A review of efficient market hypothesisâ€from the point of view of current financial crisis The WritePass Journal

A review of efficient market hypothesis- from the point of view of current financial crisis 1 Introduction A review of efficient market hypothesis- from the point of view of current financial crisis 1 Introduction2 Overview of EMH2.1 Definition2.1.1 Descriptive Definition2.1.2 Formulated Definition2.2 Main points of EMH2.2.1 Main points from microeconomic perspective2.2.2 The preconditions of EMH2.2 Three Forms Efficient Market and Their Test2.2.1 Weak form efficient market and its test2.2.2 Semi-strong efficient market and its test2.2.3 Strong form efficient market and its tests3 Discussions of EMH from the current Financial Crisis3.1 The Evolution of Current Financial Crisis3.2 What does EMH faces in the financial crisis?3.3 What do we learn from financial crisis?4 ConclusionsBibliographyRelated 1 Introduction Since Fama (1970) published his paper Efficient capital markets: A review of theory and empirical work summarized the basic Efficient Market hypothesis (henceforth EMH) content and the tests based on it, the economics professors has never stopped to debate on it. According to Fama (1969), EMH is an interpretation about how do stock prices relate to the market information. EMH states that the security prices already incorporate and reflect all relevant information. Currently the whole world faces massive financial crisis while EMH and other theories based on it has faced opprobrium and questioning. This paper includes an overview of EMH and discussions about the strength and limitations from point of view of the current financial crisis. There are three parts in this paper. In the first part, I have summarized the EMH including the definition and three forms of efficient markets. In the second part, I have evaluated the strengths, and limitations of EMH from the point of view of current financial crisis. In the third part, I have given my own conclusion about EMH. 2 Overview of EMH 2.1 Definition According to Fama (1969) and Jensen (1978), EMH can be described as the text and mathematic formula as the following. 2.1.1 Descriptive Definition As Fama (1969) has stated, Efficient Market Hypothesis is an interpretation about how do stock prices relate to the market information. EMH means that the security prices already incorporate and reflect all relevant information. So it is impossible to beat the market to obtain extra profit. As Malkiel (2003) described â€Å"Markets do not allow investors to earn above average returns without accepting above-average risks†. 2.1.2 Formulated Definition Jensen (1978) has stated the formulization and model concepts of market efficiency. The joint distribution established based on the information consistent with the joint distribution of future price, the specific formulation is as (1.1). (|)  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   (1.1) indicates the joint density function of the correct future prices, while (|) indicates the joint density function of future security prices based on all the available information at the time point t. Then we can rewrite the formula as (1.2). =  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  (1.2). In this formula, indicates the expectation of true yield stock j at the time point t.   indicates the estimated expectation at time point t, which is equilibrium yield. That means the return expectation which is obtained from an economic activity is equal to its marginal cost. That is, when there is no cost of information collection, the return expectation should be 0. 2.2 Main points of EMH 2.2.1 Main points from microeconomic perspective From the microeconomic perspective, EMH is under the assumption of economic man which is from Adam Smith. It means people are rational and self-interest. Similarly, in the stock market, the people who trade stock are also this kind of economic man. In the financial market, every stock represents its company which is under strict surveillance of rational and self-interested people. They conduct fundamental analysis; estimate the companys future profitability to evaluate the companys stock prices, then discount future values to present value, cautiously choose between risk and return trade-offs. EMH shows the balance between demand and supply in markets. For every stock, the number of people who want to sell is equal to those who want to buy, that is, the number of people who think the stock is overvalued is equal to those who think the stock is undervalued. If somebody finds that it is unbalance between those two kinds of people, in other words, if there is a possibility of arbitrage, rational traders will immediately buy or sell stock to make them equal. This is the basic theory of supply and demand in economics. On the one hand, any fluctuation on the prices of commodities is a result of supply and demand changes. On the other hand, prices impact the relationship between supply and demand. 2.2.2 The preconditions of EMH As Fama (1970) has stated the efficient market is based on three preconditions. Firstly, the cost of information is 0. Secondly, the market is perfectly competitive market. Thirdly, all investors are rational. Firstly, according to the definition of Fama, the market is inefficient. Grossman and Stiglitz (1980) have proofed that no cost of information is the sufficient condition for efficient market.This condition exposes on questions on the market structure. It is unrealistic if transaction costs and taxes are 0. On contrary, huge transaction costs may hinder the possibility of arbitrage in real world. That may cause the stock prices do not increase with good information and information is not reflected in the price. The second precondition of EMH is the perfectively competitive market that leads to each investor can accept the price. However, under the situation that information costs exist, there is bargaining behaviour in market. Therefore, the market participants are not price-taker. For the third precondition, investors are rational and they can evaluate the securities rationally. Shleifer (2000) improves the three levels of rational market participants. The investors at the first lev el are perfectly rational. The ones at the second level are even if some of the investors are irrational; their trade generated randomly and can be cancelled out. For the third level, if irrational investors’ behaviour is not random, arbitrageurs can eliminate noise traders influences on prices. Shleifer (2000) has argued that â€Å"With a finite a risk-bearing capacity of arbitrageurs as a group, their aggregate ability to bring prices of broad groups of securities into line is limited†. That suggests the risk-free arbitrage opportunities may exist, but they cannot be the direct evidence of market inefficient. 