Saturday, August 24, 2019

Home Remedy and Complementary Medications Assignment

Home Remedy and Complementary Medications - Assignment Example For the purpose of a pimple I had been using; dipping of cotton into fresh lemon juice and applying on the pimple before going to bed, putting an ice cube in a piece of cloth and holding it onto the affected area, applying of white toothpaste on the pimple before going to bed, rubbing of garlic clove several times a day, talking the steam of hot water on the entire face or usage of honey on to the affected area for half an hour. The objective of considering such folk remedies basically includes fewer side effects as compared to the prescribed doctor’s medication. Mostly all of us have endured folk remedies. For the purpose of a pimple I had been using; dipping of cotton into fresh lemon juice and applying on the pimple before going to bed, putting an ice cube in a piece of cloth and holding it onto the affected area, applying of white toothpaste on the pimple before going to bed, rubbing of garlic clove several times a day, talking the steam of hot water on the entire face or usage of honey on to the affected area for half an hour.

Friday, August 23, 2019

Explaining the importance of mentoring and counselling techniques in Essay

Explaining the importance of mentoring and counselling techniques in the appraisal process and their relevance in HR - Essay Example In this paper, the process of mentoring and counselling in relation to HRM (Human Resource Management) has been discussed. It seeks to explain about the differences and similarities linking the two factors and its significance in appraisal method. The mentor and counsellor apply certain techniques to conduct the appraisal of employees; these techniques have been included in this paper. The paper also covers the negative impact of implementing poor mentoring and counselling techniques towards appraisal method and its improvement methods have also been suggested. In this paper, an experience of a staff appraisal method is discussed. Mentoring and counselling has a significant role in human resource management of an organisation. The program of mentoring facilitates in ‘career development’, ‘personal support’, ‘career advancement’, ‘learning and development’, ‘increased confidence’ and ‘assistance and feedbackâ€℠¢. Career development of mentee is observed to achieve crucial advantage through mentoring related programs. The mentees attain new expertise and develop to be competent in their performance. Due to mentoring related program both mentee and mentor is benefitted. ... The organisational communication along with culture is also improved owing to mentoring program (Ehrich, 1999). The human resource manager or counsellor counsels the employees if he or she is stressed for certain reasons and their performance lowered as they are related to the productivity of organisation. In an organisation, counsellor may be either supervisor or manager. They can counsel human resource manager and training manager and in the meantime these office bearers can counsel staff member because of the position they hold. The different human resource roles that are related to counselling of employees involve career improvement, performance, redundancies, promotion, transfers, and retirement among others. The human resource of an organisation is extensively in connection with counselling activities because through this technique the employees can dispose of problems arising in their life. The counselling is organised for several issues that may have a negative impact on empl oyees’ growth (Mwosa, n.d.). Mentoring facilitates experienced employees to advance further in their area of knowledge by regular reassessing and enhancing the skill. In mentoring, two individuals are involved: mentor and mentee. Mentor meets the requirement of mentee and thus enhances the special skills of mentee (Triple Creek, n.d.). Mentoring is considered as an efficient way to transfer knowledge as well as skill rapidly among employees and to motivate them in order to cooperate in an organisation. This process is a long term procedure and possesses broad perspective. It also focuses on the entire career of employees in an organisation. Counselling is essentially related to the emotional state of employees and it treats the emotional problem associated with employees. This

