Describe the journey of a Red Blood Cell around the body Essay

Describe the journey of a Red Blood Cell around the body - Essay Example A spectrin network attached to the lipid bilayer contains several organic proteins, phospholipids, sphingolipids and cholesterol. This type of attachment increases the stiffness of the RBC. Moreover, this sort of spectrin protein allows the free diffusion of vital component from extracellular fluid to intracellular fluid. (Li & Lykotrafittis, 2012). The journey of red blood cells (erythrocytes) usually begins in the circulatory system. During their passage through the blood vessels the erythrocytes undergo several important changes in shape and structure particularly when needed to pass through the narrow passages in the circulatory system. An erythrocyte is a biconcave disc of a diameter ranging between 6-8 microns, with mean thickness of 2.5 micrometres at the periphery and approximately 1 micrometre towards the centre of the cell (Guyton & Hall, 2006). Transporting of oxygen from lung to various other organs is the function of the RBCs during their journey in the human circulatory system. Importantly, this oxygen available for the functioning of organs is stored into the haemoglobin of RBC and when it reaches its particular destination, oxygen is liberated from haemoglobin and it moves through the cellular passive diffusion. Furthermore, carbon dioxide (CO2) that is released after cellular activities is then again fused with haemoglobin of RBC. This deoxygenated blood due to presence of CO2 into the haemoglobin then enters into the heart, and is finally diffused to the lungs. It was reported that in some lower animals (some invertebrates), Hb is present as a free protein in plasma and it is not bound to the RBCs like in human beings. The total life span of each erythrocyte in the circulation is 120 days (Dean, 2005). But during this period if any of them gets damaged, then they could be eliminated from the circulatory system with the help of macrophages which is usually present in the bone marrow, spleen or in the liver (Premkumar, 2004). A normal man has an average of 5,200,000 red blood cells (RBC) per cubic millimetre and a normal woman has an average of 4,700,000 RBCs per cubic millimetre (Guyton & Hall, 2006). Around 3 million red blood cells (RBC) enter the circulation each second (Starr & McMillan, 2012). Haemoglobin is usually concentrated in the red blood cells (RBC); the metabolic limit of haemoglobin-forming mechanism of the body allows only a maximum concentration of 34grams of Haemoglobin in each 100 millilitres of cells (Guyton & Hall, 2006). In any normal and healthy individual, the haemoglobin (Hb) concentration remains at this maximum permitted level. 2. Bone marrow, Journey and Production of erythrocytes: Production of the erythrocytes from the bone marrow is called erythropoiesis (Schlossberg & Zuiderna, 1997). Apart from bone marrow, red blood cells are also produced by various other organs during the early development of human body. Yolk Sac is the primary site of the production of RBCs during the early embryonic p eriod (Guyton & Hall, 2006, p. 421). Liver serves as the main organ for RBC production during the middle trimester of gestation while lymph nodes and spleen also produce an amount of RBCs during this stage of development (Guyton & Hall, 2006, p. 421). Bone marrow is an important part of human body for the production of red blood cells (RBC) during the last month of gestation and soon after the birth (Guyton & Hall, 2

Ethics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words - 1

Ethics - Essay Example However, as much as the nurse’s role is to his/her patient, the nurse also has a significant duty to protect and work well with the other members of the health care team. As member of the healthcare team, the nurse is expected to defend and protect those that belong in the same profession she is in, provided that such an individual is in the side of what is right. Indeed, with this camaraderie and sense of kinship, a nurse feels indignation in witnessing an injustice towards a fellow nurse, even though the nurse does not know the said persecuted individual. However, an issue then rises when principles of ethics are compromised for the sake of that camaraderie. For example, nurses are sometimes asked to cover up inefficiencies and mistakes, just to protect another nurse or even another doctor. During these times, the nurse is then faced with a major ethical dilemma, especially in cases where a patient suffered tremendous loss. An example of this ethical problem is when an impai red physician commits a mistake and asks a nurse to overlook the said mistake. The doctor’s impairment can be caused by a lot of reasons, but the most common of which is advanced age, or physical injuries caused by accidents and similar occurrences. In these times, the nurse is then divided between her duty to her patients, and her duty to the other members of the health care team, such as the physician: she could either report the physician or she could remain quiet about a certain incident. If the nurse carries out the former, this may lead to the revocation of the physician’s license, but at least the nurse was honest and she can have some sort of peace in her mind. However, if she performed the latter and remained silent, the patient may never have justice, but at the same time, the grieving family may find peace and closure a lot more difficult to achieve if they found that the doctor had a fault in the death of their loved one. This ethical dilemma bears with it a lot of possible impacts on the practice nurse, the patient, the patient’s family, and even society itself. For the nurse, protecting a fellow health professional would compromise the care received or to be received by the patient. However, if negligence was revealed, unity, trust and coordination within the healthcare team may be compromised (Diaz & Stamp, 2004), which can also put the patient at risk for further harm or damage. The first scenario may also place the community at a great risk for negligence and incompetence in the hands of an impaired doctor. In relation, this paper will then elaborate on this ethical dilemma, as well as appropriate courses of action that the nurse may take in coming up with a decision. This paper will first discuss the ethical principles involved in the case presented above, and a discussion of the role of the advanced practice nurse will follow. Afterwards, a literature review of studies exploring the said topic will be conducted, and ethi cal decision-making will be performed in order to be able to solve the problem by using the ethical decision making theory. More importantly, this paper will attempt to prove that when a nurse is faced with the need to decide whether to report an impaired physician or not, she should opt most of all to protect the patient and report the physic

