Gendering World Politics Essay

Gender analysis of international relations can no longer be considered new. Both in history and political science, scholars of women and gender and foreign relations have carved out what is now robust subfields. In Gender in World Politics, Tickner’s first chapter explores the encounter between feminism and international relations sub-field of political science. She first establishes the debates within each. Feminism has been the subject of a debate between liberal feminism and its rivals, while IR has seen three: science realism versus idealism, realism vs. social. It is in the context of this policy, â€Å"third debate† means the meeting Tickner feminism and infrared. More specifically, feminism is expanding IR agenda on several fronts, including normative theory, historical sociology, critical theory and postmodernism. In this context, Tickner investigates â€Å"Gender Dimensions of War and Peace and Security† in Chapter Two. In the 1990s, feminists began to question â€Å"realistic† outlook on security, most of which have had a top-down, state-centered, the structural approach. Feminists , however, mostly come from the bottom up, starting at the micro level. For example, feminists attacked the premise that wars have been fought to protect women and children, in fact, in his opinion, to the extent that wars tend to generate massive refugee crisis, violations and rampant prostitution, are disproportionately women wild. In Chapter Three, Tickner moves on to the global economy. Here, feminists have joined the debate on globalization, especially questioned the boosterism often seen in the industrialized West. For example, they use gender analysis to reveal the unpleasant realities of home-based labor in the developing world. What multinational corporate managers would call â€Å"flexibility† and â€Å"cost containment,† the overwhelmingly-female workers would see as lower-paying, less-sta ble, and less-regulated labor. Gender perspectives on democratization, state and world order are the focus of chapter four. In contrast to conventional IR, ignorant of democratization, and more recently â€Å"democratic† peace theories, feminism IR-examining the micro level, where democratic transitions can exclude women or even leave them materially worse. Tickner then looks at women and international organizations (both the United Nations and non-governmental organizations) and norms (such as human rights). In the fifth and final chapter, Tickner suggests â€Å"Some Pathways for IR Feminist Futures.† Clearing these routes involves â€Å"knowledge traditions† that, for example, challenge prevailing gender laden dichotomies such as rational / emotional, public / private and global / local. It also includes new methodologies for IR, such as ethnography and discourse analysis. In the end, Tickner IR urges feminists to remain connected to the broader discipline even when they question their basic assumptions. Tickner synthesizes a wide range of recent literature and thus provides us with a solid understanding of the subject. His is not the only introduction to feminist IR but is a very good. Tickner is careful not to claim too much for feminist IR or fire other approaches. It also takes little for granted, holding such basic terms as â€Å"globalization† and even â€Å"gender† to scrutiny. And finally, this is a nuanced work. Tickner presents fairly represents and disagreements among feminists as well as the geographic and methodological. Similarly, captures the dilemmas facing IR feminists. For example, feminists must work within existing state structures or face them from the outside? If based on the state of progress or in the market. If the book has a weakness, it is one of style. . The writing, moreover, is better and more accessible than in many other political science texts. However, I often find difficult to tackle prose. In part, this is a matter of style, writing Tickner most lack color and verve, interesting anecdote or a vivid illustration. And partly it’s a matter of using the political scientist. â€Å"This language is understood by those inside†, as she says Tickner in another context, â€Å"but can seem quite bewildering, and sometimes even alienating to those outside, making communication very difficult transdisciplinary. Again, the language is typical of the field and could be much worse, but the repeated occurrence of terms such as â€Å"epistemological†, â€Å"postpositivist†, â€Å"problematize† and â€Å"privilege†, as verb , tends to swell the sentences and make the book seem longer than it is. In the end, however, a minor weakness, and definitely should not be allowed to deter non-specialists. In addition to the contribution of the book itself feminist IR, this is one of its great virtues brings relevant trends in political science historians who study women and gender and foreign relations. For many historians have discovered that, in the words of Cynthia Enloe fine, â€Å"the personal is international â€Å". This discovery is facilitated and enriched as Tickner helps us to cross the disciplinary divide. J. Ann Tickner, Gender in International Relations: Feminist Perspectives on Achieving Global Security (New York: Columbia University Press, 1992). Cynthia Enloe, Bananas Beaches and Bases: Making Feminist Sense of International Politics (Berkeley and London: University of California Press, 1990) Jan Jindy Pettman, Worlding Women: A Feminist International Politics (London and New York: Routledge, 1996)

Advantages of cctv

Crime prevention has been somewhat a battle that most authorities face as they try to come up with new measures to deter crime and anti-social behaviour among citizens. One of the ways to prevent these problems is by using Closed Circuit Television (CCTV) in places where there are crime risks such as shopping malls and banks. The CCTV can be defined as the use of video cameras to transmit signals or images to a specific place or set of monitors, which allows close monitoring and surveillance.Nowadays, CCTVs are widely used to prevent crimes and some are installed in public areas. I agree that it plays an important role in preventing crime and antl-soclal behaviour. Since crime and anti-soclal behaviours such as theft, rape, and other inconsiderate acts can cause damage to our society, measures such as Installing CCTVs in certain areas can be used to deter such acts. The act of breaking the law or antl-soclal behaviour such a vandalism of government property are done because the crimi nals believe that there is no one or no authorized personnel watching their wrongdoings.They believe that they can escape from the law because there is no evidence or witness to the crime. By installing CCTVs in areas where the crime rate is high, for example, parking lots or car parks, crimes Ilke car theft can be reduced. In a survey done by Northeastern University, it was analysed that the surveillance cameras have helped in crime reduction, with a decline of 51% crime rates In parking lots. Recently, more people are installing CCTVs in their private residence to stop break-ins. Criminals become discouraged when they see these devices.This is because the cameras may record he criminal's actions and their faces. The cameras' presence in the area can curb the criminals from committing the crime for fear of being recorded on tape. Besides that, the technology of surveillance cameras have improved throughout the years, providing high quality and high definition videos and images that can capture the details of people's physical appearance with the exact time and place. This may well instil hesitation and fear in the hearts of law-offenders, thus dampening their urge to commit crimes.The CCTVs do not only discourage the acts of crime, but It serves as roviding critical evidence for certain crimes. For example, CCTVs were substantially useful in the murder of James Bulger in England In the year of 1993. As James' mother was momentarily distracted in the shopping mall where they were shopping, the surveillance cameras In the shopping mall recorded scenes of how 2-year-old James was abducted by two 10-year-old boys, Jon Venables and Robert Thompson. They brought him out from the shopping mall and to several places before finally murdering him near a cemetery.The video footage documented by the CCTVs of the hopping mall were attained and displayed in national television by the media. A woman who knew Venables and that he had played truant with Thompson that day, saw the video and recognized him. She immediately contacted the police and the two been recognized, and they may have caused other murders or anti-social behaviours which pose a definite threat to people, in this case, small children. The CCTVs have helped to create hard evidence that is unchallenged.CCTVs have been a very modern measure in reducing crime rates, but some people argue that it actually displaces crime, rather than deterring it. Easily-available mini CCTVs have been known to be used for criminal activity. It can be install at automatic teller machines (ATM) to steal people's personal identification number without them knowing it. Apart from the fact that it may violate people's privacy, the CCTVs' videos are easily hacked and obtained. Some may use these videos illegally for their own use, usually for artistic purposes.In addition, some people think that the CCTVs cannot prevent crime, because crime prevention can only be done through education or correction of behaviour. They think that the surveillance cameras do nothing to inhibit crime, as in some occasions, crime still occur even though the cameras are present. For instance, a bank can still be robbed even with CCTVs operating for 24 hours. During robbery, the robbers can very well conceal their faces from the recording cameras simply by wearing a mask or cloth to avoid recognition. Their acts may be recorded, but their faces have been hidden.As a result, the videos obtained might prove non-useful. That is why some people believe that the CCTVs actually have no role in preventing crime. In conclusion, crime prevention using CCTVs is not the only way to combat crime and anti-social behaviour, but it is one of the practical ways that should be implemented. There are some countries that install CCTVs in public areas for the purpose of deterring crime and anti-social behaviour such as United Kingdom. A survey by University of Cambridge stated that the installations of the cameras have reduced crime and anti-social activity rates in public locations with a drop of 7%.In highways in some countries, CCTVs are fixed to poles or in trees to detect road-bullies nd drivers who exceed the speed limits. So, I strongly believe that the CCTVs are particularly useful in both private housing and public places, as it can create the uncomfortable feeling of being closely observed as offenders commit misconduct. This feeling can generate a consciousness in them, making them reluctant to break the law. Looking at the fgures, these methods have positive effects in controlling crime. Therefore, the CCTVs have a significant role in preventing crime and anti-social behaviour.CCTV Cameras are very useful when it comes to offering reliable monitoring and urveillance to a particular location. They are efficient equipment which help in the prevention of crime; they help keep criminals from breaking inside residences and also stealing valuables. However,' strongly believe that having CCTV security cam eras at home has more disadvantages than advantages. Apart from their strengths, CCTV Cameras are disadvantageous when it comes to personal privacy. Homeowners whoVe got CCTV camera systems set up in their own homes are going to be monitored 2417.They won't have the capacity to perform what they wish to do ecause they are being watched every single second, every single minute, every single day! It could be very annoying and also troublesome to appear in a video clip in which you have picked out your nose. It could be really irritating that the smallest motion that you try is going to be captured inside a video. Getting several CCTV Cameras and installing the best CCTV cameras at home can certainly help protect against as well as discourage crooks and also intruders. Yet, you're also limited from performing a lot of things without restraint.There are a few of the disadvantages of CCTV cameras to people's personal space such as no more personal discussions. Each family member can easi ly know what you and your pal is discussing over the phone. Your conversation won't be recorded completely, but it will capture whatever you have said in your conversation. So if it is something against one of the members of the family, everyone will know. Besides that, no more surprises. You can't plan for your mother's surprise birthday party together with your brothers and sisters because it will be documented on video.There are security CCTV cameras which can ecord not only the video footage but also the audio clearly. If perhaps you are thinking about surprising your own mommy for her 50th birthday celebration along with your siblings, don't plan it inside your home because it is going to be found by your mother in case she reads the cameras' recorded videos. In addition, You're conscious constantly. Having CCTV Cameras observing you will make you sense mindful. You need to act normally and even severely. You can't carry out outrageous things like running undressed in your home when you're home alone.You can't fart r perhaps burp anywhere indoors. Picking your nose is actually a no-no, too. These will simply embarrass you if your father begins to check out the videos and discovers everything you did. then moping and crying even inside your bedroom shouldn't be done. Let us say the man you're dating Just broke up with you and you wanted to be by yourself in your room to weep as well as let your emotions out. But you will find cameras installed inside. Crying inside the bedroom is going to be little bit uncomfortable since everyone will see you moping and crying.

