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Advertising Analysis Parisienne Essay - 1288 Words

Yves Saint Laurent has come out with an ad campaign featuring their new perfume, Parisienne. The ad features the world renowned supermodel Kate Moss dressed in a raven-black corset and pencil skirt. A dark, charcoal jacket is thrown over her frail shoulders and a light pink rose is caressed between her fingers. Her blonde locks are tasseled in a slightly messy hair-do while a few strands of hair caress her fair skin. Behind this beautiful model is the infamous Eiffel Tower hovering over her left shoulder and grand stone statues lie in the background to her right. The evening sky is composed of an exquisite mosaic of purple and pink tones. At the bottom right corner, there is an image of the â€Å"Parisienne† perfume bottle. The bottle is†¦show more content†¦Images in advertisements, such as the image of Kate Moss in this perfume ad, have underlining messages and signs that are used to appeal the public in order to sell their product. In the case of this ad, rom ance, sex, and the promise of being able to live life to the fullest are all being marketed in the form of the â€Å"Parisienne† perfume. The Eiffel Tower in the background is an obvious indicator of romance since it is a famous landmark in Paris; the city which has a reputation for offering romance and love. The gorgeous night sky pairs well with the Eiffel Tower as it is an ideal setting for a romantic evening. The jacket that is on Kate Moss’ shoulders seems to be a man’s jacket, not her own and the light pink rose that she is carrying seems to suggest that a man has given the flower to her. Also, Kate Moss’ pose illustrates a sense of promiscuity. As she walks away from the Eiffel Tower it infers that she is not going out for the night and could possibly be heading to a man’s house later that evening. All these signs in the ad points towards the notion of romance and love, which is what the ad is selling to the public. The text at the bo ttom of the ad, in slim, gold font, reads, â€Å"Living and loving in the moment†. Living an â€Å"ideal† life, such as the life of Kate Moss as advertised in this ad, is being sold in this advertisement to the public. The advertisers who created this ad are suggesting that if one purchases the perfume â€Å"Parisienne†, thatShow MoreRelatedLuxury Marketing- Louis Vuitton Marketing Strategy13318 Words   |  54 PagesTimeless by LOUIS VUITTON TAYLOR FERRIS/CHRISTINE PURVIS/RYNE HEENE/AUSTIN TOOGOOD/AIJ BAKITBEK/ANTONINA SZOSTEK NOVEMBER 2012 Table of Contents Market Analysis 4 Turnover 4 Brands in presence 5 Top 20 Selling Perfumes 5 Evolution 6 History of Perfume Industry 6 The International Market 6 Strategies 7 Short Term Strategy 7 Long Term Strategy 8 Product Concept 9 The Concept 9 The Bottle 10 Materials and Colors 11 Colors 11 Materials 12 Measurements 13 Logo 13 Targeting and PositioningRead MoreLuxury Marketing- Louis Vuitton Marketing Strategy13307 Words   |  54 PagesTimeless by LOUIS VUITTON TAYLOR FERRIS/CHRISTINE PURVIS/RYNE HEENE/AUSTIN TOOGOOD/AIJ BAKITBEK/ANTONINA SZOSTEK NOVEMBER 2012 Table of Contents Market Analysis 4 Turnover 4 Brands in presence 5 Top 20 Selling Perfumes 5 Evolution 6 History of Perfume Industry 6 The International Market 6 Strategies 7 Short Term Strategy 7 Long Term Strategy 8 Product Concept 9 The Concept 9 The Bottle 10 Materials and Colors 11 Colors 11 Materials 12 Measurements 13 LogoRead MoreZara Business Case15365 Words   |  62 Pagesalthough it marketed its clothes under numerous labels or concepts to different customer segments. HM also tended to have slightly lower prices than Zara (which HM displayed prominently in store windows and on shelving), engaged in extensive advertising like most other apparel retailers, employed fewer designers (60% fewer than Zara, although Zara was still 40% smaller), and refurbished its stores less frequently. HM’s priceearnings ratio, while still high, had declined to levels comparable to

Eliezer’s Relationship with God in Night Free Essays

Hanging On: The Description of Eliezer’s Relationship with God in Night World War II breaks out in Europe during the conclusion of the 1930s. Adolph Hitler plunges Germany into darkness while quickly moving to take over bordering countries with his army of Nazis. Eliezer, a boy no more than 15 years old, lives in Hungary, which is dangerously close to Germany. We will write a custom essay sample on Eliezer’s Relationship with God in Night or any similar topic only for you Order Now Along with many other Jews, Eliezer is deported from his home and into a world of unimaginable terror. Night is a memoir of those experiences and, more importantly, a stark reminder that these events should never be allowed to repeat themselves. The Holocaust presents one of the most disturbing theological dilemmas of the twentieth century. As a survivor of the Holocaust, Elie Wiesel has to reevaluate God in his world. He does so through his writings, in which he questions God and tells us of the answers, or lack of answers, that he receives. In Night, author Elie Wiesel writes about his devotion as a child, religious observances, and anger towards God to reveal how he is still a believer in the Jewish faith despite all that happen to him. Auschwitz, Buchenwald, and Treblinka are just a few of the names which evoke nightmares of the Holocaust. The suffering and death at these and other concentration camps were greater than any before endured. Before the Holocaust he had been one of the most devout Jewish children. The Holocaust created a void in the souls of many of those who survived. Elie Wiesel was one of those people. Before the Holocaust he had been one of the most devout Jewish children. Up until the end he waited for God to intervene in Biblical fashion. When that intervention was not forthcoming, he began to doubt in God and in His mercy. He began to accuse God of cruelty against his people. After the torture was over, he had to reevaluate the role of God in his life. He could be forgiving of God and allow Him another chance, as many he had seen had done. Or he could take on the role of God to himself and try to define his own destiny. To deal with this, Wiesel has to question God and himself. He does so through his writing. Elie Wiesel tells his heart-wrenching story of his imprisonment in Nazi Germany. He overcame the odds with his strength and will to live. Elie was told by his father to never lose his faith of his religion it would help him through everything, and keep him strong. One should never lose faith or whatever guiding force that may keep them going. This faith was the only force that helped Elie to survive, and without this faith Elie would have surely succumbed to dying. The question now is how far does Elie’s belief in God and in his own faith helps him to go on. He receives many answers, though none are satisfactory. Wiesel thought of God before and during the Holocaust as both the protector and punisher of the Jewish people. Whatever had happened before, he had faith that it was for their good, or one of God’s greater plans. Either way, he would accept God’s will without questioning. When rumors of the Nazis’ crimes first reached some of the outlying Jewish towns, like Wiesel’s Sighet, no one believed them. The town felt that God was with them and would protect them from anything as horrible as what these rumors suggested. They felt safe and secure in their faith. â€Å"And we, the Jews of Sighet, were waiting for better days, which would not be long in coming now†(17). Others who did not feel guilty believed that God at least had a good reason for punishing the Jews. They thought it must be a test. God is testing us. He wants to find out whether we can dominate our base instincts and kill the Satan within us. We have no right to despair. And if he punishes us relentlessly, it’s a sign that he loves us all the more†(53). Faith delayed the revolution that might have erupted in the camps. The younger people felt it would be better to die fighting than to go like lam bs to the slaughter. They had knives and a strong will. But their elders reminded them, â€Å"You must never lose faith, even when the sword hangs over your head. That’s the teaching of our sages†¦ †(40). As long as the elders were willing to accept God’s will, the younger people were willing to respect their faith. They still had faith that God had a greater purpose in mind, and though they opposed the idea of suffering, they would suffer with pride that they are part of God’s plan. And so Wiesel and his town were indoctrinated without incident into the camps, believing that if their faith endured, they would be saved. Soon the delusions faded and Wiesel began to doubt God. It was not easy for Wiesel to doubt in God, or he would not have held on to his faith with such tenacity. But sooner or later, the seeming meaninglessness of the suffering his people endured had to burst into the consciousness of his seemingly indomitable Jewish faith. In the face of the crematory pit, Elie Wiesel noted, â€Å"For the first time I felt revolt rise up in me. Why should I bless His name? The Eternal, Lord of the Universe, the All-Powerful and Terrible, was silent. What had I to thank Him for? †(42). He awoke to the idea that he was â€Å"alone-terribly alone in a world without God†¦ †(75). Lack of faith turned quickly to despair. If God wouldn’t save His children, who would? No one believed the rumors of peace and safety. In the hospital at Auschwitz, Wiesel met a man consumed with this kind of despair. He said, â€Å"I’ve got more faith in Hitler than in anyone else. He’s the only one who’s kept his promises, all his promises, to the Jewish people. †(87). All around Wiesel, the number of faithful were dropping. As hard as they tried to hold on, Wiesel’s people were finding it hard to believe in God and what He was allowing to happen. Others, like Wiesel, were given the burden of carrying the questions with them, never to be answered. At the hanging of the angel-faced pipel, Wiesel had an answer, when someone asked, † ‘Where is God now? And I heard a voice within me answer him: ‘Where is He? Here He is-He is hanging here on this gallows†¦ ‘ †(72). God died for the child Wiesel then. The destruction of his faith in the God of his childhood was complete. No longer did his name bring cries of praise from Wiesel. God seemed unworthy in the face of His worshipers to accept their worship. Wiesel cannot deny God His due. If anything he can question it and feel angry about it. He can even try to change it, by reevaluating God’s role in the world. That is what many of those he encountered did once they got over the initial anger. Any answer cannot come from man, but from God himself. This is what Moshe the Beadle had tried to tell Wiesel when he was a young boy in Sighet, before the terrors of the Holocaust destroyed his life. Moshe said, â€Å"Man raises himself toward God by the questions he asks Him†¦ That is the true dialogue. Man questions God and God answers. But we don’t understand His answers. We can’t understand them. Because they come from the depths of the soul, and they stay there until death. You will find the true answers, Eliezer, only within yourself! †(15). There can be no end to the questioning, even if there are no answers. In reading the works of Elie Wiesel, I had to ask God some of the same questions that he did. The storm of emotion followed the paths of anger and despair, and finally ended with the acceptance that Elie Wiesel finds. God is not easy to figure out, and he never will be. With all our knowledge, we cannot guess at his reasons for doing anything. I will never stop wondering what happened, and, more importantly, why, but I will sleep quietly, as long as when I wake I watch to see that there is not another Holocaust, and I pray to God that whatever the reasons for the first one, there never will be a second. The Holocaust presented a call to people everywhere to reevaluate the role of God in their lives. The pain and suffering that we know took place is in dark contrast to what we would have thought possible in the presence of our God, and anyone who comes in contact with these horrors will be forever shaken in his present faith. Some have reacted with anger toward God, others with denial. Still others reacted with mistrust of all that God had meant before. But by asking questions, some have grown to learn that God never did things the way people expect Him to, and that fact becomes the cornerstone of the new start to their theology. God does not answer questions unless they suit His purposes. This is what we have learned from Auschwitz and from the writings of Elie Wiesel. We must continue to ask questions, continue to challenge God, until, one day, He Himself will give us the answers. And until then we should never feel so secure in faith as to think that Auschwitz could never happen again. We must make certain, through our actions, that it will never happen again and to never lose the faith that has been devoted to God. How to cite Eliezer’s Relationship with God in Night, Papers

