Sunday, December 29, 2019

Finance In Investment Example For Free - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 7 Words: 2085 Downloads: 1 Date added: 2017/06/26 Category Finance Essay Type Analytical essay Level High school Topics: Investment Essay Did you like this example? 1. You have been offered the following two choicesChoice A:  £10,000 for certain; Choice B:  £20,000 with a 50% chance of occurring,  £0 with a 50% chance of occurring. Using behavioural finance, discuss and justify the choice that the majority of people would choose (i.e. choice A) 2. Outline the literature on Behavioural Finance to CRITICALLY EVALUATE whether such an assumption of rationality can be made. 3.Various theories exist to explain why long periods of growth in the price of shares are followed by sudden falls or market crashes. Evaluate the relevance of behavioural finance theory to the build up to the Dot.com bubble in 2000 and the subsequent market crash. In this essay I will be talking about behavioural finance and its increased popularity in recent academic literature. First I will give a brief description of what behavioural finance is. Basically behavioural finance is the study and theory that looks into why investors sometimes choose to ignore more traditional investment theory, such as the Efficient Market Hypothesis (EMH), and invest into projects that do not look economically sound or do not offer the most attractive returns. Behavioural finance attempts to incorporate elements of psychology into finance to better understand investor behaviour. Essentially, behavioural finance operates under the assumption that all investors are not rational. A good quote to sum up behavioural finance is provided by Shleifer (2000) who observes that, à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Å"at the most general level, behavioural finance is the study of human fallibility in competitive markets.à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ In this section I will attempt to explain why most investors would choose option A, as set out in the above question. I will also attempt to explain why some investors would not follow others and opt for option B. The main reason why many people will undertake option A is simply because it is the most rational choice to make. Taking this choice will guarantee the investor a return of  £10000. This is consistent with much of the traditional market theory. The assumption of investor rationality is essential to all the main market investment theories such as the Efficient Market Hypothesis (EMH) and the Arbitrage Pricing Theory (APT). Without this assumption the models would collapse. Another reason why most investors will take option A is the absence of risk. It is 100% certain that the investor will get a  £10000 return. Again, this is consistent with traditional market theory that states that investors will favour projects with the least amount of risk if the projects being considered all return the same amount of money. Another reason why most investors will choose option A is that concerning herd mentality. Many authors have observed that some investors will simply invest in a project because that is what everyone else is doing. This leads to the assum ption that these investors are not rational as none of the market data or theory is being considered in their investment decision. This leads into the area of behavioural finance to try to explain the actions of these investors. I will now discuss why some investors choose option B. If all investors were rational then every investor would choose option A and they would choose it for the correct reasons. However, as I have already mentioned, not all investors are rational. This is the main reason for some investors choosing option B. It is also the main assumption behind the notion of behavioural finance. There are many reasons why an investor might not behave rationally and all these reasons are the basis of behavioural finance. One reason for the irrational behaviour of some investors could be due to their own personal risk attitude. Some investors could have a risk-loving attitude to risk meaning that they go for risky options regardless of the danger. This goes against trad itional theory, which states that investors are risk averse. The investors go for the more risky option because of the possibility of more money. This leads to another reason for irrationality; greed. Another reason for the irrational behaviour is that of the notion of à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Å"herd mentalityà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢. Many investors will invest purely because they think that others are investing there so it must be a good idea. Other reasons for the irrational behaviour of the investor are that of over confidence, regret, misinformed, etc. All these reasons will alter the mental state of the investor causing him or her to make investment decisions that are not inline with traditional theory and that could prove to be the incorrect decision. As observed by Shleifer (2000) à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Å"At the most general level, behavioural finance is the study of human fallibility in competitive markets.à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ Behavioural finance incorporates elements of cognitive psychology int o finance in an effort to better understand how individuals and entire markets respond to different circumstances. Behavioural finance is based on the principle that all investors are not rational. Some investors can be over-confident, while other less knowledgeable investors might be prone to herding effects. Shefrin (1999) was one such author to talk about behavioural finance. He is one author who argues that à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Å"a few psychological phenomena pervade the entire landscape of finance.à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ Harrington (2003) agrees with the notion that overconfidence can lead to irrational behaviour. She states that à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Å"investors can become irrational and their irrational behaviour affects their ability to profit from owning stocks and bonds.à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ Of course, behavioural finance does have its drawbacks. One of which is the fact that using instincts alone can result in a loss. This is due to human error. The person that is using their instincts in dete rmining where to invest might not have the greatest financial knowledge in the first place. Also, this person might be having a bad day or be under a great deal of stress or be distracted in some other way. This could result in the wrong decision being made. Therefore, it is a good idea to use behavioural finance on top of the more traditional theories already in use today. This view is supported by an article by Malkiel (1989) who agrees with the notion that behavioural aspects have a great importance in stock market valuation. He argues that behavioural factors play an important role in stock valuation alongside traditional valuation theories. This is summed up by the following quote, à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Å"market valuations rest on both logical and psychological factors. The theory of valuation depends on the projection of a long-term stream of dividends whose growth rate is extraordinarily difficult to estimate. Moreover, the appropriate risk premiums for common equities are changeable and far from obvious either to investors or economists. Thus, there is room for the hopes, fears, and favourite fashions of market participants to play a role in the valuation process.à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ Another article from the Banker (2004) also supports the view that behavioural finance has a role to play alongside the traditional views. Other authors talk about some of the factors that cause investors to become irrational. On such author are Johnsson, Lindblom and Platan (2002). In their masters dissertation they talk about the various factors of irrationality. One of these is the observation that investors will hang on to losing shares longer than market theory dictates. They say that this is because they are waiting for the performance of the share to change for the better. This is referred to as loss aversion. This is an example of a psychological factor that is effecting the investment decision. Another psychological factor that affects investors, causing irrational beh aviour is that of the feeling of regret. Authors argue that past bad decisions cause investors to feel regret and this alters their behaviour in such a way as to become irrational. Another factor that causes irrational behaviour is that of when the investor uses mental shortcuts in investment decisions. These shortcuts usually make investors choose the right decision but occasionally cause the investor to make the wrong decision. Optical illusions are a good example of how shortcuts can cause mistakes. A paper on www.undicoveredmanagers.com is one such paper that covers this point. The literature I have outlined in this section can lead me to say that the assumption of rationality or lack of rationality does occur. This leads to the theories on behavioural finance having a good solid basis. I can say this because there have been many authors who have observed that certain psychological factors do influence the investment decision. These factors include over confidence and the fear of regret. These arguments seem to empirically explain the anomalies that seem to occur in the investment world. In this section I will be looking at the anomaly of dot.com bubble in 2000. I will attempt to see if behavioural finance can explain the fall and rise of this bubble. First I will briefly explain what the dot.com bubble was. The dot.com industry was comprised of companies that have started up to sell goods and services over the Internet. They were given the name dot.com due to the fact that many website addresses ended with a à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Å"dotà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ and the word com. At first, these companies were very successful and when floated on the stock market did very well financially. However, in 2000 this industry suffered a massive collapse. Many of these companies subsequently did not survive. I will now attempt to see if behavioural finance can explain this bubble. Many authors have argued that the new communication technology of the 1990à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ ž ¢s was exaggerated. By this I mean that the new innovation is by some corners, i.e. the media and governments, over triumphed. This can lead to irrational behaviour of investors. This can lead to investors becoming over confident in the technology or industry. Another factor of this over enthusiasm is that it could attract herding behaviour. The irrational investor will be more likely to invest in something that is being hyped up as they feel that others are doing the same thing. They will feel that if others are doing it then it must be a good idea for them to do it as well. A factor that will have led to the dot.com bubble is that of speculation. One such author that observed the speculation effect on the dot.com boom was Giombetti (2000). Many informed investors will have probably over invested in the technology industry going against market theory. They will have done this on the hope that their investment will pay off. Even if their investment was initially at a loss th ey would have stayed with it. Authors of behavioural finance outline this behaviour. This behaviour of these investors would have distorted the market conditions for other investors. Also, the herding effect would have been greater due to this. These factors would have led to the stock prices of the dot.coms being vastly over priced. This meant that when the bubble burst stock prices would have fell rapidly, causing investors to lose vast sums of money. This would cause them to pull out of the industry, which, in turn, cause the companies themselves to collapse. If it were not for irrational investment then investors might have pulled out earlier, before the collapse. This might have even meant that the collapse would not have happened. In conclusion, behavioural finance attempts to prove the assumption that investors do not always act rationally. It combines elements of psychology and financial to attempt to understand investment decisions. This helps explain why not all inve stors would choose the less risky option A with a guaranteed return. Factors that precipitate the irrational behaviour are over confidence, fear of regret and loss aversion. These factors cause investors not to take the correct investment decisions. This can go some way to explaining the dot.com bubble and its eventual collapse. www.UndiscoveredManagers.com (1999) Introduction to Behavioral Finance https://www.absoluteastronomy.com/encyclopedia/d/do/dot-com.htm Giombetti R. (2000) The Dot.com Bubble. www.EatTheState.org Vol 4, Issue 23 Harrington C. (2003) Head games: Helping quell investors irrational antics. Accounting Today, v17 i11 p5(2) Johnsson M., Lindblom H. Platan P. (2002) Behavioral Finance And the Change of Investor Behavior during and After the Speculative Bubble At the End of the 1990s Malkiel B. G. (1989) Is the stock market efficient? Science, v243 n4896 p1313(6) Shefrin H. Beyond Greed and Fear. (1999) Understanding Behavioral Finance and the Psychology of Investing. Harvard Business School Press Shleifer A. (2000) Inefficient Markets. An introduction to behavioural finance. Oxford university Press The Banker (2004) Cover feature: how much risk can you manage? Banks have a huge range of resources available to aid risk managers, but human nature can still result in a bad decision. Behavioural finance and prospect theory lifts the veil on poor investment judgement Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "Finance In Investment Example For Free" essay for you Create order

