Canterbury Tales Essay :: essays research papers

In Geoffrey Chaucer’s â€Å"The Canterbury Tales†, many characters suffer from Dante’s â€Å"Seven Deadly Sins†. I have chosen to write about The Skipper, for his avariciousness and wrath; The Miller for his pride and avariciousness; and also The Franklin for his gluttony, avariciousness and slothfulness. I have found examples for these in â€Å"The Prologue† by Chaucer. The Skipper is avaricious and also suffers from wrath. He is avaricious because he would gain someone’s trust so they would do business with him and then he would steal from them and cheat them. In â€Å"The Prologue†(pg. 103 lines 407-408), it reads, â€Å"He’d drawn at Bordeaux, while the trader snored. The nicer rules of conscience he ignored†. He also suffered from wrath, anytime he had extra people on his ship, he would make them walk the plank. In â€Å"The Prologue†(pg.103 lines 409-410), it says, â€Å"If, when he fought, the enemy vessel sank, he sent the prisoners home: they walked the plank†. The Miller was inflicted by pride and avariciousness. He was very prideful. He would boast about anything that he could do well. In â€Å"The Prologue†(pg. 107 lines 557-558), it says, â€Å"Broad, knotty and short-shouldered, he would boast, He could heave any door off hinge and post†. He was an avaricious man. He would steal grain for himself. In â€Å"The Prologue†, it says, â€Å"His was a master-hand at stealing grain. He felt it with his thumb and thus he knew its quality and took three times his due†. (Pg. 107 lines 570-572) The Franklin suffered from gluttony, lust and slothfulness. He ate all the time. He had way too much food and it was all for himself. In â€Å"The Prologue†, it reads, â€Å"His bread, his ale were the finest of fine, and no one had a better stock of wine. His house was never short of bake-meat pies†¦..†(Pg. 101 lines 351-354). He lusted for pleasure. That is all he wanted from life. In â€Å"The Prologue†, it says, â€Å"He loved a morning sop of cake and wine, he lived for pleasure and always have done†. (Pg.

