Ocean city and Clearwater beach Essay Example for Free

Ocean city and Clearwater beach Essay One of the great things about summer is going to the beaches. Over the past ten years my family and I have had the pleasure of heading up to Ocean City Maryland on the eastern shore. The beach there is an excellent place for the family to get together and have fun. The sand at Ocean City is an off white color and warm to the touch and the water with its bluish green color feels cool on your skin. Ocean City has one of the largest boardwalks on the east coast with its many shops, stores, and restaurants it attracts families from all around the world. Ocean city also has a great amusement park for all the kids at heart and for all the true little people. However, At times it does tend to get a bit crowed but that’s half the fun of going to the beach the sights, sounds, the smells, and the many different types of people all enjoying themselves. A few years ago we did happen to change up a bit and headed down to Clearwater Florida for a short vacation the beach in Clearwater is also a very nice beach the sand there is a pure white color and feels so cool on your feet as you walk upon it, and the water is a very clean clear light blue, and very warm as you wad though it. You can even see your feet as small fish move around you Clearwater beach doesn’t have a boardwalk, but it does have the many restaurants and shops to visit. I did notice that Clearwater beach seems to be more geared to the young professional type people. There isn’t an amusement park for the kids and it didn’t seem like many families were there. The time that I spent there it never seemed to get crowded at all, but that was fine because it was relaxing and a nice change of pace. I would recommend both beaches to anyone that wants to get away for a good time, good people and a change of the norm.

Finding True Freedom in Kate Chopins The Awakening Essay -- Chopin A

Finding True Freedom in The Awakening   Kate Chopin's novel, The Awakening details the endeavors of heroine Edna Pontellier to cope with the realization that she is not, nor can she ever be, the woman she wants to be. Edna has settled for less. She is married for all the wrong reasons, saddled with the burden of motherhood, and trapped by social roles that would never release her. The passage below is only one of the many tender and exquisitely sensory passages that reveal Edna’s soul to the reader. "The voice of the sea is seductive; never ceasing, whispering, dancing, murmuring, inviting the soul to wander for a spell in abysses of solitude; to lose itself in mazes of inward contemplation. The voice of the sea speaks to the soul. The touch of the sea is sensuous, enfolding the body in its soft, close embrace."(32) When Edna's one chance for change; her only hope, Robert, deserts her, she realizes that her dreams are unachievable.   It is this grim acceptance that steals our heroine's last shard of optimism from her. Edna Pontellier's suicide is completely believable, justifiable, and understandable. This world was too cruel for her tender spirit; this life too stifling for her to bear. None of this surprises me. How many women (or men, for that matter) go through life with their eyes closed? How many find it easier to simply shut out the ugliness and horror that surrounds them? Finally seeing the loathsome existence they are a part of can simply be "too much" for many to sustain. Utter despair and hopelessness soon devour that fragile soul, with frailty too great for this existence. Mr. Pontellier's thoughts reveal much about Edna's nature to us, and perhaps most of her mistakes as well. He feels that "his wife... ... The social roles she was trying to break away from would never really have released her. "Leonce and the children†¦were a part of her life. But they need not have thought that they could possess her, body and soul" (137). I find myself wishing that she had never opened her eyes; that she could have lived out her days blissfully ignorant of the circumstances which bound her. This being impossible, even more than the idea of a life of her own, Edna chose the only possible option to escape from an existence full of unfulfilled desires and unhappiness. Edna re-enters the sea; scene of her first taste of power and emancipation. She returns because it offers her the only other possible freedom she is allowed; the freedom of death. It is not an act of weakness, or romanticism†¦it is that of a woman claiming her liberty, her strength†¦and her self†¦one last time.    Finding True Freedom in Kate Chopin's The Awakening Essay -- Chopin A Finding True Freedom in The Awakening   Kate Chopin's novel, The Awakening details the endeavors of heroine Edna Pontellier to cope with the realization that she is not, nor can she ever be, the woman she wants to be. Edna has settled for less. She is married for all the wrong reasons, saddled with the burden of motherhood, and trapped by social roles that would never release her. The passage below is only one of the many tender and exquisitely sensory passages that reveal Edna’s soul to the reader. "The voice of the sea is seductive; never ceasing, whispering, dancing, murmuring, inviting the soul to wander for a spell in abysses of solitude; to lose itself in mazes of inward contemplation. The voice of the sea speaks to the soul. The touch of the sea is sensuous, enfolding the body in its soft, close embrace."(32) When Edna's one chance for change; her only hope, Robert, deserts her, she realizes that her dreams are unachievable.   