Thursday, August 22, 2019

Pornography Should Be Free

Pornography Should Be Free from Government Control Essay Whether one feels strongly about the viewing, making and distribution of pornography by consenting adults, one cannot argue that sex isn’t everywhere. Evident in videos, movies, pictures, and advertisements, it’s a fact that sex sells. Who is to say that because pornography can be viewed easily in many ways, that it’s not a bad thing? Yet in the discourse of pornography as a whole, where does morality and money come into play? To whatever extent pornography is considered immoral; everyone should be entitled their own intellectual freedom. The government has made some steps in order to limit the spread of pornography, yet it is apparent that little can be done to ultimately affect it. In 1968, the Supreme Court case of Ginsberg v. New York held that the government can legally prohibit children from accessing certain types of sexually explicit material, the same material that can’t be banned for adults. Even though the Supreme Court ruled that a minor does not have the constitutional right to the same content as an adult, the task of restricting content on the internet is shaky, due to the difficulty of distinguishing adults from children. In 1973, a following Supreme Court case, Miller v. California, established the phenomenon of â€Å"variable tolerance†. Leaving a variable tolerance existing for explicit material, the Supreme Court allowed communities to decide what was indecent or obscene. Different levels of tolerance of pornography from community to community could be a successful system if in fact, pornography distribution can be limited community by community. Because people are mobile and the internet is boundary-free, the government cannot effectively restrict its availability to everyone (and possibly to anyone). Another notable court case involved with pornography was the 1982 case, Ferber v. New York. This case basically addressed all material showing a ‘sexual performance’ by a child under the age of 16, as obscene. It defined a sexual performance as, â€Å"actual or simulated sexual intercourse, deviate sexual intercourse, sexual bestiality, masturbation, sado-masochistic abuse, or lewd exhibition of the genitals.† It’s a federal offense to knowingly receive child pornography. According to the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions, â€Å"intellectual freedom is the right of every individual both to hold and express opinions and to seek and receive information.† The freedom of an adult to view pornography involving other adults is not really recognized as a recreational activity, mainly because it is scorned upon in many religions. Even the majority of parental figures in the world seem to demonize pornography when raising their youth. Yet no one really steps back and asks, why exactly is pornography immoral? One of the major arguments towards pornography being immoral is that in many pornographic depictions, people (usually women) seem to be victimized for a viewer’s pleasure. The only difference between an African American woman playing a role as a slave in the civil war era, an African American woman posing in shackle-like bracelets in a skinny jean advertisement, and an African American woman in a pornographic film, is that each different role requires certain talents and understandings that come together in order to entertain an audience. Immoral or not, pornographic material is nothing more than another way to make money. It’s seen or referenced to in many advertisements, and it’s difficult to find an â€Å"R† rated movie with out at least one nudity scene. Once again, sex sells. Wherever there is demand, there will be supply, and the statistics behind internet pornography are somewhat staggering. According to Information Science professor and researcher, Paul F Burton, â€Å"47% of the 11,000 most popular searches on the Internet are targeted towards pornography.† The money aspect of pornography is almost incomprehensible. There are over 1.5 million internet users viewing pornography every minute. From that audience, $3,075.64 is spent on pornography each second, and every 40 minutes, a new pornographic video is made in the United States alone. The market for pornography is huge.

Wednesday, August 21, 2019

Psychology Debate Essay Example for Free

Psychology Debate Essay Psychology is a human science and should thereby leave the study of biology to the biologists. Psychology, as defined by the APA is, ‘the study of the mind and behaviour’(APA, 2013), this definition states that psychology is indeed separate to that of biology as biology by definition is ‘the branch of science concerned with the structure, function, growth, evolution, and distribution of living and non-living organisms’ (biology online, 2013), this implies that the two are indeed two different disciplines which do not require interaction, as they are simply focusing on different things. A good example of the two disciplines being separate, is psychoanalysis. Psychoanalysis, a method of therapy developed by Freud and still used widely today, focuses on the subconscious and says that mental illness is caused by underlying traumas, repressed memories and unconscious desires. If these are brought to the surface, by the patient verbalising under hypnosis of these repressed, unconscious and underlying issues, it is thought that by uncovering them they will find answers. Psychoanalysis has no foundations in biology and even as it has been expanded upon by people such as Adler and Jung, still does not believe that biology is relevant to psychology (Kandel, 1999). The simple fact that they are, still to this day, separate disciplines again reinforces that they are separate spheres of study and should remain that way. AGAINST: Psychologists need an understanding of biology in order to treat patients, and understand concepts fully.  Psychology could not be practiced if it was not for the fundamental biology that sets human beings apart from any other species. An understanding of the brain, body and how they function and there interactions and co-existence with psychological concepts such as mood, personality, emotions are integral and in fact, psychology needs a biological foundation and understanding to even begin to interpret psychological concepts (Weiten, 1992). When taking a closer look at the definitions mentioned previously, they both study life. Since biology is the study of life psychology fits into this definition as psychologists too study life. In saying that, the study of life should not be left up to the biologists as they are typically concerned with the structure, function, growth, evolution and distribution of living and non-living organisms, whereas psychologists look deeper into the study of life, not just seeing it as a science but seeing it as an avenue to help and better people’s lives through understanding the fundamental biological workings of the brain. But without an understanding of the human brain and body and how it functions psychologists would not be able to put these two disciplines together to achieve their outcomes. It is crucial for a psychologist to understand the work of biology in order to be an effective psychologist. Without a biological basis, there would be no way that psychology would even be a pro-active discipline. Diagnosing a patient today, requires the psychologist to be able to understand the biological forces which influence behaviour (Weiten, 1992).

