Lehman Brothers Financial Crisis - 900 Words

Many financial entities experienced financial trouble as the housing bubble burst and mortgage-backed securities lost significant value, specifically the investment bank Lehman Brothers. The Lehman Brothers filed for Bankruptcy in September 2008. Before filing for bankruptcy and years prior to the housing bubble burst, the Lehman Brothers’ balance sheet was growing rapidly during the beginning of 2006. This was mainly due to the many long-term investments financed through short-term borrowing. These assets included a significant amount of residential and commercial mortgage-backed securities, the same type of securities that precipitated the 2008 financial crisis. Although the market for mortgage-backed securities was showing signs of trouble during 2007, Lehman continued its aggressive growth expecting to benefit from the countercyclical crisis (Hines, Kreuze, and Langsam 2011). During this time, Lehman took on more risk, ignoring its own risk models, while also excludi ng some assets from their risk analyses. These assets became a lot more difficult to sell without incurring significant losses. Lehman was able to maintain acceptable leverage ratios through questionable accounting methods, which allowed Lehman to paint a perfect picture of its leverage ratios and to allegedly mislead investors. A common financing tool that Lehman frequently used, as well as other investment banks, were repurchase agreements, also known as repos. A repurchased agreement is aShow MoreRelatedLehman Brothers : Financial Crisis Essay1024 Words   |  5 PagesThe Multimillionaire Men of Lehman Brothers On September 15, 2008, Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy. With $639 billion in assets and $619 billion in debt, Lehman s bankruptcy filing was the largest in history, as its assets far surpassed those of previous bankrupt giants such as WorldCom and Enron. Lehman was the fourth-largest U.S. investment bank at the time of its collapse, with 25,000 employees worldwide. The consequences for the world economy were extreme. Lehman’s fall contributedRead MoreLehman Brothers And The Financial Crisis937 Words   |  4 PagesLehman Brothers Holdings, Inc. on September 15, 2008 was the fourth- largest U.S. investment bank, which sought Chapter 11 protection, ultimately initiating the largest bankruptcy proceeding in history. Lehman Brothers was very successful in pursuing a high-leverage, high-risk business model to fund its operations. Beginning in 2006, they began to invest aggressively in the real-estate related assets, soon having significant exposures to subprime mortgages, j ust as the markets were turning for theRead MoreLehman Brothers And The Financial Crisis1365 Words   |  6 PagesWhen the crisis began in the mid-2007 caused by sub-prime bubble, uncertainty among banks about the creditworthiness for their clients and customers deteriorated as they had majorly invested in very complex and overpriced financial products. As a result, the interbank market became volatile and risk premiums on interbank loans increased. Banks faced a serious liquidity problem, as they experienced major difficulties to revolve their short-term debt. At that stage, policymakers still perceived theRead MoreThe Financial Crisis Of Lehman Brothers1948 Words   |  8 Pagesfor which a strong argument can be made as the start of the 2008 financial crisis. Some experts argue that the pivotal moment was the failure of Lehman Brothers, which resulted in a run on financial institutions, while others blame the crisis on the housing bubble that burst in 2007, following years of sk yrocketing prices in that market. Digging deeper than the macro issue of the housing bubble, the true cause of the financial crisis can be traced to banks’ incredibly risky policies regarding howRead MoreFinancial Crisis And The Collapse Of The Lehman Brothers2206 Words   |  9 Pagesundergo a financial crisis. Once in a while, it must find it hard to balance its books of accounts. If the situation gets severe, then the organization may even close down. This paper will give a detailed review of one institution -The Lehman Brothers - whose financial crisis led to its fall (Wong Smith, 2010). It will examine the beginning, the end, and the outcomes of the same. In addition to that, the report will also analyze the government policies that relate to the fall of the Lehman BrothersRead MoreGlobal Financial Crisis : The Fall Of Lehman Brothers1250 Words   |  5 Pages Global banks indeed play crucial roles in keeping the global economic growth in track. The fall of Lehman Bro thers in 2008 as the major factor for the economic downturns leading to the Global Financial Crisis, or 2008 financial crisis, proves this point. Started from the irresponsible handling of mortgages of consumers, the prices of houses in America sank. Interest rates fell while capital ratios became lax. It was a case of impending Great Depression. Given its role of lending funds and providingRead More2008 Financial Crisis - Lehman Brothers, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac3431 Words   |  14 Pagesto 2009 is an interesting and dramatic time for the financial markets, which marks the beginning of the financial tsunami that went on for a long period of time. First we have Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae taken over by the US Treasury, which is one major event contributing to the subprime mortgage crisis. Then we have the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers which Mamudi (2008) reported to be one of the largest bankruptcy filing in US history with Lehman holding over $600 billion in assets. Then we have theRead MoreWhy The Financial Crisis Was A Specific Law Case Involving Lehman Brothers1333 Words   |  6 Pages 424). Three companies who invested in these CMOs made headlines: Bear Stearns, Lehman Brothers, and American International Group (AIG). This paper will explore what the causes of the financial crisis were, a specific law case involvin g Lehman Brothers, the Federal Reserve (the Fed) and Congress’s responses, and solutions to prevent an event like this from happening again. Bear Stearns Bear Stearns, Lehman Brothers, and AIG invested in subprime mortgage-backed securities, which are loans grantedRead MoreWhy The Financial Crisis Was A Specific Law Case Involving Lehman Brothers1317 Words   |  6 Pagesheadlines: Bear Stearns, Lehman Brothers, and AIG (American International Group). The United States is still recovering from the Great Recession that occurred seven years ago, and it will be talked about for years to come. This paper will explore what the causes of the financial crisis were, a specific law case involving Lehman Brothers, the Federal Reserve and Congress’s responses, and solutions to prevent an event like this from happening again. As stated, Bear Sterns, Lehman Brothers, and AIG investedRead MoreThe Collapse Of The Lehman Brothers1638 Words   |  7 PagesThe global financial crisis of 2008 that reeked havoc on most of the financial institutions had them fall into liquidation and bankruptcy. One of the most popular and most debated incident was the failure of the Lehman Brothers. The Lehman Brothers were a leading US investment bank that was worth $600 billion (D’Arcy). The global financial crisis prompted Lehman Brothers to close its leading subprime lender (BNC Mortages) in 23 locations (). The closing of these locations were so aggressive that

Analysis Of Peter Wilks s Hometown - 1842 Words

After arriving at the Wilks’ hometown, they asked for Peter Wilks, making sure to look as natural as possible. They identified themselves as the England brothers and the Wilks family embraced them like they were one of their own because they had no idea that they were not their real family members. Huck commented that he felt disgusted by the world for having people like the duke and the king, who will do everything in their power for money. People started to surround them and was in awe of those brothers while still giving them the privacy that they deserve since it was their moment with their â€Å"brother.† They acted like they were praying for their life even though those two didn’t even know a single thing about the Peter Wilks other than the fact that he’s rich. The king spoke about gibberish while sobbing, even though Huck knew that they weren’t sincere. After the ceremony, Peter’s daughter, Mary Jane, gave the duke and the king William and Harvey’s share of inheritance. When they received the money, they realized that it didn’t have the amount of money that the will had stated. So, they created a whole scene, giving all the money to Peter’s family, knowing that Mary Jane will give the rightful amount of money back. A relative of the Wilk’s family didn’t believe in the duke and the king and said that they were frauds, but Mary Jane never l istened. After a while of thinking, he felt compelled to take back the money that the imposters stole from the Wilks family

The Strength of Weak Ties Free Essays

Here I would like to emphasize a bit on Social Capital. Social capital according to me is the pool of ties that a person encompasses during his lifetime including strong and weak ties. Persons with higher social capital are bound to be better off with greater health and general well being. We will write a custom essay sample on The Strength of Weak Ties or any similar topic only for you Order Now Social capital helps to leverage the people we communicate with for the benefit of our shared and individual interest. We can relate this with a famous punch line – â€Å"I scratch your back, you scratch mine. The basic hypothesis of Granovetter’s work is that our acquaintances play a very important part in connecting different networks to one another. A personal example which I would like to share is that I have around 30 very closely knitted friends and family members and about 300 odd acquaintances. These acquaintances are comprised of my old classmates, co-workers and some friends through social networking groups. In the digital world these are friends connected through facebook, LinkedIn, orkut etc. Personally speaking it makes sense that in some cases my family and my close knitted friends are best suited to provide me with quality options and choices. For the most part I believe this is true under certain circumstances during personal care when I am sick or when I need advice for some personal decisions in life. But when it comes to looking out for a job the theory comes true to life. I would be naturally tapping my network of acquaintances and assuming I have a good amount of social capital in my network, I would be more likely be presented with more opportunities than my family and close knitted friends. Another example explaining the theory of weak ties is between the social networks existing in this globe. We can take an example of how LinkedIn is different from Facebook and why that difference matters. Weak ties are the social â€Å"degrees of separation† beyond the people we actually know. Facebook primarily is about knowing who you know, connecting with people who are already in your social circle. In my experience it does little to help you develop weak ties and it does nothing to introduce you to people you do not know. There is an interesting paradox that Facebook, perhaps, reinforces our stereotypes, because we are just getting content from our mostly like minded friends. LinkedIn by contrast, is about helping people expand their circles and improve their opportunities. LinkedIn has been slower to take off because it is a harder â€Å"get. † Beyond being a resume building site, why do I need this? If I’m not looking for a job or to find sales leads, why bother? Once you look at it from a content perspective, however, the benefit becomes clearer. Those â€Å"weak ties† provide you with â€Å"micro-nutrients† that your â€Å"strong ties† may not. Further investigation into the analogy of strong and weak bonds in physics is warranted, but the most immediate application in terms of content strategy is the serendipitous model of magazine content. If we consider content that a reader is looking for (through a Google search, for instance) to be strongly bonded, then the content they find along the way (in sidebars and various â€Å"asides† to use the html5 term) are weakly bonded. Magazines have always created content environments where their readers discover new things—and some of those things are advertisements. This serendipity of discovery is key to the pleasure of magazine reading and the financial success of the magazine business, but it has not translated all that well online. To end my observations I completely agree with this theory however I would like to bring an important aspect that a perfectly balanced strong and weaker ties help an individual to do the best and for the society at large. Thanks Best Regards Pranav How to cite The Strength of Weak Ties, Papers

