The Effects Of Climate Change On Our Planet - 1172 Words

Climate is the weather conditions over a long term. For millions of years, the earth kept changing between hot and cold, and wet and dry. As the earth warmed and cooled, plants and animals appeared and disappeared. People have had to change their way of life many times as plant and animal life changed. Since the industrial revolution, the humans built many factories and invented lots of electronic devices. They emit harmful gases called greenhouse gases like carbon dioxides and ozone, which affects our planet. However, it is difficult for people to recognize the effects because the process of climate change takes a long time. Furthermore, people think it is so far away. For example, as in Antarctica, all the icebergs are melting, which is†¦show more content†¦Therefore, the greenhouse effect caused by the gases from the two main sources eventually increases average temperatures of the earth. This is referred to as global warming. The adverse impact of global warming will inc rease in the coming years while causing climate on the globe due to the fact that human activities, mostly started from an era of industrialization, have been emitting an enormous amount of carbon dioxide. That is, our current generation is already in the center of climate change. This climate change can adversely affect the earth’s sensitive ecosystems. It has been linked to quality of human life and extinctions of plant and animal species. First, it affects people. Depending on their location, people may be affected by disease, rising sea levels, or extreme disasters such as more frequent and intensive flooding, droughts, storms, etc. In particular, the impact of these effects will be greatest on those with the least financial resources, like LDCs (Less Developed Countries). Secondly, it increases extinctions. For example, the North Atlantic right whale is at risk of extinction. The whales eat plankton. Climate change is affecting the ocean’s temperature. The warmer water contains less plankton. Less plankton means less food for the whales.Show MoreRelatedThe Effects Of Climate Change On Our Planet1061 Words   |  5 PagesI am writing this letter to express my concern about the dangers that climate change poses on our planet. Climate change i s occurring much faster than predicted. For that reason, many of our efforts aren’t fixing the issue fast enough. Many scientists agree that climate change will be the death of our people, and the future of our children if not improved by 2050. We only have a few years to reverse the affects climate change has had these past years. The 20 years that I have lived on this earthRead MoreEffects Of Climate Change On Our Planet1372 Words   |  6 PagesSolution to Climate Change Climate change has taken its toll on our planet. Record heat, fires, drought and snowstorms have all become the norm in our worldwide weather patterns. The city of Charlotte has also suffered from the consequences of climate change with extreme temperatures, record snowstorms and ice storms. It is apparent that action must be taken immediately to stop climate change (Sargent). How can a small city attempt to solve a global issue such as climate change? Can climate changeRead MoreClimate Change Is A Serious Problem1123 Words   |  5 PagesClimate Change is a Serious Problem to the Planet â€Å"Climate change is happening, humans are causing it, and I think it is perhaps the most serious environmental issue facing us.† This quote from Bill Nye illustrates the serious nature of climate change. Climate change is the most serious issue that is plaguing the world. Global temperatures have been increasing in recent years and it is clear that our climate is changing. Climate change is the change of temperature and weather in our environmentRead MoreClimate Change Is A Real Threat1105 Words   |  5 PagesClimate Change is a Real Threat â€Å"Climate change is happening, humans are causing it, and I think it is perhaps the most serious environmental issue facing us.† This quote from Bill Nye illustrates the serious nature of climate change. Climate change is the most serious issue that is plaguing the world. Global temperatures have been increasing in recent years and it is clear that our climate is changing. Climate change is the change of temperature of our environment. A majority of scientists suspectRead MoreThe Issue Of Global Warming1338 Words   |  6 Pagesrising average global temperature. The climate on the Earth is changing and there is no big surprise. It is believed that global warming is caused by many natural and manmade activities, which is affecting the planet by the seconds, minutes, hours, days, and years. Many may not even care about this serious issue, but others harm for the future generations. Global warming has become a serious threat to everything and every human being on earth and demands our immediate attention. The author, StuartRead MoreCauses And Effects Of Climate Change Essay1260 Words   |  6 PagesCommunication 11, Section D23 Informative Speech 14 November 2016 Causes and effects of Climate Change. General purpose: to inform. Specific purpose: After hearing my speech, my audience will know more what climate change is, what causes it and its effects now and in the future. Thesis Statement: Climate change is a very important issue that affects all of us, we need to know more about this issue. Organization pattern: Cause and effect. Introduction: I. (Attention-getter): When you look at yourself in aRead MoreCause And Effect Of Climate Change Essay1220 Words   |  5 PagesCause and effects of Climate Change. General purpose: to inform. Specific purpose: After hearing my speech my audience will know what climate change is, what causes it and its effects now and in the future. Thesis Statement: Climate change is a very important issue that affects all of us. Organization pattern: Cause and effect. Introduction: I. (Attention-getter): How do you explain that 30 years ago we had a different weather than today? When you look at yourself in a dirty mirror; can you seeRead MoreClimate Change : The Planet1227 Words   |  5 PagesClimate Change The planet that is our home never ceases to amaze mankind with its seemingly never-ending mysteries. Home to about 8.7 million various species that roam the globe; the Planet Earth is considerably the most habituated planet in our solar system. Despite numerous attempts to research the other fellow planets in our system, it appears that many drastic changes have been taking place on our home planet. From the evolution of plants and animals, to the advancements in modern technologyRead MoreGlobal Warming And Climate Change1124 Words   |  5 Pagesquestion that climate change is happening; the only arguable point is what part humans are playing in it.† Climate change is a pending issue waiting to be addressed and resolved by society as a whole before it is too late. Statistics show that the United States contains only 5 percent of the world s population, but contributes 22 percent of the world s carbon emissions. During the 21st century, global warming is expected to continue and climate changes are likely to increase, including: changes in temperatureRead MoreArctic Climate Change919 Words   |  4 PagesChanges in the Arctic climate will not only affect the animals, plants and people living in the Arctic regions, but it will also affect the rest of the world. The Arctic region is made up of the northern parts of Canada, the United States, Greenland, Iceland and the Eurasian continents. The changes in the climate will increase global warming in these countries causing the sea level to rise all around the world. Here is how the climate has been changing in the Arctic. This evidence of this change

Free Will vs Determinism Essay - 1396 Words

PHIL 110 Essay #2 February 15, 2010 GTF: Emma Jones Free Will vs. Determinism The argument of whether we humans are pre determined to turn out how we are and act the way we do or if we are our own decision makers and have the freedom to choose our paths in life is a long-standing controversy. The ideas of Sartre, Freud, and Darwin are each strong in their own manner, yet Sartre presents the best and most realistic argument as to how we choose our path; we are in control of the things we do and responsible for the decisions we make. Not only this, but also, our decisions have an effect on our peer’s choices, just as theirs affect ours. In this paper, I will argue that Jean-Paul Sartre makes the best argument of the three philosophers†¦show more content†¦Our freedom to choose what we do and our consciousness are directly related; therefore, we make each of our choices for a reason. With each and every decision we make in our lives, we are shaping our purpose and our meaning, but in making our own choices, we have to take on the responsibilities that come with that power. Every individual needs to be accountable for his own actions. Sartre explains in his exposition, â€Å"I cannot obtain any truth whatsoever about myself, except through the mediation of another† (199). This is saying that we need others to help us form our own decisions create and image of how we are to be perceived. It is our responsibility to establish our own value and make the best choices for us and our peers. Sartre goes on to argue, â€Å"When we say that man is responsible for himself, we do not mean that he is responsible only for his own individuality, but that he is responsible for all men† (188). As individuals part of a larger group of humans, we must come to the understanding that all of our choices will affect our peers and have an impact on the decisions they will choose to make which in return affect us. Many people turn to a higher power to pawn off responsibility for their actions. For example, acts of terrorism are often blamed on a higher power â€Å"speaking† to the group of terrorists telling them to do this, however, this higher power does not exist and the responsibility is completely on the individuals. Our choices and actionsShow MoreRelatedFree Will vs. Determinism Essay1716 Words   |  7 Pagesfierce-looking meatloaf, so you decide to go with pizza. So was your decision based off of free will or was this decision predetermined? To fully understand whether your actions resulted from free will or determinism, we must first define each. Determinism is the idea that everything happens due to a cause or a determinant, which is something that can be observed or measured. To put it simply, determinism does not mean that the future can be predicted. Rather, it is a prediction of the possible outcomesRead More Free Will Vs. Deter minism Essay2770 Words   |  12 PagesFree Will Vs. Determinism I. Determinism   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Before one can properly evaluate the entire debate that enshrouds the Free Will/Determinism, each term must have a meaning, but before we explore the meaning of each term, we must give a general definition. Determinism is, Everything that happens is caused to happen. (Clifford Williams. Free Will and Determinism: A Dialogue pg 3). This is the position that Daniel, a character in Williams’ dialogue, chooses to believe and defend. David HumeRead MoreFree Will vs. Determinism Essay1951 Words   |  8 PagesFree Will vs. Determinism Society walks about day-by-day living their lives and never really thinking or breaking down how their day unfolds or why it plays out the way it does. Some people have said that individuals have a choice and are able to decide on where their day goes. Others on the other hand would argue this assessment and state that your day and your life as whole are all pre determined. The different is free will vs. determinism. Do you believe we live in a free will world or hasRead MoreDeterminism vs. Free Will in Their Eyes Were Watching God. Essay1416 Words   |  6 Pages233/Section 09 Professor Carbonell Â…but she dont seem to mind at all. Reckon dey understand one ‘nother. A womans search for her own free will to escape the chains of other people in Zora Neale Hurstons Their Eyes Were Watching God. In the continuing philosophical debate of free will versus determinism, the question arises as to whether or not free will exists. Do people really have the capability of making decisions on their own? OR Is life already determined, and whatever we do is (andRead MoreSophocles Oedipus The King1387 Words   |  6 PagesAs I stated in a previous essay, Oedipus The King is a play by Sophocles which belongs to the genre of tragedy and focuses on a man named Oedipus, king of a place called Thebes, and his efforts to put an end to a plague that has devastated the city. He believes that in order to put an end to the plague, he must find the man that murdered the previous king of Thebes; a man by the name of Laius (Sophocles pg.8-10). Prophecy plays an important role in this play and as Oedipus’ investigation progressesRead MoreBehaviorism To Teach Human Behaviors. Author’S Name. Institutional981 Words   |  4 PagesThe paper discusses the various problems encountered while employing the concept of behaviorism to teach human behaviors. The concept of free will and its relation with behaviorism is deliberated and their differences are highlighted. Determinism and Reductionism concepts are linked with each other and their differences and relationship with behaviorism and free will is examined. Skinner’s views of society and his perspective on learning theory and his ideas on behaviorism are mentioned. Read MoreFree Will vs Determinism in A Clockwork Orange, by Anthony Burgess1208 Words   |  5 Pagesmurder, Alex volunteers for a procedure - offered by the government - to condition his aggressive behavior. What he endures under the government’s treatment, essentially, strips him from any sense of choice or free-will, rendering him a helpless, mechanical slave to this society. This sense of free-will, an opportunity to make a choice between good and evil, is an essential part of humanity...but controlling the freedom of choice is the true key to this idea. So how does this affect and influence Alex’sRead MoreFree Will Vs. Determinism1526 Words   |  7 Pagesother’s throats: Free will versus determinism. Scientist believe they have proven that free will is a mere illusion. Philosophers think other wise. With many experiments and arguments included, both have a different view about this topic. One who believes that all thing, including human behavior, are alre ady determined are people who believe in determinism. Others who believe in free will, believe that our actions are caused by free will and are not controlled. Believing in free will means that people’sRead MoreBaron dHolbach and William James on Free Will and Determinism1192 Words   |  5 PagesBaron dHolbach and William James on Free Will and Determinism 3. Discuss the issue between Baron dHolbach and William James on free will and determinism? Before we can discuss the issue between Baron dHolbach and William James we have to know the definitions of the items the issue is about. Free will according to the Encarta encyclopedia is The power or ability of the human mind to choose a course of action or make a decision without being subject to restraints imposed by antecedentRead MoreInnate Theory : Innate Factors1258 Words   |  6 PagesThe following essay will set out to answer whether innate factors need to be considered in order to explain our behaviour. Throughout the essay I will look at key branches of psychology which contribute to our behaviour. I will also compare and contrast both heritable and environmental factors, this comparison will enable me to uncover the level of importance within heritability. We are led to believe that one gene can contribute to a behavioural trait, most people are unaware of the extensive