2.2 Three Forms Efficient Market and Their Test Based on the different types of investment approaches Fama (1970) defined the efficient market to three forms- weak-form efficiency, semi-strong form efficiency and strong-form efficiency. 2.2.1 Weak form efficient market and its test As the description in Fama’s (1970) paper, a weak form efficient market is a kind of market in which the shares’ prices fully reflect the historical information. So in weak form efficient market, investors cannot make a strategy to obtain extra profits through technical analysis. It is useless to analyze historical information to predicted future price, because the current market price has already contained all the information which acquired by technical analysis. The tests for weak form market include two methods. The first is the random walk model while the second is the filter approach. The first method is focus on whether the fluctuation of stock price is random which is first published by Osborne (1959). The filter approach can be described that in an efficient market, if there is no new information released, the price would randomly fluctuate between the resistance lines. 2.2.2 Semi-strong efficient market and its test As Fama (1970) has stated the semi-strong efficient market refers to the market in which the current stocks prices reflect not only historical price information but all available public information related to security companies. If the market is efficient in this sense, then it will not be possible to acquire abnormal profit through the analysis of a companys balance sheet, income statement, changes in dividend, stock split announcement and any other public information. The tests for the semi-strong efficient market mainly focus on determining the speed of share prices adjust to new information. Scholars have conducted a variety of tests. The most famous one is â€Å"Event Study† which firstly published by Ball and Brown (1968). An event study measures the cumulative performance of stock from a specific time before and after information released. The semi-strong efficiency of market attracts a lot of studies to test it. Some empirical studies proof that the US stock market is a semi-strong market. Fama (1969) investigate 115 companies stocks and prove that the US stock market is semi-strong. 2.2.3 Strong form efficient market and its tests As Fama (1970) has stated the strong form efficient market is a market in which the share price reflect all the information includes the inside information. That means in strong form efficient market nobody can obtain abnormal profit even the insiders. The tests of strong form efficient market focus on the company insiders, stock exchange brokers, securities analysts and mutual fund performance, in order to verify whether they can earn extra returns. Some studies have showed that several markets are close to strong form. Maloney and Like several files on the professional investment managers study showed that after deduct the expense of trading, the randomly selected securities and index without conduction were nearly at the same return level with carefully analysis. Mulherin (2003) has conducted the analysis of the Challenger Crash and declared it supports the strong form efficiency. While the other scholars argue that the strong form efficient market will never exit in reality. 3 Discussions of EMH from the current Financial Crisis The following chapter provides analysis of EMH from the point of view of current financial crisis. The first section provides a review of current financial crisis evolution; the second section gives the critical analysis of the challenges that EMH faces, particularly from the view of information dissemination, information quality and the role of self-regulation of stock market; the third section provides suggestions to avoid financial crisis. 3.1 The Evolution of Current Financial Crisis The current financial crisis has root in credit crisis which is a financial storm along with bankruptcy of subprime mortgage lenders, close of investment funds and the turbulence stock market in the United States. As Tylor (2009) has described, the evolution of financial crisis were as follows. First, the U.S. commercial banks issued a large number of high-risk real estate mortgage loans (i.e. subprime mortgages), then sold these subprime mortgages to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in order to transfer the potential risk of mortgages and return the funds as soon. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac created subordinated bonds through asset to security approaches, sold bonds to investment banks like Merrill Lynch. Investment banks seek for high returns create financial innovations by complex means and make subprime lending which under investment grade (BBB / Baa) into a so-called structured products to attract the risk-interested investors. These typical derivatives finally have been sold to financ ial institutions and investors through their marketing network all over the world. When the original debtor cannot repay the mortgage on time, the financial crisis broke out and rapidly spread to whole world by the chain which is also the risk transfer line. We can illustrate this process as graph 1. Graph 1 Evolution of Financial Crisis 3.2 What does EMH faces in the financial crisis? The financial crisis has proved that the precondition of EMH is too far from reality. In graph1, there is a stream which contains risk, information and cash transferred between people and market. If the original debtors are also investors, an information circulation mechanism has been established. Ding (2005) interprets in this process, as investors not only analyze the information in the market, but also think about other investors’ potential activities in response to these changes. These changes in the market then become the basis for new thinking. A self-feedback loop established between the investors and market. Investors are both participants and observers. That is, the investors affect the market changes as well as are affected by the market, so the information that market participants obtained includes the information which is influenced by the participants’ own behavior. Therefore, it is impossible to understand the market completely and objectively. As Baker (2 006) has suggested that the investors’ behaviors need to be considered as one important factor in those theories like EMH’s perfect preconditions. From the view of information dissemination, false and short information commonly exists in market and it cannot be aware of. That is may be another reason for leading irrational behaviour. For instance, as Duncan reported (2009), on September 15th 2008, Lehman Brother collapsed with about $60 billion in toxic bad debts, and assets of $639 billion against debts of $613 billion. That made Lehman Brother, the largest investment bank, collapsed since 1990s. However, just five months ago, Lehman Brother held the annual shareholders meeting and the stock price was up to about 86 dollars per share. According to Fama (1970), investors operate stocks according to the information. When news spread on the stock market, the share prices begin to fluctuate. With the rapid dissemination of information, more and more people take part in the trade of stock. The share price will stay at a right level when all the people know the information. However from the Lehman Brother’s example such evide nce has been provided that because of the information quality, the price cannot reflect the right value. As Barry and Harvard (1979) have stated that the sufficient uncertainty information frequent transacting may be deleterious to market. Another precondition of EMH is the market is a perfectly competitive market. The perfectly competitive market is a market without government intervention and everyone is a price-taker (Nicholson, 2005). In reality, the perfectly competitive market is impossible to exist, although the governments advocate the market liberalization to attract people to take part in trading. Some liberal economics like Levine (2001) have pointed out â€Å"financial liberalization leads to more efficient investments and that financial liberalization boosts productivity growth†, but the huge rescue is the biggest evidence of the failure of market liberalization. The disappearance of business profit model of investment banks, government managed commercial banks and mortgage institutions provide the most effective large-scale evidence. The large investment institutions cannot effectively regulate themselves. So there is no perfectly competitive market and all the theory based on this assumption seems to go to failure. 3.3 What do we learn from financial crisis? Financial crisis reveals that the preconditions of EMH cannot realize in present world. Information uncertainty and feed-back loop lead people irrational and the huge rescue policy proves market is never perfectly competitive. So the prices cannot inflect reflect information in the right level. Lack of regulation of information and financial innovations may be the main reasons for this financial crisis. The Lehman Brother’s collapse indicates that financial markets potential failure really exists and that blindly believe in market lead to systemic collapse of financial markets. Therefore, only relying on the market self-regulation is insufficient, it needs government regulation and macroeconomic control to solve the problems. As the modern financial system in particular with the features of high leverage, high-relevance and high asymmetric, the market systemic risk and complexity have increased. In this case, government must play its leading role in financial supervision and take effective measures to curb excessive market speculation and the vicious competition among financial institutions. Particularly, government should strengthen the investment banking and financial regulations of derivatives to prevent financial institutions rely on excessive leverage to blind investment. 4 Conclusions The efficient market hypothesis provides an ideally situation that the stock prices reflect all relevant information in a perfectly competitive market in which the people are rational. Some valuable studies base on the concept of efficient market has been recognized. However, the extremely ideally preconditions of EMH lead people to rethink the application scope and its practice value. In the current financial crisis, EMH has faced huge challenges to the perfectly preconditions that perfectly rational man and perfectly competitive market cannot realize. These challenges are mainly from two aspects which are information and role of self-regulation in market. Firstly, with the rapidly information dissemination, an information circulation mechanism was established between investors and market. Investors not only absorb information from market, but also give their own views to market. So the information they get already includes their own views which is a reason to make investors irrational. Another problem about information is the uncertainty and inaccuracy that investment banks may use accounting method to blind investors and leads investors to operate stocks irrational. Secondly, EMH overemphasizes the role of self-regulation in the market. Howeve r, large investment institutions cannot regulate themselves effectively. The U.S. governments rescue policy is the greatest evidence of the failure of market liberalization. The departure from reality does not mean the complete failure of EMH. In future studies, EMH may be combined with other disciplines, in order to achieve a greater scope. Bibliography Barber, B. T. Odean (2001) ‘The Internet and the Investor’ Journal of Economic Perspectives 15(1):41-54. Ball, R P. Brown (1968) ‘An Empirical Evaluation of Accounting Income Numbers’ Journal of Accounting Research 6(2):159-178 Barry, M. B. Harvard (1979) ‘Information dissemination, market efficiency and the frequency of transactions’ Journal of Financial Economic 7(1):29-61 Baker, M. J. Wurgler (2007) ‘Investor Sentiment in the Stock Market’ Journal of Economic Perspectives 21(2):129-151 Duncan, G. (2009) ‘Lehman Brothers collapse sends shockwave round world’ The Times Sep 16th, 2008 Fama, E.F., L. Fisher, M. C. Jensen, R Roll (1969) ‘The Adjustment of Stock Prices to New Information’ International Economic Review 10(1):1-22 Fama, E.F. (1970) ‘Efficient capital markets: A review of theory and empirical work’ The Journal of Finance 25(2):383-417 Fama, E.F (1976) Foundations of Finance New York: Basic Books Grossman, S J. Stiglitz (1980) ‘On the Impossibility of Information Efficient Markets’ American Economic Review 70(3):393-408 Jensen M.C. (1969) ‘Risk, The Pricing of Capital Assets, and The Evaluation of Investment Portfolios’ Journal of Business 42(2):67-247 Maloney, M.T. J.H. Mulherin (2003) ‘The Complexity of Price Discovery in an Efficient Market: the Stock Market Reaction to the Challenger Crash’ Journal of Corporate Finance 9(4): 453-479 Osborne, M. (1959): ‘Brownian Motion in the Stock Market’ Operation Research 7: 145-173. Malkiel B.G. (2003) ‘The Efficient Market Hypothesis and Its Critics’ Journal of Economic Perspectives 17(1):59-82 Taylor, J.B. (2009) ‘The Financial Crisis and the Policy Responses: An Empirical Analysis of What Went Wrong’ paper presented to Proceedings of FIKUSZ 09 Symposium for Young Researchers, Budapest, Hungary Nicholson, W. (2004) Microeconomic Theory 9th ed. 2005 South-Western College Pub Shleifer, A. (2000) ‘Inefficient Market- An Introduction to Behavioral Finance’ Oxford: Oxford University Press

