An essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

An - Essay Example Deducting from it through inferences is still incomplete as it needs passion and imagination to see the world fully or infinitely as Blake would put it. â€Å"Closing himself up† meant omitting one of the criteria of his fourfold vision that would only let him see a â€Å"narrow chinks of his cavern† or limited vision. The fourfold vision of Blake is not only useful in understanding our universe but also helps in evaluating any supposition presented to us thereby giving us a full and complete account of our experience as we relate with the world around us. . It works by seeing the world through the four criteria of vision which are evidence, passion, logic and imagination to fully appreciate it. Cleansing the doors of perception works by enabling the person to appreciate the world fully by using evidence, feeling, reason and imagination that it ceases to merely seeing it but rather more on experiencing it. It recognizes that by merely using any one or two of Blake’s fourfold vision would mean incomplete. It is effective because it takes the most of all the faculties of man in appreciating the universe around him. Thus he does not only seek material validity for existence or any supposition, but seeks to appreciate it with the use of emotion which could also mean adding a sense of care to things that we materially seek evidence. Then it is evaluated logically and let man to be infinite through his imagination. It applies to everyday life in many ways. First, by providing questions about our existence not to rely merely on material evidence but also on our other faculties to have a complete grasp of our universe. Second, cleansing the doors of perception enables us to appreciate our existence, that we ought to validate it and be grateful for the mere fact that we had the privilege of existence. This through the first criteria of the four visions which is to seek material evidence. This

Research (continue) Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Research (continue) - Essay Example The district functions through its department, English Language Learner Programme (ELLP), which offers a range of initiatives for culturally and linguistically students. The department is in charge of English Language Learner (ELL) student placement, student monitoring and access to supplementary materials. ELLP aims at helping the students blend into the system and ensure that their academic progress is at par with other students. It also strives at improving on community, family and school support to enhance their progress. The department trains ELL specialists to use the High Quality Sheltered Instruction (HQSI) model with ELL students. HQSI is a programme, which focuses on building foundation of teaching skills and vocabulary skills. It covers various aspects such as strategies, instruction, lesson delivery, building background, interaction, comprehensible input, application and review. The initiative helps in making language connections between the student and the curriculum. Once the students show an improvement in language, it eventually improves their performance. The district also has Inclusive Schools Practices (ISP), which is designed to bridge the gap between the achievement levels of students by providing access to students with disabilities. This is done by providing a least restricted and a culturally responsive environment to students. It also aims a multicultural form of instruction to create awareness about diverse cultures and make CLD feel at home in classroom. Under this programme, the focus is on instructional strategies, curriculum modification, collaborative practices, cultural diversity and building leadership processes. The district also appoints psychological services assistants, recruited on the basis of a bilingual proficiency test, to help them understand ELL students and assess their requirements. The district also offers special education services for students with disabilities between ages 3 to 21. Working in

Impact of Firm Level Characteristics

