Ecstasy: Greater Affects on Women? :: science

Ecstasy: Greater Affects on Women? Ecstasy: Are Women More Susceptible To Brain Damage? The rave scene. It’s becoming a popular way to ‘kick-back’ for high school and college kids. â€Å"Everyone† is doing it at parties. Unfortunately, this party isn’t all fun and games. Drugs are prevalent at raves. Ecstasy, one of the most popular drugs abused there is like the tiny insects that aren‘t widely feared, but can be deadly. It looks small and innocent, but its more harmful than you may think. Ecstasy is actually C11H15NO2, which means. New studies show women may be at an even greater risk to prolonged effects of the drug ecstasy- 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine. It is commonly known that ecstasy produces great levels of serotonin. These chemicals are released in the brain, generating a false sense of happiness, self-esteem, and increase sexual drive. Prolonged exposure to the drug can result in a lack of serotonin altogether, leading to depression and many other mental illnesses. Ecstasy is commonly classified as a stimulant. Ecstasy is most often found in pill form, although it is also sold as a powder. Imprints on the pill classify them into ‘brand names’. Frequent users are known to buy from the same ‘brand’ just like most all consumers prefer one brand of milk or orange juice. The drug is easy to find and can range in prices from $20 - $50 per tablet. Since demand at the club scene is so high, buyers are sometimes sold imitation ‘X’, a drug that could contain any number of substances. Any other variant of Ecstasy could also be found with a mixture of drugs. Ecstasy is called: MAMA, X, XTC, Adam, The love drug, and many other names still being created. (www.ecstasy.org) Dutch studies grouped participants into three categories of users: moderate, heavy, and ex-users. Moderate use is classified as less than 50 tablets; heavy is more than 50 tablets; and ex-users were reportedly off ecstasy for at least one-year before the study. Users had to abstain from all drug use for 3 weeks before the study was conducted. The three groups were also categorized by gender and age. The study revealed that MAMA use might result in lowered levels in the density of serotonin transporters in the brain. It also suggests that the degree of those levels was partially dependent on sex. Moderate users of both male and female participants did not seem to lead to a large reduction in the production of serotonin.

Chapter 17 Scarlet Letter Analysis

Mira Susa, Jennifer Welsh Mr. Jordan AP Language and Composition 19 November 2009 â€Å"Chapter 17† Chapter 17, â€Å"The Pastor and His Parishioner,† of The Scarlet Letter, starts off with Dimmesdale returning from his journey through the dark forest, upon which Hester waits faithfully for him out of the public eye, and more importantly, Chillingworth. The scene is gloomy; it is noon, however, the sun is shaded by a clouded sky and the thick foliage of the forest, transforming it into a gray twilight. The moment passes when they encounter face to face after seven years of the punishment Hester has been given. They act coldly until Dimmesdale, with fear and reluctant necessity, grabbed Hester’s hand, which broke the dreary part of the encounter. Afterwards, they sit near a brook on a heap of moss and engage in casual conversation, until they start talking about inner peace, or more specifically, whether they have any inner peace. Dimmesdale has not found any from his hypocrisy and sin. He says he cannot console others about their sins when he is sinful. Hester says he does many good works and his sin should be left behind. Dimmesdale on the other hand wishes that he has someone, a friend, he could console in and tell his sins – this would keep his soul alive. Hester claims she could be that partner, but also warns he has an enemy close to him, even under the same roof. Dimmesdale is shocked. Hester realizes what deep injury she has caused to Dimmesdale, a sensitive soul, to a point where the alienation from virtue is causing him to go mad. Roger Chillingworth is finally revealed to be a deception of goodness, and Dimmesdale sinks to the ground and buries his face in his hands in struggle. Because of the betrayal he feels, he says he will never be able to forgive Hester. Hester rebukes this by saying that he needs to forgive her because it is God who will punish. Then, â€Å"in sudden and desperate tenderness,† she took hold of Dimmesdale and placed him against her bosom, on the scarlet letter. She can’t bear to see Dimmesdale frown. After he rests on her bosom, Dimmesdale eventually forgives Hester for the reason that Chillingworth is more sinful than both Hester and him. She says that what they did had a â€Å"consecration,† revealing that it was governed and fulfilled most likely by God. Life is tough for them, but they manage to love each other. Dimmesdale, once