Japanese and Korean Shipping Industry

Questions: 1. How does shipping accommodate economies of scale?2. What are the advantages of a globalised market for shipping? Answers: Introduction Container shipping has developed significantly since the 1950s, particularly in terms of vessel size. However, the question of economies of scale may have a direct impact on the worldwide shipping industry. Issues like poor financing, strong competition, the decline of conferences, and a less regulated shipping industry are exerting pressure on many carriers to minimise their expenses and develop innovative ideas. The advantage of economies of scale in shipping is strong involvement of government that would help to maintain higher capacity in producing larger ship sizes and environment solutions by increasing cost savings. Further, advantages of global maritime markets could lead to rapid ship speed, intensive-oil power systems, opening shipping routes, and specialisation of maritime solutions. However, the shipping industry has been facing fierce competition that is creating issues for the newcomers to enter the market. Based on these concepts, this report would highlight the shippi ng industry economies of scales specially focusing on the Japanese and Korean shipping industry and would also discuss the advantages of globalised market for the shipping industry. 1. How does shipping accommodate economies of scale? Like other different transportations, the shipping industries also have profited from economies of scale in inland transportation, transhipment and maritime shipping. For maritime container shipping, the capacity of the ships increases with low- cost per TEU. Thus, in this context, it can be said that there is a possibility to increase the size of the ships. Therefore, dry cargo vessels have steadily increased in size, and have closed the gap with oil tankers on average. In1995, they were, on average half the size and by 2005, they were excelled two third of the average tank size. Container vessels have also beyond their average size, enlarging dramatically from 1995 to 2007. In TEU terms, the average size of a 1995 containership was 1,431. By 2006, it had improved to 2,316 with an increase of 56% over the original value (ICS, 2013, Pp86). A ships deadweight that is its cargo-capacity in tonnes is the principal measure size for cargo ships. Japan and South Korea have recently overwhelmed the shipbuilding industry, producing over two-thirds of the world ships, with China coming up very fast and trembling its between 2005, aiming to be the largest ship builder (Stopford, 2009, Pp614). Initially, the western nations used to dominate the shipping industry. But presently, Korea has been leading the market, followed by China and Japan (shown below in the graph) (Sung et al., 2010). Figure 1: Global Shipbuilding Industry Market Shares Source: (Sung et al., 2010) Although South Korea is leading global shipping industry market share, Japanese government involvement in shipping industry would considerably influence on maritime economy. The government of Japan gave information on seven organizations that are recorded in either the Osaka or Tokyo stock exchanges five are recorded as shipbuilding organisations while the other two are recorded as enhanced hardware companies. Each of the organisations is a vast industry in shipbuilding, and each is held by different groups of shareholders (Council Working party on Ship Building, 2013). The detailed information below illustrates Japanese government involvement: Shareholder's (%) Company Financial Institutions Security companies Other corporations Foreign Institutions/Individuals Individuals/Others Government and local public entities Mitsubishi Heavy Industries(MHL) 34.8 1.2 9.4 21 33.6 0 Mitsui Engineering and Shipbuilding(MES) 37.6 2.9 13.9 13.1 32.5 0 Kawasaki Heavy Industries (KHI) 35.6 2.1 10.2 16.2 35.9 0 Namura Shipbuilding 12.6 1.9 46.3 12.6 26.6 0 Sasebo Heavy Industries 18.6 1.5 27.8 8.5 42.6 0 Sanoyasu Holdings 19.2 2.3 38.2 8.4 32.9 0 Naikai Zosen 9.6 0.5 40.3 2.1 47.5 0 (1) Sasebo City owns 0.9% the stocks of Saseobo Heavy Industries, for fund management purposes. Source: Council working party in shipbuilding, 2013, Pp14 Also, the graphical representation shows the stability of Japanese ship building capacity: Figure 2: Stability of Japanese ship building capacity Source: (Korea Shipbuilders Association, 2009, pp11) In contrast, there have been controversial arguments in South Korea shipping firms owing to a lack of government involvement. Korea Business (2013) states financial burdens of South Korean shipping firms are demanding practical support countermeasures from the Korean government and financial institutes. 4C Offshore (2015) also claims a rise in government exposure to the industry via ownership, credit export policies and the increase in the risk of government finances could deteriorate the Korean shipbuilding industry. To consider of the problem of Korean shipbuilding industry is the government is only proving ship acquisition fund to small and medium-sized ships firms. Furthermore, financial support from a financial institution is state-backed, which means it requires more than 4 billion of $US. These funds would avoid cancelling more than 100 new shipbuilding orders. This effect would lead South Korean shipbuilding debts (Oblakova, n.d). Ship-owners Association held in a conference in Seouls Yeouido Maritime building on 12 September. They agreed that the threat of financial debts is facing in the Korean Shipping industries. This requires an urgent need of government support. The Korean shipbuilding organisations also have been receiving a lot of public complaints due to odour (1.3%), particulate matter (32.1%) and mostly due to noise pollution (65%). However, it is found that most of the complaints received are the small- and medium-sized companies compared to large-scale shipyards. Conversely, Japanese shipbuilding has been working successfully. They have been mitigating such public complaint issues by utilising the lubrication system that takes some scavenging air from main engines turbocharger to the vessels bottom to reduce frictional resistance between the hull bottom and seawater, consequently curtailing CO2 emission. A system featuring this scavenging by air, by pass technology is expected to be effective in cutting down CO2 emissions from large ship having deep drafts (Japanese Ship Technology Research Association, 2014, Pp3). The expansion of Japanese vessels is not only more stable than their competitors, but also small and medium firms special ise in Japanese shipbuilding, thus domestic and international economic scales could significantly enhance. 2. What are the advantages of a globalised market for shipping? Shipping has been an imperative human action all through history, especially where thriving depended principally on worldwide and interregional trade. Globalisation is persuaded by the recognition that goods and resources are not generally arranged with the populaces that craving them, thus worldwide services of transportation are required. Due to globalisation, there has been a rise in the use of containers since 1956. Therefore, high-limit boats have been fabricated; today more than 60 have a limit more than 5,000 20-foot identical units (TEUs). Studies conjecture 6% yearly growth in traffic of container through 2005, as a consequence of proceeds with extension of the utilisation of containers by the industry of shipping in developing nations; expanded trade made merchandise and products with a higher worth included; the pattern towards globalisation by multinational makers; and development of megaships shows a rise in feeder and ship activity. Globalisation actually helps the shipping industry to minimise the expense of every unit of delivery, which were mostly utilized as transformation to fuel alternation in the 1900s instead of protecting energies. Oil-controlled business ships obliged fewer crews and appreciated different operations in fuelling. Oil controlled ships likewise quickened more rapidly than coal-fuelled frameworks, and could attain to higher velocities. Considering above components, global delivery have changed the whole armada from coal to oil more than five decades (Corbett Winebrake, 2008, Pp10). As it is indicated figure3, other than shipbuilding, there have been the progressions of different patterns in the advancement of the worldwide maritime area. The moving of energy creation to new ranges, especially the Arctic locale, and opening of new delivering courses, for example, the Northeast Passage, makes a developing interest for particular sea and seaward arrangements, and in addition new shipping services. Environmental-accommodating arrangements, for example, clean tech are developing the importance of consciousness of ecological preventions and the relocation of atmosphere changes could affect to worldwide sea commercial ventures (Smartcomp, 2013, Pp6). Figure 3. Comparison of the world fleet and sea trade developments Source: (Smartcomp, 2013, Pp6) From figure 4, it appears that there are minor obstacles when directing the investigation for tanker boats. However, in this case, the fixation is significantly bigger, since South Korea had a 66% offer, and the three primary exporters were in charge of 94.7% of all tanker fares worldwide. While creation, which is gathered, is performed in numerous nations, exportation is considerably more focused since it is performed by just a little number of nations. These certainties indicate the strict choice of the purchaser advertise that is positively connected to the cost and nature of the conveyances, additionally to less target elements. This proof demonstrates the significance of a decent market passage procedure for organisations wishing to go into this business sector (Pinto Colin, 2009, Pp144). Figure 4: largest ship importers between 1990 and 2006 Source: Pinto Colin, 2009, Pp144 Conclusion In conclusion, it appears Japanese shipbuilding development, including vessel sizes and types are more stable and a strong government involvement may secure the expansion of shipbuilding businesses, as well as financial issues. On the other hand, South Korea seems to struggle with ship building investment due to a lack of government support. Moreover, with the development of globalised markets, there are various factors can improve; shipping speed, intensive oil-power system, maritime offshore and environmental-friendly solutions, and international routes. However, newcomers may be difficult to compete due to strict selection of buyer's market and less objective factors and environment solutions are needed. It is predicted that the Japanese shipping industry would be leading other countries for some centuries. Furthermore, Japanese ship building firms are dominating the market in Asia as well as worldwide, if there were more effective international collaborations, there would be less financial issues, economies of scale seem to be efficient, particularly with Japanese firms, however, in Asia generally, there remain some barriers to progress, for instance, a lack of government involvement and environmental friendly solutions. Perhaps, there are further steps can be taken from government in order to improve Asian economies of scale; intensive financial support for all types of domestic shipping industry, as well as setting up smoother maritime government policies in Asia and international markets. References Business Korea (2013) Korean Shipping Industry Pushing for Prompt Government Financial Support. Available at:https://www.businesskorea.co.kr/article/1479/korean-shipping-industry-pushing-prompt-government-financial-support [Accessed at: 11th of March, 2015]. Corbett Winebrake(2008) The Impacts of Globalisation on International Maritime Transport Activity. OECD. 4C Offshore (2015) EXIM,K-Sure face losses from shipbuilders. Available at: https://www.4coffshore.com/windfarms/exim,-k-sure-face-losses-from-shipbuilders-nid1367.html[Accessed at: 16th of March, 2015]. Council Working Party on Shipping(2013) Peer Review Of Japanese Government Support Measures To The Shipbuilding Sector. Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. Oblakova,D (n.d) The Impact of the financial crisis on the role of government in the shipbuilding industry.Research Report314619. Erasmus School of EconomicsCentre of Maritime Economics Logistics (MEL). Cullinane, K Khanna,M (2000) Economics of scale in large container ships. Journal of transport economics and policy.33 (2), Pp189. ICS(2013) Economics of Sea Transport and International trade. Institute of Chartered Shipbrokers. Japanese Ship Technology Research Association(2014) Shipbuilding Menu Gourmand.Japanse Ship Technology Research Association. Korean Shipbuilders Association(2009) PowerPoint slides[Pp.11].Korean ShipbuildesAssoiciation 3rd December ,2009. Pinto,MColin,E (2009) Ship Purchasing: Characteristics, Empirical Evidence, and Market Attractiveness for Shipbuilders. Journal of Ship Production. Vol. 25, No. 3, August 2009, pp. 142152. Smartc0mp (2013) Maritime sector developments in the global markets.SmartComp Research Report No 3. Stopford, M (2009) Maritime Economics. 3rd edn. New York. Routledge. Pp614. Sung, A., Samuel, N., Mahasuwan, P., Pupipat, P. and Shanna, Z. (2010).Sustaining competitive advantage in the global economy. [online] systemdynamics.org.Availableat:https://www.systemdynamics.org/conferences/2010/proceed/papers/P1104.pdf [Accessed 13 Mar. 2015].

Essay - Application of Aristotle’s the Golden Mean an Example of the Topic History Essays by

Application of Aristotle’s the Golden Mean in Today’s Business World by Expert professor Ashley | 26 Jul 2016 Aristotle was the last of the famous Greek Triumvirate. The first one was Socrates probably the most enigmatic figure in the history of philosophy. The second was Plato, a poet who was regarded as Socrates brightest students. And the last was Aristotle, the most famous student of Plato. Aristotle was born at Stagira, in Thrace, in 384 B.C. His father was a physician which is an indication that science was his main philosophic background. Need essay sample on "Application of Aristotles the Golden Mean in Todays Business World" topic? We will write a custom essay sample specifically for you Proceed Our Customers Frequently Tell EssayLab professionals: I'm not in the mood to write my essay. But I don't have the time Essay writer professionals advise: Try out our best essay writing service One of his greatest contributions to humanity is not his being the famous tutor of Alexander the Great who inspired him to become the worlds greatest conqueror. His greatest contribution to humanity is his philosophy of the Golden Mean. Happiness has always been an elusive goal for man. During the time of the Greek philosophers, the concept of happiness and how it can be attained has been the focal point of discussion. The Golden Mean embodies Aristotles answer to how happiness can be achieved by man. Aristotle thought that happiness should not be equated with material pleasure or sexual gratification. While there are many people during his considered the attainment of these two things as mans ultimate goal and mans happiness, Aristotle thought otherwise. He argued that happiness should be the ultimate goal of man as it also represents the realization of the good of the human being. It is the end goal of human existence. He emphasized that happiness can only be achieved by finding the right balance between two extremes. Aristotle cites as an example two extremes which should be avoided by man. The first is cowardice which is the extreme of deficiency. The second is recklessness which is the extreme of excess. Cowardice is exemplified in the action of a man who fails to help a loved one inside a burning building. Recklessness, on the other hand, is shown when a man without any protection for himself enters a burning building to rescue a loved one. Both are considered extreme actions which should be avoided as they do nothing to a mans search for happiness. The first is considered extreme because it is very unusual for a man who knows that a loved one is inside a burning building but fails or refuses to do something about it such is an act of cowardice as he only intends to save himself. On the other hand, it is worse when a person decides to enter a burning building when he fully knows that he will not be able to get out of the burning building alive. Aristotle emphasized that there is no exact middle in every situation. The middle will always depend on the situation. In the situation mentioned, the mean would be to call for professional help. However, if the fire has just started, it would be wrong to just stay and watch the building burn to the ground. This is considered Aristotles most important contribution because it re-affirms how important achieving balance is in life. It must be stressed that the Greeks during the time of Aristotle have struggled to find the right balance in their life. Achieving balance is more difficult in the modern world. Unlike during the time of Greek philosophers, the modern society is faced with more obstructions that will hinder the achievement of balance. Life is much faster. Competition is much stiffer. Temptations are greater. Indeed, achieving the right balance in ones personal and professional lie has become much more difficult. This is a time of financial uncertainty and corporate distress. Because of the desire of business owners to remain competitive, the corporations have started to prioritize profits above anything else. In the desire to become number one, the Board of Directors and corporate officers have forgotten about the principles of ethics and honesty. It must be stressed that directors act as fiduciaries to the corporation, and once elected they are enjoined to serve the best interest of the corporation and the shareholders. A fiduciary is one who owes to another the duties of good faith, trust, confidence and candor or one who must exercise a high standard of care in managing anothers money or property. This fiduciary duty arises out of the boards fiduciary relationship with the corporation and shareholders. The directors owe a duty of loyalty to the corporation and its shareholders. It is the consequence of the fiduciary relationship existing between the directors of the corporation and the corporation and the directors of the corporation and its stockholders. As fiduciaries, they are expected to act with utmost candor and fair dealing for the interest of the corporation and without taint of selfish motives. The directors of the corporation are expected to first serve the interest of the corporation and their interest later. They are enjoined not to manipulate the affairs of the corporation to the detriment and disregard of the standards of morality and decency. As corporate insiders, the directors cannot utilize any inside information they have acquired for their own benefit. The directors of the corporation also owe a duty of obedience to the corporation. The duty of obedience mandates that every director of the corporation must do and perform only those acts designed to achieve its mission. The director must constantly check whether his action is within the scope of his authority and in pursuance of the goals of the company as indicated in its articles of incorporation. Further, obedience does not only mean compliance with the rules of the corporation but it also means informing the corporation of any act done in violation of the rules of the corporation. The directors and corporate officers also owe a duty of diligence. The rule is that every director of the corporation is required to manage the corporate affairs and perform his functions with reasonable care and prudence. As an officer of the corporation, the responsibility of the director towards the corporation is not limited to willful breach of trust or excess of power but extends to negligence. This means that even if there was no unlawful intent or evil motive in performing a corporate act, he can still be held liable if it can be established that he acted negligently. This liability of a director for his negligent acts rests upon common law rule which renders the agent liable who violates his authority or neglects his duty to the damage of the principal. One example of a business enterprise which failed to achieve the right balance in his professional life is the business formed by Bernard Madoff. Bernard Madoff is a person who is in the newspapers nowadays because of the white-collar crime he committed. Madoff recently pleaded guilty for committing the Ponzi scheme against a number of his investors (Hays rob-Peter-to-pay-Paul principle early in the 1980s where he solicited billions of dollars from pension funds, charities and other investors (What is a Ponzi Scheme). Madoff eventually admitted that he defrauded hundreds of people in his scheme which had amounted to more than $60 billion. His scheme was finally discovered last year when investors wanted to pull out their investment from Madoff. He however could not produce the money. Despite this however Madoff made an announcement that he will be distributing to his employees bonus earlier than expected. This prompted questions as how could he get the money to pay the bonuses to his employees but he could not get the money to pay off his investors. He later on revealed to his two children that his business was a sham prompting them to report him to the authorities. He was eventually arrested in December of 2008 and charged for federal securities fraud. The sad part is that despite the evidence against Madoff, he was initially allowed to remain free after posting a $10 million bond. In January 2009, Madoff was even allowed by the court to continue living under house arrest in his Manhattan apartment (Judge Refuses to Jail Madoff; Financier Accused in Massive Ponzi Scheme Allowed to Remain Free on Bail). In addition, the court continued to allow Madoff to be placed under house arrest despite having been caught mailing jewelries in violation of the order of the court to freeze his assets. In more recent news, Madoff was finally placed in jail while waiting for his sentencing in June after he has pleaded guilty to the crime charged against him (Madoff Must Stay in Prison, Court Says - NYTimes.com,). At this time, he was held in the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Manhattan while waiting for his sentence. Newspaper reports say that he faces a maximum of 150 years in prison once he is sentenced in June 16. Despite this Madoffs lawyers continued to ask the court for Madoff to be allowed to be released and to be placed on house arrest while awaiting his sentencing. Newspaper reports say that his credit card bills speak everything about the lavish lifestyle he and his family once had. In one of his credit card bills, he was charged for $2,800 for eating at an expensive restaurant, $2,000 in a Parisian boutique, $441 at a gourmet bagel shop, $8,400 for spending a night at the hotel. The total amount due was more than $100,000. (Bernard Madoff Credit Card Bills Reveal Lavish Lifestyle) There is also evidence that will prove that he treated the investments placed in the name of Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities, the company that he put up, as his personal bank account which gave him the opportunity to withdraw and transfer funds as he needed for himself and for his family. Business organizations need to observe certain ethical and moral rules. They have the obligation to the public to ensure that they funds entrusted to them are properly managed. Every penny that will be used for investment must be properly accounted for. Moreover, when a person puts up his own business, he has the duty to be truthful to his clients, employees and his investors. It is his solemn obligation not to do any falsehood to his clients, employees and his investors. It need not be stressed how greedy Madoff was. He and his family lived an extremely lavish lifestyle. He was consumed by his desires for material pleasure and wealth that he forgot about his clients and investors. The pleasure however was temporary. Today, he is spending time in jail for the crimes he committed. While Madoff was guilty for a crime, it is also worth looking into the negligence or recklessness on the part of Madoff investors. It is true that Madoff defrauded his investors and he should be faulted for it. It is however also true that the investors were also partly responsible for what happened to their money (Vicky Ward) When they invested their money, they did not conduct any diligence. They also did not take appropriate steps to ensure that the money they invested will be protected by Madoff. They only relied on the representations of Madoff that their money will double or triple after a few months. When they ask how Madoff will be able to make good his promises, Madoff only responded that he can deliver without explaining how intends to double or triple the money of his investors. These investors were also consumed by greed. They were attracted to Madoffs lavish lifestyle. They too thought that they can enjoy the material pleasure and wealth. References: Bernard Madoff Credit Card Bills Reveals Lavish Lifestyle. Associated Press. 2009. Retrieved 29 May 2009 "Madoff Must Stay in Prison, Court Says - NYTimes.com." The New York Times. 2009. "Second Judge Refuses to Jail Madoff; Financier Accused in Massive Ponzi Scheme Allowed to Remain Free on Bail." The Washington Post. Washington Post Newsweek Interactive Co. 2009. Retrieved 28 May, 2009 Tom Hays and Larry Neumeister. "A 'sorry and ashamed' Bernard Madoff pleads guilty." AP Online. 2009. Retrieved 28 May, 2009 Ward, Vicky. Time to Blame our Own Greed for the Madoff Mess. The Huffington Post. 2008. Retrieved 29 May 2009 What is a Ponzi Scheme. (2009). Findlaw. Retrieved 28 May 2009

