Treasury and risk management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Treasury and risk management - Essay Example Therefore, China is pursuing a weak currency policy in order to boost demand for Chinese exports. The large current account surplus in China is the indication that China’s currency is undervalued (Pettinger, 2011, p.1). The reason behind holding the value of Yuan is to compensate for its economic weakness. Its weak currency policy makes Chinese goods cheap compared with those of global competitors in Europe and Japan for instance. Since 1996, China has maintained a same fixed exchange rate resulting in an enormous increase in foreign exchange reserves. This enormous increase will be fuelled by Yuan that is estimated to be undervalued against the dollar. The benefit which it is getting by holding the value of Yuan is that it is selling more goods in foreign countries i.e. trade surplus (Cohen, p.1). Another benefit is that its capital market is becoming attractive to investors. If the successful internationalization of the Yuan will be possible then it will also be the internat ional currency (Cohen, 2011, p.1). Evidence Suggesting Weak Currency Policy of China It has undervalued the price of its currencies in order to keep its currency policy weak in order to boost export and enjoy trade surplus. Its weak currency policy in relation to US Dollar enables them to buy dollar from the open market in order to keep the demand for dollars high. It drives the dollar price upward in relation to Yuan. The large account surplus in China is the evidence for its weak currency policy (Cksd, 2012, p.77). There are some negative aspects towards the weak currency policy of China. By depending more on exports and foreign direct investment inflows made China particularly weak towards the effects of the global economic slowdown. A weak currency policy i.e. undervalued currency makes import more expensive, thereby throbbing Chinese firms that import raw materials and machinery (Morrison and Labonte, 2011, p.22). A huge rise in China’s foreign exchange reserves in recen t years is also the evidence that the Chinese Government has been holding its currency down in order to make weak currency policy (Shapiro, 2009, p.85). Relationship between Yuan Appreciation and Dollar Depreciation Currently imports from China accounted for about 10% of total U.S. imports. In June 2010, the value of Yuan was 6.79 to the dollar. In 2012 China allow the Yuan to trade in a daily range against the U.S. dollar. Soon it was announced that Yuan’s new trading band against the dollar will allow the exchange rates to move 1% above or below a daily reference exchange rates (Fung and Hong, 2012). Therefore a 25% appreciation of Yuan would be equivalent to 20% dollar depreciation. Such depreciation will result in stemming America’s appetite for foreign goods. If Yuan value appreciates, it will cause deflation, cut off foreign direct investment and cut economic growth. If these things will happen, prices will skyrocket preventing the consumers to buy the stuff in C hina, and the Chinese economies would break up to a halt. On the other hand, it will lead to the more export of U.S goods. The other country will have money and reserves to buy America’

Obesity Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Obesity - Research Paper Example It is the objective of this essay to determine all relevant factors affecting obesity. Age, lifestyle, culture, religion and external environmental factors all contribute to one’s vulnerability to obesity. Obesity is defined as a chronic condition of excess fat accumulation in the body. (MedicineNet). Medically, obesity can be defined in relation to the body mass index (BMI). The body mass index â€Å"determines whether a person’s weight is appropriate for height by dividing the weight in kilograms by the height in meters squared†.(Delaune and Ladner 2006) Using this index, obesity is then defined as a BMI of 30 and above. (Medicine.Net) The primary causes of obesity are overeating and lack of physical activity. When a person takes in calories much more than what one burns, that persons gains weight. Excess energy is therefore stored as fat. If that person has no initiative at all to engage in Aside from overeating and lack physical activity, there are enormous factors which contribute to an individual’s being vulnerable to obesity. These are: genetics, composition of the diet, frequency of eating, slow metabolism, lack of exercise or physical activity, medications, psychological factors, and even certain diseases. There are two (2) types of obesity: android and gynoid. Hashmi differentiates the two by the concentration of excess fat in the body. For adroid, excess fat appears in the upper portion of the abdomen. Gynoid, on the other hand, excess fat is located in the lower part of the body. There is a third type where excess fat is accumulated in almost all parts of the body. As a person gains weight and either consciously or unconsciously neglect any measures to prevent the continuous weight increase, that person increases his or her risk of contracting other chronic illnesses. Among the more prominent diseases associated with obesity are: cardiovascular problems which could

Issues in Human Sexuality Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words - 1