Tuesday, August 20, 2019

Adaptive Market Hypothesis and Behavioural Finance

Adaptive Market Hypothesis and Behavioural Finance An Essay on the Relationship between Andrew Lo’s Adaptive Market Hypothesis and Behavioural Finance 1.0  Introduction When in 1936, Keynes compared financial markets to a beauty contest where competitors had to guess who the most popular choice would be, he did not imagined that economists would become fascinated with the contest for explaining the efficiency or inefficiency of that market. Indeed, the global financial crisis of 2008 brought to bare the bitter rivalry between traditional finance theorists and their behavioural counterpart over the realism of assumptions explaining competitive market equilibrium, rational choice theory and rational expectations. Prior to the crisis, the dominant view in mainstream economics and finance (as exemplified in the assumptions of efficient market hypothesis) had been that: individuals are broadly rational, risk averse, maximize their expected utility of wealth, and follow the tenets of subjective probability theory. Hence, the capital market is seen as perfect and generating financial returns which are unforecastable. To put it more aptly in the words of Fa ma (1970), â€Å"prices fully reflect all available information†, an idea that has come to be known as market efficiency. However, the fallout from the financial crisis saw a bourgeoning interest in behavioural economics due mainly to the failings of traditional economic theory to explain many observed market anomalies. Behavioural economists pointed out a number of basic logical mistakes in the efficiency reasoning, which they attributed to behavioural biases and cognitive limitations, which are universal to human decision-making under uncertainty. Some of the documented biases cited in Lo (2004) include overconfidence, loss aversion, overreaction, psychological accounting, herding, miscalibration of probabilities, hyperbolic discounting and regrets. Accordingly, the behaviourists opine that these biases provided evidence that markets are not only inefficient, but that its participants are often irrational. Herein lies the intellectual crux of the debate, which has continue to shape the study and practice of economics and finance. Indeed, while some economists may want to uphold their firm beliefs in market efficiency and rationality, others may as well seek alternative approaches in behavioural finance. Between these two approaches, however, there may be economists who seek for a compromise. This is where Andrew Lo classic work on the adaptive market hypothesis readily falls in. This essay proceeds as follow; section two explain the Adaptive Markets Hypothesis, its theoretical postulations and relationship with behavioural finance, section three critically examine this relationship, and section four concludes the essay. 2.0The Adaptive Markets Hypothesis (AMH) Explained Andrew Lo’s adaptive market hypothesis was based on evolutionary principles of competition, mutation, reproduction and natural selection in biology. Lo, in his 2004 seminal article on the Adaptive Market Hypothesis, suggests that â€Å"individual makes choices based on past experience and their ‘best guesses as to what might be optimal, and they learn by receiving positive or negative reinforcement from the outcomes, (and) if they receive no such reinforcement, they do not learn.† Thus, the AMH implied that investor behaviours such as overreaction, loss aversion, overconfidence, and other behavioural biases are constructed and shaped by a dynamic interplay between investors’ internal cognition and their external environment that then produces evolutionary traits, in which heuristics develop, transform, boom or die out depending on the market settings. As an example, if a market setting is stable, heuristics is likely to yield an optimal or rational choice for investors. While an unstable market environment characterized by risks and uncertainties, yield various forms of behavioural biases. In such instances, ‘rational’ decisions are always evolving as investors’ develop a new set of heuristics in reaction to a changing market environment. These views was developed further by Lo (2005), where he highlighted the main propositions of the AMH to include that: Individuals act in their own self-interest. Individuals make mistakes. Individuals learn and adapt. Competition drives adaptation and innovation. Natural selection, shapes market ecology. Evolution determines market dynamics. In this context, Andrew Lo’s AMH can be said to revolve around three main processes of heuristics development, learning, and an adaptation process of decision making, whose combined impacts on financial institutions help determine market efficiencies, and the waxing and waning of investment products, industries, and even individual and institutional fortunes (Lo, 2005). 