The Mysterious Flame of Queen Loana Review Essay Example

The Mysterious Flame of Queen Loana Review Paper Essay on The Mysterious Flame of Queen Loana Postmodernism clean water. So pure that even bacteria do not have))) To take though required direction roll with other authors there are not only woven into the fabric of the text, they are here the text itself! This is justified by the plot the hero reads a book of his childhood and gradually starts to recover lost memories As for nadsyuzhetnyh associations with authors, here I will mention only those who are particularly struck me: Fowles ( mantissa the beginning of a very similar the same awakening in the hospital, the same memory loss, only Fowles this topic did not disclose), Proust (apparently by the flow of thoughts, while some little thing awakens mysterious flame memories ) and Kundera (strange hero :)) We will write a custom essay sample on The Mysterious Flame of Queen Loana Review specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on The Mysterious Flame of Queen Loana Review specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on The Mysterious Flame of Queen Loana Review specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer it is a pity that it was not Eko ohozhe. Of course, the rejection of their own style, too, is in the spirit of postmodernism, but I wished that from eco have only the richness of vocabulary so book subjects ( Name of the Rose remembered) In general, post-modernism in the Mysterious Flame of Queen Loana blooms so that drowns out all the charm and subtlety of the novel. The plot is like there, but it has no content. The composition is built, but not completed. Style rovnehonko so that does not catch the eye and reveal the authors traits. What we have as a result? So that whether the novel was signed in the name of not Umberato Eco, he would have become the object of a caustic criticism: the idea is not worked out, talent, strength is not enough, the plot is stilted, the heroes of cardboard, and the author zauchka, zaznayka and upstart trying to swim to the other peoples quotes. but the time is Umberto Eco, then we say, the Apotheosis of postmodernism I can well believe that the views of other readers can be very different, but personally I would have made this novel a little more alive and natural, would both storylines (and childhood and adulthood), would reduce the attic part and asked for b s author to deliver elegant, but a clear point at the end, which in the novel is not there. Yes, it would be a completely different affair, and postmodern sequined he would not have shone. Instead, he would become one of my favorites! 🙂

Encana Report Essay

Encana Report Essay Encana Report Essay Objective To find the Weighted Average Cost of Capital for the energy firm EnCana. Finding the firms market value capital structure Value of debt: Short Term Debt: We assume that Encana’s short-term debt is NOT a part of its permanent capital structure because Encana’s business activities are project based (mining, oil and gas) and hence assumedly require different frequencies and magnitudes of short-term debt that vary with each project. Long-term Debt: We do not have the resources to calculate the market value of debt (as we don’t know how many of which bonds there are), therefore we will use the book value which is $6,629m. Value of equity: Barb asks if we can use book value of equity. Considering book value of equity is rarely close to its market value(intuition – book value is just assets less liabilities, whereas market value is value of all expected future cash flows), this is not a viable option. EnCana has 854.9 mil shares outstanding, trading at $56.75. Therefore market value of equity = 854.9 x 56.75 = 48,515.575 (Means 3:1 market to book ratio – can see clearly why you cannot use the book value of equity) Therefore: Debt = 12%, Equity = 88% of capital structure (Apx.1). Find cost for individual capital structure components Historical interest rates are irrelevant in calculating cost of capital, what matters is current yield which reflects the return currently required by investors. Cost of debt Publicly Traded Debt: Yield is 5.81%. We use this yield assuming that since long-term interest rates are the average of short-term rates - amidst 30 years 1-2 years difference should not particularly skew the average, therefore all four long-term bonds should be trading at a similar yield. Other long-term debt: Yield (assuming EnCana qualifies for the prime rate) is 5.25% Therefore weighted average cost of debt is 5.81 x 0.81 + 5.25 x 0.19 = 5.7% (Apx.2) Cost of common equity CAPM approach (SML equation): We know: rf = long term bond yield = 4.20%, ÃŽ ² =1.27 (assuming historical beta is good representation of current beta – problem – only based on 3 years of data) We do not know the risk premium on the market Historical risk premium: Find the average historical risk premium by subtracting average historical risk free rate from average historical return on market: Arithmetic average: 13.9 – 6.5 = 7.4%, Geometric average: 12.9 -5.6 = 7.3% Problems: Bond average is only 1 year bonds rather than long term rates Increase in risk premium can actually contribute to decline in stock market returns Forward looking risk premium Use discount cash flow model to estimate rpM: (Apx.3). We find the growth rate with (assuming historical growth rates are accurate representation of the future): 25yr growth rate = 5.54 %( Apx. 4) Problems: No reason to believe future growth will be like past growth Growth rates sensitive to period over which growth is measured (Apx.5) We use the 25 year growth rate (due to long-term nature) to obtain a rpM of 3.3 %( Apx.6), which seems unusually low considering risk premium generally is within 3.5-6.5%. Which risk premium to use? If we consider that the historical risk premium tends to overstate the risk premium (we are less risk adverse due to various other forms of financial stability), and the five year growth rate of the market (i.e. the current trend) is much higher (if assumed to continue would result in a much higher risk premium, approx. 8%), it is reasonable to take the average of the two: (7.4% +3.3%)/2 = 5.35%. This value for rpM seems more reasonably within the typical range. Using this rpM we calculate the cost of equity: re = 4.2 + 1.27(5.35) = 11% Constant growth dividend discount model , r = + 0.1187 =12.42% Problems: Not a lot of historical data to work off Which model do we use? Considering the extra step of calculating the risk premium in

Discussion topic Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 11

Discussion topic - Assignment Example On the other hand, quantitative research method has a major merit in that it can be administered and evaluated very quickly and the responses tabulated very quickly. In addition, the numerical data obtained in this method facilitates quick comparisons between groups as well as the extent of congruence between respondents. This advantage is majorly used in nursing research when a comparison is needed after a new nursing intervention is initiated for example nursing rounding (Carr, 2014). Quantitative and qualitative research study methods have some of their limitation in nursing research. A study done by Carson (2011) on the strengths and weakness of research designs involving quantitative measures, found out that experimental research has several methodological limitations. These limitations were seen to jeopardize the internal and external validity of the research results thus limiting their applicability for practice. Some of the threats noted were sampling and recruitment. Sampling technique may have a problem in randomised control trials when the potential participants are not prepared to opt for treatment in randomised basis. Similarly, recruiting subjects to participate in clinical trials may be difficult. On the other hand, qualitative research has been noted to be time consuming and important issues may be overlooked during the study. in essence both methods are appropriate to conduct a research, and can contribute greatly to the scientific body of knowledg e (Carr,

