The Impact of Social Networking

Since the new millennium occurred, social networking sites have been popping up everywhere, from Friendster, to MySpace, to Facebook. Setting apart the old way of communicating, by telephone, letters, and in person is having a negative impact on us. People young and old have found themselves addicted to well, basically themselves. People post pictures of themselves, update their status constantly and write blogs hoping someone else will credit it. With all of that said, these social networking sites seem to be causing more bad than good. Teenagers are a vast majority of those using these sites. Do social networking sites hurt teenagers? People of all ages use social networking sites to keep in touch with friends and family. Not everyone can see someone on an everyday basis, nor call them every day. Being able to talk to people in your life all at one time is a great idea. Meeting new people is an advantage also. Finding those who have the same qualities and hobbies as you can make an instant friendship. â€Å"Researchers say social-networking sites are shortening attention spans, encouraging instant gratification, and making young people more self-focused. (What Impact) By being on the internet so often teenagers are accustomed to caring more about themselves than anything else. â€Å"A large majority of teens (71%) have established online profiles† (Teen Internet). If 71% of teenagers have an online profile, and researchers say it is shorting their attention spans, what is that to say about our future? Social networking sites are more about me me me than keeping in contact, as if the whole thing was just a popularity contest. This constant attention battle takes a toll on the brain, â€Å"A British neurologist warns that extended use of the sites actually rewires the brain, causing teenagers to require constant reassurance that they exist† (What Impact). Thus why they check and update their profiles multiple times a day. Social networks in a way make it seem like your living in a small town or village, where everyone around you knows every aspect of your life. But because we purposely want that, it is making us more concerned with ourselves. Most of these people teenagers talk to in the irst place are people they see almost every day at school, work, and etc. Even if they conversed with someone during the day, they still continue to talk to them on the internet. Being able to keep in contact with friends and family is very important. Right now in our time people use the internet all of the time to talk to friends and family â€Å"The current generation is never unconnected. They’re never losing touch with their friends† (Thompson). With the fast pace life style teenagers and young adults face, the internet is an ideal way to keep up to date with all the things happening around you. Especially for college students does this come in handy, being able to contact someone with the click of a button, while also writing a paper or doing homework. Multi tasking plays a large role in the success rate of social networks. While on the telephone with on person, it can be hard to focus on doing something else but when you are on the computer you can talk to multiple people at once while still doing other activities. Socal networks can also help you to find people you have not seen in years. They have search engines within, so finding an old class mate or an old friend from your kindergarten class is not a problem.

Man 4102 Class Project Part 1

MAN 4102 CLASS PROJECT PART 1 Karen McCarthy Hawn Student, State College of Florida MAN 4102 Class Project Part 1 Per the digital document from Contemporary Authors (Biography), by Thomson Gale, (2004) Gerard Hendrik Hofstede was born October 2, 1928. He is the son of Gerrit and Evertine Hofstede. He married Maaike A. Van den Hoek on the 4th of June, 1955 and had four children.He graduated from Delft Institute of Technology in 1953 and Groningen University, Ph D (cum laude) in 1967. His work history began in 1953 as a lieutent in the Netherlands Army. In 1955 and 1965 included management consultant for Bernschot Consultants and Stork Machine Works, plant manager for Jovanda Hosiery Co. , production manager of weaving for Menko Textile Co. , and director of staff services for IBM (Gale, 2004).After leaving IBM in 1965 he began his career in research and education and was employed with European Education Center as the manager of personnel research through 1971, IMEDE Management Develop ment Institute as visiting lecturer through 1973, European Institute for Advanced Studies in Management as professor of organizational behavior through 1979, Fasson Europe as director of human resources through 1983, and then served as dean at Semafor Senior Management College (Gale, 2004).Hofstede also held several international university positions as a visiting professor or scientist throughout Europe until he assumed his position at University of Limburg in Netherlands. He held the position of director of Institute for Research on Intercultural Cooperation (IRIC) through 1980 and currently is the professor of organizational anthropology and international management (Gale, 2004). The biography listed Geert H. Hofstede as the author on 9 books, contributor on 14 books, and as a contributor to numerous articles to various social science, professional, and management journals in over seventeen countries to date (Gale, 2004).On his website, Geert Hofstede, discusses the reasons he fe els that culture is so important (Hofstede, 2012). Hofstede’s ideas are based on the premise that people share common human nature and as such the shared human nature of all groups is very social, Hofstede (2012). That all groups use empathy and language, all practice collaboration, and all exhibit intergroup competition (Hofstede, 2012). How we all do these things while still being a good member of our various groups is what defines what Hofstede calls the unwritten rules of culture.These cultures include symbols, rituals, laws, taboos, and religions that drive the groups â€Å"moral circle† (Hofstede, 2012). Per Hofstede, (2012) there are said to be unconscious values that change at a slower pace than those of the practices of each group. Hofstede categorizes these groups based on national boundaries, ethnic boundaries, religion, occupation, or academic disciplines and states that the groups are typically classified as either inferior or superior to our own groups (H ofstede, 2012).To get things done we all need to have skills for cooperating across cultures and that enable us to cooperate with members of the globalized world. This concept is addressed in his Hofstede’s book, (Hofstede, Culture's Consequences: Comparing Values, Behaviors, Institutions, and Organizations Across Nations. , 2001) and was the outcome of his research during the IBM study. He analyzed employee value scores that were collected between 1967 and 1973 from IBM employees in 70 countries and from this he established the paradigm of cultural dimensions. (Itim International, 2012).In his interview for his biography, Gerard H. Hofstede told CA: Cultures Consequences is my chef d’oeuvre. It deals with differences in thinking and acting among otherwise similar people in many different countries, which was the right subject at the right time. Correspondence with readers about it has become one of my regular side activities (Gale, 2004, page 2). Hofestede’s Cu ltural Dimensions In the course textbook Hofstede’s five dimensions of culture are used to categorize behaviors in different cultures and explain why they differ (Phatak, Bhagat, & Kashlak, 2009).The IBM study of employees from the 70 countries was the basis for the dimensions and has been critized since there was only one company in the data set however, Hofstede’s belief was that using just one company would better reveal the national differences. According to the authors Phatak, Bhagat, and Kashalk (2009), he believed this because the IBM employees were the same in other respects like type of work, job descriptions, and education. This study has been stated to be the most comprehensive study of how values are influenced in the workplace (Itim International, 2012).Itim International, (2012) noted that Hofstede’s work established a paradigm in international economics, communication, and cooperation, from which Hofstede developed the first emphirical model of â €Å"dimensions† for national organizational culutre. The first dimension is Individualism and Collectivism. These are social patterns under which beliefs, attitudes, norms, and values are then organized into one theme. Some countries practice individualism and the members of society are motiviated by their own needs and preferences above the needs of the group.In contrast, countries that practice collectivism are much more closely linked as a group and are motivated by the obligations that are considered norms for the group. Hofstede felt that countries with higher higher per capita gross national product (GNP), were likely countries that would exhibit more individualism than countries with lower per capita gross national product (Phatak, Bhagat, & Kashlak, 2009). The next cultural dimension, Power Distance, is expressed as the extent to which less powerful members of society, institutions, or organizations accept that power will be distributed unequally.Countries with small power distance have subordinates that show a limited amount of dependence on their bosses, there is a relationship based on interdependce, and a preference for consultation when decisions are made. On the contrary, countries with large power distance will likely have subordinates that are very dependent on their bosses, will follow procedures that are dictated by management, and with a reward systems in place that are not equal.There is a correlation noted between cultures that are individulistic which tend to be lower power distance whereas, cultures with strong collectivism will likey have small power distance (Phatak, Bhagat, & Kashlak, 2009). The third cultural dimension in the text is uncertainity avoidance which is described as the extent to which members of society will experience anxiety over uncertainity in their environments and how far they will go to avoid it (Phatak, Bhagat, & Kashlak, 2009).Cultures that are high in uncertainty avoidance will attempt to control these u nstructured situations with strict laws, rules, safety and security measures, and with the use of philosophical and religious beliefs (Itim International, 2012). Uncertainity accepting cultures are more tolerant of opinions that differ from their own and allow many different religious and philosophical ideas to flow concurrently. Masculinity and Feminity is the fourth cultural dimension that compares how societies and cultures are composed based on masculine and feminine tolerance traits.More feminine societies have expectations for both males and females to act in similar manners. Members are supposed to be modest, compassionate, and are expected to stress solidarity through compromise and negotiation. The masculine societies and cultures are driven by material success, money. They expect men to be assertive, ambiutious, and tough. The women of masculine societies are to be tender and hold care taker roles. The masculine society stresses competition, performance and conflicts are r esolved through fights (Phatak, Bhagat, & Kashlak, 2009).The fifth and final cultural dimension is time orientation and it is stated that different societies place a varying emphasis on the value of time. Some cultures value time and are very conscious of how time is spent. Other societies consider time to be unlimited and a resource that they cannot exhaust. This makes the way that multiple countries address puncuality and their sense of urgency very different. Cultures with no time orientation will come across to many other cultures as very casual. The other aspect of time orientation is based on the different cultural views about the future.Cultures with short-term orientations are concerned with things like lesiure time, bottom lines, and have a tendency to use short term investment plans. Their management teams are rewarded for immediate financial outcomes. In contrast the cultures with long-term future orientations have philosphies in which persistence is valued, gratification is delayed, and investments are longer term. In these cultures family and work are not separated and status is respected (Phatak, Bhagat, & Kashlak, 2009).Hofstede’s model of dimensions has been applied in practice to many domains internationally to include public, business, education, and health care and have become widely used (Itim International, 2012). Meaning and Impact of Hofstede’s Cultural Dimensions John Bing’s article discusses the impact of Hofstede’s work on consulting and business practices across the globe and states that Hofstede’s findings could be applied to business in general (Bing, 2004). The way that Hofstede organized his dimensions into mental geographies explained how there could e similarities and differences between countries in close physical proximity. He states that Hofstede’s survey research which was employed across a large number of countries created a whole new field of comparative intercultural research. Th e Culture in the Workplace Questionnaire Hofstede created has been used to help individuals understand the cultural preferences of their peers and their own preferences. It is believed that many professionals have benefited from studying Hofstede’s work and being able to apply it’s principles to their own work.The author used Hofstede’s principals in his own work during the development of a prototype for the first Peace Corps cross-cultural manual (Bing, 2004). Hofstede’s work has been the standard to which many others make reference and his past works have characterized much of the contemporary cross-cultural quantative research models. There have been many offshoots from his research even from those individuals who do not necessarily agree with his theory or conclusions. If nothing else they at least acknowledge his work.His work was almost immediately used in attempts to determine how people could be helped to work more effectively in more than one cul ture. Hofstede’s work is sometimes misunderstood or misused when practitioners attempt to predict individual preferences based on the scores of the entire cultures. Bing says that Hofstede likes to make it clear that country scores will not predict an individual’s cultural preferences but will predict the group tendencies (Bing, 2004). Hofstede’s cultural dimensions have influenced how people organize and understand the varying cultural dimensions of the regions they travel to for personal and business reasons.Once Hofstede’s dimensions have been studied and understood the subtle niances of different cultures will become more apparent to the informed observer. Such was the experience of Bing per his article as he traveled to Austria and Japan (Bing, 2004). He also discusses the potential benefit of applying a study of the cultural dimensions to gain a better understanding of why countries resort to war when negotiations and other legal, moral, and conflic t management alternatives may be better alternatives.He notes that sophisticated interpreters of Hofstede’s research have found ways to avoid the application of stereotypes about cultures that have long since changed. The value of Hofstede’s research is found when the dimensions are used to help individual learners to understand their own cultural dimensions first. This then opens the door to a better understanding about the different preferences that others in the organization or workplace will have. (Bing, 2004).The study of Hofstede’s cultural dimensions has opened a door of better understanding for me as Bing referenced. It is easy to grow up learning the known stereotypes of other cultures due to misunderstandings of how those cultures have changed or adapted over time. By gaining a better understanding about how entire cultures have come to their common values, their cultural practices, and even their religious beliefs and how these impact business decisio ns and emotions that people exhibit will enhance my overall effectiveness in business.To have an actual framework such as Hosfstede’s cultural dimensions as tools for analysis to use when trying to understand the objections and barriers that come up while transacting business will makes me a more effective employee. I believe that Hofstede’s research has already changed business pratices for many international workplaces with regard to how they prepare and support their employees who are deployed all across the globe.Most companies have cultural diversity training upon hire or annually to reinforce the need for cooperation and sensitivity to diverse cultures in the workplace. I must admit that being an American woman, raised by a single mother of seven, I rate high in individualism and prefer masculinity to feminity. I prefer to work in organizations with low power distance and like the ability to collaborate but not to work where there is a total lack of individual de cision making capabilities. I do think short-term and have a results oriented, time is money mentality.My uncertainity avoidance level is very low and I move quickly to learn and try new things. As I have read the text and studied the findings of Hofstede I came to the realization that I had preconceived ideas about other women who to me appear to lack self empowerment. I will have to practice applying a study of Hofstede’s cultural dimensions to my assumptions in the future to ensure that going forward I reach out with a perspective of better understanding as to why these individuals may be in that less empowered state.References Bing, J. (2004). Hofstedes’s consequences: The impact of his work on consulting and business practices: An executive Commentary. Academy of Management Executive, 18 (No 1), 80-87. Hofstede, G. (2001). Culture’s Consequences: Comparing Values, Behaviors, Institutions, and Organizations Across Nations. Second Edition, Thousand Oaks CA: S age Publications, 2001. Itim International. (2012). http://geert-hofstede. com/ Thomson, G. (2004). Contemporary Authors (Biography), Thomson Gale Publishing.

