Essay about Andrew Jackson - 954 Words

Andrew Jackson was not plainly a common man or an aristocrat. He was in fact a combination of the two. Because he came into popularity on the frontier and was not of aristocratic decent he is often considered to be a common man. However, many facts about his life do not coincide with this stereotype. From the beginning of his career in Tennessee, he considered himself an aristocrat. As a result his tastes, manners and life style were shaped accordingly. Although he considered himself, an aristocrat he was similar to the common man in that he could not spell and he lacked education and culture. However, this was not unusual of aristocrats from the southwest region. Many of them were not born aristocrats but merely rose from middle or†¦show more content†¦The banks that had overextended themselves were forced to press their debtors to repay their loans. Through the process of foreclosure, banks and particularly the national bank became absentee owners of Western and Southern p roperty. Jackson who lived in the west saw what was happening and consequently his resentment towards the national bank grew. Jackson also loathed the national bank for economic as well as political reasons. He thought the law that had created the bank was unconstitutional. He criticized the bank for failing to establish a quot;uniform and soundquot; currency. Jackson favored a quot;hard moneyquot; policy that was based strictly on currency, or gold and silver. Jackson also attacked the bank as a monopoly. He said its vast powers threatened democratic government because it meddled in politics. All the events that Jackson experienced along with his personal feelings helped him to make the decision to veto the bill that would charter the national bank for an additional term nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;In the early 1820amp;#8217;s Jacksonamp;#8217;s military career had ended and there began talk of electing him as President. In 1824, the presidential election took place. Four candidates all from the same party were running against each other because during this time we became primarily a single party system. The candidates included Andrew Jackson, John Quincy Adams, Henry Clay, and William H. Crawford. Although AndrewShow MoreRelatedAndrew Jackson1431 Words   |  6 Pages Andrew Jackson, the seventh president of the United Stated of America, was born on March 15, 1767 and died on June 8, 1845 in Nashville, Tennessee. Jackson’s parents Andrew and Elizabeth Hutchinson Jackson were Presyberitains, Scots-Irish settlers whom in 1765 emigrated from Ireland. Andrew’s birthplace is deduced to have been at one of his uncles houses in the Waxhaw’s area between North Carolina and South Carolina, his exact whereabouts is unknown. Jacksons mothe r emigrated across the AppalachianRead MoreAndrew Jackson : The Age Of Jackson1376 Words   |  6 Pagesknown as â€Å"The Age of Jackson†, America was a country on its way to the West. America’s revolutionary generation was quickly fading, making room for a new balance of political power. As the class systems were breaking down, the â€Å"common man† was better able to cast his vote for the new President. Jackson was glorified by his impressive war accomplishments and humble background of the frontier. This made him the main target for presidency in election 1824. Once coming to power, Jackson no longer portrayedRead MoreThe Age Of Jackson By Andrew Jackson Essay1267 Words   |  6 Pages â€Å"The Age of Jackson† was a time when the high society aristocrats were threatened by the commoner. Jackson was a common man himself; orphaned as a boy, Jackson, rose to the top and became an admired general and commander in chief. Jackson affected the outlook on the class system, the method of electing our president, the spread of the spoils system, the fighting between the north and the south, the interactions between America and the Indians, and he helped lead our country to inflation. With Jackson’sRead MoreThe Life Of Andrew Jackson Essay1625 Words   |  7 Pages The Life of Andrew Jackson Michael J. Ford Jr. Central High School November 9, 2015 4th Period â€Æ' Abstract In my paper I while inform you of the United States 7th president Andrew Jackson. My paper consists of interesting facts about Mr. Jackson. It isn’t like what you read about in regular history books. Although some are random there fun facts that you may or may not know about my topic. The Life of Andrew Jackson Andrew Jackson was born Friday March 15, 1767. He was raised in WaxhawRead MoreThe Legacy Of Andrew Jackson1090 Words   |  5 PagesAndrew Jackson America’s history is rich and full of countless heroes, scandals, and incredible stories. Perhaps one of the most interesting of those stories is that of Andrew Jackson’s. To some, he was a hero, but to others, he was their worst enemy. Being raised in the mountains of the Carolinas, he became the first â€Å"backcountry president† of the United States (Wilentz, 13). His fame, though, began years before his presidency. Jackson’s reputation was established during the War of 1812, namelyRead MoreThe Legacy Of Andrew Jackson1365 Words   |  6 PagesConceived in time of poverty, Andrew Jackson had turned into a rich Tennessee lawyer. When the time came and the war broke out between Britain and the United States, his administration in that conflict earned Jackson national fame as a military legend. He would then go on to turn into America s most influential and polarizing political figure between the 1820s and 1830s. After barely losing to John Quincy Adams in the 1824 presidential race, Jackson returned four years after the fact to win reclamationRead More Andrew Jackson Essay1388 Words   |  6 Pages Andrew Jackson Andrew Jackson, born in 1767 was a child of poor Scotch-Irish immigrants. He ended up with enough education to be qualified to practice law. Jackson’s father died before he was born. The Revolutionary War started soon after he was born. It was very bloody in the wild and poor country where they lived. Jackson at the age of 13, joined a regiment. He was captured by the British, was wounded and nearly killed by a sword to the face for not polishing a British officers boots. He andRead More Andrew Jackson Essay1079 Words   |  5 Pages Andrew Jackson, the seventh president of the United States, was born the Waxhaw territory, lying between North and South Carolina on March 15, 1767. Jackson was the third child of Scotch-Irish parents. His father died as the result of a logging accident just a few weeks before Andrew was born. Jacksons mother, Elizabeth Hutchison Jackson, was regarded as a very independent woman. After her husbands death, she raised her three sons at the home of one of her relatives. The Declaration of IndependenceRead MoreThe Legacy Of Andrew Jackson1523 Words   |  7 PagesAndrew Jackson was born on March 15, 1767 to Scots-Irish colonists Andrew and Elizabeth Hutchinson Jackson in the mountains between North and South Carolina. Jackson was born into poverty and as a result received very little education growing up. When The British invaded the Carolinas around 1780, Jackson’s mother and two brothers were killed during the conflict and British soldiers took the young Andrew Jackson prisoner, leaving him with a lifelong hostility toward Great Britain. In 1781, JacksonRead More Andrew Jackson Essay981 Words   |  4 PagesAndrew Jackson No one can argue that as a president, Jackson made no mistakes; however, they in no way disqualify him from having a place on the U.S. twenty dollar bill. Jackson made every decision according to the will of the American people, even the more unsavory ones. He was a war hero that exemplified the strength and tenacity by which America has defined itself over the generations. He acted in all ways with concern for the growth of the American nation, both at home and overseas. Even his

Transgender Inequality Human Dignity.that Is Why We...

Transgender Inequality M. Georgia Valdes November 12th, 2015 SYG 2010 Social Problems â€Å"As Americans we respect human dignity†¦.That is why we defend free speech, and advocate for political prisoners and condemn the persecution of women, or religious minorities, or people who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender.† This is the first time that a president has said the word â€Å"transgender† in the State of the Union address. These words were not said by any accident and should not be taken lightly. All the cases he named are actually some of the most widely discriminated groups of people in the country, as well as the world. The group i’d like to analyse is that of the transgender community. I myself as well as people who are dear to me do not identify with the socially â€Å"correct† understanding of gender or sexuality. August 14th of this year marks the 15th murder of a trans individual, an all time high. (Time) Subsequently, I’ve witnessed hate, and I now hope to have a clearer understanding through a sociological analysis. Using the theories and tools of thought I will explore discriminatory actions taken against them, how these actions affect their standards of living and even their personal health. Understanding this, then I’d like to speak on what we a s a first world are repairing these issue in comparison to other nations. It begins even in youth, with 80% of questioning and confused children reporting bullying and harassment in school. (Time) One

The Constant Free Essays

â€Å"The Constant† is an episode from the fourth of six seasons of the critically acclaimed drama series, Lost, which aired on the American Broadcasting Company between September 2004 and May 2010. The initial opening of Lost begins with a plane crash on a deserted island. Throughout the extent of the series, the survivors of the crash are challenged by fear of the unknown island, desperation for food and water, and most importantly, each other. We will write a custom essay sample on The Constant or any similar topic only for you Order Now The deserted island in which the series takes place is not Just any island – that is, it is not able to be found by anyone living outside of it – and once the characters are iving there, they essentially have no way out. They are trapped, and can be found by no one. There is a mysterious group of civilians who are called â€Å"The Others† living on the island when Oceanic flight 81 5 crashes. This group of â€Å"Others† is part of the scientific research organization called the â€Å"Dharma Initiative† which has placed several stations at differing locations on the island, a sequence of numbers that seems to appear in lives of characters from the past, present, and future and personal connections among characters of which they are unaware. The main character of focus in the episode â€Å"The Constant† is Desmond Hume, a man who was captured on the island long before Oceanic flight 81 5 crashed. He is residing in the hatch, an underground room that supposedly releases an electromagnetic charge to prevent a large buildup of electromagnetic energy. Desmond is forced by the means of survival to punch numbers into a computer for several years, told that if he refuses to punch the numbers the world as he knows it will come to an end. At one point, Desmond misses the timer on the computer and does not punch in the numbers on time. As a result, a massive electromagnetic field is released, attracting all metal object to the hatch, and consequentially causing Oceanic flight 815 to crash on the island. Desmond manages to stop and therefore safely disperse the electromagnetism by punching the code into the computer after it hits zero, but is too late to prevent the plane from crashing. By season four, Desmond has already begun to interact with the survivors on the island. In the previous season, Charlie, another survivor from the Oceanic 81 5 crash, had come into contact with Desmond’s old girlfriend Penny, and informs Desmond hat a boat which a woman by the name of Naomi had brought to the island, did not in fact belong to Penny as Naomi had claimed. Charlie then drowns, leaving Desmond with several unanswered questions. Realizing that Naomi’s story is false, Desmond gets on a helicopter with Sayid and Frank to fly to the freight. As the helicopter flies through a storm, Desmond begins to have flashbacks of a familiar reality to his past in 1996 before his life on the island. Shifting back and forth between the past and the present forces Desmond to lose all memory of the island and Sayid, who is accompanying him on the helicopter. Sayid’s concern leads him to contact Daniel Faraday, a man on the island from the freighter, in order to receive some kind of answer to what Desmond is experiencing. Daniel explains that what Desmond is experiencing is actually a form of time travel, and explains to Desmond that when he reverts back to 1996 again, he needs to find Daniel at Oxford University and seek out his help. Here, Daniel performs a test on his pet rat, Eloise, and realizes that Desmond is experiencing a shift of consciousness through time travel. Eloise dies within less than two hours due to the stress to her brain. Daniel informs Desmond that in order to stop the time travel, he must find a ‘constant’, something that exists in both 1996 and 2004, the present year. A man strapped to a bed on the freighter by the name of Minkowski is experiencing the same consciousness travel as Desmond but for a longer period of time, and due to the high stress once again caused by the time travel, and the fact that he is unable to find a constant, Minkowski also dies. Frightened, Desmond chooses Penny to be his constant and realizes that in order to fulfill it, he must acquire Penny’s phone number and call her from the freighter on December 24, 2004, that day. When Desmond travels back in time once again to 1996, he finds Penny angry and unwilling to speak to him, but explains himself and pleads, saying he needs her phone number and promises not to call for eight years. With the help of Sayid, Desmond uses a phone located on the freighter to call Penny and finds out she has been searching for him for the past three years and she knows about the island. Back on the island, Daniel is searching through his old Journal in which he wrote notes during his time at Oxford, and found an old not he had written, â€Å"If nything goes wrong, Desmond Hume is my constant. † This episode of Lost is an excellent work and is full of several artistic and technical hallmarks, some of which are displayed best in the physical and emotional pain Desmond experiences through his time travel between 1996 and 2004. It is obvious throughout the episode until the end that Desmond is having many difficulties controlling his actions due to the fact that he is unable to control when his body switches between the two years. In 1996, he wants to obey his sergeant major’s commands when he is in the army, but his consciousness is reacting in ways he is nable to control and he is therefore unable to fulfill any of his responsibilities. Desmond’s lack of concentration causes the sergeant major to become so angry that he forces all of the army men to complete extra physical labor. Desmond then leaves to find Daniel Faraday and is again unable to control his conscious actions. He is desperate to find an answer to what is happening to him, and begs Daniel for his help. Desmond witnesses Minkowski die on the freighter due to the same problems he himself is having, and recognizes that if he does not find a constant, he will soon die. When Desmond needs to find Penny to be his constant, he again experiences great frustration because she is initially unwilling to speak to him. However, when she finally gives in and offers Desmond her phone number, Desmond returns to 2004 and immediately calls her to find that she has been searching for him for three years. The episode then presents to the viewer a glimpse of Desmond again in 1996, where he is smiling with gratitude. Harmony is present once Desmond is able to connect with Penny and he is finally able to complete his mission and bring an end to the once unstoppable and unwanted time travelling experiences. The Constant† is not harmonious until this point in the episode, when Desmond realizes that his long-lost love is searching for him and knows about the island. This also represents an element ot ‘Lite and Death’ because when Desmond witnesses Minkowski’s realizes it is absolutely necessary to find a constant in order to survive. Both the acting and cinematography in this episode as well as in the entire series is incredible. It is a turning point in the series because it introduced time travel as no longer a question in the world of Lost, but an actual that is definitely possible. This lone answered several questions for the viewer. The episode explained why Desmond lost his memory and why time travel occurs; and new, important characters are introduced as well. Faraday is notably in this episode one of the most important characters because he is able to explain the time travel Desmond is experiencing – and how to stop it – and seems to understand the island better than anyone else. How to cite The Constant, Papers