Are Enlightenment values universal Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Are Enlightenment values universal - Essay Example For this ground, Enlightenment values have by far, to this point, been inevitably embedded on culture under several aspects of living. The post-Renaissance curiosity in an in-depth study of man and the world after the rebirth of learning and rigorous inquisitions herein designate emphasis on humanities and the quest for means to put knowledge to practical use. Such movement toward intellectual revolution, which was mostly regarded as secularistic by nature, causing progressive changes to humanity proceeded out of several factors. For one, increase in the number of academic institutions across the 18th century Europe and North America generated more intellectual people and scholars capable of questioning the prevailing ideologies of the time based upon prominent fields as science, politics, and religion. Enlightenment was also promoted via the extensive publication of printed texts either as periodicals or books where the bulk of information read prompted and encouraged the general pu blic to express various opinions or insights on the subject matter of worldwide interest. People of middle-class society augmented in number as well and favored being financial supporters of scientists, inventors, and humanism artists. Moreover, men became further inclined to adopt materialism in the form of industries, objects of scientific innovation, and ideas the trade for prosperity of which had been made feasible by the pioneering geniuses of the socio-political, economic, and scientific disciplines. These causes primarily developed the foundations of Enlightenment along with its associated values found through the process of rationalization. At this crucial stage, 18th-century life and beyond was bound to experience and appreciate a profound sense of critical and creative mode of thinking in seeking to be stimulated by the beauty of reason. Eventually, there emerged a growing individual advocacy for human freedom upon discovery of the universal impact of reasoning according t o the basic principles of Enlightenment as perceived in rationalism, naturalism, materialism, optimism, and humanitarianism. By considering reason and science in the systematic process of acquiring knowledge and solving problems of humanity within diverse culture, Enlightenment is claimed to free humanity from the darkness of ignorance. With this end came departure from the burden of false beliefs and the destructive influence of illogical prejudices and superstition on the argument that secular society where liberty, equality, and democracy exist with scholastic endeavor potentially transforms human condition in which the miserable state of poverty and sickness is addressed. Universal ethical norms proposed by the 18th-century intellectuals thereafter transcend the narrow confines of race, color, sex, religion, and ethnicity for instance and such would not have been possible in the absence of Enlightenment values which altogether illumined Europe and brought the Western World to th e heights of drastic progress and advanced rate of modern civilization (Igwe). On the basis of one of the seven core ideals, ‘all human beings possess the ability to be enlightened’. Therefore, ‘enlightenment is universal’

The oppression of Victorian women and expressing feminist sentiment, Dissertation

The oppression of Victorian women and expressing feminist sentiment, concerning hysteria, in The Awakening in terms of the gothi - Dissertation Example Victorian women faced multi-faceted oppression by society; however, this was perceived as the only appropriate mode of life for them. Any woman, who dared to defy conventional norms by indulging in an illicit relation, expressed sensual desires, and mouthed discomfort against masochistic behaviours, was socially condemned and regarded as hysterical (Austin & Boyd, 2010, p.496). Utter disregard for womanly penchants and suppression of feminist sentiments produced negative impacts on female psyche which by the end of 19th century was understood as a medical disorder by the likes of Sigmund Freud. It was due to the efforts on Freud’s behalf and the literary masterpieces from the late 19th century that put forth the logic that hysteria was a natural phenomenon resulting from feelings of oppression and belittling of humanly yearnings (Sulloway, 1992, p.47). Feminism which before 19th century was largely encapsulated as the freedom to give birth and enjoy motherhood, was propagated as an urge for attaining social equality, privilege for preferred sensual orientation, and independence for selecting a way of life. Gothic literature primarily focused on enlightening people about the actuality of hysteria and the dislike towards biased moral/cultural norms was voiced strongly (Toohey, 2012, p.242). It expressed feminist sentiments and described the impact of stereotypical gender roles from a female’s perspective. Kate Chopin's â€Å"The Awakening† (1899), Charlotte Perkins Gilman's â€Å"The Yellow Wallpaper† (1892) and Henry James â€Å"The Turn of the Screw† (1898), etc. displayed feminist sentiments concerning hysteria profoundly (Serafin & Bendixen, 2005, p.362). The Awakening, the centre of discussion here, displays a Victorian era society in Louisiana during 1899, and underlines tabooed themes of feminine biological desires and pursuance of self-identity through the protagonist Edna Pontellier. Revealing hysteria as a repercussion of pursuing self-identity in The Awakening: The Awakening is one of those few literary masterpieces that covered the theme of oppression and depression comprehensively. In this novel, forced social obligations and suppressed female emotions were shown as the cause of bringing them to the verge of insanity. It did not deal with any single aspect of oppression but provided an in-depth analysis of how feminist pursuance of self-identity and female individuality was totally crushed in a male-dominated society. Edna was not just searching for freedom to entertain her unfulfilled sensual urges that was an outcome of unhappy and excessively authoritative marital relation, but she wanted to gain freedom for self-discovery. Here it is important to pay attention to the fact the Victorian era men played a significant role in the outbreak of maddening behaviours among women. Danahay explains that in Victorian era, biased gender role distinction primarily on the biological basis was the â€Å" most extreme form of segregation yet seen in an industrialised nation† (2005, p.2). Women had no particular rights upon their body or mind whatsoever, hence; it was paramount that there was no acceptance for â€Å"permissible sexual activities,† and â€Å"range of role choices†

Ethics and Law in Business and Society Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words - 1

Ethics and Law in Business and Society - Essay Example So cities also have mechanisms for the sustenance of social order and social structures. Such mechanisms include rules, laws, regulations, ethics and values. Question one Kohlberg Moral Development Stages Kohlberg developed an interest with the subject of moral development after the works of Jean Peagent. As a result, there are significant similarities between the works of the two, Kohlberg and Jean. To device a model explaining moral development, Kohlberg chose a research sample of boys aged 10, 13 and 16 years from middle and low class families in Chicago. He later added older boys and girls to his sample from other parts of the United States of America and other countries. This move diversified his sample to represent a majority of different societies in the world. After his study, Kohlberg developed a moral development model from one stage to the other. The model has six stages categorized into three levels. Each level has two stages. Pre conventional moral level is the first lev el. The stages in this level are obedience and punishment stage and the individualism and exchange stage respectively. In the first stage, the person assumes that morals and values are external. Individuals in this stage do not feel as members of the society. Children in this stage assume that the rules and morals belong to adults. At this stage, failure to adhere to set rules result to punishments. Individuals thus do what is right so as to escape punishment. An example for this stage is when a student can be punished for getting to school in time the students to develop hatred against the teacher. Stage two is a bit different from stage one in that the individual realizes that all sources of authority have different stands on a subject. It may be right to do a thing in regard to one whereas, it may be wrong in regard to another. In this stage, failure to align with set rules can attract punishment and reprimands. Different from stage one, individuals here do good because they do n ot want to be repaid with bad. This stage thrives on the philosophy of scratch my back as I scratch yours (Sandel 17). Conventional morality is the second level. The stages in this level are good interpersonal relationships stage and maintenance of social order stage respectively. In the third stage, the individuals are majorly boys and girls entering their teens and People in this stage uphold morality as more than simple deals. They believe that they should act in line with the expectations of family members and friends. It is also in this stage that one develops good behavior, acting in good intentions and having interpersonal feelings such as care, kindness and love. A good example is buying of presents to family members and friends. Stage four entails the individual acting as per the expectation of the society and not as per family members and friends. For instance, people volunteer for social works, for example, high school students who volunteer for a city cleanup. People in this stage want to maintain the functioning of society. Post conventional morality is the third level. The stages in this level are the social contract and individual rights stage and the universal principles stage. While stage four people want to see the society function, in stage five people want to see a better functioning society. In this regard, people believe that all people work towards a better society even though different social groups have different believes. Whatever people do in this stage is for the

Analysis of Zircon Cars Company Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Analysis of Zircon Cars Company - Essay Example The essay "Analysis of Zircon Cars Company" analyzes if it is profitable to acquire the Korean Composites Company as Zircon Cars is contemplating on reducing its production costs. The diversification finance concept dictates it is advantageous to invest in several market segments, including investing in the new Korean fibre body shell market segment. On market’s profitability will reduce the risk of losses in another market. The above table 6 shows the combined financial report for two segments. The combined report is based on the 2016 accounting period. The United Kingdom is one of the chosen Zircon Cars market segments. The United Kingdom Zircon Cars market segment sales is  £113,100,000 and the Korean Composites global fibre body shell market segment generated 48,140,000,000 Korean Won Currency amount. The conversion or translation of the Korean currency to the United Kingdom currency, British Pound. The sales amount of the Korean Composites Company for 2016 is  £28,407,548.59. Combining the 2016 accounting period sales of both the Zircon Cars’ United Kingdom market segment and the Korean company’s sales, the total sales figure is  £141,507,548.59. Also the United Kingdom Zircon Cars market segment income before tax deduction is  £ 22,857,510 and the Korean Composites global fibre body shell market segment produced 9,621,706,787.40 Korean Won Currency amount income before tax deduction amount. There is the same conversion of the Korean currency to the United Kingdom currency, British Pound.

