Wollstonecraft discussion Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 1

Wollstonecraft discussion - Essay Example This makes them as much rational beings as men are. Today, there are numerous women who do not rely on their appearance for survival. They have infiltrated professionals and careers that would have once been considered impossible for women. This has been made possible thanks to education. Although women are better empowered today than they were a few centuries ago, there is still a considerably huge percentage of the society that still regards the woman as a sex object. Unlike during Wollstonecraft’s days, education cannot be blamed for this misconception about women. Contemporary media and general socialization has more to do with it. There are those women who still consider themselves rationally inferior because the media likes to portray women that way. These women find strength in expressing themselves through their appearance. The good thing is that this kind of thinking is slowly fading as more women become involved in affairs of society. The education system is greatly helping in instilling the idea that women and men are both capable of rational though at the same

Chinas Environmental Issues Essay Example for Free

Chinas Environmental Issues Essay China has many environmental issues, severely affecting its biophysical environment as well as human health. Rapid industrialization as well as lax environmental oversight have contributed to the problems. The Chinese government has acknowledged the problems and made various responses, resulting in some improvements, but the responses have been criticized as inadequate. As of 2012 there is increased citizen activism regarding government decisions which are perceived as being environmentally damaging. (Wikipedia) As China’s economic growth continues to blossom in 2007, with the countries GDP hitting 11. 4%, alongside China gets hit by an environmental crisis. Sixteen of the worlds twenty most polluted cities are in China. Experts say the Chinese government has made serious efforts to clean up and achieved many of the bid commitments. Beijing’s pledge to host a Green Olympics in the summer of 2008 signaled the countrys willingness to address its environmental problems for example. However, an environmentally sustainable growth rate remains a serious challenge for the country. (http://www.cfr.org/china/chinas-environmental-crisis/p12608) China’s major environmental issues: * Water- China suffers from water shortage and water pollution. About one-third of Chinas population lacks access to clean drinking water. s part of its effort to harness the nations water supply, China has a large dam-building program with over twenty-five thousand dams nationwide–more than any other nation. The dam projects are not only a high cost in terms of money, but also in farmland loss, ecological damage, and forced migration of millions of people, says the Woodrow Wilson Centers Jennifer L. Turner, director of its China Environment Forum, in a report for the Jamestown Foundation. * Land- Desertification in China leads to the loss of about 5,800 square miles of grasslands every year, an area roughly the size of Connecticut. The Worldwatch Institute, an environmental watchdog and research organization, reports that excessive farm cultivation, particularly overgrazing, is one of the leading causes of desertification. As the deforestation grows, so do the number of sandstorms; a hundred were expected between 2000 and 2009. Desertification also contributes to Chinas air pollution problems, with increasing dust causing a third of Chinas air pollution. * Greenhouse gases- In 2008, China surpassed the United States as the largest global emitter of greenhouse gases by volume. (Not per capita however) The increase in Chinas emissions is primarily due to the countrys reliance on coal, which accounts for over two-thirds of its energy consumption, contributing to sulfur dioxide emissions causing acid rain.

Teens, Sex, and Virginity - I Was Raped by My Teacher :: Example Personal Narratives

I Was Raped by My Teacher Ken was my voice teacher. I never admired anyone more than him. He meant the world to me. It would be safe to say that we did not have a typical teacher/student relationship. I was infatuated with him. He was tall dark and had the voice of an angel. But he was eleven years older than I was, and he was my teacher. I learned from him, I confided in him, and I trusted him. I never pictured myself being with him. I never dreamt he would think of me as a 'woman' and not just a love-stricken seventeen year-old vocal student. When I began my lessons with Ken, they took place at school, but then somewhere down the line, he wanted them to be at his house. He was the teacher, and I was told that you never argued with what the teacher had to say. Our next lesson, I showed up at his house at 1:00 sharp, ready to sing. I had never been to his house before, and I was a little nervous about seeing it. However, when he opened the door and greeted me with his cute little smile, I knew there was nothing to be nervous about. We started our lesson by singing a few songs for fun (we always sang duets together). He said that I wasn't singing my best and asked if I was stressed. Of course I was stressed! I was the lead in our school musical and it would open in two weeks. "One can never reach their full potential when they are stressed," he said, as he began to rub my shoulders. This was weird for me, but like I said, he was the teacher, and you never argue with the teacher. We finished our lesson , I thanked him and I was on my way out. Before I left though, he took my face in his hands, and he kissed me goodbye. I didn't really know what to do. Had that just happened? Did he just kiss me? Did I kiss him back? Is that wrong? He's too old! I'm too young! He's my teacher! We spoke on the phone several times that week, but never brought up the kiss.