again, cannot think for himself, and asks for advice on what to do with his current situation. Hester says for him to leave the town and return to Europe once again. Dimmesdale says he is powerless and cannot go because he can’t quit his post. Hester says he may renew his life, for life is full of trials, and that there is more good works to be done. Switch names, move on. He cries out he must die, for he can’t venture into the world alone. Then, in a deep whisper, Hester says he will not go alone. Analysis Hawthorne uses several rhetorical devices to reach his purpose – to directly relate Puritan settings and romantic beliefs through Hester and Dimmesdale’s love and forgiveness of one another. Hawthorne uses imagery and diction, metaphors and similes, foreshadowing, irony and allusion to get his point of view across. The settings of the forest are dark and gloomy even though it is only noon, which represents Puritanism, but Dimmesdale and Hester see each other in a different light, like former lovers of a different world, which represents romantic beliefs. Hawthorne uses phrases like â€Å"shadow of the woods† to further explain the setting; however, a gleam of romanticism shines when they sit on a heap of moss. He uses powerful images, such as Dimmesdale gasping for breath, clutching at his heart, to express deep emotion. Dimmesdale is described as having a â€Å"magnetic sphere† of sensitivity, and also a â€Å"†¦blacker or a fiercer frown. Hester has firm, sad eyes, and Dimmesdale is a pale, weak, sinful, and sorrow-stricken man. They sit hand in hand on the mossy trunk of a fallen tree, which represents the new growth from a hard past. As for metaphors and similes, Hawthorne uses them to express emotions. He expresses the first meeting of Hester and Dimmesdale as two ghost s, and Dimmesdale puts his hand towards Hester’s â€Å"as chill as death. † Dimmesdale describes the emotion of standing in the pulpit, being watched by many eyes towards his face, â€Å"as if the light of heaven were beaming from it! He clutched his heart â€Å"as if he would have torn it out of his bosom. † Chillingworth is put into a metaphor describing him as a poison. Chillingworth’s revenge is described as â€Å"†¦has been blacker than my sin. † Hester describing â€Å"yellow leaves will show no vestige of the white man’s tread† indicates a metaphor for change, and how he can leave his past behind. Hawthorne uses examples of foreshadowing such as, â€Å"the gloomy sky, the threatening storm, and, next, the health of each† for rhetorically effective writing. An example that includes foreshadowing, along with imagery and metaphor, reads, â€Å"†¦ while one solemn old tree groaned dolefully to another, as if telling the sad story of the pair that sat beneath, or constrained to forebode evil to come. † It describes Hester and Dimmesdale as trees groaning against another, yet describing there might he evil to come. Dimmesdale crying, â€Å"I must die here! † is another example of foreshadowing directly related to death. Irony is shown through examples such as, â€Å"That old man’s revenge has been blacker than my sin. He has violated, in cold blood, the sanctity of a human heart. † He, in cold blood (intentionally and emotionless), has done a wrong to Dimmesdale, but also literally, in the physical sense, has in blood done wrong to Dimmesdale. It is also ironic when Hester is giving advice to Dimmesdale that he should leave and move onward towards a different world, when she herself has not done so and does not know the extent of what is to happen. Lastly, Hawthorne uses a Biblical illusion, related to the Puritans, for a romantic subject, leaving the native land. When Hester says, â€Å"Then there is the broad pathway of the sea! † it is alluding to Moses’ parting of the Red Sea. Graphic The symbol of Hester and Dimmesdale close together, up at the top of the page, is outlined in light blue to express idealistic desires because they are spirits in white in Heaven. The forest trees are black from the judgmental settings of the Puritans, but the tree leaves are red to express Hester and Dimmesdale’s passion, blood and love. The road is paved smooth but spotted and messy because of Dimmesdale’s and Hester’s past road, but is depicted orange for their future ambitions. The two hands is an allusion to Michelangelo’s Creation of Adam, and is surrounded by black for the evaluation and law of sin that Adam has created in the beginning of time. The orb is a representation of the world, in which Hawthorne does not call a world but a â€Å"sphere,† which suggests that Dimmesdale and Hester have left there earth-bound world to something spiritual. They have a magical connection, depicted in purple; however, it is rung around in white to represent the holiness, peace, spirituality, and hope of their love. The fallen brown log, stated in the chapter, is represented as tradition. The moss is a