Assess the extent to which the cold war involved the nationas of the Essay

Assess the extent to which the cold war involved the nationas of the middle east and africa - Essay Example This is because of the suspicious relationship that developed between these two nations at the time, whereby nations split into two with some supporting the US, and the others remained in support the USSR. Thus, even within these nations, leaders acted in a divided manner with some supporting the ideologies of the USSR communism, while other countries supported the capitalistic view of the US, and this propagated the social and political division of nations.4 Cold war involvement in Africa Because of its endowment with resources, Africa was a battleground for Cold War for quite a long period that led to many wars, which both sides of the conflict, namely the United States and the Soviet Union blamed on each other. The harassment that was conducted by the Americans and the UK on Mugabe and Al-Bashir of Sudan was heaped on China and Russia with the aim of making the west to appear friendly and clean to Africa.5This has proved to be the new stage being set for fresh crop of Cold War in the African soil, as at the time USSR and US were engaged in Cold War, Africa was still involved in it, as some of the African states were surrogates of the two. Africa is a rich provider of the world’s major raw material for the production of goods for the industries in the west because a country is only able to engage in war if it has enough economic power and political influence for the purpose of protecting its interests.6 Therefore, surrogate African States provide support to one of the side in the cold war for their own interests and for their leaders selfish interest; such support normally involved the use of their state resources, which involved workforce in form of soldiers when they are required. As a result of the Cold War, Zimbabwe being a surrogate to one of the main two countries involved in Cold War, their leader Robert Mugabe murdered and violently overthrew the opposition to the side that supported the Britons, Americans and the western powers.7Moreover, beca use of the Cold War, nationalists and African leaders were frequently overthrown when they did not support the nations in such warfare. For instance, famous leaders like Kwame Nkrumah, Patrice Lumumba or Eduardo Mondlane among others were victims of claims that they were supporters of the Chinese or Russians and the East policies. In these cases, other African leaders have more often than not found themselves behind bars without the hope of ever being freed.8 In addition, the involvement of Africa in the Cold War has greatly affected the continent in terms of its human, society and economy; these impacts are still very fresh with the slow growth of the African continent attributed to the Cold War. Furthermore, African resources that involved agricultural outputs and minerals were

Financial markets Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Financial markets - Essay Example So an in-depth analysis has been done to determine if debt or equity will be a good option for raising capital from the market. The data revealed that due to the environment of uncertainty it is better to maintain a portfolio of both debt and equity instruments. The different debt and equity options are discussed in the report so that companies can maintain tradeoff between risk and return and design the financial plans accordingly. ABC is an Australian company listed in Australian Securities Exchange (ASX). The company is in service sector and enjoys a high credit rating. It has been found that ABC enjoys sound financial structure as well. At present the company is planning to undertake expansion strategy and for that it has to raise capital. Before finalizing any decision, the management would be interested to evaluate the future of Australian Interest rates in coming months. For determining the future interest rate, a thorough analysis of Australian market needs to be done; taking into consideration all those factors which directly or indirectly influence the interest rate. Emphasis should be given on both domestic as well as international market conditions. This paper will also research to determine the appropriate financing instrument for the company as per the future interest rate condition. The main aim of the management is to develop a balance between cost of capital and risk factors. The research information and data is documented under different section. The first section provides an in-depth analysis of present and future market condition in Australia. The future prospect of interest rate is forecasted undertaking all the factors which influences it. In the second phase a strategy will be developed that helps ABC to finance their business according to the future market scenario and finally in the last section a discussion to support the recommended strategy and how the

What are the advantages and disadvantages to outsourcing ROI (Release Research Paper

What are the advantages and disadvantages to outsourcing ROI (Release of Information) - Research Paper Example This calls for a need to outsource the ROI activity so that things can be accomplished with minimal fuss. The potential advantages and disadvantages of outsourcing the ROI are as follows: According to an estimate, Hospital Information Management (HIM) departments need to retain at least three workers on full-time basis and accommodate their pays, monthly privileges and educational expenses in the budget in order to adequately administer the ROI process. (Fournier, Coffey, and Bellenghi, 2008, p. 22). Outsourcing the responsibility for the ROI offers the owners’ room to minimize the expenses by saving the money that would have otherwise been consumed in purchasing the insurance, facilities and monthly privileges for the permanent HIM employees. Also, money spent on educating the employees through additional training is saved. Not only that, outsourcing the ROI services can be employed as a fundamental means to transfer the risks and all liabilities to the contractor accepting the responsibility. In addition to that, applications and requests are entertained timely with minimal inconvenience to the applicants as well as the staff. Furthermore, the information is released with increased responsibility and remaining within the limitations imposed by the owners which goes in favor of the owners. Although usually outsourcing ROI bears more advantages than disadvantages, yet the disadvantages can be very severe once encountered. It is an established fact that no other company would take the responsibility as seriously as the owners themselves fundamentally because the contracting companies are concerned with their fee, and the owners’ reputation does not matter much to the irresponsible contractors. However, disadvantages are not commonly encountered unless the contracting company tends to maximize its profits by selling the owner’s secret reports and statistics to the spying agencies.

