An Analysis of the Movie Syriana Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

An Analysis of the Movie Syriana - Essay Example From the research it is clear Quicksand is an academic book written by one Geoffrey Wawro. The author’s academic background on military matters and the long-term experience as a teacher of the Naval War College grants him an ability to write from a political perspective. He gives a historical perspective of the incidences that have been pioneered by the American government in the Middle East and relates the incidences to the political and economic significances that are the driving forces behind the involvements. This paper seeks to give an analysis of the movie Syriana and in turn give a relation between the main theme communicated by the movie and the propositions given by Wawro in his book Quicksand. As the study presents Syriana is a 2005 film written by Stephen Gaghan. The film focuses on the interplay that exists between political and economic drivers in the world today. The influences of the United States in the oil industry are addressed in the movie. The movie begins with a major US oil company, Connex, losing drilling rights to a Chinese company in the Middle East oil fields in a kingdom ruled by the Al-Subaai family. This turns out to be a great disappointment to US oil industry. Connex, therefore, settles on establishing a merger with Killen, a comparatively smaller oil company that has recently won the rights to drill oil in Kazakhstan. The position of Connex in the oil industry is hence greatly affected and its position in the world among the oil drilling companies drops to twenty-three.

Effect of Video Games Essay Example for Free

Effect of Video Games Essay A video game is an electronic game that involves human interaction with a user interface to generate visual feedback on a video device. The word videoin video game traditionally referred to cathode ray tube (CRT) display device, but it now implies any type of display device that can produce two or three dimensional images. The electronic systems used to play video games are known as platforms; examples of these are personal computers and video game consoles .These platforms range from large mainframe computers to small handheld devices. Specialized video games such as arcade games, while previously common, have gradually declined in use. Video games have gone on to become an art form and industry. The input device used to manipulate video games is called a game controller, and varies across platforms. For example, a controller might consist of only a button and a joystick, while another may feature a dozen buttons and one or more joysticks. Early personal computer games often needed a keyboard for game play, or more commonly, required the user to buy a separate joystick with at least one button. Many modern computer games allow or require the player to use a keyboard and a mouse simultaneously. A few of the most common game controllers are gamepads, mouse’s, keyboards, and joysticks. Video games typically use additional means of providing interactivity and information to the player. Audio is almost universal, using sound reproduction devices, such as speakers and headphones. Other feedback may come via haptic peripherals, such as vibration or force feedback, with vibration sometimes used to simulate force feedback. In the early days of cartridge consoles, they were sometimes called TV games. Early games used interactive electronic devices with various display formats. The earliest example is from 1947—a Cathode ray tube Amusement Device was filed for a patent on 25 January 1947, by Thomas T. Goldsmith and Estle Ray Mann, and issued on 14 December 1948, as U.S. Patent 2455992. Inspired by radar display tech, it consisted of an analog device that allowed a user to control a vector-drawn dot on the screen to simulate a missile being fired at targets, which were drawings fixed to the screen. Other early examples include: * The NIMROD computer at the 1951 Festival of Britain * * OXO a tic-tac-toe Computer game by Alexander S. Douglas for the EDSAC * in 1952 * Tennis for Two, an interactive game engineered by William Higinbotham in 1958 The term platform refers to the specific combination of electronic components or computer hardware which, in conjunction with software, allows a video game to operate. The term system is also commonly used. In common use a PC game refers to a form of media that involves a player interacting with a IBM PC compatible personal computer connected to a video monitor. A console game is played on a specialized electronic device that connects to a common television setor composite video monitor. A handheld gaming device is a self-contained electronic device that is portable and can be held in a users hands. Arcade game generally refers to a game played on an even more specialized type of electronic device that is typically designed to play only one game and is encased in a special cabinet. These distinctions are not always clear and there may be games that bridge one or more platforms. In addition to personal computers, there are multiple other devices which have the ability to play games but are not dedicated video game machines, such as mobile phones, PDAs and graphing calculators. With the advent of social networking and other online applications hubs, the term platform started being used to refer to the online service within which the game is played, regardless of the actual hardware on which it is executed. A games platform could simply be Facebook, whether it is played on a Windows PC, Mac, Smart TV, or smartphone. Statement of the problem : 1.) What is the negative effects of video games to teenager? 2.) What is the positive effects of video games to teenager? 3.) Does game violence make teens aggressive? Scope and limitation Development in technology brings many things that people dont have many years back. One of these things is online gaming that is provided by the internet. Online gaming is one of the widely used leisure activities by many people. Teenagers who are playing these online games said that they are playing these games just for fun, to keep away from the heat of the sun, without knowing that there are a lot of effects of playing these games that are more than what they think. Playing online games, according to some research is beneficial. It enables the mind of the players to be more active , especially those puzzle-based games. It helps the player to come up with decisions in tight situations, especially those adventure games that keep the players to be alert, active and strategic. Playing these types of games makes the player experienced different feelings because it is as if the player is really the one taking the challenges. Despite those benefits, playing these games also bring negative effects. CHAPTER II REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE RELATED LITERATURE â€Å"Computer Gaming Effects to the Academic Performance among High school students† The internet and online gaming industry has grown considerably over the past decade. As the advent of internet occurs, online gaming is undisputedly popular to the students and that online gaming has become high school students’ favorite leisure choice. Most of the High school students in these times are seen on internet sites and spending their money for them to be ready on their battle online. Because of this widespread, parents and educators are concerned about the doable effects on the academic performance among high school students. The most common question discusses about how it affects the academic performance of the gamer. Not surprisingly, gaming culture has become a polarizing force in our society, as well. â€Å"The Effects of Computer Games to the Academic Performance of Aims Students† Computer addiction is a relatively new term used to describe a dependency on one s computer. Computer addiction is not limited to personal computers (PCs). It covers video games and the Internet and has already been given a label by psychologists, namely Internet addiction disorder (IAD). People can grow addicted to a variety of substances, and there is usually a substantial amount of help available to treat them. Alcohol, drugs and sex have all been known to bring out the addictive personality trait in some people, but other forms of addictive behavior, such as exercise, watching television or spending too much time on a computer, have only recently been recognized. Computer addiction, like any addiction, can creep up on a person without one being aware of it. Talk shows are full of people whose relationships have been torn apart by one partners computer addiction. Spending hours chatting online, surfing the web or playing computer games can cause relationships to deteriorate as other parts of a person’s life are neglected.