Arbitrage in the Government Market Essay

In 1991, major discrepancies in the prices of multiple long maturity US Treasury bonds seemed to appear in the market. An employee of the firm Mercer and Associates, Samantha Thompson, thought of a way to exploit this opportunity in order to take advantage of a positive pricing difference by substituting superior bonds for existing holdings. Thompson created two synthetic bonds that imitated the cash flows of the 8 ¼ May 00-05 bond; one for if the bond had been called at the year 2000, and one for if it hadn’t been called and was held to its maturity at year 2005. The first synthetic bond combined noncallable treasury bonds that matured in 2005 with zero coupon treasuries (STRIPS) that matured in 2005. The synthetic bond had semiannual interest payments of $4.125 per $100 face value and a final payment of $100 at maturity in order to exactly match the cash flows of the 8 ¼ May 00-05 callable bond if it had been held to maturity. Thompson found the price of this synthetic b ond by using this formula: The ask price of the two bonds were given as $129.906 and $30.3125, respectively. She calculated the number of units needed of the 2005 treasury bond by dividing the semi-annual callable 00-05 coupon rate by the semi-annual 2005 treasury bond (4.125/6). The only part of the equation that she did not have was the number of units needed of the 2005 STRIP. She had to calculate the correct amount in order to imitate the cash flows of the 00-05 callable bond. Thompson did this by using this equation. The final cash flow of the 00-05 bond was $104.125, the final cash flow of the 2005 treasury bond was $106, and the final cash flow of the 2005 STRIP bond was $100 as there are no coupon payments in STRIPs. She found that the number of units needed of the 2005 STRIP bond was 0.3125, and then found that the synthetic price of this bond was $98.78. The second synthetic bond combined the noncallable bonds maturing in 2000 with STRIPS maturing in 2000. This synthetic bond also had semiannual interest payments of $4.125 per $100 face value and a final payment of $100 at maturity in order to exactly match the cash flows of the 8 ¼ May 00-05 callable bond if it had been called in 2000.  Through similar calculations of the first synthetic bond, she found that she needed 0.0704 units of the 2000 STRIP, and the price of this synthetic bond was $100.43. What Thompson found was surprising because both of these synthetic prices were less than the ask price of the 00-05 treasury bond. In normal markets this shouldn’t be the case because the synthetic bond would be worth more to investors since it does not have a redemption right to the government. In other words, the callable bond should have a lower price than the synthetic noncallable bond. 2. There are two ways that Thompson could exploit this pricing anomaly that she found. If she already held the 00-05 treasury bond, then she could immediately capitalize on the price discrepancy by selling the 00-05 treasury bond for the bid price of $101.125 and buying one of these synthetic bonds. Whether to buy the 2000 synthetic bond or 2005 synthetic bond is up for debate and opinion but it might be suggested to go with the 2005 one since the price of $98.78 is even smaller than the price of $100.43 and there would be larger price impact. By selling the 00-05 bond and buying the 2005 treasury bond, she would be getting the same cash flows for an immediate lower price. The second way that Thompson could exploit this pricing anomaly would be if she does not currently hold any bonds at all. A profit could be earned by establishing short positions in the relatively overpriced security and long positions in the relatively underpriced security. Thompson would borrow the 00-05 treasury bond from a dealer and then sell it. With that money, she would buy a synthetic bond and wait for the 00-05 treasury bond to decrease in price as prices converge. Once they do, she would buy the 00-05 bond for a lower price and give it back to the dealer, while pocketing about $2 (given that she bought the 2005 synthetic bond). There’s plenty of risk when trying to take advantage of pricing arbitrage. For example, the prices may never converge and Thompson might end up waiting almost 15 years without anything happening. Another risk is that the dealer might call the bond back while the money is tied up in the synthetic bond. Because of these risks, it might be better if she doesn’t try and take advantage of the pricing arbitrage at all. 3. Through close examination, a multitude of factors could have come into play resulting in the odd pricing of Thompson’s evaluated bonds. In studies conducted by Longstaff (1992) and Eldeson, Fehr, and Mason (1993) they found that negative option values were very common, ultimately implying that callable treasury bonds were significantly overpriced (35). Although it seems odd to have a negative option value, Thompson found herself in a rapidly changing bond market with the earlier introduction of derivative securities and STRIP bonds. With the introduction of STRIP bonds in 1985, problems arise in valuing callable treasury bonds using solely zero-coupon STRIP bonds being that they tend to undervalue the implied options (Jorden et al. 36). In addition, since negative option value bonds do not have implied volatilities, this raises the question whether callable bonds are priced rationally (Bliss and Ronn 2). Furthermore into Longstaff’s (1992) research, they exercised the â€Å"striplets† approach to investigate implied call option values. The â€Å"striplets† approach uses a U.S. Treasury coupon STRIPS and a coupon bond to synthesize a noncallable bond with the desired coupon (Jordan et al. 37). Longstaff finds that â€Å"61.5% of the call values are negative when estimates are based on the midpoint of the bid and ask prices, whereas 50.7% of the negative call estimates are large enough to generate profits even after considering the bid-ask spread† (38). Ultimately, the odd pricing in Thompson’s current situation is most likely due to the mispricing of callable bonds at the time due to the method of callable bond valuation and the early introduction of new types of bond securities in the market. 4. â€Å"Callable debt gives the treasury the right, but not the obligation, to redeem the callable treasuries at par (100) on any semiannual interest payment date within five years of maturity, provided that it gave investors four months’ notice† (Arbitrage in the Government Bond Market). There are multiple upsides for a company to issue callable debt. The main reason for this is to give the company (treasury) a sense of security in that they can redeem the bond in the event of an interest rate drop. For example, if the company issues bonds to investors at a 10% interest rate and then this rate  goes down to 8%, the company may redeem the callable bonds they’ve issued and replace them with the lower interest rate (8%). Callable debt is essential to have when there are long maturity dates. If you issue a non-callable bond for a fixed amount of years, there is a tremendous amount of risk for the treasury. For instance, if you issue a non-callable bond with a maturity of 25 years and the interest rate goes down over the years, this negatively affects the company. â€Å"Callability enables the treasury to respond to changing interest rates, refinance high-interest debts, and avoid paying more than the going rates for its long term debt† (Why Companies Issue Callable Bonds). Bibliography 1. â€Å"Bonds 200.† Why Companies Issue Callable Bonds. N.p., 24 Sept. 2014. Web. 30 Sept. 2014. 2. Jordan, Bradford D., Susan D. Jordan, and David R. Kuipers. â€Å"The Mispricing of Callable U.S. Treasury Bonds: A Closer Look.† Journal of Futures Markets 18.1 (1998): 35-51. Web. 3. Bliss, Robert R., and Ehud I. Ronn. â€Å"Callable U.S. Treasury Bonds: Optimal Calls, Anomalies, and Implied Volatilities.† The Journal of Business 71.2 (1998): 211-52. Web. 4. â€Å"Bonds 200.† Why Companies Issue Callable Bonds. N.p., 24 Sept. 2014. Web. 30 Sept. 2014. 4. 5. â€Å"Harvard Business School.† Arbitrage in The Government Bond Market. N.p., 20 Sept. 2014. Web. 28 June 1995. .