Using Spanish Infinitives as Nouns

Using Spanish Infinitives as Nouns The infinitive is the most basic of the verb forms. Unlike the conjugated verb forms- the ones used most often in speech- an infinitive standing alone says nothing about how many people or things are performing the verbs action or when. In Spanish, the infinitive is the verb form that appears in dictionaries. The infinitive always has one of three endings: -ar, -er or -ir. Standing alone, the infinitive is usually translated to English as to followed by the verb. For example, ver is usually translated as to see, hablar as to speak. But as we shall soon see, in sentences the Spanish infinitive can be translated a number of ways. Fast Facts Infinitives often function as singular masculine nouns.As nouns, infinitives can act as subjects or predicates of sentences as well as objects of verbs and prepositions.The most common translations of infinitives as nouns to English are to verb and verb -ing. Infinitives Can Fill Most Roles of Nouns In this lesson, we look at instances where the infinitive functions as a noun.  When used as a noun, the Spanish infinitive is always masculine and almost always singular. Like other nouns, it can be the subject of a sentence, a predicate nominative (usually a noun that follows a form of to be or ser) or the object of a verb or preposition. The infinitive noun sometimes retains the characteristics of a verb; it sometimes is modified by an adverb rather than an adjective and can sometimes have objects. It is often translated into the English gerund (the -ing form of the verb). Infinitives used as nouns are always masculine and singular. Some infinitives can become nouns in their own right when they are made plural, however. For example, seres humanos (from ser, to be) refers to human beings. Here are some examples of the infinitive being used as a noun: As a subject: Nadar es el mejor remedio para el dolor de espalda. (Swimming is the best remedy for a backache.)As a subject: Es prohibido botar basura. (Dumping garbage is prohibited. Note that in Spanish, unlike English, it isnt unusual for the subject to follow the verb.)As a subject: Beber puede conducir a la intoxicacià ³n e incluso a la muerte. (Drinking can lead to poisoning and even death.)As a subject: No me gusta cocinar. (I dont like to cook. Literally, the sentence would be translated as cooking doesnt please me.)As a predicate nominative: La vida es un abrir y cerrar de los ojos. (Life is an opening and closing of the eyes.As a predicate nominative: La intimidad es un hablar honesto y profundo de lo que se siente y se piensa. (Intimacy is speaking sincerely and deeply about what one feels and thinks.)As the object of a verb: Yo preferirà ­a salir. (I would prefer to leave.)As the object of a verb: Odio estudiar algo que creo que no necesito. (I hate studying something I believe I dont need.) As the object of a verb: Te vi andar entre los rboles. (I saw you walking among the trees.)As the object of a preposition: Pienso de salir contigo. (Im thinking about leaving with you.)As the object of a preposition: Ten moderation en el comer o el beber. (Show moderation in eating or drinking.)As the object of a preposition: Al entrar al Sistema de Salud, usted y su empresa recibirn enormes beneficios. (Upon entering the Health System, you and your business will receive great benefits.) Using the Definite Article El With Infinitives As you may notice, the definite article el is not consistently used with the noun infinitive. Although there are no hard and fast rules, here are some guidelines. A very common way of using el is as part of the contraction al, for a el. It typically as the meaning of on or upon meaning at the time of: Al encontrar a mis padres biolà ³gicos logrà © una estabilidad. (I found some stability upon finding my biological parents.)El is usually used when the infinitive is modified by an adjective or a phrase acting as an adjective: El respirar rpido puede ser causado por varios desordenes. (Rapid breathing can be caused by various disorders.)The article is option in many situations, but when it is used it may give the sentence a more personal or informal sound.

SMOKER Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

SMOKER - Essay Example He has noticed a recurrent morning cough and increased production of mucus over the past 2 months or so. Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is an obstructive lung diseases that is characterised by inadequate airflow which is chronic in nature. The disease arises when the bronchi are scarred and inflamed as well as the damages of the alveoli. This process occurs after several years and is usually caused by cigarette smoking. In essence, several scholars incorporated emphysema and bronchitis in defining COPD. Bronchitis is defined as presence of chronic productive cough for a period of 3 months in 2 consecutive years. While emphysema is an abnormal enlargement of the air spaces that are distal to the terminal bronchi with obvious destruction of the bronchiole walls (Decramer, Janssens, & Miravitlles, 2012). Cigarette smoking is the major cause of COPD accounting for 80%-95%; however, some factors have also been associated with the disease and they include air pollution like in poorly ventilated cooking places. Occupational exposure to irritants such as dust, fumes and other chemicals, which are found in textile industries, gold mines among others. Genetics have  been noted to have  a major role in the development of COPD, whereby those individuals who lack alpha 1-antitrypsin are likely to develop COPD (Barnes, 2014). Shortness of breath: This is the most worrying symptom to most people with the disease; occasionally patients complain that they cannot inhale enough air. This symptoms is usually worsened by exertion, however in the advanced stage of COPD it can occur during rest. The pathological changes in COPD usually occur in the lung parenchyma, the bronchi as well as the bronchioles. Several causes of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease occur due to exposure to the noxious substances or stimuli such as cigarette smoke. The Pathophysiology is not very clear and is most likely to be diverse. However, elevated numbers of activated

