Human Behavior in Organization Essay Example for Free

Human Behavior in Organization Essay Human behavior in an organization determines the quality of work, progress and success of the organization. No machine and no computer can work by itself. No product is developed and manufactured by itself. Its the workforce or rather the human resources of an organization who develop ideas, create new products and services and then deliver them to the markets. Thus, it is important for the management of an organization to analyze the behavior of its entire work force. Human performance consulting is in vogue today, thanks to the greater emphasis on he psychology of the people behind the desk. Every organization differs from the other with respect to its policies, work environment, recruitment process, Job evaluation and culture. The most natural human tendency is to react positively and with great intensity where they are compensated well, encouraged well and get additional perks and holidays. In no way is it being suggested that an organization should overpay its staff. However, it must be kept in mind that the organization must treat its work force with immense dignity and respect and provide sufficient compensation. Even make the cleaning staff in your organization feel special and encourage them to do their task in the best possible way! The work force must be treated as an asset, not a liability, and once this is done you will notice remarkable change in the collective human behavior. Apart from the internal environment of the office, the external personal environment plays a major role in his/her behavior and attitude. We are social animals with unique aspirations, hopes, insecurities. Only those who enjoy their work can have a healthy balance between personal and professional life. Those who dont enjoy their work will most likely not be satisfied with the work nor be content in their personal life due to the imbalance that exists. One important way to analyze human behavior is to study the relationship effectiveness. How effectively your staff communicates and relates to each other can tell you how much they care for their work and the people around them. Without proper training the office dynamic can become imbalanced Just like any natural system. It is not likely for an accountant or a biologist to sit and study human behavior ffectively. You must have trained experts who understand the unique challenges the workplace brings. Not everybody is gifted with the skill to foresee a persons behavior beforehand. JM Perry, through his coaching packages, helps develop these skills inside organizations. You can have professionals attending one-on-one sessions or learning through live chats or audio-video CDs. After completing Perrys coaching you will be able to comprehend how to analyze human behavior and how to improve your behavior.

Howard Gardners Theory Of Multiple Intelligences Education Essay

Howard Gardners Theory Of Multiple Intelligences Education Essay Walk into a class of typical second grade students and you will quickly learn that there is nothing typical about any group of students.   It would be expected that some of the students would excel in reading, and some would excel in math.   According to traditional academic standards, these students would be considered intelligent and their intelligence would not be questioned. But look beyond the surface of academic achievement, and you would find that some of the students in this class can express themselves through beautiful poetry, some are graceful dancers, some are superior basketball players, some play instruments with such ease that it looks effortless, some can create exquisite artwork, and some are peacemakers.   Are these children intelligent, or are they simply talented? Howard Gardner would say that their abilities stem from intelligence, not just talent. Howard Gardner introduced his theory of multiple intelligences in 1983 and in doing so challenged the way people regarded intelligence (Ferguson, 2009).   In the 1920s Spearman proposed that there is only one type of intelligence, called general intelligence or g. The notion that there could be only one type of intelligence was questioned by other psychometric theorists, such as Cattell and Thurstone.   But even these theorists proposed that intelligence is limited to cognitive functions that can be measured.   Traditionally, intelligence is measured using IQ tests such as the Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale or the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children. IQ tests focus on assessing verbal skills, perceptual and spatial reasoning, working memory and processing speed (Berk, 2013). Gardners theory offers an opposing view to the psychometric theory. His theory proposes that intelligence is broader than what can be measured on an intelligence test. Gardners theory suggests that there are eight intelligences and each person possesses each one to a certain degree.   The intelligence types are linguistic, logico-mathmatical, musical, spatial, bodily-kinesthetic, naturalist, interpersonal, intrapersonal (Berk, 2013).   A person who possesses linguistic intelligence has the ability to understand and manipulate language.   A person who possesses logico-mathematical intelligence has logical reasoning ability and can understand and manipulate numbers. A person who possesses musical intelligence has the ability to understand and manipulate sound.   A person who possesses spatial intelligence has the ability to understand and manipulate visual or spatial images. A person who possesses bodily-kinesthetic intelligence has the ability to move his or her body with skill.   A person who possesses naturalistic intelligence has the ability to understand and question the natural world.   A person who possesses interpersonal intellige nce has the ability to understand and respond to the emotions and needs of other people.   Finally, a person who possesses intrapersonal intelligence has the ability to understand and respond to their own emotions and needs (Christodoulou, 2009). Gardner has proposed a ninth type of intelligence called existential intelligence (Christodoulu, 2009).   In Howard Gardners 2005 paper Multiple Lenses on the Mind he explains that when people ask questions regarding the how and why of life, they are exhibiting this intelligence. However, Gardner explains that he is not sure if this phenomenon should be declared an intelligence, My hesitation in declaring a full blown existential intelligence stems from my uncertainty about whether certain regions of the brain are dedicated to the contemplation of issues that are too vastà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦to be perceived (Gardner, 2005, p. 9). This statement reveals that the heart of Gardners intelligence theory is intelligence, not talent. Gardner reminds his readers that in order for something to be classified as a type of intelligence it must be something that the brain is capable of doing. In this case, Gardiner has reservations about including this type of intelligence in his theory because the human brain may not be able to fully ponder existential questions. From an educators point of view, Howard Gardners theory of multiple intelligences makes sense. Go back to the second grade classroom and take a look at the students sitting in the seats. Every child in that class learns differently. Every child in that class observes and understands the world in his or her own way. I was the teacher in that classroom and I drew on