Issues in Human Sexuality - Essay Example Traditionally, we believed that the feminine role was an expressive one, and the masculine role as instrumental. Expressive activities of the woman fulfill internal functions, and man, on the other hand, performed the external functions of a family, such as providing monetary support. Gender identity, to a large extent, refers to an individual’s identification with male or female gender roles and behaviors and the labeling of different activities as feminine and masculine, which is largely a social construction based on stereotyped expectations regarding gender and perceived gender differences. It is recognized that individuals’ identification with masculine and feminine personality traits could vary when measured in different contexts or when gender identity was more or less salient to the other variables being examined-as found in the observations. If we closely examine the whole thing, we learn that the gender role is a set of behavioral norms associated particularly with males or females in a given social group or system. All societies, to a certain effect, have a gender/sex system, although the components and workings of this system vary widely from society to society. A persons gender role is composed of several elements and can be expressed through clothing, behavior, choice of work, personal relationships and other factors. There is nothing strange in seeing that people spontaneously categorize stereotypically masculine and stereotypically feminine traits and job labels according to gender even when the task at hand has nothing to do with gender. They are grounded in perceptions of differences between these gender categories.

The developments in generation of DNA profiles Assignment

The developments in generation of DNA profiles - Assignment Example The changes occurring in the modern world make use of weapons of mass destruction exemplified by nuclear, chemical and biological weapons. The advanced weaponry is likely to result into disasters of great magnitudes as typified in armed conflicts and acts of terrorism (Zietkiewicz, Witt, Daca, Zebracka-Gala, Goniewicz, Jarzab & Witt, p41, 2012). A critical issue during disaster response involving a multitude of individuals is the need to identify victims. Various catastrophic events including the World Trade Center (WTC) disaster, Asian Tsunami and the Hurricane Katrina have offered immense knowledge regarding the effectiveness of the STR and mitochondrial DNA sequence analysis on highly compromised samples (Eisenberg & Planz, p12, 2007). Human identification has made tremendous strides over the past two decades. Since the inception of forensic DNA analysis, there have been two main objectives. These are the identification of those who could be the source of biological evidence and t o exclude individuals wrongly associated with evidence. The generation of reliable genetic profiles from unknown and reference samples, systematic and objective interpretation practices as well as providing statistical assessment of the outcomes is critical to a robust DNA profiling program (Alvarez-Cubero, Saiz, Martinez-Gonzalez, Alvarez, Eisenberg, Budowle & Lorente, p229, 2012). The early evolution of forensic genetics has driven the analysis of human genetic variation, beginning more than a century ago. Specifically, with Karl Landsteiner’s discovery of the human ABO blood group polymorphism and his early realization that this variation could be applied in solving crimes (Jobling & Gill, p740, 2004). DNA fingerprinting using the hyper variable loci known as mini-satellites discovered in 1984 by Alec Jeffery was another classical human identification technique. The mini-satellites were detected by hybridization of probes to Southern blots of restriction enzyme digested ge nomic DNA. Although the application of DNA fingerprinting lasted for some time in paternity testing, criminal casework soon concentrated on the use of specific cloned mini-satellites called single locus probes (SLPs). These revealed only a single, highly polymorphic restriction fragment length polymorphism, hence simplifying interpretation. The amplification of DNA by polymerase chain reaction (PCR), offered an enormous increase in sensitivity. These molecular based approaches allowed small amounts of degraded DNA to be analyzed at a rapid rate (Jobling & Gill, p740, 2004). PCR-based techniques allowed the targeting of numerous genetic markers from single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) to variable number of tandem repeats (VNTRs). The testing of human identity may be considered in a variety of contexts namely analysis of relationship, forensic casework, missing person investigation and mass casualty incident (MCI) victim identification (Zietkiewicz, Witt, Daca, Zebracka-Gala, Gonie wicz, Jarzab & Witt, p42, 2012). Environmental conditions of mass casualty identification usually lead to severe fragmentation, degradation and intermixing of the remains of victims. Under such conditions, conventional methods of identification that depend on physical and anthropological characteristics of the victims fail. Consequently, DNA profiling has become a gold standard for the identification of victims in mass casualties or forensic related cases.