Conversing On Ethics Morality And Education â€Myassignmenthelp.Com

Question: Discuss About The Conversing On Ethics Morality And Education? Answer: Introducation The society is governed by laws that are legislated as well as moral principles that regulate conduct personal conduct. The body of moral principles and values can be referred to as ethics and can be used by individuals and organizations in the course of conducting business. Ethical dilemmas arise when three conditions manifest in a situation. The first is that the situation should present alternatives of action while the second is that the best course of action should be chosen amongst the choices given. The third is that no matter what choice is taken, some ethical principles may end up being compromised. In the ethical case study at Fabio, the best decision is for Brockley to confess to Iris and be prepared for any outcome that may ensue. Case Study: Question one Relevant facts- The case study at Fabio presents a number of facts. Harry is presented as having a reputation of being competent as a programmer internally and externally. He also has extensive knowledge of all the problems concerned with Fabios security infrastructure. He manages to develop anti-virus software that shows the potential of having market success. Jill is presented as neither making the decision without consulting her superior nor giving Harry the opportunity to test the product he was offering. Jills boss, Brockley supported her decision based on the negative bias he had formed towards Harry. Iris Bigg the owner of the company has learned about Harry under the pseudonym Lock Smith and wants to hire him. Ethical issues- The first ethical issue is whether it was right for Harry to develop the anti-virus software privately and for him to present his product to his employer while still employed? (Kilpatrick, 2010). His actions could lead to other employees copying his actions and this may reduce focus on organizational productivity at the expense of personal gain. The second dilemma is the decision by Jill to not only reject the offer by Harry but also to dismiss him without giving him the chance to test his product. Brockleys action to validate Jills action was unethical based on his negative bias toward Harry and poses an ethical dilemma. Both of their actions could lead to Harry instituting legal action for wrongful dismissal. Stakeholders involved- Harry is representative of one group of stakeholders in his personal capacity as well as that of fellow employees. The outcome of the case will affect him and the employees and set a precedent. The other stakeholders are the management and what actions the company owner might take. This will affect their future code of conduct in the future while dealing with employees. The third stakeholder is Bigg who stands to lose if Harry institutes legal action against Fabio. He also stands to lose on the opportunity of employing a talented person who has shown himself to be innovative and therefore an asset in the field of IT. Question two: Four-step Ethical Analysis and Decision Making Process Step 1. Understanding the Situation Facts of the case Harry is a bona fide, competent and currently employed at Fabio. He is acknowledged internally and outside of Fabios for being knowledgeable in IT security issues. He has managed to privately develop anti-virus software using his own resources. He approaches Jill who is his immediate superior with the proposal to sell his software that not only rejects it but also terminates his contract. Harry has been out of employment for two weeks but is promoting his software on the internet under the pseudonym Lock Smith. The action of Jill is validated by Brockley who is the overall boss and immediate superior to Jill. Biggs learns about Lock Smith through a private head-hunter and wants to hire him not knowing that he is Harry, his former employee. Facts involving ethical issues The first ethical issue is whether it is right for Harry as an employee to work privately, develop software and propose to sell to his employer. This could raise issues of conflict of interest and personal integrity as an employee (Varelius, 2015). Should he have resigned first or should he have freely given the product to his employer? Jill rejects the offer without the courtesy she would have extended to an outside vendor. She is condescending in her attitude and adds insult to injury by terminating Harrys employment (Quade, Greebaum Petrenko, 2017). She acts unprofessionally by taking a unilateral decision without consulting her senior and only reports the issue later. Brockley displays personal bias and does not take time to review the facts leading to the termination of Harrys contract at Fabio (Ellard, 2007). As the overall manager of the IT department, he displays the lapse of judgment based on personal misgivings on a product that could solve the companies IT security problems. Stakeholders in the case The first stakeholder is Harry in his private capacity and as a representative of the other employees. His job is a programmer and is expected to offer his expertise to his employer with their best interest at the forefront (Molnar, Kletke Chongwatpol, 2008). He stands to suffer professional reputation as an employee who used his employers time and resources to pursue his own private gain. As the representative of other employees, his fate will determine how employees will be handled by Fabio in the future should they take on the same course. The management is the second stakeholder in the case study. This includes Jill, Brockley and other managers in the company. The determination of the case will result in management changes which may curtail some of their authority as well as the dismissal of others. Their relationships with employees and their professional codes of conduct will be affected by the outcome of the case. The role of management is to oversee the daily company operations, encourage employee participation and refer issue beyond their authority to the senior management or the owner. Biggs who is the owner is the last stakeholder in this case. He stands to lose in several ways. He would have a lost talented, innovative employee if Harry declines his offer to come back and work for Fabio. Harry might end up working for a competitor and this may put his company at a disadvantage. He also stands to lose financially if Harry institutes legal proceedings for unfair dismissal and the company is forced to pay him damages (Armstrong, 2014). He would suffer financial lose as the substantive owner of the company. Step 2. Isolate the Major Ethical Dilemma The major ethical dilemma in this case study is centered on Brockley who has been asked by the owner to find Smith Lock and offer him a position at Fabio. This puts Brockley in the difficult position of having to decide whether he will own up to Iris as to what transpired at Fabio that led to the dismissal of Harry or not (Perugini, Constantini, Hughes De Houwer, 2016). There are consequences of the decision he will make which will harm some individuals including him. Consequentialism If action in step II is done, Brockley and Jill stand to be harmed in terms of disciplinary action or being dismissed. If action in step II is not done, Harry stands to be harmed in suffering professional reputation. Iris also stands to be harmed in losing a valuable employee. The least harm will be experienced if step I is taken. In the worst case scenario, both Jill and Brockley may be fired. At the very least, they may face disciplinary action. This is better when compared to the alternative of Harry suffering damage to his reputation and suing Fabio. At the same time, he may decide to work for Fabios competitors. This is based on the utilitarianism concept of taking the action that will benefit other employees as well as us (Toppinen, 2016). Owning up gives him the chance to remedy his error of judgment and clear his conscience. At the same time, the expertise and innovation that Harry will bring back will benefit Fabio as a company and the employees as a whole. If action in step II is done, Harry stand to benefit by coming back justified and as a valuable employee. Iris also stands to benefit by getting back an innovative employee who could have gone to work for her competitor. The employees will also benefit from the expertise Harry will bring back at Fabios. If step II is not done, Harry will benefit by either going to work for Fabios competitor with better remuneration, suing the company or both. Fabios competitor will also benefit in case he decides to work for them in bringing confidential information that will work to their favor. According to the theory of altruism, an individual may take the action that produces the most benefits for everyone except for himself. In this case, Brockley deciding to own up the truth and trying to find Harry would yield the most benefit to everyone else. Iris may benefit by getting back a valuable employee, Harry gets the opportunity to clear his reputation and work in a company he likes. The employees benefit in the knowledge that future dismissals will have to follow the laid down company due process. Consequentialism Comments: Minimum harm is based on the concept of altruism where actions result in others even at the expense of harming the person doing the action (Andric Tanyi, 2016). Maximum benefit results are based on the utilitarianism theory that the action is justified if it avails maximum benefits for all. Rights and Duties: Harry had the right to know what the company policy is with regards to employees who privately developed their own privately resourced products. He had the right to privacy at the same time in controlling personal information. He had the right to intellectual property as set out in the law (Lambert, 2009). Iris had the right to know what her employee had developed while working for her. Duties: Jill and Brockley neglected their duties to do justice in handling Harry. They were also negligent with regards to practicing nonmaleficence and beneficence towards Harry (Valerica Daniel, 2011). Iris has the duty to make appropriate reparation to Harry for the loss of employment that covers two weeks. Comments on Rights and Duties: The actors in the case study have duties and rights which may be reciprocal by nature according to the theory of deontology (Juth, 2014). Jill has the duty to do justice while Harry has the right to the same. Kant Categorical Imperative: If action in step II is done, Brockley and Jill will be treated with disrespect. If action is not done in step II, Iris will be disrespected indirectly in the show of insubordination by Brockley. The best alternative is for Jill and Brockley to suffer disrespect which may be temporary. The owner of the company may decide not to dismiss Jill and Brockley. If she discovers that her order was disrespected, she will most probably fire both without a second thought. If action in step II is done, Harry will be treated differently from the other employees as one with more value. Jill and Brockley may be treated by the employees with less respect compared to other managers. If action in step II is not done, Brockley will be treated unlike no other manager has been treated. Not only may he be fired, legal proceedings may be instituted against him. The best alternative is to be treated with less respect rather than face the prospect of being fired and being sued at the same time. If everyone did action in step II, the benefit will be to Harry, Iris and the company at large. Employees will benefit in having a more stable and secure working environment. If nobody took action, nobody stands to benefit. The best alternative is for everyone to take action: Iris, Harry and Brockley. Step III Discussion The ethical dilemma in this case study has different outcomes which may have positive or negative outcomes. While consequentialism may focus on the outcomes of actions, it has shortcomings with regards to moral character and its development (Betzler, 2008). The consequences of actions in themselves have no content that is ethical. Kants Categorical Imperative assumes that all involved in the case have the same respect for moral law. This assumption in the case makes room for different outcomes and voids the principle of consistency. The rights and duties theory presents the challenge of the reciprocal nature of rights and duties. One persons duty is expected to be the right of the next person. The reciprocity should be founded on goodwill and this may not be the case in most cases. Goodwill may be equated to a person being of good intention or meaning well (Silber, 2012). Goodwill in turn assumes the person has moral worth in doing good. Sibel (2008), states therefore that the rights and duties theory becomes difficult to enforce in an environment that is diverse such as the workplace. Making the Decision The best decision that can be made in this case study is for Brockley to own up to Iris first before embarking on locating Harry. Not being frank and forthright may result in consequences which may be direr. While meeting Iris, sending a reconciliatory message to Harry with his final intentions should also be done. Iris has the right to know according to the theory of deontology what the material facts are (Figar Dordevic, 2016). At the same time, Brockley has the duty to do justice to Harry by confessing to Iris, be truthful and act with integrity. His actions will be in alignment with the theory of teleology of minimizing the harm already done and maximizing benefits for all psychology Harry returns. Steps in the decision making process Brockely approaches Iris with the view to confess and own up. This is based on egoism and how the decision affects him. Konczal (2012), states that this is the starting point to work towards self-improvement in the future in ethical behavior. Send a message or emissary to contact Harry with the message of reconciliation and intention to hire him back. This is the utilitarianism assumption that this action has significant impact on other people (Bialek Wim De, 2017). Prepare himself and Jill psychologically for any outcomes which may be disciplinary. Accept the decision that Iris may take and accept it as his duty to do justice. This may involve making appropriate reparation to Harry or sacking Jill. Ethical dilemmas occur when the decision taken may end up compromise some ethical principles. The case study at Fabio presents an ethical dilemma that primarily rests with Brockley. There are diverse outcomes that may result depending on the choice he may make. Utilizing the different theories of ethical behavior may help in coming to the best decision in this case study. This involves listing the facts, the stakeholders and the different theoretical postulations. The best decision in this case is for Brockley to confess to Iris, approach Harry with a reconciliatory tone and be prepared for any outcome which may affect him. References Andri?, V., Tanyi, A. (2016). Multi-Dimensional Consequentialism and Risk. Ethical Theory Moral Practice, 19(1), 49-57. doi:10.1007/s10677-015-9658-5 Armstrong, J. (2014). Rethinking the restorativeretributive dichotomy: is reconciliation possible? Contemporary Justice Review, 17(3), 362. doi:10.1080/10282580.2014.944796 Betzler, M. (2008). Kant's Ethics of Virtue. Berlin: De Gruyter. Bia?ek, M., Wim De, N. (2017). Dual processes and moral conflict: Evidence for deontological reasoners' intuitive utilitarian sensitivity. Judgment Decision Making, 12(2), 148-167. Ellard, G. (2007). MORAL JUDGMENTS AND BUSINESS ETHICS. Vital Speeches of the Day, 73(5), 193-196. Figar, N., ?or?evi?, B. (2016). MANAGING AN ETHICAL DILEMMA. Economic Themes, 54(3), 345-362. Hurley, P. (2017). Why Consequentialism's "Compelling Idea" Is Not. Social Theory Practice, 43(1), 29-54. Juth, N. (2014). The Right Not to Know and the Duty to Tell: The Case of Relatives. Journal of Law, Medicine Ethics, 42(1), 38-52. Kilpatrick, P. (2010). The Relationship Between Technology and Ethics. Vital Speeches of the Day, 76(12), 567-570. Konczal, E. (2012). Everything You Need to Know About Business Ethics. [Newmarket, Ont.]: BrainMass Inc. Lambert, J. (2009). Enforcing Intellectual Property Rights : A Concise Guide for Businesses, Innovative and Creative Individuals. Farnham, England: Routledge. McGavin, P. A. (2013). Conversing on ethics, morality and education. Journal Of Moral Education, 42(4), 494-511. doi:10.1080/03057240.2013.817330 Molnar, K., Kletke, M., Chongwatpol, J. (2008). Ethics vs. IT Ethics: Do Undergraduate Students Perceive a Difference? Journal of Business Ethics, 83(4), 657-671. doi:10.1007/s10551-007-9646-3 Perugini, M., Costantini, G., Hughes, S., De Houwer, J. (2016). A functional perspective on personality. International Journal of Psychology, 51(1), 33-39. doi:10.1002/ijop.12175 Quade, M. J., Greenbaum, R. L., Petrenko, O. V. (2017). 'I don't want to be near you, unless...': The interactive effect of unethical behavior and performance onto relationship conflict and workplace ostracism. Personnel Psychology, 70(3), 675-709. Sibel, G. (2008). The relation between work ethics and work morality and the factors effecting work ethics in work-life. International Journal of Human Sciences, Vol 5, Iss 1, P 373 (2008), (1), 373. Silber, J. (2012). Kant's Ethics : The Good, Freedom, and the Will. Boston: De Gruyter. Toppinen, T. (2016). RULE CONSEQUENTIALISM (AND KANTIAN CONTRACTUALISM) AT TOP RATES. Philosophical Quarterly, 66(262), 122-135. doi:10.1093/pq/pqv065 Valerica, M., Daniel, M. M. (2011). RESPONSIBILITY FOR ETHICS IN ITC. Annals of the University Of Oradea, Economic Science Series, 20(1), 814-820. Varelius, J. (2015). Is the Non-rivalrousness of Intellectual Objects a Problem for the Moral Justification of Economic Rights to Intellectual Property? Science Engineering Ethics, 21(4), 895-906. doi:10.1007/s11948-014-9574-4