THE ACTIONS OF DRUGS ON THE GUINEA-PIG ISOLATED ILEUM Lab Report

THE ACTIONS OF DRUGS ON THE GUINEA-PIG ISOLATED ILEUM - Lab Report Example Q2 (ii): When testing the agonist action of the morphine-like drugs, it is observable that, through the depressant action of the morphine-like drugs, it was difficult to assess the potencies because the tachyphylaxis developed rapidly. In this case, it is important to use small doses of the drug while exposing the gut to the drugs at the intervals that do not go below 30 minutes. The inhibitory effect of morphine on the twitch of longitudinal muscle was induced by the coaxial stimulation, hence leading to the dose-response curve of order ââ€" . Upon sing nalorphine-like drugs, the depressant action of the N-allyl analogue of the morphine was having the similar order to that of morphine. However, tachyphylaxis development was much more rapid with nalorphine than with morphine. When testing the antagonist action of the morphine-like drugs, tachyphylaxis was able to develop with all compounds tested, which was a strong indication on the possibility of exhibiting antagonist action under suitable conditions. In this experiment, techyphylaxix was able to develop more rapidly than compared to using the agonist. Basing on the agonist activity of the antagonists, the conventional method used for testing antagonism did not yield the decisive results. The antagonism through low concentrations of morphine of the inhibitory effect of morphine upon twitch of the longitudinal muscle was able to induce coaxial stimulation. Q3: Through using the experimental protocol or two log curves, there is a possibility of an error occurring. To avoid such errors, the formula can be modified into that of the critical ratio approach (CR). The CR is the concentration of agonist at the presence of the antagonist required for producing a fixed response to the linear part of the concentration. It is thus advisable to use the equation that relates CR to KB, which is expressed

How do you think magic makes itself felt in contemporary life Essay

How do you think magic makes itself felt in contemporary life - Essay Example But how can we truly say that a certain situation or feeling is truly magic Like in the movies, one seems to be cast on a spell as we hold our breaths and take in every scene and make it our own. We can see the story unfold before our eyes as how the director sees it in his mind. We are transported into another world, another dimension with each character that somehow looks surreal. We find traces of personality that is distinct and personal, as if our own. And with these movies we can escape even for a few hours, a few minutes the commonplace tragedies that beset our everyday lives. It is also the question of a supernatural being that has created characters such as vampires. These creatures have long been associated as evil and ungodly from the creative minds of writers. Man's fascination with the unknown has spawned various characters, but in today's fiction these characters are given a more human touch than the stories written centuries ago. Creatures long depicted as human predators are given a human side and can experience the same pains and anguish as that of a common man. The idea of vampires living amongst us is another magical transformation.

