeal in the slain girl, showing up to her funeral in large numbers and prompti ng to Meridian to drily remark, â€Å"I would never have guessed Wile Chile had so many friends† (28). In life, The Wild Child is at best an inconvenience, at worst an abomination. In death, she suddenly becomes an attractive symbol of martyrdom, one the students repurpose for their own misguided and ultimately self-destructive demonstration. Fast Mary is another figure of Saxon folklore whose tragic death, romanticized by the students, renders her a sacred martyr of The Movement. In a particularly gory instance of â€Å"motherhood gone wrong,† Fast Mary is forced to hide a pregnancy from the Saxon administration before dismembering the child and attempting to dispose of it. After getting caught, Mary hangs herself in solitary confinement. Like The Wild Child, Fast Mary owes her popularity to her tragic death, in which she is immortalized as another symbol of martyrdom for the would-be Saxon revolutionaries. As Pifer notes, the students â€Å"relish the story of a girl forced to go to terrible lengths to maintain the college’s demands,† (82). In fetishizing Fast Mary as a tragic and heroic icon, Saxon’s aspiring activists unwittingly fall into the patriarchal narrative themselves by equating Fast Mary’s worth with her suffering. While the deaths of Marilene O’Shay, The Wild Child, and Fast Mary are literal, other living women in the novel suffer symbolic or metaphorical death. As Pifer summarizes, â€Å"Perfect women in this community, as Meridian well knows, are perfectly mindless, nicely dressed, walking corpses† (84). Most notable among these walking corpses is Meridian’s own mother, who compares motherhood to â€Å"being buried alive† (Walker 42). Not unlike the young Saxon women canonizing Fast Mary’s tragedy within their community folklore, Meridian’s mother finds herself trapped in a patriarchal narrative that praises motherly suffering and sacrifice. Although she disdains the shabby outward appearance of other mothers, Mrs. Hill cannot help but imagine in these women â€Å"a mysterious inner life, secret from her, that made them willing, even happy, to endure† (41). Meridian’s mother is so seduced by the glorified image of maternal suffering tha t she decides to join their ranks herself, only to realize that â€Å"the mysterious inner life she had imagined was simply a full knowledge of the fact that they were dead, living just enough for their children† (42). Despite her disappointment, Meridian’s mother completes the patriarchal narrative by ultimately coming to take pride in her suffering and sacrifice, proudly proclaiming that she has six children, â€Å"Though I never wanted to have any,† (Walker 88). Sadoff presents a similar analysis of Mrs. Hill, further contextualizing her inevitable demise from independent woman to walking corpse within the tradition of matrilineal decay: Now anti-intellectual, prejudiced, and blindly religious, Meridian’s mother nonetheless once fought her father’s sexism, her own poverty, and the racist system to become a schoolteacher. The cost: her mother’s life and willing self-sacrifice. As a daughter who becomes a mother and so participates in matrilineage, Meridian’s mother represents the history of black motherhood: a legacy of suffering, endurance, and self-sacrifice. (23). Against this portrait of Mrs. Hill, I present for comparison Faulkner’s Addie Bundren, whose own embodiment of maternal suffering reflects Lacanian structures of meaning that illuminate Meridian’s challenge to the patriarchal order and reclamation of voice. Both Meridian’s mother and the matriarch of the Bundren family belong to the quasi-deceased. While Mrs. Hill finds metaphorical death in motherhood, Addie narrates her sole chapter in Faulkner’s famously polyvocal narrative from beyond the grave. Both women are former school teachers who ultimately feel deceived once persuaded to abandon their teaching posts for marriage. Equal parts unimpressed and violated by their husbands, both women bemoan the false promises of domestic bliss. â€Å"I realized that I had been tricked by words older than Anse or love,† Addie laments, referring to the ancient tradition of the patriarchal order to which she has fallen victim (Faulkner 100). Mrs. Hill, too, blames systems beyond herself in the assertion