Sir Philip Sidney’s defence essay, “An apology for...

Sir Philip Sidney’s defence essay, â€Å"An apology for poetry,† refers to poetry â€Å"as an art of imitation [†¦] [that] speaks metaphorically† (Ferguson, Salter Stallworthy, 2005: 331). Sidney’s essay epitomises the pivitol importance and art of creating poetry. From the 1500’s to the 1660’s, England found itself a process of complete rebirth of all its important facets. Transformation in its social and cultural, as well as philosophical and religious approaches was evident. This transformational process, with regards to literature, resulted in the redesign of old, successful forms, such as the Petrarchan sonnet. Francesco Petrarch, the genius behind the 14th century Petrarchan sonnet, was legendary in creating a form in which to convey†¦show more content†¦These include the structure of fourteen lines, the specific rhyme scheme and thematic preoccupation with love. Petrarch decided to split these fourteen lines into two p arts: an octave of eight lines that posed a concern or problem, immediately followed by a sestet of six lines that offered a solution to this mentioned issue. This became a very effective way of communicating frustrations of the courtly lover, who was synonymous with Petrarch’s sonnets. Courtly love’s characteristics were that of a â€Å"courtly lover [who] idealizes and idolizes his beloved. [He would] subject himself to her [†¦] suffer agonies of body and spirit [†¦] but remains devoted to her [in] adherence to a rigorous code of behaviour† (Abrams Harpman, 2012: 66). This absolute dedication of a passive lover that will do anything at the request of his haughty beloved, is an image that seems to be the same in some of the sonnets of both Wyatt and Spenser. It is however, only with close investigation that one realise how both these poets adapted the theme slightly to make it seem as if their sonnets followed the same poetic tradition, even though it disguised it as something different. Both Wyatt and Spenser changed the rhyme scheme of the Petrarchian sonnet, subsequently an indication of how both theses English

Varying representations, interpretations of and attitudes towards death Free Essays

Murderous, entrenched, complex – the Northern Ireland conflict seems to defy rational discourse. But from the contradictions and tensions has sprung some remarkable art, not least the poetry of the Troubles, now widely recognised as among the most vibrant contemporary writing in the English language. Through the six poems mentioned the theme of death is very prominent. We will write a custom essay sample on Varying representations, interpretations of and attitudes towards death or any similar topic only for you Order Now We start with â€Å"Tollund Man† and â€Å"Grauballe Man†. In these two poems Heaney portrays the deaths as a tragedy, but opposed to his other poems, he refers hear mainly to the physical appearance of the bodies. In â€Å"Tollund Man† he starts the poem with a very vivid, striking description of the body, and expresses his desired pilgrimage. Heaney focus’ mainly on the period after death in this poem and describes how its miraculous preservation has made it seem to become one with the earth â€Å"she tightened her torc on him†. Heaney seems in awe of the ‘corpse’, which after death the body has taken on a Christ like appearance â€Å"I could risk blasphemy†. This death does not have any direct relation, as such, to Heaney, and therefore does not have the same sort of heartfelt mourning. None the less Heaney still seems to care greatly for this Bog body and elaborates on the condition in which the body was found. He uses these details to create himself his own story of their life leading up to their gruesome murder. In the last section of this poem Heaney refers to the â€Å"sad freedom† that comes with death, and how now he will be grouped as a statistic with Bog bodies found in the various other locations. The Tollund Man now has his freedom, but at a high price. Heaney finishes with a personal reference to his own sadness: â€Å"I will feel lost, unhappy, and at home† Here he is referring (as he does in a number of his poems) to the violence in Northern Ireland, to demonstrate how he has become accustomed to death. Similarly in â€Å"Grauballe Man† Heaney describes the body as if it has become one with the earth. As with many poets Heaney agrees that there is a fine line between sleep and death. Here the Grauballe Man: â€Å"Lies on a pillow of turf and seems to weep† Heaney personifies the lifeless body, describing him as if asleep he continues this and lets the bodies take on other animal qualities â€Å"his spine an eel arrested† but he maintains its peaceful image. Again here he uses vivid imagery â€Å"the vent of his of his slashed throat that has tanned and toughened† to convey the way in which this almost angelic body lays. He does not want to refer to the body as a corpse and he asks the rhetorical question â€Å"Who will say ‘corpse’ to his vivid cast?† Similarly to the Tollund man given the body a more holy image than simply a rotting corpse. By the end of the poem Heaney has become familiar to the body and answers to himself his rhetorical question. Heaney draws up the conclusion that there is a fine line between beauty and atrocity. He uses blunt, monosyllabic word sounds such as slash[ed] and dump[ed] to represent the harsh reality of the world and what man has turned it into. Being used to death is something that has influenced a lot of Heaney’s poems. This is an incredibly sad poem. The mood is set almost immediately in the second line: Counting bells knelling classes to a close. Notice how Heaney uses assonance and alliteration to emphasise the funereal sound of the bells and the feeling of time dragging. The stanza begins with the â€Å"morning† in line one but it is two o’clock in line three showing that hours have passed in waiting. The second stanza begins with the image of Heaney’s father â€Å"crying†. Having come across Heaney’s father in poems such as Follower in which he appears to be a strong man of few words, this contrary picture evokes powerful emotion in the reader. Heaney skilfully takes the reader with him as he enters the house through the porch – we meet his father, â€Å"Big Jim Evans†, the baby in its pram, the old men congregated in the room and finally Heaney’s mother c oughing out â€Å"angry tearless sighs†. Lines 14-15 again show Heaney using assonance, this time in his repetition of the short â€Å"a† – â€Å"At†, â€Å"ambulance†, â€Å"arrived†, â€Å"stanched†, â€Å"and†, â€Å"bandaged† – emphasising the stopping short of blood and life. We learn in the sixth stanza that Heaney hadn’t seen his brother for six weeks having been â€Å"Away at school†. The words â€Å"Paler now†, hang at the end of the stanza causing a sad pause before the sentence continues and describes how little changed in appearance the boy is in death, the difference being his paler complexion and â€Å"poppy bruise†. The final line stands out on its own. Almost every word is emphasised so that the reader must take in the line’s message and the shock and deep grief that the family must have felt. There is an element of shock for the reader reading it for the first time also, when they discover who has died and that he was a mere four years old. Again in Funeral Rites it is a person close to Heaney who has died. In this poem Heaney describes him self as being very close to the deceased, playing the part of the pallbearer, he uses here a double entendre as he â€Å"shoulders a kind of manhood† as he is only a child. As in â€Å"The Tollund Man† and â€Å"The Grauballe Man† Heaney begins with a vivid description of the body with its â€Å"dough white hands† and â€Å"igloo brows†. Heaney uses phrases such as the black glacier of each funeral pushed away† to demonstrate how darkness is synonymous with death. In the second section of this poem, Heaney also concentrates on the period straight after death as in â€Å"Mid-Term Break†. However here he focuses on the funeral procession linking it again with the violence in Northern Ireland: â€Å"Now as news comes in of each neighbourly murder we pine for ceremony, customary rhythms:† Heaney shows he has become accustomed to death and how the formalities after death are simply for show. Heaney, once again, creates a solemn atmosphere in the second section describing the slow moving procession paying their ‘respect’. He personifies the funeral procession as it â€Å"drags its tail† morbidly through the streets and side roads of Ireland. In the last section Heaney brings together the themes of his own childhood experience of death, deaths in the north at present and the death of Gunnar, a Viking hero â€Å"dead by violence and unavenged†. This demonstrates the futile waste of life conflict has caused over many centuries, and sending a powerful message to the reader. In the poem â€Å"Limbo† Heaney touches on the controversial subject of Religion. Heaney casually introduces the subject of the poem, with a newspaper style headline: â€Å"Fishermen at Ballyshannon Netted an infant last night Along with the salmon† He tags on the end of the first to line†-along with the salmon† making it sound as if it is nothing out of the ordinary. Following this he concentrates on the actual death of the bastard baby, murdered by his own mother for the sake of religious beliefs. Heaney describes how the baby was rejected by its mother and discarded, although not without feeling: â€Å"He was a minnow with hooks Tearing her open.† This shows how strong some peoples convictions really are, and how they are prepared to die, or to kill for them. He uses vivid imagery and descriptive language to try and out across the pain, emotion, and brutality of the situation. The mother has to choose her baby or her religion, and being a strict Christian chooses Catholicism and drowns her own child ironically in contrast with the teachings of the bible. He ands mentioning the place where the body of the child now lays, in â€Å"some far briny zone† where the water is too harsh â€Å"Even Christ’s palms, unhealed, Smart and cannot fish there.† The last poem, Casualty, is more of a story than the others are. It describes an elderly man who is a local customer at a bar in Ireland. He is fond of a drink but is able to control him self and maintain dignity. He is content to sit at a bar and watch life go by him. Out of respect he attempts to speak of poetry, but is clearly not at ease with this, so Heaney changes the subject. Although he is â€Å"laconic† he has a great presence, but his confidence eventually leads to his downfall, and this is how Heaney builds up emotion in the reader. He presents a figure that he describes in great detail and becomes attached to. This man does not think he should have to obey a curfew and is killed out on the street. Heaney describes how graffiti on the wall compares lives to goals in a football match. Heaney demonstrates his emotion in the harsh situation, and provokes emotion in the reader by creating a very solemn mood. In the second section Heaney moves on from this particular case to the general brutality in the Ireland conflict. He uses phrases such as â€Å"coffin after coffin† and â€Å"common funeral† to demonstrate how, tragically, death and violence have become an accepted part of life. Heaney then goes back to the solemn story of the man from the bar, who was simply carrying out his usual routine. He did not think he should be confined to his home for someone else’s evils. This shows how the killings were not discriminate and he was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time. Heaney then goes on to say how he did not attend the funeral, but instead reminisces on his times spent with the man. Heaney seems to find falsehood in funerals, and would prefer to sit in isolation and think back to the time when he â€Å"tasted freedom with him†. Now the man is free and has no longer to face the arduous tasks of life, or the cruelty of man. Throughout Heaney’s poems he expresses his distaste of mans cruelty towards their own species. Heaney expresses his views on the futility of violence with inspiring confidence. In each of his poems he manages to use many different literary devices and provokes thought and emotion in the reader. His language is poignant and yet not aggressive and at the same time he is presenting a very valid set of arguments. How to cite Varying representations, interpretations of and attitudes towards death, Papers