2.1The Adaptive Market Hypothesis and Behavioural Finance The uncertainty associated with efficient market hypothesis had led behavioural finance scholars to offer a departure from fully rational behaviours in finance models to behavioural biases or heuristics amongst investors that arguably explains human decision makings under uncertainty. Indeed, most empirical literature on behavioural finance have explained well-recognised market anomalies which contrast standard finance theories. Some of these studies include Kahneman and Tversky (1979), Bernard and Thomas (1990), Benartzi and Thaler (1995), Mehra and Prescott (2008), etc. however, none of this literature was able to present a coherent alternative model that could match the dominancy of standard finance literature. Fama (1998) aptly capture this non-coherence in their arguments when he said, â€Å"a problem in developing an overall perspective on long-term return studies is that they rarely test a specific alternative to market efficiency, instead the alternative hypothesis is vague, market inefficiency.† Thus, Andrew Lo’s AMH was one main attempt at providing a philosophical and theoretical foundation for behavioural finance. Indeed, one stated objective in Lo’s 2004 classic article was to reconcile understandings from efficient market hypothesis with behavioural finance and psychology. Like behavioural finance, AMH explains loss aversion, equity price premium, overreaction, momentum based trading strategies, and other heuristic driven biases by the fact that in a dynamic market environment, investors develop new sets of mental frames or heuristics to solve various economic challenges. Specifically, using Herbert Simon’s notion of bounded rationality, Lo (2004) pointed out that the presence and persistence of behavioural biases can be best understood when we appreciate the fact that cooperation, competition, market-making behaviour, general equilibrium, and disequilibrium dynamics are all adaptations designed to address certain environment challenges for the huma n species and then view these forces from the lens of evolutionary biology. Besides, Lo posits that fear and greed – which behaviourists often cite as a basis for irrational decision making are the products of evolutionary forces and adaptive behaviours that enhance the odds of survival. In this situation, emotions may be seen as an incentive system that determines investors’ behaviour and prompt them to engage in a cost-benefit analysis of various investment plans available to them. Consequently, there are no fixed rules for evaluating trading strategies as depending on market conditions, investors can engage in trade; truncate it at various points and observe the consequences of their actions. For example, where investors are timely in their investment decisions, they come back and dominate the market; if on the other hand, they are poor in market timing, they are easily eased out of the market. Hence, according to Lo supposition, market efficiency can-not be appraised in a vacuum, because is extremely context dependent and dynamic, thus resu lting in a cycle of a mental frame selection process in which investors grow, mutate and thrive or face extinction (Lo, 2004). Moreover, under the AMH, market strategies evolve to adapt to an ever changing market environment, and is driven by profit opportunities, which according to Lo, is the main source on which market participants depend for their survival. One other main aspect of behavioural finance which the AMH shed light on is the existence of arbitrage opportunities. According to Lo, arbitrage opportunities appear and disappear due to adaptive responses to a changing market environment. In this fashion, investors adapt to match new economic challenges, by developing new heuristics that are necessary to evaluating any investment strategy and which in turn depends upon its survival value. Although profitability and risk reduction values are also important factors to consider, Lo pointed out that these factors come after investors have undergone this fundamental market test. So what are the implications of the AMH for efficient markets and behavioural finance? Lo (2004) briefly outlines these implications to include that The equity risk premium are non-constant over time, but changes according to the recent path of the stock market. Risk/reward relations are nonlinear and non-stable. Arbitrage opportunities exist from time to time Investment strategy, waxes and then wane depending on the environment Adaptation and innovation are keys to survival Survival is the only objective that matters. 