14 Principles of the Toyota Way (Toyota Production Systems) Thesis

14 Principles of the Toyota Way (Toyota Production Systems) - Thesis Example Corporation is the world’s largest automaker and the high quality ratings for its vehicles are a result of very few defects found in them in comparison to any other competitors. Across all its production facilities throughout the world, Toyota has been known to raise the bar for maintaining quality and efficiency in a consistent fashion thereby bringing in a sense of excellence into manufacturing, procedures and product development. The result of this management strategy has been its steady rise into amassing a market share and revenue margin to such an extent that saw it making a larger profit than every other major automaker in addition to gaining the respect, admiration and praise of every business leader and management expert around the world (Jeffrey Liker, 2004). The ‘Toyota way’ is a management philosophy that revolves around a set of management principles followed by Toyota that are known to have contributed to the enhancement of its reputation the world over in terms of reliability and quality. These management principles are collectively used under the ‘Toyota production system’ also known as ‘Lean production’ (Michael Hoseus, 2007). The purpose of such a production system is aimed at improving the speed with which business processes are executed, provide more quality in the product or service, reduce the cost of operation and management and achieve all this irrespective of the industry where such a management system has been adopted. The Toyota Production System is one of the foundational principles which is a part of the corporate culture within the Toyota group. Over the years, the system has evolved into a paradigm par excellence for the manufacturing world and has transformed the prospects for several industries. The approach has helped foster better involvement from the employees across all levels of the organization and has provided a tangible oversight over the seemingly visible different between the traditional approaches to

Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 †A Book Analysis Essay Example for Free

Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 – A Book Analysis Essay In his book, Fahrenheit 451, author Ray Bradbury highlights the power and importance of obtaining knowledge through books but decries the impact that technological innovations, particularly the television, pose in stifling intellectual and creative development. As a science fiction book that was first printed in 1953, many readers particularly literary critics and students correlate the book to state censorship and subsequent cultural decay presaging the eras following the book’s publication. Indeed, it can be easily gleaned from the main character’s occupation as a book-burning fireman that the book burning per se may be emblematic of   a common situation that most societies have found themselves grappling with – specific stages in nations’ histories whereby basic inalienable rights and freedoms were suppressed. Literary censorship, in particular, has been a recurring theme in many great works of literature. In real life, censorship is something that most governments have resorted to for varied reasons other than as a means of quelling what they categorize as rebellion or insurrection, and in almost every instance, books that echo the sentiments of many great nationalists or radical-thinking individuals have borne the brunt of censorship laws. Some analysts point out that in Ray Bradbury’s book, Fahrenheit 451, â€Å"The book burning is not a government mandated censorship Instead, it is a society-built degradation of the written word. Society has rejected the black and white messages bound in leather and paper† (Przybyszewski).   The author himself does not dispute this observation. Whether it is art imitating reality or the other way around, Fahrenheit 451 is a successful attempt in making readers including those who got to read the book generations after its initial publication ponder on key social and political issues like censorship, even if the author himself had clarified that his novel â€Å"is actually about how television destroys interest in reading literature† (Oleck, par. 1). A lover of the written word, Ray Bradbury hails from humble beginnings in Illinois, which set the stage for his profound yet realistic insights, searing views and cunning overall approach to his subject matter. He was born on August 22, 1920 in Waukegan, Illinois; studied in a Los Angeles High School in 1938, and furthered his education by working nights in the library and pounding away at   typewriter keys and selling newspapers in Los Angeles by day (â€Å"Ray Bradbury Biography†).   It can be noted that Fahrenheit 451, in many ways, pays homage to Bradbury’s Waukegan hometown.   It is in this locality that he developed an enormous and lasting appetite for books and a love for libraries, something which is continually described in his book. As Bradbury himself narrates: From the time I was 9 up through my teens I spent at least two nights a week in the   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   town library in Waukegan, Ill. In the summer months, there was hardly a day I could   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   not be found lurking about the stacks, smelling the books like imported spices, drunk   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   on them even before I read them (Moran). Based on the author’s personal narrative, one clearly sees how he obtained the characteristic ease in describing to readers a well-stacked library, and how he skillfully let some of his characters express forceful sentiments about books not just as a storehouse of knowledge and cultural heritage of nations, but as instruments to guide man in living and making decisions about the future. Ray Bradbury’s Waukegan roots likewise armed him with first-hand knowledge and distinct style of writing about a specific subject matter as firefighters. As another writer gathering from Ray Bradbury’s musings in writing Fahrenheit 451: Bradburys wary respect for fire can be traced back to his Waukegan youth, where he   Ã‚  Ã‚   would pass the firehouse on his way to and from the Carnegie Library and end up   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   writing down his descriptions (Moran). Ray Bradbury’s remarkable style is indeed something which has not escaped discerning book readers and analysts. â€Å"While a lesser writer would have to content himself with beating the reader over the head with description and exposition, Bradbury is able to make his nightmare world real with economy and subtlety. The horror never grabs you by the throat as in a Stephen King novel; instead it creeps into your soul almost unnoticed† (Wright). Content-wise, what American writer Ray Bradbury sought to impress on his readers is the fact that humanity stands to be strangled by the very forces – or trappings of modern living   that had originally been conceived to make life better. Bradbury makes a very good point in singling out television as the piece of equipment that most people have been overly relying on, and it comes at a very huge price: a stifled intellectual development. Indeed, of all the new modern conveniences or gadgetry the world has ever seen, one medium of communications which remains all-powerful or influential to minds and attitudes of people of all ages is the television. It is evident that Bradbury possessed remarkable foresight in ascertaining early on that people are bound to be enslaved. One of many insightful reviews about Ray Bradbury and his book states: Bradburys novel — or novella, really — is an inspired criticism of what we now call   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   the information society, and the yawning chasm it is creating in our collective soul.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   In it he managed to predict with frightening accuracy such current social pathologies   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   as the dumbing down of popular entertainment and education, our growing addiction   Ã‚  Ã‚   to empty sensory stimulation, the rise of random violence among youth, the increasing anomie and alienation among everyone (Wright). Indeed, it takes a meticulous eye attuned to his surroundings for a writer to realistically depict current real-life situations as well as future scenarios. One important point that Ray Bradbury stressed in Fahrenheit 451 is that most of the time, people’s enslavement, whether by societal forces or modern technological advances, do occur from their own volition or free will. â€Å"It’s ordinary people who turn away from reading and the habits of thought and reflection it encourages. When the government starts actively censoring information, most people don’t even bat an eye† (Bradbury 183). It is true, of course, that in the present society, there are many cases of jaded individuals – especially ordinary citizens who wield little or no power to go against the powers-that-be – who initially protest but end up allowing circumstances like government   restraints on media/information to prevail or take place.   It is, however, an inescapable fact that many freedoms, like free speech and expression of ideas through books, are not absolute. This is something that advocates of censorship keep harping on. Introspection will show that in many ways, people, during these increasingly complex times and informational bombardment, do succumb or let government impose controls as the latter may deem morally and socially and politically fit. In doing so, it becomes a clear case of the antagonist turning into an ally. In societies which do a good job of balancing interests and rights, this may be permissible. There are, however, exceptions to the rule. There are people may rant and do nothing, but there are some individuals who even band together to form a coalition or cause-oriented group/association to bat for what they perceive as just. To their minds, the words of 18th century political theorist and philosopher Edmund Burke, of letting evil triumph if good men do nothing, may be ringing loud and clear. Reverting to the other main issue tackled by the book, which is the tendency of people to allow themselves to be enslaved by new technology and turn away from the many virtues of reading books, this is a universal problem pervading modern societies today. Ray Bradbury may have crafted decades ago a concise book about a dystopian society, but its message reverberates up to the present age, when gadget-toting new generations turn to books only when school requires them to, or when a bestselling book-turned-movie or escapist adult novels catch their fancy. In effect, the firemen’s task of burning books in the novel is actually a metaphor for the way a society’s citizens allow themselves, or their knowledge and future, to be stunted.   â€Å"The firemen are rarely necessary. The public itself stopped reading of its own accord† (Bradbury 87).