A comparison of Frederick Douglass, Benjamin Franklin Essay Example For Students

A comparison of Frederick Douglass, Benjamin Franklin Essay In our class, Survey of American Literature, we have read and analyzed the classic American works that have Influenced and In some cases Ingrained themselves Into our countrys identity and belief system. Among those studied has been Benjamin Franklins Autobiography, Ralph Wald Emerson essays, The American Scholar and Self -Reliance, and Frederick Douglass Narrative. Each of these covers a vast amount of subjects that could be discussed, but one that proves most compelling is the topic of education. These three men, who come from different life circumstances and have eared philosophies of life, each came to define the uses of education in their own ways. However, they do all seem to express the notion that education can be used to empower ones self. In Benjamin Franklins Autobiography, comes through to me as a perfect example of the American dream, that being the Idea that no matter where you come from, you can achieve almost anything with hard work and dedication. Coming from a lower- middle class Boston family to being one of the most famous Americans of all time is the classic rags to riches story that he himself lived out. The way he achieved this as by being self-educated. When looking at Franklins life, it could be said that he is a Renaissance man because he did so many things; he was a printer, a writer, an inventor, a scientist, and a statesman, and the only thing he had a formal education of was of printing. This American dream that Is still deeply ingrained in our society today though, always seemed to be a bit of a myth to me. I dont think It Is right to say that if you are willing to work hard enough, you will always achieve success. Things are not that simple. Of course hard work can get you places, but some people work very hard their entire ivies and still dont achieve success due to unfair circumstances. I would say that success is achieved not only by hard work, but also by the right circumstances and a bit of luck. It seems to me that Franklin did not view education as what is important in life. What is important to him is what you accomplish in life. He talks about success and how to achieve it, and education is only part of that. l grew convinced that Truth, Sincerity and Integrity In Dealings between Man and Man, were of the utmost Importance to the Felicity of Life Pig. 268, Benjamin Franklin, The Autobiography (Part 1 The Norton Anthology of American Literature. Not that education could be seen as unimportant to him. He did create the flirts ever almost certainly felt that education was of great importance. It is Just that I think he viewed education as a necessary means to get to the greater goal of being a successful person. Ed ucation was a way to prepare oneself for success. Ralph Wald Emerson was a Transcendentalist, and therefore had a somewhat different take on education. He believed that all people are inherently divine. According to him, we all know truth in hearts but we often dont recognize it or express it. I think he wants people to listen more closely to themselves for answers to heir questions. Education can be used to inspire us and help us realize our truths. In The American Scholar, Emerson says the true sources of education are nature, the mind of the past (most influential being books), and the action taken of the heroic mind. In nature he believes we see a visible representation of what is in your self, and that is ultimately divine. .u2004de722555a7056c52af9c2c93b9d3 , .u2004de722555a7056c52af9c2c93b9d3 .postImageUrl , .u2004de722555a7056c52af9c2c93b9d3 .centered-text-area { min-height: 80px; position: relative; } .u2004de722555a7056c52af9c2c93b9d3 , .u2004de722555a7056c52af9c2c93b9d3:hover , .u2004de722555a7056c52af9c2c93b9d3:visited , .u2004de722555a7056c52af9c2c93b9d3:active { border:0!important; } .u2004de722555a7056c52af9c2c93b9d3 .clearfix:after { content: ""; display: table; clear: both; } .u2004de722555a7056c52af9c2c93b9d3 { display: block; transition: background-color 250ms; webkit-transition: background-color 250ms; width: 100%; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #95A5A6; } .u2004de722555a7056c52af9c2c93b9d3:active , .u2004de722555a7056c52af9c2c93b9d3:hover { opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #2C3E50; } .u2004de722555a7056c52af9c2c93b9d3 .centered-text-area { width: 100%; position: relative ; } .u2004de722555a7056c52af9c2c93b9d3 .ctaText { border-bottom: 0 solid #fff; color: #2980B9; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; margin: 0; padding: 0; text-decoration: underline; } .u2004de722555a7056c52af9c2c93b9d3 .postTitle { color: #FFFFFF; font-size: 16px; font-weight: 600; margin: 0; padding: 0; width: 100%; } .u2004de722555a7056c52af9c2c93b9d3 .ctaButton { background-color: #7F8C8D!important; color: #2980B9; border: none; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: none; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 26px; moz-border-radius: 3px; text-align: center; text-decoration: none; text-shadow: none; width: 80px; min-height: 80px; background: url(https://artscolumbia.org/wp-content/plugins/intelly-related-posts/assets/images/simple-arrow.png)no-repeat; position: absolute; right: 0; top: 0; } .u2004de722555a7056c52af9c2c93b9d3:hover .ctaButton { background-color: #34495E!important; } .u2004de722555a7056c52af9c2c93b9d3 .centered-text { display: table; height: 80px; padding-left : 18px; top: 0; } .u2004de722555a7056c52af9c2c93b9d3 .u2004de722555a7056c52af9c2c93b9d3-content { display: table-cell; margin: 0; padding: 0; padding-right: 108px; position: relative; vertical-align: middle; width: 100%; } .u2004de722555a7056c52af9c2c93b9d3:after { content: ""; display: block; clear: both; } READ: The Causes and Effects of World War II EssayAnd because true wisdom lies within, books can help bring it out. What is most interesting to me is that of taking action with the knowledge you have. I think here he relates to Franklin in the thought that an education is no good if you dont go and use it. His definition of action: The preamble of thought, the transition through which it passes form the unconscious to the conscious, is action. Only so much I know as I have lived Pig. 519, Ralph Wald Emerson, The American Scholar, The Norton Anthology of American Literature. Without action, a person would never experience the life issues that they studied. That would make it impossible to fully understand or form an opinion over almost anything. Gaining knowledge will only be important if it is applied through action, and validated by action. Emerson sees education as way to inspire your own mind, ND in turn, help you on a road of self-discovery in your own wisdom. Frederick Douglass comes from the most difficult circumstances (to put it lightly), being that he was enslaved and a black American in the 19th century. His autobiography is a story of self-discovery; he details how his growing awareness of his condition, through his self-acquired education, propelled him to re-imagine himself. He had to learn to think of himself as a human being rather than as a beast of burden, as a free man rather than as a slave. This required him to educate himself at the risk of brutal punishment and then to take the even greater risk of an escape attempt. After one failed try that could easily have cost him his life, he succeeded the second time. Douglass story is one of self-reliance. To him, education was necessary to his survival because it offered him a first step to get out off life of slavery. l understood the pathway from slavery to freedom Though conscious of the difficulty of learning without a teacher, I set out with high hope, and a fixed purpose, at whatever cost of trouble, to learn how to read Pig. 946, Frederick Douglass, Each of these men, Franklin, Emerson, and Douglass, viewed the need for education for seemingly different purposes. Franklin, who focused on how to be a successful person understood that education, was an important step in preparing oneself for future accomplishments. Emerson felt we all had the answers within, but saw education as a way to prompt our understanding of those inner truths and convince us to express them. Douglass used education for survival and a small ray of hope that he would not remain a slave forever. But what is true of all these men is that education was used to better themselves, theyre understanding of the world around them, and to then educate others through their literary works. To educate the self is to empower the self.

The Effectiveness of the Limited English Proficiency Programs free essay sample

This paper discusses in detail the consequences of the Limited English Proficiency programs on academic achievement, the positive effects of bilingual education and the possible solutions and implications of programs. This paper illustrates that Limited English Proficiency is a barrier to academic achievement. The author states that the quick Limited English Proficiency programs that teach students only at the base level and do not preserve their native languages have negative effects on the student. The author feels that preservation of the students native language is necessary. Although the author points out that the LEP schools have many other problems, he states that progress is being made to improve bilingual education. Studies have shown the consequence of neglecting to implicate efforts to educate bilingual children highly affects the students interest in learning, which greatly impairs their academic achievement. The Collier study in 1992 revealed that minority students properly bilingually educated for a minimum of three years scored much higher on academic achievement tests than the monolingual students over a period of time. We will write a custom essay sample on The Effectiveness of the Limited English Proficiency Programs or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page There are no shortcuts to teaching proper bilingual education programs. Quick programs, which taught limited English proficiency students only at the concrete level and did not take the time to preserve their native language, had many negative effects, including lack of academic achievement progress.

What To Do if You Miss Your ACT Test

What To Do if You Miss Your ACT Test Maybe you were sick- you were up all night, feverish and full of aches - so when the morning of your test came around, you just werent up to testing. Or, perhaps you just didnt feel prepared. You hadnt taken the time to study for the ACT, so on the morning of the exam, you decided to miss your ACT test and figure it out later, even though you had already registered. What in the world do you do now? Its pretty simple, really. Youre going to apply for an ACT Test Date Change. ACT Test Date Change Procedures First, go to actstudent.org and log into your account.Once youre in your account, select Make changes to your registration.Follow the prompts to select a new test date, making note of the regular and late registration deadlines.If youre trying to change your test date and its already beyond the late registration period, then youll need to apply for Standby Testing. ACT Test Date Change Cost Although youve already paid the registration fee for the ACT or ACT Plus Writing test, youll have to pay the test date change fee. In addition, youll be charged the regular ACT registration fee for the new date, or, if you register late, the late registration fee as well. ACT Test Date Change Issues If you dont have access to your account for some reason- perhaps youre on a mountaintop with no WIFI- then contact ACT at 319-337-1270 to change your ACT test date. Make sure you have the following information in hand when you call so youre not scrambling down the mountain attempting to quickly locate your moms credit card at base camp: Your name exactly as it appears on the ID you will use when you go to take the testA credit cardYour addressThe test center where youd like to testThe test date on which youd like to test Get Ready for Your Next ACT Test Date Even though you didnt make it to the test center to take the ACT this time around, youll have another chance. Theres still plenty of time to do well on your college admissions exam. If you opted out of taking the ACT because you were unprepared, then take this additional time to prepare and study. There are several ways to get ready for the ACT exam without spending a fortune or months of time. Look into online resources, including sample test questions provided by the ACT.

