Write About The Ways In Which Chaucer Presents Chauntecleer’s Dream?

In the Nun's priest's tale, the denizens of the widow's barnyard, in particular Chauntecleer and Pertelote are used to poke fun at very human sorts of behavior. The rooster's dream is significant as it and the discussion that follows takes up much of the tale itself. The focus is not on the action (Chauntecleer's capture by the fox) but on who is correct. Is Chauntecleer's position on dreams correct or is Pertelote's? The extensive discussion of the dream steers the story away from the â€Å"moral† of Chauntecleer's vanity. Chaucer uses numerous diverse techniques in-order to present chauntecleer's dream to the audience; I feel that he presents his dreams very successfully. For instance in the opening line, the use of a discourse marker is extremely effective, ‘and so bifel', it immediately catches the readers attention. ‘Bifel', meaning ‘it happened', and so the audience ask themselves, ‘what happened?' Furthermore, in line 5 and 6, the use of alliteration helps empathize that chauntecleer is somewhat distressed, slightly troubled. For example, ‘gan gronen' and followed, ‘ dreem is drecched'. Several times in the passage, Chaucer refers to religion; he uses the word, ‘God', as part of his sentence or in order to explain something. This highlights that they are significant points in which he is trying to get across. ‘For by that God above', almost means that God is watching at all times. Further down Chaucer creates a sense of imagery, implying that he was almost captured, held in captivity. He does this by involving the words, ‘prisoun' and ‘beest' sequentially to generate tension. When describing what the fox looked like on lines 20-25, you also notice that imagery of colour is put into effect, to stress how influential the animal is. Chaucer chooses very fiery colours to do this. ‘bitwixe yellow and reed'. Once more, Chaucer includes the technique alliteration, when describing the animal, this in a sense signifies his power. ‘Tipped was his tayl' and ‘Snowte Smal'. On the same line, line 24, Chaucer describes the animal in great detail, very insignificant aspects are included. Again a sense of imagery is created for the audience, ‘Glowynge eyen tweye', this is talking about the eyes of the animal. The use of discourse markers on line 27 and 28 brings the passage to a climax as Pertelote implies that Chauntecleer is a coward. ‘Avoy', which is followed by, how could you? You heartless coward! Beneath, is followed by, ‘Allas', in order to take the tension away from the point just brought up. The way Chaucer prevails his dream allows Pertelote to think differently of him, note that Pertelote's indignation at the thought that Chauntecleer might be a coward (and thus unworthy of her love); Chauntecleer's gallant compliments to his â€Å"lady† and statements concerning the effect of her beauty upon him; his references to the physical side of their passion. All the way through the tale Chaucer perceives the chickens as humans, and he continues to do this in his description of the dream. ‘To han housbondes hardy, wise and free'. This is basically indicating that they are husband and wife almost. But in fact they are just rooster and hen, which are made out to be more than that. In a sense mock-heroic by where Chaucer is exaggerating extensively. When talking about the fox, Chaucer uses the technique, rhetoric, which is the clever use of language which I have already touched upon, for example when describing his eyes the use of language is so complicated yet it is describing something very simple. Overall I feel that Chaucer have been very effective in presenting Chauntecleer's dream to the audience, this is only been helped in the techniques that he has included. Personally he interacts very well with the audience because of the way he makes out the two to be elderly humans instead of a rooster and a hen.