Religious Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Religious - Essay Example Such trips were necessitated by the requests of the father as well as studies [Marquita, Breit, Patricia, Burton & Paul [2002]. In 1930, Thomas Merton joined Oakham Public School during which time, Owen his father, died. However although the death affected Thomas Merton who sought support and financial help from the uncle was co-operative and finances to Thomas Merton was never a problem. Thomas Merton often received help from Tom Bennett, Owen’s former physician who was very supportive of Thomas as was the aunties and uncles. It was in 1932 during one of his visits to his grandparents in New York that Thomas Merton decided to venture into journalism by co-editing the school’s journal. In 1933, Thomas Merton visited Italy where he stayed in Rome where Merton acquired a Bible and become religious, severally praying asking God to ‘deliver him from darkness’. Up to when Thomas Merton was still faced many challenges such as not being aware of what he really wanted to become even as a college student at Clare College, Cambridge. In 1938, Thomas Merton then a student in Columbia came into contact with a Hindu monk called Mahanambrata Brachmachari, who influenced him in that instead of converting him into Hindu, Brachmachari encouraged the young Thomas to remain steadfast in Catholicism. Gandhi had an influence in shaping the future of the man in that, Merton was an admirer of Gandhi. Such events culminated in the Baptism of Thomas Merton in 1938. In 1941, Thomas Merton finally became committed to Catholicism and eventually graduated into a Catholic priest in 1949. Thomas Merton died in 1968 in Bangkok, Thailand. Thomas Merton continues to influence the live s of many as a writer, teacher, a priest and a family man. Howard was born several years after the birth of Thomas Merton in 1939. Unlike Thomas Merton, Howard went on to join active politics and eventually became the Prime Minister of

Critical thinking Essay Example for Free

Critical thinking Essay Utilitarianists are often persecuted for holding a morality in which the end always justifies the means, no matter how repulsive it may be to intuitional moral standards. Hare attempts to quiet controversy by combining act and rule utilitarianism in daily life in such a way that internal moral standards are satisfied and overall good is promoted. Kymlicka stays firm in his opposition to Hare’s theories and shuns the idea of consequentialism having intrinsic value greater than that of intuitive moral standards. Hare’s process of critical thinking combined with intuitionism leads to a flawless conclusion based on systematic procedure that will benefit the most people in the long term even against Kymlicka’s well thought out arguments. Kymlicka thinks that utilitarianism bypasses immediate obligations that should be fulfilled. He believes that utilitarianists’ foresight actually hinders their ability to do what is â€Å"right† or â€Å"just† in the present. He also believes that utilitarianism gives too much weight to illegitimate preferences, meaning that utilitarianists can often choose to do the worse option in consideration in order to satiate a desire for immoral happiness. In the specific case that he puts forward, Kymlicka uses the simple example of an everyday action in which a loan is given to him and he faces the moral dilemma of whether or not he should repay it. He believes that the utilitarianist might keep the money or give it away rather than repaying it if he thought that it would produce the most good in the end to himself or some other party. One may argue that by loaning out money it is consensual and therefore cannot be categorized as theft when the amount is not repaid. However, the loan was made with the qualification and equal understanding that the money would be repaid. Since Kymlicka uses the term â€Å"loan,† he is very much aware that he has the obligation to pay the money back. This may be called breaking a promise as well as theft, so it is doubly breaking a moral standard. Herein lays Kymlicka’s problem with utilitarianism and its criteria of morality. Phil 434 First Writing Assignment 1. Due Mon. Sep 13 Hare believes that there are two levels to moral thinking – critical and intuitive. Critical thinking is systematic and calculated while intuitive thinking is vaguer and based on feelings rather than a systematic procedure. It is said that each person starts at the intuitive level and then progresses to the critical level with age and maturity in understanding. He uses the example of two beings from opposite ends of the spectrum to show what one must be to think purely critically or intuitively – an archangel and a prole. The archangel has no human flaws thus can think critically all the time, and a prole has human flaws to an extreme degree thus must rely on intuitive thinking all the time. Consequentialism is the major theme of critical thinking, which aims to promote the most good to the most people in the end. He postulates, however, that since the human condition is flawed and cannot predict with certainty and without bias what is best in the long run, intuition must be used. Where intuition comes from is a controversial subject – but most believe that upbringing and environment have a strong effect on it and therefore may be tampered with. Since both levels have the possibility to be flawed, they must be used in conjunction. Vacillating between the two is the only way to make good moral decisions throughout one’s entire life. It can be argued that the two levels agree many times in normal day-to-day cases since there is a commonality to moral thinking, such as the law of non-maleficence. Both place in high respect accomplishing what is â€Å"good,† but both have different criteria as to what qualifies – namely what promotes the most good versus what you intuitively know to be the right thing to do. According to the utilitarianist, in a perfect world, critical thinking would be used all the time. Since humans have limits, however, Hare allows and even encourages intuitionism to be used and used often even though he views critical thinking to be superior. One cannot expect to sever himself of all emotion and possess the capability to see the exact outcomes of all possible Phil 434 First Writing Assignment 2.

Justice In Platos The Republic Essay -- Plato Republic Justice Philos

Justice In Plato's The Republic Ralph Waldo Emerson once wrote â€Å"One man’s justice is another’s injustice.† This statement quite adequately describes the relation between definitions of justice presented by Polemarchus and Thrasymachus in Book I of the Republic. Polemarchus initially asserts that justice is â€Å"to give to each what is owed† (Republic 331d), a definition he picked up from Simonides. Then, through the unrelenting questioning of Socrates, Polemarchus’ definition evolves into â€Å"doing good to friends and harm to enemies† (Republic 332d), but this definition proves insufficient to Socrates also. Eventually, the two agree â€Å"that it is never just to harm anyone† (Republic 335d). This definition is fundamental to the idea of a common good, for harming people according to Socrates, only makes them â€Å"worse with respect to human virtue† (Republic 335 C). Polemarchus also allows for the possibility of common good through his insistence on helping friends. To Polemarchus nothing is more important than his circle of friends, and through their benefit he benefits, what makes them happy pleases him.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Upon the summation of the debate between Polemarchus and Socrates, Thrasymachus enters into the fray. He states that justice â€Å"is nothing other than advantage of the stronger† (Republic 338c), and also that the greatest life is that of perfect injustice, to be found in the life of a tyrant. This definition leaves no room for the common good because it creates a life of compet...