Humor in Mathematics Classroom Essay Example for Free

Humor in Mathematics Classroom Essay INTRODUCTION To make the learning in classroom more fun, teachers do make a different strategies or techniques. Game and laughter is very important in learning, that’s why teachers that do have humor make their class more enjoyable and interesting. Anyone who has paid attention to great speakers would know that humor is an excellent method for eliciting sympathy from the audience and opening them up to your message. Every teacher also knows that a sense of humor is necessary to winning the hearts of students. How should this inform teaching? Should the teachers focus on creating an entertaining show for their students? Or would the teachers change their lessons into therapy sessions? This study presents a teaching approach that is built around math problems that are for the student at the same time Cheerful (entertaining, funny, cool) and Challenging (difficult). We call this CheCha mathematics. BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY The technique of using humor to enliven lectures is as ancient as the Babylonian Talmud. Rabbah (Babylonian Talmud, Shabbos 30b), a Talmudic sage who lived 1700 years ago, would say something humorous before starting to lecture to the scholars, and they would laugh; after that, he would begin his lecture. Rabbi Meir (Babylonian Talmud, Sanhedrin 38b), another Talmudic sage, was an expert in fox fables and would devote one-third of his lecture to parables. These sages recognized the value of humor in education, even in ethical and religious instruction. Most statistics textbooks do not use a humorous approach, with exceptions such as Runyon (1977) and Pyrczak (1998). Blumenfeld and Alpern (1985) discuss ten reasons to use humor in the classroom. These include such factors as opening communication and the humanizing effect of humor on image. Berk (1996, 1998) claims that humor has the ability to decrease students’ anxiety, improve the ability to learn, and boost self-esteem. This, in turn, can encourage a more receptive learning atmosphere. One researcher found that having students watch an episode of Seinfeld helped calm them and reduced their heartbeats when they were later forced to do something stressful, give an impromptu speech about Bosnia, a subject they knew very little about, in front of a camera. The heart rates of students who had watched the humorous Seinfeld episode rose from an average of 70 to averages of 80 to 85 beats per minute while speaking; the heart rates of students who had not been inoculated with humor rose to a mean of 100 (Burkhart 1998). Lundberg and Thurston (1992) discuss various ways humor can be used in the classroom. THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK CheCha math method is based on three educational approaches: acknowledging the role of affect in math learning (Hannula, 2006), using humor in teaching (Grecu, 2008) and use of open-ended problems in math teaching (Pehkonen, 2004). Affect in mathematical thinking and learning In order to study affect in math education in contexts of actual classrooms there are three main elements to pay attention to: cognition, emotion, and motivation. Achievement without motivation is not sustainable, and neither is motivation without enjoyment. All three domains have a more rapidly changing state-aspect and more stable trait-aspect. (Hannula, 2006). One fundamental principle of human behavior is that emotions energize and organize perception, thinking and action (Izard, 1991). Research has confirmed a positive relationship between positive affect and achievement. It seems that the affective outcomes are most important during the first school years, as they are less likely to be altered later on. Two key elements of a desired affective disposition are self-confidence and motivation to learn (Hannula, 2006). Advances in our understanding of the neuropsychological basis of affect (e.g. Damasio 1995, LeDoux, 1998) have radically changed the old view of the relationship between emotion and cognition. Emotions are no longer seen as peripheral to cognitive processes or as noise to impede rationality. Emotions have been accepted as necessary for rational behavior. Moreover, research has also shown although not yet fully understood that certain emotions facilitate certain type of cognitive processing (Linnenbrink Pintrich, 2004). Focusing on motivation we may find ways to influence what the subjects want to do, not only how they try to achieve it. In the existing literature, psychological needs that are often emphasized in educational settings are autonomy, competence and social belonging (e.g. Boekaerts, 1999). These all can be met in a classroom that emphasizes exploration, understanding and communication instead of rules, routines and rote learning. However, this requires that all feel safe and perceive that they can contribute to the process. A possible approach to meet all these conditions would be the open approach, and more generally focusing on mathematical processes rather than products (Hannula, 2006). Humor Already Kant (1952) considered the nature of humor. He stated Laughter is the result of expectation which suddenly ends in nothing (p. 199). His classical statement has started considering humor as a mental mechanism resulting in laughter. As another early scientific approach to humor, Freud (1991) divided comic into wit, humor and actually comic. Many kinds of activity, including wit, are directed on reception of pleasure from intellectual processes. A person feels pleasure from suddenly released energy, which is splashed out in the form of laughter. From this perspective already, we can perceive how a good joke can generate a joyful atmosphere and create a positive emotional background of activity. The comic, humorous contents can be reached in various ways and techniques. For example, Veatch (1998) suggests a list of types that are funny: finishing to the point of irrationality, satire, literal understanding of metaphors, irony, ambiguity, word-play, contradiction, discrepancy, excessive rationality and a deviation from the usual. Each of these types of the comic can be expressed as a joke or a problem in math context. As an example of a math contradiction we take a joke, here framed within the world of Winnie the Pooh: Pooh and Piglet sit on a small bench and talk. Eeyore has sent them a box. In the box there are ten sweets and a note. In the note Eeyore tells them to divide them: seven for Pooh and seven for Piglet. Piglet: How is that? I do not understand. What do you think of it?