Analysis Of Hedge Fund Performances

Analysis Of Hedge Fund Performances 1. INTRODUTION: Hedge funds are actively managed portfolios that hold positions in publicly traded securities. Gaurav S. Amin and Harry M. Kat (2000) stated on their report that A hedge fund is typically defined as a pooled investment vehicle that is privately organized, administrated by professional investment managers, and not widely available to the public? It charges both a performance fee and a management fee. It allows a flexible investment for a small number of large investors (usually the minimum investment is $1 million) can use high risk techniques. Nowadays it is very clear that in the matter of alternative investment mutual fund is not performing well. As a high absolute returns and typically have features such as hurdle rates and incentive fees with high watermark provision hedge fund gives a better align to the interests of managers and investors. Moreover mutual funds typically use a long-only buy-and-hold type strategy on standard asset classes, which help to capture risk premia asso ciate with equity risk, interest rate risk, default risk etc. However, they are not very helpful in capturing risk premia associate with dynamic trading strategies. That is why hedge fund comes into the picture. This is the year of 2009, which takes the greatest history of the world in the following century. In the year of 2008 the world saw the greatest fall down of the world economy. Lots of people missing their jobs, lots of company were stopped. The world economy faced the highest losses in the history. These all factors are showing only one way to makeover from that greatest downfall that is hedging. 3The last couple of decades have witnessed a rapidly growing in the hedge funds. Relative to traditional investment portfolios hedge funds exhibit some unique characteristics; they are flexible with respect to the types of securities they hold and the type of the position they take. 1 Agarwal, V. and Naik, N. (2000). Multi-period performance persistence analysis of hedge fund s?. The journal of financial and quantitative analysis. Vol. 35, No,3. PP-327. 2 Agarwal, V. and Naik, N. (2004). Risks and portfolio decisions involving hedge funds?. The review of financial studies, Vol. 17, No.1. PP-64. 3 Journal of banking and finance 32(2008) 741-753- Hedge Fund Pricing and Model Uncertainty? by Spyridan D. Vrontos, Ioannis D. Vrontos, Daniel Giomouridies. 4The number of FOHFs increase by 40% between 2001 and 2003, and now comprised almost two third of the $650 billion invested in the USAs hedge fund market. Due to its nature it is difficult to estimate the current size of hedge fund industry. 5Van Hedge Fund Advisors estimates that by the end of 1998 there were 5380 hedge fund managing $311 in capital, with between $800 billion and $1 trillion in total assets, which indicates the higher number of recent new entries. So far, hedge fund is based on American phenomena. About 90% hedge fund managers are based in the US, 9% in Europe and 1% in Asia and elsewhere. Now a days around 5883 hedge funds are trading around the world. (*Barclay Hedge database) 4 Financial times, 29th October, 2003. www.vanhedge.com http://www.barclayhedge.com/products/hedge-fund-directory.html 1.1 Categories of Hedge fund investment objectives: Event Driven: Distressed securities- manager focuses on securities of companies in reorganization and bankruptcy, ranging from senior secured debt to the common stock of the company. Risk arbitrage- manager simultaneously buys stock in a company being acquired and sells stock in its acquirers. Global: International- manager pays attention to economic change around the world (except the United States) but more bottom-up oriented in that managers tend to be stock-pickers in markets they like. Uses index derivatives to a much lesser extent than macro managers. Emerging- Manager invests in less mature financial markets of the world, e.g. Hong Kong, Singapore, Pakistan, India. Because shorting is not permitted in many emerging markets, managers must go to cash or other markets when valuations make being long unattractive. Regional- Manager focuses on specific regions of the world, example- Latin America, Asia, and Europe. Global macro: Opportunistic trading manager that profits from changes in global economies typically based in major interest rate shifts. Uses leverage and derivatives. Market neutral: Long/short stocks- half long/half short. Manager attempts to lock-out or neutralize market risk. Convertible arbitrage- Manager goes long convertible securities and shorts the underlying equities. Stock index arbitrage- Manager buys a basket of stocks and sells short stock index futures, or the reverse. Fixed income arbitrage- Manager buys T-bonds and sells short index futures or the reverse. Short sales: Manager takes a position that stock prices will go down. Used as a hedge for long only portfolios and by those who feel market is approaching a bearish trend. U.S Opportunistic: Value â€Å" Manager focuses on assets, cash flow, book value, out-of-favor stocks. Growth â€Å" Manager invests in growth stocks, revenues, earnings, and growth potential are keys. Short term â€Å" Manager holds positions for a short time frame. Fund of fund: Capital is allocated among a number of hedge funds, providing investors with access to managers they might not be able to discover or evaluate in their own. Usually has a lower minimum than a hedge fund. Source: Carl Ackermann, Richard McEnally, and David Ravenscraft, The performance of hedge funds: Risk, Return and Incentives,? Journal of finance 54, no.3 (June 1999) figure 1, page-843. Reproduced from a hedge fund database firm named Managed Account Report (MAR) Inc, and distributed through LaPorte Asset Allocation System. 2. Literature review: Despite the increasing interest and recent development, few studies have been carried out on hedge funds comparing to other investment tools like mutual funds. An analysis of Hedge Fund performance 1984-2000? by Capocci Daniel using one of the greatest hedge fund database ever used on his working paper (2796 individual funds including 801 dissolved), to investigate hedge funds performance using various asset-pricing models, including an extension from of Carharts (1997) model combined with Fama and French (1998), Agarwal and Naik (2000) models that take into account the fact that some hedge funds invest in emerging market bond. At the end they found that their model does a better job describing hedge funds behaviour. That appears particularly good for the Event Driven, Global Macro, US Opportunistic, Equity non-Hedge and Sector funds. Since the early 1990s, when around 2000 hedge funds were managing assets totalling capital of $60 billion, the subsequent growth in the number and asset base of hedge funds has never really been refuted. The industry only suffered from a relative slowdown in 1998, but since then has enjoyed a renewed vitality with an estimated total of 10,000funds managing more than a trillion US dollars by the end of 2006. The growing trend of the sector remained remarkably sustained during the stock market collapse that started in March 2000, when the NASDAQ composite Index reached an all-time high of 5,132 and finished three years later with a floor level of 1,253. In the meantime, the global met asset value (NAV) of hedge funds continued to grow at a steady rate of 10.6% (Van Hedge Funds Advisors International, 2002), contrasting with a decrease of 2.7% in the worldwide mutual fund industry ( Investment Company Institute, 2003). In 2001, Capocci and Hubner(2004) estimated that there were 6,000 he dge fund managing around $400 billion. In 2007, Capocci, Duquenne and Hubner (2007) estimated that there were 10,000 hedge funds managing around $1 trillion. This is a growth of 11% in the number of funds and 26% in assets over six years (6PhD thesis paper by Daniel P.J. Capocci). Other studies from practitioners Hennessee (1994), and Oberuc (1994) also showed an evidence of superior performance in the case of hedge funds. Ackernann and Al. (1999) and Liang (1999) who compared the performance of hedge funds to mutual funds and several indices, found that hedge funds constantly obtained better performance than mutual funds. Their performance was not better than the performance of the market indices considered. They also indicated that the returns in hedge funds were more unstable than both the returns of mutual funds and those of market indices. According to Brown and Al. (1997) hedge funds showing good performance in the first part of the year reduce the volatility of their portfolio in the second half of the year (Capocci Daniel- An analysis of hedge fund performance 1984-2000). Taking all these results into account hedge funds seems a good investment tool. 6 PhD thesis paper by Daniel P.J. Capocci. Electronic copy available at: http//ssrn.com/abstract=1008319. 3. Research design and Methodology: In this section I would like to describe the empirical methodology to be used to measure the performance of hedge fund as well as the performance of FTSE 100 and SP 500. My aim is to identify which will give the better return for an investor. To investigate hedge funds performance and performance of FTSE 100 and SP 500 my study will follow some models like 4-factor model from of Carharts (1997) model, the 3-factor model from Fama and French (1993) models, the Sharpe ratio (1966) and Jensens alpha (1968) and CAPM. I divide my research into three sections. First section will analyse the performance of hedge funds, FTSE 100 and SP 500. This section sets out the models of performance measurement I will use. Second section will made correlation between Hedge fund vs. FTSE 100 and Hedge fund vs. SP 500 to find out the better portfolio. Third section will exposes a discussion as well as a description of my database and finally concludes the paper. 