Are Miracles A Reality free essay sample

Miracle- 1. An occurrence or act that is inexplicable. 2. A wonder or marvel. Some people believe in miracles, while others say that the amazing things around us are just happenstance. But there are some things that simply†¦ are inexplicable (not to be explained, comprehended, or accounted for). Many scientists, doctors, scholars, and other people of great knowledge try to explain how and why they happen. Yet they find themselves at a loss of words. I believe in miracles because I have witnessed the deaf being able to hear, a child who became everything the doctors said she never would be, and an acorn which grew to be a mighty tree. While some may say that these are things that just happen by chance, do they really believe that miracles are just make-believe? In this essay I would like to share with you, dear reader, just a few of the miracles that I have been privileged to observed. We will write a custom essay sample on Are Miracles A Reality? or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Julia S. seems to be a completely normal woman; she has eyes, ears, hair†¦ she seems just like everyone else. No one would know just by looking at her that she has a wondrous testimony unlike any other. When Julia was born, her parents found that all of her senses were in proper working order†¦ except for her hearing. For the first fifteen years of her life, Julia heard only the sound of silence. But one evening, something inexplicable happened; she suddenly heard something new. Music was surrounding her, people singing all around. Never again would she be confined to walls of her mind. To this day, if you asked her what she believed happened, Im sure she could only say that is was a miracle. Ashton M. was born in St. Vincents hospital in February 1997. Her mother was rather irresponsible- she had smoked and taken many drugs while Ashton was in her womb. This hurt Ashtons health, and when she was four months old, was put into a foster home. The doctors said that she would definitely grow to be mentally retarded and have learning disabilities because of what her mother did. When Ashton was two years old, some very nice people adopted her and renamed her. She is now fourteen years old and has nothing wrong with her. She has absolutely no mental disabilities, and is a straight A student. Some people may say that it was simply a mistaken diagnosis of her condition†¦ but she believes that it was a miracle. One more miracle I would like to tell you about may not be something you would expect in an essay. Many think it is a simple fact of life†¦ yet, it is unexplainable. This miracle is an acorn. It can be the size of a nickel, but if you plant it in the ground and give it time, it will become a mighty oak tree. How can something of such a small size grow to be almost 60 feet tall? No one can explain it. Not scientists, not scholars, not even a science teacher can truly comprehend how this can be. No one can place the life on the inside of that seed. No one can force the tree to grow. It really is, a miracle. By this time, if I do not have you convinced that miracles exist, then I may as well say I have failed. If the deaf being able to hear, a child growing to be completely opposite to what the doctors said she would be, and a tiny acorn growing to become an oak tree cannot sway your opinion†¦ then perhaps nothing ever will. All your life, you may believe that miracles are just fantasy; a wild hope from someones imagination. But to me, a child who was told she would always be handicapped because of her mothers mistakes, and everyone else who has had an occurrence or act that is inexplicable happen in their life, miracles really are in our reality.

Among the Thugs and Sigmund Freud free essay sample

Sigmund Freud believes that every person experiences guilt in their life. He also says that people have an Id, Ego and Super Ego. A person could say that the hooligans which Bill Buford observes were governed by their Id when participating in the violent acts. The Id is the part of the mind which goes on instincts and is governed by the â€Å"pleasure principle†. Bill Buford experiences the influence of the Super Ego towards the end of his football reporting. Although the hooligans don’t feel guilt, Bill Buford feels guilt after his adventures with the thugs. The hooligans who are part of the crowds at English football games appear to feel no guilt. It seems that their Ego has overcompensated for the Super Ego and it ended up giving to much power to the Id. In Freud’s essay â€Å"Civilization and its discontents† he concludes that the Ego ends up taming the Id. We will write a custom essay sample on Among the Thugs and Sigmund Freud or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page In the thugs of England’s football, it appears that their ego is not taming the Id. The crowd seems to be so caught up that the Ego cannot tame the Id in time for the violence to be halted. Even Buford lets his Id control him when put in the crowd situation. Buford himself does not feel guilt the first few times of crowd violence he experiences. Buford starts to feel guilty for watching the violence and not feeling guilty. â€Å"The scene disturbed me. But it also disturbed me that other scenes had not† (299). He is referring to the scene where a shop owner is hurriedly attempting to get his children safe inside. When Buford is being beaten by the Italian police he remembers watching a Juventus fan in Turin going through the same type of violence that he is going through. Looking back at the boy in Turin, he mentions that he was â€Å"close enough to save the boy† (86) and he was â€Å"mesmerized by each image he saw†. Buford is controlled by his Id at the time of the Turin beating, but when he looks back on the beating and he is thinking rationally in the Ego, he sees that he may have made a mistake.

How to Write a 5-Paragraph Essay on American Culture

How to Write a 5-Paragraph Essay on American Culture A five paragraph essay is a standard essay which, once learned, serves as the foundation for all other forms of writing. This format is important to learn because it will help to structure nearly all academic writing assignments going forward. To begin a five paragraph essay, you need a topic. In some cases, your teacher will give you one, in others they may allow you some leeway in the selection of your topic. With the topic in hand, you need to formulate a thesis statement. The thesis functions as a single statement which presents the purpose of your paper. It should be the first or last sentence in your introductory paragraph which is where you will introduce the points you are going to make in support of your thesis. There are three body paragraphs inside of which you can present three key components to support your thesis. If, for example, you are claiming that American culture has changes a lot, you must present three key findings each in a separate paragraph to support that idea. You might explain it on the example of music in the first paragraph, art in the second paragraph, and cinematography the third paragraph. The conclusion is the fifth and final paragraph where you remind the reader of the three points you ma de and what evidence you had to back them up. The structure for all 5 paragraph essays is as follows: Introduction. This is where you introduce your topic, where you provide your reader with an idea of how your essay will be organized and what three points you will be making to support your claim. First body paragraph. This should encompass one of your three points with evidence. This evidence can come in the form of data, statistics, quotes from experts, logic, or reason, from reputable sources. Second body paragraph. The same details for the first body paragraph are true here, such that you need to support your claim with evidence. Third body paragraph. Again, the same details for the first body paragraph are true here, insofar as you must support your claims with evidence. The last paragraph. This is where you remind the reader of your claim and what three points you brought up in your body paragraphs. These are general guidelines that will be greatly helpful in producing an academic paper. But if you want to make your assignment even worthier, then read our facts on American culture or use the topics that are prepared beforehand. This way you’ll optimize your writing process to the maximum. If you still need professional writing help from experts, feel free order a custom essay online at CustomWritings.com.

Life of Thomas Merton PowerPoint Presentation Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Life of Thomas Merton - PowerPoint Presentation Example 1915, January 31, Merton was born at Prades, France to two artists- his father a New Zealander and his mother, an American. 1961 moved to USA to live with mother until she died in 1921 1922 lived in Bermuda with his father 1925 went to school in France where he lived with his father 1928 went to school in England 1931 his father dies 1934 entered Columbia University 1938 graduated from Columbia and received into the Catholic Church 1941 entered the Abbey of Our Lady of Gethsemani, Trappist, Kentucky 1944 published first set of poems, â€Å"Thirty poems† 1946 published first book, â€Å"A man in the divided sea† 1948 published autobiography, The Seven Storey Mountain and What are these Wounds? 1949 ordained as priest 1951 Master of Scholastics until 1955 1955 Master of Novices until 1965 1965 lived in solitaire at a shed in the monastery 1968 died on December 10, at Bangkok, Thailand Spiritual Journey: How did he or she develop in their spiritual walk? Did he or she have any unique spiritual habits?   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Interestingly, Thomas Merton entered the Abbey of Gethsemani  on December 10th, 1941. Thus, he became a monk in one of the strictest Roman Catholic order of monks. In order to deepen his spiritual walk Thomas Merton was known for his desire to remain in solitude and meditate on his heavenly father. Further, he would write endless poems and books about various topics one of which was his spiritual experiences. Merton appeared to have an insatiable appetite for discovering his inner being and obtaining a deeper walk with God thus later in his life he visited Bangkok to discuss the possible integration of Western and Eastern religions. So impressed was the Dali Lama on his encounter with Merton that he expressed his opinion of Merton as the first Christian to ever grasp such a deep understanding of Buddhism. Merton loved to be in solitaire and spent four years of his life in a shed on the monastery. He spent time fasting and p raying as well as meditating. In his ‘New Seeds of Contemplation’ describes contemplation as being ‘visibly touched’ by God who is invisible yet real. Contemplation played a great part in Merton’s life. For Merton contemplation was the essence of one’s life. Contribution to Christian History: What can we learn from this person? What have they written or influenced in the history of Christianity? The Merton Institute suggests that Merton was perhaps the ‘most influential American Catholic author of the twentieth century.’ His autobiography entitled, The Seven Storey Mountain, has been translated in more than twenty-eight languages. Remarkably, Merton was responsible for the teaching of the young monks who came straight from the outside world. Eventually, he became a Master of novice where he was responsible for the socialization and the training of novice monks. The Merton institute states that during this life as a monk he wrote m ore than sixty books and hundreds of poems. Yet in spite of this plethora of writing Jim Forest insists that Merton always maintained that his first duty was to his life as a monk and everything else took second place. Consequently, one can conclude that not only did Thomas Merton contribute to the spiritual dimension of the Roman Catholic monks but also his involvement and thoughts on nonviolence, racial discrimination, and the integration of Western religion with the Roman Catholic Faith influenced the entire world. Merton was criticized by Catholics and non Catholics alike for his outspoken

