Human resource development Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 3

Human resource development - Essay Example The training program should include: The program for the advisor should focus on the improvement of resources provision, conveyance of realities and supply of organizational information to the employees. The training and development program for the advisor should include: Consultant works like a referral agent whose training and development program should focus on assisting employees with their goals through networking with resources and people. Therefore, the plan should include training for: The reason for the evaluation is to document and determine the degree to which the stated objectives have been achieved by the training. In the evaluation process, analysis of the efficiency, effectiveness, appropriateness and the adequacy of the training are carried out. There are four levels of evaluation, impact evaluation, transfer evaluation, learning level and the reaction level. Through the evaluation, we can improve the training programs defined initially. Effective training and evaluation cannot be separated from one another. Evaluation should be carried out by a Quality Inspector who should evaluate the entire training program in a top-down approach. The training program should be evaluated to check whether the training program is effective, whether the resources being provided for the training program are sufficient or not and whether the program itself is training the members as needed. The evaluation should be carried out twice a year for the analysis of the regular training programs and annually after the annual training program has been completed at the end through feedback and control. Evaluation is necessary to ensure that the program delivers maximum incentives to everyone involved (ONeill, Albin, Storey, Horner, & Sprague, 2014). The evaluation should be carried out twice a year for the analysis of the regular training programs and annually after the annual training program has been completed at the end through feedback

Interviewed Couple Essay Example for Free

Interviewed Couple Essay The family is regarded as the basic unit of society and as such, good parenting is important in order to strengthen the family as an institution. Nevertheless, the situation of every family is different. There are important factors such as age, cultural, background, financial stability, etc. that must be carefully considered in assessing the parenting style in every family. Being the case, it is necessary that the situation of families are given due importance and the most effective way to be able to understand parenting styles is through the face-to-face interaction with parents. In relation to this, Henry and Tanya Pietrkowski were interviewed when it comes to parenting their daughter, Sophia. The interviewees are Henry and Tanya Pietrkowski who are the parents of a 14 years old teenager. The first part of the interview is about the family background of the couple that involves their respective ethnicity and religion. Tanya has a German-Jewish and Russian Jewish ethnicity. She pointed out that there was a conflict between the German and Russian sides of her family. She grew up in a small town Georgia wherein Jews are regarded as a minority. On the other hand, Henry came from a family of first-generation American Jewish. His parents emigrated from Poland and were Holocaust survivors. Henry grew up in the north side of Chicago. In this part of the interview, the ethnicity and religious background of the couple is given importance because the place and way by which they grew up have a substantial effect in their corresponding beliefs and values about parenting (McDermott 4). In addition, through the conversation of the interviewer with the couple it was established that their ancestors were immigrants from other countries and regarded as a minority in the American society. Tanya even explicitly stated that she experienced living in a small town in Georgia wherein Jews are a minority. In terms of parenting, the cultural background of the parents is important, especially when it comes to dealing with teachers that will be responsible in educating their children. The parents and the teachers should be able to understand each other in terms of cultural context in order for them to properly guide the education and behavior of the child (McDermott 4). The interview with the couple also gives emphasis with the respective lessons that they learn from their parents regarding parenting. The couple explained that their parents veered away from the parenting styles of their grandparents because the latter experienced a very difficult childhood, which is why in the case of Tanya, her parents chose to live in Georgia so that she will not experience the difficulties that they went through. Both the parents of the couple are disciplinarians. Nevertheless, they were still able to maximize their skills and talents even though their parents are not financial stable. Tanya’s father was an art professor, which make it easier for her to develop her singing, running, debating, and other skills because her father provided her with private lessons with his colleagues in the academe. Tanya’s father exemplified the ability of parents to give the necessary their children by means of supporting their interests, which eventually served as a huge help in maximizing their potentials as individuals (Heath 316). Unfortunately, Tanya admitted that her parents were not able to address the issues that they have during their childhood, which makes it difficult for them to instill the necessary values to her and her brother. Furthermore, Tanya and her mother also have disagreements on the way Tanya raised her daughter, especially when it comes to financial matters and the values that she teach her daughter. The problem of Tanya’s parents in teaching values to their children is brought about by unresolved childhood issues, which is discussed by Erik Erikson in the stages of development. Tanya’s parents were not able to properly go through the different stages of development, which is why their unresolved childhood issues still affects their parenting style (Elkind 9). Moreover, the disagreement between Tanya and her mother is also caused by the failure of the mother to properly develop into an adult that has the necessary financial stability and value fulfillment (Newman and Newman 317). The second part of the interview involves the conversation about the marriage of the couple and their decision to conceive a child. Based on the answer of the couple, they were only 13 months married when Tanya became pregnant. The couple already acknowledges the idea that they will become parents but they did not expect that it will happen very soon. However, even though the child came very early in their marriage the couple was able to fulfill their respective dreams of being married first and having a stable job before having a baby. In this situation, the couple was individually fulfilled before having a baby, which is essential in their growth process as adults and eventually has a good effect in their parenting (Simon and Lambert 91). The last part of the interview is about the parenting of the couple. It is clearly observable that the couple also wants the best for their daughter, in terms of her living a better life as compared to them. The couple has their own parenting style that is different from their parents because their experienced taught them their parents lack the necessary tending in the way they were raised (Taylor 34). Moreover, the couple also moved to a part of Chicago that has Jewish community in order for their daughter not to feel isolated. They also enrolled their daughter to a Jewish school in order for her to have a strong Jewish faith unlike them. The couple admitted that they do not have any specific parenting style for their daughter wherein they did not establish any parenting roles of rules that their daughter need to follow. The couple just goes with the flow of parenting but they believed that they were able to raise their children well because they listen to her, which is important in parenting. The couple advised other parents that the right way of parenting is by trusting one’s instinct, which is actually true in the most current studies that there is â€Å"no single recipe for successful parenting† because every family have different issues, backgrounds, beliefs, and values that must be considered in identifying the right parenting style (Maccoby 451).