Giordano Entered a Contract Joint Venture with Real in Germany free essay sample

During 2000 2001, Giordano had been facing a serious of challenges, like intensifying competition, rising unemployment rate, which had increased to 4. 5% in March 2001. Moreover, economic growth in Asian countries was predicted to drop during that period of time. The management believed that the Group profit was at risk if the growth of its two major markets, Hong Kong Taiwan, slowed down in consequence. Giordano management decided to continue its multi-region development strategy and, as a result, the Group made its debut in Germany through a joint venture in March 2001. Germany is an important gateway for the Group to enter into the European Union (EU) consumer market. Through this venture, the Group also wishes to tap into the increasingly important East European apparel-manufacturing base. By the end of the fiscal year, there were 23 Bluestar Exchange outlets operating within a hypermarket (supermarket) chain in a shop-in-shop format, where the company will be selling its goods in Bluestar Exchange label owned by Giordano in 50 â€Å"Real shops†. We will write a custom essay sample on Giordano Entered a Contract Joint Venture with Real in Germany or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Real is owned by Germany’s SB Warenhaus, a unit of Metro, Europe’s second-largest retailer. Selection Criteria for entering an overseas market Every decision making should be aligned with Giordano’s core value (customer service, 2) cost control and 3) speed simplicity). After deciding Germany as the first overseas market of EU, SLEPT factors may be useful in providing guidelines which the most appropriate market entry mode is (Appendix 1). Based on both SLEPT factors and the Group’s core value, the method of market entry could be easily defined, that is, Contract Joint Venture with REAL in Germany. More elaboration can be found in the following section. International Market Entry Modes – Contract Joint Venture The decision of how to enter a foreign market can have a significant impact on the results. There are many different ways to expand into foreign markets, in this essay, we will concentrate to discuss four major mechanisms: exporting, licensing, ownership and joint venture. The management of Giordano finally chose ‘Joint Venture’ as its entry method into Germany. The illustrations will be given below. 1)Exporting The company produces their products in their home market and then sells them to customers overseas. Reasons for not choosing this mode: ?The Group still needs to find ways to distribute its apparel ? Prospect of exports of clothing is not encouraging ?Further intensify of export competition with Chinese enterprises and other low-cost overseas suppliers like Eastern Europe and the Mediterranean ? Consignments of textiles and apparel imported into Germany require a certificate of origin because certain quotas apply to low labour-cost countries (like China). ?Non-EU manufacturers should be aware of the costs associated with exporting such as customs duties, value-add tax and distributor margins which have a direct effect on prices of their goods and consequently their competitiveness. ) Licensing Here Giordano might grant the company in the foreign market a license to produce the product, use the brand name, trademark, etc. in return that they will receive a royalty payment. The Group can enter the market very quickly. However, the control over the use of asset is less, especially when Giordano wanted to promote its brand through this expansion; the reputation of its brand is difficult to control. In addition, if Giordano wanted to keep its customer-orientated image, they may need to invest extra money on staff training. 3) Foreign Direct Investment It is the direct ownership of facilities in the target country. It involves the transfer of resources including capital, technology and personnel. Direct ownership provides a high degree of control in the operations and the ability to better know the consumers and competitive environment. However, it requires a high level of resources and a high degree of commitment. Except previous trial/small scale expansion had been done to test the feedback in Germany, otherwise, this case is comparatively too risky for Giordano’s first entry to European counties. 4)Joint Venture To share the risk of market entry into a foreign market, two organizations may come together to form a company to operate in the host country. Giordano is therefore bounded to match up with an appropriate local partner (REAL) in order to smooth entry into that business environment. Shop-in-shop systems are becoming increasingly powerful. From a study (Ref. no. 5), every fourth Euro spent on textiles in Germany goes to four leading companies KarstadtQuelle, Otto, CA and Metro. Apparently, Giordano selected a good business model and a potential partner for entering the Europe. There are 5 common objectives in a joint venture: ?market entry ?risk/return sharing, ?technology/resources sharing ?joint product development ?conforming to government regulations. Most likely, the above objectives met with that of Giordano quite well. At that moment, what Giordano looked for was an economic (cost control) and efficient (speed) way to expand into the European market. Moreover, the idea behind joint venture is mutual benefit. That’s why it was relatively easy for Giordano (comparative smaller scale than Metro) to get a local well-known partner. Other entry method cannot help this out. Joint ventures give the following advantages: ?Faster market entry ?Sharing of risk, resources and ability ?political connections ?Joint financial strength ?As the source of supply for a third country (further expansion) ? Financial interests will ensure that both parties pay more attention and commitment to the venture ? Provide network to distribute the product ?Benefit also to the local participant, who is able to scale up their operation to world standards and gain tangible benefits such as profits, echnology and international business experience. They also have disadvantages: ?have conflicting pressures to cooperate and compete ?Partners do not have full control of management. ?Partners from different background may have different perceptions, expectations and views on expected benefits ? Dependence on a potential competitor (the partner) If the partners carefully map out in advance what they expect to achieve and how, then many problems can be overcome. Conclusion Basic studies reflected that joint venture seemed an appropriate way to enter Germany. However, due to recognition of the inappropriate distribution channel and/or other practical issues, the Management made a prudent decision to cut losses at an early stage. The joint venture was dissolved and the entire 23-outlet Bluestar Exchange chain was closed on September 30, 2002. Not losing completely, the brief 18 months of operation in Germany allowed Management to establish good relationships with some European retailers and suppliers, which will be beneficial for the Group’s future expansion in Europe.