Projects, Processes and Systems Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Projects, Processes and Systems - Essay Example Developing the right products at the right times is a serious concern among organizations which have important goals to achieve prior to obtaining competitive advantage and excellent performance in their industries. One example of an organization facing this kind of situation at all times is Apple Incorporated. Other high-tech firms that try to incur strategy of developing products at the right times may also include but not limited to Hewlett-Packard (HP), Dell, Compaq, Toshiba, Acer, IBM/Lenovo, Asus, and Sony. All these firms have R&D departments trying to ensure completeness of projects on a concurrent and timely manner. For instance, at Dell, it is the firm’s primary concern to deliver product offerings on-time to their customers in order to provide high value for customer satisfaction, and ensure high productivity, efficiency and achievement of organisational goals. Developing the right products at the right times In the age of technology and tough competition, those fir ms in the industry where companies like Apple identify themselves to be integral components continuously faced with choices to remarkably create important image, so as to acquire potential target market, which at the bottom line will support their product and service offerings. The R&D departments of these companies play a very elemental role in order to come up with products that could grasp the opportunity and eventually address the prevailing market needs with timeliness. In reality, R&D department has projects to accomplish on a timely manner in order to provide a strong support for the achievement of organizational goals. These projects are multiple in nature such as developing the right products, harmoniously and at the right times, which make R&D project management a complex and challenging corporate activity (Verma et al., 2011, p.462). Developing the right products at the right times is a very important objective in the case of companies like Apple, IBM, Dell and other comp eting firms having the same nature of business. This is an essential project at Apple’s R&D department prior to formulation of highly innovative products that could satisfy its strategy prior to obtaining competitive advantage in its industry. Toyota on the other hand has to tie up R&D with its marketing department in order for it to formulate new models of cars prior to the changing needs and demands in the market. In reality, the R&D department of Toyota has to develop products at the right times in order not to stay far behind the competition. The company has to ensure that there must be something new to offer in the market. Therefore, the principle in reality behind the development of new products at the right times as one of R&D projects could reflect on the actual impact of understanding customer needs, ease of manufacture for new products, monitoring of development cost, minimization of time to market, and ensuring that the actual development is due to actual customers ’ needs, so it is important to integrate R&D, production and marketing (Hill and Jones, 2009, p.138). Thus, R&D projects, like developing the right products at the right times could only be successfully implemented if R&D has to be integrated with other working departments of an active organisation. After all, product

Generally Accepted Auditing Standards Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Generally Accepted Auditing Standards - Essay Example the accumulation and evaluation of evidence regarding information to help determine and report on the degree of correspondence between information and established criteria (p. 4). Auditing requires that there must be verifiable information and certain standards by which the auditor can evaluate the information. The standards can vary depending on the nature of information. For instance, GAAP (Generally Accepted Accounting Principle) is considered to be the criteria for auditing historical financial statements. Auditing requires evidence like written communication and oral testimony and auditors need to obtain sufficient quality of evidences. The final step in auditing is preparing the audit report (Arens, Elder and Beasley, 2006, p. 4). GAAS are auditing standards that suggest necessary qualifications and characteristics of auditors. The guidelines are 10 GAAP standards that have experienced minimal changes since these were first developed in 1947 (Arens, Elder and Beasley, 2006, p. 4). These GAAS standards remain the same through time and for all audits, even though auditing procedures may vary depending on the complexity of accounting systems. The 10 GAAS standards relate to the competence of auditor, his independence in both financial and managerial relations and the attitudes about professionalism (Louwers, Ramsay and Sinason, 2008. p. 39- 42). The GAAS elements also affect the standards at field that include detailed planning of the audit, risk assessment through internal control and collecting audit evidences. One of the major concerns of GAAS is regarding the standards in financial reporting and its contents. The Sarbanes-Oxley Act, passed by George W Bush on July 2002, was intended to establish investor confidence by improving the quality of financial disclosures and audit reporting, to strengthen the independence of accounting firms and to increase the responsibilities of corporate officers (Hayes, Dassen and Schilder, 2005, p. 49). The

My personality type Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

My personality type - Essay Example My ESFP score will mean that as a leader, I will have the knack for persuading, motivating, and mobilizing members of the group he is because I enjoy spending time with others, understand other people, have good interpersonal skills, can understand the emotions of others, and respond to these emotions in a productive manner. My score in the ambiguity test means that, as a leader, it will be important not to deal with ambiguity by creating my own certainty. In addition, there is a risk that I could be dictatorial and averse to risk. With regards to my personality type B result, as a leader, I would be supportive, although it would also mean I would be the center of attention and, therefore, have centralized leadership. However, I would also be very persuasive because of my competitiveness. As an employee needing management, I would prefer to be allowed to experiment with new ideas, take part in brainstorming sessions because I can move from one idea to the next quickly, and be indepen dent and free, rather than secure and safe. In addition, I would not like to be entrusted with strictly defined and repetitive tasks. As a Type B personality, I would prefer to work directly with the managers to collaborate and not to be supervised. I addition, I would prefer not to be in an isolated job and work with others, as well as added responsibilities and increased interactions. However, my moderately low tolerance for ambiguity would require management to ensure that there was less certainty concerning expectations.

Strategy, Business Information and Analysis Assignment - 2

Strategy, Business Information and Analysis - Assignment Example When a company does not know how to tackle the complexity being contributed by the external factors, the only option for addressing such issues would be to develop, design and implement a strategy. However, before going to implement, the strategy, it is highly significant to take into account the external and internal factors along with considering the examples of successful and failed strategies. In the following parts of this paper, first strategy has been defined in which Mintzberg’s 5Ps have been included. Subsequently, it is followed by the evolution of the word ‘strategy† has been provided. After that part, different schools of thoughts have also been included. Before the part addressing the question of strategy construction, the answer of the question (Does strategy matter?) has been provided. Strategy is a broad term (Snyder, 1999). Strategy has a specific definition and sense particularly within the context of business (Campbell et al. 2002). In this regard, Mintzberg (1987) defines strategy can have five different types of definitions: plan, ploy, pattern, position and perspective. And each is separately defined and explained below. Strategy can be defined as a plan (Mintzberg, 1987). It can be a course of action, a set of guidelines for carrying out specific actions for dealing with a particular situation (Mintzberg, 1987). Mintzberg (1987) further explains that this definition has two dimensions: the plans are developed in advance and concentrated and careful efforts are utilised for developing such plan. Subsequently, strategy can work as a ploy (Mintzberg, 1987). In this type of situation, an organisation tries to manoeuvre for the purpose of discouraging competitors from taking certain strategic action Mintzberg (1987). In this type of strategy, the organisation is not really interested to implement what it