that â€Å"she could never forgive her community, her family, his family, the whole world, for not warning her against children† (Walker 41). Both women struggle to define and identify with love, and both ultimately end up at lukewarm conclusions; Mrs. Hill settles with a â€Å"toleration for [her husband’s] personal habits that she identified as Love,† while Addie remains skeptical of the concept altogether, mustering only the indifferent claim, â€Å"It was Anse or love, love or Anse, it didn’t matter† (Walker 41, Faulkner 99). Perhaps most significantly, both women feel an intense violation and abstraction with childbirth. Addie remarks that her â€Å"aloneness had been violated† with the birth of her first child, while Mrs. Hill’s first pregnancy finds her â€Å"as divided in her mind as her body was divided, between what part was herself and what part was not† (Faulkner 99, Walker 42). In her analysis of As I Lay Dying, Doreen Fowler identifies another key aspect of Addie’s character, one that surfaces in Mrs. Hill’s character as well: a rejection of language. Addie’s famous, fragmented pronouncement that â€Å"words are no good; that words dont [sic] ever fit even what they are to say at† prefigures her denouncement of each in a series of social constructs— including love, sin, fear, and salvation—as merely â€Å"a word like the others; just a shape to fill a lack† (Faulkner 99). Interpreting this in Lacanian terms, Fowler argues that â€Å"Addie hates language because it is based on separation and difference† (320). In basic Lacanian ideology, as a Fowler outlines, a child enters the realm of the symbolic and acquires language by becoming aware of difference and separating from the mother, reflecting Saussurean structures of language that insist a sign has meaning only in its difference from other signs. If separation from the mother is the key to the symbolic realm, then â€Å"the murder of the mother is constructed as positive step toward establishing identity,† thus providing an explanation of the mother-as-corpse motif prominent in both As I Lay Dying and Meridian (317). However, it is not enough to simply kill the mother. Once the child has achieved this separation from the mother, the child must then â€Å"generate substitutes for her that are permissible within the Law of the Father† (Fowler 320). This production of substitutions is where the previously shared experience of the Lacanian order diverges for sons and daughters. Fowler calls on Nancy Chodorow’s theory of maternity to explain the daughter’s inevitable repetition of her mother’s fate. According to Chodorow, when the child attempts to recreate the initial unity with the mother through replacements, the daughter does so by becoming a mother herself, thus renewing the Lacanian cycle and perpetuating a patriarchal order that in turn demands the new mother’s own death (Fowler 318). Addie hates language because it is made possible by the same patriarchal system that necessitates her death. Parallel to Addie’s rejection of language is Mrs. Hill’ s rejection of creative expression of any kind. Much like the generations of lost artists Walker memorializes in â€Å"In Search of Our Mothers’ Gardens,† Mrs. Hill is aware that â€Å"creativity was in her, but it was refused expression† (Meridian 42). Unlike the silenced foremothers of â€Å"Gardens,† however, Meridian’s mother does not appear to carry any hope of passing her stifled creativity along to the next generation. Rather, her silence is deliberate and in some sense vengeful, â€Å"a war against those to whom she could not express her anger or shout, ‘It’s not fair!’† Finding herself trapped in the living death demanded by the patriarchal order, Meridian’s mother wants to see the same fate inflicted on the next generation. Mrs. Hill vows never to forgive her foremothers for not warning her, and in turn enacts her revenge through silence, refusing to warn the next generation of women. Meridian’s friend, the oft-pregnant Nelda, suspects as much: à ¢â‚¬Å"Nelda knew that the information she had needed to get through her adolescence was information Mrs. Hill could have given her† (Walker 86). A victim of the Lacanian cycle, Mrs. Hill keeps quiet, in her silence willfully allowing the next generation of women to fall victim to the same metaphorical death. In spite of her