Positive And Negative Aspects Of Newsweek †Myassignmenthelp.Com

Question: Discuss About the Positive and Negative Aspects of Newsweek? Answer: Introduction The newsweek.com is one of the most important parts of the American media for the last 80 years. The online version of this magazine helps its readers to get the news in different local languages and devices (Newsweek.com). As the accessibility and design of the online version or the website of newsweek.com depends on different factors and designing or the development methodologies for websites, thus this effects on the readability of the content on the website. The following report contributes to the Overview of the site newsweek.com, Identification and elaboration of the main features, positive and negative aspects of the given site and in depth evolution of the website. In addition to that, the relevance with the different RWD principles, advantages and disadvantages of the used software tools for the evaluation is also provided in the different sections of this report. Overview and description of newsweek.com The given site is online magazine site which provides different kind of articles related to the different domains. This site have a great home page that helps the users to get an idea about the objective of this site. In addition to that the site is updated almost every day as the content of the pages needs to be updated every day (Smith 2014). The download time for the website is good enough to retain users or visitor to the site. When tested for its download time we found that the home page of the site is loaded in 4.59 seconds as the page size is 1.5MB and is using some efficient technologies to serve the pages. The pages in the site have easy navigation controls for the users to navigate between the different pages (Majid, Kamaruddin and Mansor 2015). From the home pages the readers can select the region to get the news about that specific region. It provides different sections for the news such as, world news, political news, business, technology, arts and culture, and blogs off different contributors to the site. If the design of the webpages of this site is considered then it can be said that, it maintains international standards for the website designing such as use of headings to attract the readers and find out the desired news on the site without going through the content of the whole page (Smith 2014). In addition to that, this site provides newsletter subscription for the readers so that it can encourage the readers to interact with the interface rather than only reading and going through the news. Contextually it is important to mention that, each page of the site includes enough amount of images that also helps in retaining the readers on the pages of the site. This site utilize dark colored text on a white background. Clearly, as these site contain an immense volume of news text content in which the readability of the users or the visitors is most imperative. Different pages of this site specified in the later parts of this report utilize darker colors for headers or for the body of the page outside the content of the page. Identification and elaboration of the main features of newsweek.com Smaller page size with better load time: For this site when we checked for the size of the different pages we found that average size of the pages is between 2MB-2.5MB. As the ideal size for a good web page is lesser than 3 MB, thus we can state that the pages with loading time 3-5 seconds can be effective for a better experience (Majid, Kamaruddin and Mansor 2015). While considering the website and the web pages, the size of the page matters due to the internet speed and device screen factor. The smaller the document size on a page, the quicker it will load on the browsers on the devices of the individuals who requests it. In addition, individuals do see to what extent a page takes to load on their devices. As indicated by different researchers, a deferral past two seconds can make visitors to leave a page - and for each extra second from that point onward, the rate grows by 5.8%. Positive and negative aspects of newsweek.com Positive aspects Avoiding the use of tables: While checking the website we found that none of the tested pages of this site have the table attribute for deterring the layout of the page. This is good for the responsive design of the pages of the site, the reason behind this can be stated as, use of the tables for layout is not necessary in web page designing and the table are responsible for only containing tabular data on the pages (Smith 2014). On the other hand the pages of this website uses div elements and CSS to create the layout of the pages. Use of headings: Every page of this site were found to use defined headings for every content block. This designing practice is considered as standard as it allows the readers or the visitors and search engines like google to condense the content of webpages faster (Majid, Kamaruddin and Mansor 2015). Precisely defined headings and sub headings helps in resolving the accessibility issues and are very important for SEO (search engine optimization) of the web pages. Responsive design: As the use of the mobile devices are exploding and users are accessing different sites on the go thus it is observed that more than 20% of Google search requests are being performed on a smart device. In the United States and Australia, 25% of visitors just get to the web on using smart devices (such as tablets, and smart phones). In addition to that, 61% of individuals have a superior supposition of brands when they offer a mobile experience from their websites. In the similar manner, the pages of newsweek.com also provides a better user experience on the smart devices. Negative aspects Internal links without destination: While investigating the design and accessibility of the pages of newsweek.com we found that, 198 internal links in different pages have no text that describes their destination. It is desired that internal inks on every page of the site should consist of text that describes the destination that will help both the readers and search engines to optimize the performance of the site. Non-compliance with the W3C standards: In addition to that it is also found that none of the webpages are compliant with the W3C standards (Smith 2014). As there are errors in the code of the pages, it is possible that different browsers may not be able to read, render and load the newsweek.com correctly which results in failure of readability of the content of the pages. Lack of height and Width attribute: In some of the pages of news week.com the used images (almost 19.0% images) do not have any defined size by using the HTML tags width and height (Majid, Kamaruddin and Mansor 2015). Even though the above mentioned attributes are considered as optional while designing the webpages, but they are strongly recommended as this tags help different web browsers to render the web pages more quickly with the specific sizes of the images. Review by two other participants As this site is designed in such a way that it provides a consistent view on different screen sizes (tablets, desktop and smart phone devices). In addition to that the use of the navigation bar on the different pages helps the users to get back to any of the pages on the website at any point of time. Moreover the used color scheme used for the fonts and background of webpages is also good as the use of the dark color for the fonts on the white back ground helps the readers to clearly see and read the content on the pages. In addition to that, the block design for the contents is also helpful for the visitors to distinctly identify the different articles on the web page. While viewing different pages of the site it is evident that most of the images are specifically defined with different image tags. This restricts the browsers to starch the images that overlaps on the content of the page. Moreover, it is also observed that the pages of this site were served with the help of GZIP encoding. This is technique is considered as a good technique because it reduces the loading time of a web page. Recommendations for the site to improve performance Proper utilization of heading in the design: In our investigation we found that some of the web pages does not contain precisely defined headings. The H1 heading tag should be used for the most top-level heading on the pages, while H2 for sub-headings and H3 for next sub-headings and so-forth. The inappropriate use of this standard may lead to confusion of the readers/visitors. Thus it is important to ensure that different headings and sub headings are used and defined in a semantically correct way. Therefore it is important to always start with a H1 tag for the content and should be used to summarize the page content. The next tags H2, H3, H4 etc. are meant to summarize and partition different sections of the content in a page. Better page titles: The page titles are important for the understandability of the objective of the page. In our investigation we found that some of the pages have title with more than 70 words and with repeated words. As an example when writing the titles for the web pages it is important to keep the specifics in the title of the page. Like if this is a page about Basketball news the title should include some specific keywords and not any generic key word such as Sports. In depth evaluation of the website An extensive rate of news sites like the newsweek.com additionally utilize blue and red notwithstanding a dim or dark color for the content. Blue is to a great degree regular for features, article titles and connections. Red is regularly utilized sparingly as a complement shading for the background of the websites. The Javascript and the other styling components used in this page results into render blocking. Even though this components helps the designers to add visual affects to the appearance of the pages to improve the user experience on the website but it is also considered as a huge time hog when it comes to the execution of the pages. Each time a user visits a page of newsweek.com, often the browser such as (Chrome, Firefox, and so forth.) requests/pings the web server that is storing the page they are trying visit - for this situation, a site page of newsweek.com site (Majid, Kamaruddin and Mansor 2015). It asks the server send to send the documents containing the requested content for this specific site. The requested content may contain any pictures, and interactive media that exist on that website page. This user request for content is called a HTTP request. Using this a web browsers can send a request for a document, and the server sending (or "exchanging") that document to the users browser application. Once the server gets a HTTP request from a visitors browser, the server then responds and conveys the requested document to that web browser. The browser then renders the website page for viewing. The problem occurs due to the excessive number of files or media on a page. The web browser needs to make different HTTP requests for each and every file or media on the page of the site. When the site does not have too many documents/media, then it would not take too long to request for and download the content of the website on the browser, but in case of newsweek.com, most of the pages do have a ton of files/media and style sheets that helps in the rendering of the requested content (Smith 2014). For this specific site the large size of the photographic images are responsible for huge number HTTP requests. Relevance to the principles of RWD Use of break points for designing: While designing the responsive web pages it is important to define breakpoints for better user experience. The designers must define breakpoints for the exact device widths for which the users are targeting like the smart phones and tablets. It is important as it helps in changing the layout of the pages at predefined points of the site. As an example we can say that having 2 columns for desktop but the design must be done using the one column design framework. Use of the relative units: The users device can be a smart phone, a desktop or anything like this. Thus while considering pixel density for the device screen, this can vary for different devices. Therefore it is important to design the pages with units that are more flexible and work everywhere and almost on every screen (Smith 2014). In this scenario the relative units like percents for the designing become feasible to use. Therefore designing something with 50% width property will help the site to always acquire half screen size. The site efficiently uses this mechanism to provide consistent display on the different devices. Nested objects: websites like newsweek.com consist of lot of elements and contents some of which depends on each other and thus would be very difficult to control on the different device screens. In this scenario it is suggested to wrap different elements in different containers that makes the code and the display more understandable for the users with a cleaner and tidy view. Again in this scenario the static units like pixels can help in designing the page (Majid, Kamaruddin and Mansor 2015). In every page of this site we found the use of the nested object that helps in the efficient rendering of the pages. They can be used for the contents that are not to be scaled such as buttons and logos on the pages. Flow of the content: with the varying screen sizes (bigger to smaller), the content on the web pages acquires more vertical space on the display and the other contents below will be pushed to go down the display down, this mechanism is called flow (Smith 2014). With the use of pixels this mechanism can help in providing smooth and enhanced user experience. Use of webfonts: The web fonts are considered as a great tool to provide consistent user experience on the different screen size. Only drawback of this tool is as much as it is used on the pages the more time it will take to load on the browsers as the fonts are not with the codes but downloaded each time it is used on the pages (Majid, Kamaruddin and Mansor 2015). Simulation software tools For assessing the responsive design of the pages of the website newsweek.com we have used the google chrome device simulator that is freely available with the chrome web browser. Advantages of chrome device Simulator One of the most important advantages of chrome device simulator is it is freely available with the browser whereas the other simulators are licensed and it is important to buy those emulators to use their all the functionalities. Another advantage is it provides several type of device simulators to simulate the desired website on them. The google chrome device emulator can manage the first two requirements and to render the site on the screen but in case of User Agent it is precise for the specific devices (Majid, Kamaruddin and Mansor 2015). In order to understand the specific appearance of the website the investigator need to test on the physical device by either owning the gadget or having virtual access to the device Conclusion As the use of the mobile devices are growing exponentially day by day through which most of the users access the websites thus it is important to design the site in such a way that it provides a consistent view on both desktop and mobile devices with varying screen sizes. In addition to that, the SEO which is important to get more visitors has many variables that effects on the performance of the site. However one of the most effective components includes what number of internal links to the site. Therefore the use of the responsive design for the website can help the website to pull in connections to this specific site. References Glassman, N.R. and Shen, P., 2014. One site fits all: responsive web design.Journal of Electronic Resources in Medical Libraries,11(2), pp.78-90. Hallett, E.C., Arnsdorff, B., Sweet, J., Roberts, Z., Dick, W., Jewett, T. and Vu, K.P.L., 2015, August. The Usability of Magnification Methods: A Comparative Study Between Screen Magnifiers and Responsive Web Design. InInternational Conference on Human Interface and the Management of Information(pp. 181-189). Springer International Publishing. Hussain, A. and Mkpojiogu, E.O., 2015. The effect of responsive web design on the user experience with laptop and Smartphone devices.Jurnal Teknologi,77(4), pp.41-47. Hussain, A. and Mkpojiogu, E.O., 2015. The effect of responsive web design on the user experience with laptop and Smartphone devices.Jurnal Teknologi,77(4), pp.41-47. Lee, J., Lee, I., Kwon, I., Yun, H., Lee, J., Jung, M. and Kim, H., 2015, November. Responsive Web Design According to the Resolution. Inu-and e-Service, Science and Technology (UNESST), 2015 8th International Conference on(pp. 1-5). IEEE. Majid, E.S.A., Kamaruddin, N. and Mansor, Z., 2015, August. Adaptation of usability principles in responsive web design technique for e-commerce development. InElectrical Engineering and Informatics (ICEEI), 2015 International Conference on(pp. 726-729). IEEE. Mehta, K. and Jha, J., 2014. Web Cache Technique Responsive Web Design. Mohamed, A.A., Cheruiyot, W.K., Rimiru, R. and Ondago, C., 2014. Responsive Web Design inFluid Grid Concept Literature Survey.International Journal of Engineering and Science. Retrieved from https://www. theijes. com/papers/v3-i7/Version-3 G,373049057. Mohorovi?i?, S., 2013, May. Implementing responsive web design for enhanced web presence. InInformation Communication Technology Electronics Microelectronics (MIPRO), 2013 36th International Convention on(pp. 1206-1210). IEEE. Newsweek.com. (2017). Newsweek - News, Analysis, Politics, Business, Technology, Lifestyle, Photos and Video. [online] Available at: https://www.newsweek.com/ [Accessed 12 May 2017]. Nibbler. (2017). Website report for www.newsweek.com. [online] Available at: https://nibbler.silktide.com/en_US/reports/www.newsweek.com [Accessed 12 May 2017] Patel, J., Gershoni, G., Krishnan, S., Nelimarkka, M., Nonnecke, B. and Goldberg, K., 2015, August. A Case Study in Mobile-Optimized vs. Responsive Web Application Design. InProceedings of the 17th International Conference on Human-Computer Interaction with Mobile Devices and Services Adjunct(pp. 576-581). ACM. Smith, M., 2014. With the use of Responsive Web Designtechniques, is it truly possible to create a website that caters for all devices?.Discovery, Invention Application, (1). Wickramasinghe, N., 2016. Using responsive web design to enhance the user experience of chronic disease management portals for clinical users