The Benefits of Writing Concisely - Proofread My Paper

The Benefits of Writing Concisely - Proofread My Paper The Benefits of Writing Concisely Despite popular belief, wordiness – using more words than necessary to make a point – doesn’t make a paper sound more intellectual. Rather, it clouds your ideas and detracts from the impact of your writing. Writing concisely, on the other hand, will improve your work by: Keeping your point focused Ensuring your arguments flow clearly Helping you stay within the word allowance of your assignments But how do you make sure your written work is always concise? Focus on Your Thesis Somewhere at the beginning of your paper, you should have a clear statement of your thesis. This will guide the rest of your paper, since every point you make should add to your argument. If something in your work is not relevant to your thesis, consider whether it needs to be there. Faster! Harder! Stronger! (aka Editing Ruthlessly) The first draft is only the starting point in writing a good academic paper. Once you’ve got everything down, re-read it carefully, looking for errors and considering potential improvements. In terms of readability, this will typically include eliminating unnecessary words, tightening sentence structures and making sure that each paragraph flows smoothly to the next. Avoid Redundancy and Repetition Beware of redundancy and repetition. Redundancy is when we use a phrase that includes additional terms for no reason: in â€Å"the car was green in color,† for instance, â€Å"in color† is redundant because we know that â€Å"green† usually refers to a color. Repetition, meanwhile, is the unnecessary inclusion of the same point twice. If you’ve already introduced a concept in your work, for example, there’s no need to reintroduce it later on. Cutting repetition can make your writing much more succinct. Words, Not Phrases Try not to use several words when one will do. For instance, the sentence: It was an experience that I found very interesting for many reasons and from which I learned a lot. Could be rewritten more concisely as: It was a fascinating and educational experience. Simply put, â€Å"fascinating† and â€Å"educational† are an economical way of saying â€Å"I found interesting for many reasons† and â€Å"from which I learned a lot† respectively. As such, the rewritten sentence is easier to read.

IRAQ VS. THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

IRAQ VS. THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: HOW MUCH LONGER WILL INNOCENT PEOPLE CONTINUE TO DIE UNTIL SANCTIONS ARE LIFTED? In the year 1990 the Middle East was in a tense position after the attack of Kuwait by its Iraq neighbours and its President Sadaam Hussein. This was only to beginning of what turned out to be a war, which many were hurt, and many countries felt the effect as a result of this war. The Gulf War did not start until 1991 but tension was building between the world and Iraq. Iraq was left out on its own to fend off the world. This war turned out to be Sadaam vs. the world. Countries felt threatened by the mere existence of this man Sadaam considering him a menace to society. Sadaam proved over again that he was after land first invading Iran and then taking over Kuwait. When Sadaam took over Kuwait he was after the Kuwaiti Oil. Iraq wanted to be the second largest to Saudi Arabia in Oil production and only could achieve this by taking over Kuwaiti soil. The Gulf War turned out to be a hard fought war led by the United States of America and George Bushs Administration. The Bush Administration was determined not let Kuwait be walked over by a stronger country in Iraq. This administration was not entering into this war without its own interests addressed since they received $6 billion (US) from Kuwait in support for the United States forces. The USA had its own interests in mind and the most important to them was not the safe return of all Kuwaiti land but rather the oil with which Kuwait would owe them for returning their land. This war was also known as the Desert Storm. Desert Storm was not only about Iraq since it affected many countries around Iraq. Some have suggested that Israel felt threatened as a result of the power which Sadaam and Iraq had gained and that is what brought the United States into the war. At the end of the war when the cease-fire was achieved a new war had just begun. Th...

Rituals in the Hospital essays

Rituals in the Hospital essays Ritual has been defined as standardized ceremonies in which expressive, symbolic, mystical, sacred, and nonrational behavior predominates over practical, technical, secular, rational, and scientific behavior, although anthropologists have acknowledged that rational, technical acts may occur as part of ritual behavior (Katz, Pearl). Rituals are performed for various reasons, not only in religious situations. The article Ritual in the Operating Room discusses both ritual and science in one technical context, the hospital operating room. It talks about the ritualized movements within the operating room and what the three stages are in the operating room. I will also describe other situations in which rites of passage are used. One of the rituals of the operating room is scrubbing. It is a process in which certain people have to wash their hands and lower arms very rigorously and precisely. The purpose is to remove any bacteria that may be under the nails or on the arm. Not everybody scrubs, only the people who actually operate or do assist in the surgery. Mainly, it is the surgeon, assistant surgeon, and the scrub nurse who participate in the scrubbing ritual. It is a seven minute procedure, every person is sure to use the full time to make sure all the bacteria is gone. After they are scrubbed it is important not to touch anything that would contaminate their clean hands and arms, so the assistant nurse helps them into their gown and sterile gloves. In the operating room objects and people are classified as sterile or nonsterile. Nonsterile objects are clean, dirty, or contaminated. No part of the nurse or the anesthesiologist is sterile. Certain parts of the surgeon and the scrub nurse are classified as sterile. If a part of the surgeon becomes contaminated there is a process of scrubbing again and ridding of the contaminated objects to become sterile again. ...

