Deserts, glaciers and climate

Financial Liberalization

Financial Liberalization Chapter 1Introduction1.1 Statement of the ProblemsThe topic of the project paper or report is to find out the impact of interest rate reforms or liberalization on financial development and thereby economic growth. The statement of the problems is to whether interest rate liberalization as originally prescribed by the McKinnon and Shaw hypotheses or can unambiguously lead to economic growth.1.2 Title of the ReportIt is necessary to select a topic in writing a report. A well-defined topic reflects what is going on to be discussed throughout the report. The topic "Impact of Interest Rate Reforms or Liberalization on Financial Development Economic Growth" selected by me is duly approved by the respective supervisor. The report has discussed how the interest rate liberalization enhances financial development and thereby causes economic growth.The Title of the report "Impact of Interest Rate Reforms or Liberalization on Financial Development Economic Growth" especially focuses on SAARC.E conomic Growth1.3 Origin of the StudyAs a partial requirement of B.B.A. program we are required to prepare internship report. This report has been prepared during the three month's Internship Program in Bank Asia Limited, Dhanmondi Branch. In the classroom we get the opportunity to know the theoretical part of the subject. But without practical orientation it is somewhat difficult to grasp the core concept. In the project paper I have collected data from World Bank (Data). Beside this I have also collected data from published literature, Central Bank of selected countries. The main variables are deposit interest rate, lending interest rate, inflation rate, gross national income, M2 over GDP and GDP growth rate. In this report, I have tried to find out the relationship between interest rate liberalization and financial development and thereby economic growth.1.4 Rationale of the StudyThis report is a...

Stress Topic Research Paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Stress Topic Research Paper - Essay Example Other heightened risks of developing diseases of the endocrine system such as Type 2 Diabetes can be increased with moderate weight gain, but being obese quadruples an individual’s chances of becoming diabetic. Certain cancers, such as endometrial and colon cancer are also more prevalent in individuals that are obese as opposed to individuals that are found to be within the healthy range on the BMI scale. A non-medical outcome of obesity is a greater prevalence of diminished self-esteem and negative body image among obese individuals. This psycho-social consequence, while not directly relating to mortality, does indicate that individuals that are obese have less satisfying life socially and emotionally in many instances. It could be said that obesity is an individual problem, not one for society to worry about. The solution is simply for individuals to gains some self-control, to eat less and exercise more. Others would argue and say that obesity is a societal issue. Billions of dollars are spent on treating illnesses each year that are exacerbated by obesity. Millions of hours are lost in productivity to employers because of these illnesses. Add to this the tax money spent caring for low income obese individuals and the many lost opportunities for pleasure obese individuals pass up due to their condition, and you could say that the costs of obesity to individuals as well as society are staggering. Millions of dollars are spent each year by governmental and concerned organizations on health and nutrition education. The belief is that if we can educate individuals about correct nutrition and exercise, the obesity will lessen and we will have fewer illnesses concerned with this disorder. Despite these well intentioned efforts, obesity rates continue to rise, not only in America, but in other industrialized nations as well. Obviously something is missing from the equation that doctors believe causes

Earthquakes at Home Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Earthquakes at Home - Essay Example There are also some degrees of distribution in the mid-South region, but the principal areas of high risk, which show up red on the map, tend to be located in the equivalent of the states of California, Oregon, and Washington (Science, 2010). These areas also appear to extend into the nation of Mexico. #2 Where I live, in Erie, Pennsylvania, is gray on the map of earthquake risk, meaning it has a low risk (Science, 2010). It is not near any major fault lines, so it is relatively safe from earthquakes. There are occasionally small earthquakes around Erie, but they only extremely rarely get above 3 magnitude, cause any damage, or result in any injury or destruction. #3 The earthquakes around the world seem unevenly distributed according to the map of the last week’s earthquakes. The predominant amount of earthquakes have occurred in the Pacific Rim; many of these are in East Asia and Southeast Asia (Latest, 2010). This is not surprising to me, because these areas are known to have a high earthquake risk. I have heard a lot about very bad earthquakes happening in Japan and China. #5 I have visited some of the red areas on the map, including spots in California and Mexico. In California, the real estate where I was, is too expensive for me to consider living there. I also do not want to move to Mexico, because I don’t speak fluent Spanish. However, I would be willing to live in a red earthquake risk area, if I had enough income to do so in California or, if I learned Spanish and also had a better job and income, in Mexico. I would assume that especially in the US, architects would have earthquake proofed many buildings. I would be more hesitant in living in a red zone in some country with less advanced building standards. Generally, though, I am a risk taker as a person. I think that no one lives forever, and that none of us are