Gardners theory to reach my students. I learned about the theory of multiple intelligences as an undergraduate education student. When I was first hired as a teacher I researched ways to integrate this theory as a way to promote learning in my classroom. I found many educational books, websites, and journal articles that provided real world application of multiple intelligence theory. My students clapped and sang their spelling words, which appealed to those with strengths in the musical or bodily-kinesthetic intelligences. My students drew pictures to illustrate main ideas, which appealed to those with strength in spatial intelligence. Our class took a field trip to the Mississippi River, which appealed to those with strength in naturalistic intelligence. In implementing these teaching methods I was doing more than reaching out to the different way my students learned. I identified their intellectual strengths and gave them opportunities which allowed their strengths to grow and flourish. This understanding and belief in educating the whole child extends beyond self-contained, grade level classrooms. I taught in a school that valued education of the whole child. The students attended weekly classes in Spanish, art, music, physical education, library, and computer. For three years I was a specialty teacher in the school and I used multiple intelligence theory to guide my lesson planning. I taught computer for students in kindergarten through eighth grade. As the computer teacher, I designed curriculum based projects where students used technology to create original works that had a direct classroom application. For example, elementary school students used Kerpoof, a web application, to make stories illustrating their understanding of beginning, middle, and end. Middle school students used a program called ComicLife to create comics about everything from the Revolutionary War to famous scientists. The eighth grade student read The Giver in their literature class and the n used a web application called Weebly to create a website for their own, imaginary, utopian society. All grade levels had the opportunity to use Garage Band to write music to accompany their PowerPoint presentations. Not every project appealed to every intelligence type. Some of these projects were required group projects while others were individual. Some relied more on verbal intelligence abilities, while others required more visual intelligence. But, every project relied on more than one intelligence type. And every project lead to the creation of work that the students were happy to share with their classmates and the school community. Reconciling the theory of multiple intelligences with the traditional psychometric theory of intelligence is difficult, if not impossible, to do. The debate that started nearly thirty years ago when Gardner introduced his theory continues to this day. In the article Not Every Child is Secretly a Genius, Christopher Ferguson criticizes Gardners theory for being an all encompassing theory that allows for everyone to be smart (Ferguson, 2009). Joanna Christodoulou takes the opposing view in the article Applying multiple intelligence. She explains that we need to stop thinking in terms of how smart people are. Instead, we should be asking, In which ways is she smart, and how can that profile be marshaled for meaningful goals? (Christodoulou, 2009, para. 22). The theory of multiple intelligences is not a data driven theory. There is little empirical evidence to support it (Ferguson, 2009). It will not yield an IQ score. It will not lead to a diagnosis of learning disability, intellectual disability, or gifted. If a teacher is interested in tracking a student Gardners theory will be of little help because this is not the purpose of Gardners theory (Christodoulou, 2009). The purpose of Gardners theory is to understand the intellectual capabilities of the whole child. It tells us that everyone is capable of intelligent thought or intelligent action on some level. It is a hopeful theory. It is a theory that highlights that intelligence is not fixed, but rather a dynamic capacity amenable to change via good teaching, high motivation, and adequate resources (Christodoulou, 2009, para. 24). Finally, it is a useful theory with many practical implications for the classroom. The purpose of the psychometric theory is to give an IQ score and, possibly, a diagnosis. But, the purpose of Gardners theory is to give educators a plan for reaching all students regardless of their score on a test or diagnosis on a psychoeducational evaluation.

Inflation And Oil Prices In Malaysia

Inflation And Oil Prices In Malaysia It is observed that more than a decade ago, crude oil prices were between $20 to $40/barrel with its ups and downs throughout the late 90s. The price went up slightly before dropping again after the 1997 Asian financial crisis. In the beginning of the 21st century however, the prices started to climb to almost double that to the average value of $40. Volatility is high as by 2002 the value dropped back to about $20 right after the September 11 Attacks before surging up again almost immediately. It can be said that from 2003 onwards, the price of crude oil throughout the world began to steadily ascend higher and higher over the few years till late 2006. This is mainly due to concerns on exhausting oil-wells throughout the world, the post US-Iraq war situation, OPECs stand on providing the world with limited supply with its reason to preserve resources, increasing growth and dependency on consumption of crude oil in the world and more. All of these add into the weight and urgency that spiked conspiracy and panic into the industry, added that market players took advantage of the situation to further propel prices into the sky. By 2007, the bubble for the US Sub-prime loan crisis burst and sent a shock wave that affected cash flow in world economies with a shortage of funds. A temporary sharp drop occurred in the prices of crude oil. Within a period of just a year, speculators, players, investors and suppliers all contributed a part to the worst oil price hike in human history. The price of just an average of $60 per barrel more than doubled to an unbelievable peak of $140 or more per barrel. This has sent the world oil prices scrambling to readjust its value in the market and also affecting every other industry linked to it. As quickly as it came, the prices of crude oil crashed back to about $40 per barrel in less than half a year. The crash was timed, played and expected. However the damage has been done to the world economies affecting overall price increases and devaluation of currencies. The more dependent on crude oil a country is, the bigger the effect it has taken. In short, it is the citizens who suffer from these two back to back sub-prime loan and crude oil price hike crisis. From then since, the price of crude oil has lingered around $40 to $50 average for awhile as economies embrace recovery before the price of crude oil resumed its steep climb again. The climb hovered around $80 per barrel by early 2010. Up until recently, the price of crude oil continues to hang around $75. It is safe to assume that the 21st century modern crude oil prices would continue to be at least this value of $70 and above with the very simple reason of increasing demand with decreasing supply. Comparing the prices back a decade ago and ignoring the price hike scenario, todays crude oil prices in per barrel is twice as much what was valued back in the year 2000. This just goes to show