5 Simple Ways to Stay Productive and Reach Success

5 Simple Ways to Stay Productive and Reach Success When things go wrong, or just aren’t moving forward the way we’d like, it’s easy to point fingers. That guy didn’t do what he was supposed to. I was waiting for her to go first. I just didn’t have time. Yet in most cases, the obstacle to our success is pretty clear-cut: it’s us. Here are five ways to  stay productive and succeed.1.  Tackle Your Work ImmediatelyProcrastinating is so easy- it can be hidden under the guise of â€Å"prioritizing.† Human nature being what it is, tasks put off for â€Å"later† will always be theoretical, just out of the reach of the to-do list. Going ahead and doing something, even if it’s not terribly convenient or enjoyable, brings it back to being a tangible achievement. Think how satisfying it’ll be to check it off.2.  Embrace The Possibility of FailureSure, you might fail. Guess what? If you do, the world doesn’t stop. Don’t let your fear of failure or your intim idation dictate your next move, because you will absolutely miss growth and opportunities if you can’t even get started.3. Own  Your IdeasYou had the great idea to begin with, so steer it confidently as you bring it to life. You bring skills and a unique perspective to the table- so even if others are having trouble sharing your vision, that doesn’t mean stop. It means keep moving, adapt if necessary, and know that your instincts are valid. It’s okay to be confident in your abilities.4. Turn Fault Into an OpportunityAnalysis is good, finger-pointing is not. Figuring out how things went wrong should be part of any development process, but find ways to make that a constructive session. Ask how things can be fixed and what specifically you or a colleague can do to improve the result moving forward.5.  Continue Learningâ€Å"I didn’t know† isn’t an excuse†¦it’s a cop-out. If you don’t actively learn from everything going a round you, don’t be surprised if you’re suddenly feeling left behind as others around you grow and change and move forward. Similarly, learning from the past can keep you from making mistakes over and over or getting disappointing results†¦again.The good news is that if you’re blocking your own success, you can also be the hero for removing that obstacle. No super-strength necessary, just a willingness to keep your head up and be proactive.Read More at Lifehack

Early European Explorers essays

Early European Explorers essays During the 15th and 16th centuries around the world, the lure of economic opportunity, heroism, and adventure tempted explorers from Europe to travel hundreds of miles to explore the worlds that existed outside their own. What they discovered upon arriving at their destinations, was that these new lands, rich in natural resources, were already inhabited by people who had been living there for hundreds of years. The interactions that ensued between the European explorers and native peoples led to an abundance of trade between the Old and New worlds and increased horizons for people witnessing new cultures for the first time. For the most part, however, this interaction gave rise to warfare, slavery, and exploitation largely due to newfound perceptions about the people and their culture that went both ways; Europeans and indigenous peoples alike made assumptions about the other. These misconceptions shaped the way they regarded these new people they were in contact with as well. When Europeans treks led them to Africa, the Americas, and Japan, they were quick to judge what they saw, given their own backgrounds and range of knowledge. Their limited experiences caused them to make misguided opinions of the people they found. Among the visitors to Africa was a Portuguese explorer named Joao Baptista Lavanha, who described the Africans he met as barbarians (DOC 1) who are very brutish and worship nothing. (DOC 1) The few things he learned about the religious practices of the people in what he called Kaffraria were cast aside. Another Portuguese explorer found the eating habits of the people of Guinea and Benin as haphazard. (DOC 2) Christopher Columbus described the people he found in America to be a very poor people (DOC 4) when he arrived there in 1492. Amerigo Vespucci also took note of the eating habits of indigenous Americans, as well as a tradition of eating the flesh of their ...

Australian government disability policy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Australian government disability policy - Essay Example The latest research surveys conducted by global disability association illustrated that, out of the total current worlds’ population; approximately 10 percent are found to be disabled in one way or another. However, it is still contrastingly clear that, disabled persons form the minority on the society. Despite the fact that, communities have been sensitised to recognize the disabled like any other member of the society, persons with disability are still prone to subjection of acts of violence and rape. The offenders are likely to get a way scot free without legal intervention. This is the main reason as to why the federal Government of Australia has enacted the disability policy to ensure fairness and equal opportunities in all roles within the society. Integration of the disability policy Since it had been brought to the limelight that, people associated with disability are often assumed with a lot of neglect in most of the societal structure. The Australian Government, ther efore, pushed for their recognition just as any other normal citizen in the federal republic. To start with, the Government enacted equalization of persons with disability act to drive a sense of equity in the delivery of services and equitable sharing of responsibility in favour of the disabled persons so that, they can enjoy the same kind of life associated with able members of the society. According to this act, the federal government has put in place mandatory policy to all the institutions offering any form of employments both at private and state level to empower and exercise right of the disabled person (Paun 2006). This authority has been designed to be far much felt both in rural and urban areas where the disabled human resource who are otherwise recognised as to able are differently given equal opportunities to ascertain productive employment with respect to the labor market. The basic advantage of this policy is to avert any form of discrimination of persons perceived to be disabled and no obstacles should be brought in their way while pursuing employment. Besides, the Australian federal Government has ensured harmony and integration of disabled persons into open employment. It has offered support which is being driven through different kinds of measures such as offering vocational training for persons considered to have severe physical problems and disadvantaged from joining higher levels of education. With respect to vocational training, talent development and a skilled perfection is made as a way of making them to achieve equal status like the other members of the society (Paun 2006). Some amongst the advantages of this policy is that, the state provides a lot of incentives to the disabled through what is called the quota schemes. Such invectives come in terms of reserved openings and employment opportunities which are specifically meant for the disabled. Besides, they are given fair opportunities in accessing loans at affordable interest rates a nd grants with sufficient settlement duration of repayment, and this makes them feel the advantage of entrepreneurship. However, for this not to be visualized as undue advantage to the rest of the society, strategies can be put in place to disburse incentives to a group or combination of both able and disabled persons so as to avert unfairness or biasness. Moreover, the government is very much considerate and has subsidised the tax collected from such persons and has instead facilitated compliance in terms of offering contracts besides funding and other technical assistance to the institutions that has put in recognition to employ persons with disabilities. This acts as an additional support in generation of returns helping in the collective support in building of the society in all aspects of personalities (Vosko 2006). The Australian National council, a body, which supports the awareness of persons with disa

According to Cronon, when and why did the contemporary American Essay

According to Cronon, when and why did the contemporary American conception of wilderness emerge, and why does he consider it dangerous to environmentalism - Essay Example part, have always defined the wilderness as being an environment in which ordinary human beings struggled to be able to provide for themselves and their families. Moreover, this unrealistic notion disregards the fact that the American Indians lived comfortably in that supposed ‘harsh wilderness’ for virtual centuries; only to be unceremoniously cast out of it so that pampered tourists could continue to take pleasure in the illusion that they still had places in their nation which were preserved in their original and pristine state. Cronon openly avows that the notion of the preservation of the wilderness is actually a myth of mainstream cultural construction (Cronon, LoPrete and Demos, 2003). The supposedly ‘American Wilderness’ was once the home of American Indians who farmed the land to produce food and lived on it as well. They also freely owned this land. Today, the notion of hunting societies gaining sustenance from the wilderness is in direct conflict with the statutes sustained the concept of environmentalism. Environmental dualism holds that environmentalists have a duty to safeguard â€Å"unspoiled† environments. This means that the natural inhabitants of these lands who farm or hunt in them are viewed as being threats to the natural condition of the

Woolf Professions of women Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Woolf Professions of women - Essay Example I wanted to know more about the challenges that a modern woman faces at work, and this curiosity and interest has inculcated the motivation in me to research this topic. I am eager to learn about the psychological barriers holding modern women back. We see that women are getting more and more independent and a break from their traditional domestic and familial responsibilities generally as they are integrating into the socioeconomic system. While the physical barriers to freedom have been eradicated to a large extent, most women still cannot use their skills and competencies optimally because of the psychological barriers. (Woolf) has expressed this very clearly in her writing as she said, â€Å"The Angel was dead; what then remained? You may say that what remained was a simple and common object – a young woman in a bedroom with an inkpot. In other words, now that she had rid herself of falsehood, that young woman had only to be herself. Ah, but what is â€Å"herself†?† (Woolf cited in Rainbolt and Fleetwood 302). I want to learn what sort of psychological barriers are encountered by working women in general and how they deal wi th them. I also want to know more about what are the goals of a vast majority of the working women. I want to learn their preferences and priorities. I want to know if personal freedom and autonomy is more important for women in the modern age or they generally want to work and earn money in order to be able to take care of their families better domestically as well as financially. In order to find answers to my queries, I shall first conduct a thorough review of literature. I shall read the novels, autobiographies, and journals of famous women writers, and note down any quotations, passages, and narrations that qualify as answers to my questions in any way. It would take me five to six drafts to finalize my research paper that would be structured in a way that

Efficient Markets Hypothesis (EMH)