Mosque on Ground Zero controversy Research Paper

Mosque on Ground Zero controversy - Research Paper Example Many have it that this Muslim community center constitutes a powerful stab to the parents and friends of the victims of the 9/11 terrorist bombings of the World Trade Center, while others view the possibilities of witnessing a mosque inaugural near the World Trade Center Site as a mere religious ritual that holds no threats or whatsoever to the pride of the 2752 patriots that fell on the day of September 11. Some have even went as far as to stipulate and say that this issue comes at a peculiar time to put in question the United states’ real sense of freedom and democracy, stating that this center is a true test that shall determine whether or not the Americans honor their amendments and whether or not they’re truly committed to the obligation of respecting freedom of thought and freedom of speech. As a matter of a fact, this â€Å"New York Mosque† if I might call it has, over the last few months, attracted a lot of political opinions and talks, the issue even erupted to huge demonstrations and even sometimes sporadic â€Å"skirmishes† might I call it between the supporters and the people opposing this project. This hot conflict climaxed at the tongue of the U.S president Barrack Obama, who, in a clear statement to national television advocated the Islamic population’s right to building this community centre anywhere in the city. The truth about this so-called mosque is that it is but a small room inside a larger complex which shall house an Islamic centre made up of 13 storeys, adding to that the fact that it’s a normal building, much like all buildings in Manhattan with no minarets of any kind and stripped of any Islamic paintings or special touches. And as far as the mayor of New York is concerned, consecrating a room for prayers needs no license of any kind let alone the President’s approval. So why all the commotion about erecting a building that’s only meant for prayer in the country of democracy and freedom of thought? Might some opposing Americans be implying that it’s the Islamic population the one to blame for the 9/11 terrorist attacks ? As reported by many arab and muslim media, the Islamic world is closely monitoring with much interest and thorough what’s happening in the United States, closely awaiting the final verdict that shall settle this controversial issue. Is the present-day United States the United Stated it once was ? The one built by our late forefathers, a land free of any racism of any sectarianism, a land that only judges people based solely on their person and their accomplishments, is this the America Martin Luther King pictured ? Or has the United States become a land only for a privileged few, a few of one unique race and of a distinct religion, why should we be even si nking so deep as to question one’s moral and religious beliefs in the country of democracy and liberty, in the land of opportunity, the land where every man is a man not based on the color of their skin or the tint of morality and beliefs but based on his human identity? Is this the same America they teach us about in the history books, or has it taken a turn ? A turn for the worst or for the better be it, I’d say Americans now stand at the crossroads of a sharp that is to affect their moralities and values. Do we still want the America that is mandated by no one except the constitution and the amendments? Or do we yearn for a newer America, one that is lead by the crossword games of a few politicians who’d stand at nothing to achieve their goals even if it means striding too close to the constitution and violating with their actions the sacredness of the text that were engraved in blood, sweat and tears by our founding fathers and the painful moments that encom passed. At the moment, it is now clear to everyone that republicans have used this issue

Effect of Concentration and Temperature on the Rate of Reaction Essay

Effect of Concentration and Temperature on the Rate of Reaction - Essay Example An understanding of what have an effect on the speed of a reaction and how it can be changed is consequently very significant to a chemist. A higher concentration of reactants leads to more effective collisions per unit time, which leads to an increasing reaction rate (except for zero order reactions). Similarly, a higher concentration of products tends to be associated with a lower reaction rate. Use the partial pressure of reactants in a gaseous state as a measure of their concentration. Usually, an increase in temperature is accompanied by an increase in the reaction rate. Temperature is a measure of the kinetic energy of a system, so higher temperature implies higher average kinetic energy of molecules and more collisions per unit time. A general rule of thumb for most (not all) chemical reactions is that the rate at which the reaction proceeds will approximately double for each 10C increase in temperature. Once the temperature reaches a certain point, some of the chemical species may be altered (e.g., denaturing of proteins) and the chemical reaction will slow or stop. Each member of Alkanoic acids has one carboxyl group. Alkanoic acids are therefore aliphatic monocarboxylic acids. Consequently, we an represent the series with the formula RCOOH. The hydrogen atom in the carboxyl group can form a hydrogen ion in aqueous solution. Hence, members of the series are monobasic acids. Methanoic acid has a corrosive action on the skin. It occurs in the stings of ants, bees and stinging nettles (Blackburn, 1999). Properties of Methanoic acid They are weak monobasic acids. They turn litmus red, liberate hydrogen from liberate hydrogen from metals above hydrogen in the activity series and they react with bases and carbonates. Methanoic acid is the strongest acid in the series. The salts produced from the reaction is known as Methanoates (Blackburn, 1999) They react with alcohol to form esters and water. The reaction is reversible and a good yield of ester is only possible if a catalyst, such as concentrated sulphuric acid is present. Normally we use a large excess of alcohol (Blackburn, 1999). Esters are sweet smelling liquid or solids. They are used to make perfumes or artificial flavorings. Esters are not very reactive. The most important reaction of an ester is its conversion back to the acid and alcohol from which it is derived. This is known as hydrolysis. It is performed by boiling with a mineral acid or better with an alcoholic alkaline solution (Blackburn, 1999). Bromine Symbol: Br Atomic Number: 35 Period: 4 Common valence: 1, 3, 5, and 7 Atomic Weight: 79.904 Natural State: Liquid Common Isotopes: Bromine has 2 stable isotopes, bromine-79 and bromine-81, which occur in about equal proportions in nature. There are several known radio isotopes. PROPERTIES: Bromine is