DDT and Pesticides Directions

American School of Guatemala Secondary SectionDate: 08/31/2012 APESTrimester 1 Activity # 1- DDT and Pesticides Directions: read carefully each statement and answer it. Watch the following video – DDT and Pesticides, and write a short reflection paragraph about the topic. If you want to see again this video, you can find it on the following direction. http://www. youtube. com/watch? v=LQ64sV0nSVU This video shows how DDT was used in the world to help humans. Later on people started to notice that this pesticide was very strong that was able to kill plagues and insects rapidly that they started using DDT even more.Even though it was helpful in some way it was also harmful. It was harmful because it had a chemical that was not bonding and was the one that made the harmful changes like in frogs that had 5 legs and in humans the harm that was caused was that it created cancer and mutations on people like the boy that was born without eyes. DDT may change in a way some peopleâ€⠄¢s life but it really affects humans and their genes. Go to the following address and watch Biocides: Rachel Carson. http://www. youtube. com/watch? v=vbtp2B-IFmw. Go to the following address and DDT: Weapon Against Disease – Documentary Film (1945) http://www. outube. com/watch? v=RmeqHs4svbQ and write a short paragraph for the most important aspects covered on the video. In the video above it shows the creation of DDT. This particular product is characterized by a white insecticide and was formulated in many forms, it tells that DDT is taseless and almost odourless. It was first created in 1874 and used with great success during World War II in order to control malaria and thyphus within civilians and U. S troops. DDt was also used in agricultural insecticide and later its production. It shows how people were taking advantage of DDT without knowing the harm it would cause.On the following address http://www. naturalnews. com/DDT. html you would be find some articles about DDT and its relation with human health. Choose two articles, read it write a short paragraph. Study shows DDT to be toxic to nervous systems of babies: This article talks about how Africa used DDT to fight malaria spread by mosquitos. It tells how a link between chemicals and the development delays in infants that were in utero when their mother were exposed. An important fact is that despite that DDT was transferred by breast milk, children who were breast feeding developed more normally even though the mother had high levels of DDT.It proves that it is not clear that DDT has ever killed anyone but they are still investigating DDT ‘s effects on humans. High levels of DDT still present in fish: Waters in the U. S still possess high levels of DDT contamination. This shows that the pesticide is still found with high levels in fish caught near Los Angeles area. It is also told that it’s associated with increase risk of liver cancer, and affect the human reproductive and ne rvous systems, and toxic to many animals, specially aquatic life. All this means that the amount of DDT in fish has not decreased by the last years.It concludes with how many companies have released a large quantity of DDT in water systems. On the following address http://www. epa. gov/aboutepa/history/topics/ddt/01. html you would be find some articles about DDT and its relation with human health. Choose two articles, read it write a short paragraph (Just Read) A sweet relaxing time for you on this weekend, if you like the video games go to the following direction and play it. Write your score. http://www. mofunzone. com/online_games/pest_attack. shtml 7,500 Vocabulary: write the definitions. Bioaccumulation:The accumulation of a substance, such as toxic chemical, in various tissues of a living organism. Takes place within an organism when the rate of intake of a substance is greater than the rate of excretion or metabolic transformation of that substance. Biomagnification: The inc reasing concentration of a substance, such as a toxic chemical, in the tissues of organisms at successively higher levels in a food chain, As a result of biomagnification, organisms at the top of the food chain generally suffer great harm from a persistent toxin or pollutant than those at lower levels Example of the DDT on food chain