Care Of Older Adult Synthesis Health And Social Care Essay

In the instance survey of Susan Smith and her household, there are many pertinent factors that need to be addressed. Mrs. Smith has legion serious medical conditions such as coronary arteria disease, insulin dependant diabetes, and degenerative arthritis. She lives on a fixed income far off from all household, which puts her at hazard for seeking and obtaining proper wellness attention. Mrs. Smith besides has safety, cultural, and emotional demands that need considered throughout her program of attention. Education It is clear Mrs. Smith needs extra attention, nevertheless she needs particular attending put away as to how the information and facts gathered are traveling to be presented. Mrs. Smith ‘s highest degree of instruction is the tenth class and therefore we can presume that her literacy and cognition of the medical field and wellness system is minimum. Additionally, agism, know aparting against older grownups, attitudes and elderspeak which consists of chantlike voice, short simple sentences, and decelerate speech production, must be avoided in order for Mrs. Smith to grok her medical intervention. To go on, Mrs. Smith suffers from macular devolution ; hence written information should be in big print and placed in order to utilize peripheral vision. Mrs. Smith is African American ; hence cultural pattern and historical experiences during her life-time should be taken into consideration. African Americans lived during the Jim Crow Torahs and the Tuskegee Experiment, an experiment w here black work forces with poxs were mislead and did non have intervention for the disease. Although Mrs. Smith ‘s instance is rather different, these historical experiences have left the African American population with small trust for health care members ( Touhy & A ; Jett, 2010 ) . Safety and Mobility Osteoarthritis Safety and proper mobility are critical facets to pay close attending to with older grownups. Mrs. Smith suffers from degenerative arthritis ( OA ) and confusion. Although Mrs. Smith is loath to fall in an aided life installation, instruction sing diet, exercising plans, and physical and occupational therapy offered are necessary to her recovery. Harmonizing to Seed, Duncan, and Lynch, the first measure in OA is instruction. Since, Mrs. Smith ‘s literacy degree is minimum and no anterior cognition about this disease is known, information should be given in a clear apprehensible mode with extra written information. Extra instruction for degenerative arthritis would include accent on farther intervention options. Harmonizing to the article Osteoarthritis: A Review of Treatment Options, a lessening in weight and BMI can significantly assist with degenerative arthritis in hips and articulatio genuss. Besides, manual therapy of the articulatio genus through physical and occupational therapy has been proven to increase the map, hurting, and stiffness affected by OA, particularly the articulatio genus ( Seed, Duncan, & A ; Lynch, 2009 ) . Impaired Cognition Mrs. Smith is besides enduring from confusion which impacts her overall safety. Her forgetfulness is likely the ground for her recent house fire which led to first and 2nd grade Burnss. Performing a Mini-Mental State Examination ( MMSE ) would be good to measure for any new cognitive lacks. A thorough autumn appraisal should be completed explicating what a autumn is and how often/ if at all Mrs. Smith has fallen. Harmonizing to Touhy and Jett ( 2010 ) confusion is a major subscriber to falls along with lessened ocular sharp-sightedness, arthritis, joint hurting and cardiovascular jobs which Mrs. Smith qualifies for. A autumn appraisal must be done and the consequences must be looked at closely as some of Mrs. Smith ‘s implicit in issues may be related to and hold a important impact on her overall position ( p.182 ) . Driving Safety Additionally, Mrs. Smith has been in two auto recent auto accidents. It is evident that non merely is Mrs. Smith seting her ain life in danger, but the lives of others as good. Therefore, Mrs. Smith ‘s ability to drive must be assessed. This appraisal will include a vision cheque, cognitive damage appraisal, engagement of medical supplier, attending span, ethanol or drug usage and reaction clip. This appraisal and treatment will necessitate their engagement ; their sentiment in her drive accomplishments. Besides, unfastened treatment between the senior and household can frequently extinguish defeat and statements. Socioeconomic Status Mrs. Smith ‘s socioeconomic position ( an African American widow populating on a fixed income ) has a important impact on her attention. Socioeconomic standing has a direct relationship with attention sought after. Persons with decreased incomes are less likely to seek medical attention due to miss of income and insurance coverage and hence, medical issues are neglected and jobs become worse. Aged inkinesss are three times more likely than Whites to be in poorness. Furthermore, individual adult females are at an increased hazard for poorness, hence Mrs. Smith has two key hazard factors against her socioeconomic position ( Touhy & A ; Jett, 2010 ) . Prevention In position of the fact that socioeconomic position must be taken into consideration, preventive steps to guarantee booming wellness conditions must be taught and emphasized. As an African American, Mrs. Smith has an increased hazard for high blood pressure, cardiovascular and nephritic disease. It is of import that she is cognizant of preventive steps for these and other wellness concerns every bit good as go oning attention to command her preexistent conditions. Harmonizing to Moulton in Hypertension in African Americans and its related chronic diseases, proactive intercessions include increased exercising and decreased Na to forestall farther disease advancement with Mrs. Smith ‘s coronary arteria disease and prevent nephritic disease. Besides, in Mrs. Smith ‘s state of affairs, carbohydrate numeration and an overall lessening in nutrients high in sugar can assist command her insulin-dependent diabetes. These proactive wellness picks will assist decrease Mrs. Smith â⠂¬Ëœs health care costs ( Moulton, 2009 ) . Insurance Mrs. Smith ‘s insurance is unknown at this point. Further probe will uncover whether or non she qualifies for Medicare and/or Medicaid. Parts A, B, C, and D of Medicare should be investigated in order to happen out what will profit her most with her fixed income and demands. Touhy and Jett ( 2010 ) stated that Medicare A covers acute attention and short-run rehabilitative attention. This may be good to Mrs. Smith since she is presently enduring from first and 2nd grade Burnss which will necessitate dressing alterations and careful monitoring. Medicare B covers ‘costs associated with the services provided by doctors ; nurse practicians ; outpatient services ; physical address, and occupational therapy ‘ ( p 358 ) . Medicare C provides a list of locations and suppliers who are covered. If patients wish for their medical demands to be covered