An Overview Of Indian Bank Base Rates Finance Essay

An Overview Of Indian Bank Base Rates Finance Essay Abstract The paper deals about the issues arising out of implementing base rate for Indian banks. With effect from July 1st, 2010, all banks are supposed to lend at base rate or minimum level of interest rate to customers. The net impact of this for retail customer will not be much as cost of funds for banks are not going to change much and cost of funds determine base rate. Big corporates will be biggest losers as they had advantage of getting loans at sub-base rates. Biggest gainers will be small and medium firms who were getting raw deal earlier from banks. Banks may lose market share in short term but there is going to be greater transparency and trickling down of policies made by RBI across banks due to base-rate system. Game theory has been applied to explain the base rate transition scenario in the paper. Keywords- Base Rate, Private Bank, BPLR, Game Theory, Net Income Margin(NIM) Biographical Notes- Debasis Kumar Dash is a post Graduate from IIT Madras in field in Micro-electronics and VLSI. He is currently doing his MBA from IIM Kozhikode with Majors in finance. His major areas of interest are financial derivatives, Valuation models, risk management and banking sector. He has undertaken several finance projects in field of risk management, corporate finance and financial services. He worked as an intern in KPMG Global Services where he developed a model for Customer acquisition strategy for a financial services firm Introduction The base rate will be the new reference rate for determining lending rates for banks, and will be implemented three months later than earlier planned. It was implemented from July 1 across banks in India. What is the base rate- If you borrow money to buy a Mercedes car or computer or plush bungalow in Mumbai suburbs, you need to pay interest rate that you have to pay to the lender. The base rate is the minimum rate that a bank will offer money at. It is like a floor below which RBI will not allow banks to lend to you. Previously, banks used to give the loans based on a complex system called benchmark prime lending rate (BPLR). Each bank has its own BPLR calculation system which made it difficult for borrowers to compare rates across banks. Why Base Rate Was Introduced- Banks in India charge their largest corporate borrowers less than published prime rates, which they cannot do on new loans from July 1st,2010. The RBI had expressed concern over banks offering short-term loans well below their prime rates to companies and mortgage borrowers. Similar pattern had given rise to Sub-prime crisis in 2008 which had led to financial downturn. Due to competition, banks have been offering loans to first class borrowers with high credit rating at rates much below the BPLR in a non-transparent manner. Banks were charging higher rates from small borrowers in the retail, small business and agriculture segments. This resulted in cross- subsidization.RBI has been concerned about the lack of transparency in BPLR setting. There have been cases when SMEs faced discrimination due to credit policies of Private Banks. Trend has been whenever RBI raises policy rates and reserve ratios, banks are quick to increase their loan rates. But, when RBI reduces policy rates and reserve ratios, banks respond very slowly. This leads to downward stickiness in rates. It adversely impacts the monetary transmission mechanism in the banking system. One important aspect also is BPLR was set on historical market rates. It was backward looking rather than forward looking. It was not able to capture the present market condition and interest rates. Cost of Deposits prevalent in current market scenario was neglected in fixing the rate. Standardization of rates was another issue for RBI .The 3 major players in Banking Industry in India are- Public Banks, Private Banks and Foreign Banks. The Public banks were lending in range of 11-12 %, private players were lending at 14-17% whereas foreign banks used to lend in the range of 14-16%. Now major corporates were still prefering private banks due to better customer service, credit policies and sub-prime lending for big projects. One huge reason with the introduction of BRS as explained by experts is that it will help the Reserve Bank of India to transfer the changes in policy rates (Repo and Reverse Repo under LAF) in a better manner to banks. Under the BPLR, monetary policy transmission is weak due to lack of transparency. This has been detailed out elaborately by Deepak Mohanty Committees Report. Now, with the BRS, RBI expects that banks will respond immediately to RBIs policy rates Base Rate Implementation and Impacts- After the implementation of the new loan pricing system, existing borrowers would continue to pay at existing rates, while the base rate would apply to new customers. The actual lending rate charged to borrowers would be the base rate+ borrower-specific charges including operating costs, according to draft guidelines on the RBI website. The base rate will be more transparent in so far as it will be a function of the banks costs on its capital (or cost of deposits), operating costs, statutory requirements (CRR, SLR etc), credit-risk of the borrower, and the allowable profit margin. The graphs below give trends across the various players in banking sector with respect to cost associated with deposits. Fig-1- Variation of Cost of Deposits Fig 2- Variation of Cost of Funds The trend clearly shows that Cost of deposits is highest for old private banks. Thus by logic, the base rate should be highest for these banks. Similarly, the base rate can be expected to be low for foreign and public banks. The biggest impact is that the new Base Rates from private banks may be lower than the existing Benchmark Prime Lending Rates (BPLR). Due to heavy competition in the industry, some aggressive public banks, whose cost of deposits/funds is lower compared to industry levels, may peg their Base Rates very low. However the RBI Governor as well as several Banks heads are of the opinion that base rate is not going to vary much for retail customers from BPLR. The following graphs show the base rate, BPLR and differences between the rates for the 3 major players. Fig-3- Variation of Rates across Private Banks Fig-4- Variation of Rates across Public Banks Fig-5- Variation of Rates across Foreign Banks Effects on Banks The major categories of Banks mentioned above are expected to be expected in different ways. The graphs shown above indicate that the difference between BPLR and Base rate is maximum for Private banks. Clearly they are at a loss compared to Public and foreign Banks. The problem for private banks is their high cost of Funds and Deposits. So ideally their base rates should be higher compared to Public banks. But if they would have set base rates higher, it would have resulted in loss of customers. So the Net Interest Margin(NIM) for private banks will be affected in short term. The biggest gainers definitely are foreign banks who have the least difference between BPLR and Base rate. Customer attrition should be at a minimum for these banks as change is not significant. Public Banks normally have lower cost of funds and thus can afford low base rates. There is not much change in NIM expected for them due to changing rates. Private Banks can cut competition by offering premium service levels. They can attract corporates by offering value added services and concessions. The other strategy can be to give priority to clients who are financing for projects for national importance and concessions to pay in smaller installments for longer duration. Effects of Base-Rate Loans for Customers- Let us see three major players in customer segment- Retail, Corporate and SME . The critical thing is interest rates are not going to change much for retail customer. The method of calculating interest rates will be clearer to a retail customer but not much effect on EMI for a retail customer. There will not be much impact on banks interest spreads. Banks will have flexibility in controlling loan-pricing elements, like credit risks premium and product specific operating costs. As per various analysis done by experts, Cost of borrowing for Retail customer may decrease in short term but not significantly. Large private corporates will be biggest losers in this process. They were able to get away with sub-prime lending rates in the past due to higher negotiating skills. But with BRS, the corporate might have to go for Bond markets in short term. The other alternatives before them are ECB which have lower borrowing costs. Use of Commercial paper has shown significant growth in the first quarter of this year. It clearly indicates banks losing high networth customers to cheaper sources of finance. Long term impact will be that higher rating companies will have more negotiating power. Let us say Bank A offered loans at 6% previously to Corporates. Now base rate becomes 7.5%. So they now cant be given short term loans below say 8% for a period of 2 years. Previous loans which were given before base rate stays. Now say in money market, CP( Commercial Paper) is being offered at rates of 6.5%. So big corporates will move towards debt market. It will result in loss of market share and credit loans for banks. It will also lead to intense competition. SMEs will be biggest beneficiaries of this project. SMEs will be better compensated than before. They were getting short-changed because of better deals for big corporates. Now they will be willing to go to banks for getting loans. As SMEs form substantial market, so market share of banks will increase. Game Theory Applied to Base Rate Implementation- Below are Payoff Matrix applied to 3 categories of Bank and 3 categories of Customer. 1. Customer Retail Corporate SME BPLR 10,8 10,10 10,5 Public Bank Base 10,9 8,5 8,10 The retail customer is having higher payoff but it is not significant. SMEs are largest beneficiary. Corporates are leaving public bank, thus payoff of banks decreasing whereas larger base rate means lesser payoff for corporate. 2. Customer Retail Corporate SME BPLR 10,8 10,10 10,5 Private Bank Base 8,9 5,5 5,10 The retail customer is having higher payoff but it is not huge. Significantly, there is lower payoff for Private banks due to high cost of funds and rising competition from debt market. SMEs are largest beneficiary. Corporates are looking for alternatives to higher base rate , thus payoff of corporate decreases. 3. Customer Retail Corporate SME BPLR 10,8 10,10 10,5 Foreign Bank Base 10,10 7,7 10,5 The retail customer and SME are not affected.SME are not big market-share holders of foreign banks and hence do not affect payoff. Corporates are leaving foreign bank, thus payoff of banks decreasing whereas larger base rate means lesser payoff for corporate who are staying with public banks. The decrease however is not as significant as of private banks due to reasons explained earlier in the paper. Main advantages of Base rate syatem- Greater control for RBI in transferring effects of Repo rates to banks More transparency for customers in knowing about base rate as it is based on cost of funds. Stoppage of sub-prime loans to bigger corporate. Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) may get better rates. The SMEs and small borrowers are subsidizing the corporate loans. Deregulation of interest rates as banks will stop lending at lower rates to loans below Rs 2 lakhs. RBI has given freedom to banks to charge commercial rates for loans below Rs 2 lakh at rates linked to base rate. With this, RBI wants to increase the credit flow to small borrowers. Increase in liquidity of banks. As loans are not doled out on sub-prime rates, more money is left with banks. Conclusion Banks have to adjust to new system as quickly as possible. Cost of funds will play huge role in determination of base rates. Banks also need to look into new avenues for service quality in order to retain old customers. Old private banks face stiff competition from foreign and public banks. The need of hour for bank is product innovation and better customer service to differentiate itself from the rest of banks.

Psychological Manipulation in 1984 Essay -- George Orwell

Nineteen Eighty-Four, by George Orwell, is a superb novel with outstanding themes. One of the most prominent themes found in this novel is psychological manipulation. Citizens in this society are subject to ever present signs declaring â€Å"BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU† (Orwell 1). Along with psychological manipulation, physical control takes place. The Party not only controls what people in Oceania think, but what they do as well. Technology is another important theme. Without the constant telescreens, microphones, and computers, the Party would be all but powerless. Big Brother is the main figure of the Party. The main symbol that drives these themes is the telescreens. It is representative of the party always watching and controlling everyone at all times. Psychological manipulation the Party uses on the citizens is one of the first themes Orwell exposes in this dystopian society. The Party maintains this manipulation by constantly overwhelming citizens with useless information and propaganda. And when memory failed and written records were falsified—when that happened, the claim of the Party to have improved the conditions of human life had got to be accepted, because there did not exist, and never again could exist, any standard against which it could be tested. (Orwell 82) Winston Smith, the protagonist, is having a frustrating conversation with an old man about life before the Revolution. He figures out that the Party has purposely set out to weaken the people’s memories in order to make them unable to challenge what the Party claims about the present. If there is no one who remembers life before the Revolution, then no one can say that the Party has failed. In reality, the Party has failed by forcing people to... ...of Nineteen Eighty-Four are not going to be forgotten any time soon. Psychological manipulation is quite possibly the most realistic of the themes. In conjunction with psychological manipulation is physical control. The Party is a totalitarian government and controls every aspect of life. Technology is yet another important theme. Technology is what gives the Party their power and influence. Big Brother, the symbol, as well as the telescreens are motifs that help drive the main conflict. Works Cited Knapp, John V. â€Å"Nineteen Eighty-Four† Critical Survey of Long Fiction. Ed. Carl Rollyson. Hackensack NJ: Salem Press Inc, 2000. 2451-2452. Magill, Frank N. Ed. â€Å"Nineteen Eighty-Four† Masterpieces of World Literature. New York NY: Harper Collins Publishers, 1989. 582-585. Orwell, George. Nineteen Eighty-Four. New York NY: Penguin Books Inc., 1977.

K to 12 Program Essay

The K to 12 Program covers Kindergarten and 12 years of basic education (six years of primary education, four years of Junior High School, and two years of Senior High School [SHS]) to provide sufficient time for mastery of concepts and skills, develop lifelong learners, and prepare graduates for tertiary education, middle-level skills development, employment, and entrepreneurship. Students are able to learn best through their first language, their Mother Tongue (MT). Twelve (12) MT languages have been introduced for SY 2012-2013: Bahasa Sug, Bikol, Cebuano, Chabacano, Hiligaynon, Iloko, Kapampangan, Maguindanaoan, Meranao, Pangasinense, Tagalog, and Waray. Other local languages will be added in succeeding school years. Aside from the Mother Tongue, English and Filipino are taught as subjects starting Grade 1, with a focus on oral fluency. From Grades 4 to 6, English and Filipino are gradually introduced as languages of instruction. Both will become primary languages of instruction in Junior High School (JHS) and Senior High School (SHS). After Grade 1, every student can read in his or her Mother Tongue. Learning in Mother Tongue also serves as the foundation for students to learn Filipino and English easily. Program implementation in public schools is being done in phases starting SY 2012–2013. Grade 1 entrants in SY 2012–2013 are the first batch to fully undergo the program, and current 1st year Junior High School students (or Grade 7) are the first to undergo the enhanced secondary education program. To facilitate the transition from the existing 10-year basic education to 12 years, DepEd is also implementing the SHS and SHS Modeling. Here are some of the reasons why not disagree with K- 12 education plan in the Philippines: If K- 12 will be implemented, students will be able to get sufficient instructional time to do subject- related tasks which makes them more prepared and well- trained on that subject area. On the other hand, if we remain on the old system, Filipino students would continually get low achievement scores. For instance, international test results revealed that we often come at the tail end in the exams compared to other countries. Another good reason why we should support K- 12 is that the graduates of this program will be more prepared to enter the labor force. As we all noticed, high school graduates of the current curriculum are not yet employable for the reason that they are not yet competent and well – equipped with the skills needed in the workplaces. In addition, most high school graduates are not yet reaching the legal age of 18. With the new curriculum, senior high school students can choose a field that they are good at and that they are interested in. As a result, they will be equipped with the skills needed for a specific job even without a college degree. At the age of 18, the age when they graduate from high school, they will be employable and competitive already. Thus, adding up to the nation’s manpower. Finally, with K- 12, Filipino graduates will be automatically recognized as professionals abroad because we are following the international education standard as practiced by all nations. There will be no need to study again and spend more money in order to qualify to their standards. With this, Filipino professionals who aspire to work abroad will not find a hard time in getting jobs in line with their chosen field and will be able to help their families more in the Philippines as well as the country’s economy with their remittances, property buying, and creation of businesses. Filipinos are known to be competitive in the international community. While this may be true, our current education system hinders us in becoming more competitive among other countries. The K- 12 education plan offers a great solution to that problem. However, it is undeniable that there seems to be problems arising as we implement the program such as lack of government budget, classrooms and school supplies as well as the teachers. But, if we focus on the long- term effect of K- 12, we can conclude that it is very beneficial to us Filipinos. Therefore, we must have the strong will in supporting K- 12 Educational Plan for the betterment of our education system and economy. Remember, if we want change in our society, we must start it with our education system.

