Abstract
This paper presents an in-depth examination of Muhammad from an Islamic perspective. In particular, the author focuses on Muhammad's role in the creation of the Holy Quran, his influence related to Muslim beliefs and practices and his role in the creation and dissemination of the Five Pillars of Islam, namely, faith, daily prayer, the giving of alms, fasting during the month of Ramadan and the pilgrimage to Mecca. The author describes Muhammad's first religious experience and how he spread this message to the masses. Additionally, the importance of the Islamic belief in one God is also emphasized along with other Muslim outlooks, such as the importance of family. The paper also gives a brief religious history of Islam, including many of the initial conflicts with the pagan religions of the Arabian peninsula. The author concludes that Muhammad was the"interpreter" of the Holy Quran and he transformed an entire culture from one of pagan traditions to the belief in one God.

From the Paper
"As a human being, Muhammad considered marriage and family as the foundation for all things related to man's existence on earth. When Muhammad was about twenty-five years old, he married a woman named Khadija who owned a trading caravan in which the young Muhammad was hired to assist with the daily activities related to the selling, bartering and trading of a wide range of goods from all over the Middle East. At the time of her marriage to Muhammad, Khadija was forty years old and possibly had children from an earlier marriage. As husband and wife, Muhammad and Khadija bore seven children. In 619 A.D., Khadija died from an unknown illness; soon after, Muhammad married for the second time. However, at this point in his life, ..."

Tags:Islam, Muhammad, Muslims, Koran

Abstract
This paper relates that monastic almsgiving during the Middle Ages played a key role in alleviating the effects of poverty in the eleventh and twelfth centuries. The paper then explores how the practice of monastic almsgiving changed during the Middle Ages, noting that monastic institutions always sought to relieve need in the middle ages, but the extent to which they absolutely and relatively provided aid to the poor varied as the Middle Ages progressed. More specifcally, the paper relates that almsgiving moved away from unqualified handouts, in the effort to relieve the worst excesses of need, to more limited alms.

From the Paper
"Famine was a persistent problem for a majority of the medieval peasant population. It contributed massively to poverty in the middle ages, as those peasants who suffered from famine had few provisions to survive, especially if famine occurred in concurrent years. Here we see exceptional charity provided by the clergy and monasteries in times of desperate need during recurrent famine of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. For instance the Bishop of Norwich, in 1258, had during a famine given 'all his money, for the benefit of the poor."

Tags:famine, urbanization, subsistence, magnitude, competition

Abstract
This paper explains that, even though transformation of deposits into loans generates a return but engenders financial risks and particularly an interest rate risk, the Basel II Committee does not provide any standardized method to manage this crucial risk. The author adapts the Markowitz portfolio selection theory on the banking, particularly on the commercial balance-sheet. This model is tested on Credit Foncier de Monaco and finds that this tool maximizes under constraints the risk-adjusted performance and determines the optimal allocation of the assets. In conclusion, the theoretical objectives are compared with the actual results. Numerous formulas are used throughout the paper and seven appendices are included.

Table of Contents:
Abbreviations
Introduction
Theoretical Modelling
Identification
Interest Rate
Nominal Vs. Real Rate
Short-Term Vs Long-Term Rates
Spot Vs. Forward Rates
Term Structure Of Interests
Theories
Methods
Deterministic And Stochastic Models
Sources Of Interest Rate Risk
Repricing Or Maturity Mismatch Risk
Basis Or Bid-Ask Spread Risk
Yield Curve Risk
Options Risk
Interest Rate Exposure
Net And Gross Positions
Balance-Sheet & Gap
Profit & Loss Statement & Spread
Factors
Measurement
Volume
Instantaneous Gaps
Generalized Gaps
Indexed Gaps
Simulated Gaps
Value
Duration
Convexity
Market
Margin
Sensitivity
Modified Duration And Relative Convexity
Money Markets Rates
Management
Hedging And Speculation
Micro Or Macro Hedging
Systematic Or Selective Hedging
Partial And Total Speculation
Hedging Risk And Opportunity Cost
Passive And Active Hedging
Passive Hedging Or Beta Management
Active Hedging Or Alpha Management
Instruments
Spot
Forward And Future
Fra And Swaps
Options
Modelling
Utility
Structure
Utility Function
Constraints
Regulation 40
Commercial
Model
Objective Function
Efficient Portfolio
Optimal Portfolio
Empirical Application
Presentation
Cfm
Treasury
Asset-Liability Management (Alm) Committee
Adaptation
Structure
Constraints
Rates
Simulation
Leverage
Regulatory Constraints
Variance-Covariance Matrix
Utility
Variances
Conclusion
Glossary
Appendices
Balance-sheet + Profit & Loss Statement
Balance-Sheets by Currency, Maturity and Interest Rate
Gaps
Correlation and Variance-Covariance Matrix
Weightings and Balance-Sheets in March 2008
Coefficient of Variations for Different Scenarios
Objective Function for Different Aversions to Risk

From the Paper
"The bank uses options to hedge against the exercise of inserted options. The interest rate option is the right for the holder to borrow from (put) or lend to (call) the writer an underlying at the strike rate against a premium at each date (American option), at predetermined dates (Bermuda option) or at maturity (European option). The basis strategy of the bank is long call or short put in case of decrease of interest rates and short call and long put in case of increase of interest rates."