Accounting Information system Article Critique Essay

Accounting Information system Article Critique - Essay Example The main aim of this paper is to provide a critical review of the article â€Å"Accounting Information System Selection in Small Organizations: Incongruences between Accounting Professionals† by Glen L. Gray. This paper will provide a brief overview of the article following which the findings and limitations of the article will be discussed. The next section will deal with the importance of the article and the reasons for choice. The article by Gray, is one which focuses on small organisations and their need for accounting information systems. The article is of great importance to the field of study as it touches upon some essential aspects of the overall systems in the companies. It is essential to note here that the author has touched upon essential reasons that can sometimes cause the failures of the systems, i.e. the incongruences. This article is of immense importance for the field of study as it helps identify the possible issues and also clearly brings out the incongruences, which help the companies identify where the corrections can be made to improve the use of the systems. The article can prove to be a major contributor to the literature in the field and can assists readers to correctly and effectively understand the incongruences between people. It also acts as a clear literature to identify, â€Å"The existence of incongruences between different groups of accounting professionals participating i n this study (who have at least similar educational backgrounds) could indicate an even higher potential for incongruences between accounting professionals and clients (who have more dissimilar backgrounds)† (Gray, 1991). The article also helps in more informed decision making and will prove to assist the readers with better understanding of what parts of the accounting information systems is going wrong and to correct it accordingly. The article clearly pays a lot to the literature in the field and as a student this helps in identifying the areas