Report 2 Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words - 1

Report 2 - Research Paper Example The average income level of individuals in the economy had been recorded to increase substantially but due to the recent recession the growth of the income level has slowed down considerably (Euromonitor International, â€Å"Country Factfile†). However, French mousse is evidently a frequently available product in the market of France. Its high availability in turn decreases its cost of purchase with minimum influence of the income level enjoyed by the population of the market. 2. Age The total population in the economy of France comprises a majority of young people, i.e. belonging to the age group of 15 to 64 years covering almost 64.7% of the total population. The people aged between 0 to 14 years comprise around 18.5% of the total population while the age group of over 65 years captures almost 16.8% of the population (CIA, â€Å"France†). Due to the fact that French mousse is stated to have a huge amount of calorie, it is most likely that health conscious people will tend to avoid consuming the product at a large proportion. On the similar context, French mousse can be delivered to any of the age group as a beverage. Moreover, there is no age limit for the consumption of the product. Thereby, the market segmentation should be based on the preferences of the customers rather than their age group, as the product can be consumed by consumers belonging to any and every age group. 3. Gender The total population of the economy of France comprises a sex ratio of 0.96 male(s)/female on an average basis (CIA, â€Å"France†). However, to be related with the market segmentation of French mousse, the product can be consumed by both males and females irrespective of their gender. In other words, gender does not have a strong influence on the market potential of French mousse and thus can be ignored while determining the target market. 4. Geography The geography of France comprises of five major cities in terms of population and urbanization, namely, P aris, Marseille-Aix-en-Provence, Lyon, Lille, and Nice-Cannes. The urbanization rate in the economy is figured to 85% according to the latest available data (as on 2010), which is also recorded to increase by 1% annually (CIA, â€Å"France†). Therefore, the target market of French mousse shall be focused on the urban markets of the economy, as it comprises of the majority of the population. Moreover, as it is quite likely that people residing in urban areas will possess stronger preference for the products, such as French mousse and targeting the urban markets shall be highly beneficial. 5. Usage The current statistics depict that the economy of France has witnessed a downfall in the growth of the consumer spending on food after the recent economic downturn. Conversely, the average consumer expenditure on food figures is around US$ 1,422 monthly (i.e. Consumer Expenditure on Food (US$ Million)/Population = (179,782.5/63,197,000) x 1,000,000 = US$ 2,844.78/12 = US $1,422). Wit h reference to the above findings it can be stated that as the expenditure of the population is decreasing it is quite likely that the preference for costly beverages will also decrease in turn. Therefore, it will be highly beneficial to market the product at a low price targeting the group of people who possess stronger preference for the product. 6. Other Considering the other factors of the French economy, it can be stated that the social aspects have a strong inf

Johannes Vermeer Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Johannes Vermeer - Essay Example Conservatorsremoved the added paint to restore it to its original size. In the 1660s Vermeer painted pearls in two layers: first a thin, diffused grayish glaze, followed by a thick stroke on top to create a specular highlight. He may have experimented with a camera obscura to achieve these optical effects. Vermeer maintained extraordinary control over his paints, working effectively with both dense impastos and thin glazes. The effect of soft light is achieved through subtle modulations in paint handling. Under high magnification, we can analyze how Vermeer represented light on different surfaces. Click on the three squares for a closer look. The balance traditionally symbolizes justice--after all, to judge is to weigh. With nothing in its pans, it is not quite symmetrical, yet almost at equilibrium. In an exquisite passage of visual poetry, the woman's little finger echoes the horizontal arm of the balance and picture frame. The woman with her blue robe expresses serenity. Her eyes are downcast; her gaze seems to be inward. Golden light falls on her ample belly, further emphasized by a yellow streak. Some contemporary authors speculate that the woman is pregnant, while others conclude that her costume--a short jacket, a bodice, and a thickly padded skirt--reflects a style of dress current in the early to mid-1660s. In the Last Judgment, Christ in majesty judges the souls below in thi

Proofreadoing of Teenage Character Paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Proofreadoing of Teenage Character Paper - Essay Example Marie answered without turning her face towards Noreen and said, â€Å" I am going to try-out for the Dance Team.† Noreen looked in amazement at Marie. Marie’s gaze was still fixed on the poster but now she had her hands resting on her heavy hips. Marie turned towards Noreen and nodded her head in anticipation of Noreen's inquiry. With an affirmative nod she said, â€Å"Yep that is just what I am going to do, I am trying out for the dance team.† Marie twirled around looking at herself in the mirror. She was wearing brown spandex ® tights and a gold leotard. She wrapped the dainty chiffon skirt that looked like it was infused with glitter around her full hips. She liked the way the fabric slid over her curvy body. Marie glanced at the clock. â€Å" Oh man, I’m going to be late.† She put on her thick sweater that fell just below her hips, about mid-thigh level. Marie opened the front door and stepped outside. The crisp fall air greeted her face and then acknowledged her body. She felt the cool air on her legs and glanced across the street to where Noreen lives, hoping for once Noreen would be standing outside waiting for her. Marie turned back to make sure she locked the door by jiggling the doorknob. She looked back towards Noreen's house as she walked down the steps and started across the street, warning out loud to no one, "Noreen, if you make me late ...† Just before Marie placed her foot on the first step of Noreen's porch, Noreen appeared at the door. She flung the door open and, in her usual bluster, almost half-out-of-breath said, â€Å"I’m sorry I am running late. Nellie would not get out of the bathroom†¦ and I had to fix my grandmother something to eat†¦ and I did not have time to eat myself, I will just have to eat my egg sandwich on the way†¦Oh, girl, let me make sure I have my keys.† Marie was not listening anymore, she had heard countless excuses as to why Noreen always seemed to be running late. Suddenly, it reminded her of the first time she met Noreen. Marie’s family had just moved to Merrill Street. The movers were bringing the last of the boxes into Marie’s new home and Marie's mom asked her to try to stay out of the way of the movers. So, Marie walked outside to take a look around her new neighborhood. She did not expect to see any older kids hanging out since it was a weekday and the kids would be in school. Marie was just standing outside on the porch looking at all her new neighbor's homes. The sound of a door opening caused Marie look across the street at a yellow house with a green door that suddenly flew open. A short and stout girl that looked to be around her age with big brown eyes and thick hair came rushing out of the door. Marie waved and said hello to the girl. The girl walked over and said, â€Å"Hi my name is Noreen, what’s your name?† â€Å" Hi, I’m Marie.† The two girls chatted on for a whil e, and then Noreen abruptly stopped mid-sentence and said, â€Å"Sorry, I have to run, I am late for school.† Marie yelled to Noreen, â€Å"Say, what time does school start anyway? â€Å" Noreen turned back in reply, â€Å" 8 o’clock!† Marie looked down at the time on her cell phone. It read 8:45 am. She watched Noreen storm down the sidewalk towards the school. Back in the present, Noreen interrupted her thoughts again. "I forgot to get some lunch money, can you loan me

A Long Way Gone by Ishmael Beah (Book Report) Essay

A Long Way Gone by Ishmael Beah (Book Report) - Essay Example Beah’s demeanor is that of a man who has experienced wide growth from a childhood of war. The book promises to be a story of triumph and victory. When first reading the chronology in the back of the book, it leads the reader through a political maelstrom full of a twisting tale of governmental breakdowns and churning disruption of leadership. Power is transferred back and forth between factions creating an instability that will lead to a rebellion beginning in March of 1991 that would set the stage for Beah‘s story. That rebellion is manifested in the Revolutionary United Front lead by Charles Taylor and is more infamously known by its acronym, the RUF. Those letters become a source of terror in Sierra Leone. Sierra Leone’s history is full of struggle. The country was occupied and colonized by Britain. The famous story of the Amistad, a slave ship where a rebellion by the slaves occurred the story of which was later immortalized on film, was lived out by slaves who were taken from Sierra Leone. During the colonization a hut tax was created in 1898 by the British that taxed the citizens according to hut size. This act resulted in two rebellions. In 1951 the beginning of decolonization began as a constitution was enacted by the British for local citizens. In reading the chronology it is initially apparent that the RUF was created for an altruistic cause. The RUF seeks to abolish the corruption of the All Peoples Congress, or the APC. They have begun a rebellion to overturn a government that they do not believe serves the needs of its people. Seeing this history before reading the book brings into question of how such turmoil in government could directly affect a childhood. Beah begins his story with an exchange between himself and other teenagers after he has been relocated to New York. â€Å"Why did you leave Sierra Leone?† â€Å"Because there is war.† â€Å"Did you witness some of the