Long term care financing in California versus New York

Table of Contents Introduction Comparison Conclusion References Introduction New York and California have complex Medicaid systems, but one of them is more effective than the other. It is essential to understand how this has occurred so that improvements can be made.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Long term care financing in California versus New York specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Comparison Eligibility for Long-term care financing through Medicaid in California (Medi-Cal) is determined by a range of factors. These include: one’s income status, assets, citizenship and residential status. California has placed an asset limit on people who qualify for Medi-Cal. One’s bank account, car, and other properties are examined before one can qualify. An institutionalized patient’s spouse cannot have more than 87,000 dollars if the patient is to receive Medicaid services (Street, 2001). Nonethel ess, people who incur frequent medical expenses can be eligible regardless of their income status. In the state of New York, individuals with more than 13, 800 dollars are theoretically ineligible for Medicaid. However, if one can prove that one has high medical expenditures that leave him or her with 787 dollars worth of remaining income, then he or she would qualify for Medicaid (Empire Centre, 2011). In other words, the state of New York has specific deductible figures that it considers prior to qualification while California is more general in their approach. The two states also differ in terms of their expenditures. New York’s long-term care financing costs are the highest in the country. This has been brought on by a combination of factors. First of all, the state has one of the highest percentages of elderly citizens in the country. The national average is 1.8% while New York’s elderly population accounts for 2% of the population (elderly citizens are all those people who are 85 years and above). Furthermore, older New York residents tend to be disproportionately poorer than other people in the country. Medicaid accounts for 72% of all nursing facility services, yet the national average is 64%. All these factors cause the state’s expenditures to reach enormous levels.Advertising Looking for essay on health medicine? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More It was reported that in 2009, New York spent 12.4 billion dollars in long-term care financing through Medicaid. Conversely, the state of California spent much less on this service. It used up seven billion dollars in 2008 thus showing that administrative functions may be more cost-effective in the latter state. Long-term care financing in California occurs through private and public avenues. Medi-cal, Medicare, state aging programs, and county aging programs represent 60% of all expenditure. Therefore, private funds account for 40% of all expenditure in California. On the other hand, New York is dominated by Medicaid funding. Privately funded long-term care services represent only 13%. This implies that a very huge burden has been placed on the federal government. A major challenge that exists in both states is the component of spousal refusal. In all federal states, patients who target Medicaid funding can transfer their assets to their spouses. The beneficiary can then refuse to take responsibility for caring for that person (Pear, 2008). Although spousal refusal was allowed in order to make sure that elderly patients were not placed at the mercy of their irresponsible spouses, the measure has caused more harm than good. States have the ability to sue spouses who steal this wealth, but not all of them are strict about it. When it comes to the issue of spousal refusal, New York State is more relaxed than California. Perhaps this is one of the reasons why medical expenditure in long-term financing is much high er in New York than in California. Federal states can save about 50 million dollars in Medicaid if they sealed that loophole. Conclusion The Medicaid program in New York is more superfluous than California’s expenditures because of lower private insurance participation, excessive spousal refusal and flexible eligibility requirements.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Long term care financing in California versus New York specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More References Empire Centre (2011). Long term care financing in New York. Retrieved from https://www.empirecenter.org/ Long term care daily (2001). Long term care is too costly says report. Web. Pear, R. (2008, November 27). New Medicaid rules allow states to set premiums and higher copayments. New York Times, 16. Street, L. (2001). Understanding Medi-Cal: long term care. Medi-Cal Policy institute, 1-35. This essay on Long term care financing in California versus New York was written and submitted by user Rodolfo Patterson to help you with your own studies. You are free to use it for research and reference purposes in order to write your own paper; however, you must cite it accordingly. You can donate your paper here.

5 Cases for Requiring a Comma Before a Sentence Tag

5 Cases for Requiring a Comma Before a Sentence Tag 5 Cases for Requiring a Comma Before a Sentence Tag 5 Cases for Requiring a Comma Before a Sentence Tag By Mark Nichol A sentence tag is a word or phrase added to the beginning or end of a statement for emphasis or to provide more information. For the following sentences, I discuss the necessity of preceding end-of-sentence tags with a comma. 1. â€Å"I shouldn’t have been surprised really.† Without a comma separating really from the rest of the sentence, the implication is that really is an adverb modifying how the writer should not have been surprised (really, as in factually, and the opposite of allegedly). However, its function is merely to emphasize the point: â€Å"I shouldn’t have been surprised, really.† 2. â€Å"I was in the other room at the time actually.† This sentence indicates that the writer was in the other room in an actual manner, rather than figuratively, but that’s not the literal meaning. The writer has been challenged about his or her location when an incident occurred, and the intent, again, is to emphasize. A comma is required before actually to signal this distinction: â€Å"I was in the other room at the time, actually.† The idea could also be conveyed with actually inserted elsewhere in the sentence (in descending order of elegance): â€Å"Actually, I was in the other room at the time† or â€Å"I was, actually, in the other room at the time† or â€Å"I was in the other room, actually, at the time.† (Note that not all adverbial tags are so flexible about location; try these variations in the first example, and you’ll see that really seems to feel right only as a concluding tag.) 3. â€Å"We did it all right.† This sentence implies that the writer is evaluating a merely competent performance. With a comma inserted before â€Å"all right,† the implication is of emphasis on the fact of the accomplishment: â€Å"We did it, all right.† 4. â€Å"They offered a free pass to boot.† Without a comma preceding â€Å"to boot† (which means â€Å"as a bonus†), the phrase appears to describe an action that is, thanks to the pass, complimentary. The comma signals that â€Å"to boot† is an appendage that idiomatically offers additional information: â€Å"They offered a free pass, to boot.† 5. â€Å"Geology has an impact on biology and vice versa.† As written, this sentence seems to equate biology and vice versa as two things geology has an impact on. But â€Å"vice versa,† meaning â€Å"the opposite,† applies to the entire sentence preceding it, so it must be set off from the sentence: â€Å"Geology has an impact on biology, and vice versa.† Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Punctuation category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:30 Synonyms for â€Å"Meeting†Ã¢â‚¬Å"As Well As† Does Not Mean â€Å"And†Supervise vs. Monitor

Exit Strategies for Business Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Exit Strategies for Business - Assignment Example The exit strategy must not be left for the future and the entrepreneurs must decide appropriately for the coming days. The main reason behind the entrepreneurs stepping away from their businesses is the retirements or the terminations of the partnership or the joint ventures. The entrepreneurs must have built their businesses with certain care and efforts and have taken them to a certain position and after certain point of time they may consider handing over the businesses to other entrepreneurs who by applying their experiences and perspectives can take the businesses to new heights. The entrepreneurs may as well decide to exit for the reason that they might have lost interest in that particular business or project and thus may consider entry into new projects or ventures. However, if planning is done in-advance it provides the entrepreneurs to decide on numerous options of exiting from the businesses. The profits can be maximized at the times of shutting from the businesses if prop er strategic business direction is considered (The Great British Business Show, 2011). Advantages of Exit Strategy The main advantages of the exit strategy are that the value in relation to the business built by the entrepreneur can be protected and the future worth of the businesses can be enhanced. The tax impacts upon the estate or family can be reduced to a greater extent through exit strategies. Income can be generated that can assist in retirement or during any disability (Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, 2011). Exit Strategies for Entrepreneurs There are numerous strategies for exits, available to the entrepreneurs. They are buy-sell agreement, cash sale to the third party, buyout or recapitalization along with employee stock ownership plan. Each one of them has been explained below: Buy-Sell Agreement: Buy-sell agreement strategy enables the entrepreneurs to end the business relationship by the formation of the parameters for the participants who would be buying the busines s. It can be mentioned that one or two associates are capable of involving themselves with the business while the others may plan to separate themselves from it. The agreement may assist the businesses with funding for the takeovers because of disability or for the reason of the death of the co-owners. The design of the buy-sell agreement needs to be done carefully so that the execution of the strategy does not get overlapped with other estates as well as succession planning tools. Cash Sale to A Third Party: When the businesses are to be sold by means of cash transactions, it can create immediate liquidity for the seller. Through means of cash sales owners are capable of executing immediate separation from the businesses. While searching for the third party buyer, the challenge is the difficultly to find a market ready where the small businesses can be sold. In simple words, the owner needs to put great deal of time and money to search for the profitable deal. Buyout or Recapitaliz ation: In case of the leveraged transactions, the corporate entities such as the managers, partners as well as the business houses tend access the funds so that they can buy the stocks of the existing owner. For the purpose of dissolving the multiple ownership arrangements or for preserving the businesses as a going concern this arrangement of buyout or recapitalization is quite important. The strategy may also be useful while transferring the responsibility of

Visual Response & Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Visual Response & - Essay Example the society was confined in following the social dogma without asking questions, many a things were considered taboo and they were supposed to remain so. The poem Howl is a poem that was screaming out in protest against a destructive and abusive society but the that is not how the society saw it then and for this the publisher and distributor of the book was arrested and charged with distribution of explicit and obscene material though they were pardoned after the poet Mark Schorer testified that â€Å"Ginsberg uses the rhythms of ordinary speech and diction and I would say that the poem uses necessarily the language of vulgarity.† From a glance Howl may appear as a random jumble of words or mere vomit on a page and that is what critics had done before but it can be seen the poet’s crazy rush is delicately controlled. The poet seems to be in a rush, the whole poem is tedious, and tiring to read yet it remains bearable. The whole poem expresses the need to break away from tradition. It does not keep the traditional meter and rhythm of a poem it is more of stream of consciousness writing and in this way, the poet was able to bring out his themes. Freedom is one of the things that the poet cries out for, He talks about personal freedom as well as freedom for the masses. The conformist society wants things done as per tradition. The poet talks from a homosexuals point of view and freely uses words that the society finds obscene and vulgar. The poet and his friends do a lot of travelling and one of the ways of breaking loose is by travelling. The mention of Moloch reminds the reader of the god of prisons governments and boring suburbia Madness is also a prominent theme in the poem. The title of the poem is Howl. Its more common for animals to howl than for human to do s. the opening of Howl starts by saying â€Å"I saw the very best of minds of my generation destroyed by madness, starving hysterical nakedness.† In the poem, the people who society consider normal the

H.W Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 5

H.W - Assignment Example For managers, allowing employees to work in teams influences the success of the organization, but this also requires the application of work design as a way of fostering high productivity for the same. Therefore, it is imperative for managers to innovate ways that can help in improving team performance for the benefit of the organization and the target market that they serve. One way of a manager can improve team performance can be through the fostering of cohesion within the team by making sure that they treat them fairly and without any bias. Further, providing of equal opportunities to all can also influence team performance as it helps in drawing out the best nof each team member for the benefit of the organization. Motivation is also another way that a manager can use for influencing team performance by providing bonuses to those that perform extraordinarily, which can also influence other team members to be better. As the team leader, the first step would be to allow each of the six team members to provide their ideas on which of the recommended software is the best and also allow them to provide reasons for them supporting or not supporting this software. Therefore, my plan would be to assign each of the team members to research on the possible software that the insurance company is likely to purchase and allow them to gather information on the merits and demerits of each of these. This would help each of the team members to participate in the process and allow each of them to contribute fairly rather than shooting the ideas of each other down. The least effective team that I have ever worked with is that which recommends things to be done as this does not see through that the ideas that they provide are implemented. One characteristic that this team had was that its only involvement was in the planning and research process of product or

The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button Film Studies Essay