Evidence from International Stock Markets

Evidence from International Stock Markets Portfolio Selection with Four Moments: Evidence from International Stock Markets Despite the international diversification suggested by several researchers (e.g. Grulbel, 1968; Levy and Sarnat, 1970; Solnik, 1974) and the increased integration of capital markets, the home bias has not decreased (Thomas et. al., 2004 and Coeurdacier and Rey, 2013) and there is no complete explanation of this puzzle. Furthermore, there are the fastgrowing concerns of investor for extreme risks[1] and the investors preference toward odd moments (e.g. mean and skewness) and an aversion toward even moments (e.g. variance and kurtosis) considered by numerous studies (e.g. Levy, 1969; Arditti, 1967 and 1971; Jurczenko and Maillet, 2006). According to these reasons, this paper propose to investigate whether the incorporation of investor preferences in the higher moments into the international asset allocation problem can help explain the home bias puzzle. The study will allow investor preferences to depend not only the first two moments (i.e. mean and variance) but also on the higher moments, such as skewness and kurtosis, by using the polynomial goal programming (PGP) approach and then generate the three-dimensional efficient frontier. The main objective of the proposed study is to investigate whether the incorporation of skewness and kurtosis into the international stock portfolio selection causes these issues: The changes in the construction of optimal portfolios, the patterns of relationships between moments, and the less diversification compared to the mean-variance model. Since several researchers (e.g. Grulbel, 1968; Levy and Sarnat, 1970; Solnik, 1974) suggest that investment in a portfolio of equities across foreign markets provide great diversification opportunities, then investors should rebalance there portfolio away from domestic toward foreign equities. However, US investors continue to hold equity portfolios that are largely dominated by domestic assets. Thomas et. al. (2004) reported that by the end of 2003 US investors held only 14 percent of their equity portfolios in foreign stocks. Furthermore, Coeurdacier and Rey (2013) also reported that in 2007, US investors hold more than 80 percent of domestic equities. Many explanations have been recommended in the literature to explain this home bias puzzle include direct barriers such as capital controls and transaction costs (e.g. Stulz, 1981; Black, 1990; Chaieb and Errunza, 2007), and indirect barriers such as information costs and higher estimation uncertainty for foreign than domestic equities (e.g. Brennan and Cao, 1997; Guidolin, 2005; Ahearne et. al., 2004). Nevertheless, several studies (e.g. Karolyi and Stulz, 1996; Lewis, 1999) suggests that these explanations are weakened since the direct costs to international investment have come down significantly overtime and the financial globalization by electronic trading increases exchanges of information and decreases uncertainty across markets. Since the modern portfolio theory of Markowitz (1952) indicates how risk-averse investors can construct optimal portfolios based upon mean-variance trade-off, there are numerous studies on portfolio selection in the framework of the first two moments of the return distributions. However, as many researchers (e.g., Kendall and Hill, 1953; Mandelbrot, 1963a and 1963b; Fama, 1965) discovered that the presence of significant skewness and excess kurtosis in asset return distributions, there is a great concern that highermoments than the variance should be accounted in portfolio selection. The motivation for the generalization to higher moments arises from the theoretical work of Levy (1969) provided the cubic utility function depending on the first three moments. Later, the empirical works of Arditti (1967 and 1971) documented the investors preference for positive skewness and aversion negative skewness in return distributions of individual stocks and mutual funds, respectively. Even Markowitz (1959) himself also supports this aspect by suggesting that a mean-semi-variance trade-off [2], which gives priority to avoiding downside risk, would be superior to the original mean-variance approach. While the importance of the first three moments was recognized, there were some arguments on the incorporation of higher moments than the third into the analysis. First, Arditti (1967) suggested that most of the information about any probability distribution is contained in its first three moments. Later, Levy (1969) argued that even the higher moments are approximately functions of the first moments, but not that they are small in magnitude. Several authors (Levy, 1969; Samuelson, 1970; Rubinstein, 1973) also recommend that in general the higher moments than the variance cannot be neglected, except when at least one of the following conditions must be true: All the higher moments beyond the first are zero. The derivatives of utility function are zero for the higher moments beyond the second. The distributions of asset returns are normal or the utility functions are quadratic. However, ample evidence (e.g., Kendall and Hill, 1953; Mandelbrot, 1963a and 1963b; Fama, 1965) presented not only the higher moments beyond the first and their derivatives of the utility function are not zero, but also the asset returns are not normally distributed. Furthermore, several researchers (Tobin, 1958; Pratt, 1964; Samuelson, 1970; Levy and Sarnat, 1972) indicate that the assumption of quadratic utility function is appropriate only when return distributions are compact. Therefore, the higher moments of return distributions, such as skewness, are relevant to the investors decision on portfolio selection and cannot be ignored. In the field of portfolio theory with higher moments, Samuelson (1970) was the first author who recommends the importance of higher moments than the second for portfolio analysis. He shows that when the investment decision restrict to the finite time horizon, the use of mean-variance analysis becomes insufficient and the higher moments than the variance become more relevant in portfolio selection. Therefore, he developed three-moment model based on the cubic utility function which expressed by Levy (1969)3. Following Samuelson (1970), number of studies (e.g. Jean, 1971, 1972 and 1973; Ingersoll, 1975; and Schweser, 1978) explained the importance of skewness in security returns, derived the risk premium as functions of the first three moments, and generated the three-dimensional efficient frontier with a risk-free asset. Later, Diacogiannis (1994) proposed the multi-moment portfolio optimization programme by minimizing variance at any given level of expected return and skewness. Consequently, Athayde and Flores (1997) developed portfolio theory taking the higher moments than the variance into consideration in a utility maximizing context. The expressions in this paper greatly simplified the numerical solutions of the multi-moment portfolio optimal asset allocation problems4. 