Understanding Fully Experience on the Perspective of Art Essay Example for Free

Understanding Fully Experience on the Perspective of Art Essay Experience remains to be a subjective issue for persons who happened to encounter important or non-important events in their lives that seem to have made an impact. In terms of art and esthetics, experience also manifests in the condition of subjectivity, however misconceptions and uncertainty arises because of the lack of deeper understanding on how experience affects this field. This paper seeks to elaborate on three arguments presented by John Dewey with regards to his book â€Å"Art as an experience†. Experience according to the essay is vital in the appreciation and understanding of esthetics and art. Experience in this vital sense is defined by those situations and episodes that we spontaneously refer to as being â€Å"real experiences†; those things of which we say in recalling them, â€Å"that was an experience†. (Dewey, 1980, p. 37) The paper will now argue on a point elaborated by the author. The first argument is whether an esthetic experience is deduced in the element of the intellectual or the emotional. Dewey first mentioned the idea’s surrounding esthetic experience to be intellectually oriented and at the same time elaborated on the idea of how these experiences are linked into the emotional side of man. In short, esthetic cannot be sharply marked off from intellectual experience since the latter must bear an esthetic stamp to be itself complete. † (Dewey, 1980, p. 40) In short, the author sees that there must be a balance and correlation between the emotional and intellectual aspects of man in understanding experiences. In response to the first argument presented by Dewey, the paper agrees to the author that a balance must be set in order for esthetic experience to be fully understood. Moreover, one’s ideas is subjective in its sense that application of one aspect alone cannot fully explain and elaborate ones initial or total experience per se. Giving oneself the understanding that to fully appreciate the esthetic value of experience one must be able to bridge the gap and link the emotional as well as the intellectual appreciation of man. The next argument presented by Dewey also has the connection with the first argument he elaborated regarding the idea of emotional and intellectual capacity of man and to associate it with experience. There are therefore common patterns in various experiences, no matter how unlike they are to one another in the details of their subject matter. † (Dewey, 1980, p. 45) In another argument, Dewey points out the idea of doing and undergoing in relation with experience. In this light, Dewey points out that these processes are related in to the concepts related to art; artistic and esthetic. â€Å"Since ‘artistic† refers primarily to the act of production and â€Å"esthetic† to that of perception and enjoyment, the absence of a term designating the two processes taken together is unfortunate. (Dewey, 1980, p. 48) The author tried to point out that these two must never be separated from one another but instead these two ideas are correlated when it comes to experience. Dewey establishes the connection between the four ideas. He linked artistic as a form of doing while esthetic to the concept of undergoing. Dewey further pointed out by saying: â€Å"however as well as the relation that exists in having an experience between doing and undergoing, indicate that the distinction between esthetic and artistic cannot be pressed so far to become a separation. (Dewey, 1980, p. 49) The paper agrees with the author regarding the issue that the idea of undergoing and doing given in the concepts of esthetic and artistic respectively must never be separated in the field of art experience. The paper also agrees with Dewey’s claim that â€Å"to be truly artistic, a work must also be esthetic† (Dewey, 1980, p. 49) There must be a distinct connection between the two ideas since an appreciation of only one aspect would only make the experience incomplete or depriving on the part of the person. To be able to understand fully the art experience given one must be able to combine the feelings of the doer (artist) and in turn internalize the effect it does to the person which is denoted by the process of undergoing (esthetic). The paper agrees to the idea of Dewey by saying: â€Å"art, in its form, unites the very same relation of doing and undergoing, outgoing and incoming energy, that makes an experience to be an experience. † (Dewey, 1980, p. 50) The last argument that the paper will focus on is the idea elaborated by Dewey with regards to the idea of how an individual sees art; perception or recognition. The author emphasizes this importance because this understanding will determine whether an individual fully comprehends and accepts the experience fully given by an art. He first elaborated on the individual meanings of the two and reiterated that it is better for perception to occur rather than recognition. â€Å"Perception is an act of the going-out of energy in order to receive, not a withholding of energy. † (Dewey, 1980, p. 55) He pointed that undergoing the process of recognition rather than perception would only lead to a minimal level of experience that is inadequate or deprived of the full appreciation of the experience. Recognition is perception arrested before it has a chance to develop freely. † (Dewey, 1980, p. 54) In reaction to the argument pointed out by Dewey, I would have to agree that perception is better than recognition in experiencing art. The paper points out this fact because with the idea of recognition, the individual only perceives an art based on the parameters that it is enclosed with. The deeper meaning and concept of an art is not really looked into. On the other hand, perception tries to give a holistic glimpse of the art experience to the individual. Yes, both ideas can give an individual the art experience that it desires however, the previous showcases an experience that is minimal compared to the latter. In conclusion, the paper showcased different arguments presented by Dewey in relation to understanding the art experience felt by individuals. Furthermore, the paper elaborated on issues and arguments that arouses from the idea. The concept of art experience can indeed benefit the individual more if these things were to be understood and studied by each person.

African Corruption Essay Example for Free

African Corruption Essay This study intends to clearly show the extent to which Africa and Africans have been suffering from the ravages of corruption, fraud, and intentional mismanagement by their governments and their leaders, much to the disappointment and anger of the people. The impact of corruption on the lives of the people, the businesses, and the economy of any of the nations concerned has been studied by a number of authors, scholars, and worldwide institutions such as the World Bank, the IMF, and even donors (highly industrialized nations). Although Africa has a large share of the worlds raw material and mineral resources, African nations are by far the least developed and the poorest countries in the world. Robert Harris, in his book, Political Corruption In and Beyond the Nation State, (1990, p. 29,) introduced three themes. First, political corruption is an illegitimate extension of normal political activity. In trying to understand the central issue of corruption, one needs to understand the complex and intricate nature of corruption. If we ask, what is â€Å"corruption†? The American Heritage English Language Dictionary (Pickett, 2000) defines corruption as â€Å"the art or process of corruption, the state of being corrupt, decay, and rot.† As indicated above, corruption comes in many forms. In the least developed countries (LDC’s) such as Africa, all types of corruption are prevalent. The following brief case histories of these three companies will present the magnitude of the scandals, corruption, and deceit these companies perpetrated on the unsuspecting public and their business partners. Other countries of the world have similar problems of corruption, fraud, and mismanagement. From time to time, stories appear about the corruption trial of a government official, a banker, or corporate head in other parts of the world. Doing Business in Africa and Other Non-Industrialized Nations, the basic tenets of the guiding principles are that corruption, dishonesty, and unethical behavior among public officials represent serious threats to the basic principles and values of government, undermining public confidence in democracy and threatening to erode the rule of law. The aim of these guiding principles is to promote public trust in the integrity of officials within the public sector by preventing, detecting, and prosecuting or sanctioning official corruption and unlawful dishonest or unethical behavior. Monsanto Co.: Settled an SEC complaint in January alleging that the company funneled more than $700,000 in corrupt payments to Indonesian government officials between 1997 and 2002. ExonMobil, Chevron Texaco, Marathon Oil, Devon Energy, and Amerada Hess, as well as several other oil companies: These reportedly are involved in SEC investigations into bribes allegedly paid to government officials in Equatorial Guinea. Public perception of police corruption stems mainly from instances where the public has come face to face with the vice as they interact with police in their discharge of duty. My personal experience also left me with no doubt that police corruption in South Africa was daunting task for the new democratic government of South Africa. While police brutality in Kenya is much less compared to that of the apartheid South Africa, the police corruption in Kenya is much more widespread and open. Corruption in the police force takes various forms and in various degrees of sophistication. Corruption in Kenya and more particularly among the police has reached unprecedented levels. Thieves have been set free from police cells because of corruption. The ministry of public works: This is the second most corrupt institution in Kenya. Finding found that this is the Ministry that has the highest rent corruption in Kenya. A large population of the Kenyan people expressed disgust at the corruption in this ministry. The corruption at the ministry of public works is more sophisticated than meets the eye. It is also in charge of construction of government residential houses and offices. The ministry houses the largest number of government employed Engineers, professionals, and Architects. It is actually a key ministry in any government.   Millions of shillings are spent in purchasing goods and services for the government. There was no good will from the establishment to deal with cases of corruption. Where genuine outside companies have been awarded contracts, big bribes were paid to the committee before the award. In one case a contractor has given a job to put up some government circles. The author discovered that this was done just to get free money as penalties from the government. The poor jobs that we have seen on our roads are a result of corruption. This makes the land law in Kenya, one of the most complicated land systems in the world. The Crown Lands Ordinance (Cap. 280) passed in 1915 defined crown land as â€Å"All public land including all land occupied by the native tribes of the protectorate and all land reserved for the use of the members of any native tribe.† All the land rights of the natives were ignored. After all and without exception, African customs recognized land rights. African communities saw land as a gift of God to every individual. That has been the root cause of land problems in this country. Nowhere in Africa is land such expensive commodity as it is in Kenya. A Kenyan who has no land will always work hard to buy himself land. Land and Corruption in Africa The Ministry of Lands is one of the most corrupt institutions in this country. Land Cartels Land allocations, is the biggest single activity that goes on at the Lands office, Nairobi. Here, the people of Kenya will spend as much time and spend as much money, to ensure that they have been allocated land. Income tax department: African Revenue Authority is the main government agency for collecting all government revenue. No government can run on its own without taxes. Money collected from taxes is what the government uses to provide public services like Education, Health, Infrastructure, security and policing, a forestation, public service employment, defence and many others. (Transparency International Report, 2006) You cannot tax people so highly and yet fail to provide services. Over Kenya Shillings 250 billion taxes, (Transparency International Report, 2006), are collected annually by the Kenya Revenue Authority. The African revenue authority has some of the best professionals in the public service. Corruption at the African Revenue Authority is a matter of great concern. There is corruption in the organization both corporate and individual taxpayers. With the present economic situation most business people are stressed out and depressed. Research revealed that there is massive corruption in the import and export sector. Tax evasion is very high in this sector and the government loses millions of shillings through fraud and tax evasion. It was found that tax officers collude with importers and exporters to avoid tax and deny the government the badly needed revenue. This area has provided a good breeding ground for corruption in the income tax department. Officers in the Revenue Authority come across these businesses every day. The government is losing a lot of revenue by leaving these sectors out.