Impact of Firm Level Characteristics Abstract Organizational performance has attracted scholarly attention in corporate finance literature over the several decades. However, in the context of insurance sector, it has received a little attention. Current study examines the impact of firm level characteristics (size, leverage, tangibility, risk, growth, liquidity and age) on performance of listed life insurance companies of Pakistan over seven years from 2001 to 2007. The results of Ordinary Least Square (OLS) regression analysis indicate that size, risk and leverage are important determinants of performance of life insurance companies of Pakistan while ROA has statistically insignificant relationship with growth, profitability, age and liquidity. Keywords: performance, firm level characteristics, life insurance companies. Introduction The performance of any firm not only plays the role to increase the market value of that specific firm but also leads towards the growth of the whole industry which ultimately leads towards the overall prosperity of the economy. Measuring the performance of insurers has gained the importance in the corporate finance literature because as intermediaries , these companies are not only providing the mechanism of risk transfer but also helps to channelizing the funds in an appropriate way to support the business activities in the economy . Insurance companies have importance both for businesses and individuals as they indemnify the losses and put them in the same positions as they were before the occurrence of the loss. In addition, insurers provide economic and social benefits in the society i.e. prevention of losses, reduction in anxiousness, fear and increasing employment. Therefore, the current business world without insurance companies is unsustainable because risky businesses have not a capacity to retain all types of risk in current extremely uncertain environment. For the past six decades, Pakistani life insurance companies have shown the impressive progress which not only creates the employment opportunities but also enhances the business activities in the economy. Financial statistics reported the phenomenal growth of Pakistani life insurance companies as these companies comprise 52% and 69% share of entire (life plus non-life) insurance market in terms of net premiums and assets (Insurance Year Book, 2007). In addition, the premium of these life insurers increased by 36% in 2007 (Insurance Year Book, 2007) shows the remarkable progress of life insurance sector of Pakistan. Therefore, what determines the performance of the life insurance industry is an important discussion for the regulators and policy makers to support the sector in achieving the excellence so that desirable economic fruits could be reaped from the help of the life insurance sector of Pakistan. Literature Review The Determinants of performance have been extensively studied in corporate finance literature from the last several decades. For instance; by selecting the sample of US banks, Berger (1995) investigated the impact of capital asset ratio on return on equity. He concluded that capital asset ratio has a positive relationship with profitability. Anghazo (1997) examined the impact of firm level characteristics on US bank net interest margin. The results documented that bank interest margin positively related with leverage, opportunity cost, and default risk and management efficiency. Neeley and Wheelock (1997) explored the determinants of profitability of commercial banks and find that profitability positively related with changes in per capita income. To investigate the performance of banks (Naceur Goaied, 2001)used the sample of Tunisian banks over the period of 1980 to 1995. They advocated that the banks who tried to maintain their high deposits and improve their capital and labor productivity are performed well. Guru et al. (2002) examined the determinants of performance of Malaysian banks over the 10 years period from 1986 to 1995. For this purpose, they selected both micro and macro level characteristics. The results revealed that inflation positively while efficient expense management and high interest rate negatively related with profitability. The results of Goddard et al. (2004) showed that Profit is an important prerequisite for future growth of banks and the banks that maintain a high capital assets ratio tend to grow slowly. A study conducted by the (Sufian Parman, 2009)to investigate the determinants of profitability by selecting the non-commercial banks financial institutions. The findings indicated that credit risk and loan intensity negatively related with profitability while large size and financial institutions with high operational expenses tended to high profitability ratio. (Hakim Neaime, 