Using An Electric Motor Fan Engineering Essay

Using An Electric Motor Fan Engineering Essay The resistance value for experiment 1.1, 1.2 and 1.3 calculated and was 93.23 , 101.01 and 100.90 respectively. The effect of voltage increase on temperature was recoded and how power is lost as heart was understood. How electrical current generate magnetic field was observed by using compasses and explained. An experiment was also carried out and explained in to how electromagnetic field is used to control electrical circuits involving more than one circuit in a relay. The change of electrical energy to mechanical was also investigated by using an electric motor-fan. Background Despite the famous experiment Benjamin Franklin, he did not invented electricity. Electricity exists naturally. It has always been around. A good example of electric flow that occurs naturally is lightening. Lightening is a flow of electrons between the ground and clouds. When clouds rub against each other or other objects they become charged. When the potential difference between the clouds and ground reaches a certain level a flow of electrons balances the charge, this exhibits a flash of light or lightening1. Electrical systems and components can be classified into several capabilities and used for many different applications. Electrical components and systems can be used to heat, power, sense, drive, detect, indicate, to transmit and receive data2. Electrical equipment such as light bulbs, batteries and electric generators are not needed for electric city to exist, although designed to use and harness electric city. If potential difference or voltage is maintained across a conductor an electric flow occurs, Figure1. The currents magnitude depends on the voltage. The Ohms law states that the current through a conductor between the two points is directly proportional to the potential difference across the two points. Therefore if the potential difference applied across a conductor is changed the current will also change. If a device follows the Ohms law the graph voltage vs current should have a straight line3. By rearranging the equation 1, voltage can be calculated; in addition the resistance of material can simply calculated by dividing the voltage to the current see equation 1. V R=V/I Figure1. An electric potential across a conductor3 Equation 13 The two types of circuits are series and parallel. Total resistance in series circuit can be determined by adding the individual resistors resistance. To find the resistance of two or more resistors connected in parallel, the sum of the inverse individual resistance is used2, Equation2. Equation 24 In electrical circuit some power is lost as heat. Resistance and heat loss is directly proportional for a given volts. Therefore if the volt is increased the resistance will increase, this will then result in a great deal of heat being lost3. When there is a need to control more than one circuit, a relay is used. Relay is a switch operated by electric. The mechanical movement of a relay is often controlled by magnetic force. The flow of current through the relay coil generates a magnetic field and changes the switch by attracting a lever. Relay aid one circuit to switch to another circuit and operate completely separate from the initial circuit5. Relay coil NO COM NC Figure 2. Relay contact5 Key COM  = Common, always connect to this, it is the moving part of the switch. NC  = Normally Closed, COM is connected to this when the relay coil is  off NO  = Normally Open, COM is connected to this when the relay coil is  on If an electrical current flows through a wire, a magnetic field is created due to the moving charges. Figure 3 demonstrates the magnetic fields in a straight conductor. The magnetic field for a straight conductor circles around the conductor. As illustrated from figure 4, a wire is coiled up to make a solenoid. The flow of the current determines the magnetic field direction. Each loop experiences its own magnetic field and the total magnetic field is the sum of individual loop. In addition the magnitude of the total magnetic field of a solenoid is directly proportional to the number of coils a coiled wire has7. Magnetic Field Around a Wire VRML Model Figure 3. Magnetic fields in Straight conductor7 Magnetic Field of a Solenoid VRML Model Figure 4. Magnetic fields in solenoid7 Electric motor is one of the very useful appliances use electric power to turn in to mechanical energy. To understand how an electric motor work simply imagine a nail wrapped with a wire and connected to a battery Figure 5. If the battery is connected to the wire, the nail would eventually become a magnet and have a south and North Pole. If the nail is suspended in the middle of a horseshoe magnet as in figure 5, the north end of the nail would be repelled away from the horseshoes north end and attract to the south end of the horseshoe. By doing this the nail would half turn and stop at the original place. To maintain a full turn the electromagnetic field of the nail should be flipped at a very precise moment. This is done simply by changing the direction of the electrons flow6. http://static.ddmcdn.com/gif/motor-nail-in-horseshoe.gif Figure 5. Electro magnet in a horseshoe magnet6 Experimental Experiment 1.1: Electrical circuit As illustrated in figure 6, a series circuit was set up and one resistor was used across the circuit. Multi-meters were used to record the voltage across the resistor and current. Five different voltages in the range of 2 to 12 volts were applied and the current was recorded for each for each volts. Power R1 V A Figure 6. Series one resistor circuit2 Experiment 1.2 Similar procedure was used to record the voltage and current for the second experiment, this time though two resistors were used. V Power R1 R2 A Figure 7. Series two resistor circuit2 Experiment 1.3 In the third experiment two resistors was set up in a parallel circuit. Similar method to experiment one and two was used to record the voltage and current. Power A R1 R2 V Figure 8. Two resistors in parallel2 Experiment 2: Temperature vs. voltage In the fourth experiment investigates the relationship between voltage and temperature across a resistor. Similar circuit to experiment was, but this time one of the multi-meter was used set to record temperature. A thermocouple as shown in figure 9 was used to detect the temperature change and this was fed to the multi-meter8. http://images.picotech.com/se001-thermocouple.jpg Figure 9. Thermocouple8 Experiment 3: Relay Figure 10 shows the mechanism of the relay. A switch was used to control the relay by switching between the two circuits. Figure 10. Diagram for connection of experiment with relay and LEDs2 Experiment 4: Electric motor Fan An electric motor was used and given a power of 12 volt. Electric current was controlled by a switch and the fan rotated as due to the magnetic field generated by the electric. Experiment 5: Magnetism In these experiment two methods was used to test electro magnetism of electric of the flow of current. A wire used to flow electricity and magnetic compass was placed around the wire. In the second method a coiled wire was used and compasses was placed in the inside and outside of the coiled. Results Table 1. Experiment one and two Single resistor circuit Two resistor in series Two resistors in parallel V Amps Temperature C0 V Amps V Amps 2 0.0198 24 2 0.0099 2 0.0396 4 0.0390 25 4 0.0198 4 0.0793 6 0.0990 26 6 0.0297 6 0.1189 8 0.0792 28 8 0.0396 8 0.1587 10 0.0990 30 10 0.0495 10 0.1981 Note: The value of current highlighted for single resistor at 6 volts is an anomaly. Figure 11. Current vs Voltage Table 2. Resistance calculation Total resistance/ÃŽ © Power in v Series circuit Parallel Circuit with 2 resistors 1 resistors 2 Resistors 2 101.01 202.02 50.50 4 102.56 202.02 50.44 6 60.60 202.02 50.46 8 101.01 202.02 50.40 10 101.01 202.02 50.47 Average 93.23 202.02 50.45 Below is resistance calculation narrated; One resister series circuit = Two resisters Series circuit = Two resistors Parallel Circuit Using equation 2, R = (Assuming R1 = R2) 50.45 = R1 R1 +R2 = 100.90 ÃŽ © Experiment 2: Temperature vs. voltage The graph shows a positive correlation between voltage and temperature increase. Figure 12. Voltage vs Temperature Experiment 3: Relay When the switch was turned on LED one turned on and when the switch turned of LED one light gone out and LED two turned on. Experiment 4: Electric motor Fan The electric motor-fun started to spin only when the electric current started to flow. This was controlled by a switch for convenience. Experiment 5: Magnetism The results of electro magnetism were observed in experiment 5. When a single wire was used the compass needles aligned themselves towards the direction of the current flow. In the coiled wire when the compass was placed inside the coiled wire the compass pointed towards the direction of the electric flow. When the compasses was placed outside the solenoid the compasses experiences a great deal of deflection in comparison with the single wired cable. Discussion Experiment 1.1 1.3 circuit Figure 11 demonstrates an increase in voltage resulted on an increase in current. For the circuits with two resistors in parallel and series the graph was showing a positive correlation between the voltage increase and current increase. For the series circuit with one resister there was an anomaly when the voltage was set to 6 volts. The increase in current at 6 volts was too high, and this resulted on the graph being nonlinear. To make assumptions that the circuit obeys Ohmic law the graph should be linear. Possible source of errors; Human error (error when recording figures) Faulty multi-meter being used Faulty resistors or Faulty power supply reading Experiment 2: Temperature vs voltage As illustrated in figure 12, as the voltage increase the temperature across the resistor also increased. The temperature was directly proportional to the voltage increase. Temperature increase was steady for every additional volts applied for up to 6 volts. Temperature increase was doubled then doubled when 8 volts was applied. Some of the factors that can affect the amount of heat loss in a circuit are; Type of material used for wiring or resistor (some material are good conductors and some are very good insulator) Wire diameter (the smaller the diameter the harder for the electrons to move through) Length of wiring Temperature of the material/conductor (lower temperature result in lower resistance and indeed lower heat loss)3 The sharp increase in temperature was due to possible errors; Faulty thermocouple Leaving a particular voltage slightly longer than the another Breathing near the thermocouple (increase in the overall temperature) Experiment 3 Relay Figure 10 demonstrates the relay experiment. Since the relay mechanism was very small to be observed by the naked eyes LED was used to indicate if the electrical flow was switching in between the two circuits every time the switch was hit. TQ team7 States that the total magnetic field in a loop is the sum of its individual loop. Since moving charged particles generate electromagnetic field many charged particles generate a higher magnetic field. Therefore higher resistance in the wire coiling of a relay could cause the relay not being able to attracting a lever. Higher resistance in relays could be caused by rusting or using materials with low conductivity. Experiment 4 Electric motor-fan The power used in the Electric motor-fan was DC current. The current in DC always goes through one direction. The electric-fan began rotating when the current starts to flow. The current flow was switched over, as the polarity of the volt switched over, it was expected the motor start running the opposite direction instead the motor was stopped. The fan was possibly fitted with a device that only allows a one direction flow of current9. A diode was one of the possibilities that the electric motor-fan was fitted by. A diode is a two terminal device, with features of some systematic transfer of electric city character. A diode have a zero resistance to electric flow in one direction and high resistance (100%) resistance in the other direction, therefore electrical current flow only in one direction. Experiment 5 Magnetism As demonstrated from figure 3 and 4 electric current produces magnetic field. The compass used for the single wire deflected and seen aligning itself with the direction of the electric current. By observing the deflection of the compass needle, the North and South Pole of the magnetic field was deducted10. Conclusion The goal of the experiment was to understand the role of electricity in modern technology. Resistance in series and parallel circuits were tried, electromagnetism and its applications explained. The experiments deduction narrated below; With the exception of one anomaly result the circuits in experiment one obeys Ohmic law, therefore a linear graphs. In series circuit the resistance value doubled when another resistor was added. As it can be observed from table 2 resistance values for the parallel with two resistors was almost half the value for the series circuit with one resistor. Parallel circuit resistance was very small when compared with the resistance value in the series circuit with the same number of resistors. The value for the resistors calculated as 93.23 , 101.01 and 100.90 respectively. In experiment two, power dissipation promotes temperature increase . Relay experiment demonstrates the control of more than one circuit by using magnetic field of electric current. Charged moving particles produce a magnetic field Electric motor-fan converts electrical power in to mechanical by the help on a magnet inside the motor. Compasses used to observe the direction of an electric current. The grater the loop the grater the deflection the compass experience. Figure 3 and 4 demonstrates the magnetic field in a single wire and solenoid.

Criminal Trial Process Paper :: essays research papers

Criminal Trial Process Paper Introduction:   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In Canada, our criminal trial process is based around an adversarial system. What this means is that the disputants are represented by professionals in the field of law. These professionals are called lawyers. The lawyers work so that the truth of the trial is brought forward and justice is served for the greater community. In the adversarial system it is believed that the search for truth is best served by the parties themselves, through their lawyers and not through the judge. This means that lawyers determine the issue in dispute and decide the best way to argue them. Judges generally play a very passive role in the trial process. Their job is merely to ensure a fair trial for the accused, and to make an unbiased, neutral decision at the end of the trial. This decision is based upon the evidence brought forward by the two teams of lawyers during the criminal trial. Key Players:   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In the adversarial system there are three, and sometimes four key players that make up the criminal trial process. These key players are the Crown attorney, the defence attorney and the judge or justice or the court. There is however in some cases juries involved in the trial process as well. The Crown attorney represents what is seen as the king or queen of the country, however they in actual fact represent the police officers and other law enforcers as well as the general public. The Crown has a very difficult and burdening job. They must find the accused, which is the person being charged, guilty of committing the crime. This decision must be considered and thought to be without a reasonable doubt. Reasonable doubt is a very hard concept to define. It is based around the â€Å"golden thread† of English law, the accused is presumed innocent until proven guilty by his or her accuser. The courts, themselves can not even come up with an exact definition, but have tried their best through this explanation. The concept of whether or not the general public would see as a calmative group a bona fide and required limit on the situation. This limit must be logical and for the purpose of a greater good. Thus the Crown attorney carries an extremely heavy burden when attempting to find the accused guilty of his or her charges. This is thought to give the accused the fairest trial possible.

Chemical Engineering

Theme : Electrical Sector and Chemical Engineer a) â€Å"The Chemical Engineer – His Role in Electrical Manufacturing† by N. R. Maleady The article is about the role of chemical engineer in manufacturing transformers in the electrical manufacturing sector. The important components of the transformer are copper wire, cellulosic insulation, insulating varnish and dielectric liquid. Wire enamel or resin is the insulting structure for copper wire. The resin can either applied as a solution or in solventless form.Mechanical arrangement and proper temperature between each dip are needed to be controlled to provide necessary multiple coats of resin to cure when resin is applied as a solution. Suitable dies and preheaters must be used when the resin is applied in solventless form to extrude the material on the moving wire. Cellulosic insulation is used to separate metal conducting parts. The cylinder on which the wire is wound is composed of continuously wound paper, bound toge ther by suitable impregnants and adhesives. To produce a stronger cylinder, modifications of the paper and adhensives and method of application are to be carried out.Insulating varnish is used in the treatment of components parts and assembled units to provide both insulation and mechanical strength. Viscosity of the material is ought to be maintained within certain limits and its electrical properties must be held at a high level through proper periodic filtration. A dielectric liquid – askarels (highly refined mineral oils and the newer non-inflammable insulating liquids) is used thoroughly free of air for insulating and cooling. Processing of assembled finished transformers is an important phrase of work in the transformer manufacture.Firstly, the insulated wire is wound about the cylinder. By applying heat to the unit while under vacuum, the high percentage of water, which is 8% of the weight of the cellulose present in cellulose insulation resulting in the low dielectric strength may be removed. Vacuum bake tank is used to provide rapid heating of the units through good air circulation, followed by removal of the absorbed water. By immersing the whole assembly into suitable insulating varnishes, which when cured, give it high mechanical strength to withstand the tremendous short circuit forces.Separate coils of wire are assembled and mounted on suitable laminated iron cores. The use of hot air baking and high vacuum resulting in high velocity air which cuts down the skin resistance of the insulation to heating and the heating-up time. When the final drying process which is free of both moisture and air have been completed, the dielectric fluid is run into the treating tank to completely immerse the coils for the absorption of water and allows the units to be handled before dropping into their own enclosures.The contributions of the chemical engineer are many and varied. In both the application of basic chemical knowledge and in the electrical desig n, the use of the chemical engineer principles and the solving skills in electrical manufacturing problems helped to supplement the specialized knowledge of the electric engineer in the processes involving physical and chemical changes.The cooperation of electrical engineers and chemical engineers has created many beneficial and useful tools in our life. b) â€Å"Getting students to approach microelectronics Processing as Chemical Engineer† by Koretsky et al. The article is about the ways of getting students to approach microelectronics processing as a chemical engineer. About 70% of the B. S. ChE graduates from Oregon State University (OSU) have been employed in the microelectronics industries.To enable the students to apply core ChE skills towards microelectronics processing, experiences in the microelectronics processing are being synthesized into the undergraduate program on four levels – Lab-based microelectronics unit operations, Options programs utilizing Thin F ilm Materials Processing (ChE 444/544), Multiple Engineering Co-op program (MECOP) Internship Program, and Undergraduate Research Projects and the University Honors College.In the lab-based microelectronics unit operations, there are six unit operations (Plasma Etching, Chemical Vapor Decomposition, Spin Coating, Electrochemical Decomposition, Silicon Oxidation and Chemical Mechanical Planarization) containing complex systems that involve the interaction of physical and chemical processes. Both lab-based and class room based instruction are carried out to reinforce the fundamental engineering science taught in the curriculum. Students are required to integrate into the lab based on the Unit Operations Laboratories (ChE 414 and 415) and Thin Film Materials Processing (ChE 444).The first quarter of the two-quarter senior lab sequence (ChE 414) focuses on the students to complete 3 unit operation experiments while the second quarter of the senior lab course (ChE 415) focuses on the stu dents to work independently, develop a project proposal, complete experimental work and write a final technical memorandum. Class room based instruction will give out example exercise or homework problems to be integrated into a core chemical engineering science or design course to draw upon core fundamentals.Some ABET criteria are also considered in the microelectronics unit operations so that the students can master both technical skills and professional practices (effective oral and written communications, project planning, time management, interpersonal interaction, teamwork, and proactive behavior). Students can choose the program they prefer from transcript visible Options in the microelectronics processing or material science and engineering, but Thin Film Materials Processing (ChE 444) is a must for the students.The course is to help the students to broaden and strengthen the undergraduate ChE curriculum. The Film Materials Processing (ChE 444) is mainly focusing on the appl ication of core chemical engineering sciences (transport. kinetics, thermodynamics and reactor design) to thin film process. This approach creates a mind set in the process engineer to apply engineering skills in problem solving. Guest seminars are important feature of this course. Popular industrial scientists are brought to share their industrial perspective and lectures in their areas of specialization.After the seminar, the students are required to submit a critical analysis on the talk to catalyze interest effectively and show the interaction between the speakers and the class. A Final Design Project consisting of a detailed design of an apparatus for a given thin film process, performed in teams, is a Final Exam for the students. Written report have to be prepared to explain and justify the design whereas oral presentation of the design is made to their classmates for critique.The Multiple Engineering Co-op program (MECOP) offers two six-month internship program at different c ompanies so that the student gets exposure to contrasting industrial environments. Written applications and an interview process are carried out when placing a student into an internship program. Second interview is held to focus on the students’ abilities and interests. There are midterm and final appraisals at the company where the intern is working.The intern’s performance and the company’s supervision are evaluated by the intern and the supervisor. The undergraduate research projects and the University Honors College (UHC) play a key role in getting students to approach microelectronics processing as a chemical engineer. Undergraduate research is to promote active learning. Undergraduates work with graduate students on independent, creative research projects to pursue independent long-term initiatives and to follow an idea to its logical conclusion.The University Honors College (UHC) Senior Thesis is not only a UHC curriculum, but an incredibly rewarding lea rning tool that provides the students with the skills to undertake similar projects in their Masters Program or career field. Chemical engineer is a professional skilled in the manufacture of chemical products. They use their specialized chemical knowledge and chemical engineer principles to create functional tools in our life.