Financial markets Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Financial markets - Essay Example So an in-depth analysis has been done to determine if debt or equity will be a good option for raising capital from the market. The data revealed that due to the environment of uncertainty it is better to maintain a portfolio of both debt and equity instruments. The different debt and equity options are discussed in the report so that companies can maintain tradeoff between risk and return and design the financial plans accordingly. ABC is an Australian company listed in Australian Securities Exchange (ASX). The company is in service sector and enjoys a high credit rating. It has been found that ABC enjoys sound financial structure as well. At present the company is planning to undertake expansion strategy and for that it has to raise capital. Before finalizing any decision, the management would be interested to evaluate the future of Australian Interest rates in coming months. For determining the future interest rate, a thorough analysis of Australian market needs to be done; taking into consideration all those factors which directly or indirectly influence the interest rate. Emphasis should be given on both domestic as well as international market conditions. This paper will also research to determine the appropriate financing instrument for the company as per the future interest rate condition. The main aim of the management is to develop a balance between cost of capital and risk factors. The research information and data is documented under different section. The first section provides an in-depth analysis of present and future market condition in Australia. The future prospect of interest rate is forecasted undertaking all the factors which influences it. In the second phase a strategy will be developed that helps ABC to finance their business according to the future market scenario and finally in the last section a discussion to support the recommended strategy and how the

Oral Language and Reading Comprehension Essay Example for Free

Oral Language and Reading Comprehension Essay This paper is intentionally made to show the comparison between oral language and reading comprehension. Oral language and reading comprehension are both essential to every individual. All of us had undergone oral language when we are still young and as it develops and as we grow and mature, it enables us to be more knowledgeable and prepares us to a more needed comprehension in reading. This two are significant and are interrelated to each other. As a parent, talking to the child helps expands vocabulary, develop background knowledge, and inspire a curiosity about the world. The more a child engages into certain experiences and more learning that starts from parents and then to teachers, it will widen their minds and permits them into a more broad understanding of different things. Oral language is the very learning that each of us has gone through and we still have it up to now. This paper will broaden your knowledge with regards to the comparison between oral language and reading comprehension. Background of the Study: Oral language means communicating with other people. On the other hand, reading comprehension is the act of understanding what you are reading. The definition can be simply stated the act is not simple to teach, learn or practice. Reading comprehension is an intentional, active, interactive process that occurs before, during and after a person reads a particular piece of writing. Oral language and reading comprehension are both essential because in oral language we are trained on how to communicate well with other people. Reading comprehension, on the other hand, is also a way of understanding the book that we read; it could be just a simple magazine, newspaper, or even the books we used in school. A person must be able to understand what he or she is reading. It is necessary that we know how to talk or communicate but one thing that is very useful as well in our everyday lives is the ability to read and understand what we read. There is a complete difference between â€Å"reading† and â€Å"reading with comprehension†. Now, as you go and read this paper, you will be fed with more ideas with the comparison between spoken language and reading comprehension and how these two work together for a more fluent practice of communication. It will develop your communication and reading skills; that it is not enough to know how to speak and read but being able to speak and at the same time realize what you are reading and even apply these in real life situations. Related Study: Oral language A great deal of research has been done in the field of oral language acquisition. As a means of attempting to negotiate their environment children actively construct language (Dyson, 1983; Halliday, 1994; Sulzby,1985). From a childs earliest experience with personal narrative development, oral language acquisition must be continually fostered. (IRA and NAEYC, 1998). This becomes the building block for establishing success in all areas of literacy. Oral language begins to develop at a very young age as children and parents interact with one another in the natural surroundings of the home environment (Teale, 1978; Yaden, 1988). A childs home environment greatly impacts the rate, quality and ability to