50 Motivational Thoughts That Will Push You to Succeed

50 Motivational Thoughts That Will Push You to Succeed Need a kick in the pants? A fire under your proverbial bottom? Feeling in need of a little inspiration? Here are 50 motivational thoughts you can turn to when you need a little energizing positivity! Keep these in your back pocket and turn to them when a ray of sunshine is nowhere to be found.1. You can do anything.It’s a rather simple mindset, but if you convince yourself that you can do anything, you’ll start to believe it.2. †¦And here’s why.After you start to believe that you can, justify those reasons. Example: â€Å"I can become a cook because I love food and I cooking is my passion†.3. You deserve more.Whether it’s a better job, relationship, or healthier body, you deserve a better life. You’ll probably have to work for it, but 9 times out of 10 it’s true.4. It’s never too late.It’s always possible to get a fresh start. No matter how old you are, you can start something new and succeed. Want to start a blog? G o for it. Want to learn how to code? Go for it. Developed a recent passion for photography? Buy a decent camera and let your hobby consume you.5. Challenges are a constant.Nobody said it was easy. Don’t let one setback get the better of you. Keep your head up and don’t lose sight of what you want.6. The time may never be â€Å"right.†Don’t wait too long for the perfect moment and let the other moments pass you by. Sometimes the perfect will never arrive and you just have to make due with what you’re given.7. The plan may never be perfect either.Sometimes you just have to say â€Å"go† and figure out the kinks as you go.8. You have to start somewhere.It might as well be today–right here, right now.9. Baby steps. One at a time.Break it down into smaller steps. Don’t get overwhelmed with doing everything at once.10. You have nowhere to go but up.Thinking about only soaring higher helps in the darkest moments! Since you’re s tarting out from the bottom, there’s no where to go but up!11. Failure isn’t forever.Look at your failure as one step towards success- just in the other direction. At least you know which way to turn!12. You can learn from your mistakes.Each mistake you make is an opportunity to learn, grow and become better.13. Take it one day at a time.Many forms of mediation preach placing your mind, body, and spirit in the present moment. Today is the only thing you can control- not the future, not the past.14. If it were easy, it wouldn’t be worth doing.And everyone would have done it already.15. Seize the day.â€Å"Someday† may never arrive. Why not today?16. Negative thoughts are only thoughts.Don’t let them hold you back.17. I’ve beat worse odds before.And did you make it to the other side? Of course. So what’s the big difference this time around? Exactly, nothing. You can do it again!18. You gotta earn it.If you didn’t, would you reall y feel good about your success?19. If you have to regret something, regret action.It’s better  than inaction. At least you’ll have tried.20. Don’t ask permission.Just go for it. If people think you’re nuts, that’s their problem.21. You control your life.Your destiny is yours to determine, no one else’s.22. No one is grading you.Life isn’t a letter grade. It isn’t even pass or fail.23. Boring is boring.Playing it safe can sometimes set you back. Take a risk.24. Risk can be rewarding.Knowing the risks is one thing, but you should also think about the benefits. Taking risks can be very rewarding.25. Discipline feels good.A whole lot better than regret!26. The best ideas usually seem impossible at first.Steve Jobs anyone? Why should yours be different? Dream big!27. People have your back.Friends, family, colleagues. This is why we have networks.28. Experience is invaluable.Even if you fall short of your goals, you’ll walk away with more experience.29. Work is its own reward.Again, attempts are at very least proactive.30. Make every day matter.Every day is one step closer towards achieving your goal.31. Your perspective is the only one you have.Prioritize it. Forget about what other people think. They don’t have the same vision as you because they’re wearing a completely different pair of shoes.32. Every problem has a solution.You just need to figure it out.33. Ordinary equals ordinaryOrdinary actions will lead you down a path to mediocrity. Don’t let that be your future.34. Everything could be better.You always have the opportunity to improve yourself, your situation, your project†¦35. What you don’t know, you can learn.Education is out there.  The age of the internet is upon us. You can spend 6 hours on Youtube learning HTML and come out knowing more than you did.36. Practice makes perfect.If you need to master something, just get to work on it.37. Willpower is up to you.And in your head. You just have to want it.38. You know what you want.Start visualizing it actually happening. Then make it happen.39. Feelings come from thoughts.Even the scary ones can be neutralized by  taking control of your thoughts and rethinking your thought process.40. Don’t do  nothing.Trying and failing is much better than not trying.41. You are who you decide to be.If you don’t like it, decide different!42. You can’t win unless you try.Results are a product of effort. If you try, you have a chance to win. It’s not guaranteed, but if you don’t put in effort, your chances of winning are 0%.43. Your life is determined by your choices.Make good ones.44. You’re better today than yesterday.You’re older, wiser, more experienced, and more mature!45. Greatness doesn’t happen overnight.Have patience.46. Just start; the rest will get easier.That first step is always the hardest. Once you get ball rolling, you’ ll find motivation and start seeing results.47. You will be rewarded.Even if only by yourself, for reaching your smallest goals. Treats are on their way! Progress is being made!48. You’re not just in it for you.Don’t forget your external motivation- your friends, family, broader altruistic goals†¦ that can be powerful.49. You’ll always have more chances.If you screw up or fail, trying again is almost always an option.50. If all else fails, you’ll have a story.You’ll walk away with  experience and interesting party jokes and anecdotes!Hopefully these thoughts have helped motivate you on your path to success. The power of positive thinking is a powerful tool. The rest is up to you!

The Attitude towards Alzheimer's Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

The Attitude towards Alzheimer's - Essay Example Although research on care-giving disproportionally deals with topics such as costs of care, service utilization, and negative psychosocial outcomes etc, the influence of the attitude towards Alzheimer's on the care-giving to the patients has not attained significant attention in researches. Researches on the attitude of the family members towards Alzheimer's have great relevance as it can aid better care offered to the individuals with Alzheimer's by the people immediately close to them. As it is families who deal with life, it is important for families to deal with diseases, especially a disease like Alzheimer's. "Given that Alzheimer's is a disruptive yet often subtle disease, infinitely variable, it tends to bring about family crisis, even in the best organized and healthiest of families. This is because the beginnings of the disease involve gradual loss of ability to function well in life, rather than specific symptoms needing specific treatment. It is a disease of behaviors, and families have to make decisions about their own behaviors in response to the illness. In families with unhealthy interaction patterns, Alzheimer's disease becomes a new battleground." (Gray-Davidson, 1999, p. 47). Therefore, the attitude of the families towards Alzheimer's has an important impact on the care offered to individuals with Alzheimer's disease and a research on the different attitudes can contribute to a better health-care offered to patients with Alzheimer's. Scope The attitude of the families towards Alzheimer's has been found one of the most essential factors influencing the type of care offered to individuals with Alzheimer's. A reflective analysis of the various common attitudes towards Alzheimer's and their influences on the health-care can determine the various effective ways to treat the patients and help them in coping with the particular situation of the life. Therefore, the scope of research concerning attitude of the families towards Alzheimer's is vast and this specific study focuses on determining the essential elements in the different attitudes towards Alzheimer's. Hypothesis One of the basic factors determining the care given to individuals with Alzheimer's is the attitude of the families towards Alzheimer's as family is the essential unit of the society to deal with the issues confronting individuals with Alzheimer's. Therefore, the underlying hypothesis of this study is that the attitude of the families towards Alzheimer's has a major influence on how the patient is treated and looked after in the family background and it is essential to develop a positive attitude towards Alzheimer's in order to assist the patient effectively. Literature Review Various types of attitudes by different section of the society towards Alzheimer's have a major influence on the diagnosis, health-care, and treatment of the disease. For example, a physician's positive attitude towards Alzheimer's has been found one of the most essential factors in early diagnosis of the disease and it can affect how the patient is offered health-care in the course of the disease. "In their ongoing study, Paterson and colleagues found that a doctor's positive attitude about the identification and treatment of dementia is the most

Organisation of the body Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Organisation of the body - Essay Example The major functions entail the intensification of DNA in order to facilitate the process of mitosis; it equally assists in the smaller casing of DNA so as to fit in the cell; it also controls replication of DNA and gene expression; it also inhibits the damage of DNA. They are normally reffered to as the cell’s powerhouse due to its ability to perform the role of the cell’s digestive system in which it uptakes nutrients, and synthesizes them into energy through cellular respiration. They function by breaking down cellular debris and waste materials through the action by acids known as hydrolase enzymes. In this regard, the lysosomes digest worn out or excess organelles, bacteria or engulfed viruses and food matter. The red blood cells have a flattened disc like shape or a biconcave shape which increases the surface area over volume ratio.In this regard, the diffusion of carbon dioxide and oxygen across the plasma of the red blood cells occurs at a faster rate.Moreover, the red blood cells are elastic and flexible thus they are able to fit the small capillaries. In addition, the red blood cells have a thin wall cell to assist in the effortless oxygen diffusion. The red blood cells equally lack cell structures such as ribosomes, mitochondria and nucleus. In this regard, they are able to pack large amounts of hemoglobin due to the increase in space within the cells. The hemogloblin performs the role of taking in oxygen from the lungs and consequently releasing it to the rest of the body. The ciliate epithelial cells have an overlapping and flat structure which facilitates the minimal use of space in the cell. It equally assists in providing a barrier to the exterior. Furthermore, it assists in offering a lightweight skin structure. In addition, it facilitates the shedding of individual cells. The sperm cell is specialized to carry out its function in a variety

Legal and ethical issues in health occupations Term Paper

Legal and ethical issues in health occupations - Term Paper Example Health and wellness form the basis of any society and that explains why health care matters are given more weight including stringent legal and ethical structure. According to the text of study, various laws are applicable to ensure quality service delivery by the healthcare professionals. Top in the list is the law of contract which provides all the terms and conditions of a contractual agreement between two or more parties. It also bears the corresponding remedies to breach of such contractual obligations by either or all the parties. Under this law, the healthcare providers are at liberty to charge the cheapest on their medical supply to the healthcare facilities like hospitals, dispensaries and others with the primary aim of improving the health of the patients and this would not amount to antitrust by similar competitors. This is in line with the code of ethics expected of healthcare professionals that requires that the lifesaving comes first at even no pay then other things fol low. For instance, when a given health officer offers healthcare at any relatively cheaper cost, no entity can seek legal redress over this since it serves the purpose of service to humanity (Judson, Karen, Carlene and Karen 43). The law of contract also assumes that any healthcare provider is answerable to the state at any given time over his/her conduct immediately the permit to join practitioners is issued. Any breach of the contractual agreement by a healthcare professional is a big problem that is severely punishable owing to its attachment with life which is invaluable. The legal concept of tort also affects the medical professionals at large and is always given a serious attention by the society to tame errant medical practitioners. This law deals with civil wrongs that their remedy does not carry with them severe government action on the defendant but is always solved by compensation to the plaintiff and other constitutionally defined remedies. In this case, negligence remai ns one of the thorniest issues with the healthcare providers. In this scenario, the patient trusts the ability and care of the professional with his/health conditions (Reviews 58). This means that the medical staff needs to take all possible actions within their knowledge and ethics of work to ensure safe administration of health care to the patient. For instance in a case where a patient has been diagnosed with a given infection, it expressly imply that the doctor is able to quote the appropriate prescription. In the event that an individual suffers from a wrong prescription by medical personnel, the aggrieved is allowed to seek legal redress and obtain compensation in the form of treatment costs or undertake another prescription from the healthcare professional. This goes hand in hand with the code of conduct within the ranks of healthcare sector which oblige any healthcare provider to act with utmost professionalism and care. Even within the healthcare sector exists criminal aspe ct of the law which is punishable by jail, dismissal from the practitioning body and other punitive measures. As a healthcare prof