How important was television and newspaper reporting in uncovering the Essay

How important was television and newspaper reporting in uncovering the 1972-74 Watergate scandal - Essay Example However, with due course of time, the media publication has emerged as a business to generate profit with larger customer base rather than focussing on its core value to provide information to the common audiences. Despite, these have been of great aid while uncovering a few noteworthy and significant facts regarding the society. One such remarkable incident in the early 1970s political history of United States was the infamous Watergate Scandal. The time frame of 1972 to 1974 is remarked to be the most significant and indeed the most remarkable in the political history of the US. It is during this period that the then president of the US democrat, Mr. Richard Nixon had to resign from his designation which was the only resignation of the US president in the political history till date. It happened during the mid of 1972 when political parties were on the mode to set their images for election programmes (Steven, 2006). According to the published reports, in 17th June, 1972 five men we re recognised trespassing in headquarter of Democratic National Committee, recording and incepting the telephonic conversations and other communications. In 15th September of the same year, two other men were accused of being directly related to the conspiracy and the infringement of the central wiretapping laws. By the beginning of the next year, it was revealed that all the accused seven people were employed by the Campaign to Re-Elect the President (CREEP). The fact fuelled the probability of the involvement of superior government officials in this case. In the mid of 1973, one of the accused men of the five, wrote a letter to the trial judge, John J. Sirica addressing a cover up of the event (Alumni Chapter, n.d.). The cover up incidentally was published in different media publications including television and newspapers. Consequently, the investigation got stimulated revealing certain major facts regarding the then political environment highlighting the role of senior governmen tal officials. Worth mentioning the fact that media publications revealed a series of events demonstrating political corruptions by manoeuvring the investigation. The facts which were revealed by the investigation until 1974 stated that John Mitchell, the then Attorney General had a secret fund amounted to almost $700,000. This sum of money was intended to be expended against the Democratic Party in the falsification of letters, leaking untrue information to the press and also pilfering campaign files. It also stated that most of the American Corporations, including the Gulf Oil Corporation, American Airlines, International Telephone and Telegraph contributed large sum of money to the ‘Nixon campaign’. Moreover, the instance also revealed that Nixon had assured the Watergate intruders to provide them ‘executive clemency’ in case they were incarcerated. He also assured them to reward huge sums of money. A piece of evidence also exposed that $450,000 was paid to the intruders headed by the order of Erlichman, one of the superior White House supporters of Nixon. Several other facts were also revealed which demonstrated the pressurising of the ‘Nixon campaign’ on the FBI officials, CIA officials and other investigating

What is egovernment, what was its goal and has it worked Assignment

What is egovernment, what was its goal and has it worked - Assignment Example though installation of e-government is predicted to boost the economy in various ways, it attracts different reactions as far as its sustainability is concerned. Preview of the existing governments that have used it like in United States and Europe gives an insight into the pros and cons of this program. Critical assessment of past literature and the observed global socio-economic and political trend offers the best platform to debate this phenomenon. The relevance of e-government is significantly supported as it seeks to improve public and private partnership in the emerging service delivery models. The increasing debate on quality of service delivery in the public sector has seen growth in e-government. This concept is seen as boosting efficiency and effectiveness of the functionality of the government in its service delivery responsibility to the people. In this wake of public-private partnership, incorporation of information and communication technology in various activities is inevitable. In this respect, various governments have sought to apply e-government towards competitive execution of its services for internal and external interactions .E-government is a means of ‘electronic governance’. It is the use of Information Technology in the functioning of a government so as to have good and smart governance. Smart implies ‘Moral, Simple, Responsive, Accountable, and transparent’. This constitutes the use of information and communication technology by the agencies of the government so as to have transparency while dealing with different issues (Affis co, et al. 2006). E-government has significant role in improving the efficiency of various arms of government in their different duties. However, there are criticisms that are seen as regards its implementation and sustainability in this era of increasing cybercrime among other ICT related challenges. The overall gains that have been made and the prospective benefits that are associated with implementing