Friday, December 20, 2019

Miscarriage Is The Most Common Complication Of Pregnancy

Introduction Miscarriage is the most common complication of pregnancy in the United States, occurring in 15-20% of clinically-recognized pregnancies, or ~1,000,000 cases annually. - Despite its frequency, the majority of Americans believe that it is a rare complication occurring in 5% or fewer of all pregnancies. Miscarriage can be an unexpected and emotionally devastating diagnosis for patients and their partners with studies showing that some women may suffer from psychological morbidity for months after the miscarriage and even into subsequent pregnancies. Our recent study revealed that those who have suffered a miscarriage frequently feel guilty, isolated and alone. Additionally, there are widespread misperceptions as to the†¦show more content†¦In this follow up study, we sought to assess the influence of celebrity and public figures revelations of their own loss on the publics’ perception of miscarriages. Materials and Methods A 19-item survey was constructed to assess the effect of public figures revelation of their loss on public perceptions of miscarriage. Miscarriage was defined as a pregnancy loss occurring earlier than 20 weeks. Four additional items (for a total of 27) were directed to those reporting a personal history of miscarriage and four additional items were specifically for those reporting recent awareness of celebrity loss. Both men and women were included in the survey. The survey was posted online using crowdsourcing web service Amazon.com Inc’s MTurk. The full survey can be seen in Appendix 1. Responders are anonymous, however they are given a unique identifier by Amazon which allows us to identify if any user has taken the survey more than once. We used MTurk users with an approval rating of 85% or greater (meaning 85% of their previous work on the site had been considered good). These parameters were chosen to help improve data quality. Additional discussion of the use of mechanical turk and parameters used can be found in our previous work. We had a 100 percent completion rate. We are unable to determine a view or participation rate as we are not able to determine the

Thursday, December 12, 2019

Chemistry Pedagogical Content Knowledge

Question: Discuss about theChemistry forPedagogical Content Knowledge. Answer: Concepts of Chemistry Nowadays it has become a common problem that the instructors have to face in higher education that there is a lack of skill and prior knowledge among the students before enrolling in more advance curriculum and courses. It is not only a challenge for the students and the instructors but has become significant issue in curriculum design. Chemistry is the science of the matter (Osman and Sukor 2013). It looks very simple but in reality chemistry is a very broad and complex topic that represents a wide diversity of field. The composition, structure, properties and how the matter interacts or changes with energy are included in the chemistry of the matter (Yakmaci-Guzel, 2013 pp.95-104). There are different sub branches of chemistry present. These are inorganic chemistry, organic chemistry, analytical chemistry, physical chemistry, and biochemistry (Rowlinsonand Swinton2013). Organic and Inorganic Chemistry The organic chemistry is the study of the compounds which contains carbon molecules that makes the living things and in the other hand the inorganic chemistry is the study of everything else (Espinosa et al. 2016 pp.104-124). Analytical Chemistry This branch of chemistry deals with the analysis of the chemical, the properties of the chemical and how they react. The analytical chemistry also includes the development of the methods and tools for performing the analytical work. Chemist of all disciplines uses analytical chemistry (Newman, 2013 pp.1655-1667). Physical Chemistry Physical chemistry is the study of the physical principle of the atoms and compounds. It is nothing but the physics of the chemical compounds. It mainly examine how energy is involved in the reaction, how the particle moves, the speed at which the reaction occurs and the process in which the light and energy interact with matter (Bektas, 2015). Biochemistry It is the branch of chemistry which deals with the study of the chemical processes that goes on inside the living things. This study includes the reaction occurring between the large biological molecules like the protein, lipid, carbohydrate, and DNA (Ince et al. 2012 pp.993-1004). Misconceptions in Chemistry Chemistry is a subject that is concerned with the properties and reaction of the substances. The students operatesand live in the macroscopic world of the matter. They doesnt encounter what aggregation of particle forms the substances, what is the nature of the bonding between those particles and what are the chemical properties of the substances (Speight, 2014). The student fail to understand the shift between this macroscopic and microscopic levels. So it becomes very difficult to make them understand the chemical phenomena that is taking place. The list of thing where there is possibilities of occurrence of misconception is possible includes misconception or wrong interpretation in Mole concept,Number of Mole, Balancing Equations, Graphing, oxygen carbon ratio, concept of peptides bond, theory of spectroscopy and in the understanding of the oxidation reduction reactions (Smithand Villarreal2015). Difficulty in the Study of Chemistry It is important to have a clear concept in the study of chemistry, which will help the students to apply the concepts in practice. Nevertheless, in cases the students are unable to answer the practical based questions of chemistry due to the lack of clear concept. In the assessment report of 2011 to 2015 it is clear that the students lack the concept related to the acid-base chemistry. In the question 11 of paper of 2011, the student has not understood the concept of equivalence point and hence is not able to give the correct answer related to the titration. The idea of weak and strong acid is not clear and is unable to apply the concept in practice. In the question 8 of 2012 also the student has failed to apply the concept of titration in practical work. The techniques that are used in the titration are related to the concept of acid and base and hence it is the student has failed to use the correct concept. The question 2 of the 2013 paper is related to the concept of weak and strong acid. It is also important to use the idea of acid-base indicator for this question. Moreover, in question 3 it is important to use the concept of weak and strong acid base in doing the work of titration. The student has also failed to detect the area, where the experiment of titration went wrong. On the other hand, it is important to have the concept of pH, which is the parameter to measure the strength of an acid or base. In order to answer the questions of 19 and 20 it is essential for the student to differentiate the understanding of concentration and strength of the acid. In the paper of 2014, the student has failed to use the concept of weak acid and strong acid in the answering question 30. Moreover, the student has unable to balance the reaction of that requires the idea about the molar concept and the chemical formulae of the acid. The concept of nomenclature of the acid and base is also essential. It also crucial to have the concepts related to organic and inorganic acid, which will help the student to answer the questions that are related to organic chemistry. In the assessment report of the paper of 2015 it is clear that the student has failed to understand the connection of the concept of equilibrium and weak acids in answering question 8. The part c of the question needs to have the concept of Le Chaterlierss principle. Teaching Plan to Study the Concept of Chemistry The teaching plan that need to be implemented to have clear concept of acid base chemistry need to be divided into three different stages: 1) Learning based on the activity and having a quality style of education 2) Planning of the daily activity based on the spirit of learning based activity 3) The concepts related to the acid-base chemistry need to be localized and the role of the acid base chemistry in daily life need to be appreciated. The acids and bases are one of the most widely used chemicals in the everyday life and it will help the students to relate the study of acid-base chemistry. At the beginning it is important to understand the concept of nomenclature and chemical formulae of the acid and base related compounds. Then the student must understand the idea of radicals that is related to the acid and base. The H+ ion determines the concentration of acid and on the other hand the OH- is the indicator for the concentration of base in a medium. Every chemical solution can be divided into acidic, basic or neutral solution. It is important to have the concept of pH, which is the most important parameter to determine whether a sample is acidic, basic or neutral in nature. The pH meter is also able to determine the strength of acid and base of a solution. There is a scale of 0-14 that is marked in the pH meter. The substances that are having the pH of less than 7 are considered to be acidic in nature and those whi ch have a pH of higher than 7 is considered to be basic in nature. On the other hand the substance, which has pH of exact 7, is considered to be neutral. The litmus paper is used to determine the pH of a substance. If the colour the litmus paper turns to red it is an acidic solution and the blue colour will indicate that the solution is basic in nature. In mathematical term pH can be defined as the reciprocal of concentration of the hydrogen ion activity converted in terms of logarithmic scale with base ten. pH= -log10 (aH+) . Where aH+ is the activity of the hydrogen ion. The teacher also needs to teach the concept of weak and strong acid along with the concept of organic and inorganic acid. The fatty acid that is present in the human body is one of the most important forms of organic acid that is present within the human body. It is also an important constituent of the cell membrane of animals. The concept of ionization is important to understand the difference of the weak acid and strong acid. Moreover, the idea related to the chemical equilibrium is a vital part for understanding of the acid base concept. Pedagogical Approach The teacher can use the digital technology to help the students understand the concept of acid base chemistry. The visual figures explaining the chemical formulae of the acid and base will help the student understand the difference in the acid, base and salt (Lee, 2015 166, pp.616-622). The teacher can also take the help of common acids and base that are used in everyday life, which will assist the students to relate the theoretical concepts of acid and base with the practical use. The teacher will also arrange for simple practical experiment that will help the student to grow their interest in the study of acid base chemistry. The teacher can also take the help of the fruits and vegetables, where the organic acid is present. Like the citric acid that is present in the lemon is one of the essential forms of organic acid. The student also needs to understand the role of these organic acids in the health of human body. Reference Bektas, O., 2015. Pre-Service Science Teachers Pedagogical Content Knowledge in The Physics, Chemistry, and Biology Topics. European Journal of Physics Education, 6(2). Espinosa, A.A., Espaa, R.C.N. and Marasigan, A.C., 2016. Investigating Pre-service Chemistry Teachers Problem Solving Strategies: Towards Developing a Framework in Teaching Stoichiometry. Journal of Education in Science, Environment and Health, 2(2), pp.104-124. Ince, E., Sesen, B.A. and Kirbaslar, F.G., 2012. Investigation of undergraduate students' understanding of radiation and radioactivity. Energy Education Science and Technology Part B-Social and Educational Studies, 4(2), pp.993-1004. Lee, J., 2015. Sorbitol, Rubus fruit, and misconception. Food chemistry, 166, pp.616-622. Newman, M., 2013. Emergence, supervenience, and introductory chemical education. Science Education, 22(7), pp.1655-1667. Osman, K. and Sukor, N.S., 2013. Conceptual understanding in secondary school chemistry: A discussion of the difficulties Experienced by students. American Journal of Applied Sciences, 10(5), p.433. Rowlinson, J.S. and Swinton, F., 2013. Liquids and Liquid Mixtures: Butterworths Monographs in Chemistry. Butterworth-Heinemann. Smith, K.C. and Villarreal, S., 2015. A reply to Reinterpretation of Students' Ideas when Reasoning about Particle Model Illustrations. A Response to Using Animations in Identifying General Chemistry Students' Misconceptions and Evaluating their Knowledge Transfer Relating to Particle Position in Physical Changes by Smith and Villarreal (2015). Chemistry Education Research and Practice, 16(3), pp.701-703. Speight, J.G., 2014. The chemistry and technology of petroleum. CRC press. Yakmaci-Guzel, B., 2013. Preservice chemistry teachers in action: an evaluation of attempts for changing high school students' chemistry misconceptions into more scientific conceptions. Chemistry Education Research and Practice, 14(1), pp.95-104.