2005) Observed that liquidity, current capital and investment are the important determinants of banks profitability. (Aburime, 2006) Identified the firm level determinants of profitability of Nigerian banks over the five years period from 2000 to 2004. He concluded that credit portfolio, size, capital size and ownership concentration are important determinants of Nigerian banks. (Kosmidou, 2008) showed that money supply growth has insignificant impact on profitability while GDP and stock market capitalization to assets are significant and have negative relation with the ROA. (Asimakopoulos, Samitas, Papadogo nas, 2009) illustrated that Firms profitability is positively affected by size, sales growth and investment. On the other hand, leverage and current assets negatively related with profitability. Severeral studies also have been conducted to measure the performance of the insurance compnies. For instance; Sloan, A and Conover, J.(1998) deduced that functional status of insurers do not affect the profitability of being insured but public coverage have significant impact on profitability of insurance companies. Chen and Wong ( 2004) examined that size, investment, liquidity are the important determinants of financial health of insurance companies. Chen et al.( 2009) examined the determinants of profitability and the results showed that profitability of insurance companies decreased with the increase in equity ratio. In addition, insurance companies must have to diversify their investment and use effective hedging techniques which help them to create better financial revenues. Research Methodology Sample and Data Currently, there are five life insurance companies operating in Pakistan and all these five companies are selected to measuring their performance over the period of seven years from 2001 to 2007. For this purpose, financial data has been collected from financial statements (Balance Sheets and Profit and Loss a/c) of insurance companies and à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“Insurance Year Bookà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬? which is published by Insurance Association of Pakistan. Model PR = ÃŽÂ ²0 + ÃŽÂ ²1 (LG) + ÃŽÂ ²2 (TA) + ÃŽÂ ²3 (SZ) + ÃŽÂ ²4 (LQ) + ÃŽÂ ²5 (AG) + ÃŽÂ ²6 (RK) + ÃŽÂ ²7 (GR) + ÃŽÂ µ Where: PR = Performance (Net income before interest and tax divided by total assets) LG = Leverage (Total debts divided by total assets) TA = Tangibility (Fixed assets divided by total assets) SZ = Size (Log of premiums) LQ = Liquidity (Current assets divided by current liabilities) AG = Age (Difference b/w observation year and establishment year) RK = Risk (standard deviation of ratio of total claims to total premiums) GR = Growth (Percentage change in premiums) ÃŽÂ µ = the error term Descriptive Statistics Table 4.1 presents descriptive analysis of the firm level characteristic associated with life insurance sector. This study considers performance as dependent variable whereas leverage, size, growth, tangibility, liquidity, age and risk as independent variables. The industry average is provided by mean along with are the minima and maxima for respective year while standard deviation indicates the inter-industry variation of the variables value within the respective year. Table 4.1 indicates that the minimum value of industry mean of leverage is 0.79 in 2004 and 2007 while the mean value is at its maximum level in 2006 at 0.84.The maximum variation in leverage is observed in 2007 valuing at 0.30 and minimum is found in 2003 at 0.19. The variable size constantly shows the increasing trend from year 2001 to 2007. The mean value of size is at maximum level in 2007 i.e. 7.51 whereas minimum mean value for size is observed at 6.02 in 2001. In addition, the inter industry variation is minimum in 2001 at 2.12. Table 4.1 also shows that growth of Pakistani life insurance companies is not consistent in all seven years and mean value of growth is reached 34.84 in 2007 from 11.53 which is observed in 2001. The mean value of performance (dependent variable) is maximum in 2007 valuing at 0.07 and the minimum value is observed in 2001, 2002, 2003 and 2005 at 0.02. The standard deviation is also not very high i.e. around 0.02 as compare to other variables except in the year 2007 in which it touches it maximum of 0.07. Table 4.2 also provides descriptive results of tangibility, liquidity, age and risk for the period of seven years from 2001 