communicate with others (MacLean, Bryant and Bradley, 1987; Martinez, 1983; National Research Council 1999). Factors related to language growth in the home environment include parent interaction, books, being read to, modeling; home language and literacy routines all closely parallel those of the classroom and school. The development of oral language is an ongoing natural learning process. Children observe oral communication in many contexts – home, preschool, prekindergarten, and begin to develop concepts about its purposes (Dyson, 1983; Halliday,1994;Martinez, 1983). Target skill areas such as sequencing, classification, and letter sounds oral language skills are all components of early childhood educational programs (Kelley and Zamar, 1994). Meaning is a social and cultural phenomenon and all construction of meaning is a social process. Developmental stages of child language development: Phase I – Protolinguistic or â€Å"Protolanguage†, Phase II – Transition, Phase III – Language. The Protolanguage Stage (which is associated with the crawling stage) includes noises and intonation, physical movement, adult/infant interaction – this exchange of attention is the beginning of language. During the Transition Stage (which is associated with the developmental stage of walking) there is a transition from child tongue to mother tongue. During this stage the â€Å"pragmatic† mode develops; a demand for goods and services that seeks a response in the form of an action. In Phase III – Language Stage, the child moves from talking about shared experience to sharing information with a third person. The child realizes that reality is beyond their own experience; they invite confirmation, enjoy shared experience. From the ontogenesis of conversation we are able to gain insight into human learning and human understanding. Meaning is created at the intersection of two contradictions – the experiential one, between the material and the conscious modes of experience, and the interpersonal one, between different personal histories of the interacting taking part (Halliday,1994). Properly developed oral language enables a child to effectively communicate their thoughts and viewpoints with others. It is also important for young children to have developed listening skills as they begin to experience the power of communication. The environment influences ones desire to communicate as well as the frequency of communication. Oral language develops through authentic experiences (Harste, Burke and Woodward, 1994). Kindergarten classroom environments that are alive with social interaction are ideal environments for nourishing speaking and listening skills. As children participate in communicative events, they slowly acquire an understanding of the relevance of these forms. Students need to be provided and encouraged to participate in environmental literacy activities, as those experiences are indispensable to language development (Brown and Briggs, 1987). Development of oral language skills must be addressed in Kindergarten as an integral part of the daily curriculum in order for students to be able to succeed throughout schooling and in todays society (Goodman, 1992; IRI and NAEYC,1998). Kindergarten programs need to be structured but not formal. Classrooms that are carefully structured allow for maximum oral language acquisition through authentic literacy activities that take place in natural ways during a school day (Ellermeyer, 1988). Education is inquiry based, and as such the focus with education becomes learning, and the task of teaching becomes the inquiry process. The learner is central, in the process of the learning-inquiry cycle (Harste, Burke and Woodward,1994). Students need to be provided and encouraged to participate in environmental literacy activities, as these experiences are indispensable to language development. Dyson (1983) conducted a study of the role early language plays in early writing. Through observations of children at a Kindergarten writing center she concluded that oral language is an integral part of the early writing process. Talk provided both meaning and for some children the systematic means for getting that meaning on paper. The child as a language learner progresses along a developmental continuum. Language acquisition is fundamentally a social process in which language is used to make and share meaning of experience (Corter and Park, 1993). Children require opportunities to interact with both peers and adults in a wide variety of settings as they learning and practice language and literacy knowledge, skills, and strategies (Brown and Briggs 1987; Coohn, 1981; Dyson, 1983; Ellermeyer, 1988). Children like to talk about themselves, their friends, their families, their pets, their hobbies, etc. Engaging young children in conversation about things with which they are familiar affords them a comfort level to experiment with ways to express themselves. Opportunities to increase oral language abilities and applications are embedded within the literacy program. Conversation, collaboration, and learning through others are integral to learning. A childs oral language ability is the basis for beginning literacy instruction, and as such initial informal assessments as well as ongoing assessment during the school year would provide key information regarding a childs oral language abilities.