Medici Godfathers Of The Renaissance Vi

The Medici: Godfathers of the Renaissance Viewing Guide 1. To what era did people of the Renaissance look back to as the golden age of human life? What city, which was the birthplace of Cosmic d' Medici and the center of this new movement? 2. What huge gamble did Comic's dad take that put the Medic's on the map? Describe in detail. 3. What project had the people of Florence failed to complete? Who tried to complete this failure? How did he prove he could do it? 4. What happened to Cosmic in Florence thanks to the Labials family? How did he get UT of it?Once exiled, how did he get out of that? What power did the people of Florence give to him as a result? 5. Describe the relationship the Medici bank had with the church. What did they collect for the Pope? From where did they collect this? 6. What is patronage? How did Cosmic use it to lead to political influence and power? 7. What was Brutishness's problem when it came to completing the dome of the Doom? How did he prove to his worker s that it could be done? 8. Who becomes first citizen of Florence after the death of Cosmic? What infamousItalian organization does the video compare his government, leadership style, and system of favors to? 9. Who were the main rivals to Lorenz once he came to power? What incentive did the church have to bring down the Medici? In what type of plot, on Easter Sunday, did these two come together? What was the result and aftermath of the plot? 10. After sorting out is enemies, what did Lorenz take/get from Florence? How did he use his money and power and what title did he receive? What famous Renaissance artist did he discover at a young age as a result of this?

The Relationship Between Exchange Rates and Commodity Prices

The Relationship Between Exchange Rates and Commodity Prices Over the last several years, the value of the Canadian Dollar (CAD) has been on an upward trend, greatly appreciating relative to the American Dollar. A rise in commodity pricesInterest rate fluctuationsInternational factors and speculation Many economic analysts believe that the rise in the value of the Canadian Dollar is due to a rise in commodity prices stemming from increased American demand for commodities. Canada exports a great deal of natural resources, such as natural gas and timber to the United States. Increased demand for those goods, all else being equal, causes the price of that good to rise and the quantity consumed of that good to go up. When Canadian companies sell more goods at a higher price to Americans, the Canadian dollar to gains in value relative to the U.S. dollar, through one of two mechanisms: 1. Canadian Producers Sell to U.S. Buyers Who Pay in CAD This mechanism is quite straightforward. To make purchases in Canadian Dollars, American buyers must first sell American Dollars on the foreign exchange market in order to  buy Canadian Dollars. This action causes the number of American Dollars on the market to rise and the number of Canadian Dollars to fall. To keep the market in equilibrium, the value of the American Dollar must fall (to offset the larger quantity available) and the value of the Canadian Dollar must rise. 2. Canadian Producers Sell to U.S. Buyers Who Pay in USD This mechanism is only slightly more complicated. Canadian producers will often sell their products to Americans in exchange for American Dollars, as it is inconvenient for their customers to use foreign exchange markets. However, the Canadian producer will have to pay most of their expenses, such as employee wages, in Canadian Dollars. No problem; they sell the American Dollars they received from sales, and purchase Canadian Dollars. This then has the same effect as mechanism 1. Now that weve seen how the Canadian and American Dollars are linked to changes in commodity prices due to increased demand, next well see if the data matches the theory. How to Test the Theory One way to test our theory is to see if commodity prices and the exchange rate have been moving in tandem. If we find that they are not moving in tandem, or that they are completely unrelated, well know that changes in currency prices are not causing exchange rate fluctuations. If commodity prices and exchange rates do move together, the theory may still hold. In this  case, such correlation does not prove causation as there could be some other third factor causing exchange rates and commodity prices to move in the same direction. Though the existence of correlation between the two is the first step in uncovering evidence in support of the theory, on its own such a relationship simply does not disprove the theory. Canadas Commodity Price Index (CPI) In A Beginners Guide to Exchange Rates and the Foreign Exchange Market,  we learned that the Bank of Canada developed a Commodity Price Index (CPI), which tracks changes in the prices of commodities which Canada exports. The CPI can be broken down into three basic components, which are weighted to reflect the relative magnitude of those exports: Energy: 34.9%Food: 18.8%Industrial Materials: 46.3%(Metals 14.4%, Minerals 2.3%, Forest Products 29.6%) Lets take a look at the monthly exchange rate and Commodity Price Index data for 2002 and 2003 (24 months). The exchange rate data comes from the St. Louis Fed - FRED II and the CPI data is from The Bank of Canada. The CPI data has also been broken down into its three main components, so we can see if any one commodity group is a factor in the exchange rate fluctuations. The exchange rate and commodity price data for the 24 months can be seen at the bottom of this page. Increases in the Canadian Dollar and CPI The first thing to note is how the Canadian Dollar, the Commodity Price Index, and the 3 components of the index have all risen over the 2-year period. In percentage terms, we have the following increases: Canadian Dollar - Up 21.771%Commodity Price Index - Up 46.754%Energy - Up 100.232%Food - Up 13.682%Industrial Materials - Up 21.729% The Commodity Price Index has risen twice as fast as the Canadian Dollar. The bulk of this increase seems to be due to higher energy prices, most notably higher natural gas and crude oil prices. The price of food and industrial materials has also risen during this period, though not nearly as quickly as energy prices. Computing the Correlation Between Exchange Rates and CPI We can determine if these prices are moving together, by computing the correlation between the exchange rate and the various CPI factors. The economics glossary defines correlation in the following way: Two random variables are positively correlated if high values of one are likely to be associated with high values of the other. They are negatively correlated if high values of one are likely to be associated with low values of the other. Correlation coefficients are between -1 and 1, inclusive, by definition. They are greater than zero for positive correlation and less than zero for negative correlations. A correlation coefficient of 0.5 or 0.6 would indicate that the exchange rate and the commodity price index move in the same direction, whereas a low correlation, such as 0 or 0.1 would indicate that the two are unrelated. Keep in mind that our 24 months of data is a very limited sample, so we need to take these measures with a grain of salt. Correlation Coefficients for the 24 months of 2002-2003 Exch Rate Commodity Index .746Exch Rate Energy .193Exch Rate Food .825Exch Rate Ind Mat .883Energy Food .336Energy Ind Mat .169Food Ind Mat .600 We see that the Canadian-American exchange rate is very highly correlated with the Commodity Price Index over this period. This is strong evidence that increased commodity prices are causing a hike in the exchange rate. Interestingly enough, it appears that according to the correlation coefficients, rising energy prices have very little to do with the rise of the Canadian Dollar, but higher prices for food and industrial materials may be playing a big role. Energy prices hikes also do not correlate well with rises in food and industrial materials costs (.336 and .169 respectively), but food prices and industrial material prices do move in tandem (.600 correlation). For our theory to hold true, we need the rising prices to be caused by increased American spending on Canadian food and industrial materials. In the final section, well see if Americans are truly are buying more of these Canadian goods. Exchange Rate Data DATE 1 CDN = CPI Energy Food Ind. Mat Jan 02 0.63 89.7 82.1 92.5 94.9 Feb 02 0.63 91.7 85.3 92.6 96.7 Mar 02 0.63 99.8 103.6 91.9 100.0 Apr 02 0.63 102.3 113.8 89.4 98.1 May 02 0.65 103.3 116.6 90.8 97.5 Jun 02 0.65 100.3 109.5 90.7 96.6 Jul 02 0.65 101.0 109.7 94.3 96.7 Aug 02 0.64 101.8 114.5 96.3 93.6 Sep 02 0.63 105.1 123.2 99.8 92.1 Oct 02 0.63 107.2 129.5 99.6 91.7 Nov 02 0.64 104.2 122.4 98.9 91.2 Dec 02 0.64 111.2 140.0 97.8 92.7 Jan 03 0.65 118.0 157.0 97.0 94.2 Feb 03 0.66 133.9 194.5 98.5 98.2 Mar 03 0.68 122.7 165.0 99.5 97.2 Apr 03 0.69 115.2 143.8 99.4 98.0 May 03 0.72 119.0 151.1 102.1 99.4 Jun 03 0.74 122.9 16.9 102.6 103.0 Jul 03 0.72 118.7 146.1 101.9 103.0 Aug 03 0.72 120.6 147.2 101.8 106.2 Sep 03 0.73 118.4 135.0 102.6 111.2 Oct 03 0.76 119.6 139.9 103.7 109.5 Nov 03 0.76 121.3 139.7 107.1 111.9 Dec 03 0.76 131.6 164.3 105.1 115.5 Were Americans Buying More Canadian Commodities? Weve seen that the Canadian-American exchange rate and commodity prices, particularly the price of food and industrial materials, have moved in tandem over the last two years. If Americans are buying more Canadian food and industrial materials, then our explanation for the data makes sense. Increased American demand for these Canadian products would simultaneously cause an increase in the price of those products, and an increase in the value of the Canadian Dollar, at the expense of the American one. The Data Unfortunately, we have very limited data about the number of goods the American are importing, but what evidence we have looks promising. In The Trade Deficit and Exchange Rates, we looked at Canadian and American trade patterns. With data provided by the U.S. Census Bureau, we see that the U.S. dollar value of imports from Canada has actually went down from 2001 to 2002. In 2001, Americans imported $216 billion of Canadian goods, in 2002 that figure dropped to $209 billion. But by the first 11 months of 2003, the U.S. had already imported $206 billion in goods and services from Canada showing an increase year-over-year. What Does This Mean? One thing we have to remember, though, is that these are dollar values of imports. All this is telling us is that in terms of U.S. Dollars, Americans are spending slightly less on Canadian imports. Since both the value of the U.S. Dollar and the price of commodities has changed, we need to do some mathematics to find out if the Americans are importing more or fewer goods. For the sake of this exercise, we will assume the United States imports nothing but commodities from Canada. This assumption does not greatly affect the results, but it certainly makes the math much easier. Well consider 2 months year-over-year, October 2002 and October 2003, to show how the number of exports has increased significantly between these two years. U.S. Imports From Canada: October 2002 For the month of October 2002, the United States imported $19.0 billion of goods from Canada. The commodity price index for that month was 107.2. So if a unit of Canadian commodities cost $107.20 that month, the U.S. bought 177,238,805 units of commodities from Canada during that month. (177,238,805 $19B / $107.20) U.S. Imports From Canada: October 2003 For the month of October 2003, the United States imported $20.4 billion of goods from Canada. The commodity price index for that month was 119.6. So if a unit of Canadian commodities cost $119.60 that month, the U.S. bought 170,568,561 units of commodities from Canada during that month. (170,568,561 $20.4B / $119.60). Conclusions From this calculation, we see that the United States bought 3.7% fewer goods over this period, despite a price hike of 11.57%. From our primer on price elasticity of demand, we see that the price elasticity of demand for these goods is 0.3, meaning theyre very inelastic. From this we can conclude one of two things: The demand for these goods are not at all sensitive to price changes so American producers were willing to absorb the price hike.The demand for these goods at every price level increased (relative to former demand levels), but this effect was more than offset by the large jump in prices, so overall quantity purchased declined slightly. In my view, number 2 looks a lot more likely. During that period, the U.S. economy had been spurred by massive government deficit spending. Between the 3rd quarter of 2002 and the 3rd quarter of 2003, the U.S. Gross Domestic Product increased by 5.8%. This GDP growth indicates increased economic production, which would likely require increased use of raw materials such as timber. The evidence that increased demand for Canadian commodities has caused the rise in both commodity prices and the Canadian Dollar is strong, but not overwhelming.