Thursday, December 5, 2019

Feasibility Study for Research Methodology †Myassignmenthelp.com

Question: Discuss about theFeasibility Study for Research Methodology. Answer: Introduction Feasibility Analysis For every company it is very important to evaluate new project or innovation. This will enable company to understand whether or not innovation under consideration will be beneficial and feasible. In this project, Medical affair department is planning to implement a database system for enhancing efficiency and effectiveness of documentation(Novak, 1996). Technical Feasibility: The main aspect of technical feasibility is to analyse whether proposed project of having database management system is technically feasible or not. This actually means assessing whether the system has the capability of being implemented in the department or not. The objective is to analyse whether the advancement level of technology required for this updation is in position of supporting the proposed database system or not (Salvaggio, 2005). Currently medical affairs department is looking for implementing new computerised database system to resolve the issue related with enquiry system of organization. For this purpose, organization will be required to upgrade application system and will have to add modules that are more effective in system, which should be related with the accounting management, human resource management, inventory management, enquiry management, prescription management, details of patients and doctors (Arain et al., 2010). For implementing t he database management, system organization requires to upgrade the existing server as it is possible that the existing system is not carrying much power to accommodate the new needs and requirements(Arain et al., 2010). Economic Feasibility: This feasibility study is concerned about the returns that are related with the investment, which is going to be made in the implementation of new database system (Franchetti, 2012). This analysis helps us in analysing that whether the option of investing in business is a worth one or not (Franchetti, 2012). The economic feasibility study helps in identifying the cost of the project, cost of expertise and training (Arain et al., 2010) Software and equipment cost: This cost is associated with expenditure of keeping the system in proper place (Arain et al., 2010). The total cost of equipment comprises hardware, software and infrastructure costs (Arain et al., 2010). The cost that will incur after the implementation of database management system in medical affair department are licensing cost, cost of maintenance and support. Cost of licensing: This cost is estimated to cost around seventy lakhs. Cost related with the addition of financing module is estimated to cost around forty lakhs. Cost of supporting will be around 20 to 30 percent of licensing cost (Arain et al., 2010). Cost of Expertise: this will involve cost of hiring new consultants. This will cost around six to seven lakhs. Cost of Training: This particular cost will involve cost associated with training of employees of company for understanding database system (Arain et al., 2010) Operational Feasibility: This feasibility analysis is the main analysis as it deals with the main concerns that are related the human resource system (Arain et al., 2010). The objective behind undertaking feasibility study is to understand the proposed system in the terms of labour associated with it. Employees of the company will be required to be trained to better understand the need for implementing the new system and transpose the system of manual working into automated system. For proper management of the alignment with the real world, the team members of project management needs to get involved in Gap analysis(Salvaggio, Teal Associates, 2005). Process of gap analysis is considered as an effective step for analysing the overall implementation database strategy and to pin point the needs for database system. The new system of database will be helpful in integrating all the fragmented data in just one computer system(Motiwalla, 2009). The new system of database management system will require a system of integrating the primary objectives with secondary objective and thereby including all the areas of Medial Affairs department(Pandey, 2011). Requirement Specification Project Scope: The medical affair department, at present, processes medical enquiries in manual manner. The proposed system will help the organization members to manage the enquiry system in automated manner(Katimuneetorn, 2008). Scope of the project can be illustrated through the below points(Arain et al., 2010): Giving ease in access to enquiry Ease in access to information offering construct replies Giving statistical data Project objectives: Objectives of the project have been summarised as below(Tambovcevs, 2010): Increasing the number associated with enquiries that can be resolved immediately over phone Decreasing the time taken for locating appropriate historical data Decreasing the time taken for preparing statistical analysis of enquiries Increasing departmental efficiencies Increasing utility of data offered to the activity areas Decreasing complaints Decreasing waiting time Increasing productivity Increasing customer service Increasing information awareness Enhancing access towards information Efficient and effective database system Functional Specification: It is required to correct all the functional deficiencies that are associated with the system (European Communities, 2005). Specifications in the form of functions of project will act as the framework for consolidating and allowing benefits for achieving better prices from vendor(Arain et al., 2010). Non-functional Specification: All the data and information will be held by the organization in dematerialised form. However, in case if constraint is overcome, then organization and its employees will be able to manage medical enquiries in fast and effective manner as they will be able to find any document in just one click (Nordea, 2014). The information could then be utilised by the sales team for evaluating market directions. Also, more efficient and accurate research capabilities can be achieved through ad hoc reporting associated with new technologies(Arain et al., 2010). Project constrains: There are many constraints that will occur in implementation of this project: The main constraint of this project is to make the employees in the medical affair department realize the importance of the new database system. Employees working in Medical affair department are habitual of working manually in respect of enquires and documentation, making them ready to work on computer system is a critical task. There are high chances resistance from employees side towards this change. This is mainly because employees will think that managing things on computer system will require them to take extra efforts to understand the concept and that will affect their work process, which will enhance pendency and extra load, which will never be invited from employees. It is required that the management of the company builds framework for making employees understand the importance of the new database. Learning about the new database system will enable members of organization to feel confident about using the system. It will help organization in reducing resistance to change. Another constraint will be of recording the previous paper work in automated form, which will require a lot of time and effort for streamlining Current administrative system needs considerable technical skills Lack of integration within state wide financial and procurement system Lack of adequate adhoc capabilities of reporting Duplication of the efforts done by the employees; this is because employees had written previously the whole data in written form and now the same data have to be entered by them in computerised form which will require a lot of time and effort Project Work Breakdown Structure: The work breakdown structure one of the tools of project management that enables readers to understand how project will work and will get implemented (Momoh et al., 2008). It is a structure and explanation of the working activities in terms of the hierarchy of the details that organises work to be done in proper and effective manner with effective and quantifiable outputs with assigned responsibilities (Momoh et al., 2008). This particular structure is useful for cost management of project. For managing any complex system, it is necessary to understand the process and working of the project in parts and for that purpose, it will be good to understand it by breaking the structure of the same. The hierarchical structure illustrates all the tasks that are independently completed and allocation of resources for controlling the measures (Momoh et al., 2008). Below is the work breakdown structure of the database system, which is proposed to be implemented by medical affair department (Momoh et al., 2008). References Arain, M., Campbell, M.J., Cooper, C.L. Lancaster, G.A., 2010. Correspondence What is a pilot or feasibility study? A review of current practice and editorial policy. BMC Medical Research Methodology. European Communities, 2005. Functional Requirements For Conducting Electronic Public Procurement Under The EU Framework. European Communities. Franchetti, M.J., 2012. Economic and Operational Feasibility Analysis of Solid Waste Minimization Projects. intechopen. Katimuneetorn, P., 2008. Feasibility Study for Information System Projects. umsl. Momoh, A., Roy, R. Shehab, E., 2008. A Work Breakdown Structure for Implementing and Costing an ERP Project. IBIMA. Motiwalla, 2009. Enterprise Systems for Management. Pearson. Nordea, 2014. Implementation Guide. Nordea. Novak, L.R., 1996. Market and Feasibility studies A how-to guide. [Online] Available at: https://pages.uoregon.edu/rgp/PPPM613/downloads/How%20to%20do%20a%20Market%20Analysis.pdf. Pandey, N., 2011. Assessing Viability and Feasibility of Business Ideas. Thapar School of Management. Salvaggio, Teal Associates, 2005. Enterprise Resource Planning Feasibility Study. [Online] Available at: https://www.doa.state.wi.us/documents/DET/RFO/RFO%20EXE13-03%20Attachment%20B_ERP%20Feasibility%20Study%202005.pdf [Accessed 22 September 2016]. Salvaggio, T..A., 2005. Enterprise Resource Planning System Feasibility Study. Salvaggio, Teal Associates.. Tambovcevs, A., 2010. ERP System Implementation: A Case Study Of The Construction Enterprise. Economics And Management.