Efficient Markets Hypothesis (EMH) INTRODUCTION: Much of modern investment theory and practice is predicated on the Efficient Markets Hypothesis (EMH), the assumption that markets fully and instantaneously integrate all available information into market prices. Underlying this comprehensive idea is the assumption that the market participants are perfectly rational, and always act in self-interest, making optimal decisions. These assumptions have been challenged. It is difficult to tip over the Neo classical convention that has yielded such insights as portfolio optimization, the â€Å"Capital Asset Pricing Model†, the â€Å"Arbitrage Pricing Theory†, the â€Å"Cox Ingersoll-Ross theory† of the term structure of interest rates, and the â€Å"Black-S[choles/Merton option pricing model†, all of which are predicated on the EMH (Efficient Market Hypothesis) in one way or another. At few points the EMH criticizes the existing literature of behavioral finance, which shows the difference of opinion on psychology economics. The field of psychology has its roots in empirical observation, controlled experimentation, and clinical applications. According to psychology, behavior is the main entity of study, and only after controlled experimental dimensions do psychologists attempt to make inferences about the origins of such behavior. On the contrary, economists typically derive behavior axiomatically from simple principles such as expected utility maximization, making it easier for us to predict economic behavior that are routinely refuted empirically The biggest threats to Modern Portfolio theory is the theory of Behavioral Finance. It is an analysis of why investors make irrational decisions with respect to their money, normal distribution of expected returns generally appears to be invalid and also that the investors support upside risks rather than downside risks. The theory of Behavioral finance is opposite to the traditional theory of Finance which deals with human emotions, sentiments, conditions, biases on collective as well as individual basis. Behavior finance theory is helpful in explaining the past practices of investors and also to determine the future of investors. Behavioral finance is a concept of finance which deals with finances incorporating findings from psychology sociology. It is reviewed that behavioral finance is generally based on individual behavior or on the implication for financial market outcomes. There are many models explaining behavioral finance that explains investors behavior or market irregularities where the rational models fail to provide adequate information. We do not expect such a research to provide a method to make lots of money from the inefficient financial market very fast. Behavioral finance has basically emerged from the theories of psychology, sociology and anthropology the implications of these theories appear to be significant for the efficient market hypothesis, that is based on the positive notion that people behave rationally, maximize their utility and are able to prices observation, a number of anomalies (irregularities) have appeared, which in turn suggest that in the efficient market the principle of rational behavior is not always correct. So, the idea of analyzing other model of human behavior has came up. Further (Gervais, 2001) explained the concept where he says that People like to relate to the stock market as a person having different moods, it can be bad-tempered or high-spirited, it can overreact one day and make amends the next. As we know that human behavior is unpredictable and it behaves differently in different situations. Lately many researchers have suggested the idea that psychological analysis of investors may be very helpful in understanding the financial markets better. To do so it is important to understand the behavioral finance presenting the concept that Investors are not as rational as traditional theory has assumed, and biases in their decision-making can have a cumulative effect on asset prices. To many researchers behavioral finance is a revolution, transforming how people see the markets and what influences prices. The paradigm is shifting. People are continuing to walk across the border from the traditional to the behavioral camp†. (Gervais, 2001, P.2) . On the contrary some people believe that may be its too early call it a revolution. Eugene Fama( Gervais, 2001) argued that Behavioral finance has not really shown impacts on the world prices, and the models contradict each other on different point of times. He gave little credit to behaviorist explanations of trends and anomalies(any occurrence or object that is strange, unusual, or unique) arguing that data-mining techniques make it possible to locate patterns. Other researchers have also criticized the idea that the behavioral finance models tend to replace the traditional models of market functions. The weaknesses in this area, explained by him (Gervais, 2001) are that generally the market behavior displayed is attributed to overreaction and sometimes to under reaction. Where People take the behavior that seems to be easy for the particular study regardless of the fact that whether these biases are the result of underlying economic forces or not. Secondly, Lack of trained and expert people. The field does not have enough trained professionals both academic psychology and traditional finance and so the models that are being put up together are improvised. David Hirshleifer (Gervais, 2001) focuses on the individual behavior influencing asset prices, suggesting that behavioral finance is in its developmental stage and not yet a mature one, theres a lot of disagreement but productive one. Hirshleifer agrees that applying behavioral-finance concepts to corporate finance can pay off. If managers are imperfectly rational, he says, perhaps they are not evaluating investments correctly. They may make bad choices in their capital-structure decisions. Few people realistically think behavioral finance will displace efficient-markets theory. On the other hand, the idea that investors and managers are not uniformly rational makes insightful sense to many people. Traditional Finance Empirical Evidence: â€Å"Traditional theory assumes that agents are rational the law of one price holds† that is a perfect scenario. Where the law of â€Å"One price† states that securities with the same pay off have same price, but in real world this law is violated when people purchase securities in one market for immediate resale in another, in search of higher profits because of price differentials known as â€Å"Arbitrageurs†. And the agents rationality explains the behavior of investor â€Å"Professional Individual† which is generally inconsistent with the rationality or the future predictions. If a market achieves a perfect scenario where agents are rational law of one price holds then the market is efficient. With the availability of amount of information, the form of market changes. It is unlikely that market prices contain all private information. The presence of â€Å"noise traders† (traders, trading randomly not based on information). Researches show that stock returns are typically unpredictable based on past returns where as future returns are predictable to some extent. Few examples from the past literature explains the problem of irrationality which occurs because of naà ¯ve diversification, behavior influenced by framing, the tendency of investors of committing systematic errors while evaluating public information.(Glaser et al, 2003) Recent studies suggest that peoples` attitude towards the riskiness of a stock in future the individual interpretation may explain the higher level trading volume, which itself is a vast topic for insight. A problem of perception exist in the investors that Stocks have a higher risk adjusted returns than bonds. Another issue with the investors is that these investors either care about the whole stock portfolio or just about the value of each single security in their portfolio and thus ignore the correlations. The concept of ownership society has been promoted in the recent years where people can take better care of their own lives and be better citizen too if they are both owner of financial assets and homeowners. As a researcher suggested that in order to improve the lives of less advantaged in our society is to teach them how to be capitalist, In order to put the ownership society in its right perspective, behavioral finance is needed to be understood. The ownership society seems very attractive when people appear to make profits from their investments. Behavioral finance also is very helpful in understanding justifying government involvement in the investing decisions of individuals. The failure of millions of people to save properly for their future is also a core problem of behavioral finance. (Shiller, 2006) According to (Glaser et al, 2003) there are two approaches towards Behavioral Finance, where both tend to have same goals. The goals tend to explain observed prices, Market trading Volume Last but not the least is the individual behavior better than traditional finance models. Belief Based Model: Psychology (Individual Behavior) Incorporates into Model Market prices Transaction Volume. It includes findings such as Overconfidence, Biased Self- Attrition, and Conservatism Representativeness. Preference Based Model: Rational Friction or from psychology Find explanations, Market detects irregularities individual behavior. It incorporates Prospect Theory, House money effect other forms of mental accounting. Behavioral Finance and Rational debate: The article by (Heaton and Rosenberg,2004) highlights the debate between the rational and behavioral model over testability and predictive success. And we find that neither of them actually offers either of these measures of success. The rational approach uses a particular type of rationalization methodology; which goes on to form the basis of behavior finance predictions. A closer look into the rational finance model goes on to show that it employs ex post rationalizations of observed price behaviours. This allows them greater flexibility when offering explanations for economic anomalies. On the other hand the behavior paradigm criticizes rationalizations as having no concrete role in predicting prices accurately, that utility functions, information sets and transaction costs cannot be ‘rationalized. Ironically they also reject the rational finances explanatory power which plays an essential role in the limits of arbitrage, which actually makes behavioral finance possible. Milton Friedmans theory lays the basis of positive economics. His methodology focuses on how to make a particular prediction; it is irrelevant whether a particular assumption is rational or irrational. According to this methodology, the rational finance model relies on a limited â€Å"assumption space since all assumptions that are supposedly not rational have been eliminated. This is one of the major reasons behind the little success in rational finance predictions. Despite the minimal results, adherents of this model have criticized the behavioral model as lacking quantifiable predictions that are based on mathematical models. Rational finance has targeted a more important aspect in the structure of the economy, i.e. investor uncertainty, which further cause financial anomalies. In explaining these assertions, the behavioural emphasises the importance of taking limits in arbitrage. Friedmans methodological approach falls into the category ‘instrumentalism, which basically states that theories are tools for predictions and used to draw inferences. Whether an assumption is realistic or rational is of no value to an instrumentalist. By narrowing what may or may not be possible, one will inevitably eliminate certain strategies or behaviors which might in fact go on to maximize utility or profits based on their uniqueness. An assumption could be irrational even in the long run, but it is continuously revised and refined to make it into something useful. In opposition to this, many individuals have gone on to say that behaviouralists are not bound by any constraints thus making their explanations systematically irrational. Rubinstein (2001) described how when everyone fails to explain a particular anomaly, suddenly a behavioral aspect to it will come up, because that can be based on completely abstract irrational assumptions. To support rationality, Rubinstein came up with two arguments. Firstly he went on to say that an irrational strategy that is profitable, will only attract copy cat firms or traders into the market. This is supported when a closer look is given towards limits to arbitrage. Secondly through the process of evolution, irrational decisions will eventually be eliminated in the long run. The major achievements characterized of the rational finance paradigm consist of the following: the principle of no arbitrage; market efficiency, the net present value decision rule, derivatives valuation techniques; Markowitzs (1952) mean-variance framework; event studies; multifactor models such as the APT, ICAPM, and the Consumption- CAPM. Despite the number of top achievements that supporters of the rational model claim, the paradigm fails to answer some of the most basic financial economic questions such as ‘What is the cost of capital for this firm? or ‘What is its optimal capital structure?; simply because of their self imposed constraints. So far this makes it seem like rational finance and behavioral finance are mutually exclusive. Contrary to this, they are actually interdependent, and overlap in several areas. Take for instance the concept of mispricing when there is no arbitrage. Behavior finance on the other hand suggests that this may not be the case; irrational assumptions in the market will still lead to mispricing. Further even though certain arbitrageurs may be able to identify irrationality induced mispricing, because of the imperfect market information, they are unable to convince investors of its existence. Over here, the rational model is accepting the existence of anomalies which are affected both through the factors of risk and chance; therefore coinciding with the perspective of behavioral finance. Two instances are clear examples of how rationalization is an important limit of arbitrage: i) the build-up and blow-up of the internet bubble; and ii) the superiority of value equity strategies. If we focus on the latter, we are able to see behavioral finance literature that highlights the superiority of such strategies in the ability of analysts to extrapolate results for investors. This is possible when rationalization is taken as a limit to arbitrage. Similarly these strategies may also limit arbitrage against mispricing, through the great risk associated with stocks. In explaining most anomalies it is essential that analysts first conclude whether pricing is rational or not. To prove their hypothesis that irrationality-induced mispricing exists, behaviouralists may find it easier if they accepted the role of rationalization in limits of arbitrage. Slow information diffusion and short-sales constraints are other factors that explain mispricing. However these factors alone cannot form the basis of a strong and concrete explanation that will clarify pricing across firms and also across time. Those supporting the rational paradigm attack behavioral finance adherents in that their predictions for the financial market have been made on irrational assumptions; that are not supported by concrete mathematical or scientific models. In their view the lack of concrete discipline in the methodology adopted in behavior finance leads to the lack of testing in their forecasts. On the other hand the rational model is criticized for its lack of success in financial predictions. The behaviouralists claim that