Us and china political system

Us and china political system Difference between United States of America Political System and China Introduction United States of Americas Background The United States of America is a composition of 48 states that makes the country; United States. The United States of America is located on North America between Canada and Mexico. The United States also has control over a number of islands in the Caribbean and the Pacific. The United States in the third largest nation in the world behind Russia and Canada. It has an area of 9,629,091 square kilometers. It shares its boarders with Mexico, Canada, the Atlantic Ocean the Caribbean Sea and the Pacific Ocean. The capital city of USA is Washington D.C, located on the east coast almost midway between Florida and Maine. Its largest city is New York followed by Los Angels and Chicago. By July 2000 the population of USA was estimated to be 275, 562, 673 people. It has one of the most diverse populations in the world (Encyclopedia of Nations: United States 1). Peoples Republic of Chinas Background China is located in the east of Asia and on the west coast of the Pacific Ocean, on the southeastern part of Eurasian continent, bordering the East China Sea, the Korean Bay, South China Sea, and the Yellow Sea. Its in between the Vietnam and the northern Korea. The bordering countries include: Bhutan, Afghanistan, Burma, India, Kyrgyzstan, North Korea, Kazakhstan, Laos, Russia, Pakistan, Nepal, Mongolia, Vietnam, and Tajikistan. The size of the country is 9,596,960 square kilometers being the fourth largest country behind, Russia, Canada and United States. It is divided into 22 provinces, 2 special administration regions (Hong Kong and Macau), 4 municipalities, and 5 autonomous regions. The capital city of China is Beijing; a cultural and educational center for China. The population of china was 1,262 Million by July 2000. It has a population of 56 ethnic groups. It became a communist nation in 1949 (Encyclopedia of Nations: China 1). United States Presidency: The United States of America happen to be among the youngest countries in the world nevertheless having the worlds oldest constitution as well as political wisdom of its founding fathers. The American government functions fairly well within the framework of the constitution. The constitution manages to command a great degree of loyalty from the nations general public. One of the single most distinctive features of the national government in the USA is the presidency in which the president is popularly elected. The United States presidency has two basic components: in the first place its a reflection of those people who have held the president office as well as the precedent they have established. In this presidency the authority of the government is divided and limited. Many of the things that the president can do depend on the cooperation of the congress and the approval Supreme Court. He is also limited because there are many other things that he can not do. He has no control over the decisions and procedures of the congress, the Supreme Court or the fifty states (Encyclopedia of Nations: USA 1). The president is the head of the state: the ceremonial head of the government. He grants pardon, holds states dinners and receives ambassadors. He is the chief executive of the country. He has the executive powers, hence takes care of the law of the country. He preparers the countrys annual budget and set rules for civil service. He has the power of appointing and removing and has to oversee the good running of the administration. The president is the chief diplomat, though the foreign relation is divided among the three organs of government: Congress, President, and the Senate that approves treaties. There is also the secretary of state who is directly a subject to the presidency and can hold the presidency office at pleasure. The president is the commander in chief of the armed forces. He makes all the major decisions of strategy and mobilizes the economy fort optimum production. He can appoint and discharge all makers of policies in the defense department. The president serves for a term of four years and can not serve for more than two terms (Encyclopedia of Nations: USA 1). China The political system of China has been operational since its establishment for 50 years. In that period there has been ruins of buildings as well as joy of victories, rapid advance in success as well as pride, tortuous ordeals and lesions from mistakes done as well as deep reflections (Encyclopedia of Nations: China 1). Chinas Presidency The chairman to the Peoples Republic of China is identified as the countrys important component of living in the summit which is the countrys highest state organ. The president is the head of the state. The presidency is accorded to an individual on the cases of the persons maturity, and extensive experience. At home and abroad he enjoys higher reputation as well as prestige of serving. The presidency is limited to age. The president serves for a term of five years and is limited to two consecutive terms. The president has a right to issue orders, issue amnesty, declare war, appoint and remove members of the state council, appointment and removal of the Premier of the state council, and the Vice Premier, the heads of all the ministries and commissions, the State Councilors, the Secretary General and the Audit General. These officers serves odder from the state. The president heads the external states affairs, abrogates, and ratifies concluded foreign treaties and meets the foreign en voys according to the decision of the National Peoples Congress Standing Committee (SINA Corporation 1). Administration United States: The Congress The congress has the responsibility of making laws. It is nationally agreed that the choice of the congress is the choice of the people, and the choices ultimately are made that laws of the land. The congress is bicameral which is made of the house of representative with 435 members and a senate with a100 members two from each state. The representatives serves for two years as the senators serves for six years (SINA Corporation 1). State Departments The Peoples Republic of China is stipulated in the constitution as belonging to the people all the rights. The people have the mandate to exercise state powers as the organ of the National Peoples Congress (NPC). NPC is the highest organ of China authority. The state authorities organize the s the executive body. The executive has the role of implementing the laws and the constitution and ensuring the enforcement of both. The NPC decides who is to take the premiership, the vice premier, the state councilor and all the other candidates. The NPC has the power to remove the Premier of the State Council as well as the state departments. The NPC examines and approves the plans and the budget that has been prepared by the states council (SINA Corporation 1). Other differences The Chinese political system is dominated by multiparty cooperation as well as political constitution under the direction of the Communist party of China (CPC), but the USA is governed by the western style of multiparty system. The CPC runs the country while the other non communist parties play the role of participatory. The people congresses have a responsibility of exercising the state power in a unified way and they create all the governments courts. The Chinese deputies come from all the ethnic groups to ensure equitable distribution unlike in the US where they come from sections (Xinhua 1). Conclusion The United States is a presidential, federal republic. It is administered under a two party system even though this is not stipulated in the constitution. The president is independent of the legislature. The judicial power is exercised by the judiciary in which the Supreme Court fall and the other lower federal courts. The judiciary interprets U.S constitution, and also resolves disputes between the executive and the legislature. The U.S politics are dominated by two parties: the republican and the Democratic Party. On the other hand the Chinese political system is run on the basis of the system of peoples congress. It has an organizational form for the state power. The NPC is the highest authority of the States power while the congresses are the local authorities. Both of the authorities are people elected. The head of the state is the head of the peoples republic of China. He has duties of handling the domestic issues as well as some foreign responsibilities. The civil servants hav e the responsibility of instigating power on the administrative organ as well as execution of the laws and public services. The areas that heavily populated with the ethnic minorities are managed by self government under the national leadership. The administrative status of these areas is determined by their location and their population. In some case there are established some special administrative regions are demarcated where need be. These laws are enacted by the NPC. The political system has the chief executive, the administrative organ, the legislature and the judicial organ (SINA Corporation, 2009) Works cited Encyclopedia of the Nations: Peoples Republic of China. Retrieved on December 2, 2010 from: http://www.nationsencyclopedia.com/economies/Asia-and-the-Pacific/China.html Encyclopedia of the Nations: United States of America. Politics, Government and Taxation. Retrieved on December 2, 2010 from: http://www.nationsencyclopedia.com/economies/Americas/United-States-of-America-POLITICS-GOVERNMENT-AND-TAXATION.html SINA Cooperation: On Differences of Political System between China and America 2007. Retrieved on December 2, 2010 from: http://blog.sina.com.cn/s/blog_4acaf2d701000ase.html Xinhua. Backgrounder: Essential differences between Chinese, Western political system. 2009. Retrieved on December 2, 2010 from: http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/90001/90776/90785/6610207.html

Beowulf and Christianity Essay -- Epic of Beowulf Essays

  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Morality, a standard of right behavior, was one of the most important characteristics during the Anglo-Saxon era. The story Beowulf depicted many virtues of the times. Beowulf holds his morals and virtues above all else, from the way he fought in battle until the day he died.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Beowulf showed his honor as he traveled from his homeland to battle the vicious monster Grendel, who was terrorizing the Danes. Grendel â€Å"raided and ravaged† (105) the mead hall, showing no honor by killing inebriated men in their sleep. Beowulf proved his honor by deciding to â€Å"spurn all weapons†(338) and fight Grendel â€Å"with hand grip only†(342) thus declining an upper hand on his foe. Beowulf’s honor is apparent again when he describes the contest between himself and his boyhood friend Breca. Beowulf and ...

Level 5 Leadership

Jim Collins creates a sort of guideline for companies that are mediocre or have had mediocre performances who want to make the leap to becoming a great company. The way Collins came up with these guidelines is by studying 11 great companies that were selected from a list of Forbes 500 companies and deemed great companies using a criteria created by Collins' research team. These 11 companies were than each compared to a company in the same industry with similar resources but who did not perform as well as the â€Å"great† companies in the 15 year time span in which the companies were studied.Collins was able to create the flywheel concept out of his studies which is broken down into 6 parts. The one that is the focus of this paper is the level 5 leadership. Through the study of the â€Å"great† companies and through comparison with other companies, one of the major factors of the success of those companies was the type of leadership in place in the company. It takes a le ader with two characteristics to lead a truly great company to that success and those are: personal humility and professional will.The way a company can truly be great is by utilizing a level 5 leader who exemplifies the qualities that Jim Collins describes in his book, Good to Great. A leader is at his or her best when they are able to challenge the workers in the company and to inspire them by the way they lead. What is different about the level 5 leader that Collins describes is in the paradox of it all. A leader is quiet, laid back, almost to the point of being considered shy yet at the same time there is this incredible drive to be the best not for the sake of oneself but because that is what is best for the company.The leader is put in that position of the company to shake things up and change the company culture but the leader does not have to be some hot shot from a different company here to save the day. No, this leader is from within the company, he knows everything there is to know about the company and he improves it everyday. No matter what the company always comes first before oneself and long after the leader is gone the company will continue to be great, in fact, a level 5 leader would consider themselves a failure if their successor and the company is not more successful than before.Along with that the leader creates a culture of accountability while at the same time forming a mirror window effect; when things are going great the leader looks out the window to give credit but when things are going bad the same leader looks in the mirror to give himself blame. in essence he is taking the fear away from his employees in order to make them more invested in the company, by doing these simple steps the employee moral is kept high both during the good times and more importantly during the bad times. This quiet yet extremely driven individual is what makes a good company into a great company.This idea that a leader has to be quiet and driven in order to be a part of a great company cannot be true. As a prime example there was Steve Jobs, he was a co founder of Apple, then left and co founded Pixar, all before returning back to Apple to make it one of best companies in the world today. He was charismatic, he was egotistical, he was given credit for the success of Apple and he graciously took it, he was a celebrity. When people think of Apple they think of Steve Jobs, he created Apple and brought it to its greatness. He was not a level 5 leader. He was extremely driven but he was not the quiet type.He would not be the type of leader to just blend in with the crowd, instead hundreds of thousands would watch him during a new product release and hang on his every word. The fact that he was successful as the CEO of multiple big name companies while taking a large amount of the credit, that was well deserved, is one of the best counterexample to Collins level 5 leader. Steve Jobs was extremely devoted to the companies he worked for an d he worked tirelessly to make sure they were the best that he could make them but he did all of this by going with his own style that contradicted the teachings of Collins.There is no clear choice between a leader like Steve Jobs and the one that Jim Collins describes, a level 5 leader. There are too many factors in the business world and there are too many different industries to try to create description of the perfect leader. What Collins managed to do was to select 11 companies that he deemed great and he found similarities between the companies, one of those similarities being with the type of leaders those companies had in charge.For those companies and the practices the companies had in place, that type of leader with personal humility and professional will was what was necessary. For Apple and Pixar it was a different type of leader that thrived, and in other companies it will be that same Steve Jobs type of leader that will lead them to greatness. It is not possible to cre ate a prototype leader and companies should not try to do so they should put their efforts on finding the leader that fits their need the best whether that leader comes from within the company or from the outside.