3.0AMH or EMH? An evaluation Fama (1998) emphasize that any alternative model to market efficiency ought to follow standard scientific rule, and should itself be potentially rejectable by empirical tests. Thus, in evaluating the relationship between AMH and behavioural finance, it is essential to consider an empirical test of how AMH differ significantly from the efficient market hypothesis (EMH), which the behaviourists seek to discard. While various tests of market efficiency had been designed over the years using standard financial models in EMH, tests of AMH are relatively few given that the hypothesis has yet to become part of the mainstream of financial economics. However, an increasing number of studies had reported results which seems consistent with the AMH. Some of these studies include Neely, et al (2009) and Kim, et al (2011). Whereas Neely, et al (2009) found some regularities in profit opportunities that appear and disappears in a foreign exchange market, Kim, et al (2011) found strong evidence tha t return predictability is driven by changing market conditions. These findings implied that testable implications of AMH can be done by testing how the level of efficiency in a market varies significantly over time. Furthermore, another possible way to conceptualise a test of the AMH may be to investigate whether investment decisions are made based on selectivity and market timing since evolutionary principle implied that natural selection shapes market ecology. In this context, Hoffman, et al (2013) found some evidence of market learning during the financial crisis. As a matter of fact, conventional econometric tests for market efficiency using formal asset pricing models such as Sharpe 1964 CAPM and Merton’s 1973 discrete time version of ICAPM would have been relevant alternative models to investigate these testable implications of AMH. Therefore, rather than see Lo’s AMH as a behavioural alternative to market efficiency, it is better regarded as another strand of efficient market hypothesis. 4.0Conclusion This essay has discussed the adaptive market hypothesis and examined its relationship with behavioural finance. We conclude that whereas the AMH offers a philosophical foundation for analysing various behavioural anomalies described by behavioural finance, its theoretical underpinning however, reflects that of the efficient market hypothesis. References Benartzi, S., and Thaler, R., (1995), â€Å"Myopic loss aversion and the equity premium puzzle†, Quarterly Journal of Economics, vol. 110: 73-92. Bernard, V., and Thomas, J., (1990), â€Å"Evidence that stock prices do not fully reflect the implications of current earnings for future earnings†, Journal of Accounting and Economics, vol. 13: 305-340. Fama, E., (1970), â€Å"Efficient Capital Markets: A Review of Theory and Empirical Work†, Journal of Finance, vol. 25(2): 383–417. Fama, E., (1998), â€Å"Market efficiency, long-term returns, and behavioral finance, Journal of Financial Economics, vol. 49(3): 283-306. Hoffman, A.I., Thomas, P., and Joost, M.E., (2013), â€Å"Individual investor perceptions and behaviour during the financial crisis†, Journal of Banking and Finance, vol. 37(1): 60-74 Kahneman, D., and Tversky, A., (1979), â€Å"Prospect theory: An analysis of decision under risk†, Econometrica, vol. 47: 263–291. Kim, J., Lim, K., and Shamsuddin, A., (2009), â€Å"Stock return predictability and adaptive markets hypothesis: Evidence from century-long U.S. data†, Unpublished. Lo, A., (2004), â€Å"The Adaptive Markets Hypothesis: Market Efficiency from an Evolutionary Perspective†, Journal of Portfolio Management, 30th Anniversary Issue; 15-29 Lo, A., (2005), â€Å"Reconciling efficient markets with behavioural finance: the adaptive markets hypothesis†, Journal of Investment Consulting, vol. 7(2): 21-44. Mehra, R., and Prescott, E., (2008), â€Å"The equity premium: ABC’s Handbook of the Equity Risk- Premium†, North Holland, Amsterdam: The Netherlands. Merton, R., (1973), â€Å"An intertemporal capital asset pricing model†, Econometrica, vol. 41: 867–887 Neely, C., Weller, P., and Ulrich, J., (2009), â€Å"The Adaptive Markets Hypothesis: Evidence from the Foreign Exchange Market† Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, vol. 44(2): 467-488. Sharpe, W., (1964), â€Å"Capital asset prices: a theory of market equilibrium under conditions of risk†, Journal of Finance, vol. 19(3): 425-442