Comparing two story( A small good thing & The girl with the pimply Essay

Comparing two story( A small good thing & The girl with the pimply face) - Essay Example The two doctors’ communication with their patients demonstrates how different the two doctors approach their jobs. The central tenet of Williams’ â€Å"The Girl with the Pimply Face† is that doctors are human and are subjected to human emotions. Carver approaches the topic from the other side by displaying the harmful effects of a doctor who is professional, but patronizing in â€Å"A Small, Good Thing†. The primary theme of Williams’ story is the sensitivity of the doctor toward a patient. Williams’ doctor is compassionate with his patients. He speaks with his patient’s family using informal everyday language. This shows the doctor’s humanity, his caring response to a family facing several problems. In this case, he has the desire to help, gives his work freely, and possesses a genuine interest in the family. The doctor does not criticise his patients when they are not able to pay. Even after promises of payment are not realized, the doctor continues to come back. The doctor returns after diagnosing the baby of the family with a bad heart. Even though he knows that the baby’s health will decline, with or without his help, the doctor tries to ease the family’s pain with his visits. The doctor also takes it upon himself to help his infant patient’s sister with her acne and the blemishes on her legs even though he was only responsible for the baby. Williams’ story emphasises the willingness of this doctor to step over professional boundaries and help the girl with advice and money even though she was not his patient. â€Å"The Girl with the Pimply Face† also shows that the doctor’s motives are not entirely unselfish. He is attracted to his patient’s sister. Although the doctor would never compromise his position by ever making inappropriate gestures towards the girl, but his attractions is a strong motive for his interest in the family. Even after finding out that the mother is a

Current Recession Impacts on the Construction Industry Dissertation

Current Recession Impacts on the Construction Industry - Dissertation Example This resulted in reduction of the average disposable income. The overall negative implications were on the demands of products and goods. The economic cycle was disturbed. One of the most affected sectors by this recession was constructions and engineering sector. Globally the construction industry was at its peak in 2008, when the recession hit it. At this time, the demands of houses and infrastructure were increasing and there was consistent flow of funds within the sector. The demands of housing and new infrastructures and the flow of funds within the construction sector changed (Barrell and Kirby). The reduction in the expected flow of funds and unavailability of the predicted clients reduced the profitability and chances of survival for may construction companies across the world (Property Wire). Research Background According Jakovljevic the construction industry has a worth of nearly $5 trillion globally in terms of total output. This sector is one of the sectors providing high est employment. As per the estimation, there are nearly 100 million people employed in this sector at various levels of jobs. At the same time, contribution of the construction sector to the Global GDP is nearly 10%. This figure is considerably higher than the estimated annual spending in 2008. According to Zeiss (2008) the US$ 2.3 Trillion was the estimated spending of the Global Construction Industry. Global construction industry reached to the peak before recession. PropertyWire (2009) argues that the recession of 2008 was the hardest hit on this sector in last 60 years. Construction industry as such operates in highly complex business environment. The business environment is characterised by high regulations, coordination of various authorities, departments and skill sets, impact of the changing climatic and weather conditions on the construction process, lagging productivity or other issues linked with workforce (Bosch and Phillips). The recession at one hand reduced the dispos able income of the consumers by salary cuts and loss of jobs; on the other hand, this reduced the funds flow in the construction sector. All the intermediaries like equipment suppliers of the construction sector, transport companies, intermediaries and others have experienced the repercussions of the recession. The business environment of the construction sector became more pessimistic. However by the mid of 2009, the impact of recession was reduced and industry started being optimistic again. This was revealed in a global survey conducted by KPMG that by the end of 2009, the Global construction industry started expecting positive growth. This was an important survey that covered more than two-third construction companies of the globe and from the 30 different countries. The study reported that the majority of the construction companies were having positive growth or consistent business performance. However it was evident in the study that the companies working on the long term proj ects have minor impact of recession as compared to the companies who were expecting returns at the shorter duration (Molly). The recession resulted in reducing

History of Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) Research Paper

History of Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) - Research Paper Example Introduction Open dumps and landfills have been used over the years as a place for waste disposal. Open dumps were used back in 1950’s and 1960’s. However, they unhygienic and had a lot of negative impact to the environment. Therefore, most of them were illegally created. Later, in 1970’s early landfills were created to cover the dump sites so as to reduce it impact to the environment. However, this early landfills lack proper equipments and designs that enabled the waste to be disposed off properly. This brought more research and modern landfills were created. These landfills are well deigned, planned and monitored thus improving waste disposal method. Further, these landfills also act as sources of energy and revenue to municipalities. 1. Open dumps are abandoned piles of garbage, household appliances, bags of yard waste, used tires and demolition debris such as shingles, lumber, asbestos and pipes in large quantities. There are commonly found in backyard, fore sts, abandoned swimming pools and buildings. Generally, open dumps are created when making building foundations (Binder et al, 2007). Open dumps are usually not permitted thus illegal. Often, if open dumps are allowed they tend to grow very large. 1a There are many problems associated with open dumps as it possesses safety, health and environmental threats. These environmental threats include; air pollution: open dumps has garbage’s of from different source which react to produce toxic gases. These toxic gases are inhaled by humans and animals around the area thereby causing respiratory diseases. Open dumps also cause water contamination in rivers, streams, lakes and even ground water. This leads to drinking water contamination thus resulting to water scarcity as water is a scare resource. Furthermore, open dumps cause a lot of damage to the natural ecosystem that is the plants and wildlife habitats. They cause soil contamination, which does not work well with the plants and animals. Evidently, local communities near open dumps have high prevalence of diseases such as malaria because open dumps carry disease carrying mosquitoes, rodents and flies. Moreover, open dumps cause a loss of aesthetic value of a location. Due to the many types of garbage in the open dump it makes the area unattractive, smelly and unbearable environment. Lastly, open dumps cause fire and explosion which in turn cause severe damage to the environment. These also decrease the quality of life of residents and local community living around it. 2 Early landfills were constructed without much technology and designing put to it. They were constructed in the 1970’s, to control the problem of odors as a result of sanitary landfills. They mainly entailed installing cover system in formal dumpsites to deal with the problem of windblown refuse and often fires caused by the open dump sites. These early 1970’s landfills were constructed without leachate and liners collection sys tems (Reno, 2008). Lack of leachate collection system becomes one of the major problems associated with these landfills. 3 Leachate is the liquid that comes from dew and rain, and natural moisture penetrates through waste. It moves through the waste dissolving salts, picking up organic components and leaching heavy metals. Furthermore, landfill leachate has an organic strength greater than 20 to 100 times that of raw sewage. Consequently, this makes it a potentially potent polluter of groundwater and soil.

Business strategy Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Business strategy - Assignment Example Indian restaurant owners would already have a solid customer base from which to work from, and there is also the possibility of picking up some other ethnicities too. Cheap Indian food could be offered by encouraging Indian to be spoken within the restaurant, thus attracting the target market. c) The video rental firm market segment is not as attractive as it used to be. This is because more and more young people are using other means to watch their favorite movies. This type of business could possibly work if it was attached to some other kind of product, most likely televisions or DVD players. Special promotions could even be used to encourage people to rent a video along with another kind of purchase. 2) I do not agree that the appropriate positioning is obvious once you have identified the right segment. This is because once the right segment has been discovered further research must be done to narrow down the target customer market. This could be done through surveys of focus groups. Also, the market is always evolving and changing, so it is impossible to automatically know where to position a product in the market. 3) An organization’s competitive stance is the segment of the target market that a company chooses to pursue: low-cost supplier, differentiation, or niche marketing. The functional strategy of marketing activity depends on what the competitive stance is. For example, a company that chooses a low-cost strategy must produce its products for as cheaply as possible in order to offer low prices. Also, this company would need to produce far more products than its competitors in order to make any kind of profit. In a well-designed strategy, an organization’s competitive stance and marketing activity can work well together as long as when one changes, the other one changes to reflect that change. 6) Apple has a competitive advantage over its competitors

Overview of Accounting Essay Example for Free

Overview of Accounting Essay The audiences of financial statements and managerial reports include the shareholders, employees, prospective employees, customers, suppliers, the government, the stock exchanges, investors, lenders and the public at large. What is important is that each audience has a different perspective in reading the financial statements and managerial reports. For example, a lender would like to know the leverage of the company, if it has the capacity to service debt and if the loans to the company would be well secured. There are several purposes served in preparing financial statements and managerial reports. The financial statements are designed to show its audience, the companies finances, that is how the company got its finances, what it was used for and where is it being currently used (Luecke, R. 2002). For this purpose there are four main financial statements that is the income statement, the cash flow statement, the balance sheet and the statement of shareholders equity. In general an income statement has the purpose of showing how much revenue a company earned in a period of time, the balance sheet shows the company’s assets, liabilities and shareholders equity, the cash flow statement shows the inflow and outflow of cash and the purpose of the statement of shareholders equity is to show changes in the ownership of company’s shareholders over a period of time. The nature of the income statement is in the form of a report that shows the costs and expenses that the businesses incurs in order to earn its revenue. It gives the net earnings of the company. The nature of balance is such that it provides point wise information about the assets, liabilities and shareholders equity. The nature of a businesses balance sheet is such that it is set up like the basic accounting equation. Usually on the left hand side the companies list the assets and on the right hand side they list their liabilities with the shareholders’ interest at the bottom. This arrangement differs from country to country. For instance, in some countries the assets are listed on the right hand side. However, the basic nature of the balance sheet remains the same. The nature of the cash flow statement is such that it can inform its audience if the business generated cash or not. The cash flow statement is a report that shows cash changes over time instead of exact currency amounts at a point in time. It simply uses and rearranges information from the balance sheet and income statement of the business. The most important report that is issued by the management of a company is the annual report (Stittle, J. 2003). The nature of this report is such that it has detailed financial and business information required by law of the country in which the company is registered, modern annual reports have impressive pictures and stories that eulogize the company’s performance in the past year. The information contained in this report can help the audience make informed and ethical decisions. In the USA the SEC requires that the audited annual report be sent to every shareholder at the end of the year. In this the management comments about the future. Form 10-K required to be filled in the USA ha more detailed financial information. The company’s financial performance is described in a section of the quarterly or annual report that is called â€Å"Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operation,† In this section of the Annual Report the management describes its own understanding of the financial condition of the company. The management in this section of the annual or quarterly report describes what it understands of the current financial condition of the business. It also gives its view of the relevant trends and challenges that the business faces. This allows the audience to see the financial condition of the business from the perspective of management and allows the audience to make informed and ethical decisions. In other words it provides the audiences the background that is required to study and understand the financial statements. Financial accounting information can be used in making informed and ethical business decisions. How? The income statement shows the earning per share, a calculation that tells you how much you as a shareholder would receive if the company distributed all its earnings. This allows you to make an invest/ non invest decision. Giving more information about the financial health of the company is the cash flow statement. It divides cash flow into flows from operating activities, investing activities and financing activities. This informs not only the investors but also the management, employees, suppliers and customers about the source of cash for the company and allows them to make better decisions. The footnotes of the reports give important information that helps make efficient and ethical decisions. The footnotes refer to stock options, pension plans, income taxes and important accounting policies and practices. For example, a company may be showing an inflated profit figure because its accounting practices have changed but reading the footnotes helps the audiences make better decisions and ethical decisions with regards to the company. To make ethical and informed decisions it is important to read between the lines of these reports. How is this accomplished? By doing ratio analysis! Commonly the ratios that are examined are debt-to-equity ratio, inventory turnover ratio, operating margin ratio, P/E ratio and working capital. Consider this, well before the Enron scam exploded; several investors were able to smell by examining the ratios that something was wrong with the company. They decided to sell off their stocks and avoided losses. To sum, the intention of the financial statements and management report is to inform the different stakeholders of a business. If these statements are carefully analyzed and understood they help these stakeholders make an informed and ethical decisions.