Aleeyah Nichols Essays - Essay, Writing, Fun, Free Essays

Aleeyah Nichols Essays - Essay, Writing, Fun, Free Essays Aleeyah Nichols Professor Smith 10/18/16 What's so bad about being so-so? She began her essay with her son's comment and a list of things she does badly to show that she knows she is not great at it, she still loves doing it regardless of if she's good at it or not. Also she used her sons comment to correspond to the lack of fun and abundance of competition in today's youth as she further elaborated on later in her essay. What is her thesis and is it clearly stated? Her thesis is not clearly stated. she put her examples before her thesis. Its logical to say she has multiple thesis statements " don't think kids h ave as much fun as they used to, Unfortunately, doing things badly has gone out of style " Her point was The effect of too much competition of children decreases the amount of fun that they were having. She uses a series of examples to support her claim for example " and I only get to practice five or six hours a week, so my technique ma y not be up to their standards." By using dialogue in some of her example she strengthens her argument because it makes her example more detailed, relatable and understandable.

Narrow road leads to life essays

Narrow road leads to life essays All humans have once dreamed of becoming a hero and living a heroic life in the paradise they establish. Why do these heroes struggle and suffer on the troubled path with many hardships instead of doing something easily on a simple and plain path? Because in order to reach the heroic life, they must first learn to purge a few of their negative qualities. The heroes in Homer ¡Ã‚ ¯s Iliad and The Mission by Roland Joffe share similarities in their heroism and in their process of becoming established as a hero. In the Iliad, Achilles is a strong warrior who has ability to cope single-handedly with an infinite army of enemies; he values pride, honor, glory, and fame very highly. As his king Agamemnon takes Achilles ¡Ã‚ ¯ war prize Briseis away, Achilles develops a wrath and decides not to help the king with advice or action in the war, for he feels that Agamemnon  ¡Ã‚ °has wholly deceived and beguiled [him] ¡(109). Briseis is not the reason for Achilles ¡Ã‚ ¯ ate, blindness; the feeling of disgrace and the insult to his pride, which torments his heart, is the true cause of his ate. Similar to Achilles, Rodrigo Mendoza in The Mission goes through the experience of his mistress leaving him for his brother. In a rush of anger, shame, dishonor, and jealousy, he loses his temper and commits an action that he will regret for rest of his life, killing his own brother. These two men are blinded by their wrath and hubris, unable to look beyond and seek the true definition of being a hero an d unable to live a glorious life. Clouded by ignorance, selfishness, and individualism, Achilles makes a mistake by sending his close friend Patroclos to the battlefield with his armor instead of him. He still does not see that if others suffer, then he will also suffer. When Achilles receives the bad news that Patroclos has died,  ¡Ã‚ °he [sweeps] up the dust with both hands, and [pours] it over his head and [smirches] his handsome face, till the black dirt...

Why You Shouldnt Cut Nicotine Patches

Why You Shouldnt Cut Nicotine Patches If youve ever tried the patch to help stop smoking or get nicotine for another reason, youll see warnings on the box, in the literature, and on the patch package warning you not to cut the patch. There isnt any explanation why, so you may wonder why there are so many warnings. Is it just a ploy by pharmaceutical companies to make more money? No. It turns out there is a good reason why you shouldnt cut the patch. Heres the explanation.   Why Not Cut the Patch? The reason you shouldnt cut the patch is because it alters the time-release of nicotine due to the way the patch is constructed. In 1984,  Jed E. Rose, Ph.D., Murray E. Jarvik, M.D., Ph.D. and K. Daniel Rose conducted a study showing the transdermal nicotine patch reduced cigarette cravings in smokers. Two patents were filed for patches: one in 1985 by  Frank Etscorn and another in 1988 by Rose, Murray, and Rose with  The University of California. Etcsorns patent described a backing layer with a reservoir of liquid nicotine and a pad that controlled the release of the nicotine into the skin. A porous adhesive layer holds the patch against the skin and helps prevent moisture from washing away the ingredients. The University of California patent described a similar product. While the courts dealt with who got patent rights and who got discovery rights, the end result was the same: cutting a patch would expose the layer containing the nicotine, allowing it to leak through the cut edge. If you cut a patch, no visible liquid will flow out, but the dosage rate will no longer be controlled. A higher dose of nicotine will be delivered early when using the cut parts of the patch. Also, if the unused portion of the patch doesnt remain on its backing, its likely additional nicotine may migrate to the surface (or might be lost to the environment) before it is applied. Pharmaceutical companies dont want users of their product to get sick or die, so they print a warning, The bottom line is that you could potentially overdose on nicotine or poison yourself using a cut patch. Safer Alternative to Cutting the Patch One way to make a patch last longer is to save the backing that came with the patch, remove it before sleeping (which many people do anyway since nicotine can affect sleep and dreaming), return it to the backing, and reapply it the next day. There is not a lot of formal research about how much nicotine might be lost this way, but you wont run the health risk of leaking nicotine. Cutting the Patch Anyway If you decide to go ahead and cut a high dose patch to save money, there are a couple of methods suggested for sealing the cut edge of the patch to prevent overdose. One method is to seal the cut edge of the patch using heat, like with heated scissors or a hot blade. Its unknown whether this actually works. Another method, supposedly suggested by a pharmacist, is to seal the cut edge using tape so extra nicotine wont reach the skin. The cut portion of the unused portion of the patch should also be sealed and the patch should be kept on its backing until use. However, talk to your own pharmacist or doctor before trying either method or experimenting on your own. References Rose, J. E.; Jarvik, M. E.; Rose, K. D. (1984). Transdermal administration of nicotine. Drug and alcohol dependence 13 (3): 209–213. Rose, J. E.; Herskovic, J. E.; Trilling, Y.; Jarvik, M. E. (1985). Transdermal nicotine reduces cigarette craving and nicotine preference. Clinical pharmacology and therapeutics 38 (4): 450–456.

Critical review of a journal article Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Critical review of a journal article - Essay Example In this regard, ecologists, environmentalists, and even business organizations are now carrying out researches and studies to benefit from the available resources of the planet efficiently. In other words, environmental management has now become a notion of survival for the organizations and even states globally that are now focusing primarily on opportunities that may bring environmental benefits that will be an alternative warfare and most importantly, dominating tool to rule the world in coming years. This paper is a little attempt to discuss some of the aspects of environmental management while focusing mainly on a scholarly piece (MacLean, 2009) that will be the fundamental basis of this paper. Richard MacLean (2009) is the author of a significant article, â€Å"Entering the Fourth Environmental Wave† (MacLean, 2009) in which, author has done a remarkable job by defining and discussing specific issues of environmental management while providing some solutions and implications that seem practical and beneficial theoretically. In brief, the author (MacLean, 2009) began by defining that the world has been experiencing different periods of environmental alterations that occur in the form of waves. Presently, the world is confronting the fourth environmental wave that now requires business organizations to take a step forward in a strategic manner, in order to survive in this competitive era that will be involving huge efforts to acquire remaining natural resources globally. After indicating beginning of the fourth wave, author (MacLean, 2009) specified that in order to acquire material benefits, business organizations will have to start thinking out of the box rather than following cluster of similar perspective, such as trade associations, conferences, etc. Additionally, environmental managers must begin to focus on long-term vision rather than short-term goals that may result in revenues, but in a long run, it

Marketing Plan Situation Analysis Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Marketing Plan Situation Analysis - Assignment Example The kind of business that Bergs shop operates is seasonal and hence they are bound to be out of season during certain seasons in the year. The bergs shop is behind technology since they have not introduced he modern skis. They are hence bound to lose customers if they fail to change The business started as just a rental business for skis but has diversified over time. They offer other services such as bus ticket services to Mt. Bachelor, Willamette Pass, Hoodoo, and Mt. Hood Meadows. The business has started an online system of booking where they operate a website and people can make prior booking. Marketing objectives refers to the targets that an organization sets within a certain time frame and are aimed at improving its products or services (Sandhusen 29).Bergs shop is focused on increasing its annual sales so that they can maximize their profits. They have started the strategy of lending and selling so that they can capture a large group of customers. Online advertisement has proved worthwhile since bergs have recorded an increase in returns sine they introduced it. The rental and selling charges have reduced over the last three years, and it has pulled in and retained

Communications at Work Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Communications at Work - Essay Example Communication at work is one of the most important factors that determine how we perform our duties. Communication at work is takes the form of a dyad communication as we communicate with our managers vertically and we also communicate with our fellow workers horizontally. Effective communication is very important for efficient functioning of the dyad. However it has been shown that there are many factors that can affect the way we communicate with one another in the work place. Failure of communication at work can be a barrier to creating of an effective working environment as since it becomes difficult to understand each others. There are many barriers to effective communication in the workplace. This can result from environmental factors in the work place and at the same time it can be due to personal factors. However it has been shown that personal factors are the leading cause of barrier to communication in the work place as compared to environmental factors. Personal factors including the way we express ourselves during communication, attitudes and other factors have been shown to act as barriers to effective communication at the work place. This has adverse effects on the relationship in the dyad as we have described. Let us look at some of the personal factors that affect the communication process. Direct communication is one of the most commonly used means of communication at work... In this regard words are carefully chosen to communicate the message that we want to pass. However the way we choose words to pass our message has a lot of effect on other people. Certain words if used are likely to create a certain kind of expression to the person in the sense that they may emphasize or deemphasize the importance of the message that we are communicating at work. Attitudes Words are used careful when communicating to create and affect attitude. Word can be used to give a new attitude or alter the existing attitude about something or someone. However there has been a creative way in the use of the world in order to have such an effect. An attitude can be defined as a feeling towards someone or towards something. One may develop a positive or a negative attitude towards someone and this will affect the way they two people relate. It is usual that at first encounter, people usually have a neutral attitude towards something or towards someone. But as they interact with time, they tend to develop a positive or a negative attitude toward. This is usually affected by the judgment that people make from such an interaction. (Baby Center UK, 2008) As we communicate in the work place, we tend to form different kinds of attitudes. We may have a neutral attitude towards each other when we meet but as we interact we tend to change attitudes. In our communication process words play an important role as they alter the perception we had about someone or about something that we have related with in the work place. The way we choose our words to communicate with others also affects their attitude about us. In the dyad there are expectations that the supervisors or the managers may be expected to use authoritative

