the Last samuri essays

the Last samuri essays This was an absolute wonderful movie. When I went to go see it I was just going to get extra credit, but right at the beginning of the movie I knew it was going to be good. The way the started the movie was great how they showed Tom Cruise drinking and the cut to this guy announcing he was a captain the in Indian wars. The he comes out and starts his performance which is to sell this gun, but instead of doing as he always does he calks the gun and fires it. I thought this scene was extremely funny. As the movie progresses you can tell how much he regrets whats hes done in the Indian wars cause every once and awhile when hes sleeping he has dreams of whats hes done and then he wakes up in a cold sweat. He is hired to train Japanese soldiers so the can fight against the rebellious Samurai warriors. He excepts the job because he is going to be paid five hundred dollars a month which is an awful lot of money back then. So he gets to Japan starts to train these soldiers. Then awhile later the Samurai attack the railroad and they want them to go and fight them. He tries to convince them that the soldiers arent ready by forcing one of the Japanese men to try and shoot him and like he suspected he missed. They still make them go and attack them. So they are in the forest then can here something coming so line up in attack position. Then all of a sudden the Samurai appear out of the trees and begin to gallop there horses towards them. They start shooting, but even though they all had guns they retreated because the samurai warriors were very skilled with there blades. Until the last person who was fighting them was Tom Cruises character he was surrounded, but still he held them all back until a man with red armor stepped forward and challenged him. It looked as if he gave up ,but then he lunged forward with is sword and killed him. The leader then ordered them all to stop and they took him ...

Mesosaurus Facts and Figures

Mesosaurus Facts and Figures Name: Mesosaurus (Greek for middle lizard); pronounced MAY-so-SORE-usHabitat: Swamps of Africa and South AmericaHistorical Period: Early Permian (300 million years ago)Size and Weight: About three feet long and 10-20 poundsDiet: Plankton and small marine organismsDistinguishing Characteristics: Slender, crocodile-like body; long tail About Mesosaurus Mesosaurus was the odd duck (if youll excuse the mixed species metaphor) among its fellow prehistoric reptiles of the early Permian period. For one thing, this slender creature was an anapsid reptile, meaning it did not have any characteristic openings on the sides of its skull, rather than a more common synapsid (a category that embraced the pelycosaurs, archosaurs and therapsids that preceded the dinosaurs; today, the only living anapsids are turtles and tortoises). And for another, Mesosaurus was one of the first reptiles to return to a partially aquatic lifestyle from its fully terrestrial forebears, like the prehistoric amphibians that preceded it by tens of millions of years. Anatomically, though, Mesosaurus was pretty much plain vanilla, looking a bit like a small, prehistoric crocodile... that is, if youre willing the overlook the thin teeth in its jaws that seem to have been used to filter plankton. Now that all thats been said, however, the most important thing about Mesosaurus is where it lived. The fossils of this prehistoric reptile have been discovered in eastern South America and southern Africa, and since Mesosaurus lived in freshwater lakes and rivers, it clearly couldnt have swum across the expanse of the southern Atlantic Ocean. For this reason, the existence of Mesosaurus helps support the theory of continental drift; that is, the now-well-attested fact that South America and Africa were joined together into the giant continent Gondwana 300 million years ago before the continental plates supporting them broke apart and drifted into their current positions. Mesosaurus is important for yet another reason: this is the earliest identified animal to have left amniote embryos in the fossil record. Its widely believed that amniote animals existed a few million years before Mesosaurus, only recently evolved from the first tetrapods to climb up onto dry land, but we have yet to discern any conclusive fossil evidence for these very early amniote embryos.

Proposed Expansion to Develop Educational Materials for Psychologists Essay

Proposed Expansion to Develop Educational Materials for Psychologists - Essay Example In the following presentation, the highlights of the research findings are presented for your consideration. Abnormal behavior is defined as "a psychological dysfunction associated with distress or impairment in functioning that is not a typical or culturally expected response" (Christodulu 2002, screen 1). Further according to the Department of Health and Human Services there are 88,491 clinical psychologists in the United States. With this broad base of potential customers development of this line of educational aids has the potential for wide spread appeal and will increase sales revenue. (2006) Stemming from the fact that there are multiple models of abnormal behavior: Medical and Psychological; ("Psychological disorders" undated, p. 2) our opportunity to develop multiple product groups is promising. The medical model attributes abnormal behavior to medical conditions and, therefore, a medical approach is used to treat the symptoms. However, the psychological models have various perspectives in regard to treatment: mental functioning, experiences and learning are causes of the behaviors manifested. These include the behavior model which focuses on environmental issues while cognitive models stress the reasons behind behaviors. Lastly, the sociocultural model explores the cultural and social issues that impact behavior.