they will follow this list, if non they pay out of pocket for farther attention. In The consequence of transitioning to Medicare Part D drug coverage in seniors dually eligible for Medicare and Medicaid ( 2008 ) Medicare Part D aims â€Å" to increase entree to prescription drugs † ( Shrank, Patrick, Pedan, 2008, p. 1 ) which may in fact aid Mrs. Smith. Therefore, if applications are decently claimed, Mrs. Smith may hold the ability to hold medicines covered. Additionally, with Mrs. Smith ‘s demanding wellness conditions, such as coronary arteria disease, insulin-dependent diabetes and history of chest malignant neoplastic disease, extra aid with her legion medicines may significantly profit and increase her overall fixed income. Financial advisory is strongly suggested to be completed in order to observe if Mrs. Smith ‘s fiscal state of affairs allows her entree to Medicaid, which is a plan for those who have increased demands of medical attention with a significantly decreased fiscal state of affairs ( Shrank, Patrick, Pedan, 2008 ) . These federal aided plans can assist Mrs. Smith wage for legion medical conditions which require an enhanced sum of medicines, supplies, and physicians assignments ( Touhy & A ; Jett, 2010 ) . Fiscal Planing In add-on to the old suggestions for cut downing Mrs. Smith ‘s fiscal load, one could make a proper budget for her wellness attention costs. She has overdrawn on her account a few times late, hence aid with planning and equilibrating her histories is much needed. The kids of Mrs. Smith, no affair how far the distance, can assist her appropriately budget her money. This will non merely assist her cut down the excess charges from retreating, but besides extinguish the hiring of a more expensive fiscal contriver. Ethical and Legal Considerations The ethical and legal issues recognized for Mrs. Smith are hard and comprehensive. There are many determinations to be made sing Mrs. Smith ‘s approaching hereafter attention. She has several chronic conditions ; although manageable, necessitate particular preparation, medicines and therapies. Most significantly, Mrs. Smith and her kids need to pass on together and reason what attention will cover the complete good being of Mrs. Smith. She is approaching the terminal of life and imperative issues such as life will, power of lawyer and codification position demand to be determined. A life will and code position should be determined in instance of farther disease procedure or unpredictable unwellness. The household will be able to admit their female parent ‘s wants. Therefore, Mrs. Smith should take a power of lawyer, person with whom she feels comfy go forthing her wellness determinations to be made by in the instance that she is unable to make so. Deciding upon these lega l issues may ease the head of Mrs. Smith and her household as they make pertinent determinations of Mrs. Smith ‘s close hereafter. Residential Options Due to Mrs. Smith ‘s damaged place, it is imperative that she relocates every bit shortly as possible while her abode is under re-construction. Although it may non look to be the instance, Mrs. Smith and her household have many options for possible wellness attention installations. Another option for Mrs. Smith is to travel in with one of her kids into what is considered a â€Å" granny level † . Although patients with an African American background are more likely to partake in this type of life, Mrs. Smith ‘s kids live far distances off and this may non be ideal. Depending upon Mrs. Smith insurance, she can relocate to a skilled installation while her Burnss heal. Mrs. Smith will necessitate extended demands with diabetes control and proper healing of her lesions ; a skilled installation will supply this attention. However, Mrs. Smith and her kids have clip to program and discourse the life state of affairs for Mrs. Smith after her house is fixed because this, ev ery bit good, is a critical facet to her attention. Clearly, Mrs. Smith and her household have many surrogate options to take from. Once once more, Mrs. Smith ‘s options depend upon her insurance, nevertheless she can travel into aided life where people will be available to help on a day-to twenty-four hours footing while besides holding privateness and the will to make as she pleases. Another option consists of Mrs. Smith holding a place wellness attention nurse/aid visit her often, taking attention of her demands and guaranting the proper medicine and interventions are received each twenty-four hours. Finally, Mrs. Smith can partake is a theoretical account of attention called PACE ( Program for All Inclusive Care for the Elderly ) . This plan provides primary and acute attention, place attention, and nursing place attention while leting the senior to populate independently in the community ( Touhy & A ; Jett, 2010 ) . An of import facet to see while Mrs. Smith is taking a new residence is relocation emphasis syndrome. Harmonizing to Koe, Travic, and Acton ( 2004 ) resettlement emphasis is â€Å" anxiousness, depression, apprehensiveness, solitariness, and increased confusion † ensuing from a move to a new environment ( p. 3 ) . Although non all relocating experiences are negative, â€Å" sum of control new occupant ‘s experience, every bit good as the grade of support of the household in the decision-making procedure † are major subscribers to relocation stress syndrome ( Koe, Travic, and Acton, 2004, p. 3 ) . Decision Mrs. Smith and her five kids open-mindedly discussed with an interdisciplinary squad of medical professionals the best possible attention for this 81 twelvemonth old African American with multiple chronic unwellnesss and acute attention issues while populating on a fixed income. Through her kids ‘s planning and research, their female parent qualifies for specific parts of Medicare and Medicaid. The Smith household besides decided through an involved type action scheme, Mrs. Smith included, that it was clip cabs, coachs, or household and friends escort her on errands and activities. Mrs. Smith, while loath to make so, relocated to a skilled installation unit while her house was repaired from the harm during the fire. While retracing the house, the kids have agreed to financially back up alterations to their female parent ‘s house in order for her to populate in the community longer. These alterations include railings installed throughout the house, kitchen and bathroom points at an eye-level, approachable topographic point, grab bars in the shower, raised lavatory place with bars, and thresholds removed from room accesss. Mrs. Smith will be partaking in the PACE theoretical account of attention because this is recognized as a lasting supplier under Medicare and Medicaid. Mrs. Smith ‘s diabetic demands of finger sticks and right insulin injections were met through this theoretical account. Additionally, she was offered physical and occupational therapy while in the place. For the clip being, Mrs. Smith is successfully still populating in her community with the aid of her household and complex interdisciplinary squad.