representation of their fallen or seemed to be fallen, past and wrecked future, but the green moss suggests a new beginning. Quotes â€Å"It was no wonder that they thus questioned one another’s actual and bodily existence, and even doubted of their own. So strangely did they meet, in the dim wood, that it was like the first encounter, in the world beyond the grave, of two spirits who had been intimately connected in their former life, but now stood coldly shuddering, in mutual dread; as not yet familiar with their state, nor wonted to the companionship of disembodied beings. Each a ghost, and awe-stricken at the other ghost! † This quote initially explains the Puritan settings, â€Å"dim wood, coldly shuddering† to a romantic belief, â€Å"intimately connected, companionship. † This quote binds the chapter to the theme of the book – Hawthorne’s speculation of Puritanism and Romanticism developed within the story. â€Å"They sat down again, side by side, and hand clasped in hand, on the mossy trunk of the fallen tree. Life had never brought them a gloomier hour; it was the point whither their pathway had so long been tending, and darkening ever, as it stole along; and yet it enclosed a charm that made them linger upon it, and claim another, and another, and, after all, another moment. † This quote explains the entire chapter of romantic belief by describing the love between Hester and Dimmesdale’s love. It explains how they are in the worst time of their relationship, with a long and horrific past, but their mutual desire for each other keeps them with one another, asking for more. Leave this wreck and ruin here where it hath happened. Meddle no more with it! Begin all anew! Hast thou exhausted possibility in the failure of this one trial? Not so! The future is yet full of trial and success. † This quote, spoken by Hester, explains the hope of beginning anew, a romantic belief. However, it is spiritual in the religious sense by saying that as one’s life moves on, it can b ecome less sinless – there are many trials, leading to successes. Also, it explains how God wants people to love life, to do more good, and to enjoy happiness.

Personal Action Plan Essay

As soon as I graduate from high school I plan on contacting my closest Navy Recruiter and getting on the preliminary work done that is needed. After the preliminary work is done, I plan on enlisting for four year under the â€Å"EOD Challenge Program†. It’s going to be a huge decision that’s going to affect my entire life. The program itself will challenge me on all aspects of the spectrum. This is exactly what I expected when I decided to pursue a job in the military, but that does not distract from the milestone in my life that this will represent. After enlistment, I will then be assigned a ship out date where I will begin the Navy recruit training. If I complete the training I will be put into a physical screening test and will be interviewed by an EOD motivator. If I pass both of those, I must then pass a diving physical. Now I plan on passing because in the mean time before I even enlist I will be in great physical shape, which should be my only hurdle in this part of the process. Once I have passed all of these requirements, I then start EOD Schooling. EOD Schooling is broken down into three schools and one course. All which must be completed in order to be an EOD. These consist of an EOD Dive school, an EOD Technician school, a Basic Airborne school, and an EOD Tactical Training course. Each class is rigorous and will teach me a different skill needed for the specialty job of being an EOD. Once I have finished all schooling, I am then assigned to an operational EOD mobile unit which I will be expected to report to for active duty. Now if all these steps are fulfilled and I do become and active duty EOD in the Navy, then I will finish out my tour, and get back to my family. I plan on taking a short hiatus before re-enlisting and starting another tour. After the second tour I plan on joining the Army Reserves, so that I am able to have a military retirement in later years to come. This will allow me to have gained immense amounts of life experience and incredible amounts of knowledge. This will also give me amazing benefits and pay, while setting me up for military retirement. I will then be able to live my life. Now if this plan does somehow fail. I will be attending either Sierra College or Butte College in order to get my remedial done and get my solar panel certification. After two years I will be able to install solar panels and I will then switch to either UNR or Chico State. There are several majors I had in mind. Two of the biggest majors I had in mind being in either Political Science, or Economics. I am no worried about what will happen only because I have a back up plan like I have explained. This piece of paper holds my hopes and dreams, and this is my personal action plan.

