Berkshire Hathaway Free Essays

Introduction Warren E. Buffett, the chairperson of Berkshire Hathaway (BH), is the world’s greatest investor of the current era. From 1965 to 2007, BH has compounded annual gain of 20. We will write a custom essay sample on Berkshire Hathaway or any similar topic only for you Order Now 3% while SP has 9. 3% (Berkshire Hathaway Inc. , 2009). Most investors get normal returns and believe the market is in semi strong form. However Buffett believes the market is inefficient and acts on his own investment philosophy. This report will analysis BH’s acquisition of PacifiCorp, evaluate Buffett’s performance against EMH and discuss his ethical standards. Berkshire Hathaway Ltd. VS Scottish Power Plc. After the acquisition was announced, BH Ltd. nd Scottish Power Plc. both experienced price ran up. Reilly and Brown (2009) state that, the acquired firm’s stock price usually increases; resulting from the premium offered by the acquiring firm, whereas stock price in the acquiring firm usually decreases as the concern of overpaid. However, the deal between BH and Scottish Power was a different case. BH and PacifiCorp share price increased by 2. 4% and 6. 28% on the announcement day, it indicated that most investors and markets recognized the bid of PacifiCo rp was fair and believed that acquiring PacifiCorp was a good investment that could benefit BH. Malatesta and Thompson (1985, p. 249) stated that an acquisition program is desirable and profitable for active acquirers and successive acquisition attempts associated with positive announcement effects. Therefore, as an active acquirer, BH could benefit from the successful acquisition of PacifiCorp and have positive share price performance. In addition, the share price performance of PacifiCorp proved the existence of its intrinsic value and Buffett made a right decision in recognizing the fact. Jennings and Mazzeo (1991, p. 40) suggested that the acquisition process is usually associated with significant unexpected stock returns and bidder would only make an offer to the target when the value of target is less than the market price. Therefore, Buffett’s calculation of PacifiCorp’s value must have supported this notion. Although the share price performance might be an affect of Warren Buffett’s fame, it was sufficient enough to reflect the exactly value created by the deal between BH Ltd. and Scottish Power Plc. Valuation for PacifiCorp Bruner, Eades and Schill(2010, p. ) stated that MidAmerican Energy Holdings, Buffett’s utility company, acquired PacifiCorp from its parent, Scottish Power Plc, for $5. 1 billion in cash and $4. 3 billion in liabilities and preferred stock. The bid for PacifiCorp can be proved as â€Å"fair† through three methods, including discounted cash flow, intrinsic value, comparable and precedent acquisition. Present Value of Operating Free Cash Flows DCF method can be viewed as the conceptual basis for most relative valuation criteria (Titman and Martin 2007, p. 215) However, the growth rate was unknown in this case. In order to use the model, the growth rate was assumed to equal to the growth rate of 2004 to 2005 which was 0. 0145. In five years investment horizon, NPV of $5. 1 billion’s bid is negative if the growth rate equal to 0. 0145 (Appendix I; table 1 and table 2). If the growth rate is equal or larger than 0. 594, the $5. 1 billion bid would have positive NPV. Therefore, it can be concluded that in five years, the bid for PacifiCorp is â€Å"fair† if the net income of PacifiCorp can increase by 59. 4% or more Intrinsic Value Bruner, Eades and Schill (2010, p. ) indicated that Buffett believes intrinsic value is effective in evaluating the relative attractiveness of investment. (Appendix II, table 3)The $5. 1 billion bid for PacifiCorp could be defined as â€Å"fair† since every dollar to acquire PacifiCorp becomes $1. 22 in the 10 year investment horizon. Comparable Boeh and Beamish (2007, p. 102) stated that it is common to revalue a firm based on the trading multi ples of a group of similar firms. By looking at the direct competitors who have comparable sizes and growth stages, a more appropriate valuation can be obtained. The implied values of PacifiCorp are $9. 23 billion and $9. 076 billion w. r. t. the median and mean multiple of EBITDA (Appendix II, table 4). Titman and Martin (2007, p. 228) indicated that the most popular approach used to estimate a firm’s enterprise value involves the use of a multiple of EBITDA. Therefore, compared to the $9. 4 billion bid for PacifiCorp, it can be concluded that the bid is â€Å"fair†. Precedent Acquisition Boeh and Beamish (2007, p. 102) suggested that precedent acquisition is used to value a firm based on other similar acquisitions that have recently occurred. It directs firm to use the most appropriate valuation. Assessing the $9. 4 billion bid for PacifiCorp can be defined as â€Å"fair†. Bruner, Eades and Schill(2010, p. 13) mentioned that the timing of BH’s bid closely followed Duke Energy’s bid to acquire Cinergy for $9 billion. Compare their characteristics (Appendix II, table 5) PacifiCorp and Cinergy deal in the same industry and have similar amount of customers, capital structure and EBITDA. Therefore, it can conclude that they are comparable and the deal between Duke Energy and Cinergy can be used as a reference to value PacifiCorp. Buffett VS Semi-Strong Form Efficient Semi-strong form efficiency states that security prices adjust rapidly to the release of all public information; that is, current security prices fully reflect all public information (Reilly Brown, 2009, p. 153). According to BH Inc. , (2009), BH’s has compounded annual gain of 20. 3% while SP has 9. 