Developmentally appropriate and child-centered curricula

Ensuring that curriculum in early childhood education is both developmentally appropriate and child-centered involves educators making decisions about the most relevant content to include in the curriculum based on the needs, interests and capabilities of the learners. Developmental psychologists such as Erik Erikson and Jean Piaget, have done extensive work in describing the cognitive changes that children go through throughout their lifetime. Knowledge of these changes is important in guiding decisions about curricula content, material and activities.Piaget proposed that each child moves progressively through each of four stages of cognitive development as they mature physically. These are the sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operational and formal operational periods. At the early childhood level a child is in the sensorimotor and preoperational stages which lasts between ages zero (0) to two (2) years old and two (2) to seven (7) years respectively. Children first â€Å"le arn about their surroundings by using their senses and motor skills†.  (Slavin, 2000, p. 33).Edwards (2005) believes that these stage-based characteristics that Piaget has identified are important starting points for curriculum design as educators need to have a clear understanding of the characteristics of learners before any decision can be made about what curricula content to deliver to them. In designing an early childhood curriculum Jalongo, Fennimore, Pattnaik, Laverick, Brewster, and Mutuku (2004) contend that the child must figure at the center of this process.As a results the developmental needs of the child must be first and foremost in the mind of the educator as decisions are made about curricula content and structure. First and foremost an early childhood curricula must be specific to the early childhood level. Jalongo et al (2004) caution that early childhood programs must be designed specifically for early childhood education â€Å"rather than replicate the c urriculum and pedagogy that characterizes later academic experiences† (p. 145). Consequently tasks should be so designed so that they are manageable based on the cognitive and physical capabilities of the children.Additionally the designers of curricula material need to ensure that such programs and the material that go along with them are innovative. Educators in the field should work collaboratively in deciding on the most appropriate material to include in the curriculum. Moreover when it comes to actual classroom implementation the curriculum should be used as a guide and not as an absolute (Jalongo et al, 2004). This means that teachers should be flexible in implementing aspects of the curriculum based on the unique needs of their particular set of learners.Furthermore curricula should be continuously improved to reflect new knowledge about how children at the early childhood level learn. For each group of students the curriculum should be adopted to better serve their ne eds and challenges. Consideration must be given to the particular ethnic, cultural, and language characteristics of the children concerned and seek to meet them where they are. This means that, rather than trying to force children into a pre-made mold, educators must ensure that the children are the basis used in constructing the mold.Evidently the task of designing developmentally appropriate curriculum, though it is left mainly up to the educator who interacts most intimately with the students, must take into account the specific needs, interests and capabilities of learners. Educators cannot leave the child out of planning the early childhood curriculum. Failure to include the group at which early childhood programs are geared will only result in failure both on the part of the educator and the learner. References Edwards, S. (2005, Mar). Children’s learning and developmental potential: Examining the theoretical informants of early childhood curricula from the educator’s perspective. Early Years, 25(1), 67–80. Jalongo, M. R., Fennimore, B. S., Pattnaik, J., Laverick, D. M., Brewster, J. & Mutuku, M. (2004, Dec). Blended perspectives: A global vision for high-quality early childhood education. Early Childhood Education Journal, 32(3), 143-155. Slavin, R. E. (2000). Educational Psychology: Theory and Practice. (6th ed.). Boston: Allyn and Bacon.

Free Essays on The Sociological Imagination

The sociological imagination is the notion that allows a person to understand the greater picture of oneself and one’s role in society. C. Wright Mills writes, â€Å"The sociological imagination enables its possessor to understand the larger historical scene in terms of its meaning for the inner life and the external career of a variety of individuals.† (Mills 1959, p. 3) In this essay, I will examine my own life from a sociologist perspective. I will look at my position as an individual in society and take a sociological glance at my future based on Mills’ concept of the sociological imagination. In order to effectively due this, I must first give you my class background. From there, I will give an in depth look into the sociological imagination and conclude with a critical analysis of how these both relate to one another. I grew up in a relatively small suburb just outside of Los Angeles in Southern California. The city, Manhattan Beach, is home to just over 30,000 persons with a median household income of about $70,000 dollars. The town is 89% white which, coupled with the relatively high median household income, is indicative of an upper-class neighborhood. Per square foot, it has some of the most expensive housing per square foot in all of California. Being a mere 3.88 square mile beach city and having a $3.8 billion assessed city valuation, the city is densely rich. Manhattan beach is also home to several expensive shopping boutiques and trendy coffee shops that attract a young, professional population. Many predict that Manhattan Beach will soon be the next Hollywood due to the newly constructed movie studios and the extravagant lifestyles of many residents. With its ever-growing upper class population, the city offers numerous opportunities to those who can afford living there. My family clearly represents the quintessential, rich Manhattan Beach household. With a mother, a father, a brother, a sister, a dog... Free Essays on The Sociological Imagination Free Essays on The Sociological Imagination Our textbook states that the sociological imagination is the ability to see the relationship between individual experiences and the larger society. Michael Moore’s recent documentary, Bowling for Columbine, of which I will make repeated reference to, demonstrates how gun violence affects the U.S. from a sociological perspective. From an individual perspective, any person can get angry at another person, pick up a gun, and go shoot them. So why do so many more carry out the act of shooting others in the U.S. than they do in other countries? The ease with which someone in our country can get a gun, with only a simple background check and a several-day waiting period, is a bit alarming, to say the least. But, as Moore points out, Canada’s gun laws are very similar to ours. A lot of people hunt in Canada, so the number of firearms available in Canada is comparable to the U.S, where hunting is also common. Yet Canadian fatalities due to firearm-related deaths total in the low hundreds, while the U.S. has over 10,000 deaths in one year that are directly related to firearms. In Bowling for Columbine, Moore goes to Canada to investigate. What he finds is surprising. A man or woman can purchase a gun just as easily as in the United States. Moore is even allowed to purchase ammunition at a local depart ment store with his U.S. drivers license. Everyone Moore encounters on the street appears to be friendly and congenial towards him. The real kicker is the responses Moore gets when he asks people if they lock their doors in Canada. From what Moore shows, nobody does! He even goes up to peoples’ doors in the daytime and tests door knobs to demonstrate this. What is the point of all this? The single striking difference that Moore could find between Canada and our country was in its news broadcasts. The nightly news in Canada is more factual in comparison to our six o’clock or eleven o’clock news. Most importantly, Canadia... Free Essays on The Sociological Imagination The sociological imagination is the notion that allows a person to understand the greater picture of oneself and one’s role in society. C. Wright Mills writes, â€Å"The sociological imagination enables its possessor to understand the larger historical scene in terms of its meaning for the inner life and the external career of a variety of individuals.† (Mills 1959, p. 3) In this essay, I will examine my own life from a sociologist perspective. I will look at my position as an individual in society and take a sociological glance at my future based on Mills’ concept of the sociological imagination. In order to effectively due this, I must first give you my class background. From there, I will give an in depth look into the sociological imagination and conclude with a critical analysis of how these both relate to one another. I grew up in a relatively small suburb just outside of Los Angeles in Southern California. The city, Manhattan Beach, is home to just over 30,000 persons with a median household income of about $70,000 dollars. The town is 89% white which, coupled with the relatively high median household income, is indicative of an upper-class neighborhood. Per square foot, it has some of the most expensive housing per square foot in all of California. Being a mere 3.88 square mile beach city and having a $3.8 billion assessed city valuation, the city is densely rich. Manhattan beach is also home to several expensive shopping boutiques and trendy coffee shops that attract a young, professional population. Many predict that Manhattan Beach will soon be the next Hollywood due to the newly constructed movie studios and the extravagant lifestyles of many residents. With its ever-growing upper class population, the city offers numerous opportunities to those who can afford living there. My family clearly represents the quintessential, rich Manhattan Beach household. With a mother, a father, a brother, a sister, a dog...