Underpricing in Turkey: a Comparison of the IPO Methods

Underpricing in Turkey: a Comparison of the IPO Methods Abstract This paper addresses the question of what kind of selling and underwriting procedure might be preferred for controlling the amount and volatility of underpricing in the Istanbul Stock Exchange (ISE). Using 1993-2005 firm and issue data, we compare the three substantially different IPO methods available in the ISE. One is very similar to the book building mechanism used in the U.S., another is the fixed price offer, and the third one is the sale through the stock exchange method. The empirical analysis reveals significant first day underpricing of 7.01% in fixed price offer, 11.47% in book building mechanism, and 15.68% in sale through the stock exchange method. Finally, we also show that fixed price offers can better control the impact of market information on underpricing than sale through the stock exchange method. 1. Introduction Extensive amount of research from a variety of different markets have documented the presence of first-day underpricing upon the listing of initial public offerings. The evidence is well documented by Loughran, Ritter, and Rydqvist (1994) and Ritter1 (1998), (2003) in many developed and emerging markets. In developed markets, in the absence of restrictions on intra-day price movements, first-day underpricing is observed in broad price bands. However, in emerging markets, in the presence of daily volatility limits, first-day underpricing is observed in narrow price bands. In contrast to the daily price limits, significant positive short run returns are observed in a number of emerging markets and substantial amount of money is â€Å"left on the table by issuers. Besides empirical evidence, most of the theoretical models explaining IPO underpricing are grouped under four broad headings by Ljungqvist (2005), these are (i) information asymmetry between the investors, the issuing firm an d the underwriter, these models assume that one of these parties knows more than the others, (ii) institutional reasons, institutional theories focus on three features of the marketplace: litigation, banks price stabilizing activities once trading starts, and taxes, (iii) control considerations, control theories argue that underpricing helps shape the shareholder base so as to reduce intervention by outside investors once the company is public, (iv) behavioral approaches, behavioral theories assume either the presence of irrational investors who bid up the price of IPO shares beyond true value, or that issuers suffer from behavioral biases causing them to put insufficient pressure on the underwriting banks to have underpricing reduced. These theoretical models almost always end with the conclusion that the average IPO is undervalued at the offer price, where the initial investors, in most cases, benefit from possessing information by receiving allocations of shares in IPOs and earn the largest first-day returns. The expectations of issuing firms, investors and underwriters in IPO pricing are considerably different. In an offering, the issuer generally wants to receive the highest possible price to maximize cash flows to the firm. Investors like to purchase shares at a deep discount so that they can realize positive returns *Baskent University, Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences, Baglica Kampusu, Ankara, 06530, Turkey, + 90 (312) 234 10 10 /1728, [emailprotected] 1 Ritter (1998), (2003) provides an update on the compilation of Loughran, Ritter, and Rydqvist (1994) in a short investment period. Underwriters, acting as an intermediary between investors and issuing firms, suffer from a dilemma, if an underwriter determines IPO prices too low, where the foreseen amount of money left on the table will be huge, the issuing firm may withdraw or switch to another underwriter. On the other hand, if an underwriter determines IPO prices relatively high, investors will hesitate to buy new issues, which would result in low commissions and an unwanted effort in aftermarket stabilization activities. Underwriters, however, have an incentive to underprice the shares to ensure that they can sell the offering, and, unsurprisingly, there is extensive evidence that IPOs are, on average, underpriced. Hence, pricing of stocks in IPOs may be the most critical stage of the IPO process. More recently, the literature on IPOs, both theoretical and empirical, focuses on the efficiency mechanisms of the following methods for pricing initial public offerings. At the center of this literature, book building, auctions and fixed price offers differ mainly in price-discovery and share allocation process. Book Building in which the underwriters do road shows and take non-binding orders from Auctions in which the company sets a price range to be used as a non-restrictive guideline for investors, than accepts bids, each specifying a number of shares and a price the investor is willing to pay for them, finally, the market-clearing price set by the investors approximates the real price the shares will command in the market. Fixed Price Offer in which the issue price is set first and than orders are taken from investors who typically pay in advance for part or all of the shares that are ordered. Sale through the Stock Exchange in which the sale is initially conducted in the primary market of the stock exchange by a designated underwriter. Those investors who buy the shares in the primary market must wait until the shares trade in the secondary market in order to sell their shares. The price designated at the time of registration with the securities exchange commissions is set as the opening price. Hybrid Offerings in which the underwriters combine the preceding IPO methods, and design auction/fixed price, auction/book building and book building/fixed price hybrids. For most hybrids, the most common combination is the book building/fixed price offer, where the underwriter uses the book building method to set the price and allocate shares to institutional and foreign investors, and retain the fixed price offer to the domestic retail investors who do not participate in the price-setting process. This paper addresses the question of what kind of selling and underwriting procedure might be preferred for controlling the amount and volatility of underpricing in the Istanbul Stock Exchange (ISE). In this regard, we first compare the three IPO methods available in Turkey. One is very similar to the book building mechanism used in the U.S., another is the fixed price offer, and the third one is the sale through the stock exchange method. Then, we estimate a binary probit on the issuers choice between fixed price offer and sale through the stock exchange method, however, because of the declining importance of the book building mechanism in Turkey, we excluded the book build IPO sample from our binary probit estimations. Finally, we determine the factors that are expected to have an effect on the IPO returns. Our results indicate that, the comparison of the two mechanisms yield that for certain values, namely first day underpricing, IPO amount and fractions of equity sold, fixed pric e offer outperforms the sale through the stock exchange method. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first empirical study on the comparison between fixed price offer and sale through the stock exchange method in the IPO literature. The uniqueness of the data and the availability of the sale through the stock exchange method in the ISE make it possible to conduct a study on the comparison between these two methods. The remaining part of this paper is organized in six sections. In the next section, we provide a comparison of the theoretical and empirical research conducted on IPO methods across many countries around the world. In section 3, we describe the three important Turkish IPO market selling procedures. In section 4, we describe the data and the methodology we used in our empirical tests. Section 5 documents the relationship between market conditions and underpricing of IPOs in different time series and the last section concludes. 2. Comparison of the IPO methods in the literature: Theory and Evidence The efficiency of the IPO methods has been the subject of an academic research over a decade, both empirical studies and theoretical models have tried to explain the advantages of one method over another. The argument that is often made in favor of IPO methods is often empirical as well as theoretical. Researchers studying on the efficiency of the IPO methods try to answer the most challenging question, â€Å"Which one of the IPO mechanism is the most efficient?2. However, according to our comprehensive literature research, both empirical studies and theoretical models listed in Table have some mixed answers. 1. Book Building vs. Fixed Price Offer and/or Auctions Comparison of the IPO methods in the literature goes back to Benveniste and Spindt3 (1988), (1989) and Spatt and Srivastava (1991), they suggest that the American bookbuilding procedure is efficient since it encourages investors to reveal their beliefs about the issues value at a cost of initial underpricing. Book building allows investors to collect information about the value of the stock and price the issue more accurately. To compensate the investors who reveal information, underwriter will favor them when allocating shares. However, fixed price mechanism does not utilize any information about realized buyer valuationsin setting the issue price and is generally inefficient. Loughran, Ritter and Rydqvist (1994) present the first international evidence on the short-run and long-run performance of companies going public in many stock markets around the world. They document that the fixed price method is associated with greater underpricing because of the greater probability of the issue failing and the increased uncertainty associated with the longer time delay between offer and issuance time. Chowdhry and Sherman (1996) point out that two features of fixed price offers tend to lead to greater underpricing, relative to the book building method. The first one is the length of the bidding process, as the time gap between the offer and first day market price widens â€Å"price information leakage occurs, the second one is the common requirement that investors pay in advance for their entire order. Benveniste and Busaba (1997), extend Welchs4 (1992), model of information cascades in investment decisions and present a theoretical comparison of the fixed-price and book-building mechanisms. They exhibit that issuers with a greater concern for risk will prefer a fixed-price offer, because book- building might generate higher expected proceeds, and exclusively provides an opportunity to sell additional shares at full value but it also exposes them to higher risk. Ritter (1998) demonstrates that countries that use bookbuilding typically have less underpricing than countries using f ixed-price offerings, more underpricing under fixed-price offering procedures can be attributed to informational cascades. However, Loughran, Ritter and Rydqvist (1994) and Ritter (1998) point out that IPOs with discretionary allocation (Fixed Price Offering and Book-building) are underpriced more than those with non-discretionary allocation (Offer for sale and Auctions), especially in Auctions. Under discretionary allocation, the first day price increase averaged 37% in fixed price offerings, 12% in book building. Under non-discretionary allocation, the first day price increase averaged of 27% in Offer for sale and 9% in Auctions. 2 In terms of controlling the amout and volatility of underpricing, share allocation and pricing. 3 The literature on underpricing in initial public offerings goes back to Logue (1973), Ibbotson (1975), Chalk and Peavy (1987), Miller and Reilly (1987), Ritter (1984), Rock (1986), Allen and Faulhaber (1989), Benveniste and Spindt (1988, 1989), Grinblatt an d Hwang (1989), and Welch (1989). However, the mechanism by which initial issues are sold has largely been ignored until Benveniste and Spindt (1988), (1989). 4 Welch (1992) focuses on the fixed-price procedure used in some non-US countries, and shows that this procedure can cause informational cascades: investors who observe the investment choice made by previous investors can update their beliefs about the value of the issued shares. Sherman (2000), (2002) shows that fixed price offer, can lead to higher underpricing than book building. Contrary to the fixed price offer and the auction method, in book building underwriters discriminate investors in the allocation of shares to establish long-run relationship with intermediates. Book building gives the underwriter greater flexibility in designing a solution that reflects the individual issuers preferences. By controlling investor access to IPO shares, book building controls both the winners curse problem that affects discriminatory auctions and the free rider problem that affects uniform price auctions. Book building also reduces uncertainty for both issuers and investors. In a study that covers 47 countries, Sherman (2002) has found that in all countries in which the bookbuilding mechanism has been introduced, pre-existing auction systems have decreased in popularity or disappeared altogether. Ljungqvist, Jenkinson and Wilhelm (2000) use a unique dataset containing information on 2,051 initial public offerings in 61 stock markets around the world, during the period of 1992-1999. The authors examine the relative direct and indirect costs of offerings carried out by book building and fixed-price methods. They find that, the direct costs of book building are typically twice as large as direct costs for fixed-price offers. Compared to fixed price offerings, book building efforts though more expensive produce far less underpricing. Nevertheless, fixed price offering is still an extremely common method that is not likely to be abandoned by the underwriters completely. Compared to book building efforts, fixed price offering is an efficient, low cost way to distribute shares to retail investors, avoiding the high fixed costs of road shows. Aorsio, Giudici and Paleari (2000), Guidici and Paleari (2001) present an empirical study conducted on the Milan Stock Exchange companies bet ween 1985 and 1999. Authors distinguish between fixed- price offers and open-price offers with bookbuilding and find different underpricing levels and statistically significant determinants. They state that if the offering is preceded by book building, the underpricing is significantly lower (8.32 % vs. 28.33% in fixed-price offerings), this method allows the issuing parties to collect information from the institutions and to signal good news or bad news to retailers through the revision of the prospectus price range. Therefore, the cost of raising private information is reduced and the requested underpricing is lower. The evolution of the placing procedure, from fixed price to book building, has considerably improved the efficiency of Italian IPO market. Biais and Faugeron-Crouzet (2002) analyze and compare the performance of book building, fixed price offering, uniform price auction, internet-based Open IPO mechanism, and an auction like mechanism called the Mise en Vente in France. Conclusions emerging from their analysis are; Fixed price offerings lead to inefficient pricing and winners curse. Dutch auctions can also lead to inefficiencies, to the extent that they are conductive to tacit collusions by investors. The book building and an auction like mechanism Mise en Vente can lead to optimal information elicitation and price discovery. Chahine (2002) investigates the relationship between underpricing and the investors interest prior to and after the IPO day on 305 French issues. Empirical results show that book-built issues have a lower underpricing, on median, but a higher variance level, than the auction-like and fixed-price offerings. Despite the high initial underpricing of some book-built issues, book-building procedure appears to better control the