3% since 1965 to 2009. This clearly shows that Buffett obtains abnormal return. Regarding semi-strong form, Buffett states that the only way to result in superior returns is by using private information or relying on pure luck (Buffett); supporting Buffett’s idea the market is not in semi-strong form. Assuming that market is in semi-strong form, the rationale toward Buffett‘s superior performance is that Buffett has accurate market analysis. Market is not efficient to determine undervalued or overvalued assets and capitalize on the inefficiency (Sappideen, 2009). Buffett is one example of superior performance on undervalued stocks. Buffett Investment Philosophy VS Conventional Finance Theory Risk Diversification Risk is directly related to the difference between price and value. With a smaller dollar difference, the investment is more risky. Buffett employs a margin of safety of 25% (Finkle, 2010) before investing. Based on his measure of risk, Buffett expects high returns when risk is low – not high average returns when risk is high. Buffett discounts (seemingly risk-less) cash flows at the risk free rate (similar to the certainty equivalent approach) not the risk-adjusted discount rate. As a result, Buffett rejects benefits of portfolio diversification (top down approach to investing). The use of diversification as a means to minimize risk is an extensively promoted concept in the financial industry (Polbennikov, Desclee, Hyman, 2010; Jorion, 1985); opposite that of which Buffett recommends. Conventional financial theory dictates that investors are willing to take on higher risk with the prospect of gaining higher returns (Dilmore Wilson, 1992). Whereas Buffett, expects high returns when risk is low. Leverage Buffett mentioned not to use leverage in investments (Lewis, 1992), but usually firms choose to be highly leveraged due to tax advantages (Opler and Titman, 1994). In cases of mergers, an increase in financial leverage benefits shareholders through tax deductibility of interest payments on corporate debt. It might also enhance shareholders’ wealth through an expropriation of wealth from bondholders (Ghosh and Jain, 2000). Merging firms increase their financial leverage around mergers and this can signal better acquisitions, which increases the market value (Maloney, McCormick Mitchell, 1993). Berkshire Hathaway Goldman Sachs During financial crisis in 2008, BH invested $5 billion in Goldman Sachs Group. During the time, Goldman Sachs was blamed by U. S Securities and Exchange Commission’s for placing its client at stake (McGee Frye, 2010). Buffett was sued for civil fraud by regulators and assaulted by Congress for business dealing; without concern for the crisis situation (Patterson, 2010). As a result of investing in Goldman Sachs, Buffett was benefitted and obtained a large return from it. Even though in general, Berkshire’s movements have been ethically sound, Buffett should be aware of unethical behaviours issues that can impact company reputation. Berkshire Hathaway Petro China In April 2003, BH bought 11% of Petro China (Oster Cui, 2007); one of the largest oil companies in the world. BH shareholders fear the issue of genocide between China and Sudan. Consequently, BH sold its stake in 2007 at the cost of losing potential returns (Kostigen, 2007); most prominently because BH became concerned with Petro China’s connection with the Sudanese civil war. Thus action taken by Warren Buffet has influenced large numbers of colleges, universities and states to take action in divesting companies that help fund the genocide in Darfur (Investors against Genocide, 2007). Ethics and Social Responsibility Even though Buffett has been criticized for using political power for personal gain, Buffett and BH do show evidence of having strong ethical behaviour. Buffett as an active philanthropist has donated 5,000 Class B shares of BH stock, worth approximately $16 million, to an unnamed charitable foundation (Associated Press, 2006). As well in 2006, BH was nominated by Fortune to be one of the twenty most admired companies in America and eighth most admired in the world based on their ethics and social responsibility. (Vogl, F. 2006). This pledge shows that Buffett’s concern for the society and can reflect that the company is one that maintains the importance of social responsibility. Based on this rationale, it is worthwhile to invest in BH Conclusion In conclusion, comparable company estimates suggest the price bid for PacifiCorp was pretty fair and within the valuation range. Buffett believes that markets are inefficient; opportunities to profit arise from searching undervalued or overvalued assets. Buffett’s tenure consists of not using leverage in investment and merging firms to enlarge market value to outperform the market. Besides Buffett’s investment records, he’s considered ethically and socially responsible. All in all, it is sensible to invest in Berkshire Hathaway. 15  December 1810) was a writer and critic of 18th-century British children’s literature. Her periodical, The Guardian of Education, helped to define the emerging genre by seriously reviewing children’s literature for the first time; it also provided the first history of children’s literature, establishing a canon of the early landmarks of the genre that scholars still use today. Trimmer’s most popular children’s book, Fabulous Histories, inspired numerous children’s animal stories and remained in print for over a century. Trimmer was also an active philanthropist. She founded several Sunday schools and charity schools in her parish. To further these educational projects, she wrote textbooks and manuals for women interested in starting their own schools. Trimmer’s efforts inspired other women, such as Hannah More, to establish Sunday school programs and to write for children and the poor. Trimmer’s works are dedicated to maintaining many aspects of the social and political status quo. As a high church Anglican, she was intent on promoting the Established Church of England and on teaching young children and the poor the doctrines of Christianity. Her writings outlined the benefits of social hierarchy, arguing that each class should remain in its God-given position. Yet, while supporting many of the traditional political and social ideologies of her time, Trimmer questioned others, such as those surrounding gender and the family. How to cite Berkshire Hathaway, Papers