3.1. Performance measure models: The 4-factor model from Carhart (1997) Carharts (1997) 4-factor model is an extension of the Fama and French (1993) factor model. It not only takes into account the size of the firms, the book to market ratio, but there is an additional factor for the momentum effect. Grinblatt, Titman and Wermers (1995) define this effect as buying stocks that were past winners and selling past losers. This model is estimated with the following regressions: Rpt-Rft=ÃŽÂ ±p+ÃŽÂ ²pi (Rmt â€Å"Rft) + ÃŽÂ ²p2 SMBt +ÃŽÂ ²p3 HMLt + ÃŽÂ ²p4 PR1YRt + ept t= 1,2,,T Where SMBt= the factor mimicking portfolios for size; HMLt= the factor mimicking portfolio for book to market equity; PR1YRt= the factor mimicking portfolio for the momentum effect7 7 for a description of the construction of PR1YR see Carhart (1997). As stressed by Daniel et al. (1997), this model, which is effectively a four factor Jensen measure, assumes that betas with respect to the returns of four zero investment factor mimicking portfolios, are appropriate measures of multidimensional systematic risk. According to this model, in the absence of stock selection or timing abilities, the expected return for a fund is the sum of the risk free return and the products of the betas with the factor risk premium, which are simply the expected returns of each of these zero investment portfolios. The Carhart (1997) approach identifies a matching passive portfolio return for each fund return. This passive return, which is subtracted from the fund return to generate ÃŽÂ ±p, is a weighted average of the returns of the Carhart factor portfolios and the return of a one month T-bill (Capocci Daniel 2001, Journal- European Private Bankers, Nov, 2001). The 3-factor model from Fama and French (1993): Fama and French (1993) 3 factor model is estimated from an expected form of the CAPM regression. It takes the size and the book to market ratio of the firm into account. It uses the time series approach from Black, Jensen, and Scholles (1972) in the sense that the monthly returns on stocks are regressed on the returns to a market portfolio of stocks and mimicking portfolios for size and book to market. It is estimated from the following extension of the CAPM regression: Rpt-Rft=ÃŽÂ ±p+ÃŽÂ ²pi (Rmt â€Å"Rft) + ÃŽÂ ²p2 SMBt +ÃŽÂ ²p3 HMLt + ept t= 1,2,,T Where, SMBt= the factor mimicking portfolios for size, and HMLt= the factor mimicking portfolio for book to market equity. SMLt which comes from small minus big meant to mimic the risk factor in returns related to size, and HMLt which comes from high minus low meant to mimic the risk factor in returns related to book to market equity8. HML (respectively SMB) is neutral relative to the size effect (respectively to the book to market). This means that these factors do a good job isolating the firm-specific components of returns (Fama and French 1993, 1995, 1996 and 2000). 8 See Fama and French (1993) for a precise description of the construction of SMBt and HMLt. The Sharp Ratio (1966): The Sharp ratios (1966) calculate the ratio of the average excess return and the return standard deviation of the fund that is being evaluated. As such it measures the excess return per unit of risk. Assuming all asset returns to be normally distributed, the CAPM tells us that in equilibrium the highest attainable Sharpe ratio is that of the market index. In more general terms, the market indexs sharp ratio represents the set of return distributions that is obtained when statically combining the market index with cash. With the market index being highly diversified, these distributions offer the highest achievable expected return for every possible standard deviation (Gaurav S. Amin and Harry M.Kat (2002), Hedge fund performance 1990-2000). Jensens Alpha (1968): Jensens alpha was introduced in Jensen (1968) and equals the intercept of the regression: (Rh-Rf)= ÃŽÂ ± + ÃŽÂ ² (Ri- Rf) + eh, Where Rh is the fund return, Rf is the risk free rate and Ri is the total return on the market index. Like the Sharpe ratio, Jensens alpha is rooted in the CAPM. According to the CAPM, in equilibrium all (portfolios of) assets with the same beta will offer the same expected return, any positive deviation therefore indicates superior performance (Gaurav S. Amin and Harry M.Kat (2002), Hedge fund performance 1990-2000). Capital Asset Pricing Model: The first performance model that will be used is a capital asset pricing based single index model (CAPM). This model developed by Sharpe (1964) and Linter (1965) is the oldest performance evaluation model. Its formula is the following: Rpt â€Å" Rft = ÃŽÂ ±p + ÃŽÂ ²p (Rmt-Rft) + ept t= 1,2,, T Where, Rpt= return of fund p in month t, Rft= risk free return on month t, Rmt= return of the market portfolio on month t, ept= the error term, ÃŽÂ ±p and ÃŽÂ ²p= the intercept and the slope of the regression estimated. The intercept of this equation, ÃŽÂ ±p commonly called Jensens alpha (1968) is usually interpreted as a measure of out or under performance relative to the market proxy used. There are several extension of this model have been developed like- the Breeden (1979) intertemporal CAPM or the Ferson and Schadt (1996) CAPM that allows time variation in the expected returns and the risk (Capocci Daniel 2001, An analysis of hedge fund performance 1984- 2000). 4. Data Preparation: For data preparation my first step will be to collect the monthly data of the hedge fund index, FTSE 100 and SP 500. For my data collection I will use some sources like- Credit Suisse/ Tremont Hedge Fund Index (CSTHFI hereafter) which is an appropriate representative of the entire hedge fund industry, there are three biggest database of hedge fund in the world these are Managed Account Reports (MAR), Hedge Fund Research, Inc (HFR) and TASS Management (TASS). These databases were the most used in academic and commercial hedge fund studies. For the FTSE 100 and SP 500 I will use yahoo finance. 4.1. Bias in Hedge fund data: According to Ackermann et al. (1999) and to Fung and Hsieh (2000), two upward biases exist in the case of hedge funds. They do not exist in the case of mutual funds, and they both have an opposite impact to the survivorship bias. Survivorship bias is an important issue in mutual funds performance studies (see Carhart and al. 2000). This bias is present when a database contains only funds that have data for the whole period studies. In this case, there is a risk of overestimating the mean performance because the funds that would have ceased to exist because of their bad performance would not be taken into account. The two upward biases exist because, since hedge funds are not allowed to advertise, they consider inclusion in a database primarily as a marketing tool. The first phenomenon stressed by Ackermann and al. (1999) and called the self-selection bias is present because funds that realize good performance have less incentive to report their performance to data providers in order to attract new investors. The second point called instant history bias or backfilled bias (Fung and Hsieh 2000) occurs because after inclusion a funds performance history is backfilled. This may cause an upward bias because funds with less satisfactory performance history are less likely to apply for inclusion than funds with good performance history (Capocci Daniel 2001, An analysis of hedge fund performance 1984- 2000). To avoid these biases I will try to take all funds both living and dissolved into account. Once I have collected all the data that I need I will use SPSS to test the correlation between my two benchmarks FTSE 100 and SP 500. 5. Contingency Plan: To make my research effective I made a well constructed plan. I have drafted a project plan (Appendix A) with scheduled dates for when I intend to complete sections for submission. After completing my final exam I will jump in to this field. Advises from previous students who completed their dissertation, I made my project plan flexible to keep some things in mind like supervisors holiday and any unforeseen events such as my illness. I will try to keep a good communication with my supervisor for checking that I am in right track. I plan to make some formal meetings with my supervisor to discuss my progress and I will try to inform him about the state of my work. It is hard to spending too much time over one task and going off track, I hope I will manage this if there is no rush at the very last minute. Another worry is the collecting and analysing the data, that is why I plan to collect the data early June once I have finished my research design. If I face any kind of difficulties I will inform him and make a cut-off point where I should stop searching the board data and start my own primary data. As I do all SPSS classes and briefly touched about this, I think it will be easy to analyze the data but I need to increase a bit of use of control on it by practicing more. So I will set aside time for collecting data and practice more SPSS for regression analysis. I hope if all these go well, I will make my dissertation very effectively. Analysis