Conjugation Tables for the Italian Verb Abitare (To Live in)

Conjugation Tables for the Italian Verb Abitare (To Live in) Abitare is a regular  first-conjugation Italian verb, meaning to live in, inhabit, or dwell in. It is a transitive verb, so it takes a  direct object. Conjugating Abitare The table gives the pronoun for each conjugation- io  (I),  tu  (you),  lui, lei  (he, she),  noi  (we),  voi  (you plural), and loro  (their). The tenses and moods are given in Italian- passato  prossimo  (present perfect),  imperfetto  (imperfect),  trapassato   prossimo  (past perfect)  passato   remoto  (remote past),  trapassato  remoto  (preterite perfect),  futuro  semplice  (simple future), and  futuro  anteriore  (future perfect)- first for the  indicative, followed by the subjunctive, conditional, infinitive, participle, and gerund forms. Indicative Presente io abito tu abiti lui, lei, Lei abita noi abitiamo voi abitate loro, Loro abitano Imperfetto io abitavo tu abitavi lui, lei, Lei abitava noi abitavamo voi abitavate loro, Loro abitavano Passato Remoto io abitai tu abitasti lui, lei, Lei abit noi abitammo voi abitaste loro, Loro abitarono Futuro Semplice io abiter tu abiterai lui, lei, Lei abiter noi abiteremo voi abiterete loro, Loro abiteranno Passato Prossimo io ho abitato tu hai abitato lui, lei, Lei ha abitato noi abbiamo abitato voi avete abitato loro, Loro hanno abitato Trapassato Prossimo io avevo abitato tu avevi abitato lui, lei, Lei aveva abitato noi avevamo abitato voi avevate abitato loro, Loro avevano abitato Trapassato Remoto io ebbi abitato tu avesti abitato lui, lei, Lei ebbe abitato noi avemmo abitato voi aveste abitato loro, Loro ebbero abitato Future Anteriore io avr abitato tu avrai abitato lui, lei, Lei avr abitato noi avremo abitato voi avrete abitato loro, Loro avranno abitato Subjunctive/Congiuntivo Presente io abiti tu abiti lui, lei, Lei abiti noi abitiamo voi abitiate loro, Loro abitino Imperfetto io abitassi tu abitassi lui, lei, Lei abitasse noi abitassimo voi abitaste loro, Loro amassero Passato io abbia abitato tu abbia abitato lui, lei, Lei abbia abitato noi abbiamo abitato voi abbiate abitato loro, Loro abbiano abitato Trapassato io avessi abitato tu avessi abitato lui, lei, Lei avesse abitato noi avessimo abitato voi aveste abitato loro, Loro avessero abitato Conditional Presente io abiterei tu abiteresti lui, lei, Lei abiterebbe noi abiteremmo voi abitereste loro, Loro abiterebbero Passato io avrei abitato tu avresti abitato lui, lei, Lei avrebbe abitato noi avremmo abitato voi avreste abitato loro, Loro avrebbero abitato Imperative/Imperativo Presente abita abiti abitiamo abitate abitino Infinitive/Infinito Presente abitare Passato avere abitato Participle/Participio Presente abitante Passato abitato Gerund/Gerundio Presente abitando Passato avendo abitato Understanding  First-Conjugation Verbs First-conjugation Italian verbs like  abitare  are the easiest to learn and conjugate.  Verbs with infinitives ending in  -are  are called first conjugation, or  -are, verbs. To conjugate the present tense of a regular -are  verb, for example, drop the infinitive ending  -are  and add the appropriate endings to the resulting stem. To form the first-person present tense of  abitare, drop the  -are  and add the correct ending (o)  to the stem,  abit-, to get  abito, which means I live in. To form the second-person present tense, use the same method: drop the -are and add the appropriate ending (i) to form abiti. Use the above tables to learn conjugations for abitare  in other tenses and moods.

Free Essays on Freedom of Expression

Internet filters, v-chips, â€Å"abstinence-only† education, and indecency laws are just a few of the tactics our society has employed in recent years to protect the â€Å"innocent† minds of youth. These censorial measures not only prevent young people from learning, thinking, and exploring; they deprive them of critical information on subjects ranging from human rights and feminism to drugs and safer sex. In early May, The Free Expression Policy Project – along with the Vera List Center for Art and Politics at New School University – brought together 33 advocates from the fields of free expression, sexuality education, youth journalism, and media literacy, along with 10 outstanding teen writers and activists, for a colloquium to develop strategies for combating censorship aimed at minors. Our foremost goal was to brainstorm strategies that would empower young people by teaching them critical thinking skills, advancing their free-expression rights, and enabling them to participate effectively in the political process. By the end of the day, we’d done just that – and birthed a new movement along the way. Our colloquium commenced with an overview of the many forms of youth censorship, including Internet filters, restrictions on the student press, and abstinence- only sexuality education. As Mark Goodman of the Student Press Law Center noted, censorship of the student press has increased dramatically his organization saw a 41 percent leap in the number of reported censorship incidents between 1999 and 2000, usually for articles about sexuality or school shootings, or critiques of school policies. Even tenured newspaper advisors are coming under the fire of increasingly conservative administrators, and those who stand up for their students are beleaguered and occasionally dismissed. Some schools have cracked down on independent media as well, including zines and students’ personal websites. Susan Wilson of the Network... Free Essays on Freedom Of Expression Free Essays on Freedom Of Expression Internet filters, v-chips, â€Å"abstinence-only† education, and indecency laws are just a few of the tactics our society has employed in recent years to protect the â€Å"innocent† minds of youth. These censorial measures not only prevent young people from learning, thinking, and exploring; they deprive them of critical information on subjects ranging from human rights and feminism to drugs and safer sex. In early May, The Free Expression Policy Project – along with the Vera List Center for Art and Politics at New School University – brought together 33 advocates from the fields of free expression, sexuality education, youth journalism, and media literacy, along with 10 outstanding teen writers and activists, for a colloquium to develop strategies for combating censorship aimed at minors. Our foremost goal was to brainstorm strategies that would empower young people by teaching them critical thinking skills, advancing their free-expression rights, and enabling them to participate effectively in the political process. By the end of the day, we’d done just that – and birthed a new movement along the way. Our colloquium commenced with an overview of the many forms of youth censorship, including Internet filters, restrictions on the student press, and abstinence- only sexuality education. As Mark Goodman of the Student Press Law Center noted, censorship of the student press has increased dramatically his organization saw a 41 percent leap in the number of reported censorship incidents between 1999 and 2000, usually for articles about sexuality or school shootings, or critiques of school policies. Even tenured newspaper advisors are coming under the fire of increasingly conservative administrators, and those who stand up for their students are beleaguered and occasionally dismissed. Some schools have cracked down on independent media as well, including zines and students’ personal websites. Susan Wilson of the Network... Free Essays on Freedom of Expression Freedom of Expression: All people in the United States are guaranteed this right by the Constitution. Students, however, do not have this right to the same extent as adults. This is because public schools are required to protect all students at the school. The major aspects of this right are speech and dress. Both the right to speech and dress are not absolute in public high schools. According to the American Civil Liberties Union: "You (students) have a right to express your opinions as long as you do so in a way that doesn't 'materially and substantially' dirsupt classes or other school activities. If you hold a protest on the school steps and block the entrance to the building, school officials can stop you. They can probably also stop you from using language they think is 'vulgar or indecent'("Ask Sybil Libert" ACLU 1998). Public schools can also restrict student dress. In 1987 in Harper v. Edgewood Board of Education the court upheld "a dress regulation that required students to 'dress in conformity w it hthe accepted standards of the community'"(Whalen 72). This means that schools can restrict clothing with vulgarities and such, but they cannot restrict religious clothing: "School officials must accomodate student's religious beliefs by permitting the wearing of religious clothing when such clothing must be worn during the school day as a part of the student's religious practice"(Whalen 78). Back to Student Rights in Public High School: Bibliography: Religious Freedom: The First Amendment to the United States Constitution states, "Congress shall make no law respecting the establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof." The right to freedom of religion includes the right to be free from religion: "Public schools are run by the government. Therefore, they must obey the First Amendment. This means that they can teach about the influences of religion in history, literature, and philosophy- they can't pro...