The Police

The Police Bittner?s definition of the police is a great definition. They do exactly that, control what needs to be controlled. After reading how many police there are on average per town in the USA, I believe that there is not even close to enough police officers per town. How can an average of 10 officers take care of a town that has a population of 10,000. There are so many crimes that can be completed with the police not even knowing it happened until many days later.A good example of how the America?s law enforcement was little to nothing in the early days is the movie Gangs of New York. In this movie gangs essentially run the whole city and murder, rape, and robbery were not uncommon things to see in the America after the Revolutionary War. There are three duties that the police officer holds. They are crime fighting, peace keeping, and providing social services.South Australian Police officers wearing duty belt...Out of the three duties I believe that officer usually neglect the third du ty, which is providing social services.An example of this is one of my past experiences. In Hartford I asked a police officer if it was okay to cross the street because officers were conducting traffic. One officer said yes as the other was directing traffic right into my friend and me. The car hit us in the legs and knocked us off of our feet. Instead of helping us, the officer directing traffic told us that it was our fault and to get out of the road. I was irate because he didn?t provide me with any social services at all (not even an ?are you alright).The police can sort of be a contradictory group in the sense of a corrupt police officer. Police officers can actually be...

Why Grad Schools Require Your Undergraduate Transcript

Why Grad Schools Require Your Undergraduate Transcript Its easy to get caught up in the graduate admissions process. Applicants to graduate school are often (and rightly) overwhelmed by the most challenging parts of the process, like approaching faculty for recommendation letters and composing admissions essays. However, the little things like college transcripts also matter in your graduate school application. No admissions committee will accept an incomplete graduate application. A late or missing transcript may seem like a dumb reason to receive a rejection letter, but it happens. Unfortunately, students with stellar credentials arent even considered by admission committees at their dream graduate programs because of a  forgotten transcript or one that is lost in snail mail. Request All Transcripts Your application is not complete until the institution receives your official transcript from all of your undergraduate institutions. That means that you must send a transcript from every institution that you have attended, even if you did not earn a degree.   Official Transcripts Are Sent by Colleges Dont even think about sending an unofficial transcript or a print out of your school record in place of a transcript.  An official transcript is sent directly from your undergraduate college or university to the school(s) to which you’re applying and bears the college seal. If you attended more than one institution, you will need to request an official transcript from each institution you attended. Yes, this can get pricey. What Do Admissions Committees Look for in Transcripts? In examining your transcript, admissions committees will consider the following: Your overall GPA and verification of your actual GPA compared to what you reported on your admissions documentsQuality of the undergraduate institutionBreadth of courseworkCoursework in your major: Your grades in your major subject area and especially in the upper division courses and within the past two yearsPatterns of performance and improvement if you did not have a strong start Request Transcripts Early​Prevent mishaps by planning ahead.  Request your transcripts from the registrars office early because most offices take a few days, a week, and sometimes even more time to process your request. Also, understand that if you wait until the end of the Fall semester to request transcripts they may be delayed as most offices close for the holidays (sometimes taking an extended break). Save yourself grief and request transcripts early. Also,  include a copy of your unofficial transcript with your application and a note that the official transcript has been requested so that admissions committees have something to review until the official copy arrives. Only some admissions committees may review an unofficial transcript and wait for the official version (this is especially unlikely in competitive graduate programs), but its worth a shot.

Strategic Management and Executives Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Strategic Management and Executives - Essay Example that the most crucial factor that determines the success of any company is â€Å"the qualities of strategic decisions that top managers make in attempting to achieve this strategic fit† (Stead & Starik, 2004, p. 122). Some business owners, however, do not make the decisions solely by themselves; they hire professional consultants to aid them in making strategic decisions. A process is often referred to as the flow of information via a given interrelated stages of analysis with the aim of achieving a specific aim. In regarding strategic management as a process, one is required to focus on the historical and current flow of information, as well as forecast data on not only operations, but also the environment of business. Considering strategic management as a process has diverse important implications. First, it is evident that a change in any component is likely to affect other components because the flow of information is always reciprocal. For instance, forces of the external environment often influence the company’s missions and the company also affect the external environment. A second advantage of viewing strategic management as a process is the fact that strategy formulation, as well as implementation, is sequential. This step is associated as well as followed by development of an organization’s profile in addition to the evaluatio n of the external environment. Then other aspects of management such as the strategic choice, definition of objectives, designing of strategies, as well as review and evaluation take place in order. The strategic management process entails three sequential stages. Data-gathering phase is the first stage. It involves extensive research as well as analysis of not only the external environment, but also internal environment of an organization so as to provide sufficient as well as accurate inputs required for strategic decision-making process. The gathered data is then analyzed, and SWOT analysis identified. The second stage of

The Childrens Understanding of SVO Word Order Essay

The Childrens Understanding of SVO Word Order - Essay Example The first group is composed of French children who are 2 years of age and heard either high or low-frequency verb modeled in either SOV (subject-object-verb) or VSO (verb-subject-object) order. While the second group is likewise composed of French children who are 1 year older than the first group (3 years old) heard also either high or low-frequency verbs modeled in either SOV or VSO order. The said word orders were both ungrammatical. The experiment raises two fundamental questions such as 1) how do children perceive similarities between different lexical instantiations of related constructions and organize these into a network?; and 2) does a relative lack of similarity between related constructions affect the creation of a construction network? These said questions are addressed by the authors through replicating recent English weird word order production studies in French. To be specific, the authors intended to address five major questions: Primarily, the type of research being reviewed here is a causal research which appears to be the most appropriate to be done since the authors intend to find out the children’s understanding of SVO word order in French through hearing high or low-frequency verbs. Specifically, the authors used the randomized controlled trial. Again, the authors chose the most appropriate method since they intend to inject an intervention and measure the effect of that intervention. Moreover, the research method employed has always been the best one since this is the most well-recognized method that could lead the researchers to an objective answer to the current research questions (Foster 2001, p.21). More specifically, the authors used weird word order methodology (Akhtar 1999) through using verbs of different frequencies, to determine whether children's use of word order as a grammatical marker depends upon the frequency of the lexical items being ordered.

Religion and Society Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 1

Religion and Society - Essay Example There are many individuals who feel that in order to embrace the principles of science and its fundamental ability to offer great insights into life one has to abandon faith as well as its implications which come in the form of religious indoctrination. Many individuals such as the author and prominent zoologist, Richard Dawkins, Madalyn Murray O’Hare, a woman who considered her most prominent accomplishment to be the fact that she has become known to many as an atheist, Victor J. Stenger, a particle physicist and Isaac Asimov embody the belief that the only proof of the existence of a phenomena or an entity is that can be ascertained through empirical means. Conversely, there are individual psychologists who view the role of religion as a vital one in the lives of many individuals and explain how religion can be utilized as a guiding force in the decision-making processes. These individuals include William James, Sigmund Freud, Carl Jung, Gordon Allport, Abraham Maslow, Alfre d Adler and Erik Erikson. An investigation of these individuals as well as the self-proclaimed atheists will prove to be quite beneficial in arriving at the underlying determinants of one’s religious beliefs and practices. ... Instrumentation The only instrumentation for this study is an interview protocol which was devised and modeled after the interviews conducted between Richard Dawkins and Sheena McDonald, an interview of Madalyn Murray O'Hair by The Freedom Writer and an interview of Isaac Asimov which discussed the correlation between science and the Bible. These interviews were utilized as a basis for the creation for this instrument. Procedure Through a guided case-study, I will examine my religious beliefs and frame them within a psychological framework. In so doing, the self-created tool will establish an indelible link between my religious beliefs and the pertinent psychological theories/concepts. The primary method of attaining this information will be through the utility of open-ended questions followed by a clarification when needed. Methodological Assumptions The only methodological assumption utilized for this case study was the notion that such a study would yield accurate results with regards to the underlying psychological determinants of religious beliefs and practices. It is felt that much of religion serves as a means of quelling irrational concerns with regards to questions that will remain unanswered as no clear scientific explanations can be offered in support of or in refutation of the origins of man as individuals who are capable of deciding whether we should operate solely based on faith or whether we should always resort to science for our explanation of phenomenon which, on the surface, seem unexplainable. Limitations The limitations of the survey methodology are (1) The study is very subjective as it is a case study based on one's own religious convictions, and (2) The