The 17th Amendment to the US Constitution

The 17th Amendment to the US Constitution On March 4, 1789, the first group of United States senators reported for duty in the brand new U.S. Congress. For the next 124 years, while many new senators would come and go, not a single one of them would have been elected by the American people. From 1789 to 1913, when the Seventeenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was ratified, all U.S. senators were chosen by the state legislatures. Key Takeaways: The 17th Amendment The 17th Amendment to the United States Constitution provides for the election of senators by voters in the states they are to represent, rather than by the state legislatures and establishes the method for filling vacancies in the Senate.The 17th Amendment was proposed in 1912 and ratified on April 8, 1913. Senators were first elected by the people in Maryland in 1913, and nationwide in the general election of November 3,1914. The 17th Amendment provides that senators should be directly elected by voters in the states they are to represent, rather than by the state legislatures. It also provides a method for filling vacancies in the Senate. The amendment was proposed by the 62nd Congress in 1912 and adopted in 1913 after being ratified by the legislatures of three-fourths of the then 48 states. Senators were first elected by voters in special elections in Maryland in 1913 and Alabama in 1914, then nationwide in the general election of 1914. With the right of the people to choose some of the most powerful officials of the U.S. federal government seemingly such an integral part of American democracy, why did it take so for that right to be granted? Background The framers of the Constitution, convinced that senators should not be popularly elected, crafted Article I, section 3 of the Constitution to state, â€Å"The Senate of the United States shall be composed of two Senators from each state, chosen by the legislature thereof for six Years; and each Senator shall have one Vote.† The framers felt that allowing the state legislatures to choose senators would secure their loyalty to the federal government, thus increasing the Constitution’s chances of ratification. In addition, the framers felt that senators chosen by their state legislatures would be better able to concentrate on the legislative process without having to deal with public pressure. While the first measure to amend the Constitution to provide for the election of senators by popular vote was introduced in the House of Representatives in 1826, the idea failed to gain traction until the late 1850s when several state legislatures began to deadlock over the election of senators resulting in lengthy un-filled vacancies in the Senate. As Congress struggled to pass legislation dealing with momentous issues like slavery, states’ rights, and threats of state secession , the Senate vacancies became a critical issue. However, the outbreak of the Civil War in 1861, along with the long post-war period of reconstruction, would further delay action on the popular election of senators. During reconstruction, the difficulties of passing legislation needed to reunite the still-ideologically divided nation were further complicated by Senate vacancies. A law passed by Congress in 1866 regulating how and when senators were chosen in each state helped, but deadlocks and delays in several state legislatures continued. In one extreme example, Delaware failed to send a senator to Congress for four years from 1899 to 1903. Constitutional amendments to elect senators by popular vote were introduced in House of Representatives during every session from 1893 to 1902. The Senate, however, fearing the change would diminish its political influence, rejected them all. Widespread public support for change came in 1892 when the newly-formed Populist Party made the direct election of senators a key part of its platform. With that, some states took the matter into their own hands. In 1907, Oregon became the first state to select its senators by direct election. Nebraska soon followed suit, and by 1911, more than 25 states were selecting their senators through direct popular elections. The States Force Congress to Act When the Senate continued to resist the growing public demand for the direct election of senators, several states invoked a rarely-used constitutional strategy. Under Article V of the Constitution, Congress is required to call a constitutional convention for the purpose of amending the Constitution whenever two-thirds of the states demand it to do so. As the number of states applying to invoke Article V neared the two-thirds mark, Congress decided to act. Debate and Ratification In 1911, one of the senators who had been popularly elected, Senator Joseph Bristow from Kansas, offered a resolution proposing the 17th Amendment. Despite significant opposition, the Senate narrowly approved Senator Bristow’s resolution, largely on the votes of senators who recently had been popularly elected. After long, often heated debate, the House finally passed the amendment and sent it to the states for ratification in the spring of 1912. On May 22, 1912, Massachusetts became the first state to ratify the 17th Amendment. Connecticuts approval on April 8, 1913, gave the 17th Amendment the required three-fourths majority. With 36 of 48 states having ratified the 17th Amendment, it was certified by Secretary of State William Jennings Bryan on May 31, 1913, as part of the Constitution. In total, 41 states eventually ratified the 17th Amendment. The state of Utah rejected the amendment, while the states of Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, South Carolina, and Virginia took no action on it. Effect of the 17th Amendment: Section 1 Section 1 of the 17th Amendment restates and amends the first paragraph of Article I, section 3 of the Constitution to provide for the direct popular election of U.S. senators by replacing the phrase â€Å"chosen by the Legislature thereof† with â€Å"elected by the people thereof.† Effect of the 17th Amendment: Section 2 Section 2 altered the way in which vacant Senate seats are to be filled. Under Article I, section 3, the seats of senators who left office before the end of their terms were to be replaced by the state legislatures. The 17th Amendment gives the state legislatures the right to allow the state’s governor to appoint a temporary replacement to serve until a special public election can be held. In practice, when a Senate seat becomes vacant near the national general election, the governors typically choose not to call a special election. Effect of the 17th Amendment: Section 3 Section 3 of the 17th Amendment simply clarified that the amendment did not apply to Senators chosen before it became a valid part of the Constitution. Text of the 17th Amendment Section 1.The Senate of the United States shall be composed of two Senators from each State, elected by the people thereof, for six years; and each Senator shall have one vote. The electors in each State shall have the qualifications requisite for electors of the most numerous branch of the State legislatures. Section 2.When vacancies happen in the representation of any State in the Senate, the executive authority of each State shall issue writs of election to fill such vacancies: Provided That the legislature of any State may empower the executive thereof to make temporary appointments until the people fill the vacancies by election as the legislature may direct. Section 3.This amendment shall not be so construed as to affect the election or term of any Senator chosen before it becomes valid as part of the Constitution.

BUY LOCAL FROM New Brunswick, Canada INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY FIRMS Research Paper

BUY LOCAL FROM New Brunswick, Canada INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY FIRMS - Research Paper Example By the early 1990s companies identified the problem and thereafter they have been working to solve the difficulties of associated with retaining the talented employees (Mitchell, Holtom, Lee, T, & Graske, 2001). Internal Policies It is also important to note that management and usage of ICT systems are two different fields because the former function lies with the technical staff that has the duty and responsibility of keep the infrastructure up and running. Yet, the second function lies with the managerial staff that should have the ability of extracting and using information from the ICT systems to make effective business decisions. The companies are offering flexible timing, paid leaves, casual dressing and regular increase in the pay for core employees in every department of the organization. The organizations are also known to encourage employees to identify the need of enhancement in the current technology level that will help them in keeping up with the technological level of the industry (Brady, Brookes, & Fellenz, 1986). According to many researchers the technological advancements will define the leaders in the industry. In the light of above argument, it can be established that employees who have the ability to manage ICT systems and those who can use them to make business decisions will define the competitive advantage of the companies in near future (Eriksson, Niitamo, & Kulkki, 2005). Economic Incentives The companies that are currently engaged in the practice of acquiring advanced ICT systems are suggested to offer well to excellent incentives to the staff so that their tendencies to leave the job can be minimized (Doran, et al., 2006). Moreover, it would not be a bad idea to evaluate and analyze the ability of new recruits to understand and comprehend routine technological tasks. Additionally the companies are suggested to buy those ICT systems that are well aligned with the current technological awareness of the employees. The companies should a lso make sure that they do not initiate company-wide technology change more often. It is better to bring system changes within operational level to increase the productivity. The companies should buy those technologies that will help them in driving down the cost because in latest organizational strategy cost control is one of the most important facets. Finally it is necessary for the organizations to hire technology experts as employees because in this form of employment they can resolve the issues more swiftly than in the capacity of consultants. Technology consultants are also notorious for delaying the process of repairs that causes productivity of the entire organization to diminish. External Challenges As mentioned earlier that companies are facing the challenge of retaining employees therefore they have to keep the jobs interesting and on the other hand companies are required to pay excellent wages and salaries to the employees. The intelligent companies always ensure that th ey are paying higher compensations in comparison to the competitors because money and financial well-being is a noted method of growing organizational commitment in the staff. Another modern technique to enhance organizational commitment is to develop a participative model of decision making in the company so that everyone can feel as a part of the organization (Vroom & Jago, 1978). The companies are also anticipated to establish strong personality-

HW 5 Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

HW 5 - Case Study Example Attending a Peace Corp mission in Africa enables one fulfil his or her desire to offer assistance to the needy and charity organisations. However, all may not go well after graduation. For example, being employed by Nipsco will require one dedicate most of his or her time towards the work. This may cause a person lose the touch of friends, and break relationships. In addition, a demotion or reduction in bonus could lower someones morale, and affect his or her financial stability. Furthermore, staying in graduate school will result into reduced services for the students seeking classrooms, especially if they are enrolled under distance learning. Moreover, moving to New Orleans can prove to be stressful, especially if one is employed and lowly paid, making it difficult to pay for bills and cater for other necessities. Spending two years as a Peace Corp may divert ones attention and break contact with friends and relatives as one spends more time away from them. Conclusively, the decisions made after graduation determine ones livelihood and professional interaction, and, thus, it is important to make wise decisions that are less likely to affect an individual

Effect of Ph on Green Pea Germination Essay Example for Free

Effect of Ph on Green Pea Germination Essay Effect of pH on Green Pea Germination Objective: To determine how pH affects the germination of green peas and to examine the degree of germination within each pH level. We will do this by using various buffer solutions (along with distilled water) to grow green peas. Hypothesis: We expected that the group of peas that encountered a pH of 7 to have the most and highest degree of germination. Materials: tap water buffer solutions pH 3,5, 7, 1 distilled water 50 greens peas trays paper towels beakers Procedure: Wrap 25 peas (25 peas = 1 group) in paper towels. Place each group in 2. Pour 10 mL of tap water and 30 mL of distilled water or buffer solution onto each group of peas 3. 4. Add tap water accordingly to keep peas moist After one week, add another 20mL of distilled water or buffer solution onto each group of peas. 5. Observe amount of germination and degree of germination (length of the shoots) PH3 PH5 Distilled Water PH7 PH9 PHII Number Germinated 17 24 Number not Germinated Number of peas with shoots that were at least 1 inch long 14

A Passage from Hamlet :: essays papers

A Passage from Hamlet Hamlet is probably the best known and most popular play of William Shakespeare, and it is natural for any person to question what makes Hamlet a great tragedy and why it receives such praises. The answer is in fact simple; it effectively arouses pity and fear in the audiences’ mind. The audience feels pity when they see a noble character experiencing a regrettable downfall because of his innate tragic flaw, and they fear that the same thing might happen to them. Hamlet’s speech (III, iv, 139-180) contributes to producing this feeling of pity and fear. First it explains the thought with particular emotional effectiveness. Second it conveys Hamlet’s character, both virtue and tragic fear. Lastly, it marks the beginning of the tragic discovery and Hamlet’s downfall, answering the question â€Å"why does Hamlet delay?† Observing the beginning of Hamlet’s downfall and tragic discovery in this passage, which happens despite his many virtues, maximizes the pity and fear at the same time. The first contribution is that this passage conveys Hamlet’s thoughts with poetic and emotional effectiveness. Hamlet denies his madness and urges Gertrude not to make his madness an excuse for her faults. He asserts that excuses would only cover the superficial faults and the soul would be corrupted deep within. He further asks Gertrude not to commit any more sins that make past faults even worse and to confess herself to heaven. After all, Hamlet sarcastically begs her pardon for his reproach. Hamlet explains that during the extremely rotten time, Hamlet, who is good and of virtue, must beg pardon to and get permission from Gertrude, who represents vice by committing many sins, to do good things such as urging her to repent. As a method for salvation, Hamlet asks her not to go to Claudius’ bed. Then he apologizes for the death of Polonius and admits his own fault. However, he insists that Polonius and he both are punished because God has made him the agent to punish Polonius with him and him with Polonius. He takes the responsibility, and explains Gertrude that he is cruel only to be kind to her and warns that worse things are yet to come. Through out the passage, imageries are used to add poetic emotion to Hamlet’s thought. One example is â€Å"unction† in Hamlet’s speech â€Å"Lay not that flattering unction to your soul†¦It will but skin and film the ulcerous place whiles rank corruption, mining all within, infects unseen.