how much has changed in just a short span of ten years in this industry and provides a good indicator of what the future of the petroleum industry holds for us. One thing is for certain, it is that the price for crude oil will continue to climb at an increasing rate in the future unless a substitute for our heavy reliance on petroleum could be discovered in time. Otherwise, there is only that much we can prepare ourselves and embrace the ever increasing cost of living linked so heavily back to our grave dependency on the core energy source of the modern world. Research objective This research aspires to validate the public perceptions that the oil price hike does essentially affect inflation. It will analyse the consumer price index (CPI) in Malaysia that would be affected by the movement in oil price by world crude oil price. Thus, the objectives of this research are as follows: (a) To determine the effect of global oil price shock on Malaysia inflation rate. (b) To validate the theories and perceptions that oil price movements will affect consumer products and services, regardless of whether fuel is directly or indirectly used as main input in the business operations and value chain. 1.3 Significance of the research The outcome from this research will assist Malaysia government to formulate measures in time of economic turmoil due to oil price shocks which include fiscal and monetary policies. This will spur economic development and stabilizing inflation and unemployment rate. On the other hand, this research helps management of companies in Malaysia to be sufficiently prepared for any recurrence of oil price crisis that will impact heavily on the country economic. The companies would need to redirect their business model in preparation for the economic crisis. Chapter 2 Literature review 2.1 Introduction Inflation influences the economic growth of a country including those developing, developed or even underdeveloped country. High inflation tends to give negative perceptions on a country as it indicates increase in consumer products price and unemployment rate. We believe that oil price movement is the major cause of Malaysias inflation. Also, we are keen to discover whether real interest rate, real exchange rate, and money supply would cause more on inflation compared to oil price. 2.2 Oil price and inflation Different researches on the oil price fluctuations had been conducted to discover its effect on certain country economy performance. These findings contributed important decision making of macroeconomic variables which seek to cope with the hiking of petrol price. For instance, Hamilton (1983) found that there is significant correlation between oil price movement and economic expansion. This is supported by Gisser and Goodwin (1986) and also Brown and Yucel (2002), who identified that increase in oil price, will tend to retard economic growth. In addition, Tang et al. (2009) in recent research, found that oil price hike negatively decrease output and investment, while it increases inflation and interest rate in China. 1% increases of oil price is said to decrease the output by 0.38%; 100% increases of oil price will increase 7.34% of Producer Price Index (PPI) in the same month and 11.33% in the following month (Tang et al. 2009). These findings supported our research question and ob jective on whether oil price hike is one of the major causes of inflation in Malaysia. In Malaysia, Saari et al. (2008) focused on the effect of local petroleum price on the cost production in agricultural and agro-based sectors. They found that if price of petroleum increases 90%, the cost of production for fishing, forestry and logging, and oil palm primary products industries would increase by 30%, 12% and 7%. In our research, we refine Saaris research by discussing several independent variables and its effects on overall cost of production. 2.3 Other independent variables and inflation Other independent variables besides oil price may give high impact on Malaysias inflation. Turnovsky and Wohar (1984) found that the causality between money supply and aggregate prices in US is rather neutral from year 1929-1979. In Malaysia itself, empirical studies on inflation and money supply are relatively few. Masih and Masih (1998) discovered a unidirectional causality runs from money supply to inflation rate regardless of the lag structure. Recently, Tang (2004) re-investigated the causal relationship and found that money supply leads aggregate price in Malaysia but there is no evidence showing direct causal effect runs from money supply to inflation over 1970-1998. The Fisher (1930) stated that nominal interest rate should reflect movements in the expected rate of inflation. In his findings, there is no apparent relationship between price change and interest rate in the short run. Correlation coefficient of -0.459 was obtained for British data and -0.289 for United State. Th is is supported by Lardic and Mirgon (2003) which positively validate Fisher effect on G7 countries for the period 1970-2001. Chapter 3 Theoretical Framework 3.1 Introduction We are interested to investigate whether increase in oil price would actually cause inflation and if so, how much of this inflation is actually related back to rising of oil price Theoretically, an oil price increase is assumed to be related to causing inflation, most commonly among day-to-day items and activities such as transportation cost, food price, and other short term dealings. This research study is part of finding out the extent of inflation and hopefully to get a good estimation of how much relationship is there between a 10% rise in oil price contributing to inflation. Long term dealings should remain unaffected by short term price changes as it will require longer period of time for the inflation of price to kick in before its price increases. One such example would be college and school fees. In fact, a good representation of this theory that we could use would be the very recent 2007-2009 oil price hike which spark worldwide oil demand and price going tremendously high yet pummeling to unbelievably low price per barrel. This has somehow contributed to how we came up with this idea for our research project as we are keen to learn about rising oil price and its effect on inflation as a whole. 3.2 Variables Two very important figures in this research project would be oil price and inflation. Oil price as the independent variable is a very volatile value to determine. We would be using global value in determining how much US Dollars/barrel for oil price, occasionally there might be some numbers in Ringgit Malaysia (RM) for local references especially the ballooning price hike for 2008 in Malaysia, but mostly would be converted into US Dollars/barrel to effectively study the effect of oil price versus inflation in a global scale. Y (inflation) = f (oil price, money supply, real interest rate and real exchange rate) Due to the nature of the world economy and everything has a relationship with others, there is more than one independent variable besides oil price, including the total money supply in the market, the real exchange rate and the real interest rate. We will also study how each of these variables interact with inflation as well. Inflation would be the dependent variable in this research project. Inflation is calculated from the consumer price index (CPI) which comprises several categories (as shown in Table 1). Table 3.1: Weights of the CPI by major categories in Malaysia Categories Weights (%) Food and non-alcoholic beverages 31.4 Alcoholic beverages and tobacco 1.9 Clothing and footwear 3.1 Housing, water and electricity 21.4 Furnishings, household equipment and routine household maintenance 4.3 Health 1.4 Transportation 15.9 Communication 5.1 Recreation services and culture 4.6 Education 1.9 Restaurants and hotels 3.0 Miscellaneous goods and services 6.0 Total 100.0 (Sources: Department of Statistics Malaysia, 2010). 