this limitation exists because the supporters of rational finance dismiss aspects of the economic market simply because it may not fall into explainable rational behavior. Both perspectives claim to align themselves with respect to the goals of ‘testability and ‘predictions, while at the same time continue to offer evidence against the other model. In reality however, rather than being exclusively mutual both paradigms assist one another in making their predictions. BODY: A cognitive bias is a persons tendency to make errors, based on cognitive factors. Forms of cognitive bias include errors in statistical judgment, social attribution, and memory that are common to all human beings. (Crowell, 1994, p. 1) â€Å"Cognitive bias is the tendency of intelligent, well-informed people to consistently do the wrong thing†. The reason behind this cognitive bias is that the Human brain is made for interpersonal relationships and not for processing statistics. The paper discusses facility of forecasts. Generally it is said that the world is divided into two groups. One who forecasts positively and one negatively. These forecasts exaggerate the reliability of their forecasts and trace it to the â€Å"illusion of validity† which exists even when the illusionary character is recognized. (Fisher and Statman, 2000) discussed five cognitive bias, underlying the illusion of validity that are Overconfidence, Confirmation, Representativeness, Anchoring, and Hindsight (Shiller, 2002) discusses, that irrational behavior may disappear with more learning and a much more structured situation. As the past research proves it that may of cognitive biases in human judgment value uncertainty will change, they may be convinced if given proper instructions, on the part-experience of irrational behavior. There are three main themes in behavioral finance and economics Heuristics: People often make decisions based on approximate rules of thumb, not strictly rational analysis. See also cognitive biases and bounded rationality. Prospect theory Loss aversion Status quo bias Gamblers fallacy Self-serving bias Money illusion Framing: The way a problem or decision is presented to the decision maker will affect their action. Cognitive framing Mental accounting Anchoring Market inefficiencies: There are explanations for observed market outcomes that are contrary to rational expectations and market efficiency. These include mis-pricings, non-rational decision making, and return anomalies. Richard Thaler, in particular, has described specific market anomalies from a behavioral perspective. Anomalies (economic behavior) Disposition effect Endowment effect Inequity aversion Intertemporal consumption Present-biased preferences Momentum investing Greed and fear Herd behavior Anomalies (market prices and returns) Equity premium puzzle Efficiency wage hypothesis Limits to arbitrage Dividend puzzle Models in behavioral economics are typically addressed to a particular observed market anomaly and adjust standard neo-classical models by describing decision makers as using heuristics and being affected by framing effects. In general, economics sits within the neoclassical framework, though the standard assumption of rational behavior is often challenged. Loix et. Al in their paper â€Å"Orientation towards Finances† explains the individual financial management behavior, people dealing with their financial means. They have analyzed the Non-specific Financial behavior as already we see extensive research on the specific finance behavior such as saving, Taxation, Gambling, amassing debt. But they had given a lot of importance to stock market, investors and households. The analysis of general public`s behavior was done, where an ordinary man is not sure and simply act according to the guesses over their money related issues. It was also found that people interested in economic and financial matters are much more active in collecting specific information than general public, stating that financial behavior of household is an important relevant topic that needs to be discussed in much more details. Household financial management is similar to the financial management. The construct of orientation towards finances was developed where the individual ORTO FIN focuses on competencies (interest and skills). Having stronger money attitude is an indication of stronger orientation towards finances and much more effective competencies. Therefore we expect some relevance and similarity between corporate and household management behavior as both require organizing, forecasting, planning and control. (Loix et. al, 2005) analyzed general publics behavior in basically dividing them into two groups, Financial Information Personal financial planning. Also explaining some practical and theoretical gaps in the area of psychology of money usage, they concluded that ORTOFIN (Orientation towards finance) indicates the involvement of individuals in managing their finances. Proving out the point that active interest in financial information and an urge to plan expenses are two main factors. A stronger ORTFIN indicates: Greater use of debit accounts, Higher savings account, Wide variety of investments, Greater awareness of ones financial Intimate knowledge of the details of Ones savings/deposit accounts obsessed by money, Higher achievement and power in monetary terms, Further age is also inversely proportional. Shiller in 2006, in his article talked about the the co-evolution of neo-classical and behavior finance. In 1937 when A. Samuelsson one of the great economists wrote about people maximizing the present value of utility subject to a present vale budget constraint. Another judgment he realized was time being consistent human behavior where if at any time t 0 Where people reconsidered the problem of maximization from that date forward, they would not change their decision where as in real life it is totally opposite for example people sometimes try to control themselves by binding their future decision as from history we find out that that some of man make irrevocable trust in the taking out of life insurance as a compulsory savings measure. (shiller, 2006, p.) Considering personal saving rate, saving and down for no reason has emerged as a weakness of human self control. People seem to be vulnerable to complacency from time to time about providing for their own future. The distinction between neoclassical and behavioral finance have therefore been exaggerated. Both of them are not completely different from each other. Behavioral finance is more elastic willing to learn from other sciences and less concerned about the elegance of models whereby explaining human behavior Investing and cognitive bias: Money Managers Money management is a very popular phenomenon. The performance in the stock market is measured at the daily basis and not to wait for a highly subjective annual review of ones performance by ones superior. Market grades you on a daily basis. The smarter one is, the more confident one becomes of ones ability to succeed, clients support them by trusting them that eventually helps their careers. But the truth is that few money managers put in sufficient amount of time and effort to figure out what works and develop a set of investment principles to guide their investment decisions (Browne, 2000). Further Browne discussed the importance of asset allocation and risk aversion, in order to understand why we do what we do regardless of whether it is rational or not. General public opts for money Managers to deal with their finances and these managers are categorized in three ways: Value Managers, Growth Managers and Market Neutral Managers. The vast majority of money managers are categorized as either value managers or growth managers although a third category, market neutral managers, is gaining popularity these days and may soon rival the so-called strategies of value and growth. Some investment management firms even are being cautious by offering all styles of investments. What too few money managers do is analyze the fundamental financial characteristics of portfolios that produce long-term market beating results, and develop a set of investment principles that are based on those findings. Difference of opinion on the definition of Value is the problem.The reasons for this are two-fold, one being the practical reality of managing large sums of money, and the other related to behavior. As the assets under management of an advisor grow, the universe of potential stocks shrinks Analyzing that why individual and professional investors do not change their behavior even when they face empirical evidence, that suggests that their decisions are less than optimal. An answer to this question is said to be that being a contrarian may simply be too risky for the average individual or professional. If a person is wrong on the collective basis, where everyone else also had made a mistake, the consequences professionally and for ones own self-esteem are far less than if a person is wrong alone. The herd instinct allows for the comfort of safety in numbers. The other reason is that individuals try to behave the same way and do not tend to change courses of action if they are happy. If the results are not too painful individuals can be happy with sub-optimal results. Moreover, individuals who tend to be unhappy make changes often and eventually end up being just as unhappy in their new circumstances. According to the traditional view of Investment management, fundamental forces drive markets, however many other investment firms considers to be active and working out based on their experienced Judgment. It is also believed that Judgmental overrides of Value Fundamental forces of markets can be lethal as well as a cause of Financial Disappointment. From the history it has been found that people Override at the wrong times and in most cases would be better off sticking to their investment disciplines (Crowell, 1994) and the reason to this behavior is the Cognitive bias. According to many researchers, stocks of small companies with low price/book ratios provide excess returns. Therefore, given a choice among small cheap stocks large high priced stocks, prominent investors (financial analysts, senior company executives and company directors) will certainly prefer the small cheap ones. But the fact is opposite to this situation where these prominent investors would opt for large high priced ones and so suffer from cognitive bias and further regret. According to a survey in 1992/1993, a research was carried out that included senior executives directors where they were suppose to rate companies in their industries on eight factors: Quality of management, Quality of products services, Innovativeness, Long term investment value, Financial soundness, Ability to attract, develop and keep talented people, Responsibility to the community and environment, Wise use of corporate assets. The assumptions that we made were that that â€Å"Long term investment value should be negatively correlated with size since small stocks provide superior returns. Long term Investment value should have a negative correlation with Price/book since low Price/Book stocks provide superior returns†.(Crowell, 1994). Whereas the results of the survey were contrary that stated that Long Term Investment had a positive correlation with the size and also that the Long term investment value had a positive correlation with the Price/Book stocks. According to Shefrin and statman, prominent investors overestimate the probability that a good company is a good stock, relying on the representative heuristics, concluding that superior companies make superior stocks. Aversion to Regret: aversion to regret is different from aversion to risk, Regret is acute when the individual must take responsibility for the final outcome. Aversion to regret leads to a preference for stocks of good companies. The choice of the stocks of bad companies involves more personal responsibility and higher probability of regret. Therefore, we find there are two major Cognitive errors: â€Å"We have a double cognitive error: a Good company make good stocks (representativeness), and involves less responsibility(Less aversion to regret† (Crowell, 1994,p.3) The Anti Cognitive bias actions would be admitting to your owned stocks, admitting earlier investment mistakes. Further Taking the responsibility for the actions to improve their performance in the future. The reasons for all the available disciplines, tools, and quantitative techniques is to deal with the Cognitive bias error, where the quantitative investment techniques enables the investment managers to overcome cognitive bias, follow sound investment, and eventually be successful contrarian investor(one who rejects the majority opinion, as in economic matters). Behavioral finance also is very helpful in understanding justifying government involvement in the investing decisions of individuals. The failure of millions of people to save properly for their future is also a core problem of behavioral finance. With the help of two very important examples Shiller explains how Government involvement can influence financial investments of individuals. In April 2005 â€Å"Tony Blair† stated a program when all new born babies were given a birthday present of 250 to 500. The present were to choose among a number of investment alternatives to invest until child comes of age. This is an effect done in order to make the parents feel connected with investments and modern economy. Another example: as it is said that people should be heavily active in stock market when they are young and so generally should reduce the activity with age. According to the conventional rule people should have 100 Age = % age of investment In 2005 president bush also portfolio announced one such plan for personal account â€Å"life cycle fund† which would be among the option that works will be offered to invest their personal account. It was A centerpiece of the presidents proposal bur a major point to be noticed was the default option. An important aspect of behavioral finance is the human attention is capricious focuses heavily tat same times on financial calculations and are subject to distraction and dissipation of default option is central. All this brings us a question that what should an intertemporal optimizer do to manage his portfolio over the lifetime. According to Samuelson someone who wished to maximize the expected value of his intertemporal utility function by managing the allocation of the portfolio between a high yielding asset and less yielding asset would not actually change the allocation through time. Neoclassic finance appears highly relevant to such a discussion in that it offers the appropriate theoretical framework for considering what people ought to do with the portfolio if not what they actually do. Behavioral is beginning to play an important role in public policy such as in social security reforms. Agents Rationality: Global culture Culture Social Contagion: The selective attention exhibited by a human mind is the concept of culture. Every nation, tribe or asocial group has a social cognition reinforced by conversation ritual and symbols, rituals and supposition of a particular nation has a subtle but far reliability affect on human behavior. Some researchers found that the unique customs of people actually arise as a logical consequence of a belief system of a nation group of people. Cultural factor were found to have great influence on rational or irrational behavior. We find many factors that are same across countries , e.g fashion, music, movies, youthful rebellious, other than these we find more factors in producing internationally- similar human behaviors then just rational reactions. Therefore it is a difficult job to decide in what avenues global culture exerts Efficient Markets