Violent relationships. Discuss the impact and possible effects of Essay

Violent relationships. Discuss the impact and possible effects of witnessing domestic violence as a child. Use psychological theory to explain your answer - Essay Example Even in the late 20th century, almost 3.2 million children in America experienced domestic violence annually (Carlson, 1984). This rate has increased further over the years. Children who witness domestic violence are vulnerable to developing different kinds of age-dependent negative influences. Similar psychological effects may be noticed in children who are abused and children who witness abuse being done to someone else. These children may experience a range of such internalized behaviors as depression and anxiety, as well as different kinds of externalized behaviors like bullying, cheating, lying, and fighting. These children are generally noticed to be more disobedient in all sorts of contexts and environments, and accordingly they are likely to experience different kinds of social competence problems. Negative effects of witnessing domestic abuse as a child vary across age span. Children’s need for attachment is disrupted in homes where partners are abused. As infants, these children cry excessively and suffer from different sleeping and eating disorders. As preschool-aged children, they develop different kinds of psychosomatic complaints including abdominal pain and headache. Regressive behaviors such as thumb sucking, sleep disturbance, and enuresis are also observed in these preschool-aged children. Unlike other children who secure a sense of protection and stability from their parents in the preschool years, children who witness domestic abuse do not get these essentials from their parents. These children may feel increased anxiety in strange settings and display behaviors such as crying and whining. Preschool-aged children also experience parasomnias and insomnia. School-aged children show psychosomatic complaints like abdominal pain and headache. They underperform co mpared to other children at school. Because of the negative effect of witnessing domestic abuse on their confidence and self-esteem,

Movie review-Why We Fight Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Movie review-Why We Fight - Essay Example of government must guard against the acquisition of influences that are unwarranted, whether asked or not asked by the industrial complex of the military. The capability of the disastrous rise of power that is misplaced exists and will always be there. The movie ‘Why We Fight’ is directed by Eugene Jarecki. It is a documentary movie of 2005 and it is about the military-industrial complex. The movie’s title refers to the World War II era that was commissioned by the U.S. Government so as to justify why they entered the war which was against the Axis Powers. In the movie, Eugene looks as to the reason why young people of America are sent to war. The movie also conveys the message that there is a change in portrayal of American war interference since World War II. It shows that America currently engages in good wars unlike in the past where there was military adventurism. It is in the interest of America’s self-serving corporate that there are more operations of wars. Being occupied with technologies of the military and actions are common American psyche features but the film focuses on anti-war efforts (Rollins, et al. 53). The movie follows a father who is still grieving after four years after the death of his son in New York on 9/11/2001. To any caring parent, a son’s death is normally an impactful and anger is a reaction that’s understandable. In the movie, the story line revolves around the father’s anger that shifts from those seen responsible for the attacks to those in high political offices who are responsible of manipulating the initial anger in support of war. The sentiments of the father later becomes far more noble. Being aware of the agony of losing a son, he can never wish it to an innocent person no matter how they are divided by the culture, geography or class. As mentioned in the movie, the attacks on 9/11/2001 were largely part a response to initial U.S. aggression to the Muslim-dominated Middle East and the Third World as a whole.

First Amendment and the Freedom of Information Act Essay

First Amendment and the Freedom of Information Act - Essay Example The closing decade of the twentieth century was witness to the live broadcast of every detail of the O.J. Simpson murder trial, giving millions of viewers, not just in the United States, but across the world, access to the entirety of the courtroom proceedings (Cohn and Dow, 2002). As Hernandez (1996) reports, proponents of the practice maintain that the televising of courtroom proceedings does not just give the public access to the workings of their judicial system but allows them to oversee the government, as it is their right to do. Opponents, however, quite rightly maintain that the practice, however, conflicts with both the defendant's right to privacy and his/her expectations of a fair trial (Hernandez, 1996). The argument in favor of cameras in courtrooms is predicated on the Constitution, the First Amendment and theoretical function of the media as watchdog. Both the Freedom of Information Act and the First Amendment clearly explicate the public's right to know, implying, as N. Hentoff (2000) argues, the constitutionality of live coverage of court trials. According to this perspective, the constitutionality of cameras in the courtrooms stems from the fact that the U.S.

Appearance of colonies microorganism Essay Example for Free

Appearance of colonies microorganism Essay VRBA |Appearance of Colonies |Microorganisms | |Red, surrounded by reddish precipitation zones, diameter1- 2 mm |Lactose-positive Enterobacteriaceae: coliform bacteria, E. coli | |Pink, pin-point colonies |Enterococci, possibly Klebsiella | |Colorless |Lactose-negative Enterobacteriaceae | CCA E. coli: dark-blue to violet colonies (Salmon-GAL and X-glucuronide reaction). Total coliforms: salmon to red colonies (Salmon-GAL reaction) and dark-blue to violet colonies (E. coli). Other Gram-negatives: colorless colonies, except for some organisms which possess ÃÆ'Ã… ¸-D-glucuronidase activity. These colonies appear light-blue to turquoise. In order to confirm E. coli, coat the dark-blue to violet colonies with a drop of KOVACS indole reagent. If the reagent turns to a cherry-red color after some seconds, a positive indole formation confirms the presence of E. coli. E. coli in Macconkey Agar MACCONKEY AGAR |Appearance of Colonies |Microorganisms | |Colorless, translucent |Salmonella, Shigella, others | |Large, red, surrounded by turbid zones |Escherichia coli | |Large, pink, mucoid |Enterobecter, Klebsiella | |Very small, opaque, isolated colonies |Enterococci, Staphylococci, and others | [pic] [pic] S. aureus in baird-parker agar BAIRD-PARKER AGAR |Appearance of colonies |Microorganisms | |Black, shiny, convex colonies 1-5 m in diameter with a narrow, white edge surrounded by a clear zone 2-5 mm |Staphylococcus aureus | |wide. Opaque rings within the clear zones only appear after 48 hours of incubation | | |Black, shiny, irregular shape. Opaque zone develop around the colonies after 24 hours. |Staphylococcus epidermidis | |Growth sometimes: | | |Very small, brown to black, no clear zones. |Micrococci | |Dark brown, dull, clear zones sometimes appear after 48 hours. |Bacillus species | |White, no clear zones. |Yeasts | [pic] P. aeruginosa in cetrimide agar [pic] [pic] Salmonella in Macconkey Agar [pic]