information gathering from investors participating in the offering, and to be a more efficient pricing system than the auction-like procedure. Paney (2004) examines the initial returns, characteristics of issuers and long run performance of Indian IPOs on a sample of 84 Indian IPOs between 1999 and 2002. In terms of initial returns or underpricing, Paney (2004) finds that fixed price offering yields higher initial returns on average, as compared to book building. In terms of issuer characteristics, Paney (2004) finds that fixed price offering are used by issuers of fering large proportion of their capital by raising a small amount of money. In contrast, book building is opted for by issuers, offering small portion of their stocks and mobilizing larger sums of money. Kutsuna and Smith (2004) present an empirical study conducted on the Japanese IPOs between 1995 and 1999. Using a sample of 163 book-built and 321 auctioned IPOs by JASDAQ companies, authors document that average total issue cost, measured as a percent of aftermarket price, was significantly higher in the book-building regime than in the earlier auction regime. However, when results are weighted by issue size, the estimated aggregate costs of auctioning and book building are similar. This outcome favors book building over auctions for two reasons. First, auction-method estimates do not reflect opportunity costs related to underinvestment. Second, issue cost estimates ignore other benefits of the more-accurate pricing that book building affords. Anand (2005) examines the differences between book building and Dutch-auction, and shows that the bookbuilding method of offering securities is superior to the Dutch-auction IPOs. Stated by Anand (2005), while the Dutch-auction may seem to lea d to efficient price discovery based on investor demand, recent transactions suggest that price discovery is not always accurate and that, indeed, underpricing occurs even in the Dutch auction. Further, even if the Dutch auction is more fair than the bookbuilt process in terms of allocating securities, the Dutch auction can lead to less capital market efficiency overall and can therefore be questioned as a basis for promoting this type of offering. Jagannathan and Shermans (2005) research on the efficiency of IPO mechanism show that hybrid bookbuildings5, unlike auctions, have proved effective in many different countries, cultures, time periods, and market conditions. Jagannathan and Sherman (2005) propose a new IPO mechanism that could overcome the problems with standard auctions. A method that retains the advantages of bookbuilding, while modifying it to increase transparency. Although not a direct comparison between book building, auctions and fixed-price offers, Cornelli and Gol dreich6 (2001), (2003) examine a unique data set of international book building allocations and find that the underwriter favors both regular investors and investors that supply information on the value of the issue. Degeorge, Derrien and Womack (2005) have presented empirical evidence from Frances IPO market that underwriters employing the bookbuilding process implicitly committed to providing more favorable coverage to the companies they took public in the aftermarket. Authors find convincing empirical evidence that in addition to placing the IPO shares with investors, underwriters employing book-building implicitly commit to providing more favorable coverage to the companies they take public in the aftermarket. Specifically, analysts, affiliated with the lead underwriter of the offering, issue more favorable recommendations for recent book-built IPOs than for auctioned offerings. 2.2. Fixed Price Offer vs. Book Building and/or Auctions The pricing of Initial Public Offerings (IPOs) in the short-run has been analyzed by several theoretical and empirical studies referring to the major international stock markets. Extensive research has revealed that the fixed-price offering all over the world suffer from IPO underpricing especially in these major markets. However, studies conducted by Busaba and Cheng (2001), Bierbaum and Grimm (2003), Chemmanur and Liu (2003), Hsu and Hung (2005) present some evidence on the efficiency of fixed price offering over book building and auctions. Busaba and Cheng (2001) show that the bookbuilding process elicits much information from informed traders at the IPO stage by promising larger allocation of valuable stocks to investors who truthfully reveal their information, and therefore reduce the impact that such informed traders have in the after- 5 In the hybrid bookbuilding offers, all retail investors are allowed to place orders in a public offer tranche, and all have an equal chance of getting shares. The prices, however, are set by professional investors who are given incentives to attend the road show. Jenkinson and Jones (2004), cast some doubts about the findings of Cornelli and Goldreich (2001) upon the extent of information production during the bookbuilding period. market trading. In contrast, the fixed price method, that does not elicits such private information at the IPO stage, enables informed traders to use such information in the after-market at the expense of the uninformed traders. In this regard, if the underwriter building a book can not successfully target a subset of the informed investors, a simple fixed price strategy that involves allocating the issue to retail investors produces higher proceeds on average. The comparatively high adverse selection problems associated with the fixed-price method will spill over from the IPO stage to the after-market. This in turn means that liquidity will be relatively more important for IPOs carried out via a fixed- price method than via bookbuilding. Authors show that, compared with a fixed-price offering, the bookbuilding process elicits more information from informed traders at the IPO stage, and therefore reduce adverse selection problems in the after-market trading. However, by the same toke n bookbuilding may require larger informational rents to be paid at the IPO stage. This suggests that underpricing should be larger for IPOs carried out via bookbuilding than via a fixed-price method. Bierbaum and Grimm (2003) compare the fixed price and the uniform auction in a game theoretic framework. The comparison of the two mechanisms yields that for certain parameter values, namely a low variance of the asset and, at the same time, a sufficiently high probability of low demand, fixed price method outperforms the auction in terms of revenue. Moreover, the revenue in the fixed price mechanism is typically less volatile than the revenue in the auction. Chemmanur and Liu (2003) model the effect of costly information production on issuers choice of a fixed-price offer or a uniform-price auction with exogenous entry of bidders. Their model predicts that IPO auctions will exhibit a significantly lower mean and variance of underpricing compared to fixed- price offerings. This is due to the fact that the offering price in an IPO auction aggregates the information produced by outsiders to a significant degree, so that this offering price is greater for higher intrinsic-value firms and lower for lower intrinsic-value firms in IPO auctions than in fixed- price offerings. At the same time, there is less information production in IPO auctions compared to fixed-price offerings where the offering price is set by insiders to induce the optimal degree of information production, so that a lower amount of information is reflected in the opening price of the shares listed in the stock market. Thus, Chemmanur and Liu (2003) demonstrated that, in many situations, firms will prefer to go public using fixed-price offerings rather than IPO auctions in equilibrium, since such offerings allow the firm to induce the optimal extent of information production. Hsu and Hung (2005) present an empirical study conducted on the Taiwanese companies between 1996 and 2000. Using a sample of 280 pure fixed-price offers and 84 hybrid auctioned, authors find that, Taiwanese hybrid auctions are associated with less under-pricing and with a lower variance of under-pricing than versus the pure fixed-price offers, but these differences are not statistically different. On the other hand, we find that the market index returns prior to the IPO pricing date have a strong influence on the under-pricing of Taiwanese IPO auctions and of the pure fixed-price offers. Authors provide empirical evidence of how Taiwanese issuers make the choice of IPO method. Taiwanese issuers that float large IPOs, or which have a pricing conflict with underwriters, will likely use a hybrid auction to distribute shares. On the other hand, when the relative risk level of IPO auctions to fixed-price offers has increased, the issuers will likely avoid an IPO auction. Empirical evidenc e also explains why Taiwanese IPO auctions have lost market share to fixed-price offers. Further results reveal that Taiwanese IPO auctions are not associated with less under-pricing and with a lower variance of under-pricing, nor are they better at incorporating recent market information into the IPO price than the pure fixed-price offers. Authors examination on issuers choice of hybrid auctions or fixed-price offers indicates that Taiwanese issuers condition their choice of IPO method not only on firm characteristics, but also on IPO size and on market conditions. This is why Taiwanese issuers prefer a pure fixed-price offer to a hybrid auction are based on market volatility and the pricing conflict. In doing so, under a volatile market where Taiwanese hybrid auctions have become much riskier relative to the pure fixed-price offers, issuers will prefer a pure fixed-price offer to a hybrid auction, resulting in a lower popularity of Taiwanese hybrid auctions. As listed in Table 1, Fixed Price Offering seems to be the less favorable method comparing to Book building and Auction Methods. It is a fact that, the worldwide introduction of book building method during the 90s has promoted efficiency in the major equity markets. However, Sherman (2002) states that stock markets listing few IPOs each year, fixed price offering is still be the optimal method. 2.3. Auctions vs. Book Building and/or Fixed Price Offer Using a sample of 108 French firms marketed on the Second Marchà © between 1984 and 1991, Leleux and Paliard (1995) show that initial returns are significantly higher for firms issuing through the fixed- price procedure than for firms using auction-like procedures. Leleux and Paliard (1995) state that the auction mechanism is associated with less underpricing and thus more efficient, since this procedure is able to incorporate more information from recent market momentum into the pricing of the IPO. Beierlein (2000) compares the book-bu ilding method to two commonly used auction mechanisms, the discriminatory price auction and the uniform price auction in terms of underpricing and the long run performance of IPOs relative to the market. Using data from Japan, Israel and the U.S., author finds evidence that the U.S. book building is less efficient than the auction mechanisms are. Specifically, underpricing is significantly higher in the U.S. than it is in Japan or Israel and bookbuilding appears to incorporate less demand information into the offer price than the auction mechanisms do. Bennouri and Falconieri (2001) suggest that auction mechanisms are the optimal way to sell new shares because auction procedures are more informationally efficient than bookbuilding. Assuming ex ante uncertainty about the firm true value, then auction mechanisms are able to elicit and incorporate more information from the market as well as from investors into the pricing of IPOs. Draho (2001) suggests that underpricing in bookbuilt IPOs is due to the uncertainty about the price on the secondary market rather than about the firm value, as most of the literature assume. Nonetheless, his results indicate auction-like mechanisms as the most efficient ones, since they are open to all investors who are moreover required to submit price-quantity bids. McDonald (2001) examines the efficiency mechanisms of the sealed-bid uniform-price auctions over book building method in a theoretical framework and concludes that the uniform-price auction, due to its generalized Vickrey auction properties, is indeed an efficient auction mechanism especially for the sale of IPOs over the Internet. Biais, Bossaert, and Rochet, (2002) study the optimal IPO mechanism by which the seller can extract private information to maximize the expected net IPO proceeds. They find that the optimal mechanism they characterize is similar to auction-like IPO procedures used in the U.K. and in France. Kaneko and Pettway (2003) examine the Japanese initial returns before and after the introduction of book building, and find that underpricing in book building method is significantly higher than auctions, especially during hot markets. Results suggest that the move from auction-priced to underwriter-priced IPOs using book building in Japan has significantly reduced the wealth of issuing companies while increasing the wealth of underwriter-selected investors. Derrien and Womack (2003), use the French IPO data for the 1992-1998 period and compare the three underwriting/selling mechanisms available on the French market. One is very similar to the book building mechanism used in the United States. Another is a fixed price procedure. The third one is an auction-like procedure. Authors show that the auction procedure is better than the others at controlling underpricing in general as well as the variance of underpricing of the issued shares in â€Å"hot versus â€Å"cold markets. Fixed price offering method is indeed inefficient and leads to greater underpricing compared to IPOs sold through book-building and auctions. However, the main empirical comparison in this paper is between the two main procedures auction and book building. Authors find evidence that during hot markets auctioning is associated with less underpricing than book building. They attribute the result to the auction methods ability to incorporate more information about recent market performance into the offer price. This result provides empirical support for the theoretical work by Biais, Bossaerts, and Rochet (2002) who suggests the auction procedure is optimal. In line with the evidence of Derrien and Womack (2003) that an auction procedure is more efficient in incorporating recent market momentum in the offer price compared to fixed price procedure, Vandemaele (2003) uses the French IPO data for the 1984-1995 period and points out the factors that may influence issue procedure choice. Results indicate that, firms facing relatively high valuation uncertainty are high likely to opt for an auction-like procedure and the likelihood of opting for an auction increases as the investment bank reputation associated with the issue decreases. Although not a direct comparison between auctions, book building and fixed-price offers, studies in Pettway and Kanekos (1996) examination on Japanese auctions, Kandel, Sarig and Wohls, (1999) examination on Israeli auctions, and Liu, Wei and Liaws (2003) examination on Taiwanese auctions seem to suggest that IPO auctions lead to less under-pricing. Biais and Faugeron-Crouzet (2001) show that a uniform price auction can prevent tacit collusion among bidders and can truthfully elicit information from investors in much the same way as book building. Bulow and Klemperer (1998) also show that it can be optimal in an auction to set a price at which there is excess demand. 2.4. Research on IPOs in the Istanbul Stock Exchange (ISE) Firms in Turkey may offer their shares to the public through, book building, fixed price offer and sale through the stock exchange method, however, they are mainly underwritten and sold using the fixed- price offering method; a method which is very common world w ide is becoming much less common, particularly for more active markets. Recent empirical studies, focused mainly on the initial returns and under pricing, condu