It is this grim acceptance that steals our heroine's last shard of optimism from her. Edna Pontellier's suicide is completely believable, justifiable, and understandable. This world was too cruel for her tender spirit; this life too stifling for her to bear. None of this surprises me. How many women (or men, for that matter) go through life with their eyes closed? How many find it easier to simply shut out the ugliness and horror that surrounds them? Finally seeing the loathsome existence they are a part of can simply be "too much" for many to sustain. Utter despair and hopelessness soon devour that fragile soul, with frailty too great for this existence. Mr. Pontellier's thoughts reveal much about Edna's nature to us, and perhaps most of her mistakes as well. He feels that "his wife... ... The social roles she was trying to break away from would never really have released her. "Leonce and the children†¦were a part of her life. But they need not have thought that they could possess her, body and soul" (137). I find myself wishing that she had never opened her eyes; that she could have lived out her days blissfully ignorant of the circumstances which bound her. This being impossible, even more than the idea of a life of her own, Edna chose the only possible option to escape from an existence full of unfulfilled desires and unhappiness. Edna re-enters the sea; scene of her first taste of power and emancipation. She returns because it offers her the only other possible freedom she is allowed; the freedom of death. It is not an act of weakness, or romanticism†¦it is that of a woman claiming her liberty, her strength†¦and her self†¦one last time.   

Teacher Centered And Learner Centered

Student-CenteredStudent-centered learning is viewed as a progressive approach to teaching. The focus in student-centered learning is to make students more aware of the material they are learning and why it is important. Teachers want to make students more active in the classroom, by encouraging them to interact with one another. The teacher measures achievement based on individual student performance, instead of comparing each person to their peers. Teachers practicing student-centered learning techniques encourage students to create their own learning goals. Instead of writing objectives on the syllabus that states the material that will be covered during the course, these teachers write objectives displaying the knowledge the student will gain after completing the course. Teachers encourage students to learn through activities such as classroom debates, discussions, peer mentoring, field trips, creating individual portfolios and participating in both self and peer reviews. By incor porating these activities into the lesson, teachers want students to learn skills that can be transferred to other activities in their students’ lives.Teacher-CenteredTeacher-centered learning is the traditional approach used by educators in the classroom. This method of teaching is very regimented. Teachers choose the course material based on the curriculum they are required to cover by the end of the semester. Student success is based upon a measure of individual performance in comparison to the work of the rest of the class. Emphasis is placed on the instructor in a teacher-centered classroom. The lecture follows a strict format where the teacher talks and the students listen to what she has to say. The classroom is very quiet, as students work on assignments individually, instead of with their peers. Classroom objectives are measured upon the amount of material covered, not necessarily the level of learning achieved by each student. Students are all given the same learnin g goals, which are based on the information covered in class. Teacher Centered And Learner Centered Student-CenteredStudent-centered learning is viewed as a progressive approach to teaching. The focus in student-centered learning is to make students more aware of the material they are learning and why it is important. Teachers want to make students more active in the classroom, by encouraging them to interact with one another. The teacher measures achievement based on individual student performance, instead of comparing each person to their peers.Teachers practicing student-centered learning techniques encourage students to create their own learning goals. Instead of writing objectives on the syllabus that states the material that will be covered during the course, these teachers write objectives displaying the knowledge the student will gain after completing the course. Teachers encourage students to learn through activities such as classroom debates, discussions, peer mentoring, field trips, creating individual portfolios and participating in both self and peer reviews. By incorp orating these activities into the lesson, teachers want students to learn skills that can be transferred to other activities in their students’ lives.Teacher-CenteredTeacher-centered learning is the traditional approach used by educators in the classroom. This method of teaching is very regimented. Teachers choose the course material based on the curriculum they are required to cover by the end of the semester. Student success is based upon a measure of individual performance in comparison to the work of the rest of the class. Emphasis is placed on the instructor in a teacher-centered classroom.The lecture follows a strict format where the teacher talks and the students listen to what she has to say. The classroom is very quiet, as students work on assignments individually, instead of with their peers. Classroom objectives are measured upon the amount of material covered, not necessarily the level of learning achieved by each student. Students are all given the same learning goals, which are based on the information covered in class.