Phaedrus by Plato Essay Example for Free

Phaedrus by Plato Essay Of all the dialogues of Plato, this has got to be one of the most impressive of all. A display of conversations that did not rely on just mediocre questioning and explanation about a single topic. Walking around the country and providing conversations on just about whatever happens to them, the Phaedrus and Socrates walking conversation displays relevant matters and enlightening words. Tackling the topic of love was the initial subject that the two had taken into consideration. Talking about philosophies of love and their own takes on how love is, Socrates and Phaedrus showcase their sides by explaining what love is to them. Thus, this conversation about love ruled most of their walk. Along the way they tackled more enlightening matters The dialogues last part tackles about writing books and its capabilities to impart goodness on a person. They explain their considerable thoughts on books. In part 229c-230 b, Socrates reflects an affirmative belief on stories of myths such as the story of Bores and Orithyia. Socrates showcases his reasoning that he doesnt have enough time as well for himself to give explanation about such occurrence that happened in the place where the story was foretold thus he results to might as well be believing in it. He believes that skeptics dont have the luxury of time challenging and explaining the truth about other creatures, monsters and occurrences as well. Thus Socrates concludes that seeking out for truth with regards to said stories is ridiculous. He believes that even those people of science that tends to explain everything will also have such a difficult time on proving such claims and that there are more important matters other than challenging these stories. The conversational walk that Socrates and Phaedrus had in the dialogue displays amenable reasoning and provides ample knowledge upon readers.

Analyzing The Theme Of Nature In Literary Devices English Literature Essay

Analyzing The Theme Of Nature In Literary Devices English Literature Essay The theme of nature is very important to each of the texts to be discussed in this essay: The Fat Black Womans Poems by Grace Nichols; Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller and Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys. In a sense, the fact that each work is created within a different literary genre to some extent dictates the essential differences amongst them. However, this essay sets out to examine how, in addition to comparing literary devices, nature is used as a different imperative in each of the selected texts. Throughout the play, Willy escapes back into his memories and it is deeply significant, therefore, that the countryside is allied to this: I was driving along, you understand? And I was fine. I was even observing the scenery. You can imagine, me looking at scenery, on the road every week of my life. But its so beautiful up there, Linda, the trees are so thick, and the sun is warm  [3]  Loman both belongs in the country and out of it because he has simply used it, as he has used both things and people, to get ahead. The fact that he has been unsuccessful is therefore a betrayal of his own and a generic dream that is never fulfilled nor justified, just as the story he begins to tell Linda, his wife, ends not in reverie on the idyllic, as it started, but on loss of control: all of a sudden Im going off the road!  [4]  Miller uses nature, therefore, as an emblem of Willys displacement: Many of Willys activities can be seen as highly symbolic. He plants seeds just as he plants fal se hopes: both will die and never come to fruition, largely because the house has become too hemmed in by the city.  [5]  In addition, a further lost dream of Willys has been connected with nature, that of his brother, Bens, offer to join him and make his fortune beyond the suburban life Willy has lived: William, when I walked into the jungle, I was seventeen. When I walked out I was twenty-one. And, by God, I was rich!  [6]  For Willy, therefore, nature has become a place of lost hope where the grass dont grow anymore  [7]  ; it does not belong and nor does he: A victim of both a heartless capitalist society and his own misguided dreams, Willys eventual suicide is presented with tragic dimensions. His beliefs may be misguided, but he stays true to them to the end. Although he has neither social nor intellectual stature, Willy has dignity, and he strives to maintain this as his life falls apart around him.  [8]   Displacement is also a major feature of Jean Rhyss novel, Wide Sargasso Sea. First published in 1966, it is a prequel to Charlotte Brontes Jane Eyre, first published in 1847. The novel uses nature as a means of developing the narrative of Rochesters first wife, Bertha Mason, here known as Antoinette Cosway, a young woman who feels herself displaced following the freeing of the slaves who had worked on her familys plantation. The very word place occurs many times in the novel  [9]  and Antoinette seeks solace in what she sees as an Eden garden, her former home, from which she is cast out: A very important early set piece is Antoinettes description of the garden at Coulibri, where she was a child, a garden which was probably based on Rhyss memories of her mothers family estate at Geneva. It marks childhood as taking place in a damaged Eden.  [10]  The description of the garden is thus very important to an understanding of Antoinette and of the way Rhys uses her connection with nature to aid her character and thematic development: Our garden was large and beautiful as that garden in the Bible the tree of life grew there. But it had gone wild. The paths were overgrown and a smell of dead flowers mixed with the fresh living smell. Underneath the tree ferns, tall as forest tree ferns, the light was green. Orchids flourished out of reach or for some reason not to be touched. One was snaky looking, another like an octopus with long thin brown tentacles bare of leaves hanging from a twisted root. Twice a year the octopus orchid flowered then not an inch of tentacle showed. It was a bell-shaped mass of white, mauve, deep purples, wonderful to see. The scent was very sweet and strong. I never went near it.  [11]   The possessive pronoun with which this paragraph opens immediately establishes the dichotomy of Antoinettes situation. This is her home, it should feel like hers but it does not. The beauty she infers has a duplicitous lushness because it has gone wild, emblematic of a land which has lost control, albeit for a positive reason. The living and the dead mix and encroach upon one another, and there is a serpent in the garden in the snaky orchids. Moreover, the twisted root implies a distortion of what was meant to be, metaphorically echoing Antoinettes displacement. In addition, this is not the only example of places appearing resonant of disposition and/or situation: Places are extremely alive in this novel: the menacing, lush garden at Coulibri, the mysterious bathing pool at Coulibri, sunset by the huts of the plantation workers, the road from the village of Massacre up to Granbois, the sea and sky at sunset from the ajoupa or thatched shelter at Granbois, the bathing pools at Granboi s (the champagne pool and the nutmeg pool) the forest where Antoinettes husband wanders until he is lost, the road to Christophines home, the trees and bamboos around the house at Granbois.  [12]  Here, Antoinette appears simultaneously intoxicated and repelled by the sweet and strong of the garden, which perhaps says something about her similarly ambivalent attitude towards those around her and they to her: The picture we now have of Rhys and her heroines is that of a passive, impotent, self-victimized schizoid who, comfortable with failure, wields her helplessness like a weapon all as natural as being female.  [13]  The presentation of nature at the honeymoon house is similarly difficult to place, seeming to be one thing but actually being another, but her former home is a sacred space where Antoinette hugs to herself the secret hidden in Coulibri.  [14]  It is, indeed, these secrets in isolation, echoed in the descriptions of Antoinettes homeland that make the repres entation of nature in Wide Sargasso Sea so clearly an imperative of the text: As long as Antoinette can remember and order the events of her memories into a temporal or causal sequence, create even an illusion of sequence and maintain a measured sense of space and time, then she can hold her life and self together. Her act of narration becomes an act of affirmation and cohesion, a nod to the world and its conventions, an attempt to prevent herself from dissolving. When, in Part Three, Antoinette lies encaged in Thornfield Halls dark, cold attic, the threads that hold her to the reality that the world perceives as sanity finally break. These threads are the elements of conventional narrative: linear chronology, sequence, narratorial lucidity, distance. She herself admits at this point that time has no meaning; sequence disintegrates into a confusion of present and past and ultimately into a dream which narrates her future.  [15]   This has been quoted at length because it addresses many of the literary devices that the novelist, as opposed to the playwright or poet, can use to develop a theme. With regard to nature, it is used by Rhys, as suggested above, to create a temporal space for Antoinette that is emblematic of the identity she has lost. The wildness which is encroaching upon the Eden of the garden, later to be completely destroyed, is an example of the way in which the novelist can use one strong image to lead into another, both being resonant of the past. Indeed, again as stated above, the act of telling the tale creates the character in the mind of the reader and the locations in which she is placed are connected to that, as is the temporal dislocation which memory produces and which is often, as with Antoinette, indicative of her state of mind. The evocation of nature as a turbulent and emotive presence adds to this, with the sea as the ultimate semiotic of challenge, chaos and dislocation. Grace Nichols second collection of verse, The Fat Black Womans Poems, published in 1984, also uses nature to evoke a particular image. However, as this is poetry, the linguistic and literary devices used are very different from either those of the playwright and/or novelist. Nichols grew up in Guyana  [16]  but has made her life and career in England, she has lived and worked in Britain since 1977  [17]  , and this cross-cultural imperative is very much evident in her work: her poems frequently acknowledge the alien climate, geography, and culture of Englands cities  [18]  Within The Fat Black Womans Poems, Nichols seeks to evoke a different perception of beauty from that which is shown in white Western culture: Nichols also deploys the fat black woman as a powerful challenge to the tyranny of Western notions of female beauty  [19]  and thus engender a new heroine, a woman who revises the aesthetic of female beauty.  [20]  One of the techniques Nichols employs to do this is combining nature with an aspect of the physical self, as here in Thoughts drifting through the fat black womans head while having a full bubble bath: Steatopygous sky Steatopygous sea Steatopygous waves Steatopygous me  [21]   The unfamiliar word, steatopygous (meaning having fully rounded buttocks) is repeated for emphasis and juxtaposed with images of nature so as to produce an emblem of the black woman as close to nature, her body shaped like the sky, waves and sea. Nichols is empowering black women in image by doing this as she does by giving the black woman her own unique voice: In making the fat black woman the speaking subject of many of these poems, Nichols signals her refusal to occupy the subject(ed) position designated for the black woman by history and to insist on more complex subjectivities.  [22]  Nichols is also concerned that the voice should seem naturalistic and therefore the natural images perform yet another function: Like many Afro-Caribbean writers, Nichols infuses her poetry with the spiritual energy of the tradition of women before her, a tradition that has little written record.  [23]   In another poem from the collection, Beauty, this reproduction of a different image of physical appeal can also be seen to be connected with nature: Beauty is a fat black woman walking the fields pressing a breezed hibiscus to her cheek while the sun lights up her feet Beauty is a fat black woman riding the waves drifting in happy oblivion while the sea turns back to hug her shape  [24]   Again, the woman is juxtaposed with nature, providing a unity between the persona and her surroundings which is both literal and metaphorical. Repetition is used once more by the poet to emphasise the connection between the theme of the collection and beauty in abstract. Indeed, the word Beauty, the only capitalised word in the poem, is set alone on a line, as is hibiscus, as if to stress its importance as an emblem or iconic of what Nichols says is an imperative i.e. that this is what beauty unequivocally is. There is a mutual embrace between the woman and nature, she pressing the hibiscus/to her cheek and the sea turn[ing] back/to hug her shape. It is as if Nichols is suggesting that the fat black woman who is riding the waves/drifting in happy oblivion is in unison with nature and recognised by it as being so. All of nature, indeed, like the sun [that] lights up her feet is glorifying her and she it. There is no punctuation in the verses, emphasising the smooth, natural flow of th e descriptions and the way in which they are intended to imply all that is inherently natural. As Nichols writes in The Assertion, This is my birthright  [25]  and thus the investigation of beauty within the poems becomes a socio-political imperative, too. In conclusion, all three texts Millers Death of a Salesman, Rhyss Wide Sargasso Sea and Nichols The Fat Black Womans Poems all use nature as a way of enlarging upon and more effectively demonstrating their central concerns. An important element of this is the way in which pathetic fallacy is used by the authors, i.e. nature reflecting and/or suggesting a mood or theme. As the three texts discussed here are from different genres, they of course use nature in different ways, employing different literary devices, as has been shown. However, for each of the authors nature is singularly important and enriches the individual texts immeasurably. In the final analysis, therefore, it might be suggested, indeed, that nature itself becomes almost a communicative character within each of the very different works discussed within this essay, as its importance to the creation and communication of each cannot be overestimated.