Cultural Tourism in Nigeria

INDIVIDUAL ESSAY Essay Title: Cultural tourism festivals and events in Nigeria Name: Deborah Vincentsdaughter TABLE OF CONTENTS Contents INTRODUCTION3 Cultural tourism3 LITERATURE REVIEW4 Festivals and events4 Cultural festivals in Nigeria5 Festivals and impacts6 Igue festival6 New yam Festival (Iri ji Ohuru/iwa ji7 Gbagyi Gbodogun8 CRITICAL ANALYSIS11 CONCLUSION11 REFERENCES12 INTRODUCTION Tourism generally has to do a lot with social activities. A typical example is the adventure tourism which is a type of tourism that provides an opportunity for people to challenge nature and everything about it.This type of tourism provides opportunities for activities such as: Hand gliding and Para sailing which are grouped under hard adventure; while hot sports and wild life are grouped under soft adventure. The chambers dictionary has defined tourism as the events of tourists and those who make it available for them. Tourism as defined in a book says that it is the study of how good human bein gs can cope when they are away from their normal habitats, of the industry that meet his needs and lastly of the impacts that both he and the industry have on the host’s in such ways; sociocultural, economic and physical environments. Jafari 1977) Getting information from another book about tourism, differences in the definitions of tourism could be traced to the following approaches; Economic, technical and holistic. 1. Economic definitions emphasizes on the business area of tourism, but if it were to be criticized by leiper(1979) that it fails to even discuss about the tourist and his motivations or limitations in travelling. 2. Technical approach to the definition of tourism aims at mainly the governments and the tourism industry organizations that want to monitor the size and other important issues about tourists markets. . In 1942 holistic type defined tourism as â€Å"the sum of the phenomena and relationships arising from the travel and stay of non-residents, in so fa r as they don’t lead to permanent residence are not connected to any earning activity. Cultural tourism Cultural tourism is a part of tourism. This part of tourism is an activity in which a particular group of people in a definite area present their heritage or cultural assets for tourists to see and appreaciate.The UNWTO(united nations world tourism organization) produced two definitions based on two approaches which are; * The narrow definition-derived from the professional, product-based approach to defining cultural tourism. This definition includes ‘movement of persons for basically cultural motivations such as; study tours, performing arts, cultural tours, travel to festivals and so many other cultural events, visits to sites, travel to study nature, folklore and pilgrimages(Richards 1996:22) * The wide definition-is based on conceptual, process-based approach.Has to do with the migration of persons because they satisfy the human need for diversity, tending to rai se the cultural level of the individual and giving rise to new knowledge, experience and encounters(Richards 1996:22) Cultural tourism involves four elements according to my research and they are as follows; * Tourism * Use of cultural heritage assets * Consumption of experiences and products * The tourist(cultural tourists) According to ICOMOS (International council on monuments and sites) observed that â€Å"cultural tourism means many things to many people and herein it’s strengths and weaknesses†.This part of tourism is also known as a form of special tourism where culture plays the role of either attracting tourists or motivating people to travel (McIntosh and Goeldner 1992: Zeppel 1992; Ap 1992). LITERATURE REVIEW Festivals and events In this section, festivals and events in Nigeria will be discussed fully and their impacts analysed. It will be wise to discuss what festivals are all about first before going on to other things.Festivals are an important expression of human activity that contribute much to our social and cultural life and that they are also increasingly linked to generating business activity and providing income for their host communities(Ellen et all 2002). In some cases festivals are not observed with the motive of attracting tourists, their nature,destination,range of performers and productions in one place over a short period of time ,commonly in the summer months, encourages viewers(people) far and near/all over to come. They can take many forms, eg. music-rock, pop, jazz and folk types of music.There are also wine and cultural festivals. EVENTS INDUSTRY-this is an industry where festivals are grouped under. Cultural festivals in Nigeria Nigeria has so many festivals that have been in existence since the time of our ancestors, until the arrival of different religions as we have today but still yet festivals are taken as important occasion. Local festivals in Nigeria have a lot to do with different events such as; harvest festivals, betrothal festivals, crowning of a new chief and funerals. Today the western world and system has influenced our local festivals eg. ances that were performed by members of each village have now been transferred unknowingly to proffesionals. This country is rich in divers festivals which includes; * Egungun festival celebrated in Ijebu ode town of ogun state in May. * Odum festival celebrated by the ijaws of okirika in Benue state. Normally done in the month of April. * Barakau normally celebrated with animal sacrifices by the Fika people of Potiskun in yobe state. Done in July. * Nduku festival is known to be celebrated by the people of Ogume in Ndokwa local government area of Delta state. It is a November festival. * Igue estival this one is celebrated by the benis of Edo state in the month December. * New yam festival is done generally by the Ibo’s in Nigeria in the month of August. * Gbagyi gbodogun takes place in Gadabuke village and celebrated by the agadabu keyi’s (natives of the village) in toto local government area in Nasarawa state. Often observed at the end of the year November/December. * Oro festival is a tradional annual Yoruba event usually observed in the month of July. Among all these festivals listed out and summarized briefly, only three of them will be discussed and their impact as well in the next section.The local festivals are; 1. The Igue festival 2. New yam festival(Iri ji ohuru/iwa ji) 3. Gbagyi Gbodogun Festivals and impacts Igue festival; is the one am going to be discussing about first. It is