mother’s influence, however, Meridian successfully refuses motherhood, finally breaking the Lacanian cycle of matricide. In As I Lay Dying, Addie’s revenge by silence comes to fruition, with her pregnant daughter—the teenaged Dewey Dell—failing to procure an abortion and succumbing to her role as the displaced, deceased mother. Meridian, however, suggests a more hopeful future for womanhood. Meridian successfully breaks the Lacanian cycle of martyrdom by refusing motherhood—through adoption, abortion, and finally, castration. In this refusal to privilege maternal suffering or to compromise her identity by allowing her child’s needs to obscure her own, Meridian issues a challenge to the patriarchal order, one she will repeat against the collectivist demands of The Movement. Not unlike her mother, Meridian displays her own complicated relationship with language throughout the novel, preferring silence over blind participation in authorized patriarchal discourse. In her analysis, Pifer parallels Meridian’s successful reconciliation of her political and personal beliefs at the end of the novel with her simultaneous reclamation of voice. Throughout the novel, Meridian flees the erasure of the individual dominant in narratives of motherhood and activism. Aware of the self-destructive powers of collectivism, Meridian repeatedly rejects the authorized discourse of a series of communities, beginning with her childhood church congregation. Meridian’s inability to â€Å"say it now and be saved,† to pronounce empty allegiance to the Christian savior and martyr, resurfaces in her inability to complete the oath promising to kill for The Movement (Walker 16). Rejecting systems that obscure individuality and privilege martyrdom, Meridian pursues a path of independent activism in much the same way as she chooses a single life not submerged in wife or motherhood. She refuses to seek glory as a martyr for any cause, understanding that â€Å"the respect she owed her life was to continue, against whatever obstacles, to live it, and not to give up any particle of it without a fight to the death, preferably not her own† (220). When this understanding leads to the realization that Meridian could in fact kill, it is not for the sake of any blind collectivist doctrine or â€Å"movement,† but rather for her own sake or that of another individual. Pifer’s reading sees Meridian’s transcendence of the â€Å"murderous philosophy of the would-be revolutionary cadre† consummated as she joins her voice in song with the congregation and â€Å"her personal identity becomes part of their collective identity† (88). Meridian’s reclamation of her voice signals an acceptance of language—a reply to her mother’s tight-lipped rejection of creative expression—that breaks with the Lacanian order. In her refusal to have children, Meridian refuses to continue the Lacanian cycle of achieving difference and separation only to submerge it once again in an attempted return to unity through childbirth. In breaking this cycle, Meridian issues a challenge to the patriarchal order. Freed from the obligation to discard her independence and submerge difference—the Lacanian heart of language—in motherhood, Meridian gains full control of her voice. Meridian no longer has to pass the creative spark silently on to the next generation. She does not have to bury her stifled voice in her mother’s garden. Free of the patriarchal order, Meridian finally gives life to the voices of her foremothers. Works Cited Faulkner, William. As I Lay Dying. Edited by Michael Gorra. New York: W.W. Norton Company, 2010. Fowler, Doreen. â€Å"Matricide and the Mother’s Revenge: As I Lay Dying.† The Faulkner Journal 4. 12 (1991). Rpt. in As I Lay Dying. Edited by Michael Gorra. New York: W.W. Norton Company, 2010. Pifer, Lynn. â€Å"Coming to Voice in Alice Walker’s Meridian: Speaking Out for the Revolution.† African American Review, vol. 26, no.1, 1992, pp. 77-88. JSTOR. Sadoff, Dianne F. â€Å"Black Matrilineage: The Case of Alice Walker and Zora Neale Hurston.† Signs, vol. 11, no. 1, 1985, pp. 4–26. JSTOR. Walker, Alice. â€Å"In Search of Our Mothers’ Gardens.† In Search of Our Mother’s Gardens. New York: Harcourt. Brace Jovanovich, 1983: pp. 231-244. Walker, Alice. Meridian. New York: Harcourt, 2003.

Technology Are On The Rise And Ioms Recommendation Of...