23 Levy (1969) defines the cubic utility function as U(x) which has the form: U(x) = ax + bx + cx , where x is a random variable and a,b,c are coefficients. This function is concave in a certain range but convex in another. Jurczenko, E. and Maillet, B. (2006) Multi-Moment Asset Allocation and Pricing Models, Wiley Finance, p. xxii. Different approaches have been developed to incorporate the individual preferences for higher-order moments into portfolio optimization. These approaches can be divided into two main groups, the primal and dual approaches. The dual approach starts from a specification of the higher-moment utility function by using the Taylors series expansion to link between the utility function and the moments of the return distribution. Then, the dual approaches will determine the optimal portfolio via its parameters reflecting preferences for the moments of asset return distribution. Harvey et. al. (2004) uses this approach to construct the set of the three-moment efficient frontier by using two sets of returns[3]. The results show that as the investors preference in skewness increases, there are sudden change points in the expected utility that lead to dramatically modifications in the allocation of the optimal portfolio. Jondeau and Rockinger (2003 and 2006) and Guidolin and Timmermann (2008) extend the dual approach in portfolio selection from three- to four-moment framework. A shortcoming of this dual approach is that the Taylor series expansion may converge to the expected utility under restrictive conditions. That is for some utility functions (e.g. the exponential function), the expansion converges for all possible levels of return, whereas for some types of utility function (e.g. the logarithm-power function), the convergence of Taylor series expansion to the expected utility is ensured only over a restricted range6. Furthermore, since Taylor series expansion have an infinite number of terms, then using a finite number of terms creates the truncation error. To circumvent these problems, the primal approach parameters that used to weight the moment deviations are not relate precisely to the utility function. Tayi and Leonard (1988) introduced the Polynomial Goal Programming (PGP), which is a primal approach to solve the goal in portfolio optimization by trade-off between competing and conflicting objectives. Later, Lai (1991) is the first researcher who proposed this method to solve the multiple objectives determining the set of the mean-variance-skewness efficient portfolios. He illustrated the three-moment portfolio selection with three objectives, which are maximizing both the expected return and the skewness, and minimizing the variance of asset returns. Follows Lai (1991) who uses a sample of five stocks and a risk-free asset, Chunhachinda et. al. (1997) and Prakash et. al. (2003) examines three-moment portfolio selection by using international stock indices. Regarding the under-diversification, many studies (e.g. Simkowitz and Beedles, 1978; Mitton and Vorkink, 2004; and Briec et. al., 2007) suggested that incorporation of the higher moments in the investors objective functions can explain portfolio under-diversification. Home bias puzzle is one of the under-diversification. It is a tendency to invest in a large proportion in domestic securities, even there are potential gains from diversification of investment portfolios across national markets. Guidolin and Timmermann (2008)[4] indicate that home bias in US can be explained by incorporate the higher moments (i.e. skewness and kurtosis) with distinct bull and bear regimes in the investors objective functions. Several researchers use the primal and the dual approaches to examine the  international portfolio selection. Jondeau and Rockinger (2003 and 2006) and Guidolin and Timmermann (2008) applied the dual approaches using a higher-order Taylor expansion of the utility function. They provide the empirical evidence that under large departure from normality of the return distribution, the higher-moment optimization is more efficient than the mean-variance framework. Chunhachinda et. al. (1997) and Prakash (2003) applied the Polynomial Goal Programming (PGP), which is a primal approach, to determine the optimal portfolios of international stock indices. Their results indicated that the incorporation of skewness into the portfolio selection problem causes a major change in the allocation of the optimal portfolio and the trade-off between expected return and skewness of the efficient portfolio. Appendix 1 presents methodology and data of the previous papers that study international portfolio selection with higher moments. In the proposed study, I will extend PGP approach to the mean-variance-skewnesskurtosis framework and investigate the international asset allocation problem that whether the incorporation of investor preferences in the higher moments of stock return distributions returns can help explain the home bias puzzle. Since previous research (e.g. Levy, 1972; Singleton and Wingerder, 1986) points out that the estimated values of the moments of the asset return distribution sensitive to the choices of an investment horizon, I will examine daily, weekly, and monthly data sets in the study[5]. The sample data will consist of daily, weekly, and monthly rates of return of five international indices for all available data from January 1975 to December 2016. These five indices cover the stock markets in the main geographical areas, namely the United States, the United Kingdom, Japan, the Pacific region (excluding Japan), and Europe (excluding United Kingdom)[6]. Moreover, the study also use three-month US Treasury bill rates as the existence of the risk-free asset in order that the investor is not restricted to invest only in risky assets. The data source of these indices is the Morgan Stanley Capital International Index (MSCI) who reports these international price indices as converted into US dollar at the spot foreign exchange rate. The MSCI stock price indices and T-bill rates are available in Datastream. The methodology proposed in the study consists of two parts. First, the rate of return distribution of each international index will be tested for normality by using the Shapiro-Wilk test. Then, the PGP approach will be utilized to determine the optimal portfolio in the fourmoment framework. 