The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button Film Studies Essay In 2008, the short story was adapted to fit the big screen and unlike the short story the movie adaptation ran for almost three hours (The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, n.d.) . Most people could read Fitzgeralds version three-four times over in that amount of time the movie took. The basis of both the book and movie was simplistic yet versions told the fictional life story of a man living and experiencing life as he is developing physically backwards and cognitively forwards. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button is a rarity because normal Hollywood/story adaptations lack well developed variations of the story in their respective ways. They both are designed to force the reader or movie goer to self- reflect on their own life experiences. Benjamin Buttons life was an incredible account of events and relationships that were discovered, created, built and lost throughout his life-span. However, while he accomplished so much he was unable to live a life in the normal development pattern, but it allowed him and the reader/movie goer to view life from a different perspective. However his love of life is always strong and he spends a lifetime experiencing events on the opposite side of the spectrum dealing with the frustrations and hardship of being different (DeFilippis, Weir, Cornell, Fitzgerald, 2008). The Curious Case of Benjamin Button demonstrates developmental stages in reverse in such detail that one might believe it is not a completely fictional story. The story demonstrates the life experiences and development in a graceful depiction of life, love, and the events we expect to happen but never absolutely occur in exact linear progression. Benjamin Buttons journey starts off with his birth at a hospital, during a non-traditional period where hospitals were unusual settings for birth (DeFilippis, Weir, Cornell, Fitzgerald, 2008). This depicts the framework for the awkward experiences ahead. A hospital delivering babies was not a American societal custom in the 1860s. It was assumed that children were better off being born in the home in a safe environment even if the environment did not include a doctor. The intrigue of what is different about Benjamin is generated as the story builds, the doctor and the nurses at the hospital are depicted as rude and cruel towards the parents and newborn child. The doctor states that his professional reputation is damaged along with the odd reactions of the nurses (DeFilippis, Weir, Cornell, Fitzgerald, 2008). The narrator describes apprehensive and petrified behaviors after the delivery of Benjamin Button, but the narrator does not mention why the hospital staff are reacting through trepidations descriptions. When the peculiarity of Benjamin is finally explained, it leaves one to ponder the developmental process Benjamin will go through. Benjamins father is mortified, with the circumstance of his sons condition and development. He even states that his son as an appalling apparition and expresses concern about the views of society and his culture will have when they meet Benjamin (DeFilippis, Weir, Cornell, Fitzgerald, 2008). While his father struggles to process the situation. The question his parents struggle with is trying to decide what stage of development Benjamin is developing in. As Erik Eriksons theory states, Benjamin should be in a basic needs stage and learning about parental trust (Berk, 2012). Erikson defines trust as a critical openness of believing in the compassion that your parents will provide you with fundamental basic needs, and building a sense of ones own trustworthiness of themselves and others. In normal case of development an infant depends on parents providing care and nourishment. Eriksons theory places a high significance on the mother, providing an environment of nourishment and safety (Berk, 2012). Benjamins development was not occurring in a trust or mistrust stage and not developing the need of parental influences, associated with basic trust and mistrust theory (Berk, 2012). Benjamins father demonstrated distant and apathetic feelings towards his son (DeFilippis, Weir, Cornell, Fitzgerald, 2008). If Benjamin was developing normally, his fathers behavior would severely impact Benjamins ability to develop trust in people close to him. A childs relative understanding of the world and society are largely modeled through parental interactions with their child. Benjamins mother was warmth, affectionate and loving towards Benjamin even though her son was very different (Berk, 2012). Benjamins father acts with detestation about the condition of his sons development (DeFilippis, Weir, Cornell, Fitzgerald, 2008). . Benjamin is in a stage of later life cognitive thoughts and his emotional stage is one of slow physical productivity and exploration of reflections of a life accomplished tasks and self-integrity determines (Berk, 2009). Benjamin did not have these experiences, but he was portrayed through the story as living a happy, productive and meaningful life (DeFilippis, Weir, Cornell, Fitzgerald, 2008). While his father develop a sense of despair and internalized his sons condition as a failure of his own life, he believed this lead to constant internal disappointment in himself and his son. Mr. Button was not intrinsically motivated to help his son achieve and did was not demonstrating a content parental attitude and was not happy about providing his son with basic needs. If Benjamin was a normal developing child his fathers lack of providing parental support, learning opportunities and experiencing would severely impair Benjamin (Berk, 2009). Mr. Button finds a costume suit, that he wants Benjamin to wear as normal clothes, Benjamin rightfully complains about the attire. Mr. Button is ferocious in his reply to his son and tells him he embarrassed him with his presents. Benjamin replies to his father in what could only be a learned response of offensive remarks towards his father and breaking the tension with a comical imitation of loving discourse towards his father (DeFilippis, Weir, Cornell, Fitzgerald, 2008). . His parents were still trying to feed him warm milk through bottles and he would joylessly shake his rattle to appease them. His parents were so confused about how to introduce him to socially appropriate activities, so they went with activities that were with children the same age as him. But Benjamin was establishing a taste of Havana cigars which he stole from his father, as he read the encyclopedia (DeFilippis, Weir, Cornell, Fitzgerald, 2008). His parents pushed his peer interacts even though his condition placed him in a much advanced development stage. Benjamin was starting to transition into a new stage as he digressed from late life development levels to middle age stage behaviors and thoughts associated with cognitive thought processes displayed in late and middle age stages (Berk, 2009). Benjamin would still try and appease his parents though age related behaviors such as breaking a window or break something to continue the age related behaviors that made his father happy (DeFilippis, Weir, Cornell, Fitzgerald, 2008). Benjamin and his grandfather became good friends and were able to relate and they spent much time together. However, Benjamin was sent to kindergarten when he turned five and fell asleep so often that he was removed. Benjamin knew where he was in the developmental stages and felt childish not being able to wear long pants. When he asked that he be allowed to wear long pants, his father replied with needing to wait until he was fourteen. So, Benjamin feeling the need to advance his ability to leave a positive impact on society applied and successfully enrolled at Yale. However, he was unable to color his gray hair and was thrown out of Yale because they felt that he posed a threat. Benjamin was still frail in stature, but they decided that not understan ding him was a danger. Benjamin went to Harvard and became a Harvard graduate instead (DeFilippis, Weir, Cornell, Fitzgerald, 2008). . Benjamin returns from war in 1880, as a twenty year old in a fifty year old body. His father looks more like a brother and their developmental cogitation parallel each other. Benjamin met Hildegarde Moncrief during a dance and reacts to her physically beauty, company and social equalities with instant adornment (DeFilippis, Weir, Cornell, Fitzgerald, 2008). She felt just as strongly because she assumes he is in his fifties. She and Benjamin are engaged within six months. Benjamin is in the early stages of middle age and in the late stages that play a role in ones quest for intimacy with a partner or being isolated due to rejection of intimacy (Berk, 2009). Benjamin and Hildegarde are at or around this development stage, neither one wants to be isolated from the affection of another. Both have established age related identities, and developed the ability to be in a long-term relationship, because they have formed intimate, mutual relationships that can include sacrifices and compromi ses needed in a healthy relationship require. Both of the characters understood this because of their cognitive development and knew what the other wanted (Berk, 2009). This could explain the lack of time it took Benjamin to ask for Hildegardes hand. Benjamin and his wife have children and over the years he starts to appear younger. His interest in his wife is a losing battle along with his marriage, but he regains an interest in rejoining the army when war is declared (DeFilippis, Weir, Cornell, Fitzgerald, 2008). . Benjamin leaves to fight in the Spanish-American War of 1898. Benjamin is moving from a development in the the Intimacy vs. Isolation confliction stage to a late stage development of commitment. Benjamin is starting to develop a confusion of identity. This may explain Benjamins desire to re-join the Army and go to war, and lose interest in his wife. When Benjamin returns he finds his wife aging quickly and her development is taking place in the later stages of life, her hair is gray and he realizes that he is developing younger behaviors while she is developing in the opposite direction. They have a son and Ten years after his son graduates, from Harvard Benjamin goes to Harvard to play football and when he plays against Yale, he single handily scored seven touchdowns and fourteen field goals as a freshman athlete (DeFilippis, Weir, Cornell, Fitzgerald, 2008). . Benjamin development starts demonstrating the competence stage and at fifty-seven he enjoys reading stories and playing with age related peers, and he is considered a playful child (Berk, 2009). His son Roscoe is disgraced with him and is made that he is no longer a man but a child (DeFilippis, Weir, Cornell, Fitzgerald, 2008). His son has a baby and he is a grandfather but they are attending kindergarten on the same day and in the same development level demonstrating autonomy abilities and feeling shame and self-doubt. Benjamin slowly develops into the infant that his parents long ago wish he was and tried to raise him as and slowly developed into nothing dying peacefully as an infant(DeFilippis, Weir, Cornell, Fitzgerald, 2008).

Cigarette Advertising :: miscellaneous

Cigarette Advertising Cigarette advertising restrictions do not have and intended effect, and despite that in many societies there is an increase in cigarette consumption. Only who is affected with those restrictions are the cigarette companies which are in danger of becoming a form of commercial censorship. However, I do not want to claim against consumer protection laws against false or misleading advertising claims. The end result of cigarette advertising restrictions and any other legal products leads to a limited choice, block of free flow of information, emasculate competition and canceling its benefits. Besides this it also penalizes the advertising media by starving them of revenue, and restrains commercial investments and employment. Not only that it endangered current investments, but it also places powers of censorship in the hands of self-centered pressure groups or legislative committees, who have no commercial experience or responsibility to be able to exercise them. The intended effects of cigarette advertising restrictions also have harmful side effects. For example in Croatia for last couple of months on the television you could find commercials with detailed development of tumor on lounges and ruining of aortas. Theses commercials did nothing but discussed large number of population, and even non smokers couldn’t look at the full add, while the smokers felt discriminated and exploited to society as disease and treat. There are also adds which offer 24-7 telephone lines for people who wish to quit smoking, and in these situations they were offering some pride winning rewards, which was a short term stimulant for people to quit smoking. How really can we think that people are that narrow minded that they will do what ever the media tells them to, and that they were not aware of their health risk before. People die of cancer caused by smoking, the tumor is painful and incurable; while on the other side many old people smoked almost all of their life and didn’t face this huge health problem. Maybe the times changed, the cigarettes changed, but the immunity of ones organism depends from one person to another and how it will affect somebody will vary among the society. It is a pleasu re and risk just as getting on roller coaster, running too fast by the dangerous street, stealing vegetables from the neighbor since u might get a gun shot if they catch you, and many other human activities that are practiced in everyday life. Cigarette Advertising :: miscellaneous Cigarette Advertising Cigarette advertising restrictions do not have and intended effect, and despite that in many societies there is an increase in cigarette consumption. Only who is affected with those restrictions are the cigarette companies which are in danger of becoming a form of commercial censorship. However, I do not want to claim against consumer protection laws against false or misleading advertising claims. The end result of cigarette advertising restrictions and any other legal products leads to a limited choice, block of free flow of information, emasculate competition and canceling its benefits. Besides this it also penalizes the advertising media by starving them of revenue, and restrains commercial investments and employment. Not only that it endangered current investments, but it also places powers of censorship in the hands of self-centered pressure groups or legislative committees, who have no commercial experience or responsibility to be able to exercise them. The intended effects of cigarette advertising restrictions also have harmful side effects. For example in Croatia for last couple of months on the television you could find commercials with detailed development of tumor on lounges and ruining of aortas. Theses commercials did nothing but discussed large number of population, and even non smokers couldn’t look at the full add, while the smokers felt discriminated and exploited to society as disease and treat. There are also adds which offer 24-7 telephone lines for people who wish to quit smoking, and in these situations they were offering some pride winning rewards, which was a short term stimulant for people to quit smoking. How really can we think that people are that narrow minded that they will do what ever the media tells them to, and that they were not aware of their health risk before. People die of cancer caused by smoking, the tumor is painful and incurable; while on the other side many old people smoked almost all of their life and didn’t face this huge health problem. Maybe the times changed, the cigarettes changed, but the immunity of ones organism depends from one person to another and how it will affect somebody will vary among the society. It is a pleasu re and risk just as getting on roller coaster, running too fast by the dangerous street, stealing vegetables from the neighbor since u might get a gun shot if they catch you, and many other human activities that are practiced in everyday life.

Murphy Case Analysis Essay

Just-In-Time Concept. Just-In-time manufacturing, or JIT, is a management philosophy aimed at eliminating manufacturing wastes by producing only the right amount and combination of parts at the right place at the right time. This is based on the fact that wastes result from any activity that adds cost without adding value to the product. The goal of JIT, is to minimize the presence of non-value-adding operations and non-moving inventories in the production line. This will result in shorter throughput times, better on-time delivery performance, higher equipment utilization, lesser space requirement, lower costs, and greater profits. The key behind a successful implementation of JIT is the reduction of inventory levels at the various stations of the production line to the absolute minimum. This necessitates good coordination between stations such that every station produces only the exact volume that the next station needs. On the other hand, a station pulls in only the exact volume that it needs from the preceding station. In this case, Murphy’s management started the implementation of JIT without wholly understanding the concept; the poor performance was caused by lack of knowledge about JIT and lack of communication/coordination between the departments. Problems at Murphy: The CEO of Murphy Manufacturing liked the idea of JIT (reducing inventory holding cost while improving production efficiency) based on a few books he read, thus he wanted to implement this concept in his company even though the present MRP system had been working very well for a long time. On the other hand, Joe Vollbrach, Vice President of Operations for Murphy Manufacturing, initiated the implementation process based on the way it was working in the book examples he read without doing any feasibility study a or having a complete understanding about how to implement JIT concept in a small manufacturing environment like which Murphy is in. The result is disastrous, purchasing department are constantly ordering  materials at very high cost; the shipping/receiving department are harassed by endless loading/unloading task; production efficiency was down due to lack of production materials and no clear production schedule; sales people has to deal with angry customers because most the order aren’t shipped/delivered on time. General JIT Implementation Guidelines: Since JIT encompasses a number of functional areas of the company, top management support are a must. Full acceptance by top management is required to empower middle management to overcome the inevitable roadblocks in implementation. In this case, John should take the initiative to be the champion of JIT concept and provide the full support for implementation. Second, training and education as a fundamental requirement for JIT implementation in order to promote a significant change in attitude of the workforce that will create an environment conducive to completing the implementation. Training courses should be made available for employees to fully understand JIT concept and harness it. Third, it is important that JIT is seen as a philosophy rather than a set of add-on techniques to current practices. The company must question why and how it uses JIT and be able to figure out the results of undertaking JIT and incorporate them into its marketplace strategy. By adhering to these guidelines on implementation and instill the knowledge of JIT concept to entire employees at Murphy’s, the transition process to JIT will go smoothly and best JIT implementation techniques will be utilized. The pros/cons of implementing JIT in Small Manufacturing Enterprises: Most publications discussing JIT implementation focus on large manufacturing firms, the environment in which the concepts arose. Because of the limitations that small manufacturing enterprises face, which include limited staffing and material resources and reduced bargaining power with customers’ suppliers and financial institutions, it is not clear that all JIT  components are applicable to every environment. Thus choosing the right JIT implementation strategy is crucial for Murphy’s future successes. Most Small Manufacturing Enterprises depend heavily on a few major customers, thus normally suffer fluctuating demand from these key customers. In regard to vendor relationships, their purchase volume is not large enough to give them leverage over their suppliers to purchase in a small batch size with a good quality at a definite time. Compared to large firms, Small Manufacturing Enterprises normally have limited free cash to fund investment in new production concepts or technologies. They also lack bargaining power with their creditors and debtors, and have difficulties in getting loans from financial institution. Hence, forward planning is constrained by cash flow maintenance. Consequently, if Small Manufacturing Enterprises get involved in innovative projects at all, they will focus on projects with short term returns and overlook initiatives promoting long-term results. Small Manufacturing Enterprises also have limited non-cash resources (machinery or people). They do not normally have specific departments such as a training department or an engineering department. With limited management staff there is a small pool for potential champions of new techniques. Also, small firms may be so small that a change in production cannot be implemented without affecting the entire plant. This is another barrier for Small Manufacturing Enterprises to improve their operations as they have to risk the whole factory in order to know whether a certain technique is appropriate or not to the company. Which is very true in this situation, slight modification in any one of the major operation departments, will affect the entire company. Thus, every step has to be carefully analyzed and backup techniques needs to be developed. However, there are also several advantages for small manufacturers compared to big ones. Small firms normally do not have union contracts and usually have fewer problems with resistance to change compared to large companies. A flatter organization is typical in small firms and it fosters more frequent open communication. Therefore, the decision making process is simpler and the result is conveyed faster throughout the employees. Compared to large  firms, small firms are used to working in smaller batches and are more accustomed to a flexible response to demand changes. Problems in Implementing JIT Components: First, Cross training is common for small manufacturers because of the need to cover absent employees from a small labor pool and is also easier to implement than in large companies. The only problem is that extensive training is costly. Small manufacturers may train key employees individually and ask them to impart their knowledge to other worker. In this case, all the middle management can learn about JIT concept then passing it to production employees. Second, most small companies are very dependent on a few major customers. They lack bargaining power with their key customers and will not be able to compel these customers to order on a stable demand rate. The most desirable situation would be the cooperation of their customers in sharing their forecast demand and production schedule. Achieving this may be limited by bargaining power and therefore the result may be production based on inaccurate forecasts resulting in using finished goods inventory as a buffer. Production leveling can be a great barrier for small businesses to fully adopt JIT. Third, JIT Purchasing is normally implemented as the last component, especially for small manufacturers, due toe lack of bargaining power with their suppliers. Small manufacturers normally do not give enough sales to their vendors and are forced to order in large batches and store a large amount of raw material or they will suffer a higher cost to get the materials just-in-time. All these potential problems need to be studied, when implementing the JIT concept at Murphy.