Thursday, November 28, 2019

Miss Julie Setting Essay Example

Miss Julie Setting Paper The historical setting contributes largely, not only to the theme, but also, the of details of the play. Charles Darwin’s â€Å"Origin of Species† was published less than thirty years before, August Strindberg’s â€Å"Miss Julie†. The introduction of Social Darwinism in 1800s was an essential to the naturalist genre within the play, and can be seen to have had an immense influence on â€Å"Miss Julie†. The simultaneous fall of Miss Julie and rise of Jean is evidently as a consequence of the theory of â€Å"survival of the fittest†, which was gaining popularity around the time Miss Julie was written. Jean’s competence, ambitious nature and better adaptability to the social structure of society, and Miss Julie’s dilemma over her position in the class structure, leads to her tragic downfall. The freedom of women and their equality to men was as a concept, in its adolescent stage, slowly gaining momentum, and so, the open-mindedness of Miss Julie and her mother, are depicted as a fallacy of their disposition that leads to disaster. August Strindberg wrote Miss Julie in 1880, only ten years later than the year when women were, for the first time, allowed to study at universities, but only certain courses. We will write a custom essay sample on Miss Julie Setting specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on Miss Julie Setting specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on Miss Julie Setting specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer Strindberg mocks the idea of equality of men and women, as he, through Miss Julie, describes the result of Miss Julie’s mother trying to generate equality between the two genders, by saying â€Å"The whole place fell apart and we became the laughing stock of the area. † References Darwin, Charles, and David Quammen. On the Origin of Species. New York: Sterling, 2008. Print. French, David, and August Strindberg. Miss Julie. Vancouver: Talon, 2006. Print.

Sunday, November 24, 2019

The Micromanager essay

The Micromanager essay The Micromanager essay The Micromanager essayIn the contemporary business environment the development of effective leadership style is crucial for the successful business development and maintenance of positive interpersonal relations within organizations. In this regard, the case of George and Shelley reveals the full extent to which the leadership style can affect not only interpersonal relations but also the professional performance of employees as well as organizational performance. In fact, George fails to elaborate the effective leadership style that turns out to have a negative impact on the performance of Shelley. As a result, she cannot perform her functions properly at the position of marketing director. Therefore, the leadership style can influence the professional performance and organizational performance that means that leaders should be able to be flexible enough to find the personal approach to each employee, while employees should also be able to adapt their performance to the leadership s tyle of the leader.George’s leadership style is authoritarian in its essence and paternalistic in a way, because he tries to keep Shelley, a recently employed marketing director, under his total control and guides all her actions (Fryer, 2004). Such leadership style is the characteristic of authoritarian leaders, who want to keep under control all the staff and the entire organization (Mohrman, 2011). In fact, George believes that he is doing good for Shelley assisting and supervising her and he is absolutely unaware of the fact that his leadership style is destructive and deteriorates not only his relations with the marketing director of the company but also threatens to the performance of the entire department. Shelley, being frustrated from his leadership style, cannot perform effectively.At the same time, such leadership style is not appropriate in relation to Shelley, who came to the company being full of aspirations that she will have an opportunity to lead the marketin g department of the company her way. Instead, she faces the permanent pressure, control and interference from the part of George. Such leadership style is inappropriate because it makes Shelley feel as if George does not trust her and does not believe that she is a well-qualified professional, worthy of being the marketing director in the company.   In such a situation, the risk of conflicts between George and Shelley emerges because Shelley cannot work as she wants, while George cannot focus on his own functions since he keeps supervising Shelley’s work tightly.In such a situation, Shelley may consider changing her relations with George. She should state clearly that she is the marketing director of the company and she is fully responsible for outcomes of her performance and performance of her department. This is why she should ask George to let her work for a month on her own without interference and supervision from the part of George and, if George turns out to be dissa tisfied with her performance and performance of her department, he could dismiss her. In other words, Shelley should ask George to ask for a chance to show her professionalism and to persuade George that she can work on her own and does not need the support of George or his excessive supervision. Moreover, such position of Shelley would show George the full extent to which Shelley is certain in her professional skills and abilities that she is ready to put her position at stake.The problem of George is his authoritarian, hand on management style which turns out to be depressing for Shelley, who feels her sense of professionalism being offended because of such excessive supervision from the part of George. George fails to establish positive interpersonal relations with Shelley that leads to the steady deterioration of her performance not because of her professional skills and abilities but because of George’s constant interference into her work.The cause of the problem is the failure of George to change his management style and adapt it to the specific employee, namely Shelley. George keeps supervising Shelley depriving her of an opportunity to manage marketing department as she wants to.The possible solution to the problem of George and Shelley’s poor interaction is the change of George’s management style, which involves granting Shelley with larger autonomy and independence in her work. In such a way, Shelley will not feel being offended because she believes that George considers her unprofessional (Chambers, 2005). At the same time, this solution will give Shelley a chance to manifest her professionalism, while George will have more time on other tasks and problems, which he can solve, aside of Shelley’s tasks and functions, which he attempts to supervise at the moment.Thus, George and Shelley should step to the next level in their professional interaction. George should let Shelley work autonomously, while Shelley should prove Ge orge that she is qualified enough to work on her own.

Thursday, November 21, 2019

A Midsummer Night's Dream by William Shakespeare Essay

A Midsummer Night's Dream by William Shakespeare - Essay Example Who hasn’t, in the days when we were young, gone to bed seemingly in love with one person only to awake the next day and find strong emotions in our hearts for someone else? This is irrational, but being irrational and silly has its place within each of us. Few people will admit to being so linear and scientific as to deny their lack of rational control when it comes to love. A Midsummer Night’s Dream is so popular because it reminds us all of those days when we could be irrational and fantastic without feeling the least bit foolish. Like all good literature, I believe the play’s appeal also lies in the characters. Reading the play allows me to see a bit of my own silliness in the situations the characters find themselves. The fantasy of fairies and love potions and enchanted forests is so engrained in our culture that A Midsummer Night’s Dream is exactly the antidote many of need for the sterile scientific world in which we currently live.

Wednesday, November 20, 2019

Two discussion questions Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Two discussion questions - Essay Example An example is firing employees who are involved in the production of company products. Small-scale change is ideal in the case of avoiding conflicts in a firm. Making a small change in the firm will serve to make improvements to a company’s operations, without affecting its overall structure. This has proved as an effective strategy in maintaining standards and quality of most successful organization (Spector, 2010). Large-scale change involves a complete renovation of most if not all of the current factors. For example, a company will seek to change the products it produces; hence, it will renovate the company by introducing new machinery and installing efficient measures of operation such as using computers rather than filing cabinets for storing company data and information. Such change is implemented by companies, which suffer significant losses that affect their mode of operation (Borkowski, 2005). Large scale-change in a company would be applied in phases in order to get rid of the problems that negatively affect the company in bits and pieces. Small and large-scale changes vary depending on the situation, and as a result, they are applied based on preference and analysis of the best alternative. However, small and large-scale changes can be implemented simultaneously. For example, if a company wants to make large-scale changes to the company, the management can apply small-scale changes to achieve a large-scale change (Spector, 2010). The strategy is used as a methodology that will allow individuals to acclimatize (accept) the changes being implemented. A recent change that was applied in my workplace involved the management introducing a computer system that would access employee performance based on their output on a weekly basis (Spector, 2010). This was to be used in determining whether individuals were lazy and underperforming, whether some employees did more work than others and also to find out the employees that

Monday, November 18, 2019

ATM network Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

ATM network - Essay Example Another problem is that whenever there is a communication error during transmission, a package of data being transmitted can easily be corrupted (William 36). This would force a retransmission of the whole package. These incidences can be reduced through data fragmentation Taking ‘n’ to be the number of cells required to transmit a single IP datagram, we can form an expression of the cell loss rate in the ATM network (PC) as the ratio of nc (number of cells corrupted) to n (the number of cells required to transmit a single IP datagram). The IP-packet loss rate (PP), would therefore be the ratio of corrupted packets to all received packets. The IP-packet loss rate depends heavily on the success of the transmitted packets, and this in-turn depends on the number of cells that are successfully transmitted. In order to receive the best perfomance of data transmission, it is good to tune the Maximum Transmission Unit. This service is made possible by some Information Technology providers through using ATM on their internal backbone network. This ensures that the right amount of sustainable data is transmitted and reduces fragmentation of