Health and nutrition worksheet Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Health and nutrition worksheet - Essay Example Physical activity enables one to fight depression, boost energy, manage weight, build muscles and sleep better. To get enough physical activity, one should change their sedentary lifestyle and engage in activities that require movement. Factors that influence food choices include: biological factors like taste, appetite and hunger; economic factors like one’s income, availability, and cost; social factors like peer pressure and culture; physical factors like time, cooking skills and access to food; and knowledge, beliefs and attitudes about food. This is because not everyone can access the same food due to the above differences. Proteins consist of large amino acids which are broken down when chewing then digested in the stomach then in the small intestines for absorption. Carbohydrates are digested from the mouth where saliva breaks and passes them to the esophagus and stomach for further digestion. Carbohydrates make one feel fuller longer because some are stored in the liver for later usage. Nutrients are used to produce adenosine triphosphate (ATP) through various processes such as glycolysis whereby glucose found in nutrients is broken down into two subunits referred to as pyruvate. After pyruvate has been formed by glycolysis, respiration will enable nutrients to produce ATP by facilitating the combination of pyruvates with oxygen to form water and carbon dioxide, thus forming

The view on 'a management revolution' presented by Gary Hamel Essay

The view on 'a management revolution' presented by Gary Hamel - Essay Example Proper management is essential if organizations are to run effortlessly and achieve their purposes. It is through management that humankind has grown tremendously over the years. However, the tools of management on which this model is built have been in use since the 19th century, with a few changes if any While organizations remain stagnated on this old management model, the business environment, and the entire world, has fully revolutionized (Chizema & Kim, 109, 2010). Since the business environment continues to change, managing continuity should be imperative to all organizations to develop a connection between the realities of past, present, and future (Kolb, 183, 2003). With markets opening beyond national borders, and business processes becoming faster and more flexible, business organizations have been forced to adapt to a model more suitable for the 21st century (Burgelman & Grove, 965, 2007). However, Gary Hamel (2009) calls for an entire revolutionary change of the current management model. In his article entitled ‘Moon shots for management’, he says, â€Å"The evolution of management has traced a classic S-curve,† and goes on to argue that a new management model must be invented for the new age. New challenges The current management model is vertically structured with precisely defined roles for every level and is guided by set rules and procedures (Pye & Pettigrew, 153, 2005). In the current business environment, effective change is achieved when a firm has an organized pattern of decisions that guide deployment of resources in response to environmental changes (strategy) and a mechanism that turns this strategy into output (organization) (Nadler &Tushman, 204, 1989). Overcoming challenges entail changing the entire organizational culture by setting new goals, visions, missions, values, and strategies (Sisaye, 176, 2000).Even though culture is complicated, differentiated and difficult to control, it should be manipulated to encom pass a deep level of unconscious basic assumptions manifested in shared values, beliefs, behaviors, and creations (Harris and Ogbonna, 32, 2002). In order to overcome these challenges, Hamel postulates that business executives â€Å"must face the fact that â€Å"tomorrow’s business imperatives lay outside the performance envelope of today’s bureaucracy-infused management practices.† . Little is known about the strategy making processes at the top level of companies (Dewally & Peck, 38, 2010). A broader insight into the leadership structure of a company is needed as part of a broader attempt to remodel management (Pye & Pettigrew, 28, 2005). In organizations, governance and decision-making is dependent on bargaining between the board of directors and CEO. This is characterized by covert and overt use of power and influence (Daily, Dalton & Canella 2003). This drive should be towards an open, inclusive, and democratic organizational form (Mintzberg, 43, 1994). Th e top management executives should adopt an inclusive management style (Liedtka, 120, 1998). The Moon Shots In May 2008, Gary outlined 25 critical points that he felt should be adopted by business organizations as a way of reinventing management to better suit the present. Hamel was keen to point out that these moon shots were not exhaustive. From the moon shots, companies first have to redefine their goals. Clear redefinition of goals must encompass building human capital and engendering employee engagement (Davenport & Larding, 259, 2010). With the current management set up, companies are encouraged to adopt management practices that are socially beneficial. Today’s corporate governance structures promote the interests of some groups while oppresses others. In many cases, the senior executives and the shareholders benefit while employees and the local communities suffer (Zerbe, Hartel & Ashkanasy, 149, 2008). This is due to existence of a large gap between leadership and ch ange management. These leaders have a high charismatic