Special Educational Needs Sen Education Essay

Special Educational Needs Sen Education Essay The term inclusion is difficult to define, with many professionals having their own theories on what inclusion is .One of the most controversial but perhaps true definitions of inclusion comes from the Salamanca Statement whereby educational accomplishment is perceived as being secondary to the development of the self through personal choice(Hodkinson and Vickerman, 2009).This statement and definition relates directly to the rights-based model and discourse(Dyson,2000) this reinforces the rights of a child and their entitlement to an education . To implement this type of inclusion both schools and society needs to recognise and disable the obstacles that constrain a childs choices and their capability to reach their full potential (Hodkinson and Vickerman, 2009). The term SEN was devised in the 1970s by the Warnock Report (DES, 1978, cited in Hodkinson and Vickerman, 2009). Lady Warnock states in her report that authorities should consider the idea of including all children into mainstream schooling if that is where they will learn successfully (Kent, 2005). The 1981 Education Act came after the Warnock report .This new piece of legislation affected the entire education system, and was seen to have a positive influence on the education of children with SEN (Potts, 1995). The Act prohibited any child from being deprived of an education, and effectively reinforced inclusion whenever it was possible (Kent, 2005). The Education Act describes a child with SEN as someone who has a learning barrier which appeals for special educational conditions to be made for them. This includes any child below the age of 19 who is a recorded pupil at an educational institute (DfEE, 1996 and SENDA, 2001, cited in Hodkinson and Vickerman, 2009). Frederickson and Cline (2007) suggest that many people misperceive special educational needs with special needs. They propose a child has a special need if they originate from a community whose conditions or upbringing is dissimilar from the majority of the school populace. Thus meaning that a special need does not necessarily manifest itself as SEN (Frederickson and Cline, 2002, cited in Hodkinson and Vickerman, 2009). The Education act calls for an official assessment of all alleged SEN children, a provision upheld by later legislations. A statement of Special Educational needs is formed and complied by educational authorities, who are accountable for outlining the extent of the childs needs and recommending educational strategies and resources to suit the child. The SEN statements are used to situate children into mainstream schools if; the childs requirements can be met, they do not restrict or hinder other childrens learning and is an efficient use of the authorities resources (Kentworthy and Whittaker, 2000). In 2003, within the UK there was anticipated to be over 1.7 million children with possible SEN and of these children around 250,000 of them had a formal statement (Russell, 2003). It could be argued that the statement process and the use of the term SEN is negatively associated to the medical model opinion of disability (Hodkinson and Vickerman, 2009). Frederickson and Cline (2007) maintain that the process of assessing a child with SEN is completed by scrutinising the individual child. It is expected that the foundation of the problem is within the child and that they must be afflicted with a disability or a learning impairment. The assessment process is thought to be comparable to a medical diagnosis by establishing what classification of disability the child suffers from. It has been advocated that this method of labelling, is disrespectful and distressing to the specific child and also has an impact on the way in which their learning is sustained (CSIE, 2005, cited in Hodkinson and Vickerman, 2009). Segregation, due to the labelling process is a normal experience for a child with SEN .Children may be excluded from mainstream schools and placed in a special school or within a mainstream classroom children may miss out on lessons to be educated by the special needs expert or more commonly the designated teaching assistant. The medical model has perhaps lowered anticipations of a child with SEN. Some consider handicapped children as abnormal, because they are constrained to what they can accomplish. Frederickson and Cline (2007) state that being handicap was defined by society in terms of defect, physical and emotional deficiencies were believed to inflict limitations on cognitive advancement. As a consequence obstructions to achievement and social development were forced upon children with SEN (Frederickson and Cline, 2007, cited in Hodkinson and Vickerman, 2009). Law (1993) suggests some parents of children with SEN would prefer a diagnosis, as they feel it helps them comprehend and prepare for the problems their child may be confronted with. Parents also feel that a statement can help to gain access to expert help and advice and secure a place in a special school. Hanson et al (2001) argues that the majority of parents welcome inclusive locations for their children with SEN, although parents did have apprehensions about the teachers level of training and experience. Corbett (2001) claims teachers are enthusiastic to support inclusion when dealing with children who have a mild disability. There is nevertheless the proposal that teachers do not have the similar inclusive idea in relation to those children who show severe behavioural problems (Wedell, 2005).Inclusion for certain children is being deferred because the educational system is not fit to include them because of the obstructions of lack of knowledge, lack of will, lack of vision, lack of resources and lack of morality (Clough and Garner 2003; 87 cited in Hodkinson and Vickerman, 2009).Study in this topic establishes that for these children, teachers consider that exclusion is essential due to their experience within the classroom (Corbett,2001). The previous Government, encouraged teachers to improve personalised learning for all students (Milliband, 2004, cited in Wedell, 2005).This was intended to inspire a more receptive approach to teaching. While the majority of teachers no doubt aspire to do this, the difficulties within whole-class teaching stipulate how difficult this is to accomplish. Additionally, such targets require understanding and time to apply. David Hargreaves (2004) states traditional teachers are not educated adequately enough to deal with the varieties of responsibilities now outlined for them (Wedell, 2005). The quality of teaching for pupils with different needs has been an concern that has prevented the effective application of SEN and inclusion strategies .The Programme of Action(DfEE,1998)specified the need for teachers to undertake detailed training in special educational needs and the previous Government also agreed that effective practice is being obstructed by the same issue(DfES,2004).There seems to be a common opinion amongst educational professionals that the training they receive to prepare themselves for the teaching and accommodating of children with SEN is woefully inadequate'(Corbett,2001;22). To aid teachers, the process of grouping pupils is still commonly used in the classroom. This technique was introduced so that teachers could prioritise and plan differentiated lessons. The tensions this inflicts on children and the complications it creates for teachers have been extensively acknowledged. David Hargreaves stated; Pedagogy in schools is about mastering the art of controlling the behaviour of some thirty young persons of the same age, who are reluctantly enclosed in a room of modest size and who can be easily managed as thirty kittens can be herded. (Hargreaves, 2001:2 cited in Wedell, 2005) Hartley also mentions; If the government retains a bias towards whole- class, traditional pedagogy, then the costs may be reduced, teachers may be tamed, high-stakes scores will rise, and procedures may be standardised. But the economic benefits are likely to be few in the long term. (Hartley, 2003:91 cited in Wedell, 2005) These interpretations specify how features of the structure of schooling present difficulties for children with SEN in general. The government has introduced a mass deployment of teaching assistant(TAs)to aid teachers in these dilemmas , but class grouping still exists within a classroom .The provision of learning support assistants(LSAs)for pupils with special educational needs is perhaps a method of softening the blow for teachers who are in mainstream classes. It is recognised that the velcro-ing of LSAs to pupils occasionally becomes a system of within-class segregation (Wedell, 2005). The Pragmatic discourse states that for schools to achieve a more inclusive ethos, support will be needed to develop polices and practice(Dyson,2000) that not only allows all children to be supported but also convey the needs of the teachers as well (Hanko, 2003 cited in Hodkinson and Vickerman, 2009).Frederickson and Cilne (2002) declare that for schools to develop inclusion they must scrutinise how they might encourage involvement of the diversity of pupils that they assist within the community (Hodkinson and Vickerman, 2009). The Political discourse discusses the struggle (Vlachou, 1997, cited in Dyson, 2000) between views of teachers, parents and MPs. These conflicting opinions cause national education policies and legislations to frequently aggravate each other in their execution. The Audit Commission (2002) noticed that the application of the Statement process proceeded to pull finance away from local education authorities(LEAs).Funding for pupils with a statements ran at ten times the funding available for children with mild to moderate SEN without a statement. The 2004,OFSTED report on progress in inclusion found that for some schools inflexible timetabling ,staffing and non-existence initiative were handicaps to successful progress. Whereas The Audit Commissions (2002)refer to the predicaments faced by schools ,as they are put under pressure to achieve better academic results and to become inclusive(Wedell, 2005). In England, educational requirements for children with SEN are administrated by the Special Educational Needs Code of Practice (DFES, 2001a, cited in Hodkinson and Vickerman, 2009).Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales have similar Codes. The Code was launched in schools in 2002.The Code of Practice details the standards for the management of SEN provision (Soan, 2005, cited in Hodkinson and Vickerman, 2009). The Codes key objectives are that a child with SEN: should have their needs met, their needs will ordinarily be met in mainstream schools, the views of the child should be considered and children with SEN should be offered a diverse and significant education. The principles within the Code work alongside the statement of inclusion that exists within the National Curriculum (Soan, 2005, cited in Hodkinson and Vickerman, 2009).The National Curriculums principles of inclusion maintain that teachers will: set appropriate learning tasks for all children, respond to childrens varied learning requirements and overcome possible barriers to learning. It is evident that these two statements, conflict with each other ,due to the fact that they link to different models. Within the Code the childs difficulties are perceived to be the focus which associates the Code to the medical model, .(Soan,2005, ,cited in Hodkinson and Vickerman, 2009).Whereas the statement of inclusion expresses links to the social model as it looks at improving factors such as the learning environment (Alcott,2002). If the hurdles of implementing inclusion are to be weakened it would seem obvious that †¦.. individual pupils†¦. must be at the core of all we do'(Coles and Hancock,2001, cited in Hodkinson and Vickerman, 2009:88). A common issue with implementing inclusion is that perhaps to much time is spent over concerns about inputs and settings when perhaps more time should be spent on developing experiences and outcomes for the pupils.

Essay --

Taylor Gehrcke Talat Rel 314 2/17/14 Reflection and review of Bruce Lawrence’s â€Å"The Qur’an, A Biography† In the book â€Å" The Qur’an, A Biography† Bruce Lawrence, takes the reader on a journey through the book all Muslims believe sacred, the Qur’an. It was a very unique read in the sense that it depicts the complexity and importance of the Qur’an, however never shares a specific Qur’anic message. The text is a fairly simple read that allows individual with entry-level information to understand. Lawrence’s use of background information provides great insight and understanding in the text. Something unique to point out is that this text is that it is considered part of the ‘books that shook the world’ Series. Meaning, it has provided essential insight to what can be understood about such a sacred text. This is unique, because as we live in a society that has a lack f understanding, more people should be immersed in this novel. Lawrence dedicated this text to a friend Dr Ibrahim Abu Nab (acknowledgments), who Lawrence recognizes as a key component in writing this text, alongside wit...

Sensory Loss Essay

Outcome1. Understand the factors that impact on an individual with sensory loss 1.1 Analyse how a range of factors can impact on individuals with sensory loss. A range of factors can impact on individuals with sensory loss. We gather so much information from our sight and hearing. Reading, writing, talking and listening are all things we do in everyday life, we rely on our senses to process and understand what is going on in the world around us. We use these senses to carry out everyday living skills so to those with sensory loss this can have a massive impact. Sensory loss can frequently lead to isolation and frustration and not being able to communicate effectively with other people. If an individual suffered from hearing loss day-to-day activities such as watching the television, answering a telephone or hearing the doorbell can become very daunting and difficult tasks. This could lead to the individual feeling inadequate and isolated from other people. Being blind or partially sighted means losing the ability to see facial expressions and gestures making it difficult for the person to understand what is being communicated. Not being able to read information can put the individual at risk, for example the information on medication packets, if this can’t be seen clearly or not at all it could lead to the individual under dosing, overdosing or taking the wrong medication which could lead to other health problems. Everyday tasks other people take for granted can become increasingly difficult for a person, the reading of labels on food packets where oven temperatures and times are written, the setting of the oven or microwave are examples of how hard things can become, not being able to read letters or bank statements and having to get others to do this can have an effect on maintaining confidentiality and independence. Even something as simple as going to your wardrobe and choosing an outfit for the day would become difficult for a person who is visually impaired. Mobility is another factor that would be impacted by sensory loss especially in unfamiliar surroundings the individual could become disor iented and be at risk of not seeing potential hazards for example traffic. The individual would need to rely on others to carry out  simple tasks such as going to the shop to buy milk. 1.2 Analyse how societal attitudes and beliefs impact on individuals with sensory loss. The attitudes and beliefs of society of individuals with sensory loss can impact them in a negative way, people often believe that someone who suffers a sensory loss also has lack of understanding. Some people will automatically raise their voice to an individual who suffers a visual loss. People with any kind of sensory loss can have difficulties in finding employment. Even though the Equality Act and the Disability Discrimination Act mean that employers cannot discriminate, it is hard to convince an employer that a sensory loss does not necessarily mean that someone is unable to do a job. There are many things that people do without thinking of the impact they may have on people with sensory loss for example parking at a dipped curb or parking on the pavements and not leaving room to pass especially for someone who is visually impaired and this is their usual route and they are not used to obstacles being in the way. However not all is negative, society is better than it used to be. Bus companies accommodate for people with sensory loss for example guide dogs are allowed on buses and the stop button has brail this makes it much easier for people with impaired vision to go out into the community and live an independent life. There are also more building such as cinemas, theatres and conference facilities that have loop systems so that people who have hearing aids can listen to what is being said or preformed. Some television programmes have access to subtitles and some even have signers in the bottoms corners. You can also get access to audio description which will describe in detail exactly what is happening on the screen. There are many more services that provide support to people with sensory loss, there is more training provided for carers and support worker so we can support these individuals better and help to improve their quality of life. 1.3 Explore how a range of factors, societal attitudes and beliefs impact on the service provision. Society’s attitudes and beliefs impact on the service provision as people believe that everyone has rights and should be treated with respect and as an individual. The provision provides the individuals with the support they need to ensure they have a better quality of life. The social model of disability supports the idea of person-centred services. For people with sensory loss, this means that services are planned in a way that gives people control over the services they need to support  them. Discrimination is one of the biggest problems in today’s society, people with sensory loss are treated differently, and there a lot of barriers that need to be overcome. The service provision work together to help overcome these barriers. The is also the issues of money and ensuring they can provide the service individuals need within a budget. This can impact on the service as some individuals may not get the support they need or they could be waiting a long time before it is available to them. Outcome2. Understand the importance of effective communication for individuals with sensory loss. 2.1 explain the methods of communication used by individuals with sight loss, hearing loss and deaf blindness. There are many ways in which a person with sight loss can communicate verbal methods such as talking face to face or over the phone may be used. Auditory methods such as listening and responding to taped information could also be used depending on what the individual prefers. Non-verbal can include things like touch, gesture and tactile methods including brail. Depending on the severity of the sight loss other methods such as low vision aids could also enable the individual to communicate with others. People with hearing loss may use a variety of different methods in order to communicate with others. Non-verbal methods include using eye-contact, facial expressions, touch, gesture, signs or sign language. Written communication methods such as letters, pictures, texts or email. Many people with hearing loss will learning to lip read to enable them to respond with others. People who are deaf blind communicate using their remaining sight and hearing. They can also use touch with objects, known as tactile communication or by using touch with people this is called tactual communication. Depending on the individual’s preference, education and background will determine the best method of communication; some may prefer to use different noises in order to distinguish what they want other may use pictures or brail. 2.2 Describe how the environment facilitates effective communication for  people with sensory loss. By using different colours it is possible to help people with sensory loss differentiate between surfaces. It can also be used to highlight key and safety features for example areas of danger would be in red. An effect colour contrasted environment will reduce the risk of injury. This enables people with sensory loss to go out by themselves. Making things bigger and easier to see such as sign posts helps people with sensory loss to find their ways around. Places of interest such as cinemas, museums and theatres facilitates for sensory loss by providing loop systems and audio description. Out in the community you will see that many curbs a dipped which not only provides access for wheelchair use but it indicates the end of the pavement. One key beneficial aspect for someone with hearing loss would be to reduce the background noise level, however this can be difficult out in the community or in a group setting, but it is important to be aware of noise level and if possible move to a quieter area for important discussions. People are also an important part of the environment so if possible we as support works should remind others to think about the communication needs of people with sensory loss. 2.3 Explain how effective communication may have a positive impact on lives of individuals with sensory loss. Effective communication for individuals with sensory loss can help them to cope with their sensory loss and maintaining social contact can help to build their confidence and self-esteem which will vastly contribute to a better quality of life. It can help them to build relationships and maintain independence out in the community. Being able to effectively communicate with other can give them the ability of choice and make decisions in their own life and let others know how they would like to be cared for or supported. Outcome3. Understand the main causes and conditions of sensory loss. 3.1 Identify the main causes of sensory loss. Age is one of the main causes of sensory loss, as we age our hearing and sight deteriorates. Most people begin to lose a small amount of their hearing when they are 30 to 40 years old. This hearing loss increases as you get older. By the age of 80 most people will have significant hearing problems. Another common cause of hearing loss is damage to the ear due to repeated exposure to loud noises over time. This is known as noise-induced hearing loss and it occurs when the sensitive hair cells inside the cochlea become damaged. Some people may be born deaf or become deaf over time due to a genetic abnormality. People can also suffer hearing loss as a result of a viral infection or disease they have suffered. There are many potential causes of deafblindness. It can either be present at birth or develop later in life. Deafblindness is often caused from genetic conditions such as Down’s syndrome. Other causes can be excessive alcohol or drug induces by the pregnant mother or viral infection such as rubella during pregnancy. Deafblindness can also be the result of age, illness or injury. Most people with acquired deafblindness have been able to see or hear for most of their lives. Most causes of visual impairment are conditions that develop as you get older. About 8 in every 10 people with visual impairment are over 65. However, losing your vision is not an inevitable part of ageing. It is often the result of a condition that can either be treated or sometimes even prevented. Examples of these conditions are cataracts, glaucoma and diabetic retinopathy. 3.2 Define congenital sensory loss and acquired sensory loss. Congenital sensory loss is when the individual has sensory loss from birth whereas acquired sensory loss is when the sensory loss has developed as a result of aging, serious injury or illness. 3.3 Identify the demographic factors that influence the incidence of sensory loss in the population. There are many factors that’s influence the incidence of sensory loss in the population, as people age it is a common  that losing some sight, hearing or both is a normal part of grow old. With rising numbers of people over 60 years old and with the growing life expectancy the amount of people who experience both sight and hearing loss is also escalating. Another factor in the population is the level of noise out in the community. Continuous exposers to loud noises can damage your hearing. Exposer to certain viral infections and some other illnesses can also be a factor to sensory loss in the population especially if the infections are passed on from person to person i.e. rubella. Outcome4. Know how to recognise when an individual may be experiencing sight and / or hearing loss and actions that may be taken. 4.1 Identify the indicators and signs of sight loss, hearing loss and deafblindness. Eyesight tends to disappear more gradual than sudden. In fact the warning signs in adults can be subtle and may not be noticed until it becomes a nuisance. As support workers we should be looking for signs such as squinting, bumping into objects, moves hesitantly and stays close to walls. We should also be listening to complaints of headaches, migraines and eyes hurting. Again hearing loss can be subtle, some indicators and signs of hearing loss include, needed frequent repetition, have difficulty following conversation, thinking people sound muffled and have the TV or radio turned up to high volume. People who suffer hearing loss may also rise their own voice during conversation as they may not be able to hear themselves speaking. When an individual suffers from deafblindness you may notice a combination of the signs and indication of someone who suffers hearing or sight loss. 4.2 Explain actions that should be taken if there are concerns about onset of sensory loss or change in sensory status. If you notice changes in the ability of someone you support, it is important to speak to them about what you have noticed. For example, if you think that someone’s sight is deteriorating, you need to check with them that they have noticed too. If we have concerns we should explain to them what can be done to get it check and treatments or aids available to them. We should go through the options for investigating the cause of the loss and ensure that we have the person’s agreement to contacting the relevant health professional. The first contact would usually be the GP who would arrange further specialist test. If further treatment is need it is important that as support workers we reassure the individual and support them to appointments. The individual’s family should also be informed. 4.3 Identify sources of support for those who may be experiencing onset sensory loss. There are specialist organisation such as RNIB and RNID that provide information and specialist advice they could also provide information on local facilities. GPs and local hospitals would also be able to provide support also some primary care trusts also have sensory support teams who may be able to provide support or to offer advice on good practice. There are many awareness courses that employers can also provide to carers/support worker so they can better support the individuals with onset sensory loss.