Forward To The Past - Feudalism And Communism :: Communism Essays

<a href="http://www.geocities.com/vaksam/">Sam Vaknin's Psychology, Philosophy, Economics and Foreign Affairs Web Sites The core countries of Central Europe (the Czech Republic, Hungary and, to a lesser extent, Poland) experienced industrial capitalism in the inter-war period. But the countries comprising the vast expanses of the New Independent States, Russia and the Balkan had no real acquaintance with it. To them its zealous introduction is nothing but another ideological experiment and not a very rewarding one at that. It is often said that there is no precedent to the extant fortean transition from totalitarian communism to liberal capitalism. This might well be true. Yet, nascent capitalism is not without historical example. The study of the birth of capitalism in feudal Europe may yet lead to some surprising and potentially useful insights. The Barbarian conquest of the teetering Roman Empire (410-476 AD) heralded five centuries of existential insecurity and mayhem. Feudalism was the countryside's reaction to this damnation. It was a Hobson's choice and an explicit trade-off. Local lords defended their vassals against nomad intrusions in return for perpetual service bordering on slavery. A small percentage of the population lived on trade behind the massive walls of Medieval cities. In most parts of central, eastern and southeastern Europe, feudalism endured well into the twentieth century. It was entrenched in the legal systems of the Ottoman Empire and of Czarist Russia. Elements of feudalism survived in the mellifluous and prolix prose of the Habsburg codices and patents. Most of the denizens of these moribund swathes of Europe were farmers - only the profligate and parasitic members of a distinct minority inhabited the cities. The present brobdignagian agricultural sectors in countries as diverse as Poland and Macedonia attest to this continuity of feudal practices. Both manual labour and trade were derided in the Ancient World. This derision was partially eroded during the Dark Ages. It survived only in relation to trade and other "non-productive" financial activities and even that not past the thirteenth century. Max Weber, in his opus, "The City" (New York, MacMillan, 1958) described this mental shift of paradigm thus: "The medieval citizen was on the way towards becoming an economic man ... the ancient citizen was a political man". What communism did to the lands it permeated was to freeze this early feudal frame of mind of disdain towards "non-productive", "city-based" vocations. Agricultural and industrial occupations were romantically extolled. The cities were berated as hubs of moral turpitude, decadence and greed.

Small changes for the urban teacher :: Education Teaching Learning Papers

Small changes for the urban teacher I think there are a lot of minds going to waste in our urban environments, minds that could be reinventing the world, but are, for some reason, only keeping themselves down and out of a culture that needs them. Why are there so few college bound kids graduating from our urban schools, and why are the ones who do go to college so ill-prepared when its obvious how capable they are? I claim that it is possible to change how we teach in a manner that doesn’t take more time, but yields more opportunities for the multicultural classroom to learn. Treisman’s article was not only a big resource, but a huge inspiration for my paper and personal goals. Being from a rural community, I feel very under-educated when it comes to the urban community. He gave me a lot of information, some of which I would have assumed, but was reassured to see it in writing, and some of which I would not have thought up with on my own. Another resource I used was ‘Problems and Solutions in Urban Schools’ edited by Gwendolyn Duhon. It was a very helpful tool, and written by many different authors, which was great for getting a few different voices behind my arguments. A final resource for me was ‘Becoming a Successful Urban Teacher’ by Dave Brown. This book probably helped me more personally than specifically for this paper. I loved that it went over so many of the questions I have had and left plenty of room for personal reflection. I would like to begin by saying that every teacher has his or her own personality, and the incorporation of that could alter some of the specifics of each of my principles, but I do believe the general make-up of the principles to be universal. I think that the best way my principles could be summed up would be in three stages: Pre-classroom, Firstweek, and Yearlong, each having equal importance. Pre-classroom would be the most time consuming of the stages, because it involves reevaluating all of your mathematical content knowledge. I think drastic changes would occur if the teacher could spend even one week, part-time, prior to the class, reading and questioning the text book. You could familiarize yourself with every hang-up you have, working them out as you go. You could take notes of possible hang-ups the students will have and the basics they will need to overcome these. Small changes for the urban teacher :: Education Teaching Learning Papers Small changes for the urban teacher I think there are a lot of minds going to waste in our urban environments, minds that could be reinventing the world, but are, for some reason, only keeping themselves down and out of a culture that needs them. Why are there so few college bound kids graduating from our urban schools, and why are the ones who do go to college so ill-prepared when its obvious how capable they are? I claim that it is possible to change how we teach in a manner that doesn’t take more time, but yields more opportunities for the multicultural classroom to learn. Treisman’s article was not only a big resource, but a huge inspiration for my paper and personal goals. Being from a rural community, I feel very under-educated when it comes to the urban community. He gave me a lot of information, some of which I would have assumed, but was reassured to see it in writing, and some of which I would not have thought up with on my own. Another resource I used was ‘Problems and Solutions in Urban Schools’ edited by Gwendolyn Duhon. It was a very helpful tool, and written by many different authors, which was great for getting a few different voices behind my arguments. A final resource for me was ‘Becoming a Successful Urban Teacher’ by Dave Brown. This book probably helped me more personally than specifically for this paper. I loved that it went over so many of the questions I have had and left plenty of room for personal reflection. I would like to begin by saying that every teacher has his or her own personality, and the incorporation of that could alter some of the specifics of each of my principles, but I do believe the general make-up of the principles to be universal. I think that the best way my principles could be summed up would be in three stages: Pre-classroom, Firstweek, and Yearlong, each having equal importance. Pre-classroom would be the most time consuming of the stages, because it involves reevaluating all of your mathematical content knowledge. I think drastic changes would occur if the teacher could spend even one week, part-time, prior to the class, reading and questioning the text book. You could familiarize yourself with every hang-up you have, working them out as you go. You could take notes of possible hang-ups the students will have and the basics they will need to overcome these.

Aristotles Categories :: Philosophy Aristotle

Aristotle’s Categories Things are said to be named 'equivocally' when, though they have a common name, the definition corresponding with the name differs for each. Thus, a real man and a figure in a picture can both lay claim to the name 'animal'; yet these are equivocally so named, for, though they have a common name, the definition corresponding with the name differs for each. For should any one define in what sense each is an animal, his definition in the one case will be appropriate to that case only. On the other hand, things are said to be named 'univocally' which have both the name and the definition answering to the name in common. A man and an ox are both 'animal', and these are univocally so named, inasmuch as not only the name, but also the definition, is the same in both cases: for if a man should state in what sense each is an animal, the statement in the one case would be identical with that in the other. Things are said to be named 'derivatively', which derive their name from some other name , but differ from it in termination. Thus the grammarian derives his name from the word 'grammar', and the courageous man from the word 'courage'. 2 Forms of speech are either simple or composite. Examples of the latter are such expressions as 'the man runs', 'the man wins'; of the former 'man', 'ox', 'runs', 'wins'. Of things themselves some are predicable of a subject, and are never present in a subject. Thus 'man' is predicable of the individual man, and is never present in a subject. By being 'present in a subject' I do not mean present as parts are present in a whole, but being incapable of existence apart from the said subject. Some things, again, are present in a subject, but are never predicable of a subject. For instance, a certain point of grammatical knowledge is present in the mind, but is not predicable of any subject; or again, a certain whiteness may be present in the body (for colour requires a material basis), yet it is never predicable of anything. Other things, ag ain, are both predicable of a subject and present in a subject. Thus while knowledge is present in the human mind, it is predicable of grammar. There is, lastly, a class of things which are neither present in a subject nor predicable of a subject, such as the individual man or the individual horse.