3.3 Model The initial model that was proposed is the Input-Output Price Model. It is proven in past researches that this model defines the relationship between oil price and inflation well enough. However, due to restricted resources and time as well as permission to accessible private data, there is only three students could come up with. It is being suggested that we use a Regression Model towards our data for calculation purposes to support our findings in this research project. And we will only use past proven records of results from the Input-Output Model to verify theories that could come up in this research project. 3.4 Expected direction It is expected that oil price as well as the other independent variables such as money supply, exchange rate and interest rate will have some effect on inflation. An increase in oil price, money supply as well as interest rate is expected to positively affect inflation. While an increase in exchange rate however is expected to negatively affect the inflation rate. Y (inflation) = f (oil price, money supply, real interest rate and real exchange rate) (+) (+) (+) (+) (-) Chapter 4 Data and Methodology 4.1 The data The data obtained is time-series data from year 2007-2009. Monthly data includes crude oil commodity prices that classified under world oil price. These data is extracted from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and Bloomberg. In addition, monthly consumer price index (CPI) is obtained from the Department of Statistics Malaysia while the data of real exchange rate, real interest rate are taken from Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) Monthly Statistical Bulletin. 4.2 Research methodology Valadkhani and Mitchell (2002) applied the input-output price model to assess the petroleum price shocks on inflation and household expenditures in Australia. Similarly, Saari et al. (2008) examined the impact of petroleum price on costs productions by disaggregating the components in the costs production into three categories: fishing, forestry and logging, and oil palm primary products industries. In the other hand, Hamilton (1983) used seven-variable vector auto regressions (VAR) system to identify the impact of oil price shock on U.S economy in year 1948-1974. Similarly, Marcelo S. (2005) used identified vector autoregressions (IVAR) to analyse the interaction between interaction between exchange rate and cost production. Masih and Masih (1998) employed the Granger causality test, modified Sims causality test and vector error-correction modelling (VECM) approach to examine the causality direction between money supply and aggregate prices in the Southeast Asia economies For Malays ia, they found that all causality tests are consistently implied that money supply (M1 and M2) Granger causes increase aggregate prices. Lastly, Mitchell-Innes H. A. (2006) used the same method (VAR) and vector error correction model (VECM) to prove that inflation and long-term interest rate moved in the same direction. 4.2.1 Hypothesis testing In our research, quantitative research (regression model) is applied as a method of analysis and interpretation of observation data in order to discover the strength of relationships between independent variables (money supply, real interest rate, real exchange rate, and oil price) and dependent variable (inflation). This statistical method starts with the collection of data which will be implied in regression model to verify null-hypothesis testing. Causal relationships are analysed by manipulating the factors to influence the phenomena of interest. Following is the research hypothesis: Ho: Oil price is not one of the major causes of inflation from year 2007-2009 H1: Oil price is one of the major causes of inflation from year 2007-2009 4.2.2 Regression analysis In order to verify the hypothesis testing above, regression analysis is applied in estimating the unknown parameters ÃŽ ²0, ÃŽ ²1, ÃŽ ²2, ÃŽ ²3, and ÃŽ ²4 in the relationship, using the data on oil price, money supply, real interest rate, real exchange rate, and inflation rate. Y1 = ÃŽ ²0 + ÃŽ ²1X1 + ÃŽ ²2X2 + ÃŽ ²3X3 + ÃŽ ²4X4 + ÃŽ µ where Y1 is the inflation rate; X1 is the oil price; X2 is the money supply (M1); X3 is the real interest rate; X4 is the real exchange rate; and ÃŽ µ is the variable representing all other factors that may have direct influence on inflation rate. In addition, coefficient of determination is implied to identify the significance of independent variables (money supply, real interest rate, real exchange rate, and oil price) on dependent variable (inflation). RÂ ²= {(1/N)*ÃŽ £[(xi-x)*(yi-y)]/(ÏÆ'x*ÏÆ'y)}Â ² Results from the regression analysis and coefficient of determination test shall decide whether or not Null Hypothesis (Ho) will be accepted and reject Alternative Hypothesis (H1). Statistics, tables and graphs will be used to present the results of these methods. Chapter 5 Research findings Initial Analysis Initial findings are done based on the graph analysis to identify the relationship between dependent variable (CPI) and independent variables (oil price, money supply, real interest rate and real exchange rate). From the graph, we analysed and identified reasons of those variables fluctuations from year 2007-2009. Figure 5.1: Relationship between CPI and Oil Price From Figure 5.1, it can be observed that inflation has a steady rate of increase over the past three years while oil prices met with a steep increase and peaked at June 2008 before crashing low at December 2008. After that, the value of oil prices increases steadily again. Much of the fluctuation in the value of oil prices was caused mainly by human speculation and manipulation of the oil market where issues such as limited oil supply, on-going war, terrorism and the sub-prime financial crisis caused the price hike. Despite the high and low prices of oil per barrel around the world, inflation rate was not highly impacted. Figure 5.2: Relationship between CPI and Money Supply From Figure 5.2, it can be observed as usual inflation rate steadily increasing over the years without much interference. However, money supply has been increasing as the gap between inflation and money supply is closing in together over the years. This could be mainly caused by the recent financial crisis which caused governments around the world to panic and quickly come up with programs to reduce the impact of the financial crisis which saw many going bankrupt. Programs are usually drawing up of hefty sums of cash to be spent by the government or distributed through ways as a mean to have people spend money to keep the economy of the country moving. Billions of dollars worth in bills and bonds are created and countries such as Australia and Singapore even had its government give out Christmas Bonus in cash to encourage their citizens to spend. There is also the usual routine of printing new money each year into the economy. All of these and more could have added up to the increasing rate of money supply into the economy. Figure 5.3: Relationship between CPI and Interest Rate From Figure 5.3, real inflation rate sees a steady increase as already