How does Hansberry write about dreams in ‘ A Raisin in the Sun’? Essay

Setting: Lorriane Hansberry wrote ‘A Raisin in the Sun’ in the late 1950’s. Hansberry’s choice of a very poor, working-class Black family in the setting of Southside Chicago in the late 1950s, underlines the important role of dreams as a driving force in the lives of people with no other hope of survival or breakthrough from poverty and despair. The Younger family is typical of most Black families in the American south in the late 1950s. The Younger apartment is the only setting throughout the whole play emphasising the centrality of the home. Most were the descendants of freed slaves who lived in ghettos, had no landed property of their own, had little or no education and were still subject to extreme forms of prejudice, racial discrimination and humiliation from the majority White population. In such an environment, dreams are the means of support of hope and aspiration. The ‘American dream’ is being able to rise through their own ability, share prosperity and have a good way of living. The play opens with the author’s vivid description of the Younger family’s cramped, cockroach-infested, two-bedroom apartment with externally shared toilet and bathroom facilities. The carpet is threadbare and faded; the furniture upholstery has been covered and the apartment is so overcrowded that Travis, the young son of Walter Lee and Ruth, has to sleep on the living-room sofa. The family poverty is so dire that the ten-year old boy has to struggle to get fifty cents out of his mother or offer to earn the money by carrying groceries for shoppers at the local supermarket. The horrible poverty despite, an audience would observe a proud, law-abiding family held together by Walter and Beneatha’s sixty-year old mother, Mama Lena Younger, whose manner portrays dignity and a set of values that date back many years. Dreams: Ruth Younger, Walter Younger’s wife. Ruth is about thirty years of age. Ruth appears in the play disappointed and exhausted. Ruth is emotionally strong. Ruth has economic and marriage problems to face in the course of the play. Walter Lee Younger, the central character of the play. Ruth’s husband and also the older brother of Beneatha. Walter Lee is revealed in the play as a desperate man in need of money. Walter despises the fact he is living in poverty and prejudice. Walter Lee is tries to provide a better standard of living for his family. Walter Lee is also passionate about seeking a business idea to overcome economic and social issues. Travis is Ruth and Walter’s son. The only child existing in the play. Travis is secluded and over protected by the adults he lives with. Beneatha Younger is Walter’s younger sister and Mama’s daughter. Beneatha’s main ambition is to become a doctor. A strong willed woman in the drama. Ruth also takes a lot of pride in being an intellectual. Mama is the mother of Walter and Beneatha and Ruth’s mother-in-law. Mama is a very strong and religious woman in the play. Mama wants her daughter Beneatha to become a doctor. Mama also supports Ruth in many ways as a mother- in- law. Joseph Asagai is an African student who is very much proud of his cultural background and also admits his love to Beneatha. Joseph also provides Beneatha African robes and records and supports her aspirations into becoming a doctor. George Murchison is the rich boyfriend of Beneatha. George is disrespectful of other black people. George is very arrogant in his behaviour with Beneatha. Beneatha who prefers Joseph to George. As a common theme of her play, Hansberry portrays dreams in a great variety of ways. It is interesting to note from the play as a whole that virtually all the characters have dreams. Some are ambitious whilst others are modest; they are a source of frustration as well as of happiness; they are a reflection of an individual’s character and personality traits and as Walter Lee demonstrates, they are dynamic and subject to change according to the prevailing circumstances. Walter Lee is the central character of the play. Hansberry portrays him as an intense, very bitter and deeply frustrated man suffering the early start of a mid-life crisis. In Act 1 Scene 1 (pg.18), he says: † I ‘m thirty-five years old; I been married eleven years and I got a boy who sleeps in the living room and all I got to give him is stories about how rich white people live.† Then again in Act 1 Scene 2, he sees into the future at edge of his days, as a big, looming blank space†¦full of nothing.† Walter’s dream is to achieve a breakthrough in business that would give his family a better life and establish him as a man who is the main breadwinner and head of his household. His immediate hope of a business venture is to invest in a liquor store the full $10,000 insurance money his mother is about to receive as a result of Big Walter’s (her husband’s) death. His dream to lay hands on that money rapidly becomes an overwhelming obsession. When neither his mother Lena nor his wife Ruth approve of such a venture, Hansberry illustrates the depth of total frustration to which a man can sink as his dream becomes more and more indefinable. He becomes abusive to his wife, implying she belongs to â€Å"a race of women with small minds† (pg. 19); he is dismissive of sister Beneatha’s dream to become a doctor, telling her â€Å"go be a nurse like other women†¦or just get married and be quiet;† and he yells at his mother when the much-awaited cheque finally arrives. Walter Lee resorts to drinking heavily when his mother refuses to support his investment in a liquor store; he shows bitter resentment towards George Murchison, whom he thinks was born with a silver spoon; he also loses interest in his regular job as a chauffeur. Indeed, he is so blinded by the obsession of having his mother’s money that he explodes with rage when Mama Lena reveals payment of a deposit on the family’s most essential need, namely: a larger house. Hansberry illustrates the nature of dreams when Walter Lee is offered $3,500 to use as he pleases. Whilst this sum is lower than the $10,000 he was originally dreaming of, it is a cruel twist of irony that in Act 2 Scene 2. A highly thrilled Walter Lee begins to dream of life as a downtown executive who attends conferences, employs bungling secretaries, sends Travis to America’s best schools, drives a Chrysler and can afford to buy Ruth a Cadillac convertible. However, through his dreams, Hansberry is able to reveal the downfalls in Walter Lee’s character: compared to his wife and mother, he is a man of very poor judgement and was extremely gullible to allow himself to be duped by his supposedly loyal friend, Willy Harris. Compared to her much older and more experienced mother, Beneatha’s dreams portray the natural idealism of youth. Despite the poverty of her family background, Hansberry portrays her as a positive thinker who dreams of becoming a doctor without knowing where her medical school fees will come from. Beneatha is all the more remarkable in her ambitions because it was very unusual in the 1950s for women to enter the medical profession and even less usual for someone from a poor Black family who lived in a ghetto of Chicago. More typically for the period of emerging Black liberation, Beneatha shows a high level of political awareness, keeps in close touch with her African heritage and even dreams of marrying Asagai and settling in Africa to practise as a doctor (Act 3, pg.113). Although she is just as idealistic as her brother (Walter Lee), Beneatha is not obsessed with money as a means to achieving her dreams. She is totally unimpressed by George Murchison’s acquired wealth, arrogance and lack of consciousness of his African heritage. She declares in Act 1, Scene 1 (pg.31), that she could never really be serious about George because he is so shallow and is heard shouting again in Act 3, towards the end of the play, that she would not marry George if he were Adam and she were Eve (pg.114). In contrast to her children, Mama Lena is a realist who has cherished a single lifetime dream, which she shared with her late husband, Big Walter Younger. Hansberry portrays her as a God-fearing, law-abiding but poor mother with strong family values. Consequently, her dream is a modest but seemingly unattainable desire to acquire a comfortable house with a garden (which she describes in Act1, Scene 1- pg.28) and to fix it up for herself and her family. Hansberry’s use of symbolism is illustrated by the way Mama Lena keeps her dream alive in much the same manner as she nurtures her potted plant. In a second reference to her wish for garden (pg.35), Mama describes her plant as the closest she ever got to have one. She compares the strong will and spirit of her family with the survival of her plant, which â€Å"ain’t never had enough sunshine or nothing† but continued to thrive against all odds. Again, it is interesting to note Hansberry’s portrayal of dreams and the human nature: when the prospect of acquiring a house actually becomes attainable, Mama Lena no longer opts for a property in Morgan Park but for a house in the more affluent and exclusive White neighbourhood of Clybourne Park. Like Walter Lee’s new vision of himself as a downtown executive, the playwright illustrates the insatiable nature of dreams. The moral of her play is that whatever their status in life or level of attainment, people will always have dreams. Although Hansberry portrays dreams as the all-important hope on which people depend for motivation and survival, she also highlights the influence of principles in the quest to achieve those goals. It is a tribute to the Youngers’ self-pride, moral fibre and strength of character that Walter Lee is compelled to discard the idea of accepting a pay-off from Mr Lindner not to move into the White neighbourhood of Clybourne Park after he had lost the bulk of the insurance money to Willy Harris. After he announced he had called Mr Lindner to accept the payment, Mama Lena says to Walter: â€Å"Son, I come from five generations of people who was slaves and sharecroppers but ain’t nobody in my family never let nobody pay. ’em no money that was a way of telling us we wasn’t fit to walk the earth. We ain’t never been that poor. We ain’t never been that dead inside†. (Act 3, pg.108). Beneatha dismisses him in similar terms, saying: â€Å"That is not a man. That is nothing but a toothless rate† and: â€Å"He is no brother of mine†. Eventually, Walter Lee is compelled to restore the family dignity by telling Mr Lindner what a proud family he came from, how they had earned the right to live in Clybourne Park and why they didn’t want his money.. By the end of Act 3, Hansberry leaves her audience with some answers to the questions created in the metaphors of Langston Hughes’ poem, from which her play derives its title: ‘A Raisin in the Sun’. From her demonstration that people will always have dreams, it can be concluded that dreams can be deferred but they do not dry up like a raisin in the sun. As Walter Lee demonstrates, dreams can become a painful obsession to be annoying like a running sore and stinks like rotten meat when they go bad. Typical examples are when his dream takes control of Walter Lee’s life to an extent that he becomes abusive to his family and resorts to drink as the dream is deferred. Likewise, as Beneatha’s experience shows, dreams can be likened to a syrupy sweet: good to have but false and elusive if they are deferred. Through no fault of her own, Beneatha’s dream is sweet and noble but it rapidly becomes as false as an illusion when Walter Lee loses the money that would have helped her enter medical school. Although Mama Lena’s dream was never a painful obsession that festered like a running sore, smelled like rotten meat or delude like a syrupy sweet, she carried for such a long period of her life that it sagged like a heavy load until she finally bought the house in Clybourne Street. Whilst Walter Lee and Beneatha’s dreams explode with the loss of most of the much-needed family capital, Mama Lena’s dream remains as flexible as her symbolic plant, which she takes for planting in the garden of their new home. Mama is the only one of Hansberry’s characters to realise her dream. For every one else, Hansberry’s reference to the sun may well be symbolic of the bright light and hope our dreams represent. The playwright creates the question: should we allow our dreams to dry up like raisins in the sun or should we remain strong and committed, nurturing our dreams like Mama’s plant until we achieve them?