Friday, November 15, 2019

Relationship between price earning ratio and stock returns

Relationship between price earning ratio and stock returns There have been a large number of literatures during the past years on price earnings and stock return. The existing literatures propose different theories to how the price earning ratio may affect the performance of a company and also the factors that may influence it. Price-Earning Ratio There are several measures to determine the valuation of a security. Most often, the measures are determined by comparing the securitys price to different fundamentals such as earnings and dividends. One of the most respected stock valuation measures is the Price Earning ratio, which compare the price of the security to the companys earnings. Graham (1933) was the first to introduce the concept of the price earning ratio as a measure of performance of the stock market and the application of the P/E ratio was based on the idea that earning are related to value. Basu (1977) identified P/E ratio as predictor of subsequent performance and in particular high P/E firms underperformed and low P/E firms outperformed. The study done by Basu (1977) also state that P/E ratio, due to exaggerated investor expectations, may be indicators of future investment performance and he also validated Nicholsons results which state that low companies having low P/E ratios on average subsequently yield higher returns than high P/E companies. Gonedes and Dopuch (1974) declared that price models are conceptually inferior to return models under the presence of under-developed theories of valuation. Additionally Christie (1987) argues that price models present more econometric problems than return models. On the contrary there is a majority of studies that declare the superiority of the price model on explaining the return-earnings relation such as Bowen (1981), Olsen (1985), Landsman (1986), Barth et.al (1990, 1992) Barth (1991). However, the P/E ratio as it is commonly used is the result of network of influences, similar to the way in which a companys share price is influenced not only by idiosyncratic factors particular to that company, but also by movement in prices on markets as a whole, and the sector in which the company operates. Four main influences on a companys P/E ratio have been identified: The year the average market P/E varies year by year, as the overall level of investor confidence changes The sector in which the company operates. The size of the company there is a close positive relationship between a companys market capitalisation and the P/E accorded. Idiosyncratic effects. Companies examined in the same year, operating in the same sector and of similar size nevertheless have different P/Es. Idiosyncratic effects, that do not affect any other company account for this. Stock returns The CAPM developed by Sharpe (1964), Lintner (1965) and Mossin (1966) has been the most widely accepted among the many models developed to explain the relationship between expected returns and risk. According to the CAPM, the market can only compensates the investors for bearing systematic risk or common risk, which is measured by the assets beta. The beta measures the contribution of the risky asset to the riskiness of the entire efficient portfolio. The relationship between the expected return and risk can be expressed in CAPM model: E(Ri) = Rf + ÃŽÂ ²i(E(Rm)- Rf) Where E(Ri) = the expected return on the ith risky asset Rf = the expected return on a risk-free asset E(Rm) = the expected return on the market portfolio ÃŽÂ ²i = beta coefficient of the ith risky asset The establishment of the CAPM are based on the following assumptions: Investors are risk averse. Therefore investors prefer the highest expected return for a given standard deviation and the lowest standard deviation for a given expected return. The returns from investment are normally distributed. Therefore two parameters, the expected return and the standard deviation, are sufficient to describe the distribution of returns. All investors have a common single-period time horizon for their investment decision making. All investors can borrow and lend unlimited amount of money at a given risk-free rate. All investors have the same estimates of the expected return on each asset, the variance of return for each asset, and also the covariance between returns for each pair of assets. All assets are traded in the perfect markets; that is, all assets are marketable, there are no transaction costs or taxes, and all investors are price takers. The CAPM is challenged by the evidences on anomalies in stock returns. The CAPM says that all diversifiable risks will not be compensated and the only relevant risk is the market risk. Therefore, besides the market factor, no other factors should systematically affect the stock returns. The firm specific factors are capture by the error term, which is random. But the findings of the anomalies such as size, book-to-market equity and earning-to-price ratio suggest that investors can earn abnormal returns based on these trading rules. This may imply that the CAPM is mis-specified. Many empirical studies have been conducted and it has been found that stock returns are affected by some factors such as: Book-to-Market Equity effect Rosenberg, Reid and Lanstein (1985) and Stattman (1980) found that there is a positive relationship between stock returns and book-to-market equity. By the means of the time-series regression, the t-statistics obtained clearly show a positive result for their hypothesis. In study of Lakonishok, Scheifer and Vishny (1994), all the stock in the US market was divided into ten deciles portfolios from 1968 to1989 based on the book-to-market equity (BM) ratio. The results show that the average annual returns for deciles with the highest BM was 10.5 percent higher than the lowest BM deciles. Size effect The size effect is among the most prominent phenomena identified. Banz (1981) documents that there is size effect in the US stock market, using a test period from 1963 to 1975. The result of this study shows that small firms (measured by market value) on the average earn higher risk-adjusted returns than big firms. Seasonal effect Another evidence of the existence of the anomalies is the seasonal effect. In certain period of the year, stock returns are found to be higher as compared to the rest on the calendar year. The most common example of the seasonal effect is the January effect where stocks repeatedly earn higher returns in the month of January than the rest of the months in the year. The seasonal effect is also found in countries including Japan, Australia and Canada documented by Officer (1975), Berges (1984) and Jaffe Westerfield (1985) respectively. Many researches illustrate the relationship between the price earning ratio and the stock return of a company. Lakonishok, Scheifer and Vishny (1994) implemented P/E ratio as an expected future earnings growth indicator, in an excessive cross- sectional analysis. They proved that investors tend to favour stocks with exceptional past and current performance glamour stocks as they believe that past success will continue in the future, that is, they attribute the extra returns from value shares to psychological factors affecting market participants. According to Burgstahler and Dichev (1997), when the earnings to book value ratio is high, earnings are a more important determinant of equity value and vice versa. Moreover, Kormedi and Lipe (1987) and Collins and Kothari (1989) among other, identified that the earnings persistence is one of the major determinant of the magnitude of the earnings-return relation. EMPIRICAL REVIEW Several papers examined the ability of price and return models (along with some alternative forms) to accommodate the return-earnings relationship. An important ratio for the more low-risk, defensive investor was introduced by Graham and Dodd in 1933. They introduced the Earnings/Price ratio which is simply the Price/Earnings Ratio but flipped around as a benchmark for equity valuation. After the 1929 stock market crash, they recommend the investors that rather by trying to guess what the future bring, they should concentrate on other factors such as the companys past earnings or the value of its assets. According to Graham and Dodd, a company with strong profits and a relatively low stock price was probably undervalued. Also the fact that each share is value a number of times its current earnings became commonly satisfactory as a specific P/E level enables financial investors to make their buy/sell decision. The authors specified that P/E ratio, which is calculated by current fundam entals, never provide an exact appraisal for stocks. As a conclusion, P/E ratio was first regarded as a rough benchmark for selective stock investment and a tool for applying specific financial strategies so that in the long term, above-market returns can be generated. One of the first works showing the effect of the Price Earnings ratio was done by Nicholson (1960). The first study was based on a sample of 100 stocks which were mainly from industrial issues of trust investment quality and the stock was taken from the period 1939-1959. The stocks were arranged into groups of five according to their P/E ration in ascending order and were rebalanced every five years. The author found out that the twenty lowest multiple stocks had larger price gains as compared to the twenty highest multiple stocks. Those with the lowest P/E would deliver 14.7 times its original investment after the 20-year period, whereas the portfolio with the highest P/E stocks only earned 4.7 times its initial investment. Eight years later, Nicholson (1968) conducted another study where he looked at the earnings of 189 companies between 1937 and 1962. By dividing companies into groups of five, he found out that the average return for companies with a P/E ratio below ten was 12.7% per annum as compare to companies with a P/E ratio above twenty which had an average return of 7.97% per annum. Another studies done by Basus papers (1977) confirmed the results of Nicholson. The author tried to find the relationship between the investment performance of common stocks and their P/E ratio. He studied the price performance of NYSE industrial firms from 1957 to 1971. Two or more portfolios will be computed whereby risk-return relationship is weighted against each other and their performance is measured in pre-determined terms. Price to earnings ratio for every sample was calculated and they were ranked. Five portfolios were formed according to their P/E ratio. Considering the inter-quartile range, dispersion of the P/E ratio over the 14 years period can be noted where the low portfolio earned a return of 16.3% per annum compared to 9.3% for the high portfolio. Later researches (Jaffe, Keim and westerfield (1989) and Fama and French (1992)) supported the effectiveness that stocks with low P/E ratios produce higher returns. However a possible rejection of Nicholson and Basus studies on the Price Earnings ratio was made by Ball (1978). He conceded the apparent of such effects and argued that abnormal returns could not be produced on the basis of information available in the public area as they are of little or zero costs. Other reasons that could account for this irregularity are the systematic experimental error, transaction and processing costs and failure of Sharpes two parameter CAPM model. Beaver and Morse (1978) found out that when combining stocks into portfolios based on their price to earnings ratio, the differences among the portfolio continued up to the 14 years and that growth is not able to explain the existence of these little differences. I the years in which the portfolios are created, the price earnings are negatively correlated with earnings growth but positively correlated with earning growth in the next year implying that investors are considering only short-live distortions. In the study, the correlation of earnings growth in 1957 is negative 0.28 and the median correlation over the 19 years is negative 0.28. This is due to investors belief that earnings have been affected by temporary, random events or accounting management policies (rate of inflation, change in accounting treatment), firms which have low earning growth tend to have a high P/E ratio in the same year. As the portfolio are formed on the basis of ratio of price to realised earnings, stock s with transitory earnings will be grouped together meaning portfolio with the highest P/E ratio will be likely to include firms with negative transitory elements, that is, realized earnings are lower than the expected earnings. In the next year, while investors expectations are confirmed and earning growth increases, there is a positive correlation between P/E ration and earning growth. The author concluded that differences in accounting methods are the most evident explanation in differences in the P/E ratio rather than risk and growth. Studies that relate to accounting and price data normally derived the accounting measures from the COMPUSTAT database and for the quality returns they use CRSP data. However some difficulties may arise when using the COMPUSTAT database and Branz and Breen (1986) explained on the two possible problems that may crop up, that is, the ex-post-selection bias and the look-ahead bias. The ex-post-selection meant that companies which have merged, gone bankrupt or otherwise disappeared are no more included in the COMPUSTAT database and also new companies appeared with a full accounting history which does not exist before. The look-ahead bias resulted because of a dating problem where investors would not have access to portfolios that were formed at the end of the year and they had to wait several months before having access to it. Branz and Breen eliminated these factors by collecting certain COMPUSTAT items on a monthly basis that contain information on companies that was available to the in vestors and which also include all companies that had gone bankrupt, merged or disappeared on the COMPUSTAT. They concluded that even though the size effect was present, the Price Earning ratio was no more important as it is the data biases that had generated the evident P/E effect. Alford (1992) studied the accuracy of the valuation of the price to earning ratio when comparable firms are selected on the basis of industry, risk and earning growth. Alford (1992) used a sample of NYSE, ASE and OTC firms for the years 1978, 1982 and 1986 to analyse the accuracy of the price earning valuation. Each of the selected comparable firms predicted stock price is compared to its actual price and the author found that the price to earning ratio is an accurate measure of equity valuation. The findings of his research concluded that much of the diversity of P/E is attributed to the variety in the level of risk and earning growth of the individual firm. In addition, the industry factor appears to be a good proxy for risk and earning growth realed to the P/E ratios. Alford (1992) showed that the use of the industry P/E multiplied by the firms earnings per share (EPS) was proved to be an accurate estimator of its equity. The assessment of the accuracy of the P/E estimator was mad e under the efficient market hypothesis. In an efficient market, the market price changes randomly to reflect all new information. Thus, it can be used to test the accuracy of the theoretical price that Alford (1992) calculated, using P/E ratio. However this condition might not hold for different market. Value strategies have been defined by lakonishok, Schleifer and Vishny (1994) as the buying of stocks whose price are low as compared to other indicators of fundamental values such as earnings, dividends, historical prices, book asset or other measures of value in a comprehensive treatment of the issue of value strategies versus glamour stocks. They collected and studied stock prices between the periods 1963 to 1990. Firms are then classified into value or glamour stocks based on their past growth in sales and expected future growth as implied by the then-current P/E ratio. Differences in the expected future growth rated between the value and glamour stocks were found and as shown by the P/E ratio, investors were always overestimating them. For the first couple of years, the glamour stocks grew more quickly but afterwards the growth rates for the two types of stocks were almost identical. Glamour strategies were outperformed by 10-11% per year by the value strategies which used both past low growth and low multiples. Thus, glamour stock became overestimated, failed to meet investors expectation and were gradually abandoned. Stocks with temporarily depressed earnings are lumped together with well-performing glamour stocks in the high expected growth/low E/P category. These stocks with depressed earnings do not experience the same degree of poor future stock performance as the glamour stocks, perhaps because they are less overpriced by the market is the possible reason why the P/E did not produce a large effect as he other measures of fundamental value such as price-to book value or price-to-cash flow. Lakonishok, Schleifer and Vishny (1994) argued that such strategies offer higher return because they take advantage of investors sub-optimal behaviour. They came across little, if any, support that the value strategies were riskier and also found that the value stocks performed better than the glamour stocks. As a conclusion we can say that there has been much research that has been done on the price earnings ratio. Also many studies have been done throughout the world on different stock exchange market such as the Athens Stock Exchange (ASE). These studies concentrate on the impact of the price earning ration on the stock returns and it has been seen that price earning ratio do affect the stock returns, for example, Basu (1977) confirmed that stocks with low P/E ratio produce higher returns. However these researches had focus mainly on the empirical review rather than the theoretical review and this is the reason why we concentrate more on the empirical review.