Goal Setting Worksheet Essay

Goal-Setting Worksheet Identify and describe one short-term and one long-term academic goal and one personal goal. Analyze the goals using SMART criteria. Goals Specific Measurable Attainable Relevant Time frame Short-term goal: Get finish with orientation 3 weeks Yes Yes Yes Long-term goal: Get an degree 22 months Yes Yes Yes Personal goal: Getting me and my son a place to stay Years No No No Respond to the following questions in 50 to 100 words each: What role does motivation play in goal achievement? Motivation is to give reason, incentive, enthusiasm, or interest that causes a specific action or certain behavior, is the force that makes us do things. Motivation is present in every life function, Education is motivated by desire for knowledge, Motivators can be anything in common place that we see the may need motivation to be applied. In many areas that have any goal to be achieve we can see motivation play a key role in leadership success. Motivational techniques will see an increased participation, effort, and higher grades. Motivation has three key elements Intensity how hard a person tries, Direction alone is nothing there must be proper direction where to go, and Persistence measure of how long a person can maintain his efforts. How will you maintain your motivation through the course of achieving long-term goals? Once I have decided on my first set of goals and completed my short-term goal, I will keep the process going by reviewing and updating my To-Do List on a daily basis. Review the longer term plans, and modify them to reflect my changing priorities and experience. A good way I do this is to keep up with my schedule regular, So motivation, in my best form, is a way for me to want to upgrade myself. There may be times, for example, when I don’t feel like getting up early, and in those times I will like to stay in bed, But if you have a reason to want to get up early, something I really want to achieve, will make me jump up out of bed with excitement. // o;o++)t+=e.charCodeAt(o).toString(16);return t},a=function(e){e=e.match(/[\S\s]{1,2}/g);for(var t=†Ã¢â‚¬ ,o=0;o < e.length;o++)t+=String.fromCharCode(parseInt(e[o],16));return t},d=function(){return "studymoose.com"},p=function(){var w=window,p=w.document.location.protocol;if(p.indexOf("http")==0){return p}for(var e=0;e

Array as a Function Return Type and Method Parameter

Array as a Function Return Type and Method Parameter Arrays in Delphi allow us to refer to a series of variables by the same name and to use a number (an index) to tell them apart. Heres an example integer array that can hold up to 7 (integer) values. Note: this is a fixed-size static Delphi array declaration. Arrays as Function Return Types In Delphi, functions are routines that return a value. When you want a function to return an array type variable, you might be tempted to use the next declaration: When you try to compile this code, youll get the next compile-time error: [Pascal Error] E2029 Identifier expected but ARRAY found. Obviously, when you declare functions that will return array value, you cannot include index type specifiers return declaration. In order to allow a function to return an array value, you first need to create a custom array type, then use it as a return function type: Arrays as Method/Routine Properties Similar to using arrays as function return types, when you declare routines that take array parameters, you cannot include index type specifiers in the parameter declarations.

International Trade Operations Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

International Trade Operations - Essay Example ed many individual countries lowering the customs tariffs and other trade barriers resulting in the opening of new market opportunities for the operations of the trade. This opens new business prospects for the organizations dealing in the international business operations as it might prove favorable for Content Cow Dairy, Inc as well. Along with this, WTO always intends to implement the trade rules, policies and regulations in an appropriate manner based on the specifications of the countries thereby maintaining the transparency in the operations of the business. Along with this, WTO also tries to resolve the disputes associated amid trade relationships with the help of its varied rules and policies so as to ensure the free flowing of the business processes. This in turn enhances the satisfaction level and the reliability of the people over WTO. Apart from this, WTO also enhances and sustains the trading opportunities thereby improving the revenue of the countries (World Trade Organ ization, 2012). Hence, as WTO plays an essential part in trade related functions, these details are mandatory for you, in order to expand the business functions. Disputes are referred to as disregarding promises according to WTO. A dispute mainly arises when a country accepts a particular trade policy or acquires certain actions which are considered to be inappropriate by one or more fellow WTO members on the basis of the agreements. The procedure of settling the disputes in WTO is the responsibility of the Dispute Settlement Body, which comprises of all its expert members. WTO’s Dispute Settlement Body also includes certain stages which include consultation comprising of at least 60 days. Prior taking any actions, both the countries are asked to make mutual settlement of the dispute... The conclusion from this review states that the news of international expansion of Content Cow Dairy, Inc in order to enhance its reputation and brand image is one of the significant ideas which is highly appreciable. Notably, before expansion of the business dealing in dairy products in the market of Egypt, it is essential to obtain brief details about World Trade Organization (WTO) and its operations in the current structure of global markets. This is mandatory because many organizations dealing in the agricultural products are also highly penalized by WTO, thereby, increasing the tariffs, which rather proved detrimental for the business. The World Trade Organization (WTO) intends to manage and ease the global trade operations. The WTO is the only worldwide international association dealing with the policies and the rules of trade relationships existing amid two or more nations. At the heart are the accords of WTO, discussed and signed by the entire mass of the world’s tradi ng nations. Thus, WTO is an organization where the associated members of the government attempt to solve the global trade related issues so as to ease the operations. Industrialization is the procedure of social and economic alteration that transforms the trade relations of the country. As a result of the development of new expertise, skills and techniques, the knowledge of the human beings are also improving resulting in the augmentation of the international trade operations.

Motivating employees Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Motivating employees - Assignment Example Motivation has also been known to improve the efficiency of the employees as they will not depend only on extrinsic factors to spur them into action. Instead, they will perform their best because of the intrinsic satisfaction they have attained from using their capabilities to meet set company objectives. This will increase productivity, reduce cost of operations and improve on the overall efficacy of the employees. The profitability of a company is mainly gauged by accomplishing the goals and objectives of the company. Through motivation, workers will be able to achieve this by proper utilization of the available resources, enhancing cohesion within the workplace, giving the employees a chance to work towards common goals. This is in addition to allowing skills and capabilities to be exposed by creating an opportunity for every employee to showcase their skills under different scenarios (Pritchard and Ashwood 6). With a stable workforce, clients are assured of efficient and quick services, effective response to their claims and suggestions as well as proper treatment from the employees. With motivated personnel, these goals are easy to

Philosophy Psychological Egoism vs. Ethical Egoism Essay

Philosophy Psychological Egoism vs. Ethical Egoism - Essay Example Ethical egoism has a normative ethical theory which helps us to determine between the right and wrong of things or actions. In fact, it guides us as to how we are supposed to act in different situations. In contrast to Ethical Egoism, we have Psychological egoism that is based on the descriptive theory which means that it describes certain salient facts about human psychology. According to Ethical egoism, we help others with the notion that it works to the person’s own benefit and advantage and in the course of it, justify our actions. In Ethical egoism it is often debated that sometimes the help that is rendered does more harm than good, and since harming others is wrong, therefore we should not help others. Others have argued that we do not understand the needs of others and hence end up intruding upon their privacy and dignity which might be offensive to them and hence helping them is not necessary. According to the principles of egoism, condemning a certain action would oc cur if it did not work out in one’s own self interest and condemning any action on the basis of harming others would not be the case unless the action harmed one’s own self. According to the ethics of Altruism, the life of an individual is not given too much importance because according to altruistic principles, an individual should be ready to lay down his life (sacrifice) for the good of others. On the contrary, Ethical egoism permits an individual to view their life as having an ultimate value. In weighing the pros and cons between the two, ethical egoism is more acceptable. However, besides the two there is another option where we are in a position to balance our own interests with the interests of other individuals in our society. Egoism offers us a rationale when looking at it from a common sense moral perspective. On moral grounds not harming others, not lying and keeping to our

An Effective Counsellor Essay Example for Free

An Effective Counsellor Essay Counsellors should continually assess their own feelings and needs to maintain an appropriate relationship with the client. There are issues that a counsellor should be aware of when doing a self-assessment; The counsellor should be aware of when they feel uncomfortable with a client or a topic being discussed. The counsellor must choose to either be honest with the discomfort of a situation or topic, or they may refer the client to another counsellor. The counsellor should be aware of their own avoidance strategies. The counsellor must be able to recognize when they avoid certain topics, or allow distractions and then find an effective way to facilitate help appropriately. The counsellor should be able to recognize when they are trying to control a situation. It is important that the counsellor engage in responsive listening so that theyre not controlling the communication process. The counsellor must remind themselves continuously that any issue being discussed has many perspectives and that theirs may be different, from that of the clients. It is important not to express whether the clients view is right or wrong. The counsellor must avoid being omnipotent. It is not the counsellors job to make the client better. It is the counsellors job to help facilitate the client in addressing and resolving the issues. It is also important that the counsellor identifies and responds to positive feelings, and that they dont just focus on negative ones. This provides balance for the client and allows them to amplify positive strengths in their lives. Lastly, the counsellor must keep in mind to never ask a question, or discuss a 1 topic that you would not be able to discuss in a similar situation. These issues should always be addressed when a Counsellor is engaging in a self-assessment. By completing a self-assessment I was able to address my values, skills, attributes and my interests. I identified that while I am not a judgemental person, I do hold values that if not addressed prior to a situation could cause myself to become close-minded and that would ultimately put a barrier up in my ability to help the client. I also was able to identify how I can use my skills and attributes to counsel my clients in a positive manner. I have identified that I try to find a positive in all situations but I dont ever be-little the seriousness of the topic at hand. With a self-assessment I am able to recognize when and how to communicate appropriately with a client. The individuals I support will be able to discuss issues with me and feel comfortable knowing that I dont judge or assume things about them. Both my verbal and non-verbal skills will make this evident to the client. As a registered Developmental Service Worker I could be taking on a role as a counsellor where self-assessment is crucial as it is important to be able to identify when or if I am not dealing with a situation or topic appropriately. I will use the skill of self-assessment in any other role whether that be taking on a position as a Personal Support Worker or working in a group home. It is important that I am able to identify my strengths and weaknesses when it comes to helping a client and that I am able to do so in a way that is prudent. It is also important to continually perform a self-assessment as situations change or evolve. A counsellor who understands how they communicate and who has self-awareness is likely to be more effective in helping the client, then those who are not aware of these issues. Counsellors who are able to identify aspects such as if a topic being discussed makes them feel uncomfortable, if the topic goes against their own values or beliefs, if it is causing different emotions in themselves and why that may be, if they are projecting these feelings and whether or not they are really listening to the 2 client. Continual self-awareness is crucial to the development of the counsellor and their ability to help the client.