Of Hedge Fund Performances Analysis Of Hedge Fund Performances 1. INTRODUTION: Hedge funds are actively managed portfolios that hold positions in publicly traded securities. Gaurav S. Amin and Harry M. Kat (2000) stated on their report that A hedge fund is typically defined as a pooled investment vehicle that is privately organized, administrated by professional investment managers, and not widely available to the public? It charges both a performance fee and a management fee. It allows a flexible investment for a small number of large investors (usually the minimum investment is $1 million) can use high risk techniques. Nowadays it is very clear that in the matter of alternative investment mutual fund is not performing well. As a high absolute returns and typically have features such as hurdle rates and incentive fees with high watermark provision hedge fund gives a better align to the interests of managers and investors. Moreover mutual funds typically use a long-only buy-and-hold type strategy on standard asset classes, which help to capture risk premia asso ciate with equity risk, interest rate risk, default risk etc. However, they are not very helpful in capturing risk premia associate with dynamic trading strategies. That is why hedge fund comes into the picture. This is the year of 2009, which takes the greatest history of the world in the following century. In the year of 2008 the world saw the greatest fall down of the world economy. Lots of people missing their jobs, lots of company were stopped. The world economy faced the highest losses in the history. These all factors are showing only one way to makeover from that greatest downfall that is hedging. 3The last couple of decades have witnessed a rapidly growing in the hedge funds. Relative to traditional investment portfolios hedge funds exhibit some unique characteristics; they are flexible with respect to the types of securities they hold and the type of the position they take. 1 Agarwal, V. and Naik, N. (2000). Multi-period performance persistence analysis of hedge fund s?. The journal of financial and quantitative analysis. Vol. 35, No,3. PP-327. 2 Agarwal, V. and Naik, N. (2004). Risks and portfolio decisions involving hedge funds?. The review of financial studies, Vol. 17, No.1. PP-64. 3 Journal of banking and finance 32(2008) 741-753- Hedge Fund Pricing and Model Uncertainty? by Spyridan D. Vrontos, Ioannis D. Vrontos, Daniel Giomouridies. 4The number of FOHFs increase by 40% between 2001 and 2003, and now comprised almost two third of the $650 billion invested in the USAs hedge fund market. Due to its nature it is difficult to estimate the current size of hedge fund industry. 5Van Hedge Fund Advisors estimates that by the end of 1998 there were 5380 hedge fund managing $311 in capital, with between $800 billion and $1 trillion in total assets, which indicates the higher number of recent new entries. So far, hedge fund is based on American phenomena. About 90% hedge fund managers are based in the US, 9% in Europe and 1% in Asia and elsewhere. Now a days around 5883 hedge funds are trading around the world. (*Barclay Hedge database) 4 Financial times, 29th October, 2003. www.vanhedge.com http://www.barclayhedge.com/products/hedge-fund-directory.html 1.1 Categories of Hedge fund investment objectives: Event Driven: Distressed securities- manager focuses on securities of companies in reorganization and bankruptcy, ranging from senior secured debt to the common stock of the company. Risk arbitrage- manager simultaneously buys stock in a company being acquired and sells stock in its acquirers. Global: International- manager pays attention to economic change around the world (except the United States) but more bottom-up oriented in that managers tend to be stock-pickers in markets they like. Uses index derivatives to a much lesser extent than macro managers. Emerging- Manager invests in less mature financial markets of the world, e.g. Hong Kong, Singapore, Pakistan, India. Because shorting is not permitted in many emerging markets, managers must go to cash or other markets when valuations make being long unattractive. Regional- Manager focuses on specific regions of the world, example- Latin America, Asia, and Europe. Global macro: Opportunistic trading manager that profits from changes in global economies typically based in major interest rate shifts. Uses leverage and derivatives. Market neutral: Long/short stocks- half long/half short. Manager attempts to lock-out or neutralize market risk. Convertible arbitrage- Manager goes long convertible securities and shorts the underlying equities. Stock index arbitrage- Manager buys a basket of stocks and sells short stock index futures, or the reverse. Fixed income arbitrage- Manager buys T-bonds and sells short index futures or the reverse. Short sales: Manager takes a position that stock prices will go down. Used as a hedge for long only portfolios and by those who feel market is approaching a bearish trend. U.S Opportunistic: Value â€Å" Manager focuses on assets, cash flow, book value, out-of-favor stocks. Growth â€Å" Manager invests in growth stocks, revenues, earnings, and growth potential are keys. Short term â€Å" Manager holds positions for a short time frame. Fund of fund: Capital is allocated among a number of hedge funds, providing investors with access to managers they might not be able to discover or evaluate in their own. Usually has a lower minimum than a hedge fund. Source: Carl Ackermann, Richard McEnally, and David Ravenscraft, The performance of hedge funds: Risk, Return and Incentives,? Journal of finance 54, no.3 (June 1999) figure 1, page-843. Reproduced from a hedge fund database firm named Managed Account Report (MAR) Inc, and distributed through LaPorte Asset Allocation System. 2. Literature review: Despite the increasing interest and recent development, few studies have been carried out on hedge funds comparing to other investment tools like mutual funds. An analysis of Hedge Fund performance 1984-2000? by Capocci Daniel using one of the greatest hedge fund database ever used on his working paper (2796 individual funds including 801 dissolved), to investigate hedge funds performance using various asset-pricing models, including an extension from of Carharts (1997) model combined with Fama and French (1998), Agarwal and Naik (2000) models that take into account the fact that some hedge funds invest in emerging market bond. At the end they found that their model does a better job describing hedge funds behaviour. That appears particularly good for the Event Driven, Global Macro, US Opportunistic, Equity non-Hedge and Sector funds. Since the early 1990s, when around 2000 hedge funds were managing assets totalling capital of $60 billion, the subsequent growth in the number and asset base of hedge funds has never really been refuted. The industry only suffered from a relative slowdown in 1998, but since then has enjoyed a renewed vitality with an estimated total of 10,000funds managing more than a trillion US dollars by the end of 2006. The growing trend of the sector remained remarkably sustained during the stock market collapse that started in March 2000, when the NASDAQ composite Index reached an all-time high of 5,132 and finished three years later with a floor level of 1,253. In the meantime, the global met asset value (NAV) of hedge funds continued to grow at a steady rate of 10.6% (Van Hedge Funds Advisors International, 2002), contrasting with a decrease of 2.7% in the worldwide mutual fund industry ( Investment Company Institute, 2003). In 2001, Capocci and Hubner(2004) estimated that there were 6,000 he dge fund managing around $400 billion. In 2007, Capocci, Duquenne and Hubner (2007) estimated that there were 10,000 hedge funds managing around $1 trillion. This is a growth of 11% in the number of funds and 26% in assets over six years (6PhD thesis paper by Daniel P.J. Capocci). Other studies from practitioners Hennessee (1994), and Oberuc (1994) also showed an evidence of superior performance in the case of hedge funds. Ackernann and Al. (1999) and Liang (1999) who compared the performance of hedge funds to mutual funds and several indices, found that hedge funds constantly obtained better performance than mutual funds. Their performance was not better than the performance of the market indices considered. They also indicated that the returns in hedge funds were more unstable than both the returns of mutual funds and those of market indices. According to Brown and Al. (1997) hedge funds showing good performance in the first part of the year reduce the volatility of their portfolio in the second half of the year (Capocci Daniel- An analysis of hedge fund performance 1984-2000). Taking all these results into account hedge funds seems a good investment tool. 6 PhD thesis paper by Daniel P.J. Capocci. Electronic copy available at: http//ssrn.com/abstract=1008319. 3. Research design and Methodology: In this section I would like to describe the empirical methodology to be used to measure the performance of hedge fund as well as the performance of FTSE 100 and SP 500. My aim is to identify which will give the better return for an investor. To investigate hedge funds performance and performance of FTSE 100 and SP 500 my study will follow some models like 4-factor model from of Carharts (1997) model, the 3-factor model from Fama and French (1993) models, the Sharpe ratio (1966) and Jensens alpha (1968) and CAPM. I divide my research into three sections. First section will analyse the performance of hedge funds, FTSE 100 and SP 500. This section sets out the models of performance measurement I will use. Second section will made correlation between Hedge fund vs. FTSE 100 and Hedge fund vs. SP 500 to find out the better portfolio. Third section will exposes a discussion as well as a description of my database and finally concludes the paper. 