PROCESS SPEECH Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

PROCESS SPEECH - Essay Example It will be beneficial to do some research about the career field that you intend to purse, what qualifications are needed for your desired jobs and how to effectively market your skills. The chronological type focuses mainly on your employment history, your most recent job position is usually slotted for the first position and the rest follow chronologically. This resume type is used when you want your prospective employers to follow through career development through the years. The functional resume mainly focuses on your experiences and skills. The skills are typically grouped into functional areas. This type of resume is best used when you want to change a job or if you are trying to fit a gap in your company. As the name may suggest, combination resume is a combination of both the functional and the chronological types. This resume will therefore highlight the competencies and provide chronological work history that you deem suitable for the employer. The other type of resume is the targeted one. This is usually prepared to target a specific job. The job seeker will therefore edit the resume to fit the employer’s needs. The objective or vision statement in this resume must refer directly to the vacant position being applied for. The rule of thumb in selecting the best type of resume to use is choosing the type that will best reflect how your skills are a match to the vacancy you are applying for. The table below looks at some of the important differences between the different common resume types. Most companies prefer hard copy resumes to the electronic ones. The hard copy resume is typically mailed, faxed or even hand delivered to the company premises. Most employers will also require that you carry it to the interview room if you are shortlisted. There are some important things to keep in mind before you print out the resume. Precise- Keep your resume as short as possible. 1-2 pages is the recommended length. Human resource

Population Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Population - Essay Example In spite of this transition the total population of the country in stage IV is found to be much higher. It will be interesting to understand each stages of growth i.e. stage I through stage IV for understanding how the population eventually stabilizes (World Population: Growth & Trends). This is the stage when birth rates and death rates are high and even then there is no population growth. High birth rate is due to high fertility rate or no use of contraceptives. Similarly, high death rate during the stage is attributable to the deaths occurring from the deadly diseases such as plague, cholera, typhoid as medical science was not developed enough to provide required protection. This is a preindustrial stage when living conditions are not favorable. Infant mortality goes down due to improved health conditions that in turn, bring down the death rate; however, the birth rates still remains high keeping the population growth rate at high levels. This is also known as the transitional stage and most of the developing world is found in this stage. The country develops economically and the people start using contraceptives that controls the birth rates significantly. Population growth rate in this stage falls down significantly. Most of the developed world and a few developing countries can be found here. From the equation above, it is amply clear that if the death rate equals birth rate, there will be no growth in population of the country. In other words, if the death rate declines, the birth rate must decline by the same rate for the population to achieve stabilization. With the advances in medical sciences; better nutrition, enhanced sanitation and clean water, the death rates have declined substantially in last several decades; however, the birth rates have not kept pace with the death rates resulting into positive population

Employment at Will and Due Process Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Employment at Will and Due Process - Assignment Example The greatest intellectual strength is the inclusion of arguments made against their own point. If the authors had failed to include opposing arguments, their article would have been very one-sided and un-credible. It is important for readers to understand both sides of an argument before understanding which side is right or wrong (if there are, in fact, objectively right and wrong sides). This strength of the article, however, also proved to be somewhat of a weakness, because some of the opposing arguments were left unchallenged by the authors. One of the most interesting and perhaps most valid arguments made in this article is that the differences between private and public businesses are becoming less and less clear. Werhane and Radin put forth the notion that public businesses are businesses that cater to the public good before trying to make a profit whereas private businesses function for profit only. While this seems hard to define a business by for legal issues, I have heard that private businesses are marked by having 25 employees or less. I dislike these sort of bright-line policies where a difference of only 1 (say 26 employees instead of 25) makes a tremendous difference in applicable policy. The authors could have used this point to further argue their perspective, but since they did not I will now return to what they did say. Werhane and Radin backed their argument, that the line once drawn between private and public businesses is fading, by a case study involving General Motors (GM). The scenario explained in this article is that the private company GM was declared, by the Supreme Court, able to take over property to expand because it was for the "common good" even though, as a private company, its primary goal is profitability. On the authors' parts, this is a valid argument and it was good to utilize this case study as evidence of their point. (I would have liked more case studies to be used to give solid examples of their arguments.) While the case study does illustrate their point, it is actually not that simple, however. When this happened, it was likely the topic of much subjective debate, because many people may have disagreed with the Supreme Court's ruling. Furthermore, the actual intentions of the Supreme Court may not have been quite so innocent. Corruption is ugly, but it is widespread. Impor tant figures within the Supreme Court could have been easily influenced by a promise of shared wealth from GM. This just goes to show that while the Supreme Court's actions may have led the authors to believe that there is little difference between private and public businesses but really, the ruling of Supreme Court may have been swayed by external factors and its implications are thus inconclusive. Additionally, although Werhane and Radin tried to say that private businesses are like public businesses because they can be deemed as putting efforts towards achieving the common good, I believe it may more often be the other way around. Do public businesses actually put the common good before profitability Without profit, businesses cannot succeed. Perhaps, then, public businesses are similar to private businesses, because they do put profit first.  

Population Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Population - Essay Example In spite of this transition the total population of the country in stage IV is found to be much higher. It will be interesting to understand each stages of growth i.e. stage I through stage IV for understanding how the population eventually stabilizes (World Population: Growth & Trends). This is the stage when birth rates and death rates are high and even then there is no population growth. High birth rate is due to high fertility rate or no use of contraceptives. Similarly, high death rate during the stage is attributable to the deaths occurring from the deadly diseases such as plague, cholera, typhoid as medical science was not developed enough to provide required protection. This is a preindustrial stage when living conditions are not favorable. Infant mortality goes down due to improved health conditions that in turn, bring down the death rate; however, the birth rates still remains high keeping the population growth rate at high levels. This is also known as the transitional stage and most of the developing world is found in this stage. The country develops economically and the people start using contraceptives that controls the birth rates significantly. Population growth rate in this stage falls down significantly. Most of the developed world and a few developing countries can be found here. From the equation above, it is amply clear that if the death rate equals birth rate, there will be no growth in population of the country. In other words, if the death rate declines, the birth rate must decline by the same rate for the population to achieve stabilization. With the advances in medical sciences; better nutrition, enhanced sanitation and clean water, the death rates have declined substantially in last several decades; however, the birth rates have not kept pace with the death rates resulting into positive population

Compare and contrast the financial systems of two different countries. Use an institutional approach to describe the system. Comment on the impact on, and response to the GFC in each country Essay Example for Free