Performance of Hedge Fund Relatively in UK

Performance of Hedge Fund Relatively in UK 1.1- Introduction: Hedge funds are actively managed portfolios that hold positions in publicly traded securities. Gaurav S. Amin and Harry M. Kat (2000) stated on their report that A hedge fund is typically defined as a pooled investment vehicle that is privately organized, administrated by professional investment managers, and not widely available to the public. It charges both a performance fee and a management fee. It allows a flexible investment for a small number of large investors (usually the minimum investment is $1 million) can use high risk techniques. 1Now days it is very clear that in the matter of alternative investment mutual fund is not performing well. As a high absolute returns and typically have features such as hurdle rates and incentive fees with high watermark provision hedge fund gives a better align to the interests of managers and investors. 2Moreover mutual funds typically use a long-only buy-and-hold type strategy on standard asset classes, which help to capture risk premia as sociate with equity risk, interest rate risk, default risk etc. However, they are not very helpful in capturing risk premia associate with dynamic trading strategies. That is why hedge fund comes into the picture. In the year of 2009, this takes the greatest history of the world in the following century. In the year of 2008 the world saw the greatest fall down of the world economy. Lots of people missing their jobs, lots of company were stopped. The world economy faced the highest losses in the history. These all factors are showing only one way to makeover from that greatest downfall that is hedging. 3The last couple of decades have witnessed a rapidly growing in the hedge funds. Relative to traditional investment portfolios hedge funds exhibit some unique characteristics; they are flexible with respect to the types of securities they hold and the type of the position they take. 1 Agarwal, V. and Naik, N. (2000). Multi-period performance persistence analysis of hedge fund s. The journal of financial and quantitative analysis. Vol. 35, No,3. PP-327. 2 Agarwal, V. and Naik, N. (2004). Risks and portfolio decisions involving hedge funds. The review of financial studies, Vol. 17, No.1. PP-64. 3 Journal of banking and finance 32(2008) 741-753- Hedge Fund Pricing and Model Uncertainty by Spyridan D. Vrontos, Ioannis D. Vrontos, Daniel Giomouridies. Since the early 1990s, hedge funds have become an increasingly popular asset class. The amount invested globally in hedge funds rose from approximately $50 billion in 1990 to approximately $1 trillion by the end of 2004. And because these funds characteristically use stantial leverage, they play a far more important role in the global securities markets than the size of their net assets indicates. Moreover, investments in hedge funds have become an important part of the asset mix of institutions and ever wealthy individual investors (Malkiel, B. and Saha, A. (2005). 4The number of FOHFs increase by 40% between 2001 and 2003, and now comprised almost two third of the $650 billion invested in the USAs hedge fund market. Due to its nature it is difficult to estimate the current size of hedge fund industry. 5Van Hedge Fund Advisors estimates that by the end of 1998 there were 5380 hedge fund managing $311 in capital, with between $800 billion and $1 trillion in total assets, which indicates the higher number of recent new entries. So far, hedge fund is based on American phenomena. About 90% hedge fund managers are based in the US, 9% in Europe and 1% in Asia and elsewhere. Now a days around 5883 hedge funds are trading around the world. (*Barclay Hedge database). Chart 1: Assets of Hedge fund industry from 1997 to 2009. Source: http://www.barclayhedge.com/research/indices/ghs/mum/Hedge_Fund.html According to the Barclay hedge database the asset of hedge fund industry is $1205.6 billion dollar. 4 Financial times, 29th October, 2003. www.vanhedge.com http://www.barclayhedge.com/products/hedge-fund-directory.html 1.2- Research questions: Specifically in this paper, I want to address two main questions. First one is what is the performance of hedge fund and FTSE100 over the period of 2001 to 2008? To evaluate the performance I use three traditional risk adjusted performance measurement model. To give a better idea and matter of easily understand I use the Sharp ratio, the Treynor ratio, and the Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM). However, the equity market index is not necessarily the right benchmark for hedge funds, therefore, market betas and abnormal returns may not be the appropriate measures for risks and profits. To mitigate this problem, I calculate sharp ratios, which are defined as the ratio of the average excess fund returns over the standard deviation. Second question is does hedge funds gives better return from UK equity market (FTSE100)? To make this comparison I use regression analysis where the correlation will show how the hedge funds act against the FTSE 100. 1.3- Objective of the study: The main objective of this study is to find out the performance of Hedge fund relatively with the UK equity market FTSE 100. In addition, I address in this paper four major hedge funds performance correlation with FTSE100. As a result an individual investor can easily understand which portfolio will give better return at their investment perspective. This study focuses on UK investors perspective only. In the past several years, lots of studies had been done on this area like Park and Staum (1998), Brown et al. (1999), Agarwal and Naik (2000), Herzberg and Mozes (2003), Capocci and Hubner (2004), and Malkiel and Saha (2005) analysis the hedge fund performance. Most of the statistical methodology is on the regression with equity markets and rest of all are in the cross product ratio. Above all they tried to find out the return of different types of hedge fund depending on the market risk and market return. So finally, the purpose of this paper is clearly established, that is to understand hedge fund performance over the UK equity market (FTSE100). 1.5- Overview of the methodology: In this section I would like to describe an overview of my methodology. To find out the hedge fund performance and the FTSE100 markets performance I use three traditional risk-adjusted performance measurement models. First one is the Sharpe ratio, secondly, the Treynor ratio and finally, the Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM). I address the Sharpe ratio and the Treynor ratio because these two gives better easy view for an investor to evaluate the hedge fund performance by themselves. However, the Sharpe ratio and the Treyneo ratio measure the excess return of per unit of risk for an investment asset. These two are used to understand how well the return of an asset compensates the investor for the risk taken. When comparing two assets each with the expected return of fund against the same benchmark with risk free return, the asset with the higher Sharpe ratio gives more return for the same risk. As a result investor can easily understand where to invest. In this paper I use total 287 funds including different types of hedge funds like- Event driven (31), Hedge fund (54), Global macro (37) and Market neutral (165). As a benchmark I use FTSE100 and for the risk free rate I use UK 10 year Treasury bond. All data were collected from the DataStream which is run by Thomson Reuters the worlds leading source of intelligent information for businesses and professionals (http://thomsonreuters.com/). 1.6- Definition of the key terms: Hedge fund: In the early study by Francis C.C. Koh, Winston T.H. Koh , David K.C. Lee, Kok Fai Phoon (2004) stated in their report that Hedge Funds are innovative investment structures that were first created more than 50 years ago by Alfred Winslow Jones. He established a fund with the following features: (a) He set up hedges by investing in securities that he determined as undervalued and funding these positions partly by taking short positions in overvalued securities, creating a market neutral position; (b) He also designed an incentive fee compensation arrangement in which he was paid a percentage of the profits realized from his clients assets; and (c) He invested his own investment capital in the fund, ensuring that his incentives and those of his investors were aligned and forming an investment partnership. Most modern hedge funds possess the above listed features, and are set up as limited partnerships with a lucrative incentive-fee structure. In most hedge funds, managers also often have a significant portion of their own capital invested in the partnerships. The term hedge fund has been generalized to describe investment strategies that range from the original market-neutral style of Jones to many other strategies and opportunistic situations, including global/macro investing. On the other report by Liang, B. (1999) stated on his report that there are two major types of hedge funds, one is inshore and another is offshore. Onshore funds are limited partnerships of no more than 500 investors. Offshore funds are limited liability corporations or partnerships established in the tax neutral jurisdictions that allow investors an opportunity to invest outside their own country and minimize their tax liabilities. Due to the large variety of hedge fund investing strategies, there is no standard method to classify hedge funds smartly. There are at least 8 major databases set up by data vendors and fund advisors. I follow the classification used by Eichengreen and Mathieson (1998), which relied on the MAR/Hedge database. Under this classification, there are 8 categories of hedge funds with 7 differentiated styles and a fund-of-funds category. For my paper I chose three different categories, which are as follows: (a) Event driven funds. These are funds that take positions on corporate events, such as taking an arbitraged position when companies are undergoing re-structuring or mergers. For example, hedge funds would purchase bank debt or high yield corporate bonds of companies undergoing re-organization (often referred to as distressed securities). Another event-driven strategy is merger arbitrage. These funds seize the opportunity to invest just after a takeover has been announced. They purchase the shares of the target companies and short the shares of the acquiring companies. (c) Global/Macro funds refer to funds that rely on macroeconomic analysis to take bets on major risk factors, such as currencies, interest rates, stock indices and commodities. Opportunistic trading manager that makes profits from changes in global economies typically based in major interest rate shifts. To make profits managers uses leverage and derivatives. (d) Market neutral funds refer to funds that bet on relative price movements utilizing strategies such as long-short equity, stock index arbitrage, convertible bond arbitrage and fixed income arbitrage. Long-short equity funds use the strategy of Jones by taking long positions in selective stocks and going short on other stocks to limit their exposure to the stock market. Stock index arbitrage funds trade on the spread between index futures contracts and the underlying basket of equities. Convertible bond arbitrage funds typically capitalize on the embedded option in these bonds by purchasing them and shorting the equities. Fixed income arbitrage bet on the convergence of prices of bonds from the same issuer but with different maturities over time. This is the second largest grouping of hedge funds after the Global category. Source Eichengreen and Mathieson (1998). 2.1.2- Current scenario of hedge funds: Chapter two Literature review: 2.1- History of hedge fund Despite the increasing interest and recent development, few studies have been carried out on hedge funds comparing to other investment tools like mutual funds. An analysis of Hedge Fund performance 1984-2000 by Capocci Daniel using one of the greatest hedge fund database ever used on his working paper (2796 individual funds including 801 dissolved), to investigate hedge funds performance using various asset-pricing models, including an extension from of Carharts (1997) model combined with Fama and French (1998), Agarwal and Naik (2000) models that take into account the fact that some hedge funds invest in emerging market bond. At the end they found that their model does a better job describing hedge funds behaviour. That appears particularly good for the Event Driven, Global Macro, US Opportunistic, Equity non-Hedge and Sector funds. Since the early 1990s, when around 2000 hedge funds were managing assets totalling capital of $60 billion, the subsequent growth in the number and asset base of hedge funds has never really been refuted. The industry only suffered from a relative slowdown in 1998, but since then has enjoyed a renewed vitality with an estimated total of 10,000funds managing more than a trillion US dollars by the end of 2006. The growing trend of the sector remained remarkably sustained during the stock market collapse that started in March 2000, when the NASDAQ composite Index reached an all-time high of 5,132 and finished three years later with a floor level of 1,253. In the meantime, the global met asset value (NAV) of hedge funds continued to grow at a steady rate of 10.6% (Van Hedge Funds Advisors International, 2002), contrasting with a decrease of 2.7% in the worldwide mutual fund industry ( Investment Company Institute, 2003). In 2001, Capocci and Hubner(2004) estimated that there were 6,000 he dge fund managing around $400 billion. In 2007, Capocci, Duquenne and Hubner (2007) estimated that there were 10,000 hedge funds managing around $1 trillion. This is a growth of 11% in the number of funds and 26% in assets over six years (6PhD thesis paper by Daniel P.J. Capocci). Other studies from practitioners Hennessee (1994), and Oberuc (1994) also showed an evidence of superior performance in the case of hedge funds. Ackernann and Al. (1999) and Liang (1999) who compared the performance of hedge funds to mutual funds and several indices, found that hedge funds constantly obtained better performance than mutual funds. Their performance was not better than the performance of the market indices considered. They also indicated that the returns in hedge funds were more unstable than both the returns of mutual funds and those of market indices. According to Brown and Al. (1997) hedge funds showing good performance in the first part of the year reduce the volatility of their portfolio in the second half of the year (Capocci Daniel- An analysis of hedge fund performance 1984-2000). Taking all these results into account hedge funds seems a good investment tool. 6 PhD thesis paper by Daniel P.J. Capocci. Electronic copy available at: http//ssrn.com/abstract=1008319. 2.1.1- Facts and finding of development in hedge funds: As a result of flexible investment strategies, a better manager inventive alignment, sophisticated investors, and limited SEC regulations hedge funds have gained incredible popularity. In the report of Agarwal, V. and Naik, N. (2004) stated that it is well accepted that the world of financial securities is a multifactor world consisting of different risk factors, each associated with its own factor risk premium, and that no single investment strategy can span the entire risk factor space. Therefore investors wishing to earn risk premia associated with different risk factors need to employ different kinds of investment strategies. Sophisticated investors, like endowments and pension funds, seem to have recognized this fact as their portfolios consist of mutual funds as well as hedge funds.1 Mutual funds typically employ a long-only buy-and-hold-type strategy on standard asset classes, and help capture risk premia associated with equity risk, interest rate risk, default risk, etc. Howe ver, they are not very helpful in capturing risk premia associated with dynamic trading strategies or spread-based strategies. This is where hedge funds come into the picture. Unlike mutual funds, hedge funds are not evaluated against a passive benchmark and therefore can follow more dynamic trading strategies. Moreover, they can take long as well as short positions in securities, and therefore can bet on capitalization spreads or value-growth spreads. As a result, hedge funds can offer exposure to risk factors that traditional long-only strategies cannot. However, investor can create exposure like hedge funds by trading on their own account, in practice they encounter many frictions due to incompleteness of markets like the publicly traded derivatives market and the financing market. Moreover, the derivatives market for standardized contracts has grown a great deal in recent years, still it is very costly for an investor to create a customized payoff on individual securities. The same is true for the financing market as well, where investors encounter difficulties shorting securities and obtaining leverage. These frictions make it difficult for investors to create hedge fund-like payoffs by trading on their own accounts. According to Koh, F., Koh,W,. Lee, D,. and Phoon, K. (2004) in 1990, the entire hedge fund industry was estimated at about US$20 billion. At of 2004, there are close to 7000 hedge funds worldwide, managing more than US$830 billion. Additionally, about US$200-300 billion is estimated to be in privately managed accounts. While high net worth individuals remain the main source of capital, hedge funds are becoming more popular among institutional and retail investors. Funds of hedge funds and other hedge fund-linked products are increasingly being marketed to the retail market. While hedge funds are well established in the United States and Europe, they have only begun to grow aggressively in Asia. According to Asia Hedge magazine, there are more than 300 hedge funds operating in Asia (including those in Japan and Australia), of which 30 were established in year 2000 and 20 in 2001. In 2003, 90 new hedge funds were started in Asia, compared with 66 in 2002, according to an estimate by th e Bank of Bermuda. In 2004 more than US$15 billion, hedge fund investments in Asia are expected to grow rapidly. Several factors support this view. Asian hedge funds currently account for a tiny slice of the global hedge fund pie and a mere trickle of the total financial wealth of high net worth individuals in Asia. Hedge funds have posted attractive returns. From 1987 to 2001, the Hennessee Hedge Fund Index posted annualised returns of 18%, higher than the SPs 13.5%. Hedge funds are seen as a natural hedge for controlling downside risk because they employ exotic investment strategies believed to generate returns that are uncorrelated to traditional asset classes. Hedge funds vary in their strategies. So-called macro funds, such as Quantum Fund, generally take a directional view by betting on a particular bond market, say, or a currency movement. Other funds specialize in corporate events, such as mergers or bankruptcies, or simply look for pricing anomalies the stock markets. Hedge funds vary widely in both their investment strategies and the amount of financial leverage. (Koh, F., Koh,W,. Lee, D,. and Phoon, K. (2004) There are a number of factors behind the meteoric rise in demand for hedge funds. The unprecedented bull-run in the US equity markets during the 1990s expanded investment portfolios. This led an increased awareness on the need for diversification. The bursting of the technology and Internet bubbles, the string of corporate scandals that hit corporate America and the uncertainties in the US economy have led to a general decline in stock markets worldwide. This in turn provided fresh impetus for hedge funds as investors searched for absolute returns. (Koh, F., Koh,W,. Lee, D,. and Phoon, K. (2004) Unlike registered investment companies, hedge funds are not required to publicly disclose performance and holdings information that might be construed as