done in the ancient city of the Benin kingdom, Benin located in Edo state in the southern part of Nigeria and takes place in the month of December. It marks the anniversary of the death of the past obas in Bini Kingdom. Igue festival usually goes on for seven days, and then on the seventh day, the conclusion is now celebrated. Sacrifices and offerings are made to the gods, songs are also sung along during the period.T he sacrifices offered are primarily used to cleanse the land, so that it becomes clean enough for the gods to be appealed. The people involved are the oba (king) of the Benin kingdom, his chiefs, subjects and the Benis of Benin, Edo state. In the past, their practices used to be sacrificing human beings for cleansing of the land to the gods until the present Oba Erediauwa came into power and stopped it. Presently such things don’t take place in the festival again, though sacrifices are being made, humans are no longer sacrificed, rather with animals for example goat.Apart from these, the Benis practice so many other things while celebrating the Igue festival which includes; the chiefs dressing in their finest traditional attires, joining the oba in songs and dances, by name Ugie Ewere. They do this with the Eben Emblem. Masquerades also perform the local dances to entertain the audience. While the festival is still on, all the Ihogbe presents symbolic Ewere leaves to the Oba. As the festival is celebrated yearly, the Oba celebrates Ugie Ewere (the anniversary of his marriage to Ewere some years back).The Bini people also use the festival as an opportunity for offering thanks to the gods for sparing their lives and request for more blessings. Public holidays are always given, and people are told not to move for that period of time. Impacts of igue festival The igue festival leaves its impacts in the lives of the Benin Edo people in these ways; * Economically; there are more activities in the area. For example a lot of people engage themselves in buying and selling in preparation of the event. * Socially; the festival creates a good publicity and image for the area. Eg. he people who come for the festival may want to re-visit the place, not just for a particular reason but to have a feeling of the environment. * Geographically; as people come from other tribes to witness the event, it gives the community an opportunity to be developed and supports environ mental enhancement. New yam Festival (Iri ji Ohuru/iwa ji); to eat a new yam/to break a new yam, that is what the words written in another language called Ibo means. Most times it depends on the village, but it is normally celebrated in the market place, where the god of the community/village is kept.The Iwa ji festival (new yam festival) is celebrated in the month of August. This festival, is all about celebrating a new yam(which is one of the most important food and first crop to be harvested in the eastern region) Old yams are brought out and discarded/consumed and the breaking of the new yam follows, it is usually done by the Igwe(king) or the chief priest depending on the destination, The people involved are the members of the village, chiefs or elders of the village, chief priest and the Igwe.In order for the festival to be a successful one, so many practices are involved which includes; sacrifices are made to the gods, to appease and thank them for fruitfulness, before the fe stival begins this is usually done by the chief priest(it is believed that their positions bestows the privilege of being intermediaries between the gods and their community),they come with the biggest sized yam for the festival, because it shows the amount of abundant fruitfulness including dishes served.Old yams are discarded or consumed in order to pave way for the new ones, Masquerades are invited to perform and entertain people, traditional gunshots announces the opening of the ceremony at times, children are being cleansed with rituals (ima cha ahu-to clean the body) because they belief that before a person takes in anything new, it is important to cleanse the body. This belief is popular among the Easterners. Most times the yam dishes are shared between friends and well-wishers in order to enjoy and celebrate with them.Sons and daughters of the Ibo community come back home from wherever they are in the world. Late Dim chukwuebuka Odumegwu Ojukwu described the events as  "the most igbo of Igbo events†, because it clearly shows the culture of the Ibos. Impacts of the new yam festival This festival impacts on lives of the locals of the eastern region in Nigeria, and they are; Positive impacts * Culturally; it strengthens the bond of the Igbos (the relationship). it reminds people of how love and unity existed and reigned among them before the civil war in the east. Socially; so many people feel happy during and after the event, because it brings their loved ones (sons and daughters) from far and near. For example Grandparents will be happy to see their children and grandchildren. * Economically; it yields the locals so much money, after they are done buying and selling. A good example for this is-people who were present at the occasion taste the yam, and would want to buy more maybe to take home or for many other reasons. Negative impacts * Culturally; sometimes people are being used for sacrifices to the gods all in the name of tradition or pre serving the culture.In addition, so many individuals get initiated into cults or fraternities which they never planned for. These initiations could be traced to the cleansing and sacrifices to the gods. Also People are being initiated into so many things. This happens because of the cleansing, sacrifices and others not mentioned. Gbagyi Gbodogun;the event takes place in northern part of Nigeria. it is being observed by the agadabukeyi’s or the Gwari people of Gadabuke village in toto local government area,in Nasarawa state. It is celebrated annually at he end of the year November/December. The festival is all about cultural values and tradition all showcasing with little sacrifices because religion has dominated tradition today. It helps to make the young ones get to know more about their customs and traditions. The people involved are the king, chiefs, governors, advocates and the villagers. Traditional dances, masquerades also display-the dance called Dawiya(the native name ),their local or cultural food is being displayed and served as well by name Zhepo.Martial arts, like the traditional martial arts are being done also,magics