Finance Principle-Free-Samples for Students-Myassignmenthelp.com

Question: You decide to begin Saving for your retirement. Assume that you determine that you will need $ 300,000 when you retire in 30 years. If you can invest at 8% Compounded Quarterly and will begin Saving in 3 months (one quarter), how much will you need to deposit each quarter to have the required retirement fund? Answer: You decide to begin saving for your retirement. Assume that you determine that you will need $ 300,000 when you retire in 30 years. If you can invest at 8% compounded quarterly and will begin saving in 3 months (one quarter), how much will you need to deposit each quarter to have the required retirement fund? Particulars Value Future value $300,000 Rate 8% = 8%/4 = 2.0% Time 30 = 30*4 = 120 -1 = 119 FV C * (((1+r)t 1) / r) C FV / (((1+r)t 1) / r) C $300,000 / (((1+2%)119 1) / 2%) C $300,000 / 477.70 C $628 The present value of deposits, which needs to be conducted by for the retirement purposes, is $628. Thus, for gathering $300,000 value after the retirement in 30 years $628 will mainly be deposited each quarter for the retirement fund. The time is calculated at 119 quarters, one quarter is deducted for the time taken for conducting savings.

Information System to Manage Stock of Sainsbury-Free-Samples

Question: Develop an Information System to Manage Stock of Sainsbury. Answer: Introduction An information system is becoming a backbone of the organisations as it provides a various set of solutions to the company. An information system is providing a better set of solution to the organisations with the effect of which they can manage their payment system. An information system is one of the aspects without which it would become hard for the banks to process payments, the government would not be able to collect taxes, hospitals would not be able to provide proper treatment to the patients, and it would have become really tough for the supermarkets to maintain the stock in shelves. It is being evaluated that in almost every sector information system is required like it is required in the financial sector, education sector, government sector, healthcare sector, manufacturing sector and almost all type of small and large business. It plays a prominent role for all the businesses and helps them in managing their stocks, orders as well as their payment systems. Hence, a report is developed in which information related to the information system project will be provided which will help the organisation in sustaining and will help in ensuring that it will be able to attain success in the market after applying the project to the workplace. Importance Of Team Negotiation In Project Selection Sainsbury is the organisation which is planning to develop a Management Information System so as to keep the track record of the stock available with it (Coronel Morris, 2016). The company is working towards to develop the project which is effective and will help the same in managing the work and complete the same in a more frequent and effective manner. The selected project will track details of each and every single unit; the track record will be kept with the help of the bar code in which system will manage the counts on the basis of the bar codes swapped. The reason behind developing the project was to ensure that company could remain up to date and should ensure to manage its stock whenever required (Khan, et. al., 2016). Doing so will help the company in providing continuous services to the customers available in the market. The risk of the scarcity of the products and services will be reduced. It was noticed by the management of Sainsbury that person hired by it for the purpose of keeping the track record of the stocks available with the company was not working effectively for the same (Kucherov, Zamulin, 2016). Hence, it has decided to work on the project of management information system so as to ensure that it could maintain a true record and manage the supply of products and services. So as to work on the project, an IT team was hired by Sainsbury to work on the project. In this negotiation was done by the IT team to ensure that the project could be managed in a proper way and all the work could be processed within the deadlines (Chuang, Howley, 2012). There are certain aspects which were taken into consideration in the negotiation, these aspects are: Project should get completed in 2 Months which is equal to 60 days Budget of the project is $50000 Project should be formulated by using the most effective way and path so that it could be completed within the time decided by the company (JIE, 2017) The contract will be formed on fixed basis. Any fluctuations will not be considered in near future. 4 systems will be availed by the company so as to ensure that the project could be processed in an effective way. It is required that a checklist should be prepared at the end of the project to ensure that the each and every requirement of the project should get fulfilled. It is also necessary that the division of work should be done equally so that project team could work effectively on the same (Ajilchi, Kargar, 2015). Project Life Cycle And Its Requirements Managing a project is a very crucial aspect and when it comes to the information system project it becomes more important that all the requirements of the projects should be taken into consideration before processing the same. For a management information system project, one of the most important aspects is time and availability of a proper set of resources (Carvalho, et. al., 2015). It is required that a proper infrastructure should be provided to the team so that they can manage the work effectively. Availability of all set of resources is another aspect which is