Compare and contrast the financial systems of two different countries. Use an institutional approach to describe the system. Comment on the impact on, and response to the GFC in each country Essay 1.0 Introduction A financial system inquires for efficient allocation of resources among the surplus and deficit units (Viney 2009) as such it encourages more savings where funds are provided for investor to invest and also ease the transactions for goods and services (Viney 2009). There are three main components in the financial systems which are the financial institutions, financial instruments and financial markets. All three types of financial system each carry different function, roles and regulations. However, financial institutions will be mainly focus in this research essay. Global Financial Crisis (GFC), also known as the ‘great recession’ occurs in the year of approximately 2007-08. GFC has caused a several impact on the economy which leads to a several collapse of the financial institutions. For instance, the collapse of Lehman Brothers, one of the major investment banks in US (Australia Bureau of Statistics 2010). Thus, the objective of this essay is to examine both financial system of the chosen countries which are United States and Australia, also the impacts and responses on the GFC in both of the chosen countries. 2.0 Compare and Contrast both Financial Systems 2.1 Central Bank The central bank of the United States (U.S.) is known as Federal Reserve System (FED) whereas the central bank of Australia is known as the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA). The Federal Reserve System’s structure consist of the Board of Governors which are duly appointed by the president, the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC), and 12 regional Federal Reserve Banks located throughout the major states in the country (The Federal Reserve Board 2003). Banking in U.S. is regulated at both federal and state level. Unlike U.S., Australia has only one central bank which is the Reserve Bank of Australia. However, both central banks are independent within their government (Reserve Bank of Australia 2001) whereby for FED, the monetary policies decisions do not have to go through the President’s authorization, and for RBA, they have statutory authority established by an act of parliament which grants them  specific powers and obligations to carry out necessary policies (Reserve Bank of Australia 2001). On the other hand, RBA has two board, which are the reserve bank board and payment systems board (Reserve Bank of Australia 2001). The reserve bank board is responsible for monetary and banking policy whereas the payment systems board is responsible for controlling risk in the financial system, promoting the efficiency of the payments system, and promoting competition in the market for payment services, consistent with the overall stability of the financial system (Reserve Bank of Australia 2001). The role of FED is to conduct the country’s monetary policy, which includes full employment, stable prices and moderate long term interest rates as stated in the Federal Reserve Act (Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System 2008). Furthermore, they maintain the stability of the financial system, supervise and regulate banking institutions, provide financial services to depository institutions, and foreign official institutions. FOMC will determine the cost and availability of money and credit in the country’s economy by affecting the discount rate, reserve requirements and controlling the open market operations (Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System 2012). Likewise, the role of RBA is to conduct monetary policy as well, which includes the maintenance of price stability, full employment and the economic prosperity and welfare of the Australian citizens (Reserve Bank of Australia 2001). Besides that, they also set the cash rate to meet a medium term inflation target (Reserve Bank of Australia 2001). Moreover, RBA must maintain a strong financial system and efficient payments system and the issuing of the nation’s bank notes. Selected banking services are provided to the Australian government, agencies, official institutions, and a number of overseas central banks (Reserve Bank of Australia 2001). 2.2 Commercial Bank Commercial banks in the U.S. are quite similar to those of Australia whereby their main role is to act as a financial intermediary by channeling funds from agents who deposit money and lenders who needs fund and wants to borrow. These agents and lenders include households, businesses, governments and foreigners. Australia offer products and services which include balance sheet transactions and off-balance-sheet transactions (Viney 2009). For balance sheet transaction, the first purpose is to loan activity to match the available amount of deposits that they received from customers. This activity is known as assets management (Viney 2009). The second purpose is to manage their sources of funds in order to ensure that they have sufficient amount of funds available to meet the loan demand or any other form of commitments. This activity is known as liabilities management (Viney 2009). For off-balance-sheet transactions, it includes a substantial volume of business that is not recorded either an asset or liability on their balance sheet. In comparison, U.S. obtains their funds (liabilities) by issuing deposits, checking deposits, time deposits, saving deposits (Samolyk 2004). For their use of funds (assets), it includes making commercial, consumer, and mortgage loans, and by buying U.S. government and municipal bonds (Samolyk 2004). Therefore, commercial banks play an important role in funding business borrowers. The percentage of non-financial business borrowing that commercial banks fund on their balance sheets has not declined remarkably in the past five decades or so. The commercial banks in U.S. provide trade financing, foreign exchange, corporate finances and miscellaneous banking services which include currency specified credit cards, corporate checking accounts and lock boxes (Ireland n.d.). Moreover, the existence of commercial banks made reliable transfer of funds between different countries all over the world possible. Furthermore, the distribution of valuable economic and business information among clients around the world is made possible as well (Samolyk 2004). Similarly, there are basically two functions of a commercial bank in Australia. The primary functions are obviously to accept deposits from individuals, and grant loans and advances for personal or corporate purposes. The secondary functions consists of collecting and supplying business information, providing reports on the credit worthiness of customers, standing guarantee on behalf of its customers for making payments for the purchase of goods, vehicles, machinery, and so on. Besides that, they also provide customers with foreign exchange facilities; and they also provide safe deposits vaults or lockers for valuables, important documents and securities. In a nutshell, for both countries, there are several similarities in the roles of commercial banks. Commercial banks promote capital formation whereby they accept deposits from individuals and businesses, whereby these deposits are then made available to the businesses which will make use of them for industrious purposes in the country (Ireland n.d.). Moreover, they also provide short and medium term loans for entrepreneurs to invest in new enterprises or businesses. Furthermore, they also promote trade and industry since they offer the use of bank draft, bill of exchange, check, credit cards and letters of credit. In one way or another, they also influence the level of economic activity by influencing the rate of interest and the availability of credit in the market. Most importantly, they implement the monetary policy proposed by FED or RBA to bring about price stability, full employment and promote economic growth within the country. There are several sources of funds for these commercial banks. The main source would of course be from the current account deposits. However, they do have other sources as well such as demand deposits, term deposits, negotiable certificates of deposits, bills acceptance liabilities, foreign currency liabilities, loan capital and shareholders’ equity. 2.3 Non-bank Financial Institutions 2.3.1 Depository Financial Institution Depository institutions (DPI) act as a financial intermediary similar to a commercial bank, whereby its main task is to accept deposits from surplus units and then issue loans to the deficit units in the financial system (Viney 2009). The main regulator for Australia is Australia Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) whereas for U.S. is the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC). As for U.S., there are about 9, 000 functional depository financial institutions in the U.S. They operate through 92, 000 branch offices located in different states (Finance Maps of World 2011). Their role is to set a benchmark for DPI in the ground of  commercial banking. The funds that are collected is used to meet the credit need of others (Finance Maps of World 2011). On the other hand, Australia’s DPI consists of three main institutions which are banks, building societies and credit unions (Reserve Bank of Australia 2001). There are a total of 171 institutions of which 55 are banks, 11 are building societies and 105 are credit unions (Reserve Bank of Australia 2001). 2.3.2 Investment banks and Merchant banks Investment banks and merchant banks primary objective is to collect funds and invest them in the market to achieve specific goals set for different types of investments (Viney 2009). There are generally two types of investment companies which are open-end or closed-end mutual funds. Open-end funds will accept new investment and trade in old ones, whereas for closed-end funds they only accept funds once and then do not take in any additional new funds. Investment companies have recently become more popular among U.S. and Australia, and have managed trillions of dollars. As for U.S. investment banks specialize in facilitating financial transactions rather than just providing finance. They have a good reputation as a financial innovator since their responsibilities includes the improvement of new financial products and services which must meet the ever changing needs of clients (Kumar, Chuppe Perttunen 1997). In contrast, investment banks and merchant banks in Australia are not considered an authorized bank but often referred to as money market corporations (Viney 2009). They do not have a depositor base to include in their assets. Therefore, they raise funds through the issues of securities from the international money and capital markets (Viney 2009). 2.3.3 Contractual savings institutions Contractual saving institutions offer contract that specify, in return for periodic payments to the institutions, and the institutions will make payments to the contract holders if any specified event occurs (Viney 2009). They include general insurance companies and superannuation funds. As for U.S., their insurance companies raise money mainly from the issuance of insurance policies and collecting annual premiums. Some might also borrow from the dept capital markets as an alternative source of funds. For superannuation funds, or more popularly known as pension funds in the U.S., they are funded by the deductions from employees’ monthly salary in addition with certain contribution by the employers (Cohen Schubert 2010). On the contrary, Australia have make it compulsory for their employees to contribute to the superannuation system (Cohen Schubert 2010) whereby for U.S., an estimated 78 million working Americans which include the sole traders, employees who work for small employers or even part timers, do not have access to a retirement fund (Cohen Schubert 2010). For U.S., it has firstly introduced as a beneficial payment of employment whereas for Australia, it was created as a comprehensive system from the start (McLennan 2000). 2.3.4 Finance companies Finance companies and general financiers are basically institutions who provide loans and charter finance to clients by borrowing funds directly from the financial market (Viney 2009). As for U.S., these institutions raise funds in the debt market by issuing securities. Therefore, they raise funds solely by issuing debt or borrowing from other institutions but not taking deposits directly (Samolyk 2004). Similarly for Australia, they raise funds by issuing commercial paper, bonds and medium-term notes (Reserve Bank of Australia 2001). 2.3.5 Unit trusts Unit trusts is formed under a trust deed, and is controlled and managed by trustee by selling units to the public as a means to raise funds whereby investors purchase units in the trust (Viney 2009). As for U.S., there are generally two types of unit trusts, one that falls under private management and another that falls under direct state authority. Their role mainly involves traditional banking activities that are related to issuance of loans and deposits. The major difference between private and state authority trust is state authority institutions obtain funds from deposits and through the sale of shares, whereas private institutions operate as an intermediaries by generating finance through providing investment opportunities to clients (Samolyk 2004). Likewise, Australia too has two different types which are public unit trusts and cash management trusts  (Viney 2009). Public unit trusts focus more on gathering investors’ funds and investing it into specific types of assets (Viney 2009). However, for cash management trusts, they focus more on trust deed which are open to the public by confining their investment to financial securities which are accessible through the short-term money market (Viney 2009). 3.0 The impact of GFC 3.1 United States The birth of the global financial crisis begin somewhere in 2008. It all started in early 2006 when the subprime mortgage market in the United States (U.S.) began to reveal an increasing rate of mortgage defaults due to the bursting of the housing bubble (Mishkin 2011). Subsequently, in late 2006, these defaults caused a decline in the U.S. housing prices after about a decade of extremely high growth statistics. Later on, the prime mortgage markets were affected as well and were showing a higher default rates by the end of 2007. Therefore, when the mortgages backing the securities began to fall in value, the value of the securities fell as well (Nielsen 2010). Looking at the fall in price of their assets, investors quickly attempt to liquidate their assets in around late 2007. Consequently, in 2008, a major financial crisis hit U.S. which led to the most severe recession since World War II. The financial crisis in the U.S. economy eventually spread to many foreign nations, affecting the global financial system, resulting in a global financial crisis (Shah 2010). The degree of the global financial crisis was so severe that some of the world’s largest financial institutions have collapsed. U.S. was no exception. History was made when one of the largest investment banks in the world, Lehman Brothers, collapsed in September 2008. Some other institutions have been vehemently bought out by their competitors at a low price, and in some cases, the governments of the richest countries in the world had no choice but to sought an expensive bail out and rescue plan to save some of the remaining large banks and financial institutions (Shah 2010). These were all done at the expense of the US taxpayers. Approximately $9.7 trillion of US taxpayers’ money alone have been spent for bailout packages and plans (Dhameja 2010). According to Bloomberg, $14.5 trillion, or about 33%, of the  value of the world’s companies have been wiped out by the crisis. Therefore, as credit became scarce and seeing an increase in the lack of confidence in the U.S. financial institutions, international banks started to increase the interest rate for inter-bank borrowing, known as the LIBOR (Mishkin 2011). Subsequently, a crash in the US stock market was observed, liquidity drying up, and employees were being laid off which cause an increase in the unemployment line (Dhameja 2010). U.S. was in a state of limbo even after eleven months since the fall of Lehman Brothers. Banks virtually stopped lending to each other. Although several proposals for stimulus packages and some bailout plans have provided some relief, it seems that there was nothing more that could be done to ease the situation (Mishkin 2011). At the same time, smaller businesses hardly had any chances for a bail out or rescue plan and more people went into bankruptcy. Additionally, there was a decline in the US imports from its major trading partners such as the European Union, Mexico and China, due to the slowdown in economic activity (Nanto 2009). Private sectors practically stopped borrowing, trade credit was also hard to obtain, and with continuous falling demand, especially investment goods and manufacturing durables like cars, export volume decreases, foreign GDP fell as well, trade volumes eventually collapsed (Dhameja 2010). Moreover, the risk premium on inter-bank borrowing which used to be close to zero, rose steeply to five per cent. Besides, the risk premium on corporate bonds rose to over six per cent. Although the US government tried to inject liquidity into the financial markets, the damage was already done (Chambers 2010). 