International Business and mergers and acquisitions The WritePass Journal

International Business and mergers and acquisitions Essay question 2 International Business and mergers and acquisitions , imaa-institute.org/docs/ma/bearingpoint_01_avoiding%20post-merger%20blues.pdf Gaughan, P. A. (1991), Mergers and Acquisitions, HarperCollins, New York. Cartwright, S. and Schoenberg, R. (2006), Thirty Years of Mergers and Acquisitions Research: Recent Advances and Future Opportunities, British Journal of Management, vol. 1, issue S1, pp.S1–S5. Ghadar, F. and Ghemawat, P. (2000), The Dubious Logic of Global MegaMergers. Harvard Business Review. Graham, Edward M., and J. David Richardson, eds. (1997), Global Competition Policy, Institute for International Economics, Washington DC. Hill, C. (2010), International Business Competing in the Global Marketplace, (8th Edition) McGraw Hill, London. James, G. (2007), Lessons from Mega-mergers, CBS News, viewed April 27, 2012, cbsnews.com/8301-505125_162-51163246/lessons-from-the-mega-mergers/ Straub, T. (2007), Reasons for frequent failure in Mergers and Acquisitions: A comprehensive analysis, Deutscher Universitts-Verlag, Wiesbaden.

Reaction Essay on Global Warming

Reaction Essay on Global Warming Reaction Essay on Global Warming The major purpose of a reaction essay is to allow the writer to carefully assess his or her feelings or thoughts concerning a given topic. With this purpose in mind, the tips on writing a good reaction paper are very simple. The obvious need is to obtain a clear understanding of the phenomenon to which one is required to react. In the process, one must evaluate his or her feelings concerning that phenomenon. This involves identifying the arguments with which one concurs, and those that he/she opposes. It is also helpful for the writer to consider whether he or she agrees with related allegations. It is a fact that the world is experiencing a significant climate change, as is evident in unpredictable weather patterns. This has led to an international discussion of global warming and its threat to future existence of life on earth. For example, it is difficult to predict each year what geographic locations will experience rainfall and to what extent. Additionally, ice caps are melting, resulting in the rise of the sea level in some low-laying land areas, many of these highly populated with people. Furthermore, for the past couple of years, world media has aired news of huge wildfires in a number of locations world-wide. Moreover, deadly heat waves are occurring more frequently. Severe storms have also been witnessed in various parts of the world, causing loss of human lives and destruction of property. In addition, severe droughts that had hitherto never been experienced are becoming commonplace in many countries. These are concrete examples that global warming is a real threat . With these concerns in mind, scientists have warned that mankind is to experience more serious consequences if immediate action is not taken to address the issue of global warming. One  incontestable fact is that global warming is presently occurring. How else can one explain the alarming rise in the earth’s temperature, if it is not because of global warming? The trend of rising temperatures is clear, at least by observing the standard surface temperature all over the world. Before the start of the millennium, the situation was relatively better than it presently is. Rainfall was pretty predictable, and surface temperature was generally lower than has been witnessed since 2000. This observation is sufficient to validate the hypothesis that global warming is bound to continue if the present patterns of human activity do not change in such a manner has to alleviate the problem. The implication is that human beings are the major cause of global warming. While governments in every nation have imposed environmental safety standards on manufactures and industries, it is regrettable that very few companies strictly observe such legislation. Industrial emissions are known to overload the atmosphere with too much carbon dioxide, which in turns traps heat, thereby driving the earth’s temperature up. Apart from industrial activities, human activities such as deforestation generate huge carbon dioxide emissions, particularly in tropical countries. Since evidence strongly indicates human beings are the cause of global warming, the inference is that human beings can slow down global warming and its damaging effects. Through collaborative efforts, the world’s nations can take immediate action to lower carbon an emission, consequently decelerating the pace at which global warming occurs. This action is of utmost urgency and importance since it determines the viability of future generations. Success in minimizing global warming can only be achieved by involving everyone. For instance, elected leaders must be put under pressure to pass necessary legislation. At the individual level, proper waste disposal must be practiced. Tips on reaction essay writing: To compose a good reaction essay on any topic, the writer needs to conduct some research on that topic. For example, if you are not fully aware of the causes and effects of global warming and how it impacts mankind, you would need to read some studies before writing a reaction essay on global warming. Otherwise, how do you know what your thoughts are on the topic? Do not forget to take notes as you read and to develop an outline for your paper. This will make the writing process go smoother and easier for you. To finalize your essay, you might read the reaction essay aloud, listening for correctness in grammar and word choice, as well as organization of ideas. Visit our essay writing service to order a custom essay on any global warming topics. will provide you with professional essay help at affordable rates.

History Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words - 20

History - Essay Example He currently earns a salary of $ 1 per month in a show of his philanthropy thereby investing the rest in numerous donor foundations. His success story begins back in his college days where he teamed up with a group of colleagues to create numerous computer programs and software applications. The journey to stardom as a social network entrepreneur has encountered myriad challenges most of which he overcame successfully thereby becoming the leading entrepreneur in the industry. Mark Zuckerberg had an average childhood just as most American children. He was born in White Plains, New York in 1984. While he currently bears no religious inclination, he was born a Jew with his conferment in the religion occurring while he was thirteen. He attended Ardsley High School alongside his other siblings namely Randi, Donna and Arielle. At school, Zuckerberg excelled in classical studies. Additionally, he had exemplary performance in physics, astronomy and math. Besides his exemplary in academics, Zuckerberg portrayed leadership and sports ability factors that influenced his selection to serve as the captain of the schools fencing team. He graduated from high school and applied to Harvard where he would later develop his career in software development. Zuckerberg ventured into software development early in life while in middle school. In the 1990s for example, his father, Edward Zuckerberg began teaching him different programming languages. He perfected in Atari BASIC programming. His father later hired David Newman to tutor him thereby growing his interest and skills in software development. Owing to his immense interest in computer programming and software development, Zuckerberg performed exemplarily with Newman calling him a prodigy in software development. Among his early success in the practice while still in middle school was a program he name â€Å"ZackNet†. He developed the

Business research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Business - Research Paper Example Introduction It is important to understand the various concepts of a supply chain in order to comprehend sustainability in a business even further. The chain flows from the initial generator of the raw materials to the final person to benefit from the product, that is, the customer. In any business practice, risks are some of the most important aspects to recognize and the management of these threats helps in making the flow of work better and that of the products faster and thus the importance of carrying out research on how to best manage them. The research identifies three aspects of risk management ought to receive a high amount of attention. One of these is risk identification the other aspect to consider is that of risk assessment and then there is risk management. Problem Statement Occurrence of risks is one of the leading causes of business failure over the past few years. This is happens because of the poor management of the risks by the responsible teams. Managing risk in s upply chain management is very vital for the success of any company from the fact that in the unfortunate case of one of the risks occurring, all levels of the supply chain are affected, regardless of the point at which the product was during the risk occurrence (Conroe, 2008, 63). It is thus the duty of every player in the chain to ensure that recognition and evaluation of all risks takes place in an effort to put into place the important strategies to evade the risk. The research aims at showing the different levels of a supply chain and indulge deeply in the risks that each of the level managers go through. Moreover, there ought to be the identification of the two key classes of supply chain risks for the purpose of risk assessment. I chose management of risks in supply chain because I have had various experiences where companies languish from the amount of ignorance portrayed by their administration. An example of this is the BP case where there was the loss of a lot of the comp any’s credit from the oil spill that happened having the company in a recession for a few months (Adams, 2011, 473). The ignorance is mostly in terms of recognizing the source of the risks. Many are cases when companies fail due to the fact that the management thinks that the problem is a minor one and does not have much weight. However, I seek to change this notion in an effort to make people understand that each part of the chain has a role to play in either the success or the failure of the commodity they seek to establish. It all depends on the type of risk management. The issue at hand has had people always take risk management classes in an effort to solve the various arising matters that may have the company in a position to have a risk occurring. Research has shown that companies that do not take the steps end up regretting and consequently having a poor reputation due to customer dissatisfaction. Gaps in the research are in that it has been impossible to find cases t hat show immediate resolution of a risk taking place unlike the many present cases of risk occurrence. Risk Identification and Analysis Over the years, supply chain management has had its fair share of changes providing the need of every business to stay keen on its goals in this highly competitive 21st century. The study shows how the external and internal risks are vital for identification in any

Discuss how they establish ethos in their writing Essay

Discuss how they establish ethos in their writing - Essay Example Robert Kennedy came from a long line of Kennedys who were well thought of and established in the world. Robert had a background in politics stemming from an appointment as a United States Attorney General to a nominee for the president of the United States. Most people will recognize him as a Senator who was assassinated before he was able to make his bid for president. He grew up in what was called a "competitive" family that was very close. (Robert F. Kennedy "Biography"). He was known for battling injustice and organizing people to do move forward on a variety if issues including the Vietnam War, organized crime, and he worked closely to help black Americans find a peaceful place in the world. He was also known for his ability to talk to people without barriers. When Martin Luther King died it was Kennedy that was able to hold people together. Both John Kennedy and Robert Kennedy were proponents of civil rights and they worked well within many communities, particularly with blacks and other disenfranchised persons (Robert F. Kennedy "Biography"). This is the information that creates ethos for Robert Kennedy and what lead to his speech in front of a mostly black crowd in Indianapolis. He was well respected by most people in the black community and this was one of the reasons that he was one of the only white men who could have addressed the crowd that day. He was also qualified to speak about Martin Luther King because he believed in what Martin stood for and had been actively helping with civil rights. Kennedy was a strong orator and he understood what to say to people to get them to do what he was asking. On that night, he also used his compassion and his emotions to give people what they needed in order to move them forward. Another reason this worked for him was because his speech was very much like a speech that Dr. King would have made: Kennedy had already established himself as a writer, orator and statesman so he was already established as an

Individualism as an American Culture Essay Example for Free

Individualism as an American Culture Essay Question: How do the examples involving the child who has fallen, the way food is served and eaten, and the newspaper route provide the author with significant insights into American cultural value? Do you agree with her interpretations? Poranee like many other immigrants are faced with various changes/challenges when they leave their homeland to start a new life in another country. Some of these changes are obvious, while others are not so blatant. Poranee first realized these changes with the simple question â€Å"how are you?† While somethings are consider normal and acceptable in one country, it may be consider rude or inappropriate in another. Poranee was raised in culture that emphasis service and togetherness, which is why she felt comfortable enough to help the fallen child. Without being told, she wouldnt have known that letting the child get up himself will teach him to be independent from an early age. Just like the fallen child, eating off someone else plate or reaching across the table isnt consider inappropriate since the Thais focuses more on forming a community than individualism. The American way of eating is consider inappropriate to the Thais because it is seen as selfish and inconsiderate to have so much food on your plate. I agree with the author on her interpretation of the examples except for the example about the newspaper route. I dont think that the couple who own the BMW’s were materialistic because they were well off but still made their children work. I think that by making their son sell newspapers and their daughter babysit, they were teaching them the value of hard work Working teaches them that just because their parents have money, doesnt mean they can sit around and do nothing.