Wednesday, November 13, 2019

The Future of Mankind Essay -- Philosophy God Philosophical Essays

The Future of Mankind If we compare the present with the past, if we trace events at all epochs to their causes, if we examine the elements of human growth, we find that Nature has raised us to what we are, not by fixed laws, but by provisional expedients, and that the principle which in one age effected the advancement of a nation, in the next age retarded the mental movement, or even destroyed it altogether. War, despotism, slavery, and superstition are now injurious to the progress of Europe, but they were once the agents by which progress was produced. By means of war the animated life was slowly raised upward in the scale, and quadrupeds passed into man. By means of war the human intelligence was brightened, and the affections were made intense; weapons and tools were invented; foreign wives were captured, and the marriages of blood relations were forbidden; prisoners were tamed, and the women set free; prisoners were exchanged, accompanied with presents; thus commerce was established, and thus, by means of war, men were first brought into amicable relations with one another. By war the tribes were dispersed all over the world, and adopted various pursuits according to the conditions by which they were surrounded. By war the tribes were compressed into the nation. It was war which founded the Chinese Empire. It was war which had locked Babylonia, and Egypt, and India. It was war which developed the genius of Greece. It was war which planted the Greek language in Asia, and so rendered possible the spread of Christianity. It was war which united the world in peace from the Cheviot Hills to the Danube and the Euphrates. It was war which saved Europe from the quietude of China. It was war which made Mecca the centre of the East. It was war which united the barons in the Crusades, and which destroyed the feudal system. Even in recent times the action of war has been useful in condensing scattered elements of nationality, and in liberating subject populations. United Italy was formed directly or indirectly by the war of 1859, 1866, and 187O. The last war realised the dreams of German poets, and united the Teutonic nations more closely than the shrewdest statesmen could have conceived to be possible a few years ago. That same war, so calamitous for France, will yet regenerate that great country, and make her more prosperous than she has ever been. Th... ...n will look upon this star as their fatherland; its progress will be their ambition; the gratitude of others their reward. These bodies which now we: wear belong to the lower animals; our minds have already outgrown them; already we look upon them with contempt. A time will come when Science will transform them by means which we cannot conjecture, and which, even if explained to us, we could not now under stand, just as the savage cannot understand electricity, magnetism, steam. Disease will be extirpated; the causes of decay will be removed; immortality will be invented. And then, the earth being small, mankind will migrate into space, and will cross the airless Saharas which separate planet from planet, and sun from sun. The earth will become a Holy Land which will be visited by pilgrims from all the quarters of the universe. Finally, men will master the forces of Nature; they will become themselves architects of systems, manufacturers of worlds. Man then will be perfect; he will then be a creator; he will therefore be what the vulgar worship as a god. But even then, he will in reality be no nearer than he is at present to the First Cause, the Inscrutable Mystery, the GOD.

Sunday, November 10, 2019

Care Plan Essay

Medical Diagnosis: sickle cell anemia with vaso-occlusive crisis Nursing Diagnosis List 1.Impaired Comfort related to sickle cell anemia as evidenced by acute vaso-occlusive crisis. The patient’s pain should take precedence as the nursing diagnosis, because it is in all-encompassing factor that affects the client’s ability to function within the other areas of Maslow’s hierarchy of physiological needs, such as breathing and sleeping. The pain from the vaso-occlusion makes it difficult for the client to become comfortable enough to rest in addition to other factors that affect sleep patterns. The pain caused by the client’s chest pain also makes it difficult to for her to take deep, adequate breathes and to assess her lung sounds. 2.Ineffective Breathing Pattern related to acute chest syndrome secondary to sickle cell anemia as evidenced by alterations in depth of breathing. Breathing should be prioritized as the secondary nursing diagnosis, because the patient’s sickle cell anemia is presenting her with diminished lung sounds in the lo wer right lung. Since the primary nursing diagnosis is associated with vaso-occlusion, the client is not getting proper oxygenation to parts of their body, and interventions may include administering analgesics to treat the discomfort, of which an adverse effect may include an altered breathing pattern, it is especially important to pay attention to and assess respiratory functioning in order to treat the effects of smoking and administration of analgesics on respiratory function and assure adequate oxygenation. 3.Disturbed Sleep Pattern related to excessive noise as evidenced by reports of being awakened all night. Disturbed sleep pattern should be prioritized third, because lack of adequate rest can cause fatigue, further discomfort, and decreased ability to function and perform ADL’s which is important to a client’s self-esteem and independence. Nursing Diagnosis: Acute Pain related to vaso-occlusive crisis secondary to sickle cell anemia as manifested by grimacing and verbalization of pain Outcome/Short Term Patient Centered GoalsPlanning/Interventions ImplementationRationale for interventions/Evaluation Short-Term Desired Outcomes The client will â€Å"perform appropriate interventions, with or without significant others, to improve and/or maintain acceptable comfort level,† a 5 or less on a 0-10 pain scale, by the end of the day (Ackley & Ladwig, 2013). Long-Term Desired Outcomes The client will â€Å"identify strategies, with or without significant others, to improve and/or maintain comfort level† by the time of discharge (Ackley & Ladwig, 2013).1. â€Å"Assess pain intensity level in a client† every hour utilizing a 0-10 pain scale (Ackley & Ladwig, 2013). 2. â€Å"Describe the adverse effects of unrelieved pain† every hour along with each pain assessment until patient verbalizes understanding (Ackley & Ladwig, 2013). 3. Teach the client about prescribed medications (oxycodone, for pain), such as how to use it, how often to take it, how much at once, and the desired and adverse effects of it. 4. â€Å"Ask the client to report side effects, such as nausea and pruritus, and to describe appetite, bowel elimination, and ability to rest and sleep† by performing an interview every hour while assessing pain level (Ackley & Ladwig, 2013). 1.†The first step in pain assessment is to determine if the client can provide self-report† (Ackley & Ladwig, 2013). 2. â€Å"Ineffective management of acute pain has the potential for†¦neuronal remodelin, an impact on immune function, and long-lasting physiological, psychological, and emotional distress†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Ackley & Ladwig, 2013). 3. â€Å"Instruct the client and family on prescribed medications and therapies that improve comfort† (Ackley & Ladwig, 2013). 4. â€Å"Constipation is one of the most common side effects of opioid therapy and can become a significant problem in pain management† (Ackley & Ladwig, 2013).Short-Term Desired Outcomes The client is able to properly utilize the prescribed oxycodone in their therapy to achieve a comfort level of 5 by the end of the day. Verbalizing an understanding of adverse effects of unrelieved pain helped patient understand the importance of reporting an accurate pain score whenever  experiencing discomfort. Goal Met. Nursing interventions for this goal were effective to help the patient achieve a more comfortable state. Long-Term Desired Outcomes The client is able to identify and report the side effects of the oxycodone, so that they can report any nausea, constipation, or abnormal sleep patterns to a nurse or physician. Goal met.