An evaluation of the primary source that is Mr Nathaniel Bryceson's Essay

An evaluation of the primary source that is Mr Nathaniel Bryceson's diary - Essay Example All these highlighted evil activities were committed feature references to the major landmarks in London. In the same diary, politics at national level are mentioned based on the parliamentary debate context on the Corn Laws and the immediate replacement of Sir Robert peel who was the prime minister by Lord John Russell. With references to the even dimensions in the diary, the concept of war Sikhs in India and Britain is reflected at the international level thus portraying the historiography of the Victorian society. In this sense gender, race, and class is well presented in the interactive perspective as noted by Beier, Stone, and Cannadine (324). Friday 2nd January 1846: this morning Mr. George lea accompanied by his wife and Mr. Lloyd began the Barnet. The three went a head to taste different puddings in that evening after taking a walk through Westminster Abbey with ditto in completion of his 21st birthday party. Sunday 4th January 1846: this morning Nathaniel went to the coffee house of Tillman’s alongside the court road in Tottenham so as to read the daily news paper. After reading the newspaper, Nathaniel went to old bailey to witness the prosecution of browning mother in the following day. After that he walked down the street accompanied with Ann Fox via the bridge of Westminster across the County Goal Lane of Horsemonger to witness preparation of the execution process that was to be carried on to Samuel Quennell in the following day. Monday 5th January 1846: after work that evening of Sunday Nathaniel went a head to read his New Year log book proceedings in Soho Crown Court to the wife of George Olive in the presence of Ann Fox.   Mrs. Olive was well in her good spirit and seemingly took away Nathaniel’s waistcoat with a black-roll collar and drab trouser for her common use. It was that morning of 5th January that most of the executions were to be made at

Why do we have to pay $3 for a gallon of gas Research Paper

Why do we have to pay $3 for a gallon of gas - Research Paper Example It is important to note that the oil prices are dependent on the six super major companies of oil and gas. These super majors are BP, Chevron, ExxonMobil, Royal Dutch Shell and Total. Oil accumulates between various layers of the porous rocks or other subsurface. Thus, the main idea is to locate the right convergence necessary in creating the required oil pool. Geologists find possible oil locations to explore through aerial photographs. Initially, oil wells were drilled at random locations or around other established oil wells. However, now oil is located using a vibrator to cause vibrations that geologists listen to and process data using computers into seismic lines. Once a location is found, then the explorers now undertake the drilling process. After drilling the oil well, a measuring device is then lowered into this oil hole and the information about the earth properties are gathered (Research, 214). This information includes such aspects as the density, type of rock that is present and the fluid contained in the rocks. After finding this information, if the hole is promising, then the drilling process is continued. If this hole is not a good location requi red, then the hole is filled up and the entire process begins all over again. Main sources of oil drills The world gets its daily ration of over 85 million oil barrels from over 4000 fields. Most of these are small with less than 20000 barrels each day. However, there are major oil giants that produce over 100000bpd. Then there is the category of the mega fields that produce over 1000000 bpd. These are recognized as the most important sources of oil in the world. The top most of these mega oil giants is the Ghawar in Saudi Arabia. It accounts for over 100 billion oil barrels. It is 160 miles long and 16 miles in width. The secret to the reservoirs longetivity is its water injection. From the 1960s. Saudi Armco commenced injecting water underneath the

Should Health care in America be free Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Should Health care in America be free - Essay Example In terms of employment, Healthcare sector employs more than 1.4 people of the U.S population. Proponents argue that an individual’s right to health helps in reduction of overall healthcare expenditure that improves public health, and curb any medical bankruptcies. These proponents support their argument by the assumption that no person in developed countries can survive without accessing healthcare services. However, opponents of entitlement of Americans to health care services are of the opinion that socialism is created when revenue tax is used to provide healthcare services. Similarly, it is argued that availability and quality of health care is minimal among people who dedicate their time in getting medical coverage insurance. Therefore, despite the opponents’ opinions, America’s health care services should be free to its citizens in order to produce healthy citizens who can work in agricultural, production and industrial sectors (Stossel and Andrew 12-14). Health care system in United States should be free because when it is not free, the country would be classified as having poorest health care services among industrialized countries. An evaluation of 27 high-income democratic members of the economic Co-operation and Development Organization shows that United States has the highest infant mortality rate alongside countries such as Slovakia and Hungary, which is attributed to costly health care system. In addition, in regards to life expectancy at birth, it is ranked in the 23rd position. Unlike other developed countries, United States does not provide its citizens with universal health coverage. Despite this, it ranked number one in per capita health care expenditures among the 193 World Health Organization member states. Its expenditures are estimated at $ 6, 719 per year. According to the WHO rankings, life expectancy in the U. S is seventy-eight thus; it is ranked at number 31 in the world. Similarly, among the 193 member state of WHO, it

An evaluation of the primary source that is Mr Nathaniel Bryceson's Essay

An evaluation of the primary source that is Mr Nathaniel Bryceson's diary - Essay Example All these highlighted evil activities were committed feature references to the major landmarks in London. In the same diary, politics at national level are mentioned based on the parliamentary debate context on the Corn Laws and the immediate replacement of Sir Robert peel who was the prime minister by Lord John Russell. With references to the even dimensions in the diary, the concept of war Sikhs in India and Britain is reflected at the international level thus portraying the historiography of the Victorian society. In this sense gender, race, and class is well presented in the interactive perspective as noted by Beier, Stone, and Cannadine (324). Friday 2nd January 1846: this morning Mr. George lea accompanied by his wife and Mr. Lloyd began the Barnet. The three went a head to taste different puddings in that evening after taking a walk through Westminster Abbey with ditto in completion of his 21st birthday party. Sunday 4th January 1846: this morning Nathaniel went to the coffee house of Tillman’s alongside the court road in Tottenham so as to read the daily news paper. After reading the newspaper, Nathaniel went to old bailey to witness the prosecution of browning mother in the following day. After that he walked down the street accompanied with Ann Fox via the bridge of Westminster across the County Goal Lane of Horsemonger to witness preparation of the execution process that was to be carried on to Samuel Quennell in the following day. Monday 5th January 1846: after work that evening of Sunday Nathaniel went a head to read his New Year log book proceedings in Soho Crown Court to the wife of George Olive in the presence of Ann Fox.   Mrs. Olive was well in her good spirit and seemingly took away Nathaniel’s waistcoat with a black-roll collar and drab trouser for her common use. It was that morning of 5th January that most of the executions were to be made at

Should Health care in America be free Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Should Health care in America be free - Essay Example In terms of employment, Healthcare sector employs more than 1.4 people of the U.S population. Proponents argue that an individual’s right to health helps in reduction of overall healthcare expenditure that improves public health, and curb any medical bankruptcies. These proponents support their argument by the assumption that no person in developed countries can survive without accessing healthcare services. However, opponents of entitlement of Americans to health care services are of the opinion that socialism is created when revenue tax is used to provide healthcare services. Similarly, it is argued that availability and quality of health care is minimal among people who dedicate their time in getting medical coverage insurance. Therefore, despite the opponents’ opinions, America’s health care services should be free to its citizens in order to produce healthy citizens who can work in agricultural, production and industrial sectors (Stossel and Andrew 12-14). Health care system in United States should be free because when it is not free, the country would be classified as having poorest health care services among industrialized countries. An evaluation of 27 high-income democratic members of the economic Co-operation and Development Organization shows that United States has the highest infant mortality rate alongside countries such as Slovakia and Hungary, which is attributed to costly health care system. In addition, in regards to life expectancy at birth, it is ranked in the 23rd position. Unlike other developed countries, United States does not provide its citizens with universal health coverage. Despite this, it ranked number one in per capita health care expenditures among the 193 World Health Organization member states. Its expenditures are estimated at $ 6, 719 per year. According to the WHO rankings, life expectancy in the U. S is seventy-eight thus; it is ranked at number 31 in the world. Similarly, among the 193 member state of WHO, it