to 2007 for the life insurance sector of Pakistan. The mean values and standard deviations of tangibility is around 0.03 and 0.02 respectively in all seven years from 2001 to 2007.The mean values of liquidity are indicating an increasing trend from the minimum of 1.70 in 2001 to the maximum value at 6.36 in 2007. The standard deviation is also establishing an increasing trend from a minimum value of 0.76 in 2001 to a maximum value of 8.63 in 2007.The mean value of risk is at its lowest level in 2003 at 0.58 with a minimum standard deviation of 0.45 while these values have reached their maximum level in 2007 i.e. 6.35 and 6.51 respectively. Analysis Table 4.2 reports the results of regression analysis in which seven independent variables are regressed by using the data of life insurance sector of Pakistan from 2001 to 2007. The value of R square (0.816) indicates that performance of life insurance companies is nearly 82% dependent on independent variables i.e. size, leverage, growth, tangibility, age, risk and liquidity. Therefore, performance is mainly defined by these seven variables of life insurers in Pakistan over seven years. Table 4.2 indicates that leverage is negatively and significantly related with the performance of the life insurance companies. This predicts that the performance of highly levered Pakistani life insurance companies is not up to the mark. Table 4.2 also shows that coefficient of variable size is positive and statistically significant at 1% level. This predicts that performance of large size life insurance companies is better than small size companies. The negative coefficient of growth indicates a negative relationship between growth and performance. However, this negative relationship is found to be statistically insignificant with the p-value of 0.809. Therefore, growth is not considered as a proper explanatory variable of performance in life insurance sector. The beta values of explanatory variables tangibility and liquidity are 0.507 and 0.001 respectively with the positive coefficient sign. However, tangibility and liquidity are not statistically significant with the large p-values. Therefore, tangibility and liquidity are not Model Unstandardized Coefficients Standardized Coefficients t Sig. B Std. Error Beta (Constant) .010 .051 .204 .841 Leverage -.265 .090 -1.579 -2.940 .008* Size .038 .009 1.722 4.120 .001* Growth -4.69 .000 -.032 -.245 .809 Tangibility .507 .367 .183 1.382 .183 Liquidity .001 .003 .058 .205 .840 Age -.003 .003 -.235 -1.169 .257 Risk .004 .002 .374 1.903 .072** considered a powerful explanatory variable to define the performance of life insurance companies in Pakistan over seven years. Negative coefficient of variable age specifies the Table: 4.2 Regression Coefficients Their Significance level R Square 0.816 Adjusted R Square 0.749 F statistics 12.062 * Significant at 1% level **Significant at 10% level ______________________________________ negative relationship between performance and age of the Pakistani life insurance companies. However, the relationship between performance and age is statistically insignificant. Table 4.2 indicates that the coefficient of variable risk is positive and statistically significant at 10% level. According to the nature of insurance industry, ratio of total claims to total premiums (loss ratio) is used as a proxy to measure the risk of the life insurance companies in Pakistan. Positive sign shows a positive relationship between performance and risk of the insurance companies i.e. performance increases with the increase of loss ratio. Conclusion The current study investigates the impact of firm level characteristics on performance of the life insurance sector of Pakistan over the period of seven years from 2001 to 2007. For this purpose, size, profitability, age, risk, growth and tangibility are selected as explanatory variables while ROA is taken as dependent variable. The results of OLS regression analysis reveal that leverage, size and risk are most important determinant of performance of life insurance sector whereas ROA has statistically insignificant relationship with profitability, growth, tangibility and liquidity. TABLE 4.1: Descriptive Statistics Years Leverage Size Growth Performance Mean SD Min Max Mean SD Min Max Mean SD Min Max Mean SD Min Max 2001 0.80 0.21 0.45 0.99 6.02 2.12 3.06 8.93 11.53 11.90 3.22 32.39 0.02 0.01 0.00 0.03 2002 0.81 0.20 0.47 0.99 6.21 2.11 3.29 9.07 22.21 