The Importance of Credit Risk Management in Banking

The Importance of Credit Risk Management in Banking Credit risk implies a potential risk that the counterparty of a loan agreement is likely to fail to meet its obligations as per the original loan agreement, and may eventually default on the obligation. Credit risks can be classified into many forms such as options , equities , mutual funds , bonds , loans and other financial issues as well , which in extensions of guarantees and the settlement of these transactions. (International Auditing Practice Statement 1006 Audits of the Financial Statements of Banks) IS IT Important For the Banks To manage Their Credit Risks ? Risk is always associated with the banking activities, and taking risk is the important part of any banking operation, there is hardly any banking operation without the risk. Most of the bankers are said to be sound when they have a clear overview of what is the amount of risk involved in the current transaction and they make sure that some of the partly earnings are therefore kept for these risks. The granting of any form of credit is the common form for any bank and this risk is very common and this is the source of risks the banks are always exposed to. (Anderson et al, 2001). By being exposed to credit risk banks have been faced with a lot of problems. The banks couple of years ago realised that credit risk is important and the banks need to monitor, identify, control and measure it is very significant. Due to this the effective management of credit risk has become a critical component of approaching risk management. This approach will be especially important in terms of the long term success of any bank. Banks now ensure that they have large amount of capital against any form of credit risks so that they can be in a position to adequately tackle any risks which will be incurred. (Bank for International Settlement, 1999) The credit risk is in the entire portfolio of any bank and also the risk which is associated in individual credits or any other transactions have to be managed adequately. It is always a ascertained that the relationship between the credit risk and other forms of risks need be to considered very seriously in to account, in order to Increase shareholder value through value creation, value preservation and value optimization Increase confidence in the market place Alleviate regulatory constraints and distortions (Amitabh Bhargava ICICI, 2000) The Basel II Accord specifies that banks must have new procedures for measuring against credit risks. Advantages and Disadvantages of Credit Risk Management The advantages of Credit risk management include: Credit risk management allows predicting and forecasting and also measuring the potential risk factor in any transaction. The banks management can also make use of certain credit models which can act as a valuable tool which can be used to determine the level of lending measuring the risk. It is always better to have some alternative techniques and strategies for transferring credit, pricing and hedging options. The disadvantages of Credit risk management include: Deciding on how good a risk you are cannot be entirely scientific, so the bank must also use judgments. Cost and Control associated with operating a credit scoring system. With the existence of different models, it?s hard to decide which to use, more often than not, companies will take a one model fits all approach to credit risk, which can result in wrong decisions. How Banks Measure Credit Risk The level of credit risk faced by a bank is provided by the structure of a bank?s credit portfolio. If the portfolio consists of large amount of loans in a certain asset class then this might be an indication of an increased risk. Similarly the presence of complex financial transactions such as lending may also indicate a larger risk. In general a risk always comprises of two kinds: One is risk exposure and the other one is the uncertainty element, and for the credit risk and the credit quality represents the uncertainty element and credit exposure represents risk exposure. Therefore a bank can assess its credit risk by analysing the credit quality of an obligation and its credit exposure. While assessing credit quality and exposure a bank must consider three issues: Probability of default or any sort of possibility whether the other party which is the counter party will default on the obligation either over the life of the obligation over a specific period of time. The exposure of credit or the amount of the outstanding obligation which again depends on the size if there is any case of default. Rate of recovery this is the extent towards which the credit can be recovered through some banking processes like bankruptcy and other proceedings of settlements. In the last decade or so many banks have started to make use of models in order to assess the risks for their credit which they lend. The credit risk models are very complex and include algorithm based methods of assessing credit risk. The aim of such model is to help banks in quantifying, aggregating and managing credit risk. Despite the method the focus of credit risk assessment stays credit quality and risk exposure. Analysis of the Quality of Credit (Credit Quality) Credit quality is a measure of the that counterparties?s ability to perform on that obligation?. (Contingency