An analysis of the volatility of precious metals - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 8 Words: 2292 Downloads: 2 Date added: 2017/06/26 Category Uncategorized Essay Type Analytical essay Did you like this example? The article on commodities has focused on price co-movements and their roles in conveying information about the macroeconomic. The gold and silver are those precious metals that mainly focused by the existing research. The previous research do not examine precious metals shock and volatility cross effects, therefore there is a main weakness if one considers such applications as hedging. Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "An analysis of the volatility of precious metals" essay for you Create order There are three objective of study this article. The board objective of study this article is to analyze the conditional volatility and the correlation dependency and interdependency for the four major precious metal, they are gold, silver, palladium and platinum. Besides that, the second objective is to analyze the volatility feedback causes between the US dollar exchange and the four precious metal. The writer expect that the metal volatility will be higher if the US dollar is weaker. And the third objective is to derive the implications of the approximate results on variances and covariances for set up optimal portfolio designs and hedging strategies. 2.Review of the Literature The research of industrial is more ample on analyze their co-movement and the information transmissions if compare illustrating their volatility and correlation dependency and interdependence. According to McKenzie et al. (2001), that the asymmetric effects are not present and the model did not provide an adequate explanation of the data. Tully and Lucey(2007) agreed that the exchange rate is the main macroeconomic variable that will impact the golds volatility, however few other macroeconomic variable had an impact. Besides that, Batten and Lucey (2007) using intraday (high frequency) and interday data in order to analyze the gold futures contracts volatility that traded on the Chicago Board of Trade. Garman and Klass (1980) have analyze the volatility properties of the future returns by the univariate GARCH model and the alternative nonparametric Garman-Klass volatility range statistic. Furthermore, That palladium, platinum, copper and gold futures have chaotic str uctures is agree by Yang and Brorsen (1993). The volatility in the prices of nine non-oil commodities, such as gold and silver, to volatility in oil prices have compared by Plourde and Watkins (1998). 3. Data Description From January 4, 1999 until November 5, 2007, we investigated the four main precious commodity closing spot prices ,exchange rate of U.S. dollar and the federal funds rate. The COMEX in New York have traded the gold (GOLD), silver (SILV), palladium (PALL), and platinum (PLAT) and their entire price are measured in US dollars per troy ounce. Since the precious metals, specially gold, are susceptible to geopolitical crises. The precious metal are dissimilar with the oil grades, the statistics has show that the precious metals are not belong to one great pool. Based on the coefficient of variation, if compare with all precious metals prices, the gold price has the lowest historical volatility, in contract palladium price has the highest historical volatility because of the palladiums supply is relatively small. The above-ground supply of gold is more than 10% of its annual demand and production. The gold has an monetary component and it is not used oftentimes in exchange market, the refore the volatility of the gold price is low. Besides that, Gold is known to have notoriously extended bear markets, in opposite silver price is more commodity-driven than gold as its monetary element was gradually phased out. The statistics for the metals returns normally follow those for their prices. Palladium return has the highest historical volatility, it is followed by silver , in adverse gold return has the lowest if compare with the four metals. When the market is up, silver is performs better than gold, however when then market is down the silver does worse. In term of historical return means, the precious metal that highest average return is platinum, followed by silver, in contrary gold and palladium have the lowest averages in return. The historical return correlation between palladium and platinum is the highest compare with all precious metals and it is positive, followed by the correlation between returns of gold and silver. In opposite, the lowest correla tion is between gold and palladium and it is positive. There is a distinct strong correlation between gold and platinum. The change in the federal funds rate has a inverse correlation with those precious metals, same as the exchange rate. 4.Methodology We used the VARMA-GARCH model in order to concentrate on interdependence of conditional variance and correlation among the precious metals and the exchange rate. Furthermore, we have using vary types of GARCH models to analyze the hedging strategies for the bullion market. Besides that , we also have used Multivariate Dynamic Conditional Correlation GARCH model (DCC-MGARCH) in order to use it to inspect on the dynamics of the first model. 