Changing Health Risk Behaviours: Benefits and Strategies

Changing Health Risk Behaviours: Benefits and Strategies Jose L. Rivera Changing Health Risk behaviors so People can Live Healthy and Productive Lives Human behavior plays a vital role in the preservation of health as well as the prevention of disease. In order to reduce or decreased the significant morbidity and mortality linked with health-related behavior, health care professionals have looked into models of behavior change to steer the development of strategies that promote the person protective action, decrease behaviors that amplify health risk, and make possible helpful adaptation to the development coping strategies with illness. According to Ragin (2011), a number of different theories and models in psychology have been developed to explain human behavior. Some of them particularly designed to identify factors that explain certain health behaviors while others were intended to explain general behaviors. Growing evidence advocates that efficient programs to change individual health behavior involves a versatile approach to helping people adopt, change, and maintain behavior. There are some models or theories employed by hea lth psychologist help explain a range of health behaviors. The National Prevention Strategy (NPS) of the United States Department of Health and Health Services focuses on four Strategic Directions to facilitate health behavior changes. These Strategic Directions are the foundation for a more developed, conscientious and prevention oriented culture. The strategies have been developed to direct actions towards improve health and to support Americans in leading longer and healthier lives (National Prevention Council, 2011). The following is a brief overview of the strategies promoted in the NPS: Healthy and Safe Community Environments: Support communities that promote health and wellness through prevention as it is believed that many elements can affect health directly and also influence individuals’ health-related choices. A healthy community environment can help make healthy choices easy and affordable (National Prevention Council, 2011). Clinical and Community Preventive Services: Make certain that prevention-focused health care and community prevention efforts are available and supported. Providing clinical and community preventive services is the key component to improving and enhancing physical and mental health. With the Affordable Care Act people will be able to receive many clinical preventive services (National Prevention Council, 2011). Empowered People: To support people in making healthier choices. While there are many policies and programs in which people can make healthy options, they still need to be able to make healthy choices. In order to do that, people need to have access to more reasonable and accessible information and resources (National Prevention Council, 2011). Elimination of Health Disparities: Eliminate disparities, improving the quality of life for all Americans. All Americans should have the opportunity to live a healthy and productive lives not matter what. In United States, health differences are often closely linked with social, economic, or environmental disadvantage but this differences can be eliminated at the same time the system tries to improve the health of all Americans (National Prevention Council, 2011). These strategies seem to follow some of the five behavior health change models and theories. The strategy Healthy and Safe Community Environments stated that many elements affects and influence people’s health related choices. Therefore, a healthy community environment can help individuals make healthy choices (National Prevention Council, 2011). This seems to follows the Theory of Reason Action (TRA) in which the individual’s behaviors are determined by his or her intentions which are predisposed by two factors, attitude about the behaviors and subjective norms. The intention is based on a conviction regarding the likely outcome of the behavior. Theory of Reason Action suggests that some people’s behaviors are shaped by the opinions of those closer to them. However there are times in which individuals engage in behaviors that are inconsistent with the beliefs or values of those around them. Intentions correspond to a person’s motivation that develops into a conscious plan to exercise some kind of effort and perform the preferred behavior. Intentions are inclined by attitudes towards performing a particular behavior and social norms (Ragin, 2011). According to Gibbons et al., (2009), for a number of young people, health related behaviors, together with risky behaviors, such as casual sex or binge drinking are mostly intentional. However, for others these behaviors are often not intentional or planned or yet anticipated. Instead, they are a response to circumstances, usually social, that were neither sought nor necessarily expected. If the young individual does not have an intention to not engage, then he or she is in danger for the many consequences that come with lack of preparation such as unplanned pregnancy, STIs, and even accidents. The NPS strategy of Clinical and Community Preventive Services highlight the importance of preventive services and that the integration of those activities are vital to improving and enhancing physical and mental health. This seems to follow the Transtheoretical Model (TTM) of Behavioral Change in which explains the individual changes as a process and not an event. Changes take place of time and as this strategy indicates, certain clinical preventive services have proven to be effective through decades of practice and research (National Prevention Council, 2011). According to Ragin (2011), people move forward through five stages in order to attain successful behavioral change: 1) Pre-contemplative -There is a lack or no intention to change behavior, 2) Contemplative The individual has started to consider change at some unclear time in the next months 3) Preparation for action The person is considering or planning to make changes in the immediate future; 4) Action The individual engages in behavior change 5) Maintenance In where a steady state of behavior change is achieved The advantage of the Transtheoretical Model (TTM) is that has general propositions for a number of areas of intervention development and implementation. This model of behavioral change is a suitable model for the enrollment of a specific population because it makes a supposition about the promptness for change of a range of individuals. Therefore, the individual should be incorporated in an intervention group based on his/ her belonging to one of the Transtheoretical Model stages. The people in this model find themselves in different stages and interventions need to be modified to meet their specific needs. In addition, conventional interventions frequently have high volume of dropout because the program does not match their particular needs (Ragin, 2011). So the benefit of applying this model is that TTM based interventions are intended to accommodate the needs of a specific group, this more likely guarantees a smaller volume of dropouts. The NPS strategy of Empowered People emphasize that people should have access to information and resources so they are empowered to make healthier choices (National Prevention Council, 2011). This seems to follow the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) which suggests people belief that they have the resources and the opportunities required to act upon a behavior is directly connected to their perceived control over their behavior. The essential postulation of TPB is the fact that beliefs are the essential reason of any behavior and consequently, risk behavior can be easily altered or changed by modifying the underlying beliefs. TPB also suggests that social norms, attitudes, and perceived behavioral control persuade intention that correspond to the proximal determinant of behavior (Ragin, 2011). Andrews, et al.,(2010) noted that childhood obesity problem in the United States has considerably increased, with the proportion of children identified as overweight or at risk of becoming overweight more than doubling over the last 25 years. Given the extent of the predicament, a great number of intervention efforts and campaigns have been implemented, with a good number successful programs finding parental involvement to be influential in decreasing childhood obesity rates. For the effectiveness of parental involvement to be maximized in available interventions, formative research needs to be performed on how parents view the predicament of adolescent obesity and their role in making possible a healthy lifestyle for their children. The benefit of applying this model is that TPB has been extensively used since it offers a comprehensible theoretical account of the associations between intentions, attitudes, and behavior. In addition, it states how these constructs must be operationalized, which can make the design of behavior change interventions easier. Successful behavior change can be achieved when intentions are changed thorough either subjective norms, attitudes, or perceived behavioral control (Ragin, 2011). The NPS strategy of Elimination of Health Disparities stipulates that all Americans should have the opportunity to live a healthy life not matter their ethnicity, religion and social status. It also indicates that health disparities are usually connected to social, economic, and/ or environmental disadvantages (National Prevention Council, 2011). This seems to follow many or a combination of Models of Behavioral Change. Starting with Health Belief Model which works on understanding why and under what conditions a person seeks preventive health services (Ragin, 2011). According to Downing-Matibag and Geisinger (2009), the Health Belief Model presumes that the probability of an individual engaging in a definite health behavior is a function of a number of beliefs: the degree to which the individual believes is predisposed to a particular illness; the individual’s opinion of the severity of the illness consequences; the alleged costs or barriers of assuming a health behavior; as well as the perceived benefits of assuming the desired health behavior. These cognitive issues decide beliefs in personal health threat as well as the efficiency of a health behavior. Furthermore, the model proposes that certain prompts to action can set off health behavior when the appropriate health beliefs are held. One predicament with the Health Belief Model is that it does not identify how the different beliefs influence one another as well as how the clarifying issues are united to influence the individual’s behavior. This ended in different studies util izing different ways of analyzing variables such as multiplying vulnerability and taking away barriers from benefits. Another dilemma is that the authors presented no operational definition of the variables and this guided researchers to apply a different methodology in their studies. Based on NPS strategies, wellness and health are influenced by the environment or places, in which citizens learn, live, play and work. Existing proof for prevention is strong, and the needs of more effective strategies are important for improvement in the public’s health. It is recommended that most effective types of strategies, policies, communications and media, should be implemented. Future evaluation and research together with well designed trials for many alternative and complementary medicine treatments will be significant to deal with unmet prevention and wellness needs in order to improve health. Neighborhoods, including schools, homes, public areas, and work locations, need to be more aware that they can be changed to support well being and furthermore, make healthy choices easy and affordable. The marketing plan recommended at this time is to develop a framework to put together in line prevention efforts, along with agencies collaboration, and keep up impetus at the state and local levels via media and commercials. Nevertheless, in order for the services to be more applicable to diverse group considerable cultural conversions, as well as infrastructure changes inside and across all agencies, should take effect to make certain a healthier future for all. References Andrews, K. R., Silk, K. S., Eneli, I. U. (2010). Parents as Health Promoters: A Theory of Planned Behavior Perspective on the Prevention of Childhood Obesity.Journal Of Health Communication,15(1), 95-107. doi:10.1080/10810730903460567 Downing-Matibag, T. M., Geisinger, B. (2009). Hooking up and sexual risk taking among college students: a health belief model perspective.Qualitative Health Research,19(9), 1196-1209. doi:10.1177/1049732309344206Rueda, A., Schmitter-Edgecombe, M. (2009). Time estimation abilities in mild cognitive impairment and Alzheimers disease. Neuropsychology, 23(2), 178-188. doi:10.1037/a0014289. Gibbons, F. X., Houlihan, A. E., Gerrard, M. (2009). Reason and reaction: The utility of a dual-focus, dual-processing perspective on promotion and prevention of adolescent health risk behaviour. British Journal Of Health Psychology,14(2), 231-248. National Prevention Council, (2011). National Prevention Strategy, Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of the Surgeon General. Ragin,D.(2011). Health Psychology: An interdisciplinary approach to health. Upper Saddle River, N.J.:Pearson Education. Radecki Breitkopf, C., Asiedu, G., Egginton, J., Sinicrope, P., Opyrchal, S., Howell, L., Boardman, L. (2014). An investigation of the colorectal cancer experience and receptivity to family-based cancer prevention programs.Supportive Care In Cancer,22(9), 2517-2525. doi:10.1007/s00520-014-2245-9

The New International Economic Order Essay -- Economy Economics Essays

The New International Economic Order The gap between the rich and the poor is growing more and more every day. Something has got to be done to solve this issue. In 1974 members of the Third World gathered together at the United Nations. Their purpose was to find the answers to solve the gap between the rich and the poor. A total of seventy-seven members proposed the NIEO, hoping this might solve the gap. The NIEO stands for the New International Economic Order. Its aim was to bring the rich and the poor countries together to discuss issues that might bring the gap closer together. The negotiations of the NIEO were called the North and the South Dialog. Eighteen clauses made up the NIEO. These clauses were the changes that the Group of 77 desired. One of the clauses stated that each state would be free to determine their own economic and political system. Unfortunately this did not happen due to the fact that rich countries have taken it among themselves to determine what is right for poor countries. The poor countries do not have a say in what they want. The second clause stated that each state it to control their own natural resources. This means that rich countries will no longer be able to control poor countries natural resources like they had been doing. This causes a huge problem with rich countries who gather natural resources from these countries and the corporations who make money off of the natural resources. The rich countries do not like to see this take place. One example has to do with Chili and their copper. The copper of Chili is controlled by IT&T. During a presidential election in 1970, a man by the name of Allende said that if he was elected he would nationalize the copper. He was soon elected and then... ...ms. One example deals with the AIDS epidemic in Ghauna. Twenty-five percent of the people in Ghauna have the AIDS virus. The AIDS virus is spreading even faster in the Third World Countries because of the lack of modern technology. The Third World Countries feel if the United States finds a shot that will prevent AIDS, the shot should be a Heritage of Mankind which means everyone will be intitled to it. The United States says no because they did the research and spent the time and money. Overall, the Group of 77 had very good intentions. They saw that there needed to be something done to help solve the gap between the rich and the poor. The only problem is that the rich countries are far to ahead of the game. They will not allow many of the proposals to go into action. This leads to an even larger gap between the rich and the poor that is still on the increase.