Informatics Ayva Rodriguez Felician College NURS 330 Christine Lawrence October 14, 2014 Technology are on the rise and IOMs’ recommendation of informatics in the aspects of nursing care that can improve how interdisciplinary team member communicate to each other, managing knowledge and information, making decision and reducing errors (Greiner Knebel, 2003, p. 62). Communication is the interaction among people and the exchange of ideas, opinions and feelings whether it is verbal or non-verbal (Kourkouta Papathanasiou, 2014, p. 65) such as through documentation or email (Nursing Informatics, 2014). Additionally informatics focused on documentation to improve how the involved healthcare members communicate to one another. And†¦show more content†¦211). Good communication will reduce errors and improve nurses’ efficiency in patient care (Cipriano, 2011, p. 286). In my clinical experience electronic medical records greatly improved how interdisciplinary health team member communicate timely and effectively. And with the data entered or any prescription made were clearly written and understood that resulted in error reduction and better patient care. For example an updated patient skin condition assessment helped in the prevention of pressure ulcer (Weston Roberts, 2013). Patients with cancer can use technology in dealing with family responsibility and at the same time keeping track of chemo or radiation treatment appointments. With internet communication, cancer patient can asked assistance to family and friends in the comfort of their home or even in the hospital without the risk of exposing themselves to sick people. There are software available that can make a calendar on what are the day to day help needed and that can be viewed online by family and friends who are able to help the patient (Snyder et al., 2011, p. 214). Factors associated with medication errors such as interrupted nurses, look-alike medication, wrong dosage given, wrong computation, nurses are multitasking or misleading hand written instructions (Jones, 2009, p. 41-46) can be prevented by the

The Effects Of Eating Fast Food On The United States

Manh Pham Instructor H. Jackson Health 100 Nov 4, 2015 Diabetes In Vietnam, there are only a few fast food restaurants such as KFC and recently McDonald. To be honest, I didn’t eat fast food before until I came to The United States. I Overwhelmed by so many of them because fast food restaurants are located everywhere. Eating fast food is one the many reasons why American people have highest obesity rate in the world. Besides that, lack of health lifestyle, physical inactivity will lead to many deadly diseases and one of them is diabetes. In 2012, there are 29.1 million people are having a problem with diabetes and 69,071 people death which is the seventh leading cause of death in the United States (Statistic about Diabetes). Diabetes can be defined as a serious long-term disease that occur when out body cannot produce enough insulin or do not regulate insulin properly so that causes the high level of glucose in the blood (Diabetes Mellitus). 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Facilities Management Introducing Matrix Management

Question: Describe about the Facilities Management for Introducing Matrix Management. Answer: Introduction This report briefs about the different skills of the team members that are important for success of any undertaken project. As opined by Kerzner (2013), when a project team is working on a project then it has to work together and with co-operation so that they can deliver a better project to the client. Assigning specific roles and responsibilities to the different team members is important from both the client and the service providers point of view. This distribution of the responsibilities is also important for the successful completion of a specific undertaken project (Alexander, 2013). Since the project teams generally consist of people having different skills, strengths and weaknesses. 1. Skills required for team members In todays world the success of a project depends on the total team work of a project management team. Therefore all the team members need to have the basic skills that are required for the development of the project. Today, the project teams are using the different new project management tools that provide better access to the data about the components of the project. The following are the some of the skills that required for the team members in project management team. Team building: When there is need to a huge project or a project that will continue for a long time, then the project needs a bigger team. Therefore as project manager it is necessary to develop or create a sense of team work, so that the whole team can work with each other (Dugan, 2014). Again in a situation of conflict the project manager have to play a vital role to resolve the conflicts between the stake holders of the total project. Decision making: while making decisions it is advised that the whole team should involve in the decision making. In most of the scenarios it is good but not necessary. Some decisions can be made by only the project manager, so that they can test their skills of decision making (Tiainen, 2014). While making a decision the different constraints are to be considered like the schedule, quality and the acceptance of the project. Motivation: In some scenarios, it can be observed that the project development team feels exhausted, drained or demotivated. In this case the project manager has to motivate