4.1 Testing for normality of return distribution At the beginning of the empirical work, I will test the normality of return distributions of international stock indices and the US T-bill rates. This test provides the foundation for examine the portfolio selection problem in the mean-variance-skewness-kurtosis framework. Although several methods are developed, there is an ample evidence that the ShapiroWilk is the best choice for evaluating normality of data under various specifications of the probability distribution. Shapiro et. al. (1968) provide an empirical sampling study of the sensitivities of nine normality-testing procedures and concluded that among those procedures, the Shapiro-Wilk statistic is a generally superior measure of non-normality. More recently, Razali and Wah (2011) compared the power of four statistical tests of normality via Monte Carlo simulation of sample data generated from various alternation distributions. Their results support that Shapiro-Wilk test is the most powerful normality test for all types of the distributions and sample sizes. The Shapiro-Wilk statistic is defined as where is the i th order statistic (rate of returns), à ¢Ã¢â‚¬ ¹Ã‚ ¯ . à ¢Ã¢â‚¬ ¹Ã‚ ¯ / is the sample mean, are the expected values of the order statistics of independent and identically distributed random variables sampled from the standard normal, and V is the covariance matrix of those order statistics. Note that the values of are provided in Shapiro-Wilk (1965) table based on the order i. The Shapiro-Wilk tests the null hypothesis of normality: H0: The population is normally distributed. H1: The population is not normally distributed.    If the p-value is less than the significant level (i.e. 1%, 5%, or 10%), then the null hypothesis of normal distribution is rejected. Thus, there is statistical evidence that the sample return distribution does not came from a normally distributed population. On the other hand, if the p-value is greater than the chosen alpha level, then the null hypothesis that the return distribution came from a normally distributed population cannot be rejected. 4.2 Solving for the multi-objective portfolio problem Following Lai (1991) and Chunhachinda et. al. (1997), the multi-objective portfolio selection with higher momentscan be examined based on the following assumptions: Investors are risk-averse individuals who maximize the expected utility of their end-ofperiod wealth. There are n + 1 assets and the (n + 1)th asset is the risk-free asset. All assets are marketable, perfectly divisible, and have limited liability. The borrowing and lending rates are equal to the rate of return r on the risk-free asset. The capital market is perfect, there are no taxes and transaction costs. Unlimited short sales of all assets with full use of the proceeds are allowed. The mean, variance, skewness, and kurtosis of the rate of return on asset are assumed to exist for all risky assets for 1,2, à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ . Then, I define the variables in the analysis as = ,, à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ , be the transpose of portfolio component , where is the percentage of wealth invested in the th risky asset, = ,, à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ , be the transpose of whose mean denoted by , = the rate of return on the th risky asset, = the rate of return on the risk-free asset, = a (n x 1) vector of expected excess rates of return, = the expectation operator, = the (n x 1) vector of ones, = the variance-covariance (n x n) matrix of , = the skewness-coskewness (n x n2) matrix of ,= the kurtosis-cokurtosis (n x n3) matrix of . Then, the mean, the variance, the skewness, and the kurtosis of the portfolio returns can be defined as:[7] , , à ¢Ã…  -,[8] Kurtosis = = à ¢Ã…  - à ¢Ã…  - . Note that because of certain symmetries, only ((n+1)*n)/2 elements of the skewnesscoskewness matrix and ((n+2)*(n+1)*n)/6 elements of the kurtosis-cokurtosis matrix must be computed. The components of the variance-covariance matrix, the skewness-coskewness matrix, and the kurtosis-cokurtosis matrix can be computed as follows: à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã¢â‚¬Ëœ, à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã¢â‚¬Ëœ, à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã¢â‚¬Ëœ, à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã¢â‚¬Ëœ, à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã¢â‚¬Ëœ, à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã¢â‚¬Ëœ. Therefore, the optimal solution is to select a portfolio component . The portfolio selection can be determined by solving the following multiple objectives, which are maximizing the expected return and the skewness while minimizing the variance and the kurtosis: , , à ¢Ã…  -, = à ¢Ã…  - à ¢Ã…  - . subject to 1. Since the percentage invested in each asset is the main concern of the portfolio decision, Lai (1991) suggests that the portfolio choice can be rescaled and restricted on the unit variance space (i.e. | 1 ). Under the condition of unit variance, the portfolio selection problem with skewness and kurtosis (P1) can be formulated as follows: , à ¢Ã…  -, (P1) = à ¢Ã…  - à ¢Ã…  - , subject to 1 , 1 . Usually, the solution of the problem (P1) does not satisfy three objectives (, , ) simultaneously. As a result, the above multi-objective problem (P1) involves a two-step procedure. First, a set of non-dominated solutions independent of investors preferences is developed. Then, the next step can be accomplished by incorporating investors preferences for objectives into the construction of a polynomial goal programming (PGP). Consequently, portfolio selection by satisfying the multiple objectives that is the solution of PGP can