Introduction to the Bible

The Message within the Message David R. Hayes Introduction to the Bible RELS311, Section B001 Win 13 Mark D. Wessner February 10, 2013 The Message within the Message Even though some may say that there is nothing more to a narrative than what one may see and read on the pages before them, I believe that some stories are more than just historical narratives. For example, in the story of David and Goliath I believe that the example David sets by his faith and trust in God to give both him and Israel the victory against this ominous foe as well as David's words of wisdom to combat the menacing taunts from Goliath are more than meets the eye.In this paper, I intend to dissect this passage from the Bible by explaining where it is located, I will analyze the literary style and characteristics of this passage, and I will give a detailed and thoughtful interpretation of this passage by using the appropriate exegetical approach. The story of David and Goliath is found in the first book of Sam uel which is located between the book of Ruth and the second book of Samuel in the Old Testament.This narrative encompasses the entire 17th chapter of this book and is made up of fifty-eight verses. The first book of Samuel is one of thirty-nine books that make up â€Å"the canon of the Old Testament†, taken from the Greek word kanon which â€Å"means a rule—[or] a standard for measurement†, and is part of the Christian â€Å"authoritative list of the books belonging to the Old Testament or New Testament (Comfort, 2003, p. 51). In this case, it is part of the Old Testament canon.This narrative is just one of many that make up â€Å"over 40 percent of the Old Testament†¦ [which] constitutes three-quarters of the bulk of the Bible† (Fee, 2003, p. 89). Besides the writings of Moses, a major prophet and author of the first five books of the Bible, also known as the Pentateuch, it is believed that after Moses and the other prophets and prophetesses durin g his lifetime: the great outbursts of prophetic activity began with Samuel†¦ and the arliest kind of writing in which they seem to have engaged extensively was history, which afterwards became the basis of the books of Chronicles†¦ and probably of Samuel and Kings too, which have so much material in common with Chronicles. (Comfort, 2003, p. 53) Additionally, â€Å"[i]t is noteworthy [to point out] that in Jewish tradition Samuel, Kings, the Minor Prophets, Ezra-Nehemiah, and Chronicles are each reckoned as a single book† (Comfort, 2003, p. 57).The narrative begins with the gathering of two armies: the Philistines in Ephes-dammim and Israel on the other side of the Valley of Elah, which was between them, both on mountains separated by this valley (1 Samuel 17:1-3). Ephes-dammim, which is called â€Å"Pas-dammin† in the first book of Chronicles (1 Chronicles 11:13), meaning â€Å"boundary of blood† which is believed to possibly have come from â€Å"[t ]he deep red color of the newly plowed earth in this [location]†¦ and may have given origin to the idea of â€Å"blood†Ã¢â‚¬ , but the location is not absolutely certain (Masterman, n. . ). The Valley of Elah, on the other hand, is located just north of where the Philistine armies are believed to have gathered with, which most likely was, the dry creek bed of the Wadi es-Sant dividing them from Saul's armies in the Judean mountains, though a more accurate description would be hills (Wilson, n. d. ). The valley between them â€Å"is a triangle-shaped flat valley, located on the western edge of the Judean low hills or Shepelah†¦ [o]nly in the rainy season does water flow in the creek bed†¦ rom the hills to the east to the Mediterranean on the west† (Wilson, n. d. ). This narrative ends with the devastating loss of the Philistines' champion, Goliath, followed by the massacre of the Philistine armies, and the victory of God's chosen people, the Israelites. This narrative, like all narratives, is a story which retells us a historical event which was written by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit and is â€Å"intended to give meaning and direction for a given people in the present† (Fee, 2003, p. 0). Fee points out that the major difference between a biblical narrative and other narratives is that â€Å"the story they tell is not so much our story as it is God's story—and it becomes ours as [H]e †writes† us into it† (2003, p. 90). But like all narratives it has three main characteristics: characters, plot, and plot resolution (Fee, 2003, p. 90). The characters consist of protagonists (e. g. God), antagonists (e. g. Goliath), and agonists (e. g. David) (Fee, 2003, p. 90).The conflict in this plot would be the imminent battle between the Philistines and Israelites as well as the daily challenge given to the Israelites by Goliath which subsequently leads to fear and inaction by Saul's armies. The plot resolu tion, or denouement, would be the devastating defeat of Goliath at the hands of David which reverses roles between the Philistines and Israelites, instills fear into the hearts of the Philistine armies, and completely overturns the expected outcome of this battle.In the Bible most narratives are also historical and/or biographical accounts and include accounts in the following books of the Bible: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges, Ruth, 1-2 Samuel, 1-2 Kings, 1-2 Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther, Jonah, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, Haggai, Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, and Acts (â€Å"Literary genres†¦ †, n. d. ). Though there are many narratives in these books it does not mean that each book is strictly narratives or any other genre for that matter.One thing that puzzled me was when Fee appears to contradict himself when first he states that narratives â€Å"are intended to give meaning and direction†, but later states that â⠂¬Å"Old Testament narratives are not allegories or stories with hidden meanings, are not intended to teach moral lessons, and do not necessarily teach directly† (2003, pp. 90,92). So which is it? This leads into the characteristics of Hebrew narratives: the narrator, the scene(s), the characters, dialogue, plot, features of structure and a final word (Fee, 2003, pp. 3-99). For this passage the narrator is Samuel, I believe, but cannot be certain because later in this book his death is recorded (1 Samuel 25:1). The scene is set around the Valley of Elah. The characters in the order they are mentioned are: Goliath, King Saul, Jesse, Eliab, Abinadab, Shammah, David, and Abner. The primary dialogue is between David and Goliath but there is also a dialogue between David and Jesse, David and his brothers, David and King Saul, and King Saul with Abner.The plot starts off with the gathering of armies for battle which leads into the conflict presented by Goliath's challenge to the Isra elite armies, the acceptance of this challenge by David, the slaying of Goliath by David, and the defeat of the Philistine armies. The feature of structure in this particular narrative is the repetition of the power and authority of God. This narrative, in my opinion, connects the dots from David's anointing to be the next king of Israel to his establishment of his kingdom.Then, to even further define a narrative one can separate biblical narratives into three different levels which creates a â€Å"hierarchy of narrative[s]† (Fee, 2003, p. 91). The top, or third level, is â€Å"[o]ften called the †metanarrative†Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ [and] has to do with the whole universal plan of God worked out through [H]is creation†, e. g. the creation and the fall of humanity (Fee, 2003, p. 91). The next, or second level, â€Å"is the story of God's redeeming a people for [H]is name†, e. g. he first and second covenant (Fee, 2003, p. 91). Finally, the last and first level is c omprised of â€Å"all the hundreds of individual narratives that make up the other two levels†, e. g. the individual narratives of the patriarchs (Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, or Joseph) (Fee, 2003, p. 91). This covers the basics of a narrative, but to fully understand a narrative or passage the reader must take an exegesis approach to carefully and systematically study the Scriptures â€Å"to discover the original intended meaning† (Fee, 2003, p. 3). The most important part of exegesis is knowing what questions to ask while reading to determine the context, whether historical or literary, and the content (Fee, 2003, pp. 24-28). After taking an exegesis approach the reader must then take a hermeneutics approach which can include exegesis but in this case is referring to â€Å"seeking the contemporary relevance of ancient texts† (Fee, 2003, p. 29). Fee, however, says that this approach is much more difficult to define than the exegesis approach (2003, pp. 29-31).For ei ther, you do not have to be an †expert† but you must understand the meaning of a passage in reference to the meaning of the sentences or passages before and after it (Fee, 2003, p. 27). Fee points out that â€Å"[t]he most important contextual question you will ever ask, and it must be asked over and over of every sentence and every paragraph [while reading] is, â€Å"What’s the point? † (2003, p. 27). We must, however, understand that â€Å"[t]his question will vary from genre to genre, but it is always the crucial question [emphasis added]† (Fee, 2003, p. 7). Interestingly, according to Fee, Bible translations like the King James Version and the New American Standard both are generally written in paragraph form which can interfere with the exegesis approach because it can â€Å"obscure the author’s own logic† (2003, p. 28). It does not mean it is impossible but should definitely be accounted for when studying exegetically. For my exe getical approach towards better understanding this passage I turned to the help of commentary from theologians like Matthew Henry and John Gill as well as a few other websites.According to the commentary of Matthew Henry, the Philistines were setup in Israel's territory, not their own, and this could have been due to the knowledge of God's departing from Saul as king, the end of Samuel and Saul's relationship, and/or Saul's inability to be the king his people needed him to be (Henry, n. d). According to Josephus, in John Gill's exposition of the Bible, this all occurred because the Philistines sensed weakness in Israel and saw their chance to further expand their own territory not to mention the opportunity for retribution for previous defeats at the hands of Israel (Gill, n. d. . I would have to agree with both suggestions as possible answers to the question, â€Å"What is the point? †, of this narrative. I believe, nonetheless, that the main point is that David was just a s hepherd, but by God's strength he was able to deliver Israel out of the hands of the Philistines just as he had done in the past delivering sheep from his flock from a lion and a bear (1 Samuel 17:34-37). David's words are inspirational: Thou comest to me with a sword, and with a spear, and with a shield: but I come to thee in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom thou hast defied.This day will the Lord deliver thee into mine hand; and I will smite thee, and take thine head from thee; and I will give the carcases of the host of the Philistines this day unto the fowls of the air, and to the wild beasts of the earth; that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel. And all this assembly shall know that the Lord saveth not with sword and spear: for the battle is the Lord's, and he will give you into our hands. (1 Samuel 17:45-47)In this passage, when David proclaims the name, or shem, of the Lord he invokes â€Å"something like our power of att orney, where one person can act with the legal authority of another†¦ [therefore it really] means to come with Yahweh's presence, power, authority, and divine appointment† (Wilson, n. d. ). Just as Christians pray in Jesus's name David was claiming the victory over Goliath and the Philistines in the name of the Lord. David sets a great example of faith and obedience throughout this passage by trusting in God and by defending God's reputation and glory.More importantly, he points out that the battle is still ultimately the Lord's (Wilson, n. d. ). This is not the only example of the faith of David, a man after God's own heart, or others similar to him in faith. Several examples of â€Å"[t]his same principle is reiterated time after time throughout scripture, e. g. 1 Samuel 14:6b; 2 Chronicles 20:15, 32:8; Psalm 33:16-18, 20, 44:6-8; Proverbs 21:30-31; Hosea 1:7; Zechariah 4:6; Romans 8:31, 37; and 1 John 4:4 (Wilson, n. d. ).In conclusion, the majority of the Bible is ma de up of many narratives which are both historical and biographical that by God's infinite wisdom serve a purpose for us all today. There are those that would say that you should not read too deep into these narratives because what you read is what you get. There are others that distort these narratives to make them mean what they want them to for their own ulterior motives. I, on the other hand, fall in between these two very different schools of thought.I believe that ultimately there is a message within the message that God wants us to understand, but without the right questions you will never get the right answers. I hope after reading this research paper that I have achieved my goals: to dissect this passage from the Bible by explaining where it is located, to analyze the literary style and characteristics of this passage, and to give a detailed and thoughtful interpretation of this passage by using the appropriate exegetical approach.In closing, I would like to quote a very tr ue, but enlightening just the same, statement that I came across while researching: Even though we rely on the Spirit, we are not so foolish as to make no preparation. As St. Augustine once said, â€Å"Pray as though everything depended on God. Work as though everything depended on you. † Faith and preparation are not mutually exclusive. (Wilson, n. d. ). References Comfort, P. W. (2003). The origin of the Bible. Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House Publishers. Fee, G. D. , ; Stuart, D. K. (2003).The Old Testament Narratives: Their Proper Use. How to read the Bible for all its worth (3rd ed. , pp. 89-106). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan. Gill, J. (n. d. ). John Gill's exposition of the entire Bible. Freegrace. net. Retrieved February 8, 2013, from http://www. freegrace. net/Gill/1_Samuel/1_Samuel_17. htm Henry, M. (n. d. ). Matthew Henry commentary on the whole Bible. Freegrace. net. Retrieved February 8, 2013, from http://www. freegrace. net/library/mhc/1 _samuel/ 17. html Literary genres†¦ composing information with style†¦ (n. . ). Helpmewithbiblestudy. org. Retrieved February 9, 2013, from http://helpmewithbiblestudy. org/5Bible/HermComposingInformationWithStyle. aspx Masterman, E. W. G. (n. d. ). Ephes-dammim. BibleAtlas. org. Retrieved February 8, 2013, from http://bibleatlas. org/ephes-dammim. htm The Scofield Study Bible. (1945). New York: Oxford University Press. Wilson, R. F. (n. d. ). David and Goliath: Bold Faith. The JesusWalk Bible Study Series. Retrieved February 8, 2013, from http://www. jesuswalk. com/david/02_david_goliath. htm