Compare two movies by the characters , transporter 3 and death race Essay

Compare two movies by the characters , transporter 3 and death race - Essay Example (Tasker, pg 4) Characters form an integral part of a movie, but in action movies we find, that priority is given to ‘action over dialogue, characterization or emotion.† These movies are more of â€Å"visually exciting, conceptually shallow entertainment machines.† (Tasker, pg 104) Characters, especially the hero, in such films are known for their physique than their psychology and â€Å"broad sentimentality replaces emotional complexity or depth.’ (Tasker, pg 112) In the two action movies, Death Race 2000 and Transporter, both revolving around cars and car chases, the hero features in almost all the scenes, but he provides no peek into his psyche nor the reasons which drive into the course of action he is in. In Transporter, the hero is â€Å"a compromised man doing good† while in Death Race he is â€Å"a U.S. working man, doomed to wage the proletarian fight.† (White, 2008) The hero is forced to take recourse to certain objectionable means in order to achieve his ends, which often deal with physical violence and races, where victory is achieved through death-defying stunts. Another very important attribute of the hero in an action movie is that he has a heart of gold and would go to any lengths to protect the poor and defenseless. ( White, 2008) is forced to don the mantle of Frankenstein, the victor of death races, broadcast to a depraved public, hungering all the time for action. Jensen has been arrested wrongfully, and is made to take part in the race, staged over three days, where the final goal is to remain the last person alive, in this modern-day gladiatorial spectacle. The prison becomes the arena and the warden is the circus master, who drives the whole contest. Jensen shows that he has a moral streak in him and is ready to do anything which would restore to him his honor and name. He is in prison because he is unemployed, and this futuristic

Corruption in Sudan Essay Example for Free

Corruption in Sudan Essay Other cities like Omdurman have 2. 1 million, Port Sudan have a total population of 450,000. Kassala, Kosti, Juba are the capital of southern region. People from the country are called Sudanese and 2009 in July Population was 41,087,825: 2. 143%. There are two ethnic groups namely : Arab/Muslim, theses group of people live on the northern part of the country and black African or Christian on south. There are also two types of religion, Islam (official), indigenous beliefs (southern Sudan), Christianity. There are also many languages like Arabic which is official, English also official, tribal languages. Education in Sudan is compulsory for some years,8 Attendance(35%-40%). Literacy level is 61. 1. This country’s main natural resources include reserves of oil, gold, natural gas copper, iron ore and other industrial metals. Sudan got its independence on January 1, 1956 and the type of government they operate is the provisional government which was established by the comprehensive peace Agreement (CPA) and signed in January 2005. This offers power sharing as far as the national elections takes place. The national election took place starting from April, November 2010. Sudan became the largest debtor to the World Bank and IMF by 1993 this resulted to the suspension of their voting rights by IMF and withdrawals under operative and fully expended loans and credit by the World Bank. It was also said that â€Å"extensive petroleum exploration began in mid1970’s and might cover all of Sudan’s economic and energy needs†. This year according to martin † Sudan may need as much as $1. 5billion of foreign aid a year and plans 2 slash government spending by a quarter as it faces budget difficulties due to its recent split into two countries, its finance minister said† and according to the finance minister† we’re expecting 6 percent (economic growth) or a little more for 2012† There have been conflicts with the northern and southern part of Sudan that have killed 1. 5 million people and also driving many ethnic groups and people from their homes. Sudan had had several episodes of civil welfare since its independence, broke association and now rule with Egypt (this actually did not benefit them anything but further trouble). All regions of Sudan face problems, both the south and the north and corruption can be counted as one of them. The southern part of Sudan has separated as an autonomous region in July 2011 even though it is a different state but it is still a very poor nation with a very low human development. Media on the southern part of Sudan is very poor, undeveloped and not well equipped. A journalist(s) does not have the right to broadcast, report or give any news, information to Darfur (other part of Sudan) and if any journalist(s) violates that law, he/she/they would be severely punished and even be jailed. Today, many journalists are still in prison and only God knows when they might be freed and which will be out. For example, in October 2010, a radio station ’Dabanga’ in Khartoum after a movement of arrests was shut down by the government and seven of its employees have been alleged of exposing state secretes, breaking the constitutional system, the punishment foe this crime is a death penalty. The civil war of 1991 in southern Sudan destroyed almost all southern medical facilities except those that had been rebuilt to treat their people who have been wounded in Juba, Malakal and Waw, these three hospitals are controlled by the government. The facilities were impracticable to use because of the scarcity of the most basic medical materials and a similar problem is faced in the northern Sudan, health care facilities had been considered helpless by the economic situation. Sudan does not have the hard currency to buy basic drugs, such as antibiotics and anti-malarial drugs, and the most important equipment, such as syringes. Private medical care in towns still functions but was also hindered by the scarcity of pharmaceuticals. In conclusion, I think after analyzing these situations in the area of banking, finance, media and medicine, the conflicts and political instability and so one, those should or are the main reason why Sudan is rated as one of the most corrupt countries in the world.

Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) Essay -- Mental Health Disorders

Approximately five million people in the U.S., or about one in every 50 Americans, suffer from OCD. That’s about 2%, a substantial number of sufferers. It affects men, women, and children, as well as people of all races, religions, and socioeconomic backgrounds.OCD is an anxiety disorder characterized by symptoms that can include powerful, unwanted, or recurrent thoughts and/or compulsive, repetitive behaviors. Some of the most common obsessions are:Fear of contamination Fear of causing harm to another Fear of making a mistake Fear of behaving in a socially unacceptable manner Need for symmetry or exactness Excessive doubt Some of the most common compulsions may include:Cleaning/Washing Checking Arranging/Organizing Collecting/Hoarding Counting/Repeating Obsessions are unwanted, recurrent and unpleasant thoughts that cause anxiety. Compulsions are repetitive, ritualistic behaviors that the person feels driven to perform to decrease anxiety. At least 80 percent of patients with OCD have both obsessions and compulsions. OCD appears to be caused by increased activity in the orbital frontal cortex and caudate nucleus of the brain. OCD may also involve abnormal functioning of the neurotransmitter seratonin in the brain. Stress does not cause OCD; however, a stressful event can trigger the disorder. There are no hard facts to tell how OCD is obtained. OCD is thought to be a genetic disorder. This idea has plenty of evidence and is believed by most doctors. The chemical imbalance in the Brain is an imbalance of Seratonin and Dompamine. 80 percent of the people with OCD have another disorder called Tourettes Syndrome (TS). This syndrome is caused by the imbalance of Dompamine in the Brain. This causes the person to have muscular and/or verbal spasm which are called tics. Some people who are familiar with TS may think of people shaking wildly of cursing a lot, but that is only in a severe case. These are a couple of examples, or case studies, that I got off the internet.I. DickUp until this year, Dick had done fairly well in school, played basketball, held down a part time job cleaning a fish plant, and spent most weekends with his girl friend. Over the last year, he has had to let most of this go. His girlfriend found someone who had more time, he quit his job, and he stopped going to basketball. He could barely get his schoolwork done. Why? It took... ...ment is a treatment in which the person is exposed to there obsession and go without fulfilling their compulsions. This kind of like "facing your fear".In treating OCD with medications there are many medicines that are prescribed, here are five of the most common: Prozac, Paxil, Zoloft, Luvox, and Anafranil. These medicines do not always work, but 60-80% of the time they do. Also these medicines do not just work right away. They have to take time to balance in the body. This usually takes about 6-8 weeks. A person is usually on one of these medicines for 12-18 months, but can be more or less. Support groups are few, yet one that I found on the Internet, called â€Å"Emotions Annoymymous† seemed to help alot of people, since this disease isn’t well known by the general public, it is misunderstood, and the words â€Å"obsessive-compulsive† are used out of place far too frequently.My OpinionI think that OCD Is a common disorder that is underestimated and there are not enough people that are educated about it. The more people know about something, the less they are afraid of it. There are five million people that have it, I think more people should know about it, one in fifty people has it.