† Pooh: I do not even want to think. But I have already eaten my seven sweets. Humor can also act as means of a psychological discharge, and promote efficiency of pedagogical activity. Suhomlinsky (1975) wrote: I would name laughter as a back side of thinking. To develop ability to laugh in the child, to enhance his sense of humor means to strengthen his intellectual forces, abilities, to teach him to think and to see the world wisely. Grecu (2008) has considered use of humor in teaching. She highlights seven basic functions of humor in pedagogical activity: 1) informatively-cognitive (Opens essential features and properties of subjects and the phenomena. Rejecting standard approaches, the humor bears in itself any discovery), 2) Emotional (the Humor can act as means of creation of creative state of health and as means of emotional support) 3) Motivational (The humor can serve as a stimulator of volitional processes) 4) Communicative (the Person with humor is attractive for people) 5) Developing (Humor promotes development of critical thinking, a sharpness of vision of the world, observation and consequently intellect) 6) Diagnostic (by the laughter maintenance at what the person laughs, it is possible to judge about his merits and demerits) and 7) Regulative (the humor gives the chance to look at oneself from an unexpected angle, allowing self-evaluation). In CheCha method most of these are relevant, the most important functions being on top of the list. Grecu suggest the following techniques for designing of humor for educational tasks. These pedagogical techniques are paradox, finishing to the point of irrationality, comparison by the remote or casual attribute, return comparison, wit of absurd, pseudo-contrast or false opposition, a hint, a self-exposure of own faults, intentional ignoring of things that might cause laughter, and exaggeration of the certain features of behavior. Grecu has offered also classification of means of the comic: 1) word-play based on violation of language norm (carrying of terminology over to a context unusual to it). Consider the following riddle: I am it while I do not know that I am. But I am not it when I know that I am. What am I?† 2) Comparison, authors original neologisms, based on artistic expressive means (double entendre, an ambiguity). Examples are easy for finding in Carrolls books (2006, s. 50): â€Å"Explain yourself!† â€Å"I can’t explain myself.† 3) Paradox, an example being the claim â€Å"I am lying now†. Also Dzemidok (1993) distinguishes several humoristic methods: modification and deformation of the phenomena, unexpected effects and amazing comparisons, disproportion in attitudes and communications between the phenomena, imaginary association of absolutely diverse phenomena, creation of the phenomena which deviate from logic. As an example of the latter method consider the following: There were only 3 students attending a professors lecture in University. Suddenly 5 persons left the room. The professor said: If 2 students enter this room, there is nobody attending. Most types of humor and their techniques could be used at mathematics lessons. Thanks to entertaining tasks and comical contents of the problems the classroom climate promotes a positive interaction between the teacher and students. However, one must be aware that opportunities of humor as pedagogical means have their limits. Grecu (2008) gives several suggestions regarding these limits. She suggests that one should use humor gently and support humor of students. She also warns not to ridicule student’s person, laugh at what the student is not able to correct or change or laugh at an involuntary mistake of the student. Rough joking would indicate lack of customs and disrespect of the student and hence is absolutely unacceptable for the teacher. Moreover, the teacher should avoid being the first to laugh at ones own joke, as it can cause the reaction opposite to expected. Problem solving and open-ended problems Problems are said to be open, if their starting or goal situation is not exactly given and they usually have several correct answers (cf. Pehkonen 2008). Open-ended problems emphasize understanding and creativity (e.g. Nohda, 2000, Stacey 1995). This would not mean lowering the expectations, quite the contrary. If an open task allows the solver to gain deeper and deeper insights (a chain of discovery; Liljedahl, 2005) it can facilitate a state of sustained engagement. This would also lead to more intensive working. Research has shown that problem solving can be engaging and enjoyable for many students, but it does not attract everyone. Schoenfeld (1985) defined an individuals beliefs or mathematical world view as shaping how one engages in problem solving. For example, those who believe that math is no more than repetition of learned routines would be more likely to give up on a novel task than those who believe that inventing is an essential aspect of mathematics. Unfortunately, there are students who do not see the potential for engagement and enjoyment in a math problem. We see humor as a means to engage also those students who do not perceive math problems enjoyable to begin with. STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM The purpose of this study is to answer the following questions: 1. What mathematical problems are entertaining from the students point of view? 2. How CheCha method influences the atmosphere in mathematics lessons?