Benefits of Teaching Culture and Language

Benefits of Teaching Culture and Language Definition of culture Culture (from the Latin â€Å"cutura† stemming from colre meaning â€Å"to cultivate†) generally refers to patterns of human activity and the symbolic structures that give such activities significance. â€Å"Farhang†, meaning culture, has always been the focal point of Iranian civilization. Values (the ideas about what in life seems important), norms (expectations of how people will behave in various situations), institutions (the structure of a society), and artifacts (things or aspects of material culture, which derive from values and norms) are four components of culture (Wikipedia, 2009). The culture of a people refers to all aspects of shared life in community. Children growing up in a social group learn ways of doing things, ways of expressing themselves, ways of looking at things, what things they should value and what things they should despise or avoid, what is expected of them and what they may expect of others. We can define culture from different points of view. But the most common definition of culture among several scholars is what Haddley (2003) have in his book â€Å"Teaching Language in Context†. She tries to classify aspects of culture into two groups. The first group is the best in human life. This is what is called Big-C culture. Literature, music, art, etc. fall into this category. The second group is everything in human life. This is called the small-c culture. This category includes the way people eat, dress, and behaves in their society. The importance of studying culture There are many benefits that people can obtain from studying culture. It is useful for understanding the people of other cultures and also one’s own culture (Kitao, 1991). It can also help us to be more tolerant (Saz as cited in De Gordon, 2007). Dominant thoughts in the societies during the history, the way people look at the world, living manners and different forms of socializing, enculturation and like that lead us to a better understanding and appreciation of economic affairs. According to various developments in the world we can say that although the content and form of culture may change, it never fade away. (Pahlavan, 2003). Culture has been studied under different sciences and fields of study and this can show the importance of culture by dealing with this phenomenon. Culture and language In this section we will come to a wider area and look at the culture with respect to the relation it may have to the concept of language. As usual in this section we will divide these relationships into different sections according to what different scholars believe. There are three kinds of relationship determined between culture and language. The structure of a language determines the way in which speakers of that language view the world. The culture of a people finds reflection in the language they employ. Cultural requirements certainly influence how a language used and perhaps determines why specific bits and pieces are the way they are. A neutral: there is little or no relationship between language and culture (Wardaugh, 1993) Culture and L2/FL Teaching and learning Although some teachers think that the present of culture in current writings is relative recent, a review of the L2/FL literature shows that this is clearly not the case. The early ages were the time people learned an L2/FL for the purpose of reading and studying its literature. Literature is categorized as the high culture or the best in human life (brook, 1975, as cited in Haddley 2003, p.361). The next stage of concerning with culture is the era of Audio-lingual. This is the era of communication goals in language teaching and the time the emphasis is on the â€Å"little c culture†. In 1970s, the communicative competence replaced the audio-lingual method. In this new paradigm a more natural integration of language and culture takes place through a communicative approach than a more grammatically base approach (Lessard-Clouston, 1997). Why teach culture In the previous section we saw that the relationship between language and culture is undeniable. Despite this certain fact we should think of the implication of this reality in a real situation. Therefore, we raise another question regarding the importance of teaching culture and why a teacher should teach culture in the classroom. In order to fully learn a foreign language, an individual needs to understand the culture that goes along with it. What follow are some of the reasons for teaching culture in the classroom. Giving the students a reason to study the target language. Help in teaching grammar: relating abstract sounds and forms of a language to real places and people. In achieving high motivation, culture classes does have a great role because learners like culturally based activities such as singing, dancing, role playing, doing research on countries and people, etc. It gives learners a liking for the native speakers of the target language. Culture studies have a humanizing and a motivating effect on the language learner and the learning process. They help learners observe similarities and differences among various cultural groups. Teaching culture (intercultural learning) Many people have shown their own contribution to the issue of relation between culture and L2/FL learning as well as the role of culture in learning/teaching a language in the classroom. Almost every book in the area of language learning has a chapter in teaching culture. Chastain (1987) maintains that language is used to convey meaning, but meaning is determined by culture. One of the major hurdles to the successful implementation of culture goals in language classes revolves around attitudes. Brown (2000) also has some points in this area: It is apparent that culture as an integrated set of behaviors and modes of perception, becomes highly important in the learning of an L2. The two are intricately interwoven so that one cannot separate the two without losing the significance of either language or culture. Dimitrios Thanasoulas (2001) says that the teaching of culture should become an integral part of foreign language instruction. Culture should be our message to students and language our medium. Teachers should present students with a true picture or representation of another culture and language. Baker (2003) believes that culture has become an increasingly integrated component of English language teaching in recent years. He argues that the root of integrating culture in language learning processes come from the theory of communicative competence delivered by Hymes (1972, as cited in Haddley, 2000, pp.3-5). In this theory communicative competence involves an understanding of the norms of social interaction of one socio-cultural community. This concept of communicative competence is called intercultural communicative competence. Central to the notion of intercultural communicative competence is cultural awareness. Culture and language teaching methods From the early stages of teaching language a lot of methods have been discovered by methodologists and researchers with different points of view towards second language teaching and learning. I’ll investigate several methodologies and their approach to culture and its relationship with language teaching and learning. Grammar-translation method: a fundamental purpose of learning a foreign language is to be able to read its literature. Direct method: culture consists of more than the fine arts (students study cultural values). Audio-lingual method: culture consists of the everyday behavior and lifestyle of the target language speakers. Language cannot be separated from culture. Silent Way method: they believe that culture, as reflected in students unique world view, is inseparable from their language. Suggestopedia: it says that the culture which students learn concerns the everyday life of people who speak the language. The use of fine arts (music, art and drama) enables suggestions to reach the subconscious. Community language learning: it believes in integrating the culture with language. Total Physical Response: says that culture is the life style of people who speak the target language natively. In Communicative Language Teaching: culture is the life style of people who use the language natively. The cultural-communicative learning paradigm: â€Å"learning a language is learning a culture. Intercultural competence Intercultural competence is an enormously popular concept nowadays, its content being discussed in a great variety of contexts. It is not possible to arrive at one particular definition of the concept it is always contextually determined, colored by the latest discourses on competence, culture, communication, language, etc (Risager, 2000). Looking for a comprehensive definition of this phrase, we encounter a lot of different ideas and various definitions. By Alvino E. Fantini (1997) a basic definition of intercultural competence includes: The fundamental acceptance of people who are different to oneself outside one’s own culture. The ability to interact with them in a genuinely constructive manner which is free of negative attitude (e.g. prejudice, defensiveness, apathy, aggression etc.) The ability to create a synthesis, something which is neither â€Å"mine† nor â€Å"yours†, but which is new and would not have been possible had we not combined our different background and approaches (www.kwintessential.co.uk, 2009). Penn State (2009) has also â€Å"A simple definition†: â€Å"the abilities to perform effectively and appropriately with members of another language-culture background on their terms. And finally, In essence intercultural competence can be summed up as the ability to work well across cultures. Culture in Foreign Language Curriculum A major goal of foreign language instruction is to increase students’ literacy in languages other than their own, thereby also increasing literacy in that culture. The concept of literacy encompasses the students ability to read with understanding, to write with clarity and accuracy, to understand what is heard, and to speak comprehensibly with accurate grammar and pronunciation. To communicate successfully in another language, students develop facility, with the language, familiarity with the culture that use the language, and awareness of the ways in which language and culture interact in society. Reaching this point is central to developing literacy in any language. Two aspects of culture appropriate to be included in the foreign language curriculum are: first, the society’s production of art, music, and literature, and second, the social conventions of that society’s members. Culture in the classroom Now it is the time to come to the classroom and investigate culture related to the requirements of the class: Foreign Language Teachers and Foreign Language Learners. Culture and language teachers Traditionally, language teachers have listed culture as one of the five principal objectives of second language study. Attaching the same value to culture as to each of the four language skills is no surprise because of its importance in the development of global awareness and international understanding, in being able to function in the second language society, and in stimulating and maintaining students’ interests and motivation. The primary goal and dominant focus of attention in most classes continues to be language, to the detriment of achieving desirable cultural objectives. As conclusion to this, the teacher ought to be able to describe and assess his or her own intercultural competence. A foreign language teacher should be able to: Understand the contributions and lifestyles of the various cultural groups Recognize and deal with dehumanizing biases, discrimination, and prejudices Create learning environments that contribute to the self-esteem of all persons and all positive interpersonal relations Respect human diversity and personal rights (Lafayette, 1979, p. 132). Some authors do recommend placing the greater emphasis on culture. What these authors are advocating is an organized, systematic presentation of the major characteristics of the second language culture that will lead students to an understanding and an appreciation of the culture. In many regards, culture is taught implicitly, imbedded in the linguistic forms that students are learning. To make students aware of the cultural features reflected in the language, teachers can make those cultural features an explicit topic of discussion in relation to the linguistic forms being studied. It is important for a language teacher as an influential figure in the class to be interculturally aware and responsive. Teachers should be aware of and sensitive to the cultural differences (Valdes, 1986), and its influences on students’ growth and learning. They should also be aware of their own cultural values and beliefs (Wang, 2006). Culture and language learners One of the principal reasons for stressing culture in language classes has to do with the students. They are extremely interested in the people who speak the language they are studying (Chastain, 1987). A program which seeks to develop systematic progress in cultural understanding side by side with growing mastery of the language will ensure that the language learners are able to communicate with the speakers of the language in the fullest sense of the word. Intercultural contact is both a means and an end in second language studies. It is impossible to identify the specific ethnic and cultural groups that represent native speakers of the language. As a result, in order to investigate the role of the intercultural contact in foreign language learning environments, we first need to explore what kind of contact students of foreign languages have with home and how frequently, what attitudes they display and how they see the role of contact in language learning. It appears that favorable contact leads to the discovery of cultural similarity and of our common humanity. Then, contact will improve attitudes (Piage R. M., et al., 1998).