Cross-Cultural Determinants of Employee Motivation in Starbucks Company

Introduction Starbucks has served as a milestone in the coffee industry and is a massive organization in terms of people employed and stores owned. At the current time it has revenue of $10.7 billion and owns 16,850 shops in 40 countries. Starbucks is clearly the world’s top coffee retailer, it employs 137,000 employees or â€Å"partners† as it likes to call them. Howard Schultz, the CEO of Starbucks, considers that ‘the tip of success in Starbucks is not coffee but employees’. He constantly builds upon the working experience of employees, providing chances of promotion, and treating workers as working partners is their way to operate sustainability. He firmly believes that the spirit of Starbucks is employees and feels honored about the value of Starbucks employees. Many theorists believe that â€Å"it is necessary to have a perfect education and training policy for better performance in a company† (Michelli, 2006). Despite serving in many countries, Starbucks h as a similar organizational structure; as a result, it does not take into account the cross cultural determinants. It has been criticized for its approach; also because, employees of some countries like UK are not as satisfied as employees from Poland and Germany, thus Starbucks must make use of cross-cultural determinants in order to improve its management methords. One of the most proficient theory, the Hofstede theory states that the motivational factors of every country are different and thus must be looked into before a company, such as Starbucks sets its motivational methods. Along with Hoftsede it talks about Management and Motivation in reference to the Grid/Group Theory by Douglas, which strives to classify different cultures in relation to being hierarchist, individualist, egalitarian and fatalist. It also talks about the ‘Cultural Theory’ and ‘Organizational Theory’ in relation to Starbucks. This research attempts to access these theories in ref erence to Starbucks, and its motivational methods across nations. It looks at a comparison between the way Starbucks company treats or must treat its employees across UK, Poland and Germany. Brief Overview The Starbucks Company is a vast and well constructed multi-national, which serves in 40 countries. It has to keep in mind various cross-cultural determinant while bringing in its motivational schemes. However, it has been criticized for not taking into account, cross-cultural determinants when building its management cultural across countries. It is often assessed, that the employees of countries like UK, seem to be less motivated than employees from Poland and Germany. This paper talks about all possible schemes in relation to motivational theories, that can be adopted by Starbucks,chiefly the Hofstede theory. The factors of this theory are highly relevant and can be implemented in various ways to improve performance. The first factor, Power distance can be defined as â€Å"the extent to which the less powerful members of institutions and organizations within a country expect and accept that power is distributed unequally† (Hofstede 1991, p. 28). UK and Germany, are ranked as a low power distance society, where the relationship between bosses and subordinated is of interdependence, treating each worker equally and calling them ‘partners’. There, the managers of Starbucks are likely to place a greater importance on labors’ rights as compared to managers in Poland, which ranks as a high power distance country. However, in Poland there is a hierarchical social system, thus, it is said that their ‘ideal boss is a benevolent autocrat’. Another factor of the Hofstede theory is Masculinity, the dominant values in society being material success versus femininity, caring for others and the quality of life. UK, Poland and Germany, are Masculine societies, driven by competition, achievement and financial success. In these countries, people’s performance is highly valued and people ‘live in order to work’. Starbucks too, beliefs in monetary based appraisals, it spends $300 million, on their employees’ welfare, much more than ‘they do on coffee beans’. Starbucks even gave its UK staff shares worth around ?4 million in their employee share scheme ‘Bean Stock’, followed by a Christmas cash bonus to staff worth ?1.5 million. Uncertainty Avoidance, is another of Hofstede’s theories, it classifies countries into being high in Uncertainty Avoidance; having strict rules and resistance to changes like Germany and Poland and low in Uncertainty Avoidance; having fewer rules and being welcome to changes like UK. This is an important factor to look into a country when bringing in new innovations, and the planning of how the change has to be implemented. Managers of UK can bring in new ideas easily and with more enthusiasm while managers in