The Fifth Agreement: A Practical Guide to Self-Mastery, by Miguel Ruiz and Jose Ruiz :: Essays on The Fifth Agreement

My life experience might be simple, but I have learned a lot from my life. It is not necessary that someone’s experience has to be a good one to talk about; the point is he should have a passion to learn lessons from it. Every time you go through a bitter experience either in your travels, work, or somewhere else, I would have to say â€Å"Congrats! You have got a story to tell your grandsons someday.† I have learnt a lot of lessons from this life and taught myself beautiful lessons. I taught myself to stand firm, never give up, and do my best. I have taught myself to say â€Å"yes† whenever I feel that I need to refuse, and I have taught myself to say â€Å"no† whenever the temptations are floating around me. I have learned that if I want to live happily, I have to be able to say â€Å"no† as I can say â€Å"yes.† Just by these two simple words, I changed myself and took control over it. â€Å"Be impeccable with your words† (27) is the first agreement that Miguel Ruiz and Jose Ruiz want to make an agreement with their readers in their book, â€Å"The Fifth Agreement.† By words, you can communicate with other people and tell them your opinions. The power of the word should not be underestimated; in some cases, it might be so tender that you can gain people to be in our side, but it might blow like a storm and pull out people’s real feelings. Ruiz in his book says â€Å"you are going to use the word to express the truth in every thought, in every action, in every word you use to describe yourself, to describe your own life story† (39). One should be really careful in choosing the right words in the right times. I worked once in a team of freelancers for a courier company. I faced a problem while programing their website, and the supervisor of the team, who was from the company, asked me to take an immediate action. I replied to her quickly and said â€Å"I cannot do this until I discuss it with my team leader.† Her face turned red, and I just didn’t know what to do, so I looked into my laptop screen pretending I am working. Since then she saw me as a weak team player; whenever she wanted to ask about the project, she asked another teammate instead of me.

Monday, August 19, 2019

Women in World War II :: World War II History

Women in World War II When the war across seas broke out in 1939 Canada was called to the front as a part of the British Empire. Canada's work force was now severely depleted. Everyone remembers the prestigious men and women of Canada for their effort in the war helping the Allied side defeat the German enemy. We must remember though that the soldiers were not a self sufficient army, navy, and air force but rather part of the larger war machine that was Canada. When Canadians think of the war they must remember the country that stood behind our soldiers in Europe. As Canadians we must especially remember the women who stayed home and were major contributors to holding together the labour force. As well their volunteering in society helped push Canada through the War. By temporarily assuming non-traditional roles in the labour force and in society, Canadian women became an important part of the war effort from 1939-1945. In 1939 the war broke out in Europe. Canada was still fighting the struggle to rebuild their economy from the depression of the 1930's . A great number of Canadian Women were affected both directly and indirectly. As more then a million of our full time service men and Militia went across seas to fight the war many women were left home alone with no husband's, son's, brother's or any other male relatives . The Depression sported more the 900,000 Canadians out of work, and 20 per cent of these were women . The Military Recruitment and the new war industry put an end to the Depression, and the widespread unemployment that accompanied it. By 1941 the population of women in the labour force had already jumped by 100,000. The employment of women was now highly evident in almost all of Canada . It is obvious now in retrospect that for the most part the Second World War divided Canada's men and women. But to fully understand this we have to first know why men and women, in most aspects of the war, were given this sexual division. We must also get a good scope of what was accepted and expected of men and women before the war broke out. From the first natives in Canada to the industrializing society of today men and women have had different gender roles in society. These have reflected the norms, values, and beliefs of our culture that have been in Canada as long as the "white man" has.