Artificial Neural Networks to forecast London Stock Exchange

Artificial Neural Networks to forecast London Stock Exchange Abstract This dissertation examines and analyzes the use of the Artificial Neural Networks (ANN) to forecast the London Stock Exchange. Specifically the importance of ANN to predict the future trends and value of the financial market is demonstrated. There are several contributions of this study to this area. The first contribution of this study is to find the best subset of the interrelated factors at both local and international levels that affect the London stock exchange from the various input variables to be used in the future studies. We use novel aspects, in the sense that we base the forecast on both the fundamental and technical analysis.The second contribution of this study was to provide well defined methodology that can be used to create the financial models in future studies. In addition, this study also gives various theoretical arguments in support of the approaches used in the construction of the forecasting model by comparing the results of the previous studies and modifying some of the existing approaches and tested them. The study also compares the performance of the statistical methods and ANN in the forecasting problem. The main contribution of this thesis lies in comparing the performance of the five different types of ANN by constructing the individual forecasting model of them. Accuracy of models is compared by using different evaluation criteria and we develop different forecasting models based on both the direction and value accuracy of the forecasted value. The fourth contribution of this study is to investigate whether the hybrid approach combining different individual forecasting models can outperform the individual forecasting models and compare the performance of the different hybrid approaches. Three hybrid approaches are used in this study, two are existing approaches and the third original approach, the mixed combined neural network -is being proposed in this study to the academic studies to forecast the stock exchange. The last contribution of this study lies in modifying the existing trading strategy to increase the profitability of the investor and support the argument that the investor earns more profit if the forecasting model is being developed by using the direction accuracy as compared to the value accuracy. The best forecasting classification accuracy obtained is 93% direction accuracy and 0.0000831 (MSE) value accuracy which are better than the accuracies obtained by the previous academic studies. Moreover, this research validates the work of the existing studies that hybrid approach outperforms the individual forecasting model. In addition, the rate of the return that was attained in this thesis by using modified trading strategy is 120.14% which has shown significant improvement as compared to the 10.8493% rate of return of the existing trading strategy in other academics studies. The difference in the rate of return could be due to the fact that this study has developed good forecasting model or a better trading strategy. The experimental results show our method not only improves the accuracy rate, but also meet the short-term investors’ expectations. The results of this thesis also support the claim that some financial time series are not entirely random, and that contrary to the predictions of the efficient markets hypothesis (EMH), a trading strategy could be based solely on historical data. It was concluded that ANN do have good capabilities to forecast financial markets and, if properly trained, the investor could benefit from the use of this forecasting tool and trading strategy. Chapter 1 1 Introduction 1.1 Background to the Research Financial Time Series forecasting has attracted the interest of academic researchers and it has been addressed since the 1980.It is a challenging problem as the financial time series have complex behavior, resulting from a various factors such as economic, psychological or political reasons and they are non-stationary , noisy and deterministically chaotic. In today’s world, almost every individual is influenced by the fluctuations in the stock market. Now day’s people prefer to invest money in the diversified financial funds or shares due to its high returns than depositing in the banks. But there is lot of risk in the stock market due to its high rate of uncertainty and volatility. To overcome such risks, one of the main challenges for many years for the researchers is to develop the financial models that can describe the movements of the stock market and so far there had not been an optimum model. The complexity and difficulty of forecasting the stock exchange, and the emergence of data mining and computational intelligence techniques, as alternative techniques to the conventional statistical regression and Bayesian models with better performance, have paved the road for the increased usage of these techniques in fields of finance and economics. So, traders and investors have to rely on the various types of intelligent systems to make trading decisions. (Hameed,2008). A Computational Intelligence system such as neural networks, fuzzy logic, genetic algorithms etc has been widely established research area in the field of information systems. They have been used extensively in forecasting of the financial market and they have been quite successful to some extent .Although the number of purposed methods in financial time series is very large , but no one technique has been successful to consistently to â€Å"beat the market†. For last three decades, opposing views have existed between the academic communities and traders about the topic of â€Å"Random walk theory â€Å"and â€Å"Efficient Market Hypothesis(EMH)† due to the complexity of the financial time series and lot of publications by different researchers have gather various amount of evidences in support as well as against it. Lehman (1990), Haugen (1999) and Lo (2000) gave evidence of the deficiencies in EMH. But the investors such as Warren Buffet for long period of time have beaten the stock market consistently. Market Efficiency or â€Å"Random walk theory† in terms of stock trading in the financial market means that it is impossible to earn excess returns using any historic information. In essence, then, the new information is the only variable that causes to alter the price of the index as well as used to predict the arrival and timing. Bruce James Vanstone (2005) stated that in an efficient market, security prices should appear to be randomly generated. Both sides in this argument are supported by empirical results from the different markets across over the globe. This thesis does not wish to enter into the argument theoretically whether to accept or reject the EMH. Instead, this thesis concentrates on the methodologies to be used for development of the financial models using the artificial neural networks (ANN), compares the forecasting capabilities of the various ANN and hybrid based approach models, develop the trading strategy that can help the investor and leaves the research of this thesis to stack up with the published work of other researchers which document ways to predict the stock market. In recent years and since its inception, ANN has gained momentum and has been widely used as a viable computational intelligent technique to forecast the stock market. The main challenge of the traders is to know the signals when the stock market deviates and to take advantage of such situations. The data used by the traders to remove the uncertainty in the stock market and to take trading decisions whether to buy or sell the stock using the information process is â€Å"noisy†. Information not contained in the known information subset used to forecast is considered to be noise and such environment is characterized by a low signal-to noise ratio. Refenes et.al (1993) and Thawornwong and Enke (2004) described that the relationship between the security price or returns and the variables that constitute that price (return), changes over time and this fact is widely accepted within the academic institutes. In other words, the stock market‘s structural mechanics may change over time which causes the effect on the index also change. Ferreira et al. (2004) described that the relationship between the variables and the predicted index is non linear and the Artificial neural networks (ANN) have the characteristic to represent such complex non-linear relationship. This thesis presents the mechanical London Stock Market trading system that uses the ANN forecasting model to extract the rules from daily index movements and generate signal to the investors and traders whether to buy, sell or hold a stock. The figure 1 and 2 represents the stock exchange and ANN forecasting model. By viewing the stock exchange as a financial market that takes historical and current data or information as an input, the investors react to this information based on their understanding, speculations, analysis etc. It would now seem very difficult to predict the stock market, characterized by high noise, nonlinearities, using only high frequency (weekly, daily) historical prices. Surprisingly though, there are anomalies in the behavior of the stock market that cannot be explained under the existing paradigm of market efficiency. Studies discussed in the literature review have been able to predict the stock market accurately to some extent and it seems that forecasting model developed by them have been able to pick some of the hidden patterns in the inherently non-linear price series. While it is true that forecasting model need to be designed and optimized with care in order to get accurate results . Further, it aims to contribute knowledge that will one day lead to a standard or optimum model for the prediction of the stock exchange. As such, it aims to present a well defined methodology that can be used to create the forecasting models and it is hoped that this thesis can address many of the deficiencies of the published research in this area. In the last decade, there has been plethora of the ANN models that were developed due to the absence of the well defined methodology, which were difficult to compare due to less published work and some of them have shown superior results in their domains. Moreover, this study also compares the predictive power of the ANN with the statistical models. Normally the approach used by the academic researchers in the forecasting use technical analysis and some of them include the fundamental analysis. The technical analysis uses only historical data (past price) to determine the movement of the stock exchange and fundamental analysis is based on external information (like interest rates, prices and returns of other asset) that comes from the economic system surrounding the financial market. Building a trading system using forecasting model and testing it on the evaluation criteria is the only practical way to evaluate the forecasting model. There has been so much prior research on identifying the appropriate trading strategy for forecasting problem. This thesis does not wish to enter into the argument which strategy is best or not. Although, the importance of the trading strategy can hardly be underestimated, but this thesis concentrates on using one of the existing strategy, modify it and compares the return by the forecasting models. But there has always been debate in the academic studies over how to effectively benchmark the model of ANN for trading. Some of the academic researchers stated that predicting the direction of the stock exchange may lead to higher profits while some of them supported the view that predicting the value of the stock exchange may lead to higher rate of return. Azoff (1994) and Thawornwong and Enke (2004) discussed about this debate in their study. In essence, there is a need for a formalized development methodology for developing the ANN financial models which can be used as a benchmark for trading systems. All of this is accommodated by this thesis. 1.2 Problem Statement and Research Question The studies mentioned above have generally indicated that ANN, as used in the stock market, can be a valuable tool to the investor .Due to some of the problems discussed above, we are not still able to answer the question: Can ANNs be used to develop the accurate forecasting model that can be used in the trading systems to earn profit for the investor? From the variety of academic research summarized in the literature review, it is clear that a great deal of research in this area has taken place by different academic researchers and they have gathered various amounts of evidences in support as well as against it. This directly threatens the use of ANN applicability to the financial industry. Apart from the previous question, this research addresses various other problems: 1. Which ANN have better performance in the forecasting of the London Stock Exchange from the five different types of the ANN which are widely used in the academics? 2. Which subset of the potential input variables from 2002-08 affect the LSE? 3. Do international stock exchanges, currency exchange rate and other macroeconomic factors affect the LSE? 4. How much the performance of the forecasting model is improved by using the regression analysis in the factor selection? 5. Can use of the technical indicators improve the performance of the forecasting model? 6. Which learning algorithm in the training of the ANN give the better performance? 7. Does Hybrid-based Forecasting Models give better performance than the individual ANN forecasting models? 8. Which Hybrid-based models have the better performance and what are the limitations of using them? 9. Does the forecasting model developed on the basis of the percentage accuracy gives more rate of the return as compared to the value accuracy? 10. Does the forecasting model having better performance in terms of the accuracy increase the profit of the investor when applied to the trading strategy? Apart from all questions outlined above, it addresses various another questions regarding the design of the ANN. †¢ Are there any approaches to solve the various issues in designing of the ANN like number of hidden layers and activation functions? This thesis will attempt to answer the above question within the constraints and scope of the 6-year sample period (from 2002-2008) using historical data of various variables that affect the LSE. Further, this thesis will also attempt to answer these questions within the practical constraints of transaction costs and money management imposed by real-world trading systems. Although a formal statement of the methodology or steps that is being used is left until section 3, it makes sense to discuss the way in which this thesis will address the above question. In this thesis, various types of ANN will be trained using fundamental data, and technical data according to the direction and value accuracy. A better trading system development methodology will be defined, and the performance of the forecasting model will be checked by using evaluation criteria rate of the return .In this way, the benefits of incorporating ANN into trading strategies in the stock market can be exposed and quantified. Once this process has been undertaken, it will be possible to answer the thesis all questions. 1.3 Motivation of the Research Stock market has always had been an attractive appeal for the researchers and financial investors and they have studied it over again to extract the useful patterns to predict the movement of the stock market. The reason is that if the researchers can make the accurate forecasting model, they can beat the market and can gain excess profit by applying the best trading strategy. Numerous financial investors have suffered lot of financial losses in the stock market as they were not aware of the stock market behavior. They had the problem that they were not able to decide when they should sell or buy the stock to gain profit. Nevertheless, finding out the best time for the investor to buy or to sell has remained a very difficult task because there are too many factors that may influence stock prices. If the investors have the accurate forecasting model, then they can predict the future behavior of the stock exchange and can gain profit. This solves the problem of the financial investors to some extent as they will not bear any financial loss. But it does not guarantee that the investor can have better profit or rate of return as compared to other investors unless he utilized the forecasting model using better trading strategy to invest money in the share market. This thesis tries to solve the above problem by providing the investor better forecasting model and trading strategies that can be applied to real-world trading systems. 1.4 Justification of Research There are several features of this academic research that distinguish it from previous academic researches. First of all, the time frame chosen for the investigation of the ANN (2002-08) in the London Stock Exchange has never been tested in the previous academic work. The importance of the period chosen is that there are two counter forces, which are opposing each other. On the one hand, the improvement of the UK and other countries economy after the 2001 financial crises happened in this period as a whole. On the other hand, this period also shows the decline in the stock markets from Jan, 2008 to Dec, 2008. So, it is important to test the forecasting model for bull, stable and bear market. Second, some of the research questions addressed in the above section, have not been investigated much in the academic studies, especially there is hardly any study which have done research on all the problems. Moreover, original hybrid based mixed neural network, better trading strategy and other modified approaches have been successfully being described and used in this study Finally, there is a significant lack of work carried out in this area in the LSE. As such, this thesis draws heavily on results published mainly within the United States and other countries; from the academics .One interesting aspect of this thesis is that it will be interesting to see how much of the published research on application of ANN in stock market anomalies is applicable to the UK market. This is important as some of the academic studies (Pan et al (2005)) states that each stock market in the globe is different. 1.5 Delimitations of scope The thesis concerns itself with historical data for the variables that affect London Stock Exchange during the period 2002 – 2008. 1.6 Outline of the Report The remaining part of the thesis is organized in the following six chapters. The second chapter, the background and literature review, provides a brief introduction to the domain and also pertinent literature is reviewed to discuss the related published work of the previous researchers in terms of their contribution and content in the prediction of the stock exchange which serves as the building block for much of the research. Moreover, this literature review also gave solid justification why a particular set of ANN inputs are selected, which is important step according to the Thawornwong and Enke (2004) and and some concepts from finance. The third chapter, the methodology, describes the steps in detail, data and the mechanics or techniques that take place in the thesis along with the empirical evidence. In addition, it also discuss the literature review for each step. Formulas and diagrams are shown to explain the techniques when necessary and it also covers issues as software and hardware used in the study. The fourth chapter, the implementation, discusses the approaches used in the implementation in detail based on the third chapter. It also covers such issues as software and hardware used in the study. The fifth chapter, the results and analysis, present the results according to the performance and benchmark measures that we have used in this study to compare with other models. It describes the choices that were needed in making model and justifies these choices in terms of the literature. The sixth chapter, conclusions and further work, restates the thesis hypothesis, discuss the conclusions drawn from the project and also thesis findings are put into perspective. Finally, the next steps to improve the model performance are considered. Chapter 2 Background and Literature Review 2 Background and Literature Review This section of thesis explores the theory of three relevant fields of the Financial Time Series, Stock Market, and Artificial Neural Networks, which together form the conceptual frameworks of the thesis as shown in the figure 1. Framework is provided to the trader to make quantitative and qualitative judgments concerning the future stock exchange movements. These three fields are reviewed in historical context, sketching out the development of those disciplines, and reviewing their academic credibility, and their application to this thesis. In the case of Neural Networks, the field is reviewed with regard to that portion of the literature which deals with applying neural network to the prediction of the stock exchange, the various type of techniques and neural networks used and an existing prediction model is extended to allow a more detailed analysis of the area than would otherwise have been possible. 