Internet Activities 9.1 and 10.2 Essay Example for Free

Internet Activities 9.1 and 10.2 Essay 1. What are the key benefits of implementing a supply chain solution such as SAP? The key benefits that any company would achieve from using systems typically like the SAP supply chain solutions include the following: †¢ A quicker response for changes occurring in the market †¢ Having higher margins than the competitors by saving on operational costs †¢ Transparency of information in the business which would lead to a smaller cash recover cycle †¢ Increased synchronization in the business and its operation. The business will be able to set it priorities in an organized fashion †¢ The ultimate result of using such systems would be an increase in the satisfaction of the customers as the system can provide for customization. †¢ The company will also be able to track and monitor the compliance of the company with the regulations in the markets it is operating in. In short the business is able to synchronize the supply of the company with the demand in the market, be more responsive to the changes in the market pertaining to price and supply/ demand fluctuations as well as have a reliable and efficient network which can monitor the supply chain 2. What are the likely challenges in implementing a supply chain solution? The biggest challenge faced by the company in implementing a supply chain solution is to integrate it with the existing business processes at the company. All business tend to be somewhat different in their operation and the business language, but when using a software solution for the supply chain, then the business processes relating to the supply chain activities have to be exactly the same as required by the software. Otherwise the business would have discrepancies existing between the supply chain activities and the supply chain reporting and records stored by the software. In this case the efficiency of the system and the process is sacrificed. Exercise 10. 2: 1. In what ways does Volkswagen’s website illustrate the characteristics of integrated marketing communications? The characteristics of an integrated marketing communication are that it is coherent, consistent, has continuity and is complementary. The website for Volkswagen shows that the different methods of communication like, getting a quote online, emailing the company, registering for a certified car, finding the nearest show room etc, all is integrated on the website and communicated to the customer. Similarly all the messages on the website about the uniqueness of the cars are not contradictory and therefore supporting consistency in communications. The WebPages are continues in their format and play on the same message again and again which is â€Å"when you are in a Volkswagen, it is in you†. The color scheming, the format of the WebPages and the messages and content displayed on the site supports each other and is complementary in nature 2. How does Volkswagen go beyond its own communications to create its unique identity? Volkswagen has been able to differentiate itself from its competitors by handing the design board over to the customer. Using the website the customers can design their own personalized VW and Beetle cars. This provides for extensive customization to the products. The company also invested in a transparent manufacturing plant in Dresden to show the customers how their automobiles are made. The company has also advanced in the RD function by inviting customers to come to the factory and design the car they want. This interactive and two way communication through the website as well as on location has enabled the country to establish its unique spirit while going beyond the scopes of an automobile manufacturer. References 1. SAP Supply Chain Benefits, available at: http://www.marketing-online.co.uk/ch8.pdf