3.1. Performance measure models: The 4-factor model from Carhart (1997) Carharts (1997) 4-factor model is an extension of the Fama and French (1993) factor model. It not only takes into account the size of the firms, the book to market ratio, but there is an additional factor for the momentum effect. Grinblatt, Titman and Wermers (1995) define this effect as buying stocks that were past winners and selling past losers. This model is estimated with the following regressions: Rpt-Rft=ÃŽÂ ±p+ÃŽÂ ²pi (Rmt â€Å"Rft) + ÃŽÂ ²p2 SMBt +ÃŽÂ ²p3 HMLt + ÃŽÂ ²p4 PR1YRt + ept t= 1,2,,T Where SMBt= the factor mimicking portfolios for size; HMLt= the factor mimicking portfolio for book to market equity; PR1YRt= the factor mimicking portfolio for the momentum effect7 7 for a description of the construction of PR1YR see Carhart (1997). As stressed by Daniel et al. (1997), this model, which is effectively a four factor Jensen measure, assumes that betas with respect to the returns of four zero investment factor mimicking portfolios, are appropriate measures of multidimensional systematic risk. According to this model, in the absence of stock selection or timing abilities, the expected return for a fund is the sum of the risk free return and the products of the betas with the factor risk premium, which are simply the expected returns of each of these zero investment portfolios. The Carhart (1997) approach identifies a matching passive portfolio return for each fund return. This passive return, which is subtracted from the fund return to generate ÃŽÂ ±p, is a weighted average of the returns of the Carhart factor portfolios and the return of a one month T-bill (Capocci Daniel 2001, Journal- European Private Bankers, Nov, 2001). The 3-factor model from Fama and French (1993): Fama and French (1993) 3 factor model is estimated from an expected form of the CAPM regression. It takes the size and the book to market ratio of the firm into account. It uses the time series approach from Black, Jensen, and Scholles (1972) in the sense that the monthly returns on stocks are regressed on the returns to a market portfolio of stocks and mimicking portfolios for size and book to market. It is estimated from the following extension of the CAPM regression: Rpt-Rft=ÃŽÂ ±p+ÃŽÂ ²pi (Rmt â€Å"Rft) + ÃŽÂ ²p2 SMBt +ÃŽÂ ²p3 HMLt + ept t= 1,2,,T Where, SMBt= the factor mimicking portfolios for size, and HMLt= the factor mimicking portfolio for book to market equity. SMLt which comes from small minus big meant to mimic the risk factor in returns related to size, and HMLt which comes from high minus low meant to mimic the risk factor in returns related to book to market equity8. HML (respectively SMB) is neutral relative to the size effect (respectively to the book to market). This means that these factors do a good job isolating the firm-specific components of returns (Fama and French 1993, 1995, 1996 and 2000). 8 See Fama and French (1993) for a precise description of the construction of SMBt and HMLt. The Sharp Ratio (1966): The Sharp ratios (1966) calculate the ratio of the average excess return and the return standard deviation of the fund that is being evaluated. As such it measures the excess return per unit of risk. Assuming all asset returns to be normally distributed, the CAPM tells us that in equilibrium the highest attainable Sharpe ratio is that of the market index. In more general terms, the market indexs sharp ratio represents the set of return distributions that is obtained when statically combining the market index with cash. With the market index being highly diversified, these distributions offer the highest achievable expected return for every possible standard deviation (Gaurav S. Amin and Harry M.Kat (2002), Hedge fund performance 1990-2000). Jensens Alpha (1968): Jensens alpha was introduced in Jensen (1968) and equals the intercept of the regression: (Rh-Rf)= ÃŽÂ ± + ÃŽÂ ² (Ri- Rf) + eh, Where Rh is the fund return, Rf is the risk free rate and Ri is the total return on the market index. Like the Sharpe ratio, Jensens alpha is rooted in the CAPM. According to the CAPM, in equilibrium all (portfolios of) assets with the same beta will offer the same expected return, any positive deviation therefore indicates superior performance (Gaurav S. Amin and Harry M.Kat (2002), Hedge fund performance 1990-2000). Capital Asset Pricing Model: The first performance model that will be used is a capital asset pricing based single index model (CAPM). This model developed by Sharpe (1964) and Linter (1965) is the oldest performance evaluation model. Its formula is the following: Rpt â€Å" Rft = ÃŽÂ ±p + ÃŽÂ ²p (Rmt-Rft) + ept t= 1,2,, T Where, Rpt= return of fund p in month t, Rft= risk free return on month t, Rmt= return of the market portfolio on month t, ept= the error term, ÃŽÂ ±p and ÃŽÂ ²p= the intercept and the slope of the regression estimated. The intercept of this equation, ÃŽÂ ±p commonly called Jensens alpha (1968) is usually interpreted as a measure of out or under performance relative to the market proxy used. There are several extension of this model have been developed like- the Breeden (1979) intertemporal CAPM or the Ferson and Schadt (1996) CAPM that allows time variation in the expected returns and the risk (Capocci Daniel 2001, An analysis of hedge fund performance 1984- 2000). 4. Data Preparation: For data preparation my first step will be to collect the monthly data of the hedge fund index, FTSE 100 and SP 500. For my data collection I will use some sources like- Credit Suisse/ Tremont Hedge Fund Index (CSTHFI hereafter) which is an appropriate representative of the entire hedge fund industry, there are three biggest database of hedge fund in the world these are Managed Account Reports (MAR), Hedge Fund Research, Inc (HFR) and TASS Management (TASS). These databases were the most used in academic and commercial hedge fund studies. For the FTSE 100 and SP 500 I will use yahoo finance. 4.1. Bias in Hedge fund data: According to Ackermann et al. (1999) and to Fung and Hsieh (2000), two upward biases exist in the case of hedge funds. They do not exist in the case of mutual funds, and they both have an opposite impact to the survivorship bias. Survivorship bias is an important issue in mutual funds performance studies (see Carhart and al. 2000). This bias is present when a database contains only funds that have data for the whole period studies. In this case, there is a risk of overestimating the mean performance because the funds that would have ceased to exist because of their bad performance would not be taken into account. The two upward biases exist because, since hedge funds are not allowed to advertise, they consider inclusion in a database primarily as a marketing tool. The first phenomenon stressed by Ackermann and al. (1999) and called the self-selection bias is present because funds that realize good performance have less incentive to report their performance to data providers in order to attract new investors. The second point called instant history bias or backfilled bias (Fung and Hsieh 2000) occurs because after inclusion a funds performance history is backfilled. This may cause an upward bias because funds with less satisfactory performance history are less likely to apply for inclusion than funds with good performance history (Capocci Daniel 2001, An analysis of hedge fund performance 1984- 2000). To avoid these biases I will try to take all funds both living and dissolved into account. Once I have collected all the data that I need I will use SPSS to test the correlation between my two benchmarks FTSE 100 and SP 500. 5. Contingency Plan: To make my research effective I made a well constructed plan. I have drafted a project plan (Appendix A) with scheduled dates for when I intend to complete sections for submission. After completing my final exam I will jump in to this field. Advises from previous students who completed their dissertation, I made my project plan flexible to keep some things in mind like supervisors holiday and any unforeseen events such as my illness. I will try to keep a good communication with my supervisor for checking that I am in right track. I plan to make some formal meetings with my supervisor to discuss my progress and I will try to inform him about the state of my work. It is hard to spending too much time over one task and going off track, I hope I will manage this if there is no rush at the very last minute. Another worry is the collecting and analysing the data, that is why I plan to collect the data early June once I have finished my research design. If I face any kind of difficulties I will inform him and make a cut-off point where I should stop searching the board data and start my own primary data. As I do all SPSS classes and briefly touched about this, I think it will be easy to analyze the data but I need to increase a bit of use of control on it by practicing more. So I will set aside time for collecting data and practice more SPSS for regression analysis. I hope if all these go well, I will make my dissertation very effectively.