Examine Lord Capulets motivation, attitude and behaviour in three key E

Examine Lord Capulets motivation, attitude and behaviour in three key scenes and suggest how an actor could perform the part so as to convey these motives and attitudes to an audience. The play â€Å"Romeo and Juliet† was written in 1589-95 by William Shakespeare. The play is a tragedy which means that it is a serious play and will not end happily for some will die. It was set in 16th century Verona in Italy, which was a patriarchal society. This meant that men had the power and all women were compelled under the control of their husbands and fathers. It was also part of a hierarchical society, which was a structure of class, with Prince Escalus at the top, then the Lords and Ladies, such as Lord Montague and Lord Capulet; rich tradesmen and merchants were under the lords, and at the bottom were the servants such as Juliet’s nurse. The play is about â€Å"a pair of star-crossed lovers† who take their lives because of their families’ feud. The house of Montague and the house of Capulet have been quarrelling for years and years, so Juliet of Capulet and Romeo of Montague fall into a â€Å"death-marked love.† In act one scene two the two houses of Capulet and Montague have just had a fight. Prince Escalus has given Lord Capulet a warning that â€Å"If you ever disturb our streets again, your lives will pay the forfeit of the peace.† So he would now be feeling embarrassed, upset, humiliated and ashamed. To show this to Paris and the audience he would mumble and speak quietly. He would hunch to show that he feels a lack of security. He would be humble towards Paris and his face would look blank. Paris wants to wed Juliet and has come to Capulet to ask if he has his blessing. Capulet comes back to his senses and says, â€Å"My child is yet a stranger in the world† which means that he thinks Juliet is too young to be married off. Paris says that there are younger wives than her. Then Capulet replies with â€Å"And too soon marred are those so early made† which means that those girls were too young to be mothers and their lives were ruined. The audience would now think that Capulet is a good father and that he truly loves his daughter. He even says that â€Å"she is the hopeful lady of my earth,† Which makes the audience think that he is an even better father from when they first thought. Because it was very odd at that time for a father to love his ... ...er, because it was very unusual at that time for a father to love his daughter so much. Then in act 1 scene 5 the audience thought that Capulet was a very good host telling every one to have a good time and enjoy themselves. They thought he was a very jolly person who loves entertaining people and that he had the image of a perfectionist. In Act 3 scene 5 the audience thought that lord Capulet was a horrible father who loses his temper far to quickly and that he was far to harsh toward Juliet and the nurse. Romeo and Juliet’s love for each other was very important in the play because that was the reason for all the complications like the marriage between Paris that was arranged for Juliet, the banishment of Romeo because he would not fight Tybalt, the death of Mercutio, the death of Tybalt, the whole tragedy theme, the deaths of Romeo and Juliet and finally the bringing together of the Capulets and the Montague’s. The bringing together of the Capulets and the Montague’s happened because of Romeo and Juliet’s love and their deaths. Because of these events both of the families realised how silly they had been and called friendship between them instead of war.

Road To Maturity in Mark Twains The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn :: Adventures Huckleberry Huck Finn Essays

Huckleberry Finn – The Road To Maturity Growing up is a long and hard process we must all go through in life. Everyone grows and matures mentally and physically at their own individual rates, and although the line between being a child and being an adult is rather indistinct, there are certain qualities and attitudes that all mature adults possess. Attaining these qualities and ideals can only be done through life experiences and learning by trial and error. No one can grow up overnight; it is impossible. But as our prospective on life and the world around change, growing up is inevitable. In the book The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, by Mark Twain, the main character Huckleberry Finn begins the long process of growing up, and he starts to develop a more mature outlook on life. One of the early examples of Huck still having quite a bit of growing up to do is shown in the book when Huck finds that Jim has run away and is hiding on the same island Huck is. Huck asks Jim how he got there, and at first Jim isn't going to tell Huck. But when Huck promises not to tell a soul, Jim confides in him that he has run off. Huck is shocked by this bit of information, and Jim reminds him that he promised not to tell. Huck responds by saying, "I said I wouldn't, and I'll stick to it. Honest Injun, I will. People will call me a low down abolishonist and despise me for keeping mum- but that don't make no difference. I ain't a going to tell." Huck is beginning to realize the importance of keeping ones word. Young children run and tell things that happen to anyone with ears, and it is hard for them to keep promises. He realizes that the things he says affect others, and the fact he is now capable of understanding that shows that Huck is beginning to have a more mat ure view on life. Another key factor in growing up is being able to take the blame for one's own actions and being able to come clean and apologize when you have done something wrong. In the beginning of the book, Huck has a lot of issues with confessing his own actions. Road To Maturity in Mark Twain's The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn :: Adventures Huckleberry Huck Finn Essays Huckleberry Finn – The Road To Maturity Growing up is a long and hard process we must all go through in life. Everyone grows and matures mentally and physically at their own individual rates, and although the line between being a child and being an adult is rather indistinct, there are certain qualities and attitudes that all mature adults possess. Attaining these qualities and ideals can only be done through life experiences and learning by trial and error. No one can grow up overnight; it is impossible. But as our prospective on life and the world around change, growing up is inevitable. In the book The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, by Mark Twain, the main character Huckleberry Finn begins the long process of growing up, and he starts to develop a more mature outlook on life. One of the early examples of Huck still having quite a bit of growing up to do is shown in the book when Huck finds that Jim has run away and is hiding on the same island Huck is. Huck asks Jim how he got there, and at first Jim isn't going to tell Huck. But when Huck promises not to tell a soul, Jim confides in him that he has run off. Huck is shocked by this bit of information, and Jim reminds him that he promised not to tell. Huck responds by saying, "I said I wouldn't, and I'll stick to it. Honest Injun, I will. People will call me a low down abolishonist and despise me for keeping mum- but that don't make no difference. I ain't a going to tell." Huck is beginning to realize the importance of keeping ones word. Young children run and tell things that happen to anyone with ears, and it is hard for them to keep promises. He realizes that the things he says affect others, and the fact he is now capable of understanding that shows that Huck is beginning to have a more mat ure view on life. Another key factor in growing up is being able to take the blame for one's own actions and being able to come clean and apologize when you have done something wrong. In the beginning of the book, Huck has a lot of issues with confessing his own actions.

Yoga and its Relation to Health Essay -- spiritual goals, health benef

Yoga has been practiced for more than 5,000 years. There is an estimated 11 million Americans enjoying the health benefits of yoga. Though few people even know why. Most people think it’s just â€Å"Stretching†, But very few ever really stops to think about the health benefits of yoga. So let’s look at a few of these shall we? Some of the most commonly talked about benefits of yoga are the all-around fitness, weight loss, Stress relief, inner peace, improved immunity, living with greater awareness, better relationships, increased energy, better flexibility and posture, better intuition, increased lubrication of the joints ligaments and tendons, massages all of the organs in the body, complete detoxification, excellent toning of the muscles, reduced heart rate and blood pressure, increased lung function, helps with conditions such as anxiety, depression and insomnia, it has also shown positive effects on levels of certain brain and blood chemicals. So Besides the spiritual goals, the asana of yoga are used to reduce or get rid of health problems reduce stress and make the spine supple. In current times yoga is also used as a complete exercise program and physical therapy routine. The focus of yoga is on calm mindfulness, controlled breathing along with physical movement bringing with it benefits with regular practice. As most people are aware of Yogis sleep better with increased energy levels, and muscle tone, release of muscle pain and stiffness, improves circulation and over all better health. But few people know the breathing aspect of yoga can benefit heart rate and blood pressure. Three main focuses of Hatha Yoga are exercise, breathing and meditation. Making it a great choice for people suffering from hea... .... Yes there is some out there that say yoga is just stretching but those people are only partially right. Yoga unites mind, body and soul so it is obvious it can be used to treat mental and physical conditions. So there for yoga is so much more than most people perceive. Personally yoga has helped me out allot I use to have depression, anxiety, sleep problems and lower back pain. Yes I know I use to be a mess lol. One day I decided to try yoga and my life has been changed ever since. I no longer have any of these problems and I thank yoga for it. Resources: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11832673 http://www.webmd.com/balance/guide/the-health-benefits-of-yoga http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hatha_Yoga#Health_benefits_ascribed_to_yogasana_practice http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yoga#Medicine