5.Empirical Results 5.1. Model I(VATMA-GARCH): The Four Precious Metals This VARMA-GARFCH Model 1 is for focus on the four precious metal in presence of geopolitics. Own shock volatility The different precious metals have vary degree of news sensitivity. The four precious metal have separated into two groups because of the news-oriented result: the gold and palladium are dropped into the high news-sensitivity group, and the silver and platinum have dropped into the low news-sensitivity group. The gold is very sensitive to news, it is because gold is the most concerned metal by the traders and policy makers. In contrast, the platinum has the lowest shock sensitivity, maybe is because it is expensive. The investor who are favor volatility should focus on the first group, and those who are more disfavor volatility should be concentrate in second group. Own volatility dependency The result have reflex that the precious metals are normally more impact by common fundamental factors than by shock. The silver and platinum are placed in the high volatility sensitivity group, in opposite gold and palladium are in the low volatility sensitivity group. The gold is comparatively less sensitive to macroeconomic variable in long run, due to its large supply of above-ground. The silver is more influenced by macroeconomic factors than gold, therefore silver is more commodity-driven then gold. If investors added the gold into the portfolio, it is possible to increase the volatility in short term but not in long term, because of its short run sensitivity to news. In contrast , in long term due to its long run above-ground supply may smoothes the fluctuations. Short-run shock interdependency The cross shock effects among all four precious metals are limited, due to the precious metal are not belong to one great pool. When there is shocks to palladium, the platinum volatility will be cool off, it is maybe because of they both are substitutes in industrial production. If there are a shock to the gold, the gold will impact positively to the silver. Furthermore, gold and silver are also used in jewelry industry, therefore the investment portfolios of gold and silver can be a safe havens. Long-run volatility interdependency The long-run cross shock affects of cross past volatility are significant to all precious metals. Gold metal is the most sensitive to long-run volatility interdependence with respect to other metal. Gold have the strongest cross volatility spillover affect on those on those other metals, it is because of the gold are used in jewelry industry and it is a part of international reserve, in contrast, other metals are used in substantially in industrial uses. The strong interdependence with gold is maybe is due to its vast above-ground supply and the gold is close relationship with the dollar. Besides that, gold are most being concerned by those traders. Silver and platinums past volatilities are offset each others current volatility, that mean they are negatively impact by common fundamental factors. Therefore, silver and platinum may not be included in a portfolio that are purposes to reducing volatility in long run. Geopolitics Those metals are sensitive to the geopolitical events, such as the 2003 Iraq war was slightly elevated the mean returns of both gold and silver as a result of flight to safety, in opposite, platinum and palladium are not show the same flight to safety in the war. Silver was responded positively to this war, while platinum and palladium are responded negatively in the long run. That mean traders of those metals are hedge diverse against volatility caused by geopolitics. Constant condition correlations (CCC) All the CCC between those precious metals return are positive. The highest CCC is between the platinum and palladium, the two metals are also used in the same industries. The second highest CCC is between the gold and silver, and both metals are the most diffusely traded among the precious metals. Besides that, both metals are also used in jewelry. In contrast, the lowest CCC is between the gold and palladium, gold is the mopt traded metal, while palladium are the least traded metal. 