Germany and Poland have to bring in changes subtely because people resist from breaking orthodox norms uneasy. Starbucks went through many changes when it merged with Giornale, it was welcoming to his employees’ involvement and included them in every change, by 1987, and employees at Starbucks had begun buying into the changes. The theory includes a comparison between countries which have more, individualism everyone is expected to look after themselves and their immediate family against collectivism, and cultures in which people are bound into strong and cohesive groups. UK, Germany and Poland, are individualistic societies, where the route to happiness is through individual accomplishment. Here the company, in order to motivate its employees has to come up with schemes to provide them and their families’ advantages. The culture in Starbucks is of mutual advantage, thus workers usually do a fruitful job but all these factors must be kept in mind. Understanding all the cross-cultural determinants including these is crucial for a company which serves such a wide range of cultures; their observation along with development on these lines, must all be looked into, in order to bring out the best results. Another theory is the Cultural Theory’ which talks about the importance of culture, stating that is is too ‘important to be left undefined and unrefined, and analysts need a deeper awareness of the anthropological and sociological frameworks’ when refining their management attitudes. It outlines the effect on culture in relation to common objectives, employee motivation and loyalty. Setting of roles, leadership, innovation, setting incentives, tolerance and accountability. The setting of the corporate cultural is extremely subjective of the countries cultural as a whole. The Grid/Group theory is another theory based on cultural determinants, created by Mary Douglas, in 1996. It strives to study cultural relativism, which can be increased through a classification system taking into account ‘moral system, worldviews and ideologies’. This classification is built into two axes, based on individualism versus collectivism, including isolate/fatalist, hierarchist, individualist and sectarian groups. Each type is based on different classifications, power paradigms, moral values and individuality. In this paper, it is used to analyze, the classification of different cultures, such as UK, Germany and Poland into these categories, observing where their general workers fall, taking into account their employee, culture, market and forms of hierarchy. The paper also talks about Organizational Culture Theory which is based on performance, ‘organization effectiveness, employee commitment, employee satisfaction, culture type, culture strength and culture congruence’. This theory is talked about in relation to Poland, Germany and UK; assessing them based on all these assesses their management and motivational factors. Even though Starbucks operates in different countries, its organization culture is often the same. This can be a harmful strategy, as due to differing cultural determinants, the company must change its strategies relatively. If this is not done, the motivation of employees can be lowered and the management can fail to do its job. Thus, this paper talks about all these theories and the possibilities that they provide to Starbucks, in modifying its strategies based on varying cross-cultural determinants. Objective This paper is set to analyze and evaluate the cross cultural determinants of Poland, UK and Germany, in order to find out the best ways to motivate the employees of those countries. It attempts to Find out the cross cultural determinants of these societies and the way the employees of these countries are treated. Methodology The Prime methodology used will be questionnaires that will be filled out by Starbucks employees across these countries. The questionnaire will be based on the Organizational Energy Questionnaire from ‘fully charged’ written by Heike Bruch, which is an instrument to measure a company’s energy state. The questions will include if the employees like what they do, do not have much drive feel relaxed in their job, feel angry in their job, feel enthusiastic in their jobs, have no desire to make something happen, speculate about the real intentions of management, have real care about company’s fate, are efficient in conducting work, behave in destructive manner, go out of their way to make company succeed and if they feel discouraged in their jobs. All these questions will convey about the general state of employees and their will be a separate questionnaire to observe the importance of cross-cultural determinants. References Heike Bruch and Bernd Vogel (2011). Fully Charged. United States of America: Harvard Business School Publishing. HOFSTEDE THEORY- Poland, (2011) [online]. [Accessed 