Diversification within UK Private Real Estate Portfolios

Diversification within UK Private Real Estate Portfolios A Critical Appraisal of the Literature on Diversification within Private Real Estate Portfolios in the United Kingdom   Abstract One of the two major ways in which institutional investors can invest in real estate is private real estate. Private real estate is to purchase un-securitized real estate directly through property pools, commingled real estate funds (CREFs), syndications or separate accounts that are managed by professional real estate portfolio managers or investment advisors. This form of ownership will henceforth be referred to as private real estate. There are different drivers of investing within the private real estate portfolios, including markets, sectors, management, area/building specific, scale, diversification, liquidity, tax and governance risks. The private real estate has a low level of linear dependence on equity, so private real estate requires the diversification of its portfolios. This paper provides a critical appraisal of the literature on diversification within private real estate portfolios. Does a U.K. market need to do the diversification within private real estate portfolios when British people need it? Not really. Literature Review Investment in private real estate offers considerable advantages: it is a tangible asset with low volatility; and it generates an attractive income stream and long-term capital appreciation and particularly strong diversification benefits to stocks and bonds. Thus, there is extant literature showing that private real estate has a significant place in the U.S. mixed-asset portfolio: see Ziobrowski and Ziobrowski (1997); and Firstenberg, Ross Zisler (1998); among others. Researchers conducted several studies on real estates role as a component of asset-only portfolios, specifically focusing on real estates diversification benefits. These studies compensate for some of the issues with real estate data, in particular, that of valuation smoothing. Most of these studies conclude that the allocation to real estate should be from 10% upward. The results indicate that limited diversification benefits can be gained from international investments in pure office strategies, particularly for multi-asset investors seeking to reduce risk stemming from the capital markets. Existing empirical evidence is generally consistent with firm owners portfolio diversification having a positive impact on their firms risk taking (e.g., Amihud and Lev (1981) and Faccio, Marchica and Mura (2011)). The general theme in the existing literature is that firm riskiness can be reduced primarily by means of choosing safer investments, i.e. investments that result in lower cash flow volatility or stock return volatility (e.g., Lyandres, Marchica, Michaely, and Mura (2015) and Faccio, Marchica and Mura (2011)), or lower correlation with the rest of the firm decision makers cash flows (e.g., Amihud and Lev (1981) and Gormley, Matsa and Milbourn (2013)). The association between private (constrained) firm owners portfolio diversification and investment is negative and significant in most cases (Lyandres, Marchica, Michaely, and Mura, 2015). Lyandres, Marchica, Michaely, and Mura (2015) study possible endogeneity of firm owners portfolio diversification and of firms private status does not seem to drive their results. The inclusion of owner fixed effects does not impact the qualitative relation between owners portfolio diversification and private firms capital investment (Lyandres, Marchica, Michaely, and Mura, 2015). However, the fixed-effects results may still be affected by self-selection: better-diversified owners may select to invest in companies with higher investment rates, which better their risk preferences. Lyandres, Marchica, Michaely, and Mura (2015) suggest the firms capital investment depends on portfolio diversification of their controlling owners; the effect of owners portfolio diversification on firms investment levels depends crucially on firms financial constraints: the investment-diversification relation is positive for relatively unconstrained firms and is negatively for relatively constrained ones. Owner fixed-effects, a quasi-natural experiment, and instrumental variable analysis suggest that this result is not driven by potential endogeneity of owners diversification. A matched-sample analysis, selection model, and an alternative measure of financial constraints show that Lyandres, Marchica, Michaely, and Mura (2015)s findings are also not driven by the endogeneity of their proxy for financial constraints. The analysis builds on and extends that of Hoesli et al. (2004) but broadens the length of the time series and the depth of analysis as they pertain to the real estate portfolio. They concluded that both domestic and international real estate contribute with risk diversification, and therefore portfolio efficiency, to the multi-asset portfolio and that the data support an allocation to real estate of between 15 and 25%, depending on risk preferences and the investors country of domicile. The purpose is to investigate how the composition of a real estate portfolio affects the ability to achieve risk diversification when management costs are taken into account and after removing the assumption that investors can only by a real estate market portfolio. The analysis contributes to the body of knowledge by exploring how the type of underlying tenant demand type affects the portfolio composition problem for real estate investors and thus how real estate strategies should be fashioned to more effectively support overall portfolio objectives. Hoesli and Lizieri (2007) report correlations close to zero for private real estate in the UK. Lizieri (2013) finds that the correlation of the private real estate varies significantly over the market cycle, tending to increase in periods from 1995 to 2010 of poor stock market performance. Lizieri (2013) finds that the correlations of private real estate with equities and bonds changed in the last five years of the sample from around zero to 0.4 and -0.5 respectively. This would indicate that the diversification benefits from real estate disappear when they are most needed. However, it is also found that when the variance is decomposed, a high proportion of private real estate variance cannot be explained by wider capital market factors, which indicates substantial diversification benefits. Even though data construction issues for private real estate cannot be ruled out, Lizieri (2013) concludes that the results support the diversification role of the private real estate. Ang (2012) explores the characteristics of real estate in the context of its real asset characteristics along with real estates role in the asset allocation puzzle. Ang (2012) concludes that real estate is different from other asset classes in several respects: the idiosyncratic risk, the heterogeneity of the assets and requirement to actively mange real estate holdings. Ang (2012) also points out the difficulty of including real estate in any asset allocation model on par with stocks and bonds because direct real estate total returns are not returns in the same sense as are total returns for the other asset classes. This is because real estate total returns are not transaction based nor is there a way to measure the whole market. Ang (2012) does not say that real estate has no role to play but rather that the only return derived from real estate measured on the same frequency as the return on mature asset classes is the income return. Diversification of the Private Real Estate Portfolios with Equity REIT shares An examination of resulting efficient frontiers and their corresponding optimal portfolio weights across various levels of expected return reveals that the ability of public real estate to rebalance and diversify private real estate only portfolios, using either long or short positions, is very much in doubt (Seiler, Webb and Neil Mye, 2001). Private real estate helps reduce the risk of a portfolio because it has less than a perfect correlation with stocks, bonds and all other assets. Qualitative Analysis Standard Markowitz portfolio selection model assumes jointly normal and symmetric distributions. If that holds, then mean, variance and covariance are sufficient to define effective diversification strategy. Traditional diversification strategies no longer provide desired level of protection in bear markets. Portfolio risk and expected value fall in bear markets are systematically understated. Traditional notions of risk-return trade-off are systematically overstated. Frequent portfolio rebalancing needed to maintain target level of risk, leading to higher transaction costs. For example, Stichting Pensioenfonds X: Asset Mix is an archetypical private real estate portfolio. 