charge and push them to get the remaining work done. Communication: Project managers have to follow proper method of communication while conducting a meeting, providing the feedback to the team, sharing the data related to the different aspects of the projects to the different stake holders. Fig 1: Skills of a Project manager (Source: Hwang Ng, 2013. pp-274) Leadership: Without a proper leadership a project cannot be successful. Because from the first step of planning to the execution of the plan will need someone who can set an example before the team members (Burke, 2013). Therefore to speed up the execution of a project plan, there have to be someone who can create a goal for the team. Negotiation skill: the project manager is the only link between the stakeholders of the project and the development team. It is the responsibility of the project manager to make both of them happy (Levy Ramim, 2015). For this the project manager must negotiate with both the parties to have a win-win situation. For the stake holders it may be the pricing, scope of the project, schedule and quality. Problem solving skills: For a project manager it is important that they possess excellent and creative problem solving approach to the different problems. In the project development, sometimes this skill is used to find out the issue behind the problems. Since solving that issue can help in solving the total problem. 2. Impact of continual outsourcing and downsizing of the projects For the projects that require a large number of people and high level of technical expertise are outsourced. Since only few organizations and their project development team have that expertise to successfully manage the technical complexities of such projects. The organizations, which goes for the outsourcing do not have the in house expertise of monitor the quality is being delivered project (Kerzner, 2014). The reasons behind the outsourced projects often fail are, unclear and inaccurate requirements of the client organizations. Therefore the organizations which are outsourcing their projects have to understand the nature of the outsourcing they need and then use the highly qualified professionals to write down the organizational requirements so that there would not be any conflict between the project development team and the client organization. The downsizing reduces the size of a business so that the financial performance of the organization. Globalization of the market and the business helps the organization to deploy the required human resource, technology and the required capital to implement a project. After the downsizing the organization loses the expertise, skills, valuable relationships and the experience of the employees (Rosemann vomBrocke, 2015). At the same time it is also true that in some scenarios the downsizing of the business becomes an inevitable option. Conclusion To get a better outcome from the implemented project it can be advised to have a practice in the organization that will help in the better project management. For this the organization can use the matrix management structure in their management practices. This is a practice in which there is more than one reporting line for the individuals who are working on a project. This management structure helps in pooling the people having similar skills for implementing a project. As an example, for engineering project the engineers and they report to the engineering manager. The key advantages of this management practice is It helps in increasing the cooperation and communication throughout the organization. It also helps in utilizing the human resources and talents that were not accessible before. When a project includes different resources from different companies, then to deliver the project on time and efficiently then the organizations can use this management structure. This management practice also helps in exploring the capabilities of the people working in an organization. This will help the employees in the delivering better services in complex and interconnected business environments. This matrix management practice also helps the development team to be more flexible. This flexibility helps the organization to function according to the market and priorities. Consequently this technique helps in providing better project management in the large and complex projects. References Alexander, K. (2013).Facilities management: theory and practice. Routledge. Brooks, M., Kakabadse, N. K. (2014). Introducing matrix management within a childrens services settingpersonal reflections.Management in Education,28(2), 58-63 Burke, R. (2013). Project management: planning and control techniques.New Jersey, USA. Dugan, B. A. (2014). The Development of Project Management Skills.Advancing Human Resource Project Management, 313-349. Hall, K. (2013). Revisiting matrix management.People and Strategy,36(1), 4. Hwang, B. G., Ng, W. J. (2013). Project management knowledge and skills for green construction: Overcoming challenges.International Journal of Project Management,31(2), 272-284. Kerzner, H. R. (2013).Project management: a systems approach to planning, scheduling, and controlling. John Wiley Sons. Levy, Y., Ramim, M. M. (2015).The Effect of Competence-Based Simulations on Management Skills Enhancements in E-Learning Courses. Rosemann, M., vomBrocke, J. (2015). The six core elements of business process management. InHandbook on Business Process Management 1(pp. 105-122). Springer Berlin Heidelberg. Tiainen, A. (2014). Decision-Making in Project Management.