2.1 Financial Time Series 2.1.1 Introduction The field of the financial time series prediction is a highly complex task due to the following reasons: 1. The financial time series frequently behaves like a random-walk process and predictability of such series is controversial issue which has been questioned in scope of EMH. 2. The statistical property of the financial time series shift with the different time. Hellstr ¨om and Holmstr ¨om [1998]). 3. Financial time series is usually noisy and the models which have been able to reduce such noise has been the better model in forecasting the value and direction of the stock exchange. 4. In the long run, a new forecasting technique becomes a part of the process to be forecasted, i.e. it influences the process to be forecasted (Hellstr ¨om and Holmstr ¨om [1998]). The first point is explained later in this section while discussing the EMH theory (Page).The graph of the volatility time series of FTSE 100 index from 14 June, 1993 to 29 December, 1998 and Dow Jones from 1928 to 2000 by Nelson Areal (2008) and Negrea Bogdan Cristian (2007) illustrates the second point of the FTSE 100 [2.1.r]in figure 2.1.1 and 2.2.2.These figures also shows that the volatility changes with period , in some periods FTSE 100 index value fluctuates so much and in some it remains calm. The third point is explained by the fact the events on a particular data affect the financial time series of the index, for example, the volatility of stocks or index increases before announcement of major stock specific news (Donders and Vorst [1996]). These events are random and contribute noise in the time series which may make difficult to compare the two forecasting models difficult to compare as a random model can also produce results. The fourth result can be explained by the example. Suppose a company develop a model or technique that can outcast all other models or techniques. The company will make lot of profits if this model is available to less people. But if this technique is available to all people with time due to its popularity, than the profits of the company will decrease as the company will not no longer take advantage of this technique. This argument is described in Hellstr ¨om and Holmstr ¨om [1998] and Swingler [1994] . 2.1.2 Efficient Market Hypothesis (EMH) EMH Theory has been a controversial issue for many years and there has been no mutual agreed deal among the academic researchers, whether it is possible to predict the stock price. The people who believe that the prices follow â€Å"random walk† trend and cannot be predicted, are usually people who support the EMH theory. Academic researchers( Tino et al. [2000]), have shown that the profit can be made by using historical information , whereas they also found difficult to verify the strong form due to lack of all private and public data. The EMH was developed in 1965 by Fama (Fama [1965], Fama [1970]) and has found widely accepted (Anthony and Biggs [1995], Malkiel [1987], White [1988], Lowe and Webb [1991]) in the academic community (Lawrence et al. [1996]).It states that the future index or stock value is completely unpredictable given the historical information of the index or stocks. There are three forms of EMH: weak, semi-strong, and strong form. The weak EMH rules out any form of forecasting based on the stock’s history, since the stock prices follows a random walk in which in which successive changes have zero correlation (Hellstr ¨om and Holmstr ¨om [1998]). In Semi Strong hypothesis, we consider all the publicly available information such as volume data and fundamental data. In strong form, we consider all the publicly and privately available information. Another reason for argument against the EMH is that different investors or traders react differently when a stock suddenly drops in a value. These different time perspectives will cause the unexpected change in the stock exchange, even if the new information has not entered in the scene. It may be possible to identify these situations and actually predict future changes (Hellstr  ¨om and Holmstr ¨om [1998]) The developer have proved it wrong by making forecasting models, this issue remains an interesting area. This controversy is just only matter of the word immediately in the definition. The studies in support of the argument of EMH rely on using the statistical tests and show that the technical indicators and tested models can’t forecast. However, the studies against the argument uses the time delay between the point when new information enters the model or system and the point when the information has spread across over the globe and a equilibrium has been reached in the stock market with a new market price. 2.1.3 Financial Time Series Forecasting Financial Time series Forecasting aims to find underlying patterns, trends and forecast future index value using using historical and current data or information. The historic values are continuous and equally spaced value over time and it represent various types of data . The main aim of the forecasting is to find an approximate mapping function between the input variables and the forecasted or output value . According to Kalekar (2004), Time series forecasting assumes that a time series is a combination of a pattern and some error. The goal of the model using time series is to separate the pattern from the error by understanding the trend of the pattern and its seasonality Several methods are used in time series forecasting like moving average (section ) moving averages, linear regression with time etc. Time series differs from the technical analysis (section) that it is based on the samples and treated the values as non-chaotic time series. Many academic researchers have applied t ime series analysis in their forecasting model, but there has been no major success. [1a] 2.2 Stock Market 2.2.1 Introduction Let us consider the basics of the stock market. MM What are stocks? Stock refers to a share in the ownership of a corporation or company. They represent a claim of the stock owner on the company’s earnings and assets and by buying more stocks; the stake in the ownership is increased. In United States, stocks are often referred as shares, whereas in the UK they are also used as synonym for bonds, shares and equities. MM Why a Company issues a stock? The main reason for issuing stock is that the company wants to raise money by selling some part of the company. A company can raise money by two ways: â€Å"debt financing† (borrowing money by issuing bonds or loan from bank) and â€Å"equity financing â€Å"(borrowing money by issuing stocks).It is advantageous to raise the money by issuing stocks as the company has not to pay money back to the stock owners but they have to share the profit in the form of the dividends. MM What is Stock Pricing or price? A stock price is the price of a single stock of a number of saleable stocks traded by the company. A company issue stock at static price, and the stock price may increase or decrease according to the trade. Normally the price of the stocks in the stock market is determined by the supply/demand equilibrium. MM What is a Stock Market? Stock Market or equity market is a public market where the trading and issuing of a company stock or derivates takes place either through the stock exchange or they may be traded privately and over-the counter markets. It is vital part of the economy as it provides opportunities to the company to raise money and also to the investors of having potential gain by selling or buying share. The stock market in the US includes the NYSE, NASDAQ, the AMEX as well as many regional exchanges. London Stock Exchange is the major stock exchange in the UK and Europe.As mentioned in the Chapter 1, in this study we forecast the London Stock Exchange (Section 2.2.2.). Investing in the stock market is very risky as the stock market is uncertain and unsteady. The main aim of the investor is to get maximum returns from the money invested in the stock market, for which he has to study about the performance, price history about the stock company .So it is a broad category and according to Hellstrom (1997), there are four main ways to predict the stock market: 1. Fundamental analysis (section 2.2.3) 2. Technical analysis, (section 2.2.4) 3. Time series forecasting (section 2.1) 4. Machine learning (ANN). (Section 2.3) 2.2.2 London Stock Exchange London Stock Exchange is one of the world’s oldest and largest stock exchanges in the world, which started its operation in 1698, when John Casting commenced â€Å"at this Office in Jonathan’s Coffee-house† a list of stock and commodity prices called â€Å"The Course of the Exchange and other things† [2] .On March 3, 1801, London Stock Exchange was officially established with current lists of over 3,200 companies and has existed, in one or more form or another for more than 300 years. In 2000, it decided to become public and listed its shares on its own stock exchange in 2001. The London Stock market consists of the Main Market and Alternative Investments Market (AIM), plus EDX London (exchange for equity derivatives). The Main Market is mainly for established companies with high performance, and AIM hand trades small-caps, or new enterprises with high growth potential.[1] Since the launch of the AIM in 1995, AIM has become the most successful growth market in the world with over 3000 companies from across the globe have joined AIM. To evaluate the London Stock Exchange, the autonomous FTSE Group (owned by the Financial Times and the London Stock Exchange) , sustains a series of indices comprising the FTSE 100 Index, FTSE 250 Index, FTSE 350 Index, FTSE All-Share, FTSE AIM-UK 50, FTSE AIM 100, FTSE AIM All-Share, FTSE SmallCap, FTSE Tech Mark 100 ,FTSE Tech Mark All-Share.[4] FTSE 100 is the most famous and composite index calculated respectively from the top 100 largest companies whose shares are listed on the London Stock Exchange. The base date for calculation of FTSE 100 index is 1984. [2] In the UK, the FTSE 100 is frequently used by large investor, financial experts and the stock brokers as a guide to stock market performance. The FTSE index is calculated from the following formula: 2.2.3 Fundamental Analysis Fundamental Analysis focuses on evaluation of the future stock exchange movements Artificial Neural Networks to forecast London Stock Exchange Artificial Neural Networks to forecast London Stock Exchange Abstract This dissertation examines and analyzes the use of the Artificial Neural Networks (ANN) to forecast the London Stock Exchange. Specifically the importance of ANN to predict the future trends and value of the financial market is demonstrated. There are several contributions of this study to this area. The first contribution of this study is to find the best subset of the interrelated factors at both local and international levels that affect the London stock exchange from the various input variables to be used in the future studies. We use novel aspects, in the sense that we base the forecast on both the fundamental and technical analysis.The second contribution of this study was to provide well defined methodology that can be used to create the financial models in future studies. In addition, this study also gives various theoretical arguments in support of the approaches used in the construction of the forecasting model by comparing the results of the previous studies and modifying some of the existing approaches and tested them. The study also compares the performance of the statistical methods and ANN in the forecasting problem. The main contribution of this thesis lies in comparing the performance of the five different types of ANN by constructing the individual forecasting model of them. Accuracy of models is compared by using different evaluation criteria and we develop different forecasting models based on both the direction and value accuracy of the forecasted value. The fourth contribution of this study is to investigate whether the hybrid approach combining different individual forecasting models can outperform the individual forecasting models and compare the performance of the different hybrid approaches. Three hybrid approaches are used in this study, two are existing approaches and the third original approach, the mixed combined neural network -is being proposed in this study to the academic studies to forecast the stock exchange. The last contribution of this study lies in modifying the existing trading strategy to increase the profitability of the investor and support the argument that the investor earns more profit if the forecasting model is being developed by using the direction accuracy as compared to the value accuracy. The best forecasting classification accuracy obtained is 93% direction accuracy and 0.0000831 (MSE) value accuracy which are better than the accuracies obtained by the previous academic studies. Moreover, this research validates the work of the existing studies that hybrid approach outperforms the individual forecasting model. In addition, the rate of the return that was attained in this thesis by using modified trading strategy is 120.14% which has shown significant improvement as compared to the 10.8493% rate of return of the existing trading strategy in other academics studies. The difference in the rate of return could be due to the fact that this study has developed good forecasting model or a better trading strategy. The experimental results show our method not only improves the accuracy rate, but also meet the short-term investors’ expectations. The results of this thesis also support the claim that some financial time series are not entirely random, and that contrary to the predictions of the efficient markets hypothesis (EMH), a trading strategy could be based solely on historical data. It was concluded that ANN do have good capabilities to forecast financial markets and, if properly trained, the investor could benefit from the use of this forecasting tool and trading strategy. Chapter 1 1 Introduction 1.1 Background to the Research Financial Time Series forecasting has attracted the interest of academic researchers and it has been addressed since the 1980.It is a challenging problem as the financial time series have complex behavior, resulting from a various factors such as economic, psychological or political reasons and they are non-stationary , noisy and deterministically chaotic. In today’s world, almost every individual is influenced by the fluctuations in the stock market. Now day’s people prefer to invest money in the diversified financial funds or shares due to its high returns than depositing in the banks. But there is lot of risk in the stock market due to its high rate of uncertainty and volatility. To overcome such risks, one of the main challenges for many years for the researchers is to develop the financial models that can describe the movements of the stock market and so far there had not been an optimum model. The complexity and difficulty of forecasting the stock exchange, and the emergence of data mining and computational intelligence techniques, as alternative techniques to the conventional statistical regression and Bayesian models with better performance, have paved the road for the increased usage of these techniques in fields of finance and economics. So, traders and investors have to rely on the various types of intelligent systems to make trading decisions. (Hameed,2008). A Computational Intelligence system such as neural networks, fuzzy logic, genetic algorithms etc has been widely established research area in the field of information systems. They have been used extensively in forecasting of the financial market and they have been quite successful to some extent .Although the number of purposed methods in financial time series is very large , but no one technique has been successful to consistently to â€Å"beat the market†. For last three decades, opposing views have existed between the academic communities and traders about the topic of â€Å"Random walk theory â€Å"and â€Å"Efficient Market Hypothesis(EMH)† due to the complexity of the financial time series and lot of publications by different researchers have gather various amount of evidences in support as well as against it. Lehman (1990), Haugen (1999) and Lo (2000) gave evidence of the deficiencies in EMH. But the investors such as Warren Buffet for long period of time have beaten the stock market consistently. Market Efficiency or â€Å"Random walk theory† in terms of stock trading in the financial market means that it is impossible to earn excess returns using any historic information. In essence, then, the new information is the only variable that causes to alter the price of the index as well as used to predict the arrival and timing. Bruce James Vanstone (2005) stated that in an efficient market, security prices should appear to be randomly generated. Both sides in this argument are supported by empirical results from the different markets across over the globe. This thesis does not wish to enter into the argument theoretically whether to accept or reject the EMH. Instead, this thesis concentrates on the methodologies to be used for development of the financial models using the artificial neural networks (ANN), compares the forecasting capabilities of the various ANN and hybrid based approach models, develop the trading strategy that can help the investor and leaves the research of this thesis to stack up with the published work of other researchers which document ways to predict the stock market. In recent years and since its inception, ANN has gained momentum and has been widely used as a viable computational intelligent technique to forecast the stock market. The main challenge of the traders is to know the signals when the stock market deviates and to take advantage of such situations. The data used by the traders to remove the uncertainty in the stock market and to take trading decisions whether to buy or sell the stock using the information process is â€Å"noisy†. Information not contained in the known information subset used to forecast is considered to be noise and such environment is characterized by a low signal-to noise ratio. Refenes et.al (1993) and Thawornwong and Enke (2004) described that the relationship between the security price or returns and the variables that constitute that price (return), changes over time and this fact is widely accepted within the academic institutes. In other words, the stock market‘s structural mechanics may change over time which causes the effect on the index also change. Ferreira et al. (2004) described that the relationship between the variables and the predicted index is non linear and the Artificial neural networks (ANN) have the characteristic to represent such complex non-linear relationship. This thesis presents the mechanical London Stock Market trading system that uses the ANN forecasting model to extract the rules from daily index movements and generate signal to the investors and traders whether to buy, sell or hold a stock. The figure 1 and 2 represents the stock exchange and ANN forecasting model. By viewing the stock exchange as a financial market that takes historical and current data or information as an input, the investors react to this information based on their understanding, speculations, analysis etc. It would now seem very difficult to predict the stock market, characterized by high noise, nonlinearities, using only high frequency (weekly, daily) historical prices. Surprisingly though, there are anomalies in the behavior of the stock market that cannot be explained under the existing paradigm of market efficiency. Studies discussed in the literature review have been able to predict the stock market accurately to some extent and it seems that forecasting model developed by them have been able to pick some of the hidden patterns in the inherently non-linear price series. While it is true that forecasting model need to be designed and optimized with care in order to get accurate results . Further, it aims to contribute knowledge that will one day lead to a standard or optimum model for the prediction of the stock exchange. As such, it aims to present a well defined methodology that can be used to create the forecasting models and it is hoped that this thesis can address many of the deficiencies of the published research in this area. In the last decade, there has been plethora of the ANN models that were developed due to the absence of the well defined methodology, which were difficult to compare due to less published work and some of them have shown superior results in their domains. Moreover, this study also compares the predictive power of the ANN with the statistical models. Normally the approach used by the academic researchers in the forecasting use technical analysis and some of them include the fundamental analysis. The technical analysis uses only historical data (past price) to determine the movement of the stock exchange and fundamental analysis is based on external information (like interest rates, prices and returns of other asset) that comes from the economic system surrounding the financial market. Building a trading system using forecasting model and testing it on the evaluation criteria is the only practical way to evaluate the forecasting model. There has been so much prior research on identifying the appropriate trading strategy for forecasting problem. This thesis does not wish to enter into the argument which strategy is best or not. Although, the importance of the trading strategy can hardly be underestimated, but this thesis concentrates on using one of the existing strategy, modify it and compares the return by the forecasting models. But there has always been debate in the academic studies over how to effectively benchmark the model of ANN for trading. Some of the academic researchers stated that predicting the direction of the stock exchange may lead to higher profits while some of them supported the view that predicting the value of the stock exchange may lead to higher rate of return. Azoff (1994) and Thawornwong and Enke (2004) discussed about this debate in their study. In essence, there is a need for a formalized development methodology for developing the ANN financial models which can be used as a benchmark for trading systems. All of this is accommodated by this thesis. 