be achieved. In PGP the objective function ( ) does not contain a portfolio component , it contains deviational variables ( , , ) which represent deviations between goals and what can be achieved, given a set of constrains. Therefore, the objective function ( ) is minimization of the deviation variables ( , , ) to determine the portfolio component . Moreover, if the goals are at the same priority level, the deviations from the goals ( , , ) are non-negative variables. Given an investors preferences among mean, skewness, and kurtosis ( , , ), a PGP model can be expressed as: . subject to à ¢Ã‹â€ - , à ¢Ã…  -à ¢Ã‹â€ - , (P2) à ¢Ã…  - à ¢Ã…  - = à ¢Ã‹â€ - , 1 , 1 , ,, 0 . where à ¢Ã‹â€ - = the extreme value of objective when they are optimized individually, then à ¢Ã‹â€ - |1 , à ¢Ã‹â€ - |1 , and à ¢Ã‹â€ - |1 , = the non-negative variables which represent the deviation of and à ¢Ã‹â€ -, = the non-negative parameters representing the investors subjective degree of preferences between objectives, The combinations of represent different preferences of the mean, the skewness, and the kurtosis of a portfolio return. For example, the higher , the more important the mean (skewness or kurtosis) of the portfolio return is to the investor. Thus, the efficient portfolios are the solutions of problem (P2) for various combinations of preferences . The expected results provided in this section refer to two parts of methodology, the normality test and the international portfolio optimization in four-moment framework. 5.1 The expected results of the normality test Many researches examine the international stock indices and found that most of the stock return distributions exhibit skewness and their excess kurtosis are far from zero. For instance, in the work of Chunhachinda et. al. (1997), the Shapiro-Wilk statistics indicate 5 markets and 11 markets reject the null hypothesis of normal distribution at ten percent significant level, for weekly and monthly data, respectively. Prakash et. al. (2003) use the Jarque-Bera test to trial the normality of each international stock index, their results indicate that for 17 markets for weekly returns and 10 markets for monthly returns reject the null hypothesis of normal distribution five percent significant level. Therefore, I expected that the Shapiro-Wilk tests in the proposed study will be significant and reject the null hypothesis of normality. In other words, the return distributions of international stock markets during the period under study are expected to be non-normal. 5.2 The expected results of the multi-objective portfolio selection 5.2.1 The changes in the allocation of optimal portfolios Chunhachinda et. al. (1997) and Prakash et. al. (2003) both indicated that the incorporation of skewness into the portfolio selection problem causes a major change in the allocation of the optimal portfolio. However, their definitions of a major change are different. Chunhachinda et. al. (1997) found that there is a modification in the allocation when they compare between the mean-variance and the mean-variance-skewness efficient portfolios. However, both types of portfolios are dominated by the investment components of only four markets[9]. On the other hand, Prakash (2003) results show that the structural weights of the mean-variance and the mean-variance-skewness optimal portfolios are dominated by different markets. Therefore, I expected that when I compare between of the mean-variance efficient portfolios, the three-moment efficient portfolios, and the mean-variance efficient portfolios, the percentage invested in each asset will be different in magnitude and ranking. 5.2.2 The trade-off between expected return and skewness Most of the studies of international portfolio selection with higher moments (e.g. Chunhachinda et. al., 1997; Prakash et. al., 2003; Jondeau and Rockinger, 2003 and 2006) reported that the mean-variance efficient portfolios have the higher expected return while the three-moment efficient portfolios have greater skewness. Thus, they indicated that after incorporation of skewness into portfolio selection problem, the investor will trade the expected return of the portfolio for the skewness. More recently, Davies et. al. (2005) applied PGP to determine the set of the four-moment efficient funds of hedge funds and found not only the trade-off between the mean and the skewness, but also the trade-off between the variance and the kurtosis. Thus, I expected to discover the trade-off between the expected return and the skewness and the trade-off between the variance and the kurtosis. In addition, I will also investigate other relationships between the moments of return distribution and report them in both numerical and graphical ways. 5.2.3 The less diversification compared to the mean-variance model. To investigate whether the incorporation of higher moments than the second (i.e. skewness and kurtosis) can help explain the home bias puzzle, I will examine the hypothesis: H0: ZMV à ¢Ã¢â‚¬ °Ã‚ ¤ ZMVSK. H1: ZMV > ZMVSK. where ZMV and ZMVSK are the number of nonzero weights of the mean-variance efficient portfolios and the four-moment efficient portfolios, respectively. If the number of nonzero weights of the mean-variance efficient portfolios (ZMV) is greater than the number of nonzero weights of the four-moment efficient portfolios (ZMVSK), then I will rejected the null hypothesis. This implies that the incorporation of the higher moments into the portfolio decision can help explain the home bias puzzle. However, the results from the literature are mixed. On one hand, several researchers (e.g. Prakash et. al., 2003; Briec et. al., 2007; Guidolin and Timmermann, 2008) provided the evidence that the incorporation of skewness into the portfolio selection causes the less diversification in the efficient portfolio. On the other hand, the results of some studies (e.g. Chunhachinda et. al., 1997; Jondeau and Rockinger, 2003 and 2006) found that when compare with the mean-variance efficient portfolios, the diversification of the higher-moment efficient portfolios seem to be same or even became more diversify. I expected the results to show that the four-moment efficient portfolio is less diversified than the mean-variance one. In other words, the incorporation of the skewness and the kurtosis into the international portfolio selection can help explain the home bias. [1] Jurczenko, E. and Maillet, B. (2006) Multi-Moment Asset Allocation and Pricing Models, Wiley Finance, p. xxii. [2] Semi-variance is a measure of the dispersion of all observations that fall below the average or target value of a data set. [3] The first set consists of four stocks and the second set consists of four equity indices, two commodities, and a risk-free asset. 