5.2. Model II (Expanded VARMA-GARCH): Precious Metals and Exchange Rate The expanded volatility system has included the exchange rate of dollar and the precious metals, exclude palladium. Palladium is excluded is because of three reasons. First, it have a very small annual production if compare to gold and silver. Second, it is not widely traded in the world. Lastly, it is because the VARMA-GARCH did not converge when palladium was added to other three metals. Gold is a metal that highly sensi tive monetary policy and the change in the exchange rate. The gold and the platinum are the highest in this cross exchange rate volatility, that mean that there are economic fundamental factors are related to the exchange rate volatility that intensify the volatility of precious metals. Gold has the strongest cross reversal impact, while silver and platinum have lower but also similar effect. Besides that, golds past volatility have intensify the exchange rate volatility. The gold and US dollar are integral part of international foreign reserve of central bank, gold is also first safe haven for US dollar. Those monetary policy makers are think about the gold is a harbinger of inflation. The 2003 Iraq war have impact on the both metal returns and volatility significantly. The silvers average return is the most affected, while the platinum return is impacted the least. Besides that, the war have increase the volatility of the three precious metals as well as US dollar volatility. T he gold volatility is affected most, while the platinum is the least. FRR as a monetary policy variable in the system decrease the metal volatility, it is because of the metal-to-metal volatility are modified by the metal-to-exchange rate volatility despite the strong volatility to the exchange rate from those metals. 5.3. Model III (VARMA-DCC): The Four Precious Metals This Model III is to justify on the dynamics of the Model I. 5.4. Model IV (Expanded VARMA-DCC): Precious Metals and Exchange Rate The restricting the shock and the volatility spillovers are do not impact the own shock effect much, however it have mixed effects on the own volatility spillovers. Besides that, the Model IV is to justify on the dynamics of the Model II. 6. Implications for Portfolio Designs and Hedging Strategies There are example for constructing a optimal portfolio and hedging strategic for precious metals. The first example is follows Kroner and Ng (1998) by a portfolio that can reducing the risk but did not lowering the expected return of the portfolio. For example, there are a suggestion that optimal holding gold by holding portfolio that include gold and silver, the portfolio of gold in one dollar should be 81cents for gold, and 19 cents for silvers. This optimal portfolio weight advise that traders should hold more gold than silver and also other precious metals in order to reduce the risk without reducing the expected return, because the CCC of the gold and silver are the second highest. Besides that, they also suggest that investors should hold more platinum than silver ,should be 40% for platinum and 60% for silver in their portfolio. It is because these two metals are not highly correlated. Furthermore, when come to platinum and palladium, the optimal portfolio should be 83% for platinum and 17% for palladium in favor of the exotic metal over the dull one, it is because platinum and palladium are the highest correlation among four precious metals. Besides that, in purpose of set a optimal portfolio, we also can follow example that given by Kroner and Sultan (1993) about risk minimizing hedge ratios and put it for our precious metals. In purpose of minimize the risk, a long position of one dollar is taken in a precious metal should be also hedged by a short position in another precious. According the research, the values of hedge ratio for those precious metals are lower than those for stock market. By using this strategy, one dollar buy in gold should be shorted by about 19 cents of silver. This result have show that it is more effective to hedge long gold positions by shorting palladium, it is because gold and palladium are the lowest CCC among all the pairs of precious metals. In contrast, the least effective strategy to hedge is hedging long platinum position and also to short palladium, it is because the CCC between platinum and palladium are the highest if compare with any other pairs of precious metals. That mean results show that hedging is more effective when the long position in a precious metal and hedge with short position in another precious metal that is not closely related to the first one precious metal. Besides that, there are optimal portfolio weight and hedging ratios for the three metals exclude palladium and also exchange rate in presence of monetary policy and geopolitics are given. The portfolio gold/dollar has the highest weight for the gold if compare with the three other precious metals, in adverse the silver/dollar portfolio has the lowest weight. It is because the gold is considered as the safest haven against fluctuations in the dollar, while the silver does not have enough variation benefit, such as gold and platinum. 7. Conclusions