Analysis, 2003) A bank adopts different approaches for assessing credit quality of considering loans to individuals or businesses. If it is for small businesses then the credit quality will be assessed through a process of credit scoring. This is based on information obtained by the bank about the party who want the loan. The information which is gathered tends to be about annual income, existing debts etc. Credit score is generally calculated by a formula which is applied to the information which is obtained which gives a number based on it the score is generated. The credit score is a highly accurate prediction of how likely the party is to pay bills, the higher the score the better it looks to the bank. (Curry, 2007) However, assessing a large party is based on credit analysis of the loan done by specially designated credit analysts. This just like mention above is base on credit scoring but it involves human judgement. It involves an in depth analysis of various aspect of the party in question including balance sheet, income statement etc. Also assessing the nature of the obligation is taken into account as well. On basis of credit analysis the analyst assigns that party a credit rating. This allows the bank to make decisions regarding credit. A bank can also use credit ratings to measure the share of the borrowers with creditworthiness in its portfolio and get a clear indication of default risk. Measuring Credit Exposure Credit exposure also needs to be taken into account when assessing credit risk or risk exposure. If for example a bank has loaned money to a business, the bank may calculate the credit exposure rate as the outstanding balance on the loan amount. However, in case if the bank by any chance has increased or extended the line of credit but none of the line have been drawn down then the approach will be different. In this case the risk exposure may seem to be nil, but it does not reflect any sort of right by itself to draw down the line of credit. If the firm gets into any financial difficulty it can be expected to draw on the credit line before any bankruptcy. Therefore in this case the bank may consider its credit exposure to be equal to the line of the credit. Credit exposure as a fraction can also be used sometimes to calculate the credit exposure for the total line of credit. (Duffie Singleton, 2003) How Banks Mange Their Credit Risk Credit risk management practices differ from bank to bank. Generally these type of practices are dependent on the type and complexity of the credit activities which are taken by the banks. In recent years banks have been using models for credit risk management. Bank Credit Risk Management Practices: Yesterday and Today The traditional approach to managing credit risk has been based on establishing a limit of credit at various levels for the individual borrowers an sometimes also based on geographical are and industry type. Also collateral and relationship exiting hardly seem adequate to cope with the declining economics of loan markets. (Gontarek, 1999) These limits specify the maximum exposures a bank is willing to take. Until the early 1990?s , credit risk analysis was limited only based on the reviews of the loans of individuals and most of the banks kept the loans on their books for maturity. (Bernanke, 2006) In recent years banking industry has made strides in managing credit risk. Managing the credit risks is the main focus of any banking operation these days and many banking?s are looking now from transaction management to portfolio management. And have slowly changed from monitoring to practising and also predicting their performance. Banks are still holding onto traditional credit risk management tools but these are becoming more and more sophisticated. Various forms of tools and models have been generated to measure and predict the performance and management of portfolio risks which in turn build competitive advantage. Despite the differences in the credit risk management practices the credit risk management in any bank rest on four pillar of: appropriate credit risk environment Sound credit-granting process or criteria that includes a clear indication of the bank?s target market Appropriate credit administration, measurement and monitoring process Adequate controls over credit risk. (Basel Committee on Banking Supervision, 2000) Therefore whether traditional or modern, credit risk management in banks involves reviewing creditworthiness of counterparties, setting credit limits for counterparties, evaluation of credit risk and reporting credit limits and exposures to management. (Caouette et al, 1998) Recent Trends in Credit Risk Management by Banks The credit risk management is undergoing an important change in the banking industry. Banks have clearly indicated that centralization, standardization, consolidation, timeliness, active portfolio management and efficient tools for exposures are the key best practice in credit risk management. (SAS, 2004) A bank in America is considering having efficient tools for ?what if? analysis and tools. Also another bank is focusing on stress testing, concentration risk, macro-hedges and capital market risk management. (SAS, 2004) The majority of the world?s large banks agree that integrating environmental and broader social issues into their core credit risk management process is essential to managing credit risk in the 