mentioned however interest rates have a rather surprising pattern. This shock pattern can be observed at September 2007 when interest rates suddenly spiked to almost double its usual rate from 3.60% to 6.61% in the difference of a month. There was not much effect on inflation rate but this could be due to time lag for it to have effect. Ironically, it was this same period that the sub-prime financial crisis really started to accumulate in a wider problematic scale. Much could be questioned on why did the interest rates spiked all of a sudden. Yet in the aftermath of the crisis, we are seeing a steady decline on interest rates around the world. This is mainly because interest rates are being lowered now to help accelerate recovering economies by providing cheaper access to funding. Typical, this low interest rate attraction was what started the bubble for this crisis in the first place back in the year 2001 right after the September 11 Attacks. Figure 5.4: Relationship between CPI and Exchange Rate Inflation rate is once again here, only seeing a slight peak when oil prices jumped over everyones expectations. There is not much to be said for inflation rate with exchange rate as they both seem to be almost a nice straight line on the graph. A closer look into Figure 5.4 however tells us that inflation rate has been increasing steadily over the years while on the other hand exchange rates have seen an increase and decrease over the years instead. Exchange rate has not seen much big movements. Reasons could be that exchange rates around the world are extra sensitive and its value will react accordingly with all other exchange rates to find its correct value thanks to rapid arbitragers. Another reason could be due to economies around the world encouraging lower exchange rates to increase trading among countries. This would help the weakened economies recover better. 5.2 Empirical result and analysis Table 5.1: Mean and standard deviation Mean Std. Deviation N CPI 109.733 3.4206 36 Oil Price 69.75 25.368 36 Money Supply 888203.088 71807.6196 36 Real Interest Rate 3.4600 .66410 36 Real Exchange Rate 3.428771 .1332732 36 From Table 5.1, the number of observation (N) represents sample size collected from year 2007-2009 (12 months x 3 years). Smaller sample size tends to increase variability of the distribution. N equals 36 which is larger than 30, hence the difference is negligible. We assumed that the distribution is normal and represent the population. Table 5.2: Skewness and kurtosis N Sum Mean Skewness Kurtosis Statistic Statistic Statistic Std. Error Statistic Std. Error Statistic Std. Error CPI 36 3950.4 109.733 .5701 -.116 .393 -1.570 .768 Valid N (listwise) 36 From table 5.2, the skewness and kurtosis are -0.116 and -1.570. Negative skewness indicates that the distribution skews to the left. Meanwhile, negative kurtosis indicates that the distribution has shorter tail. Hence, we concluded that the data is not normal distributed and asymmetrical. Table 5.3: Variables coefficients Model Unstandardized Coefficients Standardized Coefficients t Sig. 95.0% Confidence Interval for B B Std. Error Beta Lower Bound Upper Bound 1 (Constant) 13.325 9.178 1.452 .000 -5.392 32.043 Oil Price .089 .013 .664 6.812 .000 .063 .116 Money Supply 3.911E-5 .000 .821 11.267 .000 .000 .000 Real Interest Rate .445 .369 .086 1.205 .000 .308 1.197 Real Exchange Rate -.716 .509 .612 6.263 .000 -.898 .834 a. Dependent Variable: CPI From Table 5.2, we can observe that: Oil price: Oil price has positive coefficient, indicating that this variable has positive relation with CPI. When oil price increases by USD1, the CPI will increase by 0.089% in one month on average, while other variables being constant. The p-value for oil price is 0.00, which is smaller than the 5% level of significance used in the test. Money supply: Money supply has positive sign of coefficient, indicates that this variable has positive relation with CPI. If the rate of money supply increases by MYR1, the CPI will increase by 3.911E-5% in one month on average, while other variables being constant. The p-value for money supply is 0.00, which is smaller than the 5% level of significance used in the test. Real interest rate: Real interest rate has positive coefficient, showing positive relation with CPI. When interest rate increases by 1%, the CPI will tend to increase by 0.445% in one month on average, while other variables being constant. The p-value for exchange rate is 0.00, which is smaller than the 5% level of significance used in the test. Real exchange rate: Real exchange rate has negative coefficient, indicating that this variable has negative relation with CPI. When exchange rate increases by 1%, CPI will decrease by 0.716% in one month on average; while other variables being constant. The p-value for exchange rate is 0.00, which is smaller than the 5% level of significance used in the test. All independent variables have significant value (sig.) smaller than 0.05. This indicates that all variables represent large level of statistical significance in the model. Therefore, equation for the model would be: CPI = 13.325 + 0.089 Oil Price + 3.911E-5 Money Supply + 0.445 Real Interest Rate 0.716 Real Exchange Rate Table 5.4: Adjusted R square Model R R Square Adjusted R Square Std. Error of the Estimate 1 .951a .904 .891 1.1281 a. Predictors: (Constant) Oil Price, Money Supply, Interest Rate, Exchange Rate From Table 5.3, adjusted R square is 0.891, indicating that all variables (oil price, money supply, interest rate, exchange rate) explain 89.1% of the variation in CPI. There is a strong positive correlation between the independent variables and dependent variable. Hence, it is considered that the variables fit closely into the model and are more likely to predict CPIs movement. Coefficient of Variation (CoV) is calculated to evaluate models goodness of fit. From Table5.3, the standard error of the estimate is 1.1281. From Table 5.1, the mean CPI is 109.733. The calculation of CoV is as follow: Coefficient of Variation = (SE)/ (Mean Price) x 100% = 1.1281/ 109.733 x 100% = 1.028% The coefficient of variation of 1.028% indicates that the average forecast error is 1.028% of average CPI. The model is considered as good model as its CoV is lesser than 5%. Table 5.5: ANOVAb Model Sum of Squares df Mean Square F Sig. 1 Regression 370.069 4 92.517 72.699 .000a Residual 39.451 31 1.273 Total 409.520 35 a. Predictors: (Constant), Exchange Rate, Interest Rate, Money Supply, Oil Price b. Dependent Variable: CPI Hypothesis: Ho: Oil price is not the major cause of Malaysia inflation from year 2007-2009 H1 : Oil price is one of the major causes of Malaysia inflation form year 2007-2009 From Table 5.4, the significance value is 0.00 which is smaller than the level of the significance (0.05). Therefore, the null hypothesis (Ho) will be rejected. Oil price is considered as the major cause of Malaysia inflation from year 2007-2009. Table 5.6: Correlation between CPI, oil price, money supply, interest rate, and exchange rate. CPI Oil Price Money Supply Interest Rate Exchange Rate Pearson Correlation CPI 1.000 .145 .857 .400 -.226 Oil Price .145 1.000 -.052 .188 -.803 Money Supply .857 -.052 1.000 -.601 .200 Interest Rate .400 .188 -.601 1.000 -.193 Exchange Rate -.226 -.803 .200 -.193 1.000 Sig. (1-tailed) CPI . .199 .000 .008 .092 Oil Price .199 . .381 .136 .000 Money Supply .000 .381 . .000 .122 Interest Rate .008 .136 .000 . .130 Exchange Rate .092 .000 .122 .130 . N CPI 36 36 36 36 36 Oil Price 36 36 36 36 36 Money Supply 36 36 36 36 36 Interest Rate 36 36 36 36 36 Exchange Rate 36 36 36 36 36 From table 5.5, it can be observed that: Correlation between CPI and oil price is 0.145, indicating positive relationship between both variables. Correlation between CPI and money supply is 0.857, indicating positive relationship between both variables. Correlation between CPI and interest rate is 0.400, indicating positive relationship between both variables. Correlation between CPI and exchange rate is -0.226, indicating negative relationship between both variables. The largest Pearson Correlation coefficient is to be found between CPI and money supply, which is 0.857. The Squared Correlation figure of 0.735 (0.857Â ²) is smaller compared to the adjusted RÂ ² of equation model, which is 0.891. Thus, the correlation between CPI and money supply does not show any signs of collinearity problem with the model. Since the biggest available coefficient between pairs of independent variables is not a problem, hence the equation model does not have multi-collinearity problem. 