Non-directive interviews Essay Example

Non-directive interviews Essay There are a number of different research methods I can use for my primary research, but I have decided that the methods that will benefit my research are: questionnaires, non-directive interviews and structured interviews I am going to begin with a pilot study before going onto my interviews. By doing this I should be able to obtain some valuable information which I will be able to put into numerical form e.g. pie charts, statistics and percentages.This is a big advantage as I will be able to compare data easily and it will give me a better understanding of what teenage girls feel about the pressures of dieting. Questionnaires are also a cheap, efficient and fast method for obtaining large amounts of information, which is helpful to me, as I do not have much time to carry out my primary research. Potentially, information can be collected from a large portion of a group, but this potential is not often realized as returns from questionnaires are usually low.For example, postal questionnaires are a relatively inexpensive method of obtaining information but often only a very small percent of the sample return them and those who do often have a special reason for doing so which makes the results untypical as a whole. We will write a custom essay sample on Non-directive interviews specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on Non-directive interviews specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on Non-directive interviews specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer This is why I have decided not to send postal questionnaires but to give them to girls at my school instead, this way I will be able to make sure that everyone returns their completed form to me. I am going to use random sampling in order for my results to be more representative of teenage girls as a whole. I will go through a register for each year group from years 7-13 and cross of every third name until I have ten names from each year. I will then give each person a questionnaire to fill out.However, there are some disadvantages of using questionnaires in my study. Respondents may answer superficially especially if the questionnaire takes a long time to complete, so I will make sure that the common mistake of asking too many questions is avoided. Great care must also be taken when wording the questions so there is no bias, or words that some people may misinterpret or not understand. If this happens my results may not be as representative or accurate as they could be. I will also avoid including open-ended questions as these can generate large amounts of data that can take a long time to process and analyse.Some girls may not be willing to answer some of the questions as my project is on quite a sensitive topic, especially for girls. So I will ask them to reply honestly and tell them that the questionnaire is anonymous. My second research method is unstructured interviews. With non-directive interviews there are few problems of misunderstanding or misinterpretation and the interviewee is not restricted to set questions like in questionnaires, they can really say how they feel. The respondent is in control of the content of the interview and is free to explore any aspect of the topic they want. This will give me a more in-depth and detailed insight into the real thoughts and feelings of the interviewee.However, there are a few disadvantages with using this method. By using an unstructured interview it is difficult to generalise as it is a small sample, and in my case only one persons opinion. This also makes it harder to analyse or make any generalisation that all girls feel the same way as the respondent does. There could also be interviewer bias which is quite a big disadvantage. I could in some way influence or direct the answers given by the interviewee, therefore the respondent may change their answer according to the type of question given. But if I am careful with how I phrase and say my questions, I should be able to avoid any interviewer bias.My third research method is structured interviews. The advantage of structured interviews is that they allow the exploration of specific topics, while allowing people to tell the interviewer what they think is important. I am going to video- tape the opinions of five teenage girls on dieting and the media. I aim to find out if they feel pressured at all by the media to be slim and how far they have taken dieting in order to achieve this media image of the perfect female body. I think it will be interesting to see how their answers compare and differ by asking the same questions to five different girls.Structured interviews give the respondent the chance to speak for themselves about the topic and the chance to clarify complex questions. However success depends on the skill of the interviewer, but I will spend time making sure that the questions I ask will be beneficial to my project. Another disadvantage is that I may give out unconscious signals to the respondent which may lead them to change their reply. Another problem is that I might only follow up my areas of interest there fore restricting the respondents answers. These interviews can also be very time consuming, so I have only decided to interview five people for my study.There are some types of primary research which I have decided not to use. Methods such as longitudinal studies and participant observation would require a great amount of time which I would like to have, but have not got enough time to carry out properly. A longitudinal study is an ideal way of understanding social life at one point in time, but in order to understand social life in the present it is essential to see it as a development from the past. This method requires a picture of social life over a long time which is not possible for me to do.With participant observation the number of people observed is small therefore generalisations are not possible. This method would not be very useful to my project either, as it would be hard to observe peoples eating habits without asking personal questions about weight etc and many people would find covert observation for my topic unethical. A case study could be a good source of primary data for me to use as they can give a more detailed picture than research based on large samples. However, as they are seen as one off examples they cannot be seen as representative. They are also quite time consuming. I am confident that my chosen research methods will provide me with some valuable information from which I can analyse and draw a conclusion from.