Mutual Funds

INVESTIGATING MUTUAL FUNDS IN GHANA: IT’S RISK, RETURN AND PERFORMANCE ABSTRACT Over the years, investors have been attracted to mutual funds. This study seeks to do an-depth analysis of the Ghanaian mutual fund industry between the years 2006 and 2010. An exhaustive literature review on mutual funds and portfolio diversification will be conducted. An assessment of the performance of mutual funds will be done using the Sharpe and Sortino ratios as well as the Jensen Alpha. Comparisons will be made with analogous indices to determine the attractiveness of the industry. The investment strategy of fund managers will also be analysed and recommendations made. This paper will provide investors with a broad overview of the Ghanaian mutual fund industry, its inherent risks and returns. INTRODUCTION The potential conflict between mutual fund companies and the people who invest in them is a classic example of an agency problem. Consumers would like the fund in which they invest to use its judgment to maximize risk-adjusted expected returns (Chevalier and Ellison, 1997). Measuring the performance, risk and returns of mutual funds thus becomes imperative as rational investors need such information to make investment decisions. According to an article published by All Africa on the 8th of November, 2010, figures released by Ghana’s statistical service indicated that the country’s economy stood at GH? 44 billion, 60% more than estimated earlier. Per this figure, the country was deemed to have attained middle income status. Ghana recorded at the time, the largest Per Capita Income in West Africa and ranked 21st in the continent. The Ghanaian economy’s steady growth has attracted both domestic and international investors. Among the many investment opportunities in the country available to investors is the attractive mutual fund industry which provides numerous benefits to its investors. According to the Securities and Exchange Commission, the number of mutual fund companies increased from 7 in the year 2008 to 9 in 2009. The total Net Asset Value of funds under management by mutual funds companies was GH? 95,817,222. 27 in 2009 while total fund mobilization stood at GH? 40,433,682. 0. A summary of the performance of the mutual fund industry in 2009 is shown in tables 1 and 2 in the appendix. This information provides several points of interest as to how the Ghanaian mutual fund industry has performed over the years and more importantly how it compares to other analogous mutual funds in the continent and elsewhere. This has informed the choice of enquiry and the need for research in the proposed area. M easuring the performance, risk and returns of mutual funds in the Ghanaian financial market has implications for a host of stakeholders. AIMS AND RESEARCH OBJECTIVES The general objective of this research is to assess the risks and returns associated with investing in mutual funds in Ghana. The study also aims to draw a comparison between the performance of the Ghanaian mutual funds industry and similar financial markets. To achieve the general objectives, the following specific objectives have been formulated to guide in data collection and analysis. 1. To identify what makes mutual funds attractive to investors in Ghana 2. To identify the types of mutual funds available to Ghanaian investors 3. To measure the performance of mutual funds between 2006 and 2010 4. To compare Ghanaian mutual funds performance with similar market indices 5. To make recommendations to improve the management of mutual funds LITERATURE REVIEW According to Haslem, 2009, investing in Mutual funds has with many advantages. A primary advantage is the professional management of investors’ money. Investors purchase funds because they do not have the time or the expertise to manage their own portfolio. Secondly, by owning shares in a mutual fund instead of owning individual stocks or bonds, an investor’s risk is spread out. The idea behind diversification is to invest in a large number of assets so that a loss in any particular investment is minimized by gains in others. Again, if you buy only one security at a time, the transaction fees will be relatively large. Mutual funds are able to take advantage of their buying and selling size and thereby reduce transaction costs for investors. Finally, mutual funds boost liquidity as an investor can also sell his shares at any time. International mutual funds are key contributors to the globalization of financial markets and one of the main sources of capital flows to emerging economies. Despite their importance in emerging markets, little is known about their investment allocation and strategies (Kaminsky et al. , 2001). Fund managers however have numerous strategies for stock selection, identifying underappreciated or cheap securities, seeking growth potential and following past price trends (Chan et al. , 2002). According to them, most mutual funds adopt investment styles that cluster around a broad market benchmark. Few funds take extreme positions away from the index, but those who do are more likely to favor growth stocks and past winners. Licensing requirements for operating a mutual fund in Ghana A Mutual Fund Company must be incorporated under the Companies Code 1963 (Act 197) as a public limited liability company with the sole aim of holding and managing portfolio of securities and other financial assets. An application is then made by the company to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for a license to operate the fund. Company regulation, Management agreement, Custodial agreement and a Prospectus are required by the commission for review before a license is issued (SEC, 2011). These stringent requirements help ensure a robust industry with compliant firms. Measuring mutual funds performance Considerable progress has been made in three closely related areas – the theory of portfolio selection, the theory of the pricing of capital assets under conditions of risk and the behavior of stock-market prices. Results obtained in all three areas are relevant for evaluating mutual fund performance (Sharpe, 1966). A number of measures have been used over the years for measuring the performance of mutual funds. The Sharpe ratio, Sortino ratio and Jensen Alpha are among the few distinguished ones. METHODS OF ANALYSING DATA Data to be analysed will be gathered from company websites. There are a few methodologies that I intend to use for the purposes of analyzing data collected. These will measure the performance of Ghanaian mutual funds, asses its risk, volatility and return. * Sharpe Ratio This is a ratio developed by William F. Sharpe, a Nobel laureate, for the measuring of risk-adjusted performance in 1966. It measures the amount of excess return per unit of volatility provided by a fund. It is calculated by divided the excess return of a fund by its volatility. Algebraically, we have: Sharpe Ratiop All numbers are expressed usually expressed on an annual basis, so the Sharpe ratio itself is expressed on an annual basis. The interpretation of the Sharpe ratio is straightforward: the higher the ratio the better. A high ratio means that the fund delivered a high return for its level of volatility. In contrast, a ratio of 1. 0 indicates a return on investment that is proportional to the risk taken in achieving that return. A Sharpe ratio of less than 1. 0 shows a return on investment lower than the risk taken (Lhabitant, 2006). This ratio is appropriate for measuring the performance of mutual funds in Ghana for the purposes of the study. Sortino Ratio This ratio was developed by Frank Sortino. It is an extension of the idea behind the Sharpe ratio that calls for attention to an investor’s return target or minimal accepted return (MAR). The ratio uses target semi deviation in the denominator instead of the standard deviation. This is particularly useful when the return target is of importance to the investor (Christopherson et al. , 2009). * Jensen Alpha The average return on a portfolio over and above that predicted by the capital asset pricing model (CAPM), given the portfolio's beta and the average market return. Developed by Michael C. Jensen, this measure of a portfolio's alpha value is the most widely used measure of the risk to return trade-off. It is also known as the abnormal return or the risk adjusted excess return (Russell, 2011). The skewness and kurtosis of the distribution of the data will also be analysed and discussed whiles comparing risk and return. RESEARCH STRATEGY, TIME SCALES AND RESOURCE IMPLICATIONS This research will involve the gathering and analysis of quantitative data available to the public. Literature on existing research in mutual funds assessment will be discussed. Other electronic sources of information such as online journals, articles, eBooks and databases will be accessed. Business reports and articles published in Ghanaian newspapers and journals such as the Securities and Exchange Commission Reports will also be consulted. The risk and return of a sample of mutual funds in Ghana will be calculated and discussed. A comparison will then be made with a benchmark performance in a market that has macroeconomic conditions similar to Ghana. This is justified as it enables logical submissions to be made from the comparisons. The use of financial markets indices will be employed. Conclusions will be drawn and recommendations made on how fund managers can heighten the performance of mutual funds in Ghana. Any lapses in the Ghanaian mutual funds industry will be pointed out. There will be no questionnaires involved or the gathering of primary data for the purposes of this study. Microsoft Excel and SPSS are the software packages that will be used to analyse data. No costs will be incurred for their usage as they are already in my possession. LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY Secondary data has the limitation of not being effective in predicting the future. Time constraints may also be faced as a number of mutual funds will have to be analysed individually and compared with other indices. The later limitation will however be overcome by effective time management and committing to the developed Gantt chart. RESEARCH ETHICS In the conduct of this research, the highest ethical standards will be observed. The issue of confidentiality of information will not arise as all data to be analysed in the research is already available to the public. The sources of information will be duly referenced and acknowledged. My independence from the organisations under study will ensure accountability and objectivity of the research. Recognized and accepted methods of analyzing data will also be used to avoid fabrication and falsification. SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY This study will fill the gap of knowledge about the performance of Ghanaian mutual funds. Fund managers as well as investors will benefit from the study and its recommendations. The study is significant as Ghanaian investors are increasingly being attracted to the mutual funds industry and its ability to effectively diversify their risk. GANTT CHART Week 1 25/09 | Week 2 2/10| Week 3 9/10| Week 4 16/10| Week 5 23/10| Week 6 30/10| Week 7 6/11| Week 8 13/11| Week 9 20/11| TOPIC AGREED| | | | | | | | | | AIMS & OBJECTIVES| | | | | | | | | | OPENING SECTIONS| | | | | | | | | | DRAFT OUTLINE| | | | | | | | | | LITERATURE REVIEW| | | | | | | | | | METHOD/ APPROACH| | | | | | | | | | ANALYSIS/ RESULTS| | | | | | | | | | DISCUSSIONS/ CONCLUSIONS| | | | | | | | | | REFERENCE/ ACKNOWLEDGEMENT| | | | | | | | | | BINDING| | | | | | | | | | SUBMISSION TO FACULTY| | | | | | | | | | REFERENCES 1. All Africa. Ghana: Nation Attains Middle Income Status. Online]. Retrieved from: http://allafrica. com/stories/201011081261. html (accessed 30 August, 2011) 2. Chan, L. K. C. , Chen, H-L. and Lakonishok, J. , On Mutual Fund Investment Styles. The Review of Financial Studies, Vol. 15, No. 5 (Winter, 2002), pp. 1407-1437. 3. Chevalier, J. and Ellison, G. , Risk Taking by Mutual Funds as a Response to Incentives. The Journal of Political Economy, Vol. 105, No. 6. (Dec. , 1997) pp. 1167 – 1200. 4. Christopherson, J. A. , Carino D. R. and Ferson, W. E. , Portfolio Performance Measurement and Benchmarking. McGraw-Hill (2009), USA. 5. Haslem, J. A. Mutual Funds: Portfolio Structures, Analysis, Management, and Stewardship. John Wiley and Sons (2009), New Jersey. 6. Kaminsky, G. L. , Lyons, R. K. and Schmukler, S. L. , Mutual Fund Investment in Emerging Markets: An Overview. The World Bank Economic Review, Vol. 15, No. 2 (2001), pp. 315-340 7. Lhabitant, F-S. , Handbook of Hedge Funds. John Wiley and Sons(2006), London 8. Russell. Jensen Alpha. [Online]. Retrieved from: http://www. russell. com/us/glossary/analytics/jensen_alpha. htm (accessed 20 July, 2011) 9. Securities and Exchange Commission Ghana. What are Mutual Funds? Online]. Retrieved from: http://ww. secghana. org/investor/display_mutualfunds. php (accessed 20 July, 2011) 10. Securities and Exchange Commission (2009) Annual Report, Accra Ghana. 11. Sharpe, W. F. , Mutual Fund Performance. The Journal of Business, Vol. 39, No. 1, Part 2: Supplement on Security Prices. (Jan. , 1996). Pp. 119- 138 APPENDIX TABLE 1. 0 NET ASSET VALUE OF MUTUAL FUNDS IN GHANA (2009) Source: Securities and Exchange Commission Report (2009) TABLE 2. 0 FUNDS MOBILISED BY GHANAIAN MUTUAL FUNDS (2008 AND 2009) Source: Securities and Exchange Commission Report (2009)