Mortality Regimes And Longevity Risk Health And Social Care Essay

This paper explores the presence of governments in mortality kineticss and assesses their deductions for length of service hazard direction. Our attack extends the Poisson log bilinear arrested development developed by Brouhn et Al. by capturing the time-varying mortality constituent with a Markov regime-switching theoretical account. The theoretical account is so applied to Gallic mortality informations sets from 1947 to 2007. Our analysis reveals that one government is characterized by high volatility and is active during the 20 old ages after the Second World War. The 2nd government corresponds to a province of low volatility and captures length of service betterments observed during the recent period. A Monte Carlo simulation is so used to look into the impact of mortality governments for the hazard direction of life rente portfolios. Simulation reveals that the initial distribution of a mortality government affects well the solvency degree of portfolio and the capital demands, c orroborating the importance of taking into history mortality regimes for the direction of life rente portfolios. Keywords: Life rente, Mortality Projection, Regime-switching Models JEL Classification: C32, G22, G23 1. Introduction Life anticipation everyplace has increased well over the last century. In France, mortality has declined steeply, as older people live longer. Life anticipation at birth for males has passed from 45 old ages in 1900 to 81 old ages in 2000. This phenomenon is seen as good intelligence for persons and as a significant societal accomplishment. However, it poses new challenges for the policy shapers, private pension directors and other suppliers of life rentes, where the consequence of life anticipation betterments on the solvency of pension systems is a concern ( Macdonald et al. , 1998 ) . As underlined by Marocco and Pitacco ( 1998 ) , length of service hazard, that is, the uncertainness sing the future development of mortality and life anticipation results, affects the pricing and reserving of life rente merchandises well. Indeed, establishments supplying life rentes run the hazard that the existent value of projects exceeds their outlooks, taking to state of affairss of bankruptcy, when establishments can non pay the promised sum to endorsers. The computation of expected present values therefore requires an appropriate mortality projection that avoids underestimating future duties. In 1992, Lee and Carter proposed a simple theoretical account that specifies mortality rate alteration as a map of a individual clip index. The method describes the mortality rate as the amount of an age-specific constituent independent of clip and a bilinear term that is the merchandise of a time-varying parametric quantity vector stand foring the development of mortality over clip and an age-specific vector of parametric quantities reflecting how each age is impacted by the development of mortality. The estimation of the time-varying parametric quantity is so modeled and forecast as a stochastic time-series utilizing the Box-Jenkins method. The forecast mortality rate is so obtained by uniting the prognosis time-varying mortality constituent obtained by an ARIMA theoretical account, with the estimated parametric quantities relative to age effects. However, the usage of an ARIMA theoretical account to depict the behaviour of mortality over clip appears unrealistic. As Sweeting ( 2010 ) underscores, mortality nowadayss sudden alterations in tendencies, proposing the presence of a non-linear construction. Furthermore, the mortality procedure exhibits non-Gaussian belongingss such as fat dress suits, heteroscedasticity, and lopsidedness. In visible radiation of these facts, we propose to capture the time-varying mortality constituent obtained by a Poisson log bilinear theoretical account appraisal, with a Markov exchanging theoretical account. Markov exchanging theoretical accounts were introduced by Goldfeld and Quandt ( 1973 ) and became popular after the seminal paper of Hamilton ( 1989 ) . In finance and economic sciences, regime-switching theoretical accounts have received turning attending. They are capable of capturing complex non-linear kineticss, including sudden alterations in the behaviour of clip series, and complicated signifiers of heteroscedasticity, fat dress suits, and skews. They are notably used to capture the kineticss of GDP ( Hamilton, 1989 ) , plus monetary values ( Longin and Solnik, 2001 ) or involvement rates that exhibit non-Gaussian belongingss ( Ang and Bekaert, 1998 ) . Ang and Timmermann ( 2011 ) supply a good study of the assorted applications of Markov exchanging theoretical accounts in economic sciences and finance. In actuarial scientific disciplines, government shift has been largely focused on the pricing of fiscal merchandises ( Hardy, 2001 ; Bollen, 1998 ) . To our cognition, merely M ilidonis et Al. ( 2011 ) have explored the usage of Markov regime-switching theoretical accounts to capture mortality kineticss. They apply this type of theoretical account to US informations from 1921 to 2005 and demo that mortality is characterized by a two-regime shift theoretical account. However, their work brushs an obvious unfavorable judgment: the designation of mortality governments could be merely due to the presence of the two universe wars in their sample. In this paper, we explore the inquiry whether mortality governments are discernable in Gallic informations from 1947 to 2007. Using an information standard attack, we find that Gallic mortality is characterized by two distinguishable governments. One government refers to a strong uncertainness province, matching to length of service conditions observed during the decennary following the Second World War. The 2nd province is related to the low volatility of length of service betterments observed during the last 30 old ages. The cardinal invention of our paper is the probe of the influence of mortality governments on length of service hazard. Using Monte Carlo simulation, we derive a conditional distribution of prospective life tabular arraies, which are so used in order to mensurate the influence of mortality governments on life rente portfolio hazard. It appears that the active distribution of a mortality government affects well the projection of mortality, but besides the uncertainness that comes from this projection. That connexion is peculiarly of import for statisticians, who must find the sum of money required to pay pensions, every bit good as the safety lading used to cover the uncertainness relation to the betterment in life anticipation. The paper is organized as follow. Section 2 nowadayss notations, premises, and informations. Section 3 provides a elaborate presentation of the methodological analysis associating to mortality projection theoretical accounts. Section 4 presents the appraisal consequences. In subdivision 5, a cash-flow simulation of a portfolio of life rentes measures the chief deductions of a mortality government on length of service hazard and capital demands. Section 6 concludes the paper. 2. Notations, Assumptions, and Datas 2.1. Notation Mortality is studied in two dimensions: age, and calendar clip. We shall utilize so following notation: represents the staying life-time of an single elderly on January 1 of twelvemonth. is the chance that an single elderly in twelvemonth dies before making age. is the chance that an single aged survives during the twelvemonth and reaches age ; note. is the cardinal mortality rate at age during the clip. is the exposure to hazard at age during twelvemonth. It represents the entire clip lived by people aged during the twelvemonth. represents the figure of deceases at age during the clip, from an exposure to hazard. represents the figure of persons aged in life during the twelvemonth. is the expected staying life-time of single aged in the clip. is the monetary value of the net present value of a life rente sold to an single elderly in twelvemonth. 2.2. Premises The cardinal mortality rate is supposed changeless within two sets to and to. For any given whole number and a day of the month, we so obtain: ( 1 ) The premise of a changeless mortality cardinal rate implies that for an single elderly in twelvemonth that: ( 2 ) Finally, two measures of involvement mostly used by demographists and statisticians are introduced. Life anticipation is a classical step sum uping the development of the mortality over the clip: ( 3 ) The computation is based on the survival chances from age to the ultimate age aa‚ ¬ † The maximal age considered depends on the pick of life table closings.[ 1 ]As the endurance chances are non available after clip, they must be extrapolated from a projection theoretical account. The life rente refers to the net present value of future payments sold to an single elderly in twelvemonth: ( 4 ) where is the price reduction factor that we suppose changeless over clip.[ 2 ] 3.2. Datas For this survey, male and female Gallic mortality informations have been taken from the Human Mortality database.[ 3 ]The informations consist of the cardinal mortality rate, the exposure to hazard, and the figure of deceases between two ages. It was desirable to utilize merely informations from 1947 through 2007. The period before 1947 has been ignored to avoid the mortality dazes associated with the first and 2nd universe wars. We consider merely the age scope between 60 and 98 old ages. Age classes younger than 60 twelvemonth are ignored, since the aims of this survey focal point on length of service hazard jobs. The information, at older age ( over 98 old ages ) have besides been excluded due to the little figure of subsisters. Mortality at older ages will be however generated from a log quadratic map ( inside informations will be given in subdivision 3.5 ) . Figures 1-a and 1-b show the development of Gallic mortality during this period. A net decrease in mortality is observed f or both work forces and adult females, in peculiar at advanced ages. [ Figure 1 about here. ] 3. Methodology 3.1. A Poisson log bilinear theoretical account Following the attack introduces by Brouhns et Al. ( 2002b ) , the figure of deceases is captured by a Poisson distribution: ( 1 ) where is the force of mortality, designed as a log bilinear construction. The parametric quantities have the same reading as in the traditional Lee Carter theoretical account. The measures, and are specific age parametric quantities, is a time-varying parametric quantity stand foring the development of mortality over the clip. Again, is the exposure to hazard.[ 4 ]. The merchandise of and is the strength parametric quantity of the Poisson distribution ( ) . ItHe represents the expected figure of deceases during the twelvemonth. Finally, as in the Lee-Carter theoretical account, we impose restraints on parametric quantities and to guarantee theoretical account designation: ( 2 ) One advantage of the Poisson log bilinear theoretical account over the Lee Carter theoretical account is that appraisal is realized by maximising the likeliness, alternatively of a remarkable value decomposition ( SVD ) . Consequently, there is no demand to hold a complete rectangular matrix of informations to gauge parametric quantities. Furthermore, a Poisson log bilinear gives straight the figure of deceases whereasile the Lee Carter theoretical account gives merely an appraisal of decease rates. 3.2. Model appraisal The log bilinear Poisson theoretical account is estimated by maximising the log-likelihood: ( 3 ) The presence of the bilinear term does non let one to using classical Poisson arrested development. To avoid this job, the appraisal is resolved by the simple Newton method, ( Goodman, ( 1979 ) . The rule consists into updatinge the individual set of parametric quantities whilein repairing the other parametric quantity at their current values: ( 4 ) The lLog bilinear Poisson theoretical account comprisesaccounts three different sets of parametric quantities, the, the, and the vector vector. The updating algorithm is organized as follow: : ( 5 ) ( 6 ) ( 7 ) wWhere is the expected figure of deceases occuroccurringed each twelvemonth. [ ? ] propose to initialise the algorithm with get downing values, , and. At the terminal of the updating measure, the theoretical account designation is non ensured. To esteem the restraint suggested by Lee and Carter ( 1992 ) , the theoretical account must be reparametrized as follows: ( 8 ) ( 9 ) ( 10 ) wWhereith and is the mean of footings. Contrary to the Lee Carter attack, there is no demand to readapt the procedure the kappa as own map of the figure of deceases. 