Friday, November 8, 2019

Improving Reading Performance of Students with Learning Disabilities

Improving Reading Performance of Students with Learning Disabilities Introduction Students who read well typically do well in school (Shaywitz Shaywitz, 2008). Nearly 10% of students in the American education system find it hard to improve performance (Printz, 2006).Advertising We will write a custom proposal sample on Improving Reading Performance of Students with Learning Disabilities specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More A child who does not read well has a higher possibility of being labeled with a learning disability, dropping out of school, or later having less success in work (Herberg, McLaughlin, Derby, Weber, 2012). Regrettably, teachers continue to differ as to how to enhance children’s reading knowledge so all the children will be literate when leaving school (Kaufman, McLaughlin, Derby, Waco, 2011). Consistent with the research literature, there are many successful and valuable teaching methodologies to enhance reading performance and word acquisition. Such methodologies consist of ski ll-centered programs like Direct Instruction (DI) (Erbey et al., 2011). Direct instruction involves explicit using lectures that contrast sharply with tutorials, and inquiry. Instead of using models, educators use demonstrations of the subject materials. Precision coaching that allows children to increase knowledge vigorously and monitor day-by-day performance (Ruwe et al., 2011) is part of these coaching and evaluation methodologies. In precision coaching, the educators aim is not abstract and general. Rather, it is focused and trained on getting particular results. Teacher-and children-coordinated drill (a live session where students and teachers engage at a personal level to solve pertinent issues) and practice techniques like feedback cards (the cards provide valuable guided feedback), detailed notes, constant reading (McLaughlin et al., 2009), and Direct Instruction flashcards (Falk et al., 2003; Ruwe et al., 2011) have been certified for their efficiency. The utilization of cl ass-based peer coaching (Erbey et al., 2011) has enhanced classroom social and educational behaviors across an extensive range of behaviors and children categories.Advertising Looking for proposal on education? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Development in word knowledge and fluency is associated with a drill and practice process known as reading racetracks (Erbey et al., 2011; Green et al., 2010). Reading racetracks (which are tools that help students increase reading fluency by capturing their attention) use mistake elimination, timing, group or tutor comment, and plotting of children performance (McLaughlin et al., 2009). A racetrack is made of 24 units or squares arranged in circle like a racetrack. Two pictures of Ford Mustangs appear at the upper and lower side of the track. The coach places in the drawings a list of word sets (Ruwe et al., 2011). The children are usually instructed by the teacher with flashca rds first, then are allowed to practice individually utilizing the track. After that, the instructor times the child for 60 or 120 seconds to see how quick he or she can verbally read the words around the racetrack. Care is taken not to insert two words beside one another, which are phonetically alike. The child and instructor count the number of right or mistakes and plot this result on standard or conventional graph paper. After the initial three racetracks, an assessment racetrack is made to provide further practice and maintenance of treatment outcomes over time (Printz et al., 2006). The following methodologies are included in this proposed study, but contain an original extension of many of these data-centered methods. This study employs the â€Å"outline, guide, examine, and re-examine† found in Direct Instruction methods. The precision training strategies (Printz et al., 2006) of timed reading practices, fluency developing, survey sheets, and child self-reading of per formance are employed. The utilization of drill and practice processes similar to McLaughlin et al. (2009) is also adopted. Finally, a token strengthening program (Printz et al., 2006; Green et al., 2010) will be appraised and adopted. This study will use a â€Å"reading track† system (Printz et al., 2006; Ruwe et al., 2011) and precision coaching (that allow students to monitor each day’s performance) methods to improve the fluency and correctness that children read words in isolation. The racetracks that will be adopted conform to the direct instruction practice of not incorporating words, which are visually and phonetically similar in the same session (Hyde et al., 2009).Advertising We will write a custom proposal sample on Improving Reading Performance of Students with Learning Disabilities specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More The purpose of the present research is to assess the efficiency of utilizing Reading Racetrack s to improve the reading of words found on the K-2 list key phrases adopted in the school district. A token strengthening program is as well engaged as further motivation for the research. During a one-minute timing of verbal reading, right and wrong phrases will be measured. Literature Review Introduction The study of the art and science of reading focuses on understanding the relationship between mind growth, social relationship, and learning by borrowing concepts and concluded studies from the fields of education and neuroscience (Printz et al., 2006). The results of the present study may aid in enhancing training practices for all children and assisting teachers in the development of more successful methods to teaching students with learning disabilities. Some of the general design elements built into certain hardware and software provide simple but strong techniques to back-up students’ requirements, both at home and in class. This literature review provides a synopsis o f learning technology practice and methodology with tangible examples of how parents, instructors, and children can utilize technology to improve reading performance of students with learning disabilities. Learning Technology Technology is often integrated into learning interventions and policy with a purpose of facilitating education for children with learning disabilities. As specific elements (Direct Instruction flashcards, Precision Coaching, feedback cards etc) are provided within conventional products, children with learning disabilities are gradually able to interact with educational technologies and instructors are gradually able to modify content for changing children’s preferences or requirements. Moreover, novel technology applications and learning software exclusively for children with learning disabilities emerge on a daily basis from curriculum developers, parents, instructors, and even learners themselves.Advertising Looking for proposal on education? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More These features are contributing to a global need for changes in policy and teaching methods that can influence when and how technology is utilized to improve reading performance of students with learning disabilities (Ruwe et al., 2011). The 2004 approval of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) summarizes the needs and resources for students with learning disabilities in the United States. The IDEA requires Personalized Learning Intervention (PLI) groups, which consist of parents, to re-examine and recommend Educational Technologies (ETs) and establish needed features for an individual child. This consists of specific technologies needed for children with learning disabilities to produce learning materials, interact with syllabus content, or relate to their peers and instructors (Erbey et al., 2011). Differentiation and Technology Differentiated teaching requires instructors to present content that is customized correctly for the range of children in each category, to instruct utilizing flexible methods that provide varying means for learners to interact with the content and with one another, and to offer learners a choice of techniques to document their learning (Romjue et al., 2011). Within both instructor coaching and career development, special instructors are gradually trained to acquire necessary knowledge in their teaching methods. Given that, some special students may opt to learn normally, and the push for affirmative action in this area, General Education Instructors require Special Education knowledge to offer the bulk of daily instruction for learners with disabilities in normal classrooms, with resources and back up from special education professionals (Hyde et al., 2009). In addition, institutions are gradually offered technology-based syllabi that offer excellent ways of interaction and comprehending for learners with disabilities. Many of these syllabi integrate flexible lesson plan methods based on brain studies and/or genera l lesson plan practices. For instance, Richard Mayer (2008) suggests evidenced-centered media design practices that demonstrate how learning is improved when educational practices foresee the cognitive procedural load needed at every level of education. He provides detailed media design suggestions that support critical production of main features and strategies, reduce irrelevant production, and promote generative production to improve learning skills. Mayer’s results show that the correct mixtures of resources – like animation with recitation or pictures with the appropriate phrases beside them – can enhance learning than when notes are presented using an informal rather than a formal method, indicating that our social interaction with the content influences how we learn. Technology Use at Home and In Class Four to six percent of learners in United States institutions have been diagnosed with learning disabilities, totaling 2.7 million learners in 2007 (McLaug hlin et al., 2009). Over 50% of those children spend most of their day in general learning classrooms. Technology inputs that support learners with learning disabilities are becoming more accessible, but class consumption remains behind because general education instructors have not been trained to use such technology effectively. Approximately 35% of learners with disabilities access supportive technology to enhance learning as illustrated by Metzloff et al. (2009). Specific knowledge of supportive technology may be needed to satisfy the requirements of children with certain learning disabilities, but technology reviews even in such instances are often missing. Special technology reviews are occasional checks by perennial instructors and developers of supportive technology to ensure that such technology captures the needs of the intended users. A study of 400 instructors who teach children with learning disabilities found that below 33% of their children had ever had a supportive t echnology review (Ruwe et al., 2011). Research carried out by the Harvard Family Research Program proposes eight methods in which instructors and administrators can encourage parents’ participation in homework to assist students to improve and reinforce learning skills. Four of the proposed ways need considerable parental capability and/or parent-centered coaching and instructor support. These consist of parents’ direct participation in assignments and completion of homework. In addition, it consists of parents’ development of helpful strategies that match classroom roles to their children’s understanding, skills, and capabilities. Studies offer suggestions that propose an affirmative impact from parent-to-parent support teams and instructor-parent partnerships in improving and supporting individualized assignment systems for all children (Lolich et al., 2012). Technology Appropriateness Technologies that aid children with disabilities tackle physical and time challenges can have a quantifiable impact on the children’s interaction with learning. Children who strive to understand image, print, and audio resources are less capable of experiencing deep interaction while absorbing new content since the decoding procedure uses an uneven share of active memory (Wall Siller, 2002). Education instructors, researchers, and professionals agree that special children ought to know how their specific impairment affects their education. Howard Gardner’s (2000) research on several intellects supports learner self-recognition