required to be taken into consideration. Laptops and the internet are the main sources which are required for the project. Selection of appropriate project methodology is another aspect which is required to be focused upon by the project manager (Cengage Lea Schwalbe, 2015). (Coronel Morris, 2016) To ensure that the project could get completed on time it is required that a work breakdown structure should be developed. This will help in maintaining priorities and will help in completing the project on time (Furnham, Gunter, 2015). Focusing upon project life cycle will help in providing a step by step process for the project. It will help in managing the things in the way required so as to complete the project within the deadlines. Project Lifecycle Project lifecycle is a step by step process which helps in developing a framework for the project. It is necessary that a project manager should work on the lifecycle and should prefer to manage the project accordingly (Khan, et. al., 2016). Further discussion will help in developing a better understanding of project life cycle: Initiating Phase: It is necessary that the project should be initiated in which assurance should be made that the purpose of the development of project should remain clear (Kucherov, Zamulin, 2016). The relevant set of information should be gathered in relation to the project which is to be worked upon. In the project of Sainsbury, all the requirements were taken into consideration on the basis of which the project will be initiated. Planning Phase: Planning phase includes, information related to the project and helps in determining all the aspects which will be included in the project. It is important that all the aspects of the project should be planned in the advanced form after which the further decisions for the process of the same should be made (Sikwane, 2016). (Wasson, 2015) Execution Phase: After planning and developing a blueprint for the project it is required that the same should be executed. Execution of all the plans should be done in a proper way. This will help in completing the project in a required form and will help in delivering quality to the same (Pigott, Hobbs, 2011). Project Closure: This is the last step which should be taken into consideration after completion of the project. In the project closure phase, it is required that the project manager should focus on several factors like monitoring, controlling, closure and review of the project. These aspects will help in managing the project in a proper as well as effective way. These are several phases of project life cycle which are required to be focused upon by the project so as to ensure that the project could get completed in an effective and appropriate way (Chuang, Howley, 2012). Work Breakdown Structure Work Breakdown structure of the project helps in determining the priorities of the work in a project management aspect (JIE, 2017). For a project manager, one of the most important aspects is bifurcating project activities, according to the priorities and providing the date of initiation and the date of completion of that particular task. Such type of aspects helps in providing an assurance that the project will get completed within the required dates. Work breakdown structure also helps in ensuring that the project could get completed within the budget developed (Ajilchi, Kargar, 2015). S. No. Activities of Project Initiation Date Completion Date 0 Information System Project for Sainsbury 7-01-2017 7-01-2017 1 Information Gathering 7-01-2017 7-10-2017 2 Adoption of all the Important Aspects 7-10-2017 5-20-2017 2.1 Project Goal Setting 7-10-2017 7-14-2017 2.2 Analysis of Project Requirement 7-14-2017 7-16-2017 2.3 Organizational Process Research 7-16-2017 7-18-2017 2.4 Process Flow Indication 7-18-2017 7-20-2017 3 Developing Project Plan 7-20-2017 7-30-2017 3.1 Preparation of Timeframe 7-20-2017 7-22-2017 3.2 Identification of Deliveries 7-22-2017 7-24-2017 3.3 Developing Modules 7-24-2017 7-27-2017 3.4 Activity Division 7-27-2017 7-30-2017 3.5 Priority Setting 7-30-2017 7-30-2017 3.5.1 Presenting Graphically 7-30-2017 8-05-2017 4 Executing Plans 8-05-2017 8-20-2017 4.1 Introducing Software 8-05-2017 8-06-2017 4.2 Preparing Project Structure 8-06-2017 8-07-2017 4.3 Programming 8-07-2017 8-08-2017 4.4 Running Codes 8-08-2017 8-20-2017 5 Project Closure 8-20-2017 8-30-2017 5.1 Checklist development 8-20-2017 8-22-2017 5.2 Monitoring and Controlling 8-22-2017 8-24-2017 5.3 Management Report Development 8-24-2017 8-25-2017 5.4 Testing/Removing Bugs 8-25-2017 8-29-2017 6 Closing/Terminating 8-29-2017 8-30-2017 Gantt Chart (Carvalho, et. al., 2015) The above Gantt chart is showing the schedule for the project. With the help of the above Gantt chart bifurcation of each and every activity could be seen in an appropriate way (Cengage Lea Schwalbe, 2015). The Gantt chart developed by the project manager will provide a proper direction on the basis of which further project will be processed in an appropriate as well as in an effective way. Scope Sainsbury was planning to work on the project so as to manage the stock. An information system will be developed which will help Sainsbury to manage the stock and to evaluate all the aspects which are required. This project will help in managing the stock and will help in determining the requirements of the workplace. Such type of aspects helps in fulfilling the requirement of the people available in the market. The scope of this project is to manage the work process and to ensure that stock available with the company could be managed also to ensure that demand and supply of the company could be managed in an appropriate as well as in the way which is required by the market (Coronel Morris, 2016). Project Budget ACTIVITIES EXPENSES($) Project Performa 15000 Developing Modules 5000 IT team members Fees 20000 Purchasing Systems 5000 Misc. Expenses 5000 Total 50000 The budget developed will help in managing