6 Jurczenko, E. Maillet, B., and Merlin, P. (2006) Multi-Moment Asset Allocation and Pricing Models, Wiley Finance, p. 52. [4] Guidolin and Timmermann (2008) analyze the portfolio selection problem by using the dual approach. [5] Chunhachinda et. al. (1997) and Prakash et. al. (2003) studied the portfolio selection across national stock markets by using two data sets, weekly and monthly data. [6] Guidolin and Timmermann (2008) reported that these markets represent roughly 97% of the world equity market capitalization. [7] I use the derivations of skewness and kurtosis as provided in the textbook Multi-Moment Asset Allocation and Pricing Models of Jurczenko and Maillet (2006) to transform the expectation operators into the matrix terms. [8] Let A be an (nÃÆ'-p) matrix and B an (mÃÆ'-q) matrix. The (mnÃÆ'-pq) matrix Aà ¢Ã…  -B is called the of matrix A and matrix B: [9] The four markets are Hong Kong, Netherlands, Singapore, and Switzerland. These markets have high rankings of the coefficient of variation under the sample period.

Making Ethical Bids in a Competitive Market :: Engineer Engineering Job Papers

Making Ethical Bids in a Competitive Market As the United States economy struggles through a sluggish time with the stock market dropping and unemployment rising, being competitive in the job market has become extremely important among professionals. Engineers are no exception. For most engineering firms, being competitive and successful requires obtaining design projects offered by companies in other fields. These projects can range from designing heating and ventilation systems for office buildings to water systems for cities to computer networks for businesses—the list of possibilities and disciplines is extensive. To get these jobs, engineers must make a bid proposal for the project. Bidding involves estimating the entire cost of the project, including the designing and building processes, as well as the materials and labor. Usually, the company with the lowest bid and the best plan gets the job. The ethical issue in this process is determining the cheapest building materials and construction procedures possible wit hout compromising public safety. The enormous responsibility that an engineer has when designing a project is often overlooked. His or her job is not only to create a design that will work under ideal conditions, but that will meet the regulations of environmental and building codes and will also survive the unpredictable forces of nature that structures are sometimes subjected to. An article in the Seattle Daily Journal of Commerce, "Structures are Held up by Both Skill and Luck,"1 describes many risks involved in the designing process and the failures that can occur when small details are overlooked. In light of a recent surge of failures in the Northwest, the article says: "While the Northwest has experienced some unusual weather conditions this year, the effects of these weather conditions were not all unpredictable. Many tragic failures in the Pacific Northwest (and in other parts of the country) can be traced to poor land-use planning decisions. Despite the availability of hazard mitigation information and qualified technical consultants, the information is often ignored and the consultants bypassed as development continues in the flood plains and on unstable hillsides. Often, unwise site selection and ill-conceived site development results in unnecessary exposure to severe natural hazards." Although the initial reason for not hiring a technical consultant in these cases of poor land choice is most likely an attempt to lower design and construction costs, in retrospect it seems obvious that the money spent on the expertise of a geotechnical engineer would have been significantly less than the "millions of dollars of direct losses and litigation costs.

roll of thunder :: essays research papers

If you go back to the Old House, it's in ruins and the Clock Tower is gone. But remember this place to come back later when you have some items that you don't have at the moment... At Father's House, the baby bird is spreading its wings. Unfortunately, it doesn't say anything with a Relay. One of the books you may be able to read now is here too: Level 15 (Shield Pack). Don't worry if you're not up this high yet; if you keep fighting monsters you'll either get there, or you'll spend so much on curing damage that you'll eventually figure out you need to kill easier monsters for a while to get levels so you can add points to the Robots. It helps too if you raise the levels of the Robots' weapons, or build and give them better Boots or Shields. If you did manage to get to Level 19 already, read the book for Weather and follow the instructions in the Scraps section to get ScrapB. You can do this later though, with no ill effects. OK, let's go on a trip to South Isle! Go to the Harbor area, which is monster-free. Talk to the man in the grass skirt, then walk onto the boat. Wait while it toils across the seas of Quintenix. You'll arrive at the Pier area on South Isle. When you leave the area, the path to the Village area is revealed. Mint and more natives are in there, and the screen shakes along with a sound effect like a helicopter (on my emulator, at least); that's the Volcano. There's a Tool Shop in the Village, but it has the same stock as the one in Rococo and the prices are 50% higher. Find the Shaman's house in the northwest, and then enter the Elder's house in the northeast. Now visit the Shaman's house, and note that blocked door in the first room for later. Or you can skip all the background information, including talking to the Mayor, and just talk to the native in the Inn and then moving into the left bed. There will be a dream sequence with a gold robot at the Volcano. Talk to the native standing near the exit, and the path to the Volcano area will be revealed when you leave. The Volcano area is monster-free (for now). Explore it and get the Celtis 1 and $300 treasures before you talk to the native blocking the stairs to the hole.