flag desecration essays

flag desecration essays Flag desecration is not American. People who burn the American flag lack respect for themselves, America, and the many people who have died to preserve American freedom. The people who desecrate the American flag have no right to call themselves Americans. They are unpatriotic, two faced, cowards, and worse of all un-American (communist). To be patriotic a person must love and defend his own country against all foreign and domestic threats. These unpatriotic people are two faced. They live in America with all its freedoms, and yet desecrate the most important symbol which holds America together: the flag. The way flag burners go about desecrating the American flag shows that they are not true Americans. Flag burners commit a morally unjust and hateful crime by desecrating the American flag. They are the first to hid behind the first amendment (Freedom of Speech). For people to say they have the right to burn the American flag, sighting their first amendment rights, they have some kind of warped sense of expression. If people continue to desecrate the American flag, it will lose its significance and value. From 1968 to 1989, politicians and true red blooded Americans understood how important it was to respect the American flag. Congress passed a law in which it prohibited desecration of the American flag in 1968. According to the law, it was illegal to cast contempt, either by word or act upon the American flag ((Federal law, 18 USC Sec. 700 States, 1968); Sec. 2(a). The law states that whoever knowingly casts contempt upon any flag of the United States by publicly mutilating, defacing, defiling, burning, or trampling upon it shall be fined, not more than $1,000 or imprisoned for not more than one year, or both, Sec. 2(b). The term "flag of the United States" as used in this section, shall include any flag, standard colors, ensign, or any picture or representation of either, or of any part ...

A Place with the Pigs

A Place with the Pigs Essay Further expanding its extensive collection of Athol Fugards works, Theatre Communications Group has just published a new volume composed of Fugards latest South African drama, Playland, and an earlier, highly personal work, A Place with the Pigs.Playland charts the unlikely relationship between a white South African army veteran and a black amusement-park night watchman. The play, which was first published in the U.S. in the March 93 issue of American Theatre, continues Fugards tradition of fervently examining the toll his native nations politics has taken on its people. As they disassemble the legal barricades of apartheid, South Africans struggle with the emotional scars of their legacy and the overwhelming need for mutual forgiveness. The characters in Playland seek true redemption not in the grand proclamations of political discourse, but in the simple gestures between individualsa shared story, a handshake.Also examining guilt and forgiveness, A Place with the P occupies a unique position in Fugards canon. His only play not set in South Africa, Fugard has deemed it a personal parable, and the play reveals the authors stylistic range and waggish wit.The motivation to create A Place with the Pigs was unlike anything else that Ive chosen, Fugard explained to Gabrielle Cody and Joel Schechter in an 1987 interview for Theater magazine. At the time, Fugard was directing and starring in the plays premiere at Yale Repertory Theatre. If you take other plays, he said, there is the opportunity to say something about South Africa, and about broader issues, other than just Athol Fugard. But with A Place with the Pigs, the focus is intensely and purely myself.The inspiration for this singular play came one day in May 1985 from a small, rather unusual newspaper article. Soviet Deserter Discovered After 41 Years in a Pigsty, proclaimed the New York Times headline.After abandoning his Red Army unit during the desperate days of World War II, Pavel Navrotsky commenced a lifetime of self-imposed exile in his pigsty. Despite unimaginable years of personal grief and guilt, Navrotsky could not exorcise his sense of disgrace. When the terrified deserter came face to face with strangers for the first time in four decades, the article reported, all he could find to say was, Will I be punished?'Fugard appropriated Pavels tale, but not as a commentary on the Soviet Unions political or social reality. Despite its journalistic incipience, A Place with the Pigs leaves the real Pavel Navrotsky and his country behind and instead examines the interior landscape of the author, a vista Fugard represents with bold slashes of comic and linguistic color.Its a personal parable, Fugard said, because the style I have used as a writer is very different from that Ive used in plays in the past. It is not a slice of realism. Your whole vocabulary as a writer is very different when you move into the parable. Your gesture is broader, you are not bound by specific considerations of realism and authenticity.This is not the sort of play where you would ask, What sort of language is Pavel speaking? Did he go to a university? Is he a professor? If you ask that sort of question, you dont understand the rules of the game.The play portrays Pavel as an obsessive, blustering man. His self-involved guilt leads him to browbeat both himself and his wife, Praskovya, until finally, in desperation, he is inspired to act selflessly and thus begin the journey of self-redemption. There were a lot of intentions in writing this play, Fugard recounted, and one of them was just to have a lot of fun, a lot of joy and just to bounce the ball, the language ball. This brings us back to the fool: the stupid, pretentious dimensions of some of Pavels postures. He had to be able to reach out and pose in language. His great poses are verbal poses: |My soul, Praskovya, its my soul that bleeds . READ: Women In The Work Place Essay Those are poses. I also wanted the freedom to articulate in fine language Pavels journey in time away from himself.

INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY LAW Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY LAW - Essay Example In order to give Dicky proper legal advice, it would be in order to understand the exact terms and conditions that his employment or engagement with Smythe and Dickinson stated. The importance of this contractual agreement would be to know if Dicky’s terms of employment terms provision spelled out agreements on whether the company was either the sole owner or joint owner of any work produced in course of employment (Sumpter 2006, p.77).. This is because section 11 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act states the criteria for ascertaining the ownership of any copyright material and provides that any work produced in the course of employment belong to the employer who is deemed as the first owner. In the event that there are no such terms or regulations, Dicky will be perfectly be in a right position to fully own the work. Under the copyright laws in England, there are certain qualifications that one has to fulfil before they are fully covered or protected by the law on copy right. First, a person must be a citizen of Britain based on the qualifications that are set by the British Nationality Act 1981 (Ross 2008, p.46). The other requirement is originality, it has to be ascertained that without doubt the work (Valuation Guidelnes) was his (Dicky’s) own expression of ideas and invention to be the first owner under Copyright, Designs and Patents Act S.11(1). This is of interest, as it will help in understanding the actual position of the nature of the legal position from which the company is claiming rights. Dicky can argue that the company has no copyrights over any of his productions when he undertakes it independently even if employed by Smythe and Dickinson. The other requirement to gain copyright is fixation, as was held in the Merchandising Corp v Harpbond (1983), for instance the work has to be in a material form of which the valuation guidelines are in print and Dicky’s Antiques is in a DVD. Having ascertained Dickys terms of employm ent, citizenship, fixation and originality such that the Valuation Guidelines were his creative creation work; Dicky should understand the rights that a copyright holder have in relation to that particular original idea, which is automatic in UK upon meeting copyright requirements. Section 16 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act gives the copyright holder the right to copy the work and issue it to the public as well as broadcasting the work in a cable service program (McCombs 2011, p.21). All copyrighted material must possess originality as proposed in the case of University of London Press v University Tutorial Press (1916) 2 CH 601. This case discussed the doctrine known as sweat of the brow doctrine and if the word â€Å"original† is taken to refer to the originality of an expression for a certain piece of work to gain copyright protection (Harms 2008, p.133). The concept of originality tries to evaluate the relationship between the author of a particular piece of wor k and his work and is essential for a piece of work to gain copyright protection in England. This is expressly provided for under Section 1(1) of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, s.1(1) and involves judicial reasoning and logic in the solution of cases. In order for Dicky to succeed in his defence, he must

Cloning cdc2 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Cloning cdc2 - Essay Example This was used to calculate the transformation efficiency of the experiment.The aim of carrying out this experiment was to try out carry out cloning of E. coli and to calculate how efficient the cloning was. The following are the key words that will be used in this report. To begin with is the word smid pALA2, which represents the plasmid to be used in the experiment. The other word is S. pombe. This in full is known as the Schizosaccharomycespombe. It is a species of yeast that is rod shaped and reproduces by fission. In this experiment on cloning, the yeast has been used in the determination of how the cell responds to DNA replication and destruction. The other key word in this report is cdc2, which stands for cell division control protein 2. This is also referred to by the name Cyclin-dependent kinase 1. It plays the role of encoding the fission yeast S.pombe in this experiment. This section contains a brief description of the tables and figures that will be used in the report. They are as follows; figure one represents the gels showing the purified genomic DNA from S. pombe, compared to the provided DNA sample. Figure two is of the virtual gel showing restriction digest of purified plasmids. Figure three is of plasmid CPP, lane PCR product and purified PC. The forth figure is the control made of the Marker, KpnI cut pALA2 plasmid, the fifth is KpnI cut pALA2, which is a cdc2 orientation of the first plasmid. The sixth figure is the KpnI cut pALA2 that is also a cdc2 orientation of the second plasmid. The final figure is figure seven that shows the plasmid maps. Table one in the report shows the qubit values and the student number. Cloning can be defined in many ways though all these definitions will add up to the same thing. Cloning generally refers to the process of giving rise to organisms that are alike genetically either in nature like in the asexual reproduction of certain

McDonald's Health (choose a topic regarding health in mcdonalds) Research Paper

McDonald's Health (choose a topic regarding health in mcdonalds) - Research Paper Example This is despite great criticism that the corporate was selling junk foodstuffs. It should be noted that McDonald as a corporate is part of the larger community since they operate in serving the community. Being part of the society, they have all the legal rights to carryout their business independently. However, there is caution when some of the operation is causing more harm than good. It is unfair and selfish for corporates to dwell only on profit making and discard humanity (Bakan, 2005). It is sad for everybody to hold a negative impression against a corporate due to its unsocial impacts. For example, the McDonald 40% expenditure directed to kids (Bakan, 2005). This is an ethical since the kids are underage and they have not yet developed critical thinking skills that will help them evaluate media adverts. This forced the IOM (Institute of Medicine) to urge the government to insist on adverts directed to kids should promote healthy approved food (Schlosser, 2006). This policy nearly saw McDonalds corporate being closed up until they came up with rebranding their name and marketing healthy food. The questionnaire developed was entitled to gather respective reaction among people concerning the McDonald Corporation. In this regard, a total of 120 students of different grade filled in the questionnaire during the data collection. The target population was SDSU campus. According to the correspondents, there were more females (33) than males (27). Gender contribution was necessary to attain mixed feedback among people. The large sample size was aimed at eliminating possible errors likely to emanate. Considering different grades was also aimed at acquiring mixed response based on age factor. The questionnaire my group developed was composed of both closed and open ended questions. Closed questions were specific to the point and open ended question aimed at gathering descriptive responses from people.