Muslim Women Rights

Muslim Women Rights The human right awareness in the world has taken a quite interesting shape in the attempt to achieve sisterhood and recognize women rights as human rights. This has been a subject of debate and extensive criticism as it is perceived as having potential to â€Å"homogenizing the issues that might be different to different women. There is also the risk of universalizing feminist ideas that are practiced in the western countries and use them to solve the problems facing all women around the globe. Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Muslim Women Rights specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Societal development and political maturity of a society is currently appraised by the extent the women rights are being enforced. In my opinion, is support that women problems should not at all be homogenized or feminist ideas universalized because the problems of women are not similar around the world and different women take different cou rse in addressing their problems. The issue of women rights has brought about hot debates in the world especially regarding veil put by Muslim women and other issues like polygamy. As presented in this essay, the issue of veil which is a discursive issue in the world is discussed as described by Leila Ahmed. Leila Ahmed tries to seek the discourse about women and gender in the Islamic has emerged and exploring what is the root cause of such debates in current worlds. She seeks from the debate whether the Islamic culture and societies are really oppressive to women. Te center of her concern was the discourse of veil where women in the Islamic societies were required to appear in veils and other clothing that are connected to the Islamic traditions. The mail question that lingered in her mind is whether the issue of veil and the traditional clothing was meant to boost pure Islam favoring both sexes or otherwise. Ahmed first focuses on the gender pattern in the Middle East prior to th e emergence of the Islam in order to gain ground to describe the Islamic doctrine on women that were practiced in the past. She describes how the Arab societies propagated the debates about women and gender within the Islamic societies that have become so prevalent in the world today. She explores the issue of women and gender both in Islamic contexts, social and also the historical background. She conducts an extensive study of debates and ideologies about women within the Islamic societies and demonstrates how the debate is so prevalent in the current world. She advocated tat unveiling women could be a great step to transforming the social status of the Islamic societies. His survey acted as a strong onset of the feminism within the Arab culture. According to Ahmed (23), Muslim men and women have expended a lot of effort in the attempt to discard the veil from their culture but others believe that the veil is important for feminist struggle. She demonstrates that the veil was a w ay used by the colonizers in order to promote their cultures in other territories forcing them to undermine their native culture. It is among other things a strategy of colonial domination in an area.Advertising Looking for essay on history? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Some Muslim women in different part of the world demand it as their right to be allowed to choose whether to veil or not. The concept explored by Leila Ahmed is very vital and closely connected to the Inderpal Grewal’s â€Å"the regime of human rights†? According to Grewal (1), similar to Ahmed argument, oppression of women by global feminism comes in form of universalization and generalization of women issues and approaches. This is oppressive because the women issues are not the same in all places in the world. There is very high correlation between the issues presented by Ahmed and that by Grewal because they both discuss issues r elated to women rights. They both argue that human rights are based on western notion that is generalized. The international organization present the western women as superior and they spill over their feminism notions to their third world counterparts without considering the cultural differences. To achieve â€Å"a radical complexity in the practice of feminist politics† as termed by Grewal, women should be allowed to pursue their demand for women rights their own way depending on their culture. Homogenization and universalizing women problems deprives some women the right to deal with their issues the best way they can by forcing them to adopt the western culture. Women oppression should not be homogenized or universalized because women in different countries differ in culture, politics or have social system that only suits their own problems. According to Ahmed, these are strategies to achieve western domination and erode the culture of women in minority communities. Ahme d, Leila. â€Å"The Discourse of the Veil†. Women and Gender in Islam: Historical Roots of a Modern Debate. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1992. Grewal, Inderpal. Women’s Rights as Human Right: Feminist Practices, Global Feminism and Human Rights Regimes in Trans-nationality. (PDF) Citizenship Studies 3, no. 3 (1999): 337–54