3.2 Australia GFC has less effect on Australia as compared to other countries such as US, UK and etc. Most developed countries had suffered recessions where Australia experienced a down turn in the economy (Stevens 2009). However, there is no government’s support required by the financial institutions in such situations like capital injections or the acquisition of distressed loan portfolios (Australia Bureau of Statistics 2010). The major impact of the GFC has resulted on the loss of confidence in the household sector (Stevens 2009). This is due of the decline in the equity price causes a reduced of the household wealth (The Parliament of the Commonwealth of Australia 2009). Thus, this leads to an effect of low consumption and investment which resulted to a decline growth of household as they felt insecure about the capacity to spend and borrow (Australian Government n.d.). GFC has also impacted on the unemployment rate which result shown an increase of number that lead to a decrease in the economic growth (Australian Workers’ Union 2009). The part-time employment has increased which balance to a loss of full time jobs where this also effect on the working hours such as the decrease hours in work (Chesters n.d.). Certain demographic groups have been affected by the job loss. For instance, the generation Y (18-24 years) has been affected (Tanton et al. 2010). However, they remain optimistic and relied heavily on the government benefit (Tanton et al. 2010). Moreover, competition in the banking system has also been affected by the GFC (Australian Super Investment Conference 2010) which resulted on harm towards the smaller banks and non-bank intermediaries as compared to the large banks where it leads to an increase in the cost of funds (The Senate 2011). Thus, this has impact on a greater gap between the major banks and other financial institutions (Australian Super Investment Conference 2010). The collapse of the Lehman Brothers, has led to a loss of confidence towards the banks which caused a decrease on the demand for credit (Australian Super Investment Conference 2010). 4.0 The response of GFC 4.1 United States GFC had seriously impacted the United States (U.S.) as compared to other countries such as Australia where it leads to the collapse of one of the major investment banks, Lehman Brothers. Thus, plans had been made by the U.S. government in response to the impact to prevent the situations to worsen. In comparison to Australia, the financial institutions do not need government intervention to assist them such as injection of capital. Unlike U.S., the government intervene where the central banks has purchased the government debt and the troubled asset which cost US$2.5 trillion in order to raise funds in the financial institutions (Halmarick 2009). This has resulted in the largest liquidity injection done by the government. They tried to inject liquidity into banks by buying share of banks, and purchase of convertible bonds of banks, whereby the government will be paid certain amount interest and the government will be given an option to convert these bonds into equity (Nanto 2009). Furthermore, FED tried to reduce the interest rates by cutting the Fed Funds target from 5.0% in September 2007 to an extremely low 0-0.25% as at December 2008. Later on, in March 2009, Fed started a â€Å"Quantitative Easing† policy by agreeing to buy a $300 billion in Treasury bonds (Halmarick 2009). The main purpose is to lower the interest rates across the yield curve and to provide additional funds to the banks. Moreover, US tried to overcome slowdown by stimulus packages of about $10 trillion for banks and guarantees to depositors, and also enhanced public spending (Dhameja 2010). According to Bloomberg, by February 2009, the total US bailout amounted to $9.7 trillion, sufficient to pay off more than 90 per cent of America’s home mortgage and was about 70 per cent of US GDP (Halmarick 2009). In addition, President Obama signed two packages which are the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act worth $787 billion and 5.5% of GDP. The main features include an estimated $285 billion in tax reduction for individuals and businesses, unemployment benefits, extra spending for food stamps, and also health care subsidies for workers that have been laid off (Halmarick 2009). These packages positively aim to generate at least three to four million job opportunities by the end of 2010. Additionally, US tried their best to prevent more banks from failing. The first case was Fed approves financing loans arrangement for J.P. Morgan  Chase to buy over Bear Sterns in March 2008. The second case was government controlled mortgage giant Freddie Mac received $146 million to ease their situation. Next, AIG borrowed $85 billion from Fed to prevent them from failing (Halmarick 2009). However, Fed couldn’t do much to save Lehman Brothers from failing and thus they went into bankruptcy in 2008. Therefore, US government aim to strengthen the global financial institution mainly to prevent losses of capital flows due to the impact of GFC to the developing and emerging economy by agreed on the increase of funds (Australian Government n.d.). Besides, government also actively plans to purchase equity from the financial institutions to ensure there is a sufficient liquidity which enable them to conduct activities such as investment, issue loan and deposit and much more. GFC has caused a fall of confidence in the financial institutions. Thus, government had decided to guarantee all senior unsecured debt and also the non-interest bearing transaction deposit account mainly to increase the confidence losses in the financial institutions (Australian Government n.d.). 4.2 Australia Australia had prepared by implementing an effective monetary and fiscal policy in response to the economy when one of the biggest investment bank in United States (US), Lehman Brothers collapsed in September 2008. This helps to avoid the economy from slowing down and lessen the impact of Global Financial Crisis (GFC) in Australia as compared to other countries such as US, where government responded on the measurement. In order to strengthen the operation of the financial system, government has increase up to $25 billion of the issue of Commonwealth Government Securities(Britton 2008), more choices of assets provided for Australian Office of Financial Management (AOFM) to invest in, together with a better lending facility of AOFM (Australian Government n.d.). In response to the recommendations of Financial Stability Forum, legislation has been introduced to establish Financial Claims Scheme (Britton 2008)  where the availability of funds is given to the depositors and general insurance policyholders when the financial institutions failed to perform (Australian Government n.d.). Besides, the bank deposits and wholesale funding is guaranteed by the government for a period of 3 years (D’Aloisio 2010). Additionally, the $10.4 billion Economic Security Strategy has been carry on as this helps to strengthen and stabilize the economy (Australian Government n.d.). This aim to provide protection to households and other financial institutions to gain back confidence lost due to GFC (Australia Bureau of Statistics 2010). Besides, First Home Owners Boost has been introduced mainly to assist the housing sector to stimulate activity which benefits the economy (Australian Government n.d.). The competition in the market of housing finance has been supported by the government through the purchase of the Residential Mortgage Backed Securities (RMBS) (Australian Government n.d.). However, a total of $840 million has been taken out by RBA from RBMS under a repurchase agreement mainly to ensure there is sufficient liquidity in the market (Britton 2008). The naked and covered of the short sale securities has been ban for a period of 30 days by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) (Helmes et al. 2009). However, a clarification of the allowable covered shares has been issued by the ASIC in concern of the set requirement (Britton 2008). A draft legislation for the covered of short sales has been released by the government and it is open for the public to comment on till 21 October 2008 (Britton 2008). Government initiated the plan of Nation Building and Jobs Plan which cost around $42 billion which was mainly to support the jobs in the country where it supported an estimated of 90,000 jobs (Sherry 2009). This help to decrease the unemployment rate and then boost the economic growth where it encourages more activities and also to increase consumption in the economy (Sherry 2009). 5.0 Conclusion In conclusion, the global financial crisis (GFC) had brought so much damage not only to U.S. and Australia, but to the entire nations’ financial system globally. Even some of the wealthiest nations saw the collapsed of its financial institutions while some had to undertake an extremely expensive bail-out package. As for U.S. they suffered more severely compared to Australia. This is because the Reserve Bank of Australia has taken measures in advance of the global financial crisis. Thus, they were not as heavily affected as compared to other countries. Therefore, U.S. should learn from Australia by implementing policies ahead of any unexpected crisis to minimize the impact and damage done to their financial system. Evidently, it is better for them to prevent and be prepared rather than solving an issue when the damage has already been done. The policies implemented should include healthy control of the discount rate, reserve requirement and also minimal inflation targeting such as two to three per cent. The right policy implementation will lead to full employment in the country, a healthy level of economic activity and international trades, which will eventually increase the country’s GDP to an optimal and desirable level. (4203 words) List of References Australia Bureau of Statistics 2010, The global financial crisis and its impact on Australia, Viewed 8 May 2012, . Australian Government n.d., Part 2: The Government’s Response to the Global Financial Crisis, Viewed 10 May 2012, . Australian Super Investment Conference 2010, The GFC and its impact on Australian capital markets, Viewed 12 May 2012, . Australian Workers’ Union 2009, The impact of the Global Financial Crisis on Australian Workers, Viewed 12 May 2012, . Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System 2008, Federal Reserve Act, viewed 2 May 2012, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System 2012, Federal Open Market Committee, viewed 2 May 2012, http://www.federalreserve.gov/monetarypolicy/fomc.htm. Britton, H 2008, Government response to the Global Financial Crisis, Viewed 9 May 2012, . Chambers, C 2010, ‘US financial recovery: Political regulations or a plan for the future?’, Journal of Banking Regulation, vol. 11, no. 3, pp. 240-255, viewed 5 May 2012, retrieved from EBSCOhost database. Chesters, J n.d., The Global Financial Crisis in Australia, Viewed 10 May 2012, . Cohen, J Schubert, S 2010, Russell’s experience in Australia provides lessons for U.S. retirement plan sponsors, Viewed 14 May 2012, . Cook, RC 2008, Impacts of the Financial Crisis: The U.S. is becoming an Impoverished Nation, viewed 5 May 2012, . D’Aloisio, T 2010, Responding to the financial crisis: ASIC story, Viewed 8 May 2012, . Dhameja, N 2010, ‘Global Financial Crisis: Impact, Challenges Way-out’, The Indian Journal of Industrial Relations, vol. 45, no. 3, viewed 6 May 2012, retrieved from EBSCOhost database. Finance Maps of World 2011, Depository Financial Institution, Viewed 14 May 2012, . Halmarick, S 2009, ‘The Global Policy Response-The unprecedented becomes commonplace’, Colonial First State Global Asset Management, viewed 5 May 2012. Helmes, U, Henker, J Henker, T 2009, How the Australian ban on short selling during the GFC affected market quality, Viewed 11 May 2012, . Ireland, PN n.d. ‘Money, Banking, and Finacial Markets’, Department of Economics, viewed 3 May 2012, . Kumar, A, Chuppe, T Perttunen, P 1997, The Regulation of Non-Bank Financial Institutions, The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, U.S.A. McLennan, W 2000, 2000 Year Book Australia No.82, Australia Bureau of Statistics, Australia. Mishkin, FS 2011, ‘Over the Cliff: From the Subprime to the Global Financial Crisis’, Journal of Economic Perspectives, vol. 25, no. 1, pp. 49-70, viewed 4 May 2012, retrieved from EBSCOhost database. Nanto, DK 2009, ‘The Global Financial Crisis: Analysis and Policy Implications’, Congressional Research Service, viewed 4 May 2012. Nielsen, RP 2010, ‘High-Leverage Finance Capitalism, the Economic Crisis, Structurally Related Ethic Issues, and Potential Reforms’, Business Ethics Quarterly, vol. 20, no. 2, pp.229-330, viewed 6 May 2012, retrieved from EBSCOhost database. Reserve Bank of Australia 2001, Financial Stability, Viewed 13 May 2012, . Reserve Bank of Australia 2001, Governance, Viewed 13 May 2012, . Samolyk, K 2004, ‘The Evolving Role of Commercial Banks in U.S. Credit Markets’, FDIC Banking Review, vol. 16, no. 2, viewed 3 May 2012, . Shah, A 2010, Global Financial Crisis, viewed 7 May 2012, . Sherry, N 2009, Australia’s policy response to the global financial crisis address to the institute of actuaries of Australia biennial convention 2009 Sydney, Viewed 10 May 2012, . Stevens, G 2009, Financial crisis developments-impact on the Australian economy, Viewed 12 May 2012, . Tanton, R, Keegan, M, Vidyattama, Y Thurecht, L 2010, The economic vitality report: the impact of the GFC on Australians, Viewed 10 May 2012, . The Federal Reserve Board 2003, The Structure of the Federal Reserve System, viewed 2 May 2012, . The Parliament of the Commonwealth of Australia 2009, The Global Financial Crisis and regional Australia, Viewed 11 May 2012, . The Senate 2011, Competition within the Australian banking sector, Viewed 9 May 2012, . Viney, C 2009, Financial Institutions, Instruments Markets, 6th edn, McGraw- Hill Education, Australi