9% property allocation is reasonable for a well funded and growing scheme if assume under-performs equities and out-performs bonds and adds some diversification. Higher portfolio diversification reduces the variance of owners portfolio return and its covariance with the firms cash flow. As a result, higher portfolio diversification of firm owner lowers the risk avoidance incentives and leads to increased risk taking by the firm. The direct effect of higher owners portfolio diversification on an unconstrained firms capital investment is through the reduction in the variance of owners wealth and the resulting decrease in his or her risk-avoidance incentives. A more diversified owner is less concerned with higher cash flow volatility resulting from higher operating leverage, and chooses a higher level of capital investment. The result is a positive relation between owners portfolio diversification and firm investment for unconstrained firms. The mechanism behind the negative relation between a constrained firms investment and its owners portfolio diversification is different. A constrained firm cannot increase its capital investment level in response to an increase in firm owners portfolio diversification, as its investment is determined by the investment capacity constraint. The only channel the constrained firm can use to alter its cash flow volatility is the riskiness of its investments. The scale/diversification of assets depends upon the genuine efficiency from scale, diversification and impact on equity rising and the decrease of the default. The portfolio of loans demands diversification during the debt and credit crisis. High correlation among portfolios means diversification across sectors relatively little impact on risk reduction in UK historically compared to specific risk. The degree of portfolio diversification of a firms controlling owner may influence its choice of riskiness of firm strategies. The reason is that an expected-utility-maximizing risk-averse owner takes into account the variance of the private real estates overall wealth when making decisions on behalf of the firm the CEO controls. Drivers of diversification from equities Drivers of rents Demand-GDP, business and financial services, consumer spending, distribution, general price inflation, technology, profitability and other investment sentiment drivers. Supply-Construction, planning, obsolescence Drivers of yields Interest rates/term structure, credit availability, credit sentiment (high grade versus low grade), property sentiment. Other factors Tax/political risks, property specific (e.g. lease structures) The earlier studies revealed real estate, with all its illiquidity, management intensity and information asymmetry, does exhibit characteristics that complement the multi-asset portfolio by contributing diversification (Lekander, 2015). But the findings go further to suggest that diversification objectives in low-risk overall strategies are best achieved via types of real estate in which the tenant demand is less affected by global factors, whereas diversification strategies for higher overall risk strategies are best supported by real estate strategies focusing on globally dependent real estate (Lekander, 2015). When accounting for the cost of liquidity, by defining the market value as the mean of the buyer reservation price distribution, a different return pattern emerges. This has implications on the correlation characteristics of real estate, reducing the real estates diversification potential. A similar bias affects investment indices through the population of transactions available to the appraiser to determine price evidence. As such, there is a risk that the return indices measuring private real estate performance are based on market evidence that suffers from selection bias and appraisal smoothing, thus skewing the characteristics of the private real estate returns. A form test of the superiority of economic-based diversification strategies for real estate portfolio diversification was undertaken by Mueller (1992). Mueller (1992) showed that a diversification strategy based on his own classification, which relies solely on economic base, provided even greater risk-adjusted return possibilities. Data and Quantitative Analysis Model The estimates produced and updated are based on a two-quadrant approach looking at private real estate (holdings of funds and other private investors) and private real estate debt (lending by banks and other institutions). I consider a situation in which a firms controlling owner is entitled to a proportion of the firms cash flow. In addition, the firms owner is endowed with initial wealth x outside of the controlled firm, which is invested in an imperfectly diversified portfolio with a normally distributed return, whose mean is and whose standard deviation is . Our model abstracts from the reasons for imperfect diversification of the firms owner, which is a feature consistent with the data. The focus is on the effects of imperfect diversification of owners portfolios on controlled firms investment strategies. I assume that the firms controlling owner is risk-averse and that the CEO maximizes the expected utility of his or her terminal wealth, . This utility is given by , where is the firm owners Arrow-Pratt coefficient of absolute risk aversion. Assuming that the firms cash flow (discussed below) is normally distributed, investors expected utility maximization simplifies into the mean-variance criterion: . The model shows that in order to understand the impact of firm owners portfolio diversification on firms investment strategies, it is crucial to consider simultaneous choices of both the level and riskiness of firms investments. The analysis focuses on the relation between owners portfolio diversification and firms investment level, extends and complements the existing literature that focuses on the riskiness of firms investment. The interaction between these two decisions results in a non-trivial and somewhat surprising relation between owners portfolio diversification and the level of her or his firms capital investment. Comparative statics Lemma 1: If the investment capacity constraint is not binding in equilibrium, then the firms equilibrium level of capital investment and its riskiness, and respectively, are given by the following system of equations: , subject to . I am interested in the effects of controlling owners portfolio diversification on the choice of the level and riskiness of capital investment of constrained and unconstrained firms. In what follows, we present comparative statics of the firms investment level and its riskiness with respect to the standard deviation of the owners portfolio, . I also graphically illustrate these comparative statics using the numerical example to help explain the intuition. Totally differentiating the unconstrained equilibrium conditions in (3) and (4) with respect to owners portfolio standard deviation produces the following result: Proposition 1 For a firm whose capital investment is unconstrained in equilibrium, , equilibrium level of capital investment and its riskiness, and respectively, are decreasing in the standard deviation of firm owners portfolio, . The owners objective function is: subject to Maximizing the owners expected utility in (5) with respect to , while assuming that the investment capacity is binding, i.e., that , leads to the following result: Lemma 2 If the investment capacity constraint is binding, , then the firms equilibrium riskiness of investment, , is given by the following equation: Data The UK data are from the Investors Chronicle Hillier Parker (ICHP) Index and comprise 32 semi-annual observations from 1977 to 1993. The UK data are available disaggregated by three property types (offices; industrial; and retail) and by 11 regions (London, South East, South West, East Anglia, East Midlands, West Midlands, Wales, Yorkshire and Humberside, North, North West, Scotland). The data exclude shopping centres, mixed use buildings, and business space. Data for the U.K. 11 regions were also aggregated to produce three super regions as suggested by Key et al. (1994). These regions are London, South and North. Quantitative Analysis Results The estimated correlation matrices for the three UK property types and three UK regions are shown in Table I and II. As the number of regions differs from the number of property types, there is no test for the UK 11 region data comparable with the one undertaken above. It is, nonetheless, informative to analyse this data. This is done by calculating the correlations between all market segments, in which a market segment is defined as one property type in one region. The full matrix is given in Table III. In the UK it is a conventional wisdom that retail property offers least scope for regional diversification: retail sales tend not to have strong regional differences and the supply response of the retail property market does not differ significantly across regions. In contrast, in the office market, as the London market is driven by the financial sector has a strong international dimension; opportunities should exist for regional diversification within the office market. Table I. UK correlations based on semi-annual returns for 11 regions and three property types (1977-1993) In conclusion, the results show that the scope for diversification within a region varies from region to region and is greatest the further from London, while the diversification within property type is generally limited but is better for office and industrial property. Retail property is poorly correlated with either industrial or offices. Thus, full diversification by both property type and region is to be preferred. Table II Insignificant correlations between market segments by property type, based on semi-annual returns, UK, 1977-1993 IPD/MSCI Data to Explore the Most Important Characteristics of Diversification in Private Real Estate MSCI IPD is the only global provided of appraisal-based total return indices for private real estate across a number of different geographical markets. In this subsection, we look at the main factors affecting the performance of financial investments, i.e. economic growth, inflation and interest rates. These are the most important characteristics in driving differences in performance across the private real estate market over the past few decades. Also, the impact of these factors is partially overlaid with endogenous dynamics of real estate markets resulting from lagged responses of supply and demand. This subsection mainly suggests a specific real estate factor may exist that drives real estate returns but is not common with the drivers of equities or bonds, indicating the existence of long-term diversification benefits of private real estate. Table III: Comparison of key statistics for selected total return indices in the UK UK (1990-2014, monthly) Average return Standard deviation Sharpe ratio Private RE (smoothed) 7.46% 3.76% 0.69 Private RE (unsmoothed) 7.46% 7.49% 0.37 Private Re (trans.-based) 10.39% 8.84% 0.06 Source: IPD and EPRA. IPD data available since 1987 but presented since 1990 to align with other indices. Sharpe ratio calculated relative to three-month T-bills. Table IV: Overview of average annual returns and volatilities for selected international private real estate indices Table IV summarizes the risk-return statistics of the IPD and NCREIF indices across a number of countries. Whilst we are aware that the statistical significance of comparisons based on only few observations is low, it is striking that the UK market is among the most volatile ones. The broad market opinion that the UK real estate market observes tends to see stronger cyclical movements. On the other hand, the UK private real estate market offers higher liquidity and market depth. Changes in the levels and volatility of returns from commercial real estate investments in the UK over a rolling ten-year view is presented in Figure 1. Figure 1: Rolling ten-year average returns and return volatilities in the UK The risk-return profile of the UK market shows a regime shift following the financial crisis. Also, for the UK, unsmoothed real estate indices show Sharpe ratios comparable or slightly above the levels measured for equity and bond indices. However, one needs to consider that risk-return profiles may not be stable over time. Also, the risk-return profiles of investments may be different for long-term investors, although there is no conclusive evidence that the reduction of the effective volatility should be higher for real estate than for other types of assets. However, the fact that a high proportion of the return is derived from income may indeed favor real estate in the long term. Real estate factor The existence of a specific real estate factor is highly relevant for the construction of investment portfolios based on fundamental factors. Recent research supports the existence of such a factor for commercial private real estate. In order to verify the existence of a real estate factor, I ran a factor analysis for the UK following the reasoning of Mei and Lee (1994). Monthly data were used in the UK. A higher absolute value for a loading means that the factor has a higher impact, positive or negative, on the returns of the index, while a value close to zero indicates no significant impact. Table 5: Factor loading of stocks, bonds and alternative real estate index returns Source: my own calculations. The highest absolute loading for each index has been highlighted in bold in Table 5. While the levels of the loadings are not directly interpretable, the regularity in their relative values is striking. Factor F1 loads highly on stock market indices and on pubic real estate indices. In fact, it appears to represent mainly listed real estate, while pure stock indices are also influenced by F3. Factor F2 loads very highly on all private real estate indices, both smoothed and unsmoothed, as well as transaction-based indices. Factor F3 loads most strongly on bond indices and to a lower extent on stock indices. It appears justified to label F1 as a stock market factor and F2 as a real estate factor, while F3 could be associated with monetary factors such as interest rates. The above results represent a strong indication that the factor that drives direct real estate returns may indeed differ from the one that drives the returns of equities or bonds. While it is impossible to conclude on t he basis of this analysis what particular risks or drivers this factor might reflect, they seem to be different to the risks and drivers behind the equities or fixed income, which should create diversification potential. Conclusion The sections above have provided a critical appraisal of the literature on diversification within private real estate portfolios. For the UK, the opposite result was obtained for retail property and diversification across both property types and regions was to be preferred for the other two property types. The results offer some insights into real estate performance and may offer some input into the determination of a diversification ion strategy for a real estate portfolio. There are two major qualifications on the results. The first is that they are historical results and they may not be a good proxy for the future correlations. Historical returns are unlikely to be a good proxy for future returns and that probably also holds for the correlations calculated between real estate categories. The second qualification is that investors have objectives, which are more complex than just the trade-off between the level of period return and volatility of period return. Behind the analysis of regional economic base is the reasonable presumption that similarity in economic structure and performance should lead to similarity in real estate performance. However, such analyses, which focus on demand proxies, ignore supply or, at best, assume no differences in supply responses across property type or region. Testing the economic base ideas with highly disaggregated returns data is therefore very important. The UK data allow comparisons of the economic similarity of regions and the similarity of property performance. It would then be possible to infer from the UK results whether the proxying of real estate performance with economic performance is valid and perhaps at what spatial scale. Table III Real Estate Portfolio Diversification References Amihud, Y. and Lev, B., 1981. Risk reduction as a managerial motive for conglomerate mergers.   