Julius Caesar Questionnaire

Act I 1. What do the final 4 lines of scene I suggest about the status of the people under Caesar’s rule? 2. â€Å"Foreshadowing† is the technique of preparing a reader or audience for something to happen later in the narrative. â€Å"Beware the Ides of March† is an example of such a technique. Can you guess what event may be foreshadowed by the Soothsayer’s warnings in scene II? (I, 21) 3. Much of scene II is given over to Cassius’s speeches to Brutus, trying to persuade him that he should rule rather than Caesar. Given this fact, what was the purpose of scene I? 4. Does Brutus tell Cassius why he has been feeling â€Å"passions of some difference† of late? (II, 45) Could they relate to his feelings for Caesar as ruler? 5. Cassius tells Brutus that â€Å"many† wished Brutus saw himself the way they do. Why is it important that he tells Brutus that such people are â€Å"groaning underneath this age’s yoke†? (II, 66) What does that mean? 6. What does Cassius mean when he describes his role for Brutus as â€Å"your glass†? (II, 73) 7. What do you think Brutus means when he tells his friend that his advice will only be important â€Å"if it be aught toward the general good†? II, 91) 8. How does â€Å"lov[ing] honor more than than [fearing] death† (II, 95) relate to Brutus’s becoming king? 9. Why does Brutus tell Cassius the story about Caesar and himself, swimming the Tiber River and fearing for their lives? 10. Summarize the meaning and intent of Cassius’s speech to Brutus in lines II, 144-167. 11. What is Caesar’s attitude toward Cassius (II, 205-219)? 12. After what you have heard about Caesar during his rule, do you believe he was genuine in his desire to refuse the crown of king, or not? (II, 269 ff. ) Why? 13. Give evidence from scene II to explain why Cassius is plotting to overthrow Caesar. 14. â€Å"So every bondman in his own hand bears the power to cancel his captivity. † Explain Casca’s statement in the context of the Romans’ growing fears of Caesar’s â€Å"monstrosity†. (III, 106-107) 15. To what does Cassius ascribe Caesar’s feeling that his powers be exercised? (III, 110-111) 16. What â€Å"enterprise† is Cassius referring to in lines III, 129-136? 17. Casca and Cassius hope Brutus will change once he is in power. How do they describe this change? (III, 161-167). Act II 1. Summarize, in a sentence or two, Brutus’s speech on pp. 21-22. Also—has Brutus decided to ally himself with Cassius and try to topple Caesar? 2. Do you think Brutus and Cassius have sufficient grounds to topple Caesar, even though much of their apprehension seems to be based on premonitions rather than Caesar’s bad deeds? Why? 3. What are Brutus’s deepest feelings about his plan to murder Caesar? (pp. 23-24) 4. â€Å"Oh, that we then could come by (influence) Caesar’s spirit/And not dismember Caesar! But, alas,/Caesar must bleed for it! Brutus still has reservations about the murder. Why, then, must Caesar still â€Å"bleed for† his abuse—or potential abuse–of power? (I, 178-180) 5. Why do you think Caesar has grown â€Å"superstitious of late†? (I, 208) 6. Do you think Brutus is lying to his wife, Portia, when he tells her he is â€Å"not well in health†? (I, 272) 7. Calpurnia tells her husband, Caesar, â€Å"When beggars die, there are no comets seen; the heavens themselves blaze forth the death of princes. † Explain in reference to Caesar’s rule of Rome. (II, 31-32) 8. Caesar says, â€Å"Cowards die many times before their deaths; the valiant taste of death but once. † Explain. (II, 33-34) [Note: This line is one of Shakespeare’s most famous. ] 9. Why is it significant that Caesar tells one of his murderers, Decius, â€Å"I love you†? (II, 78) [Note the play on Decius’s name: To die is to become â€Å"deceased†. ] 10. Do you think the conspirators are motivated by â€Å"emulation† (envy) as Artemidorus says they are? Why or why not? (III, 14) 11. To whom does the Soothsayer owe allegiance? Why, do you think? (III, 32) Act III 1. â€Å"Et tu (you, too? ), Brute? Then fall, Caesar! † says Caesar, dying. What do his dying words say about Caesar’s regard for Brutus’s opinion? Might he have meant anything else by the question, do you think? (scene I, line 84) 2. â€Å"Ambition’s debt is paid. † Explain the meaning of this statement, uttered by Brutus on Caesar’s demise. (I, 90) 3. Lines III, 121-123 proved prescient less than 150 years after Shakespeare’s death with the mutiny of the British during the English Revolution against their king, Charles I, and his murder on January 30, 1649. To what other historical events does Caesar’s murder relate? . Summarize Antony’s sentiments toward Caesar after the murder is committed? (Consult both III, 217-224 and III, 275-296 for this question. ) 5. Why does Antony befriend Brutus, Cassius, and the other conspirators? (III, 235) 6. When is â€Å"death† a suitable punishment for â€Å"ambition†? (III, 29) 7. â€Å"I have done no mo re to Caesar than you shall do to Brutus,† says Brutus in his funeral speech. Explain in reference to question 1, above. (III, 36-37) Does Brutus expect to be murdered, too? (III, 45-47) 8. â€Å"And Brutus is an honorable man,† is the refrain of Mark Antony’s famous eulogy f Caesar on page 56. Given his expressed love for the fallen leader, this refrain conveys Antony’s