Capital Markets and Market Efficiency The WritePass Journal

Capital Markets and Market Efficiency Part 1 Capital Markets and Market Efficiency Part 11) Weak form efficiency2) Semi-strong efficiencyStrong-form efficiencyPart 2 Arguments For the Efficient Market Hypothesis Arguments against the Efficient Market Hypothesis Evaluation and Implications for Investors BibliographyRelated Part 1 The Efficient market hypothesis states that all financial markets are efficient in their use of information to determine prices. This means that investors cannot expect to achieve excess profits that are more than the average market profits with similar risk factors, given all available information at the current time of investment, aside from through some form of luck. In part 1 of this report we will discuss the three different forms of market efficiency that Eugene Fama identified in her 1970 report. These can be explained as follows: 1) Weak form efficiency Fama (1970) observes that a market is efficient in weak form if past returns cannot be used to predict current stock price changes. It also assumes that prices on assets that are traded publicly already have and use all available information on the stock at any moment in time. It therefore stands to reason that the weak form of the market efficiency hypothesis means that past returns on stock are uncorrelated with future returns on the same stock. Future prices cannot be predicted by studying carefully the past prices of the stock. Excess returns cannot be earned over an extended period of time by using investment strategies that are based only upon the historical prices of shares or differing forms of historical analysis. This means that this style of technical analysis will not be able to produce high levels of returns on a consistent basis for investors. Overall one cannot expect future price changes to be predicted by using the past stock prices. Simply put weak form efficiency a ssumes that historical analysis on past stock data is of no use in predicting future price changes on stocks. 2) Semi-strong efficiency The semi-strong market efficiency form progresses from the aforementioned weak form market efficiency by stating that markets can adjust easily and very quickly to new information that is provided about various stocks. Fama (1970: 383) cites semi- strong efficiency as whether prices efficiently adjust to other information that is publicly available. e.g. announcements of stock splits, etc†¦   Here it is assumed that asset prices fully reflect all of the publicly available information on the stocks meaning that only those investors who manage to possess additional unique information about the stocks could have an advantage over the market to make large gains. This form also asserts that any price outliers are found quickly and on this basis the stock market manages to adjust. In a semi-strong form efficiency share prices are able to react quickly to new information made available publicly in a quick manner so that no large returns can be gained from using the recent information . This leads us to imply that neither fundamental analysis or technical analysis will be able to produce consistent excess returns. Strong-form efficiency Strong-form efficiency assumes that prices reflect completely any type of new information about the market be that public or private information. Fama (1970: 383) says that strong form tests are concerned with whether given investors or groups have monopolistic access to any information relevant for formation, however Fama claims that the efficient hypothesis model still stands up well. The strong form claims the market price also includes different forms of insider information and not solely public information, and this is how it differs from the semi-strong form. The implications of this is that no one at all can therefore have any kind of advantage over the market in prediction of the stock prices as no possible additional data exists which would provide additional value to any investor. However, if any legal barriers exist which prevents the spread of useful information, such as insider trading laws for example, then this form of market efficiency is not possible. Part 2 The Efficient Markets Hypothesis was introduced by Eugene Fama in 1970. The main idea of the Efficient Market Hypothesis is predominantly that market prices must take into account all available information at any given point. Therefore meaning that no one can outperform the market by using readily available public information aside from through luck. A market is said to be efficient if the price fully reflects information about that market, for example if the price of the stock would be unaffected if all information surrounding it was revealed to all stakeholders in that market. Part two of this report will be critically discussing the evidence for and against the Efficient Market Hypothesis and whether it is possible to exploit market inefficiencies. The implications for investors and companies of the Efficient Markey Hypothesis will also be considered. Arguments For the Efficient Market Hypothesis To begin with following the birth of the efficient market hypothesis the theory was widely accepted, and it was widely assumed that the markets were very efficient in taking this information into account (Malkiel, 2003). It was accepted that when information came to the fore this would spread rapidly and would then be incorporated almost instantaneously into the share prices without hesitation. This meant that technical analysis, study of prior stock prices, nor any analysis of relevent information of a financial sense would lead an investment to achieve more successful returns than holding random stocks which have a comparable risk factor.   