the things in an appropriate way. This budget will provide a direction to the project management team that on which aspects how much expenses are required to be paid. This budget will help in reducing the unnecessary costs which could incur in the project in near future (Furnham, Gunter, 2015). Project Management Model Information system project will be developed for Sainsbury so that its inventory and stock could get managed in a proper way. To manage the project in a proper way it is required that an appropriate project management model should be chosen by the project manager (Khan, et. al., 2016). To make the assurance for this system configuration and development model is chosen by the project manager. To ensure that the project could be completed in a proper and quality could get delivered system configuration and development will be applied. (Kucherov, Zamulin, 2016) Project Management Plan Project management is the process which will help in delivering all the activities in a right order. Developing a project plan and initiating all the aspects in an appropriate way will help the project manager in fulfilling project requirements. Although a proper project plan was shown in work breakdown structure and in the Gantt chart developed by the project manager. It is required that a project manager should work towards evaluate all the critical aspects of the project. These aspects will be shown in the project plan developed (Sikwane, 2016). For a successful project, it is required that human resource planning should be done in an appropriate way. Then a work management plan should be developed Then time management plan will be developed by the project manager After time management plan it is required that a cost management plan should be developed After this, an information management plan will be developed Then the next step is to develop a risk management plan (Wasson, 2015) And the last step is to develop a quality management plan which will help in managing the quality of the project. Critical Path (Pigott, Hobbs, 2011) Critical path method is the method which is used by the project manager to provide a proper support. It is necessary that a proper path should be used by the project manager to formulate the project (Chuang, Howley, 2012). Applying the shortest and most appropriate path will help the project manager to manage the things in a proper way. Critical path method helps in estimating the critical path and the path which is most suitable for the completion of the project. It is required that the project manager should choose and apply the most appropriate path so as to manage the project and to complete the same within the time period decided by the project manager and the company. Critical path method will help in managing the things according to the time decided and will help in managing the project within the budget decided (JIE, 2017) Conclusion At the end, it could be concluded that the project which is developed by the project manager will provide a proper set of help and support to Sainsbury. It is required that a project manager should consider each and every aspect which is provided in the report. Work breakdown structure helps in developing a project plan also provides a direction moving on which will help the company in developing a quality project. Critical path method is the most appropriate method which could be used by the project manager to manage the project in the direction planned by the same. The project plan is one of the most effective aspects which could be used to manage the things in a right order. Development of the budget is another aspect which is required to be focused upon by the project manager. A budget helps in providing a set direction with the help of which project manager could reduce the unnecessary expenses which could incur in the project in near future. Gantt chart helps in ensuring that t he project team could work properly on the project and project requirements could be fulfilled in an appropriate and effective way. References Ajilchi, B. and Kargar, F.R., (2015). Prediction of job stress among employees through the dimensions of time management skills by managers. Indian Journal of Science and Technology, 8(34), 1. Carvalho, S.W., Muralidharan, E. and Bapuji, H., (2015). Corporate Social Irresponsibility: Are Consumers Biases in Attribution of Blame Helping Companies in ProductHarm Crises Involving Hybrid Products?. Journal of Business Ethics, 130(3), 651-663. Cengage Lea Schwalbe, K., (2015). Information technology project management. Cengage Learning. Chuang, S. and Howley, P. (2012). Beyond root cause analysis: An enriched system oriented event analysis model for wide application. Systems Engineering, 16(4), 427-438. Coronel, C. and Morris, S., (2016). Database systems: design, implementation, management. Chicago: Cengage Learning. Furnham, A. and Gunter, B., (2015). Corporate Assessment (Routledge Revivals): Auditing a Company's Personality. London: Routledge. JIE, Z. (2017). Exploration and Analysis on Professional Financial Skill Teaching of Applied Undergraduate Accounting Specialty.DEStech Transactions on Economics, Business, and Management, 122-133. Khan, F., Thodi, P., Imtiaz, S. and Abbassi, R., (2016). Real-time monitoring and management of offshore process system integrity. Current Opinion in Chemical Engineering, 14, 61-71. Kucherov, D. and Zamulin, A., (2016). Employer branding practices for young talents in IT companies (Russian experience). Human Resource Development International, 19(2), 178-188. Pigott, D. and Hobbs, V. (2011). Complex knowledge modelling with functional entity relationship diagrams. VINE, 41(2), 192-211. Sikwane, B., (2016). The CSIR partners with IBM, Wits and the dti to help develop the next generations technology skills. CSIR Science Scope, 9(1), 75-75. Wasson, C.S., (2015). System Engineering Analysis, Design, and Development: Concepts, Principles, and Practices. John Wiley Sons.