The bell journal of economics, pp.605-617. Ang, A., 2012. RealAssets. Columbia Business School Research Paper No. 12-60.   Faccio, M., Marchica, M.T. and Mura, R., 2011. Large shareholder diversification and corporate   risk-taking. Review of Financial Studies, 24(11), pp.3601-3641. Firstenberg, P.M., Ross, S.A. and Zisler, R.C., 1988. Real estate: the whole story. The Journal of  Portfolio Management, 14(3), pp.22-34. Gormley, T.A., Matsa, D.A. and Milbourn, T., 2013. CEO compensation and corporate risk:   Evidence from a natural experiment. Journal of Accounting and Economics, 56(2), pp.79-101. Hoesli, M., Lekander, J. and Witkiewicz, W., 2004. International evidence on real estate as a   portfolio diversifier. Journal of Real Estate Research, 26(2), pp.161-206. Hoesli, M. and Lizieri, C., 2007. Real estate in the investment portfolio. A report for the   Investment Strategy Council of the Royal Ministry of Finance. Key, T., Zarkesh, F., MacGregor, B. and Nanthakumaran, N., 1994. Understanding the property   cycle. Main report: Economic cycles and property cycles. London: RICS. Lekander, J.R., 2015. Real estate portfolio construction for a multi-asset portfolio. Journal ofProperty Investment Finance, 33(6), pp.548-573. Lizieri, C., 2013. After the fall: Real estate in the mixed-asset portfolio in the aftermath of the   global financial crisis. The Journal of Portfolio Management, 39(5), pp.43-59. Lyandres, E., Marchica, M.T., Michaely, R. and Mura, R., 2015. Owners Portfolio   Diversification and Firm Investment: Evidence from Private and Public Firms. Mueller, G. and Ziering, B., 1992. Real estate portfolio diversification using economic   diversification. Journal of Real Estate Research, 7(4), pp.375-386. Seiler, M., Webb, J. and Neil Mye, F., 2001. Can private real estate portfolios be   rebalanced/diversified using equity REIT shares?. Journal of R

Basics of Human Gene Therapy :: Genetics Science Essays

Basics of Human Gene Therapy Wouldn't it be wonderful if there was no cancer? No heart disease? No blood problems? Everyone wants to be healthy and have a healthy family but some diseases are genetically related. How are these diseases avoided? This question was pondered by molecular biologists and geneticists. What they developed will revolutionize medicine and health care as we know it. The technique used to try to cure these "incurable" genetic diseases is called human gene therapy. Gene therapy is by no means a new field of scientific query. The idea was first proposed back in the 1950's when Watson and Crick described a model of the double-stranded helix of DNA (Griffith 316). Knowing that DNA is composed of nucleotide base pairs in certain ways, scientists began to ask questions about the DNA structure in the 1970's (Becker) . If the bases can be arranged "incorrectly", then why can't they be rearranged in the "correct" way to produce the desired effect? Genetic experiments involving base pairing went on for years. After these years experiments with bacteria and viruses began. The genetic codes of these cells were changed to express different products like insulin. These products are human based but can be produced by non-human cells. This led to more thoughts and questions. If a bacteria cell can be altered to produce a human product, then why can't a human cell which can't produce this product be altered to produce it also? New experiments began with animal s and creatures with larger genomes. Answers formed from the animal experiments. Technical advances occurred to the point that gene therapy could be performed on humans. Gene therapy has now become a relatively simple process. The basics of the process are the identification of the gene in question, duplication of that gene, and insertion of the gene into the human genome needing the gene (CIS) . The gene that needs to be altered or replaced must be identified. The correctly functioning gene that replaces the defective gene must first be isolated and then duplicated. The gene in question can be isolated by attaching a molecular marker to the gene. The gene is then removed from the genome by a restriction enzyme that will break the genome only at the desired base junctions (i.e. when ATA is next to GAT). Genes removed from the genome can be duplicated easily by PCR. PCR is a process where the genetic sequence of the gene is replicated by the introduction of base pairs in the sequence along with replication enzymes, which induce, cause, and proofread replication. Basics of Human Gene Therapy :: Genetics Science Essays Basics of Human Gene Therapy Wouldn't it be wonderful if there was no cancer? No heart disease? No blood problems? Everyone wants to be healthy and have a healthy family but some diseases are genetically related. How are these diseases avoided? This question was pondered by molecular biologists and geneticists. What they developed will revolutionize medicine and health care as we know it. The technique used to try to cure these "incurable" genetic diseases is called human gene therapy. Gene therapy is by no means a new field of scientific query. The idea was first proposed back in the 1950's when Watson and Crick described a model of the double-stranded helix of DNA (Griffith 316). Knowing that DNA is composed of nucleotide base pairs in certain ways, scientists began to ask questions about the DNA structure in the 1970's (Becker) . If the bases can be arranged "incorrectly", then why can't they be rearranged in the "correct" way to produce the desired effect? Genetic experiments involving base pairing went on for years. After these years experiments with bacteria and viruses began. The genetic codes of these cells were changed to express different products like insulin. These products are human based but can be produced by non-human cells. This led to more thoughts and questions. If a bacteria cell can be altered to produce a human product, then why can't a human cell which can't produce this product be altered to produce it also? New experiments began with animal s and creatures with larger genomes. Answers formed from the animal experiments. Technical advances occurred to the point that gene therapy could be performed on humans. Gene therapy has now become a relatively simple process. The basics of the process are the identification of the gene in question, duplication of that gene, and insertion of the gene into the human genome needing the gene (CIS) . The gene that needs to be altered or replaced must be identified. The correctly functioning gene that replaces the defective gene must first be isolated and then duplicated. The gene in question can be isolated by attaching a molecular marker to the gene. The gene is then removed from the genome by a restriction enzyme that will break the genome only at the desired base junctions (i.e. when ATA is next to GAT). Genes removed from the genome can be duplicated easily by PCR. PCR is a process where the genetic sequence of the gene is replicated by the introduction of base pairs in the sequence along with replication enzymes, which induce, cause, and proofread replication.