Dimson and Mussavian (1998) observe that the evidence accumulated during the 1960s and 1970s was consistent with the Efficient Market Hypothesis view. There was a substantial backing for the weak and semi strong Efficient Market Hypothesis forms. Even though more recent times have seen an attack against the Efficient Market Hypothesis, Roll (1994) still observes that it remains incredibly difficult to make a high level of profit on a consistent basis even with the wildest variants of stock market efficiency. These violations of market efficiency are often sporadic events that do not last for a period of time. This can be seen by looking at the fact that on the whole profitable investment successes are referred to on a consistent basis as outliers (Dimson and Mussavian, 1998). Malkiel (2005: 2) says that: the strongest evidence suggesting that markets are generally quite efficient is that professional investors do not beat the market. Indeed, the evidence accumulated over the past 30-plus years makes me more convinced than ever that our stock markets are remarkably efficient at adjusting correctly to new information. This is showing that the markets must be efficient due to the fact that professional investors do not on the whole beat the market, and therefore all available information must be taken into account by the market prices and thus there is no gain to be had by any investors by using past prices, or publicly or privately readily available information. Arguments against the Efficient Market Hypothesis Malkiel (2003: 60) observes that by the beginning of the twenty first century the intellectual dominance of the efficient market hypothesis had become far less universal and academics were starting to question the premise and were not accepting it as they had done previously. Shiller (2003 ; 83) states that,   Ã¢â‚¬Å"[contained in the EMH is] the idea that speculative asset prices such as stock prices always incorporate the best information about fundamental values and that prices change only because of good, sensible information.† However he then moves on to discuss how not all information is sensible and not all actors are rational, this would conflict with the efficient market hypothesis which relies on information having a large impact on the prices of stock. As well as this several recent reports have shown a range of empirical evidence which suggests that stock returns can actually possess components of a predictable nature, therefore also rejecting parts of the efficient market hypothesis which profess that looking at past trends do not allow for excess gains when investing on the stocks against the market. Keim and Stambaugh (1986) state that using forecasts based on a number of factors can find statistically significant predictability in a range of different stock prices. Lo and MacKinlay (1988) reject the random walk hypothesis, which is so often considered with the efficient market hypothesis theory, and show that it is not at all consistent with the stochastic nature of weekly returns. Empirical evidence of return behaviour which has been anomalous in the form of variables such as price to earnings ratio (Fama and French, 1992) has defied any kind of usual rational explanation and has resulted in a great number of researchers cons idering their views and opinions of market efficiency. Evaluation and Implications for Investors In conclusion, it is clear to see that market prices are not always predictable and that the markets have made large errors at certain points in time, for example at the recent dotcom internet bubble. Here it was obviously possible to exploit the market inefficiency to make money for investors. In the short run it may be possible to exploit these sporadic inefficiencies, but in the long term true value will always come to the fore. As long as these markets do exist, due to it being reliant on the judgement of investors, there will occasionally be errors made and some participants In the market are likely to behave in a less than rational manner, as is inherent in human nature. As well as this all information will not necessarily be sensible and investors are not likely to necessarily use it rationally. Thus irregular pricing or predictable patterns on stocks can appear and be exploited from time to time. In terms of the implications for investors in terms of the efficient market hypothesis, it is plain to see that all markets cannot be one hundred percent efficient all of the time or there would not be an incentive for people who are professionals in the field to discover different facets of information that is often quickly reflected by market prices (Grossman and Stiglitz, 1980). However, things such as the 1999 dot com bubble are exceptions rather than the rule to providing investors with extraordinary returns on their investments to exploit market inefficiencies. Therefore one could assume that the markets are efficient more often than not, and Fama (1970) is on the whole correct. This could lead to the conclusion in agreeing with Ellis (1998) and the overall idea that active equity management is indeed a losers game. Malkiel (2005) further advises on Ellis claim and professes that indexing is likely to produce higher rates of return than active portfolio management. This is beco ming more and more likely to impact investors as markets become more and more efficient, as Toth and Kertesz (2006) show in their examination of an increase in efficiency of the New York stock exchange. Therefore investors are required to question if it is indeed possible or feasible to exploit market inefficiencies using strategies the efficient market hypothesis calls into question. Bibliography Dimson, E. and Mussavian, M. (1998). A Brief History of Market Efficiency. European Financial Management. 4(1): 91-103. Ellis, C. (1998). Winning the Loser’s Game, McGraw-Hill: New York. Fama. E.G, (1970). Efficient Capital Markets: A Review of Theory and Empirical Work. The Journal of Finance. 25(2): 383-417 Fama, E. and French, K. (1988) Dividend yields and expected stock returns. Journal of Financial Economics.(22): 3-25. Fama, E. and French, K. (1992). Common risk factors in the returns on stocks and bonds. Journal of Financial Economics. (33): 3-56. Grossman, S. and J, Stiglitz. (1980). On the Impossibility of Informationally Efficient Markets. American Economic Review. 70(3). 393-408. Keim and Stambaugh (1986). Predicting returns In the Stock and Bond Markets. Journal of Financial Economics. 357-290. Lo and MacKinlay. (1988) Stock Market prices do not follow random walks : Evidence from a simple specification test. Review of Financial Studies. (1): 41-66. Malkiel, B. (2003). The Efficient Market Hypothesis and Its Critics Authors.   The Journal of Economic Perspectives, 17(1): 59-82 Malkiel, B. (2005). Reflections on the Efficient Market Hypothesis: 30 Years Later. The Financial Review (40):1-9 Shiller, R. (2003). ‘From Efficient Markets Theory to Behavioral Finance’. Journal of Economic Perspectives. 17(1) : 83-104. Toth, B. and Kertesz, J. (2006). Increasing market efficiency: Evolution of cross-correlations of stock returns. Physica 360(2): 505–515.