An Investigation Of How Mood Affects Theory-Of-Mind Use In Pre-School Children The WritePass Journal

An Investigation Of How Mood Affects Theory-Of-Mind Use In Pre-School Children Background An Investigation Of How Mood Affects Theory-Of-Mind Use In Pre-School Children BackgroundProposed ResearchProcedure. Mood Induction. False-Belief Task. PredictionsReferences Related Background â€Å"Theory of mind† (ToM) is the ability to reason other people’s beliefs, intentions and desires (Baron-Cohen et al., 1985). Over the last two decades, there has been considerable developmental research into ToM using the â€Å"false-belief task† (e.g. Baron-Cohen et al., 1985, Wellman et al., 2001). The majority of research has established that ToM is present in young children and develops in a predictable sequence through childhood (Wellman Liu, 2004). For example, by three years of age, children can understand that two individuals can hold different beliefs (Wimmer Perner, 1983) and by age four, can understand that people can have â€Å"false-beliefs† contrary to reality (Wellman Liu, 2004). Recent research has even demonstrated that adults have difficulties with false-belief tasks (Birch Bloom, 2007). However, a recent paper by Converse et al (2008) examined the role of incidental mood on ToM. Grounded in the view that ToM requires effortful and deliberative processing (Kahneman, 2003), researchers found that when distinguishing between one’s own and other’s beliefs, participants were facilitated by sad moods compared to happy moods. This is because happiness is associated with heuristic processing whilst sadness is associated with systematic and deliberative processing (Converse et al., 2008). In their study, adult participants underwent a musical mood induction procedure (MMIP) and were randomly allocated to two conditions (â€Å"happy† and â€Å"sad†). Those in the former condition were asked to listen to a song from a pre-selected list of happy songs whilst participants in the latter condition were required to listen to a sad song. Following the mood induction, participants completed a false-belief task in which they read one of two versions of a sc enario and estimate a character’s behaviour. Whilst the character has the same knowledge in both versions, participants received different information. Researchers then measured low ToM use by observing whether participants had an increased reliance on their own private knowledge. The study is an important contribution to the current body of knowledge on ToM as the findings suggest that a) mood states do have important consequences for mental-state inferences and b) variability in ToM studies may be explained by mood. However, despite these contributions, the study solely focused on a sample of adults and failed to explore how mood affects ToM use in children. This is an important oversight given that the majority of developments in ToM have been based on studies with children, therefore, suggesting significant implications for research if mood is found to significantly impact children’s ToM judgments. Moreover, given children’s increased susceptibility to mood induction (De Haan Gunnar, 2009), mood may have even more potent effects on ToM in children. This current study will therefore examine the role of mood in affecting ToM use in children for the first time. It will attempt to bolster previous findings that mood does influence ToM and clarify the role of mood in influencing deliberative processing in ToM. In so doing, the study will replicate the original procedure, but with modifications to the mood induction and the false-belief task. In fact, a clear strength of this study is that the false-belief task was originally devised to be used with children and not adults (Baron-Cohen et al., 1985), making the task particularly suitable for use with children. In addition, previous research has supported the fact that mood induction procedures can effectively impact children’s positive and negative emotions (Brenner, 2000). Proposed Research There are modifications made to the experimental procedure. As mood induction requires participants to follow explicit instructions, changes to the MMIP will be implemented according to the study’s sample of pre-school children. For example, although researchers (e.g. Dalla Bella et al., 2001) have found that most 5 year olds can distinguish positive and negative valence in music, a MMIP may not be sufficient for invoking moods in children. Children will therefore undergo an additional mood induction. Moreover, in the original study, adult participants completed a pre- and post- induction self-report (Positive-and-Negative Affect Schedule; Watson Clark, 1994) to serve as a manipulation check. However, as a self-report is difficult to implement with young children, an alternative manipulation check is needed. There are also important ethical considerations associated with a MMIP in children. The experimenter will need to ensure that mood induction does not cause long-term effe cts, but is also not too short-lived to observe its effects. Method Participants 100 children aged 4-6 years old will be recruited from local schools through flyers and e-mail bulletins. Procedure. On the day of testing, each child will be guided to an individual room. To provide a replication of the Converse et al (2008) study, a 2 X 2 between-subjects experimental design will include a mood induction and false-belief task. Researchers will randomly allocate children to 2 conditions: â€Å"happy† and â€Å"sad† and undergo the mood induction. Both groups then complete the same false-belief task. The entire procedure takes a