23.52 3.68 60.99 0.02 0.01 0.00 0.03 2003 0.82 0.19 0.51 0.99 6.50 2.08 3.57 9.20 37.18 32.62 8.30 90.71 0.02 0.01 0.00 0.03 2004 0.79 0.24 0.38 0.99 6.68 2.09 3.56 9.31 22.20 27.93 -1.78 61.16 0.03 0.02 0.00 0.05 2005 0.83 0.21 0.47 0.99 6.95 2.03 3.96 9.53 31.18 10.30 24.97 48.98 0.02 0.02 0.00 0.05 2006 0.84 0.20 0.49 0.99 7.21 2.02 4.24 9.68 31.79 26.14 3.74 72.78 0.03 0.02 0.00 0.06 2007 0.79 0.30 0.26 1.00 7.51 2.06 4.50 10.03 34.82 9.25 22.44 45.66 0.07 0.07 0.00 0.17 TABLE 4.1 (Continued): Descriptive Statistics Years Tangibility Liquidity Age Risk Mean SD Min Max Mean SD Min Max Mean SD Min Max Mean SD Min Max 2001 0.03 0.02 0.00 0.06 1.70 0.76 1.07 2.65 16.60 20.40 6.00 53.00 1.92 1.33 0.70 3.94 2002 0.03 0.02 0.00 0.06 1.73 0.86 1.14 3.01 17.60 20.40 7.00 54.00 0.83 0.47 0.40 1.34 2003 0.03 0.02 0.00 0.05 2.18 1.11 1.22 3.72 18.60 20.40 8.00 55.00 0.58 0.45 0.18 1.34 2004 0.02 0.02 0.00 0.04 2.24 1.77 1.09 4.85 19.60 20.40 9.00 56.00 3.34 3.08 0.00 7.23 2005 0.02 0.02 0.00 0.04 3.02 2.26 1.15 5.94 20.60 20.40 10.00 57.00 4.70 2.15 1.23 6.36 2006 0.02 0.01 0.00 0.03 3.98 2.72 1.36 7.37 21.60 20.40 11.00 58.00 3.60 3.86 0.51 9.72 2007 0.02 0.02 0.00 0.05 6.36 8.63 1.33 16.33 22.60 20.40 12.00 59.00 6.35 6.51 1.78 16.00 Table: 4.2 Regression Coefficients Their Significance level Model Unstandardized Coefficients Standardized Coefficients t Sig. B Std. Error Beta (Constant) .010 .051 .204 .841 Leverage -.265 .090 -1.579 -2.940 .008* Size .038 .009 1.722 4.120 .001* Growth -4.69 .000 -.032 -.245 .809 Tangibility .507 .367 .183 1.382 .183 Liquidity .001 .003 .058 .205 .840 Age -.003 .003 -.235 -1.169 .257 Risk .004 .002 .374 1.903 .072** R Square 0.816 Adjusted R Square 0.749 F statistics 12.062 * Significant at 1% level **Significant at 10% level

Understanding Persons with Intellectual Disabilities Essay -- Health,

It is important to understand the terms that are associated with intellectual disabilities. The first term is disability. Disability is an individual performing which includes physical, sensory, cognitive, intellectual mental illness impairments, and various types of chronic diseases. The next term involves intelligence. This term is the ability to think logically, reason out problems, prepare, understand difficult ideas, examine intellectually, and the ability to determine quickly and or acquire from experience. Third term is adaptive behavior. Adaptive behavior is the collection of conceptual, social, and practical skills that all individuals learn in order to perform in their everyday lives. An example of conceptual skills is idea of numbers. Following rules are an example of social skills. Practical skills involve the use of money in society (â€Å"Assessment Psychology,† (n.d.). Understanding Persons with Intellectual Disabilities Research reveals that currently approximately one million United States students that have disabilities are between the ages of 3 through 21. Therefore, these special needs students are eligible for special services under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). However, only 34 percent of students have intellectual disabilities and 40 percent of the students are with multiple disabilities. In the 2007 through 2008 school year 56 percent autism students graduated with a regular high school diploma (Lewis, 2011). Therefore, in this essay the definition, characteristics, and causes of intellectual disability, traumatic brain injury, autism, severe disabilities, and deaf-blindness will be discussed. The first definition, characteristic and cause discussed... ...uccessfully in society. As stated by IDEA all students are required to be educated in the setting that will meet his or her needs. Students that have severe and multiple disabilities can be involved in general education classes. However, if the student cannot function in a special education and or regular education classroom settings they will be placed in a residential home and or institution. Deaf blindness according to IDEA is not included in the special education program. â€Å"Despite the challenges their disabilities impose on their lives these students exhibit warmth, persistence, determination, cheerfulness, a sense of humor, sociability and various other desirable traits† (Heward, 2009, p. 458). Therefore, teachers find it a pleasure to teach these students. Teachers also look forward to observing their progress in school, home, and community settings.