TH :: essays research papers

Needs completing The Tommy Hilfiger Corporation, through its subsidiaries, designs, sources and markets men's and women's, and children’s clothing under the Tommy Hilfiger trademarks. The Tommy Hilfiger Corporations major product is clothing which is broken into two major product categories men’s and women’s clothing. Tommy Hilfiger has an aggressive market development strategy with diversifying and pursuing markets that are already carried by the company. The company has taken their success in the U.S and found comparable markets overseas with a great deal of success. The company is strongest in the US because of sheer volumes. They are the fastest growing in Europe. They are also the No 1 designer brand in Central America, South America and Canada. The company holds steady in the top ten in Japan with lots of competition. The business is also strong in South-East Asian markets like Hong Kong, Taiwan, Korea, and Singapore. Tommy Hilfiger is currently setting up all over China and considers India its new horizon. The company’s market development is strong and growing with each quarterly report. They offer new products to existing target markets worldwide and are also exploring the involvement in products without the Tommy Hilfiger namesake. Through a range of strategic licensing agreements, the Company offers a broad array of related apparel, accessories, footwear, fragrance and home furnishings. The Company's products can be found in leading department and specialty stores throughout the United States, Canada, Europe, Mexico, Central and South America, Japan, Hong Kong and other countries in the Far East, as well as the Company's own network of specialty and outlet stores in the United States, Canada and Europe. www.tommyhilfiger.com   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Tommy Hilfiger has a competitive advantage compared to its competitors. There product mix is what gives them the advantage on competitors like Sean John, Phat Pharm, Ecko and Enyce. With other competitors like Nautica and Polo, they compete on similar grounds, but lead them with the shear diversity of their product mix. Both Polo and Ralph Lauren are legendary brands, but Tommy Hilfiger has done and outstanding job with micromarketing and appealing to the core of fashion buyers. Tommy Hilfiger leaves his urban competition behind with his strong International markets and the ability to open new markets where fashion has not been a top sale. Within the volatile industry of fashion, Tommy Hilfiger is seen as a much more stable brand. Their product appeals to a larger segment of the U.

Guinness coursework

Tipping point has been the most talked about advert of recent times, partly to do with the amount of money spent on it but mostly due to the amount of props and effects used. In this review I will analyse various aspects of the ad including camera work, colour, setting, props and actors. One of the many shots used is the close up which emphasises certain aspects of the ad. The close up is used at the start to show the man's hand just before he pushes over the dominoes, this emphasises the importance of that particular action and it undoubtedly draws the viewer's attention to it. Another close up is also used later on in the ad to highlight certain expressions on people's faces & this changes the mood and the momentum of the ad. Alongside the close ups, the long shot has also been utilised in order to provide a panoramic view & also gives the exact position of the object or character in relation to the surroundings. The two shots mentioned above effectively communicate the mood and body language of the characters thereby igniting the interest of the viewers whilst making them more inquisitive. As far as the colour is concerned the ad is given a time effect where the hues of the objects & buildings appear faded and worn out & makes the audience trace the product advertised to its origin. It also conveys that the product has a long lasting relationship with the audience & has been a part & parcel of their daily lives. Colours affect our moods and help us visualise the situation. Using right colours and tones leaves a lasting effect on viewers' mind which eventually results in them contemplating the purchase. The colours used are also quite dull which wouldn't normally be associated with modern life therefore showing that the product has a history of serving the audience i.e. in the olden days. Setting is very crucial to the character of the product. It helps viewers identify themselves with the product and creates a sense of belonging and pride in being associated with the product. The setting seems to be in an old foreign village which might indicate that the product has reached out to people in other parts of the world and this may portray the product as being well known so people might want to try it. The setting may also invoke a sense of belonging as the village and its people are seem to be of a certain mould who are linked to the product, the audience may be drawn towards the product because of this. The props which have been chosen also play an important role in making the ad a success. They have been particularly chosen because they represent the characters' lifestyles which seem to very ordinary and basic i.e. plain cardboard boxes have been used which indicates the simplicity of the village. However despite this simplicity the product seems to be an integral part of their lifestyle and I feel the props have been selected to contrast with the big glass of Guinness at the end which is far from simple in terms of size and colour. Apart from these points, the undoubtedly most significant factor is the domino effect which the ad itself revolves around. The domino effect provides the excitement in the ad and its perfect synchronisation intrigues the viewer as well as making the ad memorable, therefore embedding an image of the product in the viewers' minds. Another aspect of the advert is the actors whose reactions and expressions provide the excitement and a sense of fun. The actors more or less react to the events in a similar way however they are all doing their own thing whether it is working in bakery or looking after the livestock. The idea behind this is to show that no matter what type of person or profession Guinness is something all the locals have in common; they all cheer together when the domino effect is happening and also rejoice in sync as the glass of Guinness is â€Å"filled†. As well as the setting, the actors also contribute to a sense of belonging which attracts the viewer and makes them try the product. Also, the characters have been portrayed in such a way which makes them seem as they to some extent worship the product which may represent the love for Guinness buyers have around the world. Having reviewed and analysed the different features of the ad I believe that the its success has been largely due to the domino effect shown in the ad this has made the ad memorable and eye-catching. However, other factors like colour and setting have also made the ad a wonder. I am confident that applying these features to our adverts will surely increase the popularity of our product amongst the public.

Hierarchy of Roman Offices in the Cursus Honorum

Hierarchy of Roman Offices in the Cursus Honorum The order of advancement through elected offices (magistracies) in Republican Rome was known as the cursus honorum. The sequence of offices in the cursus honorum meant that an office couldnt be skipped, in theory. There were exceptions. There were also optional offices that could be steps along the cursus honorum. Sequence Leading to the Top Office of Consul A Roman male of the upper classes became Quaestor before he could be elected Praetor. He had to be elected Praetor before Consul, but the candidate need not have been either an Aedile or Tribune. Other Requirements for Progress Along the Cursus Honorum The Quaestor candidate had to be at least 28. Two years had to elapse between the end of one office and the beginning of the next step on the cursus honorum. The Roles of the Cursus Honorum Magistrates and the Senate Originally, the magistrates sought the advice of the Senate when and if they wished. Over time, the Senate, which was made up of the magistrates past and present, insisted on being consulted. Insignia of the Magistrates and Senators Once admitted to the Senate, the magistrate wore a wide purple stripe on his tunic. This was called the latus clavus. He also wore a special scarlet colored shoe, the calceus mulleus, with a C on it. Like the equestrians, senators wore gold rings and sat in the reserved front row seats at performances. The Meeting Place of the Senate The Senate usually met in the Curia Hostilia, north of the Forum Romanum and facing the street called the Argiletum. [See Forum Map.] At the time of Caesars assassination, in 44 B.C., the Curia was being rebuilt, so the Senate met in Pompeys theater. The Magistrates of the Cursus Honorum Quaestor: The first position in the cursus honorum was Quaestor. The term of Quaestor lasted a year. Originally there were two Quaestors, but the number increased to four in 421, to six in 267, and then to eight in 227. In 81, the number was increased to twenty. The Assembly of the thirty-five tribes, the Comitia Tributa, elected Quaestors. Tribune of the Plebs: Annually elected by the plebeian section of the Assembly of the Tribes (Comitia Tributa), known as the Concilium Plebis, there were originally two  Tribunes of the Plebs, but by 449 B.C., there were ten. The Tribune held great power. His physical person was sacrosanct, and he could veto anyone, including another Tribune. A Tribune could not, however, veto a dictator. The office of Tribune was not a mandatory stage of the cursus honorum. Aedile:  The Concilium Plebis elected two Plebeian Aediles each year. The Assembly of the thirty-five tribes or Comitia Tributa elected two  Curule Aediles annually. It was not necessary to be an Aedile while following the cursus honorum. Praetor:  Elected by the Assembly of the Centuries, known as the Comitia Centuriata, the Praetors held office for a year. The number of Praetors increased from two to four in 227; and then to six in 197. In 81, the number was increased to eight. Praetors were accompanied by two lictores within the confines of the city. The lictores carried the ceremonial rods and ax or fasces that could, in fact, be used to inflict punishment. Consul:  The Comitia Centuriata or Assembly of the Centuries elected 2 Consuls annually. Their honors included being accompanied by 12 lictores and wearing the toga praetexta. This is the top rung of the cursus honorum. Sources Marsh, Frank Burr; revised by H.H. Scullard. A History of the Roman World From 146 to 30 B.C. London: Methuen Co. Ltd., 1971.www.theaterofpompey.com/rome/reviewmagist.shtml Regular Magistracies of the Roman Republic From T. S. R. Broughtons Magistrates of the Roman Republic.The Procedure of the Senate, by A. G. Russell.  Greece Rome, Vol. 2, No. 5 (Feb., 1933), pp. 112-121.Jona Lendering Cursus Honorum