of preferences, strengths, and weaknesses in various fields of learning: rational, spatial, intrapersonal, and naturalistic (Gardner, 2000). Future brain studies may recommend individualized reviews that could quantify varying degrees of learning through utilization of diverse technology-centered approaches at diverse levels in a child’s development. Method Participants Participants of this study are chil dren aged 14 years who have been diagnosed with any specific disabilities that may impair learning. The diagnosis is a procedure carried as per Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Students-III and children with disabilities score lower than the outcomes of that intelligence scale in one or all of the scales. Outcomes of the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Students-III (Printz et al., 2006) are Oral 90, Performance 104, and Full Scale 102. The schoolteacher will administer the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Students test two weeks before data gathering begins. The study will take place in the coaching classroom of an elementary school in a rural area. The Special Education Instructor, the teaching assistant, and the first author will be present in the coaching room. The authors will select the participant based on the average level of reading performance and readiness to contribute to the study. Such data will be provided as part of the graduation requisites of the first author from a p ublic university. Materials Resources required for this research are two reading racetracks, conventional plotting paper, a stop watch, data compilation checklist, blue and black pens, list of words, and instructor-made flashcards. A representative sample for a reading racetrack is as shown below. Figure 1: A model Reading Racetrack (Lolich et al., 2012, p. 247) Variables and measurement processes The dependent variables are the number of words the child reads accurately or in inaccuracy. The first author records the number of accurate and inaccurate words read for a one-minute period. Prior to each period, the child is allowed 120 seconds (3 minutes) to practice the racetrack in isolation. The child is timed once in a day based on the number of words they read. This study will take one week. The participants will be awarded points based on a token education program for a specific number of accurate responses. The number of rights required to earn points increases overtime as the i ntervention itself becomes more rewarding. Study Design and Requirements To evaluate the efficiency of the racetracks paired with Direct Instruction, precision coaching and a personal token program, the researcher will utilize the following. Data Collection Survey Pursuant to the measurement processes and variables discussed above, the researcher will embark on original data collection. As proposed above, this study consists of presenting a list of key words and requesting participants to read the words orally for one minute. The researcher makes a check on a conventional graph paper for each inaccurate reading and the total number of readings. An accurate ‘answer’ is defined as reading the word accurately (consisting of self-corrections). A wrong ‘answer’ is defined as reading a word wrongly, skipping a word, or pronouncing another word. The researcher will collect the data for two days. Reading racetracks As noted before, reading racetracks are tools that enable students (especially those with disabilities) to eliminate mistakes in reading through practice. In this research, the researcher selects six words from a universal record of key words for each racetrack, being careful not to incorporate two phonetically similar words. The researcher confirms that the child has previous reading experience with 60% of the words from practice, as mentioned above. The researcher utilizes a growing number of words in the course of the program. The program takes a week as mentioned above. At the start of each day’s session, the child is given 120 seconds to practice the reading system individually. If the participant asks help to decode a word, the researcher offers help. After 120 seconds of practice, the student is timed for 60 seconds. An accurate answer is defined as reading the word in each unit accurately or self-correcting whereas an inaccurate answer is defined as skipping a word, reading a word inaccurately, or pronouncing a word from a different unit as noted above. At the end of the one-minute session, the participant will aid the researcher to compute the number of accurate and inaccurate answers, in addition to recording the information. After calculation, a number of points are awarded to the participant (e.g. one point for every 5 accurate reading answers and then progressively increased during the program to one point for every 10 accurate answers). Immediately following data collection, the researcher uses the Direct Instruction System, which models, instructs, examines, and re-examines for a support effect, such as timing, sign language teaching, or a pen. When the participant completes a racetrack with 100% correctness, a different racetrack is implemented on the next day. Data is gathered roughly three times in a week for a total of six weeks. Reliability of Data The data collected has to capture the parameters and requirements of this research. To fulfil this requirement, the researcher carries o ut an Inter Observer Consistency (the inherent coordination between participant and the researcher(s)) once during data collection. In this paper, there is likely that a number of people may be involved in collecting data. Each time a participant pronounces a word, the researchers record an accurate or inaccurate mark individually throughout the one-minute durations. This may result in different recordings. Hence, the researcher has to make effort to ensure data reliability. To achieve inter researcher conformity, the researcher in this paper divides the number of conformities per researcher by the total number of conformities and non-conformities and multiplies that number by 100. ‘Conformity’ is defined as researchers having a similar response captured for each word pronounced verbally. ‘Non-conformity’ is the instance where researchers have dissimilar responses for a word pronounced verbally. Process of Assessing a Disabled Participant Constructing or de veloping an assessment tool is a process. The process chronologically involves the following steps according to Mayer (2008). Identifying the area of difficulty for the learner. For instance; a childs habitual omission of letters while reading Determination of the frequency of the problem and its gravity with regard to its effect on reading. Sampling of relevant tests commencing with the easiest level until one derives the items, which are at the learner’s level. Carefully paying attention to motor or sensory difficulties and letting the learner to react in the way they function best. Preparations Before the introduction of the learner to experience, proper preparedness of the professionals conducting the testing to administer and score the same and a friendly environment should be ensured first. Most learners are test phobic. To alleviate this problem, they should be explained all the steps to be involved in the testing, the testing items, and procedures clearly. This help s clarify any misconceptions to them and other participants. It would be equally important to involve the parents, as this would in turn help them understand the test and its importance. Hence, win them as part of the assessment support team. Their knowledge about the learner should also be embraced, as it would render the test more meaningful to the learner and their family. Besides establishing a rapport with the learner, it would also help minimize their test stress or phobia, before the test a lot. Ensuring the test is at their level would also help in this a lot. Once everything is in place, the assessment should be done and the results got something that should usher in the following step. Conclusion To facilitate planning for the assessment, the team members should work collaboratively and in a participative manner too to ensure a wholesome assessment. Additionally, the assessments should be carried out in learner’s school or at home unless the learner proves to have b oth educational and other problems calling for specialized attention. Prior to the commencement of the learner, the teacher, and other team members should have a planning schedule for the determination of what is to be assessed and how the information is to be gathered as well as assessment objectives. Assessment objectives entail areas to which forces should be prioritized. Besides this, it should also give clarifications for referral questions, review regarding learners’ information (particularly from parents and other teachers, locate rules and responsibilities of member for diverse information collection across multiple setting. References Erbey, R., McLaughlin, F., Derby, M., Everson, M. (2011). The effects of using flashcards with reading racetrack to teach letter sounds, sight words, and math facts to elementary students with learning disabilities. International Electronic Journal of Elementary Education, 3(3), 213-226. Falk, M., Band, M., McLaughlin, F. (2003). The effects of reading racetracks and flashcards on sight word vocabulary of three third grade students with a specific learning disability: A further replication and analysis. International Journal of Special Education, 18(2), 51-57. Gardner, H. (2000). The Disciplined Mind: Beyond Facts and Standardized Tests, the K-12 Education That Every Child Deserves. New York: Penguin Putnam. Green, C., McLaughlin, F., Derby, K., Lee, K. (2010). Using reading racetracks and flashcards to teach sight words to students with disabilities: Effects for acquisition and response maintenance. Journal of Educational Research, 13(2), 84-98. Herberg, J., McLaughlin, F., Derby, K., Weber, P. (2012). The effects of repeated readings and flashcard error drill the reading accuracy and fluency with rural middle school student with learning disabilities. Academic Research International, 2(3), 388-393. Hyde, C., McLaughlin, F., Everson, M. (2009). The effects of reading racetracks on the sight word fluency and acquisition for two elementary students with disabilities: A further replication and analysis. The Open Social Science Journal, 2(1), 50-53. Kaufman, L., McLaughlin, F., Derby, K., Waco, T. (2011). Employing reading racetracks and DI flashcards with and without cover, copy, and compare and reward to teach of sight words to three students with learning disabilities in reading. Educational Research Quarterly, 34(2), 27-50. Lolich, E., McLaughlin, F., Weber, K. (2012). The effects of using reading racetracks combined with direct instruction precision teaching and a token economy to improve the reading performance for a 12-year-old student with learning disabilities. Educational Sciences, 3(2), 245-249. Mayer, R. (2008). Applying the science of learning: Evidence-based principles for the design of multimedia instruction. American Psychologist, 63(8), 760-769. McLaughlin, F., Williams, F., Williams, L., Peck, M., Derby, K., Bjordahl, M., Weber, K. (2009). Behavioural training for teac hers in special education: The Gonzaga University program. Behavioural Interventions, 14, 83-134. Metzloff, N., Kuhl, P., Movellan, J., Sejnowski, J. (2009). Foundations for a new science of learning. Science, 325, 284-288. Printz, K., McLaughlin, F., Band, M. (2006). The effects of reading racetracks and flashcards on sight word vocabulary: A case report and replication. International Journal of Special Education, 21(1), 103-108. Romjue, H., McLaughlin, F., Derby, K. (2011). The effects of reading racetracks and flashcards for teaching sight words. Academic Research International, 1(2), 134-146. Ruwe, K., McLaughlin, F., Derby, K., Johnson, K. (2011). The multiple effects of direct instruction flashcards on sight word acquisition, passage reading, and errors for three middle school students with intellectual disabilities. Journal of Developmental and Physical Disabilities, 23, 241-255. Shaywitz, S., Shaywitz, A. (2008). Paying attention to reading: The neurobiology of reading and dyslexia. Developmental Psychopathology, 20(4), 1329-1349. Wall, R., Siller, M. (2002). Quick facts on the use of multimedia presentations and technology. American Foundation for the Blind, 19(1), 201-216.