Catcher in the Rye †Study notes as a related text for Belonging Essay

The Catcher in the Rye is set around the 1950s and is narrated by a young man named Holden Caulfield. Holden is not specific about his location while he’s telling the story, but he makes it clear that he is undergoing treatment in a mental hospital or sanatorium. The events he narrates take place in the few days between the end of the fall school term and Christmas, when Holden is sixteen years old. Alienation as a Form of Self-Protection: Throughout the novel, Holden seems to be excluded from and victimized by the world around him. He continually attempts to find his way in a world in which he feels he doesn’t belong. As the novel progresses, we begin to perceive that Holden’s alienation is his way of protecting himself. He uses his isolation as proof that he is better than everyone else around him and therefore above interacting with them. The truth is that interactions with other people usually confuse and overwhelm him, and his cynical sense of superiority serves as a type of self-protection. Holden’s alienation is the cause of most of his pain. He never addresses his own emotions directly, nor does he attempt to discover the source of his troubles. He desperately needs human contact and love, but his protective wall of bitterness prevents him from looking for such interaction. Alienation is both the source of Holden’s strength and the source of his problems. Belonging to the School Community/ a group The school community’s collective allegiance to the football team enables them to belong to each other: â€Å"Anyway it was the Saturday of the football game with Saxon Hall†¦It was the last game of the year and you were supposed to commit suicide or something if old Pencey didn’t win†. Pg. 2 (Pencey Prep is a school the main character, Holden went to) The use of the verb, ‘supposed’, demonstrates the expectations of the community. The high modality of the verb, ‘suicide’ highlights the strength of their connection Holden’s sarcastic tone mocks their sense of belonging, thus segregating him. â€Å"There was about three inches of snow on the ground (at Pencey Prep after dinner one night) and coming down like a madman. It looked pretty as hell, and we all started throwing snowballs and horsing around all over the place. It was very childish, but everybody was really enjoying themselves.† Pg. 31 This anecdote demonstrates a sense of belonging to peers in the school community. Plural pronoun, ‘we’ and the adjective, ‘all’ demonstrates the all-encompassing sense of belonging across the group. â€Å"It wasn’t allowed for students to borrow faculty guy’s cars but all the athletic bastards stuck together. In every school I’ve gone to, all the athletic bastards stick together†. Pg. 37 The conjunction, ‘but’ Repitition of ‘athletic bastards’ The adjective and negative ‘bastards’ The repetition of the adverb, together’ Demonstrates the way in which individuals are connected through a common interest. Whilst, the negative connotations of, ‘bastard’, elucidate Holden’s negative view on this group of people and suggests that he does not belong to this group. Holden’s Absence of Belonging â€Å"Practically the whole school except me was there.† Pg. 2 Adjective, ‘whole’, in relation to the noun, ‘school’, juxtaposes against the personal pronoun through the use of the conjunction, ‘except’. This highlights Holden’s isolation from the community. â€Å"I’d just got back from New York with the fencing team†¦I left all the foils and equipment and stuff on the goddam subway†¦The whole team ostracized me the whole way back on the train.† Pg. 3 Verb, ‘ostracized’, demonstrates Holden’s exclusion and the use of the adjective, ‘whole’, exemplifies the full extent of his exclusion. â€Å"I felt so lonesome, all of a sudden. I almost wished I was dead†¦.Boy, did I feel rotten. I felt so damn lonesome.† Pg. 42 Repetition of the abstract noun, ‘lonesome’ highlights Holden’s sense of isolation. The verb, ‘wished’ and adjective, ‘dead’ suggest the negative implications of a bereft sense of belonging. â€Å"It was even depressing out in the street. You couldn’t even hear any cars any more. I got feeling so lonesome and rotten, I even felt like waking Ackley up.† Pg. 44 The adjectives, ‘depressing’, ‘lonesome’ and ‘rotten’ convey his disconnection from his environment and his defiled sense of belonging. Everybody was asleep or out or home for the week end, and it was very, very quiet and depressing in the corridor.† Pg. 45 The pronoun, ‘everybody’ is all-inclusive and the repetition of the adverb, ‘very’ emphasizes the loneliness and sense of solitude Holden is feeling, implied by the adjective, ‘depressing’. â€Å"In fact, nobody was around my age. They were mostly old, show-offy-looking guys with their dates.† Pg. 62 The combination of the pronoun, ‘nobody’, the personal pronoun, ‘my’ and the abstract noun, ‘age’ convey Holden’s absence of belonging in that he is unable to find commonalities or connect with the people around him. Lack of Belonging- the distaste for his environment (Mostly Place) â€Å"It was a horrible school (Pencey Prep), no matter how you looked at it†. Pg. 2 Adjective, ‘horrible’, illustrates Holden’s aversion to his surroundings. â€Å"They kicked me out (of school)†¦I was flunking four subjects and not applying myself and all. They gave me frequent warnings to start applying myself†¦.but I didn’t do it. So I got the axe† Pg. 3 Adjective, ‘frequent’ and noun, ‘warnings’, demonstrate Holden’s awareness of the situation. The conjunction, ‘but’ and the negative, ‘didn’t’ demonstrate his lack of action. Thus, illustrating Holden’s role in the lack of belonging that he is experiencing. â€Å"Pencey was full of crooks†. Pg. 3 The negative connotations of the noun, ‘crooks’, to represent the students at Pencey highlight Holden’s distaste for those around him and the adjective, ‘full’, highlights the abundance of these people, he is unable to connect with. â€Å"One of the biggest reasons I left Elkon Hills was because I was surrounded by phonies†. Pg. 12 The use of the noun, ‘phonies’, to describe the students at his previous school and the use of the adjective, ‘surrounded’, implies that he feels trapped in a world in which he does not belong and with people whom he does not connect with. â€Å"I hated that goddam Elkon Hills†, Pg. 12 The verb, ‘hated’ and negative connotations of the adjective, ‘goddam’, illustrate Holden’s repugnance towards his environment. â€Å"For one thing the room was too damn hot. It made you sleepy. At Pencey, you either froze to death or died of the heat†. Pg. 19 The juxtaposition of ‘froze to death’ and ‘died of the heat’, demonstrates Holden’s discomfort and lack of connection and contentness in the world around him. The incorporation of the noun, ‘death’ and verb, ‘died’, conveys the severity of his distaste for his environment. Holden’s Search for a Sense of Belonging â€Å"What really knocks me out is a book that, when you’re all done reading it, you wish the author that wrote it was a terrific friend of yours and you could call him up on the phone whenever you felt like it†. Pg. 16 The verb, ‘wish’, used with the noun, ‘friend’, suggests Holden’s yearning to establish a connection with someone. â€Å"But finally after I was riding for a while the cab driver and I sort of struck up a conversation. â€Å" Pg. 74â€Å" Would you care to stop off and have a drink with me somewhere?† I said. Pg. 75 The noun, ‘conversation’ and the question within the direct speech imply Holden’s search to belong through aiming to establish connections with people. â€Å"I damn near got my coat back and went back to the hotel, but it was too early and I didn’t feel much like being alone.† Pg. 77 The noun, ‘being’ and adjective, ‘alone’ demonstrate Holden’s wish to fulfill his sense of belonging. â€Å"What I did do though, was ask the waiter to ask old Ernie if he’d care to join me for a drink.† Pg. 78 Throughout the novel, Holden’s loneliness and absence of a sense of belonging is conveyed however so are his attempts to establish connections with people. He asks cab drivers and waiters etc. if they would care to have a drink with him. This is illustrated through the noun, ‘waiter’, the verb, ‘join’ and the personal pronoun, ‘me’ â€Å"Boy, I felt miserable. I felt so depressed, you can’t imagine. What I did, I started talking, sort of out loud, to Allie. I do that sometimes when I get very depressed.† Pg. 89 (search for belonging through family) The repetition of the adjective, ‘depressed’ highlight the issues within Holden’s emotional and mental well-being. The verb, ‘talking’ and noun, ‘Allie’ conveys Holden’s search for belonging as he is aiming to communicate with his deceased brother Allie, whom he shared a connection with. Belonging To Oneself â€Å"They gave me this crumby room, with nothing to look out of the window at except the other side of the hotel. I didn’t care much. I was too depressed to care whether I had a good view or not.† Pg. 54 The adjective, ‘crumby’ conveys Holden’s affliction to his environment and absence of belonging to place. Holden’s inability to belong to himself is also highlighted through the adjective, ‘too’ and abstract noun, ‘depressed’. â€Å"’I can’t sit in a corny place like this cold sober. Cantcha stick a little rum in it or something? (Holden asks the waiter).’†. Pg. 62 Holden’s reliance on alcohol is evident here as he is unable to connect with people or his environment and does not have a well-established and stable sense of belonging to himself. This is achieved through the pronoun, â€Å"I†, adjective, ‘corny’ and abstract noun, ‘sober’. â€Å"In the first place it was one of those places that are very terrible to be in unless you have somebody good to dance with or unless the waiter lets you buy real drinks instead of just Cokes. There isn’t any night club in the world you can sit for a long time unless you can buy some liquor and get drunk.† Pg. 68 Holden’s absence of sense of self is exhibited here, which has an impact on his ability to find belonging through place, through his reliance on alcohol. This is demonstrated through the adjective, ‘terrible’, the verb, ‘dance’ and noun, ‘drinks’. The adjective, ‘drunk’. Belonging to Family â€Å"I certainly wouldn’t have minded shooting the crap with old Phoebe (Holden’s younger sister) for a while. You should see her. You never saw a little kid so pretty and so smart in your whole life. She’s really smart†¦As a matter of fact, I’m the only dumb one in the family.† Pg. 60 The use of the colloquial phrase, ‘shooting the crap’, demonstrates Holden’s attempt to connect with his sister. The repetition of, ‘so’ used in conjunction with the adjectives, ‘pretty’ and ‘smart’, demonstrate Holden’s adoration of his sister. The adjective, ‘dumb’ used by Holden to describe himself juxtaposes against those used to describe his sister, while the adverb, ‘only’ creates a divide between Holden and his family, thus implying his absence of belonging. â€Å"When she (Phoebe) was a very tiny little kid, I and Allie used to take her to the park with us, especially on Sundays. Allie had this sailboat he used to like fool around with on Sundays and we used to take old Phoebe with us. She’d wear white gloves and walk right between us, like a lady and all†. Pg. 61 The anecdote evokes Holden’s sense of connection with members of his family, his brother Allie and sister Phoebe. Belonging through Friendship â€Å"I know old Jane like a book-I still couldn’t get her off my brain. I knew her like a book. I really did. I mean, besides checkers, she was quite fond of all athletic sports, and after I got to know her, the whole summer long we played tennis together almost every morning and golf almost every afternoon.† Pg. 69 The repetition of the simile, ‘like a book’, conveys the connection through friendship that Holden has with Jane. The adverb, ‘together’ and repetition of the adjective, ‘every’, further emphasize this connection and achievement of a sense of belonging through friendship.