Measuring weak-form market efficiency

Measuring weak-form market efficiency Measuring Weak-form Market Efficiency ABSTRACT This paper tests weak-form efficiency in the U.S. market. Both daily and monthly returns are employed for autocorrelation analysis, variance ratio tests and delay tests. Three conclusions are reached. Firstly, security returns are predictable to some extent. While individual stock returns are weakly negatively correlated and difficult to predict, market-wide indices with outstanding recent performance show a positive autocorrelation and offer more predictable profit opportunities. Secondly, monthly returns follow random walk better than daily returns and are thus more weak-form efficient. Finally, weak-form inefficiency is not necessarily bad. Investors should be rewarded a certain degree of predictability for bearing risks. Efficient market hypothesis (EMH), also known as information efficiency, refers to the extent to which stock prices incorporate all available information. The notion is important in helping investors to understand security behaviour so as to make wise investment decisions. According to Fama (1970), there are three versions of market efficiency: the weak, semistrong, and strong form. They differ with respect to the information that is incorporated in the stock prices. The weak form efficiency assumes that stock prices already incorporate all past trading information. Therefore, technical analysis on past stock prices will not be helpful in gaining abnormal returns. The semistrong form efficiency extends the information set to all publicly available information including not only past trading information but also fundamental data on firm prospects. Therefore, neither technical analysis nor fundamental analysis will be able to produce abnormal returns. Strong form efficiency differs fro m the above two in stating that stock prices not only reflect publicly available information but also private inside information. However, this form of market efficiency is always rejected by empirical evidence. If weak-form efficiency holds true, the information contained in past stock price will be completely and instantly reflected in the current price. Under such condition, no pattern can be observed in stock prices. In other words, stock prices tend to follow a random walk model. Therefore, the test of weak-form market efficiency is actually a test of random walk but not vice versa. The more efficient the market is, the more random are the stock prices, and efforts by fund managers to exploit past price history will not be profitable since future prices are completely unpredictable. Therefore, measuring weak-form efficiency is crucial not only in academic research but also in practice because it affects trading strategies. This paper primarily tests the weak-form efficiency for three stocks-Faro Technologies Inc. (FARO), FEI Company (FEIC) and Fidelity Southern Corporation (LION) and two decile indices-the NYSE/AMEX/NASDAQ Index capitalisation based Deciles 1 and 10 (NAN D1 and NAN D10). Both daily and monthly data are employed here to detect any violation of the random walk hypothesis. The remainder of the paper is structured in the following way. Section I provides a brief introduction of the three firms and two decile indices. Section II describes the data and discusses the methodology used. Section III presents descriptive statistics. Section IV is the result based on empirical analysis. Finally, section V concludes the paper. I. The Companies[1] A. Faro Technologies Inc (FARO) FARO Technologies is an instrument company whose principle activities include design and develop portable 3-D electronic systems for industrial applications in the manufacturing system. The companys principal products include the Faro Arm, Faro Scan Arm and Faro Gage articulated measuring devices. It mainly operates in the United States and Europe. B. FEI Company (FEI) FEI is a leading scientific instruments company which develops and manufactures diversified semiconductor equipments including electron microscopes and beam systems. It operates in four segments: NanoElectronics, NanoResearch and Industry, NanoBiology and Service and Components. With a 60-year history, it now has approximately 1800 employees and sells products to more than 50 countries around the world. C. Fidelity Southern Corp. (LION) Fidelity Southern Corp. is one of the largest community banks in metro Atlanta which provides a wide range of financial services including commercial and mortgage services to both corporate and personal customers. It also provides international trade services, trust services, credit card loans, and merchant services. The company provides financial products and services for business and retail customers primarily through branches and via internet. D. NYSE/AMEX/NASDAQ Index It is an index taken from the Center for Research in Security Prices (CRSP) which includes all common stocks listed on the NYSE, Amex, and NASDAQ National Market. The index is constructed by ranking all NYSE companies according to their market capitalization in the first place. They are then divided into 10 decile portfolios. Amex and NASDAQ stocks are then placed into the deciles based on NYSE breakpoints. The smallest and the largest firms based on market capitalization are placed into Decile 1 and Decile 10, respectively. II. Data and Methodology A. Data Data for the three stocks and two decile indices in our study are all obtained from the Center for Research in Securities Prices database (CRSP) on both daily and monthly basis from January 2000 to December 2005. Returns are then computed on both basis, generating a total of 1507 daily observations and 71 monthly observations. The NYSE/AMEX/NASDAQ Index is CRSP Capitalisation-based so that Decile 1 and 10 represent the smallest and largest firms, respectively, based on market capitalisation. In addition, The Standard and Poors 500 Index (SP 500) is used as a proxy for the market index. It is a valued-weighted index which incorporates the largest 500 stocks in US market. For comparison purposes, both continuously compounded (log) returns and simple returns are reported, although the analysis is based on the result of the first one. B. Methods B.1. Autocorrelation Tests One of the most intuitive and simple tests of random walk is to test for serial dependence, i.e. autocorrelation. The autocorrelation is a time-series phenomenon, which implies the serial correlation between certain lagged values in a time series. The first-order autocorrelation, for instance, indicates to what extent neighboring observations are correlated. The autocorrelation test is always used to test RW3, which is a less restrictive version of random walk model, allowing the existence of dependent but uncorrelated increments in return data. The formula of autocorrelation at lag k is given by: (1) where is the autocorrelation at lag ; is the log-return on stock at time; and is the log-return on stock at time. A greater than zero indicates a positive serial correlation whereas a less than zero indicates a negative serial correlation. Both positive and negative autocorrelation represent departures from the random walk model. If is significantly different from zero, the null hypothesis of a random walk is rejected. The autocorrelation coefficients up to 5 lags for daily data and 3 lags for monthly data are reported in our test. Results of the Ljung-Box test for all lags up to the above mentioned for both daily and monthly data are also reported. The Ljung-Box test is a more powerful test by summing the squared autocorrelations. It provides evidence for whether departure for zero autocorrelation is observed at all lags up to certain lags in either direction. The Q-statistic up to a certain lag m is given by: (2) B.2. Variance Ratio Tests We follow Lo and MacKinlays (1988) single variance ratio (VR) test in our study. The test is based on a very important assumption of random walk that variance of increments is a linear function of the time interval. In other words, if the random walk holds, the variance of the qth differed value should be equal to q times the variance of the first differed value. For example, the variance of a two-period return should be equal to twice the variance of the one-period return. According to its definition, the formula of variance ratio is denoted by: (3) where q is any positive integer. Under the null hypothesis of a random walk, VR(q) should be equal to one at all lags. If VR(q) is greater than one, there is positive serial correlation which indicates a persistence in prices, corresponding to the momentum effect. If VR(q) is less than one, there is negative serial correlation which indicates a reversal in prices, corresponding to the mean-reverting process. Note that the above two test are also tests of how stock prices react to publicly available information in the past. If market efficiency holds true, information from past prices should be immediately and fully reflected in the current stock price. Therefore, future stock price change conditioned on past prices should be equal to zero. B.3. Griffin-Kelly-Nardari DELAY Tests As defined by Griffin, Kelly and Nardari (2007), delay is a measure of sensitivity of current returns to past market-wide information.[2] Speaking differently, delay measures how quickly stock returns can react to market returns. The logic behind this is that a stock which is slow to incorporate market information is less efficient than a stock which responds quickly to market movements. SP 500 index is employed in delay test to examine the sensitivity of stock returns to market information. For each stock and decile index, both restricted and unrestricted models are estimated from January 2000 to December 2005. The unrestricted model is given by: (4) where is the log-return on stock i at time t; is the market log-return (return for SP 500 index) at time t; is the lagged market return; is the coefficient on the lagged market return; and is the lag which is 1, 2, 3, 4 for the daily data and 1, 2, 3 for the monthly data. The restricted model is as follows which sets all to be zero: (5) Delay is then calculated based on adjusted R-squares from above regressions as follows: (6) An alternative scaled measure of delay is given by: (7) Both measures are reported in a way that the larger the calculated delay value, the more return variation is explained by lagged market returns and thus the more delayed response to the market information. III. Descriptive Statistics A. Daily frequencies Table I shows the summary statistic of daily returns for the three stocks and two decile indices. The highest mean return is for FARO (0.0012), whereas the lowest mean return is for NAN D10 (0.0000). In terms of median return, NAN D1 (0.0015) outperforms all the other stocks. Both the highest maximum return and the lowest minimum return (0.2998 and -0.2184, respectively) are for FARO, corresponding to its highest standard deviation (0.0485) among all, indicating that FARO is the most volatile in returns. On the other hand, both the lowest maximum return and highest minimum return (0.0543 and -0.0675, respectively) are for NAN D10. However NAN D10 is only the second least volatile, while the lowest standard deviation is for NAN D1 (0.0108). Figure 1 and 2 presents the price level of the most and least volatile index (stock). All the above observations remain true if we change from log-return basis to a simple return basis. In terms of the degree of asymmetry of the return distributions, all stocks and indices are positively skewed, with the only exception of NAN D1. The positive skewness implies that more extreme values are in the right tail of the distribution, i.e. stocks are more likely to have times when performance is extremely good. On the other hand, NAN D1 is slightly negatively skewed, which means that returns are more likely to be lower that what is expected by normal distribution. In measuring the peakedness of return distributions, positive excess kurtosis is observed in all stocks and indices, also known as a leptokurtic distribution, which means that returns either cluster around the mean or disperse in the two ends of the distribution. All the above observations can be used to conclusively reject the null hypothesis that daily returns are normally distributed. What more, results from Jarque-Bera test provide supportive evidence for rejection of the normality hypothesis at all significant levels for all stocks and indices. B. Monthly frequencies Descriptive statistics of monthly returns are likewise presented in Table II. Most of the above conclusions reached for daily returns are also valid in the context of monthly returns. In other words, what is the highest (lowest) value for daily returns is also the highest (lowest) for monthly returns in most cases. The only exceptions are for the highest value in median returns and the lowest value and standard deviation in minimum returns. In this situation, NAN D10 (0.0460) and FARO (0.1944) have the least and most dispersion according to their standard deviations, compared with NAN D1 and FARO in daily case. From above observation, we can see that decile indices are more stable than individual stocks in terms of returns. Whats more, monthly returns have larger magnitude in most values than daily returns. Coming to the measurement of asymmetry and peakedness of return distributions, only NAN D10 (-0.4531) is negatively skewed. However, the degree of skewness is not far from 0. Other stocks and index are all positively skewed with both FEIC (0.0395) and LION (0.0320) having a skewness value very close to 0. Almost all stocks and index have a degree of kurtosis similar to that of normal distribution, except that NAN D1 (8.6623) is highly peaked. This is also consistent with the results of JB p-values, based on which we conclude that FEIC, LION and NAN D10 are approximately normal because we fail to reject the hypothesis that they are normally distributed at 5% or higher levels (see Figure 3 and 4 for reference). However when simple return basis is used, FEIC is no longer normally distributed even at the 1% significant level. Except this, using simple return produces similar results. IV. Results A. Autocorrelation Tests A.1. Tests for Log-Returns The results of autocorrelation tests for up to 5 lags of daily log-returns and up to 3 lags of monthly log-returns for three stocks and two decile indices from January 2000 to December 2005 are summarised in Table III. Both the autocorrelation (AC) and partial autocorrelation (PAC) are examined in our tests. As is shown in Panel A, all 5 lags of FARO, FEIC and NAN D10 for both AC and PAC are insignificant at 5% level, except for the fourth-order PAC coefficient of FARO (-0.052), which is slightly negatively significant. On the contrary, NAN D1 has significant positive AC and PAC at almost all lags except in the fourth order, its PAC (0.050) is barely within the 5% significance level. The significant AC and PAC coefficients reject the null hypothesis of no serial correlation in NAN D1, thereby rejecting the weak-form efficiency. In terms of LION, significant negative autocorrelation coefficients are only observed in the first two orders and its higher-order coefficients are not statistically significant. Besides that, we find that all the stocks and indices have negative autocorrelation coefficients at most of their lags, with the only exception of NAN D1, whose coefficients are all positive. The strictly positive AC and PAC indicates persistence in returns, i.e. a momentum effect for NAN D1, which means that good or bad performances in the past tend to continue over time. We also present the Ljung-Box (L-B) test statistic in order to see whether autocorrelation coefficients up to a specific lag are jointly significant. Since RW1 implies all autocorrelations are zero, the L-B test is more powerful because it tests the joint hypothesis. As is shown in the table, both LION and NAN D1 have significant Q values in all lags at all levels, while none of FARO, FEIC and NAN D10 has significant Q values. Based on above daily observations, we may conclude that the null hypothesis of no serial correlation is rejected at all levels for LION and NAN D1, but the null hypothesis cannot be rejected at either 5% level or 10% level for FARO, FEIC and NAN D10. This means that both LION and NAN D1 are weak-form inefficient. By looking at their past performance, we find that while NAN D1 outperformed the market in sample period, LION performed badly in the same period. Therefore, it seems that stocks or indices with best and worst recent performance have stronger autocorrelation. In particular, LION shows a positive autocorrelation in returns, suggesting that market-wide indices with outstanding recent performance have momentum in returns over short periods, which offer predictable opportunities to investors. When monthly returns are employed, no single stock or index has significant AC or PAC in any lag reported at 5% level. It is in contrast with daily returns, which means that monthly returns follow a random walk better than daily returns. More powerful L-B test confirms our conclusion by showing that Q statistics for all stocks and indices are statistically insignificant at either 5% or 10% level. Therefore, the L-B null hypothesis can be conclusively rejected for all stocks and indices up to 3 lags. When compared with daily returns, monthly returns seem to follow random walk better and are thus more weak-form efficient. A.2. Tests for Squared Log-Returns Even when returns are not correlated, their volatility may be correlated. Therefore, it is necessary for us to expand the study from returns to variances of returns. Squared log-returns and absolute value of log-returns are measures of variances and are thus useful in studying the serial dependence of return volatility. The results of autocorrelation analysis for daily squared log-returns for all three stocks and two decile indices are likewise reported in Table IV. In contrast to the results for log-returns, coefficients for FEIC, LION, NAN D1 and NAN D10 are significantly different from zero, except for the forth-order PAC coefficient (0.025) for FEIC, the fifth-order PAC coefficient for LION (-0.047) and third- and forth-order PAC coefficient for NAN D1 (-0.020 and -0.014, respectively). FARO has significant positive AC and PAC at the first lag and a significant AC at the third lag. The L-B test provides stronger evidence against the null hypothesis that sum of the squared autocorrelations up to 5 lags is zero for all stocks and indices at all significant levels, based on which we confirm our result that squared log-returns do not follow a random walk. Another contrasting result with that of log-returns is that almost all the autocorrelation coefficients are positive, indicating a stronger positive serial dependence in squared log-returns. In terms of monthly data, only FEIC and NAN D10 have significant positive third-order AC and PAC estimates. Other stocks and indices have coefficients not significantly different from zero. The result is supported by Ljung-Box test statistics showing that Q values are only statistically significant in the third lag for both FEIC and NAN D10. This is consistent with the result reached for log-returns above, which says that monthly returns appear to be more random than daily returns. A.3. Tests for the Absolute Values of Log-Returns Table V provides autocorrelation results for the absolute value of log-returns in similar manner. However, as will be discussed below, the results are even more contrasting than that in Table IV. In Panel A, all the stocks and indices have significant positive serial correlation while insignificant PAC estimates are only displayed in lag 5 for both FARO and LION. Supporting above result, Q values provide evidence against the null hypothesis of no autocorrelation. Therefore, absolute value of daily log-returns exhibit stronger serial dependence than in Table III and IV, and autocorrelations are strictly positive for all stocks and indices. Coming to the absolute value of monthly log-returns, only FEIC displays significant individual and joint serial correlation. NAN D1 also displays a significant Q value in lag 2 at 5% level, but it is insignificant at 1% level. Based on the above evidence, two consistent conclusions can be made at this point. First of all, by changing ingredients in our test from log-returns to squared log-returns and absolute value of log-returns, more positive serial correlation can be observed, especially in daily data. Therefore, return variances are more correlated. Secondly, monthly returns tend to follow a random walk model better than daily returns. A.4. Correlation Matrix of Stocks and Indices Table VI presents the correlation matrix for all stocks and indices. As is shown in Panel A for daily result, all of the correlations are positive, ranging from 0.0551 (LION-FARO) to 0.5299 (NAN D10-FEIC). Within individual stocks, correlation coefficients do not differ a lot. The highest correlation is between FEIC and FARO with only 0.1214, indicating a fairly weak relationship between individual stocks returns. However, in terms of stock-index relationships, they differ drastically from 0.0638 (NAN D10-FARO) to 0.5299 (NAN D10-FEIC). While the positive correlation implies that the three stocks follow the indices in the same direction, the extent to which they will move with the indices is quite different, indicating different levels of risk with regard to different stock. Finally, we find that the correlation between NAN D10 and NAN D1 is the second highest at 0.5052. Panel B provides the correlation matrix for monthly data. Similar to results for daily data, negative correlation is not observed. The highest correlation attributes to that between NAN D10 and FEIC (0.7109) once again, but the lowest is between LION and FEIC (0.1146) this time. Compared with results in Panel A, correlation within individual stocks is slightly higher on average. The improvement in correlation is even more obvious between stocks and indices. It implies that stock prices can change dramatically from day to day, but they tend to follow the movement of indices in a longer horizon. Finally, the correlation between two indices is once again the second highest at 0.5116, following that between NAN D10 and FEIC. It is also found that the correlation between indices improves only marginally when daily data are replaced by monthly data, indicating a relatively stable relationship between indices. B. Variance Ratio Tests The results of variance ratio tests are presented in Table VII for each of the three stocks and two decile indices. The test is designed to test for the null hypothesis of a random walk under both homoskedasticity and heteroskedasticity. Since the violation of a random walk can result either from changing variance, i.e. heteroskedasticity, or autocorrelation in returns, the test can help to discriminate reasons for deviation to some extent. The lag orders are 2, 4, 8 and 16. In Table VII, the variance ratio (VR(q)), the homoskedastic-consistent statistics (Z(q)) and the heteroskedastic-consistent statistics (Z*(q)) are presented for each lag. As is pointed out by Lo and MacKinlay (1988), the variance ratio statistic VR(2) is equal to one plus the first-order correlation coefficient. Since all the autocorrelations are zero under RW1, VR(2) should equal one. The conclusion can be generalised further to state that for all q, VR(q) should equal one. According to the first Panel in Table VII, of all stocks and indices, only LION and NAN D1 have variance ratios that are significantly different from one at all lags. Therefore, the null hypothesis of a random walk under both homoskedasticity and heteroskedasticity is rejected for LION and NAN D1, and thus they are not weak-form efficient because of autocorrelations. In terms of FARO, the null hypothesis of a homoskedastic random walk is rejected, while the hypothesis of a heteroskedastic random walk is not. This implies that the rejection of random walk under homoskedasticity could partly result from, if not entirely due to heteroskedasticity. On the other hand, both FEIC and NAN D10 follow random walk and turn out to be efficient in weak form, corresponding exactly to the autocorrelation results reached before in Table III. Panel B shows that when monthly data are used, the null hypothesis under both forms of random walk can only be rejected for FARO. As for FEIC, the random walk null hypothesis is rejected under homoskedasticity, but not under heteroskedasticity, indicating that rejection is not due to changing variances because Z*(q) is heteroskedasticity-consistent. As is shown in Panel A for daily data, all individual stocks have variance ratios less than one, implying negative autocorrelation. However, the autocorrelation for stocks is statistically insignificant except for LION. On the other hand, variance ratios for NAN D1 are greater than one and increasing in q. The above finding provides supplementary evidence to the results of autocorrelation tests. As Table III shows, NAN D1 has positive autocorrelation coefficients in all lags, suggesting a momentum effect in multiperiod returns. Both findings appear to be well supported by empirical evidence. While daily returns of individual stocks seem to be weakly negatively correlated (French and Roll (1986)), returns for best performing market indices such as NAN D1 show strong positive autocorrelation (Campbell, Lo, and MacKinlay (1997)). The fact that individual stocks have statistically insignificant autocorrelations is mainly due to the specific noise contained in company information, which m akes individual security returns unpredictable. On the contrary, while the positive serial correlation for NAN D1 violates the random walk, such deviation provides investors with confidence to forecast future prices and reliability to make profits. C. Griffin, Kelly and Nardari DELAY Tests The results of delay test for the three stocks and two decile indices over the January 2000 to December 2005 period are summarised in Table VIII. We use lag 1, 2, 3, 4 for the daily data and 1, 2, 3 for the monthly data. As is presented in Panel A for daily returns, Delay_1 value for NAN D10 is close to zero and hence not significant, while NAN D1 has the highest delay among all stocks and indices. The rank of delay within individual stocks seems to have a positive relationship between size and delay value, by showing that delay of LION, the stock with smallest market capitalization is lowest, while the delay of FEIC, the stock with largest market capitalization is highest. It seems to contradict with the Griffin, Kelly and Nardari (2006) study, which says that there is an inverse relationship between size and delay. One possible explanation for that is that delay calculated by daily data on individual firms is noisy. The scaled measure Delay_2 produces consistent conclusion but with higher magnitude in values. Delay_2 values are very different from zero for FARO, FEIC, LION and NAN D1. The largest increase in value is seen in FARO from 0.0067 for Delay_1 to 0.7901 for Delay_2. Therefore, Griffin, Kelly and Nardari delay measure is preferable, because the scaled version can result in large values without economic significance. As is displayed in Panel B, employing monthly data also leads to higher Delay_1 values, indicating that more variation of monthly returns are captured by lagged market returns and hence monthly returns are not as sensitive as daily returns to market-wide news. However, an inverse relationship is found this time between delay and market value of individual stocks. Therefore, monthly data provides consistent result to support Griffin, Kelly and Nardari (2006) result as one would normally expect larger stocks to be more efficient in responding to market. Similar to the result for daily data, scaled measure once again produces higher values than its alternative but it provides the same results. V. Conclusion The main objective of this paper is to test weak-form efficiency in the U.S. market. As is found by selected tests, NAN D10 and FEIC provide the most consistent evidence to show weak-form efficiency, while the deviation from random walk is suggested for other stocks and indices, especially for NAN D1 and LION. It indicates that security returns are predictable to some degree, especially for those having best and worst recent performance. The three autocorrelation tests provide different results in terms of daily returns. While the null hypothesis of random walk is rejected for NAN D1 and LION based on log-returns, it is rejected for all stocks and indices based on both squared and absolute value of log-returns, indicating that return variances are more correlated. On the other hand, results in the context of monthly returns are consistent. Monthly returns follow a random walk much better than daily returns in all three tests. Most evidently, the autocorrelation test fails to reject the presence of random walk for all stocks and indices when monthly log-returns are employed. The variance ratio tests provide supportive evidence for autocorrelation tests. Both tests find that in terms of daily return, NAN D1 and LION show a significant return dependence. In particular, variance ratios for NAN D1 are all above one, corresponding to its positive AC and PAC coefficients, thus implying positive autocorrelation in returns. Whats more, individual stocks have variance ratios less than one with FEIC and FARO both being insignificant. The above evidence conclusively suggest that while individual stock returns are weakly negatively related and difficult to predict, market-wide indices with outstanding recent performance such as NAN D1 tend to show a stronger positive serial correlation and thus offer predictable profit opportunities. The evidence regarding delay tests is consistent with earlier findings to a large extent. NAN D1 has highest delay in both daily and monthly cases, implying an inefficient response to market news. In the context of monthly log-returns, delay values for individual stocks rank inversely based on market capitalisation with larger cap stocks having lower delay, suggesting that small stocks do not capture past public information quickly and are thus inefficient. Finally, deviation from a random walk model and thus being weak-form inefficiency is not necessarily bad. In fact, investors should be rewarded a certain degree of predictability for bearing risks. Therefore, future research could be done by incorporating risk into the model. [1] Company information is mainly obtained from Thomson One Banker database. [2] Griffin, John M., Patrick J. Kelly, and Federico Nardari, 2006, Measuring short-term international stock market efficiency, Working Paper