Atomic Mass From Atomic Abundance Chemistry Problem

Atomic Mass From Atomic Abundance Chemistry Problem You may have noticed the atomic mass of an element isnt the same as the sum of the protons and neutrons of a single atom. This is because elements exist as multiple isotopes. While each atom of an element has the same number of protons, it can have a variable number of neutrons. The atomic mass on the periodic table is a weighted average of the atomic masses of atoms observed in all samples of that element. You can use the atomic abundance to calculate the atomic mass of any element sample if you know the percentage of each isotope. Atomic Abundance Example Chemistry Problem The element boron consists of two isotopes, 105B and 115B. Their masses, based on the carbon scale, are 10.01 and 11.01, respectively. The abundance of 105B is 20.0% and the abundance of 115B is 80.0%. What is the atomic mass of boron? Solution: The percentages of multiple isotopes must add up to 100%. Apply the following equation to the problem: atomic mass (atomic mass X1) Â · (% of X1)/100 (atomic mass X2) Â · (% of X2)/100 ...where X is an isotope of the element and % of X is the abundance of the isotope X. Substitute the values for boron in this equation: atomic mass of B (atomic mass of 105B Â · % of 105B/100) (atomic mass of 115B Â · % of 115B/100)atomic mass of B (10.01Â · 20.0/100) (11.01Â · 80.0/100)atomic mass of B 2.00 8.81atomic mass of B 10.81 Answer: The atomic mass of boron is 10.81. Note that this is the value listed in the periodic table for the atomic mass of boron. Although the atomic number of boron is 10, its atomic mass is nearer to 11 than to 10, reflecting the fact that the heavier isotope is more abundant than the lighter isotope. Why Arent Electrons Included? The number and mass of electrons is not included in an atomic mass calculation because the mass of the electron is infinitesimal compared to that of a proton or neutron. Basically, electrons dont significantly affect the mass of an atom.

Critical Evaluation of the Paper Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Critical Evaluation of the Paper - Case Study Example Viewed through a different lens, we can also see the author’s attempt to effortlessly move from theory to practice and back. This can be accomplished if practice dictates theoretical constructs that can be tested in different firms and industries. Another criterion that could enable this movement is the deconstruction of a complex subject into a well-ordered sequence. The author has been able to fulfill this through his 10-step procedure for strategic thinking. We would provide a balanced approach that hints towards the affirmative, yet there are some gaps that have not been addressed. To illustrate, let us look at Schoemaker where he says that his purpose is to provide a systematic methodology that would fashion a bridge between theory and practice. Whilst agreeing that the author has definitely provided a systematic methodology, there is no evidence of the academic theory that can be tested against the practice. In fact, the author makes no effort to state the key tenets of theory with regard to scenario planning. On the contrary, the paper abounds with several thoughtful instances drawn from practice, where organizational actors and organizations faced critical situations. Extending the answer to our question further, we also find that the author has omitted to explain the validity of his methodology to the context of the broader environment. In other words, we do not know whether the insights gained from these two companies are sufficient to provide an all-encompassing answer with regard to scenario planning.... The author has been able to fulfill this through his 10-step procedure for strategic thinking. Has the author been able to meet his stated purpose through this paper? We would provide a balanced approach that hints towards the affirmative, yet there are some gaps that have not been addressed. To illustrate, let us look at Schoemaker (1995 p.26) where he says that his purpose is to provide a systematic methodology that would fashion a bridge between theory and practice. Whilst agreeing that the author has definitely provided a systematic methodology, there is no evidence of academic theory that can be tested against practice. In fact, the author makes no effort to state the key tenets of theory with regard to scenario planning. On the contrary, the paper abounds with several thoughtful instances drawn from practice, where organizational actors and organizations faced critical situations. Extending the answer to our question further, we also find that the author has omitted to explain the validity of his methodology to the context of the broader environment. In other words, we do not know whether the insights gained from these two companies are sufficient to provide an all-encompassing answer with regard to scenario planning. We have evidence mainly from industry. There are two firms where the author has studied scenario planning. He has probably adopted the role of a facilitator or consultant in these two firms. Hence we can say that the author draws more upon primary research to enhance the credibility of his arguments. Notably, the author also makes select references to past events that transpired such as the attack of Pearl Harbor by the Japanese, the vast penetration of personal

A literature review on Capital Investment Decisions Essay

A literature review on Capital Investment Decisions - Essay Example Some experienced investors feel that while making investments decisions it is very important to have a personal involvement rather than admitting a broker. The Global Investment Institute [2007] observes that relying on brokers will lack attention towards the account section, which seems to help a lot in increasing the returns of investments. In addition to that it says, â€Å"You need to become familiar with each stock you have in your portfolio so that you can make decisions on your own in the short-term, while still relying upon your financial advisor to structure your portfolio with a mix of the right instruments (stocks, bonds, money market, etc.) to help you make money in the long run†.Global-Investment-institute.com [2007]. Investment decision making is not an easy job, as the people involved in decision-making process have to calculate the previous income statements of the company or business is addition to evaluating all the accounts report and statistical details of the profit and loss of the company. Capital investments decisions have to be prepared relying on the returns and analysing whether the investment would be profitable. However, they are found to be useful in terms of â€Å"formulating long term goals†, â€Å"recognition of statistically dependent proposals†, â€Å"estimation and forecasting of current and future cash flows† etc observes [fao.org 2007] in addition to this fao.org initiates the economic evaluation of the investment proposals as another important aspect of investment decision making. The investment alternatives also have to be considered in order to make the decision in a profitable way. The investment analysis plays a very important role as a precautionary step in decision-making as there appears to be risks in returns, which would be acting as a major drawback in the financial conditions of a business or a company. There are instances of wrong decision-making in which there might be either lack of organised