Leaving a Legacy of Hope Essay Example for Free

Leaving a Legacy of Hope Essay So many people when asked what it was that drew them to this field would tell me, â€Å"I go home every night feeling good about the work I do.† Though this is a genuine and relevant answer to the question, it is not mine. I have always said that it is the people that make this work so special. What makes the population of people that we work with so incredible is that they are not caught up with the everyday way of life that you and I are. It is that freedom from conventions which sets them apart. They are not as worried about the latest fads, trends or fashions. They are people shaped through the years of their lives, filled with experience and wonder that is hard to imagine, let alone understand. They are individual’s not so much worried about â€Å"What do you think about me?† as much as, Do you love me? Their character and convictions are steadfast, and though they may be hardened to change, their hearts remain soft and tenable. The following essay has been written for these people, with hopes that it would inspire even a single person to take an earnest look at Oregon’s current service models for Seniors and People with Disabilities, and to keep Oregon as a premier model in which other states can continue to look to. What legacy will we leave? What hope will we inspire? My objective is to utilize this essay to answer these questions. In our state’s history, Oregon has been blessed with so many great advocates and has been a National leader with the Self-Directed Support model of services across the division of Seniors and People with Disabilities. So how will the new generation of college graduates continue this legacy? After an in depth inquiry into this subject and much self reflection, I submit the following. As we begin to take those choice words like â€Å"Independence, integration, productivity, choice and dignity†, and not just make sure our companies or non-profits mission statements included a few of them, not just check off the box on the service plan that says these are being implemented or accomplished, but actually look at the root meaning of the words. Are we really where we want to be? Or can we do better? We have a choice, we can take a rational and intellectual inquiry into our current and proposed service models to see if the services we are providing and more importantly plan to provide fall in line with these words. Or, we can set our sights on mediocrity, from which no legacy will be made. The choice lies with us. Do we remain stagnant and content with the progress made? Do we measure Oregon against the backdrop of other states and take solace in the fact that we may still be slightly ahead of the pack? I think the answer among fellow Oregonian’s would be a resounding â€Å"No†. The preservation of Oregon’s existing legacy as being a National leader in the legislative, economic and social advocacy for seniors and people with disabilities is important. It is something that I conclude can only be done by my previous statement of rational and intellectual inquiry into Oregon’s current and proposed service models. My personal response to this inquiry is based around the philosophy of person centered planning and person directed supports. With the heart and focus of this model remaining on individual choice. At the age of 25 years old, having spent 5 years in human services I have worked within all different areas of Oregon Seniors and People with Disabilities. Through this time, one theme that I have heard loud and clear from the people I have supported is the need for choice, more specifically is choice as it pertains to the location in which people live while receiving services. Which leads me to the following; If Oregon is going to continue to be a leader and innovator in providing the Self-Directed Support model of services, the legacy of hope that we need to focus on leaving would stem from successful implementation of what is known as the â€Å"Community Based Care† models of services. The emphasis of this model being on serving seniors and people with disabilities in ways to help them live and age comfortably in the place of their choice. Rather than emphasizing their diagnoses, medical condition or inabilities, we focus on the things in life that give them happiness, peace and strength. All things that can be accomplished through something many of us now take for granted, and that’s having the freedom and choice of where we live. As the medical field progresses people are living longer and healthier lives than ever before. The number of those over the age of 65 is growing dramatically. There are 10,000 new Medicare recipients added each day. In 2000 the number of seniors over the age of 85 was 4.2 million. By 2010 the number is estimated to be 6.1 million. Beginning in the years 2011 2012, the baby boomers will begin to turn 65 years old. More astonishing then that, by 2030, Americans 55 and older will account for 31% of the population and those 65 and older will account for 20%. From the fiscal standpoint, Community Based Care has been projected to cost as little as a few hundred dollars a month, comparatively to someone who has been displaced from their home and is living in a facility where the monthly cost to the tax payers now shoots as high as $5,000- $6,000 monthly. The SPD population overwhelmingly wants to age in place, to be able to remain living in their own homes. But they very concerned about their choice to do so. In the book, â€Å"Water for Elephants† Sara Gruen, writes from the perspective of a man named Jacob Janokowski a retired veterinarian who is 90 years old, (or 93 he can’t remember which). Below is an excerpt from the book I believe helps illustrate the discussion. â€Å"But Dad, they said, you broke your hip, as though maybe I hadn’t noticed. I dug my heels in. I threatened to cut them off without a cent, until I remembered they already had controlled my money. They didn’t remind me- they just let me rail on like an old fool until I remembered of my own accord, and that made me even angrier because if they had any respect for me at all they would have at least made sure I had the facts straight. I felt like a toddler whose tantrum was being allowed to run its course. As the enormity of my helplessness dawned on me, my position began to slip. You’re right, I conceded. I guess I could use some help. I suppose having someone come in during the day wouldn’t be so bad, just to help out with the cooking and cleaning. No? Well how about a live in? I know I’ve let things slip a little since your mother died†¦ But I thought you said†¦ Okay, then one of you can move in with me†¦ But I don’t understand†¦ Well, Simon, your house is large. Surely I could†¦? It was not to be. I remember leaving my house for the last time, bundled up like a cat on the way to the vet. As the car pulled away, my eyes were so clouded by tears I couldn’t look back. It’s not a nursing home, they said. Its assisted living- progressive, you see. You’ll only have help with the things you need, and then when you get older†¦ They always trailed off there, as though that would prevent me from following the thought to its logical conclusion.† I truthfully believe it is a realistic belief that Oregon can pioneer the cause of helping seniors and people with disabilities live confidently with independence, and the freedom to age with a positive sense of self-worth in their own homes. This is my vision of Community Based Care, and this is the legacy that I hope to leave behind.