3.3. Modeling the time- factor under a Markov shift theoretical account As underlined by Sweeting ( 2010 ) emphasizes in defence of the pick of government exchanging theoretical accounts to capture dynamic mortality, the mortality procedure exhibits a sudden interruption during the last century, supporting the pick of government exchanging theoretical accounts to capture dynamic mortality. Following this determination, we model the procedure with a regime-switching theoretical account. The procedure exhibits a non- stationarity. The application of a first- difference filter removes the tendency constituent from the series and gives a stationary procedure toon which we can use our theoretical account. Let be the clip series, obtained from the first differenced. We suppose that is modeled as a regime- shift procedure: ( 11 ) ( 12 ) andWhere and are, severally, the intercept and the autoregressive coefficients comparative to each province. The term represents the vector of conditional remainders. The term is the conditionnal residuary term, usually distributed with a average equal to zero and a regime-dependent criterion divergence. The theoretical account described here is really general and allows intercepts, autoregressive footings, and covariances to change across provinces. When presuming one government is assumed, the theoretical account becomes a simple AR ( cubic decimeter ) theoretical account. Governments passages are governed by a procedure that satisfies the undermentioned Markov concatenation belongingss: ( 13 ) Hence, each government is the realisation of a first- order Markov concatenation with changeless passage chances. The province kineticss are unseen and must be inferred straight from the discernible variable. The passage chances are represented in the passage matrix: ( 14 ) Each component of the matrix P must fulfill the undermentioned conditions: ( 15 ) The choice of figure of governments is a current job infrom regime- exchanging theoretical account researchs. To find the figure of governments, we adopted the information standard for theoretical account choice. This method offers good consequences and is easy to transport out ( Psaradakis and Spagnolo, ( 2006 ) . Refering the pick of information standard, we preferprefer to used the MSC standard that has beenwas developed specifically for regime- shift theoretical accounts, ( Smith et al. , ( 2006 ) . However, the AIC standard is besides reported. To gauge the theoretical account, we use an iterative numerical process based on the Expected Maximization ( ) algorithm developed by Dempster et Al. ( 1977 ) . The process is an optimisation technique designed for theoretical accounts where the ascertained clip series depends on an unobservable stochastic variable, such as in Markov exchanging theoretical accounts. The get downing values required to initialise the algorithm are obtained by using the K-means method ( MacQueen et al. , ( 1967 ) . 3.4. Prospective life tabular arraies and assurance intervals In prediction, an indispensable inquiry concerns the degree of uncertainness degree relation to the forecasted measures, such as mortality rate or life anticipations. A good cognition of the distribution and assurance intervals of forecasted measures aAlso, he appears indispensable to hold a good cognition of distribution or assurance intervals of forecasted measures. Unfortunately, in theour instance we are analyzing, we can non deduce an analytical look for the distribution or assurance intervals. This is due to facts that, the building of prospective life tabular arraies needfully involvesrequires uniting two kinds oftype mistakes. The first mistake arises from the appraisal of, , and. The 2nd mistake comes from the projection of, because of the parametric quantities of regime-s shift theoretical accounts are themselves random variables. Furthermore, the involvement measures of involvement, such as life anticipation, are non- additive complex maps of Poisson parametric quantities and regime- shift parametric quantities ; , this poses an extra complication. To get the better of these jobs, a Monte Carlo simulation process is used to come close the distribution of involvement pertinent measures such as mortality rate, life anticipation, and life rente. The simulation is organized as follows. First, we generate MM samples of, , and, where m is the index relation to the m-th simulations. Let be the m-thmth fake parametric quantity sets composed of, , and. Under regularity premises, asymptotic belongingss of maximal likeliness calculators ( MLE ) warrants that is generated followerss a multivariate normal distribution ( MND ) with average vector, , , and covariance matrix given by the opposite of the Fisher information mMatrix. From the fake series, we estimate MM government exchanging theoretical accounts and obtain MM parametric quantity sets denoted. Each set is composed of, , , , and elements of the associated passage chances matrix associated. The parametric quantity sets are so used to bring forth MM projections of, denoted. Note that under regime- shift scenes, the predicted values do notnaa‚ ¬a„?t depend merely on estimated parametric quantity sets as in the instance of additive theoretical accounts. They are besides affected by the initial distribution of governments, denoted by the vector of chances selected as exogenic.[ 5 ]. In a two- government theoretical account without autoregressive footings, the fake values are given by ( 16 ) wWhere is a Markov concatenation generated from the initial province vector and chances passage matrix. The map is an index map equal to 1 if the procedure province is in the government. The projection is so derived from. The fake parametric quantity sets, , , and are eventually combined to build MM prospective life tabular arraies, denoted ( 17 ) wWhere m is the index relation to the mt-th simulations, the initial distribution of mortality governments, and the day of the month from which the values are projected. 3.5. Polynomial smoothing of older ages and shutting of life tabular array closings The computation of the mortality rate in old ageat older ages, poses significant jobs to demographists and statisticians. Indeed, mortality informations for older agesat older ages are frequently characterized by the presence of outlier informations. Wilmoth ( 1995 ) identifies two chief grounds. First, big random fluctuations are comparative to the little figure of single who survive to older age. Second, that is due to inaccuracies exist in the coverage of age in nose count. These inaccuracies causeprovide to cumulative deformation of heaping on ages by a multiple of five or ten. A natural solution to get the better of at this job is to smooth the mortality informations get downing from a specific age, for illustration, 80 old ages. Wilmoth ( 1993 ) established that the curve of the log mortality rate has a concave signifier inat older age. From On the footing of these findings, Denuit and Goderniaux ( 2005 ) proposed seting the log mortality by least squaresss square with a log-qu adratic map: ( 1 ) Capable to the Under contraintsconstraints: ( 2 ) wWhere corresponds to the first derived function of. The restraints and correspond to conditions of the shutting of the life tabular array. The first restraint fixes the upper bound of lifetime, while the 2nd assumessupposes that the incline of the log mortality curve become zeronull at maximal age. CIn uniting these equations, we obtain: ( 3 ) To find the age from which it is necessary to get downing log quadratic parameterization, we refer to [ ? ] in which it is the finding ofchoose to find so as to in maximising the coefficient of finding. In Our instance, = . A simple geometric mean is used to smooth the mortality rate around to this age. 4. An application to Gallic population mortality 4.1. Appraisal of Poisson log bilinear theoretical account The log bilinear Poisson theoretical account, presented in subdivision 3.1, is applied to French data sets. Figure 3 plots the value of, , and obtained from the appraisal. As in the classical Lee Carter theoretical account, may be interpreted as the norm of. The curve is monotonically increasing, relatinged to higher mortality with age. As expected, adult females present values that are ever lower than those of work forces, reflecting a highersuperior life anticipation. Figure 2-b exhibits the form. The curve increases somewhat until age 75 old ages, and so diminutions. The values remain positive, bespeaking a decrease of mortality for all ages. The term is plotted ion figure 2-c. This term reflects the lessening of mortality over the clip.[ 6 ]. As expected, it exhibits a regular bettering tendency, slightlygently more of import for adult females than work forces. After 2007, the calculationus of mortality rates requires knowledge ofto know the future values of. For this, we projectate future values from the regime- shift theoretical account as described in subdivision 3.3. Since the augmented Dickey Fuller trial, reported in table 1, confirmsAs that the series is non-stationary ( The augmentedDickey Fuller trial are reported in table 1 confirms it ) , , the appraisal and projection are based on the differenced series, viz. ) , whichthat is stationary. The tabular array besides reports the descriptive statistics of. He appearsIt emerges that exhibits an surplus of lopsidedness and kurtosis, in peculiar in the instance of notably by adult females. A Jarque-Bera trials is besides reported to analyze whethertest if follows a G aussian distribution. It is clearHe appears clearly that the behaviour is non-t Gaussian for both work forces and adult females. This confirms the, corroborating the involvement ofto patterning the time- varying constituent with a regime- shift theoretical account. [ Table 1 about here. ] [ Figure 2 about here. ] 4.2. Forecasting the mortality with government exchanging The kineticss of areis captured with a regime- shift theoretical account. To choose goods characteristics of the theoretical account, an information standard attack has been adopted. A big scope of specifications washas been tested byin augmenting bit by bit the figure of governments of governments and the figure of slowdown of slowdowns. The table 2 nowadayss merely the consequences for the instance and.[ 7 ]. – regime- exchanging theoretical account with regime-dependent impetus and regime-dependent criterion divergence theoretical account performs better than a single- government theoretical account for both work forces and adult females. the MSIH ( 2 ) theoretical account and geometric Brownian gesture ( GBM ) are reported ion tabular array 2. The two identified governments in government the shift theoretical accounts are easy explainable. The first government corresponds to a high uncertainness province of mortality development, while the 2nd is characterized by a low volatility of mortality. Indeed, the standard divergence is higher in the government 1 ( 3.64 for work forces and 6.25 for adult females ) than in the government 2 ( 0.43 for work forces and 0.85 for adult females ) . CThe comparing with the additive theoretical account reveals that the uncertainyuncertainty may be twice every bit high compared comparative to classical ARIMA appraisal. Our consequences uncover differences harmonizing to sexthe sexe. As expected, the drift term is more higher for adult females than for work forces, reflecting the current difference of life anticipation observed in mortality informations. However, the consequences besides indicate that the mortality development is more unsure 40 by adult females than forby work forces. Finally, the fact that the impetuss are non statistically significantly different from nothing in government 1, suggests that government 1 corresponds instead to a government of decelerating down inof anticipation life betterment. [ Table 3 about here. ] s after 1965. A similar information mutant is observed for adult females, excepted that the switch appears more Oklahomans, from 1960. Finally, a new switch of governments is captured in 2003 both for both work forces and adult females. This is explained by the heat wave that swept acrossof heat occurred in Europe, during the summer of 2003, which increased has caused an overmortality amongst frailer older peopleby older people the more frail. At the terminal of table 2, we report the ergodic chances and continuance steps relative to each mortality government. For work forces, we find that the chances to be in a government 1 or in a government 2 are comparatively closed. In footings of continuance, the governments are extremely relentless. For work forces and adult females, the government lastsgoes on around 20 old ages. The mortality regimes seem so sufficiently, adequate persistent to impact durably the life anticipation of insurance companies, and the degree of liabilities, which insurers consider. [ Figure 3 about here. ] 4.3. A distribution of pProspective life tabular arraies As explained in the subdivision 3.4, a Monte Carlo simulation is used to bring forth 5000 samples of the original parametric quantities the simulation are non reported here for deficiency of infinite, but are available on demand. The assurance intervals derived from the sSimulations, give us a good position of the uncertainness relation to the log bilinear Poisson appraisal. From the fake parametric quantities for the regime- shift parametric quantities theoretical account is so obtained.s. The quantile s the general degree of uncertainness relation to mortality projection. [ Table 4 about here. ] tabular arraies are so derived from the fake parametric quantities ( wWhere – shift scenes, the prediction of mortality rates depends on the distribution of the mortality government at the day of the month of projection, namelyFor the interest of simplificationTo interest of simplify, we assume that the active government in s to has two possible instances, viz. pertinent measures will be computed as maps of both distributions. A last measure is required to finalise the life tabular arraies. As explained in the subdivision 3.4, we apply aA log- quadratic map to smooth mortality at older ages and shut the tabular arraies as discussed in [ ? ] – quadratic theoretical account is fixed at 80 old ages. Figure 4 gives an illustration of smoothed and closed life tabular arraies, including projections out tountil 2050 and presuming an initial distribution tabular arraies, we derive two other involvement measures of involvement, viz. the distribution of life anticipation, and the distribution of a life rente ( i.e. , a net individual premium life rente ) . The life anticipation and the net individual premium are investigated utilizing the longitudinal ( cohort ) attack ( cohort attack ) . This method differs from the transversal attack in the sense thatwhere the development of mortality is non investigated merely in footings of calendar times, but besides takes into history the twelvemonth of individualsaa‚ ¬a„? birthdays. Under the longitudinal attack, life anticipation and the life rente are given by – twelvemonth endurance probabilities the mortality rate In the computation of the life rente, we assume that the price reduction factor the short rate observed over the sample period ( 1947-2007 ) , equal to 4 % . It appears that the mortality government affects well the distribution of life anticipation and life rente well. Harmonizing to the active government at the projection day of the month, the distributions function exhibits different forms, bespeaking that the mortality government affects the jutting values, but besides the uncertainness relation to projections. If we consider the instance where the government 1 is active at the projection day of the month, the life anticipation distribution nowadayss fat dress suits compared to the Gaussian instance, bespeaking that the classical projection theoretical account ( ARIMA theoretical account ) may underestimatea possible underestimate of life anticipation betterments by the classical projection theoretical account ( ARIMA theoretical account ) . That fact is peculiarly of import for statisticians, whothat decide theto sums of money required to fund the payment of the pensions, or the safety border required to hedgethe coverage of the uncertainness relatingve to the betterment inof life anticipation. Harmonizing to the new European solvency system ( Solvency II ) , the solvency capital demand ( SCR ) must vouch that Thea ruin chance of ruin is below toless than iesy supplying life rentes run the hazard that the choosen safety burden is non plenty to vouch the payment of pensions. , and endorsers. First, how do mortality governments affect the hazard of life rente portfolios? Second, what is the economic cost of disregarding governments? To reply to theseis two inquiries, we follow [ ? ] a life rente portfolio of life rentes under different mortality regime- exchanging scenes. 