The Birthmark Essay -- essays research papers fc

 A Story of Love and Science A Story of Love and Science   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Nathaniel Hawthorne is a nineteenth century American Novelist whose works are deeply concerned with the ethical problems of sin, punishment, and atonement (Adams 168). The New England writer also handles the romantic theme very well and is a master of historical fiction. Hawthorne was a descendant of one of the judges at the Salem witch trials, and he set many of his works in Puritan New England and during early crises in American history (Encarta).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã¢â‚¬Å"The Birthmark,† like many of Hawthorne’s stories deals with the relationship between men and women. It is a love story where the quest for perfection leads to a tragic end. The protagonist, a scientist named Aylmer, attempts to attain perfection for his new wife Georgiana, by removing a birthmark resembling a small hand from her left cheek. Written in 1843, it was Hawthorne’s first work of fiction right after he married his wife, Sophia (Encarta). This adds depth to the story in a way that Hawthorne can relate to it in a more direct manner. It was written during the Old Manse period in Hawthorne’s life (July 1842 to October 1845) when he was becoming interested in the place in society of the artist. In â€Å"The Birthmark† Hawthorne finishes by giving credit to the flaws and imperfections of human nature.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The story shows Hawthorne’s opinion that some things that were created by God cannot be changed. This can be seen from an article in the American Magazine of Useful and Entertaining Knowledge in 1836 where he stated â€Å"the Creator has absolutely debarred mankind from all inventions and discoveries, the results of which would counter act the general laws, that He has established over human affairs,† (Adams 169).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In â€Å"The Birthmark,† Hawthorne uses the obsession of the scientist Aylmer who wishes to combine the love he has for science with the love for his wife. Aylmer sees the birthmark on his wife’s cheek of an imperfection and a symbol of man’s mortality. Aylmer is described in terms of high praise, praise for his aspiration toward the infinite, for his pure and honorable love that will accept nothing less than perfection (Jones 193). Aylmer’s effort in removi... ...st die, as Georgiana does.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In â€Å"The Birthmark† Hawthorne presents a love story that brings forth the larger idea of man’s quest for perfection. He concludes that the perfect love and the perfect wife cannot be attained through man’s own actions. Hawthorne used his knowledge of Transcendentalism to put forth the idea that man could use his knowledge and abilities to overcome nature. The story’s tragic ending shows that science cannot change man’s basic nature and that some things should not be messed with. Love and science sometimes do not mix. Works Cited Adams, Richard. N.p.: n.p., 1958. Rpt. in Short Story Criticism. Ed. Sheila Fitzgerald. Vol. 3. Detroit: Gale, 1989. 169-170 Hawthorne, Nathaniel. The Celestrial Railroad and Other Stories. New York: Signet, 1963. Jones, Madison. â€Å"Variations on a Hawthorne Theme.† Studies in   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Short Fiction. 15.3 (1978): 227-83 â€Å"Nathaniel Hawthorne.† Microsoft Encarta Encylopedia 99. CD- ROM. N.p.: n.p, 1999. Wohlpart, James. â€Å"Allegories of Art, Allegories of Heart: Hawthorne’s ‘Egotism’ and ‘The Christmas Banquet’.† Studies in Short Fiction. 31.3 (1994): 449-95.