total of 40 minutes. Mood Induction. The mood induction scenario for each condition will make amendments to the MMIP in the Converse et al (2008) study. Each child will first be shown a sheet of paper with a series of â€Å"smiley faces† ranging from very sad to very happy, and asked to point to the image that best describes how they feel. This is the baseline affect manipulation check. Children will then be instructed to listen to a song played via speakers. Children in the happy condition will listen to two songs from the original list of songs in the Converse et al (2008) study and children in the sad condition will listen to two sad songs. In both conditions, children will be explicitly told â€Å"Now, I am going to play a   â€Å"happy† / â€Å"sad† song so please listen carefully to the song†. Children will then be presented with a model figure on a sheet of paper and asked to draw a replica of the figure on a plain sheet of A4 paper. In the happy condition, children will be presented with a smiling figure and in the sad condition, children will be asked to copy a sad figure. Following this, children will be presented with the sheet of faces and asked to point to the face which describes how they feel to provide a post-task rating of affect. A second manipulation check will be the size of their drawing as research has suggested that drawing size is associated with a child’s affect. Larger drawings indicative of positive affect and smaller drawings are indicative of negative affect (Forrest Thomas, 1991). False-Belief Task. The false-belief task is the classic â€Å"Sally-Anne task† (Baron-Cohen et al., 1985). Each child is seated at a table with two dolls. The experimenter tells the child that the dolls are named Anne and Sally and checks that the child has understood these names. Each doll is placed in front of a basket and square box. The experimenter then enacts a scene in which a marble is hidden in Sally’s basket to ‘hide’ the marble with Anne looking on. Sally then â€Å"leaves the room† and the marble is then re-hidden in the box. Sally returns and the experimenter prompts the child with three questions: ‘Where will Sally look for her marble?’ (â€Å"belief question†) ‘Where is the marble really?’ (â€Å"reality question†) ‘Where was the marble in the beginning?’ (â€Å"memory question†) Predictions There are a number of predictions for the current study. Firstly, it is expected that the findings of the original study will be replicated in the sample of pre-school children. That is, I expect that after controlling for age effects, children in the sad condition will score higher on the belief, reality and memory questions in the Sally-Anne task. This will be due to a greater deliberative processing associated with a sad mood. These findings will provide support for the idea that ToM requires deliberative processing and such processing is associated with sad moods rather than happy moods. Second, I expect that there will be a number of age differences in performance on the Sally-Anne task. I expect that younger children, due to their increased susceptibility to mood induction, will have a greatly diminished ToM on the Sally-Anne task due to the more pronounced impact of mood on their deliberative processing. However, it must be noted that it is possible that the results of the current study will not replicate the original study. This may be due to a number of factors. Firstly, it is possible that the mood induction procedures are not powerful enough to invoke happy and sad moods for children or they produce effects that are too short term to observe any effects in the false belief task. Second, it may be that the deliberative processing associated with sad moods and the heuristic processing associated with happy moods is not developed sufficiently in pre-school children, and is only salient in adulthood. If this is the case, this provides impetus for future research focused on testing the influence of mood on ToM in older children and adolescents. References Baron-Cohen, S., Leslie, A. M., Frith, U. (1985). Does the autistic child have a ‘‘theory of mind’’? Cognition, 21, 37–46. Birch, S. A. J., Bloom, P. (2007). The curse of knowledge in reasoning about false beliefs. Psychological Science, 18(5), 382–386. Brenner, E. (2000). Mood induction in children: Methodological implications. Review of General Psychology, 4, 264-283. Converse, B. A., Shuhong, L., Boaz, K., Epley, N. (2008). In the Mood To Get Over Yourself: Mood Affects Theory-of-Mind Use. Emotion, 8(5), 725-630. Dalla Bella, S., Peretz, I., Rousseau, L., Gosselin, N. (2001). A developmental study of the affective value of tempo and mode in music. Cognition, 80, B1-B10. de Haan, M., Gunnar, M.R. (2009). Handbook of Developmental Social Neuroscience. The Guilford Press. Forrest, M. Thomas, G.V. (1991). An exploratory study of drawings by bereaved children, British Journal of Clinical Psychology, 30, 373-374. Kahneman, D. (2003). A perspective on judgment and choice: Mapping bounded rationality. American Psychologist, 58, 697–720. Watson, D., Clark, L. A. (1994). The PANAS-X: Manual for the positive and negative affect schedule-Expanded Form. Iowa City: University of Iowa. Wimmer, H.; Perner, J. (1983). Beliefs about beliefs: Representation and constraining function of wrong beliefs in young childrens understanding of deception. Cognition  13(1), 103–128. Wellman, H. M., Cross, D., Watson, J. (2001). Meta-analysis of theory-of-mind development: The truth about false belief. Child Development, 72, 655–684. Wellman, H. M., Liu, D. (2004). Scaling of Theory-Of-Mind Tasks. Child Development, 75(2), 523-541.