such as; pounding a tuber of yam on a person, and it is not painful(odi e shi-which means it is not painful in a language called Igbo),cutting an individual with a very sharp knife and it doesn’t hurt, eating razor blade and it doesn’t cut the persons mouth, pouring water into a basket and it does not lick. They normally drink palm wine, and the local food Zhepo with something to go with it. for example, garden egg soup and ponded yam.Ceremonial cleansing is being done also before the festival, traditional wears are being worn and they are called Ajesinda. This is the local food called Zhepo The Zhepo and garden egg soup mixed together Impacts of Gbagyi gbodogun Positive impacts The festival effects the locals in so many ways, a few of them are; * Socially; it is exciting for example when people watch the masquera des dance and the magicians act, it is pleasing to the eye and heart at times. Fun; people get to enjoy themselves while celebrating the festival. eg. he people acting as masquerades find it interesting scaring people (when they run, because of fear), the traditional dancers also have fun while performing at the festival. * Culturally; it awakens the gbagyi people about their culture for them to remember, to preserve, conserve and leave the culture Authentic just the way it has always been from the first days, if not because of science and technology or the 21st century age that came in and has really impacted into it. Negative impacts * Socially; the festival reunites the Gwari people. For example Gbagyi eople come together from far and near to celebrate, and through this, people get to meet new individuals. * Culturally; youths try stupid things. Eg. they go home and practice what they have seen the magicians do at the festival just to know if it true or not. At times they aspire to be magicians and have magical powers to do whatever they wished to do. CRITICAL ANALYSIS A. Is it fair for human beings to be killed all in the name of preserving culture? For example in the Igue festival human beings were being sacrificed to appease the gods.I personally believe that, no human being should be killed except the person has committed any crime punishable according to law and order. B. Can a festival be authentic, even after the foreign tourist’s impacts on them? Most at times, when foreigners grace these local events, they tend to introduce the western system to the locals who accept it and put it into practice. It takes a person who is properly educated and learned to know how to preserve their culture despite the influence of the foreign tourists. CONCLUSIONIn a nutshell, Even if Nigeria is rich in cultural festivals, there are some practices that are not supposed to be sustained anymore and there are some that are meant to be preserved and maintained. For example, sacrificing of human beings. On the other hand, it is good for foreign tourists to come for the events and educate the locals more about festivals, but the locals also need to be educated on how to preserve their culture. REFERENCES http://emeagwali. com/nigeria/cuisine/igbo-new-yam-festival. html Robertico Rosendo croes. (2000), Anatomy of demand in international tourism, a case study of Aruba, Van Gorcum. ihttp://www. nasarawastatetourism. com/events/GbagyiGbogun. html Bob Mckercher, Hilary du cros. (2002), cultural tourism the partnership between tourism and cultural heritage management, U. S. A. the Haworth hospitality press. http://nigerianartatoyasaf. blogspot. com/2012/02/in-benin-igue-festival-2011-c elebrates. html Peter Robinson, Sine hietmann, peter Dieke. (2011), Research themes for tourism, UK, CAB international. http://www. onlinenigeria. com/festivals/? blurb=471 Milena Ivanovic. (2008), Cultural tourism, Cape Town, South Africa, Juta & company. ltd. ICOMOS AND UNWTO.

The 2007 to 2011 Financial Crisis Causes, Effects and Lessons The WritePass Journal

The 2007 to 2011 Financial Crisis Causes, Effects and Lessons Abstract The 2007 to 2011 Financial Crisis Causes, Effects and Lessons – and discuss the conclusions that can be drawn accordingly. 1. Regulation destabilized the financial system Regulation of US banks by the Fed, SEC, and FDIC,[3] as well as other regulatory agencies, contributed significantly to the erosion of financial system stability (Barth, Caprio and Levine, 2012, p.86). For example, in 1996, the Fed legitimized the use of Credit Default Swaps (CDS) as risk-hedging instruments (Levine 2010, p. 202, Appendix 1) and as a result many banks developed massive exposures (Figure 1) – AIG held over $500 billion in 2007 – while others were able to reduce their capital reserves by up to half in percentage terms (Barth, Caprio and Levine, 2012, p.92). Figure 1: CDS market volume Q1 2001 to Q2 2007, trillion US$   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   (International Securities and Derivatives Association cited in Baily, Litan and Johnson, 2008) Another example is the SECs use of the â€Å"NRSRO† designation,[4] which led to a serious misalignment of credit rating agencies business incentives and resulted in inflationary provisions of investment-grade ratings for risky securities. This further deteriorated the viability of banks balance sheets (see Appendix 2). 1.1 Residential mortgage boom and bust Simultaneously, the US residential real estate bubble (inspired by the assumption that housing prices would only go up) fueled excessive issuance of home mortgages (Figure 2). In turn, unsound lending practices, especially in sub-prime mortgage lending, bolstered housing prices by pushing demand, while filling institutions’ balance sheets with unrecognized risk (Barth 2009, p.92). The attractiveness of mortgages as â€Å"fail-safe† investments prompted many banks to shift their business model from â€Å"originate-to-hold† to â€Å"originate-to-sell†; instead of buying mortgages as an investment that generated a steady cash flow, banks securitized and sold them (Barth 2009, p.22). This effectively removed any incentive to analyze and control risk. However, this â€Å"out-of-sight-out-of-mind† mentality did not account for the fact that banks that securitized mortgages and invested in mortgage-backed securities (MBS) were often identical. Thus, risk w as absent from balance sheets, but implicitly present in securities holdings (Appendix 3). Figure 2: SP-Shiller housing prices index (monthly), January 2001 to August 2012 (Standard Poors Financial Services LLC, 2012) The convoluted system of securitization faltered when housing prices started to decline and mortgage borrowers defaulted (Figure 3). This dried up the cash flow of mortgage-backed securities and made them virtually worthless; banks that relied on them to meet their obligations encountered trouble. Moreover, complex securitization practices made the extent of any one institutions exposure anyone’s guess. Since, no one could be certain which banks would live to see another day, interbank lending froze. In short, not only did financial institutions possess worthless assets, but they were also unable to bridge shortages in cash (Figure 4).