2012]. Available from: . Penny Bassett (2004). CHINESE AND AUSTRALIAN STUDENTS’ CULTURAL PERCEPTIONS: A COMPARATIVE STUDY, Victoria University. Jim Boyer (2009). Understanding Hofstede’s Theory to Motivate Cross Cultural Employees. Business Insider [online]. (2011) [Accessed 6 May 2012]. Available from: Nicholson, N (1998) Encyclopedic Dictionary of Organizational Behavior Blackwell, pp 215 Hoovers [online]. [Accessed 2012]. Available from: . Starbucks Coffee [online]. [Accessed 2012]. Available from: . V S RAMA RAO (2009). The Hofstede Studies [online]. [Accessed 2012]. Available from: . Cultural Dimensions Theory [online]. (2010) [Accessed 2012]. Available from: . Zoe Wood (2010). Starbucks’ staff set to get free shares in incentive scheme. 19 December 2010. Starbucks [online]. [Accessed 2012]. Available from: . Employee Benefits [online]. (2011) [Accessed 2012]. Available from: . Projects [online]. (2011) [Accessed 2012]. Available from: . York Universit y [online]. (2011) [Accessed 2012]. Available from: .

The Benefits of Green Tea on Diabetes Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

The Benefits of Green Tea on Diabetes - Essay Example Before the development of diabetes, a condition referred to as pre-diabetes do occur (McKinley, & Jamieson, 2009). In this condition, the individuals do not pass all the tests that can enable one to conclude an individual is diabetes. In some other words, the condition is known as the ‘grey area’ or the borderline. The borderline condition is a manifestation that an individual is at the risk of either developing a diabetes condition or other cardiovascular conditions (McKinley, & Jamieson, 2009). Types of Diabetes There are three different types of diabetes that can independently manifest themselves depending on the prevailing conditions and circumstances; type I diabetes is one of them, there are other scientific references that are used to refer to the same-insulin dependent, juvenile –onset or immune-mediated diabetes (McKinley, & Jamieson, 2009). Type I diabetes is an auto immune disorder in which the body considers there own cells as antigens and immunologica lly reacts towards them. They produce the antibodies that consider them as foreign substances leading to auto immune disorder. Once the cells producing the insulin are attacked, they fail to produce enough insulin and the effect is occurrence of type I diabetes (McKinley, & Jamieson, 2009). This condition is prevalent in young children and teens and have to administer insulin injection on a daily basis otherwise it may lead to death. Type II diabetes It is at times referred to as non-insulin dependant or adult onset diabetes (McKinley, & Jamieson, 2009). It the most prevalent cases of all the three diabetes that are known and accounts for about 90 percent of all the diabetes cases. The cause of type II diabetes is the relative deficiency of insulin or resistance of insulin. Either of the two conditions can manifest at the time of occurrence of the condition. The condition of type II diabetes can remain undetected for a long period of time and its occurrence is mainly observed at the age of 40 onwards (McKinley, & Jamieson, 2009). The condition is known to be associated with obesity which has been implicated in causing insulin resistance and subsequently lead to the elevation of the blood sugar level. Gestational diabetes (GDM), this is another form of diabetes that occurs due to elevation of the glucose level during pregnancy period. It is known to occur in 1 out of the 25 pregnancies (McKinley, & Jamieson, 2009). The condition of this type of diabetes is commonly seen before or soon after birth. This condition normally disappear immediately after birth and together with their offspring have the tendency of developing type II diabetes within a maximum span of ten years from the delivery date. Signs and Symptoms of Diabetes In medical language symptoms are said to be subjective and can be noticed by the patient themselves while signs are objective and can only be noticed by a specialist like a doctors. When the doc tor and the patient can both identify a condit ion, then it qualifies to be a symptom and a sign at the same time. Some of the salient signs and symptoms of diabetes are as follows; frequent urination, this take place due to the inability of the body to produce enough insulin making more glucose to concentration in the blood and through osmosis, the body reacts by drawing more water in to the system to dilute the high concentration of the glucose in blood. This make the kidney t be filled with urine through the normal ultra filtration process (McKinley, & Jam