Analysis of Commercial Bank Balance Sheet

CONTENTS INTRODUCTION DEFINITION_ OF COMMERCIAL BANK_ *â€Å"Banks and other deposit taking institutions are financial intermediaries whose assets consist overwhelmingly of loans to a wide variety of borrowers and whose liabilities consist overwhelmingly of deposits. † THE ECONOMICS OF MONEY BANKING AND FINANCE 3rd* Edition PETER HOWELLS & KEITH BAIN Pg 32 A sound system of banking is very important for any economy. Commercial banks are directly related to the payment system of the economy. Generally most commercial banks are controlled by the central bank of that particular country. The central bank can never allow the banking system to fail because if banks start to fail the payment system will fail. They may allow some banks to fail but the government will never allow big banks or the whole payment system to collapse. This is very evident from the recent where government have pumped in huge amount of money to save the so called â€Å"too big to fail† banks. Banks helps in the payment services through various kinds of deposits, debit cards and credit cards ANALYSIS OF COMMERCIAL BANK BALANCE SHEET For my assignment I have picked up Lloyds TSB as my bank. Lloyds TSB is one of the four biggest bank in the UK. I have taken 2007 annual report as the group has published only the 2008 interim report. The second item which we see in Lloyds TSB balance sheet is loan and advances to banks. It reflects the interbank relationship. This figure has fallen for most of the commercial bank and also for Lloyds TSB there is an decrease of 16. 50%. This is due to the financial crisis which has hit banking sector very badly and many banks have failed as a result. Llyods TSB gives loans to customer just like any other commercial bank and bank charge an interest for giving loans which is higher than the interest on deposit. But there is always a default risk attached with the loan which the bank gives. Commercial Banks gives different kinds of loans starting from mortgage, education loan, overdraft facility etc. In case of Lloyds TSB mortgage comes out to be 48. 4% of loans to customer. And thing we should bear in mind is that mortgage are long term loan and it can be for 30 years as well. Customer Accounts got an increase of 11% and there is an increase of 11% from 2006 to 2007. LIABILITIES OF LLOYDS TSB Lloyds TSB is also having some fixed deposit like Certificates of deposit. In these deposits customers cannot withdraw there money before a specified time and they also receive some interest as well. Second are the commercial papers which are unsecured promissory notes to meet short term obligations. Certificate of Deposit comes to around 14,995 million GBP and commercial paper is 17,388 million GBP for Lloyds TSB. Lloyds TSB is also having reserves after paying reserves. This reserve can be used in case of emergency or any unexpected risks The main risks that commercial banks face due to their exposure to different kinds of assets and liabilities are liquidity risks, market risk and credit risk. Lloyds TSB faces liquidity risk because of deposit in central bank. They have a deposit of 4330 million GBP. This means that they cannot give this amount as loans because it’s stuck with the central bank. This amount has increased considerably from 2006 to 2007. The bank faces liquidity risk because of their mismatch in assets and liabilities side. The group liquidity risk exposure is 33,185 million GBP. The main sources of liquidity risk for the bank are deposits from banks and customer accounts. As we seen above the assets of Lloyds TSB are long term whereas the liabilities are short term. The commercial bank is the main source of payment service in any economy. Whenever bank gives loan they are exposed to default risk. Default risk arises whenever a company or individual is unable to meets its obligation on interest or principle payment of the loan. The bank faces asymmetric information problem as well. Though the bank does proper due diligence before giving out any loans but asymmetric information problem cannot be ruled out with any banks at all. Due to asymmetric information we have adverse selection and moral hazard problem. Adverse selection problem comes to picture before entering into the transaction. In short the bank has to filter the good borrowers and the bad borrowers. Sometimes the bank may give loan to the bad borrowers and may suffer of this. Though banks have put checks like credit history before making out the loan but adverse selection problem cannot be neglected completely. The other problem which is created because of asymmetric information is moral hazard problem. The moral hazard problem starts after the bank has sanctioned the loan. Borrowers may get into undesirable activities. The main objective for which the loan was sanctioned may never get fulfilled. The other side of moral hazard problem is the conflict of interest between the borrower and the bank. Borrowers may try to act on their interest rather than the interest of the bank. Banks like Lloyds TSB can overcome the problems of adverse selection and moral hazards if they have proper check and control on their customers but rarely any bank achieves 100% success in these problems. These are two most important risks which any financial intermediary faces in order to serve their most important duty i. e. ayment services to the economy. Just like any other financial institution the group also faces credit risk. {text:bookmark-start} â€Å"Credit risk {text:bookmark-end} is risk due to uncertainty in a counterparty's (also called an {text:bookmark-start} obligor {text:bookmark-end} ‘s or {text:bookmark-start} credit's {text:bookmark-end} ) ability to meet its obligations. Because there are many types of counterparties—from individuals to sovereign governments—and many different types of obligations—from auto loans to derivatives transactions—credit risk takes many forms. † (www. riskglossary. om). After the group’s acquisition of Halifax of Scotland, the