[5] In addition, mass defaults activated billions of dollars in CDS obligations and bankrupted all who were over-exposed. Figure 3: Increase of delinquency rates (percent) of subprime loans between 2003 and 2007 (Arentsen, Mauer, Rosenlund, Zhang and Zhao, 2012, p.39) Figure 4: Increase of the Federal Funds rate (percent, monthly) indicates interbank lending crisis (Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, 2012) 2. Financial collapse and economic downturn The immediate effects of the crisis are well known. Banks previously considered untouchable filed for bankruptcy (e.g. Lehmann Brothers), while others were acquired (Merrill Lynch by Bank of America), bailed-out, or taken over by the government (AIG and the GSEs Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac). Soon, the credit freeze affected the remaining economy as financing investments and borrowing became increasingly difficult. For example, between 2007 and 2009, approximately 8.8 million American jobs disappeared, U.S. GDP fell by more than five percent from its pre-recession peak (Treasury 2012), and the SP 500 lost about 57 percent of its value (Lleo and Ziemba, 2011). Perhaps most famously, without governmental assistance, American automobile manufacturers GM and Chrysler would have become insolvent (Stewart 2012). Yet another legacy cost is the enormous government debt that resulted from rescues and other economic resuscitation programs (Barth 2009). The crisis spread internationally (and most damagingly to Europe) because substantial loan derivatives were sold abroad. This does not imply that the U.S. is to blame for the crisis; every government had access to the same information as Fed, SEC, and FDIC, yet nearly all failed to recognize and address the systemic problem (Cox, Faucette and Lickstein, 2010). 4. Lessons Mostly importantly, the crisis exposed the colossal failure of bank regulators,[6] and prompted a fundamental restructuring of banking regulation (such as the 2010 Dodd-Frank Act). In addition, the excessive complexity and behemoth size of the financial system have come under intense scrutiny. An important question has emerged from this examination, which asks, considering TARP[7], are some financial institutions â€Å"too big to fail?† (Greeley 2012). Moreover, the crisis has spawned a reexamination of the desirability of â€Å"laissez-faire† within the financial markets – that is, to what degree can market forces be relied upon to avert crises (Barth, Caprio and Levine, 2012, p.90)? Conclusion The financial crisis that began in 2007 still troubles us today. While some financial institutions have collapsed, those that remain have had to fundamentally rethink their role as credit providers. Governments were left with tremendous financial commitments, tasked with deconstructing the moral hazard of bank bailouts, and with regulating and supervising the financial system more efficiently. History has shown us that financial crises are a cyclical occurrence. Thus the question must be, can the cycle be broken, or is the next crisis waiting in the wings? Bibliography Arentsen, E., Mauer, D.C., Rosenlund, B., Zhang, H.H., Zhao, F., 2012. Subprime Mortgage Defaults and Credit Default Swaps. [pdf] University of British Columbia Sauder School of Business. Available at: http://finance.sauder.ubc.ca/conferences/summer2012/files/papers/Mauer_CDSMS_Jan_1_2012.pdf [Accessed 25 November 2012]. Baily, M.N., Litan, R.E. and Johnson, M.S., 2008. The Origins of the Financial Crisis. [online] Brookings Institution. Available at: brookings.edu/~/media/research/files/papers/2008/11/origin%20crisis%20baily%20litan/11_origins_crisis_baily_litan [Accessed 25 November 2012]. Bank of International Settlement (BIS), 2012. Detailed tables on semiannual OTC derivatives statistics at end-June 2012. [online] Available at: bis.org/statistics/derdetailed.htm [Accessed 26 November 2012]. Barth J.R., 2009. The Rise and Fall of the U.S. Mortgage and Credit Market. Hoboken, New Jersey: John Wiley Sons, Inc. Barth, J.R., Caprio, G. and Levine, R., 2012. Guardians of Finance, making regulators work for us. Cambridge, Massachusetts: The MIT Press. Barth, J.R., Caprio, G. and Levine, R., 2012. Rethinking Bank Regulation, till angels govern. New York, New York: Cambridge University Press. Congressional Budget Office, 2012. Report on the Troubled Asset Relief Program- October 2012. [pdf]. Available at: cbo.gov/sites/default/files/cbofiles/attachments/TARP10-2012_0.pdf [Accessed 25 November 2012]. Cox, J., Faucette, J. and Lickstein, C.V., 2010. Why Did the Credit Crisis Spread to Global Markets? [pdf] The University of Iowa Center for International Finance and Development. Available at: http://blogs.law.uiowa.edu/ebook/uicifd-ebook/part-5-ii-why-did-credit-crisis-spread-global-markets [Accessed 25 November 2012]. Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, 2012. Effective Federal Funds Rate (FEDFUNDS). [online] Available at: http://research.stlouisfed.org/fred2/series/FEDFUNDS/downloaddata?cid=118 [Accessed 26 November 2012]. Greeley, B., 2012. The Price of Too Big Too Fail. Bloomberg Businessweek, [online] Available at: businessweek.com/articles/2012-07-05/the-price-of-too-big-to-fail [Accessed 26 November 2012]. Jickling, M., 2009. Causes of the Financial Crisis. [online] Congressional Research Service. Available at: http://digitalcommons.ilr.cornell.edu/key_workplace/600/ [Accessed 25 November 2012]. Kohn D.L., 2010. The Federal Reserves Policy Actions during the Financial Crisis and Lessons for the Future. [online] Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System. Available at: federalreserve.gov/newsevents/speech/kohn20100513a.htm [Accessed 25 November 2012]. Levine, R., 2010. An autopsy of the US ï ¬ nancial system: accident, suicide, or negligent homicide, Journal of Financial Economic Policy. [online] Available at: econ.brown.edu/fac/Ross_Levine/other%20files/Autopsy-4-13.pdf [Accessed 25 November 2012]. Lleo, S. and Ziemba, W.T., 2011. Stock Market Crashes in 2007-2009: Were We Able to Predict Them? [pdf] Available through Social Sciences Research Network website http://ssrn.com/abstract=1884081 [Accessed 25 November 2012]. Pagliari, S. and Young, K.L., 2012. Leveraged Interests: Financial Industry Power and the Role of Private Sector Coalitions. [pdf] Available at: princeton.edu/politics/about/file-repository/public/Leveraged-Interests-November-2011.pdf [Accessed 25 November 2012]. Standard Poors Financial Services LLC, 2012. SP Dow Jones Indices. [online] Available at: standardandpoors.com/indices/sp-case-shiller-home-price-indices/en/us/?indexId=spusa-cashpidff%E2%80%94p-us- [Accessed 25 November 2012]. Stewart, J.B., 2012. When Debating the Auto Bailout, Consider Lehman’s Fate. The New York Times, [online] 9 March. Available at: nytimes.com/2012/03/10/business/when-debating-the-auto-bailout-consider-lehmans-fate.html?pagewanted=all [Accessed 25 November 2012]. U.S. Department of the Treasury, 2012. The Financial Crisis Response In Charts [pdf] Available at: treasury.gov/resource-center/data-chart-center/Documents/20120413_FinancialCrisisResponse.pdf [Accessed 26 November 2012].   Appendex Appendix 1 A CDS is a derivative that enables the buyer to claim compensation from the seller if the underlying asset (such as a Mortgage Backed Securities or MBS) defaults. While useful for hedging purposes and as assessment tool for credit risk (a rising CDS premium indicates increasing risk for the underlying asset), it can be misused for speculative investing, as it does not require the buyer (or the seller) to actually hold the underlying asset. Appendix 2 The SEC required every issuer of a new security to acquire a risk rating from a NRSRO in order to enable potential buyers to assess its risk and allow regulators to determine capital requirements (which were based on risk-adjusted assets). Those credit rating agencies privileged enough to have received NRSRO designation (namely the big three, SP, Moodys, and Fitch) slowly realigned their business models to accommodate issuers needs to purchase ratings by incentivizing employees to issue AAA ratings in order to grow the customer base. As a result, 56 percent of MBS issued between 2005 and 2007 and rated by SP were eventually downgraded (Barth 2009, p.156). Appendix 3 A common practice in the precursor to the crisis was to package mortgage loans into asset-backed securities (ABS, most notoriously, collateralized debt obligations or CDOs) and other securities according to tranches. These tranches were associated with different degrees of risk in order to cater to different investors. Oftentimes, ABS were re-packaged into CDOs squared and cubed. The common misconception prevailed that this would reduce risk by spreading it. In the wake of the crisis, with default rates skyrocketing, it became apparent that this system had become too complex for anyone to unravel, thus making any exposure assessment impossib [1]  Ã‚  Ã‚   Rapid economic growth in BRIC countries, and the resulting flood of rent-seeking financial assets, mishaps in bank regulation and supervision, immoral business conduct of key-stakeholders, or the general failure to recognize the emergence of a bubble all conditioned each other and shaped the environment that resulted in the most severe meltdown since the Great Depression. [2]  Ã‚  Ã‚   Though the financial crisis was markedly a global phenomenon, the United States were at the epicenter in terms of both causes and effects (Jickling 2009). [3]  Ã‚  Ã‚   Federal Reserve Bank, Securities Exchange Commission, and Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, respectively all regulate and supervise different (but sometimes overlapping) aspects of the US banking system (Barth, Caprio and Levine, 2012). [4]  Ã‚  Ã‚   NRSRO – Nationally Recognized Statistical Rating Organizations. [5]  Ã‚  Ã‚   To put the extent of the liquidity crunch into perspective, the Federal Reserve reacted by purchasing approximately US$1.25 trillion worth of securities (including Treasuries) between 2007 and 2010, compared to US$15 billion over the years prior (Kohn, 2010). [6]  Ã‚  Ã‚   This is not to put blame solely on government agencies: Regulators and supervisors were heavily influenced by financial services lobbies (Pagliari and Young, 2012). [7]  Ã‚  Ã‚   The Troubled Assets Relieve Program (TARP) is a government program that disbursed approximately US$431 billion to save financial institutions and other business from bankruptcy (CBO 2012, p.1).

Irregular Verb Forms

Irregular Verb Forms Irregular Verb Forms Irregular Verb Forms By Mark Nichol An irregular verb is one that does not follow the standard progression for various forms. Regular verbs are treated as shown below: Simple present: talk (I talk.) Simple past: talked (I talked.) Present participle: talking (I am talking.) Past participle: talked (I had talked.) Infinitive: to talk (I like to talk.) Irregular verbs take the same form in three of these categories, but their simple-past and past-participle forms are irregular, and there lies the difficulty. However, notice a common feature among verbs with the long i sound: Simple present: ride, drive, write Simple past: rode, drove, wrote Past participle: had ridden, had driven, had written In the simple past, the vowel changes to a long o sound, while the vowel becomes a short i sound in the past-participle form. Therefore, you can extrapolate for the progression from simple present to simple past to past participle for other words, as with rise, rose, had risen. For many verbs with vowels that sound like a long e or a short i, the progression is as follows: Simple present: drink, sink, sing Simple past: drank, sank, sang Past participle: had drunk, had sunk, had sung From this pattern you can deduce that shrink will change to shrank or had shrunk, while begin progresses to began and had begun and swim changes to swam and had swum. Of course, there are many exceptions: Bind progresses to bound, not bond, and to had bound, rather than had binden. Likewise, the progression from blow to blew to had blown is not matched by show, showed, and had shown. When in doubt, search online for a list of irregular verbs to note the correct forms for your problem verb. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Grammar category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:50 Idioms About Talking"Latter," not "Ladder"Conversational Email