Degree - Definition and Examples

Degree s In English grammar, degree is one of the three forms used in the comparison of adjectives and adverbs: positive (or base form) (for example, a smart dog)comparative (a smarter dog)superlative (the smartest dog) Almost all one-syllable adjectives, along with some two-syllable adjectives, add -er  to the base to form the comparative, and -est to form the superlative.  In most adjectives of two or more syllables, the comparative and superlative degrees are marked by more and most respectively. Common adjectives with irregular comparative and superlative forms include the following: good, better, bestbad, worse, worstmany, more mostlittle, less, least Etymology From the Latin de-  down   gradus  a step Examples and Observations Every day was a happy day, and every night was peaceful.(E.B. White, Charlottes Web. Harper, 1952)This was a brighter,  happier day. We were all together and we were going to stay that way. (Peter Martin,  A Dog Called Perth. Orion Books, 2001)This is the  happiest day  of my life, because today I have fallen in love.(Philippa Gregory,  The Boleyn Inheritance. Touchstone, 2006)The kids marvel at the rolling brown field, where a handful of sheep graze undisturbed by automobiles or shopping centers- a reminder of what seems a simpler,  more peaceful place  and time. (Jane Futcher,  Marin: The Place, the People. Book Sales, 1983)Im alone in the  most peaceful place  in the world. Well, maybe not the  most peaceful place, as a monastery in the Alps where the monks have all taken a vow of silence and just make cheese all day might be a smidge quieter, but still its very peaceful.(Anne Dayton  and May Vanderbilt, The Book of Jane. Thorndike, 2008)Poverty makes you  sad  as well as  wise. (Bertolt Brecht, The Threepenny Opera, 1928) My father went back to the tailoring business, a  sadder and wiser  man. No, not wiser- just sadder, for his thirteen dollars was gone forever. (Groucho Marx, Groucho and Me, 1959)  For of all  sad  words of tongue and pen,The  saddest  are these: It might have been! (John Greenleaf Whittier, Maud Muller, 1854)Imagination is  more important  than knowledge.(Albert Einstein, The Saturday Evening Post, 1929)It has long been an axiom of mine that the little things are infinitely the most important.†(Arthur Conan Doyle, A Case of Identity) Inflections and Words In some languages, adjectives share the declensions of nouns, inflecting to show gender, number, and case. In English, however, there are only two possible inflections for adjectives, the comparative and the superlative. The adjective comparative and superlative inflections {-er} and {-est} are quite regular, but they can be added only to one- or two-syllable words in English. We have tall, taller, tallest and heavy, heavier, heaviest but not visionary, *visionarier, *visionariest. Adjectives of more than two syllables do not accept inflectional morphemes; for them, entire words, rather than morphological suffixes, are used to indicate the comparative (more visionary) and superlative (most reluctant).Note that the comparative and superlative inflections also appear on a small number of adverbs: He drove longer and faster than anyone else.(Thomas P. Klammer et al., Analyzing English Grammar, 5th ed. Pearson, 2007) Pronunciation: di-GREE

Source evaluation Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 1

Source evaluation - Essay Example As seen in this crowdsourcing article, collaboration and online organisation is the main objective of this project. Over and above, the theme of internet collaboration and organisation is vivid in all the chapters in the book. This book source is therefore, reliable and useful to students and researchers (Pallof, & Pratt 43). This is because it highlights the basis of learning community via the internet, innovativeness and critical thinking skills it fosters to the internet users. â€Å"The online environment can be a lonely place. Students and faculty alike report feelings of isolation when working online. The benefits of taking or teaching an online class - being able to connect any time and any place, from one’s bedroom in pajamas and bunny slippers or from a library or computer lab – also can be a detriment of sorts given that, for the most part, the people with whom one is interacting are represented by worlds on a screen.† (Pallof, & Pratt, 32) This is an easy to read book where the author, Pallof, & Pratt have taken their ample time to showcase their vivid thoughts and reflection towards online collaboration. They clearly indicate that collaboration and internet organization is the backbone of the media in the present day. The fact that the book highlights the process of media embracing the digital technology in a means to spread out their audiences is a clear sign of contemporary/modern networking and collaborative development. In reference to Pallof, & Pratt (2005), focus is put on using technical and internet related channels to bring people together for their own success. As seen in the book, the authors Pallof, & Pratt (2005), have managed to fill the gap in the internet world by spreading out to digital channels of communication that targets the old internet users and further brings about new internet users for collaborative purpose: The ways in which