What to do if your career plans fall through

What to do if your career plans fall through Maybe you applied for your dream job and never heard back. Maybe you made it months into the process, and after 3 rounds of interviews finally received a rejection. Or maybe you got what you thought was the perfect job and then realized it’s not the career for you. It’s tough to put everything you have into building a career and then have it not pan out. When your work life is out of balance, you’re in a vulnerable place, and that uncertainty can color all aspects of your life.Here are a few actions you can take to dig yourself out of a career slump and get yourself going in the right direction.Take a time out.When you get the rejection- or the realization hits you that you’re in the wrong job- give yourself a minute to wallow. Really, it’s okay to be frustrated and sad. Sulk, cry, and vent to your partner and friends. Take a moment to process before getting back on your A-game again.Accept the reality of the situation.The fact is, you’re not where you want to be. No matter how many good vibes you send into the world, you have to face reality. Figure out exactly where you are now, and accept that place as your new square one. This will give you a solid base from which to start and get done what you need to get done.Turn your anger into action.Instead of grumbling about how unfair life is, put all of that mental energy to better use figuring out how you’re going to move on. Sure, you can be annoyed and mad, but if you obsess over negative emotions, your bitterness will seep into your job hunt and your life.Work on yourself.We all have areas that need improvement. What are yours? Take some time to identify your trouble spots- or even just places where you could broaden your awesomeness. Nothing boosts your self worth- or your resume- like targeting weaknesses and eventually turning them into strengths.This is the professional version of turning lemons into lemonade. Sit down with a piece of paper or a blank screen and list the reason why you might have fallen short. Take a moment to figure out what you can learn from where you’ve ended up. What can you do in the future to improve and not make the same mistakes? How can you be better?Solicit feedback.Hiring managers are often happy to help you along your journey. Ask what you could have improved in order to be a better candidate for the position you didn’t get. You can also ask mentors, bosses, and colleagues how they would rate your past job performance. See how people view you from the outside, and then work on the skills that you lack.Get to work.Okay, you had your pity party and have assessed your strengths and weaknesses. Now’s the time to muster all your positivity and motivation and really get out there to get things done. Do your homework: figure out what you need to do to end up in your dream job and start all over again. You’ll get there.

The global economy--answer all three questions Essay

The global economy--answer all three questions - Essay Example With growing or declining market rates, which are dependent on demand for funds or economic conditions, interest rate is changing respectively. There are many differences between official cash rate and the market rate of interest. Nevertheless, relation between these two rates determines a special influence exerted on the economy of the country. Cash rate is also known as interest rate paid on overnight funds. Business cycle is under a strong influence of interest rate. Changes are sent to other interest rates in the economy and economic activity is under the influence of interest rates changes. Changes in the cash rate exert influence on interest rates in the economy. Nevertheless, some rates are not subjected to external influence from other rates. There are different options for interest rate changes and movements. It can be claimed that market rates are quick and complete in the markets. From another perspective, there are numerous cases of regression and the coefficients of cash rate change are less than one, as a rule. Maturity of security can be defined in the following way: â€Å"the long-run pass-through coefficient and the coefficient on the cash rate in the "levels" regressions are positive for all three rates, but the size of the coefficients declines the longer is the maturity of the security† (Wylie, 2009). It is possible to define the measure of governmental bonds over a certain period of time and the rates of maturities should be correlated during different periods. It is evident that the interest rate, when decrease, exerts a serious negative influence on consumption and investment expenditures, as well as the level of aggregate demand, the inflation and the unemployment rates. This influence can be interpreted in the following manner: when there is a price increase, borrowing is decreasing. When the price is decreasing, the effect is quite different. Borrowing increases in this case at once. Consequently, it is evident that changes in