Hypothesis (EMH) Efficient Markets Hypothesis (EMH) INTRODUCTION: Much of modern investment theory and practice is predicated on the Efficient Markets Hypothesis (EMH), the assumption that markets fully and instantaneously integrate all available information into market prices. Underlying this comprehensive idea is the assumption that the market participants are perfectly rational, and always act in self-interest, making optimal decisions. These assumptions have been challenged. It is difficult to tip over the Neo classical convention that has yielded such insights as portfolio optimization, the â€Å"Capital Asset Pricing Model†, the â€Å"Arbitrage Pricing Theory†, the â€Å"Cox Ingersoll-Ross theory† of the term structure of interest rates, and the â€Å"Black-S[choles/Merton option pricing model†, all of which are predicated on the EMH (Efficient Market Hypothesis) in one way or another. At few points the EMH criticizes the existing literature of behavioral finance, which shows the difference of opinion on psychology economics. The field of psychology has its roots in empirical observation, controlled experimentation, and clinical applications. According to psychology, behavior is the main entity of study, and only after controlled experimental dimensions do psychologists attempt to make inferences about the origins of such behavior. On the contrary, economists typically derive behavior axiomatically from simple principles such as expected utility maximization, making it easier for us to predict economic behavior that are routinely refuted empirically The biggest threats to Modern Portfolio theory is the theory of Behavioral Finance. It is an analysis of why investors make irrational decisions with respect to their money, normal distribution of expected returns generally appears to be invalid and also that the investors support upside risks rather than downside risks. The theory of Behavioral finance is opposite to the traditional theory of Finance which deals with human emotions, sentiments, conditions, biases on collective as well as individual basis. Behavior finance theory is helpful in explaining the past practices of investors and also to determine the future of investors. Behavioral finance is a concept of finance which deals with finances incorporating findings from psychology sociology. It is reviewed that behavioral finance is generally based on individual behavior or on the implication for financial market outcomes. There are many models explaining behavioral finance that explains investors behavior or market irregularities where the rational models fail to provide adequate information. We do not expect such a research to provide a method to make lots of money from the inefficient financial market very fast. Behavioral finance has basically emerged from the theories of psychology, sociology and anthropology the implications of these theories appear to be significant for the efficient market hypothesis, that is based on the positive notion that people behave rationally, maximize their utility and are able to prices observation, a number of anomalies (irregularities) have appeared, which in turn suggest that in the efficient market the principle of rational behavior is not always correct. So, the idea of analyzing other model of human behavior has came up. Further (Gervais, 2001) explained the concept where he says that People like to relate to the stock market as a person having different moods, it can be bad-tempered or high-spirited, it can overreact one day and make amends the next. As we know that human behavior is unpredictable and it behaves differently in different situations. Lately many researchers have suggested the idea that psychological analysis of investors may be very helpful in understanding the financial markets better. To do so it is important to understand the behavioral finance presenting the concept that Investors are not as rational as traditional theory has assumed, and biases in their decision-making can have a cumulative effect on asset prices. To many researchers behavioral finance is a revolution, transforming how people see the markets and what influences prices. The paradigm is shifting. People are continuing to walk across the border from the traditional to the behavioral camp†. (Gervais, 2001, P.2) . On the contrary some people believe that may be its too early call it a revolution. Eugene Fama( Gervais, 2001) argued that Behavioral finance has not really shown impacts on the world prices, and the models contradict each other on different point of times. He gave little credit to behaviorist explanations of trends and anomalies(any occurrence or object that is strange, unusual, or unique) arguing that data-mining techniques make it possible to locate patterns. Other researchers have also criticized the idea that the behavioral finance models tend to replace the traditional models of market functions. The weaknesses in this area, explained by him (Gervais, 2001) are that generally the market behavior displayed is attributed to overreaction and sometimes to under reaction. Where People take the behavior that seems to be easy for the particular study regardless of the fact that whether these biases are the result of underlying economic forces or not. Secondly, Lack of trained and expert people. The field does not have enough trained professionals both academic psychology and traditional finance and so the models that are being put up together are improvised. David Hirshleifer (Gervais, 2001) focuses on the individual behavior influencing asset prices, suggesting that behavioral finance is in its developmental stage and not yet a mature one, theres a lot of disagreement but productive one. Hirshleifer agrees that applying behavioral-finance concepts to corporate finance can pay off. If managers are imperfectly rational, he says, perhaps they are not evaluating investments correctly. They may make bad choices in their capital-structure decisions. Few people realistically think behavioral finance will displace efficient-markets theory. On the other hand, the idea that investors and managers are not uniformly rational makes insightful sense to many people. Traditional Finance Empirical Evidence: â€Å"Traditional theory assumes that agents are rational the law of one price holds† that is a perfect scenario. Where the law of â€Å"One price† states that securities with the same pay off have same price, but in real world this law is violated when people purchase securities in one market for immediate resale in another, in search of higher profits because of price differentials known as â€Å"Arbitrageurs†. And the agents rationality explains the behavior of investor â€Å"Professional Individual† which is generally inconsistent with the rationality or the future predictions. If a market achieves a perfect scenario where agents are rational law of one price holds then the market is efficient. With the availability of amount of information, the form of market changes. It is unlikely that market prices contain all private information. The presence of â€Å"noise traders† (traders, trading randomly not based on information). Researches show that stock returns are typically unpredictable based on past returns where as future returns are predictable to some extent. Few examples from the past literature explains the problem of irrationality which occurs because of naà ¯ve diversification, behavior influenced by framing, the tendency of investors of committing systematic errors while evaluating public information.(Glaser et al, 2003) Recent studies suggest that peoples` attitude towards the riskiness of a stock in future the individual interpretation may explain the higher level trading volume, which itself is a vast topic for insight. A problem of perception exist in the investors that Stocks have a higher risk adjusted returns than bonds. Another issue with the investors is that these investors either care about the whole stock portfolio or just about the value of each single security in their portfolio and thus ignore the correlations. The concept of ownership society has been promoted in the recent years where people can take better care of their own lives and be better citizen too if they are both owner of financial assets and homeowners. As a researcher suggested that in order to improve the lives of less advantaged in our society is to teach them how to be capitalist, In order to put the ownership society in its right perspective, behavioral finance is needed to be understood. The ownership society seems very attractive when people appear to make profits from their investments. Behavioral finance also is very helpful in understanding justifying government involvement in the investing decisions of individuals. The failure of millions of people to save properly for their future is also a core problem of behavioral finance. (Shiller, 2006) According to (Glaser et al, 2003) there are two approaches towards Behavioral Finance, where both tend to have same goals. The goals tend to explain observed prices, Market trading Volume Last but not the least is the individual behavior better than traditional finance models. Belief Based Model: Psychology (Individual Behavior) Incorporates into Model Market prices Transaction Volume. It includes findings such as Overconfidence, Biased Self- Attrition, and Conservatism Representativeness. Preference Based Model: Rational Friction or from psychology Find explanations, Market detects irregularities individual behavior. It incorporates Prospect Theory, House money effect other forms of mental accounting. Behavioral Finance and Rational debate: The article by (Heaton and Rosenberg,2004) highlights the debate between the rational and behavioral model over testability and predictive success. And we find that neither of them actually offers either of these measures of success. The rational approach uses a particular type of rationalization methodology; which goes on to form the basis of behavior finance predictions. A closer look into the rational finance model goes on to show that it employs ex post rationalizations of observed price behaviours. This allows them greater flexibility when offering explanations for economic anomalies. On the other hand the behavior paradigm criticizes rationalizations as having no concrete role in predicting prices accurately, that utility functions, information sets and transaction costs cannot be ‘rationalized. Ironically they also reject the rational finances explanatory power which plays an essential role in the limits of arbitrage, which actually makes behavioral finance possible. Milton Friedmans theory lays the basis of positive economics. His methodology focuses on how to make a particular prediction; it is irrelevant whether a particular assumption is rational or irrational. According to this methodology, the rational finance model relies on a limited â€Å"assumption space since all assumptions that are supposedly not rational have been eliminated. This is one of the major reasons behind the little success in rational finance predictions. Despite the minimal results, adherents of this model have criticized the behavioral model as lacking quantifiable predictions that are based on mathematical models. Rational finance has targeted a more important aspect in the structure of the economy, i.e. investor uncertainty, which further cause financial anomalies. In explaining these assertions, the behavioural emphasises the importance of taking limits in arbitrage. Friedmans methodological approach falls into the category ‘instrumentalism, which basically states that theories are tools for predictions and used to draw inferences. Whether an assumption is realistic or rational is of no value to an instrumentalist. By narrowing what may or may not be possible, one will inevitably eliminate certain strategies or behaviors which might in fact go on to maximize utility or profits based on their uniqueness. An assumption could be irrational even in the long run, but it is continuously revised and refined to make it into something useful. In opposition to this, many individuals have gone on to say that behaviouralists are not bound by any constraints thus making their explanations systematically irrational. Rubinstein (2001) described how when everyone fails to explain a particular anomaly, suddenly a behavioral aspect to it will come up, because that can be based on completely abstract irrational assumptions. To support rationality, Rubinstein came up with two arguments. Firstly he went on to say that an irrational strategy that is profitable, will only attract copy cat firms or traders into the market. This is supported when a closer look is given towards limits to arbitrage. Secondly through the process of evolution, irrational decisions will eventually be eliminated in the long run. The major achievements characterized of the rational finance paradigm consist of the following: the principle of no arbitrage; market efficiency, the net present value decision rule, derivatives valuation techniques; Markowitzs (1952) mean-variance framework; event studies; multifactor models such as the APT, ICAPM, and the Consumption- CAPM. Despite the number of top achievements that supporters of the rational model claim, the paradigm fails to answer some of the most basic financial economic questions such as ‘What is the cost of capital for this firm? or ‘What is its optimal capital structure?; simply because of their self imposed constraints. So far this makes it seem like rational finance and behavioral finance are mutually exclusive. Contrary to this, they are actually interdependent, and overlap in several areas. Take for instance the concept of mispricing when there is no arbitrage. Behavior finance on the other hand suggests that this may not be the case; irrational assumptions in the market will still lead to mispricing. Further even though certain arbitrageurs may be able to identify irrationality induced mispricing, because of the imperfect market information, they are unable to convince investors of its existence. Over here, the rational model is accepting the existence of anomalies which are affected both through the factors of risk and chance; therefore coinciding with the perspective of behavioral finance. Two instances are clear examples of how rationalization is an important limit of arbitrage: i) the build-up and blow-up of the internet bubble; and ii) the superiority of value equity strategies. If we focus on the latter, we are able to see behavioral finance literature that highlights the superiority of such strategies in the ability of analysts to extrapolate results for investors. This is possible when rationalization is taken as a limit to arbitrage. Similarly these strategies may also limit arbitrage against mispricing, through the great risk associated with stocks. In explaining most anomalies it is essential that analysts first conclude whether pricing is rational or not. To prove their hypothesis that irrationality-induced mispricing exists, behaviouralists may find it easier if they accepted the role of rationalization in limits of arbitrage. Slow information diffusion and short-sales constraints are other factors that explain mispricing. However these factors alone cannot form the basis of a strong and concrete explanation that will clarify pricing across firms and also across time. Those supporting the rational paradigm attack behavioral finance adherents in that their predictions for the financial market have been made on irrational assumptions; that are not supported by concrete mathematical or scientific models. In their view the lack of concrete discipline in the methodology adopted in behavior finance leads to the lack of testing in their forecasts. On the other hand the rational model is criticized for its lack of success in financial predictions. The behaviouralists