Direct to Consumer Advertising of Prescription drugs

Direct to Consumer Advertising of Prescription drugs Abstract In Pharmaceutical industry, promotional advertisements are mostly targeted towards physicians but in recent years trend has shifted towards consumer advertisement. In many cases of Direct to Consumer Advertisement (DTCA) the pharmaceutical marketers and manufactures creates hype among patients towards disease and ultimately towards brand. It provokes the patients to seek additional information on the brand and push for its prescription generation. Objective of this study is to determine attitude of the physicians towards DTCA, and what extent patients request for particular brand leads to actual prescription generation of the advertised drugs. This study reveals that the doctors generally have positive attitude towards DTCA and are willing to provide relevant information to the patients and in some cases even provide sample of medicines or go for direct prescribing, if found relevant, as asked by the patient. This study justifies the pharmaceutical industry manufacturers sp ending in DTCA. It is also thought provoking for health policy makers that prescription drugs are being advertised directly which may lead to increased medication cost and misuse of medicine. Key words: Direct to consumer advertising, Direct to Consumer Advertised Brand, Over the counter drugs, Prescription drug. Physicians attitude. I INTRODUCTION Companies rely heavily on product detailing to physicians, which are the customer, (Zangla, 2004). To increase overall sales figures marketers started advertising directly to consumers of disease and even drug brands, (Amaldoss He, 2009). DTCA is not allowed specially for prescription drugs, (Donohue Berndt, 2010). One argument is that DTCA is a public service message about a particular disease and only plays a role as information provider and motivates people to seek proper treatment if required (Kuhn, 2006). Many researchers found DTCA good for General public health, (Bradford, Kleit, Nietert, Ornstein, 2005) and beneficial for patient care (Murray, Lo, Pollack, Donelan, Lee, 2004). So it is considered as DTCA has both merits and demerits, (Murray, 2003) 1.1 Research Objective In recent years Pharmaceutical Companies drastically increased their spending on Direct to Consumer Advertising (DTCA) (Herzenstein, Misra Posavac, 2005). In 1997 Federal drug authority (FDA) permitted DTCA and subsequently pharmaceutical companies started increasing their expenditure on direct advertisement to provoke consumers to ask their doctors about the drug (Green, 2007). Patient is more comfortable in using drug brand which is familiar to patient, (Zuvekas, 2008). Consumers have positive attitude towards DTCA and tries to find out additional information about Directly to Consumer Advertised Brand (DTCAB). To get additional information patient consults their doctor, (Herzenstein, Misra, Posavac, 2005). Asking questions by patients has strong influence on doctors selection criteria of drugs (Iizuka Jin 2005). General attitude of physicians towards DTCA its impact on prescription generation is still unknown (Herzenstein, et al., 2005). If physicians have positive general attitude towards DTCA, it may lead to actual prescription generation. Moreover if patients shows more likelihood of searching additional information tries to inquire additional information by asking questions from physician about DTCAB also leads to prescription generation (Herzenstein, et al., 2005). Information inquired from the physician about DTCAB of medicine is taken as second independent variable, pressurizes physicians towards prescribing that specific brand of drugs. Patients adherence influenced by DTCA motivates patients to seek additional information about the drug from physicians (Amaldoss Chuan, 2009). 1.2 Rationale of study 1.2.1 Increased spending on DTCA from pharmaceutical companies. Pharmaceutical companies have increased their spending in last decade, and they are planning to do more (Atherly Rubin, Feb 2008). Physicians are considered to be the best judge to decide medicine , keeping in view the patients and drugs characteristics. Due to information flow and access through electronic and print media, consumer tries to get more information about the drug and disease. With this the pharmaceutical companies started promoting prescription drugs directly to consumers. At the end of many advertisements it is advised to consult your doctor for further information, but ultimate goal is the prescription generation. These advertisements provokes patients to visit their physicians and asking information and if it is appropriate then whether it can be used or not. It is presumed by the companies that doctor will prescribe the medicine as per patient request, but it is still unknown that what is the general attitude of doctors towards direct to consumer advertisement This study will help marketers of pharmaceutical companies in finding the answer to the question, whether they are helping people in getting medication, from physicians perspective, and are they really making returns on this investment on DTCA. 1.2.2 Health policy makers. Drugs are classified in two categories, one is Over the Counter Drugs (OTC) and other is called Prescription drugs (PD). OTC drugs are usual drugs which have comparatively lesser side effects and can be used without consultation of physicians. Conversely the PD which are of either critical use or may be associated with serious side effects, and can only be used if advised by physicians. In like manner promotion of PD were made only to the physicians through detailing. Pertaining to the severity of life and death related to use of PD, DTCA should not be done for PD. But PD are being advertised under the head of Disease Advertising (DA). It should be the major concern for health policy maker either the PD are being used appropriately as per physicians advice or not. As extensive DTCA of PD may lead to misuse of medicine, increased treatment cost and unnecessary visits to physicians. DTCA should not have that much impact to generate prescription of DTCAB, if it is then specific policies should be developed to balance the usage of DTCA with its risks. 1.2.3 Knowledge contribution. It has already been explored in many researches that DTCA has both merits and demerits. Some physicians generally perceive that DTCA is good for patient overall health but from other school of thought it is just in favor of pharmaceutical companies, only physicians can better decide which drug to be used or not. In medical sciences the selection of medicine is based on mainly three factors, kind of disease, doctors judgment, patients affordability and liking or psychological experience factor of any brand (Prosser, Almond and Walley, 2003). In previous researches the impact of both physicians and consumers have been explored. But the combined impact of both variables has not been studied before. This study for the first time explores the combined effect of the two main independent variables. My research will find out the preference of physicians towards DTCA and whether information seeking by the patients leads to prescription generation. II LITERATURE REVIEW Pharmaceutical industry is heavily driven by customers (doctors) and very marketing and selling intensive (Scherer, 1990). Primarily the focus was only on doctors (customers) but recently the trend is also shifting towards addressing consumers directly (Matthews, 2001). The medium used for accessing consumers is electronic media including the internet and television advertisements, consumers are now able to freely access information about drugs and their brands which in some cases can lead to misuse of medicine and increased cost of treatment (Matthews et al., 2001). Pharmaceutical companies are now targeting advertisements towards patients which entice patients to ask for prescription of only advertised drug, the patients behavior is also effecting and directing the health systems. Matthews (2001) quoted Dr. Reardon, ex president of American Medical Association (AMA), has insightfully noted, Patients themselves are also creating a strong impetus for change. Disillusioned by restrictions on coverage and care, they are increasingly demanding choice of physician, hospital, and even type of health plan. More than ever, patients see physicians as the essential point of trust in a changing system, and demand choice and stability in their vital relationships with their doctors. At the same time, patients themselves are becoming better educated, not only about insurance options but also about medical treatments. Today, thanks to the Internet, trends in product advertising, and the massive proliferation of medical information, patients are better equipped to take part in their care than ever before. Rather than simplifying the physicians job, however, this increased patient knowledge base is creating new challenges. The other argument that supports DTCA says that it encourages hard to reach sections of populations to seek information about diseases, but it should be balanced against the increased cost of medicine from unnecessary requests generated by DTCA (Murray Pollack Donelan and Lee, 2003). DTCA has both positive and negative effects on health behaviors, health service utilization (Murray et, al., 2003). Almost five years back ads for prescription drugs were very rare but these are becoming very common in recent years, and are being advertised like any consumer goods, direct to consumer advertising (DTCA) has grown rapidly (Scherer, 2004). On the other side consumers behavior is supportive towards DTCA and would like to get more information and ask for a particular brand from physicians (Herzenstein, 2004). Another research shows that DTCA had no statistically significant effect on the choice of antidepressant (Donohue Berndt, 2004). There are three variables involved in prescription cho ice, one is Patient characteristic, second is features of medication and third is physicians preference for medication choice, moreover detailing is found to be the most effective in physicians preference for medication choice (Donohue Berndt, 2004). Increase in pharmaceutical pricing is due to increase in expenditure incurred on DTCA. 2.1 Conceptual framework Now the question arises that whether there is an impact of DTCA on sales or not (Scherer, 2004). It is also found that DTCA encourage patients to visit physicians and use specific brand medicine (Iizuka, 2005). It is agreed that DTCA has decreased the time between diagnosis and use of medicine and promotes the patients to consult their physician. 2.1.1 Inquiry about additional information or request for prescription. It has been argued that patient may demand the product just because of the attractiveness and persuasion of the advertisement, rather than look in to the effectiveness of the drug and go for proper consultation from doctor (Bradford, 2005). This is not unusual in pharmaceutical, as is a significant change from the traditional emphasis on physicians detailing, it has been found that the traditional selling of pharmaceutical brands to physicians is changing and prescription drugs is being marketed directly to consumers, as other consumer goods, as detailing and price are found to be complementary strategies for the firms in addition to the traditional detailing, (Brekkea, 2006) 2.1.1 Actual prescription generation. Still questions arises about the impact of DTCA on welfare of patients, if allowed then will lead to More visits to physicians, and they pressurizes to get prescription of desired medicine. (Brekkea et al., 2006). It is also shown that the pharmaceutical manufacturers are also facing challenges from DTCA because they has to do extensive detailing to physicians because of DTCA is also being done, so it should be banned as to keep focus on detailing (Brekkea et al., 2006). It will induce demand for new users of antidepressant medicines and can exaggerate the usage if already that medicine is being used, and will lead to misuse of brand (Chad Meyerhoefer, 2007). Direct to consumer advertising is very important and of course controversial part, advertising in journals, detailing and distribution of samples are used along with direct to consumer advertising which may leads to induce demand and generate more sales (Pasdirtz, 2009) III RESEARCH METHODOLOGY Research methodology is a system or methods followed by particular discipline of an inquiry or investigation into a subject in order to discover or revise facts, theories, applications etc. (Oxford Dictionary, 2007). This study is an applied form of research leading to the basic knowledge contribution, and is an extension of work done by Zachry, (2003). As pharmaceutical industry is very important, it has to play an important role, on one side it claims to be for better health of patients but no doubt they are making huge profits, here comes the role of health policy makers to make it justified. Moreover it is to find out the general attitude of physicians about DTCA and information asked by patients about any particular DTCAB, and its relation with actual prescription generation if asked by patient. 3.1 Problem Statement Hypothesis Pharmaceutical companies in Pakistan are promoting their brands directly to consumers (patients), now the question is What is the attitude of physicians towards DTCA, and do they provide relevant information and prescribe medicine if asked by patient. Positive attitude of physicians and information asked by patients of advertised medicine leads to prescription generation Now the objective of study is qualitative estimation of attitude, and what physicians are most likely to do if patient inquires information after exposure of pharmaceutical advertisement. Even patient may ask for prescription of specific drug, then what is the usual response of physician. 