AstraZenecas Strategic Information Management

AstraZenecas Strategic Information Management An extensive research has been by conducted to present the following outcome from of my study regarding Strategic Information Management. To compliment my study I did the research on AstraZeneca, a bio pharmaceutical Business company. Which gave me closer view and clear idea of my topic of study and I have related my report on that. Understanding the impact of management information on decision making Assessment Criteria Identify the features of data and information As we know that data is the collection of facts and figures. There is a several sources that are used to obtain the data but all the data that we get is not relevant. The relevant data to the management becomes information. The management needs information to make decisions. Information is needed in every type of decision making, from every day business decisions to the large and most important decisions. Data can be qualitative or quantitative of a collection of both. Such qualitative and quantitative data is attributed to a variable or different set of variables. Data is obtained on the bases of different variables depending on the nature of the data. Data is collected in a large form and then information and knowledge are filtered from the data to support in decision making. Qualitative Data: The qualitative data can be in forms of characters, graphs, pictures etc. The qualitative data determines the qualitative information from the source. It is descriptive and not all of such data is concrete. Qualitative data categorizes the items. It defines the items according to their specifications. It is also used to differentiate between the items as most of the items are not differentiated when collection their quantitative data. Quantitative Data: Quantitative data is also referred numerical data. Quantitative data is the data that determines the quantity from the source. It is often in forms of numbers and values. It is used to differentiate the date on the value or the quantity of the items. It is used for the measurement of the exact and approximate values. Example: AstraZeneca conducts market research and divides the information in two different groups qualitative data and quantitative data. In qualitative Data it has got consumer demographics, cultural norms, likes, dislikes, personalities where as in Quantitative data it has sales, average spent by consumers, cost of product etc. Information: Information is the part of the data is useful for decision making. Information is extracted from the data. Data is always in a larger amount and not all data is used by the managers to make decisions. So they filter the most important form of data which becomes information for them. Determining the criteria to be applied when selecting data and information to support decision-making. It is very important to have a suitable and sufficient data and information to support any type of decision making. Easy and every day decision making requires less amount of data and information where as complex and difficult making requires more amount of data and information. There are several standards used to determine the importance of specific data and information for the managers to make decision. i. The nature of data and information should be relevant to the decision that is going to be made. It should not be irrelevant data and information that is distracting from the main idea. The data should be related to the decision in a way that it supports the decision in and the information builds up the bases required for the decision making process. ii. The data and information should not be biased to a point. It should be a multi dimensional data that shows different angles to support the decision making. iii. The data and information should be complete. It should be sufficient enough so that the manager gets complete information that would be required to make the decision. That data should collect more amount of factual information with proper expression of numerical values. iv. The data and information that we perceive from different sources around us supports the decision making process. Before making a decision an individual or set of individuals set a goal which they aim to achieve as a result of their decision. So the data should be goal focused. It should reflect the goal that we need to achieve as a result of the decision. v. It is very important that data and information are collected from multiple sources. That the data collected from those sources should be compared and the best possible information should be filtered to suit the decision making. Different sources of the data could reveal essential information that could be used for the decision making process. Evaluating the impact of a management information system to an organisation. Every business organization needs information to support its all business activities and decision making. The system that enables the organizations to access the information to manage the organization is called Management information system. A management information system (MIS) is a system that provides information needed to manage organizations effectively . MIS in any organization is used to manage the flow of information and the uses of that information. The effective the flow of information is the smoother the business will be. Management information system is also used to the evaluate and manage all other forms of information systems that are used by the organization. Such as the decision support system or expert system. In other Management information system is the master systems that controls all other management and information systems with in the organization. Since the discovery of MIS, organizations have benefited from it a lot as it has increase the efficiency and effect iveness. It has also made the complex decision making process a lot easier and time saving. If management information system is utilized in an effective manner, it can make business operations more efficient and it would reduce the risk of wrong decision making. Information empowers people and correct and effective form of information benefits the organization by empowering the employees that would improve their performance and performance of the organization as a whole. There are high chances of rise in productivity if the management information system is implemented effectively. According to a business cycle the outcomes of a successful MIS are planned to be obtained for a five year business plan. It provides managers with relevant information regarding all the business aspects. It also assists them in the decision making. It also acts as a performance indicator and tells the managers how the business has performed. It can also be used to improve the performance of the business where it can be improved. 2.1 Determining the legal responsibilities in sourcing, sharing and storing information Legal responsibility is the responsibility that lies on the organization in accordance with the law as it has to follow certain legal procedures in business activities. Every organization has got a legal responsibility regarding sourcing, sharing and storing information and it has to follow it to avoid any legal action against that organization. Confidentiality. The confidentiality disallows the organizations to disclose the information of any individual, group of individuals or business to be disclosed to any other individual, group of individuals or a business without a proper approval. The confidentiality also restricts the organizations to disclose the information of individuals to the unauthorised employees of those organizations. Integrity The integrity puts a responsibility on the organizations in which they cannot change, customise or personalize any information that is provided to them. The organizations are legally bound to keep the information to them. Integrity can be violated if the message has been changed. It is organizations responsibility to keep all the information to them as it has been provided to them. Availability The availability of the information enables the information to be available when is required. That means the information should be accessible to authorised people when they need it thus it should also be protected at the same time. The information should only be available for the use of the authorized people and any unauthorized person or business should be denied access. Authenticity It is also one of the legal responsibility of the business organizations to make sure that any information that they provide is not fake or forged. The data should also be authentically validated in its true form and actual state. Non-repudiation Non-repudiation is a legal responsibility on the organization that they have to fulfil their legal requirements. I also ensures that sender and receiver can not deny that the information has been sent or received respectively. Example AstraZeneca has got a confidential information which it collects in its surveys and researches and it protects the data as a legal obligation. 2.2 When should information be offered and access allowed. Access control It is a responsibility of the organizations to control the access of the individuals, group of individuals and businesses to the information. Organizations are supposed to restrict the access of unauthorised entities or any individual that has not been identified as an authentic person to access the information. Organizations are responsible to control the disclosure of the information only to the parties that have the right to access the information. Identification It is important for organizations to identify the individuals correctly before granting them access to the specific information. There are several different processes used by the organizations to the identify they individual intending to the access the information. So organizations should allow the access when the identification of an individual satisfies them for the authenticity of the individual to qualify to access the information. Authentication Authentication is a process that establishes weather an individual, a group of individuals or a business has the right to access the information or not. When an individual is identified it is then evaluated on the basis of authenticity that if the individual qualifies for the access to the information or not. Organizations verify the authenticity on three different ways: identity of an individual, possession of the individual or the specific knowledge of the individual. These are the ways in which information can be evaluation from individuals. Cryptography Cryptography is used by the organization to make the information unusable to unauthorized people. It is modern and technologically advanced process. That restricts the access of information to the people who are not authorized to use it. Organizations should allow access to individuals that they want to and restrict the access of everyone else. Example There is certain information in the management information system of AstraZeneca which is only allowed to certain people on prove of identification. 2.3 Evaluating the formats in which information can be offered. The data format in which the organization offers the information must be a format of the organization is fully aware of. It should be a format that is the most suitable format to disclose the data in a from where the distortion can be minimized. The formats used to offer the information should be the formats that are widely accepted and which are in a standardized form and if there are no standardized format for the information that we need to offer then formats should be used that are defined by open consortia. If the document is modified the format should also be modified according to that document. Print The data in print format can be offered by books, journals, news papers, paper documents, cards etc. print format is the most conventional and safe to protect. Audio The information on audio format is very widely used. It used mainly in informal method. The audio format can be very effective in specific situations. Telephones and mobile phone are coming used to offer data. Radios are also part of audio format. Most of the people prefer Audio with Video. Video Video format is one of the most expensive formats to offer information but it is easy to access by masses. Video format is in easy reach of many and preferred by most. It is considered more effective than audio. It is more interactive than print but it has a shorter life than and less concreteness than print format. Computer/Internet Computers and Internet are the most common and most efficient means to offer information the individuals. It is cheap and efficient. There are security risks involved in it. It is easy to access and can be access by multiple users at the same time. It saves time and money but some times it can be hard for those people who dont know how to use computers or for the people don not have the access to the computer and internet. Example: AstraZeneca provides information to customers by brochures, Radio ads, TV ads and internet website. LO3: Use information to inform and support strategic decision-making Assessment Criteria 3.1 Analyze information to identify patterns and trends Information that is extracted from the date is used into the business to make decision. That information helps to build perceptions. Information is used to specify different patterns and trends. Different patterns and trends can be expressed by graphs, diagrams or charts. Example AstraZeneca uses pie charts, bar graphs and other graphic and it tells the different patterns of cusumer and market trends. Which helps the management to make decisions. AstraZeneca uses the information to identify the development of new products and new sales opportunities. Evaluating a range of decision making tools and techniques available to support a strategic decision There are several tools and techniques that are used by the managers to support a strategic decision making. Organizations use these tools according to their needs and according the magnitude of the decision that has to be made. Decision Trees To draw a decision tree the management has to identify all the available options. So the list of the available option would be considered and then out of each of the decision should be stated. The similar options are merged to form two main options. The decision is often represented by the nodes. Decision nodes, chance nodes and end nodes. The Pareto Analysis The is a technique used to identify the option from all the available options that would get the best possible out of all. Most commonly the options that have chances to result in 80% positive outcome by 20% work are selected from the options available. This is also commonly know as the 80/20 rule. Pros and Cons In this technique the manager has to state all the advantages and disadvantages of all the decisions and then the manager has to identify the most effective decision in which advantages outnumber all the disadvantages. PMI In this technique there is an addition to the advantages and disadvantages category that is interesting. That adds up the available options of the decisions. Six thinking Hats This is one of the most effect techniques of decision making. It is combined with the parallel thinking. It requires a group of individuals which think in a combined and prolonged way to reach to the decision making. Determining the sources available to assist in analyzing data information Different organizations use different sources to analyze the data information available to them to support them in decision making process. Accuracy The accuracy of the data should be evaluated to analyze it. The more accurate it is the effective it will be. If it is not accurate it will not be effective to use. Ease to use The data information has to be easy to use for its users. If it is too difficult to be understood then it cannot be utilized in a best possible manner. It should be user friendly and system friendly. Comparisons The data information should be compared with other data available to the business. Comparison of data will give a clear view for the analysis. As it will later be easier to select the more most appropriate data information for the management information system. LO4: Monitoring and review management information Assessment Criteria 4.1 Identifying methods of evaluating management information within an organization There are different methods involved in evaluating the management information within an organization. The management information is evaluated to know weather the information would be relevant and useful for the organization or not. Identifying sources The sources should be identified from which the information has been derived. So that the concreteness of the information can be confirmed later. It is more likely for information to be reliable if the source is reliable. Relevance The information has to be relevant to be used in the management information system. So that it can be used into the organization to make decisions. The relevance of the information can be determined by the objectives that need to be achieved through it. Access There should be an easy access of the information for the authorised users of the information. Access to any unauthorized person should be denied to that information. Objectives The information should be evaluated against the organizational objectives. The information should complement the objectives and can be used to achieve objectives. 4.2 Discussing process for analyzing impact of information on strategic decision made There is a very strong impact of information on strategic decisions made. This impact is analyzed by the out come of the strategic decisions made and the contribution of the information on them. The informations role in achieve the objective and the assistance by the information to make strategic business decisions is crucial part to analyze its impact. Information is used to get the essential bases to make a decision. Information is made into work when it is used as knowledge. Example With effective Management information system and successful application of Decision support system AstraZeneca has been able to benefit a lot. They use their information to effectively to make successful strategic decisions. 4.3 Determining methods of developing information capture to inform and support strategic decision making Information can be collected in different methods which is then used to support strategic decision making. Surveys Different organizations conduct different surveys to collect information. These surveys are based on different questionnaire which are specifically designed to get a definite information about anything. Surveys can be targeted or sometimes they are conducted on random people Research Large organizations have got specific devoted research department to conduct researches but small and medium sized organizations form groups of individuals to which conduct researches when they have to get any information to make a strategic decision or when they have to develop a new product. Outsourcing Many business organization try to outsource the information. They get the information from other business firms which collect information and provide it to other businesses. Example A has got a devoted research and development department which has been specifically designed to conduct surveys and conduct research to develop new products or to improve previous ones. Summery Information is very vital for any business operations. So it is important for the organizations to develop effective management information systems. The information from the management information systems should be used to make effective strategic decisions and to make effective strategic decisions the information has to be the best possible information available. It is also important for the organizations to