Andrea Del Sarto- How Browning?s Poetry Can Be Linked To When It Was W :: essays research papers

Robert Browning’s poem, ‘Andrea del Sarto’ presents the reader with his views on the painter’s life, an artist who has lost faith in the Parnassian ideal of living for art, and now has to use art as a living. The poem looks at the darker side of the painter when he was older, and expresses a lot about Browning as well, and how he thought his work was perceived, and the context of his life and times. The poem covers many ideas and themes, which not only create a powerful poem, but also create commentary from Browning’s prerogative of his own situation. The poem epitomizes Browning’s work, looking at a real figure in history, from Browning’s own perspective, in a real state of affairs. Although ‘Del Sarto’ might have been regarded as ‘The Faultless painter’ in his time, on the inside he had to repress a struggle. As historian Vasari pointed out, a ‘certain timidity of spirit’ that stopped him from g aining true recognition as one of the greats alongside ‘Leonard, Rafael, Agnolo’. This could be said to express Browning’s view of audience, since his wife was much more successful than him. In this essay I will be looking at the poem, and how it relates to Browning and the time it was written in. The poem has a very melancholy tone throughout, expressing the feelings of Browning’s ‘Del Sarto’, and to an extent Browning himself. It deals with the artists demise, or recline, that he thinks is slowly starting to destroy his life, and the freedom he once had as an artist. He makes references to the ‘autumn in everything’ that he now sees, and the sin of him being ‘tempted’ by ‘Francis’ coin’, which he ‘took’. It is clear from the beginning of the poem that ‘Del Sarto’ that he has to live with his resolve, and although he tries to outline his plight, he doesn’t change it, as he says to Lucrezia ‘do not let us quarrel any more’. He is succumbing to what he has to now do. He has to work now for the money he will gain, which destroys the ethos of art. Hi reference to the recipient of the piece as a ‘friends friend’ emphasizes how distant he has got from his art , and his audience. It is not a particular audience, and neither does the picture convey much, as it is just for money.

It is difficult for the reader Essay

This Boy’s Life, set in America in the 1950’s, is a compelling memoir by Tobias Wolff, whom recreates the frustrations and cruelties faced throughout his adolescence, as he fights for identity and self-respect. During this period of time, America underwent major changes in the political and economic spheres, which in turn were responsible for its social makeover. Society in this time was geared toward family; marriage and children being part of the national agenda. The 1950’s was also an age of male dominance, where even if women worked, their assumed proper place was at home. Throughout the memoir, the protagonist, young Jack Wolff, makes it difficult for the reader to feel much affection towards him, as his actions prove to be troublesome and unruly. However, as the memoir progresses, Jacks struggle reveal the reasons for his actions which sequentially shape his character, providing the readers with understanding and sympathy towards his inexorable situation. The fraudulent lies and deceitful ways of Jack can be frustrating upon the reader; though we come to realise that he does this in order to be accepted by the people around him. Jack also engages in fights  and unfaithfully betrays his best friend Arthur, although it becomes evident that he only does this in order to gain Dwight’s approval of him. The lack of a real father figure in Jack’s life has a profound impact on him and his desperate attempt to develop his identity, which further supports the readers’ emotions of sympathy towards him. Jack lies relentlessly in order to escape the grim circumstances of his childhood. His life is fuelled with emotional neglect and verbal abuse; Dwight, his indignant step father, being the foremost cause. He desires of transforming himself into the person that he truly  wants to be; an image he believes will help him to belong and to be happy. The lies he tells are a constant source of comfort for him, as he relies on them to provide stability and hope in his otherwise unstable life. â€Å"I couldn’t help but try to introduce new versions of myself as my interests changed, and as other versions failed to persuade†, demonstrates an essential part of Jack’s character, as he lies in order to fit in. His identity would change with the different people he met, in order to meet their expectations of him and to obtain their acceptance. This  greatly contributes to the sympathy felt for Jack, as he renders the reality that he finds so difficult to accept as a young boy. Among many other lies throughout the memoir, Jack has the intention of creating a new identity for himself. â€Å"It was truth known only to me, but I believed in it more than I believed in the facts arrayed against it. I believed that in some sense not factually verifiable I was a straight-A student†. At this point, Jack takes his re-creation of identity to a new level. Jack is completely aware of what he is doing, although he does not stop. His incessant lies and then believing that they are the actual truth continuously reoccur throughout the memoir. This serves to show his insecurity of who he was, and his imprudent belief that he had the ability to become something better than what he was. Jacks fabricated attempts to re-create â€Å"new versions† of himself, reveal his instinctive lying nature, thus contributing to the annoyance the readers occasionally feel towards him. However, it becomes clear that Jack is confused; he wants to belong. This misperception, and yearn to fit in explicates why feelings of sympathy by the readers towards Jack are inevitable. Jack is forced to live with his violent stepfather Dwight. Dwight cruelly exercises authority over Jack, in order to create a sense of dominance over him â€Å"Dwight would dump a pile of nuts on the floor of the utility room and put me to work with a knife and pair of pliers until he judged that I’d done enough for the night†. Because of this, Jack is determined to prove to Dwight, himself and the reader that he is not the person Dwight defines him as. Jack is not hurt by Dwight’s accusations that he is a thief and liar because â€Å"I did not see myself that way†. However, when Dwight calls Jack a sissy, Jack thinks of Arthur, who is his best  friend and the biggest â€Å"sissy† in school, and remembers how the word sparked the fight between him and Arthur. Dwight treated Jack differently for a few days; with certain deference – â€Å"Dwight took the calls and explained that the papers had been ruined in a fight, adding that his boy Jack hung a real shiner on the Gayle kid. † This was the only time he expressed a genuine interest in Jack that bordered on admiration, rather than disgust. Dwight was always associated with hatred and negativity, but because of this certain deference after he fought, Jack felt a certain connection to him as a father figure. He felt as though he finally impressed Dwight, and even felt loved because of Dwight’s respect towards him. This discloses that Dwight’s actions had significant influence over Jack, as he continued to engage in these violent fights, in order to demonstrate his masculinity to Dwight. Jacks violent nature is driven by his belief that he has to prove his masculinity to Dwight. This attests annoyance within the reader; as Jack claims he â€Å"defined myself in opposition to him†, he ironically shares the traits of Dwight, such as violence and his desire to be regarded as powerful and masculine. However, Dwight’s deference towards Jack after he fought contrastingly draws sympathy for Jack from the readers, as it reveals his desire to belong; his desire to be loved. Jack’s friendship with Arthur plays a significant role in the re-creation of his identity. Arthur was recognised as a â€Å"notorious sissy†, and because of this Jack worried of the social implications it would consequently have on him by being friends with Arthur. â€Å"To put myself in the clear I habitually mocked Arthur, always behind his back, imitating his speech and way of walking, even betraying his secrets†, demonstrates Jacks desperation to acquire acceptance  from others, even if it meant denying a part of himself- a friendship- that actually made him happy at times â€Å"but I had withheld my friendship, because I was afraid of what it would cost me†. Jacks betrayal of Arthur imparts anger in the reader, as he attempts to impress people who are not his real friends. However his confused identity and lack of self-confidence justify his disloyal actions, particularly because of the circumstances he was faced with at such a young age. Parental neglect plays an important role throughout the memoir. This is first evident in  the text when Jack says â€Å"after all, he was in Connecticut and we were in Utah†, signifying the substantial physical and emotional distance between his birth father and himself. Fathers play an important role in their child’s upbringing and development. Due to this lacking in Jacks life, the responsibilities of growing up prove to be difficult for him, evident through his confused identity and troublesome ways. Furthermore, Rosemary’s ex-husband Roy plays a significant role in shaping the way Jack thinks and reasons, particularly from such a young and susceptible age. â€Å"I thought Roy was what a man should be†, reveals Jack’s naivety at  such a young age; as Roy, abusive and indignant, was in fact the complete opposite of â€Å"what a man should be†. Wolff is once again faced with a man, Dwight, who abuses him and sets a terrible example for him. His violent nature plays a major part in Jack’s development, which ultimately forms his identity. Dwight’s actions have such an influence that â€Å"Jack† writes about Dwight’s voice being ever-present in his head and own voice, even as an adult; even as a father. â€Å"I hear his voice in my own when I speak to my children in anger†. The sympathy felt by the readers for Jack is inevitable, as his brutal childhood is left with him for the rest of  his life. Although Jack makes it difficult for the reader to feel much affection towards him on some occasions, the abusive, neglectful and violent experiences he is confronted with at such a young and vulnerable age conveys a sense of understanding, which in turn rouse feelings of sympathy towards young Wolff. Jack lies constantly; whenever he is presented with the opportunity to. This frustrates the reader is some instances. Generally though, reasons for this are understandable, such as his confused identity due to the violent and emotionally unstable life he lives. The violent fights he associates himself with, and the betrayal of his  Ã¢â‚¬Å"best-friend† Arthur, leave the readers in a position to question whether his motives can be justifiable. However, these fights and betrayal are a reflection of his desire to be accepted by others, and the masculine, powerful man Dwight’s expects him to be. The lack of a real father figure largely affects Jack and all aspects of his character, from his deceitful ways, to his violent involvement in fights. Because of this, compassion and sympathy prevails over the occasional frustration felt towards Jack by the readers. In supposition, Jack is a helpless child seeking a happy life; an identity he is truly happy with.