credit rating of the bank has come down. In order to counter credit risk credit rating plays a very important role. The group exposure to credit risk is 356,860 million GBP. PART 2 Asset Liability Management â€Å"The ALM group within a bank has been concerned with control of interest rate risk on the balance sheet. For some bank it may be equally important to manage interest rate risk arising from off balance sheet, but it is instructive to look at the traditional methods and progress to the relatively new procedures. (HEFFERNAN, SHELAGH A. 2005) Moreover banks have mismatch in maturity of their asset and liability. Banks use asset liability management to manage interest rate risk, mar ket risk and credit risk. Let’s take an example where all deposits are on fixed rate of interest but all loans are made on floating rate of interest. Commercial banks mainly use three types of markets to cover these risks. These are money market, capital market and derivative market. Capital Market is generally used by large companies or governments to raise funds for the long period. Capital market can be of two types like primary market, securities are traded for the first time and secondary market, and in this securities are traded after they are traded in the primary market. Another subdivision of capital market is bond market and stock market. There are various stock market around the world like London Stock Exchange, whereas bond market includes different kinds of bonds like government bonds (US Treasury bills), foreign bonds etc. One of the most important changes in this market is the development of asset backed securities. text:bookmark-start} â€Å"Securitization {text:bookmark-end} is a financial transaction in which assets are pooled and securities representing interests in the pool are issued†. (http://www. riskglossary. com/) When securitization is backed by any assets such as student loan, mortgages this becomes asset backed security. Lloyds TSB also securitizes its assets in order to overcome its liquidity problem. The process of securitizati on has become quite complex with the introduction of Collateralized Debt Obligation, Collateralized Loan Obligation etc. And these complex securities are the heart of the financial crisis. Lloyds TSB is not having much exposure to these complex securities. Banks get into off balance sheet activities to get more profit. It helps the bank to get fee income. One more advantage of off balance sheet activity is that it does not appear into the balance sheet of the bank. The derivative market is also used by the bank to hedge their risks. â€Å"By their nature, derivatives instruments can be used for hedging different types of risks. Owing to this, banks and insurance companies use derivatives in the management of their Asset Liability Management† (Cornelius Nandyal, 2001). The derivative market is going through lot of new changes. Regulators are trying to put lot of new regulations in order to bring transparency. Banks use interest rate swaps, credit default swaps, total return swap, credit linked notes etc. But different people have different views on derivatives. According to Warren Buffet derivatives are weapon of mass destruction and can act as time bombs in the future. Whereas Alan Greenspan says â€Å"Derivatives have permitted the unbundling of financial risks. Because risks can be unbundled, individual financial instruments now can be analyzed in terms of their common underlying risk factors, and risks can be managed on a portfolio basis†. Banks have also used money market for asset liability management. The most important organ of the money market is the interbank market. In interbank market banks with surplus lend to bank with deficit. This market is severely hit by the recent financial crisis. Banks don’t know about the financial soundness of the bank to which they are lending. This has increased the liquidity problem of the bank. Other types of market are the gilt repo, commercial paper market and the certificate of deposit market. As we have seen above Lloyds TSB invest in commercial paper and certificate of deposit. Securitization and the Global Financial Crisis DIAGRAMATIC EXPLANATION OF SECURITIZATION: {draw:frame} Source: http://www. usbancortrusteeservices. com/images/ygpa7_chart_offering_structure_ptnm. pg The recent crisis started because of the sub prime mortgage loans that originated in the USA. But these loans were repackaged and sold all round the world, so this crisis which began in USA became a worldwide crisis. Securitization gives banks lot more leverage. The seeds of the recent crisis were sown in when the Federal Reserve made interest rates around 1% and the economy was pumped with lot of cash. Banks started giving these loans as mortgage to the s ub prime customers, without any credit check and at very easy terms and condition. Once interest rate started to increase in 2004, borrowers started to default on their loans. With the increase of interest rates house prices started to come down. Credit rating agencies who gave these securities AAA rating made these securities junk. The assumption on which these rating agencies were working was that house prices will keep raisingin the future as well. â€Å"The combination of low capital requirements imposed on AAA-rated assets and a commonly held perception that they were â€Å"safe,† allowed banks to hold on to any senior tranches that were not sold to investors. But when the structured finance market collapsed in late 2007, the investment banks found themselves holding hundreds of billions of dollars of low-quality asset pools, many of which consisted of leveraged buy-outs loans, subprime mortgages, and bonds from CDO’s in process-that is, where the tranches had not yet been sold to other investors. † (Coval et al, 2008) No one knows the worth of these complex securities which the banks are holding. Banks have stopped lending to each other because no one is sure of how much the other bank is holding. So interbank market is almost closed.