5.3 Discussion From the result, it is proven that oil price does influence the inflation fluctuations. Oil price has positive relationship with CPI at 5% level. USD1 increase in oil price tends to increase 0.089% of CPI. Oil price influences most of the cost of goods and services in the market including cost of production and transportation. As a developing industrial country, Malaysia relies heavily on the import of crude oil as source of energy. Significant increase of oil price tends to cause hyperinflation and therefore effect the development of the country. The results show that other variables such as interest rate, money supply and exchange rate do influence the inflation rate as well. From the analysis, money supply has strong positive relationship with Malaysia CPI between years 2007-2009. Hawtrey (1923) stated that the public holds undue proportion of cash balances with respect to their income when money supply increases. Hence, they tend to increase the level of spending. This is proven by the Quantity Theory of Money. When amount of money in economy increases faster than the growth in the level of future output, this will increase the market price level and therefor

South Beach Diet Essay -- Health, Diet

History of South Beach Diet The South Beach Diet is a diet plan designed by cardiologist Arthur Agatston and dietician Marie Almon. In 1995, Dr. Agatston developed a diet to prevent heart disease for his cardiac and diabetes patients. According to the South Beach Diet website, Agatstaion knew that a low-fat diet would reduce cholesterol and prevent heart disease, but patients had a hard time sticking to the diet. Agatson wanted to find out the reason why his patients had a hard time sticking to the low-fat diet. So he turned to David Jenkins, who was working with insulin resistance. After researching with Jenkins, Agatstion found out the reason why the low-fat diets was not working because patients on low-fat diets where consuming more simple sugars and carbohydrates which was causing the insulin resistance and cycles of hunger. Also Agastaion was investigating the low-carbohydrate diet but he felt it didn’t have enough fiber and had too much saturated fats. Agagaston wanted balance in his diet so it wou ld produce the best results. (South Beach Diet Online, 2010) Agatstion made the The South beach Diet based on eating healthy carbohydrates and fats and eliminating the bad carbohydrates and fats. According to Mary Hager in her article â€Å"The South Beach Solution†, the South Beach beach diet cuts out the bad fats which are the saturated fats that include hydrogenated oils and trans fat. Also it cuts down the bad carbohydrates, the refined and process foods. Hager states â€Å"His plan emphasizes eating the good fats--olive and canola oils--and good carbs, including vegetables, legumes and whole grains.†(Hager,2004,p.63) After Agatston developed the South diet based on these principles, he started to do assessments on his patients who... ...on how to follow Phase 1 (the first two weeks) and Phase 2 (the next ten weeks) of the South Beach Diet, eating three meals and two snacks per day.† The results of the research showed that after Phase 1, the participants descrease weight, body percentage, and waist circumference. The results by the participants blood tests and the researchers concluded that the South Beach Diet helped the participants with their loss of weight and body fat. Evaluate the Nutritional Adequacy of the Diet South beach Diet during the first phase is not a well balance diet. Phase 1 focuses on mainly the meat, vegetable, diary, and oil food groups; leaving out the grains and fruit group. In order to well balance diet you need to have all the groups incoraprated into the diet. After Phase 2 the diet is less restricted and is more balanced because it incorporates all the food groups. South Beach Diet Essay -- Health, Diet History of South Beach Diet The South Beach Diet is a diet plan designed by cardiologist Arthur Agatston and dietician Marie Almon. In 1995, Dr. Agatston developed a diet to prevent heart disease for his cardiac and diabetes patients. According to the South Beach Diet website, Agatstaion knew that a low-fat diet would reduce cholesterol and prevent heart disease, but patients had a hard time sticking to the diet. Agatson wanted to find out the reason why his patients had a hard time sticking to the low-fat diet. So he turned to David Jenkins, who was working with insulin resistance. After researching with Jenkins, Agatstion found out the reason why the low-fat diets was not working because patients on low-fat diets where consuming more simple sugars and carbohydrates which was causing the insulin resistance and cycles of hunger. Also Agastaion was investigating the low-carbohydrate diet but he felt it didn’t have enough fiber and had too much saturated fats. Agagaston wanted balance in his diet so it wou ld produce the best results. (South Beach Diet Online, 2010) Agatstion made the The South beach Diet based on eating healthy carbohydrates and fats and eliminating the bad carbohydrates and fats. According to Mary Hager in her article â€Å"The South Beach Solution†, the South Beach beach diet cuts out the bad fats which are the saturated fats that include hydrogenated oils and trans fat. Also it cuts down the bad carbohydrates, the refined and process foods. Hager states â€Å"His plan emphasizes eating the good fats--olive and canola oils--and good carbs, including vegetables, legumes and whole grains.†(Hager,2004,p.63) After Agatston developed the South diet based on these principles, he started to do assessments on his patients who... ...on how to follow Phase 1 (the first two weeks) and Phase 2 (the next ten weeks) of the South Beach Diet, eating three meals and two snacks per day.† The results of the research showed that after Phase 1, the participants descrease weight, body percentage, and waist circumference. The results by the participants blood tests and the researchers concluded that the South Beach Diet helped the participants with their loss of weight and body fat. Evaluate the Nutritional Adequacy of the Diet South beach Diet during the first phase is not a well balance diet. Phase 1 focuses on mainly the meat, vegetable, diary, and oil food groups; leaving out the grains and fruit group. In order to well balance diet you need to have all the groups incoraprated into the diet. After Phase 2 the diet is less restricted and is more balanced because it incorporates all the food groups.