Arguments Against Horse Racing

Arguments Against Horse Racing Death and injuries are not uncommon occurrences in horse racing, and some animal welfare advocates argue that the sport can be humane if certain changes are made. To animal rights activists, the issue is not the cruelty and danger; its about whether we have a right to use horses for entertainment. The Horse Racing Industry Horse racing is not just a sport, but also an industry and unlike most other sports arenas, horse racetracks, with few exceptions, are directly supported by legal gambling. The form of gambling at horse racetracks is called parimutuel betting, which is explained as: The entire money bet on the event goes into a large pool. The holders of winning tickets divide the total amount of money bet on the race (the pool), after deductions for tax and racetrack expenses. The money take out is similar to the rake taken out by the pot in a poker game played in the card room. However unlike the small rake in poker, in the parimutuel pool this â€Å"rake† can amount to 15 – 25 percent of the total prize pool. In various U.S. states, bills have been considered and sometimes passed either allowing racetracks to have other forms of gambling or protecting racetracks from competition from casinos. As gambling has become more accessible in recent years through new casinos and online gambling websites, racetracks are losing customers. According to a 2010 article in the Star-Ledger in New Jersey: This year, the Meadowlands Racetrack and Monmouth Park will lose upwards of $20 million as fans and bettors have migrated to tracks in New York and Pennsylvania with slot machines and other casino games. Pressure from Atlantic City casinos have prevented the racino model from taking hold here, and the tracks have suffered. Daily attendance at the Meadowlands routinely hit 16,500 in its first year. Last year, the average daily crowd was below 3,000. To counter these losses, racetracks have been lobbying to be allowed to have slot machines or even full-blown casinos. In some cases, the slot machines are owned and operated by the government, with a cut going to the racetrack. One might wonder why a government body would be concerned about supporting racetracks instead of allowing them to perish like other outdated industries. Each racetrack is a multi-million dollar economy, supporting hundreds of jobs including everyone from breeders, jockeys, veterinarians, farmers who grow hay and feed, and blacksmiths who do the horseshoeing. The financial forces behind racetracks are the reason they continue to exist, despite concerns about animal cruelty, gambling addictions, and gambling morality. Animal Rights and Horse Racing The animal rights position is that animals have a right to be free of human use and exploitation, regardless of how well the animals are treated. Breeding, selling, buying and training horses or any animal violates that right. Cruelty, slaughter and accidental deaths and injuries are additional reasons to oppose horse racing. As an animal rights organization, PETA recognizes that certain precautions can reduce deaths and injuries, but categorically opposes horse racing. Animal Welfare and Horse Racing The animal welfare position is that there is nothing wrong with horse racing per se, but more should be done to protect the horses. The Humane Society of the United States does not oppose all horse racing but opposes certain cruel or dangerous practices. Cruel and Dangerous Horse Racing Practices According to PETA, One study on injuries at racetracks concluded that one horse in every 22 races suffered an injury that prevented him or her from finishing a race, while another estimated that 3 thoroughbreds die every day in North America because of catastrophic injuries during races. Pushing a horse to his physical limits and forcing him to run around a racetrack is enough to cause accidents and injuries, but other practices make the sport particularly cruel and dangerous. Horses are sometimes raced when they are under three years old and their bones are not strong enough, leading to fractures that can lead to euthanasia. Horses are also drugged to help them compete with injuries, or given prohibited performance-enhancing drugs. Jockeys often whip the horses as they approach the finish line for an extra burst of speed. Racetracks made of hard, packed dirt are more dangerous than those with grass. Perhaps the worst abuse is one that is hidden from the public: horse slaughter. As a 2004 article in the Orlando Sentinel explains: To some, horses are a pet; to others, a living piece of farm equipment. To the horse-racing industry, though, the thoroughbred is a lottery ticket. The racing industry breeds thousands of losing tickets while looking for its next champion. Just as farmers cannot afford to care for spent egg-laying hens when they get old, racehorse owners are not in the business of feeding and keeping losing horses. Even winning horses are not spared from the slaughterhouse: Decorated racers like Ferdinand, a Kentucky Derby winner, and Exceller, who won more than $1 million in purse money, were retired to stud. But after they failed to produce champion offspring, they were slaughtered. While there are rescue groups and sanctuaries for retired racehorses, there are not enough. Horse breeders argue that horse slaughter is a necessary evil, but it wouldnt be necessary if the breeders stopped breeding. From an animal rights perspective, money, jobs, and tradition are powerful forces keeping the horse racing industry alive, but they cannot justify the exploitation and suffering of the horses. And while animal advocates make the ethical arguments against horse racing, this dying sport may pass away on its own.