anger at the murderers through irony—saying one thing but meaning something quite the opposite. But Antony admits, credibly, that he â€Å"does not know† the whole story of Caesar’s so-called â€Å"ambition† and thus leaves himself—and Brutus and the conspirators—the option to celebrate the murderous act once he knows more. Practice saying this complex oration aloud and try to provide this refrain with an inflection that conveys Antony’s hostility. . Perceiving that he has raised the ire of the crowd to bloodthirstyness, Antony’s sarcasm turns mellow; when, at III, 225, he reiterates that the conspirators â€Å"are wise and honorable†, he seems to mean it and urges the people to listen carefully to the reasons given by t he conspirators for the murder. What was Antony’s true purpose in the eulogy? Did he achieve it or not, given the fact that the crowd does, in fact, go off to kill Brutus? Act IV 1. What is the thematic significance of Portia’s death? That is, why do you think the playwright thought it just that the lead conspirator and usurper, Brutus, should lose his wife as a result of his having participated in the conspiracy? (II, III) 2. â€Å"There is a tide in the affairs of men which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune; omitted, all the voyage of their life is bound in shallows and miseries. † [This is another of Shakespeare’s most famous lines. ] Explain the meaning and significance of this statement to the war between the legions of Antony and Brutus by referring to III, 250-252. . Summarize, in a sentence or two, Act IV’s importance to the play. Act V 1. â€Å"O Julius Caesar! Thou art mighty yet. Thy spirit walks abroad and turns our swords in our own proper entrails. † What truth about wars might this speech by Brutus be said to acknowledge? (III, 101-102) 2. What event does this speech (â€Å"O Julius Caesar †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ) presage? (V, 57) 3. Mark Antony’s speech establishes , once and for all, that Brutus’s intentions were honorable, and his sincerity in working for the ultimate good of the Roman people genuine. What, then, does Octavius mean when he suggests that the victorious forces of Antony â€Å"use† his memory by staging a â€Å"respectful† burial? What significance might such a funeral have for the Roman state? (V, 82-83) 4. Now that you have read the play in its entirety, decide for yourself whether or not Shakespeare believed that the murder of Caesar was in the best interests of the Roman people? To answer this question, reflect upon the facts of the play: who lives? (were their acts just? ), who dies? (were their acts unjust? , and how do the speeches associated with their deaths shed light on the way â€Å"God† (in the case of a fictitious story, the playwright himself) would judge them and their actions? 5. Since Brutus himself is said to have been â€Å"the noblest Roman of all† (V, 74), why do you think Shakespeare kills him off before the play’s conclusion? That is, is Shakespeare conveying any message, moral or practical, by killing him of f? [Remember: The reader must assume that nothing in such a play is included by accident. ]

Factors That Influence College Students of Dela Salle Lipa in Choosing Communication Program

Factors that influence College students of Dela Salle Lipa in choosing Communication Program By Lester Garcia and Joselle Segismundo of Dela Salle Lipa Abstract: * There are factors that influence a student in choosing a communication program. * There is a dilemma on which course to take. A bright future is considered. * Student’s age, gender, income, hobbies and interests are considered. Introduction * DLSU Lipa has been offering AB Communication since 2002 like Broadcasting, Journalism, PR, Film, etc. This study aims to: * Know the demographic profile of respondents * Factors that influence the first year respondents * Their expectations RRL * Reynolds (personal interest) * Baumerster (values) * Taylor (gender differences) Theoretical framework Human action approach model Conceptual Framework Man: student -> Choice B: AB Comm. ->Enroll in AB Comm. -> Working in comm. related field Methodology * Descriptive method * 51 respondents (2 sections) * 1st year AB comm. tudents (2010-2011) * Survey questionnaire conducted in classroom Discussion of Data * The comm. course is female dominated. 80. 39% of respondents are female. * 29. 41% 17 years old * 100,000-300,000php annual income * Hobbies: 62. 75% editing pictures, 58. 82% watching news, 52. 915 watching mainstream TV and film * 45% have good English skills, 39. 22% skilled in lay-outing, 37. 25% good writing skills * Want to be: 1. Layout designer 2. Writers 3. Photographers Summary Course choice is influenced by many factors like p ersonal interest, abilities, educational background, future employment and future plans Conclusion * The industry is dominated by women * Their first years are fit to the course because they have background. Recommendation: * Entice men to enroll in AB Comm. * Students should assess themselves * Institution should offer career orientation * There should be job opportunities for graduates * Parents should guide in the decision making * High school curriculum should be reviewed because it’s a place where students develop