From the two short stories you have read what do we learn about what :: English Literature

From the two short stories you have read what do we learn about what it was like for American black people to live in Americain the 1950s? From the two short stories; The Gold Cadillac by M.D. Taylor and 1955 by Alice Walker, both set in 1950s America and both written by black female writers we learn about the segregation, racism and poverty of 1950s black America. Both these stories are set in the deep south of America. The gold Cadillac is about a young black girl who knows nothing about racism and discovers it for the first time as she travels with her family into the Deep South in a gold Cadillac. 1955 is written from the point of view of a black woman who has experienced the racism her whole life. America in the 1950s was segregated in the Deep South; it was divided into black ghettos. Even radio stations were divided into stations playing only black music and ones only playing white music. Before Elvis Presley black music would not be played to a white audience so it did not get the recognition it deserved, but Elvis's music was played on all stations and democratised music. Black people did not have the freedom that white people had and were discriminated everywhere they went, black people could not use the same buses and could not eat in the same restaurants as white people and were discriminated by police because the law was nearly completely run by white people, they were turned away at shops and were discriminated against in nearly all other places. In M.D. Taylor's "The Gold Cadillac" the family are driving through the Deep South and the girl sees signs saying "White only coloured not allowed" In Alice walker's "1955" Gracie Mae tells her husband J.T. to put his shirt on because Traynor who is a white man comes to the door, this is because white people had to be treated with more respect because they were seen as more important than black people. The American civil war took place in 1865 and slavery was abolished in the Deep South, but 90 years later there is still resentment from whites towards blacks. The two short stories are all about the prejudice against blacks in the Deep South and how it affects people's lives and freedom. In "The Gold Cadillac" the family is trying to aspire to be rich as they live

Poverty: a Silent Killer

Poverty: a silent killer The merciless chain of poverty is enclosing its arm around America. Children are storming the streets starving for a modest meal and a heated room. It confines them, forcing them to live a life of nightmares. It is evidently noted that poverty is the silent killer all over the world. The danger is, no one truly knows what poverty is, and who is to blame. A snapshot of poverty would seemingly resemble the poorest of the poor. As an experienced person who lived through childhood poverty, I can relate.When Bobby, a preschooler, scratched a mosquito bite on his leg, the area became infected. His parents took him to the doctor, who prescribed an antibiotic. However, because Bobby’s father earned very low wages at his job, the family could not immediately afford to buy the prescription. As a result of the family’s poverty the infection grew dangerously out of control and Bobby was hospitalized for three days in order to receive intravenous antibiotics . Each of those hospital days cost about $800, doctors estimated (Sherman, 6) What is the real truth about poverty?Every conception of the term is misconstrued. There is no absolute one-size-fits-all definition for poverty. All we know is that poverty is currently at war with America and has been for an unquestionable amount of time. Poverty has structured the face of destiny for good. In the eyes of Americans, poverty is the plight of delinquents. Beginning with the Bible and continuing through the Elizabethan poor laws, there has been a belief among some that the poor have no one to blame but themselves (Edelman, XV). However, poverty looks different than it did decades ago.The elderly are considerably more impoverished, and children have become the poorest age group. To understand why there is so much more poverty among children, we need to understand why their parents are worse off. Although some experts affirm children are affected by biological conditions (genetics, health, an d nutrition) and environmental conditions (families, communities, and schools), some also believe there are no accurate measurements for poverty (Boyden and Bourdillon, 129). â€Å"Poverty is like punishment for a crime you didn't commit. -Eli Khamarov. Around 21,000 children die around the world everyday due to poverty (Boyden and Bourdillon, 151). At this very moment, a child died from poverty. We need to pinpoint the cause for poverty now! But it is a cycle that cannot be broken. For example, as a child I was raised wealthy. Anything and everything I ever wanted could have been mine thanks to my parents. Although the economy began its sinking process, my family still managed to rise above surface. That is, until my dad’s company went bankrupt and all our money sunk with it.The wealth turned to poor, and we had to do anything and everything we could to carry on. The food was scarce, and the toys were sold. I asked myself everyday why this was our punishment. After nearly a year of enduring the pain of poverty, I now know whom to blame. Ourselves. Are we enough to blame for our own predicament? Have we been lazy, made poor decisions, and been solely responsible for our plight? What about our government? Have they pursued policies that actually harm successful development? We’ve waged war on poverty and poverty won (Edelman, ).With the real cost of minimal living, the cycle will continue unless America platforms a plan. As of right now, President Barack Obama makes little use of the word â€Å"poverty. † The government website detailing the contents of his Recovery Act used the word â€Å"vulnerable† to characterize those portions of legislation relating to low-income people (Edelman, xiv) With that being said, both are to blame. America’s disease is greed. Greed has produced rash tax cuts that have given money to the rich and taken it from the poor.We all want more money, bigger homes, and nicer cars; however, no one can ap preciate what they have. The only people that can are the poor. In result to the greed of my family, when an unforeseen dilemma arose we didn’t know how to handle the situation at hand. Thus, we sunk further and further into the cycle and it took a fight to pull us to the surface. I believe that unless one truly experiences poverty no one will truly comprehend its meaning. On the other hand, poverty can happen to those born into it. As the government focuses more and more on other nation worries, a child dies from poverty.