Advantage of English over Folk Language in Education Essay

I. Acknowledgement The researchers wish to acknowledge and thank with profound gratitude, heartfelt appreciation and warmest sincerity the assistance extended by the people who helped them in making this research possible. II. Introduction Nowadays, elementary teachers are using folk languages in teaching due to the DepEd-implemented curriculum, thus, using English only to the subject itself and introducing another subject, the native folk language. This study was conducted due to the urge of witnessing the good and bad effects of the said curriculum.  This study was also conducted by the researchers to prove that English in elementary education makes learning easier than the implemented usage of folk language. III. Statement of the Problem Is the usage of English better than the usage of native folk language in teaching, specifically in elementary education? IV. Scope and Limitation This research was focused on the comparison between the effects of English and folk language on primary education. The study was conducted in the Tumbar Elementary Education. Twenty Grade-II students were used to test the problem. V. Presentation, Discussion and Findings A demonstration on how to make an origami crane was done in front of the Grade II students. Ten students were used for the demonstration using the English language and another 10 students was used for the demonstration using folk language, specifically, Pangasinan. After the demonstration, the students were asked to make their own origami crane individually.  The students that were used in the demonstration using English made 6 neat, proper and good-looking cranes. On the other hand, the students that were used in the demonstration using Pangasinan made 4 cranes. VI. Conclusion and Recommendation Based from the data gathered, it is obvious that using the English language, the students were able to cope faster and make a beautiful crane using paper. Therefore, the researchers concluded that the usage of English is better than the usage of native folk language in teaching, specifically in elementary education. For further improvement, the researchers recommend to have not just a demonstration but also a long-term study and analysis concerning the problem. VII. Glossary Origami – art of folding paper to create three-dimensional figures of animals, people, objects, and abstract shapes. The word is Japanese, literally meaning to fold (oru) paper (kami) Folk language – traditional language used in a small area or a province; local language Crane – any of 15 species of tall wading birds of the family Gruidae (order Gruiformes). Superficially, cranes resemble herons but usually are larger and have a  partly naked head, a heavier bill, more compact plumage, and an elevated hind toe. In flight the long neck is stretched out in front, the stiltlike legs trailing out behind. VIII. Bibliography http://www.monkey.org/~aidan/origami/crane/ http://www.ruf.rice.edu/~bioslabs/tools/report/reportform.html http://www.ccc.commnet.edu/mla/index.shtml http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/141746/crane

Old Sly Eye

One of my fondest memories of my grandfather is his favorite story he loved to tell every time he visited. Though he had many fun and exciting stories, this specific story had quickly become my favorite also. It is the story of â€Å"Old Sly Eye†. As a younger boy, Grandpa Newman was outside in a large berry patch located in their backyard in Salt Lake City, UT. As he was picking raspberries, gooseberries, and blackberries he saw something slowly stirring towards him over on the row next to him. It was the biggest porcupine he had ever seen. He noticed his eyes blood red and the quills were like small arrows the Indians used. He sat there looking mean and mad. Grandpa didn’t want the porcupine to get old Jazz, his sidekick dog, and fill him full of quills, so he hurried up to the house to get his gun. Unfortunately, his shotgun was out of shells and had to rely on the 22, the only other gun he had. With no other choice, he loaded the 22 and headed back down to the berry patch to find the porcupine. Grandpa silently went up and down the rows, but could not see him. Finally, as he approached the blackberries, there was the porcupine as if he was waiting there for him to come back. Grandpa and the porcupine were only a few feet from one another. He knew his little 22 wasn’t as efficient as his shotgun. His plan was to shoot the porcupine in the eye in hopes to hit his brain. The trigger was pulled. Grandpa had shot the porcupine in the eye but amazingly didn’t hit his brain. He squealed and twisted and ran out of the patch. A stream of blood was left behind by the porcupine. Grandpa whistled at Jazz and they followed the trail of blood that led them to a canal. The porcupine was nowhere to be found. He had escaped into the water leaving no trace of him. Grandpa and Jazz sombered back home with no porcupine. Several weeks slowly passed by with no indication of the illusive porcupine. Grandpa had almost forgotten about him until one cool evening, when a full moon showed its face over Mt. Olympus. Out watering the field, a loud splashing noise arose through the grass. Grandpa carefully sauntered closer to the sound and peeked through the grass. There he was, the big porcupine snarling and showing his teeth. Grandpa instantly knew it was the same porcupine he shot because he only had one eye. Over time grandpa had tried to stay out of the one eyed porcupine’s way, but from time to time he would appear in the field and yard. Grandpa named the porcupine, Old Sly Eye. Over the years, Sly Eye lingers around the berry patch at night, trying not to be seen. I don’t know how old I was when I realized the story I loved to hear was fictitious. As children, Grandpa Newman would take us in the dark night with flashlights to that same canal searching for that one-eyed porcupine. To this day, grandpa still repeats this story to all his great grandchildren as though he still believes these events occurred. It’s a story that will be told for generations to come.