5.1. Methodology See a portfolio composed of of age 65 old ages, supplying a unit capital at the terminal of each twelvemonth. At the beginning of the distribution stage, in 2007, the company which manages the life rentes portfolio defines a measure of money ( i.e. , net individual premiums ) , matching to the value nowadays of the expected cost of paying a decease benefit. Each twelvemonth, one unit of money is distributed to each populating single. The portion of non- distributed militias is reinvested, bring forthing a returnthe last single. Let rReserve available at the get downing day of the month. the portfolio. The figure of deceases a Ppoisson distribution withof strength parametric quantity the one- twelvemonth subsister chances from s during 2007 is so simulated from the Poisson distribution utilizing: the old subdivision, the figure of deceases depends straight on the initial active government. So, sSimulations are conducted for each initial mortality province. The figure of subsisters at the beginning of following twelvemonth is given by: , the initial modesty of rentes, the rReserve is so equal to: vanishes wholly vanished, for the last single. We besides assume that the rate of return on the modesty the price reduction rate ( 4 % ) . At the beginning of the distribution stage, we assume that the company gets an sum, the net individual premiums ) , which is used to pay the pensions until the decease of the last single. We investigate five three calculating methods for calculating of this sum: : Pure premium under cross position. We consider the instance where the net individual premium is merely computed from mortality informations from 2007 ( without any mortality projection ) . Regime-dependent pure premium under longitudinal position. The mortality rates are projected utilizing a Markov exchanging theoretical account, and used to monetary value life annuitiesy as described in subdivision 3.4. Note that under the Markov shift model, the net individual premium is a regime-dependent measure, which differs harmonizing to the initial active government. Regime-dependent pure premium + safety border under longitudinal position. Finally, we investigated the instance where a safety border is added to the conditional expected premium computed from longitudinal attack. The net individual premiums are defined, by bear downing the 90 % , 95 % , and 99.5 % percentile of life rente denseness, as described in old subdivision. For each value of net individual premiums, we compute five hazard indexs, mensurating how mortality projection affects the life rentes portfolio, viz. : tThe pProbability of ruin which is, i.e. , the chance that the net individual premium defined in 2007 does notnaa‚ ¬a„?t suffice to pay all the promised payments. The chance is computed byin sing a rate of return on the modesty equal to the price reduction rate. tThe clip until ruin, i.e. , means the mean figure of twelvemonth elapsed before ruin, given that the ruin occurs. tThe average loss, i.e. , corresponds to the norm of the shortages registered for the twelvemonth whenre the ruin occurs. tThe average figure of staying cContracts, i.e. , contracts staying in the twelvemonth whenre the ruin occurs. tThe fudging involvement rate, i.e. , which is the involvement rate on the modesty needed to guarantee a entire hedge of length of service hazard ( in other wordsi.e. , a chance of ruin thatwhich is niull ) . 5.2. Consequences of Cash flow Simulation Tables 5 and 6 resume the chief consequences of the simulations. Hazard steps are computed for each value of a net individual premium. Tables 5-a and 6-a show the simulation consequences when the initial province is the government 1, while tabular arraies 5-b and 6-b refer to the state of affairs where the government 2 is active. Note fFirst that, sSimulations highlights the importance of mortality projections. The net individual premiums computed on the footing of the transversal method leads to the bankruptcy in about of 80 % of fake instances. We find that about one 3rd of contracts are non fulfilledsatisfied and the average loss at the minute of ruin corresponds to more thanof 20 % of the nominal sum. [ Table 5 about here. ] a logical decrease oflogically diminishing the chance of ruin. However, ithe appears to be necessary to include a safety burden, since bear downing the pure premiums on the footing of the longitudinal method consequences into the negative hard currency flow in 50 % of fake instances. The last row of each tabular array considers the instance where the Ssolvency Ccapital Rrequirement is applied, ( that is, intending that the safety lading allow to coverensures coverage of 99.5 % of the fake scenarios ) . As expected, the chance of ruin, the average loss, mean and the figure of unfulfilledsatisfying contracts so decreases so substantiallysignificantly. An indispensable determination of our research concerns the fact that the mortality province active at the beginning of the distribution stage affects well the hazard of life rente portfolios well. For a similar degree of hazard ( i.e. , ruin chance of ruin ) , we note big differences in the pure premium harmonizing to which ofwhen the government 1 or regime 2 is active or when the government 2 is active. The safety burden, which is the extra sum of modesty required to restrict the ruin chance, is besides affected. If we consider the degree of ruin defined harmonizing to Ssolvency II2, ithe appears that the safety burden is twice as higher when the government 1 is active, reflecting the strong uncertainness comparative toin mortality development inrelative to this province. It is besides interesting to observe that mortality governments affects the day of the month of bankruptcy, the degree of average loss or the figure of unfulfilledsatisfying contracts. All these steps are deterior ated when the government 1 is active at the beginning of the distribution stage. [ Table 6 about here. ] Simulations performed on the female informations confirm these consequences. It appears clearly that the initial province affects the hazard of the portfolio. However, the consequences highlight differences harmonizing to the gender of endorsers. The day of the month of bankruptcy occurs subsequently on norm more recently for adult females than for work forces, while the average loss is higher for adult females than for work forces. Similarly, the figure of staying contracts at the bankruptcy day of the month is higher for adult females than for work forces. So far, we established that the existencepresence of government shift in the distribution of mortality could impact the hazard of life rente portfolios well. This grounds does non connote, nevertheless, that companiesy thatwhich manages the life rente portfolios are is needfully better off if they accountby accounting for governments in the mortality distribution. So, we assess hence the economic cost of governments. We undertake this analysisdo it by comparing the hazard step under the regime- shift theoretical account of mortality to the riskat presuming the pension director is constrainedt to take a net individual premium under the premise that mortality development follows a simple geometric Brownian gesture. Table 6 presents the brinies consequences. Columns 1 and 3 study the chance of ruin when the pension director is constrainedt to disregard governments. We find that disregarding governments increases well the hazard of bankruptcy for a starting government of high volatility ( province 1 ) . That suggests a possible underestimate of length of service hazard by the classical projection theoretical account.[ 8 ]. For the instance where the pension director triesy to esteem the Ssolvency Ccapital Rrequirement ( last row of each tabular array ) , disregarding high volatility governments is tantamount to doublinge the chance of ruin for male endorsers ( from 0.5 % to 1.1 % ) , and to multiplying it by 5 for female endorsers ( from 0.5 % to 2.4 % ) . A 2nd manner to quantify the effects relative to disregarding the governments is to calculate the fluctuation of safety burden, fulfilling the ruin chance mark. In other word, what is the sum of safety burden that a pension director constrained tot disregarding governments must add in order for that the ruin chance of his portfolio to match to the true mark. The per centums are reported in the columns 2 and 4 of table 6. For statisticians and pension directors, an highly relevantinteresting value for the safety burden is that necessaryrelative to esteem the mark defined by solvency 2Solvency II. We find that disregarding a high volatility government is tantamount to underestimatinge the safety lading byfrom 13 % for work forces and byfrom 27 % for adult females, compared to the degrees predicted by the classical ARIMA theoretical account. These consequences confirms therefore the importance of taking accounting mortality regimes into history for the direction of theportfolios of life rentes life rente portfolio. [ Table 7 about here. ] 62. Decision This paper explores the presence being of governments in mortality kineticss and measures the deductions for a portfolios of life annuitiesy. This is achievedWe do it by capturing the kineticss of time- changing mortality constituents obtained by a Poisson log bilinear theoretical account appraisal with a Markov exchanging theoretical account. The pick of a Markov exchanging theoretical account is motivated by the fact that time- changing constituents exhibits sudden alterations of tendencies and exhibitpresents lopsidedness and fat dress suits, bespeaking a non- Gaussian distribution. The theoretical account is applied to the Gallic mortality informations from 1947 to 2007. The appraisals reveal the existencepresence of two governments in mortality kineticss. The first government is characterized by a highstrong volatility, and is operativeactive during the 20 old ages after the Ssecond Wworld War ; t. The 2nd identified government corresponds to a province of low volatility, and ca ptures the recent development of mortality. Using Monte Carlo simulation, we derive a conditional distribution of prospective life tabular arraies, and utilize them in order to look into the influence of mortality governments on the hazard of life rente portfolios. Simulations show that mortality governments affect well the monetary value of life rente merchandises and the safety burden required to cover the uncertainness relation to betterments in life anticipation life betterment. The fact of ignoringIgnorance of these governments result Immigration and Naturalization Services to underestimate of e the true hazard of bankruptcy. Harmonizing to our computationsing, disregarding a high volatility mortality government is tantamount to bearinghave a chance of ruin toof 1.1 % for work forces and to 2.5 % for adult females. However, Solvency II while solvency 2 regulations recommend that this chance ishould be smaller than 0.5 % . Our consequences argue in favour of mortality projections under government exchanging instead under ARIMA theoretical accounts. Indeed, mortality governments affect clearly the rating of liabilities, and disregarding governments consequences in to underestimation ofe the length of service hazard or mortality hazard. Sing In position of the prudential attack required by the rating of liabilities, the incorporation ofhe appears necessary of accounting mortality governments in thefor direction of the life rente portfolios appears necessary, and it seems sensible to recommend that the least favourable government should be used toeventually to monetary value the life annuitiesy or decease insurance merchandises utilizing the government the most unfavourable.