claim that this limitation exists because the supporters of rational finance dismiss aspects of the economic market simply because it may not fall into explainable rational behavior. Both perspectives claim to align themselves with respect to the goals of ‘testability and ‘predictions, while at the same time continue to offer evidence against the other model. In reality however, rather than being exclusively mutual both paradigms assist one another in making their predictions. BODY: A cognitive bias is a persons tendency to make errors, based on cognitive factors. Forms of cognitive bias include errors in statistical judgment, social attribution, and memory that are common to all human beings. (Crowell, 1994, p. 1) â€Å"Cognitive bias is the tendency of intelligent, well-informed people to consistently do the wrong thing†. The reason behind this cognitive bias is that the Human brain is made for interpersonal relationships and not for processing statistics. The paper discusses facility of forecasts. Generally it is said that the world is divided into two groups. One who forecasts positively and one negatively. These forecasts exaggerate the reliability of their forecasts and trace it to the â€Å"illusion of validity† which exists even when the illusionary character is recognized. (Fisher and Statman, 2000) discussed five cognitive bias, underlying the illusion of validity that are Overconfidence, Confirmation, Representativeness, Anchoring, and Hindsight (Shiller, 2002) discusses, that irrational behavior may disappear with more learning and a much more structured situation. As the past research proves it that may of cognitive biases in human judgment value uncertainty will change, they may be convinced if given proper instructions, on the part-experience of irrational behavior. There are three main themes in behavioral finance and economics Heuristics: People often make decisions based on approximate rules of thumb, not strictly rational analysis. See also cognitive biases and bounded rationality. Prospect theory Loss aversion Status quo bias Gamblers fallacy Self-serving bias Money illusion Framing: The way a problem or decision is presented to the decision maker will affect their action. Cognitive framing Mental accounting Anchoring Market inefficiencies: There are explanations for observed market outcomes that are contrary to rational expectations and market efficiency. These include mis-pricings, non-rational decision making, and return anomalies. Richard Thaler, in particular, has described specific market anomalies from a behavioral perspective. Anomalies (economic behavior) Disposition effect Endowment effect Inequity aversion Intertemporal consumption Present-biased preferences Momentum investing Greed and fear Herd behavior Anomalies (market prices and returns) Equity premium puzzle Efficiency wage hypothesis Limits to arbitrage Dividend puzzle Models in behavioral economics are typically addressed to a particular observed market anomaly and adjust standard neo-classical models by describing decision makers as using heuristics and being affected by framing effects. In general, economics sits within the neoclassical framework, though the standard assumption of rational behavior is often challenged. Loix et. Al in their paper â€Å"Orientation towards Finances† explains the individual financial management behavior, people dealing with their financial means. They have analyzed the Non-specific Financial behavior as already we see extensive research on the specific finance behavior such as saving, Taxation, Gambling, amassing debt. But they had given a lot of importance to stock market, investors and households. The analysis of general public`s behavior was done, where an ordinary man is not sure and simply act according to the guesses over their money related issues. It was also found that people interested in economic and financial matters are much more active in collecting specific information than general public, stating that financial behavior of household is an important relevant topic that needs to be discussed in much more details. Household financial management is similar to the financial management. The construct of orientation towards finances was developed where the individual ORTO FIN focuses on competencies (interest and skills). Having stronger money attitude is an indication of stronger orientation towards finances and much more effective competencies. Therefore we expect some relevance and similarity between corporate and household management behavior as both require organizing, forecasting, planning and control. (Loix et. al, 2005) analyzed general publics behavior in basically dividing them into two groups, Financial Information Personal financial planning. Also explaining some practical and theoretical gaps in the area of psychology of money usage, they concluded that ORTOFIN (Orientation towards finance) indicates the involvement of individuals in managing their finances. Proving out the point that active interest in financial information and an urge to plan expenses are two main factors. A stronger ORTFIN indicates: Greater use of debit accounts, Higher savings account, Wide variety of investments, Greater awareness of ones financial Intimate knowledge of the details of Ones savings/deposit accounts obsessed by money, Higher achievement and power in monetary terms, Further age is also inversely proportional. Shiller in 2006, in his article talked about the the co-evolution of neo-classical and behavior finance. In 1937 when A. Samuelsson one of the great economists wrote about people maximizing the present value of utility subject to a present vale budget constraint. Another judgment he realized was time being consistent human behavior where if at any time t 0 Where people reconsidered the problem of maximization from that date forward, they would not change their decision where as in real life it is totally opposite for example people sometimes try to control themselves by binding their future decision as from history we find out that that some of man make irrevocable trust in the taking out of life insurance as a compulsory savings measure. (shiller, 2006, p.) Considering personal saving rate, saving and down for no reason has emerged as a weakness of human self control. People seem to be vulnerable to complacency from time to time about providing for their own future. The distinction between neoclassical and behavioral finance have therefore been exaggerated. Both of them are not completely different from each other. Behavioral finance is more elastic willing to learn from other sciences and less concerned about the elegance of models whereby explaining human behavior Investing and cognitive bias: Money Managers Money management is a very popular phenomenon. The performance in the stock market is measured at the daily basis and not to wait for a highly subjective annual review of ones performance by ones superior. Market grades you on a daily basis. The smarter one is, the more confident one becomes of ones ability to succeed, clients support them by trusting them that eventually helps their careers. But the truth is that few money managers put in sufficient amount of time and effort to figure out what works and develop a set of investment principles to guide their investment decisions (Browne, 2000). Further Browne discussed the importance of asset allocation and risk aversion, in order to understand why we do what we do regardless of whether it is rational or not. General public opts for money Managers to deal with their finances and these managers are categorized in three ways: Value Managers, Growth Managers and Market Neutral Managers. The vast majority of money managers are categorized as either value managers or growth managers although a third category, market neutral managers, is gaining popularity these days and may soon rival the so-called strategies of value and growth. Some investment management firms even are being cautious by offering all styles of investments. What too few money managers do is analyze the fundamental financial characteristics of portfolios that produce long-term market beating results, and develop a set of investment principles that are based on those findings. Difference of opinion on the definition of Value is the problem.The reasons for this are two-fold, one being the practical reality of managing large sums of money, and the other related to behavior. As the assets under management of an advisor grow, the universe of potential stocks shrinks Analyzing that why individual and professional investors do not change their behavior even when they face empirical evidence, that suggests that their decisions are less than optimal. An answer to this question is said to be that being a contrarian may simply be too risky for the average individual or professional. If a person is wrong on the collective basis, where everyone else also had made a mistake, the consequences professionally and for ones own self-esteem are far less than if a person is wrong alone. The herd instinct allows for the comfort of safety in numbers. The other reason is that individuals try to behave the same way and do not tend to change courses of action if they are happy. If the results are not too painful individuals can be happy with sub-optimal results. Moreover, individuals who tend to be unhappy make changes often and eventually end up being just as unhappy in their new circumstances. According to the traditional view of Investment management, fundamental forces drive markets, however many other investment firms considers to be active and working out based on their experienced Judgment. It is also believed that Judgmental overrides of Value Fundamental forces of markets can be lethal as well as a cause of Financial Disappointment. From the history it has been found that people Override at the wrong times and in most cases would be better off sticking to their investment disciplines (Crowell, 1994) and the reason to this behavior is the Cognitive bias. According to many researchers, stocks of small companies with low price/book ratios provide excess returns. Therefore, given a choice among small cheap stocks large high priced stocks, prominent investors (financial analysts, senior company executives and company directors) will certainly prefer the small cheap ones. But the fact is opposite to this situation where these prominent investors would opt for large high priced ones and so suffer from cognitive bias and further regret. According to a survey in 1992/1993, a research was carried out that included senior executives directors where they were suppose to rate companies in their industries on eight factors: Quality of management, Quality of products services, Innovativeness, Long term investment value, Financial soundness, Ability to attract, develop and keep talented people, Responsibility to the community and environment, Wise use of corporate assets. The assumptions that we made were that that â€Å"Long term investment value should be negatively correlated with size since small stocks provide superior returns. Long term Investment value should have a negative correlation with Price/book since low Price/Book stocks provide superior returns†.(Crowell, 1994). Whereas the results of the survey were contrary that stated that Long Term Investment had a positive correlation with the size and also that the Long term investment value had a positive correlation with the Price/Book stocks. According to Shefrin and statman, prominent investors overestimate the probability that a good company is a good stock, relying on the representative heuristics, concluding that superior companies make superior stocks. Aversion to Regret: aversion to regret is different from aversion to risk, Regret is acute when the individual must take responsibility for the final outcome. Aversion to regret leads to a preference for stocks of good companies. The choice of the stocks of bad companies involves more personal responsibility and higher probability of regret. Therefore, we find there are two major Cognitive errors: â€Å"We have a double cognitive error: a Good company make good stocks (representativeness), and involves less responsibility(Less aversion to regret† (Crowell, 1994,p.3) The Anti Cognitive bias actions would be admitting to your owned stocks, admitting earlier investment mistakes. Further Taking the responsibility for the actions to improve their performance in the future. The reasons for all the available disciplines, tools, and quantitative techniques is to deal with the Cognitive bias error, where the quantitative investment techniques enables the investment managers to overcome cognitive bias, follow sound investment, and eventually be successful contrarian investor(one who rejects the majority opinion, as in economic matters). Behavioral finance also is very helpful in understanding justifying government involvement in the investing decisions of individuals. The failure of millions of people to save properly for their future is also a core problem of behavioral finance. With the help of two very important examples Shiller explains how Government involvement can influence financial investments of individuals. In April 2005 â€Å"Tony Blair† stated a program when all new born babies were given a birthday present of 250 to 500. The present were to choose among a number of investment alternatives to invest until child comes of age. This is an effect done in order to make the parents feel connected with investments and modern economy. Another example: as it is said that people should be heavily active in stock market when they are young and so generally should reduce the activity with age. According to the conventional rule people should have 100 Age = % age of investment In 2005 president bush also portfolio announced one such plan for personal account â€Å"life cycle fund† which would be among the option that works will be offered to invest their personal account. It was A centerpiece of the presidents proposal bur a major point to be noticed was the default option. An important aspect of behavioral finance is the human attention is capricious focuses heavily tat same times on financial calculations and are subject to distraction and dissipation of default option is central. All this brings us a question that what should an intertemporal optimizer do to manage his portfolio over the lifetime. According to Samuelson someone who wished to maximize the expected value of his intertemporal utility function by managing the allocation of the portfolio between a high yielding asset and less yielding asset would not actually change the allocation through time. Neoclassic finance appears highly relevant to such a discussion in that it offers the appropriate theoretical framework for considering what people ought to do with the portfolio if not what they actually do. Behavioral is beginning to play an important role in public policy such as in social security reforms. Agents Rationality: Global culture Culture Social Contagion: The selective attention exhibited by a human mind is the concept of culture. Every nation, tribe or asocial group has a social cognition reinforced by conversation ritual and symbols, rituals and supposition of a particular nation has a subtle but far reliability affect on human behavior. Some researchers found that the unique customs of people actually arise as a logical consequence of a belief system of a nation group of people. Cultural factor were found to have great influence on rational or irrational behavior. We find many factors that are same across countries , e.g fashion, music, movies, youthful rebellious, other than these we find more factors in producing internationally- similar human behaviors then just rational reactions. Therefore it is a difficult job to decide in what avenues global culture exerts