Cars And Technology Example

Cars And Technology Example Cars And Technology – Article Example Cars and Technology Cars and Technology At some point, the basic car innovations were considered new and advanced. However, advancement in technology allows for the production of cars that are futuristic and technologically savvy. The automotive industry, recently, has been a reflection of all that is high-tech. There has been a rapid shift from the basic commuter products, to ease, luxurious, and comfort-filled products. All these come with the advancement in the technological era (Volti, 2006). This paper will examine some of the innovations that ensure automotive advancements make the car industry a powerful force. The Global Positioning System (GPS) has been part of the automobile industry for quite some time. However, advancement in technology leads to the creation of new GPS. This ranges from the anti-theft GPS, to the tracking system that monitors vehicle movement. New GPS has an automated voice to instruct one of the directions one should take. Another innovation that emanate s from the automotive industry is the sync technology. Partnerships among the major corporations in the technology era and the automobile industry are ensuring individuals enjoy their automobiles (Volti, 2006). An example includes partnership between Ford and Microsoft. This sync technology enables a driver to communicate with someone, text, or listen to music through voice command. This is what is defined as hands-free technology, which encourages a driver to enjoy their vehicles features. This is without running the risk of endangering other road users. Safety cameras are becoming a worldwide phenomenon in this industry. These cameras offer drivers information on oncoming traffic, and pedestrians. In some instances, there is also night vision. Motion detection is also something worth noting about these advancements (Volti, 2006). In conclusion, the advancement in technology allows for many fields to grow and develop. It is vital to note this development in the automotive industry . It has assisted the industry to grow, hence; fostering many partnerships among them. This advancement is only an assurance of what more is to come, and the future in automobiles is now (Volti, 2006). ReferenceVolti, R. (2006). Cars and culture: The life story of a technology. New York: Cambridge University Press.

Cardiovascular disease Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Cardiovascular disease - Research Paper Example It is estimated that around 23.6 million people will die from this type of disease by the year 2030 (Global Atlas on Cardiovascular Disease Prevention and Control). Because of the significant effect of cardiovascular disease to the health and well-being of a significant percentage of the population, the causes and controls of this illness is necessary to investigate and fathom. Cardiovascular disease refers to any ailment that implicates the cardiovascular system which is comprised of the heart and blood vessels including the arteries, veins and capillaries. This class of disease includes but not limited to coronary heart disease, also known as coronary or ischaemic heart disease, heart failure, hypertensive heart disease, cardiomyopathy, cardiac dysrhythmias, cor pulmonale, valvular heart disease, inflammatory heart disease, stroke, cerebrovascular disease and peripheral arterial disease (Kelly 74). Usually, patients are not aware that they are prone or already have the diseases of this nature until they undergo a thorough medical examination. According to Seizer (27), examples of symptoms that signal the patients to seek medical attention are â€Å"sudden loss of consciousness, severe dizziness or faintness, severe chest pain, severe shortness of breath, or sudden onset of rapid heart action.† Chronic symptoms of shortness of breath, palpitations and chest pains are also common reasons for patients to go to hospitals. Undiagnosed heart problems often lead the patients to feel abnormal shortness of breath even when there is no strenuous activity being done. This is brought about by dyspenea, or the diseases of the heart and lungs associated to damaged function of the left ventricle, which leads to hyperventilation. Palpitations deals with the sudden and unusual heart action at unprovoked circumstances, affecting the heart to beat at an irregular pace. This abnormality is called arrhythmia. On the other hand, chest pain is the main symptom of

Compare and contrast the philisophical positions of Thales and Essay

Compare and contrast the philisophical positions of Thales and Anaximander - Essay Example He hypothesized several things that provided a logical pattern for the critique of natural phenomenon. For instance, he assumed that earthquakes are caused because the earth floated on something and this meant that some situation could cause the earth to shake and hence cause the earthquakes. This was something most people in his generation had never really thought about. Herodotus cites that Thales used logic and mathematics to predict the solar eclipse of 585 that ended the war between Lydians and Medes. Thales’ main methodology was to explain the logic of things through geometry and this included the long, square and cube of an object Anaximander was a student of Thales and as such, he took the teachings and principles of his teacher to the next level. Anaximander was mainly interested in the mechanics of the earth and how it related to the universe(Philosophy Basics, 2008). Therefore, he went beyond the basic geometry of Thales and studied the earth’s position in the universe with principles in cosmology, meteorology and geography. This was a multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary approach that provided explanations about the origins and position of the earth. Thales and Anaximander were pioneering scientist in Pre-Socratic Greece. Thales was the first to question things using the logic of natural science instead of metaphysics. He developed methods including geometry to explain natural events. Anaximander, his student consolidated his basic ideas and integrated other elements of scientific testing and new disciplines to deduce the position of the earth in the