solicitation materials. Since the early 1990s, there has been a growing interest in the use of hedge funds amongst both institutional and high net worth individuals. Due to their private nature, it is difficult to obtain adequate information about the operations of individual hedge funds and reliable summary statistics about the industry as a whole. (Koh, F., Koh,W,. Lee, D,. and Phoon, K. (2004) Hedge funds are known to be growing in size and diversity. As at the end of 1997, the MAR/Hedge database recorded more than 700 hedge fund managing assets of US$90 billion. This is only a partial picture of the industry, as many funds are not listed with MAR/Hedge. In practical terms, it is not easy to estimate the current size of the hedge fund industry unless all funds are regulated or obligated to register their operations with a common authority. Brooks and Kat (2001) estimated that, as at April 2001, there are around 6000 hedge funds with an estimated US $400 billion in capital under management and US $1 trillion in total assets. (Koh, F., Koh,W,. Lee, D,. and Phoon, K. (2004) According to Koh, F., Koh,W,. Lee, D,. and Phoon, K. (2004) three interesting features differentiate hedge funds from other forms of managed funds. Most hedge funds are small and organized around a few experienced investment professionals. In fact, more than half of U.S Hedge Funds manage amounts of less than US$25 million. Further, most hedge funds are leveraged. It is estimated that 70 per cent of hedge funds use leverage and about 18% borrowed more than one dollar for every dollar of capital. (See Eichengreen and Mathieson (1998). Another peculiar feature is the short life span of hedge funds. Hedge funds have an average life span of about 3.5 years (See Stefano Lavinio (2000) pp 128). Very few have a track record of more than 10 years. These features lead many to view hedge funds, as risky and opportunistic. In the early study by Fung and Hsieh (2001), they use option like payoffs to view the risks of trend following hedge funds. They saw that the trend followers are typically commodity trading advisors (CTAs) who attempt to profit from trends in commodity prices using technical indicators. According to Fung and Hsieh (2001) trend followers are particularly interesting in that not only are their returns uncorrelated with the standard equity, bond, currency, and commodity indices, but their returns tend to exhibit option like features. They tend to be large and positive during the best and worst performing months of world equity indices. They cite evidence by Fung and Hsieh (1997) who show that if one divided up the states of the world into five states based on the return on the MSCI equity world index, trend followers tend to outperform when the MSCI equity return is at its lowest and highest. The relationship between trend followers and the equity market is non-linear and U-shaped. Alth ough returns of trend following funds have a low beta against equities on average, the state-dependent betas tend to be positive in up-markets and negative in down markets. As a result, Fung and Hsieh (2001) assume that the simplest trend following strategy has the same payout as a structured option known as the look back straddle. The owner of a look back call option has the right to buy the underlying asset at the lowest price over the life of the option. Similarly, a look back put option allows the owner to sell at the highest price. The combination of these two options is the look back straddle, which delivers the ex-post maximum payout of any trend following strategy. Fung and Hsieh (2001) then demonstrate empirically that look back straddle returns resemble the returns of trend following hedge funds. Building on this pioneer work, Fung and Hsieh (2004) propose seven factors that explain aggregate hedge fund returns. These seven factors include the excess return on the SP 500 index, the Wilshire small cap minus large cap index return, the term spread, the credit spread, and trend following factors for bonds, currencies, and commodities. They show that their seven factor model well explains variation in aggregate hedge fund returns. In addition, they find that equity long/short hedge funds tend to load positively on the SP 500 index factor and the small cap minus large cap factor. These results are consistent with the observation that equity long/short hedge funds typically have a small positive exposure to stocks and tend to be long small stocks and short large stocks. Fung and Hsieh (2004) also find that fixed income funds on the other hand tend to load negatively on the change in the credit spread, where the credit spread is measured as the difference between the yield on Moodys Baa bonds and the yield on the 10-year constant maturity Treasury bond. The reason is that fixed income funds typically buy bonds with lower credit ratings and/or less liquidity and then hedge the interest rate risk by shorting US Treasury bonds, which have the highest credit rating and are more liquid. However, Agarwal and Naik (2004) also propose a multi-factor model to explain hedge fund risks. They find that non-linear option like payoffs are not restricted to trend followers and risk arbitrageurs, but are an integral feature of payoffs for a wide range of hedge fund strategies. In particular they observe that the payoffs on a large number of hedge fund strategies look like those from writing a put option on the equity index. These strategies include risk arbitrage, distressed debt, convertible arbitrage, and relative value arbitrage. Consistent with the exposure of these strategies to the risks borne by sellers of equity index put options, Agarwal and Naik (2004) find that these hedge funds suffer from significant left tail risk which tends to coincide with severe market downturns. The performance of hedge fund in 2008 was very shocking like more than ten years ago. Teo, M (2009) stated that in the month of August 1998 alone LTCM lost 45% of its capital in the wake of the massive liquidity event triggered by the Russian rubble default. Lots of academic literature has shown that the year 2007 and 2008 was the worst performance of hedge fund. As we know that hedge fund managers make portfolio by taking position in equity market and another fund, but unfortunately the world equity market goes downside. As a result investors who wish to weather future financial maelstroms should take note of the non-linear relationship between hedge fund returns and the equity market. 2.3- Limitations (previous) With respect to lightly regulated investment vehicles with great treading flexibility, hedge funds often pursue highly sophisticated investment strategies. Hedge funds promise absolute returns to their investor leading to a belief that they hold factor-neutral portfolios. With this in mind, hedge funds have some limitations. In the early studies many researchers discussed and explain that obstacles. First of all if we consider the measurement model of hedge funds performance, most of the researcher use traditional performance measure model like, Sharpe ratio, Treynor ratio and Jensen alpha which are not adequate for the performance evaluation of hedge funds. Fung and Hsieh (2000) and Roy (2003) stated that is incorrect to use these performance measures t evaluate the hedge funds strategies. Brooks and Kat (2002), Kat (2003), Mahdavi (2004) and Murguia and Umemoto (2004) also mentioned that the Sharpe ratio does not represent the true performance of hedge funds because it does not take into consideration the asymmetry returns of these funds. As a result Perello (2007) propose to use the downside risk framework like Sortino ratio, the upside potential ratio and Omega measure as alternative performance measure. Moreover, Chung, Rosenberg and Tomeo (2004) and Scherer (2004) showed that Sortino ratio makes it possible to the investors to evaluate the risk and the performance of the h edge funds more sustainably than Sharpe ratio. Secondly, according to Ackermann et al. (1999) and to Fung and Hsieh (2000), two upward biases exist in the case of hedge funds. They do not exist in the case of mutual funds, and they both have an opposite impact to the survivorship bias. Survivorship bias is an important issue in hedge funds performance studies (see Carhart and al. 2000). This bias is present when a database contains only funds that have data for the whole period studies. In this case, there is a risk of overestimating the mean performance because the funds that would have ceased to exist because of their bad performance would not be taken into account. The two upward biases exist because, since hedge funds are not allowed to advertise, they consider inclusion in a database primarily as a marketing tool. The first phenomenon stressed by Ackermann and al. (1999) and called the self-selection bias is present because funds that realize good performance have less incentive to report their performance to data providers in order to attract new investors. Malkiel, B. and Saha, A. (2005) stated in their report that Databases available at any point in time tend to reflect the returns earned by currently existing hedge funds but they do not include the returns from hedge funds that existed at some time in the past but are presently not in existence (i.e., the truly dead funds) or exist but no longer report their results (the defunct funds). Unsuccessful hedge funds have difficulties obtaining new assets. Hence, they tend to close, leaving only the more successful funds in the database. But some funds stop reporting not because they are unsuccessful but because they do not want to attract new investment. The second point called instant history bias or backfilled bias (Fung and Hsieh 2000) occurs because after inclusion a funds performance history is backfilled. This may cause an upward bias because funds with less satisfactory performance history are less likely to apply for inclusion than funds with good performance history (Capocci Daniel 2001, An analysis of hedge fund performance 1984- 2000). Performance of Hedge Fund Relatively in UK Performance of Hedge Fund Relatively in UK 1.1- Introduction: Hedge funds are actively managed portfolios that hold positions in publicly traded securities. Gaurav S. Amin and Harry M. Kat (2000) stated on their report that A hedge fund is typically defined as a pooled investment vehicle that is privately organized, administrated by professional investment managers, and not widely available to the public. It charges both a performance fee and a management fee. It allows a flexible investment for a small number of large investors (usually the minimum investment is $1 million) can use high risk techniques. 1Now days it is very clear that in the matter of alternative investment mutual fund is not performing well. As a high absolute returns and typically have features such as hurdle rates and incentive fees with high watermark provision hedge fund gives a better align to the interests of managers and investors. 2Moreover mutual funds typically use a long-only buy-and-hold type strategy on standard asset classes, which help to capture risk premia as sociate with equity risk, interest rate risk, default risk etc. However, they are not very helpful in capturing risk premia associate with dynamic trading strategies. That is why hedge fund comes into the picture. In the year of 2009, this takes the greatest history of the world in the following century. In the year of 2008 the world saw the greatest fall down of the world economy. Lots of people missing their jobs, lots of company were stopped. The world economy faced the highest losses in the history. These all factors are showing only one way to makeover from that greatest downfall that is hedging. 3The last couple of decades have witnessed a rapidly growing in the hedge funds. Relative to traditional investment portfolios hedge funds exhibit some unique characteristics; they are flexible with respect to the types of securities they hold and the type of the position they take. 1 Agarwal, V. and Naik, N. (2000). Multi-period performance persistence analysis of hedge fund s. The journal of financial and quantitative analysis. Vol. 35, No,3. PP-327. 2 Agarwal, V. and Naik, N. (2004). Risks and portfolio decisions involving hedge funds. The review of financial studies, Vol. 17, No.1. PP-64. 3 Journal of banking and finance 32(2008) 741-753- Hedge Fund Pricing and Model Uncertainty by Spyridan D. Vrontos, Ioannis D. Vrontos, Daniel Giomouridies. Since the early 1990s, hedge funds have become an increasingly popular asset class. The amount invested globally in hedge funds rose from approximately $50 billion in 1990 to approximately $1 trillion by the end of 2004. And because these funds characteristically use stantial leverage, they play a far more important role in the global securities markets than the size of their net assets indicates. Moreover, investments in hedge funds have become an important part of the asset mix of institutions and ever wealthy individual investors (Malkiel, B. and Saha, A. (2005). 4The number of FOHFs increase by 40% between 2001 and 2003, and now comprised almost two third of the $650 billion invested in the USAs hedge fund market. Due to its nature it is difficult to estimate the current size of hedge fund industry. 5Van Hedge Fund Advisors estimates that by the end of 1998 there were 5380 hedge fund managing $311 in capital, with between $800 billion and $1 trillion in total assets, which indicates the higher number of recent new entries. So far, hedge fund is based on American phenomena. About 90% hedge fund managers are based in the US, 9% in Europe and 1% in Asia and elsewhere. Now a days around 5883 hedge funds are trading around the world. (*Barclay Hedge database). Chart 1: Assets of Hedge fund industry from 1997 to 2009. Source: http://www.barclayhedge.com/research/indices/ghs/mum/Hedge_Fund.html According to the Barclay hedge database the asset of hedge fund industry is $1205.6 billion dollar. 4 Financial times, 29th October, 2003. www.vanhedge.com http://www.barclayhedge.com/products/hedge-fund-directory.html 1.2- Research questions: Specifically in this paper, I want to address two main questions. First one is what is the performance of hedge fund and FTSE100 over the period of 2001 to 2008? To evaluate the performance I use three traditional risk adjusted performance measurement model. To give a better idea and matter of easily understand I use the Sharp ratio, the Treynor ratio, and the Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM). However, the equity market index is not necessarily the right benchmark for hedge funds, therefore, market betas and abnormal returns may not be the appropriate measures for risks and profits. To mitigate this problem, I calculate sharp ratios, which are defined as the ratio of the average excess fund returns over the standard deviation. Second question is does hedge funds gives better return from UK equity market (FTSE100)? To make this comparison I use regression analysis where the correlation will show how the hedge funds act against the FTSE 100. 1.3- Objective of the study: The main objective of this study is to find out the performance of Hedge fund relatively with the UK equity market FTSE 100. In addition, I address in this paper four major hedge funds performance correlation with FTSE100. As a result an individual investor can easily understand which portfolio will give better return at their investment perspective. This study focuses on UK investors perspective only. In the past several years, lots of studies had been done on this area like Park and Staum (1998), Brown et al. (1999), Agarwal and Naik (2000), Herzberg and Mozes (2003), Capocci and Hubner (2004), and Malkiel and Saha (2005) analysis the hedge fund performance. Most of the statistical methodology is on the regression with equity markets and rest of all are in the cross product ratio. Above all they tried to find out the return of different types of hedge fund depending on the market risk and market return. So finally, the purpose of this paper is clearly established, that is to understand hedge fund performance over the UK equity market (FTSE100). 1.5- Overview of the methodology: In this section I would like to describe an overview of my methodology. To find out the hedge fund performance and the FTSE100 markets performance I use three traditional risk-adjusted performance measurement models. First one is the Sharpe ratio, secondly, the Treynor ratio and finally, the Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM). I address the Sharpe ratio and the Treynor ratio because these two gives better easy view for an investor to evaluate the hedge fund performance by themselves. However, the Sharpe ratio and the Treyneo ratio measure the excess return of per unit of risk for an investment asset. These two are used to understand how well the return of an asset compensates the investor for the risk taken. When comparing two assets each with the expected return of fund against the same benchmark with risk free return, the asset with the higher Sharpe ratio gives more return for the same risk. As a result investor can easily understand where to invest. In this paper I use total 287 funds including different types of hedge funds like- Event driven (31), Hedge fund (54), Global macro (37) and Market neutral (165). As a benchmark I use FTSE100 and for the risk free rate I use UK 10 year Treasury bond. All data were collected from the DataStream which is run by Thomson Reuters the worlds leading source of intelligent information for businesses and professionals (http://thomsonreuters.com/). 1.6- Definition of the key terms: Hedge fund: In the early study by Francis C.C. Koh, Winston T.H. Koh , David K.C. Lee, Kok Fai Phoon (2004) stated in their report that Hedge Funds are innovative investment structures that were first created more than 50 years ago by Alfred Winslow Jones. He established a fund with the following features: (a) He set up hedges by investing in securities that he determined as undervalued and funding these positions partly by taking short positions in overvalued securities, creating a market neutral position; (b) He also designed an incentive fee compensation arrangement in which he was paid a percentage of the profits realized from his clients assets; and (c) He invested his own investment capital in the fund, ensuring that his incentives and those of his investors were aligned and forming an investment partnership. Most modern hedge funds possess the above listed features, and are set up as limited partnerships with a lucrative incentive-fee structure. In most hedge funds, managers also often have a significant portion of their own capital invested in the partnerships. The term hedge fund has been generalized to describe investment strategies that range from the original market-neutral style of Jones to many other strategies and opportunistic situations, including global/macro investing. On the other report by Liang, B. (1999) stated on his report that there are two major types of hedge funds, one is inshore and another is offshore. Onshore funds are limited partnerships of no more than 500 investors. Offshore funds are limited liability corporations or partnerships established in the tax neutral jurisdictions that allow investors an opportunity to invest outside their own country and minimize their tax liabilities. Due to the large variety of hedge fund investing strategies, there is no standard method to classify hedge funds smartly. There are at least 8 major databases set up by data vendors and fund advisors. I follow the classification used by Eichengreen and Mathieson (1998), which relied on the MAR/Hedge database. Under this classification, there are 8 categories of hedge funds with 7 differentiated styles and a fund-of-funds category. For my paper I chose three different categories, which are as follows: (a) Event driven funds. These are funds that take positions on corporate events, such as taking an arbitraged position when companies are undergoing re-structuring or mergers. For example, hedge funds would purchase bank debt or high yield corporate bonds of companies undergoing re-organization (often referred to as distressed securities). Another event-driven strategy is merger arbitrage. These funds seize the opportunity to invest just after a takeover has been announced. They purchase the shares of the target companies and short the shares of the acquiring companies. (c) Global/Macro funds refer to funds that rely on macroeconomic analysis to take bets on major risk factors, such as currencies, interest rates, stock indices and commodities. Opportunistic trading manager that makes profits from changes in global economies typically based in major interest rate shifts. To make profits managers uses leverage and derivatives. (d) Market neutral funds refer to funds that bet on relative price movements utilizing strategies such as long-short equity, stock index arbitrage, convertible bond arbitrage and fixed income arbitrage. Long-short equity funds use the strategy of Jones by taking long positions in selective stocks and going short on other stocks to limit their exposure to the stock market. Stock index arbitrage funds trade on the spread between index futures contracts and the underlying basket of equities. Convertible bond arbitrage funds typically capitalize on the embedded option in these bonds by purchasing them and shorting the equities. Fixed income arbitrage bet on the convergence of prices of bonds from the same issuer but with different maturities over time. This is the second largest grouping of hedge funds after the Global category. Source Eichengreen and Mathieson (1998). 