Essay --

Pain is one of the most powerful human motivators. People will say anything to make it stop because it hurts. And when used specifically to derive information our federal government can make it hurt a lot. No one should ever have to be put through the type of pain that is specifically engineered to hit your pain threshold, engineered to cause you to fear your interrogator, engineered to make you talk. The practice of enhanced interrogation should not be used under any circumstances because it is illegal under international law, it’s not always effective, and it’s inhumane. What is enhanced interrogation? In simple terms it’s when an interrogator uses techniques that are specifically designed to cause you a.) either so much pain that you break down and tell the interrogator what they want to know or b.) you fear pain and your interrogator so much that you readily give them the information that they seek. So, what techniques does the American government use to derive information from it’s prisoners? Some techniques that they have used are sexual humiliation, sleep deprivation, sensory deprivation, sensory overload, solitary confinement, mock execution, medical experimentation, learned helplessness, intimidation by dogs, confinement in a box with insects, and waterboarding. â€Å"The United Nations Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhumane, or Degrading Treatment or Punishment’s stance on torture is ‘No exceptional circumstances whatsoever, whether a state of war or a threat of war or an emergency may be invoked as j ustification for torture [or enhanced interrogations], which inflict pain and suffering and most UN scholars consider to qualify as torture under international law.† (Dinan) However under international law it is ... ... they will never be normal again.(Stephens) This is a list of just a few of the techniques and their described effects that our own government and foreign governments use. The effects are cruel and long-lasting and they stick with you for a long time, not to mention the immediate effects of fear and pain from thing such as being waterboarded. It’s cruel and inhumane and illegal. All in all enhanced interrogation doesn’t get you anymore and it’s just plain cruel. There are many better alternatives to torturing the information out of someone. The more peaceful route should always be taken. If we don’t want our own citizens undergoing the same stuff that we put the citizens of foreign countries through than we should never ever do that to them. It goes back to the most basic rule of all time. The Golden Rule â€Å"Do unto others what you would have them do unto you†