Why Hamlet is a Tragic Hero and the Play a Classic Tragedy :: essays research papers

Dear Kylie, I noticed your submission to Culture Magazine, regarding Shakespeare’s great play â€Å"Hamlet†. Having recently studied â€Å"Hamlet† in Year 12 English, I think I can help answer one of your questions. You asked why is Hamlet regarded as a tragic hero and the play a classic tragedy? Before I can answer your question, you must first understand the difference between the meaning of tragedy today and what is meant by tragedy in drama. Whereas a tragedy in life may be considered something such as a death or accident, in drama a tragedy in drama is much more. In a tragedy, although the hero may be in conflict with an opposing force, the cause of his downfall falls ultimately on himself. This is usually because of a character defect – a â€Å"tragic flaw† which causes him to act in a way which ends up bringing about his own misfortune, suffering and ultimately death. â€Å"Hamlet† is very much a tragedy, but it is also different, being a revenge tragedy where the hero is driven by the need for revenge, not unlike a modern day horror movie. Prince Hamlet is a tragedy of character where it is himself that brings his downfall, not fate. Well Kylie, a tragedy is usually a story of one person, with both the hero victims in the play usually of a high standing of society. This is especially the case in â€Å"Hamlet†, with his victims being King Claudius, Queen Gertrude, Polonious, Laertes, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, all being linked to the Royal Family of Denmark. A personality fault (the tragic flaw) causes the hero to act in a manner which brings about his own misfortune and eventually death, during which he lets the audience know he is dying by delivering a final speech. In â€Å"Hamlet†, it is his tragic flaw of his indecisiveness and inability to act, which brings his own suffering and misfortune. Had he been able to kill King Claudius in the beginning none of the suffering would have occurred. He also delivers his final speech telling the audience of his death, â€Å"I am dead Horatio. Wretched queen, adieu!† he exclaims after being poisoned by Laertes envenomed rapier. In a tragedy the pity and fear (known in drama as pathos) is ultimately replaced by an uplifting and suffering (known in drama as catharsis) Hamlet’s acts cause suffering but in the end ultimately achieve learning. Hamlet’s ultimate death teaches the country of Denmark about Claudius’s murder and brings them under the reins of a new ruler Fortinbras of Norway.

Exploring Gardners Theory on Multiple Intelligences Essay -- Educatio

Howard Gardner used to define intelligence as â€Å"the ability to solve problems or to create products that are valued within one or more cultural settings† (Gardner 33). The modern day human being would most likely include the words â€Å"smart† and â€Å"dumb† in their definition of intelligence. Gardner questioned the belief of only one intelligence so he created his own theory that involved seven different discoveries. He didn’t want to call these discoveries â€Å"skills† or â€Å"talents† or gifts† because those all suggested a drawback so he decided on the word â€Å"intelligence,† creating his theory of multiple intelligences (Gardner 33). Gardner’s theory of multiple intelligences including, linguistic, logical/mathematical, musical, bodily-kinesthetic, spatial, intrapersonal and interpersonal, has many implications for modern education and culture. Howard Gardner grew up in Pennsylvania in the late 1940’s, although his parents were originally from Germany. He attended Harvard as an undergraduate with the hopes of becoming a lawyer and with a major in history. However, as soon as he became the mentee of Erik Erikson, a well-known psychoanalyst, his interests started to change. Gardner entered the doctoral program at Harvard and received his PhD in 1971 with a dissertation on style sensitivity in children. During his years of doctoral study he became a part of the Project Zero, which does research on arts education, and he now co-directs the project. Gardner’s work with Project Zero led to the Project on Human Potential, which resulted in his first well-known book, Frames of Mind. He has written many books since then including, The Shattered Mind and Multiple Intelligences, and he is â€Å"currently Hobbs Professor of Cognition and Education at the Har... ...ly. It’s not Gardner’s goal to take over the education system and have it all reformed, but he does want educators to rethink their everyday lessons and see if they can improve them using his theory in order to broaden the comprehension of ideas to all students. Now all our society has to do is learn how to use this theory as an advantage and put all the intelligences to work. Gardner has started this concept of multiple intelligences but no one knows where it will end and what other implications it will have along the way. Works Cited Gardner, Howard. Intelligence Reframed: Multiple Intelligences for the 21st Century. New York, NY: Basic, 1999. Print. Smith, Mark K. "Howard Gardner, Multiple Intelligences and Education." The Encyclopedia of Informal Education. 2008. Web. 23 Feb. 2011.