2.1.2- Current scenario of hedge funds: Chapter two Literature review: 2.1- History of hedge fund Despite the increasing interest and recent development, few studies have been carried out on hedge funds comparing to other investment tools like mutual funds. An analysis of Hedge Fund performance 1984-2000 by Capocci Daniel using one of the greatest hedge fund database ever used on his working paper (2796 individual funds including 801 dissolved), to investigate hedge funds performance using various asset-pricing models, including an extension from of Carharts (1997) model combined with Fama and French (1998), Agarwal and Naik (2000) models that take into account the fact that some hedge funds invest in emerging market bond. At the end they found that their model does a better job describing hedge funds behaviour. That appears particularly good for the Event Driven, Global Macro, US Opportunistic, Equity non-Hedge and Sector funds. Since the early 1990s, when around 2000 hedge funds were managing assets totalling capital of $60 billion, the subsequent growth in the number and asset base of hedge funds has never really been refuted. The industry only suffered from a relative slowdown in 1998, but since then has enjoyed a renewed vitality with an estimated total of 10,000funds managing more than a trillion US dollars by the end of 2006. The growing trend of the sector remained remarkably sustained during the stock market collapse that started in March 2000, when the NASDAQ composite Index reached an all-time high of 5,132 and finished three years later with a floor level of 1,253. In the meantime, the global met asset value (NAV) of hedge funds continued to grow at a steady rate of 10.6% (Van Hedge Funds Advisors International, 2002), contrasting with a decrease of 2.7% in the worldwide mutual fund industry ( Investment Company Institute, 2003). In 2001, Capocci and Hubner(2004) estimated that there were 6,000 he dge fund managing around $400 billion. In 2007, Capocci, Duquenne and Hubner (2007) estimated that there were 10,000 hedge funds managing around $1 trillion. This is a growth of 11% in the number of funds and 26% in assets over six years (6PhD thesis paper by Daniel P.J. Capocci). Other studies from practitioners Hennessee (1994), and Oberuc (1994) also showed an evidence of superior performance in the case of hedge funds. Ackernann and Al. (1999) and Liang (1999) who compared the performance of hedge funds to mutual funds and several indices, found that hedge funds constantly obtained better performance than mutual funds. Their performance was not better than the performance of the market indices considered. They also indicated that the returns in hedge funds were more unstable than both the returns of mutual funds and those of market indices. According to Brown and Al. (1997) hedge funds showing good performance in the first part of the year reduce the volatility of their portfolio in the second half of the year (Capocci Daniel- An analysis of hedge fund performance 1984-2000). Taking all these results into account hedge funds seems a good investment tool. 6 PhD thesis paper by Daniel P.J. Capocci. Electronic copy available at: http//ssrn.com/abstract=1008319. 2.1.1- Facts and finding of development in hedge funds: As a result of flexible investment strategies, a better manager inventive alignment, sophisticated investors, and limited SEC regulations hedge funds have gained incredible popularity. In the report of Agarwal, V. and Naik, N. (2004) stated that it is well accepted that the world of financial securities is a multifactor world consisting of different risk factors, each associated with its own factor risk premium, and that no single investment strategy can span the entire risk factor space. Therefore investors wishing to earn risk premia associated with different risk factors need to employ different kinds of investment strategies. Sophisticated investors, like endowments and pension funds, seem to have recognized this fact as their portfolios consist of mutual funds as well as hedge funds.1 Mutual funds typically employ a long-only buy-and-hold-type strategy on standard asset classes, and help capture risk premia associated with equity risk, interest rate risk, default risk, etc. Howe ver, they are not very helpful in capturing risk premia associated with dynamic trading strategies or spread-based strategies. This is where hedge funds come into the picture. Unlike mutual funds, hedge funds are not evaluated against a passive benchmark and therefore can follow more dynamic trading strategies. Moreover, they can take long as well as short positions in securities, and therefore can bet on capitalization spreads or value-growth spreads. As a result, hedge funds can offer exposure to risk factors that traditional long-only strategies cannot. However, investor can create exposure like hedge funds by trading on their own account, in practice they encounter many frictions due to incompleteness of markets like the publicly traded derivatives market and the financing market. Moreover, the derivatives market for standardized contracts has grown a great deal in recent years, still it is very costly for an investor to create a customized payoff on individual securities. The same is true for the financing market as well, where investors encounter difficulties shorting securities and obtaining leverage. These frictions make it difficult for investors to create hedge fund-like payoffs by trading on their own accounts. According to Koh, F., Koh,W,. Lee, D,. and Phoon, K. (2004) in 1990, the entire hedge fund industry was estimated at about US$20 billion. At of 2004, there are close to 7000 hedge funds worldwide, managing more than US$830 billion. Additionally, about US$200-300 billion is estimated to be in privately managed accounts. While high net worth individuals remain the main source of capital, hedge funds are becoming more popular among institutional and retail investors. Funds of hedge funds and other hedge fund-linked products are increasingly being marketed to the retail market. While hedge funds are well established in the United States and Europe, they have only begun to grow aggressively in Asia. According to Asia Hedge magazine, there are more than 300 hedge funds operating in Asia (including those in Japan and Australia), of which 30 were established in year 2000 and 20 in 2001. In 2003, 90 new hedge funds were started in Asia, compared with 66 in 2002, according to an estimate by th e Bank of Bermuda. In 2004 more than US$15 billion, hedge fund investments in Asia are expected to grow rapidly. Several factors support this view. Asian hedge funds currently account for a tiny slice of the global hedge fund pie and a mere trickle of the total financial wealth of high net worth individuals in Asia. Hedge funds have posted attractive returns. From 1987 to 2001, the Hennessee Hedge Fund Index posted annualised returns of 18%, higher than the SPs 13.5%. Hedge funds are seen as a natural hedge for controlling downside risk because they employ exotic investment strategies believed to generate returns that are uncorrelated to traditional asset classes. Hedge funds vary in their strategies. So-called macro funds, such as Quantum Fund, generally take a directional view by betting on a particular bond market, say, or a currency movement. Other funds specialize in corporate events, such as mergers or bankruptcies, or simply look for pricing anomalies the stock markets. Hedge funds vary widely in both their investment strategies and the amount of financial leverage. (Koh, F., Koh,W,. Lee, D,. and Phoon, K. (2004) There are a number of factors behind the meteoric rise in demand for hedge funds. The unprecedented bull-run in the US equity markets during the 1990s expanded investment portfolios. This led an increased awareness on the need for diversification. The bursting of the technology and Internet bubbles, the string of corporate scandals that hit corporate America and the uncertainties in the US economy have led to a general decline in stock markets worldwide. This in turn provided fresh impetus for hedge funds as investors searched for absolute returns. (Koh, F., Koh,W,. Lee, D,. and Phoon, K. (2004) Unlike registered investment companies, hedge funds are not required to publicly disclose performance and holdings information that might be construed as solicitation materials. Since the early 1990s, there has been a growing interest in the use of hedge funds amongst both institutional and high net worth individuals. Due to their private nature, it is difficult to obtain adequate information about the operations of individual hedge funds and reliable summary statistics about the industry as a whole. (Koh, F., Koh,W,. Lee, D,. and Phoon, K. (2004) Hedge funds are known to be growing in size and diversity. As at the end of 1997, the MAR/Hedge database recorded more than 700 hedge fund managing assets of US$90 billion. This is only a partial picture of the industry, as many funds are not listed with MAR/Hedge. In practical terms, it is not easy to estimate the current size of the hedge fund industry unless all funds are regulated or obligated to register their operations with a common authority. Brooks and Kat (2001) estimated that, as at April 2001, there are around 6000 hedge funds with an estimated US $400 billion in capital under management and US $1 trillion in total assets. (Koh, F., Koh,W,. Lee, D,. and Phoon, K. (2004) According to Koh, F., Koh,W,. Lee, D,. and Phoon, K. (2004) three interesting features differentiate hedge funds from other forms of managed funds. Most hedge funds are small and organized around a few experienced investment professionals. In fact, more than half of U.S Hedge Funds manage amounts of less than US$25 million. Further, most hedge funds are leveraged. It is estimated that 70 per cent of hedge funds use leverage and about 18% borrowed more than one dollar for every dollar of capital. (See Eichengreen and Mathieson (1998). Another peculiar feature is the short life span of hedge funds. Hedge funds have an average life span of about 3.5 years (See Stefano Lavinio (2000) pp 128). Very few have a track record of more than 10 years. These features lead many to view hedge funds, as risky and opportunistic. In the early study by Fung and Hsieh (2001), they use option like payoffs to view the risks of trend following hedge funds. They saw that the trend followers are typically commodity trading advisors (CTAs) who attempt to profit from trends in commodity prices using technical indicators. According to Fung and Hsieh (2001) trend followers are particularly interesting in that not only are their returns uncorrelated with the standard equity, bond, currency, and commodity indices, but their returns tend to exhibit option like features. They tend to be large and positive during the best and worst performing months of world equity indices. They cite evidence by Fung and Hsieh (1997) who show that if one divided up the states of the world into five states based on the return on the MSCI equity world index, trend followers tend to outperform when the MSCI equity return is at its lowest and highest. The relationship between trend followers and the equity market is non-linear and U-shaped. Alth ough returns of trend following funds have a low beta against equities on average, the state-dependent betas tend to be positive in up-markets and negative in down markets. As a result, Fung and Hsieh (2001) assume that the simplest trend following strategy has the same payout as a structured option known as the look back straddle. The owner of a look back call option has the right to buy the underlying asset at the lowest price over the life of the option. Similarly, a look back put option allows the owner to sell at the highest price. The combination of these two options is the look back straddle, which delivers the ex-post maximum payout of any trend following strategy. Fung and Hsieh (2001) then demonstrate empirically that look back straddle returns resemble the returns of trend following hedge funds. Building on this pioneer work, Fung and Hsieh (2004) propose seven factors that explain aggregate hedge fund returns. These seven factors include the excess return on the SP 500 index, the Wilshire small cap minus large cap index return, the term spread, the credit spread, and trend following factors for bonds, currencies, and commodities. They show that their seven factor model well explains variation in aggregate hedge fund returns. In addition, they find that equity long/short hedge funds tend to load positively on the SP 500 index factor and the small cap minus large cap factor. These results are consistent with the observation that equity long/short hedge funds typically have a small positive exposure to stocks and tend to be long small stocks and short large stocks. Fung and Hsieh (2004) also find that fixed income funds on the other hand tend to load negatively on the change in the credit spread, where the credit spread is measured as the difference between the yield on Moodys Baa bonds and the yield on the 10-year constant maturity Treasury bond. The reason is that fixed income funds typically buy bonds with lower credit ratings and/or less liquidity and then hedge the interest rate risk by shorting US Treasury bonds, which have the highest credit rating and are more liquid. However, Agarwal and Naik (2004) also propose a multi-factor model to explain hedge fund risks. They find that non-linear option like payoffs are not restricted to trend followers and risk arbitrageurs, but are an integral feature of payoffs for a wide range of hedge fund strategies. In particular they observe that the payoffs on a large number of hedge fund strategies look like those from writing a put option on the equity index. These strategies include risk arbitrage, distressed debt, convertible arbitrage, and relative value arbitrage. Consistent with the exposure of these strategies to the risks borne by sellers of equity index put options, Agarwal and Naik (2004) find that these hedge funds suffer from significant left tail risk which tends to coincide with severe market downturns. The performance of hedge fund in 2008 was very shocking like more than ten years ago. Teo, M (2009) stated that in the month of August 1998 alone LTCM lost 45% of its capital in the wake of the massive liquidity event triggered by the Russian rubble default. Lots of academic literature has shown that the year 2007 and 2008 was the worst performance of hedge fund. As we know that hedge fund managers make portfolio by taking position in equity market and another fund, but unfortunately the world equity market goes downside. As a result investors who wish to weather future financial maelstroms should take note of the non-linear relationship between hedge fund returns and the equity market. 2.3- Limitations (previous) With respect to lightly regulated investment vehicles with great treading flexibility, hedge funds often pursue highly sophisticated investment strategies. Hedge funds promise absolute returns to their investor leading to a belief that they hold factor-neutral portfolios. With this in mind, hedge funds have some limitations. In the early studies many researchers discussed and explain that obstacles. First of all if we consider the measurement model of hedge funds performance, most of the researcher use traditional performance measure model like, Sharpe ratio, Treynor ratio and Jensen alpha which are not adequate for the performance evaluation of hedge funds. Fung and Hsieh (2000) and Roy (2003) stated that is incorrect to use these performance measures t evaluate the hedge funds strategies. Brooks and Kat (2002), Kat (2003), Mahdavi (2004) and Murguia and Umemoto (2004) also mentioned that the Sharpe ratio does not represent the true performance of hedge funds because it does not take into consideration the asymmetry returns of these funds. As a result Perello (2007) propose to use the downside risk framework like Sortino ratio, the upside potential ratio and Omega measure as alternative performance measure. Moreover, Chung, Rosenberg and Tomeo (2004) and Scherer (2004) showed that Sortino ratio makes it possible to the investors to evaluate the risk and the performance of the h edge funds more sustainably than Sharpe ratio. Secondly, according to Ackermann et al. (1999) and to Fung and Hsieh (2000), two upward biases exist in the case of hedge funds. They do not exist in the case of mutual funds, and they both have an opposite impact to the survivorship bias. Survivorship bias is an important issue in hedge funds performance studies (see Carhart and al. 2000). This bias is present when a database contains only funds that have data for the whole period studies. In this case, there is a risk of overestimating the mean performance because the funds that would have ceased to exist because of their bad performance would not be taken into account. The two upward biases exist because, since hedge funds are not allowed to advertise, they consider inclusion in a database primarily as a marketing tool. The first phenomenon stressed by Ackermann and al. (1999) and called the self-selection bias is present because funds that realize good performance have less incentive to report their performance to data providers in order to attract new investors. Malkiel, B. and Saha, A. (2005) stated in their report that Databases available at any point in time tend to reflect the returns earned by currently existing hedge funds but they do not include the returns from hedge funds that existed at some time in the past but are presently not in existence (i.e., the truly dead funds) or exist but no longer report their results (the defunct funds). Unsuccessful hedge funds have difficulties obtaining new assets. Hence, they tend to close, leaving only the more successful funds in the database. But some funds stop reporting not because they are unsuccessful but because they do not want to attract new investment. The second point called instant history bias or backfilled bias (Fung and Hsieh 2000) occurs because after inclusion a funds performance history is backfilled. This may cause an upward bias because funds with less satisfactory performance history are less likely to apply for inclusion than funds with good performance history (Capocci Daniel 2001, An analysis of hedge fund performance 1984- 2000).