3.2 Hypothesis H-1 : Attitude of physicians towards Direct to consumer advertisement is positive. H-2: Physicians provides information of drug which is asked by patient after exposure to pharmaceutical advertisement. H-3: If found relevant, physicians prescribe the particular drug which is requested by patient on exposure to pharmaceutical advertisement. H-4: Positive attitude of physicians towards DTCA and query about information of a particular brand of medicine leads to actual prescription generation. ATTITUDE3.3 Model Independent Variable 1 PRESCRIPTION GENERATION Attitude of Physicians towards Direct to Consumer Advertising of prescription drugs Dependent Variable Actual Prescription Generation on request from patient of DTCAB medicine INFORMATION Reaction on request of information about particular DTCAB medicine Independent Variable 2 PRESCRIPTION GENERATION Dependent Variable Actual Prescription Generation on request from patient of DTCAB medicine 3.4 Data Collection Data was collected in field setting, respondent were general practicing Doctors/Physicians in hospital setting, as per previously done by (Friedman, 2006) to know the attitude of doctors. We selected hospitals because it has been found that hospitals play an important role in direct to consumer advertising (Adeoye Bozic, 2007),. 3.5 Sample and Population we choose leading hospitals of Rawalpindi/ Islamabad which have high patient turnover, i.e Pakistan institute of medical Sciences, Rawalpindi general hospital, Nescom Hospital and Shifa International. Within these hospitals we selected doctors on judgmental basis, as doctor who is dealing with more than 50 walk-in patients as previously done by (Taneja, Arora and Kaushik, 2007) and found appropriate. Sample size was taken 250, as per sample size taken by other researchers for the same kind of purpose (Bhanji, Baron, Benjamin, Lacy, Gross, Goin, Summner, Fischer, and Slaby 2008). 3.6 Instrumentation A questionnaire was adopted from two authors. Questionnaire has three parts, in first part general attitude of physicians towards direct to consumer advertising (Donhue Berndt, 2004), and in second part the likelihood behavior of physician if patient asks for more information related to drug being advertised directly, and in last part the likelihood of physician if patient asks for prescription of certain medicine (Zachry,Dalen, and Jackson, 2003). 3.7 Data Analysis These two were independent variable and one variable of prescription generation is dependant variable. Quantitative method were used, Microsoft Excel and SPSS was used to calculate percentages and relative comparison in questions through as per previous research done by Bhanji, 2008. IV FINDING AND ANALYSIS 4.1 Data Reliability and Normality Collected data is validated from Cronbachs-Alpha value which is used by many researchers like Zachry; Dalen, and Jackson, (2001,2003). The value came up to 0.8 which is acceptable as it should beis more than 0.6. Taneja, Arora and Kaushik, (2007) used descriptive statistical data analysis, I moreover used SPSS to regress two independent variable with dependent variable. 4.2 Descriptive Statistics of Respondents 4.2.1 Independent variable 1, attitude. In first part of questionnaire it is found that 40 % agree and 20 % strongly agree that it makes patients better informed and 46% agree with 32% strongly agree that it causes them to seek medical doctor. 40% agree that it also informs about side effects, although the data shows that there is increase in medication cost. Little agreement on suggesting medicine from patients. More that half percent of people suggested that it is good trend in health care, and causes more time spent in front of doctor while discussing disease. 42% agree that this also helps in increases motivation towards treatment. 39% think that it not only provokes patients to visit doctor for better health but also encourages, 41%, patients to talk to their doctor about right concern. 41% agree that it also helps in following treatment instructions and 58% with 7% strongly agree that it improves the understanding of medical conditions and treatment.1 is for strong agreement, 2 is for agreement, 3 is neutral and 4 is for disagreement while 5 is strongly disagreement.General description and frequency analysis is given in Table 4.1 OVERALL ATTITUDE OF PHYSICIANS TOWARDS DIRECT TO CONSUMER ADVERTISING ATTITUDE Questions Asked Variance Std Deviation Make patients better informed about their medical problems 1.18 1.08 Motivate patients to seek medical care 1.21 1.1 Provide enough information on other treatments 1.41 1.18 Do a good job of informing patients of side effects 1.3 1.15 Have less or no impact on increase in medication cost 1.08 1.03 Helps doctors in suggesting medicines from patients 1.06 1.02 Are a positive trend in health care 0.94 0.97 Increase in time spent with doctor 1 1.01 Increases motivation towards treatment, overall drug consumption 0.8 0.89 Increase more doctor visit for better health 1.47 1.21 Encourages patients to talk to their doctor about their right concerns 1 1 Encourages people to follow treatment instructions or advice from their doctors 1.15 1.07 Helps patients get treatments they would not otherwise get 1.16 1.07 Have less of no impact on driveing up the cost of prescription drugs 1.17 1.08 Improves peoples understanding of medical conditions and treatments 0.89 0.94 4.2.2 Independent variable 2, information. 44% agree that they become frustrated, 37% get annoyed but 52% agree and 32% strongly agree that they answer patient question about medication if asked. Only 35% agree that they provide more information. General description and frequency analysis is given in Table 4.2 LIKELLIHOOD OF PHYSICIANS WHEN ASKED FOR SPECIFIC BRAND DUE TO DTCA INFORMATION Questions asked Variance Std. Deviation You become frustrated with patient for asking for more information about disease or medicine 1.57 1.25 You become annoyed with patient for asking for more information about disease or medicine 1.42 1.19 Answer patient questions about the medication 0.79 0.89 Provide more information to patient beyond original inquiry 1.39 1.18 Attempt to change subject rather than discuss the medication 1.4 1.18 Explains that the information is probably beyond patients comprehension 1.42 1.19 4.2.3 Dependent variable, actual prescription generation. It is revealed from data that 37% get frustrated, 36% get annoyed if asked to prescribe certain brand and 36% feel uncomfortable with this request, and even less willing to communicate to the patient 33%, mostly 41% are neutral. With this if samples are available then 61% agree and 17% strongly agree to provide samples on patient request, it is also supported by agreement of 51% and strong agreement 24% that they will prescribe medicine if no medicine is available. But if found relevant, as while asking question of simply prescribing the medicine if is anyway relevant , to satisfy the patient then the agreement was 47% and only 8% with strong agreement. General description and frequency analysis is given in Table 4.3 LIKELIHOOD OF PHYSICIANS ON REQUEST OF PATIENT FOR SPECIFIC BRAND PRESCRIPTION GENERATION Dependent Variable Questions Asked Variance Std. Deviation Become frustrated with patient for asking to try the medication 1.13 1.06 Become annoyed with patient for asking to try the medication 0.96 0.98 Feel uncomfortable with the medication request 1.34 1.16 Communicate to the patient your discomfort with the medication request 0.87 0.93 Attempt to prescribe different medication to keep from promoting patient to ask for medication, if available 0.93 0.96 Provides samples of the medication, if available 0.73 0.86 Provide prescription of the medication if no samples available 1.2 1.09 Simply prescribes the medicine if is anyway relevant, to satisfy the patient 1.11 1.06 4.3 Correlation Regression Analysis SPSS was used to show the relationship between two independent variables i.e attitude of doctors towards DTCA and behavior likelihood if information asked by the patient and its impact on dependent variable which is actual prescription generation if requested by the patient. 4.3.1 Model summary and ANOVA. R value shows 40% relationship between dependent variable and independent variables. R square shows 16.6% of the variant in dependent variable can be predicted by the combination of two independent variable. Durbin Watson value is 2.08 showing that there is very less multicollinearity. ANOVA statistics shows overall model significance, f value is 15.09, and sig value is less than 0.00 which is less than 0.05, and is the indicator of significance, so that we can go for regression analysis of independent variables on dependent variables. Durbin Watson value should be between 1.5 to 2.5 means that there is no or less multicollinearity, here the value is 2.08, it shows less chances of multicollinearity. 4.4 If two independent variables combined collectively, Information + Attitude Data results with individual variables shows very weak relationship. with model significance. So It is considered combined effect of both independent variables on dependent variables. 4.4.1 Model summary and ANOVA. Model Summary shows overall model significance, which is less than 0.05, showing overall model fit, R value shows 78% dependence of dependent variable on independent variable. R square value is 0.61 showing magnitude of relationship between independent variable with dependent variable. 1% change in independent variable with 61 % change in dependent variable. Adjusted R square is the pure magnitude of relationship which is always less than the R square, 0.60. F Change statistics is 239.45 which is more than 1 then we can go for coefficients. ANOVA shows overall model significance with less than 0.05 value, it means the regression analysis be proceeded. Additionally according to second school of thought the regression sum of square should be greater then residual sum of square for better model fit. 4.4.1 Coefficient If t value is greater then 2 means it is significant. And significance value should be less than 0.05 to make a significant relationship. Here t value is 15.47, showing significant relationship, and sig value is less than 0.000. 4.2. Discussion This is similar finding with Ryan Vaithianathan, (2009). Which shows that the attitude of consumer is positive towards information provision to patient if asked and similar with the Brekke Kuhn, 2006 study which shows that the doctors rely on the information provided to them through DTCA. I accept the hypothesis that physicians have positive attitude towards DTCA. And it is accepted that the physicians are comfortable in providing information if asked by patents about any DTCAB. According to statistics shown by Data analysis I accept the hypothesis of positive relationship between general attitude of physicians towards DTCA and behavior of physicians if patient asks information has positive relationship and are correlated with actual prescription generation. Very interestingly it is found that information asking by physician and general attitude are weakly negatively correlated, it can be the area for further research that if more information is asked by patients about any brand may lead to negative attitude of physicians towards DTCA. It is found that through DTCA and patients, it is a way of putting pressure on physicians to change their prescribing behavior, (Ryan Vaithianathan, 2009) It was major concern showed by (Morgan, Mintzes barer, 2003) that the regularities authorities should consider DTCA regulations if it has impact on prescribing behavious, and in this study it has shown that the consumer advertising is creating impact in prescription choosen. This study is providing valueable information for pharmaceutical manufacturers and marketers. If more patients would ask for further information of specific drug, it may lead to the actual prescription generation. This study is also a thought provoking study for physicians that in choosing brands they are influenced by patients which may lead to increased cost and unnecessary medicines prescription. This study can be an eye opener for regularity authorities, DTCA is considered as good by physicians but it should be clearly monitored because it also creates pressure on physicians to prescribe certain brands. VI CONCLUSION Physicians have positive attitude towards DTCA and consider it supplementary in overall health care system. It stimulates patients to visit physician and seek appropriate treatment. Physicians feel comfortable in providing relevant information about DTCAB if asked, and they do not hesitate to prescribe the medicine if it is relevant to disease and patient economic characteristics. Focus of this study was to find the combined impact of attitude and information gathering on actual prescription generation. In future it may be further extended to specific disease area. However pharmaceutical companies should be monitored by regulatory authorities to check DTCA messages. Companies should focus on disease awareness rather on brand focused advertisements. REFERANCES Adeoye S, B. K. (2007 ). Direct to consumer advertising in healthcare: history, benefits, and concerns. Clinical Orthopaedics and Related Research , Volume 457, pp 96-104. Amaldoss, W., He, C. (2009). Direct-to-Consumer Advertising of Prescription Drugs: A Strategic Analysis. MARKETING SCIENCE , Vol. 28 (No. 3), pp. 472-487. Atherly, A., Rubin, P. (Feb 2008). 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