Week 3 - Marketing discussion questions Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Week 3 - Marketing discussion questions - Essay Example In case of Industrial Buying, this person is called Purchase Manager. A common day example can be mothers of a teenager who give permission to their kids for buying toys of their own choice. The primary concern for such type of buyer is price. They are usually not impressed by the qualities of product as compared to other products. External factors greatly affect such kind of buying decisions. The primary tool for marketers facing such type of buyers is the price-comparison list of competitors and the independent list of features of product. b) The Expert: sometimes the consumer is not fully aware of the qualities or features of the product and they rely on expert advice for purchase of such products. For example IT consultants usually analyze the type of organization and then help the overall purchase of IT solution for the organizations. As a common day example, products such as pampers are bought by mothers who know exactly what type and quality of pampers will perform the required function for her baby. Internal factors need to be considered in marketing products to experts. To market your product to such buyers, always show the expert what your product can do. What benefits it can give to the consumer. Show him the best features of your product. c) The User: when you have to market your product to end user, always show them how the product can solve their real world problems. Marketing is very crucial in such cases. Understand their need and then market the product to make them sure that your product can fulfill their need and provide them with the desired benefits (Changingminds, 2007). 2. Amanda’s own confection offers different valentine’s chocolates such as cupid bad, hearts cello bag, and they are usually priced as $1.1 per oz. (Amandasown, 2007). Fannie May offers boxes fill with different shapes of chocolates and are priced at approximately $1.625 per oz. (Fanniemay, 2007). Then we also have Rivera Chocolates who

International Finance Coursework Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

International Finance Coursework - Essay Example A firm therefore needs to keep the exchange rate risk at bay. Most firms do so by determining the specific type of exposure to risk, the hedging approach and they also find available instruments to deal with these currency risks. The international transactions the British Venture Capitalist is involved in, exposes them to exchange rate risk. They therefore have to plan in advance and take measures that will protect them against these risks to avoid incurring great losses. There are different types of risks or currency exposures the British Capitalist faces: Transaction risk or simply known as the cash ?ow risk deals with the effect of exchange rate changes position on transactional account exposure linked to receivable, or repatriation of dividends and payables. Any change in the currency exchange rate results in a transaction risk. Translation risk also known as balance sheet exchange rate risk shows the relationship of exchange rate change position to the valuation of a foreign sub ordinate firm and, in turn, to the consolidation of a foreign subordinate firm to the mother corporation’s balance sheet. ... There is a difference however in translation when it comes to the income statements. In the income statement translations are done at the usual exchange rate during the time period. In the case of balance sheets, translations are done at the predominant present exchange rate at the time of consolidation. Economic risk is the risk which reflects the risk to the firm’s value of future operating cash ?ows from exchange rate movements. It is concerned with the effect of exchange rate changes on revenues and operating expenses. The revenues in this case include domestic sales and exports whereas operating expenses include the domestic inputs and imports. This type of risk is normally applied to the current worth of future cash flow operations of a firm. Question (b) How to Measure Economic/Operating Exposure After de?ning the types of economic/operating exposure that a ?rm is exposed to, a crucial aspect of a ?rm’s exchange rate risk management decisions is the measurement o f economic/operating exposure. Measuring economic/operating exposure may seem to be challenging. Currently, the most commonly applied methodology is the value-at-risk (VaR) model. Generally, value at risk is de?ned as the highest loss for a given exposure over a given period of time with a certain percentage of con?dence. The VaR method can be useful in computing a range of types of risk, helping corporations in their risk management. Nevertheless, the VaR does not suggest what happens to the exposure for the (100 – z) % point of con?dence, i.e., the worst case scenario. The Value-at-Risk (VaR) calculation method of economic/operating exposure is applied by corporations to estimate the riskiness of a foreign exchange situation that culminates from a