Tags:markowitz, performance, swaptions, measurement, application

Abstract
This paper explains that TESOL differs from English instruction for native speakers in that its primary foci are on language and cultural practices in English-speaking countries, as opposed to English literature.The author points out that of the many alternative methods now in use, most have common basic elements: The learning of phrases and sentences instead of single words, the infrequent use of the native tongue, and the emphasis on the spoken language, but all still rely on memory as the key to mastery and include a variety of tools to aid memory, including video and audio tapes, drills and exercises. The author recommends that the instructor yo-yo back and forth from the right brain of Total Physical Response Approach (TPR) to the left-brain of ALM; anything new is first internalized through the body with TPR, then switch to the other side of the brain for verbal exercises of speaking, reading, and writing.

Table of Contents
Introduction
Various Approaches in TESOL
The Communicative Approach
The Natural Approach
The Task-Based Approach
The Audio Lingual Approach
The Silent Way Approach
The Counseling-Learning Approach
The Accelerated Learning Approach
The Total Physical Response Approach (TPR)
Conclusion

From the Paper
"The natural approach is based on a number of hypotheses about learning procedures and conditions for learning. Most of the hypotheses are based on one of the most influential models of Second Language Acquisition, called the Monitor Model, developed by the American Linguist, Stephen Krasher. The Monitor Model is closely linked to the distinction between learning and acquisition. The adult learner has two ways of attaining the ability to perform in English: tacit (or subconscious) acquisition and conscious learning. The monitor hypothesis states that in English performance, the subconscious knowledge of English attained through acquisition initiates an utterance plan, whereas the monitor checks and corrects the language output. The Monitor is explicit; it is the learned knowledge of rules of the language (Rosebery et al. 1992)."

Tags:education, learning, skill, teach, linguistics

Abstract
This paper explains that the goal of its thesis is to conceive a model to manage the global interest rate risk of the commercial portfolio in order to determine the optimal structure of the new production and to test the tool on the Credit Foncier de Monaco, private banking and subsidiary of Calyon, which is obviously the investment banking of Credit Agricole. The paper's thesis is divided into two main sections: the theoretical modeling and the empirical application.

Table of Contents:
Abstract
Abbreviations
Introduction
Theoretical Modeling
Identification
Interest Rate
Nominal vs. Real Rate
Fixed vs. Variable Interest Rate
Short-Term vs Long-Term Rates
Spot vs. Forward Rates
Term Structure of Interests
Theories
Methods
Deterministic and Stochastic Models
Sources of Interest Rate Risk
Repricing or Maturity Mismatch Risk
Basis or Bid-Ask Spread Risk
Yield Curve Risk
Options Risk
Interest Rate Exposure
Net and Gross Positions
Balance-Sheet & Gap
Profit and Loss Statement and Spread
Factors
Measurement
Volume
Instantaneous Gaps
Generalized Gaps
Indexed Gaps
Simulated Gaps
Value
Duration
Convexity
Market
Margin
Sensitivity
Modified Duration and Relative Convexity
Money Markets Rates
Management
Hedging And Speculation
Micro or Macro Hedging
Systematic or Selective Hedging
Partial and Total Speculation
Hedging Risk and Opportunity Cost
Passive and Active Hedging
Passive Hedging or Beta Management
Active Hedging or Alpha Management
Instruments
Spot
Forward And Future
Fra And Swaps
Options
Modeling
Utility
Structure
Utility Function
Constraints
Regulation
Commercial
Model
Objective Function
Efficient Portfolio
Optimal Portfolio
Empirical Application
Presentation
Cfm
Treasury
Asset-Liability Management (Alm) Committee
Adaptation
Structure
Constraints
Rates
Simulation
Leverage
Regulatory Constraints
Variance-Covariance Matrix
Utility
Variances
Conclusion
Glossary
Appendix: Balance-Sheet + Profit & Loss Statement
Appendix: Balance-Sheets by Currency, Maturity and Interest Rate
Appendix: Gaps
Appendix: Correlation and Variance-Covariance Matrix
Appendix: Weightings and Balance-Sheets in March 2008
Appendix: Coefficients of Variation
Appendix: Objective Function for Different Aversions to Risk

From the Paper
"Taking into account the stock and constraints, the model determines the optimal allocation of the production for different scenarios of rates level, rates volatility and risk aversion degrees. The bank hedges against the interest rate risk by optimally adjusting its production.
"The optimal portfolio is the tangent point between the efficient frontier and the indifferent curve. It is obtained by equalizing the marginal rate of transformation (MRT) to the risk to return, which is the slope of the efficient frontier, and the marginal rate of substitution (MRS) to the risk to return, which is the slope of the objective function."

Tags:tool transformation, tangent point, risk premium, asset management

Abstract
This paper demonstrates that Islamic economics, like alternative economic systems, reflects a unique historical experience, and is dependent upon that historical experience for its success. Islamic economics, in particular, the paper argues, has historically produced successful outcomes, but those successful outcomes are dependent upon the historical Islamic context. The shift away from this Islamic context inherent in modernization, however, nullifies the historical conditions that an effective Islamic economic system requires. The paper's main points include but are not limited to: the historical origin of the Islamic economic system is rooted in the caravan trade routes, the mercantile wealth that began to define the culture, and that Islamic economics replaces the free-market imperative of maximization of individual utility with a social justice imperative of cooperation and equality.

From the Paper
"Disputes among various schools about whether nominal interest that accounts for the time value of money is prohibited are not important to the question of interest in the economy, because real interest is prohibited as riba in any case, and it is the real interest rate that determines key macroeconomic variables in classical economic models, such as the level of investment and supply of loanable funds."

Tags:alms, assets, comparative, east, interest, islam, mandatory, middle, muslim, poor, riba, tax, zakat