1.2 Problem Statement and Research Question The studies mentioned above have generally indicated that ANN, as used in the stock market, can be a valuable tool to the investor .Due to some of the problems discussed above, we are not still able to answer the question: Can ANNs be used to develop the accurate forecasting model that can be used in the trading systems to earn profit for the investor? From the variety of academic research summarized in the literature review, it is clear that a great deal of research in this area has taken place by different academic researchers and they have gathered various amounts of evidences in support as well as against it. This directly threatens the use of ANN applicability to the financial industry. Apart from the previous question, this research addresses various other problems: 1. Which ANN have better performance in the forecasting of the London Stock Exchange from the five different types of the ANN which are widely used in the academics? 2. Which subset of the potential input variables from 2002-08 affect the LSE? 3. Do international stock exchanges, currency exchange rate and other macroeconomic factors affect the LSE? 4. How much the performance of the forecasting model is improved by using the regression analysis in the factor selection? 5. Can use of the technical indicators improve the performance of the forecasting model? 6. Which learning algorithm in the training of the ANN give the better performance? 7. Does Hybrid-based Forecasting Models give better performance than the individual ANN forecasting models? 8. Which Hybrid-based models have the better performance and what are the limitations of using them? 9. Does the forecasting model developed on the basis of the percentage accuracy gives more rate of the return as compared to the value accuracy? 10. Does the forecasting model having better performance in terms of the accuracy increase the profit of the investor when applied to the trading strategy? Apart from all questions outlined above, it addresses various another questions regarding the design of the ANN. †¢ Are there any approaches to solve the various issues in designing of the ANN like number of hidden layers and activation functions? This thesis will attempt to answer the above question within the constraints and scope of the 6-year sample period (from 2002-2008) using historical data of various variables that affect the LSE. Further, this thesis will also attempt to answer these questions within the practical constraints of transaction costs and money management imposed by real-world trading systems. Although a formal statement of the methodology or steps that is being used is left until section 3, it makes sense to discuss the way in which this thesis will address the above question. In this thesis, various types of ANN will be trained using fundamental data, and technical data according to the direction and value accuracy. A better trading system development methodology will be defined, and the performance of the forecasting model will be checked by using evaluation criteria rate of the return .In this way, the benefits of incorporating ANN into trading strategies in the stock market can be exposed and quantified. Once this process has been undertaken, it will be possible to answer the thesis all questions. 1.3 Motivation of the Research Stock market has always had been an attractive appeal for the researchers and financial investors and they have studied it over again to extract the useful patterns to predict the movement of the stock market. The reason is that if the researchers can make the accurate forecasting model, they can beat the market and can gain excess profit by applying the best trading strategy. Numerous financial investors have suffered lot of financial losses in the stock market as they were not aware of the stock market behavior. They had the problem that they were not able to decide when they should sell or buy the stock to gain profit. Nevertheless, finding out the best time for the investor to buy or to sell has remained a very difficult task because there are too many factors that may influence stock prices. If the investors have the accurate forecasting model, then they can predict the future behavior of the stock exchange and can gain profit. This solves the problem of the financial investors to some extent as they will not bear any financial loss. But it does not guarantee that the investor can have better profit or rate of return as compared to other investors unless he utilized the forecasting model using better trading strategy to invest money in the share market. This thesis tries to solve the above problem by providing the investor better forecasting model and trading strategies that can be applied to real-world trading systems. 1.4 Justification of Research There are several features of this academic research that distinguish it from previous academic researches. First of all, the time frame chosen for the investigation of the ANN (2002-08) in the London Stock Exchange has never been tested in the previous academic work. The importance of the period chosen is that there are two counter forces, which are opposing each other. On the one hand, the improvement of the UK and other countries economy after the 2001 financial crises happened in this period as a whole. On the other hand, this period also shows the decline in the stock markets from Jan, 2008 to Dec, 2008. So, it is important to test the forecasting model for bull, stable and bear market. Second, some of the research questions addressed in the above section, have not been investigated much in the academic studies, especially there is hardly any study which have done research on all the problems. Moreover, original hybrid based mixed neural network, better trading strategy and other modified approaches have been successfully being described and used in this study Finally, there is a significant lack of work carried out in this area in the LSE. As such, this thesis draws heavily on results published mainly within the United States and other countries; from the academics .One interesting aspect of this thesis is that it will be interesting to see how much of the published research on application of ANN in stock market anomalies is applicable to the UK market. This is important as some of the academic studies (Pan et al (2005)) states that each stock market in the globe is different. 1.5 Delimitations of scope The thesis concerns itself with historical data for the variables that affect London Stock Exchange during the period 2002 – 2008. 1.6 Outline of the Report The remaining part of the thesis is organized in the following six chapters. The second chapter, the background and literature review, provides a brief introduction to the domain and also pertinent literature is reviewed to discuss the related published work of the previous researchers in terms of their contribution and content in the prediction of the stock exchange which serves as the building block for much of the research. Moreover, this literature review also gave solid justification why a particular set of ANN inputs are selected, which is important step according to the Thawornwong and Enke (2004) and and some concepts from finance. The third chapter, the methodology, describes the steps in detail, data and the mechanics or techniques that take place in the thesis along with the empirical evidence. In addition, it also discuss the literature review for each step. Formulas and diagrams are shown to explain the techniques when necessary and it also covers issues as software and hardware used in the study. The fourth chapter, the implementation, discusses the approaches used in the implementation in detail based on the third chapter. It also covers such issues as software and hardware used in the study. The fifth chapter, the results and analysis, present the results according to the performance and benchmark measures that we have used in this study to compare with other models. It describes the choices that were needed in making model and justifies these choices in terms of the literature. The sixth chapter, conclusions and further work, restates the thesis hypothesis, discuss the conclusions drawn from the project and also thesis findings are put into perspective. Finally, the next steps to improve the model performance are considered. Chapter 2 Background and Literature Review 2 Background and Literature Review This section of thesis explores the theory of three relevant fields of the Financial Time Series, Stock Market, and Artificial Neural Networks, which together form the conceptual frameworks of the thesis as shown in the figure 1. Framework is provided to the trader to make quantitative and qualitative judgments concerning the future stock exchange movements. These three fields are reviewed in historical context, sketching out the development of those disciplines, and reviewing their academic credibility, and their application to this thesis. In the case of Neural Networks, the field is reviewed with regard to that portion of the literature which deals with applying neural network to the prediction of the stock exchange, the various type of techniques and neural networks used and an existing prediction model is extended to allow a more detailed analysis of the area than would otherwise have been possible. 2.1 Financial Time Series 2.1.1 Introduction The field of the financial time series prediction is a highly complex task due to the following reasons: 1. The financial time series frequently behaves like a random-walk process and predictability of such series is controversial issue which has been questioned in scope of EMH. 2. The statistical property of the financial time series shift with the different time. Hellstr ¨om and Holmstr ¨om [1998]). 3. Financial time series is usually noisy and the models which have been able to reduce such noise has been the better model in forecasting the value and direction of the stock exchange. 4. In the long run, a new forecasting technique becomes a part of the process to be forecasted, i.e. it influences the process to be forecasted (Hellstr ¨om and Holmstr ¨om [1998]). The first point is explained later in this section while discussing the EMH theory (Page).The graph of the volatility time series of FTSE 100 index from 14 June, 1993 to 29 December, 1998 and Dow Jones from 1928 to 2000 by Nelson Areal (2008) and Negrea Bogdan Cristian (2007) illustrates the second point of the FTSE 100 [2.1.r]in figure 2.1.1 and 2.2.2.These figures also shows that the volatility changes with period , in some periods FTSE 100 index value fluctuates so much and in some it remains calm. The third point is explained by the fact the events on a particular data affect the financial time series of the index, for example, the volatility of stocks or index increases before announcement of major stock specific news (Donders and Vorst [1996]). These events are random and contribute noise in the time series which may make difficult to compare the two forecasting models difficult to compare as a random model can also produce results. The fourth result can be explained by the example. Suppose a company develop a model or technique that can outcast all other models or techniques. The company will make lot of profits if this model is available to less people. But if this technique is available to all people with time due to its popularity, than the profits of the company will decrease as the company will not no longer take advantage of this technique. This argument is described in Hellstr ¨om and Holmstr ¨om [1998] and Swingler [1994] . 2.1.2 Efficient Market Hypothesis (EMH) EMH Theory has been a controversial issue for many years and there has been no mutual agreed deal among the academic researchers, whether it is possible to predict the stock price. The people who believe that the prices follow â€Å"random walk† trend and cannot be predicted, are usually people who support the EMH theory. Academic researchers( Tino et al. [2000]), have shown that the profit can be made by using historical information , whereas they also found difficult to verify the strong form due to lack of all private and public data. The EMH was developed in 1965 by Fama (Fama [1965], Fama [1970]) and has found widely accepted (Anthony and Biggs [1995], Malkiel [1987], White [1988], Lowe and Webb [1991]) in the academic community (Lawrence et al. [1996]).It states that the future index or stock value is completely unpredictable given the historical information of the index or stocks. There are three forms of EMH: weak, semi-strong, and strong form. The weak EMH rules out any form of forecasting based on the stock’s history, since the stock prices follows a random walk in which in which successive changes have zero correlation (Hellstr ¨om and Holmstr ¨om [1998]). In Semi Strong hypothesis, we consider all the publicly available information such as volume data and fundamental data. In strong form, we consider all the publicly and privately available information. Another reason for argument against the EMH is that different investors or traders react differently when a stock suddenly drops in a value. These different time perspectives will cause the unexpected change in the stock exchange, even if the new information has not entered in the scene. It may be possible to identify these situations and actually predict future changes (Hellstr  ¨om and Holmstr ¨om [1998]) The developer have proved it wrong by making forecasting models, this issue remains an interesting area. This controversy is just only matter of the word immediately in the definition. The studies in support of the argument of EMH rely on using the statistical tests and show that the technical indicators and tested models can’t forecast. However, the studies against the argument uses the time delay between the point when new information enters the model or system and the point when the information has spread across over the globe and a equilibrium has been reached in the stock market with a new market price. 2.1.3 Financial Time Series Forecasting Financial Time series Forecasting aims to find underlying patterns, trends and forecast future index value using using historical and current data or information. The historic values are continuous and equally spaced value over time and it represent various types of data . The main aim of the forecasting is to find an approximate mapping function between the input variables and the forecasted or output value . According to Kalekar (2004), Time series forecasting assumes that a time series is a combination of a pattern and some error. The goal of the model using time series is to separate the pattern from the error by understanding the trend of the pattern and its seasonality Several methods are used in time series forecasting like moving average (section ) moving averages, linear regression with time etc. Time series differs from the technical analysis (section) that it is based on the samples and treated the values as non-chaotic time series. Many academic researchers have applied t ime series analysis in their forecasting model, but there has been no major success. [1a] 2.2 Stock Market 2.2.1 Introduction Let us consider the basics of the stock market. MM What are stocks? Stock refers to a share in the ownership of a corporation or company. They represent a claim of the stock owner on the company’s earnings and assets and by buying more stocks; the stake in the ownership is increased. In United States, stocks are often referred as shares, whereas in the UK they are also used as synonym for bonds, shares and equities. MM Why a Company issues a stock? The main reason for issuing stock is that the company wants to raise money by selling some part of the company. A company can raise money by two ways: â€Å"debt financing† (borrowing money by issuing bonds or loan from bank) and â€Å"equity financing â€Å"(borrowing money by issuing stocks).It is advantageous to raise the money by issuing stocks as the company has not to pay money back to the stock owners but they have to share the profit in the form of the dividends. MM What is Stock Pricing or price? A stock price is the price of a single stock of a number of saleable stocks traded by the company. A company issue stock at static price, and the stock price may increase or decrease according to the trade. Normally the price of the stocks in the stock market is determined by the supply/demand equilibrium. MM What is a Stock Market? Stock Market or equity market is a public market where the trading and issuing of a company stock or derivates takes place either through the stock exchange or they may be traded privately and over-the counter markets. It is vital part of the economy as it provides opportunities to the company to raise money and also to the investors of having potential gain by selling or buying share. The stock market in the US includes the NYSE, NASDAQ, the AMEX as well as many regional exchanges. London Stock Exchange is the major stock exchange in the UK and Europe.As mentioned in the Chapter 1, in this study we forecast the London Stock Exchange (Section 2.2.2.). Investing in the stock market is very risky as the stock market is uncertain and unsteady. The main aim of the investor is to get maximum returns from the money invested in the stock market, for which he has to study about the performance, price history about the stock company .So it is a broad category and according to Hellstrom (1997), there are four main ways to predict the stock market: 1. Fundamental analysis (section 2.2.3) 2. Technical analysis, (section 2.2.4) 3. Time series forecasting (section 2.1) 4. Machine learning (ANN). (Section 2.3) 2.2.2 London Stock Exchange London Stock Exchange is one of the world’s oldest and largest stock exchanges in the world, which started its operation in 1698, when John Casting commenced â€Å"at this Office in Jonathan’s Coffee-house† a list of stock and commodity prices called â€Å"The Course of the Exchange and other things† [2] .On March 3, 1801, London Stock Exchange was officially established with current lists of over 3,200 companies and has existed, in one or more form or another for more than 300 years. In 2000, it decided to become public and listed its shares on its own stock exchange in 2001. The London Stock market consists of the Main Market and Alternative Investments Market (AIM), plus EDX London (exchange for equity derivatives). The Main Market is mainly for established companies with high performance, and AIM hand trades small-caps, or new enterprises with high growth potential.[1] Since the launch of the AIM in 1995, AIM has become the most successful growth market in the world with over 3000 companies from across the globe have joined AIM. To evaluate the London Stock Exchange, the autonomous FTSE Group (owned by the Financial Times and the London Stock Exchange) , sustains a series of indices comprising the FTSE 100 Index, FTSE 250 Index, FTSE 350 Index, FTSE All-Share, FTSE AIM-UK 50, FTSE AIM 100, FTSE AIM All-Share, FTSE SmallCap, FTSE Tech Mark 100 ,FTSE Tech Mark All-Share.[4] FTSE 100 is the most famous and composite index calculated respectively from the top 100 largest companies whose shares are listed on the London Stock Exchange. The base date for calculation of FTSE 100 index is 1984. [2] In the UK, the FTSE 100 is frequently used by large investor, financial experts and the stock brokers as a guide to stock market performance. The FTSE index is calculated from the following formula: 2.2.3 Fundamental Analysis Fundamental Analysis focuses on evaluation of the future stock exchange movements