The role and importance of creativity and innovation in generating Essay

The role and importance of creativity and innovation in generating competitive advantage - Essay Example Porter has emphasized that the motivation behind the formulation and adoption of any strategy is the achievement of competitive advantage. To achieve competitive advantage a business organization is required to build a steadfast choice about the form of competitive advantage it wants to accomplish and the range of resources within which it would strive to achieve that level. Competitive advantage sought by firms can be classified into two basic types; low cost and differentiation (IFM, n.d.). On the basis of these two competitive advantages Porter has come up with three generic strategies (Porter, 2008, p. 12) namely, cost leadership, differentiation, and focus. The last strategy has two sub categories, â€Å"cost focus and differentiation focus† (IFM, n.d.). These strategies help the firm deliver a better than average performance. Cost leadership Any firm that follows the strategy of cost leadership, targets at becoming the only producer in the entire industry whose cost of p roduction would be lower than all its competitors. The producer seeks to exploit economies of scale and follow competitive pricing (Richardson and Dennis, 2003). Cost leadership strategy is a key to success for several successful companies; one among them is Walmart (Baroto, Abdullah and Wan, 2012). Differentiation Under this strategy the firm concentrates on becoming unique in the products it offers. It does this by identifying certain product dimensions that consumers value the most. The firm develops its production and marketing strategies in such a way that it can satisfy the customers’ demand for those attributes and hence receives premium price for that uniqueness. For example, Apple Computers makes â€Å"differentiation by technology† (Baroto, Abdullah and Wan, 2012, p. 120) to preserve its competitive advantage. Focus The firm selects either a group of segments or a single segment from the industry in which it belongs and optimizes its strategies to serve these segments so well, as to gain competitive advantage over all its competitors. A firm can pursue this by either creating cost advantage in a targeted segment (cost focus) or by developing a differentiation in a targeted segment (differentiation). Tesco follows the focus strategy to blend elements of both differentiation and low cost (Baroto, Abdullah and Wan, 2012). Total Quality Management Total quality management (TQM) is â€Å"an art of management† (Singh, Qureshi and Butt, 2007) that became popular with business organizations in 1980s. Clark (1996) has explained that this management strategy focuses on maintaining quality of in all processes running in an organization; manufacturing, human resource, financial procurements, R&D and administration. Implementation of total quality management provides a framework that guides the organization to select competitive advantages in the face of uncertainty. These competitive advantages become the foundation on which operational deci sions are made regarding the marketplace (Tseng and Lin, 2008). Quality management is an approach that many firms consider the basis for making differentiation from competing firms (Singh, Qureshi and Butt, 2007). The role played by TQM in a firm is that of creating a demanding work environment and also lay down ways to fulfil the demands through team spirit, mutual trust, honesty, open communication and fun. In this framework, changes are appreciated, fear is defeated and resistance towards change is

How too conduct an accident investigation in the workplace Essay

How too conduct an accident investigation in the workplace - Essay Example Once at the scene take photographs and examine the site thoroughly for any possible causes of the accident or underlying causes that may have attributed to the event. For example if the site itself is an open plan work-room, describe the layout of the room with the position of all furniture, noting whether it was fixed or movable and in what condition it is in. Take a note of all, if any, cables and wiring and their location in regards to the accident, also note the type of lighting in the room, and if there are any bulbs or lights not working in case the room dimmed enough to cause an accident. Note what type of flooring the room has, if it carpeted or tiled and if there are any frayed or loose edges, or if the floor is made of polished wood or linoleum, if so is it polished enough to cause a person to slip. Is there any possibility of spilt liquids or leakages from over head pipes or under floor pipes. Once the site has been investigated and thoroughly examined the next stage is to interview the injured person or persons and any witnesses present or involved in the accident, including those who had a role after the event. Keep a copy of the report to hand, but as the injured party to describe the event prior to and leading up to their having the accident.