21stcentury. (Huppman, 2005) Leading banks including Barclays now view that these non traditional issues as real credit risk variables that potentially affect their client?s bottom lines as well as their own. Quantitative models are being used by banks to measure and manage credit risk. Most of the Commercial bankers have started to opt for making use of the credit risk models for their credit options especially with relation to consumer lending and mortgage. These models are known as credit scoring models and were developed for consumer lending. On the other hand it has been a few years ago where the use of these credit risks models have been implemented successfully and are integrated these days with almost every bank to manage their risk. (Bluhm et al , 2003) In 2001, the UK?s biggest mortgage bank, Halifax, developed a forward looking credit risk management strategy which made use of quantitative models for risk management. (Algorithmics Incoporate, 2001) Similarly HSBC serves over 125 million customers worldwide and is the one of the world?s largest banking and financial services organizations. The world largest provider of quantitative credit risk solutions to lenders (Moody?s KMV) have decide to provide HSBC with this, which will provides HSBC a methodology for rapid, accurate measurement and benchmarking of credit risk portfolio. (Vyse, 2006) Role Of Management in Managing Credit Risk The board of directors of a bank approve and review the credit risk strategy and significant credit risk policies of the bank. The bank?s strategy reflects the bank?s tolerance for risk and the level of profitability the bank expects to achieve for incurring credit risks. These days banks establish and enforce internal controls and other practices to ensure that exceptions to policies, procedures and limits are reported in a timely manner to the management. Due to this credit risk is constantly monitored by the management. Innovations in Technology and Credit Risk Management Credit risk management in banks is also getting affected by innovations in technology. Innovations in technology have made significant improvements in bank information systems. This has also been encouraged by Basel II. The improvements in bank information systems has certainly increased the abilities of many banks and their management process to measure and identify and also control the characteristics of any kind of risk. For example ICBC (Industrial and Commercial Bank of China) the credit management computer system was further perfected with risk alert and conversion functions and it performed effective real-time monitoring on the quality and operations of the credit assets. (ICBC, 2001)

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Types of Biogeochemical Cycle Biogeochemical cycle is crucial for every living organism on Earth. It is strongly influenced by life forms, especially plants and microorganisms. A biogeochemical cycle can be defined as a continuous pathway by which conversion and circulation of chemical nutrients through both biotic and abiotic compartments of Earth (Butcher, 1992). Generally, biogeochemical cycles can be classified into three major categories which are nitrogen cycle, sulfur cycle and carbon cycle (Refer to Figure 1 in Appendix 1). First type of biogeochemical cycle is nitrogen cycle. Nitrogen is abundant and chemically inert gases, constitutes of about 78% of the atmosphere. According to Stevenson and Cole (1999), accumulation in soil happens through microbial fixation of nitrogen in the presence of ammonia, nitrate and nitrite; depletion exists in the process of crop removal, leaching and volatilization. In term of that, the process of releasing compound during decomposition is called mineralization. Mineralization process is carried out by the microorganisms in which it releases carbon, and also ammonium (Sprent, 1987). As a result, many kinds of organic reduce nitrogen present, like urea, organic bases, such as purines and pyrimidines, and amino compounds. Animals have nitrogenous wastes and will eventually produce lots of nitrogen (Sprent, 1987). Several pathways are illustrated throughout the nitrogen cycle, such as nitrogen fixation, ammonification, nitrification and denitrification. Gates (1921) state d that the process of converted gaseous nitrogen into ammonia or ammonium is nitrogen fixation, while ammonium can also be produced through the decaying of nitrogenous organic substance, which is called ammonification. Afte... ...ut slowly uptake of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere (Zepp, & Sonntag, 1995). Hanson, Ducklow and Field (2000) mention that in the ocean, some of the carbon taken up by phytoplankton in order to make shells of calcium carbonate that settles to the bottom of the sea to form sediments. In geological carbon cycle, carbonic acid combines with magnesium and calcium in the Earth's crust to form insoluble carbonates. Carbon dioxide reacts with some minerals to form limestone, then dissolves by rainwater and carries to the oceans. Once there, it can precipitate out of the ocean water and form layer of sediments on the sea floor. The limestone melts and reacts with other minerals under high heat and pressure far below the Earth's surface by releasing carbon dioxide. The carbon dioxide is then back into the atmosphere through volcanic eruptions (Lockwood, & Hazlett, 2010).