Compare the use of language of the two editorials Essay

Compare the use of language in the two editorials, considering in particular how far the fact that they were written at different times is reflected in the language of the two texts The two texts are extremely contrasting in their use of language and it is apparent from the dates that they were written as to why this is the case. The first editorial was published in The Daily Mirror (broadsheet) in 1912 and is based upon the fatal disaster of the Titanic. The second editorial was printed in The Sun (tabloid) in 1999 and comments about the train wreck that occurred in the channel tunnel. The graphological features of each text are quite differing, even though they both have the discourse structure of an editorial. The Titanic article’s text is split unevenly into five conjoined, long paragraphs and is of a slightly smaller font, yet also features significantly more words, indicating a more sophisticated reader. In comparison the article on the train accident has very little text and features each sentence to be a separate paragraph, replicating the format of a list/bullet points. This makes the text much more accessible to the reader as it can appeal to a wider range of intellects and age groups when considering audience. The article on the Titanic’s only typographical variation of font is the bold, capitalised and center-underlined title â€Å"one touch of nature† and also the dropped capital of â€Å"Draughtsmen† to begin the editorial, showing that the piece is quite old fashioned in style as a dropped capital is a very traditional technique that dates back to monastery writing. The article in The Sun however portrays a lot more typographical variation as the beginning, middle and end sentences/words are in a bolded, underlined font and the â€Å"Why† for each question as well as the title â€Å"The sun says† and the â€Å"The† to begin the article are also all bolded and capitalised to add emphasis and focus importance and attention. There is also an italicised sentence that claims â€Å"this is clearly not true†, this has most likely been italicised to stress the point of persuasion into agreeing with The Sun’s overall opinion, as this is not a fact so it has to be empathised with for it to gain status as a reputable opinion. The use of ‘Chunnel’ at the end of The Sun’s article, is a blend word made up of the two words ‘channel’ and ‘tunnel’, indicating a more modern, up to date audience. The Daily Mirror article is extremely descriptive and is much more formal in tone, imitating he narrative of a story as it proceeds in chronological order, referring to the disaster in a poetic manner whilst using long complex and compound sentences to engage the reader and enhance escapism, leading the reader to feel as if they were actually present at the time as they are taken through this journey. Each sentence is particularly well crafted and precise to also further exemplify that of a story, as there is no spontaneity and the words put in place to capture emotion have been very well structured and created. The ‘story’ is split into four stages of the journey, the first being the planning of the ship, the second the actual building of it, the third the launching of the Titanic and the fourth the sinking. Even though the ‘sinking’ of the Titanic is supposed to be the main topic of the article as it is the end, shocking result, there is no indication of this when reading through the piece and only after having read the entire article does the title ‘one touch of nature’ seem to fit. This may be for overall impact and to embody the ‘story’ like structure as without preconceptions the reader would not know that this was to be the outcome. There is a technique of parallelism in the first article which makes up the second paragraph with the sentence ‘work of the disciplined hand was to follow labour of directing mind’ creating a balanced sentence. There is also the literary use of opposites (antithesis) supporting the notion that the text is well crafted with the sentence ‘A permanent population is appointed to live here, with the changing passengers ready to begin the voyage†¦ ‘ the opposite words being ‘permanent’ and ‘changing’ as they juxtapose each other. The vocabulary used is extremely archaic in nature e. g. ‘At once, with formidable din of ringing blow’ and this is reinforced throughout with the high detail of description, whereas in The Sun (the more recent dated newspaper article) it is shown that the main focus is on the actual matter at hand and that becomes the full body of the text, there is very little description to aid it and the purpose and subject is exploited promptly. The article from The Sun is extremely critical of the fire in the Channel Tunnel and seeks to point blame, acting as if it was someone’s fault whereas in the article on the Titanic, the fault seems to be ‘our stepmother nature’ of whom is a natural occurrence so no blame can physically be put in place. The Sun appears to put the blame on everything but nature – ‘The train’, ‘Eurotunnel’, ‘the driver and train chief’, ‘the staff in general’ and ‘the sophisticated ventilation system’. The Sun’s article is based upon a ‘near disaster’ where no one died or came to any immediate harm and it acknowledges this within the article ‘happily, everyone survived – but it could all have been so different. ‘ Yet the overall air of it personifies an ‘angry/heated’ tone. Whereas, in the article based on the Titanic, even though masses of people died, there was no blame directed and it was merely accepted as ‘nature’s doing’. However, this greatly reflects on the period that the article was written as recently, people have been trying to find blame for this great disaster and making assumptions of poor craftsmanship etc, so maybe at the time that the article was published (1912) people were less ready to point blame and more accepting of what they were told. The Sun seems to demand answers through rhetorical questions (e. g. the constant and bolded use of ‘why’ to highlight six main questions, taking a very direct approach and using a major public campaigning aspect) and proceeds to group the reader into asking these questions themselves through its high use of persuasion and collectives. For example, ‘the one thing everyone feared†¦ But we were assured†¦ ‘, ‘the public deserves†¦ ‘, all of these sentences are persuading and trying to engage the reader through the use of possessive pronouns ‘we’, ‘our’ and collectives ‘everyone’ and even commenting that the public ‘deserves’ an explanation, taking an extremely personal yet quite informal tone to connect with the reader and attach with their apparent views. The opening, second heading ‘Black Hole’ is a pun/metaphor which also ends the article and shows how newspaper headlines are written at this present time (they have to be catchy, short and are usually in some form of a pun) as opposed to when The Daily Mirror article was written as the heading mimics a story like title. Overall, the language and techniques used in each editorial greatly highlight and portray their differing published times and although their subjects are quite similar, the portrayal of each is very different through numerous aspects of language and lexical change.